Randolph Dupree
06-11-2018, 03:10 PM
Thought I'd share this and get our minds off of coaching searches and player analysis for a minute. This is one of my stories from a CWS trip (actually there are several from this particular trip).
So, back in 2007 I was not long out of college and scored some tickets to the SR in Starkville at the last minute. A buddy and I went and had a damn good time. On a whim we decide 'what the hell let's go to Omaha'. So we pack up and hit the road with the plan being to drive to KC, spend the night and drive the remainder the following day. Late that first night when we were about an hour past Memphis, a third buddy calls from Houston and he is smashed drunk. He just found out he passed his Professional Engineer exam and was celebrating. He asked what we were doing and when we told him he said 'I'll call you right back'. He hangs up and calls back 30 minutes later and says pick me up at the KC airport at 9:30 tomorrow. Sure enough he's there (hungover) the next morning. It was all down hill from there.
We watched as much baseball as we could stomach the next few days and had a great time. After MSU's second loss, we were in a bar throwing darts and I went to go get another round of beers and this guy decked out in Oregon St gear comes up to me and says 'hey do you want to meet your new AD'. I'm like wth? But figure wth. So I go along with it. (Remember this is when LT was on his way out). Sure enough we go sit down at their table and the Ninja is there having a drink with some of his old college buddies. I was DD that night so I wasn't drinking heavily and it appeared the Ninja was in a similar situation. Our buddies however were going full steam ahead. I sat there and we talked for probably two hours (he already knew he was AD but it hadn't been formalized yet). At the end of the night when we parted ways he gave me his card with his personal cell number on it. I put it in my pocket and carried one buddy out over my shoulder and managed to get the other one in the car before he got ticketed for public intoxication.
After the AD announcement came out I called him to congratulate him, but really just to see if the number was legit and if he remembered me. It was legit and he remembered me well. We ran into each other a few more times in Starkville over the next year or two and talked several times on the phone. He actually took me up to Palmeiro's box one game to meet the player's families. He was a really focused guy that had a plan...a very strategic thinker.
During our conversation that night though, he basically outlined his whole plan for MSU athletics and sure enough, it has been playing out basically the way he laid it out. Loafers really did nothing during his time with us...he just kept it going.
So, back in 2007 I was not long out of college and scored some tickets to the SR in Starkville at the last minute. A buddy and I went and had a damn good time. On a whim we decide 'what the hell let's go to Omaha'. So we pack up and hit the road with the plan being to drive to KC, spend the night and drive the remainder the following day. Late that first night when we were about an hour past Memphis, a third buddy calls from Houston and he is smashed drunk. He just found out he passed his Professional Engineer exam and was celebrating. He asked what we were doing and when we told him he said 'I'll call you right back'. He hangs up and calls back 30 minutes later and says pick me up at the KC airport at 9:30 tomorrow. Sure enough he's there (hungover) the next morning. It was all down hill from there.
We watched as much baseball as we could stomach the next few days and had a great time. After MSU's second loss, we were in a bar throwing darts and I went to go get another round of beers and this guy decked out in Oregon St gear comes up to me and says 'hey do you want to meet your new AD'. I'm like wth? But figure wth. So I go along with it. (Remember this is when LT was on his way out). Sure enough we go sit down at their table and the Ninja is there having a drink with some of his old college buddies. I was DD that night so I wasn't drinking heavily and it appeared the Ninja was in a similar situation. Our buddies however were going full steam ahead. I sat there and we talked for probably two hours (he already knew he was AD but it hadn't been formalized yet). At the end of the night when we parted ways he gave me his card with his personal cell number on it. I put it in my pocket and carried one buddy out over my shoulder and managed to get the other one in the car before he got ticketed for public intoxication.
After the AD announcement came out I called him to congratulate him, but really just to see if the number was legit and if he remembered me. It was legit and he remembered me well. We ran into each other a few more times in Starkville over the next year or two and talked several times on the phone. He actually took me up to Palmeiro's box one game to meet the player's families. He was a really focused guy that had a plan...a very strategic thinker.
During our conversation that night though, he basically outlined his whole plan for MSU athletics and sure enough, it has been playing out basically the way he laid it out. Loafers really did nothing during his time with us...he just kept it going.