The Great Billboard Battle

In case your dog chewed last week's copy of the Muncie, Indiana Star Press, that's Brenda Frese's protégé, Tracy Roller, head coach of Ball State University, 25 feet in the air on a scissor lift (giving the term High Roller a whole new meaning), next to a billboard bearing her likeness. Tracy, who succeeded Coach B as head coach of the Cardinals (after serving as Brenda's assistant) was pulling out all the stops to sell season tickets, pledging to spend 12 hours a day aloft until 1,000 tickets were sold! Unfortunately, Tom Collins, Ball State's AD (not the mixed drink), insisted that she return to solid ground after only two days -- apparently afraid for her health. [Of course, he also admitted there was the matter of her grabbing some attention away from last weekend's homecoming football game.] Despite her shortened attempt, Coach T managed to sell 756 season tickets, a big increase over last season . . . even though ticket prices had jumped 200%! Well done, Coach T! You learned from the best.

Now, until this moment, the word "noncompetitive" has never before been used in the same sentence with the name Brenda Frese. So when Coach B and the rest of the Frese family were sitting around the table at the Frese homestead in Iowa recently (no doubt enjoying a tasty platter of loose meat), it had to rile Coach B (at least a little) when her sister, Marsha Frese (who happens to be Tracy Roller's assistant coach at Ball State), was bragging about her boss's original idea for promoting the Cardinals' program. Which explains why Coach B decided (right there at the dinner table) that she would not be upstaged by her former pupil and proceeded to make a rather astounding declaration.

(Prepare yourself for a BasketCases' exclusive!) Noting that the ACC tournament runs from March 6th through 9th, and noting (as the entire family already knew), that her due date is March 11th, and, reminding everyone that most twins tend to arrive early, Coach B announced that if her two newest little Twerps Terps decide to make their entrance during the ACC tournament, she intends to give birth on a scissor lift adjacent to the Terps' billboard at the entrance to the Greensboro Coliseum! OMG!

Believe us, this has not been reported anywhere else! And if you're wondering just how the BasketCases learned this . . . let's just say the meat isn't the only thing loose at the Frese homestead. Just remember . . . when this amazing news becomes public . . . you heard it first from the BasketCases.

Photo Credits: (Top)SportsPageMike, (Middle) The Star Press, (Bottom) DC BasketCases