Maryland-Wake Preview

It won't get any national attention, but there's a huge game tonight in the ACC as Maryland (7-6) travels to Wake Forest (6-6) for a true bubble-bursting tilt on Tobacco Road.

Five Reasons I Like Wake Forest

1) They play well at home
For the season, Wake Forest is 14-1 at home, with wins over Duke, BYU and Miami. On the road, they are 2-8.

2) The steady improvement of freshmen Jeff Teague and James Johnson
I'm starting to like Jeff Teague. Like, "like like" him. Chris' Sports Blog resident UVA expert Spiro had compared Teague to a young Randolph Childress, high praise indeed.
The NCAA just started selling old basketball games on DVD, so I got my cousin two old MD games for Christmas - the 2002 Elite Eight game vs. Connecticut and Len Bias leading MD to the first ever victory by an opponent in the Dean Dome in '86. That UConn game is largely forgotten, but was a fantastic game. Juan Dixon and Steve Blake held off the Huskies, who were led by Caron Butler's 32. Where was I going with this. Oh, Randolph Childress. Anyway, in ordering those two games for him, I one for myself: The famous 1995 ACC Championship where Childress dropped 37 on a UNC team featuring Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse. Childress is simply awesome in that game - as is Rasheed, for that matter. A guy named Duncan wasn't too bad for Wake either. My second favorite moment of that game is when Childress hits his first three and on the way back down the court, he kind of shakes his head in the same way that MJ did during the NBA Finals against the Blazers in '91. It's like he knew he was going to be unstoppable that afternoon. My favorite moment:

I was hoping to find that clip on YouTube, so I Googled "Randolph Childress ACC Tournament" and got too many hits to search through. So, on a lark, I typed in "Randolph Childress breaks off Jeff McInnis". The video immediately popped up.

3) Greivis Vasquez
I've never hated a player on a team I like more than Greivis Vasquez. (And it's not just that I have to look up how to spell his name every time I mention him.) For somebody with so much talent (the way he weaves through defenders to the basket and kisses a teardrop off the top of the glass is quite impressive), he plays the dumbest basketball I've ever seen. He forces things too much, particularly on big possessions. He is careless with his ball-handling (his turnover rate is, um, prolific). He gives up on defense far too much, getting driven on more than the Autobahn. (Watch the go-ahead basket scored by Miami last Saturday. Greivis gets juked by a basic head-fake and then quits on the play.) And he has the worst case of TSS (Trent Stickland Syndrome) I've seen since the disease's namesake graduated from Wake. (TSS is an affliction that causes players to take ridiculous shots during a game. When one of those shots inevitably goes in, the player feels it is his right duty to shoot even more ridiculous shots because of the one that ended up going in. It's like Trent had a highly-selective memory that only remembered successful baskets, not the ten unsuccessful ones that preceded them. But I digress.)
The Greivis-hatred is spreading. I sent out an email to some friends earlier in the week to see who wanted to go out to watch the game. I concluded, "so let me know if you're trying to meet up to watch Greivis Vasquez heave up inexplicable three pointers and Chas McFarland throw elbows like he's Alonzo Mourning's long lost son."
Tony responded, "I need only to have something like a nerf ball to throw at the screen for when the "human turnover" invariably makes what will be one of many completely inexplicable plays during the course of the game." That was followed by another email today from The Commish that read, "sounds good.. i'll head to GB's right after work. should be there by 8:15pm... just in time to see Greivis shoot his 10th three-pointer." Keep in mind, both those guys went to Maryland.

4) Wake played really, really well at Carolina
The score (89-73) isn't indicative of that, but the Deacs hung tough with the more experienced Tar Heels and showed the fortitude that was evident in their win over Duke. Carolina is clearly better than Wake, but it certainly didn't hurt their cause when Chas McFarland got in foul trouble early or when the refs allowed Wayne Ellington to clearly travel before he hit a backbreaking three at the halftime buzzer (which put UNC up nine). Still, it was one of those "good losses" for Dino Gaudio's crew. They didn't let the game get completely out of hand and they proved they can hang with the big boys. The Duke win was a confidence builder; the Carolina loss was a confidence sustainer.

5) Six weeks ago in College Park, the Deacs shot dreadfully yet were very much in the game
Despite starting the game 3-28 from beyond the arc, the young Deacs stayed with the Terps in just their second ACC road game. Coming off a 39-point road loss to Boston College, the Deacs couldn't hit anything, shooting 34% from the field. Harvey Hale was particularly bad, going 1-9 from the floor. Somehow, though, Wake kept the game close, missing on numerous open looks late in the game to cut the MD lead to three or four. If they could hang that close six weeks ago on the road, I like their chances now at home.

Five Reasons I Like Maryland

1) They are an awful match-up for Wake
The Deacs match-up well with smaller, quicker teams that play on the perimeter. (Like Duke.) Against a team that runs their offense through the paint, they struggle - particularly when Chas McFarland gets in foul trouble, as he inevitably does.
When Maryland is playing well, they get the ball inside to James Gist and Bambale Osby. Covering one would be hard for Wake. Covering both: Not good. Six weeks ago the two combined for 26 points, 19 boards and 8 (!) blocks.

