Since I’m not really covering Asbury sports this year, these scattered and somewhat speculative previews will have to do. So as the kids say these days — Let’s get crackin’
The Eagles return four starters off of last year’s team, unfortunately one of them is out for the year with an injury. Junior Jordan Hammonds (6′4″ South Laurel) was supposed to rejoin senior Brian Johnson (6′3″ West Jessamine), junior Phillip Morrison (5′11″ Pleasure Ridge Park) and junior Cory Britt (Harrison Co.) as the core of the Asbury upperclassmen, but he injured his shoulder in the preseason and will sit this year out.
Johnson brings the versatility of all five positions that make him a matchup nightmare for opposing teams. He’s used for the most part as an undersized power forward, but the 3-point shot he’s developed (5-for-13 this season) as well as his ball-handling skills help draw his man out to the perimeter and keep defenses honest. PG Morrison is having an absurd offensive start to the season (24.5 ppg, 4.2 apg, 60 percent fg, 56 percent 3pt). His pure jump shot and ability to get to the rim almost whenever he wants will create his points. Forcing the defense to help on his penetration will create shots for his teammates as well. That kind of threat at point guard is so important to this team. Britt would probably have been the sixth man if it weren’t for Hammonds’ injury, but he is a better defender and is still averaging 12.3 ppg, so the production at the small forward position isn’t lacking much. To use a tired sports cliché, Britt is the team’s x-factor — when he’s on offensively, there may not be more teams that will score more points than the Eagles this year. read more…
I took a picture of Asbury Head Coach Will Shouse’s lovely wife, Whitney, attempting a half-court shot during the Zweifel Classic a couple weeks ago. Let’s just say she missed. She made me promise not to put it on the blog, so naturally…
As many of you may know or may have noticed, I won’t be covering Asbury College athletics nearly as much this year as I did last year due to some…er…circumstances. However, I have invested enough of my time in the last five years to the teams, particularly basketball, and enough people have read this blog solely for updates on their favorite teams/kids, that I feel I should be doing at least something to gauge how much interest still exists. So I call this a rather uninformed preview because I haven’t interviewed any coaches or players this year, and I have seen the teams play only a couple of times. But I’ll do my best. read more…
Just got to press row at Morehead State University for the MSU Eagles’ exhibition game against the Asbury Eagles. Nothing formal here, just going to give you my thoughts as we go. Should be a good time. If you stumble upon this during your Monday night surfing, leave questions in the comments about whatever and I’ll get those answered. Particularly if the question is about ’90s rock. I’m so all over that.
(UPDATE: If you are reading this after the fact, start at the bottom and work backwards)
• That’s it for me, look for team previews later this week
• Not a great game for Morrison. He’ll be fine though. He uses low-level point guards and gets away with his spin move in the KIAC
• Corey Britt could be the team’s x-factor. If he’s hot, that’s another legit scoring threat in the starting lineup to go along with his great defense
• Justin Jones will be a defensive beast. Teams will have a tough time scoring against him.
• Couple of takeaways from the game: I love Kenneth Faried. I hope he scores 50 points in a losing effort against the Cats. Also he’s really, really good
• Ball game. 91-57. Good thing it doesn’t count, huh?
• Now Faried leads the “Defense CLAP CLAP” chant. Nobody joins in though
• Dre with a great steal and layup
• Adam Satterfield and Peter Vogel check in for the first time
• Hurtle does the one-handed-rebound-and-bring-it-down-to-the-other-hand thing. Ben Spann’s was louder read more…
A little story about my weekend:
Last Tuesday, I got a call from my friend Rob whom I used to play music with. He told me that Shake Anderson was playing at Broadway Christian Church, and Rob wanted to know if I wanted to play.
Open for Shake Anderson, I thought. That would be fantastic.
I consider myself a bass player — aspiring to be sure, but with a small amount of ability — so naturally I have several pros that I look up to. My three favorite bass players, in no particular order, are: Pino Palladino, Victor Wooten and Shake Anderson. I dig them all for very different reasons, but suffice it to say that those are my favorites. So opening for Shake Anderson would be an amazing moment for me.
Later that day, Rob called back to give me the list of the songs I would be playing. He started naming these tunes, a lot of which were Shake’s songs.
I really don’t think we should be playing Shake’s songs before he goes on, I told Rob.
“No man, you’re going to be Shake’s bass player.”
It’s funny that sometimes the feeling you get when you get really bad news is the feeling you get when you get really good news. I’m actually not sure which one of those I felt — probably somewhere in the middle — but I almost declined right there. Nope, not gonna do it. Get somebody else. I can’t play for one of my heroes of the instrument. read more…
Phil Keaggy will perform at Asbury College Thursday night with Shake Anderson and the Ely Cartwright Band. He took a few minutes to talk to me today about his 
newest works and playing with Shake.
TY: How did you get hooked up with Shake?
