As I expected I received a fair amount of Duke hate last night. I’ll even admit that it is deserved. I cheered when everyone else in the nation swore in disbelief. If the shot goes in it is one of the greatest moments in the history of sports and will be replayed for decades. Instead Duke wins its fourth title a year after North Carolina won their title. That alone should make most people upset.
(I do feel bad for Matt Hayward today. Of all the players on the floor last night for either team he is the only one with pro prospects. He played a tough game, kept his team in it and just missed two chances in the last ten seconds to give his team the title. And how is he repaid for it? Every television station today showing his miracle half court shot clanking off the rim over and over and over again. That is just a cruel twist of fate.)
I’ll also fully take any blame sent my way for being a Duke fan without ever attending the school. Even more so given that the school rejected me twice over the years. There is no real logical sense for my being a fan anymore but I still am one. I really do think Coach K is a good coach and I typically like the players on the squad. I’ve known guys who played for Duke (in a roundabout way) and I’ve known coaches as well (a little more directly.) And after twenty years of being a fan it is tough for me to boo them. I know longer wear the t-shirts out in public but under most circumstances I will root for them.
Now I completely understand the dislike for the school and the program due to the arrogance of some of their fans. There is a great deal of entitlement assumed by Duke students and fans and it can be quite annoying. You can’t really like anyone who feels that they are owed a Final Four during their four years on campus and a few of their former players (Elton Brand comes to mind) really had an issue with it. You can say the same thing about Notre Dame football. No one likes fans with that chip on their shoulder even if it is earned.
The fallout from the Duke lacrosse scandal doesn’t help. Yes, the charges were fabricated but that doesn’t excuse what was some horrendous behavior by the team and the school during and after the events. There may not have been a crime but there was certainly a sense of being above the consequences. It still bothers me that the following year when I received a brochure from the Duke bookstore (don’t ask why) it prominently promoted Duke Lacrosse t-shirts. It just seemed so wrong. The players were innocent of the charges but it was still wrong.
So you have a reason to dislike Duke. Their fans can be arrogant. ESPN shows them all the time while your team never makes it on the air. Dick Vitale and all the other talking heads love them to a degree that nearly every Duke player turns out to be overrated. They got an easy draw in the tournament. They get more calls than they deserve. Even J. J. Reddick’s mom would like to punch him in the face. I don’t know how if Greg Paulus could have been a starting point guard how in the world I didn’t get a D-1 scholarship. All of those points are true…
But give this team credit. There isn’t a single guy on this Duke roster who is going to make an impact in the pros. Zoubek will be the 12th man due to the fact that he is a tall white guy. Singler and Scheyer might get some 10 day contracts as three point specialists. That is about it. This is just a group of guys who stayed in school, worked hard, played as a team and won the games they needed to win. That is worth something. It’s not storybook, it’s like Ivan Drago knocking out Rocky in the 12th, but sometimes you have to respect Goliath for holding on to his throne.
Showing posts with label Duke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duke. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Monday, April 05, 2010
Game of the Century
8:59 P.M.: And we are coming to you live from Sports Central at Battling the Current headquarters. I am joined by…looks around sheepishly…dear god do my parties suck.
9:00 P.M.: Yep, it’s live blog time once again as I will cover the NCAA basketball finals between Duke and Butler. It is David vs. Goliath and I am cheering for Goliath. Yes, I am pure evil.
9:01 P.M.: No, I am not kidding here, the Christian Laettner jersey has been unretired and I am once again wearing the Duke 32 jersey that I bought in college. It is a lot tighter now than it was before. It only comes out for title games and it does have a 2-1 record so we’ll see how it does tonight. I know that I wrote last week that I didn’t feel really connected to this team and I can’t say that I do so I will do my best to not be an obnoxious fan because I haven’t earned the right (plus I hate obnoxious Duke fans.) But, I really do admire Coach K and I would like to see him get his fourth title to move him past Bobby Knight and into the legendary level.
9:04 P.M.: Before the game starts I’ll mention that my Monday Weigh In is 209.5 pounds for a gain of 1 pound from last week. I gained a pound? How could that happen? I mean, I worked out once, kind of. I didn’t even eat meat on Friday. Time to kick it up a notch. Tomorrow.
9:11 P.M.: I’ve never quite understood the concept of “Prelude to a Championship.” No other sporting event has a prelude. It is the only time that a sporting event gets compared to a symphony.
9:16 P.M.: Can anyone explain to my why in the Enterprise Rental Car ad the guy let’s his mom drive? Dude looks to be nearing 30 at least. At that age you take the wheel, not your mom.
9:19 P.M.: Ok, it is really cool that Butler is the smallest school to make the title game since probably Indiana State. And that the players actually come from the same state that the school is located in (as opposed to Duke or West Virginia.)
9:22 P.M.: Well, if player introductions are any indications it is a rather partisan crowd in Indianapolis. And I might as well admit it now: the Butler head coach is younger than I am. Occasionally I think that I have accomplished some things with my life. Then I see someone like him and realize that I am completely wrong.
9:24 P.M.: Opening tip to Butler. I just lost 50 bucks on a prop bet. And Butler takes the lead costing me another 50.
9:25 P.M.: Duke takes the lead. All is right with the world.
