It's one of the toughest things about the job, but it's also one of the most fun and rewarding when it all comes together.
I'm talking about designing media guides, and most every SID in the country has their own different opinions about their worth or necessity. Depending on where you are, the media guide can have a multi-dimensional worth and an even more multi-dimensional purpose.
I've been designing and writing ETBU's media guides for the last eight years, and I just put the wrap on our basketball books last week. Just in the nick of time, too, with the season opener now just hours away, literally.
We do media guides at ETBU for just about every sport, which is a little different than some other places in our conferences. Most of our conference schools provide media guides, but there are a few that use other means of promotion, which is just fine, too. With the Internet today, there is the argument brewing that the media guide as we know it has very little use anymore. Updated, pertinent information about a specific athletic program is available with the click of the mouse, and just about everything you see in one of our media guides most likely at some point will find its way to our web site.
But media guides are just one of those things as an SID you have to do. It's just part of the job. I haven't met one colleague in eight years who would totally admit to absolutely loving to do their respective guides, but I also haven't met one who'd come right out and say he hated it with a passion, either. It's just one of those things that comes along at a certain time every year, like Christmas, you know? On one hand you absolutely love the holiday, but on the other hand you dread it because you know how much money you're going to spend.
That's the way I look at media guides. I love doing them because I get to soothe that creative fix I have, almost to a fault. As a former newspaper guy, one of the highlights of the job was to change and create a different look on the front page every day. It's a challenge and a rush, when you see everything come together and you just really feel good about your design, you know.
I've had some memorable media guide designs at ETBU that I'm proud of, and then there are some that I'm not so proud of. Designing D-III media guides is very tough because of the time crunch you have to endure with just about every sport. At bigger D-I schools, for example, a football media guide can be published in late spring or early summer with no problem because you have the signed scholarship right there in front of you. You pretty much know for sure who you have to cover and get info for.
At D-III non-scholarship you have to pretty much wait until the athlete arrives on campus before you spend time putting them in a media guide. The worst thing is publishing a bio on a student-athlete and then for whatever reason that athlete never seeing the field or court. It happens, fairly rarely, actually, but it's always a consideration when I'm planning for our annual media guides.
Depending on budgets and roster size, of course, football will always be our largest media guide. I can typically target a 78-82 page media guide, with just about every other book coming in between 16-32 pages. When I first starting working at ETBU both soccer and basketball media guides were combined books, including both men's and women's programs. A couple of years ago we split each into separate guides and we've been happy with the results.
Of course, the purpose of media guides is to provide media with a reference guide, basically, for whatever program is being featured. But the overall, larger purpose really, at least at ETBU, is a recruiting tool. We'll print, on average, about 500 guides for every program, and I'll keep about 30-50 of them in my office. The rest go to our coaches to use on the recruiting trail.
Knowing this, I try to include as much information as possible about ETBU in general -- admissions, campus, history, fast facts, etc. The basic questions a potential student-athlete has, hopefully, can be answered on those ETBU pages. The rest of the book also, hopefully, will provide an overview of the program currently as well as its past.
The stress level of each media guide rises for two main reasons -- my procrastination, and my creative mental blocks. The number one goal I have every year is to make sure our books are attractive, contain as much information about ETBU and our athletics as possible, and that I get them back from the printer in time for the first game. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. I've had to learn patience with media guides, too.
But I hope our fans and students enjoy the finished product, at least occasionally. When it gets right down to it, it's really fun while also being a big part of my job, annually. Basketball is now in the books this season, literally -- and as soon as I catch my breath, I'll begin work on our baseball and softball guides for next spring.
The clock is again ticking...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Hoop Dreams
With the official close of the fall sports season at ETBU last weekend, it's been very easy to overlook the looming fact that... basketball season is, literally, hurtling at us from around the corner.
Both the Lady Tigers and Tigers tip off their respective hoops seasons the weekend of Nov. 16, which means as of this writing the Tigers' opener on Nov. 16 against Belhaven College in The House of Blues, Ornelas Gym, is exactly 11 days away. The Lady Tigers will tip off the following night against Wiley College, hosting the Lady Wildcats in the tipoff of a doubleheader that will conclude with a Tigers vs. Wiley matchup immediately following the ladies game.
It is going to be an interesting year for both ETBU teams. It's also a pivotal year for both; the Lady Tigers are in their first season under new coach Jay Bowen, and the Tigers are coming off just a seven-win season a year ago. But the excitement is bubbling under the surface in both programs.
The key element running through both teams entering the season is newness. The Lady Tigers have just one returning starter from last season's ASC East championship team, senior guard Sade' Stewart. "Slim," of course, is a good place to start -- she was named the ASC East Preseason Player of the Year last month by the coaches, SIDs and media folks, and she has an outside shot at becoming ETBU's all-time leading scorer with a great year as a senior.
But by and large, Coach Bowen's first Lady Tiger team is going to be vastly different from the one that lost in the closing seconds to McMurry in last season's conference tournament semifinals under former coach Lisa Curliss-Taylor. But Jay and his staff have brought in a nice core of solid recruits in their first season, despite the relatively late start in the recruiting process this last summer. Topping the list are a pair of JUCO transfers, point guard Armeka Brooks and post Dana Alexander, as well as a tough, hard-nosed freshman in wing Julie Bowman.
ETBU coaches are very optimistic that these additions, along with Stewart's return as well as another year of growth from veterans such as sophomore Nieishia Brown and juniors Michelle Young and Meaghan Woodell, will allow the Lady Tigers to again compete for the ASC East championship. The one glaring weakness entering the season is a lack of depth, something that was not a problem during last season's undefeated run through the East.
But strengths? You can bet that Coach Bowen's team will be disciplined, they will play smart basketball, and they will be exciting to watch because of the style of play. There is always some degree of change and uncertainty whenever a new coach comes along, at any level. And there will almost certainly be a period of growth this season. But the Lady Tigers should once again be a very competitive challenger for the ASC East title this season.
And don't forget this nugget -- the winner of the East gets to host this year's conference tournament in late February, so there's even more gold in the pot at the end of the rainbow this season.
Now to the men. I personally got my first look at the Tigers last night when ETBU made the two-hour trip south to Natchitoches, La., to face a very, very good Northwestern State team in an exhibition game. There were a lot of reasons I like this trip personally -- number one, Northwestern State is my alma mater and I really like watching the Demons whenever I get a chance. Number two, though, there is a bubbling excitement being generated around campus about this year's Tiger team, which resembles nothing like the squad that limped to a 7-18 finish last season.
First off, don't let the final score of 94-57 fool you. The Demons are three-time champions in the Southland Conference and, of course, pulled off that great upset of Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Tournament a couple of years ago. This year's NSU team is tall, long and quick, and the Demons pretty much controlled the Tigers over the final 30 minutes or so of last night's exhibition.
But they've also been practicing for about two months, whereas the Tigers entered the game with less than two weeks of workouts under their belts. And that's a big key, seeing as ETBU coach Bert West is sending out perhaps the youngest, most inexperienced team he's ever had in 14 years with the Tigers.
But you'll mostly see West with a smile on his face these days, because the Tigers really, really have a nice group of young freshmen -- perhaps the deepest, most talented group of freshmen to come through ETBU since West led the Tigers to NAIA prominence back in the early- and mid-1990s. There are no superstars in this group, but there are definitely some guys who can do several things awfully, awfully well -- the proof will come when, as ETBU football coach Mark Sartain liked to say about his young team back in August, "when the live bullets start flying."
ETBU will be bigger, faster, quicker and deeper this season. Junior transfer La'France Cooper was the JUCO Player of the Year at Southern-Shreveport a couple of years ago, and he led the way with 13 points against Northwestern Monday night. Senior transfer point guard Nick Garrett, all 5-foot, 8-inches of him, has the potential to be a multi-purpose threat running the offense for ETBU.
Then come the freshmen. Post Josh Chambers, out of Mexia, stands 6-7 and has already become a dangerous shot-blocker -- an element the Tigers really haven't had out of a true post player this decade. Chambers had an outstanding night Monday against the Demons, with 10 points and at least four blocked shots in the second half against D-I competition. He will only get better as the season goes along.
Post Cody Waneck, of The Woodlands, also had a very impressive night against NSU, scoring eight points and displaying some really nifty offensive moves in the paint. West really, really likes the play of guard Tyler McKinney, a tough, hard-nosed, physical defender. Forward Deba Egharevba also is a very good, athletic player who great and explosive leaping ability who pulled down a team-high eight rebounds against Northwestern.
There are others, of course -- nearly 20 are listed on the roster, and only four of those -- seniors Bryan Whitmire and Carlos Marbot, junior Josh Hickman and sophomore Tyrell Brown -- played last season. Hickman, the starting tight end on this year's football team, is expected to join the team for practice Tuesday and should be ready to go by the season opener on the 16th. He will be a huge, experienced addition with scoring punch to a team already buzzing with excitement and athleticism.
So the countdown is on. This season promises to be another exciting one for ETBU basketball, and it's just around the corner.
Both the Lady Tigers and Tigers tip off their respective hoops seasons the weekend of Nov. 16, which means as of this writing the Tigers' opener on Nov. 16 against Belhaven College in The House of Blues, Ornelas Gym, is exactly 11 days away. The Lady Tigers will tip off the following night against Wiley College, hosting the Lady Wildcats in the tipoff of a doubleheader that will conclude with a Tigers vs. Wiley matchup immediately following the ladies game.
It is going to be an interesting year for both ETBU teams. It's also a pivotal year for both; the Lady Tigers are in their first season under new coach Jay Bowen, and the Tigers are coming off just a seven-win season a year ago. But the excitement is bubbling under the surface in both programs.
The key element running through both teams entering the season is newness. The Lady Tigers have just one returning starter from last season's ASC East championship team, senior guard Sade' Stewart. "Slim," of course, is a good place to start -- she was named the ASC East Preseason Player of the Year last month by the coaches, SIDs and media folks, and she has an outside shot at becoming ETBU's all-time leading scorer with a great year as a senior.
But by and large, Coach Bowen's first Lady Tiger team is going to be vastly different from the one that lost in the closing seconds to McMurry in last season's conference tournament semifinals under former coach Lisa Curliss-Taylor. But Jay and his staff have brought in a nice core of solid recruits in their first season, despite the relatively late start in the recruiting process this last summer. Topping the list are a pair of JUCO transfers, point guard Armeka Brooks and post Dana Alexander, as well as a tough, hard-nosed freshman in wing Julie Bowman.
ETBU coaches are very optimistic that these additions, along with Stewart's return as well as another year of growth from veterans such as sophomore Nieishia Brown and juniors Michelle Young and Meaghan Woodell, will allow the Lady Tigers to again compete for the ASC East championship. The one glaring weakness entering the season is a lack of depth, something that was not a problem during last season's undefeated run through the East.
