Given that Tim Tebow is the biggest storyline of the 2010 NFL Draft -- who will draft him? where will he go? is he a 1st-rounder? will someone trade up for him? -- it seems fitting to create a 2010 NFL Mock Draft composed entirely of... Tim Tebow.
1. St. Louis Rams: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
Umm...no. If the NFL Draft was about selecting the most popular or compelling player -- or, say, the best player in college football history -- Tebow is a lock at No. 1. But it's not. It's apparently about selecting some idealized version of "NFL quarterback," despite his flimsy shoulder.
2. Detroit Lions: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
If marketing mattered as much as winning, the Lions would seriously consider taking Tebow and finding a way to get him in the game -- or certainly on the front of the marketing collateral. As it stands, they have their franchise QB. Detroit fans would have loved Tebow, though.
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
If the Bucs didn't take the Tebow-esque Josh Freeman in the 1st round a year ago, Tampa would be right up there with the Bills and Jags as teams that might-just-might be convinced to take Tebow as a Top 10 pick. They still flashed a little regional interest back at Tebow's Pro Day. But not for this pick.
4. Washington Redskins: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
The Redskins were on the original short list of teams interested in Tebow -- one of the first to want to bring him in for a workout. Then they traded for Donovan McNabb, giving up their high-2nd-round pick (more likely to be used on Tebow than the No. 4 overall pick), and the D.C. dream ended.
5. Kansas City Chiefs: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
"Transitive property" at work here: Chiefs GM Scott Pioli comes from the Belichick Mafia. Belichick, of course, loves Urban Meyer and Tebow. KC has bigger needs here than duplicating a position they invested in so heavily a year ago -- but maybe a Tebow trade partner with the Pats in the early 2nd round?
6. Seattle Seahawks: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Another team on the short list of teams that originally expressed a lot of interest in Tebow. It makes a lot less sense since Pete Carroll traded Seattle's 2nd-round pick and cash for Charlie Whitehurst as the presumptive heir to Matt Hasselbeck. Vast needs for Seattle here beyond another QB.
7. Cleveland Browns: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
The Browns seem as interested in Tim Tebow as any team in the league -- right up there with the Bills. They need a QB to develop. They need a face of the franchise. Tebow offers both, but the No. 7 spot will simply be too much for Mike Holmgren. But that doesn't mean Cleveland won't get him.
8. Oakland Raiders: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Another team on the Tebow short list. Al Davis is a little crazy -- but not crazy enough to take Tebow with the No. 8 overall pick. (Keep reading down to my special 2nd-round preview, because I think that Oakland still offers the floor for Tebow's draft position.)
9. Buffalo Bills: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
At least a few mock drafters have put Tebow here; that's how interested the Bills supposedly are. I don't even rank this on my Tebow Draft Scenarios, but I do think that there is a better chance than for any other team that Buffalo exits the first round of the NFL Draft with Tebow in tow.
10. Jacksonville Jaguars: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Gosh, remember when "Tebow to the Jags at No. 10" was it? Done deal. Case closed. The Jags would follow the marketing hype -- and, to be fair, the idea that in 3 years they will need a franchise QB to replace Garrard. But now? Basically zero buzz that the Jags will take him here.
11. Denver Broncos: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Lots of discussion when Denver brought Tebow in for a workout on Monday, but given that they just traded for Brady Quinn, it is entirely unlikely that the Broncos would use the No. 11 on Tebow. If they want him, they have two 2nd-rounders (43, 45), but will need to package them to move up.
12. Miami Dolphins: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Fins QB coach David Lee got a first-hand look at Tebow while coaching him during the Senior Bowl. Tebow shares an agent with Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano. And Tebow is a classic "Parcells QB." But there is no way that the Dolphins use this pick -- or any -- to take Tebow.
13. San Francisco 49ers: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
The last time the 49ers used a 1st-round pick to take a highly touted QB that was mentored by Urban Meyer, they got Alex Smith -- where was the draftniks' skepticism on THAT one? -- which might make both the team AND Team Tebow (which includes Meyer) disinclined to meet up here.
14. Seattle Seahawks: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
So let's assume that the Seahawks use their first 1st-round pick on an extreme need, like offensive line. Their fans are happy. Maybe they decide they want to reach here and take Tebow -- or maybe trade out, for extra picks, to a team hot to get him, like Buffalo?
15. New York Giants: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Bob Tebow predicted that Tim would go in the first 15 picks of the 1st round. Well, we are here. The Giants won't take him, but that doesn't mean that Tebow won't be selected by the time we get here -- if a team that wants him badly enough is able to trade up with New York... or earlier.
16. Tennessee Titans: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
When it comes to Tebow's 1st-round prospects, the name you hear come up a lot is Vince Young, who the Titans picked with the 3rd overall pick of the 2005 Draft and whose college style wasn't necessarily going to translate to the NFL. VY is the template for TT: Context is critical. (But taking Tebow here is not for Tennessee.)
17. San Francisco 49ers: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
This isn't unlike the Seahawks: Let's say the 49ers pass on Tebow on their first 1st-rounder. Maybe they take a flier on him here -- or, more likely, they are given the opportunity to trade down for extra draft picks, which they need more than Tebow. But the Bills might be willing to do it.
18. Pittsburgh Steelers: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
A running joke has been the notion of pairing Tim Tebow and Ben Roethlisberger in some kind of "perfect strangers"-style buddy comedy reality series. This part is no joke: The Steelers have an image problem at QB and might very well trade Big Ben. But not for Tebow, even if he is the anti-Ben.
19. Atlanta Falcons: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Well, here is one team where you hear absolutely no discussion of interest in -- or fit for -- Tebow. Which makes them a solid candidate to field offers from teams that want to trade up before things get a lot more unpredictable in the 20s.
20. Houston Texans: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
NFL.com draft guru Gil Brandt has been as bullish on Tim Tebow's draft prospects as anyone in the draftnik industry, and as recently as last week, Brandt has been insisting that he sees Tebow going in the Top 20. If he isn't gone by now, Houston will be getting offers to trade out for picks.
21. Cincinnati Bengals: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Entirely unlikely to take Tebow, but certainly a willing taker if a team wants to try to trade multiple picks to get Tebow here. Beyond that, the Bengals are a great example of a team that let its franchise QB sit for an entire year, no pressure, to learn. And it worked out great. Template for Tebow?
22. New England Patriots: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
I have always felt in my gut that Bill Belichick would do anything reasonable to get Tebow -- I think Belichick is sincerely intrigued by the intellectual challenge of scheming ways to get Tebow to contribute. Here would be a surprise -- but you know Belichick would love to confound the draftniks.
23. Green Bay Packers: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Green Bay is a team that spent a late 1st-round pick on a QB with a lot of upside; gave him years -- three long years -- to sit and observe and develop; then unleashed him on the league -- quite successfully, actually. They won't take him, but the team that does could learn from Green Bay.
24. Philadelphia Eagles: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Plenty of circumstantial evidence that the Eagles wouldn't mind having Tebow on the roster, but with the new commitment to Kevin Kolb, QB isn't a need at No. 24. However: Trading out to a team that wants to give up multiple picks to move into this spot and take Tebow? Possible.
25. Baltimore Ravens: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Every team's beat writers have tried to find a Tebow hook -- it's worth the traffic to the Web site. And thus: The so-called "Purple Wildcat," which the Ravens could run when not letting Joe Flacco throw to the revamped corps of WRs. Still: Balto hasn't been on anyone's Tebow radar.
26. Arizona Cardinals: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Well, it's not like the Cardinals don't have questions at QB: Kurt Warner is gone. Derek Anderson has been imported. Matt Leinart's struggles have continued to prove that draftniks' "grades" are far from conclusive. A very early mock draft (Don Banks, SI.com) had Tebow here. Distant memory.
27. Dallas Cowboys: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
"He'd never get on the field." That was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones about Tim Tebow's prospects with the Cowboys. Even if he was inebriated when he said it and since back-tracked a bit, let's agree that he was being honest about his feelings. And as GM, that's what will stand. (Trade out?)
28. San Diego Chargers: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
They don't need a starting QB and Philip Rivers doesn't look like he's going anywhere for a long time. Plus, they have plenty of other holes to fill as they try to keep pace with the Jets and Colts in the AFC. Does that make them a contender to trade out for multiple lower-round picks?
29. New York Jets: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
I don't think anyone is suggesting that this wouldn't be a wild development -- Tebow on Broadway, playing for the voluble Rex Ryan. Of course, the Jets have a starter for the future (and now) in Mark Sanchez, plus a Wildcat guy in Brad Smith. Another contender to trade out, especially because....
30. Minnesota Vikings: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
If there is a scenario that would make teams like the Bills or Browns antsy to trade up into the 20s, it is the very reasonable prospect that the Vikings could take Tebow here, in a move that would instantly become the sensation of the draft -- if only for the concept of "Favre-Tebow" media overload.
31. Indianapolis Colts: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
If the Vikings pass and Tebow is still on the board, the Colts will get plenty of offers to trade out of this pick, allowing the Bills or Browns or anyone else to avoid the extreme uncertainty of the 18-hour hiatus between the 1st round and the 2nd round.
32. New Orleans Saints: Tim Tebow, QB Florida
The champs can afford to be bold and take Tebow -- it would be the draft equivalent of an onside kick in the 3rd quarter of the Super Bowl. But, more likely, they will be hit with plenty of offers from teams desperate to avoid a Day 2 bidding war for Tebow. If Tebow is still around, it's a seller's market.
Bonus 2nd-round coverage!
The new draft format creates a fascinating dynamic -- with 18 hours to sift through the prospects on the board, if Tebow is still available, plenty of teams will be jockeying to try to get him -- competing with teams trying to trade up for any "value" picks left.
That's why I think a team serious about Tebow will need to trade into the back of the 1st round to get him; there is simply too much competitive uncertainty if he drops into the 2nd round.
33. St. Louis Rams: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
34. Detroit Lions: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
35. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
36. Kansas City Chiefs: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
I group these as a "Gang of Four." None need Tebow -- the Bucs made a courtesy call in Gainesville during Tebow's Pro Day in March. All need more talent, and they could get extra picks by trading out to a team that wants to jump the line and snag Tebow.
Look at the Bills, Browns, Raiders, Broncos and Patriots for trading up here. The Gang of Four will also have plenty of offers from teams looking for other value picks that are surprisingly left on the board overnight -- or they will keep their picks to snag that talent themselves.
(Keep an eye out for the Chiefs at 36 -- GM Scott Pioli has a working history with both Pats coach Bill Belichick and Broncos coach Josh McDaniels.)
37. Philadelphia Eagles: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
The moment that the Eagles traded Donovan McNabb, I added them to the short list in the Tebow Derby. If Tebow is still around here, they will seriously consider taking him -- but with the Browns, Raiders and Bills jockeying for him, there will be plenty of interest to trade out.
38. Cleveland Browns: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
If the Browns don't take a QB at No. 7 -- and there is no indication that they will -- and Tebow is still on the board here, I think Mike Holmgren takes him and trusts that he can develop him into a starting QB just as the rest of his rebuilding starts to click. No pressure to start/win immediately.
39. Oakland Raiders: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
Mel Kiper may list Tebow's "floor" as the Bills at No. 41, but I think that Al Davis can't help himself if Tebow is still available when Oakland picks here. I think this is the lowest he will go.
40. San Diego Chargers: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
If Tebow is still on the board -- and everyone knows that the Bills are going to take him next -- there will be a frenzy of deal-making to try to trade up and get him. In this scenario, watch the Patriots here.
41. Buffalo Bills: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
Armchair psychological analysis of Al Davis aside, if Tebow is still on the board here -- and the Bills didn't take Jimmy Clausen with the No. 9 overall pick or elsewhere in the 1st round, there is no way Tebow drops further than this.
43. and 45. Denver Broncos: Tim Tebow, QB Florida.
Again, given the signals of Denver's interest, if the Broncos really want Tebow, they will have to use one or both of these 2nd-round picks to get ahead of the Browns at 38 or the Raiders at 39 -- or the Bills, at whatever price they're willing to pay.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
04/21 Quickie: NFL Sked, Draft, Ben, Tebow
Let's get right to the point: I did, in fact, meet Tim Tebow face-to-face last night. I'm still trying to organize my analysis of the experience. I will say this: It is an understatement to say that he had never heard of "TimTeblog.com."
Aside from that recap, I've got one more Tebow-related post before the Draft that I will publish here. Bear with me.
As for today's SN column, there is a ton of ground to cover. Start with the thesis: This week showcases the NFL at the height of its power.
*The schedule release yesterday was AN EVENT (the NFL knows what it's doing kicking off the season with Saints-Vikings).
*They will do their best to mitigate the Big Ben suspension today by wedging it between Schedule Hangover and the climax of pre-Draft insanity.
*And then there is tomorrow's Draft, unprecedented in format and likely to draw the biggest audience in the history of the event. I had already thought that Draft Day was the single-biggest day of the NFL year besides the Super Bowl -- tomorrow will reinforce that.
(Speaking of the Draft, will Tebow show? As of last night, he still wasn't sure. I can make a compelling argument both ways. I would argue that the NFL needs him there more than he needs to be there for the NFL.)
More you'll find:
*The 2010 Thunder remind me of the '86 Bulls.
*Totally surprised by the Celtics rout.
*Unsurprised by the Suns rout.
*It's a farce that the NBA plays a playoff game on Sunday then doesn't play Game 2 until Wednesday. If MLB tried that, people would freak.
*Expect nothing from Big Ten commish Jim Delany today.
*Of the three big men who declared for the NBA Draft yesterday (Gallon, Babbitt, Samuels), one will be a break-out NBA hit. My bet is on Gallon.
*I'm not a big Mike Shanahan fan, but I'm glad to see him steering clear of T.O. in DC.
*I'm not a big Jason Taylor fan, and it's fair to wonder if he signed with New York to be near the media spotlight.
*Who didn't put Dwight Howard on their Defensive Player of the Year ballot? Transparency!
*I don't doubt that Edinson Volquez took fertility drugs. I doubt he took them for -- y'know -- fertility.
*I am fully on board the Jason Heyward Bandwagon.
*After all that stalling, Reggie Bush settles. He oozes.
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Aside from that recap, I've got one more Tebow-related post before the Draft that I will publish here. Bear with me.
As for today's SN column, there is a ton of ground to cover. Start with the thesis: This week showcases the NFL at the height of its power.
*The schedule release yesterday was AN EVENT (the NFL knows what it's doing kicking off the season with Saints-Vikings).
*They will do their best to mitigate the Big Ben suspension today by wedging it between Schedule Hangover and the climax of pre-Draft insanity.
*And then there is tomorrow's Draft, unprecedented in format and likely to draw the biggest audience in the history of the event. I had already thought that Draft Day was the single-biggest day of the NFL year besides the Super Bowl -- tomorrow will reinforce that.
(Speaking of the Draft, will Tebow show? As of last night, he still wasn't sure. I can make a compelling argument both ways. I would argue that the NFL needs him there more than he needs to be there for the NFL.)
More you'll find:
*The 2010 Thunder remind me of the '86 Bulls.
*Totally surprised by the Celtics rout.
*Unsurprised by the Suns rout.
*It's a farce that the NBA plays a playoff game on Sunday then doesn't play Game 2 until Wednesday. If MLB tried that, people would freak.
*Expect nothing from Big Ten commish Jim Delany today.
*Of the three big men who declared for the NBA Draft yesterday (Gallon, Babbitt, Samuels), one will be a break-out NBA hit. My bet is on Gallon.
*I'm not a big Mike Shanahan fan, but I'm glad to see him steering clear of T.O. in DC.
*I'm not a big Jason Taylor fan, and it's fair to wonder if he signed with New York to be near the media spotlight.
*Who didn't put Dwight Howard on their Defensive Player of the Year ballot? Transparency!
*I don't doubt that Edinson Volquez took fertility drugs. I doubt he took them for -- y'know -- fertility.
*I am fully on board the Jason Heyward Bandwagon.
*After all that stalling, Reggie Bush settles. He oozes.
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
When Dan Shanoff Met Tim Tebow
There is a scene in the classic movie "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie finally -- finally -- gets a chance to meet Santa Claus to ask about the Red Ryder BB gun, only to blank in Santa's presence.
Santa says: "How about a nice...football?" (In Ralphie's own head: "Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'football'. A football? Oh no, what was I doing? Wake up, Stupid! Wake up!")
Ralphie nods his head, and Santa sends him down the slide. Halfway down, Ralphie realizes what is happening, stops short, clambers back up the slide and announces his interest in the gun. Santa replies: "You'll shoot your eye out kid!" Then taps his boot on Ralphie's forehead, sending Ralphie down the slide into oblivion with a whimpering "Nooooo....."
That's a very real scenario for me, because tonight, there is a pretty good chance that I am going to meet Tim Tebow. Finally meet Tim Tebow, I guess you could say. Or, the way many of you might characterize it: Awkwardly meet Tim Tebow.
There is a 100 percent chance that I will be standing in a room with him as a frenzy of media folks jockey to interview him at a launch party for EA's NCAA Football 11. The closest I have otherwise been to Tebow is about 20 rows up from the field at the Swamp at the Tennessee game last September.
So then the open question is whether or not I will actually talk to Tebow myself -- as part of the group or, perhaps, even a brief 1-on-1 interview. If so, the even bigger question is: What would I talk with him about?
In my Ralphie moment, the handlers will nudge me into a one-question interview with Tebow and I'll sputter "Football...." Tebow will answer pleasantly about making a difference or finishing strong or the effort he will bring to whatever NFL team he is lucky enough to be drafted to. And then he'll move along, and I'll realize the brilliant, thought-provoking question I should have asked:
"Wait, wait: How can one reconcile the "relationships-over-championships" attitude with the tears of disappointment on the sidelines of the Georgia Dome? What do you think is the most applicable secular interpretation of your religious beliefs? What's your favorite piece of Tebow mythos? What role did growing up a Gator fan play in your college career? AndhaveyoueverheardofTimTeblogdotcom?"
