October Madness II in Review

Any fool can come close to predicting the NCAA field on Selection Sunday. This fool, however, tried to do so back in October when the season was just getting under way. Last season, I accurately predicted 32 of the 65 teams. This season, my goal was to guess 40 of the 68 teams and get 10 of the exact seeds. I dubbed it the 40-10 challenge.

Well the field was released this weekend, and the results for me were a mixed bag. I easily surpassed the 40 team test, getting 46 of the entries in the field—a 14 team improvement from last season—but I fell just shy of getting 10 seeds, accurately guessing 7 seeds and missing 12 of them by just one spot.

The best calls:

- Dear Duke, Tennessee, Wofford, Temple, UC Santa Barbara, Kansas, and Xavier: I’m not sure why you bothered playing those 30+ games when I could’ve told you on Halloween exactly where you’d end up. Some people just don’t listen.

- I predicted St.John’s would return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in ten years, and despite playing the toughest schedule in the country, they surpassed even my prediction of an 11 seed by snatching up the 6 in the Southeast Region.

- I also said Texas A&M would make the tourney behind Khris Middleton, something many other prognosticators deemed too difficult. Alas, I was only off by one regarding their seed.

- Having gone to Hofstra, I am very familiar with the Colonial and knew that they were potentially a multi-bid conference this year with George Mason and Old Dominion leading the way (although I too was surprised by VCU’s at-large bid.)

- I had Saint Mary’s as one of my first four out, and sure enough, that’s right where they ended up. Sorry, Gaels.

- Interestingly enough, 4 of the 5 guys on my “All Not Making The Tourney” Team ended up leading their teams into the tourney. At least I believed in the individuals even if I didn’t believe in their team.

More fun, what I screwed up:

- While I accurately called Kansas and Duke getting 1 seeds, my other top seeds didn’t work out quite as well. Michigan State never gelled on their way to getting a generous 10 seed, and Villanova, who looked like a legitimate title contender in early January, dropped 10 of their last 15 on their way to a 9 seed. Another gaffe was getting overzealous about a Memphis revival. I had them as a 3, but they just barely made it as a 12.

- I was right on saying the Big East was wide open (I predicted a record 9 teams would get a tourney bid), but I definitely whiffed when I said it was a down year as far as top talent, saying that the ACC was “tougher top to bottom.” Total NCAA entrants: ACC: 4 Big East: 11. Oops.

- Some teams I ranked highly didn’t even make the tournament. I had NC State and Minnesota as 5 seeds, though I also pointed out that the Gophers would “go as far as (point guard) Al Nolen would take them.” Lo and behold, Nolen was lost for the season in January and things went down hill from there. Last year I said Seton Hall would make it; they did not. This year I said I would not be wrong about them again, and, well, I was. Hey, not everyone from the Big East could make it. Same with Mississippi State, though I gave them a more-than-egregious 4 seed.

- I also was pleasantly surprised when my beloved Penn State Nittany Lions made the field for the first time since I was in high school thanks to a run to the Big Ten Tournament finals. Boston College also made it and Hofstra had a decent year, so in the future I may just keep not being a homer so that I don’t jinx them.

- Worst records by teams I predicted to make it in: NC State 15-16 Seton Hall 13-18 Indiana 12-20 (yuck)

If you’d like some predictions regarding the actual tournament, here are a few thoughts:

- First Round Upsets: Richmond over Vandy, Wofford over BYU, Oakland over Texas (and then to the Sweet 16), Missouri over Cincy

- My Final Four: Ohio State, Duke, Purdue, and St.John’s. Yep, you heard me. I believe in the battle tested Red Storm.

Best of luck to everyone filling out their brackets. Enjoy the tourney.

October Madness II

Last fall, I made two sets of predictions: first I tried to guess every matchup for the FBS bowl season. That went very poorly. Then I tried to predict the NCAA Men’s Tournament field in October. This went a little bit better, as I predicted 32 of the 65 teams in the field, and even nailed a handful of seeds exactly. While the football experiment went so badly that I decided not to punish you all with a repeat performance, I had fun picking the tournament field, and this year 68 teams get to go instead of 65 (thankfully not 96). My goal this year: 40 teams, 10 exact seeds. We’ll call it the 40-10 Challenge.

I’ve also decided, as a means to help aid my quest for the 40-10, that I will forgo tossing my personal affections into my picks. So Penn State, Hofstra, and Boston College will all not be found below. Sorry, locals; it hurts me too.

East Regional—Newark, NJ1.

Michigan State: My top overall seed. Kalin Lucas, Delvon Roe, Durrell Summers, Korie Lucious…Tom Izzo made a wise choice returning to East Lansing; there’s more talent there than with the Cavs.

