Results tagged “Drake” from Jays Blog

Tied for First! You bet.

By
Max Univers
on February 19, 2009 7:20 AM |
Wednesday night, I was midway through a horrendous burrito that I'm ashamed to admit I made myself when the sounds of Mr. T blared out of my phone.

"Ain't got time for the Jibba-Jabba...Say what you got to say!"

This meant I had a text; I'm dominant like that. So I opened up the phone, saw it was from my brother, and was not surprised at what it read: "h-time uni 23 drake 17, brother". I'd been counting on Drake beating UNI to move the Jays into a tie for first place, and so far, my father's Bulldogs weren't coming through. Which meant my brother's Panthers were.

An aside for those of you who may be new to the blog in the last couple of weeks: while I'm a Creighton grad and Jaybacker, my father went to Drake back in the early 1970s heydey of Bulldog hoops, and my brother went to UNI in the McDermott early 2000s. So we have a triangular Valley rivalry, and on this night, I was in the uncomfortable position of having to actually root for one of their schools, instead of rooting against both of them.

I was rooting from afar, though: there was no way in hell I was going to be the sort of guy who listens to the webcast radio feed of a non-Jays game. If it had been a video webcast, and it had been free, you could have twisted my arm. But a radio webcast, particularly the KRNT feed with Dolph Pulliam -- the biggest homer in the Valley, God bless him -- yeah, that wasn't gonna happen. So I sat in front of the TV, clearing programs off my DVR by watching them. The Office, 30 Rock, Chuck, WKRP in Cincinnati, you know, the usual stuff.

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2008-09 Game #24: Jays 79, Drake 68

By
Max Univers
on February 5, 2009 7:13 AM |
Wednesday night marked the Jays first trip to Des Moines that I didn't road trip for in five years. When you're only three weeks into a new job, its a little difficult to sneak out early to jump on I-80 for a basketball game, even if you are the Creative Manager. This meant I was stuck with a choice between the radio broadcast and the KMTV broadcast.

I hesitate to complain because I remember vividly the days when there were no games televised, and I appreciate their efforts. But I can't help it anymore. KMTV's production is brutal, with the white balance misadjusted on a majority of their cameras and a half-frame-rate replay system. The former is Videography 101 stuff and is inexcusable; the latter is no doubt a budget issue so I give them a pass -- although it is amusing. Last night seemed particularly rough, though. Nearly every time they went to them, their cameras under the basket were jerking around so wildly that it reminded me of The Blair Witch Project. Its a good thing I hadn't eaten contaminated Peanut Butter or I might have thrown up.

As for the announcers, I think my readers have it all wrong when it comes to my opinion of Travis Justice. I mean, he's my fourth favorite Justice of all time, which is a lot higher than I think most readers assume he'd be. You've got Buford T. Justice from Smokey and the Bandit, you've got David Justice of the Atlanta Braves/Cleveland Indians, you've got Chief Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court (who got married in Omaha), and then you've got Travis Justice. Its no shame to be fourth on that list, so I don't know where this wild idea about me being a hater comes from. You bet.

I rather like the 15-25 seconds of dead air during the course of a game where no one is saying anything. Especially when the game is being played in a two-thirds full arena. Good times.

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Continue reading 2008-09 Game #24: Jays 79, Drake 68.

Gameday: at Drake

By
Max Univers
on February 4, 2009 7:27 AM |
Perhaps I was a bit too optimistic earlier this week in my recap of the Missouri State game, because it seems like I'm the only one who thinks the scenario I laid out for the final eight games is possible. Your emails told me so. Here's my favorite of the bunch (oh, and everything in quotes is sic'd):

"Hey Polyfro/Max, can I have some of what you're drinking? what about the Jays play through 23 games gives you confidence they can suddenly reel off 6 wins in 8 games?

The Jays took a dump in the paint against both Drake and Northern Iowa at home, so how can you say with a straight face that the Jays will beat both of them this week on the road? how can you think they will win at Southern Illinois? we haven't won their since Ryan Sears was still running the point. how can you think the Jays can beat Illinois State, when all the evidence we have points to them being a quicker, more athletic, taller version of us? please explain your self."

First of all, if I'm going to give you some of what I'm drinking, I'm going to have to ask to see your ID, because this ain't Kool-Aid junior. Its Pabst Blue Ribbon, and its delicious. Normally I wouldn't offer a cold brew to someone who had just torched me, but the world you live in seems so negative and awful that I think you need it more than I do. Here, take the rest of the case. And you're welcome.

You know, he does raise a good point though. What about the Jays performance through 23 games gives me reason to believe in them now? Nothing, as their inconsistency means they're just as likely to come out and dominate Drake tonight as they are to come out flat and lose by 15. I just have a feeling they've turned a corner and they're ready to sprint down the straight-away. I might be wrong. But if I'm right...

