Madness Redux

And then there were two...

The madness of the college basketball tournament is winding down now, down to just one last game on monday. Let's take a look back at some of the key moments of this tournament, as well as address a point I heard discussed on sports radio that made me absolutely furious, so that we can enter monday with full hearts and clear minds, knowing that Men's College Basketball is the supreme post-season in sports.

1) The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Well, lets get bad out first. My upset picks? I was incorrect, obviously. Belmont, Clemson, Utah State, Villanova? They combined for less wins than Morehead St. Classic. I don't really regret any of those picks from a knowledge perspective, although I am surprised NONE of them won. They were solid picks, they just didn't pan out. That happens. 

Then, the final four. I happened to get 3 of the 4 wrong, which means I got one correct. Which is one more correct than most people (for the record, my ESPN bracket? 94.6 percentile). It was a hard year for getting the final four right. Pre-tourny, all the experts said it was a 'rock chalk' year (what a stupid expression, but thats a different discussion), and it seemed that way. I felt like they were correct, but I hate picking number 1 seeds to make it to the final four because they so rarely do. Thankfully, they didn't disappoint me in that regard, I just didn't get the other teams right. Meh. 

The good. Richmond. They made the sweet sixteen, which is really respectable. I also will pat myself on the back and say I NAILED UCONN. I really enjoyed round after round the 'experts' repeating the sentiment that Uconn couldn't keep it up, Kemba Walker couldn't keep doing it by himself, Hershey's Cookies and Cream Bars have trans fat, blah blah blah. Fools. Jeremy Lamb has come into his own, Alex Oriakhi is a solid inside guy (probably the difference against UK. he killed the media darling Harrelson), and Napier's use as a pg is clear (and if it isn't, it gets Kemba off the ball and allows him to cut off screens and get open looks). Uconn is a good team, Calhoun is a good coach, and Kemba is a finisher. They are a great team.

Also, the demise of Duke and OSU happened right on schedule. True, it wasn't Texas that eventually wiped out Duke, but Arizona's coming out party for Derrick Williams was even more fun to watch than Rick Barnes sideline antics. AND watching the Butteyes get taken out by Kentucky was great, even though Calipari is pretty much a blight on college athletics. I am pretty pleased with their downfalls. 

The ugly. Missed VCU, but really, I don't know how you'd get that right, unless you saw VCU like I saw Clemson. Perhaps. If you did, awesome for you.

 Butler I feel like, even though they were an 8 seed, we all should have seen coming. Let's review the evidence and their bracket:

A) Shelvin Mack is a pro style point guard, Matt Howard is a hustler inside, and there are about 4 guys that can put up 10-15 on a given night, which is a defensive problem. So, they have players, and those players are loaded with experience after last year.

B) While he looks like a middle school math teacher, Brad Stevens can coach the shit out of a basketball team. This, we also knew before the tourny.

C) Their section of the bracket was primed for this to happen. To be specific: Old Dominion (meh), Pitt (Jamie Dixon cannot win in the tourny for reasons I have a theory about), Wisconsin/Kansas State (both had the look of overrated Cinderella fodder about them) and the Florida/BYU (both of whom were called overrated for their seeds). I am not saying that it was an easy road of a guaranteed final four birth, but compared to some of the other regions, this was definitely the region that gave Butler the best shot at making it back. Should have taken a chance on them.

So, overall, I stand by what I predicted. I need Uconn to close out, but regardless, its been a great tournament to watch, and thats what matters most. Which leads to part 2...

2) I love 97.5 the Fanatic. Its an FM philly sports talk radio. LOVE IT. Tony Bruno, Mike Missanelli, Mike and Mike in the morning, all great. But, the other day, Missanelli was arguing that not only was the NCAA final four shit because VCU was playing Butler, but that the fact that one of them was going to make the final made the whole NCAA tourny a sham as compared to the BCS, because the tournament does not 'find the best team in the country.' Now, let me drop some logic on you (btw, I typically love Missanelli, but I whole heartedly disagree with him on this one).

First, we will ignore the fact that he didn't like VCU vs Butler. He is entitled to his opinions. But the other argument is utter nonsense. First, the statement that the tournament 'doesn't find the best team in the country' implies that the BCS does. Which it doesn't. Which is the reason every year there is a cry to replace it. WITH A DAMNED TOURNAMENT. Now, you could say that the NCAA tourny lets in too many teams and that typically, the best team doesn't win it. That's fine, I'll accept that. But, I don't think the NCAA tournament is their necessarily to find the best team. It is there, I believe, to allow teams from 'lesser' conferences to prove that they can play with the big schools, to earn the respect they deserve, to give student athletes more opportunities to play one last basketball game, and to give the elite teams in the country a chance to show how good they really are. You can say whatever you want about the best team not winning it every year, but the tournament allows teams to prove they are good, and gives teams that would otherwise be ignored a chance to prove that maybe, they might actually be the best basketball team. 

The BCS fails in so many ways, but the biggest way is that the so called 'best team in the nation' is almost always a questionable title. The BCS rarely PROVES that its champion is the best. If you win the NCAA tourny, you've proved something. You don't beat that many good teams, over that long a stretch, and not be a great team. I don't care what you say about being hot, lucky, etc. If you aren't great, you will lose a game at some point. The BCS leaves you wondering how great that winning team is. What if Boise State had EVER been given their crack at those title games? Their are so many what ifs with the BCS. The only what ifs their are in the tournament are, what if we had let even more teams in, how big would cinderella get then? 

