Very interesting post on his blog…some comments are noteworthy:
The reality for the NBA however is that we have let the media coverage of our game be personality based. The NFL has someone on trial or in jail every single week. Sure hasnt affected their ratings at all. Why ? Because media coverage is of the team, game strategy and in game matchups. Most of us couldnt identify 90 pct of the players on our favorite football team in a lineup. You might know their name and number, but you have no idea what they look like.
Watch the pregame of NFL games. They have talked to coaches about plays. They talk about plays. They talk about defensive strategy. They talk about what will be run in which situations. Fans do the same. It makes watching the games a lot more fun.
What do we talk about before an NBA game ? Sure we talk about individual matchups. We might even talk about individual skills. But how many in the media even know that there is a play run and a defense called , with options, bailouts and audibles on almost every single possession ? And how many write or talk about them ?
Watching the ESPN crew with Stephen A, Greg Anthony and Tim Legler is painful. They are a cliche a second. Same soundbites every single game, just the player names are changed. TNT isnt much better. At least Barkley is entertaining at saying nothing.
Has anyone ever heard after a basket; ” I expect the Mavs to run a thumbs down or horns side in this situation. Detroit is probably expecting them to push the ball, so watch for the Pistons to use a send 4 to the Offensive boards and everyone else gets back when the ball goes up into a man to man, gold on the post, come on first dribble on an entry pass”.
Never. Instead we get mindless drivel about players. I know the game is fast and doesnt have the breaks that football has, but there is still time to discuss these things during stoppages and free throws.
Im just as guilty of letting it happen at the Mavs in our media. Its something I have to find a way to cure.
Well, the subject of this post makes it seem like I have some pics that I want to post, but they are not my pictures. These are taken from CNNSI.com and ESPN.com. All copyrights with them.
They have won the first elimination game dramatically. Now they go back home. Can they win two at home?
I don’t think so. It only happens once in a while. The only thing going for them is the fact that they are at home. That’s it.
The longer this series goes, the better it gets for the White Sox. More rest for them and easier to strike in the first couple of games of the World Series.
The horrible officiating to start the Trojans’ games continued against Notre Dame. What at first was laughable is now downright ridiculous. On the Trojans’ first punt, the referees missed an obviously blatant block in the back on the first Trojan downfield. On Tom Zbikowski’s punt return, the first two Trojans’ downfield were also blocked in the back, neither of which drew a flag. On John Walker’s first pass interference call, Irish receiver Maurice Stovall ran out of bounds, then was the first player to touch the ball, making him both an ineligible receiver and guilty of illegally touching the ball. Of course, 15 yards were marched off against the Trojans. The referees also did a horrendous job of uncovering the pile after an Irish fumble, which would have resulted in a 4th and 19 inside their own 10 yard line. The referees took their time uncovering the pile and refused to break up the individual spats going on around the play, each of which could have resulted in offsetting personal fouls. The ultimate result of the play? A fifteen yard personal foul against Josh Pinkard, called about five minutes after the end of the play.
Jacksonville beats Pittsburgh (1-0) Minnesota beats Chicago (1-1) Tampa Bay beats Miami (2-1) Giants beat Dallas (2-2) Baltimore beats Cleveland (3-2) Carolina beats Detroit (4-2) Cincinnati beats Tennessee (5-2) Kansas City beats Washington (6-2) Atlanta beats New Orleans (7-2) Buffalo beats Jets (8-2) Denver beats New England (9-2) San Diego beats Oakland (10-2) Seattle beats Houston (11-2) Indy beats St Louis (12-2)
The BCS rankings come out and once again, it will be time for the East Coast and Mid West and South (everyone but the Pac 10) to start chanting USC is overrated. They will say USC does not deserve to be #1. They will say Texas has beaten more quality opponents (hahaha). They will say the SEC has tougher opponents in general (hahha).
But all that is bull shit. USC has won on the road, which is tough no matter where you go. Secondly, those road wins were against highly ranked teams. No matter what you say, the rankings at the time matter a lot, especially given that the players are a bunch of 19 and 20 year-olds.
They have not only stayed unbeaten, but they have proved in a variety of ways (blowout against Hawaii, come back from behind against Oregon and ASU, and the cracker of a game against ND) that they are true champions who know that a win is all that matters. There are no points for style. A win is a win, no matter how ugly it looks.
Champions find a way to win. Champions don’t get fazed by undue pressure and media criticism. This team coached by Pete Carroll has learnt to get the job done and leave it to destiny to decide their fate. The goal is simple - win the Pac-10 and go win the Rose Bowl.
