Is anybody else rooting for a Tigers sweep and then another one of those patented epic 7 game Cardinals NLCS's?

Well the sweep part came true.

And I'm a little bitter that the Dodges will slip back in the "time since last world series" category.

1 Oh, sure. A lot of history between the Cards-Tigers. 1934, 1968, and probably at least one in between. Mets? Bleah.

On a semi off topic note. Is anyone else erked by Fox's firing of Steve Lyons? I can't believe they canned him for something he said that can barely be deciphered as racist, and the only way it can be, is if your thinking of it in a racist manner yourself. To be honest, I actually liked Steve Lyons. He made road games and Julio Lugo at bats a bit more interesting.

5
A) He wasn't a very good announcer
B) They might have been looking for an excuse
C) He had been previously warned (Shawn Green's Jewishness)

That said, I'm not sure his comments were that inflammatory.

5
is there a link or something to this story? what exactly did lyons say?

7 Down in the previous thread. It's to a Sports Illustrated story, so the link is to SI.com.

Anybody want to take a shot at parsing the Lyons statement in such a way as to make it at all racist? Pretending not to understand the Spanish words for hot and cold is irritating, but it's not racist. Are we supposed to believe that Lyons was saying, or implying, that anybody who speaks Spanish also steals wallets?

I don't like Lyons much as an announcer. I'm not sorry to be robbed (ha ha) of his color commentary for the rest of the series. But it's bad news for somebody to get fired for saying something racist, when he didn't.

7- http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2625500

1 Perhaps I am, but I have been routing for the Tigers ever since the D's exit. But 7 games would be cool.
I had to back off for a few days after that exit, so I am dragging behind the daily topics, but I am very interested in our pitching plans. Two interesting thoughts have been in my skull
1) Listening to the obtain #1 pitcher thoughts, I find that I can't conscience giving a big, long contract to any pitcher, starter or releiver. The Giants have adequate pitching most years without paying anyone much. If they had our position players they would have been good this year.

2)How did Jeff Weaver come to open a series for the Cards. I did think he was better than many of our starters this year, but I thought he was baically done. And he pitched a fairly good game!

Eckstein may have gotten picked off, but at least he got his uniform dirty in the process. Pretty-boy OPS players like A-Rod aren't willing to do that...

Hey, Timmermann-san:

Just FYI UH beat Fresno today 68-37 in Fresno. Almost makes up for that 70-14 drubbing UH took a couple of years ago.

8
Thanks.

12
I hope you've seen FJM's Chemistry Team Indices:

http://tinyurl.com/y9kmgs

Does Edmonds not wear his eyeliner during night games?

Losing Lyons is no big deal. Like him or not.

What is a big deal is a man is being branded as the guy that got fired for racist comments, first with Jews , now with Hispanics.

Where I come from, thats a terrible label. Did he say, do or believe anything that warrant this kind of branding? He's what 45ish? Whats he to do for the rest of his life?

Forget that Pinella was the wrong guy, acting like the thing to do with someone's wallet is to treat it as found money. The only thing to do is to find the owner or mail it to them.

I hate this PC world and what its doing to us.

Now, back to the ballgame...

15
I hadn't seen those yet, thanks. Gotta like FJM

FYI: I don't like the Cardinals

18- See?! It's not so hard to like things that are funny. It's no "selling out" to "the man."

20
But The Man controls what we can watch and what we can't. "No Arrested Development for you! Here, take some Becker and some According to Jim"

21
People who loved Arrested Development find solace in The Office.

By people, I refer to people with souls.

Like me and Andrew. Not you. Non-Office watcher.

21- This is like visiting the sins of the step uncle on the step nephew.

I don't know his name, but I think one of the main characters from The Office was in the short-lived Watching Ellie, which I liked. I'm still annoyed that that show was cancelled too...

Who was it besides Weaver last year (2005) that was forever giving up homeruns to the opposing team's pitchers?

Wow, I'm actually taller and heavier than David Eckstein

26 I'm taller than a lot of ball players. Heavier than all--- except maybe the Bull or Prince Fielder.

24- Steve Carell. He's the office manager.

The Mets should abandon starting pitching.

