Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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I'm TiVoing the UCLA-Gonzaga game to watch late, but if anyone wants to chat about it, feel free to do so in this thread.
* * *
Hi. Wow.
Seventeen years ago, I saw the Cardinal come back from a 21-4 deficit to beat Sean Elliott, Kenny Lofton and Arizona, 82-74. Tonight, I saw a similar comeback, with an even greater finish: UCLA scoring the game's final 11 points and taking its first lead of the game with just seconds remaining to beat Gonzaga, 73-71.
For the first time all season, I watched a basketball game from start to finish (thanks to TiVo). With work and the kids, I save my big TV sports time for baseball season. But I just had a hunch about this game, and I never let go of it, even when UCLA fell behind 17-5, even when the Bruins trailed 37-20.
As it happens, watching the entire CBS broadcast in my offline cocoon would have been worth it just to see the end of the West Virginia-Texas game, in which the two teams traded game-winning three-point baskets in the final five seconds. But I have to say I found the finish to the UCLA game so exciting, I'm actually shaking - and UCLA's not even my school (though it's my mom's). I never root for with any passion for UCLA anymore until Stanford is out of the picture, and most of the past 10 years, the Cardinal's season has gone longer than the Bruins. But tonight, it was like I was a kid again, living and dying with UCLA the way I did in the 1970s.
The first college basketball game I can remember was John Wooden's last - the 10th title victory - and when my Dad told me he was being replaced by a man named Gene Bartow, I pictured the oddity of the only Gene I knew at the time - Gene Rayburn of Match Game - guiding Marques Johnson in the coming years. But from 1975 until I left for Stanford in 1985, I lived and died with UCLA basketball, hoping I might get to experience a whole season like everyone else in Pauley Pavilion had. I watched them find Indiana an impossible foe to conquer in the 1976 Final Four, and could feel how strange a turn of events it was. I remember the shock as the countdown to a 100-game home winning streak was short-circuited at 98 with something like a 45-point performance against Oregon or Oregon State. I cried when they lost a second round tournament game under Bartow or Gary Cunningham to, I think, Idaho State. I remember big battles with Ray Meyer and Digger Phelps; I remember villainous Danny Ainge with some bitterness. The Bruins once mattered to me that much. So it was kind of a nostalgia trip to spend two hours with them mattering again, even if it wasn't quite as profound.
I mean this objectively, not as a cheerleader, and I certainly don't say it to brag, but rather to explain why I stuck around with this game when I could have fast-forwarded. I never thought UCLA was out of it tonight. I figured at some point the Bruins would realize they weren't Loyola Marymount and would stop shooting three-pointers five seconds into their possessions. As it turned out, it took point guard Jordan Farmar forever to get a clue. But as far as I can tell, this has been UCLA's story most of the season - both in football and basketball, oddly (although they played it to extremes tonight) - lousy first half, great second half. They never got down by 20, so they always had a chance.
I thought the waving off of Darren Collison's basket at 71-66, when he appeared to score while being fouled l might be the dagger - especially after Collison went away from the free throw line empty - if the Bruins couldn't make a stop on the next play. But they withstood it. They withstood it all.
Back when Gonzaga was a Cinderella, the Zags once took out Stanford in the second round, so I can't shed too many tears for them. But tears are being shed - and the first to do so was their All-American Adam Morrison, who was crying with three seconds left and the game still in doubt. I don't fault him for the emotion - I was just so surprised by it. Usually, players are wound so tightly and so full of faith, they don't let that kind of pain out until after the buzzer. And then, when the game was over, Morrison crumpled to the ground - and it was peculiar how long it took for someone to come to his side. I gather from the Times today that he has a love-him-or-hate-him personality, but I figured his teammates and coaches would be with him right away. May have just been one of those things; maybe someone found him the second the cameras cut away. (I read now from the Associated Press recap that UCLA's "(Ryan) Hollins and (Arron) Afflalo went to help up Morrison, who was spread on the floor at midcourt. (Gonzaga coach Mark) Few then came to hug the crying Morrison."
Morrison did give it his all. He may have gotten away with a pushoff or two, but he was a player. At one point, broadcaster Gus Johnson said Morrison had a "quiet" 24 points, and I was stunned at how inaccurate the statement was. After making sure his teammates could get involved in the scoring at the outset, every one of his points seemed meaningful - helping to bury the Bruins early and holding them off late. His four-point play after UCLA cut the 17-point Gonzaga lead to 46-40 was the play of the game until the finish.
But now Morrison is gone, J.J. Redick is gone, and the Bruins are still playing. Every one of the potential three remaining victories for UCLA will be gravy, but gravy is a fun incentive. I'll be rooting for them. (I can only hope that the Bruin fans will return the favor if Stanford's slide from March Madness can be reversed.)
Tomorrow, back to baseball.
and yes, sliced bread won POTY in his time.
Go Gonzaga.
UCLA by 13
The game is on both 570 XTRA & 1540 KMPC.
http://byneddiejingo.blogspot.com/2006/03/i-wont-forget-single-day-believe-me.html
And then LSU.
Be prepared for a LOT of Katrina stories in the next two days.
