This weekend I had the privilege of watching Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping for the first time, which ended with a musical number for the ages called “Incredible Thoughts”. Many of the bloggers have been kind enough to share their incredible midseason thoughts, so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and do the same now that I’ve had a chance to actually stop never stopping and write an article. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, its ok! You probably haven’t seen the movie, so just take this article as a stereotypical midseason awards/thoughts. Let’s get this show started; I’ll try not to pull a Steve Harvey and mess up the first ever RegASouth Midseason Poppy Awards!
RegASouth Midseason Poppy’s
Best Pop Group (Team)
Sewanee Tigers – The Tigers have really impressed me this season. They have jumped up 15 spots in the ranking to 23 in the country and don’t seem to be looking back. Sewanee has always had the talent and I think this year they finally filled in the gaps with their freshman class and produced the season that we had been hoping for. I know real ASouth is kicking himself right now for giving me Sewanee instead of Swarthmore. Anyways, its been a pleasure seeing the Tigers claw their way up in the rankings and out of the team that I cover, at this point, they are the most deserving of this award. Side note, I’d love nothing more than a Skidmore/Sewanee matchup, but unfortunately that’s not in the cards this year.
Best Solo Artist (Player)
Avery Schober – If Sewanee is NSYNC, then Schober is Justin Timberlake. This kid has been nothing but a star for his team over the past couple of seasons. At this point in the year he is 8-1 at 1 singles and 7-2 at 2 and 3 doubles. This senior will sorely be missed when he graduates at the end of this year, but until then, look for Schober to continue to light up the competition. I hope this senior gets one last chance to strut his stuff come May when the individual NCAA tournament rolls around because this aggressive baseliner could definitely make some noise.
Best New Artist (Freshman)
JT Wynne – Skidmore’s all-star freshman has put himself together quite a season so far. He’s 7-1 at 1 doubles (featuring Kai Yuen Leung) with notable wins over, Bowdoin, Wash U, Wesleyan and Whitman. Wynne and Leung will definitely be competing for one of the coveted NCAA individual spots come May. In singles, the young Thoroughbred is 6-2 in the 4 spot with wins over Middlebury, Wash U and Wesleyan. Not too shabby for a freshman. Keep up the good work JT and don’t let fame go to your head. You’ll become a one hit wonder like 97% of the now washed up best new artists.
Best Manager/Producer (Coach)
Tyler Cempre – Rhodes has been one of my favorite teams to follow this year and the man at the helm is Coach Cempre. This is the first year that he has taken over as the men’s tennis coach and I think he has done a fantastic job. Rhodes had some talent coming into the season, and I think Cempre has developed it very well by taking many steps in the right direction. Sewanee might be the hot team right now in the SAA, but they need to be weary of the Lynx. Mark my words, in the next 2 years Rhodes will be nationally ranked. Great job Coach!
Best Co-Headlining Tour (Match)
NC Wesleyan vs. CNU, March 18 – This match was just straight up awesome. These two teams fought their heart out and went down to the wire. The Captains came out firing and swept the Battling Bishops in doubles. NC Wesleyan answered the call in singles taking first sets at 1-4 singles and eventually going on to win those matches. CNU answered back with a win at 5 singles, tying the match up at 4-4. It came down to a 3rd set between NC Wesleyan’s David Chang and CNU’s David Ruzicka. The tension builds. Ruzicka goes up 5-3 and all hope seems to be lost for the Bishops, but then DAVID CHANG PULLS OFF THE IMPOSSIBLE! BISHOPS WIN! BISHOPS WIN! Alright, I’m good now. Epic fight from both teams; I’m glad that I was avidly following this match on twitter.
Best Social Media Presence (Twitter)
Rhodes @Lynx_Tennis – This was a tough one because none of my regional teams have a huge twitter presence. Rhodes however utilizes pretty cool emojis and puts up pictures relatively often. You can always count on the Lynx for reliable updates as well, so I guess I can’t complain too much. A message to all of my teams though, take notes from NYU, Tufts and Lewis & Clark, I want to see some ridiculous Regional Atlantic South tweets and videos. The good news is that there is still half a season to step it up!
There you have it, the midseason awards! I will definitely come back and revisit these come May. Do you disagree with these awards? Tell me who you’d give it to! I’d love to hear. As usual, leave a comment, shoot me an email at d3regionalasouth@gmail.com and follow me on twitter @D3RegASouth. Until next time, Reg ASouth out!