By Jeff Wilson
Frogs Today senior writer
FORT WORTH — Let’s do a poll, though I have no idea how to do one or how to tabulate vote totals.
On second thought, answer the following question:
Which program had the best sports week at TCU?
Men’s tennis, which won the ITA Indoor National Championship and is No. 1 in the country?
Equestrian, which beat No. 1 Oklahoma State in a rout?
Men’s basketball, which overcame a tough loss at Texas to upset Texas Tech?
Baseball, which pulled a weekend sweep of Nebraska to complete a 4-0 week?
All of the above in not offered as an answer, though it was a splendid week for TCU athletics.
Don’t forget about beach volleyball, which is ranked No. 4 in the country and opened its season by going 4-0 at the Seminole Beach Bash in Tallahassee, Fla.
Or swimming and diving, which saw the men place second and the women third at the Big 12 Championships.
The correct answer is men’s tennis. They won a national championship, after all.
But TCU fans should be excited about all of the above.
Men’s basketball probably needs one win in its final three games to assure itself of a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Baseball is one bad inning away from being 7-0 to open the season. The Frogs (6-1) took care of the Cornhuskers at Globe Life Field behind more stellar starting pitching — on Sunday from Brett Walker — and the offense is starting to click as more hitters find a their timing with more at-bats.
Now, it’s Monday and there’s no time for TCU to bask in the past week. That doesn’t mean we can’t.
Sad news
Former TCU running back Kent Waldrep, who was paralyzed in a 1974 game against Alabama, died Sunday, according to Athletic reporter Aaron Suttles. Waldrep would have turned 68 on Wednesday.
Waldrep broke a vertebrae after being tackled and hitting the turf at Legion Field, and was instantly paralyzed. During his month in the hospital, legendary Alabama coach Bear Bryant was a regular visitor of Waldrep’s and helped establish financial assistance from, among others, George Steinbrenner to help pay Waldrep’s medical bills.
Waldrep soon formed the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis Foundation and would later contribute to the Americans with Disabilities Act. He and his wife, Lynn, would later have two sons, Trey and Charley, who attended Alabama on Bryant Scholarships.
Frogs Today growing this week
Brian Estridge suggested that I use this space to create some kind of a tease to let our growing legion of readers know that a significant announcement about the future of Frogs Today is imminent.
So … something big will be announced Tuesday. Hint: Our editorial staff is about to triple in size.
The who will remain shrouded for another 24 hours. The why is becoming clear: Frogs Today is going to be the No. 1 outlet for TCU news, features and podcasts, and people want to be a part of it.
By the way, Estridge’s live-streaming TCU-centric talk show is about two weeks from debuting.
We will soon be requiring a subscription for access to our premium content, but you guys already knew that. If you aren’t following us on Twitter, do so. If you aren’t on our email list, make sure to sign up when you visit our website.
What to watch this week
For those who want to compare weeks, last we was a tad busier than what is on the docket this week, but it’s still going to be really busy. There’s only one chance to see the baseball and men’s basketball teams, and they games are at the same time. Choose wisely.
Baseball: vs. UT-Arlington, 6 p.m. Tuesday; at Kentucky, 3 p.m. Friday (SEC Network+); at Kentucky, noon Saturday (SEC Network+); at Kentucky, noon Sunday (SEC Network+)
Men’s basketball: vs. Kansas, 7 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN+), at Kansas, 7 p.m. Thursday (ESPN+); at West Virginia, 1 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+)
Women’s basketball: at Texas Tech, 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN+); vs. Kansas State, 1 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+)
Beach volleyball: vs. South Carolina, 11:30 a.m. Friday; vs. Stetson, 3:30 p.m. Friday; vs. Georgia State, 11:30 a.m. Saturday; vs. Florida State, 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Equestrian: vs. Sweet Briar, 10 a.m. Saturday
Men’s golf: Monday-Tuesday, Southern Highlands Collegiate, Las Vegas
Men’s tennis: vs. Michigan, 1 p.m. Wednesday; at Illinois, 6 p.m. Saturday
Women’s tennis: vs. Memphis, 2 p.m. Tuesday; vs. UC-Santa Barbara, noon Sunday
Track and Field: at Longhorn Invitational, Saturday-Sunday
Lighter side
Tech fans’ quick, quiet departure: Texas Tech travels well, as the saying goes in sports. The reality is that Texas Tech has a large alumni base, and a lot of graduates reside in the Metroplex. Red Raiders fans filled up half of Schollmaier Arena on Saturday, and they were loud. In several instances they were louder than TCU fans. The Red Raiders’ Twitter account took note. So did a favorite parody account of Frogs Today, Fake Art Briles.
This job stinks: A British dog-food company, which specializes in plant-based chow for all those vegan dogs out there, has a job opening on a temporary basis and will pay some $6,500 for the work. All the winning applicant has to do to work for OMNI is spend two months monitoring a dog’s diet and smelling its poop. Smelling its poop. The crazy thing is there have probably been more than enough applicants. But how does OMNI choose who gets the job? It’s there a literal smelling test? Does the size of the dog poo play a role? Oddly, I really want to know the answer to this.
Bad golf shots: After watching the friends’ reaction, I thought this might be staged. But then I thought how hard it is to hit a shot like this on purpose. It’s real, and everyone should have friends like this stiff.
Jeff Wilson, jeff@frogstoday.com
