Until this week, the only time I’ve ever heard from Tucker Carlson was from his appearances on “The Bubba The Love Sponge” radio show on Sirius radio. He seems like a decent guy and always makes for a good interview for Bubba and his crew.
Carlson is a well-known political pundit and made some headlines this week when he said that Michael Vick “should have been executed” for his crimes involving dogfighting.
Carlson may be very good at what he does — call me a dope, but I don’t watch any of the political shows. But he went a little too far here. Vick got what he deserved for his crime. He paid that price and is now out trying to make a living. No different than ex-cons everywhere else.
I’m for capital punishment, but I don’t think it was warranted in the Vick case. I can’t imagine there are many people out there who think it should have been used — other than Carlson.
The Hawks closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule with an easy win over the Eagles at Pepsi Arena on Thursday night.
Here’s a look at Thursday’s stars:
1. Andreas Coleman
You have to love how the senior goes about his work. A starter at the beginning of the season, Coleman is now the Hawks’ first post option of the bench and hasn’t made a peep about his “demotion.” He had a team-high 16 points off the bench, getting into the game and immediately attacking the smaller Eagles in the low block. Coleman also had six rebounds and made two steals. He may not be starting any more, but he’s no less valuable to the team.
2. Christian Simmons
It will be interesting to see how Simmons does against other players now that the Hawks go full bore into Great Lakes Valley Conference play. He’s been Mr. Energy for them in the early going. He showed that again on Thursday with six points, eight rebounds and a block in 21 minutes. He should continued to provide the team an energetic lift off the bench.
3. Anthony Patton
The Robert Morris guard has to love Pepsi Arena. He led all scorers with 23 points, knocking down four 3-pointers. That’s off from his 29-point, 9 3-pointer-effort from last year when the Eagles threw a little bit more of a scare into the Hawks in a 92-76 loss. He’s just a junior, so if Marty Bell asks the Eagles to come back next year, Patton will get another chance to shine at Pepsi.
DOBservations
The Eagles had trouble getting to Quincy. The door on their bus kept opening up once the bus reached a certain speed. The team didn’t even get to the arena until the Hawks had started warmups for the game, which still started on time at 7:30 p.m. The team wound up taking a bus from the Quincy Public Schools home. … Robert Morris had just seven players in uniform after a few didn’t come back after the holiday break. Among the no-shows for the Eagles was former Hawk Steven White, who played two games for QU during the 2008-09 season. White was the Eagles’ leading scorer and rebounder this season. … QU played without senior guard Adam Highberger, who sat out the game with an ankle injury. Hawks coach Marty Bell expect Highberger to be good to go for Sunday’s GLVC game against Northern Kentucky at Pepsi Arena. … The Hawks bench had to have set some kind of record by outscoring Robert Morris’ two-man bench 45-0.
The Lady Hawks finished off a season sweep of the Oaks with a convincing win at Pepsi Arena on Thursday night. Here’s a look at Thursday’s stars:
1. Daryle Goldie
The junior from Clark County had herself a career night, drilling six 3-pointers en route to a career-best 18 points. Feeling her shooting touch in the second half, Goldie even pulled the ball on a fastbreak in trying to drill her seventh triple of the night. “I’d never scored 20 points in college before, so I thought I’d try it,” she said. The 18 points topped the 17 she scored in the Lady Hawks’ last game, a win over Missouri-St. Louis.
2. Darla Gatschenberger
It’s fortunate that Pepsi Arena has a high ceiling. Gatschenberger uses plenty of air when she hoists her 3-pointers. She was as accurate as she’s ever been on Thursday, nailing five treys as part of a career-best 15 points. If only the Lady Hawks could schedule the Oaks every game for her. Gatschenberger’s previous career high was 10 points against the Oaks earlier this season.