Let's be realistic here: I don't exactly have the typical media person's perspective on Tebow. Everyone else will attend tonight and ask him the standard questions about his college career, draft status, NFL prospects, video-game expertise, faith, etc. And, more than likely, Tebow will reply with standard answers.
But what about the guy who has the blog focused entirely on Tim Tebow? The guy who has written nearly 800 posts about Tebow over the past 9 months? The guy who has dissected and analyzed practically everything Tebow has said or been said about him?
To be totally honest, the entire prospect of talking with Tebow freaks me out. Not just because of the obsessive coverage or the faux-journalistic distance I've maintained from Tebow (for example, not getting media credentials to cover him up close in G'ville or his trips to NYC).
And, no: Not because of the awkward moment when I mention -- if I even have the chutzpah to bring it up -- that he-has-probably-never-heard-of-it-but-I-have-a-Tebow-focused-blog-called-TimTeblog.com... only to have him say "Wow, hm. No, can't say I've heard of it." Probably followed by something chipper like "But sounds fun!" Either that, or a quick safe-word alerting the PR handlers to take me back to the media holding pen.
(Quick digression: The most common question I get when I talk with people about the blog is that they ask me if I think Tebow has seen or read it. With absolutely no false modesty, I tell them that I am 100 percent sure he has never even heard of it, let alone read it. I think he steers clear of coverage of himself, no matter what the form. If his family or the Florida sports information department has set up a Google Alert for "Tebow" -- and I'd be shocked if they didn't -- it would be hard for them to miss the blog. But really, bank on it: He's never seen it or heard of TimTeblog.com. And I'm not even sure how I could bring it up without sounding like a complete tool.)
But let me tell you what freaks me out the most: Coming up with a question beyond the banal. Getting a response beyond what I already know he will say. (Now, I recognize that any speaker as polished as Tebow will always glide back to the talking points, but I can at least make an effort.)
I have been racking my brain -- not to mention the archives of the blog -- trying to come up with the questions that might illuminate Tebow in some new way. Short of that, I am heading in trying to make sense of the larger theses that I have developed about Tebow over the past year about Tebow's football or his faith or his mythology.
I can envision a dream scenario: That my questions are good enough that Tebow would be willing to sit down with me for a half-hour at some point this summer when things are a little bit calmer, for a more extensive discussion. But I'm not holding out for that.
I can also envision a nightmare scenario for tonight: That my question will just be the same old thing. Not even that his answer will be one I've read or linked to a hundred times -- but that the experience won't live up to built-up expectations of the year of attention I have put into the Teblog project.
The reality is that there probably ISN'T a question -- or an answer -- that would validate my unusual dedication to the Tebow beat. And, ultimately, recognizing that is how I'm going to get over the babble in my head, get in the queue to talk with him, introduce myself and ask him a couple questions.
My wife -- the original Gators fan in our family and who has supported the Teblog effort so patiently (most of the time) -- has a pretty interesting theory: That it is very hard to talk with someone you know a LOT about when you don't actually know them. It's a false familiarity that should be recognizable to any sports fan -- or fan of anything, I guess. But I digress.
Some might (appropriately) say that the crucible for shamelessness about all this was defined back in mid-July when I launched a blog devoted entirely to covering Tim Tebow -- that whatever happens tonight is only a function of that.
Still doesn't change the fact that this feels like the culmination of the past year's work, and I'm still not sure how it fits. Maybe after tonight I will enjoy a revelation.
*****
The essay above was republished from a post that originally appeared at TimTeblog.com. And it's worth asking: What would YOU ask him?
Santa says: "How about a nice...football?" (In Ralphie's own head: "Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'football'. A football? Oh no, what was I doing? Wake up, Stupid! Wake up!")
Ralphie nods his head, and Santa sends him down the slide. Halfway down, Ralphie realizes what is happening, stops short, clambers back up the slide and announces his interest in the gun. Santa replies: "You'll shoot your eye out kid!" Then taps his boot on Ralphie's forehead, sending Ralphie down the slide into oblivion with a whimpering "Nooooo....."
That's a very real scenario for me, because tonight, there is a pretty good chance that I am going to meet Tim Tebow. Finally meet Tim Tebow, I guess you could say. Or, the way many of you might characterize it: Awkwardly meet Tim Tebow.
There is a 100 percent chance that I will be standing in a room with him as a frenzy of media folks jockey to interview him at a launch party for EA's NCAA Football 11. The closest I have otherwise been to Tebow is about 20 rows up from the field at the Swamp at the Tennessee game last September.
So then the open question is whether or not I will actually talk to Tebow myself -- as part of the group or, perhaps, even a brief 1-on-1 interview. If so, the even bigger question is: What would I talk with him about?
In my Ralphie moment, the handlers will nudge me into a one-question interview with Tebow and I'll sputter "Football...." Tebow will answer pleasantly about making a difference or finishing strong or the effort he will bring to whatever NFL team he is lucky enough to be drafted to. And then he'll move along, and I'll realize the brilliant, thought-provoking question I should have asked:
"Wait, wait: How can one reconcile the "relationships-over-championships" attitude with the tears of disappointment on the sidelines of the Georgia Dome? What do you think is the most applicable secular interpretation of your religious beliefs? What's your favorite piece of Tebow mythos? What role did growing up a Gator fan play in your college career? AndhaveyoueverheardofTimTeblogdotcom?"
Let's be realistic here: I don't exactly have the typical media person's perspective on Tebow. Everyone else will attend tonight and ask him the standard questions about his college career, draft status, NFL prospects, video-game expertise, faith, etc. And, more than likely, Tebow will reply with standard answers.
But what about the guy who has the blog focused entirely on Tim Tebow? The guy who has written nearly 800 posts about Tebow over the past 9 months? The guy who has dissected and analyzed practically everything Tebow has said or been said about him?
To be totally honest, the entire prospect of talking with Tebow freaks me out. Not just because of the obsessive coverage or the faux-journalistic distance I've maintained from Tebow (for example, not getting media credentials to cover him up close in G'ville or his trips to NYC).
And, no: Not because of the awkward moment when I mention -- if I even have the chutzpah to bring it up -- that he-has-probably-never-heard-of-it-but-I-have-a-Tebow-focused-blog-called-TimTeblog.com... only to have him say "Wow, hm. No, can't say I've heard of it." Probably followed by something chipper like "But sounds fun!" Either that, or a quick safe-word alerting the PR handlers to take me back to the media holding pen.
(Quick digression: The most common question I get when I talk with people about the blog is that they ask me if I think Tebow has seen or read it. With absolutely no false modesty, I tell them that I am 100 percent sure he has never even heard of it, let alone read it. I think he steers clear of coverage of himself, no matter what the form. If his family or the Florida sports information department has set up a Google Alert for "Tebow" -- and I'd be shocked if they didn't -- it would be hard for them to miss the blog. But really, bank on it: He's never seen it or heard of TimTeblog.com. And I'm not even sure how I could bring it up without sounding like a complete tool.)
But let me tell you what freaks me out the most: Coming up with a question beyond the banal. Getting a response beyond what I already know he will say. (Now, I recognize that any speaker as polished as Tebow will always glide back to the talking points, but I can at least make an effort.)
I have been racking my brain -- not to mention the archives of the blog -- trying to come up with the questions that might illuminate Tebow in some new way. Short of that, I am heading in trying to make sense of the larger theses that I have developed about Tebow over the past year about Tebow's football or his faith or his mythology.
I can envision a dream scenario: That my questions are good enough that Tebow would be willing to sit down with me for a half-hour at some point this summer when things are a little bit calmer, for a more extensive discussion. But I'm not holding out for that.
I can also envision a nightmare scenario for tonight: That my question will just be the same old thing. Not even that his answer will be one I've read or linked to a hundred times -- but that the experience won't live up to built-up expectations of the year of attention I have put into the Teblog project.
The reality is that there probably ISN'T a question -- or an answer -- that would validate my unusual dedication to the Tebow beat. And, ultimately, recognizing that is how I'm going to get over the babble in my head, get in the queue to talk with him, introduce myself and ask him a couple questions.
My wife -- the original Gators fan in our family and who has supported the Teblog effort so patiently (most of the time) -- has a pretty interesting theory: That it is very hard to talk with someone you know a LOT about when you don't actually know them. It's a false familiarity that should be recognizable to any sports fan -- or fan of anything, I guess. But I digress.
Some might (appropriately) say that the crucible for shamelessness about all this was defined back in mid-July when I launched a blog devoted entirely to covering Tim Tebow -- that whatever happens tonight is only a function of that.
Still doesn't change the fact that this feels like the culmination of the past year's work, and I'm still not sure how it fits. Maybe after tonight I will enjoy a revelation.
*****
The essay above was republished from a post that originally appeared at TimTeblog.com. And it's worth asking: What would YOU ask him?
04/20 Quickie: Ben, Bron, NFL Sched
I think it's pretty clear that the day of the release of the complete NFL schedule has become a holiday for fans -- part of the league's strategy for a year-round, no-offseason sport.
That's why they won't suspend Ben Roethlisberger today, when he would pull attention from the release of the schedule. They will mitigate the news as much as possible by wedging it between the schedule release and the lead-up to the 1st round of the NFL Draft on Thursday.
Schedule Day is the lead of today's SN column, but it's loaded:
*LeBron goes "Wap. Wap. Wap. Wap."
*But you have to love the Bulls' trash-talking.
*Hard to feel sympathy for the Nuggets.
*Wow, the Red Sox are not good. (And the Rays are very good.)
*Joe Maddon can wear a hoodie in my baseball league.
*Kyle Singler just made Duke the team to beat in March 2011.
*Remember the name: Jeff Driskel, Florida's next great QB.
*I don't mind Big Ten expansion. Super-conferences!
*There is a better-than-good chance that I am going to meet Tim Tebow tonight. Bonus post on that later this morning.
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
That's why they won't suspend Ben Roethlisberger today, when he would pull attention from the release of the schedule. They will mitigate the news as much as possible by wedging it between the schedule release and the lead-up to the 1st round of the NFL Draft on Thursday.
Schedule Day is the lead of today's SN column, but it's loaded:
*LeBron goes "Wap. Wap. Wap. Wap."
*But you have to love the Bulls' trash-talking.
*Hard to feel sympathy for the Nuggets.
*Wow, the Red Sox are not good. (And the Rays are very good.)
*Joe Maddon can wear a hoodie in my baseball league.
*Kyle Singler just made Duke the team to beat in March 2011.
*Remember the name: Jeff Driskel, Florida's next great QB.
*I don't mind Big Ten expansion. Super-conferences!
*There is a better-than-good chance that I am going to meet Tim Tebow tonight. Bonus post on that later this morning.
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Monday, April 19, 2010
04/19 Quickie: NBA Playoffs, NFL Draft
Now you all know that I have shown insane levels of restraint in not making the blog a Tebow-NFL Draft hotbed -- I'm glad I have TimTeblog.com for that -- but we won't be able to help digging into the Draft (and its top storyline, Tebow) starting tomorrow through the end of the week.
But for now, today's SN column leads with the opening frame of the NBA Playoffs and how it sets the tone: KG getting suspended (dirty!), Kevin Durant getting an education in playoff basketball from the Lakers, and the Blazers getting raves for beating the Suns in PHX without Brandon Roy.
Personally, I find the pace of the NBA Playoffs to be interminable -- people gripe when there is a single extraneous day in between MLB playoff games. The NBA by practice puts days between each individual game in a first-round series. I love the NBA Playoffs, but man....
More you'll find in today's column:
*Memo to the Lions: Just draft Suh. Please.
*SN mock drafters don't see Tebow to the Vikings at 30.
*91,000 at Bama's spring game: Hol-eee....
*Mets get season highlight with 20-inning win Saturday (back to reality Sunday).
*Josh Selby is Xavier Henry all over again. Ho-hum.
*Dan Boyle: In for a rough day.... Just a mistake.
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
But for now, today's SN column leads with the opening frame of the NBA Playoffs and how it sets the tone: KG getting suspended (dirty!), Kevin Durant getting an education in playoff basketball from the Lakers, and the Blazers getting raves for beating the Suns in PHX without Brandon Roy.
Personally, I find the pace of the NBA Playoffs to be interminable -- people gripe when there is a single extraneous day in between MLB playoff games. The NBA by practice puts days between each individual game in a first-round series. I love the NBA Playoffs, but man....
More you'll find in today's column:
*Memo to the Lions: Just draft Suh. Please.
*SN mock drafters don't see Tebow to the Vikings at 30.
*91,000 at Bama's spring game: Hol-eee....
*Mets get season highlight with 20-inning win Saturday (back to reality Sunday).
*Josh Selby is Xavier Henry all over again. Ho-hum.
*Dan Boyle: In for a rough day.... Just a mistake.
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Joakim Noah Has a Message To Share
Blogs With Balls 3.0 | Joakim Noah from HHR on Vimeo.
Ironically, he probably has no idea about my insane Florida fandom.
Blogs With Balls is in Chicago in June. Tickets are on sale now.
Sports Bloggers as Godfather Characters
The sure-fire way to get bloggers to link to you is to talk about them. Especially when you come up with a gimmick like mapping sports bloggers to characters from "The Godfather."
So which character did the Gally guys attach to me? Hyman Roth.
I'm going to go ahead and not assume that it was entirely because of the Jewish thing -- although if you scan the list of bloggers, there are surprisingly few Jewish folks on there.
Anyway, the Roth character is a meaty one: The token Jewish guy in the Corleone family, who then becomes an antagonist while building his own empire.
(The great acting coach Lee Strasburg was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Roth.)
Maybe I'll build my own empire some day (although I'd prefer not to end things as Roth did).
-- D.S.
So which character did the Gally guys attach to me? Hyman Roth.
I'm going to go ahead and not assume that it was entirely because of the Jewish thing -- although if you scan the list of bloggers, there are surprisingly few Jewish folks on there.
Anyway, the Roth character is a meaty one: The token Jewish guy in the Corleone family, who then becomes an antagonist while building his own empire.
(The great acting coach Lee Strasburg was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Roth.)
Maybe I'll build my own empire some day (although I'd prefer not to end things as Roth did).
-- D.S.
04/16 Quickie: NBA Playoffs, Draft, More
Today's SN column lead was the follow-up to Wednesday's column that the entire NBA season was all about LeBron. The playoffs are no different -- perhaps even more so.
Because it's "Title or Fail" for Mr. James. Not unlike Florida football in 2009 -- even the Colts in 2009 -- anything less than a national championship is a failed season. I think that goes even more for LeBron than Florida, if only because of its weight on the pending Summer of LeBron.
And so one's playoff predictions come down to this: Where do you think LeBron's season ends?
*With a championship?
*Losing in the Finals, say to the Lakers?
*Losing in the East finals, say to the Magic?
It's that last scenario that we've seen before -- LeBron's Cavs were the favorite in the East (if not the entire NBA) a year ago. That dream collapsed in 6 games -- in large part due to Cleveland's inability to stop Orlando's "stretch-4," Rashard Lewis. So the Cavs went out and got Antawn Jamison. The Magic, of course, did their work in the summer, getting Vince Carter (losing Turkoglu), Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson, and re-signing Marcin Gortat. On paper, it was unmatched depth. On the court, they have "hand" (in Costanzan terms) over the Cavs.
Considering I'm a leading "instant historian," I'm a sucker for believing too much in what happened last year as forecast for what will happen this year. It remains my biggest weakness as a prognosticator of seasons or playoffs (or brackets).
But I think the Cavs fall short again -- losing to the Magic in the East finals, before the Lakers beat the Magic again in the NBA Finals.
What are your NBA playoff picks? Put them in the comments.
Tons more in the column today, including a reaction to Big Ben (yikes), yawning at the Browns' play for Bradford, celebrating Jorge Cantu and anticipating the reception for Tiger Woods at Quail Hollow, plus a lot more.
More later.
-- D.S.
Because it's "Title or Fail" for Mr. James. Not unlike Florida football in 2009 -- even the Colts in 2009 -- anything less than a national championship is a failed season. I think that goes even more for LeBron than Florida, if only because of its weight on the pending Summer of LeBron.
And so one's playoff predictions come down to this: Where do you think LeBron's season ends?
*With a championship?
*Losing in the Finals, say to the Lakers?
*Losing in the East finals, say to the Magic?
It's that last scenario that we've seen before -- LeBron's Cavs were the favorite in the East (if not the entire NBA) a year ago. That dream collapsed in 6 games -- in large part due to Cleveland's inability to stop Orlando's "stretch-4," Rashard Lewis. So the Cavs went out and got Antawn Jamison. The Magic, of course, did their work in the summer, getting Vince Carter (losing Turkoglu), Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson, and re-signing Marcin Gortat. On paper, it was unmatched depth. On the court, they have "hand" (in Costanzan terms) over the Cavs.
Considering I'm a leading "instant historian," I'm a sucker for believing too much in what happened last year as forecast for what will happen this year. It remains my biggest weakness as a prognosticator of seasons or playoffs (or brackets).
But I think the Cavs fall short again -- losing to the Magic in the East finals, before the Lakers beat the Magic again in the NBA Finals.
What are your NBA playoff picks? Put them in the comments.
Tons more in the column today, including a reaction to Big Ben (yikes), yawning at the Browns' play for Bradford, celebrating Jorge Cantu and anticipating the reception for Tiger Woods at Quail Hollow, plus a lot more.
More later.
-- D.S.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
04/15 Quickie: Hayward, NBA Playoffs
I'm saving my NBA Playoff picks for tomorrow's SN column lead, and I'm glad I did, because the news of Butler's Gordon Hayward testing the NBA Draft is a pretty compelling topic to lead with: It is the anti-"Hoosiers." As I said in the column, Jimmy Chitwood didn't bolt Hickory for the NBA.
I don't begrudge Hayward -- at all. Just ask Da'Sean Butler about what kind of freak things can happen to ruin your pro career. And although Hayward would be an All-American next year, his draft prospects won't get better than this year (projected around 15-20).
Hayward going pro doesn't fit the wholesome movie-script storyline, but it fits entirely with reality.
The column is loaded today:
*Reggie Bush will pick torching USC over perjury.
*Brandon Marshall was worth it for the Dolphins.
*SN has Tim Tebow going to the Raiders at No. 39.
