It's John Doyle, freelance sports writer, formerly of 610 The Sports Animal in Albuquerque, and now a correspondent for "Friday Night Lights: High School Sports in Action." The show can be heard in New Hampshire Friday nights during the high school sports season on WKBR 1250 in Manchester and WKXL 1450 in Concord.
Email me at UNMdoyle98@hotmail.com. Until I become a full-time sportswriter, here's where you can read my stuff.
Monday, May 10
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It's been grand . . .
I'm not going to get all sentimental here. But the fact of the matter is, I am no longer a Sports Writer to Be. When the sun rises tomorrow, it will rise on a bona fide sportswriter.
So to continue to update Sportswriter2b.com would be pretty stupid, no?
That said, I would like to direct you to my new blog, johndoylesports.com. My first column should be posted shortly. It will continue the spirit of sportswriter2b.com, but will also feature links to the stories I write for Foster's. I also hope to feature a guest column or two.
The archives of sportswriter2b.com will always be available right here. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you on the new blog, as well as in the pages of Foster's Daily Democrat!
My wife and I recently enjoyed a night at the (foot)ballyard, Miami's Pro Player Stadium, on Saturday, April 24, 2003. The Marlins won, 7-4, and by virtue of the home team's twelve hits, every fan got a free dozen Krispy Kreme Donuts. It was the nineteenth different stadium I had seen a Major League Baseball game in (the others are Fenway, Yankee Stadium, Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Tiger Stadium, Old Comiskey Park, Baltimore Memorial Stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Milwaukee County Stadium, Busch Stadium, Wrigley Field, New Comiskey Park, Coors Field, Edison International Field, Dodger Stadium, Montreal Olympic Stadium, Kauffman Stadium and Bank One Ballpark).
Those of you waiting for another diatribe by a stuck-up baseball fan from the Northeast, chomping at the bit to tear down baseball fans of South Florida with an all-too typical "we know baseball, everyone else doesn't" screed, sorry to disappoint. Let us just get this out of the way first: it ain't Fenway. Nothing is. It's a football stadium, for crying out loud. It was designed in the 80s by some yahoo who clearly ODed on Vitamin C. You cannot see a skyline or ocean view from your seat. It completely and totally lacks anything that resembles "charm." Don't worry, New Englanders, Fenway controls the market on "charm." All right?
That said, we had a great time. Right off the Florida Turnpike, we were able to drive right into the parking lot (for ten bucks), find a space, and walk directly to the stadium in about three minutes. The tickets were twelve bucks each. The seats were good. The baseball was good. The beer was cold (but the rest of the concessions were awful.) Marisol pointed out that the fans at Pro Player were noticeably less knowledgeable than a typical Fenway crowd, but they were having fun and enjoying the game. It is amazing what two World Championships in eleven seasons can do to a fan base, no?
The Florida Marlins came into the league the same year as the Colorado Rockies. Both teams started out playing in their respective cities' NFL stadiums. The Rockies built their own ballpark and moved their within two seasons. The Marlins have slugged it out for twelve seasons now at good ol' Pro Player (nee Joe Robbie) Stadium. Former Marlins owner Wayne Huizinga (whose house we saw from a tour boat in Fort Lauderdale--swoon!), who owns the stadium, has the Marlins by the b*lls in a lease that makes it virtually impossible for the franchise to field a team that can be competitive over the long term. Despite having won the World Series twice (in 1997 and last year), the Marlins, without their own stadium, are poster boys for what is wrong with the economics of Major League Baseball in the 21st century, while the Rockies, in shiny, (relatively) new Coors Field, continue to draw huge crowds and rake in far more revenue. This is in spite of the fact that the Rockies, who have never seriously contended for a title, are quickly becoming the Chicago Cubs of the West.
It's sad, really. While (again) I love Fenway's history and charm (and of course the team that plays there), you have to wonder if fans of the Marlins have it slightly better. Aside from that deal about fielding a competitive team that has, you know, actually won the whole ball of wax on not one but two occasions in the last seven seasons, go ahead and throw in reasonably priced tickets that are virtually always available and a stadium that is easily accessible and easy to find parking at. When it comes down to it, Fenway's an outdated dump of a ballpark that is always crowded, never comfortable and a pain in the *ss to get to. And, unlike in Florida, the Red Sox do not give away a dozen donuts to each fan if the home team gets twelve hits in the game (the Marlins did, and the donuts were delicious).
Such sacrilege!
*****The Sports Writer to Be (name to change soon) was featured in a national sports column today. No big whoop, but if you're interested, here it is. It was in response to Dan Wetzel's column about the death of the NHL, which I linked to this blog last Saturday.
*****Coming soon: pictures of the "new" Sports Writer to Be . . . my yet-to-be-named (and yet-to-be-born) son! That's right, we found out we are having a boy (and WHAT a boy, catch my drift). More importantly, Marisol is doing great and the doctors like what they see so far. Did you expect anything else?
The "conference musical chairs" that began with the ACC's pillage of the Big East continued today, and now it has affected a school that I consider family. The University of Texas at El Paso, in another attempt to bolster its once moribund athletic program, has accepted an offer to leave the Western Athletic Conference and join the Conference USA.
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I am happy for UTEP. With the (somewhat controversial) hiring of Mike Price to head their football program and their basketball team's unexpectedly hot season which resulted in an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, the school is making it clear that they intend to become a part of the national sports scene. This is a development that has taken way too long, in my opinion. Their natural rivalries with New Mexico and New Mexico State long since diminished and all but eliminated, it had been hard as a Lobo fan to watch the continuing decline of a once-proud athletic program. UTEP fans were among the most dedicated and loyal in the country, and they deserved better.
The most devastating blow came in 1998, when half of the ridiculous sixteen-team WAC decided to bolt and form the Mountain West, leaving the traditional (and somewhat reliable) WAC with only seven teams, including UTEP. This move made absolutely no sense. Actually, it made no sense to expand the old ten-team WAC to sixteen in 1995, but to not include El Paso in the MWC was completely cruel, seeing that is was UTEP that initiated the conversations to rein in the behemoth that the poor old WAC had become. El Paso is a huge city. Wouldn't the television ratings alone be improved if you could include the El Paso market in the new conference?
