Super Bowl Update

Luke Barnes delivers a pass as Tyler Roberts applies pressure (Danny Tindell/Dothan Eagle)

This article appears in Sunday's print edition of the Dothan Eagle and can be found on dothaneagle.com HERE.

BY DREW CHAMPLIN
dchamplin@dothaneagle.com

TROY – Troy’s offense came out on a mission for Saturday’s T-Day scrimmage, and it paid off early.
The first five possessions of the scrimmage resulted in touchdowns – four by the offense before safety Brynden Trawick returned an interception 35 yards for a score.

Starting quarterback Corey Robinson led the offense against the first team defense on two touchdown drives – runs of 35 and 3 yards from senior D.J. Taylor. Backups Dallas Tidwell, Deon Anthony and Luke Barnes had their moments as well.

On the second series, Anthony threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Haynie, who got open on the left side. On the fourth series, Dallas Tidwell escaped pressure on a third down and hit Chris Williams, who then broke free for a 65-yard touchdown reception.

“It’s always good to get going early,” Robinson said. “It’s something we haven’t done in the past and something we’ve harped on in this offseason. Getting started early is a key to having good confidence, so hopefully we’ll continue to do that.”

Robinson did throw the interception to Trawick, but he scored on his own 17-yard run off a quarterback zone read play late in the scrimmage. Trawick led the Sun Belt with 123 tackles last year, but didn’t have any interceptions.

“I saw the tight end come across on the drag,” Trawick said. “I covered it, the quarterback threw it and I took it in for the touchdown. Personally, I (wouldn’t) have thrown it, but I’m glad he did throw it.”

The defense settled down after that, not giving up any more first-half scores. In the second half, Robinson had his touchdown run, Chris Anderson scored on a 4-yard run and Barnes hit Bryan Holmes on a wheel route to the right for a 20-yard touchdown.

“We just had to wake up,” Trawick said. “It started off real rough. We just had to wake up, get our blood flowing, get a couple of hits in and after the first couple of series, we settled down and started playing defense.”

Taylor, who led all rushers with 110 yards on eight carries, said the offense got a nice challenge from offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield and hit the ground running.

“We came out fired up,” Taylor said. “We had a little pep talk before the game. From there, the energy kept getting higher and higher and we continued to improve during the game.”

Robinson led the quarterbacks, going 15-of-22 for 185 yards and an interception. Tidwell, a 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman, hit 6-of-7 passes for 96 yards. Barnes, another redshirt freshman, hit 4-of-5 for 50 yards and Anthony, a junior college transfer, was 2-of-3 for 31 yards.

Along with Taylor, Chris Anderson ran 11 times for 51 yards, Shawn Southward ran 10 times for 63 yards and Daron White ran for 34 yards on seven carries with the second unit. The receiver stats were spread out. Chandler Worthy had two catches for 64 yards, Eric Thomas had four for 48, Haynie had four for 61 and Jamel Johnson had two for 30 yards, to name a few.

It was only Troy’s seventh spring practice, so there is still much to implement and learn.Troy has a scrimmage Friday at 6 p.m. CST at Central High School in Phenix City. Troy’s final practice, a scrimmage, is set for April 14 inTroy.

“We’re pretty decent on offense when all those elements are there,”Troyhead coach Larry Blakeney said.
“The running backs ran pretty good, I thought. We blocked pretty good up front. We had a couple of schemes where we got them sometimes.

“There were a lot of good things on defense. They had a big play on the interception for a touchdown, which’ll win a game for you.”

Stephens moves to OL: Tommy Stephens, a redshirt sophomore from Marianna, Fla., has moved from defensive line to offensive line.

The first one is with Larry Blakeney. The second video is with two players - safety Brynden Trawick and  running back D.J. Taylor.

Video will be added later on, but here are some, not all, but some quick T-Day stats.
Thanks to the Troy media relations staff for compiling them

PASSING
Corey Robinson: 18-23-185 yards, INT, 17-yard TD run
Dallas Tidwell: 6-7-96,  TD (65 to Chris Williams)
Luke Barnes: 4-5-50, TD (20 to Bryan Holmes)
Deon Anthony: 2-3-31, TD (25 to Hakeem Haynie)

RUSHING
Chris Anderson: 11-51, TD (4 yards)
D.J. Taylor: 8-110, 2 TD (35, 3)
Shawn Southward: 10-63
Daron White: 7-34

RECEIVING
Jamel Johnson: 2-30
Eric Thomas: 4-48
Chip Reeves: 2-21
Bryan Holmes: 3-38, TD
Hakeem Haynie: 4-61, TD
Chandler Worthy: 2-64

The only INT was Brynden Trawick, who returned it 35 yards for a touchdown.
Shermane TeArt had a fumble recovery on defense
Total tackles were not kept, so I don't have those.