*I have Kevin Durant, youngest NBA scoring champ ever, as the No. 2 guy on my MVP ballot.
*Stephen Curry's 42 to end the season was ridiculous.
*So was DaJuan Blair's 20/20 double-double.
*I'm much less intrigued by Brandon Knight becoming the latest top PG to go to Kentucky than I am about Ray McCallum following his dad to U. of Detroit. Both will end up in the NBA soon enough.
*Jorge Cantu: H/RBI record to start a season. Not bad!
*But probably not as interesting as Jose Guillen hitting a HR in his 4th straight game...
*Which, in turn, is not as interesting as Colby Lewis -- spot-starting for CJ Wilson -- striking out 10....
*Which, in turn, isn't as fascinating as Twins fans' first experience with rain at a home game.
*Elin divorcing Tiger? Well, obviously.
*It's official: My first fantasy championship.
See the whole column here. More later.
-- D.S.
I don't begrudge Hayward -- at all. Just ask Da'Sean Butler about what kind of freak things can happen to ruin your pro career. And although Hayward would be an All-American next year, his draft prospects won't get better than this year (projected around 15-20).
Hayward going pro doesn't fit the wholesome movie-script storyline, but it fits entirely with reality.
The column is loaded today:
*Reggie Bush will pick torching USC over perjury.
*Brandon Marshall was worth it for the Dolphins.
*SN has Tim Tebow going to the Raiders at No. 39.
*I have Kevin Durant, youngest NBA scoring champ ever, as the No. 2 guy on my MVP ballot.
*Stephen Curry's 42 to end the season was ridiculous.
*So was DaJuan Blair's 20/20 double-double.
*I'm much less intrigued by Brandon Knight becoming the latest top PG to go to Kentucky than I am about Ray McCallum following his dad to U. of Detroit. Both will end up in the NBA soon enough.
*Jorge Cantu: H/RBI record to start a season. Not bad!
*But probably not as interesting as Jose Guillen hitting a HR in his 4th straight game...
*Which, in turn, is not as interesting as Colby Lewis -- spot-starting for CJ Wilson -- striking out 10....
*Which, in turn, isn't as fascinating as Twins fans' first experience with rain at a home game.
*Elin divorcing Tiger? Well, obviously.
*It's official: My first fantasy championship.
See the whole column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Finally, a Fantasy Championship
I have been playing some form of fantasy sports since the mid-90s: Football and baseball, mostly. A few seasons of basketball. I have been in leagues with co-workers, with friends, with randoms. I have been in snake drafts and, a couple years ago, even tried an auction-draft baseball season.
The common factor among every season: I was a loser.
Almost always, a second-division loser. I can remember making the playoffs once or twice, but that feels hazy -- like I created that in my head to make myself feel better about the perennial sucking. (Wait: I just remembered that somewhere in a box in a storage unit, I have one of those old ESPN.com pennants for winning my league. I cannot remember how or when I won it -- maybe the late-90s? It is also possible I merely swiped one from the ESPN.com fantasy storage closet while I was working next to it.)
My failures have been pretty epic: In my main baseball league, I had a breakthrough year in 2009... finishing 9th or 10th out of 16 teams. In my three football leagues, I was so bad that I had to claim moral victory in my Kissing Suzy Kolber keeper league by capping yet another last-place season by knocking DJ Gallo out of the playoffs with a rare win.
All that said, I am going to win my first fantasy championship tonight, when my "Gilbert's Arenas" wins the "6-Inch Verticals" NBA fantasy league, defeating Deadspin's Tommy Craggs in the two-week championship series. The league was organized by Yahoo's Brett Dykes (aka Cajun Boy), who set up a scoring system so convoluted -- a Byzantine calculus including made (and missed) field goals and free-throws, made (and missed) 3s and all sorts of other traditional stats -- that someone like me could stumble my way to a championship. In fact, I was somewhat of a juggernaut.
And, oh, did it feel good to finally win consistently. And does it feel good to finally win that championship.
And so I want to take a moment to spotlight my team of champions:
PG: Chauncey Billups, Aaron Brooks
SG: Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, Eric Gordon
F: Josh Smith, Al Horford, Carlos Boozer
Drafted but Dropped At Some Point (but still getting a playoff share): Tyreke Evans (!), Al Harrington, Jonny Flynn, Andrei Kirilenko, Greg Oden, Charlie Villanueva.
Critical Mid-Season Pickups: George Hill, Chris Andersen, Omri Casspi, Anthony Tolliver and Late-Season Pickups: Terrence Williams, Tayshaun Prince, Taj Gibson, JJ Hickson.
Finally: I might have kicked myself for dropping Tyreke Evans after the first week of the season, but the player I ended up swapping him for turned out to by my team -- and arguably league -- MVP: Marc Gasol, who under the scoring system, was an absolute monster. Because of his role on my one and only title team, he will always have a special place for me.
Team of Champions: I salute you!
(As for the rest of the players under my management, across all sports: New standards!)
-- D.S.
The common factor among every season: I was a loser.
Almost always, a second-division loser. I can remember making the playoffs once or twice, but that feels hazy -- like I created that in my head to make myself feel better about the perennial sucking. (Wait: I just remembered that somewhere in a box in a storage unit, I have one of those old ESPN.com pennants for winning my league. I cannot remember how or when I won it -- maybe the late-90s? It is also possible I merely swiped one from the ESPN.com fantasy storage closet while I was working next to it.)
My failures have been pretty epic: In my main baseball league, I had a breakthrough year in 2009... finishing 9th or 10th out of 16 teams. In my three football leagues, I was so bad that I had to claim moral victory in my Kissing Suzy Kolber keeper league by capping yet another last-place season by knocking DJ Gallo out of the playoffs with a rare win.
All that said, I am going to win my first fantasy championship tonight, when my "Gilbert's Arenas" wins the "6-Inch Verticals" NBA fantasy league, defeating Deadspin's Tommy Craggs in the two-week championship series. The league was organized by Yahoo's Brett Dykes (aka Cajun Boy), who set up a scoring system so convoluted -- a Byzantine calculus including made (and missed) field goals and free-throws, made (and missed) 3s and all sorts of other traditional stats -- that someone like me could stumble my way to a championship. In fact, I was somewhat of a juggernaut.
And, oh, did it feel good to finally win consistently. And does it feel good to finally win that championship.
And so I want to take a moment to spotlight my team of champions:
PG: Chauncey Billups, Aaron Brooks
SG: Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, Eric Gordon
F: Josh Smith, Al Horford, Carlos Boozer
Drafted but Dropped At Some Point (but still getting a playoff share): Tyreke Evans (!), Al Harrington, Jonny Flynn, Andrei Kirilenko, Greg Oden, Charlie Villanueva.
Critical Mid-Season Pickups: George Hill, Chris Andersen, Omri Casspi, Anthony Tolliver and Late-Season Pickups: Terrence Williams, Tayshaun Prince, Taj Gibson, JJ Hickson.
Finally: I might have kicked myself for dropping Tyreke Evans after the first week of the season, but the player I ended up swapping him for turned out to by my team -- and arguably league -- MVP: Marc Gasol, who under the scoring system, was an absolute monster. Because of his role on my one and only title team, he will always have a special place for me.
Team of Champions: I salute you!
(As for the rest of the players under my management, across all sports: New standards!)
-- D.S.
04/14 Quickie: LeBron, Marshall, NBA Finales
The NBA regular season revolved around LeBron. The offseason certainly will. Sandwiched in between, the postseason will, too: It's "Title or Bust" for LeBron, period. Fair or unfair?
More you'll find in today's SN column:
*Great deal for the Dolphins to get Brandon Marshall.
*Does anyone want Dez Bryant?
*Jazz-Suns the linchpin of NBA postseason seedings.
*Ricky Romero!
*Ekpe Udoh: I like his NBA prospects a lot.
*Larry Brown to the Sixers: Really? Ugh.
There's a bunch more in there. Sorry for the quick post this morning. More later, including a long-awaited championship.
-- D.S.
More you'll find in today's SN column:
*Great deal for the Dolphins to get Brandon Marshall.
*Does anyone want Dez Bryant?
*Jazz-Suns the linchpin of NBA postseason seedings.
*Ricky Romero!
*Ekpe Udoh: I like his NBA prospects a lot.
*Larry Brown to the Sixers: Really? Ugh.
There's a bunch more in there. Sorry for the quick post this morning. More later, including a long-awaited championship.
-- D.S.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
04/13 Quickie: QBs, Target, NBA Seeds
Intriguing day for QBs around the NFL, leading today's SN column:
More on the radar today:
NBA early-entries: Wes Johnson is a Top 5 pick. Ed Davis is a Top 5 pick... in 2009. In 2010, he might slip into the 6-10 range, particularly if his injured wrist doesn't let him work out for teams in advance of the draft.
Yankees home opener today: Expect the usual triumphalism as they put up the championship banner.
Big Ben's meeting with the Commish should be a good scolding... Sam Bradford is meeting with the Rams, and presumably they will not ask "Can you take NFL punishment?" but "Can you sign before the draft?"
And, yes, there's even a new Tim Tebow storyline: He wasn't on the NFL's list of 16 players attending the draft. I'm not sure that means he WON'T attend (I think he should, because he's the biggest storyline of the draft), but for now, he won't. (He will be in NYC next Tuesday for an EA event. I might be there. More on that later.)
More on the radar today:
The NBA's regular season is nearly over, and the West has its 8-seed locked in to play the Lakers: Durant's Thunder, which will get a valuable education in playoff basketball. Actually, I love the Lakers-Thunder 1st-round pairing.
NBA early-entries: Wes Johnson is a Top 5 pick. Ed Davis is a Top 5 pick... in 2009. In 2010, he might slip into the 6-10 range, particularly if his injured wrist doesn't let him work out for teams in advance of the draft.
Target Field looks really nice. Certainly nicer than the Metrodome.
The A's are the new Mariners (while beating the Mariners, coincidentally).
Yankees home opener today: Expect the usual triumphalism as they put up the championship banner.
Lots more in today's column. More later.
-- D.S.
Monday, April 12, 2010
04/12 Quickie: Phil, Holmes, Halladay
Sorry for the brief intro to today's SN column, but check it out here, including:
*Phil as the anti-Tiger.
*Jets steal Holmes.
*Just give Halladay the NL Cy now.
*John Brantley is pretty good.
*The new "short-term" LeBron plan.
Lots more. More later.
--- D.S.
*Phil as the anti-Tiger.
*Jets steal Holmes.
*Just give Halladay the NL Cy now.
*John Brantley is pretty good.
*The new "short-term" LeBron plan.
Lots more. More later.
--- D.S.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Saturday (Spring Game) Quickie
I've tried to show restraint here about Florida football during the spring practice season, but today is the Gators' spring game, so permit me a bit of obsessiveness:
It is the official start of the John Brantley Era. You may remember him from such posts as "Let John Brantley Start Over Tim Tebow Against LSU."
As a passer, Brantley is mechanically superior to Tebow -- so much so that I think Brantley will emerge next season as Mark Sanchez 2.0: One season of starting, but a sure-fire 1st-round pick.
True freshman Trey Burton plays the "Tim Tebow 2006" role -- the energetic back-up who will likely play a role in short-yardage situations.
Other things to watch for: The WR corps, which will benefit from Brantley's style; the linebackers, who are a wrecking crew; and Mike Gillislee, the talented RB squashed in between Jeff Demps and incoming freshman stud Mack Brown.
It's a gorgeous spring day here in New York -- and in Gainesville.
Couple of things on my radar today:
*Tiger: Still on pace to win.
*No charges against Big Ben?
*Break up the SF Giants!
*No Kobe, no problem -- at least against the T'wolves.
*Did Alex Ovechkin just lock up NHL MVP?
*Buying: David Price for a breakthrough season.
*Not buying: Jimmy Clausen.
Enjoy the day. Probably a lot of Masters-watching. At least keep the windows open...
-- D.S.
Friday, April 09, 2010
04/09 Quickie: Tiger, Stevens, Wells, More
Well, you can see it coming already: Tiger is going to win the Masters.
I guess it should have been obvious that Tiger would make his return and shoot the best 1st-round score at the Masters of his career, to an adoring gallery. Just, to see it happen though...insane. Obviously, it leads today's SN column.
If he is in contention on Sunday afternoon, it really will be the most-watched golf event in history.
More you'll find in today's column:
*Brad Stevens will coach as many of the 12 years' of extension at Butler as he'll get until Indiana inevitably fires Tom Crean and hires Stevens.
*Vernon Wells: Still the worst contract in baseball? (Probably, yes. But still: 4 HR already?)
*When LeBron and Kobe are "resting," their teams are tanking the game. This is just as bad as the Colts resting Peyton in Week 17 -- lot less outrage, though.
*Bulls-Raptors battle for East 8-seed. It's supposed to be this big symbolism for showing Bosh why he should sign with their team, but doesn't everyone know he's going to the Knicks?
*Of the CBB players who declared for the draft yesterday, I'm in an internal battle to figure out which prospect will be a bigger dud in the NBA: Willie Warren or Avery Bradley?
*It cannot possibly surprise you that Tim Tebow is on the cover of EA NCAA Football '11. He's been a lock for that since the 2007 season.
*Speaking of Tebow, Vikings coach Brad Childress is in Gainesville today for an Urban Meyer coaching clinic, so naturally it's time to speculate that the Vikings might take Tebow with the No. 30 pick. Can you imagine Brett Favre and Tim Tebow on the same team? It's the kind of Venn Diagram that would make many fans' heads explode.
More in the column today. All eyes on Tiger. More later and throughout the weekend.
-- D.S.
I guess it should have been obvious that Tiger would make his return and shoot the best 1st-round score at the Masters of his career, to an adoring gallery. Just, to see it happen though...insane. Obviously, it leads today's SN column.
If he is in contention on Sunday afternoon, it really will be the most-watched golf event in history.
More you'll find in today's column:
*Brad Stevens will coach as many of the 12 years' of extension at Butler as he'll get until Indiana inevitably fires Tom Crean and hires Stevens.
*Vernon Wells: Still the worst contract in baseball? (Probably, yes. But still: 4 HR already?)
*When LeBron and Kobe are "resting," their teams are tanking the game. This is just as bad as the Colts resting Peyton in Week 17 -- lot less outrage, though.
*Bulls-Raptors battle for East 8-seed. It's supposed to be this big symbolism for showing Bosh why he should sign with their team, but doesn't everyone know he's going to the Knicks?
*Of the CBB players who declared for the draft yesterday, I'm in an internal battle to figure out which prospect will be a bigger dud in the NBA: Willie Warren or Avery Bradley?
*It cannot possibly surprise you that Tim Tebow is on the cover of EA NCAA Football '11. He's been a lock for that since the 2007 season.
*Speaking of Tebow, Vikings coach Brad Childress is in Gainesville today for an Urban Meyer coaching clinic, so naturally it's time to speculate that the Vikings might take Tebow with the No. 30 pick. Can you imagine Brett Favre and Tim Tebow on the same team? It's the kind of Venn Diagram that would make many fans' heads explode.
More in the column today. All eyes on Tiger. More later and throughout the weekend.
-- D.S.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Quickie: Tiger Ad, Kentucky 5, More
That Tiger ad is creepy. But say this for Earl Woods: Even from the grave, he asks better questions and makes more salient points than you'll hear from golf media this week -- and certainly the broadcast teams. Of course, Tiger leads today's SN column.
More you'll find:
*Kentucky sends 5 to NBA Draft: They're all going to go in the Top 20 (possibly Top 15), too, which makes the decisions a no-brainer. (I'll bet Orton goes ahead of Patterson or Bledsoe.)
Between Wall, Turner and Cousins, the Top 3 of the Draft declared yesterday.
*I think it's safe to say that Curtis Granderson is a Yankees fan favorite.
*More impressive milestone: Don Nelson setting the all-time career wins record or the Bobcats making the playoffs for the first time?
*A not-too-far-off comparison between NFL draft prospects and Idol Top 9 (not my analysis, but I approve).
Tons more in the column today. Sorry for the short post. More later.
-- D.S.
More you'll find:
*Kentucky sends 5 to NBA Draft: They're all going to go in the Top 20 (possibly Top 15), too, which makes the decisions a no-brainer. (I'll bet Orton goes ahead of Patterson or Bledsoe.)
Between Wall, Turner and Cousins, the Top 3 of the Draft declared yesterday.
*I think it's safe to say that Curtis Granderson is a Yankees fan favorite.
*More impressive milestone: Don Nelson setting the all-time career wins record or the Bobcats making the playoffs for the first time?
*A not-too-far-off comparison between NFL draft prospects and Idol Top 9 (not my analysis, but I approve).
Tons more in the column today. Sorry for the short post. More later.
-- D.S.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
04/07 Quickie: UConn, Red Sox, Messi
How can you NOT be impressed by UConn's second straight undefeated national title season? Unprecedented. What made it all the more interesting: That 12-point 1st half against Stanford, the ultimate WTF? moment in sports this year.
That's the lead of today's SN column, which has a lot more:
*Duke wins the game, Brad Stevens wins America.
*How's that "run prevention" strategy working out for the Red Sox?
*Jazz-Thunder was the best game of the year in the NBA.
*Any mock draft that doesn't even acknowledge that Tim Tebow is very likely going to go in the 1st round is intellectually fraudulent.
*Lionel Messi. This is why you need to watch every Argentina game in the World Cup this year.
*Based on my experience watching what Bill Carmody has done going from Princeton to Northwestern, I don't expect much from Steve Donahue. At least he sold high.
*Hank Aaron loves Jason Heyward. Everyone loves Jason Heyward.
*Why would anyone ever expect the Masters broadcasters to talk about Tiger's off-course storyline? If that will bother you, watch with the sound off.
(But it's ludicrous to suggest that people are going to be tuning in to watch everyone else. 90 percent of fans will tune in to find out how Tiger is doing.)
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
That's the lead of today's SN column, which has a lot more:
*Duke wins the game, Brad Stevens wins America.
*How's that "run prevention" strategy working out for the Red Sox?
*Jazz-Thunder was the best game of the year in the NBA.