PK: He had called my booking agent at Street Level Artists Agency, and they wanted me at the Ichthus Festival, where I had played before, and I’ve played Asbury College before. I said, “Well what do I do?” and they said, “They just want you to sit in with the band,” so that’s what I did. They did their set, the Ascenxion Band. The first time I had played (in 2007) , Shake had injured his foot and couldn’t play. We did a few of my songs, and it was alright, a pretty good time. The next time they had worked up a few of my songs, but the way the whole thing went at Ichthus, I just had my own electric and my amp, and I just played and chunked along — did some solos, but didn’t do any of my own songs, and that was fun. Shake was a real powerful communicator with his music and his voice and his words. He contacted me about doing a couple of these little concerts. I don’t like dealing with the business side of anything, I just said “I can be there.”
When it comes to my own music, I like to play solo acoustic, that’s my thing right now and has been for quite a long time. I do still play electric, so I’m hoping I can sit in with his band and just improvise, which I love to do on the electric. read more…
I’ve really been blanking on blog ideas, so today I went back at old posts and looked at where I had written “(idea for a separate post)” somewhere in the post itself. I found this in the Lame Claim To Fame post.
When I was 10 years old, my friend Clifton’s dad got three baseline floor tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters play the Washington Generals in Rupp Arena, and he decided to take me and Clifton. We had both seen the Globetrotters on TV, so we were both thrilled at the prospect of seeing them live and so close.
The first half went by as a typical Globetrotters game — ball on the string, bucket of confetti, Sweet Georgia Brown — and we were eating up. Just loving it. Then the weird Globetrotter phenomenon kicked in with a ridiculously boring fourth quarter. I mean, these guys were the greatest at their craft, but for some inexplicable reason, they decide to play real basketball in the third quarter. I don’t know if it’s so they can get a manageable lead on the Generals so they can goof off again or what. Listen, we’re from Kentucky — you’re playing a game at Rupp Arena — we’ve got our fair share of real basketball. Whatever the reason, this was a prime opportunity for us to pig out on some popcorn and nachos until things got fun again.
Toward the end of the third quarter, Paul “Showtime” Gaffney was fouled hard underneath our basket. He looked at me with this wide-eyed “He almost took my head off!” look that I returned in kind. He came over to me, took my arm and yanked me up onto the Rupp Arena floor. read more…
A weekly installment of news from around the globe that I can’t bring myself to care about.
• Balloon Boy took us for a ride – Was there any doubt I was leading with this? What’s left to say that hasn’t already been said about this humiliating moment for Americans everywhere? Everybody ended up with egg on their faces, and for some reason people are still talking about it (guilty!). I can only hope for the sake of all parties involved that A) the parents are deported, B) the children are adopted by normal people, and C) we never, EVER report anything that happens in northern Colorado ever again.
• Lindsay Lohan’s dad wants to kidnap her – Lindsay Lohan is seeking a restraining order against her dad after he said he wanted to take her to an undisclosed location to try and straighten his troubled daughter out. I think I speak for the rest of the world when I say: Four years late, big guy.
• Scientist busted for selling US secrets - An American lunar scientist was caught after he tried to sell secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli. Stewart David Nozette gained fame after helping discover evidence of water on the moon, and now he is facing some big-time charges. Nozette is contesting he gave away any of the weapons secrets, saying, “I’ve only shared them with my dog Duke, here, and he’s not talking.”
• McNabb just a little forgetful – The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback had another big mental lapse last week when he tried to call a timeout that his team didn’t have late in a 13-9 loss to the Little Giants…er…Oakland Raiders. He was criticized last season when he didn’t go for the win on the last play of overtime because he thought there was another one. Listen people, give it a rest, the man is an NFL quarterback. He can’t be concerned with inconsequential things like “rules” and “counting.”
• South Carolina senator frugal “like a Jew” – South Carolina Republicans, in an opinion piece that ran in the Orangeburg newspaper, showed their support for Senator Jim DeMint for watching the government’s pennies “like a Jew.” South Carolina — Apologizing in advance for our politicians since 1776!
• Octomom has her sights on Jon Gosselin – In today’s “Nothing could possibly go wrong here” news, the Octomom Nadya Suleman said she has a crush on Jon Gosselin, who has eight children with his ex-wife, Kate. So for those of you scoring at home, break out the calculators. Jon + Kate + 8 – Kate + New Kate – New Kate + Octomom – Common sense = ? Show your work.
A weekly installment of news from around the globe that I can’t bring myself to care about.
• David Letterman’s love life – The Late Show host admitted he slept with several women who worked for the show over the years. Thursday night, he addressed the issue on his show for the very last time, saying he was being blackmailed for $2 million. Last night, he addressed the issue on his show for the very last time, apologizing to his wife and staff members. Later this week, he will address the issue on his show for the very last time. Also next week. For the very last time.
• Kate – Jon + 8 – These two are going through what every divorced couple goes through. Except instead of crying into a tub of ice cream, they cry into TV cameras. And instead of getting to vent to their best friends, they vent to TLC and every news outlet in the world. A word of advice to all married couples out there.: If you want to stay married, don’t let somebody film every second of your life. Remember how frustrating it was to have that wedding photographer around all the time? Yeah, that times a million.