27. Sounds like you are taking in more than your fair share, comrade. :)

30 Slander!

2nd visit! 2nd visit! Eject everybody!

11 Is there anything to the rumor that the Cardinals got Weaver treated for attention deficit disorder, and he turned it around after that?

That's just cheating.

I'm taller than a lot of ball players. Heavier than all--- except maybe the Bull or Prince Fielder

Sounds like there's nothing "jr" about you...

Maybe "jr" should be replaced with "lb"

35 mmmm... Carl's Jr...

Hm, I guess you're right. But, man, do I miss Carl's Jr.

37
Don't they have Hardees in Ohio...?

38 Indeed, they do. But I was very disappointed to find that the burgers just aren't the same.

Comrade McCarver!

Lyons' firing by Fox is utterly pathetic. I can't find the racial slur in there anywhere. Kidding around with a Spanish speaker about the Spanish language...if that's the new threshold of "inappropriateness," then pretty much all of LA is fired.

Well, it appears you Marxist Leninist folks have a comrade in Tim McCarver.

"Leon Trotsky, one of my favorites."

42 Uck... Trotsky a Marxist-Leninist? Don't make me vomit.

Lyons' firing by Fox is utterly pathetic

And this from the network that airs shows like Family Guy

43 I was trying to keep it simple for the peeps.

Trotskyism doesn't have the same grab for the common folk.

45 I don't know if I hate Trotsky as much as I used to (or care about politics at all), but that was a reflex action. Didn't mean to jump on you. Just don't do it again!

"Steven Tyler is SO sexy"

- Every woman in the US

I'm pretty sure most people think Trotskyism is a special way that horses are taught to run.

49 I only wish I got that--- it sounds very funny.

Scott Spiezio, the anti-A-Rod.

I got that from robinred in this thread:

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/ap_detroit_6_oakland_3/

42 - didn't he used to play for Cleveland?

33 Possibly. but when he pitched we always lossed 3-2 or 4-3 or 5-4. The Mets started a guy tonight wit almost a 5 ERA! Pray no more big long contracts for pitchers.

52 No, he used to work for the bourgeoisie!

Trotsky's legacy will always be secure, so long as there are college students with atrocious facial hair and silly hats.

49 - the technical term is "dressage".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressage

Troy Glaus's wife Anne is apparently quite accomplished at this.

From ESPN:

"Earlier in the playoffs, while working the Mets-Dodgers NLDS, Lyons unwittingly made fun of a nearly blind fan who was wearing special glasses to see the game.

"He's got a digital camera stuck to his face," Lyons said."

==================

Engaging the brain before opening the mouth usually helps ...

Diane

It comes full circle; Lyons insults Shawn Green for his jewish beliefs, the same beliefs shared by a farmer with the sur name of Bronstein who gave birth to a young boy who grew up to change his name to Trotsky and win the admiration of one Tim McCarver.

So Lyons was really fired for insulting McCarver. :)

54 - so, not this guy?

http://tinyurl.com/y3wtm9

59 Maybe the Dodgers can find someone who can hit for power like Hal Trosky did, at least the back to back years when he hit 35,26,42, and 32 HR...bunch of RBIs too

My cable company is having problems so I do not get the UFC.

I hate everything right now.

61 - even little puppy dogs?

Tell me you aren't that jaded. Please.

62
Depends on the breed.

61
Did you pay for the event...?

Scott Rolen is the best defensive third baseman in MLB history.

Discuss!

64
Yep. But I will get my money back and I will also cancel my service.

65
No.

I was under the impression that everybody in the world now has DirecTV. Even the apartment complexes get them now.

68
We have basic cable (70 some channels), with 2 VCRs.

So you all know, I am sitting here, quietly, waiting for the opportunity to drop the perfect "missing wallet" joke.

Somebody, set me up...Please.

70. Usted habla español?

The sad thing is that Lyons was, most likely, referring to Pinella's comment about keeping somebody else's missing wallet, and not race. It seems like a total kneejerk reaction from Fox.

The happy thing is that I don't have to listen to Steve Lyons.

maybe Joe Morgan can make an insensitive remark or two or four sometime soon ...

