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SPORTS
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Photo by TIM MANDELL
Kendall Cochran averaged 3 points per game last year for the Lady
Rebels. This year the sophomore has been more offensive-minded,
averaging 10 points per game.
Point
of attack
Kendall Cochran may be catching people off guard this
season.
Last year as a freshman, Cochran was handed the ball as the Lady
Rebels’ point guard, but was primarily a passer and a defensive
player.
Now a sophomore, Cochran is looking to put points on the board
and make things happen on the offensive end of the court.
Basketball
teams head into 2006
Girls are 5-5;boys
stand at 5-7
Now that 2005 is behind
them, the Owen County basketball teams can focus on 2006 and the
heart of the season, which includes the All A Classic and the
district tournament.
Through the first part of the season, both teams had their ups
and downs.
Sports
Briefs
Basketball leagues forming
Owen County Parks & Recreation is holding sign-ups for the
High School Basketball League and the Men’s Basketball League.
The High School League begins Thursday. The league fee is $40
per player. Registration forms are available at the high school
office and First Baptist Life Center. The Men’s Basketball
League begins on Monday. The league fee is $25 per player. The
league will be limited to the first 48 paid players.
For information please call 484-3225.
Remembering
the other fans
On
the Sidelines
Tim
Mandell
For every die-hard sports fan cheering from the stands, or in
front of a television, celebrating each victory like it’s
the greatest day on earth and dying a little inside with every
loss, there’s another sports fan always on the opposite
end of the spectrum.
During a game, or even the season, it’s hard to think of
those people as anything but blank faces or idiots or even worse
— the enemy.
It’s easy to forget that other teams exist.
That other fans exist.
That other people love their team as much as you do.
Last week my wife and I visited family in Washington, Pa., which
is about an hour from Pittsburgh.
And when we drove around town, or stopped to eat, everything was
about the Steelers.
The night we got back home, we were visited by friends from Hattiesburg,
Miss., the home of the University of Southern Mississippi, which
employs one of our friends.
At least once during the course of the evening, they proudly praised
the Golden Eagles’ 31-19 bowl game victory against Arkansas
State University.
It’s like that everywhere.
Growing up in northern New Mexico, people loved the University
of New Mexico basketball team.
And they loved either the Broncos or the Cowboys, and usually
hated the other one with just as much passion.
Living in central Florida, people were split between the University
of Florida and Florida State University, but mostly stood unified
behind the Bucs.
Here, it’s UK.
But the further west you travel in Kentucky, the more Cardinals’
fans you run into.
Everyone loves their team.
It’s just hard to believe any other team matters.
But they do — at least to someone.
I like to imagine what’s happening in other parts of the
world at any given time.
To think that while I’m typing this column, wars are being
fought in the same countries where other people live in peace,
that babies are being born in the same hospital where someone
else is dying, that people are celebrating in the same town where
others are in mourning.
And on a smaller scale, that right now, as I’m writing this
and as you’re reading this, thousands of people are preparing
for what they hope will be the greatest night of their lives when
their beloved teams take the field for the the national championship.
For millions of people — maybe even billions of people —
the game holds no significance at all.
But for those who root for the University of Texas or Southern
Cal, it means everything.
Even if it doesn’t mean much to me.
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