“Culling the thoughts that occur when you’re standing around waiting for something to happen”

We hoot and holler about what a small percentage of ‘student athletes’ actually live up to their title.

Yet success stories that blend the student and the athlete often go buried, unread or, even, unwritten.

K’Lee Arredondo is one of those success stories. The University of Arizona shortstop was named the PAC-10 Softball Student Athlete of the Year this week.

Arredondo — who graduated in May with a 3.55 GPA and a psychology degree — has a long list of accolades to hang on her walls, including:

• Three consecutive first-team Academic All-Pac-10 honors
• All-Women’s College World Series Team
• Second-team All-American
• Second-team Academic All-American

Unfortunately for Arredondo, she was unable to add nation champion to her résumé. The Wildcats fell to UCLA in the Softball College World Series finals.

…..

Three of the last four champions in the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL have one thing in common: two-word city names (Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York).

The No. 1-seeded San Jose Sharks ruined a chance for a clean sweep when they lost to eventual Stanley Cup Champs Chicago in the Western Conference finals.

Cities with two-word names have won titles in all four major sports in the same calendar year only twice in the history of professional athletics.

In 2000: New York Yankees, St. Louis Rams, Los Angeles Lakers, and New Jersey Devils

In 1982: St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Lakers, and New York Islanders

And, yes, I did squander an hour of my life to research that. How else would I know that teams with two-word cities have won a world title 96 times dating back to the 1905 New York (baseball) Giants?

Next step is to identify the “why I did it.”

…..

Reggie Bush dates supermodel and reality-show icon Kim Kardashian and his New Orleans Saints win the Super Bowl.

Lamar Odom married Kim’s sister, Khloé and his Los Angeles Lakers wriggled their way to an NBA title.

That leaves eldest sister, Kourtney, as the last remaining good luck charm. Perhaps an eligible bachelor from the World Series-starved Chicago Cubs should take one for the team and ask her on a date.

…..

JOHN MacLEAN or JOHN McCLANE

Who is the newest New Jersey Devil head coach and whom is the renegade New York City cop?

Q: Scored the game-winning goal in the final game of the 1988 season to lift the New Jersey Devils to their first Stanley Cup playoffs.
A: John MacLean

Q: Single-handedly thwarted a terrorist uprising on Christmas Eve in 1988.
A: John McClane

Q: Sharpened his skills with a 19-year playing career with four teams.
A: John MacLean

Q: Once described his job as “because there is nobody else to do it.”
A: John McClane

Q: Is No. 2 on the Devils’ all-time scoring list.
A: John MacLean

Q: Is No. 6 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of ‘All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.’
A: John McClane

Q: Had his named etched onto the Stanley Cup after the 1995 season.
A: John MacLean

Q: Was originally penned into the 1979 novel ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ under the name Joe Leland.
A: John McClane

Side Note: Joe Leland was originally portrayed on the silver screen in the 1968 thriller ‘The Detective’ by Frank Sinatra.

Q: Dropped the gloves 33 times and wracked up 1,328 career penalty minutes.
A: John MacLean

Q: Dropped Hans Gruber off a Los Angeles skyscraper.
A: John McClane

Yippee Ki Yay…

…..

Speaking of unrepeatable language…

The NBA Finals are a highly audible event. That being said, its best moments might be the silenced ones. To be more specific, the moments where ABC has to cut sound entirely due to a player’s profane soliloquy.

Thank your messiah for the NBA’s slight time delay between the live game and actual airtime. It seems that NBA players use vernacular just slightly coarser than that of a Viking.

On-field cursing is a visual thing in football and baseball. And even then, head coaches and catchers are always covering their mouths with clipboards or catcher mitt’s to prevent lip-reading espionage.

Basketball’s close proximity to its fans and cameras doesn’t seem to faze the players concentrating on the shot clock and not who’s within ear shot.

Of course, it’s never kosher to hear a kid using the same ‘cursive’ arts that, say, Tiger Woods uses after spraying a shot into a heavy seaweed bed.

But a little swearing in the name of sports is downright second nature — if blurted in the heat of the moment.

At least it’s grounded in a little more reality than regular prime-time programming. Case in point, for six years a band of pariahs waged battle against unholy elements and plot twists on the ABC series “Lost.” Not once did any of them need a pre-emptive silence when describing the “bleeping” island.

