All details a concern for Palombo

Being the head coach of a Division I women’s basketball team seems easy to the casual fan. It may seem that the coach only has to hold daily practices and pace the sidelines for a couple of hours during 28 games each season.

A coach’s job, however, is much more involved as she handles non-stop duties and attempts to account for all details. A good coach, such as Maine’s Joanne Palombo-McCallie, does more than just show up for practices and games. Instead, she endlessly prepares her team.

Then, she also has to review tapes of other teams, monitor her student-athletes, and recruit. And, recruit some more.

Duties and details.

During Maine’s romp over Drexel in Sunday’s North Atlantic Conference quarterfinal, Palombo missed one detail. Her sophomore star, Cindy Blodgett, was three points away from smashing a UMaine game scoring record of 46 set by Rachel Bouchard in 1989 during a loss to Virginia Commonwealth.

Palombo did leave Blodgett in as she set the NAC tourney scoring record, but the school record didn’t fall as Blodgett left the game with 44 points.

Records and numbers don’t mean much to Blodgett as long as her team has a bigger number than its opponent at the end of the game.

Records and numbers, however, should mean something to Palombo. Understandably, her main concerns are winning and the health of her players. Both were accomplished Sunday, but she could have accomplished a little more for her program by being aware of Blodgett’s chance to set another record.

Another record means more recognition for her program as the aura of Cindy Blodgett spreads nationally. More recognition could translate into more funding from supporters and it could help entice more blue-chip recruits to attend Maine.

Duties and details. It’s not easy being Joanne Palombo-McCallie.

– Joe McLaughlin, BDN

Deirdre Fleming’s Sounding Off article last Saturday is another reminder that people who want to complain will always find something to complain about. Or maybe she was just trying to fill up space in the paper. I did notice she repeated paragraphs two and three.

Apparently, Bangor Blue Ox fans will be left with the same problem confronting fans of the Heat, Jazz, and Magic. After all, the team is named for Paul Bunyan’s “Babe, the Blue Ox.” It wasn’t Babe the Blue Oxen. Legend tells us there was only one “Babe.”

If Ms. Fleming has a problem with screaming, “Go Bangor,” I’m sure the players and management would not complain if she yelled “Go Oxen,” and since the players are likely to be young, well-trained male athletes, maybe it would be appropriate to simply say “Go Babes.”

– Julio V. DeSanctis, Bangor

I would like to commend Mr. Thorne for a very well-written article last week. Yes, college athletics have become very commercialized, but this is not to pay athletes.

I played four years at Springfield College as a walk-on. I did not receive a scholarship for my efforts, even though I was one of the top two pitchers in the rotation. I was a resident assistant, which provided me a free room for extra duties. I worked for the grounds department for spending money. I worked 50 hours a week during the summer for Delta Airlines as a ramp attendant to help pay for my tuition as a supplement to my loans and the help I received from my parents. I am still repaying those loans and will be doing so for the next seven years.

A scholarship athlete is already ahead of the other students since he or she is not paying for tuition, room, or board. If they need more money, do not pay them, let them earn it like the rest of us.

I believe Thorne stated it very well when he said that the tuition and experience were payment enough. If the athletes get paid, it will only upset the non-athletes and cheat the athletes from learning how to earn their way through life.

I would like to close by saying that college athletics should be about competition, not compensation. After all, the goal is a national championship not a fat bank account.

– Jon Goss, Brewer

I was one of the thousands of fans at the UMaine-Boston University women’s basketball game last week at the Alfond Arena.

I got a reserved seat 15 minutes before game time in section G. An usher told me it was across the gym floor to the right corner. OK, I got a seat with back support, no problem. My problem is this: At the playing of the National Anthem, I could not locate the colors but observed the fans looking up to the roof section at the other end of the gym. I could barely see the flag and half was darkened.

We have a great team this year, one that we are proud of, but let’s be proud of our colors, too, by erecting a spotlight to be turned on at the playing of our National Anthem for future games.

– Ernest W. Faulkner, Bangor

Readers may submit “Sounding Off” comments to the Bangor Daily News’ Sports Desk at P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402-1329. Our fax number is (207) 990-8092. All comments will be edited for accuracy, clarity, content, and taste.