Time to open up the ol’ mail bag, or email bag, now that we actually have mail from Stanford Women’s Basketball fans.
Thanks to all who wrote in to say they heard the Tinkle Bells mentioned on the USC-Stanford TV broadcast! The announcer mentioned that Stanford fans (that’s us) like to shake little jingle bells whenever Stanford’s Joslyn Tinkle does something good on the court. What started out as a little social experiment has hit the big time! We were hoping to get on National TV, too, as the announcer asked where we were seated but it wasn’t meant to be.
Oh, Mrs. Tinkle wrote in, too! For C and R, it’s like saying Mrs. Claus dropped off some cookies. (It’s funny, with the Tinkle Bells, we forget “Tinkle” stands for someone’s last name and there are real people attached to the Tinkle name). We hope to catch up with her, too, the next time she is in town.
Another fan saw the same report as C that Florida State University (FSU) got penalized for cheating. C went to the University of Florida for Grad School and our archrival was Florida State, much like the Stanford-Cal rivalry. Anyway, Florida State was sanctioned in part for letting 61 student-athletes cheat and they must give up wins in various programs, including some in football. The men’s basketball team lost all 22 wins from 2006-07, and women’s basketball lost 16 victories that year, including two in the NCAA tournament. Super Fan TG pointed out that FSU beat Stanford in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2007. Do we get that back as a win? How does that work? Does anyone know?
Well, we’ll be going through withdrawal as Stanford is heading North to Washington to take on the two PAC-10 foes up there and no TV coverage. Next home game is the 18th, and wear pink for breast cancer awareness night.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Stanford vs. USC on Super Sunday
I just want to say this about the Stanford Women’s Basketball game vs. USC on Sunday… Peyton Manning looked so good until that one and only interception! Okay, it was a banner day for sports fans in that there was a Stanford women’s basketball game on Cable TV no less, and the Superbowl, a culmination of six months of football.
For a basketball game that was changed to the Sunday of the Superbowl, it was a pretty good turn out of over 4,100. Of course, Stanford was also honoring their 1990 team that won Stanford’s first National Championship, a team that has a special place in Stanford fans’ hearts.
Before the Stanford game, both C and R worked hard to get our Superbowl party preparations in order. Here’s all you need to know about C and R. R went to the local farm by C’s house to buy fresh veggies (twice) and C went to the store (twice) to make sure she had enough salty chips and dip. In fact, C forgot the dip mix and had to rush back to the store and R forgot fresh cauliflower and rushed back to the farm. But we had the dip a chillin’ and the bugs scrubbed out before we left for the Stanford game at 1 PM.
The game opened with Nneka Ogwumike on fire, rebounding and scoring, then it seemed her knees were bothering her and she leveled off. USC had some cool road uniforms, all black, but had the worst luck shooting we have ever seen a team have. The first half stats said USC shot 9.7% from the field and made zero threes. The score at the half was Stanford 29, USC 10. Yes, that’s right, they only mustered 10 points by half time. It was the lowest scoring half in USC’s program history. The 10 points they scored in the first half surpassed the school's previous-low of 15 on Jan. 27, 1990. And it was not that Stanford over powered them. They got great looks and made great shot selections. They hustled the ball up the court. Just nothing fell through. Boy, we bet USC coach Michael Cooper was wishing he never left the WNBA and Candace Parker.
Plus, the whole 1990 Stanford National Championship team sat right in front of our seats. (Every day C thanks R for maintaining those season tickets!). Look, there’s Jennifer Azzi, there’s Katy Steding, now they are hugging Molly Goodenbauer.
Also in the first half, Jayne Appel surpassed Nicole Powell to become Stanford’s rebound Queen with 1,153. She would finish the game with 13 rebounds and 15 points. Our other twin towers also got a double double. Nneka finished with 13 boards and 16 points, and Kayla Perdresen had 14 boards and 18 points. It’s nice to see our three tall trees have a great game and spread the scoring around. When you have three players that can score and rebound like that, you are hard to beat.
The only negative for Stanford was when they pressed us we made turnovers. We had 10 in the first half. When they pressured Jeanette Pohlen, they picked her pocket and forced her into a bad pass on consecutive plays. We have to improve on the press if we want to have any realistic shot at beating UConn. Oh, wait, make that two negatives. We missed a lot of free throws in the first half, too. For the game we were 12 of 19, about 63%. This ain’t high school and we need to make those.
We do want to give a special shout out to USC’s Jacki Gemelos. This kid has torn her ACL FOUR times. She has had five knee surgeries. She first came to USC in 2006. She has two years of college eligibility left after this year. Her first game back was at Cal on Thursday. She played on Sunday and scored 13 points in her team’s loss. Pretty remarkable in that the team made only 12 for 67 baskets in the whole game.
The only drama was could our subs, who came in around the 3 minute mark, keep them under 40. We did, the final score being 77-39. See UConn, we can (almost) beat teams by 40 points, too.
Oh, we mentioned to the announcer of the game, you know, the guy who sits next to Lisa Leslie and told him we shake the Tinkle Bells when Joslyn Tinkle comes in the game. He said last game he would mention it on the air. So we reminded him again. WE shook them hard when Joslyn came in. We forgot to tape the game, so we wonder if her kept his promise. Did anyone hear if he mentioned the tinkle bells?
For a basketball game that was changed to the Sunday of the Superbowl, it was a pretty good turn out of over 4,100. Of course, Stanford was also honoring their 1990 team that won Stanford’s first National Championship, a team that has a special place in Stanford fans’ hearts.
Before the Stanford game, both C and R worked hard to get our Superbowl party preparations in order. Here’s all you need to know about C and R. R went to the local farm by C’s house to buy fresh veggies (twice) and C went to the store (twice) to make sure she had enough salty chips and dip. In fact, C forgot the dip mix and had to rush back to the store and R forgot fresh cauliflower and rushed back to the farm. But we had the dip a chillin’ and the bugs scrubbed out before we left for the Stanford game at 1 PM.
