The Daily Roundup: Monday

The Big 5 basketbloggers:

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, without a strong blog to step to.....or something like that. Sorry for the long absence of the official Big 5. So to begin, we'll get it started with

Straight Bangin on Larry Brown and his apparent flirtations with the Cleveland Cavs. Good link to a New York Times article. Get over there!

The Sports Prof from a couple of days ago on Mo Cheeks and Allen Iverson. Very nice job, as always. Get over there!!

GT Sports blog with all the info you want on the Jackets Championship game victory in the ACC Baseball Tournament. Get over there!!!

The boys over at State Fans Nation have found a site that lists The Chest as the best among ACC football coaches. There is an interesting comparison to Bunting as well. Good stuff...Get over there!!!!

What is the Big 5 without a piece from Dave Sez, I mean, really? Blue vs. Blue always gets our attention at the Basketblog. Sorry it's old, but I just read saw it. Get over there!!!!!

The Headlines:

Georgia Tech wins the ACC Baseball Tournament and clinches a birth in the NCAA field. Congrats to the 'Jackets.

Jimmie Johnson wins the 600 for the 3rd consecutive year, but that wasn't really the story. Did you see Jr dump Mikey into the wall? There are problems at DEI and they start from the top and fall all the way down to the Waltrip team. What happened last night wasn't the right way to send a message to his teammate, but the message was indeed sent: I run the show! In my opinion, Waltrip hasn't understood his place in DEI since about mid season 2003. Since then he has become increasingly bold in statements to the media and actions on the track. Bottom line is this, Mikey: Before DEI picked your sorry carcass up, you barely had a ride. The only reason you are back in the public spotlight is b/c of your affiliation with Jr and DEI. Shut your mouth, swallow your Waltrip pride, and tow the line. Or, you could always get big brother DW out of the box and start your own team with Toyota. See how far that would get you with the fans.

Lenox Rawlings with more on the brewing problems at DEI. How about Jr to the Childress stable after his contract with DEI ends in 2007?

OJ Mayo, the next LeBron? I don't know, but the kid is averaging 29 pts per game, led his team to a state championship, and has already been named Mr. Basketball in Ohio. Sounds kind of familiar.

Maryland and Gary Williams secure a commitment from 6'1 JUCO star Parrish Brown. The Terps have gone this way before with some spectacular results. More on Parrish from our friends over at Turtle Waxing.

The Charlotte Observer thanks that the best recruiting class in '06 could belong to a school in the ACC, and it's not Carolina or Duke. Also, there was a 6'8 8th grader at the Tournament of Champions this weekend in Chapel Hill who scored 20 pts against the best 18 and under comp in the country. Wow.......

Carolina and Duke target Taylor King put on a nice show this weekend at the Tournament of Champions. Apparently, he likes the Triangle very much as he is staying over for an unofficial visit with Roy Williams before flying back home. This is the kid who committed to UCLA when he was in the 8th grade and changed his mind this season. Go figure.....

Is Marion Jones done as a world class track star? Finally given an opportunity to compete, she finished a not so close second in her race.

Duke and Hopkins will play in the dream match for the NCAA Lacrosse Championship. A crowd of over 40,000 is expected to attend.

Clemson hoping to get regional edge in their pursuit of the College World Series. And despite losing 6 in a row, Miami is selected as a regional site for the NCAA Baseball Tournament along with Florida State. Wow...

GO BLUE!

The #1 ranked Michigan Wolverines advanced to the Women's College World Series with an 11-2 thumping of Washington. They are now 60-5 on the season and looking for an NCAA championship. Here's the ESPN coverage.

Other teams to advance: Alabama, Arizona, DePaul, Tennessee and Texas and two yet to be determined.

Lacrosse

Congratulations to #2 ranked Duke as they advanced past Maryland 18-9 in one national semifinal.

And a hearty congratulations to Virginia which fell just short of #1 ranked Johns Hopkins, 9-8 in overtime. This was a pretty good game. I watched part of it on ESPN. A very, very small part.

That's pretty good representation of the ACC, no? Read the full story here.

The final will be played Monday at noon on ESPN.

The Daily Roundup: Saturday

The Headlines:

Tom Sorensen of the Charlotte Observer has an interesting solution for keeping autograph hounds away from certain athletes - an age limit

I have a solution, and it can start here, at the speedway, today. It goes like this:Fans no longer are allowed to ask athletes younger than they are for an autograph.Tony Stewart is 34. You are 35. You ask for his signature. He asks for two forms of government-sanctioned identification. Sorry, dawg, you're too old.Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 30. You're 31. Save time. Don't ask.Kurt Busch is 24, you're 25. Go look for Junior or Stewart. But stay away from Kurt.Does my system discriminate? Sure it does. It discriminates against Rusty Wallace. Wallace is 48, which means that almost everybody who holds an AARP card can approach him.

I love it.

Greg Oden is a beast, but he doesn't seem to know it yet. That's nice. He's a 4.0 student with his mind fixed on college. That's nice. He would be the #1 pick in the NBA draft if he could go this year. That's unbelievable. He's considering Wake Forest along with his talented high school teammate, Conly. That's questionable. Don't shoot the messenger, but any top player(NBA talent) who witnessed the treatment of Chris Paul by Wake fans after he declared should think long and hard about committing to the Polo Road campus. Apparently, if you don't stay 4 years at Wake, you are of low moral character and a traitor to the University. Who knows....perhaps this is Wake's opportunity to get yet another mega talented superstar player who they will view through realistic lenses for once. Here's hoping they have learned a few things and if Oden selects them, they stay realistic about his time in Winston.

For my man Ben and his sister......Broughton wins their 8th girls soccer State Championship.

Dominique Sutton, PAC 6 basketball player of the year, has an offer from Wake and Carolina is waiting on him to get his grades up. They will both have to wait until he finishes a prep year at Hargrave. Apparently, he has seen the light and is doing all he can to improve himself as a player and a student. Good read.

John Delong of the Winston Salem Journal delivers the truth about the NBA Draft: Teams covet potential, not production. The focus of his story, Marvin Williams

No matter when he is drafted, the whole notion of Williams' going No. 1 raises some interesting questions. Is the draft talent pool so diluted that a player who never started a game in college can be the No. 1 pick? More specifically, how could any player who averaged just 11.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in college, as Williams did this past season, be either a No. 1 or No. 2 pick?

Ahhhhh, the college football offseason: arrest, after arrest, after arrest. This weeks contestant is Virginia Tech defensive back Theo Miller who thought it wise to point a glock 9 look alike pelit gun at another student. As the great Fred Sanford might say: Theo....you big dummy!

A Bit of Media Criticism

This guy is taking the ESPN midday shows to task.

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that the profession of sports writer is deteriorating into a cesspool of self-endorsement and stupidity, as they fall further away from the intelligence and dignity of Dick Schaap and Rick Reilly, and closer to people like Pat O'Brien. The introduction of "Pardon the Interruption" was great, but its domino effect has been anything but. That show was (and is) effective because it was two likeable guys with genuine chemistry, who knew how to find the balance between analysis and humor. But then every sports writer decided they wanted to be on TV too, leading to a epidemic of stupid shows like "Around the Horn" and, ugh, "Cold Pizza." Now we've got sports writers making fools of themselves on a daily basis, singing stupid songs, making stupid jokes, talking less and less about sports and more and more about themselves. You can literally see their egos expanding on screen. The more I watch "Around the Horn," the happier I am that Jay Mariotti got beat up and stuffed in lockers in junior high. I wish his editor at the Sun-Times would do the same.

But at least Mariotti is a great writer - his columns are really excellent, you should check them out. The same, I'm afraid, can't be said of the man who I now deem my arch-nemesis. For years, ever since I first saw "The Sports Reporters," my least-favorite sports writer has been Mike Lupica, the smug, self-righteous weenie from The New York Post. But Skip Bayless has taken his spot. Congratulations, Mike, you're off my personal hot seat.

I never read much of Bayless' stuff until the last six months or so, and I'd only rarely seen him on TV. Now, I regret doing both. I just can't stand him - and it's not just because of his penchant for pastel dress shirts. It's because he's a phony. And a whiny little ninny.

That's harsh but true, IMO. PTI is brilliant writing (I assume some of it is scripted before the show.) and great chemistry. The other shows on the midday lineup are garbage. Woody Paige might be a great writer but he has absolutely no business on television. He comes off as a sanctimonious boob. Jay Mariotti comes off as an arrogant prick. (The other regulars aren't so great either.)

And yes, Skip Bayless is insufferable.

On the other hand this is just plain mean.

I love the draft because, at one point this year, a friend of mine posed the question that was just begging to be asked, "Which is worse - Merril Hoge's rug, or his analysis?" To be honest, that one was a toss-up. His analysis was (as usual) awkward and idiotic, but his rug looked like it had been put on crookedly and at the last minute by a blind stagehand.

