Why Another Sports Blog?
We already have such esteemed professionals as John Ireland, Gary Miller and the great Eric Dickerson giving their takes on L.A. sports. Well that's exactly why we need another…they're all professionals. I am like all of you out there: a regular guy who loves all things-sports, and whose opinions are always correct. Feel free to email with your take on what's going on in your sports world. stbergen@cbs.com
The World's Commissioner of Sports
March 31, 2008
Today is my last day writing for CBS, so I thought I would give a list of some of the many things I would do if I were named World Commissioner of Sport.
-Introduce the following sports into the Olympics: lacrosse, golf (four-person teams, best ball, round-robin tournament), ultimate Frisbee, rugby, baseball (no, it is not in the Olympics anymore),
-Each team gets three video-appeals on ball/strike calls per game, plus one every three extra-innings. They can use the same triangulation technique that is used in tennis, with the results shown instantly on the jumbotron.
-Institute a homerun trot clock. If he doesn't make it in time, it is a ground-rule double.
-Shorten and enforce the pitcher's clock, and put it on the scoreboard somewhere.
-Allow immediate group celebrations in football, but don't televise them.
-Any player who holds out while under contract is automatically ineligible for a raise in next contract (all sports).
-Any player that I determine tanked in order to force a trade will be suspended for one year (all sports).
-A single positive performance enhancing drug violation will result in a two-year ban (all sports)
-The New England Patriots forfeit their season-opening win over the New York Jets for cheating.
-If a league finds a positive test for an illegal substance, it must hand the evidence over to the police for prosecution.
-All athletes who make more than $1,000,000 must give at least 5% of their after-tax salary to charity.
-College athletes will not be paid or compensated in any way besides academic scholarships, housing, equipment, on-campus meal plans, and priority class registration.
-The Division IA college football champion will be determined the same way that the champion of every other level of college football determines its champion – tournament. In this case, a 16-team tournament of the top 16-ranked teams at the end of the season.
-The NCAA men's basketball tournament will be comprised of 64 teams.
-Major League Baseball umpires will have access to instant replay for homeruns, foul balls and catches.
-Television timeouts are hereby banned. If the teams don't want timeouts, they should not have to take them.
-Volleyball must use the side-out rule, not rally scoring.
-NBA officials will enforce the no-complaining rule, as well as traveling and carrying-over.
-Dunks are worth 1 point.
-The Olympics are only for amateur athletes.
-Public colleges and universities may only give scholarships to American citizens, unless voters in that state vote to allow it.
-All athletics venues must offer a hamburger/hot dog, soda and desert combo for no more than minimum wage.
-All venues must allow tailgating in their parking lots.
-Car racing, poker and fishing may not be called sports.
-No one can be disciplined for missing work the day after the Super Bowl.
-The football national championship game will be played on January 1.
-Announcers who repeatedly use improper grammar will be fired.
-More swimsuit editions
There are plenty of other things I would fix in the sports world if I could. If you want to read more, or just want a sports-related chuckle daily or just every now and then, or to contact me, please visit my site.
Thanks for reading.
Elite Eight Update
March 29, 2008
With Davidson's big win yesterday, we officially have an "America's Team" in the Elite Eight which is good because the other teams still alive are all the favorites - which guarantees good basketball (besides Memphis), but less drama.
Besides the Bulldogs, the worst seed is 3 which must make the selection committee feel good about themselves (not that anyone really ever has any good argument against them).
Memphis' Coach Calipari is also all puffed up and pretending to feel vindicated by his team's survival so far. I still wouldn't bet on his kids. The free throws WILL cost them a game and the championship. Memphis won't be able to run away from Texas tomorrow or UCLA next weekend if they get by Texas. And if it is close, those well coached teams will go into hack-a-Tiger mode for the win late.
