Everyone has their Mount Rushmore of certain categories…coaches in a sport, athletes in a sport, famous leaders, artists or something else.
We use Mount Rushmore because its creator Gutzon Borglum wanted to bring a broad appeal of famous people – in this case presidents – to the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Of course, the presidents on it are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. And the monument’s popularity grew when the final scene of the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock classic North by Northwest – one of the RJB’s all-time favorite movies – was filmed there.
The RJB’s path to its own Mount Rushmore focuses on its favorite female vocalists. But we’re saving space on the mountain because we have three, not four.
Our favorites are Carly Simon, Sarah McLaughlin and Anita Baker. All three have entirely different voices but they are powerful and passionate. We offer our favorite from each.
****
I want to focus on something that Stephen Cook and I talked about in the most recent SicEmSportsCast. That was this past Thursday (Feb. 8). We record show on Wednesday evenings.
In the discussion we talked about the National Signing Day announcement from Schertz Clemens 4-star wide receiver Tommy Bush. Bushed picked and signed with Georgia.
When decisions don’t go your team’s way – in this case Baylor – we have a tendency to express the disappointment or frustration differently. That happens.
We get a little off the reservation when we start accusing Georgia of playing funky games with roster scholarship numbers or we question Bush’s character. Believe me when I tell you that I understand it. That’s what the boards are for to get the emotion out of your system. It’s therapeutic.
But college athletics also serves as the great hypocrisy. This was the point I made in the podcast.
Every in-tune college fan will agree that college athletics is nothing but a business. Schools are taking in millions of dollars from network television revenue deals. They’re charging X for season tickets and that cute little donation that comes on top of the season ticket prices so that you can lock into the area you want to sit in. Baylor received a record $34.8 million from the Big 12 TV revenue deal in June. Last we reported, the athletic department had an operating budget of about $80 million. That’s pretty impressive.
But the emotion and passion of the sport is triggered by the emotional ups and downs of recruiting. You could kind of call it letting your money get mad.
In everyday life, we try to budget ourselves to make sure we’re paying our bills, attacking our debt, trying to save a little here and there and then use our disposable income wisely.
When it comes to college athletics and giving to the alma mater, there’s that little part of you that kind of just loses your mind – maybe for that split second or permanently (ha ha) – that you’ll give away beyond what is reasonable because you darn sure want to help Baylor reach that competitive stratosphere.
Look at what happened at Texas A&M and the contract Jimbo Fisher received (10 years, $75 million). That’s beyond comprehension.
An attorney friend of mine lives in San Antonio and we talk about this all the time. His point to me is (I’m paraphrasing his words): “I don’t know. A lot of these rich alums got to that point because they were really smart and made some really good business decisions. When it comes to hiring a college coach, it’s like they forgot everything they learned and just threw the money at it without wondering what the ROI could be.’’
The real world is the real world. Supporting the alma mater is the fantasy world and we’re using real money to live that fantasy.
How do we get to that point? Ego, pride, hope, belief and whatever else you want to throw in there.
Of course, this is not a criticism. However, it’s like we lead double lives.
So back to Bush. The money got mad because many believed he was going to pick Baylor. I’m disappointed for Baylor he’s not coming.
I really thought it was trending that way because of process of elimination more than I thought he was picking Baylor over Georgia (it doesn’t matter how you get him, just get him. The linebacker Otis Reese flipped from Michigan to Georgia. Then wide receiver Quay Walker flipped from Alabaman to Georgia.
At about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, I really thought Baylor was going to get him because of these moves. Of course, I had no idea about backdating kids. But like I’ve said about a player like Bush or anyone else, it doesn’t matter if your position is full, if you can get a show stopper, there’s always a way to make room for him.
In the nine months I talked with Bush, the one thing I found him to be was very responsive. In fact, he was more responsive than I could have expected.
He and I talked the week before NSD off line. I told him that I was a little worried about him because I thought he was overthinking this decision. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one. He said his parents said the same thing.
Bush said that his main issue was making a decision to where he was going to upset somebody. He did not want to do that. I told him that that was understandable but unavoidable and that someone was going to be hurt by this.
Now, I’m taking Bush at his word. Given my dialogue with him, I had no reason to not believe him.
I really think he agonized over this. However, there is one thing that Bush learned about his recruitment.
He learned college athletics is a business too.