Well, here we are at Final Four Weekend. After all the carnage and bracket busting, we are down to just four contenders and three games left to be played. Ohio State has done me right. I believe they can take down Kansas and make it to the Championship game, as I predicted they would. Whoever awaits on the other side matters little at this point. I don't know if I gain any points if Ohio St makes it to the Finals but loses the Championship, since that's what I actually predicted, but I wish them the best nonetheless.

Currently I have 59 points, have an overall rank of 212,914 and an overall percentile rank of 50. I would LOVE to finish above 50 percent. It all hinges on Ohio State. Go Buckeyes!

Since we've been doing this for several years now, let's continue the trend. If you want to join us during a T-Day live chat, I'll fire it up a little before 2 p.m. CST. If you can't join us, the replay will be here.

I really enjoy Kate Winslet. I think she is a fantastic actress and always comes of as a really fun and relatable person in interviews. And she's an Attractive, which never hurts. Yesterday I was reading an interview with her I found linked to online originally from MTV News, where she talks about the inescapable nature of "My Heart Will Go on" for the past 15 years of her life since Titanic was released. She was very good-natured about it, even though it's made clear that among the song's detractors she is at the top of the list. It seems everyone who knows how to play piano believes she will want to hear the song whenever she walks into a room. She recounted a story about a recent appearance on an Italian talk show I find particularly amusing.

 "I did a talk show recently in Italy, and they actually had a live pianist who started gently playing the theme song. I was not even gently, rather severely, urged to go and sing it as though I had in fact sung it myself in the first place. It was like, 'No! I'm not going to do that.' They're like, 'Oh no, come on it will be funny.' No, it won't be funny. At all. And I'm not going to."

I find this amazingly absurd. It feels like an SNL sketch - one that they didn't even put that much effort into  writing no less! - but it actually happened in real life. I got to thinking, what must have been running through Kate Winslet's mind when she found herself on an Italian talk show being pressured to sing a Celine Dion song from a movie she was in 15 years ago? Was her thought process something like, "wow, this is crazier than that time I was staying on that billionaire's private island and lightning stuck the roof of the mansion causing it to burst in to flames so that I had to gather up my children and flee the house, picking up the billionaire's frail mother along the way and literally carrying her down the stairs and out the front door before the whole place was completely consumed by fire? Is this moment crazier than THAT?"

The Italian TV show was probably not as harrowing or unbelievable as the Great Branson Mansion Fire of 2011, but it reminded me that Kate Winslet, for all of her lovely down to earth nature, has been in some very surreal situations. She handles them with charm and grace and self-assurance, as you would imagine, but not many people face her bizarre circumstances. It's the conundrum of being a level-headed person surrounded in a world of money, opportunity, creative nut-jobs, entertainment bizarros and natural disasters. These are Kate Winslet Problems.

Audiobook: What I Saw At the Revolution -A Political Life in the Reagan Era by Peggy Noonan. http://youtu.be/nDvF7SispPU


Peggy Noonan thinks dithering & detached "O" has now become "creepy. "Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest." She's right, of course.

In this installment from the audio version of the book I bought the first day it was available in 1990 at The Trover

The latest project of Design Mind together with interior architect Henk Bakker was to create four unique and high-end luxury penthouse apartments for the new section of the Asgard Hotel in Groningen, which opened in January 2012.



The results are these four modern luxury penthouse rooms in the hip boutique hotel:

Room 31:





Room 32:





Room 33:




Room 34:





The Asgard Hotel also offers two beautifully designed apartments by Henk Bakker which are also available to book:



The Asgard Hotel

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders so far have taken maximum points in each of their first two matches this season. They will look to do the same here as they close out their three game homestand against the San Jose Earthquakes who are of course led by their go-to guy Chris Wondolowski. Last week, the Sounders defeated the Houston Dynamo by a score of 2-0, however after the match there was some Disciplinary action. Colin Clark was handed a three game suspension for verbally assulting one of the ball boys. Adam Moffat was handed a one game suspension for a dangerous tackle on Ozzie Alonso, which he gave him only a yellow card but the MLS Disciplinary committee thought it was red card offense and gave him a one match ban. Also, Alvaro Fernandez was fined an undisclosed amound of money for "embellishment of contact" in the 82nd minute of friday night's match.


Injury report:

San Jose Earthquakes - For the Quakes, Joey Gjertsen, who is a Tacoma native, is out after having sergery on his right knee. Tim Ward is suffering from a non-specific soft tissue injury and he is out. Sercan Guvenisik has a strained right hip flexor and is listed as doubtful. And finally, Marvin Chavez has a concussion and is listed as probable.

