Morning Brew: Summertime, and the living is easy

Column photo

By Rustin Dodd

Thursday, May 7, 2009

So it’s Stop Day eve. And there’s not much else to say besides be safe. Here’s one more Morning Brew List Mania before we go — this time we have a Summer theme.

Top Eight Summer Songs

1. “Summertime,” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (aka Will Smith)

2. “Summer of ‘69,” by Bryan Adams

3. “Boys of Summer,” Don Henley

4. “Summer Lovin’,” from the Grease Sountrack

5. “All Summer Long,” by Kid Rock

6. “That Summer,” by Garth Brooks

7. “In the Summertime,” by Jerry Mungo

8. “School’s out for Summer,” by Alice Cooper

Top Two Summer QuotesM

1. “A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken,”

— James Dent

2. “Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

— Henry James

Top Three Movies with Summer in the title

1. “Summer Rental”

2. “Summer School”

3. “Endless Summer”

Top Five Summer Destinations

1. Lake of the Ozarks

2. Kauffman Stadium

3. Worlds of Fun — or any other seedy amusement park.

4. Tuckaway Pool

5. Any neighborhood sandlot

Kansan Vault

We wanted to end on a good note here at The Brew, so why not end on the greatest shot in Kansas history? Here’s how Kansan reporter Mark Dent covered Mario’s Miracle:

“San Antonio, Texas — Mario Chalmers could dance now, now that his name had been permanently etched into the Kansas basketball history books.

He moved his hips to “Celebrate” and slapped hands all around with his teammates in the confetti-filled jubilation of their national championship.

That’s right - national championship. Kansas (37-3) beat Memphis (38-2) 75-68 in overtime on Monday night at the Alamodome, winning its first title since 1988 and third in program history after coming back from a late nine-point deficit.

“God, we competed hard,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “It’s one thing to win. It’s another thing to win the way these guys did.”

Chalmers’ celebratory dance moves seemed so natural, just like the shot he made about 30 minutes earlier that sent the game to overtime. The play started with Sherron Collins. He had 10 seconds to make sure Kansas extended the game and kept its dream season alive. He dribbled to the right wing behind the three-point line and nearly lost the ball.

Then, Chalmers separated from his man for just long enough. Collins found him. Trailing 63-60, Chalmers shot a three near the top of the key. Overtime.

The game should’ve been finished long before that play. The Jayhawks got a gift from the Tigers when they missed five of six free throws that would’ve iced the game. They didn’t waste the good fortune in overtime. The extra period was all Kansas.

Brandon Rush started out with a layup. Chalmers and Darrell Arthur combined for an alley-oop. When Collins made two free throws to put Kansas up 75-68, the game was finished. Chalmers’ shot had sparked all of it.

“I just knew we had the game after that,” Arthur said.”

— Mark Dent, April 7, 2008

— — Edited by Carly Halvorson

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