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**Thanks goes to Condo for assistance on these rankings!**
By my rough estimation — and I do mean rough — today marks the end of the first quarter of Major League Baseball’s regular season. Now that the smoke is beginning to clear, the landscape of the league is beginning to take hold. Thus, I bring you the ‘First Quarter Power Ten’:
On the outside looking in: Philadelphia Phillies (21-18), New York Mets (19-17), Los Angeles Dodgers (19-18).
10. Minnesota Twins (20-17):The #10 spot was tough with the Phillies lurking but a divisional leader couldn’t be left out of the Power Ten no matter how bad their division is playing overall. The Twins are 7-3 in their last ten but many expected the American League Central to be far more competitive than it has been thus far.
9. Houston Astros (22-17): There really isn’t a National League Central bias to this list, I promise. The Astros are a top five run-scoring team and are jockeying for position with the big dogs of their division in the Cubs and Cardinals. Also, being 9-1 in their last ten helps.
8. Florida Marlins (23-15): Some people may plead for the Marlins to be higher considering they are tied with the best winning percentage in ‘The Bigs’ but we have to remember, it is the Marlins. They average less in attendance per home game than the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team and their 2008 team salary of $21,836,500 is roughly $6,000,000 less than Alex Rodriguez makes for one season. They are playing good now, but can they sustain it?
7. Los Angeles Angels (23-17): The Angels are still among the lead leaguers in runs scored despite Vladimir Guerrero only notching four RBIssince April 14th. The Angels are only a half of a game behind the division-leading Athletics and are just a few games shy of .600 baseball. When John Lackey returns to full health and Vlad returns to his old self, beware of the Angels.
6. Tampa Bay Rays (22-16):Some will argue the Rays don’t deserve to be this high as they are not knocking down the statistical record books and they are also still the Rays, a team that has never finished with a winning record and has never been six games above .500. However, Tampa Bay is getting it done thanks in part to pitching and, more specifically, their Bullpen. The Rays are only half of a game back of the Boston Redsox in arguably baseball’s toughest division in any year.
5.Saint Louis Cardinals (23-17): I am really not trying to drink the red Kool-Aid of the Cards, in part because they are a divisional rival of the Reds and I pretty much hate them. However, without Isringhausens’ five blown saves the Cardinals are 28-12 and sporting the best record in baseball by a long shot.
4.Okland Athletics (23-16): I make no bones about my love for Billy Beane around here along with his ‘more for less’ mentality. The A’s are leading the Majors in pitching and just picked up some guy they are calling “Big Hurt.” It may also help that the Athletics own the best team ERA in the MLB.
3. Boston Red Sox (24-17): The pitching for the Sox hasn’t been as good this year as last year with Buchholz sporting a lofty 4.50 ERA and with Beckett not being quite as dominate as in years past. But, hey, they are the Boston Red Sox and experience accounts for a lot. Plus the Sox are leading the American League in runs scored and have the most wins in the Majors.
2. Arizona Diamondbacks (23-15): The D-Backs are 5th in ERA and 2nd in batting average against, while being 3rd in runs scored and 9th in batting average in all of Major League Baseball. Oh yeah, they got that Brandon Webb guy, too (did I ever mention he’s my new hero?). And no, I don’t care that the Diamondbacks are currently on a losing streak of three games.
1. Chicago Cubs (23-15): Bob’s boys from Chi-Town are hitting well (1st overall in runs scored, 3rd in batting average) and they are pitching well (6th overall in ERA, 4th in batting average against) and all of this adds up to the Cubbies leading a surprisingly competitive National League Central — four teams at or above .500, a list that does not include my Redlegs but are you surprised?
As of Commencement this past Sunday, Brandon Webb and I now share one thing in common: we’re both alumni of the greatest university this side of Harvard, the University of Kentucky.
What we don’t share in common is our prowess on a pitching mound as Mr. Webb moved to 8-0in eight starts for the Arizona Diamondbackes tonight after a complete game, three earned run performance against the Phillies.
Webb is sporting an impressive 2.49 ERA while holding opposing hitters to below the Mendoza Line with an astounding .194 batting average against. Brandon has only given up two home runs this season while striking out 41.
