Brackets, Brackets Everywhere

My Gator boys made me proud on Tuesday beating Tennessee 75-62. Now that it’s do or die, they really stepped up, especially in the 2^nd half. They hit a ton of 3 pointers, most by Walker. He may be short, as commentators seem to enjoy reminding us, but the boy is damn good. Definitely this group’s version of Taurean Green. (For those Gators who lost track, T is now playing bball on a Greek pro team. Lee is somewhere in Europe, too. At least Horford stayed in the states…) Somewhere in there, Chism busted his hip, but insisted on playing. If I were Bruce, I so would not have let this fly with Kentucky looming on Saturday. The boy couldn’t even sit when he was fouled out. He limped toward the bench, then hit the floor on all fours and rocked back and forth, clearly in pain. We have our own match with Kentucky to worry about right before the SEC Tournament starts. 3 more games...

Olympic hockey quarterfinals sent all 4 Canes guys into the semis. Gleason made some crucial blocks during a Swiss power play in the 3^rd period, helping the USA hold the #1 spot by beating the Swiss team 2-0. Staal had an assist for Canada after a rough hit, and they ended up beating Russia 7-3. Kiprusoff was frickin amazing and definitely deserves the credit for Finland’s 2-0 shutout over the Czech team. My boy may not have scored, but he did his thing checking anyone in his path in true Ruutu style to help fill the defensive void left by Pitkanen. Nobody scored till late in the 3^rd period when Finland got a shot in partially due to a Czech wardrobe malfunction. Pitkanen was out for the Finland v Czech quarterfinal for an elbow to the face last game, but will be back against the US team tomorrow. Though I want Tim and the USA to win gold, it’s gonna be hard to cheer against Finland & its 2 Canes. Should be a good game :)

In honor of all the hockey-watching, The Sports Kid drew me a picture of Cam Ward and Tuomo Ruutu. Note that Cam has the pads on his legs and mitt on his free hand, and that he only let Ruutu score “because it was during practice and it’s ok.” Love this kid!

 PATs:

-- In ACC bball drama I didn’t get to watch, VT lost to Boston College, making their fight for brackets a little more questionable. FSU beat UNC, which made me happy for the Noles winning and having a slightly better shot at brackets. Gotta love the stress of the bubble!

-- Tons of drama has been going down NFL-wise. Westbrook and LT have been set free by the Eagles and Chargers. Peppers is leaving Carolina. The combine officially started. Mock drafts are flying around all over the place. Tebow changed up his throwing motion, but decided against unveiling the new shoulder-level gem until Pro Day. Madness.  Once the hockey insanity has calmed down and I can focus, I’ll come back to this…

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Voitto for USA!

Once the games had started, I went on a mission to help someone learn how to say “Go Finland!” in Finnish to cheer for Ruutu and Pitkanen. I finally got the answer (Hyvä Suomi!), but in the process found a bunch of websites and YouTube videos that teach you Finnish & it all went downhill from there. Thank you, Olympics, for giving me yet another country I want to visit before I die. 

Hockey was crazy last night with a ridiculous USA v Canada game. When 3 goals were scored within the first 10 minutes, I was excited at the prospect of a high-scoring game. Things evened out a little more on defense and the game was awesome to watch. The USA pulled off the 5-3 win (victory = voitto), but Staal got one of Canada’s goals, so it worked out ok for me.

The Finland v Sweden game was much more disappointing, especially for us Finland supporters. After looking really together in their first 2 games against Belarus and Germany, it looked like Ruutu was the only guy actually playing last night, and one guy can’t carry the entire team. He had some great hits (check = taklaus) and was all over the ice (ice = jää). Pitkanen had a crazy hit, too, that may have involved the elbow-ish region connecting with a Swedish dude’s face, sending him away for a 5 minute Sweden power play and game misconduct penalty, leaving one less Cane to cheer for in the quarterfinals while he serves a 1 game suspension. Ouch. Sweden won 3-0.

PATs:

--My Yankees/Giants friend keeps trying to bet me for various sports, and my NBA pick was Cavs over Nuggets in 5 games. While I’m way more of a Celtics than Nuggets fan (Chris Andersen creeps me out almost as bad as Pau Gasol), their win over Boston is at least one step closer to my pick being right. The Magic beat the Cavs, which I’m fine with even though it’s against my pick, cause I’m sure the Cavs will still pull it off & the Magic is my team.

