Madness? No. This is MARCH!

Maybe it's just me, but do you feel like you already have 53 errors on your March Madness bracket?  I literally have no confidence in any of my picks this year, and it isn't even selection Sunday yet.  Yes, the Big East is clearly the strongest division I conference, but they're also beating the living shit out of each other. 

Being a Syracuse fan that watches/attends nearly every game, I wouldn''t bet money on them moving on the orange moving past the sweet 16.  But with the loss tonight in the Big East Conference Tournament they save themselves a lot of energy for the Big Dance.  Taking UCONN into overtime will prove to work against the Huskies fatigue potentially as soon as tomorrow in the championship game, but will definitely take it's toll during the NCAA Tournament.  For this reason, I think that even though the Big East may have 11 teams in the tournament, there won't be one Big East team in the National Championship game.

Now looking on to other top teams; Ohio State, Kansas, Duke, Notre Dame, BYU, San Diego State.  Over the past few games for each team, Ohio State and Kansas have both been lucky to pull out tight wins, peaking at the wrong time.  Duke, who was on the rise to become a #1 seed in the tourney instead of Pittsburgh, just lost Nolan Smith for an unknown time period to what looks to be a lower leg injury.  The defending champs do have depth, but the bench is young.  My favorite team entering the conference tournaments was BYU, one because they came out of nowhere, and two because I'm a big Jimmer Fredette fan.  They're chances were good, that was until big man Brandon Davies was suspended for having sex with his girlfriend.  This has left the Cougars with an open gap that cannot, and will not be filled this year, meaning BYU's national championship hopes look grim at best. 

That leaves the big question mark within this list as San Diego State.  I honestly don't know anything about the Aztecs besides that fact that they lost to a full-force BYU team.  Being the only team that hasn't compiled any true disadvantages within the past week, San Diego State may be this year's Butler of last year.  With the madness already ensuing, this year's tournament seems to have more parity than recent years, and may make it a tournament for the ages.

Rotten Oranges

I nearly made this my first video blog post, but honestly I don't feel like going through all that shit right now.  It's late, I have to be awake at 7:30 AM, and I'm pissed off.  So a regular post it is, to spare myself the embarrassment, and to vent.

Tonight I went to the Georgetown-Syracuse basketball game.  Any fan of a sports team will at some point blame referees for the outcome of a game.  The referees were absolutely terrible tonight, calling probably about 10 offensive fouls - an unheard of amount.  This played a huge factor in the game, but not the biggest.  When you purchase a ticket to a sporting event, do you go so you can sit with your arms crossed?

The Carrier Dome was filled with a fairly thin crowd by Hoya versus Orangemen standards, having just over 26,000 people attend the game.  That itself is pretty embarrassing.  What makes it even worse is what seemed like every seating section around me (lower level, behind the basket) were all sitting down during the final 3 minutes of the game.  Of course Syracuse led the majority of the game, but started losing it around this time.  At this point, I was furious, and disgusted to be see this vital game slip away.  Finally, some ballsy Bro started screaming at all the so called "fans" sitting, unmotivated at the game.  For once the drunk guy standing up yelling profanities wasn't the asshole, everyone else was.

Maybe it would be different if SU wasn't so worried about money by giving those lower level seating priorities to students instead of wealthy, subdued "fans".  See Duke University for example, the Cameron Crazies, seated lower level on the side of the court, control the game.  Syracuse however, puts the student section on the end of the court directly behind the basket, not uncommon by any means.  But in terms of which end they're located, it doesn't even make sense.  The opposing teams shoots on the end opposite of the student section during the most important time in the game, the end.  So basically instead of giving the home Orange a bit of an advantage at the end of a game, Syracuse University completely negates that thought by giving the opposition the relief of shooting at an end full of quiet "fans"m and taking the student section out of the picture.

So if SU really wanted to help their basketball program, they should try thinking for a few minutes.  There is probably something I missed that would clearly point to the reason why the current seating scheme makes sense, I don't know.  I do know that the team's best fans are the students, regardless of revenue they generate fo SU, even though the students do pay tuition out the ass.  They bring intense support every game.  5 losses in the past 7 games after starting 18-0 should be unacceptable, there's only so much the players/coaches can do.  Hall of fame coach Jim Boeheim is on record for calling out the Syracuse fans many times.  It's time for SU to hop off the economic greed train and reward the biggest fans they have instead.

UnLucky

 

Just a day after the Panthers claimed they would not trade the first pick, and the pick that would in all likelihood be Andrew Luck, Stanford's Quarterback decided he is heading back to school for his fourth year.  Luck is turning down upwards of potentially $60 million guaranteed.  Theres plenty of reasons why Luck wouldn't want to take his talents to the NFL but come on, $60 mil isn't something your everyday contract, unless you would be playing for the Carolina Panthers.

First of all, people keep forgetting that there may not be an NFL season next year.  I've done two separate presentations in school based on what is happening between the NFLPA and the owners.  Right now its a mess, and an agreement seems miles away.  One hot topic is that the NFLPA would like the rookie salary structure drastically changed because they feel the unproven players are paid too much in comparison to proven veterans.  If Luck isn't guaranteed he would be drafted, why would he leave school and take the risk?  Luck has made it clear that his degree matters to he and his family.

Second, who wants to play for the Carolina Panthers?  Honestly, any other team within the top 5 has a better resume for a player whether its history, fans, location, or talent.  I myself can only name a few players on the Panthers team off the top of my head; DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart, Jon Beason, and Steve Smith.  There has already been speculation that the Panthers oldest player and biggest star Steve Smith is preparing to leave Carolina.  The money is the only attractive facet of going from a top 10 college football team, to an NFL bottom feeder who will require at least 3 or 4 years before they contend again.  By that time, who knows if they'll even exist.

