 "Upon Further
Review" is a personal column by Kenny. The writing you
are about to read is through the eyes and fingertips of Kenny.
(Please, don't hold that against him)
October 18,
2007
The Fall Classic
By
Kenny Bowyer
Don’t
look now, but the weather is finally starting to give way to the
cool, crisp air we Okie’s call autumn, but for us die hard, baseball
purists, this time of year is simply best said in three words - The
Fall Classic.
Anyone
who knows me knows that sports are my love. I love the thrill of
competition. I don’t care what it is, if you and I are competing, I
want to beat you. That’s just my nature. Baseball has always been
my favorite sport to watch, but over the years, the lackluster
performances of my Kansas City Royals, and all the hoopla over
steroids and Barry Bonds, has tarnished a game that I truly loved
and respected growing up as a child.
However, one thing always remains the same - the Fall Classic. The
classic line in 1989’s baseball hit Field of Dreams, always gives me
chills, because of how true it is.
James
Earl Jones’ character, Terrance Mann, said "America has rolled by
like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard,
rebuilt, and erased again, but baseball has marked the time. This
field, this game, it's a part of our past. It reminds us of all
that once was good and could be again."
To me,
that sums up the Fall Classic. I became a fan of the Colorado
Rockies when they became a team in 1993. My family and I went to
the old Mile High Stadium that year, to watch the Rockies play the
Dodgers. 80,000+ were in attendance that night - something unheard
of for a baseball game.
This
season, just the like the cool north wind that blows into Mayes
County, I’ve been swept away by the Rockies’ astonishing regular
season rally, and now, post season sweeps. And it doesn’t hurt that
the Oklahoma ties (the Tulsa Drillers are their Double A team) have
sparked my interest a little more.
America
has always had some sort of scandal in it, just like baseball. But,
like Mr. Mann said, "America has rolled by like an army of
steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and
erased again, but baseball has marked the time."
This
year’s Fall Classic, whoever it consists of, will be one for the
ages. It has a chance to rebuild baseball, just as the country has
been rebuilt over the years.
September 21, 2007
Sportswriters: We Here It
All
By
Kenny Bowyer
For me, there is no better place to be on a fall Friday night, then
on the sideline of a high school football game. The cool air
as the sun gives way to the night time sky. The bright lights
illuminating a scared patch of grass, that could almost be
classified as heaven.
Sportswriters get the privilege of being as close to the action.
The best seat in the house. We get to talk to the players, and
we get to hear the hits, closer than anyone.
We also get to hear the fans continuous groans, belly aching and
constant chatter of their likes/dislikes about a coach or the way he
is doing things.
Nobody wants to win more, than me. I'm very competitive.
I'll race my kids in and out of the bathroom. Anyone that
knows me, knows I HATE TO LOSE. PERIOD! Whether it's my
kids football games, or OU, or whatever, things better go MY WAY!
However, having said that, things have started to change for me in
recent weeks. When things go bad for our teams, we are quick
to blame coaches. After all, they are the ones teaching our
kids how to play the game. But the fact of the matter is, if a
kid just doesn't have "it", then no amount of coaching can help.
As a sportswriter, I've heard several comments from "fans" rain down
towards coaches. In years past, I would have been right there
with them. However, once you get to know coaches, and know how
much time they REALLY spend away from THEIR family, just to make an
attempt to help someone's son or daughter, your perspective may
change.
Small town schools can only do so much, with what they have.
It's not like Mayes County has an over abundance in raw, talented
athletes. Schools often get what they get, and try to make it
work to the best of their ability.
Remember, coaches are people to. And chances are, their
spouses or kids may be in the stands, and in hearing distance of
what you, a "fan" is saying to them.
I bet you wouldn't like it, if a coach came to YOUR work, and said
that "YOU SUCK" because your co-workers messed up something, or come
to your house so your little girl can hear a coach tell someone that
her dad "NEEDS TO BE FIRED".
Think about that the next time you want to be an "bleacher coach".
Comments regarding this story?
Email me here!
May 28, 2007
A Tribute To Two True Heroes
By
Kenny Bowyer
By now, everyone has heard of Pat Tillman - the former Arizona
Cardinal football player who passed up all those millions of
dollars, to go fight for this great country of ours after we were
blindsided on 9-11, only to pay the ultimate price and give his life
for his country.
But I am going to introduce you to another man. A man who I had
never heard of before, until this past Memorial Day weekend.
A man who WAS Pat Tillman, before Pat Tillman was even born.
His name is Bob Kalsu, and he's from the great state of Oklahoma.
Del City is the proud home of two-time Olympic gold medalist
wrestler John Smith. But it's the Eagles' home football stadium
that bares the name Bob Kalsu Stadium. Kalsu was a Del City football
standout back in the early 1960's.
 He
went on to play football for the Oklahoma Sooners, where he had a
stellar career on the offensive line. In 1968, Kalsu (LEFT)
earned All-American honors at OU, and a few months later, was taken
by the Buffalo Bills in the eighth round of the NFL Draft.
