I tell you what – I would like to retract my statement from the other day when I said technology is a wonderful thing.

Technology blows.

We get to the BancorpSouth Center today and fire things up as usual when we first get settled. Then, at the half, the wireless capabilities crap out on us, making it difficult to update the site. We tried utilizing Kai’s parents’ dial-up access, but it seems the phone lines were acting a little funky too, and outgoing calls weren’t part of their plans for the day.

So I guess technology is okay, just not in Mississippi.

We still worked all day and got stuff done, we just couldn’t get updates until after the games were all done. So now it’s 2 a.m., I’m about 15% awake and Kai has the TV set on Newlyweds so I’m going to do my best UAM impression here and just mail it in and give a half-hearted performance.

It was a pretty uneventful day in the press conferences, so I won’t be giving any detailed highlights from in there. Mike Newell made a reference to other teams not having men, but trotting out little women to guard UAM center Jonathan “Dean’s List” Holland. He specifically called out UCA, saying to Pete Perkins “You know what I’m talking about, Pete, you were at UCA” or something along those lines. Coincidentally, I followed up with the question “Coach, after getting out to such a great start, you finished up with six straight losses. What changed late in the season?” They started playing quality opponents.

The most impressive thing was the eloquence of the West Georgia boys. Majestic Mapp and Ryan Madry are some smart-sounding dudes. And of course, their coach Ed “Darkness” Murphy is the best quote around since Ron Marvel retired. He sits down after their 70-66 overtime win over the Boll Weevils and says “We gotta stop running the score up on people.” I had my recorder going, so at some point I will try to get a sound clip of Eddie up here somewhere on the site.

So eh, I guess it wasn’t as uneventful as I thought. There were also a couple good light moments when David McCollum of the Log Cabin Democrat gave DeWayne Hart some grief for having had three senior seasons. You know, if UCA hadn’t been pure junk for a few years before Rand took over, DeWayne might have set an unbreakable record for games in Tupelo.

Mr. Hart had himself a fine game tonight, and you could tell from the outset he had a little something extra in the tank. DeWayne is a type of guy that plays about how he feels. If he’s smiling real big, bouncing around and cutting up then he’s probably going to blow up. If he’s just kind of being his typically happy self but not over exuberant, he’s probably not going to do a whole lot. It’s weird – he makes the hard stuff look like child’s play but every jump shot is an adventure. Tonight he was on fire, hitting 3s, free throws, jumpers, crashing the boards. Looked like he did 10, 12 years ago back in his prime.

In attendance to watch DeWayne’s performance were his favorite fans – the State Hall Hecklers. They made it in for tonight’s game but couldn’t stick around for the rest of the weekend due to some prior engagements. So even though they’re too busy to make it out to a Sugar Bears game or stick around for the semifinals and finals, it was nice to have the crew in the house if just for a night. They made a lot of noise and irritated some people, so they did their job.

I overheard the West Georgia radio guy say “Well they don’t earn much in the way of creativity, do they?”

You know what … good. I got to thinking about this, and the point of a group of hecklers isn’t necessarily to be creative and witty and all that jazz. It’s to get on the last nerve of people who aren’t UCA supporters. If yelling “you suck” 2039320932 times grates on your nerves then the Hecklers have done their job. They can go out there and sing the Hamster Dance for 40 minutes as long as it drives somebody insane, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve got a laptop, iTunes and some headphones, so get after it.

Other random stuff:

I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to Mary Hardin. It seems Kai and I have had a run of luck in finding our venues lately, therefore we have no great stories of getting lost to tell. Thus, she is deprived of some of her favorite reading. We’ll try our best to wind up in Alabama on the way home, so long as you see to it we get our absences excused.

T-shirts are nice, but not worth losing your teeth for. At one point today some cheerleaders were rifling shirts off into the stands and this one lad wanted one a little too much. He came flying in toward press row from the stands to reach a shirt and failed to notice the step up. So, he ended up cramming his toe up into the platform and fell forward, blasting his face right into a steel chair. He may have left with a t-shirt, but he left his grill splattered all over the court. Way to go.

Only slightly more fortunate was UCA’s very own Scott Martin, who found a patch of ice during pre-game warm-ups. It’s not every day you see somebody wind up on his back in layup line. And of course, I didn’t see it, as I was busy sitting in a press conference. But I heard about it, and it’s still funny.

I saw two people rockin’ pink shirts tonight. One was Caronica Randle, the other was UA-Huntsville’s assistant coach. He also had a pink tie on. I’ll let you guess who looked better.

I don’t want to sound insensitive or anything, but if you have both Down Syndrome and what may be elephantitis, it might not be in your best interest to get into it with the other team’s fans. Cheer, have a good time … but don’t put people in the awkward situation of being forced to heckle you. It’s going to turn out bad every time.

Abner’s chicken tenders and Backyard Burgers makes for a solid day of eating. Sometimes I wish the hospitality room was closer to press row, but on days like today it’s probably in my health’s best interest that it is not. Abner’s rolled out both fried and grilled chicken strips and supplemented that with BBQ sauce, honey mustard and their own house dipping sauce. I could probably go ahead and eat that the rest of my life. But in the event I run out, I would settle for some Backyard Burgers. Even without cheese those things were splendid, and that’s saying something.

If they do not break out the toilet races at halftime of a game before tournament’s end, I’m stabbing somebody.





