This week's participants are Managing Editor Michael Scott and Sports Editor Rick Owczarzak.
Question: UB men's basketball point guard Turner Battle is out for the season with a fractured and dislocated finger. Where do we go from here?
Mike: There is no bigger loss for this team. Battle has started every game he has played during his freshman and sophomore seasons, and he was averaging 35 minutes per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio was one of the best in the Mid-American Conference, and he was the team's leading scorer. Coach Reggie Witherspoon once told me during an interview that his team needed Battle to do everything but block shots. Now he can do nothing but watch.
Davis Lawrence is now trying to take Battle's place, but he has big shoes to fill. Anyone who saw Saturday night's loss to Ball State can tell Lawrence is a step slower and doesn't have the ball handling skills Battle has. Battle would run the floor and nail a floater in the lane at least three times per game. That never happened Saturday.
The Bulls struggled even with Battle, winning only one conference game in 11 tries. Without him, they may not win another (I use the word "may" here because the team still has another game against Eastern Michigan). This is a lost season, so to speak, but a good opportunity for the youngest team in the conference to get some experience.
Rick: The only thing we can do is go onward and upward. Battle's injury simply provides players like freshmen Roderick Middleton and Calvin Cage the chance to get extra minutes, and thus more experience, resulting in a more balanced team with improved depth for next year. Don't want to wait for next year? Too bad.
This injury reminds me a bit of Clement Smith's. While hurting the Bulls this year and being devastating for a talented player like Smith (who must be dying just watching the games), it provides players like Mark Bortz, B.J. Walker and Mario Jordan the chance to get some game experience.
Both of those injuries are going to have - and have had - a devastating effect on Buffalo this year, but the future still looks as bright as ever. The only positive to come from these injuries is forcing the underclassmen to grow up quickly - not a bad thing altogether. You certainly won't hear Coach Witherspoon complaining.
Q: What needs to be done to save the National Hockey League?
M: There is not enough space on this page to answer that question.
I'll be brief. Let's start with the product on the ice. The league needs to eliminate ties by using a shoot-out at the end of overtime, eliminate the two-line pass rule and make the goalies a little smaller. The buying public wants shootouts, and I know it's just a gimmick, but any business that doesn't give their customers what they want is bound to fail.
Off the ice, the league needs a salary cap and revenue sharing. It will take a massive work stoppage to get it and the season after next will be lost, but it must be done.
R: It starts at the top and the bottom. Talent-wise, coaches need to be willing to stop winning games and start teaching the basics such as passing, skating, shooting, et cetera, to the youngsters that are starting to learn the sport. I'm convinced that is why the talent level in North America has dropped so dramatically. Too many youth hockey coaches are concentrating on winning games instead of teaching skills.
Now the problem goes right to the top. Coaches afraid for their jobs are boring the sport to death - wait, they already have. Owners are threatening coaches' jobs based on wins at all levels, hence coaches employ shady and mind-numbing techniques to keep less talented teams competitive. If your team sucks, then you should lose, bottom line. Owners also need to lower ticket prices by about 75 percent to even make thinking about going to a game reasonable.
Q: A senator in Nebraska has a bill out that would allow the school to pay college football players for their services. Should the NCAA pay football players?
M: This idea is almost as bad as baseball's All-Star game idea. Fortunately, the NCAA is not dumb enough to allow it.
If Nebraska starts paying players, then other Big 12 teams have to start as well, else lose talent to the Huskers. If the Big 12 pays, so must the Big 10, and so on. Soon it will become a case of the have and have-nots, with the bottom feeders sinking further and further until it's almost as if there are two separate leagues.
How about this: If college football players are paid because they bring in revenue for the school, why not college basketball players? Then where do you draw the line? Women's basketball brings in revenue at many schools, wrestling at some, volleyball at others, et cetera.
College football players get a top-notch education for free, and that should be enough. A good education rewards you throughout life.
R: Let me think ... um, no. Is there really any debate? So athletes have it tougher than normal students in their everyday studies due to their time constraints. Suck it up.
Being a college athlete is a choice; no one is forcing them into that life.
I hate athletes that complain about this. I'm willing to bet that over half the student population would change spots with them for a free ride at their college of choice in a second. I don't feel sorry for these student athletes.
Look at it this way: You can always quit.