For UCLA-Gonzaga, its tough for me. I hate UCLA, with a passion, but I also have them advancing to the final game. I guess, I'll root for the Bruins, because I want the PAC-10 to do well, and I want to win my pool. As long as they dont win it all, Its setting up to be a good weekend for me.
Pittsnogle.
Ruined the whole joke!
Thanks for the link. I've seen the Kinks live more then any other band and the shows ranged from great to really sucks. Ray Davies was not having much fun in the early 70's but by the mid 70's he had turned a corner and was a dynamic front man once again. The album that "I'm not like everyone else" was on is called "Great Lost Kinks Album" and it is one of my favorites. All sorts of oddball songs.
Duke just killed me but in the end I was rooting for LSU.
I need and want UCLA to win.
I figure Texas has a better chance of beating LSU than WV, so go West Virgina.
Not an efficient way of scoring.
He was 3 for 18.
Should we tell him to save him some valuable time out of his life?
Our temporary leader is S. Grady with UCLA and Texas in the late games.
If UCLA wins, My bracket continues to look better and better.
If UCLA loses...UCLA Loses!!!
I cant lose!!
13:42 Gonzaga - Erroll Knight misses a free throw
13:42 UCLA - Personal foul on Darren Collison
13:50 Gonzaga - J.P. Batista misses a hook shot
14:03 Gonzaga - Jeremy Pargo misses a layup
14:03 UCLA - Michael Roll misses a layup
14:23 Gonzaga - Adam Morrison misses a jumper
14:44 Gonzaga - Jeremy Pargo misses a jumper
14:54 UCLA - Darren Collison misses a jumper
Those of us in L.A. won't see much of that Texas-Virginia Irredentists game.
Germany to West Virginia.
Now there's a cultural shift.
68
35 for Iowa and 33 for Morehead State in 1956.
Iowa won.
John Calipari must be watching this game with a big smile on his face. The only thing that would keep Memphis from losing Saturday is they have a stupid coach.
Game on!
UCLA outscores the Zags 11-0 to win it.
When does baseball season start?
3:13 71-64 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute made Free Throw.
2:50 71-64 Jordan Farmar missed Three Point Jumper.
2:50 71-64 Arron Afflalo Offensive Rebound.
2:46 Sean Mallon Steal. 71-64
2:22 Adam Morrison missed Two Point Jumper. 71-64
2:22 71-64 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute Defensive Rebound.
2:12 71-64 Jordan Farmar missed Two Point Layup.
2:12 71-64 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute Offensive Rebound.
2:09 71-66 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute made Two Point Layup.
1:48 Gonzaga Full Timeout. 71-66
1:39 Derek Raivio missed Three Point Jumper. 71-66
1:39 J.P. Batista Offensive Rebound. 71-66
1:35 J.P. Batista missed Two Point Layup. 71-66
1:35 71-66 Darren Collison Defensive Rebound.
1:29 Foul on Jeremy Pargo 71-66
1:28 71-66 Darren Collison missed Free Throw.
1:28 Jeremy Pargo Defensive Rebound. 71-66
1:01 Adam Morrison missed Two Point Jumper. 71-66
1:01 71-66 UCLA Defensive Rebound.
0:52 71-68 Jordan Farmar made Two Point Jumper.
0:41 Gonzaga Full Timeout. 71-68
0:23 Adam Morrison missed Two Point Jumper. 71-68
0:23 71-68 UCLA Defensive Rebound.
0:20 Foul on J.P. Batista 71-68
0:20 71-69 Ryan Hollins made Free Throw.
0:20 71-70 Ryan Hollins made Free Throw.
0:10 71-72 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute made Two Point Layup. Assisted by Jordan Farmar.
0:06 71-72 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute Steal.
0:04 Foul on Jeremy Pargo 71-72
0:02 71-72 Arron Afflalo missed Free Throw.
0:02 71-72 UCLA Defensive Rebound.
0:02 71-73 Arron Afflalo made Free Throw.
0:02 J.P. Batista missed Two Point Jumper. 71-73
0:02
Having been at the wrong end of the failed upset many times before, I feel bad for Gonzaga. UCLA's superior atheletes just took over the game at the end, even overcoming a bad call that I had never seen before (blocking while the player is in the air and the shot doesn't count?). You had the sense this was going to happen -- Gonzaga just wasn't making shots.
Nonetheless, when it comes to the tournament, I always root Pac-10 and am glad we have a team moving on.
0:20 71-70 Ryan Hollins made Free Throw.
to here
0:10 71-72 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute made Two Point Layup. Assisted by Jordan Farmar.
I'm guessing that the Zags didn't get the ball past half court in 10 seconds.
Farmar had a steal of Batista to set up Mbah a Moute's basket.
Stupid Duke! If they were still playing, they would get that one!
I've avoided whole Super Bowls.
If UCLA had lost, I would have clinched my pool. Now I'll just root for Memphis to take them out.
How the committee put a bracket together where this is not only not a foolish statement, but a perfectly reasonable and possibly even prescient one, will always be one of the great mysteries of the age.