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Gameday: Drake

By
Max Univers
on January 24, 2009 8:08 AM |
Over Christmas, I sat and watched a movie with my two-year old niece. That movie: Cinderella. Yes, the Disney animated movie. Now, ordinarily, I do not watch Disney animated movies. In fact, given the choice between watching a Disney animated movie and watching a Hugh Grant movie, I'd think long and hard before opting for option C, no matter what option C is. And given the choice between watching a Disney animated movie and watching a Carrot Top movie, I'd go get a root canal.

Why do I tell you these things? Because Drake is a pumpkin, and its after midnight. Their 28 win season is history, and now that those rascals in Cedar Falls have shown the league how to defend Josh Young, the Bulldogs are either ordinary or terrible, depending on who you talk to.

Either adjective works for me, because after watching the UNI-Drake game on ESPN2 last Saturday, and then deciding to go to the mall -- TO THE MALL!! -- because the game was so lopsided, I'm convinced the Jays will win today. Plus, I received a couple of emails from Drake fans telling me how terrible their team is, how coach Mark Phelps is trying to ram a system the players can't run down their throats, and how Drake Nation is growing restless.

Wait...Drake Nation? You cannot be serious. My Dad is the only person I've ever known who wore a Drake sweatshirt out in public on a non-gameday before last year, and that was only because he went to school there. I remember him taking us to games at Veterans Auditorium and seeing more Iowa and Iowa State shirts than Drake shirts, even though neither of those state schools were on the court.

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MVC Semifinals: Jays 67, Drake 75

By
Max Univers
on March 9, 2008 12:30 PM |
Stuck in Omaha for Arch Madness this year due to some other commitments, I decided to see if there was any mojo left at Buffalo Wild Wings. During the NFL playoffs, a huge group of my friends went to one of their locations in Omaha for the first Sunday of games. My buddy Gilby is from Upstate New York originally, and when his Giants won, we of course had to go back for the second round. And then for the NFC Championship. And then for the Super Bowl.

So there is definitely something going on with that. Hoping to ride on the momentum, the mojo, or maybe just the overpriced beers and expensive wings, we went there to watch the inevitable smackdown to be delivered by the Jays to the Drake Bulldogs, owners of A Proud Basketball Tradition Since November.

Well, a guy has to be optimistic even in the face of a million reasons not to believe, right? Drake is having their once-every-37-years great season, they're led by seniors who look to make shots for each other, and they're easily the best TEAM in the league. Creighton is having a rare rebuilding season, they're led by freshmen and sophomores who look to make shots for themselves, and they're the best collection of young talent in the league, but not the best TEAM. Not yet.

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2007-08 Game #20: Jays 65, #17 Drake 75

By
Max Univers
on January 31, 2008 2:51 PM |
In my Gameday preview, I openly wondered what the crowd would look like in Des Moines. Would it be 30-40% Creighton fans, as it has been in recent years, or would it be representative of a Top 20 team? Well, it was most certainly the latter. In fact, I'd peg the Jays' percentage at somewhere around 5%. That place was a zoo, and it was almost entirely pro-Drake. Good for them.

I am pissed that I didn't get my free "Unleashed!" t-shirt. Because I totally don't have enough t-shirts. Actually, I'm about 18 shirts beyond the point where I needed a bigger dresser to house them, but still. I wanted my free t-shirt!

Our seats were awfully nice, courtesy of my college roommate who used some connections within the Drake athletic department to score us complimentary seats at midcourt. Upside to that is you have great seats. Downside is...there is no downside. You bet.

Did I mention I want my damn free t-shirt? Frankly, its not too late. Feel free to drop one in the mail to me.

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Gameday: Creighton at #17 Drake

By
Max Univers
on January 30, 2008 2:54 PM |
School Databank:
Location: Des Moines, IA
Enrollment: 3,164
Famous sports alumni: Zach Johnson (PGA, Masters Champion)
Last game: Beat Northern Iowa 58-54
Last game vs Creighton: Drake won 68-60 last week in Omaha
Series: Creighton leads 86-53 (Drake leads 34-31 in Des Moines)

Well, the rematch between Creighton and Drake happens tonight in Des Moines, and looky-what-we-have-here, the Bulldogs are still rated. In fact, now they're a Top-20 team (!) and their winning streak has reached 17 games (!).

The last two games, both losses, may have represented a key turning point in the season. Going from 5-2 in the league to 5-4 puts the Jays in an unfamiliar position at the halfway point of the league season. As Otter pointed out in his typically excellent post after the SIU loss, the reality of the current Jays' squad is a rude awakening to many fans who only began following the team during their current run of success. The idea of not competing for a conference title this year is a shock to a lot of people. But you've got to look at the big picture, folks.

