We'll Bounce Back

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/7710/byu-handling-losses-better-than-a-year-ago

And why does no one mention in their recaps the hold that Greg Reid pulled on Andrew George to slingshot his way into a pick six? I know that didn't "lose" the game for us, but that's some dagger when we were having a good drive to open the half.

I think we still have a shot at a BCS bowl, albeit a long one (for one thing, Boise State would likely have to lose in the mighty WAC) - If 2-loss LSU (even if both losses were close) can win a national title, then a 1-loss MWC team should be able to crash the BCS party with a decisive run through the conference.

Welcome to the College Football Season

Oregon and Boise State were less than impressive to start off the season. The above was the only highlight worth showing of the whole game. Oregon is a lot worse than anyone thought they were. Way overrated for sure.

Decades Old Tradition is Now New?

I know not everyone subscribes to Josh's Google Reader, but when he shared this I knew I had to correct it before I even read the article:

http://deadspin.com/5352770/bullfighting-minus-the-blood-or-swishy-uniforms

I have been to one of those and they're called an encierro. So anyone that read that article can realize the original author had very limited insight into Spanish culture. A running of the bulls is followed by an encierro (at least where I ran in Torrejon de Ardoz). And once you get in the ring (free admission if you make it there before the bulls, which is why you are running from the bulls), anyone can get down and run around with these younger bulls. I did it one time, but didn't care to be the dumb American that got gored so I didn't get too close like the kids in some of the shots.

And then after they let anyone down there, they bring out some young kids like 16 or so who do it professionally (not a big money maker though like a real bull fighter, more like your high school break dancing crews kind of cash flow).

So this has nothing to do with making bull fighting less bloody or being a new alternative. Its something they've done for quite some time. Oh and a bull fight follows it up in the evening. This is like the appetizer before the meal.

Retaliation in Baseball

From MLB.com after a recent Yanks-Rays game. The Rays felt that Jaba (sp?) had gone after Longoria on purpose, so Rays' pitcher Garza plunked Teixera:

Garza said that he had grown tired of teams brushing back Longoria, who was also hit on Monday by New York reliever Jonathan Albaladejo.

"I hate to be that guy, but someone had to take a stand and say, 'You know, we're tired of it,'" Garza told reporters. "'You can go after our best guy. We'll make some noise, too.' And that's what happened."

I'm still not the biggest baseball fan, but sticking up for your own...I can get behind that. Good for Garza. And I like that he came out and said it. Retaliation is an unwritten rule of baseball, but Garza explicitly stating his intentions, and why he had those intentions, gets a thumbs up in my book.

Conflict of Interests

I am battling a little insomnia tonight and a great inner conflict began to manifest. I've always been a Rudy fan so I turned on the movie to help me fall asleep. Well Rudy was in awe of the players locker room. And my only thoughts we're that I despise Notre Dame. In some ways even more than Utah. I can't stand their preferential treatment with the BCS and who likes Charlie Weis? So how do I solve this moral dilemma? Anyone else face this? Do I have to sacrifice my favorite movie?

Why BYU Hoops Is Never Going Anywhere With Its Current Staff

OK Boys, for my inaugural post to this blog, I'm going to tell you a story, a very frustrating story about the state of the BYU basketball program. This probably would've been timed better if I had posted it when everyone was still fired up over losing in the first round again, so let me bring everybody back to this March just to make sure this story has full effect. Simply put, BYU finishes off another season with a disappointing loss to a less-than-stellar team because they have a serious lack of athleticism. They're able to do well enough in conference play to make the tournament but then they can't step it up when the time comes. I'm avoiding dropping names, so it might get a little difficult to keep track of who's who, but it's all 100% true. It actually worked out well that I waited to post the story because it only got better (i.e., worse).

OK, now imagine for a second that there's a guy from the south side of Chicago, half Black and half Tongan (isn't that already a positive sign?), 6'1" with hops, athleticism, handles, and a jump shot, and a father who played in the NBA who has trained him up well. Now imagine the guy is LDS, a returned missionary who seriously WANTS to play basketball at BYU. Well, this guy isn't imaginary. He's the real deal. He was ranked as one of the top PG's in the country his Sophomore year of High School, and was recruited by all the top schools in the country. But as a Junior he started to develop a large cyst in his right knee, which in turn hampered his play throughout his Junior and Senior year. He had to have surgery to correct the injury, in so doing he didn't get much love before his mission - which is good for BYU. See, in getting ready for his mission, he wanted to prepare in a good environment, so he went to BYU-Hawaii right out of high school. He goes on his mission and returns in better shape than ever, with a knee that's fully healed, rested, and ready to go. Here he is fresh off his mission and can still do a put-back dunk off 2 feet no problem, and he's a PG?! The kid is strong and has serious game, and with a desire to go play for BYU so he can be in a good church environment, and no major suitors to woo him away (see above), sounds like a slam dunk, right?! Nope, because our beloved cougar coaching staff is pretty incompetent.

