Anything to take a shot at ARod

I can’t lie. I’m a total sucker for year in review pieces, even if they’re the most half-assed 1000 words a columnist writes all year. Here’s my favorite snippet so far, courtesy of the Courant’s Jeff Jacobs, who continues to produce some of the best writing in the country despite working in an area that lives for college basketball and high school hockey.

“In 2006, ESPN started using a five-second delay at the Little League World Series after a 12-year-old Staten Island player was caught screaming, ‘Let's get a bleeping run.’ In 2006, A-Rod still couldn't drive in a bleeping run when it mattered.”

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Droppin' Knowledge: 12/26

• Terrell Owens continues to get killed for leading the league in dropped passes (a stat essentially created for him) despite also leading in touchdown receptions. I wonder if Mickey Mantle caught the same flack in 1958, when he led the American League in homeruns, strikeouts and tied for second among outfielders with eight errors.
  
  The obvious difference: The Mick didn't have to deal with print media and bloggers that would rather write 100 "fuck insert athlete here" columns than risk getting called out on a fluff piece. Not that anything about T.O. makes you feel fluffy.
  
  
• It’s becoming fair to start wondering if Donovan McNabb is as important to the Philadelphia Eagles as it appears. He’s missed extensive time in three of the last five years and aside from last year (when the whole team was a mess), his backup has come on to play as well, maybe better.
  
  
• If Ron Dayne still reminisces about his college days –and judging by his NFL career, he probably does- I wonder who he thinks is easier to run on, the Colts or Northwestern.
  
  
• The Tennessee Titans would probably be even money to make the NFC championship game.
  
  
• Jeff Suppan is now the highest paid player in the history of modern baseball to ever give up more than 240 hits and 30 homeruns in a single season. Seriously, I understand where the market is in the game right now, but Suppan will not fare well in Milwaukee. The guy misses fewer bats than Rosie O'Donnell does meals.
  
  
• See ya’ Randy Johnson and Carl Pavano. Welcome back Roger Clemens and Jimmy Key.
  
  
• Alleged steroid use plays a big role when evaluating the credentials for future Hall of Famers. Most think sending these cheaters to the Hall would be an embarrassment to the all-time greats before them.
  
  I say it’s just as saddening to know Johnson and Alex Rodriguez are going to coast to Cooperstown despite being considered mentally unable to play for a team because of the city they’re in.
  
  
• On an off night, I wonder how long it takes Gilbert Arenas to make 100 three pointers before the game.
  
  
• Five, maybe six teams in the Western Conference are going to get to 20 wins before any team in the East.
  
  
• More coming on UConn basketball this week, but the jury is still out on the young Huskies. I’ve never seen a softer schedule, but I’ve also never seen a Connecticut team this quick. It feels like they’re a year away, but they can win Big East this season.

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Now off the juice, Sosa doesn't look like much of a hero

Sammy Sosa told The Associated Press he feels like he did when he was a rookie as he began training in hopes of playing baseball again next year.

Chances are he also looks a lot more like he did 17 years ago than say, the late ‘90s and early part of this decade, when his “healthy teeth” resulted in the bloated body that helped him bash 243 homeruns over a four year period.

Seeing as how no one wanted to touch Barry Bonds this off season, Rafael Palmeiro is MIA and ESPN.com couldn’t even find Mark McGwire for a feature on him, I doubt teams are going to jump at the chance to sign a guy last seen grounding into more double plays (15) than hitting round-trippers (14).

Aside from the Ultimate Warrior, no athlete’s probable steroid use disappoints me more than Sosa’s. Here was this foreigner from a poor background who spoke in broken English trading homeruns with the absolute epitome of the American dream in McGwire. But instead of playing the Iron Sheik to McGwire’s Hulk Hogan, the mainstream fell in love with Sosa’s seemingly infectious smile.

I remember the year that little league team full of Dominican kids from New York (not the Danny Almonte team) imitated Sosa’s famous homerun leap practically every time they made contact in Williamsport. They weren’t even thought to be showboating. They were just cute kids paying homage to their hero.

Looking back, we should all feel a little embarrassed about supporting Sosa the way we did. At the very least, he broke the hearts of baseball lovers every where.

So I propose that a baseball do the same to him. Someone sign him to non-guaranteed contract. Let him work his ass off through spring training. Make him believe he’s got a shot.