****
This has been going on for years at the Ferrell Center. But whatever the future may hold for either a complete renovation or building something, one of the first issues to be solved is making sure all of the students – ALL OF THE STUDENTS – are together in the same area.
We’ve learned to live with the seating arrangement for years that the students are sitting in sections on opposite ends of the floor. That’s just really bad. In games like Saturday against Kansas, the energy and influence coming from needs to be felt coming from one area. They can have an impact on the game.
Scott Drew said the right things and praising their enthusiasm. The students were into this game from the opening tip. I know because I was sitting about 15 feet from the section next to the Baylor bench.
If you want to rattle your opponent, make your students your 6th man. Of course, there’s the business element with proximity to the court and dollars going to those premium seats.
But there is a way to do it and still maximize the dollars.
Currently, students are allocated between 1,700-2,000 tickets. For a building that seats a little more than 10,000 or for whatever the new vision is, they have to be placed strategically to give the Bears energy and be a pain in the (ahem) to the opponent. That doesn’t matter if it’s Kansas or Texas Southern.
Is there a way to makeshift something Saturday for Texas Tech? No but it never hurts to ask.
****
Drew mentioned the delayed court storming after the 80-64 win over Kansas Saturday in his postgame presser. He appreciated the enthusiasm. Maybe it was the fact that the Bears snapped an 11-game losing streak and beat a team ranked in the Top 10. A lot of frustration had to be released.
However, he did talk about the level of where this program is at. Maybe we forget because it’s a short-term memory society. This program has been to four Sweet 16s and two Elite 8s since 2010. It also made its school-record fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. They’re trying to make it five.
Programs with that kind of background have reached a level to where they know they’re good and their followers know they’re good.
Those kinds of wins are expected. Your excitement isn’t any less. But the unwritten rule is consistently successful programs don’t have to justify their legitimacy with them. It’s reached a point where it doesn’t have to happen anymore.
If Baylor was up and coming and feeling its way through the wilderness and pulled this off, then go for it.
People need to keep in mind how good this program is. Yep, it got off to a terrible start in conference play because of a whole host of reasons. Had it continued, then maybe you write it off and understand it was just a bad year. In fact, I think I wrote that after one of those January losses.
There’s a lot more that has to be accomplished with this group as it continues the journey back to .500. That continues Monday at Texas.
I think the Bears are going to win that.
****
I’ve long been over it in terms of trying to understand what the NCAA does and why it does it.
If you missed it over the weekend, the NCAA granted Iowa State quarterback Kyle Kempt a sixth year of eligibility. The former walk-on became the Cyclones starting quarterback last year. He began his career at Oregon, transferred to Hutchinson (KS) Community College before moving on to Ames, IA in 2016.
Whatever hardship Kempt endured drew the support of the NCAA. Good for him.
Then you have Baylor defensive end K.J. Smith, who played only the first half against Liberty in the 2017 season opener and suffered a shin injury that kept him out for the remainder of the season.
The NCAA looked at that and said, “That’s too bad about the injury. No 6th year.’’
At the time when Smith was denied, the only thing I could think of was the NCAA could have cared less that Baylor used his redshirt year (2013) for him to have shoulder surgery. That was Baylor’s choice to do that.
In the story I read about Kempt it did not talk about an injury disrupting his college career. But you have Smith who went through two pretty telling injuries. That wasn’t enough.
This really reeks of inconsistencies. The NCAA will hide behind the notion it doesn’t view all cases the same and weighs everything differently.
I don’t get it. I’m sure Matt Rhule doesn’t get it. I’m sure Mack Rhoads doesn’t get it. Although he had the opportunity to appeal and chose not to, I’m sure Smith doesn’t get it.
Will the NCAA ever get it?
****
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
> Making her third straight start, Juicy Landrum, the sophomore guard from nearby La Vega High School drained a career-high five 3-pointers for all 15 of her points, dished off a career-high eight assists and added six rebounds to help No. 3 Baylor knock off 24th-ranked TCU, 83-63, Saturday night before a crowd of 6,524 at the Ferrell Center.
"She's just stepped right in," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, whose team ran its winning streak to 20 in a row with its 23rd straight victory over TCU (16-8, 7-6), improving to 23-1 overall and 13-0 in the Big 12.