9:29 P.M.: The Plumley brothers enter the game thus I believe setting a record for tall, non-mobile white guys on the floor at one time for a team playing for a title. Seriously, where the hell does Duke find all these guys? They never had depth in the frontcourt for the past decade. 6-4 Duke at the first television timeout. (Lance Thomas also has two fouls, which may become a factor later on.)
9:34 P.M.: A three second call? What the hell is this, a grade school game? Not that I wasn’t called for like a dozen or those in my lifetime.
9:36 P.M.: Zoubek draws a charge and doesn’t ruin the career of his opponent in a nice change of pace.
9:41 P.M.: It’s 16-14 Duke with a little over 11 minutes left. Butler plays hella good defense. And it’s not one of those trick zone defenses you use to disguise a lack of talent. They are just damn good defenders.
9:46 P.M.: One of the things about these games in domes that they use an elevated floor and that really bugs me. The benches are below the floor and the coaches sit on stools on the sideline. Coaches should stalk the sideline. Sitting on stools is for bad lounge singers.
9:49 P.M.: Butler leads by two with eight minutes left. Anxiety level: 2 out of 10. Also, Mr. Coke Zero guy: Dry your damn hair. You look like a total douche.
9:54 P.M.: The thing about Butler keeping this game close is that this isn’t one of those Duke squads that puts on those huge ten point runs in a minute on a team. They are really a grind it out type of team. If Butler keeps on hanging in with them they will be there at the end.
9:57 P.M.: And after I write that Duke goes on an 8-0 run and Butler wisely calls a timeout. But it still isn’t a killer run. It was an eight point run that featured defense, a jump ball and either a good move or a travel by Singler on a drive.
9:59 P.M.: I might as well start camping out for Iron Man 2 now. It just looks super cool. And the Butler players were in class today so I really like them for that.
10:04 P.M.: Someone needs to explain to Clark Kellogg that one team’s defensive rebounding is another team’s offensive rebounding. So if they are good at one it means that the other team is bad at the other. Still better than having to listen to Billy Packer though.
10:06 P.M.: Personally, I find it hysterical that the guy at Applebee’s who orders an under 500 calorie meal is doing so while drinking a 20 Oz. beer. Because, you know, beer doesn’t have calories. Or at least I hope to god that it doesn’t. Maybe that explains that weight gain.
10:10 P.M.: And it’s halftime with Duke leading 33 – 32. Really good first half by both teams with the refs deciding to let them play. I’d say that my anxiety level is at 4 right now. My feeling is that if Duke scores 70 they will win the game. Less than that and it is anyone’s game. Duke needs to get some rebounds though as Butler is getting a ton of second chance shots. But something in me has a bad feeling about this. Duke should be up by seven right now and they aren’t.
10:18 P.M.: The fan behind Greg Gumbel waving the sign that is cheering for Duke and the Patriots may quite possibly be the most annoying fan in the history of the planet. I’ll just make the assumption that he is a Red Sox fan as well. And it’s official that De’sean Butler absolutely destroyed his knee on Saturday night. I feel horrible about that because he seems to be a great guy and I hate the fact that his pro career was jeopardized in his last game. Hope he recovers.
10:25 P.M.: Great, Army of Darkness is on HBO. Now I’m going to have to decide what to watch.
10:32 P.M.: Here we go, twenty minutes to history. I’ll take Bruce Campbell over the army of skeletons in the other matchup.
10:34 P.M.: Well no one is going to say that Duke is getting calls tonight. No one is getting calls tonight. Guys on both teams are getting mugged tonight.
10:40 P.M.: 40 all with 15 minutes left. It honestly looks like Butler has seven people on the floor when they are on defense. I’ve never seen a ballhandler be double teamed and yet have no one open.
10:44 P.M.: Matt Howard of Butler, who has one of those mustaches you see on a high school senior, picks up his fourth foul. That is Butler’s main inside man out of there but Butler has been playing great when they have had to play small so I am not sure if that is a bad thing. Butler takes a one point lead to prove the point.
10:48 P.M.: It is so interesting that Jackie Earle Haley started his career as one of the kids in the Bad News Bears and then stayed out of the limelight until the past few years. He just had to wait until he grew into some new roles, which our characters like Freddy Kreuger and Rorshach. I really don’t want to know what happened to him after the Bad News Bears now that I think about it.
10:52 P.M.: And Duke draws one of its legendary Duke charging calls. Blame Dick Vitale for this. For years Vitale talked about how great Duke was at getting charges. Suddenly on every play under the basket Duke drew the charge. This has led to Duke guys flopping like mad trying to draw charges, which cost them the 99 title against UConn when the refs finally decided to stop calling it. Moral of the story: stop flopping unless you want to lose again.
11:03 P.M.: Always cool to find out that Butler has one of the Van Zants on the team. Skynyrd rules!!! Duke up four with a free throw to come with eight minutes left. Anxiety level is easily an 8 right now. I will say that this is one of the better championship games that I can remember in a long time. Probably since the Illinois – North Carolina game. Burn in hell Sean May, by the way.
11:09 P.M.: Kyle Singler is playing one hell of a game. Third big block of the night from a guy who isn’t known for it. Can’t convert on the other end though. Duke up five with under six minutes left. Butler keeps on making defensive stands when they have to. I really haven’t seen team defense like that for a long time.
