Wooooooooooooooo! I hope you saw some of the MADNESS this past weekend. It was sure MADNESS! If you did not see or follow the games this past weekend, I’m here with an exciting recap.
Day one (Thursday) there were no major upsets, Duke had a scare with a one point win over Belmont. This was a sign of things to come.
My upset pick, Georgia, went out to Xavier in round one; this is why I did not make any more picks.
On day two (Friday) the MADNESS was in full force. Tampa was ground zero for the upsets; this was the first time since 1973 (first time the tournament was seeded) all four double-digit seeds won at the same site. To top it all off two of the four games went into overtime. This included UCONN being eliminated by San Diego. At this point my bracket was intact.
Day three (Saturday) started with number two seed Duke losing to West Virginia in the second round. My bracket was in the trash can. That was the upset of the day but there were a lot of close games and that is what makes the tournament great. As Bob Wenzel, one of the CBS’ announcers said, “No one what’s to go home from the NCAA tournament”. This day included one overtime-game with Stanford beating Marquette by one point.
Day four (Sunday) included number two seed Georgetown going down to another double-digit seed, Davidson. At the same time this upset was going on, Tennessee a two seed was in overtime with Butler. Tennessee did survive and advance. Forty-eight games in four days, now you know why they call it MARCH MADNESS.
This coming weekend is the regional semi-finals and regional finals, with a berth in the Final Four if you win these two games.
Enjoy the regional games; I will talk to you next week with a report and my own personal critique on the announcers.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I love the madness of March
I love March madness. This is the best month of the year. It is the month of the NCAA Tournament and all the conference tournaments. The NCAA Tournament is the greatest sports event known to man. The conference tournaments are important because the winner of all 30 tournaments get an automatic bid to the field of 65. Only the Ivy League awards its regular season champion the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The rest of the field is the 34 best at-large teams sectioned by the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. Just to let you know that there are 341 Division I schools for the committee to chose from. The very best thing about the NCAA tournament is the upsets that can happen. Any thing can happen. Just think about George Mason getting to the Final Four in 2006. Any one can win on any given day. It’s one game not a best-of-three or best-of-seven series. As Dick Vitale says it’s “survive and advance”. There is nothing like it in the world. Also I like that the hype lasts only three days and Tuesday you get a taste of things to come with the Opening Round game between the two worst teams with. The winner of this game moving on to face number one seed overall North Carolina in the First Round. The main course starts at noon on Thursday and goes all night and we do it all over again on Friday. The second round on the weekend is the same thing.
This maybe the most balanced field in a long time. Any of about ten teams can win this tournament. I will not pick a winner because of all the variables I mentioned above and the fact that I’m not very good at that. One of my brackets is always a mess after this weekend. A few thoughts on this year’s tournament are: Why is Kentucky in the field of 65? They were 18-12 overall, 12-4 in the SEC, lost in the Quarterfinal to Georgia in the Conference tournament. One of their loses was to Gardner-Webb. I know this loss was early in the season but come on; I thought the committee looks at non-conference games a little more then this. This has to be one of the most interesting decisions in a while. I don’t see them getting past Marquette in the first round. The game in the Midwest regional between USC and Kansas State will feature two of the most talked about freshman in the country: O.J Mayo from USC and Michael Beasley from Kansas State. My sleeper pick for the whole tournament is Georiga. After winning the SEC tournament and playing four games in three days because of a tornado hitting Atlanta and postponing their Quarterfinal until Saturday, they had to play two games in one day; won them both and then won the final on Sunday to get in to the NCAA tournament. Just remarkable!
I will write on Monday a post first and second round review.
This maybe the most balanced field in a long time. Any of about ten teams can win this tournament. I will not pick a winner because of all the variables I mentioned above and the fact that I’m not very good at that. One of my brackets is always a mess after this weekend. A few thoughts on this year’s tournament are: Why is Kentucky in the field of 65? They were 18-12 overall, 12-4 in the SEC, lost in the Quarterfinal to Georgia in the Conference tournament. One of their loses was to Gardner-Webb. I know this loss was early in the season but come on; I thought the committee looks at non-conference games a little more then this. This has to be one of the most interesting decisions in a while. I don’t see them getting past Marquette in the first round. The game in the Midwest regional between USC and Kansas State will feature two of the most talked about freshman in the country: O.J Mayo from USC and Michael Beasley from Kansas State. My sleeper pick for the whole tournament is Georiga. After winning the SEC tournament and playing four games in three days because of a tornado hitting Atlanta and postponing their Quarterfinal until Saturday, they had to play two games in one day; won them both and then won the final on Sunday to get in to the NCAA tournament. Just remarkable!
