Is The Draft Over Yet?

Roger Goodell announced that this year’s 1st round of the NFL draft was the longest in history. Really? It went so fast for me…NOT. But hey, a bit more than 6 hours for all 32 teams to choose their heart’s desire only to try and sign them now; ain’t bad for a day’s work. Oh, what’s that you say? There were 5 other rounds? I’d never have known that since all of a sudden the channel changed to the second tier ESPN and the analysts were as well. Meanwhile, the bulk of All Pros after 2 years come from those later rounds and not the 1st round pretty boys. Oh, they’ll be rich right away, that’s for sure. But they could be out of the league after their first contract or an option off that contract expires. Ryan Leaf anyone? My So Cal boys, wide receivers Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett got taken in the second round and both got decent teams. Smith gets to run on the opposite end of the line from Plaxico Burress with the Giants and Jarrett gets mentored by Keyshawn Johnson in Carolina. But what about the Might Quinn? I think he did a better job of dealing with public humiliation than anyone else I’ve seen in recent memory at these affairs. He certainly looked more pleasant and accepting than that petulant unmarried father, Matt Leinart did last year. Cleveland stole the draft with a tackle and a QB for what will end up being the same price they’d have had to shell out just to get the QB if they’d taken him at #3. But then Belichik somehow gave up only a 4th round pick to get Randy freakin’ Moss. Why do I get a sense of dejavu about this all? Oh yeah, the TO/Bill Parcells experiment from last year. The only difference is that Belichick will not get canned by Robert Kraft if Randy is a $10M lost project. Well, he’ll really be less of a loss if they get him to agree to extend his agreement that has 2 years on it. I loved the tribute to Va Tech with Bruce Smith, Mike Vick and DeAngelo Hall up at the podium to start it all and the fact that the new Commissioner doesn’t sound like he’s droning on with no inflection in his voice as he announces the picks. He almost looks happy, which Paul Taglibue never did. But what have we learned from all this? QB’s, RB’s and WR’s were a low pick this year unless a guy was clearly to superior to all his other position mates and you can never have much defense. So now we are on to the analysis of it all, as if we hadn’t heard enough already and mini camps start in 2 months. NFL fever…catch it.

Is Dwayne Wade happy he put off surgery! Did you see that sorry performance of the Heat today? And here I thought the Lakers would be the only team to blow itself up next season in an effort to jump start the healing process. Is it or isn’t it a crying shame that 3 years after the breakup of Shaq and Kobe they are both gonna end up at one and done this year?

Will the real Mavs show up in the playoffs please? What the hell happened to them in the three days between the regular season and Game 1 vs. the Warriors? Dirk is Peyton Manning leading the basketball version of the Colts into hell. Mark Cuban has got to wonder what he has to do to buy a championship. Hey Mark, call a guy in Tampa named Steinbrenner and you can console each other with scotch and cigars.

Was it blood or Sherwin Williams? Boston needed another disrespectful set of circumstances to replace “The Curse” to give them the boost they need this year. That is all this is about folks. Mirabelli is playing the role of Charlie Manuel in Philly and realized the team had to come together to get past the disappointment of Daisuke’s lack of greatness. The city needed new T-shirt slogans and Curt Schilling had to have a new reason to get on talk radio and write a blog. The bloody sock saga is so far from funny it’s sad. But it does sell media ads and baseball tickets so I guess it’s all Ok right? Nah…

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

At VA Tech, A Ball Game Is A Relief

As we all found out on Monday after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, sometimes you get up in the morning and try and get to work or school and never make it home. Many of us knew that already with terrible things which have befallen our families but we felt it as a nation, all together and with the most horrific of pictures and sounds. What has this got to do with sports you ask? Well, think of who you as a sports fan think of the moment a major college’s name is spoken. Be honest now, you think of the alums that have made it to the big leagues in all sports. The face that came to my mind was that of Mike Vick. It wasn’t until the news kept coming that I found out that Lou Piniella’s son played at the school as an athlete for 3 years or that David Wright of the Mets has a brother there right now. When the baseball team played a spring game on Friday night, they began with a walk across the campus to place a baseball on the ground for each of the 32 victims from Monday’s hellacious massacre. They then went to play a game….yes a game and the stadium was filled with standing room only crowds cheering for life as well as feeling a sense of relief and normalcy since it is baseball season after all. It can’t all be about the tragedy because as is profoundly true but hard to say or realize sometimes, life does go on. Kudos to Bud Selig who allowed various teams to honor VA Tech with the use of their baseball caps or patches on official MLB team jerseys. AI pasted a V Tech patch onto his pressure arm sleeve for Denver’s upset of San Antonio on Sunday. This in the same week that Brian Urlacher got fined 100K for wearing a cap at media day during the pre-Super Bowl week, more than 2 months ago, because it had an emblem for a product that isn’t an official NFL sponsor. Ah, the No Fun League comes through again. But leaving that aside, all blessings and love to the families of the victims of this tragedy as well as to the students who will forever be changed by what they experienced or saw.

