Schremmer: Team effort lifts Webb City

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March 11, 2013

Schremmer: Team effort lifts Webb City

By Mark Schremmer Globe Sports Writer The Joplin Globe Mon Mar 11, 2013, 12:11 AM CDT

A quick rant through the week in sports:

• Despite falling out of the Class 4 rankings, the Webb City girls basketball team is headed to Columbia for the semifinals.

• Point guard Mikaela Burgess’ ballhandling skills can be jaw-dropping at times. During Saturday’s win, she broke a press from three defenders just by dribbling through it.

• Webb City’s success has been a total team effort, however. Every Cardinal player who touched the floor hit a big shot or grabbed a key rebound at some point during the quarterfinal win.

• Hopefully, the Webb City students will be able to travel to support the girls in their final two games.

• Missouri Southern defensive tackle Brandon Williams has arrived. The prospective NFL draft pick now has a blue checkmark on his Twitter account. The checkmark designates that celebrity accounts are real.

• ESPN analyst Mel Kiper talking about how Williams should be drafted in the second round helps too.

• It was great to see so many children signing up for youth sports and activities at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on Saturday. Sports are a great way to build character and promote fitness.

• The creation of the Miracle League is a great thing for the community. Organizers were at Leggett & Platt on Saturday to get the word out about the league, which gives children with disabilities the opportunity to play baseball.

• Liberty won its Big South Tournament, so the team will be in the NCAA Tournament despite losing 20 games in the season.

• Say what you will, I love stories like Liberty. Stealing a line from the movie “Tin Cup,” it’s the “democratic” way to do things.

• The Kansas City Chiefs are trying to become an overnight success story with some bold offseason moves.

• Can Kansas City go from two wins to the playoffs in one year? Unlikely but not impossible.

• Bernard Hopkins is helping me believe that I’m not too old to be playing full-court basketball every Sunday night. The 48-year-old light heavyweight boxer beat Tavoris Cloud for the IBF to become the oldest boxer to win a major belt.

• According to sources, the NBA is nearing an agreement to begin testing for human growth hormone. That is a smart move. Don’t be one to think that steroids wouldn’t benefit basketball players.

• If you recall, the popular opinion 15 years ago was that steroids wouldn’t help baseball players.

• Did someone say “oops”?