Sportscolumn.com – Page 161 – Sports News and Commentary

Wanna Win Your Bracket? Try a Whole "LOTA" Love

Post author By RJ Warner
Post date March 14, 2006
15 Comments on Wanna Win Your Bracket? Try a Whole "LOTA" Love

(Deep breath, wiping sweat from forehead, big smile) IT’S HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!! (More giddy laughing, thinking about dancing, thinking twice). It’s that week, boys, girls and shareholders. The week we’ve all been waiting for, the only marketing slogan we’ve collectively as a nation completely caved into: MARCH MADNESS! I have a friend from Turkey who didn’t even know it was an actual tournament. She just kept repeating: “I can’t wait for March Madness,” as if CBS paid for her rights, too. If I had a few of those millions, I’d hire Michael Buffer to pick it up from here (deciding to hell with it and dancing anyway). We finally got here; Olympics, the ridiculous posturing of NFL lawyer-types and Dick Button be damned! Barry Bonds could shoot up with Pedro Gomez on American Idol and hoops fans wouldn’t give a flying cow hormone for the next 20 or so days. I apologize for the childlike excitement and pure jargon of the opening (Dick Button?), but this time of year just does something to me, as it does to seemingly every man, woman and employee across the land.

Everything normal about us goes out the window this half of the month. Work ethic? Ha! We’re as productive as an army of one-armed Mario Mendozas when it comes to work. Morals? Puh-leeze. When it comes to gambling, we`re a weird cross-pollination of Janet Gretzky and Pete Rose. We drop more dimes than Henry Hill on these games with our point spreads, polls and parlays. Common sense and intelligence? Depends on the outcome of Iona-LSU.

Golden State Warriors

1-800-GS-Whoops

Well, that didn’t work, did it? The Golden State Warriors are wrapping up their 12th consecutive season without a playoff appearance, and for the first time in recent memory, this qualifies as an unexpected development. And while it’s disheartening to be left out of the playoff picture yet again, it does provide a much clearer picture of where this team stands in the NBA’s pecking order. Only a year ago, Baron Davis’ arrival had everyone convinced we were ready to make a run, but by midseason this year I was already turning down free (free!) tickets to home games- and I live 5 minutes from the Coliseum, on a bad day.

College Basketball

More to the Orange than McNamara- finally

Post author By FuzzyOrange19
Post date March 14, 2006
1 Comment on More to the Orange than McNamara- finally

By Sean Quinn

It was never Gerry McNamara’s fault. A player with his heart doesn’t get motivated by some meaningless newspaper articles. He was already motivated, has been since his days in Scranton, Pa. The attacks on the Orange’s leader, though, was the kick in the pants that woke up his surrounding cast.

It’s nice to finally see Darryl Watkins reading something other than Marmaduke.

General Sports

The CAA

Post author By Jsas03
Post date March 14, 2006
2 Comments on The CAA

All the talk about mid-majors for this year’s NCAA Tournament is surrounding that of the Missouri Valley Conference. Many skeptics believe that a week strength of schedule has led to these teams success but in all reality the opportunity for a mid-major to develop an impressive schedule is a difficult task for coach’s at all universities. While being an esteemed program rich in tradition such as Duke or UNC coaches are looked down upon when scheduling “weak mid majors” granted this didn’t stop Jim Calhoun from doing that this year but that’s a story in itself. Besides the Missouri Valley that is getting so much attention the Colonial Athletic Association should really be given a look.

New York Mets

A Breakdown of the Mets Outfield

Post author By Jsas03
Post date March 14, 2006
No Comments on A Breakdown of the Mets Outfield

The outfield is often overlooked when evaluating a team. Although many outfielders are well known for their offensive prowess most do not get credit for their defensive game with the exception of the gold glover’s. Although the Mets have a single gold glover out there in Carlos Beltran, Cliff Floyd did lead National League left fielders in assists last year, and neither Xavier Nady nor Victor Diaz are poor defensively.

NBA General

The Trade Deadline

Midseason trades are always a favorite of mine because they are put into effect immediately. Most of these trades occur for teams not in the playoff picture, usually the teams that are right on the outside looking in. Examples include the Sacramento Kings and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Because season record does not matter once the playoffs start, managements work furiously during the midseason to make a deal that is clearly in their favor and will put them over the top (or the bottom as is the case for many of these teams). Four major trades have occurred this year, but are they trade deadline studs or duds?

College Basketball

Let The Madness Begin

by Trevor Freeman

Derrick Whittenberg, Lorenzo Charles, Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers, Bryce Drew, Keith Smart, Danny Manning, Tate George, Sean Woods, Christian Laettner, Hampton, East Tennessee State, Coppin State, Murray State, Princeton, Coach K, Jim Calhoun, Jimmy V. March Madness has finally arrived.

MLB General

Home Field Advantage

Remember that spoiled kid who lived down the street who owned the most expensive bike and the newest video game? How you had to go by whatever rules he made up if you wanted to use all his cool stuff? And how you always wanted to punch that kid in the face whenever he pulled the “it’s my ball and I’m taking it home” shtick? Well, after Sunday’s controversial 4-3 win over Japan in the World Baseball Classic, I’m starting to feel a bit like that kid.

MLB General

Rose Deserves a Call from the Hall

Post author By pinstripe44
Post date March 11, 2006
8 Comments on Rose Deserves a Call from the Hall

To some, including myself, baseball is the greatest sport that has ever been played. It is a game played by two opposing teams made of multiple players, but only nine players per team play at the same time. To be part of one of the thirty teams that get to play professional baseball, a player has to play the game extremely well.

NBA General

The Golden Age

The Golden Age of the Western Conference began two seasons ago. During the 2003-2004 season, the Kings, Timberwolves, Lakers, and Spurs competed for the first seed in the West. Each team had already accumulated fifty wins, so seeding came down to the last five games. Kevin Garnett and his Timberwolves ultimately prevailed with a record of 58-24. The Lakers (56-26) captured the second seed and Pacific Division title with a thrilling double overtime victory over the Trailblazers. The Spurs (57-25) followed with the third seed while the Kings (55-27) slipped to fourth seed, losing to the pre-Nash Phoenix Suns the same night Kobe’s two buzzer-beating three pointers electrified the Portland crowd. Because the top four teams were separated by one game and one loss, the West truly showed its dominance over the East.
A season later, the Lakers, Timberwolves, and Kings were unable to continue the winning trend. The Lakers dynasty ended following a loss to the Pistons and was Shaq-less, the Timberwolves had a tumultuous lottery-bound season, and the Kings floundered, resulting in Webber leaving for the 76ers.
The 2005-2006 season has been about rebuilding as newcomers, the Suns and Mavericks, have emerged to compete against the Spurs. With twenty games remaining and all three teams with forty wins apiece, who will claim that first seed.