Signature songs of the 1980s. The RJB has long thought that Van Halen’s Jump was the one that told the story of the music for that decade of excess.
But one person’s jump is another person’s Prince and Purple Rain. However, there should be a list of about 10 songs that define the decade. They didn’t come from artists with several hits. There are some one-hit wonders in there.
If we have played this one before, it’s due for a repeat because Til Tuesday probably had one of those signature songs of that decade. Lead singer Aimee Mann is a pretty sharp song writer. Her story of trying to be silenced of her passion for music by her boyfriend is told differently.
The video is so 80s, especially at the end when she breaks free at the formal concert at Carnegie Hall.
And to make us all feel really old, Mann is 57. She turns 58 in September.
So take it away gang.
****
It was told to me that there really is one solution when it comes to the University Parks Apartments. They should be burned to the ground or maybe bulldozed. Salt should then be spread over the land to ensure nothing ever comes to that area.
Too drastic, you say? Too ugly, you say? Well, for about the last 2 ½ years all we have heard when it comes to incidents involving the Baylor football team – alleged or proven – the location of such dastardly deeds has been committed there. Not all of them. But enough of them to make you just want to roll your eyes in aggravation.
What we thought was behind us from the Art Briles era still may not be all the way behind us. At least, what we learned late Thursday and Friday would suggest something is being investigated. It doesn’t sound good. It is involving Baylor football players.
KWTX reported that at least two redshirt freshmen were involved in what is being investigated from a situation that occurred Nov. 11/12. Baylor had returned home from AT&T Stadium in Arlington following its loss to Texas Tech.
Matt Rhule now has a crisis. It’s not a big one. But it’s there. He’s monitoring it. I’m sure when he came to Baylor he probably thought given what had happened, that would be the last thing he would have to worry about. It would have been in the rear view mirror.
I pity Rhule. I pity all of us who have to go through this again to watch, wonder and wait to see where this goes. In a best-case scenario, the investigation finds nothing of a sexual assault and the matter is dropped and the players are cleared.
In a worst-case scenario, the investigation produces everything you hoped it wouldn’t, players are arrested and charged and the vulture media coverage dive bombs all over the university again. I don’t even know if there is a middle-case scenario. If there was, that wouldn’t be good either. I’ve heard names involved. But given the uncertainty of this, it would be reckless to post them.
It’s hard not feel the latter because it like the Pavlovian Dog condition. The bell shakes and the dog salivates. You hear a story about something involving a sexual crime involving a Baylor football player and you feel emotionally defeated.
Of course, the University is handling all statements and how it controls the message. I know that assures some of you. I know that angers some of you. I know that creates cynicism with some of you.
At first, I thought Rhule should have issued some vanilla statement regarding this. We’ve seen how other schools will have their coaches make non-substantive statements saying how they take these things seriously and will help in whatever way possible. Basically, the coach is saying something without something.
When it broke and Rhule was retweeting other tweets or quote tweeting something, I found that very odd. Knowing how the University will basically put a gag on everything, you would have thought that getting off the grid for the time being would be the plan. Yes, visibility is important. Recruiting is nonstop. The retweets were harmless. If you wanted to read into Tony Nicholson’s tweet, that would offer a clue.
However, maybe the approach is to keep doing what you’re doing until you’re told from the hierarchy to stop doing it and then do something else.
This won’t be front page news unless it gets there. It may hit a lull before it surfaces again. I think we’re at that point.
But if you’re Rhule and it turns out your players are found to have done this, you need to act swiftly and decisively. They’re gone. No questions asked. It doesn’t matter if it’s innocent before proven guilty. Baylor cannot afford to have players involved in this kind of activity on their campus anymore and await the outcome of the judicial process.
We’ve seen this before how Rhule uses zero tolerance. He fired assistant strength coach Brandon Washington after Washington was arrested in February of 2017 in a prostitution ring. Anyone know the outcome of that?
