Heath Cummings

When the Story is not “The Story”

Heath "kdeuce" Cummings

Over the last season we’ve heard more speculation regarding Quin Snyder’s job then any other coach in the Big 12, maybe the country. Everyone had an opinion, and one went as far as to turn his opinion into a news story. Yes, even as Kevin Slaten backpedals faster then AFC defensive backs preparing for the arrival of Randy Moss, the effects of his (non)story are still being felt. You see, this is one case where the story is not the story.

The initial reaction was felt across the state. Every message board and sports talk radio station was buzzing with the news. And while it appears that folks from the east side of the state, knowing Slaten, were more skeptical from the beginning, folks in KC were singing a different tune. Maybe it’s different for Kansas City Tiger fans. First of all, plain and simple, KC is a better college town the St. Louis. Whether it’s the proximity to major universities, or the number of college events hosted, Kansas City folks just seem to care a little more about college athletics then those from the east side. Or maybe it’s the fact that these Tiger fans spend a good part of their time hearing about how great their enemies to the west are. It’s become fairly accepted that Kansas City is a pro KU town, right down to the newspaper. Whatever the reason, Kansas City Tiger fans met this news with a sense of hope.

You could hear it in their voices as they called into the stations. One caller, calling into local station 810 WHB stated “I don’t care why, or who’s behind it, I’m just hoping it’s true.” In fact, as you listened to the airwaves and scanned the message boards one thing became apparent, this caller was not in the minority. It seemed the only people hoping this to be a rumor were fans of the Tigers’ rivals. One local Jayhawk fan was heard talking of how he’d hoped they’d keep Quin at least one more year as his Jayhawks would be down next year. On Kansas and Illinois message boards, the sentiment was more of the same. As the day went on and turned into night, more and more people began to get the news that Slaten’s three sources may as well be Rickey Clemons, Tony Harvey, and Carmento Floyd. Sentiment then turned to anger towards Slaten, but the real question is why?

Were Tiger fans really that disappointed that (once again) the St. Louis media had started false rumors, reported them as fact, and the backed off all in 24 hours? Or were they more upset by the fact that AD Mike Alden had quashed the rumors and again reiterated that Quin was still in the universities plans? As Slaten tried to rewrite the previous day, Tiger fans called and emailed KFNS, Slaten’s station at a frantic pace. Were the calls and emails misguided?

Perhaps, instead of complaining in vain to the station manager, they should be calling Alden. There are many reasons given as to why the Tigers plan on giving Quin more time. Some say they don’t want to fork out the money necessary to buy his contract out. Others will tell you that Quin’s in bed (figuratively, of course) with the Tigers top boosters and Alden has his hands tied. And then there are those who think changing coaches while on probation is a bad idea, and Quin should be kept around to suffer through his consequences. None of these excuses would be good enough for me if I were a Tiger fan, because they don’t have a darn thing to do with winning basketball games.

From Rickey Clemons, to the investigation, to Quin Snyder it seems like a long time since the Tigers were worried about nothing but winning basketball games. It’s time for that to change. For all the things that Kevin Slaten did wrong (irresponsible journalism, possibly lying) there could be one good thing to come out of this. Maybe Mike Alden heard the response from Tiger nation loud and clear this week. Maybe he’ll do what’s right for the program and make Slaten’s story at least partially true.