July: The dog days of summer. The scorching heat, the lazy days, the air conditioning, but absolutely no important sports action whatsoever. Baseball is on, but I don’t like baseball, especially in July when no games matter. Wimbledon ends in the beginning of July, and I can usually count on my man Roger Federer to provide me with some sports happiness. Luckily this year there is also the World Cup (which I have already gushed about). Quick tangent: Brazil is still my pick to win the World Cup. And my runner up Spain is still alive as well. My other Final Four picks Nigeria and England are out. That’s what happens when you get someone who doesn’t know anything about soccer picking a soccer tournament. But this July, we have something else. It’s an event that usually gets overlooked and underappreciated, but not this year. The NBA Free Agency Period is creeping up, and is only 24 hours away. It’s going to be as hectic as a bunch of kids in line waiting to hit a piñata once it hits Midnight on July 1st. GM’s, owners, coaches and players are going to be lobbying for the help of the greatest free agent class of all time. Rumors have been running wild for 2 years about where these superstars are going to end up. There has never been one summer that had so much riding on it. The fate of the NBA is up for grabs in the ensuing weeks, and the way I look at it, there are 5 separate scenarios of what the league is going to look like when its all said and done. Think of it like the United States Homeland Security Scale. You know, the color-coded terror advisory scale that scares the hell out of people whenever it changes from yellow to orange. Well, think of the potential free agency results as the changing of the security scale. Does your head hurt as bad as mine does? Okay, let me make it easier on you.
Level One (Green) LOW: Low Risk of Terrorist Attacks. Translation- All major free agents stay put with their current teams.
Level Two (Blue) GUARDED: General Risk of Terrorist Attacks. Translation- A few major free agents leave their current teams.
Level Three (Yellow) ELEVATED: Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks. Translation- Majority of major free agents leave their current teams.
Level Four (Orange) HIGH: High Risk of Terrorist Attacks. Translation- Nearly all major free agents leave their current teams.
Level Five (Red) SEVERE: Severe Risk of Terrorist Attacks. Translation- TOTAL F’ING CHAOS!
Level One: This is the scenario that practically has no chance of happening, just like there is no chance we will ever be at green in our security scale. Think of this scenario like there being world peace. Not going to happen. Bosh isn’t staying in Toronto, from all recent reports LeBron isn’t staying in Cleveland, and Amare isn’t staying in Phoenix. Not only is this unlikely, but it would also be the biggest letdown in sports history. Has there ever been a non game or event that has been this hyped? I can’t think of one. Sportscenter might not even show anything besides free agency news for the next week if things turn out how we are expecting them to. If no free agents leave, what will Scott Van Pelt and John Buccigross talk about? If you process everything you’ve heard just over the past month or so, you’ll know this won’t happen, just like world peace.
Destinations under Level One
LeBron- Cleveland, Wade- Miami, Bosh- Toronto, Boozer- Utah, Dirk- Dallas, Amare- Phoenix, Johnson- Atlanta, Allen- Boston, Pierce- Boston, Gay- Memphis, Lee- New York.
Level Two: Under this scenario, we’ll see the guys who are expected to leave actually leave. Again, because of recent reports, the likelihood of this scenario isn’t very high, but more likely than level one. This scenario means no league superpowers form, but some players make some moves out of bad teams or situations they don’t like.
Destinations under Level Two
LeBron- Cleveland, Wade- Miami, Bosh- Miami, Boozer- Utah, Dirk- Dallas, Amare- Chicago, Johnson- New York, Allen- Boston, Pierce- Boston, Gay- New Jersey, Lee- New York
Level Three: Now this is more like it. Over half of the top tier free agents on the market find a new team. This is yellow on the homeland security scale, which we have been at since August 2005 (Fun Fact!). This means that this scenario is the most likely to happen. In all likelihood, a couple of teams get significantly better due to the signing of a couple top guys, but things aren’t too out of hand yet.
Destinations under Level Three
LeBron- Chicago, Wade-Miami, Bosh- Chicago, Boozer- Miami, Dirk- Dallas, Amare- New Jersey, Johnson- New York, Allen- Miami, Pierce- Boston, Gay- New Jersey, Lee- New York
Level Four: This is where we see the first league superpower. The rumor is that LeBron, Wade, and Bosh met in Miami to talk about playing for the Heat. In Level Three, LeBron and Bosh will decide to team together in Chicago, and Boozer will head to Miami. But lets assume the Heat sign Wade, sign and trade for Bosh (Beasely and pick for Bosh), and sign LeBron. 3 of the top 20 players in the league are playing for one team, including 2 of the top 4. Yikes, that scares the hell out of the rest of the league. But that’s not all. Level Four terror alert means more than that. ALL of the top free agents go to new teams.
Destinations under Level Four
LeBron- Miami, Wade- Miami, Bosh- Miami, Boozer- Chicago, Dirk- Phoenix, Amare- New Jersey, Johnson- New Jersey, Allen- Chicago, Pierce- Boston, Gay- New Jersey, Lee- New York
Level Five: Think of every rumor you’ve heard about in the last 2 years. In level five, I’m saying any single one can happen. There isn’t one set destination that could occur under level five. So instead of guessing, I’ll break down every scenario.
LeBron James: Where do we begin? First he was staying, then he was going, then he was going to stay, then everyone said he was going to leave, and then we thought he might stay, but then the Cavs choked again and now he is going to leave. So, where does he go?
Chicago: It was reportedly a done deal until the mini summit that occurred in Miami. He has the option of playing with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and potentially another top tier free agent (Bosh, Amare, Joe Johnson, Boozer, etc.). This might be his best chance for a title. But, he’ll never be the best to ever play for that Franchise. Can LeBrons massive ego take that hit? Also, what if he doesn’t even win a title there? His legacy is destroyed, and could never be repaired. No matter how many scoring titles or MVP’s he wins, if LeBron doesn’t win with a team that features an All star point guard, a budding big man, and another top tier free agent he will never be on the level that guys like Jordan, Kobe, Bird and Magic are on. And if he does win, he was supposed to and it’s no big deal. Which brings us to our next team…
New York: The concrete jungle where dreams are made of… dreams of the first title for the Knicks since 1973. I don’t care what anyone says, if LeBron brings a title to the Knicks he will be a bigger icon in New York than Derek Jeter (sorry all of you die hard Yankee fans, but it’s true. Derek Jeter isn’t as marketable as LeBron.) He would be immortal. But, the challenge is without signing another big time free agent, he would be playing for an exceedingly crappy team. So, why not play for…
Miami: This scenario only comes in play if over the weekend at the Mini Summit, Bosh, Wade and LeBron each agreed that none of them are the true Alpha Dog on the team, and they play Olympic style where they all can lead. This is almost too good to be true. We can buy finals tickets for Miami vs. Los Angeles Lakers already. Speaking of the Lakers…
Los Angeles Lakers: Remember when there were rumors about the deal that would send LeBron to the Lakers for Bynum and Odom? Well it most likely won’t happen considering the only way this would have had a fighting chance of happening would have been if the Celtics beat the Lakers again in the finals, and Kobe and LeBron decided “Okay, we can’t beat them alone, why don’t we beat them together and break the record for win total in a season on our way?” This was the better version of the now possible superpower with LeBron, Wade and Bosh. Think about LeBron, Kobe and Pau playing together. My God, I need to stop thinking about it so my heart doesn’t beat out of my chest. If LeBron likes the west coast, maybe he could go play for…
Los Angeles Clippers: A lot of young talent which is only missing a small forward. Starting lineup of B Diddy, Eric Gordan, LeBron, Blake Griffin and Chris Kaman. Not too shabby. But, the Clippers will never own LA like the Lakers do, and LeBron is smart enough to realize that if he went to play for the Clippers he would probably have a career ending injury in game 3 of the season. Speaking of Russians, what if LeBron played for…
New Jersey: LeBron and the Russian Mystery Man Mikhail Prokhorov teaming together isn’t too far fetched. With the Yi Jianlian trade that just went down, the Nets have room to sign two top tier free agents. Let’s not forget that LeBron’s friend Jay-Z is a minority owner of the Nets, and the team is scheduled to move to Brooklyn sometime in the near future. Suddenly we start to hear the song again, “Concrete Jungle where dreams are made of…” But what if LeBron isn’t into the Mutant Russian Mark Cuban? He might like the company of American Mark Cuban and play for…
Dallas: Another sign and trade deal in the making. You can’t tell me Mark Cuban wouldn’t love getting LeBron whatever he wanted. The deal would likely involve Caron Butler, Erick Dampier’s expiring contract, and Rowdy Roddy Beaubois. LeBron is a Cowboys fan, and it just so happens Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones are friends. I see the Mavs playing a few games in the Cowboys stadium if LeBron is a Maverick. Finally, we have…
Cleveland: Is there any way this happens, or has there just been too much damage to be healed? If LeBron stays in Cleveland, he proves it is either because he wants more money (which I seriously doubt) or because he is a genuine guy who really wants to win a title with a city that has supported him since day one. That might help his legacy more than a title could.
Dwayne Wade: This one is easy. It’s clear that Dwayne Wade and Pat Riley are on the same page and are on a mission to recruit players to Miami. Not a bad idea in my opinion. Riley would fire Erik Spoelstra quicker than Bosh is going to leave Toronto, and we might see a team that could challenge the Lakers.
Chris Bosh: Toronto is out of the picture, so it comes down to what is Bosh going to do? Is he really tied to LeBron? Will he follow him wherever he goes, whether it be Chicago, Miami, Cleveland, New York, etc. What about a team like Houston sneaking in and trading Luis Scola and others for Bosh? And we can’t forget about those Lakers rumors we’ve heard about in the past.
Carlos Boozer: Boozer is the modern day Karl Malone in Utah, but Karl Malone never won a title. That could be because the Jazz had big guys like Greg Ostertag and Adam Keefe. Come to think of it, Boozer might have worse big guys than Malone (Kosta Koufos and Kyrylo Fesenko). Yikes, get out of there! Boozer could end up in Miami if Bosh follows LeBron to somewhere besides Miami, like Chicago with Joe Johnson or Ray Allen.
Dirk Nowitzki: In all likelihood, Dirk will remain a Maverick due to his close relationship with Mark Cuban. But, he obviously opted out of his contract for a reason. We could see a Nash/Dirk reunion in Phoenix, or even New York if Nash tries to get out of town by forcing a trade. Maybe Dirk tries to start over in a place like Chicago, or perhaps he becomes LeBron’s sidekick in Cleveland (and let’s pray they get rid of Jamison.
Amare Stoudemire: Amare might be just as gone as Bosh is. I could see Amare ending up almost anywhere. I wouldn’t rule out Chicago with or without LeBron, Miami without LeBron and Bosh, New York with or without a reunion with Nash and D’Antoni or New Jersey.
Joe Johnson: I think it became clear to Joe Johnson this year that if he wants to win, it has to be somewhere besides Atlanta. He might look for a fresh start in New York or New Jersey, but don’t rule out Miami calling for him if LeBron goes elsewhere.
Ray Allen: After the horrible finals series with the exception of game 2, I can’t see Boston being too eager to keep Ray Allen. Allen could end up back there, or he could be a valuable role player in Miami, New York, or Chicago.
Paul Pierce: Similar to Dirk, I see Pierce staying put in Boston. However, if he felt the need to play close to home in California, he could sign with the Clippers or maybe even the Kings.
Rudy Gay: Memphis has a lot of young talent, including Rudy Gay. OJ Mayo, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and Xavier Henry provide a nice start for a franchise which had the 2nd highest win increase last season. But, Gay might be looking for a bigger city to play in like New York or New Jersey.
David Lee: I like Lee to stay in the NYC area and play for either New York or New Jersey. They seem like the best fits for him. Or the Pacers since they are getting close to being the first all white NBA team since 1962.
Finally, let’s not forget to mention that Chris Paul could be a major factor in this free agent period. If he gets traded to New Jersey for either Derrick Favors or Brook Lopez and Devin Harris, that may intrigue LeBron and Bosh/Amare/Boozer to form a superpower in Brooklyn (concrete jungle where dreams are made of).
So, where does this leave us? It leaves us at free agency being at a 3.8 on the scale. What does that mean?
