Archive for June, 2010

As an avid football fan (and former high school player) I have to say that I am a bit disturbed by what is happening currently with the NCAA. For those of you who may have been living under a rock for some time now, the Pac 10 is on the verge of becoming the Pac 16, the big 10 has 12 teams, the big 12 has 10 teams, and their is chaos every where in between. Once the dust settles it will be easier to see what exactly happened, but in the mean time I can only speculate as to the problems that will arise after its all said and done.

Let me start by saying that I am all for teams moving around conferences under the right circumstances. To me the right circumstance in this situation would only be if the reason for the switch was to incorporate Boise State, TCU and Utah into big time conferences. Though it seems that those schools are going to be staying put through all of this, so in reality whats the point? I mean I could understand if Nebraska got paid to leave, to make room for Utah, or something along those lines, but that did not happen, they are moving for the sake of movement. Thats my first gripe and im sure many would agree that this does nothing to fix whats wrong with college football, and in some ways makes it worse.

Now assuming someone could explain to me why Boise, TCU, and Utah are not coming into bcs conferences what about the Texas schools? Texas and Texas Tech want to move to the pac 10, and Texas A&M wants to pitch their tent in the SEC? I mean do these conference names mean nothing? South Eastern Conference, if you can show me on a map that Texas is considered a south east state then I suppose we can talk, but barring any major shake up in world geography I think im right. Whats next, the University of Southern California is going to travel to the Big East? Its absurd!

Now putting my capitalist hat on for a second, I understand at the core why this is happening, and anyone who understands money should as well. Texas A&M can bring in a lot more money if its playing its games against opponents people actually care about. Aggies vs. the Gators is going to draw a lot more fans than Aggies vs. Wildcats. Considering that its just a capitalist ploy for more profits, it still makes me sick that a guy (or girl) student athlete can lose a year of eligibility if someone wants to buy them a free happy meal. A&M will make more money off its athletes than ever before, and most of them will still struggle for four years trying to feed themselves after the dining halls close.

There is certainly a lot to be debated here, so lets get those comments rolling and see whats what.

As someone who had not watched a full stanley cup playoff series before this year, I can honestly say that hockey has become one of my favorite sports to watch. Im not sure what the draw is specifically, but I will say that the fast paced action that it delivers is unlike anything you see in other sports. As someone who considers them self a Buffalo Sabres fan I had no real bone to pick with either team in the championship, and just wanted to watch some solid hockey, and both teams delivered. I will say that after watching the HBO documentary, “Broad Street Bullies” not to long ago, a small part of me wanted to see the Flyers hoist the cup, although its hard to root against Team USA stand out, Patrick Kane for the Hawks.

As the game started in Philly, my buddy and I quickly realized that the tape of Kate Smith singing God Bless America was not being played over the loud speakers. This came as a bit of a shock to both of us, as I had assumed that before every big/must win game the song would be sang, so theres something for you conspiracy theorists to chew on for a bit.  In any event, I wont blame the loss on a song, though it is a bit odd.

Once the pre game festivities were over with, the opening face off took place, and although the scoreboard tells a bit of a different story, I think you really felt as if the Hawks were simply destined to win this game. Im not a huge statistic guy, but when you look at some of the numbers from this game, its hard to believe how close of a game it truly was, and I think you have to give a lot of credit to Michael Leighton for how he performed in many of these situations. For starters the shots on goal wasn’t even close, Chicago 41 and Philly 24, Philly gave away 16 pucks as opposed to the Hawks 13, and the Hawks would take away 12 pucks as opposed to Philly only taking 9.  Philly would end up with the slight edge in face offs (32-30) and hits (27-19) but in the end it would not be enough.

Philadelphia’s story book playoff run could only be called Cinderella if they had managed to win, but for whatever reason they could not seem to muster up the puck play to do so. I do not feel bad for Philly or its fans and I suppose I owe that to the fact that they went ahead and Booed the Hawks and the man presenting Lord Stanley’s cup to them. If your going to win do it with class, and if your going to lose do it with class. Though I dont think the term class will ever be associated with the Flyers, Phillies, or Eagles so I guess we will let them go on their marry way.

As for the Hawks its been 49 long years for their hockey team, and in a place where championships are few and far between I think you need to be happy for them. I suppose now fans will assume that the cubs have a shot sometime in the near future, but theirs nothing wrong with dreaming right?

In the end I am proud to call myself a newly minted hockey fan and look forward to watching many more Stanley cup series in the future, especially ones where the Sabres are included!

If you look at the cumulative stat sheet for the Boston Celtics throughout the 2010 NBA playoffs it is apparent they play team basketball.  Every series leading up to the classic rivalry the Celtics utilized every essential player to secure victories against the star studded lineups of the Heat, Cavaliers,  and Magic.  Be it Tony Allen attacking the paint, Nate Robinson’s’ enthusiasm from the bench, or the sweet jump shot of Ray Allen’s, that has tortured opposing defenders for years.

In the first three games of the Finals foul trouble has broken up player rhythms and has disallowed Kevin Garnett (Game 1 and 2) and Ray Allen (Game 3) to establish any type of flow.  After game 3 Doc Rivers aired his frustration towards the tight officiating saying, “Every game so far, we’ve had one of our top players in foul trouble.”  When one of the big three are forced to sit, the team basketball the Celtics pride themselves is irrelevant.  The ability for each person on the court to establish a flow is critical for the success for any team.  Unfortunately the Celtics have seen one of their key players in early foul trouble in each of the first three games of the Finals.

The only consistency through three games is they are constantly in foul trouble.  Even in the their loan win they needed one of the best Finals performances ever by Ray Allen to escape from L.A. with a tied series.  For the Celtics to have a chance in game four or the rest of the series they need Garnett, Pierce, and Allen to average around 38 to 45 minutes a game throughout the rest of the series.  For that to happen they need to out work L.A. and put themselves in better positions defensively to avoid ticky tacky foul calls.  If in the next two games the Celtics big three develop a rhythm with in the first five minutes and add in the stellar play of Rondo, we could see the Celtics from the Magic series finally show up.  However that doesn’t mean a guaranteed series victory for the Celtics, because personally I feel if the Laker’s play their best game and the Celtics play their best game, the Laker’s will repeat as champions.  We know there will not be a perfect game and both teams are going to have to fight adversity.

The players still need to play well, even if the officiating is perfect Paul Pierce can not have another game 2 performance.  I have skeptasism if he can just play basketball and keep Ron Artest out of his head.  If there was a time to play smart basketball I think it would be a good time for the Celtics to practice what they preach.  Ultimatley the Celtics biggs need to play the way they did the previous series, being more physical making it tough for the more skilled biggs of the Lakers to establish a sense of comfortability during the game.  Game four is going to be very compelling and I will make sure I am able to give my thoughts on the changes and adjustments of both the Lakers and Celtics for the rest of the series.