Paul Ryburn’s Journal

A friend who has been working internationally as of late is back in Memphis for a visit, and he came bearing gifts. “Are you a coffee man?” he asked. He had brought back gourmet coffee from one of the countries in which he has been working lately. “It’s a unique kind of coffee,” he told me. “They feed the coffee beans to a civet cat, and then after the cat craps them out they pick the beans out of the crap and wash them and bag them up. It has a different kind of taste, that’s for sure.”

I decided to decline his offer and will continue to turn to Mountain Dew as my caffeine source.

There will be a job fair next month to hire 600 employees to work in the new Bass Pro Shops store in the Pyramid, whose opening date is now officially set for May 1. Date of the job fair is TBA.

There’s a GoFundMe account where you can help raise money for repairs to legendary BBQ restaurant Cozy Corner, badly damaged in a January 8 fire.

Updated plans for the Tennessee brewery have been released. Read all about it on Choose901.

If you’re a Memphis Tiger football fan, you ought to go to the men’s basketball home game Thursday night against Cincinnati at the FedExForum… and you ought to get there early. You’ll be able to get your photo with the AAC football championship trophy and the Miami Beach Bowl trophy. Platinum Jewelers will provide free prints while they last. Line for the photo-op begins at 5 and will pictures will be taken until halftime. Tip-off is at 6. More info here.

Of course, if you’re a Tiger football fan, you’ve probably already heard that the Tigers finished in the Top 25 in the AP poll and the coaches’ poll as well. They were voted 25th in both. What a remarkable turnaround. Big congratulations to Coach Fuente and the entire team. Without a doubt the best season in the program’s history.

If you bring a canned good donation to the National Civil Rights Museum for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day next Monday, you will get a discounted price toward your ticket to the museum. Donations will go to the Mid-South Food Bank.

Attendees of Sunday’s Grizzlies game at the FedExForum saw ads for WWE’s Fast Lane pay-per-view, to be held at the arena next month, and the planned main event was revealed: John Cena and Roman Reigns vs. Big Show and Seth Rollins. I can’t say I’m very inclined to buy a ticket if the lumbering, past-his-prime, 43-year-old Big Slow will be part of the biggest match on the card. The card is subject to change, and I hope it does.

From Mashable: How to sneakily steal pizza without your friends hating you. This one went straight on the Nuh-Uh Girl’s Facebook timeline as soon as I saw it.

That’s all for now. Late getting a post up today because I was feeling a little under the weather. Should be back on regular schedule tomorrow. Stay warm and I’ll see you then.

Today the Memphis Tigers travel to Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston to take on the Houston Cougars. The game is at 3 PM and it will be carried on the CBS Sports Network.  Memphis has a chance to beat the Cougars twice in a dozen days, after a 73-54 victory over the Cougars on New Year’s Eve that didn’t really even feel that close.

Meanwhile, the Memphis Grizzlies are back at home today, where they host the Phoenix Suns at 5. The Grizzlies are in the middle of trade speculation that would bring Boston Celtics swingman Jeff Green here. It would be a three-team trade in which Tayshaun Prince and a Grizzlies first-round pick would go to the Celtics, and Quincy Pondexter and a Grizzlies second-round pick would go to the New Orleans Pelicans. The deal likely won’t be done today so the Grizz won’t have Green available for tonight’s game.

Usually I start off my Saturdays at Panda’s bar at Bardog at 11, then wander over to the Blind Bear for D-RANKS with B-RAD around 1. However, when I got to the Bear yesterday, Brad wasn’t there, but I did get a welcome surprise. They finally filled the bartender/server position that had been open for a couple of weeks.

And they filled it with MY FAVORITE PAIR OF LIBRARIAN GLASSES!!!!!!!!!!

