K-State Slate, 9/4/09

by Panjandrum on Sep 4, 2009 9:26 AM CDT in News

Click the jump for your daily K-State Wildcats news fix.

And, don't forget, tomorrow is GAMEDAY.

Football

Austin Meek - One good day
Meek throws down a little prose in a column about what happens after the "Family Reunion" on Saturday, and what it could mean for the Kansas State program.
Austin Meek - New challenges await Snyder
This is a really, really good article with some interesting perspective and quotes from legendary coaches John Robinson and Johnny Majors. There are a lot folks who point to these two examples of legendary coaches coming back and not experiencing the same level of success. Meek actually did the legwork and got the interviews and reasons why it didn't happen. It's like something Malcom Gladwell would do. Kudos, Austin.
Austin Meek - Currie ready for reunion
"I thought for a while it would never get here," Currie said. "Like a lot of our fans, you're waiting for it and waiting for it and waiting for it. I'm really excited. I'm excited for our student-athletes. These kids have been through a lot over the last couple years."
Amen, John. Amen.
Kevin Haskin - No choice but to get tough
"We're going to hit something every day. You're going to be tired," senior defensive end Eric Childs said. "(Snyder) told us we were going to hit and we were going to get tired. But that makes you better."
Austin Meek has a Q&A with Camp Phenom, Sammuel Lamur
For those of you who keep track of the rumors and rumblings, Sammuel Lamur is not a new name. However, the walk-on twin brother of starting safety, Emmanuel Lamur, has apparently been turning heads in practice and may factor into the QB race as soon as this year.
Less than 1,000 Tickets Remain for Saturday
Come on, folks. Let's sell this game out. I'm so excited, I'm even going into the stadium early and subjecting myself to the "Wildcat March" to see this shit.
Ranking the Big 12's special teams - Big 12 - ESPN
I'm sorry, Tim, but Bill Snyder cared about special teams long before Ron ever found himself wandering around the "Business Management" section at Borders.
4. Kansas State:I’m basing this as much on past success as anything else -- Ron Prince’s team blocked four punts for touchdowns last season. Brandon Banks is a threat to break a big return on every play and he’ll be doubling as a kick and punt returner this season. Even with Bill Snyder taking over, I’m still thinking this will be a productive unit as they break in new kicker Josh Cherry and new punter Ryan Doerr.

Women's Basketball

Big 12 Announces 2009-10 FSN Women’s Basketball Telecast Schedule
KSU has three games televised this year on FSN, and the conference tournament will be televised as well.

Baseball

Torres Tallies First Major League Victory
Carlos Torres, a former pitcher for KSU, gets his first MLB victory for the White Sox.

Fourum

There were a very eclectic mix of responses today. Apparently, Beth Mendenhall said something stupid again.

I am Batman.

I'm going to write a letter to Manwich insisting that they change their product name to Personwich.

I will definitely go to great lengths to get the slut-muffin's number.

And, because it's game week, we'll throw in a bonus

We better not lose to UMass because their mascot alone is just a huge punch line. They're the Minutemen.

0 recs | 19 comments

Comments

As a former band member...

I’m gonna have to politely ask you not to hate on Wildcat March.

EMAW!!!!

Mrfphy - September 4, 2009 reply

As a former member of the student section...

I’m going to agree with Pan on this one. The band sounds fantastic, but when that song starts to play it absolutely kills all the emotion and hype. The band plays it well, but it does not belong on the field. It’s a major buzzkill.

mystman995 - September 4, 2009 reply

I believe the song is played with the band facing away from the student section.

MadCat - September 4, 2009 reply

It's not an indictment on the band...

It’s the music and where it’s played in relation to the kickoff.

We get all sorts of great pre-game entertainment, the crowd starts to get all rowdy, and out of nowhere, this horrible Souza march gets played.

I’ve always admitted that I’m not a big fan of marching bands (I like the band at games; I’m just not into the marching aspect.), but that’s not a good piece of music. Do the Wabash, do the fight song, and hit the alma mater. The Wildcat March could be killed off pretty easily.

Panjandrum - September 4, 2009 reply

Here's the thing...