16.Sam Houston State vs. Quinnipiac: Two teams that almost qualified last year get rewarded with a battle to face Izzo’s Spartans.

9. San Diego State: Led by Kawhi Leonard, the Aztecs will have one of the country’s most experienced and dangerous front courts.

8. Maryland: The Terrapins are a bit of an unknown after losing three seniors that averaged double digits scoring, including emotional leader Greivis Vasquez, but Sean Mosley is a leader and Jordan Williams could be the Terps’ next star.

5. Texas: Rick Barnes lost three starters from last year’s underachieving squad, but stellar freshman Tristan Thompson should help soften the blow.

12. Play-in Game! Washington State vs. Indiana: The Cougars could be fighting for the Pac-10’s dignity as a major conference while Tom Crean could be on the verge of making the Hoosiers a March mainstay once more.

13. Akron: Zeke Marshall should develop in the middle and Brett McKnight provides veteran leadership to the MAC champs.

4. Syracuse: No Big East team lost more than the Orange, but with Rick Jackson, Kris Joseph, and Scoop Jardine still in the mix, they’ll find themselves near the top of the conference again. Look out for the latest Melo in upstate New York, freshman center Fab Melo.

3. Ohio State: The Buckeyes lose Evan Turner, but return everyone else, and add an awesome freshman class led by Jared Sullinger.

14. Western Kentucky: One of the most consistently dangerous mid-major programs, the Hilltoppers could make early noise this year in the Puerto Rico tip-off with UNC and Minnesota as possible opponents.

11. Seton Hall: I was wrong on the Pirates last year; so help me god, I won’t be wrong again. New coach Kevin Willard, former Louisville assistant under Pitino, has one of the best offensive teams in the country, and a wide open Big East.

6. Virginia Tech: The Hokies lost nobody from last year’s 25-9 squad and are led by phenomenal talent Malcolm Delaney. They shouldn’t be left sweating on Selections Sunday again.

7. Butler: Last year’s Final Four darlings shouldn’t fall too far back, but Gordan Heyward’s early escape to the NBA does hurt a bit. Detroit has the talent to challenge in the Horizon, but nobody in conference can match their depth.

10. Clemson: The Tigers lost their coach (Oliver Purnell) and star (Trevor Booker), but have everyone else back, including seniors Demontez Stitt and Jerai Grant.

15. Coastal Carolina: The Chanticleers just missed out on a trip to the NCAAs last year, but a pair of former Gamecocks, Chad Gray and Mike Holmes, should be more than enough to get them there this year.

2. Kansas State: Frank Martin is developing the Wildcats into a perennial powerhouse, and Jacob Pullen should compete for Big 12 Player of the Year.

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State of Major High School Basketball

With prospects that arrive and depart from campus within a year, college hoops stars are often gone before we get to know them. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m always interested in where these guys came from as much as where they end up going. I decided to dig into three recent recruiting classes to see what the numbers tell us about where the future stars of the NCAA tourney and the NBA are coming from.

I went to the excellent website Rivals.com and looked at their top 150 prospects for the 2009, 2010, and 2011 recruiting classes (the John Wall/Sophomores, incoming freshmen, and current high school seniors) and broke them down by home state. The numbers, I must warn, will be slightly skewed because there are some powerhouse prep schools located in states where basketball doesn’t necessarily otherwise thrive. For instance, New Hampshire has twelve top 150 prospects over the three year spread, placing them in the middle of the pack statewise, however all twelve went to prep schools and were from other states, including a whopping eight that attended Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro. However, if we’re thinking about what we’re tracking here, this is where these guys play ball, where they train, where they are coached, and where they compete, so by that token, the numbers are 100% accurate.
The numbers: 1. California: 42Texas: 423. North Carolina: 364. Virginia: 285. Georgia: 276. Illinois: 247. Florida: 228. Maryland: 169. Indiana: 1510. New York: 1411. New Jersey: 13Tennessee: 1313. New Hampshire: 1214. Alabama: 10Nevada: 10 Michigan: 10Ohio: 1018. Pennsylvania: 9Mississippi: 9Washington: 9 21. Massachusetts: 822. Missouri: 6South Carolina: 6Arizona: 625. Connecticut: 5Minnesota: 527. Arkansas: 4Kentucky: 4Oregon: 4Wisconsin: 4West Virginia: 432. Iowa: 3District of Columbia: 3Utah: 3Louisiana: 336. Oklahoma: 2New Mexico: 238. Rhode Island: 1Kansas: 1Canada: 141. Colorado: 0Nebraska: 0Montana: 0Wyoming: 0Hawaii: 0 Maine: 0Vermont: 0Idaho: 0North Dakota: 0South Dakota: 0Delaware: 0

