My Beloved 78 Bloggees (Welcome Kevin # 2):
A common question I get is, Barry, why do you write these blogs? The primary reason is that most newspapers nowadays don't print box scores of college basketball games except for local teams. I work at a computer all day, so I take a break and look at each day's box scores and try to provide info that I would want to know, if I didn't have the time and/or computer access to search it out.
Plus I have always had an itch to write about sports. Some of you know about my series of five books educating the "sports illiterate" spectatator called TeachMeSports written in the early 1990's. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dreayer The above links shows that the public can buy used copies at amazon.com for as low as a penny (of course, I make nothing on it). I am not insulted by the price....heck, it is more than what you all are paying for the blogs. NEXT
I saw an early score of a key game on Saturday showing Kansas was winning at home in the first half against Texas, 28 - 13. I then assumed it was going to be a rout, especially at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, where they had won 69 in a row.
The Kansas squad had rallied around sophomore Thomas Robinson who received a call the night before that his 37-year old mother unexpectedly died from a heart attack. He had lost his grandfather the week before and his grandmother two weeks before then. Terrible. http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/21844/21844
The emotional Jayhawks scored the first 10 points and stretched the lead to 15, the point when I saw it on the ESPN crawl. Evidently, they were understandably spent, and Texas dominated the last 30 minutes for a gigantic 74 - 69 Big 12 victory. Robinson actually played and scored two points with five rebounds. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201101220287 NEXT
I am accumulating some March Madness Mid-Major Sleepers now to help me fill out my bracket in March. In previous blogs, I have touted Belmont and Old Dominion as members of the Sleepers Club. Bruiser Flint's Drexel has now made me a believer after its dominating win on Monday against a Rod Barnes-led Georgia State squad 57 - 33 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101240172 . Their defense and board work, 40 - 24 rebounding margin, shows me they have the toughness needed to surprise a team in the tourney.
"I want my money back." That had to be the rallying cry from Mid-American Conference basketball fans of two directional Michigan schools after they clashed on Sunday with Eastern Michigan coming out on top of Central Michigan 41 - 38. Two of the best players in the country participated:
1. Central Michigan's freshman Trey Ziegler, the 4th rated high school shooting guard in 2010 who declined offers from Duke and Michigan State to play for his dad, Ernie Ziegler, CMU's head coach. http://rivals.yahoo.com/basketballrecruiting/basketball/recruiting/player-Trey-Zeigler-54919 and
2. Eastern Michigan's senior Brandon Bowdry who is a 6' 6" 230 lb load in the frontcourt. I saw Bowdry show his stuff on New Year's Eve Day when he scored 19 on 8 for 13 shooting in a loss at Samford. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/61212/gamelog
You may want to shield your eyes when you look at the ugly box score from that game http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101230181. Besides the low total of 79 points scored, EMU shot 33 % and CMU shot 23 %. The free throws and three-point percentages were also relatively microscopic. Even Dick Vitale would have had a tough time to apply his dipsy-doo dunkeroo enthusiastic schtick to this game. But if you get a chance to see Ziegler or Bowdry play either live or on television, don't miss them. NEXT
Yes, Drexel had some bad losses this year at Syracuse (93 - 65), at George Mason (71 - 47) and at Bill and Mary (80 - 66), but the Dragons did upset Louisville at Pitino's Place (52 - 46). http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/dat/schedule Their competitive Colonial Athletic Association schedule will help prepare them for the Dance (if they get in). Don't forget from an earlier blog, Drexel is the only team that has outrebounded Old Dominion this year. NEXT
Speaking of the Colonial Athletic Association, remember former FSU (and DePaul, among other stops) coach Pat Kennedy. He is Towson University's head coach, the celler-dwellers of the CAA with an 0 - 9 conference record. The Tigers have only been blown out once, and Monday night they barely lost at home to former Gator assistant's VCU Rams, 80 -76 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201101240595 but I am sure the Towson boosters are getting a bit impatient. I can picture our Baltimore bloggee nodding his head. If Pat Kennedy were a stock, I don't think he would be rated a "strong buy" based on his record at Towson. NEXT
To football, the biggest sports secret of the past weekend was the East-West Shrine Game. It looks like it was a secret in Orlando, Florida where only 9,642 fans (out of 65,000 plus seats) witnessed the East's 25 - 8 victory. I spent a few minutes searching how Gator defensive end, Justin Trattou, performed along with other seniors. Finally, it emerged on my computer.... http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/college/football/view/20110123east_defeats_west_in_shrine_game/srvc=home&position=recent
Trattou had an outstanding game for the pro scouts with 4 tackles, two for a loss and one sack. You can also see how others played by checking out the following box score http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=310223147 . NEXT
While we are on the subject of college all-star games, here are some random thoughts about defunct college all-star games:
1. Over 20 years ago I went to Las Vegas and one of the days I was out there was Christmas, which meant the Blue-Grey game, played in Montgomery, Alabama. I made one of my best wagers ever......Grey plus 2 and I won (I had to take the points). You can bet on anything out there, as I digress. I remember once, before getting into a cab to the airport, I bet that Kareen-Abdul Jabbar would score over 14 points in a game later that day during the twilight of his career. As I walked into the Delta Crown Room at DFW airport while in-between connecting flights, the Laker game was playing. Normally one asks, what is the score? Of course you know what I asked.
2. The South Florida bloggees remember a Christmas Night all-star game....the North-South Shrine Game at the Orange Bowl. 1973 was the last year.
3. In my younger days, back in the 60s and 70s, there used to be two college all-star games in the summer. In June there was the Coaches All-America Game that featured the top seniors of the previous football season http://www.lubbockcentennial.com/AJremembers/111608.shtml .
My favorite was the College All-Star Game in late July or early August when a team of collegiate seniors from the previous football season would play the current NFL champions. It was fascinating to watch but the college team nearly always lost. The college all-stars would sometimes miss up to 6 weeks of pro training camp to prepare as a team for this game. The final year was in 1976 when there was such a downpour near the end of the fourth quarter, the game was called and they never played again.
Enjoy and remember the Gators play Georgia tonight on ESPN at 6:00.....I will be DVRing it (and avoiding the score) to watch it later in the night....that strategy helps preserve marital bliss,
Barry
P.S. I have been told to hold off on the "I'm sorrys" when sending out a blog on consecutive days. So, I will.
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