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March Madness Hall Pass

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Back when I was in high school I always took great pride in never missing a day of class. My desire to go to school was one part academic integrity and two parts not wanting to miss practice after school. The only day  when I would ask my folks to phone it in for me was day 1 of the NCAA tournament.

The internet has made it infinitely easier to follow the action from your cubicle but that doesn’t mean that there will not be an inordinate amount of professionals calling in sick on either Thursday or Friday. To make things easier for those of you who haven’t saved up those sick days here’s a quick list of the one game per time slot with missing work for.

Thursday

12:40pm (6) Butler vs (11) Bucknell – Nothing gives Northeastern elitists more satisfaction than making a case for the Patriot and Ivy League. I’d love to be able to empathize with the academically entitle sect but sadly the NESCAC failed to receive a bid yet again. In any case, Bucknell has a good player in center Mike Muscala and Butler has created a national following on account of back to back Final Four appearances. This game would have been much more interesting if C.J. McCollum were healthy and Lehigh were representing the Patriot instead of the Bison.

4:10pm (1) Gonzaga vs (16) Southern – This will be the first chance for casual college basketball fans to watch the Zags and star center Kelly Olynyk who looks like Conan the Barbarian but plays like a Gasol.

7:15pm (4) Michigan vs (13) North Dakota St – Nate “the Great” Wolters vs Trey Burke will be one of the best individual matchups in round 2 even though the Wolverines will look to lockdown the Jackrabbit star with either Tim Hardaway Jr or Glenn Robinson III. It may not be bear vs shark but who wins in the animal octagon between a jackrabbit and wolverine? My money’s on the jackrabbit. Too fast. Too nimble. Will wear down the ferocious wolverine.

9:45pm (5) VCU vs (12) Akron – If you haven’t watched VCU’s defense reek #havoc with opposing offenses please make sure you do so with a fully functioning AED nearby because Shaka’s squad will produce an irregular heartbeat.

Friday

12:40pm (5) Wisconsin vs (12) Ole Miss – Rebels star shooting guard Marshall Henderson plays with an inflated sense of self and irrational confidence which is fine with the Badgers who are happy to slow the game down and force Ole Miss to chuck up plenty of bad shots. Plus, you never know when Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan will give another inspring halftime interview.

4:10pm (1) Indiana vs LIU-Brooklyn – I’m calling the play-in game for LIU and look forward to the super talented Hoosiers overlooking their round 2 opponents for the next matchup against either NC St or Temple. Plus, you never know when Indiana guard Victor Oladipo will do something spectacular.

7:20pm (8) UNC vs (9) Villanova – Two marquee programs playing for the right to face top seed Kansas in round 3.

9:45pm (7) Notre Dame vs (10) Iowa State – The Fighting Hoibergs are one of my surprise teams to perhaps sneak into the round of 16. Even though this game will be played late at night hopefully the Fighting Irish will refrain from wearing those awful fluorescent green uniforms. Adrian Dantley cannot be pleased.

view from University of Dayton Arena courtesy of @UDArena

Instant Bracketification

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Before the majority of you slackers and middling upper management types start wasting your companies valuable toner Monday morning printing out enough brackets to fill an 18 foot Florida sinkhole, allow me to offer an abridged breakdown that’ll surely help cover the cost of your various March Madness pools.

Midwest (Indianapolis)

Big East tournament champs (1) Louisville are hotter than coach Rick Pitino’s all white Colonel Sanders suit but leader scorer Russ Smith is a chucker of Costanza proportions and with their team assist to turnover ration nearly 1:1 the Cardinals won’t be able to rely on that frenetic full court press like they did against Syracuse Saturday night. (4) Saint Louis is turning into everyone’s sexy mid major pick but face a tough road with a potential matchup against underrated (5) Oklahoma St in round 3. Slow and steady usually wins the race and so do yourself a favor and ride with Mr. Consistent Tom Izzo and his (3) Michigan St. Spartans to make it to Atlanta.