I am not going to say much else, because I tend to jinx my teams. But I want to pre-empt nonsense talk about USC being overrated and Pac-10 being a weak conference (4 teams in top 25 and 2 othes receiving votes - boo ya!) and such.
While on vacation recently, I ended up using the wife’s computer. And she does not have Firefox installed, and even if she did, it would not have my settings.
I wish there was a “web-based” browser that I could log into anytime I am connected to the internet. That way, my bookmarks and settings and extensions and greasemonkey scripts and such would all be in one place.
Australia has won the Super Series ODI’s and the Super Test big time, and it cements their place as #1 team in the world, without doubt.
The World XI, especially the test side, was a dream side. But the Australians were fired up and even though they did not have everyone play well, they did enough to crush the World XI.
Charlie Weis saw the clock tick down from 5 seconds to 0 and he raised his hands, celebrating a win. USC was not done. Pete Carroll was not done. Matt Leinart was not done.
For a change, the fumble out of bounds was actually a good thing. It stopped the clock and gave USC another chance. 7 seconds were put back on the clock and USC came up with a miracle touchdown with 3 seconds to go. Leinart was able to push himself over a pile of guys into the end zone.
What a game. It was even better for us because we were actually at a sports bar, watching with a lot of Trojans, but also a lot of vocal Irish supporters - including some Texas Longhorns folks who would want USC to lose in order for Texas to become #1.
But after a roller coaster last few moments, USC ended up victorious, and those last-second victories are memorable only for the supporters of the team winning the game, and it was for us.
USC has overcome a big hurdle, winning over a good Notre Dame team. Hope this does not get into the guys' heads that they can do anything, because the penalties and turnovers were still killing them big time. They need to improve there and stop beating themselves.
Jacksonville beats Pittsburgh Minnesota beats Chicago Tampa Bay beats Miami Giants beat Dallas Baltimore beats Cleveland Carolina beats Detroit Cincinnati beats Tennessee Kansas City beats Washington Atlanta beats New Orleans Buffalo beats Jets Denver beats New England San Diego beats Oakland Seattle beats Houston Indy beats St Louis
A great post (with a lot of links to other posts/websites) on the topic I was completely unaware of, because I was away. A blogger posted something bad about a sort of premier management institute in India and the institute has struck back and the battle rages on.
Looks like the issue is gaining steam by the day and all the support we bloggers can give to the fellow bloggers is welcome.
Thanks for the detailed update by Amit Varma at India Uncut.
$4 or $5 per gallon of gas is good for the SUV-loving American public because soon they will realize that the days of gas guzzlers are out.
SUV sales are down industry-wide and if the upward trend in gas prices, real or not, continues, we may see some more meaningful cars on the road, like the hybrids or smaller cars with better fuel efficiency.
Of course, the soccer mom may still get the minivan and the crossover SUV may still be in vogue among the young parents, but the real guzzlers like Expedition, Sequoia, etc. will have to change quickly.
Tried to watch it according to Eastern time zone, but it looks like it comes tape delayed in Hawaii, which at this time of the year, is 3 hours behind Pacific time zone.
That’s sad for Hawaiians. The excitement during the game is quite low, I guess.
Detroit beats Baltimore (1-0) New Orleans beats Green Bay - SO wrong here! (1-1) St Louis beats Seattle (1-2) Tampa Bay beats Jets - aw come on, Bucs. (1-3) New England beats Atlanta (2-3) Buffalo beats Miami (3-3) Chicago beats Cleveland (3-4) Tennessee beats Houston (4-4) Indy beats SF (5-4) Denver beats Washington (6-4) Carolina beats Arizona (7-4) Philly beats Dallas - whooped (7-5) Cincinnati beats Jacksonville (7-6) Pittsburgh beats San Diego (8-6)
Tampa Bay beats Detroit (1-0) Settle beats Washington (1-1) Cincinnati beats Houston (2-1) Denver beats Jacksonville (3-1) Indianpolis beats Tennessee (4-1) New England beats San Diego - wow, SO wrong on this one! (4-2) Buffalo beats New Orleans (4-3) St Louis beats NY Giants (4-4) Baltimore beats NY Jets (5-4) Atlanta beats Minnesota (6-4) Philadelphia beats Kansas City (7-4) Dallas beats Oakland (7-5) San Francisco beats Arizona - saw parts of this one - pathetic! (7-6) Carolina beats Green Bay (8-6)
I did not know that guy at all, and happened to watch a few innings of the Angels game vs NYY. He is a fantastic guy - and I did not even know that it is his rookie season and that was his first postseason game!
