It
was a great Valentine’s Day at the Heskett Center as we were able to come away
with a sweep of the team titles. Now the
focus shifts towards the MVC Championships in two weeks.
Good final “Team”
tune-up
At
this time of the year the athletes are really starting to round into form and
we thought we would have a pretty good meet this weekend – and we were right!
Here
were the team scores:
WOMEN: Wichita St 195, UT-Arlington 130, Emporia St
87, Oral Roberts 65
MEN: Wichita St 168, UT-Arlington 133, Emporia St
111, Oral Roberts 61
Before
the meet we had it very close for the men and a slight advantage for the women
so to extend our point total out to a convincing margin was exactly what we
were hoping for. There was a lot of
spirit and a very large crowd at the Heskett Center Saturday – it was a great
environment for college track and field!
It was also awesome to see Herm Wilson make an appearance – we were
honored by his presence!
As
with all track and field meets it wasn’t perfect, but I would say our team
should gain some confidence from a great effort as we look ahead to the next
goal …..
What’s next?
The
Herm Wilson Invitational was our final “team” tune-up for the MVC Championships
in two weeks. We have one more meet on
Friday at Kansas State where we will have two things to accomplish: 1) finalize our roster of 32 men and 32 women
for the MVC meet and 2) give our top athletes a chance to either rest or have
one final competition before the championship.
As
a coach I try to treat these last couple weeks on a very individual basis. Some athletes need to take a weekend off
while others like to keep competing to stay sharp. In fact every athlete’s training for each day
is very individualized at this time of the year. It’s the difference between what people refer
to as the “art of coaching” versus the “science of coaching”.
I
don’t claim to be an artist of any kind but generally the athletes I’ve coached
have run their best in the championship meets.
There’s no secret to having success at this time – it’s mostly trying to
get the athletes feeling good and confident.
We have a terrific sports psychologist (Greg Buell) who has helped me in
this area as well as watching our other Shocker coaches get their athletes
ready.
I
have told numerous people that I’ve been very lucky to have been surrounded by
great coaches and people my whole life.
Hopefully whatever amount of that I’ve been able to collect has rubbed
off on the athletes in my group. It’s an
extremely fun and exciting time of the year! 11 days until we head to Cedar
Falls, Iowa, to see how we stack up!
How does the MVC look
this week?
Last
week I gave a short preview of how the MVC looks and I don’t think much has
changed for this week. On the women’s
side it’s gonna be a battle between Wichita St, Indiana St and Southern
Illinois with Northern Iowa trying to sneak up in there. For the men I still think Wichita St and
Indiana St hold a slight advantage over Loyola and Southern Illinois with, once
again, UNI trying to make it a five-team race.
There
are no clear cut favorites this year, we could finish anywhere from first to
fourth. Historically we’ve competed well
at the MVC Indoor Championships so we expect to be in the mix.
“VHS” Movies
Last
week I concluded my 24 part series of movies I own on DVD by letter. This will be my final movie post for a few
weeks as our indoor season approaches it climax. I thought it would be fun to shake up the old
VHS movie box and see what fell out.
Movie Name (year
made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Worldwide box office)
The Big Lebowski (1998, 117 min, R,
8.2, $17m) – The ultimate cult classic film made by The Coen Brothers and
starring Jeff Bridges as “The Dude” who is mistaken for a millionaire and tries
to seek restitution for his ruined rug.
The plot doesn’t really matter, it’s all about unique and interesting
characters and witty dialogue. I became
a track coach around the time this movie came out and it’s definitely a
favorite for my colleagues from that time.
It bombed at the box office because most people probably didn’t “get it”
initially, but I’m sure it more than made up for it on VHS and DVD sales over
the years. “The dude abides.”
Caddyshack (1980, 98 min, R,
7.4, $39m) – One of the all-time classic comedies, I also own on DVD and wrote
about it previously. One of the most
quoted movies ever! “Did somebody step
on a duck?”
Remember the Titans (2000, 113 min, PG,
7.7, $136m) – One of my favorite sports movies, RTT depicts the true story of a
newly appointed African-American football coach and his first year as a
racially integrated team in 1971 Virginia.
Denzel Washington knocks it out of the park as Coach Herman Boone who
brings together black and white to form a championship team. It’s a cheesy movie in some parts but others
it’s very effective. My favorite part is
when they wake up early and run to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Major League (1989, 107 min, R,
7.2, $49m) – This is a movie I also own on DVD and wrote about previously. Great movie, I remember seeing it for the
first time in high school and thought it was hilarious. I obviously like it enough to buy it on two
kinds of platforms.
Michael Jordan: Come Fly With Me (1989, 42 min, n/r,
8.1, $??) – Made before Jordan started winning all of his NBA titles, this was
an extremely cool video to promote one of the rising stars of the league. It’s basically a 42 minute Jordan documentary
made by the NBA so it doesn’t have anything negative except for the injury he
suffered in his second season. Lots of “ahead
of their time” visuals that most kids my age saw at a friend’s house after
basketball practice.
Forrest Gump (1994, 142 min,
PG-13, 8.8, $677m) – This was a combination of a movie being original, funny
and well-acted. In turn it became one of
our country’s most well-known and popular movies of all-time. Making $677 million worldwide - it was truly
a phenomenon. Almost everyone I know has
seen this movie and liked it. It won
best picture of 1994 as well as a host of other awards. It’s probably the defining role of Tom Hanks’
career, my favorite part is always when he decides to run and run and run
without stopping.
Top Gun (1986, 110 min, PG,
6.8, $356m) – Did anyone who grew up in the 80’s not see this movie? Tom Cruise plays “Maverick” who is a student
in the Navy’s elite flight division where he has to curb his reckless ways in
order to become the best pilot he can be.
It’s easy for me to like this movie because of the intense flying scenes
and cheesy dialogue. Who can forget
classic characters like Ice Man and Goose!
“I feel the need, the need for speed!”
The Hurricane (1999, 146 min, R,
7.6, $73m) – Starring Denzel Washington as a boxer named Rueben “Hurricane”
Carter who was wrongly accused of murder and spent two decades in prison trying
to clear his name. This is a great movie
that most have probably forgotten because of how many awesome movies Denzel has
made over the years. If you haven’t seen
it I would recommend checking it out. It
doesn’t have a lot of sports action but it’s a terrific drama and inspiring to
show how hard Carter fought for so long to seek justice.
Raiders of the Lost
Ark
(1981, 115 min, PG, 8.6, $389m) – The classic action/adventure movie from
Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford where Indiana Jones goes in search of the
Ark of the Covenant. I have always liked
this series of movies but I was never obsessed like some people. I like the archaeological aspects of the
stories but of course they have to Hollywood it up as much as possible, and in
this case they made good choices because of how much money they took in.
American Pie (1999, 95 min, R,
7.0, $235m) – The movie that spawned three sequels and numerous other
knock-offs was a big hit in 1999 for its combination of crude humor and
likeable characters. I’ve never been a
huge fan of these movies but I will admit if I see it on cable I’ll end up
watching for a while. In 1999 it was a
unique movie to the R-rated movie genre and opened the door for movies like The
Hangover and Old School to be made and make lots of money.
It’s
kind of cool to see these movies from back in the day. I didn’t have any money back then so I was
picky to buy good movies – which all of these are.
Hopefully
you’ve enjoyed this movie project for the past 25 weeks! I’m sure I’ll have some more movie talk in a
few weeks!
Next week
Everything
will be about the upcoming MVC Championships!
Until
then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!
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