The Will Dunn Saga.......(whoyawit???)

On Tuesday, January 5th, 2010, Will Dunn enrolled at Boyle County High School.

I remember the day before January 5th somewhat clearly. A co worker with ties to Danville High School approached me and asked me if I heard that Will Dunn was transferring to Boyle County High School. I said, "do what????". I couldn't believe my ears and the first thought in my mind was "championship" but I had to focus my thoughts so I could get this info. Apparently at the exact time that I was getting this info Will was at Danville High School completing his paperwork to complete the transfer from Danville High School to Boyle County High School. Now that I had refocused and was paying attention to the info I was receiving his eligibility drifted into my mind but then I thought, "Ahhh, he'll be all right. There are multiple kids at both schools that should be playing sports for their crosstown rival." I knew that this transfer would be like no other before it though. I knew this one wouldn't happen quietly. I knew this one would last through the summer likely into the season. I knew the Boyle County-Danville rivalry might have also been taken to another level.

For those of you not familiar with the Boyle County-Danville rivalry I'll try to explain it to you the best way I can. It is very much like the Hatfield and McCoys. I am not from the area so the rivalry doesn't affect me like it does those from this area. I am used to my high school rivalry between Bowling Green and Warren Central. Intense games, fight at the dance between students from both schools but at the end of the day we all got along for the most part. I can say I wasn't prepared for the depth of hatred that people/alumni from these schools have for one another. Don't get me wrong, Boyle County and Danville kids get along, for the most part, and Boyle County and Danville alumni get along, for the most part. You will hear countless arguments about which school has a better curriculum, better C.A.T.S. scores, better athletic programs, facilities, teachers, academic teams, rules, desks, chalkboards, overhead projectors and on and on and on. At the end of the day we are still friends and family and we can coexist......except on gameday. Just playing.......kind of. I think it goes without saying that a lot of the tension can or has been racially motivated. To act as though race doesn't play a part in the tension that can be found amongst affiliations of both schools would be naive. All we can do as a whole is hope that things get better in the future and I do believe that things seem to be getting better as each day passes. I hope I am not being naive.

Now back to the Will Dunn saga......

To understand how much this particular transfer affected the community I'll give you a brief history of Will Dunn. He was the starting quarterback at the beginning of last year's football season for the Danville Admirals and he moved to running back halfway through the year and had solid but limited production on the field due to a nagging hamstring injury that robbed him of his effectiveness at the beginning of the year. He still managed to rush for 886 yards and 11 touchdowns and six catches for 73 yards and a score after moving from quarterback to running back. He also played strong safety for the Admirals as well and was one of the team's leaders. Going into his senior season at Danville he was going to be looked at as a team captain most likely and a driving force behind Danville's success on the football field. Will was also a starter on the Boy's Varsity Basketball team at Danville and in his last basketball game as an Admiral, which I believe came on January 2nd, he led the team in scoring in a victory with 16 points. Obviously losing an athlete like Will Dunn would be a loss to Danville's football and basketball teams. An unexpected loss at that. Which is where this situation becomes tense.

A lot has been made of this transfer, obviously, since I am blogging about it but for some reason this one seems to hit home for a lot of people. For weeks after Will transferred you couldn't go anywhere without discussing it with someone. Rumors and innuendo were flying at breakneck speed. I sat back and listened and took it all in. I found the whole situation rather amusing to be honest. I used to work with Will's father and I couldn't wait to bump into him at a game or in town but when I finally got that chance I felt like I may be invading their privacy so I just told him I hoped everything worked out for him and that I was looking forward to seeing him suit up for Boyle County. As time has gone on, I get more and more upset with how the KHSAA has handled this situation. I know people will say, "Whatever Jason, you are a homer. You just want him to play for Boyle County so you guys can win state....again." If people can take a closer look at the situation or even put yourselves in their shoes and say that he should be ineligible, then that is your right and opinion. Since it is my blog, I'll tell you why Will is being done wrong, in my opinion. My black and gold opinion.

Will Dunn is not the first athlete from Danville to transfer from Danville to Boyle County. Neither were Spencer Perrin or Christian Williams but no one seemed to protest those two suiting up in black and gold and playing at Boyle County immediately after they transferred. It doesn't seem fair and it strikes me as odd especially considering that Spencer Perrin came to Boyle County and shined brighter at Boyle County than he ever did at Danville as did Christian WIlliams. Both enjoyed great careers at Boyle County without any outside interference from anyone(Sam Harp) yet when Will decides to make the same move he is stopped from doing so. Doesn't make sense.