11:14 P.M.: Lance Thomas takes down Matt Hayward and it looks bad but isn’t a flagrant foul. As the announcers say it is the right call but it sure looks like he got mugged. Butler cuts it to a one point game with five minutes left as Duke calls timeout. Anxiety level is now at 10. I’m freaking out right about now. I know I said that I didn’t really care about this team but hey, old habits die hard. That said, Butler is a freaking amazing team and if they win they completely deserve it.
11:17 P.M.: Another time out after Duke goes up three. Think about it. Butler had to go through Syracuse, Kansas State and Michigan State to make the title game. That means they had to play either the best or second best team in the Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten to play the best team in the ACC. That is a hell of an accomplishment for any team.
11:20 P.M.: Duke at the line with 3:16 left. I wish we didn’t have to go to commercials at this point. Now I have to deal with that weird British dude in the HP commercials talking to Dr. Dre. Talk about having a commercial that totally takes you out of a game.
11:23 P.M.: And it is a five point lead as we get another jump ball. Again, I can’t ever remember so many jump balls in a championship game. Hell, in any game. That is how tough the defense has been all night from both teams.
11:26 P.M.: Butler has lost their offensive rhythm and hasn’t made baskets in a few minutes. If it wasn’t for their tough defense, which just led to a travel call on Duke, this game would be decided. It is seven and a half minutes plus without a basket for Butler, which means that they just make one. Duke by three with the ball. Ninety seconds to go.
11:27 P.M.: Butler cuts it to one. 54 seconds left. Duke calls timeout. Anxiety level now 15 out of 10. I’m just going to write one entry from here on out. Duke loses the ball. Butler’s ball with 33 seconds left down one. No shot clock. Defense Duke. Defense. Out of bounds to Butler with 13.6 left. Butler calls timeout. Looks like we are going to be down to one shot for the title. Again, do we have to have commercials? Butler has to call timeout after not getting the ball inbounds. No timeouts left for Butler. I believe that I have stopped breathing. Hayward misses a challenged shot, Zoubek rebounds and is fouled with 3.6 left!!! Makes the first! Misses the second….Hayward from half court…..and hits the rim! Wow!!!!! How freaking close can you get!!!!
11:37 P.M.: I’m still not breathing. Duke 61 Butler 59. I wish my teacher, old friend and the guy who told me in 1987 to follow this team was still with us to see this moment. Four titles Kevin. I can’t believe it myself.
11:44 P.M.: One Shining Moment!!!
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Sally Timms “Cowboy Sally’s Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos”
2) Blue Rodeo “The Days in Between”
3) Webb Wilder “Hybrid Vigor”
4) The Subdudes “The Subdudes”
5) The Subdudes “Primitive Streak”
9:00 P.M.: Yep, it’s live blog time once again as I will cover the NCAA basketball finals between Duke and Butler. It is David vs. Goliath and I am cheering for Goliath. Yes, I am pure evil.
9:01 P.M.: No, I am not kidding here, the Christian Laettner jersey has been unretired and I am once again wearing the Duke 32 jersey that I bought in college. It is a lot tighter now than it was before. It only comes out for title games and it does have a 2-1 record so we’ll see how it does tonight. I know that I wrote last week that I didn’t feel really connected to this team and I can’t say that I do so I will do my best to not be an obnoxious fan because I haven’t earned the right (plus I hate obnoxious Duke fans.) But, I really do admire Coach K and I would like to see him get his fourth title to move him past Bobby Knight and into the legendary level.
9:04 P.M.: Before the game starts I’ll mention that my Monday Weigh In is 209.5 pounds for a gain of 1 pound from last week. I gained a pound? How could that happen? I mean, I worked out once, kind of. I didn’t even eat meat on Friday. Time to kick it up a notch. Tomorrow.
9:11 P.M.: I’ve never quite understood the concept of “Prelude to a Championship.” No other sporting event has a prelude. It is the only time that a sporting event gets compared to a symphony.
9:16 P.M.: Can anyone explain to my why in the Enterprise Rental Car ad the guy let’s his mom drive? Dude looks to be nearing 30 at least. At that age you take the wheel, not your mom.
9:19 P.M.: Ok, it is really cool that Butler is the smallest school to make the title game since probably Indiana State. And that the players actually come from the same state that the school is located in (as opposed to Duke or West Virginia.)
9:22 P.M.: Well, if player introductions are any indications it is a rather partisan crowd in Indianapolis. And I might as well admit it now: the Butler head coach is younger than I am. Occasionally I think that I have accomplished some things with my life. Then I see someone like him and realize that I am completely wrong.
9:24 P.M.: Opening tip to Butler. I just lost 50 bucks on a prop bet. And Butler takes the lead costing me another 50.
9:25 P.M.: Duke takes the lead. All is right with the world.
9:29 P.M.: The Plumley brothers enter the game thus I believe setting a record for tall, non-mobile white guys on the floor at one time for a team playing for a title. Seriously, where the hell does Duke find all these guys? They never had depth in the frontcourt for the past decade. 6-4 Duke at the first television timeout. (Lance Thomas also has two fouls, which may become a factor later on.)
9:34 P.M.: A three second call? What the hell is this, a grade school game? Not that I wasn’t called for like a dozen or those in my lifetime.
