"If you wanna win, put Boobie in....."

Opening thoughts: Yup, bought and watched Friday Night Lights tonight. In my opinion, it is the best football movie up there and a Top 5 worthy sports movie (Hoosiers still #1). I also bought Trading Places, the comedy with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It was in the $5.50 collection, which is an absolute steal. I also went found a Rolling Stones Greatest Hits CD for $10!!!!! Wal-Mart is good for something I suppose.

Sammy Sosa's trade to the Orioles got approved today. WHO CARES!!!! Baseball is probably my least favorite sport if you haven't figured it out yet. Go put some more cork in your bat Sammy for all I care.

Former world #1 tennis player Martina Hingis might be making a comeback. She has suffered from severe ankle injuries the last couple of years that have kept her off court. Even before getting injured, Hingis was having trouble keeping up with the big hitters on tour. Hingis relies on her court savvy and finesse as she is only 5'7", 130 pounds. It will be interesting to see if she can hang in there.

Let's talk roundball:

• Kansas 73, Missouri 61. In the border war, it took Kansas a half to get over the hangover from Saturday night's blowout win vs. Texas. The good: Kansas's starters scored 71 of their 73 points, led by Wayne Simien's 22 and were efficient, shooting 48% from the floor, making 6/10 3s. The bad: the bench only contributed 2 points and Kansas had to go zone to slow the Tigers. You won't see Bill Self's teams play much zone.
• Toledo 83, Western Michigan 77. Suddenly, the Broncos have fallen off the map. Losing 3 of their last 4 is putting a damper in Western's at-large chances. The loss puts Miami as the current #1 team in the MAC overall.
• Butler 70, UW-Green Bay 47. This one is another head-scratcher. You want to talk about hangovers, the Phoenix just two days ago knocked off UW-Milwaukee, the team that has controlled the Horizon League recently. Then, the Phoenix lose to a much less talented team by 23 AT HOME!!!!
• Pittsburgh 86, Providence 66. I guess the Panthers read my blog because ever since I said they were overrated, they've won their last 3 convincingly, all over quality teams. The frontcourt for Pitt combined for 42 points and 26 rebounds, with Carl Krauser chipping 19 on 7/13 shooting nevertheless. Pitt will go as far as their offense takes them because we know they can play defense.
• Analysis on Utah-BYU will come tomorrow as I'm trying to finish this up to watch the last part of the game.
• The Bracket Buster matchups were released today with the headliners being UTEP-Pacific (both NCAA teams last year), Vermont-Nevada (also both NCAA teams), and Wichita St.-Miami (the best of the Valley vs. the best in the MAC). I'll preview all of these matchups the Friday before.

In the Bachelorette, Jen whittled the field down to 4: Wendell, Jerry, John Paul, and the teacher from California whom now I forget. Doing a favor to us all, Fabrice took his name out of the running after feeling nothing for Jen (or basically, getting shut down after he made his move).

And, on a personal note, my workout inexplicably included a 6:50 mile. You have to understand, I'm athletic, but I'm not a runner by no means, so a 6:50 mile is a rare thing, so I'm pretty proud of that.

Song of the Night: "If I Were A Rich Girl", by Gwen Stefani and Eve. Great song, great album, another purchase from this evening.

Show Me The Money

Opening Thoughts: Tomorrow is PAY DAY!!!!! And that pretty much is all I have to look forward to tomorrow as another long Monday of class awaits. Add studying for Friday's micro exam and it's going to be a fun one. Anyway, one of my all-time favorite movies was on, "Breaking Away". I highly recommend you see it. It's a feel-good story that has some good humor, so make sure you check it out.

Ok, after that Reading Rainbow like statement, time for hoops:

• Purdue 84, Michigan 55. NIT!!!!! NIT!!!!! NIT!!!!!! Are you kidding?
• George Washington 82, Dayton 73. Dayton finally goes on the road to play a quality opponent and as expected go down in defeat. The Flyers fought hard, and will be really good in a year or so, but the Atlantic 10 is looking more and more like a 1-bid conference, most likely going to the conference tournament champ.
  
• Miami 74, Akron 63. How about them Redhawks??? 23 and 10 from Danny Horace and 57% shooting from the field has given the Redhawks a 2 game lead in the MAC East through conference play. Miami still has trouble holding onto big leads, as a 21 point second half lead was whittled down to 4 before Danny Horace put the dagger in the Zips, hitting a 3 to push the lead back to 7 with less than 2 minutes left. The Hawks look to continue their momentum at Toledo Thursday night. Bracket Buster matchups should be released very soon, and Miami is looking at a nationally televised affair after today's win.
• Florida International 118, Arkansas State 114. So you're asking yourself and me, why is this game on here??? Well, BECAUSE IT WENT TO 5 OVERTIMES!!!!! Let's hope for one of these come March when the pressure is really on. By the way, the Division 1 record for most overtimes is 7, when Cincinnati beat Bradley 75-73 in 1981 (pre-shot clock era)
• Washington 79, Arizona St. 70. The Huskies are back on top of the Pac10 after this game, which saw Nate Robinson break out of his shooting slump, scoring 23 in the win. The Huskies forced 21 turnovers and held Ike Diogu to 14. 22/25 from the foul line on the road isn't bad either.
• Notre Dame 78, UConn 74. Notre Dame stays in the NCAA race with this win. UConn's young guns played well, but not well enough as the Irish, despite only making 6/23 3s, only committed 8 turnovers and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, a very telling number when you consider how much size UConn has compared to ND. Chris Thomas only went 4/14 from the floor, but he handed out 8 assists and showed some leadership down the stretch.
  
• Maryland 79, Georgia Tech 71. The Terps come away with sustained momentum after their best week of the season. Jarret Jack and Will Bynum combined to make a dismal 6/26 from the floor, which can't happen if you're a Tech fan. The Jackets hung in, but every surge was answered by Maryland. Nick Caner-Medley followed his outstanding effort at Duke with another one tonight, scoring 19. Fear the Turtle!!!!

• Duke 100, Virginia Tech 65. I don't think Va. Tech is this bad; there's a reason Duke hasn't lost back-to-back home games in 9 years (I believe that's the stat). This was the Duke that we've seen all year. Intense, focused, and playing their hearts out, which wasn't the case the other night. This was the old Duke, that came out and jumped on teams because of their superior talent. That superior talent isn't there this year, but that intensity is, and Duke now knows they must bring it every night to win. They can't rely on just talent alone.
  

Marat Safin won his 2nd grand slam title, defeating Aussie hopeful Lleyton Hewitt in 4 sets. Justin Leonard won his first golf tournament in two years, winning the Bob Hope birdiefest. Congratulations to the Iraqi people for staging their first democratic elections. They proved to the world today they are fit and ready for democracy.

Oh boy, here comes Monday......

Walking on Broken Glass

Opening thought: One of the great war movies of all time, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" was on tonight. It is a historical recount of the bombing of Pearl Harbor that was made in the early 70s. This is 100,000 times better than the movie "Pearl Harbor" Disney made a couple of years ago with Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. If you like history, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" is awesome; if you want your yuppie guppie story, than waste 3 hours of your time with "Pearl Harbor". "Pearl Harbor" falls well short of telling the real story, instead going into a madeup love story about two friends, who in reality, all they had to do with each other was they were flying partners at Pearl. Next time Disney, if you're going to tell history, do it right and don't mess up people's minds on what actually happened.

Dial M for Moron: This is a tie tonight. The people who live upstairs are up for this on a daily basis, but they win tonight for making all kinds of noise while probably drunk. They did their best to come down through the ceiling, hoping that I would catch them. If that were to happen, they would probably be disappointed. The other goes to a University of Cincinnati basketball fan. Now I'm sure all UC people aren't dumb, but this guy doesn't give me much hope. He held up a sign, "YOU CAN'T SPELL SHOEMAKER WITHOUT MEEKER!" (Shoemaker is the name of the basketball arena, Meeker is one of the bball players). Last time I checked, Shoemaker falls one E short.

Bring on the hoops:

• Villanova 94, Rutgers 61. I guess Rutgers didn't receive their wakeup call this morning. The Cats shot 64% from the floor, led by Allen Ray's 21. Unless Villanova goes in the tank, they're a solid NCAA team.
• North Carolina 110, Virginia 76. Carolina led by as much as 50 in this one!!!! And to think it could've been worse because Rashad McCants only scored 5 points, well below his average. UNC should rise to #2 in the polls this week.
• Florida 80, South Carolina 72. Florida is hanging around in the SEC East, just one game behind Kentucky. With Matt Walsh getting healthier by the day, the Gators are one to be reckoned with, if Anthony Roberson keeps playing unselfishly.
• East Carolina 54, Charlotte 51. One of the big surpises of the day, the 49ers were held to 32% shooting as they struggled throughout. Charlotte is talented, but undisciplined. How do Brandon Plavich and Martin Iti only get 14 shots between the two of them???? I don't like inconsistent teams like Charlotte, they can play much better but usually waste what they have.
• Washington St. 70, Arizona 63. Definitely the shocker of the day. Just two days after a well-earned win over Washington, the Cats give up 70 points on their home floor to the Cougars, one of the lowest scoring teams in basketball. Add to the fact WSU hadn't beaten Arizona in 19 years and this becomes a real head scratcher. Channing Frye only got 7 shot attempts on the post, that number must be doubled at the very least for Arizona to be successful.
• Illinois 89, Minnesota 66. Tuesday night, Illinois at Michigan St. I liked the throwback uniforms the Illini sported today, I hope they keep them.
• Kentucky 68, Arkansas 67. This one was tight throughout. Kentucky was definitely the better team, but Arkansas never quit and had a shot to win at the end. Stan Heath is doing a good job turning his program around, they are a year, maybe two away from being really good. Kentucky shot 57% from the floor on the road, definitely their best effort, which is encouraging if you're a Big Blue fan. However, they turned the ball over 19 times and gave up 19 offensive rebounds, which is not very encouraging. The thing UK has going for them is their depth. They're young, but they will never wear down. However, their experienced players need to play better, specifically Chuck Hayes and Patrick Sparks.
• Iowa St. 74, Oklahoma 66. Ames is a tough place to play, and the Sooners found that out the hard way. ISU shot 47% from the floor and forced the Sooners to try 26 3s. OU is a solid perimeter shooting team, but they like to go inside-out to generate their outside shooting. 26 3s are too many for the Sooners to be successful.
• Wake Forest 94, Miami 82. This game was tight for about 30 minutes until the Deacons pulled away. Wake's best defense was their offense in this one, shooting an astounding 61% from the floor. They shot better from the floor than from the foul line (59%). But, they still allowed The U to shoot 46% from the floor, and 52% from 3. Those aren't good numbers.
• Iowa 72, Indiana 57. It's still painful to watch Indiana play basketball. 39% shooting, 2/14 from 3, 16 turnovers, and only 11 assists will not win you many games. Pierre Pierce was the Big 10 player of the year for the night, leading the Hawkeyes with 25. Patrick Ewing Jr. is one of the most overrated college basketball players in the country. He does nothing for the Hoosiers.
  
