Two nights ago, while my 17-month-old daughter nuzzled closely to my chest in deep sleep, I found myself lost in thought while staring at stars in the dark.
Inside the bedroom I share with my wife, twins and three rather spoiled dogs is a Starry Night sound machine that projects different colors of stars upwards towards the ceiling and on this particular night the color on the walls is green. Unable to sleep on this night, but trapped under the weight of a precious child who seemed to be dreaming about Dora The Explorer or Mickey Mouse or whatever escapade a 17-month-old angel engages in while asleep, I didn’t dare move.
So, I just stared at those green stars on the ceiling as if I was hypnotized, while my mind entered into a darker place than the room illuminated with lights. With everything I hold dear to me within two feet of my still body, my mind started to think about South Bend, Indiana.
The image that was torturing my mind, heart and soul had absolutely nothing to do with the football game that will take place in 12 days between historical rivals. There were no touchdowns, screaming fans or image of Touchdown Jesus.
All that existed was the haunting image of a woman so alone in her community during the most perilous situation of her young life that she decided that ending it all was the only choice that would ease her pain. She was so alone that she decided no existence all was better than the one she owned.
Inside those stars from which I simply couldn’t look away from was a girl named Lizzy Seeberg and in the aftermath of the events from Waco this week, I couldn’t control what happened next.
I cried.
For those that aren’t familiar with Lizzy, she was a 19-year-old student at Saint Mary’s College, a school just down the road from Notre Dame. On the night of August 31, 2010, Lizzy was left alone in a room with a Notre Dame football player, who then sexually assaulted her according to the handwritten statement she provided to school police.
In the direct aftermath of reporting what happened that night, the following occurred.
a. After turning to the police, a mutual friend of the girl and the alleged rapist sent her text messages warning her not to "do anything you would regret," and that "messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea.”
b. Over the course of the first 10 days after she reported the crime, the police took zero action. The Notre Dame football player named in her report was not questioned and never so much as missed a practice.
c. So distraught by everything taking place in and around her world, Lizzy committed suicide.
d. The police investigating her claim were so interested in seeking justice that they waited another five days after her suicide before finally questioning the alleged attacker.
e. Since Lizzy was now dead, no action was ever taken against her alleged attacker. No missed practices. No missed games. No missed nothing.
f. In the year that followed the devastating decision to end her life, Notre Dame officials executed a concerted effort to slander the young female’s name in the shadows by positioning her as a sexually charged woman who was seeking an apparent good time.
The similarities between Lizzy’s situation and that of former Baylor soccer player “Jane Doe” (her court name), whose own sexual assault by a Baylor football player in 2013 led to a felony conviction this week, go well beyond the colors on the uniform and the private school status soaked in Christian values.
In addition to the uncaring investigations and the enabling institutions that protected football over all else, the situations that Lizzy and Jane found themselves in never had to occur, if only the men responsible for bringing the alleged and the convicted rapists had cared enough to know more about the young men they brought into their programs than their ability to disrupt an offense.
As was the case with convicted sexual assaulter Sam Ukwuachu, the man Lizzy believed had stolen her mind, body and soul arrived on his college campus with a reputation of violent behavior off the field and as was the case with Art Briles, nothing meant more than adding a player that might help Notre Dame win, regardless of the costs.
Prince Shembo is the name of the player that allegedly raped Lizzy and before he ever arrived as a four-star prospect, he was suspended as a high school senior for throwing a desk at a teacher that had the gall to take away his cell phone. Let me repeat that … Shembo threw a desk at a teacher. And Notre Dame took him in anyway.
Five years after allegedly raping Lizzy, Shembo lost his job in the NFL when he murdered a girlfriend’s Yorkie in May. According to the police, Shembo left the tiny animal with a fractured rib, fractured liver, abdominal hemorrhage, thoracic hemorrhage, extensive bruising and hemorrhage in the muscles in her front leg and shoulders, head trauma, hemorrhage and edema in lungs, hemorrhage between the esophagus and trachea, and hemorrhage in the left eye with internal injuries.
This is the man Notre Dame and investigating police chose to protect over the needs of a shattered young woman.
While sobbing quietly in thought about Lizzy and Jane, I could feel my daughter breathing in and out while draped across my body, secure in knowing that there could be no safer place than the nest she’d made for herself on this night. The very thing that comforted her was the thing that was haunting me before I closed my eyes for the night.
There will be a day when Haven is a young adult and I won’t be able to protect her as I can currently. At some point, she’ll be a young woman like Lizzy and Jane, which means I’m going to drop her off at a college of her choosing and all I’ll be able to do at that point is pray that the fates of Lizzy and Jane never find her.
What I’ve learned in the last 17 months is that nothing terrifies a father more than the idea of turning his little princess loose in a world that is quicker to put her on trial should she ever find herself sexually assaulted than to ensure she's protected from the animal who is responsible. Heaven forbid, such a situation ever involve a football player, because our society has long cared more about wins and losses than protecting those who can’t protect themselves.
Just as my mind wandered into thought about what the fathers of Lizzy and Jane must go through on a daily basis, my daughter popped up out of sleep, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. Suddenly, her eyes found my eyes and she broke out in the most beautifully innocent smile these eyes have ever seen.
And I cried some more. For Lizzy. For Jane. For their fathers. For my daughter. For me.
No. 2 – Hey Art, we’re not talking football …
Baylor head football coach Art Briles is a dangerous, disingenuous enabler of abusers and he’s hoping your attention span is extremely short.
So is Baylor’s athletic department and the university itself.
In fact, they are counting on it.
We cannot allow that to happen.
In the immediate aftermath of Sam Ukwuachu’s sexual assault conviction this week, like a Penn and Teller skit, Briles and those around him attempted to engage in a bit of a shell game, releasing statements and documents that appeared to be cloaked in mistruths, half-truths or no truths at all.
Through the conniving words of Briles, who chose to immediately throw all responsibility of his decision-making elsewhere, much of the conversation in recent days has focused on what Boise State head coach Chris Petersen and the school told Briles, as if there was a single misdeed in this story of reckless mismanagement instead of a number much higher than that.
We cannot allow that to happen.
I will not allow that to happen.
The Beginning …
I’m going to ask you to use logic in this section because it’s critically important when trying to rummage through the deceptive actions and words Briles has offered up for more than two years in regards to Ukwuachu.