9:36 P.M.: Zoubek draws a charge and doesn’t ruin the career of his opponent in a nice change of pace.
9:41 P.M.: It’s 16-14 Duke with a little over 11 minutes left. Butler plays hella good defense. And it’s not one of those trick zone defenses you use to disguise a lack of talent. They are just damn good defenders.
9:46 P.M.: One of the things about these games in domes that they use an elevated floor and that really bugs me. The benches are below the floor and the coaches sit on stools on the sideline. Coaches should stalk the sideline. Sitting on stools is for bad lounge singers.
9:49 P.M.: Butler leads by two with eight minutes left. Anxiety level: 2 out of 10. Also, Mr. Coke Zero guy: Dry your damn hair. You look like a total douche.
9:54 P.M.: The thing about Butler keeping this game close is that this isn’t one of those Duke squads that puts on those huge ten point runs in a minute on a team. They are really a grind it out type of team. If Butler keeps on hanging in with them they will be there at the end.
9:57 P.M.: And after I write that Duke goes on an 8-0 run and Butler wisely calls a timeout. But it still isn’t a killer run. It was an eight point run that featured defense, a jump ball and either a good move or a travel by Singler on a drive.
9:59 P.M.: I might as well start camping out for Iron Man 2 now. It just looks super cool. And the Butler players were in class today so I really like them for that.
10:04 P.M.: Someone needs to explain to Clark Kellogg that one team’s defensive rebounding is another team’s offensive rebounding. So if they are good at one it means that the other team is bad at the other. Still better than having to listen to Billy Packer though.
10:06 P.M.: Personally, I find it hysterical that the guy at Applebee’s who orders an under 500 calorie meal is doing so while drinking a 20 Oz. beer. Because, you know, beer doesn’t have calories. Or at least I hope to god that it doesn’t. Maybe that explains that weight gain.
10:10 P.M.: And it’s halftime with Duke leading 33 – 32. Really good first half by both teams with the refs deciding to let them play. I’d say that my anxiety level is at 4 right now. My feeling is that if Duke scores 70 they will win the game. Less than that and it is anyone’s game. Duke needs to get some rebounds though as Butler is getting a ton of second chance shots. But something in me has a bad feeling about this. Duke should be up by seven right now and they aren’t.
10:18 P.M.: The fan behind Greg Gumbel waving the sign that is cheering for Duke and the Patriots may quite possibly be the most annoying fan in the history of the planet. I’ll just make the assumption that he is a Red Sox fan as well. And it’s official that De’sean Butler absolutely destroyed his knee on Saturday night. I feel horrible about that because he seems to be a great guy and I hate the fact that his pro career was jeopardized in his last game. Hope he recovers.
10:25 P.M.: Great, Army of Darkness is on HBO. Now I’m going to have to decide what to watch.
10:32 P.M.: Here we go, twenty minutes to history. I’ll take Bruce Campbell over the army of skeletons in the other matchup.
10:34 P.M.: Well no one is going to say that Duke is getting calls tonight. No one is getting calls tonight. Guys on both teams are getting mugged tonight.
10:40 P.M.: 40 all with 15 minutes left. It honestly looks like Butler has seven people on the floor when they are on defense. I’ve never seen a ballhandler be double teamed and yet have no one open.
10:44 P.M.: Matt Howard of Butler, who has one of those mustaches you see on a high school senior, picks up his fourth foul. That is Butler’s main inside man out of there but Butler has been playing great when they have had to play small so I am not sure if that is a bad thing. Butler takes a one point lead to prove the point.
10:48 P.M.: It is so interesting that Jackie Earle Haley started his career as one of the kids in the Bad News Bears and then stayed out of the limelight until the past few years. He just had to wait until he grew into some new roles, which our characters like Freddy Kreuger and Rorshach. I really don’t want to know what happened to him after the Bad News Bears now that I think about it.
10:52 P.M.: And Duke draws one of its legendary Duke charging calls. Blame Dick Vitale for this. For years Vitale talked about how great Duke was at getting charges. Suddenly on every play under the basket Duke drew the charge. This has led to Duke guys flopping like mad trying to draw charges, which cost them the 99 title against UConn when the refs finally decided to stop calling it. Moral of the story: stop flopping unless you want to lose again.
11:03 P.M.: Always cool to find out that Butler has one of the Van Zants on the team. Skynyrd rules!!! Duke up four with a free throw to come with eight minutes left. Anxiety level is easily an 8 right now. I will say that this is one of the better championship games that I can remember in a long time. Probably since the Illinois – North Carolina game. Burn in hell Sean May, by the way.
11:09 P.M.: Kyle Singler is playing one hell of a game. Third big block of the night from a guy who isn’t known for it. Can’t convert on the other end though. Duke up five with under six minutes left. Butler keeps on making defensive stands when they have to. I really haven’t seen team defense like that for a long time.
11:14 P.M.: Lance Thomas takes down Matt Hayward and it looks bad but isn’t a flagrant foul. As the announcers say it is the right call but it sure looks like he got mugged. Butler cuts it to a one point game with five minutes left as Duke calls timeout. Anxiety level is now at 10. I’m freaking out right about now. I know I said that I didn’t really care about this team but hey, old habits die hard. That said, Butler is a freaking amazing team and if they win they completely deserve it.
