Written by John Mark Adkison
One of the supreme benefits of being the sports editor is the guarantee of entertaining news.
Whether it is Stephen Blake making another spectacular series of shots, the track team shattering school records like china cups at a Skillet concert or another victory against the fearsome Delta State, there is usually something ripe and ready for storytelling in the world of Harding sports.
And the wider world of sports is always brimming with exciting gamers, in- depth player profiles and controversial commentaries on our favorite icons. And of course, we can always depend on some steroid scandal or another to keep the headlines interesting in the off seasons.
So, we are often caught in a constant question: “What’s next?”
What is the sports world going to whip up next? What player will rise out of backcountry public school obscurity into the main event spotlight? What underdog team will defy all the predictions and prejudices and take the fame? And what new sport is waiting to be conceived? What new all-American pastime is waiting to spread across the country like Bieber fever to take football’s throne or basketball’s energy? What new sport will dominate our future?
After all, back in the days of Queen Vicky and her prim-n-proper pansies, they were all about croquet, badminton and polo. None of them would have believed such a barbaric and bloodthirsty sport as football would become one of the major aspects of American culture.
All I can say is, thank goodness croquet is not America’s favorite pastime because the sports section would be grouped with arts and crafts.
As for looking to the future, I cannot wait to see how technology will make sports even more exciting.
Just think about the possibilities: tennis matches played at the speed of light, football played with athletes inside 20-foot-tall robots, basketball with rocket-powered Nikes, games of lunar soccer, fencing with light sabers, the laser disk event in track and field, outer space solar wave surfing, hovercraft NASCAR and anti-gravity cheerleading.
And who knows, perhaps Mars will be the team to beat at the World Cup.