Brandon Webb, you sir have become my new hero and you sir are a complete bad ass.
On the heels of one of the NFL’s most embarrassing seasons in recent history, thanks mainly to Michael Vick’s notorious dog-fighting ring, the start of many minicamps throughout the league has brought even more news that cannot be music to still-new commissioner Roger Goodell’s ears.
The Bengals notwithstanding, the first troubling news of the season came late last week and was by far the most surprising. Long time Colt Marvin Harrison was, and still is, being probed in a shooting that occurred outside of his bar in Philadelphia. Harrison is innocent until proven guilty, with no arrests having been made and no suspects having been named, but it is still tough to see a guy like Marvin even linked to a situation such as the one in Philly. Harrison and his agent are denying any involvement in the shootings and all that has ever been said about Marvin Harrison is that he is the one of the few true class acts in the league; hopefully Harrison is cleared of any charges by those investigating the case.
But with the Harrison situation looming this Monday morning, two more cases sprung up throughout the NFL featuring Bear Cedric Benson and Falcon Michael Boley, in separate issues. Benson, like Harrison, is denying most details listed in a police report that includes an alleged BWI charge and an alleged resisting arrest charge, one in which Cedric was eventually pepper sprayed for.
In the second case, Falcon defensive stud Michael Boley was arrested and charged with battery on Saturday and has since been released on bond.
I have crucified the Bengals over the years for their character issues off of the field, and I am not ready to pull a 180 degree switch and begin making excuses for athletes, but Benson’s side of the story is a fairly convincing one and it begins to beg the question: Are athletes being targeted?
One must take in to account that there are many more professional football players than other sports thus conventional wisdom would tell you that there would be more incidents involving football players while still being the same overall percentage of the population of their particular sport. I am also not insinuating that all of the targeting comes strictly from law enforcement, but it does seem feasible to me that someone with an agenda would choose to target a famous athlete in order to publicly ruin that athlete’s reputation.
It is beginning to look like we’re living in the age of scandal in sports which likely can be blamed, in part, on the internet’s ability to disseminate information — facts or falsehoods — very quickly. However, if the current pattern continues, it is shaping up to be a long season, and tenure, for Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“Why don’t you have a seat over there, I’d like to ask you a few questions. Try the lemonade, go ahead — help yourself. Do you know who I am? I am Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC.”
To be honest, I am not quite sure how I missed this subtle detail yesterday — and by subtle detail I mean hilarious revelation — but I blame the bourbon. However, thanks goes to loyal reader The General who pointed out that although Roger Clemens’ alleged affair with Mind McCready WAS a decade long, it supposedly started when McCready was an aspiring 15-year old singer while The Rocket was a 28-year old pitching phenom who could have had most any legal woman he wanted.
I still maintain per the Mindy mugshot from yesterday that if Clemens was going to cheat on his wife he should have at least made it worth while, and now knowing Mindy was 15 does not change that position much unless…well, you’re in to that sort of thing. If this isn’t the makings of this week’s To Catch A Predator I don’t know what is and if all of this is true then it sounds like Rog has some explaining to do.
Ahh, back-to-back Clemens posts…I really need to get out more. Did someone say bourbon?
Hands off Emmylou, Rog…you’ve already had your taste of Nashville.
Former personal trainer and glorified Andy Dick look-alike Brian McNamee has spilled the beans on Clemens’ decade-long bout of infidelity with country music singer Mindy McCready. The news is the latest in a series of mudslinging accusations between The Rocket and McNamee as part of the defamation of character suit Roger filed against Brian earlier this year.
Now I normally don’t care what people do with their own time as it is none of my business, but apparently when Clemens is suing for questioning his character we have to care. Truth be told I have lost all respect for Roger Clemens.
And not because he cheated on his wife but because it was with this:
Seriously Roger…this was the best you could do? Was Shania Twain not available?…Dude, remember, you’re THE ROCKET.
“I plan on winning THIS many more games while I’m a Giant.”
