Thursday, March 23, 2006

One Last Day Of Normalcy

                                                 

Okay....it is Wednesday night...and I've been chilling without the NCAA tournament in my face for three days now.  Amazing, since my regime for FOUR straight days was waking up at 11:00am [I work 2nd shift, so this is my morning]....taking the dogs out....getting my Dr Pepper and chips together...going down to my Sportz Room....watching NCAA hoops from noon until about 1:00am.  Yep, 10-13 hours of hoops each night with just a break to see my wife from time to time and to rid myself of the Dr. Pepper and chips.  So, let's chat!

GAME OF SHADOWS:  Another day, another excerpt.  From that "Game of Shadows"....uh....book....Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield are thrown under the bus.  Ya know, nothing in this book shocks me...other than it's another account of something we all know subconsciencely but don't have any hard answer about.  Ridding the game of steroids will most likely be done by scaring these guys into retirement and then acting like it never happened.  And screw these press leaks.....errrr....excerpts.  Release the freaking book.

HUGGINS AT K STATE:  In a bit of an unexpected news, former Cincy coach Bob Huggins will be the new head man at Kansas State.  Good hire for K State, but many felt that Huggs could be in line for a bigger job.   But, Huggins could bring some bigtime talent to Manhattan with him...as 2007's #1 prep, OJ Mayo, may follow Huggins. 

SPANKING ALFORD:  Question....why is Steve Alford a hot coaching candidate??  I understand the Indiana connection....but apparantly they are not interested [but he's interested in them].  Missouri would like him, maybe.  Meanwhile, word is that many Iowa Hawkeye fans wouldn't mind seeing him leave.  Alford's career isn't anything spectacular.  Sure, the Hawkeyes are a solid program....but they have exactly one tournament win under Alford....including two straight losses in the first round.  He did do well at SW Missouri State [now Mizz State] but others have done fine there too.  I don't see what the buzz is about?  Indiana is doing the smart thing.  They are doing a search of who they really want...and can fall back on Alford if needed.  The fans and alumni will like Alford....but he may not be much for the program's resurgance.  There's nothing Alford has done that would make him more qualified than Mike Davis was. 

THE NIT GETS IT RIGHT:  The NIT Final Four will be set tomorrow....as the winner of the Cincinnati-South Carolina game will join Louisville, Michigan and Old Dominion in New York.  Michigan and Cincy were the only two teams that I had "bracket-olo-gized" to be in the dance that wasn't.  Louisville, though not a strong bubble team, was  the only NCAA Final Four team to not make the dance this year.  ODU comes from that strong CAA conference that has George Mason in the Sweet 16.   

SHAWN KEMP EYES COMEBACK:  A "slimmer" Shawn Kemp....which is still bigger than the effective Shawn Kemp....wants to come back to the NBA after being out for 3 years.  I guess feeding all those kids really takes a hit on the ol' wallet.

NFL TALKS:  So, the league will have meetings next week and, of course, finding a new commish will be discussed.  But rules changes will also be a big deal.  They are looking at officials holding the flag when a WR flinches [it's a false start now, but may not be next year].  Also, officials are being told to throw flags only if the SEE a holding violation...not when they think one occured.  The overhyped "horse collar" penalty [which didn't get called at all during the season] may be revised to include tackles made by pulling the shirt, not just the inside of the shoulderpads.  The league will also look into adding a 7th playoff team in each conference. 

DEFENSIVE HEADPHONES:  We all know that QBs have those headsets in their helmets.  Well, the NFL may look into letting one defensive player have a headset in their helmets.  Since the defensive captain, usually the middle linebacker, calls plays from the sidelines just as the QB does....it would stand to reason that it would be fair that the defense get their signals the same way. 

YANKEES HATER:  There is a big stink between YANKEESHATER.COM :: OFFICIAL Yankees Hater WEBSITE and the actual Yankees.  Check out the website for more. 

NEW SOUTH PARK:  Sorry, but the new season of South Park began with an "ode" the Issac Hayes leaving the show due to religious differences.  If you didn't know, Hayes was the voice of "Chef"...and Hayes left the show last week because he said he and creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker were at odds over the show's treatment of religious subjects.  Hayes is now a Scientologist....and South Park has been ripping Scientologists in recent episodes [especially the classic "Tom Cruise is in the Closet"].  Hayes' statement was odd, since he had no problem with the show's contininous Jewish jokes, Christianity jokes and Mormon jokes....all which have staples of the show since it began over 8 years ago. 

Well, this show had Chef being brainwashed by a group....in which Chef eventually dies.  In the memorial, the kids pay tribute to Chef by remembering the good times they had and placing the blame on the brainwashing and not Chef, the man.  Way to go guys!  Also, classic Star Wars take at the end, as a dismembered Chef gets thrown on a table and repaired into a Darth Chef [or Chef Vader]. 

MY DANCE PICKS:  Okay, here are my picks from this weekend......Duke over LSU, Texas over West Virginia, Gonzaga over UCLA, Memphis over Bradley, UConn over Washington, Wichita State over George Mason [payback], Villanova over Boston College, Florida over Georgetown.  Yep, only one upset in that whole bunch.

In the Elite 8, Duke over Texas, Memphis over Gonzaga, UConn over Wichita State and Florida over Villanova.  Just a hunch on the last one. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Congrats Sportz, I know the one thing as good as a UNC win for you is a duke loss. If Huggins gets Mayo to commit, he'll also get Walker, and at least 3 other top 15 recruits who have told OJ that they'll follow him. I wish I would have went with my instict and not the rankings with LSU and Duke. I'm going on record now, LSU will win it all.