Robservations: Student fans put on a show
When the scoreboard gap in a ballgame approaches the 20-point mark, it’s easy to get distracted.
But Tuesday night at Siegel, it was even easier, since the student sections from the competing schools provided more entertainment than the groups on the hardwood.
It’s no secret, particularly if you’ve already scanned the rest of this page, that neither the girls or the boys game Tuesday night in Murfreesboro could have been described as a “barn-burner.”
But, bless their hearts, you wouldn’t have known it from the kids in the stands, both groups of whom had equal opportunity to dominate the trash talk.
During the opening contest, in which the Lady Pioneers trounced the Lady Stars by an eventual 59-37 margin, it was the Warren County faithful who had the chance to shine.
But turnabout is fair play, and as the Siegel boys began to pull ahead of the Pioneers by wider and wider margins, the home fans took advantage with plenty of jabs of their own.
The funniest, by the way, had to be the chants of “indoor plumbing” and “Uncle Dad,” obvious shots at the Murfreesboro kids’ opinion of what life in little-old Warren County must be like.
By the end of the night, both groups of fans became so set on coming up with the next great insult for the other side of the gym, they seemed to forget all about the basketball games going on between them.
Of course, with such lopsided final scores, the Lady Stars and the Pioneer boys would probably like to forget those final scores, as well.
• Speaking of high school basketball, this is just in off the state sports wire.
Apparently, Timothy “Ray Ray” Ware is quite a ballplayer — on the middle school level, mind you. He’s such a talent, he and his mother have gone to the press claiming at least seven different schools in the Memphis area have begun a recruiting war for the 5-foot-8 guard.
You’re thinking to yourself, “isn’t that illegal?” And you’re right. It is. But if you believe “Ray Ray” and his mom, the legality of recruiting on the high school level isn’t bothering the coaches who are gathering on his front porch.
The 15-year-old superstar (that phrase, in itself, is tough to swallow) claims coaches from seven different high schools have approached him about joining their programs, some even offering fringe benefits such as free rides to and from school or — and this is the most disturbing — a $100 per game wage for his freshman season.
TSSAA officials reacted with surprise upon hearing the recruiting claims, saying it was the first they’d heard of the incident. Ware, on the other hand, stands by his claim, and more or less brushes off the legal issues involved, telling reporters he’s considering five different high schools in the area — including, oddly enough, the one he’s residentially zoned to attend.
The rumor mills surrounding high school recruiting are constantly churning, but usually nothing is ever proven. Likewise, rarely do any athletes come forward, especially at such a young age, and accuse schools of courting them.
But if any of these latest rumors are true, the time is right to make an example of them on the state level. Programs from those high schools who are proven to be involved — whether they make payments, or just make offers — should be shut down. And “Ray Ray,” if he ever takes a payment, should spend his high school years in the student section, cheering alongside his friends while the honest athletes hit the hardwood.