My thoughts and prayers are with Derrian Brown and his family. I hope his recovery results in his being capable of having a fulfilling life, however God plans to use him.
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Thinking a lot about Derrian Brown...)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
"Back in 2001, the passing of Pittman was a crusher for me on a personal level. While we weren't best friends or anything, I had covered him closely when he was a high school prospect and I was a reporter working at KEYE-TV, while also maintaining a friendship when he arrived at Texas. When it occurred, I was only able to see it through the prism of a young person losing a friend. Try as I might, I could never understand what Pittman's father felt in that moment because some things you can't know until you're a parent."
I think about Cole Pittman every time I drive from Palestine to Austin for a Longhorn home football game. When I see the Sanderson Farm feed silos on US 79 near Easterly, Texas, I know it's time to look to the right, as the road curves to the left, to see the memorial cross marking the spot where his car went straight when it should have turned. A promising young life snuffed out at age 21. Kids dying young always hit me hard. I can't imagine the pain of the parents...
I think about Cole Pittman every time I drive from Palestine to Austin for a Longhorn home football game. When I see the Sanderson Farm feed silos on US 79 near Easterly, Texas, I know it's time to look to the right, as the road curves to the left, to see the memorial cross marking the spot where his car went straight when it should have turned. A promising young life snuffed out at age 21. Kids dying young always hit me hard. I can't imagine the pain of the parents...
Who was the num 9 tight end from spring on that list. Can you show all the lists from that year please
I'm not sure I know what to say about Texas running back signee Derrian Brown as I sit down to put thoughts into words, but I know I haven't been able to stop thinking about him this weekend.
Perhaps if I'm honest, I've thought more about his parents.
I've always said that one of the unintentional downsides to my career is that it introduces me to a world of extreme sadness and disappointment just as it does extreme happiness and pure satisfaction. For every Malcom Brown that wins a Super Bowl and fulfills a life full of dreams that come true is a Sonny Davis that can never quite get away from the demons that make fulfilling dreams seemingly impossible.
Yet, I would contend that we've all been pretty lucky around these parts for as long as I can remember when it comes to football players and life-changing or life-ending disasters. Outside of the death of Cole Pittman in 2001 when I was a 24-year old cub reporter, I haven't personally had to cover another of these worst of the worst situations in my 25 years on the Texas beat.
Sixteen years ago, Lance McFarland was forced to leave the team because of cancer, which he defeated like a boss. Former offensive lineman Matt Nader had the scare of all scares as a high school senior at Austin Westlake on the field, but he's gone on to have a pretty terrific life. Of course, current Texas hoopster Andrew Jones has been fighting the good fight against cancer for the last year, but his long-term outlook is optimistic. Outside of those three situations, it's hard for me to remember other situations like these that would represent the kind of life-changing moments that nearly max out as a 10 on the dramatically serious situations that can occur in life.
In a span of the last quarter-century, that's pretty good.
What made the situation with Brown so difficult this weekend is that it felt as serious as serious gets. Without getting into the specifics of what he's dealing with because it's really none of our business, the urgency of the last 72 hours has been a bit scary. One moment, you've got a kid still in a position to chase every single one of his life's dreams and the next moment everything about life feels as fragile as a single breath itself.
Back in 2001, the passing of Pittman was a crusher for me on a personal level. While we weren't best friends or anything, I had covered him closely when he was a high school prospect and I was a reporter working at KEYE-TV, while also maintaining a friendship when he arrived at Texas. When it occurred, I was only able to see it through the prism of a young person losing a friend. Try as I might, I could never understand what Pittman's father felt in that moment because some things you can't know until you're a parent.
Just this weekend, I lost one of my four-year olds at Urban Air for about 20 seconds. Nothing too crazy, but in such a den of madness, panic overcame me as the amount of control I had over the safety of a child was momentarily vulnerable. Normally, I'm not someone dominated by anxiety in my role as a parent, but man, this time the anxiety was real. However, a moment later, Hendrix appeared and control was restored. At least, for a brief moment.
Yet, that was just a brief moment. Everything was actually fine. Just the thought for 20 seconds that something could be wrong was enough to nearly send me straight to despair and it wasn't but a mere fraction of what one feels when something truly terrifying occurs.
All of this brings me back to Brown's parents and the agony of dealing with a situation where the safety of your child isn't within your control. I found myself aching for them this weekend, suddenly able to grasp that parenthood thing in a way that I could have never known anything about before 2014. You live long enough as a parent and you'll know moments of absolute fear as well as you know anything in life. My own son underwent cranial surgery at six months old and a piece of your soul dies in those quietest moments of uncertainty when you'll offer to anyone that will listen the chance to trade positions for the safety of your child.
