I'm Next

Big thanks to my buddy Eric, formerly of one of my favorite, now-defunct sites, Extrapolater and now of the fantastic Storming the Floor for tipping me off about my inclusion in ESPN the Mag's "The Next: Site to Bookmark" thingy.

This doesn't change things, ESPN. One link won't redeem the entire company. But it is a nice gesture. I certainly didn't expect it.

So I'm Next, fools. I guess soon, I'll be Now, and in a few years, Forgotten.

19 POINT LEAD WITH ONLY MINUTES TO GO...(breathe, breathe)

what the hell. iunderstand that eric maynor is a good point guard. i understand that he creates shots for other people when hes not scoring points himself. but a 19 point lead, in the 2nd half, should at least let your fans breathe. as soon as the lead dipped to 17, i was like "oh no." honestly, those words went through my mind. pitt seems to get caught up in snowball-games like the one on display last night, where they look like an elite 8 team, maybe even final 4 (dare i say)! but as soon as another team hits one big shot, or pitt misses that one easy shot (or free throw, levance fields, ill get to you later), then my mouth goes dry and i think, "we're going to blow a 19 point, 2nd half lead." i really thought pitt was gonna lose. minutes 5 through 2 in the 2nd half seemed to drag on forever, and watching pitt became frustrating.

but even if you blow a lead that large, you should be able to make, i don't know, at least 1 of 2 free throws with 2.1 seconds left. HOW MUCH ARC do you need to put on a shot? really? i played basketball in 3rd grade and that was it, but i understand the ball will go in the rim with much less arc than what levance fields puts on his shots. and then he throws his headband off like its the headbands fault for spending more eating than practicing his free throw.

pitt won however, and will face ucla, and former coach ben howland in the sweet 16. i had this part of my bracket highlighted, and hoped both pitt and ucla would make it. its just another mentor/protege game, tom izzo/tom crean, and thad matta going up against a stout xavier team that he left for ohio state. but its bs if the players get caught up in it, because there is little to no howland-era fingerprints on this team, save for say jamie dixon. jamie needs to forget about vcu, and focus real hard, on ucla. pitt must jump out early, and can ill afford to blow any lead to ucla.

hats off to eric maynor and vcu, though. they were a fun team to watch. everyone at the arena wanted pitt to lose once vcu started their run. their ability to force overtime is truly commendable. i expect the same, or more, in coming tournaments. yet a win, any type of win, still allows you to move on. pitt lives to fight another day. hopefully they can conjure up some of that "first-half magic" for more than 20 minutes versus ucla.

Eric Maynor = The Man

duke just lost. like only a couple seconds ago. in the first round of the tourney. to vcu. that virginia commonwealth for those who dont know. the game was tied with just over 10 seconds left. eric maynor, vcu's point guard, waved off a possible timeout by the vcu sideline on the inbounds. he proceeded to take the ball up court very calmly, at which point he unloaded a high percentage shot from right about the foul line. swish. with about 1.5 seconds left. this was amazing. i picked duke to beat vcu in my bracket, but after watching vcu battle from 13 down, i was rooting for the rams. ive never been a duke fan, but i picked them because its duke, and it was the first round of the tourney. i wasnt rooting for duke at all, since i had them losing to pitt in the 2nd round. maynor's numbers this year are good, but nothing amazing. however, his 22 points against duke, coupled with the balls to take the last shot without calling a timeout, makes me bow my head and say, "you rule, eric maynor." that sequence was so sweet. ill see if i can find a youtube clip of it or something, but this literally just happened. i felt i needed to write this down real bad.

now if (when) pitt defeats dashaun wood and wright state, it sets up a matchup between pitt and the heroics of eric maynor. damn.

Dante Was a Crafty One

me and my sisters like to reminisce about being young, collecting baseball cards, having fun, you know, all that kid stuff that was way too sweet, but then we got older and now we gotta focus on the real world, jobs, bills, etc. we might discuss saved by the bell or full house. occassionally, we will remember snorks, gummi bears, or other stupid cartoons tht ruled back in the day.

baseball cards were one staple that we never did without. we would make sure to by 25 cent packs, hoping to score a barry bonds or bobby bonilla, or john smiley for that matter, just because they were from the hometown team. looking back on some of the guys we would trade, collect, or keep in protective sleeves, the names and careers are so laughable. like, why did i keep kevin appier and mickey tettleton in plastic sleeves? ron karkovice was a favorite. bob tewksbury, otis nixon, jose lind, andre dawson and bert blylevin all made their rounds between our collections.

i found the picture of dante bichette online, and decided that id find out what the bich-man was up to these days. apparently, hes still semi-relevant, making his rounds, along with eric young, to rockies camp. this, in no way, can help colorado. bichette's son plays on some 14 year olds team, and youngs son is a rockies prospect. great.

i dont know why i even posted this. probably just because i found a sweet picture of dante bichette and wanted to show it. look at his sly smile. upper deck had no idea the hilarity caused by dantes shirt. i think i always think of him because i get him and steve buechele, a one-time pirate, mixed up.

thats all