TicketsAfter running my first 5K race this weekend, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Not only did I finish, but did so in a better time than expected at 33 minutes.
I came home, relaxed and reveled in my grand accomplishment then turned to see the NCAA Track and Field Championships to check out how the UC duo of Terrence Somerville and Eric Finan would do in their events. I proceeded to watch the Kenyan Army run a 5K in 13 minutes, 29 seconds. Pretty humbling. Not quite as demoralizing as watching a woman blow by me during the race pushing a stroller with three large children inside it, but perspective nonetheless.
Certainly a congrats to Finan, who shaved five seconds off his own school record (13:44:91) and earned All-American status with his 10th-place finish. He was only 15 seconds behind Liberty's Sam Chalenga, shockingly of Kenya, who won the title.
Let's eat...
--- Terrence Somerville knew he would need a near perfect run and a little bit of good luck to return to Cincinnati with the school's first NCAA Track and Field title. He had neither. In fact, he had the opposite.
Texas Tech's Omo Osaghee tripped over a hurdle and fell into Somerville's lane early in the race, throwing off his rhythm. He proceeded to clip the next two hurdles and hit the sixth with his lead foot then running into the next hurdle. He was disqualified.
It was an unfortunate break for UC's top hurdler, who eventually placed seventh, still earning All-American honors.
One bad break and disappointing final doesn't wash out a fantastic season for the junior, who will be favored to earn a shot at redemption next season.
--- On Friday, we talked about the need for WVU to address the turmoil between Bill Stewart and Dana Holgorsen. Well, that afternoon they did.
Stewart is officially out at West Virginia and Holgorsen steps in as head coach.
If you want information on every angle of the transition for one of the favorites to win the division next season, just head over to the Big East Blog. Andrea Adelson has the thing covered top to bottom.
Rather the quibble over the coach-in-waiting process or bruised egos, let's look at what this means for UC. The entire mess only helps the Bearcats. As every UC fan can attest, being a coach in Year 1 at a school can be a difficult transition. WVU now owns the same issues UC did last year of everyone adjusting and buying into the new voice. Only, with a six-month deficit in place.
Considering the returning quarterback and talent on the Mountaineers roster, the coaching change causing a few extra losses could open up the entire Big East for other teams to swoop in and take the title -- not that it wasn't a wide-open race already.
--- The Big East coaches only get younger and more inexperienced. Here's your list:
School/Coach Entering into
UC/Butch Jones 2nd year
UConn/Paul Pasqualoni 1st year
Louisville/Charlie Strong 2nd year
Pitt/Todd Graham 1st year
Rutgers/Greg Schiano 11th year
USF/Skip Holtz 2nd year
Syracuse/Doug Marrone 3rd year
WVU/Dana Holgorsen 1st year
Anybody want to take a run at predicting the finish from that group of unknown quantities?
That's a remarkable list, but only shadows a trend across college football of a constant coaching carousel. The success of Auburn's Gene Chizik and Oregon's Chip Kelly, advancing to the title game in their second seasons, won't help thoughts on continuity among ADs.
Of course, coaches understand the new era of college football when they sign up for it: Win now or get out. As a high school football coach once told me, "I'm only hired to eventually be fired."
--- Michigan and Notre Dame unveiled their new retro unis. Like.
--- All the missteps of college football players are pointed out on a daily basis. St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton points out all the great things college football players are doing. Refreshing take.
--- H/t to Down the Drive for spotting this Jason King piece giving some love to Yancy Gates on the most underrated list. Last year, Gates wouldn't have classified as the most underrated on his own team. That distinction belonged to Rashad Bishop.
--- Thought-provoking read of the weekend comes from Mike DeCourcy, who says NBA players skipping college are connected to failures in the Finals. Cough*LeBron*Cough.
Mike caught a significant amount of Twitter-shrapnel for this story, but has some strong support to back up his point.
--- Was hoping for more of a "Suck it" response from Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, but his little life lesson had just a enough bite to wet the palette.
--- LeBron responds to all the haters.
--- You are supposed to take any breaks you get in baseball and enjoy the good fortune, but I don't know that I would want to win a title because the opposing player missed home plate on a walk-off.
--- Breaking news from The Onion.
--- Moral dilemma story of the day: What would you do?
--- Sad news that Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band suffered a stroke, according to Rolling Stone. The Big Man is such a great core piece of Bruce's show. Here's hoping he recovers and here's a clip of a solo from the 2009 tour.
