Donaghy: NBA Games Rigged

Yesterday, ‘Nova grad and ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy made a filing in federal court claiming the NBA influenced referees to make certain calls during at least 2 playoff series.

The one game in question is the famed Lakers-Kings Game 6 of 2002, where the Lakers got 27 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Lakers, down 3-2, rallied to win the series and the NBA title. David Stern said “there are this continuing flow of allegations from, don’t forget, an admitted felon. So they’re baseless.” Yes, an admitted felon, who committed the most heinous of crimes, murder gambling on basketball games.

Donaghy apparently wasn’t going to reveal any of this, until the NBA attempted to make him pay $1 million for its internal investigation related to him. Ha, ha, ha, the NBA deserves anything it gets. Now if you really want to find a rigged sport, how about the NFL? It’s the only major sport that uses radios!

2002 Lakers-Kings Game 6 at heart of Donaghy allegations [ESPN.com]

‘Nova Flasher Is Not Jay Wright

The man pictured in that photo with all the artifacts at right is apparently a serial flasher at Villanova! While it’s no strippers fighting at Wawa, it’ll have to do for today.

The flasher is a white man in his 40s and flashed a ‘Nova girl (whose last name Erin O’Hearn is not revealing) the other night and 6 more girls previously. The Main Line perv has long gray hair; no word on his endowment. (Philadelphia Will Do — always working every angle!)

When a hilarious police sketch comes out, I’ll let youse know. In the meantime, I’m going to pin the blame on Larry Brown.

Flasher strikes Villanova University [6 ABC]

March Madness, Literally

Really? The team we were making fun of in the first half — saying it was an NIT squad — is now in the Sweet 16. Jay Wright must be the best coach ever.

Seriously! ‘Nova was down 12-2 to Clemson about three minutes into the game, and somehow they are now one of the top 16 teams in the country.

And Villanova didn’t even practice. Looks like they just took some tips from Allen Iverson, then.

Heroic Villanova Prof Protests Drug Laws

Villanova engineering professor Edward Ritter apparently wanted to show his students the art of civil disobedience. His target? The nation’s (and state’s) ridiculously harmful cannabis laws. His act? Why, allegedly possession of marijuana with intent to deliver!

Cops arrested the 48-year-old at his Collegeville home yesterday. Action News got a nice moralistic quote from a Catholic student: “Any university, but specifically here, we uphold certain morals and values and that’s completely against all of them.” Drinking some unblessed blood of Christ on St. Patrick’s Day is 100 percent Catholic, though.

Ritter faces 100 million years in prison, or maybe 1-3. I haven’t talked with the other media guys, but is Professor Pothead okay for a nickname?

Villanova professor charged with marijuana possession [6 ABC]

Villanova Jobbed… Should We Be Happy?

As a Philadelphia college basketball fan, I hate Villanova. That doesn’t mean I never root for Villanova — I went to a Philly school, but it wasn’t St. Joe’s — but they are my least favorite team of the Philly schools. They’re Villanova, of course.

Last night, though, the Wildcats lost to Georgetown on a call that’d make you think the ref had money on the Hoyas (Latin for “Whats”). Here’s what went down on the final play:

With the score tied at 53-53, Scottie Reynolds’ driving layup was blocked by Jeremiah Rivers in the game’s dying seconds and Jonathan Wallace came out of a ferocious scrum with the loose ball. As he turned to launch a heave at the buzzer, Corey Stokes went out to block him and got just the slightest piece of Wallace’s jersey.

The whistle blew with one tenth of a second left.

Wallace strode to the foul line and calmly sank two free throws to give Georgetown a 55-53 win.

As much as I’d like to see Villanova beat Georgetown… well, ha ha, this is a pretty hilarious way to lose a game. Better luck next time, Mainliners!

Villanova-Georgetown postgame [Soft Pretzel Logic]
Villanova - Late foul spoils Villanova’s chance against Georgetown [Daily News]

Shout It Loud: Baby Blue For Life

It has come to my attention recently that some of you idiots on the Internet aren’t quite so hot on the new Eagles throwback jerseys they’ll be debuting in Sunday’s game against the Lions. For reference, the Eagles wore these jerseys in their first season, fresh off coming out of the ashes of the old Frankford Yellow Jackets franchise. (Yes, Frankford itself once had an NFL franchise.)

