NBA Bracket Challenge

Since I issued the challenge I will step up and post my bracket first. I got the Lakers over the Bulls in 6, let the fun begin.

Round 1

Chi vs Ind – Chi 5 games

Orl vs Atl – Orl 7 games

Bos vs NYK – Bos 6 games

Mia vs Phi – Mia 4 games

SA vs Mem – SA 5 games

OKC vs Dev – OKC 7 games

Dal vs Port – Dal 6 games

LAL vs NO – LAL 4 games

Round 2

Chi vs Orl – Chi 6 games

Mia vs Bos – Bos 7 games

SA vs OKC – SA 7 games

LAL vs Dal – LAL 6 games

Conf Finals

Chi vs Bos – Chi 7 games

SA vs LAL – LAL 6 games

Finals

Chi vs LAL – LAL 6 games

My Gears are Grinding

I read this little gem written by Charlie's favorite sportswriter, Rick Reilly, and my blood really started boiling.  This type of thing has pissed me off for years but this article was the tipping point.  I can't take it anymore.


There is this idea in people's heads that just because someone has a lot of money they should all of a sudden start making bad business decisions.  Let me fill you in on something Rick.  Paul Allen didn't get his 414 foot yacht that you despise so much by holding his employees hands and skipping through the street singing "If You're Happy and You Know It".  He, and the rest of the owners, made their fortunes by making sound business decisions.  Owning a business isn't about always being the nice guy. 

Should the NFL owners have gone about some things differently?  Should they do a little more in the way of player safety? Yes, I'm not saying they're perfect by any means, but lets not get foolish. Why would any business owner not operate his business in the manner that will make it the most profitable it could possibly be; no matter how much money he/she already has?  And it's not just the NFL owners, people have been making this ludicrous argument for years.

I want to avoid a lockout as much as the next guy, but I'm not foolish enough to blame the owners for wanting their business to make more money.  Why does having a lot of money disqualify you from making smart decisions.  An extra billion dollars is an extra billion dollars; no matter how large your bank account is.

Oh yea, by the way, Rick Reilly's current ESPN contract is paying him $10 million over 5 years.  "Nice to meet you kettle, I'm pot."

State of the Union: MSU Basketball

After starting the year ranked #2, the Michigan State Spartans have been on an absolute free fall.  It has been a frustrating season to say the least, especially with how high expectations were coming in.  I was as high on the Spartans as I have been since 2000 when they featured the Flintstones.  They were bringing back Kalin Lucas (a projected lottery pick) at point guard, Draymond Green and Delvon Roe in the middle, Durrell Summers (who absolutely carried the team through the tourny last year), and Korie Lucious (who got big time minutes when Lucas went down last year).

There is certainly a lot blame to go around but there are a few main things that I think really went wrong...

1) Kalin Lucas Not 100% - Kalin ruptured his achilles tendon late last year and didn't look right to start this season.  His quickness and elevation just weren't there.  He struggled to get to the basket and even when he did he struggled to finish over the bigger players.  Sparty's offense is built around Lucas getting penetration and finishing/distributing to other guys.  He makes this team go and if he doesn't have it the Spartans are in trouble.

Kalin has looked better of late.  I can only hope that he is getting his groove back and will lead the charge into the Big 10 Tournament.

2) The Dissapearance of Durrell Summers - When Lucas went down last year Durrell Summers stepped up and took over the scoring.  He put that team on his back and carried them all the way to a Final Four.  For some reason Durrell has been almost non-existant this season.  He seems unwilling to take big shots and he just hasn't found his swagger all year.  Part of me thinks its the return of Lucas that has caused this.  Summers got a taste of the lead role last year and he flourished, but now he has to defer to Lucas and I think it has ruined his confidence.

3) Korie Lucious Shenanigans - Lucious has been in trouble numerous times since arriving in East Lansing but it looks like he finally took it to far.  Tom Izzo suspended the junior guard for the remainder of the season and it looks like Lucious might be gone for good.  There have been rumors that he may be following Chris Allen to Iowa State.  Lucious gained valuable experience last season when he stepped in for the injured Kalin Lucas.  He gave MSU solid production at the 2 guard and also depth at the point position.  Lucious' absense has forced freshman Keith Appling to take on big time minutes.