Briles’s current story consists of him never being told by anyone at Boise State, including former BSU head coach Chris Petersen, that Ukwuachu had anger or abuse issues while he was a student there. Never mind that Petersen quickly disputed that claim under no uncertain terms (unless you believe the words “thoroughly apprised” translates to nothing that’s actually thorough) or that Boise State did an in-house investigation that painted a very troubled picture of Ukwuachu, let’s just give Briles the benefit of the doubt.
Poor Art was out of the loop completely.
It’s important to note that in order for Briles’s story to continue to hold water and for any justification of Briles’s decision-making that followed the assault of Jane Doe to appear remotely justified, he would had to have never actually found out about Ukwuachu’s past at all. Like not until the Texas Monthly article came out this week.
In order for that to be the case, logic would deduce the following.
1. Everyone at Boise State not only misled Briles, but Chris Petersen was purposely deceptive on when the two men discussed Ukwuachu’s situation at Boise State, despite the fact that there was nothing to gain and everything to lose should his deceptiveness eventually lead to problems at Baylor.
2. Ukwuachu lied to Briles from start to finish, never once detailing what actually happened at Boise that led to his departure.
3. Either Pearland High School head coach Tony Heath also lied to Briles in giving Ukwuachu a firm recommendation or Heath never found out what happened from Petersen, Ukwuachu, the people of Boise or pretty much anyone on the face of the earth who might have known what happened to his former player in a far-away-state. Keep in mind that Heath describes Ukwuachu as a close friend to his son, so either Heath just didn’t care or everyone involved made an effort to leave him clueless to what was happening. EVERYONE. We also have to believe that a Boise State coaching staff that recruits the Houston-area like gangbusters would risk its reputation and ability to continue to recruit the area by holding back any and all info.
4. Ukwuachu’s family also misled Briles or was completely in the dark about what happened at Boise because it apparently never gave any indication that troubles existed outside of homesickness and some depression.
5. When Boise State blocked Baylor’s appeal to allow Ukwuachu to play immediately, Briles never asked anyone why. Once the deny of the appeal came in, he just shrugged his shoulders and never once asked for specific reasons for why the school would take such actions against a kid that was homesick and depressed. Basically, Briles thought he had a player being mistreated by the jerks at Boise (given the circumstances), but he never followed up with questions that might lead to answers. Oh, and in order for this to be true, logic dictates that no one at Baylor so much as asked a series of questions after the deny of the appeal arrived in an effort to support its new pass-rushing machine.
Logically, those are the things that had to have happened together in concert to keep Briles forever in the dark, except there’s a problem with the logic.
Petersen isn’t the only person that claims to have been honest with Briles, as Ukwuachu himself has given strong indications that Briles wasn’t guilty of the banana in the tailpipe routine.
“The Baylor coaches knew everything and were really supportive, so I appreciate that,” Ukwuachu told Sicemsports.com in 2013 after his transfer had become complete.
One of the questions Briles must answer is this … if everyone lied to your face about what happened at Boise, why did you forever stand by Ukwuachu once you did find out that everyone lying to you had left you in a very precarious situation?
It turns out that a player he didn’t care enough about to ask a few follow-up questions when his eligibility appeal was denied, lied and left him completely wide-open for massive criticism following the claims of sexual assault.
In what world does that happen and the response is to double-down on the support for Ukwuachu?
Briles’s decision-making in the aftermath of a sexual assault allegation …
Typically speaking, the way a college coach handles allegations of sexual assault isn’t rocket
science.
If a player is being investigated for sexual assault, you suspend him and hold him out of all team activities until the investigation is completed.
If a player is charged with sexual assault, you boot him from the program never to return.
If the investigation goes nowhere and charges are never made, you can bring the player back. If charges are made but eventually dropped, he can attempt to play football somewhere else, but he can’t play at your school because the risk is simply too great.
Those are the ABCs from the unwritten college coaching handbook, except that Briles went the opposite way. From the moment of his transfer through the initial investigation of the crime through the entire legal process that followed, Briles tripled and quadrupled down on his support of Ukwuachu, allowing him to continue to take classes and hang out in and around the program, all in an effort to ensure that if any wiggle-room became available, Ukwuachu would be instantly available for the football team.
How do we know that?
Because Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Bennett told a room full of Baylor alumni that this summer, nearly a year after charges were presented and just a few months before Ukwuachu’s trial was set to begin. Oh, and Ukwuachu’s attorney mentioned the same thing in court this week. Pending pretty much anything but a guilty conviction, the hope was that Ukwuachu would play this year.
Meanwhile, over the course of the last two years, Briles went out of his way to remain vague on the circumstances surrounding Ukwuachu when anyone asked about his situation. Instead of acknowledging what was taking place, Briles’s disingenuously misled anyone and everyone looking for an answer. Briles would have you believe that because Ukwuachu never played, he took the proper amount of action in such an incredibly dangerous set of circumstances, but the truth is all Baylor ever really did was take his name off the roster, which really isn’t the same thing as booting a player from the program at all.
The truth is that he enabled a monster before, during and right up until his conviction of a violent sex crime in almost every way a college coach could possibly enable and protect such a monster.
And now he would like for us all to believe that he’s the trustworthy one and everyone else is the liar.
The disaster known as Baylor University ...
In the event you’re under the impression that I believe Briles alone is to blame, let’s take a look at the incredible set of decisions that took place under Baylor president Ken Starr’s watch.
1. Baylor Associate Dean Bethany McCraw, who was responsible for the Title IX investigation of the alleged assault, cared so deeply about finding the truth that she didn’t even wait to include the results from the pending rape examination before concluding that "there was not enough evidence to move forward" in the school's investigation of Jane Doe’s claim. McCraw’s work was so careless and flimsy that none of it was allowed into evidence in court this week.
2. In the aftermath of the allegations, rather than take action against the alleged rapist, the school forced Jane Doe to change her classes and her study times, eventually taking scholarship money away from her when she struggled to keep it all together, which caused the victim to eventually transfer.
3. The school knowingly allowed Briles to breach normal protocol in the situation of sexual assault charges involving student-athletes, eventually allowing Ukwuachu to graduate from the school after receiving an uninterrupted education worth six figures.
4. The school’s athletic chaplain, Wes Yeary, testified on behalf of Ukwuachu, despite the fact that Jane Doe had told Yeary about the assault. According to the Waco Tribune Herald, this is what happened when the prosecution asked if Yeary knew the victim:
"Under cross-examination, LaBorde asked if he also knows the victim in the case, bringing an immediate objection from Dan MacLemore, who represents Baylor and was sitting in the back of the courtroom. MacLemore said he would assert the pastor’s clergy-parishioner privilege if there were questions about pastoral counseling with the victim.