Maybe we're all just too close to the situation. I found the thoughts of my college roommate John, who lives in Des Moines and has only seen the Jays a couple of times this year, to be interesting.

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2007-08 Game #18: Jays 60, #22 Drake 68 (OT)

By
Max Univers
on January 23, 2008 3:00 PM |
Drake brought their cheerleaders and their mascot, Spike, with them to the game, and they roamed the court in front of my section. At times they blocked my view, and at times it was annoying when Spike walked up the aisle to talk smack. But it was kinda cool to have them there, if only because it made the game seem like a bigger event.

My dad, the Drake alum, used their presence as an excuse to exhibit carte blanche in cheering for the Bulldogs. I explained to him that such behavior was not cool in the lower bowl, and told him the tragic story the night his other son was banished to the upper bowl because of his obnoxious cheering for Northern Iowa. I didn't demand he cheer for Creighton, I just asked him to behave himself. Polite clapping is fine. Yelling is not. Telling me things like "If this gets into a free-throw contest, there's going to be a lot of sad people in this building." is not cool.

I reconcile his presence with the fact that he's come to every Drake-CU game in Omaha with me for going on 10 years, and that Creighton has won almost all of them. That and the fact that all of the food and beer was on his tab. Buy me free beer and food and you can pretty much cheer for anyone you want to.


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Inside the Numbers: Drake at Creighton

By
Max Univers
on January 23, 2008 2:59 PM |
I don't like numbers. I've always regarded math as a "necessary evil". In fact, I have a report card from 2nd grade where my teacher claims I told her so, in those exact words. But I do like numbers in one instance: if someone else does the legwork and just presents the analysis to me. Like on my 401k statement or my investment analysis.

So I asked my friend Kenny Tesla to bring some respect for the numbers today, and break down the game stats. No that's not his real name, that's just what I nicknamed him. He hates it and it pretty much pisses him off that all of our friends call him by that name now, which of course means the name isn't going away anytime soon. So without any further ado, here's Kenny Tesla's statistical analysis of last night's game. If you enjoy it, I might even invite him to make this a regular feature. You bet.

After the jump, the next words you read will be those of one Kenneth Tesla, Esq. Enjoy.


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Gameday: #22 Drake at Creighton

By
Max Univers
on January 22, 2008 3:04 PM |
School Databank:
Location: Des Moines, IA
Enrollment: 3,164
Famous sports alumni: Zach Johnson (PGA, Masters Champion)
Last game: Beat Illinois State 79-73
Last game vs Creighton: Creighton won 67-62 on February 2, 2007
Series: Creighton leads 86-52 (52-17 in Omaha)

The Jays and Bulldogs have played 138 times, but its safe to say none of them have been as heavily anticipated on both sides of the border than this one. Drake will take the court tonight as a rated team for the first time since 1971, looking to continue steamrolling through their schedule. At 16-1 and 7-0 in the league, they are the best team in the Valley. Say what you want about Drake, but the fact of the matter is that they are in sole possession of first place, are undefeated in the league, and are the only ranked team in the MVC.

If Drake can win tonight in Omaha, they'll make the MVC a two-team race between themselves and Illinois State. But if Creighton can pull off the upset, they'll be just a game back of the leaders and make it a three-team race for the regular season championship. There are 10 conference games left after tonight, sure, but this is a big one.


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Drake Rises From The Ashes, Like A Phoenix from Arizona

By
Max Univers
on January 21, 2008 3:06 PM |
Alright, lets be honest. When the schedule came out in September, and you were circling which games were "must-see" and which mid-week games you'd give your tickets away for, Drake was at the top of the latter list. A rather non-descript team with a new coach and two former walk-ons as starters doesn't do a lot to inspire excitement. Particularly in the mainstream media, who picked them to finish in the bottom third of the league.

Yours truly gave them more credit than the people who get paid to know better, but I still only picked them to finish seventh. The lesson here is that I should not be confused with Nostradamus anytime soon. Oh, watch out, you're going to knock over your water/coffee/soda/Heee-Haw glass! Its going to be a minor mess of inconvenient proportions!

Yeah, it didn't happen, did it? You weren't even drinking water/coffee/soda/Heee-Haw, were you? That prediction was worth about as much as me picking Drake seventh, or the people who get paid to know better who picked them lower than that.


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Season Preview: Drake

By
Max Univers
on October 26, 2007 8:12 PM |
Over the next several days, I'll be posting previews of each team in the Valley. Today I take a look at the Drake Bulldogs.

