Selig Seeks Help in Understanding the Obvious

George Mitchell better have his reading glasses handy and a nice spot on the sofa prepared.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has asked the former Senate majority leader to help investigate steroid use in baseball, particularly by Barry Bonds. Basically, Selig is going to hand Mitchell a couple of books and have him decide which players were on the juice.

If he has time, maybe Mitchell will analyze a few before (presumed steroid use) and after (presumed steroid use) pictures of some players.

Once Mitchell finishes reading rubbish written by a guy that once let a ball bounce off his head for a homerun and an illegally obtained grand jury testimony, he will up with this astute observation:

Many players cheated. How many is unclear. There’s a good chance Bonds would drink horse blood if he thought it would help him hit more homeruns than Mark McGwire.

Then what? Forget the whole “best interests of baseball” thing. Selig can’t just penalize Bonds because he was the best at cheating. There’s no way one guy can be suspended when there might be 400 other users still playing.

That’s why this investigation is such a sham. It’s just Selig trying to protect a sport that has already been permanently scarred. The final conclusion will have something to do with inconclusive evidence because none of the accused ever tested positive.

Face it. Until a player admits to using, there is nothing baseball can do.

Mitchell to head steroid investigation - ESPN

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Tavarez, Farnsworth Could Push Rivalry to Whole New Level

In the professional sports pecking order of brawling ability, baseball players fall somewhere ahead of curlers but far behind any of the real sports. They barely pack a decent push, let alone a punch.

Of course, there are exceptions and now two of them have been thrown into the most heated rivalry in all of sports, Red Sox and Yankees.

With Julian Tavarez on the Sox and Kyle Farnsworth in pinstripes, the opportunities for the best post-Zimmer on his ass brawl between the two teams seem endless. The remote possibility of watching two pitchers that can throw down going at it is reason enough to tune in.

I can’t tell you how much I hope we see this happen this year. Picture the scene. A-Rod yelling at Varitek, Wells fraternizing with Jeter, Manny thumb wrestling Damon, and two warriors battling to the death in the middle.

The best part is Tavarez and Farnsworth have two very contrasting styles that could help everyone decide the age old question: Street fighter or Wrestler?

Tavarez is the former. Just yesterday he threw a nice sucker-haymaker at Tampa Bay’s Joey Gathright, while Gathright was on one knee. The punch knocked his helmet off but no further damage was done.

When Major League Baseball suspends him, it will be the fourth time he has been disciplined for fighting. He has also been suspended for cheating.

In 2001, the Giants’ Russ Davis charged at Tavarez and was greeted with a Jackie Chan-esque kick and was suspended and forced to take sensitivity classes. Sometime after the suspension, Tavarez pointed out that all Giants fans were gay.

The pitcher has gone at it with the Devil Rays before and has fought Mike Matheny. Apparently, Tavarez also has an affinity for head hunting, though he usually misses. Among those he has tried to kill are Matheny and the Houston Astros’ Jeff Bagwell.

Farnsworth happens to beat more of a tackle, take it to the ground and choke you out type of guy. He would probably do well in the UFC.

Forget that he has thrown 101 MPH; Farnsworth is known for laying out Cincinnati Reds’ pitcher Paul Wilson in 2003. A highlight that anyone who watches ESPN has seen 20 times, Farnsworth slowly walked toward the charging Wilson and proceeded to treat him the way Ray Lewis might treat a high schooler going across the middle. Last season, he did the same to the much smaller Kansas City Royals’ pitcher Jeremy Affeldt.

So who wins?
I’m taking Tavarez. He has actually fought athletes, not just pitchers the way Farnsworth has done. It would be very close. Obviously, if Farnsworth takes it to the ground, my pick might be in trouble. If that happened, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Farnsworth take a little pine tar to the face, blinding him just enough for Tavarez to judo chop his way to victory.

Tavarez' tantrums – Boston Globe
Kyle Farnsworth - Wikipedia

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15 Minutes of Fame for those Who Picked Mason

If George Mason is following college basketball, he is probably cursing in old-English at Russell Pleasant.

Pleasant is one of just four people that picked the entire final four correctly in ESPN’s pool of three million. How did he do it? He thought George Mason University was George Washington University. If you know your history, the two founding fathers did not end their lives on good terms.

I’m not sure where to classify Pleasant. While obviously being a very luck guy, you have to either know your college basketball or pick teams based on colors to get this year’s final four right. Because he really thought he was picking GWU, I’ll have to consider him the latter.

While I do think this a pretty interesting story, I can’t say I’m rooting for him.

He’s a huge sports fan that roots for teams like Nebraska football and UCLA basketball. He is from Nebraska but I’m going to go out on a limb and assume he’s one “those” fans. I’m sure he’s a Cowboys, Celtics and either Cardinals or Yankees guy.

The guy I want to see win is the one that put $20 on George Mason to win the national title before the tournament. At 400-1 odds on Pinnacle Sports, he could earn a very nice pay out.

I’m sure his story is sketchy too. Maybe he put a few bucks on every mid-major, or he is a crazy historian that feels George Mason deserves more fame, or he went to GMU and saw more than one basketball game while attending.

Too be honest, I'll be bitter no matter who wins because I didn't make a dumb mistake or go to George Mason, and I definitely don't like green and yellow.

But god do I wish I did.

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Somehow, Connecticut’s Season was a Disappointment

Forgive my disenchantment, but I hate this version of Cinderella.

When Denham Brown’s lay up attempt at the end of regulation hung on the rim and went in, I immediately thought UConn, despite all its recent success, was a team of destiny. They didn’t even belong in the final eight. They should have lost to Washington. They should have lost to Albany and Kentucky last weekend.

But they didn’t.

So now in overtime of the regional final, the Huskies were going to start playing. For the time in weeks, they were going to put it altogether. They were going to win.

But they didn’t.

Instead, George Mason played better in the extra period than it played all game. The amazing run that saw one of the last teams in the field of 65 defeat the past two national champions continued for the Patriots and ended for the most talented UConn team ever.

Most talented? Easily. The best? Not even in the top five.

This was on one of the first teams at Connecticut that didn’t respond well to Jim Calhoun’s antics. You have to almost be mentally invincible to play for a tyrant like him, and most of the kids who show up in Storrs are or learn to be.

But this team didn’t.

Rudy Gay, who had one of the best games of his career in what was probably his last, was not like the stars before him. He was missing the Ben Gordon, or Rip Hamilton or Ray Allen in him.

Josh Boone couldn’t handle Calhoun. Even the guys that had been there for four years hardly adjusted to his harsh demeanor.

Here was a group that had won everything. From pre-season to post, the last three years were pretty successful. They had been through it all and next year will most likely be unrecognizable by the average fan. This was a team that was beyond prepared for this season. They were supposed to know what it takes to win.

Yesterday, unfortunately, they didn’t.

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The Difference Between UConn and Duke

Rudy Gay is supposed to be Connecticut’s best player. He’s supposed to be one of the best players in the country. A potential top pick in the NBA draft and millions of dollars await him when he leaves school. The kid’s a stud.

That stud scored 1 point in the first half last night. His entire game totals of three rebounds and six turnovers show that he accounted for more points for the other Huskies than he did for UConn.

And they still won.

Connecticut used a gutsy 26 point performance from Marcus Williams and got a heroic effort from Rashaad Anderson to advance within one win of the final four. Only eleven seed George Mason stands in the way now.