Mean, says I.

Interesting

I am going to poach an entire post from the Galley Slaves. Normally I wouldn't do that but it's only two paragraphs long and I don't know which part to leave aside.

Perhaps for the first time ever, lacrosse is the main story on ESPN.com. Of course that's only because the piece is a profile of gay Dartmouth goalie Andrew Goldstein, and it leads a package about gay athletes, but hey, whatever.

The striking thing is this mind-blowing hightlight of Goldstein stopping a shot against Syracuse and then blitzing 80 yards downfield and scoring on the Orange. In terms of pure foot-speed, it's a pretty astonishing move by Goldstein.

It's not surprising to me that openly gay athletes would find it easier to break into marginal sports. The pressure of the higher profile sports would probably bring undo pressure on the individuals involved. But eventually the gay community will have its Jackie Robinson moment and I do wonder when and how it will play out.

In the meanwhile, Goldstein is getting it done.

ADDED:
Apparently Goldstein was the team MVP and an All-American to boot. Good for him.

Barry Bonds

The Baseball Crank has a very interesting breakdown of Barry Bonds' late career success. Basically Bonds has done better later in his career than early in his career.

Was the young Bonds really such an underacheiver that he was leaving historic levels of talent untapped when he batted .336/.677/.458 for what looked like his career best season at age 28?

It's an interesting read with charts and graphs and numbers. Good baseball stuff.

Read the whole thing.

(HT: Just One Minute)

Battle of the Ages

Step back, Ben Wallace, there's a new afro sheriff in town.



That's Phil Specter, accused of murder.

(HT: Ace of Spades HQ)

Daily Roundup - Friday

ACC Baseball Tournament

Miami sent home from ACC Baseball Tourney. Clemson sends the 'Canes to 6^th straight loss for first time in 39 years. Goodness.
Georgia Tech rallies to beat FSU 5-4. This after rallying past WFU the day before after trailing 7-0. They'll play the WFU-FSU winner Saturday night.
WFU bounced UNC to have the privilege of playing FSU today.


Other Headlines

Is gravity being particularly harsh to Shaq? That's a harsh article.
Hawks seem to like Marvin. Too bad for Marvin.
He's the Man-u. Ginobli that is.

NASCAR vs Indy racing. That's not a fair contest. Give me Indy because the traffic in the Charlotte metro area is a pain in the butt. And Indy is too far away for me to care about their bad traffic. But seriously, if it wasn't for Danica Patrick how would you know the Indy 500 was being run? Heck the Brickyard 400 is a bigger race, IMO, than the Indy 500.

Want to see some of the best HS players in the country. Check out The Bob Gibbons Tournament. It's at the Dean Dome so if you're in the neighborhood check it out.

Tennis stuff from the WaPo. Lindsay Davenport advances. No American men but there has been a Sharapova sighting. All in all a productive first week.

A cool spring may make Pinehurst #2 play slightly easier. Play and Tiger's quest for the grand slam begin in 20 days. Without a particularly dense rough Tiger's troubles off the tee may not be as big an impediment.

Randy Johnson to face the Red Sox as the big weekend series gets started.

The Daily Roundup:Thursday

This is the abbreviated version. Birkel will have more in the am:

The Headlines:

Get ready for your favorite NBA team uniforms to look like those European rags as the league considers lifting their long standing ban on uniform advertising. What a horrible decision. The league is flush with money. Greed, greed, greed.

'Ol Roy is at it again saying things look "scary" in Chapel Hill next year. This is how scary it will be: 20 wins, top half finish in the conference, NCAA birth, and just b/c it's my blog and I can say what I want, at least one win in the Dance. The pride, if not the depth, is back in the program folks and that means a whole lot. They'll struggle early and be tough late.

Brackman does it again as the Pack drops the mighty 'Canes at the ACC Tournament. Wow...I thought that Miami was supposed to come in and dominate the poor 'ol defenseless ACC in baseball and football.

Just in case you missed it yesterday, Carolina now has the best backcourt from the class of '06 with the signing of Ellington yesterday. #1 point and #1 shooting guard in the fold. Up next, Kevin Durant, the #1 SF in the class. Wolfgang, what say you 'ol friend?

More to come later.....

this is funny as all get out

From webzine Slate.com

The coach, Mike D'Antoni, doesn't get out-cooled by his team. Though American by birth, he's arguably the greatest player in the history of Italian basketball. He's married to a model and hangs out with the Benetton and Versace families. TNT recently showed vintage footage of a shirtless D'Antoni, wearing the same crisp 'stache he still has today, holding aloft a trophy while a crowd of Italian revelers dumped champagne on his head. The Italians call him Arsenio Lupin, after a movie about a cat burglar. That's not a reference that means anything to me. I call him Coach Pornstache.

Frickin' fantastic. Coach Pop has a lot of work to do to meet that high standard.

Better Late Than Never

The Headlines

Ginormous 124-pound catfish caught. There's a picture. I don't know if I consider fishing a sport. It's certainly a skill. Hmmm? Either way that's a really big fish.

Apparently Dwyane Wade understands that the Pistons put him on lockdown. And there are claims that he's working to remedy that situation. Birkel's Take: Unless Tayshaun Prince suffers a twisted ankle Wade will be on timeout in the corner.

Is Dan Marino the greatest ever without a Super Bowl ring? Doesn't matter this week as Marino's getting his bust made for the HoF. Still, it's gotta bug him just a little bit even if life is good.

Mo Cheeks takes the helm in Philly and AI approves. Stephen A. Smith says Philly has to stop firing coaches. Maybe they would if their superstar wasn't the most impossible coaching assignment in the league. In other coaching news Brian Hill returns to Orlando, a franchise still hurting from the loss of Shaq 47 years ago. When will they get it together down there?

It is always a little hard to watch an icon lose his stuff. And Andre Agassi's bad back gave us another one of those moments. Granted, he's got Steffi and a pile of cash so he's doing all right. But I don't see another American superstar out there on the men's side. Meanwhile, Federer and his 18 year old nemesis look to be dominant for the next 3-5 years. At least we've got Sharapova on the women's side who gutted out a three set victory. How about a pic with the article. (NOTE TO NEWSPAPER EDITORS and WEB DESIGNERS: Pics of Sharapova are a good thing.)

The WNBA has a black female owner. Is that not just a WNBA first but also an American professional sports first?

The collar tackle has been banned. Good! I wanted TO for all 16 games last year. Andy Reid in those spandex shorts would've been atrocious. Funny but atrocious.

In other NFL news Congress has proposed a drug-testing policy that would cover all professional athletes in America. Hey Congress... Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Keep that in mind.

Monorail to the race track? As long as it's not the boondoggle that Detroit's "People Mover" was.

Did Charlotte do badly in the NBA Draft Lottery? Picking 5^th and 13^th could land them some really nice talent. And without a clear #1 in this draft I don't know that it'll be a disaster. I mean, at least they'll be able to upgrade from Brevin Knight at the point with the fifth pick. Deron Williams and Caroina's former PG should be available there. And then all they've got to do is suck enough to win the next lottery so they get Oden¹.

Brewster's Millions? Couldn't resist.

WFU's Eric Williams back to school? NBA Draft projections don't have him in the first round.

Spurs-Pistons is on like a pot o' neck bones. Michael Wilbon on the Spurs likely sweep of the Heat. And I'll predict a five game laugher for the Pistons.

¹Corrected from Odom. Thanks to the commenters for catching my loose sh!t.

NBA Draft

Will Marvin play in Milwaukee? Bad for him unless the Bucks are gonna resign a 22 year old Lew Alcindor and are gonna get Big O from their time machine. But here's what I found interesting in ESPN's coverage.

With the top pick, the Bucks could choose North Carolina freshman guard Marvin Williams, according to ESPN Insider Chad Ford.

Guard? Is Marvin really a 2? That is news to me. I don't know if he's got those quicks.

The Daily Roundup: Tuesday

The Headlines:

The Charlotte Observer and Inside Carolina are reporting that the #1 shooting guard in the class of '06, Wayne Ellington, has committed to the Tar Heels. If true, that gives Carolina the #1 point and the #1 shooting guard in the class with high interest from the #1 wing (Durant) and center (Hawes). This class could be scary. More on Ellington from the Durham Herald Sun and
the Winston Salem Journal.

The NBA will determine draft order tonight on ESPN at 8pm. The Bobcats are guaranteed a top 6 selection and could get an additional top 3 if the balls fall their way. Also looks like Marvin Williams is the player of choice for Charlotte.