The second half was definitely better than the first. But then again, the first half was not pathetic. I saw the first half and realized that if it were not for two mistakes (one fumble by Desmond Reed and the interception by Matt Leinart), USC would have been up by 2 or 3 touchdowns.
And so it is now on to the much touted USC-Notre Dame game. Pete Carroll vs Charlie Weis. I am not sure what to expect of this game. ND has been playing awesome football. I saw a couple of their games (most of the couple games) and they do look very similar to the Patriots style football. Clean, simple, efficient. Keep getting first downs and keep converting scoring opportunities. They use the tight end a lot and unfortunately for USC, all their players have started believing.
Reggie Bush is not 100% and that takes away more than one player out of the equation. I know that he will play even if he is less than 100%, and if he is in fact less than 100%, it will mean less effectiveness.
Anyway, I don’t want to talk too much about the game because I don’t want to jinx anything. Fingers crossed. It will be a good game and I am going to watch it in a public place with a classmate who is visiting us.
I am so glad the Yankees are out! Good job, Angels. People who know me, know that I don’t like the New York teams - Yankees, Giants, Jets, whatever.
And what a nightmare for the Angels - flying from New York to Los Angeles and flying to Chicago on the red eye flight.
And they won!
Of course now it is 1-1 and the series moves to Los Angeles. I am not sure which is my favorite team. I don’t like the Astros because of the (what I think is) unnecessary hype that follows Roger Clemens. I couldn’t care less if it is the Cards or the White Sox. I probably feel closest to the Angels becausee they play in the AL West, and I get to hear of them more than the other teams.
So I will try to watch as much of the LA-Sox series as I can. And of course hope that the Angels go all the way.
Saurav Ganguly was ruled out of Challenger series because of a mild tennis elbow. I am not too sure if dropping out of Challenger is necessarily a bad thing, but it looks like he may not be the captain of the upcoming India/SL one day series. It may again have to be Rahul Dravid and again, officially, it would be a stop-gap situation.
I don’t think this is a healthy situation for India, if the selectors decide to name Dravid a captain ‘until Ganguly gets back’. It would basically mean that Dravid will not be able to truly run the team like a captain, knowing that he is there only for 7 one day games. It would also put the team under the impression that they are playing for a stop-gap captain and the ‘real deal’ will come back later.
Not sure how ‘mature’ the Indian team is, but whatever little morale is left, may go flying away if Dravid is put back as vice captain if Ganguly is able to get fit and score big for East Zone. This despite Dravid being in apparent control of the team and the team winning.
We are slowly catching up with the taped stuff over the past week or so, and the first thing I watched last night was the formula 1 GP at Suzuka. This was simply because I did not want to inadvertantly get the results before I saw the race. Plus I had already got some idea that the race was fantastic. So I could not resist it.
Saw the first quarter of the USC game (could not get to a sports bar in Hawaii before the second quarter ;-) ), and then saw the race.
What a race by Kimi! Unbelievable performance. Starting at #20 and ending up #1. Phenomenal. It was sad that Vill knocked Montoya off the track. If Montoya had stayed in the points, and perhaps higher up in the standings, maybe McLaren could have been comfortable, and maybe even clinched the constructors' championship.
Hats off to Kimi Raikkonen. Let’s hope that McLaren improve the car next year and let’s hope that Ferrari bounces back. That will spice things up big time and make the season fantastic.
Now, it is on to China for the final race of the season. Can’t wait for the next weekend.
Back from the vacation. Catching up on chores. Don’t know where to start blogging about the vacation itself. Don’t want to make posts too long, so I think I will write bits and pieces about my impressions of the various places we visited in Hawaii, rather than make a day-to-day diary of the trip.
Today is the last day of our vacation. We leave tomorrow for the mainland. Sad. Visions of work and ‘life’ have started coming back. Why can’t this vacation last forever?
Maui is a wonderful place. Will write about our trip in more detail later. Just wanted to let out my biggest thought of the moment - getting back to reality :-(
So what if I am in beautiful Maui, by the ocean, enjoying the impossibly blue water? I still have to make my picks for week 5. Here they are:
Detroit beats Baltimore New Orleans beats Green Bay St Louis beats Seattle Tampa Bay beats Jets New England beats Atlanta (especially true if Vick does not play) Buffalo beats Miami Chicago beats Cleveland Tennessee beats Houston Indy beats SF Denver beats Washington Carolina beats Arizona Philly beats Dallas Cincinnati beats Jacksonville (Orange Bowl repeat of Palmer vs Leftwich) Pittsburgh beats San Diego
