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Mar
26
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Yes, it’s Philadelphia’s own Gerald Henderson! And he’s delivering a cheap shot and getting floored in retaliation during an NCAA Tournament loss against West Virginia.
The lesson: Don’t go to Duke out of Philadelphia. I mean, just do UNC at least.
[via Deadspin]
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dmac | 3:51 PM | 0 Comments
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Mar
20
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Aw, nertz. Temple played good defense early, but is now simply getting outhustled down the court by Michigan State and it’s a big Michigan State lead at halftime. The Spartans went on a 15-2 run midway through the half and lead, 35-26. Ryan Brooks scored 7 points in just over a minute for the Owls and has 10.
Dionte Christmas has no points at halftime, and Mark Tyndale only has 2. For a while, Temple was shooting 20 percent from the field. Twenty percent! Temple had the 19th best effective field goal percentage in the country during the season.
Temple opened the second half with a 16-2 run in the Atlantic 10 Championship game against Saint Joseph’s; it will take something at halftime from Fran Dunphy, the Wizard of North Broad Street.
On the plus side, Billy Packer isn’t announcing this game. On the Xavier-Georgia game — one of my Sweet 16 teams is losing by double digits! — Packer just said a player “didn’t start playing basketball until he was much later in his years. From Kentucky.”
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dmac | 1:21 PM | 2 Comments
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Mar
20
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I make a lot of jokes on this website, but here is something 100 percent serious: If you’re not into the first four days of the NCAA Tournament, please don’t bother talking to me this weekend. Or maybe ever. If you’re not spending your day at work today sneaking out to watch Temple play at 12:30 or maybe watching games online using a proxy
The moment I was 100 percent sure the Iraq War was an awful idea was when George Bush decided he wanted to start it on the first day of the NCAA Tournament. Clearly, he was a freedom-hating warmonger who interrupted the greatest sports days of the year with a stupid little war; I knew he couldn’t have a post-invasion plan. Maybe if John Kerry had said that at a debate, we wouldn’t have had to live through four more years of Bush.
Temple ate its pregame meal last night its game today is so early; apparently the Owls also are in a hotel somewhere in Wyoming for games at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Temple’s at 12:30, Joe’s and ‘Nova are tomorrow night. There are 29 other games today and tomorrow, and I have no doubt once again watching ‘em will be a blast.
Update: My buddy Dave wrote a March Madness column for the Daily Local; the website is actually working right now, so read it before it breaks again.
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dmac | 9:15 AM | 1 Comment
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Mar
17
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There are a couple of lulls in sports fandom throughout the year, but none worse than the post-Super Bowl drought. Most of the subplots of February after the big game involve off-the-field stuff: Free agency signings, trade rumors and the great NCAA at-large bid vs. Not In Tournament question. Most of the games are tired regular season teams playing out the string or resting for the playoffs or exhibitions, in the case of baseball.
But once March rolls around, college basketball’s Championship Week begins and we get to celebrate what might be the two best sports days of the year: Days 1 and 2 of the NCAA Tournament. Not only do you have a vested rooting interest — your bracket — but everybody also gets together and roots for the underdogs to win.
This year, we even get to root for the local teams, as Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Villanova all got in. Joe’s has the highest seed, an 11, despite Temple finishing 2nd in the Atlantic 10 and beating the Hawks in the finals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. TU and Villanova are No. 12 seeds. Temple kicks things off Thursday afternoon at 12:30 against Michigan State (winnable); Joe’s plays Oklahoma at around 6 p.m. Friday (very winnable!) and Villanova has a late-night Friday game at 10 against Clemson (not as winnable as the other ones).
I suggest you go print out a bracket and fill it out in pen first, as that makes it easier. And if you do that, please use the one from the NCAA’s website, which has this disclaimer: “The NCAA opposes all sports wagering. This bracket should not be used for sweepstakes, contests, office pools or other gambling activities.”
The NCAA opposes all sports wagering and, therefore, does not want me to bet on pro football. Does the NCAA lobby Congress to ban casinos? You know, if the NCAA was so concerned about people betting on games, maybe every game can just end in a tie instead. That seems like a better idea. Until there are three-hundred national champions, things just aren’t fair.
