Box and Won

Couldn't they have just realized that the nickname was ridiculous BEFORE they chose it and released it to the public?

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Nobody has mentioned it yet, but our own Kevin Lisch was featured in the P-D yesterday as the scholar athlete representative from Althoff (one scholar athlete was chosen from each area school). Apparently he is #11 in his class and in his profile, he mentioned that he wants to be a role model for kids on and off the court. The only weird thing was that he says his favorite musician is Dan Fogelberg. "Longer than there's been fishes in the ocean..."

Drew was a "thick" 6'5 - the guy had cankles and a definite lack of foot speed. Does DM have a leaner build than DD?

So is the knock on Maguire that he's a Steve Novak-like player but without the height?

Maybe the Wizards could use Josh Fisher.

With regards to DM, isn't this the ideal situation? We recruit a kid early, he gives us an oral commitment before he has a big senior season and the big programs start recruiting him? I think landing DM early is a chance that we had to take. So was signing Obi. After last season, getting blue chippers is a virtual impossibility so Brad has to take some calculated risks.

Maybe everyone on the board could take turns getting 7-day memberships!

Good stuff - you should get a permanent subscription!

Actually, maybe Sekeue Barentine Field House isn't a good idea. I always called Sekeue "Suck-eue" and I'm sure that my old name for him would probably slip out occasionally when talking about the arena.

From the man himself: "Saint Louis took a chance on me despite my injury, and the chance for immediate playing time was a factor," said Ikeakor, who also considered Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico State and Southern Cal. "I liked the coaching staff and clicked with the players that I met on my visit. I'm a four-man, who can play with his back to the basket, but can shoot it from anywhere and also put the ball on the floor. Most people say that I'm a guard in a big man's body."

Sekeue Barentine Field House

And it sounds like since he was considering going to play at a prep school, he should be ready to play next year.

Tracy Gold from the hit 80's sitcom Growing Pains? They could put her in roller skates and train her to slam dunk from a trampoline or jump through a flaming hoop a la Old School.

Wow, I didn't know that Spandau Ballet had more than one song!

That might be the lamest nickname I've heard in a long time.

I guess Shimmy couldn't convince her to stay: SLU loses leading scorer Mia Johnson Mia Johnson, the leading scorer for the St. Louis University women's basketball team as a freshman, has told new coach Shimmy Gray that she plans to transfer. "We talked, but she had made up her mind before the new coach was announced," Gray said. "She felt she needed to go somewhere else, and I'm going to support that. I want kids to want to be here." The 5-foot-9 guard started every game last season, averaging 17.1 points and 4.0 rebounds. However, she shot only 31 percent from the field. Gray is interested in possibly signing one more player. Gray also said she has retained assistant coach Tony Francis, who was on Jill Pizzotti's staff for three seasons. She has made offers for the other two coaching jobs and is waiting for responses. Gray said Francis "has really kept the program together since Jill left. He didn't let any kids or anything slip through the cracks."

Help us, Obi Ikeakor, you're our only hope...help us, Obi Ikeakor, you're our only hope...

Have we offered to O'Rear yet?

Bryce makes me very nervous. He looked decent in the Oral Roberts game, but other than that, he looked slow, unathletic and confused. While you can't teach 7 feet, it's also hard to overcome a lack of athleticism. Let's hope he makes some progress before the 05-06 season.

Is Drew Diener going with Laito?

It's still there - it's empty though. The old Fifth House building on Laclede (Between Warehouse of Fixtures and Laclede Street Bar & Grill) is slated for demolition by SLU, which is too bad - that building would have made a great bar or coffee shop.

Great quote from the new women's b-ball coach in the P-D this morning: "But the type of kids I want are blue collar who don't care so much what the arena looks like as how much space there is to put up their banners. The facilities are fine. We have a court and two baskets, and that's all we need." I hope she's able to get the kind of players she's looking for.

