14-year-old Pats fan booed in Indy, plus links (Jan. 16, 2008)

So, the AJC did a short story on national rankings for high school basketball teams. The crux of the argument against them is that some teams might be getting ranked based on having one player, not necessarily on the body of work from the team. / AJC article by Derrick Mahone

Also, in regards to the story posted from the AJC, tell me your thoughts. Do you think high schools put too much emphasis on getting nationally ranked? Local school Helen Cox is toting Greg Monroe, the nation's top recruit, to national tournaments all season. At one point, it was ranked nationally. Should we the fans devalue the national polls more and focus on winning a big local game? Or do national polls matter?

Moving on...

The Alexandria paper in December broke a story about how Marksville used an ineligible player to break out to a 27-1 start in girls basketball. The paper follows up on the story today, and it's obvious that the team is ready to move on. / Alexandria Town Talk story by Will Tubbs

This isn't necessarily high school sports, but because it's Punt, Pass and Kick, it involves teenagers. And you know what? Teenagers play high school sports. It all comes full circle here. Anyway, the NFL's PPK winners were announced at the Indianapolis-San Diego playoff game the other day. And the 14-year-old girl winner wore a New England Patriots jersey. She got booed. So, in response, the Patriots will honor her at this weekend's AFC championship game / Indianapolis State story via the AP Interestingly, the Boston Globe has no story about young Anny Grant.