More Madness This Weekend? Let’s Win Some Money Honey!

I will admit that in my hurried blog from Thursday, my greatest oversight was not going with what I knew.  That mistake wasn’t picking USC.  It wasn’t putting faith in basketball institutions like Kentucky and UConn.  It wasn’t even putting too much stock in Clemson’s ACC Tournament victory over Duke.  It was forgetting about Steph Curry.

Curry is a guard for Davidson.  He is the son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry (I once asked Dell what ‘Dell’ was short for.  ‘Vondell.’)  Anyway, before fans are allowed into NBA games, most players get in shooting drills for 20 minutes.  Then the NBAers go back to the locker room to prep for the introductions and game itself.  During that ‘down’ time on the court, not much is happening.  So, being the opportunist that he was, Steph Curry would put on a display – 8 years ago! Generally regarded as the second best sniper in the gym, Curry could lauch and connect on a regulation hoop at will when he was barely a dozen years old.  In a 19,000 seat arena.  Could his nickname be ‘Young Spice?’ So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you’ll never catch him with a ‘Deer in Headlights’ expression on his face.  I forgot this, and thus Davidson, behind Curry’s efforts, torched me. 

On to this weekend’s predictions starting with Thursday’s games…

Xavier over WVU.  Cool name beats We Voluntarily Underachieve.

UNC beats Washington State.  I’m just trying to remember the last time ‘Washington’ and ‘wins’ were used together in a significant context.

Western Ketucky loses to UCLA.  I still hold a Hilltoppercentric grudge from when they beat the last remnants of Michigan’s Fab Five.  In a related story, I smile when I think that UCLA had a chance to eliminate said Fab Five, and didn’t.

Tennessee over Louisville.  I just don’t think that Rick Pitino can stop Candice Parker.

And on Friday’s menu we feature…

A delightful Davidson destruction of Wisconsin.  Somebody’s gotta be the team of destiny, right?

Texas over Stanford.  I flipped a coin.  It landed on the kitchen floor.  My cat and 1 year old son chased after it.  This sort of activity favours Texas.

Villanova will upset Kansas I hope.  This is the win that my wife needs.  She finished 2nd in a pool with 185 people last year.  She was a Georgetown free throw miss away from a thousand bucks.  This year, she looks REALLY good if Kansas goes down.  So c’mon Wildcats!

Michigan State trounces Memphis.  My dad went to MSU.  I worked with Greg Kelser last night.  Hey, all signs point to the Spartans.  Tom Izzo is a great tournament coach, by the way.

PS Honey, if you are reading this, I’m making Jake spaghetti for dinner.

Nuts and Bolts

I hope that NBA commentators don’t overblow the ‘Rasheed Wallace walked away from the timeout’ angle again.  Look, in the play-offs, tv timeouts go longer.  They sell commercials and THEN get in replays to explain why the TO was called in the first place.  What does Wallace need to hear? Flip Saunders, ‘They are doubling our guards.’  Wallace, ‘I saw that.’  Saunders, ‘We gotta move the ball.’ Wallace, ‘We do.’  Saunders, ‘Go team on 3. 1-2-3…’  Wallace is the tallest man on the court, has been an all-star, won a championship, and been in the league 1 season less than the recently retired Chris Webber.  What, under the sun, is new to him?  Shorten the time-outs!

This morning I found out the Major League Baseball is having its second annual ‘Civil Rights Game.’  Now, my issue is not with acknowledging that movement, but rather how many of these types of games that are popping up on the sports calendar.  NFL has the Hall of Fame preseason game.  Hockey has its outdoor classics.  You know where this is headed right? Once the NBA stages an outdoor game, we’ll see a Heart of the City Game, played outdoors, at night, in Harlem /Detroit /South Side, somewhere.  If we do see an explosion of these games, I hope that they are used to increase awareness about the respective sports’ history – its roots, players, and original rules/circumstances.  I guess I’m in favour of them.  Much like I am not in favour of watching games involving ‘Atlanta.’