Baylor goes back on the road to face No. 22/25 Oklahoma State (18-6, 9-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Stillwater. (Jerry Hill)
> No. 10/12 Baylor softball (3-0) finished off a three-game sweep of Northwestern State (0-3), taking 8-4 and 4-1 wins in a Saturday doubleheader at Getterman Stadium. The season got off to the ultimate start Friday as Gia Rodoni (1-0) worked her third-straight no-hitter in starts at Getterman Stadium, an 8-0 win in five innings.
Baylor travels to Hattiesburg, Miss., to take part in the Black & Gold Invitational, running Feb. 16-18. The Bears will be facing the hosts, Southern Miss, as well as McNeese State, Mississippi Valley State, and Alabama.
> No. 12 Baylor men's tennis (6-1) used early momentum in the doubles point to secure a 4-0 sweep over South Florida Sunday afternoon at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
Baylor improves to 5-0 all-time against the Bulls (2-6) and is 6-0 at home for the second consecutive season. Baylor defeated Purdue, 5-2, on Saturday.
The Bears await the draw of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, set to run Feb. 16-19 in Seattle.
> The top-ranked and three-time defending national champion Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team (2-0) took down Concordia (Wis.) (0-3) 276.940-230.845 on Saturday night at R. John Buuck Field House.
The Bears won every event, starting with a 38.30-32.45 win in the compulsory heats. BU took the acro heats 29.30-26.75 and pyramid heats 29.45-28.25 to take a 97.05-87.45 lead into halftime. The Bears will travel to Hamden, Conn., for a matchup against No. 4 Quinnipiac (0-0) next Sunday at 10:30 a.m. CT.
> No. 7 Baylor equestrian (4-3, 2-1 Big 12) made a late run to defeat No. 6 TCU on Saturday afternoon at the Willis Family Equestrian Center, the first conference meet of the spring schedule for the Bears. The Bears hit the road for the next three meets, travelling to the defending national champions, Texas A&M, on Feb. 24 at 11 a.m.
> The No. 16 Baylor women's tennis program (2-4) fought deep into singles play, but ultimately fell to UCF, 5-2, inside Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon. Baylor lost to Tulsa on Saturday, 4-2. Baylor remains at home for its next two matches, hosting Ole Miss on Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. (CT) and Miami on Feb. 18 at 1 p.m.
>The baseball season opens Friday with the first of a 3-game series against Purdue. We’ll have a preview of the season in Friday’s Baylor Blitz.
Let’s make it a great week!
We use Mount Rushmore because its creator Gutzon Borglum wanted to bring a broad appeal of famous people – in this case presidents – to the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Of course, the presidents on it are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. And the monument’s popularity grew when the final scene of the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock classic North by Northwest – one of the RJB’s all-time favorite movies – was filmed there.
The RJB’s path to its own Mount Rushmore focuses on its favorite female vocalists. But we’re saving space on the mountain because we have three, not four.
Our favorites are Carly Simon, Sarah McLaughlin and Anita Baker. All three have entirely different voices but they are powerful and passionate. We offer our favorite from each.
****
I want to focus on something that Stephen Cook and I talked about in the most recent SicEmSportsCast. That was this past Thursday (Feb. 8). We record show on Wednesday evenings.
In the discussion we talked about the National Signing Day announcement from Schertz Clemens 4-star wide receiver Tommy Bush. Bushed picked and signed with Georgia.
When decisions don’t go your team’s way – in this case Baylor – we have a tendency to express the disappointment or frustration differently. That happens.
We get a little off the reservation when we start accusing Georgia of playing funky games with roster scholarship numbers or we question Bush’s character. Believe me when I tell you that I understand it. That’s what the boards are for to get the emotion out of your system. It’s therapeutic.
But college athletics also serves as the great hypocrisy. This was the point I made in the podcast.
Every in-tune college fan will agree that college athletics is nothing but a business. Schools are taking in millions of dollars from network television revenue deals. They’re charging X for season tickets and that cute little donation that comes on top of the season ticket prices so that you can lock into the area you want to sit in. Baylor received a record $34.8 million from the Big 12 TV revenue deal in June. Last we reported, the athletic department had an operating budget of about $80 million. That’s pretty impressive.
But the emotion and passion of the sport is triggered by the emotional ups and downs of recruiting. You could kind of call it letting your money get mad.
In everyday life, we try to budget ourselves to make sure we’re paying our bills, attacking our debt, trying to save a little here and there and then use our disposable income wisely.
When it comes to college athletics and giving to the alma mater, there’s that little part of you that kind of just loses your mind – maybe for that split second or permanently (ha ha) – that you’ll give away beyond what is reasonable because you darn sure want to help Baylor reach that competitive stratosphere.
