So seriously, who would ever complain about having nothing to do on a Monday night? Me, that’s who.
While most of you would love the downtime, love go see a movie with your wife, play with your kids, take one of your 11 cats to the vet, whatever, I’m not that kinda guy. For one, I have no wife and am fundamentally opposed to both kids and cats (in that order), which certainly doesn’t help the process. And even when I do get a little downtime, I usually just end up pacing around, freaking out and asking myself asinine questions like, What am I going to do? How am I going to spend this time? Why doesn’t anyone ever respond to my texts? Is it something I said? I can change, I swear!! I’ll tell ya one thing: No one ever said it’s glamorous to be a sports blogger.
And sadly, by late afternoon Monday, it appeared to be one of those nights. By about 6:30 I was done with all kinds of real responsibility for the day, and had two hours to burn before the start of Thunder-Spurs at 9pm. Please excuse me while I commence my freak out.
Well thankfully, just as I was settling in for a miserable two hours of Jeopardy and Two and a Half Men reruns, a miracle happened: I stumbled across the MLB Draft; an event which I barely knew existed, let alone was ever televised. After all, everything I know about baseball scouting and drafting I learned from the movie “Moneyball,” and even then it was mostly just fat guys in stained shirts, sitting around in a dim room and swearing at each other. So when I found out the MLB Draft was on TV, I flipped the channel faster than a 14-year-old boy after finding out he’s got free Cinemax for a month. The MLB Draft is on TV? What an event!
Oh, it certainly was. And I kept a running diary to commemorate it all…
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Last year things weren’t nearly this easy. The morning after the NBA Draft lottery order was selected, we got the answer to the question “Who’s drafting No. 1?” but unfortunately had to follow it up with an entirely different question completely: “What the heck are the Cleveland Cavaliers going to do with the pick?”
In hindsight it seems almost laughable to think that the answer was anything other than “Take Kyrie and run.” Only at the time, it wasn’t nearly so easy. The Kyrie in this case (Irving, of course) was coming off a major toe injury, had sat out most of his only season at Duke, and when he did return to action in time for Duke’s first NCAA Tournament game, looked pretty average. At this time last year, Irving appeared to be the best of a flawed group of players, no better or worse than the undersized Derrick Williams, the position-less Kemba Walker, Enes Kanter (who hadn’t played competitive basketball in a year), and a bunch of foreign guys no one had ever heard of. Granted, I personally liked Irving more than virtually everyone else, but to most other basketball experts, drafting him No. 1 overall was like grabbing a bag of bruised apples and trying to figure out which one was “best.” If they were all bruised, did it really matter which one you took?
But as we get back to 2012 and back to Wednesday night, once the ping pong balls stopped bouncing, the questions about the No. 1 pick became completely different than they were a year ago. None of them centered on who the No. 1 pick would be, but instead, what would happen when he got to the Crescent City. They all sounded a little something like this: What neighborhood would Anthony Davis live in? What dealership will he pick up his white Bentley at? Will he learn the saxophone in the offseason and join a jazz band? You know, all of life’s truly pressing issues.
All bad jokes aside, we do now know that unless truly absurd happens, Anthony Davis will be a New Orleans Hornet in a couple weeks. Mark it down in permanent ink. Chisel it into stone. Shave it into your eyebrow if you please. Behind the Harlem Globetrotters, Davis-to-New Orleans is the safest bet in sports right now.
So with that, the real question on the 2012 draft isn’t “Who’s No. 1” but instead, “Who’s No. 2?” While the NBA would tell you that the Hornets are on the clock, it’s really the Charlotte Bobcats who are up to bat, and if they don’t get a talent infusion ASAP, someone might have to bring in a priest to read them their last rights. The Bobcats are bad, really bad, but they’ve got a chance to change that. In the watered down East, the right selection could put them on the path towards the playoffs within a few years.
Regardless of whom you listened to prior to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Monday night, all the experts pretty much had the same opinion on how things would go down. In essence, their “analysis” basically boiled down to this: “Yeah, the Celtics have no chance.” In Boston’s defense the overwhelming sentiment for the Heat prior to Game 1 had little to do with the actual Heat themselves, and more to do with ancillary stuff that was out of Boston’s control. Things like their age, the quick turnaround from Saturday night against Philly, and the brutal seven game series they just finished up less than 48 hours prior against the 76ers. Again, Boston’s underdog status entering Game 1 had little to do with their actual opponent.
Well, with the Heat winning 93-79 Monday night, the experts were both right and wrong with how Game 1 shook out. Sure they were “right,” because the younger, fresher, home-court advantaged Heat cruised to an easy victory, exactly like most had predicted. But what most of the experts got wrong was how the Heat won Game 1.
And it’s that how which was not only the story Monday night, but potentially of the series.