You've gotta start thinking that maybe, just maybe, Stanford's Head Coach Jim Harbaugh will turn down the coaching jobs around the NFL for another shot at winning a PAC-12 championship with Andrew Luck.  The only way Harbaugh does leave, is if an NFL team (which seems to be Miami), offers him a contract so bizarre for a Head Coach, that he can't refuse it.  As of now he's looking at around $8 million per year from the Miami Dolphins.  Besides the Panthers, the Dolphins themselves are starting to lack talent with a backfield containing a deteriorating Ronnie Brown, a very high Ricky Williams, and no quarterback.  Plus let's not forget that Miami still has a Head Coach.

The way I see it, if both Harbaugh and Luck return to Stanford, they each get a shot to stay in the area the next year if they decide to move on to the NFL.  I anticipate the San Francisco 49ers have a pretty dismal year, and based on the history of returning college quarterbacks, Luck won't find himself as successful next year at Stanford.  However, the NFL and money will always be there, so why not roll the dice and hopefully find yourself drafted by a more talented team next year?  Andrew Luck made the right decision regardless of his performance next season, he's headed back to college, the greatest time of anyone's life.  As for the Carolina Panthers, I guess you would just have to call them unLucky.

The Next Michael Oher?

 

Is Sandra Bullock living her in film life of "The Blind Side" in real life?  This is her and adopted son Louis Bardot (Mini Michael Oher).  Remember this though mini Mike...

"Michael Oher listen to me, all right? I want you to enjoy yourself but if you get a girl pregnant out of wedlock I will crawl in the car, drive up here to Oxford and I will cut off your penis."

Leigh Anne Tuohy

BREAKING NEWS: No One Cares About Women's Sports

 
First of all, Congratulations to the Connecticut Huskies Women's Basketball team for claiming the longest winning streak in NCAA sports history, a truly amazing feat.  The Lady Huskies have won each game by an astonishing average of  a 33.3 point differential.  Prior to last night's game, Head Coach Geno Auriemma made many ill-timed, unneccessary statements.  "I just know there wouldn't be this many people in the room if we were chasing a woman's record," he said. "The reason everybody is having a heart attack the last four or five days is a bunch of women are threatening to break a men's record, and everybody is all up in arms about it.

Well honestly Geno, no one is "up in arms about it" because it is in fact women's basketball.  Tonight I watched the Orlando Magic versus the Dallas Mavericks on NBA TV, instead of your girls break the record.  Why?  At the end of the day you are still coaching women's basketball.  Although it is considered the purest form of basketball in the world due to the lack of player size, jumping ability, and increased utilization of mid-range jump shots, it's not entertaining.  For such an important game I barely hesitated to change the channel from a game between two NBA teams I don't care about to the 89th consecutive win game for the UCONN ladies (Plus the Maverick-Magic game actually turned out to be pretty good). 

I guarantee no men's team will ever break the UCONN Women's basketball team win streak if it ever ends, let alone John Wooden's UCLA Men's basketball win streak.  The reason is parity, or lack there of I should say.  The Lady Huskies defeated the number 11 ranked Ohio State Women's basketball team by 31 points on Sunday.  Only 3 times in the past 3 years worth of games has a team come within 10 or fewer points of Connecticut.  That's absurd.  What would make Geno Auriemma think that anyone cares about his Women's basketball games when everyone knows they are going to win.  There was not the slightest chance that number 20 Florida State knocked them off tonight.

Auriemma also says, "Because we're breaking a men's record, we've got a lot of people paying attention. If we were breaking a women's record, everybody would go, 'Aren't those girls nice, let's give them two paragraphs in USA Today, give them one line on the bottom of ESPN and then let's send them back where they belong, in the kitchen.' "  Yes, there are a lot of people paying attention to the streak now, but not because it is a men's basketball streak, but because of how legendary the UCLA teams were that earned it to begin with.  Maybe Geno did this as a stunt to attract more attention to the struggling sport of women's basketball, maybe he really believes what he said, either way, Geno should probably head to the kitchen before anyone else should so he can cook up some better educated statements and ask himself, "Am I in it for my ego, or the good of my team". If he is looking for comparisons to John Wooden, this doesn't help his case. This whiny tantrum is something that would never come from the beloved John Wooden (a longtime supporter of the Lady Huskies).

The streak is obviously a significant, important day in the sports world which signifies the reason that people watch, play, and show admiration in all sports: the jaunt for excellence.  The NCAA sports winning streak has been broken, and the NCAA Women's basketball winning streak has most certainly been shattered, but the NCAA Men's basketball winning streak has not, and never will be overcome by another Men's team.  John Wooden's UCLA basketball teams stand alone in not only the talent they possessed, but the talent they faced.  For this reason, Geno Auriemma's legacy will never truly stand close to the Great John Wooden's.

 
 

P.S. - The Lingerie Football League's very own Los Angeles Temptation face the San Diego Seduction on New Years day at 9 PM.  I recommend tuning in, it might be the only women's sports I watch for the entire new year.  That and the Lingerie Bowl February 6th...

INSTANT CLASSIC!!!

 
If you have the world's greatest pleasure of being a Bills fan, than you often get to hear Gus Johnson most Sundays as he tries to make the games sound exciting.  If not, you probably don't hear Gus until March Madness rolls around in college basketball.  Either way I know its something that I'm not looking forward to hearing.  I don't know if its right to say it, but the guy may be the whitest black man on earth,  not to mention the fact that he looks like a turtle. And what the hell is with the attire in this pic?  Now he's just trying way too hard to represent.  Gangsta Gus, as far from a bro as they come, provides us with one of his latest contributions to the sports broadcasting world.  Props to the creator of this video.  Rise and Fire!