Speaking of UCLA, I got a profanity-laced email from a reader in Cincinnati about the Bruins game against Xavier today. If you recall, I gave a lot of credit to Xavier and named them as a team that would go deep, but apparently Tom in Cincy is unhappy with my alleged West Coast bias:
"Some info from the old pro in Cincinnati. Your sunshine confident cocky young pros from UCLA will go down to defeat tonight to the Super X (I like that) team from Cincinnati WHY? Our guys refuse to lose. A solid smart team coached by a quiet, always thinking, intelligent coach.
Stan Burrell will eat up Collison. I expect Collison to throw the ball at Burrell in disgust as he fouls out and being held to very few points. Josh Duncan will out score Love, scoring from outside as well as inside and get enough help underneath to keep Love from controlling the boards. Your guys may have talent but we have HEART. Win some money and bet on X. -- The Coach"
We'll see, Tom.
I do like Xavier a lot, but I just don't see Duncan beating Love head to head. Xavier's quickness could give UCLA problems since they will draw a lot of fouls and UCLA is not deep. But if Shipp can shoot again and if the new Keefe plays like he has been, UCLA is pretty much unbeatable. The only reason the Western Kentucky game was remotely close was that UCLA thought it was over and stopped playing. Howland won't let that happen again. I think Xavier will play them very tough but UCLA's size will hand them a 10-point win.
How good will the Collison vs. Lavender showdown be if they matchup?
Tom also predicted Texas over North Carolina in the Final. I am sticking with my bracket and saying those two will lose in the Final Four. Kansas will beat UCLA 71-64.
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Since Monday will be my last day writing for CBS, if you want to keep up with my lights-out predictions, bookmark my new web page.
Dodgers-Red Sox At The Coliseum: Enjoy!
March 28, 2008
115,000 tickets have been sold to the Dodger-Red Sox exhibition game at the L.A. Coliseum tomorrow. There are a lot of stupid people in this city.
Being a preseason game, neither team is very likely to play their starters for more than 4 innings. The Dodgers will likely start Esteban Loaiza (good news for Sox fans!) since this is the last day before the season starts, and they start with the top of their rotation that day. Of course the Red Sox are in the same situation, and we will likely see Lester or Wakefield (good news for Dodgers fans).
And if the game is close and winds up tied, it will stay that way since it is the day before the season and they won't play to win even if it is a record crowd and some of them paid $400+ to be there.
Not there for the game, but the spectacle: I will give you that. Seeing baseball played in one of the world's great stadiums is pretty cool. And the photos and video I have seen look pretty cool…until you have to use the bathroom at the coliseum and you begin to wonder if Julius Caesar used the same bathroom 2000 years ago. Or if you have get hungry or thirsty along with 114,999 of your sweatiest fellow Angelenos.
Of course, you can always leave early if it gets bad. But then you paid $40 to park in someone's front yard for only an hour or two. And you never know if there will be an engine left when you get back to the car. Of course you could always take the subway and a bus or two. That's convenient. You can park at Dodger Stadium for free and take a free shuttle. But then you have to wait on the shuttle lines to get back to the car and then you get to enjoy the world famous Dodger Stadium exit-traffic.
And you will miss the Louisville vs. North Carolina game. Enjoy.
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Overheard in the sports newsroom as Davidson cruised to a 15-point lead with 8-minutes to go against Wisconsin:
Guy: Dude, you still think Davidson's gonna lose?
Other Guy: No, but I think you're a tool.
Simple. Elegant. Well played.
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Monday will be my last day writing for CBS and this website. I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity and the freedom that CBS and KCAL have offered me. Until Sports Illustrated wises up, dumps this awful back page experiment that they are trying, and hires me, you can find me at my own web page. Thanks for reading!
UCLA vs. Western Kentucky: Bruins Win Without Refs' Help
March 27, 2008
The second week of the Tourney strikes again. UCLA was up by 21 at half over the last of the Cinderellas - Western Kentucky - before scraping together a surprising close win.
Davidson can't be considered a Cinderella because although they have pulled off two upsets, they were nationally ranked entering the Tournament. Anyone who didn't see this coming, or at least didn't see the Gonzaga win coming, should have.
And Villanova plays in the Big East which eliminates them from the Cinderella ranks, as far as I am concerned.
