Musketeer Madness

Just back from Cincy and another extraordinary Xavier All For One Golf Outing at Kenwood CC. My team shot a sweet 62, but that isn't what is important. What is:

A) Over $130,000 was raised by the outing alone for the Xavier Athletics program.
B) Some of the Xavier Golf team was on hand, and, my friends, they are impressive in their game, their poise and their personality. One of my playing partners still carries around a McGregor Persimmon wood driver for grins. The XU kids saw that and were blown away. Every one of them had to take a swing with a real wood driver. Uh, with a following wind, every one of them hit a nice draw to a mere 300 yds out.
C). Sean Miller was his usual great self.
-Jason Love has been shooting over 100 free throws a day. His percentage is up to over 93%. His body fat is the lowest ever. Hardest working kid on the squad.
-CJ, DBrown and BJ will be the leaders of this team. All have worked incredibly hard this summer on shortages in their games.
-Either Jamel McLean or Dante Jackson will be the new "defensive stopper", depending who is in at the time-and they both relish the role. Sean gives Stanley credit for making that role a glamour one Stan showed that you don't ultimately sacrifice yourself if you sacrifice for the team.
-Terrell Holloway is the best point guard on this squad right now.
-One player out of the new comers will probably redshirt.
-Derrick Brown came to XU weighing 180. He now weighs 235 with an extremely low body fat percentage. In short, Sean calls him a beast. Although he didn't say it, I think Sean expects that this will be D Brown's last year. He will graduate next May.
-Sean could not stop gushing about the recruiting class. They will help immediately, but he gave no specifics.
-Although he's not counting on it, if Jordan Crawford becomes eligible, Sean says that the year could be "extra special." He could not hide his excitement at getting him in uniform.
D) Sean told the story about how, after the UCLA game had ended and everyone had left the building, he went back into the arena and stole a "CBS Sports" hanging banner. He asked Father Graham for absolution. The next day, he wrote a message on it that, in essence, said that Xavier was done "knocking on the door." The next time that the door (Final 4) was there, by Gawd, they were walking through it.He then dated the message- March 30, 2008. Last night, he took the CBS banner, showed it to us, told the story and auctioned the banner off with his written message on it. It sold for $6,000 with the money going to the AFO.

All in all, another beautiful event. Gawd, do I love my school and this program. We can all be proud of Xavier, Mike Bobinski, Sean Miller and the AFO. Great job. Great day!!

So where is the picture of you and the banner you bought???? 62 isn't that what Gary shoots all by himself for 18?

You're partly correct, mm. I do shoot 62 at some point during my round, but, sadly, much earlier than the 18th hole.

We call your type a "sandbagger"

Great report MOR. Sorry I didnt get to catch up with you this year. Was pretty busy in the morning and played in the afternoon. Glad you had a good time and thanks for your support. We look forward to a great event next year. Also, with Sean's generous addition to our auction items, I am sure we will exceed the $130,000 that we anticipated. The banner was an amazing item and will be placed in a place of honor I am sure......

As a follow-up to my earlier report,

Here are direct quotes from Sean at the Outing last night.
(From the official AFO e-mail sent to me):

Coach Miller on Last Season, This Season and Team Identity

Last season: "I'm very proud of last year's team and what we accomplished. We won 30 games playing one of the most difficult schedules in the country. But this event, the All For One Golf Classic, reminds me that it's time to turn the page on last season."

This season: "We just had our first team meeting of the year and I made this point to the team: It's our time now. I asked the guys, 'Who in this room did not have Final Four mentioned to them when we recruited you?' No one raised their hand. I believe the very best is yet to come for this program. The Final Four is our goal and we will get to that next step. That's what drives me and our staff."

Team identity: "Our disposition in all that we do is attack. We're always ready to compete and win. We always do what we do. The more physical and nastier our opponent is, the more we enjoy the game. The pressure on our team comes from within because we expect to win. Unselfishness is a true characteristic of this team. We are truly better than the sum of our parts. Finally, nobody rides on the coattails of the past. It's about this year. Our time. Our team."

A final few things that I left out earlier:

One of the funniest things that Sean said was in the context of the Jason Love free throw story. He said that when JLove showed up at Xavier that he had the ugliest free throw form of anybody he had Ever seen- and he told JLove that. All that did was motivate the kid more to improve and it told Sean all he needed to know about Jason's committment and coachability.

The XU golf team has 2 kids from England and a kid from Bolivia. the kid from Bolivia, named Sebastian MacLean has qualified for the World Amateur Championship. The kid is 5'8'' and blasted a tee shot 350 on the 10th hole when we saw him. As Jack Nicklaus said about Tiger Woods- "He plays a game with which I am not familar".

I don't know how Doug Steiner is getting these kids here, maybe the Golf Digest article a couple of years ago that had XU ranked in the Top 20 golf programs in the country, but it's a long a$$ way from my Ray Baldwin days.

Finally, Sean gave props to Sr. Rose, who was in attendance. The streak of 73 consecutive graduated seniors will become 76 in May Sean assured. A rousing standing ovation erupted.

There's the fully complete report!

I don't know how Doug Steiner is getting these kids here, maybe the Golf Digest article a couple of years ago that had XU ranked in the Top 20 golf programs in the country, but it's a long a$$ way from my Ray Baldwin days.

I guess it is the life sized photo's of such greats as MOR and Mr. N which made them realize what big shoes they walk in when they hit the links!