Balancing Drinking and Playing

"If you want to play in this league, you've got to jump out there and get after people," Sloan said. "You can't let people bring it to you all the time. Young guys have a tendency to not realize that. They think, 'Get me some shots and worry about the other stuff later.'" --Jerry Sloan

I have always enjoyed talking about this topic. It is a very relevant topic for my readers, as many are current and former OAC hoop standouts. How big of a variable does drinking play in athletic performance, specifically in the marathon that is the OAC basketball season? I can write a a 40-50 page book on this, and we can talk about this topic at a bar for 10 straight hours And I look forward to talking about it with whoever wants to talk about it. It is more fun argument to have in person, and I look forward to hearing opinions. My good friend Danny Hinkel and I argue about this topic a lot. His reasoning is absolutely correct. Then again, he didn't live in that OAC basketball lifestyle, a life in the fast lane fraternity that combines ingredients of really skilled D1 walk on caliber players, with fame, houses close to the school where you can have cool parties, and insane boy band popularity. But I just wanna leave this topic with a quick take about what I think.

WINNING is the ultimate hangover killer. Winning is the ultimate antioxidant. Winning allows you to drink on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Winning cures everything and solves every problem. I think we can all agree with that. We have all experienced that thrill to some extent. Winning buys you shorter practices on Thursdays. Winning buys you the ability to mail in a walk through hung over Friday practice. For Bub and Tyler, I'm not positive, but I would venture to guess that they drank the most and enjoyed it the most during their sophomore year. For myself and some of my colleagues, there was some great week nights and weekends in 04-05 and 06-07 seasons. For Ohio Northern guys, the drinks probably flowed pretty smoothly…O wait, they never won anything. Ever.

Losing makes it tougher. When you lose a couple games, you feel that little extra soreness in your body the next day at practice, and maybe you don’t practice as hard or you don't get that 10 extra minutes after practice to clean up your game. You feel a little more lethargic in that film room and miss a highlight tid bit that could be the difference between winning and losing. After a Saturday loss, you might not have the kind energy you would have at 1:05am after a win, and you could miss out on closing [the girl you have drunk texted 60 times since 10pm] errrrrrrrr the girl of your dreams who is at a bar for one night only.

Now as I am writing this, I am thinking of 100 different scenarios in which what I have written is completely wrong, retarded, and poorly reasoned. And I constantly find ways in which I can make my point better if I had more time. This happens everytime I write on this YOU GOT JC platform. I wish I had more time to write better technically, but until I become a professional journalist and have 1 million readers, this will have to do.

I just look at the John Carroll basketball team this year, and see the same kinda things I saw when I was a good player at the school. The game was fun most of the time. Drinking was fun. Drinking had no impact on any practice or game. It was all an after thought. Cause we were good and we had the confidence to win the game no matter what. Winning creates confidence and tigtens your focus on winning. The drinking just becomes something you do that is fun.

But all my evidence is supported by teams that we were really good and really tough mentally. All the teams I mentioned were gritty and tough as shit. And they all won OAC titles and made the NCAA tourney. So maybe the moral of the story is drinking doesnt effect performance if youre going to win the league and maybe win the national title. But I think this John Carroll team is heading down the same path, is peaking a very nice time, and may catch a very tired, aging Capital team to win the league out right. And I think if they are able to win the league, they will express a similar opinion to some of the things I have talked about.

Anyway, I was trying to go somewhere with this, I buried my lead and my conclusions a little bit. We'll revisit this topic very soon, as I do some independent market research with some of my friends. LATEEEEEEEE.

PURPLE SATURDAY

Quotes of the day:: Reporter: "Do you play with a chip on your shoulder?"
Maurice Jones Drew (Mojo): "Actually, it’s more like a can of Pringles."