My worst fear as a human is something happening to my kids and over the weekend I spent a lot of time thinking about Brown's parents, hoping there's a moment this weekend when they could be able to know that their son is going to be ok, knowing that if there was a deal that they could make to ensure the safety of their child, they would willingly leap towards it. With every small behind-the-scenes update that indicated Brown was doing better, I hoped it provided a bit of relief for mom and dad.
I don't really know what to say at this point other than to say it goes without saying that the thoughts, prayers and all of the good karma the Orangebloods universe can produce goes out to Brown and his loved ones. Let him walk out of that hospital as soon as possible, so that he can get after chasing those dreams, while his parents can feel a piece of normalcy in the process.
Hang in there, Derrian.
Hang in there, Brown family.
No. 2 -Hot take of the weekend ...
I might put Roger Clemens in the Hall of Fame just because he threw this breaker at the age of 56. I'd watch games of him and Nolan Ryan playing in a veteran's league.
No. 3 - The F-bomb heard throughout College Station ...
I'm not saying that Javonne Shepard is definitely going to sign with Texas, but it would be a new level of trolling to drop a "F*** A&M" blast on social media, only to turn around and sign with the Aggies a few days later.
If he did flip, you'd have to go back to 2005 with Ryan Perrilloux to find a situation where a Texas commit swore until the final hours that he was going to sign with Texas, only to turn heel on signing day.
Speaking of 2005, this story reminds me of the time when Jason @Suchomel interviewed Jorvorskie Lane in the summer of 2004, as Lane shared some similar life views on Texas A&M in an interview with Orangebloods, only to have A&M fans flip out with suggestions that Lane never said what he was quoted as saying. It did warrant a chuckle when he eventually committed, signed and played with the Aggies.
Some things on the Internet change and some things will always remain the same ... A&M fans feeling slighted and getting into their feelings will always be the latter.
No. 4 - Life on the bubble ...
With an RPI in the 40s, the Texas basketball team will be a name firmly planted on the bubble list for the next five weeks or so.
Nothing about what happened in Ames was remotely surprising. Moving forward, Texas will win some games at home and lose most of the games on the road. With the No. 2 schedule in the country according to RealTimeRPI.com, the Longhorns will get some benefit of the doubt from the committee, but how much?
With home games against Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and TCU, it feels like Texas can get to 16 wins by winning four of the last five. With this team, it's tough to project a perfect finish at home to get to 17 wins with home wins alone.
Road games against West Virginia, Oklahoma, Baylor and Iowa State remain. Outside of a possible win in Morgantown, I'm not sure there's a win in this group of four games. If the Longhorns end up losing five of their last nine games, they will enter the Big 12 Tournament with a 16-15 record. To say that they’ll need to win a game in the Big Tournament is an understatement. Tough schedule or not, you'd think they'd need a resume with 18 wins on it. At least.
That makes the next week of basketball for the Longhorns critically important. At some point, this team is going to get sucked into a realm of 2019 mediocrity that could leaving the final result of the season feeling every bit as empty as it has generally felt emotionally inside of the Erwin Center all year.
No. 5 – BUY or SELL …
BUY or SELL: Texas finishes with another top 3 class in 2020?
(Buy) Yes, coming off of a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia and poised for a championship run on the field in 2019, I like this program's chances of putting together a monster class.
BUY or SELL: We pull a surprise RB now with the uncertainty in Derrian Brown?
(Sell) Just a hunch.
BUY or SELL: David Beatty? In for 2019? More than a consultant?
(Sell) It might happen some day, but it doesn't seem poised to happen in 2019. Timing is everything.
BUY or SELL: Kirk Johnson, you can phrase the question.
(Sell) If we're talking about a breakout season, I'll say no. If the question is merely about the internal strength he's showed to even have a chance to have a breakout year in 2009, I'll buy all day.
BUY or SELL: The Transfer Portal will become so abused that the NCAA will take action so as to limit free agency in college football?
(Sell) I think the fuss is slightly overstated.
BUY or SELL: Charles Omenihu is the only Longhorn drafted while a couple others go as undrafted free agents?
(Sell) Texas will have several drafted players.
BUY or SELL: The new LSR ranking will be out this week?
(Buy) The plan is the final 2019 on Monday and the 2020 list on Wednesday.
BUY or SELL: If the Bro Down thread gets over 500 pages, @AnwarsFedora gets a free year's subscription to OB?
(Sell) I'd lock it at 499 pages just to own the thread.
BUY or SELL: 2019 is the worst batch of Best Picture nominees in the last 5 years?
(Buy) I need to see two of the eight, but I think at least four of the eight are just pretty good.
No. 6 - Breaking down Super Bowl LIII ...