I think a "Save Humphrey's" campaign may be in order. Check out Bill McCleland's column from the Post this morning: A SLU classic faces squeeze from developers By Bill McClellan Of the Post-Dispatch 04/24/2005 THERE IS A SENSE of timelessness, alums will tell you, at Humphrey's Restaurant and Tavern just south of the St. Louis University campus on Laclede Avenue. The saloon looks much as it did when it first opened 29 years ago. It was then, and is now, a place to get a beer and a sandwich, but as the lunch hour turns into afternoon and then into night, and the crowd morphs from middle-aged workers into grad students and upperclassmen, the beer becomes ever more important. That has been the nature of the place since Bob "Humphrey" Mangelsdorf decided to open an "upscale" campus bar in 1976. But now redevelopment has come to Laclede, and the future of the landmark saloon is in jeopardy. "I cannot comment on the status of the negotiations," said Erik Solverud, the attorney for the developers. "I have no intention of selling," said Janis Mangelsdorf. She is Humphrey's widow. She was attending dental hygiene school at Forest Park Community College when she met Humphrey in the early '70s. He was managing Friday's, a saloon at Spring and Laclede. They got married in 1973. Two years later, Humphrey decided to open his own place and bought Free Advice, a hippie sort of a place located in one of the row houses on Laclede. An entire wall was a blackboard. Burgundy wine was the house specialty. We'll turn this into a more traditional, but upscale campus bar, said Humphrey. Much of the labor was provided by fraternity boys who were happy to be paid in beer. The bar opened in June 1976. Upscale, of course, is a subjective term. Humphrey's was never fancy. But it was clean. Humphrey served good sandwiches and quality liquor. He hoped to attract grad students and professors. His place became a law school hangout. Then in 1986, at age 40, Humphrey had a heart attack and died. Janis was left with their three sons - 2, 4 and 6. Also, a mountain of debt. She quit dental hygiene to run the saloon. In 1988, she had the opportunity to buy the two row houses adjoining the saloon, to the west. She figured she had to do it. She had to expand the place. "I hated to take on more debt, but I couldn't meet the expenses unless I did," she said. She had a difficult time getting a loan. Finally, Paul Ross of Citizens Bank in Maplewood gave her the loan. The expansion worked. She saved her business. The years rolled along. Bars in that midtown area came and went - Friday's, Caleco's, Pastore's, the Loading Zone, Bogart's, Fifth House and 20 North. Humphrey's remained. The three Mangelsdorf boys grew up working at the place their father started. In 2001, the 240,000-square-foot warehouse complex west of and behind Humphrey's went on the market. It was owned by the Warehouse of Fixtures. Developers Rick Yackey, Bill Bruce and broker Rick Zimmerman purchased the complex in late 2003. The building to the west of the saloon was slated for condos and lofts. The building behind the saloon - that is, to the south - was offered for sale or lease. Aquinas Institute, which currently leases space from St. Louis University on Lindell, agreed to lease and then eventually buy the building. The Dominican-sponsored institute hopes to move into its new quarters in the fall. Why should these things have any impact on Humphrey's? Years ago, when the row houses were finally coming down, the properties were bought almost in a Monopoly fashion. One person bought Boardwalk. Somebody else bought Park Place. The Warehouse of Fixtures eventually owned two small strips next to Humphrey's, and Humphrey's owned a small strip next to the Warehouse of Fixtures. There was a similar patchwork of ownership behind Humphrey's. But all along, Humphrey's has used all of this area as its parking lot. Years ago, Mangelsdorf fenced it and paved it. "I need parking for my employees and customers," she said. She said the developers visited her and told her they intended to buy her place. Her attorney, Gerald Ortbals, said the completed plans of the development show a parking lot where the saloon now is. If the developers can block access to the parking lot, they can starve her business, he said. So he went to court this month and filed a lawsuit arguing that Humphrey's be given title to the property because it has been using and maintaining the property since 1976. Attorney Solverud said his clients intend to "vigorously contest" that lawsuit. "We own those parcels," he said. What about the ultimate plans of the development? Is Humphrey's slated to be a parking lot? "I'm not sure they've gotten that far in their plans," Solverud said. Aquinas Institute's entrance will face the back of the saloon. That is not exactly ideal. Plus, its lease stipulates that the developers will provide parking. Where are those spots? But it seems possible, even likely, that any problems with Aquinas can be worked out. "We're Catholics, so we don't oppose drinking," said the Rev. Charles Bouchard, Aquinas' president. On Friday, Bouchard brought the Aquinas board to Humphrey's for lunch. But will the same spirit of good will be present with the developers? Can the landmark saloon be saved? The good news is that Solverud is a graduate of St. Louis University Law School. Did he used to hang out at Humphrey's? "I've been to Humphrey's," he said.

It doesn't sound like Tyus is interested in SLU. So far, it sounds like Leonard and Hill (Vashon) are our top targets.