Currently, the Spartans are not just on the bubble but are probably on the outside looking in.  They are going to need a few quality wins down the stretch and in the Big 10 tournament to get into the field. 

I haven't given up on the season just yet though.  Lucas has shown improvement over the last few weeks and him and Green are talented enough to carry this team deep.  Appling and fellow freshman Adreien Payne have showed a lot of potential and will have a lot of minutes under their belt come March.

The one thing I know is that Tom Izzo will have this team ready to play come Big 10 Tournament time.  I think they have enough to make a final push.

The NBA Currently Only Has 58 "Team Players"

According to our very own Bert Boyer, in order to be a "team player" in the NBA you have to average at least 3 assists per game.  So I took the liberty of finding you a list of of all the crappy teammates in the NBA this year.  According to NBA.com in the 2010-2011 season only 58 players average above 3 apg.  Here are the highlights from the list of those guys that just seemingly never learned to share.

Name                         APG
Lamar Odom                2.9
Kevin Durant                2.9
Tayshaun Prince           2.8
Andrei Kirilenko           2.8
Derrek Fischer             2.8
Amar'e Stoudemire       2.7
Rudy Gay                     2.7
Kevin Love                  2.7
Shane Battier               2.4
Grant Hill                     2.4
David West                 2.3
Ron Artest                  2.1
Wesley Matthews        1.9
Landry Fields              1.9
O.J. Mayo                  1.9
Chris Bosh                  1.9
Rashard Lewis            1.8
Andrea Bargnani         1.8
Danilo Gallinari           1.7
Al Jefferson                1.7
Antawn Jamison         1.6
Richard Jefferson       1.4
Dwight Howard         1.2
James Jones              0.6
Zydrunas Ilgauskas    0.4


If these guys don't learn how to share soon they are going to find themselves without a job.  I would never want any of these players on my team.

In case you didn't notice, I think Brett has sniffed a few to many glue bottles in his day.  By my own count (which admittedly may be wrong because I'm not an NBA factbook) 16 of the players on that list are former or current all-stars.  There could even be more because I just went through the list and pulled the big names. If you want to see the full list go here.

I've Had it Up To Here With The Chinese

Seriously, its not fair that they have 10,000,000,000 people in their country.  Yao Ming hasn't played in a game since December 16th and has no plan of returning to the line up this season.  However, the big man was voted into his 8th NBA All-Star game, and is in fact a starter in the game.  This is just a mockery of the system.  How can I guy who hasn't even appeared on a court, let alone put up solid numbers, be an all-star.  I know this horse has pretty much been beaten to death every year, but that's because it pisses me and everyone else off every single year. 

Not only is it a joke that Yao gets to keep piling up all-star appearances, but it just really is a shame for the other guys who are left off the list.  Being selected an all-star is a great honor for these players and its too bad that the fans in China have made a mockery of the process.

The NBA needs to implement some type of over ride measure into the all-star ballot.  The fans should not just have free reign to vote for whoever they want.  In my opinion, there should at least be a minimum number of games played to even have your name appear on the ballot.  At least that way even if the fans vote in someone who doesn't deserve it, he'll at least have played this season.

Big Ben In a Class of His Own

Ben Roethlisberger has played in more big games in his short NFL career than most quarterbacks play their entire lives, and somehow, he always comes up huge when it matters most.  This past Sunday Big Ben made two huge completions that iced the AFC Championship and sealed another trip to the Super Bowl for the Steel City.  The thing that has really boggled my mind the last few days though is that Ben played an absolutely terrible game right up until that last drive.  I mean, it was a stinker.  And yet, somehow, the media hasn't made one mention of it.  If you listen to Sportscenter or NFL Live you would think that Roethlisberger carried that team the entire game, when in actuality the defense dominated the Jets in the first half and did enough to stay atop down the stretch.  That is how the Steelers win; they rely on defense and a running game to just keep them in the game despite mistakes by their quarterback, and then in the last two minutes Big Ben comes alive and makes a play to win the game.