2) Landon Milbourne
When you look at the sophomore forward's numbers, they aren't overly impressive. Or impressive at all. But Milbourne always seems to be in the thick of the play; scrambling for a loose ball, coming up with the clutch rebound, making the extra pass. At this point, I'm probably giving him more credit than he deserves, but if you haven't watched much of MD this year, keep an eye on #1 the next time you do.

3) They already beat Wake once
Stat of the day: Maryland's best win in terms of RPI was, of course, against #3 North Carolina. Their second-best RPI win: Over #63 Wake Forest. At this moment, I'm baffled that anybody would think Maryland is "in" the NCAA Tournament. Even with a victory tonight, I don't know how the Selection Committee could justify giving the Terps a berth unless they win out in the ACC.

4) Every time you count a Gary Williams team out, they come back and surprise you
It's been happening for nearly 20 years. Their "comeback" this season after the losses to American and Ohio was the first time I was surprised that a Williams-led Terps team came back from the dead, which has made their recent collapse all the more disappointing. Logic says that the Terps have packed it in, but logic never applies to his teams. Don't be surprised if Maryland loses out. But certainly don't be surprised if they win two of their next three, make a little run in the ACC Tournament and make all this bubble talk a distant memory by Selection Sunday.

5) Too good to be true?
Wake Forest starts two freshman and three sophomores. Their head coach died unexpectedly in the summer, leaving the team in disarray two months before the season. That they're even in a position to play a meaningful game on February 28 is beyond any fan's wildest expectations. It sounds silly, I know... A 6-6 team isn't anything to get excited about. But this year, for this team, it is. The problem is, this season has all the trappings of ending in disappointment, even though the fact that the team has made it this far is a triumph. That's what I'm worried about: Losing perspective. A majority of Redskins fans lost it before Sean Taylor was even buried. The spent all week talking about how life was bigger than football, yada, yada, yada. Then they were bitching out Joe Gibbs for calling two timeouts. Wake fans shouldn't be upset if the team slumps in the next two weeks. We should be happy that they were in a position to make us disappointed in the first place.

Bruce Pearl's Ties Are Entirely Too Long

The Tennessee coach is a pretty dapper guy. I'm a big fan of the orange suspenders he frequents. But, Bruce - bubby - come on. What's with the ties that come down to the crotch? Top of the belt buckle, no longer. Even with suspenders on (and, subsequently, no belt), the same rules apply. Bruce... You're better than that.
(Update -- 11:26 p.m.) I've been thinking that Tennessee was going to be my pick to win it all for the past month, but after watching the ridiculously stupid way they closed their loss tonight at Vanderbilt, I'm feeling a lot less comfortable. Terrible shot selection, poor defensive decision making and a general sense of uneasiness in the clutch. Chris Lofton is a great player, but sometimes he takes shots that would make Greivis Vasquez say, "yo, dawg..." Also, congratulations to the SEC officials who let this game go on until 11:freakin:30. You know you don't need to call a foul every time opposing players make contact, right?
Also, you know what's not fun? Cops surrounding a court so college students can't storm said court after beating the #1 team in the country. Doesn't the Nashville Police Department remember what happened in Die Hard 3 when all the cops were focused on the school bomb threat, thus leaving Simon Gruber and his cronies to rob the Federal Reserve with ease? It must've been Christmas in Nashville tonight with all the police guarding the dangerous student body from running on the hardwood floor. Commendations for all!)

J.J. Redick Is Sad

Languishing on the end of the bench for the Orlando Magic, J.J. Redick thinks about giving it all up and backpacking through Alaska because he really liked the book Into The Wild (except, I'm assuming, for the part where the main character dies). Or so says Brian Schmitz is his wildly-entertaining article on the former Duke star. Seriously, Redick (making around $1.5 million this year) feels sorry for himself because he's not getting a lot of playing time and feels disrespected. I can't tell if Schmitz is empathizing with Redick's situation or subtly mocking it. Either way, the article is a delight. Read it all. (Thanks to reader G. Eliot for the find.)

This Should Make For A Good Rap Song

At least Vinny Cerrato can do something right. Of course, I anticipate seeing a $25 million contract offer to Bryant Johnson any day now.

21300 Redskin Park Drive u Ashburn, VA 20147 u 703-726-7000
www.redskins.com

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

February 26, 2008

REDSKINS RELEASE WR LLOYD

ASHBURN, VA – The Washington Redskins announce today that they have released wide receiver Brandon Lloyd.

Sampson, Smartypants!

* Sportsline reports that Indiana's plan to fire head basketball coach, and cheater, Kelvin Sampson could cause prominent team players to quit the team. Or, more than likely, Sampson's dismissal will cause prominent team players to put on a front about how they'll quit the team, until they realize how stupid it would be to stand behind a guy whose getting whacked and change their minds. Considering the two most important players on the team, senior D.J. White and freshman Eric Gordon, will be in the NBA next year, this already-weak threat can't hold much water in Bloomington. The first person that needs to go at Indiana isn't Sampson though, it's the guy who hired him. With the exception of Jason Whitlock, anyone with common sense and a basic knowledge of Sampson's recruiting practices at Oklahoma knew that his hiring at Indiana was, at best, baffling. He was a loser who lost even while cheating. As I wrote two years ago on the day of his hiring, "That Oklahoma can’t even have success while cheating says more about Sampson than any criticism I can come up with. I mean, say what you want about Jim Calhoun, but at least the man gets results from his blatant disregard for the rules."
I love the fact that not only is Sampson a bad coach, but he's bad at cheating. I still can't believe Indiana hired him in the first place.