I will write on Monday a post first and second round review.
Friday, March 7, 2008
This week in sports
Sorry I have not written in a while. Last week I was in not so sunny San Diego for a Special Olympics meeting. This past week the flu bug hit me. But now I’M back and better than ever.
Saturday February 16, 2008 was the re-air of the 2007 Ironman Triathlon World Championship from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. For those of you who do not know the Ironman consist of a 2.4-mile swim then a 112-mile bike ride and finally they finish off with a full 26.2-mile marathon run. The Ironman is the greatest test of an athlete, but the real story is the average Joe that comes from all walks for life to cross the finish line. You see, you have to get to the finish line before the course is closed at midnight to be an Ironman. This year the show focused on four remarkable stories, one person with Cystic fibrosis, a person who is blind, and a person that was born with no feet. The last person was a young man that was in a car accident and was on the brink of death to come back to become an Ironman. The Ironman is the best-written event all year and has won 14 sports Emmy awards over the years. As I said in this column before, I cry each year and it gives me more motivation than any other event watch each and every year.
The NBA slam-dunk contest is back! Dwight Howard and Gerald Green put on a show. Green’s birthday dunk were he put a cup cake with a lit candle on the back on the rim and then blew the candle out before doing a dunk was so creative. I though it was a 10! Howard is a man beast, the superman dunk was just so awesome that he did not even dunk the ball; he threw it in, he jumped so high. This was the best dunk contest in many years, you have to go back to the late ‘80’s with Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb for the glory years of the slam dunk contest at NBA all-star weekend. I hope these kids come back next year to put on an even better show.
Breaking News: Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers is retiring after 13 seasons and 3 MVP awards. Brett Favre is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Will have more on this later.
The question on ESPN last week was: If you were a NFL GM would you build your team through the draft or free agency? I would build through free agency because the draft is such a crapshoot. The NFL draft is the biggest unknown in sports. You can evaluate players all you want but no one knows how good a player will be as a pro. There are so many stories of first round draft busts that I would trade all my first day picks to get more on the second day. Remember, Tom Brady was a fifth round pick. On a side note here, good to see Randy Moss resign with the Pats. He and Brady have unfinished business. Like winning a championship.
Thats my take, I like to hear yours
Jamie Lazaroff
Saturday February 16, 2008 was the re-air of the 2007 Ironman Triathlon World Championship from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. For those of you who do not know the Ironman consist of a 2.4-mile swim then a 112-mile bike ride and finally they finish off with a full 26.2-mile marathon run. The Ironman is the greatest test of an athlete, but the real story is the average Joe that comes from all walks for life to cross the finish line. You see, you have to get to the finish line before the course is closed at midnight to be an Ironman. This year the show focused on four remarkable stories, one person with Cystic fibrosis, a person who is blind, and a person that was born with no feet. The last person was a young man that was in a car accident and was on the brink of death to come back to become an Ironman. The Ironman is the best-written event all year and has won 14 sports Emmy awards over the years. As I said in this column before, I cry each year and it gives me more motivation than any other event watch each and every year.
The NBA slam-dunk contest is back! Dwight Howard and Gerald Green put on a show. Green’s birthday dunk were he put a cup cake with a lit candle on the back on the rim and then blew the candle out before doing a dunk was so creative. I though it was a 10! Howard is a man beast, the superman dunk was just so awesome that he did not even dunk the ball; he threw it in, he jumped so high. This was the best dunk contest in many years, you have to go back to the late ‘80’s with Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb for the glory years of the slam dunk contest at NBA all-star weekend. I hope these kids come back next year to put on an even better show.
Breaking News: Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers is retiring after 13 seasons and 3 MVP awards. Brett Favre is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Will have more on this later.
The question on ESPN last week was: If you were a NFL GM would you build your team through the draft or free agency? I would build through free agency because the draft is such a crapshoot. The NFL draft is the biggest unknown in sports. You can evaluate players all you want but no one knows how good a player will be as a pro. There are so many stories of first round draft busts that I would trade all my first day picks to get more on the second day. Remember, Tom Brady was a fifth round pick. On a side note here, good to see Randy Moss resign with the Pats. He and Brady have unfinished business. Like winning a championship.
