Sports
NCAA Basketball Tournament – Bring it On
Monday, March 15th, 2010 | College Basketball, Final Four, NCAA College Basketball, Sports | No Comments
Let’s dance — I love this time of year – bring on the NCAA College Basketball Tournament.
The conference tournaments were great this weekend, and there are sure to be plenty of upsets galore come Thursday and Friday in 1st round tourney action.
The #1 seeds include the Kansas Jayhawks, Kentucky Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils and the Syracuse Orangemen.
One key exclusion – Illinois. Illinois beat Wisconsin for the 2nd time during the season in the Big Ten Conference Tournament and too tourney #2-seeded Ohio State to double-OT in the conference tourney semifinals. What more do you have to do to convince the tournament selection committee that you deserve to be there?
Notre Dame drew a #6 seed and faces Old Dominion on Thursday in New Orleans. Marquette also drew a #6 seed and faces Washington on Thursday in San Jose.
Can’t wait for exciting college basketball action to start during the 2010 NCAA College Basketball Tournament…
Chicago Bulls Slide Continues – Hello Lottery Pick!
Saturday, March 13th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, NBA, Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Bulls free-fall continued with their 7th loss in a row – to the Miami Heat 108-95 on Friday night. Playing short-handed with injuries to 3 stars – Derrick Rose, Loul Deng and Joakim Noah – Vinny Del Negro’s Bulls are clearly overmatched. Once a lock for the playoffs for the 2nd season in a row, the Bulls now found themselves on the outside looking in. The Bulls trail the Toronto Raptors by 2 games for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. Can you say lottery pick?
In last night’s loss, the Bulls were forced to start 2 rookies – Taj Gibson and James Johnson, 2 older veterans – Brad Miller and Jannero Pargo and better-suited 6th man Kirk Hinrich. Ouch.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Bulls over the next week. They have road games against the Grizzlies in Memphis and the Mavericks in Dallas and then return home to face the Cavaliers on Friday night at the United Center. Can you say 10-game losing streak?
This would not be good for often-criticized Del Negro, but it could mean a good lottery pick for the team as well as a good chance to land a big free agent this summer. If not, it could be another long stretch of bad Bulls teams for the foreseeable future.
Notre Dame Cruising Through Big East Tournament @ Madison Square Garden
Friday, March 12th, 2010 | College Basketball, NCAA College Basketball, Sports | No Comments
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are cruising through the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City this week. In the opening round, Notre Dame topped NCAA-tournament hopeful Seton Hall with an impressive 68-56 win (Seton Hall had beaten Notre Dame during the regular season). Notre Dame built off of a 7-point halftime lead and outscored Seton Hall 40-35 in the 2nd half. Luke Harangody came off the bench to help the Irish win the game with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
In the 2nd round, Notre Dame upset #3 Big East seed Pittsburgh (the #16 team in the country) 50-45 in a hard-fought defensive battle. Tory Jackson and Luke Harangody led the team with 12 points each.
Head Coach Mike Brey’s new offensive scheme has paid huge dividends for the Irish at the end of the season.
Notre Dame faces #7 West Virginia in the Semifinals of the Big East tournament tonight at Madison Square Garden.
Anthony Johnson — College Basketball Stud
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 | Final Four, Montana Grizzlies, NCAA College Basketball, Sports, Weber St. Wildcats | No Comments
Anthony Johnson single-handedly helped his Montana Grizzlies defeat Weber State 66-65 in the Big Sky Conference Championship Game. The win over the #1 seeded Wildcats propelled Montana into the NCAA Tournament for the 1st time since 2006.
Despite trailing 40-20 at halftime, Johnson and the Grizzlies never gave up. Johnson scored a career-high 42 points – 34 in the 2nd half. He outscored the Wildcats all by himself in the 2nd half – 34 to 25. Johnson scored his team’s final 21 points and he finished the night 13 of 22 from the field and 14 of 14 from the free throw line. Talk about a great night – “We just collectively got it going. I fed off of that. Things were getting emotional, especially in the huddles. We never gave up – never lost our edge and our effort. We ended up getting it done… I feel like I’m kind of dreaming right now. I’ll probably end up watching on TV and it will sink in when we get back home. ”
Unbelievable — this is what makes March Madness and NCAA college basketball so great!
