Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted. One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
Ok, David Ash. It really is your move.
With less than four months remaining from the opening of the 2014 season, I'm not sure that a guy could be at more of a crossroads in his career than the UT junior quarterback, who has seen so many crossroads in his UT career thus far that he should invest in stop signs and intersection lights.
Entering each of the last two seasons, the assumption by most for the former Belton quarterback is that he was to ascend as a difference-maker for the Longhorns and emerge as one of the top signal callers in the Big 12. Enough moments of promise had revealed themselves from 2011-12 that the question of his ability hasn't been an issue or most, just the ability to develop it fully.
But, it would be naive to believe that it's only a matter of "when" and not "if" Ash becomes the front-line player that his biggest proponents have projected that he'd become. With a new coaching staff and a new offensive system in place, the outright benefit of the doubt that Ash once received from the old coaching staff is gone. Where the old staff viewed Ash with such confidence that it refused to bring in competition to push him in risk of shaking his confidence and creating a quarterback controversy, the new staff would appear willing to do pretty much anything it can to improve its options.
Obviously, doing anything it can to improve its set of options would appear to include bringing in USC quarterback Max Wittek, a player that I wrote approximately 450,000 words on last weekend in this very same column.
Meanwhile, the entire fan base believes Ash is another hard hit to the head away from entering the land of retired Longhorns. If you set the over/under of games he'd play before injury at 3.5 games and were forced to bet your life savings, I'm not sure what percentage of the Texas fan base would take the over.
Somewhere right now, Ash should be smoldering with internal fire. The doubt around him is so strong that his 14-7 record as a starter and 30/18 TD:INT ratio for his career are being discounted in the minds of many for a transfer that has a 0-2 career record as a starter and a 3/6 TD:INT ratio.
Honesty, I'd be insulted by it all if it was me in the same situation, but that's the thing about Ash I just don't know … is he the type of guy that can channel doubt into fuel? Because if the answer happens to be yes, then the next few months in Austin need to be about him making the damn football team his team.
He's the guy that needs to be a dominating presence in summer workouts. He's the guy that needs to pick up teammates and drive them to practice if that's what it takes to get their ass on the field. He's the guy that has to lead because the entire team is looking for him to do exactly that. He's the guy that's been on campus the most on the offensive side of the ball. He's the guy with an actual resume that projects as a plus-starter.
The last time there was truly this much debate about the top of the quarterback depth chart in this town going into the season was in 2006 when Colt McCoy and Jevan Snead entered summer workouts in a dead heat, yet when they arrived in August for two-a-days, it was McCoy that had taken control of the offense and he took that control from May-July before the season, when the public was barely paying attention.
McCoy just took the damn thing over by imposing his will in every workout and practice, creating a presence that the rest of the team flocked to in overwhelming numbers
Can Ash be that assertive? Is there enough will inside of him that he can impose it on others?
If the answer is yes, then it's time to prove it. Not tomorrow, but today. Not in September, but in the summer when true championship grit and grind is forged.
This is it, David Ash. Are you going to seize the moment or let it slip-away?
If not, Papa Doc Wittek is going to take your j-o-b.
No. 2 - Scattershooting on the Longhorns…
… I spoke with two different sources last week who both reported that Johnathan Gray's rehab is going very well and that the talk of him not being ready for the start of the season isn't a scenario that Gray is planning for at all. It remains to be seen what version of Gray the Longhorns will have less than one year removed from an Achilles tear, but there's not a player in the program in recent history that is as aggressive in his recovery.
… After re-watching the spring game again this week, I'm not selling my Shiro Davis stock, but I am buying as much Caleb Bluiett stock as possible.
… Right on for Vince Young. I'll raise my hand and admit that I never thought he'd never get another NFL opportunity, but he has never given up and now he has a chance to fight his way back into a lasting NFL career.
… Daje Johnson averaged less than three carries per game last season as a ball carrier in the nine games in which he played, despite averaging a team-best 5.8 yards per carry (minimum three carries). How in the hell is that possible?
… I will get the 2016 LSR out this week. I will!
No.3 - Elephant in the UT dugout …
Ugh.
What else is there really to say about what has happened in the last month to the Texas baseball team? A month ago, the Longhorns were being discussed as a top national seed and conference-title favorite and as we head towards the final weekend of conference play in early May, the Longhorns are 11-10 in the Big 12, have lost three straight Big 12 series and suddenly don't look like a team that will be hosting a regional later in the month.
No, not a super-regional … an opening-weekend regional. Unless I'm crazy, it's hard to imagine that the Longhorns would host at this point when you consider that they've played eight Big 12 series thus far this season and have lost as many as they've won. Even if they hosted a regional, is anyone confident at this point that they would advance through the first weekend?