Lidstrom wins the Hart trophy? McCain’s the next president? Chris Paul should be the MVP but won’t win. 

Did anyone see the highlights of Canada losing to Estonia in soccer 2-0? The game was played in snow and Canada lost! If that isn’t a sign that maybe soccer isn’t Canada’s thing, I don’t know what is.  I mean, isn’t that advantage like Egypt getting to play a country in a pyramid?

My friend, Sean Matthew Jones, is in China preparing for the Bejing Olympics.  He tells me that the lead story on Sportscentre is badminton.  They must interview Darcy Tucker second.

As always, please feel free to leave feedback.  I will answer any questions next week.  Enjoy the madness, Opening Day, and April Fool’s Day.

Here’s Not The Winning Bracket

I love March Madness for many reasons.  One of them is that because of this tournament, millions of people will be doing the same thing – the exact same thing – at 11:45am.  They won’t be considering what to have for lunch, no, they will mutter, ‘Notre Dame or George Mason? Holy Lady vs Founding Father, hmm, was George Mason a Founding Father? Uh, Notre Dame.’  Gadzooks.

I don’t have a 1 through 4 seed losing in the opening draw, so I will gloss over those games and try to be funny/insightful.  Hopefully I will meet with more success than the time I was doing improv comedy and an audience member suggested I do a scene about ‘Osama Bin Laden.’  Try making with the laughs doing that scene on Sept. 12, 2001.

Round 1 – The East Quadrant

Arkansas over Indiana.  The Razorbacks maintain the grand tradition of yelling ‘Pig, Haaaaaaa, Sooooooey!’ for their team.  Indiana maintains the grand tradition of  recruiting violations.  Plus they are brutal.

Notre Dame over Geo Mason.  I hope that by picking ND, they lose.  I allow myself one mistake a year per sheet.

Oklahoma over St. Josephs.  What? I’m going against a Catholic school during holy week? I’m baptist.  I imagine many Sooners were.  Wait, what’s a ’sooner?’

Butler over South Alabama.  Who beat South Alabama? The Butler did it!

The Midwest Vector

UNLV over Kent St.  Three to five years ago I woulda taken the Golden Flashes in a heartbeat.  No longer.  I just checked, St. Joe’s plays on Good Friday, uh oh.

Clemson over Villanova.  Yup.

Vanderbilt over Siena.  I went to Letterman and Sienna Miller was on the show.  Vanderbilt would lose if Reggie Miller was playing against them, but as it stands, Siena, like Sienna should not be making movies or winning basketball games.

USC over Kansas St.  I believe that this is the point where fans stop getting excited over USC football and start getting excited about USC basketball.  This is also the point where fans continue ignoring Kansas St.

Wisconsin beats CS Fullerton.  CS Fullerton sounds like the name of a 70’s actor who wore loafers and loads of cologne.  Yes, I know that Wisconsin is a 3 seed, I just hate CS FU.

Gonzaga over Davidson.  As I was looking up ‘Sooner’ in the dictionary, I realized that the definition should probably be something like ‘quicker than expected…’  Instead it is ’someone who settles on government property to give themselves a decided advantage.’  Basically it means ‘Ottawa.’

South Sector

Mississippi St. over Oregon.  Oregon will be shattered by the news that Terrell Pryor decided to attend school elsewhere.

Michigan St..

Marquette beats Kentucky.  No, wait, they don’t. KU baby!

Miami over St. Mary’s.  I am very uncomfortable with this pick.  Tip-off is an hour after Good Friday mass.  I’ve never liked Miami’s logo though.  They are the Hurricanes, and yet a pelican adorns their paraphenalia.  Why?

West Realm

Texas A&M over BYU.  BYU-Boys, You’re Underachieving.

Western Kentucky over Drake.  Drake sounds like the name of a butler.  If Drake was smart, he’d go by the name ‘Butler.’