A Rod continues to tear it up. Yay! For those of us who have watched in disbelief what has happened to him in NY with the fans and media savaging him as he played great ball but not great enough to complete their expectation, this is sweet revenge. Now granted, the Yankees were swept in 3 games while at Fenway but as always, the games are close, hard fought and this year they were lost by the pitchers. Rivera is losing his touch with the Sox, the middle relief choked and starting 2 rookies just didn’t work. As I wrote in this space recently, the Yanks dreams of making the playoffs lie at the feet of the pitching rotation. They can hit the cover off the ball but…can someone avoid Big Papi? I frankly don’t know.

Barry Bonds has hit 6 home runs already. Does anyone seriously think he won’t break the record by July? Not me.

Mark Buehrle, one of the most unlikely pitchers, threw a no hitter this week. True baseball fans love them while non-fans yawn as we scream in the late innings each time a great fielding play saves yet another hit from being made. Buehrle even broke the unwritten rule that no one is supposed to talk with the pitcher to break his concentration during the game. Hey, if he never plays in and wins another World Series ring, he goes into the record books for that performance. What kept him from a perfect game: Sammy freaking Sosa’s walk. Gotta hand it to Sosa though. He took his lumps, stayed home last year, cleaned himself up, showed up at training camp and fought for a job. Maybe it will take the sting out of the corked bat and the suspected steroid use. It might take him playing a few years and being successful but stranger things have happened.

In the NBA, 2 big upsets happened in Game 1 on Sunday. Don Nelson came back and spat in the face of Mark Cuban, his ex-boss and the lowly Warriors beat the Mavs and it wasn’t even close. Then the Nuggets got to San Antonio with the combo that Denver hoped would do exactly what it did: win. AI and Melo looked great together. Nice that they got their s—t together at the right time.

6 days and counting til the NFL Draft and if you can keep up with the changing scenarios for who is trading up or down, taking an O line guy or a WR then I give you a lot of credit. The Raiders projected #1 pick seems to change hourly. Mel Kiper has become the biggest pain in my side in the last couple of weeks since he’s the one that handicaps this darned thing for ESPN and the moves on the chessboard just don’t seem to stop changing. When I write next week it will all be over and our long national nightmare of where Brady Quinn will be taken will be over.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

Blown Out

“I don’t have many bad days. This is a bad day.”

Those were the words of former University of Miami coach Larry Coker after the bench clearing brawl between the Miami Hurricanes and Florida International on October 14th, 2006. I am sure if you are at all interested in college football you saw, read, or heard of the unfathomable swinging of a helmet by free safety Anthony Reddick into a pile. Wait, swinging a helmet? I wasn’t there to see it live, but out of the bottom of my T.V. screen it came. A flying U.

First of all Anthony, we need to have a realization. Why in the world would you take your helmet off to swing it at someone, considering your helmet is on? Two, why not put your helmet back on while charging into a pile? This is all considering everyone else on the field has their helmets on, which is probably a pretty good assumption. — Regardless, I’m just giving you thought process of which most of us would have gone through while this unfolded. But those of us lucky enough to have seen the fight knew he had his helmet off.

So here he goes racing out to mid-field, helmet in hand. And WHAM! Number 26 just took a clubbing to a player on FIU. Best part was, guy who got blasted had his helmet on, surprise. The outcome – Suspended indefinitely. Even with that, it came to be a slap on the wrist; 4 games.

But who was that man who decided to alter his image forever by doing one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen?

Reddick was a freshmen starter who in 2004 was named to the All-ACC freshmen team with 73 tackles. He was well on his way to becoming a star, right? Wrong.

In 2005 he tore his right ACL and was sidelined for most of the season from an injury sustained in the first game. Maybe it was just bad luck.