Minnesota Twins Joe Nathan – Arm Injury Could End Season
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 | MLB, Minnesota Twins, Sports | No Comments
Closer Joe Nathan of the Minnesota Twins has a torn ligament in his right throwing elbow. The tear could end his season, and potentially the hopes of the Twins repeating as AL Central division champs. Nathan had bone chips and spurs removed from the elbow in October, but he and the club thought he would be ready to go this season. After experiencing soreness in the elbow after an appearance this weekend, the Twins opted to have Nathan examined. The MRI revealed the injury and Nathan will spend the next few weeks resting the arm. If he cannot resume throwing within the next 2-3 weeks, he will undergo Tommy John surgery. That would mean that Nathan would be done for this season and possibly parts or all of 2010 – the rehab for Tommy John surgery typically takes between 12-18 months. Nathan had this to say about his plan: “If I’m able to go out there and throw, then I’ll definitely give it a shot. The only reason that I would get a surgery is if I’m just unable to go out there.”
This is not good news for a Twins ball club that is opening a new stadium in April 2010 and who has played in “Game 163’s” 2 years in a row to determine the winner of the AL Central division race. Fans of the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are salivating right now. Nathan has 246 saves over the last 6 MLB schedules – losing an “automatic” closer like that is almost irreplacable. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything concrete about what Nathan ends up doing…
Class Act — Super Bowl Champ Scott Fujita Remembers New Orleans
Monday, March 8th, 2010 | NFL, New Orleans Saints, Sports | No Comments
Talk about a class act — Scott Fujita of the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints gave one final gift to the city of New Orleans before he left the team as a free agent this weekend. Instead of keeping his winning Super Bowl check for his young family, Fujita opted to donate the entire sum to charity. Half of the check went to continued coastal restoration in New Orleans, which is still recovering form the devastating affects of Hurrican Katrina. And he gave the other half of the check to earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Other free agents leaving their respective cities should really take note of Fujita’s actions.
Even though Fujita was a solid linebacking piece to the Saints much-improved defense, he largely went unnoticed each and every Sunday (in 11 games, Fujita racked up 58 tackles (43 solo), 1 sack and 2 forced fumbles). But that didn’t matter — “The people of this city and region have been so good to me and my family that we just felt strongly about doing something to protect the city we have come to love so much. And helping on the coastal issue has been on the back of my mind since I first got here.”
Now granted, Fujita signed a nice deal to go to the Saints 4 years ago, and he just signed a 3-year deal with the Browns which will guarantee him $8 million dollars and another $6 million if he plays all 3 seasons. But the fact of the matter is, he didn’t forget about the city that he lived in for the last 4 years and he put his money out there to help others who could benefit from it. Kudos to you Scott – we wish you the best of luck in the city of Cleveland over the next few years – they’ll be lucky to have you.
Barry Zito Retaliates Against Prince Fielder in Spring Training Game
Sunday, March 7th, 2010 | Chicago White Sox, MLB, Sports | No Comments
Gotta love the game of baseball — Barry Zito plunked Prince Fielder on his 1st pitch thrown to the big lefty in Wednesday’s Cactus league game between the San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers. It looks like the Giants have been waiting about 6 months to get Fielder back for his antics when Fielder stroked a walk-off home run to give the Brewers a come-from-behind win against the Giants on September 6, 2009. Too funny. As Fielder neared home plate after the homer, he pretended to knock down his teammates and his teammates all fell backwards like bowling pins as if Fielder had just fired an ace. The Brewers and their fans thought it was hysterical, but the Giants thought it was completely inappropriate.
The Giants had to wait 6 months to get Fielder back, but Zito took care of business on the 1st pitch thrown to the slugger. It landed right in the middle of Fielder’s back and he took it in stride, walking down to 1st base without any reaction at all. Good thing that these guys understand how the game is played.
