Racers tabbed 8th in OVC

I was a little shocked that the Murray State football team was picked to finish the conference in eighth place out of nine teams. Head coach Matt Griffin said the Racers deserved it after their 2-9 performance last season.

Personally, I feel the start of the season will be rough — likely a 1-3 start — but if the Racers can avenge last season's rout against Tennessee-Martin, I think they'll be OK for the rest of the season. I predict at least five wins, although a .500 season could be possible.

Remember, the games against this season's top three — Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State — the Racers showed progress. The Racers were a touchdown away from a win against EIU and had some lapses on defense and special teams for unanswered scores with the other two. A win on the road against any of those three and they're looking good.

Jacksonville State was picked to finish the conference first, but that doesn't mean anything right now in the OVC. No team picked to finish first in the pre-season has done it since EIU did it in 2002. The championship prediction in 29 years has only been right 41.4 percent of the time.

So my question is, who has the best chance this season to get the title? Check out the poll to your right.

New NCAA football rules

At the Ohio Valley Conference football media day held at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday, OVC coordinator of officials outlined some of the rule changes made in the offseason for NCAA football.

Jackson, who was an official for nearly 20 years in the Sunbelt and Southern conferences, is in his second year as coordinator.

Also, because Samford switched conferences, only nine teams remain that play OVC football, which allowed the number of OVC officials to decrease. The OVC will now have five crews of officials instead of six. No officials were fired, Jackson said; attrition took care of the seven.

Changes:

Play clock —
The 15 second play clock has been eliminated. A 40-second play clock has been instituted to begin the instant the ball is dead on every play, just like in NFL games. The theory is that the pace of play will be faster and games won't last an eon. A play clock of 25 seconds will be administered under these conditions: penalty administration, charged team time out, media time out, injury time out, measurement, change of possession, following a kick, following a score, start of each period, instant replay review, and any other administrative stoppage.

Kicking — When a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team has the option of taking the ball to the 40 yard line as opposed to the previous 35.

"Bill Belichick" rule — You can't film opponents play signals.

Chop block — The chop block has been defined and made into a penalty. The chop block has been defined as either a high-low or low-high combination block by any two players against an opponent (not the runner) anywhere on the field. Intent is key here as accidental grazes on the way to another player are not a problem.

Example: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vqiLlOybz9s

"Horse collar" tackle — It is now illegal to grab inside the collor or shoulder pad from the back and shoulders to institute a tackle. A 15 yard penalty will ensue. The tackle must be immediate and it is not a foul if it happens inside the tackle box. Tackling a quarterback by horse collar method while in the pocket is OK.


Face mask — Incidental face mask touching is no longer a 5-yard penalty. But it is illegal to twist, turn or pull the face mask and is a 15-yard penalty.

Head contact —It is illegal to initiate contact and target an opponent with the crown of the helmet. It is illegal to target and initiate contact with a defenseless opponent above the shoulders. When in question, the act will be a foul. Intent is all a key to the call here. Basically, this is a helmet punch to the head and neck area.

Sideline interference — Referees were spending too much time delaying the game to issue non-penalty sideline warnings. Officials will now only call sideline interference when they are actually impeded by a sideline member in their officiating duties. This will be a delay-of-game 5-yard penalty. No more warnings.
Also, if a school's marching band is playing while there is a live ball and it is preventing a team from hearing the play calls, the official can give a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct to the band.

Thanks to Jim Jackson for explaining the changes to everyone.

More on MSU softball

If you read Sunday's news centerpiece of The Paducah Sun and still want more information about Murray State's incoming softball program, I've got you covered.



Field No. 6 at Murray's Chestnutt Park will be the home of MSU softball.

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All about Title IX

In 2004, Murray State invited Lamar Daniel to come to campus and evaluate its athletic Title IX compliance. Daniel found several problems that have kept officials busy making corrections and changes.