While it is too bad to see Brazelton and Co. go, I was glad this game was not close early on because I thought there was no way CBS would air the second half of it. That meant we would get to watch the other game which had Jay Bilas and Dick Enberg announcing, rather than Vern Lunquist and Bill Raftery. Trading Lundquist (who only blows by association) and Raftery (who is basically Vic the Brick Jacobs without the certifiable insanity and awkward and possibly dangerous man-crush on Kobe Bryant) for Bilas and Enberg (who are both charming, eloquent and intelligent) is like trading Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol.
Fantasy sports makes us root for these types of strange things sometimes. "Come on Mariano - no earned runs, but blow the save anyway." But rooting for strange occurrences so you get to listen to a different announcing crew is an NCAA Tournament staple.
UCLA's defense truly is spectacular when they are on. I don't know the stats at halftime but a few minutes to go in the first half, UCLA was up 30-15 and Western Kentucky was shooting 4 for 22. I swear they had not taken a single shot without a hand in their faces. Between that, Love's outlet passes and magical nose for lose balls, and Daren "the One-Man Press Break" Collison, I don't see UCLA losing. Yes, they have struggled in their three wins, but they just get it done.
Western Kentucky's Brazelton is a spectacular player won't likely get any NBA looks, but he is brutal. He single-handedly carried them in their opening round upset of Drake. Then he got USD's Brandon Johnson and the great Darren Collison to foul out trying to keep up with him. He doesn't take bad shots, he doesn't play out of control, and as John Wooden would appreciate, he plays fast but not in a hurry.
I was a little torn at halftime because MTV-HD was airing the U2: Rattle and Hum documentary. I admit I turned off UCLA long enough to watch "Bad" with the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" mixed in. But that will be on again, and thus can't compete with live sports once they came back from halftime.
Speaking of live sports, I got to watch the Mets take the Braves to the woodshed this morning on ESPN. It was my first Mets game of the year. They played about 3 starters (No Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Delgago, Alou, or Beltran) and crushed the Braves starting 8. That made me happy.
I was set to do an American League season breakdown today, but I realized I don't really care about the American league. I will get to it before the North American portion of the season starts.
I was very surprised that CBS stuck with the UCLA-WKU game after halftime since it seemed like a blowout and the other game was close. Boy, did that decision turn out to be prescient! WKU crawled back in and trailed by just 4, fouled Collison out and got four fouls on Shipp and Westbrook, why Louisville wound up crushing Tennessee.
Nonetheless, when they returned with that 21-point UCLA game, I wonder in how many households did the following conversation took place:
Her: This is over. Come on, turn on the figure skating championships.
Him: There is another game. They'll switch.
Her: We watched like 50 games last weekend.
Him: It's the Tournament! Plus, how many world championships do they have in figure skating?
National League Preview
March 26, 2008
While I do not recognize the Red Sox and A's two-game miniseries as part of the regular season because it took place in the wrong hemisphere, Baseball is basically here. ESPN has the Season Opener on Saturday night, many teams play Sunday and everyone is in by Monday. My fantasy league has drafted, Sports Illustrated has released their Major League Baseball preview (though I haven't received it because my mailman steals things), and Mark Prior is injured. So it's time to look at the season ahead.