Baylor clobbers Purdue.  I don’t like the Big 10 this year.  I’ve always hated Purdue since Glenn Robinson and Conzo Martin played for ‘em.

Xavier.  I have them beating Duke in the next round!

Good luck.

 Finally, NHL contracts are inching back towards ridiculous, the Red Wings and Devils are atop the conferences, Buffalo will finish 7th, 8th, or 9th, and Ottawa/Philly are having goaltending problems.  Good thing we had that lockout to totally shake up the league.

This 15 year contract is working out for the Islanders, eh?

Wow, are the Miami Heat deplorable.  On the other hand, it is great to have Canadian Joel Anthony developing.  He and Samuel Dalembert will help Team Canada in Greece next summer!

Lion? Lamb? March’s Real Personality

                 April is the cruelest month.

                                                            -T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

If you are a fan of Toronto’s sports teams, then perhaps you are wondering if esteemed Mr. Eliot was a month late in his assessment. 

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Exhibit A:

This week the Blue Jays learned that they will lose Casey Janssen for the season.  Granted, this isn’t the same as the San Diego Padres losing Jake Peavy, but you can never have enough pitching early in the year.  Optimists may argue that the fifth starter’s spot in the rotation now becomes Jesse Litsch’s.  The problem there is that Litsch gets the spot by default, and not by healthy competition.  I can only imagine that manager John Gibbons was glad to already have a fifth starter and avoid a possible controversy, but disappointed that the competition never materialized.

Exhibit B:

Did the Raptors’ charter plane land in the NBA’s western conference or Iraq? They have looked absolutely shell shocked since touching down to play LA 3 games ago.  Dorothy, we aren’t in Kansas anymore! In the “Take no possession off” (Mark Jackson, ABC) western conference, the Raptors have looked, in this order: 1. To Bosh for help 2. To Sam Mitchell for guidance 3. To the airline attendant for directions back east.  They look utterly out-manned and have many observers wondering if this team can win a game – let alone a round – in the play-offs.  I suspect that they will return humbled, and hungry; eager to reclaim some of their damaged pride.  If they don’t, expect the outcries for substantial off season overhauls.

C:

The Maple Leafs beat Philly twice in a week.  They rattle Martin Biron.  They get two game winners from Pavel Kubina.  They make observers rethink recent wins over Detroit, Montreal, and Ottawa.  Suddenly, the play-offs seem like a possibility.  Then Mats Sundin pulled his groin.  For a while, the Leafs must have felt like Steve Carrell’s character in ‘Dan in Real Life,’ buoyed by renewed vigor until suddenly Dane Cook walks in with Juliet Binoche in tow.  Alas. 

Lamb? Lion? For Toronto fans, March is a hyena, laughing at those that got sucked it.

Random Observations:

As of Saturday night – the second-last day of the OHL season – only 3 out of 8 play-off match-ups had been decided.  Talk about a great way to maintain the regular season’s integrity and interest right up ’til the end.

Does the preview for the film 21 look like a writer took Matt Damon’s two earliest successes, Good Will Hunting and Rounders, and smashed them together?

So, Caron Butler gets injured during his rookie season thereby enabling the Miami Heat to draft Dwayne Wade in 2003.  In 2006 they win an NBA title after signing Shaq.  Now, Pat Riley is shutting down Wade and guaranteeing the top lottery position.  Wow, that works out nicely.  The 2009 Heat roster will boast Shawn Marion, Wade, the (probable) top pick, plus any aging veterans who want a jump start on retirement property. 

Two key members of last year’s championships just got suspended for ‘reckless kicking type actions.’  San Antonio Spur Bruce Bowen got a game for kneeing (my MVP choice) Chris Paul.  And Anaheim Duck Chris Pronger got 8 games for a blade stomp.  Neither action was warranted.  Both players have a dark professional history.  Frankly, I don’t believe either will be playing for a championship in June.

Were it not for two freak occurrences, the Red Wings defence corps would (hypothetically) boast Vlad Konstantinov and Jiri Fisher.

