QOTD

"Gosh, I don't want you to think I'm some kind of hand slut!" --A friend (that begged to remain anonymous) describing her hand-holding tendencies with guys.

Heartbreak Hotel....

Arizona: No words can really describe how I feel. Of course I was incredibly disappointed at the way they choked that game away. However, that's the problem with Lute's teams, they are a double-edged sword; they are FULL of talent but have that "on/off" switch I talked about earlier (when I was talking about how I was worried the same could happen to UNC). Still, that loss is one of the hardest losses to take as a fan EVER. You think you have it all locked up, and aren't even REALLY worried until there's about 0:45 left in the game. Then, when you have a chance while it's tied 80-80, you feel like Salim just HAS to take it, then he gives it up. Even though Illinois had the big MO, it was still a 0-0 game with five minutes to play.

The OT period was a great, hard-fought skirmish with neither team willing to relinquish the game. I would even argue UA had the better situation on that final possession, down 1 with the ball (and the most clutch guy this season). But that last play really perplexed me. It wasn't like it was mistake in the heat of the moment, they TOOK A TIMEOUT TO SET SOMETHING UP.

1) How does Hassan get the ball off the inbounds over Salim? I don't care if all of America knew the ball was going to Stoudamire, I don't care if he hadn't had a great game, MAKE ILLINOIS STOP HIM IN CRUNCH TIME. At the very worst he could dribble-drive and kick to Channing for the final shot. There is NO EXCUSE for not giving your seniors a chance to win or lose the game.

2) Getting over the fact that Hassan got the pass (boy did he have a great game, does this guy have upside or what?), what was he waiting for? He just SAT there. I even did a double-take on the clock to make sure I really did know how much time was left. They didn't even run ANYTHING. He ultimately had to throw up a(n) (unanswered) prayer that ended the game, UA's season, Salim and Channing's UA careers, and the last Arizona game I'll see for two years. I kept waiting for Salim to come off a screen or for a lob pass in for Channing. I'm still waiting....

As I said before, this is easily one of the toughest losses to swallow as a fan that I can remember. This is right up there with Richard Park's OT goal against the Avs (Roy's last ever play) and far surpasses the 2001 loss to Duke (I heard more about that one, but this one hurts way more). I thought UA had their tickets PUNCHED and was already looking forward/getting excited for next weekend (so were the Cats I guess). So as it stands now, I'm hoping Francisco Garcia and L'ville SMOKE Illinois next week and am now officially pulling for UNC. Go on Roy, go get that championship....

Good Stuff!

Saturday's SWEET score from the Sweet 16:

Michigan State - 78, Duke - 68

"Go home JJ, clap clap clap clap clap, go home JJ...."

Brandon Allen Poe?

This is from one Brandon (Prince) Berguin, written while he was obviously usuing his time to do better things this morning during class. The last line is a reference to the great fans of Maryland and can be found in Sports Illustrated's article on that punck J.J. Now, on to the magic:

Ode to Cameron

There once was a team, whose name was Duke
Who made everyone in America want to puke.
They got all that publicity,
for little efficiency,
All from Shelden Williams' first career juke!

Their coach resembled a commie,
Whose scowl is alarming,
But Dickie V admires it too!
And JJ DRINKS HIS OWN PEE!!!!

--B.A.B.

QOTD

This QOTD is a little bit different that most, but it really happened nonetheless:

FallOutGirl26: Have you heard the Garden State soundtrack?
GOCATS5: no
GOCATS5: what's that movie about?
GOCATS5: Who's in it?
FallOutGirl26: Natalie Portman and Zach Braff
FallOutGirl26: I don't know if you would like it
GOCATS5: She's hot
GOCATS5: But not American
GOCATS5: so that hurts her rating a little bit
FallOutGirl26: wow, that's an interesting comment
GOCATS5: lol
FallOutGirl26: anyway, it a movie about two people finding each other
FallOutGirl26: very artsy
GOCATS5: finding each other?
GOCATS5: Explain
GOCATS5: artsy = GAY
FallOutGirl26: meeting each other, and hanging out, and falling in love, and being with each other
GOCATS5: Isn't that called dating?