*Any mock draft that doesn't even acknowledge that Tim Tebow is very likely going to go in the 1st round is intellectually fraudulent.
*Lionel Messi. This is why you need to watch every Argentina game in the World Cup this year.
*Based on my experience watching what Bill Carmody has done going from Princeton to Northwestern, I don't expect much from Steve Donahue. At least he sold high.
*Hank Aaron loves Jason Heyward. Everyone loves Jason Heyward.
*Why would anyone ever expect the Masters broadcasters to talk about Tiger's off-course storyline? If that will bother you, watch with the sound off.
(But it's ludicrous to suggest that people are going to be tuning in to watch everyone else. 90 percent of fans will tune in to find out how Tiger is doing.)
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Daily Quickie Readers Challenge Final
Congrats to N. Jansen, whose "neily27" entry rode Duke's national title to a crushing championship in the 2010 Daily Quickie Readers group of the Tournament Challenge.
Jansen's bracket not only included Duke as the champ, but included Butler (!!!) and West Virginia in the Final Four.
ESPN.com ranks Jansen's bracket as the 775th best in the entire field of umpteen million brackets.
Jansen: Email me to claim the coveted prize -- a guest-post on DanShanoff.com, to be redeemed at your convenience.
As for me, I finished 256th out of 414. My place in the 37th percentile is roughly twice where I finished a year ago, so I presume that qualifies as progress.
Mrs. Quickie finished 22nd overall (3rd among folks who didn't pick Duke as champ) and in the 93rd percentile nationally. (Did I marry well or what?)
President Obama didn't come close to last year's finish in the 80th percentile -- he barely cracked the 50th percentile. Then again, not having any Final Four teams will do that for you.
If you used the National Bracket, things weren't much better -- again, a function of the N.B. being very chalk-heavy. And yet, if I had followed it, I would have finished in the 60th percentile.
In my bracket autopsy of vicious hindsight, I shouldn't have doubted Tom Izzo. I should have doubted Kentucky's freshmen. I had the right idea in the West, taking Butler to the Elite Eight -- if I was sure Onuaku was going to be out, oh what could have been!
And as for Duke, I let blind loathing -- not to mention memories of the past few years' Tournament debacles -- cloud the evidence that was plain from Ken Pomeroy's advanced stats: Duke had the best combination of offense and defense in the country, by a wide margin.
I always stumble in the same way: I allow myself to be too influenced by what happened last year. So, naturally, next year I won't doubt Duke, and they'll go back to losing. Or I'll take Butler all the way, only to have them stumble early as a 1- or 2-seed.
The only constant -- besides my wife kicking my ass -- is that I continue to talk myself into dumb choices. After last season's debacle, this season I figured I would go "safe," and it totally backfired. I don't know where I go from here.
But, as always, I appreciate all of you joining me in bracket madness. This was as fun -- and unpredictable -- a year as we could have asked for.
Next year: 96. Maybe that will be my format....
-- D.S.
Jansen's bracket not only included Duke as the champ, but included Butler (!!!) and West Virginia in the Final Four.
ESPN.com ranks Jansen's bracket as the 775th best in the entire field of umpteen million brackets.
Jansen: Email me to claim the coveted prize -- a guest-post on DanShanoff.com, to be redeemed at your convenience.
As for me, I finished 256th out of 414. My place in the 37th percentile is roughly twice where I finished a year ago, so I presume that qualifies as progress.
Mrs. Quickie finished 22nd overall (3rd among folks who didn't pick Duke as champ) and in the 93rd percentile nationally. (Did I marry well or what?)
President Obama didn't come close to last year's finish in the 80th percentile -- he barely cracked the 50th percentile. Then again, not having any Final Four teams will do that for you.
If you used the National Bracket, things weren't much better -- again, a function of the N.B. being very chalk-heavy. And yet, if I had followed it, I would have finished in the 60th percentile.
In my bracket autopsy of vicious hindsight, I shouldn't have doubted Tom Izzo. I should have doubted Kentucky's freshmen. I had the right idea in the West, taking Butler to the Elite Eight -- if I was sure Onuaku was going to be out, oh what could have been!
And as for Duke, I let blind loathing -- not to mention memories of the past few years' Tournament debacles -- cloud the evidence that was plain from Ken Pomeroy's advanced stats: Duke had the best combination of offense and defense in the country, by a wide margin.
I always stumble in the same way: I allow myself to be too influenced by what happened last year. So, naturally, next year I won't doubt Duke, and they'll go back to losing. Or I'll take Butler all the way, only to have them stumble early as a 1- or 2-seed.
The only constant -- besides my wife kicking my ass -- is that I continue to talk myself into dumb choices. After last season's debacle, this season I figured I would go "safe," and it totally backfired. I don't know where I go from here.
But, as always, I appreciate all of you joining me in bracket madness. This was as fun -- and unpredictable -- a year as we could have asked for.
Next year: 96. Maybe that will be my format....
-- D.S.
04/06 Quickie: Duke, Butler, MLB Openers
Anyone else think that Gordon Hayward's half-court shot was going in? I did.
It was the most memorable missed shot in the history of basketball, capping one of the best championship games in the history of college hoops.
I really thought it was going in.
Not to diminish Duke -- although that's the popular sentiment -- but when we look back at the 2010 Tournament, the first thing to come to mind will be Butler.
That's not to say Duke wasn't as worthy of a champ as any team this season. They had the best combination of offense and defense in the country this season -- and, unlike other would-be contenders like Kansas or Kentucky, didn't choke early.
I might even say that this Duke team was relatively likeable -- I said "relatively." But for whatever reason, this group was OK. (It might have a little to do with my longtime sympathy for Jon Scheyer, but it probably goes beyond that. The way they won -- yeah, including a few iffy calls -- earned our respect, even if it was paired with crushing disappointment that Butler didn't pull it off.)
Here's the crazy part: Butler will surely miss Veazey (and Jukes!), but they will be even better next season. Is it so crazy, based on this Tournament run, to install them as the No. 1 team in the country next year? Hardly. Certainly no crazier than me making Boise State my No. 1 team in football for next season, based in large part by the way they performed last season (and that they return almost everyone).
And so the college hoops season is over -- and, with it, the 65-team era of the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, I'm not as averse to the change as many many others, but it will be a change. This was a good way for this era to end.
(By the way, I really enjoyed the Jennifer Hudson version of One Shining Moment, but it was appalling that CBS included multiple shots of Hudson herself in the montage. Whose idea was that? If hers, CBS should have passed; if CBS's, someone should be demoted.)
Tons in the SN column today: MLB Opening Day (J-Hey! Pujols! Halladay! Buehrle!), Tiger press conference, UConn women preview. For a Tebow-Nike reaction, click here.
More later.
-- D.S.
It was the most memorable missed shot in the history of basketball, capping one of the best championship games in the history of college hoops.
I really thought it was going in.
Not to diminish Duke -- although that's the popular sentiment -- but when we look back at the 2010 Tournament, the first thing to come to mind will be Butler.
That's not to say Duke wasn't as worthy of a champ as any team this season. They had the best combination of offense and defense in the country this season -- and, unlike other would-be contenders like Kansas or Kentucky, didn't choke early.
I might even say that this Duke team was relatively likeable -- I said "relatively." But for whatever reason, this group was OK. (It might have a little to do with my longtime sympathy for Jon Scheyer, but it probably goes beyond that. The way they won -- yeah, including a few iffy calls -- earned our respect, even if it was paired with crushing disappointment that Butler didn't pull it off.)
Here's the crazy part: Butler will surely miss Veazey (and Jukes!), but they will be even better next season. Is it so crazy, based on this Tournament run, to install them as the No. 1 team in the country next year? Hardly. Certainly no crazier than me making Boise State my No. 1 team in football for next season, based in large part by the way they performed last season (and that they return almost everyone).
And so the college hoops season is over -- and, with it, the 65-team era of the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, I'm not as averse to the change as many many others, but it will be a change. This was a good way for this era to end.
(By the way, I really enjoyed the Jennifer Hudson version of One Shining Moment, but it was appalling that CBS included multiple shots of Hudson herself in the montage. Whose idea was that? If hers, CBS should have passed; if CBS's, someone should be demoted.)
Tons in the SN column today: MLB Opening Day (J-Hey! Pujols! Halladay! Buehrle!), Tiger press conference, UConn women preview. For a Tebow-Nike reaction, click here.
More later.
-- D.S.
Monday, April 05, 2010
2010 MLB Predictions and Picks
2010 MLB Predictions and Picks:
World Series Champ: Red Sox over Phillies
AL East: Yankees
AL Central: White Sox
AL West: Angels
AL Wild Card: Red Sox
ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez
AL Rookie: Brian Matusz
NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Rockies
NL Wild Card: Braves
NLCS: Phillies over Cardinals
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL Cy: Roy Halladay
NL Rookie: Jason Heyward/Stephen Strasburg
My Favorite Storylines:
*Roy Halladay on the Phillies
*Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward
*Rays trying to crash AL East lockdown
*Can Greinke repeat his '09 season?
*I obviously don't buy the Mariners, though I want to.
*Bigger AL X-Factor: John Lackey or Jake Peavy?
(I know I'm missing something...)
Baseball books I'm reading right now:
"Are We Winning?" by Will Leitch (out in May)
"Mint Condition" by Dave Jamieson (out now)
Season Highlight:
I will be taking my older son to his first MLB game in mid-July: Cubs-Phillies at Wrigley Field. Can't wait for that.
Let's get your predictions in the Comments -- playoff picks, award-winners and your favorite storylines for the season.
-- D.S.
World Series Champ: Red Sox over Phillies
AL East: Yankees
AL Central: White Sox
AL West: Angels
AL Wild Card: Red Sox
ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez
AL Rookie: Brian Matusz
NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Rockies
NL Wild Card: Braves
NLCS: Phillies over Cardinals
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL Cy: Roy Halladay
NL Rookie: Jason Heyward/Stephen Strasburg
My Favorite Storylines:
*Roy Halladay on the Phillies
*Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward
*Rays trying to crash AL East lockdown
*Can Greinke repeat his '09 season?
*I obviously don't buy the Mariners, though I want to.
*Bigger AL X-Factor: John Lackey or Jake Peavy?
(I know I'm missing something...)
Baseball books I'm reading right now:
"Are We Winning?" by Will Leitch (out in May)
"Mint Condition" by Dave Jamieson (out now)
Season Highlight:
I will be taking my older son to his first MLB game in mid-July: Cubs-Phillies at Wrigley Field. Can't wait for that.
Let's get your predictions in the Comments -- playoff picks, award-winners and your favorite storylines for the season.
-- D.S.
04/05 Quickie: Butler, McNabb, Tiger, MLB
Wow: When MLB Opening Day is the FOURTH-biggest story of the day, it's a loaded day.
*Butler-Duke: Rooting for Butler, lamentably picking Duke. But in today's SN column, I argue that Butler will have historical resonance on its side, meaning: Even if Duke wins, we will remember this Butler team for its run to the title game.
(This is pretty rare in sports. In college hoops, I think Duke was involved in one of the other instances of this: 1992, when we remember the Fab Five -- national runners-up -- more than we do the Duke team that beat them. Obviously, we remember that Duke team won back-to-back titles, but the '92 season was defined by the Fab Five, even in ultimate defeat. UPDATE: Great comment that it was the '93 Michigan team that may have been better remembered than the '92 version, although I'm partial to the whole "freshmen" angle. But yes: '92 was Duke-Kentucky.)
*McNabb traded to the Redskins: Despite growing up in DC, I'm not a Skins fan. And while Philly sports fans are slightly more tolerable than Boston sports fans, that doesn't mean they engender my support. If you're like me, you can enjoy both fan bases not knowing HOW to react right now. (Ironically, I kind of like Donovan McNabb, going back to his days at Syracuse. Hope he finds success in DC -- best-case scenario, he has a Favrian renaissance.)
*Tiger meets media at the Masters: First, Augusta National -- and Team Tiger -- will ensure that he gets treated nicely by the media today. Not sure that's necessary, because -- second -- the mainstream sports media has always wanted to gush about Tiger and brush off his scandal. The media event will be a frenzy because it's Tiger, but I don't have high expectations. Augusta Nat'l is going to go back to the old blockade strategy for Tiger.
*MLB Opening Day: The 4th story of the day? Really? This deserves to have its own spot at the top -- maybe during the day, it will get all the attention because of the day games that are in play. I completely mis-timed doing my MLB preview in the SN column, so I'm going to post my MLB predictions and picks here at around 11:00 or 11:30 this morning.
I'll give a preview: The team I pick to win the World Series is the team that won last night. But among today's storylines, the debut of Halladay as a Phillie and the debut of Heyward as a Brave are the ones I have my eye on.
Oh, and the UConn women are about to finalize themselves as the greatest team in women's college basketball history -- and one of the great teams in sports history, period. They won their Final Four game by 20 -- and it felt close.
Complete SN column here. More later this morning.
-- D.S.
*Butler-Duke: Rooting for Butler, lamentably picking Duke. But in today's SN column, I argue that Butler will have historical resonance on its side, meaning: Even if Duke wins, we will remember this Butler team for its run to the title game.
(This is pretty rare in sports. In college hoops, I think Duke was involved in one of the other instances of this: 1992, when we remember the Fab Five -- national runners-up -- more than we do the Duke team that beat them. Obviously, we remember that Duke team won back-to-back titles, but the '92 season was defined by the Fab Five, even in ultimate defeat. UPDATE: Great comment that it was the '93 Michigan team that may have been better remembered than the '92 version, although I'm partial to the whole "freshmen" angle. But yes: '92 was Duke-Kentucky.)
*McNabb traded to the Redskins: Despite growing up in DC, I'm not a Skins fan. And while Philly sports fans are slightly more tolerable than Boston sports fans, that doesn't mean they engender my support. If you're like me, you can enjoy both fan bases not knowing HOW to react right now. (Ironically, I kind of like Donovan McNabb, going back to his days at Syracuse. Hope he finds success in DC -- best-case scenario, he has a Favrian renaissance.)
*Tiger meets media at the Masters: First, Augusta National -- and Team Tiger -- will ensure that he gets treated nicely by the media today. Not sure that's necessary, because -- second -- the mainstream sports media has always wanted to gush about Tiger and brush off his scandal. The media event will be a frenzy because it's Tiger, but I don't have high expectations. Augusta Nat'l is going to go back to the old blockade strategy for Tiger.
*MLB Opening Day: The 4th story of the day? Really? This deserves to have its own spot at the top -- maybe during the day, it will get all the attention because of the day games that are in play. I completely mis-timed doing my MLB preview in the SN column, so I'm going to post my MLB predictions and picks here at around 11:00 or 11:30 this morning.
I'll give a preview: The team I pick to win the World Series is the team that won last night. But among today's storylines, the debut of Halladay as a Phillie and the debut of Heyward as a Brave are the ones I have my eye on.
Oh, and the UConn women are about to finalize themselves as the greatest team in women's college basketball history -- and one of the great teams in sports history, period. They won their Final Four game by 20 -- and it felt close.
Complete SN column here. More later this morning.
-- D.S.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Sunday (Butler) Quickie
Let's start with this: Mrs. Quickie is currently 5th out of more than 400 entries in the Daily Quickie Readers group. Now, she'll get passed by dozens if Duke wins. But if Butler wins, she will have a Top 5 finish in the pool this year. That's amazing.
More coming tomorrow, but my general thesis is that -- at this point -- Butler wins, no matter what happens on Monday night.
In this case, if Butler loses, they will still be the team/story we all remember from the 2010 season. If Butler wins... well, it would arguably be the biggest championship story in college sports history (and on the short list for all sports, all time).
That said: I don't think Butler will win. Make no mistake: I am ROOTING for Butler. But as good as their defense is, their offense last night against MSU was impotent. I'll credit MSU's defense to some extent, but....
Duke, meanwhile, carved up a very good, very physical West Virginia defense, while stifling the 'Eers with their own D. This Duke team is VERY good, and I think they match up particularly well with Butler.
You all know I'm a Duke hater; regardless, this team looks like a champion. (Which will make it all the more awesome if Butler can pull off the upset -- but it would be a huge upset.)
For all the Butler drama, the most riveting moment of the night was Bob Huggins hovering over the fallen Da'Sean Butler, faces just inches apart, with Huggins stroking the cheek of the inconsolable Butler.
In one image, it became the defining moment of Bob Huggins' career. I have never been a Huggins fan, but that moment displayed a level of coaching empathy you NEVER see publicly.
More (very briefly):
Yankees-Red Sox open MLB season tonight: Holler at me when the NCAA Tournament is over tomorrow night, then I'll be ready to engage fully in baseball.
Thunder clinch playoff spot: It is one of the most dramatic leaps in recent NBA history.
Happy Easter, to those of you celebrating. I will have a Cadbury Creme Egg (or few) to celebrate on your behalf.
-- D.S.
More coming tomorrow, but my general thesis is that -- at this point -- Butler wins, no matter what happens on Monday night.
In this case, if Butler loses, they will still be the team/story we all remember from the 2010 season. If Butler wins... well, it would arguably be the biggest championship story in college sports history (and on the short list for all sports, all time).
That said: I don't think Butler will win. Make no mistake: I am ROOTING for Butler. But as good as their defense is, their offense last night against MSU was impotent. I'll credit MSU's defense to some extent, but....
Duke, meanwhile, carved up a very good, very physical West Virginia defense, while stifling the 'Eers with their own D. This Duke team is VERY good, and I think they match up particularly well with Butler.
You all know I'm a Duke hater; regardless, this team looks like a champion. (Which will make it all the more awesome if Butler can pull off the upset -- but it would be a huge upset.)
For all the Butler drama, the most riveting moment of the night was Bob Huggins hovering over the fallen Da'Sean Butler, faces just inches apart, with Huggins stroking the cheek of the inconsolable Butler.
In one image, it became the defining moment of Bob Huggins' career. I have never been a Huggins fan, but that moment displayed a level of coaching empathy you NEVER see publicly.
More (very briefly):
Yankees-Red Sox open MLB season tonight: Holler at me when the NCAA Tournament is over tomorrow night, then I'll be ready to engage fully in baseball.
