Calvin, You Make Me Dumber

You're killing independent George!

2007-03-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

If the last week has been any indication about what kind of tournament we’re looking at this season, then I’m pretty excited. There were very few blow outs (with the exception of Florida showing who’s got the biggest wang in the SEC) and for the most part all the games were very enjoyable (thank god Nebraska’s 39 vs. OSU and TTU’s 45 vs. K-State weren’t televised. Most HS girls teams score more than that in a game.)

Now a few thoughts:

Syracuse got royally screwed. I don’t like ‘Cuse, but there’s no denying they were hosed. They fit 2 of the 3 criteria to be a shoo-in (20 wins, 10 wins in conference, but didn’t finish top 4) and they beat Georgetown in the last week of the regular season. Oh, and they finished in front of Nova and Marquette in the Big East.

Drexel is #2 on this list. They did everything that a mid major is asked to do (with the exception of winning their conference tournament). They played an unbelievable non conference schedule and scored wins over big time programs on the road (Nova, Syracuse, and I’ll throw in Temple, Creighton, and Vermont). But according to the committee they didn’t do enough in conference (4th place finish, went 1-5 against top 3 teams, and had a bad loss towards the end of the season against William & Mary).

So here’s my problem. Syracuse didn’t do enough out of conference. Drexel didn’t do enough in conference. Yet the committee chairman couldn’t give a reason for why both were left out when teams like Arkansas (nothing in or out of conference) and Illinois (mediocre team at best) both got in.

If your team had a losing conference record (i.e. Florida State) and didn’t make the tournament you need to shut up. It should be a rule that you have to finish at least .500 in your conference to make the tournament (unless you win your conference tournament).

Air Force didn’t just shit the bed down the stretch; they pretty much filled up the room with poo. They peaked at the wrong time and the rest of the MWC has caught up with them after a two year swoon.

West Virginia was a missed traveling call away from making the tournament. If Sosa from Louisville gets called for traveling on that lay up that sent their Big East Tournament game into OT, then WVU is in the semifinals and probably locks up a spot. Of course, if they had beaten horrible Cincy and mediocre Providence during the season, they would have locked a spot up going into the tournament.

I was pretty upset to see Texas A&M in the same region as Ohio State. I love Acie Law IV, but he scares the crap out of me. They also have enough size to throw at Oden to take away any inside game (like UF did earlier this season). I still don’t think OSU can win it all, but I was at least hoping for a Final 4 appearance.

The teams that I think have compromising pictures of members of the selection committee:

Stanford; 18 wins, are you serious? Yes they had some big conference wins, but they lost 3 of the 5 quality out of conference games they played (all at home to AF by 34, Santa Clara by 16, and Gonzaga by 4; they did beat UVA on the road and Texas Tech).

Arkansas; again, 7-9 in conference! They beat Vandy and two scrubs (South Carolina and Miss. St) to make the finals in the SEC Tournament. Then proceeded to get blown out by UF.

Illinois; I watched them a couple of times this year and it’s like they are morphing into a less talented version of Michigan State and Wisconsin. They don’t have a go-to scorer, but they do play tough defense. But they are a chore to watch.

Gonzaga; Obviously they won the WCC tournament, but how are they a 10 seed? I saw them a few times this season and they aren’t that good. And since their hippy center got busted they don’t have an inside game. They got that 10 spot purely on reputation. That win against UNC was a long time ago.

Texas Tech; I like Bobby Knight. But how does his team get in this season over Kansas State? Yes, K-State played in the weaker part of the Big XII (the conference isn’t broken into divisions for basketball, but they still adhere to the divisions in scheduling), but they also finished a game ahead of TTU in the standings, won 10 conference games, and smoked TTU in the Big XII Tournament (66-45). I guess playing Kansas three times isn’t enough for the committee (the last 2 losses were by an average of 8.5 points). Bill Walker would have really helped K-State down the stretch. Bobby better hope that Zeno and Jackson get some help or they’ll be one and done.

That’s all I really have to say about the tournament for now.

On another basketball note though, the University of Akron was left out of the NIT. They went 26-7 and lost in the conference championship. They are only the 3rd 26-win team to be left out of the field since it went to 64. And I’m guessing they are the first 26-win team to be spending their post season at home. On a side note, I hate those preppy rich kids from Miami, Oh.

That last note got me thinking. I would not want to live in Akron. The outlying areas are ok, but the traffic is horrible. The only thing they have going for them is Canal Park where the Akron Aeros play. So here is the short list of places I will never live unless I’m guaranteed to be making $100,000.

Tallahassee, FL
Gary, IN
Richmond, VA
Danville, VA (too bad I had to move here to figure that out)
Akron, OH

Georgetown is my pick to win it all. So everyone else should probably go in another direction.

Throw a little shrimp on the barbie!

2007-01-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

I’m sure that there are a lot of things I could have written about over the last month. But since I work in a common office and my boss sits in direct view of my monitor, it makes it tough. So I want to touch on a few points here.

The Cavs suck. They have LeBron and that’s it. I will give Drew Gooden credit, he has become a much more consistent player this season. He’s a menace on the offensive boards and seems to be in the right place at the right time most games. Any guy that can get a double-double without having a play run for him is ok in my book (see Shawn Marion). Did I mention that Hubie Brown loves him? That surprised me since Hubie ran him out of Memphis his rookie season.

Any way, the team sucks. A team that features Eric Snow and Damon Jones as your point guards will be lucky to win the first round. And having LeBron run the point for long stretches takes too much out of him. Taking Shannon Brown in the first round is really paying off. He’s played in 10 games. 10! On a very related note, Jordan Farmar is averaging 6 points and 2.3 assists in 16 minutes a night for the Lakers. He would be starting in Cleveland. Fire Danny Ferry.

I’m coaching a city 7-8 year old basketball team (we play on an 8.5’ rim). We sit at 1-5, but we won last night. Now I had no say in drafting this team or the team name because I was at the Winter Meetings when all that went down and the city decided not to let me know that until I got back. My roster looks like this:

CurShun (his dad’s name is Curtis and his mom’s name is Shundra, very original. Best ballhandler.)
Isaac (best shooter on the team)
Ke’Shawn (maybe 4’ tall, but tough)
De’Andre (improving)
Royal (tough defender)
Shamar (improving)
Malachai (still needs improvement)
Malik (another short stack, but good shooter from 10’ in, good ball handler, and maniac defender)

I have two more kids on the roster, but I think they both quit.

Anyways, I harp on fundamentals in practice. Layups, ball handling, defense, and good communication. We are getting better when we do things right, but sometimes they get a little lazy. But they’re kids and as long as they improve I’ll be happy. And we do run an offense, which when we run it right works just about every time.

Our team name is the Blazers. So maybe we were cursed from the get go.

After coaching youth football the last two falls you would think that Karma owes me and good things would start happening to me.

Bowling Green basketball has dropped 6 in a row after starting out a promising 10-4. The women’s team is ranked 17 in the country. But that’s women’s ball.

The Suns are really good.

The Cavs should do whatever it takes (short of giving up LeBron) to get Jason Kidd. Throw Big Z out there. He’s a stiff anymore and Kristic is out for the season.

Unless Ohio State’s basketball team really gels during conference play it’s going to be a short March in Columbus. They are the kind of team that gets knocked off by an experienced MVC or CAA team.

I looked at a mock NFL draft site for the first time this year yesterday. They have the Browns taking Brady Quinn at #3 and Ryan Kalil (C, USC) in the 2nd round. If this happened I would probably blow a load. Especially since there’s a good chance LeCharles Bentley will miss this season too. Kalil plays center this year then slides to guard in 2008. Nice.

My dog Brownie is awesome. And big. 27 pounds as of January 27. He’s 3 months old and they say he’s going to be about a 70 lb dog. And he’s already a great guard dog. He barks at the Baptists at the church across the street every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Church is like a cult here. No one should ask why we don’t go.

I had to trim my beard back a couple of weeks ago. It’s still solid.

What do I look like? A bottle of Jim Beam!

2007-01-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

The Walker and Texas Ranger bonus cuts on the Ricky Bobby DVD are awesome. I'm not a huge bonus material guy, but on Will Ferrell comedies they're a must see.

Holidays were okay. Spent 3 days in Ohio visiting family which was nice. Of course our flight back on Xmas night was cancelled so we had to fly out the next morning in a packed airport. Good times.

I did see Ric Flair in the Charlotte airport while running to our gate (flight was delayed 20 minutes out of Akron and we barely made it on the plane in Charlotte). Needless to say I was beating myself up on the plane when I realized I should have given him a "Whooooo!"

Just a quick thought to mull over. Darren McGavin as the dad in A Christmas Story, the greatest holiday movie father of all time. This includes Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation. He's cynical, foul mouthed, and most importantly gets his son the gift his mother refuses to buy. All great traits. And the lamp scenes are worth their weight in gold ("You were always jealous of that lamp!")

The Fiesta Bowl was the greatest college football game I've every seen (excluding the 2003 Fiesta Bowl of course). Pure play calling genius. And props to Chris Peterson for knowing that his defense was spent and going for 2 after the OT score.

Overall this has been maybe the most exciting bowl season I've ever seen. Huge comebacks and exciting games across the board.

Sports Gods, you owe me one!

2006-11-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

Quick post while my boss is out of the office. The Ohio State-Michigan game has me scared crapless. Let’s cover the reasons why.

Michigan’s defense. It’s really good and for the first time in since 2001 it’s better than OSU’s.

Mario Manningham. I think Lloyd Carr is trying to actually think like a decent coach here. He’s kept Manningham under wraps since his surgery to make sure he’s healthy and put doubt into everyone’s heads about him. I guarantee you he’s healthy Saturday. They had no need for him over the last month.

The past of my teams. With the exception of the 2002 Buckeyes every one of my teams has let me down with a Championship or potential Championship on the line. Lets recap:
1986 Browns (AFC Title Game)
1987 Browns (AFC Title Game)
1989 Browns (AFC Title Game)
1991-92 Cavs (Eastern Finals)
1991-92 Buckeyes Basketball (Lost in Elite 8 to Michigan Fab 4)
1993 Buckeyes (Lost to Michigan at 10-0-1)
1995 Buckeyes (Lost to Michigan at 10-0 I think, maybe 9-1)
1995 Indians (Lost in WS to Braves in 6)
1996 Buckeyes (Lost to Michigan at 10-0)
1997 Indians (Lost in WS to Marlins in 7)
1998 Buckeyes (Lost to Michigan State as #1 in country)
1999 Buckeyes Basketball (Lost in Final Four to UConn)
2005-06 Buckeyes Basketball (Lost in 2nd round to Georgetown at a 2 seed)

So that’s it. Now you know why I worship that 2002 Bucks team. It’s all I’ve got. Sad isn’t it? Especially when people like Mark Hughes has his teams win an NCAA Basketball title and the World Series in the same year. It’s not fair.

GOB doing his chicken dance always makes me laugh (Arrested Development M-F 11:30 on G4)

2006-11-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

I’ve got a few observations from the past few days. I know I don’t write nearly as often as I’d like, but when you work in a common office its kind of tough.

I was equally impressed and appalled by the way the Browns played the Chargers on Sunday. While they were rested the Browns defense played really well. Once they started to wear down in the 2nd half from being on the field too long LDT just ate them up. There’s a reason the defense hasn’t ranked better than 15th since the team has returned, its because they’re on the field all the time. While the offense did put up 25 points on Sunday, 18 were scored by Phil Dawson. That’s not good since he’s the kicker (but he does sport a sweet stache). This includes a drive that started at the Charger 10 and saw the Browns run into the middle of the Chargers vaunted run defense on 3 straight plays. I was happy that Mo Carthon stepped down because he had no idea how to call plays. And while Jeff Davidson has shown more organization in his play calling, he just isn’t getting the job done. In fact, there were more than a couple occasions against the Chargers that we ran play action on 3rd and long. This seemed to be the only area that Carthon had improved on. No one thinks you’re going to run on 3rd and 10+!

Here’s how the Browns need to fix the offense. Simplify it. I like Charlie Fry, but its clear that he’s taken way too many hits this season because he does some stupid things (throwing into triple coverage at the 50 on the first play of a possession, then fumbling at the Browns 5 after the defense had bailed him out with a 3 and out. This gave the Chargers a 10-6 lead and the points that would eventually be the difference in the game.) Here are the three keys that can save that offense:

Throw some screen passes. The Browns have thrown zero (0) screens the last two weeks. At a time when every team in the NFL runs screens and runs them for gains, the Browns don’t even attempt them. I know that Droughns isn’t the best receiver out of the backfield, but I thought that’s why we drafted Jerome Harrison, so that he could be the change of pace guy. Now he hardly plays, but who can blame the staff for that since Droughns is having such a bang up season (ugh). He has 2 100-yard games, a 65-yard game, and nothing above 36 in the other 4 (he sat out the Baltimore game but I can’t imagine he would have helped).
Throw quick passes when DB’s are playing off the receivers. Carolina does this to perfection with Steve Smith. When a QB surveys the field and sees that there isn’t a defender within 10 yards of one of his playmakers, just take the snap and zing it to him. Winslow and Edwards had it happen multiple times Sunday versus San Diego’s weak corners, but since Frye apparently doesn’t have that option we don’t do it. Winslow actually put his arms in the air before one snap only to be ignored. It’s a simple play that pretty much guarantees you 5 yards as long as the receiver catches it.
Stop throwing into triple coverage. This is self-explanatory.

The Cavs started the season with wins versus the Wizards at home and San Antonio on the road (first since 88-89 in case you missed that graphic which was posted 800 times during Friday’s game). Then they had a let down against Charlotte. It’s tough for anyone to play back to back in the NBA (see the Spurs Friday night). But more than anything this game showed that Danny Ferry did a shit job in the off-season. Cousin Larry was brought in to be LeBron’s wingman, the guy who could pick things up when LeBron was on the bench or having an off night. There combined 28 points Saturday night isn’t going to get it done (James: 16, Hughes: 12). This team will never do anything in the playoffs with the current PG situation. And yes I’m still pissed that they passed on Farmar in the 1st round to take Shannon Brown (who has yet to play) and Dee Brown in the 2nd round for Daniel Gibson (who has yet to play). Farmar would be starting on this team and Brown would be playing significant minutes while Eric Snow is resting in his coffin during games.

I’m not big into politics, but I do follow certain things. But I can’t wait for this election to be over. The back woods republicans of this area are driving me nuts with all of their war mongering and gay hating ads. Its ridiculous.

I hate the way all of these Bible beaters are against gay marriage. If two people love each other let them get married and be miserable like everyone else. They play it off like marriage is still religious. That ended a long time ago. It’s all regulated by the government now. Honestly I think that the insurance companies are in on this and are pushing people against it. If gays can get married then they can be covered by each other’s health insurance. This means more claims for insurance companies to pay out.

Here’s my platform for the presidency in 2016 (I’ll be 36 and legal to run). I’m bringing home our troops. If we are fighting somewhere (which I’m sure we will be) then we’re stopping and everyone’s coming home. If you are stationed overseas and want to come home, you can put-in to be placed at a domestic base. And we’re closing all of the bases in the Mideast. That’s what supposedly started the hatred towards the US, so lets get out of there. Because by then there will be less dependence on oil.

And here’s my other platform. I’ll get rid of private federal income tax. While businesses will still pay taxes, employees will not. In its place, I will institute a penny tax on everything that is sold. Say like 2 cents on every dollar. This way, people that get paid under the table will still be kicking in funds to the government and it will increase the money in working people’s pockets so they will spend and save more. Therefore stimulating the economy.

Vote Calvin in 2016!

Stupid People do Stupid Things

2006-10-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

As I’m sure that everyone has heard, Buck O’Neil died Friday at 94. I had never heard of Buck O’Neil until I watched Ken Burns PBS documentary “Baseball” in 1994. I was living with my dad at the time and I remember watching every episode of that with him.

This was a great documentary. But up until the interviews with Buck, its watchability was average at best. I love baseball and was enamored by the look back at the old times. But Buck really injected life into the series. Yeah they had other former players that did interviews, but they seemed like old men who could barely remember what they had for breakfast, let alone what happened in 1930. But Buck O’Neil brought those black and white videos to life with stories that made my dad and me laugh. He was not only a great baseball man, but also a national treasure.

So looking back on this past year’s Baseball Hall of Fame vote is just another chapter in baseball, and more specifically MLB, screwing up another PR opportunity. Yes there were 18 deceased Negro Leagues administrators, players, and coaches inducted, but the two living legends on that list, O’Neil and Minnie Minosso were left out. Buck O’Neil missed getting in by one vote. To me that’s inexplicable. O’Neil was a great player on one of the great franchises in baseball history (KC Monarchs), the first black scout in MLB (he signed Lou Brock, Ernie Banks, Lee Smith, and Joe Carter to name a few), and became the first black coach in MLB with the Cubs. Not to mention that he has been a living, breathing, storytelling link to the great players of the Negro Leagues. But this wasn’t enough for that pretentious group of voters.

The only good that came from the whole ordeal was that Buck was man enough to do the right thing and gave the induction speech this past summer for those 18 lucky people. The fact that the board had the gall to ask him to do such a thing is a slap in the face to me, but to Buck it was an honor. Hopefully some day the Hall of Fame gets its act together and opens its doors to one of the greatest ambassadors the game has ever known. It’s just to bad that it will be too late for Buck to be here to enjoy it with all the people he touched while on this earth.

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So I obviously took a nosedive on my MLB playoff picks. Let’s just say it’s a good thing that I don’t bet on baseball. Thanks to the Cardinals for getting me off the schnide.

So with the CSs ready to go, I’m going to give some quick picks.

Tigers over A’s in 6.
Look for Rogers and Bonderman to be huge in this series. Rogers has always owned the A’s, and Bonderman was drafted by them. Bonderman is dyslexic and was insulted by A’s management who said something like, why should we pay someone a lot of money when they can’t read the contract? Needless to say he loves pitching against the A’s. Even in his worst season (2003, 6-19) he still managed to pitch his best game vs. the A’s (8IP, 3H, 1ER). The A’s will win Game 1 behind Zito, Detriot in Game 2 Verlander shuts down the A’s weak hitting lineup. Game 3 Rogers shows that he still owns the A’s with 7 strong. Game 4 Bonderman throws a CG shutout. I’m calling it. Game 5 will go to Oakland giving them hope going back west. Zito will torture the free swinging Tigers lineup. And Game 6 will see Verlander closing things out. Six strong, followed by Zumaya in the 7th and 8th, and Jones shutting it down in the 9th. Oakland’s anemic offense finally catches up to them in this series.

Series MVP: Justin Verlander and Ivan Rodriguez

Mets over Cardinals in 7.
Yes, this will go 7 games. As bad as the Cardinals pitching is they still have the best pitcher in the NL. The Mets pitching, to me, is just as bad. Glavine isn’t what he once was (though he looked like it against LA) and after that they have Steve Trachsel, a rookie (Maine), and a guy who hasn’t been good since 2004 (Oliver Perez). At least the Cardinal have Suppan who is capable is giving you a quality start and Weaver (even those he’s capable of melting down at any time, especially in New York). Mets in Game 1 with a solid game from Glavine and 5 shaky innings from Weaver. Cards in Game 2, Suppan is solid and the Cards lineup lights up Maine. Game 3 to the Cards, the way he’s looked I’ll be shocked if anyone beats Carpenter this postseason. Game 4 will be a shootout with Marquis and Perez pitching, and since the Mets have the better lineup I see them knotting the series here. Game 5 I’m going with the Cards, their bats will catch up to Glavine and Weaver will get a rare win at home thanks to the support of the red-clad faithful. Game 6 Maine gets his revenge on Suppan as the Mets bats knock him around a little bit. And finally Game 7. I know I said that Carpenter won’t get beat, but it won’t be him that loses. Trachsel hangs tough for 6, and once the Mets get into the Cards pen its over. A valiant battle by a resilient, veteran team.

Series MVP: Jose Reyes

I’m not even going to write about the weekend in football. Except to say that Mo Carthon is the dumbest coach in the NFL. Not just offensive coordinator. There are ball boy assistants that could run the offense better than him.

Is that a Titleist?

2006-10-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts on this past weekend.

The baseball playoffs are finally set. I have to say that this was one of the more exciting regular season finishes in as long as I can remember. The Cards holding on over the surging Astros, the Dodgers fighting off the Phillies, and in turn the Padres holding off the Dodgers. And then throw in the Tigers collapse and the Twins winning the division on the last day of the season. I don’t care what anyone says I would much rather win the division than the Wild Card. Just a preference.

I was watching Baseball Tonight Sunday and they were talking that the Mets should be okay without Pedro because there really aren’t any good pitching staffs in the NL Playoffs. Excuse me? I believe that the Dodgers have three 15 game winners (Lowe, Penny, Maddux) that all have significant post season experience. Lowe closed out every series for the Sox in 2004, Penny was the #2 starter on the Marlins in 2003, and though Maddux’s post season record isn’t stellar, he will know how to handle the situation. And don’t forget that the Padres have a pretty good staff with Peavy (who picked it up towards the end of the season) and Chris Young (who was traded by the Expos/Nationals to Texas for Einar Diaz, straight up. That’s Omar Minaya, GM of the team with the best record in the NL).

So here are my picks:

Yankees over Tigers in 4. The Yankees lineup will just wear out the Tigers young arms. I see Kenny Rogers getting their only win. Unless Bonderman or Verlander is pretty much unhittable (don’t see that happening against such a patient lineup) the Yankees will stroll into the ALCS.

Twins over A’s in 5. This will be a better series than people think. The A’s pitching will stretch this only if Rich Harden is healthy. If he’s not, and they have to go Zito, Blanton, Haren, then they’re in trouble. Not that Blanton and Haren are awful, its just that they shouldn’t be your 2 and 3 pitchers in a 5 game set. If Harden is ineffective this goes 4.

Yankees over Twins in 6. Santana will win both games for the Twins and Brad Radke will give them two gutsy performances, but they just don’t have the horses. Matt Garza will be good some day, but not in 2006 versus the Yankees. And as well as Boof Bonzer has pitched lately he won’t be a problem for the Yankees.

Dodger over Mets in 5. Lowe, Penny, and Maddux versus El Duque, Glavine, and Tracshel. That doesn’t really seem fair. I know that the Mets lineup is loaded, but they aren’t the patient kind of lineup that wins in the playoffs. And don’t sleep on the Dodgers lineup. Lots of experience and the best offense that they’ve had this decade. Nomar will be big in the first two games in New York. Quick note, I just read that the Dodgers are going with Kuo in game 2. Grady Little rears his ugly playoff head again.

Cardinals over Padres in 4. I know that you may think I’m crazy for this, but I think the Cardinals are ready to click. They struggled so badly down the stretch that they blew their 1st round home field advantage and almost the division. Yes, they do have the Jeffs starting games 2 and 3, but I can see Weaver winning game 3 at home because of the way he feeds off of emotion. With the home crowd fired up behind him he can win that game. And then it’s Carpenter in game 4 at home. Did I mention that the Cards have Albert Pujols?

Dodgers over Cardinals in 6. Once again it’s the Dodgers pitching that will be the difference. If Little would pull his head out of his ass he’d go with Lowe, Penny, then Maddux. Sinker ball, power, then pinpoint accuracy to keep teams off balance. But he won’t because he’s an idiot. Pujols will get some help from Rolen, but it won’t be enough. The pitching staff just has too many shortcomings and Carpenter can’t make up for all of those.

World Series:
Yankees over Dodgers in 7. Once again this will go 7 because of the Dodgers pitching, and the Yankees thin pitching corps. But in the end that Yankees lineup will just be too much. Its kills me to pick them. But that lineup is just going to wear teams down like it did in the second half of the season. All of their hitters are patient and they don’t strike out a lot (with the exception of A-Rod). Their pitching could be their Achilles heal. If Johnson is either out or ineffective they’re in trouble. Wang has been good all season, but he’s young and he relies on that sinker and control. If he can’t get that pitch working he’s in trouble. Mussina will be fine, but after that you’re talking about Jaret Wright and Cory Lidle. Not ideal.

So there’s my playoff picks, now on to more interesting things.

If I worked in an office with chimps in suits and shirts and ties and lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills I would not be looking for a new job. That would be the best job ever.

My Buckeyes flag football team lost Saturday. We didn’t get to practice last week because we had a bad thunderstorm here Thursday. It really showed on Saturday. And we were missing one of our best players, Dae’Shon. But we still managed a 65-yard TD run to start the game and my boy RaeKwon had a 60 yarder in the second half. Unfortunately he’s a big kid and ran out of gas at the 5-yard line.

The Ohio State Buckeyes looked really good Saturday night at Iowa. That game scared me like the Penn State night game last year. But Iowa just couldn’t stop the Bucks running game. I think that was Antonio Pittman’s coming out party to the nation. And that was the best that Chris Wells has played all season. If they truly become a two-headed monster that will be scary. Oh, and Troy Smith was stellar. That TD to Robiske in the 2nd half was ridiculous. And Anthony Gonzalez’s TD catch and run has to be one of the top 5 plays of the year so far. And did I mention the defense. When are people going to stop bringing up the fact that they lost 9 starters on defense like it’s a bad thing? This is Ohio State. Like any top tier program, they reload. These guys that are playing now were ready at the start of the season. And Herbstreit brought up a great point Saturday. If you were only going to return two players, wouldn’t you want your 2 all conference defensive tackles? Pitcock and Patterson are both beasts and will both be first day draft picks.

Bowling Green also won this weekend at Ohio. The offense sucks this year, which will kill them against good MAC teams. If they would have had this defense the last 2 seasons they would have ran the table both season’s in conference. They go to the Horseshoe Saturday. I’m really hoping that the local station that carries the ESPN+ games will have it on. Go Falcons.

The Browns finally won Sunday. I was nervous going into this game because the Raiders were coming off of a bye, so they had 2 weeks to prepare for us. But thanks to 3 big special teams returns, Droughns remembering that he’s a 1,000 yard back, and some good second half adjustments they came back to win. Frye played well except for the horrible pick he threw with 4 minutes left. Rolling to the sideline and then throwing on up for grabs in the middle of the end zone. Even my kids know to throw that away. Idiot. But a wins a win and I’ll take it.

One more point on this game. I was reading the Czar on Foxsports.com yesterday and he was whining that the Raiders got screwed on a spot in the 4th quarter and then failed to convert the 4th down. What he didn’t mention was that it was 4th and inches and instead of sneaking it they handed to Jordan, and that the Browns got hosed on a spot on the ensuing possession. Only the Browns were smart enough to run a sneak on 4th and inches. Not to mention that both of these plays should have been challenged.

I finally won an NFL parlay bet this weekend. Jets (+9), Browns (-2.5,), and Pats (+6). It’s about time.

This summer I told one of the interns here, who happened to be a big Dolphins fan, that they would be lucky to win 7 games. He got so mad. This is what happens when you have a QB that can’t make a pre snap read and stares down one side of the field.
It was good to see Albert Haynesworth hasn’t forgotten what it means to be a Volunteer. Way to do fat Phil proud.

One more baseball related topic. The NL Cy Young is pretty much up for grabs because no one ran away with a bunch of wins this season. I would either give it to Carlos Zambrano (16 wins and a 3.41 ERA for a team that won 66 games) or John Smoltz (16 wins and a 3.49 ERA). Both of these guys were beasts this year. Webb or Carpenter will probably end up with the award. But Smoltz did finish 3rd in the league in strikeouts and 4th in innings. Not bad for a 39 year old.

Its Gortex

2006-09-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

I had a couple different ideas of what to post here. But then I realized that I don’t need to choose because I’ve been doing nothing at work since the end of the season so I can just post the other topic later in the week. So here is topic one. Letters to horrible teams, people, and other things that will never read this.

Dear Mo Carthon (Browns Offensive Coordinator),

The only thing keeping you from being the worst offensive coordinator in the league is the Oakland Raiders. You show no ingenuity or planning in your play calling. It’s just kind of like your pulling plays out of a hat. I put more thinking into my next call on NCAA football. I have to say that at least you’ve stopped calling play action plays on 3rd and long. Some improvement is better than none.

Dear Braylon Edwards,

Catch the ball. If it hits you in the hands catch the damn thing. I read an article that included a comparison of you to Charles Rogers. I scoffed at the time. And then Sunday came and your 4 drops scared me. I’m torn here because you play for the Browns so I want you to be good, but you went to Michigan so if you bomb part of me will be happy.

Dear Brady Quinn,

At least you don’t have to worry about the Heisman anymore.

Dear University of Illinois Football Program,

I vote to kick you out of the Big 10 right now. Getting shutout by a resurgent Rutgers team was bad, but losing to Syracuse at home was worse. Even if you just recruited in the Chicago area you should still win 5 games per year. I hope that you go 0-for.

Dear I-A schools who lost to I-AA schools,

Serves you right. Now I’m not one to speak because my alma mater does schedule the occasional I-AA school, but in our defense we are a MAC school and that’s the closest thing we have to a cupcake game. And the fact that Ohio State is playing Youngstown State next season doesn’t look good. I think that the best part of this is that the I-AA schools all received substantial payment to play the big school. So not only did they take the money, they also administered a butt whipping.

Dear Northwestern Football program,

I know that you lost your coach before the season. I’m sorry for that. But that’s no excuse for losing to New Hampshire. You’re a Big Ten team for God’s sake. Illinois getting embarrassed by the Big East is bad, but this is worse.

Dear Purdue Football Program,

You are the worst 3-0 team in the country. You gave up 35 to Indiana State (who is currently 0-3 with the other losses to Murray State and Eastern Illinois), then beat a down Miami, OH team by 7, and then stumble past MAC doormat Ball State by 10. Solid. Joe Tiller is not Santa Claus.

Dear ESPN,

Thank you for airing the Kansas-Toledo game Friday night. I’m glad that I can tell my children that I was witness to the heaviest combined coaching match up in NCAA history.

Dear University of Tennessee Football Program and Fans,

I’m not sorry that the Gators ruined your night of drinking moonshine and incestually raping each other (though you can’t rape the willing). I can only hope that one day Mark Hughes becomes President so that he bans your God forsaken fight song from the Earth (I of course will be on his cabinet thanks to numerous extortion deals, it will be the largest cabinet in US history). I only hope that there will be gators there to lick your tears and then tear off your head.

Dear Will Mucha,

I heard that you recently walked an hour and a half to an impound at 3:30am. Army crawled under cameras and scaled high fences to get into your car and plant someone else’s parking pass in your vehicle. All for the purpose of retuning the next morning to berate the towing company for towing your car from your friend’s apartment complex (which you made them believe was your complex). And it worked because you didn’t have to pay a dime because they bought your story. Even though I have never met you, you are truly an awesome dude.

I am the smartest man alive!

2006-09-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row the baseball team that I work for won its division. Therefore securing our sport in the Championship Series with the other division winner. For the second consecutive year we played the Elizabethton Twins.

A quick look back at last year’s series. After our manager cost us Game 1 with his inept ability to handle a pitching staff (5-4), we roared back to take Game 2 15-2 and knot the best of 3 series at 1-1. Needless to say our manager’s inability to handle a pitching staff cost us in the deciding game. With a 4-2 lead in the 7th he brings in a reliever that had pitched 2 innings the day before. On top of it the bases were loaded. The Twins tied up the game and then went ahead 5-4 in the 8th. Awesome.

Fast forward to this season. After being rained out last Thursday and Friday and fighting with the Minnesota farm director about the format of the series, we finally got underway for Game 1 here in lovely Danville at 2pm last Saturday. I wasn’t too happy about missing the first Saturday afternoon of college football season. But the Braves made it worth my while. After falling behind 2-0 early on, the team roared back to win 5-2. A solid win that got me excited enough to drive 4 hours to the land of rednecks and orange sherbet. Yes, Tennessee.

Because of the Twins Farm director being such a class guy we had to play a double header Sunday to decide this thing. Two 7-inning affairs for all the marbles.

It looked like we were going to wrap it up in Game 2 when we jumped to a 4-0 lead in the 2nd inning. But because of some subject pitching moves, we lost that lead and the game 5-4. Here we go again.

The final game didn’t start too well. Our starter gave up 2 runs in the 2nd. The scored stayed the same and didn’t look good going into the 5th. So that inning my buddy and I decided to change things up. We went up to the top bleacher and stood as opposed to sitting on the first bleacher. Let’s just say it worked. Our first baseman hit a 2-run bomb to knot it up. So we moved back down after the inning because that was working for our pitching. Not so much. The Twins answered with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning.

So we moved back up top, and it worked again as our DH tied things up in the 6th.

Then came the tide turner. We have a tradition in our home ballpark to sing Sweet Caroline in the middle of the 6th inning each night. Well my buddy and I and the other 25 or 30 Braves fans decided we needed some home cooking to get us through. Let’s just say that the locals were shocked by our rendition of Sweet Caroline (I don’t think that some of them had ever heard the song). We got through an entire verse before they tried to blare us out with Rocky Top. We kept singing, it was awesome, and it worked.

Our pitchers struck out the side in the 6th. Then with two outs in the top of the 7th, our third baseman hit a homer to put us up 4-3. After that it was lights out. Our closer struck out the side on something like 12 pitches in the bottom half. And it was over.

It was great. It’s the first time that I’ve personally been involved in a Championship, and there’s really nothing like it. It’s an overwhelming feeling. It’s pure euphoria.

On a side note I hate Tennessee. In the four hours or so in the ballpark I heard Rocky Top no less than 20 times. One of the more awful songs that can be heard anywhere.

So now I’m looking forward to finally getting that ring after being shut down in final games two other times. It’s pretty awesome because now I feel like I can leave baseball fulfilled. Not that I’m a GM or something. But I’ve been a part of something bigger. Its awesome.

Hey, try not to suck any dick on the way through the parking lot!

2006-07-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

So the Browns season is already rolling down hill after two days of camp. Our #1 free agent signing, maybe of all time, LeCharles Bentley tore his patella tendon and is out for the season. What makes this even worse is that we traded away Jeff Faine (last year’s starting center) so we’re bound to have Bob Hallen as our starter all season. Now I’m not saying Hallen is horrible, but we lost a guy who has been to 2 Pro Bowls in his first four seasons and is generally regarded as the best center in the league.

Some people may say its no big deal because he’s just a center. But that’s totally naive. To me, center is the most important position on the line. Yes, tackles protect the quarterback from the outside rush, but it’s the center that makes all of the line calls. And when you look at the fact that the Browns scored 4, yes 4, rushing TDs in all of 2005 this is a big loss. With a bulldozer like Bentley at center once you get inside the five-yard line you just give the ball up the middle and follow him into the end zone.

To say that I’m upset about this is a huge understatement. For a Browns fan, this is one of those things that makes you think things are going to start snowballing. First Bentley, then what, Andruzzi and Tucker go down. Winslow gets hurt again, Ted Washington breaks down, Wimbley turns into a bust, our DBs drop like flies again. It’s all a very real possibility.

Earlier this week I was convinced that we had a shot at the playoffs this season. Now I’m very much on the fence. Just another domino in the sad sack that has been Cleveland sports in 2006. The Cavs game 7 choke job against the Pistons and the Indians flop have been a good start to the year. The Browns are all I have to look forward to in the world of pro sports for this year. I’m going to go cry now.

The Ukraine is Weak

2006-07-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

Since I’ve had absolutely nothing to do the last two days at work I figured that I’d post something. Now grant it many of the things I have to write about have occurred in the last month so bare with me.

The NBA Draft was pretty awesome, with the exception of the Cavs disregarding their need for a point guard. Shannon Brown will step right in and fill the role of the soon to be departed Flip Murray. A spark off the bench that this punch less team desperately needs. While I’m not totally against this pick, I was upset that they passed on Jordan Farmar. While I don’t think that Farmar is going to be an All-Star he would have been a huge upgrade over the two-headed monster that is Eric Snow and Damon Jones. He played for a coach that preaches defense and makes good decisions with the ball. And did I mention he can score? While Snow can still handle and defend his offensive attributes (which weren’t great to begin with) are lacking. Jones can still shoot from the outside but his handle and decision-making leaves much to be desired. Hence LeBron running the point when he’s on the floor.

