Duke-UNC tonight @ 9:00 p.m. I'll be alone in front of the television.

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So Big Brown is now one victory away from winning the Triple Crown. I hope that he gets it. I remember watching Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed (poor Alydar- would have been a great horse in any other year) all winning the Triple Crown in the 1970s. I got so used to seeing a winner that I forgot how difficult such a feat is. The current period between champions is the longest in history.

Anyway. Everyone raved about Big Brown's huge victory on Saturday. While it was impressive, every race that I've seen since 1973 has been colored by what Secretariat accomplished on June 9 of that year at the Belmont Stakes. I've embedded a video below the fold. For the record, Secretariat won the Belmont by a mind-boggling 31 lengths. Other notable records:

• Secretariat's Kentucky Derby record of (1:59 2/5) still stands. Also, Big Red ran each quarter-mile segment faster than the one before it.
  
• At the Belmont, Secretariat ran the first 1 1/4 mile faster than any horse had run the entire race before
  
• Secretariat's record at the Belmont of 2:24 is still the world record for the distance; no other horse has every broken 2:25 at that distance
  

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The NBA regular season bores me a little because, by and large, lots of players take nights off and snooze their way through the winter. This season was better than most because

1. The Celtics reemerged as an elite team.
   
2. Both the Lakers and Celtics finished as #1 seeds in their respective conferences, potentially setting up a possible ratings bonanza Finals.
   
3. The Western Conference was just so damned good, top to bottom.
   
4. Some teams were a pleasant surprise, especially, but not limited to, the New Orleans Hornets.
   

And now the Spurs and Suns have squared off in the first round. While it's somewhat disappointing that this meeting didn't occur much later in the postseason, it is a matchup between two heavyweights. Saturday afternoon's game was one of the best games that I've seen all year. It featured one highlight reel moment after another: Michael Finley coming off of a screen to nail the game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation; Tim Duncan?! hitting the game-tying three at the end of the first overtime; and the off balance, falling out of bounds, game-tying 3-pointer hit by Nash that, unfortunately, did not force a third overtime, owing to Genobli's game winner with 1.5 seconds left. The only bad thing that I have to say about the game is that no one sucker-punched that thug Bruce Bowen. While it's entertaining to watch the NBA turn a blind eye to a player cheapshotting his way through the playoffs, it's not as much fun as watching someone break that asshole's jaw. Not that I'm advocating violence or anything. That would be wrong. But if an accident were to occur right in front of the Spurs' bench and a few premier players happened to stand up and get suspended for a game or two, well that would be just too bad.

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So. Apparently free throws are important when you're trying to win a national championship.

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So. Like me, you'll likely be at work when the opening round games tip off this Thursday and Friday. And suppose, like me, you don't want to get busted smuggling in a TV. What do you do? Check out the game online. Excerpt:

Got your brackets all set? Good. Now it's time to prep for Thursday's flood of first-round games—and yes, you can watch 'em all from your desktop. Your boss is gonna love this.

Lifehacker has the scoop on two ways to catch all the action from your cubicle, and luckily, it looks like CBS and the NCAA are making it easy on us this year. Turns out that every game of this year's tournament—including the Final Four and the championship—will be streamed online, for free. There are some caveats, however.

Not that I'm advocating using company resources to watch basketball games. That would be wrong.

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The Duke basketball team is pretty good this year. Of course, they could completely suck and I'd still be happy about them beating Carolina at the Dean Dome.

The Patriots lost the Superbowl thereby leaving the 1972 Dolphins as the only undefeated team in NFL history; Duke beat Carolina at UNC. All is right with the world.

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This one is especially for Dean Barnett:
more...

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I knew that Alyssa Milano was an avid Dodgers's fan. What I didn't know was that she had a blog dedicated to her favorite team. She's even typed an open letter to manager Grady Little who, I must confess, I have some affection for, as he was the manager of the AAA franchise here in Richmond some years back, and a pretty good one to boot, although I'm quite certain that Red Sox fans would disagree with my assessment of his managerial skills. In any event, beautiful women and baseball belong together.

