SILVER DOLLARS AND WOODEN NICKELS: Homecoming worthy of their service

The Nevada Appeal’s Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels feature recognizes achievements from the capital region and, when warranted, points out other acts that missed the mark.

SILVER DOLLAR: Vietnam veterans didn’t originally receive their just due, but if there was any doubt about how we feel for those who served our country during that turbulent time, it was erased during last Saturday’s Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home ceremony at Mills Park. All of those who organized the event are obviously well-deserving of our appreciation as are, of course, all of those who served in Vietnam. It’s never too little or too late to say this to our Vietnam veterans: Welcome home and thank you for your service.

WOODEN NICKEL: We continue to criticize the networks for their coverage of major sporting events and this time our target is CBS’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament. CBS used to be the home for the NCAA Tournament, but now its coverage is a maze of games featured on several networks, including truTV, whatever that is. That network even ran a commercial admitting the only reason why it’s being watched is because of the NCAA Tournament.

Many people in this country don’t even get truTV and those without cable don’t get TBS, so they missed last Saturday’s dramatic regional final in which Kentucky beat Notre Dame 68-66 to stay unbeaten. Imagine if Christian Laettner’s historic shot to beat Kentucky in 1992 was shown on TBS?

Saturday’s Final Four games were shown on TBS, although the national championship game is being shown by CBS. But again, all NCAA Tournament games should be shown on CBS, especially the Elite Eight and Final Four games.