Thunder clinch playoff spot: It is one of the most dramatic leaps in recent NBA history.
Happy Easter, to those of you celebrating. I will have a Cadbury Creme Egg (or few) to celebrate on your behalf.
-- D.S.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Saturday (Final Four) Quickie
Final Four Saturday: As discussed yesterday, no one can confidently predict who will win either game -- which makes it so much more interesting. I'm sticking with Butler-Duke.
(Rooting interest? Butler, definitely -- unless you're a Michigan State fan, how could you NOT root for Butler? On the other side, West Virginia -- although I'd rather see Butler win a national title by beating Duke than beating WVU. But I can't stomach a Duke national title.)
Bracket Update: I enter the day in the 40th percentile. I have a feeling I can only go down from here -- can't possibly reach the 18th percentile nadir from last year, right? RIGHT?!?!
Lakers lock up Kobe for 3 years beyond next season: That puts the Lakers' window for more titles at 5 seasons, if you include this season. The Lakers have 3 years to find a succession plan.
Cavs beat Hawks: Eastern Conference semifinals preview? Not sure the Hawks are ready to take down the Cavs, but then again, I'm not sure the Cavs are ready to take down the Magic.
Redskins sign Willie Parker: What a Snyder-esque twist on Shanahan's old model of RB-by-committee, which used to use otherwise anonymous RBs. Now, they use washed-up star RBs.
Cripes: That story about the Notre Dame recruit is horrible.
Doesn't the Indianapolis Star know that defacing photos with Photoshop is for blogs? And, for the record, most bloggers are FAR more clever with their defacing.
-- D.S.
(Rooting interest? Butler, definitely -- unless you're a Michigan State fan, how could you NOT root for Butler? On the other side, West Virginia -- although I'd rather see Butler win a national title by beating Duke than beating WVU. But I can't stomach a Duke national title.)
Bracket Update: I enter the day in the 40th percentile. I have a feeling I can only go down from here -- can't possibly reach the 18th percentile nadir from last year, right? RIGHT?!?!
Lakers lock up Kobe for 3 years beyond next season: That puts the Lakers' window for more titles at 5 seasons, if you include this season. The Lakers have 3 years to find a succession plan.
Cavs beat Hawks: Eastern Conference semifinals preview? Not sure the Hawks are ready to take down the Cavs, but then again, I'm not sure the Cavs are ready to take down the Magic.
Redskins sign Willie Parker: What a Snyder-esque twist on Shanahan's old model of RB-by-committee, which used to use otherwise anonymous RBs. Now, they use washed-up star RBs.
Cripes: That story about the Notre Dame recruit is horrible.
Doesn't the Indianapolis Star know that defacing photos with Photoshop is for blogs? And, for the record, most bloggers are FAR more clever with their defacing.
-- D.S.
Friday, April 02, 2010
On NCAA Expansion to 96 Teams
Let's review why expanding the NCAA Tournament isn't the end of the world, as so many hysterical college hoops pundits would have you believe:
*The 64-team bracket is "perfect!" Actually, the NCAA Tournament is not beloved for the number of teams included.
It is beloved for its upsets, its buzzer-beaters, its weekday workday diversion in the first round and its promotion of socially acceptable gambling (or the ability to compete with your friends and co-workers).
Expansion doesn't change that. If anything, you will get more of all of them with an extra 32 games.
(And it doesn't preclude major upsets either: Northern Iowa over Kansas will still happen, whether Kansas has played a 1st-round game or not. Speaking of 1-seeds, the idea that the 1-seed ALWAYS beats the 16-seed is a huge flaw in the Tournament's current format. If anything, I think that with an expanded field, you'll see more top seeds lose in their first game than before, because they will be playing a team that just finished up a tense do-or-die play-in game. "Bye" teams in the Top 32 who come out sluggish could find their Tournaments over quickly. As soon as we see a bunch of top teams fall in their 1st game, the critics' wailing will be drowned out by fans' cheering.)
The essential qualities of the NCAA Tournament -- rather than some arbitrary number -- are born out by the fact that the Tournament has expanded from 8 to 16 to 32 to 48 to 64 to 65. And I'm sure the pundits either have -- or would have -- complained all along the way. In vain.
And, by the way: Pundits who fret about how the new bracket will make filling out office-pool sheets more difficult have apparently not tried filling out a bracket online, like 99.9 percent of the world now does. ESPN, CBSSports.com and Yahoo will make it VERY easy to fill out the expanded bracket -- even if their columnists rail on about hating the idea -- because they have a vested interest in making it easy to fill it out.
*"It devalues the regular season!" Actually, you'd have to say FURTHER devalues the regular season, because the ascension of the 64-team tournament devalued the regular season a long time ago.
The reality is that most fans don't pay attention to college basketball until March anyway. And, aside from the die-hard fans who make up about 5 percent of the fans who follow March Madness, those that do tune in before March are watching marquee games between powerhouse teams whose inclusion in the NCAA Tournament field isn't in doubt.
If anything, people watch before March to get a sneak peek of teams they should be betting on IN March. And with 32 more teams, that means that fans who want to know the field have to watch that much regular-season basketball. Meanwhile, the chance to earn a bye gets expanded beyond the four 1-seeds to the Top 32 teams in the country -- something worth playing for in January and February.
(And, yes, there will still even be a "Bubble" -- it just slides down the list. It is arguable whether the incessant Bubble talk is even good for the sport. And don't argue about "quality"; the Bubble has never been about "good/bad" -- just "in/out.")
*"The quality of the extra 32 teams they let in will dilute the pool!" Let's see: If Ohio can beat Georgetown, I'd be curious how the 8 teams that finished ahead of Ohio in the MAC might do. Most early-round NCAA games aren't exactly pretty basketball played at high levels; they're street fights. Let's go back to the foundational point: As long as games are close at the finish or won on buzzer-beaters or feature seed upsets or "no-name" schools beating "name" schools, fans will be happy. And that will happen frequently -- perhaps more often, given the general parity between teams ranked between 1 and 100.
*"It's just about money!" (Yeah? And? So is everything else.)
*"But what about the children!?" (Oh please. Any pundit who brings this up is acting as cynically as the NCAA.)
*"Fans hate it!" Well, they hate it when they are asked about it in a poll attached to a pundit's column that says "NCAA SUCKS!!!" It's the hoops-pundit equivalent of shouting "Death panels!"
Pundits ignore the essential elements of the Tournament that fans love -- upsets, buzzer-beaters, gambling, skipping work -- because that relatively superficial reality devalues their own life's passion. There is a fundamental (and not entirely irrational) fear of irrelevancy at work here.
(Don't worry, pundits! Your jobs are totally safe! In fact, you're more necessary than ever if there are more teams in the Tournament! But first you really have to respect the fans more than you do.)
You get the sense that the college hoops pundits freaking out over expansion have one fear that overrides everything else: That they will expand the Tournament and fans will actually LIKE it. Or, at the very least, fans won't care. Fans will still enjoy the Tournament for all the fundamental reasons that make it great. Coincidentally, all the reasons that the pundits overlook or ignore.
Again, what bothers me most is the knee-jerk intractability of the pundits -- they don't even allow for the idea of expansion to make SOME sense or have ANY benefit. It is all doomsday, when -- clearly -- it's not.
They look and sound ridiculous for it -- and will look even more ridiculous a year from now, when everyone is totally satisfied with the new system. And even though I like the 64-team format very much, it takes a fundamental misunderstanding of fans and why the Tournament is so beloved -- ironic, given that these pundits claim to know and love the game -- to rail against expansion in the way they have.
-- D.S.
For some good arguments, read John Gasaway here and an NYT roundtable here.
*The 64-team bracket is "perfect!" Actually, the NCAA Tournament is not beloved for the number of teams included.
It is beloved for its upsets, its buzzer-beaters, its weekday workday diversion in the first round and its promotion of socially acceptable gambling (or the ability to compete with your friends and co-workers).
Expansion doesn't change that. If anything, you will get more of all of them with an extra 32 games.
(And it doesn't preclude major upsets either: Northern Iowa over Kansas will still happen, whether Kansas has played a 1st-round game or not. Speaking of 1-seeds, the idea that the 1-seed ALWAYS beats the 16-seed is a huge flaw in the Tournament's current format. If anything, I think that with an expanded field, you'll see more top seeds lose in their first game than before, because they will be playing a team that just finished up a tense do-or-die play-in game. "Bye" teams in the Top 32 who come out sluggish could find their Tournaments over quickly. As soon as we see a bunch of top teams fall in their 1st game, the critics' wailing will be drowned out by fans' cheering.)
The essential qualities of the NCAA Tournament -- rather than some arbitrary number -- are born out by the fact that the Tournament has expanded from 8 to 16 to 32 to 48 to 64 to 65. And I'm sure the pundits either have -- or would have -- complained all along the way. In vain.
And, by the way: Pundits who fret about how the new bracket will make filling out office-pool sheets more difficult have apparently not tried filling out a bracket online, like 99.9 percent of the world now does. ESPN, CBSSports.com and Yahoo will make it VERY easy to fill out the expanded bracket -- even if their columnists rail on about hating the idea -- because they have a vested interest in making it easy to fill it out.
*"It devalues the regular season!" Actually, you'd have to say FURTHER devalues the regular season, because the ascension of the 64-team tournament devalued the regular season a long time ago.
The reality is that most fans don't pay attention to college basketball until March anyway. And, aside from the die-hard fans who make up about 5 percent of the fans who follow March Madness, those that do tune in before March are watching marquee games between powerhouse teams whose inclusion in the NCAA Tournament field isn't in doubt.
If anything, people watch before March to get a sneak peek of teams they should be betting on IN March. And with 32 more teams, that means that fans who want to know the field have to watch that much regular-season basketball. Meanwhile, the chance to earn a bye gets expanded beyond the four 1-seeds to the Top 32 teams in the country -- something worth playing for in January and February.
(And, yes, there will still even be a "Bubble" -- it just slides down the list. It is arguable whether the incessant Bubble talk is even good for the sport. And don't argue about "quality"; the Bubble has never been about "good/bad" -- just "in/out.")
*"The quality of the extra 32 teams they let in will dilute the pool!" Let's see: If Ohio can beat Georgetown, I'd be curious how the 8 teams that finished ahead of Ohio in the MAC might do. Most early-round NCAA games aren't exactly pretty basketball played at high levels; they're street fights. Let's go back to the foundational point: As long as games are close at the finish or won on buzzer-beaters or feature seed upsets or "no-name" schools beating "name" schools, fans will be happy. And that will happen frequently -- perhaps more often, given the general parity between teams ranked between 1 and 100.
*"It's just about money!" (Yeah? And? So is everything else.)
*"But what about the children!?" (Oh please. Any pundit who brings this up is acting as cynically as the NCAA.)
*"Fans hate it!" Well, they hate it when they are asked about it in a poll attached to a pundit's column that says "NCAA SUCKS!!!" It's the hoops-pundit equivalent of shouting "Death panels!"
Pundits ignore the essential elements of the Tournament that fans love -- upsets, buzzer-beaters, gambling, skipping work -- because that relatively superficial reality devalues their own life's passion. There is a fundamental (and not entirely irrational) fear of irrelevancy at work here.
(Don't worry, pundits! Your jobs are totally safe! In fact, you're more necessary than ever if there are more teams in the Tournament! But first you really have to respect the fans more than you do.)
You get the sense that the college hoops pundits freaking out over expansion have one fear that overrides everything else: That they will expand the Tournament and fans will actually LIKE it. Or, at the very least, fans won't care. Fans will still enjoy the Tournament for all the fundamental reasons that make it great. Coincidentally, all the reasons that the pundits overlook or ignore.
Again, what bothers me most is the knee-jerk intractability of the pundits -- they don't even allow for the idea of expansion to make SOME sense or have ANY benefit. It is all doomsday, when -- clearly -- it's not.
They look and sound ridiculous for it -- and will look even more ridiculous a year from now, when everyone is totally satisfied with the new system. And even though I like the 64-team format very much, it takes a fundamental misunderstanding of fans and why the Tournament is so beloved -- ironic, given that these pundits claim to know and love the game -- to rail against expansion in the way they have.
-- D.S.
For some good arguments, read John Gasaway here and an NYT roundtable here.
April 2 Quickie: Final Four, The 96 Thing
I'm picking Butler to beat Michigan State and Duke to beat West Virginia.
Now that it's settled that we'll actually see a Michigan State-West Virginia championship game, let's focus on the real issue:
I haven't read anyone yet who argues with certainty about the result of either semifinal. That's partly a function of compelling arguments for each team and partly a function of the sheer unpredictability of this year's Tournament.
That makes it particularly fun. I am won over by what I saw last weekend: No team went through a tougher regional path than Butler. And Duke -- perhaps with a little help from some gift calls -- proved that they aren't as chokey as previous editions.
(That said: Giving Izzo 6 days to prepare for a Tournament game feels like path to MSU winning. And we already know from 2008 that West Virginia has Duke's number in the Tournament. But, too little too late, I'm trying not to let past performance influence future results.)
I had to lead today's SN column with my Final Four preview, but if I had my choice, I would have led with yet another defense of the expansion of the NCAA Tournament to 96 teams.
I'm working on a longer argument that I'll post later, but my larger point isn't that 64 isn't great.
It's that the hysterics in the basketball media are absurd, and that expanding the Tournament won't "ruin" anything. When you look at how people actually consume college basketball -- and the NCAA Tournament -- there is nothing to suggest the dire consequences that the college hoops intelligentsia would have you believe.
Anyway, I just deleted 500 words that I was going to put here about it, because I want to save it for a separate post.
More you'll find in today's column:
*UConn over Baylor by 30?
*Aminu will go Top 10, if not Top 5.
*MLB Opener is a sneak-peek of my pick for World Series champs (but I won't tell you whether I'm picking the Yankees to repeat or the Red Sox to re-assert themselves until next week).
*If the Rams were smart, they would skip Bradford, take Suh first, then pick up Colt McCoy in the 2nd.
Check out the complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Now that it's settled that we'll actually see a Michigan State-West Virginia championship game, let's focus on the real issue:
I haven't read anyone yet who argues with certainty about the result of either semifinal. That's partly a function of compelling arguments for each team and partly a function of the sheer unpredictability of this year's Tournament.
That makes it particularly fun. I am won over by what I saw last weekend: No team went through a tougher regional path than Butler. And Duke -- perhaps with a little help from some gift calls -- proved that they aren't as chokey as previous editions.
(That said: Giving Izzo 6 days to prepare for a Tournament game feels like path to MSU winning. And we already know from 2008 that West Virginia has Duke's number in the Tournament. But, too little too late, I'm trying not to let past performance influence future results.)
I had to lead today's SN column with my Final Four preview, but if I had my choice, I would have led with yet another defense of the expansion of the NCAA Tournament to 96 teams.
I'm working on a longer argument that I'll post later, but my larger point isn't that 64 isn't great.
It's that the hysterics in the basketball media are absurd, and that expanding the Tournament won't "ruin" anything. When you look at how people actually consume college basketball -- and the NCAA Tournament -- there is nothing to suggest the dire consequences that the college hoops intelligentsia would have you believe.
Anyway, I just deleted 500 words that I was going to put here about it, because I want to save it for a separate post.
More you'll find in today's column:
*UConn over Baylor by 30?
*Aminu will go Top 10, if not Top 5.
*MLB Opener is a sneak-peek of my pick for World Series champs (but I won't tell you whether I'm picking the Yankees to repeat or the Red Sox to re-assert themselves until next week).
*If the Rams were smart, they would skip Bradford, take Suh first, then pick up Colt McCoy in the 2nd.
Check out the complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
ESPN Local Comes to NYC
I want to talk about this GQ piece by Gabe Sherman that just came out about ESPN Local, but first I want to make a separate point:
In every market that ESPN has gone into with a local site, they have succeeded (if you judge your projects in absolute terms) or won (if you judge them in relative ones).
It isn't a question of whether or not ESPN can do well in local markets -- the evidence is as obvious as it is abundant: They are doing better than the newspaper incumbent.
Now, I'm not sure ESPN even cares whether it is "beating" the incumbent; I think they are focused -- appropriately -- on growing an audience and growing ad revenue.
I don't think we should distinguish between growing audience because they are getting newspaper users to switch or simply getting them to add ESPN to their rotation. Traffic is traffic.
(Newspaper editors, of course, better care about that. But, frankly, it is not ESPN's problem.)
New York presents a very different competitive landscape: In LA and Dallas, ESPN was competing on 1-paper towns. In Chicago and Boston, they entered 2-paper towns.
In New York, they will compete against 3 newspapers, a fairly aggressive sports-news cable network and at least one radio juggernaut.
Of course, the big question is: Who cares how many competitors there are? Avid fans will add ESPN to their rotation; casual fans may migrate from ESPN.com's portal to the local site. ESPN already has a radio station in New York, and they already have a huge NY-centric video library.
In other words: ESPN New York will be fine, just as they have been fine in every other market. Again: They don't need to out-traffic the Times' or Post's sports section. They don't need to poach readers. And they don't need to out-scoop anybody.
The focus of Gabriel Sherman's GQ piece was ostensibly about competition -- but I was left scratching my head. It's not sexy, but the traffic numbers speak for themselves.
(In their press release about their entry into NYC, ESPN revealed traffic numbers for their other local markets. You will NEVER hear a newspaper offer individual section traffic -- not just because the number is small compared to ESPN's, but because the number is small, period.)
I actually want to focus on another aspect of the so-called "competition" between newspaper reporters/editors and the ESPN Local reporters and editors who were hired from newspapers. Here was my takeaway from the article:
You can take the sportswriter out of newspapers but you can't take newspapers out of sportswriter.
In explaining why ESPN was making successful inroads into local online sports, Sherman unintentionally showcased why newspapers are failing:
I was baffled by the article's focus on scoops -- particularly scoops that I call "inevitable discovery." DeMarcus Ware's new contract will come out eventually.
The anecdotal focus on the ESPN editor catching up to a radio competitor who had "broken" a story explains, in very clear terms, what the problem is. They are focused on the wrong thing.