Then, cut him.

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Olbermann has his Irvin moment

The calls to can Michael Irvin’s racist ass after his Tony Romo “must have some black in him” comment on the Dan Patrick show a few weeks ago were endless, but somehow I doubt anyone will mention the remarks Keith Olbermann made about Asians yesterday.

While talking about merchandise sales, Patrick asked Olbermann if he would be surprised that Allen Iverson’s jersey is more popular in China than Yao Ming’s, to which KO responded, “Yes…well I mean not everybody’s Yao Ming’s size.” The two immediately erupted with laughter.

Olbermann did cover his ass better than Irvin following his laughter, talking about how amusing it would be to see three foot tall children wearing a Ming sized jersey.

My point in brining this up certainly isn’t to condemn Olbermann, who is phenomenal on the radio and MSNBC, but rather to point out the inconsistencies of those who are quick to play the “he must be fired” card when someone makes a tasteless, yet amusing joke.

The truth is both comments were harmless, but they were very similar. Irvin made the same predictable joke the rest of the world makes whenever a white athlete can run fast or jump high, while KO and Patrick had a laugh about the universal Asian stereotype.

The difference is the latter won’t draw a second listen, while Irvin faced national scrutiny.

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The Nutmeg in a nutshell

• How this guy got his job back is beyond me. Jack Cochran will be coaching at New London again next season despite punching an opposing coach in the face last summer at a weight lifting competition. Aside from that minor infraction, another coach was arrested after getting into a fight with one of Cochran’s assistants two years ago following a game in which New London ran up the score heavily. Later, the state adopted a rule directly aimed at Cochran to prevent teams from running up the score. I guess winning supersedes character even at the high school level.
  
  
• Hillhouse boy’s basketball has now won 31 games in a row.
  
  
• Vickie Fulkerson’s excellent write-up on the Huskies of Honor.
  
  
• Former UConn women’s basketball star Diana Taurasi was named USA Basketball’s Female Athlete of the Year. Good for her. Taurasi is arguably the greatest women’s basketball player in history.

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Denver gets gully; Philly prays for Oden

I normally hate throwing the NBA and hip hop together because of the negative stereotype it generates, but when Allen Iverson gets traded, exceptions must be made.

Has there ever been three players on the same team more hood than Carmelo, J.R. Smith and now Iverson? Grab a big man from Cali and sign Master P to a 10 day and you’re talking about uniting a whole culture. These boys are going to break some records – namely most players on one team to sleep with Carmen Bryan. It’s just too bad they’re stuck in Denver, where ghetto is considered having just one NorthFace.

Anyway, it would be absurd to think the Nuggets didn’t improve immensely, and it’s hard to believe they won’t eventually pass the Phoenix Suns as the highest scoring team in the league. The question of how Iverson will react to having to share the ball is fair, but a bit skewed. Yes, he’s a gunner, but having barely average players around him (even on the best 76ers teams) played a large role into his propensity for shooting.

In Philly, the Sixers managed to get the three quarters for dollar they were seeking. Acquiring Andre Miller probably signifies the end of former UConn guard Kevin Ollie’s days playing 35 minutes a game. Miller is a talented player, but I think his point guard skills will be featured more if the team can win the lottery and draft Greg Oden. In the meantime, he’ll begin to understand more and more why Iverson enjoyed spending most of his time in Atlantic City. At least he had a chance to win down the shore.

The deal becomes a heist for Denver’s if the Sixers don’t get Oden however. If ever a team could fuck up having three first round picks, it’s Philly, who will probably end up with two tweeners and an offensively-challenged big man. Here’s a crazy stat that really means very little, but proves they can’t even get lucky in the draft: Of all their second selections in the Iverson era up until Kyle Korver (who they traded for), not one player is on an NBA roster today.

As for Iverson, I hope he gets to play for another championship. He’s too great a player to not win one. His leaving Philly is kind of upsetting. The Answer was in a class with the Jeter’s, Favre’s and Elmo’s of the world as stars who never switched teams in an era when moving around became commonplace.

