Imagine Dr. Theodor Seuss walking down the street, eating a chocolate bar. From the other direction comes William Shakespeare, eating out of a jar of peanut butter.
Not paying attention where they are going, they run into each other.
“Hey,” says Dr. Seuss, “you got your Romeo on my Cat in the Hat.” “No,” replies Shakespeare, “You got your Grinch on my Juliet.”
Well, you don’t’ have to imagine any longer. The Great Bend High School Theatre Department will be combining the two this weekend in its spring play.
GBHS students will present to you ‘The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet’. All the memorable moments of Shakespeare’s classic in a Dr. Seuss format.
How can you go wrong? There will be four performances – two each Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s performances will be at 3 pm and 7 pm while Sunday’s will be at 2 pm and 7 pm.
So, get out of your chair, comb your hair, and make sure you are there.
Prep Thoughts
State basketball is upon us. Several area teams will represent the Golden Belt, headlined by the Central Plains girls and St. John boys. Those two will be favorites, or at least among the favorites, to win a state title. Both head to Manhattan and the 2A state tournament as the No. 1 ranked in the KBCA final poll. These teams have been there, done that as far as state titles go. But titles never get old.
The Otis-Bison boys and girls get to travel to Dodge City for state action. It’s pretty cool to have both teams at state. The towns of Otis and bison will close up shop and head to Dodge. The girls are ranked 5th in the state and are the fourth seed. It is the girls’ first trip to state since 1990. The boys are sixth seed. They spent time ranked No. 1 this year but a killer schedule gave them seven losses. Don’t sleep on either Otis-Bison team.
Then there is the Larned Indians girls’ team. The underdog of the area teams. The Indians are 13-9 on the season. They get third seed Jefferson West, an 18-4 team, ranked fifth in the state at White Auditorium in Emporia Thursday. Coach Ashley Crosby and the Indians are making their first state appearance in nearly 20 years. Larned has been playing well of late. You gotta believe, huh?
Former Barton Athlete/Coach update
Lane Lord and his Pittsburg State Gorillas will begin their quest for a trip the NCAA D-II Elite Eight this weekend when the women’s basketball team takes part in the Central Regional. The tournament will be held at Harding University in Searcy, Ark.
Lord, the former Barton coach, has Pitt State as the No. 5 seed in the 8-team regional. Pittsburg State, ranked 10th in the nationa, will play fourth seed Central Oklahoma (25-7) Friday at 2:30 pm. The remainder of the top bracket includes No. 1 seed Emporia State (27-4) against No. 8 Northern State (24-6). If Pitt State wins they will play the winner of the Emporia/Northern State game Saturday at 5 pm.
The bottom of the bracket is No. 2 Harding (27-3) against No. 7 Arkansas Tech (22-7) and No. 3 Minnesota State Moorhead (24-4) and No. 6 Central Missouri (23-6).
The championship game is set for Monday at 7 pm.
Coach Lord was recently named the Coach of the Year in the MIAA. It was the fifth time in his 10 years at Pitt State he has won the award and third time in the last four years. The Gorillas are looking for their third trip to the Elite Eight under Coach Lord.
For those wishing to view the games online, go to pittstategorillas.com and there will be link to watch the games.
And Finally
The end of a sports season is never easy. Even harder if it’s a career. I can still tell you, some 30-plus years, my final games in high school for football, basketball and track.
I would be lying to say I remember like it was yesterday, but I do remember them. Perhaps embellished a bit as the years as have passed.
In football my senior year at Waconda East we lost our last game to the No. 1 team in state, Bennington. I threw for 300 yards (288 but who’s counting) and three TDs. We got hammered, 61-19 on our home field in Glen Elder. May have been an interception or two in there but that has since been forgotten.
My final basketball game, I don’t remember the score but it we weren’t really in that game either. It was a loss to Mankato, at Mankato in the second round of regionals. I scored 17 points and in the final quarter, my foot came out the side of my shoe. Yep, blew the side of my shoe out. A little athletic tape and was able to finish. Not that it mattered.
Track season was the end of the high school career. It was after graduation. I was the only one from my school to qualify for the state track meet. I ran the 1600m because I wasn’t very smart. I broke my own school record that day with a 4:35. It will forever stand because Waconda East no longer exists. It has since combined with Downs to become Lakeside.
But what I remember as much as anything about that day was wanting to take a shower afterwards. I was sweaty and didn’t want to make the two hour home that way. So I wandered over to what was then Henry Levitt Arena. I searched until I found a locker room. I ended up showering the Wichita State locker room.
So as seasons come to an end there will be heart-break for all but a handful or so of teams. But make sure to enjoy it as well.
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.
