The RJB has featured this theme in the past. But not in this section. But on Thursday, IT’S BACK.
It is time to celebrate it as truly one of the great sports themes of all time. It could be the best. But that’s up to you do decide.
NBC has regained the rights to the U.S. Open golf tournament that starts Thursday at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. And you know what that means when it comes to intro music.
For whatever reason, Greek composer Yanni’s “In Celebration of Man” stirs an emotion that cannot be described other than you know it’s connected to this prestigious event. Heck, you may not even be interested in the tournament. But you may watch only to catch a few bars before it goes to commercial.
And yes, the RJB checked with NBC’s Press Box and saw that the ever famous seven bars will be used.
Here’s the interesting story about this song. According to Golf Digest, Yanni, who was a competitive swimmer in his youth in Greece and said he could appreciate what athletes go through, wrote this in 1992. He wanted CBS to use it for its Winter Olympics coverage, but that network declined.
NBC, though, got it and actually used it first on its Summer Olympics preview show. But it then transitioned to the U.S. Open in 1994 when NBC started covering it.
You’ll likely hear NBC host Dan Hicks say this with it in the background: NBC Sports and the United States Golf Association proudly present: A National Championship.
It’s a timeless piece. But you have to play it a little louder than normal to appreciate it. You won’t regret this 1:50.
****
When I was told on late Saturday afternoon by a Baylor official, “We may have just completed a Hail Mary” I just kept thinking welcome to the 2020 sports season where anything and everything can happen.
Even when I was told on Friday afternoon that things were looking doubtful for Baylor to replace Louisiana Tech on its schedule for another game, I didn’t feel like it was a dead issue.
Teams want to play games. Kids and coaches want to compete. That’s the business they chose.
While East Carolina, Houston Baptist and South Alabama were viable candidates and SMU’s pursuit was never realistic, the fact that Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades’ kept pounding the pavement demonstrated to me that he wanted to give Dave Aranda’s football program that opportunity until every last option had been exhausted.
You can give a big thank you to Memphis’ controversial pause in its football activities – players were disputing on social media the Memphis Commercial-Appeal’s accounts of the story – for opening the window for Baylor to approach UH.
Couple that with Rhoades and his history at Houston and working those relationships (hard to know how many are left since Rhoades departed for Missouri in 2015), the fact that Houston is just 186 miles to Waco and now a future home-and-home series is also part of the plan and not only was it a Hail Mary, the ball was caught.
In a college football season like no other, you just learn to expect the unexpected and roll with the developments. Your eyes probably bleed as I write Day by Day for the umpteenth time in this space. But if you haven’t been willing to practice that but prefer to always look ahead, then that’s your fault.
It wasn’t a cute line that I was using. I meant it. With the world moving in so many different directions changing, sports keeps reminding us that we have to and better be willing to make the adjustments.
Of course, Baylor loses its first bye of the season with this game against the Cougars on Saturday. You could surmise that the first bye turned out to be this past weekend with Louisiana Tech out of the picture.
Fingers crossed – at this point last week we thought Louisiana Tech was a done deal until Tuesday night – but Baylor gets to keep its 10-game schedule. Based on how poorly the Big 12 performed on Saturday, there might have been a teachable moment that Dave Aranda could have shared with his locker room.
A number of things could have been determining factors as to why Kansas State, Kansas and Iowa State lost, and Texas Tech had to hang on for dear life against a FCS opponent.
But these games were played in Big 12 venues. Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina and Louisiana supposedly don’t have as good of rosters. They also come from lower D1 leagues. They also had to travel. They also had to probably be more careful with their COVID-19 testing protocols because they probably didn’t have the kind of sophistication that the Big 12 schools did. What they probably had was raw emotion, seizing an opportunity and proving they could play with teams for one afternoon.
Give them credit. They did that and were rewarded for it. In turn, the Big 12 has a big faceplant as far as its reputation goes. Humility is the emotion that comes to mind. The conference looks pretty bad and should be embarrassed.
Only West Virginia carried the flag after Texas and Oklahoma wiped out their opponents, UTEP and Missouri State. I’m going to say it. While it was UTEP, I thought Texas looked pretty good and did what the far better team should have done.
Now, Baylor will move into a 10-game 12-week schedule. Given what happened this past weekend, there will not be any shadows for it to fade into. It must set the right tone for a season that may or may not be completed (I think it will). The Bears and Oklahoma State are the only Big 12 teams playing this coming weekend.
****
We’ll get into Houston a little more as the week progresses. But here’s a snapshot:
>The Cougars were predicted 7th in the preseason American Athletic Conference poll.