Miami signs Wade, Boozer and Ray Allen. Not quite the superpower that Pat Riley and Wade wanted, but it puts them into contention. I’m assuming the rumors about Bosh being tied to LeBron are true when I say I believe LeBron and Bosh will end up in Chicago, and effectively becoming the front runners in the east. I think Dirk will remain in Dallas, where he has it made teaming with Mark Cuban. Amare Stoudemire heads to New York along with David Lee and make the Knicks slightly better. Perfect fit for Amare considering he is a complete defensive liability and the Knicks show no interest in playing defense. Joe Johnson heads to the Clippers to fill their void in the small forward position, and also to ruin his career. Rudy Gay sticks around in Memphis considering they have a young team that in a few years could make a push for the playoffs. Paul Pierce stays put in Boston with KG, Rondo and potentially a player like JJ Reddick who could fill the spot of Ray Allen. Chris Paul stays put in New Orleans, so New Jersey gets nothing. Don’t doubt Mutant Russian Mark Cuban though. Mikhail Prokhorov is an intimidating Russian businessman who has had his business rivals killed off in order to get his way in the past. Pat Riley, Jerry Reinsdorf and Donald Sterling better watch their backs. Now that I think about it, it might not be a bad thing if Sterling was wacked.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
2010 NBA Draft
Didn’t the NBA season just end? Lakers vs. Celtics, epic game 7, Kobe’s 5th ring. That was just a week ago. How sweet is that? Less than 1 week after the 2010 NBA champion was crowned, the new season is already about to take shape. This is one reason why the NBA draft is quickly becoming more of an event than the NFL draft. Nobody is in football mode in mid April. The NBA playoffs are just getting under way, the College Basketball tournament just ended, and for the hockey fans you have the NHL playoffs starting as well. The NBA Draft takes place immediately after the previous regular season, and therefore NBA fans still have a little bit of full NBA mode left in them. Meanwhile there are meaningless baseball games or the opening rounds of Wimbledon to compete with rather than 2 playoffs. What else makes the NBA Draft so darn exciting? We know every player with the exception of a few foreigners here and there (just wait until I post my Running the Sports World blog, that issue will be taken care of) and almost every player has a chance to be a household name. In the NFL draft, I don’t know enough about the lineman getting picked 21st to be excited about it. We aren’t going to see him turn into a household name player. This years NBA draft, I have Hassan Whiteside going 21st. He is a 7’0 freshman with a 7’6 wingspan who with the development of an offensive post game could be a dominant force like we’ve never seen (Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m hyping Whiteside up pretty big to get my point across. It’s called Propaganda and all writers use it). The truth is, I agree with many NBA analysts when they say that this years draft class is relatively weak. Last year the same thing was said, but I went on record to say that I thought it was stronger than the experts thought (channeling my inner Lee Corso). But this year I have to agree. Without further a do, here are my predictions of the 1st round of this years NBA draft.
1. Washington Wizards: John Wall- PG Kentucky
2. Philadelphia 76ers: Evan Turner- SG Ohio St.
3. New Jersey Nets: Wesley Johnson- SF Syracuse
4. Minnesota Timberwolves: Derrick Favors- PF Georgia Tech
5. Sacramento Kings: DeMarcus Cousins- C Kentucky
6. Golden State Warriors: Ed Davis- PF North Carolina
7. Detroit Pistons: Al-Farlouq Aminu- SF Wake Forest
8. Los Angeles Clippers: Ekpe Udoh- PF Baylor
9. Utah Jazz: Paul George- SF Fresno St.
10. Indiana Pacers: Greg Monroe- PF Georgetown
11. New Orleans Hornets: Luke Babbitt- SF Nevada
12. Memphis Grizzlies: Patrick Patterson- PF Kentucky
13. Toronto Raptors: Gordon Hayward- SF Butler
14. Houston Rockets: Cole Aldrich- C Kansas
15. Milwaukee Bucks: Xavier Henry- SG Kansas
16. Minnesota Timberwolves: Avery Bradley- SG Texas
17. Chicago Bulls: Daniel Orton- PF Kentucky
18. Oklahoma City Thunder: James Anderson- SG Oklahoma St.
19. Boston Celtics: Larry Sanders- PF VCU
20. San Antonio Spurs: Eric Bledsoe- PG Kentucky
21. Oklahoma City Thunder: Hassan Whiteside- C Marshall
22. Portland Trailblazers: Kevin Seraphin- PF France
23. Minnesota Timberwolves: Elliot Williams- SG Memphis
24. Atlanta Hawks: Lance Stephenson- SG Cincinnati
25. Memphis Grizzlies: Devin Ebanks- SF West Virginia
26. Oklahoma City Thunder: Craig Brackins- PF Iowa St.
27. New Jersey Nets: Gani Lawal- PF Georgia Tech
28. Memphis Grizzlies: Jordan Crawford- SG Memphis
29. Orlando Magic: Damion James- SF Texas
30. Washington Wizards: Dominique Jones- SG South Florida
Potential All Stars
John Wall- I feel like Wall has a chance to be a very good pro, similar to Derrick Rose who he is often compared to. He’s going to be playing for an exceedingly crappy Wizards team, and he is going to have to learn to mesh with Gilbert Arenas. However, he is a tremendous leader and has a ton of confidence, something needed in a point guard dominated league, and something that will be useful while playing for a dismantled team.
Evan Turner- Turner was the college player who I followed closely this year, (similar to Adam Morrison/Kevin Durant/Stephen Curry). I Loved the way he could dominate a game by scoring, assisting or rebounding. He is such a crafty, smart and complete player, I see him having a lot of success in the NBA.
DeMarcus Cousins- Cousins has a chance to be the best player in this draft class. He is so strong, large and talented. He has the making to be a consistent 20-10 guy on any team. He has that much upside. The question mark on Cousins is his attitude. A lot of coaches seem to be afraid to take Cousins just based on the thought that he is crazy. If he can keep his head, I see a number of All Star appearances for Cousins.
Under the Radar Stars
Gordon Hayward- Say what you want about him. Yes he’s white, yes he’s from a small school, yes he isn’t overly athletic. But god damn can Gordon Hayward play. Same things were said about Adam Morrison, and look at him now, he already has 2 championship rings.
Hassan Whiteside- Yupp, I’m buying into all of the hype and propaganda. His draft stock has slipped a little bit in the last month, but I feel like he has more potential and upside than any player in the draft. He is a physical freak and with a little polishing he can dominate. Mark that down. And the fact that I have him going to Oklahoma City at 21 makes me extremely excited. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Hassan Whiteside being as good as I expect… Yikes!
Jordan Crawford- Younger brother of Jamal Crawford, I see Jordan having a similar career path as his brother. Off the bench instant offense. I think he can have a role on any team. I’m ignoring the fact that he dunked over LeBron last summer, and I’m giving him praise. That is some unbiased journalism right there.
Potential Busts
Greg Monroe- Let’s take a trip back to the 1st round of the NCAA tournament this past year when the 14 seed Ohio Bobcats put a shellacking on the 3 seed Georgetown Hoyas, led by none other than Greg Monroe. That showed me that Monroe doesn’t have what it takes to be a good NBA player like a number 10 pick should be.
Cole Aldrich- Time for some biased journalism. I don’t like Aldrich, I’ve never liked Aldrich, and I never will like Aldrich. He looks mean and unfriendly. And I don’t think he is that good. Everyone talked about how great of a defender he is (and that is all he has going for him). But frankly, I doubt his ability to guard big men like Amare Stoudemire, Pau Gasol or even Dwight Howard who still has no post moves. Hell, he couldn’t even guard Jordan Eglesedor in the 2nd round of the tournament.
Daniel Orton- He might as well be from France. Don’t understand? Let me explain. The common knock on foreign players are “He average 3 points and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes per game playing for a French team… Why in the blue hell is he a potential lottery pick?” Well thats Daniel Orton. Those were his exact averages this past season at Kentucky. He barely scratched the surface as a college player, what makes people think he is ready to play in the NBA?
So at 7 p.m. the NBA offseason and pre season begins. From the sounds of it, there is potential for a barrage of trades that may occur between now and then. So most likely, my hours of working on this mock draft will end up being worthless. Shit!
1. Washington Wizards: John Wall- PG Kentucky
2. Philadelphia 76ers: Evan Turner- SG Ohio St.
3. New Jersey Nets: Wesley Johnson- SF Syracuse
4. Minnesota Timberwolves: Derrick Favors- PF Georgia Tech
5. Sacramento Kings: DeMarcus Cousins- C Kentucky
6. Golden State Warriors: Ed Davis- PF North Carolina
7. Detroit Pistons: Al-Farlouq Aminu- SF Wake Forest
8. Los Angeles Clippers: Ekpe Udoh- PF Baylor
9. Utah Jazz: Paul George- SF Fresno St.
10. Indiana Pacers: Greg Monroe- PF Georgetown
11. New Orleans Hornets: Luke Babbitt- SF Nevada
12. Memphis Grizzlies: Patrick Patterson- PF Kentucky
13. Toronto Raptors: Gordon Hayward- SF Butler
14. Houston Rockets: Cole Aldrich- C Kansas
15. Milwaukee Bucks: Xavier Henry- SG Kansas
16. Minnesota Timberwolves: Avery Bradley- SG Texas
17. Chicago Bulls: Daniel Orton- PF Kentucky
18. Oklahoma City Thunder: James Anderson- SG Oklahoma St.
19. Boston Celtics: Larry Sanders- PF VCU
20. San Antonio Spurs: Eric Bledsoe- PG Kentucky
21. Oklahoma City Thunder: Hassan Whiteside- C Marshall
22. Portland Trailblazers: Kevin Seraphin- PF France
23. Minnesota Timberwolves: Elliot Williams- SG Memphis
24. Atlanta Hawks: Lance Stephenson- SG Cincinnati
25. Memphis Grizzlies: Devin Ebanks- SF West Virginia
26. Oklahoma City Thunder: Craig Brackins- PF Iowa St.
27. New Jersey Nets: Gani Lawal- PF Georgia Tech
28. Memphis Grizzlies: Jordan Crawford- SG Memphis
29. Orlando Magic: Damion James- SF Texas
30. Washington Wizards: Dominique Jones- SG South Florida
Potential All Stars
John Wall- I feel like Wall has a chance to be a very good pro, similar to Derrick Rose who he is often compared to. He’s going to be playing for an exceedingly crappy Wizards team, and he is going to have to learn to mesh with Gilbert Arenas. However, he is a tremendous leader and has a ton of confidence, something needed in a point guard dominated league, and something that will be useful while playing for a dismantled team.
Evan Turner- Turner was the college player who I followed closely this year, (similar to Adam Morrison/Kevin Durant/Stephen Curry). I Loved the way he could dominate a game by scoring, assisting or rebounding. He is such a crafty, smart and complete player, I see him having a lot of success in the NBA.
DeMarcus Cousins- Cousins has a chance to be the best player in this draft class. He is so strong, large and talented. He has the making to be a consistent 20-10 guy on any team. He has that much upside. The question mark on Cousins is his attitude. A lot of coaches seem to be afraid to take Cousins just based on the thought that he is crazy. If he can keep his head, I see a number of All Star appearances for Cousins.
Under the Radar Stars
Gordon Hayward- Say what you want about him. Yes he’s white, yes he’s from a small school, yes he isn’t overly athletic. But god damn can Gordon Hayward play. Same things were said about Adam Morrison, and look at him now, he already has 2 championship rings.
Hassan Whiteside- Yupp, I’m buying into all of the hype and propaganda. His draft stock has slipped a little bit in the last month, but I feel like he has more potential and upside than any player in the draft. He is a physical freak and with a little polishing he can dominate. Mark that down. And the fact that I have him going to Oklahoma City at 21 makes me extremely excited. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Hassan Whiteside being as good as I expect… Yikes!
Jordan Crawford- Younger brother of Jamal Crawford, I see Jordan having a similar career path as his brother. Off the bench instant offense. I think he can have a role on any team. I’m ignoring the fact that he dunked over LeBron last summer, and I’m giving him praise. That is some unbiased journalism right there.
Potential Busts
Greg Monroe- Let’s take a trip back to the 1st round of the NCAA tournament this past year when the 14 seed Ohio Bobcats put a shellacking on the 3 seed Georgetown Hoyas, led by none other than Greg Monroe. That showed me that Monroe doesn’t have what it takes to be a good NBA player like a number 10 pick should be.
