Don Meyer - Evening of Excellence

I wrote the piece below back in 2009 after the first annual Don Meyer - Evening of Excellence at Lipscomb University.  Today I saw on Twitter that Coach Meyer has been put under hospice care so I thought it appropriate to repost my summary of that night five years ago.  Here y'all go:

As a college basketball junkie; allow me to rephrase.  As a basketball junkie in general (If you are keeping up with the Bulls vs. Celtics series and saw the triple overtime game 6, you would understand), I was thrilled to be able to work in a freelance role with my wife, Shay, at the Don Meyer - Evening of Excellence on the campus of Lipscomb University on Tuesday, April 28th.

Coach Meyer has been coaching college basketball since 1972, and he spent 24 years at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. Twice NAIA Coach of the Year during his tenure coaching the Bisons, he led them to the 1986 NAIA National Championship. Coach Meyer has been in the trenches on the hardwood, involved in many tough athletic battles. However, his most difficult battle began off the court on September 5, 2008, when a horrific car crash almost cost the famed coach his earthly life. Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated tells the story quite well; here's the link below:

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1149630/index.htm

Always the witty speaker, Coach Meyer states the following 3 things as "what he learned from his wreck most of all":

1. You should wear a seatbelt.
2. Don't fall asleep while driving.
3. If you do fall asleep, don't run a Prius into a semi.

Obviously, these statements drew a laugh.

Shay and I shot 2 hours of footage at the event which included the following:

An excellent dinner; there were multiple eating sites. Each NCAA Atlantic Sun Team had a room set up where the athletes were in attendance, and a highlight DVD was playing honoring the ‘08- ’09 season (for each respective sport). The men's basketball team was in the old gym - McQuiddy - where many of the past and present Bisons were in attendance. There was also a main seating area in Allen Arena where Coach Meyer offered up a very entertaining Q & A session with former all-time leading scorer in college basketball and current Athletic Director at LU - Philip Hutcheson.

After the dinners, the main address began at 7:30, and this event was introduced by ESPN Senior Writer - Buster Olney. Since we were both working the event (although in obviously different capacities), and Buster is such a great baseball writer/reporter, I took the opportunity to pick his brain on the Brian McCann eye infection situation that is hurting the lineup of my beloved Braves. True to form, Buster was a super nice guy who loved talking the National Pastime with me. Olney has done an ESPN E60 feature story on Coach Meyer, and he is well qualified to speak on the topic. One of Olney's first gigs was working under Joe Biddle at The Nashville Banner (beginning in 1988 - during a great span for DLU). While writing in Nashville, he was a beat writer for college basketball in the city, and he had a great story line in the mighty Bisons.

 

A video presentation preceded the keynote address by Coach Meyer, and it was a very well done piece. Lipscomb Alum, Jimmy Chaffin, is a partner at Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence Public Relations & Advertising, and he served as the mastermind/editor for this wonderful video which featured many highlights on and off the court during the 24 year span Coach Meyer roamed the sidelines for the Bisons. (In fact, this is the advertising firm that Shay and I were shooting footage for during the event. She had a camera shot in the video for Coach Meyer too.) The video was great.  It pulled some tears from the crowd.

 

Dr. Don Meyer was the Keynote Speaker, and he stood several times throughout the night, but "Little Buddy" (as he colorfully refers to his "nub" where a leg used to be) confines him to a wheel chair for much of his waking hours. As he made his way to the podium, however, the entire crowd stood to welcome a popular figure back to the Nashville campus. The speech was excellent with both funny and serious moments; here's a sampling:

 

Coach Meyer has 3 rules during his very famous and heavily attended basketball camps: 1.) Pick up trash. (Leave a place better than you found it. He referred to how his teams would oftentimes leave the visitor's locker room in better shape than they found it during road games.) 2.) Please & Thank You & Yes Sir  &Yes Mam. (In basketball, the classroom, business world & life, the little things matter.) 3. Everyone takes notes. (Continual improvement or Kaizen). These rules made me think of my best friends, Andy Woods and Justin Woods, who tell great stories of weeks at camp on the Nashville campus which consisted of "sitting on the wall" and "push-ups" to the point of bodily failure and soreness like you've never felt before. While the "steely eyes" of Coach Meyer could be intimidating, the camps also greatly improved the basketball games for each one of them.