Thats my take, I like to hear yours
Jamie Lazaroff
Thursday, February 14, 2008
February 14 update
On Wednesday February 13, 2008 Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee testified in front of The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. It was great political theater and made for great TV on a snowed in day. After watching this hearing, I have more questions than answers. Who was telling the truth? I have to say that Mr.. McNamee was more credible, not by much though. If Andy Pettitte was such a friend to Clemens why did he not tell him of his HGH use? Why did Roger Clemens trust Brian McNamee so much? McNamee is not a medical doctor and is not licensed to give drugs. He is a PhD and not a MD. Why did Clemens not look into this? This will continue as the Justice Department has stated an investigation.
The most over-rated event of the year is the NFL Pro Bowl. Who cares about the Pro Bowl, it is at the end of the year after the Super Bowl. The NFL should get rid of the game, still have teams but have them compete in skills events like the quarterback challenge and the linebacker challenge. The conferences would still compete against each other with the NFC VS. the AFC. Like I said before, the skills competitions are the best part of All-Star weekend. Speaking of All-Star games, this weekend is the NBA All-Star game. Saturday is the Slam Dunk contest and the 3-point shootout. It also includes the skills challenge that has become a fan favorite. One star to watch Saturday is Rudy Gay from UCONN in the Slam Dunk contest. Should be fun.
Also this weekend is the 50th Daytona 500. This year should be quite interesting in NASCAR. The most poplar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. from Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, the team his dad built to Hendrick Motorsports. . Tony Stewart’s (my guy) team moved from using Chevrolet’s to using Toyota’s. All the teams are using new safely improved bodies on all tracks this year. The end of the race is always fun.
Talk to you in a few weeks, I’M off to San Diego, California on business.
The most over-rated event of the year is the NFL Pro Bowl. Who cares about the Pro Bowl, it is at the end of the year after the Super Bowl. The NFL should get rid of the game, still have teams but have them compete in skills events like the quarterback challenge and the linebacker challenge. The conferences would still compete against each other with the NFC VS. the AFC. Like I said before, the skills competitions are the best part of All-Star weekend. Speaking of All-Star games, this weekend is the NBA All-Star game. Saturday is the Slam Dunk contest and the 3-point shootout. It also includes the skills challenge that has become a fan favorite. One star to watch Saturday is Rudy Gay from UCONN in the Slam Dunk contest. Should be fun.
Also this weekend is the 50th Daytona 500. This year should be quite interesting in NASCAR. The most poplar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. from Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, the team his dad built to Hendrick Motorsports. . Tony Stewart’s (my guy) team moved from using Chevrolet’s to using Toyota’s. All the teams are using new safely improved bodies on all tracks this year. The end of the race is always fun.
Talk to you in a few weeks, I’M off to San Diego, California on business.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
The Super Bowl aftermath
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I don’t believe what just happen! I’M still in shock that the Pats lost. I’M not going to blame the coach or the Pats players. Full credit to the Giants and Eli Manning for having a great game plan and while their defense put pressure on Brady all through the game. The Pats usually score on the other teams mistakes and they did not this time. I’M talking about the one interception that Manning threw. Also, a key mistake that they did not take advantage of was, the too many players on the field penalty late in the game. This penalty gave the Pats a first down deep in Giants territory.
What a game! This was the most watched Super Bowl of all times and the second biggest event in TV history. 97.5 Million people watched this classic. It had all the ingredients of a great game: a tight contest with a thrilling finish and of course the Pats going for the undefeated season. This was the best Super Bowl probably in my lifetime. To bad the Pats could not win but it was not their day.
In other sports news, on Monday the winningest men’s coach in college basketball, Bob Knight has resigned from Texas Tech. Knight was known as much for being a brilliant coach as he was for having a fiery temper. Knight will be best remembered as the coach at Indiana from 1972 to 2000 when he got fired for choking a player. He also had a love hate relationship with the media and the referee’s. He is also infamous for throwing a chair during a game. Love him or hate him you have to respect him for never breaking a NCAA rule. He also always had a high graduation rate. He did win 3 national championships, an Olympic Gold Medal and 902 career victories. His 1976 NCAA championship team went undefeated, a feat no team has accomplished since. He is the all time best coach and his fans and the media are going to miss him. I’M a little surprised by timing of this announcement. Texas Tech has 10 games left in the season, so why leave midway through the season? His mantra is “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, so I guess he did it his way.
Jamie
What a game! This was the most watched Super Bowl of all times and the second biggest event in TV history. 97.5 Million people watched this classic. It had all the ingredients of a great game: a tight contest with a thrilling finish and of course the Pats going for the undefeated season. This was the best Super Bowl probably in my lifetime. To bad the Pats could not win but it was not their day.
