The floor is open to all, especially at this time of year. Following are items relating to last week's Monday throwdown:
n John Liddle, voice of North Texas sports, rose to defense of Frisco, Texas, as the prospective site of the Conference USA basketball tournaments.
If you missed it, the tournament is up for grabs after three years in Birmingham, with that city and El Paso bidding. The favorite, though, is The Star in Frisco, the Dallas Cowboys' splashy headquarters and training center.
The Star has a 12,000-seat indoor football stadium, which no doubt could be configured for both the men's and women's tourney - even playing games simultaneously.
Liddle doesn't have to sell me on The Star. If the Cowboys built it, it's top-notch to the point of excess.
He does point out that Frisco, about 28 miles north of downtown Dallas, has become a sports Mecca, with a Class AA baseball team in the Frisco RoughRiders, the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League, the Division I FCS national championship and the former Miami Beach Bowl.
(That ESPN purchased the bowl from the American Athletic Conference after firing some of its more credible talent is an insult to sports fans, but I digress.)
The Metroplex has those two large airports, Dallas-Fort Worth and Love Field, so it's easy to fly there. But don't buy the argument it's cheaper - if you can get there from Huntington or Charleston under $400, congratulations. (And beware the "Basic Economy Fare," the newest plague from the evil airline industry. You're checking that carry-on, babe-eee!)
I'm not crazy about Dallas, but at least it's not Houston, my least favorite Herd road city in 15 football seasons. (That's including Troy, Alabama!) But unless North Texas comes off the deck and contends for the league championship, this is a neutral site.
C-USA has never played this tournament in a neutral city, with good reason. Even when the league was hoop-loaded with Louisville, Memphis, etc., a member hosted the event in its home city, if not its home arena. You need at least the chance for some humanity.
I guess if Jerry Jones writes a big enough check, it will work. Louisiana Tech and Texas-El Paso could outdraw North Texas, even though UTEP is 650 miles away. I'm skeptical about drawing unattached local fans.
I am told C-USA's athletic directors are on board. I am not.
n Juan Ochoa, director of marketing at beIN Sports, contacted me to say his network is indeed interested in continuing its C-USA coverage. He did reconfirm that beIN's contract runs for three years, through the 2018-19 season.
C-USA's other TV contracts with are for two years, with new negotiations with other partners - at least the ones who want to play ball beyond 2017-18. As mentioned last week, Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of the soon-to-be rebranded American Sports Network, is probably on the way out.
BeIN Sports, Ochoa says, quite the contrary.
"We've definitely never represented that we want out," he said. "So far, everything has been great, and we've got two more years on the deal. We're looking forward to this season more than last year."
If those folks could add a bunch of households, that would really be nice.
nnn
On the high school sports scene, I've heard quite the buzz about the two Parkersburg schools being lumped in with Hurricane and the three Huntington-area schools in Class AAA Region 4 in several sports.
That seems to exacerbate the imbalance, talent-wise, between that region and Region 3, which has included some or all of the Kanawha County schools. That was seen in the recent tennis tournaments, as heavyweights Huntington and Parkersburg knocked each other out of a few spots in regional play.
But if you look at the 29-team Class AAA, there is exactly one way to align the schools in geographic terms.
Take the six Eastern Panhandle schools, add Hampshire, that's one region. Greenbrier, Woodrow Wilson, Princeton and Riverside are pretty much stuck together, and you add Capital, South Charleston, George Washington and St. Albans for the lone eight-team region.
From the north, you take Brooke, Wheeling Park and John Marshall and add Morgantown, University and Preston, then bring in the somewhat detached Buckhannon-Upshur.
That leaves the other seven schools: Ripley, Parkersburg, Parkersburg South, Hurricane, Cabell Midland, Huntington and Spring Valley. That's that.
For those wondering about the talent imbalance in some sports, I have one reply: Shut up and play.
There are problems in high school sports today, but that's not one of them.
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.