The 2012 Major League Soccer Draft is on Thursday, January 12th and Tulsa's Justin Chavez is among the nation's elite players at the MLS Combine this week.
Chavez, a defender from Edmond, Okla., was a four-year letterwinner at TU. He started in 75 of 77 career contests, and had five goals and four assists for 14 points. Chavez was a two-year selection to the Hermann Trophy Watch List, and picked up All-Conference USA and NSCAA All-Region honors as a sophomore and junior, having missed several games as a senior due to injury.
Chavez has had a strong showing at the Combine, and has been recognized in Joe Mauceri's coverage of the Combine on TopDrawerSocccer.com.
Check TulsaHurricane.com for MLS Draft coverage.
]]>I caught up with Joe Salem, former Tulsa men's soccer standout from 2005-09, after the men's soccer season finale this weekend. Salem has played the last two seasons with the Puerto Rico Islanders, which are part of the North American Soccer League.
Where do you play?
"We play our home games in Puerto Rico and then we fly all over the United States and Canada to play games."
When do you play?
"Preseason is in March with games starting in April and go through October. We play in the Champions league too so we have a lot of games during the season."
What is it like living in a different country and playing soccer?
"It is nice. It is definitely different from my home town of Akron (Ohio) and Tulsa. I like it a lot. Soccer is picking up there and it is good to be able to experience different things."
On making the jump from college to professional...
"There is definitely a jump from college to pro. It took me a while to get my feet under me. The game is a lot quicker and everyone is really technical. The speed of the game and the intensity is much higher, but it is a job so you want to do well."
On making his dream a reality...
"That was the goal from day one to play professional soccer. It was a lot of hard work and you never know what will happen. When you go from middle school, then high school and then college, you want to go to the next level, but you really have to dedicate yourself and work hard to get there."
What do you do in your spare time?
"The good thing about Puerto Rico is the beach is right there so I spend a lot of time there. We train for three hours a day and then maybe a little more on our own, but with the language barrier I am not able to coach, so I watch a lot of TV and just hang out."
What do you do in the offseason?
"In the offseason I come back home [Akron, Ohio] and keep working out to stay in shape. I have to come back to my second home (Tulsa) to see my boys play. I definitely wanted to catch the senior game because I knew the seniors really well."
]]>Until next time...
]]>First of all, I'm sorry for the time between blogs. If I were to attempt to excuse it would go something like this: I was planning on reviewing my experiences from the TU-OSU game one evening last week but by the time my sleep patterns got back to normal the Boise State game was almost upon us (I watched that game from Oklaunion, Texas, a small town a little northwest of Wichita Falls, due to a family reunion).
I also planned that a day or two before the game I would recap a few personal memories from the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise my true freshman year, but I heard the news of George Clinkscale's passing early Thursday morning and felt that there were no 'smurf turf' memories worth mentioning at a time like this.
I still believe there is nothing worth blogging about that relates to the game of football. George was a great young man and a tremendous competitor. We all have our own special memories of George and I will always carry with me the short time we were once again united as teammates during training camp this past June with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL. Our careers in Montreal did not last as long as either of us would have liked, but I am once again reminded of how little significance the game of football really is when compared to the game of life.
]]>Members of the Tulsa athletic department, including head women's basketball coach Matilda Mossman, and assistant coaches Britney Brown and Fred Castro, along with Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham and his wife, Tina, attended a prescreening of "The Mighty Macs" on Tuesday night.
"The Mighty Macs" is a true story about Immaculata College (now Immaculata University) and the women's basketball team during the early 1970's, and their journey to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) championships from 1972-74.
"The Mighty Macs" will hit theaters October 21st, and stars Carla Gugino, Marley Shelton, David Boreanaz and Ellen Burstyn.
For more information, visit www.TheMightyMacs.com.
]]>Stephanie Rogers, a senior Tulsa rower from Stillwater, Okla., will be featured in the September 11th issue of ESPN The Magazine, for not only her rowing abilities, but for the fact that she served in the US Navy from 2002-07.
Rogers was stationed in Pensacola, Fla., in 2002-03, then Jacksonville, Fla., in 2003-04, and then finally in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, in 2004-07. She went on deployment from December 2005 to June 2006 to places including Okinawa, Japan, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Ali Air Base, Iraq and Djibouti, Africa.