Seattle Sounders FC - For Seattle, of course we got a big list here. Of course Josh Ford, Andrew Duran and Steve Zakuani are out. Michael Tetteh is also out with a strained left hamstring. Babayele Sodade picked up a right knee injury while he was with Canada for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and he is out. Eddie Johnson, Mauro Rosales and Adam Johansson also will not play against San Jose. And finally, Brad Evans picked up an injury during training and is a game time decision for this match.


Key matchup:

Chris Wondolowski vs Jhon Kennedy Hurtado - I think this is a key matchup after what happened in the last regular season home match of 2011. You never want to leave this guy open because he'll hurt you in a split second. Hurtado needs to shut him down if the Sounders are to have any chance of going 3-0.

Ay, such sadness! Rafa withdrew from competition in Miami today. His left knee has been bothering him since last week in Indian Wells. He barely got by Tsonga on it in the quarters, winning 6-2, 5-7. 6-4, and trying to play at the top level necessary to compete with Murray in the semis could've injured it even worse. So now he rests and hopes he's solid for the clay court season starting up in mid April, and Murray has to face Novak in the Final on Sunday.

I'm disappointed for Rafa. If not for his knee, I thought he had a really great chance at winning against Novak. His level of play had been so strong. Let's all wish Our Hero a speedy recovery! VAMOS!

On a closing note, I am posting a video of one of my new favorite songs written by Ryan Scott Oliver and sung by Lindsay Mendez called "The Party Goes With You." The rest of the tourney won't be the same without you. For when you strike your goodbye pose, Rafa, everybody knows, everybody knows, the party goes with you.

Wish I could have been able to make this one, but Troy rallied from down 6-0 to beat Arkansas State 7-6 in the opening game of the Series.

Trojans are now 3-4 in conference play. Just read THIS for the recap and the box score is HERE.

Troy and ASU play at 7 p.m. Saturday night on CSS.

Scrimmage is at 2 p.m. Live chat is in blog post below, and I'll get it moved up top when the scrimmage starts.

This story appears in Saturday's print edition of the Dothan Eagle. It can be found on dothaneagle.com HERE.

BY DREW CHAMPLIN

dchamplin@dothaneagle.com

TROY – Today’s T-Day scrimmage will give special teams coach Shayne Wasden a great opportunity to see how his new kickers and snappers perform in front of a larger crowd.

The Trojans lost nearly the entire special teams unit from a year ago. Kicker Michael Taylor, punter Will Goggans and long snapper Wes Henry have moved on. This year, three kickers are vying for all three spots – punter, kickoff specialist and field goal/extra point kicker, and two snappers are working to replace Henry.

Troy’s first scrimmage is at 2 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium and it’s dubbed the “T-Day” scrimmage. It’ll be played in front of perhaps the biggest crowd of the spring. Several recruits are also expected to be in attendance for unofficial visits.

Wasden has gotten a good look at his kickers through six practices so far, but practices are sparsely attended by fans.

“We want to try to put them in pressure situations and see how they perform,” Wasden said. “It’s easy to do it when you’re out here just practicing, but when you’re out here in front of a crowd and something’s on the line, we certainly want to see who can perform under those circumstances.”

Troy has three kickers vying for the job, and two are new to the program. Will Scott, a 5-foot-11, 192-pound junior from Lucedale, Miss., spent the last two years at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Ryan Kay, a 6-foot-1, 248-pound freshman from Dutchtown, Ga., signed with Troy in 2011 but delayed full-time enrollment as a grayshirt until January. The returning kicker is Jed Solomon, a 5-foot-7, 152-pound redshirt freshman from Valdosta, Ga., who walked on last year.

“We’re working hard and we look really good,” Scott said. “We work it every day, so we’ve got no choice but to be good.”

Scott was a second-team junior college All-American at Gulf Coast, averaging 43 yards per punt as a sophomore. He also kicked field goals and extra points as a freshman, and he’s currently ahead in the punting race.

Solomon has a slight leg up on field goals and extra points, Wasden said, but all three are still competing hard.

“It’s a competition every day,” Wasden said. “Will probably has a leg up punting the football, Jed would have a leg up on PAT/field goal and Ryan Kay’s strong point would be his punting right now. It’s really a luxury and a good situation that all three of those guys can do all of the kicking and punting.”

Scott said it’s a challenge to balance out all three kicking aspects while trying to get better at every one.

“On one (field goals), you’re trying to stay as straight as possible and on the other, you’re crossing over (kickoffs),” Scott said. “You’ve got to be able to do both. You’ve got to be disciplined, really.”

