by KJ Lauck | Sep 23, 2016 | News Slider, Opinion
Fast paced, gun-slinging action and a formula too familiar, The Magnificent 7 packs some punch (and some dynamite) into two hours of non-stop action. Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) collaborates with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke for a journey back to Wild West. The stage is set in the first few scenes as the town of Rose Creek is under the control of a ruthless industrialist named Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard). The opening sequence takes place in a church where Bogue establishes his character’s ruthlessness, as he takes the men out and kills half a dozen of them and sets the church ablaze. That is when Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) and Teddy Q (Luke Grimes) set out to unite the seven, as Cullen also seeks revenge. Each member of the seven is introduced western-style by killing someone in dramatic fashion. Chisolm, a very matter-a-fact warrant officer played by Denzel Washington, clears a saloon single handily. Chris Pratt’s character Josh Faraday, is introduced as a wise-cracking, trickster who’s good with a deck of cards. Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is a sharpshooting ‘Texican.’ Goodnight Robincheaux (Ethan Hawke), a legendary Confederate marksman and Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), a knife-wielding, ninja-like sidekick come as a package. Next up is the gentle giant known as Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio). After a night in a canyon, an Indian ambush seems inevitable, but instead the soft-spoken Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier) becomes the seventh member. The Magnificent 7 makes each introduction very unique and specific to the character. Each violent introduction gives the character personality without the need for much dialogue, and that is a strength of the movie. The first time...
by KJ Lauck | Sep 18, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
A one-hour lightning delay, Chick-fil-A minis and a torrential downpour welcomed the Lipscomb men’s and women’s cross country team to Vaughn’s Gap on Saturday at the Commodore Classic. The lighting delay occurred after the men’s race, which was at 9 a.m. The women were scheduled for 10:00 a.m. but had to wait until 11 a.m. to run. The inclement weather was not common to the Commodore Classic. “It’s pretty rare,” Bill Taylor, Director of Cross Country, said, “It’s only happened once since I’ve been at Lipscomb in 10 years, and it was actually the Belmont race one year, but it’s not very common for that to happen.” Taylor did not believe the weather was an excuse for either team. The men’s team performed well finishing 10th out of 23 teams, while also besting in-town rivals Belmont (12th) and Vanderbilt (18th) in the team rankings. The other in-state schools fared far better as MTSU finished in 1st, Tennessee in 8th, and Tennessee Tech in 9th. “There’s a lot of younger guys who ran their first 8K today of their lives, so that’s a factor for the guys,” Taylor noted. Freshman Brent Leber was the only Bison to finish in the top 50 and finished with a time of 25:29.7. Taylor was pleased with his performance in his first two outdoor meets. “He’s a tough kid, and he’s willing to put himself in position to give himself a chance,” Taylor said. “I think that was his first 8K cross country race, and I just like that he’s brave and that he’s willing to go out there run top of the competition.”...
by KJ Lauck | Sep 11, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb women’s volleyball (8-2) finished a successful opening home weekend with a 3-0 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies (4-5) in the final match of the LUV Invite. The Lady Bisons went 2-0 in their first two matches at the invite, besting two “Power-5” schools, Ole Miss and Northwestern, in the process. Lipscomb found a groove late in the first set and trailed the Hokies 13-10. “This is one of those where they had to dig deep,” head coach Brandon Rosenthal said. Back-to-back blocks by freshman Maddie Philips and a Virginia Tech error helped Lipscomb storm back to trim the Hokie lead to one, 19-18. Lipscomb came all the way back to claim the first set, 25-21. The teams had the same amount of digs with 18, but Lipscomb held the advantage in kills 14-8, blocks 5-3 and assists 13-6. The Lady Bisons had three players who had four digs and were lead by senior Kayla Ostrom, who had eight assists, which was two more than Virginia Tech had as a team. “Kayla does a fantastic job, and I told her earlier in the match we were going to need her leadership, and I believed in her,” Rosenthal said. Once the Lady Bisons found their collective groove, Lipscomb started establishing the pace and raced out to an early 6-1 lead in the second set. The contest would remain tight till the end as the Lady Bisons held a 19-18 lead this time. Lipscomb held on late and won the second set 25-21. They led in digs 13-12, kills 15-10, blocks 5-4 and assists 14-8. The Lady Bisons were lead...
by KJ Lauck | Sep 3, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb Men’s and Women’s Cross Country kicked off its season Saturday morning at Vaughn’s Gap at Percy Warner Park in the Belmont Opener. There were nine schools that participated in the meet, including local teams, such as Belmont, Vanderbilt, Tennessee State and Trevecca, as well as Austin Peay, Murray State, Rhodes and UT-Chattanooga. “It’s a preseason meet, but it’s also not a preseason meet,” Director of Cross Country Bill Taylor said. “The women always run a 5K, but guys usually run an 8K or a 10K,” Taylor said. “The women will sometimes run a 6K, but I don’t know why they don’t run the same distance.” The distance for the men in this meet is smaller than that of a regular cross country meet. For this meet, instead of the NCAA scoring all the teams together like what would be done at a normal meet, the teams are split into groups and scored. The reason for the scoring difference is because the opener is not an official meet. “Since this is sort of primer for the regular season, we don’t really look at time as much as where we want to be when we get to those regular season meets,” Taylor said. “We feel really good about the performances today of both the men and women,” Taylor added. “It gives us a good feel for where we are as a team and individually. It also gets us ready for the real meets, especially Vanderbilt in two weeks.” Freshmen who are new to the team had a chance to experience how a college cross country meet is run. “It gets...
by KJ Lauck | Aug 27, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb Men’s Soccer (1-0) opened the season with a new conference logo, new jersey design and a win over Florida Atlantic University (0-1) on Friday night at the Lipscomb soccer complex. “I thought it was a great start for the season,” head coach Charles Morrow said. “We’re still nursing some injuries from the preseason, but I thought the guys that played tonight all looked good.” Ivan Alvarado, the ASUN Preseason Player of the Year, did not play, but that did not stop the Bison’s from putting in a collective effort. Logan Paynter shot a volley from the 18 yard box in the 18th minute, but FAU keeper Philip Hitpass made a leaping save. The shot was one of 10 the Bisons had for the night. The ASUN Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year, Micah Bledsoe, came up with a diving save after a defensive breakdown in the 24th minute. Both teams had limited chances in the first half, with the defenses controlling the tempo and keeping the respective offense in check, resulting in a 0-0 halftime score. “We were playing a team that, defensively, puts a lot of numbers back,” Morrow said. “They can lull you into putting too many numbers forward, and they can hurt you on a counterattack.” However, the Lipscomb offense started hitting its stride in the second half. The Bisons’ first goal of the season was a van-Persie-esque diving finish by junior Scout Monteith off of a set piece, giving Lipscomb a 1-0 lead. The assist was delivered from last season’s leading scorer, Logan Paynter. “I thought our guys did a good job of being patient...