"After a conference in the judge’s chambers, which included the victim, Yeary testified that she told him about the assault. He said he told her that if she would have called him that night, he would have given her a ride home."
5. Perhaps more than anything, every single person involved in this story on the university side of things is guilty for never approaching Briles and saying, “Lord forgive me, but what the ^%$# are you doing? Nothing about your decision-making and actions is worthy of a school that prides itself in being a place of Christian ideologies.”
The bottom line with Briles
It’s his job to know who and what is coming in and out of his program, and no one else’s.
Enablers of his activities will have you believe that it takes some sort of telepathic skill to uncover the events that journalists from Texas Monthly were able to find by simply asking the right people. Rather than asking how Briles is supposed to know about these details, perhaps the enablers should be asking how many abusers of women has Briles let into his programs over the years through similar failed background checks?
If the message today is that Briles isn’t responsible for bringing in a person with a history of violence and possible abuse, then what you’re really saying is that he’s never responsible for anything other than wins and losses, and maybe that’s the way Baylor University wants it.
But, it is his responsibility and not knowing isn’t an excuse that works in 2015.
If we’re to believe Briles, he unknowingly allowed an abuser to come into his school and within months, that abuser sexually assaulted a women.
That's on him. It happened on Briles’s watch.
If the message today is that he’s not responsible for any of this, then let’s just throw the idea of responsibility out altogether. At no point in any of this has Briles ever stood up and said, “The buck stops with me. It was my decision to bring him into the program and I am responsible for all things that happen in my program.” Instead, he’s tried to pin blame on Boise State, Chris Petersen, Tony Heath and just about anyone else he can think of.
Here’s the truth…
Art Briles is a dangerous, disingenuous enabler of abusers and he must be removed as head coach from Baylor University’s football program.
If that doesn’t happen, there’s zero reason to believe history won’t repeat itself. Again.
We cannot allow that happen.
No. 3 – Attempting to move along to football …
We’re 12 days away from the start of Charlie Strong’s second season in Austin.
August’s training camp is over, school is set to begin and installation of the game-plan for the Irish begins Monday.
Whatever this team is going to be in South Bend in less than two weeks, it is likely already that team right now. The question I keep asking myself is whether anything has happened in camp to make me adjust my prediction of a 7-5 type season for Strong and Co.?
The answer? Not really.
As much as everyone would like to believe that the quarterback and offensive line play will be measurably improved, I’m not convinced that the improvements are such that the team will run the table outside of its three most difficult games. On top of those issues on offense, inconsistency and injuries at wide receiver and tight end, respectively, make this a unit with more question marks than answers.
Meanwhile, I fully expect this year’s defense to eventually be pretty damn good … eventually. For now it’s a unit with a lot of inexperience and young, raw talent, which means I don’t see how it doesn’t experience some growing pains.
The good news is that it’s starting to look like Strong has the pieces in place to get this thing really moving by next year, assuming the quarterback play improves dramatically between now and the start of the 2016 season.
Strong has a team that I believe will fight, claw, scrap and stick together, but I don’t know if that translates to more success for the naked eye.
If I told you that this season has 7-5 written all over it, but 2016 might have 9-3 or 10-2 written all over it, would you take it?
No. 4 – Scattershooting on the Longhorns …
… It’s interesting to see the offense respond on Saturday with a much sharper scrimmage than the one it had on Thursday, when the play on that side of the ball was so bad that it somewhat called into question what kind of improvement has really been made. I don’t know what it means, but I’m guessing every offensive coach on the staff had a case of the red-ass going into Saturday’s practice and they had to be pleased to see how that side of the ball responded.
… Hearing that Tyrone Swoopes has taken extremely good care of the football in camp reminds me that through his first 10 starts, he had a 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has the ability to be a solid bus-driver, but can he take his play to the next level against teams with a pulse? That’s what we find out in 12 days.
… For the record ... one more time … I’m projecting Johnathan Gray to rush for 1,200 yards and earn first-team all-Big 12 honors.
… If Marcus Johnson was to turn in a John Harris-type season, should we name one of the message boards after him? Maybe The Marcus Johnson Corral? Go Marcus!
… I would continue to advise that everyone treat Devonaire Clarington as found money should he ever arrive in Austin. I’m not basing this on any secret info, it’s just my hunch after being in
the business for 20 years. Feel free to hope that he arrives, but banking on it out of need could be dangerous. I think Texas has to plan as if he’s not going to make it … just in case.
No. 5 - BUY OR SELL ...
(BUY or SELL): Texas runs a trick play on Offense against ND?
(Buy) An underdog on the road has had the entire off-season to think of a wrinkle for this game. It’s going to happen.
(BUY or SELL): Art Briles is head coach at Baylor for the 2016 season?
(Buy) Nobody in Waco gives a damn about that girl and almost all are enablers.
(BUY or SELL): If Texas was opening the season at home vs Rice or North Texas instead of at Notre Dame, Jerrod Heard would be the starting QB?
(Sell) There’s no trying to convince you that Swoopes is really the best quarterback on the team by a decent margin, huh?
(BUY or SELL): DeAndre McNeal starts at TE in 11 of 12 regular season games AND scores 5 TDs?
(Buy) Who is keeping him off the field?
(BUY or SELL): Ric Flair gives the team a pregame pep talk this year?
(Buy) It has to happen, right?
(BUY or SELL): Tyrone Swoops will effectively run the zone read allowing the offense to open up and be more successful.
(Buy) It’s just a mini-buy. I think that part of his game will be improved, but that will never be his bread and butter.
(BUY or SELL): Total number of touchdown passes thrown by Longhorn quarterbacks will be greater than 25 this season.
(Sell) Let’s see the quarterbacks walk before we ask them to run.
(BUY or SELL): The Texas offensive line will wear down Notre Dame's defensive line late in the third quarter leading to over 100 yards on the ground the rest of the game?
(Sell) Let’s see the line walk before we ask it to run.
(BUY or SELL): Vahe, Williams, Burt, Jefferson, Elliot and Boyd are all in the ND game at the same time on consecutive offensive and defensive series at some point in the fourth quarter? (the first three on offense and the second three on defense obviously)
(Buy) The babies are going to play and likely decide the outcome, one way or the other.