The game opened with Nneka Ogwumike on fire, rebounding and scoring, then it seemed her knees were bothering her and she leveled off. USC had some cool road uniforms, all black, but had the worst luck shooting we have ever seen a team have. The first half stats said USC shot 9.7% from the field and made zero threes. The score at the half was Stanford 29, USC 10. Yes, that’s right, they only mustered 10 points by half time. It was the lowest scoring half in USC’s program history. The 10 points they scored in the first half surpassed the school's previous-low of 15 on Jan. 27, 1990. And it was not that Stanford over powered them. They got great looks and made great shot selections. They hustled the ball up the court. Just nothing fell through. Boy, we bet USC coach Michael Cooper was wishing he never left the WNBA and Candace Parker.
Plus, the whole 1990 Stanford National Championship team sat right in front of our seats. (Every day C thanks R for maintaining those season tickets!). Look, there’s Jennifer Azzi, there’s Katy Steding, now they are hugging Molly Goodenbauer.
Also in the first half, Jayne Appel surpassed Nicole Powell to become Stanford’s rebound Queen with 1,153. She would finish the game with 13 rebounds and 15 points. Our other twin towers also got a double double. Nneka finished with 13 boards and 16 points, and Kayla Perdresen had 14 boards and 18 points. It’s nice to see our three tall trees have a great game and spread the scoring around. When you have three players that can score and rebound like that, you are hard to beat.
The only negative for Stanford was when they pressed us we made turnovers. We had 10 in the first half. When they pressured Jeanette Pohlen, they picked her pocket and forced her into a bad pass on consecutive plays. We have to improve on the press if we want to have any realistic shot at beating UConn. Oh, wait, make that two negatives. We missed a lot of free throws in the first half, too. For the game we were 12 of 19, about 63%. This ain’t high school and we need to make those.
We do want to give a special shout out to USC’s Jacki Gemelos. This kid has torn her ACL FOUR times. She has had five knee surgeries. She first came to USC in 2006. She has two years of college eligibility left after this year. Her first game back was at Cal on Thursday. She played on Sunday and scored 13 points in her team’s loss. Pretty remarkable in that the team made only 12 for 67 baskets in the whole game.
The only drama was could our subs, who came in around the 3 minute mark, keep them under 40. We did, the final score being 77-39. See UConn, we can (almost) beat teams by 40 points, too.
Oh, we mentioned to the announcer of the game, you know, the guy who sits next to Lisa Leslie and told him we shake the Tinkle Bells when Joslyn Tinkle comes in the game. He said last game he would mention it on the air. So we reminded him again. WE shook them hard when Joslyn came in. We forgot to tape the game, so we wonder if her kept his promise. Did anyone hear if he mentioned the tinkle bells?
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Extra Extra! Jayne Appel NOT Thrown Out of Next Game
Well, we can all breathe a little easier (and C and R will stop with the "extras", we promise). Jayne is not suspended for Sunday’s Stanford Women’s Basketball game against USC. Stanford senior Jayne Appel was ejected from the UCLA game Thursday night for what the refs thought was a flagrant elbow to Jasmine Dixon’s face. The PAC-10 will typically meet the next day review the play and to decide if the player needs to be suspended for the next game.
Both the UCLA coach, Nikki Caldwelll and the player hit, Jasmine Dixon, insist the elbow was not intentional and that Jayne is not a dirty player.
Internet theorists are suggesting two things: One, because the PAC-10 ruled the night of the foul to not suspend Jayne, they did not agree with the refs that it was a flagrant violation. This calls into question whether or not Jayne should have been ejected in the first place. Internet theory number two: UCLA is insisting the foul wasn’t flagrant because they want Jayne to be eligible for the next game, which is USC, a team UCLA is tied for second place in the PAC-10 and UCLA needs Stanford to beat USC.
Okay, that last theory is fun, but C and R place no stock in it. Dixon and Caldwell made those statements immediately after the game and would have to really, really be calculating and manipulative to be thinking ahead to Sunday’s game. Now, for the former, that the PAC-10 didn’t further suspend Jayne, we believe it was a bad call all around (see last post), maybe worth a foul on Jayne, not a technical and not an ejection.
Don’t forget, the game is this Sunday, Superbowl Sunday at 1 PM. Stanford will be celebrating the 1990 National Champion Team and Jennifer Azzi, Katy Steding, Trisha Stevens and Val Whiting will be among the former players expected to be present. Yes, yes, C and R know this is Superbowl Sunday, but with the 1 PM game time, we will have you back in your snug little homes in front of you big screen TVs in time for the 3:20 PM kick off. So come on out!LATE BREAKING STORY…
Ah, geez, our Internet scouring robots just found out Jayne was NEVER in danger of being suspended. According to Jake Curtis on the San Jose Examiner’s website, the PAC-10 did not need to make a ruling, because:
“(Jayne’s) foul was called a flagrant PERSONAL foul, not a flagrant TECHNICAL foul. A flagrant personal foul, which is excessive contact while the ball is live, is not subject to suspension and does not require a review by the conference office, so Appel was never in jeopardy of being suspended. The penalty is two free throws and an ejection, and that is all.
“A flagrant technical foul involves unsportsmanlike conduct that is extreme in nature during play or excessive contact while the ball is not in play. Fighting is the best example. A player hit with a flagrant technical foul is subject to a suspension, depending on the ruling of the conference after a review.”
So take that, internet crazies… oops, C and R are one of the many crazies.. so what’s new? We like our version of reality better, anyway. Jayne shouldn’t have been ejected!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Extra Extra! Jayne Appel Thrown Out of Game for First Time Ever!