* Josh Levin writes an entertaining column at Slate detailing the absurdity of the modern NBA salary cap system. In it, Levin explains how a scrub backup like Devean George could possibly hold up a marquee trade and why Keith Van Horn is allowed to "un-retire" to collect a paycheck.

* A few months back I wrote about the NFL being the Teflon League, as Roger Goodell seems immune to any criticism. While baseball gets called to Congress for steroid hearings and the NBA has the rep of a league of thugs, football - which probably has a much bigger drug problem than baseball and has just as much lawlessness as basketball - gets a pass.
This is continuing with the Patriots cheating scandal. (I refuse to call it Spygate, by the way. Is there anything less clever than continuing to use the suffix of a hotel to name all scandals? If I owned The Watergate, I'd want royalties every time some lazy hack decided to use the -gate ending any time something nefarious went down. -- (Rob points out that when Freddy Quimby allegedly roughed up a waiter after he wouldn't say "chowder", Kent Brockman wanted to call the ensuing controversy "Waitergate", but his producers rejected the nickname. And, as we all know, that was pretty damn clever. -- Chaz.)
Today, The New York Times reports that Bill Belichick has been cheating since 2000, an admission that jibes with his report that he'd been taping since he was in the league, but seems to contradict the fact that the Patriots only gave Goodell a few tapes worth of film in September. I mean, wouldn't you think that seven years of taping would produce more than a handful of tapes? It's great that Roger Goodell is so trustworthy of admitted cheaters, but come on. For real?
Don Banks says the cheating scandal is over in the eyes of the NFL and; why wouldn't it be? You think the NFL really wants to find out that the Pats cheating was more widespread than they admitted? Doesn't it seem awfully convenient that the NFL only requested that the Pats identify their own mistakes and then took their word at face value?? Then, after all the "evidence" was turned in, Goodell subsequently had the tapes destroyed with nobody publicly discussing the possibility that this was part of a massive cover-up operation?
Look at it like this: Mangini turned in the Patriots and they were exposed as cheaters. Goodell asked the Patriots whether they were cheaters and they said, "yeah, kind of, here's all the evidence we have, swear to Tom!" And then Goodell says, "great, problem solved!"
Do you realize how ridiculous that is? It'd be like a guy going to court on embezzlement charges, admitting to one or two minor infractions and the judge saying, "sounds good, let's throw out the other 500 counts against you that you say you didn't do. I believe you, because you copped to two others. What reason would you have to lie about the other 498?! You're free to go after paying a small fine. Recess, bitches! (Pounds gavel.)"
There's no reason to assume the Pats innocence, because they (and Goodell) have done nothing to prove it. Leaving an investigation into major allegations up to the accused is as backwards as it gets. But, again, nobody seems to care.

* It looks like the NFL isn't going to change the "timeout immediately before field goals" rule, despite a general dislike of said rule by, oh, everybody. When asked why the league wouldn't change a rule that was universally reviled, Jeff Fisher, co-chairman of the NFL's rules committee said, "we can't legislate when you can call timeouts and when you can't call timeouts."
Ummm, yes you can. And, yes you do. You can't call a timeout in the middle of a play. You can't call back-to-back timeouts. You can't call a timeout if you've already taken three timeouts that half. There are many rules dictating when to take timeouts, Jeff Fisher. Furthermore, we're talking about changing something in the NFL rulebook not the freakin' U.S. Constitution. Of course you can change it. Football has the most contrived rules of any sport! Ten yards and four plays for a first down, kickoffs from the 30, no receiver contact after five yards, punting, kicking, I could go on all day, baby. Every rule is legislated. In the NFL, it's done frequently. Rules protecting the passer and receivers, late hits, interpretations of holding - all that has drastically changed in the past 20 years. Why? Because the NFL can legislate anything it wants.
Fisher makes a good point when he says that if making a rule that a coach can't call timeout with under ten seconds on the play clock isn't fair because it stops them from calling a timeout if there are too many players on the field, for instance. That's great, and all, but who says you have to make the rule a ten second cutoff? Instead, make a rule that says coaches can call timeouts, but if the timeout is not recognized by the head referee before the ball is snapped, the timeout will not be granted. Or make a rule that coaches can't call timeouts. Or do something. There's a dozen ways to write-up the rule so that it works. The worst part of last season was watching a last-second field goal attempt and then waiting to see if the play was going to count. This is a game for the fans, not for the players or coaches. (Debate that if you want, but take the fans away and those players and coaches don't get paid.)
By the way, does anybody else find it ridiculous that a current head coach is co-chair of the rules committee? I understand that you want to have "football people" in that role, but aren't there plenty of ex-coaches or players who could do the job and wouldn't have a conflict of interest like, say, the head coach of a current team. What, you're telling me that Jeff Fisher doesn't want to approve a rule that hamstrings his ability to call timeouts???!!! I'm shocked! (I like Jeff Fisher, I'm just saying that his position as co-chair is an extreme conflict of interest.)

