Raytown Post clips

Just wanted to post a quick note to any potential employers out there checking out my clips. You might have noticed the links to the articles I wrote while at the Raytown Post are no longer working. That’s because the Web site was recently taken down and I have not had a chance to get those transferred to pdfs. I should have those up within the next week or so. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Raytown South-Nixa game an instant classic

This weekend I had the privilege of covering one of the wildest high school football games I’ve ever seen. On Saturday I got to cover the Raytown South-Nixa state quarterfinal game for the Kansas City Star. I expected a decent game but figured Ray-South would eventual pull away by two scores or more.

What I didn’t expect was for this game to be The Highlight of my young career. (Note: If you want to skip most of the play-by-play you can get the gist of what happened by reading the final two paragraphs before the **** and then my thoughts after the jump.)

After Ray-South’s offense sputtered for most of the afternoon it appeared that Nixa was going to pull off the upset when the Eagles took a 15-7 lead into the fourth quarter. With about 8:30 left Ray-South had a punt tipped that gave Nixa decent field position and I would have bet my life that the Cardinals’ season was coming to a disappointing end.

At that point I began jotting down some questions in my notebook that I planned on asking the players and coaches. I always try to speculate how the game is going to end up so I can stay a step ahead. I don’t ask the questions like I’m reading off of a cue card but they kind of give me a template to work off of.

That’s when the fireworks started going off. Before I go on I should point out that after Nixa scored a touchdown with 6:26 left in the third quarter to go up 15-7 Eagles’ coach Richard Rehagen elected to go for two instead of kicking the PAT. Obviously he wanted the two points so that the Cardinals would need a touchdown, extra point and field goal to tie the game.

At that point Springfield News-Leader reporter T.J. Brice and I agreed that it would be smarter to take the points and wait until the fourth quarter to go for two if you end up still needing it. I’ve always maintained that with very few exceptions it’s a bad idea to go for two before the fourth quarter. Obviously I’m not as qualified to make those decisions as Rehagen is but that’s always been my philosophy after over a decade of playing Madden at a competitive level.

But the Eagles went for two and failed to convert, which left the score 15-7 (a one score game). After that Ray-South punt halfway through the fourth quarter the Cardinals’ defense stepped up its game and forced a quick three-and-out.

Then, led by quarterback Dennis Tanner and running back Jerrick Walton, the Cardinals scored a quick touchdown in less than 90 seconds. Tanner then completed a pass to freshman wide receiver Ishmail Wainwright on the two-point conversion to tie the game at 15. (Remember that name: Ishmail Wainwright. I’ve had multiple coaches tell me that he’s potentially a top five recruit in both football and basketball.)

On the ensuing possession the Cardinals’ defense forced another three-and-out and after a poor punt Ray-South took over on the Nixa 25-yard line with just over four minutes left in the game. At this point I was sure that the Cardinals would milk the clock and score with very little time left likely clinching a semifinal birth. And I had formulated possible questions for both a Cardinals’ loss and a Cardinals’ win. I would end up using none of the questions I had written down.

After two run plays Tanner threw a surprising interception. Surprising because Tanner has the well-earned reputation of being one of the coolest quarterbacks under pressure in the entire state. With 2:33 left Nixa took over on its own 26 and it now appeared the Eagles were positioned to run some clock and either score to win or take the game to overtime.

But once again the Cardinals’ defense stepped up and forced a quick three-and-out. After a solid punt Ray-South took over at their own 30 with only 37 seconds remaining. Overtime seemed inevitable.

But then Tanner proved he’s a bonafide gamer by executing the best hurry-up offense I’ve ever seen at the high school level. Tanner and his receivers used their timeouts wisely and worked the sidelines and with 12 seconds left they had moved the ball to the 23-yard line. Following a loss of three on a Tanner scramble the Cardinals had one final shot at the end zone before overtime.

That’s when one of the craziest plays I have ever seen in any sport at any level happened. Here’s how I described it in my story for the Kansas City Star:

“After the ball was snapped, he (Tanner) narrowly avoided a sack and was chased from the pocket. He then cocked his arm back to unleash a desperation heave toward the end zone, but as he released the ball he was hit by an Eagle defender. The ball wobbled in the air for a brief second before senior running back Jerrick Walton found the ball in his hands at the 34-yard line.

Seconds later he was dancing in the end zone with his teammates and celebrating the most implausible of victories.”

A shocking finish to an unbelievable game.