That’s why they are going to win the national title. They have a point guard who wants every shot and takes it to the basket better than any small player in the county and a sharpshooter that already knows what it takes to be a champion. Forget not having a go to guy. They have two.

It just so happens that their best player isn’t one of them.

Rashington, D.C. – Hartford Courant

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MLS: Everyone Laugh At Us

Major League Soccer has decided that embarrassing itself in its All Star game might be beneficial to the development of American soccer.

The league invited European super power Chelsea to play against its best players in the event, marking the third time in four years an international club would do so.

The difference: One of those teams was Fulham, a middle of the pack at best team in the English Premier League. The other was CD Guadalajara who –while very popular– would struggle against the Red Bulls.

This is Chelsea. The defending EPL champions. The team that is going to comfortably win it again this year. One of the best teams in the world. We’re talking Manchester United, Real Madrid quality, a team regular Americans have actually heard of.

I don’t even understand why the MLS has an All Star game, but the fact they desire to play club teams is just ridiculous. If they win, it’s “well obviously, you had players from 12 countries.” If they lose, the league is a disgrace.

MLS has plenty of problems that they cannot help. Soccer doesn’t appeal to Americans. The talent is not top notch. They really struggle with naming teams. You learn to deal with it.

But letting a club from England beat up on them is completely avoidable.

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Onslaught of Sosa Continues

For a guy that it seems no team wants to touch, Sammy Sosa still finds a lot of time to be in the news.

A week after the Chicago Tribune wrote two pieces on Turk Wendell’s feelings on Sosa and the steroid era in baseball, Mark Grace chose to go on Sporting News Radio and do the same.

Grace, who was a teammate of Sosa’s for eight years, called guys like Sammy, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds just a few of the obvious steroid abuses. He said there were many others that used and that he was offered them many times. When asked if he would vote for Sosa to enter the Hall of Fame, he replied with a simple “no.”

''There's a lot of guys that are not playing anymore, that are not even good players anymore, ever since they started testing for steroids. There's a lot of guys, just all of a sudden their recovery time is a little more than it used to be."

It was one thing for Wendell to go out and blast a bunch of guys that could rip him around the park opposite handed without the juice. But Grace doing it is different. He saw the entire game evolve from players who drank away their pain at the bar into super human monsters that injected themselves with anything they could get their hands on.

I’ll bet he knew the exact moment Sosa started using. Hell, I’ll bet he even saw him doing it.

I think this is just the start of ex-players throwing names of steroid users to the media. I don’t know how right it actually is for them to do so, especially because I feel like a lot of guys might just be upset they were pushed out of the game by the stronger athlete, but this might have to be the way it gets done.

Grace says Sosa's bulk had to be artificial – Chicago Sun Times

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Check It Out: Holy Upsets!

A one seed may never lose in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament, but at least it happened in one sport. Top seeded Minnesota was shocked by Holy Cross to become the first one to ever lose to a four seed in the opening round of the NCAA hockey tournament. To give a little glimpse of how big the upset was, the other one seed that played Friday, Boston University, won 9-2.

Kenny Rogers is going to avoid any jail time, community service or an actual fine for beating up a camera man by attending anger management classes. Rogers, a hick, will get four months to finish controlling his rage. It’s hard for me to think he didn’t come out the winner here.

Don’t worry. The authors and publishers of “Game of Shadows” are still going to get filthy rich off of Barry Bonds’ alleged steroid use. A judge denied the request of Bonds’ attorneys to seize profits from the book for no other reason than wanting to see the cheater suffer.

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I'll Miss J.J. Redick

I think I’m in the majority when I say that I’ve been waiting for this day for four years. Now that it’s here, I have no idea what to do with myself.

The truth is now that J.J. Redick’s college career has come to an end, we have no one to really and truly hate. Sure there’s always going to be those players that you dislike, but it’s going to be hard to replace Redick hate. He’s on that Barry Bonds level, only he never cheated or disgraced his sport. That might make this hate worse.

Somehow, someway, I think I’m going to miss him.

I’ll miss how J.J. made pulling up for three while on a four on one fast break an example of fundamental execution. If anyone else does it, they get a “that’s what’s wrong with today’s game” from the announcers.

I’ll miss the incessant whining to officials. Few players have ever cried the way did.

I’ll miss how everyone accused the referees of cheating for him. If he wasn’t a 90 percent free-throw shooter, I don’t think anyone would care.

I’ll miss imagining what he said to the other players right after the mini-altercations he seemed to always get into. You know, right when someone on television was calling him a classy guy for taking the higher road.

I’ll miss that cocky, arrogant, what I’d give to sucker punch face of his.

I’ll miss swearing to god he gets that attitude from his mother because I hate seeing her face on television.

I’ll especially miss him when Duke loses. Whenever that happened, you could always count on a 4 for 18 from Redick.

I’ll miss the “I hate J.J. Redick” conversation that randomly comes up in July on the beach with your friends.

I’ll miss hearing Dick Vitale mention his name 23 times during a game between two west coast teams.

I’ll miss the heckling. I only vaguely remember Christian Laettner but there is no way he got it from the fans the way Redick did.

I’ll miss Redick coming off a screen and throwing up 25 footers. Never has an offense been completely designed to the point where it lived and died off such a low percentage shot.

I’ll miss knowing he was going to choke against North Carolina.

I’ll miss knowing that despite having his Facebook filled with death threats, he was going to torch Maryland.

When it comes down to it, we all have a Redick memory. The more you hated him, the more you have. All I can say is Josh McRoberts has some huge shoes to fill.

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Steroids Won't Go Away

Yankee fans hate Barry Bonds. It will be interesting see how they react toward two of their own in a few weeks.

Apparently, “Game of Shadows,” the new book that will ruin what’s left of Bonds’ reputation also reports on the steroid use of Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi.

According to the book, Sheffield was injected with testosterone and human growth hormone, along with using the “cream” and the “clear” in 2002. He and Bonds trained together for a short time before having a falling out.

I can only imagine the problems they must have had with each other. Two literally and figuratively big headed individuals suffering “roid rages” in each other’s company must be a site to see.

Giambi became affiliated with BALCO because Bonds teased him about the steroids he was using. Bonds wanted him to know that while he was clearly the better ballplayer, he was also a superior cheater.

I can’t wait to see how fans on the east coast treat Sheffield and Giambi. People are quick to criticize Bonds and say all of his records should be taken away, but what should happen to the two Yankees?

As everyone already knows, the last fifteen years are going to be a strange period to handle in terms of baseball history. Call me cynical but I can’t say that anyone who played during this time did not cheat. That goes for the good guys like Jeter, the fat guys like Wells, and the too dumb to tie their own shoes guys like Manny.

The whole era is tainted and unfortunately, the careers of non-cheaters will be tarnished as well.
Two Yankees Linked to Balco in Book About Bonds – NY Times
Book: BALCO founder encouraged athletes to keep quiet about steroids - Yahoo

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Weighing the Options: Stay Free or Go to the Super Bowl

Talk about carpe diem.

Tank Carter, the brother of Pittsburgh Steelers’ safety Tyrone Carter, was sentenced to five years in prison after driving with a revoked license and then not reporting to prison the day he was supposed to.

Instead Carter, who was expected to spend just six months behind bars, decided he would rather get the chance to go to the Super Bowl if the Steelers made it that far. Fortunately they did or his whole fugitive experience might have been worthless.