>Dana Holgorsen’s first year in 2019 didn’t go very well as the Cougars finished 4-8. Some have argued that given some of the locker room issues that Holgorsen was dealing with, he somewhat tanked the season and put several key players on redshirts so they would be more prepared in 2020. We’ll see if that gamble worked.
>QB Clayton Tune, a prospect Baylor was looking at for a time, should be the starting QB. He threw for 1,500 yards with 11 TDs and nine INTs in seven games. He has a prized WR target in Marquez Stevenson, who has had a 1,000-yard season in his time at UH.
>Former Texas RB Kyle Porter is on the roster and is coming off a 600-yard season. He will have four of five returners on the offensive line.
>The Cougars return 16 of the top 17 tacklers on their defense after being chopped up quite a bit in 2019. That unit yielded 468 and 34 points per game including 44 or more points in three of the last four. However, there is some depth in the secondary.
>With a rebuild still ongoing, the Cougars are likely considered a .500 team.
****
So the history buff in me couldn’t resist. When two programs that haven’t faced each other in quite some time, I wanted to take a look at Baylor 47, Houston 7 at the Astrodome on Oct. 14, 1995.
Of course, it was the final year of the Southwest Conference before the remaining eight went their separate ways. Baylor was on its way to the Big 12. Houston was heading to Conference USA.
A sparse crowd of a little more than 17,000 – a very COVID-19 crowd by today’s standards – scattered throughout the Astrodome for that game.
Baylor entered the game at 3-1 and No. 25 in the rankings and was in its third season under Chuck Reedy. Winless Houston was 0-5 in the middle of a dark period with its program under Kim Helton.
This really wasn’t much of a game. Jarvis Van Dyke kicked four field goals. Baylor QB Jeff Watson found Pearce Pegross on an 85-yard touchdown pass and the Bears raced out to a 40-0 lead before Houston ever scored. Baylor led 26-0 at the half. Watson was 10-16 for 214 yards and the TD. Pegross had 141 receiving yards. Jerod Douglas, who was actually on his way to his best season at Baylor (1,114 yards, 8TD) caught a 36-yard TD pass.
Baylor’s defense held the Cougars to just 178 total yards, 45 rushing. It also intercepted Houston QB Chuck Clements twice.
As for that farewell tour, Baylor finished 7-4 and 5-2. Houston finished at 2-9 and 2-5. Reedy lasted one more season in 1996 – Baylor’s first year in the Big 12 – before he was fired and replaced by Dave Roberts. Helton remained at Houston through 1999 before he was fired.
Now you know…the rest of the story.
****
Now, a couple of Baylor notes…
> After months of uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Baylor soccer team officially kicked things off Friday night as the Bears recorded a double-overtime scoreless draw against TCU at Betty Lou Mays Field.
Baylor is now 16-6-2 all-time in season openers and is 13-2-4 all-time vs. TCU. Seven of the last 10 contests against TCU have gone to overtime. The last time the Bears opened their season with a draw was at Rice in 2009 (1-1).
The Horned Frogs came out firing as TCU recorded a pair of shots in the first three minutes. They would go on to outshoot Baylor, 19-5, through regulation, but the Bears ramped up their offensive intensity as the game went on. In the second overtime period, Baylor tied TCU with four shot attempts each. Two of those for the Bears were on goal as Taylor Moon and Mackenzie Anthony each almost ended the match with a golden goal in the final minutes.
Moon had a breakaway opportunity in the 108th minute, but TCU goalkeeper Emily Alvarado made the save. And then it was Anthony with 17 seconds left in the game as the freshman booted it from outside the box, but Alvarado was there with the diving save.
> Baylor Athletics launches ONE, a department-wide campaign focused on uniting the Baylor community around a shared commitment to justice, equality, and love. The ONE campaign focuses on Baylor Athletics providing actionable opportunities to address racial injustice and inequalities within our community.
Baylor Athletics' 19 intercollegiate sport programs, coaches, and staff are challenged to identify at least one initiative or action to move them closer to achieving one Baylor and one community.
Athletic department initiatives will be led by the Student-Athlete Huddle Council and the Cultural Humility Working Group. The Student-Athlete Huddle Council is comprised of representatives from each team who serve as liaisons between student-athletes, coaches, and athletics administration. The Council will act as a sounding board for student-athlete and department social responsibility, diversity, and equity initiatives. The Cultural Humility Working Group, led by Cori Pinkett, Assistant AD for Character Formation, and Joe Gonzales, Director of Digital Media, will continue to coordinate programming committed to ensuring Baylor Athletics is a place where people from all backgrounds feel valued and are comfortable being their authentic self.