Just as football was so important to Kalsu at Oklahoma, so was his
commitment to the ROTC. It was that commitment that kept NFL teams
on edge about drafting him, which is why he went high into the
eighth round.
Nonetheless, the Bills took a chance. Kalsu started eight games for
the Bills that season. The Bills picked him in the
eighth round, and Kalsu was voted the Bills' top rookie in 1968.
For the former Del City Eagle, his career looked as if it were
taking off. However, that's when the United States Army came
knocking on the Kalsu door. The Army contacted Kalsu after his
rookie season, and told him he was being sent to Vietnam.
He and his wife, Jan, already had a daughter, Jill, and Jan was
pregnant with the couple's second child.
For many people (then and now) there were ways that might get him
out of the war. There was talk that Kalsu should try to use his
family status as a way to avoid service, but that wasn't the Kalsu
way. He said it was his duty to go. Kalsu arrived in Vietnam in
November of 1969, as a First Lieutenant.
He was killed in action on July 21, 1970 at FSB Ripcord near the A
Shau Valley.
Bob Kalsu Jr. was born two days after his father was killed.
Kalsu quickly slipped out of the public's mind. However, in 1976, a
campaign by a Buffalo sports columnist helped get some interest in
honoring the Bills' fallen hero. In 1977, Kalsu was recognized by
the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The plaque in his honor reads: "No
one will ever know how great a football player Bob might have been,
but we do know how great a man he was to give up his life for his
country."
In 2000, the Bills added his name to the Wall of Fame at Ralph
Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. The University of Oklahoma presents the
Bob Kalsu Award annually. The award is given to a Sooner that
displays character and dedication, on and off the field. Also at OU,
he was memorialized by his teammates and the "O" Club with the
Benien-Kalsu-Henderson Scholarship. It is presented annually to
student-athletes who have completed their eligibility.
Kalsu is the answer to a trivia question that is hardly trivial. He
is the only NFL player to lose his life in Vietnam.
Too often today, I think we tend to confuse "celebrity" with "hero."
Celebrities are known for being known. Heroes change
lives. When Bob played for Oklahoma and Buffalo, few, if any,
football fans would have considered this man their hero.
Pat Tillman was a pretty good football player. In some social
circles, he would have been considered a celebrity. But how
many of us (myself included), before his tragic death in
Afghanistan, would have called Pat Tillman a hero? I'm sure that
answer could be counted in one hand...and that's unfortunate.
The day Bob Kalsu and Pat Tillman put their careers aside to fight
for my freedom--not the day they died--is the day they became MY
hero.
Del City High didn't name its stadium for Bob Kalsu because he was a
celebrity, but because he was a hero.
War doesn't create character. It reveals it. These two men walked
away from a life of riches and a social status that many of
us only dream about. Some people in war never get to reach their
dreams.
"Bob was 25 but the others they were 18, 19 years old. They had
dreams too and they were cut short," Jan Kalsu McLauchlin, Bob's
wife said at the Bills' Wall of Fame ceremony. "Bob was able to
start beginning his dream. Some of them never got to and for that I
would have Bob's name up there to honor them."
These two brave men never played in the Super Bowl. They never
stared in some shoe commercial, or tried to make you feel sorry for
them. Instead, they chose to fight their battles not on the
gridiron, but in the jungles of Vietnam and the sands of
Afghanistan. And they both did it without any fanfare. In times
today, it would've been easy to hold a press conference, get
endorsements and make a reality series out of going to war. But
these guys simply vanished...
Surely, they did not intend to just walk away from their family and
football forever. But, for Kalsu and Tillman, that was a risk they
were willing to take. They were willing to risk their lives and walk
away from "celebrity" status, to fight for the freedom of people
that they didn't even know...including their owns sons or daughters.
We live in an "I" and "me" society and it does shock us when someone
gives up power, money and status for "us" and "we." Bob Kalsu and
Pat Tillman epitomized the best of what it is to be an American.
I'm saddened by the loss of heroes that I never knew. I'm also
saddened about the loss of heroes I did know. But what saddens me
more than anything, is the fact that we don't say THANK YOU to our
veterans - guys who walked away from something, even if it wasn't a
career in football, who fought for our freedom.
To all you men and women who served this great country during any
war, THANK YOU!
Comments regarding this story?
Email me here!
Kenny Bowyer/MCS
Former Chouteau Longhorn basketball player Willa Mae Crow is all
smiles after receiving an early birthday bouquet of flowers from her
Chouteau Ladycat basketball players.
February 12, 2007
The State's Oldest B-Ball Fan?
By
Kenny Bowyer
Willa Mae Crow is a name that
many of you have never heard of. She didn't run for president,
become an astronaut, or even a win a state championship.
No...Willa Mae Crow didn't do
any of this. And to the people of Chouteau, Oklahoma, that's
just fine with them.