"It’s the itty bitty, teeny tiny things that get you beat." –Bear Bryant

I WOULD BE REMISS, if I didn’t touch on the great scene that was Saturday night. All things equal, it was a great night to be alive in frigid CLE. A night that saw great drinking efforts put forth by everyone involved. A night that saw the biggest, coolest dude in the game get ran from the dance floor within the hour of arriving. (Because who woulda thought they would be hesitant to let a blasted 260 pound guy dance on a stage with skanks?) A night that saw a friend of Kelly’s go to the hostpital (Shocker.) A night that saw me get into a war of words with one of Kelly’s friends (Apparently, she didn’t like getting beer dumped on her after she repeatedly asked me to stop, wow to be basically blacked out by 10pm, good times.) Alex Koltsov was inevitably eskimo kissing a girl somewhere. Brian Dandrea was inevitably confusing the words “NO” and “YES” with random skanks on the dance floor. And a purple panther ended the night with a 3am scuffle with a Speedway patron. All in all, sounds about par for the course on a night of epic proportions as this night was.

It was a star studded cast on Saturday night, no question. Tony D. Big Rude. King Zaj. Brandon Kurtz later in the night. But without the doubt, the addition of 3 kids from Cincinnati put us over the top from Thursday night til Saturday. Cheddar, Danny and Brian Donald lived up to their billing, all the while Brian Hamrick looked on like a proud father. They possessed everything that Brian does, which may seem like mental handicaps to you, but for me are very big strengths and traits that I envy very much. I think all of them have developed a bond with each other in which they can skate the line of genius and insanity almost effortlessly. And there is never a single thought of worry in any of their minds. As I told Brian through a text the next day: “I wanna know what Danny Maret is doing at all times.” I can go on all day about them, but I'll just leave you with the thought that these guys have a lot going for themselves. I look forward to visiting them on their turf in Cincinnati, under the condition that they don't let me get beat up by a local Cinci-tucky bum.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIGHT:

-Meeting Danny, Cheddar, and Brian
-Danny Maret telling me that he "respected" my Elder T-shirt
-Shaking hands with Rudy Kirbus
-Smoking a menthol cigarette with Joe Haffey
-Seeing Brandon Kurtz on the dance floor for the first time in 6 weeks
-Watching Derek get escorted out of Barroom.
-Yelling at one of Kelly's friends and telling her that "I'm not here to make friends, I have 500 friends"
-Catching Oompa and Eddie Subel for a brief word while battling the challenge of walking and keeping my eyes open
-Eating Paninis and catching a couple of my buddies heading home to the west side.

JC 3

Do You Drink? (Part 2 of 2)

A LIST OF POTENTIAL FIGHTS AND SCUFFLES:

Alex v. Rudolph--first one that jumped into my mind. Almost a lock. Both these guys have quick fuses, and the combination of about 30 beers each and crowded bars might send these two over the top. Potential pitfalls include: Alex wanting to eskimo kiss with a female Kyle was hitting on. Alex sacrificing himself in a 99 game to beat Kyle, and Kyle not including Alex in a round of shots. Look for this one.

Sweet D v. Mcquaide--there is always some tension between the two biggest guys at a party. I think these guys will hit it off great at the beginning, team up to intimidate people, make fun of people, talk about the Buckeyes, but the slightest slight by either party could lead to a 2am shoving match that will have to be separated by a girl trying to eat her taco bell.

Faigle v. Rudy Kirbus--two very loud-mouth drunks. GCL v St. Ignatius. Wait for this one.

Haffey v. Hamrick--you can only be called a pussy for not drinking enough for so long.

Alex v. Zajac--I feel like there could come a point where Zajac might wanna piece of somebody. I feel like if Zajac gets a little too far over his head, his buddy Alex will have his back. But the ride home might bring about a scuffle as their own, as Chris might feel that he could have taken the guy he was talking noise to.

Kelly Cantwell v. Red head friend--bffs turn into frenemies under the influence of vodka and gatorade.

Alex v. One of the Bouncers--Any hesitation on IDs, or wrong look might spring a fight between Alex and a bouncer--alex has a lot to prove as he is 0-1 against bouncers in the last month.

Alex v. Haffey--drunk Alex v drunk Joe--Joe refuses to take a shot that Alex bought--manhood is questioned--fight ensues

Alex v. A Wall or Window--hahaha OK I killed that thread.