"When you're sitting there, waiting for them to turn those cards over one by one, it's agonizing," Bickerstaff said. "You look for all kinds of little indications -- you watch (league officials') expressions -- but you realize that doesn't mean a thing. They're very professional; they don't let on anything." Sometimes you win: Bickerstaff got perennial All-Star Gary Payton while coaching Seattle in 1990. And sometimes you win even when you lose: Bickerstaff ended up with the fourth pick in Denver in 1991, and still drafted the player he wanted most, center Dikembe Mutombo. Ultimately, this lottery is about options. The Bobcats plan to work out 20 to 25 players at their Fort Mill practice facility. Sources indicate North Carolina freshman Marvin Williams is the player the Bobcats want most. Bickerstaff won't confirm that, but maintains he's prepared to turn the two picks into one, if that gets him what would help the franchise most.

Hey, Wake fans, is this the bag you accuse Chris Paul of leaving Wake Forest holding when he decided to turn pro? Ohh, my mistake, that's the bag of loot he just got from the 4 year Nike shoe deal he signed yesterday. Some of you folks over on Polo Road are out of your skulls.

Carolina signs debunked Nebraska QB Joe Dailey to a scholarship. His numbers : 2025 yards passing 17 TDs, with a whopping 19 interceptions (and a 5-6 record). I'll give JB the benefit of the doubt because so far, his picks from the collegiate version of the waver wire have been better than solid. If he could recruit as well as he seems to do with getting very, very good transfers into the fold, he could have something very strong in Chapel Hill.

The Richmond Times Dispatch on new Virginia Basketball coach Dave Leitao, king of multitasking.

The ACC baseball tournament gets started today in Jacksonville, FL. Should be a great show, but I really hope they decide to give the kids a chance to play at Fenway in the future. That would be a very nice deal for them. Here are the scheduled games to get things started.

After meeting the base eligibility requirements, Virginia high school running back RJ Waters is suddenly being fought over. UNC and Maryland seem to be in a death roll over this kid.

Frank Dascenzo on the newest twist in high school sports: pay for play. Wow....I hope that North Carolina stays far, far away from this model.

More on the NCAA infractions case against Georgia Tech from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

There is another freshman baseball sensation in the ACC besides Andrew Brackman. Clemson's Taylor Harbin is turning heads.....and fast.

Rob Daniels of the Greensboro News and Record on one of my new favorite sports: Lacrosse.

Evening Extras

Michael Wilbon has decided to write about how the Spurs are flying below the radar.

There have been a half-dozen good subplots in the NBA playoffs so far, none of them involving the San Antonio Spurs. If it wasn't the Wizards winning a best-of-seven playoff series for the first time in almost a quarter-century it was Shaquille O'Neal's bruised thigh or the emergence of Dwyane Wade or Reggie Miller's dramatic final days. There was the drama of the Pistons and Pacers meeting again, what with the brawl and all. And of course, there's been the continuing fascination with the Phoenix Suns and how artfully they play the game, from Steve Nash to Amare Stoudemire.
But there's been barely a whisper about the San Antonio Spurs, the champs once-removed, a team that probably would have made it to the NBA Finals last year except for that Derek Fisher basket with four-tenths of a second left that gave the Lakers a Game 5 victory in San Antonio. You barely know the Spurs are in the playoffs as they've rolled through Denver in five games and Seattle in six.
"Flying under the radar is great," San Antonio's Bruce Bowen said Sunday. "I could care less if anybody talks about us. We're still doing what we try to do, which is win a championship."

This makes me wonder. If you're the subject of an WaPo article are you flying beneath the radar? And what does that say about the low opinion Mr. Wilbon has for his own paper? (Is that a joke? -- Editor. Yes. Birkel) It's a good column so go read it.

And this is a really funny article. (HT Best of the Web) Just trust me on this one. It's short and it's a must read.

And here's more on the Mitch Albom fiasco.

In one case, ironically, he lifted a comment by Jayson Blair, who fabricated stories at the New York Times, from the New York Observer. In another, Albom wrote about a Detroit Lions game, complete with postgame comments that his editor now admits made it sound like he was there.

Probably not a good idea to crib from Jayson Blair while continuing to claim vindication. That's industrial grade irony... Handle with rubber gloves.

NASCAR and the NYT

In case you guys missed this post from Instapundit over the weekend I wanted to draw your attention to it.

REVEALING COMMENTS AT THE NEW YORK TIMES:

For a certain segment of the population, Nascar's raid on American culture -- its logo festoons everything from cellphones to honey jars to post office walls to panties; race coverage, it can seem, has bumped everything else off television; and, most piercingly, Nascar dads now get to pick our presidents -- triggers the kind of fearful trembling the citizens of Gaul felt as the Huns came thundering over the hills. To these people, stock-car racing represents all that's unsavory about red-state America: fossil-fuel bingeing; lust for violence; racial segregation; run-away Republicanism; anti-intellectualism (how much brain matter is required to go fast and turn left, ad infinitum?); the corn-pone memes of God and guns and guts; crass corporatization; Toby Keith anthems; and, of course, exquisitely bad fashion sense. What's more, they simply don't get it. What's the appeal of watching . . . traffic? It's as if ''Hee Haw'' reruns were dominating prime time, and the Republic was slapping its collective knee at Grandpa Jones's ''What's for supper?'' routine. With Nascar's recent purchase of a swath of real estate on Staten Island, where it intends to plop down an 80,000-seat racetrack and retail center for the untapped New York City market, the onslaught seems poised on the brink of full-out conquest. Cover your ears, blue America. The Huns are revving their engines.

As a reader suggests, "Replace 'NASCAR' with 'Hip-hop,' and then ask yourself whether this would have run in the Times." Certainly the editors would have objected to the condescension and stereotyping that run throughout.

I don't know that I like the analogy to hip-hop but one thing is for sure: that is fine, first class condescension from "The Paper of Record". Perhaps they realize that their average customer is not a Southerner but do they not realize that at least some people down here read their rag? And don't they realize that not everything is a blue state/red state distinction? Some of the people up North like NASCAR while some down South don't.

People like to watch other people go really fast with some chance of death lingering in the back of the fans' minds. You only have to consider horse racing to get my meaning. As Christopher Reeve learned, riding atop a half-ton animal is dangerous sport. The same is true at the Indy 500, which has never received this much snark from the NYT. Every time Helio Castarneves makes a left hand turn he could slide up into the wall and suffer grievous injury. And fans watch intently as the men in their million dollar machines tempt fate.

Or, sadly, one could ask Dale Earnhardt, Sr.¹ who became a hundred million dollar industry and an icon.

The fascination with speed and death attracts fans. Many of the drivers are good ol' boys with fiery personalities and Southern accents, like 'The Intimidator'. Many people are attracted to that part of NASCAR but the sport has grown dramatically with the infusion of non-Southern drivers and clever marketing. The drivers are likely to push and shove after a wreck and some of them will pop off at the mouth. And let's face facts and recognize that people enjoy the extra curricular activity quite a bit.

It's a profitable and growing industry with growing TeeVee ratings. It's fast. It's easy to understand for first time viewers but there's always something more to learn about "taking out a half round of wedge" or tire pressure or the changing track conditions as shadows creep across the asphalt. So the broadening appeal of NASCAR is no big surprise.

So there seem to be a number of reasons NASCAR is growing even at a cursory glance. The question that therefore remains unanswered is why the NYT would deign to write a hit piece on America's fastest growing sport. I suppose I'll never know. What I will know is that even though I'm not a really big fan of auto racing the NYT is condescending to me. And I don't like it.

¹Corrected from earlier when I wrote Jr. I'm an idiot. It's a theme, okay?

The Daily Roundup: Monday

You might get some double dipping on stories this morning from the Birkel/Ed crew. Never fear, we'll have it all worked out by mid day.

The Headlines:

Who says the Spurs can't run? Duncan goes for 28 while Parker explodes for 29 as the Spurs take home floor advantage from Steve nash and the Suns. Defense wins championships folks, and the Spurs tend to play a little D. The Suns don't play D consistently and that may be their undoing in this series.

Don't know how many of you follow NASCAR, but Mark Martin truly had a miracle win in the All Star Race on Saturday night. This guy is a class act and looks primed to make a serious run for the championship in his last year on Cup.

Martin has never given anything less than maximum effort, and that's not about to change. "I don't know if you all truly realize how big this job has become," he said. "Maybe it's just harder for me because of my age. It's like walking around with a house on my back, that's what it feels like. It's not fun and games. If you lay back and rest one time, when you stand back up you're at the back of the pack. That's not going to happen, so I am not going to lay down and rest."

Here is another story on NC States Andrew Brackman. Unfortunately, I haven't had an opportunity to see this kid play in person, but all reports are that he is the real deal.

So far, the Wolfpack is 8-0 when Brackman pitches. "The shocking thing has been his command and his body control at 6-10,' Avent said. "He commands four pitches, and it's almost impossible to command three pitches for guys who throw all year.

For all of you Tar Heel heads, notes and news on the lives and whereabouts of Tar Heel pros.

Former Miami football star Antrel Rolle is honored as ACC/UM Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. Who says players at the "U" aren't getting it done in the classroom?

