Post by FLHoya on Jul 17, 2010 23:21:39 GMT -5
Two things on my mind this afternoon: earthquakes and cupcakes.
I awoke Friday morning to a text message (punctuated by an exclamation point!) from my mother asking about the earthquake. Ummmm, the what now?
I took to CNN to figure out what in the world was going on while I was asleep (this is happening with alarming regularity lately…someone be sure to call and wake me up if we find bin Laden or Esherick gets a coaching job) and read the news of the 3-point-who cares earthquake that “hit” (was it even big enough to use an action verb?) the DC/MD region early that morning. Meh, whatever, I sleep through fire engines that whiz past my apartment every night, so a minor tremor isn’t likely to rouse me from REM sleep. A slightly bigger quake hit Virginia during my senior year at GU, and my desk in Henle…vibrated a little. Yippee!!
Next site I check is Facebook. And you’d think THE BIG ONE shook the Nation’s Capital. About a dozen of my friends—who I’d think would be more likely to be just getting to bed shortly before 5am—had posted their insta-OMGs at how they “survived” the dry hump of a geological event.
Maybe it’s the DMV’s tendency towards alarmism—we are the region of the Snowpocalypse and Snowgasm after all—that makes the earthquake so confusingly relevant as water cooler conversation.
Of course, I had a different idea when I drove through Georgetown today. I detoured down M Street and made a left up the street between Rhino* and Georgetown Cupcake, the subject of a summer reality show that premiered a few days ago.
(*I think a reality show about Rhino would be strangely fascinating.)
In the 95 degree heat, the tiny storefront was overpacked with sundresses, mom jeans, and boyfriends surfing ESPN.com on their Blackberry. As I drove up the hill to Prospect Street (boy howdy, I feel bad for those boyfriends), the line of patrons stretched nearly the entire block, a solid stream of easily 100+ people waiting in line for the privilege of paying about 3 bucks for gussied up Betty Crocker.
The cupcake fetish is hardly anything new, but nonetheless confusing. Why bother with a long line for such a pedestrian item (and I say this as a longtime patron of Ray’s Hell Burger)?
I wish I could credit the answer to the correct Washington Post reader or writer who gave it weeks ago to explain another local phenomenon: Stephen Strasburg. Addressing the tremendous spike in attendance for Strasburg starts at Nationals Park that never translate to subsequent games, they noted that DC is simply an event-driven scene. We come to the Navy Yard not to Rock The Red, but to say we were there to see the next great pitcher…you know, what’s his name. The cupcakes aren’t that good, but there’s something to the status of carrying that pink box and hanging out somewhere “famous” (I don’t even know what I’d talk about at lunch with Presidents Obama and Medvedev…maybe try to hype up Julian Vaughn as a sleeper All Big East candidate). And we didn’t really wake up at 5am and feel a little shake…but we were THERE in some way, right?
I thought about the event driven culture of DC when I noticed the stands rapidly filling up at about 4:15 this afternoon. Is it possible that Tombs games at the Kenner League are reaching a tipping point among Hoya fans that they’ve become a legitimate event? Judging by the size and cross section of the crowd today, it’s entirely possible that Summer Saturdays at Kenner are the next new designer fetish.
Strangely, nobody seems to be lining up for the hot dogs.
CLYDE’S 75 Higher Level 67
(Will Smith & DJ Jazzy Jeff: “Summertime” )
As the crowds filed in for the Tombs game, the undercard was surprisingly well fought. As with most Kenner League games this summer, the GU affiliated team had the better of play early on and built a substantial first half and halftime lead, before losing energy in the second half and allowing their opponent to chip away. In this case, a 15 point or so lead was trimmed to a single point with 2 and a half minutes to go…but Clyde’s held on and converted their free throws for the W.
Julian Vaughn: 14 points, 6-8 FG, 2-4 FT, 8 RB (3 off), 1A, 1STL, 2T, 5F
I like Julian as a Kenner League teammate. He plays the ideal dual role. He’s a good mentor for the underclassmen Hoyas on his team—in this case, Vee Sanford, who he works with on screens and offers directions on the floor—and he puts himself in good position to help his teammates, always presenting a good target for passes and willingly sharing the basketball.