Brian Dandrea v. A completely random and innocent guy who did absolutely nothing wrong--When Brian decides to have a big night--he has a big night--and on these nights he is capable of doing pretty much anything. Perhaps the best thing about it is he generally will have no recollection about it in the morning. I would like to see him call out a small Chinese man, whom Brian falsely believes stole his piece of pizza from Panini's.


Most Likely to NOT Make it Downtown--Zajac?--no, way too big a night for him to miss. Kirbus?--close but no, again, too big a night for Big Rude to pull a DNP. I think the smart money would be on me to be honest. I have not drank since New Year's Eve. The expectations are hight. There will be a keg. There will be several keg stands, and several games of 99. I feel like I am gonna make it but who knows.

Most Likely to Lose in 99--Haffey--mortal lock--THE GAME FINDS YOU MAN! STAY AWAY.

Most Likely to be Arrested--Hamrick

Most Likely to be Cuffed--Alex (see above)

Best Dancer--Tony D

Funniest Grinding Performance by a Drunk Guy--Brian Dandrea

Most Likely to be Tazered--McQuaide--some idiot cop might hit the panic button for absolutely no reason.

Possible Hospitalizations--Danny Maret (purely speculative), 1 of Keli Cantwell' friends, Chris Zajac

Biggest Bar Tab--Kelly Blair--$220 Smitty--$158, Faigle--$121 Tony D--$90

MVP OF THE NIGHT--JC

Do You Drink? (Part 1 of 2)

Quotes of the Day:

"When everyone is greedy, be fearful. When everyone is fearful, be greedy."-Warren Buffet

Everything I do, I feel is genius, whether it is or it isn't. -Rufus Wainwright

Don't look now, but we are just a little over 72 hours away from one of the most heavily anticipated occasions so far in '09. This Saturday night, The Show will be celebrating his 21st birthday. For those of you not familiar with Brian, his work, his beliefs or his general disposition, congratulations on missing out on perhaps one of the unique human beings walking around right now. And the fact that he is turning 21, and will now be legally allowed to attend bars, clubs, Las Vegas and the like, there really is no telling what he could be capable of in the coming years. After months of careful careful planning, Brian and his friends thought of zero new and creative ways to celebrate, so they will doing the default option for every 21st birthday party: take a party bus around the city and hit bar after bar after dance club. Make no mistake, you could do a lot worse than what we are going to be doing Saturday night. Before I get into some thoughts and analysis about what I expect on Saturday, I want to make a small point.

I have always been very puzzled with the love affair with 21st birthdays. I know it is a rite of passage. I know that it happens during our college years. I know it permanently opens doors to places where dreams come true. But I really believe that it's significant for the wrong reasons. Brian Hamrick has been drinking (and smoking) on a regular basis since he was a freshman in high school. The same goes for the majority of people I know. I never had a good fake ID, and I never did not get in somewhere that I wanted to be at. My brother does not have a good fake ID at Ohio State, and he still gets in the majority of the places he wants to go. So what are we really celebrating on 21st parties? Are we celebrating Brian's 7th year of drinking illegally, and his first week of drinking legally? Are we celebrating the 44th time Brian has gotten into a bar underage and the first time he has gotten into a bar of age? Perhaps this is a question to break down some time in the future. We have a lot to cover in the next two days.

These are historic times. The economy. Our 44th president Barack Obama. And last but not least, 6 kids from Cincy Elder in Cleveland at one time. You heard me right on that last one. There is gonna be 6 kids from Cincinnati in Cleveland this weekend. I have not been to the east side, nor my old house in a long time, but I hope provisions have been made, and exit strategies have been revamped. And were not talking about normal kids here. We're talking about Brian's friends. Kids that make Brian look like a pussy. The possibilities are endless. The potential tragedies are large. The potential rewards are outstanding.

Scouting Reports per Brian's Description:
Brian Faigle--prolly
Kyle Rudolph (the better one)--he's been playing varsity for a very long time
Jake McQuaid--bleeds purple first, scarlet second, an unstoppable drinking force
Jake Chastang--the x factor of the weekend, a real unknown
Danny Maret--"the biggest hillbilly Indiana has ever seen" The jury is still out on whether that is a compliment.