Let’s make it a great week!
It is time to celebrate it as truly one of the great sports themes of all time. It could be the best. But that’s up to you do decide.
NBC has regained the rights to the U.S. Open golf tournament that starts Thursday at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. And you know what that means when it comes to intro music.
For whatever reason, Greek composer Yanni’s “In Celebration of Man” stirs an emotion that cannot be described other than you know it’s connected to this prestigious event. Heck, you may not even be interested in the tournament. But you may watch only to catch a few bars before it goes to commercial.
And yes, the RJB checked with NBC’s Press Box and saw that the ever famous seven bars will be used.
Here’s the interesting story about this song. According to Golf Digest, Yanni, who was a competitive swimmer in his youth in Greece and said he could appreciate what athletes go through, wrote this in 1992. He wanted CBS to use it for its Winter Olympics coverage, but that network declined.
NBC, though, got it and actually used it first on its Summer Olympics preview show. But it then transitioned to the U.S. Open in 1994 when NBC started covering it.
You’ll likely hear NBC host Dan Hicks say this with it in the background: NBC Sports and the United States Golf Association proudly present: A National Championship.
It’s a timeless piece. But you have to play it a little louder than normal to appreciate it. You won’t regret this 1:50.
****
When I was told on late Saturday afternoon by a Baylor official, “We may have just completed a Hail Mary” I just kept thinking welcome to the 2020 sports season where anything and everything can happen.
Even when I was told on Friday afternoon that things were looking doubtful for Baylor to replace Louisiana Tech on its schedule for another game, I didn’t feel like it was a dead issue.
Teams want to play games. Kids and coaches want to compete. That’s the business they chose.
While East Carolina, Houston Baptist and South Alabama were viable candidates and SMU’s pursuit was never realistic, the fact that Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades’ kept pounding the pavement demonstrated to me that he wanted to give Dave Aranda’s football program that opportunity until every last option had been exhausted.
You can give a big thank you to Memphis’ controversial pause in its football activities – players were disputing on social media the Memphis Commercial-Appeal’s accounts of the story – for opening the window for Baylor to approach UH.
Couple that with Rhoades and his history at Houston and working those relationships (hard to know how many are left since Rhoades departed for Missouri in 2015), the fact that Houston is just 186 miles to Waco and now a future home-and-home series is also part of the plan and not only was it a Hail Mary, the ball was caught.
In a college football season like no other, you just learn to expect the unexpected and roll with the developments. Your eyes probably bleed as I write Day by Day for the umpteenth time in this space. But if you haven’t been willing to practice that but prefer to always look ahead, then that’s your fault.
It wasn’t a cute line that I was using. I meant it. With the world moving in so many different directions changing, sports keeps reminding us that we have to and better be willing to make the adjustments.
Of course, Baylor loses its first bye of the season with this game against the Cougars on Saturday. You could surmise that the first bye turned out to be this past weekend with Louisiana Tech out of the picture.
Fingers crossed – at this point last week we thought Louisiana Tech was a done deal until Tuesday night – but Baylor gets to keep its 10-game schedule. Based on how poorly the Big 12 performed on Saturday, there might have been a teachable moment that Dave Aranda could have shared with his locker room.
A number of things could have been determining factors as to why Kansas State, Kansas and Iowa State lost, and Texas Tech had to hang on for dear life against a FCS opponent.
But these games were played in Big 12 venues. Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina and Louisiana supposedly don’t have as good of rosters. They also come from lower D1 leagues. They also had to travel. They also had to probably be more careful with their COVID-19 testing protocols because they probably didn’t have the kind of sophistication that the Big 12 schools did. What they probably had was raw emotion, seizing an opportunity and proving they could play with teams for one afternoon.
Give them credit. They did that and were rewarded for it. In turn, the Big 12 has a big faceplant as far as its reputation goes. Humility is the emotion that comes to mind. The conference looks pretty bad and should be embarrassed.
Only West Virginia carried the flag after Texas and Oklahoma wiped out their opponents, UTEP and Missouri State. I’m going to say it. While it was UTEP, I thought Texas looked pretty good and did what the far better team should have done.
Now, Baylor will move into a 10-game 12-week schedule. Given what happened this past weekend, there will not be any shadows for it to fade into. It must set the right tone for a season that may or may not be completed (I think it will). The Bears and Oklahoma State are the only Big 12 teams playing this coming weekend.
****
We’ll get into Houston a little more as the week progresses. But here’s a snapshot:
>The Cougars were predicted 7th in the preseason American Athletic Conference poll.