Alyssa, I'm a longtime fan of your's, but I have to express my disappointment with your choice of a team to back. The only real choice is, of course, the DEFENDING WORLD SERIES CHAMPION ST. LOUIS CARDINALS.

Yeah, I really enjoy saying that. It's just a pity that I won't be saying it for much longer.

Thanks to Jeff Goldstein for the link.

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Readers of this blog will have noticed that I'm a big fan of the DEFENDING WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS ST. LOUIS CARDINALS. This year has been a struggle, but hope springs eternal. An even in a so far dismal season, I can find things tthat make me smile. Like the following excerpt from tonight's recap:

Failed pitcher Rick Ankiel hit a three-run homer to cap his debut as a major league outfielder, and Joel Pineiro worked seven scoreless innings in the St. Louis Cardinals' 5-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday night.

The Cardinals took three of four from the NL West-contending Padres, spoiling the return of Chris Young in the finale.

The day began with utilityman Scott Spiezio going on the restricted list for a substance problem that the Cardinals did not specify, allowing for the callup of Ankiel to take his spot on the roster.

Ankiel, who led the Pacific Coast League with 32 homers for Triple-A Memphis, launched a 2-1 pitch from Doug Brocail over the right-field wall in the seventh with an effortless swing that put the Cardinals ahead 5-0.

The drive merited a standing ovation and a curtain call for the once-troubled left-hander, who quit pitching in spring training 2005 to begin the long climb back up the ladder as a 26-year-old minor league outfielder.

I remember all too well Ankeil's meltdown against the Braves in the 2000 playoffs. He threw 5 wild pitches in an inning and he never recovered as a pitcher, seemingly unable to find the strike zone. A couple of years ago, he gave up his comeback as a pitcher and started over as an outfielder. Tonight, he returned to St. Louis in a big way. Apparently he's got some pop in his bat, so he might kick the Cardinals' offense in the bottom.

Anyway, it's kind of a feel good story. The fact that it happened to my favorite pro baseball team is gravy.

Update: Dean Barnett also posted on this story. The image below is courtesy of him.

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Bill Simmons delivers some body blows to the league known as the NBA:

So here's my defense on the NBA's behalf ...

You can't blame them for the Stoudemire-Diaw suspensions because they correctly interpreted a stupid, idiotic, foolish, moronic, brainless, unintelligent, foolhardy, imprudent, thoughtless, obtuse and thickheaded rule. Can you blame them for having that rule in the first place? Yes. But you can't blame them for the actual interpretation -- after all, Stoudemire and Diaw did leave their bench during an altercation, just like Tom Brady's right arm was still coming down as Charles Woodson popped him in the Tuck Rule Game. Everyone knows about the leaving-the-bench rule. It's been around for more than a decade. It's the reason assistant coaches spin around during potential fights and hold their arms out like bouncers at a nightclub. It's the reason a really good Knicks team got bounced from the '97 playoffs (robbing everyone of a much-anticipated Bulls-Knicks Eastern Conference finals). It's also the reason why we haven't had a bench-clearing brawl since the rule was invented.

Here's the problem with that stupid, idiotic, foolish, moronic, brainless, unintelligent, foolhardy, imprudent, thoughtless, obtuse and thickheaded rule: It's currently designed as a black-or-white law that leaves no room for interpretation. As Barkley pointed out on TNT, Stoudemire and Diaw stopped after a few steps and never escalated the situation. In a way, it played out as poorly as the tuck rule did. In that playoff game against the Raiders, Brady pumped the football, brought it back down, got popped by Woodson and coughed up the ball. It should have been a fumble, but because of the stupid, idiotic, foolish, moronic, brainless, unwise unintelligent, foolhardy, imprudent, thoughtless, obtuse and thickheaded way that the tuck rule was designed, the play was interpreted correctly, the Patriots kept the ball and ended up winning in overtime.
...
Three incidents/story lines from this year's playoffs inadvertently illustrated the deeper dilemma here:

1. Let's say you're one of the best seven players on the Phoenix Suns. You love Nash -- he's your emotional leader, your meal ticket to the Finals, the ideal teammate and someone who makes you happy to play basketball every day for a living. He's killing himself to win a championship. His nose was split open in Game 1. His back bothers him to the point that he has to lie down on the sidelines during breaks. He's battling a real cheap-shot artist (Bruce Bowen) who's trying to shove and trip him on every play. But he keeps coming and coming, and eventually everyone follows suit. Just as things were falling apart in Game 4 and you were staring at the end of your season, he willed you back into the game and saved the day.