But strengths? You can bet that Coach Bowen's team will be disciplined, they will play smart basketball, and they will be exciting to watch because of the style of play. There is always some degree of change and uncertainty whenever a new coach comes along, at any level. And there will almost certainly be a period of growth this season. But the Lady Tigers should once again be a very competitive challenger for the ASC East title this season.
And don't forget this nugget -- the winner of the East gets to host this year's conference tournament in late February, so there's even more gold in the pot at the end of the rainbow this season.
Now to the men. I personally got my first look at the Tigers last night when ETBU made the two-hour trip south to Natchitoches, La., to face a very, very good Northwestern State team in an exhibition game. There were a lot of reasons I like this trip personally -- number one, Northwestern State is my alma mater and I really like watching the Demons whenever I get a chance. Number two, though, there is a bubbling excitement being generated around campus about this year's Tiger team, which resembles nothing like the squad that limped to a 7-18 finish last season.
First off, don't let the final score of 94-57 fool you. The Demons are three-time champions in the Southland Conference and, of course, pulled off that great upset of Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Tournament a couple of years ago. This year's NSU team is tall, long and quick, and the Demons pretty much controlled the Tigers over the final 30 minutes or so of last night's exhibition.
But they've also been practicing for about two months, whereas the Tigers entered the game with less than two weeks of workouts under their belts. And that's a big key, seeing as ETBU coach Bert West is sending out perhaps the youngest, most inexperienced team he's ever had in 14 years with the Tigers.
But you'll mostly see West with a smile on his face these days, because the Tigers really, really have a nice group of young freshmen -- perhaps the deepest, most talented group of freshmen to come through ETBU since West led the Tigers to NAIA prominence back in the early- and mid-1990s. There are no superstars in this group, but there are definitely some guys who can do several things awfully, awfully well -- the proof will come when, as ETBU football coach Mark Sartain liked to say about his young team back in August, "when the live bullets start flying."
ETBU will be bigger, faster, quicker and deeper this season. Junior transfer La'France Cooper was the JUCO Player of the Year at Southern-Shreveport a couple of years ago, and he led the way with 13 points against Northwestern Monday night. Senior transfer point guard Nick Garrett, all 5-foot, 8-inches of him, has the potential to be a multi-purpose threat running the offense for ETBU.
Then come the freshmen. Post Josh Chambers, out of Mexia, stands 6-7 and has already become a dangerous shot-blocker -- an element the Tigers really haven't had out of a true post player this decade. Chambers had an outstanding night Monday against the Demons, with 10 points and at least four blocked shots in the second half against D-I competition. He will only get better as the season goes along.
Post Cody Waneck, of The Woodlands, also had a very impressive night against NSU, scoring eight points and displaying some really nifty offensive moves in the paint. West really, really likes the play of guard Tyler McKinney, a tough, hard-nosed, physical defender. Forward Deba Egharevba also is a very good, athletic player who great and explosive leaping ability who pulled down a team-high eight rebounds against Northwestern.
There are others, of course -- nearly 20 are listed on the roster, and only four of those -- seniors Bryan Whitmire and Carlos Marbot, junior Josh Hickman and sophomore Tyrell Brown -- played last season. Hickman, the starting tight end on this year's football team, is expected to join the team for practice Tuesday and should be ready to go by the season opener on the 16th. He will be a huge, experienced addition with scoring punch to a team already buzzing with excitement and athleticism.
So the countdown is on. This season promises to be another exciting one for ETBU basketball, and it's just around the corner.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The World Keeps Spinning
One of the toughest parts of being an SID is the need to try and make everything seem positive with every bit of news released out of the department. No matter how bad the news may be, the good SID will always, always be able to put a good spin on it. That's the nature of the business and the nature of PR in general.
Losses-- those are the toughest things to write about. There is usually no good spin to a loss, because it's so cut and dried. You can say whatever you want about the game, but the most important part of a sports story, usually and unfortunately, is the final score.
With the exception of our rebuilding women's soccer program this season, every other ETBU fall athletic team went into last weekend with their playoff destiny in their own hands. But coming out of the weekend, only one -- the Lady Tiger volleyball team -- ended up advancing to the postseason.
Disappointing? Very. When you follow a team and a group of athletes as closely as I do all these years, it really hurts to see them get so close to their goal only to come up short. Last Friday's men's soccer game down at Cornish Field was a prime case in point: needing just one win in their final two games against the top two teams in the conference, the Tigers were unable to pull one out. Consequently ETBU won' be making the men's soccer tournament this year, something the Tigers last qualified for back in 1999 when ETBU was still just a provisional member of the ASC and NCAA D-III.
But Friday's 2-1 loss to UTD was particularly excruciating, and it goes to show you just how little a difference there is between a playoff team and one getting ready to go into the offseason already. Tied 1-1 early in the second half, then down 2-1, the Tigers came out like the desperate team they were and attacked the UTD defense most of the second half. But four -- count 'em, four -- shots hit the post. On another shot, the Comets' goalie made an outstanding effort to save a nice header that would also have tied the game.
That's how close things are in this business sometimes -- the difference between writing about a team heading to the postseason and a team disappointed about not getting the opportunity. If you want to get really deep, that's life sometimes -- every shot we take somehow seems to hit the post.
But lost in the disappointment of this past weekend for our men's soccer team is the fact that this was a very young team, still. Only three seniors will leave off this year's team, with everyone else ready to roll again next season. That includes the last two recruiting classes, which have been very, very solid for Coach Jose Alonzo. It's disappointing, yes, the way this season ended -- but our men's soccer program appears to be on the rise again. And there is the positive side of that story.
Disappointment was there also for the Lady Tiger volleyball team, which could have clinched the outright ASC East championship with two wins at home over the weekend. ETBU would have clinched the right to host the conference tournament with a win over UT Dallas on Friday night, but the Comets won all the big points in the first two games and ended up sweeping the Lady Tigers, 3-0.
Again, it was a game of inches, literally -- the first two games were won by two points apiece at 30-28, 30-28. Think of how close that is in volleyball terms. One more ETBU kill stays inside the line, or even grazes it, and it's 29-all. Nothing is guaranteed after that, of course, but 29-all is much closer than being down 29-28. It's an entirely different mindset, and the mindset usually changes much more positively for the home teams in those kinds of tied, critical situations.
That's how close our volleyball team came to hosting this year's conference tournament, which usually means a tremendous advantage for the home team. Now, because of that "game of inches" last Friday, the Lady Tigers have to pack up and go to Dallas this weekend at UTD's place. A big change in plans, obviously. But the goal never changes -- all you want is a chance, and the odds of ETBU winning the conference tournament have now improved from the start of the season, when it was 1 in 13. Now it's down to 1 in 6, and the ladies will certainly be ready to play Friday afternoon against McMurry.
A big positive there, too.
It was also a disappointing day Saturday in Ornelas Stadium. The loss to Mississippi College, technically and mathematically, doesn't eliminate the Tigers from the conference title. But for all intents and purposes, the postseason now is out of reach -- specifically, our ability to control our own destiny is gone. A lot of crazy things would have to happen now, starting with an upset win at Mary Hardin-Baylor this week.
But don't forget -- the Tigers were picked seventh in a nine-team league in the preseason poll. They started the year with a brand new coaching staff and only 10 returning seniors who played their final games in Ornelas Stadium last week. It's a young team that took its lumps against two talented non-conference teams at the beginning of the year but rebounded with a four-game winning streak to open conference play. If nothing changes in the standings the rest of the way, the Tigers will finish no worse than third place in the conference. And now, there will be no mysteries going into the offseason -- Coach Sartain and his staff have their program in place and it's going to be a big offseason for ETBU in recruiting and in getting the returners ready for next season.
Positive, yes.
So while we all jump on the Lady Tiger bandwagon for this weekend's conference tournament, let's not forget the collective growth and progress of all of our programs this fall. There really is something to look forward to once you get past the disappointment. All our programs are going forward, and that's the direction you want to be heading at all times.
Losses-- those are the toughest things to write about. There is usually no good spin to a loss, because it's so cut and dried. You can say whatever you want about the game, but the most important part of a sports story, usually and unfortunately, is the final score.
With the exception of our rebuilding women's soccer program this season, every other ETBU fall athletic team went into last weekend with their playoff destiny in their own hands. But coming out of the weekend, only one -- the Lady Tiger volleyball team -- ended up advancing to the postseason.
Disappointing? Very. When you follow a team and a group of athletes as closely as I do all these years, it really hurts to see them get so close to their goal only to come up short. Last Friday's men's soccer game down at Cornish Field was a prime case in point: needing just one win in their final two games against the top two teams in the conference, the Tigers were unable to pull one out. Consequently ETBU won' be making the men's soccer tournament this year, something the Tigers last qualified for back in 1999 when ETBU was still just a provisional member of the ASC and NCAA D-III.
But Friday's 2-1 loss to UTD was particularly excruciating, and it goes to show you just how little a difference there is between a playoff team and one getting ready to go into the offseason already. Tied 1-1 early in the second half, then down 2-1, the Tigers came out like the desperate team they were and attacked the UTD defense most of the second half. But four -- count 'em, four -- shots hit the post. On another shot, the Comets' goalie made an outstanding effort to save a nice header that would also have tied the game.
That's how close things are in this business sometimes -- the difference between writing about a team heading to the postseason and a team disappointed about not getting the opportunity. If you want to get really deep, that's life sometimes -- every shot we take somehow seems to hit the post.
But lost in the disappointment of this past weekend for our men's soccer team is the fact that this was a very young team, still. Only three seniors will leave off this year's team, with everyone else ready to roll again next season. That includes the last two recruiting classes, which have been very, very solid for Coach Jose Alonzo. It's disappointing, yes, the way this season ended -- but our men's soccer program appears to be on the rise again. And there is the positive side of that story.
Disappointment was there also for the Lady Tiger volleyball team, which could have clinched the outright ASC East championship with two wins at home over the weekend. ETBU would have clinched the right to host the conference tournament with a win over UT Dallas on Friday night, but the Comets won all the big points in the first two games and ended up sweeping the Lady Tigers, 3-0.
Again, it was a game of inches, literally -- the first two games were won by two points apiece at 30-28, 30-28. Think of how close that is in volleyball terms. One more ETBU kill stays inside the line, or even grazes it, and it's 29-all. Nothing is guaranteed after that, of course, but 29-all is much closer than being down 29-28. It's an entirely different mindset, and the mindset usually changes much more positively for the home teams in those kinds of tied, critical situations.
That's how close our volleyball team came to hosting this year's conference tournament, which usually means a tremendous advantage for the home team. Now, because of that "game of inches" last Friday, the Lady Tigers have to pack up and go to Dallas this weekend at UTD's place. A big change in plans, obviously. But the goal never changes -- all you want is a chance, and the odds of ETBU winning the conference tournament have now improved from the start of the season, when it was 1 in 13. Now it's down to 1 in 6, and the ladies will certainly be ready to play Friday afternoon against McMurry.