One of the biggest and most prominent changes has been the restructuring of the women’s sports programs with the addition of softball and the discontinuation of rowing.

Daniel is one of the leading experts on Title IX compliance, having worked with the Office for Civil Rights in his home state of Georgia for 20 years, in addition to conducting investigations into school compliance and writing manuals and literature used by the government. Just six months away from a second retirement, Daniel operates a consulting firm used by colleges all over the U.S.

A final evaluation of Murray State in December will be Daniel’s last official gig.

Title IX, a portion of educational amendments originally made in 1972 that prohibits gender discrimination in any program under any educational institution receiving federal aid, requires that school comply in three categories.

A school must accommodate female athletes based on interests and abilities, which schools comply with by meeting one of a “three-prong” test:

n Provide opportunities that are proportional to the gender's enrollment.
n Show continued growth in opportunity for the under-represented gender.
n Meet the interests and abilities of the student population.

Many schools choose the proportionality prong because of its visibility to inspectors.

“It’s not the easiest to me because you have to have a higher number of women’s sports and participants,” Daniel said.

Daniel sees schools all across the country cutting several sports programs from their lists because of budget cuts. For a school to choose to reach the proportionality portion of compliance, a football school can find compliance typically with six male sports and 10 for women. MSU has seven sports for men and nine for women.

The large number of scholarship football athletes skews the number of sports in a Division I program.

According to the roster on goracers.com, MSU will lose 20 athletes with the discontinuation of rowing, while softball will add 12 scholarship athletes, plus walk-ons. Equestrian could have as many as 50 athletes.

For the second category the awards of athletic financial assistance must comply with Title IX rules. Daniel called the third category a “laundry list” that is more subjective than quantifiable. Travel, housing, dining, and facilities are judged to be equal in affect to those offered to male athletes.

“That’s why you have consultants,” Daniel said. “You have to know how every sport operates and how they compare to others.”

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A listing of local softball players who have gone on to play on the college level in the past four years:

Name, high school, college, college location

Division I
Brittany Scheer, St. Mary, Morehead State University, Morehead, Ky.
Sam Butts, Calloway County, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tenn.
Kayla Fox, Calloway County, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Ky.

NAIA
April Carter, Ballard Memorial, Mid-Continent University, Mayfield, Ky.
Brittany Edmonds, Marshall County, Bethel College, McKenzie, Tenn.
Ashley Simmons, Heath, Bethel College, McKenzie, Tenn.
Bristyn Prowell, Caldwell County, Brescia University, Owensboro, Ky.
Laura Slack, Marshall County, Campbellsville College, Campbellsville, Ky.
Dria Moore, Paducah Tilghman, Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, Ky.

Junior college
Ambur Frizzell, Carlisle County, Shawnee Community College, Ullin, Ill.
Jordan Huston, Murray, Shawnee Community College, Ullin, Ill.
Megan Snow, Murray, Shawnee Community College, Ullin, Ill.
Kelsie Beardsley, Ballard Memorial, Shawnee Community College, Ullin, Ill.
Kortney Rose, Heath, Shawnee Community College, Ullin, Ill.
Jessica Pickard, Marshall County, Shawnee Community College, Ullin, Ill.

Overflow

Here are a few more photos from the June 20, 2008 front-page feature on Sherri Heckenast, owner and promoter of Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway.


Sherri Heckenast and her dad, Frank Sr., watch a heat race from her office on June 12 at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway. Frank Heckenast bought the race track for his daughter to run under stipulation that she quit racing.


Sherri Heckenast checks the books in her office between races at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway on June 12.


Sherri Heckenast and Late Model driver Jason Feger, Bloomington, Ill., share a quick hello before the Summernationals race on June 12 at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway.

It's June for crying out loud!

Less than 24 hours after the NBA Finals Championship game, I'm being entertained with college basketball bracketology.

College basketball!