(BUY or SELL): Looking at the schedule and projecting, the California game is the THE most critical game of the year. Win it and the team has much needed confidence going into conference play. Lose it and doubts come crashing down on many fronts.
(Buy) I’ve been pointing at this game as a critical one for the program throughout the off-season.
No. 6 – Prepping for my fantasy draft …
If you’ve never been a fantasy football commish, consider yourself lucky.
In addition to organizing the league, collecting money and being responsible for a weekly league report/article, I’m also in charge of getting all 12 members of the league in a room at the same time on the same day in an effort to successfully execute our draft proceedings.
That final task has been the bane of my existence for the better part of the last week and into this weekend, as pretty much every date between now and September 10 is a no-go for someone in the league.
Finally, as the clock approached midnight on Saturday night, I was able to successfully (I think) lock down a date that works for everyone. All it took was a little bribing, as I assured the Breadman that if the draft took too long, I would get up on at 3 a.m. the next morning and help him deliver bread.
*sigh*
Meanwhile, I still have the 8th pick in a 12-team standard league and the FantasyPros Draft Wizard advised me through its simulator to take the following team:
1st round (8): RB DeMarco Murray
2nd round (21): WR Odell Beckham
3rd round (28): RB Frank Gore
3rd round (32): RB Andre Ellington
5th round (56): TE Greg Olsen
6th round (69): RB Chris Ivory
9th round (97): QB Ryan Tannehill
9th round (104): QB Eli Manning
10th round (113): WR Charles Johnson
10th round (120): WR Marques Colston
11th round (128): RB Duke Johnson
12th round (137): RB David Johnson
13th round (152): WR Pierre Garcon
14th round (161): WR Kendall Wright
15th round (176): TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins
16th round (185): Def. Arizona
17th round (200): K Mason Crosby
In an analysis of the draft, FantasyPros ranked me 1st overall, 3rd in starters and 1st in bench play.
Discuss.
No. 7 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas might be the smartest man in the NFL.
"I would equate what (Tom Brady) did to driving 66 [mph] in a 65 speed zone, and getting the death penalty,” Thomas said this weekend.
"I'm not sure if he realizes what he's doing is brilliant, but what he's doing is brilliant because he's made the NFL relevant 365 (days) by having these outrageous, ridiculous witch hunts," Thomas said. "It's made the game more popular than ever and it's become so much more of an entertainment business and it's making so much money.
"That's why I'm sure there's plenty of people saying this is embarrassing for the league. But it's an entertainment business when it comes right down to it. When the game gets eyeballs in newspapers and on TV, that's what in the end is the goal for everyone. And that's what this controversy is giving them."
Thomas absolutely gets it.
… The NFL in 2015, everyone…
… Uh oh, Jordy Nelson’s injury might change the entire course of the NFL season, especially when you consider that I have the Packers winning this year’s Super Bowl.
… For three glorious days this week, Tiger Woods looked like the Tiger Woods that we all once knew. For one non-glorious day on Sunday, Tiger Woods looked like the Tiger Woods that we all have come to know.
… From the sport of boxing… *sigh*
… So far, so good for the Phillies in the aftermath of the Cole Hamels and Chase Utley trades. Rookie pitcher Jerad Eickhoff pitched six shutout innings in his debut on Friday night, while Darnell Sweeney (the chief piece of the Utley trade) hit a pinch-hit homer for his first MLB hit on Saturday night, helping lead the Phillies to a ninth-inning comeback win.
… Speaking of the Phillies, I want every Houston Astros fan to know that your team is what both my Phillies and 76ers strive to be.
… Speaking of the Astros, anyone want to join me in putting $100 on Carlos Correa being the 2016 AL MVP at whatever odds currently exist?
… Is it wrong that I didn’t know who Mike Fiers was before Friday night?
… Clayton Kershaw deserved better than the fate he received on Sunday.
… I think I might become an LA Galaxy fan due to the presence of Steven Gerrard. Is that allowed?
No. 8 – The evolution of an English Premier League fan ...
While waiting for Liverpool and Arsenal to get it on Monday afternoon and licking my wounds from falling out of the top spot in the OB fantasy league, here’s a smattering of thoughts from the weekend.
a. I don’t want to say that it’s Man City and everyone else, but damn that’s a helluva a good looking team. It might just be Man City and everyone else.
b. So, anyone want to take a gander at what was going through the mind of Louis Van Gaal on Sunday when Pedro scored the opening goal in Chelsea’s win over West Brom?
c. The post-game interviews with Jose Mourinho really are must-see TV.
d. Who scores first this season … Harry Kane or Wayne Rooney?
e. Bournemouth is a fun team to watch. They might be my third favorite team to watch right behind behind Liverpool and Swansea.
No. 9 – Youtube Video of the Week ...
Ladies and gentlemen, in honor of the WWE’s Summerslam event this weekend, I give you this gift.
No.10 - And finally ....
It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a Patsy Cline mood, but I found myself there this week and it didn’t take long before I realized that I can’t let so much time pass until my next Patsy mood.
Patsy is 100-percent authentic in every song and more than that, her ability to turn every syllable in a word into a haunting feeling is unparalleled.
More than 50 years after her death, her presence in country music is unmistakable … she’s The Queen.
Let’s get on with it.
Last five out: True Love, Akways, I Love You So Much It Hurts, Then You’ll Know and Don’t Ever Leave Me Again
10. Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray
Despite only creating three original studio albums, more than 25 songs were in contention for the Top 10, which pretty much means that the woman didn’t make bad songs.
9. Back in Baby’s Arms
Patsy was 30 years old when she died in a plane crash in September of 1962.
8. In Care of the Blues
Austin’s Toni Price does a tremendous version of this song.
7. Leavin on Your Mind
Per Wikipedia: When she was thirteen, she was hospitalized with a throat infection and rheumatic fever. "The fever affected my throat and when I recovered I had this booming voice like Kate Smith,” Patsy remarked.
6. She’s Got You
The link is a live version from the 1962 show “Pet Milk TV”
5. Faded Love
George Jones performed in Patsy’s final show and was with her before she got on the plane that eventually crashed and took her life.
4. I Fall to Pieces
One of four songs that represent the Mount Rushmore of her music.
3. Walkin’ After Midnight
The song that sent her career into the stratosphere.
2. Sweet Dreams
Also the name of the movie about her life, starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris.