Man, I don't really have anything to say. I really wished I had watched True Detective live.
As entertaining as Tony Romo was, we just watched the worst Super Bowl of my lifetime. Even the Adam Levine halftime show is blushing over what transpired over 60 minutes.
I suppose the bottom line is that Tom Brady for No.6, which is all history will remember the game for, but that game will not stay on a lot of DVRs.
No. 7 - Recruiting rankings of the newest NFL Hall of Famers ...
Ed Reed loves to tell people that he was a two-star prospect when he was a recruit way back in the day, but the truth of the matter is that he pre-dates the star ranking system, which arrived a couple of years after he was a prospect.
That being said, he was not a star recruit. On the other hand, Tony Gonzales and Champ Bailey were. I did a little digging on Sunday through some old National Recruiting Advisor books and found the rankings. Enjoy.
(Note: Ty Law, Kevin Mawae and Johnny Robinson all pre-date rankings that I could locate.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... If I'm the Pelicans, I'm not trading Anthony Davis before the trade deadline unless I'm overwhelmed with an offer. If he's going to the Lakers, they'll have to pay a Lakers tax.
... If the Knicks land the No. 1 pick, would you go to New York if you're Kevin Durant and you could team up with another superstar? Would it need to be Anthony Davis or would Kyrie be enough?
... Still waiting, Bryce, just take as much time as you like.
... I'll take things I've never seen this before for $500, Alex ....
... Just keep grinding, Reds. Three points today ... any means needed.
No. 9 - The List: Favorite Super Bowl performances ...
In honor of the NFL letting Maroon 5 perform its 2019 Super Bowl halftime show, I present my personal list of top Super Bowl performances, halftime shows and national anthems included.
Yes, I spent far more time on compiling this list than I probably should have.
1
0. Luther Vandross at Super Bowl XXXI - One of my all-time favorites.
9. Aerosmith, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly at Super Bowl XXXV - This one has aged pretty well.
8. Michael Jackson at XXVII - The granddaddy of the new-era Super Bowl halftime shows.
7. Lady Gaga at Super Bowl L - A top three anthem performance for my money.
6. Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, Kid Rock, Nelly, and P. Diddy - Nipple-gate overshadowed a really nice performance.
5. Faith Hill at Super Bowl XXXVI - Just a flawless lyrical performance.
4. Katy Perry at XLIX - Don't judge me, but I really liked this one. Missy Elliott joining the show was everything.
3. Beyonce at Super Bowl XLVII - Queen Bey did the damn thing. Simple as that.
2. Prince at Super Bowl XLI - It freaking rained in the middle of his performance of Purple Rain. I won't argue anyone slotting this in the top spot.
1. Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV.
This might be the most patriotic I can ever remember being in my entire life. Given the backdrop of the performance, it was a 10 on the 1-10 chill-inducing scale. I don't care if it was potentially re-recorded.
No. 10 – And Finally ...
Dogs are just the best.
Yes. The worst hour of my life was the two minutes of sheer terror we lost track of our young daughter at the beach. The squirt was walking up the stairs back to the beach house all on her own. Still makes me nauseous to think about it to this day, even as she’s now a parent herself.
Sorry @Ketchum but U2’s post 9/11 halftime show has to be in the top 3. Can’t believe you left it out of your top 10.
Thank you, but my family wasn't involved in this tragedy...I'm just a fan who recognized the sadness of a young life lost...
I can't believe you don't have Bruno Mars on the list. His Super Bowl performance was great!
More prayers for the Brown family.
I really wish my dog would do that.
We had snow here a little over a year ago, just before Christmas. When I got home from work I tried to take her outside to play. She took one look at that snow and turned around and ran back inside. 
I really wish my dog would do that.
We had snow here a little over a year ago, just before Christmas. When I got home from work I tried to take her outside to play. She took one look at that snow and turned around and ran back inside. 
Why offer prayers to him and his family when nothing happened to him or his family?
He was recounting the times he saw the cross marking the spot on the road where Cole's fatal accident occurred.
Reason & Logic: "No one can possibly play electric guitar, sing and dance on a slick surface in this wind and pouring rain storm, it's completely unsafe..."
Prince: "...hold my beer..."
Prayers for DB and his family, speedy recovery...
Prince: "...hold my beer..."
Prayers for DB and his family, speedy recovery...
You didn't remember Freddie Joe Steinmark? Or, was that before your time? How old are you again?
Ketch. Your No. 1 is some of your best work I’ve read on this site and I’ve been around a long time. Well done !!!
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Of course I respect the Brown's privacy and hope the kid gets better. But what I find strange is that you wrote an 11+ paragraph piece saying how bad you feel about him and his family and we have no clue whats ailing him, but you do.
