Month: April 2019

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Rivalries, Rebuilding, Rehab, and Rasslin’

CREDIT: Michael Butler Jr.

I was a guest on Kevin Cerrito’s sports-radio show, Cerrito Live, on Sports 56 last weekend, to discuss, of all things, the Memphis Grizzlies and their Wrestling Night promotions. Every NBA team has themed nights to add some pizzazz to their home games, and Wrestling Night is the home team’s exclusive version of this. It was a great event when it was initially presented back in 2015. The night featured Jerry “The King” Lawler and Ric Flair, and was capped off by the Grizzlies beating a rival Oklahoma City Thunder team with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka.
Michael Butler Jr.

901 Wrestling

During my radio interview, we talked about how the Grizzlies Wrestling Night went from being an amazing annual event to one that the Grizzlies in-game operations team has run into the ground — resting on past accomplishments and probably serving up too much of a good thing. The Grizzlies had six Wrestling Nights this season, often featuring embarrassingly aging former wrestlers from the 1990s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, this gaffe by the team’s event staff mirrors some of the actions of the organization on the basketball side, as well.

I also attended a local wrestling show that Saturday night, from a promotion called 901 Wrestling. Its owner, Christopher Thompson, has been hosting outstanding shows at the Rec Room on Broad Ave recently, and I was able to bring Grizzlies beat writer Omari Sankofa from The Athletic out with me to experience and learn how deep wrestling is rooted in a certain subculture of the city. He grasped the parallels and passion of it and saw how it adds to what he has already observed about the city since moving here last fall from Detroit to cover the Grizzlies. In Memphis, we love our hoops — and we love our wrestling.

Wrestling and basketball have always played off of each other well in Memphis, due to the fact that both sports have a element of good vs. bad, heroes vs. villains, and intense rivalries with individuals that you may hate when they are on the court or in the ring but still find entertaining. This is what made great Grizzlies rivalries against the Thunder and Clippers so good, because we savored the classic battles between Zach Randolph, Tony Allen, Marc Gasol, and Mike Conley against the likes of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Deandre Jordan, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant.

After the Grizzlies latest 113-96 loss to the Clippers on Sunday night, it sunk in for me just how much the once-entertaining Clippers rivalry is now dead. Both teams have new rosters and new directions and Conley is the lone member from either side’s glory days. Something else that stood out was how the Clippers were able to lose Paul, Griffin, and Jordan over the last year and have still managed to find themselves in the Western Conference playoffs, even after dealing Tobias Harris, their star player from earlier this season. The Grizzlies’ former rival embraced their rebuild, took the bumps, and added respectable but non-star free agents, while keeping a proven head coach to lead the retooled roster back to the playoffs. In 2017, Doc Rivers was demoted from his position as director of basketball operations to focus on coaching, and he got his team back in the playoffs ahead of schedule.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Grizzlies currently sit tied for the sixth-worst record in the NBA. They have a potential superstar-level talent in Jaren Jackson Jr. but a ton of uncertainty in the front office going forward. There is no obvious sense of direction, outside of what now looks to be failed attempt to convey the draft pick owed to Boston. Jonas Valanciunas, who has had a monster campaign since being traded to the Grizzlies for Marc Gasol, is now out for the season after an ankle injury that he suffered against the Clippers. This adds to a long list of recent injuries, including Jackson, Kyle Anderson, Dillon Brooks, Avery Bradley, CJ Miles, and likely Joakim Noah as players that are out for the season.

The Grizzlies are heading into what will truly be a rebuilding offseason for the franchise, as Mike Conley is also likely to be traded as early as draft night, this summer. It comes with a ton of uncertainty because of the organization’s frustratingly unclear front-office structure, which includes long-time general manager (and scapegoat) Chris Wallace and whoever else seems to be pulling strings and making moves at any time. Can the fans trust an organization that has botched so many major decisions? There is no quick remedy to get the Grizzlies back to being a Western Conference competitor, but just as with their Wrestling Nights, I hope that the team’s leadership realizes that just doing more of the same thing probably isn’t going to work.