Duke and Maryland advance in lacrosse tournament. Hey, what can I say, it's a little slow and I like lacrosse.

Tony Kornheiser on the university of Miami and their football players. It appears that pro teams are getting a bit fed up with the attitudes of a number of players from the "U", especially when it comes to "voluntary" workouts that these players routinely skip in order to work out together in the football complex at the University of Miami. "Voluntary"means just that. If you don't like these Miami guys, cut them! One problem: these guys love football and perform on Sunday! Tony still frets over these guys and their relationship with the home town NFL franchise

The U guys are an island unto themselves. They appear to value each other more than they value the teams they play for. They play very well on Sundays. But they don't appear to be particularly responsive to their teams on other days. It's almost like U guys enjoy getting into scrapes with management. It's almost like a contest to see if they can force the teams into subservience and publicly punk them. I wonder how long it'll take Santana Moss to find something wrong here.

Virginia Tech men's basketball signs former member of Puerto Rican Jr. National Team, 6'6 wing man AD Vassallo.

Looks like Clemson is fighting Notre Dame for one of the best football players in the country. More recruiting news included

"It's going to be a tough decision," said Cumbie, who grew up in Andrews (SC) and moved to Illinois a few years ago. "I'm just going to make the decision where I'm going to excel the most, where I will feel overall at home. It's just got to be in my heart. It's got to be true."

Virginia women fall in Lacrosse title game. Congrats on a great season, ladies.

Lazy Saturday

First of all, the BasketBlog is not the only blog that's slacking. It's gorgeous outside and beside that there's nothing to report. You guys all know that It's Suns-Spurs out west and Heat-Pistons in the east. The brackets have held form and the best teams are undoubtedly playing. Steve Nash has played extraordinarily well against a bad defensive team and now must fact the Spurs who are known to play some D. If he does against SA what he did against Dallas, many people will owe him an apology. Dwyane Wade has a similar challenge in front of him after dominating the defensively challenged Washington Matadors Wizards.

But beyond that, is there much happening today? Some golfers are playing a third round somewhere. The WNBA started its season. Tennis players are serving on some clay court as they round into French Open shape. And somewhere Lance Armstrong is pedalling a bike.

It's not inspiring stuff. Perhaps I'll be motivated later.

Recruiting

It's UNC vs. Duke even during the offseason. Gregg Doyel has all the 411. He's got lots of good stuff but here's the money quote.

"Duke's recruiting class is a blockbuster, but here comes North Carolina," Gibbons said. "The two neighbors eight miles apart are going tit-for-tat on the recruiting trail."
Two teams, two years, perhaps 13 McDonald's All-Americans? Coached by Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams, who have four NCAA titles among their 15 Final Four appearances? Only three letters could mess this up: NBA.

I must confess that the blogosphere currently has very little of interest. I'm looking but everybody seems to be enjoying the great weather--which all of you should be doing.

Last night I did see the GaTech-UNC baseball game. It was on ESPN2. My observations: funny delivery for Carolina's starting pitcher and GT needs more production from its first baseman. But both teams look pretty good and are threats to make the College World Series.

Cheesecake available if you click here. It's Indy 500 racer Danica Patrick. It's almost work safe but not quite. Some of them are overly, hmmm... how to say, suggestive. (Thanks to a reader for the pointer. Forgot your name though. Sorry.)

I've got nothing else. At least not for now.

The Daily Roundup: Free Throw Friday

The Headlines:

Reggie Miller goes down shooting in his final game. He ended with 27 points, his last shot being a made 3 pointer in the last two minutes of the game. When he left the court, the Pistons stood and cheered him along with the fans at the packed Conseco Filedhouse.

Duke does it again with the signing of 7'1 Brian Zoubek. This is the 3rd straight day that that Duke has signed a top 25 recruit. Apparently, even his dog wanted him to go to Duke.

Before a news conference at the school, Zoubek shared his decision with his family and his pet.He decided to let the family pet help pick his school and extended his hands, a piece of paper in each, to the dog. The dog went to his right hand, which held a sheet of paper reading "Duke."

Of course, Zoubek later revealed that the paper in his left hand read "Duke" as well.

Duke is the flavor of the week, while the critics continue to pile on Carolina. How quickly some people forget (and I'm not talking about the Nat'l Championship). Folks have to realize that the Heels lead for 4 of the top 15 players in the class of '06. What Duke has done so far is great. What Carolina might do in the next 3 weeks....wow. More on the "rebuilding" project on the UNC campus.

Tim Duncan sends the Spurs to the next round of the NBA playoffs with his last second shot. Duncan finished with 26pts.

Congress gives the NBA the business yesterday during hearings on steroid use in the league, calling their policy "a joke" and suggesting that perhaps the fight between the Pistons and Pacers earlier this year could be attributed to steroid use. That drew a curt response from Billy Hunter who was supported by Stern

"On behalf of the players of the National Basketball Association, I would like to say that the guilt that you seek to attribute to them on the basis of this policy is ill-taken and very unfair," Stern said.

That drew a retort from Lynch, to which Stern responded: "It's a free country, and I would just like to disagree with your approach, that's all."

Nice.

From Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post, Steve Nash has proven why he is the MVP, and has done so with dignity.

UVa.'s women's lacrosse team is finally set to defend their NCAA title in their version of the final four. First up: Duke.

Today, it looks like Ricky Williams will return to the Dolphins. Check back with us tomorrow after Ricky hits the bong again.

Clemson's baseball team tames the usually dominant Miami pitcher, Carrillo.

UVa. football player Jamaine Winborne lands with the Ravens and NFL Europe.

More from Birkel in the am.....

Today's Bloggery

"A Shavlik's Chance in the NBA" to replace "A Snowball's Chance in Hell". That's a bit harsh, if true.

Entering The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame today is a Carolina coach.

When you talk about coaches that win, you just have to include the name of Anson Dorrance in the conversation. The numbers are so amazing that it becomes comical. 26 years the head women’s soccer coach at UNC; 18 national championships; 6 times the national coach of the year. ACC Commissioner John Swofford recently mused that Dorrance just might be the most successful coach in the history of intercollegiate athletics.

And loads of hotties. Thanks to 850 The Buzz for the 411. They've also got info on Duke's recruits for Jeff M who is hounding my dreams with his incessant fan-dom.

A great column about how sports reporters misunderstand economics. And what's with the win per dollar thing? If you had only volunteers play you might get one win and your ratio would be infinite. Stunningly stupid so the SportsProf hammers 'em.

Is Huggy Bear the best active coach who hasn't won an NCAA Championship? StateFansNation asks the question. They've got more including speculation on who will replace Huggins including several names familiar to ACC fans. And a Dave Odom mention is added for good measure.

Mark Cuban disses the press for getting facts wrong at his blog. The press got something wrong? What? You mean there's gambling at Rick's?

The Sports Frog Fisks Pat Forde. I'm not sure whether he's right but he's clearly got his back up. Subject matter: Kentucky fans and Tubby Smith.

(Here's the explanation of Fisking if you haven't heard that term before.)

The NFL Draft

A couple of profs have developed a paper about rational expectations and the NFL Draft. (I wonder if it would also be applicable to baseball, basketball and hockey.) Here's the abstract

A question of increasing interest to researchers in a variety of fields is whether the incentives and experience present in many "real world" settings mitigate judgment and decision-making biases. To investigate this question, we analyze the decision making of National Football League teams during their annual player draft. This is a domain in which incentives are exceedingly high and the opportunities for learning rich. It is also a domain in which multiple psychological factors suggest teams may overvalue the "right to choose" in the draft - non-regressive predictions, overconfidence, the winner's curse and false consensus all suggest a bias in this direction. Using archival data on draft-day trades, player performance and compensation, we compare the market value of draft picks with the historical value of drafted players. We find that top draft picks are overvalued in a manner that is inconsistent with rational expectations and efficient markets and consistent with psychological research.

(HT Professor Bainbridge)

In other words, the authors are asking if people think a #1 draft pick is really that much better than a #2 draft pick and whether, based on all the available evidence, it actually is more valuable. I don't know if the authors address this issue but it seems like agents and the players themselves may contribute to the impression that one draft position makes a big difference with respect to actual future performance.

I think it matters more in basketball because there are so many "can't miss" players: Shaq, LeBron, Timmie, Alcindor, AI, etc. Football seems like a harder sport to predict than is basketball.

What say you?

UPDATE:
I'm reading the paper you can find at the first hyperlink above. It's interesting.

A combination of well-documented behavioral phenomena, all working in the same direction, creates a systemic bias: teams overestimate their ability to discriminate between stars and flops. We reasoned that this would not be eliminated by market forces because, even if there are a few smart teams, they cannot correct the mis-pricing of draft picks through arbitrage. There is no way to sell the early draft picks short, and successful franchises typically do not "earn" the rights to the very highest picks, so cannot offer to trade them away.
Our findings suggest the biases we had anticipated are actually even stronger than we had guessed.