Having not worked Downtown since she parted ways with the Saucer a few months back, my favorite pair of librarian glasses was behind the bar training. I helped her out by ordering mixed drinks instead of PBR so she could learn to mix and muddle the Bear’s giggle water. She was having a blast, dancing behind the bar as she worked (as a customer she had been known to dance ON the bar). She will be in training for the next couple of weeks and finishing up shifts at her other job, then the plan is for her to take over the Saturday day bar shift and Brad will keep Sundays.

Good news for the Blind Bear poker players: My favorite pair of librarian glasses will be the Tuesday night server. Not sure if she will start this week, but definitely by the week after that. It will be nice for the poker players to have young, fun librarian glasses with a great personality. Needless to say I will not be taking any Tuesday nights off from poker anymore.

When she worked at the Flying Saucer, my favorite pair of librarian glasses was the day bartender on Fridays, and she built up a regular crowd who came in to see her for lunch. Recognizing that she has a following, the Blind Bear scheduled her to work day bar on Fridays.

She also has Thursday and Saturday evening server shifts. That means she will get to see her former co-workers since many of the Saucer girls go to the Bear for after-work drinks.

Icy weather is moving through western Arkansas as I type this on Sunday morning. The precip will soon get here, but as of 6:40 this morning the MemphisWeather.net folks were 90% confident that we stay all rain, although a little sleet is possible. Follow @MemphisWeather1 on Twitter for the best and most accurate local weather information, and check the “Winterize” checkbox at the top of StormView Radar to see where ice and snow are falling.

Having grown up with 1980s video games, this is really cool: Budweiser is building a life-size Pac-Man arena for the Super Bowl.

The PBR tap at Bardog has been fixed. It was broken much of the day yesterday.

Plan for today: D-ranks with B-rad may not have happened yesterday, but will today as he has the day bar shift at the Bear. I plan on getting there 12:30ish. Brad has some really cool regulars and I hope to see some of them today. Due to my status as “Mr. Load-in” I may have to step into the back for a few minutes to help with a planning session, but most of the afternoon I will be at the bar. I feel the need to verify that the Bardog PBR tap is indeed working (this kind of verification is one of the many services “Mr. Load-in” provides for the BBQ team) so I will stop by there at 11 for a couple of pulls from the tap. Stay safe if you’re traveling to Arkansas today, where the weather is going to get much icier than we will see here in Memphis.

What a poor showing the Memphis Tigers had against the SMU Mustangs last night. I recently read a Bleacher Report post that Kobe Bryant is glad he grew up playing basketball in Europe because his game wasn’t tainted by the style of AAU ball in America. Last night’s game made me think Kobe has a point. It looked like Austin Nichols and a bunch of AAU players out there for Memphis.

What has happened to Shaq? It seems like he has regressed since last year.

Trahson Burrell, who had started the past 6 games, was a Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision last night due to “unacceptable behavior.” Burrell is said to be close to suspended player Kuran Iverson who caused a controversy on Twitter earlier this week.

The Tigers’ next game is Sunday at Houston. The Tigers beat the Cougars by a comfortable margin at FedExForum New Year’s Eve, but a road game may be a different story. Maybe I should get a guest blogger to post on what it’s like to step into a Cougar den. (Katie?)

In observation of Elvis’s 80th birthday, the Orpheum is showing an Elvis double feature tonight at 7. Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas will be shown back-to-back with an intermission in between. $22.50 ticket for both movies.

From the MBJ: The Redbirds’ GM is excited about changes being made to the ballpark but he also understands that it is important to retain the team’s identity.

The comet Lovejoy is now visible in cities. Follow the link for info on how to see it. Its closest approach to Earth will be Wednesday. The last time the comet passed by, woolly mammoths still roamed the Earth.

Here’s some fashion news for 2015… You can now own a poop emoji shirt.

That’s it for now. Maybe a second update post tonight if there’s more news.

The Memphis Tigers have a nationally televised road game tonight at SMU. ESPN2 will carry the game and tip-off is 8 PM. Do any Downtown bars plan on showing this game with sound? With the Kuran Iverson/Twitter controversy that happened yesterday, the commentary could be quite interesting.