After the game, Tank even got to party with Snoop Dogg.

Nothing vindicates going to jail like popping bottles of Cristal after the Super Bowl with a guy that made a whole generation of kids end all of their words with “izzle.”

Still, Carter maintains he would not change anything even if he could.

"Even knowing what I know now, I would do it again. It was the greatest game in my life."

Four people I'd consider giving up five years of my life to hang with.

1. Suge Knight: Based solely on the possibility of him hanging a man off of a balcony to collect money.
2. Nate Dogg: The second best human named dogg. If his life is anything like the one he describes in the chorus’ of songs, those five years would be well worth it.
3. Ultimate Warrior: On the off chance I’d find out just where “parts unknown” actually is.
4. Charlie Sheen: The guy spent more money on sex then most people will ever see. He had Heidi Fleiss on speed dial. Charlie definitely knows how to have a good time.

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Women’s Tennis is Not Fake

If those return serve moans tend to get you hot, you better start watching tennis by yourself.

In an attempt to bring reality TV into women’s tennis, the WTA announced that it would be adding mid-match interviews, instant replay and… easy boys… enhanced sound to the telecast of upcoming events.

See I always though that sport was the definition of reality television. You know, anything can happen, no scripts, unpredictable endings. All that good stuff. But I was obviously wrong.

Reality TV is about men getting to see a sweaty Maria Sharapova speak in sexy broken English about her shaky backhand. And that extra audio, whew. Guys better turn down the volume or their moms…err wives are going to think that’s softcore porn on the television.

No word yet on whether or not women who watch the men’s game for similar perverted reasons will be blessed with the same improved television features.

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The Bitterness Never Ends With Turk Wendell

And here I was thinking that only Jim Bouton and Jose Canseco could expose the truth of what’s going on inside baseball’s sacred locker rooms.

For the second time in a week, the Chicago Daily Herald published a story focusing on the opinions of what now appears to be a very disgruntled former middle reliever.

This time, Turk Wendell –through Barry Rozner- enlightened the public on the bat corking epidemic in baseball, amphetamines and of course, steroids.

Wendell explained that the corking of one’s bat is becoming a lot more rampant than many think and that he is shocked that baseball has not looked into it more. He also went on about the use of “greenies” and said that baseball’s banning of these uppers is going to cut down on the players going out at night. Somehow, I doubt that.

Then he said that he once looked around a locker room and guessed that 18 of the 25 present players had used some type of steroid.

That’s a staggering number.

My question is why is that Turk Wendell decided to break the ballplayer code of silence? Canseco had a reason. He felt blackballed by the owners. He needed the money. He likes to be in the spotlight. But Wendell? He had a quietly effective career, nothing special. He never got in trouble. And then he retired. End of story.

I guess he did this because he loves baseball and wants the game to be cleaned up. I hope that’s what it was.

Either that or he’s really pissed that he stopped being able to get an out in the seventh inning of an eight run game.

Finally, Turk Wendell Addresses Steroids

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When Women Act Like Foolish Men...

They get praised on SportsCenter.

Never mind the fact that Tennessee has been the face of women’s basketball for the last twenty years. Never mind that the Tennessee/UConn rivalry has inspired just as many girls as USA women’s soccer to begin playing sports. Nope, that means nothing.

But now that a girl can embarrass her clearly inferior opponents by dunking and sticking her tongue out, women’s basketball has officially made it. I mean holy freakin’ ratings! Maybe now the sport can finally battle Bass Masters for viewer supremacy.

Seriously, Candace Parker is the best player on one of the best teams in the country. She shouldn’t have to be featured on ESPN because she barely slammed down against fifteenth seeded Army. Commend Parker for averaging 17 and 8 this season and being the best defender on her team. I think those statistics are a little more important than two dunks.

The women’s game is more about teamwork, passing and the ability to shoot. It’s a fundamental game. The people who do watch women’s basketball don’t tune in to see dunks and those who don’t are not going to start because some girl can play –quite awkwardly I must say- above the rim.

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Oh So Sweet

Oh how quick it goes. Now that the best four day stretch of the year is over, we are now forced to settle with better basketball and less chance of upset. Of the sixteen teams left, it appears to me like six have a realistic shot at winning the national title.

Connecticut
The Huskies seem to be following the same path they went down during their previous two title runs in 1999 and 2004. In both cases, they ran into a far weaker opponent in the elite eight (’99-Gonzaga, ’04-Alabama) and this year will be no different. If they get past Washington on Friday, they’ll meet either Wichita State or George Mason in the regional final. At this point, UConn’s the favorite.

Duke
After basically having a week off, Duke will faces the toughest road of all the No. 1 seeds to make it to the final four. I have thought all year that Duke would have serious match up problems with Connecticut and LSU is the team in the tournament that most resembles the Huskies. I don’t like the Blue Devils to win both games next week, but you can never count them out.

Texas
Like Duke, the Longhorns were flat out better than the teams they played in the first two rounds. If they can get out and defend the perimeter against West Virginia, they’ll get their chance to enact revenge on the Blue Devils. Of course, stopping the Mountaineers from hitting the three is easier said than done.

Memphis
The Tigers will end Bradley’s dream pretty quick next week, setting up a regional final with UCLA. However, we might have a preview of what will happen to this team in Kansas and North Carolina this weekend. Lack of experience will certainly hurt.

Villanova
Boston College is going to kill the Wildcats on the boards but Nova is much quicker. The winner of this game is going to the final four.

UCLA
UCLA impressed me more than any other team this weekend. The game with Alabama was close but the Bruins controlled most of the game. I think they’ll hand it to Gonzaga and the Oakland regional final with Memphis could be for the national title.

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Cuba to World: Screw All Your Riches and Freedom

Because I don’t mind being completely cliché, I’ll say it. Cuba is pulling off a miracle at the World Baseball Classic. Too bad nobody is watching.

The Cubans continued their stunning run in the tournament by advancing to Monday’s championship game with a 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic. They’ll meet Japan, who defeated previously unbeaten Korea in the other semifinal.

In order to draw more attention to the final game, I wouldn’t be surprised if ESPN tried to build this up as baseball’s version of the “miracle on ice,” only without the Americans and with communism toppling the free world.

The description might actually be fitting.

This is a team that, unlike any other country in the WBC, has no player that is affiliated with professional baseball in the United States. And while Cuba has succeeded on an international level in the past, this is hardly the same team that won Olympic gold. They actually designed the team around players they thought would not defect.

It was one thing for them to beat Venezuela last week. That team was the Caribbean champion and had a roster stacked with major leaguers. But for Cuba to take down the Dominicans was absolutely shocking. That lineup featurued major league all stars Miguel Tejada, Albert Puljos, Davis Ortiz, Adrian Beltre and the starting pitcher, Bartolo Colon, was the defending American League Cy Young.

Frankly, Cuba didn’t belong on the field with that team. If they played 99 more times, it’s possible the Dominicans would win every game.

Fortunately, they only played once.

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Finally, Turk Wendell Addresses Steroids

If a closer in baseball is equivalent to a kicker in football, a middle reliever shares about the same responsibility as a holder. Just don’t screw up to the point where your mistake can’t be fixed. So when a guy like that starts calling out other players, you have to take it with a grain of salt.

Especially when that guy is Turk Wendell.

Wendell, who retired last season, criticized the steroid era in baseball and said that there is still much more that needs to come out about the whole generation. He even had some choice words about his former Chicago Cubs teammate Sammy Sosa.

