Top sports story candidates intertwined this year

LITTLE ROCK Every December the year-enders were assigned and there was the dread of coming up with items with sufficient heft to be on the list of AP's top sports stories in the state.

Often during those 30-something years, scrounging was at a premium. Who won in high school basketball? What happened last spring in track? Didn't somebody from the Travelers do something special? How about the Arkansas Derby winner?

This year, The Morning News' Nathan Allen has it easy. It was the newsiest year in the history of Arkansas sports with at least a half-dozen stories that would be No. 1 in a normal year. All Allen has to do is put together a ballot, add up the votes, and make certain everybody completes the assignment by deadline.

With basketball today, followed by a week's vacation, and then the Cotton Bowl, it's now or never for a look at 2007.

The year was so jam-packed with headline-making developments that many have generated columns galore and carried talk radio for hours.

I sent in my vote and then revised after realizing that I had ignored Darren McFadden. Knowing that his second straight runner-up finish in the Heisman Trophy voting was No. 7 on my ballot tells you something about the quantity and quality of the other candidates. In fact, McFadden pushed out of the Top 10 the punishment of the UA track team for violations and the forfeiture of two national titles a story that might have been No. 3 or No. 4 in other years.

The naming of Chuck Barrett to do Razorback football play-by-play did not make my top 10 and Arkansas qualifying for a second straight January bowl game was not even considered. There were years at AP when Barrett and-or the Cotton Bowl would have been top five material.

The opening of the splendid ballpark in North Little Rock and Springdale's acquisition of a Texas League franchise were noteworthy items that were crowded from consideration.

Because of overlap, separating the topics is difficult this year.

For instance:

Houston Nutt's resignation after 10 years as Arkansas' football coach and his immediate hire at Ole Miss springs from the departure of quarterback Mitch Mustain and offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and flows into the hiring of Bobby Petrino. The mere mention of Nutt, Mustain, and Malzahn bleeds into Freedom of Information filings and other personal issues, including Nutt's buyout. Yet, for voting purposes, Nutt, Mustain, Malzahn-David Lee, and Petrino are separate items.

The firing of Stan Heath after taking Arkansas to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year was the springboard for the flirtation with Billy Gillispie, the Dana Altman fiasco, and the hiring of John Pelphrey. On the ballot, Heath is one thing; Altman-Pelphrey is another.

Frank Broyles' retirement after 50 years precipitated John White's secretive search for a new athletic director and the chancellor's hiring of Jeff Long. Broyles and Long also stand alone on the ballot.

Trying to sort through, an individual's criteria can include what a cohort described as historically significant vs. immediate news impact.

History won out and I voted Broyles' departure No. 1.

The head football coach for 19 years and the athletic director since 1973, Broyles' stamp on the Razorback program cannot be overstated.

U.S. Rep. John Boozman of Rogers said it succinctly this week when he joined other members of the state's congressional delegation in praising Broyles in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"When any Arkansan is asked to name the one person they most closely relate to sports in our state, there's no doubt Frank Broyles' name will be at the top of every list," he said.

It will be interesting to see how other newspaper staffers perceive the blockbusters.

If any of this has piqued an interest, The Morning News' top 10 package will be published Dec. 31, and on the Web at www.nwaonline.net.

Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.