1. Crazy
Written by Willie Nelson, it’s arguably the greatest country music song of all-time.
Inside the bedroom I share with my wife, twins and three rather spoiled dogs is a Starry Night sound machine that projects different colors of stars upwards towards the ceiling and on this particular night the color on the walls is green. Unable to sleep on this night, but trapped under the weight of a precious child who seemed to be dreaming about Dora The Explorer or Mickey Mouse or whatever escapade a 17-month-old angel engages in while asleep, I didn’t dare move.
So, I just stared at those green stars on the ceiling as if I was hypnotized, while my mind entered into a darker place than the room illuminated with lights. With everything I hold dear to me within two feet of my still body, my mind started to think about South Bend, Indiana.
The image that was torturing my mind, heart and soul had absolutely nothing to do with the football game that will take place in 12 days between historical rivals. There were no touchdowns, screaming fans or image of Touchdown Jesus.
All that existed was the haunting image of a woman so alone in her community during the most perilous situation of her young life that she decided that ending it all was the only choice that would ease her pain. She was so alone that she decided no existence all was better than the one she owned.
Inside those stars from which I simply couldn’t look away from was a girl named Lizzy Seeberg and in the aftermath of the events from Waco this week, I couldn’t control what happened next.
I cried.
For those that aren’t familiar with Lizzy, she was a 19-year-old student at Saint Mary’s College, a school just down the road from Notre Dame. On the night of August 31, 2010, Lizzy was left alone in a room with a Notre Dame football player, who then sexually assaulted her according to the handwritten statement she provided to school police.
In the direct aftermath of reporting what happened that night, the following occurred.
a. After turning to the police, a mutual friend of the girl and the alleged rapist sent her text messages warning her not to "do anything you would regret," and that "messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea.”
b. Over the course of the first 10 days after she reported the crime, the police took zero action. The Notre Dame football player named in her report was not questioned and never so much as missed a practice.
c. So distraught by everything taking place in and around her world, Lizzy committed suicide.
d. The police investigating her claim were so interested in seeking justice that they waited another five days after her suicide before finally questioning the alleged attacker.
e. Since Lizzy was now dead, no action was ever taken against her alleged attacker. No missed practices. No missed games. No missed nothing.
f. In the year that followed the devastating decision to end her life, Notre Dame officials executed a concerted effort to slander the young female’s name in the shadows by positioning her as a sexually charged woman who was seeking an apparent good time.
The similarities between Lizzy’s situation and that of former Baylor soccer player “Jane Doe” (her court name), whose own sexual assault by a Baylor football player in 2013 led to a felony conviction this week, go well beyond the colors on the uniform and the private school status soaked in Christian values.
In addition to the uncaring investigations and the enabling institutions that protected football over all else, the situations that Lizzy and Jane found themselves in never had to occur, if only the men responsible for bringing the alleged and the convicted rapists had cared enough to know more about the young men they brought into their programs than their ability to disrupt an offense.
As was the case with convicted sexual assaulter Sam Ukwuachu, the man Lizzy believed had stolen her mind, body and soul arrived on his college campus with a reputation of violent behavior off the field and as was the case with Art Briles, nothing meant more than adding a player that might help Notre Dame win, regardless of the costs.
Prince Shembo is the name of the player that allegedly raped Lizzy and before he ever arrived as a four-star prospect, he was suspended as a high school senior for throwing a desk at a teacher that had the gall to take away his cell phone. Let me repeat that … Shembo threw a desk at a teacher. And Notre Dame took him in anyway.
Five years after allegedly raping Lizzy, Shembo lost his job in the NFL when he murdered a girlfriend’s Yorkie in May. According to the police, Shembo left the tiny animal with a fractured rib, fractured liver, abdominal hemorrhage, thoracic hemorrhage, extensive bruising and hemorrhage in the muscles in her front leg and shoulders, head trauma, hemorrhage and edema in lungs, hemorrhage between the esophagus and trachea, and hemorrhage in the left eye with internal injuries.
This is the man Notre Dame and investigating police chose to protect over the needs of a shattered young woman.
While sobbing quietly in thought about Lizzy and Jane, I could feel my daughter breathing in and out while draped across my body, secure in knowing that there could be no safer place than the nest she’d made for herself on this night. The very thing that comforted her was the thing that was haunting me before I closed my eyes for the night.
There will be a day when Haven is a young adult and I won’t be able to protect her as I can currently. At some point, she’ll be a young woman like Lizzy and Jane, which means I’m going to drop her off at a college of her choosing and all I’ll be able to do at that point is pray that the fates of Lizzy and Jane never find her.
What I’ve learned in the last 17 months is that nothing terrifies a father more than the idea of turning his little princess loose in a world that is quicker to put her on trial should she ever find herself sexually assaulted than to ensure she's protected from the animal who is responsible. Heaven forbid, such a situation ever involve a football player, because our society has long cared more about wins and losses than protecting those who can’t protect themselves.
Just as my mind wandered into thought about what the fathers of Lizzy and Jane must go through on a daily basis, my daughter popped up out of sleep, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. Suddenly, her eyes found my eyes and she broke out in the most beautifully innocent smile these eyes have ever seen.
And I cried some more. For Lizzy. For Jane. For their fathers. For my daughter. For me.
No. 2 – Hey Art, we’re not talking football …
Baylor head football coach Art Briles is a dangerous, disingenuous enabler of abusers and he’s hoping your attention span is extremely short.
So is Baylor’s athletic department and the university itself.
In fact, they are counting on it.
We cannot allow that to happen.
In the immediate aftermath of Sam Ukwuachu’s sexual assault conviction this week, like a Penn and Teller skit, Briles and those around him attempted to engage in a bit of a shell game, releasing statements and documents that appeared to be cloaked in mistruths, half-truths or no truths at all.
Through the conniving words of Briles, who chose to immediately throw all responsibility of his decision-making elsewhere, much of the conversation in recent days has focused on what Boise State head coach Chris Petersen and the school told Briles, as if there was a single misdeed in this story of reckless mismanagement instead of a number much higher than that.
We cannot allow that to happen.
I will not allow that to happen.
The Beginning …
I’m going to ask you to use logic in this section because it’s critically important when trying to rummage through the deceptive actions and words Briles has offered up for more than two years in regards to Ukwuachu.