The two long snappers could both see the field. Kendall Gibson, a 5-foot-11, 276-pound junior from Greenville, is handling snaps on field goals and extra points, while Hunter Graham, a 5-foot-10, 191-pound junior from Lincoln, is snapping on punts.

Regardless of the new faces and the lack of experience, Scott is confident he and his fellow specialists will be able to get the job done.

“As many times as we do this, we’ve got no choice but to be good at it,” Scott said.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

A high five after the bike tour.

,


ABC-TV video: Jimmy Kimmel's YouTube Challenge - I Silverstoned My Kid. March 29, 2012.
http://youtu.be/OeHtF9Mkdx8

I originally saw this story and video at The Telegraph on Tuesday but decided not to post it. Until now! 



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/celebrity-news-video/9170401/Actress-Alicia-Silverstone-posts-video-of-herself-feeding-son-mouth-to-mouth.html

Winner(s) to

If you're any sort of artist and have ever lived on the West Coast, chances are you are familiar with Flax Art and Design. The Flax family has enjoyed serving the creative community in the Bay Area through their legendary San Francisco retail store for over 72 years. Since 1938, they've become well known for carrying an incredible breadth of product, providing customers with a courteous and knowledgeable staff, and their ability to inspire creativity through the thoughtful presentation of merchandise.


above: San Francisco's oldest and most beloved art supply store at 1699 Market Street

Now, Flax is offering a contest to design the artwork for the masthead atop their Facebook page. Their original and legendary "F" logo, originally designed by respected graphic designer Lou Danziger, must be incorporated into the design and the winning designer will receive a $100 gift card as well as having their work featured on the Flax facebook timeline.

First off, a bit about the legendary Flax "F" which, if you did not know, is in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art.


above: the iconic "F" for Flax by legendary designer Lou Danziger, above right, is made up of 12 perfect squares

Harvey Flax, who ran the Los Angeles Flax store, commissioned a young designer named Louis Danzinger in 1949 to create a new trademark. The logo was originally intended to support Harvey’s private label program. The hot item at that time was a new formula of rubber cement that required just one coat (still called One-Coat today), and Harvey had drums of it in the back room for repackaging. Later the logo was adopted and shared with the other Flax businesses across the country, who also used it for the joint Flax catalog (see below).


above: 1968 Flax catalog No.9

Danzinger is one of the most respected graphic designers in America and currently teaches at his (and my own) alma mater, Art Center College of Design. He has created work for Microsoft, General Lighting, and A & M Records among others, and won many awards along the way. Danzinger’s goal was in “taking a minimal amount of material and a minimal amount of effort—nothing wasted—to achieve maximum impact.” Here he takes 12 perfect squares and creates a simple pattern with dramatic impact.


above: 12 perfect squares make up the F by Danziger for Flax

Featured in the book American Modernism: graphic design 1920-1960, the authors state “The ‘F’ is simply constructed, bold in weight and adaptable to many applications.”

The Flax Facebook Timeline art contest details and rules:

Enter Flax's Facebook cover photo contest for a chance to win a $100 gift card and see your artwork on the FLAX Facebook Timeline.

Who can enter: Artists of all levels are welcome to enter. Artwork must be original and all mediums will be considered.

What do you win? Winners will be chosen monthly and each will receive a $100 FLAX gift card. We will keep a permanent archive of winning art in our Facebook photo albums.

Deadline for Entries: April 30, 2012.

Design Requirements and Guidelines:
• Flax F Artwork must measure 851 x 315 pixels (8.85″ wide x 3.28″ high) and our original “F” logo must be incorporated in the design. The Flax “F” has a special history (which you know know if you've read this post) and you can see past examples of submitted entries to our catalog cover contest below.

• Submit digitally by email or mail us your original work and we will scan it. Important note: entries will not be returned! Finalists will be required to sign a letter confirming sole ownership of artwork. All published work becomes the property of FLAX art & design, with reuse of the work by the artist limited to self-promotion. Winners will be notified via email.

Background/Inspiration:
The artwork that graced the FLAX art & design catalogs for over 20 years (1984 – 2007) was creative and intriguing. Their call to artists enlisted work from art students, major advertising firms, freelance artists and casual art enthusiasts. In fact, their catalog cover contests were often prepared as a class assignment.

Take a peek at some of Flax's favorites over the years:






And when you visit their store, take a look at their Wall of Fame where the catalog covers hang proudly.