11:17 P.M.: Another time out after Duke goes up three. Think about it. Butler had to go through Syracuse, Kansas State and Michigan State to make the title game. That means they had to play either the best or second best team in the Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten to play the best team in the ACC. That is a hell of an accomplishment for any team.
11:20 P.M.: Duke at the line with 3:16 left. I wish we didn’t have to go to commercials at this point. Now I have to deal with that weird British dude in the HP commercials talking to Dr. Dre. Talk about having a commercial that totally takes you out of a game.
11:23 P.M.: And it is a five point lead as we get another jump ball. Again, I can’t ever remember so many jump balls in a championship game. Hell, in any game. That is how tough the defense has been all night from both teams.
11:26 P.M.: Butler has lost their offensive rhythm and hasn’t made baskets in a few minutes. If it wasn’t for their tough defense, which just led to a travel call on Duke, this game would be decided. It is seven and a half minutes plus without a basket for Butler, which means that they just make one. Duke by three with the ball. Ninety seconds to go.
11:27 P.M.: Butler cuts it to one. 54 seconds left. Duke calls timeout. Anxiety level now 15 out of 10. I’m just going to write one entry from here on out. Duke loses the ball. Butler’s ball with 33 seconds left down one. No shot clock. Defense Duke. Defense. Out of bounds to Butler with 13.6 left. Butler calls timeout. Looks like we are going to be down to one shot for the title. Again, do we have to have commercials? Butler has to call timeout after not getting the ball inbounds. No timeouts left for Butler. I believe that I have stopped breathing. Hayward misses a challenged shot, Zoubek rebounds and is fouled with 3.6 left!!! Makes the first! Misses the second….Hayward from half court…..and hits the rim! Wow!!!!! How freaking close can you get!!!!
11:37 P.M.: I’m still not breathing. Duke 61 Butler 59. I wish my teacher, old friend and the guy who told me in 1987 to follow this team was still with us to see this moment. Four titles Kevin. I can’t believe it myself.
11:44 P.M.: One Shining Moment!!!
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Sally Timms “Cowboy Sally’s Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos”
2) Blue Rodeo “The Days in Between”
3) Webb Wilder “Hybrid Vigor”
4) The Subdudes “The Subdudes”
5) The Subdudes “Primitive Streak”
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Banners and Bandwagons
Wow, the game wasn’t even over yet and I had people writing me to inform me that Duke sucks. Yes, I know that very well. They also play incredibly ugly basketball but for some reason they just keep on winning. I guess that you can tell that my fandom has started to wane as I really am not celebrating this final four berth. Mainly because I don’t think that I earned the right to celebrate it as a fan.
If there is one thing that I cannot stand it is bandwagon fans. Those are the people who suddenly show up to support their local teams just when they start to win. As a kid growing up in Chicago the idea of supporting a winner was pretty foreign to me because the teams never won. You had to support your team through the crappy seasons because otherwise you would have no reason to ever go to the games. So I’ve tried really hard in my life to not be the guy who buys the team shirt just as they enter the playoffs.
And while I have more Duke related clothing than I know what to do with they all come from a different part of my life. To be honest I haven’t bought a new Duke shirt in probably eight years and what I do have a) doesn’t fit me and b) is by definition at least eight years old and in some cases nearly twenty years old. This will come as surprising to people who have known me for a long time but outside of workout clothes my Duke gear is no longer part of my wardrobe.
Up until this weekend I don’t even think that I watched a full Duke game. I certainly didn’t want the Duke – Carolina matchups which in previous years were like holy days to me. I didn’t even know that Duke had two brothers on the team. Outside of a few of their veteran starters the team was pretty unknown to me. I still cheered for them but I just could never bring myself to be a huge fan. This is partly because they really do play an ugly style of basketball: a grinding, defensive, brutally physical style of play. It works but there isn’t much joy in it (especially when compared to a team like the Illinois Final Four team that may have been the most exciting basketball I have ever seen.) But the biggest problem is that the team plays like a bunch of whiners.
It’s an outgrowth of the J. J. Reddick years. I know that some people would point to Laettner and Hurley for starting all of this but those teams were at least out there trying to prove themselves. Wojo may have wined a bit but he was also an undersized, feisty point guard who fouled on every single possession. In past years though the guys who play for Duke act as if they are owed calls and respect simply for the name on the uniform. Scheyer pulled it off this evening and drew a technical on Baylor. At times I just want to tell the team to suck it up and play.
I still cheer for Duke. I have my poster of the 89 / 90 squad next to me as I write this. The Duke – Kentucky game may still be one of the five greatest moments of my life. But it just isn’t a big deal any more. The school rejected me twice and I’ve gotten over it. My life has moved on and improved. I don’t need a basketball team to justify my existence any more.
Best of 120 Minutes: I’m just in a Soul Asylum mood at the moment.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Steve Earle “Transcendental Blues”
2) Gear Daddies “Can’t Have Nothing Nice”
3) The Police “Live”
4) Various Artists “Real: The Tom T. Hall Project”
5) Sting “The Soul Cages” (the first CD I ever bought for anyone wondering)
If there is one thing that I cannot stand it is bandwagon fans. Those are the people who suddenly show up to support their local teams just when they start to win. As a kid growing up in Chicago the idea of supporting a winner was pretty foreign to me because the teams never won. You had to support your team through the crappy seasons because otherwise you would have no reason to ever go to the games. So I’ve tried really hard in my life to not be the guy who buys the team shirt just as they enter the playoffs.