• Pittsburgh 76, Syracuse 69. I believe the Cuse led 25-10 with 9 minutes left in the 1st half. Then, Pitt found the John Deere sized hole in the middle of the Syracuse zone and took it from there. The Cuse played soft tonight as Pitt took it to them, especially on the boards, winning that battle 36-25. Chevy Troutman was unstoppable inside, with 18 points and 9 rebounds, and Pitt actually showed some resemblance of a perimeter game, making 9/24 3s. Syracuse needs more consistency from Josh Pace, who only had 2 points tonight. The Cuse needs someone to be that third scorer for them to help Warrick and McNamara.
  
• Wichita State 78, Illinois State 72. If the Shockers and the Redhawks keep winning, they may face each other on Bracket Buster Saturday. Anyway, whoever WSU plays that Saturday, I will be tuning in.
• Boston College 64, Georgetown 49. Another game I was wrong about, I thought the Hoyas would pull the upset tonight. Craig Smith and Jared Dudley combined for 33 points, and the Eagles held their opponents to 39% shooting. They are now the lone unbeaten in the Big East.
• UW-Green Bay 76, UW-Milwaukee 72. Game on in the Horizon League, because these two are now tied at the top.
• Kansas 90, Texas 65. Finally, one I hit on the nose!!!! Texas just doesn't have the horses, literally (down to 8 scholarship players) to hang with someone like KU. The Jayhawks are now playing with more energy and urgency, a dangerous combination for anyone facing them soon. 27 points for Wayne Simien, 50% shooting, 9/19 3s: that's what you need to do KU to go all the way. Don't forget about your big man.

Tomorrow, with Kent St.'s loss at Toledo, Akron/Miami tomorrow afternoon is now for outright 1st in the MAC East. Sadly enough, I won't be there as I have more work to do. The other intriguing games tomorrow are: UConn at Notre Dame (must win for the Irish), Georgia Tech at Maryland (2 hottest teams in the ACC), and Virginia Tech at Duke (are the Hokies for real and how will Duke bounce back?).

Tomorrow, the serious preparation for the first exam of the semester begins, along with hopefully finishing the assignment that I worked on for 4 1/2 hours and still didn't finish.

February sounds a lot warmer than January

What would a winter weekend in Southwestern Ohio be without another Winter Weather Advisory. We may get 1-3 inches of snow with a little freezing rain which is always nice. The work has really piled on this week, which shows no sign of letting up soon. I'll be in the lab tomorrow morning working on an assignment; that's always fun to look forward to. I did have a great workout today. The running is starting to pay off, which is always a good sign.

My Northmont T-bolts are now 11-5 and still share first place in the GWOC East after a big 48-44 win up at Troy. Troy is a very difficult place to play. It's not the biggest gym I ever played in, but it certainly was the loudest. The only entrances/exits are underneath the bleachers on one side so the sound reverberates off of all 4 walls with no place to go. It makes for a great atmosphere. I think we only won up there once, my freshman year, so any win in Troy is a great win.

Serena Williams came from behind to win her 2nd Aussie Open title, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 over Lindsay Davenport. Davenport hit Serena off the court in the 1st set, but from 3-3 on in the 2nd, it was all Serena as Davenport mentally went away like a leaf in the wind. I have to give credit to Serena, she fought through an injury she sustained at the beginning of the match and showed some toughness, so she's definitely earned some respect back in my book. If you show some off-court dedication now, you'll have it all back. Tomorrow night is the men's final pitting Marat Safin vs. Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt knocked off Andy Roddick in 4 sets, so it's all set up for the Aussie to win his home championship.

Now, let's preview tomorrow's key basketball games:

• 12:00 games are upset-prone and there are a couple of them tomorrow. Villanova goes to the RAC to play Rutgers. After two great wins against Kansas and Notre Dame, can the Cats focus on the mediocre, but tough at home Scarlet Knights. The other noon tilt sees North Carolina go to Virginia. I expect the Tar Heels to win, but University Hall can be a tough place to play and at least once ever year, Virginia pulls an upset at home. If the Tar Heels come in flat, they'll lose.
• South Carolina at Florida. These two teams are probably on the bubble right now, South Carolina moreso. The SEC isn't as strong, so the Gamecocks need this one to stay above .500 in the league to have a chance.
• Minnesota at Illinois. This would be a huge upset considering all of the former Illini greats will be in town for this game celebrating the 100th year anniversary of Illinois basketball. Illinois tunes up for their showdown with Michigan St. with a big win in this game.
• Kentucky at Arkansas. Arkansas is 14-5, with their 5 losses coming against the likes of Illinois, at Florida, at Mississippi St., at Alabama and LSU, so 4 quality losses. However, those last 4 have been in a row. The Hogs need this to get themselves on the bubble. Kentucky needs to show they can go on the road and win in a hostile environment. You know Bud Walton Arena will be rocking. This is the biggest game there in several years.
• Miami at Wake Forest. The U might catch Wake still reeling from their OT loss at Georgia Tech. Miami will be one of the more physical teams Wake has played, so it will be an interesting matchup. The Canes still need that eye-catching ACC win to make more believers out of the pundits.
• Indiana at Iowa. These two teams are on the bubble. Despite a strong start to the year in Maui, a 2-4 Big 10 record isn't going to impress anyone. The Hawkeyes need to get on the right track. Indiana has played one of, if not the toughest schedules in the country. But sitting at 9-8, 4-2 in the Big 10 with no significant road wins won't impress anyone either. This is as close to an elimination game as you can get, and it's only January 29th. That's how much these teams need this game, and how down the Big 10 is.
• Syracuse at Pittsburgh. The Panthers got a huge win at UConn last Saturday. The Orange come to town looking to go to 21-1 and show they can win it all in March. The Cuse will sit in their zone and force Pitt to shoot from the outside, which means Pitt point guard Carl Krauser must penetrate and find open people, specifically Chevy Troutman under the basket.
  
• Illinois State at Wichita State. 3rd against 1st in the Missouri Valley. I wish this game could be seen in my local TV area.
• Georgetown at Boston College. I smell upset in this game. What a job Georgetown has done, 13-5, 5-2 in the Big East. Since losing at home to Oral Roberts, they own victories at Pitt, at Villanova, at home vs. Notre Dame, and took Syracuse to overtime in the Carrier Dome. BC has been sliding by recently, and even though this game is in Chestnut Hill, John Thompson III and his crew I think get it done.
• UW-Milwaukee at UW-Green Bay. This is for first in the Horizon League. It's been awhile since Green Bay has been in this position. They ruled the old MCC, now the Horizon league throughout the 1990s, giving higher seeded teams fits in the NCAAs. Now, with a new on-campus arena, the Phoenix are back, and now looking to knock off the reigning champs.
• Texas at Kansas. I think this game could get ugly. Bill Self got the effort he was looking for in a win at Baylor this week. Texas is short-handed and not very tough inside. They rely on their young backcourt, particularly Daniel Gibson, who's making his first trip to Allen Fieldhouse. This is the Gameday featured game, so look for Kansas to start fast and never let up.

If you're wondering, Miami hosts Akron in a rare Sunday afternoon game. Don't look for attendance to be too high. Sunday afternoon basketball in Oxford on the day everyone does homework if people are up by 2pm??? What happened to Saturday night games????

Deliverance

Opening thought: Deliverance has no special meaning, it's the song I'm currently listening to, courtesy of Bubba Sparxx. The best part of the song is definitely the beginning with the guitar introduction. Actually, the best parts of Bubba's songs are the beginning, which usually isn't a good thing. I guess it makes you listen. Deliverance is his best song from start to finish, if you don't count each of the rhymes he came up with for College Gameday not this year but the year before. I was disappointed when he only had a generic version that was used every week.

Tonight, I'm in one of those moods to go through my playlist and hear some music I haven't heard in awhile, awhile being like a month. Radio play actually hasn't been too bad lately, including the Top 15 stations (c'mon, they're not Top 40 because they play the same 15 songs all day, which is why you're able to hear your favorite Mario song at least 5 times a day). But, in my opinion, my playlist, as does probably yours, blows the radio out of the water. Tomorrow is Friday, and thank goodness it is, but the work doesn't stop. The first exam of the new year looms next Friday, so this weekend it will be time to start preparing. Add that to an exam the Tuesday after next Friday, an oral report, and other research that has to be done, let the fun begin!!!!

Let's talk hoops:

• Michigan St. 64, Michigan 53. The Spartans will get their shot at Illinois next week in front of the Izzone (which is the most overrated student section in the country; where were they before Tom Izzo???). Michigan is in trouble, and are looking at the NIT unless they turn it around.
• Cleveland St. 77, Butler 57. What has happened to Butler??? Ever since they thrashed Miami to go 3-0, they've fallen off the face of the Earth. The stat of the night would be when was the last time Butler lost to Cleveland St.???
• Georgia Tech 102, Wake Forest 101. Maryland last night and Georgia Tech tonight have rescued their respective seasons. 30 for Will Bynum, 23 for Jarrett Jack, and 17 for Isma'il Muhammad, and only 8 for Chris Paul. This game wasn't televised in my local area, so I missed the offensive fireworks. Tech was due for a breakout offensive game and they got it shooting 54% from the floor, 43% from 3. When B.J. Elder comes back, and if he's 100%, this team is a national championship contender. The question for Wake Forest remains, can they play consistent, intense defense?
• Arizona 91, Washington 82. This game was televised, and I'm glad it was. Both teams played hard and showed they are quality teams. Arizona is not the immature, inconsistent bunch they were last year. They play together and their turnaround is signified by Salim Stoudamire's going from a pouter to a leader. Channing Frye gets his touches inside, and offensively they are quite a bit better than they were earlier in the year. Washington showed they are much more than their leader, Nate Robinson. I love watching him play. He gets as high off the floor as centers do that are a foot taller than him. If his shot can come around, he'll be a one man wrecking crew. But the Huskies get after it, they have balance, they rebound with abandon, and they may be the best transition team in all of college basketball. They get the ball up the floor and finish. I can't wait for the rematch.
• Virginia Tech 79, Virginia 73. Just as they did in football, Virginia Tech is making some noise in basketball. Like The U, they were Big East doormats that now suddenly find themselves in the top half of the ACC. 4-2 in the conference, they get a chance to prove their worth Sunday night at Cameron Indoor.

