After two straight seasons playing in the NBA summer league and with a year spent playing in Europe under his belt, Nik Caner-Medley, a Deering High School and University of Maryland standout, was recently cut by the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.
So, what?
One of Portland’s native athletes was playing professionally and no one seemed to care.
When Caner-Medley had an altercation in the Old Port during the summer of 2004, the Press Herald and other local media were quick to pick up the story. Little, however, was ever made of Caner-Medley’s illustrious career after his graduation from Deering High in 2002.
This is a trend in local sports media. The Portland Press Herald and Bangor Daily News coddle and crown local athletes while they’re playing in high school, but the minute they move on to bigger and better things they are lost to the world.
In a state that very seldom sees its athletes continue on to Division I programs-let alone professional sports-this is appalling.
Recently, another former Deering Ram, Ryan Flaherty, began a similarly spectacular campaign on the baseball diamond.
Flaherty, who is the son of USM Baseball coach Ed Flaherty, is currently playing shortstop and first base for national powerhouse Vanderbilt University and this summer played for the United States National team. This is a big deal, but no one is treating it like that.
Sure, there have been a few obligatory stories but comprehensive coverage is lacking. If the media is willing to cover every move these athletes make in high school, they should go to the same lengths to keep us informed about what they’re doing after.
Soon, Flaherty-like Caner-Medley-will make the jump from amateur to professional sports and his career will likely go unnoticed.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of our own who is currently making his way through professional sports: former Husky standout Tip Fairchild is currently pitching in the minor leagues as a member of the Houston Astros organization. Save for a small article in the Morning Sentinel that focuses more on Fairchild’s interactions with greats like Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, little has been made of his impressive minor league ascendancy in which he was the organization’s leader in victories during the 2006 season.
These athletes should be a source of pride, a topic of conversation, and at the very least media-worthy.
It may be a little anti-climactic that Caner-Medley was cut, but his story is a compelling one.
In his four years at Maryland, Caner-Medley’s Terrapins faced many hardships and disappointments, but managed to succeed. Fellow teammates left or were kicked off the team, and Caner-Medley was the only constant in a legendary program. After an injury in the Piston’s summer league, Caner-Medley vigorously rehabbed and made a playoff run with the Artland Dragons of the German League.
These athletes, among a handful of forgotten others, are doing impressive things. They are making waves on the largest scale, but those waves-ironically-never reach Maine. Google Nik Caner-Medley and you’re bound to find more in the Washington Post than any local publication.
It seems like the only way we’ll ever find out about what Flaherty, Fairchild and the few other Maine athletes playing big-time are doing is if they get pulled over for a traffic violation.