Look at what happened at Texas A&M and the contract Jimbo Fisher received (10 years, $75 million). That’s beyond comprehension.
An attorney friend of mine lives in San Antonio and we talk about this all the time. His point to me is (I’m paraphrasing his words): “I don’t know. A lot of these rich alums got to that point because they were really smart and made some really good business decisions. When it comes to hiring a college coach, it’s like they forgot everything they learned and just threw the money at it without wondering what the ROI could be.’’
The real world is the real world. Supporting the alma mater is the fantasy world and we’re using real money to live that fantasy.
How do we get to that point? Ego, pride, hope, belief and whatever else you want to throw in there.
Of course, this is not a criticism. However, it’s like we lead double lives.
So back to Bush. The money got mad because many believed he was going to pick Baylor. I’m disappointed for Baylor he’s not coming.
I really thought it was trending that way because of process of elimination more than I thought he was picking Baylor over Georgia (it doesn’t matter how you get him, just get him. The linebacker Otis Reese flipped from Michigan to Georgia. Then wide receiver Quay Walker flipped from Alabaman to Georgia.
At about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, I really thought Baylor was going to get him because of these moves. Of course, I had no idea about backdating kids. But like I’ve said about a player like Bush or anyone else, it doesn’t matter if your position is full, if you can get a show stopper, there’s always a way to make room for him.
In the nine months I talked with Bush, the one thing I found him to be was very responsive. In fact, he was more responsive than I could have expected.
He and I talked the week before NSD off line. I told him that I was a little worried about him because I thought he was overthinking this decision. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one. He said his parents said the same thing.
Bush said that his main issue was making a decision to where he was going to upset somebody. He did not want to do that. I told him that that was understandable but unavoidable and that someone was going to be hurt by this.
Now, I’m taking Bush at his word. Given my dialogue with him, I had no reason to not believe him.
I really think he agonized over this. However, there is one thing that Bush learned about his recruitment.
He learned college athletics is a business too.
****
This has been going on for years at the Ferrell Center. But whatever the future may hold for either a complete renovation or building something, one of the first issues to be solved is making sure all of the students – ALL OF THE STUDENTS – are together in the same area.
We’ve learned to live with the seating arrangement for years that the students are sitting in sections on opposite ends of the floor. That’s just really bad. In games like Saturday against Kansas, the energy and influence coming from needs to be felt coming from one area. They can have an impact on the game.
Scott Drew said the right things and praising their enthusiasm. The students were into this game from the opening tip. I know because I was sitting about 15 feet from the section next to the Baylor bench.
If you want to rattle your opponent, make your students your 6th man. Of course, there’s the business element with proximity to the court and dollars going to those premium seats.
But there is a way to do it and still maximize the dollars.
Currently, students are allocated between 1,700-2,000 tickets. For a building that seats a little more than 10,000 or for whatever the new vision is, they have to be placed strategically to give the Bears energy and be a pain in the (ahem) to the opponent. That doesn’t matter if it’s Kansas or Texas Southern.
Is there a way to makeshift something Saturday for Texas Tech? No but it never hurts to ask.
****
Drew mentioned the delayed court storming after the 80-64 win over Kansas Saturday in his postgame presser. He appreciated the enthusiasm. Maybe it was the fact that the Bears snapped an 11-game losing streak and beat a team ranked in the Top 10. A lot of frustration had to be released.
However, he did talk about the level of where this program is at. Maybe we forget because it’s a short-term memory society. This program has been to four Sweet 16s and two Elite 8s since 2010. It also made its school-record fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. They’re trying to make it five.
Programs with that kind of background have reached a level to where they know they’re good and their followers know they’re good.
Those kinds of wins are expected. Your excitement isn’t any less. But the unwritten rule is consistently successful programs don’t have to justify their legitimacy with them. It’s reached a point where it doesn’t have to happen anymore.
If Baylor was up and coming and feeling its way through the wilderness and pulled this off, then go for it.
People need to keep in mind how good this program is. Yep, it got off to a terrible start in conference play because of a whole host of reasons. Had it continued, then maybe you write it off and understand it was just a bad year. In fact, I think I wrote that after one of those January losses.
There’s a lot more that has to be accomplished with this group as it continues the journey back to .500. That continues Monday at Texas.
I think the Bears are going to win that.
