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.

We’re number one! We’re number one!

Bam.

In the midst of finals, reading and papers craziness, I took five minutes of my time to catch the end of the Indiana-Kentucky game. I watched Kentucky make a free throw to go up by two points. And then, unranked Indiana came running down the court against the No. 1 Wildcats. A Hoosier drove inside and then kicked the ball out to his teammate for the 3. In, and it wins the game by one point. Swish. Hysteria. Yes, in it went. And that is how you win a basketball game. Probably one of the best ways to win one (besides a desperation heave). Props to Indiana for the win. And with that win, and Ohio State’s loss (UK and OSU are the “No 1.” and “No. 2″ teams in the nation to “No. 3″ Syracuse), SU moves in prime position to take over the top spot come Monday’s new rankings. Of course the ‘Cuse won today, to stay undefeated and snatch up our deserved No. 1 ranking. The stars align. Now rankings don’t matter til the end, but it’s a nice ego boost. This ranking won’t be as special as two years ago when Syracuse beat a top-10 Villanova team in front of a record crowd and the top two teams also lost as SU became No. 1 on March 1. But it’s pretty nice to say you go to the best damn basketball school in the country. Pundits aside: Syracuse is No.1. 

Tainted

If I was a college football player, I wouldn’t even consider going near two of the most prestigious programs right now: USC and Ohio State. Today, USC was stripped of its 2004 title. This comes after OSU’s Jim Tressel resigned from the Buckeyes. Both programs are two of the biggest names in the sport, and putting the infractions and technicalities aside, it’s really unfortunate for fans. One perspective that no one really considers, though, is that of the students. Not the athletes, but the students. The fans that deal with the school every day. USC students watched their football team last year knowing it had no chance of making a bowl game (and will do the same this upcoming season) even if it goes undefeated. And the students are innocent, like many of the players. At Ohio State, the people paying for season tickets get to watch an OSU team with an interim head coach, minus star QB Terrelle Pryor for five games. It sucks the fun out of the college game. And that’s just a shame.

Keep on dancing

No Tournament today. The first day in four days without madness. And madness it has been. I’ve always said how unpredictable the NCAA Tournament is, but some of the upsets this year I really could not have predicted. But I guess that’s why it’s called March Madness.

A team dominates one day and loses the next. It happens every year. Winning by 20 in a second round game means nothing. You can easily lose in the next round. Yeah, Ohio State just dominated, but that doesn’t make them unbeatable. Pretty sure Kansas had a great opener last year and we all know what happened after that. The thing I don’t like about the Tournament is that its win or go home. I know that’s the best method with all these teams, but really? You build up all this stuff during the regular season and I guess you get a good seed. But it doesn’t matter if you lose. You’re done. Over. See you next year.

The Big East has failed. Two out of 11 teams are left. They use all their energy during the conference schedule, while teams in the SEC, ACC, Pac-10, Big Ten—okay, basically every other conference, dance around. Love it or hate it, it is what it is.

The day the mighty ones fell

Ohio State. Yankees. Phillies. Syracuse. Okay, maybe not Syracuse. But on Saturday all of these teams lost. Ohio State, who in my opinion was not even worthy of the No.1 spot after Alabama lost last weekend, lost to Wisconsin. The Phillies and perfectionist Roy Halladay lost. So did the Yankees. And then we come to Syracuse. For some reason, because Syracuse beat USF last weekend, everyone thought that they were pretty good. I guess people forgot about their blowout loss to a 2-3 Washington team. Yes, they are better than last year. But not better than Pitt, even if Pitt was 2-3 going into the game. Hail to the underdogs.

Fall of the tide

Am I surprised that Alabama lost to South Carolina just one week after manhandling Florida? No. Sure, they looked invincible against Florida, but this happens all the time. A team looks good, but loses. Happened to Florida last year. And for Ohio State, the new No. 1, it will probably happen to them too. A team that isn’t getting all the attention will come out of nowhere and surprise us. So is South Carolina a good team? Not better than Alabama, even if they beat them. But now we know that ‘Bama isn’t invincible. And neither is USF because Syracuse beat them! Huge win for Syracuse. Of course we still can’t compete with the Big Ten, Pac 10, and SEC guys, but we are improving. They actually beat a decent team, although USF looked bad throughout much of the game. If SU can beat Pitt next week, then we can talk.

