Frequent visitors to Illinihq.com undoubtedly were puzzled Thursday by the conflicting reports of James Kinney's impending oral commitment.
Now he was. Now he wasn't.
And now he is.
A little background.
Earlier in the week, the father of the Centennial basketball standout let The News-Gazette know that his son would be announcing his selection of a college on Monday night at the school. I wrote a story about the upcoming announcement, including an explanation from James Kinney Sr. about why the timetable for his son's decision had unexpectedly moved up. Until this week, the two-time News-Gazette All-Area first-teamer had been indicating he likely wouldn't make a choice this fall, instead waiting until the spring signing period.
That story was posted on Illinihq.com on Thursday afternoon (and will be published in Saturday's News-Gazette).
About 7 p.m. Thursday, I received a call at home from James Kinney Sr. urgently saying that the story should not run. The announcement would not take place on Monday, he said, and no other date had been set.
After hanging up, I made a quick call to the N-G sports copy desk on duty that night. Rich Barak saw to it that the on-line version was changed, merely a few hours after it first had been posted.
About 7:30 Friday morning, Kinney Sr. called again. The announcement was back on - same day, same time (7 p.m.), same location. Once again, a quick call was placed to the N-G, where Jason Randall had early morning duties on the sports copy desk. The original story - and a new headline - was re-posted at Illinihq.com.
So, what happened to spur this whirlwind 13 or so hours of decision and indecision by the Kinneys?
It wasn't a change of heart by James Kinney about his oral commitment. Instead, the Kinneys had been urged by someone in their inner circle to low-key the annoucement instead of holding a formal press conference that surely would draw the spotlight of the TV cameras and other local media.
Given time to reflect, the Kinneys decided to go ahead with the press conference as originally scheduled. Kinney Sr. explained that it would serve multiple purposes: Draw attention to Centennial as a school that can produce major college athletes in boys' basketball; get the word out so that the Kinneys' phones finally would stop ringing off the hook as recruiters continued to pursue the senior guard; and give his son an opportunity to enjoy a memorable moment that so many other high-level senior athletes have taken when they publicly reveal their college destination.
After the 13 or so hours of confusion, Kinney Sr. apologized, saying this was a new experience for the family and they weren't exactly "veterans" when it came to dealing with such things.
Completely understandable. There's no guide book I know of when it comes to situations like this.
Just one request: Please, no more change of plans.