		Technology does indeed suck

		I tell you what – I would like to retract my statement from the other day when I said technology is a wonderful thing. Technology blows. We get to the BancorpSouth Center today and fire things up as usual when we first get settled. Then, at the half, the wireless capabilities crap out on us, making it difficult to update the site. We tried utilizing Kai’s parents’ dial-up access, but it seems the phone lines were acting a little funky too, and outgoing calls weren’t part of their plans for the day. So I guess technology is okay, just not in Mississippi. We still worked all day and got stuff done, we just couldn’t get updates until after the games were all done. So now it’s 2 a.m., I’m about 15% awake and Kai has the TV set on Newlyweds so I’m going to do my best UAM impression here and just mail it in and give a half-hearted performance. It was a pretty uneventful day in the press conferences, so I won’t be giving any detailed highlights from in there. Mike Newell made a reference to other teams not having men, but trotting out little women to guard UAM center Jonathan “Dean’s List” Holland. He specifically called out UCA, saying to Pete Perkins “You know what I’m talking about, Pete, you were at UCA” or something along those lines. Coincidentally, I followed up with the question “Coach, after getting out to such a great start, you finished up with six straight losses. What changed late in the season?” They started playing quality opponents. The most impressive thing was the eloquence of the West Georgia boys. Majestic Mapp and Ryan Madry are some smart-sounding dudes. And of course, their coach Ed “Darkness” Murphy is the best quote around since Ron Marvel retired. He sits down after their 70-66 overtime win over the Boll Weevils and says “We gotta stop running the score up on people.” I had my recorder going, so at some point I will try to get a sound clip of Eddie up here somewhere on the site. So eh, I guess it wasn’t as uneventful as I thought. There were also a couple good light moments when David McCollum of the Log Cabin Democrat gave DeWayne Hart some grief for having had three senior seasons. You know, if UCA hadn’t been pure junk for a few years before Rand took over, DeWayne might have set an unbreakable record for games in Tupelo. Mr. Hart had himself a fine game tonight, and you could tell from the outset he had a little something extra in the tank. DeWayne is a type of guy that plays about how he feels. If he’s smiling real big, bouncing around and cutting up then he’s probably going to blow up. If he’s just kind of being his typically happy self but not over exuberant, he’s probably not going to do a whole lot. It’s weird – he makes the hard stuff look like child’s play but every jump shot is an adventure. Tonight he was on fire, hitting 3s, free throws, jumpers, crashing the boards. Looked like he did 10, 12 years ago back in his prime. In attendance to watch DeWayne’s performance were his favorite fans – the State Hall Hecklers. They made it in for tonight’s game but couldn’t stick around for the rest of the weekend due to some prior engagements. So even though they’re too busy to make it out to a Sugar Bears game or stick around for the semifinals and finals, it was nice to have the crew in the house if just for a night. They made a lot of noise and irritated some people, so they did their job. I overheard the West Georgia radio guy say “Well they don’t earn much in the way of creativity, do they?” You know what … good. I got to thinking about this, and the point of a group of hecklers isn’t necessarily to be creative and witty and all that jazz. It’s to get on the last nerve of people who aren’t UCA supporters. If yelling “you suck” 2039320932 times grates on your nerves then the Hecklers have done their job. They can go out there and sing the Hamster Dance for 40 minutes as long as it drives somebody insane, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve got a laptop, iTunes and some headphones, so get after it. Other random stuff: I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to Mary Hardin. It seems Kai and I have had a run of luck in finding our venues lately, therefore we have no great stories of getting lost to tell. Thus, she is deprived of some of her favorite reading. We’ll try our best to wind up in Alabama on the way home, so long as you see to it we get our absences excused. T-shirts are nice, but not worth losing your teeth for. At one point today some cheerleaders were rifling shirts off into the stands and this one lad wanted one a little too much. He came flying in toward press row from the stands to reach a shirt and failed to notice the step up. So, he ended up cramming his toe up into the platform and fell forward, blasting his face right into a steel chair. He may have left with a t-shirt, but he left his grill splattered all over the court. Way to go. Only slightly more fortunate was UCA’s very own Scott Martin, who found a patch of ice during pre-game warm-ups. It’s not every day you see somebody wind up on his back in layup line. And of course, I didn’t see it, as I was busy sitting in a press conference. But I heard about it, and it’s still funny. I saw two people rockin’ pink shirts tonight. One was Caronica Randle, the other was UA-Huntsville’s assistant coach. He also had a pink tie on. I’ll let you guess who looked better. I don’t want to sound insensitive or anything, but if you have both Down Syndrome and what may be elephantitis, it might not be in your best interest to get into it with the other team’s fans. Cheer, have a good time … but don’t put people in the awkward situation of being forced to heckle you. It’s going to turn out bad every time. Abner’s chicken tenders and Backyard Burgers makes for a solid day of eating. Sometimes I wish the hospitality room was closer to press row, but on days like today it’s probably in my health’s best interest that it is not. Abner’s rolled out both fried and grilled chicken strips and supplemented that with BBQ sauce, honey mustard and their own house dipping sauce. I could probably go ahead and eat that the rest of my life. But in the event I run out, I would settle for some Backyard Burgers. Even without cheese those things were splendid, and that’s saying something. If they do not break out the toilet races at halftime of a game before tournament’s end, I’m stabbing somebody.