We're behind you, Coach Rose

Some very sad news broke yesterday about Dave Rose, head coach of the BYU Men's Basketball team. Coach Rose has been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Though I've never met Dave Rose personally I greatly respect him as a man and as a coach, and I am hurt by this news. I pray that he and his family will be blessed with strength and peace during this horrible time.

Thoughts and prayers are with Coach Rose and his family. All the best coach. Here's hoping you can beat this cancer.

**Update**

After reading more about this horrible situation, I find myself slightly more optimistic about Rose's future. Apparently Coach Rose has a rare form of pancreatic cancer called pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor cancer. This form, from all reports I've read, is more treatable and has a higher survival rate.

Here are two great articles you can read about Coach Rose and this particular form of cancer:

From Greg Wrubell's BYU Blog: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=498&sid=6856175

From the Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/collegesports/ci_12615461?

Thank you Jake!

A little ray of sunshine named Jake Heaps has parted the clouds that hang over LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The latest news is that Jake Heaps will commit to BYU today. He will hold a press conference this afternoon to announce his decision, but local papers are already claiming Heaps will be a Cougar.

Jake Heaps, by the way, is the number one QB prospect in the nation (according to Scouts.com).

Thank you for choosing BYU, Jake. We, as fans, won't let you down. I promise.

Now let's talk privately for a bit. I have to ask, Jake... why did you choose BYU? Was it the sexy knee shorts? Did a co-ed escort take you to all the hot religion classes? Actually, I bet it was a Graham Canyon shake at the BYU creamery. That crap would get me to commit to a week's worth of waterboarding.

Whatever the reason, we welcome you to BYU with open arms. Here's hoping you win at LEAST 3 national championships.

Oh, and tell all your big-time buddies to come to BYU too. Thanks.

**Update**

I just finished watching the press conference and Jake looked like a million bucks. He officially committed to BYU amid raucous applause, and then introduced Texas standout WR Ross Apo and California linebacker Zac Stout who did the same. At the end of the conference all three were smiling from ear to ear, wearing BYU caps and soaking in the cheers.

Good day for BYU football.

Our march through Orderville Canyon

This last weekend some friends and I drove down to Zion National Park and hiked Orderville Canyon. It was about a 12-mile hike and it took us a good seven hours.

The hike was absolutely beautiful. We made our way through narrow slot canyons, over waterfalls, around boulders and logjams and finally down the virgin river to the public park area. I can honestly say it was one of the funnest hikes I've ever done. Right up there with the Subway.

I will say, though, I'm still sore.

Here are some pictures I took of our trip:

ZNP

And if you're interested, here are some places you'll find even more (and better) pictures:

Dan's Picasa Album
Ross' Album

A report from the softball underground

You see them every day. You smile at them, make polite conversation and generally think they're pretty normal guys.

They may even be some of your best friends.

But they all have a dirty secret.

I'm writing, of course, about your co-workers. All great guys, right? Well here's something you don't know about them: They're all a part of a secret society. They meet every week with clubs and matching uniforms and they engage in primitive rituals for hours at a time.

I'm speaking, of course, about the softball league in which you were not invited to participate. Somewhere during the course of your employment you were judged without even knowing it and you have been found wanting.

That's why you're watching American Idol on Tuesday nights.

I know all this because I infiltrated the secret society a few weeks ago. I stumbled upon my work's chapter by accident. Some of the members of this exclusive softball club got lazy one afternoon and spoke of their upcoming game publicly. I poked my head over the cubicle wall and made an innocent inquiry.

They all shifted in their seats uncomfortably as they invited me to come play that evening. They probably counted on me to decline their offer. Big mistake on their part.

I showed up to the field that night with my cleats in one hand and a dirty old mitt in the other and I never looked back. Eventually I was accepted as one of their own, but not without a gruelling initiation process (which included playing catcher for one inning. Catcher is where softball players go to die).

Now I'm in the society and the air has never tasted as sweet. Now I too share in the raucous storytelling, the camaraderie, the fresh air, the mild exercise and everything else that comes with organized sports on the city level.

I strongly encourage you to find a secret society near you and break through that glass ceiling. Corner that ex-high school baseball player you work with and find out where he and the boys disappear to on weeknights. Join a softball league.

But don't tell anyone.

Site Spotlight: Social Media Conversion

It seems like now is a good time to point your attention to another blog project of mine.

This one is a little more professional, however. I'm lucky enough to be working in the social media marketing/communications field, and I found I was consistently answering questions and teaching others around me the value of social media.

I decided I needed to catalogue these little discussions, so I'm putting my thoughts on social media down in a blog. It's called Social Media Conversion.

It's a blog designed for people who aren't quite nuts about the whole social media thing just yet, and maybe just need a few answers before they totally jump in.

Anyway, if you're interested please throw it in your Google Reader. The address is http://smconversion.blogspot.com.

ESPN's winning formula

Rare opportunity to catch ESPN in the afternoon today, and I've discovered a formula for ESPN's wild success in the world of sports.

