Once again, Kim English showing he's more than just a ball player

I've written about Kim English plenty in this space.

Over the summer, we talked about English equating the Rudyard Kipling poem "If" to playing basketball. We also did a feature story on him and his work ethic. We I spoke to him on the phone for the story, he had the flu but he was still in the gym, riding the stationary bike while watching his teammates in open gym.

I'm not going to lie, I like the kid. I think he embodies everything that is great about college athletics. He works hard, he plays hard, and he studies hard.


He also seems to have a pretty level head on his shoulders. For example, over the weekend, English tweeted this:

Another racist act at my school during Black History Month. Someone spray painted "Nigger Month" on a campus sculpture.

He was asked about it by reporters on Monday. His response:

"Things like that don't upset me because I know that people like that exist," English said. "Hopefully they won't, but they probably always will."

[...]

"We've came such a long way and still have such a long way to go," said English, who is black. "It's a conservative state, close to the South. I wasn't blinded to the fact coming out here. I mean, it's happened two years in a row. I hope they catch the guys and kick them out of school, because what that guy does doesn't represent what most people at the University of Missouri, or the state of Missouri, feel."

[...]

"When I tweeted that I got probably a couple hundred responses from my followers saying that 'That's not Mizzou,'" English said. "I respect that, and I understand that. We have a black head coach, a predominantly black team, a black president. Most of the nation doesn’t feel that way, but one idiot did."

Could he have given a more intelligent, level-headed response?

English hasn't had the season he was hoping to have in 2010-2011, as his scoring has dropped from 14.0 ppg to 10.8 ppg. Part of it has been his deference to Marcus Denmon, who has emerged has a go-to scorer as a junior, but Kimmie's been in a bit of a shooting slump of late. Mike Anderson has made the move to bring him off the bench. Its worked, as English scored 16 last night against Texas Tech.

Regardless of what he is doing on the court, English is always going to be a BIAH favorite off it.

How many people do you know that can quote 19th century British poetry?