If you’re into cars, the Memphis International Autoshow happens Friday through Sunday at the Cannon Center.

If you’re into science, technology, sci-fi, and superheroes, you might be able to win a prize tonight at Green Beetle trivia starting at 8 PM. Those topics and more will make up the questions in a special Geek Night.

I’ve learned of a couple of top-drawer job openings in Memphis. Copeland Coaching has reported that there is a Director of Guest Relations position open with the Grizzlies. The person hired will be responsible for providing a championship guest experience to the Grizzlies’ customers. If you are job hunting, the Copeland Coaching site is one to bookmark, listing some of the best open positions in the city.

The Memphis Daily News is looking to hire a Managing Editor.

In RSVP Magazine’s Vox Popular, Center for Southern Folklore director Judy Peiser talks about the Center, its creation in 1972, upcoming plans for the Center, the Center’s media archive, and plans for the 2015 Memphis Music & Heritage Festival.

There’s a Groupon for upcoming Grizzlies games. You get $24 for a Terrace II seat plus XL Grizzlies T-shirt, or $69 for a Club level seat plus Grizzlies scarf. Game options are Wed 1/21 vs. Toronto, Mon 1/26 vs. Orlando, Thur 1/29 vs. Denver, or Brooklyn Tue 2/10. When you purchase the deal, you get something called a G-Pass emailed to you 48 hours after the deal ends. You print out your G-Pass and take it to the door, with no need to go to Will Call. Due to security restrictions, you can’t use Groupon Mobile to display your G-Pass.

The Grizzlies had an away game at Atlanta last night, and there was a big promotion for dating app Tinder called “Swipe Right Night”. The Sporting News reports that Swipe Right Night was a success and matches were made during the game.

Too much news to fit into a quick lunchtime post, so there may be a follow-up after work. Check back.

Memphis Tigers guard Kuran Iverson was suspended yesterday by Coach Pastner for undisclosed violations of team rules. He will not be able to travel to Texas with the team to play the SMU Mustangs tomorrow and the Houston Cougars on Saturday.

If that were the end of the story, it probably wouldn’t even be blogworthy. But then former Tiger Wesley Witherspoon jumped in on Twitter with a comment:

FOUND ANOTHER SCAPEGOAT HUH SUCKS FOR YOUNG KURAN I LIVED THAT LIFE FOR A YEAR AND A HALF

— Wesley Witherspoon (@Spooooooon11) January 7, 2015

Then radio host John Martin tweeted a look at Iverson’s favorited tweets. Look at the second one in particular.

Then it came out that he was not only favoriting comments criticizing his coach, but replying to them and retweeting them too.

My guess is this will end up in NCAA orientation “what not to do on Twitter” for incoming athletes in future years. Hey Air Traffic Mike, you may want to check your 1-800-BAD-IDEA hotline’s call log for calls from the University of Memphis today. Radio host Gary Parrish speculated that Iverson is likely done with the team, noting that Pastner once kicked a McDonald’s All-American off the team before he ever played a game.

In better news, former Tiger Elliot Williams signed a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz.

The World Series of Poker circuit event is coming to Tunica at the Horseshoe January 22-February 2. Most of the events are No Limit Hold’em, but there are Pot Limit Omaha and H.O.R.S.E. (combination of Limit Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Stud, and Stud/8) events as well. There are rebuy events, events for seniors, events for ladies, satellites, turbos, and six-max events during the twelve days. Here’s a schedule and here’s more information.

They invited me to a special invitation-only WSOP Media Tournament on Sunday the 18th. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to go. Winner gets $1000 to donate to their favorite charity and the top 10 places pay out (probably all charity donations). I have until the 15th to RSVP so I have a little time to think about it. It’s nice to be considered a member of the media for things like this.

Interesting fact: Only five people who were born in the 1800s are still living and all of them are women.

On my way out for a cold, cold evening… once again, everyone please be careful tonight.