1. Identify 2-3 big sports stories for the day
2. Start by covering them 6 different ways on SportsCenter
3. Debate the same stories on 1st and 10
4. Debate the same stories on Jim Rome is Burning
5. Debate the same stories on Around the Horn
6. Debate the same stories on PTI
7. Report the same stories on SportsCenter that evening
8. Repeat every single day

I love ESPN, but geez. It's like ESPN is a giant publicity firm for Dwight Howard and Brett Favre.

I could have done so much more...

There I sat on a perfect Saturday afternoon in May at Miller Park on BYU campus. The air was sweet, the smell of bratwurst circled through the seats and I sat in the stands spitting sunflower seeds all over the ground.

There’s nothing like a BYU baseball game.

The weather is perfect, the setting is beauteous, and the game itself is part of the most entertaining brand of baseball you’ll ever see.

On top of all that, I just love the BYU baseball team. Steve Parker, Kent Walton, Kasey Ko, Dan Vargas and others are all holdovers from when I covered BYU baseball for the Daily Universe in the Spring of 2007. I loved that team, and I still consider that the best part of my college career.

So when I went home Saturday I vowed I would return for many more BYU baseball games. It wasn’t until Monday that I realized Saturday’s game was the last home game of the year.

I was devastated. Remorseful. I acted too late. I could have been there when the team needed me, but I turned my back on them. And now they’re gone.

Please, readers, don’t make the same mistake I made. Next season plan on a few games to attend with your friends, your wives (not a polygamy joke), or you kids. It’s the best way to spend a spring afternoon.

Some quick thoughts about Saturday’s game:

• I love baseball crowds. It’s like going back to high school.

• Bronco Mendenhall was there with one of his sons (Cutter, Breaker or Raeder, I’m not sure).

• Robert Anae and Brandon Doman, BYU football coaches, were there with some recruits. I think one of them was Dallas Lloyd from PG. I excitedly told my friend Russ, but he didn’t seem to care.

• Jim Beam sunflower seeds. TYF.

Kobe vs. LeBron

Who here honestly believes in their soft fleshy hearts that the NBA Finals will include any two other teams than the Lakers and Cavaliers?

Much like the epic matchup last year between the Lakers and the Celtics, the Kobe/LeBron matchup for the NBA championship was foreordained from before the foundation of the 2008/2009 season. It is, as the French say, inevitable.

So be sure to watch in the upcoming days and weeks as every call, every bounce and every basket seems to go the Lakers' and Cavaliers' way until they meet in the NBA Finals. Should be fun.

Paddy Harrington and the 400-yard par three

This video is for everyone who dreamed of climbing to the top of a mountain and indiscriminately firing golf balls toward the unsuspecting dwellers below.

BYU Happenings

Wow. A whole mess of stories are brewing for BYU players and alumni alike.

First, Linebacker Matt Ah You has decided to transfer. As with all cases of transfer my first question is "Why?" Unfortunately, BYU beat writers never really pursue this question. It has to be due to our Mormon culture and BYU's honor code. People automatically assume players only transfer from BYU due to honor code violations, and squawk that such matters should be left private. But this is exactly why beat writers should get the whole story--to dispel rumors.

Then again, if these reporters actually do their jobs and print the whole story they are put on the pike for airing the dirty laundry of a childish college student. So it's a fine line.

Anyway, none of that has to do with Ah You. Apparently, according to this article from Total Blue Sports, he's transferring because he's not getting the playing time he wants at BYU. Best of luck at Dixie State, kid.

Second, John Beck was picked up last week by the Baltimore Ravens. Beck was re-united with Cam Cameron, the head coach at Miami who drafted him. Maybe it's because I have such fond memories of the 2006 season, but I'm really pulling for Beck. He was such a general here at BYU; hopefully he can get it done in the NFL... eventually.

Beck will battle Ohio State alum Troy Smith to back up Joe Flacco. This is good, because A. Troy Smith sucks rocks, and B. Flacco is not exactly a legacy quarterback. Things could go south real quick, and Beck may have a good opportunity in the near future.

Third, check out this article from Greg Wrubell about the depth BYU will have next basketball season. You read it hear first, BYU is going to have an historic year next year.

And what's the deal with this article from the Deseret News BYU blog about Kyle Collinsworth? I know it's your job to keep things interesting, Mr. Rayburn, but come on. Kyle Collinsworth not a lock? Chris Collinsworth transferring? Talk about drumming up excitement about nothing. Chris is solid, and the only way BYU could miss out on Kyle is if Dave Rose accidentally backs over the Collinsworth family dog on the way out of his driveway.

Finally, if you're a BYU fan who held on to the hope that the Cougs might land Brighton high DT Ricky Heimuli, you better wake up right now before you get too attached. In addition to being offered a scholarship from EVERY (re-read: EVERY) school in the Pac-10, Heimuli has offers from Michigan, Michigan State and Oklahoma. Anyone honestly think BYU has a shot at this kid? So long, Rick.