What do a state senator from California and Snoop Dogg have in common? Perhaps several things, but that’s neither here nor there. We can tell you with certainty that both made headlines within the past 12 months that landed among the 10 most-read AB Today articles of 2019.
Not surprisingly, it’s a list filled with news from the collegiate sports realm, but not exclusively. Our first item, from January, combined two popular American pursuits — fitness and litigation.
10. Widow Sues 24 Hour Fitness over Husband’s Death
The next item up the list, which came to us from Iowa in August, spoke to another common — albeit negative — phenomenon in our country these days.
9. IHSAA: Unruly Parents and Adult Fans an ‘Epidemic’
A heartbreaking story out of Pennsylvania in February saw school policy deny an eager 8-14 girls' basketball team their postseason appearance.
8. Administrative Decision Ends HS Team’s Playoff Hopes
Our first collegiate headline contains the aforementioned rapper, who remained unapologetic for doing his thing by invitation from the University of Kansas at the start of the basketball season in October.
7. KU Apologizes for Raunchy Snoop Dogg Performance
An usual fundraising angle out of Wyoming caught our attention in January, and AB Today readers likewise took interest in large numbers.
6. Wyoming to Replace Rejected $2M from Convicted Donor
Alarms sounded among our readers in October when it appeared PC police were overworking the beat in a Massachusetts middle school.
5. Boy Cited for Assault After Hugging Gym Teacher
A collegiate story that spawned nationwide headlines for months made its biggest AB Today mark in March.
4. D-I Coaches Charged in Bribery Case
Unfortunately, bad news is often big news, and the case of a former University of New Mexico athletic director’s legal woes was no exception. This headline from February registered nearly 4,000 pageviews.
3. Ex-UNM AD Paul Krebs Charged with Five Felonies
We’re making room in the runner-up slot for two related headlines from February after they separately made our top four in terms of reader interest this year. Combined, these looks at an outbreak of rhabdomyolysis at the University of Houston and its fallout garnered 8,338 pageviews.
2. U. of Houston Women’s Soccer Players Get Rhabdo
U. of Houston Fires Strength Coach Over Rhabdo Cases
And, finally, when California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law legislation that opened the door to collegiate student-athletes being compensated for use of their name, image and likeness, his pen served as a sledgehammer to the very foundation of the amateurism on which the NCAA has defiantly stood for decades. Other states followed suit, and the NCAA is now contemplating student-athlete compensation with a seriousness never before seen in the organization’s century-plus-long history. Our top story for 2019, which detailed the February introduction of the “Fair Pay to Play Act” by California state senator Nancy Skinner, accrued interest throughout the year as the legislative groundswell continued to build, amassing 14,823 pageviews along the way (and counting).