And if this wasn’t enough the Cavs passed on Dee Brown in the second round to take on a project like Daniel Gibson. He’s basically the same player as Brown but with a much more erratic shot. I know they are hoping to teach him to run the point, but he couldn’t do it at Texas so why would anyone think he could make the switch in the pros? I’m not saying that Dee Brown would have stepped in and started for the Cavs, but he would have been great on the second unit. His speed and defense alone made him a great value in the 2nd round. Oh, and he can score, how nice would that have been?

I totally blew my NBA Finals pick. Dallas gave that series away, but the Heat’s veteran leadership and Wade took full advantage of Dallas’s miscues. It wasn’t the most exciting series, but it was worth watching.

LeBron has been sitting on his contract offer since Saturday. I’m not too worried about this. While I think that the Cavs wasted money on Z last season, they still have the means to improve the team (they should have given Z three years at the most). The two biggest needs on that team are a consistent power forward (Drew Gooden is not) and a decent point guard (which I alluded to above). Speedy Claxton (who just signed w/ the Hawks) would have been a nice fit. A pass first PG with the ability to put the ball in the hoop. As far as PF goes, the long term solution is Varejao. He’s still very raw but I think that over the course of a season he would be much more consistent (15 and 9) than Gooden (11 and 8, but multiple disappearing acts throughout the season, including the playoffs). Varejao’s per 48 minutes numbers were 11.6 pts and 12.2 boards. If he could put up numbers like that on a consistent basis it would take a lot of pressure off of LeBron and Z.

By signing Ben Wallace the Bulls basically bought a billboard that read “See Ya Tyson”. They do the exact same thing but Wallace does it better, with more consistency and energy. If this PJ Brown trade goes through the Bulls will be tough next season. Brown isn’t the dominated low post scorer they need but if he holds his career average (9 and 8) he will be a compliment to their wing players and Wallace. With all of the jumpers that team takes they need two guys who are good offensive rebounders. Brown and Wallace fit the bill. And don’t forget JR Smith from the Hornets deal. He and Gordon could be murder off of the bench for the Bulls. As long as Mike Sweetney doesn’t eat both of them first.

I’m pretty excited about Sunday’s World Cup Final. Not only is it a great match up of two classic powers, but I put $10 on France to win the whole thing before the tournament started. At 10-1 odds I’m looking at a nice payday.

Zidane has also shown that he is still one of the best playmakers in the world. With all of the talk about Brazil (thanks for showing up Ronaldinho) Zidane controlled France’s game against them. Culminating in his perfect free kick to Henry.

This has not been the best baseball season for me so far. The team I work for is floundering and the team I grew up loving (and still do) is horribly underachieving. For the first time during their run the Braves have no pitching. Their lineup is probably in the upper fourth of the NL, but the pitching is abysmal to say the least. The Indians are about the same way. They have one of the best lineups in baseball but the pitching just isn’t here once you get past CC. I’m glad to see them bringing up some young guys and giving them a chance to play. I still think they have a chance to make a second half run.

I’m going to Ohio in about a month for my buddy’s Bachelor Party/Wedding. I’m the best man (first time that’s probably ever been said) so I’m obviously in charge of planning this shindig. While I’ve been to Cleveland on multiple occasions, its changed a lot since my college days. The Flats and Warehouse district are ghetto now, so I’m going to shoot for the 6th Street area. After getting my buddy loaded hopefully we’ll get him into a nice gentlemen’s establishment to finish off the evening.

I think that’s about it. Outside of celebrating Independence Day like any other red blooded American (by getting drunk off of my ass) it has been pretty boring around here. Danville’s not the most active place when it comes to nightlife. I long for the days of Sports Page (and its neighboring establishment), Chili’s, and the Dirty P. But I’m sure my liver appreciates it.

I was in the pool!

2006-06-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Even though this blog has been idol for over a month now, it has been thriving in my head. You see my writing time has been nonexistent because the interns started working here May 8th. Which means that I have company here in the office all day now as opposed to until 2:30 or so. It’s really cut down on my internet surfing in general. So while I’m here I wanted to touch on a couple of points.

First, the NBA Finals. Dallas looks like they could sweep this series. While I don’t see that happening (I see Shaq putting up a throw back night in one of these games in Miami) this won’t go past five. Miami just looks like they have to work too hard on both ends of the floor to get anything. Dallas is just too quick. Their offense is more fluid and their defense is stouter. And when did Antoine Walker forget how to finish at the hoop? Anytime he does actually take it inside he looks like JJ Redick careening out of control and throwing one off of the backboard. (Speaking of JJ, nice job on the DUI. I was more surprised that it wasn’t for pot possession. His parents are hippies after all.)

Second, I have to admit that I have been watching the World Cup and enjoying it. I’m in to the games to the point that I’m yelling at countries like the Ivory Coast. And I give all of the credit to FIFA for Xbox 360. I love that game. I’m actually considering buying it for my PS2. While the US shit the bed against the Czechs, the rest of the Cup has been great. I was a big fan of the Swiss’s defensive job on the much more heralded French team today (that still hasn’t scored since the 1998 final). Great defense by both teams; who would have thought that a 0-0 game would get me so excited?

That’s all I’ve got time for now. I’m going to try to make some more time for this. I need something to get me away now and then.

You know how I know that you're gay?...Because your dick tastes like shit.

2006-05-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

A few short notes before I leave my place of work early because I’m the only one here.

While my worst fears weren’t realized flying home Sunday (i.e. plane crashing) the inconveniences I feared reared their ugly head. I knew that I only have 40 minutes between flights in Newark. So when my flight out of Seattle was stuck on the runway and we left 30 minutes late I knew I was in trouble. So when I arrived at the Raleigh-Durham gate in time to see my plane backing out I was not happy. I don’t think the Continental employee was either when I berated her for not holding the plane for me. Things only got worse when I was informed that the 8:30 flight to RDU was already over booked by 7 people and they weren’t going to bump anyone for me. I eventually got on the 11:30 flight and by the time I got back to good old Danville it was about 3:30pm. Considering that I had been traveling since 10:30pm PST I was a little worn out.

You see the original plan was to sleep on the cross-country flight. Well that didn’t happen since I ended up next to a feral slam pig. I’m talking so large they had to bring her an extension so she could fasten her seat belt. I thought people that big had to buy 2 seats. On top of this she was moving pretty much the entire flight and had the back of her head shaved under her ponytail. Did I mention the BO? Awesome lady.

Moving on to the events (or lack thereof) of last night. My wife and I started moving boxes and other things that never got unpacked into our new house. This is a one-story place but it has an upstairs crawlspace. Perfect for storing holiday stuff and of course dead baby heads. So when I climbed up there I saw that it was apparent this crawlspace hadn’t cleaned out in a while. There wasn’t anything big. Just some gift boxes, a bunch of old pictures, and some school papers from a kid who was in 3rd grade in 1995-96.

Now you may say Calvin, why is this interesting? It’s interesting because I found this kids report card and class photo. This kid managed to score nothing higher than a “C” (once) in an entire year of 3rd grade. Yet somehow was passed onto 4th grade. What the hell is wrong with schools? I read the teacher’s notes and this kid had some behavior problems too (go figure). Just ridiculous. Anyways I kept the picture and report card and have them stored on the door of the crawlspace for safekeeping. Any time I feel down I’ll look at them and laugh at his stupidity. When he gets out of jail some day I’m sure he’ll want them.

It goes without saying but my wife didn’t think me saying that dead babies were in the attack was nearly as funny as I did.

These aren't the people that built the railroads, Walter

2006-04-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

To say that I’m excited for the upcoming week is a huge understatement. Besides going to Seattle, the NBA playoffs start this weekend, of course the NFL Draft is next weekend and I’ll be in attendance at the Mariners-White Sox game Wednesday night. Fantastic from all angles.

Have you noticed how the weeks leading up to the NFL Draft are a lot like a soap opera? There’s so much posturing, hearsay, and lies to throw you off the trail that it’s great. Now this all culminates with the official start of the NFL season. Yes the draft. From that time on I will spend a portion of each day checking camp results. It’s all very exciting.

I still have no idea who the Browns are going to take. It’s going to come down to who’s available on the defensive side of the ball. Phil Savage has come out and said that if Ngata from Oregon is there at #12 the Browns are taking him. But I’m leery of that pick because I’ve heard some negative talk about his work ethic and let’s remember the last time the Browns took a DT in the 1st round (see Big Money Gerard Warren). If he’s not there I’ve heard a lot of people saying they’ll take Kameron Wimbley from FSU. Besides this guy being a Seminole I have no problem with the pick. The Browns need to get better at rushing the passer and he would help. Plus he would greatly benefit from the tutelage of Willie McGinest. And I’ve already heard the comparisons to Michael Boulware (before the injury) and that excites me. The parallels are there with him being from FSU and Savage having a hand in drafting both.

This is probably as excited as I’ve been for the NBA Playoffs since I was in high school. And its not just because the Cavs are back in. That helps, but it seems like every great player that made the playoffs has really raised their game this season. I’ll admit that I’m on the Lakers over Suns bandwagon in round 1. While I love Phoenix’s style of play, Raja Bell is only a speed bump in Kobe’s way to dominating this series. I think that the Wizards-Cavs series could be the best of the 1st round. LeBron and Arenas will go back and forth in every game. Eric Snow won’t be able to stay in front of Arenas and while Caron Butler may contain LeBron to a point, he’ll still get his 35 a night against the Wiz. Two teams that play zero defense always means good times.

I got a little insider info the other day regarding the whole Duke lacrosse deal. There was a high school game here Monday between the local team and a team from NY. Apparently the pitcher from the NY team is a big time prospect so there were 8 or 10 scouts here to see him. One of them was an assistant from UNC. He said that he has heard from people he knows at Duke that the lacrosse team is regarded as probably the craziest, most out of control sports team in the ACC. The statement “if you’re looking for cocaine in Durham, go to the lacrosse house” was made, and apparently no one goes to their parties but the players because everyone is worried about getting busted in a house that contains multiple illegal narcotics. Now I’m not implying that if you use drugs you’re more prone to rape someone, I’m just saying that these guys have the reputation for being out of control.

I’ve got a pretty big thing going on tomorrow. I’m getting my first tattoo. It’s my birthday present from my wife. It’s my own original design. I’m not going to go into more detail, so you guys will just have to wait until we get to Seattle to see it. But it’s going to be awesome.

Did someone say something about a five-day bender?

Califonia Penal

2006-04-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

In under 2 weeks I'll be in Seattle, WA. Hanging out, getting drunk, and other fun stuff. There are plans to head up to America, Jr. and even visit Jimi Hendrix. Of course the NFL Draft is the motivation for this trip. I really hope that this becomes a yearly venture. Maybe some day when all of us are making good money we can move this party to Vegas or some tropical locale where we can sit in hot tubs drinking margaritas while watching the draft.

Anyways, every time I think about this trip I smile. I sincerely can't wait.

I was on hold today with Office Max and "All that she wants is another baby" by Ace of Base came on as the hold music. I almost wet myself. All I could think of is John singing it in the office. Awesome.

Rand McPherson, everybody. And don't forget the 9:30 show is completely different than the 7:30 show

2006-04-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

My run down of things that have happened lately.

Florida’s basketball team was unbelievable the entire tournament. They out ran the teams that played up-tempo (Nova, GMU) and were able to adjust or force the tempo against slow teams (Georgetown, UCLA). Well coached, but more importantly well executed. I hope that all of the starters come back for next season. I love that everyone is talking about how UNC, Ohio State, and UCLA will be stronger with their recruiting classes. And while this is true, UF could have a starting 5 that will be in their 3rd season of playing together, a deep bench, and oh yeah a great recruiting class that no one is talking about. Can you imagine Noah with another 10-15 lbs of muscle next year? I get the shakes just thinking about it.

I got a hair cut the other day for the first time in about 3 months. It was some new girl who almost gave me a bowl cut. But hey, it’ll grow out. Besides, I get my hair cut at Wal-Mart so what can you expect?

My wife and I found a great rental house last weekend. 3 bedrooms, washer and dryer, and its cheaper than what we’re paying for our 2 bedroom apartment.

I booked my flight for the NFL Draft Party in Seattle at the end of the month. Damn it, I just blew my load again.

The whole Duke Lacrosse team thing is out of control in my mind. Anyone who doesn’t think that race was involved is an idiot. Durham is a fairly dark community and Duke is the whitest of white places. And not only that but rich, white kids. I saw an interview with a city council member and she brought up a great point. If the same thing would have happened to a white girl at NC Central (a historically black school) those kids would have been at the Police department that night and probably in jail. Instead of hiding in daddy’s wallet like these kids.

One thing that I’d like to do in Seattle is go to the Jimi Hendrix memorial or whatever it is. He’s my all-time favorite musician and I will fight anyone who argues that (Hughes included).

I stopped in on a potential client today. This place is a golf supply store. He told me that he hadn’t gotten a chance to look over the stuff I gave him because him and his dad were in Augusta last weekend and played a couple of rounds. He apparently has a pretty sweet hook up with some suppliers. Then he goes onto tell me that they’re heading back down for the weekend rounds. It took everything I had not to punch him in the face. And he’s old so I know I could have taken him.

I just checked the Masters’ leaderboard. Its good to see that the pride of Florida Southern, Rocco Mediate, is having his typical solid first round in a major. This guy almost always play well the first 2 days of a major, but inevitably falls apart during the weekend. This happens when your name is Rocco.

Major League Baseball started this week. Its funny to watch opening day with all of the packed stadiums and then see about 250 fans the next night. Who is in charge of group tickets for these teams? Call me; I’ll be more than happy to take over the department.

One last thing. I saw that Heather Locklear is going out with David Spade. How the hell is that? I would surely hope that this is a get back at Richie Sambora hookup for Heather. But hey, good for David Spade. Whoever said he wouldn't be anything without Chris Farley?

General Tso, you are a worth adversary

2006-03-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

I went to possibly the best Chinese buffet I’ve ever been to last night. It had 8 buffet tables that were at least 10 feet long. Just a plethora of deliciousness. I of course got my share of the great general’s tasty chicken.

A big congratulations to singer Tom Jones. He’s going to be knighted. How far has the honor of being knighted fallen? Back in medieval times you had to save the queen or lay waste to an opposing army to be knighted. Now you just need a couple chart topping singles and you’re into the club. And while I like Tom Jones, is he really in the same class as Paul McCartney and Elton John?

I shaved my beard last weekend and two things became obvious. One, I look like a totally different (and younger) person without it (I got carded buying lotto tickets yesterday). And two, I hate shaving. That beard had me spoiled. About twice a week I’d touch up my neck but that was it. I did keep some sweet chops though.

I hope that Amare’s knee injury isn’t serious. But I’m pretty sure that everyone associated with and who enjoys the NBA is holding their collective breath right now. Micro fracture surgery is pretty much what ACL surgery was 25 years ago. While modern medicine has reduced ACL injuries to minor bumps in the road, Micro surgery is career threatening. While he played well in the 3 games he was back for, he wasn’t explosive from what I saw. I really hope that this isn’t another Chris Webber-type incident.

I know that it’s been a few days now, but how business like did UConn look on Sunday? While Mason seemed to be enjoying every minute of that game (even when they were down), the only UConn emotion I saw was when Brown tied the game at the end of regulation. It was like watching a bunch of robots. And nice job by Boone and Armstrong. Getting schooled by 6’7” big men really helps your draft stock.

And one more thing about that game. How quick is Tony Skinn? I know that Marcus Williams had a good game, but Skinn was in his grill all game. And not only that but he constantly had his hand in the passing lane and had to be far and away the leader in deflections for that game. Even though he missed the front end of the 1 and 1 at the end of regulation, I really thought that he controlled the tempo on the defensive end of the court.

I was also really impressed with Mason’s offensive discipline. They took the shot clock inside 10 seconds almost every position. I really think that fact helped them keep it together down the stretch because they weren’t tempted by quick shots.

That’s enough talk about Mason. I kind of rambled a little there.

I wanted to touch quickly on the other 3 final four teams.

I love LSU’s inside game, but I don’t know if Darrell Mitchell is going to be able to carry their perimeter scoring for two more games. The game with UCLA could be another knock down drag out, 54-52 type game. Look for Magnum Rolle to make the key defensive play (I can only hope).

How is it that this UCLA team gets to the Final Four but the Knight-Page Pitt teams couldn’t do it? Easier draw, maybe. Better offense, yes. I’m a big Afflalo fan, it will be interesting to see how he does with Temple on him Saturday.

Right now, Florida is my favorite to win it all. Everyone knows how great their inside game is, but I really think that Green and Humphrey both picked up a lot of confidence against Nova. And with Corey Brewer wreaking havoc and hitting 3s on the wing, they are very dangerous. I think UF’s athletic bigs will handle Mason much better then the UConn stiffs.
Lastly, I went to the Dan Valley Food Show today. If you ever get the chance to go to a food show, do it. It’s a schmorgusboard of deliciousness. And when someone would ask me if we’d be interested in having their product at the park I’d just tell them that I’m not the decision maker. Awesome.

For each sprinkle I find I'll kill you

2006-03-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

Some brief thoughts on what was one of the most exciting first weekends of the NCAA Tournament in years. I don’t remember that many down to the wire games in a long time. And this comes down to the fact that all of the big programs are losing young guys to the NBA and these senior laden mid major teams are better equipped to compete with them now.

Georgetown beating Ohio State surprised me, but didn’t shock me. Georgetown runs the “Princeton” offense better than any team in the nation (maybe better than the NBA teams that run it). They’re very long and athletic and I love Jeff Green. He doesn’t get nearly enough attention on the national stage. When Ohio State struggled from 3-point land against Davidson I was worried for the G-town game. Rightfully so it appears.

I picked Bradley to beat Kansas. As hot as the Jayhawks were coming in, Bradley was equally hot. And as I stated above, Bradley is a veteran team and KU is very young. Experience, even if it’s not in the NCAA Tournament, is very important this time of year.

I hate the way that people say that when you get into the tournament things slow down and you have to be a good half court team. Well, that never seems to work so well for Pitt who is pretty much the ultimate half court team. I had them in the Sweet 16 again. Maybe I’ll learn some day.

I’d like to apologize to George Mason. I thought that they were dead in the water against MSU without Tony Skinn. But they controlled that game from the get go and then knocked off a young UNC team. I bet that Billy Packer already put his request in for the GMU-Wichita State game. Hurry up and eat Billy while the shit’s still warm. Same for
Digger Phelps.

The LSU-A&M game was one of the best of the tournament so far. A&M had them right where they wanted them. They played that slow down pace, but give credit to LSU for making the plays down the stretch. They lose that game last year with their shaky guard play. But that backcourt is a lot better this season and I have them beating Duke.

Memphis has yet to play a major conference team, and if Gonzaga beats UCLA they could get to the Final Four without playing one. Don’t sleep on the Braves though. Bradley could knock them off just like they did to Kansas. Bradley has played two games against two totally different styles and handled both of them very well.

Washington is very underrated. I don’t know if they have the size to play with UConn. But I don’t see Marcus Williams having the same kind of game he had in the first two rounds. So much for Rajon Rondo being a lock down defender. And Brandon Roy is the real deal.

Finally, I’m really looking forward to the BC-Nova game. That could be the best game of the tournament. Craig Smith is playing like he’s on a mission. I like BC in that game, but that four-guard attack is tough. Kyle Lowery is still one of my favorite players in the country. He can be quiet for the first 35 minutes of a game and then get a couple of steals, a couple of rebounds and the next thing you know he’s torched you for 10 points in two minutes and you’re out of the game. Just a spark plug.

Good night sweet prince

2006-03-16T11:32:00.000-08:00

A couple of things that I want to touch on.

One, I couldn’t be happier about the Browns’s signings so far. They’ve addressed their needs and have gotten veteran guys that know how to win. While Washington and McGinest are old, they know the defensive scheme and will be key in the development of some of the younger players.

Getting LeCharles Bentley was a huge coup. He was by far the #1 free agent offensive lineman. Now the decision comes of where to play him. They have Jeff Faine (2003’s 1st round pick) at center and they just signed Cosey Coleman and Joe Andruzzi last offseason. Now Faine is an injury risk. He has yet to play an entire season. Any where they decide to stick Bentley will be an upgrade.

My only concern in all of the signings was Kevin Shaffer from the Falcons. He has been the starting LT for the Falcons the last 2 seasons, but Michael Vick is left handed which means that Shaffer wasn’t the blind side protector. This is the only concern I have with him is that he wasn’t taking on the best DE each week the way he will now.

Jurevicius is a great insurance signing. He can be the #1 receiver until Edwards is healthy and after that he slides nicely into the #2 spot. He’s got great hands and finally gives the Browns a reliable receiver.

My next thoughts have to do with what I watched on ESPN Classic last night. I watched the Top 20 NCCAA Buzzer beaters of all time. Just a few thoughts on the show.

They rated Princeton’s upset of UCLA in 1996 at like #16. How is that? UCLA was the defending National Champs and they lost to Princeton. Princeton! That would have been in my top 10.

How is Lorenzo Charles’s dunk against Houston in the 1983 title game not #1? That won NC State the National Title. That buzzer beater won it all. Now I think that Laettner’s shot against UK is a solid #3 only for the fact that it didn’t win the title.

Meaning that my #2 is the put back for Loyola against Cincy in 1963. Once again, it won the Championship.

They had one women’s shot on there and it was like #11. It was Charlotte Smith’s 3 to win the title for UNC over La. Tech in 1994. I’m not a big fan of the women’s game, but I would have put this in the top 5. A three to win the title, that’s never happened in the men’s game.

This show also reminded me of something. I think at #8 was John Wallace’s 3 to beat UGA in the Elite 8 in 1996. No one ever talks about how Wallace basically carried a pretty average Syracuse team to the final game that season (where they lost to UK). Wallace was an absolute beast in that tournament. And believe it or not, I picked ‘Cuse to make the Final Four that season. I would have won my dad’s work pool had I picked them to go to the final game. But I had them losing in the semis to Cincy. And of course Cincy choked against Mississippi State that season. I would put Wallace’s performance in that tournament 2nd only to Randolph Childress’s 1995 ACC tournament performance. Those were both clutch, get on my back kind of performances. Kentucky just out gunned Wallace that season in the final.

Someone please take me on a magic carpet ride!

2006-03-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

I’m going to cover my picks for the upcoming tournament. Unlike some of my friends I will be working the next two days. But I fully plan on taking advantage of CBS having the games on a live feed online. My luck our internet will go down.

I’m not going to go through every pick because that will take too long and I don’t have that kind of patience. So here are my first round upsets (including 9s over 8s).

UNC Wilmington over GW
I love the way that GW runs and if they get Pops back they’ll be tough. But I think that UNCW is a tough, veteran team that has the type of disciplined play to handle GW. On another note I think that they will give Duke a tougher than expected game in the 2nd round.

A&M over ‘Cuse
This is my mandatory 12 over 5 pick. A&M is a very physical team and I honestly think that Syracuse peaked in the Big East tournament. I was also very upset to hear Vermont’s old coach (I can’t remember his name) compare McNamara’s performance in the Big East Tournament to Randolph Childress’s ACC tourney run in 1995. Flabbergasted isn’t even a strong enough term. Yes McNamara hit some clutch shots, but did he carry his teams to those wins? No. He didn’t score over 20 in any of the four games. Childress went for something ridiculous like 35, 30, and 45 in his 1995 run and single handedly carried Wake to that championship.

Bradley over Kansas
I love the way that both of these teams have played the last month or so. But Kansas is very young and there’s always that one veteran mid major team that knocks off the young bucks.

Xavier over Gonzaga
In the battle of Jesuits there is some bad blood. Xavier and Gonzaga used to play each other almost every season up until Gonzaga hit the big time in 1999. All of a sudden they were too big time to play the Musketeers. XU also has 6’9” Justin Doellman who is probably the best defender Morrison will have faced in the last 3 months. Not having Brian Thornton will hurt in containing Bautista, but I think they can pull it off.

Bama over Marquette
Live by the 3, die by the 3. That’s what I’m basing this on. Marquette won’t be able to hit from deep and Bama will prevail. Novak is a tournament vet, but he won’t be enough.

UAB over Kentucky
I love the rematch from two years ago. I actually picked UAB on one of my brackets that year, unfortunately it wasn’t one of my money brackets. Now I have one bracket that I use. I always hated the what ifs I ran into. This Kentucky team doesn’t run like their teams of the past. UAB will turn them over a lot. And I’m predicting that Rajon Rondo gets exposed for the fraud that he is. Squeeky Johnson will push him all over the court.

Wisconsin over Arizona
I really hate Arizona’s team this year. They seem like they should really be able to lock people down, but instead they try to run with them. The only reason they’re in is because they play in a shit conference. They wouldn’t have finished over .500 in any other power conference. I think that this will be one of the most horrible games to watch of the tournament.

UNI over Georgetown
This is a very veteran and tournament tested UNI team. Don’t sleep on them. I love the way the Hoyas make the Princeton offense look so fluid because they have great athletes running it, but I think the Panthers get the upset here.

My other big picks lay out like this.

LSU over Duke
LSU learned a lot from last year’s debacle against UAB. Basically that they needed better guard play, and they got it. Glenn Davis will destroy Sheldon Williams and LSU’s athletic guards will keep JJ covered up all day.

Washington over Illinois
I think that UW has flown under the radar all season. Brandon Roy is a great player and this team just has too many weapons for Illinois to stop. It’ll be close, but UW wins.

Michigan St. over UNC
MSU is beat up and a little down. But is there a coach who gets more out of his players in the tournament than Izzo? They always make a run. And you know that vet team will be licking their lips when they take on a very young UNC team.

Michigan St. over Tennessee
MSU will frustrate UT by keeping this a half court game. UT really faded down the stretch and showed their true colors. They aren’t all that athletic and that will hurt them here.

BC over Nova
Smith and Dudley are experienced and hungry. They’re also familiar with Nova. This could be the game of the tournament. BC just has too much inside and their bigs can handle, unlike UConn’s.

My Final Four lays out like this: Texas over LSU in the South, Memphis over UCLA in the West (only because of a soft region), UConn over Michigan St. in the East, and Ohio State over BC in the Midwest.

Then…

Texas over Memphis
As much as I like Memphis I think that their lack of experience and quality opponents will catch up with them right here. Texas is solid all the way around. And they have that intangible guy in Buckman who you know will do something to turn this game down the stretch.

UConn over OSU
It was a good run for the Bucks but UConn’s size finishes off the job that BC’s size started. OSU ran into the same kind of buzz saw UConn team in 1999 in the semis.

Final
Texas over UConn, 78-72
UConn’s bigs lack of mobility and versatility will kill them in this game. That’s really the only thing I have to say about this game. I just think that Texas is a better team.

When I fill out my bracket I never have a team that I pencil in as the winner. I go round by round and judge each match up. If I think a team will lose, then they lose. Simple as that. Alas, the highest I’ve ever finished in any pool is 3rd and that was last season. But that was also the first time I’ve used just one sheet (the sheet of integrity, if you will). Perhaps this will be my year. But probably not.

What is this shirts versus blouses?

2006-03-13T07:54:00.000-08:00

I haven’t posted anything in over a week and that’s because I’ve actually been busy. But with the back alley, rusty hanger abortion that was last nights NCAA selection show, I had to say something.

I’ve always been a proponent of giving the little guys a chance in the tournament. But I think that the committee was smoking some herbal supplements over the last week.

Here are my teams that have no business being in the field

George Mason: for one they lost to Hofstra twice in the last 2 weeks of their season. And two, they will be without their second leading scorer for the opening round. How do you put this team in? Everyone talked all year how they were a shoo-in and then they choke down the stretch of the regular season and lose in their conference semis. I just don’t get it.

Utah State: they played a hell of a game against a much more talented Nevada team Saturday night in the WAC Final. Yes they have 23 wins, but the general consensus was that their RPI and SOS were not nearly strong enough to get in. When they got a 12 seed I almost fell out of my chair.

Seton Hall: yes they put up good numbers in one of the best conferences in the NCAA. They got big road wins down the stretch. But they choked and got beat badly by Quincy Douby (and Rutgers to a lesser extent) and they’ve only got 18 wins. If they would have beaten Rutgers I wouldn’t have a problem with this. I could even look past the plastering that Duke put on them early. But the fact is that they didn’t step up when everything was on the line and that always bothers me.

Air Force: yes they have 24 wins. But they looked horrible in the MWC tourney and their RPI and SOS were bad. How you take a team like this over Florida State who has an equally bad RPI and SOS but at least plays in the ACC is beyond me. Maybe the committee was just trying to send a message to the bigger schools to schedule better in the preconference.

Now here’s the teams that should have been in instead of these dead beats.

Florida State: as much as that pains me to say its true. Now grant it they too choked in the ACC tourney against Wake, but they are also the first ACC school to finish the regular season over .500 in conference and not make the tournament. They interviewed Leonard Hamilton before the show and he was so confident. I have to think he cried himself to sleep last night.

Hofstra: as stated above they beat George Mason twice in the last 2 weeks of the season, finish second in one of the best mid major conferences in America, and made it to the CAA tournament finals. I don’t know how you ignore a team that did so well head-to-head against a team that is in the field.

Cincinnati: I still hate that they ran Huggins out of town and that they’re doing the same things to Andy Kennedy. The guy took a team that had no business winning 5 games in the Big East and ended up finishing in the top half of the conference. Yes they lost the heart breaker to Syracuse, but after they went on to win the Big East tournament I think that has to be discounted. How SHU gets in over them is beyond me.

Missouri State: flat out this team finished with an RPI of 20. That means they are the highest RPI team not to make the field in the 20+ years they’ve been using the method. They finished 2nd in one of the strongest, most competitive conferences in the nation. Yes they lost in the first round of the MVC tourney, but to a tournament bound UNI team. I just think it sets a bad precedent that they change the way the RPI is figured to help the mid majors and the selection committee turns their back on a team that finishes in the top 20.

On a side note it was 80 here yesterday so I went golfing with my buddy. Needless to say it was good times had by all. We polished off our 12 pack of silver bullets and finished up with some $.94 PBRs from the clubhouse. I shot a 55 and 52, so I was happy. Especially since every pin was on the front of the green and I swear they hadn’t watered the greens all year. Pretty awesome for it being March when everyone is getting out for the first time. Really considerate.

And if you missed it or haven’t gotten the email, I set up a Yahoo pick’em for the tournament. The ID# is 66506 and the password is nobrevard. Its $10 per entry. 2nd place doubles their money and the winner takes the rest.

Nice accent you got there. What is that, New Jersey?

2006-03-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

This is going to be quick because I’ve only really got three things I want to talk about.

It felt like the Cavs really exorcised a lot of demons last night in Chicago. They blew a big lead in the 2nd half and looked like they were heading down the same road they did last season (and for the last 5 games). But they hung in there and kept it close. Now grant it LeBron didn’t step up down the stretch, but maybe that was good for the team. It showed that they could win without him carrying all the bags. I like the Flip Murray deal more and more each time I see them play. Without Hughes he is really their only other perimeter scoring threat.

The Memphis-UAB game last night was fantastic. One of the top 5 college basketball games I’ve seen this season. I just love the way UAB plays. With solid defense and a lot of guts. Memphis is clearly a much more talented team, but UAB’s pressure defense finally got to them in the final 5 minutes. And I was impressed as hell with Squeeky Johnson (and not just because of his name). He controlled every aspect of the game. And while stat line doesn’t blow you away (10 pts, 6 boards, 5 assists, and 2 steals) he definitely filled up the box score. You can tell that he is the unquestioned leader of that team.

This should be a great college basketball weekend. There are some fantastic match ups highlighted by UNC-Duke. What I’m not looking forward to is ESPN’s Vitale times 3 coverage. Ridiculous. Put another game on ESPN2. How many people are actually going to be watching the “above the rim cam” (I know they have the “Cameron Crazy” cam on ESPNU, but I don’t get that channel so I really don’t care about it). And on a side note Ohio State has a chance to wrap up its first outright Big Ten basketball title since Jim Jackson was there in the early 90s. I thought that OSU would be good this year, but not win the conference good. Like I’ve said before, they lost two players off a team that won 20 games last year. It’s just that no one remembers that because they weren’t eligible for the tourney (thanks Jim O’Brien). If this team can make a tourney run into the Sweet 16 and then bring back all of the underclassmen, (this means you Jamar Butler) look out next season.

I’m going bowling Saturday night. I’m going to be really drunk. Good times in Danville, VA.

Doesn't anyone fucking knock anymore?

2006-03-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

I was going to post this yesterday, but my boss rudely interrupted me. I can only work so much.

Even though Bill Simmons has already stolen my thunder and written a post about the Team USA NBA list, I’m going to put down my thoughts as well. I was impressed by some of the names on the list (Battier, Bowen, J. Howard) meaning that it looks like Colangelo and his boys are finally getting the message that you need to build a team.

This list is a precursor to the 2008 Olympics and basically this year’s World Championships are the tryouts. With that in mind I didn’t include some guys on this list because I felt their skills may be too diminished by the time Beijing rolls around.

Point Guard: Chauncey Billups, Chris Paul

Billups has shown that he is an all-round great point guard. He can knock down any shot, get into the lane, distribute as well as anyone this side of Steve Nash, and most importantly play defense. Billups’s size will give him a great advantage over Euro points on both sides of the ball. Hell, it gives NBA points a lot of problems now.

Paul is showing signs of being ready to take the torch from Kidd and Nash when the time comes. He’s a classic point guard in every sense of the word. In two years I can only imagine how much he will have progressed. He is a better open court guard than Billups which will make him a great compliment/change of pace point for the team.

Two-Guards: Dwyane Wade, Michael Redd

Wade is the ultimate slasher, but his shot is getting better. He can handle and even run the point if needed. He’s an underrated defender who does so many things well.

Redd is a remade player. When he came out of college he couldn’t hit a 15 footer. Now he might be the best shooter in the league. He still has the slasher in him, which allows him to put the ball on the floor and create his own shot. While I think that he is a good team defender, he’s not a lock down guy.

Small Forwards: LeBron James, Josh Howard, Rashard Lewis

There’s not a whole lot to say about LeBron that hasn’t been said. He gives the lineup a lot of flexibility because he can play three, maybe even four, positions. Playing with a team like this should also get his passing game back on track after playing with this rusty hanger, back alley abortion for a team this season.

I was very impressed when I saw Josh Howard’s name on the list. Howard is a good to great defender that brings a solid scoring option at the offensive end. He rebounds well and can get to the hoop.

Believe it or not Lewis was my last addition to this list. His game is very smooth and he has developed a very dependable outside shot. At 6’10” he will be a match up nightmare on the international level. I know that there are a lot of big Euros that are perimeter oriented, but none of them play defense.

Power Forwards: Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, Dwight Howard

Brand has been a consistent double-double machine since his first NBA game. He does everything on the offensive end, including a solid 15 foot jumper. His low post defense leaves a little to be desired at times, but he makes up for it with shot blocking and grabbing every rebound.

Marion is just a beast. His wing span makes him almost unstoppable on offense (whether in the post or on the perimeter) and makes him a stopper on defense. As long as Coach K lets him play the “4” (unlike Brown who had him at the “3” most of the Athens games) he’ll be great. Did I mention that he has played the last two seasons with Steve Nash? Yeah, that will only make him better.

Dwight Howard is arguably the best young big man in the NBA. He’s just a beast, and he’s 20. By the time the 2008 Games roll around he should be averaging about 25 and 15 a night. His low post game is developing and once his mid range jumper gets consistent there won’t be any stopping him. And his defense is great. He plays good post defense, blocks shots, and is going to be the best rebounder on the team.

Centers: Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh

I’m not worried about Stoudemire’s knee because unlike C-Webb and K-Mart he’s taken his time coming back and listened to his doctors. He’s just a freak on both sides of the ball. When he’s on the floor the offense should run through him, no matter what team he is on.

Bosh, Stoudemire, and Howard could be the second coming of Hakeem, Ewing, and Robinson. Bosh has packed on the pounds since he was drafted and is a machine now. He scores at will in the post and has added a mid range jumper to his repertoire. His length makes him dangerous on defense and a beast on the boards. Oh, and he can handle a little bit too.

