Not off the Press: Spring sports in full swing, opinions on Paying to Participate and UK wins a national title

It took 14 years for a University of Kentucky team to get the bitter taste of a national title loss to Arizona sweetened, but the wait was well worth it Monday night with the Wildcats winning the Division I national championship with a 67-59 win over Kansas.

It's no secret I openly cheer for the Wildcats while living in Buckeye Land, but as I thought last night … the decision to cheer for Jamal Mashburn 20 or so years ago pays off again. (To those "new" UK fans … he was one of the greatest Wildcats ever. His No. 24 is retired.)

But in all honesty, this UK team, full of probably one-and-done freshmen, two starting sophomores and a few other grade levels, all gelled together to win a national title, not only by scoring points, but if you watched Monday, they used defense. Really good defense.

In the Associated Press' article on the national title game, UK coach John Calipari said during a press conference: "I wanted everybody to see, we were the best team this season. We were the best team. I wanted this to be one for the ages."

Well, what he wanted happened.

I'm tired of hearing about how the one-and-done isn't fair or ruining the game … that's the NCAA's fault, not Kentucky's. If it were up to me, I would make players stay at least two years … I'd love to see how good Anthony Davis could be as a sophomore.

That would be nice.

All is right with college basketball once again.

• Looking at the first 10 or so days of spring sports
This has, to say the least, been an interesting week of the spring season. I've seen tennis, softball and baseball … and thanks those who have been kind enough to send game info.

I wish I could talk about the track & field season, but nothing has been submitted. I'm scheduled to see the teams today, so I'll have something this week on the teams.

As for tennis, I've seen it once this season, and a couple of the matches were entertaining.

There has been a lot of baseball played this first week, with Hillsboro playing some good baseball after a rough start of the season. Many of the teams I still haven't quite figured out, mostly due to the fact it is very early in the season.

I've only seen Whiteoak scrimmage, but thanks to the info provided by coach Chris Veidt, the Wildcats seem like they will compete strongly in the Southern Hills League. The Wildcats and Fairfield Lions should have a good game at WHS on Thursday.

McClain is very young and will continue to improve, I have no doubt about that, and the Lions are beginning to play quality defense after a bump in the road at the start of last week.

I watched those two teams (FHS and MHS) play baseball Saturday morning, and that might have been the breakout game the Lions were looking for. They ran the bases really aggressively, and that's how I like to see baseball played … seeing a team force the issue on the bases instead of waiting around.

As for the rest of the season … it should be very interesting.

• Random thoughts on high school sports
- Is there anything more exciting in a high school baseball or softball game than a perfectly executed 4-6-3 double play? I've seen some nice ones in the first few games.

- Some schools in the area are struggling in spring sports due to the pay-to-participate rule for some schools. A couple hundred bucks to play sports is too much, in my opinion. This is what I found … "High School-level sport: $200 per student athlete per sport."

- I feel really bad for kids and families who can't afford that. It saddens me kids may not be able to play a sport because of a cost issue like that. One three-sport athlete in a family could have to pay $600 … and that's not even considering families with multiple kids in high school. It's especially bad when this rule is put in place in an economically depressed area where even just $200 could go a long way toward paying bills or buying groceries.

- Really $200 ($150 for middle school) to play a spring sport that lasts around two months … if that? Don't forget the cost of uniforms, bats, gloves, cleats, and even sometimes own transportation to the games … goodness.

- There is no reason to be forced to pay that much to play a sport … no wonder numbers are down all around the area. Hope this doesn't happen elsewhere.

- Again … $200 to play a sport just angers me to no end. There have to be other ways to help families out who can't afford this cost, and just because of money can't play a sport … for kids.

- I better switch to another topic.

- Other rumblings I'm hearing on some other high school sports topics (won't go into details quite yet, unless one or the other actually happens) … I hope aren't true. If one in particular is even remotely true, I won't hesitate to say it would be the biggest mistake I've seen since I started this business.

- You would think I'd be less grumpy with UK winning the national title less than 24 hours (as of this writing) ago.

- Some folks need to just watch the games, and let coaches coach and players play. Sometimes we forget that's the most important part of high school athletics … it's not what we want to see or who we know, but just letting the players play and coaches coach.

• Hat Guy
On a lighter note … if you know me just a little, then you know how much I'm a fan of baseball hats. Last year, my favorite was Fairfield baseball.

This year, from what I've seen, I haven't decided on a favorite, but one that has stood out the most is the McClain Tigers' baseball cap. I like how it is mostly gray, and the paw print right in the middle, and the "M" logo that is similar to the Milwaukee Brewers' logo in the back part of the cap give it a nice overall look. It has an "old-school" feel with a "new school" look.

• Stat of the Week
The Kentucky Wildcats now have eight national championships, finishing the season at 38-2.

• Quote of the Week
"We were aggressive, hit the ball well, took pitches and went deep into the count. When you do that, you can be aggressive. Our defense didn't play bad … it was one of our better defensive games (vs. MHS) of the season." — Ritchie Butler, head coach Fairfield baseball following their Saturday game against McClain.

• (A second) Quote of the Week
"From a personal standpoint, I wanted this to happen. I felt this is where we (Wilmington) belonged all along. I want to thank SCOL Commissioner Jim Winner and all the member schools for giving Wilmington this opportunity. We are looking forward to it." —Bill Liermann, Wilmington School Board member following a 5-0 vote to officially join the South Central Ohio League.

• (A third) Quote of the Week
"So far this year, our lineup is explosive. We are in a good place for now at 3-0 in the league." — Tim Hunt, Hillsboro head baseball coach following their 15-3 win over McClain on Monday.

• (A fourth) Quote of the Week
"He was the greatest player of his era. Buck was the subject in novels, in cigar advertisements, beer advertisements, and he once was considered to be on a U.S. Postal stamp. During his playing days, he was a national star." — Roy Kerr, author of "Buck Ewing: A Baseball Biography."

• One last item of business
If this NOTP seems more grumpy than usual, it is for a variety of reasons that I'm just tired of seeing or hearing. Maybe I need more sleep … maybe I'm on a soap box, maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, but all-in-all it's my opinion, others may vary, and that's OK as well. That's the great thing … we may agree to disagree, or not have an opinion at all, but we all love sports at any level … and I just want to see situations that are fair and that just make some sense.

Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter @hcpsportseditor.