9:34 PM Never really had an opinion on Canadian hoops hero Jay Triano, who is now coaching the Toronto Raptors. But after watching him do this, he's officially my favorite coach of an NBA franchise.
9:25 PM Interesting stat in Topeka Capitol-Journal from Kansas State's hoops win over Dayton today in Puerto Rico: "K-State comes home with its first nonconference win over a ranked opponent since 2000." Is that a good thing, or bad?
7:55 PM WTH: "Ricky Williams will send me a text message saying, for example, to work on his ankle, visualize Ricky's ankle as if he's standing in front of me. I visualize him glowing. I make a sweeping motion over my ankle to remove the dirty energy from his ankle that's creating an abnormality.''
This past Monday, Boise State became the fifth college sports program (and the first outside the BCS) to get their team’s logo on an airplane; they joined the Pac-10 members in Oregon and Washington as partners with Horizon Air.
(Waaaaait a minute. A twin prop? You couldn’t even get your logo on a real jet? Boise, Boise, Boise…)
Unfortunately, not everybody who’s going to fly in that plane is a Boise State fan. That ordinarily wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but when we’re in the middle of a season, fans of the Broncos’ opponents may take a bit of offense. ADs of the Broncos opponents, then, are really not going to stand for this crap. And thus we find Idaho AD Rob Spear, taking the most principled stand in history.
For past two seasons, the once-mighty Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry has been mighty crappy. There was ND’s 35-17 wipeout of the Wolverines in South Bend last season, and then there was UM’s 38-0 a$$-whooping of the Irish in Ann Arbor the season before that. So you’d figure that today’s matchup in the Big House would be a big bore.
Big mistake to assume that. Like two aging heavyweights whose glory days appeared to have been behind them, Michigan & Notre Dame traded punches all afternoon (figurative, not literal) as the score see-sawed back & forth. But it was the Maize & Blue who managed the final knockout blow, as Tate Forcier tossed a 5-yard TD pass to Greg Matthews with 11 seconds left. So Hail to the Victors in a 38-34 thriller.
If you’re a coach with the University of Idaho’s football team, I’m guessing there isn’t much to do. The city of Moscow, ID, is about as inviting as the one in Russia, except without all the balmy weather. And it’s not like you really need to worry about recruiting – any player in state who is decent is going to Boise State, so you’re pretty much getting the players you get.
But there is always alcohol – and we’re talking about more than just “sparkling muscatel, one of the finest wines of Idaho.” The booze flows pretty freely in Idaho and you can understand why, whether just as a way to keep warm or out of sheer boredom. Or to help you forget that your coaching career has led you to Moscow, Idaho - which might have happened with Idaho Vandals defensive coordinator Mark Criner, who was arrested Monday morning for a DUI.
I guess it’s not that surprising that the Los Angeles Lakers have started off the NBA season undefeated - they return all the pieces from the Western Conference champions, with a healthy Andrew Bynum to boot. But the Atlanta Hawks? Really? In its own way, it’s almost as improbable as when the Houston Rockets went on that 22-game winning streak last season.
Clearly, it has to end at some point, and you would think sooner rather than later. But there the Hawks were last night, going into Chicago and taking out the Bulls 113-108 behind a career-high 27 points and 17 rebounds by Al Horford. And their starting PF Josh Smith isn’t even playing!
Of course, tonight is a bit of a litmus test, since they are playing the defending champion Boston Celtics. Win that game, and then we’ll really have something. As for the other undefeated team, the Lakers matched the Hawks (who often do you read that?) by beating the Mavericks 106-99. Meanwhile, Phil Jackson is so thrilled that he’s thinking about not coming back next season.
Other live, local and late-breaking sports news:
The BALTIMORE SUN reports that the Orioles are giving their uniforms and logo a makeover. Michael Kors thinks that they are “fresh and flirty” but Nina Garcia thinks they are “tired and stale.” What will Heidi say?
The rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup was a doozy, says the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: the Penguins beat the Red Wings 7-6 in OT on Ruslan Fedotenko’s game-winner.
The LA TIMES says that Lakers fans have more reason to celebrate beyond the team’s success: their local TV affiliate KCAL has decided to stop the practice of tape-delaying East Coast games this season, which was totally pointless and maddeningly infuriating for today’s DVR-taping, instant-score-updating sports fan.
A good story from the golf world: a contingent of PGA Tour players, including Woody Austin, Jason Gore and Bob Tway, are heading to the Gulf Coast to play in a charity pro-am tournament to benefit housing needs for people still impacted by Hurricane Katrina, forgoing their usual appearance fees and other perks.