Scoops are the most overvalued asset in sports media. As fast as you can break something -- increasingly on Twitter -- I can have it. Everyone has it. Consumers have it.
ESPN's local sites -- and, for that matter, newspaper sites -- are not going to succeed or fail based on their volume of scoops -- particularly ones that everyone has within minutes anyway.
They will succeed based on creating a sense of engagement with their consumer: Analysis that tells you why the scoop matters. Depth of related things to look at -- ideally including video highlights. A reason to come back every day -- even, ideally, multiple times a day.
Despite details about the ESPN Local writers blogging and filing and updating and going "cross-platform," this is not some new-fangled workflow: THIS IS THE MINIMUM EFFORT.
What I saw was fairly relieved (or desperate) ex-newspaper people applying the same old newspaper thinking to an entirely new medium.
These newspaper folks aren't escaping newspapers' fundamental editorial problem -- they are simply taking it with them into a new medium, which can't be good for anyone.
Jason Fry pointed this out a few weeks ago: If newspapers are losing talent to ESPN, the solution is to innovate into the medium, not fight a scoop war that has been outdated for at least a decade.
And ESPN does itself no favors by telling the ex-newspaper folks to simply keep doing what they do best -- what they do best, in part, helped undermine the newspaper industry.
Obviously, there is room for breaking news that drives the news cycle and the traditional opinion column that puts it in perspective and -- yes -- even some added-value form of the classic "game story."
But ESPN has a ton of talent in-house that is unconstrained by calcified norms of newspaper sports reporting -- I hope it sends that talent out to help the ex-newspaper folks figure out a new way of thinking about how to serve consumers.
I'm not trying to indict all of ESPN Local's talent -- this was simply what Sherman portrayed in his story, and that's what I'm reacting to here. Much of ESPN Local's success is precisely because they approach coverage with ESPN.com as their framework, not LegacyNewspaper.com.
(I love a few of the things that ESPN New York is planning to do, like a fun tool that lets users create their own tabloid-style back-page headline. They should pick the 3 best submissions from users and let the other users vote, running the winner on the front of the site as the lead art.)
And I'm also not trying to indict all local newspaper coverage. Despite (or perhaps thanks to) the commitment it has to the print side, the New York Times has a terrific sports section -- and they are as forward-thinking online as any newspaper sports section in the country. And, obviously, the New York Post has a style that, in newspaper form, pioneered the compelling notion of "link-baiting" (before any of us knew what "link-baiting" was).
The point is this: Sherman's story was less about Newspaper vs. ESPN Local than it was an unintended expose that many of the same old ways and mindsets of covering teams in newspapers have migrated online, only with more job security.
-- D.S.
In every market that ESPN has gone into with a local site, they have succeeded (if you judge your projects in absolute terms) or won (if you judge them in relative ones).
It isn't a question of whether or not ESPN can do well in local markets -- the evidence is as obvious as it is abundant: They are doing better than the newspaper incumbent.
Now, I'm not sure ESPN even cares whether it is "beating" the incumbent; I think they are focused -- appropriately -- on growing an audience and growing ad revenue.
I don't think we should distinguish between growing audience because they are getting newspaper users to switch or simply getting them to add ESPN to their rotation. Traffic is traffic.
(Newspaper editors, of course, better care about that. But, frankly, it is not ESPN's problem.)
New York presents a very different competitive landscape: In LA and Dallas, ESPN was competing on 1-paper towns. In Chicago and Boston, they entered 2-paper towns.
In New York, they will compete against 3 newspapers, a fairly aggressive sports-news cable network and at least one radio juggernaut.
Of course, the big question is: Who cares how many competitors there are? Avid fans will add ESPN to their rotation; casual fans may migrate from ESPN.com's portal to the local site. ESPN already has a radio station in New York, and they already have a huge NY-centric video library.
In other words: ESPN New York will be fine, just as they have been fine in every other market. Again: They don't need to out-traffic the Times' or Post's sports section. They don't need to poach readers. And they don't need to out-scoop anybody.
The focus of Gabriel Sherman's GQ piece was ostensibly about competition -- but I was left scratching my head. It's not sexy, but the traffic numbers speak for themselves.
(In their press release about their entry into NYC, ESPN revealed traffic numbers for their other local markets. You will NEVER hear a newspaper offer individual section traffic -- not just because the number is small compared to ESPN's, but because the number is small, period.)
I actually want to focus on another aspect of the so-called "competition" between newspaper reporters/editors and the ESPN Local reporters and editors who were hired from newspapers. Here was my takeaway from the article:
You can take the sportswriter out of newspapers but you can't take newspapers out of sportswriter.
In explaining why ESPN was making successful inroads into local online sports, Sherman unintentionally showcased why newspapers are failing:
I was baffled by the article's focus on scoops -- particularly scoops that I call "inevitable discovery." DeMarcus Ware's new contract will come out eventually.
The anecdotal focus on the ESPN editor catching up to a radio competitor who had "broken" a story explains, in very clear terms, what the problem is. They are focused on the wrong thing.
Scoops are the most overvalued asset in sports media. As fast as you can break something -- increasingly on Twitter -- I can have it. Everyone has it. Consumers have it.
ESPN's local sites -- and, for that matter, newspaper sites -- are not going to succeed or fail based on their volume of scoops -- particularly ones that everyone has within minutes anyway.
They will succeed based on creating a sense of engagement with their consumer: Analysis that tells you why the scoop matters. Depth of related things to look at -- ideally including video highlights. A reason to come back every day -- even, ideally, multiple times a day.
Despite details about the ESPN Local writers blogging and filing and updating and going "cross-platform," this is not some new-fangled workflow: THIS IS THE MINIMUM EFFORT.
What I saw was fairly relieved (or desperate) ex-newspaper people applying the same old newspaper thinking to an entirely new medium.
These newspaper folks aren't escaping newspapers' fundamental editorial problem -- they are simply taking it with them into a new medium, which can't be good for anyone.
Jason Fry pointed this out a few weeks ago: If newspapers are losing talent to ESPN, the solution is to innovate into the medium, not fight a scoop war that has been outdated for at least a decade.
And ESPN does itself no favors by telling the ex-newspaper folks to simply keep doing what they do best -- what they do best, in part, helped undermine the newspaper industry.
Obviously, there is room for breaking news that drives the news cycle and the traditional opinion column that puts it in perspective and -- yes -- even some added-value form of the classic "game story."
But ESPN has a ton of talent in-house that is unconstrained by calcified norms of newspaper sports reporting -- I hope it sends that talent out to help the ex-newspaper folks figure out a new way of thinking about how to serve consumers.
I'm not trying to indict all of ESPN Local's talent -- this was simply what Sherman portrayed in his story, and that's what I'm reacting to here. Much of ESPN Local's success is precisely because they approach coverage with ESPN.com as their framework, not LegacyNewspaper.com.
(I love a few of the things that ESPN New York is planning to do, like a fun tool that lets users create their own tabloid-style back-page headline. They should pick the 3 best submissions from users and let the other users vote, running the winner on the front of the site as the lead art.)
And I'm also not trying to indict all local newspaper coverage. Despite (or perhaps thanks to) the commitment it has to the print side, the New York Times has a terrific sports section -- and they are as forward-thinking online as any newspaper sports section in the country. And, obviously, the New York Post has a style that, in newspaper form, pioneered the compelling notion of "link-baiting" (before any of us knew what "link-baiting" was).
The point is this: Sherman's story was less about Newspaper vs. ESPN Local than it was an unintended expose that many of the same old ways and mindsets of covering teams in newspapers have migrated online, only with more job security.
-- D.S.
April 1 Quickie: Tiger, Final 4, More
Here's a thought experiment: Go back one year from today -- April 1, 2009 -- and pretend you read a news report or blog post that said, basically:
Tiger Woods cheats on his wife with more than a dozen women of various levels of reputation.
You would think it was the weakest April Fool's Day joke of all time -- so absurd it doesn't even come close to being believable. Google changing its name to "Topeka" is less far-fetched.
April Fool's Day has always been pretty lame -- in sports, it's particularly dumb, because it is so easy to come up with a fake or flimsy rumor and spread it.
For gosh sake, that's like 90 percent of sports media on NORMAL days.
But in the Post-Tiger Era (or "Post-Tiger-Scandal" Era), there isn't a prank or hoax you could pull that causes as much cognitive dissonance as this very real Tiger story.
And the Vanity Fair piece just pushes it along, with all sorts of new details. Just in time for the Masters next week.
More you'll find in today's SN column:
*96 teams in the NCAA Tournament isn't the end of the world and it doesn't ruin the event.
*No one should be surprised by the Colt McCoy accurate-but-no-arm-strength workout yesterday. That's how he rolled for his entire career -- successfully, I should add. As long as his shoulder is OK, I'm actually bullish on McCoy as a pro QB. As always: In the right system.
*I'm not big on the NBA regular season as some sort of harbinger for the playoffs -- however, I do constantly see great symbolism: Like the Thunder beating the Celtics in Boston last night.
*My starting fantasy SS is Elvis Andrus, so I'm hardly one to talk, but I'd stay away from Jose Reyes as an early-round fantasy pick.
*With his new Nike deal, LeBron staying in Cleveland just got a lot more intriguing -- as before, I think it will come down to whether or not he wins a championship there this year.
Complete SN column here. More later.
- D.S.
Tiger Woods cheats on his wife with more than a dozen women of various levels of reputation.
You would think it was the weakest April Fool's Day joke of all time -- so absurd it doesn't even come close to being believable. Google changing its name to "Topeka" is less far-fetched.
April Fool's Day has always been pretty lame -- in sports, it's particularly dumb, because it is so easy to come up with a fake or flimsy rumor and spread it.
For gosh sake, that's like 90 percent of sports media on NORMAL days.
But in the Post-Tiger Era (or "Post-Tiger-Scandal" Era), there isn't a prank or hoax you could pull that causes as much cognitive dissonance as this very real Tiger story.
And the Vanity Fair piece just pushes it along, with all sorts of new details. Just in time for the Masters next week.
More you'll find in today's SN column:
*96 teams in the NCAA Tournament isn't the end of the world and it doesn't ruin the event.
*No one should be surprised by the Colt McCoy accurate-but-no-arm-strength workout yesterday. That's how he rolled for his entire career -- successfully, I should add. As long as his shoulder is OK, I'm actually bullish on McCoy as a pro QB. As always: In the right system.
*I'm not big on the NBA regular season as some sort of harbinger for the playoffs -- however, I do constantly see great symbolism: Like the Thunder beating the Celtics in Boston last night.
*My starting fantasy SS is Elvis Andrus, so I'm hardly one to talk, but I'd stay away from Jose Reyes as an early-round fantasy pick.
*With his new Nike deal, LeBron staying in Cleveland just got a lot more intriguing -- as before, I think it will come down to whether or not he wins a championship there this year.
Complete SN column here. More later.
- D.S.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tonight: Bob Hurley Documentary
I could argue that Bob Hurley is one of the best coaches in the history of basketball.
If you factor in preps, college and the pros, he has won with the best of them -- state titles (national record) and national titles (a couple of them). His teams play hard -- the "right way" -- and not necessarily under the easiest conditions.
His 2008 team at St. Anthony was, in my opinion, the best high school team of all time -- that includes a short list of the legendary Dunbar (Baltimore) '83 team and all those Stu Vetter Flint Hill teams (early 90s) and Montrose Christian teams (mid-00s). That year, St. Anthony had 6 D-1 players in the senior class alone, plus junior Dominic Cheek, who signed with Villanova.
During that season, I worked with a production company that was creating a documentary about Bob Hurley, St. Anthony and that 2008 team -- I did a bit of development work for them on the front end, but that was about the extent of my participation. But the film -- "The Street Stops Here" -- finally makes its national premiere tonight on your local PBS station -- probably 10 p.m., but check your local listings.
I had a chance to see the finished version last week at a screening, and it is excellent. It is a terrific story, with amazing footage and extremely high production values. I think you'll enjoy it. Obviously, I'm entirely biased, but if you like a good sports documentary, you'll like it. It is as good as the best of the "30 for 30" documentaries.
Check out the trailer below -- I linked to it when the trailer came out a year ago -- and tune in to watch tonight.
If you factor in preps, college and the pros, he has won with the best of them -- state titles (national record) and national titles (a couple of them). His teams play hard -- the "right way" -- and not necessarily under the easiest conditions.
His 2008 team at St. Anthony was, in my opinion, the best high school team of all time -- that includes a short list of the legendary Dunbar (Baltimore) '83 team and all those Stu Vetter Flint Hill teams (early 90s) and Montrose Christian teams (mid-00s). That year, St. Anthony had 6 D-1 players in the senior class alone, plus junior Dominic Cheek, who signed with Villanova.
During that season, I worked with a production company that was creating a documentary about Bob Hurley, St. Anthony and that 2008 team -- I did a bit of development work for them on the front end, but that was about the extent of my participation. But the film -- "The Street Stops Here" -- finally makes its national premiere tonight on your local PBS station -- probably 10 p.m., but check your local listings.
I had a chance to see the finished version last week at a screening, and it is excellent. It is a terrific story, with amazing footage and extremely high production values. I think you'll enjoy it. Obviously, I'm entirely biased, but if you like a good sports documentary, you'll like it. It is as good as the best of the "30 for 30" documentaries.
Check out the trailer below -- I linked to it when the trailer came out a year ago -- and tune in to watch tonight.
03/31 Quickie: Final Four, UConn, More
Mrs. Quickie -- Top 15 in the Daily Quickie Readers group of the Tournament Challenge -- cooked such a delicious Passover seder meal last night that I was inspired for the lead of today's SN column, asking "four questions" for the Final four.
I tried to be fair, but ultimately, for Duke, I was stuck with something along the lines of "Why? Why?!?!" (This, despite the fact that I have a standing invite to Jon Scheyer to attend our seder.)
More in today's column:
*UConn women: Best team ever?
*Final Four players to watch
*College hoops coaching carouseling
*Defending Dez Bryant (unexpected!)
*How can you not love Pat Venditte?
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
I tried to be fair, but ultimately, for Duke, I was stuck with something along the lines of "Why? Why?!?!" (This, despite the fact that I have a standing invite to Jon Scheyer to attend our seder.)
More in today's column:
*UConn women: Best team ever?
*Final Four players to watch
*College hoops coaching carouseling
*Defending Dez Bryant (unexpected!)
*How can you not love Pat Venditte?
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
03/30 Quickie: Bradford, Stanford, More
I know I said I would have a post about Sam Bradford yesterday afternoon, but it ended up being the lead of today's SN column.
The gist is this: I am willing to stipulate that Bradford has a terrific arm -- hell, he could be the best pure passer in the NFL.
My question is: What evidence is there that the guy can take 8-10 clobberings a game by NFL D-linemen, when mere BYU (or Texas) D-linemen knocked him out of last season?
It's not about whether he can make the throws -- it's whether he can take the hits. And I'm not sure I want to be on the hook for $60 million with that big of an issue left unknown.
Mostly, I don't understand why the draftniks don't make this more of an issue. It seems like a huge risk factor, even for a guy as talented as Bradford.
I'm comfortable with the comparison to Troy Aikman -- but Aikman didn't spend his final season of college football out because his shoulder couldn't take a minimal beating.
More you'll find in today's column:
*I'm not sure there is an ending to a college basketball game as insane as what happened between Stanford and Xavier last night. TWO missed open lay-ups by X, then a baseline-to-baseline buzzer-beater FTW by Stanford -- all to advance to the Final Four.
*I'm totally comfortable with Wall and Cousins as 1st-team All-Americans. Less so for Scottie Reynolds, who feels like an inertia pick. My bigger issue is that they name these teams before the NCAA Tournament -- what's the point?
*Why doesn't Oregon offer Tom Izzo $10 million a year for 10 years, guaranteed? It's not like they can't afford it. Let's see him turn that down. (I'm sure he would, but still. Some marginal raise from his current salary isn't impressive at all.)
There's a lot more in there today. See the whole thing here.
-- D.S.
The gist is this: I am willing to stipulate that Bradford has a terrific arm -- hell, he could be the best pure passer in the NFL.
My question is: What evidence is there that the guy can take 8-10 clobberings a game by NFL D-linemen, when mere BYU (or Texas) D-linemen knocked him out of last season?
It's not about whether he can make the throws -- it's whether he can take the hits. And I'm not sure I want to be on the hook for $60 million with that big of an issue left unknown.
Mostly, I don't understand why the draftniks don't make this more of an issue. It seems like a huge risk factor, even for a guy as talented as Bradford.
I'm comfortable with the comparison to Troy Aikman -- but Aikman didn't spend his final season of college football out because his shoulder couldn't take a minimal beating.
More you'll find in today's column:
*I'm not sure there is an ending to a college basketball game as insane as what happened between Stanford and Xavier last night. TWO missed open lay-ups by X, then a baseline-to-baseline buzzer-beater FTW by Stanford -- all to advance to the Final Four.
*I'm totally comfortable with Wall and Cousins as 1st-team All-Americans. Less so for Scottie Reynolds, who feels like an inertia pick. My bigger issue is that they name these teams before the NCAA Tournament -- what's the point?
*Why doesn't Oregon offer Tom Izzo $10 million a year for 10 years, guaranteed? It's not like they can't afford it. Let's see him turn that down. (I'm sure he would, but still. Some marginal raise from his current salary isn't impressive at all.)
There's a lot more in there today. See the whole thing here.
-- D.S.
Monday, March 29, 2010
03/29 Quickie: Butler, Izzo, Duke, WVU
There's plenty of time this week for Butler bandwagoneering -- by Saturday, you may hate them. You will certainly come to hate the Butler-"Hoosiers" references, which are already cliched.
For today's SN column, I needed to take an opportunity to praise Tom Izzo: My argument is that Izzo's Final Four success is the defining achievement of the last decade in college hoops. If you're willing to accept a liberal definition of "decade" stretching from 1999 to 2010, Izzo has 6 FF's in 12 years. No coach has had more success, using the currency that college hoops values most.
We are living in the Izzo Dynasty.
Of course, the column also talks about Butler. And rips Kentucky for its failure. (And, yes, the season was a failure.) And -- ugh -- praises Duke for breaking back into the Final Four.