And while I have more Duke related clothing than I know what to do with they all come from a different part of my life. To be honest I haven’t bought a new Duke shirt in probably eight years and what I do have a) doesn’t fit me and b) is by definition at least eight years old and in some cases nearly twenty years old. This will come as surprising to people who have known me for a long time but outside of workout clothes my Duke gear is no longer part of my wardrobe.
Up until this weekend I don’t even think that I watched a full Duke game. I certainly didn’t want the Duke – Carolina matchups which in previous years were like holy days to me. I didn’t even know that Duke had two brothers on the team. Outside of a few of their veteran starters the team was pretty unknown to me. I still cheered for them but I just could never bring myself to be a huge fan. This is partly because they really do play an ugly style of basketball: a grinding, defensive, brutally physical style of play. It works but there isn’t much joy in it (especially when compared to a team like the Illinois Final Four team that may have been the most exciting basketball I have ever seen.) But the biggest problem is that the team plays like a bunch of whiners.
It’s an outgrowth of the J. J. Reddick years. I know that some people would point to Laettner and Hurley for starting all of this but those teams were at least out there trying to prove themselves. Wojo may have wined a bit but he was also an undersized, feisty point guard who fouled on every single possession. In past years though the guys who play for Duke act as if they are owed calls and respect simply for the name on the uniform. Scheyer pulled it off this evening and drew a technical on Baylor. At times I just want to tell the team to suck it up and play.
I still cheer for Duke. I have my poster of the 89 / 90 squad next to me as I write this. The Duke – Kentucky game may still be one of the five greatest moments of my life. But it just isn’t a big deal any more. The school rejected me twice and I’ve gotten over it. My life has moved on and improved. I don’t need a basketball team to justify my existence any more.
Best of 120 Minutes: I’m just in a Soul Asylum mood at the moment.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Steve Earle “Transcendental Blues”
2) Gear Daddies “Can’t Have Nothing Nice”
3) The Police “Live”
4) Various Artists “Real: The Tom T. Hall Project”
5) Sting “The Soul Cages” (the first CD I ever bought for anyone wondering)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Sports Night everynight...
Wednesday Night Music Club: I know that when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of covers of old Dolly Parton songs. Ok, maybe not quite that but it is really tough to make a segue into this one. I'm not even sure why this came to mind other than I think I was talking about Mindy Smith to someone a few weeks ago and I figured that she was someone I should promote in this space. If anything, she has a new Christmas album out that is supposed to be really good so if you like this song and want to get in the holiday spirit, there's the first item on your shopping list. After, of course, stopping by Kohl's at four in the morning.
Seriously, Kohl's is having a 4 AM sale on Friday. To anyone who is shopping for me, I am nowhere near important enough to shop for at four in the morning. Unless you are actually coming back from a bar there is no legitimate reason to be awake at four in the morning.
Ok, in lieu of actual topics tonight I'm going to respond to some of the comments on the last few posts...
On the play of Jimmy Claussen, I have seen a few comparisons of Claussen's numbers to Quinn's and yes, numerically speaking they look the same. But, and it really pains me to imply that this could ever be the case, numbers aren't the whole story. While Brady Quinn was not a good quarterback as a freshman at least I was confident that he was, in fact, a quarterback. There was promise there and while he was getting his ass kicked you at least saw a glimmer of hope.
I don't see that with Claussen even though I was one of his biggest backers coming into the season. The guy has a great arm (better than his brothers) and was raised to be a quarterback. The thing is he just doesn't seem to be smart back there. While at the game Saturday there were plays where I knew precisely who he was throwing to because as soon as the ball was snapped that is all he looked at and was oblivious to other receivers or defensive lineman. When the guy who never played football in his life can read your eyes something is horribly wrong.
And the other thing that really bothers me is that while he is officially a true freshman the dude is 20 years old. His birthday is a few weeks after mine. Do you know what I was doing when I was 20? I was a junior in electrical engineering at Illinois, not taking intro to everything classes at Notre Dame. That just really bothers me. Physically you are pretty much what you are going to be at 20 and sure, he can get smarter at football but it's a lot different than if he was an 18 year old freshman. Maybe it's just me but that really bugs me in terms of his development.
I did decide not to live blog the Duke-Illinois game last night mainly because I didn't feel like subjecting everyone to a post consisting of "Brian Randle just fouled someone", "For crying out loud, can we hit a freaking jumper" and "It's nice to know that I have more athletic ability than Jordan's kid." I'll start on the Illinois side. The team looked better than I had imagined but even that wasn't very good. They are fifteen deep except that there really isn't any difference between the best guy and the fifteenth guy. That's not a good thing. They showed promise and played good defense most of the night but there isn't a superstar on that team. I'm hoping that they find a flow and sneak into the tournament but that might not happen. Heck, it's never a good sign when the coach's dog needs knee surgery.