Just shy of a year and a half ago Barry Zito signed a very large contract for a pitcher. $126M over 7 years large. Since signing his absurd contract, Zito is a combined 11-19 for the Giants over the past two seasons including a 3 inning, 8 earned run loss in his most recent start against the Redlegs. No, not the reigning World Champions, those Redlegs. Now, a mere 16 months later, Zito is being demoted to the Bullpen to provide the most expensive 1 inning relief appearances in Major League Baseball history.
Zito earned $10.0M last year and will earn a cool $14.5M for the 2008 season meaning the Giants paid $909,090 per win last season and, well, I would tell you how much they’ve paid per win so far this season but that whole divide by zero issue may crash the site or kill us all.
Clearly Zito’s contract may end being one of the all-time worst contracts for a pitcher, ranking way up there with the Mike Hampton debacle from a few years back. However, It is tough to feel sorry for Zito as he is getting paid a very large sum of money for being a loser.
As many of you probably already know or most of you probably don’t care, Isiah Thomas was relieved of his duties as head coach by team president Donnie Walsh — who also happens to be Isiah’s current successor in the presedential position. So what will Isiah being doing, you ask?!:
“He will not have an official title, but he will provide meaningful input to me.”
Epic. And just what kind of meaningful input is Isiah going to provide? Maybe which female coworkers Donnie can make sexually suggestive behaviors to without consequence? Maybe…
Additionally, he will report directly to Walsh but Isiah but won’t have anyone reporting to him. Oh yeah, he’s also banned from contacting any members of the team.
So what IS Isiah going to be doing for $18.0M? No title, no subordinates, no contact, NO RESPONSIBILITIES!
Editor’s Note:Discuss this article NOW over at ACC vs. SEC! - Urlacher For Ocho?
Sources are reporting that current Chicagoan Brian Urlacher has asked for a trade through his agent and is flirting with retirement if not dealt.
My first thought? Chad Johnson and a draft pick for Brian Urlacher. Apparently the #85 jersey is available on the Bears but it appears as if David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune doesn’t like the idea (link).
I do, and I’ll tell you why. It fills a need for both teams.
Da Bears need a marquee wide receiver after releasing Muhsin Muhammad and seeing Bernard Berrian headed to the Vikings, while the Bengals need to do something with Chad Johnson because this situation is only going to get worse before it gets better.
On the other side, the Bengals need defense and lots of it. Urlacher is the play-making linebacker that Bengals’ fans have been begging for and thought they might have had in Odell Thurman before the “can’t stay out of trouble” bug bit the team. Brian, like Ocho Cinco, is seeking a trade.
Of course there are all kinds of contract issues I am not smart enough to figure out and relay to you fine people but I do know that Johnson’s contract MUST be restructured before any deal could be put in to place due the Salary Cap hit the Bengals would take. However, as Condo said, “if Chad ‘really’ wants to be traded, he’ll restructure.”
Plus, if they’re both making demands why not trade one problem for another?
Could this act be heading to “The Windy City”? I doubt Chicago fans want Chad but we’ll wait for Swerski to return from his most recent binge to weigh in from Bears Camp on the issue.
A Japanese high school baseball team recently surrendered 66 runs. Yes…66. Honestly, there arent enough cuss words to emphasize 66 runs in — wait for it — 1 and 1/3 innings.
“The coach of Kawamoto technical high school threw in the towel to spare his pitcher’s arm with his team losing 66-0 with just one batter out in the bottom of the second.
The hapless hurler had already sent down over 250 pitches, allowing 26 runs in the first inning and 40 in the second before Kawamoto asked for mercy.
‘At that pace the pitcher would have thrown around 500 pitches in four innings,’ Kawamoto’s coach was quoted as saying. ‘There was a danger he could get injured.’”
Um, 250 pitches? Was Dusty Baker coaching Kawamoto Technical High School? ZING!
There are a lot of jokes to be made about this situation, most of them being offensive so…yeah, 66 runs. Just let that sink in.
Holy SHIT.
In related news, the powers that be allowed the beating to be recorded as just a simple 9-0 loss for Kawamoto. Which is kind of like offering to rebuild a country after dropping a nuclear bomb on it.
I know this has long been making the blog rounds (Kentucky Sports Radio via Sports By Brooks…Google them, I’m too lazy to link right now) but anyone that knows this site — or more importantly knows me well — knows that Ric Flair is by and far my Hero and there aren’t many that you could say are a close second.