For more:
NBA Roundtable on the Iverson Trade – NBA Fanhouse
Billy King: No Level of Incompetence that won't be tolerated – Complete Sports

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Thomas shouldn't be blamed for brawl

I’m not opposed to holding Isiah Thomas accountable for everything wrong with the Knicks, and maybe the world for that matter, but making him the fall guy for the fight at the Garden Saturday night is simply ridiculous. To continue playing the “if this was baseball” card, Thomas would be Lou Piniella – just following the unwritten rules of the game. When a player takes an extra base or pimps his homerun up a lot late, the next hitter gets drilled, almost always with the manager’s full endorsement.

Hard fouls are the exact same thing. J.R. Smith was trying to show up his opponents and he got drilled. It should have ended right there. Smith and Collins could have exchanged mama jokes and we’d be finished. The only reason anything got out of hand is because Nate Robinson wanted to prove he could have won the Golden Gloves in the midget division.

In baseball, Smith would be the one who disrespected the game while Thomas and Collins would just be honoring the code.

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An entertaining experiance

Since no one has the NFL network and I’m still not old enough to get into bars, some friends and I had to get a little creative to catch last night’s Cowboys/Falcons game. We opted for a place called Sports Haven, a 38,000 square foot establishment that offers degenerate recreational gamblers a place to bet on horse races, dog races, jai-alai, cock fights you name it.

While we had no money on the line other than our fantasy football playoffs, it was still interesting to see how a place like this operates. There were so many characters, most of whom smelled, and taking it all in was quite an experience.

If you’ve never been to a place like this or a horse track, here’s a glimpse of what you might run into.

Middle aged white guy
The lifers. I pictured anyone who fits this description as being named “Ace” or “Snake eyes.” There were lots of Aces last night. They never seemed to get too emotional over wins or losses, and they kind of faded into the background, betting slips in hand, knowing they’re a trifecta away from not having to sleep on the couch or in the car for a few days.

Middle aged black guy
There weren’t many, but they were far more entertaining than their fair skinned brethren. These guys wore their hearts on their sleeves, yellow strained white sleeves I might add, and you knew exactly how each race went for them. They were also into the game more than white guys. They were all Cowboys fans for what its worth.

Housewife
Much to my surprise, there was a number of older looking angry women in the building. I kept referring to them as Sandy, which says a lot about how I feel about women named Sandy. We had a betting machine right next to us and at one point Sandy was putting her money in to get a slip and she dropped some cash into the trash can under her. She proceeded to dive right in and grab her money, as though I was going to beat her to it. As a forewarning, stay away from these women. Anyone willing to gamble their children’s book fair money on the number seven horse isn’t someone you want to fuck with.

Good looking 20 something
Saw three of these guys, all happened to be Italian with blowouts and big vests on, and all were by themselves. They didn’t care for the racing and paid attention to the game, knowing Tony on Wooster Street was going to break their legs if the Cowboys didn’t cover.

Man wearing colorful dress shirt, dirty jeans and cowboy boots
Looked a lot like a Dale to me. He probably referred to people as Hoss. I saw this guy outside, but never in. He didn’t look like the type to bet the races, so I figured he was either a pick pocket or a pool shark. Either way, that’s a pretty impressive living.

Groups of three
We ran into a few of these groups. Most of the guys were between the ages of 18-26 from my guess, all just looking for something to do on a Saturday night. In person A, you had the guy that took the ponies (and himself) far too seriously. He’d hit the table when he lost and pump his fist when he made a little money. He said things like “I can’t catch a fuckin’ break tonight” or “Finally! I’m back baby.” Person B was the guy just happy to be there. He didn’t care about winning or losing and like me, was more interested in watching the people around him piss away their money. Person C was the mush of the group, and Person A let him know about it constantly. After “Ballin’ Baby” faltered down the stretch of a race, Person A yelled “You fuckin’ suck Greg. Stop fuckin’ with my horsies.” Oh yeah, Person C was always named Greg.

And last but not least…

Michael Irvin
Well, at least the splitting image of America’s favorite crack addict. In fact, one of my friends even said that if it wasn’t Irvin, it had to at least be that guy that owned the crack pipe he was found with last Thanksgiving. This guy was easily my favorite person of the night. He was dressed well, khakis and a nice shirt. He had this horrible looking Cowboys leather coast however. When it looked like Atlanta was going to run away with the game, he was slumped in his chair, screaming “No! No!” constantly. Then the Boys came back and he was turning around and making jokes with us and he started to get on his cell phone and yell at lots of people about his victory. The question of the night: Was he simply proud of his favorite team or did his excitement come from being able to make rent this month?