In The Apprentice, the collegians came back with a resounding victory over the high schoolers. Despite losing Verna to exhaustion and who knows what else was going on with her, their refurnishing of a Seaside Heights, NJ motel drew better reviews from consumers than the high schoolers. Brian, the project manager for the high schoolers, had no budget, decided to get rid of good, servicable toilets, yelled at everyone, and got fired.

Again, I don't think I'll be staying up for tennis tonight, even though it's Roddick v. Hewitt in the men's semifinals. Hewitt will have the Aussies rocking, and the two don't get along too well. They've had some great matches in the past. If it's anything like Federer/Safin last night, it'll be a classic. Marat Safin, the high strung Russian, played the match of his life and beat Federer in 5 sets that took more than 4 hours. Federer had won his last 26 matches, but Safin, who recently has been more famous for throwing his tennis racket than for winning big matches, had his big backhand working and outlasted the #1 player in the world. Tomorrow night, it's an All-American women's final with Serena Williams taking on Lindsay Davenport, who had no business winning her semifinal last night, coming back to win in 3 sets after playing 2 3-set matches the day before in the grueling heat.

Current song: Bon Jovi, "You Give Love A Bad Name"

Send it in Jerome!!!!!!

Opening Thought: Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of one of the greatest calls in college basketball history. January 25th, 1988, Providence at Pittsburgh. Jerome Lane takes a pass and flies in from the right wing for a one-hand jam that breaks the glass and the rim of the backboard. After which, Bill Raftery followed with the classic one-liner, "Send it in, Jerome!!!!!"

Dial M for Moron: Today, it was me. After working 3 hours on a homework assignment that's due tomorrow, I forgot to save it. So 3 more hours was spent typing it up again, which cost me some major chill time. You will find that I am not hesitant to put myself on the moron list because I definitely have those moments.

The game/match of the night was Serena Williams/Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open semifinals. Sharapova rolled in the first set 6-2, but couldn't put Serena away when she had the chance in the second and 3rd set. Serena came back to win 7-5, 8-6 in a performance that impressed me. Her tennis wasn't the cleanest, but finally, she showed some heart and determination while not making excuses about the crowd or the line calls during the match.

Now for the hoops:

• Maryland 75, Duke 66. When people were talking about Duke/Maryland being the premier rivalry in the ACC, I laughed. I'm no longer laughing because Maryland had no business winning this game with their recent performance. When a team wins a game they shouldn't, that creates a rivalry. Duke did not play with the same intensity and focus they played with on their Florida road trip. They certainly didn't shoot the ball well either, 34%??? Maryland wanted this game more, evidenced by their 43-37 rebounding edge and Ekene Ibekwe finally showing up in a big game, scoring 15 points. Duke isn't good enough to sleepwalk through a game and tonight proved it.
• Louisville 99, Marquette 52. A healthy Louisville + an injured Travis Diener = trouble for Marquette. If Louisville can actually stay healthy for once into March, look out.
• Miami 85, Western Michigan 60. This is not a misprint. Miami hasn't lost at home, but the margin shouldn't have been this big. The Redhawks were on fire, shooting 58% from the floor and making 11/19 3s. With numbers like that, you're unbeatable, especially when you add a 38-26 rebounding edge that came against a more supposedly physical team. At first, it appeared the MAC West was stronger. Lately, it seems to be the opposite.
  
• Fordham 54, Temple 47. All I hear is, "Temple is so good, watch out for Temple...." So to all of those people out there, what happened? Temple beat Fordham by 32 just 2 weeks ago!!!!
  
• UW-Milwaukee 73, Purdue 68. Sadly enough, this would've been an upset if Purdue would've won, even though it was a home game for the Boilers. Gene Keady started his farewell tour one year too late.
• Villanova 65, Notre Dame 60. It's one thing to knock off a top 5 team, but it's another to string back-to-back wins together against 2 good teams. Nova is playing their way into the Tourney. Only 11 points from Curtis Sumpter and the Cats still found a way to win. Chris Thomas needs to do better than 4/14 from the floor for the Irish.
• Miami 69, Clemson 65. The U right now would make the NCAA Tournament.
• Boston College 78, Providence 75. Still unbeaten, and I still haven't seen them play. Providence is a tough place to play and to go in and shoot 51% from the floor and get to the foul line 26 times is impressive.
• Northwestern 75, Iowa 74. Oops. Iowa is trying their darndest to be on the bubble for the next 6 weeks. Iowa/Indiana is an early bubble game.
• Minnesota 70, Indiana 65. It's amazing the Hoosiers only lost by 5 while only making 2/17 3s. The game at Iowa is now huge, both teams desperately need it for their postseason hoops.

I didn't get to watch American Idol tonight, I was eating dinner finally at 8:30ish. I haven't had a week like this in awhile, busy 24/7. Hopefully it subsides a little bit soon, but I guess I should expect this, I am in graduate school.

Pink is not my color

Opening thought: I know bright colors are in for guys, and I have recently bought yellow and orange shirts, but you will never catch me wearing anything pink. I don't think it's my color and I'd feel a little awkward with a pink shirt on. Plus, I've seen too many guys on this campus popping their pink shirted collar, which drives me crazy and really turns me off to pink.

Sadly, Andre Agassi lost in straight sets to Roger Federer last night. I did not stay up for the match, and it was probably good that I didn't. I slept really well, and I probably would've been grumpy if I had gotten up to watch Agassi basically suffer the same fate as everyone else in men's tennis has recently when they play Federer. I hope Agassi has one more major in him, so he can ride off into the sunset as did Sampras.

Time for hoops:

• Illinois 75, Wisconsin 65. Something had to give tonight, and it ended up being Wisconsin, who couldn't match Illinois's final push in the last ten minutes. In those last ten minutes, you could feel Illinois's intensity grow, which enabled them to find another gear, one I haven't seen them reach in a few weeks. Jack Ingram hits back-to-back 3s, James Augustine gets loose for back-to-back dunks, and the Illini got to the foul line and converted down the stretch. Meanwhile, the shots that were falling for the Badgers early, didn't, and you're not going to win anywhere when you shoot 5/12 from the foul line. Wisconsin's effort level peaked in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but they got nothing from their bench, tiring out their starters in the end, which may be the reason why they missed some point blank looks in the last couple minutes. The Illini played with resiliency, heart, and toughness, things that weren't there against Iowa a week ago. They need to keep that up. It will be interesting to see how Wisconsin bounces back from this. Sometimes when a streak ends, a team loses some confidence and hits a bad patch.
• Xavier 66, George Washington 65. What has happened to the Colonials? They have to be careful because if they continue to struggle in the weak A-10, they will play themselves out of the NCAA Tournament especially now that one of their quality win opponents, Maryland, is struggling.
• Texas 80, Texas Tech 73. Bob Knight's team missed an opportunity to steal one against a short-handed Texas team. The Red Raiders are still in a good spot for an NCAA berth, but this would've put them in a really good position.

Only 16 people made it out of New Orleans in American Idol. 16!!!!! Of course, after watching the movie projectionist, the guy you couldn't understand, and the other less talented people, you could understand why.

In the Amazing Race, in a surprising elimination lag, Lori and Bolo, the professional wrestlers were eliminated after Lori failed to take her ticket with her to the last clue box, which dropped them from 2nd to 5th (last). What really cost them was after reaching the Detour (physical task) with a sizable lead, they left hanging on to 3rd place by a slim margin. This coming from the two who vowed at the start of the race that their physical prowess would dominate the race. Uhhh, not exactly. Kris and Jon are in 1st, and are my favorites to win. Plus, Kris is very attractive.

Unfortunately, I did not catch that new hit show "My Super Sweet 16", but I did catch the previews for next week and it looks like a doozy. The girl buys a J.Lo type dress that is open down the middle and gets carried in like Cleopatra on one of those moving thrones. But, at some point, her credit card gets rejected, so that should be interesting. Seriously, who gets carried in like a Princess to their birthday party????

We are a go for Indianapolis and the NCAA Tournament. If you'd still like to join, please inquire within because we'll be buying tickets this week probably, next at the latest.

The definition of tired

I am exhausted. I literally just finished 14 consecutive hours of schoolwork. So, don't be surprised if tonight's post isn't very long because my bed is calling my name. It was a good day in the fact that my exit paper topic looks good and should be approved, which getting approved this early almost ensures I will have my Master's no later than the August graduation date. So that feels very good.

However, it is disappointing that Agassi/Federer won't start until 3:30am tonight. As much of a diehard Agassi fan I am, I'm so tired, I need sleep. If I wake up in the middle of the night though, I'll be tempted to turn it on and watch a little. Meanwhile, Sharapova has advanced to the semifinals to play Serena Williams, which is perfect for me. My favorite lady can win and knock out one I despise, because Serena should devote more time to tennis if she still wants to be arrogant and cocky.

Let's talk hoops:

• Syracuse 86, Rutgers 84. At first glance, this doesn't look like a good win for the Cuse, but when you look more closely, it actually is. The RAC (Rutgers Athletic Center) is a tough place to play, and Rutgers has had Syracuse's number at the RAC recently. So for Syracuse to come from 20 down to win is impressive in this case. And, what's a good sign for Syracuse is that Billy Edelin had 14 points. Carmelo Anthony got all the attention when the Cuse won the National Championship 2 years ago, but Edelin was the X-factor, because by him running the point, he allowed Gerry McNamara to play off the ball and look for his shot more. If Edelin can get back to that level and sustain it, watch out for the Orange.
• Wichita St. 65, Northern Iowa 57. To go to UNI and win 48 hours after beating Southern Illinois is very impressive.
  