But instead, UTEP was left to wallow in a conference that had become more and more ridiculous, eventually stretching from Hawaii to Louisiana. The MWC did not do much better, eventually realizing they had to expand to become stable in the age of shuffling conferences and obscene revenues for the bigger-time athletic programs. But when it came time to do just that, the Mountain West went with Texas Christian. TCU? Why the Mountain West did not just add Fresno State and UTEP completely baffles me. That way, you would have the original ten-team WAC mostly restored, with UNLV instead of Hawaii as the only difference. Which makes sense, seeing that the burdens of traveling to Hawaii was one of the major reasons the sixteen-team WAC was dissolved.
I hope this move to the C-USA will be another feather in UTEP's cap. I wish the powers that were had done the right thing years ago, but it does not look like that is going to happen--ever. So good for UTEP, I guess.
*****One thing I loved about UTEP is their fight song--a rendition of Marty Robbin's 1959 classic tune "El Paso." To listen to the marching-band rendition, click here. (Or purchase NCAA Football 2004 for your PlayStation, and score a touchdown with the Miners.)
*****I am dreaming if I think anyone other than my small circle of friends reads this blog, but if you read Bob Ryan's column of April 26th, you will notice he used the term "Bizarro World" in the third graph to describe the Celtics' chances against the Pacers in the first round of the NBA playoffs. I used the same term to describe the same thing back on April 17. But Ryan at least spelled it right.
*****Another guy who might be following me around with a hidden microphone, Dan Wetzel wrote an excellent column on Yahoo! Sports (also on April 26th) about the state of the NHL, and the implications of a team in Canada possibly winning the whole thing this year. It echoes many of the same sentiments I wrote in my columns of April 20 and April 7.
*****I have had a lot of fun at the expense of those who were fooled into thinking the Boston Celtics had anything to celebrate by barely qualifying for the NBA Playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. I owe you all a big apology. Watching the highlights of the Minnesota Timberwolves win their first ever playoff series, you'd think the team just won the NBA Finals.
*****I have some nice friends:
D,
You did it! All the hard work paid off. Now get out there and dig into the nitty gritty of the Dover/Rochester/Nute/Gonic area.
Brennan Palmer
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Dude, that is awesome! Incredible! Man, how cool is that. You are living every man's dream. Imagine having a job where you are immersed in sports!!! Dude, you will get paid for doing what many would love to do. You can be the Ken Sickenger of NH! How freakin exciting. So now, you will not have to be like me, having to sneak peaks at the NMAA website and the sports sections of other towns to get caught up on sports and hope your boss does not catch you. That will be what you do for a living! You will be required to do all that.....this is all too cool. Dude, I implore you to make an effort to do an awesome high school football preview. You must! Get out there in August and get it done. We used to have an awesome one here but it fizzled out over the years. You should even see if you can get your employers to let you do a special feature. After you get your feet wet in this job, you have got to move back here to cover HS sports here so then you can get me in to all the games as your sidekick. Dude, this is awesome. I am pretty happy for you, yet a bit envious. Sports as a career. Awesome. Congrats......How completely cool. This is certainly a big step for your career.--John Valdez
Not "to be" but Just THE SPORTS WRITER! THat's awesome amigo!!! You must be pumped. I definitely am. I've got to say you have perhaps the most dedication to a career over anybody I know - maybe [my friend] Blake at DLP [in Albuquerque, New Mexico] would compete with you. But he didn't do it for free. Seriously man, next to [Marisol] being pregnant, I couldn't be more proud of you!
Congrats, Johnny!
Rhooooms,
Wally Benson
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This is HUGE news! Congratulations!--Scott Lianos
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John, Congrats on the new job at Fosters!! That’s great news! Best of luck to you.--Jacqueline Lianos
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Congrats on the baby and the new job and the fact that everything is falling into place for you!--Nicole McMillan
John Doyle is a Sports Reporter for Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover, New Hampshire.
My first post in one full week, and a lot has gone on in the life of the Sports Writer to Be.
I looked forward to this column for a number of reasons. I wanted to write about my first New Hampshire Fisher Cats game. I wanted to write about my experience at Pro Player Stadium, watching the Marlins and the Braves. And I will get to all of that, but first . . . the BIG news.
The "Sports Writer to Be" is no more. That's right. The dream has become a reality. The Sports Writer to Be is now, quite simply, the Sportswriter. I have been offered, and have accepted, a position as Sports Reporter for Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover, New Hampshire. I begin my new career on May 10.
I could not be more excited for this, and for all the obvious reasons. Now I can write about sports for a full-time job. Yes, I will be giving up my weekends. Yes, I will have to report to work at 5:30 most mornings. Yes, there will be lots of late night deadlines to meet. It will be hard work. Just like any job, there will be office politics to deal with. But I am back in sports, and I could not be happier.
I would never be so bold as to say that I have "paid my dues." There are a lot of people out there who have paid higher "dues" than I have and not gotten anywhere. But the days of dragging my ass out of bed at four a.m. to work at "The Sports Animal" for fast-food wages, giving up my Friday nights to freeze my ass off at high school football games and taking unpaid job after unpaid job have finally paid off in my first ever full-time gig as a sportswriter.
And no, I am not going to be covering the Super Bowl, the Final Four or the World Series any time soon. I will not be slurping down shrimp with Dan Shaughnessy and Bob Ryan in the Fenway Park press room for a while. I will not appear on "Around the Horn" or "Pardon the Interruption" for a few years, or until ESPN gets sick of Dan Le Batard and Jay Mariotti.
But I am back in sports. I will still freezing my ass off, mind you, but at least now it is my full-time job. I couldn't be happier.
They say good things come in threes. A new house, a new baby on the way for me and Marisol, and a new job as a sportswriter. I think I am through with "life changes" for a while.
*****So many people to thank. First of whom, of course, is my wife and best friend Marisol, who believed in me when I was getting fired from job after job, when I was taking abuse from the bastards at Citadel, and when I couldn't take her out for a night on the town because I had to cover a high school basketball game forty miles away. And she did a great job pretending to care about what I wrote on this blog.
My parents--I mean, enough said. Thank you for everything.
My Aunty Bobby, who would not settle for me to waste my life in retail and other worthless pursuits. She new I had the stuff to make a living as a writer. And she took pretty good care of me when I lived in New Mexico.
To all the readers of this blog, including its most enthusiastic ones: John Valdez, Brennan Palmer, Scott Lianos, Walt Benson and Brett Holmes.
To Michael Mutnansky, who took me under his wing as a correspondent for Friday Night Lights. That radio show, next to all the new house and new baby stuff, was by far the highlight of my year. And if not for FNL, my resume would not have looked nearly as good.