Sounds like me in fantasy football. And it oughta make us appreciate the skill of the New England Patriots' front office over the last several years. And it explains the Bengals too.

Completely Unrelated to Sports

The new Civilization game is being developed and will be released not nearly soon enough. I'm a big fan of the game and found this interview with the developers. If others of you are Civ fans you'll definitely want to read this.

The Daily Roundup: Thursday

The Headlines:

Duke keeps rolling with the signing of the #21 prospect in the class of '06, Gerald Henderson. That makes two top 25 recruits signing with the Devils in two days.

In case you hadn't already figured this out, Andrew Brackman is a player on the hardwood and from the mound. This kid can really get it done in both sports. The pressure will be on for him to choose very soon.

The one thing that does seem to faze Brackman is the notion that he will eventually need to concentrate on one sport solely. Some feel that if Brackman wants to pursue a Major League Baseball career, he'll have to give up basketball at some point and play a full baseball season instead of waiting until basketball is over. Brackman said yesterday that he was committed to playing both sports throughout his Wolfpack career. "I love them both," he said. "I don't really plan on giving up any of them. And if one takes away from the other, that's just how it's going to be."

John Delong of the Winston Salem Journal has more on this budding superstar.

Carolina picks up their own football/baseball star with the signing of Kendric Burney.

UNC on Monday, Wake Forest yesterday: Florida State stuns another member of the Big 4, signing Florida guard prospect Aaron Holmes. Coach Hamilton is looking good with these pickups. The question is not whether FSU has talent. The question is what will those talented players will do on the court.

Guilty until proven innocent - The European track meets have made their call on Marion Jones: they don't want her in their events.

Havelock senior quarterback Bruce Carter signs with the Heels. Carolina was the only school to have extended an official offer at this time. Coach Bunting has made a habit of getting in on kids who are "drawing" attention from some big schools and getting them offered and signed. The results have obviously been mixed, at best. We shall see.......

Virginia athletic notes from the Richmond Times Dispatch: Todd Billet, the football schedule, and more on this nugget regarding 12 UVa football players

A dozen members of the 2004 football team were drafted last month or signed free-agent contracts with NFL teams. By the end of this weekend, 11 of those 12 will be college graduates.

That is excellent work.

Virginia Tech and Virginia both make adjustments in their recruiting territory assignments on their football staffs. VT's top recruiter, Stinespring will be staying a little closer to home to lock down Roanoke and the Tidewater area.

Zeke has his eyes on Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt. For his part, Hewitt denies he has ever spoken with Thomas or anyone associated with the Knicks. These reports continue to fly out of New York. Where there is smoke............? Stay at GT, coach.

More from Birkel in the am....... (We'll see how it goes. -- Birkel)

Ticket Allocation

The Sports Economist caught an SI story that I missed. It's about how VPI has been reorganizing its fans season tickets according to their willingness to pay. I wonder if this will become the norm.

Go read it.

It's About Time!!

That I got around to putting together a witty and provocative post. Just so you know, that will have to wait at least one more day. Here's what I do have:

NBA lockout? Hey! David Stern! I don't care that there's no NHL but no NBA is unacceptable. Un-frickin'-acceptable.
Governor of West Virginia strong arms WVU into an intrastate game with Marshall. That's a game that can't go well for WVU. They'll likely always be the favorite and Marshall will give that game the proverbial 110%. (That is technically impossible. -- Editor. I know that. -- Birkel.) It does seem like governors should have more important things to do but I must admit I look forward to such a rivalry. Here's hoping Marshall (which used to beat WCU like a rented mule) steal a game or two.

Pitt may be the class of Big East football with Miami, VPI and BC gone. (Well, Pitt and Louisville who I watched smack Carolina 37-0. Thanks for the ticket, Ed!) And they seem to be scheduling with that in mind according to Pitt Sports Blather.

I have really failed to give some props to Pitt's athletic department for doing a solid job in the non-con football schedule. They have scheduled good teams. Not just patsies. Seems some in West Virginia even approve:

Pitt and Virginia have an agreement for a 2006 game in Pittsburgh and a return date at Virginia in ‘07. (sic) On future schedules, that gives Pitt eight dates with Notre Dame, home-and-homes with Michigan State, Navy, Virginia, N.C. State and Clemson, and a 2-for-1 with UCF.

Hope they're ready for that.

Interesting post about UConn Women's Hoops coach Geno Auriemma

Meghan Gardler was going to be on UConn coach Geno Auriemma's radar whether she played basketball or not.
Gardler, a 6-foot forward from Springfield, Pa., is the daughter of Buddy Gardler, Auriemma's high school coach at Bishop Kenrick in Philadelphia in the early 1970s.

That's kinda cool.

Also from the Husky Blog.

Butler, a 25-year-old Racine native who is a starting forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, picked up the $17,000 tab to give away a total of 300 bicycles. With Butler on hand to host the event, pre-selected children were given a bike and a helmet and sent on their merry way.

Why do we hear stories about the Whizzinator but not about his? I am familiar with the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality. But it is funny that the sports press doesn't cover this sort of stuff as more than regional personal interest stories. And yes, I know some of the players prefer to conduct their charity work in private. That's another matter altogether.

The Marquette Basketball Blog is covering the mascot controversy. All over it. Just keep scrolling. And don't miss this NYT article which I discovered via the MBB Blog.

The new nickname the board chose was the Gold.

"The Gold?" Dwyane Wade, an alumnus who plays for the Miami Heat, said when told of the new name during an interview with ESPN. "I got to make a phone call to Marquette."

He added: "I don't know about that one. Marquette Gold. The Gold! The Gold?"

Most alumni wanted to return to Warriors, Marquette's nickname during its basketball heyday in the 1970's. Current students were willing to stay with the Golden Eagles, chosen more than a decade ago as part of the national trend to eliminate names that some considered racially or ethnically offensive.

The Gold sucks. As does The Harvard Crimson. A color strikes no fear in the hearts of your enemies. And finally: Is this another Augusta National situation?

Hello Again

Make that p.m.

I do hope some of you have missed me. I didn't post this evening because I had to travel this morning and early afternoon. It was well worth the trip but I was incommunicado and out of touch with the sports world.

So now I'm gonna dig around the blogosphere a bit and get back to you guys.

The Daily Roundup: Wednesday

Thanks to Birkel again for bringing you all the Big 5 and much more yesterday.

The Headlines:

Duke picks up a top shooting guard from the class of '06 in 6'5 Jon Scheyer. He turned down Illinois, coached by the brother of Jon's high school team, Bruce Weber. That has got to hurt your feelings if you are Bruce and brother David.

Charlotte will take on Wake in Men's basketball next year. The 49ers are 17-33 against the ACC all time.

Julius Hodge honors the contract he signed with his mom out of high school and graduates from NC State in 4 years. Perhaps this is what Chris Paul should have done. I sat beside another Wake grad yesterday who spent time telling me how Chris should have stayed in school. Nothing to do with the fact that the move damaged Wake for next season.....just that Chris wasn't ready.
Hmmmmm.

I'm sure the boys over at State Fans Nation are going to have a great time with this one: Fowler, Sendek say that State's basketball program is on the right path. I agree.....just barely.

BC basketball player Akida McClain was arrested yesterday for allegedly passing counterfeit $20 bills in his hometown of Pittsburgh. The Dookies are going to have a field day with that joker if he ever shows his face in Cameron.

A very nice read from the Washington Post on Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenburg and his golf game. This is the first in a summer series on how Washington area personalities spend time on the golf course.

Georgia Tech asks for probation for using 17 ineligible athletes in 4 sports between 2000-2004.

Tech has not released the names of the athletes involved and says in most cases they don't know they were improperly ruled eligible. Many of the athletes received incorrect advice from an academic adviser or were not told of a waiver they could have received that would have made them eligible. This is the second major infractions case in Tech history. The other, involving violations in men's tennis, occurred in 1989. Florida State leads the ACC with six major infractions cases, and the University of Georgia leads the state with six. Any school found guilty of a major infraction twice within five years faces increased penalties, regardless of whether the first case resulted in probation. Tech officials said they had put in place procedures to avoid a repeat.

Tech guard Zam Frederick will return to Tech. I'm glad he made that decision. I sure the boys over at GT Sports Blog will have more on this later today.

Maryland's Juan Dixon will represent the NBA athletes before Congress next week regarding steroid use in the league. Glad the he stepped up.

Duke will host Milwaukee-Wisconsin in a Pre Season NIT game in '05. I don't think that will be the game that it would have been about 2 months ago.

More from Birkel in the am......

More Bad Journalism

The Detroit News published an article critical of the report the Detroit Free Press generated regarding Mitch Albom's journalistic malfeasance.

Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom lifted quotes from other publications without attribution and in some stories quotes appeared to be slightly changed from how they appeared elsewhere, according to a Free Press investigation of their embattled star writer.
Now the investigation itself is under fire, as several reporters who worked on the review say editors emphasized elements that supported Albom rather than criticized him.
The issue matters to more than those who work in the downtown Detroit office that houses both The Detroit News and the Free Press. At a time when public trust in the media is low, credibility is a treasured commodity.

Now of course this could just be a signal of the News attacking its crosstown rival. But when was the last time you saw one newspaper go after another so openly? Most of the time the journalists close ranks similar to the famous "Blue Wall of Silence" of police officers. When was the last time you saw an episode of 60 Minutes or Nightline that attacked 'big business?' Pretty recently, I'll bet. When was the last time that 'big business' was the MSM or some organ thereof? Never, that's when. This article, however, hits the Free Press and its star sports reporter hard.

What the reporting team found was a number of cases in which Albom used quotes from other publications without telling readers, making it seem as if he had gathered the quotes himself. Such a practice violates the ethics policy of the Free Press, posted on the paper's Web site.
Instead of leading with the ethics violations, the headline and lead of the Monday story in the Free Press emphasized that no pattern of deception had been found.

And over and over.

A reporter at USA TODAY was fired recently for lifting quotes from the Indianapolis Star without attributing those quotes to the other publication.
Such a practice also violates the ethics policy of The News. "Lifting quotes without attribution from another publication or from a broadcast report would be a violation of our ethics policy -- for reporters and for columnists," said Mark Silverman, publisher and editor of The Detroit News.

Take that Free Press! The Detroit News has higher standards than its bigger rival. Heck even a dumb ol' blogger like me gives credit to the people I steal from. It's called a hyperlink, Mitch! Use them! Love them! They will set you free. Or you can take the green pill and you'll wake up in the morning as if nothing happened.

The investigation also uncovered instances when Albom lifted quotes from other publications and apparently changed them, either intentionally or accidentally. In several instances, the quotes as appearing in Albom's stories "seemed to be livelier," the Free Press reported.
While journalists argue about the proper levels of attribution in stories, there is no debate over changing quotes, McBride said. "That was one of the most troubling things about the report," she said. "What's in between the quote marks is sacred. If you need to make it more lively, you paraphrase it."

Any blogger who tried to do this sort of thing would be found out immediately. One of our readers would click the link, catch the error and beat us about the head and shoulders. Then we'd lose our reputation and nobody would come here to read our drivel. But does the Free Press even take advantage of the technology that would avoid these problems in their online publication? Nope.

So what's going to happen is the Free Press is going to lose its credibility and people aren't going to read them. And the Free Press, and the MSM generally, will continue to bleed revenue until rivals replace them. Web-based sports reporting seems like a completely viable alternative. It's relatively inexpensive and the technology to deliver all sorts of features is very broad.

The rule of the jungle will catch up to the MSM in all its forms. It's adapt to changing conditions or go the way of the Woolly Mammoth. And right now the Free Press is unprepared for the ice age.

(HT: Mark Tapscott via Insty) (And yes, I was trying to operate around a movie theme. Deal with it.)

UPDATE:
Here is the original article from the Free Press. These four 'graphs pretty much say it all.

A Free Press review of more than 600 columns by Mitch Albom has found no evidence of problems similar to an April 3 column in which Albom, with an editor's knowledge, misled readers by writing about events that never occurred at a basketball game.
However, the inquiry found that Albom at times has used quotes from newspapers, TV programs or other publications without indicating that he did not gather the material himself, in violation of Free Press rules on crediting sources. In several instances, Albom did not credit quotes exclusively gathered by another media organization.
Albom was not alone in this. The review found that other Free Press columnists also have failed to give credit for quotes gathered by other news organizations.
Free Press Publisher and Editor Carole Leigh Hutton said the problems reflect a lack of familiarity with the paper's rules on attribution. She said she would take steps to address the problems.

Are they frickin' serious? This sounds like the everybody does it defense in conjunction with the one free pass excuse. Oh and there's also a tinge of the ignorance IS a defense theory.

Does anybody seriously think the Free Press would allow this paper thin defense stand if the subject of their investigation was accused of sexaul harassment, for example? No way and everybody knows it. This is a fundamental problem that cannot be addressed with a shrug of the Free Press' journalistic shoulders.

Mitch Albom continues to be a frightening little dwarf but now I know he's a frightening little dwarf without integrity.

Afternoon Linking

Harsh but true.

As great a coach as Mike Krzyzewski may be – and he just might be the very best in the history of the college game – he hasn’t turned every one of his McDonald’s All Americans into collegiate superstars. Greg Newton, Joey Beard, Tamon Domzalski, Casey Sanders, Ricky Price, and Chris Burgess all arrived in Duke with high expectations and all – for one reason or another – never reached their potential as players.

Coach K has gotten so many great recruits that it's not surprising to see a few of them fail. Still, the thing I notice from that list is how many of them were soft tall (white) guys who simply looked out of place in Coach K's motion offense. After all Joey Beard did perform pretty well against lesser talent after he transferred to BU. As a Duke fan I appreciate all that Coach K has accomplished while at the same time I think he's overly dogmatic toward his offensive system. Sometimes this has thwarted the talent of K's bigs, IMO.

Will Andrew Brackman play basketball next year or concentrate on baseball? The BasketBlog would like to offer its sincerest plea. Come back for the basketball big guy! But you guys just know the scouts are salivating over this guy.

NC State improved to 36-14 with the victory, 15-12 in the ACC. Duke fell to 14-35 overall and 5-22 in the conference. Brackman (3-0) allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five. In his four starts, he has allowed three runs on 11 hits in 23 innings, an ERA of 1.17. Overall, his ERA dropped to 1.20 with the win vs. Blue Devils.

Brackman will obviously be a high draft pick after his sophomore season. In baseball. The money for a 6'10" flamethrower will be awfully hard to resist. He resisted that temptation out of HS so I wonder which way he'll go after two years of college.

What's the most impressive ongoing streak? Now that Tiger Woods has lost could it be the Clemson Tigers' streak. After all they're 0-fer in Chapel Hill. I wonder when will that streak end?

Big 5-ish

Mark of SportsBiz is discussing the NCAA's push to ban Native American mascots (NAM). His take:

To me, that is nonsensical. In fact, this whole debate is one of emotion not reason. The NCAA should stay out and let each school deal with this on its own and come to whatever decision its community feels is appropriate for that institution. It is just not for the NCAA to legislate its members "morality" when it comes to nicknames.

Ed and I have discussed this in private conversations and I feel safe saying neither of us thinks the push to eradicate NAM is nonsensical. Our views differ in some regards but, IIRC, both Ed and I think specific tribes should have significant say-so about the use of their tribes' name. For example, if the Seminole tribe supports FSU's mascot, then I (and I think Ed) think that has great persuasive power over the decision to continue to use the Seminole name.

I would like to offer that the mascot name issue is not about racism from the side of the schools and professional teams that use them. It's about dollars: licensing and team paraphenalia. If I was a small school that didn't have a big-time sports program I'd change the name without any fuss whatsoever. It's easier than dealing with negative publicity and relatively costless except for changing the letterhead. But a big school like FSU or Illinois faces a much different calculus. Therefore, the NCAA forcing a one-size-fits-all policy onto its member schools sounds like bureaucratic overreach to my mind.

The NCAA's heart may very well be in the right place--in fact I'd bet it is--but this policy seems a bridge to far.

(And what's next? Are they gonna tell Notre Dame that a drunk leprechaun is offensive to the Irish? And after that, you know they're gonna target me Lucky Charms. And when they take me Lucky Charms away from the athletes you know it's gonna be on.)

Back to being serious: This also seems like an illegal restraint of trade. And the NCAA has some practice with receiving the legal smack down when they try to restrain trade. But I don't know if any of the schools would risk the Hootie Johnson-level press coverage that would follow such a lawsuit.

/rambling

MGoBlog is all over the corruption scandal at The Ohio State University. As an alum of Michigan let me just say

Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyahh.

Also from MGoBlog: Carolina's softball team travels to Ann Arbor to face Michigan, Canisius and Seton Hall. Michigan is the top seed and 55-4 on the year.

DaveSez crushed Shav when he announced for the NBA. Funny line: "They misspelled C-B-A." HeelsBlog feels sorry for Shav, saying he shoulda gone to NC State.

But maybe Shav is getting it right. Staying all four didn't help former GT PF James Forrest.

This is a story of interest to UNC fans only. Former UNC WR Kory Bailey is now an entrepreneur after a career in the CFL.

Gregg Doyel's take on the Cincinnati situation.