Briles’s current story consists of him never being told by anyone at Boise State, including former BSU head coach Chris Petersen, that Ukwuachu had anger or abuse issues while he was a student there. Never mind that Petersen quickly disputed that claim under no uncertain terms (unless you believe the words “thoroughly apprised” translates to nothing that’s actually thorough) or that Boise State did an in-house investigation that painted a very troubled picture of Ukwuachu, let’s just give Briles the benefit of the doubt.
Poor Art was out of the loop completely.
It’s important to note that in order for Briles’s story to continue to hold water and for any justification of Briles’s decision-making that followed the assault of Jane Doe to appear remotely justified, he would had to have never actually found out about Ukwuachu’s past at all. Like not until the Texas Monthly article came out this week.
In order for that to be the case, logic would deduce the following.
1. Everyone at Boise State not only misled Briles, but Chris Petersen was purposely deceptive on when the two men discussed Ukwuachu’s situation at Boise State, despite the fact that there was nothing to gain and everything to lose should his deceptiveness eventually lead to problems at Baylor.
2. Ukwuachu lied to Briles from start to finish, never once detailing what actually happened at Boise that led to his departure.
3. Either Pearland High School head coach Tony Heath also lied to Briles in giving Ukwuachu a firm recommendation or Heath never found out what happened from Petersen, Ukwuachu, the people of Boise or pretty much anyone on the face of the earth who might have known what happened to his former player in a far-away-state. Keep in mind that Heath describes Ukwuachu as a close friend to his son, so either Heath just didn’t care or everyone involved made an effort to leave him clueless to what was happening. EVERYONE. We also have to believe that a Boise State coaching staff that recruits the Houston-area like gangbusters would risk its reputation and ability to continue to recruit the area by holding back any and all info.
4. Ukwuachu’s family also misled Briles or was completely in the dark about what happened at Boise because it apparently never gave any indication that troubles existed outside of homesickness and some depression.
5. When Boise State blocked Baylor’s appeal to allow Ukwuachu to play immediately, Briles never asked anyone why. Once the deny of the appeal came in, he just shrugged his shoulders and never once asked for specific reasons for why the school would take such actions against a kid that was homesick and depressed. Basically, Briles thought he had a player being mistreated by the jerks at Boise (given the circumstances), but he never followed up with questions that might lead to answers. Oh, and in order for this to be true, logic dictates that no one at Baylor so much as asked a series of questions after the deny of the appeal arrived in an effort to support its new pass-rushing machine.
Logically, those are the things that had to have happened together in concert to keep Briles forever in the dark, except there’s a problem with the logic.
Petersen isn’t the only person that claims to have been honest with Briles, as Ukwuachu himself has given strong indications that Briles wasn’t guilty of the banana in the tailpipe routine.
“The Baylor coaches knew everything and were really supportive, so I appreciate that,” Ukwuachu told Sicemsports.com in 2013 after his transfer had become complete.
One of the questions Briles must answer is this … if everyone lied to your face about what happened at Boise, why did you forever stand by Ukwuachu once you did find out that everyone lying to you had left you in a very precarious situation?
It turns out that a player he didn’t care enough about to ask a few follow-up questions when his eligibility appeal was denied, lied and left him completely wide-open for massive criticism following the claims of sexual assault.
In what world does that happen and the response is to double-down on the support for Ukwuachu?
Briles’s decision-making in the aftermath of a sexual assault allegation …
Typically speaking, the way a college coach handles allegations of sexual assault isn’t rocket
science.
If a player is being investigated for sexual assault, you suspend him and hold him out of all team activities until the investigation is completed.
If a player is charged with sexual assault, you boot him from the program never to return.
If the investigation goes nowhere and charges are never made, you can bring the player back. If charges are made but eventually dropped, he can attempt to play football somewhere else, but he can’t play at your school because the risk is simply too great.
Those are the ABCs from the unwritten college coaching handbook, except that Briles went the opposite way. From the moment of his transfer through the initial investigation of the crime through the entire legal process that followed, Briles tripled and quadrupled down on his support of Ukwuachu, allowing him to continue to take classes and hang out in and around the program, all in an effort to ensure that if any wiggle-room became available, Ukwuachu would be instantly available for the football team.
How do we know that?
Because Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Bennett told a room full of Baylor alumni that this summer, nearly a year after charges were presented and just a few months before Ukwuachu’s trial was set to begin. Oh, and Ukwuachu’s attorney mentioned the same thing in court this week. Pending pretty much anything but a guilty conviction, the hope was that Ukwuachu would play this year.
Meanwhile, over the course of the last two years, Briles went out of his way to remain vague on the circumstances surrounding Ukwuachu when anyone asked about his situation. Instead of acknowledging what was taking place, Briles’s disingenuously misled anyone and everyone looking for an answer. Briles would have you believe that because Ukwuachu never played, he took the proper amount of action in such an incredibly dangerous set of circumstances, but the truth is all Baylor ever really did was take his name off the roster, which really isn’t the same thing as booting a player from the program at all.
The truth is that he enabled a monster before, during and right up until his conviction of a violent sex crime in almost every way a college coach could possibly enable and protect such a monster.
And now he would like for us all to believe that he’s the trustworthy one and everyone else is the liar.
The disaster known as Baylor University ...
In the event you’re under the impression that I believe Briles alone is to blame, let’s take a look at the incredible set of decisions that took place under Baylor president Ken Starr’s watch.
1. Baylor Associate Dean Bethany McCraw, who was responsible for the Title IX investigation of the alleged assault, cared so deeply about finding the truth that she didn’t even wait to include the results from the pending rape examination before concluding that "there was not enough evidence to move forward" in the school's investigation of Jane Doe’s claim. McCraw’s work was so careless and flimsy that none of it was allowed into evidence in court this week.
2. In the aftermath of the allegations, rather than take action against the alleged rapist, the school forced Jane Doe to change her classes and her study times, eventually taking scholarship money away from her when she struggled to keep it all together, which caused the victim to eventually transfer.
3. The school knowingly allowed Briles to breach normal protocol in the situation of sexual assault charges involving student-athletes, eventually allowing Ukwuachu to graduate from the school after receiving an uninterrupted education worth six figures.
4. The school’s athletic chaplain, Wes Yeary, testified on behalf of Ukwuachu, despite the fact that Jane Doe had told Yeary about the assault. According to the Waco Tribune Herald, this is what happened when the prosecution asked if Yeary knew the victim:
"Under cross-examination, LaBorde asked if he also knows the victim in the case, bringing an immediate objection from Dan MacLemore, who represents Baylor and was sitting in the back of the courtroom. MacLemore said he would assert the pastor’s clergy-parishioner privilege if there were questions about pastoral counseling with the victim.