With the number three pick in the NBA Draft, the New Jersey Nets select…

Ever since the Nets got the number three pick in the draft, it has been assumed that they would pick Derrick Favors, a forward out of Georgia Tech. It seemed to be common knowledge that John Wall and Evan Turner would go numbers one and two, respectively, to the Wizards and the 76ers. But now reports have surfaced that the Sixers maybe be interested in Favors, leaving Turner on the table for the Nets.

I’ve always been a fan of the big names in the draft. Players that have proven themselves in college. Like Evan Turner. Not Derrick Favors. Now, there have been plenty of college busts and plenty of great players who didn’t do much in college. But that is my belief.

If the Nets got Turner, it would be ridiculous. I almost like him more than Wall. Who anointed Wall as the number one pick anyway?

With that being said, I’ll take anyone that will make the Nets better. But I still want Turner over Favors. Even if he went to Ohio State.

Three straight may be asking too much

A winning streak it is. A winning streak that just so happened to tie a record that was so bad, yet so good at the same time. The Nets beat the Pistons for their second straight win and first winning streak of the season. They also picked up their 9th win. So if the streak refuses to continue, we are at least guaranteed a tie of the worst record ever. Whew. That was a close one.

In other news, Ohio State lost today. Another one bites the dust. But Duke still won, so the tournament hasn’t gone completely insane. Yet. Only Butler remains out of the cinderellas. So here is a breakdown of the Elite Eight. I’d hardly call them elite though:

Kentucky- Saw their news cameras outside the dome today. They probably had so much coverage here because nothing actually happens in Kentucky.

West Virginia- Syracuse beat them. They are overrated.

Michigan State- Not as good as last year’s team.

Tennessee- Our orange is better.

Butler-Bull[****]dogs.

Kansas State- Currently the best of Kansas. Behind Topeka CC, of course.

Duke- I actually don’t hate them at all.

Baylor- Dark horse?

The case of Tim Tebow

I remember back in 2006, when the Florida Gators were near the top of college football, but not quite up to par with the Ohio States and USCs of the world. Throughout the season, they were led by a guy named Chris Leak, who was a very good quarterback. Occasionally at goal line stands and in other situations, Leak would be replaced by the freshman Tim Tebow, who was a different kind of quarterback. At the end of that season, Florida destroyed the favorite Ohio St. in the national championship behind the co-quarterback tandem of Leak and Tebow. The following year, Tebow was out of Leak’s shadow and won the Heisman trophy. The next year, Florida won the nat’l championship again behind Tebow, who at that point was perhaps the most well-known college football player. And then this past year, Tebow narrowly missed another Heisman and another nat’l championship. He did, however, succeed in preserving his legacy as one of the best college football players of all time. He is known not just for his football skills, but for his personality and aura. C’mon. He is Tim Tebow. But now comes the NFL, and he is questionable. In the NFL, like many sports, college success does not equate professional success. We have seen examples before of college stars who are busts and unknowns who become stars. We really don’t know what will happen to Tebow until a few seasons play out. But I’d take him. He needs to prove that his success in college will equate to success in the NFL. Hopefully he’s one of those cases.

It’s been a while…

The world has returned to normal. No, the economy is not fixed. No, Britney isn’t back. Well wait, maybe she is. Anyways, the reason why there is peace on earth (or lack thereof actually) is the Yankees. They are back in the World Series, a place where they annually belonged for much of my early childhood. It has been a long six years, full of collapses (2004) and messes (2008). 2003 was the last time the Yankees were in a World Series and 2000 was the last time they won a World Series. Let’s look back at 2003, the last time they were in the position they are in now. I was in 6th/7th grade, and didn’t even know who Josh Beckett was. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won best picture for 2003, with the event being held a year later. We went to war with Iraq (some things haven’t changed). Ohio State beat Miami for the title in college football. The Bucaneers beat the Raiders (some things have changed) in the Super bowl. And the Spurs beat my beloved Nets in the NBA Finals. LOST had not yet started. The human genome project was completed. Vancouver was announced as the host for next year’s Winter Olympics. Arnold Schwarzenegger was declared governor of CA. Technology was pitiful compared to how it is nowadays. There was no twitter and (gasp!) no Facebook. The first “Pirates” movie came out, along with 50 First Dates, The Passion of the Christ, Kill Bill, Holes, Finding Nemo (he was found), Freaky Friday (when Lindsay Lohan was normal), School of Rock, Bruce Almighty, Elf, The Matrix Reloaded, and Scary Movie 3 (This year had some good movies! And some not so hot ones too). That’s all I’m going to talk about 2003, because after all, it was only six years ago.