• Utah 63, Air Force 51. I knew Andrew Bogut was good, but was I surprised to find Utah is now 17-3 and ranked in the Top 25 this week. A team I will have to pay more attention to and learn more about.
• Oklahoma 67, Oklahoma St. 57. Boomer Sooner!!!! Another good win for a team that had an impressive win just 48 hours ago. Actually, the Sooners looked better against a full strength Cowboy team than a depleted Texas team. The Sooners took advantage of their size and strength inside, evidenced by Taj Gray and Casey Bookout combining for 45 points on 21/29 shooting!!!! The team shot 54% and Drew Lavender outplayed John Lucas. Lavender, in my opinion has shown recently to be the best point guard in the Big 12. The secret is out on the Cowboys, play zone and you will win. Every game the Cowboys have lost, their opponent has played zone. They are not good enough on the perimeter and they aren't big enough inside to counteract the zone.

Alright everyone, let's look at this week's RPI (according to collegerpi.com)

• Despite the loss to Wichita St., Southern Illinois comes in at 14th, still in very good shape. Not counting tonight, the Shockers are 23rd.
• Vermont is 17th. That should fall because of the weakness of the America East Conference, but if they win out, but lose in the conference tournament, they'll still be high enough to make an argument. They only lost by 7 at Kansas earlier in the year.
• With their win over Kansas, Villanova is now 26th. They have a big game against Notre Dame later in the week that would solidify their position even more. Another Big East team making some noise is Georgetown at #34. They would be in as of today.
  
• Pacific (30), Western Michigan (32), Kent St. (33), Old Dominion (35), and Nevada (37) are in good positions right now. Will they stay there as conference season goes on and their numbers weaken?
• I think Maryland is in trouble, currently 43rd right now. They're a team in disarray.
• Miami Redhawks are 62nd???? If that's accurate, keep winning boys, you never know. Beating Purdue and winning at Xavier isn't bad to have on your resume.
  

I could go on. The RPI will become more important every week as the season goes on and the number of contenders drops. Don't forget, Illinois/Wisconsin tomorrow night at 9pm. I'm going record saying that Wisconsin will pull the upset. I love Illinois, but after they beat Iowa last week, the fun was gone from their faces. They need a wakeup call and need to get back to playing their style of basketball. I think a loss would be their best medicine instead of trying to stay #1.

In the Bachelorette tonight, somehow, some way, Fabrice made it to the Final 6. C'mon Jen, I'm starting to lose faith in you. The two front-runners appear to be Wendell and oh I can't remember his name, the really romantic guy. Oh well, it isn't that important.

16-2 isn't good enough

16-2 isn't good enough for Pittsburgh Steeler fans, who expect a Super Bowl championship every year just like the Notre Dame alumni and boosters expect a national championship every year. Yeah, it's disappointing to make it to the Final 4 and lose, but in retrospect, you weren't supposed to make it this far. You had a rookie quarterback win 14 games, which never happens. You had a 34 year old tailback have his best season at the age of 34, that never happens. 16-2 is pretty darn good, but I have a feeling there will be calls for the coach's and quarterback's heads this offseason, which is unfortunate.

One side note on this game. I do think Cowher screwed up by not going for it on 4th and goal when down 31-17 early in the 4th quarter. You have the momentum and the crowd going nuts, GO FOR IT!!!! YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!! Even if you don't score, it's still a 2 possession game, and you have the Pats backed up and most likely get great field position. Kicking the field goal took the crowd out of the game and you're still down 2 scores.

Even if Terrell Owens somehow plays, I don't see how the Patriots lose to the Eagles with 2 weeks to prepare. An opening line of 6 is generous for the Eagles.

Elsewhere, Tiger Woods came from 3 shots back to win the Buick Invitational in San Diego. Now that he has his first stroke play win on US soil since 2003 under his belt, I think he will explode.

Agassi/Federer tomorrow night, can't wait.

Song In My Head: "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne

Ay Ziggy Dum-Dum

Dial M for Moron: The worst basketball announcers of the year thus far go to the two gentlemen who did the Toledo-Bowling Green game and here's why:

• They were the BIGGEST Bowling Green homers. I counted at least 20 times they complimented the (and I directly quote) "great crowd here in Anderson Arena at Bowling Green State University". They also made it a point every 3 minutes to say what a great coach Dan Dakich, and among other things, he has the 11th highest MAC winning percentage. First of all, who cares??? Second, 11th, ooooohhhhhh.
• If you're going to be homers, at least get the names of your favorite team's players right.
  
• This game was a great game, BG winning by 1 on a shot with 25 seconds left. So, shouldn't The Play of the Game be the game winning shot. Nope, it was a shot from the 1st half, when BG fell behind by 17 points. If you're not going to pick the game-winning shot, at least pick a momentum changing shot, not something from when your team was getting killed!!!!!!!
• And of course, the usual empty comments, mispronouncing of the names, wrong statistics, that sort of thing.

Before we talk basketball, let's give it up for Andre Agassi. Tonight, he advanced to meet Roger Federer in the quarterfinals by beating the big serving Swede Joachim Johannson in 4 sets, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3. His victory was made more incredible by the fact Johannson had 51 aces, a new record. Literally, Agassi was Rocky Balboa and Johannson was Ivan Drago. Early in the match, it seemed there would be now way Agassi would win, let alone return a serve. But he found a way, and now Monday night, he gets the #1 player in the world which should be a classic.

Now, bring on the hoops:

• Villanova 83, Kansas 62. Well, I finally got a pick right, but I had no idea Villanova would be up 32 at one point in this game!!!! Curtis Sumpter of Nova was the Player of the Year for this one game, scoring 25, as the Cats hit 12/19 from deep. Kansas was let down by their lack of production from the perimeter and their lack of personal toughness, but the biggest question is: Where was the senior leadership??? Miles, Langford, Simien did nothing to get the Jayhawks going. This could be a major problem down the road if this lack of leadership continues.
  
• Wisconsin 72, Michigan 61. Wisconsin was impressive and Michigan was not. Mike Wilkinson representing all white boy ballas out there with 28 points and 15 rebounds. The Badgers did a great job of controlling tempo and Michigan is in trouble with Daniel Horton leaving the game with an injury. So, this sets up the heavyweight bout Tuesday night when the Badgers put their 38 game home winning streak on the line against #1 Illinois. I can't wait.
• Wake Forest 74, Cincinnati 70. The Demon Deacons matched the Bearcats' toughness and then some. Eric Williams played the game of his life, literally, scoring a career high 29. Chris Paul is the Player of the Year. He did everything today, even rip rebounds away from UC's big men. I hold my breath everytime he has the ball. The one thing that is a concern for Wake is that besides Williams and Paul, everyone else combined for just 24 points. Williams and Paul were the only ones to raise their level. UC is just too inconsistent from the perimeter. They fought hard, but Jason Maxiell and especially James White were nonexistent.
  
• Ball St. 66, Western Michigan 65. At first look, this appears to be a big upset. Then, look at the box score and see that Ben Reed for Western did not score. So in reality, it's amazing Western only lost by 1 because Ball St. is a good team. Western can't afford to lose many more if they have to rely on an at-large berth into the NCAAs.
• Charlotte 76, Marquette 66. Charlotte remains in the log-jam that is 1st place in Conference USA. Marquette is now 2-3 in conference, not good. Charlotte has some talent, but are inconsistent and sometimes play with a lack of discipline. They're an enigma.
• Oklahoma 64, Texas 60. Texas has skill, Oklahoma is tough. Texas fought hard without P.J. Tucker, relying on a 2-3 zone that they will most likely play the rest of the season. Klotz and Buckman just aren't as tough as Oklahoma's front line, which was relentless. The Sooners had 22 offensive rebounds!!!!!! The Sooners finally made some perimeter shots down the stretch, which was the difference. Oklahoma plays hard and doesn't let up. If they can be consistent from the perimeter, they will be very tough to beat. Texas will go as far as their guards take them, specifically Gibson and Taylor. I'm not saying Buckman and Klotz are horrible, but they would not be my first picks for inside men in a physical game.
• Michigan St. 69, Minnesota 55. The Spartans were impressive, holding the Gophers to 35% shooting. The Spartans outrebounded the Gophers 39-21 and shot 26/28 from the line, on the road!!!!! WOW, I must admit.
• Duke 88, Florida St. 56. Once FSU saw Duke was ready to play, they played as if they thought they had no chance. And with J.J. Redick scoring 31, including 8/11 3s, one being from Gainesville (it was deep), they didn't have a chance. This could be Coach K's best coaching job ever.
• Miami 59, Ohio 57. This game always ends up being close. The Redhawks were up 17 with 7 minutes to go, so this one was over, right? Nope, OU had a 3 hit the back of the iron at the buzzer that would have won it. A win is a win, and the Redhawks retain 1st all by themselves in the MAC East. Wednesday night, battle for MAC supremacy, Western Michigan at Miami.
• Dayton 66, LaSalle 58. Do you know how bad the Atlantic 10 is??? Dayton now leads the A-10 West by themselves after George Washington lost at Richmond. Cowards......
• Wichita St. 58, Southern Illinois 56. This one was a defensive struggle, with the Shockers coming from behind in the 2nd half. These are 2 pretty even teams, they both deserve to be playing in March.
• Pittsburgh 76, Connecticut 66. Ok, so Pitt is better than I thought. This was a tale of 2 halves, with UConn jumping out to a 17 point lead. The second half was all Pitt and Chevy Troutman, who scored 25 of his 29 in the 2nd half. UConn is too inconsistent from the perimeter, only shooting 27% in the 2nd half. Rashard Anderson only hit 1 3 pointer in the 2nd half after hitting 4 in the 1st. And Pitt uncharacteristically was good from the foul line, making 22/28.
  

Later on this week, I'll give a midseason report, looking at the conference races and seeing how the prognositcators are doing on their preseason picks.

Oh, virtually no snow in the Oxford area, which is not what's happening in the Northeast. Enjoy the football tomorrow, I'm glad I won't be outside in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. Below zero windchills with blowing snow doesn't sound like much fun to me.

Ready For The Weekend

Opening Thoughts: First, I watched the movie, Minority Report, for the first time since I saw it in the movie theater. I was reminded why it is one of my favorites. A thriller that keeps you glued to the TV for 2.5 hours. The perfect medicine for a restful Friday night.