This preamble had a point when I started writing it…I swear.

…..

The WNBA season is underway, if you’re looking for former Wildcats…don’t bother. Of the 131 players in the women’s hoops league, none claim allegiance to the University of Arizona. A dozen of those players, however, do have ties to the PAC-10.

…..

ESPN’s World Cup coverage might have the fancy bells and whistles and vuvuzelas, but I think I’d prefer to watch soccer’s pre-eminent games on Univision.

“Culling the thoughts that occur when you’re standing around waiting for something to happen”

We hoot and holler about what a small percentage of ‘student athletes’ actually live up to their title.

Yet success stories that blend the student and the athlete often go buried, unread or, even, unwritten.

K’Lee Arredondo is one of those success stories. The University of Arizona shortstop was named the PAC-10 Softball Student Athlete of the Year this week.

Arredondo — who graduated in May with a 3.55 GPA and a psychology degree — has a long list of accolades to hang on her walls, including:

• Three consecutive first-team Academic All-Pac-10 honors
• All-Women’s College World Series Team
• Second-team All-American
• Second-team Academic All-American

Unfortunately for Arredondo, she was unable to add nation champion to her résumé. The Wildcats fell to UCLA in the Softball College World Series finals.

…..

Three of the last four champions in the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL have one thing in common: two-word city names (Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York).

The No. 1-seeded San Jose Sharks ruined a chance for a clean sweep when they lost to eventual Stanley Cup Champs Chicago in the Western Conference finals.

Cities with two-word names have won titles in all four major sports in the same calendar year only twice in the history of professional athletics.

In 2000: New York Yankees, St. Louis Rams, Los Angeles Lakers, and New Jersey Devils

In 1982: St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Lakers, and New York Islanders

And, yes, I did squander an hour of my life to research that. How else would I know that teams with two-word cities have won a world title 96 times dating back to the 1905 New York (baseball) Giants?

Next step is to identify the “why I did it.”

…..

Reggie Bush dates supermodel and reality-show icon Kim Kardashian and his New Orleans Saints win the Super Bowl.

Lamar Odom married Kim’s sister, Khloé and his Los Angeles Lakers wriggled their way to an NBA title.

That leaves eldest sister, Kourtney, as the last remaining good luck charm. Perhaps an eligible bachelor from the World Series-starved Chicago Cubs should take one for the team and ask her on a date.

…..

JOHN MacLEAN or JOHN McCLANE

Who is the newest New Jersey Devil head coach and whom is the renegade New York City cop?

Q: Scored the game-winning goal in the final game of the 1988 season to lift the New Jersey Devils to their first Stanley Cup playoffs.
A: John MacLean

Q: Single-handedly thwarted a terrorist uprising on Christmas Eve in 1988.
A: John McClane

Q: Sharpened his skills with a 19-year playing career with four teams.
A: John MacLean

Q: Once described his job as “because there is nobody else to do it.”
A: John McClane

Q: Is No. 2 on the Devils’ all-time scoring list.
A: John MacLean

Q: Is No. 6 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of ‘All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.’
A: John McClane

Q: Had his named etched onto the Stanley Cup after the 1995 season.
A: John MacLean

Q: Was originally penned into the 1979 novel ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ under the name Joe Leland.
A: John McClane

Side Note: Joe Leland was originally portrayed on the silver screen in the 1968 thriller ‘The Detective’ by Frank Sinatra.

Q: Dropped the gloves 33 times and wracked up 1,328 career penalty minutes.
A: John MacLean

Q: Dropped Hans Gruber off a Los Angeles skyscraper.
A: John McClane

Yippee Ki Yay…

…..

Speaking of unrepeatable language…

The NBA Finals are a highly audible event. That being said, its best moments might be the silenced ones. To be more specific, the moments where ABC has to cut sound entirely due to a player’s profane soliloquy.

Thank your messiah for the NBA’s slight time delay between the live game and actual airtime. It seems that NBA players use vernacular just slightly coarser than that of a Viking.

On-field cursing is a visual thing in football and baseball. And even then, head coaches and catchers are always covering their mouths with clipboards or catcher mitt’s to prevent lip-reading espionage.

