{"id":573886134,"date":"2014-03-18T23:18:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T04:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573886134"},"modified":"2014-03-20T02:55:11","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T07:55:11","slug":"i-need-more-pearl-puns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/03\/18\/i-need-more-pearl-puns\/","title":{"rendered":"I need more Pearl puns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hey, if you drive a high end car, the rules just don&#8217;t apply. Ask this guy, who has a sweet little Jaguar, which he parks wherever the heck he wants. <\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/mar14\/mar62.jpg\" alt=\"Jaguar\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>So that&#8217;s a Tuesday for you, then. My righteous indignation must be saved until the end of the day and finally expelled upon a guy who doesn&#8217;t understand the standard parking lot conventions by which the rest of the peasantry must abide. <\/p>\n<p><strong>On Bruce Pearl,<\/strong> the Auburn mood:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p>As we allow ourselves to be caught up in the Bruce Pearl fervor Auburn fans change their brackets. AUBURN WINS ALL THE TROPHIES!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; kenny smith (@kennysmith) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kennysmith\/statuses\/445970756032552961\">March 18, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In one day Bruce Pearl brought more enthusiasm about basketball (Basketball? Basketball.) to Auburn than anyone since Chris Porter terrorized everyone. In one day Pearl stirred pretty much everyone, even if you didn&#8217;t have an emotional investment in basketball. It is really rather remarkable. <\/p>\n<p>I wrote this for <a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thewareaglereader.com\/2014\/03\/the-personality-of-pearl\/#.UyqcIGJmSjI\">The War Eagle Reader<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He said \u201cI\u2019m baaaaaaaack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jay Jacobs said \u201cI just wish he had some personality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It took Bruce Pearl less than two minutes to point out Gus Malzahn at Tuesday night\u2019s press conference in Auburn Arena introducing him as Auburn\u2019s new basketball coach . It took him 17 minutes to get around to his wife. In between he talked about his son, his assistants and the need to have your family with you in life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChances are you\u2019re going to see me with my clothes on most of the time,\u201d Pearl said, but that wasn\u2019t the highlight of the night for a man seemingly full of highlights.<\/p>\n<p>People keep asking \u2014 Is this real? Because right now, everything seems like a highlight from someone else\u2019s dream. When you listened to the gathered crowd sing him <\/p>\n<p>Happy Birthday, it was easy to wonder. Is this real? You could wonder, when he feigned a bit of \u201cAww shucks\u201d and then directed the singalong before saying \u201cHow about if we make a deal? How about if we celebrate my birthday at the tournament next year?\u201d It was easy to wonder. Is this real?<\/p>\n<p>And when Jay Jacobs, caught up in the spirit of the thing, took a shot at the media, it was easy to wonder. When the crowd chanted for Gus, and you realized: these might be high water times in the athletic department, you could wonder, is this real?<\/p>\n<p>Pearl vowed his team would work hard. He said they wouldn\u2019t be fun to play against. He reveled in the crowd\u2019s adoration. He glowed when he mentioned his contract. He made a joke about whether he could teach a class on ethics. The high-energy pizza provider, the salesman, so pleased to step back into the game he loved said, yep, this is real. And real, now, not next year. Pearl made a point of that: \u201cThe players will not hear me say \u2018When we get our own players.\u2019 Those are my players, right there, and I\u2019m their coach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The highlight of the night was perhaps when he said to the crowd and cameras that he is mindful, \u201cas a coach and even as a father \u2026 I let a lot of people down \u2026 and so that\u2019s why I still walk around with pain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he talked about how he has found \u201cthis part of the country to be a part of the country that offers grace,\u201d you might have found a different side to the high-energy, enthusiastic, Personality of Pearl.<\/p>\n<p>It is hard to imagine Sonny Smith or Tommy Joe Eagles or Cliff Ellis running into a thundering mass of students and fans on the airport tarmac. But Bruce Pearl is saying to anyone who will listen that he is grateful and that he has been humbled. To Auburn folks, that seems real.<\/p>\n<p>And you remember: Auburn loves a comeback. And they\u2019ve got their next feature performer. That\u2019s real.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And then I wrote this:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p>Sometimes, writing is like being a painter filling a canvas. Sometimes, editing is like being a sculptor finding the story in the stone.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; kenny smith (@kennysmith) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kennysmith\/statuses\/446135025982242816\">March 19, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Things to read<\/strong> &#8230; are just quick links this time. Just because I didn&#8217;t write 1,600 words on them (like yesterday) doesn&#8217;t mean they aren&#8217;t worth your while. Do check some of them out:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/malaysia-plane-fire-2014-3\">This Is The Most Plausible Theory For The Plane&#8217;s Disappearance We&#8217;ve Heard Yet &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/373578\/handing-over-keys-internet-charles-c-w-cooke\">Handing Over the Keys to the Internet <\/a><\/p>\n<p><a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/nsa-surveillance-program-reaches-into-the-past-to-retrieve-replay-phone-calls\/2014\/03\/18\/226d2646-ade9-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_story.html\">NSA surveillance program reaches \u2018into the past\u2019 to retrieve, replay phone calls<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/article\/20140318\/NEWS\/303180030\/24-receive-Medal-Honor-today-White-House\">24 to receive Medal of Honor today at the White House<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dw.de\/ukrainian-soldier-killed-as-troops-storm-simferopol-base\/a-17504202\">Ukrainian soldier killed as troops storm Simferopol base<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/birmingham\/blog\/2014\/03\/alabama-s-sales-tax-rates-among-highest-nationwide.html\">Alabama\u2019s sales tax rates among highest nationwide<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/sploid.gizmodo.com\/witness-the-joy-of-the-man-who-predicted-todays-big-ba-1545834924\">Physicist rejoices as he learns his Big Bang theory is correct<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.adweek.com\/news\/advertising-branding\/some-retail-brands-lifetime-guarantees-never-went-out-fashion-156314\">For some retail brands, lifetime guarantees never went out of fashion<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hey, if you drive a high end car, the rules just don&#8217;t apply. Ask this guy, who has a sweet little Jaguar, which he parks wherever the heck he wants. So that&#8217;s a Tuesday for you, then. My righteous indignation must be saved until the end of the day and finally expelled upon a guy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,25,10,44,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573886134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-auburn","category-links","category-photo","category-things-to-read","category-tuesday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573886134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573886134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573886134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573886135,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573886134\/revisions\/573886135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573886134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573886134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573886134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}