And speaking of Bay Area scapegoats: PRO FOOTBALL TALK says that head coach Mike Singletary and offensive coordinator Mike Martz have found one for the 49ers’ loss to the Cardinals on Monday night. Not poor clock management or ineffectual play calling - it was getting bad information from officials.
If any college football team is going to have a uniform with wings, it has to be the Oregon Ducks, as reported by NIKE BLOG. But I would think that Red Bull would be a better sponsor.
How ironic is it that the giant nail in the coffin of John McCain’s Presidential hopes last night came when the networks declared Ohio for Barack Obama. After all, McCain appeared to run his campaign like Jim Tressel cluelessly bumbling his way through coaching Ohio State to another BCS Title Game meltdown. In this analogy, Obama really was LSU or Florida: faster, hungrier and ready to deliver a hellacious beatdown.
(Does this make Sarah Palin the Maurice Clarett of the ticket - initially exciting but eventually a total disaster? I’ll leave that up to you to decide.)
But while the Maverick of the Senate might have suffered an historic thumping on Tuesday night, the Mavericks of Dallas were taking a venerable but aging institution out to the woodshed, beating the Spurs 98-81 to drop San Antonio to 0-3 for the first time in the team’s NBA history. They can’t possibly be missing Manu Ginobli this much, could they?
And what about Matt Lindland, the MMA fighter who was the Republician candidate for a State House seat? Unfortunately for him, he was about as competitive as Kimbo Slice, as he fell to a double digit defeat at the hands of his Democratic opponent. I would have said that having a campaign manager named Tootie Smith was a bad sign, but then again…Scooter Libby.
On to the other, slightly less significant news:
Don’t tase him, bro! The TRI-CITY HERALD says that an Arena Football player was zapped by airport security after busting through a window at the terminal and getting on the tarmac trying to get to his flight. That’s called dedication.
The CHICAGO TRIBUNE breaks down the news that Illinois WR Jeff Cumberlandis going to play this week despite breaking teammate Mikel LeShoure’s jaw in a fight last Saturday night.
Do they have any decent sushi places in Atlanta? The ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION notes that the Braves have made an offer to 22-year-old Japanese pitching phenom Junichi Tazawa.
How far has the Tennesee football program fallen? The WINSTON SALEM JOURAL says that David Cutcliffe would rather stay at Duke than consider taking the Vols’ head coaching job.
The MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS reports that three Idaho football players have been suspended after being charged with battery after a fight at a house party this weekend. What do you expect from the players when you call the team the “Vandals?”
According to the LOS ANGELES TIMES, Oaks Christian High School - the school that has the sons of Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky and Will Smith - might be in trouble for advertising its athletic department on local TV. The ads were OK, but still better than Hancock.
BYU quarterback Max Hall tells the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE that he’ll be missing Thursday night’s huge Mountain West Conference game between Utah and TCU because he can’t miss The Office. And I thought Dwight Schrute was Amish and not Mormon.
Until now, the only thing the state of Idaho has ever been known for was potatoes. Delicious, delicious potatoes. Supermarkets across the country have their shelves filled with wonderful Idaho potatoes, and you’ve probably eaten one yourself recently. I wonder if they have a guy who checks every potato and inspects it to make sure it’s up to Idaho potato standards. If they do, I wonder if he’s ever found one potato to be too sexy.
You see, in Idaho, they don’t just take their potatoes seriously. No, they also care about their football team at the University of Idaho. Earlier this season the school made a change to the football team’s uniforms when players and fans alike complained that the “I” located on everybody’s butt looked stupid.
They were right, they did look stupid. Well now it seems the power has gone to people’s heads in Idaho, as now they’ve ditched the cheerleaders uniforms because they’re “too skimpy.”
BOISE FANS CORRECT THAT SENATOR CRAIG IS A VANDAL: EVERY DAY SHOULD BE SATURDAY notes how football fans in Boise always seem to have a gay old time, as evidenced by this choice of clothing:
The words on the blue shirts read, “Senator Craig is a Vandal” - a reference to the Idaho Republican lawmaker who was caught in an airport men’s room this year trying to enjoy the company of his fellow man.The Boise State fans adorned in the amusing apparel are correct, as Craig did graduate from the University of Idaho in 1969.
The whimsical wear was worn by Broncos’ backers for BSU’s clash with the Idaho Vandals. The in-state contest quickly became a no-contest, as Boise blew away the Vandals, 58-14.And there’s no truth to that Boise (stadium) bathroom-boycott rumor.
