BREAKING NEWS - Johnny you might be interested

So hopefully none of you have forgotten about that post written back in August, about this AMAZING basketball player who BYU missed on. And BYU deserves to lose because we didn't recruit this kid.

The kid's name was missing from the post and I really wanted to know who it was to see how much of the story checked out. I'm not sure if the author didn't know the name of the kid or if he knew but didn't want there to be any follow up; regardless, I happened to figure it out.

The kids name is Christian Parker, son of former NBA star Sonny Parker. He went to BYU-Hawaii for a year, and then served a mission in ATL. He redshirted his first year at BYU-Hawaii and after his mission, he decided that he wanted to play D-1 so he transfered from BYU-Hawaii and enrolled at CSI, the one and only College of Southern Idaho.

The entire story checks out, including the part about having a kid brother, who happens to be Jabarri Parker, http://illinois.scout.com/a.z?s=169&p=8&c=1&nid=4451328 The kid already has some legit D-1 offers from Kansas and Illinois. He's still only a freshman. However, the main theme of the post was how stupid Coach Rose was for not picking this kid up (the older brother Christian). So let me fill in the story with some facts, and you be the judge of whether or not this guy has a place on BYU's team, who is currently 17-1, and ranked #17 in the country.

Currently at CSI Parker has played in 5 of the 15 games, averaged 3.8 minutes per game. He's averaging .8 (less than 1) points per game, scoring a whole 4 points on the season. He has played the least amount of minutes of anyone on the team, hence scoring less than anyone else on the team. The games he did play in, the team won by an average of 40 points. Do I need to say where his minutes came from? I'm not so sure that's the type of player that's going to help BYU win many games in March.

I have nothing against the kid. I wish him the best, and hopes he becomes an amazing basketball player, and if he does I hope BYU can pick him up. With that said, let's be realistic for a second, not every kid is going to be a great player. And I think in this case, the BYU coaches just might have made a good decision by recruiting Tyler Haws, who has started 16 games for yours truly, averaging 12 points, and 5 rebounds, shooting 54% from the field; and Brandon Davies, who has played in all 18 games, averaging 14 minutes, scoring on average 6 points, shooting 59%.

I think somebody owes the BYU coaches an apology. If I recall correctly, the "kid had a desire to go to BYU" (I don't blame him), but the coaches were "incompetent." So yes in this case the BYU coaches rightfully recruited "a kid from Utah County than get an athletic kid from Chicago." (Both Haws and Davies are from Utah County)

One other detail that I didn't realize until now was the claim that the younger brother would never go to BYU unless his brother was there. If my math is correct, the younger brother is in the class of 2013, so his first season at college will be 2014. The older brother is a redshirt-freshman now, so he will graduate college in 2013, making it impossible for the 2 to play together. I don't think the argument holds much weight that we should have recruited the older brother to get the younger brother. BYU may not get the younger brother, but I don't think it has anything to do with his older brother not getting an offer to BYU. If the younger brother only goes where his older brother had offers, it looks like he'll either go to BYU-Hawaii or CSI . . . hmm tough choice.

Go Cougars!!!

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!