"Basketball is not like Halloween. Just because you're wearing a uniform doesn't mean you're going to get candy."- Wake Forest Locker Room
John Stuart Mill: "He who is never required to do what he cannot do, never does what he can do."
Peeps whats going on--rough night last night for a lot of you I am sure. It was a very tough loss. A lot of things went wrong for the Cavs that should not have. A ton went right for the Magic. At the end of the day, I think you almost have to just tip your hat to the Magic. The Cavaliers shot themselves in the foot on numerous occasions, but if you're gonna shoot the basketball at as high of a level as the Magic did last night, there is not much to do except commend them. If you're gonna come out of a timeout with 6 seconds to go in the 4th quarter down 1, and run a forward rub screen for Rashard Lewis, and he's gonna take one dribble left without looking at the basket yet, take a no hesitation 22 footer leaning to his left and bury it with the ease of a fat guy ordering dinner when you only need a 2 pointer--it might just be your night. Hats off to Skip to my Lou Rafer Alston for stepping up to the plate and showing people his guts last night. I dunno, I'll get into this a little more later. As bad as it is, and it's very very bad both short term and long term--the Cavaliers are still in a position to win this series.
CORNELL
Let's start with a round of applause to the Cornell Big Red Lacrosse Team, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in perhaps the worst loss in college lacrosse history. It was incredible. I hope many of you watched it. Up 9-6 with 4 minutes to go. Up 9-8 with 20 seconds to go with the ball. They gave up a mystifying game tying goal with 4 seconds left. It was a hectic sequence that saw an All-American from Cornell make a bonehead play, followed by a lowly defensemen, who all he had to do was catch the ball, brutally miss a ball like a 4 year old who just picked up a lax stick. This led to of course, a Syracuse player finding the ball in the air, a quick cradle, and depositing it to the back of the net for the slickest game tying goal in national championship history. With all the momentum, Syracuse made quick work of the Big Red in overrtime, for their 2nd national championship in as many years. Amazing. If this so called All-American just takes that ball and throws it a million feet in the air down to the other end of the field, Cuse has to come 120 yards down the field and score in 15 seconds. Almost impossible. Instead, that 20 minute sequence, brought my dad from euphoria to despair, as his alma mater once again blew a great opportunity to win a national championship. My (spoiled) sister, who will be attending Cornell in August, made me laugh as she feigned interest in the game. I am just kidding. I am sure she was watching with great angst and excitement, only to be crushed by the ending.
Let's start with a round of applause to the Cornell Big Red Lacrosse Team, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in perhaps the worst loss in college lacrosse history. It was incredible. I hope many of you watched it. Up 9-6 with 4 minutes to go. Up 9-8 with 20 seconds to go with the ball. They gave up a mystifying game tying goal with 4 seconds left. It was a hectic sequence that saw an All-American from Cornell make a bonehead play, followed by a lowly defensemen, who all he had to do was catch the ball, brutally miss a ball like a 4 year old who just picked up a lax stick. This led to of course, a Syracuse player finding the ball in the air, a quick cradle, and depositing it to the back of the net for the slickest game tying goal in national championship history. With all the momentum, Syracuse made quick work of the Big Red in overrtime, for their 2nd national championship in as many years. Amazing. If this so called All-American just takes that ball and throws it a million feet in the air down to the other end of the field, Cuse has to come 120 yards down the field and score in 15 seconds. Almost impossible. Instead, that 20 minute sequence, brought my dad from euphoria to despair, as his alma mater once again blew a great opportunity to win a national championship. My (spoiled) sister, who will be attending Cornell in August, made me laugh as she feigned interest in the game. I am just kidding. I am sure she was watching with great angst and excitement, only to be crushed by the ending.