There are so many kids at both schools who should be at the other school. Happens every year. I know of a person who played a sport at Boyle County last year who will be playing that same sport for Danville this year. I am quite sure that person is not alone. I know of kids who switched schools because one school has a better academic team than the other. I know of multiple kids who left one school to go play baseball at the other to receive tutelage from a higher profile baseball coach. I know of one kid who was a stud baseball player for one school and has a sister who was a stud tennis player for the other school.(WTH????) But Will Dunn can't switch schools? Huh? Someone, please tell me why!!!!! Doesn't make sense to me.

A lot of malicious things have been said about the Dunns and Will's mother throughout this whole saga as well.

Fact......Will Dunn moved in with his father because his mother's job may call for her to move and instead of moving with his mother to Louisville or Lexington he decided he would rather stay in the area and live with his father who happens to live in the Boyle County school district. Will's father can't afford to pay the out of district school fees it would cost to continue sending Will to Danville High School so when they sat down as a family and discussed this they knew that his eligibility could be at stake. In the end Will was perfectly fine with leaving Danville and attending Boyle County. Moving in with his father and attending Boyle County was the decision that was made.

That begs the question......Will Dunn is being ruled ineligible because he wanted to go live with his father instead of possibly of possibly having to move to another town for his senior year? Really, KHSAA? Really? As a father of my own son who lives with his mother and attends a school that is different from the district I currently live in, if my son decided to come live with me but the KHSAA tells my son he can't play basketball for his senior year then I would be as disgusted as Wilber Dunn is. Speaking for myself, I hope my son wants to come live with me if his mother allows it, even if it is for one year. For the KHSAA to tell me my son can't play the sport he has played his whole life his senior year of high school would be shattering. I can only imagine the depth of disgust that the Dunns feel for KHSAA. A high school athletic governing body is ruling a kid ineligible and taking away his senior year of football because he wants to go live with his dad. A high school athletic governing body is ruling a kid ineligible and taking away his senior year of football because he wants to go live with his dad. A high school athletic governing body is ruling a kid ineligible and taking away his senior year of football because he wants to go live with his dad.

People(the haters) say Will transferred for athletic reasons because of an interview in the school paper says as much. Come on, people. He was one of the best players on Danville's team last year. When the school paper interviews him about his transfer of course they will ask him questions about playing for Boyle County and of course he will answer them honestly. That interview proves nothing except the fact that the school paper has some good future journalists who know a good story and how to go chase a quote. We live in Titletown so whether he was going from Danville to Boyle County is irrelevant. I am 100% sure that if Lamar Dawson transferred from Boyle County to Danville that it would make the front page of the Danville High School newspaper as well. Does that make the transfer athletically motivated? I think not. Any athlete that plays football for Danville or Boyle County has aspirations and quite honestly, expectations to be playing football for a state championship regardless of the school they attend. This is Titletown and it is called that for a reason. 16 State Championships amongst these 2 schools. 10 for Danville and 6 for Boyle County. I am sure that Danville folks will want that point made clear that they have 10 rings which is more rings than Boyle County and that they have dominated this rivalry overall and I will acknowledge that they have the upper hand overall in all aspects when it comes to the Boyle County-Danville rivalry. No one can deny that even though the tide may be turning. Stay tuned.....

The Will Dunn saga has taken another turn which everyone will see if they go to www.amnews.com or purchase an Advocate Messenger newspaper. When Will Dunn transferred he was ruled ineligible until the KHSAA could review the case. According to what I gathered from reading the Verified Complaint and Motion For Injunctive Relief filed by the Dunns, a lot of what the KHSAA used to rule Will Dunn ineligible for wanting to live with his father was evidence based off of hearsay. The KHSAA denied appeals from the Dunns and when the Dunns filed the Verified Complaint and Motion For Injunctive Relief to take the case in front of a state court, the KHSAA filed a notice of removal of the lawsuit to federal court. This happened today as the Dunns prepared to present their case to a state judge and they found out about the notice when they arrived at court today.

I feel for the Dunn family and I admire them for continuing to fight for Will's eligibility. It has been a long process which I hope has a rewarding ending for the Dunn family. No kid should be ruled ineligible for his senior season for simply wanting to move in with his father.


