by Cory Woodroof | Oct 9, 2012 | Opinion, Sports
After a large number of Kansas City Chiefs fans cheered when their own quarterback left the KC-Baltimore Ravens game Sunday with a concussion, infuriated Chiefs offensive tackle Eric Winston decided to take a stand. Winston held a one-man press conference blasting people who expressed their joy at Matt Cassel’s expense. “We are athletes, OK? We are athletes. We are not gladiators. This is not the Roman Coliseum. People pay their hard-earned money when they come in here, and I believe they can boo, they can cheer and they can do whatever they want. I believe that,” Winston said. “We are lucky to play this game. People, it’s hard economic times, and they still pay the money to do this.” This is true. Fans pay good money for tickets. You guys make a lot of money. Why can’t I cheer for what I want, whenever I want? Not quite so, the lineman says, referring in part to the long-lasting impact of concussions on players that’s still being studied, even while some retired athletes struggle to fully function and others choose suicide over disability. “But when somebody gets hurt, there are long-lasting ramifications to the game we play. I’ve already kind of come to the understanding that I won’t live as long because I play this game, and that’s OK. That’s a choice I’ve made and a choice all of us have made.” Winston continues. “But when you cheer, when you cheer somebody getting knocked out, I don’t care who it is — and it just so happened to be Matt Cassel — it’s sickening. It’s 100 percent sickening. I’ve been in some rough times on some rough...
by Cory Woodroof | Oct 4, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
Former men’s basketball coach Don Meyer spoke to a crowd of students, faculty, staff and alumni in Allen Arena Thursday in Athlete Leadership Chapel. Meyer, the namesake for Lipscomb’s basketball court, is one of the winningest coaches in college basketball and is set to be the subject of a feature film, co-produced and co-starring Lipscomb graduate and former MLB player Casey Bond. Meyer spoke this morning on a multitude of topics, ranging from servant leadership to how to judge someone’s character. Associate Athletic Director for Spiritual Formation Brent High introduced Meyer to those in attendance. “This is one of the Mount Rushmore guys in my life,” he said. Talking about how to identify a person’s character, Meyer mentioned billionaire CEO Warren Buffet’s three key traits when looking to hire a new employee. According to Meyer, Buffet looks for someone with a strong work ethic, intelligence and character. To Buffet, a person who possesses the first two but lacks the third is not an ideal candidate. Meyer strongly believes in the necessity of character in an individual, offering different ways to judge someone’s character. “I’ve never met a selfish person that was happy, and I’ve never met an unselfish person that was sad,” he said. Meyer said he believes that you can “tell a lot about a person when they’re getting their butt kicked.” He also noted that people should look for how people treat those who can’t do anything for them or do anything to them, citing Mets’ pitcher R.A. Dickey’s efforts to help those in need. Meyer quoted Mark Twain in his third point about judging people’s character, saying, “Kindness is...
by Brianne Welch | Oct 4, 2012 | Sports
Greg Brown, former student coach under Don Meyer, came back to Lipscomb this year, only this time as a head coach. Brown was a graduate assistant and then assistant coach under Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee and was then an assistant coach at the University of Central Florida before returning to his alma mater, Lipscomb. “The environment and the culture are the two biggest draws,” Brown said, talking about his return to Lipscomb. Brown said he strongly believes that Lipscomb and Nashville are a wonderful community that he is thankful to return to. He also mentioned how thankful he is to be able to send his two sons to a Christian school. Brown coached under Don Meyer, a legend not only to Lipscomb but to the basketball world, as well. Brown talked about the influence Meyer had on other legendary coaches. “As I went to Tennessee, I got to see his influence with Coach [Pat] Summitt and with Coach [Joi] Williams at UCF,” Brown said. Brown said he picked up many aspects of his coaching style from Coach Meyer. “Intensity and the team attitude, and the Greek word arete–that pursuit of excellence–is what I learned then [under Coach Meyer], and it starts to become more and more evident every day,” he said. One major thing Brown took away from coaching under Coach Summitt is “what it was like to compete at your highest level, individually, and then to compete at the highest level as in National Championships.” Brown said he is thankful for those experiences and said “that is what we are building Lipscomb towards.” Building the...
by Brianne Welch | Sep 28, 2012 | Sports
Jenny Borck, a sophomore from San Diego, has been playing tennis twelve years, and now at the collegiate level, she’s still loving every minute. At the age of 6, Borck’s parents put her in tennis, and she has been playing ever since. “My parents play tennis,” Borck said. “Instead of watching them play all the time, I would just go on another court with one of their friends or by myself, and I just ended up really liking it.” As Borck grew up and became interested in more competitive tennis, her career became more focused. Borck played on her high school tennis team all four years and said her team was special not only because they were talented, but also for another reason. “My sophomore year, my mom became the tennis coach of my high school,” Borck said. Having her mom as her coach was something that Borck said she truly enjoyed about high school tennis. “It was really cool that my mom was our coach.” Along with her high school career, Borck played in different tournaments on the side against other ranked opponents. “In order to get a national ranking, you have to compete in national tournaments,” she explained. “I played in a lot of national tournaments in Southern California, but Southern California is one of the hardest divisions in the United States, so that made it hard.” During high school, Borck began the recruiting process, hoping to be noticed by college coaches. This is a process every athlete goes through if they desire to play at the collegiate level, and Borck made the decision to go to...
by Brianne Welch | Sep 17, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bisons softball team volunteered to work with the Boys and Girls Club at their annual fall picnic Saturday. This was the first year the softball team has worked with the Boys and Girls Club. The team assisted with a variety of activities including arts and crafts, face painting, hula hooping, kick ball and many other outdoor games. “We wanted to do something different this year,” said Head Coach Kristen Ryman. “We wanted to work with a different organization.” Ryman said the Boys and Girls Club is a great organization, especially since it gives older people the opportunity to mentor a younger generation. “It makes you realize there are people out there that are always looking up to people like us,” Ryman said. The girls on the team said they had a great time being around the kids and getting to play games with them. “It was good to just be a kid for a day ourselves and, at the same time, do something for them,” said junior Bridgette Begle. Begle and several other girls said they enjoyed face painting with the kids. Sophomore Gracey Aguirre was the celebrity of the day, doing the majority of the face painting. “My favorite painting was this little shark I did for this little kid,” Aguirre said. “He was having a blast with it, and I truly enjoyed it all.” Several team members said it was easy to connect with the kids by playing games with them. “I loved working with one little boy who loved to hula hoop,” said junior Kristen Sturdivant. “It was really fun getting to hang out with...