So those are my picks. A few thoughts on those I left off.

Kobe: I agree with Simmons here in that him being the show with the Lakers has hurt his all around game. He needs the ball in his hands to be effective.

Areans: We saw how well shoot-first point guards worked in Athens. Arenas is a great scorer, but he just doesn’t fit on this team.

Carmelo: It was a toss up for me between him and Lewis. I feel that Lewis is a better shooter, and let’s face it you can’t have too many shooters in International play.

Bowen: Great defender, but I was looking for more than a set three point shot from the corner in my stopper. That’s why I went with Howard.

Battier: Pretty much the same thought as Bowen. I was just looking for a little more versatility from the defensive stopper.

Jamison: Ahh, he just doesn’t do it for me. He has developed his game since coming into the league, but there are just too many more talented small forwards in the league.

Joe Johnson: After the way he has shown he can carry a team this year he may have a shot at the Olympics. He can play both guard positions and can bomb from the outside. He was a tough one to leave off.

Brad Miller: I love Miller’s high post game. He passes well and rebounds well. And maybe on a team with another solid big man he would put up great numbers again. He may wow coaches in the tryouts when on the floor with any of the guys on my list. That’s about his only shot.

Pierce: I put Pierce in the same category as Kobe, but to a lesser extent. He’s carrying a very young team right now by doing everything. I still have the door open for him with a solid showing in the tryouts. I could see him beating out Howard or Lewis for a small forward spot.

Luke Ridnour: He has no shot. He struggles with his outside shot (on a perimeter based team no less) and he couldn’t guard Mark Hughes.

A couple of thoughts:

I think the committee really shot themselves in the foot in 2004 when they waited until the last minute to invite Rip Hamilton. His game is made for international play. Now he’s holding that against them and shot them down this year. Its really too bad.

What about Rasheed Wallace? He’s one of the most talented big men in the league and he does everything on the court. He’s shown that he is an unselfish player and that he is more than willing to take the back seat role for the better of the team. I think that the committee still has some character issues with him. That’s a load of crap.

How about Ron-Ron? He’s probably the most complete player in the league. He can play any position on offense and can lock up any player on defense. Yes he is crazy. He may undermine the team and bring everything crashing down. He may set off an international incident. These are all major concerns. But I think with some Prozac and guys that he respects on the team he would behave.

You're the assistant to the assistant manager at the movie theater.

2006-02-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

All of this being said about LeBron getting booed against the Wizards really makes me mad at Cleveland “fans”. This is the first time since Jim Brown played for the Browns in the 60s that someone of this magnitude has played on one of our teams. I can guarantee you that the people booing didn’t even know who the Cavs were until LeBron started playing for them. Anyone who has been a Cavs fan for the long haul would never do anything like that. I never booed Price, Daugherty, Nance, Hot Rod, or even Craig Ehlo for that matter, so I’m sure as hell not going to boo LeBron. Now I know that none of those other guys were supposed to be the second coming, but people have to remember that LeBron is 21, in his 3rd season, and still doesn’t have a whole lot of talent around him that isn’t Lithuanian (and even he falters when he gets cracked on the head or played physically in general). If these spoiled bastards ruin this and run him out of town they could end up swimming in the Cuyahoga. If the Cavs can hold the ship and make the playoffs and get cousin Larry back and get Drew Gooden to at least partially pull his head out of his ass (his numbers are down across the board this season, and I thought it was hilarious how Hubie Brown refused to talk about him during Sunday’s broadcast. Hubie obviously knows Drew well) they’ll be all right.

Job number one in the off-season should be to get a real point guard. Meaning someone who can both pass and at least be a threat to score. Jeff McInnis may have been crazy and a little bit of a loose cannon but at least he was good for 12-14 per night.

I read a scouting report on Kevin Pittsnogle a couple of weeks ago. It said he might get selected in the 2nd round or end up with someone as a free agent. The case that was made for this is because of his lack of a post game and weak defense. Forget about his quick release and ability to shoot from the outside. If Pittsnogle’s name was say Vladimir Nostrolovic wouldn’t he be a lottery selection? His game is pure European, but for some reason that has never been mention. The fact that the guy can rain from deep will get him into the league.
I made the comment a couple of months back that I could see Rasheed Wallace turning into Sam Perkins by the time his career is over. I’m retracting that now. After seeing Rasheed break open Z’s head Sunday and then get booed mercilessly Monday night in Cleveland it made me think of a former Piston, Bill Laimbeer. Laimbeer was the baddest of the bad boys and was always in the opponent’s head (I would say that this is where Rodman picked up the physiological part of his game from) but was a force on defense, on the boards, and could hit from deep. I remember going to a Cavs game with my dad at the old Richfield Coliseum probably in like 91 or 92. Every time Laimbeer touched the ball he was booed, including by my dad. But he just seemed to feed off of it. ‘Sheed has the same capabilities, I just don’t think that he showcases it all of the time the way Laimbeer did.

You want a toe? I can get you a toe by 3pm.

2006-02-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

The internet and sports tickers have really ruined the Olympics for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still watch most events, but when you know the outcome its not much fun. I’ll admit that I watched parts of the ladies figure skating final last night. Parts. There’s no way I was watching the whole thing with all of the great basketball that was on last night (primarily Nova at Cincy). But the fact that I knew that Cohen fell and got the silver killed it for me. Yeah, I’m a wuss for watching figure skating. But there are some babes out there. One thing that really bothered me was that some of the Euro skaters have gone away from skirts and are one-piece outfits. If there are no skirts then there’s no point in watching. I hope this trend doesn’t catch on.

On a related Olympics note, US aerials skier Jaret Peterson punched out one of his friend last night in a drunken rage after he finished 7th in the event. Awesome dude. I’d be mad if I was an Olympic athlete and my event wasn’t until the very end of the games. I’d want to do it early and then party and bang all of the tapering female athletes the rest of the time. How awesome would that be?

On to more important issues like the Cavs acquiring wife beater Lee Nailon and Flip Murray. I don’t really have a problem with either of these deals since they basically got them for nothing. Nailon is a poor man’s Donyell Marshall (if there is such a thing). He doesn’t have the same shooting range nor can he rebound as well, but he can score. So if he can give them the occasional spark off of the bench without beating up any women I’ll be happy. I’m pretty pleased with the Flip deal. They got him for #3 PG Mike Wilks and some cash. With cousin Larry Hughes out until at least the playoffs (barring another late season clapse) and Damon Jones stinking up the entire Lake Erie shoreline the Cavs needed a spark at the 2. While Pavolovic has played well at times, he’s not a horse. He started to show some wear towards the All-Star break. The hope here is that the Flip/Sasha 2-headed monster can average about 20 points per game and give LeBron the help that cousin Larry was supposed to.

I read in Sports Illustrated this week that Kristy Swanson is a home wrecker. Apparently she’s dating her partner from Skating with Celebrities. No problem except for the fact that the show was taped in October (when the relationship started) and the skater dude separated from his wife in November. Even though Kristy has packed on some pounds since her last public appearance she still gets the job done.

I was almost in disbelief when I saw that Reggie Wayne resigned with the Colts. Talk about breaking a stereotype. I never thought I’d see the day that a player from the “U” would take less money to stay with a winner. Wayne would have gotten #1 receiver money with the weak free agent class (minus TO) and the substandard draft class. Whoever thought that Reggie Wayne would be a trailblazer? I would bet on the fact that his current teammate Edgerrin James will not be following suit.
As I watched the Wisconsin-Northwestern game last night and tried not to fall asleep (will someone shoot with more than 10 seconds left on the shot clock?) I noticed that Wisconsin has a player that looks an awful lot like Chris Rock. Kammron Taylor could be Rock’s doppelganger. It’s uncanny.

He fixes the cable?

2006-02-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

I was going to write a "worthwhile" post today (I use that term loosely). But I've started cleaning the storage closet here in the office. And since I am big on mindless, time consuming labor I'm going to finish my cleaning.

You know how they say you learn something new every day. Well, some days that's true. Tody for example, I was on imdb.com looking up something in the Big Lebowski. And as I'm looking at the complete cast list I notice something. In the porn that Maude and the Dude are watching with Tara Reid in it, the other girl in the porn is none other than Asia Carrera. One of my personal favorites. I was pretty excited about it. But no, not that excited.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have something more. Back to cleaning.

You know, the usual. I bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback.

2006-02-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

My liver hates me. Not that I didn’t already know this, but after this last weekend I was reminded.

I went to Myrtle Beach this past weekend with my wife and the couple that we hang out with. They know a guy who has a condo down there so board was free. Now it was pretty cold Saturday and Sunday (high of 42) but we made due.

We got down there Friday and dumped our bags at the condo and hit Hooters for some beers and dinner. Needless to say I was off to a good start. And our waitress was smoking hot.

(As much as I love Hooters part of me wishes they would only put them in hot babe havens like Myrtle Beach. We went to the Hooters in Roanoke a couple of weeks ago and it was a shame. There should be some way to gauge the hot girl index in an area. The Roanoke Hooters was bad but not anywhere close to Melbourne, FL bad.)

So we hit the Bi-Lo Grocery on the way back for more beer and this continued. Of course this place had a hot tub that I sat in and drank in for about 2 hours. Very healthy. Hot tubbin’ is always best on a chilly night with a cooler full of beer. Anyways, we almost killed the case of Silver Bullets between the 2 of us. Good times.

I woke up feeling like a train wrecked in my head the next morning. But my body felt great thanks to the soothing powers of the hot tub. But with this said we had an 11:30 tee time that morning. No problem (until about the 5th hole when my legs pretty much left me). We get to the course only to have the starter yelling at us to get it in gear because there was a group of 20 that was set to go off right after us. He literally started yelling at us as soon as we gave him our names. Needless to say my buddy David was a little upset with him. And the guy was almost deaf on top of being a dick. So I had to repeat every question like 5 times (actually I only asked him if coolers were allowed. He initially told me no, but then saw the cooler and said “Coolers? Yeah we allow coolers.” What an idiot.).

Now the worst part about only having 2 people is that you’re bound to get paired up with another group. This always sucks because it’s a total wild card. Well, we lucked out. We got paired with Big Lou and Little Lou. Big Lou was easily in his 70s and little Lou was down visiting from NY. Needless to say the running joke for the rest of the weekend was that we had a meeting in a few minutes with the Lous. Awesome.

Anyways, Little Lou could kill it off the tee. Grant it, it only went straight about one out of four, but still huge. He drove his tee shot on 18 about 325. And Big Lou was pretty awesome. A solid 150-200 on every tee shot right down the middle. He was pretty much automatic until he got on the green where he couldn’t buy a putt all day.

They were pretty cool dudes and unlike some douches you meet on a course were very friendly. I found out that Big Lou actually played in the Boston Braves system back in the 40s.

So we drank under control on the course (about 10 apiece) so not to make a scene especially in front of our new friends. From there it was onto dinner at Senor Frogs. Good food, warm beer. The service was sketching at best and I’m pretty sure our beers sat on the bar for at least 5 minutes each time. That pisses me off.

(One thing that I noticed about Myrtle that I hadn’t before was that if there are any just bars that they are very well hidden. Everything is very touristy. I do love a good dive bar.)

Basically this night included my blurting out drunken thoughts that usually get checked at my voice box. In turn pissing off my wife (go figure) and ending with me and my buddy in the hot tub again. Of course we got back inside and it was only like midnight so he went to bed and I stayed up watching the Olympics and drinking more.

That was pretty much the extent of the fun. We drove home the next day. Its only about 4 hours from here. So I guess hell isn’t all that far from the beach after all.

But I was excited to have Monday off. This was my first Presidents Day since my senior year of high school (1998) that I didn’t have to work/class. You see Bowling Green State University always had a “Preview Day” that day. Basically you went to class and there’d be a bunch of snot nosed high schoolers in there. What kind of kid spends a day off of school visiting a school? Idiots, that’s who.

I spent my exciting day working out, doing laundry, ironing, and bathing my stupid cats. All this before my wife got home at 3 from work. I was impressed too.

I may have some thoughts about an array of current happenings at a later date. But not now. I’m pretty sure that I’ve killed off a good number of brain cells because I’m having trouble concentrating lately. I need to get some ginseng or something.

In the year 2525...

2006-02-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

A big congrats to Spuds McKenzie’s son, Rufus, for winning the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Spuds fell out of favor when he married Rufus’s mom, Coco, but this is validation for Spuds. Now he can crap in everyone’s beer.

At least it was a real dog that won that thing. Not some rat with long legs. And what a good dog name. Not something pretentious or stupid. Rufus sounds like the kind of name that your neighbor’s dog would have.

I know that the UConn-Nova game was 2 days ago, but I didn’t get the chance to say anything about it yesterday. I loved how UConn didn’t know how to react after Nova came back after UConn’s 13-0 2nd half start. It was like that was UConn’s best shot, and they knew it, so when Nova came back they didn’t have an answer.

But what I really took away from this game was how overrated JJ Redick really is. Allan Ray was lights out in that game. He’s a very good shooter, but probably a step below Redick. But the rest of his game is better than Redick’s. He’s a better on the ball and team defender, he can handle, he’s quick, and he knows how to finish in the lane. And even though Randy Foye didn’t have a big night I think his game is very similar. Maybe its just me but I wouldn’t say that Redick’s shooting alone makes him a better player than either of these guys. Ray is 6’2” and Foye is 6’4” (at least that’s what Nova says they are) so both are going to have to run some point at the next level. Now I know that I would feel a lot more comfortable with Ray or Foye running my team, even for a short time, than Redick. Redick’s a great shooter, probably the best long-range shooter in college basketball history, but he’s not even close to a complete player. And I know I’ve been beating a dead horse with this, but I just don’t understand how anyone thinks Redick is going to be a star.

I’ve been thinking about it and the closest NBA comparison I can make for Redick is either Ray Allen or Rip Hamilton. But the one thing that jumps out at me is that these guys played complete games in college. Allen and Hamilton could both get to the hoop AND finish. Now since they’ve been in the NBA their games have changed. Allen is pretty much just a jump shooter now and Hamilton is a catch and shoot guy. Both fit into their system well. If Redick gets into the right system he may be successful, but I don’t consider Allen or Hamilton to be super stars, so I don’t see how that will work for JJ.

Blow me!

2006-02-13T13:28:00.000-08:00

I did watch some of the Olympics this weekend. My love for curling cannot be denied since I bypassed my normal Sportscenter morning viewing to watch the US women lose to Norway this morning on USA. I watched a ton of the Winter Olympics in 2002. Probably because I was in college and there wasn’t much competition for the CNBC broadcast at 2am. The one thing that gets me is NBC interviewing all of the foreign winners. Most of these people speak broken English at best and these interviewers are asking really complex questions. It makes me laugh.

On to the main reason I’m posting today. I was scanning my hometown newspaper last week and came across an interesting article. Apparently heroin is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in not only the bustling metropolis of New Philadelphia but also Tuscarawas County. Anyways, seven area residents were busted in Pittsburgh in a big sting. All of them were pretty much charged with possession and intent to deliver (distribute). Which means that there was probably quite a bit of smack in the apartment.

Now on to why this concerns me. They listed the arrested individuals and not surprisingly I know 2 of them and another who was mentioned at the bottom of the article. Trevor Hawkins graduated a year ahead of me and was always a prick. Aric Campbell graduated a year after me and was always a burnout. I was honestly a little surprised to see him on the list. He never seemed to have the ambition to be involved in something like this. I always figured him as a user, not a dealer. Maybe he was just a mule. And then Steve Schwartz. This kid was a great athlete growing up. And then decided he liked drugs (but then who doesn’t) and pretty much fell off of the face of the earth. I remember his dad getting thrown in jail for embezzlement when I was in high school. He owned a manufactured homes empire that Steve would have fallen into. Maybe that’s what put him over the edge.

I really think that this means that everyone I’ve ever thought would get busted in a drug ring will. When I read the article I was not surprised at all. Good for them. I bet the prisons in western PA are lots of fun. Aric and Trevor looked like smack addicts in high school so I bet they’ll have lots of fun with Bubba and Tyrone. You got a purty mouth, boy.

You can bring your green hat!

2006-02-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

I was going to try to write something that had a point today. But honestly as the day as progressed I’ve really lost steam. But I do have some thoughts on things that I’ve read and seen today.

As others and myself have stated in the past, ESPN’s Tim Legler is an idiot. And for that matter so is everyone who says that being an All-Star should be based on how good your team is (if that were the case than how the hell did Paul Pierce make it?). I don’t think that the Pistons deserve 4 All-Stars. I do think that Billups should be on there, and Ben Wallace only because the NBA uses that dumb rule that says you have to have a backup center as opposed to any big man (obviously b/c the All-Star game is so structured). I think that Rip Hamilton is a great shooter and I appreciate his game for the fact that the mid range jumper is a lost art. But he’s not an All-Star. He’s the 6th man on a lot of NBA teams because of his style of play. Detroit has molded their system to maximize his strengths. I really like Rasheed Wallace because he’s accepted his role on that team. His versatility has really shown through in Detroit where he doesn’t need to carry the scoring load every night. But again I don’t think that ‘Sheed is an All-Star for the mere fact that his numbers aren’t that impressive.

Here are my 2 replacements. Michael Redd and Gilbert Arenas.

Redd is one of the few guys that was able to reinvent himself once he got into the league. When he was at Ohio State he was purely a slasher. After his rookie year he realized that he needed to learn to shoot. Now he’s one of the best shooter in the league. And what is one of the things that people love in the All-Star Game? Long bombs. Tons of threes all game long.

Arenas being left off is just ridiculous. I don’t understand how you can be fourth in the league in scoring and be one of the most dynamic players in the league and get left off. Arenas is a gunner and one of those guys who can get hot in a no-defense game like this and end up hitting for 35 and keep people watching. How great would a back and forth between Kobe and Arenas be?

Not bad for a couple of 2nd round picks. Especially Redd who was the 43rd pick in the 2000 draft.

In the same ESPN article that Legler was pining in (he also said that Kevin Garnett didn’t deserve to be on the team) Mark Stein said that the Bulls should trade for a big man to “complement” Tyson Chandler. One problem, the Bulls should be looking for a big man that Tyson Chandler can complement. Chandler is a good rebounder and decent defender, but he’s not too hot on the offensive end (5.5ppg). Try to find a big man that can score it.

There is a rule in my house that my wife hates. Any time ESPN Classic is showing a 1980s NBA game featuring Jordan, Bird, or Magic, that game automatically becomes the flip back channel at worst. Sometimes it takes over the main viewing position.

The point that I was trying to make in the paragraph about the Pistons was that the reward for being a great team is winning the NBA Title, not having a ton of guys on the All-Star team. The 1995-96 Bulls had 2 All-Stars. Why all of a sudden is this a big deal? Especially when the Mavs and Spurs are right there with the Pistons. If anything I think that this will add fuel to their fire and help to motivate them in the second half of the season and into the playoffs.

I just came across an interesting stat. There have only been 5 occurrences in NBA history that a player has shot over 50% from 3 with at least 150 attempts. Steve Kerr not only holds the highest percentage in a single season (52.4%), but shot over 50% on two other occasions. I personally think that that’s awesome.

Both ways, like a bisexual.

2006-02-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is a story that I heard second hand, but I hold it as very true.

First the background. A couple of weeks back former Florida Marlins manager and North Carolina resident Jack McKeon was in town for a card show at the local high school. The clubhouse manager here at the park was one of the organizers for the event so he got to talk with Jack quite a bit. Here’s the story.

(After the show. Jack’s shootin’ the breeze telling stories when someone asks him about A.J. Burnett getting all that money from Toronto)

They fucked that one up. That kid is the biggest idiot I’ve ever been around in baseball. If he would have been healthy in 2003 there’s no way we would have won the World Series. He’s a complete head case and a jackass. We were a game out of the wild card last year in August and he had won four straight starts for us at that point. Once he realized what situation the team was in he imploded. He went down the shitter and cost us a shot at the playoffs. If the Blue Jays would have called me for a reference that’s exactly what I would have told them. You would think they could have figured that out when I sent him home with two weeks left in the season. He was such a cancer that I couldn’t even have him around the other players by the end of the season. What a waste of talent.
###

Now of course Jack told this whole story while puffing on a cigar. I thought that it was an awesome story and it makes me laugh every time I read something about how the Jays are going to make the playoffs this season. When a guy has that kind of stuff and his best season has been 12-12, shouldn’t that set off some alarms? Especially when you’re looking at paying him $55 million. I would say that this isn’t a guy that you can count on.

Harry, your hands are freezing!

2006-02-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

I’m not going to write about the horrible officiating and how it cost the Seahawks the game. I’ve written that piece and a plan for the NFL to rectify the problem without hiring full time officials.

Jerramy Stevens gets my Golden Dong Award for biggest Super Bowl Choker. Nicely done.

The Diet Pepsi commercials that promoted the drink as brown and bubbly made me think of diarrhea. This is why I drink Diet Coke, it doesn’t remind me of shit. Runny shit at that.

Now onto my main topic.

Let’s go three years into the future. The Pittsburgh (or maybe Detroit) police get a domestic disturbance call. They arrive at the house and guess who answers the door? Oh yeah, The Bus, Jerome Bettis. Everyone’s good guy. His wife is crying in the kitchen with a shiner covered up by a steak.

The cops are almost in disbelief but they cuff him (it will take two pairs) and take him downtown. And all of a sudden it’s all over every news outlet and every non-Steelers fan and everyone who wanted to puke every time they saw Jerome Bettis over the last month will laugh.

This is plausible. Think of how many players lose it after they retire. All of a sudden they don’t have that outlet for their anger and frustration anymore. He’s been set up for something like this with his farewell season. Everyone loves this guy and he can do no wrong. But we all know that Bettis sold his soul to the devil to have his career. Why the hell do you think that there aren’t any other big backs with that many yards? Jerome grew up in the slums as a fat kid. The devil was his only way out and the devil always gets his dues.

You fill up my senses, like a punch in the face.

2006-02-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

Here's what I'm looking forward to this weekend, in order.

Not working. I think that this goes without saying.
Getting drunk. For sure on Sunday, and maybe Friday and Saturday too. I'm pretty much a huge wuss now.
Playing NCAA 2006 almost all day Saturday b/c my wife has to work.
The Super Bowl Commercials.
Watching the actual Super Bowl.

Mick Jagger is a pretty awesome dude. Not only his he still banging chicks a quarter of his age, but he's filthy rich. I just heard an excerpt from his press conference and he said that ABC's biggest concern is how much he'll say "fuck" on the air. He told them that Aretha Franklin was planning on stripping during the National Anthem. I don't even want to think about that.

Outside of the Cavs getting waxed by the Heat last night, I don't have a whole lot else to say.

Except for this. I was purusing the local newspaper today and the Humane Society had a picture of a cat named Calvin. This is the 2nd time in the 9 months that I've lived here that I've seen a cat named Calvin in the paper. Don't people know that Calvin was the little boy? Hobbes is the tiger.

The doctor said I wouldn't have so many nose bleeds if I kept my finger out of there.

2006-02-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

I actually have some things to say today. Now whether they come out in any form that makes sense, that’s another story.

I thought that last night’s Duke/BC game was great. Duke looked like they were going to run BC out of the gym in the 2nd half, but BC hung tough and made it a game. I also thought that Jared Dudley outplayed everyone else on the court, including Redick. But I can’t watch Duke on ESPN. At least with the sound on. It doesn’t matter whose doing the game, they all get down on their knees for Duke. It really bothers me.

Vitale went off on some tangent last night about how he hates the fact that teams are jumping conferences for football and money. He sited to examples, BC and Penn State. Hey Dick, live in the now! PSU’s been in the Big Ten since 1994 when it became clear to their athletic department that being an independent wasn’t going to work anymore. They didn’t jump conferences, they joined one. What an idiot.

Vitale also compared Redick to Kirk Hinrich. Once again, the player that these idiots are comparing Redick to is a point guard. And has always been a point guard. What a bunch of idiots. While Redick is a better shooter than Hinrich, he’s nowhere near the ball handler and doesn’t have the same kind of quickness. Are these people actually watching basketball?

Bowling Green’s football program actually signed six guys that were ranked in scout.com’s top 150 by position. That’s a big deal for a non BCS team. Last year we only had one, so that’s a good jump. And I was glad to see them sign some talent on the defensive side of the ball, since, well we didn’t have a defense last season.

I was thinking today of how much I love TV, and that not having cable would be like living in a cave. But then I got to thinking that when I was growing up, between the ages of 11 and 14 I didn’t have cable. We lived in the country and couldn’t get cable and this was before the mini dishes. We had an antenna so we got the major networks, but there was no ESPN for this guy. Of course my dad and both sets of grandparents lived in town so I got doses of cable. How did I ever survive?

I was checking out the Arena League website today to see if any former BG Falcons were still hanging around (no, by the way) and I stumbled upon something very interesting. Crazy Alonzo Spellman is playing for the Las Vegas team. Doesn’t that seem like a bad mix? A crazy person in America’s craziest city. Awesome.

Speaking of the Arena League, I think that its pretty awesome that they were smart enough to put a team in Vegas while the major sports are worrying about what putting a team there would do to their image. I heard an interview with the AFL commissioner about year ago and he jabbed the NFL the entire time. Mostly over the Vegas team and the NFL not having a presence in L.A., which the AFL does. But from my experience, you shouldn’t poke bears.

I’m getting more excited by the day about this upcoming Seattle/Draft Trip. John, you better not blow this and get fired in a month. I was looking forward to Montana, but that wasn’t a sure thing for me financially. This on the other hand is. I’ve never really had any desire to go to Seattle, but now that I have an excuse to go, I bet I’m really going to like the city.

Please somebody say Bill Clinton...And the show has reached a new low.

2006-01-27T11:57:00.000-08:00

Its picture time.

While this maybe one of the scariest pictures known to man it does show a good lookin' beard. This is about two-and-a-half months of hard beard growing. But I got a haircut Wednesday, so I figured I should trim the beard to even things out a bit. It was my first haircut since the beginning of November so I looked like quite the hippie. I'm pretty sure its impossible for me to look like a rugged mountain man, so I think that hippie is a better description.

Now onto more pictures.

Could these men be brothers from different mothers? The resemblence is uncanny. Or maybe its just their gargantuan foreheads. They're monsters for sure. But neither one has a beard, which makes both of them far more less cool than me.

Jinx shit on the floor this morning sometime between the time my wife left for work and I went downstairs. Needless to say he ate shit for breakfast. I'm awesome.

I actually have to work a little bit on Satuday because I've got a kid driving in from NC for an interview. He's goes to Western Carolina. I only know one other person who went there and he's pretty cool so I figure this kid might be okay.

Sometimes I drift back to the first night I watched Anchorman and laugh at all of the fun that was had. And then I slip into a deep, burning rage for a certain individual. And that makes me think about stolen wind pants which pretty much puts me over the edge.

As much as I love college football I really can't get into the all-star games. I do love Mel Kipers analysis of the prospects. For the most part these kids look like they've only been playing together for a week. Its pretty much the same story for the NFL All-Pro Game. I would rank basketball as the #1 All-Star game(s) and baseball 2. Those are just sports that you don't need a lot of practice for them to be entertaining. Football is a very intricate sport.

That's it. I'm done.

You're going to like it at our house Jenna Jameson

2006-01-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

I really don’t have much to say, but I figure that I haven’t posted anything in days so I feel obligated.

I love that Amare Stoudamire has “Black Jesus” tattooed on his neck. I was reading Sports Illustrated this week and in a new Nike ad with Amare in it there is his tattoo right in your face. Awesome. Anyone that can pull off branding himself with “Black Jesus” and not mean for it to have any religious inclination is awesome.

My wife and I have been fighting all week. I think that’s to blame for my lack of thought. Its not so much fighting as it is her not talking to me. I didn’t really do anything wrong and I’m not apologizing for anything. Now I know that basic logic says apologize and move on, but hell no. If anything she’s owes me an apology. I’m not going to get into specifics.

I was watching something the other day and the commentator said that anyone who still questions JJ Redick’s NBA potential after his performance Saturday is off of their rocker. Are you kidding me? I can name 30 of them and their all NBA GMs. While Redick has improved his ball handling and moves off the dribble, I think that he’s too slow and still looks uncomfortable at best once he gets around the basket. He’s a great shooter. But guys in the NBA are a lot quicker and he’ll have a hand in his face on almost every shot.

Speaking of NCAA sharp shooters, I can see Gerry McNamara being the next Steve Kerr. There’s no way he’ll be a regular point guard in the NBA. Yeah he has good assist numbers this year, but how often do you see him driving to the hoop. The only reason his assist numbers are so good is because he plays on a jump shooting team. He’s a good shooter, not in the class of Redick, but good enough to probably get a solid look by a lot of people in the league. If not, have fun in France.

Speaking of playing in Europe, Sheldon Williams. Everyone’s second favorite Dukie. He showed earlier this year that he can’t handle a true low post player (Killingsworth) and Saturday he showed that he can’t handle someone with a little versatility (Jeff Green). Basically Williams can’t handle anyone with a better skill set than him. He’s got slow feet and he gets away with it against lesser players because of his reach. He’ll get buried in the pre draft camps. He’ll get drafted, probably in the 1st round because he’s a legit 6’11”, but he’ll have the same type of career that every other Duke big man.

Esta Viernes, tiempo bailar en las calles.

2006-01-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

There was a kid in my Spanish III class who would say that every Friday. It means "Its Friday, time to dance in the streets." I've always thought that it was a good saying and one of the few phrases I remember from Spanish class.

I really don’t have much to say today. I’m really glad that its Friday.

Sometimes I feel like Ron Artest when I’m at work. I think that the 2-3 people who read this blog should be able to figure out what I mean by that.

As we found out a couple of days ago Brett Handleman has some how finagled a full time job in baseball. A feat that was previously thought to be impossible. And here’s my theory on how he came to acquire this position.

Brett’s first baseball internship was with the NJ Cardinals of the NY-Penn League. From what I understand this was a small operation that obviously put a lot of responsibility on Brett’s meek shoulders. This of course showcased Brett’s inability to do anything.

Now I don’t know a lot about Minor League Hockey so I’m going to pass over his run with whatever hockey team he “worked” for.

In 2004 he managed to pull the wool over a certain GM’s eyes and get an internship with the Brevard County Manatees. While this was a good-sized staff there was still plenty of work for the interns to do. Having a smaller staff once again brought Brett’s ineptitude to the surface.

So in 2005 good ole Brett lands another internship with the Lakewood BlueClaws. Now the BlueClaws have a staff of 27 full-timers. This means that there must have been plenty of people for Brett to hide behind (he is a little guy, after all). With nothing to mess up, Brett becomes a solid intern. While he doesn’t bring anything to the table, he manages not to take anything away, for once. This in turn leads to someone actually giving him a good reference and in turn gets him a full time job.

There is obviously no God. Someone that is this inept should never be hired by anyone who is not family. I think that Brett is one of the few people that would screw up working for a not-for-profit organization. Its too bad for whoever hired him in Augusta that they didn’t ask themselves why this kid had 4 internships and didn’t list anyone from any of his internships prior to Lakewood as a reference.

I really hope that he fails miserably. And some day maybe I’ll get my tear away Nike wind pants back. I can only pray.

I'm gonna crap double for you tonight

2006-01-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

I watched quite a bit of basketball last night. Duke-NC State, Cavs-Nuggets, and Buck-Badgers. All of them fairly entertaining games.

JJ Redick has no doubt improved his game over the last two seasons. He handles the ball more, and that’s great for him. But he’s 6’4”, maybe, and he has no idea what to do when he gets into the paint. And something that no one mentions when talking about his NBA chances is the speed of the game. Redick isn’t quick by any stretch of the imagination and I think he’ll get eaten up in the NBA. He reminds me of Shawn Respert who went to Michigan State back in the mid ‘90s with Eric Snow. Respert could shoot the lights out. But he got into the league and all of a sudden he had bigger, faster players guarding him and he couldn’t cut it. Who would have thought that Snow would be the one to go on and have the long career?

Tim Legler is clearly an idiot. He said during last night’s game that the Nuggets were counting on Kenyon Martin to score them 20 a game and grab 12 or 14 boards every night. Well if Kiki, Karl, and company are counting on that they’re going to be sorely disappointed. Martin is more athletic than a lot of power forwards, and that’s how he gets most of his points. He isn’t consistent from 15-17 feet and he has no discernable low post moves. Legler says some dumb things. Does he actually watch the NBA?

LeBron is the most inconsistent 75% free throw shooter in the history of the NBA. He has more under 50% free throw games then any star this side of Shaq should have. His horrendous free throw shooting cost his team both the Lakers game last week and last night’s game versus the Nuggets. In my 2 seasons of high school basketball I managed to shoot over 80%. I would think that LeBron could manage that.

With Corey Dillon aging about 10 years this past season how funny would it be for the Pats to go out and sign Edge? Grant it he’ll be asking for a ton of money, but you know that he won’t go back to the Colts. Not after only getting 18 touches (only 13 carries) in his team’s biggest game of the year. A couple of screens and draws to Edge could have changed that entire game.

With the way Jameer Nelson is playing for the Magic and the continue rise of Dwight Howard wouldn’t a guy like Danny Granger look great next to them? I know that that’s like pouring salt into the wound, but if the Magic’s management wasn’t so inept they could have three solid corner stones in place. I really think that Nelson has Mighty Mouse potential. If you look at Damon Stoudamire’s numbers from Toronto (19.5/8.8/4.2) at the beginning of his career they’re very similar to what Nelson has been putting up since Francis was suspended.

I think that a NBA team needs to start having Afro nights like once a month. And I’m not talking about idiot fans wearing wigs. I mean that the guys with cornrows pick it out for one night a month. How awesome would that be? I’ve always said that if I were a black man, or even had that bristle pad-type curly hair I’d fro it out. No doubt.

Nice set of hooters you got there

2006-01-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

Going into Sunday’s Steelers-Colts game I knew 3 things.

1. I hate the Steelers more than any NFL team. Grant it rivalries in the NFL aren’t nearly what they are at the high school or college level, but I’m a Browns fan. Enough said.

2. I like Tony Dungy. I liked him in Tampa and always felt that he got a raw deal there.

3. I bet on the Colts to win. Even with a 9.5 point spread, I took the Colts.

Here’s what I didn’t know going into Sunday.

1. How much I hate Peyton Manning.

That’s it. I had no clue how much I couldn’t stand him. I was openly rooting for the Steelers. Every time he missed a receiver or got sacked I was loving it. He is such an anti-leader. He always looks like he’s moping when things go wrong and he gets frustrated in the face of adversity. The fact is that everyone makes such a big deal about him calling his own plays, but yet when he gets his ass kicked like on Sunday no one brings it up. After the way the Steelers hit him in the first half shouldn’t the Colts have gone to more three step drops? Or maybe some draws or screens. A coach makes these kind of adjustments because they see what’s happening. Apparently a player, or at least a Manning, can’t see these things.

I was watching Sportscenter Monday morning and Sean Salisbury said that he couldn’t believe that Peyton would call out his line in the post game press conference. He said that was so “unlike Peyton.” Now I know that Sean is a lush, but has he been sleeping for the last 10+ years. Every time something goes wrong or his team loses, its never Peyton’s fault. I’ve never heard him step up and say “my bad.”

How couldn’t the Colts coaching staff have been ready for that defensive attack? It’s the same thing that the Chargers did to them. And the Steelers have better linebackers and defensive backs so you knew they would try the same stuff. Poor preparation on the part of the Colts. Poor preparation, or just choking.

Troy Polamalu is awesome. Going into Sunday I’ve always thought he was overrated because he has a tendency to get be over aggressive and get burnt deep (like Roy Williams). But wow. He was all over the field Sunday. And when he blitzed he looked like a missile going after Manning.

I hate both of the teams in the AFC Championship game. My only hope is that the Steelers’s plane crashes into the Broncos training facility during a film session.

If someone would have told me that the Bears were going to score 21 points on Sunday I would have taken them in a heart beat. Hey defense, thanks for showing up. At least they talked a great game during the week.

This Page 2 article is awesome. Wait until you get to the mention of Tee Martin. I almost peed myself. Okay, maybe I peed a little.