Ultimately, the BCS doesn't give you the best team in the nation. It gives you the best team of two teams a computer decided were best. Last time I checked, there was a reason we play the games. We play the games because winners win games, especially when it matters most. You don't prove someone is the best by saying they are the best. You don't prove you are the best by winning one game. You prove you are the best by beating the best teams, from every conference. You prove you are the best by playing. Not by voting. 

Shout out to India for their cricket WC victory! Congrats! I don't understand cricket at all, but I respect the love those who do have for it. Hormuz and Akhil, enjoy some champion partying for me. 

Also a shout out to Neil Walker. Nice first grand slam of the season! Pirates, making a run? Its not the craziest thing I've ever said (I once, under the influence of a 'cold soda' or two, in a heated baseball discussion, may have overstated the quality of Jorge Posada, and by that, I mean I may have said he was an all time great. I regret that comment, but my friends will not leave me out of it) 

Lock Out With My C*ck Out

Good afternoon ladies and jelly beans (it is just about spring, after all), and welcome to this weeks regularly scheduled goalie fights. For those of you wondering, yes, I will be eating my generous portion of crow for all my NCAA picks from wednesday, but lets at least wait for the tourny to finish.

No, today's topic is one of a more serious note. While we here at Goalie Fights value humor in our sports talk, sometimes, we need to get real. Realer than even the streets. Specifically, the shenanigans of the NFL 'lockout' are well beyond even superfan levels of acceptable. We all know the numbers by now; $9 billion that needs to be split between owners and players, $1 billion more for owners right off the top than the last CBA, 18 games desired by owners, yadda yadda yadda.

Honestly, they could be arguing about $9 trillion, I could care less. Its essentially monopoly money for the owners at this point, and 78% of the players will be bankrupt eventually anyway, so who cares. I'm not on the players side, I'm not on the owners side, even though they both are clamoring for my support with varying levels of soullessness. But, I am on someone's side. A side that has gotten no recognition, no support, and no love. The side that didn't get to sit down at the table with a list of demands. The third side. The fan side.

I am not speaking in some sort of altruistic metaphor here either. I mean, there are owners/league guys, there are players, and then there are fans. The fans are as real a side as either of the other two, do not doubt that for a second. The only problem is, up until now, nobody has bothered to point out that the fans are a legit group, and they do not need to take all this crap lying down. They NFL and NFLPA both know that the fans are what fund their precious money making behemoth. They both know that the fans hold more power than either. Thats why they keep slandering each other in public forums. Their fortunes are tied to public support, so they pander to the masses. But in doing that, they cunningly leave out that the fans have an extra option.

While the owners and players would have you believe that you must support one or the other, the educated sports fan knows they can support neither. But open your eyes now to the fourth option, that of pulling support for both! The owners can lockout the players. The players can strike against the owners. Either way, the fans get screwed. Well, its time to rise up and rage against this football machine. What I am about to propose may seem ludicrous, to big, and unpossible. But thats okay. Thats what will make it special when we pull it off.

Football will return, eventually. When it does, we the fans need to send a message to the players and the owners, the players, and to every major sport that ever even considers a work stoppage as an option again. When that first Sunday comes, when that first kickoff gets kicked, we put our foot down. That first sunday, we blackout the NFL. TVs off. Seats empty. Scores not checked. Fantasy football lineups not set. We the fans must boycott everything NFL for one sunday. Just one. One game out of a season. Don't go to the games, don't watch the games on tv. Nothing. Complete blackout.

Yes, season ticket holders will have already paid for the game, and tv contracts will have paid the NFL millions, and jersey sales and merchandise revenue will still pay the league. But it isn't about the money. It never is for the fans. We bust our asses in 9-5s, second shifts, third shifts, weekend hours, overtime, second jobs, third jobs, waiting tables, pouring steel, cleaning, day trading, nursing, and teaching. We earn every cent we get. And we spend it on a game we love to watch. We throw on our jerseys, buy the doritos, drink the Pabst Blue Ribbon. Loyally, as our fathers and mothers and aunts and uncles and brothers taught us. This is how the NFL repays us? They can't agree over $9 billion while the american people supported them through one of the worst economic downturns the nation has ever seen?

The time is coming for the fans to stand up together and close our eyes to the league. They can have the money. Shut your eyes now and imagine every stadium in america empty as the cameras roll, as the blitz takes down the quarterback. Imagine the look on the owners faces when not a single fan sits in their seats. Sure, their bank accounts won't really suffer. But that won't matter. If we can come together for one sunday, we can come together for any. We can lock them out. We, the fans, propel the league, not the owners or the players. WE, THE FANS, WILL NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED.

Its never been about money for us. Its never even really been about football. Its been about family, friends, food, beer, rest, relaxation, and fandom. There is a sunday coming. The players are going to call you to the stadium. The owners are going to call you to the games. The media is going to tell you its what you've been waiting for, and they will be right; we will have been waiting for this sunday for months. And we will unite, together, as fans of the NFL. And we will not go to the games. We will not tune in to the broadcasts. We will blackout the NFL. And for one beautiful sunday, we will remind everyone that the fans are what make professional sports possible.