"After a conference in the judge’s chambers, which included the victim, Yeary testified that she told him about the assault. He said he told her that if she would have called him that night, he would have given her a ride home."
5. Perhaps more than anything, every single person involved in this story on the university side of things is guilty for never approaching Briles and saying, “Lord forgive me, but what the ^%$# are you doing? Nothing about your decision-making and actions is worthy of a school that prides itself in being a place of Christian ideologies.”
The bottom line with Briles
It’s his job to know who and what is coming in and out of his program, and no one else’s.
Enablers of his activities will have you believe that it takes some sort of telepathic skill to uncover the events that journalists from Texas Monthly were able to find by simply asking the right people. Rather than asking how Briles is supposed to know about these details, perhaps the enablers should be asking how many abusers of women has Briles let into his programs over the years through similar failed background checks?
If the message today is that Briles isn’t responsible for bringing in a person with a history of violence and possible abuse, then what you’re really saying is that he’s never responsible for anything other than wins and losses, and maybe that’s the way Baylor University wants it.
But, it is his responsibility and not knowing isn’t an excuse that works in 2015.
If we’re to believe Briles, he unknowingly allowed an abuser to come into his school and within months, that abuser sexually assaulted a women.
That's on him. It happened on Briles’s watch.
If the message today is that he’s not responsible for any of this, then let’s just throw the idea of responsibility out altogether. At no point in any of this has Briles ever stood up and said, “The buck stops with me. It was my decision to bring him into the program and I am responsible for all things that happen in my program.” Instead, he’s tried to pin blame on Boise State, Chris Petersen, Tony Heath and just about anyone else he can think of.
Here’s the truth…
Art Briles is a dangerous, disingenuous enabler of abusers and he must be removed as head coach from Baylor University’s football program.
If that doesn’t happen, there’s zero reason to believe history won’t repeat itself. Again.
We cannot allow that happen.
No. 3 – Attempting to move along to football …
We’re 12 days away from the start of Charlie Strong’s second season in Austin.
August’s training camp is over, school is set to begin and installation of the game-plan for the Irish begins Monday.
Whatever this team is going to be in South Bend in less than two weeks, it is likely already that team right now. The question I keep asking myself is whether anything has happened in camp to make me adjust my prediction of a 7-5 type season for Strong and Co.?
The answer? Not really.
As much as everyone would like to believe that the quarterback and offensive line play will be measurably improved, I’m not convinced that the improvements are such that the team will run the table outside of its three most difficult games. On top of those issues on offense, inconsistency and injuries at wide receiver and tight end, respectively, make this a unit with more question marks than answers.
Meanwhile, I fully expect this year’s defense to eventually be pretty damn good … eventually. For now it’s a unit with a lot of inexperience and young, raw talent, which means I don’t see how it doesn’t experience some growing pains.
The good news is that it’s starting to look like Strong has the pieces in place to get this thing really moving by next year, assuming the quarterback play improves dramatically between now and the start of the 2016 season.
Strong has a team that I believe will fight, claw, scrap and stick together, but I don’t know if that translates to more success for the naked eye.
If I told you that this season has 7-5 written all over it, but 2016 might have 9-3 or 10-2 written all over it, would you take it?
No. 4 – Scattershooting on the Longhorns …
… It’s interesting to see the offense respond on Saturday with a much sharper scrimmage than the one it had on Thursday, when the play on that side of the ball was so bad that it somewhat called into question what kind of improvement has really been made. I don’t know what it means, but I’m guessing every offensive coach on the staff had a case of the red-ass going into Saturday’s practice and they had to be pleased to see how that side of the ball responded.
… Hearing that Tyrone Swoopes has taken extremely good care of the football in camp reminds me that through his first 10 starts, he had a 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has the ability to be a solid bus-driver, but can he take his play to the next level against teams with a pulse? That’s what we find out in 12 days.
… For the record ... one more time … I’m projecting Johnathan Gray to rush for 1,200 yards and earn first-team all-Big 12 honors.
… If Marcus Johnson was to turn in a John Harris-type season, should we name one of the message boards after him? Maybe The Marcus Johnson Corral? Go Marcus!
… I would continue to advise that everyone treat Devonaire Clarington as found money should he ever arrive in Austin. I’m not basing this on any secret info, it’s just my hunch after being in
the business for 20 years. Feel free to hope that he arrives, but banking on it out of need could be dangerous. I think Texas has to plan as if he’s not going to make it … just in case.
No. 5 - BUY OR SELL ...
(BUY or SELL): Texas runs a trick play on Offense against ND?
(Buy) An underdog on the road has had the entire off-season to think of a wrinkle for this game. It’s going to happen.
(BUY or SELL): Art Briles is head coach at Baylor for the 2016 season?
(Buy) Nobody in Waco gives a damn about that girl and almost all are enablers.
(BUY or SELL): If Texas was opening the season at home vs Rice or North Texas instead of at Notre Dame, Jerrod Heard would be the starting QB?
(Sell) There’s no trying to convince you that Swoopes is really the best quarterback on the team by a decent margin, huh?
(BUY or SELL): DeAndre McNeal starts at TE in 11 of 12 regular season games AND scores 5 TDs?
(Buy) Who is keeping him off the field?
(BUY or SELL): Ric Flair gives the team a pregame pep talk this year?
(Buy) It has to happen, right?
(BUY or SELL): Tyrone Swoops will effectively run the zone read allowing the offense to open up and be more successful.
(Buy) It’s just a mini-buy. I think that part of his game will be improved, but that will never be his bread and butter.
(BUY or SELL): Total number of touchdown passes thrown by Longhorn quarterbacks will be greater than 25 this season.
(Sell) Let’s see the quarterbacks walk before we ask them to run.
(BUY or SELL): The Texas offensive line will wear down Notre Dame's defensive line late in the third quarter leading to over 100 yards on the ground the rest of the game?
(Sell) Let’s see the line walk before we ask it to run.
(BUY or SELL): Vahe, Williams, Burt, Jefferson, Elliot and Boyd are all in the ND game at the same time on consecutive offensive and defensive series at some point in the fourth quarter? (the first three on offense and the second three on defense obviously)
(Buy) The babies are going to play and likely decide the outcome, one way or the other.