If Ric Flair hadn’t “made it” already, he officially has now.
The Nature Boy is a limousine ridin’, jet flying, kiss stealin’, wheelin’ dealing, Capitol Hill son of a gun!
The now-42-year-old Greg Maddux won his 349th game on Sunday — a day before his birthday — in a 5.0 inning outing against his former hotel stop, the Los Angeles Dodgers. I admittedly couldn’t stand Maddux when he was an Atlanta Brave and, to be truthful, I couldn’t so much as stand John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery or, well, any of the Braves either during their run of domination in the 1990s and early 2000s.
But I will also admit that the longer a player most pundits describe as a “class act” continues to perform at high levels in years long after he should be able to, the more I tend to like and respect that player. I think this is the case for most other sports fans and is best outlined most recently with the Brett Favre Love Fest this past NFL season. Most people — myself included — want to see just how long a particular player can continue on at a successful and high professional level past the 40-year-old plateau.
What is more remarkable about Maddux, however, is that he has been taking care of business with unparalleled consistency and durability since 1988, his third year in the league after entering as a rookie in 1986 with the Chicago Cubs, and with a fastball that only tops out around 47 MPH. The “Chicks Dig The Long Ball” commercial for Nike may have vaulted Maddux in to mainstream baseball popularity and 349 wins is an impressive feat, but a quit look at his season-by-season statistics tell the real story:
21 consecutive seasons with 25, or more, starts. 20 consecutive seasons with 198, or more, innings pitched. 20 consecutive seasons with 14, or more, wins. 14 total seasons with an ERA at, or below, 3.50. And all of this while sporting a career winning percentage of .620 with four different teams.
That is durability, that is consistency, and that is longevity.
Greg Maddux may very well be the greatest pitcher of my lifetime and he has acquired this designation without over powering size or power, but with unmatched control and a cerebral approach to the game of baseball. Maddux is a man among boys on the baseball mound in what has come to be known as “the steroid era” in Major League Baseball and all in a frame barely six feet tall and barely 170 pounds.
Greg Maddux’s career is simply amazing and though chicks may in fact dig the long ball, they also dig the long career.
For the love of God, can somebody PLEASE teach Adam Dunn how to slap one down the 3rd Base line?!?! Everytime I listen to a Reds radio broadcast, when Adam Dunn comes to bat all that I ever hear is:
“The defense has put the shift on Adam Dunn, the Shortstop is playing directly behind 2nd Base and the 3rd Baseman is playing where the Shortstop would on a double-play situation. Well I tell ya’, the 3rd Base line is WIDE. OPEN.”
Dunn has all four infielders playing on the right side of 2nd Base….
JUST STICK YOUR BAT OUT.
And oh, to answer your question…he struck out. I’m not kidding.
Some of the old school TNB faithful may recall that our renowned columnist Doc Hancock had a book deal in the works (shoe, commercial deals to come) with a publishing company up north. Doc has kept me abreast of the situation (heh, I said breast) and called me last night to let me know they had sent him the first page proofs, in electronic format no less, of his upcoming publication. Ryne felt inclined to share, for free, his eBook with the masses and TNB felt inclined to host and diseminate it (heh, I said seminate). I am sure Doc thanks all of you, especially his loyal readers, as I know I do.
I am very proud of Doc and am very pleased at the friendship and site we’ve built together. We’ll have updates periodically on the progress and will be hosting the free copy indefinitely. The working title was “Mr. Goodbars and Fly Balls” but consider yourself lucky as this early electronic page proof version may soon be limited edition now that Doc has already been told that he will have to edit the title stemming from copyright complaints from the Mr. Goodbar found in candy stores and grocery store checkout lanes across the nation.
The download is in .pdf format and is a free download. If you’re not familiar with Adobe Acrobat’s famed file format, to view the file you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader which is also a free download — don’t say I never gave you anything and Merry freaking Christmas, got it?
As most of you know by now, Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols won the tournament…AGAIN. And they got to cut down the nets…AGAIN. Making the 8th time Coach Summitt and Tennessee has accomplished this feat and the second time in as many years.