 

A great quote from the address: "Competitors don't have time to complain. They're too busy getting things done."

 

"F Words" learned during the immediate recovery from his wreck: Faith: Coach stated he "lost 7% of his body mass each week he was bed ridden after the wreck.” During this time, he created a prayer list of people to pray for because, "You have to pray for other people before you pray for yourself.”  Peace isn't the absence of storms or trials. Peace is the calm you have in the middle of the storm.” Coach Meyer stated the most intense pain he has ever felt is when the bandage covering "Little Buddy" was changed in the hospital. In fact, he stated that the bandage would "attach to his open would and be peeled off.”  Not a good image, huh? During these times, he would scream/sing the following hymn all Evangelical Christians should know by heart: "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done." Family - "Carmen did it all. She kept on top of my medical info and sometimes knew more than the doctors about my condition." (This reminded me of my mom who kept copious notes during my dad's many bouts with cancer and would set out for the best options possible.) Coach made mention of his kids, grandkids, etc. Friends: Coach Meyer made mention of many who made the trip to see him in the hospital and the tons of letters, etc. Fitness - "The first time I had to walk 120 feet, it was very tough. I had to have the discipline to do the little things every day."

 

Coach Meyer gave a great lesson that really hit home with me because of my job as a Project Manager for Franke Foodservice, managing New Store, Rebuild and Remodel Projects for McDonald's. The very first McDonald's was in Illinois, and Coach Meyer said that this store used Pepsi products: (paraphrase): "During a very busy Saturday, the only McDonald's at that time ran out of Pepsi, and they made a phone call to Pepsi requesting they bring them some of the cola to the restaurant so they could quench the thirst of the customers. The person who answered the phone after hearing the plea, simply stated: “It's Saturday, and we don't deliver Pepsi to nobody on Saturday.” That very next Monday, McDonald's signed an exclusive contract with Coke. If Coke were to lose every account but hold onto McDonald's, they would be just fine.” Sounds like another company I am familiar with.  Coach Meyer went on to say, "People make/form their opinions of a company or organization based off the particular individual they deal with. That one rude representative of Pepsi cost the company millions and millions of dollars." I found this to be food for thought.

 

An autograph session was next where I was able to tell Coach Meyer how much I enjoyed watching him coach in my hometown at my Alma Mater Freed-Hardeman University in Bader Gymnasium. The two schools were fierce rivals, both being Church of Christ institutions. FHU usually came out on the "short end of the stick,” but the games were highly competitive and fun between the teams and crowds. He mentioned how hot it would get in Bader, and that's the truth a real "sweat box" as he called it.

 

After signing autographs for over one hour, the night concluded in McQuiddy where it was only the former players, Coach Meyer and a handful of people (including Shay and me getting the video evidence). Coach gathered the team around him for a huddle, photo and private pep talk. This was special to witness, and several successful coaches and others were surrounding the legendary coach including Union University women's coach Mark Campbell, Freed - Hardeman University's men's coach Jason Shelton, the founder of Rivals.com, John Pierce and three point bomber Andy McQueen.  The list goes on and on.

 

In conclusion, this was a wonderful fund raising event for the Athletic Department at Lipscomb University, and it allowed a school to reconnect with the glory years of its basketball program and the head coach who brought them that success.

Eric

Vols bulldoze their way into the Sweet 16

I am typing this only a hour or so after the Vols thoroughly dominated Mercer (especially on the glass) to bulldoze their way into the NCAA Sweet 16.  The Vols are simply rolling right now in all facets of the game.  The contributors are many, but it all starts with Stokes in the post scoring and pulling down rebounds like an extra pissed off Charles Oakley.  Jarnell scored 17 points and hauled in 18 boards tonight.  Josh Richardson has likely been the Vols best overall player on both ends.  He scored a career high 26 points tonight, and he is clamping down defensively on scorers throughout this hot stretch for UT.  Barton, Maymon, McRae and others are playing lights out too.  The final score of 83-63 could have been worse.  It felt worse at times.