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Nate Robinson, forgetting he's 4'8, says bring it bitch

Let me begin by saying I could care less about what last night’s brawl at the Garden will do to the NBA’s already questionable image. You know? Fuck it. The fight had nothing to do with the league being too black, too hip hop or too ghetto, as it will almost definitely be perceived. It came out of frustration – the same thing that labels Roger Clemens a rattlesnake when he knocks a hitter down following a homerun.

The corporate sponsors aren’t going anywhere, the league’s not folding and I’m certainly not going to stop watching because a bunch of players couldn’t hold their tempers in check. They are human. If you’re actually contemplating giving up on basketball because of some brawl, then fuck you. You’re probably the same person who condemned baseball to hell after the strike and then came running back when McGwire and Sosa made the game enjoyable to watch again. Yeah, that worked out you stupid bitch.

There is more talent in the NBA right now than at anytime in the last 15 years and people don’t appreciate it because they can’t identify with the players? Because Peyton Manning really gives a shit that he’s on your fantasy team, right?



On to analyzing the brawl.

Mardy Collins becomes the aforementioned rattlesnake. After the game, some Knicks said they felt the Nuggets were running up the score and obviously Collins was intending to send a message. He knew he was wrong. He clearly wasn’t looking to fight, but J.R. Smith wanted someone to pay for the hard foul – and rightfully so.

Enter Nate Robinson, who was still trying to redeem himself from that dunk he tried two weeks ago. He jawed with Carmelo Anthony and then proceeded to go at with Smith. The two ended up in the crowd with Robinson on top of Smith. Let me take the time to question just how tough New Jersey is. A 6’6 guy from Newark is not supposed to be on the receiving end of punches thrown by 5’9 kid from Seattle.

Once that part ended, Anthony saw the perfect chance to gain back some street cred after the whole snitching ordeal. He pushed Channing Frye, who wanted nothing to do with the situation, to the floor. Then he decided to sucker punch Collins, who deserved to be hit, but not like that. I’m still debating on whether or not it was an open handed bitch smack that Anthony threw.

Then Anthony, being a lot more of a pussy than I thought, started to back up waiting for people to get in the middle so he didn’t have to actually square up with anyone. Meanwhile, Robinson was looking for round two with anyone, except ‘Melo. Notice that he ran at him, threw his fists in the air, and turned his back to go find a tag team partner. After, we see Jared Jeffries getting held back by everyone in the Garden followed by a shot of an out of breath Robinson, and just like that, the highlight is over.

In all, ten players were ejected and we now await the inevitable “This is bad for the NBA” column, while we hope for the “Man, Nate Robinson can really throw down” column.

The one column I can guarantee we don’t see? “Maybe the brawl will help rejuvenate the Knicks.”

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The Nutmeg in a nutshell: 12/17

Randy Edsall bought some time in his search for UConn’s future quarterback when he landed Junior college All-American Tyler Lorenzen the other day. Still, something doesn’t quite sit well with me about bringing in the quick fix. It’s so Eddie Sutton. Not to mention, there’s only two reasons a Division I athlete goes to Juco: A) He committed a felony not even The U could brush aside – IE double murder. B) He took the SAT by making funny shapes out of the bubbles. Either way, this can’t be good.

New Haven’s Chad Dawson is going to fight for the WBC light heavyweight title.

Yale senior offensive tackle Ed McCarthy was named to the Division I-AA All-American team.

The FCIAC football blog points us to a Stamford Advocate opinion column bashing the CIAC for having too many football classes and then, predictably, for instituting the 50 point rule.

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Top prep coach gets major job

Just how big is high school football in the state of Texas?

Big enough, apparently, for Division I-A North Texas to appoint the state’s top school boy coach as its head guy despite very little college coaching experience.

More telling: Nobody seems to think it was a bad idea. In a poll currently being run by the Dallas Morning News, 82 percent of voters think Southlake Carrol High’s Todd Dodge is a good hire. One person even wrote, “Good for UNT, but a step down for Dodge.” Even the writers think it’s a great idea.