Below is a post from this very site dated April 4, 2007 — one year and five days ago. It was the 9th overall post ever and the 7th by me, of which only six had any real value — assuming ANY actually have real value to begin with.
Now granted I am lazy and slightly hungover (see: excessively), but the simple fact that I can conveniently recycle a post a year later — and probably could have used it for Tennessee’s other six Championships as well — combined with the shear absence of parity is why I refuse to follow women’s basketball. Oh yeah…and also because it sucks.
Let me preface this article by saying that I am by NO MEANS taking anything away from Pat Summitt, she is a wonderful coach, the type that only comes around once in a lifetime. She deserves all the credit for all of the success that she has had. That being said, even though she has as many National Championships as a coach as the University of Kentucky has as a school, I still don’t care. It is women’s basketball, and it doesn’t excite me. I cannot name one player outside of Diana Taurasi or “Shamika Holdslaw” (quotes because this is what Charlie Hustle called her and I found it funny…plus, I don’t want to get anymore hate mail) and I don’t think they play college basketball anymore.
Furthermore, there are a few teams that are good year in and year out and the rest of the competition pales in comparison. These teams mainly being Tennessee and Connecticut, with another random BCS Conference school thrown in here or there. It may be seem like an amazing feat, for Summitt to win seven, but it really isn’t. There isn’t enough talent or parity to go around and the same teams will always win, and the more they win the more these teams will draw all of the talent and continue to win. It is like NCAA Men’s Lacrosse, does anybody care about men’s collegiate lacrosse outside of a few prostitutes in the Duke University area? I didn’t think so.
Just like none of us can name any female basketball players, we can’t name any men’s lacrosse players either. Why did I bring up men’s lacrosse, you ask? Well, one of Virginia, John Hopkins, Syracuse, Princeton, or North Carolina has won the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championship for the past 29 seasons dating back to 1978. Just as either Tennessee or Connecticut has won the NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship 9 of the last 12 times. It just isn’t impressive if it comes down to the same two teams every season. It makes me wonder why we even have seasons for these sports. Why not cut to the chase and let Tennessee play Connecticut, best of three, and whoever wins is the National Champion for the next calendar year and we can all get back to something more important, such as Cheers reruns on TV Land.
UPDATE: At 11:30AM this morning Bengals.com reported that the fledgling franchise has cut my man Chris Henry. Al Davis has reportedly called Chris to offer his condolences and to let Henry know that “Oakland is really nice in the summer time.”
After recently being cited for driving on expired tags, embattled Cincinnati criminal wide receiver Chris Henry is now charged with assault after allegedly punching a gentleman at a party. Honestly, I am not even sure what numbered incident this is with the police for Chris…42nd?…43rd? I’ve lost count, and quite frankly it is not even fun anymore. The Bengals are a joke…
If you thought the Bengals couldn’t be any more of a joke at this point, check out the bizarre interview of Chad Johnson on a recent edition of SportsCenter:
Well, the original plan was to “shut the site down” as a joke for April 1st — original, I know. But considering the mood is a bit of a somber one due to the unexpected passing of Kentucky’s own Bill Keightley, it just didn’t seem appropriate.
All jokes aside, I was down enough to begin with knowing one of my childhood heroes, Ric Flair, was set to retire once-and-for-all when the news of Mr. Wildcat’s death hit the airwaves. Now I am not trying to compare a retirement to a death as the situation surrounding Bill is tragic one, and I am also not claiming I had any personal connection to the man, but the end of two very great eras in this sports fan’s fanhood have come to an end over the past 48 hours and pulling an April Fools Day prank just didn’t seem to be in the cards.
I could put it in to words what Bill Keightley meant to Big Blue Nation but I couldn’t have done it any better than Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio and if you still don’t completely understand where this fan is coming from then I suggest you read Mr. Wildcat Bill Keightley (1926-2008). I suspect, however, that whether or not anyone outside of Kentucky knew who Mr. Wildcat was, die hard sports fans will understand that it is tough to see a legend fall, knowing that a sports stalwart is gone forever.