--The Gators got another win over Ole Miss this weekend, but we still have to make it through

the last 4 games to see if the faint hope of brackets will work out. The Duke v VT game was much closer than the final score made it look, and UNC’s not so hot season continued with a loss to Boston College. Less than a month till brackets!

--Curling is awesome. Now that I’ve figured out it’s like bocce ball on ice with stones and brooms, it makes total sense. And I’m hooked. There will definitely be a curling withdrawal period after the Olympics are over. My NYC Gator says it isn’t a real sport and got me to watch the biathlon yesterday. Strapping a rifle on your back while you ski seems about as Olympic sport-like as curling, if you ask me… 

--NFL combine is this week! Analysis and scouting reports coming soon :)

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H is for Hurricanes Hockey

The Sports Kid’s class was on letter H this week, so his additions to the list of words were “Hurricanes” and “hockey.” This kid gets more awesome with every story. And like him, I’ve officially switched over to hockey mode, in addition to bball, of course. I’ve definitely slacked with the whole blog thing, so instead of trying to catch up, I’m hitting the highlights.

One of my NC friends shared her ridiculously awesome just-behind-the-glass tickets for the Canes v Devils game, and it was absolutely amazing! The guys were right there! $10 nosebleed seats are forever ruined for me… The Canes won 5-2 against Jersey and have really been playing well lately in general (right before the Olympics break, of course). Hopefully the win streak will continue once they’re back. In the meantime, I’ll be rooting the 4 Canes guys playing in the Olympics—Gleason for the US, Staal for Canada, and Pitkanen & (my favorite) Ruutu for Finland :)

The Gators had a rough few games lately and finally won against Auburn tonight. Walker (my Taurean Green replacement) hit 14 of his 16 free throws. Toward the end of the game my mom said, “Wow, he’s good. Like a little Shaq.” I gave her a hard time for that, cause I see where she’s going (she knew Shaq from his days with the Magic), but there is so much inherently wrong with that comment. Thing 1: Walker is listed at 5’8. Shaq- 7’1. Thing 2: She said this after Walker sank free throw #12ish. Those who know Shaq at all know he’s always had issues with them and has probably never had a free throw percentage close to the 87% Walker ended up with. At least I got her watching games, though :) The rest of the Gators’ schedule won’t be easy with Tennessee and Kentucky especially, but we need to practically win out for a chance in the brackets. Keeping my fingers crossed…

UNC lost to Duke in a pretty close game. Duke’s been doing well in the ACC, with the exception of the loss to Thug U last night of course, so it should be interesting to see how things turn out.

The Magic have won all their games in February but the Cavs game last week. 10 bucks says it comes down to the Magic and Cavs again in the East this year…

I haven’t watched a whole lot of the Olympics yet, aside from hockey, of course. For some reason, curling is on pretty much every time I try to watch. After watching a good 2 hours total of curling (well, having it on in the background of whatever else needs done), I still have no clue how the scoring works. Kinda seems like bocce ball at least somewhat. I’ll probably figure it out by the end of the Olympics.

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Who dat? ...Still TBD

The real MVP was the same as my fantasy team MVP. I took Drew when the rest of my league doubted him, picked up the Saints D when no one else wanted them, and with the Super Bowl XLIV Champions on my team… still came in 5th in the league, but it wasn't their fault. At least my picks were good. I was fine with either team winning and just hoping for a good game (which I definitely got), but went for the Saints since they hadn't let me down in the fantasy league.

After pre-game calls from Colts fans to get me to back my pick with cash for their “sure bet” (you know who you are), I was afraid they might have been right when the 1^st quarter ended 10-0 Colts. The Saints D held the Colts shortly after, and Brees had a great drive. Unfortunately, that great drive ended in 4 downs with no score at the goal line.

Drew did well against a tough Colts defense following the onside kick to start the second half. Genius move to shift the momentum by Sean Payton. The Colts’ missed field goal and Saints’ challenged-but-successful 2 point conversion only added to the pro-Saints trend. The other Peyton got a little sloppy at that point-- the complete opposite of the calm and command over the offense he usually has. I wasn’t totally convinced he couldn’t bring the Colts back, though, until the dreaded pick six. Enter the return of Bill Simmons' original Manning Face. In the words of The Sports Kid (see R is for Ray Rice for his blog debut), "Peyton didn't do what he was supposed to do, so the Colts lost." I could only imagine Bourbon Street right after Porter ran it in to secure the 31-17 win. Must have been crazy. And I highly doubt it will be any different for the next few days or so. Congrats Saints.