A big positive there, too.
It was also a disappointing day Saturday in Ornelas Stadium. The loss to Mississippi College, technically and mathematically, doesn't eliminate the Tigers from the conference title. But for all intents and purposes, the postseason now is out of reach -- specifically, our ability to control our own destiny is gone. A lot of crazy things would have to happen now, starting with an upset win at Mary Hardin-Baylor this week.
But don't forget -- the Tigers were picked seventh in a nine-team league in the preseason poll. They started the year with a brand new coaching staff and only 10 returning seniors who played their final games in Ornelas Stadium last week. It's a young team that took its lumps against two talented non-conference teams at the beginning of the year but rebounded with a four-game winning streak to open conference play. If nothing changes in the standings the rest of the way, the Tigers will finish no worse than third place in the conference. And now, there will be no mysteries going into the offseason -- Coach Sartain and his staff have their program in place and it's going to be a big offseason for ETBU in recruiting and in getting the returners ready for next season.
Positive, yes.
So while we all jump on the Lady Tiger bandwagon for this weekend's conference tournament, let's not forget the collective growth and progress of all of our programs this fall. There really is something to look forward to once you get past the disappointment. All our programs are going forward, and that's the direction you want to be heading at all times.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Coming Home For A Showdown
When our fall sports schedules were released this past summer my eyes instantly were drawn to the last weekend in October.
Homecoming.
Not that I have anything against homecoming. Not at all. You can't work at a place like ETBU and not feel the excitement in the air when you know you'll get to see old friends and colleagues, or feel the nostalgia that oozes from every event scheduled for that very special weekend. And there's something quite American about ending the festivities with a football game, too.
No, homecoming itself didn't catch my eye, because you know its going to happen every year. What did cross my mind, however, was the fact that I saw a combined four soccer games, two volleyball games and the football game all set to occur over a little bit more than 24 hours.
Those are what's called nightmare weekends in the S.I.D. business -- not because of the games themselves, but just the sheer manpower and time it takes to pull off them off without a hitch. I will probably blog sometime about what it takes to get one game in the books from my perspective, but let me just say that there's more to it than just the final score.
Anyway, the first thought I get during these types of weekends as what we'll have next week is: how am I going to cover all these games going on at the same time and still have some sanity left by Sunday? And yes, that was the very first thought I got when I saw this year's soccer, football and volleyball schedules.
Want to know how to make a ton of money in a hurry? Develop a way for SIDs to be in about three different places at the same time. Until that happens, though, I will forever be grateful for the dependable help I have here. Jason Soles, Jason Havner, Allison Ratcliff, Nathan Jones, etc., those are just a few of my trusty "assistants" who help keep things going smoothly. Were it not for these people, there is no way I could cover a Tiger football game out in Abilene at the same time as hosting a soccer doubleheader here at Cornish Field. Or a volleyball match up in Ornelas Gym. It's people and friends like that who help me get through the stress and strain of a Nightmare Weekend.
But those thoughts -- the ones that made me dread the upcoming series of games on homecoming -- pretty much fade away now thanks to the performance of our fall sports teams. Really, now I could say it's not so much a Nightmare Weekend as it is a Showdown Weekend.
As of this morning, our men's soccer team found itself in a tie for second place in the ASC. The Tigers were only a game out of first place in the conference with a week to go in the regular season. Now, ETBU has a very tough schedule over the final week or so, including Saturday's very critical game over at UT Tyler. In case you're counting, we've never beaten the Patriots in men's soccer. UT Tyler was picked to win this year's title in the preseason poll, and rightly so -- but the Patriots enter Saturday night's game needing desperately to win just to stay in the race for the six-team conference playoff field.
Should the Tigers win out, however, there's a very good possibility that ETBU could host the conference tournament. No matter what happens in Tyler Saturday, the Tigers could still also be fighting for the playoffs themselves when they return home and host UT Dallas next Friday night. Regardless of what happens before then, next Friday night's game here at Cornish Field will have playoff implications, which means a playoff atmosphere. The Tigers will then turn around on Saturday after the homecoming football game and need to find a way to defeat nemesis Ozarks, which is also cruising toward a high seed in the conference race.
Let's put it this way -- with just a week of games left in the conference schedule, the Tigers are still very much in the hunt for ETBU's first ASC regular season soccer championship. Or, the Tigers could very conceivably miss out on the playoffs altogether, still. That's a drop of about seven places in the standings in a week's time. Talk about parity.
But they'll still be in the race come next weekend, which will be at the height of homecoming festivities, which should also guarantee one of the largest crowds this season at Cornish Field. That's Showdown I.
Then there's the action that will be going on at the same time up in Ornelas Gym. The Lady Tigers most likely will enter Friday's game against ASC East rival UT Dallas in a dead heat with the Comets for the division championship. The slight advantage ETBU now holds is the race is that the Lady Tigers can clinch the right to host the conference tournament with a win next Friday night because ETBU already has a win over UT Dallas earlier this season. Another win, with just one match left on Saturday against Mary Hardin-Baylor, would ensure that the conference volleyball tournament will be held in Ornelas Gym the following weekend for the first time since 2001.
And that's Showdown II.
Finally, lost in all the disappointment of last week's two-point loss to Hardin-Simmons is the fact the Tigers are still very much in the ASC football race. ETBU is just a game behind conference leader Mary Hardin-Baylor, and the Crusaders are looming on the schedule in about two weeks. If the Tigers can take care of business the next two weeks, ETBU could go into the game at UMHB on Nov. 3 needing an upset win over the Crusaders to create a tie atop the league standings. The league's playoff rep would then be determined by a coin flip if there's a three-way tie with, say, HSU.
If HSU were to stumble the rest of the way, then that game in Belton would be for all the marbles in the ASC. But the only way any of that happens is if ETBU goes down to Pineville this Saturday and takes care of Louisiana College. Then, that sets up next week's homecoming game against Mississippi College in what could be a very pivotal game for both teams. MC is getting its shot at UMHB this weekend over in Clinton, Miss., so there's still a whole lot to be decided in the ASC football race.
Showdown III right there.
So yes, homecoming will be a very exciting weekend at ETBU next week -- it always is. But put these athletic events on your calendars when you come home to ETBU. It's time to get loud, rowdy and proud.
Homecoming.
Not that I have anything against homecoming. Not at all. You can't work at a place like ETBU and not feel the excitement in the air when you know you'll get to see old friends and colleagues, or feel the nostalgia that oozes from every event scheduled for that very special weekend. And there's something quite American about ending the festivities with a football game, too.
No, homecoming itself didn't catch my eye, because you know its going to happen every year. What did cross my mind, however, was the fact that I saw a combined four soccer games, two volleyball games and the football game all set to occur over a little bit more than 24 hours.
Those are what's called nightmare weekends in the S.I.D. business -- not because of the games themselves, but just the sheer manpower and time it takes to pull off them off without a hitch. I will probably blog sometime about what it takes to get one game in the books from my perspective, but let me just say that there's more to it than just the final score.
Anyway, the first thought I get during these types of weekends as what we'll have next week is: how am I going to cover all these games going on at the same time and still have some sanity left by Sunday? And yes, that was the very first thought I got when I saw this year's soccer, football and volleyball schedules.
Want to know how to make a ton of money in a hurry? Develop a way for SIDs to be in about three different places at the same time. Until that happens, though, I will forever be grateful for the dependable help I have here. Jason Soles, Jason Havner, Allison Ratcliff, Nathan Jones, etc., those are just a few of my trusty "assistants" who help keep things going smoothly. Were it not for these people, there is no way I could cover a Tiger football game out in Abilene at the same time as hosting a soccer doubleheader here at Cornish Field. Or a volleyball match up in Ornelas Gym. It's people and friends like that who help me get through the stress and strain of a Nightmare Weekend.
But those thoughts -- the ones that made me dread the upcoming series of games on homecoming -- pretty much fade away now thanks to the performance of our fall sports teams. Really, now I could say it's not so much a Nightmare Weekend as it is a Showdown Weekend.
As of this morning, our men's soccer team found itself in a tie for second place in the ASC. The Tigers were only a game out of first place in the conference with a week to go in the regular season. Now, ETBU has a very tough schedule over the final week or so, including Saturday's very critical game over at UT Tyler. In case you're counting, we've never beaten the Patriots in men's soccer. UT Tyler was picked to win this year's title in the preseason poll, and rightly so -- but the Patriots enter Saturday night's game needing desperately to win just to stay in the race for the six-team conference playoff field.
Should the Tigers win out, however, there's a very good possibility that ETBU could host the conference tournament. No matter what happens in Tyler Saturday, the Tigers could still also be fighting for the playoffs themselves when they return home and host UT Dallas next Friday night. Regardless of what happens before then, next Friday night's game here at Cornish Field will have playoff implications, which means a playoff atmosphere. The Tigers will then turn around on Saturday after the homecoming football game and need to find a way to defeat nemesis Ozarks, which is also cruising toward a high seed in the conference race.
Let's put it this way -- with just a week of games left in the conference schedule, the Tigers are still very much in the hunt for ETBU's first ASC regular season soccer championship. Or, the Tigers could very conceivably miss out on the playoffs altogether, still. That's a drop of about seven places in the standings in a week's time. Talk about parity.
But they'll still be in the race come next weekend, which will be at the height of homecoming festivities, which should also guarantee one of the largest crowds this season at Cornish Field. That's Showdown I.
Then there's the action that will be going on at the same time up in Ornelas Gym. The Lady Tigers most likely will enter Friday's game against ASC East rival UT Dallas in a dead heat with the Comets for the division championship. The slight advantage ETBU now holds is the race is that the Lady Tigers can clinch the right to host the conference tournament with a win next Friday night because ETBU already has a win over UT Dallas earlier this season. Another win, with just one match left on Saturday against Mary Hardin-Baylor, would ensure that the conference volleyball tournament will be held in Ornelas Gym the following weekend for the first time since 2001.
And that's Showdown II.
Finally, lost in all the disappointment of last week's two-point loss to Hardin-Simmons is the fact the Tigers are still very much in the ASC football race. ETBU is just a game behind conference leader Mary Hardin-Baylor, and the Crusaders are looming on the schedule in about two weeks. If the Tigers can take care of business the next two weeks, ETBU could go into the game at UMHB on Nov. 3 needing an upset win over the Crusaders to create a tie atop the league standings. The league's playoff rep would then be determined by a coin flip if there's a three-way tie with, say, HSU.
If HSU were to stumble the rest of the way, then that game in Belton would be for all the marbles in the ASC. But the only way any of that happens is if ETBU goes down to Pineville this Saturday and takes care of Louisiana College. Then, that sets up next week's homecoming game against Mississippi College in what could be a very pivotal game for both teams. MC is getting its shot at UMHB this weekend over in Clinton, Miss., so there's still a whole lot to be decided in the ASC football race.
