Not if you go by the local piece of crap newspaper. After a splendid day yesterday watching intense young people compete in six championship basketball games, I found only four box scores in my Sunday paper. I know it's a small and stupid thing; however, it simply crested all the negativity and ill-feelings dominating the relationship lately between the newspapers and myself. What the paper did do is give both division II championships (girls and boys) two paragraphs as afterthoughts at the end of a central mass game.
They simply missed the best game of the day. The girl's game came down to the final 10 seconds before two free throws sealed a 46-41 win for an elated squad of girls. The game came down to the final minute, and the losing side actually had a chance to take the lead with less than a minute remaining; however, the front end of a one-and-one (if you make the shot you get another) was missed and they were forced to foul, leading to a three-point advantage. A subsequent 3-point attempt missed leading to another foul and the final margin of victory.
The boys division two game was not nearly as close, but every bit as impressive. I can not recall a more smothering defensive effort in all my years of tournament watching. I imagine the low point total is not a record; however, the defense exhibited by the eventual champions in their 49-26 victory was a good as I've ever seen. I've seen some mismatches over the years, but even then the losers generally reach into the 30s. The halftime score was 14-10, and that is more like a quarter score in most games. The losers never really got into a flow, and the crowd kept waiting for a run that never came. Injury to one of their star forwards did not help, but even if they had someone to pick up the slack they would have had trouble getting a shot off. As ugly as it sounds, the fact is it was a thing of beauty to aficionados of good basketball.
Anyhow, that and the box scores are missing from the local newspaper report. It's just sports, but what it does illustrate is how far and how fast newspapers have fallen. I'm having trouble conveying my level of despair and disappointment at them, as well as deciding what else to post here. I'm so sick of garbage showing up on the doorstep or news rack.
