^The Stats Page
Athlete departures the norm at small schools
by Johnny "Stats Lange
Sports Editor
Welcome to the last “Stats
Page” of the school year. Once
again I would like to take this
space to address a serious
topic here on the Brevard
campus. I know what you are
thinking, “Stats that is like
twice in a month you are being
a normal reporter!!! What up
with that???” Well fear not,
because Fm sure I’ll be back to
my usual insane self when we
return this fall. In the meantime
feel free to save your old copies
of the Clarion and reread my
humorous musings to tide you
over
Over the last week and a half
or so, many of you have
mentioned to me and others on
the Clarion staff about the
“situation” here on campus
with the women’s basketball
team. In almost a state of panic
you have said “Dude, I heard
something about the women’s
hoops team being down to 4
players.” The concern is that
they somehow will not have
enough players for there to be
a team next winter
Well, first of all let me clear a
couple of simple things up.
According to my sources there
will women’s basketball team
next season. There are already
5 recruits who have committed
to come here, so that will put
us at 9 players, which is more
than enough to have a team.
Add some players who have
yet to commit and this is a non
issue. So fear not dear readers,
you will still be able to blow 4
hours on a Saturday afternoon
in the gym instead of doing
things like homework.
Now if one looks at the
numbers, the situation is not
as dire as one would think. Of
the 13 players on the roster last
year, three of them were seniors.
So they would be out of the
picture regardless. That brings
us down to 10 players. Now,
as anybody who watched the
team this season will have
noticed, the Tornados normally
played with an 8-9 player
rotation, three of those being
those seniors. So, when you
look at it, that’s 6 players who
had significant playing time
who could return next year, and
we are retaining 4 of those
players. I am not saying that
these individuals who aren’t
returning won’t be missed, but
things are not as bad as the
rumors would make it.
Now to be honest, this is far
from an ideal situation. You
never want to lose this many
players in one offseason.
However there are a number of
reasons why athletes leave
programs, just like there are
many reasons why “regular”
students don’t return to
colleges. Some of them could
be homesick, and others may
not like the role they have in
the system. I know all about
leaving a school because of a
change in roles because that is
why I left my first college (along
with the head coach leaving.)
Others might realize that they
don’t want to play at the college
level as much as they had
previously thought. Some
might have come down here,
and just ended up not liking
their overall college experience.
The school could be too small,
or they want to major in
something that Brevard simply
doesn’t offer. The reasons
could be numerous, and I have
not hsted all of the possibilities.
Athletes are, as stated in
previous editions of the paper,
people just like everybody else.
Sometimes a young man or
woman finds a place and things
just don’t work out right. It isn’t
necessarily anybody’s fault,
just one of those things in life
that happens. So, in other
words, don’t worry yourself
about this situation, because
things will work out, and you
have finals coming up. Until
next fall, when some of us return
to the land of the white squirrel,
“So long for just a little while”
and remember that wherever we
may end up, as always “I am
your champion.”
All the Signs Were There
The sporting world was shocked this week when it was
reported in the New York Post that pitcher Roger Clemens
had a ten-year relationship with country music singer
Mindy McCready, a relationship that began when she was
just 15 years old. The Clarion has recently unearthed an
unreleased LP of McCready's that confirms these reports,
just look at the following song titles:
-"I can tell when The Rocket is ready to go off"
-"Houston, I have a problem (the late blues)"
-"No matter what Roger says I am not actually just a
family friend"
-"Bagged me a Homer (covered from The Simpsons)"
-"He calls me his favorite performance enhancer"