by Jesica Parsley | Sep 18, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
After cutting the ribbon on Sept. 12, the Nashville Predators look forward to the new possibilities the Ford Ice Center will bring to the Nashville area. The new facility includes two NHL-size rinks, an upstairs party area, a café and a Predators apparel shop. The organization is hoping Ford Ice will provide a place for people to learn how to skate as well as grow the game of hockey in the Nashville area. “This facility is amazing,” Predators intern Kayla Evans said. “I’m glad the organization had the chance to build this, and I’m excited to see hockey grow because of the Ford Ice Center.” Olympic Gold figure skater Scott Hamilton will oversee the Hamilton Skating Academy, which will provide classes for all ages to come out to Ford Ice Center and learn how to skate. Country music singer-songwriter Vince Gill plans to broaden the hockey horizon in Nashville by reaching out to children. The plan is to create a scholarship program funded at Ford Ice Center. The program will be designed to give children the opportunity to play hockey without the hurdles of equipment costs or ice time. As part of the grand opening, the Predators hosted a rookie tournament. Rookies from the Predators, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins played three games each. The tournament provided more preparation for NHL training camp. Hockey fans can also catch Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State University and Sewanee’s club hockey teams playing at Ford Ice Center. The three teams will call the new facility their home rink. Over 10,000 fans enjoyed the opening weekend. The organization cannot be more...
by Logan Butts | Sep 17, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s soccer team took a commanding 4-1 victory over Houston Baptist on Wednesday night in their regular season home opener. The Bisons got out to a quick start thanks to a leaping header from junior Anthony Cedano in the 15th minute. Freshman Ivan Alvarado got the assist off of a long, arching cross. In the 23rd minute, senior Omar Djabi rocketed in a shot from outside the box to give Lipscomb a 2-0 lead. After thwarting away many attempts from the Huskies, Lipscomb finally allowed a goal in the 31st minute from Houston Baptist sophomore Tobenna Uzo. The Bisons ended the first half with a 2-1 lead. In the second half, Alvarado scored off an assist from Djabi in the 74th minute, giving each player both a goal and an assist for the game. Less than two minutes later Lipscomb earned a penalty kick. The Bisons sent senior Luke Gearin to the penalty spot, and he knocked in the fourth and final goal of the game. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...
by Erika Thornsberry | Sep 17, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The Student Activity Center challenged the students to see if they have what it takes to compete in the NFL Combine. Competitors ranged from freshmen to graduate students, all students were welcomed to join in on the fun. “I think it went really well. I was very happy with the turnout,” Steffani Davis, a Facilities and Marketing graduate assistant for the SAC, said. “I think we really had some awesome athletes. Some students didn’t play football in high school, then others were standout athletes on their high school football team. We loved having everyone that participated.” The NFL Combine gives hopeful NFL players a chance to show off their God-given talents such as strength and speed. Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens threw 74 yards in a quarterback challenge during the combine. Jay Cutler threw a football 60 yards from his knees. The top Lipscomb participate threw 48 yards. “We tested the contestants in your basic kick, pass, punt, and your basic speed and agility drills the NFL players have to go through in the combine,” Davis said. “Everything we did is pretty much the exact events they do in the NFL Combine besides, we just tried to monitor it more to fit the college students.” After tallying all the points from the different events, freshman Daniel Vaughn won the competition. Vaughn went home with two tickets to a Titans game for his efforts. There was not a single person who got first place in every event. “Everyone was actually pretty even. Some people really excelled in the speed and agility, and then evened out with the throwing,” Davis said....
by Cory Woodroof | Sep 17, 2014 | Opinion, Sports
Week two in the NFL is one of the more perplexing times of the season. It’s the big week when those ominous playoff statistics start to float around. If your team is sitting pretty at 2-0, the odds are in your favor. If your team is lacking two wins to start the season, things aren’t exactly floating down your team’s stream. However, when teams like the Bills and Texans are perfect and teams like the Saints and Colts are without wins, it’s hard to believe that these teams’ fates are set in stone. But, this is the NFL, and anything can happen on any given game day. Are the perfect teams for real? Are the winless teams on the downward path? What about the plethora of 1-1 teams? One thing that week two does effectively is end week one honeymoons. If your favorite team won big in the first game and got squashed in the second game, those feel-good jitters were probably replaced with worrisome questions and bummed-out frowns. But, you know what, that’s okay. Early season NFL is all about working out the kinks and getting your team clicking. We’ve still got a long, long stretch to go, and who knows where your selected franchise will be once the final whistle blows. Here are the 10 thoughts I had during the week. 1. The San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints are highly-respectable franchises with wonderful rosters, but those two teams have one bad thing in common: they both let RB Darren Sproles get out of their hands. After Monday night’s big comeback win for the Eagles, both...
by Madeline Smith | Sep 15, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
Details of underage drinking, fighting, racism and sex at a party on the Lipscomb campus in a former Vanderbilt basketball player’s upcoming “tell-all” book are not being overlooked by Lipscomb officials. “I don’t believe that this party happened, but I want to be real as a university,” said Sam Smith, associate dean of Campus Life. The claims are in former Vanderbilt University point guard Kyle Fuller’s book “Below the Rim.” An excerpt of the book was released recently in the Vanderbilt Hustler. The Tennessean has reported that the book, scheduled to be released next summer, is 40 percent completed. In the book’s first chapter, called “Dixieland,” the basketball player writes about this alleged party, and his account includes claims that the apartment hosting the party had alcohol, racist posters and “down” girls. Smith said he doesn’t believe the tale. Still, he said, “If this happened we need to take serious looks of what is going on. So we’re asking questions, but it’s still a very, very tough pill to swallow that this is really a possibility of something that happened on our campus.” The details in Fuller’s account are what makes the story unbelivable, according to members of the Lipscomb community. When it first was released, the chapter “Dixieland” claimed the party took place in Fanning Hall, despite Fanning being an all-girls dorm with very strict rules about visitors of the opposite sex. The story was later changed to say that the party took place in apartment-style housing, which was inferred to be The Village. “The problem with The Village is that there’s only one dorm a fight could...
by Brianne Welch | Sep 13, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bison Volleyball team fought hard throughout the Lipscomb Invitational, but came up short in the end. In the last match of the tournament, the Lady Bisons faced the Utes of Utah. The Pac-12 team beat Georgia Tech in three sets and ETSU in three, but Lipscomb took the Utes to four sets. The team lost the first two sets right out of the gate. The first set 25-18 and the second 25-17, but going into the locker room head coach Brandon Rosenthal had a talk with his team to get them prepared for set three. “There was a talk with the team. There’s an expectation that they’ve set, and it’s their responsibility to go after it,” Rosenthal said. Following the first two sets, the Lady Bisons came out on fire to win the third set 25-15 becoming the first team in the tournament to take Utah to four sets. Despite their efforts, the Lady Bisons came up three points short in the final set losing 25-22; however, Rosenthal was pleased with the effort from his team. “The talk after the match was just, hey I like what I saw,” Rosenthal said. “There is no chewing out or what not, well there was a little chewing out between two and three, but after the match, I mean, they gave me everything they had there in two and three, and that’s all you can ask for, and I’m really pleased with that.” At the end of the match, the Lady Bisons had more kills than the Utes, but were out-blocked. Brittnay Estes led the team with 13 kills in...