Associate director of football operations DeMarkco Butler was fired last May after he was found to have sent inappropriate text messages to an 18-year-old. Anyone know the outcome of that?
This may not be as black and white as those, but there are bigger things at stake.
Due process will still exist if that comes into play for those who would be arrested and charged. But it doesn’t have to happen while they’re student-athletes at Baylor.
History doesn’t need to repeat itself. If Art Briles kicks Sam Ukwuachu off the team in the summer of 2014, we’re not here. That would mean Rhule probably isn’t here either.
****
At this point, I don’t see this episode having an impact on Baylor recruiting. It’s business as usual. Recruits will still take unofficial visits. Spring football begins March 15.
Just keep on keeping on.
****
I don’t have a problem with the way KWTX handled this story. I read that story several times and found it to be down the middle with everything it reported. This is what was reported. It’s not saying these Baylor players did this. It’s an investigation. We’ll keep you posted.
The station did its job asking university president Dr. Linda Livingstone about the incident with the presumed knowledge that she was going to say absolutely nothing. She did. The station reported what she said.
However, the only problem I had with the story was this:
Late Friday afternoon, McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna confirmed that the Baylor Police Department has referred a case to his office for possible grand jury review.
He stopped short of saying whether it was the same case described in the police reports.
“I can confirm BPD has submitted a case to our office as a grand jury referral,” Reyna told KWTX.
“We are reviewing that case and intend to present it to the grand jury as requested to determine what, if any, criminal conduct may have occurred.”
Now, that’s a little leading. It’s not terrible but it kind of gets you to connect the dots when you don’t know for sure that’s it. But how do we know that what the Baylor PD sent to the McLennan County's DA office is that. Maybe it's something else? Of course, law enforcement has rules to follow and can’t just blurt information out there. The media has to go through some lengths to collect information from public institutions. That said, you shouldn't burn KWTX for eternity.
As a reporter of 30 years, the No. 1 thing I have to do with any story is divorce myself from the emotional impact it. In other words, I have to be a wall flower, collect information, organize it and then tell it from start to finish.
Sometimes, that’s really hard because when you see people in total sorrow or total joy, you can’t help but be impacted by it.
What happened with this one? We had a poster or two reference daughters and how it hits them hard because they don’t ever want it to happen to them. So while I’m doing this job and writing about this, I think about my two girls, who are now in this age group, and thought of something like this happening to them. It scares the you know what out of me.
But I have to put that thought out of my mind as I’m giving you my take and what it could mean and to the university and the football program. This profession has many peaks, valleys, rushes, frustrations and paranoia. Yet it is ever changing.
****
It’s literally Super Tuesday at Baylor. If you want to get into town early, make a double header of it.
Fresh off winning the season opening series against Houston Baptist, the baseball team entertains Dallas Baptist at 4:35 at Baylor Ballpark. But given the forecast of rain, that game may not be played.
If it’s played, we’re not asking you to ditch Steve Rodriguez’s team. But if you have a ticket or want to get a ticket to watch the hottest basketball team in the Big 12, you might want to do that and make the short walk over to the Ferrell Center for the 6:00 p.m. tipoff against West Virginia.
I had a conversation with a DFW High School coach as his team was getting ready to begin the playoffs. We talked about Scott Drew.
This man was in the Big 12 for a few years before he returned. His observations were that the turnaround for the Bears wasn’t a surprise because he noted how patient Drew is with his team.
The coach went on to describe how that patience doesn’t allow his team to get too down about struggles and to keep finding a way to become resilient. In other words, Drew is a great psychiatrist.
I did a column in another walk of life talking about what creates the culture of a program. Culture is something you can’t really describe. But you know it when you see it.
A baseball coach, who has taken his program to the playoffs in 18 of his 20 years and 17 consecutive seasons, confessed this:
“It’s an art not a science. When I first got into coaching, I thought my job was to teach about fielding, pitching and hitting. The X’s and O’s. But I realized that it was about building a team and relationships. These are things that don’t show up in the box score. But they’re real.’’