Omaha looks a long ways away at this point in the season. It is still doable, but it looks far, far away, which would seem to beg the following question …
Now what?
As someone that considers himself to be an Augie Garrido guy, I'm not sure that I know the answer. But I do know this season is headed towards another unsuccessful campaign and it feels like the program has lost its grip to a sizable degree. When the season hit its critical stretch, the Longhorns have digressed to the tune of a 2-7 record in its last nine Big 12 games.
Again … ugh.
Again … now what?
No. 4 - An update on the hiring search…
If finding a new ace Orangebloods football reporter were the Kentucky Derby, we'd be getting ready to enter the homestretch with this bad boy.
Although we might be a week or two away from announcing a hire, I can confirm a number of different little things about the search that should give you an idea of what type of addition we hope to make as we head into the summer. Anyway, a few details on what has transpired.
a. By the end of Monday, I will have interviewed or spoken somewhat seriously with 10 different candidates for the position. Those that have indicated serious interest include some of the very best reporters going on both the college/NFL scene, as well as a terrific NBA reporter (who also has college football experience). The hire will come from the pool of college football/NFL reporters that I have spoken with.
b. Five of the candidates have been interviewed on multiple occasions in the last three weeks and it's safe to say that those five have emerged as the front-runners for the position. But if I'm being completely honest, I can tell you that a front-runner does exist for the position coming out of this weekend.
c. The process has taken a couple of twists over the last couple of weeks, but that's only because names have entered the discussion that I probably wouldn't have guessed going into the search.
d. The job has not yet been officially offered, but I expect that to change in the coming week and I'm confident that we will land our No.1 choice.
e. We'll likely have the new piece of the OB puzzle put into place and producing content for the site in early June.
Here's to me channeling my inner-Tim Brewster and closing the deal with the five-star prospect of our liking.
No. 5 - "Mr. Unreliable" advances to round two, ready to accept his MVP trophy…
In retrospect, the fuss before game six relating to Kevin Durant's reliability was beyond silly.
After all, we're talking about a player whose reliability is part of what makes him a potentially all-time historic player, a guy whose reliability was a main principle in scoring 25+ points in 41 straight games earlier this season, helping his team win nearly 60 games (many without fellow all-star Russell Westbrook) and his ascent to MVP-level play.
Death. Taxes. Kevin Durant.
In retrospect, as silly as the fuss was, it might have ended up being the best thing that could have happened to the Oklahoma City team and its superstar. Oh, you can say it didn't matter and that Durant's explosion in the final two games would have happened regardless of any headlines from the local newspaper, but…
Before the "Mr. Unreliability" headline, Durant had been in a mini-slump, and appeared to have lost some mojo and was allowing Tony Allen to get a little too comfortable in defending him. The truth is that Durant wasn't playing at an MVP level and something needed to snap him out of whatever funk he was in, whether it was Durant bearing down on the task or using a little pissed off motivation from a headline to subconsciously change his mindset.
Bottom line in the final two games of the series: 69 points (23-41 FG), 18 rebounds and two huge wins.
It'll be fascinating to see how these playoffs go for Durant moving forward because it feels like the shackles of consternation have been removed, as the Grizzlies represent a little KD kryptonite with their combination of Tony Allen and what sits behind him in the paint, which means that the worst of his struggles in this post-season would seem to be behind him.
Oh, and just so everyone knows what struggling means in a Kevin Durant world, here's a look at his seven-game averages against the Grizzlies over the course of the last two weeks: 29.9 points (.440/.321/.767), 9.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 blocks
Here's a look at Larry Bird's career playoff averages: 23.8 points (.472/.321/.890), 10.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 0.9 blocks.
Death. Taxes. Kevin Durant.
No. 6 - The favorite side-piece of American sports fans has entered girlfriend territory …
I know I've written about this before, but after a weekend that featured five different game sevens to top off a wild set of first-round playoff match-ups, it warrants being repeated …
The NBA is pretty freaking special right now and this really isn't a new development.
Although it will never likely chase down the Godzilla-like NFL in the minds of a football nation, there's little doubt that the NBA has emerged as the standalone No. 2 in our sports stratosphere … with all due respect to college football. Part of the thing that separates the NFL from everyone else is its ability to dominate the sports news cycle 365/24/7.
Slowly but surely, the NBA has created the same kind of all-year itch that sports fans can stretch on a daily basis that the NFL possesses. The combination of must-watch superstars, a new free agency era that has helped create yearly soap opera-level intrigue and a playoff cycle that delivers the goods on a nightly basis for two straight months has launched a new juggernaut. As good as the last few weeks have been, the truth is that we're just getting started.