QOTD (19 Mar)

We have two today, but related and from the same place, just in different places of the column.

"After Gus Johnson rattles off Julius Hodge's career records at NC State, House beats me to the, 'Well, you're gonna have those stats when you're in college for eight years' joke. Didn't Hodge room with Lorenzo Charles and Sydney Lowe as a freshman?"

"As Gus Johnson rattles off Hodge's stats (19 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds), House adds, 'Yeah, but what about his receding hairline?'"

--Bill Simmons, from his "Running NCAA tournament diary" from ESPN.com. This makes the cut only because these are things I've said for some time, and I JUST TALKED ABOUT BOTH to E.Dubb last night on the phone and now - viola - it makes it into The Sports Guy's column. How am I NOT destined to do something with sports....?

And one more thing....

After getting the link from Claire to her brother Dan's blog, I've become addicted to reading it. It's funny (or sad?) because although I've said hi to him (I think?!) a few times, I definitely don't know him. But everything he says makes sense and I really do laugh, understand, and thoroughly enjoy virtually all of it. Claire is right, I think we are a lot alike. Anyway, here's my point with this, I saw this linked from his page, and have spent countless hours (unsuccessfully) trying to figure it out. Go ahead, I dare you to click it for yourself and see how long YOU spend on it.

So to recap: I can't figure out a puzzle I found from a blog I read about in my friend's brother's blog (a guy I don't even really know), my bracket sucks, and I'm giving up sports for soccer (yes, I meant to put it that way). And I think I'm going to take it a step further. Not only will it be soccer, but it will be EUROPEAN soccer. Email/IM with any suggestions on which team/players to root for.

At least my brother's baseball team (GJHS) won today 16-7 over Rangeview to improve to 4-0 on the season. Ryan's line: 3-4, 3 R, 2 2B, 4 RBI. His stats through four games: 5-12 (.416), 6 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI. One more game here in Denver (against Skyview) tomorrow morning at 10:00 and then it's back to good ol' GJ (and a chance for me to see some of my friends that are FINALLY home).

One last note (could this be any more ironic?): as I'm typing this, a team of girls staying on my floor just walked by. Guess what sport they play? Yeah, they don't play a sport, they play soccer. Will I be going out to talk to them tonight (would I have anyway?), I'll let you figure that one out. Although I guess it could have been worse, they could have been a girls' team full of basketball players (being short is one thing, but being the shortest person in a group of 14 girls is just terrible). Alright, that is all, I think I'm going to go make myself feel better by doing something productive, like reading "The Sports Guy's" running NCAA diary on ESPN.com's Page 2. Until tomorrow....

Day 2 Sucked

It happens every year, so it shouldn't surprise me. Yet, after going 14-2 to begin the tourney yesterday, I somehow conned myself into thinking, "Wow, this could be my year" and that my start was a sign of good things to come. How much better could it have gone? The 2 losses were a 12 seed over a 5 and an 11 seed over a 6, and all of my Sweet 16 teams were still alive. I was golden.

So today I left for Denver and was relegated to radio-only coverage (which was spotty at best for most of the day), but I was up to 17-3 and still had all of my Sweet 16's alive. Then came the first wave of the night games and all heck broke loose. Let me begin with this: I hate Taylor Coppinrath. I hate Vermont. I hate Catamounts (I don't know nor do I care what a Catamount is exactly, all I know is that I hate them all).

And now I must root for them.

Why? Because they beat Syracuse. Yes, the same Syracuse Orange that I had going to the FINAL FOUR. I got caught up in the hype (and coupled that with my hatred of Duke) and thus Syracuse was the pick. So what now? Well, I can assure you this: your bracket is not good when one of your Final Four teams is out IN THE FIRST ROUND. Not only am I not winning any of the three tournament challenges I'm in, but even worse, my $100,000 Grand Prize from ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge is gone. I just knew I was going to win too (how could I not with a 14-2 start!??!?!?).