It would have been fun to make 86 predictions for the upcoming season, in honor of the 1986 Mets, but who has time for that? Plus, I'd end up having to start predicting some really obscure, pointless facts (like by how many games the Dodgers miss the playoffs - 6+). So I will stick to the stuff that matters, first the National League:
NL East: Mets - The offense will be decent, not a juggernaut like the last few years were expected to be. But the pitching will be stellar. Pedro is the new 14-15 win, 4.00-4.50 Pedro, but that is fine for a #3 starter. John Maine is a front line starter now despite that he was undrafted in my fantasy league (I promptly dumped Todd Helton for him). Perez was a consistent and consistently good throughout 2007. No reason to think he won't be again. El Duque will be El Middle Reliever. Pelfrey is the #5 and will be good for 10-15 wins depending on run support. Santana is the best pitcher in baseball and he is going to a pitcher's park in a pitcher's league. ERA will be sub 3.00 and he'll win 20 and the Cy Young. The starters are conservatively good for 70 wins. An average relief staff can scrape together 25 more, and this isn't an average staff. 95-67
NL Central: Cubs - Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Rich Hill are a solid starting three, plus Leiber Marquis and Demptster will fill out the rotation. Their offense is very good with Ryan Theriot and Alfosno Soriano leading off, and Fukodome may be fantastic (or he may be Kaz Matsui). The Central generally stinks and this team will feast on the biggest, weakest division. 97-65
NL West: Giants - Just kidding. Diamondbacks - No team in the league has the front-line starting pitching of the DBacks. The Dodgers are the sexy pick, with all these young guys and especially with Torre, but I don't buy it. They were a fourth place team last year. They have no track record of success, and are known more for choking late that anything else. Is Torre enough of a motivator to fix it? Perhaps. But what have the Yankees been known for of late? Choking. The Rockies were magical but there is simply no way that every single player has a career year again. It took a 20+ game win streak to get them to the postseason (and though most of the postseason)...you can't rely on that. The Padres have Mark Prior. The Dbacks are like a secret out there in Phoenix. But Brandon Webb and Dan Haren are a lights out 1-2 combo with Micah Owings and The Old Unit bringing up the rear. Upton, Young and Byrnes may be the best defensive outfield in baseball. The West is very even and the win totals will be low (thus hurting their Wild Card chances). 92-70
NL Wild Card: Braves - It was fun while it lasted, the Braves are good again. Chipper doesn't need to be the man with Teixeira there and Andruw Jones is gone which is the best thing they could hope for in the off season. Glavine will probably turn into Nolan Ryan since he was a saboteur on the Mets the whole damned-time anyway. Smoltz is Smoltz. Hudson is awesome. Chuck James is tough. Hampton sucks but he'll get hurt so he won't hurt the team. Kelly Johnson, Mark Kotsay, Larry Jones, Mark Teixeira, Matt Diaz, Brian McCann Jeff Franceour is a tough top 7. Their pitching is either too old or too young to match up with the Mets, but they will hover around the 90-win mark. 90-72
NLDS: Cubs over Braves in 6 - Zambrano beats Hudson twice. Chipper flops. Soriano strikes out at curve balls a lot. Teixeira is a one man show, but the Cubs balanced offense eats up the tired, old Braves pitching.
NLDS: Mets over DBacks in 4 - Santana throws four perfect games in the series, David Wright pulls a Carlos Beltran and hit 7 home runs.
NLCS: Mets over Cubs in 7 - Cubs go up 3 games to none. Steve Bartman, wearing a Jim Kelly helmet, black socks, a Babe Ruth jersey, Brian Leetch's skates, Arizona Cardinals shoulder pads, Jim Brown's costume gun from The Dirty Dozen, and Turk Wendell's necklace, brings a copy of Madden, a Sports Illustrated with Kerry Wood on the cover, and a billy goat to game 4 so all curses can be broken simultaneously and the universe gets angry. Mets win four straight.
Women's NCAA's, Dirk and Losing To My Wife
March 24, 2008
I will watch just about any sport on TV. In fact, in the 2002 Olympics, I became a fan of curling (it's like bocce, only instead of tossing balls at a moveable ball-target, you slide big roundish stones and try to hit a dart board-like target painted on the ground…on ice). But for whatever reason, women's basketball is just something I can't sit through.
It really isn't sexism. It isn't that I don't watch because they are women. I don't watch because the game isn't as good. For instance, I don't really watch the AFL because the football is just not as good as the NFL. I don't regularly watch crappy men's hoops (the occasional Clipper game, aside). If I have a rooting interest in the game, that is different; I used to go to our women's games in college all the time.