The long tenured equipment manager for the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team, Bill Keightley — who was more affectionately known as “Mr. Wildcat” — has passed away at the University of Cincinnati Hospital after a fall from a bus at Great American Ball Park, home of his beloved Cincinnati Reds, WKYT in Lexington is reporting.
For those of you who don’t know Mr. Wildcat or his legendary status in the Kentucky program, I liken it to Joe Nuxhall passing away recently and his relationship with the Cincinnati Reds. Keightley’s tenure goes all the way back to the Adolph Rupp era of the Wildcats and he has been the equipment manager for every Kentucky head coach since then in the team’s illustrious history, winning three National Championships in the process.
The 81 year-old Keightley had just finished his 48th season with Kentucky after starting as assistant equipment manager in 1962 and then as equipment manager a few years later. Mr. Wildcat has become a Lexington icon and a stalwort on the bench for every game, home and away. It is a tough, tough loss for Big Blue Nation.
It is a sad day for myself and millions of fans, as well as the overall inspiration for TNB, as Ric Flair more than likely wrestled in his last match as a professional wrestler last night at WrestleMania 24. I grew up a big fan of professional wrestling with Ric Flair — and his trademark “WOOO!” — always being personal favorites of mine. It is fairly remarkable in a sport-entertainment business as hard on the body as is professional wrestling that one man could still work a great, twenty-minute match at 59 years of age; not to mention he has done so for over 35 years running.
I know what you are thinking: wrestling is fake as are the “career-threatening” story lines. And though I realize the outcomes are written in to an overall plot, the bumps and bruises along the way are most definitely real and are what make Flair’s run so impressive. Secondly, I would agree that the “retirement match” gimmicks are normally fictional, but with his Hall of Fame induction this past weekend, his family ringside, and all of the tributes and all of the tears, this was most definitely Flair’s last match and where better than at WrestleMania?
That’s not to say Flair won’t one day lace ‘em up again, but we won’t see The Man wrestle for quite some time, if ever, and that is tough to accept. The Nature Boy will be sorely missed by myself and I’ve enjoyed being entertained by The Dirtiest Player In The Game my entire life.
His legacy will live on as arguably the greatest professional wrestler of all time and, as always, “diamonds are forever, and so is Ric Flair! WOOO!”
For a Kentucky fan, choosing between the University of Louisville and the University of Tennessee is a lot like kissing your sister; no matter what the outcome is, it is still the worst experience of your life. I liken it to a death-row inmate having the choice between lethal injection or a firing squad. The end result is the same.
Can’t one just root for Charlotte Bobcats Arena of Charlotte, North Carolina to collapse in on itself like a dying star or to be sucked in to the fiery depths of Earth by some act of God? I mean, it’s nothing too personal…
Do I root for in-state arch rival Louisville? Or do I root for up-and-coming rival and in-conference Tennessee?
Ricky P. committed the ultimate blue-blooded sin when he returned to the college game as the coach of Kentucky’s little brother, but the ever annoying Bruce Pearl shoves pictures of his co-eds and that eye-burning orange blazer down the throats of Kentucky fans every chance he gets — not to mention I’ll likely vomit the next time I hear any form of Chris, Lofton, Chris Lofton, or “he’s asking Kentucky, ‘why didn’t you recruit me?’”.
Do I root for the advancement of basketball in my current home state, the state of Kentucky? Or do I root for the advancement of basketball in my current home conference, the Southeastern Conference?
Common thought may tell you to tell me to root for Tennessee because I hate them slightly less than I do Louisville and it makes the conference Kentucky spends most of their games in look better; however, Las Vegas and my brackets — as bad as they are — tell me that Louisville is where to place my bets.
I haven’t yet revealed my alliance for this evening and by my count I still have well over two hours. And two hours just may be ample time to get drunk enough that the game, and the outcome, are indistinguishable and irrelevant.
Everybody knows the storied history of the Kentucky Wildcats and, while they’re down by their standards in very recent history, the ‘Cats will no doubt be back at the top in the very near future under the tutelage of one Billy Clyde Gillispie.
Everybody knows of the successes of the Louisville Cardinals under Denny Crum, of which is being resurrected by Rick Pitino.