PATs:

-The pre-Super Bowl Magic v Celtics game was pretty close to start, and the Celtics even ended the 1^st half with an 11 pt lead. The Magic stepped up on defense in the 2^nd half and kept the Celtics from making most of their shots. I love both teams, so it was fun to watch a game like this, and even better that my team came away with the W.

-Tonight’s Magic game against New Orleans was the same as their last two, down double digits going into halftime… and making a great run in the end to come back for the win. Vince Carter had 48 points- return of Vinsanity? You’d think they’d have been tired after playing yesterday in Boston, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get into the Finals.

-The Canes beat the Islanders the other night, to continue the streak…

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Are You Ready For Some... Basketball?

…There’s been a whole Thurs-Sat of great games! Here comes the East Coast analysis.

UF- 66, Alabama-65 (Thurs 2/4)

What I could see of the game behind ESPNU’s students-interviewing-students boxes* wasn’t pretty, but we pulled off the W. It was close pretty much the whole game, and at the end, came down to a block by Tyus to save the 1 point lead. Between Billy D’s former long-time assistant Anthony Grant becoming head coach at Alabama, and a close game like this, maybe we’ll start another rivalry in the SEC. From what I saw, the boys need to work on rebounding and controlling the pace of the game if they want a chance at joining the field of 64. Till Selection Sunday, the stress continues…

VT- 74, UNC- 70

After I survived stressing over my game, my VT friend and I stressed via text over hers against UNC. VT had the lead for a good chunk of the game, with the score only getting close or going in favor of UNC a few times near halftime. It stayed pretty close up to the end when the Hokies pulled ahead enough to secure the win. UNC’s not looking so hot after their title last year, but that’s to be expected. Duke v UNC next week should be interesting…

USF- 72, Georgetown- 64 (Weds 2/3)

Where did that come from?!?

Saturday games:

Georgetown- 103, Villanova- 90 (Are they sure this was a college game?)

Georgetown recovered from an embarrassing loss to USF in a game that almost didn’t happen due to 3 feet of snow. A first half filled with fouls ended with the Hoyas up 19. Clark went 6 for 7 for 3-pointers in a game where Nova pretty much had no chance. Georgetown basketball is always fun to watch. And I like John Thompson III. Hoya Saxa.

Marquette-82, Providence-79

Not only is Providence East Coast, it’s also Billy D’s alma mater, and therefore, followed via GameCast. The Friars were ahead for most of the game until about 10 mins into the 2^nd half. It was close for a while, until Marquette pulled ahead toward the end. Providence made a crazy comeback in the last two minutes, and I thought they were going to pull it off, but the last second 3 they needed to tie it and go to overtime didn’t go in. Even without being able to watch, the last 2 minutes were crazy!

UF- 69, Miss. St-62

Another close game… mainly cause both teams were rushing and going for some horrible shots through the 1^st half. Offensive rebounding was much better this time, though.  The Gators pulled ahead in the 2^nd half thanks to Macklin in general and some great shots by Parsons.  6-3 in the SEC, baby!

Duke-66, BC-63

Both teams played more of a slow, methodical game, which wasn’t nearly as exciting to watch. So I didn’t, really. Except check-ins when the Gators were on a commercial. It stayed close through the first half, but Duke got just enough of a lead to hang on for the win.

Wisconsin-62, Michigan- 44

My one deviation from the East Coast is Wisconsin, cause I have family there and go for the Badgers for the Big Ten. Of course, an ACC game took its TV spot here, but watching GameCast on espn.com, it seemed the Badgers took the lead and ran after about 10 mins into the game. Michigan just never came close after that.

VT-72, Clemson-59

My VT friend seemed concerned about this one before it started, and the 1^st 10 mins were pretty rough. The Hokies managed to keep it within 4 toward the end of the 1^st half and even went to the locker room with the lead. They held on to their lead early in the 2^nd half and only added to it as the game went on. VT’s unbeaten-at-home streak is still alive at 12-0.

