Month: January 2011

Resolve to Get Tested

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date January 3, 2011

Besides making the usual resolutions to eat better and work out, it can’t hurt to resolve to get tested often. Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region can help you keep that resolution right away since they’re starting free HIV testing and counseling every Monday at Caritas Village (2905 Harvard) from 4 to 7 p.m. The testing kicks off today.

That’s in addition to their other long-standing free testing night at the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center (892 S. Cooper) every Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. Planned Parenthood also offers free HIV testing every day at their new 2430 Poplar Avenue location.

For more information, call (901) 725-3008 or go to the Planned Parenthood website.

News

First Thoughts …

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date January 3, 2011

Frank Murtaugh offers some obvervations for the new year in “From My Seat.”

From My Seat Sports

First Thoughts on the New Year

Post author By Frank Murtaugh
Post date January 3, 2011

Happy new year, dear readers. A few quick hits to start 2011:

• It was nice to see Conference USA’s football champion, after four straight losses, finally beat an SEC squad in the Liberty Bowl. So UCF beat a Georgia team that was merely 8th among SEC clubs, and by four points. A win’s a win. C-USA needed it.

• Wednesday night’s game in Knoxville is huge for the Memphis Tigers. At some point, Josh Pastner’s bunch has to win a big game on the road. The Vols have shown themselves to be vulnerable of late (losses to Charlotte, Southern Cal, and Charleston), and this is the Tigers’ last chance this season to take down a team from a power conference. Lose Wednesday, and even an undefeated run through C-USA would likely mean a seed of no higher than five in the NCAA tournament.

• Over the holidays, I read Roland Lazenby’s terrific biography, Jerry West, (published in 2009 by Ballantine and ESPN Books). I interviewed West in 2002 for a story in Memphis magazine, and the Hall of Famer explained how he had left the NBA — briefly, it turned out — because the stress of losses was too much to overcome the elation of victories. Lazenby makes it clear that this brand of self-torment was part of the way West played (and lived) throughout his 14-year NBA career. Losing six times to the Celtics in the Finals without a win will do that to a guy.

The book (387 pages) barely mentions West’s tenure as president of the Grizzlies. But local fans will enjoy the tale of West talking Nets’ coach/GM John Calipari out of drafting a certain player in 1996, one West was convinced could get his Lakers back to championship contention. Calipari was persuaded by The Logo, allowing Charlotte to draft Kobe Bryant, who was then traded (by pre-arrangement) to the Lakers. Wonder if West and Coach Cal discussed this much during West’s time in Memphis?

• If I had a ballot for this week’s Baseball Hall of Fame election, I’d vote for Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, and Jeff Bagwell. (Bagwell is a first-ballot inductee in my eyes. His big numbers coming during the steroid era, though, won’t help him.) As for the much-debated Bert Blyleven, he’d get my vote, too. Gaylord Perry won 314 games, struck out 3,534 hitters, and pitched 53 shutouts. He was elected to the Hall in his third year of eligibility. Blyleven won 287 games, struck out 3,701 hitters, and pitched 60 shutouts. And he was a member of the starting rotation for two world champions (’79 Pirates and ’87 Twins). Yet he’s now on the ballot for a 14th time. His plaque is overdue.

• The NFL is getting what it deserves with the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks going to the playoffs while the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers — both 10-6 — stay home. Four-team divisions are ridiculous. (Why not create 16 two-team divisions and let every “division champion” into the playoffs?) Accidents of geography should not determine playoff berths. Best of all, the Seahawks will HOST the 11-5 New Orleans Saints. By virtue of that division championship, of course.

• I helped put together a cover story on Rudy Gay for the January issue of our sister publication, Memphis magazine. A look at Gay’s fitness regimen, what it takes to stay healthy through the grind of a long NBA season. So what happens before the Grizzlies’ first game of the new year? Gay comes down with a stomach bug. A local version of the infamous Sports Illustrated cover jinx? Jeesh.

• Keep this date in mind: January 16th. This will be Albert Pujols’s 31st birthday. Nice occasion for a contract extension, no?

News

Tigers 91, TSU 86

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date January 2, 2011

The Memphis Tigers won a nip-and-tuck battle with Tennessee State Sunday. Frank Murtaugh was there.

Sports Tiger Blue

Memphis 91, Tennessee State 86

Post author By Frank Murtaugh
Post date January 2, 2011

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

There are no Sunday-afternoon strolls in college basketball. Memphis welcomed Tennessee State to FedExForum — the first meeting between these intrastate Tigers since 1989 — for what some felt would be a tune-up for the showdown three days from now at Tennessee. Instead, Memphis came perilously close to its first “bad loss” of the 2010-11 season.

Larry Kuzniewski
Josh Pastner

Freshmen Antonio Barton and Tarik Black came off the bench and outscored the five Memphis starters, 46-37, to help the home team gain its 11th win and first of 2011. Black had a career-high 15 points by halftime and finished with 22 (hitting 9 of 11 shots from the field). Antonio Barton hit five three-pointers in the second half and finished with 24 points (five more than his brother,Will, who took 16 shots to Antonio’s eight). Another pair of freshmen played big roles, with Joe Jackson dishing out eight assists and Chris Crawford nine. Overall, Memphis accumulated 25 assists on 33 field goals.

When asked after the game about the last time he hit five treys in a single game, Antonio Barton said it wasn’t high school. Perhaps an AAU game. “Every time it left my hands, I felt like it was going in,” he said. Back-to-back bombs by Barton around the 12-minute mark brought Memphis within four points (62-58). His fourth of the game gave Memphis the lead (74-73) with five minutes to play, an 11-point turnaround since TSU had led 58-52 seven minutes into the second half. Barton’s fifth trey broke a 79-79 tie with 2:25 to go, and the home team would not relinquish the lead.