West (Los Angeles)

(1) Gonzaga becomes the first mid major ever to be awarded with a #1 seed and they are a deserving pack of Zags having defeated the like of St. Mary’s, Oklahoma and Kansas St. during an impressive 31-2 regular season. But the WCC isn’t very good and Gonzaga did lose their two most difficult matchups of the season to Illinois and Butler so unfortunately the under-heralded center Kelly Olynyk won’t make it past the round of 16. (3) New Mexico has the momentum after winning an intense WAC tourney final over UNLV but the Big Ten was the best conference in college basketball this season which makes (2) Ohio State the favorites out West.

South (Arlington, Texas)

I don’t know why they continue to schedule these regional finals in domes other than it prepares players for shooting in the vacant space of half filled football stadiums. Not to mention what an inconvenience it must be coaches to sit on a stool for 40 minutes on account of the raised court. Most of the miserable SOBs are probably already dealing with nasty cases of hemorrhoids on account of watching endless hours of game film holed up in the quiet concrete underbellies of their home arena.   (5) VCU and their #havoc defense should scare the shot out of (1) Kansas in the round of 16 but Shaka’s luck is going to run out when the Rams go down to Otto Porter Jr. and the (2) Georgetown Hoyas. Porter and Indiana’s Victor Oladipo were the two best players I saw play this season so it’ll be nice to see the G’town star receive the dap he deserves when he carries his team to the final four.

East (Washington)

The aforementioned Oladipo and his (1) Indiana Hoosiers are perhaps the most talented team in college basketball which in this the year of no great teams means they’ll lose in the third round to either (8) NC State or (9) Temple. (2) Miami looks real good after winning the ACC but I’ve got a feeling that the tournaments biggest surprise will be (5) UNLV cutting down the Verizon Center nets.

Final Four (Atlanta)

Ohio State over Michigan State, Georgetown over UNLV

Championship Game

Ohio State over Georgetown

view from the United Center courtesy of @SamRenaut

A Ray Of Accountability

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What ever happened to respect being earned not given? Tampa Bay Rays ace David Price said the the following in a piece by Jon Paul Morosi on Fox Sports:

If I ever did hit that free-agent market, there would be teams I wouldn’t sign with simply because of the stuff that I’ve heard – every rule they have. Being here since 2007, being treated like a grownup, given that respect and freedom and space – it grows on you.

Since when does a Major League baseball franchise that’s paying it’s players millions of dollars, or in the case of the Rays hundreds of thousands, owe a 22 year old fresh out of Vanderbilt anything other than an opportunity? Athletes should be nurtured to believe that respect is something you earn over time because when offered too early it can be easily abused and lead to a lack of personal accountability. Joe Maddon is clearly a top shelf skipper who understands how to motivate his players but Price’s comments highlight a growing pandemic that is crippling the integrity of sports across this country.

When asked whether or not he sing a long term deal with the New York Yankees, a franchise that normally requires it’s players to be clean shaven:

I wouldn’t stay there very long then. I wouldn’t sign a long-term deal there. Those rules, that’s old-school baseball. I was born in ’85. That’s not for me. That’s not something I want to be a part of.

So if the Yankees were to offer Price something similar to Felix Hernandez’s 7 years/$175M range he’d decline that deal simply because it means he’d have to shave his beard and ditch the sweatpants? And since when did wearing khaki’s to work become such a sign of disrespect? If the Yankees, or any baseball franchise for that matter, wanted to pay me that kind of money I’d have no problem showing up to work everyday dressed in a chicken suit.

view from Tampa Bay Rays camp courtesy of @RaysBaseball

Simple Truths: The 2012-13 NBA Season

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A Two and a Half Week Retrospective

Yeah I’m a little late to the party but I swear it’s not my fault. Between both the election and the largest single infidelity scandal to hit the U.S. Army since George Washington shared a sleeping bag with some of his troops at Valley Forge it’s been a very busy week and a half. Nevertheless here’s what I think I think about the 2012-13 NBA season.