In 2006 he decided he would go caveman on the football field. Maybe that was just stupidity. And just last week in spring practice Reddick wound up tearing his left ACL and will most likely miss the entire 2007 season. Maybe that was karma.

It really doesn’t matter what it was, what matters is that this caps Reddick’s third straight season of turmoil. Another season down the drain. So what next?

Rehabilitation will begin immediately, but some tough mental strength is going to be needed to get back onto the field for the U and earn his spot. The way I see it, Reddick has two choices.– One, he can work his butt off, return to the field and have a great career. Or two, if he doesn’t, 10 years from now he’s going to see himself on some bloopers show saying, “I can’t believe that’s what they remember me for.”

R U TXTing Kidding Me?

Now, I have most definitely seen it all.

For those of you over the age of 40, this doesn’t even concern you; or so I thought.

Why in the world would anyone think that coaches would find a new surefire loophole of NCAA recruiting violations? Not me! – But this seems to be the new issue with coaches now being able to contact a prospect at any time, anywhere.

Just imagine opening up your phone and seeing this, “Jimmy, we r offering u our last full scholarship, get back to us by 12am or we r offering some1 else.” Is this seriously what our world is coming to?

For those of you who haven’t lived under a rock for the last 10 years, you would know that the age of communication and not being able to find someone is no longer an issue, plane rides and caves aside– Texting is the newest form of wireless communication. But some cell phones only let you put in up to 100 characters.

What can you really say in 100 characters or less you might say? It’s not really a question of what you can say, but more so what cannot be said on the phone. Something to the affect of, “Call me back” wouldn’t be in violation of the NCAA recruiting laws, although it would be if the coach called the prospect directly. These are just some of the new ways that assistants can smother a poor senior in high school during 3rd, 5th, and 8th period.

Now not only does the kid have to text his girlfriend 200 times a month, but mom and dad now know how to work it, so count them on the bandwagon for at least 50 each. Random friends and mass texters are always good for the miscellaneous 50, and before you know it at the end of the month my man has a $60 texting bill. I guess he forgot that he only has 300 allotted texts, the rest he gets charged for. And since he was being recruited to every team in the SEC, there’s another 160 texts right there. That’s right, texting without a messaging plan is at least $.10 a text, and some are $.25 for incoming and outgoing messages received.

So the question is, where does the NCAA draw the line? Privacy versus technology, and the more the technology increases, the less privacy we have. The NCAA board of directors is taking all of this into consideration as to how to deal with the problem that we never before even could think up happening, and will most likely limit the amount of and times that a coach would be able to contact prospects. This will solve the problem of the mass text and give prospects back some of their privacy.

But the only thing I really want to know is what happened to the old way the coaches use to connive kids into signing: money, cars, and girls?

Two Peat for Tebow

This season, all eyes are on sophomore quarterback, Tim Tebow. After a season which he alternated at the position with Chris Leak, the job is indisputably his. Only thing is, the Gators rushing touchdown leader from 2006 now has to show the college football world he can pass.

Last season, when the 6’3” 234 pounder lined up behind center there was a fat chance you would see him drop back (he only threw 33 passes in 123 snaps), but this year you can expect eight in the box to be the norm.

Coach Urban Myers said of his team’s greenness for this upcoming season, “Some of these kids woke up on third but didn’t hit the triple. Next thing they know their shaking the Presidents hand and getting fitted for rings.” It makes sense, the returning national champions lose 16 starters and have a huge hole to fill on the defensive side; nine to be exact. But after nabbing the nation’s top recruiting class of 2007, some players might be able to step in and make an impact.

Tebow should be protected up front as four of the five offensive linemen return. But the question still remains, can this boy throw? – After a sore shoulder hindered him from throwing the home run in spring practice, he was forced to concentrate on his touch. Myers thought that it was a blessing in disguise. After all, when Tebow first entered Gator country there weren’t too many receivers able to handle the velocity of his rocket arm.

So what does a true sophomore do when he wakes up every morning with a championship ring jammed on his finger? He accomplished last year what most people haven’t even dreamed of in a lifetime, and he has three years left. Well guess what Tim, now you have to do it on your own.

It may not be in the cards for back to back national title seasons in 2007, but think about it; if these kids just woke up on third, sooner or later they’re going to want to steal home. And Tebow, he wants his own ring, one that he can put his full name on — Starting Quarterback for the Florida Gators.