****

In addition to being the most incredible game I’ve covered it also provided me with one of my biggest challenges. Because of space limitations the Star only wanted an 8-10 inch story (that comes out to about 250-300 words).

I completely understand why the Star wanted such a small story. They only have so much newspaper and have to save space for coverage of the other area schools competing. But there’s no way to truly tell the story of this game in 300 words (as evidenced by the 950 words I’ve already written in this blog post).

I made the executive decision of focusing the story entirely on the game’s final play. I pretty much had to.

But if you happen to follow Raytown South football (I doubt many of you do) then this game provided several microcosms that explain why this team has been so successful the past few years (other than having multiple classes filled with gifted athletes).

One minor qualm I have with how the Star presented the story was that the headline of my article read as follows: “Raytown South advances to state semifinals on fluke final play of game.”

I don’t have an issue with the headline itself because no one can argue that the final play wasn’t a fluke. But I was somewhat disappointed to see that they omitted this quote from Ray-South coach David Allie:

“There’s always luck involved in any kind of win,” Allie said. “To be successful in the playoffs you’ve got to have some luck and that’s part of it. But the other thing we have that you can’t coach, you talk about it but our kids have an innate belief that anytime they’re on the field they’re going to win and it showed right there in a play like that.”

I realize that quote is a little cliché. If you talked to 100 coaches around the country whose teams advanced to the state playoffs I would bet every one of them would say something along the lines of “my kids know how to win.”

But I also thought using that headline coupled with excluding that quote insinuated — at least to some degree — that the Cardinals’ victory was a fluke, which you know was not the case if you watched the game.

It is true that it took a perfect storm of events to get Walton into the end zone but it also took a lot of clutch plays by the Cardinals for them to be in position to take advantage of the luck that was thrown their way.

Just take a look at some of the plays that the Cardinals made just so they could even run that final play: A 60-yard punt that pinned the Eagles at their own one-yard line, four consecutive defensive stands in which the Cardinals’ defense allowed only one first down (including a three-and-out following that gut-wrenching Tanner interception when anything less would have resulted in either overtime or Ray-South’s season ending), a gutsy touchdown drive and two-point conversion led by Tanner (with the conversion going to a freshman no less), a nearly flawless one-minute drill leading up to the final play and then of course Walton’s miracle.

That’s what coaches like to refer to as a team effort. Cliché or not the Raytown South Cardinals proved they not only know how to but expect to win.

Anyways, that’s all I have. I just needed 1,500 words to rant about the most amazing game I’ve ever attended. But as wild as that game was, I don’t think it can top this:

Lenny Bias and plans for the weekend

A couple weeks ago I watched ESPN’s chilling 30 for 30 documentary on the late Len Bias titled “Without Bias.” Lenny Bias is one of those subjects that it doesn’t matter how much I read about or how many documentaries I watch, I’ll still always be fascinated by the story. Obviously, Bias’s death left us with one of the ultimate sports what-ifs. Tragically, we’ll never know what kind of player he could have ended up being.

But what’s always been stunning to me is how many different scenarios and lives were altered by his death. As 30 for 30 chronicled, his death was sort of the tipping point that led to the decline of  the use of cocaine as a recreational drug. If Bias hadn’t overdosed would cocaine remained a mainstream drug for even longer? Would another young star have suffered the same fate that Bias did?

You also have the sports ramifications. The Boston Celtics’ demise, Michael Jordan never having a true rival in the prime of his career and even Lefty Drisell’s eventual resignation because of the fallout from Bias’s death. (Where would Gary Williams be had Drisell remained at Maryland?)

As someone who has never been able to get enough basketball in his life I’ll always regret never having the opportunity to watch a guy who was once described by college basketball analyst Seth Davis as a “bigger, stronger, more advanced version of Michael Jordan.”

I also think it’s odd that there has never really been a definitive Len Bias book written. Doesn’t that seem like a subject that would have three to four books written on it every five years or so? I’d really love to see one of the great basketball writers take on that project and cover every layer of the story in painstaking detail. It’s too bad David Halberstam or Ralph Wiley aren’t still around because they seem like the type of writers that would knock that book out of the park. If I could pick any current writer to do it who would it be? Bob Ryan.