So C and R were sitting there watching a perfectly normal Stanford women’s basketball game vs UCLA when the abnormal happened. Jayne Appel got ejected from the game in the second half! Jayne? Our Jayne? Out mild-mannered, everyone loves Jayne, Jayne? The Jayne who had a foot infection and wasn’t even supposed to play tonight Jayne?
When C and R saw Jayne run to the locker room we looked at each other. We have never seen Jayne thrown out of a game in her four years here. We looked away and then back at each other and then said we can’t remember a Stanford player EVER getting thrown out of a game in all the years R has been going (She has had season tickets longer than she has known C). Head Coach Tara VanDerveer said the same thing he next day, that in her 24 years of coaching, she’s never had a player thrown out.
And it did seem like a normal PAC-10 game. UCLA came out scrappy and hustling, and in a man-to-man press. We took an early lead, let them come back and take the lead, then we had a slight lead at half, then came back and pounded them in the second half to win 74-53. You know, typical game for us against a PAC-10 foe, as it has happened three times in a row now.
What was abnormal was that Jayne was having a game from last year. Even coach Tara VanDerveer was quoted as saying, “She was the old Jayne.” Jayne was taking them one-on-one and had 23 points and 13 rebounds before she was tossed with 7:41 left in the game (Think if she played the whole game). By contrast, Kayla had 4 points at that juncture.
Also abnormal was we discovered Stanford’s 6’2” Nneka Ogwumike can dribble. Yes, really. She even dribbled between her legs in the opening minutes. When Stanford is pressed, as they were last night by UCLA, a tall person will inbound it to the guard and the guard, feeling pressure, will pass it back to the person who threw it in, as she is not guarded. The other team rarely expects them to throw it backwards. We have been lucky in that usually it is Kayla Pedersen back there, who is a great ball handler for someone so big. But tonight it was Nneka inbounding the ball, and she kept winding up with the ball in her hands and she took it up court in the point guard position. In past games, when we have seen her dribble, it is high and not so deft. She did a credible job last night but let’s not have this be standard operating procedure, Stanford.
UCLA is coached by Nikki Caldwell, a former Tennessee player and assistant coach under Pat Summit. You could see Pat Summit’s fingerprints all over this team. They were disciplined and in shape. They ran and they hustled constantly. They did the fundamentals extremely well. (They boxed out Jayne so hard one time they made her bend over backwards and got called for a foul). They even had a little speedy but teeny point guard ala Shannon Bobbit to push the ball up court.
So here’s something funny we noticed about UCLA. The faster they pushed the ball, the better STANFORD responded. UCLA came out of the gate in the opening seconds pushing the ball up court quickly, and playing an up tempo game. We responded by scoring 11 points to their 2 in the first five minutes! Then they slowed down. And we slowed down all of a sudden it’s 16-10, Stanford, with 10 minutes gone. We said in a previous post we seem to respond or mirror the team we are playing. Play us up tempo and we come out firing. Play us slow with a set half court offense and defense and we are sluggish and lose our scoring ability. Hmmmm, hope other teams don’t catch on to this.
As UCLA and Stanford slow down, we let them take the lead with about 6 minutes in the half and then hang on to a 36-32 lead at half time. The game is getting rough, as UCLA is scrappy and the refs are allowing it, emboldening UCLA to get even more scrappy, which will come in to play in the second half and Jayne’s ejection. (Yes, finally, we got to the ejection! You were just about to go to another site to satisfy your curiosity, weren’t you?)
So here’s what happened. Jayne grabbed a rebound…did you know going in to the game she was just 17 away from the all-time Stanford record? And last night she moved past Val Whiting and into second place on Stanford's career rebounding list with 1,140? She is three away from tying Nicole Powell’s school record. (Arrgh, R just pinched me to get on with it).
So Jayne grabbed the defensive rebound and three UCLA players surrounded her. Usually one UCLA player would harass the rebounder, but they were getting a little desperate with the score being 60-42, trying to force turnovers. Jayne did as she was taught, which was to move the ball quickly back and forth in her arms to not let them grab it, and if they reached in, would probably foul her as she is moving her arms quickly. When the three UCLA players did not back off from her movements, and were reaching in on her, she moved the ball quicker and higher, and her elbow caught Jasmine Dixon in the face, and she dropped to the floor and the whistle blew.
Now, you know C and R are huge Stanford fans. Heck, it says it all over our website. But we are also honest and fair to a fault. And in our opinion, it was not a dirty play on Jayne’s part at all. She was not slinging her elbows maliciously or far away from her body. She was not using her elbows as a weapon. She was moving aggressively within the context of protecting the ball and the UCLA players were not giving her any space, in fact were moving in closer on her. At first we thought UCLA should be given the foul and when we found out it was Jayne, we booed with the rest of the crowd. Then when it was apparent UCLA was shooting a two shot technical, we were livid and booed harder. It was not flagrant, in our opinion, as we said. Give Jayne the foul, but not a technical. Then when we saw Jayne run to the locker room and was ejected, we were really, really mad. It was not done deliberately or maliciously; there was no reason to kick her out of the game. And would she be suspended for the next game, too?
When play resumed to a chorus of boos, the refs are calling any little contact (Two UCLA payers would eventually foul out of the game). After a minute and a half of whistles, Stanford steals the ball and gets it to Ros Gold-Onwude. She is running uncontested for a lay up and we see the UCLA player speed up from behind. Now, C and R are thinking, if the UCLA is smart, she will let this play go, she can’t stop the lay-up, and in light of a player just getting kicked out and seeing the refs are whistle happy, should not risk a foul here. Instead the UCLA player grabs Ros’ arm as she is jumping up. Okay, if you aren’t going for the ball on a lay up, if you grab a jersey or an arm to stop a lay up, that is usually a technical foul. If a player touches the body or hand trying to stop the shot, then that is a regular foul. The technical foul designation is used to stop a player from coming up from behind and stopping the player at all costs, by saying grabbing a fistful of jersey, or hair or her arm. Do they call a technical? Noooooo. The crowd is even more incensed. (Someone grabbed my ponytail once to stop me on a fast break and got a technical, hee hee, but it sure did hurt).