“Here’s a guy (Sosa) who goes from 30 homers to 60 homers every year, and just as fast he’s out of baseball. Can’t get a job. How’s that work?”

Two years ago, Wendell said through the media that it was obvious Barry Bonds had used steroids and the two almost got into a fight in a locker room over the comments. Wendell said that Bonds told him that if he had a problem to come say it to his face and he did. Surprisingly, Bonds did not throw him through a wall.

I always find it funny when someone like Turk Wendell states his opinions to the media. Don’t get me wrong, he has every right to. He did play the game. But why is it always a guy more famous for the animal claws he wore around his neck than anything he ever did on the field that goes off on a wild tirade.

Just once I’d like to hear Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman exclaim, “Yeah, all those guys were juicing, but they still couldn’t touch me. That just proves how great I am.”

Wendell says steroid issue here to stay – Chicago Daily Herald

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He Did All He Could, But Team USA Just Wasn't Good Enough

Bob Davidson deserves a Medal of Honor for everything he did to help his country this week.

And they still shit the proverbial bed.

Davidson blew his second major call of the World Baseball Classic, this time as the first base umpire, but the United States couldn’t be saved as they were defeated by Mexico 2-1. The loss eliminated Team USA from the competition.

In the third inning, Mario Valenzuela hit a Roger Clemens’ pitch clearly off the foul pole for what seemed like a solo homerun. But Davidson decided to award Valenzuela with a ground rule double, a rule he basically made up.

There were only two possibilities here. If the ball hit the foul pole, it was gone. If the ball hit the fence, it’s live. A ground rule double has nothing to do with either circumstance. What’s sad is the ball even had paint on it from the yellow pole.

Luckily, Jorge Cantu drove in Valenzuela with an RBI single.

On Tuesday, Davidson ruled that a Japanese runner had left third base early on a tag up play that would have given his team the lead. An inning later, Alex Rodriguez delivered a game winning single for the United States.

Now I’m not saying that Davidson is some type of anti-rest of the world extremist or anything, but for him to make two unusual calls like that in a span of two days is unheard of. Never mind the fact that he blew both of them. I mean what are the odds of that?

All kidding aside, this was a dismal nine days for Team USA. To go 3-3 in a tournament you created, hosted and made all the rules for is inexplicable.

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Major Disappointments

There are some old people on television that you just have a certain fondness toward. Keith Jackson for instance. He admits to needing binoculars to watch the Rose Bowl and then still called a missed extra point good and we chalk it up as Keith Jackson, that crazy old bugger.

Not Billy Packer though. Not too many like that guy, especially if they are affiliated with a mid-major conference.

Packer slammed the NCAA tournament selection committee for its work last weekend, stating they made numerous mistakes. Of note, he wasn’t happy that the Missouri Valley Conference sent four teams to the dance and the Cincinnati of the Big East did not receive bid.

The very first game Thursday afternoon made him look quite foolish when MVC regular season champ Wichita State embarrassed Seton Hall from the so-called best conference in the land.

The overrated Big East had a rough first day. Along with the Pirates, Marquette and conference champion Syracuse were sent packing.

Other Thoughts
If you picked Boston College to go to the final four, you should know that Al Skinner is probably the worst NCAA tournament coach ever. In New York, a lot of people call former Jets coach Herm Edwards the best Monday-Saturday coach in the NFL. Skinner’s like that. He’s great eleven months of the year, but when March rolls around, the kids are better off doing it themselves.

Two upsets in name only: Wisconsin-Milwaukee over Oklahoma and Montana over Nevada. If you didn’t see that coming, well… you aren’t gonna win Sportbook.tv’s ten million dollar perfect bracket challenge.

By the way, I still have a chance to win that 10 mil after Thursday’s games.

If you think about it, Indiana has a decent shot at the final four, and what a story that would make. Think about it, they’ll kill Gonzaga on Saturday and then they will run into consecutive question mark teams in UCLA and Memphis. Granted I think one of those two will win the national title, but they are so young that you never know. What a way for Mike Davis to piss on Indiana’s party.

The make or break game for me tomorrow: Davidson over Ohio State. Mark it down kids.

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New York Trail Blazers… hmm

If Sebastian Telfair would only call Nate McMillan a timid little prick, the Portland Trail Blazers would be the New York Knicks of the west

As team owner Paul Allen appears to be on the verge of giving up, the Blazers suffered what could have been the most embarrassing loss in their history last night.

At the end of three quarters on the road, they led the New Jersey Nets 60-57. Twelve game minutes later, they had managed to score just five points and were on the opposite side of a 13 point beating. The five they did score was good for the second lowest output by any team in a quarter since the advent of the shot clock.

Zach Randolph and Darius Miles were the only two players that even got to the free-throw line for the Blazers. McMillan attributed the terrible fourth quarter to his team’s lack of ball movement. It sounds to me like they didn’t even bother touching the ball, let alone pass it.

What if the Blazers played in the Garden?

How great would it be to read the New York media coverage of this team? Better yet, what if the two teams switched rosters but kept head coaches?

Imagine Larry Brown coaching the only team with less college experience than the Knicks. It would be hilarious. He’d be dealing with Telfair’s gun fiasco, the team giving up and Martell Webster being late to practice because he just found out he has a brother.

But at least he’d have Theo Ratliff.

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From NBA Finals to Out at Pepperdine

I really want to believe that basketball coaches can make a difference. You know the better the coach, the better the team can be. Especially in college. But Paul Westphal really makes you wonder. Just how important is the coach to a team’s success?

Westphal resigned as head coach of Pepperdine University yesterday after five seasons and a 76-72 record.

Westphal has had an odd career as a coach. In the NBA, he was very good. At times, he looked great. In 1992, he led the Phoenix Suns to the best record in the NBA and lost in the finals to Jordan’s Bulls.

Following the 94-95 season in which the Suns won 59 games, the team got off to a slow start and Westphal stepped down. He then took a few years off to be the assistant coach of his son’s high school team. He had one more stint with Seattle before he was fired and took the job at Pepperdine.

You would think that Westphal would excel at a job like that. You’re a former NBA coach on one of the most beautiful campus in the country directing a team that really only has to compete with Gonzaga for players in the West Coast conference.

He must be impossible to get in touch with because with that resume, WCC caliber recruits should have been begging to play for him.

Instead, the Waves got progressively worse during the Westphal era. Now he’s looking for the next open jayvee high school job.

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Victories are Irrelevant in Post 81 NBA

Almost two months ago, the NBA was at the top of the sporting world. Forget college basketball. Forget hockey. The Super Bowl was rapidly approaching, but everyone wanted to talk about Kobe Bryant.

He scored 81 points! If you weren’t old enough to see Wilt Chamberlain drop 100, this was the greatest solo performance of your lifetime.

But what now? Where has the spotlight gone?

For a few weeks, I checked Bryant’s statistics every ten minutes during Lakers’ games. My nightly perusing went from Kobe to Lebron and back to Kobe before even thinking about another sport.

Now, I check in on the daily debacle that is the New York Knicks and move right along. They won last night by the way.

There lies the problem with the NBA. It’s more interesting to follow the worst team in the league than the best. That’s assuming you can even name the three top teams in the NBA. Detroit… umm… San Antonio… and… oh hell, are the Bulls still good?

The other team happens to be the Dallas Mavericks.