***

I found out today that I’m going to get to cover the Raytown South-Nixa quarterfinal football game on Saturday for the Kansas City Star. It should be a pretty good game but I’m giving the edge to Raytown South. Both teams are 9-3 but Ray-South plays in a tougher part of the state (in my opinion). Teams in southwest Missouri just don’t get to see the type of speed that many of the Kansas City teams possess. However, the game is being played in Nixa, which is nearly three hours from Raytown so if you put much stock in home field advantages in the high school game (which I really don’t) then it could be interesting.

Ray-South’s an interesting story because after a slow 3-3 start they kind of fell off of a lot of people’s radars. But if you were paying attention you would have known that the Cardinals’ record was a little deceiving. Their losses came to Staley, Lee’s Summit West and Fort Osage (combined record of 29-5) by a total of 11 points. Ray-South coach David Allie kept that team from falling apart and now they’re peaking at the right time.

The Cardinals have a senior wide receiver named Darrien Bruster who might be the best player in Kansas City that no one knows about. Bruster was having a monster sophomore season two years ago before he went down with an ankle injury in the early stages of the season. That injury caused him to miss his entire junior season and has kept him from getting a lot of pub for most of this year. But he’s been nothing short of unstoppable the last couple weeks, which is great to see because Bruster’s a very likable kid who’s openly talked about crying last year when his team made it to the state championship game and he wasn’t able to go.

If Ray-South does prevail on Saturday then that potentially sets up a rematch with the Cardinals’ Suburban Mid-6 rival Fort Osage who first has to get by Raymore Peculiar. Every time Ray-South and Ft. Osage have gotten together the last couple years great games have ensued. I can only assume another rematch would be nothing short of epic.

Checking in

It dawned on me today that I’ve really been neglecting this Web site of mine. To be fair, my original intent in creating this was strictly to give myself a place to store my clips and resume so potential employers would have a quick and easy way to access my portfolio. And that will still be its primary function but I think I will also use it as my own personal blog where I can jot down thoughts I have about interests of mine such as sports, journalism, sports journalism and maybe even the occasional subject unrelated to sports and journalism. The frequency of my postings is sure to be spontaneous and sporadic. Sorry for the inconvenience I’m sure that will cause you.

I doubt anyone reads this outside of a few of my close friends (and hopefully a few sports editors who would like to hire me because, you know, I need a job and everything) but that doesn’t make much of a difference to me. I really just want a place to practice my writing and share my thoughts with…whoever. Life can get pretty boring when most of your days are consumed with sending out resumes, filling out job applications and praying that one of you clips will catch the eye of some any sports editor.

And real quick, for those of you unfamiliar with my current employment situation (whoever that may be) I’ll give you a quick rundown. Last spring I received a job offer to work at the Raytown Post — a weekly newspaper in Raytown, Mo. (close to Kansas City) — as the newspaper’s sports editor. After graduating from the University of Missouri in May I began work at the Post in June.

While at the Post I feel that I was able to really enhance the Post’s sports section both online and in the print product (I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m bragging but I also know how much work I put into it). I produced a weekly high school football football podcast called “The Weekly Audible,” launched an online sports blog (which produced the most hits in the Web site’s history), and put together high school football and fall sports previews that generated a lot of positive feedback from the community.

I also had a blast doing all this. If I had any doubts about whether being a sports reporter was what I wanted to do with my life they were quickly eradicated within my first few weeks on the job. It didn’t matter that I was only covering high school sports. In fact, I discovered that covering preps is in many ways more enjoyable than reporting on higher profile college beats.

Unfortunately, in early September — days after the opening week of high school football season — the Post was forced to close because of financial reasons. This was obviously devastating for me personally because it left me without a job but even more so for the community, which now lacks a news source that covers the goings-on it the city day in and day out.

The story of the Raytown Post is a tragic one but one that is becoming all too familiar in today’s society. Since that day in September I have sent out over 50 resumes to newspapers around the country, called literally hundreds of media outlets inquiring about employment opportunities and asked every connection I have made in the industry over the last five years for assistance in landing a new job. So far it has all been for naught. I’ve been fortunate enough to land a couple phone interviews with newspapers but still find myself unemployed over two months after the Post shut its doors.

To make ends meet I have been substitute teaching and doing occasional free-lance work when I can get it to keep my foot in the journalism door. Before graduating from MU I had read about how the industry was in dire shape. Now I’ve experienced it.

But I’m doing what I can to stay optimistic. I will continue to send out resumes, make phone calls and work my connections. And I will continue to hold on to my dream of becoming a sports writer. That’s not something I plan to ever let go of. Thanks for reading.

“I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.” -Henry R. Luce