For so long, it used to be en vogue to brag about only watching the NBA when the playoffs rolled around, as if the only thing interesting about the league is what happens at the end. Supporting that ideology now means that you're simply missing out. A little secret for the remaining few of you out there that have waited until the last few weeks to join the NBA party … the excitement from the last two weeks can pretty much be found on a nightly basis these days.
The product is as good right now as it has ever been and, yes, I'm including the glory days of the 1980s.
*Bonus NBA scattershots*
… I don't even know what to tell Rockets fans three days after Damian Lillard sent their team into the off-season with one of the all-time great series-ending shots in NBA history. I'm not even a Rockets fan and I've been walking around the last few days mumbling questions about that shot out loud to myself. How does Lillard get that look in that situation? What in the hell did they talk about in the huddle less than a second away from a game-seven that I feel like they definitely would have won at home? Yeah man … that was …uh … something else.
… Whatever you say about the Rockets, don't say that Dwight Howard didn't bring his lunch pail for that series. Howard reminded everyone why he's still the best center in the game and it's a damn shame that one of his prime years as a player ended this early because when he's dialed in like he was for the last two weeks, he's a hell of a fun player to watch dominate.
… I don't know how much you guys have thought about this year, but Thunder/Clippers is going to be an incredible visual series. DVR every game.
… Hate on Russell Westbrook all you want, but he became the first player in NBA history on Saturday to throw down 25 points, dish out 15 assists and grab 10 rebounds in a game seven of the playoffs. Ever.
… Indiana better bring the heat against the Wizards or it will lose this series in six games because the backcourt of John Wall/Bradley Beal is no joke and that team is playing very together right now. If Nene plays in this series like he did in the last one and the Pacers play in this series like they did in the last one … Wizards in six. Wining game one will be critical for both teams.
… Heat over Brooklyn in 6. Pacers over the Wizards in 7. Thunder over the Clippers in 7. Spurs over the Blazers in 6.
No. 7 - Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… If there was any question about whether I wanted to pay half the national debt to watch Floyd Mayweather fight Marcos Maidana on Saturday night, the combination of him releasing abortion information about his ex-boo earlier in the week, the desperate attempts to hype the fight all week and the presence of Adrien Broner on the undercard insured that I might do a lot of things this weekend, but handing any of the participants a cent of my money wasn't going to be one of them. Occasionally, you have to have principles and this weekend proved to be one where I enforced a few.
… As fate would have it, a foreign broadcast of the fight popped up on my computer screen magically and I was able to watch the fight. My first thought? Meh. Although Maidana threw more punches than most of Floyd's opponents, neither man ever came close to actually hurting the other. It looked like a pillow fight for most of the 12 rounds and I have to admit that I expected more from Mayweather, who has gone all 12 rounds with six of his last seven fights going back to 2009 when he knocked out Ricky Hatton. If Mayweather happened to be an MMA fighter, nobody would view him as the pound-for-pound best because of his lack of finishing ability.
… I didn't see a second of this year's Kentucky Derby, but I did see at least 50 women in downtown Austin walking the streets in their Derby hats, which caused me to ponder why we don't create multiple Derby weekends each year … yanno … for the parties, gambling and involvement of the women?
… If Donald Sterling was an owner in the NFL, does anyone thing the situation would have been handled as strongly and swiftly as the NBA? Not only do I believe that the national outrage would have been filled with less rage, I don't believe for a second that any of the league's owners would have been forced out by Roger Goodell over such a thing. Nothing about the league's handling of Daniel Snyder's team name controversy suggests that Goodell would respond similarly to Adam Silver.
… Prediction: Adam Silver will get a standing ovation when he comes out for the first pick of this year's NBA Draft. Eat it, David Stern.
… Is Taylor Walker the next Katherine Webb? My goodness, how much fun must it be to play quarterback at Florida? Or Texas? Or USC? Or Anywhere?
No. 8 - Game of Thrones Recap: Season Four, Episode Five
Damn, we're already halfway through the season. Five down, five more to go.
Insert sad-face.
**************SPOILER ALERT!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!**************
I'M SERIOUS.