I have a solution for the NFL officiating problem in the post season. Only use your top 4 crews. There you go. There’s a maximum of 4 games per weekend during the playoffs. So use the top 4 crews to do these games. Use the top 2 on the Championship games and numero uno on the Super Bowl. If I were the crew doing the Super Bowl I wouldn’t want 5 weeks off before the game. I would imagine that officials get rusty just like players after a long lay off.

Dayn Perry is a baseball writer for Foxsports.com. He’s pretty much an idiot. And to boot he looks like Brett Handleman. I would even bet that his alter persona is Hunter Lago. Just look at his picture, its almost as eerie as Nick Manno.

Hope you had a hell of a piss, Arnold!

2006-01-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

I know that one shouldn’t take joy in someone else’s pain, but I find it pretty easy to root against Michelle Wie. There was an article in Sport Illustrated towards the end of the summer that talked about how Wie is despised by the other young players on the LPGA (I was bored and it was the only article left). It was actually pretty interesting. While Wie has all of the tools to be great, she doesn’t have the head for it at this point. She’s been so busy playing on the pro tours since she was 14 or so that she hasn’t won any tournaments. Therefore she doesn’t know how to close out and react to pressure situations. This is why she busts every time she has a shot at a cut on the PGA and why she choked on a huge sausage at the LPGA US Open last year.

The Cavs-Lakers game was great last night. Unfortunately for me the Cavs lost, but it was still a great game. One thing that I was really disappointed in was LeBron’s free throw shooting. He was 4 of 9 from the line and the Cavs lost 99-98. If he would’ve made two more (that’s still only 66.7%) the Cavs win because Kobe is never in position to win it. It was good to see Drew Gooden hustle and grab the board on LeBron’s missed FT at the end of the game. He’s becoming more and more consistent with his effort. He still has his clueless moments though. But considering the Cavs don’t run any plays for him he’s doing a nice job cleaning up Damon Jones’s bricks.

Speaking of Jones, he needs to be taken out of the starting lineup. I know that the Cavs options are limited without Cousin Larry, but Jones is not a starter. His role on this team is to come off of the bench and hit open 3’s. Which is something he’s struggled with lately. I really think that Luke Jackson deserves a shot to start. He’s rebounded well this season from his back injury. Putting him at the “3” and moving LeBron into the backcourt looks a lot better than Jones and Eric Snow both starting. Not to mention having to play Mike Wilkes significant minutes because they don’t have another backup point guard if Jones is starting.

I read a great article on Freedarko.com today. It compared Mehmet Okur to Elvis. The similarities are startling.

I’m really torn on the Bears-Panthers and Pat-Broncos games this weekend. I feel confident in the Seahawks and I think that the Colts are going to come out and smoke Pittsburgh. I love the Bears defense, but I have trouble trusting Grossman in his first playoff game. And even though the Panthers have a playoff experienced QB in Delhomme, I don’t totally trust him either because he’s always been kind of a gunslinger.

I love the way the Pats are playing right now. But they’re going to Denver. And while buck-toothed John isn’t there anymore its still a hard place to go into and win. The Pats aren’t usually fooled twice in the same season, but Shanahan may be returning to genius status after this season.

The final call is a pussed-out 2-team parlay. Take the money, don’t be a hero.

Phone's ringin' dude.

2006-01-12T13:31:00.000-08:00

I don’t have nearly as many good stories as some of my other friends. But I like to think the ones I have are at least worthwhile, unlike myself. Without further adieu, here is one of my favorite stories of all time.

My sophomore year of high school was rough. At this point in my life I was still a little shy and not the outspoken class clown I would become by my senior year.

I played JV basketball that year for the New Philadelphia Quakers. We were horrible. As in 1-19 horrible, but we did win our last game.

Anyways, I started the season as a starter. At the time, I was not an offensive player. I wasn’t as inept as Adonal Foyle, but I was by no means our go to guy. I was an enforcer. I ran through screens, I knocked cutters on their ass, and I regularly beat the shit out of the two prim Donna freshmen that were on our team. And my coach loved me for it. He’s now the varsity coach and he still preaches defense and rebounding.

About eight games into the season my dad finally sold our house so after the season I was moving to Wooster, OH with him and my step mom. Until then I would live with my grandparents. I made the mistake of asking for a new emergency medical card and telling the varsity coach that I would be leaving after the season.

Needless to say I was naïve.

A little background info on varsity coach Bob Alsept. He replaced a very popular coach who took a bigger job after a good state tournament run my freshman year. He was an assistant at U of Akron and had no high school coaching experience. He was a douche bag. To the point that he resigned 3 games into the 1998-99 season (my frosh year at BG) after three seniors and two juniors (3 of them starters) refused to come back and play for him. Pretty awesome dude.

Back to the story. I went from starter to end of the bench. Without any explanation. But I figured it out pretty quickly. So I started beating the shit out of the four or five guys on the team that I didn’t like during practice. And like I said, we kept losing. And when I say lose, I mean that we only played one close game all season besides the one we won. And in that game our center missed a lay up on a picket fence in bounds play with about 4 seconds left.

So I only got into games with about 3 minutes left and we were down by 30. But there was a group of 5 of us that this was the only time we played. So I would basically go out and pick up about 3 good fouls and we would just bomb away and cut the lead down to like 20 against the other team’s scrubs.

We went up to Glenoak in Canton at some point late in the season. Their JV team was basically made up of football players. Big football players. So when I got in there I was looking to start something. I got into a jump ball tussle on a rebound with one of these Neanderthals and he ripped the ball away from me after the ref blew the whistle. So I punched him in the chest. Hard enough to knock him back a few steps. The kid came after me but the ref jumped right in and gave me a technical.

The best part about this was that my coach was so out of it that he wasn’t watching the game when this went down. He called me over and I told him that I didn’t hear the whistle and was going for the ball. And he bought it.

Apparently when the coaching staff was reviewing the game film, it was very evident that I slugged this kid on purpose and the coaches discussed it at some length (this is according to my buddy who was a manager). Alsept wanted to run me till I died. But it never happened. I think that it was because Coach Tidrick (we called him Coach Tid, Tit when he pissed me off) liked my attitude and he later told me that it killed him that he wasn’t supposed to play me.

Needless to say I transferred back to New Philadelphia before the next year because I hated my new school. And believe it or not, that SOB Alsept had the nerve to ask me if I was going out for basketball. I told him to kiss my ass. I got detention, but it was worth it.

By the way, Tid got me out of the detention.

If someone puts me into the boards I'm going to piss all over myself

2006-01-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

Some how I forgot to comment yesterday on my boy, Omar Jacobs, leaving BG early for the NFL draft. I’m both surprised and not surprised by this. I’m surprised because Omar missed over 3 games this year with an injury and when he came back for the Miami and Toledo games his timing was clearly off. But in the same breath if he stayed he wouldn’t have any of his old weapons around him. We’re losing our top 2 backs, top 2 receivers, and 3 guys off of a line that wasn’t that great to begin with. This accompanied by the fact that Omar would be a 5th year senior I think sealed the deal. If he had come out last year he would have gone in the top 2 rounds for sure. Now, who knows? He’s got that side arm release, he played in a pass happy offense, and he played out of the shotgun most of the time. I hope that he gets picked and does well.

The story that Glory Road tells is a great one. An all black starting 5 beating an all white Kentucky team in the NCAA Finals. Great story. But my problem with this movie is that it was made by Disney. I want to hear the real story about that team. How they were run out of just about every visiting gym they played in and the horrible things they were called. Just my preference. I don’t want to hear the PG version of the story.

Do you think that Major Applewhite secretly roots against Chris Simms? Or maybe he openly roots against him. I was reading an article about what Texas has at QB for 2006, which is basically nothing, and they brought up Applewhite and all of the records he set there. It seems to me that he would make a great quarterbacks coach, if he’s not already.

I hate when people sign an email or letter with “regards”. What kind of regards? Best regards? Worst regards? I hope you die and a pig eats out your intestines regards? It’s a stupid closing and I wish that it would go away.

Here is a picture of me in Dallas with some Cowboy Cheerleaders. I know what you’re thinking. “Calvin, why are you next to the black cheerleader?” Honestly, I don’t have a good answer except for the fact that I just had a brain fart. My boss told me to get in there for a picture and I just happened to be on that side of the table. I will always regret it.

Hey baby, you must've been something before electricity

2006-01-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

A big thanks to the NFL for four putrid games this weekend. And a big thanks to Eli, the Giants defense, and Kimo von Oelhoffen for ruining my playoff parlay. Hell, I was sitting pretty Saturday night. I picked the ‘Skins to upset the Bucs (sorry Hughes), and even though the 8 point spread I had scared me, I picked the Pats. You see I remembered how horrible the Jags played the last time they actually played a real team (Colts) and went with that. But after the first half of the Panthers-Giants game it was painfully obvious that winning wasn’t in the cards for the weekend. And even though it wouldn’t have done me any good, I think Cincy beats Pittsburgh with Palmer. But in the end I realized I should have no better than to bet on a Manning in a big game.

How many gamblers do you think lost big money because of von Oelhoffen? I bet there are a lot of people out there who would like to put a price on his head.

Once the Jags-Pats game was out of hand Saturday night (thanks to Ben Watson and the terrible tackling of the Jags) I started flipping to the 2005 Quarterback Challenge on NFL Network. Three things that I liked about this broadcast: 1) The long toss challenge, there’s just something about seeing someone who can actually throw the ball 75 yards (I know that there’s no talent involved here, but its kind of like a demolition derby, you just can’t look away). 2) Bonnie Bernstein, I think Bonnie looks good most of the time, but she looked really good during this telecast. 3) My favorite, Chad Johnson being crazy. Here is a paraphrased interview between Chad and Bonnie after Chad finished running routes during one of the passing competitions.

Bonnie: Why were you juking when you came off of the line?
Chad: I think it helps with the timing.
BB: I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t have any imaginary friends out there.
CJ (clearly baited): Well, I do imagine different cornerbacks when I run routes.
BB: Who were you running against today?
CJ: Samari…
BB: Samari Rolle?
CJ: Yeah, I got him a few times today.
BB: I’ll make sure I tell him that next time I see him.
CJ: Oh, he knows, he knows.

I love Chad Johnson because he’s Crazy Funny (not Crazy Scary like Artest). And he had his gold teeth in the whole time because according to him if he’s putting on the jersey then the teeth go in. And the fact that he was out mingling with tailgaters before the game yesterday is awesome.

Mark Hughes has a good theory on why Artest imploded in Indy and I’m with him on it. The fact is that Ron Ron doesn’t think that Jermaine O’Neil is a better player so he doesn’t think he should have to defer to him. Now all of the recent talks have been about Ron either going to the Clips or the Warriors. If he goes to either of these places the coach better make him option #1 or you’re going to have the same scenario play out. No one on Golden State is even close to Artest and while Brand makes a good case in L.A., he’s kind of in the same boat as O’Neil. Honestly I’d like to see him go to L.A. because I think we might tear a whole in the universe with him and Cassel on the same team. But the fact is Ron Ron isn’t going to be happy unless he’s the guy or he’s playing next to KG or Kobe. The talk of him going to Denver is ridiculous because he would kill Carmello Anthony, which I would like to see so John DeMetro would cry.

The Baseball Hall of Fame inductees will be announced tomorrow. I’ve actually been reading quite a bit from different people in the know about which of these guys should get in. The talk is that this could be a lot of these guys’ last chance because there’s no real 1st time contenders this year (not even Orel Hershiser). There are some great closers on this list that have been on the outside looking in for a few years now (Gossage, Sutter, Lee Smith). These guys were really pioneers, along with Rollie Fingers, when it comes to closers. But here’s my theory on why they aren’t in, and it ties into football.

The game has evolved to where a designated closer is on almost every team
therefore causing save numbers to go through the roof. Now the benchmark for a
successful closer is 40 saves in a year. But 20 years ago if you got 30 you were great because there were teams that didn’t get 30 saves in a year. Now here’s the football tie in. The save is suffering the same effects now that pass catching will suffer over the next 20 years in football. The NFL has become such a pass first league that just about anyone can get 500 catches in a career. Case in point, before 1990 there were only 3 players to ever catch 100 passes in a season and they each did it once each (Art Monk, 106, 1984; Charlie Hennigan, 101, 1964; Lionel Taylor, 100, 1961). But since 1990, there have been 47 such occurrences. When you look at some of the guys that are playing now and the ungodly amount of catches they have its pretty ridiculous. I mean, I know that guys like Marvin Harrison and Isaac Bruce are Hall of Famers. But would you put Keenan McCardell, Eric Moulds, or even Keyshawn Johnson in the Hall. I know that I wouldn’t. To me, these are just players that have benefited from the time they play in. Do guys like Roberto Hernandez (324) and Joe Table (314) deserve to get into the HOF because they play in a closer happy time? I don’t think so.

I was reading Sports Guys Glossary Column the other day and one of his theories hit me like a ton of bricks because it used to happen all of the time my junior year of college. “Pulling a Jackie” is basically when your significant other or a buddy’s walks in at the most inopportune time during a sporting event, or in my case, video game.

My wife, then girlfriend, lived in the dorm that was about 100 yards from my fraternity house. This was good for obvious reasons, and bad for others. During this year my roommate and I played a season of EA Triple Play Baseball 2000. Now this took commitment because we didn’t simulate, so you really had to be dedicated. Basically if I was playing I was usually winning. But if Jess called and came over, it just threw me off. I remember at least 2 occasions where I had at least a 5 run lead in the 8th and she came over and I lost. Very similar things happened that year during our multiple seasons of NHL Faceoff 2001 as well. And it continues to this day. I have my PS2 set up in our 2nd bedroom so not to disturb her when I play. But she’ll come in there and the game will always get away from me. It’s uncanny.

Damn long-ears, trying to steal Easter away from Jesus.

2006-01-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

For once, the game lived up to the hype. And while I’m subjective and will always consider the 2002 National Title Game the greatest game ever (Go Bucks, remember that that was the first time that one of my teams won a title in my lifetime), this year’s game was just incredible.

What made last night even better was that the "Master of Your Domain" episode of Seinfeld was on TBS at 6:30 last night. Just the perfect beginning to a great night.

A few observations:

Did it seem to anyone else that Vince Young was playing opossum in the first half? I thought that there was at least 5 occasions when he should have kept the ball on their zone read play. And at least another 5 where he usually runs on a pass play but found a receiver instead (usually David Thomas). It almost seemed like it was part of the game plan. Everyone talks about how USC makes great half time adjustments, but if you’re not beating them with something then there’s no point in making adjustments. Then you look at the second half, Vince starts running and USC’s got no answer. If that was part of the game plan then Mack Brown and his offensive staff are geniuses.

When USC scored to go up by 12 with 6:40 left I got the feeling that it was déjà vu of last year’s Rose Bowl. Remember that UM was up by 2 scores with like 5 minutes left and Vince took over. At that point last night, I was still confident that Texas was going to win. What a game.

Vince Young is the most dangerous player in the country, and that includes Reggie Bush. And Vince gets the nod for one reason; he touches the ball on every play. He doesn’t need a facilitator to get him the ball (other than the center).

Did anyone really thing that Vince was going to throw the ball on 4 and 5 at the end of the game? I think that everyone in the country knew that he was going to take off.

Leinert definitely got his bell rung at the end of the first half on the play where he dove and took a shoulder to the head. He didn’t look like he had a clue on the last 2 plays of the first half.

And what the hell was he doing on the last play of the game? A senior quarterback has to know the situation. When he didn’t have anything to the right he should have just threw it away and lined up for a hail marry on the next play. I’d take my chances with Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith on a jump ball.

As great as Pete Carroll may be, what the hell was he thinking blowing their last timeout before the Texas 2-point conversion? Its not like that play would have put the game out of reach. I would have rather had that TO going back on offense.

Leinert also pissed me off with his post game comments. He kept saying things like he thought USC was the better team and that Texas didn’t beat them as much as USC beat themselves. Those are such backhanded comments. You lost, at least be the class act that you’re supposed to be. What a son-of-a-bitch.

Keith Jackson is fantastic and I’m going to miss him if he really is done. My generation missed out on Howard Cosell for the most part, so with that said Jackson is probably the greatest game caller of our time (no offense to Al Michaels).

I also thought that Dan Fouts did a great job last night. He never gets too excited about any one thing and doesn’t seem to harp on stuff the way other color guys do. I think a lot of that comes from his admiration for Jackson and not wanting to step on his toes.

The replay officials definitely missed a couple of calls last night. The Vince Young option when his knee was down, but give Texas credit for getting lined up for the kick, even though they missed. To me that was still worth it, I’d trade 1 point for 6 any day. The other big one that I thought they missed was when Texas intercepted a pass on USC’s last drive of the half. The guy went up, had possession, and it popped out when he hit the ground. I thought that the ground couldn’t cause a fumble. USC ended up going down and kicking a field goal right before half.

The play that I thought they got right was the supposed fumble by Charles in the 2nd half. He came over the middle and got popped knocking the ball out. But when the replay was shown at full speed he clearly didn’t have the ball long enough for it to be a catch. The slow motion was really miss leading and I’m glad the Big Ten refs got it right.

Vince Young should leave for the NFL. Yes he’ll end up in Houston, but things could be worse. He’ll be playing in his hometown, they do have talent on that team, and the way he plays he’d be asking for an injury next season. If I were him Andre Johnson, Jabar Gaffney, and Dominick Davis would be looking pretty good to me. Not to mention the millions of dollars and endorsements. If Houston brings in a coach that is smart enough to devise a scheme for Young, he could be a monster. Of course, Atlanta hasn’t figured out how to use Vick yet so who knows.

I bet that David Thomas loves Wendy’s. Think about it.

I invented its not you its me!

2006-01-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

With a decent season in 2006, Troy Smith could go down as the greatest Buckeye quarterback ever (not that that’s saying a whole lot). If he can beat Michigan next season and win another bowl game that would make him 3-0 vs. UM and 2-0 in bowls. He will need to carry a bigger load next year without Santonio Holmes and because the defense is losing a lot of guys.

Why did the Irish stop running Darius Walker? He was the one guy on the field that I felt OSU didn’t have an answer for. Grant it ND got down, but there was still plenty of time left to run the ball. I can only remember Walker being stopped for a minimal gain once and he scored a TD on that play.

If Mussberger would have mentioned Zibikowski being a Golden Glove boxer one more time I would have hopped a plane to Tempe and punched him in the face.

Gary Danielson played QB at Purdue and is a noted Bucks hater just like his Purdue mate Bob Griese. But I could feel that Gary hates ND more, not really a surprise. I’m sure that it almost killed him to have to call that game.

I wonder if Charlie Weiss thinks that Tennessee’s defense is still better that Ohio State’s? I can’t imagine.

Charlie Weiss’s play calling is what scared the crap out of me going into that game. He worried me even more when he went to the short drops in the second half. But as the saying goes, a good defense wins against a good offense.

I hope that Lou Holtz is enjoying his shit sandwich. Contrary to what Lou thinks, the Bucks did play some good offenses this season (Texas, Northwestern, UM, MSU). But I don’t think that ND ever saw a defense like the one that was on the field Monday.

I was really glad to see WVU beat up on those Dawgs last night. I never thought that WVU would be able to run consistently on that defense. They didn’t just run consistently, they ran all over them. Steve Slaton is a stud and should be mention in all Heisman talks for next season. He just seemed to hit another gear once he got into the secondary. And Pat White’s pretty good too.

The best shots of that game were the ones that panned the crowd. I’ve never seen so many upset hillbillies. You would have thought that they just accidentally shot their best hunting dog.

I hate the way people are coming out of the woodwork to say that this proves the Big East belongs. I don’t agree. There other 3 teams lost (Rutgers, USF, and Louisville). Even though I think Louisville would have won if Brian Brohm would have been playing. Virginia Tech still sucks and I hate their fans.

Speaking of Tech, Marcus Vick should be suspended for at least the first half of next year’s opener for stomping on Dummerville’s leg. Dummerville’s going to be a first round pick, what if Vick would have broke his leg with that stomp?

Back to the WVU-UGA game. On UGA’s last TD, how did McClendon not get a flag for diving into the end zone? There wasn’t a guy within 10 yards of him.
At least Santonio Holmes won’t get flagged for celebrating his TDs in the NFL.

Since my last post the shortcomings of my beard have started to fill in. It’s just a matter of time. I’m going to try to get a picture of it up this week. I did get my wife a digital camera, I guess I should put it to use.

I completed my first season of NCAA 2006 yesterday. The BG Falcons went 13-0 after a tightly contested 28-16 Motor City Bowl win over Arkansas State. I talked Omar Jacobs into staying another year despite 41 TDs. I lost all of my other skill guys so it could be a tough season.

This was the first year that the Browns have improved their win total since 2002. At least I can hang my hat on that. They are improving, but all of this BS with Phil Savage is ridiculous. The whole thing stems from the fact that now-former-President John Collins (not a football guy) didn’t like Savage’s work schedule. Did the guy have a good (not great) draft? Did he upgrade the talent through free agency and trades? Yes and yes. What more do you want out of a GM? This team always finds a way to fuck up. They’re talking about give Crennel more power, but that’s where they got into trouble with Butch Davis. Just dumb.

Despite Dennis Northcutt’s game winning punt return Sunday I still think that he needs to go. They need to create a stat that keeps track of how much yardage a punt returner costs his team by not fielding punts outside of the 10-yard line. I’d like to think that Northcutt would lead the league (or finish last how ever you want to take it). If I were a head coach I would fine my returner every time they didn’t field a punt. And in practice they would field and return punts from the 10 for an hour.

If you missed it, Crazy Clinton Portis’s mom is clearly crazy too. She punched out an Eagles fan on Sunday. More power to her. A lot of those idiots need to be punched out.

The Cardinals signed Juan Encarnacion recently. Is Juan becoming the Chris Gatling of MLB? He’s one of those guys that’s good enough that you want him on your team, but not good enough that you want to keep him. This is after all his 6th team (Florida twice) in 10 seasons.

In case I don’t get to post over the next 2 days I’m going to make my Rose Bowl pick now. Texas 38, USC 27. And after the game I want Kirk Herbstreit and Mark May to eat both of their shoes. And I want ESPN to run a 11 part series apologizing to fans and all of the great teams of the past for anointing USC a godsend before they finished the job.

Just a little sap...

2005-12-30T09:20:00.000-08:00

This was the first Christmas that I have ever spent away from my family. You see my wife can’t get any vacation time in December because the bank she works at finishes its year in December. Doesn’t this seem dumb to anyone else? But I guess when you’re a Podunk town you don’t worry about out-of-towners working at your business. So the wife and I spent the day of the birth of Christ here in lovely Danville, VA. She actually had to work at the hotel from 7-11 so our Christmas Morning was a little delayed. But I still managed to be up and showered by the time she got home.

Honestly, I’ve always enjoyed giving gifts more than getting them. I think it’s because I’ve always felt that I’m good at knowing what to get people. Case in point, this year. I have to say that I was damn impressed with my shopping for my wife. I got her a pair of fleece lounging pants, a set of holiday dessert plates with entertaining sayings and pictures of Santa and his reindeer drinking martinis, a new bed set (sheets, comforter, etc. This is/was the home of Dan River, Inc so being able to get this gift at the factory store was a steal), and finally a digital camera. To say that I did a good job would be an understatement.

The rest of my day consisted of watching the Pistons trounce the Spurs, eating lunch at my relatives, and finishing off with the Heat/Lakers game. A good day, but not the drunken, card playing, eating, board game playing day I’m used to at my in-laws. Good times.

Other than that I’ve been enjoying my week off. I got drunk at my buddy’s on Monday, did laundry and got the oil changed in the wife’s car on Tuesday, and then pretty much ended my week by cashing in my Best Buy gift cards for a new PS2 and NCAA Football 2006. Obviously not much got done Thursday. But I did manage to give my stank cats a bath today.

New Year’s is shaping up like a drunken good time. We’re going to my buddy’s for a small get together. I’ve got 3 leftover bottles of bubbly from what was supposed to be a celebration after the Appy League Championship series, so it should be a good time.

I’m growing a beard. Actually it looks pretty good except for the fact that I can’t bridge the gap from my mustache to the beard. This was my fear. But it keeps my face warm and regardless of what my wife says I’m keeping it.

I hope that everyone has a Happy New Year. And go Bucks, kill the Catholics.

You'll have to excuse my friend...The town is that way!

2005-12-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

By far my favorite part of the weekend was seeing the “Peyton Manning Face” numerous times Sunday. We all know that face. The same one he made every time he played Florida in college, the one he’s made for the last two years against the Pats, and of course the one he makes every time something goes wrong. He was typical crybaby, blame everyone else, I’m going to sit in the corner and pout Peyton. I laughed a lot. The best part of the whole game was on 4th and goal from the 1 in the 2nd quarter. Apparently 10 of the Colts thought that a run was called, but good ole Peyton thought the call was for a pass. So when he faked to Edge up the middle and rolled left, he looked up to see Reggie Wayne blocking his man at the 3 and Shawne Merriman crushing him. It was awesome. Nice job Peyton.

Now I’m not one to hate on anyone, but I don’t like Manning. I think that he’s an arrogant snob and couldn’t lead a pack lemmings over a cliff. So the possibility of a Pats-Colts second round playoff game thrills me. If everything stays status quo and there aren’t any first round upsets the Pats will visit the Colts in the divisional game. How scared would every Colts fan on Earth be going into that game? The Pats are getting healthier by the week, their defense is playing like it did 2 years ago, and you know that Brady would love to knock Peyton out again. I’m getting chills just thinking about it.

Hey, the Browns won yesterday. Yeah it was a real ugly game, and they tried to give it away on the last drive. But fortunately the fumble call was overruled by replay. Charlie Frye has the potential to be great. He’s got a good front office that should put the pieces in place and he’s got a good coach (a big teddy bear as a matter of fact). The Browns are still a long way from Super Bowl talk, but add a few pieces this off-season between free agents and the draft and the playoffs should be a realistic goal for the first time in a while. This week is their Super Bowl for this season. The Steelers come to Cleveland pretty much in a must win situation to stay ahead of the Bolts and company. When you’re 5-9, these are the games you live for.

One of those off-season moves should be to cut Dennis Northcutt. He had a big punt return yesterday, but also dropped 3 passes and cost us about 30 yards in field position on 3 second half punts that he decided not to catch. Awesome dude. He’ll go somewhere else and learn to catch the ball and be a good slot receiver, but it won’t be in Cleveland.

I loved the fact that they were playing “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys” at the end of the Cowboys-Redskins game yesterday. If they’ve always done that great, if not, the guy who runs the music at FedEx field deserves a raise.

I was at my buddy’s yesterday watching football and drinking. After the 4 o’clock games were over he challenges me to a game of ESPN Scene It. Now I have never played this game before, but let’s just say I know quite a bit of sports trivia. When I won the game he was about a quarter of the way around the board. It was pretty awesome to be me right about there.

I know what two of the three gifts under my tree are (they’re obviously for me from my wife). I found the receipt for one left in a plastic bag that I used to clean out the cats’ shit box and I heard her tell her step-mom what the other one was on the phone yesterday morning when I was still laying in bed. It kind of takes the fun out of opening presents. Its not like I tried to find out. Its reasons like this that my wife would be a horrible criminal. She’d leave clues behind.

The second best season of the year starts tomorrow night, Bowl season (I consider the NCAA tournament to be the best season). It all kicks off with the New Orleans Bowl, which is of course being played in Lafayette, LA. That should be a good atmosphere. At least playing in a half full Super Dome is still playing in the Super Dome.

The Mount Union Purple Raiders won their 8th NCAA D-III National Title in 13 years on Saturday. Congrats. That’s impressive as hell, I don’t care what level you play at. My grandpa and both of my aunts on my Dad’s side went to Mount so I’ve always been a fan. I was actually there in 1997 when they won. And I remember seeing Jim Ballard play in 1993 when I was in 8th grade. That was the first title, but I wasn’t allowed to go to Salem for the Championship because my mom didn’t want me to miss a day of school. You know how some things you look back on and you’re glad your parents made that decision, that’s not one of them. My mom was just being spiteful towards my Dad and per usual I was in the middle. Solid parenting, I see where my sister gets it from.

Last thing, thanks to the Bears last night for whooping Michael Vick and the Falcons. I think that that was the easiest bet of the entire season. Bears by 3 at home, at night, in the cold against a one-dimensional team. Cake. Thanks Rex.

If you're here, and I'm here, then isn't it our time?

2005-12-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

I’m going to start with something I have totally neglected this week and it was brought to my attention in today’s Sports Guy column. Lisa Guerrero in Playboy. Awesome spread. I saw it this weekend at my buddy’s house. She is impressive to say the least. Can you imagine the conversation between Al Michaels and John Madden as they peruse the issue in the Madden Cruiser?

Al: Now honestly John, I have to tell you that I didn’t see this coming.
Madden: See what you’ve got here is a great body. Everything works. Great legs, nice ass, fantastic breasts, now if you just put some duct tape over her mouth you’d be in great shape. I tell you this is a great package. I don’t know how you don’t win with this.
Al: Oh wait, yeah we do.

Has anyone else noticed that the Fiesta Bowl is going to be played January 2nd at 4:30 and the Sugar Bowl is the prime time game that night? What the hell is the deal? OSU-ND will be one of the most watched games in the last 10 years. Now sure you put it on at 4:30 maybe some of those fans stay on to see the under card of UGA-WVU, but I think that the Fiesta will lose some of its luster because it will be played as a day game (Tempe, AZ). A game of that magnitude should be in the prime time slot under the lights.

It was good to see that the Cavs remembered how to use LeBron last night to win games. He ran the point pretty much the entire 4th quarter. He only took about 4 shots but the offense was seamless. Guys were getting open looks from his drives and kicks and people were moving without the ball and he was hitting them. Their biggest problem over this current slide has been that guys were standing around watching LeBron. Also, I really liked them using Damon Jones as the off-guard. He had 5 or 6 open looks after he came off of screens and Donyell Marshall continues to knock down big shots. He hit two threes in the last 7 minutes of last nights game.

Alex Rodriguez has decided not to play in the WBC because he doesn’t want to upset anyone. What? He can’t decide between playing for his native US or his parents’ homeland of the Dominican. Ridiculous. He’s arguably the best player in the world and he’s sitting out because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. It’s for reasons like this that he’ll never be the same leader that Jeter is.

I read today that the Black Coaches Association is criticizing Colorado’s hiring of Dan Hawkins. Now I read that CU interviewed a black candidate so what is the problem here. Big time programs have sought after Hawkins for the last 2 or 3 years because he’s continued to build on the solid program that Dirk Cutter helped shape at Boise. Last time I checked there weren’t too many black head coaches in the non-BCS conferences that appear to be as big time ready as Hawkins.

I caught some of Letterman last night. Shakira was on and I think she was high. Now I’ve never seen her perform before, but she really looked like she was on the verge of stumbling. And then during one part of the song she started pulling up her shirt and just before she got to the good part she put it down and start pulling the top part of her shirt down. Now I’m not complaining because Shakira is an attractive young Latina, I just thought that she was a little all over the place. That and she looked like she had had the munchies lately. She is Columbian, for whatever that’s worth.

I also read an article today that some school districts in the north are considering cutting back the school week to help save on heating and fuel costs. Shouldn’t the government step in here and help out? We’re going to sacrifice education because diesel and heating fuel is too expensive? Don’t get me wrong; if I was still in school I would love this proposal. But I’m not. Other countries that value education would never let it come to this.

I bet on the Bears to cover their 3 points this week and beat the Falcons Sunday night in Chi-town. Vick is hurt; it’s going to be freezing. He’s going to take a hit early in the game from Alex Brown, or Urlacher, or maybe even on a safety blitz from Mike Brown and he’s going to be done. Lovie Smith is going to go after him a lot to see how mobile he is.

I’m also calling the Browns to be the Raiders this week. Collins will throw 3 picks and Droughns is going to run for about 125 yards, and maybe even a TD.

I’m out. Go Mount Union in the D-III Championship Game.

I didn't watch my buddies die face down in the muck...

2005-12-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

Though Walter Sobchak fought the commies in Vietnam, I would more than willingly wear the Chinese National Baseball team cap. Now grant it my biggest draw to this hat is the sweet English style "C" on the front, obviously because my name starts with a C. I saw this cap at the New Era display at the Winter Meetings Trade Show. Unfortunatley I was unable to persuade the rep to let me have it as a "sample". See here lies the problem, this hat is listed at $34.99 on mlb.com. In this case my thriftiness overrides my want for this cap. I'd still love to have idiots call me a commy on the street though.

Housekeeping. You want me to jerk you off?

2005-12-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

I’m glad that the Cavs are going through these tough times now. Remember last season that this same skid occurred around the 50 game mark. They slid and then picked it up for the last 8 games or so of the season. Well, this season they fired out of the gates and now have dropped 6 of 7 going into tonight’s showdown with the Nuggets (I refuse to call it LeBron vs. Melo because I don’t think that Melo is close to being on the same level as LeBron). So if you figure this skid will last for another 7 or 8 games and then they’ll get hot again and then hopefully play consistently through the rest of the season. This is no time to worry.

There’s a Victoria Secrets commercial that’s airing for the holiday season. It’s not the one with the array of lovelies telling you how much they want it. It’s the one with a model dressed in a pink Santa costume and waving around a gift card. It came on last night and I asked my wife how that would go over if I got her a gift card. I got the “don’t even think about it” look. Which leads me to the thought of how many men will get in trouble this holiday season because of that commercial? Obviously not all gift cards are bad; one for a spa is fine (I’m told). But in this case, gift card equals bad idea.

I stumbled upon a great article today. It chronicled NCAA All-Americans who have become NBA busts from 1996-2004. It was pretty interesting. Its good to see that Steve Logan is still filling it up somewhere, even if it is in Turkey. Sam Clancy’s on that list too. They were on the same high school team in Cleveland (St. Ed’s) that won the State Division I title in 1998. There was another guy who went to Northwestern but had some problems and wasn’t heard from. They’re other two starters went DII on full rides. Not to mention that Jawad Williams was frosh on that team.

Are the Hawks the dumbest team in the NBA for not taking Chris Paul with the #2 pick? The New Orleans/OK City/Butt-Fuck Egypt Hornets are playing pretty well. They’re still a couple of years away but if they add the right pieces (which is never a sure thing with that excuse for an organization) they’ll be in good shape.

It’s been raining/icing here all day. Actually since about 5am. So obviously everything in town is pretty much shut down because this is the south and no one knows how to drive in winter weather. Good times. Last week local schools let out early Wednesday and had a 2 hour delay Thursday because of the threat of ice. Nothing like over reacting, but I’d love it if I were in school.

I have no idea what I’m doing here today. I was the only one here until about 12:30. And even since then I’ve done nothing but surf the web.

I’m pretty excited about the NFL on Saturday. I’m already making plans to get drunk. I’ve actually found someone to hang out with that knows sports and drinks.

Speaking of people that know sports. I ran into a whole lot of people who don’t on Monday. I went to the Danville Sports Hall of Fame induction to see Herman Moore. The table I sat at was full of bumbling good ole boys who were idiots. I almost took a swing at the idiot beside me who just kept rambling on like a dumbass. My favorite part of the night (and this should give you an idea of what kind of people live around here) was when the question came up at the table on who was Herman’s QB in Detroit. Now they named his QB in high school and at UVA, but none of these idiots could name Rodney Peete, Scott Mitchell, or Charlie Batch. I was sitting with my drinking buddy and we gave each other the “I’m going to kill these people look.” When I mentioned the names I don’t think that most of them believed me. I closed my eyes and imagined slicing my wrist with my butter knife.

Outside of the drinking and partying, I’d have to say the intelligent sports conversation is one of the things I miss most about Florida. The people I worked with knew their shit for the most part. With the exception of an irrational Yankees fan our discussions were usually pretty in depth (I’m not including Tyler in this group b/c Carlos Beltran is an impact player).

Go Back to Your Home on Whore Island!

