WSU, Casto’s ankle and a tweet
COUGARS
It's funny. A big part of this job is working hard to get information first. Then you get scooped on a story when you are part of it. Weird. More on that and DeAngelo Casto's status for Thursday, so read on.
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• The basketball news first. Casto, who rolled his ankle Saturday and missed practice Monday, was full-go on Tuesday. After coach Ken Bone had mentioned he was questionable for the Arizona game Thursday, Casto taped up and went the whole way in Tuesday's workout. He did sit out a while when he rolled the other ankle a bit, but was retaped and finished the last half hour. Looks like he'll be good to go against the Wildcats. ... But you may not recognize him. Casto cut his hair all the way down to the numbs. He's not shaved, but it's close. When I first saw him today, it hit me. He looks just like a young Chris Webber. You know, when he was at Michigan. Not only facially, but the muscles as well. The new look is pretty impressive. ... And that's about it from practice, which was typical for a Tuesday. ... The Cougars get up early and head to Tucson tomorrow, going through practice there. ...
• OK, now on to the scoop. While I was at basketball practice, I got a tweet from James Montgomery. One of those long ones that send you to website to read it all. Here is what it said:
@vinceg55 Hey, Mr. Grip I just want to apologize to you for what you had to report about me this weekend you know me made bad choice but I'll be fine go Cougs
Never, in all the years I've been in journalism – I'm 54 and I started in this business right after college; you do the math – have I ever had a subject of a story about an arrest (second item) apologize to me. I've been yelled at before, even threatened. But an apology for having to write something like this? Never. I had to answer him. I sent the response to James in a direct tweet, so I'm not going to repeat it here. If he wants to let people know what I wrote, that's his choice. But I do have a couple things to say about the situation. ... Sometimes we forget what college is about. It's easy to do. Especially in sports, when we're concentrating on kids playing games and all the peripheral items that go with that. But college is about something else. It's about an education. It's about learning. Higher learning. And no one learns by getting everything right. Mistakes are the cornerstone of any education. Miss an answer on a test, study, get it right the next time. Write an essay, be absolutely sure you have covered the core of the question, find out you missed by a mile, learn, get it right the next time. When a college student makes a mistake, it's not the mistake that should define them. It's how they handle it. The response. My dad used to constantly tell me steel was made by fire. When I was young it seemed so trite. Then I had some tough times. It made sense. You can melt or you can grow strong. Sometimes it isn't easy being the chronicler of young lives. But when someone shows their mettle, it's also worthwhile. ... That's it on that. By the way, I did get scooped on this by CougCenter. Damn social media.
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• That's all I've got for now. We'll be in the morning with our usual post before we head to Arizona. Until then ...