And to Foster's Daily Democrat, who is taking a chance on this guy. I promise I won't let you down.
*****Coming soon: I WILL write about the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and my impressions of the Gill Stadium experience. Plus, I have a lot to say about my experience at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, where I saw the Florida Marlins beat the Braves last Saturday night. (Coincidentally, I was just back from a trip to Florida in 2002 when I was offered the job at 610. If ever I pursue another job in sports, I'll be off to Florida immediately after the interview).
John Doyle is a sportswriter for Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover, New Hampshire.
The Boston Bruins have been eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Montreal beat the Bruins last night at the Fleet Center, 2-0, clinch the series, four games to three, after having trailed in the series three games to one after four games.
What galls me most about the way the Bruins cheesed this series away is that I actually cared about this series. Despite my growing disinterest in the Bruins and the NHL (bordering on outright contempt), I decided to pay attention to this series because it was, for me, a throwback to a bygone era. Boston-Montreal in the playoffs, a seemingly annual rite of spring up until about a decade ago, seemed to have gone the way of the Hartford Whalers and rotary telephones. This was due in large part due the NHL changing their playoff format to de-stress divisional rivalries, and the overall crappiness of both the Bruins and Canadiens.
But here we were, Spring of 2004, and the Habs were in town for the playoffs for the second time in three years. Sure, the NHL was a shell of the league I once knew and loved. Sure, the league had pretty much betrayed loyal hockey fans and sold itself out under the delusion that there was money to be made marketing themselves to hicks and rednecks. Sure, the league was running itself into the ground by giving way too much money to hockey players, who used the cash to by cellular phones, Ferraris and Armani suits, but still kept their ridiculous mullets. And sure, due to the league's windmill-chasing and failure to keep salaries and overhead low, it was headed toward a gut-wrenching and potentially fatal labor dispute that is poised to shut down the league for months if not years. None of that mattered. The Habs were in town for the playoffs, the Bruins seemed determined to avenge their inexcusable loss to the eigth-ranked Canadiens in 2002, and for one brief moment (specifically after Glen Murray's overtime goal in Game 4), the NHL was exciting to me again.
One needs to look no further than my column of April 7 to understand why I think the NHL needs a serious scrubbing. I will not get into that again today. And look, I am not saying that a win last night would have made me forget about the league's problems. And I certainly do not suggest that had the Bruins not p*ssed the playoff series away, they would have been successful in rounds two, three or four. And had they gone all the way, I doubt it would have meant all that much to me. But when I am able to put my distaste for the NHL aside and embrace this opportunity to root for a local sports team that was such a large part of my youth, not to mention one that had been up THREE GAMES TO ONE in this series, then yeah, it hurts when they cannot beat the damn Habs.
*****Getting my mind off the Bruins, I attended my first New Hampshire Fisher Cats game at Gill Stadium earlier tonight. I will have a full review of the events in an upcoming blog.
As of this morning, when one types the words SPORTS WRITER into Yahoo.com, this page comes up fourth out of eleven and a half million. Type in JOHN DOYLE SPORTS and this site is ninth out of 419,000.
*****The 2004 NFL Schedule was released earlier this week, and once again, fans of the Defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots are getting screwed. As in 2002, the last time the Defending Super Bowl Champions were the Defending Super Bowl Champions, the Pats are playing on only TWO, count 'em, TWO Monday Nights. The very first Monday Night Football game of 2004, which traditionally features the previous season's Super Bowl Champion, will feature Super Bowl LOSERS Carolina hosting Green Bay, who have been rewarded with THREE, count 'em, THREE appearances on MNF this season. Other atrocities: the AFC will not make a Monday Night appearance until week FOUR (Kansas City at Baltimore), and FOUR teams other than Green Bay will appear on MNF more often than New England: Philadelphia, Dallas, Kansas City and St. Louis. All of whom, I should mention, have fewer Super Bowl victories than New England did last year.
This is a slap in the face to fans of the Best Run Franchise in Professional Sports, not to mention almost completely inexplicable. Is Boston not among the largest television markets in the country? Are not defending Super Bowl Champions supposed to be featured often on MNF? Did Tampa Bay not appear on Monday Night not once, not twice, but thrice last season?
To be honest, I don't know why I complain. In fact, I hate Monday Night Football. I loved it when I was living in New Mexico, and the game would be on at seven, just an hour or so after I would get home from work. But who needs to stay up until one in the morning on a weeknight?
And, to be fair, the Patriots are featured on the very first NFL game of the year, on Thursday, September 9, a game that will be featured nationally on ABC. I suppose that counts as a "Monday Night" game. But if you look at this 2004's MNF schedule, it seems to be tailor made for wussy boy John Madden, who is too scared to get his fat ass on an airplane. The MNF crew goes from Foxboro to Charlotte to Philadelphia to Washington to Baltimore in the first four weeks. They only hit the West Coast once, December 6th at Seattle.
*****Red Sox have taken two from the Yankees. Sorry, can't get excited about this one until, oh, I don't know, the Sox do the same thing in the playoffs. But before this column becomes completely corrupt with negativity, you can't ask for more than what the Sox have given us in the last two days. Wake and Schilling looked great, A-Rod and Jeter looked like buffoons, and for now, all is right in Red Sox Nation.
I'll take in my first baseball game of the season on Tuesday night when I ride up to Maine to see the Sea Dogs take on the Trenton Thunder. Game time temperature is supposed to be in the thirties. Could be a test. I regret missing the first Fisher Cats home game ever, but there is a long season ahead.
*****The Boston Celtics opened their 2004 playoff run this afternoon and lost (gasp!), 104-88 to Indiana. I love that Game Seven (in case you are planning a trip to Bizzaro World) is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4, a mere SEVENTEEN DAYS from now. Leave it to the NBA to not only contrive the postseason to include at least eleven teams that have no chance whatsoever at winning the title, but to make each round last three weekends to maximize the "drama."
The Sports Writer to Be might soon be losing the "to Be" from his title. Stay tuned . . .
There is dancing in the streets. Cars are being overturned. Church bells are ringing. Sports fans from Fort Kent, Maine to Greenwich, Connecticut rejoice. New England has seen all it believes in, every single one of its sporting dreams, fulfilled. If you wonder why the city of Boston--nay, the enitre six-state region--sounds different, feels different, it is simple.
The Celtics have clinched a playoff spot.
That's right--less than a week since the University of Connecticut (the crown jewel of New England institutions of higher learning) won both NCAA Division I basketball titles, the New England sports fan is once again basking in the glory of another highly successful, deeply motivated, championship-driven bunch of young men.
How long New Englanders have waited for this day! Twenty-nine teams in the NBA, and only a mere sixteen make it to the post-season party. The Celtics have solidified themselves as a bona fide member of the NBA's elite.
And you know what the greatest thing is? The Celtics and their fans can bask in the glory of actually accomplishing something. By being better than Cleveland, with the NBA's number one draft pick, Philadelphia, a team that made the NBA Finals three years ago, Toronto, which is named after a type of dinosaur, Atlanta, which hosted the Olympics, Washington, our nation's capital, Chicago, which at one time was good, and Orlando, home of the Gatorland Zoo, the Celtics have proven themselves to all doubters. No one thought they could do it--but they did.
And the way they clinched--surely this will be talked about for generations to come as one of the most breathtaking and spellbinding events in New England sports lore. The Red Sox' Impossible Dream season of 1967, last year's "Cowboy Up" Sox team that almost went to the World Series, Doug Flutie's pass against Miami, the Patriots' World Championships in 2001 and 2003, are nothing compared to what the Celtics had to go through, waiting around their hotel in Miami to find out that they fell ass-backwards into the playoffs despite having lost five straight.
Bring on the Pacers! Surely Jermaine O'Neal, Reggie Miller and company are just hoping to survive games 1 and 2, before they have to come to the Fleet Center and all the crazy fans! I certainly will not wait to gobble up tickets. Oh yeah, I will camp outside the Fleet Center tonight just to be first in line to fork over two-hudred and forty bones to see the Boston Freaking Celtics get mauled in the first round of a tournament they have absolutely no business being in.
Curse the NBA and their contrived, high-falutin buls--- joke of a postseason format.
Random Notes:
*****VERY interesting article in today's Manchester Union-Leader concerning the ongoing saga of former WMUR sports director Charlie Sherman. I have met "the Sherm" and he is a very friendly and jovial guy. But if I may, two comments; one, if I were an HR manager for a large or small company, I would clip the article and post it in the employee break room under the heading "this is why you should control your temper at work." Two, while "the Sherm" is, once again, a perfectly friendly and happy guy, his "I'm just a regular sports fan who happens to be a sports anchor" act was wearing thin. After thirteen years, you would think the guy would learn to read a TelePrompTer, and, oh, I don't know, WRITE THINGS DOWN before he went on the air.
*****High School LACROSSE is underway in New Hampshire, and for the first time, the three Manchester public schools are represented on the pitch. I have never seen a lacrosse (or "LAX") game, but I have seen it on television. Seems like kind of a funny sport. I do not know much about it other than it was invented by native americans, is played on a high level at boarding schools such as St. Paul's, Phillips Exeter, Choate and Avon Old Farms, and is wildly popular in Canada. And I know Johns Hopkins has a kick-ass team. I cannot think of another sport where Johns Hopkins has a competitive team, but I guess those pre-med kids kick ass on the Lacrosse field.
*****Got a trip to Florida coming up, but if you run into my wife, don't say anything. It is a surprise. Don't worry, she doesn't read the blog. On a sports-related note, I do plan to catch the Braves and the World Champion Florida Marlins at Pro Player on the 24th. I wonder if there will be any tickets available?
*****Upcoming blog topics: why the NBA Playoffs, as a whole, suck so bad, especially compared to the NCAA Tournament, the rapid encroachment of advertising in sports, the season openers for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and Portland Sea Dogs, a review of the book Bleachers by John Grisham, and why I believe, despite my general lack of interest in the NHL, the playoffs kick ass.
John Doyle is a sports blogger from Dover, New Hampshire
*****The Red Sox had their season opener at Fenway yesterday, complete with all the bells and whistles that are appropriate for a team that has not won a World Championship in eighty-six seasons. The Sox unveiled a new seating area in right field (how many more seats can they cram into that outdated dump of a stadium?), Sox greats from days of yore, and for the second time in three years, the World Champion New England Patriots. The greatest owner in the history of American professional sports, Bob Kraft, threw out the first pitch.
After the pitch, the Red Sox came out of the dugout and onto the field to greet the NFL champs, and a lot of handshaking and hugging ensued. Now, I am usually a "glass-half-full" guy. But I am also a Red Sox fan, which trumps all other considerations. When the "love-fest" commenced, I could have seen it as a chance for some of the good vibes and winning ways of the Patriots to rub off on our beloved Sox. But no, I could not help but think that it was the Sox and their putrid ability to piss away golden opportunites rubbing off on the Pats. That said, the Patriots are doomed. I am not saying that they will finish in last place or even miss the playoffs. But something bad will happen. For instance, finding themselves in the same exact game-ending situation in next year's Super Bowl, up by three with seconds left needing only to successfully defend the kickoff, the Patriots will somehow let the return man run 95 yards for the score. And dammit, when that happens, if I won't be thinking about that love-fest with the Red Sox ten months earlier . . . .
*****Frozen Four final is tonight, Denver vs. Maine. The final features a team that represents the city in which my father, college hockey fan extraordinaire, was born and grew up, one that represents the state in which he now resides, fifty-five years and one day after his birth.
Maine comes into the game having one eight straight, each by only one goal. They should win their third National Championship, and I cannot stand it. While you have to be happy to see a Hockey East team represent at the Frozen Four, Maine keeps on winning and winning while UNH keeps on waiting and waiting.
Denver, on the other hand, showed great resilience and tenacity in coming back against Minnesota-Duluth the other night. They could win if they are able to shut out the mystique of the Black Bears and what will certainly be a partisan crowd at the Fleet Center. This is, after all, a program that has won five national championships, three more than Maine. However, the Pioneers' last title came in 1969, five years before they were even playing Division I hockey up in Orono.
My prediction: Maine 4, Denver 3. Damn Black Bears.
*****Back to baseball. On Monday, Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-times wrote about the upcoming season in Chicago:
Yet, somehow, there also is optimism. Look in the mirror. See your eyeballs tingling with hope, your face flush with confidence, your tongue ready to tangle with any fan of the crosstown team who gives you lip. On April 5, no issue is inconquerable and no autumn goal unreachable. Unlike the start of a Bears season, which will bring a sense of drudgery until a coach establishes himself as a keeper, baseball season still carries a promise that maybe, just maybe, this is the year your father, grandfather and great-grandfather awaited. And, shhhhhhhhhhh, never mind that the Cubs and White Sox haven't won a championship since the days of silent movies. The reset button of every fan is pushed anyway, regardless of the strong likelihood of more anguish and suffering.
While I agree with Mariotti, I cannot help but think about what baseball fans in Kansas City, Montreal, Arlington and St. Petersburg think about all this. I hope that the irony is not lost on them. The irony that Chicago, a die-hard baseball town, still believes and hopes that a championship awaits them in baseball, a sport which has the most uneven playing field of any pro sport, while the same fans approach the upcoming NFL season with "drudgery." Have fans in Chicago not seen the last seven Super Bowls? Is there not hope for every franchise in the NFL? And is there even one baseball fan in any of the four cities I mentioned who is making plans for a ticker-tape parade in his town in October?
Personally, I find it interesting that the whole "this is the year" mentality is so storied in baseball, thanks in large part to the suffering of fans in Boston and Chicago, whose teams' colossal failures have become part of baseball's lore. In reality, it is the NFL which provides fans of all thirty-two franchises a true reason to believe that any given season could in fact be "the year." With only sixteen regular-season games, more available playoff spots, and far more importantly, COMPREHENSIVE REVENUE SHARING and a SALARY CAP, the NFL is truly the one part of the sporting landscape where "hope springs eternal."
John Doyle is a freelance sports writer from Dover, New Hampshire, and the editor of sportswriter2b.com He can be reached at UNMdoyle98@hotmail.com
BETHEL, MAINE--The Sports Writer to Be takes his show on the road this week, writing to you from his hotel in Bethel, Maine.
--The University of Connecticut has won the National Championship in Division I basketball on both the Men's and the Women's side. Such a feat has never been accomplished before and likely may never happen again. Such a feat is not necessarily unprecedented, as pointed out by Bob Ryan in yesterday's Boston Globe. For instance, Middlebury won the men's and women's ice hockey championships in Division III this year. Hats off to the Middlebury teams, but let's face it: Division I basketball is, quite simply, a much more vast land to conquer, and this morning, the Huskie men and women are kings of two very large mountains. There are three-hundred twenty-six teams in NCAA Division I Men's basketball, and nearly as many on the Women's side. That means, if the champions were determined by pulling two names out hats, the same team would come out of both hats only once every three and a half centuries or so.
Consider this fact about Diana Taurasi and the women's team. The Lady Huskies made the Final Four each of the last four years, eliminated in the semi-finals in 2001 and winning it all in the last three years. That means the Lady Huskies' record in the NCAA tournament alone is twenty-two and one. How many programs, men's and women's, would give anything just to have a twenty-two and one season?
Diana Taurasi is an absolute joy to watch. She embodies everything that is good about sports, and specifically women's sports. That she plays with heart, determination, talent and drive goes without saying. What she has, though, that makes her so much fun to watch, is the joy of basketball that is so evident in the woman's eyes whenever she takes the court. And that is why the women's game is gaining so much well-deserved ground.
Save me the arguments about the physical differences between the men's and the women's game. I get it: they're different, period. If you prefer one style of basketball simply based on the physical differences, then so be it. To me, the women's game is different not because it is played under the rim, or that it does not depend on low-post play, hot-shot slam dunks or a quick three pointer. It is different because the women, for the most part, play the game with a joy that is missing in the men's game. And Diana Taurasi is a big part of that.
--It must be spring in Boston, the Habs are in town. As irrelevant as the Bruins and the NHL have become in my life lately, I have a lot of emotion riding on this series, and I hope the B's do well. For one, the NHL as we know it will not exist after this season. If, in fact, the NHL is headed for an apocalyptic work stoppage in an attempt to give the league a much-needed scrubbing, then I applaud the cleanup. I certainly will not miss the NHL as it exists now, with teams awarded with a point for an overtime loss, franchises awarded to Nashville, Atlanta and (the most heinous) Raleigh-Durham, and pros playing in the Olympics.
But I DO miss the NHL of old. I miss the Hartford Whalers and the Quebec Nordiques. I miss the Old Garden, Maple Leaf Gardens and the old Montreal Forum. I miss the Smythe, Norris, Patrick and Adams Divisions. I miss the Clarence Campbell and Prince of Wales Conferences. I miss a third of the league playing in Canada. I miss two points for a win, one point each for a tie and zero points for a loss. I miss an eighty-game season that eliminated only five teams. I miss the only way to not make the playoffs would be to finish in dead last (or next to last in the Patrick). I miss the first two rounds of the playoffs matching up division rivals only.
While none of the things I loved about the old NHL will ever come back (although I am holding out hope that they will reverse that STUPID overtime-loss rule), the Bruins and Canadiens are one seemingly annual rite of spring (made all the more rare with the league expanding by almost forty percent in the last decade) that still reminds me of why I loved the NHL so much during my teenage years. And should the Bruins go "Patriots" on New England over the next seven to nine weeks, then that will make the inevitable greusome lockout that much easier to stomach.
--In case your wondering, here is a quick rundown of the changes to the NHL I would make: return the Whalers to Hartford. Immediately. Move the Nashville Predators to Milwaukee, the Atlanta Thrashers to Seattle, one of the Southern California teams to Rochester, NY, and one of the Florida teams to Omaha. The rest of the Sun Belt teams would stay. Shorten the season to sixty games, or, better yet, keep the season at eighty-two games but reduce the number of playoff teams to eight. Get Disney out of the league. Forget about a national TV contract. Keep overhead low. Get rid of the four-on-four for overtime. And did I mention that I hate the overtime-loss rule? Think about it: a team could potentially LOSE all of its games, but make the playoffs by virtue of having 82 bogus "points." Oh, and one more thing: apologize to every true hockey fan north of the Mason-Dixon line for insulting their intelligence by dumbing-down and "Disney-fying" the league to cater to a bunch of rednecks and hicks, who, by the way, had no intention of ever taking your sport seriously.
John Doyle is off to find some fresh Maine blueberries.
Another baseball season is upon us, and this columnist will break with tradition. Here you will not read about what a joy baseball brings, how every spring fills me with excitement and how I just cannot wait to get to the old ballyard. As I write this screed in my Dover office, I look outside and see miserable weather. It has rained non-stop in New England for four days, with two more being forecast. There is even talk of snow tonight and a messy early morning commute tomorrow. The Red Sox and Orioles are set to start their 2004 campaigns in just a couple of hours, and the Fisher Cats and Sea Dogs kick off their home schedules in eleven days.
This is not to say that I am not excited about baseball. I love baseball--it is, hands-down, my favorite sport, and I love it for all of the reasons any American sports fan loves it. I am just not ready for it. I am a true New Englander, who loves baseball mostly because it goes hand-in-hand with every New Englander's favorite season, summer. It just isn't summer yet. It is early spring.
Baseball in New England in April means high school players shagging flies in the parking lot. It means college teams taking long weekend trips to Georgia and Oklahoma. It means helicopters hovering over Hadlock Field, Gill Stadium and Fenway Park, desperately trying to disperse the water from leftover snow, in time for season openers. It means fans packing Fenway for the Sox' first home game, and sporadic crowds, bundled from head-to-toe, the rest of the month. It means starting times of six o'clock on weeknights. It means the indescribable sting of hitting a baseball with a metal bat in cold weather.
Get back to me in May. Sure, I will brave it for a couple of games in April. But I hit the ballyard in full-force when the warm weather swings by our six-state region. I, with the rest of New England, will have the Sox and the voice of Jerry Trupiano booming through my radio when I can sit out on my porch when I can wear sandals instead of socks and shoes. I will be there when I do not have to grab my coat. I will be there when the beer is refreshing, not the same temperature as the air I breathe. I will be there when the lazy summer afternoon sun turns to a soft, cool, inviting twilight. When the full power of the lights does not catch on until the middle of the fifth inning, you will know where to find me.
More baseball notes:
--The Red Sox made their final 25-man Opening Day Roster public today. There are only six players on the Sox younger than me: Bronson Arroyo, Jamie Brown, Byung-Hyun Kim, Scott Williamson, Gabe Kapler and Dave Ortiz. That is refreshing news for a man about to enjoy the last baseball season of his 20s.
--Weather for Baltimore tonight: windy, showers and cold.
--Boston.com, one of my favorite websites, unveiled a new Red Sox page this weekend. I think it is excellent. It features links to the most recent baseball columns by Dan Shaughnessy, Bob Ryan, Jackie MacMullan, and Michael Holley. It also features Eric Wilbur's weblog, plus the mailbags of Jerry Remy, Tom Caron, and Sox beat writer Gordon Edes. I urge everyone to go there for up-to-date information on the Olde Towne Team. It is better than the official Red Sox site, which is nothing but a propaganda machine.
John Doyle will frequent Gill Stadium and Hadlock Field this summer. He will also go to the beach.
Final Four is upon us and once again, the most attractive matchup, Duke vs. UConn, appears to be in the first round. And the debate rages, for what seems like the nintieth year in a row, as to whether or not the Final Four teams should be re-seeded in order to provide the possibility of a more attractive matchup in the final game.
Let's just get this out of the way right now. I am against the re-seeding of the Final Four, for a few reasons. Most importantly, to me, it would add a new and unwelcome dimension to one of my favorite rituals of spring: filling out my bracket as soon as the field of 65 is announced. How would this be accomplished if there was a chance the Final Four teams would be shifted? Would I also have to predict who would play whom, in addition to who would win?
Secondly, re-seeding would be completely phony. Look, there are three hundred and twenty-six teams in Division I. When you get to the last remaining four (once again, out of three hundred and freaking twenty-six), I think you could make the case that each of those four is pretty damn good. Perhaps a certain matchup would provide more drama, given the storylines and history behind any two given teams, but with regards to this particular Final Four, I think Duke and Connecticut are in good company with Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech.
Finally, what happens if you do re-seed the Final Four, and then one of the two "less attractive" teams pulls an upset? Then the two "more attractive" teams do not meet at all--a classic case of "if it ain't broke . . . "
But do not give me any of this garbage that the teams should not be re-seeded because it couldn't be done. It would not be that hard to do. In the case of this year's finalists, it would be simple. Duke is a #1 seed--they would face Georgia Tech, a #3. UConn and Oklahoma State, both #2s, would slug it out in the other semifinal. If there are three or four of the same seed in the semifinals, then break the tie by referring to the RPI or Sagarin ratings.
Even simpler, rank all tournament entrants 1 through 65, get rid of the ridiculous regions, and re-seed the teams when they get to the Final Four. Or, better yet, re-seed the teams after each weekend. The latter scenario would radically change the office-pool tradition if not eliminate it altogether, make it virtually impossible for a lower seed to go deep into the tournament, and be a nightmare for tournament organizers. But it would provide for a more perfect tournament and keep open the possibility that any two teams could possibly meet in the national final.
*****The Sports Writer to Be is back from a couple of days in Vermont. Here are some picked-up pieces while having my fill of maple, cheese and maple cheese . . .
--I cannot believe I actually did better picking two Final Four teams correct in the basketball tournament but only one correct in the hockey tournament. Duke and Oklahoma State (my eventual national champion) made me proud in roundball and BC is my baby in pucks. I had Minnesota winning their third straight Frozen Four, and I had them beating BC in the final. Since the Gophers will be at home in two weeks, I will go with BC to win another title at the Fleet. I just hope it's not Maine. Please, please, not Maine. Not at least until UNH wins one first.
--Had a good time watching the Yankees lose to the Devil Rays in Japan this morning, while enjoying my breakfast (homemade waffles with real Vermont maple syrup!) at my hotel in St. Johnsbury. Yeah, yeah, I have heard all the arguments against taking the sacred American Tradition of Opening Day overseas to Japan, and frankly, I do not buy it.
Yes, it is an inconvenience for the players to have to travel halfway around the world to do their job. It is certainly inconvenient for fans to have to get up at five a.m. to watch their favorite team on Opening Day. But the Japanese love it. America exports its culture better than any nation on Earth. Any chance our great country has to share something it does best with another nation cannot be viewed negatively.
--I saw one of my favorite sportswriters at the Verizon--Michael Holley of the Boston Globe! He looked good--about the same height as me, and a class act all the way. Told him I love his work, he replied "Thanks, man." Made my day.
John Doyle will not wear his hair like Michael Holley
Fighting a cold and unable to sleep, there's no better time than right now to update the old blog.
--Caps off to anyone (and you know who you are) who picked Xavier to make the Elite Eight. The fascinating thing about Xavier's success is how good it makes St. Joseph's look. St. Joe's enters the Elite Eight undefeated save for one loss--to a team that also made the Elite Eight. Perhaps I should change my bracket . . .
--But I still have Oklahoma State as my eventual champion. Duke is still alive in my Final Four (Gonzaga and Maryland are my others). I believe the Cowboys are the toughest team in the tournament, and should prevail in tomorrow's regional championship. But oh, wouldn't a St. Joe's-Xavier final be great? It ain't gonna happen, but it is nice to dream that maybe, just maybe, the conglomerate universities could be shut out for just one year.
--The days of Magic and Bird battling it out on the University of Utah's gymnasium, or Jim Valvano looking for someone to hug on the floor of the famous Pit on the campus of the University of New Mexico are long gone. The NCAA tournament has moved, for the most part, for the most part, from the intimate, on-campus gyms, to the spacious and antiseptic arenas and domes. Still, the NCAA insists on clinging to the ideal that these major sporting events are still held on "campus" sites, no matter how tacky it appears. Does the NCAA really think it's fooling anyone by slapping "Arizona State University" on the floor of America West Arena, where the colors of the lanes and sidelines are obviously those of the NBA's Phoenix Suns? Or how about the floor at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta with a tiny "GT" painted near the sidelines, as if we're supposed to think that this floor--with the orange sherbet lanes--is the home floor of the Yellowjackets?
It reached a particularly absurd level last year when the first- and-second rounds were held in Boston's Fleet Center. The games were played on the Fleet's legendary parquet floor, which is the home of the Boston Celtics. The Celtics' logo was replaced with an NCAA logo, but everything else about the floor was recognizable, save for a completely out-of-place Boston College logo placed just north of the lane. Since when does BC wear green? BC was the official "host" of the tournament, but tacking the BC logo on the Celtics' parquet was not fooling anyone. I am not suggesting the tournament should have been held at BC's Silvio O. Conte Forum, but how much trouble would it have been to load up the BC floor from the Conte and truck it over to the Fleet?
--Over to pucks: Looking forward to regional action at the Verizon tomorrow afternoon (I notice the V re-painted the ice to remove all advertising and references to the Manchester Monarchs--why can't the basketball tournament organizers do the same to their wooden floor?) BC plays Niagara in game one followed by Michigan and UNH. I would love to see UNH advance, but I do not think their team this year has the depth that last year's team (which lost to Minnesota in the National Final) had.
My prediction of Maine failing to get out of the Northeast region almost came true this afternoon, and things were looking pretty good when Harvard had a three-goal lead in the third in Albany. But those damn Black Bears. Maine wins it 5-4 and are looking a lot better tonight than the team that struggled to beat BU and UMass at the Fleet Center a week ago.
--Tony Kornheiser left his ESPN radio show today. Not that I ever got to listen to it--I work during the day and there is no ESPN Radio affiliate near where I live--but it was a great show and would be missed. His show was great because he limited his interviews to fellow sportswriters and broadcasters--no athletes. Of course I want to hear what athletes have to say, but it was refreshing that there was one small coner of the media--Kornheiser's show--that not only refused to interview self-serving athletes and their egos, they were actually proud of that fact.
It is ironic that Kornheiser is a celebrity judge on the ESPN reality show "Dream Job." If anyone had a "dream job," it was Kornheiser--host of his own daily radio and television show in addition to writing a column for the Washington Post. In addition to that, he rarely interviews atheltes for any of his media nor does he attend many sporting events in person.
--I was on the road this week at a college fair in Connecticut. Just like when the Red Sox were in the playoffs during the fall college fair season, this one emptied out pretty quick as soon as tip-off of the UConn-Vanderbilt game approached. Sweet.
On the way back to New Hampshire this afternoon, I got a rare chance to listen to the Jim Rome show. He announced the next stop on his famed World Tour will be Albuquerque, May 15th at the Journal Pavilion. I of course will not be able to attend but it was great to hear Romey talk about Albuquerque and my old station, 610 The Sports Animal.
--Looking for a funny, non-offensive website to browse? If you have a few minutes, click here. Trust me, it's not offensive.
John Doyle is nursing a cold. Look for "Save John" to be painted on the Hampton Beach water tower sometime this weekend.
Time to take a deep breath as March Madness rolls along . . .
By John Doyle, Sports Writer to Be
--Bracket is shot to hell. And not just because Kentucky, Gonzaga and Stanford are out. I just pick too many damn first-round upsets, and this year there were only four. Then I played it relatively safe in the second round, and that is where it all went downhill. My eventual national champion, Oklahoma State, is still alive, but that is about all I have going for me right now. I currently stand in last place in the ECSN pool and I shudder to think where I stand in the Sportswriter to Be pool.
Last week I told Mike "Mut Man" Mutnansky that I fill out brackets in my sleep. Fact is, I do not do it well.
--Had a great time in Boston Friday night for the Hockey East semifinals. Would have been nice to see UNH win their third straight HE tournament title, but the night belonged to the Black Bears and the Minutemen. Maine wins it all the next night, 2-1 in Triple OT.
The NCAA hockey bracket is out. UNH is playing Michigan at the Verizon Wireless arena in Manchester, and it will be one-and-done for the 'Cats. While I will not be filling out a full bracket for this one, I will go with a Frozen Four of North Dakota, Minnesota, Boston College and a dark horse, Wisconsin. I cannot go with Maine out of the East, given that despite winning the HE over the weekend, they only managed to put the puck in the net thrice in almost nine periods against Boston University and UMass, two non-tournament teams. That does not play in the Big Dance, baby. Minnesota over Boston College in an all-maroon-and-gold final, with the Gophers winning it all for the third straight year, which is exactly as I predicted before the season began. Perhaps that will save me from my ignominious performance in the Men's hoop bracket.
--Merrimack makes it two in a row in New Hampshire hoops, with a 78-70 win over Salem in the final last Saturday at the Whittemore Center. I was scolded (mildly) on the air Saturday morning by Mut Man and "The Baseball Benny" for claiming that Merrimack "sneaked" into the championship game, but let us look at it this way. When you have two teams in the state, one of which is undefeated and the other is undefeated save for one loss against the undefeated team, which came in front of a sold-out crowd in a college gym, then I would say that if any team other than those two makes it to the championship game, they sneaked in. Same goes for Salem.
All in all, it was a tight, crisp game. Both teams ran the floor well and hit their shots. In the second half, Salem started to slip away, perhaps as a result of the "championship fatigue" I claimed might set in. The Devils won the state hockey championship in the very same building earlier that week, then won two exciting, grueling games in the quarter- and semifinals of the basketball tournament. While what happens on the hockey rink should have no bearing on what happens on the basketball court, there is no question that the energy generated by the hockey team's win (an overtime thriller against Manchester Memorial) carried over into the daily lives of Salem High School's students, and, consequently, their basketball team. Perhaps four big wins in seven days would have been just too much for Salem to handle.
Salem's demise was solidified when, with three minutes left and down by ten, they started heaving desparation threes as if there were only a minute remaining on the clock. Then, with two minutes left and Merrimack up twelve, the Merrimack student section filed down behind the net where they would, in an orderly fashion, storm the court. I thought that was a little premature on the part of the Tomahawk fans, and it would have been great to see Salem come back at that point and make the Merrimack fans re-take their seats.
Although I have long been an advocate of holding the state championship basketball game in the Lundholm Gymnasium instead of the cavernous Whittemore Center, I will say that the atmosphere at the Whitt was surprisingly appropriate for the championship game. A larger-than-expected crowd showed up, and although the end zones were still empty, the crowd was behind the hockey boards, the old, lame UNH logo was on the floor and the place was adorned with hockey banners, everyone had a good time and made a lot of noise.
John Doyle thinks Michigan's hockey helmets look stupid
It was supposed to be "Prelude to a Championship." It was supposed to be a warm-up for the big one on Saturday. It was supposed to be Central and Trinity. It will not be.
The Central game was a matter of Merrimack, defending state champions, being able to hold on to a slim lead for a long time. Central, who had overcome similar situations in their previous two playoff games, simply ran out of time. In the final seconds of the game, with Central down by two and in possession of the ball at their own baseline, got tangled up in a swarm of Merrimack defenders and was not able to get off a shot. It became a jump-ball situation, and the possession arrow was pointing in Merrimack's direction--with only one-point-one seconds left.
It did not hurt Merrimack that Central's top shooter, Tyler Roche, only contributed ten points in the loss. He only had fourteen in the overtime win over Dover the night before, and only 10 in the opening round against Pinkerton--a very disappointing shooting performance in the playoffs for a young man who was averaging over 20 a night down the stretch.
This game took place less than twenty-four hours after the matchup was set, due to a snowstorm which postponed Tuesday night's quarterfinal action to Wednesday night. Fatigue might have been a factor in the low score, but m opinion is that the lack of a rest day had no effect on the outcome. Both teams were in the same situation, and even had the games been played on schedule, both teams certainly would have spent Wednesday practicing and diligently preparing. I do believe the lack of a night off on Wednesday could affect Merrimack come Saturday, for they will be playing in their third game in four nights, while Salem will be playing their third in six.
As for Trinity, I would like to tell you that they lost in heroic fashion, fitting of the fine young men we were led to believe made up the fabric of this team. They handled the loss terribly. Seven-foot West Virginia-bound Luke Bonner was a non-factor in this one, his considerable talent and ability to take over and dominate a game almost nonexistent in the second half. He fouled out of the game with about a minute and a half left, with his team hopelessly out of the game, on a play that should have been called flagrant--not a fitting end to a distinguished high school career. He walked off the court bewildered, knowing his next game of organized basketball will be in the Big East.
Chris Lutz, another Trinity standout, finished with sixteen points and took the loss very, very hard. He was inconsolable, audibly wailing with tears streaming down his face. He spent the last minute of the game isolated on the bench, pounding the empty seat next to him. He seemed to be saying, "what went wrong?" It was tough to watch. Even tougher to watch was an extremely emotional Trinity cheerleader standing near the jubilant Salem crowd, engaging in a verbal spar with one of them. It became so heated the police took notice.
Saturday it will be Salem and Merrimack at the Whittemore Center. I have long been a critic of holding the state championship finals in the cavernous Whitt. The seats at Lundholm were filled to the rafters last night, adding an element of excitement and urgency to these fantastic basketball events. On Saturday, it just will not be the same, with the fans further from the court and the empty endzone seats. Plus, the basketball floor at the Whitt still has UNH's old color scheme and lame Wildcat logo. I wish this game would be at the Lundholm Gym. But I guess the NHIAA needs the revenue and does not want to have to turn away a paying customer, which they might have to do if they play the game in the small Lundholm gym.
All winter long I had been counting on a Central-Trinity showdown on March 20. It is now March 19 and it is hard to believe it will not happen. But Merrimack and Salem will provide an excellent basketball game. Merrimack will be going for their second straight basketball championship and Salem, as a school, will be going for their second winter sports championship in the Whittemore Center in seven days. The Salem hockey team beat Memorial, 3-2, in overtime for the Division I hockey title. The basketball team already has two major upsets under their belt, beating West 53-52 Monday night, plus last night's upset over Trinity. That is three big wins, do the Blue Devils and their fans have energy for a fourth? Methinks they might.
Listen to my championship preview on the "Saturday Sports Page," Saturday morning from 10 to noon on WKBR, WKXL and WTPL (107.7 FM).
*****Heading down to Boston today for an annual rite of spring: the Hockey East tournament semifinals! It's UNH vs. UMass in game one and BU vs. Maine in game two. Click here to read an excellent article about UNH Hobey Baker finalist Steve Saviano, written by Jackie MacMullan in today's Boston Globe. Ms. MacMullan does not write a lot about college hockey, and she does a good job here.
*****Day one of the NCAA men's basketball tournament is over and my bracket is all !@#%-ed up. I went seven for sixteen in day one action, and now I am in LAST PLACE in the ECSN on-line pool. Yikes. Hey, I thought Air Force had a shot against North Carolina in the thin air of Denver.
CBS's coverage has once again been excellent, but what is the deal with their team name abbreviations at the top of the screen? Vermont is VERM? How about UVM or just VT? Air Force Academy is AIR F? How about AFA? And since when is Seton Hall HALL? Just keep it at SH, thank you very much. What would New Mexico be if they were in? NEW M? N MEX? XICO? NECO? It almost makes me glad the UNM program has been in the toilet for the last three years.
Speaking of teams in the toilet, of the upsets yesterday, I was happiest to see Manhattan over Florida. I did not pick the Jaspers in my bracket, nor did I pick Florida to go all the way as I did last year. But I am happy because it proves that programs with Fran Fraschilla's fingerprints are not doomed for life. St John's and New Mexico are still a long way from being anywhere close to respectable, but seeing the Jaspers in the round of 32 gives hope to any Red Storm or Lobo fan.