3. Ali Schwagmeyer
She had another solid all-around game to help the Lady Hawks improve to 9-1. The Central product led all scorers with 22 points and had seven assists to go along with five rebounds. She also took one for the team, taking an elbow to the face early in the game that earned the Oakland City player who threw the elbow an intentional foul call.
DOBservations
The Lady Hawks played without the services of junior center Linsay Henke, who missed the game with an ankle injury. QU coach JD Gravina said Henke’s about 80 percent right now and is day-to-day. He wasn’t sure whether Henke would play against Northern Kentucky on Sunday afternoon. … Courtney Shuman, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds, was recognized at halftime of the men’s game for becoming the 20th player in Lady Hawk history to reach the 1,000-point mark, a plateau she passed earlier this season. … Kassidy Shuman also had a solid all-around game, finishing with eight points, seven assists and seven rebounds from her point guard spot. … Gravina lost his coat at halftime. He was a little hot in his three-piece suit and decided to shred the coat, which he put back on for the second half. He has made it a New Year’s resolution not to throw his coat during game any more.
It’s the last edition of the Mid-Week Grades for 2010. I’ll have a special guest in studio to help break these down during Wednesday’s edition of the award-winning WGEM SportsCenter. Quincy University football coach Bill Terlisner will be in studio trying to avoid us getting any FCC fines. He’ll join me for the second hour of the program. If you have a grade, text it in at 217-617-9437. Here’s this week’s grade book.
A —Ed Rendell. The governor of Pennsylvania had some harsh words for the NFL and everyone else involved with the postponement of the Vikings-Eagles game on Sunday. He said having the game postponed because of a the threat of snow — the storm didn’t hit as hard as the meteorologists expected — showed that “we’ve all become wusses.” He went on to say, “We’ve become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything. If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down.” Gotta love the guy’s candor.
B — Ken McDonald. Ever think you’d get money back from going to watch your favorite team play? Well, thanks to the Western Kentucky men’s basketball coach, some Hilltopper fans were the recipients of $60 checks from McDonald after the team’s loss at Vanderbilt. Embarrassed with how his team played in an 82-62 loss at Vanderbilt, McDonald offered to give fans who made the trip from Bowling Green, Ky., to Nashville a check for their gas money. Some 20 fans got the checks, but none of them had cashed them in. I’m sure there might be some Mizzou football fans who would love a refund for their travel expenses for the Insight Bowl right about now.
C — Tim Tebow. So far, so OK for the former Heisman Trophy winner. He’s started two games for Denver and has made the most of his opportunity. He got his first win over the weekend by rallying Denver past Houston. He had his first 300-yard passing game and threw a touchdown pass. He also had another rushing touchdown. Don’t know if this makes him a legit NFL quarterback or not, but at least he hasn’t fallen on his face.
D — San Francisco 49ers. Maybe it’s the old Chicago Bears loyalist in me, but I think that Mike Singletary got a raw deal by the bay. With one game left to play, the team decided to fire him as head coach. If the team wanted to make a move, why do it with a week left in the season? He was 18-22 with San Francisco in 2 1/2 seasons. Yes, the 49ers’ start this season was dreadful, but what more did the team want. It had no true NFL QB and it’s top running back is out for the season. Would Singletary have been fired had the 49ers beat the Rams on Sunday? I doubt it. Singletary will land on his feet. San Francisco, meanwhile, will have to play catchup to an improving Rams franchise.
F — LeBron James. He’s playing really well on the court, but continues to stub his toe off of it. Last week, James wined about having to play on Christmas. (Lakers coach Phil Jackson also complained about this. Just shut up and play.) Then James said the NBA would be better off if it got rid of some teams. The backlash from his contraction talk caught James off guard. He pointed out that he didn’t use the word “contraction” and didn’t know what it meant. You don’t say?