On the second to last point, #swagman’s super strength is getting solid post position. Working against good sized opposition, Julian frequently backed his man under the basket and converted layups in the post. His finishing in traffic and with contact was above average, as was the amount of contact he dealt.
On the latter point, Julian will obviously represent a change of pace from Greg Monroe, only one of the best passing centers in the past several years. Julian won’t duplicate Greg’s skill passing the ball from the high elbow and other “Princeton” situations. He is, however, already a phenomenal passer from the low post, both to the weak side perimeter and backdoor for layups. Not many assists to show for it—you can never take a catch or finish for granted in the Kenner League—but the ideas are there.
He sat for longer stretches than normal due to foul trouble, so fatigue wasn’t as big a factor.
Vee Sanford: 9 points, 3-9 2FG, 1-6 3FG, 6RB (2 off), 2A, 5TO, 4STL, 2BLK
Interesting game today—like a pop song, catchy and enjoyable, but not sure if it holds up to critical acclaim.
There’s a certain kind of rhythm to his dribble actually—a mid-tempo number, almost as if he’s always caught between sprinting down the court and walking the ball up. He moves across the court in kind of a slow wave. The note that caught my ear was a little off tune perhaps—seemed like he could tidy up the dribble a little bit…I think stronger defensive teams might see him as a prime candidate to attempt stripping the ball from behind.
Do like that on Clyde’s he gets to be one of the primary ball handlers—need to feel out how good a tune he plays there. Good experience—even if he has some rough decision making days, like today when he was often caught between two minds on a fast break and made some unforced passing errors. From the perimeter, a little too one note: he seemed to use the same hesitation move every time he drove the lane.
He shot the ball as often as Austin Freeman today. Here again, it provided some near-highlights, but in the final analysis the shot selection needs tidying up…a few less three pointers.
A popular crowd pleaser still figuring out his signature sound.
I awoke Friday morning to a text message (punctuated by an exclamation point!) from my mother asking about the earthquake. Ummmm, the what now?
I took to CNN to figure out what in the world was going on while I was asleep (this is happening with alarming regularity lately…someone be sure to call and wake me up if we find bin Laden or Esherick gets a coaching job) and read the news of the 3-point-who cares earthquake that “hit” (was it even big enough to use an action verb?) the DC/MD region early that morning. Meh, whatever, I sleep through fire engines that whiz past my apartment every night, so a minor tremor isn’t likely to rouse me from REM sleep. A slightly bigger quake hit Virginia during my senior year at GU, and my desk in Henle…vibrated a little. Yippee!!
Next site I check is Facebook. And you’d think THE BIG ONE shook the Nation’s Capital. About a dozen of my friends—who I’d think would be more likely to be just getting to bed shortly before 5am—had posted their insta-OMGs at how they “survived” the dry hump of a geological event.
Maybe it’s the DMV’s tendency towards alarmism—we are the region of the Snowpocalypse and Snowgasm after all—that makes the earthquake so confusingly relevant as water cooler conversation.
Of course, I had a different idea when I drove through Georgetown today. I detoured down M Street and made a left up the street between Rhino* and Georgetown Cupcake, the subject of a summer reality show that premiered a few days ago.
(*I think a reality show about Rhino would be strangely fascinating.)
In the 95 degree heat, the tiny storefront was overpacked with sundresses, mom jeans, and boyfriends surfing ESPN.com on their Blackberry. As I drove up the hill to Prospect Street (boy howdy, I feel bad for those boyfriends), the line of patrons stretched nearly the entire block, a solid stream of easily 100+ people waiting in line for the privilege of paying about 3 bucks for gussied up Betty Crocker.
The cupcake fetish is hardly anything new, but nonetheless confusing. Why bother with a long line for such a pedestrian item (and I say this as a longtime patron of Ray’s Hell Burger)?
