We posted something a while back about the lady in Green Bay who stole her daughter’s identity and tried out for the cheerleading squad. You can click here for our take on that piece of news.
Well, turns out that Ms. Brown is going away for a bit. Back in September, she was committed to making the cheerleading team at Ashwaubenon High School. After her court appearance, she’s now just committed. That’s right, Ms. Wendy Brown will get to spend the next 3 years in a mental health facility. Check here for that story.
Do mental health institutions field sports teams?
As we have been known to do from time to time, we each have different ideas on the best angle to take on a particular topic. Sticking with the amazing effort from Jodie Meeks last night, we have three takes. You can decided which you like best…
(1) Our source inside the Lexington County courthouse has told us that Jodie Meeks is seeking to change his name since he is not getting the recognition he deserves after having a fantastic season for the Wildcats, which includes last night’s 54 point effort against Tennessee. The early favorites are Tim Tebow and Tyler Hansborough.
(2) We, at CIV, love the fact that in our daily dose of sports 411, we’ve read today countless accounts of how Jodie Meeks, the super-stud from Kentucky that dropped 50+ on Tennessee last night, is a player that nobody is talking about - but should. Is this sorta like the pot calling the kettle a kettle?
(3) We’ve been reading all over nearly every sports website today that Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks is one player that no one is talking about but should be talking about.
We watched Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks put up a record 54 points last night on Tennessee. And we admit, it was a great show. But it could have been better. How?
Gus Johnson could have been calling the action.
Below is a clip of Gus calling the end of an overtime game between 7-7 Kentucky and 16-1 Vanderbilt - in January of 2008. Watch it, then imagine him calling a game where a player scores 54.
Earlier today, we came across a post on Awful Announcing about the American Sportscasters Association releasing its list of the Top 50 Sportscasters of all-time. Other than Bill Walton finding himself at no. 39, we don’t have a major problem with the folks listed.
But we did see one major omission: leaving Verne Lundquist off the list. We ask: How DO you do… that?
Maybe we’re partial because we’re all fans of SEC football and get to hear Verne call a lot of games - but the guy is good. Whether it’s SEC football, college basketball, or golf, Lundquist is always one of the best. We also discovered, via Wikipedia, that his nickname amongst broadcasters is “The Golden Throat.” You have to love that.
While we also like Jim Nantz, we like that Verne doesn’t feel the need to constantly be clever. When UNC won the title a few years back, you may recall Nantz dropping the cheesy “there’s a new dean in college basketball” - referring to Roy Williams and Dean Smith. He often drops those lines where it sounds like he thought all week about what he would say in a certain situation. Verne is rarely guilty of that, by our estimation. You don’t listen to him call a big moment and wonder, did he think of that “witty” line or play on words last week? Also, he’s a guy that you often don’t notice - which is a great quality. Think the opposite of Dick Vitale. You just watch the game and follow the action, without hearing him miss numbers, or downs, or penalties, etc.
Another huge feather in Verne’s cap is that he was the play-by-play guy for Happy Gilmore. And no, he did not play a character. He played Verne Lundquist, damn it. We would consider his call of the battle between Happy and Shooter McGavin to be his 3rd greatest broadcasting moment.
In addition to what Verne does week in, week out for CBS, he’s also been the voice behind two of the most famous calls we remember. He called the Laettner shot in the 1992 NCAA Tournament (which we will not re-hash now). And of course, Tiger’s chip shown below.
…So Verne, don’t your worry, you definitely have earned yourself a spot near the top of the CIV Best Broadcasters list.
Who could have guessed that on the same day that North Carolina fell to 0-2 in the ACC with a loss to Wake Forest, JJ Redick would score 12 points and play 28 meaningful minutes in a 105-98 Orlando road win over San Antionio?
Yep, that JJ Redick.
Our inside source has received word that University of Utah quarterback Brian Johnson also had an inspirational speech planned for a press conference - much like Tim Tebow’s - about how no one would see another guy play harder or push a team harder or see a team play harder than Utah.
ONLY UTAH NEVER LOST A GAME THIS SEASON.
After the inexplicable loss to Harvard last night, here’s what Boston College coach Al Skinner had to say in this article:
“[The team’s] not one person. I wish it was just one person because we could make that adjustment,” Skinner said. “It is the personality of this team. We play up and we play down and we did that this evening. You hope to be up more than down, but the fact of the matter is we as a team have to take responsibility for what happens on the floor.”
Just being up and down is more like beating Maryland on the road, then losing to Florida State at home. This situation with BC is far from that. The Eagles went to Chapel Hill on Sunday, controlled the entire game against a team that many thought would go undefeated for the entire season. Then, you come back a couple days later and lose to Harvard? Harvard???
There is no explanation… except coaching. Do you really want your coach explaining away a loss like this by saying “some nights we’re up and some nights we’re down”? We know that a coach is paid in part for recruiting and game-planning, but there is a huge element of motivating your team every night. In the NBA, you play 82 games, so of course you will have the occasional off night. The Lakers might win 60 games and have a loss to a team that has won 15. But in college, you generally only play about 30 games in the regular season.
How can you let your team not have the focus to beat Harvard? Harvard is 8-6 after the win. The Crimson have a 13-point loss to William & Mary on the record, as well as losses to Northeastern, Rice, and Boston U. BC just beat the mighty Tar Heels! Then you got owned all night be Harvard? Down 6 at the half? Down 14 with about 9 minutes to play? To Harvard???
And one final note on this unfocused rant - the above quote was not one of those we made up. Not one from our “inside source.” This was an actual quote from the BC head coach. Wow. He might as well have said, “They are who we thought they were.”
Who does Minnesota Vikings’ coach Brad Childress remind us of? It took a while, but it hit us on Sunday night.
Have seen the Saturday Night Live skit where the coach dances in the locker room? Imagine more hair, and yep, that’s it. Here’s Childress…
And it helps to imagine Childress using this routine at halftime of the Vikes playoff game on Sunday.