2005-12-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

Since none of my posts are consistent thoughts I've decided that I can't really title them to fit a certain subject. Therefore I'm going to use phrases that I deem as funny from now on. If anything you should be satisfied to read the title, only to come crashing down as you scroll through the rest of my garbage thoughts.

That idiot Jay Lunardi already has a bracket for the NCAA tournament up on espn.com. I have nothing wrong with him doing it at this point in the season, if anything I think its fun to speculate. I just think that the guy is an idiot. Any ways, an intriguing matchup that happens in his bracket is in the Atlanta region in the 2nd round; Duke vs. West Virginia. If you were a Duke fan cruising into the tournment at about 30-2 wouldn't this game scare the crap out of you? Sure WVU is a zone defense team which means Reddick may get some open looks, but in the same breath, much like Temple and Syracuse, all they play is zone which means they're very good at it. And then on offense they just bomb away. If they're hitting like they did against Wake and Louisville in the tourney last year Duke would have some problems. Nothing would be greater than a bunch of hicks knocking out those blue-bloods.

With the lull in college football season I've started watching college basketball more. I've gotten to see Ohio State twice now (Va. Tech & St. Joe's) and though I haven't been overly impressed with them, I do think that they'll win at least 20 games again this year and be in the tournament. They're thin up front with the exception of Dials, but they are very deep at the 1-3 positions. And as everyone says, guard play wins you games. Just look at Nova.

Speaking of Ohio St. basketball. Where will they be ranked in next season's preseason pole? They'll be a championship contender. The only big loss off of this year's team is Terrence Dials and they're bringing in Greg Oden and his little buddy from Indy and three other guys that are touted as McDonalds All-Americans. My theory on this is that a lot of these kids want to play with Oden. They figure they have to play one year before the NBA so why not all go to the same program and try to win a championship? I think the same thing will happen in a couple of years with OJ Mayo. Who by the way looks like he's about 25.

Today is the anniversary of one of the greatest NBA games ever played. Pistons over Nuggetts 186-184 in 3OT. I know that the game has changed a lot in the last 20 years but wouldn't it be great if teams still scored like that. Denver averaged 123 that season, it takes some teams two games to score that many now. There's an article on Page 2 today about it. They interview a couple of the players from the game and they bring up good points about it being more of a team game back in the day as opposed to today's one-on-one style and set plays. Good read.

I got a picture in the mail the other day from a promoter who books ex-wrestlers. He sent me a picutre of George "The Animal" Steele licking the Stanley Cup at a Minor League Hockey game. Yes this is funny, I laugh when I look at the picture. But do you know how much silver polish they use on that thing? That can't be good for you. Just ask the guys that drink out of it, they all end up sick. At George's age he could be dead by now.

Letters for All

2005-12-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

Dear UCLA,

Thanks for coming over and playing in the Coliseum. Hopefully we'll see you around town. Good luck in the Emarld Bowl or where ever the hell you'll be playing. We'll be sure to win the National Title on your home field. Oh, and Reggie says thanks for suring up the Heisman for him.

Love,
USC

PS-You Suck.

Dear Gary,

Even though the old regime didn't have the balls to fire you, we do. I think we all know what the root of the problem was, allowing a girl onto your team. This is Division I-A football, not a circus. Now get the hell out of here.

Love,
Colorado AD and President

Dear Miguel,

Remember when you won the MVP? Playing on a winning team helps in that process. And to win you need pitching. Don't be a little bitch and ask to be traded 2 years into your deal. You knew what you were getting into when you decided to trade wins for dollars. Tell Boog Powell I said hi.

Love,
Billy Beane

Dallas? What Happened to the Dirty Slut you used to be?

2005-12-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

I got back from my week long trip to Dallas yesterday. Let's just say it wasn't nearly as much fun as my last trip there, nor was it as much fun as my last Winter Meetings in New Orleans in 2003. Let me give you a short recap.

Sunday

10:45 flight from "lovely" Raliegh-Durham International Airport. Apparently no one in this area knows how to use one of the self check-in machines at the airport which was good for me b/c the line to talk to a person was really long. This was all well and good until some dumb Canadian (she had Air Canada baggage, no self respecting American would carry something like that) wouldn't get out of my way going to the self check-in machine.

So I get through there and security and of course move on to an airport bar to get my Bloody Mary. I do this for two reasons: 1) a drink relaxes me. I'm not a bad flyer, but I do get a little antsy. 2) It helps me sleep on the flight. This is always key especially on a three hour flight.

I basically spent my afternoon in Dallas watching football and ironing my clothes.

I went to the Braves team dinner at a very nice Dallas steakhouse. First-class of course. Open bar the entire time we were there and huge steaks. No entree on the menu was under $35. I had a great NY Strip. I met pretty much everyone in the Minor League Organization, some front office people, and even though I wasn't introduced to him, I sat back-to-back with John Schurholtz at dinner (he's a pretty short dude).

After dinner was when the week took its turn. Yes the I knew where this was heading after the first night. My boss and the boss of the Richmond employees ditch us as we're leaving the restaurant to head back to the hotel in a Hummer. So we hop a cab. Get back to the hotel and I pretty much get ditched by the Richmond people (because I'm the new guy and they just aren't sure about me) and my boss is no where to be found. Awesome. Basically was in my room the first night by 11:30.

Monday

My boss apparently hooked up with some of his old buddies from Winston-Salem Sunday night and got blitzed (thanks for the invite). The best part of this was him falling asleep and leaving the room about 3 times during our minor league team meeting Monday morning. That's right. In the presence of all the higher ups, all of the other teams, my boss is passing out at the meeting table.

Well after this (11am) my boss literally disappears for the rest of the day. Here he was up in his room throwing up and sleeping. So I went to the luncheon, meetings, and started interviewing interns by myself. I ended up going to Hooters for MNF with one of my former coworkers (JW) who was job hunting. This was good times and saved the day a little bit.

Tuesday

This was a pretty decent day. League meeting in the morning, interview some more in the afternoon w/ the bossman. Baseball America awarded the Braves with Organization of the Year so we got to go to the Baseball America Banquet. Free food and free booze for about 4 hours. This is where I think that I grew on the Richmond crowd a little. I'm definitely very charming.

After this dinner I run into another former coworker (RL). Me and my boss ended up sitting with him in the hotel atrium drinking and talking about how my old team is heading further into the toilet because of who is running the operation for about 5 hours. This was good because it showed my boss that I wasn't exaggerating the circumstances.

Wednesday

Another short league meeting in the morning. Go to the Trade Show for a little while. And then the Gala. You would have thought that this would be at the ballpark, no. Its at some redneck bar instead. Food wasn't that great but it was free. Beer was free. I rode a mechanical bull and got an old time picture taken with some of the other Minor League people. They had armadillo racing too. 10 roles around and they literally brought cops in to push us out of the bar. Ridiculous.

Go back to the hotel, run into JW and find out that he got a job. So we went to the gas station and bought a case of beer and sat in the lobby and drank (beers at the lobby bar were $6, I'm poor). Then some yahoo Latino comes over and starts yelling at us b/c its illegal to bring beer and drink it in the lobby. He actually grabbed what was left off the table. I grabbed it back and took it up to my room.

I'm going to skip Thursday because it was boring. Aside from the Cowboy Cheerleaders performing at the closing banquet. Probably the highlight of the week.

Basically I couldn't get anyone to go down to Lower Greenville with me, my boss ditched me half the time when I basically knew no one in the organization, and I did exactly 0 shots (compared to somewhere in the 25 range last Dallas trip).

So here's what I've come up with. Dallas isn't as fun without Hughes. My boss now can't hold my old boss's jock, and there are some snobs in the Braves organization.

A few more thoughts. My former GM's wife never stopped to say hello to me the entire time, though her husband was more than cordial (though he told RL that I had matured, look in the fucking mirror). When his team won the Promotions award he thanked the new ownership, the FSL, and his wife. No mention of his staff. Nice. The Cowboy Cheerleaders were really hot. There was only 1 Nubian princess in the 12, but she was a good one to bring.

That's it, I've got nothing.

No Time

2005-12-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

This is going to be short, per usual.

I haven't commented on the fact that Bowling Green lost to Toledo last week in 2OT. Two years in a row now BG has scored 41 on the Rockets and LOST. Here's an idea for an up and coming MAC program. Instead of trying to play run and gun, how about recruiting some athletes to play defense? There's a novel idea, stop the other guy.

Craig James should not be allowed to call games. He's horrilbe and excessively stupid. But I believe that he is the last white tailback to finish in the top 5 in the NFL in rushing for a season.

The Browns regressed horribly Sunday versus the Vikings. This greatly pains me. The only shot they have this weekend against the Jags is if its about 10 degrees with a wind chill of -20 off of the lake.

It was cold as hell last weekend in Ohio. I saw a read out that said 9. It was still November. And there was about 6" of snow at my in-laws.

Driving on the interstates on Thanksgiving weekend is one of the dumbest things one can do. Driving up wasn't bad, coming back was a nightmare.

I'm looking forward to my Dallas trip next week. Then again how can't you look forward to getting out of the office for a week and going to a great city.

Last thing. The Wedding Singer was my flip back for much of last night. Could Steve Buscemi be the greatest character actor of this generation. He's multidimensional. The guy has played about every character type known to man. Seriously, I think someone should write something important about this. But not me. I'm just an idea man. I come up with ideas, its someone else's job to do something with them.

Reignman

2005-11-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy. Its tougher than I remember coming back from the holiday. Between that and looking forward to my Dallas trip next week I'm a little preoccupied.

One thing today. On the interns links there is a link to a Shawn Kemp dunk montage. Great stuff. Back in the day he was one of the most exciting and dynamic players in the NBA. Its too bad that he blew it and got drugged up and fat. Crack is a hell of a drug.

Cleaing Out My Closet Before Turkey Day

2005-11-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

R. Kelly sucks. But his Boondocks character was funny.

I’m taking the day off of work tomorrow. I’m heading up to Ohio for Turkey Day so I’ll need to rest up a little bit. But honestly, is there really any point in working the day before a holiday? No one gets any work done because they’re looking forward to their time off.

I love Thanksgiving. Isn’t it really the perfect holiday? No gifts to worry about, a license to eat until you explode, football all day, and you’re pretty much expected to take a nap. I love it. Turkey, stuffing, and all of the other deliciousness is only hours away. I can’t wait.

TBS showed Major League II last night after Family Guy. As much as I love the original, ML II just doesn’t get it done. But one thing I noticed last night that I hadn’t before was Omar Epps’s sweet part. It goes all the way from the front to the back of his head. Awesome. It puts Smush Parker’s part to shame.

The Browns pretty much dominated the Dolphins Sunday. The offense moved the ball surprisingly well against a decent Miami defense, and the defense obviously pitched a shutout. It helped that Ferrotte was hurt, and when he came in he played like he was hurt. I thought our run defense could have used some work, but Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are good so I guess you have to take solace in the fact that they were kept out of the end zone.

The Texas-WVU basketball game was very entertaining last night. If WVU could have made their free throws in the last minute they would have won. Texas either isn’t as good as everybody thinks or people are underestimating WVU. They only lost two guys off of their Elite Eight team.

I stayed up and watched the Packers lose to the Vikings last night. I really hate the Vikings and now that they’re 5-5 it’s starting to worry me. They are clearly a better team with steady Brad Johnson as opposed to inconsistent Daunte Culpepper. Could the Packers be considered the best bad team ever? They seem to be in just about every game but some how find a way to blow it (like last night’s blown coverage that set up the game winning field goal).

Speaking of the Pack, I hope that they trade Favre before next season. He doesn’t deserve to go out with a team that is clearly rebuilding. Yes they should have Walker and Green back next season, but they still don’t have a defense. When you look at teams that may be interested they’re actually pretty limited. I figure the following could make a play for him to try to get them over the top:

Miami-Good running game and defense, no QB

Oakland-They have cap problems but Al Davis is never afraid to bring in a vet

Washington-If Brunnel should falter or break down, but I think Favre could kill Gibbs

Tampa Bay-If Simms falls apart down the stretch this would be the perfect place. Great defense that probably still has another year left in them and a rejuvenated running game

New Orleans-Brooks is all but out and he could play for his hometown team. But they’ll still be terrible and they probably won’t even be in New Orleans.

Arizona-Yeah this is a stretch. No running game, but a young defense and good young receivers. Denny Green is familiar with Favre from his days in Minnie and runs the same style of offense.

Who knows, all I know is that I’d like to see him get one more chance at glory. If he could take a team like Arizona and make a run into the playoffs and maybe get to the title game that would be great. Kind of like what Montana did with the Chiefs, but without the concussion.

I was checking the college football standings today and noticed that Baylor finished 5-6. Good for them. The only thing that I know about Baylor is that they’re a horrible program. But if they had beaten either A&M or Oklahoma (both road OT losses) they’d be playing in a bowl.

Its good to see that both UCF and USF have turned their football programs around. There’s really no excuse for either of those schools to ever have long droughts. Florida is a hot bed of talent. And when you figure USF can pluck kids right out of Tampa and UCF has Orlando, even if they’re getting FSU, UF, and Miami scraps they’re still in good shape.

I know that this is old news but I keep forgetting to write about it. USA basketball named Coach K as the Olympic coach for 2008. He’s a great coach with a great college background. One problem, these are NBA guys playing European style basketball. I heard that they considered Mike D’Antoni. Why would you have named this guy? He had great success in Europe so he clearly understands the style of play. I would say that their biggest concern would be that he might fall off of his coaching pedestal in Phoenix by 2008.

Navy accepted a bowl bid to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. Great call by the selection committee for that bowl. San Diego is a Navy city. They want Navy to sell 20,000 tickets for the game. That shouldn’t be a problem and I would guess that they’d out draw whatever Mountain West school they play.

The Marlins and Red Sox have laid down a trade to send Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston for three highly regarded minor leaguers. I know that the Marlins are going to be slashing pay role, but this is ridiculous. Trading a World Series MVP and a 3-time All Star for three kids who haven’t even played substantial time above AA, let alone the Majors. To me it seems like that quality ownership is throwing a fit because they can’t get a new stadium. I can hear Jeffrey Loria in his best six-year old voice, “If we can’t get a new stadium then we’ll just get rid of all of our players. Now what are you going to do?” I would guess they won’t care, just like the rest of south Florida. What a horrible fan base. I hope Joe Girardi will have fun fielding a team that consists of Miguel Cabrera and eight AA players.

Texas actually had a deal on the table to send Hank Blalock and one of their two top pitching prospects to Miami. But if the Marlins would have done that they would have had to pay Blalock, and who would want that? I’m sure if the Rangers knew they could get them for nothing they would have offered a grab bag of prospects.

On Saturday I couldn’t help but think of where I watched last year’s OSU-UM game. In my office. I was working a Christian concert at my old job. Good times. But at least I got to watch it.

This article pretty much sums up my feelings towards Thanksgiving. Thanks Mitch Albom.

Big game tonight. Bowling Green versus Toledo. This is two fold huge. If Bowling Green wins they not only assure themselves the East crown but they also knock Toledo out of contention for the West. BG hasn’t come close to living up to expectations this season, but a win against the “Team from up North” could solve everything. And a third straight bowl bid would be nice too. Its supposed to snow tonight in BG so that could slow down the passing attacks. With that in mind look for PJ Pope to cap what has been an injury plagued senior year with a big night. BG 31, UT 20.

What a Game

2005-11-19T13:57:00.000-08:00

That's all I've been able to say for the last hour. The Ohio State-Michigan game was one of the greatest games I have ever seen. I would put that game in my all-time top 5. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I'm a big OSU fan, but screw being objective.

When it was 21-12 I thought they were done. OSU's offense didn't do shit in the 3rd quarter, but the defense held tough. Michigan scored 18 of their 21 points on two fumbles and an 18 yard punt that gave them the ball at the OSU 38. So you could say that the Buckeyes defense shut them down.

Troy Smith played awesome. This guy stepped up and had a huge game last year against UM, and he did it again this year. He didn't break off long runs like last season, this year he beat UM with his arm more than his legs. But with that in mind his 14 yard scramble on 3rd and 11 on the TD drive that made it 21-19 was a back breaker. Just a great game by Troy Smith.

My play of the game had to be Anthony Gonzalez's leaping catch at the 3 on the last drive. Troy Smith kept the play alive with his legs and Gonzalez's made an incredible catch.

I was also screaming at them all day to go to Santonio Holmes because he was like the forgotten man for the first 3 quarters. But then he caught the first TD in the 4th and had a couple of big catches on the last drive.

(I thought them flagging him for the dive was bull shit. There was a man with 2 yards of him, it was a legit dive. The call could have cost OSU the game had it not been for the defense.)

But I have to say that I'm going to take some of the credit for this win. I sat in the recliner for the first 3 quarters of the game. Obviously that worked well for me in the first half. After the 3rd quarter I switched over to the couch, and that's when things started going OSU's way. I'll be expecting a thank from Jim Tressel this week. I do what I can.

My wife had to work at 3 so I haven't had the chance to raz her yet. I plan on hitting my OSU football that plays the fight song and says "Go Buckeyes" as soon as she walks in the door tonight. I may be sleeping on the couch tonight, but it will be well worth it.

Swimming Cow Chips

2005-11-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

This may be one of the greatest pictures ever.

Moore is Better

2005-11-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

I found out today that Herman Moore is from Danville. Grew up here, went to George Washington High School, signed his letter of intent to UVA here. But yet I've been here since May and this is the first I've heard of this. How is that? Is this town so insanely proud of Johnny Newman and Ferrell Edmunds that it just forgot to mention Herman. The reason I did hear about him is because he's being inducted into the Danville Sports Hall of Fame. So congrats to Herman.

I'm really looking forward to the Magic/Cavs game coming up Friday on ESPN. I don't get to watch the Cavs unless their on TNT, ESPN, or playing either the Bullets or Bobcats. What makes this even better though is getting to see Dwight Howard. I couldn't be more pleased with what he's done for my fantasy league team, but more than that he just seems so much better already than he was last year. I thought that he was a beast last season, but this year he is destroying people. I was pretty impressed with the 20-20 game the other night. The Magic better get some pieces around him so he doesn't bolt for Atlanta when his contracts up.

I really like the food at Thanksgiving. Seeing family is great, but I always look forward to the food most of all. Turkey is fantastic. The food was my saving grace during last year's Thanksgiving celebration at my wife's friend's house. Good times.

Ohio State-Michigan is Saturday. I always sweat this game. And this is eerily similar to the 2003 game. OSU comes in with a shot at the Big Ten Title and a BCS bid. UM is a little down and playing at home. Obviously OSU lost that game. Which is usually the way it works. With the exception of 2002, everytime OSU has had something to lose going into this game they've lost the game. This is what I grew up with.

My wife is a "big" UM fan. I use the term "big" loosely because she's just one of those UM fans. You know, the kind of people that started rooting for them because its cool. She claims she is a UM fan because her family is all OSU fans. If this is the case then why isn't she a Steelers fan? Kills me. Any ways, she not a good loser and doesn't take ribbing well at all. So its good times for me if the Bucks win.

I didn't get a real good look last night, but did Smush Parker get rid of his part? I hope not, that's his signature.

I really hate how all of these college football games get played in the middle of the week now. I'm a big MAC fan and I understand that this is the only way for most of the small schools to get on TV. But I still hate it. If I were still in school I'd love it because it would mean getting drunk on a Tuesday night, or at least having a good excuse to do so.

I played in some YMCA pick up games one afternoon my senior year of high school with a guy that could have been Sam Perkins's brother. Looked very similar, wasn't nearly as tall, but had an identical shot. Maybe it was a distant cousin. We even called him Big Smooth all afternoon and he loved it.

I've started watching The Office on NBC. Its a pretty awesome show. Any show that has the line, "I went out and got drunk with my laser tag team last night." in it is awesome in my book.

Is Duke that good, or is Seton Hall that bad? That was the question that I came away from last night's NIT game with. I think SHU is that bad. They'll have a rough time in the revamped Big East this season.

Big Smooth

2005-11-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

I've been busy here at work today. Nothing Earth shaking, but enough to make the day pass.

The Browns should really relegate Dennis Northcutt to punt return duty and that's it. He dropped two more would be 1st downs last night on 3rd down. He has to lead the league in that category (if it is one). Needless to say he's up there in drops. I can't understand how he is still ahead of Braylon Edwards on the depth chart. If anything at least stick Frisman Jackson in there. This team really drives me insane. Antonio Bryant is way too inconsistent too. Way too many drops all around. When you're a bad team like the Browns are you can't make mistakes like that.

The Skins-Bucs game and Pats-Dolphins games were two of the most exciting games in the NFL that I've seen this season. I flipped over to the Pats-Phins game in the 2nd quarter and it really looked like it was going to be a snoozer, but I stuck with it. It ended up being a great game. I was really impressed at how hard Saban has the Phins playing. The Skins-Bucs game was just great. Anyone who says they enjoy a defensive struggle is full of shit. It doesn't get any better than two teams going back and forth like that. Gruden=Huge balls for the 2point conversion. But doesn't that make sense? Why risk overtime? If you lose the coin flip, with the way the Skins offense had been playing, you may never see the ball again. And Brunell looked like he did in 2004 on that last play.

Two guys that I think have a good chance of becoming the next Sam Perkins. You know, a big man who manages to stick around the league a few extra years because all he does is shoot threes. My candidates are Donyell Marshall and Rasheed Wallace. Marshall has been morphing into this the last couple of seasons. But I don't care because to this point in the season he has looked like the Cavs best off season acquisition. Wallace has always been able to shoot from deep, but over the last couple of season he's been spending more and more time out there. But anyways, I think that one of these guys will be another Big Smooth by the end of their career.

The SEC didn't disappoint on Saturday. Those were three awesome games. The Auburn-UGA nightcap was the best of the three. I laughed when they kept showing shots of the UGA fans after the game. They all looked like their favorite hog had just died. UF losing to USC was surprising. I don't think that my boy Urban Meyer envisioned SEC defenses to be this good. That coupled with Leak being more of a pocket passer has not helped him at all. And I obviously missed on that 2002 OSU-2005 Bama comparison.

Bowling Green basketball opened up this weekend (in Blacksburg, no I didn't go, I'm lazy). They lost a close game to Western Carolina Thursday night, then beat Virginia Tech on a buzzer beater Saturday afternoon, only to get blown out by Radford on Sunday. Nothing like a maddingly inconsistent start to the season. They're going to have a rough season because they don't have a go to scorer.

In a related story, BG transfer Ronald Lewis scored 18 for Ohio State in their opening scrimmage. If BG would have had him last year they would have won the MAC.

My work bought a John Deere Gator last week. Its awesome. I almost forgot how much fun they are.

Better Late Than Never

2005-11-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be posted yesterday but I was interrupted and never got the chance to.

Biggest news of the day for me, Arrested Development has been canceled by Fox. There won’t be an episode on until December 5 and they cut the number of episodes from 22 to 13. This comes down to one thing, America is stupid. AD is a very smart show. Very much along the same lines as New Radio and Seinfeld. Those shows succeeded in the early to mid 1990s. So does this mean that America is getting dumber as we progress into the 21st century? I would say yes. I’m so mad about this. I also blame the move to Monday night. It was the perfect follow up to the Simpsons. Now Fox has some horrible show on after the Simpsons with that white guy who thinks he’s black. I hate dumb America.

Moving on…

LeBron was unbelievable the other night against the Sonics. I know that Rashard Lewis got hurt early in the game, but LeBron didn’t look like he was going to stop for anyone. It was almost like he was showing Ray Allen what he was missing. It made me laugh. That and Luke Ridenour running out of the way like a little girl when Marshall oopped LeBron.

I meant to comment on this earlier in the week but I forgot. I was talking to Joe Saturday night and I brought up my Bobby Bowden Theory. Here’s the theory, if you have a tie to Bobby, you’re a head coach, and you’re on the hot seat, play FSU and win. Think about it, Tommy Bowden beats his dad two years ago when he was all but fired from a horribly underachieving Clemson team. Then this year Chuck Amato is all but gone (I know, I live in the area), but he goes down to T-hole and pulls off a “miraculous” upset. Give me a break. NC State almost lost to Southern Miss the week before. Drew Weatherford had been playing much better. But very conveniently the wheels fall off of the FSU wagon. Why not? There out of the Rose Bowl picture and they’ve all but got their division wrapped up. Why not throw your old assistant a bone.

Is it just me or does this year’s Alabama squad really resemble the 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes? Think about it, both play great defense, great special teams, have a veteran, savvy quarterback who will beat you with his brain rather than his arm, and a knack for winning really close games. Even games in which their offense doesn’t show up. The real test for Bama will be this weekend against LSU. LSU is really good, but to me they just don’t have that presence this year. I don’t know what that means, but it makes sense to me.

Has anyone else noticed Yao Ming’s neck beard. It’s really only under his chin, but still. Why doesn’t he just grow a wispy goatee?

I stayed up and watched the Suns/Pistons game last night. And it was well worth it. It was one of the most clutch performances that I’ve seen in a while. In the last five minutes of that game all five of the Pistons starters hit big shots. While the Suns were constantly calling on Nash. Not that Nash isn’t great, but when you have a different guy to answer every time it makes it tough because the chance of the other team going cold is greatly decreased. Even though Rasheed and Prince were both raining jumpers in the 4th and Rip hit the game tying shot and Chauncy hit the go ahead three, I thought the play that really deflated the Suns was Ben Wallace put-back. Prince put up a turnaround on the right block that came up short. Wallace comes flying from across the lane, grabs the ball with one hand, and tomahawked it home. I was lying on the couch and literally sat up and said holy shit.

I had other stuff I was going to write about but I left my notes at work. So much for that. I’m going to get back downstairs so I can enjoy my Saturday of football. And oh what a Saturday it will be.

Lost at Sea

2005-11-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

I haven’t written for a while for good reason. I write these excuses for posts while I’m at work. Usually towards the end of the day when I wouldn’t be doing anything any ways. With that said the internet was down Monday and Friday and I was out of town for a league meeting yesterday. So let me cover some recent events and some of my own discoveries from the past few days.

How much do you think Clinton Portis got fined for wearing maroon socks during Sunday night’s game? We all know what a huge stickler the NFL is on uniforms. So I’m sure that wearing different colored socks for a nationally televised game will cost him some dough. But what does he care, he’s crazy.

Smush Parker is off to a ridiculous start for the Lakers. This really makes me sick because the Cavs were the team that gambled on him out of Fordham as a free agent. He played well in 2002-03 and got into 66 games. But of course he wasn’t good enough to keep because we had Kevin Ollie. How great would he look in the Cavs’s backcourt now? A point guard that can handle, play defense, and shoot all in one. He’s Eric Snow and Damon Jones if they were “smushed” together and a couple of inches taller.

One of the best things about having Direct TV was that I got the NBA League Pass for the first week of the season for free. I watched a ton of games. But by far my favorite games to watch were Celtics games for one reason, Tommy Heinsohn. He’s so awesome because you can tell he really knows everything about the game and is just going to call it like it is. But the best part about it is “Tommy Points”. Any time a Celtics player makes a hustle play they get a “Tommy Point”. This involves showing the replay with a goofy little animated Tommy in the corner and the real Tommy just going nuts over the play. One of the best gimmicks in sports.

Brooks Bollinger is the starting QB for the Jets because of injury. Jim Sorgi is the backup for the Colts. I’m sure both of these are much better athletes than me with much better arms. But if you are looking for quality QB why are you taking guys from Wisconsin? I like for my QBs to throw more than 10 times per game in college.

(Its obvious these guys were picked as much for their character and coachablity as skill. And they played in a good program like Wisconsin. I’ve always been a big proponent of taking quality guys from good programs as opposed to taking flyers on guys from small schools, i.e. Spergon Wynn out of SW Texas St. instead of a guy like Tom Brady from Michigan in 2000.)

Are football players getting dumber? I’ve seen more blatant blocks in the back this year than ever before. How hard is it to realize that if you can see the guys name you aren’t allowed to hit him? Brainpower.

My flag football team lost their last game 19-18 Saturday. We finished 0-6. This last team that beat us finished 6-0. That fact that it was close is no consolation. We went up 18-12 in the 2nd half when one of our safeties picked off a pass and ran it back 70 yards for a TD. And we had them 4th and 5 from midfield with 2 minutes to go and let them bust one for a TD. And then their ball carrier ran through 3 of our defenders for the conversion. It was really disappointing. But we didn’t deserve to win that game because our offense was awful. The kids literally took about two steps back from the way they played the week before.

I saw that Ron Harper is one of Flip Saunders’s assistants this season. Of all of the horrible Cleveland team trades in my lifetime, Ron Harper for the rights to Danny Ferry is by far the worst. Harper was really getting into the prime of his career averaging right around 19 or 20 per game. I’ve always been convinced that if the Cavs keep Harper they beat the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1992. That’s my fantasy any ways.

I was wasting time the other day perusing the Ohio HS Athletic sight’s football records. One record that really jumped out at me. Former Ohio State wide out and Bedford High stud Bam Childress returned 21 punts for TDs in his high school career. The next closest guy had seven. That just blew me away. Bam was only about 5’8” so I’m sure he was hard to find. I always felt that Ohio State never figured out how to use him properly.

Last thing, there is only one New Philadelphia football player to hold a state record. Larry Denmon returned a punt 108 yards for a TD in 1964. That’s the first time I had ever heard of this record. You would think a small school like good old NPHS would have some kind of banner for this guy or something. I mean 108 yards; chances are its never going to be broken.

One more, Sonics vs. Cavs tonight. LeBron dominates, Cavs win 114-103. We aren’t a very good defensive team.

Screw the Ultimate Warrior

2005-11-03T13:07:00.000-08:00

This may be a story that you had to be there for it to be funny, but I don’t think so.

I was in a fraternity in college and lived in the fraternity house my sophomore and junior year. My junior year I lived with my buddy Len. Len was a pretty thick dude. About 6’1’ and easily 240. He was a high school hockey player so he had an “aggressive” streak. Even though Len had drank himself a little pudgier than his hockey days, he could still take just about anyone I knew in college.

Another one of my friends lived across the hall that same year. We affectionately called him Lil’ Jon because he was all of about 5’3” and about 120lbs. LJ wasn’t too good with the ladies so he had a tendency to take a lot of “ten minute naps” (if you know what I mean). And he was interrupted quite a few times during these ten-minute naps, but I don’t think it ever really fazed him. LJ also has ADD so he’s a little off.

Now we routinely screwed with LJ. Nothing ever real harsh. Examples include putting gay porn on his desktop, tea-bagging him (routinely), even lifting his mattress up and pushing it against the wall with him on it. Good times. And its not like he just took it, there were a lot of times that he just snapped and would just start screaming. It was always a good time.

Anyways, the reason I’m reliving this is because I was reading Bill Simmons NBA preview and he was saying how Chris Kaman should come out to “Real American”, the Hulk Hogan theme song. This made me think of something that happened during exam week in the spring of my junior year.

At BG in all the on campus housing its 23-hour a day quiet hours during exam week. That means no loud music, no screaming in the halls; basically anything that’s fun. So I’m coming back from an exam just as our one hour of fun has started and as I get to the top of the stairs I hear “Real American” just blaring from someone’s room. It was ironically my room and out burst Len, who goes crashing through LJ’s door. Grabs LJ and just starts doing wrestling moves on him in the hallway. I was both lost in hysterical laughter and unmentionable horror at the same time. This went on for about 3 minutes before Len finally tired himself out. The whole time LJ was screaming like a 10 year old girl. This of course drew just about everyone in the house to the area.

Len just kind of laid on LJ for a couple of minutes then got up and gave some high fives before going back into our room. LJ got up, gingerly, and made his way back to his computer. Where of course someone had put gay porn on the desktop during the melee. Everyone just kind of went back to their things. It merely passed as a venting of exam week frustration. Whatever it was and whatever brought it on doesn’t matter because it was awesome.

The Hulk would have been proud.

ESPN Classic

2005-11-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

In case you missed it this weekend ESPN Classic pretty much showed nothing but NBA games from between 1986 and 1993. It was great mostly because this is the era of the NBA I grew up with. I did boycott the showing of the 1989 Bulls vs. Cavs Game 5, but other than that Classic was my flip back channel most of the weekend.

Michael Jordan was so incredible in those years. When he came back as the fade away jump shooter he became in 1995, he just wasn’t the same. He was just so explosive it was ridiculous. They just showed some great games. My favorite was the April 1993 match up between the Bulls and a young Hornets team. Jordan scored the last 18 points for the Bulls, but a pre back problems Larry Johnson carried the Hornets down the stretch and they won 104-103.

Speaking of the Hornets, how did they ever agree to deal Alonzo Mourning to Miami? Especially after it was clear that Larry Johnson wasn’t the same player he was his first two seasons. That deal marked the exact moment that Charlotte lost all chances of contending for a championship.

There were also some Celtics games from the early ‘90s. I know that Bill Simmons has said it a million times, but has there been an organization hit harder by player deaths than the Celtics? Bird had passed the torch to Reggie Lewis when he retired. Lewis carries them into the playoffs in 1992-93, then that offseason he dies. The Celtics are left with Dee Brown, that’s about it. In those two years they lost Parrish, McHale, Bird, and Reggie Lewis. Three HOFers and a guy that was coming off back-to-back 21ppg seasons. Add that in with Len Bias dying in 1986 and its disaster. If Bias lives I don’t know if the Pistons ever get by the Celtics. And even after the Big 3 move on, Bias and Lewis still keep the Celtics in the playoffs for at least another five-plus years.

Drazen Petrovic dying in 1993 pretty much ended New Jersey’s chance at becoming a contender in those years. They did make the playoffs in 1993-94, but slipped drastically after that. To me he was the first great Euro to play in the NBA. He still maybe the best European player ever to play in the NBA.

The Braves named Roger McDowell their new pitching coach over the weekend. I was more than a little excited about this because McDowell went to Bowling Green. I consider him the greatest BG baseball player ever. Even ahead of Orel Hershiser.

I watched Identity on FX the other night. I liked it, even on edited cable. It really had me guessing. That could either be a sign of a good movie or that I’m just really dumb.

While watching the 1991 Celtics-Pacers Game 5, I learned an interesting fact. I always assumed that Chuck Person was called the “Rifleman” because he would shoot from anywhere on the court. Well apparently this was only part of it. Chuck Person’s mom was a big Chuck Conners fan, the actual “Rifleman.” So his middle name is Conners, Chuck Conners Person. Awesome.

At Least Holcomb Got Rid of the Ball

2005-10-31T13:59:00.000-08:00

I’m not going to talk about the Browns too much because I don’t want to throw up. I don’t think that they are the worst team in the NFL. I do think that they have one of the worst offenses in the NFL. The defense has played their butts off. They’re ranked 8th in the NFL in points allowed (17.4pg), but the offense is treating them like Roger Clemens. Rueben Droughns is showing that he is a good back, but Trent Dilfer needs to get his act together. He looks shaky at best. He’s holding onto the ball as long as Tim Couch did, and we know how that ended.

Omar Jacobs missed this week’s game against Akron. No problem, right? WRONG. BG lost at home to fucking Akron. Clearly Omar is more important to this offense than the offense is to Omar. Anthony Turner wasn’t bad, but he needs to get the ball to Sharon and Sanders. They combined for less than 100 yards receiving. Not what you want from two all-conference receivers.

Ohio State dominated Minnesota in the second half Saturday. I was a little worried when it was tied at 21 at the half. But then I remembered that playing in the Metrodome is no home field advantage. That combined with Maroney running for 14 yards in the second half pretty much doomed Minnesota.

(Side-note here, Animal from the Road Warriors son is a true frosh linebacker for the Bucks this year. He was Mr. Football in Minnesota last year but shunned Glenn Mason because he wanted to go to a school with a great linebacker tradition. I read that his dad got him an Andy Katzenmoyer jersey when he was younger, who would have thought Andy would ever come back to help the Bucks?)

Florida got a big boost from their defense against Georgia on Saturday. They got good pressure on Joe T. and never let UGA’s running game get going. They got just enough help from the offense. But if you’re the defense wouldn’t you want the offense to score their 14 points in the first quarter like they did? It’s always easier to play from ahead.