>Dana Holgorsen’s first year in 2019 didn’t go very well as the Cougars finished 4-8. Some have argued that given some of the locker room issues that Holgorsen was dealing with, he somewhat tanked the season and put several key players on redshirts so they would be more prepared in 2020. We’ll see if that gamble worked.
>QB Clayton Tune, a prospect Baylor was looking at for a time, should be the starting QB. He threw for 1,500 yards with 11 TDs and nine INTs in seven games. He has a prized WR target in Marquez Stevenson, who has had a 1,000-yard season in his time at UH.
>Former Texas RB Kyle Porter is on the roster and is coming off a 600-yard season. He will have four of five returners on the offensive line.
>The Cougars return 16 of the top 17 tacklers on their defense after being chopped up quite a bit in 2019. That unit yielded 468 and 34 points per game including 44 or more points in three of the last four. However, there is some depth in the secondary.
>With a rebuild still ongoing, the Cougars are likely considered a .500 team.
****
So the history buff in me couldn’t resist. When two programs that haven’t faced each other in quite some time, I wanted to take a look at Baylor 47, Houston 7 at the Astrodome on Oct. 14, 1995.
Of course, it was the final year of the Southwest Conference before the remaining eight went their separate ways. Baylor was on its way to the Big 12. Houston was heading to Conference USA.
A sparse crowd of a little more than 17,000 – a very COVID-19 crowd by today’s standards – scattered throughout the Astrodome for that game.
Baylor entered the game at 3-1 and No. 25 in the rankings and was in its third season under Chuck Reedy. Winless Houston was 0-5 in the middle of a dark period with its program under Kim Helton.
This really wasn’t much of a game. Jarvis Van Dyke kicked four field goals. Baylor QB Jeff Watson found Pearce Pegross on an 85-yard touchdown pass and the Bears raced out to a 40-0 lead before Houston ever scored. Baylor led 26-0 at the half. Watson was 10-16 for 214 yards and the TD. Pegross had 141 receiving yards. Jerod Douglas, who was actually on his way to his best season at Baylor (1,114 yards, 8TD) caught a 36-yard TD pass.
Baylor’s defense held the Cougars to just 178 total yards, 45 rushing. It also intercepted Houston QB Chuck Clements twice.
As for that farewell tour, Baylor finished 7-4 and 5-2. Houston finished at 2-9 and 2-5. Reedy lasted one more season in 1996 – Baylor’s first year in the Big 12 – before he was fired and replaced by Dave Roberts. Helton remained at Houston through 1999 before he was fired.
Now you know…the rest of the story.
****
Now, a couple of Baylor notes…
> After months of uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Baylor soccer team officially kicked things off Friday night as the Bears recorded a double-overtime scoreless draw against TCU at Betty Lou Mays Field.
Baylor is now 16-6-2 all-time in season openers and is 13-2-4 all-time vs. TCU. Seven of the last 10 contests against TCU have gone to overtime. The last time the Bears opened their season with a draw was at Rice in 2009 (1-1).
The Horned Frogs came out firing as TCU recorded a pair of shots in the first three minutes. They would go on to outshoot Baylor, 19-5, through regulation, but the Bears ramped up their offensive intensity as the game went on. In the second overtime period, Baylor tied TCU with four shot attempts each. Two of those for the Bears were on goal as Taylor Moon and Mackenzie Anthony each almost ended the match with a golden goal in the final minutes.
Moon had a breakaway opportunity in the 108th minute, but TCU goalkeeper Emily Alvarado made the save. And then it was Anthony with 17 seconds left in the game as the freshman booted it from outside the box, but Alvarado was there with the diving save.
> Baylor Athletics launches ONE, a department-wide campaign focused on uniting the Baylor community around a shared commitment to justice, equality, and love. The ONE campaign focuses on Baylor Athletics providing actionable opportunities to address racial injustice and inequalities within our community.
Baylor Athletics' 19 intercollegiate sport programs, coaches, and staff are challenged to identify at least one initiative or action to move them closer to achieving one Baylor and one community.
Athletic department initiatives will be led by the Student-Athlete Huddle Council and the Cultural Humility Working Group. The Student-Athlete Huddle Council is comprised of representatives from each team who serve as liaisons between student-athletes, coaches, and athletics administration. The Council will act as a sounding board for student-athlete and department social responsibility, diversity, and equity initiatives. The Cultural Humility Working Group, led by Cori Pinkett, Assistant AD for Character Formation, and Joe Gonzales, Director of Digital Media, will continue to coordinate programming committed to ensuring Baylor Athletics is a place where people from all backgrounds feel valued and are comfortable being their authentic self.
Let’s make it a great week!
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