It is obvious listening to comments from Stokes and others that the Vols have a massive chip on their collective shoulder right now because of the heat that Coach Cuonzo Martin took earlier this year when the Vols were losing games they had no business losing.  For instance, there's no way this team should have lost TWICE to Texas A&M.  I think it was fair for UT fans to question this team and whether or not Martin was the long term answer.  However, I think that it clearly went too far when sensationalism was introduced via a Clay Travis blog post in which he broached the topic of a petition to get Coach Pearl back into the fold.  Of course Clay made a compelling case, and he has enough zealot followers that petitions starting popping up immediately.

Any fan base is susceptible to group think, and that is what kicked in with the petitions gaining steam.  Group think is a powerful force that has done much worse than put a coach on the hot seat.  Group think allowed the Bay of Pigs debacle to occur, and it caused the Challenger launch/explosion.  It almost caused the Volunteer fan base to explode as well, but fan group think did the exact opposite to the UT basketball team.  It caused them to galvanize together and play for their coach with fearless abandon.  Had UT fans not gone down a silly path, would the Vols have hit that extra gear?  Would they be in the Sweet 16?  Those are legit questions in my opinion.

I fell victim to group think in this instance as I had a very brief stretch in which I was even clamoring for Pearl.  However, I soon realized that it was simply foolishness to even think that Coach Martin who was 20 games over .500 at UT was on the hot seat, and I returned to sane thinking.  I should have never allowed the Pearl talk to even penetrate my mind because it was foolish to even consider that might happen.  I should have taken my own advice from January 2012 when I encouraged Volunteer fans to "go all in" with Coach Cuonzo Martin.  It's been more than two years since I wrote that blog post, but I think Volunteer fans finally went all in with Martin tonight.  Let's just hope that his players don't find out.  I like them better with a Big Orange chip on their shoulder.

Machiavelli on Syria

I try to stay on top of the news, especially events with such high stakes outcomes as the possible U.S. military intervention into Syria.  That notwithstanding, I am not well-versed enough in all matters Syria and the Middle East to play armchair QB and critique President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, Congress, the main stream media, etc. about Syria (I will however critique Kerry about his heavy Botox usage - WTH?!?).  I am not going to write a blog post where I offer solutions and suggestions to such complex issues and quagmires.  However, I did come across something that got the gears in my head turning today in regards to Syria.

I was reading the book Tribal Leadership, and it contains an excerpt from The Prince, a political treatise first published in 1532 and written by the oft-historically maligned Machiavelli.  The quote reads as follows, "Well committed atrocities are committed once so one may establish oneself.  Poorly committed atrocities are done at first sparingly, then more and more.  Therefore, one taking a state must commit all the atrocities at the beginning."

Reports show Assad has committed unspeakable atrocities that crossed President Obama's virtual line in the sand which is akin to dipping your toe in the water to test it out. If Assad is not reprimanded, what is to stop him from unleashing chemical warfare "first sparingly, then more and more"? 

Conversely, President Obama has touted a military action that he foresees as being "limited in duration and scope".  Hmmm, sounds like the President wants to "establish himself" by "committing once" to swift and decisive action. 

While I see both sides of the coin on whether or not the United States should intervene, I couldn't help but think of how Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli's words from over 500 years ago pretty much sum up the situation. 

Lastly, I am going to broach Tupac because how can I write a few quick blurbs about Machiavelli without mentioning his hip-hop disciple?

From Big Burrito to Big Spain

By Eric L. Taylor

The Memphis Grizzlies and their rabid "Whoop that trick" fan base are on cloud nine today after dispatching the OKC Thunder last night to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history.  There are many contributing factors to the Grizzlies dazzling success this season (most wins in franchise history) and postseason (first WCF).  From the "addition by subtraction" Rudy Gay trade to the presence of Z-Bo on the low block to the "Grind Father" Tony Allen to the emergence of Mike Conley Jr. as one of the top point guards in the league to the steady leadership of Coach Lionel Hollins, there is no shortage of reasons why this team knocked the bark off both the Clippers and Thunder in NBA playoff action.

With all of those reasons listed above being true and important, I contest that there's no bigger reason for this magic carpet ride than the development of "Big Spain" Marc Gasol into the best center in the NBA.  That's right; I said he's the best center, better than Dwight Howard, Tyson Chandler, Brook Lopez and any other center you can name.  There are many reasons why I believe this to be true.  Gasol is the best passing center in the game.  How many times has he hit a cutting Tony Allen at the bucket for a dunk or threaded the needle on a bounce pass to Z-Bo for a layup?  When Gasol has the ball in triple threat in the high post, he's truly a "triple threat" because he can shoot over the top of the defender, put the ball on the deck for a sweeping hook across the lane or zip a pass to a teammate for an easy score.  Last night in game 5 of the Grizz/Thunder Western Conference semifinal, Gasol had a poor offensive night going into the 4th quarter.  However, that did not prevent him from hitting multiple big baskets down the stretch to save the win for the Grizzlies. 