In other sports news, on Monday the winningest men’s coach in college basketball, Bob Knight has resigned from Texas Tech. Knight was known as much for being a brilliant coach as he was for having a fiery temper. Knight will be best remembered as the coach at Indiana from 1972 to 2000 when he got fired for choking a player. He also had a love hate relationship with the media and the referee’s. He is also infamous for throwing a chair during a game. Love him or hate him you have to respect him for never breaking a NCAA rule. He also always had a high graduation rate. He did win 3 national championships, an Olympic Gold Medal and 902 career victories. His 1976 NCAA championship team went undefeated, a feat no team has accomplished since. He is the all time best coach and his fans and the media are going to miss him. I’M a little surprised by timing of this announcement. Texas Tech has 10 games left in the season, so why leave midway through the season? His mantra is “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, so I guess he did it his way.
Jamie
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Mid week rant
The Super Bowl is the most over-hyped event of the year. There is no major news that comes out of Super Bowl week and the game does not live up to the hype, most of the time. I think the Pats will win on Sunday in a blow out. My prediction (sure to be wrong) is for a close game till the end and the Pats win 34-31.
Some sad news to report, the son of long-time Boston sports reporter Bob Ryan, Keith has died in Pakistan. Keith was a immigration and customs enforcement attaché from the Department of Homeland Security. After a year in Pakistan he was due to return to the U.S., but was found dead in the bathroom in his home. The Interior Minister said, “We expect it is suicide, but we are investigating.” Keith was 37 years old. My heart goes out to the Ryan family.
The UCONN Huskies men won two big games against ranked opponents this week at Indiana and home against Louisville. They won dispute two key players, Jerome Dyson and Doug Wiggins, who were suspended for breaking team rules. These two wins may get them into the NCAA tournament. Lets keep it going boys.
The big event this week is the Super Bowl. Like I said let the hype begin. The other big event of the weekend as I mentioned in my last blog is UFC-81 that features the UFC debut of former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) champion Brock Lesnar. Brock will face former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir, who has faced many big time opponents.
Talk to you all next week after the Pats win it all.
Some sad news to report, the son of long-time Boston sports reporter Bob Ryan, Keith has died in Pakistan. Keith was a immigration and customs enforcement attaché from the Department of Homeland Security. After a year in Pakistan he was due to return to the U.S., but was found dead in the bathroom in his home. The Interior Minister said, “We expect it is suicide, but we are investigating.” Keith was 37 years old. My heart goes out to the Ryan family.
The UCONN Huskies men won two big games against ranked opponents this week at Indiana and home against Louisville. They won dispute two key players, Jerome Dyson and Doug Wiggins, who were suspended for breaking team rules. These two wins may get them into the NCAA tournament. Lets keep it going boys.
The big event this week is the Super Bowl. Like I said let the hype begin. The other big event of the weekend as I mentioned in my last blog is UFC-81 that features the UFC debut of former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) champion Brock Lesnar. Brock will face former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir, who has faced many big time opponents.
Talk to you all next week after the Pats win it all.
Monday, January 28, 2008
This week in sports
I have to agree with my fellow sports columnist Bob Lazzari that the NBA is unwatchable. The last four or five Celtics games have been awful. They have broken all the basic rules on defense, like jumping and not keeping their feet on ground. Their rebounding has been awful as well. The UCONN men are playing better than the Celtics right now, and that’s saying something. If you want to see good basketball, than the women’s game is for you, both college and Pro. The women play the game below the rim, which shows their skill level, and more technically sound.
If you listened to the January 15th Congressional hearing featuring Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and Union Leader Donald Fehr you heard them say a number of things like there is no reliable test for HGH and storing blood is not practical. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA): A scientifically valid and effective test for HGH does exists. Also according to WADA storing blood is practical. I have heard in the past that the players do not what a blood test for reasons I’M not sure of. Big bad athletes don’t like needles, I feel so bad. Come on guys and suck it up.
To Selig and Fehr the job is done for you, all you have to do is sign the world Anti-Doping code. It is all spelled out for you. But no US professional sports league has signed it. Why, because we want to be independent from the rest of the world. A quote from WADA, “To not test for HGH, when you have the resources and opportunity, is to give players a free pass to HGH abuse.”