Good Thing I’m A Lawyer

Well, even non-lawyers had a hell of a week talking about laws, rules and regulations so I guess it didn’t help that much that I’m one of the hated group of “sharks”. Don’t tell me you didn’t talk about one, all or some of the issues presented by the NFL’s new conduct policy, the charges being dropped against the players on the Duke lacrosse team and last but not least the Don Imus/Rutgers women’s basketball team issue. As Lake said more than once on the show, it’s a bad week for sports fanatics when our time is taken up with this kind of BS. I don’t look at it that way. One of the things I realized a while ago is that the blending of sports and entertainment had become complete. Sports stars appear as celebrities do in the pages of People, US, In Style and their exploits that collide with the legal system are national news. It just depends on how much time you want to spend on it all. I say, let’s clear it up for our audience, give informed opinions, ask the pertinent questions and then move on. So here is the summary of a week’s worth of talk:

Imus: he’s gone for now but he’ll be back. Is it good he’s gone? Yeah, if you want to be certain that he isn’t stupid for a while but you still have all those other jerks spouting the same crap. For all those that said he shouldn’t have been fired and that the “market place should decide”, they got their way. The show’s sponsors pulled out and he was toast. Let’s use this time to clean up the public discourse and the words we use to hurt each other.

Duke lacrosse players: They are not just “not guilty”, they were pronounced innocent and we learned that no believable evidence ever existed that they had committed a crime. The DA who used the issue to hurt people and get re-elected is being disbarred and may be subject to criminal charges for misusing the legal system. The young men spent a total of $3M among them to clear their names and the accuser is no where to be found. You know who I feel the worst for: the lacrosse coach who got fired and is now coaching in the equivalent of the minor league system for his sport. When does he get compensated?

The NFL conduct policy: prior to issuing the new rules, the commissioner suspended Adam Jones for the season and Chris Henry for half a season. Then the new rules went into effect which allow the league to take action against a player even if no arrest has happened or any charges are brought. Do I think it will be liberally used that way? No. Commissioner Goodell is a lawyer and an informed kind of guy. Don’t tell me he hasn’t seen the mess that happened in the Duke situation with a rush to judgment prior to taking the time necessary to ask the right questions.

 

In other news

The baseball season survived the snow and cold but some of the players didn’t. The muscle strains, pulls and tightness knocked some players out after less than 2 weeks of the season. In the meantime, A Rod is having the best power hitting April of any Yankee in history, the Arizona Diamondbacks are in first place in the NL West after finishing last in 2006 and Barry Bonds is already 3 homers closer to breaking Aaron’s record.

The basketball season is about to end and with a half week left we still don’t know who will make the final 2 spots in the playoffs in the West and the final slot in the East. It is a game of attrition in both Conferences. It really comes down to who loses more than wins. How sad is that? All props to the Golden State Warriors and the NJ Nets for making a late season push to be in the hunt. Shame on the Lakers, Clippers, Orlando and the Pacers. I predict no first round upsets coming from the bottom 3 seeds in either Conference so wake me up in a couple of weeks.

The hockey playoffs have begun and unless you are a diehard fan you either don’t know or don’t care. I’m more aware of the activities engaged in by NASCAR drivers than any hockey players. God love Serg and Lake who actually spoke about the playoffs on the air this week. It caught our listeners by surprise as well as me. Until they get on a major network again I’ll be watching tennis and golf.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

Hey Tiger: Want Some Cheese And Crackers With That Whine?

Oh, I see, you LOST the Masters and Mr. Zach Young didn’t WIN it? Does that mean that when you win a tournament the others just lost it, allowing you to swoop in and take it? You see how that goes? It has to work both ways. Hey, I’m one of your biggest fans….I’m sure you hear that a lot but it’s damned true in my case; but your lack of graciousness is disgusting. I think it’s gonna make me not like you for a little while. Remember that period way back 10 years ago when you won your first Masters and Fuzzy Zoeller made his bone headed remark about them serving fried chicken and collard greens for the Championship dinner the next year? You let Fuzzy twist in the wind for five days prior to issuing your statement. It was clear that Nike and your handlers drafted it. It was icy and graceless. You knew Fuzzy at that time and knew he meant no harm but instead of a quick slap on the wrist for Fuzzy as a real guy would have you let the story blow up for almost a week and then without a hint of a smile or a nod to a guy that had been a pal you hung him out to dry. I didn’t like you then for a while and of course it didn’t make a difference in the long run. Ours is a relationship that has its ups and downs but I’ll never leave you. I can’t watch a golf tournament any longer if you’re not in it. Who the heck is there to follow? A bunch of guys who win occasionally? Even Ernie, Retief, Vijay and Phil aren’t worth caring about any longer since they are in the “occasional” category as well as no name brands like Charles Howell III, Justin Rose and even Stuart Appleby. I know, I know, it’s never enough for me…like all women right? I haven’t led with the fact that you were willing to destroy a golf club by striking a huge tree with your follow-through and endangering your hand…..all to get the ball out of the woods onto the course. But frankly, I have come to expect that as well as that other-wordly ability you have to take a 100 mph swing and stop it in a nano second prior to impact with the ball when you see a shadow fly over your line of vision. So give the kid his due Tiger. You can drive past him in the US Open and pick up where you left off. Who the hell is gonna stop you?