He enlists the help of a close friend of the family to contact BYU because his friend knew the coaching staff and could help get the foot in the door. After talking with the coaching staff from BYU they said they would look into it, but the friend couldn't believe what he was hearing - they are not trying to recruit the best Mormon kids anymore, and now they are refusing to get the best Mormon kids who want to go to their school. You are telling me you would rather recruit a kid from Utah County than get an athletic kid from Chicago who wants to be at your school and who is a great kid.

Another important note that you must keep in mind - throughout this process the friend was trying to make sure that they knew about the guy's younger brother, who is now 6'6" and only 14 years old. He is the youngest player to ever be invited to the NBA Top 100 High School Camp (which he attended this year). After the camp he received scholarship offers from Kansas, UCLA, Illinois and Ohio State. He is a Point Guard, but can play almost anywhere. He will be a Freshman this year, and will start Varsity for Simeon High School (the same H.S. that Derrick Rose went to). The BYU coaching staff didn't understand that the only way the younger brother would even consider playing for BYU, was if his brother was there (which he tried to explain to the coaching staff, but they were "happy with who they have").

This summer one of the BYU Coaches went out to Chicago to meet with the guy and his family (way too late for that now), and the coach put our guy through a workout at the Church. After working him out, he told him that they weren't interested at this time - which I don't understand. They made mention of not having any available scholarships, to which the guy's friend says - you need to get rid of a few players anyway so take their scholarship and give it to him. Since that time, our guy has signed with one of the top Junior Colleges in the country close to where his friend now lives. And get this! After he signed with them all of a sudden BYU is interested (because I don't know if you know this but BYU does more blind recruiting - which means they will recruit people without even seeing them play but because someone else is interested in them - than any other program in the country). Meanwhile, BYU went out to Chicago again last week to see the younger brother (they finally got the memo that he is the best Freshman in the country) and the family. The friend spoke with the family and they were laughing because they said it was funny how BYU didn't even realize they have already ruined their chances.

Before this friend opened my eyes, I thought doing well in the Mountain West and making the NCAA Tournament every year was good. But, after learning about this, we may have already reached the top of the mountain. We might get to the 2nd round with this M.O., but nothing more. By the way, the friend also knew a member of the Utah coaching staff, and Utah has plans to actively recruit this guy, and I think they have a good shot at landing him for the 2010-2011 season. If he goes there, I'm telling you right now that I will cheer for him to drop 50 on the cougars and for the cougars to get absolutely smashed, so to rub it all in the face of the coaches.

If you are wondering how I know all of this, the "friend" in the story is actually my cousin, who is really good friends with our guy and his family and lived in the same ward as them in Chicago. He has since moved out of the state, but still even had our guy over to his house a couple weekends ago. Their dad played in the NBA, as I said before, and now runs basketball clinics for all the inner-city kids in Chicago, and my cousin had the chance to run his high school clinics at Washington Park every Saturday when he lived there.

Don't everybody cry all at once. I'll still cheer for the cougars and partially hope they do well, but really a part of me wants it to all fall apart so we get a new staff, that is unless they can shape up their act. But, if they and the rest of the Provo bubble remain satisfied with the yearly 1st or 2nd round exit from the tourney, then I'm afraid things will not change for a long time. There... I said it!

Going Pro in Europe

From the NY Times. I guess she wants to go from not being watched in America to not being watched in Europe. Sweet!

Rutgers Basketball Star to Turn Pro in Europe

By GREG BISHOP

Epiphanny Prince, a third-team all-American guard for Rutgers who once scored 113 points in a high school game, plans to skip her senior season and play basketball professionally in Europe before entering the 2010 W.N.B.A. draft.

Prince, 21, is among the first American women to decide on such a path. She has yet to sign with an agent or a team, although possible destinations include Poland, Turkey, Russia and Spain.

“I’m not really concerned with being the first person to do this,” she said in an interview. “This is the right decision for me and my family.”

Prince’s move is part of an emerging — and, until now, exclusively male — trend.

Men are ineligible for the N.B.A. draft until one year after their high school class graduates. Instead of using a season of college basketball as a springboard to the pros, some have chosen alternate routes. Brandon Jennings spent the past year honing his game in Italy before submitting his name for the coming N.B.A. draft. Jeremy Tyler recently announced he would leave San Diego High School a year early, rescind his commitment to attend Louisville and play two seasons in Europe before declaring for the 2011 draft.

