LARNED — DARTH VADER RETURNS!  
Bo Black returns to Great Bend as Darth Vader, leading his aliens of Sith on Friday evening against the forces of good, led by our Luke Skywalker (Tony Crough).  
The Hays High Indians are a Top-Five-ranked football team and based on the results of last weekend, the clear-cut favorites to topple the Panthers.
Last week, when things looked the darkest in the fourth quarter, the Indians All-State quarterback, Alex Delton, led his team on a 94-yard drive, capping it off with a 1-yard touchdown run with less than five minutes to play giving Hays a 12-10 win over the Olathe Northwest Ravens.
Meanwhile Great Bend’s defense was playing excellent football, but the offense could not put any points on the board in a 19-0 loss to Leavenworth.
From the day Black resigned as the Panthers’ head football coach, Friday’s date has been circled on the calendar by local fans and athletes. Despite what both coaches will say about this game, this is a BIG ONE!
Great Bend fans need to fill the stadium.
Rock the stadium.
That excitement will translate to the team.
The Panthers showed last week that they can run the football.
That will be critical in this game.
Great Bend’s offense needs to keep the high-powered Hays offense off of the football field.  
Yes, Hays is favored.
Can Great Bend win this game?
If a couple of things happen. Following the loss to Leavenworth Coach Crough said, “The defense played good enough to win that game, but you can’t win just one phase of a game and expect to win the football game. There is offense, defense and special teams. You’ve got to win at least two.”
The Jedi Knight has spoken.  
May The Force be with him.
...
For what purpose do we need our police departments?
Our courts?
Prosecuting attorneys?
Why not just let the NBA, the NFL and Major League Baseball do all of that? They seem to be doing it anyway.
Even the NCAA gets involved in dealing out punishments BEFORE our legal system has acted. Recently the NFL suspended Ray Rice for allegedly punching his wife or girlfriend or whichever it is.
First they suspended him for two games, then they changed their policy to six games and then the Ravens themselves cut Rice loose.
All of this BEFORE the legal system says whether or not Rice is actually guilty.
The NBA has acted similarly in the Donald Sterling case and I am sure we will see the same in the recent episode of the owner of the Atlanta Hawks.
Now, stay with me on this.
I do not condone any of the actions BUT I have been around long enough to have seen some that have been charged with offenses to actually be innocent.
What’s that old line, “Innocent until proven guilty?”  
Our sports organizations don’t seem to give a damn about that. In a full out sprint to be “politically correct” these sports leagues  are throwing the legal process out the window. This pandering is sickly and demeaning.
Personally, I am reaching the point where I just don’t care.
Not only do I not care about the decision, I am approaching not caring about these entire sports.   Am I the only one?
...
CHALK TALK — The NCAA has lifted their ban against Penn State’s football program. It took them two years to get it right. They had no business in doing so in the first place! ... Yeah, let’s fix something else too. Let Pete Rose in Baseball’s Hall of Fame. It’s time ... Are the Kansas Jayhawks a better football team this year? Depends on if you got bored and left at halftime or not. The Jayhawks stumbled home to win by six against one of those schools that you need a map and a compass to find. This week they travel to Duke (No, not for a basketball game but it will still be tough) The Dookies are a 16-point favorite but it will be closer than that. KU loses a close one , 30-27 ... If you can walk you might get a shot at making the Chiefs’ roster. They are decimated by injuries and this to a team that wasn’t that strong to begin with! Broncos have their way with the Chiefs 36-13 ... Did you know that 85% of the money generated by the new college football playoff system will go to the Big Five conferences? A classic case of “The rich get richer” ... The NFL spends so much time holding press conferences to announce suspensions, including for owners, that they might form their own television show version of “Good Cops, Bad Cops”  ... It was at Northwestern that the football players took a vote on whether or not to form a union. From the results of their first two games, both losses, it would look like they’ve already gone on strike! ... Speaking of all of the Chiefs’ injuries brought back this quote from former All-Pro Joe Namath:  “When you win, nothing hurts.”

Charles Tabler is a contributing writer from Larned.