Combined, those teams have about as much star power as an ESPN original movie.

The most famous Maverick is the owner of the team, Mark Cuban. The Spurs might have the best player in the NBA in Tim Duncan, but his brick wall for a personality makes him virtually unwatchable.

Detroit has a little something going for them. They’re down with the whole team concept. Unfortunately, the complete team era went out with thigh high shorts and thick socks.

Soon, the NBA will move into the post season and go relatively unnoticed. This league is about selfish play and marketing ability.

Pathetically, winning falls third on the list.

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Elite in their Own Right

You would think that the amount of partying done at a school would in some way correlate with the success of its athletic programs. Not at SUNY-Albany. They were wild before their basketball team ever did well and they’ll continue to be just before, during and certainly following the Great Danes double digit loss to UConn Friday night.

While Connecticut might have the best basketball program in the country, Albany boasts one of the top places in America to get bent, baked and laid. And they don’t know a thing about basketball.

Albany Times Union columnist Brian Ettkin gave ten students a twenty question quiz on the team and general basketball knowledge and most came away doing about as well as they’d do on an exam after a long Thursday night.

Just a few of the questions:

• How many teams make the Final Four?
• Levi Levine Sr. is the father of which UAlbany player?

When shown a picture of the team’s head coach, one girl said she knew who he was. “I him on CBS the other night. Tom ... Brady,” she answered.

Now Ettkin only gave the test to a few people, but it’s hilarious to think that the student body knows absolutely nothing about their basketball team that is in the NCAA tournament for the first time.

And I believe it too.

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Chaney Finally Realizes How Tired He Looks; Retires

The number of college basketball coaches that fall into the “just don’t give a f—k” class decreased by one when John Chaney announced he would retire following Temple’s exit from the NIT.

That leaves only the walk-on punishing Bobby Knight and Eddie “I’ll piss where I want" Sutton to carry on the torch for crazy, old, politically incorrect men to direct the young athletes in our country. Jim Calhoun, the one coach that can still intimidate his players to the point where they are downright terrified of him, might be able to be mentioned in this category, but he probably still needs a few more years of threatening the media to become a full fledged member.

To be fair, Chaney did a lot for college basketball. He’s helped plenty of African-Americans gets jobs as head coaches and seems to have always placed education well ahead of basketball. On the court, Temple rarely played a cupcake on a schedule that usually ranked among the top five in country in terms of strength. Recently, that ridiculous schedule has relegated the Owls to the NIT, but they did reach five Elite Eights under Chaney.

Of course, most people will not remember Chaney for the good. And rightfully so.

He once stormed into a John Calipari’s post game press conference and threatened to kill the young, cocky head coach. That still ranks as one of the all-time classic blow ups by a coach.

Last season, you’ll remember that he sent a bench warmer that he later referred to as his “goon” into a game against St. Joseph’s to commit hard fouls. The guy ended up breaking someone’s arm and Chaney suspended himself. That still ranks as one of the all-time low moments in sports.

Chaney has also challenged the Philadelphia media to fights, slammed George Bush, and attempted to choke a coach.

For people to say that the game and more so the world has not passed him by is foolish, but Chaney deserves to be considered both an old school hard ass and a pioneer for the sport.

Get some sleep John.

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The Struggle Continues for Team USA

When the world caught up to the United States in basketball, we attributed it to the fact that young ballers would rather possess a killer-crossover than a nice jump shot. Sure, the ability was there, and the work ethic too. But American kids work at looking pretty, not at getting better.

The word got out. Americans lack fundamentals.

The teams at the World Baseball Classic are proving that it’s not just basketball where the United States’ basic skills seem flawed.

First, it was Canada. Chalk that up as a fluke. Dontrelle Willis was shaky and Team USA fell way behind early. Then there was Japan. The Americans looked bad and used a bad call to survive. But survive, they did.

Against Korea, Team USA was exposed. The Koreans ripped Willis and reliever Dan Wheeler for six runs in the first four innings enroute to a 7-3 victory Monday.

So much is going wrong for the Americans at the WBC.

The pitchers don’t throw strikes. Of Willis’ 59 pitches thrown against Korea, 31 were for balls. He walked four and hit a batter. Wheeler recorded two outs in the fourth before giving up a double, intentional walk and three run blast to pinch hitter Hee-Seop Choi.

They don’t hit to the opposite field. With the exception Derek Jeter, it seems like every player swings out his shoes at almost every pitch. It’s like they are facing a high school pitcher who only throws belt high fastballs middle-in. They blame it on not knowing anything about the other team’s pitchers. But that’s not it. They are trying to hit David Ortiz-like homeruns and failing miserably.

They don’t get clutch hits. I have never seen anything like it. They load the bases every inning against these teams and proceed to swing at pitches way out of the zone to strike out. Against Japan, Ken Griffey Jr. could have won the game with a bases loaded walk but instead chose to hack at a pitch that was about three feet out of the strike zone.

On the other hand, their opponents throw the ball down in the zone for strikes and play sound defense. They also cash in with runners on base.

Face it. The United States is not going to win this thing. They might not even make it out of the second pool. They don’t pitch. They don’t hit. The necessities just aren’t there.

It’s utterly embarrassing.

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Only In Jersey!

Martin Luther King, a former mayor and a firefighter who died on the job have streets named after them in Atlantic City. Somehow, they will now be joined boxing promoter Don King.

The city gathered yesterday to honor the two time murderer/career criminal by renaming part of Mississippi Avenue to Don King Plaza. I’m not sure what this does for the credibility of a place that has never lived up to its self-billing as the Vegas of the east.

What’s odd is that King doesn’t even have a license to stage fights in the state. His was suspending for even applying for a year because he was continuously withdrawing his application to avoid questioning from investigators at the Division of Gaming Enforcement.

King is believed to be involved in bribing members of the International Boxing Federation. It is alleged that he along with many other promoters paid to have there fighters moved up the IBF ratings.

Let’s not forget that he is a con man and has basically robbed fighters out of millions of dollars for the past thirty years. Oh yeah, and I must reiterate: He killed two people!

What is Atlantic City thinking? They might as well go ahead and name other streets after convicts that have made them wealthy. Maybe they’ll rename the rest of Mississippi Ave to John Gotti Way.

I guess that’s the image AC is looking for.

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Somebody Doesn't Like Seeing Team USA Lose

They are playing at home. They probably have the most talent. The rules were set in their favor. The United States has all the advantages it could ask for at the World Baseball Classic.

Apparently, the umpires felt they needed one more.

In the eighth inning of a 3-3 game, Akinori Iwamura hit what appeared to be a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, giving Japan a lead. But home plate umpire Bob Davidson changed the original call and declared that the runner on third base was out for tagging up too early. In the ninth, Alex Rodriguez hit a walk off single to lead the USA to a 4-3 victory.

The replay on television showed that there was no way the runner left early which makes you wonder what would make Davidson overturn the first call. From his view, the play was at-best too close to call.

For the second time in four games, the Americans were outplayed in every facet of the game.

Just the way Canada’s Adam Loewen dominated the powerful United States lineup days earlier, Japan’s Koji Uehara held them in check with pinpoint control. Unfortunately, like Loewen, Uehara was pulled after five due to a high pitch count.

While the shaky Canadian bullpen was able to hold on, the Japanese weren’t as lucky.

People didn’t realize just how much these pitch count rules affect the teams that are limited in the pitching department. The rule was designed so major leaguers didn’t get injured, but it really just gave the pitching-rich Team USA the upper hand.