My other thought was just played out on ESPN2's coverage of the Australian Open. Besides loving Andre Agassi, I loved Pete Sampras. I loved to hit the ball like Agassi when I played, but I loved Sampras's composure and the way he sliced and diced opponents. In 1995, he won an epic 5-set quarterfinal, which was more epic by the fact that he broke down in tears on court during the 5th set, because the match took place a day after he found out his coach had cancer. Sampras never showed any emotion on court, so when he started to cry, something had to be up. He fought through it and won the match. It's moments like that I find myself crying. You can laugh all you want, but I will always cry when I see emotion like that stirred up, especially during competition. There's nothing greater than when you see someone dig as deep as one can to compete and try to win.

Here's tonight's sports roundup:

• From last night's basketball, the big news was Gonzaga falling short in its comeback bid at San Francisco. The Zags played hard for 10 minutes, which is a far cry from 40. The West Coast Conference, I'll say it again, deserves 2 teams in. You are now seeing the effects of Gonzaga's rise to national prominence, which has made the rest of the conference increase its talent level and level of play in order to keep up.
• Tonight, my Northmont T-bolts came from behind to win at Piqua by 1. My boys are 10-5, and tied for the GWOC East lead. Go Bolts!!!
• Tom Lehman shot 67 to lead the Buick Invitational after Day 2 (2nd round not quite done due to fog). The notable score is Tiger Woods, remember him? He's 8 under through 17, with a short par-5 left, which puts him 11 under, 4 behind. Mark it down, Tiger has a big year, and will be #1 again.
  
• Agassi, Sharapova, Roddick, and the Williams Sisters are through to the 4th round of the Australian Open. The match to look out for would take place in the quarterfinals where Agassi is on track to meet #1 Roger Federer.

Now for tomorrow's basketball preview:

• Kansas at Villanova. I smell upset. Gametime is 12pm, and road favorites are always vulnerable for early starts. Villanova was 2 minutes away from winning at Boston College, so they won't be intimidated. This is Kansas's toughest test yet.
• Wisconsin at Michigan. I smell upset here as well. Wisconsin has Illinois at their place Tuesday night on national TV, so this makes them ripe for the upset. Wisconsin doesn't play nearly as well on the road as they do at home. Michigan is playing better now that everyone is healthy.
• Wake Forest at Cincinnati. This is UC's last chance to show they are a legit Sweet 16 team. They are more physical inside and should own the glass. Wake is coming off a loss at Florida St., so with this being a non-conference game, will they relax or be ready? This will be a high-scoring game.
• Charlotte at Marquette. Both teams are coming off road conference losses. This is a must win to stay in the race. Charlotte needs to show what all of the preseason hype about them was about.
  
• Texas at Oklahoma. No P.J. Tucker for the rest of the season for Texas, so who will step up? It will have to be Jason Klotz and Brad Buckman. Oklahoma can announce their return to the national scene with a victory after a one year absence.
• Michigan St. at Minnesota. Minnesota is 3-1 in the Big 10 are tough in Williams Arena. This would be a good road victory for the Spartans if they can pull it off. We'll find out if the Gophers are for real.
• Duke at Florida St. With a win, the Seminoles get back to .500 in the ACC, and put themselves back in the NCAA Tournament fix. Duke lost in Tallahassee a couple of years ago, so they should be weary.
• Ohio at Miami. The Redhawks need to keep winning to stay in first in the MAC East. OU's young talent has shown signs of coming around, evident by their routing of Kent St. at the Convo not too long ago. This is a guaranteed good game.
• Southern Illinois at Wichita St. This could be the game of the day. The battle for supremacy in what arguably is the toughest "mid-major" conference in America. Right now, both of these teams would have to get in the NCAA Tourney.
• Pittsburgh at Connecticut. Alright Pittsburgh, here's your chance to prove me wrong and show that you are a good basketball team. Something tells me this won't happen, being on campus at Storrs and it is the first feature College Gameday game. Gampel Pavillion will be electric to say the least.

I'm looking forward to a good night's rest and watching the snow come down tomorrow. It should be a great day of basketball.

Also, I'm putting this out there right now. I'm DEFINITELY planning on viewing First and Second Round NCAA Tournament games at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis March 17th and 19th. All Session Tickets for the Upper Level are $90 (that's for all 6 games). If you're interested, let me know!!!!

Winter Storm Warning

Opening Thought: Last night, the consensus weather forecast was we would get AT MOST one inch of snow today. About 5 inches of snow later, I have absolutely had it with this weather. And, as if we haven't had enough snow (I think we're now at 27" for the winter, which is a lot for this area), we're expected to get another 4 to 6 inches on Saturday. C'mon spring.....

Not a whole lot going on sports-wise, but let's take a look:

• Illinois survived to remain one of the four unbeatens, needing overtime to defeat Iowa 73-68. This game was hard to get a handle on because there was no flow to it. The first half was ugly, neither team playing well, until an 8 minute stretch right before and just after halftime that saw the Illini go ahead 47-34 after a Luther Head 3. Then, Illinois went in the tank and Iowa upped their play, with the game turning on Iowa getting a layup, a steal off of a bad inbounds pass, and another easy layup and a foul. Suddenly, in a matter of seconds, the game went from Illinois getting ready to run away to Iowa getting back in it. Illinois was flat throughout. They didn't play with the usual energy I had seen them bring in their other games. When the game was over, there was no celebration, it was more relief. Iowa did expose Illinois's weakness, by playing physical against the Illini's big people. James Augustine and Roger Powell combined to go 3/21 from the floor, Iowa's front line went 8/18. The good news for Illinois, is that Iowa may be the biggest, most physical team they play all year. Think about it. UNC and Wake like to run, Oklahoma St. is physical but not very big, Kansas isn't big, Duke isn't big, Syracuse is, but they play zone, so Illinois may be able to get by. However, they can't come out flat and expect to win tough games, specifically their date at Wisconsin next Tuesday night.
• P.J. Tucker was ruled academically ineligible for Texas. Tough break for Texas.
• West Coast games are still going on, including Gonzaga getting upset as we speak. We'll talk about them tomorrow.
• Ben Roethlisberger will have a great game and Pittsburgh will beat New England, that's my prediction. All of this talk about him regressing will only motivate him that much more to play well on Sunday.
• There's talk of moving forward in the NHL negotiations. I hope they don't come to an agreement, that way more college basketball can be televised.
• Tom Lehman shot a 62 in the first round of the Buick Invitational. I guess he's trying to make his own Ryder Cup team.

Tonight was the premiere of the 3rd edition of The Apprentice. This time, it's Book Smarts vs. Street Smarts, and tonight, Street Smarts won by selling more specialty sandwiches during a shift at Burger King. The collegians shamed themselves by not working as a team, and by coming up with the DUMBEST promotional idea, throwing a wiffle ball into a hole for something, I could never figure it out. The guy running the promotion, Danny, who is married to his guitar, can't dress himself and took an entire day to come up with this. But Project Manager Todd was let go because he couldn't manage Danny, couldn't do anything because he didn't get trained, and just couldn't lead. He made terrible decisions and was the first to go. I think a woman is going to win this time, a hunch.

I started looking at some job descriptions, and it was pretty exciting to see what's out there and seeing that I'll actually be qualified for these jobs in a few months. The locations aren't too bad either. If I had to preference where I'd like to work right now, Chicago would be my #1 choice. I've only been there once, but I loved my visit there. Atlanta and the DC area are intriguing as well and so too is, sorry Mom and Dad, California, especially San Francisco. We'll see what happens, there's still a ways to go before I have to make that decision.

We're playing Bas-ket-ball......

Opening Thought: A buddy and I played some ball tonight at the Rec Center where I found myself back in the Thunderdome, playing high school ball some 5 years ago. We happened to be sharing our court with the Dance Team, and they were working on game routines and playing some music. When we come out and start warming up, I hear the music and I suddenly feel like it's pregame warmups, in the layup line getting ready for the big game as the music is blasting away and the crowd gets hyped up. Running out onto the floor always gave me the biggest adrenaline rush, and tonight I got to feel a little of that. It was fun.

All right, let's talk some hoops, and there's quite a bit to talk about, so let's get down on it:

• Personally, the most intriguing matchup of the night was Duke playing at The U (Miami (FL)). Miami has been one of the most surprising teams all year, starting 3-1 in the ACC, and the atmosphere was electric with Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, and Alex Rodriguez in the house. But Duke showed the young Canes they have a little more work to do before they join the ACC elite. Duke doesn't have the name players they've had in the past, and they don't have the strength inside that other top teams do. But, they know how to play together and everyone knows their roles, which can overcome deficiencies a team may have. It was good to see Shavlik Randolph, though still weakened from his bout from mono, he gave as much energy as he could when he was in the game. As he gets his strength back, and the Dukies continue to grow as a team, watch out. They are still undefeated.
• The other two undefeateds had to survive at home, Kansas holding on at the buzzer at home vs. Nebraska, while Boston College had to come from 6 down in the last 2 minutes to beat Villanova. I know Kansas has beaten Georgia Tech, and won at Iowa State and Kentucky, but I'm still not impressed. They don't shoot well enough from the outside for my liking, but they're undefeated. Trips to Villanova and Baylor, followed by a home date with Texas loom for the Jayhawks. Meanwhile, Boston College's next 5 games should be victories. Their leap into the Top 10 didn't result in a loss, which is big for a team. Sometimes, when a team cracks the Top 10, they instantly lose and buckle under the pressure. A good win for BC tonight.
• In the preseason, all I heard about was this was Charlotte's year in Conference USA. So, what happened to the 49ers in the 2nd half at UC tonight? 30% shooting and losing by 22? That doesn't cut it. A good bounce back for UC after blowing it at home against Louisville Saturday.
• It is excruciating to watch Kentucky play offense. THEY CAN'T SCORE!!!! I know they're young, but even Chuck Hayes, Kelenna Azubuike, and Patrick Sparks, the leaders of the team can score. They can defend, that's for sure, but you need a little offense to go with the defense.
• Don't look now, but Texas Tech is now 11-4, 3-1 in the Big 12. Bob Knight in my opinion is a better coach than Dean Smith. He's done more with less, which he's proven since going to Lubbock.
• Indiana is now 3-1 in the Big 10 after defeating Michigan. Michigan is doing everything they can not to make the NCAA Tournament. If Indiana can continue to win some games, they should have the RPI that might enable them to sneak in the NCAAs.
• Louisville 94, East Carolina 41. How can East Carolina be so tough at home, but so weak on the road?
• And now for the wacky MAC. Western Michigan should crack the Top 25 this week. They're now 13-3, 6-0 in the MAC after defeating Northern Illinois. Ben Reed is the best guard you've never heard of. He can shoot the 3, he can take you off the dribble, and he has a mid-range game. I think it's safe to say I'll be in attendance when they come to Oxford and take on East-leading Miami, who is now 9-5, 4-2 in the MAC after winning at Eastern Michigan tonight. It was Miami's first road win since winning at Xavier back in November. Miami stayed a game ahead of Kent St., who beat Buffalo in overtime, and Akron.
• Another team that should be in the Top 25 is Southern Illinois, now 15-3, 6-0 in the Missouri Valley. They've won at Vanderbilt and UTEP and beaten Wyoming, with their only bad loss coming at Arkansas-Little Rock. The battle for Missouri Valley supremacy is this weekend when Southern Illinois and Wichita St. go at it. Too bad this game won't be televised in my area.
• Maryland is in trouble after losing D.J. Strawberry for the rest of the year with a torn ACL. This was already not a team with quality depth, and now they're without their stellar sixth man. If Gary Williams can get this team to the NCAAs, this will be his best coaching job since he came to Maryland.
  