Suddenly, he gets body-checked into a press table for no real reason on an especially cheap play. You're standing 20 feet away. Instinctively, you run a few steps toward the guy who did it -- after all, your meal ticket is lying on the court in a crumpled heap -- before remembering that you can't leave your bench. So you go back and watch everything else unfold from there. Twenty-four hours later, you get suspended for Game 5 because your instincts as a teammate kicked in for 1.7 seconds.

Think about how dumb this is. What kind of league penalizes someone for reacting like a good teammate after his franchise player just got decked? Imagine you're playing pickup at a park, you're leading a game 10-3, your buddy is driving for the winning layup, and some stranger clotheslines your buddy from behind and knocks him into the metal pole. Do you react? Do you take a couple of steps toward him? I bet you do. For the NBA to pretend it can create a fairy-tale league in which these reactions can be removed from somebody's DNA -- almost like a chemical castration -- I mean, how stupid is that?

2. One of the running debates of these playoffs: Is Bruce Bowen a cheap player? I love the fact that anyone's actually debating this -- if your answer is "no" or your answer is "I'm not sure," then you've obviously never played basketball in your life. Bruce Bowen is a cheap player. There's no debate.
...
Now here's where the NBA failed: For a league that professes to be concerned about dirty play and any situation that could lead to a brawl, the league has curiously looked the other way with the single dirtiest player in the league. If he pulled this crap on a pickup court, or even in college intramurals, somebody would have punched Bowen in the face and broken his jaw. In the NBA? He gets to keep doing his thing and putting other players in danger. In the Phoenix series alone, he tripped Stoudemire from behind on a dunk in Game 2, kneed Nash in the groin in Game 3 and tried to knock Nash off balance in Game 4 as they were running back upcourt (causing a frustrated Nash to elbow him in the chops). The league penalizes two Phoenix stars for instinctively running toward an injured teammate, but they don't penalize a perpetually dirty player who's eventually going to trigger an ugly brawl before the end of his career?

How the hell does that make sense?
...
So don't blame the NBA higher-ups for the way they interpreted that stupid, idiotic, foolish, moronic, brainless, unintelligent, foolhardy, imprudent, thoughtless, obtuse and thickheaded rule. Blame them for having the rule itself. Blame them for allowing the league to morph into something that doesn't quite resemble basketball anymore. Blame them for a league in which basketball players aren't totally allowed to think and act like basketball players and teammates aren't totally allowed to think and act like teammates. Blame them for an ongoing double standard in which the Bruce Bowens of the league can willfully endanger other players, but a roundhouse swipe on an attempted block can get someone ejected if they miss by a scant 10 inches while moving at full speed. Blame them for dubious officiating that's compromised the playoffs to the degree that an increasing number of fans are wondering where the WWE ends and the NBA begins.

Bruce Bowen probably makes the original Bad Boys from Detroit go, "Dude, tone it down a bit." Except for Bill Lambeer of course, because he was a cheap shot asshole.

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DUKE BEATS UNC!!!

Okay, it was the women's team, but I'll take what I can get this year. Besides, I root for all Duke athletic teams. I was quite disappointed when Duke lost to Maryland last year.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:04 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Duke entertains UNC tonight in what's likely to be another epic battle. And much as I enjoy a UNC loss(thanks NCSU), I don't much relish meeting UNC immediately after a loss, especially since Duke has lost its last two, both of which they had chances to win at the buzzer.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Paulus reminds no one of Bobby Hurley. Heck, he doesn't even remind me of Quin Snyder. A crappy point guard, a sloppy handling 2-guard and a decent interior game doesn't exactly bode well for the future of this current Duke squad. Then again, Cal Tech Girl is probably excited, so glass half full and all. more...

