With the soon to come end of the school year, scholastic and collegiate spring sports seasons also come to an end. The fact is, though, that the more successful the program this time of year, the longer the season lasts.
With that, it is time to congratulate some folks who have been extending their seasons.
In no particular order, a salute to the Old Fort boys' track team, winners last week of the Midlands Athletic League title. It must have been an exciting time as results of the final two events made the difference for the Stockaders. Seneca East finished second and Hopewell-Loudon third, while HL's Doug Brickner was named Coach of the Year for the second consecutive time.
At the college level, congratulations go to the Heidelberg baseball team, which won the Ohio Athletic Conference title last weekend. It was the Student Princes' first ever OAC baseball crown.
They did it the hard way, taking a loss on Friday after two wins, and stopping Marietta in the finals, forcing a rubber game against the Pioneers for the championship. Heidelberg won both games 4-3 and are into the NCAA Division III regionals this weekend.
And ... They didn't win, but Heidelberg's women's 4 x 400 relay team set a new school record in the OAC championships last weekend. Joni Wilhelm, Nikki Jones, Casey Adams and Amy Jacobs teamed up to cover the 1600 meters in 4:04.7, breaking a mark that had stood for 13 years.
So Kevin Garnett is in trouble again. This time, as is often the case, it's his mouth that ran too much. The sin he committed was to give an enthusiastic answer about his anticipation of the upcoming deciding game against his Sacramento Kings were to play against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
KG is quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "This is it. It's for all the marbles. I'm sitting in the house loading up the pump, I'm loading up the Uzis, I've got a couple of M-16s, couple of nines, couple of joints with some silencers on them, couple of grenades, got a missile launcher. I'm ready for war."
Uh-oh, he said "war." He must think as much of himself as the rest of the nation thinks of the men and women in the military. Immediately the Kings and the NBA detected a possible public relations gaffe. Garnett had to explain that his remarks referred "Only to basketball, not reality."
Really Kevin, most of us realized that. It's too bad that political correctness related to the situation in Iraq makes some people so nervous they can't realize it, too.
Are we all to stifle ourselves to prevent uttering anything that might offend anyone whose focus is so narrow they cannot let the rest of the world turn?
In truth, I would have thought the outcry, if any were necessary, would have come from leaders trying to combat the image of young Black men as owning houses full of shotguns, Uzis, M-16s, 9mm handguns, grenades and missile launchers.
This especially with the recent windup of the trial of Jayson Williams and the periodic legal steps in the Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson cases.
Even though Michael Jackson is no longer young ... or Black.
It's OK Kevin, get enthusiastic, taunt your opponent. You know you'll have to back it up. It might even make the NBA playoffs interesting.