Four score

The Final Four has arrived—Kentucky, Louisville, Ohio State (R.I.P. Syracuse) and Kansas. From the outside, there are no surprises in those teams. But take a closer look. Only one is a No. 1 seed. Louisville doesn’t have a superstar. Kentucky has Anthony Davis, but not John Wall. Ohio State has Jared Sullinger, but no Oden/Conley/Cook. And Kansas doesn’t have its collection of superstars from years past, “just” Thomas Robinson. But all these teams have a collection of players and a formula that allowed them to reach the Final Four over every other team in the nation. Sometimes, we see a player like Kemba Walker take over the spotlight. Other times, we see a team come together like Duke at just the right time. Who knows what the case will be this year. But either way, it will be a deserving team. It’s a lot harder than it looks these days to become a champion.

Thisclose

The NBA has canceled all November games. Surprise. But enough about the NBA. The league isn’t doing anyone any good. How about baseball? In all fairness, I hadn’t watched much of the postseason or the World Series until Game 6. But that game reminded me about why baseball is such a great sport. And it’s one whose games aren’t being canceled! Texas was one out away from a title twice, and blew the game to the Cardinals. Then the Rangers lost Game 7. Heartbreaking, yes, but great games. In other news, go find yourself a copy of the latest Dime Magazine. John Wall is on the cover, fittingly, considering the past few months of crazy pickup games he’s had. Time to go watch Syracuse lose to a sub-.500 Louisville team after destroying a ranked West Virginia team. Oh, the unpredictability of college football.

When in doubt, don’t

Now, I’m not looking to jinx Syracuse here. I’m just looking to set some things straight. First off, there have been many doubters (myself included) about Syracuse’s chances to go all the way. Granted, I still think it’s Kansas’ tourney to lose, but Syracuse is awfully close. People are saying Syracuse may not beat Gonzaga, or Pitt, or Kansas State, or whoever. Yes, Arinze Onuaku may be out for a little, and yes, the team did lose two straight to end the season, but this is a team that was ranked number one just a week and a half ago. They hardly lost at all before last week and dominated in all aspects of the game much of the time. They are a team that beat Georgetown twice, demolished Villanova, and beat West Virginia, one of the hottest teams right now. Syracuse did not lose to a team that was bad. They lost to Pitt, Louisville and G’town. Meanwhile, I can’t think of another team that lost to only solid teams. Not even Kansas, who is the favorite by many to win it all. So, am I a little worried about Syracuse’s future? Yes. But will I be after they crush Vermont this Friday and later whoever else comes in their way? No. Let the doubters remain. We’ll catch them by surprise. Then they’ll wish they never underestimated Syracuse basketball.

He'll be back.

[At] a loss [for words]

I saw this coming. Am I a little surprised that Louisville beat Syracuse today? Yes. But am I really that shocked? Not really. Syracuse struggled to beat a mediocre DePaul team, and had similar struggles against Georgetown, Providence, Cincinnati and UCONN, but were lucky enough to win all of those games. But the magic ran out against Louisville. Once again, the Orange started strong and had key runs but failed at important times. For all the talk about the Louisville press, I saw a Louisville team that simply out-rebounded the Orange. Syracuse had some key threes here and there and made some good stops, but could not hit the shots at the end, or stop any of Louisville’s scorers for that matter. The ‘Cuse isn’t invincible anymore. They should have won this game, but they didn’t. I hope they can get back on track and beat Georgetown in their next game, but I don’t know. If we can do that though, then we are still worthy of our number two ranking, one that is sure to slip at five or below come tomorrow. Not that rankings are super important, but I valued them as a measuring stick for this year’s team.

2005: March Madness

This was a year that I put into two categories. The first half, and the second half. Let’s start with the first half first, because that was mad (in terms of madness, as in march madness).

What I remember is the Elite 8. Every single one of those games was memorable except for UNC’s. Louisville played a classic game against West Virginia. This was where the term “Pittsnoogled” was created. The guy was off the charts from the three point line. But Louisville’s Francisco Garcia led the “Ville” to the Final Four along with….

Illinois, who came back from a lot down to beat Arizona. ‘Zona, led by Channing Frye, seemed like they had the win in the bag. But Illinois, led by Dee Brown, Deron Williams, Luther Head, Roger Powell and James Augustine stormed back and got the improbable win. And they deserved it, because they had the best record in all of college basketball last year.

And then there was the night game. March of 2008. Kentucky vs. Michigan State. It was tight for a while, and Michigan State seemed bound to win at the end of regulation. But Kentucky’s Patrick Sparks made a three pointer to tie the game and send it to OT. Or did he? Was his toe on the line? His shoe size may have helped him here. After the shot was analyzed for a full five minutes, it counted. Michigan State won in overtime, and joined UNC, Louisville, and Illinois in the Final Four. UNC, led by a great team of Sean May, (who I saw play a couple of years before), Raymond Felton, Jawad and Marvin Williams, Jackie Noel and Rashad McCants, beat Illinois for the title.

In June, new Net Vince Carter led the team to the playoffs in the last game of the season. They lost to eventual champion Heat in the first round, but VC had a shot in one of the games to force OT.