Defensively, Gasol was named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year this season, and advanced stats bear this out.  The Grizzlies gave up 95.4 points per 100 possessions with Gasol on the floor this season and 102.2 points per 100 possessions with him on the pine.  To the untrained eye, that may not look like a significant difference, but it is.  In addition, Coach Lionel Hollins has compared Gasol to legendary big man Bill Walton (Hollins & Walton were teammates in Portland) in regards to the way both men quarterback the defense from the center position.  Gasol is always communicating with his teammates, helping position to best defend certain players and specific plays/sets.  From film study and enhanced perception, Gasol recognizes plays quickly and barks out orders accordingly.  His help defense is superb, and he is a great defender of his own position.  Add all of this up, and it completely justifies his DPoY award.

 Now that we've completely established the greatness of Marc Gasol in 2013, let's take a trip way back.... back... back into time (Yes, that was a Blackstreet reference).  In the early '00s, I worked for the Tennessee Sports Radio Network covering high school sports, including the TSSAA boys state basketball tournament on the campus of MTSU at the Murphy Center.  The 2003 Division II Tournament featured Brentwood Academy and Freshman sensation Brandan Wright; the other heavyweight (literally) was 2003 Division II Mr. Basketball, Marc Gasol and his Lausanne Lynx.  I missed the first day of the tournament due to previously scheduled business meetings, but I made it to Murfreesboro the next day.  All of the chatter was about Corey Brewer and his eleven or so dunks in a first round loss, but I wanted to know about Marc Gasol.  I had heard so many good things about the younger brother of Memphis Grizzlies superstar Pau Gasol that I was very intrigued.  I had heard that the younger Gasol was a stronger player (than his brother) with a Hakeem-esque array of post moves to compliment his bullish strength.

When I reached my TSRN cohorts, I immediately asked about Gasol and how he looked in the opening game.  What I got in return was a look of disgust.  Per my coworker, Marc Gasol looked "pathetic".  He was "fat, out of shape", and it was "miserable to watch".  My heart immediately sank.  Could the mythical Marc Gasol be just that, a myth?  Was he more "chunk" than champ?  I would find out in the championship game vs. Brentwood Academy where BA throttled Gasol's team by a final tally of 68-49.  Here's how the game played out:  Gasol's teammates would shoot up the floor and wait for him to amble down the court.  Once he got his massively overweight frame down the court, he would post up and put up a shot.  If he missed the shot, the younger and slimmer Brandan Wright would do his best Usain Bolt by sprinting down the court and throwing down a massive dunk.  About the time he would tear down the rim, Gasol would reach halfcourt only to turn around to plod back down on the low block.  I was crestfallen and nauseated watching such a waste of seven feet.  Gasol was out of shape at the end of the season.  It was truly sad.

I only bring up the high school Marc Gasol to show how far he has come over the past 10 years.  Through hard work getting in shape, polishing his game and his experience on the Spanish national team, he has made himself into the best center in the league.  He may never wow you with his athleticism, but his skill set and smarts set him apart.  If someone would have told me during that state tournament game that in 10 years Gasol would be the best center in the league and DPoY, I would have laughed hysterically and bet my entire net worth against it.  In fact, I would have thought Wright would turn out to be the NBA superstar and Gasol the vagabond when it has turned out to be the exact opposite. 

I heard a recent interview with Gasol where he referenced his high school days, and he mentioned his opponents in Memphis used to mockingly call him the "Big Burrito".  That's when it hit me that Gasol has truly gone from Big Burrito to Big Spain.  He was overweight and an afterthought as a NBA prospect, and now he's an All-Star.  That's a life lesson.  Just because you're not great at something right now doesn't mean you can't get there through grit and grind (see what I did there?).  It sounds cheesy, but going from Big Burrito to Big Spain in any avenue of your life is a choice made daily by doing or not doing the little things to get better. 