Everyday the whole point of this tournament becomes more of sham. The rules give about three teams the chance to win.

So much for promoting baseball throughout the world.

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Viewer’s Guide to Picking a Winner

The viewer’s guide series on Dan’s Take began with the 2006 Winter Olympics and will serve as a way of previewing the beginning of each and every major athletic event that will take place over the course of the year. In most cases, it will be filled with predictions, analysis and any entertaining stories to follow. Enjoy.

Let’s face it. It’s nice to see the full field of 65 teams in the NCAA tournament, but only between eight and twelve teams have a legitimate chance to win the whole thing. The key to winning your office pool is obviously to pick the champion, but also to pick the majority of the elite eight correctly. If you get six teams in the regional finals right, and your pick to win it all goes on to do so, then you’ll be in good shape.

The teams that have a shot: Ohio State, Kansas, North Carolina, Boston College, Texas, Michigan State, Duke, West Virginia, Memphis, UCLA, Villanova and Connecticut.

To find the winner, it is important not to focus on why a team can win the title, but instead on the reasons why a team cannot. With that being said…

Ohio State: When the best player currently affiliated with your program is still in high school, your chances of the winning it all is slim. The Buckeyes are a year a way from having on the elite teams in college basketball.

(Side note) While choosing a ton of upsets early could end up hurting your bracket more than helping it, you do have to pick a few. It’s a given that at least one 13, 14 or 15 seed will prevail in their first round game. Watch out for Ohio State to go down to Davidson early. The Wildcats made more than 260 three pointers this season and were one of the best free-throw shooting teams in America.

Kansas: Always assume the Jayhawks will choke. With all the talent they’ve had over the last decade, they have very little to show for it. This young team is not even one of the five best teams in the last fifteen year at Kansas. Expect Memphis to take them out in the Sweet 16.

North Carolina: Freshmen make mistakes. The talent is there, the experience is not.

Boston College: One of the toughest teams in the country. I just don’t see a player that can take over the game down the stretch. Like UConn, I wonder who would take the shot down one with five seconds to play for the Eagles.

Texas: It’s usually a good bet that a Big 12 team will make the final four. It’s an even better bet they will fail to win the championship. This year, I think of the Longhorns as one of most inconsistent teams in the country. Going on a six game winning streak will be difficult for them.

Michigan State: Like Texas, Michigan State is terribly unpredictable. However, they know what it’s like to play in big games and are capable of beating anybody, including UConn, the top seed from their region. The problem is I don’t see them making it to the regional final.

Duke: Duke has everything you could ask for in a team except depth. The lack of any bench will be the demise of the Blue Devils.

That leaves us with five teams. West Virginia, Villanova, Memphis, UCLA and UConn.

Rule: Always choose at least two of your pre-season final four to make the elite eight out of respect and the chance to claim that “you called it.” In this case, three of my picks are in my final five, but two (UCLA and Memphis) will meet in a regional final.

West Virginia: Using the three pointer, the Mountaineers can put you away early or come from behind no matter the deficit. I think that will get them to the final four.

UConn: As deep as any team in recent memory, the Huskies only lack a true finisher. Rashaad Anderson can’t create his own shot and Rudy Gay seems like he doesn’t to. On talent alone, they will make the final four, but that’s as far as they will go.

Villanova: Kyle Lowry is one of my favorite players. You have to love a four guard offense that mixes nearly unmatchable speed with lockdown defense. The Wildcats will play for the national title.

The national champion will come from the Oakland region. From the beginning, I’ve picked Memphis and I will stay with them. The Tigers will top UCLA and go on to win it all.

Forget any of the professional playoffs. Forget the Olympics. Forget the World Cup. The NCAA tournament is the best month in all of sport. From the drama of one and done games to the mystique of Cinderella, this tournament never gets old.

I for one can’t wait until Thursday.

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Yeah, Gerry McNamara Stinks

Last week, Sports Illustrated informed us that two Big East players tied in a vote for the most overrated player in the league. While Rudy Gay has done nothing but prove he was worth the honor, Gerry McNamara decided to actually play.

McNamara has almost single handedly led Syracuse through the Big East tournament this week and at the same time cemented a spot in the NCAA tournament for his previously on the bubble squad.

The Orange will try to become the first team in league history to win the tournament after playing on four consecutive days.

No matter what happens Saturday night, they will go into the NCAA’s as one of the hottest teams in the country, hoping to improve upon their first round exit last season.

They have what it takes to make a little run once they get there as well. McNamara is one of the most talented guards in the country and if he lights it up, the Cuse is as good as anyone. He’s deadly from beyond the arc and doesn’t miss free throws.

Basically, he’s J.J. Redick in orange.

McNamara directs 'Cuse into Big East final - ESPN

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Are You Kidding Me?

As if soccer in this country could have been any more of a joke, the MLS team formally known as the Metrostars just changed its name to Red Bull New York.

The team was purchased by the energy drink company Thursday for almost $100 million.

If the MLS wants to be a big time league in the USA, they have to stop letting teams rename themselves. The team in Houston has altered its name a few times despite having never played an actual game.

What good comes from naming your team after a drink that college kids either use to stay up late or mix with vodka? I just can’t take a team named after a soft drink very serious.

Then again, I can’t take the MLS very serious.

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Barry Bonds, Alleged Devil

I went on a mini-vacation for a few days and came back to learn what I thought everybody already assumed: Barry Bonds probably took steroids.

I finally got the chance to take in the Sports Illustrated article chronicling his alleged roid use and I came away feeling a little misled by…well everybody.

To me, the article was nothing more than hearsay with some of Bonds’ grand jury testimony thrown in. It proved nothing. The woman who Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams get their information from is a disgruntled mistress that is pissed off because Bonds didn’t follow through on a promise to buy her a home.

I’d rather hear more from Jose Canseco than read a playground gossip book by two guys who found dirt in the wrong place. I love Deadspin, but Fainaru-Wada and Williams are hardly a sports version of Woodward and Bernstein.

I know Bonds is a terrible guy. I do not doubt he threatened the girl. I do believe he juiced. I just think that this whole definitive proof thing was at the very least deceiving.

We have to stick to the facts when we call out an entire generation of ball players, including one of the best in any generation. For the most part, that article failed to do so.

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Supporting Cuba, If Only for a Few Weeks

As the non-tivo/tape delayed portion of the World Baseball Classic begins, the tournament favorites will take center stage.

But honestly, I could care less about the United States, Dominican Republic or Venezuela. I already know the players they have. Nope, I’m more intrigued by Cuba. Hell, I hope Castro’s crew wins a few games.

Can I even say that? I feel like its taboo to root for our communist enemies.

I like Cuba because anything can happen with those guys. They might dominate the way they did the Olympics before the IOC decided baseball was less of a sport than archery. Players might defect in flocks to play in this country. Say the USA and Cuba play each other in the finals, will Bush and Castro acknowledge one another? The opportunities are endless.

One thing Cuba won’t do is embarrass itself. This tournament means more to them than it means to every other country combined. The fans in the Dominican might buy into it, but I can’t see the players wanting this thing as bad as the Cubans. If ever a country’s hopes and dreams rode upon a baseball team, this is it.

While it seems like other teams are loaded in either offense or pitching, I feel like Cuba will be very balanced. They will have good pitching and their lineup will probably be more gap-to-gap than over the wall, but I’m sure they have players who can swing.

