The newspaper headlines shout “Odom, ex- NBA star, looking stronger.” The national news gives us constant updates on the condition of Lamar Odom. That he is alert and improving. This is the guy, somewhat famous because he is an NBA basketball player, that was found unconscious at a Nevada brothel last week, strung out on alcohol and drugs. I’m on a “need to know” basis here and I don’t NEED to know this. I don’t WANT to know this. Do we really care? I sure don’t!
I become resentful when the national media invades my sports pages, my radio, my television with this kind of stuff. What Lamar Odom does at the Love Ranch brothel in the desert of Nevada is entirely up to him but I don’t want to be told about it. I don’t want to be forced to participate in this screwing up of an overpaid athlete’s life. I don’t want to know that Johnny Manziel got a speeding ticket or that he is going to rehab.
There are REAL heroes in life all around us. Some of them are athletes. Some of them are soldiers and sailors and pilots. Some of them are just simple, struggling everyday folks. I don’t understand this obsessive need of the moguls of the media to feed us the spurious deeds of the  rock stars, athletes and entertainment industry miscreants on a daily basis. What kind of weird person is it that sits in some office somewhere and decides to “feed” us this kind of stuff? This is not sports. This is tragedy.
Get over it already!
The Great Bend football team sits at 5-2 on the season and, more importantly, 1-0 in 5A District 6 after thrashing Newton 52-21 last Friday. Pretty heady stuff for a football program that hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2010, and who finished 3-6 in 2014.
Quarterback Jacob Murray has developed nicely as a dual-threat weapon. Against Newton he passed for 176 yards and gained 75 yards rushing. Combine that with 75 yards rushing from Cal Marshall and the Panthers put forth a dual-headed monster for opposing defenses.
Salina Central will be in town Friday evening and the stakes are high. Win this home game and the Panthers make the playoffs. Lose and they probably need to go on the road next week to Salina South and win. A tougher task. Central lost to South 42-35 last week but the Mustangs are more talented than Newton. The Black Panther defense will be challenged in this one. Can they keep the Mustangs corralled? Can Great Bend’s running game consistently control the clock and the scoreboard? Answer those two questions and you have the keys to an advance to the playoffs for the first time in five years.
I think the answers to those questions are yes and yes. Great Bend 28, Salina Central 21.
CHALK TALK: Bill Snyder never looked older, more tired or disappointed than he did in his post-game press conference following the 55-0 mauling of his Wildcats by Oklahoma last Saturday. Can these Cats rebound at Texas? Probably not. Longhorns 30, Kansas State 20.
Hoisington has only Sterling and Lyons in front of them for a shot at an undefeated regular season. No roadblocks there. Cardinals 45, Sterling 7.
Bill Self is trying to recruit a high school basketball player for the Jayhawks that will be a candidate for my “All-Name Team”. His name is Bol Bol, a 6-11 high school sophomore at Bishop Miege High School. I guess having the same first name and last name makes remembering your name easy! Speaking of the Jayhawks, their football team is getting better as evidenced by their close loss to Texas Tech. Trouble is, when you start THAT FAR behind, it takes a long time to catch up! Oklahoma State’s got too much T.Boone Pickens and too much speed. Okie State 44, Kansas 17