Although bringing in a high school coach isn’t an unprecedented move (see Notre Dame’s failure with Gerry Faust) I’m pretty surprised more people aren’t making a big deal out of this. Prep sports have gone mainstream ever since LeBron James started producing better ratings than NBA games on ESPN; you’d think an Outside the Lines would be in the works discussing whether state championships could translate to D-I success.

To me, it’s seems hard to believe Dodge is going to turn UNT into a strong program. Of course that opinion comes from Connecticut, where we couldn’t fill a mini-van with D-I football players. He does have that going for him. He’s the best high school coach in the nation’s premier recruiting hot bed.

Without question, UNT is gambling. Now they’ll have to see if any of the state’s best are willing to follow suit and take the same chance on a rookie head coach.

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Droppin' Knowledge: 12/11

• It’s certainly too early to start labeling Mario Williams as Sam Bowie compared to Vince Young’s Jordan, but let’s go one further: Williams could turn out to be Reggie White and the Houston Texans might still regret picking him first in the 2006 NFL draft.
  
  Young and Reggie Bush look like they’re going to be that good.
  
  
• Thank god it was LT breaking the single season touchdown record and not Larry Johnson. Imagine explaining to someone 20 or 30 years from now what Johnson was doing in his scoring celebration. “Oh he was just throwin’ up the Roc, showin’ love to his homeboy Jigga.” And that hate-filled look on his face? “Well, his offensive coordinator was still white.”
  
  
  
• Before the season, if you told a Giants fan the team would need to win at Carolina to save its season, they’d probably tell you there’s a better chance of Tiki quitting than Big Blue going to the playoffs. Hmm.
  



• After spending all that money on J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo, why are the Red Sox hard-pressed to pay for their biggest need? Its one thing if they don’t want to risk a lot on Eric Gagne, but that rotation without Daisuke Matsuzaka is questionable at best.
  
  


• By the way: To calm people’s nerves about spending $50 million just to speak with the Japanese ace, officials made it sound like the team was invading Yankee territory; taking over the Far East as though it were Fordham Road. Will not signing Matsuzaka and letting him go to the Bronx next season turn him into a modern day, pitching version of Babe Ruth?
  
  Good luck finding a Big Papi jersey in Tokyo then.
  
  
  
• It’s too bad the Sixers didn’t trade Allen Iverson before the season. They would have had a chance to compete with the 1972/73 team for the worst record in NBA history.
  
  
  
• Question: Who would win in a fight - Zach Randolph or Stephen Jackson?
  



• Eddy Curry is averaging 24.8 ppg over his last nine games. Now imagine how much he’d score if Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford didn’t think about shooting every time they touch the ball.

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Philly braces itself for Red Sox-type problems

Over the next few days, the Philadelphia 76ers will begin to understand what the Boston Red Sox have been going through for three years with Manny Ramirez.

How do you trade your best player knowing that it’s going to be impossible to get face value back?

ESPN reports the Sixers are going to make good on Allen Iverson’s trade request after sending its star home Friday night and ruling him out for at least the next two games. All the annalists at the worldwide leader are saying he’s as good as gone, though their baseball people did the same with Manny last week.

It’s just not that easy. I understand the need to rebuild, but unless the team comes right out and tells the fans they’ve decided to tank the season and pray for Greg Oden, I don’t see how anyone is going to handle trading 31 points per game away for Randy Foye and Ricky Davis, as one article mentioned.

By the way, the Celtics tanked a season once in hopes of getting Tim Duncan. They wound up with Chauncey Billups for half of a season.

Maybe it just because I’ve lived through the Manny-era, but my gut tells me Iverson is going to stay in Philly for awhile, maybe even the rest of the season. Whether they’ll play him or not is a whole other question.

Say Your Good-byes to AI - Phrustrated Philly phan
Iverson Wants Out of Philly…Thank God! – Philly Sports Net
Arenas at 24, or AI at 24? - Though this doesn’t have much to do with AI being traded, Bullets Fever poses a great question.

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Shannon's a great hire; now give him a fair shot

When you consider the numbers – 47 percent of Division IA football players are African-American, but only six head coaches – Miami should be praised for hiring Randy Shannon. But make no mistake about it; this was not a victory in minority hiring.

The majority just didn’t want the job.

So after a nationwide search that turned into a nationwide joke, the school promoted from within, appointing Shannon to help rebuild a tarnished program. Unfortunately, he’s got a lot going against him, namely the character issues and time. I just hope that a few years from now, he doesn’t end up the scapegoat as opposed to the hero.