I don’t think they have a chance the win the classic. They are facing too much Major League talent. I do think they will at least advance through to the second phase however.

Of course, no one really knows and that’s what will make their games most enjoyable.

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Kirby Puckett: 1960-2006

I must confess. The Kirby Puckett I watched was one who could barely see a ball coming at him from 60’ 6” away.

I grew immediately after the days where he was one of the elite baseball players in the world. My early memories in the sport are of Joe Carter’s walk off homerun in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series. Two year earlier, Puckett did the exact same thing, leading the Minnesota Twins to a come from behind World Series victory against Atlanta.

I saw baseball strike. I saw Cal Ripken break the consecutive games played record. I saw McGwire, Sosa, and eventually Bonds shatter homerun records. I grew up with Ken Griffey Jr. being every child’s hero.

I just missed Kirby.

I think that’s part of what makes him so great. I know who Kirby Puckett was and can appreciate what he brought to the world as both an athlete and a man despite never seeing him play a live game.

I won’t remember him for how he died. I’ll watch ESPN classic and watch that Game 6 that most people remember him for. I’ll take a look at the back of the baseball cards I have of him that show me he was one of the most complete players to ever play the game. He hit for average and power and played stellar defense.

Over the next few days, I’ll read about what a great person he was off the field. I’ll read about the charities he ran and the genuine guy that he was. Outside of a woman in a bathroom stall and a Sports Illustrated writer, not too many people have a bad thing to say about him.

No, I don’t actually remember Kirby Puckett, but I’ll never forget him.

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Boomer’s Staying, Just Don’t Talk to Him

David Wells loves Boston. But he hates associating with the fans.

Wells rescinded his trade request on Sunday by telling general manage Theo Epstein that he planned on going north with the team, dude.

Boomer’s biggest issue with the city is the total lack of privacy, which he called the worst he’d ever seen. He went on to say that he almost got in a fight in one of the few times that he went out after a start last season.

It’s not too surprising that he has a problem with the way fans act outside of Fenway. I picture Wells as the friend from home you bring up to your college to hang out, and he gets hammered and starts a fight. As everyone knows from his time in New York, he’s not a happy, playful drunk. He doesn’t want to be bothered with when he’s drinking a Bud and eating pretzels.

By backing off his demands, Wells will tighten the Red Sox rotation. Last season, he went 15-7 and has been a big game pitcher throughout his career.

It will probably also move Bronson Arroyo out of the rotation, meaning the Sox spent 11.25 million for three years on a middle reliever that gets ripped in Fenway.

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Introducing the Runaway Bride Bobblehead

You have to love minor league sports. The talent is usually sparse and the games are really irrelevant but the whole experience is almost carnival-like. Best of all, teams will do anything to boost attendance.

Case in point: The Gwinnett Gladiators of the East Coast Hockey League needed a way to get fans to come out for their Sunday afternoon game against the Pensacola Ice Pilots. They decided that the first thousand people in attendance would receive a Runaway Bride bobblehead doll.

The figurine is Jennifer Wilbanks, the Duluth, GA woman who last year went missing days before she was supposed to be married and was later found in New Mexico with a made-up kidnapping story. The Gladiators didn’t actually attach her name to the doll, trying to make the story amusingly coincidental.

The promotion worked to a tee. Some people arrived for the 4:00 p.m. game as early as 11:45 in the morning. The dolls were gone within ten minutes. Never fear, there are already three on eBay.

The Gladiators have easily become one of my favorite minor league teams. This promotion is right up there with some of the classics. I say it goes, 1. Nobody Night when the attendance at a baseball game was zero, 2. Runaway Bride bobblehead day, 3. Jerry “The King” Lawler night.

Runaway dolls high-tail it out of there – Atlanta Journal Constitution

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UNC Stunningly Comes From Nowhere to Shock Duke

Since when is North Carolina beating Duke a monumental upset?

Last I checked the Tar Heels were the red hot fifteenth ranked team in the country, not to mention the defending national champions. I know that Duke is the No. 1 team in the nation, but this is one of the biggest rivalries in American sports.

It can’t really be a rivalry when one side dominates.

And yes, maybe UNC is led by freshmen, but they aren’t going through what St. Joseph’s had to go through after Delonte West and Jameer Nelson left. Excuse the cliché but you reload when you’re at Chapel Hill.

Anyways, I didn’t watch much of the game and I’m actually kind of glad I missed Dick Vitale trying to have a "Do You Believe in Miracles?" moment on that Lee Melchionni to DeMarcus Nelson pass.

"What a play, what a play, what a play, what a play! Hustle, hustle, dive on the floor! How badly do they want it?"

The extra camera features didn’t do anything for me. I am most definitely a Duke hater so the Cameron crazy-cam made me furious. The above the rim-cam reminded me of watching a video game replay.

Tyler Hansbrough was by far the best player on the court and that’s why his team was victorious. I don’t think this loss necessarily hurts the Blue Devils. The game just proved two points:

1. North Carolina is better than you thought.
   
2. When your best player has an off night the way J.J. Redick did, it’s going to be tough to win. Obviously.

Hansbrough leads UNC to Tobacco Road upset over Duke – ESPN.com
UNC Wins 83-76: It Don't Get Much Better Than This – Sports Assassin

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Goldwire's Bo's Cost Charlotte

If you’re into that “team of destiny” nonsense, George Washington might be your guys in the NCAA tournament.

The Colonials have had some close run-ins in the Atlantic Ten this season and always came away unscathed, but today’s win was flat out unbelievable.

Down three with six seconds to play in regulation, Maureece Rice hit a miracle three to send the game into overtime. In the extra period, with his team trailing 64-62, Rice missed a runner in the lane and that’s when Charlotte player Leemire Goldwire decided to go all Rasheed Wallace on everybody.

During the struggle for the rebound, GW player Mike Hall appeared to be grabbing Goldwire’s jersey. Goldwire proceeded to throw a malicious elbow and barely connected. Hall continued to hold and was greeted with another elbow when the official finally decided to blow a whistle.

After review, a holding penalty was called on Hall and Goldwire got unsportsmanlike conduct – wrong sport, but that’s what the game turned into. Hall actually got a personal foul while Goldwire received a technical.

D’Angelo Alexander made one of two free-throws for Charlotte and Hall made both of his and the Colonials also took the ball. GW looked out of sorts on the final play, letting a freshman, who played all of two minutes in the entire game, take the final shot.

Of course, he air-balled. But a poor job of boxing out by the 49ers let Carl Elliot grab the rebound and make the put-back for the game winner.

What a strange turn of events. Goldwire’s actually a smart kid. A psychology major who has made the Dean’s List; he just went insane for a short period of time.

Unfortunately, it probably cost his team spot in the NCAA tournament.

Buzzer-beater lifts No. 6 G.W. to perfect conference record – ESPN.com

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Looks Have Been Deceiving

I expected more from the new Big East.

As always, the conference has its power houses in UConn and Villanova, a team that can make a run with West Virginia, and then a couple decent-to-good teams like Pittsburgh and Georgetown.

But this was supposed to be a stronger, scarier Big East. This was the year that nine, even ten teams were supposed to have legitimate shots at making the NCAA tournament.

In reality, the conference will get no more than six bids, making them fairly ordinary. In reality, this whole super conference thing has been vastly overrated.