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Duke basketball is going through a dry spell this year, which should please everyone in the country who doesn't root for the Blue Devils. Anyhoo, I've got February 7 and March 4 marked on my calendar. I'm certain that Cal Tech Girl does, too.

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Linda Lovelace was the last person I saw choke as badly as Phil Mickelson did yesterday.

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Yeah, I'm a Duke fan, but this is pretty darned funny:

Greensboro, NC: Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford announced today that a foul is tentatively scheduled to be called against Duke sometime in the first half of their game with UNC in Chapel Hill, next Tuesday, February 7th.

In a joint press conference with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and ACC Director of Officials John Clougherty, Swofford said an agreement had been reached for a touch foul to be whistled on as-yet-to-be-determined Blue Devil player around the 7:00 minute mark during the first half of the game at the Smith Center.

"We are very excited to arrange something that hasn't been seen in our
conference since 1998," said Swofford. "I want to personally commend Mike {Krzyzewski} for agreeing to this uncoventional deal. We all know how reluctant he has been to allow any calls to go against his team."

Krzyzewski insisted that this move was purely a gesture of generosity aimed at rehabilitating his public image in light of recent lip-synching fiascos during several nationally televised games. "The camera did not catch me really uttering the BS-word during my argument with the official the other night. Those really were my lips moving but I wasn't really yelling the word. I'm sure our fans will understand."

"Mike is being a really good sport about this," noted UNC coach Roy Williams. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to play them with a
foul being called against their squad, and to have it happen here in front of the home crowd will be especially enjoyable for our fans."

Clougherty says that unless unforeseen intimidation happens during the game, that the scheduled foul should occur without a hitch. "It all depends on whether Coach K holds up his end of the bargain and promises not to harrass our crew that evening."

Clougherty also said not to expect any more fouls to be called against Duke this season, but did not rule out the possibility of another one being called in an exhibition game in November 2006. "The Duke AD told me that they are trying to schedule Marathon Oil for a pre-season game next year and we are in discussions about perhaps calling another foul against Duke in that match-up if everyone can come to terms."

The officiating crew for the Duke vs. UNC game will not be announced publicly prior to the game in order to protect their privacy. Swofford said he anticipated a media barrage and did not want the referees to be distracted from their big task at hand. "This is a big deal and a momentous occasion for the league. We need our employees to remain focused so that they can complete their jobs in what could end up being a very difficult situation."

Game Notes: If the foul occurs on February 7th, it will be the 27th foul called against the Blue Devils in their basketball history...........

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Duke travels to Chapel Hill tonight in the first of two face-offs between bitter, geographically close hated enemies rivals, with the second meeting to occur on March 4.

Quick question for all you supposed college basketball experts: what made you think that "UNC won't be very competitive this year"? Are you all on crack, or do you simply like to spout nonsensical statements in the hopes that people won't notice? I freaking hate UNC's basketball team(my blood runs Duke blue), but I certainly respect them. Oh, and that Roy Williams guy? He's a pretty good coach. You might have heard of him; he won the national championship last year.

So UNC lost their 7 best players from last year. Boo-effing-hoo. Anyone who thinks that Williams couldn't coach some even some high school also-rans to about 20 wins is dreaming. And the guys he brought in this year are a lot better than that.

What were some of the "informed" comments I heard? Here's a sample:

They'll play hard, but they won't come close to cracking the top 25.

Williams needs another recruiting class or two to become competitive in the ACC.

And Sports Illustrated ranked their top 50 teams in the preseason. UNC didn't make that list. I was reading the article whilst sitting on the john, which seemed appropriate because I called BULLSHIT then.

Anyway, if you want to see the best rivalry in college basketball, bar none, you should tune in to watch. I know that I will.

Update: This year's Duke team is going to give me a freaking aneurysm before the season is over. My head hurts and I'm shaking. And Duke won. Eesh.

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