I laughed when South Carolina beat Tennessee Saturday. Does Fat Phil hate anyone more than Spurrier? When asked whether taking USC into Knoxville worried him, Spurrier asked why would it? He went in there with Duke and won. That’s great. Classic Spurrier playing mind games with the Orange-necks.

There’s only one reason that I wish I were still at my old job: the downfall of the Minnesota Vikings. It’s my favorite storyline of the season.

My flag football team lost 20-14 Saturday. We did outscore the Giants 14-12 in the second half. My spread defense worked in that the kids found the ball better, but it didn’t help them grab the flags. We did score on plays of 70 and 35 yards though. The latter on the last play of the game; a great QB naked boot call on my part.

New Philadelphia High School beat Dover High Friday night in the 101st all-time meeting. The local radio station simulcast the game online. I was really impressed. Dover runs a spread attack and Philly held them in check. NP was down 21-14 at half, but rallied and kicked the game winning field goal with 30 seconds left. Final, 31-28. That was NP’s first win at Dover since 1991 and their first back-to-back wins since I think 1992.

My boss just left so that is my cue to cut out of here as well. I’ve actually started working out again so I have to get to the gym so I can get home and hand out candy.

Later bitches.

Big Game Coach

2005-10-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

As I said yesterday I am the assistant coach for a youth flag football team. That was until last night when I found out for the second time this season I will take the reins because our head coach will be out of town on business. Now the last time this happened we were playing the best team in the league. We only lost 14-7 and managed to score our first touchdown of the season on the last play of the game. That was also one of the only two times this season that our defense has made a stop. Grant it the end of the half helped, but the way my defense plays I’ll take it.

The team we’re playing tomorrow is the only one in the league that we match up with favorably. We should have beat them the last time we played but their best player showed up at halftime and scored two TDs in the second half. The other two teams in the league just beat us up. Even though we gave the Chargers a game last week, they have a 10 year old and an 8 year old on their team. This is supposed to be a 5-7 league. What a crooked town. And the other team, the Tigers, are stacked because the former Parks and Rec Director’s grandson plays for them so pretty much every great athlete in the league is on that team. And people wonder what’s wrong with youth sports in America.

Here’s the game plan: we’re going to run the hell out of the reverse play I put in last week that we scored two TDs on and we’re going to use my new “spread defense.” I have a really good feeling about this game.

They’re building a BW3 in this two-horse town. It’s not supposed to open until the spring, but it gives me a glimmering of hope. After I hire some hard drinking interns in Dallas at the Winter Meetings I have a feeling that I will be spending a lot of time at this new establishment.

New Philadelphia High School plays Dover High tonight for the 101st time. New Philadelphia is my alma mater. They’re riding into this game at 8-1, Dover’s 7-2 but undefeated in the league. So this game has a share of the league title on the line, a possible home playoff game, and pride. NP has a one game lead in the all-time series. Last year we won the game for the first time since 1994, my freshman year of high school. This tells you all you need to know about the stability of one program and the lack-there-of of the other. NP leads 46-45-9. This is the second longest high school football rivalry in Ohio behind Massillon-McKinley.

This week was always my favorite in high school. But when I was in high school we only had one winning season (frosh year, 7-3) so the game was just about having a good time and trying to pick fights with Dover kids. NP and Dover are right next to each other so needless to say vandalism and craziness is the flavor for the week. This doesn’t happen in the Mass-McK rivalry because those towns are about twenty minutes apart. In the area this week you have to be 18 to purchase eggs. And the best part of my senior year was that the game was on Halloween so it was twice as nuts. My buddies and I skipped our own bon fire that year so that we could hit Dover players with eggs as they went to their cars after their own bonfire. It was great. I’ve always said that my years in college were far beyond those I spent in high school, but I’d relive that week over and over if I could.

I drove a car in high school that we affectionately called the Bronze Bomb. It in fact was a bronze 1983 four door Buick LeSabre. A tank in Lehman’s terms. It didn’t look like a student’s car. So while my car was parked on the street between Hondas and Cavaliers near NPHS it went untouched while others were covered in egg. And its hefty 307 V8 made getting away from Doverites all the easier. God what a great car. My mom sold it for $400 when I was a junior in college. Considering we bought it for $850 and it had about 150,000 miles on it when it was all said and done I think you could call it a great buy. Very plush seats. I took many a nap in that car while I was skipping class.

That’s enough reminiscing, I’m out.

Come on Mega Millions!

2005-10-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

For any of the 3 people that read this (that is an overestimation) you know that I basically stick to writing about sports. Sports are the one thing in my life that keep me sane and give me something to look forward to. Today I’m going to change things up and splice in some of the other things that are going on in my life.

My wife and I are planning on going to Ohio to see our families for Thanksgiving. Great right? Wrong. I honestly dread going “home for the holidays” because you can’t please everyone. Both of our parents are divorced so there literally isn’t enough time in the day. Now here is the Thanksgiving plan as I understand it.

Thursday (T-giving day)-Spend it with her family. Frankly I have no problem with this because I know that it will involve getting drunk and watching football, just like Christmas day.
Friday-Family picture with her family as a Christmas gift for her grandparents. I have no problem with this. But when is it scheduled? It’s going to take forever because the family is big.
Saturday-Graduation party for her older brother who is graduating from WVU. Once again no problem here. But as you’ve seen her family time is definitely monopolizing the trip.
Sunday-Last day, try to be on the road back to VA by noon. It’s about a seven or eight hour drive.

I really like seeing my family. My Dad’s side is easy because much like me he is rational and understands things. If we are only able to spend a few hours with them he’ll understand and he’ll be happy to see us. It’s my Mom’s side that gives me headaches. She is the total opposite of my Dad (I really don’t know how they were ever married, much like my wife’s parents). If I can only commit a short stop, that won’t be acceptable to her and we’ll fight and she'll try to guilt trip me. I love my Mom, but she frustrates the hell out of me.

I’m frustrated with my life. More like I’m frustrated with my career. My wife and I both graduated from college. Yet here I am almost three years past graduation and we are still living paycheck to pay check. I like where I work, I like the people I work with. But I hate selling and I hate the fact that you don’t make dick working in minor league baseball. I got to thinking about what would happen if my wife got offered a good paying job in another area. Would I be able to find a job? My last non-sports job was working part time for Sherwin-Williams in college. My dream right now is to hit the lottery. I’m really convinced that that’s the only way we’re going to get out from under all of this debt.

I’m the assistant coach for a youth flag football team. Five to seven year olds so we don’t exactly run what you would call a wide-open offense. We have some good athletes on the team and they have been improving on offense. But we can’t stop anyone on defense basically because none of the kids can locate the ball. And when they do they can’t get the flag. So tonight at practice I’m going to install what I’m calling a “wide-open defense”. No one is going to be within five yards of the line of scrimmage and everyone will be spread out. We get hammered when a kid reverses his field or a team runs an end around on us. Hopefully this will help. Grant it I can’t make them grab a kid’s flag, but hopefully this will help with finding the ball.

Am I the only one that thinks Air Force Coach Fisher DeBerry’s comments have been blown way out of proportion? He basically said that the AF Academy needs to recruit more black kids because they run faster. Well isn’t that the truth? Every coach in America knows it. I hate how sensitive our society has become. You can’t say anything about race, gender, religion, or sexual preference without it becoming a three-ring circus. I read last week that I high school marching band had to stop playing “Devil Went Down to Georgia” because it was a public school and some parents complained that this violated the separation of church and state. When I have kids I’m going to go to every PTA and school board meeting, and every time one of these idiot parents says something I’m going to punch them in the face.

The problem is that kids aren’t exposed to things the way kids were when I was growing up. When I was growing up my parents were divorced so there were a lot of days that me and my sister came home and were there by ourselves for a couple of hours. I was in like 4th grade. If that happened now the parent would be thrown in jail for neglect. People need to figure out that you need to let a kid experience things so that when they get older they can make good decisions without consulting you.

This year’s World Series was the closest sweep in the history of sports. The worst part of this series is that it was only four games. If the Astros had gotten some clutch hitting and stretched it to seven games this could have gone down as one of the greatest World Series ever.

Sometimes I get a little depressed and only one thing cheers me up; Robot cartoons.

Scrap the Series

2005-10-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

Could Phil Garner be the worst big game manager this side of Grady Little? Not to say that he has cost the Astros the last two games, but he has made some very questionable decisions.

Game 2: Former Danville Brave Jermaine Dye gets “hit” on the forearm by a pitch with two outs in the 7th inning. This loads the bases for Paul Konerko. Instead of bringing in one of the best closers in the game who has routinely worked two innings in the playoffs, Garner brings in Qualls. Now Qualls has been solid, but he’s no Brad Lidge. Would it have really been that much of a stretch for Lidge to get one more out? There’s not that big of a difference between two innings of work and two and a third. As we know Konerko hit a grand slam off of Qualls.

Game 3: Chris Burke on third is the winning run, Craig Biggio on first with one out and ROY candidate Willie Tavares coming to the plate in the bottom of the 9th. Now I know that Tavares has been hot in this series, but he was 0 for 4 going into that at bat last night. And did I mention that Tavares is one of the fastest and best bunters in baseball. Why was Garner not squeezing? Burke can fly too. Now grant it Tavares did pop up a bunt attempt earlier in the game, but you have to bunt here. As soon as he swung at the first El Duque offering I knew he was going to strikeout. Biggio had walked on four straight pitches. You never swing at the first pitch in that situation. Berkman is intentionally walked and Morgan Ensberg strikes out. White Sox win in 14. Nice job Scrap Iron.

Real quick. I won’t be surprised if the Browns lose to the Texans this week. They always lose to a winless team sometime after week three. The last two years it’s been Cincy. The offense is terrible. Our defense has been solid, but isn’t the type to score you 14 points in a game.

Bowling Green got waxed 45-14 by Western Michigan Saturday. Omar Jacobs got hurt in the first quarter and didn’t return. I guess that’s how important he is. That and our defense is horrible. To save some face WMU does have a good QB and a really good WR.

What about casual Friday?

2005-10-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is going to be quick. I just wanted to put my two cents in on the NBA’s new dress code. I’m continually amused by the 5% of the players that are publicly bitching about this. Let’s face it, guys like Iverson just won’t abide and they’ll just pay a weekly fine. That’s what it’s going to come down to.

I think that this is going to cause more entertainment than anything else. Ron Artest has already said he’s going to breaking out suits that would make Harry and Lloyd proud (he’s even promised velvet and suede) and Captain Cool himself, Greg Ostertag, said that he doesn’t even own a sport coat so he’s going to buy one off of a guy on the street. You know that he’s going to be sporting some sweet plaid jackets this season.

And one last thing, Marcus Camby should be roundhouse kicked in the face for saying that players should get a clothing stipend to buy suits to fit the dress code. Isn’t the league minimum over $400,000? I’m pretty sure that everyone can afford a decent suit. I know that NBA assistants don’t make that much, but they seem to be doing all right.

Pitchers do Field the Ball

2005-10-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

More random thoughts on the world of sports. That’s really all I know how to do.

I meant to write about this earlier in the week. But during either game four or game five of the ALCS Garrett Anderson came up to the plate and hit a come backer to the mound and was thrown out by a large margin at first base. Tim McCarver (Fox’s resident genius), makes a comment along the lines that Anderson’s grounder couldn’t slip through the infield because the White Sox had put the Ted Williams shift on. Did he not just watch the same play that I did? The pitcher fielded the ball. I don’t claim to be a baseball genius, but I’m pretty sure that the pitcher has to be on the mound for every pitch. If I’m wrong, please correct me. Chalk up another one on McCarver’s board.

I thought that Lou Piniella was kind of annoying in the booth, but when McCarver is already there you really can’t go much farther. And it bothered me how every time Lou would make a comment that he would direct it towards “Timmy.” For one, this isn’t little league, there are no Timmys, and second I didn’t like the fact that it felt like he and McCarver were seeing how long they could freeze out Joe Buck before the producers got in their ears and told them to let him talk. It kind of reminded me of the job website commercials where the guy is working in the office with all of the chimps.

My favorite part of Lou being in the booth was that every time he spoke I imagined Endy Chavez sitting right next to him in the booth, each of them in a dead stare with each other. That stare down will never end.

Bill Simmons's article today was about him being ringside at the Contender rematch fight on Saturday. I could really care less, I didn’t watch the fight and only watched one episode of the show because the Simpsons weren’t on that week. But in the article he talks about his dogs and how they fight. I was laughing out loud. Dog’s play fighting is always funny.

There’s also an article on ESPN.com today about the Golden State Warriors and their playoff potential this season. Chris Mullin wants to be a run and gun team like the Suns were last year. Awesome, I wish that every team would disregard defense and just run the entire game. I really do. The Warriors have the point guard to do this in Baron Davis (if he stays healthy) and they have the ridiculously athletic swingman they need in Jason Richardson. They’ve got decent outside shooters in Mike Dunleavy, Michael Pietrus, Derek Fisher, and even throw in Troy Murphy. But to me the one thing they lack is that guy to fill the middle and finish in the half court. They’ve got Adonal Foyle, if that’s anything to be proud of. And while Murphy is a double-double machine, he’s not the dominating force that Amare was for the Suns last season. Now they did draft Ike Diogu who I really like, but he’s a rookie and who knows how he’ll adjust. Now as much as I’m all for running and gunning, I think it’s a little to early to be donning these guys “this year’s Suns”. I think they’ll be fun to watch and will be in the playoff hunt, but they’re in a tough conference. And when you toss the T-wolves and Lakers back into the mix this season, it’s going to be even tougher.

As I was reading this article and it mentioned Dunleavy and I wondered if there was someone else the Warriors could have drafted that would be helping them more. I think that Dunleavy is a nice player, but 13ppg from the #3 pick in the draft could be considered a little weak. So I looked at who else was taken in that draft and what I found was astounding. That 2002 draft could have the worst 2-8 picks in the history of the NBA. This was the draft that Yao Ming went #1.

#2 Jay Williams-motorcycle accident, is trying to make a comeback this year
#3 Mike Dunleavy-has been improving
#4 Drew Gooden-maddingly inconsistent, as a Cavs fan it drives me nuts. Plus the fact that he was with three teams in his first 2 seasons says something
#5 Nikoloz Tskitishvili-possibly the worst top 5 pick ever, but he was great in workouts
#6 Dajuan Wagner-I’ve covered my feelings for this pick in a previous post
#7 Nene-the lone exception in this group
#8 Chris Wilcox-all of his physical skills obviously don’t get him as many points or rebounds as they did at Maryland

You can’t really blame the GMs who took these guys because they all looked great on paper and in workouts. They’re just busts, there’s no way around it.

That’s it, I got nothin’.

"Look at that scoreboard now, Grasshopper"

2005-10-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Couldn't you see Pujols saying that to Ausmus as he crossed the plate last night?

Last night’s Cardinals/Astros game was one of the most exciting games I’ve ever seen. Even after Berkman hit that homer to put the Astros up I didn’t feel like the Cardinals were done. They’ve just had too good a season and have too many character guys on that team to not at least get the series back to Busch.

I have one question for Tony LaRussa. According to that idiot Steve Lyons, LaRussa basically said before the game that Berkman was the one guy in the Astros lineup that the Cardinals couldn’t let beat them. Then how did he almost do it? I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that you could hit a pitching wedge into the Crawford Boxes. There won’t be any cheapies for the rest of the series.

Pujols’s homer was such a bomb. Everyone knew that ball was gone as soon as it left his bat. And his reaction was one for the ages. He just looked like he was telling all of the Astros fans to shut the fuck up. And they did. You could have heard a pin drop in that place. Lidge brought that on himself. How does he walk Edmonds in that situation? They showed the graphic that Edmonds was 1 for 13 lifetime versus Lidge. And its not like it was battling walk where Lidge threw ten pitches; he walked him on a 3-1 count.

I can really feel for the Astros fans. To be so close and lose like that is heart wrenching. The only thing they can really hang onto is that it was only Game 5. I wrote yesterday that I thought that the Astros were playing like a team of destiny. That one swing last night may have changed everything. As Bill Simmons said, that was “a stomach punch” game. And it’s very hard to recover from a stomach punch.

Pujols is a very underrated defensive first baseman. I thought that the plays he made last night in the bottom of the 9th were both very solid. Both of those balls were very hard hit, but he made the plays look routine. If Tavares gets on to start that inning things could have gotten a little bit interesting with his speed.

I’d be very surprised if this series doesn’t go seven games. I’m MLB’s happy. If the Astros would have won last night there wouldn’t have been any baseball until the start of the World Series on Saturday. Talk about losing national momentum. And I know that there’s always talk about how players are overpaid, and I agree with that to a point, but think about the economic impact that Pujols had on the Cardinals organization and the city of St. Louis with that one swing. There will be a lot of money made by the Cardinals because of that one swing.

Wild Wonderful College Football

2005-10-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday was quite possibly the most exciting college football day in my lifetime. With the exception of the OSU/Miami Fiesta Bowl, of course. The day started with me screaming at the OSU offense to get their shit together against Michigan St. The blocked kick at the end of the first half and John L. Smith subsequent blow up totally shifted the momentum. But it still took a 14-point 4th quarter from the offense and a great 4th quarter from the defense to win it. Thanks to MSU’s secondary for being so awful.

At this same time the Wisconsin/Minnesota game was going on. This game was very tight down the stretch, just like the battle for Paul Bunyon’s Axe should be. After the OSU win was in hand I flipped over to this game. If you’re Minnesota how do you have a special team’s breakdown like that at the end of the game? If they get that punt off the game is basically over because everyone know that Wisconsin can’t throw the ball consistently to save their lives.

At this same time Ole Miss was giving Bama all they wanted and then some. I flipped over to CBS just in time to catch Bama lining up for the winning field goal. Team’s that make runs need games like that to test their grit. Bama clearly didn’t have their A-game on offense but their defense kept them in it.

At this point in the day I’ve seen parts of three pretty fantastic games, so I’m happy if the day ends right there. But it doesn’t. The Notre Dame/USC game was one of the best games ever. A game that truly lived up to the hype. Charlie Weiss is as good a game planner and play caller as there is any where (college or pro). Reggie Bush carried the Trojans and it was clear that ND didn’t have an answer for him. On the other hand I thought that Brady Quinn was great. He hit his throws for the most part and showed me more scrambling ability than I thought he had. But I really give credit to ND’s defense. Up until the long pass to Jarrett on the last drive they contained SC’s passing attack. Just an all around great game.

While I did watch this game from wire to wire, every commercial had me flipping over to my ABC regional game, WVU/Louisville. UL was up 24-7 going into the 4th, and all of a sudden WVU makes a couple of plays and its 24-17. They got it into overtime, three of them in fact. And managed to hold UL on the two-point conversion that would have tied the game in the 3rd overtime. Awesome come back, but a huge bust for the Big East. They’re in the same boat as they were last year. Their BCS rep will have three, maybe ever 4 losses and will get walloped by whoever they play.

So that’s it, right? All the good games are done. No, not quite. Florida State played up the road against UVA. Now I figured with the way UVA has played this season that this would be a walk for FSU. But I think UVA had some karma on their side. They were honoring the UVA team that beat FSU back in 1995. That was FSU’s first ACC loss since the joined the conference in 1990. I really thought that UVA was going to blow it in the second half but FSU’s horrible quarterback made a real bad decision by throwing deep on the last drive and got picked off. Good for UVA. And you just knew that FSU’s bad QB play was going to catch up with them. Play Xavier Lee, at least he could have ran down the field on the last drive.
As much as I hate the Chicago White Sox, I have been pulling for them in the post season. I’m a big believer in rooting for the team that beat you. Since the Sox knocked the Indians out of Wild Card contention I’m pulling for them. I don’t think that I’ve seen a more consistently dominant pitching performance than what they did to the Angels in the ALCS. But honestly I think that the Game 2 controversy affected them more than they let on. Its just like they never recovered and the White Sox knew that they got a break and they were going to make sure they took advantage of it.

Watching the NLCS I get the feeling that the Cardinals are running into a buzz saw. The Astros just look like a team of destiny. I really like the Cardinals team, but an Astros/White Sox World Series would be awesome.

I knew the Browns were going to lose to Baltimore Sunday. The Ravens defense has been roughed up this year so the Browns offense was the perfect pick-me-up for them. Plus the Browns always trip up against down-and-out teams.

I laughed when I saw that Michelle Wie got disqualified from the LPGA event this weekend. I have nothing against her. My only beef with her is that all along she’s been saying that she wanted to stay an amateur so she could go to college and play golf. Well, I guess those millions were just too tempting. Don’t blow smoke up people’s asses, its bad P.R.

Last thing, Hawks center Jason Collier died Saturday apparently from cardiac arrest. Collier was from Springfield, OH and I remember watching him dominate the state Final Four his junior and senior year (1995 & 1996). Now at 7’ anyone should dominate in high school. But he was awesome. He could shoot, handle, and take on triple and even quadruple teams. He was a little soft to play for Bobby Knight, but he was very good at Georgia Tech and was developing into a serviceable NBA player.

Are You Kidding Me?

2005-10-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Braylon Edwards is out 4-6 weeks because of a staff infection IN his elbow. Will the "new" Browns ever catch a break with their first round picks. Everyone of them since 1999 has missed significant time from multiple seasons. Hey Braylon, don't pick at that in-grown hair! I guess that's what you get from a UM guy.

The radio station I listen to at work plays at least three Journey songs each afternoon and each one of them makes my day. Steve Perry is a God.

I was looking at the interns links on Sports Guy's page yesterday and I visited http://www.garygaetti.com/. Awesome! Whoever made the page has a very unhealthy love for the Italian Stallion, but its hilarious none the less.

In my last post I covered the Browns's drafts since their rebirth in 1999. How rich would I be if I had that Sports Almanac? At least a billionare. I'd probably even start one of those bettor's assistance companies like in "Two for the Money". I would stay hot forever though. Today I'm going to consult the Almanac on the Cavs drafts after Jim Paxson took over. Paxson took over for the great Wayne Embry after the 1999 season. Paxson was a horrible GM, you'll see what I'm talking about.

I'm going to start with Embry's last pick in 1999. This wasn't technically his pick because he had already announced that 1999-2000 would be his last season. He pretty much assumed an advisory role and let Paxson run things such as the draft.

1999-Trajan Langdon (are you kidding me); almanac says Ron Artest (I'd have been happy with Corey Maggette or even James Posey. Sidenote, they took AJ Bramlet from Arizona in the second round, solid draft.)

2000-Chris Mihm; almanac says Jamaal Magloire (the worst part of this is they drafted Jamal Crawford then traded him for Mihm. They obviously wanted a big man b/c "Z" was in his broken foot stage. Mihm had a huge second half of the season and vaulted himself into the top 10. Magloire was/is much more physical and could have slid to the 4 when Z got healthy. Looking at that now the Cavs would have one of the best front lines in the NBA when you throw in LeBron. I want to puke.)

2001(my favorite draft)-Dasagana Diop-almanac says take your pick...Richard Jefferson, Joe Johnson, or Zach Randolph (this was by far the worst of Paxson's picks. What made it even worse was that he actually drafted a servicable big man with the 18th pick in Brendan Haywood, only to deal him away to Orlando for Michael Doleac [stiff], and then the Magic sent him to Washington for Laron Profit. The Magic have ruined more drafts than the Cavs, I won't argue that, but this was bad.)

2002-Dejuan Wagner; almanac says Amare Stoudemire (nothing like taking a slashing 2-guard that's all of 6'2" and can't shoot to save his life when one of the most dominating players in the league is sitting their for the taking. At least we weren't the only team to pass on him)

2003-LeBron James; almanac says he finally got one right. No one could have messed up this pick, not even the Magic. (Let it be known that he did squander the 2nd rounder on Jason Kapono with guys like Luke Walton and Kyle Korver on the board.)

2004-Luke Jackson; almanac says take your pick. Jackson probably was the guy at the time. Good size and a good shot, but with all of the high school guys taken after him you know that one of them will end up being a stud (Josh Smith, Sebastian Telfair). It was the safe pick at the time. Paxson did manage to steal Anderson Varejao away from the Magic before the start of the season.

So there you have it. I great run of ineptitude by one of the NBA's worst GMs of all-time. Let's hope that Danny Ferry does a better job.

Is Someone Choking on an Angel?

2005-10-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is going to run the gauntlet of topics from the last few days.

Alex Rodriguez is going to get blasted for his ALDS (lack of) performance by every media out around. Is it warranted? Indeed. The guy made $26 million this season. He should win the MVP in a season in which he arguably had his greatest all-round season. But then the playoffs came. He hit .133 (2-15) with 0 RBIs, 1 run scored, and 1 SB. And to cap it off he pretty much killed any chance at a 9th inning rally in game 5 by bouncing into a 5-4-3 double play after Jeter led off with a single. Up until that series he was pretty solid in the postseason with a .330 average, but New York’s tough. They’ll ask him “What have you done for me lately Slappy McBluelips?” (I can’t take credit for that nickname, a guy bought the sponsorship for A-Rods page on baseball-reference.com and posted that name. Awesome)

As a Virginia resident I’ve seen quite a bit of ACC football this as it is usually the regional game on ABC. So I’ve seen quite a bit of Virginia Tech. They’re a really good team. Their defense is better than Texas and USC’s, they play Beamer ball special teams, and their offense is on the rise. A Texas-VT Rose Bowl would be a sweet game. I just think that VT’s defense could contain USC. Vince Young is an X-Factor against any team.

Bowling Green beat Ohio this weekend. It wasn’t nearly as close as I thought, 38-14.

Luckily I was in the bag for most of the Ohio State-Penn State game. From what I remember it was ugly. I don’t understand how an offense that has Ted Ginn, Santonio Holmes, Ryan Hamby, and Antonio Pittman can only score 10 points. At some point in that game Justin Zwick should have been given a chance. He may not have the legs of Smith, but he seems to read defenses a little better.

The Browns are 2-2. Their offense was crap for 3 and a half quarters Sunday but the defense kept them in the game. Dilfer hit two big scores to Antonio Bryant in the last 5 minutes. This team just has a different feel to it this year. Since they’ve come back in 1999 they just haven’t won games like that. It’s a nice change.

Do you think the combination of Jose Contreras getting out of New York, reuniting with his wife and kid, and playing with fellow defector El Duque have helped him? I think so.

The new Tampa Bay Devil Rays owner came in and fired pretty much everyone on the player personnel side of the operation. Including Chuck LaMar. Shouldn’t this have happened a long time ago? Here are two examples of why Chuck LaMar was the worst GM in baseball; Jorge Sosa to the Braves for Nick Green, a utility infielder at best. Result, Sosa goes 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA for a playoff team. Green hits .239 with 5 homers. Example #2; Brandon Backe to the Astros for Geoff Blum. What is Chuck LaMar’s obsession with utility infielders. Especially at the price of young arms. It’s moves like this that caused Piniella to stick a gun in his mouth after every game.

Amare Stoudemire is going to miss four months because he just had knee surgery. He says that the knee has been bothering him all summer. Then why the hell did he and the team wait to have surgery until right before the preseason? Is everyone retarded out there? This is the franchise player and now he’s out four months. I know that they have Nash and Marion, but that’s a big load to carry without Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson.

I read that Emeka Okafor has packed on about 20 pounds of muscle this off-season and was working on post moves with Hakeem Olajuwon. This should scare any team in the Southeast Division (except Miami). If Sean May and Raymond Felton pan out at all this could be a playoff caliber team by the 2006-07 season. Well maybe not, but it could happen. Okafor is the kind of player that can carry a franchise.

While I was looking at A-Rod’s page on baseball-reference.com I noticed that he didn’t win the Silver Slugger for AL 3rd basemen in 2004. Melvin Mora did. That seemed crazy to me, but he had a really good season.

I was thinking about how great it would be to have that Sports Almanac from Back to the Future 2. Not only would I be filthy rich, but I could also change the fortunes of my favorite teams by telling them who to draft/recruit. Now getting into a position to make my opinion count would be a problem, but just bear with me. I’m going to cover the Browns first round picks since 1999.

1999 Took Tim Couch. Almanac says Donovan McNabb
2000 Took Courtney Brown. Almanac says Chris Samuels (you could argue Jamal Lewis,
but I won’t)
2001 Took Gerard Warren. Almanac says LaDanianian Tomlinson (or even Richard
Seymour if they were that hard up for a DL)
2002 Took William Green. Almanac says Ed Reed
2003 Took Jeff Faine. Almanac says…screw the almanac, I’ve always felt that this is the
one pick they got right.
2004 Took Kellen Winslow II. Almanac says DeAngelo Hall (you can’t underestimate the
value of a true lockdown corner)

I’m happy with Braylon Edwards so far. As long as he stops getting staff infections on his elbow.

Clutch

2005-10-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

I’m going to say it now and I don’t really care what John Kruk and Harold Reynolds have to say about it. John Smoltz is the best big game pitcher since Jack Morris. I don’t want to hear about Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. Johnson’s story is more “what have you done for me lately” and while Schilling’s is impressive, I’m going with Smoltz.

Let’s start with Johnson. His career postseason record is 7-8. Now he does have a respectable 3.08 ERA, but his record is under .500. And 5 of those wins came during the D-backs run to the 2001 World Series Championship. Now he was as clutch as anyone in the 2001 Playoffs, but outside of 2 wins in the ALDS vs. the Yankees in 1995 he hasn’t won another postseason start. And isn’t that what defines a pitcher?

Schilling’s puts up a good argument. 8-2 with a 2.06 ERA in postseason games. That’s solid, its downright impressive. And he did fend off elimination in game 5 of the 1993 World Series and game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. He was co-MVP of the 2001 World Series. Ok, Schilling is awesome, and he is very money in the clutch. But I still want Smoltz.

Here’s why. Two reasons. After the playoff loss to Houston last year Smoltz went to Bobby Cox and said he wanted to be back in the rotation because he knew if he had the ball to start the game the team had a better chance to win than if he got it at the end of the game. He, like any good stopper, wants the ball not only when the game is on the line, but when the series is on the line. And the second reason is more philosophical. Go back to Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. One of the greatest games ever played, and it just happened to cap one of the greatest World Series ever. Morris out duels Smoltz in a 1-0 win. And symbolically passes the torch of Best Big Game Pitcher to the next generation.

Smoltz is now 15-4 in postseason play. And has an ERA that is well under 3. He’s a gamer and he always wants the ball. Even in the ‘90s when he was on the same staffs at Maddux and Glavine, Smoltz was the best in the playoffs. Glavine has 12 playoff wins, but he also has 15 losses (even though he was lights out in ’95 vs. the Indians). Maddux has an 11-14 postseason record. Not exactly sparkling.

I will accept arguments for Andy Pettitte (14-8), but Pettitte’s ERA is over 4 which shows that he has benefited from those great Yankees offensive teams.

Pettitte and Smoltz actually pitched against each other twice in the 1996 World Series. Smoltz won Game 1 (6IP, 1R, 4K; AP, 2.1IP, 7R, 1K) and Pettitte bounced back and won Game 5 1-0 (AP, 8.1IP, 5H, 0R, 4K; JS, 8IP, 4H, 1R, 10K). I guess that you could say that Smoltz had the better overall performance in the two games, but in the end pitchers are judged by wins. If Smoltz wins Game 5 the Braves take a 3-2 series lead going back to NY. He lost and the Yankees won in 6.

All-time this is a totally different discussion. To me it comes down to two pitchers, Whitey Ford and Bob Gibson. Whitey’s 10 World Series wins are still the record and stood as the playoff record until the expansion of the playoffs in 1995 and the runs of the Braves and Yankees. He also posted a 2.71 career postseason ERA. Gibson on the other hand just scared the shit out of hitters. Even the old films make you cringe at the swings some of those guys took against him. He only pitched in three World Series, opposed to Whitey’s eleven, so Gibson’s numbers are obviously more impressive. He had a 7-2 record and a 1.89 ERA. He won series MVP twice. And it would have been three if it wasn’t for Mickey Lolich in 1968. Even then Gibson still had a valid argument for the award (2-1, 1.67 ERA, 35K in 27IP, 3CG). Gibson pitched a CG in all but one World Series start, his first against the Yankees in 1964. Ironically Gibson’s two losses came in his first World Series start and in his last. But even in defeat he was great.

This basically brings me to one point. Bob Gibson is the best clutch pitcher of all time. I agree with Harold Reynolds on this one, and I actually said it while John Kruk was slobbering about Jack Morris this morning on Sportscenter.

Here’s my all-time list:
1. Bob Gibson
2. Whitey Ford
3. Christy Matthewson
4. Grover Cleveland Alexander
5. Jack Morris
6. John Smoltz
7. Lefty Gomez
8. Curt Schilling
9. Catfish Hunter
10. Andy Pettitte

Two Days in a Row? I Must Be Sick.

2005-10-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Should anyone really be surprised by Matt Clement's recent performances? This is the same guy that started out like 6-1, maybe even 7-1 with the Cubs in 2004 and finished the season 9-13. Not a strong finisher. Everyone is talking about how he hasn’t been the same since he played Carl Crawford’s liner off of his head, but honestly he’s done this for about the last 3 or 4 seasons. There’s a lot of explanations for this. He doesn’t work out on his own in the off season; he dog’s it during Spring Training; or my favorite, he sits on his ass snorting whip-its and eating Twinkies all off season. And hell, maybe he misses it so much that he starts doing it again in early August each season.

I hope that Red Sox fans are happy that they chased Mark Bellhorn out of town. Yeah he was having a let down season, but what the hell did you expect, its Mark f-ing Bellhorn. The guy had one good season in like 2002. And he did play great during the playoff run last season, but you had to accept that what you were seeing this year was the real him. Well anyways, Tony Graffanino is a quick fix that just happened to come to the team and get hot. Honeymoon over, effective in the 5th inning yesterday. I know that Bellhorn isn’t a Gold Glover, but he makes that play. Now the BoSox are down 2-0 with a guy pitching next game that the weather really dictates what kind of game he has. Wakefield will tell you that. He can grip the ball better in certain weather conditions and the ball moves more in certain conditions. Sox fans better be rooting for Wakefield weather or their done. Look for Alejandro Machado to be the starting 2nd baseman next season.

I was pretty excited to see Orlando Cabrera get the game winning hit last night against the Yankees. I always liked this guy, even before I started working for the Expos. He plays with a lot of confidence. And he was a little down this year, but he was hurt some. I think he’s going to have a big post season. Look for him and the guys leftover from the 2002 Angels to pull them through the Yankees series. Playoff experience cannot be underrated in baseball, or any sport for that matter (except maybe hockey).

I know that the playoffs don’t count towards the MVP voting, but for anyone watching last night, Alex Rodriguez lost the game for the Yankees with his glove. He let a fairly routine bouncer eat him up because he took his eye off of the ball. The Red Sox might be down 0-2 but its not because of Big Papi’s bat (.375 in the first 2 games) or glove.

Tim Hudson decided not to show up for his start yesterday against Andy Pettitte. Hudson was uncharacteristically wild. He walked five batters in 6 innings. You don’t expect that from your #2 guy, and you just can’t do it in the playoffs. I was surprised they scored 3 off of Pettitte, and normally that would be enough with Hudson pitching, but obviously not yesterday. The Braves bullpen still looks awful. I don’t know what happened to Chris Reitsma, but he has just lost it. I will be watching the pitching match up tonight, Smoltz versus Clemens. Both of these guys are old, but you know they both are looking forward to pitching against each other. I could see this going along the same lines as Smoltz vs. Morris in 1991. But I would be more than happy for a reverse repeat performance of their duel in 1999 (Smoltz: 7, 3R, 6H, 11K, L; Clemens: 7.2, 1R, 4H, 4K, W).

How long will it take MLB to finalize the Nationals sale? With all of the steroids talk I don’t think that anyone remembers that this is still a team owned by the other 31 clubs. It’s pretty sad that this huge organization can’t get this done. DC proved this season that they can more than support a club, now get an owner so that team can put some players on the field.

The NHL started up again last night. I didn’t watch. And I don’t plan on doing it anytime soon. Bowling Green hockey is about the only puck I care about.