73 Tim McCarver, Joe Morgan, and Hawk Harrelson need to get into an in-depth conversation about extra muscles.

70 Greg Brock

Hey Greg, I heard you found a purse with a wallet inside?

Rich Franklin might have his hands full tonight. The guy he's fighting looked unstoppable pulverizing Chris Leben a couple months ago.

72. I think they got rid of him because he acted unprofessionally towards a guest in the booth.

There must be some unwritten law between broadcasters in which you help out your comrade in the event something comes out wrong, but Lyons made a meal out of Piniella's off the cuff analogy. I don't think Piniella enjoyed being the butt of a joke which included having his ethics questioned on the air. It's definitely overblown, but I would have fired him as well. The stations image and ability to court guest commentators is more important than Lyons attempts at humour.

I'll never forget one of the fall-down funniest SNL skits of all time from the mid-1990's. Heaher Locklear played an infomercial host, and she kept casually dropping racist comments, and the phone lines would just explode after every comment.

Jokes about race are not funny. Jokes about racism and the stereotypes we place on others are downright hilarious.

76
Yeah, I think Anderson Silva can win. He has better stand up than Franklin and Franklin is going to try to punch with him. Silva is also a black belt in Brazilian ju jitsu. Franklin does have the strength advantage so his best bet is to take him to the ground and do ground and pound (waiting for joke).

76
Yeah, should be a great battle

76
Yeah, should be a great battle

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/93/93tsavers.phtml

Watching the D's Mets series it seemed to me the teams were about even (at least w/o Pedro) and the Mets used luck to sweep the D's. They will need luck to beat the Cards.
Unless the Dodgers do an extraordinairy job of squandering their talent, in two years the Mets will need incredible luck to beat the D's, and they will have used it up.

Too bad PPV is so expensive. If I knew at least one person to split costs with, I'd get the show tonight.

63 - so, let's see.

Roly-poly Labs.
William Wegman-style Weimariners.
http://www.mrwinkle.com

I think I would kill Mr. Winkle myself.

84
I've never pay-per-viewed anything in my life. As far as MMA fights go, they have (until recently) been very easy to find online for free. But there has been a crack-down on people posting fights on sites such as YouTube

This card overall is not very good, but I still wanted to see it, especially the main event. Stupid cable company.

As far as MMA fights go, they have (until recently) been very easy to find online for free.

Live?

I went to a UFC event in Anaheim. You think the PPV's are expensive.

85 I don't know where you found that Mr. Winkle site...

Wow...Just, wow.

88
I've never found live, but until recently you could see the fight within an hour or so after it finished

Yeah that Mr. Winkle site is almost as weird as the Boohbah site.

http://www.boohbah.com/zone.html

77 xaphor

I think your comment is right on.

I didn't hear when it was said because whenever Lyons speaks I don't listen.

Oh man the PPV just started working. I can still see the main event and demand my money back.

83 - I don't think the Mets got lucky against the Dodgers, as much as they simply capitalized on mistakes that the Bums made. Unless of course you are the type that believes luck is when opportunity meets preparation. In which case, the Mets got lucky.

The USC game got re-interesting. SC was up by three touch downs when last I had it on. Now they're tied with less than five minutes left in the game.

Yet, the BCS says USC is the number 2 team in the country.

The ultimate UFC battle (not for PETA members):
http://tinyurl.com/yl6pkn

90 - I saw it years ago on some Internet weirdness site and forgot all about it until I was downtown near the Federal courts building. I was in a card shop when I found she had a line of cards and a calendar. Not to be believed. My first reaction was, you need a boyfriend, lady.

She's actually a very successful photographer who's had stuff in a number of national magazines.

Well, the Cards won, if anyone still cares

83 Yes they did. But they are no big thing.

Sorry--I mean 95!

It's amazing how teams have found a way to lose to USC this year.

103 Greg I enjoy and agree with many of your posts, and I expect this is because you are almost in my venerable age bracket.
Your tag also makes me think of the pleasant days when Mike M. and Greg were pounding HR's out for the Dukes. About 40 or more apiece. How did you come by the name, unless,of course you are the gent himself.