Drake
2006-07: 17-15
(6-12 MVC)

01.22 at CREI
01.30 at DRAKE

2006-07 REWIND: Coaching legend Dr. Tom Davis, who put Drake back on the map when he took the head job in Des Moines four years ago, built the Doggies into the best team in the state by his fourth year. Doubt it? They went 4-0 against in-state competition (Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa), including a two-game sweep of arguably the second-best team, UNI. After leading them to their first winning season since the mid-eighties heydey of Gary Garner, Davis retired and handed the reigns over to his son Keno.

In the teams' first meeting in Omaha, Creighton shot 65.9% from the field and routed the Bulldogs 75-59; they hit 18-23 in the second half (78%). The rematch in Des Moines was much more competitive. Drake had a 43-36 lead in the second half before a 14-0 Creighton run gave them the lead; Creighton held on for a 67-62 win.

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2006-07 Game 23: Jays 67, Drake 62

By
Max Univers
on February 5, 2007 11:38 AM |
I've been to a few places in the Valley, and the fans in Des Moines are by far the most hospitable and welcoming. I wouldn't say that about a couple of other places *cough* Carbondale *cough*...

So this year, once again the Polyfro Basketball Blog took the show on the road to the Knapp Center in Des Moines for the Creighton-Drake tilt on Saturday night. As a graphic designer, I find the Knapp Center to be a doozy. I used to write a piece for a prominent design publication called "Awesomely Bad Design", and I've always regretted not making the Knapp Center the feature of an article there. I won't get into too much here, but the purple banners with yellow highlights that adorn the ceiling are just the tip of the iceberg at this place. When your colors are blue and white, and to a lesser extent, black, why decorate your arena in purple and yellow? The section we sat in had giant aquamarine banners hanging above it; other sections had magenta, brown, and even red. Why, Drake, why?


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2006-07 Game 15: Jays 79, Drake 56

By
Max Univers
on January 11, 2007 5:01 PM |
We're a Valley family. My dad went to Drake, I went to Creighton and my brother went to Northern Iowa. My brother's wife also went to Northern Iowa. And I used to date a girl who went to Wichita State -- opportune words there being "used to". A man has got to have standards.

So every winter, the smack talk begins. Anytime UNI and Drake play, Drake and Creighton, or any other permutation of the three, things get pretty heated, in a familial sort of way, of course. All year long, I've heard the stories.

"Drake is pretty good this year."
"Did you see them beat Iowa State at Hilton?"
"Hey, how about Drake running Iowa out of the gym? Some game, huh?"
"Dr. Tom is going finally has the athletes to run his press. Drake is going to be in the hunt for the MVC title!"
"You know son, I remember when we made the Final Four in 1969...we went 26-5 and had UCLA beat in the semifinal! And NOBODY beat UCLA!"

How's that 0-5 conference record working out for you?

You bet.

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A Saturday in Des Moines: Jays and Dogs

By
Max Univers
on February 6, 2006 6:11 PM |
his isn't exactly a news flash, but I'm not the most responsible person in the world. According to the Gallup Strengths Finder, its one of my bottom five strengths, in fact, along with Deliberative. This means I do not enjoy routine and structure, and I do not take psychological ownership of what I say I will do. Simply put, I'm a free-spirited irresponsible dude.

Also, this means when I say I will be in Des Moines at 2pm on Saturday, what I really mean is I'll leave Omaha at 2pm and get there at 4pm.

Oh, I had intended on being there at 2, but things happened. Things like Double Overtime in the Southern Illinois-Wichita State game, which I stayed and watched to its conclusion before leaving. The Colorado was outside warming up as regulation ended, but it sat out there running for another 30 minutes as two overtimes played out. By the time I went to the bank and got gas, it was 2pm before I got on I-80 to Des Moines.

I felt sorta bad about it, but my attention was soon diverted by severe spillage of my beverage.

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Max Univers (not his real name) is a graphic designer and author of two books, neither of which you’ve probably heard of. A 2001 graduate of Creighton University’s Journalism program, Max takes time out of his busy nightlife to share his thoughts on Jays hoops here during the season.

Why Univers? Its his favorite font, plus it just sounds really cool as a surname.

Why Polyfro? Years and years ago, Max had a giant afro wig that he wore as part of a Halloween costume. Not wishing to retire its giant fro awesomeness after the holiday, he began wearing the wig out in public as part of his everyday ensemble. One night at a dance club, the DJ called out the moniker over the soundsystem. Max thought it sounded cool, and purchased the URL shortly thereafter.

More questions? Send me an email: max-at-polyfro-dot-com. I like jokes, story tips, and generally all correspondence involving Bluejay athletics. Emails that point out how stupid I am and/or where I should go after I die are not encouraged.

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