By KEVIN HASKIN
TopSports.news
Kevin Haskin
Musings at the mid-month:
-- Since I punched the keyboard a month ago, some developments have surfaced on the college front.
-- Conference realignment is rarely a refreshing topic in these parts, and this latest round has been no different.
-- Kansas fans tend to express confidence while Kansas State fans tend to admit uneasiness as the two sides have a hot topic to quibble about on social media.
-- Thanks, Texas and Oklahoma for dousing Twitter with all things flammable after peddling your Red River spoils as a package deal to the SEC.
-- The latest realignment possibility, a vengeful three-way that could enable the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 to get even with the SEC, is potentially bothersome.
-- Will opportunities arise for Big 12 members to go power-fouring to another conference if a scheduling arrangement pans out for the three leagues saying up yours to the SEC?
-- Will the Big 12 find the right additives to remain legit, and can it collect rights fees from movers still considered shakers by more powerful conferences?
-- Will KU’s basketball heritage provide the boost it needs to land in a prime league, despite woeful football?
-- Will a solid football pedigree in the Big 12 matter for K-State as it battles perceived shortcomings?
-- Tout whatever you can, but it won’t be the value of our in-state series, which has been lopsided for a quarter-century or more.
-- K-State has bogarted the sunflowers in football, and KU has done the same in hoops.
-- I once enjoyed watching them clash, but the rivalry is best contested now on digital platforms.
-- If the programs split into separate leagues, well, so be it.
-- As for non-revenue sports, KU and K-State would still play out of convenience.
-- But conference realignment is never about convenience.
-- It’s not even about competitive gains (checking in on you, Nebraska).
-- Just money … driven by greed.
-- Applaud MLB for moving heaven and corn and getting life to imitate art in rural Iowa.
-- Easy to enjoy the entire made-for-TV moment. For a few magical hours, we could even tolerate Joe Buck.
-- Moving forward, staging MLB games in some minor league communities it abandoned would be a nice gesture if those places would have it.
-- Where would be the best place in Kansas to stage a Field of Dreams game?
-- Easy for me. I’d pick Blue Rapids, site of an October 1913 exhibition matchup between the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox.
-- Sadly, I doubt there’s enough corn, wheat, sorghum or sunflowers to replicate the mystical proportions generated by the theatrical splash in Iowa.
-- MLB halted its slump in popularity with a majestic home run.
-- One highlight from the Chiefs’ first exhibition game stood out: Chris Jones coaxed into performing his favorite yoga move.
-- That’s one more highlight than I usually take from a preseason game.
-- Good to see Byron Pringle snag a TD reception, too, while wondering if the Chiefs could be better off rotating wideouts not named Tyreek Hill.
-- The Chiefs offensive line, however, better keep Mahomes from shifting into reverse.
-- Stories shared about Willie Nicklin can be told for days.
-- Stories Willie shared with you last forever.
-- I know. Once after the Topeka High legend coached the Trojans to a Topeka Invitational crown, a couple of us saw daybreak leaving Willie’s home.
-- Oh, and we made trips to the horse track, where few studied a form quite like Willie, and trips to the casino, where few played third base at the blackjack table with such precision.
-- Also enjoyed many a night when I spotted Willie out with his incredible partner, Leslie Miller.
-- Everyone knew the man – boosters and rivals, coaches and players, business owners and mayors. Even those who didn’t know him struck up conversations as if they did.
-- To get to know Willie in a different capacity, as a young sportswriter, provided sensational insight, as much about life as basketball.
-- Those he befriended and impacted spoke Saturday at a celebration for Willie staged on his namesake court.
-- “It’s not a dungeon,” Willie would insist when speaking of the fabled Troy gym. “You ever go up steps to sit in a dungeon?”
-- Many memories ran through my mind as I sat behind the bench where Willie orchestrated his teams.
-- And, above the locker room where he offered his colorful commentary, but only after he assessed points per possession, long before the stat became conventional.
-- Ed Whitlock remembered crying while sitting in the stands and watching the TIT after Willie suspended him one season.
-- Before Willie reinstated High’s 1973 state championship standout, Whitlock remembered his coach asking three questions.
-- “Will you be a better teammate?” “Will you be a better student?” “Will you be a better son?”
-- For Whitlock, those words shaped his life … and could have for any of us.