FLAX Art Store History:

above: 437 Kearny Street, the first FLAX location, 1938

Herman and Sylvia Flax, with their son Jerome, established Flax Artist's Materials in downtown San Francisco in 1938. Having lost virtually everything in the Great Depression, Herman took his family west from New Jersey and opened a tiny art supply store. Herman's three brothers also established independent, successful art supply outlets in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and eventually spread to Phoenix, Orlando and Atlanta. In 1952 Herman passed away at an early age, and upon returning from military service, Herman and Sylvia’s youngest son, Philip, joined the business alongside his brother Jerry. The Flax brothers grew close to their customers, becoming well known for their generous support of struggling artists and the local arts.


above: 255 Kearny at Bush, 1950

In 1975 Philip took full control of the company after Jerry left to pursue other interests. Then in 1981, after a more than 50-year presence downtown, the store moved to its current location on Market Street. With a small operation in the back of the store the company ventured into the mail order business in 1984. Within a year Flax moved its headquarters 10 miles south to Brisbane, providing the space needed to support the growing catalog business. In a continuation of the Flax culture of engaging the artist community, participants in an annual catalog cover competition created all the catalog covers. Over the years the Flax catalog was able to give over 100 artists national exposure to their talents.


above: 1699 Market Street, 2012

The store grew to 32,000 sq. ft. in 1997 after an expansion and remodel, which attracted a high number of new customers to the fresh look and expanded offerings. A makeover of the front exterior gave the store landmark status and a stop along the tourist route. With the new tag line “where creative people shop”, the transition was complete – Flax had become much more than an art store. The increase in size and variety has led to the Flax retail store becoming a “destination” for a unique shopping experience.


above: 1699 Market Street, 2012

FLAX has been voted by readers of SF Weekly as the "Best Art Supply Store in the Bay Area" every year since 2001.

Once again, submit your entries digitally or by email before April 30th, 2012. Winners will be notified by e-mail.


FLAX art & design
Cover Contest
1699 Market Street
San Francisco, Ca 94103

A special thanks to Howard Flax who writes the Flax Art Blog for additional images and information

Trojans at home for the first time in Sun Belt play, hosting Arkansas State. ASU is off to a nice 5-1 start in conference play, while Troy is 2-4. Interesting to note the pitching matchups, as Troy goes Tyler Ray-Ryan Brady-TBA, when Jimmy Hodgskin has been the Saturday guy. 


I didn't talk to any coaches, but talked to Tyler Hannah and Logan Pierce, and both felt like the Trojans need to be more aggressive in games instead of watching and waiting. 


The story below appears in Friday's print edition of the Dothan Eagle. It can be found on dothaneagle.com HERE.

BY DREW CHAMPLIN
dchamplin@dothaneagle.com

After a disappointing start to the first one-third of the season, Troy players are focused and hoping to finish off the final eight weekends of the regular season with more aggression.

Michael Mayo offers up latest proof that while Broward State Attorney Mike Satz continues sleeping on the job, Florida's Sunshine Laws are meaningless for Florida's citizens; Keith Poliakoff makes like Icarus -power-dive!



How completely unsurprising to discover that the heavy-hand in this ridiculous matter belongs to Keith Poliakoff. Someone, perhaps a family member or friend I suppose,

above: the Drink Chair by Ingid Michel & Frederic Pain, France

The sculptural fiberglass and wood Drink Chair by Ingid Michel and Frederic Pain of Binome Design is perfect for the stylish imbiber. With an extended armrest that is cast to include three imprints, sized perfectly for a bottle and two glasses, the modern looking chair is the combination of comfort and convenience.




The molded resin and fiber glass seat perches on 4 wooden branches which serve as the legs. The varied shapes of the wooden legs lend an individual character to each chair, no two can ever be exactly the same. Selected from the branches of the Robinia tree, the wood is extremely hard, resistant to rot and prized for its durability.






The chair body is UV resistant, making Drink the perfect choice indoors or out. Handmade in the Binome studio in France. 

Materials: fiber glass, laquered resin, robinia wood
Options: standard colors red, black, white + all RAL colors made to order
Buy it here at the fabulous Outdoorz Gallery

About Binome:
Since their meeting in 1994 Ingrid Michel and Frederic Pain have collaborated with artists, sculptors and architects on projects in areas as diverse as cinema, design and contemporary art.

Graduates of the prestigious Ecole Boulle, Paris, their focus on traditional wood sculpture is the base which has allowed them to confidently use wood in a contemporary context.

In 2008 they created their own studio under the name Binome. Each piece created by the studio is crafted by hand and retains a singularity as no two are exactly alike. Design which is both visual and tactile, the aim of Binome is to create furniture which retains its sculptural essence.

Binome studio is located in Saint Pierre le Moûtier, France.