BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — Happy Labor Day everyone! The first Monday in September may signal the unofficial end of summer (boo!), but it also means that the UD Flyer basketball squad is less than seven weeks away from taking the floor in the Red and Blue game (yeah!).

Let’s see what’s shakin’:

— Welcome to UD, Kyle Davis! Archie got a verbal from his man after he and his staff tailed KD2 wherever the young PG performed throughout the summer. It didn’t hurt matters any that fellow Chicagoan KD1 was KD2’s host when he officially visited UD a few weeks back. Behold the multiple linky goodness on Kyle’s commitment:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/…-flyers/nRK3C/

http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/1215048.html

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75…=1&nid=5521274

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/ba…197/kyle-davis

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketb…e-Davis-126292

http://dayton.rivals.com/barrier_noe…tid=&mid=&rid=

And my personal favorite, a blurb from CourtCred.com that describes KD2 as:

“Fearless, gritty, hard-nosed, and has a motor that excels on the defensive side of the ball and lots of explosion for a 6 foot guard.”

Linky excellence (some scrolling down will be required):

http://courtcred.com/content/entry/recruits_off_the_board/

— SG Desmond Ridenour of Cleveland Benedictine HS really wanted to be KD2’s Dayton classmate for 2012, but his last ditch effort during summer school fell just short. Here is some video on Des’ game that incorrectly labels him as an incoming UD freshman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv4V3rXn1tg

— We talk all the time about college players transferring, but more and more HS hoopsters are changing schools as well. Check out the following list from CourtCred.com, headlined by Michigan stud SF James Young who transferred from Troy HS to nearby Rochester HS when his mom bought a new house:

http://courtcred.com/content/entry/high_school_transfer_list/

— Never been a huge Rick Majerus fan, but the way I figure it is if UD legend Don Donoher is one of his best friends, then the guy can’t be all bad, right? Regardless of how you feel about Majerus, we should all wish the big man a speedy recovery from his health issues. Here is The St. Louis Dispatch report:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-majerus-face-to-face-with-fear/article_97c4b03f-2b06-5627-b0e3-b1f7518e0fdd.html

And some recollections of Rick from Andy Katz:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/18pzGL/espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy/id/8306111/saint-louis-billikens-continue-rick-majerus-men-college-basketball

To me, the mark of a good coach is when opposing fans like us absolutely hate it when UD plays their team. By that barometer alone, Majerus is one heckuva mentor.

— Archie has been aiming high in his recruiting efforts and when you do that, sometimes you get your guy (KD2) and sometimes you lose out to a big name program. Some examples of the latter:

Terrence Samuel to UConn:

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/high_school/basketball/south_shore_samuel_chooses_dream_SgRaW3dF2iPYtAgt0djaQI?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Basketball

Wesley Clark to Missouri:

http://blog.mlive.com/highschoolbasketball/2012/08/wes_clark_does_it_the_old-fash.html

Hallice Cooke from St. Anthony’s (NJ) HS has trimmed his list to four schools and UD wasn’t one of them:

http://blog.nj.com/hudsonhssports/2012/08/st_anthonys_hallice_cooke_trim.html

Native Daytonian and perennial problem child Geron Johnson is set to suit up for Memphis this year:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/19983397

— The great Joe Posnanski is now writing for SportsonEarth.com. Here is a link to his initial column at his new address:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/37261104

— From the archives at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame comes a guide to “The Joe Reiling Papers”:

http://catalog.rockhall.com/catalog/ARC-0135?goback=%2Egmp_1826397%2Egde_1826397_member_149061847

I worked with “Dolby Joe” at WVUD back in the mid 1970’s and there isn’t a nicer dude on the planet that I have encountered. Congratulations Joe!

— “The Tacky History of the Pink Flamingo” which was manufactured for many years by Union Products in my hometown of Leominster, MA:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/The-Tacky-History-of-the-Pink-Flamingo-165593536.html?c=y&page=1

— 30 totally goofy photos taken by Google street view (bonus: not a slide show!):

http://www.demilked.com/google-street-view-photos/

— “The Sweet Tweet of the Week” comes to us from Roger Bohn of Slam Magazine on UD’s newest NBA player, Brian Roberts of the New Orleans Hornets:

“Hornets sign Brian Roberts. Epitome of guy who kept improving throughout German career. Still remember my bro playing him when BRob was 5’7 Fr.”

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: [email protected]