Back to Jayne’s technical and ejection. This morning, Jayne said her action was unintentional, and Dixon and UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell backed her.
"Appel was just trying to get the rebound and clear the board," Dixon said. "I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Said Appel, "I was in no way intentionally trying to be flagrant or trying to hit her, just playing basketball."
While neither VanDerveer nor Caldwell saw the entire play, both defended Appel. Caldwell recruited Appel while working at Tennessee.
"I saw a lot of arms and people around and Jayne trying to square up," VanDerveer said. "She's got like three people all over her. People are swiping at her. She was trying to hold onto the ball and be aggressive with the ball. She's not a dirty player."
Said Caldwell, "I don't think she's that type of kid who would intentionally try to hurt anybody."
Gracious of UCLA’s coach Caldwell and Jasmine Dixon, and we appreciate their candidness. We hope the PAC-10 review committee that is deciding if Jayne can play in the next game is listening.
OMG, almost forgot to report THE most exciting part of the game. As the Stanford women’s team was throwing their red victory balls, Joslyn Tinkle ran over to our section and C was vigorously shaking her tinkle bell. She looked right at us and threw the ball to R! So we want to give a big thank you shout out to Joslyn Tinkle and say how great you look on the court!! Hee hee. R said she bets her mom made her find us and throw us a ball! So thanks Mrs. Tinkle. C and R didn’t have time to meet Mrs. Tinkle when she was here, but the coach of our little girls’ team, who is from Montana, did. Mrs. Tinkle probably told Jos to throw those women a ball; they are so nice to you!
See you on Superbowl Sunday, with or without Jayne.
When C and R saw Jayne run to the locker room we looked at each other. We have never seen Jayne thrown out of a game in her four years here. We looked away and then back at each other and then said we can’t remember a Stanford player EVER getting thrown out of a game in all the years R has been going (She has had season tickets longer than she has known C). Head Coach Tara VanDerveer said the same thing he next day, that in her 24 years of coaching, she’s never had a player thrown out.
And it did seem like a normal PAC-10 game. UCLA came out scrappy and hustling, and in a man-to-man press. We took an early lead, let them come back and take the lead, then we had a slight lead at half, then came back and pounded them in the second half to win 74-53. You know, typical game for us against a PAC-10 foe, as it has happened three times in a row now.
What was abnormal was that Jayne was having a game from last year. Even coach Tara VanDerveer was quoted as saying, “She was the old Jayne.” Jayne was taking them one-on-one and had 23 points and 13 rebounds before she was tossed with 7:41 left in the game (Think if she played the whole game). By contrast, Kayla had 4 points at that juncture.
Also abnormal was we discovered Stanford’s 6’2” Nneka Ogwumike can dribble. Yes, really. She even dribbled between her legs in the opening minutes. When Stanford is pressed, as they were last night by UCLA, a tall person will inbound it to the guard and the guard, feeling pressure, will pass it back to the person who threw it in, as she is not guarded. The other team rarely expects them to throw it backwards. We have been lucky in that usually it is Kayla Pedersen back there, who is a great ball handler for someone so big. But tonight it was Nneka inbounding the ball, and she kept winding up with the ball in her hands and she took it up court in the point guard position. In past games, when we have seen her dribble, it is high and not so deft. She did a credible job last night but let’s not have this be standard operating procedure, Stanford.
UCLA is coached by Nikki Caldwell, a former Tennessee player and assistant coach under Pat Summit. You could see Pat Summit’s fingerprints all over this team. They were disciplined and in shape. They ran and they hustled constantly. They did the fundamentals extremely well. (They boxed out Jayne so hard one time they made her bend over backwards and got called for a foul). They even had a little speedy but teeny point guard ala Shannon Bobbit to push the ball up court.
So here’s something funny we noticed about UCLA. The faster they pushed the ball, the better STANFORD responded. UCLA came out of the gate in the opening seconds pushing the ball up court quickly, and playing an up tempo game. We responded by scoring 11 points to their 2 in the first five minutes! Then they slowed down. And we slowed down all of a sudden it’s 16-10, Stanford, with 10 minutes gone. We said in a previous post we seem to respond or mirror the team we are playing. Play us up tempo and we come out firing. Play us slow with a set half court offense and defense and we are sluggish and lose our scoring ability. Hmmmm, hope other teams don’t catch on to this.
As UCLA and Stanford slow down, we let them take the lead with about 6 minutes in the half and then hang on to a 36-32 lead at half time. The game is getting rough, as UCLA is scrappy and the refs are allowing it, emboldening UCLA to get even more scrappy, which will come in to play in the second half and Jayne’s ejection. (Yes, finally, we got to the ejection! You were just about to go to another site to satisfy your curiosity, weren’t you?)
So here’s what happened. Jayne grabbed a rebound…did you know going in to the game she was just 17 away from the all-time Stanford record? And last night she moved past Val Whiting and into second place on Stanford's career rebounding list with 1,140? She is three away from tying Nicole Powell’s school record. (Arrgh, R just pinched me to get on with it).
So Jayne grabbed the defensive rebound and three UCLA players surrounded her. Usually one UCLA player would harass the rebounder, but they were getting a little desperate with the score being 60-42, trying to force turnovers. Jayne did as she was taught, which was to move the ball quickly back and forth in her arms to not let them grab it, and if they reached in, would probably foul her as she is moving her arms quickly. When the three UCLA players did not back off from her movements, and were reaching in on her, she moved the ball quicker and higher, and her elbow caught Jasmine Dixon in the face, and she dropped to the floor and the whistle blew.