I REPEAT, I'M SERIOUS
**************SPOILER ALERT!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!**************
a. You never heard a cheer so genuine as those people cheering for King Tommen, knowing that his ass could never be as horrendous as his older brother.
b. Oh hell, here comes Cersei. She's probably had a three-liter of wine by this point of the ceremony.
c. Margery and Cersei don't exactly come across as women surprised by much, no offense to either, but Margery was down for a little threesome swirl on her honeymoon and Cersei was sexually assaulted by her brother two weeks ago.
d. Just to remind everyone, Jorah was stiffly put into the friend-zone last week. lulz.
e. Daenerys has Vince Young in 2005-level swag. That's Quuen Ruler, thank you very much.
f. The fellas in the Seven Kingdoms call Lysa Arryn "Lassie" when she's not around to hear them.
g. The Hound has been put on high alert! I love Arya. She's just ferocious.
h. I want Sansa to make Lassie fly.
i. Uncle Hound teaches lessons with bloody lips. Anyone else have the same uncle?
j. Whoa, did the kid from Love Actually just set himself on fire? That's the most interesting any scene with Bran has ever been.
k. Hodor!!!!!!! That was sick! Yes!!!!
l. I don't have any issue with one of the daughters having a role in Lord of the Flies' death, but I wanted Jon Snow to have a clean killing. Kind of feels like that dude missed two free throws to clinch the game.
m. A+ episode.
**************END OF SPOILER ALERT!!!! END OF SPOILER ALERT!!!!**************
No. 9 - Pop goes the culture because the culture goes pop …
… Hottie of the Weekend (possibly NSFW): Izabel Goulart Does A Bikini Photoshoot In Miami
… Any volunteers?: Kate Upton's butt wants more attention (enjoy)
… Attention fellas: Adriana Lima is back on the market
… WTF: Rare Goblin Shark Snagged By Fisherman Off Florida Waters
… BANNED: Ben Affleck is apparently a card counter in Vegas.
… Buffing up.: Bradley Cooper Gains 40 Pounds And A Beard For 'American Sniper' Role
… Home-wrecker: Pics Of The Girl Who ALLEGEDLY Had A Menage With Robin Thicke And Paula Patton
… FIFY: Squirrel goes nuts after man takes selfie
… Miley Link of the Weekend: Miley Cyrus Gets Covered in Oil in Sexy Concert Video:.
… Too much weed: James Franco's Nearly Nude Instagram Photo Is Proof He Needs More Of Your Attention
… Uh oh : 'Beverly Hills Cop' Reboot Set for 2016 Release
… Blowing my mind : Amos Lee covers Like a Virgin and it's the bomb
No. 10 - The List: High School Jams
It was during an interview with Phife Dog a couple of weeks ago that reality completely dawned on me… 20 years ago this month, yours truly was a graduating member of the McCallum Class of 1994.
20 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While I do my best to comprehend exactly what that means, I thought I would make a special list of the songs that most remind me of my days as a MAC Knight. These aren't the best songs from my high school years as much as it's a list of the songs that reminds me the most of that time in my life.
Here we go…
10. 2 Pac (I Get Around)
This. Was. My. Jam.
9. Boyz II Men (End of the Road)
I listened to this song 5,765,324 times in the 48-hour window after Resi Newman broke my heart by dismissing my overtures for another guy.
8. Divinyls (I Touch Myself)
There was a girl in my sophomore year English class that used to seductively sing this song and it's pretty much etched into my memory bank forever. Oh man, if I could only hop into the hot tub time machine and go back to teach myself some game back then.
7. Outkast (Player's Ball)
I was probably the first guy in my group of friends that was really into Outkast and this was the song that started it all. It was a definite go-to-song for all of my high school driving years.
6. Onyx (Slam)
You had to keep your head on a serious swivel when this song was played back in the day.
5. Van Morrison (Brown-Eyed Girl)
One of my groups of friends that I hung out with on the weekends used to play this song 15 times a night. Affectionately known as the "drunk white girl" song.
4. Janet Jackson (That's the way Love Goes)
This is the song that was playing when I got my ear pierced on the last day of my junior year in high school. The Janet in this song/video was to die for.
3. The Geto Boys (My Mind Playing Tricks on Me)
Easily, one of my favorite rap songs of all-time and I blasted this out of my first car (1989 Mercury Tracer) like I was full of Texas swag.
2. A Tribe Called Quest (Scenario)
If you loved rap music back in the day and didn't recreate the video of this song with your friends, I don't know what y'all were doing.
1. Dr. Dre, featuring Snoop Dogg (Nuthin' But A G'Thang)
From the moment this song first dropped, you couldn't find a house party where this song wasn't played at least 15 times during the night. It always felt like this song brought all races, genders and cultures together because EVERYONE loved this song.
Archives List
Blues/Jazz: Listen via Spotify )
Classical: Listen via Spotify)
Country: Listen via Spotify )
Electronic: Listen Via Spotify
Funk: Listen Via Spotify (Part II ? After Hours))
Metal: Listen Via Spotify
Pop: Listen via Spotify )
Punk: Listen via Spotify)
Random: My Number 1's on Spotify
Rap: Listen via Spotify),
R&B: Listen via Spotify)
Reggae: Listen via Spotify)
Rock: Listen via Spotify )
and Listen via Spotify )
This post was edited on 5/5 9:03 AM by Suchomel
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