The one thing that you guys have to realize is that Brian uses hyperbole probably better than anyone. He has been building you guys up for the last 3 years. Mostly with lies. He has created almost impossible expectations for you 5 guys. I don't really know. Maybe these guys just show up in Cleveland, and really let down. Maybe they have off nights. The hype might get to them, you never know. But I think its safe to say, that our house is ready for the challenge.

There is also going to be other celebrities in attendance. Tony D will be in the house which means the dance floor at Cadillac Ranch will not be safe at 1:15am. Sweet D will undoubtedly make his presence felt. I feel like he is going to be very well rested and up for the drinking challenge. You can only drink with and talk to horses for short periods of time. He's been waiting to for reasons to drink, hit on every broad that moves, and inexplicably throw multiple punches at the drop of a hat for the last two weeks. And Cincy guests, find his car if you want to go to taco bell at 3am. Recent scouting reports have all showed trends that his pickup game is on the decline. Scouts have cited lack of creativity and inability to close as two weak areas over his last several outings.

Another wild card in this weekend is the presence of a joint party: Kelly Cantwell and her gang of Ice Queen friends will be [f'ing up] errrrrr complimenting the party bus trip. There is no question that this variable makes it one of the most unpredictable weekends in a very long time. With so much beer and so many alpha dogs running around, the potential [assaults] errrrrrrrrr problems can be unimaginable. I have been praying very hard that no one dies this weekend. But I have been praying extra hard that a visiting girl doesnt die.

Lastly, I will also be in attendance for this get together. I think I speak for everyone when I say I am the most charasmatic person on the guest list. I hope to play a very strong role in the festivities. I have been absent from the east side game for so long, that I feel extra motivated for a good showing. I might even wear a sport coat. And if any of you morally bankrupt idiots need a lesson in pulling women, I hope to be putting on a clinic throughout the night. I will play the game that night with this saying in my head: "what I had I gave, what I saved I lost. Forever.

Back Tomorrow with Predictions

JC 3

Random Thoughts

Quotes of the Day: "The only easy day was yesterday." --Navy SEAL Commandment

"If you wanna go fast, go alone. If you wanna go far, go together." -African Proverb

100 hits

The YOU GOT JC team would like to thank their loyal readers for their effort to get to the blog and give it a read through. JC is nothing without his peeps, and to see such a strong showing in the return of the blog in '09 is a positive step in the right direction.
I made the mistake of offering my friend Rudy Kirbus a chance to write a guest blog to celebrate the 100 hits in 7 days. Rudy must not have really understood the question I posed through text at 6:56am this morning. I'm sure other readers would have jumped at the opportunity to write a guest post, seeing as a cameo on my blog could open the door to many other wonderful things. Nevertheless, there will be more chances to write guest posts, and as all of you know I want you to email me or text me or call me with ideas that you want to see written about.

Maverick Carter

Did anyone see this mope sitting right next to the Lakers bench last night with Phil Knight, CEO of Nike? This guy drives me crazy. He's like a two-time lottery winner. I can't stand him. I want to see his degree. He thinks he is Ari Gold, but on his best day he might be E, but on most days (360 outta 365) he is Turtle. Simmons wrote about this two summers ago, about how the guys Sports Guy is plugged into who know the NBA told him story after story about how his buddies who are trying to manage him are screwing up his career. I don't really believe that mostly because it's impossible to screw the King up seeing as he will be approaching a bil in about 2 years. If there was a way though, Maverick and those other mopes would find it.