Here's hoping Big Spain leads the Grizzlies to a Larry O'Brien Trophy.

The Chicago Bulls are the New York Knicks

I love the NBA playoffs (What a simple introductory statement).  I know I'm in the minority, but I prefer the NBA playoffs over the NFL playoffs, MLB playoffs, NCAA Tournament, UFC and basically any other sporting event you can name (other than UT football and maybe U.S. Open tennis).  There's something mesmerizing about a best-of-seven series featuring the greatest athletes in the world.

As a born and bred Tennessean, I have often been asked, "How in the world did you become a New York Knicks fan?"  Well, let me recite the story.  As a youngster, I enjoyed NBA games, but I went into the '90s without a true "favorite" team.  Just about all of my friends jumped on the Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls bandwagon, and I didn't want to go down that road.  Jordan was clearly the best player in the world, but I didn't see the joy in rooting for that Bulls bunch.

Going into the 1992 NBA playoffs, the Chicago Bulls were the defending champions and #1 seed while the New York Knicks were the #4 seed.  In the '91 playoffs, the Bulls swept the Knicks 3-0 in the opening round in the 1-8 match up.  One year later, the teams met up in the Conference Semis, and there weren't many pundits who expected any different of a result than the beat down that had occurred the year prior.  What actually resulted was a tough, testy 4-3 series win for the Bulls.  In fact, I would argue that series was the toughest the Bulls faced in their first 3-peat.

The '91-'92 Knicks were hard-nosed and tough as nails.  They were led by Hall-of-Fame Center Patrick Ewing who played a tough, defensive brand of basketball.  Ewing's toughness was supplemented by mean, front line players in Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason and Xavier McDaniel.  At guard, the Knicks were led by Mark Jackson at the point and the up-start John Starks at the two-guard.  Starks was as volatile as any player in the history of the league.  Pat Riley coached this bunch, and Riley didn't allow his players to show any mercy (Cobra Kai style).  The volatility, passion and lunch pail mentality are what drew me to the New York Knicks.  Most of the other teams in the league seemed to hold Michael Jordan and the Bulls in some sort of reverence where they almost conceded defeat before the ball was even tipped.  The Knicks didn't get that memo.  They challenged, fought, clawed, scratched and competed vs. the Bulls with complete disregard for the reverence of Air Jordan.  Although the 1992 Conference Semis series didn't end with the Knicks as the victors, I decided during the battle to hitch my fandom wagon to the New York Knicks.

Now let's fast forward to right now.  I'm currently watching game 3 of the Heat/Bulls as I type this.  The '12-'13 Miami Heat are the '92 Chicago Bulls.  They are the prohibitive favorite and clearly the most talented team in the NBA.  LeBron James is the NBA's current version of Michael Jordan,  D. Wade is their Scottie Pippen, and Chris Bosh is their Horace Grant.  The Miami Heat are coached by Erik Spolestra, but make no mistake, Pat Riley is the driving force behind that entire franchise.  The six championship Bulls teams boasted the greatest coach in NBA history on their side in Phil Jackson.

This year's Bulls team is undermanned due to injury, and even at full strength, they're clearly not as talented the Miami Heat.  That notwithstanding, this Bulls team reminds me of the early '90s Knicks.  Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Carlos Boozer are their Oakley, Mason and McDaniel.  Jimmy Butler is not as crazy as John Starks, but he's their hard-nosed two-guard so the comparison works.  Nate Robinson has a ton of Starks in him as well, and he's instant offense.  The Bulls head coach is defensive-minded Tom Thibodeau who actually was an assistant for the Knicks from '96-'03.  Finally, Derrick Rose is their Patrick Ewing (best player), but he's not involved in the series due to a long absence from an ACL tear.

This Bulls bunch doesn't take any of LeBron's crap, and they don't hold him in any special regard.  The Bulls and Heat didn't shake hands before tonight's game, and Nazr Mohammed has already been ejected tonight for shoving King James.  I don't expect the Bulls to win this series, but I love watching their competitive fire and grit.  A few days ago, Colin Cowherd called this Bulls team "the most likable team in professional sports", and as a basketball fan who loves defense and rebounding, I have to agree.  That doesn't mean I am now a Bulls fan by any stretch (Knicks and Grizz, baby), but if I were a youngster looking for a squad to all in love with, this Bulls team would be tops on my list.