“People expect us to blow everybody out,” said Barton, “but that’s a Division I team. As long as we get the win and play hard, that’s all that matters.”

Things got heated with just under a minute to play. With Memphis up 85-81, Antonio Barton was fouled — and floored — driving for a layup. As Barton rose to his feet, the teams exchanged words. Black left the bench, but was intercepted by the Tiger coaching staff before he could enter the fracas. (At one point, head coach Josh Pastner pinned Will Barton against the padded stanchion underneath the basket.) Black was ejected for leaving the bench, but will not be suspended since he didn’t throw a punch.

“He fouled me and said something, and I didn’t react until I saw my brother [step in],” explained Antonio Barton. “It was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. We calmed down, and hit the free throws.” Barton’s two makes gave Memphis an 87-81 lead. A three-pointer by TSU’s Kenny Moore (who also had five for the game) brought the visitors within a point (87-86). But Antonio Barton hit another pair of free throws, and Will Barton delivered a breakaway dunk to close the scoring.

“You’ve got to give Tennessee State credit,” said Pastner. “They flat-out shot the ball [hitting 12 of 24 three-point attempts]. When you don’t execute assignments, you give up open shots. We just can’t allow teams to shoot 50 percent from the field. One of my pet peeves is letting teams shoot threes. It’s not that hard of a shot. We have to be in their air space.

“Our five freshmen saved us tonight,” added Pastner. “We need Will Coleman and Wesley Witherspoon — our veterans — to step up and play great for us.”

The Tigers — now ranked 21st in the country — will travel to Knoxville to face the Vols in a nationally televised game Wednesday (ESPN2).

NOTES: Junior Charles Carmouche missed his second straight game with a stomach illness. • TSU had only six players play as many as five minutes, each of them accumulating at least 26. • Pastner was given the first technical foul of his career early in the second half, but clarified after the game that it was not for cursing. He had strolled outside the coach’s box.

Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Coming Clean: What Is This?

Post author By Susan Ellis
Post date January 2, 2011

One of the things I hope to do this year — though I wouldn’t call it a resolution exactly — is to get rid of some of the neglected items taking up space in my kitchen drawers and cabinets. For instance, I have two pizza cutters — one large, one small. I believe I used one of them to try to open the painted-shut windows at my house, but which one was it? …

This, however, I will easily toss, because I can’t remember what it went with and I’m not exactly sure what it does. Frankly, I can’t positively say you cook with it.

It’s some sort of filter, I guess, and it has a dial that can be set, mysteriously to either J, F, M, A, M, J, J, A, S, O, N, or D.

What is it? Is it vital?

News

You Don’t Know Jack …

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date January 2, 2011

… Jack gets a letter from a “self-made” man — and he sets him straight.

Opinion

A “Self-made” Man…

Post author By Jack Waggon
Post date January 2, 2011

Dear Jack,

I’ve known you for many years and I’m hoping my daughter will see this, recognize herself, and do something about her life. She hasn’t worked in two years, her worthless husband hasn’t had a job in over three years. Neither one of them is even trying to find work, nor do they have any marketable skills thanks to their decision to quit school and have babies. I’ve offered to hire them both to work at my business, but neither one of them even want to work. They’d rather live off unemployment and food stamps while mooching off my wife, who gives them money behind my back.

I know how hard it can be for young people, but to be perfectly honest, it isn’t that frigging hard. I managed to make something of my life without a college education, and you have to admit I’m a pretty successful guy. There are places to work for those willing to knuckle down and to what it takes. I’ve told them both that if they want to keep receiving help from us, they are going to at least have to try to find a job, somewhere, anywhere, but it’s killing me inside to cut them off because then what will happen to my grandchildren? I don’t want to take custody of them because I’ve already raised my children. What can I do?

— At My Wit’s End

Dear Witless,

This is going to piss you off, but here goes. You have zero idea what it’s really like in the world. You see yourself as some kind of bootstrapping hero of capitalism, a self-made man who lifted himself up from nothing to become the successful businessman you are today. Don’t get me wrong. You’ve done well. But the man you think you are is really your father.

You’ve only ever had one job in your life, when you went to work for your old man straight out of high school. He’d built a modestly successful business and you worked like a slave for him, but you did it knowing you were going to inherit the business one day. He was already on his second heart attack before you were 18, so you knew you wouldn’t have long to wait. And you didn’t, did you?

So there you were, not even 30, and in charge of the business your father built, living in the paid-for house he left you in his will. You’ve never had to find a job on your own. You’ve never been without work or without means. You’ve never had to make a mortgage payment. You tell your daughter to find a job – any job, but just any old job won’t even pay the daycare bills. You never had to pay for health insurance, either, much less go without it. Your biggest expense is taxes. Taxes are the least of your daughter’s worries.

Now you’re middle-aged, healthy as a horse with a good 20 or 25 years before you retire. That’s 25 years before your daughter and her husband can even begin to hope to inherit the family business, years they’ll have to slave for you, and slave for you they will, I have no doubt. I wouldn’t work for you, either, pal.

There’s no good solution here, but don’t make it worse by cutting her off. The two of you are going to have to work together to find a way out. She’s needs to do some growing up, but you need to open your eyes to the reality of her world. It’s much, much harder than anything you’ve ever known. If you can see things from her point of view, she might surprise you by growing up right before your eyes. Keep treating her like a spoiled and ignorant child and that’s all she will ever be.

Got a problem? Jack Waggon will set you straight: jack.wagg@gmail.com

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