Categories
News News Blog

Former Memphian Writes Shazam! Screenplay

JACK DYLAN GRAZER as Freddy Freeman and ZACHARY LEVI as Shazam in New Line Cinema’s action adventure ‘SHAZAM!,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

While growing up, former Memphian Henry Gayden read superhero comic books, but he never thought he’d write a movie about one of them.

Gayden, 39, wrote the screenplay for Shazam!, the new movie based on the DC Comics superhero. The movie, starring Zachary Levi as Shazam, opens April 5th.

“When I grew up, I was a comic book fan for three solid years,” Gayden says. “But I was also a baseball card fan for a few years, and a postage stamp fan for a few years.”

He read Wolverine, Spider-Man, and the X Men, but, he says, “Around the time I became a teenager and wanted to meet girls at parties and stuff, I stopped reading comic books for a little bit.”

Over the years, Gayden read comic books and graphic novels. “But it was never my dream to write a comic book movie.”

Shazam! was different. Gayden liked the story of Billy Batson, a young boy who turns into a superhero when he shouts, “Shazam!”

Batson (played by Asher Angel) becomes a foster child who moves from home to home after he gets separated from his mother at a carnival midway. “My mom had Alzheimer’s when I was young. And, so, even though we didn’t lose her physically, we started to lose her a little bit. This idea of this boy looking for his mom immediately hit me. And just this idea of being able to forget who you are and feel the false sense of confidence you can get from escapism, which, essentially, were his superpowers.”

Gayden also likes Darla (Faithe Herman), the youngest member of a household of children at a loving foster home, where Batson ends up. She’s a “people pleaser. Makes people feel good.”

Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), another one of the kids, is “a nerd. “And that’s how I am with movies,” Gayden says. “All I do is consume movies and talk about movies.

I immediately connected with the material. I feel like this was genetically engineered for me to write.”

The idea for a Shazam movie wasn’t new. “This thing has been in development for several decades. William Goldman, who wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men, wrote a draft in the ‘90s. It’s been kicking around for a while.”

For research, Gayden hit the comic books again. The character, originally known as “Captain Marvel,” was created by C. C. Beck and Bill Parker in 1939. The first comic book came out in 1940. “Captain Marvel’s name was later changed to Shazam,” Gayden says. “They had a legal snafu and had to change it.”

A native Memphian, Gayden graduated from Memphis University School in 1998 and the University of Texas in Austin in 2002. He moved to Los Angeles in the spring of 2003. “I moved with the intention of writing,” he says. “I didn’t know how to go about doing that.
And then I got an internship at a production company through my cousin. She got me an internship at Laura Ziskin Productions. She (Ziskin) was producer on all the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. So, I worked there as an intern and then I was promoted to assistant for a few years.”

He became assistant to Ziskin’s husband, the award-winning screenplay writer Alvin Sargent, who wrote Paper Moon, Ordinary People, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3.

Gayden was Sargent’s assistant on Spider-Man 3. “Alvin and I became very close in that project and close friends. We wrote a script together based on a Spanish Civil War idea. I wrote a script on my own, got an agent, and started to slowly get jobs, on and off.”

Gayden’s projects include the 2014 Earth to Echo movie and There’s Somebody Inside Your House, which begins production this fall. It will be directed by Patrick Bryce and produced by James Wan.

Shazam! was “a joy to write. My wife could hear me laughing in my office with the door closed. I had an absolute blast working on it.”

The Shazam superhero was “such a nonexistent character in everybody’s mind. Nobody knew who he was, what the project was. No one at the studio got in our way. It was just me, the director, the producer, the DC executive, and the New Line executive. A small team of people — seven of us — worked together for years, until we had a movie we loved.”

The two teenagers — Brett Breyer (Carson MacCormac) and Burke Breyer (Evan Marsh) — who merciless bully Freddy in high school were a bit more difficult to write at first, Gayden says. “I never really got bullied in a terrible way, growing up. 

An executive took me to dinner and regaled me with stories about what happened to him growing up. He said, ‘This is real. This isn’t some gimmick we’re putting in there.’ Those stories helped me connect.”

Gayden can’t name a Shazam! character he’s not fond of in some way. “If my prison term was to write Shazam movies for the rest of my life, it’d be fine. I love these characters. I wouldn’t complain about that.”