What I learned:There was no surprise at the top with large states known for their athletics, and Texas and California lead the way. Colleges like UCLA and University of Texas benefit from this “hometown” advantage in recruiting.
Interestingly, though, there didn’t appear to be as much of a “hometown” advantage as in football. The University of Kansas flourishes because of their ability to recruit nationally. Likewise, schools with prominent hoop histories are like Wisconsin, West Virginia, Kentucky, and UConn are forced to draw from all over the country to keep their rosters stocked.
The same high/prep schools kept popping up. Among the schools that had seven or more prospects over the three years are: Hargrave Military Academy (VA), Oak Hill Academy (VA), Brewster Academy (NH), and Findlay Prep (NV). That means in any given year, these teams are fielding full rosters of Division I major conference talent players. Other schools with four or more prospects: DeMatha (MD), South Kent (CT), Rice (NY), Chicago/Whitney Young (IL), Word of God Christian Academy (NC), Quality Education Academy (NC), Arden/Christ School (NC), St.Patrick’s (NJ), Christian Life Center (TX), and Mater Dei (CA).
Likewise, certain cities kept popping up. Cities that had three or more high schools sending prospects: Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Raleigh, Chicago, Richmond, Atlanta, Memphis, Jackson (MS), Portland (OR), Washington (DC), Seattle, Birmingham, Phoenix, Baltimore, Charlotte, and New York. Memphis, Chicago, and Dallas were the most prominent. Notable exceptions: Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Detroit, Miami, San Francisco, Denver, Minneapolis/St.Paul, and Oklahoma City.
I also noticed that some programs that not so long ago were considered upstarts are now regularly are attracting top talent. Gonzaga, Butler, and Xavier are dipping from the same pool as Michigan State, Memphis, and Syracuse. They can not be considered underdogs any longer.
I found it interesting that some colleges with past prestige would struggle to recruit in their own cities. In places like Texas where cities like Dallas and Houston are fertile recruiting grounds, there are multiple programs finding success. Last year alone, Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, UTEP, Houston, and North Texas all made the NCAA tourney. By the same token, the city of Memphis supplies talent to in-state powerhouses like Vandy, Tennessee, and Memphis. The two notable exceptions? What about DePaul in Chicago and St. John’s in New York? St. John’s has struggled to attract local talent with guys like Lance Stephenson (Cincinnati), Durand Scott (Miami), and Tobias Harris (Tennessee), but this year coach Steve Lavin has them on the brink of returning to success. DePaul, meanwhile, has a new coach in Oliver Purnell, but is much further away from competing. If Purnell can get a little something out of what he’s got, DePaul could find themselves at the epicenter of Midwest hoops. They may want to hurry up though; next year’s class is particularly deep, but the city’s top three prospects have already committed to Kentucky, Louisville, and Illinois.
Speaking of Kentucky, does anyone recruit more widely than John Calipari? This year’s freshmen include top 100 prospects from Oregon, Florida, California, and Virginia. Next year’s class already is drawing top 20 talent from Indiana, New Jersey, Illinois, and Oregon.
Know a great prep matchup coming to your area? Post it in the comments. And keep your eyes open in the coming weeks for our massive NCAA hoops preview as well.

**Photo Courtesy of  Chris Fleck via Creative Commons License

Starter: Mark Dantonio

Who Is He? Can a coach be a starter? Sure! Dantonio is the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans. He’s also served previously as the head coach at Cincinnati before Brian Kelly and defensive coordinator at Ohio State under Jim Tressel. Up until a few days ago, his tenure at Michigan State had been relatively mild with an overall record of 43-34 and 1-3 in bowl games.

Benchwarmer: Reggie Bush

Who he is: Reginald Alfred Bush is the 3rd down/backup running back for the Saints. His salary this year is $8 million (up from 2.6 million last year) with the opportunity for another three million in bonuses. This came after modifying his original six-year, $52.6 million dollar deal. His base salary goes up to $11.8 million next year. Saints starting running back Pierre Thomas, on the other hand, will make just under $1.7 million this year. In case you’re curious, Thomas has 20 touchdowns over the past two years to Bush’s 14. He also USED TO BE a Heisman winner.

Bruce Pearl Sheds Some Man Tears

We’re a little late on this, but you didn’t really think There’s No “I” in Blog would let some man tears slide past us unnoticed, did you? We wouldn’t let that happen. Last week, University of Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl held a press conference, during which he apologized for providing the NCAA with incorrect and misleading information, and he let out a few tiny man tears while he was at it. He and the UT athletic program are being investigated for possible recruiting violations. Tennessee Athletic Director Mike Hamilton has already cut Pearl’s salary by $1.5 million and prohibited him from attending any recruiting trips. Pearl was interviewed by NCAA officials and three weeks later informed them that he had provided the false information. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a good video of said man tears that I can post here, but since I like Pearl, here’s a video of him cheering on the Tennessee Lady Vols (if you can’t tell, he’s the “V”).

