Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Basketball - It's Time.....

If you haven't been paying attention, and I know some of you have and some of you haven't, it's getting down to the nitty-gritty with respect to the basketball season. I don't normally start following college hoops until after the final second of the Super Bowl has ticked off the clock. My athletic allegiances and what I watch as the year cycles goes something like this, with the start of an athletic year in August:

1. College Football Pre-season garbage can of stuff to read.
2. College Football Kick-Off. This becomes the all consuming sport. ESPN should have a channel dedicated to College Football or football in general (yeah, you can throw the NFL in there, too).
3. Sort of half-assed pay attention to what's happening in the World Series. If a team I'm quasi-interested in is playing, I will make it a point to watch a couple of games.
4. NBA and NHL start at some point in here...But who cares?
5. College football ends. Start watching NFL play-offs.
6. NFL ends. Start watching College Hoops. Get Excited that Pitchers and Catchers report and that opening day is 6 weeks away!
7. College Hoops ends with the Big Dance. Start watching Golf (Masters is usually the following weekend). Catch Opening Day.
8. Start looking at the NHL Standings. But NHL means nothing till the play-offs start.
9. Who's in the NBA play-offs?
10. Watch Stanley Cup if Red Wings are in it. Otherwise, start enjoying Summer.
11. Ditto for the NBA finals and the Pistons.
12. Start the process all over again.

So, we are now deep into the College Basketball analysis process. Michigan is a young team, but if they are hitting the three, look out. They can beat anyone on the hardwood, to a point. the most frustrating thing is that they will look awesome for 10-15 minute stretches and then have a 5-10 minute stretch where they look like sun-baked cat poop covered in kitty litter...Yes, they can look that bad...

But the up coming stretch of the next 3 games, culminating with the home rivalry game against Sparty could be the stretch that either gets us into the field of 64 or sends us to the NIT. And I'm guessing it all comes down to who wins in Ann Arbor on March 5th. Three games, three times you need to tune in and root on Michigan!

Wisconsin: Wednesday - 6:30 PM in Ann Arbor
Minnesota: Saturday - 3:30 PM in Minnesota
SPARTY: Saturday, March 5th, 2:00 PM in Ann Arbor

Even though the odds are stacked against us, three wins against these teams and I don't really see how you can ignore the Wolverines for the field of 64.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Poison Trees...Is This What Rivalries Have Become?

Well, it looks like there's a new low in college sports rivalries. If you're an Alabama Football fan, and you're reasonably sane (I know, but there might be like, you know, 2 or 3 of them out there) you're probably wondering exactly what the retribution will be after this deranged 'Bama fan, better known as Harvey Updike, poisoned the trees at Toomer's Corner.

If you haven't seen or heard about this, here's a link.

All I can say is, if I were Alabama, I would be doing everything I could to make a show of support to the University of Auburn. Yes, that would mean acknowledging the acts of one blockhead that made a stupidly foolish decision to literally start a war with what he sees as his enemy. Problem is, Auburn more than likely has their fair share of morons on their side of the fence as well. You did hear about the fan that cleverly used rye grass a few weeks back to etch "28-27" (this year's Iron Bowl score) semi-permanently in the grass in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium's Walk of Champions, didn't you? If you didn't, it's classic....'Bama had to tear up the grass and replant, but it still leaves a spot that's different...Reminds me of fertilizing the prior year's score of a rival in High School in their high school stadium a couple of weeks before the game...Hee-hee....

And do you think they're all plotting about what to do for revenge? This is the SEC...Do I really NEED to answer that question? Really?

If you don't want to have to put a 24 hour guard on the legends walk at the stadium, I highly recommend doing something, however small, to show that you don't want to be associated with this kind of destruction. Because if you don't, the bill on what Insane Auburn fan will do could add up very, very quickly. And the resulting war you will have on your hands will only get worse...And possibly come to a head with a much worse outcome than some trees dying. Yes, I'm infering that someone could lose a life over something as trivial as a football rivalry. And while that life would more than likely be un-employed, uneducated, and inebriated most of the time, is it really worth it?

So, what do you do? What do you do with a fanbase in Alabama that has no other major sports outlet (There's no NFL, NBA, NHL or even MLB franchises in Alabama.) I happen to agree with Clay Travis: Take the game away. If you are too stupid or immature to simply enjoy hating somebody else without permanently vandalizing property belonging to them, then you simply don't deserve the game.

That might actually, in a weird SEC way, make some sense.