I’m writing this on Sunday as I fly to Phoenix so I have
plenty of time to rant. There’s not as
much going on with WSU T&F so I’ll be bouncing around this week. I just got a new laptop so the format is a little goofy - sorry.
Track & Field
I’m on my way to
Phoenix, Arizona, for the annual USTFCCCA National Convention. It’s the one time every year when track and
field coaches get together to discuss the current state of our sport. We also listen to great speakers from all the
world of athletics as well as socialize with our coaching buddies.
I always enjoy
the convention. Usually it’s at some
fancy hotel and resort (this year it’s the JW Marriott) and yes I’ll be playing
some golf with Coach Rainbolt. But what
I like the most is that our sport feels really important for a week. They have the Bowerman Awards here, which is
often referred to as the Heisman Trophy of track and field. It’s done first class all the way and you
feel like it’s a big deal (and it is). The
speaking topics are usually interesting and often educational – I always take
away a few things to use as well as feeling like we’re doing things at WSU just
like the most successful programs around the country. They have a Hall of Fame ceremony. Every night there’s a different dinner and
social event to attend.
And the NCAA has
declared this week a dead period so there’s no recruiting.
Next week I’ll
report on what I heard and let you know what I took away from these four days
in Phoenix.
WSU Track & Field
We finished up
finals this week and most of the team went home for the holidays. Now it’s up to them to stay focused and come
back in January ready to battle to reach our goals. As coaches we do our best to keep in touch by
phone, text, email, Facebook, Twitter – any way possible. Mostly I’m making sure to touch base each
week, at least one time, with every athlete I coach. It ranges from having kids text me every day
to having kids never contact me at all.
We’re also
anxiously awaiting our academic results for the semester. Hopefully by next week we’ll have that
complete picture. Our academic
coordinators Andrew Moses and Sarah Wiley do a great job keeping us up to date
on anyone who is struggling. I think we
will come through the semester looking good, but like any race you have to run
through the finish line so you don’t get clipped by an unsuspected runner (or
test).
Early MVC returns
While we had an
Intersquad meet last week, most of the MVC competed in actual meets that
counted. Looking over the early results show
some great results from several teams.
I Indiana State ran
at Indiana this week and, as we thought, looked very good. Also looking very good last week was Southern
Illinois (especially the women’s team).
I would say the rest of the MVC didn’t have as strong team competitions
but most of them weren’t fully competing either.
In comparison I
thought our Intersquad results were favorable.
It might sound funny but the atmosphere at our Intersquad Meet is better
than most early season track and field competitions around the country. If you don’t believe me just re-watch the
live stream.
Speaking of live streams
Thank you to the
almost 1000 people who have watched our meet online. If you are a fan of WSU T&F you will be
able to watch all of our home meet online this year at Livestream.com. We have moved over from Ustream because of
how much easier Livestream is to use.
The MVC has
struck a deal to broadcast the MVC Indoor Championships on ESPN3.com this
year. I think that’s an awesome event to
have online because it such an exciting meet!
If you don’t make it to Cedar Falls, Iowa, at the end of February be
sure to check us out on ESPN3 or the Watch ESPN app on your phone.
Abe Lincoln and Ronald Reagan
I did a little
traveling this week and while I was out I stopped by the Abraham Lincoln
Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.
Earlier this summer I went to the Ronald Reagan Museum in California and
I can tell everyone that going to these places is well worth your time.
The Reagan museum
(located in Simi Valley, California) was massive (one room had the entire Air
Force One in it) as well as being educational and inspirational. Lincoln’s was much smaller because it was in
downtown Springfield, but it was no less inspiring. While I was there I couldn’t help but think
about my next topic …..
Ferguson
While I was at
the Lincoln Museum I realized I was only a little over an hour from Ferguson,
Missouri. I haven’t really taken any
position on what has happened in Ferguson or other recent places like Cleveland
or New York City. I sympathize with both
sides of this heated debate but that’s not my point here.
I was watching a
video about the Civil War at the museum.
It was four minutes long and showed an animated map of the USA that was
red (South) and blue (North). Every
second represented 10 days and it showed how the lines of battle moved as the
war progressed. In the bottom right hand
of the map it had a counter of casualties from both the North and South that
eventually caught my attention the most.
At first it registered a few thousand then tens of thousands and then
hundreds of thousands. I knew there were
massive amounts of lives lost during the war but as I saw the map becoming bluer
with every second it hit me hard that, combined, there were 1.4 million people
who died (over 700,000 from the North and over 600,000 from the South) fighting
for what they thought was right.
