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A very ill wind blew through here yesterday afternoon. And by "ill wind" I mean "70 MPH winds which damaged every single tree on my 1.25 acres and knocked my power out for four hours." Let's just say I can do without ever having to go through that again, thanks. Now, to deal with tree limbs as big around as my freakin' calves...
But enough about my problems. On with the show.
Myles Copeland was yesterday's entry in BracketCat's countdown, which confuses me because I don't understand how Stewart Copeland's dad even has eligibility left, especially after an entire career in the CIA. 46 days to go, folks.
K-State has three -- three -- players on the Lombardi Award watch list: B.J. Finney, Cody Whitehair, and Ryan Mueller. It's Finney's second appearance on the pre-season list.
As promised yesterday, David Ubben's all-conference selections are here. Mueller, Lockett, Finney... and, hey, Lockett again.
Matt "No, the other Matt" Brown at Sports on Earth has revealed his 2014 "All-Watchability Team". He's got Tyler Lockett at wideout.
USA Today's Paul Myerberg ranks the conferences. The Big 12 is fifth -- but he's careful to point out that the problem is we're too damn deep, but at the same time he's concerned that no single team is going to emerge unscathed, and if you're not in the playoff, well...
Collin Klein's been busy rampaging around Kansas holding passing camps.
Lloyd Krone, a member of K-State's first Final Four team in 1948, passed away July 9 in Dallas at the age of 88. Krone, who toiled at guard for Jack Gardner after serving in the Navy during World War II, was an all-Big Seven second team selection in 1950 as a senior, along with Ernie Barrett; that, of course, was the year before K-State's sole trip to the NCAA Championship game. After graduation, Krone saw action in Korea, retiring as a Lieutenant; he then spent 35 years working for Travelers Insurance before retiring in 1986. He's survived by a son and two daughters, to whom we offer our condolences.
Weekly update time! Alex Bee tore up the MINK league last week, hitting .421 to raise his season average to .293. Clayton Dalrymple's been sidelined for a bit, but returned to action in El Dorado with a .368 week; he's hitting .429 for the summer. Nate Griep finally got into some summer action in Topeka, throwing five innings of one-hit shutout ball over two appearances; also in Topeka, Jake Wodtke hit .458 with four doubles, a pair of triples, and 8 RBI last week. Levi MaVorhis got back on the good side after two horrid weeks, allowing only one earned run in six innings in a pair of games.
In the majors, Carlos Torres and Evan Marshall combined for 4.2 innings of work without allowing a run. Torres has a 1.45 ERA over the last month with the Mets. Down on the farm, Jared King ended his rehab stint with a 2-4 day and a home run; he was promoted to St. Lucie (High-A) immediately afterward. He joins Nick Martini in the Florida State League; Martini, playing for Palm Beach, hit .412 with a homer last week. Austin Fisher had a poor week, only going 1-5 in three games. Ross Kivett, on the other hand, hit .348 in six games, and Mitch Meyer went on a tear, slamming a pair of homers while extending his hitting streak to six games. His poor start, however, means that only raised his average to .200 even. R.J. Santigate also had a nice week, going 3-10 in Orem.
Kelly McHugh profiles freshman Makenzie Holcomb, whose aunt, Lisa Martin, played for the Cats back at the start of the millennium. There's video too.
As noted in comments yesterday, K-State had record donations of $212 million to the University Foundation last fiscal year. That includes an added $89 million to the school's endowment fund, which is almost a twenty-five percent increase in the total endowment, pushing the total from $364 million to $455 million. This is the sort of thing that can snowball fast; in 2006, Virginia Commonwealth only had a $235 million endowment, and their fund is now at $1.3 billion -- which is higher than every Big 12 school other than Texas. K-State 2024 is working, y'all.
Lastly -- and yes, I know this is silly and nothing more than a popularity contest -- but Forbes, as a prelude to their 2014 college rankings, is running a social media campaign called My Top College. And, um, guys? K-State is in third place, behind Cal State-Fullerton and San Diego State. And as silly as it is, remaining up at the top will result in good publicity when Forbes publishes their rankings, so if you're inclined, hit up your social media accounts and totally inflate K-State's numbers.