Out of Bounds

What to Look for in the Final Four (Part 1)

Phew! I gotta tell you, this has probably been the most exhilarating, yet exhausting, first four rounds of “March Madness” in recent memory. The 2010 incarnation of the tournament has been upset after near-upset and buzzer-beater after buzzer-blunder. It seems like every game, save for a select few, has gone down to the wire this month. I personally cannot remember a more physical, unpredictable and watchable NCAA tournament since I became interested in sports as a kid.

But guess what…the best may be yet to come.

With an unlikely cast (except by my bracket’s standards) comprising those who still can cut down the nets in Indy, there’s a 50/50 chance we’ll have a first-time NCAA champion this year.

While Final Four regulars Michigan State and Duke are not wholly out of place in these semi-finals, upstarts Butler and West Virginia are also vying to bring that small wooden plank home to the Indianapolis suburbs and Morgantown, respectively, for the first time ever. Read more…

Rantin’ ain’t easy…

A little humor from our friends at Funny or Die. Our representatives are in talks, as we speak, with this fellow to have him write some rants for us.

“I’ll put your mother in a straight-jacket, you punk-ass white boy!” Good stuff.

(Note: Some of the language at the beginning of the video isn’t exactly safe for work…wait until you get home so you can gather the kids and grandma around the ‘puter before you play it.)

Time to Trash the Bracket?

I was just about to toss my bracket into the trash, but decided to give Yahoo’s “Scenario Generator” a try first before I pitched it. Much like Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber, the seemingly encouraging results left me asking, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance”?

It’s really simple, only a few major upsets are needed for my bracket to be tops in our pool.

The key to my bracket’s destiny looks to lie within the staying power of underdogs St. Mary’s, Washington and Michigan State. For me to succeed, this is a must-win round for all of these teams. One of these three lose and my bracket is busted!

And that’s just the beginning. I’d also need Kentucky and Duke to keep winning games to move on to the next rounds as well. This is a likely scenario, as they’ve both been two of the best teams in college basketball this season. Kentucky would need win their semi-final game against the Blue Devils and then go on to prevail in the championship game.

In the other semi-final game, I’d need a somewhat unlikely upset by Michigan State over Syracuse. Can Michigan State really make it to the final game? Highly doubtful.

Also, in order for Syracuse to even make it to the Final Four, they would need to pull off victories against Butler, THEN Xavier.

All this could happen, right?

No…probably not. But I’ve got room in the garbage if you want to toss your bracket out too!

When did Jackie Moon take over the New Jersey Nets?

As the old saying goes, “art imitates life”. However, sometimes it works the other way around too.

A couple of nights ago, I finally got around to watching the movie Semi-Pro (by the way, I’m still waiting for the movie to make me laugh). Ironically, on the same night, the head of the New Jersey Nets had a “Jackie Moon” moment. Brett Yormark, the chief executive officer of the Nets, spotted a fan in the sea of empty seats wearing a paper bag over his head. Chris Lisi, the bag-headed spectator, was understandably showing embarrassment over his favorite team’s performance and wanted to publicly exhibit his disdain.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

In Semi-Pro, player/coach/owner Jackie Moon sees a man in the front row of his arena with a bag of nachos he brought from home. Upset the man didn’t buy the nachos at the game, Moon goes on a tirade and knocks the bag of chips to the ground.

Yormack didn’t knock anything out of Lisi’s hands, but he did have a few words with the disgruntled fan. The CEO asked Lisi why he had the bag over his head, to which the fan responded, “because the Nets are so good”. It’s not exactly known what was then said by Yormack, but he shouted something at Lisi and stormed off.

Here’s the thing, much like the Flint Tropics in the movie, the New Jersey Nets suck! They are on the verge of being recognized as the worst team in NBA history. The Nets have won only seven of 70 games this year! They must find a way to win two of their final 12 just to tie the worst mark of all-time, which was set by the 76ers in the early 70′s.

Brett Yormark really needs to sit back and really study the situation. The product he’s put on the market is easily the worst in the NBA. He’s paid to field a winner, so he shouldn’t be surprised if fans are unhappy when his team doesn’t produce wins.

I wouldn’t recommend watching Semi-Pro if you’re looking for a good basketball movie that will make you laugh. Instead, enjoy the real thing. The 2009-10 New Jersey Nets are a piece of pure comic genius!

Plenty of seats available for Nets' home games!

Head Start for Tiger

Sunday, Tiger Woods gave his first interview since stories of his infidelities surfaced in November. The Golf Channel and ESPN conducted a 5 minute question and answer session with Woods from the golf course near his home in Florida. Monday, Woods was at a different golf course – The Augusta National.

Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf may actually be a little more competitive than some have thought. Sure, oddsmakers have him as a favorite to win the Green Jacket, even if he hasn’t played a tournament since November. But, surely he’ll be a little rusty, right?

That’s why Tiger has made the trip to the Garden City a little earlier than usual. He doesn’t want to be a side show act – he wants to win. Coming to Augusta this far ahead of the tournament says to me that Tiger is very determined to make that happen.

I may not put money on Tiger to win, but I definitely won’t bet against him.

Tiger going for 5th Green Jacket in April

Don’t muff it!

