Sunday Six Pack

Today, Sunday the 21st of March 2010 has been an all around frustrating and upsetting day. Last night the Mavs' lost to the Celtics and it was quite a game but extremely winnable for the Dallas and they just blew it. It was very hard to watch. So today I awoke feeling groggy and emotional only to find that the earth had been snow blasted during the night...but I was able to work through that knowing that I was going to get to watch the Texas A&M Aggies move into the sweet 16! But alas, Purdue put up a fight and the Aggies lost in overtime. That was very very hard to watch. Then this sad day cumulated with socialism picking up the win against freedom. Needless to say, my week can only get better...right? Anyway, here's your Sunday six pack.

1) The Mavericks were on a tear a couple weeks ago...then for reasons unknown to earth they failed to show up for a home game against the Knicks. But Dallas bounced back and beat the Bulls for the second time in two weeks before giving up a 7 point fourth quarter lead to the Boston Celtics Saturday night and losing for only the third time since the all-star break. The main problem with all of this is that the Nuggets have been able to catch up and pass the Mavs' (again) for second place in the West. I despise Denver...I can honestly say that I hate everything about the Nuggets. I have no respect for them and quite frankly hope that the Mavs' get the chance for revenge in the playoffs this year. That said, the Nuggets have not pulled away, they are only a half game ahead of Dallas and have lost twice during the same amount of time that Dallas has lost twice. The Mavs' need only win and they are back in second place. They can do that coming up Monday night against a free falling New Orleans Hornets team who is now 2 and 8 in their last ten games.

2) Tiger Woods...what can I say? Well, he's making a comeback. Soooo...we'll see how that goes. In all seriousness I've never liked Tiger. I've always been a Mickelson guy, so I'm still going to root for him and hope that Tiger never catches up to Jack Nicklaus.

3) College basketball this year has been a mess! My bracket was done before the sweet sixteen were in place. I can't figure out why, but for some reason the top seeded teams are falling like snow flakes in Dallas...(very rarely but all at once, duh). So my pick to win it all, Kansas, was beaten by two points by University of Northern Iowa. Interesting...Ohio beat Georgetown, Murray St. beat Vandy, Cornell beat Temple, Cornell beat Wisconsin, Washington beat Marquette, Washington beat New Mexico, Old Dominion beat Notre Dame, Saint Mary's beat Richmond and then beat Villanova!!! So what will happen next? We have a 1 seed playing a 12 seed, a 2 seed vs. an 11 seed, and a 3 vs. 10 match up. I suspect more upsets are to come.

4) Texas A&M should be in the sweet sixteen matched up against Duke. But they aren't. Why? Because lots of reasons. But what I saw in that second half was the Aggies pretty much be completely one dimensional. They scored a total of 29 points in the second half and overtime and I do not think I saw one point (other than the rare free throw they actually made) scored outside of the paint. They missed every three. While on the other hand, Purdue who was down 11 with about 14 minutes to go hit three straight threes and went on a 17 to 2 run to take the lead. It was quite disgraceful. But the Aggies had this game won several times and could not put it away...typical of them...but they should have not only beat Purdue (who has no size in the middle) but should have won big. The game winner for Purdue was not an amazing three pointer at the buzzer or anything spectacular...it was something that should never happen, especially with less than 10 seconds on the clock. Chris Kramer put the ball on the floor from almost half court and drove it all the way down A&M's throat and laid the ball in through four or five Aggies and got just enough english on the ball to get a lucky roll with only a second left. It was quite pathetic. But if only Mark Turgeon could teach his players how to make free throws the team would hardly ever lose! But the main thing about the game that I believe was the difference and THE reason that the Aggies are not in the sweet 16...Donald Sloan. He is A&M's premier scorer and the go to guy that you kind of expect to take over the game at some point and create something offensively. But he was a mere 4-17 shooting for the night with 11 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, and three turnovers in all of 39 minutes played. Thats not good. And definitely not good enough to win a big game like this! If it weren't for Aggie big man Bryan Davis having a great game (17 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 3 steals) the Aggies wouldn't have even had a chance in this one down the stretch! But that's how the season ends.

5) I know it doesn't mean too terribly much because its only spring training...but the Rangers are a measly 6-11 this spring. So I really hope that isn't a pre-screening of what will happen in the regular season! Oh and by the way...somebody left their bag of powdered sugar in the bathroom? Anyone? Anyone? ...yikes.

6) Mark this day on your calender...(it should be the rarely used app on your iphone!). I'm sorry that was mean...I hate iphones. Anyway, Monday, March 29th 2010 at 7:30! The Mavericks have a showdown home game against the Denver Nuggets! If you don't like regular season basketball but love the thrill of the playoffs...this is the game for you! This game will not only potentially decide who locks up the second seed in the west, and who has home court when/if these teams meet in the playoffs; but this game will be between two veteran teams that are gearing up for playoff basketball and consequently hate each other. So look for the Jason Kidd's and Dirk Nowitzki's to bring their A-game to the arena when the Carmelo Anthony's and the Chauncey Billups come to Dallas to try to push the Mavs' around. But look out for new Mavs' Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood to keep Kenyon Martin and J. R. Smith at bay. Trust me...this game is hott! It is a can't miss playoff game before the playoffs start! It will be physical and it will be tough! I just hope the Mavs' are prepared for the freight train coming their way! It'll be on NBA TV and locally on TXA21. Watch it!

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