Gen3, I think you actually meant 100 ;)

And Bob's rubber match looks even more likely tonight! But is anybody else worried about how the Tigers' crew of 20something pitchers will be able to deal with AN ENTIRE WEEK OFF before the Series?

The entire UFC crowd just booed Jason Giambi(who is in attendance).

106
Of course, there's no chance that any UFC fighter is on the juice...

44 Right. Scripted ethnic stereotyping is okay.

104 Actually, I'm a bit younger than a fellow with the screen name Greg Brock should be. I picked the name because I was very, very young when Steve Garvey left the Dodgers, and I:

A) Had no idea that players could leave their team
B) Was under the impression that Greg Brock would be Lou Gherig.

So it's kind of a personal gag, picking the name Greg Brock. Plus, everybody thinks it's pretty funny.

There's a great boxing match on HBO for those that care.

You know...Boxing. It's kind of like UFC, but with strategy, skill, and graceful movement.

110
Who is fighting?

Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe is having a heck of a time with an African guy named Sakio Bikha.

110
Mixed martial arts require plenty of strategy, skill, and graceful movement. Even when the fighters seem to be laying on the ground doing nothing, there's actually a lot going on.

African guy named Sakio Bikha

Wait, I thought he was Egyptian...

113
Yeah, I know, I'm just a really big boxing fan, and UFC is a bit too brutal for me.

114 LOL.
It's a short walk from Egypt to Africa.

I think he's from Cameroon.

113. I'm glad to see someone understands my fetal fighting style. :)

I'm just a really big boxing fan

A dying breed

I have been into boxing since I was little, but I like MMA more.

118

Yeah. I just love watching a fighter slowly impose his will over another through seven or eight rounds. It's really impressive, especially if you've ever been in the ring for more than three minutes. Boxing is great, but dying, that's for sure.

If you go spar for three minutes, you hands feel like anvils. It's the toughest athletic thing you can do.

120
I've never really thrown a punch of any kind in my life

The heavyweight division is basically dead, but the rest of boxing is still in good shape.

Greg, something to share with your students:

Essay Generator
http://radioworldwide.gospelcom.net/essaygenerator/

Put in Trotsky and got this fantastic conclusion:
What can we conclude? Well, Trotsky has a special place in the heart of mankind. It brings peace, invades where necessary and figures show it's a winning formular.

The really sad thing is that in the past five years, there have been some truly unbelievable rivalries (Gatti vs. Ward, Morales vs. Barrera), and PPV keeps people away.

If it was like the good ole' days of Friday Night Fights on national TV, people would come back.

123 That's awesome.

While it is becoming a hot topic for debate, there are just not enough blues songs written about leon trotsky.

Corrales vs Castillo 1 may have been the greatest fight I have ever seen.

The problem with boxing these days is that it feels about as real as pro wrestling (I blame Don King).

I never really got into MMA - even though I am a former martial artist. Too much grappling, I think.

127 Corrales/Castillo was brutal. If you factor in the whole coma/blind/retarded thing, Gerald McClellan versus Nigel Benn is the most brutal I've ever seen.

Gatti/Ward #1 is the best match I've seen, though Barrera/Morales is very, very close.

Gerald McClellan versus Nigel Benn is the most brutal I've ever seen

More so than Balboa/Creed or Creed/Drago...?

Gatti/Ward # 1 is the fight that challenges Corrales/Castillo for me. The insane comeback of Corrales made that fight #1 for me. It was so improbable.

128 Max Kellerman, who is kind of a joker in other things, but a truly brilliant boxing historian/analyst, has it right:

Boxing needs to be put into a league, with standings and points, controlled by one, government regulated governing body. It's just too corrupt these days.

Max Kellerman is my favorite analyst.

130 Remember how messed up Rocky was at the end of Rocky?

Multiply that by twenty, and that's how messed up Gerald McClellan was in real life. Coma, no sight, severe brain damage.

Now, my favorite fight of all time is Jones vs. Toney in 1994 (I think). Roy Jones was unknown, and my favorite boxer, and James Toney was a loudmouth jerk who was #1 pound for pound, and favored by a mile.

Jones shut him out over twelve rounds, and Toney disappeared for five years. I won much money that night.