Good luck, Will. I wish you nothing but success regardless of the turnout. I hate you have to go through this.




Links to stories at www.amnews.com about the Will Dunn saga. Copy and paste into the web address to access the individual stories.


http://www.amnews.com/stories/2010/01/07/spo.875604.sto

http://www.amnews.com/stories/2010/04/26/spo.299883.sto

http://www.amnews.com/stories/2010/06/17/spo.793613.sto

http://www.amnews.com/stories/2010/07/16/spo.295955.sto

http://www.amnews.com/stories/2010/07/17/loc.405211.sto

http://www.amnews.com/stories/2010/07/21/loc.722949.sto

Is LeBron a LeFraud?

It's been a little over a week since LeBron James made his 'Decision' to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. At first I didn't care. Now I would say I am indifferent. I am getting a little tired of seeing The Super Friends all over the place and I know that this is only the beginning. It's good to be a Laker/Kobe fan right now.

Let me state clearly and for the record, I am a fan of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. They are both spectacular players and while neither will ever be able to top Kobe's spot in my list of favorite basketball players regardless of what they do, I must say that I enjoy watching them play the game of basketball. That being said, I have been watching basketball since I was around 6 years old. I have seen the greatest days of Magic and Bird and the great Lakers and Celtics rivalries of the 80's. I watched Isiah Thomas and the Bad Boys of Detroit batter and bruise the greatness out of the Lakers and Celtics as well. I watched some guy named Michael Jeffrey Jordan take the game to a whole other level and I hated of every minute of his worldwide domination. I watched the most dominant center to ever play, Shaquille O'Neal, restore championships to the Lakers with his sidekick Kobe and I watched that same dominant center derail what should have been the most dominant team in the 2000 decade. I watched the most boring superstar in all of sports history, Tim Duncan(Albert Pujols is a close second)place himself as arguably the greatest power forward ever. I have watched Kobe Bryant rise, fall down horribly, rise, fall again just a little and then rise to heights no one thought was possible a mere 4 years ago. I watched LeBron James emerge into the league as an immediate superstar. No one had captivated the league like he had since Michael Jordan played. I never would have thought that LeBron would do what he did last week. Never.

But he did. I am not talking about leaving Cleveland, I expected him to leave Cleveland the minute he was drafted by Cleveland. So did Adrian Wojnarowski(http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-heatfreeagency071610). All of these superstars I have mentioned created their legacies by being 'The Man' on their respective teams and leading their teams to titles. Note the plural on title. I fully expected LeBron to one day be like Mike and win around 6 titles on a team led by him. In all actuality I expected LeBron to be able to do this with the Cleveland team he just left on ESPN last Thursday evening. He is that good. Could be the best ever. But now we will never know. Any title he wins should be like how people think Barry Bonds' home run record should be noted.....with an asterisk. That's right, any future titles he wins should be treated like he was on steroids because in a year or so the Miami Heat will be like an NBA team on steroids.

Am I bitter? I guess. I wanted to see him excel without the help of the third best player in the NBA because I believed he didn't need that kind of help. I wouldn't be bitter had he gone to Chicago even though I didn't want him to go to Chicago and have to endure another dynasty run by the Bulls but at least the Bulls would have been his team. We can't call the Heat his team even if he is the best player on that team. There are t-shirts that say Welcome to Wade County. Wade has already brought the fans of Miami a title and now he has brought them LeBron James. Wade is the real King in Miami, not LeBron. Always will be and that will never change regardless of how many triple doubles or Finals MVP's LeBron gets in the NBA Finals. If he gets them. I don't think it's a secret that LeBron will have the game winning assists while Wade will have the game winning shots. I think what we are witnessing is a generational shift take place. My generation was a take charge-take your destiny in your own hands and I-am-the-leader type of generation. I'll call us the Kobe generation. The next generation, the LeBron generation, seems to be a let's-play-together-instead-of-beating-each-other-because-it-gets-us-there-easier type of generation. I think we will see more friends come together to play together before we see guys who are great friends like Magic and Isiah were battle it out in the Finals.

Truth be told, I look forward to watching the Heat. I look forward to watching the Lakers beat them in the Finals next year. After next year, I think it is over for the NBA.....until the next batch of Super Friends(I'll go ahead and call them The Avengers) Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire team up in New York. Honestly, I am not mad at them. Just befuddled by LeBron. He could have been the greatest ever and now he'll just be the greatest Scottie Pippen ever. What a waste.