Talkin' Sports, Madison-Style: May-Day!

Greetings, fellow Madisonians... or is it Madisonites? Cory, a little help here?

This weekend is the 85^th running of the Howard Wood Dakota Relays.... At Howard Wood Field, which makes sense they hold it there since the track meet has the same name... it's all about synergy, people! In any case, the Madison boys and girls track teams are coming off a big win in Hayti, winning the team titles at the Banana Relays... okay, drift time... I'm curious to see that trophy. Is it a big honkin' banana? Is it awarded by someone wearing a gorilla suit? Someone throw me a bone here... just don't throw a banana peel because I'll slip and fall!

Back to the topic at hand. This is a great weekend to have the track meet. No chance of rain... temps in the upper 50's-lower 60's. It's a little cool, but not bad for a track meet. So if you find yourself in Soo Foo, head over to Howard Wood Field!

Speaking of Sioux Falls, the Mr. And Miss Basketball banquet is this Sunday at the Ramkota. Both Tony Fiegen and Chad White are up for Mr. Basketball... frankly I wouldn't be surprised if we have a co-Mr. Basketball if I can bribe the right people! As for the other finalists... well... that's a good question. Frankly, I don't know.

For something of this magnitude, there hasn't been a lot of publicity about the banquet, or the finalists. In fact, there hasn't been any. At the risk of sounding like a 33-year old curmudgeon, when Dick Hansen (of Hansen and Andersen fame) ran the show, we in the media were properly notified well ahead of time so we could publicize it, vote on it, and even get our reservations for the banquet in as well. Since Dick shuffled off the mortal coil, this particular ball has been dropped and I and several other media types have been hard-pressed to find ANY information on the banquet and the finalists this year.

Frankly, it's a concern. In this day and age where there seems to be more awards than players, Mr. and Miss Basketball still holds quite a bit of weight. This young man and woman represents the best of the best... the “cream of the crop” of South Dakota Basketball, to use another cliché. Why would you not want to publicize the boys and girls who are up for this honor? It's like the Oscars... being nominated itself is a huge honor. I'm hoping they can get this rectified for next year, so we can put some luster on this award.

Back to Basketball... It turns out Jarret Janke has signed a letter of intent to play college basketball at Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell. That says a lot for the basketball program at Madison... all four senior starters are going on to college athletics (Chad and Tony=SDSU Basketball, Ryan Steffensen=DSU Baseball). I think Madisonians (or Madisonites) are going to be hard pressed on which college teams to follow next year... DSU? SDSU? DWU? All have strong Madison High School presences, and that means nothing but good things for the town.

Finally, some thoughts on DWU's conference mate, the University of Sioux Falls. As you may have heard, USF has formally applied to become a member of NCAA Division II athletics, which would create an instant in-town rivalry with Augustana. I hope USF does well, this should bolster the D-II presence in Southeast South Dakota once again, especially with SDSU and USD now in Division I. However, losing the Cougars, has got to rankle the NAIA, considering it's losing a high-profile member to the NCAA. But the organization has had other solid programs leave before, including the University of Mary in North Dakota, and have done well. So it's probably going to be “Business as Usual” in that respect. But I still wish the Coo the best of luck.

This might be my last article for a couple of weeks. I'm going on vacation next week and I'm committing myself to being a complete bum. But in the words of AH-nold... I'll be back!