It’s JOHN (freaking) SOUSA. He is the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Led Zeppelin of marching band in one person and he wrote a song just for us. If Frank Lloyd Wright designed a building on K-State’s campus it would never be torn down. If K-State owned an original van Gogh it would forever hang in Beach Art Museum. And if Paul McCartney wrote us a song, I guarantee it would play over the stadium’s PA system more than “Party Like a Rock Star” by the Hot Boyz in the 2007 season. This is the premier forum for Collegiate marching band, and we’re going to play the song the Godfather of marching bands wrote for us.

If you don’t like marches in general, okay. And I understand that hearing “Wildcat March” doesn’t exactly work the crowd into a tizzy where they’d like to decapitate members of the opposing team. But pregame at any University is about more than hyping up a crowd with 150 dB hair metal. It’s about tradition and remembering the history of your Alma Mater. “Hang on Sloopy” is not exactly a heart-pumping thriller, but Ohio State seems to be able to get their fans ready to scream their heads off while maintaining their tradition.

When I hear “Wildcat March” I think of the members of a small university on the plains that took no small effort to get the world’s most famous “rock star” (at that time) to write them a song. I feel like it would have given them a feeling of legitimacy for the school others said (and still sometimes say) was an irrelevant hole in the middle of nowhere. I hear it and I’m proud of K-Staters of the past.

Mrfphy - September 4, 2009 reply

Interesting perspective...

and I don’t think Pan meant any disrespect to the marching band. What I think he meant (and he can correct me if I’m wrong), is that the timing of the piece is just all wrong. From your perspective, I understand what the song means to the University, but to all of the sudden start belting out a piece by Sousa after the crowd is ready to go, is like shooing Metallica off the stage in the middle of their concert and bringing in Lee Greenwood for a rendition of “God Bless the USA.” That song has a place and time, and that is not it. The same for the Wildcat March. If it’s going to get played, play it first and get it out of the way before any pre-game entertainment. It’s just kind of a mood killer. Again, no disrespect intended…just a timing thing.

Catfan33 - September 4, 2009 reply

This sounds like a job for...

The ‘Tell John’ link on the athletics website. Maybe after John experiences it first hand.

MadCat - September 4, 2009 reply

All in good fun :)

Didn’t mean to sound too irritated.

As a side note, one of my favorite things about this site is that the dicourse is so much better than on a lot of other sites and message boards. I can’t stand all the sarcasm and flame-throwing on some of the other boards.

Mrfphy - September 4, 2009 reply

No, I know...

I’m horribly ignorant on the quality of the piece and the history. I’m aware of the fact that Souza is really the end-all-be-all in that genre, and I’m sure that there is a sentimental quality for a lot of people who actually play it.

Yes, 95% of my problem with the Wildcat March is the timing of the piece. I’m sure that the other 5% of my issues with it are just the added aggravation of it’s placement in the pregame and cloud my judgment on it’s quality and significance.

My problem is that I don’t know where else you’d put it, therefore, being the pragmatic person that I am, I’d just as soon dump it to improve the flow. Of course, there are a number of other things I’d do to speed things up as well (shorten the ceremony of allegiance, rethink the Willie skits, etc.), and those probably paint me as a radical fan, so my opinion probably doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this discussion.

Normally, our pregame video guys do a bang up job, and I’d like to showcase their work. We’ve got a great band, and we need to showcase their work. I think, with some thought and willingness to think outside the box, they could come up with something new to spice things up and improve the overall flow.

Panjandrum - September 4, 2009 reply

You're always going to upset

someone. As a current member of the band, while I dont always enjoy playing it, it does mean a lot to me. Its like the famous “Script Ohio” that Ohio State does. Yeah, its cheesy and old fashioned, but there are people in the crowd that like that stuff. And its followed by Wabash, so any “mood-killing” it might do is COMPLETELY negated by the pandemonium created by that song. Wabash is an old song too, steeped in tradition, its just got a fun “dance” and it’s way faster.
So…I agree, old-fashioned and possibly in a bad spot, HOWEVER, its important to keep our traditions alive.
Also, our band is WAY more exciting that ku’s,,,especially pregame. You wanna talk about a buzz-kill, I would rather have a tooth pulled than sit through that again…and lose (cough ron prince sucks cough).

jtarkman - September 4, 2009 reply

mood killer...

May have been a little harsh on my part. Poor choice of words. My apologies. I agree, the wabash does get the crowd back in it. Its just such a change of tempo that is unnecessary in my opinion.

Catfan33 - September 5, 2009 via mobile reply