Cinderella

What is the true meaning of Cinderella, is it the step daughter that no one loved, that never got invited to the ball, but still managed to get in and steal the heart of the prince. When it comes to college basketball it is a label the we put on teams that come from conferences outside the big money schools like the big east, acc, big ten, etc. Cinderella is the small school from a small university and a small town. A town that knows every player like it was his own son. Cinderella is small America, the heart of a champion but the talent of a division 2 school. They are not on network tv and during the season we never get to see them on our tubes. The Butler bulldogs are once again labeled as Cinderella.
America loves the underdog as evident of last years national championship when the mighty duke blue devils took on small America the Butler bulldogs. A team of scrappers and players that will be going pro on anything else out then sports. the title game that everyone remembers the loser more then the winner. They say the last mid major to win the big dance was the UNLV running rebels but that teams by comparison is far more talented in every meaning of the word. Five starters that went on to have pro careers. No, last years Butler team had one very good player that got everyone's attention and ended up being a First Round Draft Pick by the Utah Jazz and lost by a prayer that almost was answered. This year's team has no such player no superstar just a team that plays the way basketball is meant to be played. They have pulled the buzzer beater against Old Dominion another small school, then they pulled the shocker by defeating the Pittsburgh Panthers from the mighty Big East and a No.1 seed. They took on the Wisconsin Badgers and the Florida Gators in a game of wills that lasted one heart pounding overtime. Then the grudge match against another great Cinderella story the VCU Rams. They resisted being over confident and passed the test. On this date April 4, 2011 they take on the Connecticut Huskies, and their do it all superstar Kemba Walker. There's many reason why Uconn will defeat the Bulldogs but there's only one reason Butler will win on this night, and that is the heart of the champion always prevails against all odds. Tonight is the night that Cinderella finishes the dance she started a year ago. Welcome back little Bulldogs this year your bite will be worst then your bark, make yourself at home and thank you for giving us a chance to believe that David can still beat Goliath.

LET JOE GO

Attention Atlanta Spirit Group let Joe go, its ok if we are a mediocre team this year we have been for the last 10 years why not wait until next year when we have the cap space to get a big free agent. Instead Joe's max contract will eat up our cap space next year. I understand that Atlanta will not be a better team without Joe. But really where will we be a fourth seed getting eliminated or embarrassed again in the second round of the playoffs. The Hawks have many missing pieces they lack size and a point guard that can play both offense and defense, not a shooting guard that can score 20 points a night we have that in Jamal Crawford and we just picked another in Jordan Crawford. So what gives why sign a player to max salary when all he does is disappears in the fourth quarter and in the playoffs all together. A player who is no where near a vocal leader for this team and one that dismissed every hawks fan that pays his salary. This is a very bad decision by the Atlanta hawks they can do without Joe Johnson, they can still make the playoffs without him, and they will still lose in the playoffs with him or without him. Most Atlanta radio station don't want him they are fine if he goes his separate way and so are the fans that support this team. We may not be many but we know when someone kicks us to the curb. If you are the so called leaders of the team and are playing sub basketball you will get booed no matter where you play at. Joe we don't need a number two like you we need a number one. Someone we can rally around who will lead this team to the next level, thank you Joe for getting us this far but now has come the time to look elsewhere. Spirit Group you have made bad decisions upon bad decisions stop wasting our time with your so called basketball knowledge because apparently you have no idea what you are doing. So I say it again let Joe go we will be ok and probably better off without him.

The World Watched

My my my how the mighty have fallen in this edition of World Cup 2010 South Africa style. The semifinals are set and what a surprise when you only have one South American team still standing. No its not Brazil, or Argentina but the ex giants from Uruguay the first world cup winners in 1930. Beating the last African nation, Ghana in what will always be remembered by the controversial play of Suarez blocking a potential game winning score for Ghana with his hand and no ladies and gentlemen he is not their goalie. As for the other South American powerhouse their day went sour early and late given that Brazil was the favorite to win it all, and early in the match against the Netherlands it looked that way. Kaka and Robinho playing an absolutely flawless game but only coming away with one goal in the first half. The passing, the creativity of the Brazilians strikers were a thing of beauty but on this day it was about destiny it was about never giving up waiting for the right moment in the match to take control and hold on for the win and that is what the Netherlands did, they never gave up, they kept the pressure on Brazil until eventually they broke through and yes an own goal was credited to Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo, it doesn't take the fact that the Netherlands was taking the game to the Brazilians. As for Argentina and their energetic coach Diego Maradona well lets just say that they left their soccer game at the hotel room because they didn't show up for this match against the young and feisty Germans who man handled the Argentines from the beginning to the end. They countered every single Argentine scoring chance with a goal of their own. They controlled the ball with so much finesse and crisp passing and at the end Germany's veteran Miroslav Klose broke for two of the Germans four goals making him one goal closer to tying Ronaldo of Brazil for the most goals in world cup history. Lets not forget the Euro champions Spain filled with great names Fernando Torres, and David Villa amongst others they are a team of all stars, but at this time, they are just struggling to put it together. They played a very defensive match against upstart Paraguay who had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Throughout the tournament Paraguay played defense, defense, and more defense. This match was of great goal keeping and never ending defensive approach but as in most matches David Villa of Spain broke through in the 83rd minute of the match to give Spain the win and a chance to prove that they are indeed the best team in this world cup. They still have a long way to prove that but on Wednesday the 7th of July they play against the team that has everybody is talking about, the Germans. this will not be an easy task for Spain even if Germany will be without Thomas Mueller their leading scorer in this World Cup in. As for the Netherlands they fight on against Uruguay "The Celeste" as they are known. Both matches will be hard fought till the end and their is no way one can predict a winner in any of these matches I don't think one could have predicted a winner in any world cup match this year. It has been one crazy ride that will only get crazier till the end. Thank you South Africa for hosting one of the most unpredictable world cup in ages and the best is yet to come. Keep watching, I know i will be!!!!!