Basketball’s close proximity to its fans and cameras doesn’t seem to faze the players concentrating on the shot clock and not who’s within ear shot.

Of course, it’s never kosher to hear a kid using the same ‘cursive’ arts that, say, Tiger Woods uses after spraying a shot into a heavy seaweed bed.

But a little swearing in the name of sports is downright second nature — if blurted in the heat of the moment.

At least it’s grounded in a little more reality than regular prime-time programming. Case in point, for six years a band of pariahs waged battle against unholy elements and plot twists on the ABC series “Lost.” Not once did any of them need a pre-emptive silence when describing the “bleeping” island.

This preamble had a point when I started writing it…I swear.

…..

The WNBA season is underway, if you’re looking for former Wildcats…don’t bother. Of the 131 players in the women’s hoops league, none claim allegiance to the University of Arizona. A dozen of those players, however, do have ties to the PAC-10.

…..

ESPN’s World Cup coverage might have the fancy bells and whistles and vuvuzelas, but I think I’d prefer to watch soccer’s pre-eminent games on Univision.

Former University of Arizona athletes are always making news and not always in traditional mediums. We scoured the Internet and found Wildcats online by visiting these lynx

PHOTOS

Frye-ing High

Former Wildcat Channing Frye and his Phoenix Suns teammates finished their sweep of the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night. Fyre and company have a few days to rest before Monday's Western Conference Finals Game One against the Los Angeles Lakers. Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

TWITTER

“Deviststing to Learn about the death of Erica Blasberg fellow LPGA player.”

- Former UA golfer Natalie Gulbis on the death of ex-Wildcat Erica Blasberg, 25, who died unexpectedly on Sunday in her Henderson, Nev., home.

…

“The LPGA is mourning the loss of Erica Blasberg. She was a popular player and well liked. My thoughts are with her family.”

- Ex-Cat Annika Sorenstam on Blasberg’s passing.

…

“The last 2 6th man of the year are from the 206 now thatz town bizness congrats to my guy JC”

 - Former Wildcat basketball player Jason Terry, congratulating Atlanta Hawk guard Jamal Crawford on winning this year’s NBA Sixth Man Award. Terry, who won the award in 2009, and Crawford both hail from the 206, aka the area code for Seattle.

We’re currently following many former Wildcats and Tucson athletes on Twitter including: Jerryd Bayless, Amanda Beard, Mike Bibby, Jennie Finch, Rob Gronkowski, Natalie Gulbis, Jordan Hill, Ian Kinsler, Lorena Ochoa, Fendi Onobun, Antonio Pierce, Damon Stoudamire, Annika Sorenstam, Jason Terry, and Bobby Wade.

Add your favorite Wildcats to our list by e-mailing inprogressatpresstime@gmail.com.

FACEBOOK

FACE RACE

Current standings in the race to get 100,000 Facebook fans:

Wildcats 43,777

Sun Devils 40,953

Become a fan at 

“I Bet Arizona Can Find 100,000 Fans Before ASU Can”

YOU TUBE

FENDI FOR HIMSELF

The news that the St. Louis Rams selected Fendi Onobun in the sixth round of the NFL draft surely caused some double takes in Wildcat Hoops Nation. After three years playing for the UA basketball team, Onobun transferred to his hometown University of Houston to play for the school’s football team. The gamble paid off. If his sensational special teams play or freakish athleticism wasn’t enough to woo the Rams, then his promotional YouTube.com video surely sealed his future.

The song will lure you in, his skills will keep you watching: Fendis Pro Day

WEB

WHERE’S WILDCAT

I’m a sucker for a well-crafted “where are they now” column. Javier Morales’ recent TucsonCitizen.com post “Update on how former UA players are faring internationally” piqued my interest. Click here to see some of the official team sites of squads that boasts former Wildcats. Warning: you best brush up on your Polish before clicking:

BENNETT DAVISON – Gold Coast Blaze, Australia

DANIEL DILLON – Melbourne Tigers, Australia

RUBEN DOUGLAS – Cajasol Sevilla, Spain

JASON GARDNER – EWE Baskets Oldenburg, Germany

JESUS VERDEJO – Quebradillas Pirates, Puerto Rico

MARCUS WILLIAMS – Austin Toros, Texas

LOREN WOODS – Mahram Sport Club, Israel

MICHAEL WRIGHT – Turow Zgorzelec, Poland

BLOG

ANNIKA CHATS WITH PEOPLE

Annika Sorenstam is settling into a life without the rigors of the LPGA Tour rather effortlessly…somewhat. This week she’s not waxing about the challenges of lob wedges. Instead, she’s offering advice on the trials of motherhood in this week’s People Magazine Celebrity Blog.

