Girls travel to 4A No. 1-ranked Harrison Friday
Harrison just had the week of living dangerously, winning two conference games last week by a single point. The Goblins rolled to a 4-0 conference mark early, winning by double digits. Last week they won two nail-biters, defeating Shiloh 44-43 on Tuesday, then edging out Gravette 47-46 on Friday, as they lead the 4A-1 overall with a 6-0 mark.
The Lady Hawks, who are close to the overall lead at 6-1 in conference play, have a sparking 15-3 overall record. Harrison has a perfect 12-0 mark with three games canceled due to pandemic protocol.
The Goblins are led by point guard Alex Hill who doesn’t score often but who often has double digit nights in assists. Hill is very good at spying teammates who are open for shots, a strength that is a big part of their undefeated season. The usual top scorers for the Boone County school are 5’6” senior Mariah Hudson and 5’9” sophomore Alex Barger.
The Hawks counter with four starters who can score in the double figures, along with three reserves who proven they can come in and score. The 20-21 Hawks may well go down as perhaps the best team in Blackhawk history.
Playing in the toughest basketball 4A conference in all of Arkansas, the Hawks will have a good shot of advancing to the state tournament.
4A-1 Girls still dominate state rankings
Though intra-conference play in the always tough 4A-1 District makes it hard to build great records, and subsequently harms poll standings, the league still claims five of the Top 10 state-ranked 4A teams.
Undefeated Harrison is atop the polls with a 12-0 record and an 18.9 power ranking. Farmington climbed over Pea Ridge to grab the No. 3 spot after the Hawks were upset by Berryville last week. The loss sent the Hawks down two spots to No. 5. Shiloh dropped two spots to No. 7 after the loss to Pea Ridge. Former No. 6 Gravette dropped to the 10th spot after losing by 1 to No. 1 Harrison and losing by 5 to No. 3 Farmington.
It’s Kansas City and Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl
The best player in the NFL, Patrick Mahomes, led his team to a 38-24 victory in the AFC Championship game over Buffalo to win their second straight AFC title to put the Kansas City Chiefs back into the Super Bowl. The Chiefs are the defending Super Bowl champions.
Some folks may wonder why the Chiefs are still called the Chiefs. The Washington Redskins were the Washington no names all season after it was decided to retire the mascot for supposedly offending people. They could not decide another mascot then or even at present.
Meanwhile, back to Kansas City. Why hasn’t there been a hue and cry for the Chiefs to be something else? Well, it is probably because their mascot is not an Indian — it is a wolf, KC Wolf to be exact. He came onto the scene in 1989 and has been portrayed by the same person ever since, incidentally.
Were the folks in Kansas City politically correct way back in the ’80s? Actually, no. They previously had a mascot in a live horse named Warpaint. He was ridden by a local (not an Indian) in full Indian gear.
The decision was made to replace the horse because kids and young people were not identifying with the horse mascot. They then decided to go with the KC Wolf character, but it had nothing to do with an actual wolf. In the early years of the Kansas City football franchise, there were a group of boisterous fanatical fans who sat behind the Chiefs’ bench to root their team on. They called themselves “The Wolfpack.” In a hat tip to those dedicated fans, they brought in the new mascot and Kansas City area kids have loved it ever since.
At this point in time, KC Wolf is the only mascot that has made it to the National Football League Hall of Fame.
The name Chiefs itself isn’t exactly Indian-related either. The Dallas Texans decided Dallas could not support the Texans and the Cowboys so it decided to move. The owner wanted to keep the name Texans with the team but local leaders convinced the owner that the name Texans would not sell in Kansas City. There was a “Name That Team” write in contest and “Chiefs” was the most popular. In addition, Mayor Roe Bartle was instrumental in landing the franchise, and he had a nick name of “The Chief.”
So if you hear anybody getting “offended” by the Chiefs’ name, just know that either they are looking to be offended, or they are just ignorant.
For the record, being a Missouri boy and all, I hope the Chiefs win — again!