Mom, I promise I'll call as soon as I get this posted...

Rubber Game Today: After splitting the Friday and Saturday games with Oklahoma, the Bat Cats face a crucial nine innings today in Norman, Okla.  The conference standings are a bit muddled right now because the Nebraska/Texas A&M and Missouri/KU games were postponed due to rain yesterday, but we do know this: K-State is eighth in the conference standings, half a game behind KU (who must play two games against Mizzou today) and half a game ahead of today's opponent, OU.  Win this game, and we have a 1.5 game lead on OU and the tiebreaker.  Also, if we win today and KU splits today with Mizzou, we would remain tied with KU for seventh place with the Sunflower Series coming up next week.

First pitch today is at 1 p.m., and you can listen to the game at 1350 KMAN.  Follow the KU action over at Rock Chalk Talk or on the NCAA's live-scoring page.

Gentlemen, Start Your Wallets: I didn't mean that lead-in to be sexist, so ladies, you're included, too.  Point is, K-State is embarking on a major facilities-upgrade project and, as most things do these days, it's gonna cost us.  To the tune of $70 million, to be exact.  It will be money well-spent, though.  The last two years I've seen the megatrons and sports palaces at Texas and Texas A&M and, frankly, we have some work to do.

I do like this quote from athletic director Bob Krause:

"No, you don't need marble and cherry wood coming out the ears," Krause said. "You don't need the red waterfalls and all that stuff. You need a plan, you need the right people, and you need the patience to work with the plan."

That's just about it for today.  A happy and relaxing Mother's Day to you all.

Finals are over, and I couldn't be more elated.  Of course, that means a travel day tomorrow as I return to Kansas City for the summer.  Don't expect an update tomorrow, but feel free to post something new in the diaries for everyone to discuss.

Nothing like an accurate headline: Check out the following screen shot from yesterday's Wichita Eagle Web site.

The article titled "K-State misses on APR" chronicles the performance by K-State, KU, Wichita State and Oklahoma State in the recently released NCAA academic progress rate (APR) report.  I find it interesting they chose to single out K-State's loss of a scholarship in men's basketball rather than, oh, say, KU's loss of two scholarships in football.  Meanwhile, the headline under KU's section, "Ahead of the class" refers to a 2010 KU basketball recruit.

Is Bob Lutz writing the headlines?  You'd think a senior sports editor would be above something menial like writing headlines, but apparently not.

Modern technology is a wonderful thing: Apparently the KC Star is still using a horse-and-buggy to get news stories, because it only took two days for it to realize we beat a top-five baseball team Wednesday night, not to mention a UC-Irvine team that played in Omaha last June a couple weeks ago.

Man, what's wrong with me today?  Vitriol for newspapers everywhere.

Why is this "Kansas State University" news?

You're all going to regret that a friend of mine showed me how to take screen shots, because I'm clearly abusing the privilege.  But let's stick with the theme here and keep finding fault with the local rags.  Here's a selection from the KC Star today:

He's not our coach.  He's West Virginia's coach.  West Virigina isn't anywhere near Kansas City, Mo.

Quite Probably My Favorite Wildcat: His whole life, Darren Sproles was told he couldn't.  He was too small to play Big 12 football.  He stuttered in interviews with the media.

He overcame it all, and now he's playing in the NFL and helping others with speech impediments.

Darren, keep carrying that banner high.

K-Stated: Check in with Jeffrey Martin over at K-Stated for some new and interesting info.

I am now down to one final exam remaining, but while the end is so near, it's still so far away.  As such, I don't have enough time to put up a full post, although I will note that K-State beat Arizona State, 7-6, in baseball last night, which is a huge win for the Cats.

Anyway, I thought the time was ripe for a community discussion of Bill Walker's future.  We haven't heard anything since he declared for the draft.  Is he gone?  Should he be?  Finally, if he were to return, what are the team's prospects for next year?  We know what Sooner fans think about that, now I want to hear what you think.

They're No. 1 No.3/4: Tonight, the Bat Cats welcome No. 1 3/4 Arizona State to Manhattan.  First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m., so if you're in or near Manhattan, you should definitely head over to Tointon.  It's not every decade that the best baseball team in the country comes to MHK.  If you're listening on the radio, feel free to track the game's progress in the comments.

The Season Lives!  Despite a disappointing finish at the Big 12 championships, the men's golf team will live to play another three days.  Tim Norris's crew was selected as a participant in the NCAA West Regionals, to take place May 15-17 in Bremerton, Wash.  That's an important accomplishment for a program that has been struggling to regain the level of play it exhibited from 2002-04.  Good luck on the west coast, Cats!

Stay Safe, Manhattan: A Sabetha man is in custody after a stabbing last night east of campus left two people injured.  Not enough details at this point to know whether it included any K-State students, although the perpetrator is apparently not a student.

It's not me, it's you: A news flash to the NCAA: when you enact regulations with which 700 of your teams cannot comply, the regulations may be flawed.  I wrote about this academic progress report last year at the old blog, and my contentions remain.  In many ways, the standards the NCAA has promulgated do not reliably deter problematic academic behavior as much as they punish teams for things like transfers.