So even though the women's NCAA Tournament is going on, I can't really get into it. Even with fantastic finishes like the George Washington/Berkeley game. But this year my alma mater made the tournament, so I filled out a bracket. Before filling it out, I watched the selection show on ESPN to see where USD would play. That's where I got all my insider information. I got 28 of 32 first round games right. I am in the 97th percentile nationally. I rule.
I had a brilliant strategy: the ESPN experts told me that UCSB was a sleeper, so I picked them to win two games. I picked USD (14) to beat UC Berkeley (3) on heart. I picked Hartford (10) to upset Syracuse (7) because I was born in Connecticut. Other than that, I picked higher seeds in every game.
UCSB lost in the first round by 34. Stupid experts. USD lost by 17. Hartford won.
Then there were two upsets I didn't pick, but one was a 9 over an 8, so that's not really an upset. So out of 32 games, the higher seed won 29. Is the selection committee that good, or is the gap between good women and bad women that drastic? I'd say the latter, and that's another reason why it is hard to watch.
Another reason is the fact that women's basketball and soccer players/coaches/etc. seem to have this chip on their shoulders about not being supported enough. Tell that to track and field athletes, or swimmers, or divers, or wrestlers, lacrosse players, or field hockey players, or ice hockey players or any one of the other sports that always gets dumped from athletic departments first and never gets any publicity.
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Dirk Nowitki got hurt and it out indefinitely. This is the worst thing that could happen to the rest of the teams in the West (besides Denver). Dirk, who was the worst MVP choice in league history last year, is just good enough to have kept the Mavs in the race, and kept the Nuggets out. But since the Mavericks can't beat anyone with a winning record (0-8 since acquiring Jason Kidd), they were an easy out in the playoffs.
Now they will miss the playoffs and Denver will steal their spot, and Denver is a dangerous team.
The big question is: who will be the guy to miss all the big shots down the stretch for the Mavs with Dirk out?
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Upon further inspection, while I am leading my bride by one game through the first weekend of the men's Tourney, she is poised to absolutely crush me this coming weekend. She has seven Elite Eight teams alive, and all four Final Four teams. I have four of eight, and all four. She is in position to make us a lot of alleged-money in her company pool, not that anyone is gambling real money, but I am not sure if I am willing to swallow my pride and hope for that. For my man-card, I need Michigan St., Davidson, and Louisville to win. For my alleged-wallet, I need Memphis, Wisconsin, and Tennessee. What a quandary.
Easter Sunday Live Tourney Blog
March 23, 2008
For the next few hours, I will be keeping a running blog while watching CBS' coverage of the NCAA tournament. Happy Easter!
8:59 a.m. I have already seen two In-N-Out commercials and the coverage for the games has not even officially started yet. This is going to be a long morning for me.
9:01 a.m. Greg Gumbel's afro just let us know that the first game of the day will be Siena vs. Villanova. Yawn. I suppose the people in Tampa need a warm-up before they can be ready for the Torero tornado that will touch down there around 11:40 this morning. Seth Davis is a terrible, terrible commentator. Clark Kellogg just went out on a limb and declared that he thinks all of the higher seeds will win today. How do these guys have jobs?
9:11 a.m. Tim Brando just said that it is not a day for triskaidekaphobia because there are two 13-seeds playing. Take away his dictionary. It was like he heard the word somewhere and decided he was going to say it whether it fit anywhere or not. So he just whipped it out before the game to get it done. Thankfully, Mike Gminski ripped him for it.
9:14 a.m. Will the "Dude" commercials ever get old? Greatest commercial-casting ever.
9:19 a.m. Siena's Ubiles just missed two layups and then two free throws on the same play. This is not an easy team to watch. They're like Memphis only not good.
9:22 a.m. What happened to the scorer's table banners that showed all of the teams that are/were playing at that site? This year they just show the two teams playing in that game. It used to be more Tournament-y. I liked that better.
9:28 a.m. Well, this one is over and we are not even to the 12:00 TV timeout. Siena is down 14 and they are already only shooting 3's.
9:36 a.m. Brando just wished us all a "happy bunny rabbit day." I threw up in my mouth a little.