Cole Aldrich- Time for some biased journalism. I don’t like Aldrich, I’ve never liked Aldrich, and I never will like Aldrich. He looks mean and unfriendly. And I don’t think he is that good. Everyone talked about how great of a defender he is (and that is all he has going for him). But frankly, I doubt his ability to guard big men like Amare Stoudemire, Pau Gasol or even Dwight Howard who still has no post moves. Hell, he couldn’t even guard Jordan Eglesedor in the 2nd round of the tournament.
Daniel Orton- He might as well be from France. Don’t understand? Let me explain. The common knock on foreign players are “He average 3 points and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes per game playing for a French team… Why in the blue hell is he a potential lottery pick?” Well thats Daniel Orton. Those were his exact averages this past season at Kentucky. He barely scratched the surface as a college player, what makes people think he is ready to play in the NBA?
So at 7 p.m. the NBA offseason and pre season begins. From the sounds of it, there is potential for a barrage of trades that may occur between now and then. So most likely, my hours of working on this mock draft will end up being worthless. Shit!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
2010 World Cup
Naturally, if a sports fan were asked the question, “Which sporting event takes place every four years?” the majority would answer by saying the Olympics. That’s understandable. The world’s best athletes gather to compete in a variety events in order to decide which country dominates the world (the reason I say this is because coincidentally the United States always wins the medal count and is also the only world super power). I’m here to argue that there is a different sporting event that happens every four years that means more to the people of their respective countries than the Olympics. The World Cup. It takes a lot of courage to try to write about a sporting event in which you are somewhat unfamiliar with the sport itself and a sporting event that you only have 1 experience with, which is what I am doing. Prior to the 2006 World Cup, the amount of soccer I had watched in my life was the TV spots for Bend it like Beckham and the Full House episode when Michelle scored against her own team… so sad. Despite my lack of knowledge, and at that point lack of interest, I watched a few games and to my surprise was completely hooked. This might seem a little crazy, but an international soccer game with the pride of your country on the line is some of the most exciting TV you can find. The crowds are blood thirsty and the players are passionate. In 2006, rather than jumping on board with the Americans, I cheered for my heritage (the Italians). Much to my delight, Italy defeated France in the championship game which went to a shoot out. From that point on, I was addicted to World Cup soccer. Four years later its back and in South Africa. This time I know what I am getting myself into, and have some idea of which teams could walk away with international bragging rights once this 32 team tournament is over.
Predictions (No names will be mentioned in this blog. I doubt anyone who reads this cares for thorough analysis on each team. So I won’t bore you with it.)
Group A
1. Mexico
2. France
3. Uruguay
4. South Africa
Group B
1. Nigeria
2. Argentina
3. Greece
4. South Korea
Group C
1. England
2. United States
3. Slovenia
4. Algeria
Group D
1. Germany
2. Serbia
3. Australia
4. Ghana
Group E
1. Cameroon
2. Netherlands
3. Denmark
4. Japan
Group F
1. Italy
2. Paraguay
3. Slovakia
4. New Zealand
Group G
1. Brazil
2. Portugal
3. Ivory Coast
4. North Korea
Group H
1. Spain
2. Chile
3. Honduras
4. Switzerland
Mexico vs. Argentina- Winner: Mexico
England vs. Serbia- Winner: England
Germany vs. United States- Winner: Germany
Nigeria vs. France- Winner: Nigeria
Cameroon vs. Paraguay- Winner: Cameroon
Brazil vs. Chile- Winner: Brazil
Spain vs. Portugal- Winner: Spain
Italy vs. Netherlands- Winner: Italy
Mexico vs. England- Winner: England
Cameroon vs. Brazil- Winner: Brazil
Germany vs. Nigeria- Winner: Nigeria
Italy vs. Spain- Winner: Spain
Spain vs. Nigeria- Winner: Spain
Brazil vs. England- Winner: Brazil
Championship
Spain vs. Brazil- Winner: Brazil
So there you have it. That is exactly how the World Cup plays out. As bad as I wanted to pick Nigeria to make a Butler type run to the Championship, I couldn’t do it. But who knows; I certainly don’t. It could definitely happen. In one month we will know which country reigns supreme and owns the soccer world. The World will be watching, and once again, so will I.
Predictions (No names will be mentioned in this blog. I doubt anyone who reads this cares for thorough analysis on each team. So I won’t bore you with it.)
Group A
1. Mexico
2. France
3. Uruguay
4. South Africa
Group B
1. Nigeria
2. Argentina
3. Greece
4. South Korea
Group C
1. England
2. United States
3. Slovenia
4. Algeria
Group D
1. Germany
2. Serbia
3. Australia
4. Ghana
Group E
1. Cameroon
2. Netherlands
3. Denmark
4. Japan
Group F
1. Italy
2. Paraguay
3. Slovakia
4. New Zealand
Group G
1. Brazil
2. Portugal
3. Ivory Coast
4. North Korea
Group H
1. Spain
2. Chile
3. Honduras
4. Switzerland
Mexico vs. Argentina- Winner: Mexico
England vs. Serbia- Winner: England
Germany vs. United States- Winner: Germany
Nigeria vs. France- Winner: Nigeria
Cameroon vs. Paraguay- Winner: Cameroon
Brazil vs. Chile- Winner: Brazil
Spain vs. Portugal- Winner: Spain
Italy vs. Netherlands- Winner: Italy
Mexico vs. England- Winner: England
Cameroon vs. Brazil- Winner: Brazil
Germany vs. Nigeria- Winner: Nigeria
Italy vs. Spain- Winner: Spain
Spain vs. Nigeria- Winner: Spain
Brazil vs. England- Winner: Brazil
Championship
Spain vs. Brazil- Winner: Brazil
So there you have it. That is exactly how the World Cup plays out. As bad as I wanted to pick Nigeria to make a Butler type run to the Championship, I couldn’t do it. But who knows; I certainly don’t. It could definitely happen. In one month we will know which country reigns supreme and owns the soccer world. The World will be watching, and once again, so will I.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Cheering for the Celtics?
There is currently something wrong with me. I’m completely violating all things I have ever stood for. Well really only one thing. For the last 3 years I have hated the Boston Celtics with a fiery passion. I hate the new arrogant trash talking Kevin Garnett, I hate that thug Paul Pierce, I hate Ray Allen because he seems so smug. I’ve never liked Rasheed Wallace and his weird bald spots. And Fat Toddler (Glen Davis) is another player who I’ve never been a fan of. But tonight, for game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals I want the Celtics to beat the Magic. To anyone reading this, please do not think this is me jumping on the Celtics bandwagon. That’s totally not the case. I still hate them with a fiery passion just like I mentioned previously. I still dislike all of the players I brought up. I still think Doc Rivers needs to take a sip of water to clear his throat when he talks. But I want them to win.
Please ignore that huge pause, I was just vomiting. How could this be happening to me? The Celtics are the team that has taken my favorite team and player out of the playoffs 2 out of the last 3 years. LeBron can’t seem to get past Boston. They are holding LeBron and me back from an NBA Championship. So why exactly do I feel the need to cheer for this same team?
Maybe it is Rajon Rondo. I have always been a Rondo fan. Even though he outplayed LeBron for the majority of the Eastern Conference finals and made me look a little foolish for saying LeBron was CLEARLY the best player in the league. He’s fun to watch, maybe the funnest player in the league. He’s one of those players that you wish you could like but you can’t because he rivals your favorite team or player. I honestly think that is the case for a lot of LeBron/Kobe haters. But my player is Rondo. He’s on pace to be considered the best point guard in the league by the time the playoffs are done.
Maybe it’s the Celtics past that is attracting me to them now. Had I grown up in the 1980’s, the Celtics would have been my favorite team without question. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, DJ, the Garden. Time to go off on a quick tangent. If I had the choice to grow up in any sports decade, I would pick the 1980’s with relative ease. Why? Here are 5 reasons:
1. Bird vs. Magic- The greatest rivalry in NBA history was playing out before Mullets everywhere. 2 of the 5 greatest players ever battling for an NBA title gives me a fuzzy feeling just thinking about it. The clash of playing styles, life styles and cities is something that couldn’t even be written.
2. Introduction of MJ- Young Jordan was on the loose and just about taking the torch from Magic and Bird by the time the decade had ended. He was winning scoring title after scoring title, and forming into the greatest athlete of our time.
3. The 1985 Chicago Bears- Assuming that I would have been a Bears fan then as I am now, I would have a championship under my belt. Well actually I would have had my first one with the Celtics a few years prior because I would have been a Celtics fan if I grew up in the 80’s…. Anyone else’s head hurt? Yea, me too. They are just metaphorical championships so it doesn’t really matter. Anyways, I would have thoroughly enjoyed watching the Bears do the Super Bowl Shuffle.
4. Mike Tyson- In the 2000’s this was Kimbo Slice. Kimbo was supposed to violently demolish everyone who stood in his way, just like Iron Mike did roughly 20 years earlier. The only problem is Kimbo is not a maniacal head case like Tyson was (and still is). I’ve seen his old fights, and heard his press conferences. Much like I did with the Kimbo hype, I would have went for the Tyson hype.
5. Miracle on Ice- Many people say it was the most important sporting event in American History. With the Cold War being at its peak, I can imagine that it was. Not only was it a win for USA hockey, but it was a win for the USA. The greatest upset of all time is something that I feel needed to be seen live in order to really appreciate it. I wish I could say I saw it live.
Okay tangent over. The final reason, and the most accurate reason: I respect the hell out of the Celtics. This has nothing to do with like or dislike. This has to do with the simple fact that from all 16 teams in the playoffs this year, I haven’t seen a team want a title more than the Celtics. I’m not saying that the Lakers aren’t more talented, or that LeBron wasn’t the best player in their East Semi’s series. All I am saying is that the Celtics crave another NBA title. This could be their last hurrah. This may be the last time we see Kevin Garnett resemble his old self. It may be the last season we see Pierce and Allen in Celtic uniforms. It may be the last time we see Rasheed Wallace in playing shape. For me and the Celtics, it is a respect thing. I respect that even though they may be aging and even though they looked lousy at some points during the regular season, they are playing harder and better than anyone in the Association. They are playing basketball the way it was meant to be played. Boston is putting on a team basketball clinic in the NBA playoffs, and despite the fact that I despise them, I can’t help but enjoy watching them play and win games by playing right.
Again, don’t get this confused for me liking the Celtics. There aren’t going to be any Boston jerseys or t-shirts at my house. No applause, high fives, chest bumps or bro hugs if they win. Only a slight smirk when they are playing the game how it should be played, with intelligence, passion, aggression and the will to win.
Please ignore that huge pause, I was just vomiting. How could this be happening to me? The Celtics are the team that has taken my favorite team and player out of the playoffs 2 out of the last 3 years. LeBron can’t seem to get past Boston. They are holding LeBron and me back from an NBA Championship. So why exactly do I feel the need to cheer for this same team?
Maybe it is Rajon Rondo. I have always been a Rondo fan. Even though he outplayed LeBron for the majority of the Eastern Conference finals and made me look a little foolish for saying LeBron was CLEARLY the best player in the league. He’s fun to watch, maybe the funnest player in the league. He’s one of those players that you wish you could like but you can’t because he rivals your favorite team or player. I honestly think that is the case for a lot of LeBron/Kobe haters. But my player is Rondo. He’s on pace to be considered the best point guard in the league by the time the playoffs are done.
Maybe it’s the Celtics past that is attracting me to them now. Had I grown up in the 1980’s, the Celtics would have been my favorite team without question. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, DJ, the Garden. Time to go off on a quick tangent. If I had the choice to grow up in any sports decade, I would pick the 1980’s with relative ease. Why? Here are 5 reasons:
1. Bird vs. Magic- The greatest rivalry in NBA history was playing out before Mullets everywhere. 2 of the 5 greatest players ever battling for an NBA title gives me a fuzzy feeling just thinking about it. The clash of playing styles, life styles and cities is something that couldn’t even be written.
2. Introduction of MJ- Young Jordan was on the loose and just about taking the torch from Magic and Bird by the time the decade had ended. He was winning scoring title after scoring title, and forming into the greatest athlete of our time.
3. The 1985 Chicago Bears- Assuming that I would have been a Bears fan then as I am now, I would have a championship under my belt. Well actually I would have had my first one with the Celtics a few years prior because I would have been a Celtics fan if I grew up in the 80’s…. Anyone else’s head hurt? Yea, me too. They are just metaphorical championships so it doesn’t really matter. Anyways, I would have thoroughly enjoyed watching the Bears do the Super Bowl Shuffle.