Rogers did an interview with Kristine LaManna and then had a two-hour photo shoot with Finlay MacKay earlier this month on the Verdigris River in Catoosa, Okla.
Look for the September issue set to be released soon!
]]>Paul Smith is former TU quarterback and the school's
career passing leader. Paul is currently a 'financial quarterback' with
Securian Advisors MidAmerica in Tulsa and is guest host on Sports Animal Tulsa
Radio Friday mornings from 9-10 am.
In the press conference yesterday I believe
the most important question Coach B received was: What will be the biggest question going into
Saturday? He responded with, "I think it will be how
the veterans will play. If the veterans come in and play and do what we are able
to do, we can make a good run at this..."
For those of you who have never suited up for TU in a football game played in Norman, let me be the first to tell you that Coach B hit the nail on the head. When we took the field in 2005 I found out what people meant when they say, "I couldn't even hear myself think!"
I always thought that was the stupidest comment until that day. I vividly remember leaning into the offensive huddle and screaming the play at the top of my lungs to one side of the offense and repeating it with equal enthusiasm to the other, only to watch a couple guys from each side of the huddle asking their teammates to repeat the play as they were approaching the line of scrimmage because they could not hear me.
I believe we had 3-4 false
starts on that first drive because of the inability of the offensive line to
hear my cadence (probably should have gone to a 'silent count' a bit earlier
but that wasn't my call to make).
Anyway, things eventually calmed down and we ended up playing quite a game that day, but it was due in large part to the leadership and calm demeanor of some of our veterans. So I am agreeing with Coach B that the biggest question going into Saturday is will the veterans play well enough to allow the Golden Hurricane to "make a good run at this".
]]>The Tulsa men's soccer team will play three of the nation's top-seven ranked teams in the latest TopDrawerSoccer.com poll. The Golden Hurricane will face No. 3 Akron, #5 Connecticut and #7 SMU during the regular season.
Tulsa will host the Huskies, which finished the 2010 season with a 12-3-6 record, on Sept. 9th beginning at 7:30 pm at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium. The game is part of the Hurricane Classic, which also features SMU and No. 48 Oakland.
National Champion Akron comes to town on Sept. 24th at 7:00 pm. The Zips posted a 22-1-2 mark in 2010, captured the NCAA Championship crown and finished the season ranked at No. 1 by Soccer America.
The Golden Hurricane will then take on Conference USA foe SMU on Oct. 5th at 7:00 pm. The Mustangs tabbed a 15-2-2 overall mark, earned the C-USA regular season title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals a year ago.
]]>Paul Smith is a former TU
quarterback and the school's career passing leader. Paul is currently a
'financial quarterback' with Securian Advisors MidAmerica in Tulsa and is a guest
host on Sports Animal Tulsa Radio Friday mornings from 9-10 am.
Recently caught up with G-Mills, Chambo, and Big Softy (aka Garrett Mills,
Chris Chamberlain, and Charles Clay... I'll tell the Big Softy story at the
end) and have an update for those who are rooting them on. Garrett was released
from the Cincinnati Bengals last Monday but signed with the New England
Patriots yesterday (Sunday, August 22nd) who had originally drafted him back in
2006 - he was really excited to be heading back to New England. Chambo is
entering his 4th year with the St. Louis Rams and said there is tons of
competition (at linebacker) but from what the coaches are telling him he feels
optimistic. Charles has seen a lot of playing time in the Miami Dolphins' first
two pre-season games and from what I can see has been playing very well. I hope
that any doubters on Charles' ability to run block (and I hope there are no
doubters on this site) have been able to watch the first two pre-season games
because Charles has been blocking great. He told me he feels things are going
great thus far... which doesn't seem like much but if you've been around
Charles you know that if he says more than 2 words it's a big deal!
Big Softy story: I started calling Charles "Big Softy" back in 2007
(his freshman, my senior year) when he was over at our townhouse on campus one
day and my wife Krista gave him a hard time for going out of bounds at the end
of a run in the previous week's game instead of turning upfield and running
someone over. We all chuckled about it but I don't think Charles realized that
Krista was kinda serious. (btw, my wife loves Charles to death and I'll
probably be on the couch after she reads this). She told me later that day,
"I just don't think he realizes how big he is." In her defense, I
agree. As a freshman, he didn't realize how big and talented he truly was... but
I'm pretty sure he has a better understanding now!!!