All the while Murray State, Morehead State, and even Eastern Kentucky have seen some intermittent success in the Ohio Valley Conference with former Kentucky Wildcats Kyle Macy and Travis Ford coaching at Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky, respectively, at some point throughout their coaching careers.
This year sees both the Louisville Cardinals and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers advancing to the Sweet 16 of the men’s NCAA Tournament which gives the state of Kentucky two Sweet 16 participants to tie California, North Carolina, and Tennessee as the most representatives per state.
There is, however, two less talked about teams also making their own way in the NAIA from the state of Kentucky in the form of Georgetown College and Campbellsville University. Both teams made the NAIA Fab Four that was played in Kansas City last night, and while both teams lost their respective games, the feat marked the first time that two Kentucky teams made the NAIA Fab Four in the same year.
Campbellsville University is a program that was sparked by the aforementioned Travis Ford and his 1997-2000 head coaching run that culminated with an NAIA Tournament appearance in his final season and a 67-31 overall record. Since then, Campbellsville has gone on to win the Mid-South Conference Tournment in 2006 and see NAIA Tournament appearances in three straight years from 2006-2008, with Sweet 16s in 2006 and 2007 to add to their Fab Four run of this year.
As good as Campbellsville has been, Georgetown has seen even more success over the years. The Tigers of Georgetown have reached the NAIA Fab Four eleven times to add to their four NAIA Championship Game appearances, with a National Championship in 1998, and an overall record of 1637-830-1 (.663). Head coach Happy Osborne has been at the helm for 12 years and has built an overall record of 371-66 (.849) during his stay.
Whether it be in distant history or recent, many states have made their case for basketball supremacy. From California to North Carolina and even Tennessee in the past few years, at some point all have had multiple teams fighting it out at or near the top. But from top to bottom, from large schools to small, the Commonwealth of Kentucky is still the ‘Basketball Capitol of the World.’
After a mediocre Day #1 on Thursday it seemed as if the Selection Committee might have gotten the seedings more right than ever despite the reported parity this year; then came the weekend. Two sets of 12 and 13 seeds, each from the same region, won on the same day for the first time in history. A San Diego Torrero squad that had supposedly handed Kentucky their most embarrassing home loss in recent memory saw Sunday play and fell just short of the Sweet 16 thanks to a streaking Western Kentucky team. We said goodbye to two #2 seeds, only the East saw the top four teams advance to the top four spots of the regional, and two 12 seeds and a 10 seed made it to the Sweet 16.
After starting out strong on Thursday and early Friday, I am left with a bracket that is one of my more pathetic offerings in sometime with my money bracket going a robust 9-7 in the Sweet 16. I can still go 6 for 8 in the Elite 8 and have all of my Final Four teams remaining so I am certainly looking forward to next weekend despite how boring the tournament was shaping up to be by late Thursday, but I can’t help but to wish bad things upon my bracket after the first four days.
UPDATE Sunday @ 11:28AM by Matt: Well, Day 4 is here…as I stated before, updates are inversely proportional to the number of beers I drink so you do the math. The wheels came off of the Beasley Bandwagon, Pitt blew my bracket out of the water, and UCLA looked like shit.
But what does all of this mean?
Well, all of the upsets and close calls are effectively paving an easier road for UNC. The boys from North Carolina are looking like a shoe-in to win it all, turning Roy Williams in to a Tar Heelian God. Madness it is.
Some updates to come, but I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!
Characteristics In The History Of Higher Education
The style and design of Memorial Coliseum illustrates two important characteristics in the history of higher education: the increasing ability to build large, imposing structures on a continuously growing institution and the growing emphasis and interest in athletics in higher education as more than merely an extra-curricular activity. Many were skeptical during construction regarding the size of Memorial Coliseum that a building of that magnitude would ever be useful or fully utilized on a college campus. History since then goes to show that in regards to Kentucky men’s basketball, they have far exceeded the expectations of those who designed Memorial Coliseum and fans are now filling an arena with more than three times the seating to its capacity in Rupp Arena. The current utilization of the facility for various collegiate athletic events, mainly in women’s athletics, as well as for numerous casual campus events shows how far campus life and the size of state-funded universities has come in just fifty years, which is a small frame of time in the complete historical record of higher education.