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

901 FC Just Miss Out in New Jersey Thriller

CREDIT: 901 FC

It wasn’t quite the happy homecoming Memphis coach Tim Mulqueen was hoping for, but in terms of entertainment, this game turned out to be a dead ringer. With the score 2-1 in favor of New York Red Bulls II after a topsy-turvy first half, the broadcast displayed the scores from six concurrent USL games, all reading 0-0. Thanks for making sure we get our money’s worth, 901 FC. 901 FC

Marc Burch

Like any good road thriller, the drama has to start pregame. Close to kick-off, defender Wes Charpie pulled out with an injury, which forced Mulqueen to shuffle his pack. Abdi Mohamed jumped over to right-back, while Trinidadian international Tristan Hodge filled in at left-back.

Despite the loss, Memphis played a great game. New York held possession in the early stages and pressed the 901 FC defense and midfield, forcing a few turnovers that ultimately proved fruitless for the home team. It was a bold decision to try and play their way out of the high press. But if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And Memphis tried, tried again, and it paid off emphatically in the 11th minute. Morgan Hackworth received a pass in the Red Bulls’ 18 and fizzed a low cross through the box which found its way to Duane Muckette, who would have been perfectly entitled to take a crack on goal. Instead, he played a first-time ball back into the center of the box to the elusive Adam Najem, who directed the ball into the net with his knee. Alas, what could have been a springboard for a second straight road victory unraveled just a few minutes later.

Overall, it was another good showing from the defense, but the last-minute changes may have played a part in the few concessions Memphis gave up. In the 18th minute, New York was able to get a cross into the box, and Jared Stroud arrived to hit a first-time volley past Jeff Caldwell to equalize. That was probably Mohamed’s man to cover, but the 901 FC defense had been sucked over to one side of the field. Stroud was completely unmarked inside Memphis’ six-yard box. If you leave someone that open, you’re going to get punished. When there are changes in the backline, Burch and Pratzner need to be in constant communication with their fullbacks to make sure mistakes like that don’t happen.

With the score tied at 1-1, the game opened up. Memphis pressed more men forward in attack, leading to a great sequence in the 29th minute that wreaked havoc on the New York defense. Mulqueen’s really done a job of drilling into his players the most appropriate times to press high and keep possession and this sequence, full of several shots and good interplay in the final third, illustrated that perfectly.

At the other end, having a goalkeeper like Caldwell pays dividends when pushing more men forward. Whenever the Red Bulls threatened on the break, he read plays well and was quick off his line to smother any potential chances. Unfortunately, it was New York who ended the half with the advantage. In the first period of stoppage time, Caldwell parried a dangerous low cross straight to Tom Barlow, who only had to direct the rebound on target.

Memphis came out strong in the second half, with Muckette and Burch both having presentable chances. Dally became a little more involved as well, turning on the jets to beat defenders with ease. New York weathered the storm and added a third in the 56th minute, Derrick Etienne capitalizing on a Hodge’s weak headed clearance to drive a shot past Caldwell. At that point, you might expect 901 FC players’ heads to drop. One commentator even suggested that Memphis might go for damage limitation.

Pure folly! Four minutes later, Marc Burch smashed a free-kick past New York’s Evan Louro in goal, and Memphis was back in the game. At that point, you just had to throw your hands up and see which way it would go. Both teams hit the post, New York searching for an insurance goal and Memphis desperately trying to find an equalizer. As the game wore on, Memphis opened up more at the back. But by that point, Caldwell had finished erecting a brick wall in front of his net and kept out everything New York threw at him. He inexplicably managed to save from Etienne from only six yards out, and then did one even better in the 95th minute.

With the game pretty much over, Barlow drew a penalty in the box. Stroud stepped up to put a little gloss on the scoreline, but Caldwell tipped the shot around the post. A disappointing result, but a fantastic performance by Memphis. Mulqueen’s men created a lot of chances and could have added a few more if they were a bit sharper with their finishing. After the result, 901 FC is 10th in the Eastern Conference standings on four points. The final match of their three-game road trip comes against North Carolina on April 6th.

Quick Notes

*Adam Najem is truly a classy player. Whenever he has time on the ball, he makes things happen on the offensive side of the game. He moved well in the box to score early, and it was his reverse pass that sparked Memphis’ 29th hectic 29th minute sequence. Play needs to run through him to optimize 901 FC’s chances for victory. Look out for more of his link-up play with Muckette in the midfield.