Cavs Lakers

I only saw a quarter of this game because I go to bed early now because I have to wake up really early, but that was enough and I could have told you how it was going to play out. LeBron James had that look in his eye right from the tip. The big Cavs fans know that look by now. The "I haven't really played in a big game in about 13 days, so I'm gonna completely drive my fans crazy and shoot 20 off balance jumpers, make 3 or 4 big plays to woo the crowd, and put my supporting cast in a no win situation by pounding the ball 26 feet away till the clock is at 4." The Lake Show planted some seeds in Cavs fans heads, as Bynum and Gasol just had their way against the Cavs thin front line. Kobe played his usual game, playing through a dislocated finger, making 6 or 7 really tough shots. Sasha Vuyachix gave good minutes, it looked like. All in all, not a great showing for the Cavs. This was a game that they needed much more than the Lakers did. They did a nice job taking that must win game from the Celtics, but did a poor job last night. Don't look now but the Magic are coming like a freight train, going 4-0 on their west coast swing with wins at LA, at SA, and at POR. The JC power rankings have them 3rd at the moment, with the Cavs 1 and the Lakers 2. The Spurs at 4 and the Celtics at 5 complete the top 5.

Eds Ignatius

Really air balled this prediction last week. As you recall, I had St. Edward skating to a comfortable double digit win. They played very poorly, and ended up losing to the Cats although making it very close at the end. I laugh at myself for not seeing that coming. St. Ignatius had seen every second of every quarter St. Eds had played up until that point. It was a very big game for them. And they were prepared, and played a lot harder than St. Eds and managed to take one from St. Eds for the first time in a long time. The refereeing was very poor for both sides. They need to hire the best guys for those 2 games. It's a very hard game to ref. The rematch will be interesting, but I kinda see it going the same way in the same favor. St. Ignatius will have their best player back, and will be primed to win again as it will be another very big game for their coach and team.

Exercise, Y-League

Last night, I played the second half of a back to back in the Y league. Back to back winter session games are tough on the body. It's not like a summer league game, where it is hot and humid and your body is loose and recovers quicker. The body really gets tight after games in the frigid temperatures, especially mine. I am on record as being the most sore person on the history of the planet, and I have been doing well to keep my title. My lower back feels like T-Macs, and my hip flexors have been sore since a little before Thanksgiving. Having said all that, I have been finding it hard to get to where I want to get when I am playing basketball. A middle rip from the right slot into a one dribble two step finish is like climbing Mount Everest. My body just isn't allowing it. I have been doing my due diligence in looking into the problem and have uncovered a couple things. 1. new shoes--I need some new shoes. I have no grip on the court, and I can't push off. I need some comfortable light shoes. I haven't grabbed a board off the top of the square which for me is something as normal as Derek Smith pulling the 9 no one else could get at the bar. 2. exercise regimen--I need to re-assess my workouts. I need to include a little more core work, and a little more cardio. To run in a league with the kind of athletes the Y league brings out, you need to be in really good shape. I plan to do a little more core work, in addition to my pushup pullup regimen. I also plan to do some elliptical work and interval sprinting. Mostly elliptical though. I wanna stay off the joints as much as I can.

Coming tomorrow and Thursday--The Brian Hamrick Party Bus: Thoughts, Analysis and Predictions

JC

St. Edward v. St. Ignatius (bet the under)

Quotes for the Day: "There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Would you tell me, please which way I ought to go from here?
That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.
I don't much care where, said Alice.
Then it doesn't matter which way you go, said the Cat." -Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Link of the Day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5a4p3x091A


The first of two annual St. Ignatius v. St. Edward basketball contests tips tomorrow night at 7:30 in Cleveland. Although this game is somewhat old hat for many alumni and high school hoops fans, this year's games offer somewhat unique aspects that hopefully will make both games entertaining.
St. Edward is a little down after having the the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the school's history the previous two seasons. They have managed to reload the ship and have played some really good basketball up until this point. They play very hard and are very well coached. They have shown a character this season that is very easy to watch, and easy to enthusiastically get behind. They will have their hands full tomorrow night, as they have yet to prove to be able to win any game of consequence on the road. And it doesn't get much harder than trying to win at St. Ignatius. It is a very hard to place to win.
Sean O'Toole, a mentor and friend, has taken the reigns of his dream job at his alma mater. As we will hopefully soon see Eric Mangini do with the Browns organization, Coach O'Toole has revamped the attitude and identity of St. Ignatius. His direction is predicated on hard work, toughness, knowing your role, and representing yourself with class. I think as the season continues, St. Ignatius will keep improving.