My thoughts
turned to our country (and to nearby Ferguson) and I felt embarrassed that we
are seemingly so divided. It’s not even
black or white or police or republicans or democrats, sometimes I don’t think
we know who or what we’re upset about because we’re forming opinions based off
what others are saying on television or social media. Both the black and white people from the
North came together and didn’t just TALK about what they felt was right or
wrong – they were willing to put their lives on the line for it. I hear things from both sides of this issue
and they are both correct. Being in
track and field I’ve always been around a diverse group of teammates, coaches
and athletes of all colors who have felt discriminated against. Being a fast white guy as a youngster often
put me in social situations in college that were different than my
childhood. I also dated outside my race
and the following is very true – groups of people are stupid but when you talk
to people individually they are smart.
Just this week I
had the opportunity to hang out with a police officer that expressed thoughts
about how they are trying to do a job as good as they can. I can’t imagine what it would be like if
masses of people all of a sudden started hating track coaches when all we are
trying to do is help people run fast and do our job. Unfortunately it’s hard for us to have
productive conversations about how to move forward because much of the focus of
the media is on the protestors not what they’re protesting about. It’s one of the reasons I’ve all but stopped
watching the news – I can’t trust what I’m seeing – so I’ll just continue
talking to people and forming my own opinions.
I hope that’s where the rest of the country eventually heads.
Whatever side of
the issue you’re on please speak from personal experience and not what others
(especially on TV) tell you. Myself, I’m
on the side of what’s best for the United States, which is the side everyone
should be on.
Sorry about that
rant, on to another media altered story ….
Johnny Manziel
… or otherwise
known as Johnny Foosball (at least I hope he can play foosball better than he
played football Sunday against the Bengals).
I grew up not too far from Cincinnati so naturally I dislike the
Steelers and the Browns. When I saw the
Browns draft Manziel this year I just chuckled.
I went to college not too far from Cleveland so I’m friends with a lot
of Browns (and Steelers) fans. Do I feel
sorry for them? No. Why not?
Well let me just tell you about the Cincinnati Bengals from 1991-2002,
or as Cincinnatians refer to it as “The Lost Decade”. It was awful being a Bengals fan and I spent
most of it in Northeastern Ohio where I even lived with fans of both the Browns
and Steelers. Since the Bengals became
relevant again (even though most don’t give them credit, they’ve been good for
over a decade) I don’t feel bad for anything that doesn’t go the way of the
Browns and Steelers – including drafting a guy like Manziel.
Why am I against
Manziel? Personally I’m not. But for a guy who has never won a
professional football game – show some maturity. I DO think the guy is talented and can
probably play in the NFL but what happened to being humble. As Crash Davis said to Calvin LaLouche in
Bull Durham about having fungus on his shower shoes, “Once you win 20 in the
show you can have fungus in your shower shoes and the press will say your
colorful. Until then, you’re a slob.”
Manziel should be
a perfect example for young athletes that talent can take to you to a certain
level but at some point you need to be an adult. Guys who have come up through the years and
acted this way always have short term success then fall on harsh
realities. When no one cares about
Johnny Football anymore what will he become?
Just ask Brian Bosworth.
Johnny please
take some advice from Crash Davis. Or
don’t, the populations of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Baltimore don’t mind.
Speaking of
movies …
“P” Movies
This is the 16th of a 24 part series (are you bored yet?) 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 178 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 nine “P” movies. Here’s
the list from best to worst …..
Movie Name
(year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Worldwide box office)
Pulp
Fiction (1994, 154 min, R, 9.0, $213m) – Even though it wasn’t his first
movie, this is the one that brought Quentin Tarantino to the world. To me, Tarantino is a fascinating guy who
basically has never done anything the typical Hollywood way – and I respect him
for that. This movie stars Bruce Willis,
John Travolta and Samuel Jackson doing all sorts of bad things but we kind of
like them because beneath being the bad guys they are also funny and normal in
a lot of ways. The unique thing about
watching this for the first time is how it doesn’t go in the normal sequence –
it jumps back and forth several times and is quite confusing but in the end it
all makes sense. I had friends in
college tell me they left the movie after they realized this halfway through –
what a bad mistake they made! There is
definitely some hard language and graphic violence in this movie but it’s a
movie that is well worth the 154 minute investment of your time.
Primary
Colors (1998, 143 min, R, 6.7, $52m) – John Travolta plays a democratic
candidate running for his party’s presidential nomination that is loosely based
on Bill Clinton. I absolutely love this
movie for a few reasons. Travolta does a
great version of Clinton – funny, shady, charming, underhanded, loveable – and
you kind of understand why these politicians have to act like they do. Another reason I love this movie is to how it
indirectly talks about leadership throughout and it doesn’t come full circle
until the end. Sometimes a leader has to
do things that are for the better good and in the process people get hurt or
not treated as well as they should. And
this movie shows that in blunt detail.
Billy Bob Thornton is also great as the Democratic strategist. If you liked the TV series The West Wing then
you would probably really like this movie.