Because while the box score will tell you the game was a blowout, what the naked eye will tell you is that it was much closer. Sure Boston’s age was an issue and Miami’s youth prevailed, but if you actually plopped yourself on the couch Monday night and watched, what you’ll realize is that for a time the game was much closer than most expected. Boston used a big second quarter to tie things up at 46 right before the half, making us momentarily forget the pre-series storylines and wonder aloud, “wait, the Celtics can’t really win this game, can they?” Somewhere I’m sure Skip Bayless was foaming at the mouth just thinking about the possibility.
(*** With a slow sports weekend ahead and many folks heading out of the office early today, I wanted to do something a little different here for the Memorial Day Weekend and rather than write some new material, instead re-run an old article straight from my archives.
And with my grandma- the love of my life- celebrating her 96th birthday on Thursday, now seemed like as good a time as ever, to re-publish the article I wrote about her two years ago, on her 94th birthday. Now two years older, my grandma is pretty much the same. She moves a tiny bit slower sure, the same wit and wisdom I describe in the article is still alive and well today.
Regardless, here is my old, new column: A Tribute to One of My Biggest Inspirations. Enjoy, and please excused the outdated Magic-Celtics, Joe Paterno and “The Hills” references.
Have a nice holiday weekend!)
To some of you regular readers, I know you think of me as some crazed, bizarre, sports lunatic. A guy who falls asleep with West Coast baseball games on, and wakes up to replays of Sportscenter in the morning. A guy who watches classic college football games for "fun," reads passages from old Sports Illustrated's when he's bored, and even flips on the India-Pakistan cricket match when there's nothing else on TV. Well, with the exception of the cricket, you'd be right (Ok, ok, I watched cricket, but it was just ONE time. I swear!).
Admittedly, I wasn’t paying particularly close attention to the early stages of Tuesday night’s Pacers-Heat Game 5. It was one of those nights where stuff kept popping up; e-mails that needed to answered, phone calls, unexpected paternity suit paperwork. Ok, maybe not that last one. But we all have “those” nights, and for me, Tuesday night was exactly that.
Again, I was only kinda, sorta watching, but when I looked up early in the second quarter and unexpectedly saw blood trickling down Dwyane Wade’s face, well, I wasn’t surprised. As a matter of fact, my first thought was “Here we go again.” From the first minute, of the first game of this series, the Pacers have been trying to play the role of tough guys and trying to physically intimidate the Heat at every turn. Some nights it’s worked and some nights it hasn’t, but the idea that Indiana was trying to be the bully again was like hearing Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are now “dating.” Frankly, it didn’t shock me in the least.
From that point on I started paying a bit closer attention, and it also didn’t surprise me when a few plays later, Udonis Halsem came down the court, and threw down an equally hard foul on Tyler Hansbrough, Wade’s assailant on the previously mentioned play. We’ll get to why I wasn’t surprised in a minute, but the fact remains, the play didn’t catch me off-guard at all.
What did surprise me however, was the reaction to Haslem’s foul.
Yes the foul was hard, and yes it was unnecessary, but the way that most people reacted, you’d have thought Haslem pulled a knife on Hansbrough and shanked him on the way to the foul line or something. At that exact moment, Twitter blew up, and everybody pretty much had the same reaction: Haslem needs to be ejected! He needs to be suspended! Send him to Riker’s Island and throw away the key!
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Like the rest of you, I was stunned- I mean, absolutely stunned- to hear the news of former West Virginia coach Bill Stewart’s passing yesterday afternoon. It was the kind of information you see come across the wire, look at, process, look at again and then double-check to see if somehow you’ve misread something.
Bill Stewart? The football coach? Is dead? No, it can’t be true.
Only it is, with the timing and circumstances the most shocking part of all. The guy was seemingly healthy (he was playing golf at the time of his heart attack), relatively young (at just 59) and was a part of our everyday lives as college football fans as recently as a year ago. He wasn’t some coaching legend dropping dead after years of retirement obscurity. This news didn’t come after a long battle with an incurable illness. This was Bill Stewart- the guy who drove us nuts as college football fans every Saturday as recently as two years ago- being taken from us far too soon. The news is as sad, as sad gets.
With the information now a few hours old, and folks starting to share their stories, most every Bill Stewart obituary starts off by talking about Bill Stewart the person, not the football coach. Ask anyone who knew Stewart, and they’ll tell you he was a good guy, no, a great guy, in a profession that’s filled with barely any of them. In an off-season where Bobby Petrino got fired for literally riding into the sunset with a woman who wasn’t his wife, the “worst” things Stewart was known for (mainly, boneheaded decisions on Saturdays) really seem kind of trivial, don’t they?
As we continue to roll out the off-season college football podcast series, it only seemed appropriate that at some point, we touched on the defending National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama has turned into a college football super-power under Nick Saban, and- as you probably heard- just finished their second title run in three years. The big question now is, what’s next for the elite program in the sport?
Well earlier this morning, Alex Scarborough of ESPN’s TideNation.com stopped to discuss just that. We touched on a number of subjects, including…
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- With late-breaking news that Alabama has picked up a commitment from one of the top high school quarterback prospects in the country, we start by discussing Nick Saban’s recruiting prowess, and why- beyond the wins- he’s so effective at getting the best players in the country to come play for him. It really does seem like at this point players aren’t picking Alabama, but instead Alabama is picking players, and Alex explains why that is.
