Sports Update

By Ben Brake

Can I Have Your Attention Please!

Kansas State Head Coach Jim Wooldridge has a knack for getting the attention of the player he wants to talk to. He is a very
vocal person on the courtside. He watches every little detail of a game and when he sees something he doesn’t like he will let that
player know right away. He will try to holler, whistle, and scream at the individual to get his attention and if that doesn’t work,
stand back cause here comes the STOMP. What is the STOMP? That is when he takes his shined up hard soled shoe and brings
it from somewhere down in Texas and slams it to the shiny hard wood floor like he just squashed a prize-winning cockroach in a
splatter contest. The sound echoes throughout the building and every head in the facility whips back to see where the sound came
from. He then delivers the message to the player like there is nothing out of the ordinary.

He also has a knack of grabbing the officials’ attention as well. During the Oklahoma State game in Stillwater, OK Coach
Wooldridge made sure to get the referees attention on numerous occasions. There seemed to be several questionable calls and
Wooldridge wanted to let them know he didn’t like it. With a little over a minute left to go in the first half Wooldridge got a technical
foul on the bench. I believe that is just what he wanted because OSU had the next four fouls after that and K-State didn’t get
another foul until the 15:33 mark in the second half.

I think that Coach Wooldridge is a fantastic coach and he will get this team turned around. He is very attentive on the bench and
directs his players from start to finish. I really like what I see and hope they can get over those last minute jitters to win the close
ones. They are not that far away from being a good team, so just hang in there and keep supporting them. They will be back!