I'd like to dig into this more deeply, but with two finals in the next 41 hours, I simply don't have the time.  Such inquiry may be a project for the summer.  Leave any thoughts you may have in the comments or a diary.

Wish me luck.  The next two days will probably be pretty light around here, but after that I'm blissfully finished with my second year of graduate school.

Two more exams, two more exams, two more exams...

Cats Salvage Sunday: Despite dropping the first two games of last weekend's set with Missouri, the Bat Cats displayed some guts in coming from behind to win Sunday's contest, 4-3, in 10 innings.  After Mizzou picked up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth, the Cats pushed a run across on Justin Bloxom's sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.  In the 10th inning, K-State managed to score the go-ahead run without even recording a hit, when a throwing error by MU catcher Trevor Coleman allowed Adam Muenster to score.

Here are your up-to-date Big 12 standings:

Texas A&M 18-3
Nebraska 15-5-1
Oklahoma State 14-7
Missouri 11-10
Texas 12-12
Baylor 10-14
KU 8-13
K-State 7-14
Oklahoma 6-14-1
Texas Tech 6-15

As you can see, K-State is clinging to a precarious half-game advantage on OU for the last spot in the Big 12 tournament.  On the other hand, the Cats only trail KU by one game for the seventh spot.  Did I mention we play at OU next week before splitting a series with KU to end the season?  This is going to be interesting.

Surprise!  At the K-State men's basketball award's banquet Sunday night, Michael Beasley was named the team's most valuable player for 2007-08.  Others receiving awards were Bill Walker, Clent Stewart,  Blake Young, Dominique Sutton and Darren Kent.  Congrats to all, and thanks for all the hard work this season.

Sad Anniversaries:  As much fun as Cinco de Mayo is, or is for those who aren't studying for exams, it appears May 4th is at the other end of the spectrum.  Those in Kansas need no reminder of that, for it was one year ago when Greensburg was leveled by an EF5 tornado.  On Saturday night, I took a break to watch part of a Discovery Channel show about the tornado and how Greensburg is rebuilding.  (For the record, yes, I realize how completely pitiful it is to be watching Discovery Channel on Saturday night.)  From this young man goes much applause to the residents of the town for (a) rebuilding after such a devastating event, and (b) doing it in an environmentally friendly fashion.  The show I watched is sort of the pre-cursor to a 13-part special about the entire rebuilding process, which will air this summer.

From natural disaster to human disaster, we move from Greensburg to Kent, Ohio.  Bill Reiter does a fantastic job of exploring the anniversary of the Kent State shootings from the perspectives of Nick Saban and Gary Pinkel, who played for Kent State and lived in the area, respectively, when the shootings occurred.  Maybe you don't have a whole lot of interest in either of those figures, but the story is well worth a read from a historical perspective.

If I missed anything, post it in the comments or in a diary.  Or email me at bringonthecats --at-- gmail --dot-- com

Who: K-State vs. Missouri
When: May 2-4 | 6:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m.
Where: Columbia, Mo. | Taylor Stadium
Media: 1350 KMAN

If you feel like getting into discussions with the opponents, check in with the folks at Rock'M Nation throughout the weekend.  Mizzou hasn't been playing particularly well of late, so I'd like to see the Cats sneak into Columbia and take the series.  I'll take one game, too, being on the road.

Go Cats!

It's still a really slow news time, so my apologies for the lack of K-State links.  In six days, I'll be done with final exams and should be able to get a few more creative things going to get us through the summer months.  Just bear with me these next few days and please, feel free to post something for discussion in the diaries.

Landon Lecture: If there's a better university lecture series in the country than K-State's Landon Lecture, it hasn't been presented to me.  Earlier this week, CIA director Michael Hayden delivered the most recent lecture.  Even better, the lectures are open to all K-State students and faculty and the general public, as well.  A list of past Landon Lecture speakers can be found here.

Where will he go?  Speculation abounds over at the KC Star regarding where Michael Beasley will be drafted.  You can't go wrong with either Beasley or Derrick Rose, but passing up Beasley at No. 2 should get an NBA general manager fired.

Back to Earth: The Royals lost again last night to lowly Texas, and are now 12-16 on the year.

From the "didn't know you were still alive" category: For those of you who are interested in the "Blogs vs. Traditional Media" debate, here's an interesting story for you.  Bob Costas invited Will Leitch (of Deadspin) onto his show, "Costas Now," for a panel discussion of blogs and traditional media.  Also invited were Buzz Bissinger (also known as the guy who wrote "Friday Night Lights") and Cincinnati receiver Braylon Edwards.  To sum it up, the 'panel discussion' devolved into Bissinger hurling profanity-laced invective at Leitch for, I kid you not, lowering the level of discourse in America.