(BUY or SELL): Looking at the schedule and projecting, the California game is the THE most critical game of the year. Win it and the team has much needed confidence going into conference play. Lose it and doubts come crashing down on many fronts.
(Buy) I’ve been pointing at this game as a critical one for the program throughout the off-season.
No. 6 – Prepping for my fantasy draft …
If you’ve never been a fantasy football commish, consider yourself lucky.
In addition to organizing the league, collecting money and being responsible for a weekly league report/article, I’m also in charge of getting all 12 members of the league in a room at the same time on the same day in an effort to successfully execute our draft proceedings.
That final task has been the bane of my existence for the better part of the last week and into this weekend, as pretty much every date between now and September 10 is a no-go for someone in the league.
Finally, as the clock approached midnight on Saturday night, I was able to successfully (I think) lock down a date that works for everyone. All it took was a little bribing, as I assured the Breadman that if the draft took too long, I would get up on at 3 a.m. the next morning and help him deliver bread.
*sigh*
Meanwhile, I still have the 8th pick in a 12-team standard league and the FantasyPros Draft Wizard advised me through its simulator to take the following team:
1st round (8): RB DeMarco Murray
2nd round (21): WR Odell Beckham
3rd round (28): RB Frank Gore
3rd round (32): RB Andre Ellington
5th round (56): TE Greg Olsen
6th round (69): RB Chris Ivory
9th round (97): QB Ryan Tannehill
9th round (104): QB Eli Manning
10th round (113): WR Charles Johnson
10th round (120): WR Marques Colston
11th round (128): RB Duke Johnson
12th round (137): RB David Johnson
13th round (152): WR Pierre Garcon
14th round (161): WR Kendall Wright
15th round (176): TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins
16th round (185): Def. Arizona
17th round (200): K Mason Crosby
In an analysis of the draft, FantasyPros ranked me 1st overall, 3rd in starters and 1st in bench play.
Discuss.
No. 7 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas might be the smartest man in the NFL.
"I would equate what (Tom Brady) did to driving 66 [mph] in a 65 speed zone, and getting the death penalty,” Thomas said this weekend.
"I'm not sure if he realizes what he's doing is brilliant, but what he's doing is brilliant because he's made the NFL relevant 365 (days) by having these outrageous, ridiculous witch hunts," Thomas said. "It's made the game more popular than ever and it's become so much more of an entertainment business and it's making so much money.
"That's why I'm sure there's plenty of people saying this is embarrassing for the league. But it's an entertainment business when it comes right down to it. When the game gets eyeballs in newspapers and on TV, that's what in the end is the goal for everyone. And that's what this controversy is giving them."
Thomas absolutely gets it.
… The NFL in 2015, everyone…
… Uh oh, Jordy Nelson’s injury might change the entire course of the NFL season, especially when you consider that I have the Packers winning this year’s Super Bowl.
… For three glorious days this week, Tiger Woods looked like the Tiger Woods that we all once knew. For one non-glorious day on Sunday, Tiger Woods looked like the Tiger Woods that we all have come to know.
… From the sport of boxing… *sigh*
… So far, so good for the Phillies in the aftermath of the Cole Hamels and Chase Utley trades. Rookie pitcher Jerad Eickhoff pitched six shutout innings in his debut on Friday night, while Darnell Sweeney (the chief piece of the Utley trade) hit a pinch-hit homer for his first MLB hit on Saturday night, helping lead the Phillies to a ninth-inning comeback win.
… Speaking of the Phillies, I want every Houston Astros fan to know that your team is what both my Phillies and 76ers strive to be.
… Speaking of the Astros, anyone want to join me in putting $100 on Carlos Correa being the 2016 AL MVP at whatever odds currently exist?
… Is it wrong that I didn’t know who Mike Fiers was before Friday night?
… Clayton Kershaw deserved better than the fate he received on Sunday.
… I think I might become an LA Galaxy fan due to the presence of Steven Gerrard. Is that allowed?
No. 8 – The evolution of an English Premier League fan ...
While waiting for Liverpool and Arsenal to get it on Monday afternoon and licking my wounds from falling out of the top spot in the OB fantasy league, here’s a smattering of thoughts from the weekend.
a. I don’t want to say that it’s Man City and everyone else, but damn that’s a helluva a good looking team. It might just be Man City and everyone else.
b. So, anyone want to take a gander at what was going through the mind of Louis Van Gaal on Sunday when Pedro scored the opening goal in Chelsea’s win over West Brom?
c. The post-game interviews with Jose Mourinho really are must-see TV.
d. Who scores first this season … Harry Kane or Wayne Rooney?
e. Bournemouth is a fun team to watch. They might be my third favorite team to watch right behind behind Liverpool and Swansea.
No. 9 – Youtube Video of the Week ...
Ladies and gentlemen, in honor of the WWE’s Summerslam event this weekend, I give you this gift.
No.10 - And finally ....
It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a Patsy Cline mood, but I found myself there this week and it didn’t take long before I realized that I can’t let so much time pass until my next Patsy mood.
Patsy is 100-percent authentic in every song and more than that, her ability to turn every syllable in a word into a haunting feeling is unparalleled.
More than 50 years after her death, her presence in country music is unmistakable … she’s The Queen.
Let’s get on with it.
Last five out: True Love, Akways, I Love You So Much It Hurts, Then You’ll Know and Don’t Ever Leave Me Again
10. Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray
Despite only creating three original studio albums, more than 25 songs were in contention for the Top 10, which pretty much means that the woman didn’t make bad songs.
9. Back in Baby’s Arms
Patsy was 30 years old when she died in a plane crash in September of 1962.
8. In Care of the Blues
Austin’s Toni Price does a tremendous version of this song.
7. Leavin on Your Mind
Per Wikipedia: When she was thirteen, she was hospitalized with a throat infection and rheumatic fever. "The fever affected my throat and when I recovered I had this booming voice like Kate Smith,” Patsy remarked.
6. She’s Got You
The link is a live version from the 1962 show “Pet Milk TV”
5. Faded Love
George Jones performed in Patsy’s final show and was with her before she got on the plane that eventually crashed and took her life.
4. I Fall to Pieces
One of four songs that represent the Mount Rushmore of her music.
3. Walkin’ After Midnight
The song that sent her career into the stratosphere.
2. Sweet Dreams
Also the name of the movie about her life, starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris.
1. Crazy
Written by Willie Nelson, it’s arguably the greatest country music song of all-time.