Call me a Tradionalist

Call me a traditionalist, or just plain old fashioned but when it comes to fighting, boxing is still king of the ropes or cage which ever you support. After watching the UFC so called match of the century Shane Gerwin vs Brock Lesnar, I have come to the conclusion that UFC is still behind boxing by a long shot. Never can you compare these fights to actual fights of the century in the ring. There is no Leonard vs Hagler no Tyson vs Holyfield, and when the best fight in the world Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather takes place sometime in the near future it will make UFC smaller then Pluto anther ex planet in our solar system. UFC attracts a younger demographic of we want blood, and guts on the floor. But when you watch two tired fights lay on the ground trying to catch their breath for two minutes your attention span goes the other way. There is no techniques no matter how much the announcers say there is its just punches and kick and hopefully someone lands something. Lessner won the match but he did not win me over. He did withstand an onslaught by Gerwin but he threw so many punches that he could barely breathe. The sport is the same as the Roman empire when they pitted gladiators going up against one another till the death. The more blood the people saw the crazier the fans screamed. Techniques were some but more of the swinging wildly and hope that the right punch connects and knocks the opponent to the ground. Their is no feeling each other out, the rounds are for 3 minutes of hold your breathe and wait for the onslaught to begin, like slaughtering a pig till it bleeds to death, that is what UFC is all about. It reminds me more of wresting WWE style the fighters get on each others faces and do this cinematic approach before the fight, to hype it up but at the end you paid 50 dollars for a pay per view event that wasn't worthy. Now we ask how long can UFC last, will it go as far as boxing has. There is no telling, the young demographic cry for UFC but the traditionalist in all of us still want to see the great boxing matches of before and after. In the beginning UFC fights were longer and they basically had no rules. Fights use to last hours until someone could no longer walk and winners usually one by holding an opponent down for hours until he tapped out. Now with rules in place fights last about one round because these fighters lose all their energy in the first two minutes. That is something I don't want to see. I want to see a fight that both opponents take blows and block blows. Toe to toe for the full five or three rounds. I will take my chance with boxing even though the competition has not been the same. We are in a low point of boxing where there isn't that many famous boxers as before, but eventually boxing will be back to its great stage and where will this leave UFC hopefully in video games like UFC 2010.

BC...........Who Cares.........S

Oh what a great idea this seemed like back in 1998 when all the NCAA presidents and the six big conferences got together to start a system that would determine a true college football champion. After many years of having split national champions, thanks to various bowls ties with other conferences that could not be broken thanks to some kind of binding contract, and of course the greed that is never publicized. So the big honchos atop the NCAA came up with the BCS instead of a real playoff system, what a genius idea lets throw some numbers at a computer and let it decide who should be playing for a championship. After all the NCAA has a tournament implemented for the college basketball season, and everyone knows just how much madness goes on in March. So why not a playoff, its not because the student athlete will miss class time, just look at their basketball counterparts playing all over the United States as far as Hawaii and Alaska missing countless class time and then the tournament last a whole month, so that cant be the big excuse. Yes I know that the bowls games are important for the little schools like north Texas and the schools that have at least 6 wins they should get rewarded as well. So why not keep the lesser bowls that always start out bowl week with a dud and a bang. You change the other bowls games and make them playoff games, you will still bring in the same number of fans if not more. These games will add excitement in the building knowing that someone has a chance to move forward. Keep the names keep the sponsors but make them worth so much more for the fans and the players.

The excitement of the season is just taken away when you only have three teams that are in true contention. This year you have Florida, Alabama, and Texas they are good teams but they are not the only undefeated teams in the nation. They are followed by Tcu, Cincinnati, and Boise St respectively these teams are undefeated and have showed that they can play with the big conferences. But the BCS has already penciled in the big three since Florida and Alabama play each other in the SEC championship game later this year by default Texas will play the winner and the rest of college football can take a backseat, not ever knowing if the three behind them can shock the world.