Showdown III right there.
So yes, homecoming will be a very exciting weekend at ETBU next week -- it always is. But put these athletic events on your calendars when you come home to ETBU. It's time to get loud, rowdy and proud.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Heat Of The Night
Anyone who doesn't believe in some form of global warming has never spent a summer or early fall afternoon in East Texas.
It gets hot down here. "Hot" isn't the right word for it -- stifling, suffocating, brutal are terms that can be described for East Texas weather nine months out of every year. I've lived here all my life and it's been the same for all 38 of them. The weather, as ironic as this sounds, never changes. It gets hot in the summer, stays unbearably warm throughout most of the fall, and you might catch a cold "winter" snap in late January or early-to-mid February.
There are advantages to this, especially if you are a sports team having to endure every waking minute of practice in the furnace. Typically, our bodies adjust to the heat, even those of us whose bodies aren't much to begin with in terms of physical conditioning. Our athletes, especially the ones who arrive in August and who get to really enjoy the wonderful conditions, become specially tuned to the heat and humidity that hovers over this area for months. If the humidity lingers, say, into October, and you play a team from somewhere up north or even out in west Texas, a couple of hours in the baking temperatures here can really become an advantage for the home team, which is generally more conditioned to the weather.
It gets very hot, to put it mildly, for our fans and supporters in the stands this time of year, literally. Whether you're upset at some blind call by an official, or if you're just upset at the way things are going on the field in general, the one thing that increases the stress level is the East Texas bonfire going on around you. Trust me, it gets a little warm even in the press box -- you just can't escape it. Again, I've lived my life here -- trust me, there is no escape.
It stays brutally, sticky hot around here at night, too. I remember earlier this season during our football team's trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., to face Ouachita. I was thinking that finally we'd get the chance to play football in some cooler weather, but... yikes. I think I lost a good 20 pounds or so standing on the sideline, taking pictures. The heat stuck to you like glue, even hours after the sun had set. Throw in the buzzard-sized mosquitoes that were nipping at us all night long, and it was almost like torture.
Fact is we are East Texas Baptist University, and if you are going to enjoy the Tigers or play for the Tigers, you are going to have to do it in some uncomfortable conditions. ETBU is hoping to ease some of this burden in the coming months and years, however -- because we've heard the concerns. Yes, the mid-afternoon start times in September have become fan-repellant. We know and understand a lot of what we hear when it's just too warm to sit in the sun for three hours and watch a football game.
I know some of the ideas under consideration include moving our football start times up to a morning start, say 11 a.m. or so. I've been to every home game ever played at Ornelas Stadium and I've never not enjoyed being there three or four hours before kickoff. It's really quite pleasant. But there's something about 2 o'clock that brings out the worst in East Texas weather -- specifically the temperature. Moving the start times up to a cooler 11 a.m. kickoff would get us out of most of the heat of the afternoon, and most games would conceivably but done by that 2 p.m. slot.
Adding lights are always a possibility, and have not been ruled out at some point to my understanding, but adding lights and playing night games doesn't necessarily negate the problem with the heat. Again, I refer back to the road trip to Ouachita -- the darkness didn't make the most sticky problem go away, namely the heavy humidity. It was still unbearably warm and the air was pressing down on us like crazy. And of course, lights are expensive, and they are expensive to run, and as a private university that has to be taken into serious consideration as well.
To a somewhat lesser degree, baseball games at ETBU have had this problem in dealing with the heat as well. But lights will be going in at Young Field this spring, and we'll be playing the first night games in Tiger baseball history right here on campus. Lights were added to the soccer field a couple of years ago, and that has helped some with the heat problems there.
Yes, it's hot. Very hot. But it's our heat, and it's something we all learn to deal with if you live in East Texas very long. So remember to prepare for the heat when visiting us or attending one of our outdoor events -- dress for the occasion, drink plenty of fluids and it's not against the law to spend a few minutes in the shade or air conditioning when possible. Sunscreen is always a nice addition as well --it's always been blazing hot when I've gone to the beach as well.
And above all else, don't let the heat keep you from coming out and enjoying the performance of these student-athletes. When it comes to life, hey, we're all in this together... even when it's hot.
It gets hot down here. "Hot" isn't the right word for it -- stifling, suffocating, brutal are terms that can be described for East Texas weather nine months out of every year. I've lived here all my life and it's been the same for all 38 of them. The weather, as ironic as this sounds, never changes. It gets hot in the summer, stays unbearably warm throughout most of the fall, and you might catch a cold "winter" snap in late January or early-to-mid February.
There are advantages to this, especially if you are a sports team having to endure every waking minute of practice in the furnace. Typically, our bodies adjust to the heat, even those of us whose bodies aren't much to begin with in terms of physical conditioning. Our athletes, especially the ones who arrive in August and who get to really enjoy the wonderful conditions, become specially tuned to the heat and humidity that hovers over this area for months. If the humidity lingers, say, into October, and you play a team from somewhere up north or even out in west Texas, a couple of hours in the baking temperatures here can really become an advantage for the home team, which is generally more conditioned to the weather.
It gets very hot, to put it mildly, for our fans and supporters in the stands this time of year, literally. Whether you're upset at some blind call by an official, or if you're just upset at the way things are going on the field in general, the one thing that increases the stress level is the East Texas bonfire going on around you. Trust me, it gets a little warm even in the press box -- you just can't escape it. Again, I've lived my life here -- trust me, there is no escape.
It stays brutally, sticky hot around here at night, too. I remember earlier this season during our football team's trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., to face Ouachita. I was thinking that finally we'd get the chance to play football in some cooler weather, but... yikes. I think I lost a good 20 pounds or so standing on the sideline, taking pictures. The heat stuck to you like glue, even hours after the sun had set. Throw in the buzzard-sized mosquitoes that were nipping at us all night long, and it was almost like torture.
Fact is we are East Texas Baptist University, and if you are going to enjoy the Tigers or play for the Tigers, you are going to have to do it in some uncomfortable conditions. ETBU is hoping to ease some of this burden in the coming months and years, however -- because we've heard the concerns. Yes, the mid-afternoon start times in September have become fan-repellant. We know and understand a lot of what we hear when it's just too warm to sit in the sun for three hours and watch a football game.
I know some of the ideas under consideration include moving our football start times up to a morning start, say 11 a.m. or so. I've been to every home game ever played at Ornelas Stadium and I've never not enjoyed being there three or four hours before kickoff. It's really quite pleasant. But there's something about 2 o'clock that brings out the worst in East Texas weather -- specifically the temperature. Moving the start times up to a cooler 11 a.m. kickoff would get us out of most of the heat of the afternoon, and most games would conceivably but done by that 2 p.m. slot.
Adding lights are always a possibility, and have not been ruled out at some point to my understanding, but adding lights and playing night games doesn't necessarily negate the problem with the heat. Again, I refer back to the road trip to Ouachita -- the darkness didn't make the most sticky problem go away, namely the heavy humidity. It was still unbearably warm and the air was pressing down on us like crazy. And of course, lights are expensive, and they are expensive to run, and as a private university that has to be taken into serious consideration as well.
To a somewhat lesser degree, baseball games at ETBU have had this problem in dealing with the heat as well. But lights will be going in at Young Field this spring, and we'll be playing the first night games in Tiger baseball history right here on campus. Lights were added to the soccer field a couple of years ago, and that has helped some with the heat problems there.
Yes, it's hot. Very hot. But it's our heat, and it's something we all learn to deal with if you live in East Texas very long. So remember to prepare for the heat when visiting us or attending one of our outdoor events -- dress for the occasion, drink plenty of fluids and it's not against the law to spend a few minutes in the shade or air conditioning when possible. Sunscreen is always a nice addition as well --it's always been blazing hot when I've gone to the beach as well.
And above all else, don't let the heat keep you from coming out and enjoying the performance of these student-athletes. When it comes to life, hey, we're all in this together... even when it's hot.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Congratulating Bink
My last blog was about my personal friendship with one of this year's Hall of Fame inductees at ETBU, Tony Cutright. I couldn't let this time pass, though, without saying something about another, Bink Grimes.
The other two members of this year's class, Jana Allen-Sims and Kathy Norris-Edwards, were great contributors to their respective sports of cross country and women's basketball and were highly regarded, obviously, by the selection committee. I personally never met Jana or Kathy prior to the banquet this year, however, so I can't really say I have a history with them. Both ladies are first-class, however, and they represent what ETBU and Lady Tiger athletics are all about. It was a pleasure meeting them and witnessing their induction last month.
But I knew Bink quite well when he and his wife Shelly lived in Marshall. Bink actually is a kind of trail blazer here, at least from my perspective: he was a full-time S.I.D. when his playing days were over while also working as full-time assistant coach in the baseball program. Actually, I guess that makes him part-time S.I.D. and part-time assistant coach, but trust me, he did full-time work in both places.
I was working at the Marshall News Messenger at the time, covering local sports, so I got to know Bink pretty well. As with Cutright, I came along just after Bink's playing days, but I'd heard everything about him as well on the field -- outstanding hitter, both for average and power, a pretty good defensive first baseman and an even better leader.
Bink wrote an outdoor column for us in the News Messenger. I am not the least bit interested in hunting or fishing anymore, personally. My hunting experience ended one cold, rainy New Year's Day back in the 1980s after I'd been left sitting in a deer stand with nothing but a soaked parka and an even more soaked hunting rifle. I sat there for three solid, frigid hours, and there were several points in the experience where I thought I'd actually been frozen to the tree. Probably three of the most miserable hours of my life, quite honestly. And nothing moved but the raindrops and iciclyes hanging from the trees. I'm sure there were deer out there in the woods, but they were huddled up somewhere, looking at me and warming up to their own laughter watching this idiot kid sitting up there freezing to death.
Anyway, I prayed to God that day that if he would just make me warm again, get me out of that tree, I'd never spend another second in the woods. He came through as He always does, and I've held up my end of the prayer.
But Bink -- he was an avid outdoorsman. Bink had been a hunting and fishing guide along the coast even before he came to ETBU, and he fit right in up here in East Texas with all the wildlife and outdoor action to be had on the area's lakes and in the pine forests. We struck up a pretty good friendship -- he was able to fill a lot of space for me every Sunday in the paper, and in turn I was able to get him in on a media pass to a Texas Rangers baseball game.
Bink and I drove to Arlington one sunny day with the opportunity to cover the Rangers. I can't remember who they were playing, but it didn't matter. My goal was simply to get out of the office under the premise of working, as it usually was back in those days when I occasionally covered the Rangers. Bink was actually working; he wanted to meet Will Clark, who was not only a first baseman by trade but also a very avid hunter.
