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Commentary: Payne’s play allows UD to move on

By Brian Kollars, Staff Writer 7:30 PM Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Peoria Chiefs invade Fifth Third Field this week to take on our Dragons. As a precaution, Peoria’s pitchers will be forced to use soft baseballs — just in case. Heater will wear extra padding, too, just in case one of the Chiefs fires a warning shot at the loveable mascot.

Payne-ful decision: You can’t blame Jefferson High basketball star Adreian Payne for wanting to hit the road to play college ball. A lot of kids want to see the world after they graduate. And it’s not like he’s spurning UD for Wichita State or Louisiana-Lafayette.

Payne has some fine options, although UD boss Brian Gregory cannot be happy that Sean Miller and Arizona remain on Payne’s final five list.

I give the kid credit, though. He could’ve strung UD along just to save face locally. Now the Flyers can fill the scholarship they were holding for Payne.

Sacked QB: South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier apologized last week for not voting for Florida’s Tim Tebow on the SEC preseason team. ESPN ran the story non-stop.

It was sad to see Spurrier go soft. Who cares if he snubbed Tebow? Instead of holding his ground, Spurrier threw an assistant under the bus and blabbed on about this “serious mistake.”

ESPN should be the one apologizing for playing up the story as if Spurrier had stashed WMDs in the Gamecocks’ locker room.

Chipping in: I’m boycotting Frito-Lay. I like to pick up a bag of barbecue chips with lunch, but those wily Texans have cut the contents of a small bag to 1 ounce. I emptied a bag and counted 26 chips. Small chips.

No comment: Ben Roethlisberger won’t get into specifics about the civil lawsuit brought against him because he wants to “respect the legal process.” I have no idea what that means. Just once I’d like to see an accused athlete tell his side of the story.

The fans win: Great start to the season for the Cincinnati Bengals, who lost a lawsuit to some of their fans. What pro sports team loses lawsuits to Joe Fan?

Quick hits: Miami University opens football camp in 11 days. Ohio State takes the field four days later. Yes, college football season — the best time of the year — is closing in. ... DeWayne Wise’s catch to preserve Mark Buehrle’s perfect game was one of the best catches ever, considering what was on the line. ... Is it just me, or is Tony Stewart looking more and more like A.J. Foyt? I think he’s off the Subway diet.

Knucklehead of the Week

LeBron James is a little too concerned about his image. The top-secret dunk video that allowed a Xavier kid 15 minutes of fame surfaced last week. I viewed the fuzzy video on tmz.com and barely could make out a basketball court. This would’ve been a non-story had LeBron not insisted that his Nike henchmen confiscate the tapes after Jordan Crawford’s dunk. Echoing the wise words of Sgt. Hulka in “Stripes”: “Lighten up, LeBron.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2163 or bkollars@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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