9:39 a.m. They always say it is a tourney dominated by guards. And then Scottie Reynolds of Villanova shows you why by coming out and scoring 14 of 'Nova's first 26 points in 10 minutes.
9:59 a.m. Brando just rhymed March Madness with "gladness" and "sadness" in his little opening after a commercial break. Emily Dickinson would be so proud.
10:10 a.m. At this point, Villanova is going to run out of players due to foul trouble. They've committed 14 fouls through the end of the first half. Despite the announcers insisting that Siena is back in this game, the lead has been steady for about 15 minutes. They need to stop heaving up the 3's and go to the hole. This foul situation could be all they need to get back in since 'Nova's kids will have to choose between allowing layups and fouling out. Siena only made 8 field goals (3 for 12 on 3-pointers) and trail 42-32 at half. Foul watch: 'Nova has five players with 2 or more fouls.
10:23 a.m. Holy crap, this "Timeout" halftime piece is utterly painful. Have they done this at other games and I missed it somehow? If so, did someone really think it was a good idea to bring it back? The only thing worse is that ESPN Page 2 "Cinderella's Brain" page.
10:33 a.m. We are right where we were when the half ended. Siena has dropped two nice entry passes, Reynolds hit a 3 for 'Nova. Then Siena went to the free throw line, and 'Nova leads by 13.
10:38 a.m. Game over. I know I said it an hour ago and I know I have never seen Siena play so I don't know how they finish, but still...game over (53-37 - 16:25)
10:49 a.m. Josh Duell is the best thing Siena has going for them. He is a chubby dude, but he is all over the place. Foul update: Villanova now has seven players with two-or-more fouls, five of them with three fouls each. But the lead is still 15, so it doesn't matter yet.
11:14 a.m. Great coaching by Villanova's Jay Wright. He sat his star, upperclassman point guard to rest him. On the next play, his freshman point guard committed a terrible offensive foul. The crowd was waking and the Siena kids were fired up. Wright yanked the kid right away and put the stable veteran in there. At the time the lead was just 9 and Siena was at the line. Three forced turnovers later, the lead grew back to 15 and the Siena bench is full of heavy heads.
11:23 a.m. CBS switched to the Texas/Miami game, which they will likely switch away from very soon, because it's over. My Final Four will stay in tact as Texas will win this one by 20.
11:27 a.m. Oregon clearly has the ugliest uniforms, but I think it is a toss up between Texas and Georgetown for biggest shorts. They really can't be called shorts when they get to this point. This is the only sport that the uniform is completely fashion and not a function of what the players need. How do they run and how do they dribble between their legs in these MC Hammer pants?
11:36 a.m. Bill Raftery could not manage to say one single sentence before I had to mute him. I hate Bill Raftery.
11:39 a.m. Wait a minute, that little kid on the bench is Butler's coach? He looks like a freshman that is being red-shirted.
11:42 a.m. What's with the quick triggers that seemingly every team of referees have? Of course Stanford's Trent Johnson got tossed last night. At least one coach has received a warning in each of the three games today.
11:48 a.m. Why is Thierry Henry in a commercial with Roger Federer and Tiger Woods? Federer and Woods are friends, so I get that. Federer and Woods are clearly the best in the sports currently and among the top 3-5 all-time, so I get that. People in America know who Federer and Woods are, so I get that. But Henry? At least people here know who Beckham is. Or at least All American swimmer and water polo player Jim Bergen is an American (and it is his birthday!).
11:55 a.m. USD is on again! I thought I was going to have to watch my boys on the web. This should be an interesting game. Western Kentucky put up 101 points on Friday and they like to run. USD likes to not run. And Gminski cannot say Gyno Pomare's name consistently, so that is always funny.
12:12 p.m. So far WKU has controlled the pace and USD is going way faster than they want to. However, USD has forced a lot of fouls so far, and that could pay off later. Gotta slow down though. Davidson is giving Georgetown all they can handle. And Butler crawled back into the game with Tennessee. I love this Tournament.