Cincinnati announced Monday night that Zimpher won't extend Huggins' contract. With only two years remaining on his deal, Huggins and his staff will enter the Big East shark tank with dull teeth. Huggins and Co. might be good enough to pull it off and keep Cincinnati a nationally competitive program for years to come. Then again, it's possible no one is good enough to pull that off.

If Zimpher was smart -- too bad she's only the university president -- she'd have extended Huggins' contract through 2010, 2015, whenever ... and then written in a university option to buy out the contract for $1.4 million after the 2006-07 season. If the school was willing to pay $1.4 million to buy out Huggins now, and is only guaranteeing him two more years, what's the difference?

That way, Huggins could have told recruits that he planned to be the UC coach for the next decade, and he would have had a contract to prove it. At the same time, Zimpher would have had her protection against whatever it is she's worried about two years down the road.

This way, the Zimpher way, Huggins has been cut off at the ankles at the absolute worst time imaginable.

Doyel's take sounds about right. The university misplayed this one.

The Daily Roundup: Tuesday

Thanks to Birkel for taking over the Roundup yesterday. He'll be bringing you more from the world of blogs this morning, including our now famous Big 5.

The Headlines:

Solid, consistent recruiting pays off: Echefu shows a bit of loyalty and selects FSU over Carolina. That hurts the Heels. In my opinion, Roy should pack up the recruiting for this year and not waste a scholarship on a potential project big man (ala what Matty D did with Sanders and Grant). Save the ship, let the chips fall where they may next season, and get the better player in '06. Big pick up for the 'Noles.

Nicklaus calls it quits. British Open to be his last tournament event. Sad day to anyone who loves Golf. Tiger....the shoes of Jack are mighty big son....mighty big.

Former Charlotte 49er Martin Iti will now play for New Mexico State and former NBA All Star Reggie Theus. Theus says that there is no doubt that Iti has NBA potential. Good luck Martin.

A somewhat unsettling story about Carolina's top recruiting target, Memphis big man Thad Young. 4.3 GPA, 1250 SAT, National Honor Society, great mom........lots and lots of "hanger ons" with highly questionable backgrounds.

Shav Randolph says he pursuing his dream and that there is no problem between he and the Duke program

"I know we have such a great chance to do something special next year," Randolph said. "We definitely already believe we can contend for a national title. ... Those [fellow rising seniors] are my brothers, and I look forward to finishing the journey with them."Yet Randolph said he would seriously consider a chance to play in the NBA if the opportunity was presented to him.

If a team offers guarantees him a roster spot (even if that means hiding him ion the injured list) he should take it. He won't get any better going back to Duke, that's for sure. All you folks who chuckle at this kid miss the fact that in a workout/combine type environment, he will most likely look very skilled...very fundamentally strong. There are plenty terrible players taking up space on NBA benches .

More on the Ohio State probe that Birkel uncovered yesterday. Things don't look good.

The NASCAR All Star event has lost a bit of its luster over the past few years. There is consideration afoot to move the event around to different venues. Bad for the good folks of NASCAR country who are losing out every day to the growth of this sport.

Wow....Cincy stripped the rollover provision from Bob Huggins contract and, at this time, have chosen not to renew the deal after his final two years are up. That surprises me.....

Duke women are ready to win a championship in Golf.

More from Birkel later in the am......

Slowly but Surely

I'm trying to fill Ed's rather large shoes by finding stories out there in the world of sports that you guys might enjoy. In the meantime I'm multi-tasking and fighting off a ridiculous number of E-mail messages from rich dead uncles from Africa. Not to even mention the inordinate number of E-mails I've received from from Germany--in German. Hello, I only took one semester of college German so if they're not just a recitation of the days of the week or numbers below 20 I won't get it. Okay?

Anyway, I thought this post from SportsBiz was pretty good. When Clinton Portis was traded to the Redskins he agreed to pay $40,000 for the uniform number 26. And then reneged on the deal when the guy he took the number from was cut from the team. So now he's being sued. HA!

Can it be true that Cincinnati Coach Bob Huggins is getting canned? I wouldn't've seen that one coming since the Cincinnati administration has allowed so much in the past. I wonder which straw broke the camel's back. Doesn't matter, I suppose, to the camel. Or the Huggy Bear.

************************************************************************************

Dan LeBatard ignores my advice and forges ahead with the charge that racism played a role in Steve Nash's MVP.

Annika laps the field while this woman makes laps really, really fast. I wanted to offer some more Annika articles since she won her 60th tournament by 10 strokes but the Atlanta JC has its articles as a paid service. To heck with the AJC if they think I need to pay for their stuff wwhen the blogs are producing stuff just as good--for free.

Manny Ramirez goes yard for the 400^th time. HOF candidate if he gets to 500 or is he just too bad a fielder? Not all the 500HR club is going to make the Hall so Manny better do a bit more if he wants consideration.

Clemson closer puts the clamps on WFU.

Story of "Georgia Peachpit" Ty Cobb who attacked a fan in 1912. He went in to the stands to beat a --get ready for it--handicapped man for heckling him. So for all the people who decry the current state of the game, Phooey on you.

Duke on to the national semifinals after a win over UNC. Let's hear it for the Dookies!

Winky beat up Tito over the weekend. Apparently it was one sided but still exciting. Seems like Trinidad might be done.

Harvard whoops the competition in rowing. Meanwhile BC mourns the lost of one of its crew team members.

Fourth-ranked 'Canes lose to UVa.

Miami Heat is at home and the other three series are all tied 2-2.

Daily Roundup-ish

Here is a little bit for you guys to chew over as I head out into the hinterlands to find the stories of the day. All of the following are courtesy of MGoBlue.

The top 2005 HS seniors from Rivals. A different list from Scout.

The class of 2006 from Scout.

Will the second tier bowl games create a BCS-type arrangement? According to this report the ACC, Big East, Big 10(11), SEC and other conferences are involved in negotiations. The basic goal seems to be to spread the wealth a bit as some teams play in the same bowl game too frequently for the bowl games' comfort.

Back with more in a bit.

Not Sure

Something odd happened on the way to the NBA Championships. I thought Detroit and San Antonio would cruise to the finals after showing their Eastern and Western conference opponents, respectively, what defense is all about. But after watching the Miami Heat win two straight over the admittedly feckless Washington Bullets Wiz I don't know how one stops Dwyane Wade. He's been the only truly unstoppable perimeter player in the playoffs. And if the Detroit-Indy series goes seven the Heat are likely to have a nearly fully recovered O'Neal to create foul trouble and double teams. I'm starting to think the acquisition of Alonzo Mourning deserved much wider acknowledgement as the best mid-season pickup and that his fire and passion may put the Heat over the top.

Who knew a 6'4" partial qualifier who went to a mid-major would make such a tremendous splash backed up by a center who underwent a kidney transplant? That's a pretty good story.

Instead of questioning Steve Nash's MVP, perhaps Dan LeBatard should write that story.

The Daily Roundup: Saturday

The Headlines:

Funniest story of the year: Shav will enter the NBA draft!!!!!! Coach K says that he supports him 100%. I mean, really, when a coach finds out that he has an irrational player and has another guy coming in this season named McRoberts, I think you do exactly what K did and say "son.......go for it......we support you 100%." His father thinks that he will be back at Duke in '05. YOU THINK!!! As an NBA GM, why would you waist your time giving this kid more than passing feedback if you know he is only doing this to evaluate areas of needed improvement. Let us do it for you right now Shav so you won't waste the time of these GMs:

1. Lateral quickness needs much improvement;
2. You have no bounce;
3. The midrange game needs to be developed and visible more consistently;
4. Footwork, footwork, footwork;
5. Strength and the ability to finish around the rim are lacking.
6. Stop fouling.

There....that should just about do it.

More below the fold.


Just in case you were wondering, this is how the ACC's big men who have entered the draft stack up against each other. Shav........wow.

Spurrier says "bring on the Tar Heels." Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer on what would be a great event in the QC every year: Carolina v. Carolina. Poor NC State......overlooked again.

Frank Dascenzo of the Durham Herald Sun says it best (if not a bit cold): Duke wouldn't be losing much. Guess who this story is about. All I can say is......wow.

Former UVa. player and deadbeat "baby daddy" Ralph Sampson is arrested on felony charges stemming from his failure to pay almost $300,000 in total child support. He neglects his two girls, but fully supports his 7'0 star basketball player son. What an ass!

I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.....Tiger misses the cut at the Byron Nelson and ends his streak of 142 straight made fields.

UVa. Running Backs report from SCOUT.

Swafford sees bright future for the ACC's version of the Dirty Dozen.

Maryland's Gilchrist hires an agent and eliminates any possibility of returning to the Terps. This is the best thing for Gary and the program. As always, we wish you good luck, John.

Jr. gets a big boost from the short tracks. Richmond is one of his favorites, but Hendrick and Roush generally have this place on lock.

More on NC States new basketball recruit, Werner.

Trevor Booker commits to Coach Purnell and the Clemson Tigers.