Now I must edit this post because freaking Bucknell just decided to take out my SECOND Sweet 16 (and second Elite Eight) team of the night in beating Kansas 64-63. So now I go into the second round with a bracket that has been crushed and a record that is a mediocre 24-8, meaning I went a solid 10-6 today. All of this with an AlbeQUIRKY region that was a perfect 8-0 (maybe because I lived there for a year?). now 24-8 doesn't sound bad, and most years I'd be happy, but 14-2 to 24-8 is nothing special, espcially considering I have only SIX of my Elite Eight teams left and we're only done with the FIRST ROUND. Now it's time to REALLY strap yourself in and just HANG ON for the ride.

My conference (the Pac-10) went a weak 2-2, and my regional conference (the Mountain West) didn't do any better in going 1-1. At least my other semi-regional conference (the Big XII) went 4-2 (I hate the east coast).

Actually, this is my own fault. I take full responsibility and all of the blame. Last night, while talking on the phone with E.Dubb, I made the mistake of saying, "Dude, there really weren't any upsets today. There wasn't anything cool, it was almost....boring." Uhhh....what else could I EXPECT to happen? That was an infinitely stupid thing to say. So today (invariably) my bracket went where all of my other brackets have always gone (yeah, there). But here's what is so cruel, for 1 1/2 days I was tough, standing tall, and naive enough to think that maybe I really did have this thing conquered.

So here is what I've decided, I NEVER WANT TO SEE AN UPSET AGAIN (unless UA is playing and they aren't favored). I WANT EVER HIGH SEED TO WIN. I WANT DUKE, UNC, WASHINGTON, AND (here's my exception to this rule) ARIZONA in the Final Four. I want UA to avenge its two losses to UW and I want Duke to beat UNC, just so I can have the pleasure of yelling and screaming into Daner and E.Dubb's phone (they won't answer, it'll be their voicemail) after UA wins 74-70 and makes up for that 2001 National Championship game (which is why Mike Dunleavy is in the same group as Taylor Coppinrath - see above if you don't know what this means). So since I have this in print, that means I've just guaranteed a Wake Forest-UNC championship, with UNC winning and me being subjected to Mike Pacini and Kellen Gustavson telling me how UNC is the best team in the history of the world for the next thirty-five years.

Maybe I should just give up the excitement (now I see why it's March MADNESS) and find some boring sport that puts me to sleep, has no excitement, and is really really boring to watch. Maybe I'll go see when ESPN's next showing soccer....

QOTD (15 Mar)

"'If the NHL cancelled their season would anyone notice?' has now replaced the hearing the tree in the forest question." --ESPN.com's Page 2 (via Nicky B.)

Quote of 11 Mar - 21 Mar

IT'S SPRING BREAK!!!! --Every single one of the more than 54,000 ASU students (along with countless others all over the country).

QOTD: We all have 'em

"I don't know if I've ever had it; but if I have, I didn't like it." --Me, when talking to my hallmates about whether or not I like cauliflower.

QOTD: Only Evan....

"No, he still does them - I've seen him do them even when I wasn't there." --Evan, my roommate (or "that Asian guy" from a previous QOTD), on the success of his pushup plan for our Zambian hallmate Nikhil.

Quote of the day? More like quote of the week!

Barry Bonds. Love or hate the guy (I lean closer toward the latter), he is a monster at the plate. However, do his accomplishments deserve a little *asterisk next to them? I'll leave that for another debate, this post is all about his most recent tirade to the media. Some of the stuff he said was a bit...colorful? So instead of taking his best comments, I'll just link it here for you. Be sure to scroll down the page to see what hasn't changed about Barry....

QOTD (My new favorite rookie)

"I said, 'Take me under your wing. I'm a good person. It's not all about the money.'" --Celtics rookie Al Jefferson on why he gave No. 8 back to Antoine "I've never met a shot I didn't like" Walker without any compensation (as is usually the custom in the NBA).

Gotta check it out....

This is about the coolest link ever - definitely worth the few minutes it takes to watch it. How awesome are those men and women?!?!

QOTD (01 Mar)

The following exchange really did take place - these really are the people I live with:

Tim: I almost bought some Mizuno golf clubs today.
Me: Good thing you didn't.
Tim: Actually, I bought some Mizuno running shoes about two years ago and they were great.

Anyone that can draw a parallel to that, feel free to comment. Maybe I'm just not seeing it....