4. Mike Tyson- In the 2000’s this was Kimbo Slice. Kimbo was supposed to violently demolish everyone who stood in his way, just like Iron Mike did roughly 20 years earlier. The only problem is Kimbo is not a maniacal head case like Tyson was (and still is). I’ve seen his old fights, and heard his press conferences. Much like I did with the Kimbo hype, I would have went for the Tyson hype.
5. Miracle on Ice- Many people say it was the most important sporting event in American History. With the Cold War being at its peak, I can imagine that it was. Not only was it a win for USA hockey, but it was a win for the USA. The greatest upset of all time is something that I feel needed to be seen live in order to really appreciate it. I wish I could say I saw it live.
Okay tangent over. The final reason, and the most accurate reason: I respect the hell out of the Celtics. This has nothing to do with like or dislike. This has to do with the simple fact that from all 16 teams in the playoffs this year, I haven’t seen a team want a title more than the Celtics. I’m not saying that the Lakers aren’t more talented, or that LeBron wasn’t the best player in their East Semi’s series. All I am saying is that the Celtics crave another NBA title. This could be their last hurrah. This may be the last time we see Kevin Garnett resemble his old self. It may be the last season we see Pierce and Allen in Celtic uniforms. It may be the last time we see Rasheed Wallace in playing shape. For me and the Celtics, it is a respect thing. I respect that even though they may be aging and even though they looked lousy at some points during the regular season, they are playing harder and better than anyone in the Association. They are playing basketball the way it was meant to be played. Boston is putting on a team basketball clinic in the NBA playoffs, and despite the fact that I despise them, I can’t help but enjoy watching them play and win games by playing right.
Again, don’t get this confused for me liking the Celtics. There aren’t going to be any Boston jerseys or t-shirts at my house. No applause, high fives, chest bumps or bro hugs if they win. Only a slight smirk when they are playing the game how it should be played, with intelligence, passion, aggression and the will to win.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Disbelief, Confusion, and Anger
At this point in time, I can’t choose the right word to describe my emotions. Firstly, I’m in disbelief. For the last 48 hours, I’ve known it was going to happen. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that they were going to lose game 6. There was too much negative criticism, and media coverage to make me think otherwise. But more importantly than that, I saw how the Cavs played in the game 5 disaster which has been coined “The LeBacle”. Despite all of this, I am still in shock that this happened. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was supposed to be LeBron and the Cavs year, but it wasn’t. When the Cavs lost to the Spurs in the 2007 Finals, I thought to myself, in a few years, LeBron will have at least 1 ring by now. He made the leap against Detroit in the Conference Finals. To my surprise, it hasn't happened.
This leads to me being confused. I’m completely confused as to how this happened. This was the series that I wanted. I wanted the Celtics in the 2nd round. They seemed old, injured, beaten down, and disinterested. The Cavs had the MVP, and a rejuvenated supporting cast that at times was a bit of a let down, but was no doubt a huge step up from when the Cavs and Celtics played in the 2nd round in 2008. LeBron single handedly pushed Boston to the final seconds of game 7 before the Celtics prevailed. So this year, with Mo Williams, Shaq, Antawn Jamison, and Anthony Parker, it was supposed to be a cake walk. What went wrong? Was it that the Celtics behind Rajon Rondo who played out of his mind this series just got hot at the right time? Was it that the supporting cast still isn’t good enough? After all, Shaq is old, Mo is erratic come playoff, and Jamison completely crapped his pants on the big stage of the playoffs. Blame definitely deserves to be placed on them. Did Mike Brown botch this series so bad that it cost Cleveland a chance to push further? It may be. It amazes me that he just couldn’t catch onto the fact that his best lineup which we only saw for a few minutes was a lineup consisting of energy guys like Andy Varejao and JJ Hickson. Or is it my biggest fear, and I regret saying this; but was it LeBron? I’m fine with it if his shot is off or if he isn’t finding open teammates like he usually does. In game 5, it was a blatant lack of effort and aggressiveness. Why didn’t he have the competitive fire that he should have? He didn’t play like Jordan, Bird, Magic or even Kobe would have played with. After this confusion, it’s anger.
Why did LeBron just concede like he did? 3-14 with 15 points in a decisive game 5 is bad enough, but he looked like he could care less that they lost. The best home team in the league lost their 2nd game of the series at home. By 32 God damn points! Then he shook off questions after the game like it was a loss in the 20th game of the season to Memphis. I hate to think this, but did he care? Or was he looking ahead to July when all of the attention will be on him once again, when he is going to be torturing his team, his city and me. Cleveland is such a desperate sports city, and he will completely destroy the Cavs organization, and the city of Cleveland all at once in one swift action. He could say it’s because he wants a better team, or because he wants more media coverage. But he can’t say he is leaving Cleveland because it is morally the right thing to do. I don’t know for sure what he is going to do, but I would bet a lot of money that he is getting out of town fast. Maybe he’ll go to Chicago to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jordan. The truth is, as of right now he is not close to Michael Jordan. Jordan wouldn’t hold a team hostage by flirting with various other teams throughout the season, and he wouldn’t have rolled over and died like LeBron did. If he goes to New York or New Jersey, it is strictly because he wants more to be a global icon than an NBA champion. You might ask how this affects me in such a profound way that I include myself with the Cavs and Cleveland. Well, I have been on the LeBron bandwagon since he was a junior in high school. He was younger than I am now when I decided that wherever he went was where I was going. A huge void was left for me after MJ retired, and LeBron filled it. My room is covered in Cavs logos, LeBron posters and the Cavs 2009-2010 schedule. I purchase the NBA league pass just so I can watch every Cavs game. I’ve been to 5 Cavs games in Cleveland since he came into the league. I have dozens of Cavs shirts. For basketball every season I’ve bought the LeBron James sneakers. He was my idol. When I played basketball I wanted to be just like him on the floor. I don’t play basketball anymore, and LeBron most likely isn’t going to in Cleveland anymore either. I could easily sit here and say with the way he lost the last two years, when he was supposed to win, that I don’t want to consider him my favorite player anymore. But I’m not gonna do that. LeBron has given me 7 years of amazing basketball and I’m grateful. I still stand behind him and say he is the best basketball player in the world, and my favorite player. I’m not going to give up on him.
This leads to me being confused. I’m completely confused as to how this happened. This was the series that I wanted. I wanted the Celtics in the 2nd round. They seemed old, injured, beaten down, and disinterested. The Cavs had the MVP, and a rejuvenated supporting cast that at times was a bit of a let down, but was no doubt a huge step up from when the Cavs and Celtics played in the 2nd round in 2008. LeBron single handedly pushed Boston to the final seconds of game 7 before the Celtics prevailed. So this year, with Mo Williams, Shaq, Antawn Jamison, and Anthony Parker, it was supposed to be a cake walk. What went wrong? Was it that the Celtics behind Rajon Rondo who played out of his mind this series just got hot at the right time? Was it that the supporting cast still isn’t good enough? After all, Shaq is old, Mo is erratic come playoff, and Jamison completely crapped his pants on the big stage of the playoffs. Blame definitely deserves to be placed on them. Did Mike Brown botch this series so bad that it cost Cleveland a chance to push further? It may be. It amazes me that he just couldn’t catch onto the fact that his best lineup which we only saw for a few minutes was a lineup consisting of energy guys like Andy Varejao and JJ Hickson. Or is it my biggest fear, and I regret saying this; but was it LeBron? I’m fine with it if his shot is off or if he isn’t finding open teammates like he usually does. In game 5, it was a blatant lack of effort and aggressiveness. Why didn’t he have the competitive fire that he should have? He didn’t play like Jordan, Bird, Magic or even Kobe would have played with. After this confusion, it’s anger.
Why did LeBron just concede like he did? 3-14 with 15 points in a decisive game 5 is bad enough, but he looked like he could care less that they lost. The best home team in the league lost their 2nd game of the series at home. By 32 God damn points! Then he shook off questions after the game like it was a loss in the 20th game of the season to Memphis. I hate to think this, but did he care? Or was he looking ahead to July when all of the attention will be on him once again, when he is going to be torturing his team, his city and me. Cleveland is such a desperate sports city, and he will completely destroy the Cavs organization, and the city of Cleveland all at once in one swift action. He could say it’s because he wants a better team, or because he wants more media coverage. But he can’t say he is leaving Cleveland because it is morally the right thing to do. I don’t know for sure what he is going to do, but I would bet a lot of money that he is getting out of town fast. Maybe he’ll go to Chicago to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jordan. The truth is, as of right now he is not close to Michael Jordan. Jordan wouldn’t hold a team hostage by flirting with various other teams throughout the season, and he wouldn’t have rolled over and died like LeBron did. If he goes to New York or New Jersey, it is strictly because he wants more to be a global icon than an NBA champion. You might ask how this affects me in such a profound way that I include myself with the Cavs and Cleveland. Well, I have been on the LeBron bandwagon since he was a junior in high school. He was younger than I am now when I decided that wherever he went was where I was going. A huge void was left for me after MJ retired, and LeBron filled it. My room is covered in Cavs logos, LeBron posters and the Cavs 2009-2010 schedule. I purchase the NBA league pass just so I can watch every Cavs game. I’ve been to 5 Cavs games in Cleveland since he came into the league. I have dozens of Cavs shirts. For basketball every season I’ve bought the LeBron James sneakers. He was my idol. When I played basketball I wanted to be just like him on the floor. I don’t play basketball anymore, and LeBron most likely isn’t going to in Cleveland anymore either. I could easily sit here and say with the way he lost the last two years, when he was supposed to win, that I don’t want to consider him my favorite player anymore. But I’m not gonna do that. LeBron has given me 7 years of amazing basketball and I’m grateful. I still stand behind him and say he is the best basketball player in the world, and my favorite player. I’m not going to give up on him.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
March Madness Diary
Over a six day stretch, I lived the dream of any college basketball fan. 8 NCAA tournament games, in a 6 day stretch, 3 days total. Sure, I didn’t see the buzzer beaters or close games that this tournament has been known for. I did however encounter some Madness. So here is the sequence of events on all days of my in person tournament viewing.
Friday, March 19
11:15 A.M. - I make my arrival at Buffalo’s HSBC Arena. Prior to this, I took my first Subway ride. Amazing that the first time I ride a Subway I’m 18 years old. I went into my ride anticipating that the Subway would be a gathering place for pee-smelling homeless people, luckily my initial thoughts were incorrect. Maybe it’s just because I was in Buffalo and not New York City.
11:40 A.M. – After scoping out the place, Collin and I decide that it’s a good idea to try to meet Gus Johnson. We move from our seats in the 300 level, to slightly better ones in the 100 level. We move down to row 3, right across from Huggy Bear himself.
11:55 A.M. – The man himself, Gus Johnson makes his arrival courtside. The crowd erupts louder than it does for the entrances of West Virginia or Morgan St. He makes his entrance carrying a bottle of Listerine Mouth Wash, which explains why he has such a beautiful smile. As he nears his seat, he sees me standing there, approximately 15 feet away, holding my sign that reads “Gus Johnson + College Basketball = March Madness”. He points at me and smiles, and this enters my top 5 favorite moments of my life of all time.
12:10 P.M. – Opening tip, and we are still in our newly adopted row 3 seats. Anytime a person comes down the stairs in our section, an attack of paranoia comes over me. I feel like I’m shoplifting from a store by sitting in these seats, but its such a great feeling I now feel compelled to go into Tops and steal some bubble gum.
12:20 P.M. – First commercial timeout, and West Virginia is scoreless. Huggy Bear has already taken 4 shots of Whiskey, and the following discussion occurs between Collin and I…
Collin- “You think Morgan St. can hold West Virginia scoreless?”
Me- “It will never happen.”
Collin- “What do you wanna bet?”
Me- “I’ll cut off my (male genitalia), if they do.”
Collin- “Wow!”
Luckily for me, West Virginia scores soon after and my (male genitalia) are safe.
1:20 P.M. – After viewing 3/4ths of the game, our section finally fills up and we exit our luxury seats and have to go back up to 327. We gave it a good run.