132 - Kellerman's probably right, I just don't see how it could happen. There are, what, four "governing bodies"? What are the odds of getting them to come together as one? Or do they continue to exist as the AL/NL do under one grand commish?

I still remember watching the Olympic bout between Roy Jones and the South Korean fighter. You think the Pac-10 officials are bad...

136 John McCain and a Harry Reid tried to work on some legislation to clean up boxing, but it died.

I know that a lot of the changes to UFC were because of McCain.

Before the old people show up, yes, Hagler/Hearns was great, but I was too young, so I don't count it.

Roy Jones was my favorite fighter until Tarver III where he basically gave up and did not care about winning. His only goal in the fight was to get to a decision. He did not care about winning the fight, which made me lose a ton of respect for him.

I just read a compelling essay which had this to say about boxing:

"Since it was first compared to antidisestablishmentarianism much has been said concerning boxing by the aristocracy, whom I can say no more about due to legal restrictions. Keeping all of this in mind, in this essay I will examine the major issues…

…When one is faced with people of today a central theme emerges - boxing is either adored or despised, it leaves no one undecided. It has been said that the one thing in society which could survive a nuclear attack is boxing. This is incorrect, actually cockroaches are the only thing which can survive a nuclear attack…

…Comparing the general view of politics held by the poor of the west with those of the east can be like comparing boxing and former Wolves striker Steve Bull…

…We can say that boxing is both a need and a want. It brings peace, it stimulates and statistically it's great.

I will leave the last word to the famous Beyonce Astaire: 'I love boxing? Yes! Hurray for boxing!'"

139
I have seen replays of that fight at least haha. Marvin Hagler is awesome. He started appearing in cheesy Italian action movies.

141 I have an idea where you might have read that essay...

I'm kinda surprised that Anderson Silva is getting a title shot already. He hasn't really done much recently to warrant it. His last fight in Pride was nearly 2 years ago, and that was a loss. His only fight in UFC was obviously impressive, but Leben is hardly a world-class fighter at this juncture...

83 & 95 - Back to baseball for a minute. I agree more with 95 that the Mets took advantage of our Bums mistakes, i.e. baserunning in game 1, fielding bunts in game 2 but the Dodgers with their influx of talent should be really tough to beat by 2008. I believe there will be improvement next year provided as 83 said, we don't do a job of screwing up the talent on the farm. Mets have problems in the LCS-their starting pitching is getting racked and their bullpen is logging huge innings and they have the wild and inconsistent Oliver Perez going tomorrow. All of a sudden, the Cardinals who looked to be dying with a week to go in the regular season has seemed to have received their second wind. Baseball is an amazingly fickle sport.:)

Wow, I see that Silva won easily in the first round

Comparisons between Roman Society and Medieval Society give a clear picture of the importance of baseball to developments in social conduct. I will not insult the readers inteligence by explaining this obvious comparison any further. The immortal and indispensable phrase �honesty is the best policy� 1 shead new light on baseball, allowing man to take it by the hand and understand its momentum. A society without baseball is like a society without knowledge, in that it bravely illustrates what we are most afraid of, what we all know deep down in our hearts.

Our post-literate society, more than ever before, relies upon baseball. Society is powered by peer pressure, one of the most powerful forces in the world. As long as peer pressure uses its power for good, baseball will have its place in society.

Economic Factors

Is unemployment inherently bad for an economy? Yes. We will begin by looking at the Watkis-Teeth-Pulling model, a complex but ultimately rewarding system.
National
Debt

baseball

Clearly the graphs demonstrates a strong correlation. Why is this? It goes with out saying that the national debt sings a very different tune. Assumptions made by traders have caused uncertainty amongst the private sector.

Political Factors

Politics, we all agree, is a fact of life. Comparing the electoral politics of most Western and Eastern European countries is like comparing baseball and former Wolves striker Steve Bull.

In the words of award winning journalist Elijah Shandy 'political change changes politics, but where does it go?' 2 Primarily, he is referring to baseball. If baseball be the food of politics, play on.
Why did baseball cross the road? - To get to the other side! Just my little joke, but lets hope that baseball doesn't inspire similar hilarity in the next elections.