I wish I could credit the answer to the correct Washington Post reader or writer who gave it weeks ago to explain another local phenomenon: Stephen Strasburg. Addressing the tremendous spike in attendance for Strasburg starts at Nationals Park that never translate to subsequent games, they noted that DC is simply an event-driven scene. We come to the Navy Yard not to Rock The Red, but to say we were there to see the next great pitcher…you know, what’s his name. The cupcakes aren’t that good, but there’s something to the status of carrying that pink box and hanging out somewhere “famous” (I don’t even know what I’d talk about at lunch with Presidents Obama and Medvedev…maybe try to hype up Julian Vaughn as a sleeper All Big East candidate). And we didn’t really wake up at 5am and feel a little shake…but we were THERE in some way, right?
I thought about the event driven culture of DC when I noticed the stands rapidly filling up at about 4:15 this afternoon. Is it possible that Tombs games at the Kenner League are reaching a tipping point among Hoya fans that they’ve become a legitimate event? Judging by the size and cross section of the crowd today, it’s entirely possible that Summer Saturdays at Kenner are the next new designer fetish.
Strangely, nobody seems to be lining up for the hot dogs.
CLYDE’S 75 Higher Level 67
(Will Smith & DJ Jazzy Jeff: “Summertime” )
As the crowds filed in for the Tombs game, the undercard was surprisingly well fought. As with most Kenner League games this summer, the GU affiliated team had the better of play early on and built a substantial first half and halftime lead, before losing energy in the second half and allowing their opponent to chip away. In this case, a 15 point or so lead was trimmed to a single point with 2 and a half minutes to go…but Clyde’s held on and converted their free throws for the W.
Julian Vaughn: 14 points, 6-8 FG, 2-4 FT, 8 RB (3 off), 1A, 1STL, 2T, 5F
I like Julian as a Kenner League teammate. He plays the ideal dual role. He’s a good mentor for the underclassmen Hoyas on his team—in this case, Vee Sanford, who he works with on screens and offers directions on the floor—and he puts himself in good position to help his teammates, always presenting a good target for passes and willingly sharing the basketball.
On the second to last point, #swagman’s super strength is getting solid post position. Working against good sized opposition, Julian frequently backed his man under the basket and converted layups in the post. His finishing in traffic and with contact was above average, as was the amount of contact he dealt.
On the latter point, Julian will obviously represent a change of pace from Greg Monroe, only one of the best passing centers in the past several years. Julian won’t duplicate Greg’s skill passing the ball from the high elbow and other “Princeton” situations. He is, however, already a phenomenal passer from the low post, both to the weak side perimeter and backdoor for layups. Not many assists to show for it—you can never take a catch or finish for granted in the Kenner League—but the ideas are there.
He sat for longer stretches than normal due to foul trouble, so fatigue wasn’t as big a factor.
Vee Sanford: 9 points, 3-9 2FG, 1-6 3FG, 6RB (2 off), 2A, 5TO, 4STL, 2BLK
Interesting game today—like a pop song, catchy and enjoyable, but not sure if it holds up to critical acclaim.
There’s a certain kind of rhythm to his dribble actually—a mid-tempo number, almost as if he’s always caught between sprinting down the court and walking the ball up. He moves across the court in kind of a slow wave. The note that caught my ear was a little off tune perhaps—seemed like he could tidy up the dribble a little bit…I think stronger defensive teams might see him as a prime candidate to attempt stripping the ball from behind.
Do like that on Clyde’s he gets to be one of the primary ball handlers—need to feel out how good a tune he plays there. Good experience—even if he has some rough decision making days, like today when he was often caught between two minds on a fast break and made some unforced passing errors. From the perimeter, a little too one note: he seemed to use the same hesitation move every time he drove the lane.
He shot the ball as often as Austin Freeman today. Here again, it provided some near-highlights, but in the final analysis the shot selection needs tidying up…a few less three pointers.
A popular crowd pleaser still figuring out his signature sound.
. I don't mind this if the Tombs are lacking in players and need Jeff or Roy to fill in for a couple of games. But this year's version of the Tombs has six current Hoyas on the squad already so putting Jeff out there, even if it helps in the W column, doesn't service the development of the guys we will count on this upcoming season.
That's an asinine comment. 
).