Now, you know C and R are huge Stanford fans. Heck, it says it all over our website. But we are also honest and fair to a fault. And in our opinion, it was not a dirty play on Jayne’s part at all. She was not slinging her elbows maliciously or far away from her body. She was not using her elbows as a weapon. She was moving aggressively within the context of protecting the ball and the UCLA players were not giving her any space, in fact were moving in closer on her. At first we thought UCLA should be given the foul and when we found out it was Jayne, we booed with the rest of the crowd. Then when it was apparent UCLA was shooting a two shot technical, we were livid and booed harder. It was not flagrant, in our opinion, as we said. Give Jayne the foul, but not a technical. Then when we saw Jayne run to the locker room and was ejected, we were really, really mad. It was not done deliberately or maliciously; there was no reason to kick her out of the game. And would she be suspended for the next game, too?
When play resumed to a chorus of boos, the refs are calling any little contact (Two UCLA payers would eventually foul out of the game). After a minute and a half of whistles, Stanford steals the ball and gets it to Ros Gold-Onwude. She is running uncontested for a lay up and we see the UCLA player speed up from behind. Now, C and R are thinking, if the UCLA is smart, she will let this play go, she can’t stop the lay-up, and in light of a player just getting kicked out and seeing the refs are whistle happy, should not risk a foul here. Instead the UCLA player grabs Ros’ arm as she is jumping up. Okay, if you aren’t going for the ball on a lay up, if you grab a jersey or an arm to stop a lay up, that is usually a technical foul. If a player touches the body or hand trying to stop the shot, then that is a regular foul. The technical foul designation is used to stop a player from coming up from behind and stopping the player at all costs, by saying grabbing a fistful of jersey, or hair or her arm. Do they call a technical? Noooooo. The crowd is even more incensed. (Someone grabbed my ponytail once to stop me on a fast break and got a technical, hee hee, but it sure did hurt).
Back to Jayne’s technical and ejection. This morning, Jayne said her action was unintentional, and Dixon and UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell backed her.
"Appel was just trying to get the rebound and clear the board," Dixon said. "I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Said Appel, "I was in no way intentionally trying to be flagrant or trying to hit her, just playing basketball."
While neither VanDerveer nor Caldwell saw the entire play, both defended Appel. Caldwell recruited Appel while working at Tennessee.
"I saw a lot of arms and people around and Jayne trying to square up," VanDerveer said. "She's got like three people all over her. People are swiping at her. She was trying to hold onto the ball and be aggressive with the ball. She's not a dirty player."
Said Caldwell, "I don't think she's that type of kid who would intentionally try to hurt anybody."
Gracious of UCLA’s coach Caldwell and Jasmine Dixon, and we appreciate their candidness. We hope the PAC-10 review committee that is deciding if Jayne can play in the next game is listening.
OMG, almost forgot to report THE most exciting part of the game. As the Stanford women’s team was throwing their red victory balls, Joslyn Tinkle ran over to our section and C was vigorously shaking her tinkle bell. She looked right at us and threw the ball to R! So we want to give a big thank you shout out to Joslyn Tinkle and say how great you look on the court!! Hee hee. R said she bets her mom made her find us and throw us a ball! So thanks Mrs. Tinkle. C and R didn’t have time to meet Mrs. Tinkle when she was here, but the coach of our little girls’ team, who is from Montana, did. Mrs. Tinkle probably told Jos to throw those women a ball; they are so nice to you!
See you on Superbowl Sunday, with or without Jayne.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Extra Extra! Jayne Appel Nominated for Another Award
Well, first of all, Jayne has a foot infection and might not play tonight against UCLA. Stanford senior Jayne Appel has a mysterious foot infection (athletes foot?) and is being treated with antibiotics. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "I don't know how she got it," she said. "It's an absolute mystery, just a random infection." (Where were the Cal players or any PAC-10 foe, when she was in the locker room and did they have access to her shoes?) Wonder if the extreme challenge video makers will work this into their script?
In other news, Jayne is up for another award. She’s been nominated for The Lowe's Senior Class Award for Women's Basketball. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be a senior at a NCAA Division I institution and have earned high achievements in the classroom, and the community through character and competition. And guess what? Fans determine the outcome! Fan voting for the award begins today, Feb. 3, and runs through March 22, and will be combined with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award.
Vote early and often for Jayne! Well, you can only vote once a day, but C an R know you have access to multiple computers/cell phone devices. Be creative, Stanford fans! And keep a close eye on your shoes.Saturday, January 30, 2010
Stanford vs. Arizona
So the first thing we notice when we walk in to Maples for the National Girls and Women in Sports Day is everyone is wearing red. Including the Stanford Cardinal. What? Why is the Stanford Women’s Basketball team wearing our “away” uniforms at home? Plus C hates those uniforms. She likes the black ones. So everyone is wearing red, except C and R. We are wearing our black shirts and are finally going to give our number one fan her shirt at half time, now that my son’s head has stopped bleeding (long story, see last post)
Then they announce that everyone is wearing red to raise awareness for earthquake victims in Haiti and please send money to the Red Cross. Noble idea, but how did C and R miss this? We are on the Stanford website about five times a day!
So, C and R look like some kinds bobsie twins in our matching black shirts, and we weren’t the only bobsie twins. Jayne Appel is wearing a red ribbon in her hair, and so is Joslyn Tinkle, and they look enough alike to celebrate bobsie twin day every day. Then Arizona has a player that is built just like our Nneka Ogwumike. Arizona’s Nneka is named Ify Ibekwe and not only does she have a similar build to Nneka, she is just as athletic and plays just like Nneka. Ify jumps and rebounds just like Nneka and they each were guarding the other all day long.
So the half ends (what, I have to get up early to go skiing and hope my son’s staples stay in his head, so I am condensing), and we are down 40-42. It’s weird. It’s not like we played poorly. Scoring 40 points in a half is not what C and R would call playing badly, it’s just Arizona matched us point for point, and they had some good shooters. They also had some of the Oregon philosophy in that they pushed the ball up court after every Stanford shoot, hit or miss. Although Arizona didn’t try to score within the first 7 seconds, they were out to score and as we said, could shoot well. They made 8 three pointers in the first half. Stanford, where’s the “D”?