The game wasn't unlike any in the past, really, meaning the Rangers probably lost. But Bink got to sit down for a brief moment with Clark and talk outdoors, hunting and fishing, and as I remember he wrote a very good article. You could tell that he was a natural, both as a ballplayer and as a writer.
Bink has gone on to coach high school baseball down in Bay City, and he and Shelly now have a daughter, Mallory, who looks just like her dad. Not sure if she can hit the fastball yet, but I'm pretty sure she knows how to bait a hook.
He also continues to write his weekly outdoor column as a freelancer. In fact he came up to me after last month's banquet and asked if there would be a way he could use my laptop to email that week's column to the Houston Chronicle. He got it sent off, and it just reminded me of the kind of things that make our Hall of Famers great -- they always are focused on what needs to be done, and they do whatever it takes to get it done.
Congratulations, Bink.
The other two members of this year's class, Jana Allen-Sims and Kathy Norris-Edwards, were great contributors to their respective sports of cross country and women's basketball and were highly regarded, obviously, by the selection committee. I personally never met Jana or Kathy prior to the banquet this year, however, so I can't really say I have a history with them. Both ladies are first-class, however, and they represent what ETBU and Lady Tiger athletics are all about. It was a pleasure meeting them and witnessing their induction last month.
But I knew Bink quite well when he and his wife Shelly lived in Marshall. Bink actually is a kind of trail blazer here, at least from my perspective: he was a full-time S.I.D. when his playing days were over while also working as full-time assistant coach in the baseball program. Actually, I guess that makes him part-time S.I.D. and part-time assistant coach, but trust me, he did full-time work in both places.
I was working at the Marshall News Messenger at the time, covering local sports, so I got to know Bink pretty well. As with Cutright, I came along just after Bink's playing days, but I'd heard everything about him as well on the field -- outstanding hitter, both for average and power, a pretty good defensive first baseman and an even better leader.
Bink wrote an outdoor column for us in the News Messenger. I am not the least bit interested in hunting or fishing anymore, personally. My hunting experience ended one cold, rainy New Year's Day back in the 1980s after I'd been left sitting in a deer stand with nothing but a soaked parka and an even more soaked hunting rifle. I sat there for three solid, frigid hours, and there were several points in the experience where I thought I'd actually been frozen to the tree. Probably three of the most miserable hours of my life, quite honestly. And nothing moved but the raindrops and iciclyes hanging from the trees. I'm sure there were deer out there in the woods, but they were huddled up somewhere, looking at me and warming up to their own laughter watching this idiot kid sitting up there freezing to death.
Anyway, I prayed to God that day that if he would just make me warm again, get me out of that tree, I'd never spend another second in the woods. He came through as He always does, and I've held up my end of the prayer.
But Bink -- he was an avid outdoorsman. Bink had been a hunting and fishing guide along the coast even before he came to ETBU, and he fit right in up here in East Texas with all the wildlife and outdoor action to be had on the area's lakes and in the pine forests. We struck up a pretty good friendship -- he was able to fill a lot of space for me every Sunday in the paper, and in turn I was able to get him in on a media pass to a Texas Rangers baseball game.
Bink and I drove to Arlington one sunny day with the opportunity to cover the Rangers. I can't remember who they were playing, but it didn't matter. My goal was simply to get out of the office under the premise of working, as it usually was back in those days when I occasionally covered the Rangers. Bink was actually working; he wanted to meet Will Clark, who was not only a first baseman by trade but also a very avid hunter.
The game wasn't unlike any in the past, really, meaning the Rangers probably lost. But Bink got to sit down for a brief moment with Clark and talk outdoors, hunting and fishing, and as I remember he wrote a very good article. You could tell that he was a natural, both as a ballplayer and as a writer.
Bink has gone on to coach high school baseball down in Bay City, and he and Shelly now have a daughter, Mallory, who looks just like her dad. Not sure if she can hit the fastball yet, but I'm pretty sure she knows how to bait a hook.
He also continues to write his weekly outdoor column as a freelancer. In fact he came up to me after last month's banquet and asked if there would be a way he could use my laptop to email that week's column to the Houston Chronicle. He got it sent off, and it just reminded me of the kind of things that make our Hall of Famers great -- they always are focused on what needs to be done, and they do whatever it takes to get it done.
Congratulations, Bink.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Legend Of The Fall
It was a very exciting weekend again here at ETBU, and it wasn't just because the football team is still undefeated in the conference race.
I was looking forward to this year's Athletic Hall of Fame banquet moreso than any other year of my previous seven at ETBU. Not because I didn't enjoy the previous ones, but because I felt a personal touch with some of this year's inductees and share a little slice of -- yes, history -- with them.
I was never fortunate enough to see Tony Cutright play competitive basketball at ETBU. "Cut" played one year here at ETBU in 1995-96, and it was right after the completion of his senior season with the Tigers that I moved back to Marshall and began working at the Marshall News Messenger.
But I heard the whispers and the legend. As a local sports writer I, of course, covered a lot of ETBU events personally and it didn't matter who the next star-in-waiting for the Tigers was. They were always compared to a handful of greats who had come through in the past, fairly or unfairly, and Cut was in that small group of comparisons.
In fact, I never met Cut personally until he came back to ETBU as an assistant coach in 2001. Most people who follow our basketball program closely or who know Coach West personally know how close he and Cutright are. Bert coached Cutright back at Zwolle, La., and he will flat out tell you that Tony is the best high school basketball player to ever come out of Louisiana. Bert says that Cut was a player without a position, and that's because he could play all of them. Whoever was the best player on the other team, that's who Cut guarded all night at Zwolle. He could shoot from long range, middle range, drive to the basket past anyone and then post them up whenever he wanted. He was a tenacious defender and team leader who was good enough to lead Zwolle to four state championships, back-to-back-to-back. Yes, Bert will tell you that without Tony Cutright, Zwolle doesn't accomplish that amazing feat most likely.
Cut went on to star at Lee Junior College for two years then signed on at UL-Lafayette, where injuries cut short his D-I career after one season. With one year of eligibility left, Cut looked up his old high school coach and arrived at ETBU. Still hurting from leg and back injuries, and mostly out of shape the first half of the season, Cutright still was the best player on the floor most nights for the Tigers -- who went 28-5 that season. He earned a tryout with the Houston Rockets after the season, and it ultimately came down to who the Rockets wanted to keep -- a young thoroughbred just beginning to get healthy again, or Mario Elie. Houston chose Elie and Cut was left to continue playing basketball overseas.
When I met Cut for the first time in 2001, he was back with Coach West as an assistant. I'd heard the legend and heard Bert talk countless times about what he'd seen Cut do on a basketball court, but you never really know yourself until you see it with your own eyes. Seeing him up close and personal for the first time, Cut towered over everyone. Beginning that first year he and I were roommates on road trips and I got to see with my own eyes the Cut that everyone had talked about.
I believe the one common denominator that all great athletes have is competitiveness. Tony Cutright was competitive, and for us it began with PlayStation. I'd never owned a PS2 in my life, just the old original PlayStations. Cut had the PS2, which was top of the line back then. He'd bring it on those road trips and we would get going on that darn thing. I don't know what the streak was, but it had to be getting pretty close to 100 straight wins for Cutright. He'd pull out the latest Madden version and we'd go at it, and he'd take his beloved little Saints every time. This was back when the Saints struggled every year to get five wins, but Cut would get that in one night of competition against me -- who bounced back and forth from every other team in the league, trying to find a matchup that would favor the old SID.
I finally beat Cut on one trip -- I think it was with the Steelers, which shows you how much I needed a win because I hate the Steelers -- and it was because I simply threw bombs downfield every play and eventually you learn that you can hook up three or four times for easy scores that way. After the win, I announced that I had retired from Madden. Cut announced that I hadn't, and that I'd better get my Steeler self back on that stick or he would roll me up and dunk me the next time we saw a gym. I thought he just might be able to pull that off, based on what I'd heard from the legend talk, so I humbly returned to the stick. I don't know that I ever won again.
Cut's basketball skills to this day haven't eroded, either. He might be a couple steps slower, and need a bit more of a break during a timeout, but he dominated ETBU intramurals while coaching here. It was really nice because I was always on his team, thanks to the deft recruiting of my trusty assistant and Assistant Director of Admissions Jason Soles. Soles is a pretty good basketball coach, too, as it turns out -- he knows that when Cut is on the floor, let's find ways to get him the basketball. Every trip.
And those athletes nowadays? Cut always had fun with them after practice. I remember one particular trip to Mississippi College when some of the players were calling Cut out following a shootaround. The reference was vaguely to Cut's age, I think, or the fact that maybe he wasn't the same guy he used to be on the court. The big guy, to his credit, didn't say much back. He simply walked over, picked up a basketball and then carried it to midcourt.
He then took a jumper -- no underhand heave or overhand toss, a straight-up, in-your-face jump shot -- from the midcourt circle at Wood Coliseum. The ball never touched the rim, sliding gracefully through the net about the time Cut popped off with his only talk of the exchange -- "Boom!"
The only noise coming from the current day college players then was that of them rolling around on the floor, absolutely juiced from the display. No one ever challenged Cut seriously again.
Once a legend, always a legend.
Cut was one of our four inductees to the Hall of Fame this year, along with Bink Grimes, Jana Allen-Sims and Kathy Norris-Edwards. The old superstar is now coaching high school basketball at Pleasant Hill, La., and he's doing what he says he needs to do, and that is help young people in life and in faith. As an old friend, it was an honor to see him accept his Hall of Fame plaque Saturday.
No one has earned it more than Cut.
I was looking forward to this year's Athletic Hall of Fame banquet moreso than any other year of my previous seven at ETBU. Not because I didn't enjoy the previous ones, but because I felt a personal touch with some of this year's inductees and share a little slice of -- yes, history -- with them.
I was never fortunate enough to see Tony Cutright play competitive basketball at ETBU. "Cut" played one year here at ETBU in 1995-96, and it was right after the completion of his senior season with the Tigers that I moved back to Marshall and began working at the Marshall News Messenger.
But I heard the whispers and the legend. As a local sports writer I, of course, covered a lot of ETBU events personally and it didn't matter who the next star-in-waiting for the Tigers was. They were always compared to a handful of greats who had come through in the past, fairly or unfairly, and Cut was in that small group of comparisons.
In fact, I never met Cut personally until he came back to ETBU as an assistant coach in 2001. Most people who follow our basketball program closely or who know Coach West personally know how close he and Cutright are. Bert coached Cutright back at Zwolle, La., and he will flat out tell you that Tony is the best high school basketball player to ever come out of Louisiana. Bert says that Cut was a player without a position, and that's because he could play all of them. Whoever was the best player on the other team, that's who Cut guarded all night at Zwolle. He could shoot from long range, middle range, drive to the basket past anyone and then post them up whenever he wanted. He was a tenacious defender and team leader who was good enough to lead Zwolle to four state championships, back-to-back-to-back. Yes, Bert will tell you that without Tony Cutright, Zwolle doesn't accomplish that amazing feat most likely.
