Inside Preps: Now It's Time To Say Goodbye
Fri. December 21, 2012 at 6:11 a.m. | By Solange Reyner
SOLANGE REYNER
I've got some departing thoughts I would like to share before my last day at The Ledger, which is today.
Some coaches need to play nice.
A girls basketball team in this area got beat 70-0 recently. Think about that for a second. Seventy to zero.
Almost two weeks ago, after covering a pretty good boys basketball game, I trudged into the office to write my story and overheard a mention of an 80-0 girls basketball score.
I tweeted the announcement, and someone responded with a score out of Jacksonville: 118-2.
Those results are atrocious and uncalled for. There's a mercy rule in soccer, shouldn't there also be one in basketball?
Kathleen needs to keep cooking.
I've been to a lot of sporting venues in my one-and-a-half years here, and Kathleen, without a doubt, wins the concession wars (if ever one takes place). There's always something good cooking there: fried chicken, fish sandwiches, spicy sausage. The folks who run the hot dog stand at Henley Field, where Lakeland plays its baseball games, sure compete with their hot dogs and cooked onions, but the boiled peanuts I ate at a recent Kathleen basketball game sealed the top spot for me.
Radio announcers are a hoot in this area.
You should listen to them more. I've grown fond of a few I've interacted with while working here, including Bartow football and softball announcer Bruce Edmund over at 1130-AM (he read a couple of my text messages on the air when I told him I thought he sounded boring) and Kathleen announcer Mike Jenkins at 1330-AM. Reese King helps out with the football games and has his own show Thursday nights on 1330. He's an interesting cat, too: a very outspoken guy but interesting to listen to because he's so tied into the community.
I thought the Lakeland announcers from 1430-AM were a bit snotty the times I interacted with them, but maybe it's because they thought I was a snot? I didn't chat with them much but did talk to a few of the guys at the Lakeland-Osceola football playoff game, and they seemed pretty cool.
Don't give my replacement a tough time with the stats.
I know a lot of you thought to yourself, "Good Riddance," when you found out I was leaving because you're getting rid of my annoying Monday emails requesting stats. Little do you know...
Finally, a shout out.
To the coaches, athletic directors and parents who made my life a lot easier during my time here. Some talked way too much (I'm looking at you LaDreda Akins), some kept my cell phone lit up with offer announcements (I'm looking at you Robert Whitaker) and some kept my text message inbox filled to capacity (I'm looking at you, sources — and you know who you are).
Please keep that up because it helps the person in this job stay informed.
That's it, folks.
I'm off to Sarasota for a new job and finally, for a good tan. It's been fun. Keep in touch if you'd like: mikasapolo6@hotmail.com.