Keys for St. Ignatius:
-Hope that the refs let it be physical
-Make FTs
-Make 3s
-Limit second shots
-Win the guard match-ups
-Feed off the home crowd

Keys for St. Edward
-Get off to a good start
-Play through the home court calls
-Rebound hard on both ends
-Win the guard match-ups
-Get back to basket post points from Bigs
-Make FTs at the end of the game

As you all probably know, Dan Fox isn't going to play in the game. He is St. Ignatius' best player. He is a solid player who is plenty capable both inside and out. I believe he could have potentially given St. Edward some problems if he had gotten off to a good start. He always plays well against St. Edward.
With him out, I think St. Edward is going to be able to win the game rather handily. I think even with him in the lineup, St. Eds is better. They play very good defense, and have some great offensive guards in Del Love and Miles Hamilton. Price and Stainbrook are hard match-ups for St. Ignatius as well.
Make no mistake, this is going to be a very good ball game, especially if you like a tough hard nosed grind fest (which I kinda do). Pat Hinkel, St. Ignatius' second best player is going to be heard from, one way or the other. He is a big game guy, who can impact the game in a lot of ways. His intangibles are what make him great.

Prediction: St. Edward 58 St Ignatius 44

For all those interested, I got invited to go to happy hour tomorrow on west 6th with some of my colleagues at FTN Midwest Securities. I was very excited to get the invitation, seeing as that I wake up every day at 6am and work til 6pm. This will be my first happy hour ever, at my first real job ever. It will be awkward, but the new experience will also be pretty interesting. Definite potential blog material. The peers that I work with that my age seem like good guys and girls. It will be interesting to see what kinda drinking levels some of these people are on. Obviously they probably will have their work cut out for them trying to stay with me.
Afterwards, I am going to get something to eat with Rudy Kirbus, St. Ignatius' all time leading scorer, and future St. Ignatius basketball coach and athletic director. If any of you need duckets, don't ask Rudy, because 1. he probably would not help you and 2. he never needs a ticket at St. Ignatius.

JCIII

OAC Wedesday

Quotes for the Day: "The way you do anything, is the way you do everything."

"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity --Bruce Lee

"Action may not always bring happiness. But there is no happiness without action." --Benjamin Disraeli


There is nothing like the time of the year when teams get into the heart of their OAC schedule. Right about the 8 game mark, teams and players begin to get a good sense of where they are positioned, and where they will have to get to in order to be in the conversation for an OAC regular season championship.
The crappy teams have played themselves out of the race. The mediocre teams are at that sink or swim point, where a decision to committ 100% to the last 10 games has to be made or all will be lost. The top tier teams are really scoreboard watching. They are dying to see one of their rivals lose an OT game against Otterbein or catch Muskingum on a bad afternoon. When in reality, they should be making sure they are taking care of their own house.
Some of the better teams have already peaked, and they dont' even know it. I feel for those teams, as they will inevitably catch a couple tough losses that when they look back, they can only shake their heads and laugh it off.
The teams that win OAC regular season championships start playing their best basketball of the season right around this time. I think if you looked back at all the teams that have won it recently, you would see this trend. Sure, there have been some teams that I have been in the driver seat the whole way, like BW in '05 and Capital in '08. But I would venture to guess that most of the recent league winners had a great 7-1, 7-2, 6-0 game pushes to put themselves in a position to win a title.
Having said all that, there is still so much hoop to be played. There is gonna be that weekend where there is a two game swing in OAC records involving two contenders, and nights where the power players both lose, allowing teams that were once dead in the water right back into the mix. JUST ANOTHER NIGHT IN THE OAC.

