For those of you who haven’t followed the World Cup, or tuned into SportsCenter for at least the past week, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez saved his team from a certain World Cup exit against Ghana - when he deliberately used his hands, while standing on the goal line, late in a tie game with Ghana in the quarterfinals, thereby preventing what would certainly have been the winning goal… at least for a few moments. (more…)
So last weekend, my father-in-law and I go to The Travelers, a PGA tournament held in northern CT each year. Been around a long time, good tournament. They don’t get all the top players, but do get a fair sampling. I believe I hear 8 of the top-20 (something like that) - not bad for what is fairly considered more of a “lesser” tournament on the Tour. We decide not to follow any specific group, but rather take a route that covers several of the better holes on the course - and in so doing, expect to see many (if not all) of the golfers on the day. Fine.
We’re sitting off the 2nd green (good spot - as you can also see the 4th green, and the 3rd tee). Right in front of us walks this hot… check that, really hot… check that, ab-so-lutely sa-moke-in’ hot young lady. Being males, we both noticed immediately (as did the rest of the gallery, one would assume). (more…)
Last week, Jonathon Broxton of the Dodgers came into a game with the Yankees in the 9th inning with a 4 run lead. The Yankees scored 4 runs to tie it up. (Yankees won in extra innings) Broxton did not get a blown save. It wasn’t a “save situation” originally, therefore there was no “save” to officially blow.
So even though he blew the game for his team in the ninth inning, he still “only” has 2 blown saves on the season. Yup… makes perfect sense to me.
So apparently there is great debate over whether Strasburg should go to this year’s All-Star Game or not. Given the givens, I don’t understand why. He clearly should go. Let me ’splain: (more…)
So Lebron, Bosh and Wade may or may not have had a “Summit” in Miami last weekend and/or they may or may not have spoken/met previously and/or since. The papparazzi are all abuzz because it appears as though these top FAs may be colluding and conspiring to play together and form a “superteam”. What amazes me is some folks seem genuinely upset about this. To wit: (more…)
“Who fucking cares?”
If there was ever a gimmie pounder bet, it would have been that USC football would be suffering some NCAA sanctions. This is a true tragedy ONLY in the sense that Pete Carroll will not suffer any consequences from his misbehavior. I heard talk this morning that we should feel for the current student-athletes at USC because they are absorbing the penalty from former athletes/coaches, but that is such a lame argument. First, it is likely that some if not all of the current team participated in the violations, and second, after the Reggie Bush scandel, it was quite clear that the potential for probation existed. Carroll should be fired from his NFL job immediately, and be forced to pay back some of his salary from USC. If the University is going to forfeit $$ from BCS appearances, then the coach who caused the situation, and benefited from it should also participate in the penalty…
I was walking down the street today and saw a young lady wearing a concert t-shirt from the Hall and Oates 1983 H2O tour. I recognized the shirt a block away, having purchased one myself when I saw them on that tour. They’re easily mocked, but for my money they had a great, soulful sound; not on the same plane as Muscle Shoals, but at least the equal of “The Sound of Philadelphia.”Anyhoo…
Hypothesis A - I have been transported back to the 1980s in some kind of - wait for it - hot tub time machine - has been disproved to my satisfaction. Which leaves Hypothesis B - the H2O tour t-shirt represents urban hipster douchebaggery run amok, or Hypothesis C - through some combination of merit and camp value, Hall and Oates have acquired young fans in the vein of the Tony Bennett renaissance a decade ago. Can anyone help me out on this?
Let’s start with Duke. They get a #1 seed. The first round game is against the play in winner…. the number 4 seed in the bracket is a Purdue team that has been in a free fall since losing Hummel, and they get by far the weakest #2 and #3 seeds in Villanova and Baylor. How is that possible? Why are they treated like the #1 overall team in the country? What did they do this year to deserve that? Did they have a single quality win the entire year? Pretty sure their best win was home against Maryland. Their best road win was at Clemson. They beat a very average Gonzaga team non-conference, but that is it. How does that warrant a #1 seed, let alone the #1 overall??? They lost all three of its tough games (@ Wisconsin, @ Georgetown and @ Maryland) Duke hasn’t made a run in the tourney for quite some time… perhaps that is why they are gifted the easiest draw I have seen…
I need to bitch a little about Va Tech. Yes, I like Cornell and Marquette more than Va Tech, but I still follow them very closely. For the third year in a row, they were one of the final 2-3 teams not to make the tourney. This year they didn’t make it largely because of a supposed weak non-conference schedule. The RPI formula is 75% based on strength of schedule, and 25% on how you actually perform against that schedule, and it killed Va Tech this year. Should that be the top criteria used by the committee…. No fricken’ way. Let’s compare California v. Va Tech. Cal got an at-large #8 seed. Let’s assume that the ACC was better than the Pac 10 this year (anyone wanting to argue that, let me know). Cal had a much better RPI because of its “difficult” non-conference schedule. Cal went 8-4 in the non-conference with the best win against Iowa State at home (a team that finished 11th in the Big 12). The four losses came against powerhouses Syracuse, Ohio State, Kansas and New Mexico - losing by a combined 51 points…i.e. they were not competitive in any of those games. They had one win against a tournament team when they beat Washington at home….and they got an 8 seed. Va Tech on the other hand went 12-1 in the non-conference, with the one loss @ Temple (a #5 seed in the NCAA). They played a lot of crappy teams, but they did schedule games @Iowa, @ Penn State, Seton Hall, and Georgia…. All teams for major conferences who have traditionally been respectable teams (OK, maybe not Penn State). In the conference schedule they beat Clemson, Wake Forest and @ Georgia Tech… all tourney teams. They lost in double OT to Maryland, and have the ACC conference player of the year in Delaney. They were also tied @ Duke with 5 minutes left in the game. How Cal is an 8 seed and Va Tech is in the NIT is joke.
So it seems a fait accompli that the Big Dance is going to 96 teams. I was annoyed when it went to 65, replete with the dumb play-in game, but whatever… what’s one inconsequential game in the grand scheme of things? Not enough to complain about. But 96 teams instead of 64… er, 65? Enough to complain about.