• Tomorrow night's marquee matchups include: 24Iowa vs. 1Illinois, 25Marquette vs. DePaul, St. Mary's vs. Pepperdine, and Arizona vs. Oregon.

Sharapova and Agassi are through to the 3rd round in the Australian Open. The question of the night is will I be able to stay up for the Lleyton Hewitt/James Blake matchup. These 2 don't like each other, and with the match in Australia, the atmosphere and the match should be great.
American Idol wasn't anything special tonight in my opinion. Granted, I was flipping back and forth between that and the 6 basketball games that were on, so take my statement with a grain of salt.

And now it's time for Dial M for Moron:
Tonight's moron is none other than the first winner of Survivor, Richard Hatch. Richard, if you remember declared his homosexuality and went naked on the show, while not hiding the fact he'd do anything to win the game. Richard has plead guilty to two counts of tax evasion, one of them being he did not report the $1,000,000 that he won on the show. He is too naive for his own good I suppose. This is the only explanation for his failure to report this, even though an estimated 52 million viewers watched him win the million dollars. What did he think he could do, just run and hide somewhere???? You may be able to outwit 15 other people, but the IRS, are you kidding me??? Richard, Richard, Richard, moron.

"God did not want you to win this competition....."

So, I had my post for today done, then my computer froze on me, so what follows is the abridged version of what I earlier wrote:

Opening thoughts: In the span of 30 minutes, I came to the conclusion MTV should change their name to the Bubble Gum Pop Network for two main reasons. First, they're giving Ashlee Simpson her own show. No one older than 18 who doesn't watch MTV could care less about Ashlee Simpson, hence why she was booed in front of 80,000 at the Orange Bowl. Fox wouldn't give Ashlee her own show even if she asked for it, and they've come up with hit shows such as "Who's Your Daddy" and "Man vs. Beast".

My second reason hit me as I watched the premiere of "My Super Sweet 16 Party" Think Tommy Hilfiger's daughter's old show and you get the idea. Two spoiled 16-year old girls from Southern California arrange to throw their 16th birthday party at the Hard Rock Cafe, where every 16-year old has their 16th birthday party, c'mon. They go where the average person goes shopping for their new birthday outfits, Gucci and Saks Fifth Avenue. And, they have more than 100 musicians to choose from for their band. Beyonce wanted too much. She wanted $500,000 for the gig. Well excuuuuuse me!!!! The girls were upset at one another that they wore similar black dresses, what a Greek tragedy. One shaved her legs in the kitchen sink while the other preteneded to go running (you're supposed to be out of breath and sweating after you finish running). They invited 700 people, but later complained about too many people being there. YOU INVITED 700 PEOPLE, THAT'S WHY!!!!! One of the girls had 50 bathing suits. 50!!!! I can't wait until next week......

Now, for tonight's sports:

• Shocker of the night: Florida St. 91 #3Wake Forest 83 in overtime. The Seminoles ran out to a 19 point lead in the 1st half thanks to Von Wafer's 25 first half points. Wake came back, led by Chris Paul's 29 and during the game broke the NCAA record for consecutive free throws made during a season with 50. Unfortunately, after hitting a 3 to tie the game and getting fouled with 4 seconds left, Taron Downey missed the one that would've won the game for Wake. Wake put a lot of emotion into their Saturday vs. North Carolina, which was evident by their lack of emotion and defensive intensity tonight.
• Most overrated team: Pittsburgh, who lost to St. John's tonight.
  
• Look out for Oklahoma, who destroyed Texas A&M in the 2nd half tonight in College Station. The Sooners get their shot with Texas this weekend in what should be a dandy.
  
• And some props to my alma mater, Northmont School for knocking off last year's Division 1 state runner-up and current state #4 Toledo St. Johns yesterday 41-35. As a former basketball player for the Thunderbolts and as an alum, I am proud, good job boys.

Now, for some other thoughts:

• American Idol got underway tonight, and yes the last girl was terrible, but the guy who claimed to be Toni Braxton's cousin takes the cake tonight. If you're out there, allow me to tell you why you're often alone: you're conceited, can't sing, so full of yourself, can't talk, and have the worst laugh. So please, come down off of your mountain.
• In the Amazing Race, Jonathan and Victoria were eliminated. WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I don't know who was worse, Jonathan for patting himself on the back too much and acting as God's greatest gift, or Victoria who was the ultimate drama queen and who somehow likes being with a guy that belittles her.

It's going to be a late night watching tennis tonight because my two favorites are on. Sharapova is down a set currently to some no-name American, while Agassi is due on court after the Sharapova match.

Frozen

Well, today I don't think the temperature got above 12 all day. It's not a good thing when you're sick of winter and it's still only the middle of January. There's a long way to go. I found myself watching the made-for-tv movie "The 60s" tonight. It's one of those where the main characters just happen to find themselves at every significant event that happened during the decade. I do wonder how my life would've turned out if I was a part of that decade. Would I have been active in the passive protests or would I have gone to Vietnam? Now that I've read books and seen movies about it, I don't think Vietnam should've ever happened, but would I have felt that at the time, especially since I'm Republican. My parents lived a normal life during that time I suppose, going to school, not actively protesting or being called to duty; would that have been the same for me? One could compare the current situation in Iraq, but to me they are different. Directly, Vietnam had done nothing against us, we were afraid of any form of communism spreading. However, Iraq, and I know this is an arguable point, did have a hand in the 9/11 attacks. Victory is possible I think in Iraq, and with elections coming up, that will help settle things down in the country. The biggest mistake in Iraq was moving too quickly and declaring the end to all combat too soon, but there was pressure to have a swift victory. So those same people are now complaining about what's going on even though they were the ones that had to be pleased with the swift victory. I guess you can't please everyone, which is exactly why I'm not cut out for politics.

Now for tonight's sports roundup:

• In the college game of the night, it was Texas taking care of their home court, defeating Oklahoma St. 75-61. Daniel Gibson was stellar throughout, carrying the Texas offense. P.J. Tucker helped out in the second half, which was when he scored all of his points after being in foul trouble in the first half. The game was much closer than what the final score indicates. Texas played a solid game, hanging with the Cowboys on the boards and being pretty efficient offensively. OSU was hurt by foul trouble and inconsistent offense, particularly when Texas went to their 2-3 zone. The 2 games OSU have lost (the other being Gonzaga), have been to teams that play the 2-3 zone. In addition, when OSU gets into foul trouble like they do tonight, their lack of depth hurts them. Texas may be in for some bad news in the morning. Tucker could be ruled academically ineligible for the rest of the season as soon as tomorrow which would be a huge blow to Texas. The Big 12 is looking at currently 7 teams getting in to the NCAA Tournament, with Missouri on the bubble as #8, which would be unprecedented.
• Now for some quick hitters, yesterday Vermont knocked off Boston U. to take sole possession of 1st in the America East conference. Vermont has two very good players in T.J. Sorenstine and Taylor Coppenrath. They gave Kansas all they could handle early in the season. They are experienced and are right now looking at a 12 or 13 seed which would give them a legitimate shot at a first-round upset.
• The Atlantic 10 will get no more than 2 teams into the NCAAs. Right now, they would be George Washington and Temple, if Temple can do well in the A10 season and improve their record because their RPI is strong.
• A team to look out for is Wichita St. Currently one game behind the Salukis, they get their shot at them this weekend. The Missouri Valley Conference deserves 2 bids.
• The surprise of the evening was seeing that Auburn defensive coordinator Gene Chizik is heading to Texas to be the Longhorns' defensive coordinator. This is a good get for Texas in their desperate need to finally beat Oklahoma.
• Marcus Vick is eligible for Virginia Tech for the upcoming season. Let's see how long he stays eligible. This has to be his absolute last chance. Personally, I think he's had one too many already.
• My 2 Australian Open favorites, Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova are through to the 2nd round safely, which will keep me watching.

And finally, the Bachelorette, Jen, narrowed the field to 8, which includes Fabrice the smooth-talking Frenchmen, but doesn't include stalker Stu, who seems to have read Jen's diary because he knows EVERYTHING about her. Knowing everything isn't good, and giving too many gifts and too much flattery isn't the way to a girl's heart either. You need a combination of those two things, with some normalcy. Show the girl you can be there for the big and small occasions and that you can give her some space when she needs it. The key word: BALANCE

Songs of the night: "Takin Care of Business", and "Nowhere to Run" by Martha and the Vandellas. Gotta love that Motown sound.

How bout them Colts????