Need a way to get people interested in a Penn State-Indiana men’s basketball that people outside those two states could care less about? Insert a little Gus Johnson, and you’re good to go. On Monday night, Johnson broadcast the first of 23 Big Ten games he’ll do for the Big Ten Network this season. The league gets it when it comes to Gus — More is more! Here’s to hoping those who wear the power suits at CBS will wise up and get Gus on the Final Four as soon as possible. Rise and fire! Go here for a little taste of Gus on the Big Ten Network.
2. Fantasy football is a cruel, cruel game
This isn’t anything new, but it still bugs me. All year long, the Notorious DOBs have run roughshod all over the competition in the Art Schlichter Fantasy Football League. We’ve outscored every other team in the league by nearly 200 points, a true juggernaut. Alas, the DOBs came up empty when it mattered most as Philip Rivers and Michael Turner decided that Week 16 — Super Bowl week in the world of the fantasy geek — was a good time to be mediocre. As a result, the DOBs are now 0-3 lifetime in ASFFL title games. Congrats to The Last Call, which is piloted by H-W writer Ed Husar. Eddie is kind of like the Cubs of the ASFFL. He’s the last original member — the league’s been around for more than 20 years — to finally win a title.
On this day 15 years ago a local legend was born. The poor guys at KHQA had a ton of trouble with their nightly sportscast. As you can see from the above video, nothing went right for fill-in anchor Matt Lorch and his field reporter, Don Jeffries.
In honor of their anniversary, I caught up with both in my Sunday column today. Give it a read.
I love this video. I wasn’t in town for more than a week or two before seeing it for the first time at former WGEM sports anchor Scott Inman’s house back in 1997.
Both Lorch and Jeffries have gone on to have successful careers — Lorch in television and Jeffires in education.
As for Merve, he’s getting a body on people now as a probation officer in his native Antigua.
This will be my last blog post for a week or so as I take a holiday break. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas. See you the week of Dec. 27.
Tashard Choice has been a bum in the eyes of Dallas Cowboys fans ever since his fumble on the final play of the first half in the team’s season-opening loss to Washington was returned for a touchdown.
After that play, Choice was buried deep on the Cowboys’ bench. But he’s been getting some more playing time as of late.
Last week, Choice pulled off another bone-headed move, asking Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick for his autograph moments after the Eagles beat the Cowboys to assure Dallas a losing season. The scene was caught on national TV with the NBC cameras rolling as Choice looked like a star-struck fan by asking Vick for his autograph.
Choice, who said the autograph was for a nephew who is a fan of Vick, has apologized for asking for the autograph. He should have known better. There were other ways to get Vick’s signature — maybe before the game or afterward when more than 80,000 people and millions around the world weren’t watching.
With the Mid-Week Grades ready to go on a Christmas break for a while, enjoy the last batch until Dec. 29. WGEM SportsCenter host Josh Houchins and I will break these down around 8:20 a.m. or so on Wednesday’s award-winning program. Listen in on ESPN 1440 or www.wgem.com. Go to the sports tab to find us.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the last week:
A — Philadelphia Phillies. So much for Cliff Lee in Yankee pinstripes or going back to hang with Nolan Ryan, huh? Gotta love how the Phillies just came in from nowhere really to bring Lee back into the fold. How about those first four in their rotation — Roy Halladay, Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. Shoot, the Phillies could still trot out 48-year-old Jamie Moyer in the five spot if they wanted to. At this point does your fifth starter really matter? What’s the over/under for the number of wins combined by that front four? 60 (15 per?) 70? 80?!?
B —Taylor University. You may know the tiny school from Upland, Ind., from its games with the Quincy University football team as members of the Mid-States Football Association. Seems that Taylor has a unique tradition at this time of year. The Friday before finals start, the student body gathers at the men’s basketball game for the “Silent Night” game. The crowd stays silent until Taylor scores its 10th point of the game. When the Trojans reach 10 points, everyone goes nuts and that’s pretty much the way it goes for the rest of the game. Then the students sing “Silent Night” near the end of the game just for good measure. This has to be the most people I’ve ever seen at an NAIA game. The four-minute video here is an interesting watch. It’s an idea that Quincy University, Culver-Stockton or Hannibal-LaGrange could pick up.
