6) Lets start with College Hoops! Its only fitting due to the MASSIVE upsets yesterday that will most assuredly turn the rankings upside down. Starting with the #1 team, Kansas getting knocked off by unranked (but very worthy) Oklahoma State 85-77. This is only Kansas 2nd loss and their first in Big 12 play. This should jump OSU into the rankings. And dethrone Kansas and possibly shoot #4 Syracuse into the top spot. Why? Because #2 Kentucky was also rocked with their second loss at the hands of the Tennessee Volunteers who are currently at #19. Purdue is currently in the #3 spot, but they are a 3 loss team whereas Syracuse is still a 2 loss team...and they beat #7 Villanova yesterday by a huge margin. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish upset #11 Georgetown this weekend which makes G-town the only ranked 8 loss team other than Texas A&M, but neither will leave the top 25. The #22 ranked Aggies destroyed #21 ranked Longhorns by 16 Saturday after suffering a tough loss at #24 Baylor on Wednesday. Texas should drop out of the top 25 making it one of the only teams to ever be ranked #1 as late as the 24th of January and within a month fall out of the rankings altogether. The Aggies should stay in that 20-25 range as well as Baylor; OSU should jump in there as well. As for the conferences and the discussion of "who is the strongest conference" I'd have to disagree with most "sports analyst" who would say that the Big East is "by far" the strongest conference; don't get me wrong, they are definitely strong and the numbers don't lie, but as far as a conference of tough basketball teams that could stand against anyone in the country and play pound for pound some of the toughest basketball in the country...the Big 12 has to be it! Every team in the Big 12 can hold its own outside of conference play, and the reason that right now I'd put them ahead of the Big East is because the Big 12 is a football conference, not basketball; so what the Big 12 has accomplished this season is remarkable, right now as things sit, the Big 12 has seven 20+ win teams. And just to put the numbers in perspective to show how good the Big 12 is right now...compare the average winning %'s of the two conferences! This should settle the debate
The Big East - .633%
The Big 12 - .663%
Not by much...but the numbers don't lie!
5) So Canada has finally picked up their pace in the Olympics Medal race. They have more Gold Medals than any other country with 13. The US has 9 Gold and a total of 36, which is 7 more than Germany and 11 more than Canada. Why is the Medal count a big deal...? Well its not really in my opinion. Too many people worry about it. And the United States have 14 Silver and 13 Bronze...yay, we came in 2nd and 3rd more times than any other country! I mean, congrats to the none winners...but seriously, if you don't get the gold are you truly satisfied? Any true athlete or competitor will tell you no way! I have never been satisfied with getting beat, even in the smallest aspect of life it is painful in a sense. So the athletes who have received Silver or Bronze medals shouldn't be completely satisfied with that...therefore I don't really believe that it matters who "wins" the most medals overall in the Olympics. I think to determine who "wins" the Olympics the only thing that should matter is how many Gold Medals a country wins. With that in mind...Canada is in front by 3 over Germany and by 4 over the US.
4) Speaking of the Olympics and Gold medals...how many people are not going to watch Canada take on United States in a Hockey showdown this afternoon? I will be keeping an eye on that one for sure! The US beat Finland on Friday (which was impressive), while Canada nearly lost to Slovakia. Finland went on to win the Bronze medal game...good for them, they are a country that I have nothing against at the moment. But in any event we have a Gold medal game set to be a classic, and all I can say is I hope that it is half as good a game as we saw these two teams play a week ago! If it is...I'll be satisfied.BONUS THOUGHT: By the way, does anyone else think that the Medals this year are...UGLY! It looks like they found some scrap metal and beat it with blacksmith hammer till it was bent into some resemblance of a circle...whats happening with the world?
3) The Mavs have the late game coming up tonight against the New Orleans Hornets. The Mavs have winning streak on their shoulders now, its a six game streak and its their longest since Dec-Jan of 07-08...that one was a seven game streak. The Mavs have kind of a soft schedule coming up, a lot of home games and below .500 teams. But that doesn't mean they are for sure going to win them all. As we have grown so accustomed to the Mavs are very capable of losing just when you least expect them to. But I certainly hope its not to the Hornets in Dallas without Chris Paul. The first meeting of the year between these two teams was that God-awful loss in New Orleans where Dirk fouled out on a crappy call and Jason Terry and J.J. Barea missed like 6 out of 7 free throws in the last minute that could have sealed the win for the Mavs but instead the Hornets won in overtime. The second meeting the Mavs barely squeaked by, winning it 94-90. This time...I'd like to see a blowout! They've had their dramatic games lately with the Lakers and the Hawks...now blowout a not so good team! Ease my nerves a bit at least...