*Defensive midfield is usually an under appreciated position, so let’s take a few minutes to applaud the efforts of Ewan Grandison. He was all over the field yesterday, helping facilitate the ball forward and putting out fires whenever the Red Bulls ramped up the pressure.

*Sometimes you just don’t get the breaks. Two sloppy defensive mistakes handed New York two goals. On another day, Mohamed tracks his runner, or Hodge makes a more authoritative clearance.

*Another game, another slew of amazing Jeff Caldwell saves. That should put some doubt into opposing attackers’ heads in the games ahead.

*901 FC has put in some pretty terrific performances on the road, especially for a new team. Local fans should be enthused by what they see, and expect a rocking atmosphere when the boys come home to face Atlanta United II on April 10th.

*At several points during the stream, the camera went of focus, leading to a screen full of blurred colors and inscrutable images. Just a reminder, ESPN, that I’m paying for your service. Get it together!

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Ryan Peel

CREDIT: Ryan Peel

Music Video Monday is doubling up!
Ryan Peel

A yummy shot from ‘2X’

Ryan Peel is back for the second time in 2019. This time he brings Webbstar, Thread Astaire, and Travis Roman with him for “2X.”

“‘2X’ is a fun, playful song about someone or something that keeps you coming back for MORE,” says Peel. “Seconds won’t hurt … but save room for dessert!”

Music Video Monday: Ryan Peel

If you’d like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

Categories
News News Blog

Explore Bike Share Launches New Pricing Model

CREDIT: Facebook- Explore Bike Share

Facebook- Explore Bike Share

Explore Bike Share (EBS) implemented a new pricing model Monday.

Trey Moore, executive director of the 600-bike bike share system here, said the “evolved model will actively encourage ridership while more accurately reflecting bike share ridership trends.”

“Explore Bike Share enters its eleventh month of operation in April, and the experience and knowledge gained in our first six months, as well as our rider survey, have helped us predict the next,” Moore said. “This evolved operation model was created to benefit all types of riders and further our mission of providing affordable, accessible, and easy transportation to all Memphians.”

The new pricing is as follows:

With the Pay as You Go option, rides will now cost $1.25 per 15 minutes. This option replaces the $5 single ride pass.

A new option, the 24-hour pass, lets riders pay $5 for a full day of unlimited 60-minute rides.

The weekly pass, originally $12, has been reduced to $10. The monthly membership, which EBS said is the most popular option, remains at $15.

Finally, the annual membership fee, which gives users unlimited one hour rides for a year, will drop from $120 to $90.

The new pricing is coupled with other changes to the network, including a new option to dock and lock bikes at any publicly accessible bike rack within the EBS service area for a $1 service fee.

EBS will also be placing customized sponsored stations in front of local businesses, such as hotels, apartment complexes, and restaurants.

The organization used data collected throughout EBS’ first 10 months of operation as well as information gathered in a March survey to guide the changes.

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The survey showed that riders want more bike-docking stations in order to increase the convenience of the system. Local businesses and organizations also expressed their desire for more stations. Common locations suggested for stations in the survey include South Memphis, the Shelby Farms Greenline, and the University of Memphis.

Data on ridership collected by EBS revealed that about 66 percent of users take between one and five rides per month and that more than half of users are riding for exercise or recreation.

EBS, which uses the BCycle Dash system, will soon look to expand its service area by creating new docks from existing stations.

“Our Dash system is the first and largest in the world, and it services communities all over Memphis,” Moore said. “Our data has shown us that riders use Explore Bike Share even in areas without a robust bike share presence, like Binghampton and the Shelby Farms Greenline, and placing docking stations in those areas using the excess docks from high-frequency stations allows us to quickly serve more Memphians without raising new capital.”

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Ben’s ’Birds

CREDIT: Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

When the Memphis Redbirds open their 22nd season Thursday night at AutoZone Park, they’ll do so with their eighth manager. But 37-year-old Ben Johnson will be the first native Memphian to deliver the Opening Day lineup card to the home plate umpire. So it’s a homecoming of sorts for the former Germantown High School centerfielder, but with a recent standard almost impossible to match, particularly for a man in charge of his first Triple-A club.