2:40 P.M. – As we are waiting for the Missouri vs. Clemson game, we decided we aren’t settling for 300 level seats. Collin, his friend Joe, and myself make our way to the West Virginia cheering section, and find some quality seats about 10 rows behind the Missouri bench. As we are climbing over other seats to get to our desired ones, Collin nearly breaks his ankle, he takes out a mans soda and he crushes a baby. Quality work right there, that’s like killing 3 birds with 1 stone. Naturally, I laugh at Collin as he is doing all of this. Then as I try to climb over the seats, I actually do damage to my ankle as I fall through a seat (I had the swelling on my ankle to prove it). It turns out I’m not too nimble either.
5:00 P.M. – At the completion of a very exciting game, we leave HSBC arena. We eat at Jim’s Steak Out, and I take down one of the top 5 best Cheeseburger Subs I’ve ever had.
6:30 P.M. – Me, Collin and Joe make our return to the Arena for the 2nd slate of games. We take a seat in the future Vermont fan section, hoping that no fans show up since they are in line for a severe beating.
7:15 P.M. – We are once again in 3rd row seats that we are not supposed to be in watching the game. These are the seats where I first encounter the 2nd most annoying type of fan to sit by: The Old Lady who doesn’t know anything about basketball, and doesn’t hide it… For those of you who are lucky enough to be able to say you have never encountered someone like this at a game, let me give you some insight on how the mind works for an individual like this. And remember, this lady always has a voice that sounds like the voice of Whitey Duvall’s sister Eleanore in the movie Eight Crazy Nights. The category for this voice is Very Annoying.
Old Vermont Fan Lady: “Where is the score to this game? I don’t see the score. It has to be somewhere. Where is it?”
Me: (Thinking to myself) All over the place, literally. ALL OVER!
Old Vermont Fan Lady: “Who are these two teams playing? I’ve never seen either of these teams.”
Me: (Again thinking to myself) How about you look at there jerseys, or any scoreboard in the place… Oh that’s right, you can’t identify where one is.
Old Vermont Fan Lady: “Wow! This arena is huge. It must be bigger than Madison Square Garden.”
Me: (Still thinking to myself) No… It… Is… NOT!
8:15 P.M. – My favorite sports moment ever. As Gus Johnson comes back out to the announce table after halftime, I yell to him “Hey, Gus you’re the Man!!!” He looks at me, waves and smiles. I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. But it doesn’t end there. He takes 3 steps after this, turns back and yells to me, pointing to my Cavs hat, “LeBron is going to the Knicks!”… Wait, what just happened? Gus Johnson, initiated conversation with me. He talked to me, when he didn’t need to. My life is now complete.
8:30 P.M. – Maybe it’s a good thing that we got moved from our seats, I’m not sure how much longer I could’ve taken that non sense. The place fills up with Syracuse fans, which Collin and I affectionately referred to as simply, “The Bandwagon”.
For the rest of the night, Collin, Joe and I watched the games from the 300 level, and Collin and I try to provoke a number of Bandwagon fans by rooting hard for Vermont, despite the fact that they never stood a chance. Like something like that would stop Collin and Me from making fools of ourselves.
Sunday, March 21
12:00 P.M. – Day 2 of the festivities in Buffalo, we start with Syracuse vs. Gonzaga, and finish up with West Virginia vs. Missouri. Collin and I take our seats in 327 among the Bandwagon, hoping that this game would be a little closer than the last one (no such luck).
12:05 P.M. – Perfect example of a Bandwagon fan: sitting to the right of us, is a man with a Blue and Gray striped long sleeve shirt, with an Arinze Onuaku jersey over it. Seriously bandwagon? Blue and Gray shirt, with the Orange Syracuse jersey on. Get it right dude!
12:45 P.M. – The Bandwagon is in their glory, as Syracuse takes a huge lead near the end of the half. So annoying. Hate is a strong word, I hate the Bandwagon.
1:50 P.M. – A real Syracuse fan, and a Bandwagon fan nearly go at it behind us due to a dispute that a bandwagon fan spit on the real fan while cheering. Like mature adults, Collin and I are hollering, “The Bandwagon is crumbling! Ahhh, it’s derailing!”
2:15 P.M. – We establish that its very annoying when teams fans yell for players to be put in when they aren’t good and their team is down by a lot. Something which the Gonzaga fans are doing. Two quick notes on Gonzaga:
1. They travel extremely well. After Syracuse, they were probably the most well represented team in Buffalo. I raise a hand to those who traveled from Spokane to Buffalo.
2. They had the best male cheerleaders of any team I saw. Some of you probably think this is insignificant, however it is not. As a person who does not feel that Cheerleading should be considered a sport, I was very impressed by the teams cheerleading performances during timeouts. This was due to the male cheerleaders. They were the backbone of all of the cheerleading squads.
3:00 P.M. – Unable to find our way to lower level seats, we are forced to watch the West Virginia vs. Missouri game from our crap seats. I walked passed Jim Kelly when we were looking for lower level seats, and I couldn’t have cared less.
And that is where the Madness started for me. No memorable upsets or fantastic finishes. Just pure Madness. Like I said, this was just the start of the Madness.
Thursday, March 25
6:30 P.M. – My dad and I make our way into the Carrier Dome after sitting in traffic forever. Seats couldn’t be better. We were DIRECTLY at midcourt in the 200 Level, perfection. Or as Gus Johnson would say, “BAM!”
6:45 P.M. – Out to pee, and I pass a Dustin Diamond look alike. The later years one where he was on Celebrity Fit Club and did his own porn videos.
7:00 P.M. – We come back to our seats, and behind us is the most annoying type of fan ever created: “The old lady who doesn’t know anything about basketball, but thinks she does, has an annoying voice and is really loud and rude and has pom poms to go along with all of that.” That’s like a sports fans nightmare.
7:20 P.M. – Every time Isaiah Thomas touches the ball, we have an unidentified male West Virginia fan in our section yelling, “SHOOT IT!” It was hilarious. And as this happens, the aforementioned lady has the nerve to say, “He’s so silly, he thinks they can hear him.” Oh the nerve!
7:30 P.M. – The first talking appearance of her husband. It turns out he sounds like Elmer Fudd. No wonder he can put up with her.
8:15 P.M. – Solid 1st half, Washington leads WVU by 2 at the break. The most entertaining half of basketball i've seen in the last 7 games.
8:40 P.M. – The defining sequence of the night: West Virginia is starting to gain momentum, and Washington has an offensive possession where they miss about 20 tip ins/lay-ups. I’m not talking about the sequence in the game, I’m talking about how this is the sequence where I almost slapped an annoying old lady.
Her exact words (Keep in mind, she was about 6 inches away from my ear, hitting me with her stupid pom poms): “Oh Yay! Oh no he missed it! Get in there! Yes! No! Oh my god how can’t they make it?! Yay! Oh gosh No! Get In! AHHHHH! Get it in there baby! Ahhh! Oh Shit!”
At this point I was on the verge of going on an 8 state killing spree. To get a fair comparison of what this is like, download one of those annoying emo screaming songs, turn your volume as high as you can, put the speaker near your ear and play the song for about 15 seconds. And imagine that the screaming voice is the voice of The Nanny instead of a man’s voice. BRUTAL!
8:45 P.M. – The two most powerful words you can combine are said by the same man who is constantly yelling “SHOOT IT”. As Lorenzo Romar is getting his technical foul, he aggressively takes off his jacket, just as any pissed off coach would. The man yells, “You won’t throw your jacket at the ref… You Won’t”. As Gus Johnson would say, “BAM!”, right there I realized that no two words are more powerful when put together than You and Won’t. It’s an instant dare, and a slap in the face to the person you are saying it to. Come to think of it, “I’m Pregnant” might carry a more powerful punch.
9:15 P.M. – The Bandwagon’s ride is over. It’s announced that Syracuse lost, and there is collective sigh in the Carrier Dome (so sad). To my delight, one other man who happens to be 3 seats away gives a “YES!” as we hear Syracuse lost. In front of us, a die hard Bandwagon member turns to him and yells, “Shut the F*** up!” Yes! We have a possible fight, this is terrific. They are standing up, screaming vulgar words to eachother as everyone around us is yelling things like “Grow up”, “Quit it guys!”, “Be Mature”. Apparently we have a bunch of Mother Teresa’s in our section. My one comment was “You Won’t Punch Him.” Classic.
9:30 P.M. – I go out to get a shirt, and see another Dustin Diamond. This time it’s the one from Saved By The Bell.
9:35 P.M. – I get back to my section, and for reasons unknown there is an old man on a stretcher… That’s all I got on that.
10:00 P.M. - Yummm, Nachos and Cheese.
10:15 P.M. – Kentucky vs. Cornell is about to start, and there is no question that Kentucky is going to win. A sign in our section reads, “In Kentucky, We Love our Cousins.” True, in more than 1 way.
It was interesting to say the least. As I said, it was every college basketball fans dream. I encountered first-hand what March Madness is like. Well, maybe it was just madness.
Friday, March 19
11:15 A.M. - I make my arrival at Buffalo’s HSBC Arena. Prior to this, I took my first Subway ride. Amazing that the first time I ride a Subway I’m 18 years old. I went into my ride anticipating that the Subway would be a gathering place for pee-smelling homeless people, luckily my initial thoughts were incorrect. Maybe it’s just because I was in Buffalo and not New York City.
11:40 A.M. – After scoping out the place, Collin and I decide that it’s a good idea to try to meet Gus Johnson. We move from our seats in the 300 level, to slightly better ones in the 100 level. We move down to row 3, right across from Huggy Bear himself.
11:55 A.M. – The man himself, Gus Johnson makes his arrival courtside. The crowd erupts louder than it does for the entrances of West Virginia or Morgan St. He makes his entrance carrying a bottle of Listerine Mouth Wash, which explains why he has such a beautiful smile. As he nears his seat, he sees me standing there, approximately 15 feet away, holding my sign that reads “Gus Johnson + College Basketball = March Madness”. He points at me and smiles, and this enters my top 5 favorite moments of my life of all time.
12:10 P.M. – Opening tip, and we are still in our newly adopted row 3 seats. Anytime a person comes down the stairs in our section, an attack of paranoia comes over me. I feel like I’m shoplifting from a store by sitting in these seats, but its such a great feeling I now feel compelled to go into Tops and steal some bubble gum.
12:20 P.M. – First commercial timeout, and West Virginia is scoreless. Huggy Bear has already taken 4 shots of Whiskey, and the following discussion occurs between Collin and I…
Collin- “You think Morgan St. can hold West Virginia scoreless?”
Me- “It will never happen.”
Collin- “What do you wanna bet?”
Me- “I’ll cut off my (male genitalia), if they do.”
Collin- “Wow!”
Luckily for me, West Virginia scores soon after and my (male genitalia) are safe.
1:20 P.M. – After viewing 3/4ths of the game, our section finally fills up and we exit our luxury seats and have to go back up to 327. We gave it a good run.
2:40 P.M. – As we are waiting for the Missouri vs. Clemson game, we decided we aren’t settling for 300 level seats. Collin, his friend Joe, and myself make our way to the West Virginia cheering section, and find some quality seats about 10 rows behind the Missouri bench. As we are climbing over other seats to get to our desired ones, Collin nearly breaks his ankle, he takes out a mans soda and he crushes a baby. Quality work right there, that’s like killing 3 birds with 1 stone. Naturally, I laugh at Collin as he is doing all of this. Then as I try to climb over the seats, I actually do damage to my ankle as I fall through a seat (I had the swelling on my ankle to prove it). It turns out I’m not too nimble either.
5:00 P.M. – At the completion of a very exciting game, we leave HSBC arena. We eat at Jim’s Steak Out, and I take down one of the top 5 best Cheeseburger Subs I’ve ever had.
6:30 P.M. – Me, Collin and Joe make our return to the Arena for the 2nd slate of games. We take a seat in the future Vermont fan section, hoping that no fans show up since they are in line for a severe beating.
7:15 P.M. – We are once again in 3rd row seats that we are not supposed to be in watching the game. These are the seats where I first encounter the 2nd most annoying type of fan to sit by: The Old Lady who doesn’t know anything about basketball, and doesn’t hide it… For those of you who are lucky enough to be able to say you have never encountered someone like this at a game, let me give you some insight on how the mind works for an individual like this. And remember, this lady always has a voice that sounds like the voice of Whitey Duvall’s sister Eleanore in the movie Eight Crazy Nights. The category for this voice is Very Annoying.
