SPORTS
STORM CENTER: Choose your mascot wisely
On June 17, 2015, a mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, S.C.
During a Bible study, a man opened fire with a handgun and killed nine people.
That man was Dylann Roof, who at the time was unemployed and living in a part of Charleston that’s predominantly African-American. Roof was later captured in a traffic stop on June 18 in Shelby, N.C., about 250 miles from the site of the shooting.
Roof then confessed to committing the attack at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston. He’s scheduled to reappear in court on Oct. 23, 2015, and Feb. 5, 2016. His bond has been set at $1 million.
Roof had a “Confederate States of America” decoration on the bumper of the Hyundai Elantra he was driving at the time he was stopped.
This senseless tragedy has caused waves of emotion to wash over the country.
Nowhere was this more on display than in Fort Smith, Ark., which is where your current sports editor lived and worked in 2013 and early 2014.
I was a copy editor for the Times Record, building sports pages for the newspaper.
See, a Fort Smith school board committee passed a motion on Tuesday to ban the “Dixie” song during the 2015-16 academic year.
In addition, all Fort Smith Southside teams will no longer be called the Rebels as of 2016-17.
This motion was passed unanimously.
A school board member openly admitted the decision to remove the Rebel mascot stemmed from the mass shooting in South Carolina. Read more of this column in the weekend Bowie News.
Editor’s Note: The Storm Center column is the expressed written views of sports editor Eric Viccaro and not The Bowie News.
The sports editor wonders if this mascot offends you, the reader? This is Fort Smith Southside’s mascot. Let him know at: [email protected]. We appreciate feedback. (Logo provided by the Fort Smith (Ark.) School District, no copyright infringement inferred)
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Saint Jo Basketball Interview
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Basketball Roundup
Saint Jo boys
The Saint Jo Panthers were able to win a one-sided game at Dodd City on Tuesday.
The Panthers won 41-22 against the Hornets as they try and ramp back up after the holidays to get ready for district play.
Saint Jo had an up and down performance at its tournament in North Hopkins the previous week as it tries to get the rust off caused by the holiday break.
The first quarter was competitive as the Panthers got scoring from four different players. Saint Jo held Dodd City to only one field goal, but several free throws allowed the Hornets to trail only 12-7 after the first quarter.
The Panther defense cleaned up the fouling while continuing to make any shot an easy one for Dodd City. This allowed Saint Jo to grow its lead as the game went along.
The Panthers allowed the Hornets to never score more than eight points in a quarter while they scored modestly in the double-digits in three of the quarters.
Saint Jo led 22-11 at halftime, 34-19 after three quarters before allowing only three points in the final period to make it 41-22.
Nocona girls
The Nocona Lady Indians stayed undefeated in district with a blowout win at home against Windthorst on Tuesday.
The Lady Indians beat the Lady Trojans 78-27 in a game that was not close at all.
Nocona came into the game confident with, easily winning its first three district games before the holiday break before playing several tough teams at the Championship Basketball Tournament last week where it went 2-2.
The Lady Indians were up 15-8 after the first quarter and 33-17 at halftime. Despite leading by double-digits, Nocona upped its intensity in the second half by outscoring Windthorst 24-3 in the third quarter.
The Lady Indians scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to end the game with the ludicrous score of 78-27.
Nocona boys
The Nocona Indians lost their first district game of the season, losing a tough game at home against Windthorst.
The Trojans won 63-52 in a game where one bad quarter from the Indians was all it took.
Nocona came into the game after starting district 1-0 with a win against Olney before the break. The Indians struggled in their holiday tournament last week in Bridgeport, but it was mostly against bigger schools.
It was a low-scoring first quarter as Nocona led only 9-7, but were in control.
Then the second quarter came and the Trojans flipped the game on its head.
Windthorst exploded for 26 points, scored all by three of its players as the low-scoring game was burst open.
On the flip side, the Indians scored only eight points while making one field goal in the quarter. Nocona found itself down 33-17 at halftime.
The Indians bounced back a little in the third quarter, outscoring the Trojans 14-11 to make it 47-31 heading into the final period.
The fourth quarter was high scoring for both team. Nocona easily had its best offensive quarter, with 21 points scored as six different players made at least one basket.
Unfortunately, the Indians could not slow down Windthorst to try and make a comeback. The Trojans attempted 17 free throws in the period alone and made enough of them to nearly equal Nocona’s total, finishing with 19 points.
Windthorst won 62-53.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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