 

This gives new meaning to Winter Ball

The Cleveland Indians are playing the LA Angels in a home series…..in Milwaukee. Why? The Indians had their weekend of games cancelled due to snow and cold and the field is in need of repair from the snow removal. There were a number of other baseball games cancelled Thursday through Sunday that were to be played in the northern tier of states. This is ridiculous. I’ve heard all the explanations from the Commissioner and others including: 1) the owners don’t want to go back to the 154 game schedule which would cut out the first ten days of the season; or 2) the owners will not allow doubleheaders any longer since they want ticket and merchandise sales for each and every game; or 3) southern state clubs will not allow more games to be played in their home stadiums in April since it deprives them of summer games that usually attract bigger crowds. Out of the 3 reasons above, only #3 makes sense to me and the rest are just a bunch of hooey. You heard me: hooey. If 8 games are the only thing between you and a successful and profitable business than you don’t deserve to BE in business. The same goes for adding at least one double header a month during the season. That’s only 6 games for which you wouldn’t get extra ticket money but I’ll bet you double your beer, soda and hot dog sales. The sight of snow in Yankee Stadium, hamstrings popping, pitchers and hitters hands unable to hold onto bats and balls is more than a girl can take. You’re supposed to be the harbinger of spring time. Try and remember that will you?

 

Who really wants to be in the Western Conference NBA Playoffs?

As of this moment, the Lakers dropped into the 7th position in the Conference after a loss to the Suns on Sunday; the Nuggets beat the Clippers on Saturday and now occupy the 6th seed and the Clippers and Warrior are battling it out for the 8th and final slot. The Clippers have the more difficult schedule over the last week and a half of the season but don’t count them out now that they are finally using Corey Maggette as their first scoring option. The ill-fated experiment of having Shaun Livingston start at the point and filling in with the aging Sam Cassell didn’t work. And making Elton Brand a super star didn’t happen after he played in the World Championships last summer. But the fall of the Lakers may not be finished and look out, Monday they play Denver, in Denver. Talk about an E-Ticket ride. Does anyone think, no matter how those 4 teams end up in the Conference that they’ll last one round against their opponents? Write me if that feeling comes over you and I’ll send you a pill to take to make you less delusional.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

James Is No Sneaker Star

Last week I visited SEED, a D.C. charter school, to watch students compete against the faculty in a flag football game. On my way to the football field I bypassed several basketball courts being utilized by students playing basketball despite the frigid weather.

For many kids living in inner city America, running up and down an outside basketball court in all types of weather is where their dreams of being the next Kobe, D Wade or King James, is birthed. Often times a part of living that dream involves wearing the sneakers worn by their favorite ballplayer.

Without intent I scanned the feet of those wanna be NBAers scurrying up and down the court and notice there were at least two lads wearing Bron-Bron’s new “Zoom LeBron IV,” which retails at $150. I didn’t see anyone wearing Stephan Marbury’s Starbury, which retails at $14.99.

After a recent game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks, the competition between James and Marbury extended beyond the basketball court. According to published reports James, who couldn’t match Marbury’s heroics that evening; Marbury sank a pair of three-pointers that help defeat the Cavs 97-93, but James did challenge the authenticity of Marbury’s inexpensive sneakers.

I wouldn’t sell my shoe for 10 times less. Nike holds their sneakers to a higher standard, James reportedly said.