Old Vermont Fan Lady: “Where is the score to this game? I don’t see the score. It has to be somewhere. Where is it?”
Me: (Thinking to myself) All over the place, literally. ALL OVER!
Old Vermont Fan Lady: “Who are these two teams playing? I’ve never seen either of these teams.”
Me: (Again thinking to myself) How about you look at there jerseys, or any scoreboard in the place… Oh that’s right, you can’t identify where one is.
Old Vermont Fan Lady: “Wow! This arena is huge. It must be bigger than Madison Square Garden.”
Me: (Still thinking to myself) No… It… Is… NOT!
8:15 P.M. – My favorite sports moment ever. As Gus Johnson comes back out to the announce table after halftime, I yell to him “Hey, Gus you’re the Man!!!” He looks at me, waves and smiles. I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. But it doesn’t end there. He takes 3 steps after this, turns back and yells to me, pointing to my Cavs hat, “LeBron is going to the Knicks!”… Wait, what just happened? Gus Johnson, initiated conversation with me. He talked to me, when he didn’t need to. My life is now complete.
8:30 P.M. – Maybe it’s a good thing that we got moved from our seats, I’m not sure how much longer I could’ve taken that non sense. The place fills up with Syracuse fans, which Collin and I affectionately referred to as simply, “The Bandwagon”.
For the rest of the night, Collin, Joe and I watched the games from the 300 level, and Collin and I try to provoke a number of Bandwagon fans by rooting hard for Vermont, despite the fact that they never stood a chance. Like something like that would stop Collin and Me from making fools of ourselves.
Sunday, March 21
12:00 P.M. – Day 2 of the festivities in Buffalo, we start with Syracuse vs. Gonzaga, and finish up with West Virginia vs. Missouri. Collin and I take our seats in 327 among the Bandwagon, hoping that this game would be a little closer than the last one (no such luck).
12:05 P.M. – Perfect example of a Bandwagon fan: sitting to the right of us, is a man with a Blue and Gray striped long sleeve shirt, with an Arinze Onuaku jersey over it. Seriously bandwagon? Blue and Gray shirt, with the Orange Syracuse jersey on. Get it right dude!
12:45 P.M. – The Bandwagon is in their glory, as Syracuse takes a huge lead near the end of the half. So annoying. Hate is a strong word, I hate the Bandwagon.
1:50 P.M. – A real Syracuse fan, and a Bandwagon fan nearly go at it behind us due to a dispute that a bandwagon fan spit on the real fan while cheering. Like mature adults, Collin and I are hollering, “The Bandwagon is crumbling! Ahhh, it’s derailing!”
2:15 P.M. – We establish that its very annoying when teams fans yell for players to be put in when they aren’t good and their team is down by a lot. Something which the Gonzaga fans are doing. Two quick notes on Gonzaga:
1. They travel extremely well. After Syracuse, they were probably the most well represented team in Buffalo. I raise a hand to those who traveled from Spokane to Buffalo.
2. They had the best male cheerleaders of any team I saw. Some of you probably think this is insignificant, however it is not. As a person who does not feel that Cheerleading should be considered a sport, I was very impressed by the teams cheerleading performances during timeouts. This was due to the male cheerleaders. They were the backbone of all of the cheerleading squads.
3:00 P.M. – Unable to find our way to lower level seats, we are forced to watch the West Virginia vs. Missouri game from our crap seats. I walked passed Jim Kelly when we were looking for lower level seats, and I couldn’t have cared less.
And that is where the Madness started for me. No memorable upsets or fantastic finishes. Just pure Madness. Like I said, this was just the start of the Madness.
Thursday, March 25
6:30 P.M. – My dad and I make our way into the Carrier Dome after sitting in traffic forever. Seats couldn’t be better. We were DIRECTLY at midcourt in the 200 Level, perfection. Or as Gus Johnson would say, “BAM!”
6:45 P.M. – Out to pee, and I pass a Dustin Diamond look alike. The later years one where he was on Celebrity Fit Club and did his own porn videos.
7:00 P.M. – We come back to our seats, and behind us is the most annoying type of fan ever created: “The old lady who doesn’t know anything about basketball, but thinks she does, has an annoying voice and is really loud and rude and has pom poms to go along with all of that.” That’s like a sports fans nightmare.
7:20 P.M. – Every time Isaiah Thomas touches the ball, we have an unidentified male West Virginia fan in our section yelling, “SHOOT IT!” It was hilarious. And as this happens, the aforementioned lady has the nerve to say, “He’s so silly, he thinks they can hear him.” Oh the nerve!
7:30 P.M. – The first talking appearance of her husband. It turns out he sounds like Elmer Fudd. No wonder he can put up with her.
8:15 P.M. – Solid 1st half, Washington leads WVU by 2 at the break. The most entertaining half of basketball i've seen in the last 7 games.
8:40 P.M. – The defining sequence of the night: West Virginia is starting to gain momentum, and Washington has an offensive possession where they miss about 20 tip ins/lay-ups. I’m not talking about the sequence in the game, I’m talking about how this is the sequence where I almost slapped an annoying old lady.
Her exact words (Keep in mind, she was about 6 inches away from my ear, hitting me with her stupid pom poms): “Oh Yay! Oh no he missed it! Get in there! Yes! No! Oh my god how can’t they make it?! Yay! Oh gosh No! Get In! AHHHHH! Get it in there baby! Ahhh! Oh Shit!”
At this point I was on the verge of going on an 8 state killing spree. To get a fair comparison of what this is like, download one of those annoying emo screaming songs, turn your volume as high as you can, put the speaker near your ear and play the song for about 15 seconds. And imagine that the screaming voice is the voice of The Nanny instead of a man’s voice. BRUTAL!
8:45 P.M. – The two most powerful words you can combine are said by the same man who is constantly yelling “SHOOT IT”. As Lorenzo Romar is getting his technical foul, he aggressively takes off his jacket, just as any pissed off coach would. The man yells, “You won’t throw your jacket at the ref… You Won’t”. As Gus Johnson would say, “BAM!”, right there I realized that no two words are more powerful when put together than You and Won’t. It’s an instant dare, and a slap in the face to the person you are saying it to. Come to think of it, “I’m Pregnant” might carry a more powerful punch.
9:15 P.M. – The Bandwagon’s ride is over. It’s announced that Syracuse lost, and there is collective sigh in the Carrier Dome (so sad). To my delight, one other man who happens to be 3 seats away gives a “YES!” as we hear Syracuse lost. In front of us, a die hard Bandwagon member turns to him and yells, “Shut the F*** up!” Yes! We have a possible fight, this is terrific. They are standing up, screaming vulgar words to eachother as everyone around us is yelling things like “Grow up”, “Quit it guys!”, “Be Mature”. Apparently we have a bunch of Mother Teresa’s in our section. My one comment was “You Won’t Punch Him.” Classic.
9:30 P.M. – I go out to get a shirt, and see another Dustin Diamond. This time it’s the one from Saved By The Bell.
9:35 P.M. – I get back to my section, and for reasons unknown there is an old man on a stretcher… That’s all I got on that.
10:00 P.M. - Yummm, Nachos and Cheese.
10:15 P.M. – Kentucky vs. Cornell is about to start, and there is no question that Kentucky is going to win. A sign in our section reads, “In Kentucky, We Love our Cousins.” True, in more than 1 way.
It was interesting to say the least. As I said, it was every college basketball fans dream. I encountered first-hand what March Madness is like. Well, maybe it was just madness.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Madness of March
What is March Madness? Well, one definition of Madness is intense excitement or enthusiasm. Perfect. There isn’t a better way to describe the feeling that we all get when we first see the brackets, break down the matchups, hear the CBS music and listen to Gus Johnson make sounds that don’t really sound human. Everyone gets caught up in the Madness, it is much more than just a basketball tournament. So therefore, March Madness is the intense excitement and enthusiasm that everyone is engulfed in while doing anything that has to do with the NCAA tournament. Finally, the feeling is here. March Madness is here. This is the best 3 week stretch of any sport at any level, ever. So after months of the regular season, weeks of bracketology, and all 30 conference tournaments, we can finally analyze the tournament and make our predictions. But don’t be mistaken, March Madness is not just a simple college basketball tournament.
There is a certain euphoria that is present during March Madness. It technically starts on Selection Sunday, although really it starts when the season starts in November. On Selection Sunday, we get our first taste of what this tournament is going to bring us. We get the matchups, we look for the possible Cinderella stories, the potential instant classic games (which we pray Gus Johnson will be announcing), and we fill out the brackets. I’m going to do the same thing, and let all of you readers see what I’m talking about.
Cinderella Stories
Everyone loves to root for the underdog. Rocky was an underdog, and everyone wanted him to beat Apollo, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago, and even Thunder Lips. It is easy to jump on the bandwagon of the team that is exceeding expectations. The popular question that everyone has asked since 2006 is “Who is this years George Mason?” The miraculous run by George Mason wasn’t projected by any experts. That is what is so great. No one saw it coming, but everyone was pulling for them by the time they got to the Sweet 16. First they knocked off powerhouses Michigan St, and North Carolina in the first weekend of the tournament. Then in the Sweet 16 they beat fellow Cinderella story Wichita St. That’s when the story should’ve ended. They had Connecticut in the Elite 8. In no way George Mason should have won that game, but it wasn’t midnight yet. They were taking on a 30-3 powerhouse from the Big East, stacked with future pros. It didn’t matter. The slipper still fit on the foot of George Mason. That is March Madness. The unexpected and sometimes seemingly impossible can happen. No other Cinderella team has had the Final Four success that tiny George Mason has had. Since 2003 (the first tournament I can remember watching all hours of the tournament), there have been plenty of upsets and surprises. In 2004, 9 seed UAB first beat 8 seed Washington in the 1st round, and then stunned the favorite 1 seed Kentucky in a 76-75 thriller. Kentucky wasn’t the only 1 seed to go down in the 2nd round in 2004 though. 1 seed Stanford was upset by 8 seed Alabama who advanced all the way to the Elite 8 before eventual champion Connecticut handled them. The most popular Cinderella story of 2004 was 7 seed Xavier who was lead by Romain Soto and Lionel Chalmers. Xavier was only 3 points away from beating 1 seed Duke in the Elite 8, and that was after beating 2 seed Mississippi St, and 3 seed Texas in the previous 2 rounds. In 2005 the unheard of UW-Milwaukee Panthers were a 12 seed who made there way to the Sweet 16 before going down to eventual runner up Illinois. The most popular Cinderella story of that year was 7 seed West Virginia, but they will be discussed later. George Mason was the story in 2006. In 2007, we saw a predominantly upset free bracket. The lowest seed that made the sweet 16 was 7 seed UNLV. 2008 saw two 12 seeds (Villanova and Western Kentucky) reach the Sweet 16. But 2008 was all about 10 seed Davidson and Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry took the tournament and sports nation by storm and stole the spotlight in every game Davidson played. The “Baby Faced Assassin” had one of the single greatest tournaments in recent memory. 40 points in an upset win over 7 seed Gonzaga, 30 points in a bigger upset win over 2 seed Georgetown, 33 points in a sweet 16 win over Wisconsin and 25 points in a narrow loss to eventual champion Kansas. Stephen Curry put himself on the map and Cinderella’s on the map as well. So who is this years Cinderella, or Cinderella’s? In my eyes there are plenty of candidates in this years wide open field.
In the Midwest Region, I see 3 potential Cinderella teams. From the time I saw 9 seed Northern Iowa play in the Missouri Valley conference championship, I said that the Panthers would be my Cinderella pick. Despite the fact that they will face overall #1 seed Kansas in the 2nd round, I’m not changing my prediction. They play good fundamental basketball and seriously D up. I also see 13 seed Houston and 11 seed San Diego St as potential Cinderella’s. Houston has the nations leading scorer Aubrey Coleman, and he may be able to carry Houston to a 1st round upset over Maryland. San Diego St. is at the different end of the spectrum of Houston. They have a balanced scoring attack and took down tournament teams New Mexico and UNLV in the Mountain West tournament.
In the West Region 13 seed Murray St won the Ohio Valley Conference championship and won 30 games along the way. It may seem far fetched, but 14 seed Oakland is a dangerous team. If there is going to be a 14 over 3 upset this year it will be Oakland over Pittsburgh. 12 seed UTEP has a dynamic duo in Randy Culpepper and Derrick Caracter that can cause problems. And finally I see BYU as a team that could reach the Elite 8. Jimmer Fredette can carry BYU to wins, and Jonathan Tavernari was the Mountain West 6th Man of the Year.