Time to drive the stake

As someone who used to regularly burn up the keyboard with sports related blog posts, my Twitter feed has been eerily absent of original material over the past few months.  Between juggling responsibilities and relationships (my "real world" job, grad school, lovely wife and a two-year old little boy); my opportunities to blog have been few and far between.  However, leave it to tonight's NBA slate to wake me from my slumber. (I only have a few minutes so this won't be the most well-written piece I've ever crafted, but who cares?)

As a bona fide fantasy sports nerd, I am the commissioner of a NBA league aptly named "Knicks vs. Grizz Finals".  Judging from that name, it's not hard to see where my loyalties lie, and both the Knicks and the Grizzlies have prime chances tonight to drive the stake into the hearts of their opponents (vampires are all the rage so this metaphor works).  The beautiful aspect for both the Knicks and Grizz is that they are facing off vs. fierce rivals so punching tickets to the second round will be extra sweet.

Living in New England, I get all the Celtics love and Knicks bashing I can handle on sports talk radio.  Articles such as this one show that the belief the Celtics will win four straight to come back from 0-3 down is a common sentiment from Celtics fans and media types alike.  Most folks in Boston believe the Knicks to be a flawed jump shooting team led by a paper tiger in Carmelo Anthony.  According to Boston media types, the Knicks, who haven't won a playoff series since 2000, will pucker when it's time to seal the deal.  Maybe that's how it will play out, but I don't think so. 

The Celtics don't have a true point guard, and the Knicks have three.  Raymond Felton has outplayed Avery Bradley in this series, and I think the Knicks will get stellar point guard play tonight at TD Garden which is one of the reasons they will get over the hump on the road in six games. 

Anther reason the Knicks will tonight is Carmelo Anthony will come out a man possessed.  He will not play as poorly as he did in game five.  The key will be making quicker decisions once the ball is in his hands and not getting the majority of his shots from isolation plays.  If the Knicks can execute crisp ball movement and get Carmelo the ball in his spots, he will shoot much better from the floor than he did in game five.  Plus, Melo will have extra motivation to bust the Celtics' ass thanks to Jordan Crawford; way to wake a sleeping giant, moron. 

Speaking of Jordan Crawford, this is par for the course from this Celtics bunch (i.e. KG and Honey Nut Cheerios).  God bless the city of Boston, and I am a big proponent of "Boston Strong".  However, the fact that the Knicks wore black suits to game five because they "were going to a funeral" is not a disrespectful swipe or ill-timed gesture towards the city of Boston.  It was simply a failed motivational technique that obviously didn't help get the Knicks over the hump in game five.  It's nothing more or nothing less.  Since we live in a crazily obsessed PC society, many in the Boston media feel this was a classless gesture.  This comes from the same media that covers Jordan Crawford and sees Kevin Garnett and his Honey Nut Cheerios as just an "intense team player". 

Here are some numbers and items to consider:  The Knicks are a tremendous 3-point shooting team, and they are shooting a paltry 23.1% the last two games from downtown.  I don't think that trend will continue; for such a great shooting team, it just can't. 

The Celtics are old and running a 7-man rotation (Jason Terry & Terrence Williams off the bench).  Can KG and Pierce hold up for two more games at a high level?  They both have tons of heart and are champions in this league, but I think the C's slim rotation catches up with them tonight. 

To  conclude my thoughts on this series, I know the Celtics are going to be tough to bury because they have future Hall-of-Famers in Pierce and Garnett and one of the best coaches in the league in Doc Rivers.  The Knicks haven't won a playoff series in so long it's going to be hard from a mental aspect to seal the deal.  That being said, the Knicks are the more talented and complete team of the two (They actually have a PG).  Also, it's Carmelo Anthony's time to step up and get this team deep into the playoffs.  I'll never forget this game and hope to see the same result tonight. 

In regards to the Grizz, I don't have as much to type.  I will say that I loathe "Flop City" and love the post combo of ZBo and Gasol.  All Heart, Grit, Grind will be rocking in the Grind House tonight, and with Blake Griffin hobbling on a bum ankle, the Grizz will close it out.  I was 10 rows up at Game 2 last year in Memphis, and the sheer hatred these two teams have for one another is palatable. 