* The Disneyfication on New York City continues: All 72 Off-track betting locations in the city are scheduled to close by June. I've never been in an NYC OTB, yet it feels like a part of me is dying along with this church. Or that might just be a line from Die Hard 2.

* Here's the fantastic video for the song "Skate With Me" by L.A. producer Dgenetics. I'm pretty sure I'd still think this was awesome even if Dgenetics and I haven't been friends since we came out of the womb. (His head was more like a Walkman then.)

DGENERATE NATION - Skate With Me from DGENETICS on Vimeo.

Even With Courtside Seats, NBA Games Are Still Pretty Boring

About a month ago, a group of my friends took advantage of the day off for Martin Luther King's birthday and decided to catch the Mavs/Bullets matinee at the Verizon Center. My buddy Russ took some pictures that I meant to post the day of the game, but something happened that afternoon with the Redskins coaching search and I became blinded with rage and never ended up posting the entry and pictures. So, here it is.
Before we get to those, the backstory: I've had some pretty good seats at sporting events before: 50-yard line 12 rows up for the lone playoff game at FedEx Field, similar seats at the pivotal Wake Forest/Maryland football game in College Park back in '06, a few rows behind a basket at various NCAA first round games, a front-row, birdseye view of Josh Howard calling a crippling timeout at Cole Field House during MD's undefeated home season in their National Championship year and nice vantage points during countless golf tournaments. Based on seating location alone, though, the tickets we had for that afternoon were definitely the best seats I've ever sat in at a major sporting event.
It had been about three years since I'd been to a Bullets game; maybe even more. The decent tickets are too damn expensive and the cheap ones are so high up in the air you feel like you're violating D.C.'s building-height restriction law just by sitting there. They're not so terrible if you're parallel to the sidelines, but are absolutely brutal if you get stuck behind the basket. It's disorienting and confusing and almost impossible to tell players apart. I sat there for the ACC Tournament in '05 after buying a cheap ticket from a guy on the street and it was tough for me to identify the players on Wake Forest. Plus those steps are dangerous if you've been imbibing. But I digress.
My friends and I decided to get cheap tickets to the game and sit in the bleeders, figuring it would be a good thing to do on a day off . We got the tickets - $12 a piece - and waited. Then on the Friday morning before the game, my dad calls me up and tells me he got two tickets for the upcoming game and asks whether I want them. After enjoying the irony involved in my dad offering me tickets for the first pro basketball game I've purchased tickets to in the past five years, I said yes, figuring his tickets were going to be a lot better than mine. (Not that that's saying much, as few tickets would have been as crappy as the ones we purchased.). I didn't realize just how good my dad's tickets were until I picked them though.
Section 100. Row AA. In other words, Giddy Up.
The seats were directly at halfcourt. We were sitting on the player's side, behind the single-row media table where the TV announcers, backup official, scoreboard operator, PA announcer, replay technican and random bald man whose job I could not ascertain.
Below are some pictures Russ and I took during the game. I'll avoid the standard cliches about how fast the game is up close and how tall DaSagna Diop looks when you're standing two feet from him and how weird Dirk Nowitzki really looks but, rest assured, all those things are true.
Thanks for the tickets, Dad.

These intros where you turn down the lights, pump in the loud, bass-thumping music and announce the players like they're the Beatles on Ed Sullivan have gotten very stale. I understand that they do it for the crowd (mainly the kids), but most of the players, coaches and fans seem bored by the whole thing. These teams are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Somebody on the payroll has to have an idea about how to change up this passe tradition.

I thought that discovering Eddie Jones still plays in the NBA would be my biggest shock of the day. But then I saw Juwan Howard sitting at the end of the Mavs bench and a $9.50 beer in a span of 45-seconds and all was forgotten about the former Temple star.

You always see players making their way down press row before the game, sometimes stopping to put powder on their hands or give dap to the play-by-play announcer. On the Bullets though, each of the starting five begins at the start of their bench and goes down the list, giving dap to everyone sitting between Phil Chenier and the PA guy. It seems like a solid routine. Antonio Daniels even went back for some missed-dap and had to wait for Bullets PBP guy Dave Johnson to finish his sentence before Johnson gave the dap that he had missed the first time around. It appeared Daniels wasn't going to go on the floor Dapless from Dave.

Tip-off. It's amazing how bad the refs are at throwing the ball straight in the air. This is why I'm a reluctant fan of the alternate possession rule in college. Giving refs less responsibility is a good thing. You know, because they all suck.

Avery Johnson is loud. Really, really loud. That, combined with his distinct, preacher-like voice, makes hearing him yell, "DIOP.... DIOP!!! POST!" all the more entertaining.

The new HD scoreboard is large. On nights that the Verizon Center is empty, they should charge people $5 to come in and watch TV. I'd definitely go down there to watch The Departed American Idol. (Am I finally using the strikethrough correctly, Jaf?)

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had worse seats than we did. Granted, my approval rating is higher than his.

The bottle of "Rosin Material" gets a prominent spot on the scorer's table.

That's the best picture I could take of the courtside DVR system. From what I could gather, there is a guy who operates the DVR during the game, looking for timing errors, whether a shot was a three-pointer or not, etc. I wanted to steal it. Russ talked me out of it. FYI, the previous two pictures were the only two I took during the game. Clearly, you can tell how interested I was in the basketball.