POWER POLL:

Where should we go for Spring Break Teams:
10. Otterbein
9. Marietta

Caught up in the OAC Lifestyle:
8. Heidelberg

Now or Never:
7. Musky
6. BW

Sleeper (who are we kidding, they're done):
5. Mount Union

We Peaked and We Fade Every Year:
4. ONU

Dangerous:
3. John Carroll

Hungry:
2. Wilmington

We Might Luck Out and 3Peat
1. Capital

BW (-1.5) v. JCU (+1.5), Wednesday Night:

The streaks enter into the Ursprung Gym somewhat hot, having won 5 or 6 in a row. No question they will have their hands full tomorrow. JCU has struggled recently playing at BW and BW offers plenty of challenging players who are very capable.
No question John Carroll is a lot better than BW. They are bigger, faster, quicker stronger. It's hard to play well on the road on Wednesday nights, especially with school starting back up. I saw BW play earlier, and they have been up and down ever since. They are still adjusting to a new coach and the loss of two prominent 4 year journeymen who carried the team both physically and emotionally.

KEYS FOR CARROLL:
Don't be too anxious to go in there and blow them out from the get go. They stink. Your stronger, quicker and better. Play strong fundamental basketball the first 10 minutes. Don't reach. Don't bump hard. But let them know that your not gonna get tired and your gonna be in their shit for a long time. Run Kyle Brown off the 3 point line every time. Play him like he just picked up his dribble. Dont let Lou Tumblin get a couple rhythm shots early. A layup or one dribble pull-up early, and he could go for 20. 0-3 on his first 3 contested look and he'll go for an ugly 11. Santiago can go really fast, really hard left wing to left baseline. Be ready. Respect Andrew Bene's game on both ends. He's a proven player and a capable shot blocker. Capable with his back to the basket when he has time to figure out what move he's gonna do. Don't let Paul on the offensive Glass (funny huh). Watch for him taking charges. AND MOST OF ALL--BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA BOTH POINT GUARDS FOR 40 MINUTES. MAKE THEM MAKE EVERY IMPORTANT DECISION WITH THE BALL.

Make Denny and Kyle Brown defend. If they play a zone, just be ready to shoot and shoot with confidence. Run, run, run. Get out in the lanes and make solid fundamentally sound finishing moves.

Prediction: John Carroll 71 BW 60

Back Thursday for a St. Edward St. Ignatius Preview and Analysis

JCIII

Resolutions Continued

Quotes for the Day: "Everything popular is wrong." -Oscar Wilde, "Many a false step was made standing still." -Anonymous, "These individuals have riches just as we say that we "have a fever", when really the fever has us." -Seneca

Books that I Recommend:
The Last Lecture by Dr. Randy Pausch
The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
Unleash the Warrior Within by former SEAL Richard Machowicz
Buy-ology: Truth and Lies about Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom
Blink by Malcom Gladwell

Resolution #4-- Close 2 Professional Models. The number involved in this resolution is arbitrary. It doesn't matter whether I close 1 or 20, it's all about the journey and the process of getting to that point. For all the naysayers out there, who have a hard time believing that myself or any other guy in our social circles have the ability to do something like this, you're absolutely mistaking. We make this infinitely more difficult than it really is. These are the kind of girls that we should be going after in many senses. The most beautiful women are often the most insecure. Behind their beauty could lie a heart and personality just dying to meet a guy like you. It is just a question of whether you have enough stones to find out. Are there any professional models in Cleveland? Maybe. But there are professional models in New York and other hub cities just waiting to meet people.

Resolution #5--Go to Las Vegas in March for the first 4 days of the NCAA Tourney and meet a celebrity and get his/her phone number. I have never been to Vegas but I imagine that if you go there, the second part of this resolution is probably a 100% guarantee. I can get Jeremy Piven's cell or Matt Ryan's without too much of an effort. It is a question of them remembering you enough to text you back or email you back and whether you can create a valued friendship. And you do that by offering a high value friendship proposition, which I would inevitably do. I was trying to think of my top 5 celebrities that are not big time enough to be recognized by everybody that I would love to meet and hang out with a bit while I am there and later keep in touch with. I came up with these 5 names (no order): "Bodey" from The Wire, David Lee, Jane Seigel from Mad Men, Anthony Kim and Sports Guy Bill Simmons.


