Quick Sports Note

The winning goal shot, at 3 minutes into the extra period. (AP photo)

There is always great angst over why the US is not better at international soccer. We have been "coming on" for years! This year we made it to the round of 16. Today, US lost to Ghana 2-1 in extra time. Not quite there yet! Very exciting game though.

Reshaping the District

Balloon releasers included faculty, administration, staff and athletes from both schools, along with superintendent Williams and City Councilman Sharp.

With the school year drawing to a close, the last major sporting contest between Ruskin High School and Hickman Mills High School was held today. As the reader may recall, Hickman Mills High School will close at the end of this year. The district decided to have a little bit of ceremony to commemorate the occasion, most memorably a release of orange and blue balloons into the windy sky before the girl's soccer teams took the field. The two school's drum lines played together and apart, there was music and dance, and free refreshments.

The day was windy, but warm and sunny, clear as could be. Aside from an excess of waiting time before the festivities, it appeared that all went well. There appeared to have been one fight but I never saw it, and it didn't seem to last long. (How did I know there was a fight? All the kids in the bleachers ran to the top seats, yelling "Fight, fight!". They weren't there long.) The police presence was obvious, including two mounted officers.

Blue and orange balloons take off into the blue sky carried by the strong wind.

First half play between the two teams.

The girls played a scoreless first half. Hickman Mills scored about midway through the second half. Unfortunately, I could not see the game to its end, and I have not been able to find out if that one goal held up for a win for the Hickman Mills Cougars in the last major team sport contested between two high schools in the Hickman Mills School District.

Update: Hickman Mills High School girls won the game with a final score of 2-0. Always good to go out on a winning note. Other district teams should note that next year's combined team may be pretty good!

All photos by The Observer.

In the Wizards' Hunt for the Best Deal, SKC Gets...

Well, ain't that a bummer. The soccer team Kansas City Wizards has been listening to sweet music from out by the Kansas Speed Way, and is very strongly considering taking their field and other assorted goodies to Kansas City, Kansas. The original plan was for a stadium, fields, hotel, and retail at the old Bannister Mall site, but apparently Kansas' Star Bonds, which feature money up front sweetened the deal even more than the TIFs and tax deferments from KCMO and was too much for the Wizards to resist. Mayor Funkhouser has been making noise about trying to keep them from going over, but even he states that there is only so much the city can give.

Cerner, which has a presence at Marion Park, was also going to have some employees at Bannister; they are saying they are still in at the Bannister site, but are also planning to have a site at KCK, and have several thousand employees there.

It's a really tough thing to lose this, especially for Hickman Mills school district, which is already being hammered by the decreased retail base. That land is all potential now, nothing actual, with the Mall taken down. We definitely need Cerner to keep its promises, to stay in Marion Park and to have more facilities at Bannister.

This just bites.

News links:

Wizards stadium project kicked over the state line to Wyadotte County Ks

Sports and Money: stadium nice but Cerner real catch

Leaders Reaction to Soccer Stadium project loss

Village West Eyed for Wizard's Stadium

And this just in--Wyadotte County Endorses Development

That's what I get for checking to see if my links work--news didn't get any better.