The Morning Stake | 2020.01.07

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Lubbock In The Loop. Check out Lubbock In The Loop for all of your weekend plans and activities. Also, please check out the beautifully done Christmas page for holiday fun times!
Podcasts. Check out your guys, Spencer and Michael, on 23 Personnel Podcast, a Texas Tech athletics podcast where food and sports clash at the goal line, as well as Keith Patrick and Dinger Derby, the only, yes only, podcast about Texas Tech baseball.

The Complex Life of Griffith J. Griffith. You’ve probably seen pictures of the observatory at Griffin Park, via KCET:

At the entrance to Griffith Park, off Los Feliz Boulevard, stands a 14-foot bronze statue of a proud, portly Victorian gentleman. He is Griffith J. Griffith, who donated 3,015 acres of the former Rancho Los Feliz to Los Angeles in 1896, to be used specifically as a park for the “plain people” of the city. His face, decidedly noble and assured, lords over his “princely gift” to the city, which is no doubt one of L.A.’s greatest public resources. While portraits and photos of Griffith are plentiful, there are hardly any in existence of his wife, Tina — from whom a great part of his fortune and prestige sprang — and none after the year 1903. Because that year, Griffith J. Griffith shot his wife in the face, permanently disfiguring her.

This very peculiar L.A. tragedy began half a world away. According to Paul McClure, author of “A Benefactor Tragedy Starring Griffith J. Griffith,” Griffith Jenkins Griffith was born in South Wales on Jan. 4, 1850, the son of a farmer who also worked for the nearby mines. The eldest of a large, impoverished brood, the young Griffith was taken to America by an uncle when he was still a child. The ambitious, brash young man was educated in Pennsylvania, and then went into the newspaper business. This trade brought him to San Francisco in the 1870s, where he worked the mining beat for the Alta California. Becoming an expert on western mines, he made his — probably much exaggerated — fortune as a consultant to mine owners.

Texas Tech Volleyball

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Texas Tech Baseball

Player of the Decade. D1Baseball has their all decade team and Josh Jung was named as the Player of the Decade, with TCU sweeping through all of the other awards.

Texas Tech has developed into one of the nation’s premier programs and Jung’s ascension is a big reason for that. He had three outstanding seasons with Tim Tadlock’s Red Raiders. Jung hit .306 with six home runs and 43 RBIs as a freshman before hitting .392 with 12 home runs and 80 RBIs as a sophomore, also sporting a 1.130 OPS. Finally, his junior season ended with yet another trip to Omaha, this time hitting .342 with 22 doubles, 14 home runs and 56 RBIs, along with a 1.112 OPS.

Texas Tech Basketball

Ranked No. 22. The AP released their Top 25 Poll and Texas Tech remains at No. 22, with Baylor moving into top 5 territory as they are at No. 4 heading into tonight’s game.

Baylor vs. Texas Tech. A huge early-conference game as Texas Tech hosts No. 4 Baylor (they were No. 6 at the time of the tweet embedded below) with Texas Tech hosting Baylor, tip set for 8:00 p.m. and the game is on ESPN2. The preview and game day thread will go up at 10:00 this morning.

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