College Basketball

This post is going to be more of a rant about the state of Tigers basketball and Tigers sports in general, so feel free to skip it if it doesn't interest you.

The shitstorm that has been stirred up in the last few days has been epic. It started with the coach publicly stating that there is no way he's leaving the university for a more prominent program. Then, over the weekend, rumors started that he had in fact flown to said school to discuss terms with the officials there. Our AD came out and said the rumors were untrue and he never gave the other school permission to speak to our coach. On Monday, our AD states on record that he's given permission for the other school to speak to our coach.

I understand that this is the way of college athletics. If you are a good coach, you will be courted by every school under the sun. I also fully understand that $6 million is a lot of money and even though you are already a millionaire, it's a huge raise. That being said, there is a classy way to go about contract negotiations. The basketball program has once again reached the level of national recognition, and the coach had a lot to do with it. Do I think he's going to stay forever? Well, no, I'm not that naive. Had I found out yesterday that he was leaving, I would've wished him the best of luck, even though I was sick to my stomach over it.

However, in the wake of the negotiations with the other school, it came out that he was likely going to take not only the incoming recruits, but he was also working on getting releases for current players so they could all follow him to the new school. If you want to leave our program for a new one because it is better for you and your family, that's fine. It is however very classless to gut our program in the process. I understand that with any coaching change that some players decide to leave and go elsewhere. That's fine. If they don't want to play here, again, I wish them well. However, if you are using the current players as a threat to get your way, then that's lower than low. I don't care if it's done elsewhere. The behavior is wrong, and it shouldn't be something that's condoned, and if our AD even considers releasing the players to leave with the coach, he needs to get his head examined. We may as well just dismantle the entire program right now.

The negotiations are still ongoing. The big boosters have gotten together to negotiate the deal. While I applaud their efforts, this brings me to another issue I have. Last spring and fall, there was a huge fan initiative to get the university to build a football stadium on campus. Many donors were willing to give to see this happen. We were all told that there was no way $10 million could be raised over the course of a few years to fund this. Last night, 3 big donors got together and raised that amount to try to keep the coach. Now, I understand that our football program is not anywhere close to where it needs to be, but I'm sorry, football will more likely get us into a BCS league before basketball.

That all being said, Jeremy and I have come to a hard decision. We want to support Tigers athletics, but in these tough economic times, we really have to examine closely where our money goes. While I love the players and I do believe they go out and try their hardest, I have never been a huge basketball fan. These latest events surrounding the program have left a bad taste in my mouth and while I want the university to succeed and athletics to do well, we have to decide how best to use our money. I would like to keep our season tickets to basketball, and with a coaching change, that may not be too hard. However, we're thinking about minimizing our scholarship fund donations. Because he's just graduated, the university will match, so there's no reason to donate as much. Instead, the money we would've been donating to the general scholarship fund, we'll turn around and donate directly to the football program. I would like nothing more than to mail in a check each month designating the money specifically to football with a note saying that I am no longer supporting any other programs until the administration gets its but in gear.

It's Over

The title very neatly describes the events in my life recently that has culminated in a sigh of relief and a splitting headache.

My brother's visit ended Saturday, and to say I'm a little sad to see him go is understating it a bit. While I'm sure he felt the week was slightly underwhelming in the form of entertainment, it was more activity that either me or Jeremy are used to on school nights. Yes, we are old and boring, but hopefully we managed to not totally ruin his vacation. As Jeremy put it, his visit gave us another person to stare at. After we took him to the airport Saturday morning, Jeremy and I came home and absolutely crashed. I spent the better part of 2 days napping on the couch, trying fitfully to sleep through a migraine.

Another activity I am happy to say is at an end is unpacking. Yes, we are officially finished with the chaos that was box killing. Now, cleaning and laundry are unending tasks in my life, but at least, I no longer have to spend hours trying to find new places for things that seem to have homes in our old apartment. Which brings me to question that I've been pondering. Our apartment in Memphis was a 2BR apartment. Our current apartment is a 2BR. Somehow, we seem to have less room here even though the square footage here is larger. We had even gotten rid of a lot of furniture before we moved. I fully believe that there was a worm hole in one of our former closets that allowed for the storage and retrieval of little used items.

College basketball also ended this weekend, much to our dismay. We had hoped to travel to Detroit to watch the Final Four, but alas that was not meant to be. This leaves us fans also in limbo as to whether our coach will return next year. I hope that this current hoopla is his way of negotiating a better contract, but I am not holding out too much hope. Very disappointing.

Busy

My brother arrived safely, and we've been on the go since. After an exciting weekend of basketball, we have a full schedule of eating out and watching movies. It's nice to have someone visit, and it's unbelievably nice to have a clean apartment. We've actually done a really nice job keeping things organized on a day by day basis.

Ten Years

Last year, Jeremy and I decided that we were going to start celebrating only our wedding anniversary. We figured that it would be the more important date instead of the day we originally started dating. That being said, we realized a few weeks ago that in fact this dating anniversary was a big one. We have officially been together as a couple for ten years. Happy Anniversary, baby. I can't even imagine that length of time. It boggles the mind because I don't consciously feel that old.

We were talking the other day about college sports and we were remarking that we weren't old enough to actively be involved in booster clubs that get to host players and such because they are our peers. Only after we said that did we come to realize that we are now a decade older than most college students. Sure, I physically feel old sometimes especially when it's been a long day, but I didn't mentally feel like I was that old. It was a weird realization.

Life is Good

Our friends in Memphis just welcomed their new baby girl into the world today. Congrats to them! We can't wait to meet her, but she'll be almost a year old by the time we see her.

Last night, Jeremy and I officially finished cleaning our apartment. It was actually easier than I had imagined even though it seemed a daunting task. I guess the marathon cleaning that we'd embarked on all month paid off. A little vacuuming tonight will finish everything off. We can't wait until my brother gets here tomorrow. This will be the first visitor we've had since we officially moved in.

The weather here is beautiful, and Spring seems to be officially here even though it's going to be a little chilly this weekend. I really needed the sun to come out. It has been very uplifting.

Tigers play their first NCAA game today. I can't listen to it today because of a meeting, but I hope they play well. Go Tigers!

Spring

Today will be an unseasonably warm spring day, and I wish I were out to enjoy it. On days like these, I really miss being in college. It is one of the only time when you can skip a day of school and not really worry about the repercussions and enjoy a beautiful day.

Cajun Meatloaf

I made a Cajun style meatloaf last night, and it was very yummy. It will definitely be made again, but with a few changes. I couldn't find regular ground pork so I ended up using sausage, and it although it was good, it didn't mesh with the beef. I would also probably halve the recipe. I now have this huge slab of meat in my fridge. We will be eating meatloaf for awhile. Unfortunately, because of the sausage and not enough breadcrumbs, the meatloaf doesn't hold together well enough for meatloaf sandwiches, but it is very good nonetheless.

It's Been Awhile

I haven't posted anything for awhile because I'd been in a funk physically, emotionally, and professionally. It wasn't anything earth-shattering, but had I posted, it would have been one whiny post after another and nobody needs that. Not to say that nothing good had happened in the last few weeks because that's not entirely true. The bad would have overshadowed everything.

That being said, I'm ready to begin writing about my life again. My brother is visiting next week, so it's lit a fire under our butts to actually finish the little things that we've been putting off. After spending a chunk of money getting the last things for the apartment, we are just about done. It is a nice feeling to look around and see everything the way I want it. The down side of the manic cleaning this weekend is the muscle pain that comes with climbing up and down the stairs a million times. My legs haven't hurt like this in a long time.