Over The Pylon

Oh, Monday. You reared your ugly head once again and the lovely budding relationship with me and the weekend was cut short once again. One of these days perhaps you’ll stop doing that. But since you did, I guess we’d better check in on the happenings around the Nest for the weekend and celebrate some celebrity birthdays, right? Right. Thought so.

As a baseball fan, David “Big Papi” Ortiz is one of the ones I’ll probably be happy to tell my kids I saw play. While I am fully aware a good majority of Americans don’t care for baseball like they used to, thanks largely in part to megahuge contracts and steroids, it’s still the American Pastime, dammit. And Papi is one of the most clutch players to play the game. As a Yankee fan, I’m obviously a little anti-Sox, and no player is more representative of the Sox return to dominance than Ortiz, but to overlook his impact on the diamond over the last decade would be not accepting reality simply because he was cheered for by rude Massholes. And that just wouldn’t be fair. Papi turns 38 today and I would be willing to wager his birthday parties are not at all unfun. Off we go…

As if 2013 wasn’t already the Year of the Cardinal and their wide receivers, Willie Snead was announced as a semifinalist today for the Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s best wide receiver. The other nine names are household ones in college football so it’s nice to see such a talented and deserving player make the cut despite not having ESPN slurp and slobber him all week long. That’s the definition of talent.

Your BSU football team is off from game action for the next two weeks, next taking the field on Black Friday. It’s the final home game for a fantastic senior class, it’s a chance to hit double-digit wins and move the Cards to 10-2, and with a win the Cards are still alive (albeit perhaps not as of Wednesday pending other games) for a MAC Championship. Some people will want to skip the game because they would rather go and buy a bunch of wondersale type things at whatever retailer is around them, but as a former retail employee who worked black Friday: there are very few worthwhile sale items that the employees haven’t already pulled back and reserved and you won’t get what’s left unless you’re there at the asscrack of dawn. Which still leaves you time to go to the game. Excuses? You has none. See you Black Friday.

For those of you who didn’t spend much time on the web looking for BSU things on Friday afternoon, the recreation and wellness center, some residence halls, etc. were put on lockdown after reports of a man with a gun filtered to police. The photos on Instagram and Twitter were scary and working in higher ed while things like  Virginia Tech and NIU happen make you realize just how bad something like that could be. No one and, more importantly, no gun was found in the complex and from all reports, the students and staff along with police and first responders did a great job with a difficult situation. A+ y’all.

Andy Thorpe, who should be your go-to recruiting expert for BSU football, has a great piece about two Cardinal recruits that are on track to play against each other in the Indiana 5A Championship game. You can check that out here.

BSU women’s volleyball clinched a share of the MAC West title and the #3 seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament by beating Western Michigan on Saturday. The Cards are back in action against WMU again on Friday in the tournament. The Broncos are the 7th seed. Oh, by the way, that was the first win by BSU on Western’s home court since 2006. Nice job, ladies.

At the end of last week, the BSU cross-country team had their season end at the NCAA Great Lakes Region Championship. Though the Cards’ season is over, five of the six competing runners posted career bests in the event. I am most definitely not a runner, but the term “career best” is transcendent across every sport. (via)

BSU head baseball coach Rich Maloney announced the signing of eight recruits for the BSU baseball program on Friday. Welcome to the new Cardinals and batter up! Unless you’re a pitcher. Then it’s batter down. But you get the point. (via)

BSU men’s basketball is back in action tonight at 7 at home versus Southeast Missouri. Game tips at 7 and you might as well jump on the BSU Basketball Bandwagon now while there is still space.

Your BSU Tweet of the Day comes from @jessica_moak:
It’s funny, but I hear that from alums all the time and usually from people who thought once they were done with BSU they would kick that Muncie dirt off their shoes and never look back. Yet, even now, a decade later, there are crisp fall days or sunny and bright spring days when I would give just about anything to be back in Muncie and reliving some great years. Don’t take it for granted kiddies.

Filed under: Ball State, BallStateFootball, Basketball, News and Notes, Volleyball |