Back at you Tm--JC

A Couple New Year Resolutions

Lot to get to here in this post and posts going foward, but first lets touch on the Cavs-Celtics from last night quickly. It was a game that the Cavs needed way more than the struggling celtics needed, and the Cavs played great in a statement game blowout to go 19-0 at home. The champs are still the champs, and they still have the belts. And they will undoubtedly have something to say in May and June, but the Cavs are far and away the favorites to win the east today and for the foreseeable future. Boston has to make multiple moves to add a couple pieces if they don't wanna get swept 4-0 or 4-1 by Cleveland. I think its apparent that unless the Celts add Starbury and a small forward who can try to match up against LeBron, we'll be much more focused on stopping Dwight Howard and finding funny ways to make fun of J.J. Redick on the bench. The artist in charge of scribing in names on the MVP trophy can get started now, cause LeBron isn't giving that thing up. It's just a question of whether were gonna deal Wally's contract to add another piece that will allow us to win the finals. That is a topic for another podcast/article.



Myself and everyone who I socialize and fraternize with are going to do the things we have always wanted to do in 2009. We are gonna do it the right way, and if that means publishing a couple "resolutions," however cliche the idea is, then so be it. January is always an interesting time to kinda hypothesize and tinker with different ideas to try in the coming year. I love the brainstorming but often fall short of expectations. Let's see if we can't get some momentum in 09 and keep it going all year. In no particular order...

Resolution # 1 --Meet Erin Andrews. I think this resolution speaks for itself. She's a babe. But after scouring the internet for over 10 minutes, there isn't a single scandalous picture of her anywhere. And that troubles me. Now the problem lies in where a meeting could occur. Right off the top of my head, I would say Progressive Field. Hopefully the Tribe can get something going early, and a potential big Wednesday night or Sunday night game at the Prog can force ESPN to send EA to CLE for the night. Only time will tell. My next thought was the Big East tournament in NYC in March. This is a tournament that I have had circled on my calendar of sporting events to hit for quite some time. She will definitely be there. That is where I plan to enter her life, and change it for the better. I will now begin to except suggestions for things to say to her. Just email them

Resoulution #2--Visit Chicago, NYC, Seattle, Charlotte and San Diego. I capped it at 5 cities because thats probably my most realistic ceiling. I don't really know what these visits entail, but I have never been to any of them, and really anywhere else for that matter, so I wanna get started on something. I hope to hit Chi and NY for work related purposes, which will leave me some vacation days and sick days to hit up the other 3 cities. Other cities that I wanna drink in include: Boston, Atlanta, LA and St. Pete. In the summer of 2010, much like LeBron, I plan to leave Cleveland for a couple years and live somewhere else, like Chicago. And for anyone who reads Bill Simmons and have seen his recent mailbags, Atlanta has jumped on my radar pretty hard. More on my potential blockbuster move in 2010 later this year.

Resolution #3--Finish .500 and reach the Final Four of the Lakewood Y Summer Session AND shoot 5 rounds under 75 at golf courses with a slope rating above 131. Thought I would couple my two sports resolutions into one, as I have other important resolutions to attend to. These are pretty good goals. They'll take some work and dedication. They are also very fun. The summer session at the Y is only 5 months away. Barring any catastrophic injuries, I am looking forward to that. Playing more golf is always a good goal, but I still love playing basketball way more. I added a Hybrid to fill the the hole of the 215-230 zone in my bag, so I am looking forward to hammering that. Involved in the second goal is setting up dates to hit the top golf courses in NEO. Stonewater, Boulder Creek, Sandridge etc. WATCH OUT COURSE RECORDS!

Back at you Tomorrow--JC

The Year of JC (and his peeps)

Quote of the day: "Every organization must be prepared to abandon everything it does to survive in the future." -Peter Drucker

It's with great honor and privilege that I welcome you all back to the 2009 campaign of the best blog in Cleveland. A year that will undoubtedly see this blog perform like an NFL/NBA player in a contract year, and take NEO and the rest of the country by storm. A year that promises to be the best yet, both for myself as well as my friends and family. Despite the hardest economic times in our nation's history since the 1930's, I can promise you one thing: there will be no recession in my ability to offer you great insight and opinions on sports, socializing, pop culture and life philosophy. Let's get going...