1) I’m starting to seriously question whether or not the regular season matters. Frankly, for some of the better/more experienced teams in the league (Heat, Thunder, Celtics, Spurs) isn’t it all about simply staying healthy and qualifying for the postseason? Does home court advantage in the playoffs really matter so much that it’s worth risking the overall health of your roster just to get a top seed? For teams more towards the middle of the pack (Knicks, Sixers, dare I say Lakers) they want to put together a representative effort during the regular season to prove to themselves, and their fan bases, that they at least have a shot come April/May.

Another reason why I’m having a hard time getting into basketball this year could be because of the long length of the regular season. Last year’s truncated scheduled, however hellish all the back to back to backs were for the players, worked out great for fans because you were guaranteed at least a couple of competitive/marquee matchups a night. Now it feels like they’re slogging their way through a October/Novemeber slate that contains way too many Charlotte/Toronto games.

2) I have very little sympathy for Knicks fans who jumped the East River to Brooklyn this summer after James Dolan cemented his reputation as the associations most erratic owner when the NY front office allowed Linsanity to mosey on down to the Houston Rockets.  Now some of those same fans want back in because their old team is 5-0. Carmelo is playing defense and allowing Mike Woodson to coach. JR Smith is providing plenty of scoring punch off the bench and the resurrection of Rasheed has already led to one of the most memorable sound bites of the season so far. But hold on MSG, how will the team respond to the return of Amar’e?  Can he and Anthony ever get along?

3) This whole James Harden affair with OKC and Houston raises lots of questions about the value of facial hair. Would Loud City have given Harden the max contract he desired had it not been for his prolific beard? It’s entirely plausible, the Dust Bowl is prone to volatile weather like twisters and prolonged drought and no sane cowpoke wants to have sandy debris stuck to their face.

From strictly a basketball p.o.v this Harden deal makes sense for both parties because the Rockets get the young budding superstar they so desired since they missed out on Dwight Howard over the summer and OKC gets cap friendly which is essential to their sustained success especially after locking up the core of Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka to long term deals. Next thing Houston needs to do is get rid of those awful looking 3/4 length sleeves.

4) It never made sense for the Lakers to pursue Phil Jackson as a replacement for Mike Brown especially after hearing some of the 11 time world champions’s out of this world demands. Skip certain away games? Why not just Skype the whole thing from you ranch in Montana? Hopefully Mike D’Antoni is able to travel with the team on most road trips you know, so he can do his job.

5) The Miami Heat are much more tolerable to watch this season because we have all finally accepted LeBron James as the best basketball player on the planet. Any residual stench remaining from his poorly orchestrated “Decision” wafted away with the jet stream after cutting down the nets last season. Next on the list for LeBron should be averaging a triple double for the entire season. Anything’s possible.

view from the Amway Center courtesy of @drsbartdeboer

 

 

One Game At A Time

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So this is where we stand, with it all coming down to journeyman Joe Saunders, he of the career 3-7 record and 6.48 ERA against the Texas Rangers. The good news is that this 2012 Baltimore Orioles team has shirked expectations and sabermetrics all season long, posting their best single season record in well over a decade. For this bunch of Birds, the sum is clearly greater than the parts, especially when it comes to the starting pitching staff which has been led all season long by the ageless TBD.

#BUCKing the odds is something this group continues to relish as they enter Arlington with a motivational chip on their shoulders the size of the Chesapeake Bay. Tonight Yu Darvish will probably strike out 10, 3 by Mark Reynolds alone, as the Rangers carry a 4-1 into the top of the 8th. Being an Orioles fan this summer into fall has conditioned me to expect that some unexpected hero, whether it be Nate McLouth, Jim Thome, or Manny Machado, will bring Baltimore back before handing it over to the indomitable Jim Johnson in the 9th.

And from there New York. One game at a time.