Well, it looks like I really did predict the future in my Sunday morning blog post. If St. Mary’s beats Middle Tennessee State in their First Four game, they will play the Memphis Tigers on Thursday. I don’t think it’s a guaranteed loss for the Tigers if we get St. Mary’s. If we bring the energy we will wipe up the court with them. We just can’t be lethargic and sloppy, the way we were against Xavier, and we can’t let the other team come back, as we did with Louisville.
Revised prediction: If the Tigers get St. Mary’s in the round of 64, the Tigers will win if they score more than 70 points. We’ll find out our opponent tonight. MTSU vs. St. Mary’s tips off at 8:10 Central time. Game will be on TruTv.
In other Tiger news, John Martin of the CA (@johnmartinCA) tweeted a link this morning: If APR (Academic Progress Rate) were the measure, the Tigers would be a Final Four team. I’ve heard that Joe Jackson, Tarik Black and others have really made the most of their scholarships to get a fine education. Very smart. A lot of the guys probably have pro ball at some level (NBA, D-League, Europe, China) to look forward to, but it never hurts to have a sound education as a backup. Kudos to Coach Pastner on his players’ classroom achievements.
Sad news: The Downtown Thai Bistro has closed. “Tough strip to survive on,” commented the person who informed me. True. It’s odd how location, location, location is everything, even when it’s only a block difference. A business that would make a killing on Monroe or Union could be a ghost town on Madison. Restaurants that would make piles of money on Main or Second could be all but forgotten on Front or Third. However, I have to give thanks to Seamus, Clay, and all the people involved in the Brass Door and the Mad Earl on Madison. They understand that it will take a while to build Madison as a restaurant/bar destination. I’ll miss Thai Bistro. The times I ate there, they had delicious sushi and Thai entrees.
In more encouraging restaurant news: The Daily News reports that Bon Ton Cafe on Monroe will add dinner soon. They’re open to customer suggestions for items to include on the menu.
Did you know City Market makes smoothies? Saturday morning I ran into a friend of mine who was having a banana, spinach, celery, and pineapple smoothie. That sounded gross but he said it was really good, and that you don’t taste the spinach or celery at all.
The Church Health Center has internships available. There are opportunities in the clinic, child life, development, wellness education and more. This would be a most interesting place to build some work experience. Deadline for application for summer internships is March 30; for fall, June 30.
Looks like enough news is in the queue for a second, after-work post. Check back.