We also shoot well in the first half with our bigs hitting some threes, three by Kalya Pedersen and one by Joslyn Tinkle (Tinkle Bells all around, and we are sorry we didn’t get a chance to say hi to you, Mrs. Tinkle, as our little girls had a game at 5 PM and we had to leave right after they threw the victory balls-oops, now we told you Stanford won- the end, have to go to bed- skiing- and I am using dashes now so R won’t yell at me for a run on sentence- see, R, dashes!)
Halftime was fun in that we got to meet our number one fan, as we mentioned, and sneak junk food from our little girl’s team that came to the game, calling it a “coach’s tax”. (And even though we are named “French Fries”, we did have to ban garlic fries as we had a game right after this one, although since we were going to try a new man-to-man scheme, maybe we should have had them eat a ton of garlic fries and breathe on the other team!)
Anyhoo, Stanford kept trading the lead with Arizona and were down by two at the half. We haven’t been down at the half since, oh, Thursday, when we were down at the half for the first time all year against Arizona State. We came back and figured them out and clobbered them. Same thing here. We figured them out and clobbered them, and our Nneka beat their Nneka at the boards and points. Arizona didn’t score in the second half until 14:23 when their Nneka, Ify Ibekwe, made a lay up. By then, our Nneka had 6 points to lead us on a 10-0 run in that time frame.
In fact the only suspense in the second half was seeing who would be high scorer, Nneka or Kayla Pedersen. It was a tie at 27 each. Jayne got 8 points and Joslyn ended with 10, with another 3 pointer in the second half. That is the first time we can remember freshmen Tinkle out scoring Senior Jayne. We did see a great article in our local paper, the San Francisco Chronicle saying that Jayne’s total points are down this season to feed emerging Nneka and to pass. Jayne is one of those rare players who wants to do whatever it takes to win and can and will look for an open player before shooting. She said if Nneka’s player just moves an inch off of her to double Jayne, Jayne will hit Nneka. We love unselfish Jayne! Also, her knee is still bothering her. Get better in time for March, Jayne!
Okay, we do want to say one thing about our Nneka. When we write “she skies” for rebounds, what we mean is she is at a dead stop boxing out and leaps straight in the air and almost grabs balls at the rim. It’s one thing to take a running leap and go for the lay up or rim, but to do it without the benefit of any forward momentum is impressive to see in person. And she made some impressive “skies” in this game, too.
So we came back and beat them 83-62. So, is it that the PAC-10 is good this year or do we play down or mirror the team we are playing in the first half until we figure them out and then play Stanford ball in the second half? R votes for the former and C votes for the latter.
We rush out after the end of the game as NO red victory balls were thrown our way (Stanford, what’s up with that?) hike all the way to our car (some other event made parking even worse) drive to our little girl’s game, review man-to-man with them before the game, watch them forget everything about man-to-man during the game, nearly have a heart attack as we go into overtime, and have our center, who we have been working with all season to be Jayne Appel, score the only basket in overtime to take the victory!
Two for two, big girls and little girls!
Then they announce that everyone is wearing red to raise awareness for earthquake victims in Haiti and please send money to the Red Cross. Noble idea, but how did C and R miss this? We are on the Stanford website about five times a day!
So, C and R look like some kinds bobsie twins in our matching black shirts, and we weren’t the only bobsie twins. Jayne Appel is wearing a red ribbon in her hair, and so is Joslyn Tinkle, and they look enough alike to celebrate bobsie twin day every day. Then Arizona has a player that is built just like our Nneka Ogwumike. Arizona’s Nneka is named Ify Ibekwe and not only does she have a similar build to Nneka, she is just as athletic and plays just like Nneka. Ify jumps and rebounds just like Nneka and they each were guarding the other all day long.
So the half ends (what, I have to get up early to go skiing and hope my son’s staples stay in his head, so I am condensing), and we are down 40-42. It’s weird. It’s not like we played poorly. Scoring 40 points in a half is not what C and R would call playing badly, it’s just Arizona matched us point for point, and they had some good shooters. They also had some of the Oregon philosophy in that they pushed the ball up court after every Stanford shoot, hit or miss. Although Arizona didn’t try to score within the first 7 seconds, they were out to score and as we said, could shoot well. They made 8 three pointers in the first half. Stanford, where’s the “D”?
We also shoot well in the first half with our bigs hitting some threes, three by Kalya Pedersen and one by Joslyn Tinkle (Tinkle Bells all around, and we are sorry we didn’t get a chance to say hi to you, Mrs. Tinkle, as our little girls had a game at 5 PM and we had to leave right after they threw the victory balls-oops, now we told you Stanford won- the end, have to go to bed- skiing- and I am using dashes now so R won’t yell at me for a run on sentence- see, R, dashes!)
Halftime was fun in that we got to meet our number one fan, as we mentioned, and sneak junk food from our little girl’s team that came to the game, calling it a “coach’s tax”. (And even though we are named “French Fries”, we did have to ban garlic fries as we had a game right after this one, although since we were going to try a new man-to-man scheme, maybe we should have had them eat a ton of garlic fries and breathe on the other team!)
Anyhoo, Stanford kept trading the lead with Arizona and were down by two at the half. We haven’t been down at the half since, oh, Thursday, when we were down at the half for the first time all year against Arizona State. We came back and figured them out and clobbered them. Same thing here. We figured them out and clobbered them, and our Nneka beat their Nneka at the boards and points. Arizona didn’t score in the second half until 14:23 when their Nneka, Ify Ibekwe, made a lay up. By then, our Nneka had 6 points to lead us on a 10-0 run in that time frame.