Marbury’s unofficially converted another long distance bomb when he responded to James’s inappropriate remark, “I rather own than be own.” Marbury – often maligned for his play on the court – does not endorse the Starbury, but owns the rights, while James is a high paid employee, earning approximately $100 million with the Portland, Oregon-based apparel manufacturer.

To make sure that Nike is getting a return on their investment paid to James, No. 23 must help Nike peddle a ton of sneakers during the course of his 10 year contract. You know James is rumored to want to be the first billion dollar athlete. Maybe that’s why he was handing out hate. Is it possible he didn’t want Marbury stealing any of his potential customers as Marbury had just stolen the game the Cavs needed to win?

A large percentage of consumers who will purchase James’s sneakers will be inner city kids whose parents can least afford to shell out $150, but will sacrifice something so that their child won’t feel left out. While it’s not necessarily James’s dilemma with regards to who can or can’t afford his sneaker, he does however – and don’t believe for one second that he doesn’t – have some say in the cost of the sneaker. Remember James’s comment was “I wouldn’t sell my shoe for 10 times less.” But if by chance James does not have any say so on the sneaker pricing, it remains atrocious that he would be critical of a fellow player who remembers how tough financially it was growing up and attempts to produce a quality and affordable product for kids that come from a similar financial background. James’s remark was also insensitive to those low income families who will find it more economical to purchase the Starbury. It is possible that because “King James” said the Starbury’s were of lesser quality that kids just might buy into sir [lowercase intended] James’s comments.

One NBA Analyst suggested that he bet James was just joking when he made the remarks. Well that joke just wasn’t funny, or cool. My grandmother use to say, “Baby if you can’t say nothing nice, be quiet!” James should be quiet. He should also take a walk to the park where some of those inner city kids live and remember what it was like when he too was that kid wanting to be like his favorite NBA player. It wasn’t that long ago.

James may be the star of the League, but when it comes to sneakers Marbury is truly a Starbury.

Want An April Fool’s Joke?

How about this: Carl Pavano is the opening day pitcher for the NY Yankees, Roger Federer lost down at the Sony/Ericsson Open to the same guy who beat him the last time he was bounced out of a tennis tournament and with a whole week to prepare, UCLA men’s basketball team still lost to FL in the national semi-finals during the Final Four.
Unfortunately, none of these are jokes. Well, in a way they could be called jokes since who would have given you odds on any of those 3 things happening except FL beating UCLA? But they are all true nonetheless. The state of the Yankees’ pitching staff seems to have escaped the pundits, some of whom put the Yankees into the playoffs this season either as winner of their division or as the wild card in the American League. Without Clemens returning and being dominant, their platoon at first base working like clockwork, Mo Rivera defying his age and pitching like he always has and last but not least, A Rod having a year he can be proud of I don’t see the Yankees even close to being a playoff worthy team. You’ve already got the sophomore jinx kicking in with Chien Ming Wang, the aging Andy Pettite slightly injured and Mike Mussina being the over 35 guy he is. You have simmering crap between Jeter and A Rod and the missing bat and stats of Gary Sheffield. Hey, do you think it’s just a clue to how this season is gonna go with it starting on April Fools Day? Let’s hope not.

 

Lake And Paula Lick Their Wounds

Well there were no text messages from Lake on Saturday as we both sat back and watched our teams not only go down to defeat but look defenseless against what looked like juggernauts headed towards them. Georgetown and UCLA didn’t even look like they belonged on the same floor as FL and Ohio State. It IS true that OSU can play without Oden. If fact, they look so good without him it’s hard to fathom whether they needed him at all this year. So why exactly is he expected to be the #1 player taken in the NBA draft if he decides to come out? Oh yeah, when he’s in the game he changes it….that’s right. And then there is the conventional wisdom that big men don’t come along very often anymore and if one shows a lick of promise (see for reference Andrew Bynum of the LA Lakers) you take him and mold him to be a presence for years since I’m told that big men take longer to develop. Oden made Hibbert look bad for the few minutes they were in the damn game at the same time due to their foul troubles which began from the opening tip which of course sucked. The only reason this was supposed to be an intriguing game was to see the battle of the giants, you know like Godzilla vs. King Kong. Well that was a nice idea except it didn’t work out like that. So here we go again with FL and the Buckeyes in basketball, jus like in football, battling it out for the national championship. If FL plays like it did against UCLA it shouldn’t be a surprise to see Noah doing that stupid Gator dance and Billy Donovan being asked if he wants to coach in Kentucky next season. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC