NCAAs/Hockey/NASCAR
College basketball is now in the books with one of the most unusual NCAA tournaments in recent memory, if not ever, and perhaps one of the worst finals ever played. While I was not a UConn supporter, congratulations to the Huskies for winning the national championship. All things being equal, if Kentucky had had a better shooting night Saturday night, it would have been the Wildcats and not the Huskies playing Monday night. If Butler had had a better shooting night Monday night than had the Huskies, Butler would be the national champions. So it goes.
This final was so bad that I was changing channels between the Pirate game with the St. Louis Cardinals, which I watched until the National Championship game came on. Once UConn got on its mini run late in the game, I knew it was over and I could not bear watching. I decided to watch the ending of the baseball game. It was just a matter of a few ticks on the clock before UConn would be declared national champions.
All that being said, allow me to shed some light on the college basketball season. Now we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the regular season means absolutely nothing. Even though the season is just to determine who wins the regular season conference championship, and determine seeding in the tournament, the post season tournaments carry even more weight than do the conference tournaments.
I cannot even bring myself to watch a college basketball game during the season because it essentially means absolutely nothing. Even I, being a basketball coach, find it difficult to watch a basketball game on television. This is a sport that is not made for television viewing. It must be seen live and in person. There is so much going on away from the ball that television does not pick up. However, that is not the only reason that I cannot watch college basketball on TV anymore.
A team can lose only a couple of games during the regular season and still lose one game in the NCAAs and be out of a shot of winning the title. Ask Kansas and Ohio State. Both teams were heavy favorites to win the title, or at least meet in the title game to determine the champion. That would have been a final to watch, but it never happened. Sure, I might have been singing a different tune had Butler won this game and the championship, my pick, but UConn will likely go down as one of the most boring winners of the national title after an ugly game.
All that needs to happen in the NCAA tournament is for one team to get hot at the right time and make a run. That’s what happened with Connecticut. They were by far not the best team this year. Not even close. But it all started in the Big East tournament when they beat Pitt and sent the Panthers home after only one game. They won the Big East Tournament championship, then gained a three seed in the NCAAs and went on that run. That’s all it takes. So ignore the regular season and the number one ranking. Both mean absolutely nothing. Pitt gets all dandered up when it gains the number one spot in the country during the regular season. It’s good for the team, the campus, and the university, but it nothing more than ceremonial.
I have always made it a tradition to watch the trophy presentation and the post game interviews after the title game. Not this year. I watched the Pirates beat St. Louis, switched the channels, then went to bed. That is how ugly and boring this game was to watch. Yet it might be a portend of things to come as future NCAA tournaments are played. A mediocre team will likely come from nowhere and win the championship. That’s all it takes. I am all for excitement and the underdog, but I also want to see a good basketball game. That did not happen Monday night. Connecticut is the champion, but it is also a mediocre champion. This might be a tell tale sign of things to come.
*As mentioned, the Buccos are now 3 – 1 as of this writing. They began a three game series in St. Louis Monday night after taking the weekend series against the Cubs. They will open the home schedule this weekend against the Colorado Rockies. There have been pundits who say that a manager in baseball doesn’t really matter. I beg to differ. Yes, any team needs talent to win and the Pirates now have young talent, a core, to build around (McCutchen, Alvarez, Walker, and Tabata). That is almost half the starting lineup (sans the pitcher). But a manager needs to mold that talent into a winner. It is my firm belief that the Pirates finally have that manager in Clint Hurdle. He is making it fun to be a baseball fan, and a Pirate fan, again!
His predecessors got a bad rap because they didn’t have the talent to work with; however, I will also go on record as saying that Hurdle is the best manager the Pirates have had since Jim Leyland. I loved when Lloyd McClendon was the manager, but he didn’t have much to work with. The young talent is now on the roster and is the present and future of the franchise. The hard part will be when their contracts are up and it is signing time. That will be a few years down the road. But the talent is finally in place for the first time since the early 1990s.
The key to all of this will be the pitching. As long as the pitching holds up which, up to this point, it has, the Pirates will be making some noise in the division. Every good, solid team has pitching. Good pitching will always beat good hitting. Yet as long as the core talent the Pirates have stays productive, they will be irritating a lot of teams. And that is a good thing, finally!
But a manager has to mold this talent and have the high expectations and the personality to make it all work. Hurdle is that man. It is still very early, but he is unconventional and does not go by the book. That makes him a favorite in my book already. You have to take chances in order to win games. That is what Hurdle is doing and that is how the Pirates are going to get it done this year. Yes, the season just got started and there is a long way to go, but the results are very encouraging thus far.
*The Penguins are holding onto the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference and defeated the New Jersey Devils 4 – 2 Tuesday evening in the last regular season home game at Consol Energy Center; will have played the New York Islanders Friday night, and will close out the regular season Sunday at Atlanta. Then it will be a matter of playoff matchups (unless something dramatic happens, it will be the Penguins versus Tampa Bay with only home ice advantage to be determined).
Those who are yearning for the return of Sidney Crosby, be patient. Even a Pittsburgh newspaper columnist has stated that, if he is healthy, he should play. Well, the only people who will know for certain if/when he is fully healthy are Sid and his doctor/s. There is no need to rush this. He suffered a concussion. That is a brain injury, for those scoring at home. When he is cleared, Sid will play. But, let’s not rush the process.
*Kevin Harvick scored back to back wins as he came from behind, again, and passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Sprint Cup race in Martinsville and take home a grandfather clock as the winner, a tradition at that racetrack. The Sprint Cup series will go to Texas Motor Speedway and race under the lights Saturday night, the first night race of the season.
This final was so bad that I was changing channels between the Pirate game with the St. Louis Cardinals, which I watched until the National Championship game came on. Once UConn got on its mini run late in the game, I knew it was over and I could not bear watching. I decided to watch the ending of the baseball game. It was just a matter of a few ticks on the clock before UConn would be declared national champions.
All that being said, allow me to shed some light on the college basketball season. Now we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the regular season means absolutely nothing. Even though the season is just to determine who wins the regular season conference championship, and determine seeding in the tournament, the post season tournaments carry even more weight than do the conference tournaments.
I cannot even bring myself to watch a college basketball game during the season because it essentially means absolutely nothing. Even I, being a basketball coach, find it difficult to watch a basketball game on television. This is a sport that is not made for television viewing. It must be seen live and in person. There is so much going on away from the ball that television does not pick up. However, that is not the only reason that I cannot watch college basketball on TV anymore.
A team can lose only a couple of games during the regular season and still lose one game in the NCAAs and be out of a shot of winning the title. Ask Kansas and Ohio State. Both teams were heavy favorites to win the title, or at least meet in the title game to determine the champion. That would have been a final to watch, but it never happened. Sure, I might have been singing a different tune had Butler won this game and the championship, my pick, but UConn will likely go down as one of the most boring winners of the national title after an ugly game.
All that needs to happen in the NCAA tournament is for one team to get hot at the right time and make a run. That’s what happened with Connecticut. They were by far not the best team this year. Not even close. But it all started in the Big East tournament when they beat Pitt and sent the Panthers home after only one game. They won the Big East Tournament championship, then gained a three seed in the NCAAs and went on that run. That’s all it takes. So ignore the regular season and the number one ranking. Both mean absolutely nothing. Pitt gets all dandered up when it gains the number one spot in the country during the regular season. It’s good for the team, the campus, and the university, but it nothing more than ceremonial.
I have always made it a tradition to watch the trophy presentation and the post game interviews after the title game. Not this year. I watched the Pirates beat St. Louis, switched the channels, then went to bed. That is how ugly and boring this game was to watch. Yet it might be a portend of things to come as future NCAA tournaments are played. A mediocre team will likely come from nowhere and win the championship. That’s all it takes. I am all for excitement and the underdog, but I also want to see a good basketball game. That did not happen Monday night. Connecticut is the champion, but it is also a mediocre champion. This might be a tell tale sign of things to come.
*As mentioned, the Buccos are now 3 – 1 as of this writing. They began a three game series in St. Louis Monday night after taking the weekend series against the Cubs. They will open the home schedule this weekend against the Colorado Rockies. There have been pundits who say that a manager in baseball doesn’t really matter. I beg to differ. Yes, any team needs talent to win and the Pirates now have young talent, a core, to build around (McCutchen, Alvarez, Walker, and Tabata). That is almost half the starting lineup (sans the pitcher). But a manager needs to mold that talent into a winner. It is my firm belief that the Pirates finally have that manager in Clint Hurdle. He is making it fun to be a baseball fan, and a Pirate fan, again!
His predecessors got a bad rap because they didn’t have the talent to work with; however, I will also go on record as saying that Hurdle is the best manager the Pirates have had since Jim Leyland. I loved when Lloyd McClendon was the manager, but he didn’t have much to work with. The young talent is now on the roster and is the present and future of the franchise. The hard part will be when their contracts are up and it is signing time. That will be a few years down the road. But the talent is finally in place for the first time since the early 1990s.
The key to all of this will be the pitching. As long as the pitching holds up which, up to this point, it has, the Pirates will be making some noise in the division. Every good, solid team has pitching. Good pitching will always beat good hitting. Yet as long as the core talent the Pirates have stays productive, they will be irritating a lot of teams. And that is a good thing, finally!
But a manager has to mold this talent and have the high expectations and the personality to make it all work. Hurdle is that man. It is still very early, but he is unconventional and does not go by the book. That makes him a favorite in my book already. You have to take chances in order to win games. That is what Hurdle is doing and that is how the Pirates are going to get it done this year. Yes, the season just got started and there is a long way to go, but the results are very encouraging thus far.
*The Penguins are holding onto the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference and defeated the New Jersey Devils 4 – 2 Tuesday evening in the last regular season home game at Consol Energy Center; will have played the New York Islanders Friday night, and will close out the regular season Sunday at Atlanta. Then it will be a matter of playoff matchups (unless something dramatic happens, it will be the Penguins versus Tampa Bay with only home ice advantage to be determined).
Those who are yearning for the return of Sidney Crosby, be patient. Even a Pittsburgh newspaper columnist has stated that, if he is healthy, he should play. Well, the only people who will know for certain if/when he is fully healthy are Sid and his doctor/s. There is no need to rush this. He suffered a concussion. That is a brain injury, for those scoring at home. When he is cleared, Sid will play. But, let’s not rush the process.
*Kevin Harvick scored back to back wins as he came from behind, again, and passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Sprint Cup race in Martinsville and take home a grandfather clock as the winner, a tradition at that racetrack. The Sprint Cup series will go to Texas Motor Speedway and race under the lights Saturday night, the first night race of the season.
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