There are some really great commercials on right now. The Burger King ones are great. I didn’t think they could come close to topping the NFL clips with the King in them, but the one with the lumberjack is great. Them log rolling at the end is awesome. But I think that my favorite commercial on TV right now is the Citi one with the D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) guys sitting on a couch giving these two other D&D guys orders on what attacks to use because they are waiting on the game system. Its pretty awesome and it doesn’t get old. I laugh at it every time.

Bowling Green is going to get a game from OU this weekend. Frank Solich has those guys playing at a high level. They could be a really good team once he gets his players in there and establishes his system.

I got nothing.

Am I Taking Crazy Pills?

2005-10-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Just a few observations…

Why is everyone surprised that Daunte Culpepper is struggling? The guy has been spoiled since he became a starter because defenses would role their coverages to Randy Moss. Now he actually has to come to the line and read the defense.

NEWS FLASH!!!

Daunte Culpepper is not a smart man. Do you know why he went to UCF? Because his grades were so awful early on in high school that every big time program backed off. It wasn’t until Culpepper’s junior or senior year (I don’t remember which) that he became academically eligible to play NCAA football.

My hometown team, the Cleveland Indians, choked big time last week. They dropped seven of their last eight games to lose the wild card. They couldn’t hit the ball to save their lives, but the pitching was solid for the most part. I’m going to blame the SI curse. After all Ronnie Belliard was on the cover last week.

LeBron James came out and said that he has never asked out of Cleveland. I’m going to believe him, but I wouldn’t doubt that he told Dan Gilbert after the season that if Gilbert doesn’t get his shit together that he would force a trade. It was good to see a Cleveland owner finally react in the right way. I’m not sure about the new coach, but Danny Ferry was a great hire. I would have much rather seen Michael Redd in a Cavs jersey next season, but Larry Hughes will have to do. I think their biggest signing was Damon Jones. One of the most glaring holes in that team last year was someone that could consistently knock down 3’s. Jones plugs that hole and then some.

The Cleveland Browns have a realistic chance to have a winning record at the end of October. Their schedule is as follows: Bears, @ Ravens, Lions, @ Texans, and then Tennessee the first weekend of November. Now I’m not getting my hopes up because I know that this is the Browns. But they could feasibly be 4-4 when they go to Pittsburgh in Week 10. Is it bad to get excited about your team being .500 half way through the season?

Bowling Green’s offense looked like a basketball team on a constant fast break Saturday versus Temple. Temple’s defense is horrible, but it was still impressive. We left with 9 minutes left in the second quarter with the score 28-0 to go back to the bar.

Bowling Green is one of my favorite places on Earth. Not only are the bars great, but the eating establishments are awesome. I was only up there for basically a day but still managed to eat food from four of my favorite places and do multiple flaming Dr. Peppers at Mugs.

When I was in college me and my roommates used to “gobble” at girls on our way to the bars or if we were driving down the street. We did this because our term for college sluts was “Sausage Gobblin”. Needless to say we revisited the tradition this weekend.

As much as I hate to say it, the Yankees looked good last night. If their starting pitching holds up, I can see them winning the AL again.

I think the Red Sox starting staff resembles the Yankees last year. But what’s worse for the Sox is that their bullpen is in disrepair. I could see the White Sox beating them. But I can also see the White Sox coming down hard after blowing their load in Game 1 of that series.

I really feel like the Braves are going to beat the Astros. No one thinks these Braves have a shot especially against Petitte, Clemens, and Oswalt. Throw in Brad Lidge and they have one hell of a staff. But the Braves have Hudson and Smoltz. Along with the biggest steal of the year, Jorge Sosa, and a bunch of kids in the lineup that aren’t just happy to be there. That’s been their mindset the last couple of years. That fire to win another title had dwindled drastically. Now with this youthful influx the team is rejuvenated. Case in point, after they won the division all of the veteran players said they hadn’t had a clubhouse celebration like that in recent memory. Keep an eye on this series.

My boy Urban Meyer and the Gators got their butts kicked Saturday at Bama. I didn’t get to see the game until it was 24-3, so I really don’t know what happened. All I can say is if they win out they still win the east. But winning out involves winning at LSU and in Jax versus UGA. Not easy, but it can be done. Meyer will crack the whip this week and get them back on track. I don’t think he’s lost a game that bad since his second half debacle against Toledo in 2002, 42-24 (they led 24-21 at half).

I don’t make predictions too often, and I wouldn’t say I’m really going out on a limb here, but Ohio State will kill Penn State this weekend. It’s going to be something like 45-6. Penn State maybe undefeated, and they did beat a decent Minnesota team last week, but they haven’t faced a defense like the Buckeyes. Especially since they had an extra week to prepare. Michael Robinson might be dangerous, but this defense faced Vince Young earlier this year, they won’t be fazed. And look for the Glenville Connection (Troy Smith and Ted Ginn, Jr.) to have huge games.

I start every road trip of significant distance (i.e. driving to Ohio) with Weezer’s Blue Album. It just really sets the tone for me.

Last thing, I won the fantasy baseball league I was in. It’s the first fantasy league I’ve ever won. I ran away with 4 of the 5 batting categories and had enough pitching to hang on. My favorite part of the whole season was the fact that Mark, who finished second to last and probably didn’t look at his after May still managed to have the best ERA and WHIP in the league. With stats like that the Plus Size Models will live on in Fantasy Baseball lore.

Way Back

2005-09-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Homecoming at Bowling Green State University. Its my alma mater. I’m an alumnus. I haven’t been back there since I graduated in December of 2002. I take that back. I was there for a day in July of 2003 to move my then fiancé to Florida. My bad. It was long enough to go to BW3.

The fact that I haven’t been back in so long has been more a problem of practicality than want. I moved to Florida following graduation and that trip was a little long by car and a little expensive by plane. So needless to say I’m excited about this weekend. I’ll get to see Omar Jacobs throw all over the Temple Owls and hopefully our defense won’t give the game away. I’ll get to see some of my buddies that I haven’t seen in a while. But more importantly I’ll get to visit some of my old haunts. BW3, Trotters, Mugs, and hopefully Myles Pub to name a few.

I had a buddy get engaged recently. I called him to congratulate him the next day. His phone went directly to VM so I assume he was enjoying the perks of a fresh engagement. But he hasn’t called me back. This guy was a groomsman in my wedding. No one likes me.

After I get back from BG the MLB playoffs start next week. I will be making the trek south to Atlanta for the Braves first two games. Hopefully they wrap it up in 3 or 4 because my wallet won’t let me return for game 5. But I will be there if they get to the NLCS.

I feel like I’m getting old. Not so much physically or even mentally, but just in the things I do, or don’t do for that matter. I don’t really have anyone to hang out with here. You don’t find too many people my age in this area that aren’t dropouts or just aren’t my cup of tea if you know what I mean. I really do miss most of the people I used to work with. And of course the several hours of drunkenness we spent together. For example, there were many a Saturday last year that I would go to a buddy’s house in the afternoon, sit around all day drinking, and end up passing out there. It was great. As much as I’m enjoying this year’s season, it’s just not the same.

The baseball winter meetings are in Dallas this year. I went to Dallas last September for a seminar and it was awesome. So I’m looking forward to that, but last year I was there with one of my buddies from work, so we had a good time. And I’m not doubting that this will be a good time. I’ve just never been in that type of atmosphere with my new boss before. Who am I kidding; I’ll be drunk every night.

1986 NLCS=NO RESPECT

2005-09-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Question; why doesn’t anyone talk about the 1986 NLCS when discussions of great playoff series arise? Houston Astros vs. New York Mets. To me the blatant answer is that no one remembers this series because of the ensuing World Series. I know that all of the Red Sox fans remember that. Some people will say that the NLCS was decided in only 6 games, clearly lacking that edge of your seat 7th game. Whatever the excuse, this could be the most underrated playoff series in the history of professional sports. Let me take you through it.

1986, the Mets, 108-54, won the NL East by 21.5 games over the Phillies. 21.5 games! That’s ridiculous and they were the best team in baseball by 12 games over the Astros. 13 games better than the Red Sox. The Astros, 96-66, 10 games better than the Reds.

The Mets were led by Davey Johnson, who even then was a veteran manager. The Astros were led by Hal Lanier, a rookie manager who won NL Manager of the Year by improving his team by 13 games from the season before.

The Mets lineup was stacked. Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez (and his mustache), Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Wally Backman, and Ray Knight. Not to mention a couple of young guys (Kevin Mitchell and Howard Johnson) and a wily veteran (George Foster) coming off of the bench. I think that stacked would be an understatement for this lineup. But even more unbelievable was the pitching staff.

Maybe not so much the names but the fact that three starters had career years in 1986. Start at the top with an obvious name; Dwight Gooden. Doc was coming off his unbelievable rookie year of 1985. Though he wasn’t nearly as untouchable in 1986, he was still good (17-6, 2.84, 200K). Now the three career year guys: Sid Fernandez (16-6, 3.52, 200K), Ron Darling (15-6, 2.81, 184K), and Bob Ojeda (18-5, 2.57, 148K). Now obviously these guys benefited from having a great offense, but look at their ERAs. That’s just ridiculous. Throw in a young Rick Aguilera as the #5 guy (10-7, 3.88, 104K) and that’s one hell of a rotation. And then there’s the bullpen. Basically you had some solid no names in the setup roles and a two headed monster as the closer. Maybe I should call it a two-armed closer. Roger McDowell (pride of BGSU) went 14-9 with 22 saves and a 3.02 ERA. And he had a team high 75 appearances and 128 innings out of the pen. The left-handed closer was the ageless Jesse Orosco. Even then Jesse was a seven-year vet at the spry age of 29. He went 8-6 with 21 saves and a 2.33 ERA in 58 appearances. A fairly stacked team, I think that it’s safe to say that the Mets were heavily favored in this match up.

Now the Astros. From top to bottom not nearly as impressive. But at the top they matched up well with the Mets. Their lineup was nowhere near as potent but they benefited from guys having career years or close to it. Glenn Davis was the rock of the lineup. The hard-hitting first baseman hit 31 bombs and drove in 101 runs (the only Astro to drive in over 80 runs that season, the Mets had three). Kevin Bass pretty much had a career year hitting .311 with 20 homers and 79 RBI. Denny Walling was really the only other threat in the lineup. The third baseman hit .312 with 13 homers and 58 RBI. This every day lineup included Dickie Thon for Pete’s sake. And don’t forget a 38-year-old Jose Cruz. Really the only thing that saved this team’s offense was the pick up it got from the bench. Phil Garner was 37 and winding down his career and Craig Reynolds was a former first round pick that had flopped and was now 33. Well Garner and Reynolds both drove in 41 runs in ’86 giving the Astros one of the deepest benches in baseball. So the offense obviously wasn’t the strength of this team, it must have been the pitching staff.

Led by the Cy Young winner Mike Scott, the Astros staff was rock solid. Scott was lights out in 1986. His number rivaled Gooden’s of 1985. Scott won the Cy Young with solid numbers (18-10, 2.22, 306K) over Fernando that year. It’s hard to think of a rotation that included Nolan Ryan wouldn’t list him as their number one starter. Ryan was 39 in 1986 but was still very productive (12-8, 3.34, 194K) and finesse guys complimented these two power pitchers. Bob Knepper was a vet who by far had his career year in 1986 (17-12, 3.14, 143K) and a rookie, Jim Deshaies, who came out of no where to put up great numbers (12-5, 3.25, 128K). The Astros struggled all year to find a 5th starter and never really did. But their lead four was good enough to carry them. Now the bullpen was solid. Led by closer Dave Smith (33 saves, 2.73), the bullpen was a big contributor to the NL’s second best staff (Mets #1). Larry Andersen (38G, 2.78) and Charlie Kerfeld (11-2, 61G, 2.69) were arguably the best setup men in the NL.

So there’s the setup, now let me get to the series.

The Astros had home field because the Championship Series were operating on the same rotation system that the World Series was. Baseball at least has corrected the LCS, but the best team not having home field for the WS is still a crock.

Game 1: Astros 1, Mets 0

Mike Scott pitches a 5 hit gem and out duels Gooden in the process. Glenn Davis’s 2nd inning homer was all the help that Scott needed.

Game 2: Mets 5, Astros 1

Bobby Ojeda showed why he finished 4th in the Cy Young voting by out pitching Ryan. He gave up 10 hits, but continually pitched out of trouble. The Mets chased Ryan after 5 innings but Ojeda had them off balance the entire night.

Game 3: Mets 6, Astros 5

At this point the series is in the Mets hands. This is the first of three at Shea where they were 55-26 on the season. Ron Darling gutted through 5 innings (4R) but was picked up by Aguilera, Orosco, and the offense. Aguilera actually gave up the go ahead run in the 7th, but the Mets came back with 2 in the bottom of the 9th to win it.

Game 4: Astros 3, Mets 1

Mike Scott again showed why he won the Cy Young. He dominated the NL’s best offense for a second time. Scott gave up just 3 hits and struck out 5. Sid Fernandez was overmatched from the start, but hung in for 6 innings. Too bad he gave up homers to Allan Ashby (light hitting catcher) and the aforementioned Dickie Thon. The Mets scored their lone run on a pinch hit by Danny Heep that drove in Darryl Strawberry.

Game 5: Mets 2, Astros 1 (12 innings)

Ryan and Gooden duel in a battle of then and now pitchers. Gooden appeared to be in the beginning of a sure fire HOF career, Ryan appeared to be in the sunset of his own HOF career. Ryan threw nine innings giving up two hits and striking out 12. The lone run was a homer to Strawberry in the 5th. Gooden was up to the challenge. He pitched ten innings, scattered nine hits and struck out four. While not as overpowering as Ryan, he managed to keep the Astros at bay in what ended up being a horribly wasted opportunity for the Astros. The only run Gooden gave up was on a double play in the 5th. The Mets won it in the 12th when Backman scored from 2nd on a Carter single. Backman was actually picked off after he singled but Kerfeld misplayed the ball in the rundown and Backman ended up on 2nd. Hernandez was walked, and Carter made them pay for the mistake.

Game 6: Mets 7, Astros 6 (16 innings)

The Astros had this game won. Knepper was dominant for eight innings. The Astros led 3-0 going into the 9th. If they had won, Scott throws Game 7 at home, and the Astros probably go to the World Series. But this is where Hal Lanier’s inexperience comes into play. Instead of bringing in Smith to close out the game, he leaves the vet Knepper in. Big mistake. Dykstra hits a pinch-hit triple to lead off the inning. He scores on Wilson’s single. Mitchell then grounds out, but Mookie makes it to 2nd. Hernandez then doubles him home. All of a sudden it 3-2, 1 out and the tying run on 2nd. Lanier finally pulls Knepper for Smith, but too little too late. Smith in turn walks Carter and Strawberry to load the bases. Ray Knight hits a sac fly to tie the game. The Astros get out of the inning when Heep strikes out. But at this point all of the momentum is on the Mets side. At least you would have thought that. But they didn’t capitalize on it until the 14th when Backman singled home Strawberry. But the Astros weren’t dead yet. In the bottom of the 14th Billy Hatcher hits a one out homer (signs of things to come for the playoff hero). Now in the 16th the Mets score 3 runs off the bottom of the Astros bullpen barrel. So it’s over right? Not without a fight. The Astros get two in the bottom half of the 16th and had the tying run at 2nd when the team’s leading hitter, Bass, struck out against Orosco.

A classic series that never gets mentioned on any list. Mike Scott was series MVP even in a losing effort (you don’t see that too often). Billy Hatcher tried to be the team’s hero with his only two RBI of the series coming in the extra innings of Game 6, but it wasn’t meant to be. It was really a pitching dominated series. Dykstra led the series in hitting at .304, but was only one of two players to hit over .290 (Bass, .292). And Strawberry was the only player to hit more than one homer (Mets 3, Astros 5). Those final two games should go down as two of the greatest of all times. And when you throw in the fact that four of the six games were decided by one run (and Game 4 was 3-1) this has to be considered one of the greatest series of all time.

Interesting Facts
Jesse Orosco went 3-0 in the series
Mike Scott had a 0.50 ERA in 18 innings
Gooden had a 1.06 ERA in 17 innings but went 0-1 in his two starts
Strawberry led the series in homers and RBI (2, 5), but also struck out a series high 12 times
This was Billy Hatcher’s first post-season series (.280, 1 HR, 2 RBI). He’d go on to hit .404 for his career in the playoffs, including .750 in the ’90 World Series. Not bad for a .264 lifetime hitter.

I LOVE THE FANTASY WORLD

2005-09-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

So I had my fantasy football draft last night. We’re a smaller league this year. Eight teams down from twelve a year ago. I guess you could blame the economy (not really, but everyone else does). The league members are spread out this season so this was my first experience with an online draft. I think that it went pretty smoothly. Besides the fact that 2 people didn’t show and another couldn’t participate because he was still at work. So as commish I had to proxy draft for the 3 of them. I’m not the type to boot people from the league; I like the fun of the league above all else. But my favorite part of the league is the draft, so how could you not show up.

Anyways, here’s how my draft panned out. I had the 8th pick that meant I had the 1st pick in the 2nd round. This couldn’t have worked out any better. For starters Willis McGahee fell to me at 8. Now I know that people are saying that teams will stack 8 or 9 in the box against him. That doesn’t matter. His line is solid and he is awesome. So my turn around pick in the 2nd round was next. Only one choice to make here, Randy Moss. As long as he’s healthy this season he’s a going to put up ridiculous numbers. I’m thinking 90/1400/15. If there’s one thing Kerry Collins does well it’s throw the deep ball. And what does Randy do best? That’s right, go after the deep ball. As you can guess I was stoked after these 2 picks. Here’s how the rest of my picks panned out:

3rd (24)-Kevin Jones; this couldn’t have come through any better.
4th (25)-Chad Johnson; most underrated receiver in football.
5th (40)-Tom Brady; always seems to fly under the radar in my drafts.
6th (41)-Baltimore’s D; as a Browns fan his always pains me, but they’re the best D in the
league.
7th (56)-Algie Crumpler; looking back I should have waited to take a TE especially when
Dallas Clark fell through the cracks and didn’t go until the 14th. But there was a
rush on TE’s and I kind of panicked.
8th (57)-Adam Vinatieri; the guys the best clutch kicker in history and from inside 40 he’s
automatic. Now usually I’m partial to dome kickers (don’t underestimate kicking indoors for at least half your games), but he was there so I took him.
9th (72)-Deion Branch; he was hurt most of last season, but what he did in the Super
Bowl shows what he’s going to do this season.
10th (73)-Lamont Jordan; I think I’m one of the few people that thinks he’s going to have
a huge year.
11th (88)-Chris Chambers; the guy’s good for 8 TDs a year.
12th (89)-Stephen Davis; he’s going to be healthy and you know they’ll run the hell out of
the ball. And he’s still one of the best short yardage backs in the league.
13th (104)-JJ Arrington-maybe a reach, but he’s going to be the man in Arizona. And
remember what other Denny Green RBs have done (Robert Smith).
14th (105)-Marcus Robinson; assuming he hangs on to the #2 spot he’ll have a big year.
15th (120)-Ben Watson-I think he will become Brady’s favorite target by the 4th week of
the season.

So that was my draft. Pretty successful in my opinion. I definitely feel like I have one of the top 3 teams in the league. Now they just have to play like it.

What Might Have Been...

2005-08-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

Remember Lawrence Phillips? Not the LP of the NFL. But of Nebraska Cornhuskers fame. He was allowed to run around and do basically whatever he wanted as long as he was running for big numbers on Saturdays in Lincoln. He was awesome. And then it happened, some UN co-ed squeeled that Lawrence had tried to rape her and then beat her. Now everyone's eye was on him and Uncle Tom (Osborne) couldn't protect anymore.

LP's legal woes have been well documented. He was pretty much a more violent and scarier Ricky Williams. All the talent in the world but no will to play the game. Just imagine all of the yards he could have gained and all of the faced he could have smashed if we would have just let someone brush it under the rug again. Ridiculous.

Well LP is in the news again. He was finally busted in San Diego (German for a whale's vagina), for trying to run over some kids that he was playing football with. Add this to the fact that he was wanted for choking his girlfriend twice (the second time she went unconcious). And by the way he was driving a stolen car when they caught him. What a stand up guy. I think old Lawrence is finally going away for a long time this time. But the craziest part to me about this whole story is how in the hell did he have a girlfriend. If you are a woman and a guy tells you his name is Lawrence Phillips shouldn't your first reaction be to run as fast as you can before he punches you in the face. I don't get it.

On a lighter note, the Browns won their second preseason game Saturday. I know it doesn't mean anything, but when the team has won 9 games the last two years I'll take what I can get.

ESPN I Hate You

2005-07-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

Do you know what I hate most about the ESPY Awards show? The fact that it gets replayed 10 times a day on ESPN and ESPN 2. ESPN is usually my flip back channel, but these stupid ESPYs have thrown me off. I can't handle it.

And another thing about this network. I like the 50 states in 50 days thing they've got going, but why did they pick that stupid Bryan Adams song as the theme. They play that song constantly during Sportscenter and then its on during every commercial break on every other show. This ranks right up there with Stuart Scott in my book. Nothing that he does, just him in general.

NFL and NCAA training camps open soon. I'm as giddy as a school girl over this. I'm so excited about Bowling Green this year. If we can take care of Wisconsin and Boise to start the season there's no reason they shouldn't run the table. The east is now a weaker football division with the loss of Marshall. And Miami was a bunch of bums last year so it should be good.

If Ohio State can get there QB situation straight there going to be awesome. The defense will be great as always and they'll actually have a RB that can run in Antonio Pittman. And I get ESPNU now so that means even more college football. Its going to be awesome.

And finally the Browns. I'm so excited about the offseason changes they made. But I'm really not trying to get my hopes up too high. They've let me down before and I'm sure that they'll do it again.

I'm leaving now.

Gone...

2005-07-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

The team I work for goes on the road today for 6 days. I couldn't be happier. I have the weekend off. Its glorious. Now in the past this would have been a license for me to go out and get hammered for a couple of nights. Probably not going to happen here. Its not that I don't want to its just that there's no one here to do it with. I have no problem getting drunk by myself, its just that its not as much fun. The only people I know here are the ones I work with and my wife. Two of our three interns don't drink, the one that does is purely a social drinker who only likes to hang out with players, my boss has a family, and our Asst. GM doesn't really drink anymore. I'm sure I'll end up sitting at home the next couple nights with a 12 of sivler bullets, my wife, and our 2 cats. That's more fun than a barrell full of monkeys.

I got my first invite for a fantasy football league today. I'm not going to join that one because one league is more than enough for me to handle. There's a group of us that have played for the last couple of seasons. Its a good time and it only costs $10. I can't wait for football. That is one of the nice things about working here. We actually have young game day employees who are up on recent events. So when I tell someone that I went Bowling Green the first thing they say is "they've got an awesome football team". They don't say "in Kentucky?" Idiots.

After my junior year of college when BG went 2-9 I never thought I'd hear someone say that BG has a good program. But thanks to Urban Meyer and now Greg Brandon, we do have a good program. I think that Omar Jacobs will get an invite to the Heisman presentation this year. If he puts up numbers that are even close to what he did last year they can't keep him out.

When I started here our big league club went into the tank. I just figured that it was my normal jinx that I put on teams that I'm associated with. But over the last month or so they've turned it around and are leading the wild card and only 2 games out of first. Pretty awesome.

I told a couple of guys the other night about my buddies Golden Shower story. They were rolling.

For anyone out there reading this I want to write one thing. I'm not two-faced. I'm about the complete opposite. If I don't like something you're doing I'm going to tell you. The only time I won't is if I know the person I have a problem with is two-faced and when I try to constructively criticize them that they will turn around and bash me behind my back.

That's it, I'm gone.

Am I Still In Florida?

2005-07-14T07:22:00.000-07:00

So it started raining in the 3rd inning last night. Terentially. It was almost like a Florida storm that you get a couple times a week. Everyone here was flipping out. Not me, it was just another day at the office. It was awesome that the grounds crew guy who was supposed to be working the game was a no show when it was time to put the tarp on. We rolled it out with 5 people and put it on with 8. Mind you this was with a 40mph wind. So I was running the tarp crew. Barking out orders and getting the job done; a dream come true indeed. The rain may have been similar but that was where the comparison to FLA ended. There were no idiots out pulling tarp yelling "Watch out for the bases" or things like that. I was in control and everyone listened. A nice change of pace indeed. And we had a big crowd last night, so at least that will bump our attendance for tonight. I finally get a weekend off. My first one since I moved up here. I plan on sitting by the pool, catching up on my NCAA football playing, and waging war against my liver. Good times as always.

So I'm a Liar...

2005-07-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

I know I said that I would write on this blog more once I was settled. I lied! Get over it. I've been so busy here there's been no time for writing. I find myself constantly busy, and I'm happy about it. I love Danville. Its awesome. The people that I work with are awesome. And judging from the way things are even more in tubes in Florida now I definately made the right call coming up here. My buddy Joe is stopping here next week sometime on his way to Montana. I'm pretty excited because I know that it will be a night of drunkenness. Like me he too bolted Florida. I'm happy for him. He's moving to Montana with my buddy John to work for the parks department. My wife told me yesterday that she was so happy that I got out of that place in Florida when I did. I couldn't agree more. I have to get back to work. Selling tickets and what not. Its not like anyone reads this, but if you do I'll try to get back on in a more timely fashion this time.

What the Hell?

2005-05-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

I can honestly say that I've been busy today. For one reason or another things have been coming in for me. But I still found time for a work out and an hour and a half lunch. So maybe I haven't been as busy as I thought.

I'm really trying to set the example that I haven't mailed it in during this last week of work. I really haven't. I've busted my butt for the last two weeks sewing up loose ends and finalizing all of my deals. And here I sit in my final week here and all I really need to do is transition the people that will be taking my place. That's correct, they can't do my job with just one person. My self importance level right now is very high. You see, the GM here doesn't have a clue to all the things that I do. So in about two weeks when he keeps asking well who does this and the answer is constantly Calvin my head is going to be as big as a beach ball.

On another topic, I got shit on today by a bird on my way out the door for lunch. I am the 3rd staff member to be shit on by a bird in the last 2 weeks. Someone needs to get a pellet gun and take these birds down to China town.

Back on the Horse

2005-05-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

I'm going to get going on this again. I haven't posted since Februay and a lot has changed in my life since then. I'm moving to Virginia next week because I got a new job. I couldn't be more excited. This in turn has forced me to reconnect with a lot of my old friends. So far this has been a fantastic thing. But alas I need to get back to work since I'm still at my old job. Keep looking at this for updates on how life is going in VA.

I"m a Bum

2005-02-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

You know, I figured out why I never write anymore. I’m just too lazy. That and its just too much work for me to keep mental notes over a couple of days to piece together a blog that virtually no one will read. But alas I find myself writing again. I guess for the sheer fact of wanting to see my thoughts in print. So here are some from the recent weeks.

The Super Bowl was a close game this year but I never felt like the Eagles were in it. They really did seem to have that “we’re just happy to be here” look. Even when they got up in the first half I never really felt like they could knock off the Pats. Maybe it’s the fact that I was drunk by half time. Yes halftime, I paced myself this year.

I was very pleased to see the Browns hire Romeo Crennel as their new head coach. At this point I think that they got it right this time. What is key here is who he hires onto his staff. I like the Mo Carthon hire. He’s got successful experience. He’s coached for teams that have made the playoffs and that is key. This regime must build and maintain a winning attitude. I have no problem with the hiring of Pacells/Belichik disciples. They do have 5 rings between them.

I can’t wait for football to start again. I’m looking forward to the draft as much as any impending event in the next 3 months. And I was so excited on Friday when I found that the Bowling Green Falcons posted their recruiting high light reel on their website. I must’ve watched it 5 times. Awesome. The lack of quality sports activity this time of year drives me nuts. Don’t get me wrong I love college basketball and the LeBron led Cavs, but nothing can substitute for football.

Its Valentine’s Day. It comes at such a horrible time of year for the work I’m in right now. I’m working minimum 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. So basically by the time I get home tonight I’m in the mood to sit on the couch and that’s about it. The things we do for love.

Going back to the BG Falcons for a minute. The basketball team won AT Kent State Saturday. That’s the first time that’s happened in as long as I can remember. This is by far the best team they’ve had since 2002. The sad thing is that it could be even better had Ronald Lewis not been a selfish bastard and transferred. Lewis was 2nd team all MAC last season and led the team in scoring. He’s 6’4” so he’s a good sized 2-guard in the MAC. Well like most college ballers with any talent Lewis wants a shot at the NBA. He thinks his best chance at that is by showing the league that he can run the point. He’s probably right, but Dan Dakich didn’t think that would be in the best interest of the team so he refused his request. Lewis in turn transferred to Ohio State in August. What a blow to the team. If they had him either running the point or playing the 2 we would win the MAC this season. Right now the Falcons have two guys they can count on each night (Reimhold & Almanson), but lack that third cog to make it a consistent winning machine. What might have been?

I made my first alumni donation to BG Friday. It wasn’t much but I figured that every little bit helps. One of my best friends was a student telemarketer in college. He hated it. With that in mind, I’m not sure if I donated because I felt the school could use it or because I remember how miserable that job made my buddy and I figured my donation might keep this girl from shooting herself. Cold calling is one of the worst things ever. I wish someone would outlaw it.

Florida drivers are the worst drivers on Earth. I’m convinced. Case in point. I’m leaving my apartment complex today and there are 3 cars in front of me getting ready to pull out onto the main road. As we’re waiting for traffic to pass a school bus pulls up to pick up the kids at the stop. Now this is a 4 lane, separated highway so people going north bound don’t need to stop, but every going south has to. A perfect opportunity to get out onto the road right, WRONG!!! All three of these idiots is crossing into the north bound side, but they freeze when the bus stops. I honked my horn multiple times before the first car woke up and went. And then the next car proceeded to sit there and gawk. There was even a straggler kid so the window was open that much longer. And still nothing. This was a good 30 second window and just as the bus was getting ready to go the 2nd guy pulled out. I could have been half way to the highway by this time. So needless to say I was fuming before I even got out of the parking lot today. Fun times.

The List V.1

2005-01-28T14:16:00.000-08:00

I’ve always come up with these lists in my head, usually when I’m driving, about different things I’ve come across. But I never write them down and usually forget the components with in two hours. That’s the price you pay for drinking your college years away. But I feel its time I give this a shot and record some of my lists. So I’m going to start with a basic one, My Top Five Rock Bands of All Time. Now keep in mind that I love classic rock and feel that for the most part that bands that have surfaced since about 1985 are nothing but recycled crap. Some of them have good stretches but never anything that’s going to persevere. So with that in mind lets get started…

5. The Who

Probably the most underrated band ever. You never hear them mentioned in the same breath with the other greats. But they had all the components of an incredible band. A great song writer, talented guitar and bass man, powerful drummer, and a lead singer with a siren for a voice. Pete Townsend is one of the greatest songwriters of any generation and could flat out sling a guitar, his skills as a player are as underrated as the band. Roger Daltrey could whale out any note and make it sound great. John Entwistle laid down great bass tracks that were some of the best in the 1960s, an era full of screaming guitars. And finally Keith Moon was the back bone of the band with his steady and at times flashy drum play. What truly set them apart was the groups uncanny stage presence that permeated from every member, not just the front man.

Personal Favorite Song: Won’t Get Fooled Again (Behind Blue Eyes is a close 2nd)

4. Creedence Clearwater Revival

I know this wouldn’t be on most people’s lists, but I’m not most people. To me I believe that CCR was the original “alternative” band. Because isn’t “alternative” music just music that is an alternative to what is popular? So in the time of the Beatles, Beach Boys, and softer Stones, CCR was market ably different. They were the original “Southern” rock band even though they were from California. John Fogerty’s raspy voice gives CCR’s songs a uniqueness that is unmatched. The late Tom Fogerty was as good as any guitar player when given the chance to shine. Stu Cook laid down heavy base lines for many of the tracks that would define the band. And Doug “Cosmos” Clifford is probably the least appreciated drummer of all time. He was truly the character of the group and gave them a lot of the southern personality that led to their success.

Personal Favorite Song: Green River

3. The Rolling Stones

What else can you say about a band that hasn’t lost a thing in 40 years? They still rock out on tour to sell out crowds while still attracting new fans. Mick Jagger is the ultimate front man. He gives the Stones enough personality for ten bands. With a smooth, bluesy voice he truly makes you feel every note. And he has the most stage presence of any front man ever. Keith Richards is another grossly underrated lead guitar man. Keith is as laid back as anyone, except for maybe his other three band mates. Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, and Mick Taylor make up the one of the most unsung trios ever. These epitomize sacrifice. Everyone knows Mick and Keith, but very few people could name these three.

Personal Favorite Song: Paint it Black

2. The Beatles

Some people may call this a cop out, but you can’t argue that this is one of the greatest bands ever. There influence is all over music and their music is timeless. Not very often to you get two of the greatest songwriters ever (Paul McCartney and John Lennon) in the same group with a guy that was a pretty good songwriter in his own right (George Harrison). Paul and John were both great lead singers. And Paul’s versatility gave the band a lot of different options when writing music. George is another horribly underrated guitar player in the history of music. He was as good as Townsend and Richards and proved it when he started performing on his own. Though Ringo may not have been the great drummer he got the job done and never cried for more attention because he realized he was in on the best thing ever. And finally Lennon was just Lennon. He wanted to be the star. But he was an incredible writer and a great lead man.

Personal Favorite Song: You Never Give Me Your Money

1. Led Zeppelin

Was there ever any doubt that Zeppelin would be #1 on this list? This band crossed so many lines in the music world that no other band will ever touch them. Based in blues they experimented with country, jazz, and everything in between. John Bonham is arguably the greatest drummer ever. As much as the drummer in the Beatles was inconsequential, the drummer in Zeppelin was as important as Jimmy Page. John Paul Jones really got to show what he could do in this band. His bass track on “Since I’ve Been Loving You” is one of the greatest of all time. Robert Plant ranks up there is Jagger as one of the greatest front men ever. His voice could run the gamete and his songwriting is better than almost everyone. And finally Jimmy Page. What can you say besides that he’s one of the top guitar players ever (that’s a future list)? He made many of the songs hits with his whaling solos. The fact that Zeppelin is #1 is up for argument with some people but not with me. They were true musicians who could create any sound they wanted and roll with it like they’d been doing forever.

Personal Favorite Song: Stairway to Heaven (followed closely by Since I’ve Been Loving You and Going to California)

Honorable Mentions: The Doors, Lynrd Skynrd, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, AC/DC, and Metallica.

So that’s the list. My list. I think that these bands would make a case for anyone’s Top 5, but they are my Top 5.

Dear Football, It Seems Like You Just Arrived

2005-01-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

I love the NFL playoffs but in a way it’s bittersweet. Let’s face it; it’s the end of the greatest six months of the year. When training camps and preseason start in August then role into college football in September and so on it just gives me goose bumps. And now with the completion of the conference championship games the end is near (tear). Nothing fills the void of football on the weekends in the fall. The only thing that comes close is the 3 straight weekends in March and the beginning of April that bring us “The Big Dance”. Football is truly the American game and I’ll fight to the death with anyone who claims otherwise.

The playoffs would be much more exciting if my beloved Browns were in them. But alas they are picking up the pieces once again. I do think that Phil Savage is the right choice as GM. He’s proven to be a great evaluator of talent which is something the Browns have lacked since reinception in ’99. Now as long as they hire Romeo Crenell from the Pats we’ll be in good shape. I’m not expecting a miracle, but I fully expect us to be challenging for the division in 2006. I don’t think that that’s too much to wish for.

I would have loved to have seen Ozzie come back, but apparently he turned down the interview. He’s got it pretty good in Baltimore right now so I can’t say that I blame him. That and he knew that Savage was ready. And the fact that Savage has Browns’s ties makes this even better. But nothing could have beaten Ozzie coming back. There’s always a lot of pressure when you come back home especially when people are looking for a miracle. I don’t see Ozzie going anywhere until he gets offered the ‘Bama AD job.

One of the most amazing stats that I’ve seen this year came in the NBA last week. I was watching the Cavs-Kings game on TNT. LeBron became the second fastest player to reach 2500 points, 700 boards, and 700 assists in a career at 117 games. Oscar Robertson is the fastest, at 83 games. 83 games!!! That’s absolutely ridiculous. The Big O is by far the most underrated player ever. You never hear him talked about in the discussions of greatest of all time. He is the Hank Aaron of the NBA.