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dmac | 12:55 PM | 0 Comments
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Mar
15
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As you may know, today is the first day of the first round of the NCAA Tournament. And right now I’m pretty much feeling like the man in the photo at right, whose picture I grabbed off the television after Oral Roberts won its conference title.
And, as such, I am at a bar with a couple of friends, ready for an orgasmic delight of hoops. If you’re wondering, yes, this is basically a scam so I can watch the NCAA Tournament while at work. Eat it, suckers! Maybe you should have gone to Vegas and eventually got a job blogging because of an email you wrote to your friends afterward! Anyway, if you are stuck at work, my guide from last year should still apply, including March Madness on Demand. (You can watch the games on your computer!)
I’ve been convinced to do a running diary, and it will begin after the jump.
More »
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dmac | 12:15 PM | 1 Comment
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Mar
13
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Every year, noted outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas makes up a statistic about how much productivity is “lost” during the NCAA Tournament, and every year the media writes about it over and over and over even though the statistic is pretty much complete BS. (Check out Jack Shafer’s column from last year for a nice recap.)
The best is that, if one bothered to check, you could see the made-up stat every year. In 2005, the firm said $889 million. 2006? A cool $3.6 billion. And this year, the firm is saying $1.2 billion. Yes, apparently last year was the most popular NCAA Tournament of all time, since it cost this fine country slightly less than three billion dollars more than the years surrounding it.
Anyway, KYW 1060 joins the list of lovable media outlets that buy this shit, or at least report on it, about how oh my God the NCAA Tournament is so bad it makes outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas get its name in the news without them having to pay for it! But, hey, at least we’re $2.4 billion better than last year.
The story’s kind of cute, actually, as Ian Bush interviews a pair of workers who have to say they don’t care about the tourney because their boss is with them. But then he talks with Adam Schran, who created a monitoring software for businesses:
“You can block the NCAA site and they can go to some other sports site, like ESPN. You can’t ever be complete when it comes to blocking. Really, I think what demonstrates more trust for the employee is to let them go to the sites they’re going to, and let them know that you can monitor them.”
Yeah! What demonstrates the most trust is spying on your employees! I mean, if you tell them first!
Area Office Workers Say They’re Leaving NCAA Action at Home (Yeah, Right.) [KYW 1060]
Productivity Madness [Slate]
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dmac | 9:54 AM | 0 Comments
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Mar
12
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Last night was Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament, and while Drexel didn’t get in — but Arkansas, somehow, did — both Villanova (9 seed, vs. Kentucky) and Penn (14 seed, vs. Texas A&M) will be playing later this week.
To help get you in the spirit for March Madness, here’s a clip from SportsCenter a week or so back, when Penn clinched its NCAA Tournament berth.
Yep. The Yale Bulldogs are now apparently the Yale “Bulldykes,” according to ESPN. If that doesn’t get you ready for the NCAA Tournament, I don’t know what will.
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dmac | 9:20 AM | 0 Comments
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Mar
27
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 Alas.
Looking at the stats, I’m actually kind of surprised Villanova got as far as the Wildcats did. ‘Nova simply didn’t shoot that well. Yesterday, a 4-for-23 performance from three-point range doomed the team. Very early in yesterday’s game, Mike Nardi had a wide-open three with nobody within eight feet of him. It clanked off the rim.
And that was the kind of day it was. Still, a great season for Villanova, even with yesterday’s tough loss to Florida in the regional final. It’s a shame, too, because had Villanova won, the only thing standing between them and the championship game would have been George Freakin’ Mason!
Yes, even with the Main Line disappointment, fans can still be excited about the little 11-seed that made it to the Final Four! Even if, say, George Mason’s Tony Skinn punched a dude from Hofstra in the balls and got into a fight with Drexel’s Kennell Sanchez, we can still root for them. This is a team that’s almost never on television, that doesn’t have its coach shilling for American Express, that is in the same league as freakin’ Drexel. Drexel!
This team beat Michigan State, North Carolina, a solid Wichita State team and Connecticut to get to the Final Four. Yeah, they beat UNC and UConn, the last two national champions. And, did I mention they play in the same league as Drexel?
Go Patriots.
Rich Hofmann | ‘Cats find season-ending loss hard to take [DN]
Miraculous run has done the school’s namesake proud [ESPN.com]
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dmac | 8:53 AM | 5 Comments
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