I have convinced myself of four different national champions in the last 12 hours -- I'm rooting for Butler (and against Duke), obviously. But you can make very strong arguments for Michigan State (Izzo factor) and WVU (already shown it can beat Duke in the Tournament).
But let's get to the fun stuff: The Bracket comps.
My bracket is in the 40th percentile nationally. While this seems horrible, you have to remember that I finished in the 18th percentile last year -- so, for now, a big improvement. Relatively.
In the Daily Quickie Readers group of more than 400 entries, you will see a "Shanoff" name near the top -- that's Mrs. Quickie, currently tied for 15th and in the 97th percentile nationally.
(Obama's bracket is in the tank: He's in the 56th percentile -- missing Kansas State and Kentucky crushed his bracket. If you followed the National Bracket, you'd be in the 70th percentile -- certainly respectable, given the crazy results of this tournament.)
My lesson is that I can't win -- in the years where I go unconventional, the result is conventional; in the years where I go conventional, the result is unconventional.
The constant is that my Achilles' heel continues to be putting way too much stock in what happened last year -- or previous years. Ironic for someone so devoted to "instant history."
Of course, hindsight is a killer in bracket-picking. We can all look at this Final Four and rationalize why we should have taken them. It's a futile exercise.
Complete SN column here. More later -- I may not be able to go through the day without putting some pressure on Sam Bradford. Someone needs to.
-- D.S.
For today's SN column, I needed to take an opportunity to praise Tom Izzo: My argument is that Izzo's Final Four success is the defining achievement of the last decade in college hoops. If you're willing to accept a liberal definition of "decade" stretching from 1999 to 2010, Izzo has 6 FF's in 12 years. No coach has had more success, using the currency that college hoops values most.
We are living in the Izzo Dynasty.
Of course, the column also talks about Butler. And rips Kentucky for its failure. (And, yes, the season was a failure.) And -- ugh -- praises Duke for breaking back into the Final Four.
I have convinced myself of four different national champions in the last 12 hours -- I'm rooting for Butler (and against Duke), obviously. But you can make very strong arguments for Michigan State (Izzo factor) and WVU (already shown it can beat Duke in the Tournament).
But let's get to the fun stuff: The Bracket comps.
My bracket is in the 40th percentile nationally. While this seems horrible, you have to remember that I finished in the 18th percentile last year -- so, for now, a big improvement. Relatively.
In the Daily Quickie Readers group of more than 400 entries, you will see a "Shanoff" name near the top -- that's Mrs. Quickie, currently tied for 15th and in the 97th percentile nationally.
(Obama's bracket is in the tank: He's in the 56th percentile -- missing Kansas State and Kentucky crushed his bracket. If you followed the National Bracket, you'd be in the 70th percentile -- certainly respectable, given the crazy results of this tournament.)
My lesson is that I can't win -- in the years where I go unconventional, the result is conventional; in the years where I go conventional, the result is unconventional.
The constant is that my Achilles' heel continues to be putting way too much stock in what happened last year -- or previous years. Ironic for someone so devoted to "instant history."
Of course, hindsight is a killer in bracket-picking. We can all look at this Final Four and rationalize why we should have taken them. It's a futile exercise.
Complete SN column here. More later -- I may not be able to go through the day without putting some pressure on Sam Bradford. Someone needs to.
-- D.S.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday (WVU!) Quickie
Wow. Obviously, Northern Iowa over Kansas was THE upset of the Tournament, but the WAY that Kentucky lost to West Virginia was just as jaw-dropping.
Even without any 2-point shots in the 1st half, WVU played brilliantly -- precisely the kind of game (and game-plan) that an underdog needs to knock off a powerful favorite. Timely 3s. Unlikely heroes. That confounding 1-3-1 defense. Kentucky freaking out under the pressure.
Let's talk about UK for a second: Their season is a failure. Forget a championship; anything less than a Final Four trip was going to seal a season of underachievement. They have 4 NBA Lottery picks in the starting lineup -- with another NBA player or two on the bench.
But they were young. And untested. And, for the first time this Tournament, the "Big East factor" -- playing tough competition, night in and night out -- was obvious as an advantage.
It was a considerable upset, if only because it knocked Butler in the Final Four from the top of the headlines. But the Bulldogs win over K-State was hard-fought -- for the second straight game, Butler excelled in the final 2 minutes, where its opponent collapsed.
Butler in the Final Four -- let alone a Final Four in its hometown of Indianapolis -- is a tremendous storyline for the next week.
And, based on the quality of the teams that Butler beat in this regional -- 1-seed Syracuse, 2-seed Kansas State -- it would be crazy to consider them an underdog to whoever comes out of that Michigan State-Tennessee regional final.
Looking ahead to today's game: Michigan State-Tennessee is the most random regional final in a long time; either team will be a surprise in the Final Four, but the novelty of Michigan State's appearance this year is mitigated by the fact that Tom Izzo is the best Tournament coach in college hoops history.
Meanwhile, I'm sure CBS folks are rooting very hard for Duke -- they really need the marquee name in the Final Four.
I'm rooting for Baylor, for two reasons: (1) My natural anti-Duke bias, and (2) I love the idea of a no-1-seed Final Four, the antidote to the "all-1" Final Four of 2008. Frankly, I think Baylor has precisely the kind of profile of a team that has kicked Duke's ass in the Tournament recently.
Let's consider that Final Four: Butler. West Virginia. Baylor. A short-handed Michigan State or short-handed (from earlier this season) Tennessee. One of those teams -- or (shudder) Duke -- will be national champs.
Not much cachet for the majority of sports fans -- aside from Butler's faux-"Cinderella" (but very real "Hoosiers") factor -- but totally random and (mostly) unexpected.
How could you ask for more than that?
-- D.S.
Even without any 2-point shots in the 1st half, WVU played brilliantly -- precisely the kind of game (and game-plan) that an underdog needs to knock off a powerful favorite. Timely 3s. Unlikely heroes. That confounding 1-3-1 defense. Kentucky freaking out under the pressure.
Let's talk about UK for a second: Their season is a failure. Forget a championship; anything less than a Final Four trip was going to seal a season of underachievement. They have 4 NBA Lottery picks in the starting lineup -- with another NBA player or two on the bench.
But they were young. And untested. And, for the first time this Tournament, the "Big East factor" -- playing tough competition, night in and night out -- was obvious as an advantage.
It was a considerable upset, if only because it knocked Butler in the Final Four from the top of the headlines. But the Bulldogs win over K-State was hard-fought -- for the second straight game, Butler excelled in the final 2 minutes, where its opponent collapsed.
Butler in the Final Four -- let alone a Final Four in its hometown of Indianapolis -- is a tremendous storyline for the next week.
And, based on the quality of the teams that Butler beat in this regional -- 1-seed Syracuse, 2-seed Kansas State -- it would be crazy to consider them an underdog to whoever comes out of that Michigan State-Tennessee regional final.
Looking ahead to today's game: Michigan State-Tennessee is the most random regional final in a long time; either team will be a surprise in the Final Four, but the novelty of Michigan State's appearance this year is mitigated by the fact that Tom Izzo is the best Tournament coach in college hoops history.
Meanwhile, I'm sure CBS folks are rooting very hard for Duke -- they really need the marquee name in the Final Four.
I'm rooting for Baylor, for two reasons: (1) My natural anti-Duke bias, and (2) I love the idea of a no-1-seed Final Four, the antidote to the "all-1" Final Four of 2008. Frankly, I think Baylor has precisely the kind of profile of a team that has kicked Duke's ass in the Tournament recently.
Let's consider that Final Four: Butler. West Virginia. Baylor. A short-handed Michigan State or short-handed (from earlier this season) Tennessee. One of those teams -- or (shudder) Duke -- will be national champs.
Not much cachet for the majority of sports fans -- aside from Butler's faux-"Cinderella" (but very real "Hoosiers") factor -- but totally random and (mostly) unexpected.
How could you ask for more than that?
-- D.S.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Saturday (Elite 8) Quickie
Let's start with this simple proposition:
Tom Izzo is the best college basketball coach in the country. Period.
Because we judge our college basketball coaches on their success in the NCAA Tournament -- and no coach is more successful than Izzo.
He does it with championship-caliber teams. He does it with second-tier teams. He does it when we expect him to do it. And, most important, he does it when we don't expect him to do it.
Sure, Michigan State dodged a bullet in having to play Northern Iowa rather than Kansas, but - on the other hand - UNI beat Kansas. And the MSU defense locked down that clever UNI offense.
Now, Michigan State is one win -- against Tennessee, a game the Spartans should win -- from their most improbable Final Four yet of the prolific Izzo Era.
Meanwhile: So much for St. Mary's. That first-half beat-down by Baylor was one of the most devastating things I have ever seen at an elite moment of a college hoops season.
At this point, it sure looks like Baylor has precisely the kind of freakish athletes and shooters and size and fearlessness that typifies the profile of teams that bounce Duke out of the Tournament.
Oh: That was a classy move by Evan Turner to stalk off the court last night after Tennessee blocked him (cleanly) from the Elite Eight. Future endorser for Brand LeBron, I'm sure.
Today's regional finals:
Kansas State vs. Butler: Like most everyone else, I'm rooting for Butler. But Syracuse played with zero heart against the Bulldogs; K-State will play very very differently.
Kentucky vs. West Virginia: I don't buy the hype that this will be some sort of epic clash. I think UK will roll -- WVU can't keep up with Wall and Bledsoe and UK's NBA size is an ass-kicker.
Enjoy the games...
-- D.S.
Tom Izzo is the best college basketball coach in the country. Period.
Because we judge our college basketball coaches on their success in the NCAA Tournament -- and no coach is more successful than Izzo.
He does it with championship-caliber teams. He does it with second-tier teams. He does it when we expect him to do it. And, most important, he does it when we don't expect him to do it.
Sure, Michigan State dodged a bullet in having to play Northern Iowa rather than Kansas, but - on the other hand - UNI beat Kansas. And the MSU defense locked down that clever UNI offense.
Now, Michigan State is one win -- against Tennessee, a game the Spartans should win -- from their most improbable Final Four yet of the prolific Izzo Era.
Meanwhile: So much for St. Mary's. That first-half beat-down by Baylor was one of the most devastating things I have ever seen at an elite moment of a college hoops season.
At this point, it sure looks like Baylor has precisely the kind of freakish athletes and shooters and size and fearlessness that typifies the profile of teams that bounce Duke out of the Tournament.
Oh: That was a classy move by Evan Turner to stalk off the court last night after Tennessee blocked him (cleanly) from the Elite Eight. Future endorser for Brand LeBron, I'm sure.
Today's regional finals:
Kansas State vs. Butler: Like most everyone else, I'm rooting for Butler. But Syracuse played with zero heart against the Bulldogs; K-State will play very very differently.
Kentucky vs. West Virginia: I don't buy the hype that this will be some sort of epic clash. I think UK will roll -- WVU can't keep up with Wall and Bledsoe and UK's NBA size is an ass-kicker.
Enjoy the games...
-- D.S.
Friday, March 26, 2010
03/26 Quickie: K-State, Gus Johnson, More
Beyond it leading today's SN column, last night was ridiculously amazing on a couple of levels:
*The game itself -- and you know what game I'm talking about -- was, shot-for-shot, as dramatic as they come. It lacked the shock value of Northern Iowa over Kansas, but it was a better game.
*It was all the more interesting in that the principals -- K-State and Xavier -- were hardly "brand" names of college basketball, certainly among casual/non-fans. It supports the notion that the Tournament transcends even its essential elements like upsets, Cinderellas and buzzer-beaters -- or that it has to be with the Final Four on the line.
This was, simply, a marvelous basketball game between two very good, very motivated teams.
*It completely marginalized the "marquee" game of the night -- Kentucky-Cornell. Now, partly that was because UK-Cornell was a blowout early and never really became a game. But I live in NYC and even our local CBS affiliate kept it on the K-State/Xavier game virtually all the way. I watched the entire first half of UK-Cornell -- and basically none of the 2nd. But, again, it affirms that pre-game storylines are fine, to a point. But at some point, the quality of the game itself trumps everything.
*Gus Johnson. If he wasn't already the most beloved play-by-play announcer, this just added to it with a new twist: He was a trending topic on Twitter last night. It was a classic "Gus Johnson game," and don't discount that the game was infinitely more enjoyable and memorable for it. (As a thought exercise, consider Dick Enberg calling that game. Or Jim Nantz.)
*The late finish. If this was the 7 p.m. game, it would have been great. But it would have lacked that clock-pushes-past-midnight-no-we're-not-done-yet-god-it's-late-but-how-can-you-sleep value of the 12:30 ending. Also, that it happened on a Thursday night, rather than a Friday night -- there is something extra special with a game specifically like this, about knowing you have to get up early the next morning for work or school, but just not caring, because this game is so great. Sorry, West Coasters: You miss out.
The game didn't set a new bar for upsets or Cinderella stories -- it merely set a new bar for game quality: The big 3s, the string of made free throws (totally underrated!), the intensity.
Tonight, we might see Northern Iowa continue on its Cinderella path -- I think they will beat Michigan State, but with an Izzo team in the Tournament with a week to prep, that's still a big challenge. And it would be fun to see St. Mary's beat Baylor. (In the column lead, I lay out a Butler-Northern Iowa-St. Mary's-John Wall Final Four as ideal.) But Ohio State-Tennessee? Duke-Purdue? Meh.
Then again: Kansas State-Xavier was supposed to be a "Meh" game last night. It ended up being the best game of the tournament.
See the entire SN column here. There's a lot more in there.
-- D.S.
*The game itself -- and you know what game I'm talking about -- was, shot-for-shot, as dramatic as they come. It lacked the shock value of Northern Iowa over Kansas, but it was a better game.
*It was all the more interesting in that the principals -- K-State and Xavier -- were hardly "brand" names of college basketball, certainly among casual/non-fans. It supports the notion that the Tournament transcends even its essential elements like upsets, Cinderellas and buzzer-beaters -- or that it has to be with the Final Four on the line.
This was, simply, a marvelous basketball game between two very good, very motivated teams.
*It completely marginalized the "marquee" game of the night -- Kentucky-Cornell. Now, partly that was because UK-Cornell was a blowout early and never really became a game. But I live in NYC and even our local CBS affiliate kept it on the K-State/Xavier game virtually all the way. I watched the entire first half of UK-Cornell -- and basically none of the 2nd. But, again, it affirms that pre-game storylines are fine, to a point. But at some point, the quality of the game itself trumps everything.
*Gus Johnson. If he wasn't already the most beloved play-by-play announcer, this just added to it with a new twist: He was a trending topic on Twitter last night. It was a classic "Gus Johnson game," and don't discount that the game was infinitely more enjoyable and memorable for it. (As a thought exercise, consider Dick Enberg calling that game. Or Jim Nantz.)
*The late finish. If this was the 7 p.m. game, it would have been great. But it would have lacked that clock-pushes-past-midnight-no-we're-not-done-yet-god-it's-late-but-how-can-you-sleep value of the 12:30 ending. Also, that it happened on a Thursday night, rather than a Friday night -- there is something extra special with a game specifically like this, about knowing you have to get up early the next morning for work or school, but just not caring, because this game is so great. Sorry, West Coasters: You miss out.
The game didn't set a new bar for upsets or Cinderella stories -- it merely set a new bar for game quality: The big 3s, the string of made free throws (totally underrated!), the intensity.
Tonight, we might see Northern Iowa continue on its Cinderella path -- I think they will beat Michigan State, but with an Izzo team in the Tournament with a week to prep, that's still a big challenge. And it would be fun to see St. Mary's beat Baylor. (In the column lead, I lay out a Butler-Northern Iowa-St. Mary's-John Wall Final Four as ideal.) But Ohio State-Tennessee? Duke-Purdue? Meh.
Then again: Kansas State-Xavier was supposed to be a "Meh" game last night. It ended up being the best game of the tournament.
See the entire SN column here. There's a lot more in there.
-- D.S.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
03/25 Quickie: Cornell-Kentucky, More
As I lead in today's SN column, I am as excited about Cornell-Kentucky tonight as I have been about a college basketball game not involving personal rooting interest in years. Probably going back to George Mason-UConn in '06.
I've been thinking a lot about that Mason team -- it's the gold standard for Cinderellas and it is the bar by which we will measure Cornell.
Making the Sweet 16 is fun -- even making the Elite Eight is impressive. But immortality comes with the Final Four, and Cornell isn't even close yet.
Getting through Kentucky will resemble George Mason vs. Florida more than it will GMU-UConn -- if only because Kentucky is the closest thing I have seen in college hoops to Florida's ridiculous 3-NBA-center depth in the post.
Cousins, Patterson and Orton remind me of Noah, Horford and Richard -- and as good as Florida's guards (Green, Humphrey, Brewer) played in '06, there are plenty of good undersized PGs or sweet-shooting 2s or athletic 3s in college hoops. Few teams have NBA size -- and even fewer have THREE post players who are NBA-quality.
Now, there are a few mitigating factors: I love that Cornell has experience shooting in the Carrier Dome and Kentucky has none -- if UK has a potential scare area, it's 3-point shooting, which has been fine the past two games, but just think back to that loss to Tennessee: Missed 3s.
If Kentucky pounds the ball down low (and hyper-charges the pace behind Wall and Bledsoe), they will win -- probably handily (by 10 or more points).
If they try to win by shooting 3s... if they let Cornell dictate the pace... if UK's big men get into foul trouble... well, then Cornell can win.
They certainly have just as good of a shot -- if not better -- as George Mason did against regional 1-seed UConn back in 2006.
More you'll find in today's column:
*What will cause more problems: Syracuse's Onuaku out with an injury vs. Butler or WVU's Bryant out with injury vs. Washington. The latter, definitely.
*It's not surprising that Urban Meyer is getting vilified by the sports-media industry he threatened yesterday. I am less perturbed by what he did than others.
*MLS! (No, really!)
*Baseball change is... well, minimal!
*Rex Ryan! Arnold Palmer! Name of the Year!
See the complete column here. More later.
-- D.S.