- We discuss a little bit about the 2011 title run and what to expect heading into 2012. After the slightly disappointing 2010 season, does this group have a better understanding of what it takes to “defend” a title?
- Alex shares insight into new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, and why teh system won't change under Nussmeier, but some of the roles and responsibilities of players might.
- Alex discusses the running back position, and especially the role that true freshman T.J. Yeldon might play. After tearing up A-Day this spring, is he ready to take on a big role? Or was his performance simply an abberation?
Over at the college football website I run, CrystalBallRun.com, I brought up what I thought to be a very interesting talking point yesterday afternoon: Has USC’s Pat Haden evolved into the best Athletic Director in college sports? Well, after thinking about it some more last night, doing some research, and talking to a few folks who’ve spent time around USC’s athletic department, I’ve decided to take this conversation one step further and say this: As of right now, Pat Haden is the best AD in college sports. Period. End of story. Thanks for coming, and drive home safely.
Phew, I’m glad we got that out of the way. And now that we have come to the broad, big picture conclusion of this article, let’s work our backward to the beginning, to see how we got there.
Of course before I get started, I should get one pretty big caveat out of the way: I do understand that in this case, “the best” is something that’s impossible to prove. It’s impossible to say that Haden is the “best” AD in college sports right now, in the same way it’s impossible to say that Nike makes the “best” shoes, pecan is the “best” pie, or that Kourtney is the “best” Kardashian sister. I may think it. I may feel it in my gut. But it is impossible to prove, especially with so many other really good AD’s out there. You know the names just like I do, and as college athletic departments have evolved into the multi-million dollar corporations that they are today, the men and women who are running them have evolved just the same. Guys like Mal Moore at Alabama, Jeremy Foley at Florida and DeLoss Dodds at Texas, are as bright and intelligent as anyone, in any field.
Then again when it comes to Haden and all his contemporaries, there is one major difference between the USC AD and everyone else: All of the others I just mentioned either walked into an already good job and made it great, or took a great job and made it elite. But Haden? He walked into the Roman empire, but did so after the fall had already begun.
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Of every college football player in recent memory, you could argue that none had a more tumultuous career for reasons outside his control, than former Tennessee Vol and recent Carolina Panthers signee Tauren Poole. From Phil Fulmer’s firing, to Lane Kiffin sneaking out the backdoor, straight through Derek Dooley’s orange pants, Poole saw it all, and late last week he joined me to discuss everything, including the NFL Draft process and much more.
Amongst the topics we discussed, included the following:
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- The early part of the NFL Draft process, including going to the East-West Shrine Game and the NFL Combine. Tauren also tells the story of the most inappropriate question he heard from an NFL player personnel representative, a question that will quite literally shock you.
- How Tauren handled the NFL Draft knowing that he might get undrafted, and why he actually barely watched the draft at all.
- The fast and furious nature from the free agent signing period that landed Tauren in Carolina. Why he chose the Panthers, and why a familiar face on the Panthers coaching staff should help make the transition easy for him.
- Why Tauren is so excited to play for the up-and-coming Carolina Panthers, and why admittedly, he’s excited to play with Cam Newton. Tauren also shares what it was like watching Cam tear through the SEC in his junior year, and why even as a fellow player, he became a “fan” of Cam.
On Saturday, the never-ending Ferris wheel ride that is college football realignment took another spin, when more rumors surfaced about a heavy flirtation between Florida State and the Big XII Conference. The news hit with a flash, and only got flashier when a high-ranking Board of Trustees member as well as FSU head football coach Jimbo Fisher both made public statements supporting the school’s effort to look outside the ACC. And when those comments hit, well my goodness did it cause an uproar; on Twitter, message boards, and every strange internet outpost in between.
There was one place that the news fell on mostly deaf ears though. That place? My house.
That’s right. You better believe I saw the news, and rather than sprinting to my computer to learn the facts, instead let the news roll off my back like water at the local pool. I didn’t click on any links, didn’t read any message boards and didn’t call up any friends in Tallahassee looking for the inside scoop. Instead, I caught a couple of Josh Hamilton’s at-bats that afternoon, readied for Game 7 of Nuggets-Lakers, and spent the rest of the evening enjoying life’s simple pleasures, like purchasing an overpriced drink at Starbucks and battling a couple haggard, middle-aged men for the last few Mother’s Day cards at Walgreens. To quote the movie “Old School” it really was a “nice, little Saturday.”
And ironically my apathy to the whole situation wasn’t planned. It wasn’t some deep-rooted, passive-aggressive stand against the powers that be in college football or anything like that (like they would’ve cared), but instead, the truth lies in a simple realization I came to while sipping on the mocha-frappa-whatchamacallit I bought at Starbucks.
That truth? I simply don’t care about college football realignment anymore.
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