Back in April, Rick Reilly of ESPN.com discussed Jimmer Fredette. Reilly said “If his last college game is what he’s bringing to the NBA, then I’d say, in five years, he’s got a really good chance to be your Provo area Isuzu dealer.” In another article, he said, “I’ll donate $5,000 if he starts a game, any game, his first year in the league. I’m serious.”
Well, Reilly made out the check this week when Jimmer started a pre-season game for the Sacramento Kings. Quoting from Reilly, “In the check’s memo line, I wrote: Crow.” Read more…
It’s been an interesting week. I was saddened to hear that Hall of Fame baseball player, Harmon Killebrew died Tuesday at the age of 74 of cancer. Killebrew played for the Minnesota Twins in the 1960s and 1970s. When he retired, he had hit more home runs in the American League than anyone except Babe Ruth. I’m too young to have seen him play, but my dad told me he was the “Stormin Mormon.” ESPN has some nice stories about Killebrew.
I was also saddened to learn that Margo Dydek suffered a heart attack on Thursday at age 37. There aren’t many women I look up to, but at 7 foot 2 inches, Margo is definitely one of them! I was a freelance sports writer, and covered the Utah Starzz back in the 1990′s when Margo played for the team. Margo was a very nice, shy person to talk to. She was born in Poland, and most recently coached in Australia. Apparently she is in a medically induced coma in a Brisbane hospital. I’m afraid of how things will turn out for her, and pray for a speedy recovery.
On a brighter note, I worked on the tv crew for the National Championships in Rugby on Saturday. If you don’t want a spoiler, stop reading now. Read more…
Wow, 2 sports posts in a row! I don’t think that’s ever happened on my blog before. First of all, I have a disclosure to make. I’m a big Utah fan. I’m excited we’re going to the Pac-12. However, since Rick Majerus left, it has been tough to watch the Utes play basketball. When they fired Jim Boylen last month, I really hoped they would hire BYU coach Dave Rose. Instead we get Larry Krystowiac (pronounced Chris-tow-vee-ack). There have already been references to calling him Coach K–let’s hope that he does half as good as Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski–the real Coach K.
After that disclosure, let me just say that while I’m not a fan of BYU, I would have loved to have Jimmer Fredette on my team. Read more…
It’s not often that I get to talk about sports on my blog. I came across this interesting article about Erik and Danny Ainge. Erik is a backup quarterback for the New York Jets, and former starting quarterback for the University of Tennessee. I was surprised to learn that his uncle Danny is currently serving as bishop in Wellesley, Massachusetts, while working as President of the Boston Celtics. I had no idea Danny was a bishop.
Erik admitted to using all sorts of drugs since the age of 11. He is currently in drug rehab in the Boston area, and Danny has opened his home. While it is sad that Erik has screwed up his life so bad, I am impressed that Danny has taken Erik into his home and assisted with his rehab. I don’t think I would be so open with a relative with such a serious problem. I’m greatly impressed with Danny’s service to Erik.
One of my big passions is sports, though I don’t talk about it much on this blog. John Wooden died Friday night at the age of 99. He was an amazing coach and an amazing man. One person said Wooden was “more like a Methodist minister than a basketball coach.” ESPN put together a tribute of former players, coaches, and announcers who know him well.
Wooden led UCLA to 7 straight National Championships, an 88 game winning streak, 38 straight NCAA tournament wins, and 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, before retiring in 1975. He was known as the Wizard of Westwood (a nickname he didn’t like.) Here are some excerpts from from that piece. (I’m not sure everyone that was interviewed, so if you know, please tell me and I’ll update the post.) Read more…
I always got a kick out of the signs in the student body section proclaiming, “The Prophet is a Ute!” After all, so many Mormons proclaim that BYU is the “Lord’s University”, that it was really nice to point out that President Hinckley is an alum of the University of Utah. The cool thing is that the signs can stay up, because President Monson is also an alum of the U, (though he did get an MBA from BYU, so I guess both schools can claim him.) Anyway, I was quite amused to hear on the radio yesterday, that Joseph Smith has officially decided to attend the University of Utah. You can verify the info right here! If BYU is the Lord’s University, it seems that Utah is the School of the Prophets!
Here in Utah, during the week of the Utah-BYU football game, also known as the “Holy War”, fans on each side and get downright fanatical. Being the church school, many mormons pretty much bear testimony that BYU is “the Lord’s school”, and that God wants BYU to win. Fans of Utah get quite upset about this, and complain about BYU fan’s haughty attitude.
It’s always refreshing to me when I discover similar attitudes in other religions. This article on MSNBC: Does God care who wins the Super Bowl? even references the Holy War… Here are some quotes from the article I found particularly interesting.
Read more…
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