More than half the battle for a coach is getting the team to play for you. Scott Drew has that part covered.
****
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
>The No. 3/3 Baylor Lady Bears (25-1, 15-0) travel to meet No. 6/6 Texas (22-4, 13-2) on Monday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. (CT) inside the Frank Erwin Center. It is the second meeting of the season between the Lady Bears and the Longhorns. Baylor won the first meeting, 81-56, Jan. 25 in Waco. This past Saturday, Baylor defeated Kansas, 88-51.
With a win:
• Baylor would be on a 23-game win streak.
• The Lady Bears would have a 16-0 start to the Big 12 Conference season for the third time in program history, all under the direction of head coach Kim Mulkey. In two of those seasons, 2011-12 and 2012-13, Baylor ran the table in conference play, 18-0.
• Baylor would have at least 26 wins in the first 27 games of a season for the second time in the last three seasons, the fourth time in the last seven years and the fourth time in Mulkey's tenure.
• The Lady Bears would have its third win in a row and 17th in the last 18 games played against the Longhorns.
• Baylor would clinch its eighth-straight and ninth overall regular season Big 12 title with a win in Austin on Monday.
>No. 11/12 Baylor softball (7-0) grabbed an early lead and never looked back, knocking off No. 9/9 Alabama, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon at the Southern Miss Softball Complex.
Gia Rodoni (4-0) continued exerting complete dominance over opposing batters, spinning a complete game, allowing just four hits and one run over the 7.0 innings. She piled up eight strikeouts and allowed only two walks in the winning effort.
Baylor will take a quick trip south to San Antonio, facing UTSA on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 5:30 p.m.
>Baylor men's golf finished in second place with a 54-hole total of 26-under-par 838 at the 2018 All-American Intercollegiate. The Bears shot 8-under 280 in Sunday's final round at Golf Club of Houston to remain in the same spot on the leaderboard.
Baylor (-26) finished behind only No. 10 Auburn (-42). The Bears recorded head-to-head wins over No. 48 Ole Miss (-23), No. 30 South Carolina (-21), Houston (-15), No. 13 Wake Forest (-14), North Texas (-4), SMU (-1), South Alabama (-1), UTSA (+1), Sam Houston State (+3), Rice (+4), Charlotte (+6), Cincinnati (+10), Georgia State (+10), McNeese State (+16), Southeastern Louisiana (+27) and Lamar (+28). The Bears improved their head-to-head record to 76-9 through six tournaments.
Baylor returns to Waco for two weeks before heading to Mexico for the Querencia Cabo Collegiate, which runs March 4-6 at Querencia Country Club in Los Cabos, Mexico.
>The top-ranked and three-time defending national champion Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team (3-0) took down the fourth-ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats (0-1) 282.930-278.055 on Sunday morning at TD Bank Sports Center. The Bears will return home for a matchup against the second-ranked Oregon Ducks (2-0) on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m. CT.
>Baylor women's golf finished in 11th place with a 54-hole total of 49-over-par 901 in the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge. The Bears shot 24-over 308 in Tuesday's final round at Palos Verdes Golf Club. Baylor returns home for two weeks before heading to the east coast to play in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, which runs March 2-4 at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
>Baylor women's tennis (3-5) snagged a 4-3 comeback victory over No. 17 Miami (2-3) at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon. The squad rallied back from a 7-1 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday.
Baylor hits the road for a pair of weekend matches at No. 24 Oregon on Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. (CT) and at No. 22 Washington on Feb. 25 at noon.
>Baylor's track and field team had 11 individuals compete to improve national marks at the Texas Tech Matador Qualifier Friday afternoon at the brand-new Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas. The Bears travel to Ames, Iowa to compete at the Big 12 Indoor Championship from Feb. 23-24.