“Annika Sorenstam: How golf prepared me for motherhood” 

Stumbled across any Wildcats online? Tell us about it by e-mailing:

InProgressAtPressTime@gmail.com

That sound you heard was me using my thumb to pantomime the turning off my television.

When the NFL draft resumes tonight in prime time, I won’t need the air remote nor the funny face paint and black-and-white striped shirt.

OK, I might wear the shirt.

When it comes to the NFL Draft, the luster is quickly becoming lost on me — this from a guy who’s still de-toxing from post-Super Bowl withdrawal.

The draft is the most over-hyped event this side of the Kentucky Derby.

(Don’t get me wrong, I love the Kentucky Derby — but months of speculation and hoopla to watch an animal run for two minutes?)

Competition between the NFL, its network and ESPN is to blame. The more the corporate suits tinker with the pageantry of the system, the less drama is bestowed on the fans.

This ‘all-access,’ ‘information-now’ era is stripping all theatrics from the draft. The suspense is gone.

The iconic image of Thursday night’s first round should have been the Denver Broncos drafting Tim Tebow with the 25^th overall pick. Instead — thanks to the ESPN cameras — we knew the Broncos were taking the University of Florida quarterback a pick before Denver was even on the clock.

Tebow is one of the most-maligned prospects the NFL has ever invited to the draft. Speculation has swirled for years not only whether or not if he’s first-round pick worthy, but if he’s even cut out for the NFL.

Like him or not, seeing the very instant the anxiety drained from his soul upon being drafted would have been, as the MasterCard people say,  priceless.

The percentage of these players that will actually make a pro roster is surprisingly small. It’ll be years before we’re able to quantify the impact of those from the draft this weekend.

So the drama is all we have when it comes to the draft.

If you’re anything like me, you tuned out the ‘talking heads’ and their incessant caterwauling weeks ago. What do they really know anyway? Peter King of Sports Illustrated, long regarded among the most hallowed of NFL-insider gurus, correctly mocked seven of the 32 first-round picks.

Say what you will about ESPN, but the NFL Network is no better. My throw-a-shoe at the television moment came as Roger Goodell was strutting across the stage at Radio City Music Hall to announce the 29^th overall pick.

Seconds before the NFL Commissioner could clear his throat to announce the New York Jets’ pick, the NFL Network sideline reporter let loose with: “It’s Kyle Wilson.”

That’s not the actions of a swarthy insider pounding the pavement in search of a scoop. That was a guy sticking it in the nation’s face that he’s got access to the stage and is really good at eavesdropping.

He’s the kid at your birthday party who blurts out “I got you Star Wars action figures!” right before you open your present from him.

There are no physical winners tonight. So the drama and raw emotion that spills out of these kids when they realize they’ll get a shot at their dreams is the best part of tuning in.

Give me more suspense, less of ESPN’s Chris Berman grunting and perhaps I’ll put the remote control down before hitting the power switch.

OK, who am I kidding? The wife works tonight, the baby will be asleep and CBS’ Ghost Whisperer is a re-run. I’ll be watching the draft tonight. But I’ll do so with an attitude best left for a crusty, old curmudgeon.

Draft Notes 

• No Wildcat or Sun Devil players were taken in Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft.

• Of the 32 players selected, only two played for PAC-10 schools. School that is. Tyson Alualu (10^th overall, Jacksonville Jaguars) and Jahvid Best (30^th Detroit Lions) both played their collegiate ball at California.

• Not surprisingly, the states of Texas and Florida each saw five of their former high school athletes drafted. The Grand Canyon State, conversely, had zero kids selected in the first round.

• The Arizona Cardinals used the 26^th overall pick to select University of Tennessee nose tackle Dan Williams.