What sports fan wouldn’t like a head coach willing to go out and support his university and interact with students like that (besides maybe a Kentucky fan)? I’ve also never heard of a coach turning himself in. (I’ve heard of universities doing it, but not coaches). Also, one of the biggest reasons I like Bruce Pearl is—even though sports and coaching remains an old boy’s club—his unwavering stance that Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt is hands down the best basketball coach in the world.

Here’s the video of Pearl’s man tearful press conference.

A Few of My Favorite Things: Part 2

You can find part 1 of my favorite little things about sports (my top 10 YouTube clips) here.

Before I get going on my favorite nuances of sport, I must confess having committed an egregious sin. I somehow managed to omit these two YouTube clips from last week’s post. One is inspiring and the other is just awesome; both involve wrestling. This is wrestler Kyle Maynard’s trip to Larry King’s show, and this is, well, this is…The World of the Warrior! By the way, he now speaks at colleges.

So this started as a list of my top ten favorite small details about sport that keep me watching and loving, but I found there were way too many, so I expanded it to a Top 20. Feel free to comment or throw your own in down below. These are in no particular order.

1) British Soccer Announcers—Here’s how an American announcer might call it: “Smith…with a nice cut around the defender…takes a shot…and wide. Too bad.” Here’s how a British announcer might call it: “Smith, oh, what dashing footwork to evade his man! He sets his sights goal-ward! Brilliantly taken! Oh, just slightly askew! And his dreams must be absolutely crushed right now along with those of the home side!”

2) Embarrassing Fantasy Trades—Fantasy games are great and have become a large part of the American sports scene, but the best part is when awful, competition-skewing trades take place and the rest of the league begins to riot. For instance, I am in a keeper league right now with expiring contracts yadda yadda—all you need to know is that someone thought it was a good idea to trade Josh Hamilton for Brennan Boesch. Let’s just say friendships were hanging by a thread for a minute. Fortunately, everyone else responded with their own terribly slanted trades (I myself made a few) but in our basketball league last year, one trade led to about 21 posts and one person quitting the league altogether because he’s a baby. Anyways, always entertaining to see grown men argue about something that isn’t even real.

3) Obscure Jerseys—I’m a big fan of not only random-ass jerseys, but going to a Red Sox game and see someone wearing a Troy O’Leary shirt, or seeing a Dodgers fan in the crowd that has “Valenzuela” across his back. My current collection includes a “Bulldog” Jim Bouton Seattle Pilots jersey, a Gerald Green Celtics jersey, a Roger Dorn Cleveland Indians jersey, and a Baseball Furies jersey from the movie The Warriors. A good friend of mine has a Johnny Utah Ohio State jersey which probably trumps them all.

4) The Spladle—Those who aren’t familiar with high school or college wrestling probably don’t know what this is, but let’s say it’s just about the most emasculating and painful way to pin your opponent. It also happens to be my favorite move. Rather than describe it to you, see for yourself here. Start the video at 0:40.

5) The Rex Grossman Story—I want to be clear about something: this is not a verified fact. This may have never happened. My only source was a University of Florida sorority girl that I met at Calico Jack’s in Manhattan after a couple cocktails. So if Rexy’s reps read this, it’s merely a rumor. But, God, I want it to be true. The story goes that while playing quarterback for the Gators back at the beginning of the decade, Rex was the BMOC. He was so much so that he refused to have sex with any LESS than two girls at one time. That means if an absolute ten supposedly approached him at the bar and propositioned him by herself, he would turn her down on the grounds that there weren’t two of her. Why do I want this to be true? Because it would be proof that he’s an asshole! He was one of my least favorite college players of the past ten years and I couldn’t have been more happy when he failed as a pro QB. Fair warning Tebow fans, Florida QBs don’t translate well to the NFL. Somewhere, Danny Wuerrfel, Doug Johnson, Terry Dean, and Chris Leak are nodding sullenly. Maybe he should’ve been double-teaming the playbook and weight room instead of Lillian and Jillian.


6) Rick Krivda’s Baseball Card—Rick Krivda was a middling Orioles pitching prospect in the mid ’90s who never did a heck of a lot as a pro, but seems like a good guy. Why do I remember him? Here you go, from the man himself. Now you will remember Rick too. Def my favorite baseball card growing up.

7) Latecomers to Bench-clearing Brawls Getting Caught on TV—I love when the benches clear and people are getting pushed around and words are flying, and finally things start calming down and…oh, hey, there’s the last guy out of the bullpen, still wearing his warm-up jacket trotting in like “hey, guys, you know I had your backs the whole time right? I was just making sure no one was attacking the outfield.”