Let’s make it a great week!
But one person’s jump is another person’s Prince and Purple Rain. However, there should be a list of about 10 songs that define the decade. They didn’t come from artists with several hits. There are some one-hit wonders in there.
If we have played this one before, it’s due for a repeat because Til Tuesday probably had one of those signature songs of that decade. Lead singer Aimee Mann is a pretty sharp song writer. Her story of trying to be silenced of her passion for music by her boyfriend is told differently.
The video is so 80s, especially at the end when she breaks free at the formal concert at Carnegie Hall.
And to make us all feel really old, Mann is 57. She turns 58 in September.
So take it away gang.
****
It was told to me that there really is one solution when it comes to the University Parks Apartments. They should be burned to the ground or maybe bulldozed. Salt should then be spread over the land to ensure nothing ever comes to that area.
Too drastic, you say? Too ugly, you say? Well, for about the last 2 ½ years all we have heard when it comes to incidents involving the Baylor football team – alleged or proven – the location of such dastardly deeds has been committed there. Not all of them. But enough of them to make you just want to roll your eyes in aggravation.
What we thought was behind us from the Art Briles era still may not be all the way behind us. At least, what we learned late Thursday and Friday would suggest something is being investigated. It doesn’t sound good. It is involving Baylor football players.
KWTX reported that at least two redshirt freshmen were involved in what is being investigated from a situation that occurred Nov. 11/12. Baylor had returned home from AT&T Stadium in Arlington following its loss to Texas Tech.
Matt Rhule now has a crisis. It’s not a big one. But it’s there. He’s monitoring it. I’m sure when he came to Baylor he probably thought given what had happened, that would be the last thing he would have to worry about. It would have been in the rear view mirror.
I pity Rhule. I pity all of us who have to go through this again to watch, wonder and wait to see where this goes. In a best-case scenario, the investigation finds nothing of a sexual assault and the matter is dropped and the players are cleared.
In a worst-case scenario, the investigation produces everything you hoped it wouldn’t, players are arrested and charged and the vulture media coverage dive bombs all over the university again. I don’t even know if there is a middle-case scenario. If there was, that wouldn’t be good either. I’ve heard names involved. But given the uncertainty of this, it would be reckless to post them.
It’s hard not feel the latter because it like the Pavlovian Dog condition. The bell shakes and the dog salivates. You hear a story about something involving a sexual crime involving a Baylor football player and you feel emotionally defeated.
Of course, the University is handling all statements and how it controls the message. I know that assures some of you. I know that angers some of you. I know that creates cynicism with some of you.
At first, I thought Rhule should have issued some vanilla statement regarding this. We’ve seen how other schools will have their coaches make non-substantive statements saying how they take these things seriously and will help in whatever way possible. Basically, the coach is saying something without something.
When it broke and Rhule was retweeting other tweets or quote tweeting something, I found that very odd. Knowing how the University will basically put a gag on everything, you would have thought that getting off the grid for the time being would be the plan. Yes, visibility is important. Recruiting is nonstop. The retweets were harmless. If you wanted to read into Tony Nicholson’s tweet, that would offer a clue.
However, maybe the approach is to keep doing what you’re doing until you’re told from the hierarchy to stop doing it and then do something else.
This won’t be front page news unless it gets there. It may hit a lull before it surfaces again. I think we’re at that point.
But if you’re Rhule and it turns out your players are found to have done this, you need to act swiftly and decisively. They’re gone. No questions asked. It doesn’t matter if it’s innocent before proven guilty. Baylor cannot afford to have players involved in this kind of activity on their campus anymore and await the outcome of the judicial process.
We’ve seen this before how Rhule uses zero tolerance. He fired assistant strength coach Brandon Washington after Washington was arrested in February of 2017 in a prostitution ring. Anyone know the outcome of that?
