Catching Up on Wildcat News

I've been so wrapped up in these fanbase tributes the past week or two that I've missed some news from Manhattan. Here are the latest dispatches from the Little Apple...








Michael Beasley led the USA U-19 team to a gold medal at last week's Global Games. Now he's in Serbia, liking everything except the food, apparently. He's managed to find time to talk to the Topeka Capitol-Journal and the KC Star this week, despite traveling with the U-19 team and finishing up an Intro to Leadership summer class. Well, that last item probably wasn't too taxing, but he has been a busy man this summer.

I see some encouraging things from his recent comments. I think the chief concern with Beasley is his attitude and effort. At a minimum, he's saying all the right things...

“I don’t think either one of us (him or Bill Walker) has to be the star. We’ve got to be a team if we want to win.”

Mixed messages on how he's liking Manhattan. At least he didn't come out and say it sucked (did you really think he would?) and he's trying to make the adjustment.

"It’s just slow. It’s not the big city. I’ve got to like it, though. It’s home."

Ok, so Manhattan isn't hopping, and he's too young to get into the bars in Aggieville (let's hope he doesn't try). But he does seem to love Manhattan in a more important respect...

"But I just feel welcomed out there, I feel loved out there. I think every player should go somewhere where they feel loved and they have supportive fans. Whether they have a 50-point game or a three-point game, I just feel like I can be myself."

Talk is cheap, though, and as such it's things like this that have me excited to see Beasley donning the Purple and White.










While we're on the subject of talking, basketball coach Frank Martin hasn't exactly been silent this summer. When he has been speaking, he's been hyping Michael Beasley. First he said Beasley could have a Kevin Durant-like impact on the Big 12, and that he was a better high school player than Durant. Now, let's set this in context. He said this at a Catbacker (read, booster) function in McPherson, Kan. He was rallying the troops and all that stuff. I've heard he didn't even realize the press was in the building. It's whatever to me, he's setting the bar high. I don't really give a damn what the fans of other programs think about that comment, because they don't know how good he'll be, either. Personally, I doubt he'll put up Durant's numbers, but I'll bet he does pretty damn well.

Then, Martin dropped this one in the KC Star today...

"He doesn’t go around telling people he’s good. He’s got a fire burning in his belly,” Martin said. “He’s as good a player as there is in the country.”

Hell, he doesn't need to tell people how good he is. He has Frank Martin for that.








In other news, Bob Huggins made a desperate media-relations plea in the KC Star to sell his $650,000 shack in Manhattan. Huggins has been gone for three months now and hasn't been able to sell his house in a booming housing market. Now granted, not very many of the 14,000 soldiers and families of the Big Red One are able to afford that kind of pad, but surely some roller in Manhattan wants a house out near Colbert Hills.

Look, I don't doubt Huggins enjoyed his time at K-State. He was welcomed like a god, and Manhattan is a small town similar to the one he grew up in. And I can't blame him for wanting to go home. I want to move closer to home, too. But forgive me for not getting all teary eyed about the Huggins "era" at K-State. It is what it is, and touching is not an adjective that describes it.


Jesus, can football season get here any slower? Without games and other activities to write about, I'll have to keep looking for other items to fill the time. On that note, we will soon embark on our dangerous adventure into the Lone Nut...err...Star state to lampoon the southernmost Big 12 schools and their fans. It may take a while, the pictures of goofy A&M fans (I mean, Corp members) could have their own subcategory on Google.