As for Duke they definitely look like a better team than last year. That's not saying much as last year's squad was not the worst Duke team I ever saw but definitely the most painful to watch. They just played ugly basketball with none of the style that made me follow the team in the first place. It was hacking defense and slow, ponderous offense. This year's squad shows more promise and athleticism with additions of some freshmen who appear to be both talented and already hated. Cheering for Duke is kind of like cheering for Microsoft in that regard. Greg Paulus still plays point guard like he is running a wishbone offense and he really makes me miss the days of Bobby Hurley running the offense while simultaneously smoking a cigarette.
Speaking of wishbones, have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Screw Jason Kidd and California
Virginia Commonwealth? We lost to freaking Virginia Commonwealth? A school whose mascot is…does anyone even know what their mascot is? Do they even have one? This is a sad day for a Duke fan. I didn’t expect much from this team. Definitely not a national championship. But I thought that we’d at least get past the first round. Oh, and I also thought that with seconds left in a tie game that Scheyer would, you know, guard the guy with the ball as opposed to letting him take an open jumper in the lane.
I should look at the positives here. My calendar for Saturday just opened up a lot so I’ll be able to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day whenever the hell I want. That is important as I expect things to be pretty insane. I talked to Jamie (one of my favorite bartenders) this week and we joked about how much she is dreading St. Patrick’s Day. While it’s a profitable day behind the bar it’s also busy and insane. This year is going to be worse. Not only do you have the regular St. Pat’s revelers but it’s also a Saturday and the weather is nice. I’ll be amongst the crowd, though mainly to put in my field reports discussing the number of arrests I see in front of me.
(True story, one year I saw the cops just tackle this guy who was walking in front of me. As I see them go to cuff them me and this guy next to me both start muttering “Use the taser. Come on, use the taser.” No matter how old I get, my life still resembles a Beavis and Butthead episode.)
(Other fun story from Jamie. While talking to her these other girls at the bar asked if I ever went to any of the other bars in the area. I said no because it’s Martini Corner and I’m not a martini type of guy, which caused Jamie to start laughing as she went, “Yeah, I don’t know how to make a martini out of beer.” I am at the point where even if I ordered something different the bartenders would still serve me my usual. I’m no longer allowed to change.)
Not much else to add this evening. The office was dead quiet as a lot of people took the day off and I’m taking tomorrow off so that I can watch basketball, get some work done on my car and make yet another attempt to reorganize my life. Oh, and I really should get started on my book. I haven’t started it, thus making that April 15th deadline pretty much unreachable. I’m still going to do the project, it’s just that the timeline has shifted. I have finished cataloguing all of the old posts and I’ve realized that a) none of my posts are ever about one thing, b) when in doubt I always break out Star Wars analogies and c) I think I’ve written more words about Britney than I have my beloved Lindsay. It’s that last point that bothers me.
Have a great weekend, enjoy St. Pat’s Day safely, and Go Irish (and Illini).
I should look at the positives here. My calendar for Saturday just opened up a lot so I’ll be able to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day whenever the hell I want. That is important as I expect things to be pretty insane. I talked to Jamie (one of my favorite bartenders) this week and we joked about how much she is dreading St. Patrick’s Day. While it’s a profitable day behind the bar it’s also busy and insane. This year is going to be worse. Not only do you have the regular St. Pat’s revelers but it’s also a Saturday and the weather is nice. I’ll be amongst the crowd, though mainly to put in my field reports discussing the number of arrests I see in front of me.
(True story, one year I saw the cops just tackle this guy who was walking in front of me. As I see them go to cuff them me and this guy next to me both start muttering “Use the taser. Come on, use the taser.” No matter how old I get, my life still resembles a Beavis and Butthead episode.)
(Other fun story from Jamie. While talking to her these other girls at the bar asked if I ever went to any of the other bars in the area. I said no because it’s Martini Corner and I’m not a martini type of guy, which caused Jamie to start laughing as she went, “Yeah, I don’t know how to make a martini out of beer.” I am at the point where even if I ordered something different the bartenders would still serve me my usual. I’m no longer allowed to change.)
Not much else to add this evening. The office was dead quiet as a lot of people took the day off and I’m taking tomorrow off so that I can watch basketball, get some work done on my car and make yet another attempt to reorganize my life. Oh, and I really should get started on my book. I haven’t started it, thus making that April 15th deadline pretty much unreachable. I’m still going to do the project, it’s just that the timeline has shifted. I have finished cataloguing all of the old posts and I’ve realized that a) none of my posts are ever about one thing, b) when in doubt I always break out Star Wars analogies and c) I think I’ve written more words about Britney than I have my beloved Lindsay. It’s that last point that bothers me.
Have a great weekend, enjoy St. Pat’s Day safely, and Go Irish (and Illini).
Monday, March 05, 2007
Jeez, even Adam Curry would have been acceptible
(I know a few people are wondering about why I didn’t talk about Duke-Carolina last night. There are two reasons. Reason #1: I finished my workout with a minute left in the game so I didn’t actually watch the last thirty seconds of the game. Reason #2: Honestly, if you had a chance to throw an elbow in Tyler Hansborough’s face wouldn’t you do so? I’d certainly swing away.)
After checking out some reactions online apparently I was the only person who found The Winner to be funny. I’m sorry, but I pretty much find any show about a 32 year old who lives with his parents to be incredibly funny. It worked with Get a Life and it works today. (Admittedly, I think I was the only person who liked Get a Life as well.) I’m not saying that it is the greatest show ever produced but it is at least better than According to Jim. Hell, anything is better than According to Jim.
