With school-sponsored sports over until late August, it's time to render my opinion on the top athletes at Carson High School.
On the boys' side, my top choice is track and cross country standout Richard Shroy, who pulled off a nice double at this year's state meet. Shroy won the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. Shroy defended his 3,200-meter title he won as a junior. He also had an outstanding fall, winning the state cross country individual title and leading the Senators to the state team title.
My second pick would be three-sport star Nick Schlager, who won the state 135-pound wrestling championship and placed seventh individually at the state cross country championship which helped Carson to the team title. Schlager also ran track. A distance specialist, he was on the Senators' 1,600-meter relay squad which made it to the state finals.
My third pick would be three-sport standout Luke Carter, who was the Defensive Player of the Year, and led the Senators with 116 tackles from his linebacking position and also saw significant action on the offensive side of the ball. Carson won the Sierra League football title and finished with a 9-3 overall record. Carter made it to the state wrestling tournament, but didn't place. He did reach the state finals in the 300 hurdles.
Honorable mentions would go to wrestler/football player Junior Valladares, wrestler/football player Justin Barlow and football/basketball player Josh Peacock.
On the girls' side, I would go with Katie McFarren, who finished second in the state cross country race, helping the Senators win the team title by a wide margin. She also reached the 1,600-meter track finals, finishing seventh in the state.
My second choice would be Whitney Nash, who finished 18th in the regional golf tournament and was an All-Sierra League basketball player. She set the school record for 50 3-point field goals and she shot 81 percent from the free throw line.
My last choice would be swimmer Jamie Showalter, who took fourth place at this year's state meet in the 200 free. She was dominant the entire season.
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Is Roger Goodell getting soft?
I applauded the NFL commissioner when he lowered the boom on Pittsbugh's bad boy Ben Roethlisberger for his off-the-field behavior and suspended him for six weeks.
I then scratched my head earlier this week when he said it was OK for Roethlisberger to return to work out with the Steelers.
What's up with that? If he's suspended that means he's suspended. That means no contact with the team until the seventh week of the regular season. Maybe then and only then will players realize how much their off-field behavior can screw up a team, especially if they play a critical position like quarterback.
Roethlisberger screwed up for the third time in his young career. The first time was the motorcycle accident, the second was the incident a couple years ago at the celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe and then this year's incident when he was accused of sexual battery against a college student.
There is talk that the suspension could be lessened to four games if Goodell feels that Roethlisberger has turned things around.
How is the commissioner really going to know? I don't think Roethlisberger is stupid enough to repeat the same mistake so quick after getting cleared from this off-season's incident, but I guess you never know.
All I know is that Roethlisberger's actions have put a black eye on a pretty classy organization. If I were the Steelers, I'd be looking to get rid of him, the sooner the better.
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I'm not a big NBA fan, though I admit to jumping on the Sacramento Kings' bandwagon the three years I lived in Sacramento prior to coming to Nevada.
Give me a good NCAA regular-season game anytime, and I think the NCAA tournament is far more exciting than the NBA playoffs.
I did turn on Game 5 of the Western Conference series between the Lakers and Phoenix on Thursday, and what I saw in the final minute of the game was idiotic.
The Lakers' Ron Artest cast up a 3-point shot with about 50 seconds to go and the Lakers up by three. Artest got the offensive rebound and immediately cast up another 3-pointer which clanked off the rim. The right play was to pull the back out and run some clock, which would have forced the Suns to foul quickly and hope the Lakers failed at the line.
Craig Sager, he of the loud suits on the TNT telecasts, quizzed Artest after the game about his decision. Artest started to spew some nonsense about being a 40-percent 3-point shooter. Maybe he was at one time, but I don't care if you are Kobe Bryant in that situation, you have to back the ball out. It would have been the smart way to play the game. Artest did redeem himself with the follow-up shot that won the game, but he easily could have been the goat.