Offering a variety pack of sports topics

Have you ever been on a roller coaster, maybe at Branson, Mo., where you're easing along before suddenly dropping, twisting, and turning with your mouth wide open at 70 miles?

That's where we are as a sports staff, crammed together in one cart with the safety bar pressed against our chests. Our man Henry Apple, for instance, started Friday before daybreak and hit six different towns to take pictures and conduct interviews with players and coaches for our preseason high school football insert.

We're not complaining about the workload. Thrilled to have sports back, for sure.

It's just my excuse for offering a variety pack this week instead of a single serving of sports commentary.

BULLDOG TO BENGAL

Brandon Allen will get another chance in the NFL, this time with the Cincinnati Bengals as one of the candidates to back up quarterback Joe Burrow, the league's No. 1 draft choice.

Allen threw for 64 touchdowns during three years as a starter at Arkansas. Allen was also involved in one of the most exciting high school games I have ever seen when he was a senior at Fayetteville.

Bulldogs from Fayetteville and Springdale tangled on a Saturday afternoon at Harmon Field in 2009 after the Springdale bus went off the road on Friday, delaying the game.

Springdale took an early lead, but Allen had a spectacular game and threw a two-point conversion pass near the back of the end zone to Demetrious Dean with seconds left to give Fayetteville a 50-49 victory.

Ask Brandon about that game today and I guarantee you it'll put a smile on his face.

That's what high school athletics does. It provides lifetime memories for players and teaches teamwork they can carry on into adulthood.

HOG-CALLING IN MIAMI

"Working my way back to the you" was a big hit for the Spinners and an appropriate walk-up song for Brett Eibner when, and if, he comes to the plate for the Miami Marlins.

Or, out of the bullpen.

Eibner was signed by Miami and placed at the team's alternate training site with a chance to be added to the Marlins' active roster at any time. Eibner played in an independent league in Texas with the Sugar Land Skeeters and Eastern Reyes del Tigre after being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017.

The Marlins are in great need of players after 18 players and two coaches tested positive for covid-19. Eibner joined former Razorbacks Brian Anderson, Ryne Stanek and Logan Forsythe, who signed with the Marlins on July 29.

I covered an Arkansas game where Eibner hit a home run and pitched four scoreless innings in relief to beat Missouri State, 2-0. Over a decade later, Eibner could receive a chance again in the big leagues with the Marlins.

It's an opportunity he has certainly earned.

A COMMON FOE

Sports writers are witnesses to the protocols now in place for team sports in the fight against covid-19.

I first experienced it six days ago as I watched players get their temperatures checked before entering the football field house. I stood next to a water fountain, where the nozzle was covered with saran wrap to guard against communal usage.

On the field, I saw players and coaches with masks. Players drank from their own bottles during breaks and they spread out and practiced social distancing when possible, even during the post-practice huddles.

Drills are different. Practice times are different. But players and coaches appear united in a common goal to combat covid-19.

Safety, first.

Safety, first.

Safety, first.

They deserve this chance.

FASHION STATEMENT

Overheard last week: "If you're wearing earrings to practice," the coach told his players, "take them off!"

Fashion changes, for sure.

I played in the 1970s during the disco era. We didn't wear earrings, but I had a white-guy afro and enough chains and beads around my neck to choke a Silverback Gorilla.

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive.

COMEBACK KID?

I'm hopeful for all of the athletes, of course, but none more-so than Tate Sutton of Farmington.

Sutton won the starting quarterback job at Farmington before missing two straight years because of a torn labrum in his shoulder. Sutton is back at practice as a senior and working as a backup after suffering a setback with his shoulder while playing baseball.

"(Sutton) knows the offense as well as anybody we've got, but he's not 100 percent yet," Farmington coach Mike Adams said. "There's a process in building his shoulder back up and he's on a pitch count as far as throwing the football."

There are no medical redshirts in high school. He won't get those years back.

Even if his playing time is limited, we're hopeful Sutton can be part of the team again and have fun with his friends and teammates during his final year in high school.