Copious Notes

The 2006 Indianapolis Colts produced one Super Bowl championship and two Christian music artists.

First on stage was punter Hunter Smith, who launched a duo called Connersvine with ­Indianapolis singer-songwriter Chris Wilson. Then, earlier this year, we got the solo debut from tight end Ben Utecht.

Ben Utecht takes a break at Cincinnati Bengals training camp in Georgetown last year. Photo by Al Behrman | AP.

“He was one of my close friends on the team, still is,” Utecht says, recalling that championship season with Smith. “That is something we definitely have in common. He had a guitar in his locker, and there’d be times he’d be writing in the locker room. So we had a chance to talk about music and write some stuff together.”

That locker room dynamic is gone now. Smith and Utecht have moved on from Indy. Smith now punts for the Washington Redskins, and in a few weeks, Utecht will arrive in Georgetown for training camp as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.

That will end a very different off-season for Utecht, who released his self-titled debut album in April and has performed and done interviews to promote it.

“God has kind of worked with me and opened the right doors at the right time,” Utecht says from his Cincinnati home.

In Indianapolis, Utecht became friends with gospel music legends Bill and Gloria Gaither, even recording at the Gaither studio and singing at some of the Gaither family “Homecoming” events. He also got to know Christian pop legend Sandi Patty, who he says was “like a mom to me in Indianapolis.” She ultimately made him the first artist on her Stylos Records label.

Even with that support, Utecht said he had some convincing to do in the music business.

Patty’s manager helped him get meetings in Nashville but warned him, “Athletes doing music is looked at as kind of a gimmick. And I had some people tell me flat out, ‘I was doing this meeting as a favor,’ but once they put the CD in, they realized I could sing, and I had trained.”

Utecht comes from a musical family.

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If you are not a SportsCenter watcher or just missed this last night, I thought I’d share Jeremy Schaap’s great look back at the Chicago White Sox’s infamous “Disco Demolition” promotion between games of a double headder on July 12, 2009. In short, a radio station sponsored an event where they blew up disco albums on the field between White Sox-Detroit Tigers games. Game 2 never happened because things got a little out of control — just image combining alcohol, low security, and a fervent hatred for a music genre. Filling out the story are great photos, video and comments.

China's National Aquatics Center and National Stadium illuminated by fireworks during Friday night's opening ceremonies for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Associated Press/Color China Photo. Below, the proposed design of the CenterPointe project in Lexington.

We've been treated to a lot of stunning images from Beijing over the weekend with the opening of the Olympic Games, including the exquisite opening ceremonies and the astonishing victory by the United States' men in the 400-meter relay, which I am so glad I stayed up to see last night.

Some of the most striking images we have been treated to over and over are new structures, built specifically for the games.

The National Stadium, aka the Bird's Nest, and the National Aquatics Center, aka the Water Cube, are the two structures we are seeing the most, and like most exceptional architecture, they never fail to fascinate.

The New York Times has a great interactive graphic showing some of the thought processes behind these structures as well as the new facility for China's state television network, the National Theater, and Airport Terminal. It's interesting to note the care that went into both tailoring these facilities to their purposes and making them visually stunning.

It's something for Lexington to contemplate as we discuss adding a new signature building to our skyline. While the primary argument about the downtown CentrePointe  development has been the demolition of what some regard as historic properties, there's also been a lot of discussion about the design of the proposed new structure — a combination of a four-star hotel, luxury condominiums, and shops — and what it will add or detract from Lexington's skyline. A July 22 Herald-Leader story offered up a trio of alternative designs from three teams invited by the University of Kentucky College of Design. They generally went over like a lead balloon with our readers.

But those ideas, as well as designs that can be seen in cities as close as Cincinnati, and the images we're seeing from China should prompt us and even CentrePointe's developers to think. The National Stadium and Aquatics Center, even that crazy state television building, will become signatures of Beijing's skyline, structures that will become synonymous with the city in years to come.

Here in Lexington, we of course have our postcard-perfect countryside. But what are and will be our urban signatures? What do we want them to say about us? And should we think about them a little bit more?