“The world is changing,” said Sonny Vaccaro, a former sneaker company executive who has advised Jennings and Tyler. “This is where we’re at today. This is 2009. Here’s a young lady who made a landmark decision.”

Women hoping to follow Prince’s lead face more stringent draft rules than men do. The W.N.B.A. requires players to be at least 22, to have completed their college eligibility, to have graduated from a four-year college or to be four years removed from high school. Prince turns 22 in January and she plans to graduate from Rutgers before the draft.

Prince will likely earn more money in Europe than she would be covered for under a program that allows “exceptional” N.C.A.A. athletes to buy insurance to protect themselves in the event of catastrophic injury or illness during their college careers.

The program, which is endorsed by the N.C.A.A., determines the amount of coverage based on a player’s draft status and potential earnings. While the maximum coverage for a men’s basketball player is $4.4 million, the policy for a women’s player like Prince is capped at $250,000 — a factor that also served as a catalyst for her decision.

Women’s professional players can receive lucrative contracts abroad, and Prince is expected to land a six-figure deal.

“Girls have always been behind the boys,” said Apache Paschall, the coach of the New York-based Amateur Athletic Union team that Prince once starred for. “This will open the door. It’s always going to be harder with a girl because society is going to see it as, that’s my baby leaving. By her doing this, it will start to change that view.”

Prince would not be the first woman to go on to the W.N.B.A. with eligibility remaining. Candace Parker, the Los Angeles forward, spent four years at Tennessee and earned a degree, but she did not play her freshman season because of a knee injury. Parker chose to forgo her final year of eligibility to enter the 2008 draft. Britany Miller left Florida State for academic reasons and played in the Czech Republic for a year before being drafted by Detroit in April.

Louisiana State Coach Van Chancellor, who led Houston to four W.N.B.A. titles, said he hoped Prince was not a trendsetter.

“I really hate to see any college kid leave college before their eligibility is up,” he said. “I’ve been a pro coach. I’ve been a college coach. I’ve seen every side of this deal. And the equation is such that it’s hard enough in the women’s game to make enough money for a lifetime. You’re going to have to have a college education.”

The 5-foot-9 Prince, who played three seasons for Rutgers, made her decision after consulting with her mentors and her family. Some initially reacted with concern, but Prince eased their worries with a thorough plan. She promised her mother, Kathy Williams-Prince, that she would graduate from Rutgers. Prince said that she was 10 units from earning her degree, a double major in criminal justice and African-American studies, and that she planned to start summer school in July.

Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer declined an interview request. A statement released by Rutgers said Stringer was informed of Prince’s decision on Tuesday afternoon.

“Epiphanny is a phenomenal basketball player and an even more special young woman,” Stringer said in the statement. “I thank Piph for her contributions to Rutgers women’s basketball over the past three years and wish her the best in the future as she pursues a career in basketball.”

Williams-Prince, 40, said her daughter was always ahead of the pack. As the only girl on her junior high team, Epiphanny Prince won most valuable player honors. She set a national single-game scoring record with her 113-point effort while at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan.

“I have to release her to the world,” Williams-Prince said. “I’m not a dream-buster. Epiphanny is a trendsetter, a trailblazer, in all that she does. I’ve known that since birth. She has always been doing something that’s never been done.”

Prince averaged 12.2 points a game in the 2006-7 season as the Scarlet Knights went on a surprising run to the national title game. She ranks in the top 10 at Rutgers in total points, steals, free-throw percentage and 3-point field-goal percentage.

Paschall, 32, groomed Prince’s offensive game for years. He said he noticed improvements in other parts of her game at Rutgers.

He watched Stringer turn Prince into a lockdown defender and an all-around player who ranked third last season in the Big East in steals (2.6) and scoring (19.5). Prince credited Stringer with “molding me into the player I am today,” and she noted how several of her teammates had achieved W.N.B.A. success.

Prince said the physical style of play overseas would further prepare her for the W.N.B.A. For now, Prince is working out with a trainer in New York and finishing plans for where she will play next season. Her mother worried when she left Brooklyn for New Jersey, but the family plans to have someone accompany her when she moves overseas.

With her earnings, Prince said, she plans to buy her mother a house and support an A.A.U. team in Brooklyn.

Vaccaro noted that Jennings made millions in endorsements last year, and he said Prince could increase her endorsement value while playing overseas.

“Her payoff will come if she’s successful over there and good in the W.N.B.A.,” Vaccaro said. “If that happens, there are no negatives to this.”