Two close-ups of Josh Howard's new tattoo honoring his late college coach Skip Prosser.

A pre-injury Caron Butler looking pensive. He's probably thinking about how great Project Runway would look on that huge screen. Oh wait, that was just me.

Me walking to get some more beers. I'm including this for three reasons: 1) To show our proximity to the court. 2) To demonstrate my disdain for the art of ironing. 3) To point out how much of a doofus the Mavs radio announcer looks like.

I know what you're thinking and, no. The girls behind us weren't very cute.

I Give Him Four Days Before His First DUI

(Picture courtesy of The Washington Times)

Just when you thought Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden couldn't be anymore of a douchebag, he goes out and wows you by riding around on a Nationals-festooned Segway. What a dope. (At least it reminds me of one of my favorite lines ever to appear in The Onion. It's the one at the top.)

Coach K Is The Pot, Roy Williams Is The Kettl

Roy Williams is upset with Mike Krzyzewski after Coach K took a dig at UNC during a post-game press conference following Duke's loss to Wake Forest. The hypocrite, and three-time national champion, didn't criticize North Carolina by name, but the AP reports:

Krzyzewski's comment came in a radio interview after Duke's loss at Wake Forest. While noting that freshman Nolan Smith had been playing through a knee injury for a few weeks, Krzyzewski added, "unlike other schools we don't release our injuries," according to the Web site for radio station WRBZ-AM in Raleigh.
The next day, Williams said on his weekly radio show: "Regardless of what somebody else says about they have injuries too, which is a bunch of bunk, so I don't give a crap what somebody else says, but coach their own damn team, I'll coach my team -- in case anybody has heard some statements about that."

Coach K was clearly taking a shot at Williams in his usual conniving, fully-deniable way. He makes the same smarmy, read-between-the-lines comments about officials and other players all the time, but never gets called on it because of his resume and penchant for holding a grudge against media members who dare besmirch his name. Like many of his players, Coach K wants it both ways. He puts himself on a pedestal of honor and class and expects to be deified for it, but is also a sideline-tyrant towards officials and opposing players. He's a walking contradiction. Although, I can see his point in this instance because it's not like he's ever used injuries as an excuse for his team's poor play.

November 1, 2007: "What we’ve tried to do as a staff is study the game and study how we want to play it for the last two summers. Some of the things we would liked to have done last year, we couldn’t do because of injuries." (Note: By "last year" Coach K is referring to the season when Duke went 8-8 in the ACC and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.)

January 19, 2006: "I’m proud of Sean Dockery too because on Monday we didn’t know if Sean was going to be able to play. He hurt his foot, and we were a little bit worried that it was going to be serious. It wasn’t as serious, but he played hurt tonight, and you wouldn’t know it. We don’t like to publicize our injuries, but once it’s done, I want to give a purple heart for it -- a basketball purple heart, let’s not confuse the two."

March 14, 2004: "I am concerned a little bit about our injuries. Daniel (Ewing) hurt his hand and Chris (Duhon) after running into that camera. We will know a little more about them tomorrow. We're just anxious to see where we are going to go and who we're going to play."

1995: A back injury forces Krzyzewski to leave the Duke bench after the 12th game of the '94-95 season. The Dukies, it should be noted, would go on to finish 2-14 in the ACC.

It took me about two minutes to find those quotes. I'm sure if you spent a little time searching, you'd be able to find a lot more. The irony of it all is that Coach K used to complain about Dean Smith when the ex-UNC coach would pull the exact same crap. It's not easy being a hypocrite, I guess.

LD Williams Needs No Cape!

Early in the second half of Sunday's game against Duke, Chris' Sports Blog fav LD Williams threw down a ridiculously nasty dunk off an Ish Smith alley-oop. When I'm watching games alone (as I did this game), I'm usually pretty quiet unless I'm yelling at the refs. But after watching this dunk, I'm pretty sure I let a loud holler. I let out a few more on the next possession when LD stepped back behind the arc and drilled a three to put Wake up by six. It was the sort of shot that shouldn't have been taken - he's not a great long-range shooter, there was still plenty of time on the shot clock - but LD can get away with that impulsiveness because he does it so rarely, unlike, say, a Trent Strickland or Greivis Vazquez. And, more often than not, he succeeds. (I can't decide whether LD gets or gets deducted bonus points because he did the DeShawn Stevenson "I Can't Feel My Face" move after the three. On one hand, I like the fact that he's using a move popularized by a player on the Bullets. On the other hand, it's a pretty lame move.)
Anyway, I thought this shot was pretty great. Click on the picture to appreciate the all of its high-resolution goodness. Thanks to Craig for sending it over. You can see the dunk and the subsequent three below.

