Book signing notes!

[mu_hilltopper]

I admit, I am a total nerd fan.  I just got back from the book signing at Borders.  I was about 25 minutes late, so I figured I'd be taking up the back of the line.

Turns out, there were 2 guys there, just chewing the fat with Coach Crean.  He held court with us for 3-4 minutes, then they left and it was just me and him for about 10-12 minutes.  Then Mrs. Crean and the 3 kids showed up, and I got a chance to chat with her as well.  I've only seen her on the jumbotron .. she's just stunning in person.

I've briefly met the coach a few times, but this was just AWESOME. 

Ok, enough fawning.

* Asked about Trend redshirting.  He said not this year, they really needed the players with 1 scholly open.

* Asked about walkons .. said they'll have two, and had a bead on the new guy this week.  I pleaded with him to, for the love of pete, let these poor guys get their names on the back of their jerseys this year.  He explained:  He'd only had a few walkons who really relished the job.  That really surprised me.  I'd thought that would be a dream come true for lots of guys.

* On walkons, I asked him if he saw Knight School last year.  I loved that show.  He hated it!  Something about .. why spend all that time choosing and expending time on walkons.  Also said they'd been contacted about "The Season" for ESPN .. said no thanks.  Not his thing.

* IIRC, he said Jamil Lott was starting tomorrow.  Said the game tomorrow would be about experimenting with stuff.

* Said Wes and Jerel brought it 100% at practice all the time.  Seemed to indicate DJ did that sometimes, but not all the time.  I imagine that's coach speak for psychological motivation, but what do I know.

* Spoke about Cords, I said how everything fell into place, both coaches under contract, ESPN deal, BE, the Al, for his retirement .. said that it was in the works for a while, actually.  New guy AD is interim man while they search.

* Said Ralph Pim did most of the writing for the book, but interviewed Crean extensively, came to Milwaukee a number of times, then mentioned some guy named "D-wane" wrote the foreword.  I asked, "Dwaine Streater?"

So if I show up at the Radio show on Monday, is he going to think I'm a stalker?   

.. I should also add .. I was surprised at the lack of turnout.  I asked the checkout person .. she said they had an ad "in the newspaper" and a sign out front.   Had we not gotten an email yesterday, I wouldn't have known about it.  For our part, MUScoop and Cracked Sidewalks did our part to post the event asap.

[shaquilvaine]

That is disappointing there was such a lack of turnout but nice for you I guess.  Thanks for the tidbits.  I was going to ask if they advertised this or not because I heard nothing about it until your previous post.   The turnout for the radio show has been disappointing as well... I went a few times last year and there were only a few dozen people.  The nice thing was I had a chance to speak to coach for a little while. 

[Big Papi]

I didn't know about it until last night so that made it tough.  Furthermore, it would have been a bit of a hike to get there.  Would have loved to have been there.

[tweakers_suck]

Interesting...

3:09 pm MU_Hilltopper of MUScoop says Lott will start

3:18 pm another board offers a "tidbit" that there will be a suprise starter at the 4 position


Coincidence?  Could be.

[mu_hilltopper]

Tweakers, you're banned for even thinking that.   

[spiral97]

wow...  did you shake his hand???  if so, you aren't planning on washing your hand anytime soon are you????

just kidding - but that really sounds like an awesome opportunity.. I really do like how he seems to be so approachable.. maybe one day I'll get my chance to ask him a few questions too (of course those will probably be "umm.. umm.. ummm.. uhh.. ummmm").

Thanks for the recap!  Did you mention MUScoop?? 

[tweakers_suck]

Tweakers, you're banned for even thinking that.   

I'm evil!!!

Ban me?  Ban you!!

[mu_hilltopper]

I did shake his hand in the beginning, then when I was leaving and a few feet away, he remembered my name and shook again.

However, I am in the habit of washing my hands every time I come in the door at home.   About a minute later, I thought, man, I should have, you know, not washed.   

And no, I didn't mention Scoop.  I can't remember why, but at one point, he mentioned that he doesn't use email.   I wouldn't mention it anyway.  I've gotta figure he'd rather see message boards not exist.

[spiral97]

WOW.. I know someone who knows Coach Crean!  and that's about as close as I'll probably ever get to my 15 minutes of fame 

as for him prefering message boards didn't exist.. I dunno.. think about how much these message boards amplify interest in the teams amongst us more die-hard fans.. the trade-off for him would be the rumor mill.. and the only rumors that tend to cause him grief are probably the Crean to U of X type (and no, I have not heard about Crean going to U of X) - if I were a coach I think I'd be fine with that trade-off..

then again, I'm not a coach so what do I know 

[rocky_warrior]

Very awesome, sounds like it was well worth your time Hilltopper.

Now we can preempt the "Lott's starting?!?!?" threads later on today

[WashDCWarrior]

Are you dropping the hint that Crean is going to coach at Xavier.  Oh no.  I must go tell everyone.

[mu_hilltopper]

Huh?