Willa Mae Crow may be one of the
oldest high school basketball fans in the state. And even if
she's not, to the people of Chouteau, she's their schools' biggest
fan. Weather permitting, this 94 year old Chouteau alum
attends home games and cheers on her favorite team, the Chouteau
Ladycats.
Willa Mae Crow was a member of
Chouteau's first girls basketball team, the 1933 Chouteau Longhorns.
At that time, the Longhorns didn't have a "C-Block" like the current
Chouteau team has. Nope. In 1933, Willa Mae Crow
and her teammates had to brave the elements, and play games outside.
Just before the start of the
Chouteau-Locust Grove boys basketball game, members of the Chouteau
Ladycat basketball team presented Willa Mae with a bouquet of
flowers for her upcoming 95th birthday, which is Saturday.
Kenny Bowyer/MCS
Willa Mae Crow gets a hug from current members of the Chouteau
Ladycats, after being honored before he Chouteau-Locust boys game
Thursday night.
Girls basketball has had a long,
rich tradition in the state of Oklahoma in the last 88 years.
The first unofficial championship emerged in 1919, with Heavener
taking home the prize. According the Oklahoma Secondary School
Activities Association, Wewoka, Marshall and Guthrie were all
crowned champs the following years. But in 1924, the state's
first sanctioned championship came, with Alva staking claim as
Oklahoma Girls State Champs.
Bertha Teague, one of the
foremost women's coaches in the nation, started coaching in Byng,
Oklahoma in 1927. She won 1,157 games and eight state
championships in her 42 years as head coach, and at one point,
racked up 98 consecutive wins.
Willa Mae Crow and other girls across the state of Oklahoma, played
their games as six-on-six. Oklahoma played six-on-six
basketball longer than any other state.
Six-on-six was comprised of
three girls of a team trying to score on one goal, while the other
three were at the opposite goal, playing defense. None of the girls
could cross half-court.
Back in the day, girls had three courts or zones, and the defenders
advanced the ball to the centers in the middle of the court, who
then passed the ball to forwards, who attempted to score. Girls had
a limited number of dribbles, they could not touch the opposing
player, and they were not allowed to block shots.
In 1939 though, the rules
changed to only two courts, and in 1951 the players could use the
same rules inside those courts that the boys could.
In 1987, the OSSAA allowed a
team to choose between five-on-five and six-on-six. By the end of
the 1995 season, every high school in the state of Oklahoma had
converted to the five-on-five game that we all know and love.
Whether it was six-on-six,
outside in the sun or with the Chouteau Longhorns, girls high school
basketball has always been a force in this great state. And
thanks to people like Willa Mae Crow, the present lives on, because
of the past.
Forever a Longhorn, forever a
Ladycat.
Happy 95th birthday, Willa Mae.
December 8, 2006
The
Way It Should Be
Thursday’s Pryor-Chouteau girl’s
basketball game at the Vinita Invitational Tournament was a textbook
case of the way ALL high school games should be.
It had two great teams, going back and forth for a full 32 minutes.
It had two great coaches, who are highly respected in their
professions, calling plays like a chess match. And it had rowdy
student sections that made the game so fun to watch.
I have to give props to the Pryor students. Their continuous chants,
methods of distractions and obscure behavior, even had some Chouteau
fans laughing. Other student sections could learn a lot by watching
Pryor’s student section during a game.
In the past, when Pryor was down by 12 in the first half, the
Tigerettes would roll over and play dead until the final buzzer. But
what Leanne Barnwell has brought to Pryor, showed in every way,
shape and form against Chouteau.
The Tigerettes never showed weakness - and most importantly, they
never quit. They battled back and forth. The Tigerettes earned my
respect Thursday night, and if they continue to play with that kind
of grit and determination, there is a good possibility they could be
playing ball come March, at the Big House.
The same could be said for Chouteau. It’s not easy for a 3A school
to knock off a 5A school, but what Coach Oliver has done in his ten
years at Chouteau, is proof and a testament to the program he has
built. Coach Oliver has his girls primed and their targets are
locked in on one thing - going to state!
Treat yourself one night, and go watch our county teams in action.
And if you are a student in the crowd, HAVE FUN! That’s what student
sections are for. Do the chants, the stomps and the things that make
high school sports so great.
Make basketball, the way it ought to be.
Comments regarding this story?
Email me here!
Read Kenny Bowyer's Bio
Archived "Upon Further Review"
Stories
A Tribute To Two True Heroes |
Rain, Rain |
Ice Cream Man |
People's Record |Just When You Think... |
Punt, Pass & Kick |
When A Win | 2006 Football Review |
BCS Mess |
Way It Should Be |
Archived
"My Two Cents" Stories
NHL: No Hockey League |
Arrington's Special Friend
A Friendly Game of Catch |
Where's the Chatter |
They're Only Five |
Miracle on Ice |
Bedlam Football
The Boys of Summer |
Sooner Experience
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