Deacon Delight

Last night I sent the following text to three of my college buddies:

i'm telling everyone at the bar that wake is going to beat duke tomorrow. the last time i made such an absurd declaration whilst drinking, the skins lost by 45 the next day

The Wolfman wrote me back and said, "i know. i have a good feeling too." Scott agreed. Call it a woman's intuition, but tonight the Deacs proved us right as they scored an 86-73 upset of #2 Duke. Fantastic.
Wake is now 6-5 in the ACC and 16-8 overall. Everyone has been trying to figure out who the fifth ACC team to get into the Tournament will be (assuming Duke, Carolina, Maryland and Clemson make it); for today, at least, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons appear to have a puncher's chance. Unbelievable for the youngest team in the conference playing for a new coach in tragic circumstances.
The lede to the Wake victory will probably be that all five Duke starters fouled out of the game. This will suggest that Wake got some favorable calls when, in actuality, more 50/50 calls went against the Deacs, including a baffling intentional foul whistle against Chas McFarland that seemed to sap Wake of their energy.
Wake built up five-point leads a few times in the game, only to watch Duke storm back with a quick run. Watching them hang tough and keep their cool was quite impressive. Even if they had lost, you could see the team was growing up. James Johnson (24 and 16 tonight) and Jeff Teague are going to be All-ACC performers in the near future, Jamie Skeen was a force in the middle and L.D. Williams - oh how I love me some L.D.
There's still a lot of basketball left to be played but, no matter what happens over the next three weeks, Wake Forest's basketball season will be a success. Now we just need to see whether or not they can turn it into a fairy tale.

Update: Everyone seems delighted with the fact that all five Duke's starters fouled out of tonight's game. Mad propers to Awful Anncouncing for the screen shot
The opposite of mad propers to the D.C. Comcast station for not airing this game in HD, despite its availability. This pic is clearly taken from an HD feed; likely one in the D.C. area. So why did they have HD and we didn't? I'm mad. Anyway, the "the refs are making up for years of Duke bias in one night" jokes are out and about, but they're wrong. The McFarland intentional foul and two non-calls under the Wake hoop early in the first half were egregious. The Dukies fouled out because they were too dumb to send in somebody else to commit the game-extending fouls.

Caron Butler's Second Chance

Today's Washington Post included a fantastic A1 story by Michael Lee about Washington Bullets Wizards All-Star Caron Butler. As has been well-chronicled, Butler spent nine months in prison during his teenage years, devoted himself to basketball upon his release and has been an active member of the community in both his hometown of Racine, WI and in the D.C. area. Lee writes of Butler's troubled teenage years and details how a pragmatic police detective gave Butler the benefit of the doubt in a case following his arrest. Had the cop not believed in Butler's intention to staying out of the drug game, it's unlikely he'd be in the NBA today. A great story. Read the whole thing.

Send It In, JEROME!

If I was a 1980's rapper, I'd say that Dwight Howard's Superman dunk was crazy, silly fresh. However, I'll contend that his behind the backboard jam was the single nastiest dunk since Vinsanity brought down the house in 2000. Seriously, watch where Howard's head is when he dunks. It's about rim-high and behind the backboard. Normally I think Kobe is a big fake, but his "ohhhhhhhhhh dammmmmmn!" reaction after the Howard dunk looked completely genuine. You can see the aforementioned dunk about one minute into the video below.

(Also, after putting that title on this entry, I had to go look up Bill Raftery's classic line on YouTube. Bill Raftery's the best. I feel that CBS should pair him with Gus Johnson for the Tournament.)

The Other Four: Wojo, Wojo's House, Wojo's Office and NBDL Headquarters

Every week, Sports Illustrated runs a feature called "The Pop Culture Grid" where four athletes are asked random entertainment questions like, "Who's Your Dream Date" or "Do you know the Soulja Boy?" One of this week's questions is "Who would you want in your Five?", a reference to the T-Mobile feature that allows subscribers to make unlimited calls to five people of their choosing (the Dwayne Wade-Charles Barkley ads are for "The Five").
One of this week's respondents is Duke freshman Kyle Singler. His answer to the "who do you want in your Five?" question? Dickie V. I'm serious.

Valentine's Day Greetings

On the most special of all made-up holidays, I was able to intercept some Valentine's Day messages written by a number of sports figures.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

To: Adam Vinatieri
From: Bill Belichick, Tom Brady & The Entire New England Patriots family

Without you, we'd be the Buffalo Bills.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

To: Playing Time
From: J.J. Redick

Playing time, oh playing time
wherefore art thou playing time?

Taken in the draft's first round,
was a man of great renown.
My J was pure, my hair like Ceaser,
now I'm benched like I'm a geezer.

I still have my shit-eating grin,
and some say I'm a young Whitman.
My poems flow like running waters,
too bad my game's like someone's daughter's.

It's quite rare that I see the floor,
my teammates; we have no rapport.
My coach no longer sweats my game,
I think he might not know my name.

Coach K thinks now that I'm a pest,
perhaps that's due to my arrest
for driving whilst intoxicated.
Why, oh why, am I still hated?

It's not like I am worth your scorn.
Your boos do make me quite forlorn.
I wish I could go back to school,
like Rodney D, boy, that would rule.

My pro career has been pure folly,
I play less ball than Kevin Ollie.
Fans no longer call my name,
I miss my brush with minor fame.

Orlando sucks, I hate the heat.
The girls here; hot, not fully beat
like broads at Duke, I miss those chicks,
and also Melchionni's - HEY!

The coach just waved... I'm going in!
my pro career can now begin!!!
What's that - you wanted Garrity?
Screw this, I'm callin' Dickie V.


YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

To: Daniel Snyder
From: Ernest Byner

After you completely screwed me over this week, I'd like to tell you off. But I'm far too classy to say what I really think.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

To: Daniel Snyder
From: Me

Luckily, I'm not. Here's a Valentine's Day poem for you, Danny Boy:

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
you may be rich,
but you're still a short, egomaniacal prick who will someday learn that money can buy a lot of things, but it can't buy respect, decency or love. Enjoy Jim Zorn and Stump Mitchell, asshole.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

To: Coach K
From: ACC referees

Just wanted to pass along a quick note to tell you how much we love you, Mike. We were all just reminiscing about the night we met up at Red Lobster and you ordered snow crab because you thought they actually lived in the snow! That was a great night. You are so funny, Mike. That's what we love about you most, your humor. Your humor and the way you manipulate us like we're Kermit to your Jim Henson. Remember, if things should ever go wrong with your wife, we'll be here for you. Waiting. Longing. Hoping. Never forget that. And never forget what we do for you. The Final Four game against Maryland in 2001, the ACC Tournament win against Georgia Tech in '05, how we kept you in it against VCU for so long last year, and all those games in between. We do that all for you, Mike, not because we have to, but because we want to. Helping you win completes us.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

To: Roger Clemens
From: Reality

Dude, we need to talk.

The REAL Reason Clemens Is Upset With Brian McNamee

Thanks to Peter for the find

From The "No Sh*t" Department

A press release sent out by the Redskins today:

21300 Redskin Park Drive u Ashburn, VA 20147 u 703-726-7000

www.redskins.com

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

February 13, 2008

NO INCREASE IN REDSKINS TICKET PRICES FOR 2008 SEASON

New On-Line Ticket Management System Unveiled

ASHBURN, VA -- General admission ticket prices for Washington Redskins games will remain unchanged for the 2008 season, the team announced today and, for the first time season ticket holders will be able to access and manage their accounts through a new channel at www.redskins.com.

"We work hard to minimize ticket increases, and we've been able to maintain the current level for yet another year," said Mitch Gershman, Redskins Chief Operating Officer. "The stability of pricing and the more than 200,000 names on our wait list for season tickets are testament to the continued support of our tremendous fan base, and we thank them."

The team’s new “My Season Ticket Account” link will allow ticketholders to directly maintain their accounts, including paying for their tickets in a direct, secure manner, and updating contact information in real time.

Every season ticketholder’s invoice will contain a password which may be used to access their account in conjunction with the account number or e-mail address. Passwords may be changed following initial activation. The mailing of season tickets will begin Feb. 15, with the “My Season Ticket Account” feature active on Monday, Feb. 18.

Since 1999, the team has increased ticket prices only twice (2000 and 2006), a rarity among U.S. sports franchises. General admission tickets currently range in price from $29 to $99. The team's season tickets have been sold out since the mid-1960s.

That's More Like It

Of all the ridiculous things said during, and in the aftermath, of the Redskins coaching search (including Jim Fassel blaming his current situation on bloggers), this might be my all-time favorite: Sherman Smith, the only candidate to fill Jim Zorn's recently-vacated offensive coordinator slot, told The Washington Times:

"I think it's mine to turn down. But I need to go up there and see if the time is right. It boils down to asking the question, 'Do I want to be a coordinator?' So much is overblown about the coordinator's position. It's not like the [Titans'] coordinator goes up on a mountaintop and comes down and gives us a plan. We all worked together to put the plan in, so it is not one guy doing the planning and the rest of us nodding our heads. We all worked together."

For real, dawg? That's really what you want to say as a new employer ponders giving you a huge promotion and a huge raise? Maybe he is playing coy because he's not sure if going to the dysfunctional Redskins is a good fit, but still... It's not exactly like the NFL has been beating down Sherman Smith's door to give him a coordinator position, now the guy wants to act as if he's as in-demand as George Clooney? (George Clooney?!) Or that the position of offensive coordinator really isn't all that difficult?! Can you imagine walking into a job interview and badmouthing the very job you're interviewing for? You'd be laughed out the room. If Smith is really this stupid, Snyder would be wise to take the job off the table immediately. As it is, I fully expect him to be hired by this afternoon.

You Think You Know Someone And Then - BAM! - You Find Out You Do

ESPN: Indiana Faces Major Violations Over Calls
Me: I (Don't) Wanna Talk To Sampson - 3/31/06

I'm shocked and appalled to learn that IU basketball coach Kelvin Sampson would resort to cheating in order to gain an upper-hand in the Big Ten. I'm also shocked and appalled that the nice Nigerian man who emailed me asking for help moving money and goods from his country did not reimburse me for the $500 I sent him, nor did he send me a check for a percentage of the gross profits.