I came home, relaxed and reveled in my grand accomplishment then turned to see the NCAA Track and Field Championships to check out how the UC duo of Terrence Somerville and Eric Finan would do in their events. I proceeded to watch the Kenyan Army run a 5K in 13 minutes, 29 seconds. Pretty humbling. Not quite as demoralizing as watching a woman blow by me during the race pushing a stroller with three large children inside it, but perspective nonetheless.
Certainly a congrats to Finan, who shaved five seconds off his own school record (13:44:91) and earned All-American status with his 10th-place finish. He was only 15 seconds behind Liberty's Sam Chalenga, shockingly of Kenya, who won the title.
Let's eat...
--- Terrence Somerville knew he would need a near perfect run and a little bit of good luck to return to Cincinnati with the school's first NCAA Track and Field title. He had neither. In fact, he had the opposite.
Texas Tech's Omo Osaghee tripped over a hurdle and fell into Somerville's lane early in the race, throwing off his rhythm. He proceeded to clip the next two hurdles and hit the sixth with his lead foot then running into the next hurdle. He was disqualified.
It was an unfortunate break for UC's top hurdler, who eventually placed seventh, still earning All-American honors.
One bad break and disappointing final doesn't wash out a fantastic season for the junior, who will be favored to earn a shot at redemption next season.
--- On Friday, we talked about the need for WVU to address the turmoil between Bill Stewart and Dana Holgorsen. Well, that afternoon they did.
Stewart is officially out at West Virginia and Holgorsen steps in as head coach.
If you want information on every angle of the transition for one of the favorites to win the division next season, just head over to the Big East Blog. Andrea Adelson has the thing covered top to bottom.
Rather the quibble over the coach-in-waiting process or bruised egos, let's look at what this means for UC. The entire mess only helps the Bearcats. As every UC fan can attest, being a coach in Year 1 at a school can be a difficult transition. WVU now owns the same issues UC did last year of everyone adjusting and buying into the new voice. Only, with a six-month deficit in place.
Considering the returning quarterback and talent on the Mountaineers roster, the coaching change causing a few extra losses could open up the entire Big East for other teams to swoop in and take the title -- not that it wasn't a wide-open race already.
--- The Big East coaches only get younger and more inexperienced. Here's your list:
School/Coach Entering into
UC/Butch Jones 2nd year
UConn/Paul Pasqualoni 1st year
Louisville/Charlie Strong 2nd year
Pitt/Todd Graham 1st year
Rutgers/Greg Schiano 11th year
USF/Skip Holtz 2nd year
Syracuse/Doug Marrone 3rd year
WVU/Dana Holgorsen 1st year
Anybody want to take a run at predicting the finish from that group of unknown quantities?
That's a remarkable list, but only shadows a trend across college football of a constant coaching carousel. The success of Auburn's Gene Chizik and Oregon's Chip Kelly, advancing to the title game in their second seasons, won't help thoughts on continuity among ADs.
Of course, coaches understand the new era of college football when they sign up for it: Win now or get out. As a high school football coach once told me, "I'm only hired to eventually be fired."
--- Michigan and Notre Dame unveiled their new retro unis. Like.
--- All the missteps of college football players are pointed out on a daily basis. St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton points out all the great things college football players are doing. Refreshing take.
--- H/t to Down the Drive for spotting this Jason King piece giving some love to Yancy Gates on the most underrated list. Last year, Gates wouldn't have classified as the most underrated on his own team. That distinction belonged to Rashad Bishop.
--- Thought-provoking read of the weekend comes from Mike DeCourcy, who says NBA players skipping college are connected to failures in the Finals. Cough*LeBron*Cough.
Mike caught a significant amount of Twitter-shrapnel for this story, but has some strong support to back up his point.
--- Was hoping for more of a "Suck it" response from Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, but his little life lesson had just a enough bite to wet the palette.
--- LeBron responds to all the haters.
--- You are supposed to take any breaks you get in baseball and enjoy the good fortune, but I don't know that I would want to win a title because the opposing player missed home plate on a walk-off.
--- Breaking news from The Onion.
--- Moral dilemma story of the day: What would you do?
--- Sad news that Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band suffered a stroke, according to Rolling Stone. The Big Man is such a great core piece of Bruce's show. Here's hoping he recovers and here's a clip of a solo from the 2009 tour.