I've been thinking about this since Sunday.  Has their ever been a player, in any sport, who consistently puts up below average numbers but is still considered one of the best to play the game at his position because of that "clutch factor".  I can't even think of one; not on the level of Big Ben.  To give you an idea of how bad he played Sunday, take a look at his stat line.

10/19, 133 yards, 0 TDs, 2 ints, 35.5 passer rating

Its crazy that two clutch completions at the end of the game can mask a stat line like that.  What if the teams had been reversed.  What if the Jets had won the game, what if  Mark Sanchez had put up those stats but made a few plays when it mattered most?  I'd bet my bottom dollar that ESPN analysts would have been saying "The Jets won in spite of Mark Sanchez, he is their glaring weakness going into the Super Bowl."

Now, let me clarify something before I get harassed with comments for a week.  Winning in the NFL is everything.  Super Bowl rings have been and will always be the true test of a great quarterback.  Stats don't get you anywhere if you can't come up big in big situations.  I know this, and in fact I agree with it.  I think Big Ben is a top 5 quarterback in the NFL.  What boggles my mind is that fact that I know how bad he usually plays and I still think that. 

Again, has there ever been another player that can hoodwink so many people with a few clutch plays?  I say no.

GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN!

Right now, it seems like the SNO Tap Family is like the Jersey Shore house.  We have one side that is Sam and Ronnie while the other side is the rest of the cast.  As the Sitch attempted to the day after the fight, I will try to bring us back together.  Only kidding.  I love the cattiness that is being displayed right now and hopefully it goes until it becomes like a WWE match where it's loser goes home match, where one has to quit. Anyways, I don't know why you guys keep squabbling when you can just put a poll question about who is better Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Voting goes a week, the loser owns the winner the shot of their choice at the bar of their choice.

Tom Brady voters here...                   VS.       Peyton Manning  voters here.    

This is why I am awesome.

-Charlie.

Number 1 Gets Toppled

OK lets get this out of the way right away, I HATE Duke.  I think they are over-rated, arrogant, assholes that get too much credit every year. 

Now that that's out of the way lets get to the topic at hand.  Duke got beat by an unranked and struggling Florida State team last night.  FSU led nearly the entire game and Duke really never made it interesting until the last five minutes. 

Duke will win the ACC and probably get a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but WHY? What have they done?  Sure, they've been crushing opponents, but they don't play anybody.  Literally, they don't play anybody.  If you look at the Blue Devils' schedule it is absolutely pathetic.  As we sit right now they have just three ranked teams on their schedule (Kansas State, Michigan State, and Temple) and they have played them all at home.  To make it even more pathetic, in Duke's first 16 games they have only played two games at an opponents home arena (they have left Cameron Indoor 6 times but 4 of those were neutral sites and not really true road games). 

Andy Katz of ESPN had this to say on Twitter:

"Quite a night: FSU gets signature win it desperately needed over Duke (hey a true road game)"

I honestly think that Coach K (yes, I hate him too) has made a big mistake with his scheduling.  Deep tournament runs aren't built on blowout wins at home.  They are made by playing tough games in tough arenas. 

Obviously I am biased towards Michigan State and Tom Izzo but lets look at the stats.  Izzo has been to 6 Final Fours in the last 12 years; a record that no other coach can come close to.  How has he done it?  He's done it by challenging the Spartans with an unbelievably tough schedule every single year.  They are always going out and playing top teams.  Sure, they might lose a few of these games but it builds toughness and experience that is needed in March.  Every single year the Spartans lose a few games early, drop in the rankings, get seeded somewhere around 3-6, and then proceed to "surprise" everyone by making a deep run in the tournament.  The MSU program is a testament to what Tom Izzo knows and everyone else needs to figure out: you don't have success in March by playing cupcakes all year long.  Maybe the most amazing stat I have ever heard in my life; every single player that has stayed all four years under Tom Izzo has gone to at least one Final Four.

ESPN needs to step aside and really take a look at the Duke team this year (especially after the loss of Kyrie Irving).  I'm already penciling them in for an early exit come tournament time, unless of course the committee hands them their usual cupcake bracket.