****
I’ve long been over it in terms of trying to understand what the NCAA does and why it does it.
If you missed it over the weekend, the NCAA granted Iowa State quarterback Kyle Kempt a sixth year of eligibility. The former walk-on became the Cyclones starting quarterback last year. He began his career at Oregon, transferred to Hutchinson (KS) Community College before moving on to Ames, IA in 2016.
Whatever hardship Kempt endured drew the support of the NCAA. Good for him.
Then you have Baylor defensive end K.J. Smith, who played only the first half against Liberty in the 2017 season opener and suffered a shin injury that kept him out for the remainder of the season.
The NCAA looked at that and said, “That’s too bad about the injury. No 6th year.’’
At the time when Smith was denied, the only thing I could think of was the NCAA could have cared less that Baylor used his redshirt year (2013) for him to have shoulder surgery. That was Baylor’s choice to do that.
In the story I read about Kempt it did not talk about an injury disrupting his college career. But you have Smith who went through two pretty telling injuries. That wasn’t enough.
This really reeks of inconsistencies. The NCAA will hide behind the notion it doesn’t view all cases the same and weighs everything differently.
I don’t get it. I’m sure Matt Rhule doesn’t get it. I’m sure Mack Rhoads doesn’t get it. Although he had the opportunity to appeal and chose not to, I’m sure Smith doesn’t get it.
Will the NCAA ever get it?
****
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
> Making her third straight start, Juicy Landrum, the sophomore guard from nearby La Vega High School drained a career-high five 3-pointers for all 15 of her points, dished off a career-high eight assists and added six rebounds to help No. 3 Baylor knock off 24th-ranked TCU, 83-63, Saturday night before a crowd of 6,524 at the Ferrell Center.
"She's just stepped right in," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, whose team ran its winning streak to 20 in a row with its 23rd straight victory over TCU (16-8, 7-6), improving to 23-1 overall and 13-0 in the Big 12.
Baylor goes back on the road to face No. 22/25 Oklahoma State (18-6, 9-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Stillwater. (Jerry Hill)
> No. 10/12 Baylor softball (3-0) finished off a three-game sweep of Northwestern State (0-3), taking 8-4 and 4-1 wins in a Saturday doubleheader at Getterman Stadium. The season got off to the ultimate start Friday as Gia Rodoni (1-0) worked her third-straight no-hitter in starts at Getterman Stadium, an 8-0 win in five innings.
Baylor travels to Hattiesburg, Miss., to take part in the Black & Gold Invitational, running Feb. 16-18. The Bears will be facing the hosts, Southern Miss, as well as McNeese State, Mississippi Valley State, and Alabama.
> No. 12 Baylor men's tennis (6-1) used early momentum in the doubles point to secure a 4-0 sweep over South Florida Sunday afternoon at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
Baylor improves to 5-0 all-time against the Bulls (2-6) and is 6-0 at home for the second consecutive season. Baylor defeated Purdue, 5-2, on Saturday.
The Bears await the draw of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, set to run Feb. 16-19 in Seattle.
> The top-ranked and three-time defending national champion Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team (2-0) took down Concordia (Wis.) (0-3) 276.940-230.845 on Saturday night at R. John Buuck Field House.
The Bears won every event, starting with a 38.30-32.45 win in the compulsory heats. BU took the acro heats 29.30-26.75 and pyramid heats 29.45-28.25 to take a 97.05-87.45 lead into halftime. The Bears will travel to Hamden, Conn., for a matchup against No. 4 Quinnipiac (0-0) next Sunday at 10:30 a.m. CT.
> No. 7 Baylor equestrian (4-3, 2-1 Big 12) made a late run to defeat No. 6 TCU on Saturday afternoon at the Willis Family Equestrian Center, the first conference meet of the spring schedule for the Bears. The Bears hit the road for the next three meets, travelling to the defending national champions, Texas A&M, on Feb. 24 at 11 a.m.
> The No. 16 Baylor women's tennis program (2-4) fought deep into singles play, but ultimately fell to UCF, 5-2, inside Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon. Baylor lost to Tulsa on Saturday, 4-2. Baylor remains at home for its next two matches, hosting Ole Miss on Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. (CT) and Miami on Feb. 18 at 1 p.m.
>The baseball season opens Friday with the first of a 3-game series against Purdue. We’ll have a preview of the season in Friday’s Baylor Blitz.
Let’s make it a great week!
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