I know that a Knicks vs. Grizzlies NBA Finals is a true long shot because of the Miami Heat.  I believe if the Grizz can beat the Clippers, they can win the West.  The Thunder are simply not the same bunch without Westbrook, and the Spurs can be beaten by Memphis (as evidenced by two years ago).  So here goes tonight....  I'm be watching with bated breath.  It's time for the stakes to be driven. 

Zaxby's Policy Change

 

I received a voicemail today from my very good friend, Derek Lusk, that brought a smile to my face.  Derek had just whipped through the drive-through at our shared favorite chicken spot, Zaxby's.  He purchased the tried and true Kickin' Chicken Sandwich meal and ordered three Zax Sauce containers.  When the drive-through attendant gave him his total, he thought it sounded a little bit off.  Being the honest guy that he is, Derek inquired, "Did you forget to charge me for the Zax Sauce?"  The young lady responded, "We're no longer charging for them."

Had I been there I would have simply dropped the mic and driven off.  The letter below is one I sent to Zaxby's via their website on 09/02/11.  I never received a response from Zaxby's which I thought was odd.  Nevertheless, I must not have been the only Zaxby's fan to object to their questionable Zax Sauce tactics.  I truly feel like the good guys won this time.

**It's obviously possible the Smyrna, TN location could be acting alone in this venture, but I hope it's a company wide change.  Also, my suggestion below was for one free Zax Sauce.  Derek received three free sauces today.  Zaxby's has gone above and beyond my request.  Again, this is not due to my email but rather my voice joined with many others to institute change.  If we can do this for Zax Sauce, what's next?  National Debt, Roe vs. Wade, 2nd Amendment Rights, gay marriage and the list goes on and on (obviously joking, Zax Sauce isn't on par with those other "heavy" issues).**

Sent 09/02/11:

Dear Zaxby's,

What do Spud Webb and I have in common?  Well, anyone who has ever seen me in a pair of gym shorts knows it's not leaping ability.  Rather, it's a love for Zaxby's.  Much like the now rotund Spud, I can devour anything on the menu.  From the classic Chicken Finger Plate to any of the Zalads to the always delicious Kickin' Chicken Sandwich combo and the hearty Wings &Things, it's all fresh, tasty and on point every time.  The only person I know who loves Zaxby's as much as I do (other than Spud and the other B list stars who star in the Zaxby's commercials) is my good buddy Derek Lusk.  If Derek could put himself on an IV drip of Zax Sauce, I think he would.

For the majority of my adult life, I have worked in some capacity in the food service industry.  Therefore, I fully understand how customers who abuse condiments can affect food cost at a restaurant such as Zaxby's.  There are fine folks all across this great country who take their condiment habits to extremes.  Then you also have to deal with those who (if allowed) will just take gobs and gobs of condiments to stockpile at home as if they are preparing for nuclear war.  With my understanding of these challenges, I realize why Zaxby's is very protective of their condiments. Today, I was at the excellent Smyrna, TN Zaxby's, and I ordered the always reliable Kickin' Chicken Sandwich, fries and a Coke Zero.  I had a craving for Zax sauce to dip my fries in so I ordered it.  The friendly young lady at the front counter informed me that it would be 25 cents.  I was willing to pay the price, but the principle of the matter is one that doesn't set well with me.  If I were an abuser of condiments as I described above, I would fully expect to have to pay for my sauces.  However, I ate the chicken sandwich as is (with ranch and hot sauce drizzled), and I only used the one container of Zax sauce.  So how do we solve this conundrum?  My solution would be for Zaxby's to provide one free Zax sauce with every meal.  Whether it's Wings & Things or a Kickin' Chicken Meal, one Zax sauce is not asking too much.  If you have a customer who is a condiment abuser, give him/her a first Zax sauce for free with every meal, and then charge an additional 25 cents for each additional sauce. Again, it's not the quarter I was worried about today but instead the principle of the matter.  I realize that the costs of this would be rolled into the price of each meal, and I am ok with that.  It's better than feeling I am being "nickeled and dimed" for one serving of Zax sauce.

My love for Zaxby's has not dimmed, and I will be back many times.  Like R. Kelly, I just had to get this "up off my chest".  Keep up the good work!

Zaxby's Fan,

Eric L. Taylor