The fall
is flying by as we only have a few weeks left of practice before our athletes
go home for the holidays.
Track
Our
sprint/hurdle group continues to grind away and I can say I’ve been very happy
with our progress this fall. As you may
remember I made some observations about our group after our October testing
sessions that I was cautiously optimistic about this group. Even though we haven’t had any competitions
yet I can say I have been impressed thus far.
Our guy’s
group works very well together and it shows in their workout results. This group has chemistry as good as any group
I’ve ever coached – and they are pretty talented too. Our young women’s group continues to improve
each week and our speed endurance workouts are evidence of that fact. I still believe both groups will have some
struggles that everyone has when we start the competitive season but I am
excited even more for the season to start with each week that passes.
We are a
little over two weeks from our Intersquad Meet on December 5th at
the Heskett Center. Next Sunday/Monday,
however, we will be having our Intersquad Heptathlon/Pentathlon so we will get
to see some actual competition soon!
Recruiting
We’re
currently in the middle of the early signing period (which runs through
Wednesday). So far we have four
commitments and we expect a few more before the deadline later this week. Next week I should be able to link to a press
release about our early signees.
Recruiting
has been our major focus over the past few weeks as around 30 high schoolers
have made official visits to our university.
Not all of those athletes will make a decision this week but the new
date of the early signing period (last year the signing period began in
February) has definitely sped up the recruiting process for many athletes.
The next
signing period won’t begin until April but we’ll continue recruiting every week
all the way through the summer. We know
we will find athletes in April and May that we don’t know about now. Every year we find out about athletes at the
state track meet in June and try to convince them to be Shockers. Recruiting never stops!
Cross Country
It’s a
tough season for the distance runners because of how long the competitive
season is. The only month that some of
them don’t compete is usually July. I
have a lot of respect for all the distance runners in the NCAA, they are truly
warriors!
Speaking of Cross Country
Kevin
Costner has done a bunch of different sports movies throughout his career and
now he can check Cross Country off his list.
He is starring in the new movie “McFarland, USA”, which tells the true
story of a “high school coach from California that transforms his team into a
championship contender.” It is set to
open in February.
Here’s a
link to the trailer, looks interesting ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74eJaVQFybI
Shocker Basketball
Another
exciting year of Wichita State Basketball is underway. What an awesome time to be working in the WSU
Athletic Department with all the excitement our basketball team brings. I went to the season opening win against New
Mexico State and it appears we are very good again this year. I can’t imagine we will go 35-0 again but
look for these guys to be one of the best teams in the nation!
“L” Movies
This is
the 12th of a 24 part series (if I don’t bore you all to death) where I list
movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I
do have some that start with numbers). I
currently own a small collection of 170 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.
Most of
the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely. Some are movies that I had not seen but was
curious about. Some were gifts from
people with bad tastes in movies.
I own
seven “L” movies so here is the list from best to worst …..
Movie Name (year made, length,
MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Worldwide box office)
Lincoln (2012, 150 min, PG-13, 7.4,
$275m) – This story of Abraham Lincoln is very fascinating and incredibly well
played by Daniel Day-Lewis. It’s very
dialogue driven but if you are into history and great acting then you will like
this movie. Steven Spielberg directed
and Sally Field played Lincoln’s crazy wife.
Seeing him deal with his family issues while battling slavery and all
the other politics of the time really puts some perspective on how great of a
leader Lincoln was.
Liar Liar (1997, 86 min, PG-13, 6.8, $302m)
– I think this may be Jim Carrey’s best movie.
Movies like Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber are certainly funny but
this movie is vey well made as well as being hilarious throughout. The plot, which has Carrey being a lawyer and
not being able to lie, is secondary to how he totally gets into the
character. This movie is almost 20 years
old but it holds up extremely well.
The Longest Yard (1974, 121 min, R, 7.1, $43m) –
Burt Reynolds stars as a former pro quarterback who is sent to prison and is
recruited to put together a team of inmates to take on the prison guards. This isn’t the Adam Sandler remake (which was
ok), the original is much better and Reynolds was at the top of his game,
literally. In fact Reynolds was a former
football player and looked the part.
It’s hard to believe that some of the great football movies were made
before the NFL became our most popular sport.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006, 101 min, R, 7.9, $100m) –
This quirky movie about a family trying to get their little girl to a beauty
pageant is both very funny and touching.
It was one of those little independent movies that caught a lot of
momentum at the right time and made quite a bit of money on a very small
budget. Steve Carell is the most famous
actor in the movie although he isn’t the main character. Good stuff, check it out if you have a chance!
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels (1998,
107 min, R, 8.2, $3.7m) – Director Guy Ritchie became best known for directing
the movie Snatch with Brad Pitt but Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels was
his first actual full length movie. If
you’ve seen Snatch then this movie will feel familiar. It’s funny, dramatic and had a great plot
full of regular guys who become criminals out of necessity. It’s also one of Jason Statham’s early movies
(who was also in Snatch). Hopefully
Ritchie comes back to directing this type of movie again someday.
The Last House on the Left (1972, 84 min, X, 6.0, $10m) –
This was Wes Craven’s first major movie and the low budget horror movie (made
for $90,000) quickly became a cult classic because of its gritty filming and
X-rated violence. After this movie
Craven went on to direct horror classics like The Hills Have Eyes and Nightmare
on Elm Street. Last House is worth
viewing if you are into low budget horror movies but it’s not for the
squeamish!
The Lonely Guy (1984, 90 min, R, 6.2, $5.7m) – I
bought this as part of a 4-pack of Steve Martin movies and have yet to watch
it. IMDB describes it as “A writer for a greeting card company learns the true
meaning of loneliness when he comes home to find his girlfriend in bed with
another man.” Hmmm not sure if I will
watch it anytime soon, haha!
All of
these movies (except possibly the last one) are definitely worth viewing.
Next Week
I should
be able to list some of our new recruits for next year as well as listing the
10 “M” movies I own. Who will be at the
top with titles like Major League, Moneyball and Machete?
Until
then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!
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