I've been thinking a lot about that Mason team -- it's the gold standard for Cinderellas and it is the bar by which we will measure Cornell.
Making the Sweet 16 is fun -- even making the Elite Eight is impressive. But immortality comes with the Final Four, and Cornell isn't even close yet.
Getting through Kentucky will resemble George Mason vs. Florida more than it will GMU-UConn -- if only because Kentucky is the closest thing I have seen in college hoops to Florida's ridiculous 3-NBA-center depth in the post.
Cousins, Patterson and Orton remind me of Noah, Horford and Richard -- and as good as Florida's guards (Green, Humphrey, Brewer) played in '06, there are plenty of good undersized PGs or sweet-shooting 2s or athletic 3s in college hoops. Few teams have NBA size -- and even fewer have THREE post players who are NBA-quality.
Now, there are a few mitigating factors: I love that Cornell has experience shooting in the Carrier Dome and Kentucky has none -- if UK has a potential scare area, it's 3-point shooting, which has been fine the past two games, but just think back to that loss to Tennessee: Missed 3s.
If Kentucky pounds the ball down low (and hyper-charges the pace behind Wall and Bledsoe), they will win -- probably handily (by 10 or more points).
If they try to win by shooting 3s... if they let Cornell dictate the pace... if UK's big men get into foul trouble... well, then Cornell can win.
They certainly have just as good of a shot -- if not better -- as George Mason did against regional 1-seed UConn back in 2006.
More you'll find in today's column:
*What will cause more problems: Syracuse's Onuaku out with an injury vs. Butler or WVU's Bryant out with injury vs. Washington. The latter, definitely.
*It's not surprising that Urban Meyer is getting vilified by the sports-media industry he threatened yesterday. I am less perturbed by what he did than others.
*MLS! (No, really!)
*Baseball change is... well, minimal!
*Rex Ryan! Arnold Palmer! Name of the Year!
See the complete column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
2010 Name of the Year Bracket Released!
Annually, the best bracket of the year: The Name of the Year (NOTY) bracket. Check it out here. Not only is it the strongest field I have ever seen, but with the explosion of Twitter and Facebook, the NOTY competition should be as well-publicized as ever. My votes, forthcoming.
03/24 Quickie: Gotta Love Reform
It's a big week for reform: First, health care. Now: NFL overtime.
Longtime readers know that I have had a particular problem with the NFL's overtime system, which I have argued forever is a Super Bowl-sized disaster waiting to happen.
We nearly had it two years ago -- and we got as close as we can this past season, when the NFC title game went into OT, the Saints got the ball, kicked a field goal and that was that.
This always struck me as absurd. College football's playoff -- or non-playoff -- system has its problems, but at least they don't decide games by a coin flip.
And so today's SN column lead is in praise of the NFL owners getting shocked into submission -- the NFC title game must have freaked them into action.
I don't care what the motivation was; this was reform whose time was long overdue.
More you'll find in today's column:
*West Virginia is screwed.
*I picked the wrong San Diego State.
*UNC: 2010 NIT champs?
*Surprise: I'm no Jimmy Clausen fan.
*I think Gil is going to jail.
*Jose Canseco: Breaking news?
And then there's this -- which didn't make the column: This morning was all about the "F-bomb."
First, there was Joe Biden's "This is a big f-ing deal" to Barack Obama at the health-care reform bill signing.
But then there came a story -- first reported on PFT -- that when he took the Wonderlic, Tim Tebow asked if the players in the room could bow their heads in prayer before the test.
The response, from at least one player: "Shut the f--- up." And, apparently, the rest of the room cracked up.
Submitted without further comment.
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Longtime readers know that I have had a particular problem with the NFL's overtime system, which I have argued forever is a Super Bowl-sized disaster waiting to happen.
We nearly had it two years ago -- and we got as close as we can this past season, when the NFC title game went into OT, the Saints got the ball, kicked a field goal and that was that.
This always struck me as absurd. College football's playoff -- or non-playoff -- system has its problems, but at least they don't decide games by a coin flip.
And so today's SN column lead is in praise of the NFL owners getting shocked into submission -- the NFC title game must have freaked them into action.
I don't care what the motivation was; this was reform whose time was long overdue.
More you'll find in today's column:
*West Virginia is screwed.
*I picked the wrong San Diego State.
*UNC: 2010 NIT champs?
*Surprise: I'm no Jimmy Clausen fan.
*I think Gil is going to jail.
*Jose Canseco: Breaking news?
And then there's this -- which didn't make the column: This morning was all about the "F-bomb."
First, there was Joe Biden's "This is a big f-ing deal" to Barack Obama at the health-care reform bill signing.
But then there came a story -- first reported on PFT -- that when he took the Wonderlic, Tim Tebow asked if the players in the room could bow their heads in prayer before the test.
The response, from at least one player: "Shut the f--- up." And, apparently, the rest of the room cracked up.
Submitted without further comment.
Complete SN column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
03/23 Quickie: Cornell Mania and More
This could have run tomorrow or Thursday, but I couldn't wait to dig into Cornell Mania -- Big Red is the story of the Sweet 16 week (no offense to Northern Iowa).
I can't imagine a more intriguing match-up than Cornell vs. Kentucky on Thursday night -- it might be the most-watched game of the Tournament.
I have almost -- almost -- convinced myself that Cornell will win. I think there's obviously a puncher's chance they WILL win, for a lot of reasons:
*They destroyed Wisconsin's defense, which is superior to Kentucky's.
*They nearly beat Kansas at Kansas back in January.
*Kentucky has yet to be tested... really, all year.
*The crowd should be with them.
*They shoot 3s extremely well -- and I'm not sure Kentucky does the same.
I think where I net out -- where we all probably net out -- is that we really WANT Cornell to win, in the same way we all wanted Northern Iowa to win.
I suspect that it comes down to John Wall hurtling down the court so quickly that Kentucky simply out-paces Cornell. I would run every possession and drive straight at the basket.
The notion that we are even thinking "Well, you never know..." is amazing enough.
More you'll find in today's SN column:
*UNI over Michigan State, b/c of Lucas' injury.
*Brittney Griner: 14 blocks in one game. Yikes.
*Why Illinois and VA Tech are better than Kansas.
*I would trade Donovan McNabb.
*I would go to the draft if I was Tebow.
*John Brantley IS a very good passer.
*Hope for Warriors fans.
*Hope for new NFL overtime rules.
*Hope for Erin Andrews, dancer.
-- D.S.
I can't imagine a more intriguing match-up than Cornell vs. Kentucky on Thursday night -- it might be the most-watched game of the Tournament.
I have almost -- almost -- convinced myself that Cornell will win. I think there's obviously a puncher's chance they WILL win, for a lot of reasons:
*They destroyed Wisconsin's defense, which is superior to Kentucky's.
*They nearly beat Kansas at Kansas back in January.
*Kentucky has yet to be tested... really, all year.
*The crowd should be with them.
*They shoot 3s extremely well -- and I'm not sure Kentucky does the same.
I think where I net out -- where we all probably net out -- is that we really WANT Cornell to win, in the same way we all wanted Northern Iowa to win.
I suspect that it comes down to John Wall hurtling down the court so quickly that Kentucky simply out-paces Cornell. I would run every possession and drive straight at the basket.
The notion that we are even thinking "Well, you never know..." is amazing enough.
More you'll find in today's SN column:
*UNI over Michigan State, b/c of Lucas' injury.
*Brittney Griner: 14 blocks in one game. Yikes.
*Why Illinois and VA Tech are better than Kansas.
*I would trade Donovan McNabb.
*I would go to the draft if I was Tebow.
*John Brantley IS a very good passer.
*Hope for Warriors fans.
*Hope for new NFL overtime rules.
*Hope for Erin Andrews, dancer.
-- D.S.
Monday, March 22, 2010
03/22 Quickie: How's Your Bracket?
Let's get right to the fun stuff:
As fleeting as it might be, from now until games start ending on Thursday night, I am in the 93rd percentile nationally of all brackets that are out there. This, of course, is in stark contrast to last year's finish in the 12th percentile.
Let's be clear: I'm headed for a nosedive, because I have Kansas winning the national title, and I (stupidly) picked Villanova to the Final Four. (I also had Georgetown to the Elite Eight.) That said: I picked Washington to the Sweet 16, along with Xavier and Butler. The phrase "Even a broken clock is right twice a day" comes to mind....
Astoundingly, Barack Obama is still pacing ahead of me -- 95th percentile -- even though he too has Kansas and Villanova in his Final Four, plus G'town in his Elite 8. That percentile will plummet. Meanwhile, the trusty ol' National Bracket has been tilted -- it's in the 55th percentile.
Per today's SN column, my big takeaway from the weekend -- from Northern Iowa knocking off the Tournament's prohibitive favorite to Cornell's leave-no-doubt run into the Sweet 16 -- was that, thankfully, unpredictability is back in the NCAA Tournament, after a couple years of conventionality.
If UNI can beat KU, then anything than happen: UNI can certainly beat Michigan State -- or Ohio State, for that matter. Xavier can beat K-State -- although I'm not sure anyone is playing better than Syracuse right now. St. Mary's could win 2, including a win over Duke. Why not?
(By the way: Purdue fans annoyed that I've been hammering Purdue as an "over-seed" can finally back off: Congrats on the run into the Sweet 16 -- it justifies the seeding, although I would say that given the over-seed, it's like a double-digit seed making the Sweet 16.)
And then there's the Game of the Tournament (at least, besides UNI-KU): Kentucky vs. Cornell. I was blown away at the way Cornell sliced up a Wisconsin defense that is far better than Kentucky's. That said: UK has athletes that Wisco doesn't -- and that Cornell has never seen before, even when they took Kansas to the wire in Lawrence.
However: That Cornell could keep up with Kansas -- and dominate Wisconsin -- should give them all the confidence they need to hang with Kentucky. All the pressure is on the Wildcats, and it would be an even bigger upset than UNI over Kansas.
Given the way the Tournament has unfolded, it wouldn't surprise me. And, obviously, everyone in the country besides Kentucky fans will be rooting for it.
Complete column here (Tiger talks! Mauer signs!) More later.
-- D.S.
As fleeting as it might be, from now until games start ending on Thursday night, I am in the 93rd percentile nationally of all brackets that are out there. This, of course, is in stark contrast to last year's finish in the 12th percentile.
Let's be clear: I'm headed for a nosedive, because I have Kansas winning the national title, and I (stupidly) picked Villanova to the Final Four. (I also had Georgetown to the Elite Eight.) That said: I picked Washington to the Sweet 16, along with Xavier and Butler. The phrase "Even a broken clock is right twice a day" comes to mind....
Astoundingly, Barack Obama is still pacing ahead of me -- 95th percentile -- even though he too has Kansas and Villanova in his Final Four, plus G'town in his Elite 8. That percentile will plummet. Meanwhile, the trusty ol' National Bracket has been tilted -- it's in the 55th percentile.
Per today's SN column, my big takeaway from the weekend -- from Northern Iowa knocking off the Tournament's prohibitive favorite to Cornell's leave-no-doubt run into the Sweet 16 -- was that, thankfully, unpredictability is back in the NCAA Tournament, after a couple years of conventionality.
If UNI can beat KU, then anything than happen: UNI can certainly beat Michigan State -- or Ohio State, for that matter. Xavier can beat K-State -- although I'm not sure anyone is playing better than Syracuse right now. St. Mary's could win 2, including a win over Duke. Why not?
(By the way: Purdue fans annoyed that I've been hammering Purdue as an "over-seed" can finally back off: Congrats on the run into the Sweet 16 -- it justifies the seeding, although I would say that given the over-seed, it's like a double-digit seed making the Sweet 16.)
And then there's the Game of the Tournament (at least, besides UNI-KU): Kentucky vs. Cornell. I was blown away at the way Cornell sliced up a Wisconsin defense that is far better than Kentucky's. That said: UK has athletes that Wisco doesn't -- and that Cornell has never seen before, even when they took Kansas to the wire in Lawrence.
However: That Cornell could keep up with Kansas -- and dominate Wisconsin -- should give them all the confidence they need to hang with Kentucky. All the pressure is on the Wildcats, and it would be an even bigger upset than UNI over Kansas.
Given the way the Tournament has unfolded, it wouldn't surprise me. And, obviously, everyone in the country besides Kentucky fans will be rooting for it.
Complete column here (Tiger talks! Mauer signs!) More later.
-- D.S.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sunday (Kansas) Quickie
First, the fun stuff: As of the Kansas upset (see post below), no one in ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge had a perfect bracket anymore.
Despite losing Kansas (my champ pick) and Villanova (a Final Four pick), I am in the 84th percentile -- for now -- mostly thanks to picking Washington to the Sweet 16.
If you used the National Bracket, you'd be in the 50th percentile. Obama is in the 95th percentile.
The best part about the Kansas upset: All bets are off, both literally (on your bracket) and existentially (on the bracket). If KU can lose, anyone can lose, anytime.
One last point: Isn't it possible that rather than being a "no...no...YES!" event -- as most mainstream analysis is framing it -- Ali F's shot was precisely the best option possible if UNI wanted to win? Don't want to belabor it, but I'll bet the analytics bear that out.
More on tap today:
12:10: 8 Gonzaga vs. 1 Syracuse*
Kansas will be ultimate cautionary tale.
2:20 10 Georgia Tech vs. 2 Ohio St*
Suddenly, no more Kansas in the way.
2:30 5 Michigan St* vs. 4 Maryland
Ditto.
2:40 10 Mizzou vs. 2 West VA*
Probably freaked by Kansas loss.
2:50 12 Cornell vs. 4 Wisconsin*
How can you NOT root for Cornell?
4:50 6 Xavier* vs. 3 Pitt
My last Sweet 16 upset pick alive.
5:00 5 Texas A&M* vs. 4 Purdue
Make or break for Boilers. (I had Utah St.)
5:15 8 Cal vs. 1 Duke*
Shades of 1993? (No.)
If Thursday/Friday is any indication, then yesterday's insanity will yield to today's conventionality. Hope not.
-- D.S.
Despite losing Kansas (my champ pick) and Villanova (a Final Four pick), I am in the 84th percentile -- for now -- mostly thanks to picking Washington to the Sweet 16.
If you used the National Bracket, you'd be in the 50th percentile. Obama is in the 95th percentile.
The best part about the Kansas upset: All bets are off, both literally (on your bracket) and existentially (on the bracket). If KU can lose, anyone can lose, anytime.
One last point: Isn't it possible that rather than being a "no...no...YES!" event -- as most mainstream analysis is framing it -- Ali F's shot was precisely the best option possible if UNI wanted to win? Don't want to belabor it, but I'll bet the analytics bear that out.
More on tap today:
12:10: 8 Gonzaga vs. 1 Syracuse*
Kansas will be ultimate cautionary tale.
2:20 10 Georgia Tech vs. 2 Ohio St*
Suddenly, no more Kansas in the way.
2:30 5 Michigan St* vs. 4 Maryland
Ditto.
2:40 10 Mizzou vs. 2 West VA*
Probably freaked by Kansas loss.
2:50 12 Cornell vs. 4 Wisconsin*
How can you NOT root for Cornell?
4:50 6 Xavier* vs. 3 Pitt
My last Sweet 16 upset pick alive.
5:00 5 Texas A&M* vs. 4 Purdue
Make or break for Boilers. (I had Utah St.)
5:15 8 Cal vs. 1 Duke*
Shades of 1993? (No.)
If Thursday/Friday is any indication, then yesterday's insanity will yield to today's conventionality. Hope not.
-- D.S.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Shocker: Kansas Bounced in 2nd Round
Wow. What an amazing development: Kansas -- the overwhelming Tournament favorite -- bounced out in the first weekend of the Tournament.
It was an astonishingly impressive win by Northern Iowa -- and "shocking" doesn't do it justice for KU and KU fans, whose expectations were "Title or Bust" (let alone "Final Four or Bust.")
I mark it as a refreshing balancing out of the past two tournaments, which featured an all-1-seed Final Four (2008) and the overwhelming favorite winning it all (2009).
It obviously crushes a huge number of brackets, and if you picked Kentucky or Syracuse -- or anyone else, frankly (including Duke!) -- you are feeling really good.
Cranks were quick to piss on the idea that this was one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, but I absolutely think it was, if you consider the expectations for Kansas.
There was also the obligatory knee-jerk "This is why you don't expand the Tournament!" commentary, which is actually counter-intuitive: You would see MORE huge upsets if the Top 32 teams, getting byes, had to play another 32 teams that came from a 64-team gantlet. You would certainly see them in the 2nd round, as we saw tonight.
Anyway, tonight -- hell, the rest of the week -- is not about that, or even about superlatives (as much as I want them to be).
It's about the very definition of CRAZY, BRACKET-ROCKING UPSET.
I picked KU to win it all -- as did a lot of people. And I couldn't care less about my bracket. I am just savoring the unexpected. THAT'S what the Tournament should be all about.
-- D.S.
It was an astonishingly impressive win by Northern Iowa -- and "shocking" doesn't do it justice for KU and KU fans, whose expectations were "Title or Bust" (let alone "Final Four or Bust.")
I mark it as a refreshing balancing out of the past two tournaments, which featured an all-1-seed Final Four (2008) and the overwhelming favorite winning it all (2009).
It obviously crushes a huge number of brackets, and if you picked Kentucky or Syracuse -- or anyone else, frankly (including Duke!) -- you are feeling really good.
Cranks were quick to piss on the idea that this was one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, but I absolutely think it was, if you consider the expectations for Kansas.
There was also the obligatory knee-jerk "This is why you don't expand the Tournament!" commentary, which is actually counter-intuitive: You would see MORE huge upsets if the Top 32 teams, getting byes, had to play another 32 teams that came from a 64-team gantlet. You would certainly see them in the 2nd round, as we saw tonight.
Anyway, tonight -- hell, the rest of the week -- is not about that, or even about superlatives (as much as I want them to be).
It's about the very definition of CRAZY, BRACKET-ROCKING UPSET.
I picked KU to win it all -- as did a lot of people. And I couldn't care less about my bracket. I am just savoring the unexpected. THAT'S what the Tournament should be all about.
-- D.S.
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