A great travesty occurred recently when the 13th Region's coaches chose their players of the year. The boys winner?
Clay County's Brian Griffin.
Yes, the same Brian Griffin whose final five scoring lines read like this: six points, five points, 13 points, seven points and eight points. The same Brian Griffin who ended up 16th in the region in scoring (15.7 ppg).
The same Brian Griffin who was essentially the reason the Tigers didn't meet expectations and make it to Rupp Arena.
Without even burning any brain cells, I can name three seniors more deserving than Griffin: Knox Central's Kris Mills and Chaz Bargo and Barbourville's David Vance.
Mills and Bargo earn extra consideration for reaching the regional finals. Oh, by the way, they did this by knocking off Clay County.
Some honors aren't quite so black-and-white. Some things come down to a choice between two or more fairly equal possibilities.
Such was the case with this year's Miss Basketball voting. Jackson County's Sarah Elliott was perhaps a more dominant player than the winner, Sacred Heart's Crystal Kelly that is to say, if they were playing one-on-one, I'd put my money on Elliott.
However, Kelly led her team to three state titles. That's impressive in fact, that might be the one thing that speaks louder than individual statistics.
The bottom line is this: when an undeserving player wins an award, or when a deserving player gets overlooked, it cheapens the whole idea of an award.
This is one reason baseball players don't feel bad about skipping the All-Star Game anymore. Over the years, too many players have been voted in as starters even though injuries have kept them out of all but a handful of games.
If the fans aren't going to be more discerning that that, why should a player be humbled by receiving such an honor?
One of the great things about sports is the polite arguments we can have over issues like this.
But when something as blatant as the Griffin fiasco happens, you have to wonder what people are thinking.
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