Don't get me wrong, I love the hardwood probably just as much as anyone else in Kentucky. But it is June. It's officially summer. I'm ready for dirt track racing, NASCAR, golf and sunny vacations. Basketball is such a consuming sport, so I can't help but enjoy my vacation from it.

Talk about football season isn't even going as hot fired as it should be. Camps open up in late July/early August and I've heard nary a word about the teams.

I'm just not to a mental state where I can contemplate hoops hoopla.

Anybody else not ready for basketball?

Summernationals at KLMS 6/12

Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway opened up the UMP Summernationals tour Thursday night with one of the best races I've seen in a long time. There were lead changes, crazy driving (by Jason Feger who led about 25 of the 30 laps) and big names. And the racing in both the Modified division and Crate Late Models was great, too. KLMS got Thursday night right.

The Summernationals tour will swing through six states in 31 days giving fans 27 chances to check it out. The tour will be at Paducah International Raceway on June 26.

Here's a few photos from the event:


An example of the types of "rides" you can have. Big, bigger, biggest.


Christopher, Ill., driver Kevin Cole as he gears up for hot laps.


You won't see these two in the same room much. That's Bill Roth, PIR's track manager, and Sherri Heckenast, owner and promoter of KLMS.

Sunburns and softball

After spending the weekend covering Reidland's trip to the Kentucky state fastpitch softball tournament, here are a few of my musings:

Owensboro is exactly like Paducah, only not. Things seemed bigger (like the riverfront development), the soon-to-be closed Executive Inn was decked out in red neon lights, and the town had a mall, but also had a TARGET.

Oklahoma signee Kirsten Allen was more impressive because of her stature rather than her fastball. Allen, Ryle's pitcher, is 5-foot-11 and looks like a giant in the circle. Her fastball is clocked at 67 mph. She's worth her scholarship.

While it takes a good pitcher to get a team to the state tournament, it takes good hitters to win the tournament.

A 16-team, double-elimination high school softball tournament is too much to be held in just two days. One, it's a mouthful for me to work into my stories. Two, it's physically draining for all involved. Count in mid-90s temperatures this weekend, and we're talking a safety concern. I don't pitch, I don't bat, and I don't run, but I felt beaten by the time I made it to my hotel Friday after covering three softball games. I'd like to see something similar to baseball's eight-team tournament and semi-state series. I could go on, but I'll cease my rant for a year or two.

Sweat-proof sunscreen really does work! But when you miss a spot or have the strap of your messenger bag rub it off your shoulders, the point ceases to be relevant. I've been burnt worse, but I will never have tan lines as ugly.

I've never seen a worse omen for the outcome of a ball game than when Christian County's Allie Blauser sent Cassee Layne's opening pitch to the outfield for a single. Wait. Nope. Felt the same thing when Kasey York hit a home run off Layne for Lawrence County. Both 9 a.m. games were losses for Reidland.

Just because a hotel or media event has wireless Internet, doesn't mean a Mac can access it. It also doesn't mean I can use the newspaper's server with the open wireless connection once it works on my laptop. Just a few small challenges we Mac users face as we relish in the beauty and excellence of our svelte machines.

Getting hot and dusty at the tournament made me think of dirt track racing and how much I can't wait to get back to the tracks.

I got a GPS unit for my birthday, and so far it's been very helpful (finding schools and ball fields in Kentucky is not an easy feat). But is not infallible. It did not list the Panera Bread Co. as a possible food option to take me to, so I had to improvise and drive down Frederica until I found it. And it was good, as usual.

The tournament marked my one-year anniversary in Kentucky and with The Paducah Sun. I have now officially experienced nearly everything sports-related pertaining to my job. Things from here will be old hat (I hope). My favorite events this year? I've got to say, the regional volleyball tournament rocked my face off — one of the best post-season atmospheres I saw. And accompanying the Murray State women's basketball team to Maryland for the first round of the NCAA tournament was one of the most fun things I've done all year.