Cut went on to star at Lee Junior College for two years then signed on at UL-Lafayette, where injuries cut short his D-I career after one season. With one year of eligibility left, Cut looked up his old high school coach and arrived at ETBU. Still hurting from leg and back injuries, and mostly out of shape the first half of the season, Cutright still was the best player on the floor most nights for the Tigers -- who went 28-5 that season. He earned a tryout with the Houston Rockets after the season, and it ultimately came down to who the Rockets wanted to keep -- a young thoroughbred just beginning to get healthy again, or Mario Elie. Houston chose Elie and Cut was left to continue playing basketball overseas.
When I met Cut for the first time in 2001, he was back with Coach West as an assistant. I'd heard the legend and heard Bert talk countless times about what he'd seen Cut do on a basketball court, but you never really know yourself until you see it with your own eyes. Seeing him up close and personal for the first time, Cut towered over everyone. Beginning that first year he and I were roommates on road trips and I got to see with my own eyes the Cut that everyone had talked about.
I believe the one common denominator that all great athletes have is competitiveness. Tony Cutright was competitive, and for us it began with PlayStation. I'd never owned a PS2 in my life, just the old original PlayStations. Cut had the PS2, which was top of the line back then. He'd bring it on those road trips and we would get going on that darn thing. I don't know what the streak was, but it had to be getting pretty close to 100 straight wins for Cutright. He'd pull out the latest Madden version and we'd go at it, and he'd take his beloved little Saints every time. This was back when the Saints struggled every year to get five wins, but Cut would get that in one night of competition against me -- who bounced back and forth from every other team in the league, trying to find a matchup that would favor the old SID.
I finally beat Cut on one trip -- I think it was with the Steelers, which shows you how much I needed a win because I hate the Steelers -- and it was because I simply threw bombs downfield every play and eventually you learn that you can hook up three or four times for easy scores that way. After the win, I announced that I had retired from Madden. Cut announced that I hadn't, and that I'd better get my Steeler self back on that stick or he would roll me up and dunk me the next time we saw a gym. I thought he just might be able to pull that off, based on what I'd heard from the legend talk, so I humbly returned to the stick. I don't know that I ever won again.
Cut's basketball skills to this day haven't eroded, either. He might be a couple steps slower, and need a bit more of a break during a timeout, but he dominated ETBU intramurals while coaching here. It was really nice because I was always on his team, thanks to the deft recruiting of my trusty assistant and Assistant Director of Admissions Jason Soles. Soles is a pretty good basketball coach, too, as it turns out -- he knows that when Cut is on the floor, let's find ways to get him the basketball. Every trip.
And those athletes nowadays? Cut always had fun with them after practice. I remember one particular trip to Mississippi College when some of the players were calling Cut out following a shootaround. The reference was vaguely to Cut's age, I think, or the fact that maybe he wasn't the same guy he used to be on the court. The big guy, to his credit, didn't say much back. He simply walked over, picked up a basketball and then carried it to midcourt.
He then took a jumper -- no underhand heave or overhand toss, a straight-up, in-your-face jump shot -- from the midcourt circle at Wood Coliseum. The ball never touched the rim, sliding gracefully through the net about the time Cut popped off with his only talk of the exchange -- "Boom!"
The only noise coming from the current day college players then was that of them rolling around on the floor, absolutely juiced from the display. No one ever challenged Cut seriously again.
Once a legend, always a legend.
Cut was one of our four inductees to the Hall of Fame this year, along with Bink Grimes, Jana Allen-Sims and Kathy Norris-Edwards. The old superstar is now coaching high school basketball at Pleasant Hill, La., and he's doing what he says he needs to do, and that is help young people in life and in faith. As an old friend, it was an honor to see him accept his Hall of Fame plaque Saturday.
No one has earned it more than Cut.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Sweep
I'm sure it's happened before sometime over the eight years I've been fortunate to be the SID here at ETBU, but for some reason the feat this time seems to have a little more punch to it.
Maybe it's because the fall sports season started a bit slowly for our athletic teams. Through the first couple of weeks of the fall season, the Lady Tiger volleyball team was the only team to record a win and they were kind of bouncing up and around the .500 mark through the first three weeks or so. Both soccer teams, combined, started the year with three ties and a couple of losses apiece, and football also went winless in non-conference games.
Let me say that I am like a lot of SIDs in that my mood pretty much mirrors that of the success and/or failure of our teams when it comes to winning and losing. Really, the losing. I hate to lose. My wife and I can't play board games anymore because she finds some weird way to always win and then I have to mope around for days, going back over what I could have done differently to perhaps pull out a victory...
But I digress. The point is that when our teams struggle, I struggle. Call me a homer if you like, but my job is a lot more fun when we have success. That makes weekends like this past one very, very fun.
Our four fall sports teams -- football, volleyball, and both men's and women's soccer -- came away victorious on Saturday. Like I said at the beginning, I'm sure at some point over the years the sweep has happened before, but this one feels a bit sweeter for some reason.
For one thing, it's a great thing to see a bunch of hard working young ladies on our soccer team finally get rewarded with a victory, as well as giving one to our new coach, Paul Grant. I've known Paul for less than two months, but he is the right man for this job. Our Lady Tiger soccer program is in good hands, trust me, and they are headed in the right direction. So, it's always nice to see good guys (and gals) with a smile on their face, and winning puts the smile there quicker than anything.
The win for Coach Alonzo's bunch has a different feel. The Tigers have overcome a slow start offensively and have been rolling up the goals the last three games. Thirteen, to be exact. Consider that they scored four goals in the first five games, and yes, you have to say the Tigers have found something they like. Saturday's thrilling 4-3 win over McMurry was good in a lot of ways: a) it gets us over the .500 mark on the season, which always makes you feel good, b) it's a third straight conference win and has us in striking distance of first place in the standings, and c) we had to work extremely hard to get it. Easy wins are nice for fans, because we don't have to worry about much during the course of a game. But wins like Saturday are good for teams because you learn a lot about yourself in the process when you have to come from behind and score when the heat is being turned up.
The football team has turned around its season in just the span of a couple of weeks. That 0-2 start is forgotten, and the Tigers are reaping the actual benefits of playing a Top 25 non-conference opponent as well as a decent D-II opponent. Even though those games were losses, and big ones at that, ETBU has grown on the football field. The first two conference wins haven't been remotely perfect, but wins don't have to be, do they?
I can tell you just from the experience of traveling to Alpine several times over the years, whether by land or by air, that it's perhaps the most difficult road trip for any of our teams. It's 12 or so hours away by charter bus, which is a challenge in and of itself. Then you finally get way out there and realize the air just isn't there for your lungs, with the high elevation in the West Texas mountains. And oh, by the way, once you get there you actually have to play a game against a team that is used to the conditions and thrives in them.
Saturday's 41-28 win over Sul Ross wasn't perfect, no. But it was the fourth straight game in which the Tigers improved from the previous week. Case in point -- through the first three games, ETBU just hadn't been very good in short-yardage situations offensively. Getting to the goal line was an adventure. But you keep stressing and working and practicing, and boom! Corey George puts touchdowns on the board in record numbers in short yardage around the goal line. The defense pretty much shut down a high-octane Lobo offense through most of the final three quarters, aided by some pressure on the quarterback and turnovers.
As for volleyball -- bring your heart medication with you to Lady Tiger games! The goal for ETBU is rather obvious this season: the Lady Tigers want to win the ASC East and host the conference tournament for the first time since 2001. If that happens, we all will truly appreciate the road it took to get there.
The Lady Tigers played 10 games of volleyball this weekend over the course of two matches. In case you're wondering, that's the limit. In both matches -- at UMHB on Friday and UTD on Saturday -- ETBU was down 0-2 and staring disappointment straight in the face. But the Lady Tigers didn't blink, and staged back-to-back thrilling rallies to steal a pair of huge road wins against conference foes. The wins have the Lady Tigers all alone in first place in the East, and in full control of determining whether or not ETBU hosts the conference tourney in late October.
And get this -- ETBU is now 20-3 overall against the ASC since the start of the 2006 season. They will face defending conference champion Hardin-Simmons Friday at the first of two crossover tournaments in the next few weeks, so it will again be a big test. But one thing Coach Mashe and her players have shown is that 0-2 isn't a big enough deficit for this team to overcome.
And oh by the way, ETBU's cross country teams ran in a big meet out in Abilene this weekend and competed very well. Cross country is really a sport in which the athlete competes against himself or herself, and the men's team posted their best individual times when compared against their previous meet. The women's team was facing some very stiff competition out on the course, but also had solid, improved times.
Who knows when this kind of success will happen again. But for now, it's good to look back with some pride on the past weekend for our teams. The most important thing, however, and the most exciting, is what it could mean for the future.
Maybe it's because the fall sports season started a bit slowly for our athletic teams. Through the first couple of weeks of the fall season, the Lady Tiger volleyball team was the only team to record a win and they were kind of bouncing up and around the .500 mark through the first three weeks or so. Both soccer teams, combined, started the year with three ties and a couple of losses apiece, and football also went winless in non-conference games.
Let me say that I am like a lot of SIDs in that my mood pretty much mirrors that of the success and/or failure of our teams when it comes to winning and losing. Really, the losing. I hate to lose. My wife and I can't play board games anymore because she finds some weird way to always win and then I have to mope around for days, going back over what I could have done differently to perhaps pull out a victory...
But I digress. The point is that when our teams struggle, I struggle. Call me a homer if you like, but my job is a lot more fun when we have success. That makes weekends like this past one very, very fun.
Our four fall sports teams -- football, volleyball, and both men's and women's soccer -- came away victorious on Saturday. Like I said at the beginning, I'm sure at some point over the years the sweep has happened before, but this one feels a bit sweeter for some reason.
For one thing, it's a great thing to see a bunch of hard working young ladies on our soccer team finally get rewarded with a victory, as well as giving one to our new coach, Paul Grant. I've known Paul for less than two months, but he is the right man for this job. Our Lady Tiger soccer program is in good hands, trust me, and they are headed in the right direction. So, it's always nice to see good guys (and gals) with a smile on their face, and winning puts the smile there quicker than anything.
The win for Coach Alonzo's bunch has a different feel. The Tigers have overcome a slow start offensively and have been rolling up the goals the last three games. Thirteen, to be exact. Consider that they scored four goals in the first five games, and yes, you have to say the Tigers have found something they like. Saturday's thrilling 4-3 win over McMurry was good in a lot of ways: a) it gets us over the .500 mark on the season, which always makes you feel good, b) it's a third straight conference win and has us in striking distance of first place in the standings, and c) we had to work extremely hard to get it. Easy wins are nice for fans, because we don't have to worry about much during the course of a game. But wins like Saturday are good for teams because you learn a lot about yourself in the process when you have to come from behind and score when the heat is being turned up.