The only better retaliation story I’ve heard is this one – courtesy of ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian. White Sox pitcher Ed Farmer gave up a grand slam home run to Wayne Gross who took his time running around the bases during his home run trot. Farmer was a reliever at the time and did not have an opportunity to face Gross again for 3 long years. But the kicker is – it was during a live batting practice session during spring training when the 2 players were teammates!!! Farmer got to pitch to Gross during the batting practice session and he promptly plunked Gross to get him back for running too slowly during his home run trot 3 years prior. Now that is holding a grudge…
Maybe baseball really isn’t just for the weak…
Again Ben? Come on
Saturday, March 6th, 2010 | NFL | No Comments
Big Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault for a second time. Not sure if this is just a second crazy lady or if this could be a real pattern? Or is Ben just unlucky? Unfortunately even if its not true this will for sure kill his image and he will always be branded for these two allegations. The Steelers quarterback was bar-hopping in a college town in central Georgia and a 20-year-old student is has come forward with allegations. Roethlisberger started off his birthday night on Tuesday at Buffington’s bar to watch the University of Pittsburgh men’s college basketball game. People at the bar said Ben and his group were very friendly and joked that he was not the QB of the Steelers with fans in the bar.
They moved on to two other bars for more drinks and food and ended the night at Capital City, a popular club with students. One 21-year old student told ESPN that Roethlisberger was there the night before with tow big men and spent the night in the VIP area with a bunch of women. The rest of the night is under investigation. Police said Roethlisberger was hanging out with three other people who were mingling with a group that included the alleged victim. The woman and her party contacted a nearby a police officer following the alleged assault.
Come on Ben, a college bar? After all that you are going through you go to a college club?
Chicago Bears Make Big Free Agent Splash — Add Peppers & Taylor
Friday, March 5th, 2010 | Chicago Bears, NFL, Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Bears wasted no time luring 3 big time free agents to the lakefront of Chicago. The Bears signed the top free agent available – 5-time Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers away from the Carolina Panthers. Peppers will be a difference-maker on the front line of the Bears defense and should help free some space for Tommie Harris, Alex Brown, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs to wreak some major havoc on every play.
The Bears also got some running back help by signing Chester Taylor away from the NFC North division rival Minnesota Vikings. Taylor will team with incumbent runner Matt Forte to provide a formidable rushing/receiving duo for Quarterback Jay Cutler.
The Bears also landed a legitimate tight end – Brandon Manumaleuna from the San Diego Chargers – who will fit in well in new Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz’s style of offense. That could mean the imminent departure of under-achieving tight end Greg Olsen after just 3 seasons in a Bears uniform.
It’s pretty clear that GM Jerry Angleo and Head Coach Lovie Smith were really desperate this off-season to go out and throw mega-bucks at 3 different free agents. While this doesn’t guarantee anything, a trip to the playoffs in 2010 could save both of their jobs. We’ll see how it all shakes out during the 2010 NFL schedule…
Blackhawks Emerge from Post-Olympics Funk with Big 5-2 Win over Oilers
Thursday, March 4th, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, Sports, Vancouver Canucks | No Comments
The Chicago Blackhawks emerged out of their post-Olympics funk with a 3-goal 3rd period that propelled them to a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at the United Center on Wednesday night. It was a much-needed win after the Hawks looked lethargic in a 5-3 loss to the Islanders in Long Island on Tuesday night – the 1st game back since the team reunited.
The Blackhawks controlled the puck for much of the game – out-shooting the Oilers 47-14 on the night. The Hawks took 21 shots in the 2nd period scoring twice and they took 14 shots in the 3rd period scoring 3 times. Cristobal Huet played the entire game in net after replacing Annti Niemi the night before. Huet made 12 saves and notched his 25th win of the season. Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and an assist for the Hawks, while leading-Hawks-points man Patrick Kane added 2 assists in the win.
The Hawks are now tied for the top spot in the Western Conference with the San Jose Sharks. Each club has 89 points in 63 games played. Let’s hope the Hawks can keep up the momentum at home at the United Center as they host the Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings during the next 3 games.
