A Sea Of Red

Hope you guys don't mind me posting these.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

NCAA Basketball: McKay Can Be Himself as Liberty's Coach

By Rick Wright
Of the Journal

Take a good, long sip of that sweet Lynchburg Lemonade, Ritchie McKay.
After the tough year you've had, you deserve it.
McKay, fired Feb. 22 as men's basketball coach at New Mexico and hired 32 days later for the same position at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., would never touch an actual glass of Lynchburg Lemonade. That's an alcoholic drink, and he's a teetotaler.
But if McKay's a little tipsy with joy at landing on his feet— and what a soft, two-point landing it is— one hardly could blame him.
Ritchie and Liberty, a.k.a. Jerry Falwell U., seem a better fit than Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
Or, for modern-day dance fans, Cheryl Burke and whoever her partner might be on "Dancing With the Stars."
For McKay, what wasn't in the stars was success at UNM. Unlike Fred and Ginger, McKay and Albuquerque were constantly out of step.
Among the many disconnects: McKay's Christian beliefs, or at least his advocacy of them.
In the fall of 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union accused McKay of pledging to prize recruit J.R. Giddens' mother that he'd make sure the kid attended church if he came to UNM.
McKay denied the charge, but it wasn't his first such dust-up at a state-run school.
There's a gospel song entitled "Couldn't Keep It To Myself." At UNM, and at Portland State earlier in his head-coaching career, McKay had a hard time doing that.
(Memo to new UNM coach Steve Alford, a friend of McKay's and a practicing Christian who last week talked of developing his Lobo players spiritually as well as athletically and academically: careful, Steve; you're courting a phone call from the ACLU.)
Did McKay's religion have anything to do with his firing last month, or with the events leading up to it? No.
Here's a previous line of mine that I'm really proud of, deservedly or not: if McKay's Lobos had gone 26-7 every year, as they did in 2004-05, UNM would have been happy to put hymnals on the backs of the seats in the Pit.
Winning solves everything, almost. McKay didn't win, so he's gone.
He needs to win in Lynchburg, too, of course, if he intends to stay there. He's replacing Randy Dunton, who was fired at Liberty six days after McKay was canned at UNM.
Still, it's abundantly clear that McKay is among friends at Liberty. He's coaching at a private Christian school, and nobody at the ACLU is going to pounce on him for quotes like those below, printed Tuesday in the Lynchburg News & Advance:
"It's a chance to combine passions," he said of the Liberty job. "I'm passionate about God's word and growing as a believer, trying to fulfill the purpose and plan he has for my life.
"That's why I think God prepared me for this, to be able to appreciate it, and not just for the basketball part of my passion, but where my heart really lies."
At UNM, McKay never denied or apologized for using his religion to recruit players from Christian backgrounds. Sometimes, it worked.
"It's divinely put together," Victor Danridge said of McKay's UNM program in March 2004. Danridge is a pastor, and his son, Tony, signed with the Lobos later that year.
It'll be interesting to see how McKay fares now, recruiting at a Christian school.
On one hand, with Falwell as chancellor, you'd think Hugh Hefner could recruit Christian kids to Liberty.
On the other, under such circumstances, do McKay's own beliefs become less of a selling point?
For today, at least, it doesn't matter.
McKay, finally, is at Liberty— to be himself.


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Catch Rick Wright's column at www.abqjournal.com. E-mail him at rwright@abqjournal.com

http://www.abqjournal.com/sports/550110 ... -28-07.htm

No problem, 505. Just make sure you attach a link (I added one for you here).

Albuquerque is a lot like Austin near me. The ACLU actually carries some clout. But come on, do they really feel compelled to waste anybody's time with the complaints listed in that story? Give me a break.

I always enjoy articles that reference Christianity but written by someone observing from the outside. It's almost how I would write about the behavior of animals I observed in the safari.

505Cherry_and_Silver wrote:
Take a good, long sip of that sweet Lynchburg Lemonade, Ritchie McKay.
After the tough year you've had, you deserve it.

http://www.abqjournal.com/sports/550110 ... -28-07.htm[/quote]

Besides his obvious disdain for RMs Christianity, he also has his Lynchburg's mixed up. Someone tell the guy Jack is made in Lynchburg, Tenn!

That's Lynchburg Tenn...anyways


I'm glad to hear about the ACLU...we dont like them much here at Liberty either! I heard this but didnt want to post it simply b/c I wasnt sure it was true...I'm glad to hear that, he'll fit in great around here....



Here's a good question...why didnt he call Liberty Council?

Hold My Own wrote:
Here's a good question...why didnt he call Liberty Council?

They were too busy watching 'Black Christmas'.

505Cherry_and_Silver wrote: It'll be interesting to see how McKay fares now, recruiting at a Christian school.
On one hand, with Falwell as chancellor, you'd think Hugh Hefner could recruit Christian kids to Liberty.
On the other, under such circumstances, do McKay's own beliefs become less of a selling point?

The more I read this part the less I understand it. This guy isn't much of a writer.