Speaking of LeBron, he got his second triple-double in a week Saturday. He is just amazing. Flat out spectacular. And you can tell that he has that drive like Michael had. The only other player in the league that has that drive now is Kevin Garnett. And much like Michael I think part of his is born out of frustration. But back to LeBron, he has that innate sense to feel when his team needs him and he responds. Not by throwing up horrible shots like Carmelo Anthony or going out of control to the rim like Kobe Bryant, but by letting the play come to him. If he’s given the shot he takes it. If he can get to the rim he goes. If a double team comes he makes a great pass because he trusts his teammates (something Kobe should learn if he ever wants to get back to the finals).

I hate the fact that Fox has the Super Bowl. I can’t stand Cris Collinsworth in the booth. Joe Buck, while great for baseball, struggles with football. The only one I like is Aikman, but he tends to have some concussion moments. And their camera decisions are horrible. I don’t want to see live action from the end zone angle. There’s a reason that end zone tickets are cheap. It’s because the view sucks unless the drive is heading right towards you. Show me the side angle please.

At the beginning of the season I was not a Jim Nantz fan. I’ve always felt he should stick with golf because I never liked him much for basketball either. But he’s grown on me this season. He and Simms play off of each other very well. And God knows their better than those three clowns on Fox’s #1 team.

If Fox would have show Terrell Owens on the sidelines one more time Sunday I was going to throw my TV through the wall into my fat neighbor’s apartment. I don’t want to see that bum. Show me the players on the field not some injured idiot jumping around on the sidelines. And by the way Philly fans, he’s not going to be back for the Super Bowl. Chris Mortensen, who for my money is the best insider in the NFL, said that his reports say TO’s injury is pretty much the same thing that Steve Smith suffered in Week 1 and missed the entire season. So even if his rehab is ahead of schedule, its not 5 months ahead of schedule. Good luck with that.

And finally, I’m glad to see that Matt Leinart is staying in school. Grant it he is risking millions of dollars, but the dude loves the college life and the college game. What a novel idea. A great athlete that’s not about the money. I don’t know if Leinart will be a great NFL QB, but he clearly has a good head on his shoulders and that puts him ahead of a lot of these idiots in my book.

Get Out!!!

2004-12-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

I went Christmas shopping this weekend with my wife. I hate Christmas shopping at the mall. Any mall. People just turn into idiots this time of year. You can’t walk through the stores and it always seems like the mall cranks the heat up to about 95. But it wasn’t bad; we were in and out for the most part. But one thing I found very disturbing was in FYE. You know the CD and DVD store in most malls. On their new releases shelf they have the Seinfeld seasons DVD. Now they have seasons 1 and 2 in a pack and 1, 2, and 3 in another pack. And the price, $74.99 for 1 and 2 and $119.99 for all 3. Now don’t get me wrong, I like Seinfeld. It’s got to be in my top 5 favorite shows of all time. But it’s on at least twice a night in most TV markets. If that’s not enough to get your Seinfeld fix then you better get help.

Speaking of Seinfeld that makes me think of a topic I’ve been meaning to write about for a while. TV Dads. These are some of the most hilarious characters on television. And when I say Dads I’m not talking about Ray Romano, I’m talking about Ray’s Dad. Here is my top 5…

Frank Castanza-his blow ups make him classic enough. Any Seinfeld that he’s in I automatically sit down and watch. I’m preprogrammed to do so by the people at NBC and TBS.

Red Foreman-The funniest character on That 70s Show. You won’t hear the term “dumbass” more in 30 minutes in a biker bar.

Abe Simpson-He isn’t constantly funny like the other two but he has his moments and he’s such a great springboard character for the other Simpsons. Springboard; jeez that actually sounded like I knew what I was talking about.

Frank Verome-Now I just recently started watching the Raymond reruns, but Frank makes the show. He’s the funniest character on the show.

Arthur from King of Queens-This is Jerry Stiller’s second appearance in my top 5. The role of over eccentric, fly off the handle, paranoid father figures is something that he’s mastered and will be able to play until the day he dies.

Is there another team in the NBA that has benefited from the Pistons-Pacers brawl as much as the Cavs? Honestly I would think not. The Cavs were destined to finish no better than 3rd in the Central and now have a legit shot at winning the Division. The Pacers won’t be at full strength for the rest of the season without Artest and the Pistons don’t seem to have recovered since the incident. It’s pretty awesome in my book. As a Cleveland fan I’ll take it any way I can get it.

17 net yards. 17! That’s what the Browns put up Sunday in Buffalo. I didn’t think it was possible, but they have found a new low.

And too sprinkle some salt into the wound that has been my Browns 2004 season, ESPN showed “The Drive” Friday when I was at lunch with my coworkers. That is literally my first football memory. That game. I wanted them to change all the TVs it was on, but it wasn’t worth the effort. Just kick me when I’m down. I did threaten to punch Mark in the top of the head if he didn’t shut up about it. I think that sent the message of how much I hated that game and the pain it brought with it. If Elway doesn’t win that game for them, the Browns beat the Giants in the Super Bowl. That always drove me nuts about the Broncos beating us 3 times in 4 years; they never won a Super Bowl. And all of them in blow out fashion. If that’s the case they could have at least given us a shot.

The Indians traded Matt Lawton this weekend to the Pirates for Arthur Rhodes. I like that fact that they got a solid, but old, lefty for the pen. But I didn’t like the price. Lawton is coming off a career year in which he was an All-Star. Now I understand the need for pitching and the need to open some spots for younger players, but this coupled with the loss of Vizquel makes me worry about the clubhouse situation. That clubhouse now sorely lacks veteran leadership and that can not be underestimated on a young team. Just ask Frank Robinson.

I wasn’t surprised to see Matt Leinert win the Heisman Saturday night. You knew Peterson wouldn’t win it because he’s a frosh, they weren’t going to give it to White after the way he finished last season, Bush didn’t get enough touches in a lot of his games, and Alex Smith goes to Utah. So it was Leinert’s to lose. He says he’ll be back for his RS Senior year. I don’t believe it. To me you need to go when you’re on top and people are talking about you. There are too many unknowns for next season. Unless he has a horrible Orange Bowl, he should take the money and run.

I think that David Pollack is going to be a bum in the NFL. I could be wrong, but I’ll laugh at the team that drafts him in April. Who am I kidding; it’ll probably be the Browns.

With that said, I’m done…

I Hate a Parade...

2004-12-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

Just kidding. I love a good parade unless I'm driving in that area.

Last night college football presented its “other” awards. And by others I mean the ones that they usually get right unlike the Heisman. I can tell you one guy who had to be a little upset about taking the shaft and that was Derrick Johnson from Texas. He’s as good a LB as you’ll find in college football this season. And he lost out on both the Bednarik and the Lombardi to that bum David Pollack. What a joke. But he did take home the Nagurski and the Butkus is awarded today. But like I said they “usually” get these awards right, I don’t think they did last night. On top of Pollack getting these two Jason White won both the Maxwell and the O’Brien. As far as the O’Brien is concerned I think Alex Smith should have won on TD to INT ration alone. Oh and his team is undefeated, but who cares, he went to Utah. It is a sham that Cedric Benson wasn’t up for the Maxwell or is he a finalist for the Heisman. Some how this guy won the award for the best RB in the country (Walker) but wasn’t a finalist for either of the best player awards behind other RBs. Shafted!

Mike Nugent finally won the Groza Award in his senior year. I’m not saying he deserved it last season, but 2002 for sure. He was the third MVP on the National Champs behind the D and Craig Krenzel. But I’m pretty sure he clinched it with the 55 yard game winner against Marshall earlier this season. From then on it was his to lose. Don’t underestimate the power of a good kicking game. Look at how many games were decided on it this season alone.

Back to Benson for a minute. He was Texas’s offense this year. They had no receivers to speak of, a scrambling QB, and a good D. With all of this he still rushed for almost 1,800 yards and 20 TDs. It’s a mockery of the college awards. Its nothing but a who’s who award.

If Jason White wins the Heisman I might throw up on one of my cats Saturday night. And on top of that I’m pretty sure that Archie Griffen would blow his brains out when he found out his name would now be synonymous with White’s. He’s a good QB, but no, he doesn’t deserve it and he knows it. Ask him, he does.

Speaking of Archie, does he get 2 Heisman votes since he won twice? Maybe that explains Eddie George winning over Tommy Frazier in 1995.

Reggie Bush is a great player and will only get better. But he doesn’t deserve to be in NY for the Heisman presentation. To me you have to be great in every game to win the Heisman. Its hard to do that when you only get 10 touches in about a third of your games.

And with that in mind I think that would make it a two man race. Matt Leinart and Alex Smith. Maybe Adrian Peterson but he got hurt a couple of times. And a frosh will never win it. If you break it down like that you have to give it to Alex Smith. The guy accounted for 38 TDs this season. 28 passing and 10 rushing for an undefeated team. He was the most dangerous QB in the nation this season. White came out of the gates slow this season and didn’t really get going until the OSU game and Leinart had some down game.

For those who don’t follow Division III football Mount Union is in the Final Four again. I was basically raised on Raider football from junior high on. My Grandpa and both aunts on my Dad’s side both went there. I’d love to see them win it again to avenge last season’s debacle. And their mascot is a Macaw, you don’t see that too often.

The reason I haven’t written in a while is simple, Letter Linker. Its this addictive game on Candystand.com. It’s awesome, I just wish I could beat Level 7. Or the 7th Level of Hell as I call it.

The Browns suck. I left about 3 minutes into the 3rd quarter Sunday. Just awful. And if he doesn’t sign with Notre Dame Charlie Weis would be a great coach. But I would still love to see them go after Fassel. And for a GM, if the Oz isn’t at the top of their list then they’re retarded. It ripped his heart out to go with the team to Baltimore, but I totally understood it. He was really the only black player personnel guy in the NFL at the time. He couldn’t give that up. I really think that he would come back to Cleveland in a minute. And did I mention what a great talent evaluator he is. You don’t win a Super Bowl by accident.

Even after their meltdown Wednesday in Chicago the Cavs have still have the best record in the East. LeBron has slowed down a bit of late. He’s been short of 20 in 2 or his last 3 games. I think this is all the minutes catching up with him. But he’ll bounce back. If this means he makes plays like he did against NJ Monday night I’m all for it. He picked off a pass with 20 seconds left in the game and took it down and just seemed to glide over the rim and throw it down. It was awesome.

Gordon Gund is selling the Cavs. Its kind of sad. The team had had modest success when he bought them in 1983. But under Gund the Cavs had their best years in the late ‘80s and early 90s. It’s a shame he’s getting out now when we’re just a couple of years from a title.

And finally the Ohio State basketball program put themselves on a one year post season ban because of the Jim O’Brien scandal. Just another example of how crooked coaching is the gift that just keeps on giving. But I always liked O’Brien. Any coach that can take the Buckeye basketball team to the Final Four is good in my book.

I'm a Frickin' Genius

2004-12-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

Like I hinted at yesterday I have solved Division I-A College Football’s playoff formula. It’s pretty simple. I used the basic setup of the DI-AA playoff system since that along with the other college football playoffs seem to work so well.

Ok, we start with a 16 team field. This will include all 11 conference winners. That’s right Big XII all the way down to the Sun Belt. And then 5 wild card teams. These teams will be selected based on their BCS rank. In time a new system would be developed and the BCS would be gone. Something like the system that the Ohio High School football playoffs are based on. It heavily factors in strength of schedule which would force teams to play tougher schedules therefore making for more exciting games.

Now I know that one of the main hang ups with a playoff is the potential loss of the bowls. Well guess what, this system incorporates the bowls. The “Final Four” games will be played in the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl with the championship rotating between the three. The reason these three get the Final Four is because they are the major bowl games with the most history. Let’s face it, the Fiesta Bowl bought their way into the BCS, it’s a made up game.

Second round playoff games will be played at the Cotton, Fiesta, Citrus, and Gator Bowls. These bowls were chosen because I consider them to be second tier New Year’s Day bowls (sorry Outback Bowl). It also allows the system to be set up to accommodate high seeds geographically.

Some of you may be saying, for example, “What about my beloved Silicon Valley Classic?” And I say to you, no worries. These bowls will be able to pick from the numerous bowl eligible, non playoff teams. As well as first round losers.

And I guess we’ll have to add a Notre Dame rule. But wait, no we don’t. If they finish in the top 5 among non-conference winners they’ll get a spot. If not, too bad. No special consideration for a school that thinks it’s too good to join a conference.

Now, getting into the actual seeding. Teams will be seeded based on conference strength. This will be formulated by the number of teams from said conference ranked in the “BCS” top 25 at seasons end. If there is a tie then it will go to average rank. I know that there will be cases that people say that there are wild card teams that are better than conference champs. Well I have taken this into consideration. The top 5 conference champs will be guaranteed the top 5 seeds. So with this in mind let’s look at how this season would be set up.

Teams…
Auburn (SEC)
Oklahoma (Big 12)
Virginia Tech (ACC, if they beat Miami)
Michigan (Big 10)
USC (Pac 10)
Cal (wildcard)
Texas (wildcard)
Utah (MWC)
Georgia (wildcard)
Boise St. (WAC)
Louisville (C-USA)
Miami (wildcard)
LSU (wildcard)
Pitt (Big East)
Toledo (MAC, if they beat Miami, Oh)
North Texas (Sun Belt)

Now after the top five seeds are placed, the seedings are done by the “BCS” rankings. Auburn received the #1 spot because there are 5 SEC teams in the top 25 with an average rank of 11.6. Oklahoma gets #2 because the Big 12 has 5 teams in the top 25 with an average of 14.3. Virginia Tech is #3 with four ACC teams ranked with an average of 15.7. Michigan gets #4 because the Big Ten has 4 teams with an average of 18.9. And finally, USC gets the #5 spot even though they are ranked #1 because the conference sucks with only 3 teams ranked.

And here are the brackets…

Auburn
16. North Texas (at Auburn)

8. Utah
9. Georgia (at Utah)

5. USC
12. Miami (at USC)

4. Michigan
13. LSU (at Michigan)

Oklahoma
15. Toledo (at Oklahoma)

7. Texas
10. Boise St. (at Texas)

6. Cal
11. Louisville (at Cal)

Virginia Tech
14. Pitt (at Virginia Tech)

Now keeping in mind that the second round games will be played in Dallas (Cotton), Tempe (Fiesta), Orlando (Citrus), and Jacksonville (Gator) the top four seeds will receive a geographical “break” in their ranking order. Meaning that the second round game in the 1/16 & 8/9 slot will be played at the Gator Bowl because that is the closet game to Auburn. The 5/12 & 4/13 game will be played in the Fiesta Bowl because UM gets the left over spot as the #4 seed. The 2/15 & 7/10 spot will be played in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl. Yes there is potential for Red River Shootout II and I don’t think anyone (especially Texas) would complain about that. And finally the 6/11 & 3/14 game will be played in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl. This is the closest remaining game to Virginia Tech.

Now the Final Four will be on a predetermined schedule. So just for kicks let’s say this season that the Sugar Bowl gets the potential 1&4 match up and the Rose gets the 2&3 match up. That leaves the title game to be played in the Orange Bowl.

Another problem that is constantly brought up about a playoff is time. Well, problem solved. Teams will play a standard 10 game season that must be completed by the end of November because the playoffs will start the first weekend of December with the semifinals being played the weekend before Christmas (depending on the calendar). Leagues with Championship Games will be allowed an 11th game but must schedule accordingly.

So let’s use this year’s calendar. The playoff would start this weekend (Dec. 4). First round games would be played at campus sites. Now after the games have concluded this would give the other Bowls a chance to select their teams in time to start playing the week of the 13th. Second round games will be held at the allotted bowl sites on December 11th. And the semis will be played December 18. Then the Championship Game would be played New Years Day in traditional fashion. And it would give the teams two weeks to prepare.

So there it is NCAA. Problem solved and it wasn’t too difficult. Oh but wait that’s the problem. This scenario is too easy and that’s why it won’t get done. Idiots…

On a different note, I had one of the best Slurpees of my life today. Orange/Pineapple Freeze mixed with Slamin’ Blamin’ Cherry. It was awesome. Definitely the pick me up I needed to get through the rest of the day.

Has anyone noticed that the Clippers are off to a 9-6 start? That team has always had such great young talent. Maybe this is the year they finally put it together.

The Suns blew out the Cavs last night and LeBron only scored 15. Phoenix is good. I thought they were stupid at the beginning of the year for playing Stoudamire at center, but that “Fun and Gun” system is working. Every starter on that team can run and Steve Nash is the perfect point guard to get them the ball. But for some reason, to me at least, it feels like Nash moved the Mavs west with him. That team just doesn’t strike me as one that will be able to hang with San Antonio or Minnesota in the post season because of the lack of a true inside presence. But if anything they’re fun to watch.

The Cavs have the Nuggets tonight. ‘Bron vs. ‘Mello 3. On paper the Nuggets have a lot more talent than the Cavs. But the Cavs have been playing so well as a team. And you know LeBron will step up and have a big game after being off last night.

The MAC Championship is also tonight. It’s “The Team from Up North” vs. the “Team from Down South”, at least that’s what Urban Meyer used to call Toledo and Miami when he was at BG. This game matches BG’s biggest rival (UT) versus our oldest (Miami). I honestly don’t care who wins. I think Toledo has the best shot at beating UConn in the Motor City Bowl and they will sell more tickets for that game. So as much as it pains me, I’ll “root” for Toledo.

And I’m spent…

Turkey Lurkey Doo and Turkey Lurkey Dah

2004-12-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

I meant to write on Monday. Didn’t happen. Surprisingly enough I actually had work to do. I did write yesterday only to have the site crap out and lose the whole posting. So here we go, third times a charm. And now I have to cram a whole week’s worth of stuff into one post.

My Thanksgiving was good. It started with me playing football with my buddy Mark and his boys in their annual Turkey Bowl. I was a master decoy. Running deep past my man every play only to see the ball thrown underneath into his zone. But it was fun. Even though a fumbled kickoff and an interception thrown to the drunkest guy on the field (which was returned for a TD) cost us the game. Not only was he the drunkest he was also smoking for the majority of the game. Might as well have slapped brown jerseys on us and called us the Browns.

For dinner I went to my wife’s friend’s house. The food was good. Turkey, homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, and rolls. And of course pumpkin pie. It was tasty.

Was it just me or were the football games Thursday the worst in recent memory. A blowout and probably one of the ugliest games of the year. The only thing that saved the day was the WVU at Pitt game Thursday night. It was its usual Backyard Brawl barnburner.

That may have been the shortest 4-day weekend in recorded history. It probably had something to do with the fact that Friday and Saturday morphed into one day for me. Both involved me, the couch, and either watching college football or playing it on my PS2. I did do laundry Friday, so that’s constructive.

The Browns scored 48 points Sunday. That’s the good news. They lost by 10. That’s the bad news. They gave up 58 to the Bungles. This is a defense that gave up 10 the week before to the Jets, and lost. This team just blows my mind. It’s really ridiculous.

That means that last week BG and the Browns scored a combined 89 points and went a combined 0-2.

But if one thing came out of Sunday, it’s another qb controversy. Kelly Holcomb threw for over 400 yards. His 3rd such game since 2002. And coincidently the Browns are 0-3 in those games. Pretty awesome. But Holcomb should never be a full time starter. He stares down receivers and he has a noodle arm (both evident by his game clinching interception Sunday). Just stick with Garcia; he’s the best we’ve got.

The icing on the cake was Andra Davis getting hurt Sunday. Our best defensive player done for the year with a torn MCL (the same knee he hurt in college). He isn’t only the heart and soul of our D but he’s also one of the best young MLBs in the NFL.

While I’m on the Browns I’m just going to talk about the Butch Davis firing now. I can’t say that it made me sad. Butch is a pure college coach. He’s a rah-rah kind of guy. And that attitude wears thin after a while on NFL players (look at Gruden in TB). For a guy who coached under Jimmy Johnson I was very surprised at the lack of discipline this team has showed over the last couple of years. Stupid penalties, fights, suspensions, and tack on our piss poor drafts and you have a recipe for success. Some college program will give Butch a job and he deserves it. He was a good college coach once, and he’ll be one again.

Moving on…

What the heck was the Providence College AD thinking when he made their basketball schedule for this season? In a four day stretch they played #1 Wake Forest, Michigan, and Top 25 Florida. I know that the first 2 were in the Preseason NIT, but if you have a team like PC shouldn’t you plan on them making it to the semis of that tournament? Then you fly them to Miami to play Florida on Saturday. I guess a 1-2 record over that stretch is a victory.

I can also ask the same question of UNC’s AD. Why would you even think of scheduling a game within 48 hours of your team returning from Hawaii? I mean that’s only about a 15 hour flight. Maybe jet lag is a new term in NC.

I was glad to see Iowa make it to the finals of the Maui Tournament. Even though they got beat up against UNC they represented the Big 10 well. And I also think it made people remember that Steve Alford is a good coach. This guy was the talk of the Big 10 a couple of years ago when Iowa won the Big 10 Tournament. And he took a team to the Dance for I believe 5 years in a row (SW Mizzou St and Iowa). He is only building not only on his reputation but also Bob Knights. No one ever talks about the Bob Knight disciples, but they’re doing pretty well. I can think of three right now. Alford at Iowa (245-148 at Iowa and SW Mizzou), Coach K at Duke (695-240 at Army and Duke), and Dan Dakich at my alma mater Bowling Green (116-90). Those are pretty good records by guys who are branching off of a pretty good coach. And to all you Dean domers, Knight has 840 wins; he’s going to catch him.

The ACC-Big 10 Challenge started last night. I’ve always been a fan of this little gimmick. Grant it the ACC always wins, but it still presents some entertaining games. Such as the Wisconsin-Maryland game last night. That was just a great game, flat out. And by the way, UW’s Bo Lyon is a pretty good coach for those who didn’t know. I know that the Big 10 has been down the last couple of years but to win back-to-back titles at a school that hadn’t won one in almost 35 years is pretty impressive.

I’m also glad to see Ohio St. actually draw a team that’s not among the elite. Because let’s face it, we don’t have Michael Redd and Scoonie Penn in the back court anymore. Yes, OSU drew Clemson. Very winnable in my estimation. Considering we’ve drawn NC State, Duke, and last year Georgia Tech, I think we deserve a break (we did beat NC State in 2001 though).

Did anyone else know that George Brett is from WV? Hall of Famer George Brett is from Glendale. I just found that odd that in a state with so few celebrities that that isn’t a big deal. I found it on the Baseball HOF site. They have a map so you just click on a state and it tells you what HOFers were born there. Yeah, I clicked on every one of them.

I have one suggestion for the Cleveland Browns in their search for a new coach. Jim Fassel. The guy is offensive minded, which contrary to Sunday is what this team needs. The defense has been its only strength since 1999. And he has taken a team to a Super Bowl. Available coaches with that on their resume are hard to come by.

Tyrone Willingham was also fired yesterday by Notre Dame. I don’t agree with this. Willingham took over a bad team. Probably the worst thing that happened to him was going 10-3 his first year and getting everyone hopes up. Because that team wasn’t that good. And it has showed the last 2 seasons. But ND lacks two things, speed and depth. Those are two facets that can’t be built in just 3 seasons. If he would have served his entire contract I think ND would have been in a BCS game by year 5.

This now opens the door for Urban Meyer. The Midwestern guy and former ND assistant is a good fit. And ND is one of the outs in his Utah contract. He will take over a much better team than the one Willingham inherited. They could win 9 games next year. And for all of you Utah fans that have been listening to Meyer say he’s at Utah for the long haul. Remember two things, 1. He’s about the most ambitious coach in America. His goal from day one has been to get a head coaching job at a major program. 2. He said the same things in 2002 before he bolted for Salt Lake. Déjà vu? I think so.

And finally, over the last 4 weeks I have become the world’s worst Fantasy Football GM. My team has lost 4 in a row to fall out of a playoff spot. I need a big time rally or I’m done. But like most GMs I’m going to shift blame and lay it on Priest Holmes. His injury has been my downfall. There you go Priest; you deal with this media frenzy.

By the way, I solved the BCS and created a DI-A playoff system. But that’s a story for tomorrow.

Too Much to Ask

2004-11-24T13:41:00.000-08:00

Last night I was witness to one of the most disheartening losses of my sports fan life. My alma mater, the mighty Bowling Green Falcons, lost to those thugs from Toledo 49-41. We were up 27-7 at halftime. That's a 20 point lead, 20! And it was all gone and we were down be 8 by the end of the 3rd quarter. I have to blame this loss squarely on the shoulders of our defense. I mean honestly, if you score 41 points you should win the game. Our D gave up 28 in the 3rd quarter and couldn't stop UT on a 4th and 2 that would have given us the ball back down by 8 with 2 minutes to play.

The offense was great. Omar Jacobs threw for over 400 yards and 4 tds, and no picks. That means for the regular season (let's hope there's a bowl season) he threw 36 tds and 3 picks. That's a 12 to 1 ratio. And this kid is a sophomore. Its a crime that he's not a finalist for the Davey O'Brien Award. PJ Pope ran for 98 and had 10 catches for 134 and 2 scores. He did everything that the best RB in the MAC should do to help his team win. It's too bad he couldn't play defense. It really was ridiculous. How many times has it happened in NCAA history that you have a qb throw for over 400 yards, 3 receivers over 90 yards, and a tailback over 95 yards and still lose the game? If you have any defense at all it shouldn't happen. Obviously some UT fraternity guys jumped out D at halftime, tied them up and dropped them in the ghetto and then put on their jersey's and mascarated as our D in the 2nd half. What a joke.

I guess it was just too much to ask for my teams to go 3-0 in big rivalry games. And this did happen the last time we went to the Glass Bowl in 2002, but it wasn't quite this drastic. BG was up 24-21 at half and lost 42-24. For some reason it seems that Fat Tom Amsteutz is a great halftime adjuster despite his turkey neck.

So now the Falcon nation holds our collective breath to see if we get a bowl at 8-3. If not, it will be the 3rd time in 4 years that we get bypassed. And all 4 seasons we had 8 wins or more. BG has 36 wins in the last 4 years and to this point have 1 bowl bid to show for it. No other team in the nation can make that claim. Its not hard to understand why Urban Meyer jumped at the chance to get out of the MAC.

But now that my stress game is out of the way for this week, I am looking forward to the greatest football weekend of the year, yes, Thanksgiving. Food and football, I don't know if it gets any better. And the football weekend is 4 days long. 4 days of football. College and pro, God what a great country. I'm looking forward to gorging myself Thursday then falling asleep while Peyton Manning throws 6 tds against the Lions. Then I'll wake up in time to watch part of the Bears and Boys, and I'll probably even watch most of the Backyard Brawl. Pitt and WVU don't get the credit they should for being a great rivalry. You're talking about a part of the country where football is life. Pittsburgh is a blue collar, nose to the grind stone kind of town that fell in love with football the first time it was played. And when you talk about WVU football you're talking about one of only two thing in the state of West Virginia. The other being Marshall football. There's a reason that these teams sell out every game and why Bowls jump all over them; because there's nothing else to do in that state.

Do you know what one of the greatest ways to break up a work day is? Go to 7-11 and get a Slurpee. It just makes the rest of the day great. And if you're not mixing your Slurpee flavors you're missing the boat.

I know that I have ranted in the past about the Browns inemptitude during the draft, but it must be something about Cleveland teams because the Cavs haven't been much better. Since Jim Paxson has taken over the team we have had some bad picks. BAD. Diop, Mihm, and Wagner just to name a few. About the only one he got right was LeBron and that's because that was put on a silver platter right in front of him. This is the same organization that during one draft (1986) picked Brad Daugherty (Cavs all-time scoring leader), Mark Price (NBA career free throw % leader), and Ron Harper (4 or 5 time NBA champ). What the hell happened?

I work for the Washington Nationals. And over the last 2 years I really got the feeling that the Expos were the red headed stepkids of MLB. You know, everybody laughs and makes fun of us and we get overlooked for everything. Its why I coined the phrase "You start talkin' bad about the 'Spos, I'm gonna start throwin' blows." But the royal screw job came this year to probably the nicest guy on the team. Mike Matheny won the Catchers Gold Glove this year for the NL. That's great, he's a very good defensive catcher, but in my opinion he won it on reputation. Brian Schneider should have won that award. He was the only regular catcher in the majors to throw out 50% of baserunners (no one else was even close), he made 2 errors (to Matheny's 1), and had 4 passed balls (to Matheny's 2). Oh, and by the way he started 15 more games than Matheny, caught 137 more innings, had 74 more chances, recorded 72 more putouts, and was in on 6 more double plays. And he had to do this becuase our backup catcher was a bum. Ask any ML catcher if 137 innings is a lot, and what kind of wear that puts on your body. Going into August Schneider hadn't made an error. Obviously the two he made in the last 2 months were from fatigue. Yet he still only made 2! Hey Rawlings, open your eyes. Maybe they'll get it right next year when Schneider's playing in that media frenzy that will be DC.

And finally, I'm glad that Grant Hill is back playing well in the NBA. He's the kind of classy guy that this league full of show boaters and maniacs needs. You can definitely tell his father has had a big impact on him. Calvin Hill was always a gritty, hard working, class act in his days in the NFL. And any guy that was part of the Kardiac Kids I have to love. So keep on keepin' on Grant. And if he does, watch out for the Magic.

That's it...have a happy Turkey Day.

What a Weekend

2004-11-22T10:43:00.000-08:00

I proudly will admit that I was wrong. I honestly didn't think that Ohio State had much, if any, chance against Michigan. I mean seriously. Our offense has been bad, our defense not great, and the only thing we had going was good special teams play. Talk about picking your spots. The offense played like they did when Hoying and George were in the backfield and Galloway and Glenn were running post patterns. The defense shut down the Big 10's leading rusher. And I mean to the tune of 61 yards shut down. And our special teams were as good as they have ever been (but that should be a given with Jim Tressel as your coach).

37-21!!!

37 freaking points!!! Against a good veteran defense. The Buckeyes finally fulfilled the potential that had given them a top 10 preseason ranking. And it was pretty obvious that Dick Tressel (Jim's crazy and liberal brother) had a say in the offense. Each time we lined up Michigan looked confused. Running and pointing all over the field. It was great. This is the type of offense that Troy Smith was born to play in. Let him run and create, that's when he's at his best.

A few points that became glaringly obvious during this game. Troy Smith is the qb for this team. He leads on the field, he never looks shaken (even under heavy pressure which happened quite a bit Saturday), and he can make a play out of nothing. His long run in the 3rd quarter took the wind out of UM for good. On 3rd and 8 UM wrapped up every OSU receiver, but one problem, no spy for #10. 38 yards later it was 1st and 10 and we eventually scored a TD. I was a huge Justin Zwick fan in the preseason. And I think he can still be a good qb. But during his starts he just looked lost and frazzled. And it showed. He constantly threw behind receivers and doesn't have the same ability to run that Smith has.

Ted Ginn, Jr. has to be mentioned in the same breath as Peterson and Hart as one of the best freshman in the nation. He has great field awareness and did I mention that he runs like a gazelle. His punt return in the 3rd quarter was awesome. I was sitting in my office watching the game (thanks Jesus) with 2 of my co-workers. They were preoccupied looking at the Pacers-Detroit fan fight from the night before on my computer. After Ginn made the first guy miss I tapped one of them on the back and his reaction was the same as mine...GONE! Wait until he's playing both sides of the ball next year. He WILL be a Heisman Candidate. He'll make Chris Gamble look like a bum. Oh, and he's Smith's go to high school buddy. Anytime he needs to hit a big throw he looks for Ginn. Works for me.

Troy Smith was finally able to get the ball to Santonio Holmes. Smith's focus has been on Ginn since he took over as the starter. But Holmes is the best pure receiver on that team and he showed it Saturday. Now if we could just get Ryan Hamby (only the best TE in the Big 10) involved we'd be great.

The defense finally played like its capable of playing. And was it coincidence that three of our starting dbs were back from injury. Dustin Fox did get burnt twice by Braylon Edwards, but it was in the 4th quarter when the game was basically over, and it is Braylon Edwards. Nate Salley and Donte Whitner made big plays and big hits all day. You can't under estimate the impact that 2 experienced safties can have on a defense. It allows everyone else to cut it loose because they know that there are two guys back there that can cover any mistakes.

One tendency that I have noticed since Mike D'Andrea got hurt is that Anthony Schlegel has a lot of problems getting off blocks. Apparently Big 10 blockers are a little bigger and more physical than Mountain West blockers. I don't know why John Kerr hasn't gotten a chance to play (he could have gotten hurt in practice and I missed it) . Indiana maybe a cellar dweller, but it's still the Big 10.

With all of this said it looks like the Bucks will end up in El Paso on New Year's Eve playing in the Sun Bowl. Not great after playing in the Fiesta the last two years, but when you figure that we started 0-3 in conference play I'll take it. We will play the Pac 10 #3 team. Which as of now could be one of 3 teams. Arizona State, UCLA, or Oregon State. Of these 3 I would much rather play UCLA b/c of their lack of a veteran qb, but they have to beat USC to get in, not gonna happen. So its either going to be Andrew Walter (ASU) or Derek Anderson (OSU). 2 senior, successful qbs who will want to go out as winners. Walter hung 44 on the Iowa D in September. The same D that held Ohio St. to 7. Scary. But ASU has no running game, and if there's one thing the Buckeyes can do is handle the pass attack (bend but don't break). ASU finishes up with Arizona so you never know what could happen.

Moving onto Sunday. The Browns are an awful team. We just can't put it all together on the same Sunday. The defense was great the entire game. When you only surrender 10 points in an NFL game you're doing something right. And that something was blitzing on Sunday. Dave Campo finally figured out that our front four isn't very good and we finally got pressure on a qb. But as good as the defense was the offense was equally bad. 7 points. That's ridiculous. And Phil Dawson missed 2, yes 2 field goals. He hadn't missed 1 all season. And he missed from 42 and 37, very makeable and in his range. That team kills me.

Congratulions to the Gators and Ron Zook. They won for the first time at FSU since 1986 and Zook will leave Gainsville as a favorite among his players and most fans. In my mind when Spurrier quit the UF hiring crew knew that the coach that follows a legend never does well. With that in mind they went with a guy that was relatively unknown but had UF ties. A sacrificial lamb if you will. With the talent he has there is no reason this UF team shouldn't be in the BCS hunt. In my opinion, he's too much of a players coach and not enough of a disciplinarian. And you can see it on the field with all of the stupid penalties. Its the same reason that Mike Tice will never win a title in Minnesota. Lack of DISCIPLINE!

I don't mind end zone cameras, but please don't show me live play from that vantage point. I think Joe McGrail summed it up best Saturday when he said "There's a reason why 50 yard line tickets are the most expensive." I have no problem with seeing a replay from the end zone. But I want to see the entire game from the sideline cam.

And finally. My alma mater takes on the hated Toledo Rockets Tuesday night on ESPN2. I don't think that I could be more excited for this game. We NEED to win to keep our slim bowl hopes alive. And as an added bonus it would keep UT from winning the West. But the Glass Bowl has not been kind to us the last couple of trips. 2002 42-24 and 2000 51-17. Of course the 2000 game was BU (before Urban). This team has the fire power to beat any mid level opponent and give any big school a game (ask Oklahoma). If we win tomorrow night it will put my 3 biggest rivalries at the amateur level at a 3-0 record. New Philadelphia H.S. over Dover High 21-20 in their 100th meeting, OSU over UM 37-21, and my BG over UT prediction...BG 48-UT 27. Omar Jacobs throws 4 tds and PJ Pope runs wild through the UT secondary for 150 yards and a couple of scores. Our special teams WILL make a big play. Either a turnover or a big return. They've been doing it all year and it won't stop tomorrow. This is one of the best rivalries for my money. You can fit a lot of hatred into 20 miles and Tuesday night it will all spill onto the turf at the Glass Bowl.

GO FALCONS!!!