Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Wednesday 12/03 A.M. Quickie:
Weis, Avery, Lakers, Duke, StarCaps, More

Coming at noon ET today: My Sportsman of the Year! (And it's NOT Michael Phelps.)

Meanwhile, I'm a little torn by the news that Notre Dame is keeping Charlie Weis, rather than kicking him to the curb. Although in today's SN column, I'm more laughing than leaning one way or the other.

On the one hand, it's offensive to me that such an inept college football coach would be retained.

On the other hand, as a Notre Dame hater, I love that they will continue to be terrible.

Consider: As bad as the 2007 season was -- and most ND fans could agree it was the worst season ever -- 2008 was arguably worse. Hey: Let's reward that coach with another year!

It is good for college football that ND will not just struggle, but be terrible. (Cheer up, Irish fans: It beats irrelevancy!)

What else you'll find in today's column:

*Eh: I can't get too fired up about Plaxico's 4-game suspension or the suspensions of the StarCap Six. Call me when there's jail time. The Giants are still winning the Super Bowl.

*I think the general consensus is that by suspending Sean Avery, the NHL indulges his fantasy that he is the "bad boy" of the sport.

BTW, I am guessing that for 95 percent of fans under the age of 35 -- I used to say 30, but now that I'm 35, I absolutely move the bar -- there is nothing that offensive about "sloppy seconds."

Now, that's not saying that it's not inappropriately misogynistic to talk about a particular person like that -- but the phrase itself is not nearly as inappropriate as it would have been 10 years ago.

*OK, so I was very very wrong about Duke against Purdue. Duke seems to be pretty good this year. Then again, they look pretty good every year, yet you can still expect a March meltdown.

BTW, did you see my boy Jon Scheyer? 20 points, and my SN colleague Mike DeCourcy calls him "the next Grant Hill" (though the analysis is more nuanced than the intriguing pronouncement).

Longtime readers know that I am more conflicted about Jon Scheyer than perhaps any other player in the history of my fandom.

I mean: He plays for Duke. And some say he's the heir to the "hatable white shooter" Redick rep (although I'd say that is Paulus, hands-down).

But Scheyer is the best Jewish player in college basketball -- leader of the great all-Jewish-starting-5 Glenbrook North H.S. team that won the Illinois state title a couple years ago.

I mean, there's this feeling I have that if either of my kids were going to grow up to be college hoops players, I want them to be... Jon Scheyer. I will now go retch.

*Lakers lose a 15-point lead to the sub-.500 Pacers and lose their first road game of the season? Didn't see it coming last night. Who did?

*Chauncey Billups is my Quarter-Season NBA MVP.

Complete SN column here. More later -- check back at noon ET!

-- D.S.

1 comment:

Steve said...

Who cares if he's Jewish. I don't just pull for random white guys of a certain religion. I pull for my team. He went to Duke and therefore he sucks.