UCLA's 98 game winning streak at Pauley was ended by Oregon who won 65-45. Oregon opened the following Pac-8 season at Pauley and won again!
My hands shook at the end of the game. I'm surprised I avoided typos. I doubt Saturday's game will be able to top tonight's..
How the hell do you blow a 15-point lead with 4:00 left in regulation?
Some Gonzaga fan/blogger is writing a similar sentence tonight.
Or anal fissures. (Somebody has them.)
What has two thumbs and somehow -- completely on a whim -- put UCLA in the final four of his bracket? [b]This[/b] guy. Three of my final four are still alive. Only Northern Iowa has been felled. (Actually, it was North Carolina.)
(By the way, please tell me it's been duly noted here that the name of the big guy on The Office is Kevin Malone.)
I grew up about 15 minutes from UCLA in the 60s, and while I loved the early UCLA dynasty (Hazzard, Goodrich, etc) I grew to despise the arrogance of the later Alcindor and Walton crews. I rooted for USC just because they were underdogs. Living here in Durham I feel (sort of) the same way about the arrogance at Duke and UNC.
Guess he really does want to be traded.
http://tinyurl.com/mu8cs
Hey Jon, I sent this piece to a friend of mine (if you're wondering who linked in from the pentagon, that's him), and got this response: "Wow, he's really great at that whole writing thing." Despite knowing how you casually shrug off praise, thought I'd pass the compliment along.
Dodger Thoughts March Madness Leaders after 2 1/2 rounds, five days:
1. Grady 1 , S. Grady 610 points (25-7, 12-4, 3-1)
2. Smith 1 , A. Smith 570 points (25-7, 12-4, 2-2)
ToyCannon , J. Gurnee 570 points (25-7, 10-6, 3-1)
4 JamesFromOccupiedEurope , 560 points j. allen (22-10, 11-5, 3-1)
The Griddlers , B. Timmermann 560 points (22-10, 11-5, 3-1)
WOLFPAC1 , C. HALLIBURTON 560 points (24-8, 10-6, 3-1)
I've moved from the back to a tie for 36th place at 510 points (19-13, 10-6, 3-1)
Seeds are tied for 7th place at 550 points (23-9, 10-6, 3-1)
that's something i was actually wondering about myself. how is it that ucla's sports teams suddenly have this boundless depth of heart? how did that happen??
also, does anyone want to tackle the topic of "heart", vague a notion as it is? i feel like, however you want to describe it, that guttiness, that sort of je ne sais quois, actually counts for something in basketball and football as opposed to baseball, which i think is probably because baseball is more individual, skill-oriented activity.
I felt a little sorry for Morrison, too, and appreciate his emotional style but thought he played a little out of control especially in the 2nd half. He was always looking to take the shot - as he should - but there were times he should have dished off or got into better position.
Btw, I invented a drinking game last night - "Take a swig every time Len Elmore says 'UCLA could not have played a worst first half'" - which by my count meant drunk before the finish.
Apparently, he once hit a home run off Roger Clemens.
-----
On UCLA Thoughts, am I remembering right that, when Howland got the job, he narrowly beat our Mark Few. (I missed the game last night if this was discussed or overdiscussed.)
109, 113 - It's not that one sport has heart and the other doesn't. The problem with discussions of heart is when people decide it is entirely independent of what can be measured statistically.
One can say that UCLA played a heartless first half and a hearty second half. In the end, UCLA had some heart, and the final score and even individual statistics reflect fairly accurately how much heart they had in the game.
Baseball players have heart - it would be silly to think otherwise. It takes tremendous heart to even make it in this game - hours and hours of endless practice. A few have more heart than others, and so equally talented players with different amounts of heart will have different careers.
But it doesn't really change how you evaluate who's good and who isn't.
Why did Portland lose to the Lakers in Game 7 in 2000? They were up by 13 in the fourth quarter.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=6348
A baseball team that is behind pretty much just has to do the same things it did when the game was 0-0 with the exception of ditching one-run strategies. You just try to get on base and then get around to score.
Of course, by my previous argument, those players then don't really have equal amounts of talent.
Also, it takes some of what I would call heart to play at your best when it's 100 degrees out and your team is down by 10 runs. Again, though, this will be reflected in statistics to a great extent.
I guess I just think heart exists, but we don't need to worry about quantifying it separately.
"Cameron Dollar's 4-foot bank shot with 1.9 seconds left after he dribbled the length of the floor lifted UCLA past Iowa State 74-73 in overtime Thursday night."
http://tinyurl.com/pz2h6
Having sworn off ever reading Plaschke again, I have to say that even an imitator causes an unpleasant reaction.
Last FG-GON 2nd-05:12, UCLA 2nd-00:09.
Largest lead-GON by 17 1st-03:16, UCLA by 2 2nd-00:02.
Maybe I should pace around LAX wearing one of those sandwich boards that says "THERE IS NO CLUTCH."
i wonder what the etymology of "clutch" is. why do we call them clutch players instead of say... crucible players?
bob?
I'm speculating.
The older term is "pinch" which is how "pinch hitter" got started.
Remember when he almost bought the Dodgers. I think he would have been worse than McCourt.
http://tinyurl.com/kz33o
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