Planes,
Trains and Automobiles (1987, 93 min, R, 7.6, $49m) – It’s ironic I’ve
been traveling a lot this week and this movies is on the list. Terrific comedy about the travel problems of
Steve Martin and John Candy who are both trying to get home from work for the
holidays. I am so glad they went with
the rated-R script because there are some of the funniest scenes of the 1980’s
in this movie. Seeing Martin curse out
the lady at the airlines is awesome (and can’t be repeated here). And the running joke of their car getting
more and more smashed up as they go is really good. The only bad thing is they make Wichita look
like a tiny little town – but the guy they meet there with the speech problem
makes up for it – and yeah I can see him being from Wichita. Classic!
Porky’s (1982, 94
min, R, 6.1, $111m) – I was too young to go see this movie when it came out in
the theaters but after watching it years later it shows how having an original
idea and a few crazy scenes can create a buzz and make a ton of money. Watching it now it seems pretty tame by
today’s standards but some of the adult themes back in the day got people
talking and out to see it. The acting
isn’t that great and the plot is fairly ridiculous but that doesn’t matter when
it comes to Porky’s. See it with a bunch
of buddies and throw popcorn at the screen every time something dumb
happens. You’ll probably enjoy it!
Piranha (1978, 94
min, R, 5.9, $??) – Ahh nothing like a good ole Roger Cormen low budget
horror/comedy. Cormen is the guy who
also brought us the original Death Race 2000 movie in the 70’s. Piranha got made because Jaw was so
successful and Cormen figured what else could be deadly in the water? It’s bad acting and has a cheesy plot but
it’s great fun to watch in my book. It
even spawned a recent remake and sequel (I saw the remake, it was
hilarious). Be warned it is graphic but
totally worth it.
The
Player’s Club (1998, 104 min, R, 5.4, $23m) – This was Ice Cube’s follow up to his
surprise hit Friday. I remember going to
see this movie in college and liking it enough that I went ahead and bought it
years later. It follows the life of a
couple of strippers who are trying to make their way through life (and college)
by dancing for a living. While it wasn’t
a perfect movie it definitely had some memorable scenes by showing how brutal
that life can be. I think Hustle &
Flow is a much better movie in this genre but The Player’s Club was definitely
an original when it came out.
Parker (2013, 118
min, R, 6.2, $46m) – I totally picked up this movie on a whim because I
generally like Jason Statham’s movies and I heard the books this movie was
based on were pretty good. I enjoyed
Parker even though I’m not a huge action movie fan. It wasn’t way over the top like a lot of
these movies could go (I imagine they didn’t have the budget to do so) but I
think it worked better that way.
Statham’s character Parker is basically a Robin Hood type guy who tries
to win over the girl by beating the bad guys (very original haha). It’s not good enough to warrant a sequel but
it’s good fun if you like these types of movies.
Panic Room (2002, 112
min, R, 6.8, $196m) – Being a horror movie fan, I bought this hoping it would
live up to the hype (it made a lot of money). Unfortunately it was just average and not
nearly as good as movies like The Ring or something originally from Japan. Jodie Foster is the lead and is effective
enough but don’t watch this movie hoping for it to scare the daylights out of
you.
Poetic Justice
(1993, 109 min, R, 5.8, $27m) – I only own this movie because it was part of
DVD pack with Boyz in the Hood. This was
another John Singleton movie that tried to play on the popularity of Janet
Jackson and Tupac Shakur but it never really worked for me. The only scene I can remember being funny was
when they stop and randomly join a family barbeque by saying they are cousins
from out of town. I liked Tupac way more
in movie like Juice and Above the Rim.
He was a very talented guy, unfortunately we never got to see him mature
into a veteran actor. If you never see
this movie you won’t be missing out on anything important.
Final movie
thoughts this week …
Interesting how Travolta played in both my top two movies
this week. I was talking to someone who
reads this blog and I got to telling them how I would decide how I rank the
movies. I have all my movies listed
alphabetically on my laptop and I just start from the top. So this week the first movie was Panic
Room. I do the little write-up for that then
I ask myself do I like Panic Room or Parker better? It goes on like this until I’m done. This week was a tough choice for me because I
think Primary Colors is overlooked by most and everyone has seen Pulp Fiction
but I can’t deny Tarantino’s genius.
Next week
I will report back what I can get from our convention as
well as talking about a bunch of “Q” movies.
Uhh wait a minute, I don’t have any of those. I guess I will go with the 11 “R” movies I
own – and there are some true classics!
Feel free to comment below or on my Facebook page and tell
me if you agree (or disagree) with anything from Ferguson to Poetic Justice
(see what I did there). I am always
amazed at how many people end up reading this every week and I thank you very
much!
Until next week, try to stay warm and Go Shockers!
