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Yesterday finally ended a sordid affair which at this point ranks right up there with the Bob Krause Boondoggle as one of the two most embarrassing things to happen in Manhattan since the days of Stan Parrish. I will be brief as possible in covering that, partly because we covered it pretty well yesterday, partly because later this morning TB will be editorializing, and partly because I'm sick unto my death of it.
So we'll get to the other stuff first, then once you see the big kitty cat with the words "Women's Basketball" under it you can just hit the "end" button and miraculously cause your browser window to jump all the way to the bottom if skipping the whole thing appeals to you.
The countdown continued as Le Gato du Braquet profiled #95, Travis Britz.
Bill Hancock, who you'll remember from his starring role in the hit sitcom "BCS Apologist", swears the College Football Playoff is staying at four teams for the next 12 years, insisting that nobody in the club is discussing an expansion already. I believe BlackCats has a term for this: "liar liar face". Folks in the club have already publicly come out and said they think it might expand before then. And let's all remember that up until about 12 seconds before the conference commissioners dropped a dime on Hancock and thrust a playoff into his lap, he was still insisting that the BCS would last forever and ever always.
Beginning tomorrow, 27 K-State athletes will be in Fayetteville to take part in the NCAA West Preliminaries, which I think is Swahili for "trying to qualify for the NCAA Championships". Sports Extra's Kelly McHugh spent some time with Ryan Hershberger and Dani Winters, who toss the shot, discussing their hopes to make it to Eugene.
Early bird tickets are on sale, and the deadline is Friday. So if you want to catch a bunch of volleyball action, better get busy quick. Season tickets are available for as low as $2.50 a match.
I bet you thought everyone would be making funny clapping noises. Welp, not so much. We've got twelve separate articles here, and that's not including stuff lurking behind paywalls. I'll skip individual criticism of everyone reporting on the story exhibiting basically zero nuance or understanding, other than to point out the two lone exceptions: both, unsurprisingly, from Topeka.
Only one voice in any of the twelve articles is actually defending John Currie, and in a development that will leave you rolling on the floor with laughter, it's Leti Romero's own lawyer, who told Ken Corbitt "If their internal policy is what they said it was, it basically handcuffed their athletic director." For his part, in his weekly bullets column Kevin Haskin is still somewhat critical of Currie, but applauds the move he made yesterday.
That ends any good feelings you may have. Jeff Borzello at CBSSports.com is effectively neutral, as are Scooby Axson at Sports Illustrated, Laken Litman at USA Today, Raphielle Johnson at NBCSports.com, and Kellis Robinett at the Star. Only Kellis actually brought any reporting to the table, however.
Marc Weiszer of the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald isn't taking any pot-shots, but he brings the situation up in the midst of calling for a review of SEC and ACC transfer rules. The Associated Press isn't slagging K-State too much, but the article does take pains to point out how embarrassing all this has been.
Which leaves the bad guys.
Mechelle Voepel has long been a valuable asset to the coverage of women's basketball, and ironically it was her own reporting on the program in Manhattan which led most people to believe that the very act which spurred all this chaos was an act whose time had long since come. Voepel took to her keyboard yesterday and reported on Romero's release... by basically re-hashing the whole situation and commenting on what should have been done before yesterday, rather than discussing what was done yesterday. Meanwhile, Yahoo's Jeff Eisenberg essentially comes right out and calls K-State's entire administration liars, suggesting the entire reason behind the whole mess was that they simply didn't want to lose Romero -- as if she was actually going to play for K-State this winter if she didn't get to leave. It was patently clear to anyone with a functioning brain stem that Leti was leaving no matter what before her appeal hearing even took place, so this is just nonsensical twaddle.
And then there's our colleagues at Swish Appeal, who... well... you know... whatever.
And now, I'm off to enjoy freedom until Monday. Tomorrow and Friday, covering for the twin zeroes, Ahearn will make his Slate debut. Please try not to abuse him anymore than he legitimately deserves.