8) Antonio Cromartie’s Kids—No, this is not a foundation. “I got a few three-year-olds…uh, I got a daughter…who was born…she’s two.” Eat your heart out, Shawn Kemp.

9) Camden Yards—I grew up near Boston and Fenway Park, where they announce at the beginning of each game that you are in “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.” Now, I love the Sox, but that’s a load of bull. It’s an uncomfortable, archaic stadium where half the grandstand seats randomly face the bleachers instead of the field. Last summer, I took a roadtrip to Camden Yards. Wow. What a great baseball atmosphere. The easy to reach location, the cheap (for a ballpark) beers, no obstructed views. They even have the best sports bar I’ve ever been to next door called Pickle’s Pub. It was such an enjoyable experience that I bought a bright orange Nick Markakis shirt. Now, if they could just figure out that whole winning thing…

10) Mike Vrabel’s Career Receiving Statistics—My favorite Patriot of the dynasty era, hard-nosed linebacker, and the most lethal, yet underused offensive player in NFL history. Nine receptions for 12 yards—NINE TOUCHDOWNS. All he did was run four steps, turn around in the end zone, and an easy toss. How did teams not figure him out?

11) Any First Year Player Draft—Where do I begin? First, my favorite experience with a draft: I got free tickets through a friend to the 2006 NBA Draft where my Boston Celtics traded cash to the Suns to pick a mediocre guard prospect from the University of Kentucky named Rajon Rondo. Strangely, this wasn’t the high point of the experience. Being in New York to witness Knicks fans get worked up as they showed a montage of Knicks futility, then have Isaiah Thomas draft Renaldo Balkman (who no one else would’ve drafted even in the 2nd round) ahead of Rondo, then hearing the fans start to riot…it was pure comedy, especially for someone who dislikes the Knicks. As far as the NFL draft, I don’t approve of the decision to move it to three nights during the week because I used to plan an entire weekend around loafing on the couch and watching the draft, but I definitely support the shortening of first round picks from 15 minutes to 10 minutes per pick. Thank God. Did we really need to wait over 15 minutes for Oakland to draft Darrius Heyward-Bey? Either way, it’s the first time each year after the Super Bowl that we start thinking about pigskin again, and that’s all right by me. Also, check out the YouTube montage of awful New York Jets picks. This is why they should never move either NBA or NFL draft out of New York.

12) Converting Girlfriends’ Fandom—Man, this is sweet. Twice in my life I’ve been able to do this. You start dating a girl who likes sports enough that they want to have a team, but they don’t have the deep rooted investment that many of us guys have born within us or have instilled in us by our fathers. So they start hearing about your favorite team and learning about them and slowly start getting into them, and before you know it, a Phillies fan is now talking about her love for Johnny Damon. So it’s cool to feel like you can have that kind of influence over someone, even if to them the team isn’t really that big of a deal. The funnier part is if after the relationship is over, the girl INSTANTLY switches back to her “old team,” rooting for them harder than ever and acting like the affair with your squad never happened, like they can’t believe they lost control of themselves in such a manner.

13) Racehorse Names—”Pocatello Percy pulls ahead of Lady With a Rash, followed by Hitler’s Oyster and the Sound and the Furry!”…Where do they come up with this shit? Here’s a description from asking Google: The Jockey Club requires all American racehorses to be registered with a ‘unique’ name, meaning no other horse can have been registered using the name within a certain length of time, and “famous horse’s names” are off-limits forever. The name has to be under a certain number of letters with several other restrictions and several names must be submitted for each horse with the jockey club making the choice. So, “common” names have already been taken, and may not be used again, meaning owners need to get creative! Keep in mind that racehorses are not called by their registered names around the barn—their trainers and grooms will use a “barn name” for that. For example, Man O’ War’s “barn name” was “Red.” Also, many people want the horse to have a meaningful name—something powerful and appropriate for what they hope will be a winner. The names of the sire and dam of the horse and other famous horses in the pedigree are also taken into consideration and may be influential in the horse’s name…Well, then. I’d love to be hired to come in and just start naming critters. What if humans had to go by these rules too? Hustlin’ Custard Strum, coming to a cradle near you.

14) Overexcited Bench Players During the NCAA Tournament—Follow me if you will back to the first weekend of any NCAA tournament. The score is Big State 68, Hickory High 51. Big State looks half bored, half who-is-winning-the-Georgetown-game? Diminutive, yet scrapy white guard with a high GPA from Hickory drains a three from the corner. Sophomores with their warm-ups still buttoned all the way jump up and down in front of the Hickory bench, high-fiving and fist pumping, shouting to the rafters. Big State 68, Hickory 54. Big State ball.