Virginia Tech football player Brenden Hill finds himself back in court for failing a drug test and being arrested while on probation. Another member of the ever growing Brotherhood of the Idiots.

Sorry

Blogger continues to have problems with its service. I apologize for not putting these articles up for your consideration earlier. Enjoy.

Shavlik Randolph declares for the NBA? Did I miss his up side talent? I don't get it.

And NC State lands its first 2006 recruit. Will Herbie still be there to welcome him to campus?

Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons of Lenoir ranks Werner in the top 100 of the junior class. Gibbons said Werner is a skilled player, a good shooter and is capable of playing either shooting guard or small forward for N.C. State.

We'll see.

Steve Nash: The least deserving MVP ever?

Don't forget the Daily Roundup and the Big 5 Basketbloggers
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By Colin for the ACC Basketblog

I will take the position that Steve Nash is about the least-deserving NBA MVP in history.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Nash as an entertainer (I don’t love him as a PLAYER – he’s fun to watch, above-average effective, but I don’t think he’s a truly special player, in part because he plays no D), and there are no words to describe how happy I am that he has (in combination with the NBA’s decision to enforce hand-checking and other rules regarding contact on the perimeter) – symbolically, at least – spearheaded a charge toward an offensive renaissance in the NBA (NOTE: graphic on TNT indicated that playoff scoring is up an average of 24 POINTS PER GAME this year as compared to last; guess the league was serious about the refs officiating the game the same way in the playoffs as it was during the regular season, eh?) and renewed interest in the league. As a basketball fan, I am grateful to Nash. But MVP? No way.

Before I get into this, I realize this award is subjective and that different people define “most valuable” different ways. And if one wants to consider all the intangibles – the above-referenced changing of the way the game is played (which everyone seems to like), the Suns’ dramatic improvement this year, the Suns’ dreadful performance when Nash is out – and give it to Nash, even though he isn’t even among the top-10 players in the league, that’s fine. But just recognize that we’ve turned the NBA MVP into a popularity contest, considering “what player is the best story?” or “to whom can we give credit for having a positive impact on the game overall?” instead of who is the best player.

The crux of my argument: Nash, as good as he’s been this year, doesn’t approach the productivity of other PGs who didn’t even sniff an MVP during their primes, and many of the non-Nash-stats for which he receives credit (i.e., the Suns’ improved record) are not the result of his presence/performance. As such, a vote for Nash is really a vote for (1) the Suns as a team, (2) for a better brand of basketball, or (3) a vote to credit a guy for effects that occurred because of the actions of others. Again, since this is a subjective award, I can’t really say that using such logic is “wrong.” But I think it’s pretty significant to note that Nash’s effectiveness, when compared with how the Suns might perform with other PGs, really isn’t that great.

Let’s look at Nash’s stats this year. 15.5 ppg, 11.5 apg, .502 FG%, .431 3P%. Great numbers, but certainly not something that pops as MVP-caliber (I couldn’t find a list of stats for all NBA MVPs, but I am willing to bet that Nash’s PPG is in the lower 5% of that group).

More below the fold.


So, what else is in Nash’s favor? The Suns were awful last year, 29-53 and averaging a piddly 94 PPG. This year, they are 62-20 and averaging 110. But is this all due to Nash? My response is an emphatic “no.” Comparing this year’s team to last year’s: the Suns’ young nucleus of scorers left over from last year – Stoudamire, Marion, and Joe Johnson – all had an extra year of playing together under their belts, and all are obviously on the upswing of their career arcs. Stoudamire, in particular, was going to make a leap this year even if I was running the point in P-H-X. And remember, Stoudamire missed 27 games last year, contributing to a dismal finish. And the Suns didn’t really have ANY PG after Marbury departed last year. And then the Suns added Quentin Richardson this off-season, and he merely led the The League in 3s made. Therefore, I conclude: though Nash is part of the improvement, the Suns were going to be a far better team simply by signing, and plugging into their line-up, just about any competent PG.

And what about Dallas issue? If Nash is really so valuable, how does one explain the Mavs IMPROVING by six wins (52 last year, 58 this year) after letting Nash go?

But then again, what about how bad the Suns were when Nash was out? Well, the Suns were awful because they don’t have another PG on the roster. The Suns have Leandro Barbosa backing Nash up. ‘Nuf said. But just because the Suns haven’t bothered to employ a competent backup doesn’t make Nash a better player.

Which leads to my overall point: most of Nash’s perceived value has little to do with his own talents and almost everything to do with external factors. The team was awful last year because they had no PG and had young players (none of Nash’s doing). The young players improved (none of Nash’s doing). The team added another good scorer (none of Nash’s doing). The team’s backups are absolutely incompetent (none of Nash’s doing). Here’s what all this leads me to conclude: if the Suns’ signed any other decent PG in the off-season, that PG would have overseen a very similar improvement in the Suns. Hell, if that hypothetical PG played some defense, the Suns’ record might be even better than what it is now. Seems to me that most of the factors advanced for Nash’s MVP candidacy should more properly be considered as the basis for Jerry Colangelo being named Executive of the Year.

In sum, this all comes down to how one measures “value.” True, Nash’s value compared to an empty uniform is very high; the Suns desperately need an up-tempo, pass-first PG to make their out-of-this-world transition game go. Combined with the fact that the Suns’ backups suck, this makes Nash very important to the team. However, Nash’s value compared to a replacement PG (by which I mean, how much better are the Suns with Nash running the point than an average NBA starting PG?) isn’t much. Hell, J-Kidd might average 20 assists in this offense. I’d wager that Tony Parker (very fast in transition, decent spot-up shooter) would be nearly as effective as Nash. Iverson would be lethal – with defenders having to stay home or give up the three-ball, AI might average 35 and 15. Based on the “replacement” standard of comparison, I don’t see Nash as being especially valuable; I’d bet we can think of 5 other NBA PGs who’d be even more productive if placed in that situation.

A final point makes the Nash-for-MVP movement seem even more ridiculous. Let’s consider two other great PGs – John Stockton and Isiah Thomas.

ISIAH: During the 83-84 and 84-85 seasons, Isiah put up 21.3 and 11.1, then 21.2 and 13.9. Not close to an MVP either year. Granted, the Pistons as a team in those years weren’t as successful as Nash’s Suns this year. But in 1989-90, when the Bad Boys were winning championships, Isiah put up 18.4 and 9.4. I’d suggest that in any of those seasons, Isiah is statistically superior to Nash (especially when you consider Isiah’s defensive contributions; his rebounding and steal numbers in the relevant years far exceed Nash’s from this year, and while there aren’t many other stats that reflect defensive effectiveness, my eyes tell me that Nash plays a lot of matador defense – ole, baby!).

STOCKTON: During the 1989-90 and 90-91 seasons, Stockton’s LOWEST PPG was 17.2, and LOWEST APG was a mind-numbing 14.2 (these two seasons were the highest total-assist seasons for anyone, ever, in The League). No a whisper of this being an MVP-caliber season. Team success? Jazz won 60 games in 94-95, Stock put up 14.7 PPG and 12.3 APG. Again, no mention of Stock for MVP. In case you need a reminder, Stock was a pretty fair defender, being the league’s all-time steals leader and all. Again, from a statistical point of view, this isn’t close, with Stockton being the winner.

NOTE: Isiah and Stockton also put up their numbers in an environment where points were more scarce that they are for Nash’s Suns (which averages 110+ this year). For example, 89-90 season stats reveal the 89-90 Pistons averaged 104.3 PPG, and the 89-90 Utah Jazz averaged 106.8 PPG. So, Isiah and Stock were putting bigger raw numbers, and numbers which were even more impressive because they represented a bigger share of their respective teams’ production.

Much like Nash (with Stoudamire), Stock (with Malone) had a big guy putting up huge numbers alongside him. Malone won an MVP for the Jazz, but Stoudamire doesn’t seem to be getting much credit (in terms of MVP pub) for the Suns. The only difference seems to be circumstances: Nash happens to be new to the team, and the team happened to get better upon his arrival. Because Nash happened to be put into a situation where improvement was inevitable, he is reaping a lot of credit for it. And in reality, neither Nash nor Stoudamire is the most valuable player on that team – that honor goes to Marion, who can defend the 3, 4, or 5 positions, allows the Suns to play fast and small because he can collect 15 rebounds an defend bigger players, and helps the Suns’ penetrate and pitch game with his offensive versatility (being able to both shoot the 3 and slash to the hole and finish).

My humble opinion: MVP’s often go to the guy with (A) the best stats, or (2) the best player the best (or a very good) team. Nash is neither. Accordingly we must conclude that he was given the award by being perceived as the catalyst of a tremendous improvement by the Suns. As set out above, I don’t think Nash is due such credit.

If I am wrong, I trust that you, the ACCBasketblog reader, will call me out.