Outside of the top five teams in the league, Marquette is the only school deserving of a shot in the NCAA’s. Even they haven’t been overly spectacular. Yes, they beat Connecticut, but they also lost to Winthrop in a tournament they were hosting. Nevertheless, they’ll play in March because they will likely win 20 games and ten in the Big East.

Mediocrity sets in following that group. Of the next three teams in terms of record (Seton Hall, Cincinnati, and Syracuse, only the Hall has a chance to finish over .500 in the conference. If you only win half of your league games, you don’t deserve to go dancing.

I think Seton Hall is the only one in that group that even sits on the bubble, and they might have to win their final game (tonight at Pitt) and win at least one conference tournament game to avoid the NIT. Cincinnati and Syracuse are going to have to at least make the Big East finals if they expect to qualify.

That leaves six teams who are just trying to make it to Madison Square Garden, including an extremely disappointing Louisville team.

People get carried a way with the “any team can beat any team on any given night in this league” saying. That happens everywhere. The league shapes up like this: A couple of very good teams, a handful of decent teams, a bubble team, and about six NIT teams. It is what it is, nothing more, I promise.

In size the Big East may have grown. In depth, it’s just the same old conference.

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Former Nebraska Star Continues Downfall

Lawrence Phillips never made a Pro Bowl, but his number of appearances in the Police Log rivals that of any professional athlete. He has amassed a criminal record that would make even Isaiah Rider blush.

The former St. Louis Rams first round draft pick and chronic girl beater will stand trial on assault charges stemming from an August 21, 2005 incident in which he allegedly drove his car into three teenagers.

The car happened to be stolen.

Supposedly, Phillips and the three teens got into an argument during a pickup football game in Los Angeles. He left the park but returned in a black Honda and proceeded to drive at the group.

I’m guessing that Phillips was upset with the teens’ use of the “Mississippi” rule. It may have angered him when one of the boys failed to pronounce the extra “ss” in the state’s name in an attempt to blitz the quarterback quicker.

That, or he’s just a freakin’ psycho.

Predictably, he was also wanted for domestic violence at the time of his arrest. A crime that unfortunately has made him famous throughout his football career, Phillips has been arrested countless times, in two countries, for his hostile actions toward women.

I can’t really feel bad for a guy a beats girlfriends and tries to murder fifteen year olds. In terms of career management, he should be put in the same category as Rider, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden.

All got second, third, fourth, and fifth chances to clean up his life and still screwed up.

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Florida A&M Athletes Might Struggle on Wonderlic

The reports are in and 65 Division I schools will lose athletic scholarships due to “poor scholastic performance by their student-athletes.”

If you realize how easy it is for an athlete to get into college, then you understand how pitiful it is when they cannot meet the extremely low standards required to stay there.

Florida A&M took it on the chin the worst, losing scholarships in five sports, including eight in football. These actions are embarrassing enough for the school, but it’s not even close to the beginning of the Rattlers’ problems.

On February 1, the NCAA placed them on four years probation for a lack of institutional control. That phrase doesn’t actually do these guys any justice. It’s more like the complete omission of any an all rules pertaining to academics.

The school was cited for approximately 200 violations in each one of its 15 sports including but I’m sure not limited to allowing ineligible athletes to compete, the changing of student-athlete’s grades and practice time violations.

What in the hell is going on at Florida A&M? I mean 200! You would think they would be a little more successful considering they’ll let almost anybody play. After losing over 40 scholarships in all, they might really have to let anyone participate.

Nelson Townsend, FAMU’s athletic director said, "This ruling simply means we have not done a good job in the academic area with our student-athletes. If we care enough to recruit our athletes, we need to care enough to make sure they graduate.”

Well said, Nelson. Now do it.

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Okay, Now Boo

A few days ago, I would have said Cleveland Cavaliers’ fans were crazy to boo Lebron James and company. After five consecutive losses, as panic sets in, they can do whatever they want.

Last night the Cavs lost at home to Sacremento, a horrible road team, blowing a fourteen point lead. James was completely shut down in the second half, scoring just three points, all of them on free-throws.

The team is facing the same downslide after this All Star break that happened last year when they ultimately missed the playoffs.

That won’t happen this season but have a little pride. A playoff team isn’t supposed to look like they don’t even care.

If this keeps up, the will bow out in round one without ever getting the chance to be pissed on by Detroit.

Image courtesy of YAYsports.

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De La Hoya, Mayorga Trade Mama Jokes

The best part of boxing outside of the half naked trailer park girls in between rounds is the pre-match antics.

There is nothing like the build up to a fight.

It doesn’t even have to be a big fight either. As long as there’s some type of gathering with the media and two fighters, it’s a lock that something crazy is going to happen. That, of course, is because no boxers are actually sane.

The latest verbal war came yesterday when Oscar De La Hoya and WBC champion Ricardo Mayorga held a press conference concerning their fight that is still two months away.

Mayorga, who reminds me so much of Tito Santana, called his opponent a clown and said he was going to detach his retina with his right hand. Ouch. De La Hoya responded by making it clear that he planned on knocking Mayorga out. He said so about a dozen times.

Eventually, the two shoved each other before a million people rushed to break up the mess.

Imagine if the Super Bowl media day was handled the way boxing is. You’d see Joey Porter look deep into Jerramy Stevens’ eyes and tell him he was going to kill him. To save face, a horrified Stevens would have to make fun of Porter getting shot in the ass, setting off a riot.

Inevitably, the two would come to blows and everyone would have paid just a little more attention to those two when Sunday rolled around.

Boxing is great. It’s like professional wrestling, only real, with a big, black cartoon character of a man running the show.

I love Don King.

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Check It Out: Adjustments are for Suckers

Corey Patterson, a former mega-prospect that has failed to meet expectations, was traded from Chicago to Baltimore this off season. You would think that his second chance might result in attempting to cut down on his strikeouts considering he has more K’s in his career than walks, doubles, triples and homeruns combined, but it doesn’t appear that way.

Imagine the epic encounter between South Africa and Mexico battling to a stalemate in the opening round of the World Baseball Classic. Thousands of fans geared in on every swing, every pitch, and every play. Then, with no runs on the board after the fourteenth inning, the umpire decides the game is a tie. Thank god this is baseball and that can’t happen… errrr…whoops.

The first conference tournament upset in college basketball happened last night. Charleston Southern (13-15) defeated Birmingham-Southern (19-9) in the opening round of the Big South Conference tournament. Birmingham blew Charleston out twice during the season but didn’t come to play last night.

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Answer-less

The Philadelphia Daily News reported and ESPN confirmed that USA basketball’s 22 man preliminary roster will not include Allen Iverson.

How ridiculous.

Iverson was co-captain of the 2004 Olympic team that embarrassed the country, but he was hardly the reason. He was one of the few players that actually played hard –and well- in Athens and was clearly upset with the team’s performance.

But while the other captain Tim Duncan moaned about the way international basketball is played, Iverson took it like a man. He knew that the only people responsible for Team USA finishing third was Team USA.

Without naming individuals, he called out the NBA stars for not wanting to represent their country after all it had given them. After that, the stars lined up to join the team

So the thanks Iverson gets for recruiting better players is not even getting a chance to make the 2008 roster.

Iverson can say all he wants. He needs to maintain his image. He can say he doesn’t care and that now he gets more time with his family in the summer. Deep down though, he’s disappointed. And he should be.

He just got slapped in the face by his country.

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