15) Hockey Ice Girls—The cheerleader of the 21st century. Get with the times, though I’m probably biased. When I went to Hofstra, the Islanders played next door at Nassau Coliseum. I got to go to a lot of games, and found that a lot of the Islanders’ Ice Girls were fellow Hofstra students, which for some reason made them seem incredibly attainable. To this date, the number of ice girls I’ve spoken to in my life is the same number of NHL goals I’ve scored.

16) “Clay”—I haven’t been disappointed by an athlete named Clay in a long time. Clay “Fire Marshal Bill” Buchholz is my favorite current Red Sox player. The Dodgers Clayton Kershaw is a fantasy favorite of mine. Clay Matthews, Jr. is a stud linebacker in the making, much like his father. I even have a Clay Kirby baseball card from the early ’70s. (Kirby holds the career record for wild pitches for the Padres. Bet ya didn’t know that.) There’s Bucs wide receiver Michael Clayton, both Mark Claytons, and the D’Backs mustachioed relief pitcher Clay Zavada. Perhaps my all-time Clay was former Lions and Patriots safety “Big Play” Willie Clay. See? I bet you didn’t know you had so many prominent Clays in your sports life. You’re welcome.

17) First Round Quarterbacks—Much more specific than just the event of the draft above. Remember, at one point these were all real debates: Drew Bledsoe or Rick Mirer? Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf? Heath Shuler or Trent Dilfer (no, not for Congress)? At one point, Donovan McNabb was grouped in with Tim Couch, Akili Smith, and Cade McNown; now I don’t think he’d share a cab with them out of fear their suckage would rub off on him. My favorite draft debate was in 2002: David Carr or Joey Harrington? I believe a pre-draft discussion between Houston GM Charlie Casserly and Lions GM Matt Millen might’ve looked something like this.

18) Not Doing the Wave—Listen, I’m there to watch the game. How can you be properly cheering if you’re busy waiting to see if the boob next to you is standing up and sitting down? This probably comes across as too cynical for this list, but I definitely get a kick out of how incensed people are that I won’t participate. It’s like I told them I left a floater in their toilet. But it’s the wave! Exactly. Sit down and watch the game, ya tomahawk choppin’ dork.

19) Adrian Beltre’s head—I don’t care who you are—his mother, his girlfriend, his priest—you DO NOT touch Adrian Beltre’s head. Doesn’t matter if he just hit a home run or struck out. Especially not you, Victor Martinez. You’re liable to get your teeth knocked in by the slugging third baseman.

20) Goalie Fights—Hockey fights are clearly great, but it would’ve been too easy to put them on here. What’s really great is when the goalie gets involved because it’s like the SWAT team just got called in, and yet it slightly resembles when people go to the carnival, put on those inflatable sumo costumes, and run into each other. Well, that is unless it’s the son of Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy. Sick ‘em, boy.

Bonus! Mythical Temple Defensive Backs—I couldn’t let this one go. M. Night Shyamalan’s movie Unbreakable is about a real life superhero discovering his powers that he never had, specifically, that he cannot be physically hurt. But that wasn’t what I had a hard time going along with. The first scene of the movie shows our hero, Bruce Willis, flirting with a woman on a train travelling to Philadelphia, where the movie takes place. The woman is a pro sports agent who is representing a talented young defensive back out Temple University. Okay, you lost me. An invincible superhero is one thing, but a stud D-back out of Temple? In 2000? Come on. There have been three defensive backs IN HISTORY drafted out of Temple, the most recent of which in 1985, and he only played one season! Temple football sucks! Now, I get it, the story takes place in Philly, but couldn’t he have been a hoops prospect for the Owls, or even played football for Villanova, which I actually would’ve believed more? I saw this movie for the first time when I was 18 and the minute she said whom she represented, I muttered to myself, “Well, that would just never happen.”

Honorable mentions that got dropped because this was already too long: West Virginia LB Grant Wiley playing a bowl game with his arm broken in half, QB blocks/Kicker tackles, Gus Frerotte’s TD celebration where he gave himself a concussion, Dan Hampton’s fingers, Tony Kornheiser’s attempt at MNF, Carl Lewis’s music video (yikes), Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame induction speech, Jack Morris, Pumps, Mike Alstott, Charles Barkley, and the time Jim Everett attacked Jim Rome for calling him “Chris.”