“I’m in a position to put these players in a position to succeed,” emphasizes Johnson. “I don’t know that every manager puts his players first in their day-to-day. Their dream is my dream; I want them to be great. I can help them with that.”
Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

Ben Johnson

Born at Baptist East in 1981, Johnson entered professional baseball as a St. Louis Cardinal, adding a layer to his homecoming this season. The Cardinals chose Johnson in the fourth round of the 1999 draft, but traded him to San Diego a year later. He made his debut with the Padres in 2005 and played in 98 big-league games, his last with the New York Mets in 2007. (Johnson suffered a severe injury to his left ankle sliding into second base, one that contributed to his early retirement as a player. “The body went,” says Johnson, “and it took some time for the mind to grasp that.”) He chose to stick with baseball, becoming a scout for four years (2014-17) with the Arizona Diamondbacks before joining the Durham Bulls (Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays) as third-base coach for the 2018 season.

The Bulls fell to Memphis in last season’s Triple-A National Championship Game but, for Johnson, the event led to a career-altering meeting with St. Louis president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak. “We had a good conversation, and that started the ball rolling,” says Johnson. “He didn’t ask about my interest [in the Redbirds job], but just how interested I was in coaching. How I felt about coaching. He knew from my response that I love coaching.” Mozeliak happened to be the Cardinals’ pro scouting director in 1999 when the Cardinals originally signed Johnson as a player. The reunion had a road map.

“I’d see Mo on the scouting trail, and I covered the Cardinals [as a Padres scout],” notes Johnson. “You make sure you speak to a guy like that when you see him. There was some depth to it, I guess.”

Early in his playing career, Johnson spent offseasons in Memphis, but he and his wife and two children have lived in Phoenix for more than a decade now. “Better weather, more players coming together,” notes Johnson. “It was better for my career [in baseball].” But the lure of Memphis — and the Cardinals system — seemed more than serendipitous. “Interviewing for this job hit home more than any other position I’d ever interviewed for,” says Johnson. “We grew up Cardinal fans.”

Coming of age in the 1990s, Johnson admired the Atlanta Braves dynasty, particularly outfielder David Justice. But the Cardinals were in his heart, notably Ozzie Smith and a man he now counts as a colleague, Cardinals bench coach Willie McGee. “Sometimes when you meet your heroes, they’re not [what you’d like them to be],” says Johnson. “It’s all about the players with Willie, and it’s genuine. He’s transparent with the players.”

When asked about managers who have influenced his own philosophy from the dugout, Johnson starts with his high school coach, Phil Clark. “He helped me through the initial pro phase of my life,” says Johnson. “He helped me with what to say and what not to say to scouts.” Johnson also appreciates the influence of Dave Clark (currently the third-base coach for the Detroit Tigers) and Craig Colbert, his manager at a few levels in the Padres’ system. “There were days we didn’t like each other a lot,” says Johnson. “As I matured, we started to get along better. He had a big part in bringing me up as a player.”

Johnson’s first big-league manager was Bruce Bochy, a man who has since won three World Series as skipper for the San Francisco Giants. “There was no ‘eye wash’ with [Bochy]. No false hustle needed. Fake energy is not necessary. I don’t need you to sprint from field to field in spring training if you’re getting your work in. Be a professional. Show up on time, work hard, and we’ll be fine.”

Johnson chuckles at the notion of filling the shoes of his predecessor, Stubby Clapp, a Memphis favorite before he won two straight Pacific Coast League titles as Redbirds manager. Now the Cardinals’ first-base coach, Clapp is the first man Johnson calls with questions any rookie manager will confront. “The Cardinals have made it clear that it’s my fault if I don’t reach out,” says Johnson. “I’ve probably asked Stubby a hundred questions. He’s genuinely interested in what I have to say. He gives me an honest answer, and in a way that doesn’t make me feel like he’s annoyed.”

Having benefited from his own development as a minor-leaguer, Johnson has a grasp on priorities as the Redbirds take flight under his watch. “We have a really talented young group,” says Johnson. “I’m not judged by wins and losses. It’s how we go about handling our business, and building the foundation of development. The number-one goal is to produce championship-caliber players for our major-league team.”