I would like to clarify my comment that winter is the doldrums for sports fans. There is NBA basketball, NHL Hockey and men and women’s college basketball at night. There is the NFL playoffs and pro bull riding and bowling on the weekends. I’M talking about the weekdays from 1 P.M. to 5 P.M. The only thing on is sports talk shows on ESPN and most of them I do not like. I would like to see more Darts and Snooker. I know ESPN and Fox Sports have done Darts before but its time to give it another try. I have never seen Snooker but what I have read it is a great sport that is a lot better then the pool that ESPN has on some times.
I cannot wait for the next Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on Pay-Per View on Super Saturday (Feb. 2). UFC-81 features the UFC debut of former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) champion Brock Lesnar. Brock will face former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir, who has faced many big time opponents.
I know some of you will think I’M crazy for liking the UFC, but since the first UFC in 1993 no one has died in the octagon. Many people have died in the boxing ring in that same time. Two people have died in mixed martial arts (MMA), but these were in unsanctioned fights. The UFC is sanctioned in Nevada, California and by other state’s boxing commissions. I like it because it is as real as it gets, its not like pro wrestling, which is scripted. Also unlike boxing you know who the champion is in each weight class. There are a lot of MMA promotions out there, but the UFC is the biggest and best.
Two columns’ back I commented on UCONN Men’s coach Jim Calhoun being under rated. This time I would like to comment on women’s coach Geno Auriemma. I think Geno is over-rated; yes, he has won 5 national championships, but they have not won anything in the past three seasons. Most of the championships they have won had some of the best players of all time on the team like, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Rebecca Lobo just to name a few. He may be a great recruiter and motivator but sometimes he comes off as arrogant, such as forgetting the name of a big time opponent at a press conference before the North Carolina game. Then there was the time this season he told one of his freshman reserve players, not to screw up because they were #1 in the country and have a chance to win the National Title. Sometimes, I think all his success goes to his head.
If you listened to the January 15th Congressional hearing featuring Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and Union Leader Donald Fehr you heard them say a number of things like there is no reliable test for HGH and storing blood is not practical. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA): A scientifically valid and effective test for HGH does exists. Also according to WADA storing blood is practical. I have heard in the past that the players do not what a blood test for reasons I’M not sure of. Big bad athletes don’t like needles, I feel so bad. Come on guys and suck it up.
To Selig and Fehr the job is done for you, all you have to do is sign the world Anti-Doping code. It is all spelled out for you. But no US professional sports league has signed it. Why, because we want to be independent from the rest of the world. A quote from WADA, “To not test for HGH, when you have the resources and opportunity, is to give players a free pass to HGH abuse.”
I would like to clarify my comment that winter is the doldrums for sports fans. There is NBA basketball, NHL Hockey and men and women’s college basketball at night. There is the NFL playoffs and pro bull riding and bowling on the weekends. I’M talking about the weekdays from 1 P.M. to 5 P.M. The only thing on is sports talk shows on ESPN and most of them I do not like. I would like to see more Darts and Snooker. I know ESPN and Fox Sports have done Darts before but its time to give it another try. I have never seen Snooker but what I have read it is a great sport that is a lot better then the pool that ESPN has on some times.
I cannot wait for the next Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on Pay-Per View on Super Saturday (Feb. 2). UFC-81 features the UFC debut of former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) champion Brock Lesnar. Brock will face former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir, who has faced many big time opponents.
I know some of you will think I’M crazy for liking the UFC, but since the first UFC in 1993 no one has died in the octagon. Many people have died in the boxing ring in that same time. Two people have died in mixed martial arts (MMA), but these were in unsanctioned fights. The UFC is sanctioned in Nevada, California and by other state’s boxing commissions. I like it because it is as real as it gets, its not like pro wrestling, which is scripted. Also unlike boxing you know who the champion is in each weight class. There are a lot of MMA promotions out there, but the UFC is the biggest and best.
Two columns’ back I commented on UCONN Men’s coach Jim Calhoun being under rated. This time I would like to comment on women’s coach Geno Auriemma. I think Geno is over-rated; yes, he has won 5 national championships, but they have not won anything in the past three seasons. Most of the championships they have won had some of the best players of all time on the team like, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Rebecca Lobo just to name a few. He may be a great recruiter and motivator but sometimes he comes off as arrogant, such as forgetting the name of a big time opponent at a press conference before the North Carolina game. Then there was the time this season he told one of his freshman reserve players, not to screw up because they were #1 in the country and have a chance to win the National Title. Sometimes, I think all his success goes to his head.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)