Including the Geico Cavemen Variety Hour. Not sure if every caught this story but they are apparently filming a pilot about the lives of the Cavemen in those Geico commercials. The basis of the show is to follow how they adapt to life in Atlanta. I’m not sure how they chose Atlanta, other than they looked at a list of most populous cities in alphabetical order and lazily picked the first one. Who am I kidding, this is the laziest idea for a show ever. It’s going to be a complete rip-off of Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. Plus, while those commercials are funny for thirty seconds I have no idea how you make that a funny bit for a 30 minute episode, much less an entire season. But, this just tells me that I really need to get working on that pilot of mine. I’m pretty sure that the jury duty episode would sell the entire series.
I’ll stay with this television theme and talk about something I really don’t want to admit that I watch: The Surreal Life Fame Games. Not quite sure why I’m hesitant to admit this, I’m pretty sure that my Voltron confession has proven to the world that I am now embracing my geekitude. Heck, I’m one step away from appearing on the Sci-Fi Channel’s “America’s Next Top Dungeon Master”. Anyway, this edition of The Surreal Life takes people from past shows (Vanilla Ice, Ron Jeremy, Verne Troyer, Pepa and Andrea the chick from Playboy who is rather cool for a Playboy model) and has them competing against each other for prizes. These people are serious, too. I think that since they are admitting embarrassment by being on the show they feel they might as well win.
Anyway, in this weeks episode each of the contestants had eight hours to see how many celebrities could return their phone calls. This had a couple of people pimping out their rolodex while someone like Verne really didn’t want to compete because he didn’t want to bug his friends (who just happen to be people like Busta Rhymes and Ludacris). At the end the winner was judged based on how popular their celebrities were. Your guest judge? Kennedy.
Yes, that Kennedy. The one from Alternative Nation. The one you despised from Alternative Nation. The one where you thought, “Well, she’s vaguely attractive but odds are she’s going to try to run me over in the parking lot.” Apparently, she still has a job in radio, is a professed pop culture expert (please, leave that to professionals like myself) and hosts her own reality talk show. You would think that over time she would have mellowed with age. Sadly, after watching her for five minutes I once again had that familiar feeling of wanting to smack her across the back of her head with a shovel.
Come on VH-1. Would it have killed you to hire Tabitha Soren for a day? Sure, she might not be a “pop culture expert” but at least I’d like to see her again.
After checking out some reactions online apparently I was the only person who found The Winner to be funny. I’m sorry, but I pretty much find any show about a 32 year old who lives with his parents to be incredibly funny. It worked with Get a Life and it works today. (Admittedly, I think I was the only person who liked Get a Life as well.) I’m not saying that it is the greatest show ever produced but it is at least better than According to Jim. Hell, anything is better than According to Jim.
Including the Geico Cavemen Variety Hour. Not sure if every caught this story but they are apparently filming a pilot about the lives of the Cavemen in those Geico commercials. The basis of the show is to follow how they adapt to life in Atlanta. I’m not sure how they chose Atlanta, other than they looked at a list of most populous cities in alphabetical order and lazily picked the first one. Who am I kidding, this is the laziest idea for a show ever. It’s going to be a complete rip-off of Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. Plus, while those commercials are funny for thirty seconds I have no idea how you make that a funny bit for a 30 minute episode, much less an entire season. But, this just tells me that I really need to get working on that pilot of mine. I’m pretty sure that the jury duty episode would sell the entire series.
I’ll stay with this television theme and talk about something I really don’t want to admit that I watch: The Surreal Life Fame Games. Not quite sure why I’m hesitant to admit this, I’m pretty sure that my Voltron confession has proven to the world that I am now embracing my geekitude. Heck, I’m one step away from appearing on the Sci-Fi Channel’s “America’s Next Top Dungeon Master”. Anyway, this edition of The Surreal Life takes people from past shows (Vanilla Ice, Ron Jeremy, Verne Troyer, Pepa and Andrea the chick from Playboy who is rather cool for a Playboy model) and has them competing against each other for prizes. These people are serious, too. I think that since they are admitting embarrassment by being on the show they feel they might as well win.
Anyway, in this weeks episode each of the contestants had eight hours to see how many celebrities could return their phone calls. This had a couple of people pimping out their rolodex while someone like Verne really didn’t want to compete because he didn’t want to bug his friends (who just happen to be people like Busta Rhymes and Ludacris). At the end the winner was judged based on how popular their celebrities were. Your guest judge? Kennedy.
Yes, that Kennedy. The one from Alternative Nation. The one you despised from Alternative Nation. The one where you thought, “Well, she’s vaguely attractive but odds are she’s going to try to run me over in the parking lot.” Apparently, she still has a job in radio, is a professed pop culture expert (please, leave that to professionals like myself) and hosts her own reality talk show. You would think that over time she would have mellowed with age. Sadly, after watching her for five minutes I once again had that familiar feeling of wanting to smack her across the back of her head with a shovel.
Come on VH-1. Would it have killed you to hire Tabitha Soren for a day? Sure, she might not be a “pop culture expert” but at least I’d like to see her again.
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