In fact the only suspense in the second half was seeing who would be high scorer, Nneka or Kayla Pedersen. It was a tie at 27 each. Jayne got 8 points and Joslyn ended with 10, with another 3 pointer in the second half. That is the first time we can remember freshmen Tinkle out scoring Senior Jayne. We did see a great article in our local paper, the San Francisco Chronicle saying that Jayne’s total points are down this season to feed emerging Nneka and to pass. Jayne is one of those rare players who wants to do whatever it takes to win and can and will look for an open player before shooting. She said if Nneka’s player just moves an inch off of her to double Jayne, Jayne will hit Nneka. We love unselfish Jayne! Also, her knee is still bothering her. Get better in time for March, Jayne!
Okay, we do want to say one thing about our Nneka. When we write “she skies” for rebounds, what we mean is she is at a dead stop boxing out and leaps straight in the air and almost grabs balls at the rim. It’s one thing to take a running leap and go for the lay up or rim, but to do it without the benefit of any forward momentum is impressive to see in person. And she made some impressive “skies” in this game, too.
So we came back and beat them 83-62. So, is it that the PAC-10 is good this year or do we play down or mirror the team we are playing in the first half until we figure them out and then play Stanford ball in the second half? R votes for the former and C votes for the latter.
We rush out after the end of the game as NO red victory balls were thrown our way (Stanford, what’s up with that?) hike all the way to our car (some other event made parking even worse) drive to our little girl’s game, review man-to-man with them before the game, watch them forget everything about man-to-man during the game, nearly have a heart attack as we go into overtime, and have our center, who we have been working with all season to be Jayne Appel, score the only basket in overtime to take the victory!
Two for two, big girls and little girls!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Heads Up
Okay, so it was a rough night all around. Stanford was down at the half for the first time all year, Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne was whistled for a technical in the second half, C’s son had a head injury and had to go to the emergency room…
Okay, let’s back it up a little. Just as C and R were pulling into the stupid Stanford dirt lot around 6:20 PM to park and go see the Stanford women’s basketball team take on Arizona State, C’s cell phone rang. Now, no one calls C’s cell phone except for R, and R was sitting right beside her driving, so she almost didn’t answer it. But she pulled it out and the little light up area said it was her son. C’s son has had a cell phone for about two years and he never talks on it. But he does average something like 50 texts a day. Does any one of those texts ever go to his mother? No. He uses his cell phone to text with pretty blonde girls and everyone else in the known universe, except his mother, so when C saw it was from her son, and a phone call even, not a text, she just knew it was trouble. Sure enough, after answering it, C’s son said his head was bleeding.
Turns out, C’s son was at water polo practice and he swam into the metal water polo goal post and split his head and was bleeding. R, listening in to C’s part of the conversation and made a U-turn in the dirt lot and said, “I’ll do whatever you need to do.” R’s good like that. She even offered to jump out so C could have the car and R would find a way home, hitch-hike or something, but C and R decided R should drive them both back to C’s house, and that’s how C and R missed the game. We had our tickets in our hands, too.
We want to give a big shout out apology to our number one fan (NOF), who we were supposed to meet up with at halftime and present her with one of our patented C and R logo polo shirts (Still on sale for $40! See the ad on this page!). Sorry NOF, and we will catch you Saturday!
So, after C got home, grabbed her insurance card, jumped in her car to pick up her son at the practice pool, she finally remembered to turn on the radio and tune into KZSU. Too bad it was half time and she couldn’t tell the score. Ya ever seen that civil war or revolutionary war poster of the three men playing the fife and drum and carrying the flag and one of them has their head all wrapped up and bleeding? Well, that’s what C’s son looked like as he emerged from the locker room, so she chucked plans to go to the urgent care and head straight to the hospital. C called R at home, who decided it wasn’t worth it to drive all the way back to Stanford and was trying to get Gametracker on her computer, to help her find the nearest hospital that took C’s insurance, and they decided on the one C’s son was born at 16 years ago.
In between C’s son’s proud soliloquy about how he got the head wound (his friend pushed him into the post as they were doing a drill battling for the ball) and the detail about just how much blood leaked out (quite a lot, and if you are squeamish, don’t read how he relished telling me how it gushed down his face and all over his chest), C turned on the radio and found out the second half had started and Stanford had gone on a 7-1 tear in the first three minutes to go up 34-30. (And if you are worried R is going to be mad at C for that extremely long run on sentence, don’t worry, we lost her at “blood” and she’s passed out on the floor back here). Wait, if we scored seven points and are only ahead by four…C tried to mentally calculate in the car but it was hard as she had to block out her son’s description about how the blood caked in his eye and he couldn’t open it... then we were behind at half… C’s son said his coach thinks they will need to shave the area around the wound and is now asking C if he can shave ALL his hair off… how did we get behind? (Yes, C found out later we were behind 29-25 Arizona State). And oh, he has a picture on his cell phone of the bloody wound. I am sure he has sent it to all his girl friends by now.
Finally we are at the hospital and they unwind the headscarf he has going on, decide to use staples instead of stitches and he can keep his hair, which I think disappointed him. The wound is pretty deep, and more severe than C was lead to believe by the coach. After cleaning the blood, the doc comes to numb and add the staples. He pulls out a sanitized stapler. I am not kidding. It looks like the stapler C uses to hang her student’s art shows. The doc says they need to come out in 8 days, and says they use a staple remover pretty much like the one C has at home.
However, on the ride back the Stanford game is over and KZSU is playing calming Indian music, just what we need because C and her son are now discussing “Doing-it-yourself” surgery and how to remove the staples themselves with their staple remover in a week to save a trip to the doc. Water polo players are tough!