Catching Up…

I must apologize.  Between cold and flu season, the endless avalanche of snow, and selling a home, I have not had a moment to address the pressing sports questions facing southwestern Ontario.

So let us begin by touching on the notion of ‘easing off the pedal’ as the NHL and NBA seasons wind down…

Since January, I have driven to Sarnia twice to broadcast a Sting game.  And each time, it has been worth the drive from Woodstock to see Steve Stamkos play.  In the NFL, commentators refer to a wide receivers’ ’separation speed.’  Well, if we can cross reference for a moment, Stamkos has exactly that.  Teams who are often caught by opponents employing ‘the trap’ will strongly consider ensuring their draft place in June to select this young man.  LA is my odds on favourite to obtain him and his unlimited marketability.

If you take a look at the Toronto Raptors, there doesn’t seem to be much improvement from last year individually, or collectively as a team.  Chris Bosh was an all – star again.  Andrea Bargnani is still developing.  The team is loaded with 3 point shooting finesse players.  They should win 46 games (last year they won 47).  So it stands to reason that unless the Raptors win a play-off series, they will not have shown a tangible improvement in 2008.  That is unless they do so without Chris Bosh. 

I suspect that the team will play it very cautiously with their all -star and his recent knee injury.  The Raptors are all but assured a post season birth.  It is unlikely that they would be able to advance past the likes of Boston, Detroit or Cleveland.  So if the seedings align poorly for Toronto, and Bosh requires extra time to heal, I would not be surprised if he is effectively ’shut down’ for the remainder of the season.  The team could take a mulligan on the season and give important play-off minutes to developing players such as Bargnani, Kris Humphries, and Jamario Moon.

Plus, MLSE gets 2 or 3 home dates (read: ticket/concession/merchandise sales) out of it.  Only in Toronto is that win-win.

If you build it…

…well, they’re already coming, actually.  I’m talking about the Memorial Cup in May.  I will be working for Rogers Sportsnet as they broadcast all the game from the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.  No one is mistaking this building as a state of the art facility but the Aud is working hard to infuse new broadcast facilities that will enhance what is sure to be another memorable Memorial Cup.  Undeniably, the greatest aspect of the arena, has to be how close the fans can get to such exciting hockey.  Trust me, in a few short years, fans will be pushed further away from the action.   Blame it on luxury boxes, accommodating multi-purpose facilities, or safety, the days of counting a player’s stitches are numbered.

Random thoughts:

Recruiting scandals and 58 point losses didn’t happen when Bobby Knight was in charge, and look what occurred at Indiana and Texas Tech after he left…Terrelle Pryor will end up at the University of Oregon.  I suspect that he and Phil Knight (no relation to Bobby, but yes, the founder of Nike) have struck a deal for him to attend that school.  And yes, an investigation will follow.  If I know about it, the NCAA does…If you are on the Gardiner Expressway and drive past BMO Field where the Toronto FC play, you’ll notice a bubble that is protecting the field from winter and allowing the team to practice.  In fact, anyone can rent the facility for $75 an hour…I’ve been to practically every OHL arena in the province this winter and the most unique one has to be Yardman Arena in Belleville.  It has international size ice, an Elvis impersonator who plays the symbols to taunt opposing fans, and a picture of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip above the elevator…To review, Pavel Kubina waives then unwaives his no-trade clause and gets skewered in the media, gets mixed applause when introduced as a starter last night, and hears the cheers when he scores the OT winner vs. Philadelphia.  Only in Toronto….Does Brett Favre’s retirement a day after Randy Moss’ resigning with New England remind anyone of Barry Sanders sudden retirement after too much ineptitude by the Detroit Lions’ management when it came to finding him competent teammates?…If Anaheim moved Ilya Bryzgalov, and Carolina jettisoned Martin Gerber, why would the Maple Leafs keep Andrew Raycroft?

Finally, will anything do more for sagging NHL TV ratings/popularity than a strong play-off run by the Montreal Canadiens?