Before we get into the roundup of the day in sports, it's time for the Best and Worst Dressed of the Golden Globes:

Best Dressed:

• Jennifer Garner, somehow she finds another dress that compliments her style and beauty every awards show. She deserves a "WOW"
• Charlize Theron, even with a new hair color, she is still gorgeous. Plus, she wore an off the shoulder dress, and I love off the shoulder dresses, YES!!!!
• Any one of the Desperate Housewives. I thought Teri Hatcher looked good with the short hair when she did the Superman tv show, but I love the long hair and the dress. And Eva Longoria, a knockout, uh huh.
• Hillary Swank, wasn't a fan when you won a few years ago, with the short hair, but I like the longer hair and the golden dress, very nice.
• Halle Berry, enough said.
  

Worst Dressed:

• Natalie Portman, Natalie, Natalie, Natalie, my girl, well you were. First, the dress looked like something that was more appropriate for the musical "Annie". Second, it didn't even fit. Third, the necklace didn't even go for it. And finally, when you won, your acceptance speech was terrible. Very disappointed.
• Diane Keaton. Will you please stop wearing those glasses and do you own anything besides sport jackets?????
• Paula Abdul. Your dress was ok, but you should fire your hair stylist. It was all over the place, and now I know where your hair line is receding, ugh.

Alright, time for sports:

• The football was good, but I think the basketball was better. I hope you took my advice and flipped over to Michigan St./Wisconsin after the Vikings turned the ball over for the 10th time, because it was one of the Top 10 games of the year I've seen. You look at the score and you see UW won 62-59, and it doesn't jump right at you, but this was good basketball. Good offense, good defense; there was nothing ugly about this game. The effort was incredible by both teams. The Spartans led by 8 with 2 minutes to go, but the Badgers came back and won their 38th straight at home. MSU, even though losing at the end, impressed me with their all out effort, especially on the glass, rebounding much better than they did last year, and their team play, they are a much more cohesive unit. They're going to be a tough team to beat. Wisconsin knows how to play, and they make it extra tough because they seem to play mistake-free ball at home. However, they shoot too many 3s. They're at their best when they go inside-out with the ball.
  
• NC State got off the snide by beating Georgia Tech. I know BJ Elder is hurt, but c'mon Tech, you can play better than you did tonight without one of your key cogs.
• Four unbeatens remain: Illinois (Iowa looms this week), Duke, Kansas, and Boston College (very good win in Morgantown over West Virginia today).
• From last night: Gonzaga 86, Pepperdine 62. These two schools don't like each other, and for the Zags to put the hurt on tells you something. The West Coast Conference is deserving of 2 teams in right now, Gonzaga and St. Marys.
• Congratulations to Derek Whittenburg and Fordham for holding on and beating Xavier in a great finish. Let's hope there are more great victories for you and your program.
  

Now for football:

• The Eagles showed they have an offense without T.O., but it was against the Vikings, not exactly a defensive juggernaut. The Vikings had their chances, but costly turnovers and the fake field goal try showed why they were an 8-8 team instead of an 11-5 team. I still like the Falcons next week. I think they can put some pressure on McNabb and they'll be more physical than Minnesota was.
• And the biggest letdown of the day belongs to the Colts offense. When I saw the weather conditions about an hour before the game, I knew the Colts had no chance. They just aren't as tough as the Patriots and can't match the will the Pats bring to the field. Ironically, 20 years ago in Super Bowl 19, Dan Marino, in his record breaking season took on overlooked past Super Bowl MVP Joe Montana. Marino came in with the gaudy stats, but it was Montana who won his second MVP as the 49ers dismantled the Dolphins. Now it is Tom Brady, overlooked 2-time Super Bowl MVP, playing the part of Joe Montana, and Peyton Manning, who is Dan Marino, especially since he's breaking all of his records. Manning may have the gaudy stats, but if I can pick any quarterback I want for one game, I'll take Tom Brady right now. Even with their dominating performance today, I still like the Steelers next week. They find ways to win, and I think they will do so next week. Hopefully the game lives up to the hype, and #7 can play big. He's going to have to.

Now for some other thoughts:

• Add another inch and a half of snow to the totals here in SW Ohio. The forecast for this week is for it to feel like Green Bay basically. No fun, especially since that means I will fall down while walking to class at least once this week.
• American Idol starts this week. The best shows are these first ones when the Simon, Randy, and Paula go to the cities for the first round of tryouts to sort out the good, bad, and ugly. Once the show goes to Hollywood for the finals, it's not as compelling, especially after hearing ballad after ballad after ballad. There are some songs I haven't listened to since I heard them on American Idol because they've been performed so horribly. So when I hear that particular song, unfortunately I get sick to my stomach because I think of the awful performance from the show.
• It will be tough getting sleep for the next two weeks because the Australian Open has begun. On the women's side, I just hope the Williams sisters don't win. Concentrate on tennis now, your fashion career can wait. If you dedicate yourself to the game, then get back to me. My favorite, Maria Sharapova. She's Anna Kournikova with a competitve spirit, need I say more. On the men's side, let's face it, Roger Federer will win. But I am and will always be an Andre Agassi guy. When I was 6 and would hit tennis balls, I would try and take it out of the air so I could be like him. I love how he tries to outwork you, get the crowd involved, and pull off shots only he can. It will be a sad day when he is forced to retire.
• Tomorrow night, 9pm ESPN, #6 Oklahoma State vs. #9 Texas. Can Texas match the toughness of Oklahoma State???
• Pitchers and catchers report in a little more than 4 weeks. How sad is that??? Didn't the World Series just end???
  

Wow, we tackled a lot of topics tonight, unlike the Colts who couldn't tackle Corey Dillon even if their life depended on it.

Couch Potato Saturday

Opening thought: Last night, I saw Meet The Fockers, the sequel to Meet The Parents. It was good and hilarious, and probably the dirtiest movie I've ever seen. With the Fockers as very loving and sexual people, every imaginable sexual inuendo and expression was used. I think it's safe to say it will not have the same television frequency as Meet The Parents. I recommend it though, I laughed for 2 hours straight.

If you are a sports fan, today was your day. Here are the highlights from Couch Potato Saturday:

• Wake Forest is legit and is in my Final Four firmly as we speak. The intensity they played with at both ends of the floor, especially defensively was unbelievable. Wake has had the offensive talent, but when it came to getting a key stop, they often couldn't get it. Today, they never let UNC get in sync offensively, and every run UNC made in the 2nd half was answered and then some. This is a different Wake team from the one that got schooled by Illinois. Wake plays much harder and Chris Paul is playing like the All-World point guard that he is. He without a doubt got the better of Raymond Felton today. He's playing much more under control, not playing too quickly, not trying to do too much. If Wake can keep playing defense like this, they're a contender for sure.
• Kudos to Louisville for not throwing in the towel after falling behind 25-8 to Cincinnati in the first half and coming back to win the game. UC's deficiencies were exposed in the 2nd half: lack of consistent outside shooting, a go-to player offensively, poor free throw shooting, and defensive breakdowns at critical times. That pretty much sums up why UC has only advanced past the 2nd round in the NCAAs once in the last 10 years if I remember correctly. Louisville is a scary team with the way they can defend and shoot 3s. If they can stay healthy, they're definitely a sleeper team in the later rounds of the NCAAs.
• Miami blew a golden opportunity tonight in Buffalo, where a victory tonight would've given them a 2 game lead in the MAC East after Kent got taken behind the woodshed at OU. Buffalo broke open a tie game in the last 5 minutes, outscoring the Hawks by 11 the rest of the way. The Hawks just have trouble scoring consistently on the road, missing their first 11 shots in tonight's game. Buffalo is very athletic and physically tough, and are just one game behind Miami now, very much back in the race.
• Shifting gears to the NFL, this is Pittsburgh's year, I'm fully convinced of that after they somehow came back to beat the Jets tonight. The Steelers wreak of Ohio St.'s run to the 2003 national championship, except for the fact that the Steelers are allowed to pay their players. (Free Maurice, hehe) Anyway, tough defense, low-scoring games, running the ball, and a little luck are the Steelers' formula for success. They were able to survive their "bad game", so look out, especially from #7, who always finds a way to bounce back.
• I hadn't really gotten to watch the Falcons all year, so needless to say I was very impressed with their performance tonight. They are much more than Michael Vick. They are physical and come after the quarterback hard. I think they'll win next week, regardless who their opponent is.
• Did anyone watch the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and Michelle Kwan win her 38th national championship???? Didn't think so.

Tomorrow will be another good sports viewing day (thank goodness this is a 3 day weekend as I would get no work done), but it won't compare to the depth today had. Obviously, Colts/Patriots is the marquee matchup, but pay attention to Michigan St./Wisconsin basketball. Michigan St.'s first test in awhile, let's see if Tom Izzo actually has a true point guard.

Blame It On The Rain

Let's start off by introducing a new segment called "Dial M for Moron."

Today, we have two people who make the list. First, let's start with Tara Reid. Tara, now more famous for her left nipple than either American Pie movie was at a restaurant in the Caribbean with her boyfriend, hockey superstar Sergei Fedorov, when she locked herself in the bathroom. Eventually, after a few minutes she was found, although one witness had this to say. "It's like the simplest door in the whole world!!!! It just slides!!!" I guess no one told Tara this isn't going to be a scene in the soon not to be made American Pie 4.

Unfortunately, and really tragically this doesn't win today. No, the honor for Moron of the day goes to Prince Harry for wearing a World War II Nazi military uniform to a costume party. Just what we need, another ignorant young adult who gives our generation a bad name. He said it was supposed to be a joke and that it was misunderstood. A joke???? You try and explain that to my grandfather, a WWII veteran. I don't see anything remotely funny about one of, if not the greatest human tragedy in history that was the Holocaust. Oh Harry, one more thing, your written apology was not good enough. Have the decency to go to Auschwitz with your Queen Mum and apologize then. Maybe you'll get a milligram of respect back from me.

Now for tonight's basketball roundup:

• Well, NC State made me look good for a half. They played with a sense of urgency, and Duke's big 3 of Ewing, Redick, and Williams were held in check. Yet in the 2nd half, as they always seem to do, Duke found a way to win, and tonight it was the lefty Lee Melchionni who contributed a career high 16 points, while Julius Hodge and the Wolfpack lost their composure and the game. Hodge, last year's ACC Player of the year, looks to be putting too much pressure on himself, which may explain why his emotions and frustrations are showing a little more. Duke is not as overrated as I thought, but I don't see them winning it all, unless they get hot from the outside, and when Shavlik Randolph returns, he plays like the Randolph from last year's NCAA Tournament.
• Georgia Tech fans no need to fret. When B.J. Elder comes back, you will become the dominant team you were the first month of the season.
• No big upsets as of yet tonight, although we still have the Pac 10 to finish up tonight.
• Teams that I haven't seen play as much as I've wanted this year: Washington, Michigan St.(maybe the biggest question mark since Duke is their only quality opponent thus far), Boston College, and Southern Illinois.

