Day 4: College Memories and College Players

30-Day Challenge: Day 4

It's time to jump back into the 30-day trading card challenge.  As always, I am simultaneously doing to the 30-day music challenge.  Here are the topics of the day!

• Music: A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about
• Stars - Ageless Beauty
• Card: A rookie card of one of your favorite players
• 2013-14 Panini #161 Kelly Olynyk

I'm at a point in my life where if there is someone I want to forget about, they have been forgotten.  I would rather forget about moments than people.  (although I don't think there is someone who I would rather forget).

This song by Stars evokes heartache from a time during college.  Without getting into the details (this is a card blog, not my Livejournal), all I can say is that the love lost cut me deep.  Even though this song reminds me of her, I harbor no ill will.  Thus, I don't care to forget the person this song reminds me of but I would like to forget the moment associated with it.

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Attending law school was a similar experience to attending college.  Thrust into a new environment, having to form new social circles, all the while trying to conquer the challenge that is the first year of an experience like no other.  One of the ways to form a bond with new classmates was to coalesce around a common interest: Gonzaga basketball.

2013-14 Panini

One of my favorite players is Kelly Olynyk who played at Gonzaga during my time there.  He's a tall center at 7 foot even who is not afraid to shoot from behind the arc.  At the beginning of his college career he was small for his size but the way he played I knew he had something going for himself.

After his sophomore year, he took a redshirt year to develop.  It paid off as Olynyk returned a completely different player.  He hit the gym hard and filled out his frame.

Pre-revolution

Olynyk in his junior year

All grown up

Olynyk not only had a radical physical transformation before and after his redshirt season; he played remarkably better his junior year.  His stats were up all across the board.

Season	PPG	FG%	FT%	RPG
Freshman	3.8	50.0%	59.6%	2.7
Sophomore	5.8	57.4%	61.8%	3.8
REDSHIRT
Junior	17.8	62.9%	77.6%	7.3

His play propelled Gonzaga to it's first ever #1 AP & Coaches Top 25 ranking and Gonzaga's first #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

After declaring for the draft following his junior year, the Dallas Mavericks drafted Olynyk in the first round before shipping him off to the Boston Celtics.  Without the Sonics, the Celtics are my favorite NBA team so I could not have been happier that Olynyk would get to wear the Celtic green.  His rookie cards all look wonderful.

2013-14 Panini Court Kings - Art Nouveau Jerseys

With his combined his play style, skills, and teams played for, Olynyk is one of my favorite players.