K-Stated

She’s become a full-fledged media sensation, but I just wish she had told me the O.J. Mayo story. Guess that’s why I don’t write for Sports Illustrated. Nonetheless, here’s the latest from Mrs. Smith:

Happy Birthday, Lil’ Mike!

Nineteen long years ago, Michael Paul Beasley, Jr. graced the world with his presence… In fact it was no graceful entry at all. He made a thunderous appearance then just as he commands attention now. He was two weeks overdue, and it was a long and very hard labor. And then, ta-da, I delivered a baby boy checking in at 10 pounds, nine ounces and 23 inches. And then there were two — Dymond and Lil’ Mike. I actually cried. Not tears of joy but of frustration. Why, you might ask? Because I wanted a little girl sooo bad. But as the days turned into months and months into years I was sure happy he was a boy… I just couldn’t imagine a little girl being the size that he was. He outgrew his older brother of two years by the time Lil’ Mike was 3 and Dymond was 5, and he’s been taller ever since.

So, I was so excited to give Lil’ Mike his birthday present this year because I just knew that I had found yet another perfect gift for the son that is almost impossible to please. I saw one of the basketball team managers outside of the store and asked about the whereabouts of the team, and he told me that practice was over some time ago. Since it’s sometimes difficult for Lil’ Mike to hear his phone ring when I call (at least that’s what I tell myself, knowing that he just “looks me off” most of the time) I called one of his teammates that I knew he would be with and told him to meet me at Best Buy. When they arrived at the store, they couldn’t see me right away, so Mr. Walker starts to yell my name out very loud as if he was calling a play on the court. This made the other players, Lil’ Mike and a few customers in the store laugh, but I gave him the evil eye until he got the message to close his trap! I showed Lil’ Mike his gift and instead of the excited look that I was expecting, he said, “Ma, I don’t like this, that’s why I have a ….” I just looked at him and then at the sales clerk, who quickly turned the opposite way, then looked at Bill and back at Lil’ Mike. I just threw my hands in the air and rolled my eyes.

After some negotiating, we came up with the perfect gift that we could both agree on. After making arrangements to have his gift installed, I went looking for the guys from the team, Malik, Lil’ Mike and Tiffany. I found every one but the latter two and after checking outside in the cars and not finding them, I decided to have them paged by store security because after all, he could have been kidnapped, right? After about 10 minutes, they magically appeared and the only explanation from Lil’ Mike was that he and Ms. Tiff had fallen asleep on a couch in the T.V section – go figure.

Speaking of Tiffany, she decided that she would enhance the “BratZ” decorations to her bedroom and bathroom by adding some new stickers to the walls, doors and practically anywhere she could find a empty space. After, I finally finished what I was doing I went to see this new “masterpiece,” as she called it, and I was not too thrilled to see that she had gotten a hold of my postage stamps! I know it’s Saturday, but shouldn’t day care be open anyway?

I need a vacation.

You know that we are in a different era when the word “BLOG” has entered the vocabulary of a four-year old. She brought me about three to four pages of scribble and said, “Mommy, you can put this in your blog.” I just cracked up! So maybe one day this will be turned into “Family Sayz”… Nahh! This is all about Mama!

The Savannah game was entertaining, to say the least. How well it helped us in preparing for conference play is yet to be determined, so stay tuned. My socializing after the game is becoming more involved because the faces in the crowd are becoming more familiar and I actually enjoy having real conversations with people on a weekly basis. By the way “Crazy Cats fan in St. Louis,” the Stewarts, Nancy and Andre’s fiance Tamara were amazed and happy at what they saw!

O.K. Now on to some questions:

From: Nick
When: Jan. 2, 2008 at 5:53 p.m.
I love your “Mama Sayz” and hope to get to keep reading it. My question is what was Mike’s demeanor after the game in Xavier? How does he handle a more human performance then what he is use to putting up?

Nick, it was a heartbreaking performance in many ways. Lil’ Mike and I talked right after the game and we both expressed how heavy our hearts were after a loss like that. Even though it seemed almost as though the world has ended, it is over now and he has survived it. He knows that college is much different then playing in AAU and high school. College basketball is a whole other monster and it will obviously have its ups and downs. Looking back on that game and the results, I really couldn’t even make sense of it outside of the fact that Xavier is really, really good and Fred can really shoot the three.

From: Knoelle11
When: Jan. 2, 2008 at 9:37 p.m.
Criticisms by the media have been leveled at Coach Martin regarding the extremely vulgar language used toward the basketball players. While it seems that Coach Martin has maybe cooled off a bit (or at least I can’t hear him from where I sit), do you feel his language is/was out of line? How do you as a parent react when you see the coach lay into your son?

Love the blog and love reading your reactions to K-State basketball!

Knoelle11, you know what? From where I sit I really don’t hear what’s said (or in this case, yelled) on the bench. What I will say is that different people have different ways of expressing themselves. What may be offensive to one is not to another. Players receive messages from coaches differently then we do as spectators. In my house, when things are out of order and I’m ranting and raving like I was a crazed maniac (as my kids say), it loses its punch when it’s heard over and over again. That’s when I resorted to different ways of getting my point across. For example, taking something away from my kids such as a car, cell phone, lap-top, etc. You get the point.

Well, I’m going to cut this short because I have to get ready for work. And it’s no longer Lil’ Mike’s birthday. I would also like to say Happy (belated) Birthday to Andre, too. I guess that would explain why he and Lil’ Mike’s personalities are so similar… WOW! We all had a good time celebrating both of the boys’ big day last night and I promise that I won’t tell Scott how much cake you ALL had, guys.

I will also get to all of the questions (well almost all…hint, hint Pete) next week. Oh, I almost forgot… It’s road trip time again. See you in Oklahoma!