Conclusion

In conclusion, baseball deserves all of the attention it gets. It brings peace, puts out 'fires', and figures show it's a winning formular.

I will leave the last word to the famous Mariah Malkovitch: 'It's been nice educating you.'

137 - That was truly a travesty of justice. I remember seeing the bout and figuring Roy has a lopsided win. After that debacle, I lost interest in Olympic boxing because I could no longer trust the results were legit. Olympic judges are just too susceptible to political machinations like figure skating, gymnastics, ect... Track and field events, where you could see who runs the fastest, jumps the highest, throw the farthest are much less stressful and in the athlete's control.

147 - You are starting to sound like "Annie Savoy". :)

137, 148 - I was there. I was a gopher for NBC's Olympic boxing coverage. The stories I could tell you. Hembrick missing his fight because he had the wrong time, the 60-minute post-fight sit-in, and the Jones bout was the capper. It was unbelievable.

147. Move over Jon, I hear SI calling. :)

I will be using this line all the time now:
"It is like comparing [blank] and former Wolves striker Steve Bull."

Silva absolutely dominated the fight. He got him in the clinch and just kept throwing knees to the body. Franklin's energy was completely zapped and so Silva could bring his head down and knocked him out with a knee to the face.

151 I think I will throw that one out in class on Monday.

"See guys, you have to understand that comparing the Napoleonic Code to the Magna Carta is like comparing pre-industrial Germany to Wolves striker Steve Bull."

I can't wait.

Thank god I have no vested interest in college football. It is the most mean and money-grubbing game I have ever seen. The brawl in Miami or wherever tonight shows the players (who I had thought rather innocent) to be almost as bloody minded as the Alumni.

Thank god I have no vested interest in college football. It is the most mean and money-grubbing game I have ever seen. The brawl in Miami or wherever tonight shows the players (who I had thought rather innocent) to be almost as bloody minded as the Alumni.

Thank god I have no vested interest in college football. It is the most mean and money-grubbing game I have ever seen. The brawl in Miami or wherever tonight shows the players (who I had thought rather innocent) to be almost as bloody minded as the Alumni.

150 - I've watched enough sports on TV to see true botched judging and officiating. Who can forget the 72 Olympic BB final between the US and the Soviets. So if the Soviets didn't score on the third try, how many additional tries would the referees have given them to win that game? We might have played the last 3 seconds, what five or six times till they made a basket?

154 I agree
155 I disagree
156 I have no opinion on the matter.

I think Gen3Blue is sickened by college football.

Sorry for the triplicate.

160 No need to apologize. You really meant it, and I appreciate the passion.

154-156 - You made your point already, 3 times over! What a suprise, the Miami Hurricanes involved in another ugly moment. Another black eye for college football courtesy of Univ. of Miami!!
Shame, Shame!

Meanwhile, the Bruins looked bad today. I feared this might happen after Oregon got devoured by the Cal Bears last week. I figured the Ducks would come out fired up and that the Bruins better be ready to weather the storm in the first quarter. They got manhandled and though they did their best to make a game of it in the second half, they just don't have the firepower to make up huge deficits this year.

163
It does not help when Dorrell basically gives up with punts and running on third and long.

Let's not talk about it, mmmmkay.

Thanks.

19 days till NCAA basketball returns!

Go Ducks! (I'll take what I can with Stanford being so bad.)

Happy Birthday, Coach John Wooden.

96 years young. God Bless.

So who won the early NFL games?

I'll be heading out to Meiji Jingu Stadium for a "well, it's scheduled, so we'll play" game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

I'll have a report on the Griddle tomorrow.

I am still riding high from Silva winning. I am used to my fighters losing the big fights in the UFC.

170 My fighters?

People actually have favorites in UFC? I thought it was just kind of like cockfighting; everybody's there for the blood.

For the record, I did have a favorite rooster.

His name was Little Jerry Seinfeld, and he was a legend.

164 It looked even worse from the stands. And it was completely bush league for UO to go for an onside kick with them up 21. Of course all the UO crazies ate it up.

But when they're beating themselves with stupid penalty after stupid penalty, and getting no help at all from Dorrell's playcalling, well, at least I had fun out in Eugene.