Controversy will always be a part in sports, in college basketball everybody cries about who is in and who is left out. But at the end everyone is satisfied because a true champion earned his trophy by playing for it on the field, or on the court, and not by a computer that gets fed numbers, never seeing the teams play on the field. To me this is the closet one gets to a communist system the computer spits out the two teams and we have to take as that, no ones opinion matter, facts do not matter, even rank position by coaches and media don't matter. How else do your explain Iowa (before they were defeated) the pollsters had them ranked No. 7, but yet the BCS computers had them ranked No. 4 explain that to me, I have been picking my brain apart trying to figure that one for the last four weeks. In reality we will never see Tcu or Boise St. play for a national championship in football. They are playing for respect, and in my opinion they have earned it. Then you have a one loss team like Georgia Tech yea they stumbled earlier in the season against Miami but now they have come on like barn burners, but for what to just sit there and hope for a miracle. Why a miracle because the computers say so, not in words but in beeps.

As fans all we ask for is a chance to see probably the greatest most talked about playoff system ever. Really what is the reason we watch college football, to be disappointed at the end of the season, when the wrong teams are playing in the championship game. How many times has the BCS been tweaked because of flaws in the system. The BCS should just be eliminated, done with, this system just does not work. I know this discussion has been going on for years, and unfortunately we might never see a playoff system for a long time. To much money involved with all the conferences and the bowl sights. T.V. deals are also affecting the change from the BCS. But as fans we can always dream of a clear cut champion. To bad it will only be a dream and the reality that we are stuck with is "what if".

A Living Legend

Take the Skirts Off

Oh how times have changed in the world of professional football. A sport so violent that some parents wouldn't let their kids watch. The players are gladiators that walk amongst us, playing in coliseums and arenas across the country. Giants with great speed and athletic abilities that entertain the masses. In the old days the players wore very little protection, injuries were most common and more often then not players played through them. The money was not great but the recognition was the same as a movie star. They took hits and they didn't wine about them. As the years have gone by the game of football has evolved into something that is not quite as fitting. Now its all about protecting the players or shall I say the investment (Tom Brady). But the great thing about the NFL is that it is not a player driven league. Sure you have superstars but that's not the real reason fans go to the game. They go to the games to see that team that represents their city. They root for the uniform, not just the player. Even when the NFL lost top players to injuries like Joe Montana, and Dan Marino the NFL did not suffer, sure the teams did as far as winning and losing goes. The bottom line is that the league will make more money then most sports in the united states. Basketball is a player driven league. Baseball seems long to most fans outside of the New York or Boston area, and well hockey that's just a mess of its own.
These are the new rules that are changing the game, I am telling you folks get ready for flag football. 1)No blindside block to an opponents head or neck using your helmet, shoulder, or forearm. 2)Contact to the head of a defenseless receiver will draw a 15 yard penalty. 3)A defensive player on the ground may no longer lunge or dive at a quarterbacks lower legs. My problem is the way the officials are interpreting the new rules. They might have well put some skirts on and play touch football because defenses across the league are paying the price. You cannot hit the quarterback the wrong way, you cannot touch a receiver. What happens if a players ducks is that a penalty because he ducked into your forearm, really.
In the 70s and 80s they played with so much violence and pain. Now the players have so much protection around them, special padding's and equipment that protect them from hard hits. Now every offensive player is being protected by the new rules, and defensive players are getting fined around the league. Hard fought games are turning into shootouts, more offense less defense. Yes as fans we love seeing the amazing catches and the great throws. But we love the NFL for the hard hitting that makes us cringe, because we feel the same pain as that wide
receiver who just went down the middle of the field to make a great catch only to be knock into next week by a waiting defensive back.
I understand the pain that players go through after football, but in life everything has a price. A player joining the league knows what to expect coming in. They know the dangers because they have been playing their whole life. But you know their are other jobs out their that we the fans do that are as dangerous as a 300 pound lineman falling on you. We know the risk and we continue doing it for various reason. The NFL wants excitement, thinking that high scoring games will keep people motivated to show up even in this tough economy. How exciting is it to see defenses kept on a leash and old offensive records being broken every game. How unfair would it be to the players of the modern era that were true gladiators and earned every single record with blood, sweat, and tears.
Former Miami Dolphin great Mark Duper posted a question on his facebook page, how do we the fans feel about protecting the offensive players and seeing the defensive players get fined? Well as a fan it makes me sick, it takes away from what the NFL stands for. Play flag football if you don't want to be hit. In football men are men and children look up to players as heroes. So rules committee let them play the game the way football was intended to be played. Stop trying to protect them, when you didn't care about them ten years ago.