BY QUIN WELCH, SPORTS EDITOR
Sports media never stops in today’s world.
Outlets like ESPN, Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated (just to name a few) never stop producing content for fans to consume. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to go anywhere without hearing what kind of garbage Stephen A. Smith spewed on “First Take” on any particular morning.
The ESPNs and Bleacher Reports of the world produce content because, well, people want it. Here’s a secret: People like to live in fantasy worlds. They hate going to work, hate dealing with familial drama and despise dealing with problems with their significant others.
People will go to extensive lengths to distract themselves from their real lives. Sports fans like distracting themselves with sports. Sports are an excellent way for people to escape life for a little while. They go on year round in some form (even though baseball is just absolutely miserable. The season is unbearably long), and sports news is always accessible.
For fans of high-profile college and professional teams, finding information about coaches and players is extraordinarily easy. After Johnny Manziel’s Heisman-winning 2012 season, fans couldn’t go on the Internet without seeing what kind of beer Johnny Football was drinking on any particular weekend. In recent weeks, it’s even become easy to find out with whom Louisville players are allegedly sleeping.
Bellarmine, a Division II school in all sports except for lacrosse, struggles to garner the same attention schools like Texas A&M and Louisville receive. While the men’s basketball players are probably the most prominent athletes on campus, fans don’t necessarily know the quirks of their personalities as well as they may like.
So, I asked a couple players on the team about their teammates and learned some stuff that Knights Nation wouldn’t necessarily know.
Yasin Kolo, the senior transfer from Hartford University, shared some interesting information about junior forward George Knott’s love for a certain blonde singer.
“George Knott is obsessed with Taylor Swift,” Kolo said. He even has her on his lock screen and is literally obsessed with her music. I love this dude. He cracks me up.”
Knott’s “Love Story” with T-Swift isn’t the only thing I found out about this group of Knights. If you’ve ever seen “Space Jam,” you know the smallest “monstar.” Apparently, the Knights’ smallest player does a great impression of the character.
“Michael Parrish does an impeccable impression of the smallest monstar from Space Jam,” senior forward George Suggs said.
The Concord reached out to “Space Jam” star Michael Jordan for a comment, but he did not immediately return phone calls. If anyone knows MJ, tell him I’m very disappointed in him.
Suggs also dropped some interesting knowledge about a musical relationship between a current player and a player-turned-coach from last season’s Final Four team.
“Jarek Coles and Josh Sewell rap and make music together. Probably the only coach-player duo in the rap game,” Suggs said.
While I cannot confirm whether Suggs’ assumption is correct, I would say that is pretty safe.
This Bellarmine team has some characters, and fans should know these guys.
They’re objectively funny, and they’re likable.Bellarmine fans deserve to know these guys on a more personal level despite being ignored by the ESPNs of the world.
Besides, who needs ESPN when you have The Concord?