Had Miami brought in Steve Spurrier or Greg Schiano, the new coach wouldn’t have to deal with being a partial reason for the Hurricanes image problem. Shannon is. As a defensive coordinator, he helped recruit guys like Brandon Meriweather and Willie Cooper.

There’s strike one.

In terms of ability, the Hurricanes always have one of the best defenses in the country. It’s the offense, which averaged less than 20 points and amassed 314 total yards per game, that has struggled of late. Shannon’s ability to bring about changes is going to be scrutinized from day one – and rightfully so.

Strike two.

Time is not on his side and sadly, being African-American will give him even less margin for error. Remember Tyrone Willingham, the last black head coach to get a big time job?

It’s deplorable, but if history tells us anything, Shannon has about three years to win a National Title or strike out trying.

A Brown Boys Struggle – Miami Hurricanes Sun-Sentinel blog. (Omar Kelly is a phenomenal writer.)

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The Nutmeg in a nutshell: 12/9

Being from Connecticut, I’ve noticed there are few (as in 0) sports blogs that cover the state the way it deserves. Okay it probably doesn’t deserve to be covered at all, but I’m going to give it a whirl anyway. I will try and post stories that seem interesting from around the state and link to them, updating this feature a couple times a week. We’ll see how it goes. Tips are appreciated.

Amid rumors that he’s in the hunt for the Boston College job, Randy Edsall has been busy contacting the current Eagles recruits in hopes of bringing them to UConn. Which means they’ll end up at Rutgers.

Dave Solomon doubts Ivy League athletic directors are going to agree to have a conference tournament. He’s probably right. The remote chance of seeing a team other than Princeton or Penn in the NCAA tournament is scary.

Fairfield basketball is really bad right now.

In what could have been the greatest thing to happen in Connecticut youth sports since Chris Drury’s Trumbull team won the Little League World Series, the Waterbury Patriots lost in the junior midget Pop Warner Super Bowl.

The state champion New Canaan Rams had their banquet the other day. The FCIAC football blog covers it completely.

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Sox keep spending, believing

It wasn’t too long ago that none of this seemed possible. Back when the key free agent signings were guys named Offerman and Lewis. Back when it was unheard to change the starting Shortstop four years in a row. Back when you had to be the right handed Sandy Koufax to get paid big bucks in Boston.

Back when finishing second was plenty.

Not these Red Sox. Last night, the team continued its aggressive, money is no object off-season by agreeing to terms with Right Fielder J.D. Drew and Shortstop Julio Lugo - two of the top position players available this winter. Combined, the duo will be paid $106 million over the course of their respective contracts. Add that to the money they still have to invest in Daisuke Matsuzaka and you’re talking about roughly what it cost to build PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

The Sox may have sacrificed a little bit of character (for Drew) and defense (for Lugo) to add some pop to the lineup, but I think it’s a fair tradeoff. Character will come with wins and Lugo should hit enough to make up for the 25 errors he’s going to make.

People are making Drew out to be a malcontent that refuses to play in any pain, but that might be a stretch. He gets a bad rap because Scott Boras had him re-enter the draft when he couldn’t agree to terms with Philadelphia (you’ll remember they threw batteries at him when he made it to the bigs). He has been injured a lot, but many of them can be chalked up to bad luck. He’s broke two bones when being hit by pitches, he hurt his knee in a collision with a first baseman, and he once went to the DL after falling in the dugout.

It’s strange though. Baseball Reference says the player most comparable to him is the guy he’s replacing, Trot Nixon. But when I think of the two, Drew seems like such an obvious improvement. It will be interesting to see how he handles hitting fourth if the Sox trade Manny. Nobody’s filling those shoes.

In Lugo, the team now has its best hitting Shortstop since Nomar (though the two aren’t comparable) and a player that will make a ton of great plays, but might screw up a few of the routine ones. If the rest of the defense can play even close to the way it did last year, then he’ll be an overall upgrade over Alex Gonzalez.

It’s actually quite possible that none of the three marquee players (assuming Matsuzaka signs) pan out in Boston -all of them have potential flaws- but the fact that the team is going out and landing everyone they targeted says that a third place finish will not be tolerated.

And finishing second isn’t enough either.