C calls R and she tells her Stanford won! She has trouble with Gametracker, but the final score was 71-48, Stanford. What? Stanford was barely ahead when C last tuned in Then R tells C we were trailing by as much as 14 points in the first half! Later, the Internet said Stanford was rattled by early pressure and full court presses (What’s new) by Arizona State, but then went on a 35-5 scoring spree in teh second half, and Charli Turner Thorne got the technical. Boy, both C and R wished they could have seen that! We wonder if it was for walking on our court with her pointy high heels? Somebody who was there, please tell us what happened!
Guard Ros Gold-Onwude had three threes and a career high 19 points. Kayla Pederson was finally back in her scoring form and scored 23. Jayne Appel added 12. Our high scorer and PAC-10 scoring leader, Nneka Ogwumike, was on the bench for almost half the game because of foul trouble and only scored 8 points. Oregon State couldn’t stop Nneka the other day, but Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer can if she fouls. Just think if we could ever get all three of our tall players, Kayla, Jayne and Nneka to score in double figures in one game.
C’s son is resting comfortably, thank you for asking, after eating nearly everything in the house after he got home from the hospital. Email us with your observations of the game if we left anything out.
Okay, let’s back it up a little. Just as C and R were pulling into the stupid Stanford dirt lot around 6:20 PM to park and go see the Stanford women’s basketball team take on Arizona State, C’s cell phone rang. Now, no one calls C’s cell phone except for R, and R was sitting right beside her driving, so she almost didn’t answer it. But she pulled it out and the little light up area said it was her son. C’s son has had a cell phone for about two years and he never talks on it. But he does average something like 50 texts a day. Does any one of those texts ever go to his mother? No. He uses his cell phone to text with pretty blonde girls and everyone else in the known universe, except his mother, so when C saw it was from her son, and a phone call even, not a text, she just knew it was trouble. Sure enough, after answering it, C’s son said his head was bleeding.
Turns out, C’s son was at water polo practice and he swam into the metal water polo goal post and split his head and was bleeding. R, listening in to C’s part of the conversation and made a U-turn in the dirt lot and said, “I’ll do whatever you need to do.” R’s good like that. She even offered to jump out so C could have the car and R would find a way home, hitch-hike or something, but C and R decided R should drive them both back to C’s house, and that’s how C and R missed the game. We had our tickets in our hands, too.
We want to give a big shout out apology to our number one fan (NOF), who we were supposed to meet up with at halftime and present her with one of our patented C and R logo polo shirts (Still on sale for $40! See the ad on this page!). Sorry NOF, and we will catch you Saturday!
So, after C got home, grabbed her insurance card, jumped in her car to pick up her son at the practice pool, she finally remembered to turn on the radio and tune into KZSU. Too bad it was half time and she couldn’t tell the score. Ya ever seen that civil war or revolutionary war poster of the three men playing the fife and drum and carrying the flag and one of them has their head all wrapped up and bleeding? Well, that’s what C’s son looked like as he emerged from the locker room, so she chucked plans to go to the urgent care and head straight to the hospital. C called R at home, who decided it wasn’t worth it to drive all the way back to Stanford and was trying to get Gametracker on her computer, to help her find the nearest hospital that took C’s insurance, and they decided on the one C’s son was born at 16 years ago.
In between C’s son’s proud soliloquy about how he got the head wound (his friend pushed him into the post as they were doing a drill battling for the ball) and the detail about just how much blood leaked out (quite a lot, and if you are squeamish, don’t read how he relished telling me how it gushed down his face and all over his chest), C turned on the radio and found out the second half had started and Stanford had gone on a 7-1 tear in the first three minutes to go up 34-30. (And if you are worried R is going to be mad at C for that extremely long run on sentence, don’t worry, we lost her at “blood” and she’s passed out on the floor back here). Wait, if we scored seven points and are only ahead by four…C tried to mentally calculate in the car but it was hard as she had to block out her son’s description about how the blood caked in his eye and he couldn’t open it... then we were behind at half… C’s son said his coach thinks they will need to shave the area around the wound and is now asking C if he can shave ALL his hair off… how did we get behind? (Yes, C found out later we were behind 29-25 Arizona State). And oh, he has a picture on his cell phone of the bloody wound. I am sure he has sent it to all his girl friends by now.
Finally we are at the hospital and they unwind the headscarf he has going on, decide to use staples instead of stitches and he can keep his hair, which I think disappointed him. The wound is pretty deep, and more severe than C was lead to believe by the coach. After cleaning the blood, the doc comes to numb and add the staples. He pulls out a sanitized stapler. I am not kidding. It looks like the stapler C uses to hang her student’s art shows. The doc says they need to come out in 8 days, and says they use a staple remover pretty much like the one C has at home.
However, on the ride back the Stanford game is over and KZSU is playing calming Indian music, just what we need because C and her son are now discussing “Doing-it-yourself” surgery and how to remove the staples themselves with their staple remover in a week to save a trip to the doc. Water polo players are tough!
C calls R and she tells her Stanford won! She has trouble with Gametracker, but the final score was 71-48, Stanford. What? Stanford was barely ahead when C last tuned in Then R tells C we were trailing by as much as 14 points in the first half! Later, the Internet said Stanford was rattled by early pressure and full court presses (What’s new) by Arizona State, but then went on a 35-5 scoring spree in teh second half, and Charli Turner Thorne got the technical. Boy, both C and R wished they could have seen that! We wonder if it was for walking on our court with her pointy high heels? Somebody who was there, please tell us what happened!
Guard Ros Gold-Onwude had three threes and a career high 19 points. Kayla Pederson was finally back in her scoring form and scored 23. Jayne Appel added 12. Our high scorer and PAC-10 scoring leader, Nneka Ogwumike, was on the bench for almost half the game because of foul trouble and only scored 8 points. Oregon State couldn’t stop Nneka the other day, but Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer can if she fouls. Just think if we could ever get all three of our tall players, Kayla, Jayne and Nneka to score in double figures in one game.
C’s son is resting comfortably, thank you for asking, after eating nearly everything in the house after he got home from the hospital. Email us with your observations of the game if we left anything out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