12:26 p.m. An interesting thing to watch in this USD/WKU game is which team captures the neutral crowd. USD crowds don't travel well and they don't have a ton of people there. I don't know about WKU. So there are a lot of fans in the building with no inherent rooting interest since both teams are the underdog. So who wins the crowd? That could go a long way in a close game. Davidson is still hanging with G'Town. Texas came out of the halftime break and stretched their lead to 16. And I just discovered that we have all four games on TV here in the sports newsroom at CBS. I love this Tournament.
12:49 p.m. I am not enjoying watching my alma mater today as much as I did on Friday. I hate this stupid Tournament.
12:57 p.m. Why, Bill Raftery? Why the groaning?...and *mute*.
1:12 p.m. Davidson is toast. Georgetown is just too big and they can't figure out how to score. Butler can't get inside of 5, but that is a great ball game. Texas is closing out Miami with just over a minute to go, up 7. USD is playing better - driving - but they can't put the biscuit in the basket (I love that expression). WKU is wracking up fouls though.
1:26 p.m. I wouldn't say it has ever been in doubt really, but Miami has closed to within 2 on Texas. D.J. Augustin on the line with 1.8 to go...airball (what!?)...second shot good. Miami takes it out...no pressure on the ball, but the kid throws it all the way to the hoop (down three points that's a bad idea)...pass is knocked away and my Final Four survives. Stanford vs. Texas will be a great game next Friday.
1:31 p.m. Comebacks everywhere! Davidson got a fourth foul on the clumsiest buffoon in the game, Roy Hibbert, and has now closed to a 4 point deficit. Butler has gotten within 1 on Tennessee. USD has gotten to within 8 and forced a travel. I love this Tournament.
1:43 p.m. In the WCC tournament, USD trailed St. Mary's 16-2. With 15 minutes left in the second half, USD went nuts and held the Gaels to 3 points for the rest of the game to come back and win in overtime. With 15 minutes to go in this game, WKU led by 15. With 6:30 to go, USD leads.
1:48 p.m. Davidson leads with 4:25 to go! What a comeback! They were down 17 in the second half. Tennessee blew a last possession and then so did Butler (neither got a shot off) and they're off to overtime. USD fell back behind by six but it's now 3. I am not sure if I love or hate this Tournament right now.
1:56 p.m. What games these are! You would think USD would have the upper hand on Easter Sunday being the Catholic school. Games reset: USD with the ball down 4, with 1:14. Davidson with the ball up 5 on G'Town with 2:41. TO with Tennessee leading Butler by 2 with :32 in OT.
2:01 p.m. USD looks like they're gonna go down but what a run! An amazing comeback today to get back into it and their first win in NCAA Tournament history over UConn on Friday. Coach Grier got a contract extension and I hope they paid him whatever he asked for. Watch out for USD next year with every player returning. Tennessee is also going to hang on and beat Butler. Davidson is up 4 on G'Town, with the ball, with :16 to go. Pioneer Football league is still alive!
2:07 p.m. CBS's Steve Hartman has Davidson into the Great Eight. That's good work. Davidson was down 17 in the second half to a 2-seed and came back to win! That is fantastic! And Kansas' road to the Final Four just got easier (which is also fantastic). I have lost four of my Great Eight teams, but have all four Final Four teams left.
Happy Easter folks and enjoy the afternoon games.
NCAA Tourney Recap: Days 2 and 3
March 23, 2008
I finished the opening round ahead of my wife. I was only ahead by 1 game and I had to call a 13 seed over a 4 to squeeze out the lead, but I did it. So my record is in tact. So is my self-respect…barely.
While Thursday was a relatively boring NCAA Tourney day (which is still far more interesting than most days) because it was basically 16 games won by favorites (USC as a 6-seed? Really?), Friday reminded us all why this is the greatest sporting event on the planet. It also reminded us why the stewards of the NCAA football championship are such morons.