C — Urban Meyer. He stepped aside (again and this time for good) as University of Florida football coach a year after he said he was going to retire only to come back the next day and say he had changed his mind. Meyer said he wanted to be with his family more, but there may have been some health issues that spurred his decision to step down. No matter what may have driven him from Florida, you can be assured of one thing — Meyer will be back. It might be a year or two, but Meyer will be back on the sidelines at some point. This retirement is as transparent as the other sports “retirements” we see on a regular basis these days.
D — Big Ten Conference. In case you missed it, the Big Ten revealed a horrendous new logo (seen here) and a list of postseason football awards that include names of former league legends plastered all over them. Hope the Big Ten Network sets aside like three hours for their postseason awards show because it’s going to take them 45 minutes just to get through the names of all of the awards. It’s like the Big Ten has turned into the Y leagues where everyone gets an award. And the new divisions have goofy names — the Leaders and Legends. Wonder if they’ll sell many of these T-shirts?
F — Sal Alosi. The New York Jets’ strength and conditioning coach became the most infamous strength and conditioning coach in the NFL with his intentional trip of Miami’s Nolan Carroll on a punt last Sunday. Carroll wasn’t hurt on the play, but Alosi looked like a dope in tripping Carroll. After apologizing to Carroll, Alosi was suspended for the rest of the season and forced to pay a $25,000 fine, which is nearly one-third of his yearly salary. Wonder if Alosi will ever be let on a NFL sideline again?
Another multi-media edition of the Two-Fer, including an earworm!
1. Hopefully this is the end of the Brett Favre saga.
So it appears that we can not only put Brett Favre’s games started streak to bed at 297 regular-season games, but it appears that he may be done for good. It’s not likely that Favre will return to play in the final three games of the season for the 5-8 Vikings after suffering a shoulder injury last week against the Bills. Say what you will about his yearly retirement dance, Favre could play the game and made it fun to watch. Let’s hope that he leaves no wriggle room this time and rides off into the sunset for good with his next public appearance in Canton, Ohio, a few years from now.
2. Rap of the Week
This will probably be the only time I ever crown a Rap of the Week winner, the stepchild to my Slap of the Week honor. And it goes to Quincy University women’s basketball coach JD Gravina. He did this little Vanilla Ice-inspired rap for his team during last Thursday’s game against Hannibal-LaGrange University and recreated it on his radio show Sunday night at The Tower. Props to his backup singers as well — assistants Brittany Carper, Jessica Keller and Jamie Fuller.
Former QU men's basketball player Larry Dumas has started every game this season at Robert Morris-Chicago, which is 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in the NAIA Division I poll. (Photo courtesy Robert Morris-Chicago)
Former Quincy University and John Wood Community College star Joel Box got himself a little ink in the prestigious Wall Street Journal over the weekend. Box was interviewed for a story on how American basketball players are making money playing professionally in the Middle East.
Box told the Journal’s Joel Millman that he makes $13,000 a month playing for Al-Qadsia. Box also gets the use of a car and free housing. It’s an interesting read. Check it out here.
• • •
Two other former QU players are part of the NAIA’s top-ranked Division I team — Robert Morris-Chicago.
Larry Dumas, a transfer from Western Illinois who never suited up for QU because of some legal problems, is one of Robert Morris’ top players. He’s started all 10 games for the team and is averaging 16.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
Billy Hayes, who played half a season at QU last season before leaving the program, has played sparingly for Robert Morris (10-0). He’s seen action in just six games and is averaging 2.3 points per game.
Until this week, the only time I’ve ever heard from Tucker Carlson was from his appearances on “The Bubba The Love Sponge” radio show on Sirius radio. He seems like a decent guy and always makes for a good interview for Bubba and his crew.
