In like a lion and out like a lamb. So much for that old saying. March certainly didn’t roar in. Not by any means.
In fact there has been no sighting of much of anything roaring this winter. One had to wonder what the winter was going be like back in December when the poor high school kids got all gussied up for Hollyball in sub-zero temperatures.
But since that time it has been a very mild winter once again. I could have used a little more moisture, but other than that, I’m okay with mild.
But be careful. Be very careful. March is capable of very wet, heavy snows. Been there, done that. One March I was headed from Pratt to Salina for the 4A State Basketball Tournament. I didn’t get but five miles out of town before I gave in a trudged my way back at 15 mph.
That was a double-digit snowfall that day. The average snowfall for March in central Kansas is around two inches. So it can happen. Probably when the Barton baseball team is scheduled to play a home game.
Prep Thoughts
Congratulations to the Hoisington Cardinals and their runner-up effort at the state wrestling tournament. I know they probably wanted the top prize but second in still pretty darn cool. Brothers Jonathan and Christopher Ball earned state titles.
Norton has proven to be a powerhouse in 3-2-1A wrestling. Norton finished with 126 points to 113 for Hoisington. The Bluejays title was the fifth straight and their 10th since 2004. It was the third runner-up effort for the Cardinals in the past seven years.
Eventually, it just might happen. But there is no shame for Coach Dan Schmidt and the Cardinals in what is a powerhouse program in their own right.
Former Barton Athlete/Coach update
It’s been a great season for former Barton Coach Steve Forbes. His East Tennessee State club just finished up the regular season in a 3-way tie for the Southern Conference championship. East Tennessee had a chance to win it outright, but lost on the road to North Carolina Greensburg, also in that 3-way tie, in the regular season finale. Furman was the third team tied at 14-4 in the conference.
Now it is on to the Southern Conference tournament in Asheville, NC in Forbes pursuit of his first NCAA Tournament as a head coach. It will get underway in a 7:30 pm Saturday game for the Buccaneers against Mercer. If the Bucs win they will be in semifinal action at 6:30 pm Sunday. The first two rounds can be seen on ESPN3 or WatchESPN.
Hopefully, ETSU can make the title game set for Monday at 6 pm. That will air on ESPN2.
And Finally
Today’s world is definitely instantaneous. If you question that, I have a little story for you.
I often have on Sports Radio 810 out of Kansas City online in the background to listen to while I work. Monday morning I’m listening to the Border Patrol, hosted by Steven St. John and Nate Bukaty. Jake Gutierrez in the engineer of the show and joins the two hosts on air.
Sam Mellinger from the Kansas City Star is in studio. Mellinger had recently won an award for his writing and St. John tells of a broadcast award he won. Nate Bukaty then informs the crew that he didn’t win an award but as a student at KU took second twice in the student play-by-play award by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.
He goes on to say he lost both years to a student from Colby. At this point, I know exactly who he is talking about. I wondered if he is going to say his name. He does. Sacha Sanguinetti he says. They talk about it for a bit with Nate Bukaty joking that he has been prank calling Sacha for the past 20 years since losing to him.
So what do I do? I text Sacha and tell him what’s going on. He fires a text back with a photo of the two awards. Sacha tells me it is ironic because he just recently ran across them. I tell him he has to send the photo to Bukaty. He informs he is a step ahead. He has already tweeted them.
So, about 10 minutes later you can hear Bukaty laugh. St. John ask him what’s up and Bukaty tells him he just got a tweet from Sacha Sanguinetti. The studio breaks into laughter. They see the photo in the tweet and tell their listeners that Sacha just tweeted the two awards in a photo.
At the point, Steven St. James say ‘Sacha, I don’t know. You don’t know me. But you are my guy now.” Jake Gutierrez says Sacha might be ‘my favorite person in the America’ and that he has rocketed to the top of the guest list. Sacha is once again the topic of conversation for a few more minutes. They decide they have to get Sacha on the show. Which is probable at this point but is still being worked out.
So, from Great Bend came the ability to connect Colby to Kansas City and live radio within minutes. All unscripted. All off the cuff.
All this without Sacha even hearing any of the show. He did listen to the podcast later.
Mike Marzolf is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at MarzolfM@bartonccc.edu.