The higher seeds were only 10-6 on Friday, due largely to the bracket-destroying Tampa site. It has been widely reported that In Tampa on Friday, the four games were won by 12, 12, 13, and 13 seeds. Imagine if you had gotten tickets for those games and then the pairings came out and you thought, "this blows, we got a bunch of blow-out games." I love all these upsets except that it sucked all the juice out of USD's upset story.
Had USD been the only upset, or at least the only one in Tampa, they'd have been much bigger news. As is, they're just part of the gang. It is still pretty awesome though. I can't believe USD beat UConn. Seriously, that is ridiculous. And now they play an infinitely beatable team in the second round of the Tourney with a chance to come back out West and lose to UCLA by 100 next weekend! Awesome!
Big Highlights from Friday (besides the Toreros): Curry, a freshman from Davidson dropped 40 on Gonzaga to knock the hapless Bulldogs out. What a shame. In 2003, USD was playing the Zags in the WCC tournament championship game. I was at a conference out of town in a bar watching the game when I noticed this older lady in a Gonzaga shirt watching as well. We started watching together, the only two people in the place that cared about this dinky little game. It was fun cheering with and against this big rival with a total stranger.
The game was a barnburner and USD pulled it out. This would be USD's first trip to the tourney in almost 20 years. The Zags would also get invited and received a 5-6 seed or so. So the game ended, and I turned to her and said, "well, at least now we both go the Big Dance." This little grandma replied, totally serious, with anger and bitterness and utter craziness, "A curse on you in the Tournament." And walked away. No offense to my buddy Justin, a Zag, but screw Gonzaga.
Drake lost to Western Kentucky, but USD, Butler and Davidson all won, so the Pioneer Football League (Div I-AA, non-scholarship) is 3-1 in the Tourney. By the way, Davidson has the longest winning streak in the game. Think Georgetown is sweating at all this morning?
The 5th foul on USD's Gyno Pomare was the worst call of the Tournament thus far and had UConn come back to win, I would be writing a lot more than two sentences about it. That was an embarrassing call. Rob Jones up-and-under was the best play of the Tournament, but has fallen down on the collective consciousness because of the finishing shots by USD, Western Kentucky (wow!), UCLA, Duke, and Stanford.
Oregon vs. Mississippi State was the ugliest game between two "good" basketball teams that I have ever seen. Oregon's Porter is completely out of control and makes terrible decisions. Oregon was 9-38 from behind the 3-point line in a close game. Imagine if they had run plays and gotten good shots on 20 of those possessions…they would have blown out MSU. Mississippi State is just a set of five individual one-on-one players, with no team concept whatsoever. Awful. They now play Memphis, who is exactly the same, only better at it. What a terrible game that will be. John Wooden should be encouraged to not watch that one or we may lose him.
Saturday was no less spectacular:
-Duke was upset (Coach K: I don't mean to suggest I know anything you do not, but this type of ball can't win)
-UCLA survived a scare (Referees: In football a running back can follow a fullback as he knocks people out of the way and makes a hole…not in basketball. Collison's game-winner was a moving screen, and the final dunk was after the buzzer),
-Kansas struggled a bit, but they're resting since they have four more games to win.
-Wisconsin gets called "ugly" because they play good defense. That is like calling a no-hitter "boring."
-Michigan State are jerks and screwed my bracket. But now I need them or Mississippi State to beat Memphis.
-Was Stanford supposed to be any good this year? Where did they come from? And wasn't the Pac-10 allegedly overrated? Because I am pretty sure that 3 of the first 8 Sweet 16's are from the Pac-10.
-With Duke gone (and stinky anyway), Xavier has an easier road to Phoenix to play UCLA (not to sell Joe Alexander and West Virginia short). Xavier could definitely screw up a lot of people's brackets next week (and possibly save mine…stupid St. Joseph's).
I will be watching the games Sunday and writing a running blog, so if you hate your family and/or are afraid of the Easter Bunny, stay tuned to CBS and keep checking back here. And remember to watch the games at CBSSports.com if the one you want to watch is not on TV. It's free! Scroll down to Friday's column for the link.