The EMAW Strikes Back

When I got to my desk today at work, I had a 20-oz grape Gatorade and a pack of grape Bubblicious waiting for me.  I’ve got an awful lot of Purple subordinates in this department, walking that line.  It’s OK.  I was a good sport.  I had a hunch which one was the culprit, so I walked right over to her cube, unscrewed the Gatorade cap, and slowly drank it in front of her.  She appreciated it.  I was taking my medicine.  Anything for my employees. 

As poorly as Kansas played yesterday, if you would have told me they were going to shoot 44% and score 68 points in “The Bram,” I would have bet a fair piece that KU was going to win the game.  That should have been enough—last year featured a MUCH BETTER Kansas State team and a comparable KU team, and the game in the Bram was 69-69 going into overtime. 

But these things happen.  I kept telling my KSU buddies here at work (who were all convinced that the ‘Cats were gonna get rolled) that Kansas State was going to go one or two ways after the Colorado heartbreaker—they would either roll over and die, or they would have a chip on their shoulder so big that the dam was going to burst.  It was Big Monday, on the biggest stage, against their biggest rival with a BRAND NEW #1 target on their back in front of what was going to be their best crowd of the year.  If they couldn’t find their pride for this one, then they didn’t have a pulse.

Let’s put it into perspective how good Kansas State was yesterday, especially Pullen:

--Kansas State came in shooting a league-worst 43.5% from the field.  Kansas had the league’s third-BEST field goal defense (38.8%).  So, of course, Kansas State goes out and shoots 56% from the field.

--Kansas State came in shooting a league-worst 61.5% from the free throw line.  So, of course, they go 24 for 29 from the line (83%).

--Jake Pullen came in shooting a putrid 32.8% for 3-pointers this season, AND Kansas had the league’s second-BEST three-point defense (28.6%).  So, of course, Jake hits 5 for 6 from behind the arc (83.3%).

Like I said before, Kansas didn’t play well.  There were plenty of things I saw from my team that I didn’t like.  But I’m not going to talk about those, because I don’t want to sound like a spoiled sport, here.  I’m going to give credit where credit is due.  Kansas State played, BEYOND A DOUBT, their best game of the year—their best game of the Frank Martin era.  I’ll shoot down any arguments that it wasn’t.

Good for them.  Of course I’d like to play them again in the conference tournament, and get a chance to settle the score.  But until then, I’ll be cheering for Kansas State to win every game they play.  I have selfish reasons (like Texas needing to loose two games for KU to have a shot at extending their conference winning streak to seven).  But I also want to see Frank continue to steer the ship in Manhattan for years to come.  He’s highly entertaining, and some of the things he’s said in the past week (like talking about ripping a fan’s head off in the stands in Boulder) started to make me wonder if he’s about to do something to get himself fired with cause.  I think the chance of that happening is less now.


*** Addendum ***


The first comment below proposes a splendid idea.  Here goes...

 

Jeff Withey = C3PO.  Tall.  Skinny.  Not particularly skilled, doesn’t contribute anything, but funny in a “laugh-at” sort of way.  Majoring in Communications (Seriously, I didn’t make that up).

 

Markieff Morris = Chewbacca.  Tall, long, mad skills, bit of a temper problem.  For some unknown reason, likes to play the subservient role to his best buddy (which is Marcus, so I’m stretching it a little, since I’m not putting Marcus in the Han role).

 

Marcus Morris = Luke Skywalker.  Can be a little whiney and unlikable, but has unparalleled skills and ends up being the hero.  Doesn’t know his father.

 

Thomas Robinson = Han Solo.  Easily the most entertaining character of the bunch, but gets much too little screen time.  Spent half the season on the shelf (frozen in carbonite?), but is probably capable of pulling the hottest chicks out of the whole bunch.

 

Danny Manning = Master Yoda.  Has more skills than the sum of both rosters, combined.  Could probably still hold his own out there, but he’s getting old and slow.  Could turn anyone who would listen into a master, themselves, if they would just “learn control.”

 

Tyshawn Taylor = R2D2.  Always gets himself into trouble, and no one can understand a thing he says.  But usually finds a way to be useful and does enough good things to resist the temptation to toss him to the scrap heap.

 

Josh Selby = Lando.  Kind of a shady side to him, but his game is usually oh-so smooth.

 

Curtis Kelly = Jaba the Hutt.  A little overweight, a little lazy.  Not a particularly good role model.

 

Jacob Pullen = Boba Fett.  Clearly has the skills, and could be a force to be reckoned with, but will probably end up shooting himself into the Pit of Sarlacc.

 

Frank Martin = Darth Vader.  Can choke you to death merely by staring at you.  In the end, he comes back from the dark side to join Bill’s staff and we learn that he’s Marcus and Markieff’s father (which explains their surly nature).