Bend it like Britain

My game at Fulham's cozy Craven Cottage, one of the Premier League's smallest stadiums.

As I embark on my final week abroad in London, I can safely say that I have been exposed to a whole different sports world. And I can also say that despite my increasing acceptance for “football,” I still prefer American sports to British sports. Still, I have a newfound appreciation for the sport that we call soccer and they call football. I now root for teams called “Chelsea” and “Tottenham” and “Fulham.” No “ManU” or “Arsenal” though. As for rugby, still no interest. Cricket? Forget it. Renewed interest in golf, tennis or other Olympic sports? No. But I am proud to support the best football league in the world, the English Premier League. I was lucky to go to a Fulham game and experience a diving event in the same building where the Olympic events will take place. I got to see Wembley and Wimbledon, along with the Olympic site. I got to watch the Giants win the Super Bowl on the BBC, and I watched Syracuse advance to the Elite 8 on my computer! I’ve realized that “footballers” here are ALL worshipped at a Tebow-esque level. You root for Tottenham or Arsenal. Not both. ManU or Man City. Not both. Can UK sports compare to American ones? Not in my opinion. But you can sure bet a Brit would disagree. It’s been fun following the British sports culture these past few months. But I’ll be happy to pick up my Washington Post sports section and see some basketball. I can only take the British soccer coverage for so long. 

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. 

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.

From the east to the atlantic coast? Sounds the same. But it doesn’t act the same.

Get an updated logo please.

Okay, what’s going on here. Football teams that are supposed to be losing are winning and vice versa. Syracuse is moving to the ACC. Oh, where to start…. How about Indy, where if I was a Colts fan I’d be very, very worried. Kerry Collins is in no way, shape or form any reincarnation of Peyton Manning. I wish the Colts the best of luck on the season. Boy do they need it. A new QB probably wouldn’t hurt either. In other news, the Redskins are 2-0. Means nothing. Neither does 3-0. Get to 4-0, then we’re talking.

And now, to the biggest news of the day—Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC. Okay, let’s put Pitt aside for a second. Because no one cares about them. They’re clearly second-fiddle in these discussions. Why? Because by leaving the Big East, Syracuse, a founding member, is essentially allowing the conference to sink into a pile of nothingness. First off, we don’t know how long this process will take. Could be a couple years. But let’s look at both angles here. First, the easy part. The cons. And of course, with both of these conferences being basketball heavy (although probably not wanting to admit it), bball comes to my mind first. So Syracuse can say bye to conference games against Georgetown. Bye to the Garden and Big East tournament. Bye to a founding legacy!! Okay, enough drama. They’ll get over it all, and the ACC will probably weasel its way into the Garden somehow. Do I feel bad for the Big East? Sure. But not that bad. It was kind of annoying with half the schools being bball and half football. And Notre Dame just for bball. So now we get to the pros. SU can play UNC and Duke. And Maryland (for my sake). Football (which is most likely at the core of all of this transfer despite these being bball schools) won’t be an improvement as ‘Cuse will be leaving the worst big football conference for the second worst. But, the ACC is now very stable (although the Big East was before ‘Cuse and Pitt decided to leave). Regardless, there are mixed feelings here, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s still thinking about this move. Thoughts??

Sinking ship

I was never completely enthralled with this group of Syracuse basketball. Last season, I knew they were something special. This season, ehh. Yet they somehow managed to go 18-0. But now, after three straight losses, there are some serious issues here. This team needs help if they want to win in March. I don’t know what it will be. But getting blown out by Seton Hall is destructive. Absolutely awful. I don’t even care about the rankings anymore. They really don’t matter. What matters is that this team gets back to playing good basketball. Last season is over. Time to forge a new path this season. And not the one they’re on right now. Because right now they’re walking the plank thanks to Seton Hall.

Everyone's looking down. Even the walk-on (yes, the one that's playing).

Defining moments

I feel like I say this at the end of every year, but I honestly do believe this was another great year in sports. The World Cup stands out most in mind as a defining moment. It seemed as though all eyes were focused on soccer for that one summer month. It was not the best year for the Nets, Mets, and Giants, but the Giants at least have hope. I’ll leave every other form of sports media to recap the year for you. There’s a lot. I just have one more shout out and that is to the Syracuse Orange football team. They won their bowl game today against Kansas State. Miraculous. So many times the radio announcer reminded everyone what a laughingstock Syracuse football used to be. But it’s true. And for the team to have won a bowl game, well, that’s just exceptional and amazing.

Let the big boys roll

I’ve been nice to the mid-majors in college football. I backed Boise State because they played a decent enough schedule to warrant a high ranking and I stuck up for them after their only loss of the season. But when it comes to college basketball, I’m not sure I can say the same. Mid-majors deserve credit for their big-time non-conference wins. But when conference play starts, I don’t want to see No. 7 San Diego State jump No. 5 Syracuse if SD St. wins and SU loses. Because even if SD St. were to have the better record, they would have been building their record against the likes of TCU and Utah. Meanwhile, Syracuse and every other Big East team faces a top 10 team practically every night. You just have to hope that the RPI is on your side. For Big East teams, it better be. The Big East this season is reminiscent of the 2008-2009 season, when it was a major power conference. Enough about the Big Ten being the best conference in everything. The Big East, even if they do have 16 teams, has the ultimate power in basketball. It’s their court.

My bad

http://racmar91.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/reality-bites/

Yeah, I guess I better eat my dust.

Unfinished business? Better get on that.

With Johnson and Rautins gone, the rest of the crew needs to step up their game.

Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim has already called this year’s team one of his most overrated. Can’t say I disagree. This team has not won any of its first four games easily like it should have. Let’s go back to last year. The team had lost its top 3 players, expectations were low. And what did ‘Cuse do? Reel off 13 straight wins en route to a number one ranking and No. 1 seed in an NCAA tournament they should have won. Last year’s team was special, and that became evident after they shocked Cal and UNC in an early-season tournament at MSG. Now let’s get back to this year. We lost out three best players again, but this team is less experienced than last year’s. So they won’t be as dominant. But I’m not gonna lie, this team has me worried. They play Michigan tonight, and Michigan is looking at this game as a measuring stick for their team, just as SU did with Cal, UNC and Florida last year. UCONN already looks like the SU of last year, going from unheralded to upsetting ranked teams. This SU team better get it together. They’re not special yet, but they can be. They just have to figure themselves out.