The 1-2

I just have a quickie post today - and one that I'd rather not have to do. The house of dread was staggered (but still standing) by a one-two combination of bad news recently, and I thought it would be important to let you know about in case you hadn't already heard. Only in special cases over the years have I done posts specifically to report (and mourn) that someone is leaving the house. But unfortunately we have one of those special cases now. It always hurts to have to add names to the ex-dread list; but for real, the latest two additions hurt a lot more than usual.

In my first look post on college basketball a few weeks backs you may recall how unhappy I was to see Illinois State G Bryant Allen with reduced dreads all the time.
Well, shortly after that Allen must have gotten tired of all the hassle it takes to reduce your dreads, because he returned them to normal, taking the court with the Jae Crowder-approved double rubber bands look (photo above). And all was well for a couple of weeks. But just when it seemed safe to watch ISU games again, I tuned to their game last Saturday night at Northern Iowa - only to see that Bryant's dreads were gone. Dreads that had been growing for 13 years! Allen had them cut off earlier in the week, saying, "I just needed a change. It was one of those times in my life I needed to take another step and mature ..."
You know, when someone has dreads for that long, I can't fault him for wanting a change. But I'll tell you, B, we're really going to miss those dreads.

Still reeling from that news, the second shock wave hit about 48 hours later when I found out that the starting QB on the dread all-America team that I just did doesn't have dreads anymore.

I went to the Cincinnati Enquirer website last night to read about how Johnny Cueto (don't worry, he still has his dreads) did in his spring training game, but instead the first thing I noticed was "Munchie cuts dreadlocks" among the menu of available articles. Sad but true, Cincinnati QB Munchie Legaux showed up for spring football practice without all those awesome, long dreads we're used to seeing hanging outside his helmet and down his back.

 

Actually he had already cut them off right after the end of last season; but apparently nobody in the media had seen him until now. What a shame. "Nobody made me cut it; I just wanted a new look," said Munchie about why he said goodbye to dreadlocks that he had grown for more than 8 years.

Life goes on, as it always does. But life in the house won't be as much fun without Allen and Legaux around anymore.