The football team has turned around its season in just the span of a couple of weeks. That 0-2 start is forgotten, and the Tigers are reaping the actual benefits of playing a Top 25 non-conference opponent as well as a decent D-II opponent. Even though those games were losses, and big ones at that, ETBU has grown on the football field. The first two conference wins haven't been remotely perfect, but wins don't have to be, do they?
I can tell you just from the experience of traveling to Alpine several times over the years, whether by land or by air, that it's perhaps the most difficult road trip for any of our teams. It's 12 or so hours away by charter bus, which is a challenge in and of itself. Then you finally get way out there and realize the air just isn't there for your lungs, with the high elevation in the West Texas mountains. And oh, by the way, once you get there you actually have to play a game against a team that is used to the conditions and thrives in them.
Saturday's 41-28 win over Sul Ross wasn't perfect, no. But it was the fourth straight game in which the Tigers improved from the previous week. Case in point -- through the first three games, ETBU just hadn't been very good in short-yardage situations offensively. Getting to the goal line was an adventure. But you keep stressing and working and practicing, and boom! Corey George puts touchdowns on the board in record numbers in short yardage around the goal line. The defense pretty much shut down a high-octane Lobo offense through most of the final three quarters, aided by some pressure on the quarterback and turnovers.
As for volleyball -- bring your heart medication with you to Lady Tiger games! The goal for ETBU is rather obvious this season: the Lady Tigers want to win the ASC East and host the conference tournament for the first time since 2001. If that happens, we all will truly appreciate the road it took to get there.
The Lady Tigers played 10 games of volleyball this weekend over the course of two matches. In case you're wondering, that's the limit. In both matches -- at UMHB on Friday and UTD on Saturday -- ETBU was down 0-2 and staring disappointment straight in the face. But the Lady Tigers didn't blink, and staged back-to-back thrilling rallies to steal a pair of huge road wins against conference foes. The wins have the Lady Tigers all alone in first place in the East, and in full control of determining whether or not ETBU hosts the conference tourney in late October.
And get this -- ETBU is now 20-3 overall against the ASC since the start of the 2006 season. They will face defending conference champion Hardin-Simmons Friday at the first of two crossover tournaments in the next few weeks, so it will again be a big test. But one thing Coach Mashe and her players have shown is that 0-2 isn't a big enough deficit for this team to overcome.
And oh by the way, ETBU's cross country teams ran in a big meet out in Abilene this weekend and competed very well. Cross country is really a sport in which the athlete competes against himself or herself, and the men's team posted their best individual times when compared against their previous meet. The women's team was facing some very stiff competition out on the course, but also had solid, improved times.
Who knows when this kind of success will happen again. But for now, it's good to look back with some pride on the past weekend for our teams. The most important thing, however, and the most exciting, is what it could mean for the future.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Roar of the Tiger
This theme for this blog entry is dangerously close to that of the last one, but it's the best I could do at the moment at the end of that long drive around what's called writer's bloc.
However, it's one that is very near and dear to my heart, if no one else's. A few years ago I felt the need and inner urging to come up with something that would identify our teams as they walked out of the locker room -- most notably, football and basketball. The simple phrase "here come the Tigers" doesn't work anymore. People loved to get jazzed up for stuff -- I think the correct term used today is "krunk," whatever that means.
I came up with our now-famous Tiger Roar. That's that loud, roaring sound you hear in Ornelas Stadium when the football team starts the trek from the locker room to the field. It's also what you hear sometimes in Ornelas Gym just before the Tigers take the court.
There's a story behind the Tiger Roar. It's actually not that bad now, but the first one I came across was downright and borderline annoying. Even those of you who may be big fans of the Roar have to admit it wasn't the most appealing sound you'll ever hear. It sounded like one of those dinosaur noises you'd hear in "Jurassic Park," or like our tiger on the other end was in the process of dying, maybe.
I'd had enough of that roar after about three or four years. And quite frankly, the only feedback I got back from it was very comical. I had the feeling we were turning into a circus rather than an athletic event.
So I decided in my own wisdom to get rid of the Roar. Everyone hated it, it sounded nothing like a Tiger (it actually was though, really -- I'd downloaded it off the Internet after doing a simple search for "tiger roar"), and I was embarrassed by it. The only one who really liked it was our men's basketball coach, Bert West. But if you know Bert at all, none of that would surprise you. Bert will be a blog all by himself once basketball season starts; and I did appreciate his support for the original Tiger Roar. But trust me, the Roar stunk.
The Roar had its first official off day at a Tiger event during the 2006 football home opener. The CD player in the press box was broken, so all our pregame music had to be played on my laptop that day. The laptop was connected to the sound system courtesy of our trusty sound man at ETBU, the pride of Hallsville Bobcat Stadium, Mr. Johnny Vinson. The only problem was, Johnny and the laptop were at the other end of the pressbox from where I would be sitting and keeping game stats. And, the laptop also had my stat program. So I had to keep the laptop down there right up until the teams came out, play whatever intro sounds were needed, then unhook my computer and race back down the hallway to the media room where I would then have to hook it up again and get ready for kickoff.
So again, that was another reason why I decided to get rid of the Tiger Roar. No one even noticed it, anyway, right?
Wrong. The first drive of the game hadn't been completed that day when I got a call from our Athletic Director, Kent Reeves. He had gotten a message from Dr. Riley, our president, wanting to know why the Tiger Roar wasn't played. I told Kent I didn't have a copy of it because, basically, I hadn't planned to use it anymore. It was a joke. An embarrassing, sickening sound.
Needless to say, Dr. Riley likes the Tiger Roar. Several other people came up to me after that game and asked where our Roar had gone. It had become a tradition at ETBU, apparently, without me realizing it. I just wanted to play something that resembled a Tiger, not a dying whale.
I had a newfound desire to find a Roar suited for ETBU. The next home game, the new version was unveiled -- and I have to say it sounds much, much more like a vicious Tiger than anything I'd found before. The clip is only about 12 seconds long, but I've looped it into about 90 seconds worth of Tiger growling, roaring and snorting. It's a Tiger calling for his team, and it is here to stay.
It gets us "krunk," as they say.
However, it's one that is very near and dear to my heart, if no one else's. A few years ago I felt the need and inner urging to come up with something that would identify our teams as they walked out of the locker room -- most notably, football and basketball. The simple phrase "here come the Tigers" doesn't work anymore. People loved to get jazzed up for stuff -- I think the correct term used today is "krunk," whatever that means.
I came up with our now-famous Tiger Roar. That's that loud, roaring sound you hear in Ornelas Stadium when the football team starts the trek from the locker room to the field. It's also what you hear sometimes in Ornelas Gym just before the Tigers take the court.
There's a story behind the Tiger Roar. It's actually not that bad now, but the first one I came across was downright and borderline annoying. Even those of you who may be big fans of the Roar have to admit it wasn't the most appealing sound you'll ever hear. It sounded like one of those dinosaur noises you'd hear in "Jurassic Park," or like our tiger on the other end was in the process of dying, maybe.
I'd had enough of that roar after about three or four years. And quite frankly, the only feedback I got back from it was very comical. I had the feeling we were turning into a circus rather than an athletic event.
So I decided in my own wisdom to get rid of the Roar. Everyone hated it, it sounded nothing like a Tiger (it actually was though, really -- I'd downloaded it off the Internet after doing a simple search for "tiger roar"), and I was embarrassed by it. The only one who really liked it was our men's basketball coach, Bert West. But if you know Bert at all, none of that would surprise you. Bert will be a blog all by himself once basketball season starts; and I did appreciate his support for the original Tiger Roar. But trust me, the Roar stunk.
The Roar had its first official off day at a Tiger event during the 2006 football home opener. The CD player in the press box was broken, so all our pregame music had to be played on my laptop that day. The laptop was connected to the sound system courtesy of our trusty sound man at ETBU, the pride of Hallsville Bobcat Stadium, Mr. Johnny Vinson. The only problem was, Johnny and the laptop were at the other end of the pressbox from where I would be sitting and keeping game stats. And, the laptop also had my stat program. So I had to keep the laptop down there right up until the teams came out, play whatever intro sounds were needed, then unhook my computer and race back down the hallway to the media room where I would then have to hook it up again and get ready for kickoff.
So again, that was another reason why I decided to get rid of the Tiger Roar. No one even noticed it, anyway, right?
Wrong. The first drive of the game hadn't been completed that day when I got a call from our Athletic Director, Kent Reeves. He had gotten a message from Dr. Riley, our president, wanting to know why the Tiger Roar wasn't played. I told Kent I didn't have a copy of it because, basically, I hadn't planned to use it anymore. It was a joke. An embarrassing, sickening sound.
Needless to say, Dr. Riley likes the Tiger Roar. Several other people came up to me after that game and asked where our Roar had gone. It had become a tradition at ETBU, apparently, without me realizing it. I just wanted to play something that resembled a Tiger, not a dying whale.
I had a newfound desire to find a Roar suited for ETBU. The next home game, the new version was unveiled -- and I have to say it sounds much, much more like a vicious Tiger than anything I'd found before. The clip is only about 12 seconds long, but I've looped it into about 90 seconds worth of Tiger growling, roaring and snorting. It's a Tiger calling for his team, and it is here to stay.
It gets us "krunk," as they say.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Mascots
Common sense tells us what should happen Saturday when ETBU hosts Howard Payne in the annual battle of Baptist brethren on the football field.
It doesn't matter who plays quarterback, running back or linebacker for either team, right? That turnover thing, it's way overrated, right? Penalties? Injuries? Mistakes? Won't make a big of difference.
Common sense says no way a Yellow Jacket can take down a Tiger.
We love our mascots. At ETBU, of course, that means we love the big cats. Is there any animal as majestically beautiful and powerful while at the same time being as terrifying up close? I remember a few years ago when we had an actual live tiger mascot, Sarge. Sarge attended a handful of games in Ornelas Stadium and was quite possibly the final, magic touch we needed during our playoff season in 2003. ETBU was 3-0 in Ornelas Stadium that year when Sarge was in attendance, including the playoff win against Trinity that ended with Littleton Dean blocking an extra point attempt in overtime.
I never found out for sure, but I've heard that we requested a special place for ol' Sarge on the airplane to Williamsport, Pa., the next week, to play Lycoming in the second round. The airline must have said no, however, because I was on the plane and Sarge wasn't. And we all know how that ended up...
Anyway, I remember a lot more about Sarge that really had nothing to do with football or anything else. To see him walk gracefully off his personalized trailer and right into his cage at the stadium was a sight in and of itself. But Sarge was also still just a kitten, in terms of tiger age. That meant he liked to play like a kitten, despite the fact he was slightly larger than a t-rex I think.