Associate director of football operations DeMarkco Butler was fired last May after he was found to have sent inappropriate text messages to an 18-year-old. Anyone know the outcome of that?
This may not be as black and white as those, but there are bigger things at stake.
Due process will still exist if that comes into play for those who would be arrested and charged. But it doesn’t have to happen while they’re student-athletes at Baylor.
History doesn’t need to repeat itself. If Art Briles kicks Sam Ukwuachu off the team in the summer of 2014, we’re not here. That would mean Rhule probably isn’t here either.
****
At this point, I don’t see this episode having an impact on Baylor recruiting. It’s business as usual. Recruits will still take unofficial visits. Spring football begins March 15.
Just keep on keeping on.
****
I don’t have a problem with the way KWTX handled this story. I read that story several times and found it to be down the middle with everything it reported. This is what was reported. It’s not saying these Baylor players did this. It’s an investigation. We’ll keep you posted.
The station did its job asking university president Dr. Linda Livingstone about the incident with the presumed knowledge that she was going to say absolutely nothing. She did. The station reported what she said.
However, the only problem I had with the story was this:
Late Friday afternoon, McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna confirmed that the Baylor Police Department has referred a case to his office for possible grand jury review.
He stopped short of saying whether it was the same case described in the police reports.
“I can confirm BPD has submitted a case to our office as a grand jury referral,” Reyna told KWTX.
“We are reviewing that case and intend to present it to the grand jury as requested to determine what, if any, criminal conduct may have occurred.”
Now, that’s a little leading. It’s not terrible but it kind of gets you to connect the dots when you don’t know for sure that’s it. But how do we know that what the Baylor PD sent to the McLennan County's DA office is that. Maybe it's something else? Of course, law enforcement has rules to follow and can’t just blurt information out there. The media has to go through some lengths to collect information from public institutions. That said, you shouldn't burn KWTX for eternity.
As a reporter of 30 years, the No. 1 thing I have to do with any story is divorce myself from the emotional impact it. In other words, I have to be a wall flower, collect information, organize it and then tell it from start to finish.
Sometimes, that’s really hard because when you see people in total sorrow or total joy, you can’t help but be impacted by it.
What happened with this one? We had a poster or two reference daughters and how it hits them hard because they don’t ever want it to happen to them. So while I’m doing this job and writing about this, I think about my two girls, who are now in this age group, and thought of something like this happening to them. It scares the you know what out of me.
But I have to put that thought out of my mind as I’m giving you my take and what it could mean and to the university and the football program. This profession has many peaks, valleys, rushes, frustrations and paranoia. Yet it is ever changing.
****
It’s literally Super Tuesday at Baylor. If you want to get into town early, make a double header of it.
Fresh off winning the season opening series against Houston Baptist, the baseball team entertains Dallas Baptist at 4:35 at Baylor Ballpark. But given the forecast of rain, that game may not be played.
If it’s played, we’re not asking you to ditch Steve Rodriguez’s team. But if you have a ticket or want to get a ticket to watch the hottest basketball team in the Big 12, you might want to do that and make the short walk over to the Ferrell Center for the 6:00 p.m. tipoff against West Virginia.
I had a conversation with a DFW High School coach as his team was getting ready to begin the playoffs. We talked about Scott Drew.
This man was in the Big 12 for a few years before he returned. His observations were that the turnaround for the Bears wasn’t a surprise because he noted how patient Drew is with his team.
The coach went on to describe how that patience doesn’t allow his team to get too down about struggles and to keep finding a way to become resilient. In other words, Drew is a great psychiatrist.
I did a column in another walk of life talking about what creates the culture of a program. Culture is something you can’t really describe. But you know it when you see it.
A baseball coach, who has taken his program to the playoffs in 18 of his 20 years and 17 consecutive seasons, confessed this:
“It’s an art not a science. When I first got into coaching, I thought my job was to teach about fielding, pitching and hitting. The X’s and O’s. But I realized that it was about building a team and relationships. These are things that don’t show up in the box score. But they’re real.’’