Red Sox Open Checkbook… Sign Free Agents Drew and Lugo – SOX1FAN

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The Nutmeg in a nutshell

Being from Connecticut, I’ve noticed there are few (as in 0) sports blogs that cover the state the way it deserves. Okay it probably doesn’t deserve to be covered at all, but I’m going to give it a whirl anyway. I will try and post stories that seem interesting from around the state and link to them, updating this feature a couple times a week. We’ll see how it goes. Tips are appreciated.

Mike Anthony from the Hartford Courant writes that 6’11 Jonathan Mandeldove could see his playing time increase, especially when UConn starts to play better teams. Interesting that Calhoun says Stanley Robinson -one of the team’s top recruits- could end up getting “squeezed.”

Jim Fuller from the New Haven Register has a nice piece on the innaugual UConn Women Huskies of Honor ceremony getting ready to take place.

If an ECAC hockey preview doesn’t get you all hot and bothered, I’m not sure what will.

What happens to football players from Connecticut between the time they play little league and the time they get to high school? Given the success at younger ages, you’d think we’d see more kids going to big name schools. Three teams at three different Pop Warner levels advanced to the nationals in Florida. Unfortunately, only the Waterbury Patrits Jr. Midgets are still alive, but that’s still a huge achievement.

Waterbury dreams of being West Haven. Well, who doesn’t?

In Monday’s Journal Inquirer, John F. Silver gave his assessment on where UConn football stands and where it’s going. I'm not sure what it is about possibly having a quarterback named Billy Bob that excites me.

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Droppin’ Knowledge

• Talk about a double standard. Those complaining about Michigan getting jumped in the BCS for being idle the last two weeks have a point. But they’re the same people that felt it was absolutely imperative Florida be punished in the standings for beating up lowly Western Carolina a few weeks ago.

• You can bank on two rule changes for next year’s BCS. 1) You must win your conference in order to play in the National Championship game. In a sport where a team needs to be as close to perfect as possible, at least winning your conference seems like a fair pre-requisite. 2) More than two teams from the same conference can be eligible for the BCS.
  
  
• That brings us to the team most screwed in 2006: Wisconsin. The Badgers fell victim to the absurd two team maximum rule, which essentially makes it possible for Notre Dame to get dismantled twice a year and still play in a major bowl.
  
  
• Vince Young is about to become the next unstoppable player in Madden. He really is the taller version of Michael Vick, which makes all the difference in the world. Rather than being an easier target to hit like many people thought, his height allows him to do so much more than Vick.
  
  
• Last week, my favorite blog questioned why Tom Coughlin continues to get a pass for being a shitty head coach. Get ready for everyone in New York to get behind that notion now. Coughlin continued to his most mind-boggling play calling during yesterday’s loss to Dallas, namely that stupid stretch play on fourth-and-1 with Brandon Jacobs. Here’s an easy prediction: Coughlin follows Tiki and Strahan’s lead and goes completely insane on someone from the media the media. Oooh, I hope it’s Mike Francesa.
  
  
• What do New England, Baltimore, Indy, San Diego, Denver, the Giants, Chicago and Seattle have in common? At some point this season, they’ve all been considered the favorite to win the Super Bowl. After tonight, Carolina joins that list.
  
  
• Considering how bad the NBA Eastern Conference is, if the Knicks play .500 ball for the rest of the season, they’ll probably make the playoffs.
  
  
• College basketball’s defending national champions are 0-2 against teams from major conferences. Thank god for the North Florida’s of the world.

• Out on a limb: One out of Butler or Wichita St. heads to the NCAA tournament undefeated.

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All that for the Texas Bowl

The state of New Jersey (and of course NYC) will forever remember the night Rutgers shocked Louisville. Unfortunately, they’ll also remember the failures that followed.

A devastating triple overtime loss last night in West Virginia means the Scarlet Knights will not be headed to Miami for the Orange Bowl. Instead, while U of L helps the Big East win its second straight BCS game, the Knights are off to Houston to play a bottom tier Big 12 team still to be determined.

Considering how far the Knights have come, it’s hard to label them as choke artists. But the shoe might fit. As it turned out, last night should have meant nothing. If they didn’t lose to Cincinnati, Rutgers would have punched its ticket last weekend following the Mountaineers loss to South Florida. But they did. So then they found themselves in position to win in Morgantown, up three with under four minutes to play. But they didn’t.