Sarge's toys included an empty refrigerator box, which would last about 10 minutes as I recall. He'd rip and tear that thing to shreds and then clean the pieces of cardboard from his claws and teeth as though he'd just taken down a deer in the woods around Marshall. Then came time to eat -- which meant more toys. That little packaged stuff you find for your house cat, of course, would only make Sarge mad. No, he had to have chicken -- whole chickens. Now, they weren't live chickens, just store-bought hens. But he would cut those things to pieces, and yes it was a bit sickening to hear the bones crunch in his mouth as he sat lazily in his pen, ready to strap it on with his favorite college team a few feet away.
Sarge doesn't come to ETBU games anymore, but his legacy remains -- especially around my office and in our publications. You can find his picture on some of our athletic web pages. Yes, that's Sarge peering from the background at the top of our football and basketball pages, watching over our athletes.
Yes, there's something about a tiger. It's a perfect mascot for ETBU. It's a perfect mascot anywhere, really. The tiger would make a great blue-chip athlete: big, strong, fast and aggressive. If you don't think so, just ask the chicken.
And while we're on the subject of mascots, ETBU still does have a live mascot at just about every event -- Toby the Tiger. As I recall, Sarge was particularly fond of Toby in the few times they came across each other over the years. They'd sit and stare at each other through those cage wires, Sarge wondering why in the heck he was surrounded by a fence while that other thing, which looked sort of like him, was roaming free -- on two legs, no less.
Of course, Toby is actually a disguise for ETBU student Lia Frederick. I will go on record as saying Lia is the best "mascot" in the country, at any level. She's a natural. She's also quite a story in and of herself -- Lia plays on the Lady Tiger soccer team as well as running cross country. Conceivably, she can run a cross country meet on a Saturday morning somewhere close by, make it back to the stadium in time to suit up as Toby for a football game, and then head over to Cornish Field and play a soccer game that night. It's simply amazing, and I hope to have a feature story sometime this fall on Lia's adventures. That would be the best way to describe it, I think.
So bring your Tiger paws and your Tiger gear to Ornelas Stadium Saturday and get ready to swat those annoying Yellow Jackets. Remember, the bite is always better than the buzz.
It doesn't matter who plays quarterback, running back or linebacker for either team, right? That turnover thing, it's way overrated, right? Penalties? Injuries? Mistakes? Won't make a big of difference.
Common sense says no way a Yellow Jacket can take down a Tiger.
We love our mascots. At ETBU, of course, that means we love the big cats. Is there any animal as majestically beautiful and powerful while at the same time being as terrifying up close? I remember a few years ago when we had an actual live tiger mascot, Sarge. Sarge attended a handful of games in Ornelas Stadium and was quite possibly the final, magic touch we needed during our playoff season in 2003. ETBU was 3-0 in Ornelas Stadium that year when Sarge was in attendance, including the playoff win against Trinity that ended with Littleton Dean blocking an extra point attempt in overtime.
I never found out for sure, but I've heard that we requested a special place for ol' Sarge on the airplane to Williamsport, Pa., the next week, to play Lycoming in the second round. The airline must have said no, however, because I was on the plane and Sarge wasn't. And we all know how that ended up...
Anyway, I remember a lot more about Sarge that really had nothing to do with football or anything else. To see him walk gracefully off his personalized trailer and right into his cage at the stadium was a sight in and of itself. But Sarge was also still just a kitten, in terms of tiger age. That meant he liked to play like a kitten, despite the fact he was slightly larger than a t-rex I think.
Sarge's toys included an empty refrigerator box, which would last about 10 minutes as I recall. He'd rip and tear that thing to shreds and then clean the pieces of cardboard from his claws and teeth as though he'd just taken down a deer in the woods around Marshall. Then came time to eat -- which meant more toys. That little packaged stuff you find for your house cat, of course, would only make Sarge mad. No, he had to have chicken -- whole chickens. Now, they weren't live chickens, just store-bought hens. But he would cut those things to pieces, and yes it was a bit sickening to hear the bones crunch in his mouth as he sat lazily in his pen, ready to strap it on with his favorite college team a few feet away.
Sarge doesn't come to ETBU games anymore, but his legacy remains -- especially around my office and in our publications. You can find his picture on some of our athletic web pages. Yes, that's Sarge peering from the background at the top of our football and basketball pages, watching over our athletes.
Yes, there's something about a tiger. It's a perfect mascot for ETBU. It's a perfect mascot anywhere, really. The tiger would make a great blue-chip athlete: big, strong, fast and aggressive. If you don't think so, just ask the chicken.
And while we're on the subject of mascots, ETBU still does have a live mascot at just about every event -- Toby the Tiger. As I recall, Sarge was particularly fond of Toby in the few times they came across each other over the years. They'd sit and stare at each other through those cage wires, Sarge wondering why in the heck he was surrounded by a fence while that other thing, which looked sort of like him, was roaming free -- on two legs, no less.
Of course, Toby is actually a disguise for ETBU student Lia Frederick. I will go on record as saying Lia is the best "mascot" in the country, at any level. She's a natural. She's also quite a story in and of herself -- Lia plays on the Lady Tiger soccer team as well as running cross country. Conceivably, she can run a cross country meet on a Saturday morning somewhere close by, make it back to the stadium in time to suit up as Toby for a football game, and then head over to Cornish Field and play a soccer game that night. It's simply amazing, and I hope to have a feature story sometime this fall on Lia's adventures. That would be the best way to describe it, I think.
So bring your Tiger paws and your Tiger gear to Ornelas Stadium Saturday and get ready to swat those annoying Yellow Jackets. Remember, the bite is always better than the buzz.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Welcome to the (Blog) Jungle
One of the first things I do every morning when I get to the office is search the Internet. That search includes popular news and sports sites all over the world wide web -- ESPN, CNNSI, Fox News, etc. Part of the reason I do this as part of my morning routine at ETBU is that I can never seem to get up in time to either read a newspaper of turn on a television. The other part, I guess, is that I have become addicted to surfing the 'Net with a cup of hot coffee in my hand -- another thing that never happens around my house early in the morning with three small children running around.
Anway, part of this Internet surf for me in the mornings takes me to the web sites of my colleagues in the American Southwest Conference. The ASC is becoming more and more recognized every year as one of the most competitive, deepest Division III leagues in the country, top to bottom. If you take a look at the 15 web sites in the conference, you'll see that sort of label extending online as well.
My good friend and SID colleague Chad Grubbs at Hardin-Simmons has the first online SID blog in the conference, and you'll find it linked to the Cowboys website. That's where the idea for TigerBlog started, in between cups of coffee and a daily check of my Yahoo fantasy baseball team -- which is locked in a second-round playoff duel right now as I speak. That's a story for another time and another blog, however.
What I hope to accomplish here is to give a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at ETBU and, specifically, within our athletic department. The news and features will continue to be posted on our web site, www.etbu.edu, but I hope to be able to give more insight and information here. I'll also satisfy my writing itch from time to time and blog some other type of article from time to time that you won't find on the ETBU site -- all ETBU related, of course.
There are a lot of exciting things going on at our University this year, and I'll try to hit as many high points as possible. I can't promise a new blog every day, but when I need a break from the everyday monotony of press releases, media guides and emails, I'll try to hit the blog with something fresh.
We're two weeks into the fall season and already it feels like the middle of the year. Summer seems so far away, doesn't it -- not next summer, I'm talking about the past one. A new era of Tiger football is underway, and pay no attention to that 0-2 mark through the first two games. I was at Ouachita Saturday night, on the sideline, and the Tigers were a much better team than the one that opened against Trinity the week before. That kind of improvement week to week is the sign of a good bunch, and I think we are definitely on the right track.
Tiger soccer is also off and running, and the men's team has shown flashes of potential. The good thing is that ETBU's 1-2-1 mark has come against non-conference competition, and when this group plays mistake-free soccer they are going to be a nuisance for anyone. The Lady Tigers have been in a state of change since right before the school year, with a late coaching change, but new coach Paul Grant has a direction and a plan, trust me. He will get it done, and the ladies will keep getting better as the year goes on.
Lyndsay Mashe's volleyball team has also been very competitive through the first couple of weeks and are poised to make another run at the ASC East title. The Lady Tigers aren't as deep, perhaps, as they've been in past years, with youth in some key spots in the rotation. But the 5-5 start this year is worlds better than the 0-6 from last year, so Lyndsay and her group are right in the thick of things again.
That's it for now, so keep watching. Hopefully this will be a beneficial site for everyone and we can all enjoy another great year of Tiger athletics.
Anway, part of this Internet surf for me in the mornings takes me to the web sites of my colleagues in the American Southwest Conference. The ASC is becoming more and more recognized every year as one of the most competitive, deepest Division III leagues in the country, top to bottom. If you take a look at the 15 web sites in the conference, you'll see that sort of label extending online as well.
My good friend and SID colleague Chad Grubbs at Hardin-Simmons has the first online SID blog in the conference, and you'll find it linked to the Cowboys website. That's where the idea for TigerBlog started, in between cups of coffee and a daily check of my Yahoo fantasy baseball team -- which is locked in a second-round playoff duel right now as I speak. That's a story for another time and another blog, however.
What I hope to accomplish here is to give a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at ETBU and, specifically, within our athletic department. The news and features will continue to be posted on our web site, www.etbu.edu, but I hope to be able to give more insight and information here. I'll also satisfy my writing itch from time to time and blog some other type of article from time to time that you won't find on the ETBU site -- all ETBU related, of course.
There are a lot of exciting things going on at our University this year, and I'll try to hit as many high points as possible. I can't promise a new blog every day, but when I need a break from the everyday monotony of press releases, media guides and emails, I'll try to hit the blog with something fresh.
We're two weeks into the fall season and already it feels like the middle of the year. Summer seems so far away, doesn't it -- not next summer, I'm talking about the past one. A new era of Tiger football is underway, and pay no attention to that 0-2 mark through the first two games. I was at Ouachita Saturday night, on the sideline, and the Tigers were a much better team than the one that opened against Trinity the week before. That kind of improvement week to week is the sign of a good bunch, and I think we are definitely on the right track.
Tiger soccer is also off and running, and the men's team has shown flashes of potential. The good thing is that ETBU's 1-2-1 mark has come against non-conference competition, and when this group plays mistake-free soccer they are going to be a nuisance for anyone. The Lady Tigers have been in a state of change since right before the school year, with a late coaching change, but new coach Paul Grant has a direction and a plan, trust me. He will get it done, and the ladies will keep getting better as the year goes on.
Lyndsay Mashe's volleyball team has also been very competitive through the first couple of weeks and are poised to make another run at the ASC East title. The Lady Tigers aren't as deep, perhaps, as they've been in past years, with youth in some key spots in the rotation. But the 5-5 start this year is worlds better than the 0-6 from last year, so Lyndsay and her group are right in the thick of things again.
That's it for now, so keep watching. Hopefully this will be a beneficial site for everyone and we can all enjoy another great year of Tiger athletics.
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