More than half the battle for a coach is getting the team to play for you. Scott Drew has that part covered.
****
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
>The No. 3/3 Baylor Lady Bears (25-1, 15-0) travel to meet No. 6/6 Texas (22-4, 13-2) on Monday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. (CT) inside the Frank Erwin Center. It is the second meeting of the season between the Lady Bears and the Longhorns. Baylor won the first meeting, 81-56, Jan. 25 in Waco. This past Saturday, Baylor defeated Kansas, 88-51.
With a win:
• Baylor would be on a 23-game win streak.
• The Lady Bears would have a 16-0 start to the Big 12 Conference season for the third time in program history, all under the direction of head coach Kim Mulkey. In two of those seasons, 2011-12 and 2012-13, Baylor ran the table in conference play, 18-0.
• Baylor would have at least 26 wins in the first 27 games of a season for the second time in the last three seasons, the fourth time in the last seven years and the fourth time in Mulkey's tenure.
• The Lady Bears would have its third win in a row and 17th in the last 18 games played against the Longhorns.
• Baylor would clinch its eighth-straight and ninth overall regular season Big 12 title with a win in Austin on Monday.
>No. 11/12 Baylor softball (7-0) grabbed an early lead and never looked back, knocking off No. 9/9 Alabama, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon at the Southern Miss Softball Complex.
Gia Rodoni (4-0) continued exerting complete dominance over opposing batters, spinning a complete game, allowing just four hits and one run over the 7.0 innings. She piled up eight strikeouts and allowed only two walks in the winning effort.
Baylor will take a quick trip south to San Antonio, facing UTSA on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 5:30 p.m.
>Baylor men's golf finished in second place with a 54-hole total of 26-under-par 838 at the 2018 All-American Intercollegiate. The Bears shot 8-under 280 in Sunday's final round at Golf Club of Houston to remain in the same spot on the leaderboard.
Baylor (-26) finished behind only No. 10 Auburn (-42). The Bears recorded head-to-head wins over No. 48 Ole Miss (-23), No. 30 South Carolina (-21), Houston (-15), No. 13 Wake Forest (-14), North Texas (-4), SMU (-1), South Alabama (-1), UTSA (+1), Sam Houston State (+3), Rice (+4), Charlotte (+6), Cincinnati (+10), Georgia State (+10), McNeese State (+16), Southeastern Louisiana (+27) and Lamar (+28). The Bears improved their head-to-head record to 76-9 through six tournaments.
Baylor returns to Waco for two weeks before heading to Mexico for the Querencia Cabo Collegiate, which runs March 4-6 at Querencia Country Club in Los Cabos, Mexico.
>The top-ranked and three-time defending national champion Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team (3-0) took down the fourth-ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats (0-1) 282.930-278.055 on Sunday morning at TD Bank Sports Center. The Bears will return home for a matchup against the second-ranked Oregon Ducks (2-0) on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m. CT.
>Baylor women's golf finished in 11th place with a 54-hole total of 49-over-par 901 in the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge. The Bears shot 24-over 308 in Tuesday's final round at Palos Verdes Golf Club. Baylor returns home for two weeks before heading to the east coast to play in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, which runs March 2-4 at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
>Baylor women's tennis (3-5) snagged a 4-3 comeback victory over No. 17 Miami (2-3) at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon. The squad rallied back from a 7-1 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday.
Baylor hits the road for a pair of weekend matches at No. 24 Oregon on Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. (CT) and at No. 22 Washington on Feb. 25 at noon.
>Baylor's track and field team had 11 individuals compete to improve national marks at the Texas Tech Matador Qualifier Friday afternoon at the brand-new Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas. The Bears travel to Ames, Iowa to compete at the Big 12 Indoor Championship from Feb. 23-24.
Let’s make it a great week!
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