I would like to make all manner of intelligent remarks on this topic, but two things are stopping me from doing so.  First, family law and business organizations aren't going to learn themselves.  Second, everyone else has already beaten me to it.  Check out this post over at Rock'M Nation for a good list of those who have already weighed in.  Particularly,  read Orson's eloquent statement of "Who We Are" over at EDSBS.

Sorry, that story is probably only interesting to bloggers and other j-school-dork types, but I found it interesting, dammit.

That's all I have for now.  I'll put a baseball thread up later for this weekend's baseball series with Missouri.

I'm taking a quick study break to watch South Park, so I wanted to toss up a quick post for your discussion tonight and tomorrow, as I likely won't have time to post anything new tomorrow.

It appears the K-State athletic department is negotiating with Ron Prince for a possible contract extension.

Prince is already under contract until 2011.  His combined record is 12-13.  He has two wins over Texas and a bowl appearance.  He also has zero wins over Nebraska, KU and Mizzou.

Read the article and let me know what you think of this.

This is going to be very short, as my first final is in five hours...

Cats Down Shox: Nice game by the Bat Cats last night to defeat No. 20 Wichita State, 3-2, at Eck Stadium in Wichita.

Pitcher of the Week: Thanks to his dominating Saturday performance against Texas, Brad Hutt is your Big 12 pitcher of the week.  A well-deserved honor.

Not a bad idea: At Kauffman Stadium last night, KU defeated Mizzou in the Border War game.  I don't tell you this because it has any particular relevance to your life at all, but JQ over at Rock Chalk Talk had a great idea the other day: invite K-State and Nebraska to Kauffman next year and make it a double-header.

I'm in.

Buchi!  Over at the TCJ, Austin Meek has a good summary of his recent interview with new basketball recruit Buchi Awaji.  Worth a read.

If you see anything else that is particularly relevant, feel free to post it in a diary or the comments.

Thanks to Matt over at Crimson and Cream Machine, our favorite Oklahoma blog, for setting up a spring roundtable.  Check out his post for links to all the other responses.  Sorry my answers are short, not well-thought-out, and unsubstantiated with links, but I'm studying for three exams at once right now.  Feel free to provide your own answers in the comments or the diaries.

1.  Who are some of the new faces that emerged in the spring who could be serious playmakers for your team this fall?

Surprisingly, the biggest newcomer was a walk-on.  Keithen Valentine rushed for more than 100 yards in the epic, heart-stopping, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat spring game that ended in a 3-0 White victory.  In all seriousness, Valentine looks like a solid addition at running back, which is welcome after the departure of James Johnson.

2.  What is your biggest concern following the spring?

Integration of JuCo transfers.  Most of them won’t be on campus until this summer or even August, so it’s going to take some work getting them into the system.

Other than that, it’s the same thing we heard all last year: defense.  There are some encouraging signs, particularly the return of Josh Moore and Antwon Moore’s recovery from knee surgery.  Also, we have scrapped that stupid 3-4 and will move Ian Campbell back to defensive end, which is where he should have been last year.

3.  Any major changes (philosophy, coaching or personnel) that you are concerned or worried about?

As usual, we had more coaching turnover than necessary in the offseason.  Who knows how much different the product on the field will look?  We have gone back to a base 4-3 on defense, thank God.  On offense, nobody has any real idea what we’ll be doing.  The new offensive coordinator is a spread offense disciple, but it would be damn near impossible to really implement a full spread offense in the limited time available (i.e., spring practice and fall camp).  On top of that, we'll be implementing the 214 JuCo transfers we signed for next year this fall, so putting in anything radically different would be a steep learning curve for all parties involved.

4.  Looking over the 2008 which home and away game will be the most difficult?

Among the teams that come to Bill’s House next year, the Dirt Burglars are probably the toughest matchup.  Texas Tech is never an easy game for us either, and that is the first conference game on the slate (What??? We start conference play at home?  Somebody in Irvine probably got fired over that one!).  Clearly the most difficult road trip will be to Columbia to face North favorite Missouri.

5.  Time for your way too early predictions (Yes, you can change them in August). Rank how you see your division finishing up next season.

1. Missouri

2. Who knows?

3. Who knows?

4. Who knows?

5. Who knows?

6. Who cares?

There isn't a ton of news to report, although I do send my congratulations to Rob Jackson on being drafted in the seventh round by Washington yesterday.  Best of luck in the League, Rob!

Anyway, with it being a bit of a slow news day, and with my first final looming in two days, I'm turning over the keys of BOTC to you, the readers.  Got something you want to get off your chest?  Want to talk about next football season?  Basketball recruiting?  Baseball's chances of making the Big 12 tournament?  The NFL Draft?  The NBA Draft?  Michael Beasley's potential announcement of a shoe contract?  Anything else?  Leave a comment, and let's get the discussion started!

Consensus All-America Jordy Nelson will be taking his game north, to Green Bay, Wis.  Although the Packers are not my favorite NFL team, I will enjoy cheering Jordy on at the next level.

Congratulations on the reward for all your hard work, Jordy, and best of luck at continuing to prove the doubters wrong.