Fail, Do The Redskins

Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. are holding their primary elections today. To celebrate the first ever "Potomac Primary", Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is acting quite presidential as he attempts to distract the masses from his ridiculous coaching hire by leaking some offseason plans to the press.
Remember back in 1998 when it seemed that the U.S. would bomb countries every time the Monica Lewinsky scandal got bigger? A four-day bombing campaign of Iraq began suddenly when Congress was conducting impeachment hearings of Bill Clinton. Some observers questioned the timing of the strikes, clearly insinuating that the president was attempting to get his trials off the front page. Earlier that year, bombing strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan coincided with Clinton's infamous "it depends what the definition of 'is' is" testimony before a grand jury. (Interestingly, those were the bombings that caused Sudan to expel Osama bin Laden, setting the U.S. on a crash course for 9/11, according to the gripping, Pulitzer Prize-winning tome The Looming Tower.)
Despite frequent donations to Republican candidates (ones that tend to lose, keeping with Snyder's M.O.), the Redskins owner channeled his inner-Clinton yesterday by leaking the team's intentions to pursue Chad Johnson, Lance Briggs and Trent Dilfer this offseason. Forget that the Redskins are $16 million over the cap and need to restructure a slew of contracts before they can even consider overpaying Ocho Cinco. (Pesky details don't matter to Danny and Vinny!) If they want Chad Johnson then, dammit, they're going to send two first-round picks and Clinton Portis to Cincinnati so they can GET Chad Johnson! I hate this team.
Today's Washington Post offered a position-by-position breakdown of what the Redskins plan to do this offseason. It is, as you'd imagine, completely ludicrous. Johnson, one source said, can be had for "a low first-round and a third-round pick, or perhaps two second-round picks." FYI, Randy Moss, who just set the NFL record for TD receptions in season, was acquired for a fourth-round pick last year. And the Pats also got Wes Welker, the best player on the field in the Super Bowl, for a second and seventh-round pick. Read this paragraph again. I beg you.
The article goes on to say that Ladell Betts will resume his duties as a kickoff returner, but will serve strictly as a backup to Clinton Portis. Joe Gibbs thought Betts and Portis should be used in tandem, but Dinny doesn't think so. I agree with Danny and Vinny because, clearly, they know a lot more about football than JOE GIBBS.
On the o-line front, coaching candidates expressed concern about Jon Jansen's injuries, but were told that releasing him was impossible because of cap ramifications, to which I say, "WHAT?!" It's one thing to have constant knee problems, or a hamstring that never seems to heal (paging Santana Moss). But Jansen has suffered two fluke pile-related injuries in four years. That's not the sign of an injury-prone man, it's the sign of an unlucky dude. Jansen broke his leg last year because somebody fell on it in a weird way. Yeah, let's cut him because there's so much depth at his position. Morons. (And why is the front office even listening to guys they deemed unhireable? Furthermore, did these candidates even know HOW Jansen gt injured those two years, or did they just assume his absence was the result of a chronic problem? If the other candidates did their homework like Jim "Maroon & Black" Zorn, I'd bet on the former.)
This paragraph slayed me too:

Offensive line coach Joe Bugel has expressed some concern about Lorenzo Alexander's modest wingspan, team sources said, but he showed considerable promise last season and could help solidify the line.

I'm an Alexander fan, so I hope he works out. But read between the lines of this paragraph. What I get out of it is that Bugel thinks Alexander isn't a viable every-down NFL lineman, but the front office disagrees. So, again, football-lifer and offensive line guru says "no", Vinny Cerrato says "yes". Guess who Snyder listens to. Unbelievable.
I'm going to ignore the part about Philip Daniels moving to defensive tackle and chalk that up a typo or something. Or maybe that guy from The Wire who makes the stories up finally got a job at The Post and ghostwrote this article for Jason La Canfora. Because Daniels gets manhandled when he lines up at end, can you imagine how badly he'd get worked if he was playing against 340-pound behemoths in the middle? I give up.
Didn't we go through this Lance Briggs dance last year too? Let's call it early; 5 years, $40 million, $18 mil to sign, cut on May 31, 2010.
The defensive backs section talks about Carlos Rogers' slow rehab (I'm assuming this is due to the fact that he can't hold onto any of the equipment) and Greg Blache's desire to re-sign Shawn Springs. Frankly, I think Springs' price-tag will be too high, but I fully anticipate Cerrato trying to lure Asante Samuel into town with a $200 million deal and a lifetime pass to Six Flags.
At the end, the coup de grace:

Punter Derrick Frost had a strong first half, then tapered off and team sources said they expect special teams coach Danny Smith to bring at least one veteran into training camp for competition. Place kicker Shaun Suisham is also still developing and missed a critical field goal in the playoff loss to Seattle, but has strong support and is seen as someone who could provide stability at a position of great turnover in recent years.

A STRONG FIRST HALF? In what universe did Derrick Frost have a strong first half. That's like saying that Rudy Guiliani's campaign had a strong January. Frost is the worst punter I saw this year. He hits 60 yard punts when he needs a 40 yarder and 20 yard punts when he needs a 60 yarder. He can't pin teams deep and can't directionally punt. On the rare occasions that he does boom one, the hang time is so short that the Redskins' special teams are hopelessly out of position to make a play. Frost needed to go, like, last year. As for Suisham: HE MISSED A 30 YARD FIELD GOAL IN THE PLAYOFF GAME THAT WOULD HAVE PUT THE REDSKINS UP BY FOUR POINTS, A MISS WHICH CHANGED THE MOMENTUM OF THE ENTIRE GAME. And the worst part is, nobody was surprised by the miss. That's not the sign of a developing kicker, it's the sign of a shitty one. Ugh, it's February 12 and I'm already worked up. Thanks, Dinny. Thanks a lot.

I Guess They Ended Up Moving To Overratedville