May 09, 2008 10:48 am
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Scouting around ... While rains were washing out the scheduled, and the rescheduled, start to the Class 6A baseball state tournament, thoughts turned to underground baseball.
If they can play baseball in domes, how about caverns?
The thought was triggered by a story out of Joplin.
The Joplin Globe reported on the giddy success of the Cave of Dreams Baseball Center, a 15-acre underground practice facility that’s dry and 65 degrees year ’round.
“It’s basically booked seven days a week,” one of the organizers of the center told the newspaper.
College teams and high school teams train in the cave, which also is used for clinics and individual coaching instruction.
The underground area had been used by paintballers, until a Joplin man decided it would better serve baseball players.
The center includes two long batting tunnels with pitching machines, a soft-toss cage, two clay pitcher’s mounds and two portable mounds, and open areas for practicing other skills. ...
Three area golfers competed individually in this week’s high school state championships.
In Class 3A, Sequoyah’s A.J. Rhine was at Cimarron Trails in Perkins. He carded 87-79-86 — 252 against par 72.
The 3A medalist was Kyle Lewis of Bethel, who shot 73-71-77 — 221 and won by six shots.
The Class 4A guys were playing at Trosper Park in Oklahoma City. That’s where Jeremy Phillipo of Inola and Brett Swindell of Oologah were competing.
Phillipo went 71-80-75 — 226 against Trosper’s par 70. Swindell put up 79-72-80 — 231. Daniel Smith of Oklahoma City McGuinness won the title by two shots with 67-73-72 — 212. ...
Football. Money. They go together, oh, so well. Like peanut butter and jelly.
But, if additional proof is needed, consider the next Super Bowl.
NBC will broadcast Super Bowl XLIII in February. And NBC recently announced that it will charge advertisers $3 million for each 30-second commercial spot.
Reportedly, that’s about $300,000 more than the average $2.7 million charged by Fox for the 2008 Super Bowl.
The last time NBC carried the Super Bowl, in 1998, the network charged $1.3 million for 30 seconds. ...
On the heels of the Kentucky Derby comes this surprising note: All 20 horses running in last weekend’s Derby were descendants of Native Dancer. He did not win the 1953 Kentucky Derby, but he did come back to win the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. He was voted the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year for 1954 and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. ...
Kamryn Ruffin of Pryor won her second state golf championship last weekend.
In the process of sweeping through Class 5A, she also ended Tulsa Kelley’s streak of five consecutive individual titles.
Ruffin won in 4A a year ago, and proved that moving up a class is no big deal. ...
Oklahoma City University is putting an end to all talk about leaving the NAIA and returning to the NCAA.
Two areas of concern: money and transition period.
OCU fields 13 varsity sports. At the NCAA Division I level, the minimum is 14 varsity sports.
School consultants estimated that it would cost between $5 million and $7 million to reach the average budget of a non-football Division I institution.
Teams looking to have an NCAA Division I basketball program must go through a seven-year transition period in which the team cannot play for an NCAA title.
OCU has won the last two NAIA men’s championships. With six championships, OCU has more men’s basketball titles than any other NAIA school. To go seven years without a chance to win anything would be difficult to accept in Oklahoma City. ...
Don Hudson of Claremore was holding court the other day when his conversation turned to the Claremore golfing gem, Heritage Hills Golf Course.
“Have you seen how good the course looks?” Hudson queried.
He has a front-row seat at Heritage Hills, with a new home on the back nine.
“I am amazed at the progress made by Dave Wilber and his staff,” Hudson was saying. “It is incredible how they have been able to get the course back in playing condition so quickly after the ice storm that interrupted most of the city.
“I have observed the long daily hours of dedication to make it beautiful once again.
“You can tell Dave and his men, ‘Thank you,’ from me.”
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