I was sorry to hear that Blair Savage-Lansden won’t be returning as head coach of the Memphis women’s basketball team next year.

But truth be known, it’s probably the best move for her AND for Memphis.

To me, she never seemed happy or even comfortable on the Lady Tigers’ bench - and her record certainly showed it.

As you read today in Phil Stukenborg’s story about her resignation, Savage has gone 30-87 in four seasons with the Lady Tigers.

I’ve been criticized a few times for writing negatively about the Lady Tigers during her tenure, but they never really gave me much of a choice.

According to The Commercial Appeal Archives, I’ve covered the Lady Tigers 13 times since I started with the paper back in 2005. In those 13 games, Memphis had a record of 1-12 with their lone win coming against Central Arkansas.

That made it really hard to write anything positive.

Hopefully, Savage will move on to a job that suits her a little better - and maybe Memphis will find a women’s basketball coach who can make the program relevant in Conference USA.

Officials at The Racquet Club of Memphis had a major announcement Wednesday.

They had been informed by the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour a few days earlier that the annual Memphis stop on the men’s pro circuit had been given a premier designation as one of the top 19 events underneath the four majors: Wimbledon, the French Open, the Australian Open and the U.S. Open.

So they scheduled a press conference. Good idea.

They held it at City Hall. Not such a good idea.

It created an awkward situation Wednesday afternoon. With most local television outlets sending news reporters to the press conference, the announcement confused those reporters not familiar with professional tennis or the annual Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at The Racquet Club.

Instead of being asked about the impact of the event’s upgrade, tournament owner Mac Winker was peppered with basic questions about the tournament. One TV reporter misinterpreted the eight-week session of Memphis-level events on the ATP Tour as being an eight-week tournament in Memphis. A wire-service reporter interrupted Winker at one point to simply ask: `What are we talking about here?’

The poor decision to hold the event downtown — which had news organizations believing the press conference to be something of a greater sports magnitude — diminished the announcement’s impact. Instead of asking about Memphis’s positioning as one of the sport’s top 25 events in the world, reporters spent 30 minutes trying to figure out what they were covering.

Realizing in some ways they had been misled, several reporters left the conference before it ended.

Perhaps next time tournament officials will take time to think through such a situation before acting. Maybe they’ll discuss the proper staging of such an announcement with those more familiar dealing with the media on a regular basis, like the University of Memphis, the Grizzlies, or the Redbirds.

Did anyone get to check out former Melrose running back Graig Cooper’s performance Thursday night for Miami (Fla.)? He scored a pair of touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving, and led the team in rushing (50 yards on seven carries) despite getting 13 less carries than starting RB Javarris James in a 34-17 Hurricane win over Texas A&M.

We all knew a few years ago when he transferred back to Memphis from Midwest City, Okla., (Cooper played at Kirby as a freshman) that Cooper was the real deal. You could see it in his first MIAA jamboree outing as a junior, his field vision and speed on the edge.

Cooper now has three touchdowns and is averaging 5.0 yards per carry on 48 carries, a total that includes a rough 18-carry, 26-yard rushing performance in Miami’s 51-13 loss to Oklahoma. Keep in mind, he’s still just a freshman.

Now, if only these announcers can get it right that it’s pronounced “Greg,” not “Craig.”

Wow…That was so dull I almost found myself listening to what Larry Merchant had to say

Boooooorrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggg!

After four rounds, I almost miss Mike Tyson…By now, he would have at least bitten an ear or something

Kelly Pavlik is still being interviewed, but the main event is moments away.

Cory Spinks is first to the ring, accompanied by live rap. It’s a slow progression, with a confident Spinks dancing, rather than walking, the aisle. Woooooo. Don King is behind, waving his ever present American flag and looking, well, Don King-ish. Only in America. We’re used to seeing fighters walk the aisle with a baleful glare. Instead, we get Dancing with the Stars.

Jermain Taylor is much more business like in his entrance — not to mention much faster. The crowd, filling in, but still not huge, is definitely pro Taylor.

Taylor is 26-0-1 with 17 KOs. Spinks is 36-3 with 11 KOs.

Team Spinks is decked out in St. Louis Cardinals hats. What would Jack Buck say?
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We’re getting close to the start of Kelly Pavlik-Edison Miranda. At the moment, unbeaten welterweight Andre Berto is busy pounding Martinus Clay, who has a great name for boxing, but not the game to match.

INTROS:
There’s music in the air, so we’re about to get going here. Promoter Bob Arum is in the ring, but he’s not the one doing battle. Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Lennox Lewis are tuning up the pipes for the HBO broadcast. The TV people won’t want to be kept waiting.

Random thought while the music still plays 15 minutes later, but with no action: If Lennox Lewis stands directly in front of Jim Lampley, Lampley disappears. Lewis is a large — not fat by any means — man.

Despite much lower ticket prices than last year’s Jermain Taylor-Winky Wright fight, FedExForum isn’t exactly packed an hour before the main event. Lampley in his intro — he’s doing it about 10 feet away — called it a disappointing crowd so far.

Nobody wants to hear the problems of us ink-stained wretches — can you actually be ink-stained if you’re blogging? — but LET’S GO ALREADY. HBO is showing a feature on Miranda. Time’s a-wasting.

Best line of the night (while we’re waiting): After Brighton’s Ira Terry won a 6-round decision, he needed to wait nearly an hour before he could handle the mandatory urine test. Ron Higgins suggested a headline of “Terry goes wee wee wee all the way home.”
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