Well, the temperature has only fallen 30 degrees today so far, I guess we should be thankful for that. After class tomorrow begins Martin Luther King Day weekend, which should be a great sports weekend with NFL playoffs and plenty of college hoops.

Spring Fever

Opening thought: Today was a great day. It was really a sneak preview of what a spring at Miami is all about. Temperatures stayed in the 60s all day, making it feel very nice outside. Springtime is my favorite time of year at Miami. Everyone is in a better mood, it means the year is almost over, and the girls come out and go running in their short shorts. It was a good night to walk uptown, have a beer with my Econ buddies, and enjoy the walk back because there won't be on like it for at least a couple of months. Unfortunately, winter returns tomorrow as the temperature will fall into the 20s. So I'm left with cold weather and spring fever, not a good combination.

Now for tonight's basketball roundup, and it was a busy night:

• Miami won against Central Michigan tonight by 10. The win puts the Redhawks back into first place in the East division. Miami is certainly a better offensive team, evidenced by having 4 double-figure scorers tonight, but there are a couple of things that worry me as we get deeper into conference play. First, we are not very strong with the basketball. We don't seem to be able to hang onto rebounds, catch passes cleanly, or make tough shots around the basket. Next, our defense was not that outstanding. Even though we won by 10 and held the opposition to 61 points, this is not one of the better defensive teams Miami has had. Finally, we attempted 26 3-pointers. Live by the 3, die by the 3. But for now, Miami sits atop the East.
• The cowards, known formally as the University of Dayton actually beat a worthy opponent tonight in Richmond. They will be known as cowards because they avoided playing Miami this year knowing they would lose and probably lose badly. They "didn't have enough room on the schedule" for us, but they had room for Texas Southern and Cornell, two teams that rank in the bottom 25 of all of college basketball.
• The MAC from top to bottom is stacked, and yes this includes Marshall after their upset of West Virginia. The MAC deserves to have 2 teams in the NCAA Tournament.
• North Carolina and Illinois would be my dream NCAA Championship game. The Tar Heels continue to impress me everytime I see them, and I love Roy Williams' brand of basketball. I hope he wins a championship someday.
• Look for Duke to lose to NC State Thursday night. Duke acutally plays a road game, and IMO is overrated with a #5 national ranking. Also, NC State needs to win to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
• A team that could scare someone in March is Bucknell. They handed Pittsburgh their first loss of the year at Pittsburgh and have won since. They should win the Patriot League, which would give them a #14 seed in the Tournament, and give someone fits in the first round.
• The other Miami is turning into one of the big surprises of the year. In their first year in the ACC, the Canes are 2-1, winning at Virginia tonight, which is not exactly an easy place to play. The Canes had been the doormat of the Big East the last couple of years.
• Upsets of the night: Tennessee over Mississippi St., ending their 16 game road winning streak, and Texas A&M, maybe for real, beating #9 Texas by 11.

Current song I can't get out of my head: "What the world needs now is love, sweet love."

Thing I am currently craving: Cheeseburger

Why College Basketball is the greatest game.

Ok, maybe I'm biased since I played in high school, but here's why college basketball is the greatest game there is (and I promise to try and keep my thoughts focused).

First, every game matters. Now, the same argument can be made for college football, but we're talking 27 games instead of 11, so each night, the season is on line. For example, tonight Marshall, 3-10 beat #24 West Virginia, 11-2. This one loss may be enough for the Mountaineers to miss the NCAA Tournament, and making the NCAA Tournament is the only thing that matters in college basketball which leads me into my next point.

Next, the month of March. There is no playoff in college football playoff, professional basketball, baseball, and hockey have series, and professional football, while single elimination doesn't have the underdog flavor that college basketball has. March begins with Championship Week, when all of the conferences play their conference tournaments, in which the winner of each gets a bid to the Tournament. In every other major sport, the little guy rarely, if ever gets a chance to play for the Championship, but in college basketball, by winning their conference tournament, little schools get to compete for the National Championship. Teams play their hearts out for a bid, that in most cases will lead them to a 1st round tournament loss, but there's always that chance they can pull off the upset just as Hampton, Richmond, and Valparaiso have pulled among others and for one day, rule the basketball landscape.

Third, the atmosphere around the game. Playing on campus in a packed gym that is standing room only where the noise reverberates throughout in which every play is crucial to the game's outcome, where momentum can change on something as unrevealing as a facial expression. That's what makes college basketball captivating. Seeing the emotion on the player's face, or getting excited when seeing a player make 6 three pointers consecutively, or "Send it in" with a slam dunk.

Finally, and this is more centered on why college ball is better than the NBA, the game is pure. Besides the dunks and the 3s, everyone plays hard. Basketball is played as it should be, like an art form instead of an individual exhibition. This is why the Olympic Team didn't win the gold this year. The NBA is full of players that want to make money and look good before winning and playing team basketball. Too many high schoolers and college underclassmen see dollar signs, then turn pro, ride the bench, then play and make 30% of their shots and pull the league down even further.

Ok, I will step off my soapbox now and address the comment from my previous post:
I was shocked to say the least when I saw Indiana had not only beaten Wisconsin, but did so by 21 points. Wright and Strickland need to keep playing well for the Hoosiers to have any success, while hoping the young inside players develop as the season goes along. I hope Mike Davis doesn't get fired, he's recruited some good young talent and has done the best he can with what he's got, but he should be worried about his job if Indiana doesn't make the NIT, which IMO would be a great accomplishment. Indiana basketball needs to stop with the Notre Dame football type scheduling and let their younger players develop against some easier teams. Keep Kentucky, Notre Dame, and maybe one other major, but give the younger players some confidence by playing some lesser teams.

I'm having too much fun with this. Just a couple of more items:

• My favorite reality show is The Amazing Race. I get disgusted everytime I see the team of Jonathan and Victoria. Jonathan pretty much verbally and physically beats his wife up, blaming her for everytime they fall behind or mess up. He thinks he is God's greatest gift to the Earth, "I can do this.., I can do that." Victoria, WAKE UP!!!!!, why are you married to this guy??????
• I also occasionally watch the Real World, more for entertainment. How can these people get upset over the dumbest things. Then, they "work" and are rewarded with a trip to some exotic location, this year being Fiji. It's even more hilarious when they actually go around and give talks to students, like they are some kind of role model. This is definitely the lamest excuse for a reality show today.
• Friday Night Lights comes out on DVD next Tuesday. It will be mine.
• It is January 11th, and it is 59 degrees outside. It has thunderstormed tonight and may do so again tomorrow. I'm a southwestern Ohio native, but it's fair to say I've never seen weather like this in my lifetime. Hopefully around 3:30 tomorrow, it stops raining long enough for me to go hit some golf balls.

Thank you and good night.

The First Manic Monday

Opening thought: A couple of years ago, every Wednesday night, my residence hall staff and I watched American Idol and the Bachelor. The girl who won, Jen, is now the bachelorette. I have to admit, I was a big fan of Jen, and she would be the kind of girl I think I would be happy to end up with (despite her being an OU grad). I'm glad she got rid of the drunk hair stylist from Kentucky, but keeping around the French guy, c'mon. So I will probably watch to see who ends up with her, plus it's something to watch during basketball commercials.

Mondays are the long days this semester with class at 10, 2, and 3:30, lasting until 6:10. It didn't last that long today at least, which gave me time to workout before dinner. The Spring Break workout regiment has begun, as the Rec was packed today. I'd rather run outside, but being in the middle of winter, the track will have to do for now. It was good to see the rest of my econ peeps; it should be another great semester being with them.

Now for my thoughts on basketball (probably a daily thing from now until the Championship):

• Syracuse got their first quality win at Notre Dame tonight. They have a lot of experience, have two great players in Warrick and McNamara, rebound and defend. However, they have trouble scoring at times and are the worst free throw shooting team I've seen in awhile.
• UConn is strong outside, but don't have much in the form of guards, evidenced in their loss at Oklahoma tonight.
• A couple of upsets tonight from off the radar, Oral Roberts losing at Western Illinois, and Drake beating Texas A&M-CC.

Yup, a big basketball fan I am, but not professional basketball. That's a topic for another day.
Now, here are my NFL playoff picks: Falcons over the Vikings in the NFC, Colts over the Steelers in the AFC. The Colts win the Super Bowl. I know picking a Manning over Roethlisberger is not something I want to make a habit of, but my gut says the Colts will take it all (however, this is coming from a person who didn't win half of his college bowl picks, so take this with a grain of salt).

That's all I can come up with today, tomorrow if you're lucky, I'll discuss why college basketball is the greatest game there is.

The Beginning of a New Era

Brad, I stole this from you buddy, so thank you. Welcome to Marty's World. You'll hear my opinion on many different things, ranging from sports ( a lot of sports most likely) to classes (I'm getting my Master's in Economics) to general knowledge and potpourri.

I guess I'll review my Winter Break for you all. Santa was kind to bring me a new 27" TV, golfing shoes, luggage, and some money, which will soon be used to buy my Roethlisberger jersey. At the Lavelle household, we had 18 inches of snow, so for those of you who wanted a White Christmas so badly, I hope you're happy. Then the snow melted and created flooding problems in the area so it would be just fine if we received no more snow this winter. The biggest news though by far was meeting my goals in my classes. Receiving the grades I was hoping for made the break a very enjoyable one.

So now it's time to get back into the swing of things with classes and getting back in shape. I was able to work out some, but I think it's fair to say I ate well hehe. 2005 has the potential to be a good one. My Miami career will finish in August, with the chance to do very well and end up with a really good job. Right now, college basketball is heating up, which I love. BTW, Illinois is my #1 team with UNC a close 2nd. And who knows what else the year may bring. I can feel the finish line approaching, so the motto of the remaining 8 months in the Master's Program is:

FINISH

My goal is to finish on time, get the grades I want, write a great paper, and get the job I want. The upcoming year holds so much promise, but business must be taken care of.

I hope you all had a great Holidays, and I hope you enjoy my world!!!!