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve slowly learned that it’s useless to trust the taste of anyone else, because most of you buffoons like really stupid shit. It’s pointless to try to change anyone’s minds when Fergie’s album is sixth on the Billboard 200 a full year after it’s been released. That’s like root canal topping the Billboard Top Things In The World, a chart I just made up.

But I think I might be able to change your mind on the new Eagles jerseys. The Eagles held a “Midnight Madness” event — “Midnight Madness”? Really? — that included Swoop, the Eagles cheerleaders and, for some reason, former Eagles punter Sean Landeta. (Landeta also punted for the Giants, the L.A. Rams, the St. Louis Rams, the Buccaneers, the Packers, the Rams again inbetween stints with the Eagles and the Giants again. He also punted for the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL, which was a football league sometime in the 1890s.)

Forget Landeta, though, and take a look at the Eagles throwback cheerleaders jerseys.

More »

Reason #50 To Love Philadelphia: The Big 5

Last night was the Holy War, the annual basketball contest between St. Joe’s and Villanova that uses the slaughter of innocents in the name of God as a nickname. But, anyway, it’s usually a game with a decent amount of buildup; the fans are always into it; the two teams sometimes even play a good game.

Last night, though, I watched the entire thing even though it was a terrible game. ‘Nova won, 56-39. But that only scratches it: the two teams combined to shoot 6-for-36 from three-point range, meaning around 30 trips down the court included a long shot that clanked or airballed. (Threes are almost a mid-range jumper in college.)

But, still, the game was exciting and fun to watch. So huzzah for college basketball in Philly, which makes 16 percent three-point shooting somewhat watchable.

Cats romp as Hawks go ice-cold [Inquirer]

Not So Vanillanova

When I was in college, the only thing the students felt about the public art at the school was that it was almost always hideous looking. I assume that’s probably true at most schools, excluding (or possibly especially) art schools, but Villanova happens to be striking some controversy with its new piece of art.

An article in today’s Daily News details a pro-life monument that’s going to be erected at Villanova. Sadly, it’s not the Britney-giving-birth one on display in New York, but a different one.

I understand it’s going to upset some kids, and that makes sense, but Villanova is a Catholic University, and if they want to put up a pro-life/anti-abortion (just pick the term you like, k?) monument they certainly have the right. They also have the right to put up an anti-birth control monument, an anti-fornication monument or a statue of basketball coach Jay Wright.

(In case you’re wondering, I picture the anti-fornication monument to be a man and woman dancing, with only their hands touching and a giant sign above it saying “Leave room for the Holy Spirit!” Possibly there would be a priest in the background, and he could be saying it in a big word bubble. I’d leave that up to the artist.)

What I kind of find most interesting is where they’re going to put the statue:

The piece is set to be erected near a walkway that freshman dorm residents take to get on the main campus, resulting in heavy foot traffic.

The path, because it is shrouded by trees and dark at night, has come to be known by students, staff and faculty as the “Rape Trail” although there’s never been a reported rape in the area.

And, really, what better place for a pro-life monument than the Rape Trail? Erhm.

Controversy over anti-abortion statue [DN]
Britney and Child as You’ve Never Seen Them Before [Gawker]

Villanover

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]

Breaking: Will Sheridan’s Father Proud

When someone’s interviewed on the news, there’s usually smaller text below the person’s name identifying him or her. For example, if George W. Bush is speaking, below his name it could say “President.” Usually they’re actually needed, and they’ll say “Neighbor” or “Witness” or “President, Local 401″ or something like that.

Other times, they’re not quite sure what to put:

It’s good to know that Will Sheridan’s father is proud of him. I wasn’t sure about it.

Bonus fun fact I learned from Good Day this morning: Did you know that Sheridan wears the number 50 because his parents are both in law enforcement? How awesome is that?