Daily Bears Reports 8/28: Volleyball Wins; Kim Mulkey’s Miracle; Tailgate Concert Series; NY Times; Camp BU Wrap Up

Volleyball Wins - Twice

Baylor Volleyball sweeps the final day of the 2016 Hampton Inn Waco North Baylor Invitational Saturday at the Ferrell Center. KWTX TV 10 has the story.

Musical Tailgating

Baylor Football is gonna have a Tailgate Concert Series with musical performances before each home game. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The Baylor Athletic Department announced Thursday the launch of the "Tailgate Concert Series" to take place before all home football games during the 2016 season. Each concert will take place following the "Bear Walk," which happens two and half hours prior to kickoff. The stage for each performance will be right outside Gate D of McLane Stadium on the grassy area next to the south plaza.

Concerts will last for approximately one hour to leave fans ample time prior to kickoff to enter the stadium. Admission to the concert series is completely free and does not require a game ticket.

Friday’s Tailgate Concert Series performer is scheduled to be Gin Blossoms.

Giving Back

Lady Bears basketball coach Kim Mulkey gives school supplies to flood victims in her home town. See Baylor Bears dot com.

The Hammond Daily Star has the rest of the story.

A grateful crowd greeted the load Saturday at the school system's technology building on South Morrison Boulevard. Members of the Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball team, Ponchatoula High School girls basketball team, volleyball team and FFA, as well as parish and school officials were there to help unload and sort the supplies.

The boxes of pens, pencils, folders, paper, calculators, and more traveled on a truck from Waco and will be in the hands of area K-12 students early next week.

Camp BU Wrap Up

No news is good news? Still no word on Zamora. John Werner of the WacoTrib gives us a wrap up of Baylor’s fall football camp.

Amid the off-field distractions, Grobe has stressed to his team the importance of staying focused on the upcoming season.

“I feel like right now our football team realizes it’s time to play football,” Grobe said. “Let’s focus on football and make sure we take good care of ourselves off the field as well as on the field.”

From his first days at Baylor when he began familiarizing himself with the players, Grobe began to sense that fifth-year senior quarterback Seth Russell was one of the strongest leaders on the team.

After working with Russell the last three weeks, Grobe has grown more confident that Russell is a player he can count on to guide the team through a turbulent period.

“Our team looks up to him in more ways than just being a really good quarterback,” Grobe said. “He’s got great character and integrity, and he’s also a good player.”

From The New York Times

Baylor football fans looking ahead after stormy off season.

Chris Salazar, the general manager of a pizza place a few blocks from the Baylor campus, is among those here looking forward to the 23rd-ranked Bears’ season opener after what was “definitely not the typical off-season.”

“I think it’s probably a little bit more measured because of what’s happened this off-season,” Salazar said at Shorty’s Pizza Shack, where Baylor memorabilia includes a football signed by Briles. “But I think there’s a lot of excitement, just because we know we still have a lot of good players returning.”

“Once the season starts and that first kickoff happens, everything will start to feel a lot more normal,” Salazar said.

“We all went through the shock,’’ said Sammy Citrano, owner of George’s Restaurant, which often caters meals for Baylor athletic teams. “Everybody was disappointed. Now we’ve had a little time to heal.”

Citrano said: “It’s going to be good therapy for everybody in our community. It’s football time and these guys are ready to prove to the world we’re a good school and good team, and good people.”

Ashleigh Richardson is a 2004 Baylor graduate and season-ticket holder who routinely makes the trip with her husband, also an alumnus, from their Louisiana home in the Shreveport-Bossier City area to Waco for football and basketball games. They are not withdrawing their support for their alma mater.

“We bleed green and gold,’’ Richardson said. “We’re not going to be any less excited than we were last year, or the first year that McLane Stadium was open, because it’s a family tradition honestly in our house.

“It was very upsetting when it happened,’’ Richardson said. “As a fan, and as alumni, all I can do is support the new coach and the kids on the team.”

Richardson looks forward to her two young daughters one day attending the university like she did. She said the mistakes of some will not change the foundation of what Baylor is and what it represents as a family of faith.

“My whole experience there was just wonderful,” Richardson said. “This has not tainted any of that at all, nor will it taint me wanting to send my girls there.”

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