Depiction of History and Heritage
The University of Kentucky does a good job in using and depicting history by continuing to make buildings and facilities from the past, such as Memorial Coliseum, currently relevant in today’s world. Through renovations and upgrades, the university is able to keep historical buildings in working condition and useful for the current landscape of campus and extensive involvement in campus life.
There is a balanced mix of historical buildings and modern architecture on the campus of the University of Kentucky and though the campus may not be as entrenched in tradition and lore as many other institutions, the use of a historic building in Memorial Hall as part of the school’s flagship logo shows an embracing of the past by the administration.
Campus Community Members
Future campus community members need to realize the history and importance of architecture around campus and how and why each building was erected. In the case of Memorial Coliseum, it was nearly a nine year process from idea to completion and was built to serve the students as a complete athletic, physiological, and recreational facility to further campus life. The naming of the building was in honor of Kentucky’s own sons and daughters who died in World War I and in the Korean Conflict. Knowing the lasting legacies of events that took place in Memorial Coliseum and the legendary faces that walked the halls allows one to appreciate what the arena means to this campus, enabling effective work within the campus.
An example specific to Memorial Coliseum of an expectation for administration to know the historical importance of a building on campus was the unique situation created by the disposal of planks from the previous wood flooring during renovations in 2007. Many people were franticly trying to retrieve a piece of the basketball flooring from the construction dumpsters and most did not understand why the athletic department would throw away items that held such historical value on this campus. The approach of learning the history and importance of architecture is not limited to Memorial Coliseum, merely the research is, and thus it applies to all buildings on the campus of the University of Kentucky as well as any architecture on any college campuses and beyond. To appreciate something one must know it first.
To go along with behavior that may one day land him a lemonade-date and a seat with Chris Hanson from Dateline NBC, TNB’s favorite womanizer Bruce Pearl may now be able to add being anti-American to his repertoire of excellence.
The little talked about, yet tough, NCAA Tournament draw for Pearl’s Tennessee squad is #15 seeded American University and, after much deliberation, I have decided that it is un-American to root against American. If Bruce and his rowdy band of Volunteers don’t surrender by Friday’s tip-off, the FBI may very well add Coach Pearl to their Most Wanted Terrorist list, pushing him directly to the top (they should probably go ahead and add him to that Sex Offender’s Registry, too, while they’re at it…).
American University, representative of the Patriot League, uses the bald eagle as official mascot and sports red, white, and blue as official team colors. It is American University…it’s our Nation’s university. Think about it. When it comes to this matchup, how could one not root for American on Friday? Dare I say you’d be a Benedict Arnold not to?
(This post may, or may not, stem from my general distaste for most everything Tennessee.)
I do little to hide my humorous infatuation with ESPN sideline stalwart Erin Andrews but it is clear with her growing popularity that I am not the only loser hot on her trail. While I tend to joke around in a self-depreciating manner it is also nice to have a little fun at others’ expense.
That’s where Erin Andrews “Media Space” page enters in to the equation and comes to us thanks to Joe Sports Fan via Awful Announcing and is quite a read. Take the time to read the various comments left by other, celebrity Media Spacers as they’re all hilarious.
Obviously I realize the “Bloggers” comments are a joke on guys like me but it is well worth it with my personal favorites being the constant ribbing of Coach K — “I want you to develop as a reporter AND as a person.” — as well as Brady Quinn’s and The Ultimate Warrior’s comments.
“If I wasn’t clearly gay, I would totally have the hots for you, Erin.” -Brady Quinn (with picture goodness)
“WHEN I LOOK ABOVE TO THE HEAVENS, THE WARRIOR AND ALL HIS LITTLER WARRIAHS KNOWS THAT THE BEAUTY OF ERIN ANDREWS IS FLOATING THROUGH THE VEINS AND THE POWER OF THE WARRIAAHHHHHHH!!!!” -The Ultimate Warrior
And if you don’t understand the reference to The Ultimate Warrior, see the video below:
Matt
Charlie Hustle
Condo
Doc Hancock
Bob Swerski
Vega
or this: 
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