Knucklehead wrote:

505Cherry_and_Silver wrote: It'll be interesting to see how McKay fares now, recruiting at a Christian school.
On one hand, with Falwell as chancellor, you'd think Hugh Hefner could recruit Christian kids to Liberty.
On the other, under such circumstances, do McKay's own beliefs become less of a selling point?

The more I read this part the less I understand it. This guy isn't much of a writer.

I think that this whole article is nothing more than the writer's really bad attempt at haiku. Must be a Radford grad.

Libertine wrote: Must be a Radford grad.

Also known as "survivors".

I saw a license plate up there one time:

Radford logo and it said: BRNWNIP

Libertine wrote:

Knucklehead wrote:

505Cherry_and_Silver wrote: It'll be interesting to see how McKay fares now, recruiting at a Christian school.
On one hand, with Falwell as chancellor, you'd think Hugh Hefner could recruit Christian kids to Liberty.
On the other, under such circumstances, do McKay's own beliefs become less of a selling point?

The more I read this part the less I understand it. This guy isn't much of a writer.

I think that this whole article is nothing more than the writer's really bad attempt at haiku. Must be a Radford grad.

There you go again!

Please give me an example of how this article is like a Haiku! and I'll prepare myself for the answer.

Knucklehead wrote:

505Cherry_and_Silver wrote: It'll be interesting to see how McKay fares now, recruiting at a Christian school.
On one hand, with Falwell as chancellor, you'd think Hugh Hefner could recruit Christian kids to Liberty.
On the other, under such circumstances, do McKay's own beliefs become less of a selling point?

The more I read this part the less I understand it. This guy isn't much of a writer.

We've been saying this for years

He did say bad attempt.

Knucklehead wrote:There you go again!

Please give me an example of how this article is like a Haiku! and I'll prepare myself for the answer.

You honestly dont think this writer was biased in any way?

Hold My Own wrote:

Knucklehead wrote:There you go again!

Please give me an example of how this article is like a Haiku! and I'll prepare myself for the answer.

You honestly dont think this writer was biased in any way?

If you're talking to me, let me clarify. This article is totally 100% biased. I was just trying to understand the one part and then Libertine's haiku comment!

Knucklehead wrote:

Hold My Own wrote:

Knucklehead wrote:There you go again!

Please give me an example of how this article is like a Haiku! and I'll prepare myself for the answer.

You honestly dont think this writer was biased in any way?

If you're talking to me, let me clarify. This article is totally 100% biased. I was just trying to understand the one part and then Libertine's haiku comment!

ohh ok...you had me worried

Knucklehead wrote:

Hold My Own wrote:

Knucklehead wrote:There you go again!

Please give me an example of how this article is like a Haiku! and I'll prepare myself for the answer.

You honestly dont think this writer was biased in any way?

If you're talking to me, let me clarify. This article is totally 100% biased. I was just trying to understand the one part and then Libertine's haiku comment!

Thank you, Foxy. I did say "really bad". Look at it. Most of the sentences are only around 15-20 syllables long, contains few compound sentences and is very poorly punctuated. This can't possibly be an actual attempt at journalism. This looks like someone tried their hand at haiku or medieval poetry or something after being repeatedly kicked in the head.

Shall I bring up the name Whitehead?
(I'm betting you weren't prepared for that one.)

I just read the article again, and worry about me as much as you want to, but I did not find it particularly biased. I agree w/TallyW's comment about observing animals on a safari, but that is more indicative of a secularist perspective (read: ignorance) than bias. Relative to some other things I have read, IMHO the article had a very objective tone, and in fact he seemed to me to be genuinely happy for RMK.

olldflame wrote:and in fact he seemed to me to be genuinely happy for RMK.

Post the link of the article you read...

Libertine wrote:Look at it. Most of the sentences are only around 15-20 syllables long, contains few compound sentences and is very poorly punctuated. This can't possibly be an actual attempt at journalism.

What does someone expect from folks' writing in the part of country...
...I understand its even worse once you cross the border into Arizona...







(just kidding, Chris...only poking some fun)
JT

Hold My Own wrote:

olldflame wrote:and in fact he seemed to me to be genuinely happy for RMK.

Post the link of the article you read...

I agree HMO. It seems as if he is referring to Rm as we might refer to a member of a space alien cult or something.

Fumblerooskies wrote:What does someone expect from folks' writing in the part of country...
...I understand its even worse once you cross the border into Arizona...

(just kidding, Chris...only poking some fun)
JT

Of course it improves dramatically when you head east.

No offense taken.

You want a mind-numbing drive? Take the Albuquerque to Flagstaff trip ... about 650 miles round trip. Did it several times. Good thing is speed limit is 75 out there. Just watch for the po-po around Holbrook.

Yeah, after I got done reading that I felt the same way as I do when I watch CNN for a few hours talking about politics or National Geographic channel on the Planet Earth.


But we've all seen this coming...over the last few years there has been less and less of facts and more and more opinions...I personally blame Around the Horn and other shows that pay writers to be as opinionated as they are. I mean think about it. This article could have been placed as a post in the message board and nobody would have thought. Wow, that seems like it would be a good article, they would just simply think wow...that's really long, and RM must have kicked his dog or something.

HMO ... Wright's a columnist. He's supposed to inject opinion into his columns.