FSU-71, ThugU-65

My first college sports love v my most hated college sports rival. They both looked pretty bad in the first half with turnovers, traveling, shot clock violations, and fouls more than I’d seen in any other game today. The Noles really turned things around, though and took control of the game shortly after halftime. Gotta love seeing Miami go down, regardless of what sport it is :)

Georgia-72, Vandy-58

Last, but definitely not least… I wasn’t even going to include this game, assuming Vandy would win. But as I checked on GameCast, I realized the UGA win I’d hoped for (not words I normally put together in a sentence…) might actually happen! Tennessee and Vandy are now just 1 loss away from being in a three-way tie with my boys for 2^nd place in the SEC. Bring on the bubble!

*Brief rant to ESPNU: Campus Connection is a good idea… in theory. Watching like 6 different students interviewing fellow Bama students about things that have nothing to do with the game is a little annoying when we turned on ESPNU to watch the game! If you want to ask students about the Bama-Auburn rivalry, maybe you should ask them during, oh I don’t know… an Alabama v Auburn game!! Ok, my rant ends here.

PATs:

-Since college bball has taken over, college football has moved to the PATs (kinda sad…). Signing day was great for UF with the top recruiting class in the country :) I’m especially excited about the new boys on D, including Joe Haden’s little brother (no pressure, Jordan…).  Someone posted an awesome analysis thing on the Gainesville Sun boards. If you’re at all interested in the future of Gator football, check it out: http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20100127/MULTIMEDIA/100129582/1139?Title=Class-of-2010-Recruiting-Breakdown&tc=ar  In other recruiting news, Kiffin got a verbal commitment from a 13 year old??

-The Canes had a few slips this week, but may be recovering with a win v Buffalo. Hopefully they add to the win streak through next Saturday when my Canes friend and I are watching from just behind the glass! :)

-The Magic ended up losing by 1 point after a big lead, Celtics beat the Nets (I’d be worried if they didn’t…), the Nuggets beat the Lakers, and the Cavs beat the Heat the day before… 3 out of 4 isn’t bad. 120-something pages into Bill Simmons’ The Book of Basketball… and my hate for the Lakers has already multiplied and I respect the Celtics a lot more. Of course his book isn’t biased at all… :)

-SUPER BOWL TOMORROW!

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T.J... Who's-your-mama

Unfortunately, my favorite season ends in a week with the Super Bowl. Inspired by the Pro Bowl and Bill Simmons’ footnote of great NBA names in his latest book, a friend & I decided to create an NFL roster solely based on greatness of name. To get things started, here are some of our favorite guys with fun-to-say names. Feel free to add to the list via comments!*

-D’Brickashaw Ferguson (Jets)
-Visanthe Shiancoe (Vikings)
-T.J. Houshmandzadeh (Seahawks)
-Knowshon Moreno (Broncos)
-Asante Samuel (Eagles)
-Nnamdi Asomugha (Raiders)
-Le’Ron McClain (Ravens)
-Jericho Cotchery (Jets)
-Devin Aromashodu (Bears)
-Flozell Adams (Cowboys)
-Jermichael Finley (Packers)
-Osi Umenyiora (Giants)
-Shaun Suisham (Cowboys... traitor)
-Alge Crumpler (Titans)
-Benjamin Gay (Browns) **
-Lofa Tatupu (Seahawks)

Special Mention to:
-Obafemi Ayanbadejo (formerly of the Bears)
-Ndamukong Suh (TBD)

*Names given to a player by himself do not count (ie: Mr. Ochocinco).
** For the potential nickname (the friend that added him isn’t sure what he goes by)

PATs:

-Both my Gators and the Celtics suffered a similar heartbreaking fate today at the hands of a nemesis team, taken down in the final seconds by a shot that made them one point short. Boo to Tennessee and especially the Lakers… but go Magic for pulling off the W over Detroit!

-I’m almost afraid to write it, but the Canes have been on a pretty good win streak lately. And not by barely hanging on to a once-bigger lead, but by a pretty significant margin!

-I’m getting pretty good at calling upsets in college bball… Kentucky got its first loss in a great game against South Carolina shortly after my comment hoping someone would take them down :) The Kansas v Kansas State game was great to watch, too, though Kansas managed to come out ahead in the end. Can’t wait for brackets!!

-Last but not least, the Pro Bowl wasn’t as bad as everyone says. I mean, if you’re looking for serious football, regular plays, and real hits, then yeah, it’s not the same. It’s a fun break from the serious games, though. As we were making our name list, my friend and I were doing our own analysis, and decided it was almost like some of the better guys from the NFL getting together for a game in a backyard. They can be funny and not worry about needing to win, but because they’re some of the best in the league, the game can still be fun to watch.

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