Now they have only themselves to blame for everything that follows.

It’s very possible that falling short of the BCS will lead to Greg Schiano taking the job at Miami. That school had a down year. Rutgers had a dream season. But it’s hard to tell the difference between the two when you look at their respective bowl games.

Say they lose in the Texas Bowl. How much different will this season be than last? You can’t keep stealing recruits from the top schools when you’re losing pre-New Year’s day post season games.

Rutgers can take solace in one thing. At least Florida won. Had the Gators lost, all the teams that needed to lose for an unbeaten Scarlet Knights team to even have a chance at playing Ohio State would have.

So hey, it could have been much worse.

On the Banks – My Two Cents (Paying homage to Rutgers season.)

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Rounding up

• Somewhere between USC’s loss and Florida’s quick start in the SEC Championship game, a crazy thought suddenly started to go through people’s heads. The Gators might actually deserve to play for the National Title. What a difference a day makes.
  
  
• Greg Oden took his first steps to the Hall of Fame yesterday, going for 14 and 10 (and 5 blocks) on Valparaiso. Three things: 1) Just as I’d heard, he looks very similar to Grandpa LeBron from the commercials. 2) Thad Matta should be fired if Ohio State doesn’t win the national title. 3) I wonder how the NBA feels about Oden and the rest of the young big men about to take over the game. Surely Oden, Yao, Howard, Okafor, Thabeet, Bynum and a few others are going to get in the way of the flashy smaller players.
  
  
• Straight cash homey. Alexander Ovechkin is going to be fined at least $100 for laying out some other ice skater.
  
  
• Bear with me now because this could be fun. Yesterday, Kansas lost to DePaul, who earlier in the season lost to Northwestern, who lost to Cornell, who lost to Binghamton, who lost to Colgate, who lost to Harvard. The Jayhawks have also lost to Oral Roberts, who lost to Akron, who lost Arkansas-Little Rock, who lost to the Centenary Gentlemen, who lost to Northwestern State. What does that all mean? Not much, but fuck Kansas.

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Gators getting raw deal

Update: What a silly post this turned out to be. You gotta love college football.

Florida has a chance to win the Southeastern Conference Championship tonight.

Yeah, but so what?

Been there, done that. Five times. The Gators know the only real championship game in college football will be played Jan. 8, and no matter what happens in the Georgia Dome this evening, their season won’t make it that far into the new year.

Despite having the same amount of losses as Southern Cal and Michigan, it seems like most people are completely content with the idea of the Trojans playing themselves into the BCS Championship game opposite Ohio State or the Wolverines getting their rematch on neutral grounds. No one has love for the Gators.

Sure it’s disenchanting to hear Urban Meyer lobby for his team like he’s still coaching a school no one watches. And no, they probably can’t beat the Buckeyes. But disliking a coach’s actions or just assuming a team is a bad fit for the title game should never play into one’s vote when it comes to the national rankings. That’s what has happened in Florida’s case.

It used to be that losing early hurts a team less than, oh say, losing its final game of the regular season. Not this year. The Gators lost to Auburn two weeks before USC lost to unranked Oregon State and five weeks before Michigan dropped its last game. Somehow, they were still jumped by the Trojans while the Wolverines stayed ahead of them the whole time. All because the voters have inexplicably decided they can’t do as well against the Buckeyes as their counterparts.

A lot of the media points at many of Florida’s games being close as a way of deeming them unworthy. Apparently winning by a few points isn’t as valuable as losing by a few.

It’s hard to understand what exactly they’ve done wrong. It’s certainly not about who they lost to. Auburn is far better than Oregon State. Then again, it’s not about who they beat either. LSU and Tennessee are probably better than Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Assuming things play out as expected and both Florida and USC win today, people might start calling the Gators’ season a blessing in disguise.

After all, this year more than any other suggests a four team playoff would work better than a “plus one” game or an eight team tournament. They won’t get their crack at Ohio State, but they’ll have their SEC title, win the Sugar Bowl and maybe one day be remembered as the team that helped destroy the evil BCS.

You can bet on what Meyer and his team will be thinking.

“Yeah, but so what?”

Let’s stick it to them all – Saurian Sagacity
Gators had better win big or shut up – SC Football (the go to USC football blog)

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