Over to the East Region, I see one team that can make a Cinderella run. The Cornell Big Red have the recipe to pull some upsets in the tournament. NCAA Tournament experience, a senior point guard in Louis Dale, go-to scorer Ryan Wittman, and they can shoot the lights out. Cornell shot 43% from 3 point range, and that makes up for their lack of athleticism. Let’s not forget, Cornell nearly upset #1 Kansas early in the year, losing by only 5 points. Don’t sleep on Cornell.
And finally in the South Region, which I think is wide open, there are a few potential Cinderella’s. 12 seed Utah St. and 13 seed Siena can both pull 1st round upsets. Utah St. will practically be playing a home game in Spokane. And Siena is playing a Purdue team that is in rough shape. 3 seed Baylor is hardly considered a Cinderella, but considering it has been a while since they have won a tournament game I would put them in this category. And finally I would include the Richmond Spiders. They have a strong backcourt and are aggressive defensively. I like them over St. Mary’s (who I had vowed not to pick in any tournament game), and they could pose a challenge to Villanova’s run to a 2nd straight Final Four.
Classic Matchups
The NCAA Tournament is so great in main part because of the games. It was obvious that last year’s tournament was a down year for tournaments, simply because of the lack of exciting games. So what games have been the best “instant classic” games since 2003? I broke it down and listed the top 3 games from each round since 2003.
1st Round
1. #4 Syracuse vs. #13 Vermont (2005) - Big upset, great game, and Gus Johnson was on the call (We’ll get to him later)
2. #6 Duke vs. #11 VCU (2007) - Game winning shot by Eric Maynor killed the hopes of Duke fans… I love it.
3. #8 Ohio St. vs. #9 Siena (2009) – Double OT thriller, with a few ONIONS!!!
2nd Round
1. #1 Arizona vs. #9 Gonzaga (2005) – Perhaps the best NCAA tournament game I’ve ever seen. Luke Walton vs. Blake Stepp… It doesn’t sound like the best individual matchup, but it was legendary.
2. 2007 2nd Round - Too many good games to give just 1 spot. Memorable games were: #5 Butler vs. #4 Maryland, #3 Pitt vs. #11 VCU, #6 Vanderbilt vs. #3 Washington St., #1 Ohio St. vs. #9 Xavier, #5 Tennessee vs. #4 Virginia
3. #2 Georgetown vs. #10 Davidson (2008) – The Stephen Curry show. Down big at the half, his legend grew by scoring 25 2nd half points to lead the Wildcats to the victory.
Sweet 16
1. #2 UCLA vs. #3 Gonzaga (2006) – Two words… Gus Johnson! It pains me deeply to put this game here considering I was on the Adam Morrison bandwagon at the time, but it’s too good not to include.
2. #1 Connecticut vs. #5 Washington (2006)– The underrated great game of all NCAA tournaments. Brandon Roy did all he could to get Washington past UConn, but UConn was too strong.
3. 2007 Sweet 16 – The same case made for the 2007 2nd round, so many good games. No question that 2007 was the best tournament of recent memory. Memorable games were: #1 Kansas vs. #4 Southern Illinois, #1 Ohio St vs. #5 Tennessee, #2 Memphis vs. #3 Texas A&M, #2 Georgetown vs. #6 Vanderbilt.
Elite 8
1. 2005 Elite 8 – Another case where there were too many games worthy to just mention one. 3 games, 4 total overtimes. They were- #1 Illinois vs. #3 Arizona, #4 Louisville vs. #7 West Virginia (PITTSNOGGLE), #5 Michigan St. vs. #2 Kentucky
2. #1 Connecticut vs. #11 George Mason (2006) – The game that gave all underdogs in the NCAA tournament hope.
3. #1 Pittsburgh vs. #3 Villanova – A big east clash that had the only memorable finish in a poor 2009 NCAA Tournament. Thank you Scottie Reynolds for giving the 2009 tournament a little credibility.
Final Four
Surprisingly, the Final Four has featured practically no good games since 2003. The only case was 2004, where there were 2 close games. #2 Connecticut beat #1 Duke 79-78 (Ha-ha more Duke misery) and #3 Georgia Tech defeated #2 Oklahoma St. 67-65.
National Championship
1. #3 Syracuse vs. #2 Kansas (2003) – Carmelo and the Orange almost blew a huge lead, but hung on to win the championship.
2. #1 North Carolina vs. #1 Illinois (2005) - Clearly the two best teams in college basketball. UNC won the title over possibly the best team not to win the title of the decade.
3. #1 Kansas vs. #1 Memphis (2008) – If there was a better team not to win the title than Illinois, then it was Memphis. Mario Chalmers huge shot sent the game to overtime where Kansas prevailed.
It’s much too difficult to predict a potential classic game. So many variables need to be factored into that. That’s something even I can’t handle.
Gus Johnson
We often talk about how one man can carry a team to a victory in the NCAA tournament. We’ve seen it before with Carmelo Anthony and Stephen Curry are examples from the past, and this year we could easily see Evan Turner, Greg Monroe, Jimmer Fredette, or John Wall single handedly lead their team to a victory. But there is one man who single handedly takes over the tournament every year. That man is Gus Johnson. The calls of Gus Johnson are what take games from legendary to immortal. The excitement that Gus Johnson brings to the announce table is un-parallel. His voice cracks, he yells, he laughs sadistically, and makes sounds that we aren’t sure are human. But whatever it is that he does, he gets us stoked to watch college basketball. Why he doesn’t announce the final four I’m not quite sure, but I’m considering writing a letter to CBS telling them to get him in Indianapolis this year. 2 years ago when Mario Chalmers hit the shot to send the championship game to overtime, we heard a moderately excited Jim Nantz make the call. Gus Johnson would have gave us the greatest call in sports history, and possibly made this the greatest NCAA tournament game in history. He also may have screamed so loud that he put himself in the hospital. To put it simply, Gus Johnson puts the “Madness” in March Madness. To my delight, he will be calling the games I will be at in Buffalo. I will do anything to meet him. For those of you who aren't very familiar with Gus Johnson, go to You Tube and search his name. He is an internet sensation and rightfully so.
The Predictions
This is what it’s about. This is why March Madness sweeps the nation. Everyone fills out the bracket, they all have their own strategy to pick the games. Its been said a million times that your grandmother who knows nothing about college basketball has just as good of a chance to pick a winning bracket as you do. Well, I’m gonna give it a shot now. Every year I aspire to pick a perfect bracket, and it usually doesn’t last through the first set of games. I always convince myself it can happen though, and it never will. But what the hell, I’ve convinced myself again, so here are my bracket predictions.
Midwest Region
First Round- 1 Kansas over 16 Lehigh, 9 Northern Iowa over 8 UNLV, 5 Michigan St. over 12 New Mexico St., 4 Maryland over 13 Houston, 6 Tennessee over 11 San Diego St., 3 Georgetown over 14 Ohio, 7 Oklahoma St. over 10 Georgia Tech, 2 Ohio St. over 15 UCSB
Second Round- 1 Kansas over 9 Northern Iowa (But closer than the experts think), 5 Michigan St. over 4 Maryland, 3 Georgetown over 6 Tennessee, 2 Ohio St. over 7 Oklahoma St.
Sweet 16- 1 Kansas over 5 Michigan St./2 Ohio St. over 3 Georgetown
Elite 8- 1 Kansas over 2 Ohio St.
West Region
First Round- 1 Syracuse over 16 Vermont (my prediction for closest 1 vs. 16 game of the year), 8 Gonzaga over 9 Florida St., 5 Butler over 12 UTEP, 4 Vanderbilt over 13 Murray St., 6 Xavier over 11 Minnesota, 14 Oakland over 3 Pittsburgh (you heard it here first), 7 BYU over 10 Florida, 2 Kansas St. over 15 North Texas
Second Round- 1 Syracuse over 8 Gonzaga, 5 Butler over 4 Vanderbilt, 6 Xavier over 14 Oakland, 2 Kansas St. over 7 BYU
Sweet 16- 1 Syracuse over 5 Butler/2 Kansas St. over 6 Xavier
Elite 8- 1 Syracuse over 2 Kansas St.
East Region
First Round- 1 Kentucky over 16 ETSU, 8 Texas over 9 Wake Forest, 12 Cornell over 5 Temple, 4 Wisconsin over 13 Wofford, 6 Marquette over 11 Washington, 3 New Mexico over 14 Montana, 10 Missouri over 7 Clemson, 2 West Virginia over 15 Morgan St.
Second Round- 1 Kentucky over 8 Texas, 12 Cornell over 4 Wisconsin, 3 New Mexico over 6 Marquette, 2 West Virginia over 10 Missouri
Sweet 16- 1 Kentucky over 12 Cornell/2 West Virginia over 3 New Mexico
Elite 8- 1 Kentucky over 2 West Virginia
South Region
First Round- 1 Duke over 16 Winthrop/Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 9 Louisville over 8 California, 5 Texas A&M over 12 Utah St., 13 Siena over 4 Purdue, 6 Notre Dame over 11 Old Dominion, 3 Baylor over 14 Sam Houston St., 7 Richmond over 10 St. Mary’s, 2 Villanova over 15 Robert Morris
Second Round- 1 Duke over 9 Louisville, 5 Texas A&M over 13 Siena, 3 Baylor over 6 Notre Dame, 2 Villanova over 7 Richmond
Sweet 16- 5 Texas A&M over 1 Duke/2 Villanova over 3 Baylor
Elite 8- 2 Villanova over 5 Texas A&M
Final Four
1 Kansas over 1 Syracuse/1 Kentucky over 2 Villanova
National Championship
1 Kansas over 1 Kentucky
Frankly, I am having a difficult time accepting these picks. I feel like I shouldn’t have gone with so much chalk, but I didn’t have the guts to go a different route. So this is how it will be, Experience vs. Youth in the final, with Rock Chalk Jayhawk cutting down the nets.
This is why March Madness is so great. The unpredictability, the excitement, Gus Johnson! Every March basketball fans are totally consumed by this phenomenal event, and the same goes for this year.
There is a certain euphoria that is present during March Madness. It technically starts on Selection Sunday, although really it starts when the season starts in November. On Selection Sunday, we get our first taste of what this tournament is going to bring us. We get the matchups, we look for the possible Cinderella stories, the potential instant classic games (which we pray Gus Johnson will be announcing), and we fill out the brackets. I’m going to do the same thing, and let all of you readers see what I’m talking about.
Cinderella Stories
Everyone loves to root for the underdog. Rocky was an underdog, and everyone wanted him to beat Apollo, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago, and even Thunder Lips. It is easy to jump on the bandwagon of the team that is exceeding expectations. The popular question that everyone has asked since 2006 is “Who is this years George Mason?” The miraculous run by George Mason wasn’t projected by any experts. That is what is so great. No one saw it coming, but everyone was pulling for them by the time they got to the Sweet 16. First they knocked off powerhouses Michigan St, and North Carolina in the first weekend of the tournament. Then in the Sweet 16 they beat fellow Cinderella story Wichita St. That’s when the story should’ve ended. They had Connecticut in the Elite 8. In no way George Mason should have won that game, but it wasn’t midnight yet. They were taking on a 30-3 powerhouse from the Big East, stacked with future pros. It didn’t matter. The slipper still fit on the foot of George Mason. That is March Madness. The unexpected and sometimes seemingly impossible can happen. No other Cinderella team has had the Final Four success that tiny George Mason has had. Since 2003 (the first tournament I can remember watching all hours of the tournament), there have been plenty of upsets and surprises. In 2004, 9 seed UAB first beat 8 seed Washington in the 1st round, and then stunned the favorite 1 seed Kentucky in a 76-75 thriller. Kentucky wasn’t the only 1 seed to go down in the 2nd round in 2004 though. 1 seed Stanford was upset by 8 seed Alabama who advanced all the way to the Elite 8 before eventual champion Connecticut handled them. The most popular Cinderella story of 2004 was 7 seed Xavier who was lead by Romain Soto and Lionel Chalmers. Xavier was only 3 points away from beating 1 seed Duke in the Elite 8, and that was after beating 2 seed Mississippi St, and 3 seed Texas in the previous 2 rounds. In 2005 the unheard of UW-Milwaukee Panthers were a 12 seed who made there way to the Sweet 16 before going down to eventual runner up Illinois. The most popular Cinderella story of that year was 7 seed West Virginia, but they will be discussed later. George Mason was the story in 2006. In 2007, we saw a predominantly upset free bracket. The lowest seed that made the sweet 16 was 7 seed UNLV. 2008 saw two 12 seeds (Villanova and Western Kentucky) reach the Sweet 16. But 2008 was all about 10 seed Davidson and Stephen Curry. Stephen Curry took the tournament and sports nation by storm and stole the spotlight in every game Davidson played. The “Baby Faced Assassin” had one of the single greatest tournaments in recent memory. 40 points in an upset win over 7 seed Gonzaga, 30 points in a bigger upset win over 2 seed Georgetown, 33 points in a sweet 16 win over Wisconsin and 25 points in a narrow loss to eventual champion Kansas. Stephen Curry put himself on the map and Cinderella’s on the map as well. So who is this years Cinderella, or Cinderella’s? In my eyes there are plenty of candidates in this years wide open field.
