Finally! Miami Norland vs Boyd Anderson, Sat. @ 3 pm on Sun Sports

Finally!

The Miami Norland High School vs Lauderdale Lakes Boyd Anderson High School 6A title basketball game will be televised Saturday the 15th at 3 p.m. on Sun Sports.

Well, that would be the Boys' title, though Sun Sports described it as Girls...
Sun Sports' website read thusly,
http://www.sunsportstv.com/news.jhtml?method=view&news.id=532

FHSAA BOYS BASKETBALL FINALS
(Sun Sports)
This year Sun Sports will televise all 12 of the FHSAA Girl’s & Boy’s Basketball Finals. The boys Finals air this week on the heels of the girl’s Finals which wrapped up last week. Whit Watson calls the play-by-play action with Mark Wise serving as color analyst.
... Sat., 3/15 at 3pm Girls 6A: Miami Norland vs. Boyd Anderson

The encore telecast will be next Sunday, March 23rd at 4 p.m.

Finally, two weeks after the fact, you can see for yourself why the Miami Norland Vikings are
now ranked No. 25 in the USA Today Super 25 national poll.

Typically, with all the aplomb of a dying newspaper gasping on its deathbed, the Miami Herald doesn't even list this game in their Weekend Sports TV box on page 7-D in today's Herald.

But don't worry, they compensate for this slight by finding the space to list Sunday night's PBR Bull Riding event in Tacoma!

Over the weekend, I'll be commenting on the two-week delay in televising this ballgame, which
only highlights South Florida's continuing Banana Republic sports status.

I should mention here that within the next few days, l'll also be posting a series of essays that absolutely zeroes in on both WQAM and 790 The Ticket's station management, for their
continuing pattern of poor programming choices, especially for what they consciously choose NOT to do.

Sadly, for South Florida's sports fans, everything I'll say will ring 100% true.

I'll also take the Herald to the woodshed for a number of sports-related crimes of omission that, rather curiously, have never been examined to any real degree on WQAM or 790, despite the fact that they are self-evident in the extreme.
That's especially the case in the area of sports media! (Barry Jackson)

Such will be my quest, and trust me, I'll have more than enough ammunition to get it done.

Like low-hanging fruit, just waiting for somebody to come by and bash it like a piñata, my real problem will simply be trying to decide what to bash now and what to leave to a future date.

Though some of you might reasonably guess what some of these subjects might be, I suspect that much of it will cause you to say, "Hmmm... Now that you mention it..."

As with most things I've observed and found interesting or curious over the years, I've taken copious notes over the past four years since returning here from Washington.

I've shared much of what I've observed with several friends and acquaintances at the Herald who are either reporters or editors in other departments, as well as with other local media folks.

Without exception, the Herald employees acknowledge the truth of what I've told them since they've caught that same thing themself when reading the paper, or say, almost forgetting what they're implying, "Well, you think that's something, did you ever notice that..."

And trust me, it's not just other Herald employees in other departments who are well aware of the curious omissions and strange bouts of forgetfulness in the Herald sports section, since even when they're not wearing their Herald hats, they're still sports fans, too.

No, it also includes a handful of national sports writers and columnists I know or have a good relationship with, most of whom you'd probably either recognize by face or byline instantly if you're a real sports fan.

Honestly, at some point with the Herald under the McClatchy regime, it really stops just being about simple incompetence, and becomes the foundation for company policy.

Before you check out the game, check out Roy Fuoco's Lakeland Ledger story of March 8th on the declining attendance at the FHSAA basketball tourney in Lakeland, which, naturally, gets blamed on so many teams being from South Florida.
"[Polk County Athletic Director Don Bridges said] he knew it wouldn't be good news when he saw which teams qualified for the tournament."

Fewer Fans Make Trip To Finals
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080308/NEWS/565895247/1002/SPORTS

Meanwhile, Buddy Collings in today's Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-hsclanton1408mar14,0,582918.story
reports that Viking senior Antonio Hester and Head coach Lawton Williams are candidates for 2008 Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball and Coach of the Year, respectively.

South Beach Hoosier hardly needs to tell his regular readers that one of his first friends at IU was James (Jim) Thomas of Ft. Lauderdale NOVA High School, the 1978-79 Florida Basketball Player of the Year. (Don't recall if they had a corporate sponsor back then.)

Jim was the immensely talented yet modest and steady guy who almost singlehandedly was responsible for dashing the hopes of SBH's beloved North Miami Beach Chargers in the FHSAA state basketball playoffs one year.

Sadly, that was the one year out of four when through dint of some hard work, serendipity and finally, some real height, the Chargers were not only a very good basketball team, but in the opinion of some, perhaps the favorite to win the Florida state championship.
Did I mention that the NMB-NOVA game was at NOVA's gym?

(I'd been there once before for a gymnastics tri-meet, and recall that for the vault, we had to prop open a door leading outside, so as to ensure enough distance to get a good running start.
That was very weird!

I can still picture my wonderfully talented and enthusuastic friend, Linda Zobler, such a bundle of positive energy, waiting anxiously outside the gym door jamb for the vault judges to signal with their hands that she could start her run.
Naturally, because Linda was a champion, she stuck the landing!)

On the chance that you've never noticed it before, here's what I've written about Jim on one of the anchor posts on the SBH front page:
#20, Fort Lauderdale Nova's James (Jim) Thomas, a member of IU's 1981 NCAA basketball championship team and the 1981 NCAA All-Final Four Team, and the 1978-79 Mr. Florida Basketball.

A forensics major who was self-less and generous to a fault, Jim was also one of my very first friends at IU, and a very talented and thoughtful guy who possessed a tireless work ethic and a sense of dedication that was palpable at all times.

Those qualities weren't just on display at Assembly Hall during IU's games and practices, but at many other times and places over the years, with yours truly as a witness, when there were no cheering crowds around.

For instance, on those cold days and nights when I'd meet Jim over at the HPER track, and we'd go up to the upstairs basketball court, where for about an hour, I'd help Jim with various skill drills by throwing or passing him basketballs and watch him go thru his paces: shooting, rebounding, passing and free throw shooting.

It was just Jim and his desire to be the sort of IU student & player who made his family, friends and teammates proud to be around him -and Hoosier Nation proud that he chose to wear the Hoosier cream and crimson with so much grace and dignity;