My 10 Favorites: Part One

This is the first of two posts about my favorite things about sports. Between possible lockouts in football and basketball next year, Roger Clemens committing perjury, the Darrelle Revis holdout, and the backlash from LeBron’s relocation of his talents, it’s easy for sportswriters to be cynical and negative on a lot of fronts. Hell, it’s their job to identify the issues confronting sports and enter their opinion in the public forum for discussion. At times, however, it can be easy to forget what it is exactly that we love about sports and why we follow in the first place. So I’m taking it upon myself to first post ten of my favorite sports-related YouTube clips, and then following it up with the ten “little things” that I love about sports, underrated moments, or details that keep me forever enmeshed in the 24-hour news cycle of the American sports scene.

Without any further ado, in no particular order, my ten favorite sports-related clips, rewatchable throughout time:

1) Joe Namath being fresh with Suzy Kolber—I was actually at this game, so I had no idea this happened until I got home that night, but it doesn’t seem to get any less funny as time goes on, and unfortunately leads to me assuming Namath is in various states of intoxication whenever I see him now, including his recent appearances on Hard Knocks at Jets’ Training Camp with his shorts hiked up to his nipples:


2) Steven Gerrard’s Top 10 Goals—Even if you don’t like soccer, you can enjoy this nicely edited collection of goals by Steven Gerrard. If you’re not familiar with Gerrard, he’s the hometown-bred captain of the Liverpool Reds, one of the top teams in the English Premier League. He’s the ultimate clutch performer, and starting at goal #9, you’ll wonder “how isn’t this #1?” with each goal:


3)Robbie Fowler’s Goal Celebration—Sticking with Liverpool and videos you can enjoy even you don’t enjoy soccer, here’s Robbie Fowler, former Liverpool striker who was nicknamed “God” and was known around town for being a partier. In fact, after allegations surfaced that he was doing tons of coke, Liverpool played a derby match against crosstown rivals Everton, during which fans chanted derogatory things like calling him a “smackhead.” It’d be like if the Yankees came to Fenway immediately after A-Rod admitted to using steroids and fans started giving him the business and he ended up hitting a go-ahead home run in the ninth. But I doubt he’d have the humor/genius to celebrate like this:


4) Sick Wiffle Ball Pitcher—This is just fun to watch, especially when you imagine the time and effort this guy took to setting the camera up in his backyard and putting it online. I imagine he has an entire room in his parents’ house dedicated to wiffle ball. But still, you gotta hand it to him—he’s got some nasty stuff:


5) Bull Gets Revenge—Sticking with a different kind of “Oh Shit!” factor, here’s what happens in Mexico when a bull has ups like Dee Brown. Pajarito! PETA members, look away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWdCRdnmopg

6) Bruins Take the Fight to MSG—But Pajarito is only the second most dangerous event involving sport and fan interactions here. In this 1970s precursor to the Brawl at the Palace at Auburn Hills, check out what happens when dumb New York Ranger fans tempt the Bruins during the roughest era of the NHL. Hopefully Milan Lucic is getting ideas:


7)COME TO PENN STATE—This video is proof of a couple things. 1) Most college football coaches are stilted and humorless 2) Their presence only makes Joe Paterno’s continued exuberance more awesome. If you knew nothing about any school in the Big Ten, who would you want to play for after watching this video?


8) RBI Baseball does 1986 World Series—And the winner for Most Creative Display of a Painful Memory goes to…Still, as much as I can be pained by an event that happened when I was two, this video is awesome. How does it not have more than 110,000 views?


9) Bush Throws First Pitch at Yankee Stadium After 9/11—I wanted something with historical significance as well as sports on this list, and even though I hate the Yankees, I have to say this does a good job of placing the viewer back in the weeks following the tragedy of 9/11. I don’t like the Yanks, and I don’t like Bush, but this video is still capable of giving chills:


10) Celtics Trifecta—Because I couldn’t possibly end this with two pro-New York videos, here is a THREESOME of awesome Celtics clips. I’d like to throw out there that I am very disappointed I couldn’t get the retirement speeches of Bob Cousy, Yaz, or Cam Neely, but these will do. I saved my favorite for last. KG celebrates his first title:


Rajon Rondo Top 10 Plays 2009-10:


annnnnd Scal Dunks!


And because I love Scal, here’s him getting a stupid question from an ignorant European reporter. That’s how you shut him up, Scal!

A Little Q and A about the NCAA Field Expansion

For the first time in 25 years, the NCAA Tournament Committee has decided to expand its field. While discussions had originally been to expand the tournament to 96 teams, they voted unanimously to expand the 2011 field from 65 to 68 teams, employing three extra “opening-round games” for the right to get eviscerated on national TV by the likes of Kentucky or Kansas. It’s a curious move, seemingly minor compared to what had been discussed, and it raises a lot of questions. That’s what I’m here for.