How about Khalil Greene's contract being voided by the Rangers due to his withdrawal from training camp because of a "social anxiety" disorder which has kept him in constant rehab over his career. Apparently it has gotten too bad for him to be on a field with 8 other dudes which leads me to wonder...will he ever play in the Majors again?
One more thing I can't wait to see this season is the Rangers pitching staff. They are almost all young and very talented guys that could become very effective. Guys like Holland who can be a straight up ace, and Neftali Feliz who can throw the ball a hundred miles an hour. Scott Feldman who showed last year that he can be the number one guy, along with Tommy Hunter C.J. Wilson who will give solid performances night in and night out. I think it is possible that this pitching staff could be one of the best that the Rangers have ever had. Or at least more deep than any other with Nippert, McCarthy, Fransisco, Strop, and O'Day behind those other guys...I can't wait to see if they can put it all together.
BONUS INFO: Another quick note about the Rangers pitching...there are two guys (Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando) from the Dom. Republic who have been in the Rangers farm system but have been pitching down in the D.R. for years now. They have finally been given an opportunity to show their stuff at the spring camp...how will they do? Remains to be seen, but word on the street is...these guys can flat out pitch!
#1: It was in no way a "dirty" play. He saw something out of the ordinary and took advantage of it. It was an aggressive play to try to make something happen because his team was down by 2 with 1:37 left in the game. I don't think he makes that play if they are up by 10...but in this situation, he was just taking advantage of the opportunity that Mike Woodson gave him by breaking the rules. Yes, breaking the rules is exactly what he did...check it out:
NBA Rule Book:
Section IV—The Coach and Others
a. The coach’s position may be on or off the bench from the 28' hash mark to the baseline. They are permitted between the 28' hash mark and the midcourt line to relay information to players but must return to the bench side of the 28' hash mark immediately or be called for a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul.
Section V—Conduct
d. A technical foul shall be assessed for unsportsmanlike tactics such as:
(5) A coach entering onto the court without permission of an official.
So boys and girls, according to that Mike Woodson "entered the court without the permission of an official". That means he broke the rules...punishment for said breaking of the rules is of course a "technical foul" for "unsportsmanlike tactics". Here is what Jason Kidd said about his play, “The coach is not supposed to be on the floor, you see that a lot in games. The NBA has so many rules, and there is a coaching box, and some of the coaches do stretch that box. For me, it’s just a reaction. Make something happen. It was a big play for us.” #2: This play was not a "jerk move". Kidd is not a dirty player with an agenda and he's not trying to hurt anyone. He made the play to help his team and that was it. Although it royally pissed off Mike Woodson (and probably embarrassed him too) who in his anger started mouthing to Kidd after the alleged "jerk move" and nearly started a fight. But Kidd is so smooth he kept things from getting bad, this is what he said to Woodson during the confrontation: “I said, ‘You can’t be on the floor. You don’t have a uniform on.'" Kidd understands the rules and he did the right thing. He wasn't trying to be ugly, he is just smarter than everyone else. So he made the right move, the smart move, and the safe move...but in no way was it a "jerk move"!
#3: There are some that will say that what Jason Kidd did was "not a basketball play"! This is the opposite of the truth. This play is everything basketball is about, and it truly is a basketball play and here's why: “The officials got it right,” Kidd said. “I thought from there, mentally, we took control of the game. That play just presented itself. It’s just a reaction and just understanding what the team needs. Rules are rules. The coach isn’t supposed to be on the floor.” There you have it, Kidd knows the rules and knows how to enforce them. How else would he have gotten the officials to make that call against Woodson? Coaches are out on the court all the time and refs don't call it. So why would they here? If Kidd had stopped and complained to the official he probably would have been ignored, and its not like he could throw the ball at Woodson...that would be rude! Throwing an elbow rub into his body is much better. But the main reason that this IS a basketball play is exactly what Kidd said, "I thought from there, mentally, we took control of the game." That is what that play did, it gave Dallas a mental edge going into that final minute and the overtime. In fact in the final 10 minutes of the game (including overtime) Atlanta only scored 13 points...and only 4 in overtime; in fact after that play which occurred with 1:37 to play Dallas outscored Atlanta 16-6. Yes they mentally took over that game, and Kidd instigated the take over, and that infamously brilliant jerky move by Kidd was completely within the rules of the game and was done not with malice in mind but with the spirit of athletic competition at heart; Jason Kidd played an inspired game and his desire showed there, his competitive instinct showed there, his willingness and dedication to winning showed there, his mental toughness and aggressive athletic nature showed through that play! Criticizing this "genius" play is so dumb that even Mike Woodson couldn't do it: “He made a heck of a play,” Woodson said. “Jason Kidd is an All-Star. He’s a (potential) Hall of Fame guard. He’s had a heck of a career. He did what he had to do. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to favor our team. I've got to take the hit for that.”
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