Now, the second half. Of the year. I went to my first and only NFL game. The Ravens played the Browns. It was pretty cool….and purple.

And then the year ended, and 2006 came…which is up next!

Now that’s UGLY

"The Ville" is really scary!

This is how pitiful the Syracuse-Louisville game is. The “Play of the game” is a play that got called off. A Louisville player had a kick return for a TD but it was nullified because his knee hit the ground. But it was good enough for play of the game in this ugly 9-3 score. I’m sure both of these schools are thanking themselves that their basketball programs make up for the utter lack of competence in football.

We had one last chance, down 10-9. I told Greg Paulus not to throw the ball because he would throw an interception. And we did he do, throw the ball. And what did he throw?An interception. Season over. We suck.

No news is good news…that’s not happening here

After a summer drought, sports news finally seems to be heating up. And it’s not all good. You be the judge: Michael Vick joins the Eagles, Plaxico Burress is going to jail for two years, Brett Favre joins the Vikings. Stephen Strasburg signs with the Nats. Memphis loses its final four appearance. And that’s all within the last three days. Only one of those seems good to me, and that’s the Strasburg signing. It looks good for now at least. Favre is starting to annoying me, I don’t really have an interest in  Vick, and I will miss Plax’s services to the Giants. But he has to pay for what he did. Memphis is an interesting case. Can you imagine if Mario Chalmers hadn’t hit that three to win the title game for Kansas? Memphis would have won. Then who would be given the championship? Glad that was avoided. I’m just glad I am not going to Memphis or Louisville (with Rick Pittino’s issues). Who knows what’s going on in their offices.

For my Mets update, not much has changed. Billy Wagner is healthy, but the Mets may be looking to trade him. David Wright’s outlook doesn’t seem to bright. Livan Hernandez was released.

In Syracuse news, which there has been a lot of, Greg Paulus is starting at QB. Honestly, even if he can’t get the team to respectability, he brought back some buzz to the program, which isn’t a bad thing. And it’s not like he is bad. Also, in 2012, USC is coming to the Meadowlands (the new one) to play Syracuse. Anyone want to get tickets to that game?

The three M’s: Money, Motocrossed, and Memphis

Yesterday I read an article in Sports Illustrated regarding money and sports. Money obviously remains a huge issue in the world, especially now due to the economy. But these athletes were struggling before this year. Too many athletes do not manage their money effectively. A million here, a million there, it’s all just pennies to them. They need to start learning how money works- it’s time to grow up. And then maybe they wouldn’t have to sell their million dollar homes. Then again, why should some of them grow up? Aren’t 22 year olds still kids? Thats my two cents on athletes and money. Maybe some athletes will give you their “2 million” on how they plan to manage their salaries.

On another note, I was recently watching some Disney Channel Original Movies. No, not High School Musical and all of those dumb ones currently being played. I’m talking about ones from the late 90s and early 2000s. The ones I watched in elementary school, like Motocrossed, Phantom of the Megaplex, and Brink. There are soo many more good ones but I won’t get into them because I would probably lose half of my audience at that point. Basically, sometimes oldies are better than newbies.

On a last note, I am kind of glad that Memphis lost last night. They were not really proven, and they bothered me for no reason. I also can’t believe Duke lost. I mean, Duke is kind of whimpy so I was expecting it. I originally had them in my final four but I had them there on the basis that they would be playing UCLA. AU was supposed to beat Villanova (which they almost did. that is amazing now). UCLA was supposed to win and lose to Duke. Oh well. I’ve got UCONN, Louisville, and UNC left.

Tick-tock back and forth. Clocks are made of Steel, not feathers!

Some thoughts on last night’s game: Both teams had valid chances to win the game. The Steelers just happened to take advantage of their last one. The commercials were down. I was expecting more. Bruce Springsteen was pretty good, especially with his oldies. Read the first few paragraphs of the game article on the front page of the Post. That sums up the game quite well. Now, on to next season. Can never start too early! The Giants better rebound, but I’m not sure. The Cardinals could be really good, or mediocre. The Steelers will probably always be good with Big Ben and their D. Some other teams to watch: The Pats (but with Tom Brady this time). We will see if he returns healthy and gets back to his true form. If he does, then the Patriots will be good. Dangerously good. (But not 19-0). Peyton Manning’s teams are always consistently good. Also, the NFC East could very well be a four team race. The Skins will want to erase this year’s memories, and the Eagles and Cowboys will be very hungry. Grrr. Okay, I’ve had enough football for one week. Tonight in men’s college hoops, Louisville plays host to UCONN. UCONN is pretty beast, but Louisville is undefeated in Big East play and playing at home. Tough pick. I’ll go against the home team. In this week’s Sports Illustrated, will we see the ten millionth Steelers cover in the last month. Gosh, I am getting drowned in gold and black. The Giants had a run of three consecutive covers last year, but blue and red is alright. Or maybe it was the Giants that were alright. I actually enjoyed the dull brown cover of last week’s issue. But it would have been better if Jason Kidd was on the front instead of LeBron. Speaking of the all-star game (wait, I don’t think I was, but who really cares). Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, AI? Come on. It’s wayyyy past their time. Let the youngins’ start the game.