Q: So I’m sure that the benefit for them is money, but how could this benefit me, the fan?
A: Well, it depends on your view. In my eyes, it doesn’t really benefit the fans, but I can certainly find the silver lining. For one, three more games means three more names to pick in your NCAA pool. More opportunities to gamble means good times for everybody. If you’re a fan of a team that is habitually on the bubble, this raises your chance to get into the tourney as well, though I’m not sure you deserve it (more on this in a minute).
Q: So this helps bubble teams and not the little guys?
A: Yeah, for the time being. Further expansion to 96 teams is still under discussion, which would open the door for more of the mid-majors to get in. In theory, the three extra teams would come from the “last four out” pool and by being bigger programs from better conferences, they would push most of the mid-majors down into worse seeds and the new play-in games, meaning if you root for a team like Jackson State or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, this stinks for you. Of course, if you’re rooting for those teams, you’re probably just psyched to see them playing in the tournament at all.
Q: What is the argument for expanding the tournament to 96 teams?
A: Well, ultimately it’s about dollars, and they would be making a lot more of them off of television revenue, a road that has already been paved by the brand new 14-year, $10.8 billion contract that was just signed with CBS and Turner Broadcasting. The reason that they give us, however, is with the recent expansion of Division I teams, there are more teams competing for the same numbers of spots, so it only makes sense to expand the field proportionally.
Q: That seems to make sense, so why are you against it, Alex? Do you hate America?
A: No! I love America; we’ve got the best barbecue sauce on earth. And that logic doesn’t make sense. Here’s why: below is a list of some of the teams that have gained partial to full Division I status in the past few years.
Florida Gulf CoastSouth Carolina-UpstatePresbyterianSeattleSavannah StateWinston-Salem StateLongwoodNorth Carolina CentralCal State-BakersfieldCal State-Cabo San LucasSouthern Illinois-EdwardsvilleSouth DakotaGorvidal StateHouston BaptistUtah ValleyNorth DakotaMass Bay Community CollegeNew Jersey Institute of TechnologyChicago StateTexas-Pan AmericanBryantBlaine-The Beauty Career School
Four of those I made up, but I bet it took you a moment to think about which ones they were, and that’s troubling. There hasn’t been a dramatic spike in the universal talent of high school basketball players in recent years, so these teams are basically giving opportunities for guys who would’ve previously only been Division II caliber players to play DI ball. That’s nice and all, but it means by expanding the tournament teams without an increase in talent, you’re just watering everything down. Here’s a thought experiment: let’s say there are 250 high school teams competing for the Massachusetts State Championship every year, and the best 32 teams qualify for the state tournament. I suddenly allow every JV team from these high schools to compete as well, raising the number to 500 teams, and then expand the tournament to 64 teams. Will some of the best JV teams be able to beat the worst varsity teams? Probably. Did teams 33-64 suddenly become better at basketball and more deserving of a post-season bid? No. To put it simply, if I have half a jug of beer and fill it the rest of the way with grape juice, I still only have a half jug of beer that now tastes gross.
Q: I’m beginning to see the light, but I won’t believe you until I see it. Can you convince me further?
A: I’d love to. For argument’s sake, let’s expand this past season’s tournament from 65 to 96 teams by simply adding the 32 teams that made the NIT, also known as JV States. The final four from that tournament were Dayton, Ole Miss, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, so these are the best teams supposedly that did not make the NCAA tourney. Resume Time!
Dayton25-12 (8-8 in the Atlantic 10)Nice Wins: Georgia Tech, XavierBad Losses: Saint Louis twice, Duquesne, St. Joseph’s
Ole Miss24-11 (9-7 in the SEC)Nice Wins: at Kansas State, UTEPBad Losses: Mississippi State twice, Arkansas
UNC16-16 entering the NIT! (5-11 in the ACC!)Nice Wins: Ohio State, Michigan State, at Wake ForestBad Losses: College of Charleston, Virginia, the rest of the ACC
Rhode Island26-10 (9-7 in the Atlantic 10)Nice Wins: Oklahoma State is the best oneBad Losses: UMass, Saint Louis, St. Bonaventure
Now, a few weeks ago, I may have made an argument that these and other bubble teams DESERVED to make the NCAA tournament, but that was compared to some not so great teams that did make the tourney ahead of them, like Florida. At no point did I argue the tournament should be expanded to suit them. Do any of the above resumes really overwhelm you? UNC has the best wins of the group, BUT THEY WERE 5-11 IN CONFERENCE. No team that goes 5-11 in any conference should be in the NCAA Tournament. And the NIT field only goes down after this group.
So if you want to argue with me that it’s good for gambling purposes or you happen to go to Dayton and want a guaranteed tourney spot, I suppose I can’t go against you there. I’m just not buying the reasons we’re being given by the powers that be. If expanding to 68 teams means that we won’t be expanding to 96 teams any time soon, then I’m all for it.