In the Midwest Region, I see 3 potential Cinderella teams. From the time I saw 9 seed Northern Iowa play in the Missouri Valley conference championship, I said that the Panthers would be my Cinderella pick. Despite the fact that they will face overall #1 seed Kansas in the 2nd round, I’m not changing my prediction. They play good fundamental basketball and seriously D up. I also see 13 seed Houston and 11 seed San Diego St as potential Cinderella’s. Houston has the nations leading scorer Aubrey Coleman, and he may be able to carry Houston to a 1st round upset over Maryland. San Diego St. is at the different end of the spectrum of Houston. They have a balanced scoring attack and took down tournament teams New Mexico and UNLV in the Mountain West tournament.
In the West Region 13 seed Murray St won the Ohio Valley Conference championship and won 30 games along the way. It may seem far fetched, but 14 seed Oakland is a dangerous team. If there is going to be a 14 over 3 upset this year it will be Oakland over Pittsburgh. 12 seed UTEP has a dynamic duo in Randy Culpepper and Derrick Caracter that can cause problems. And finally I see BYU as a team that could reach the Elite 8. Jimmer Fredette can carry BYU to wins, and Jonathan Tavernari was the Mountain West 6th Man of the Year.
Over to the East Region, I see one team that can make a Cinderella run. The Cornell Big Red have the recipe to pull some upsets in the tournament. NCAA Tournament experience, a senior point guard in Louis Dale, go-to scorer Ryan Wittman, and they can shoot the lights out. Cornell shot 43% from 3 point range, and that makes up for their lack of athleticism. Let’s not forget, Cornell nearly upset #1 Kansas early in the year, losing by only 5 points. Don’t sleep on Cornell.
And finally in the South Region, which I think is wide open, there are a few potential Cinderella’s. 12 seed Utah St. and 13 seed Siena can both pull 1st round upsets. Utah St. will practically be playing a home game in Spokane. And Siena is playing a Purdue team that is in rough shape. 3 seed Baylor is hardly considered a Cinderella, but considering it has been a while since they have won a tournament game I would put them in this category. And finally I would include the Richmond Spiders. They have a strong backcourt and are aggressive defensively. I like them over St. Mary’s (who I had vowed not to pick in any tournament game), and they could pose a challenge to Villanova’s run to a 2nd straight Final Four.
Classic Matchups
The NCAA Tournament is so great in main part because of the games. It was obvious that last year’s tournament was a down year for tournaments, simply because of the lack of exciting games. So what games have been the best “instant classic” games since 2003? I broke it down and listed the top 3 games from each round since 2003.
1st Round
1. #4 Syracuse vs. #13 Vermont (2005) - Big upset, great game, and Gus Johnson was on the call (We’ll get to him later)
2. #6 Duke vs. #11 VCU (2007) - Game winning shot by Eric Maynor killed the hopes of Duke fans… I love it.
3. #8 Ohio St. vs. #9 Siena (2009) – Double OT thriller, with a few ONIONS!!!
2nd Round
1. #1 Arizona vs. #9 Gonzaga (2005) – Perhaps the best NCAA tournament game I’ve ever seen. Luke Walton vs. Blake Stepp… It doesn’t sound like the best individual matchup, but it was legendary.
2. 2007 2nd Round - Too many good games to give just 1 spot. Memorable games were: #5 Butler vs. #4 Maryland, #3 Pitt vs. #11 VCU, #6 Vanderbilt vs. #3 Washington St., #1 Ohio St. vs. #9 Xavier, #5 Tennessee vs. #4 Virginia
3. #2 Georgetown vs. #10 Davidson (2008) – The Stephen Curry show. Down big at the half, his legend grew by scoring 25 2nd half points to lead the Wildcats to the victory.
Sweet 16
1. #2 UCLA vs. #3 Gonzaga (2006) – Two words… Gus Johnson! It pains me deeply to put this game here considering I was on the Adam Morrison bandwagon at the time, but it’s too good not to include.
2. #1 Connecticut vs. #5 Washington (2006)– The underrated great game of all NCAA tournaments. Brandon Roy did all he could to get Washington past UConn, but UConn was too strong.
3. 2007 Sweet 16 – The same case made for the 2007 2nd round, so many good games. No question that 2007 was the best tournament of recent memory. Memorable games were: #1 Kansas vs. #4 Southern Illinois, #1 Ohio St vs. #5 Tennessee, #2 Memphis vs. #3 Texas A&M, #2 Georgetown vs. #6 Vanderbilt.
Elite 8
1. 2005 Elite 8 – Another case where there were too many games worthy to just mention one. 3 games, 4 total overtimes. They were- #1 Illinois vs. #3 Arizona, #4 Louisville vs. #7 West Virginia (PITTSNOGGLE), #5 Michigan St. vs. #2 Kentucky
2. #1 Connecticut vs. #11 George Mason (2006) – The game that gave all underdogs in the NCAA tournament hope.
3. #1 Pittsburgh vs. #3 Villanova – A big east clash that had the only memorable finish in a poor 2009 NCAA Tournament. Thank you Scottie Reynolds for giving the 2009 tournament a little credibility.
Final Four
Surprisingly, the Final Four has featured practically no good games since 2003. The only case was 2004, where there were 2 close games. #2 Connecticut beat #1 Duke 79-78 (Ha-ha more Duke misery) and #3 Georgia Tech defeated #2 Oklahoma St. 67-65.
National Championship
1. #3 Syracuse vs. #2 Kansas (2003) – Carmelo and the Orange almost blew a huge lead, but hung on to win the championship.
2. #1 North Carolina vs. #1 Illinois (2005) - Clearly the two best teams in college basketball. UNC won the title over possibly the best team not to win the title of the decade.
3. #1 Kansas vs. #1 Memphis (2008) – If there was a better team not to win the title than Illinois, then it was Memphis. Mario Chalmers huge shot sent the game to overtime where Kansas prevailed.
It’s much too difficult to predict a potential classic game. So many variables need to be factored into that. That’s something even I can’t handle.
Gus Johnson
We often talk about how one man can carry a team to a victory in the NCAA tournament. We’ve seen it before with Carmelo Anthony and Stephen Curry are examples from the past, and this year we could easily see Evan Turner, Greg Monroe, Jimmer Fredette, or John Wall single handedly lead their team to a victory. But there is one man who single handedly takes over the tournament every year. That man is Gus Johnson. The calls of Gus Johnson are what take games from legendary to immortal. The excitement that Gus Johnson brings to the announce table is un-parallel. His voice cracks, he yells, he laughs sadistically, and makes sounds that we aren’t sure are human. But whatever it is that he does, he gets us stoked to watch college basketball. Why he doesn’t announce the final four I’m not quite sure, but I’m considering writing a letter to CBS telling them to get him in Indianapolis this year. 2 years ago when Mario Chalmers hit the shot to send the championship game to overtime, we heard a moderately excited Jim Nantz make the call. Gus Johnson would have gave us the greatest call in sports history, and possibly made this the greatest NCAA tournament game in history. He also may have screamed so loud that he put himself in the hospital. To put it simply, Gus Johnson puts the “Madness” in March Madness. To my delight, he will be calling the games I will be at in Buffalo. I will do anything to meet him. For those of you who aren't very familiar with Gus Johnson, go to You Tube and search his name. He is an internet sensation and rightfully so.
The Predictions
This is what it’s about. This is why March Madness sweeps the nation. Everyone fills out the bracket, they all have their own strategy to pick the games. Its been said a million times that your grandmother who knows nothing about college basketball has just as good of a chance to pick a winning bracket as you do. Well, I’m gonna give it a shot now. Every year I aspire to pick a perfect bracket, and it usually doesn’t last through the first set of games. I always convince myself it can happen though, and it never will. But what the hell, I’ve convinced myself again, so here are my bracket predictions.
Midwest Region
First Round- 1 Kansas over 16 Lehigh, 9 Northern Iowa over 8 UNLV, 5 Michigan St. over 12 New Mexico St., 4 Maryland over 13 Houston, 6 Tennessee over 11 San Diego St., 3 Georgetown over 14 Ohio, 7 Oklahoma St. over 10 Georgia Tech, 2 Ohio St. over 15 UCSB
Second Round- 1 Kansas over 9 Northern Iowa (But closer than the experts think), 5 Michigan St. over 4 Maryland, 3 Georgetown over 6 Tennessee, 2 Ohio St. over 7 Oklahoma St.
Sweet 16- 1 Kansas over 5 Michigan St./2 Ohio St. over 3 Georgetown
Elite 8- 1 Kansas over 2 Ohio St.
West Region
First Round- 1 Syracuse over 16 Vermont (my prediction for closest 1 vs. 16 game of the year), 8 Gonzaga over 9 Florida St., 5 Butler over 12 UTEP, 4 Vanderbilt over 13 Murray St., 6 Xavier over 11 Minnesota, 14 Oakland over 3 Pittsburgh (you heard it here first), 7 BYU over 10 Florida, 2 Kansas St. over 15 North Texas
Second Round- 1 Syracuse over 8 Gonzaga, 5 Butler over 4 Vanderbilt, 6 Xavier over 14 Oakland, 2 Kansas St. over 7 BYU
Sweet 16- 1 Syracuse over 5 Butler/2 Kansas St. over 6 Xavier
Elite 8- 1 Syracuse over 2 Kansas St.
East Region
First Round- 1 Kentucky over 16 ETSU, 8 Texas over 9 Wake Forest, 12 Cornell over 5 Temple, 4 Wisconsin over 13 Wofford, 6 Marquette over 11 Washington, 3 New Mexico over 14 Montana, 10 Missouri over 7 Clemson, 2 West Virginia over 15 Morgan St.
Second Round- 1 Kentucky over 8 Texas, 12 Cornell over 4 Wisconsin, 3 New Mexico over 6 Marquette, 2 West Virginia over 10 Missouri
Sweet 16- 1 Kentucky over 12 Cornell/2 West Virginia over 3 New Mexico
Elite 8- 1 Kentucky over 2 West Virginia
South Region
First Round- 1 Duke over 16 Winthrop/Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 9 Louisville over 8 California, 5 Texas A&M over 12 Utah St., 13 Siena over 4 Purdue, 6 Notre Dame over 11 Old Dominion, 3 Baylor over 14 Sam Houston St., 7 Richmond over 10 St. Mary’s, 2 Villanova over 15 Robert Morris
Second Round- 1 Duke over 9 Louisville, 5 Texas A&M over 13 Siena, 3 Baylor over 6 Notre Dame, 2 Villanova over 7 Richmond
Sweet 16- 5 Texas A&M over 1 Duke/2 Villanova over 3 Baylor
Elite 8- 2 Villanova over 5 Texas A&M
Final Four
1 Kansas over 1 Syracuse/1 Kentucky over 2 Villanova
National Championship
1 Kansas over 1 Kentucky
Frankly, I am having a difficult time accepting these picks. I feel like I shouldn’t have gone with so much chalk, but I didn’t have the guts to go a different route. So this is how it will be, Experience vs. Youth in the final, with Rock Chalk Jayhawk cutting down the nets.
This is why March Madness is so great. The unpredictability, the excitement, Gus Johnson! Every March basketball fans are totally consumed by this phenomenal event, and the same goes for this year.
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