Even the best coaches are prone to making bad mistakes from time to time. Pete Carroll’s 4th and one with Reggie Bush on the sideline against Texas in 2005 jumps out as one of those “what was he thinking” moments. Georgia coach Mark Richt is not immune to these types of  mistakes either.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Richt has been questioned about quite a few things during his tenure at UGA. Directional kickoffs, loyalty to older players ,and being more of a friend than a boss to assistant coaches are a few flaws fans have pointed out over the years. But coach Richt could be on the verge of making one of the most colossial gaffes of his career – naming A.J. Green the starting punt returner.

Green has been working out in spring practice fielding punts, along with several other players. With only one returning player with return experience (Logan Grey, who’s battling for the starting quarterback job), the race is wide open.

There is almost no argument against Green being the most dynamic player for the Bulldogs in the last 27 years. Coincidentally, proponents of the move will point to the early 80′s and Herschel Walker as proof that it’s not a bad idea. While that may be agreeable to some extent, you have to remember the person you’re referring to. Herschel Walker was the biggest, strongest, and fastest player on the field everytime he walked into a stadium. He didn’t absorb a lot of the punishment today’s players do, basically, because he was the big kid on the block who dished it out.

Make no mistake, A.J. Green is a phenom, but nowhere in the same stratosphere physically as Walker.

Is it worth risking the health of your best player to gain 14 or 15 yards on a punt return? He averages more per reception. What if he returned three punts for td’s during the season? Well, he could catch that many in one game. Really the only logical excuse to have A.J. Green returning punts this season would be if it were guaranteed he would take every returnable punt to the house.

A. J. Green as the primary punt returner for 2010 season would be nothing short of a head scratcher.

But don’t be surprised if it happens, these are the same coaches who had their backup QB fielding punts for the past two years.

Green should be catches passes, not punts

Enough to Make You Mad!

March Madness – one of the greatest sporting events of the year. Take a deep breath, for if the NCAA tournament games continue to be as exciting as they were on day 1, we may not be able to exhale until a champ is crowned!

Almost half of the first 16 games were decided by one (1!) basket. A couple of those on a last second shot. Those shots could have busted your bracket (i.e. Murray State; as it did mine), but the stage has been set for a phenomenal finish to the college basketball season. Eleven (11!) of the 1st 16 games were decided by less than 10 points – definitely close enough to keep you at the edge of your seat!

We’ve seen three games go into overtime on day one, including a double overtime game between BYU and Florida. 

And of course there have been upsets, some big some small. Third seeded Georgetown was the biggest to fall. The Hoyas lost to Ohio. Notre Dame fell to the underdog Old Dominion. And Vanderbilt lost to Murray State. For the record, that’s three teams I had picked to be in the sweet 16 gone in the 1st day.

No need for you or I to trash our bracket just yet; there’s plenty of basketball to be played. And those of you gloating after 1st day success probably need to temper that enthusiam just a bit. Anything can happen on Day 2.

I just hope it’s as exciting as the opening day was.

GT, Phone Home

It’s no secret that from time to time, I give Georgia Tech basketball coach Paul Hewitt a hard time. He doesn’t seem to me like he’s that good of an in-game coach. But, after hearing his strategy for the ACC tournament and the Big Dance, I may start to come around. Hardly.

You see, some coaches will pour over extra game film when they know they have to win to save their job. Others may hold extra practices. Then there’s the group of coaches that will rely on gimmicks. No offense to Georgia fans, but you know what I’m talking about!

Hewitt’s big idea for the tournament: no cell phones. To Coach Hewitt, this is the key to Yellow Jackets success. He feels his players needed an extra level of focus, as opposed to constant distractions of talking and texting. Surprisingly, without too much of a battle, the players agreed.

Granted, Tech did make the ACC tournament championship game. And they are matched up with an opponent they can defeat in the first round in Oklahoma State. But it undoubtedly won’t be because they can’t call their “boos” before the game.

These types of gimmicks can backfire on a coach. Once again, no offense Georgia fans, but remember the “black out” in ’08 against Alabama? Coach Richt tried to recapture the magic of the Auburn blackout from the year before. But when you rely less on actual game planning and fundamentals and start trying to uncap the “fake juice”, chances are your success will run out quickly. The Dawgs learned this in less than a half of football. How long until the Jacket hoopsters figure this out?

I must admit, I think it’s admirable that Coach Hewitt will suggest something like this to keep his teams focus. The part that lost me is the fact that they went to the media and made this a news story.

My advice? Just coach, Coach.

Hey Coach, don’t snort the foul line!

Earlier this morning, Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington admitted he failed a drug test last season. The drug? Cocaine.

That’s right, the manager of a major league baseball team has come clean about sniffing the “wacky dust”. The leader of a team representing America’s pastime, snorted the “All-American Drug”.

Washington claims to have only done this once in his life? Yeah, I’ve heard of tons of near-50-year-olds who just tried cocaine for the first and only time. Maybe CAUGHT once, coach. Washington attempted to tender his resignation upon learning of the failed test. The Rangers refused, and exercised Washington’s option through the 2010 season. They seem to be more interested in how many ball games he can win as opposed to how much “yeyo” he can shove in his nostrils.

Needless to say, my eyes will monitor the manager’s actions during the singing of the Star Spangled powder…er, Banner.

Archived Audio

Listen to these past segments of “The Referee” Dave Ward

Brees, Tebow, Cody

Tiger, Olympics