173
I was conflicted on the onside kick. It seems bush league with that lead, but in college football the points differential means too much to not keep going. In addition, we were not ready for it at all so might as well take advantage.

171
I usually root for the guys all the UFC fans hate, because they are either not American or not as popular. Since UFC got a tv show, the fans have gotten way worse. They boo all the time for no reason and only cheer for the guys on TV and other annoying things.

I have no problem with the onside kick.

This is college sports. If you don't like it when the other team scores, then stop them. If you're North Texas, and you don't want to get beaten 73-0, don't put Texas on your schedule. But if you want the money, be prepared for the beating.

at least I had fun out in Eugene

Where did you go? What did you do?

157
The principal fault with the 1972 Olympic basketball final was that the organizers of the event were not competent. They had confusing rules and did not properly prepare the courtside officials.

The fact that Hank Iba picked a substandard team and was also forced to put AAU players instead of all college stars was another problem.

Then he ran a 1950s style offense to boot.

But Hank Iba will go down in history as the poor slob who got rooked out of a gold medal instead of going down in the history as a guy who was completely out of touch with the game of basketball as it was played in 1972.

Does anyone remember the score of the final? It was 51-50! And there was a 30-second clock used!

Here was the roster:
Mike Bantom
Jim Brewer
Tommy Burleson
Doug Collins
Kenny Davis
James Forbes
Thomas Henderson
Bobby Jones
Dwight Jones
Kevin Joyce
Tom McMillen
Ed Ratleff

Some of those guys were great. Some of those guys you've never even heard of I imagine.

Notice the absence of UCLA players. John Wooden and the AAU didn't exactly get along.

The US men were going to lose a game eventually. The fact that they lost a game under questionable circumstances is sad. But in a world where there are miscarriages of justices far greater, I think the controversy over the 1972 Olympic basketball final is extraordinarily overblown and Americans fail to look at their own faults and solely blame the officials.

Notice the absence of UCLA players

You could have told me that every plyaer on that list was a UCLA player, and I wouldn't have known any better. I guess early 70s college basketball isn't my strength after all...

They were primarily ACC players. The rest were guys from AAU teams.

177- Frankly, my dear. . .

181
Don't you have some shunning to do...?

The shunning is done(ing). I had a bit of an epiphany last night: how much could anybody else enjoy watching me brow beat you over a t.v. show?

But, every time The Office comes up over at Screen Jam (http://screenjam.toaster.tv), I'll try to get in new shots.

183
People like D4P. It really is sad, isn't it?

Why is it so sad that people like me...?

Out-of-context-taker.

Happy birthday Element 118 (for real, this time)!

http://tinyurl.com/yczx7q

Did the AP even watch yesterday's game?

"There were no fancy plays or controversies in Oregon's victory over UCLA, only workmanlike efficiency."

Sure it wasn't to the same level as the Oklahoma game, but it was another very poor replay call that cost UCLA at least a chance of coming back in that game.

Who can forget Ed Ratleff, from Jerry Tarkanian's powerhouse Long Beach State teams?

Who can forget Ed Ratleff, from Jerry Tarkanian's powerhouse Long Beach State teams?

Those of us who weren't alive yet, but I used to see Ratleff's picture on the wall of the 49ers Tavern on PCH.

It's hard to imagine that my alma mater was once a basketball powerhouse, and that they used to have a football team, and that they killed George Allen...

189
As a kid, I remember being so excited that George Allen, the man of legend revered by my dad, was back in the Southland to coach.

Didn't exactly work out.

189 - I don't know if they'll be a powerhouse again, but I think a trip to the NCAA Tourny is in the cards this year. That may just be the optimism of an alum, but so what, that what the beginning of the season is all about, right?

The Big West needs to bring back football.

191

They made the NCAA a couple times when I was there but always bounced first round.

Hope Link's alright.

http://tinyurl.com/y26srx

192 - yeah, they were really bad while I was there. Not sure they even qualified for the conference tournament every year, bad.

i hope the Cards win today

Suppan is a free agent after this year, i'd pass on him.

193. No reports of any deaths or injuries which is good news especially considering it was a 6.6 magnitude quake (the Northridge quake registered 6.7).