I love watching high level lacrosse. I think ESPNU has done a great job with the coverage this season. It's a great game. It reminds me so much of basketball, it's not even funny how similar it is. My dad and uncle played lacrosse in college. And right about this time every year, with the Final Four played Saturday and Labor Day, I think about what my life would have been like if I grew up in upper New York instead of Cleveland. In upper New York, kids aren't walking around dribbling basketballs, or playing baseball catch. They are twirling around lax sticks. They are learning how to cradle. They are taking shots on the lacrosse goal. I have convinced myself that I would have been a high level lacrosse talent. And I think it would have been a really fun way of life. But I am much more grateful that I got to play the 3 main sports growing up. It was funny though, I asked my dad what team or coach he would wanna play for if he had a chance. He said probably Princeton because he thinks that's the best coach. I said Syracuse because of the coach. I like the Cornell coach a lot. He is sharp, and has been steadily improving the program from a very high level to a top 5 year in, year out level. The Big Red will be back in the title game very shortly. But Monday afternoon is gonna be on their minds for a while.
DREW ROSENHAUS
DREW ROSENHAUS
Anquan Boldin sent super agent Drew Rosenhaus packing this morning. HAHAHA. How great is that? You gotta love when things like this happen. Now, I love Drew Rosenhaus. I hate him too and I think he's too much at times, but it's mostly love from me. He's a douchebag. He's a jerk. He's a jock sniffing self-promoter. He's ruthless. I am sure he has cut some corners, done terrible things and acted unethically at times. I get that. But he is doing exactly what he wants to do. He's self made. He's built an empire for himself. He's worked way harder than all his peers. He never sleeps. He has a zillion clients. He makes a ton of money. You can't knock that hustle in my opinion. You don't have to respect what he's done, but most of the time, I do. And most of the time, I like to see what he does and says. So it's funny when a guy like him, who is so image conscious, gets publicly broken off for all the world to see. DR has handled it pretty nicely though. On his Twitter, he has handled it well, wishing Anquan well, talking about the respect he has for him, and hopes that AB can be back with Rosenhaus Sports Representation in the future. Has anyone checked out Rosenhaus' twitter posts? They are incredible. They are so funny. He is so smart like that. He uses his twits to promote all his players. And he does it constantly. See, Drew was locked into a position with Anquan. He told 30 teams, "look, the deal is X years at X dollars per year, that's what it is and we're not changing our position." And he's been impeccable with his word. He's so arrogant that he doesn't wanna come off that deal cause that's not something Drew Rosenhaus does. It would cost him some credibility. And that's just how it is. What Boldin is gonna soon find out is that it's not his agent's fault. He has to realize that he's not worth what he thinks he is, because he is small and can't stay on the field cause he gets hurt every week. He's a terror and top 8 WR when he's healthy but he never is because he is always dinged. We'll see what happens.
BARCELONA v. MANCHESTER UNITED
Big game today at 2pm--the UEFA Champions League Final, Barcelona v. Man U live from Rome. I would love to take 5 or 10 guys I know who hate soccer above all things, and put them in England for 3 months. Make them go to every Manchester United game, and see if they flip their position on the game. I think it could happen. The UEFA League is the highest level of the game. At times, I find it fun to watch. A game like today would probably be fun to watch. I dunno, I think it's something you can get swept into, whether you like soccer or not.
TWO GUYS
Let me tell you about two guys. The first guy is from Hampton Roads VA. The second is from Pike Indiana. The first guy was a McD's All-American. The second guy was barely recruited by any good college. The first guy was an All-American, got incredible ink and press, and was one of the most celebrated college basketball players of the last 20 years. He was a great scorer. People raved about his shooting and his character. Hundreds of cover stories. He was Player of the Year. He enjoyed so much popularity. The second guy finally got a bite by a small Division 1 college. He spent 4 years in a small crappy town. He shined on the court, got buckets and carried his team to new heights just like the first guy. He worked on his game for 4 years in a hot gym millions of miles away from a camera or national reporter. In his senior year, he finally started to get some buzz cause they're team made a nice run in the NCAA tourney. The first guy was the 11th pick of the draft 2 years ago. The second guy was the 20th pick of this year's draft. Who would you rather have? The two guys I am talking about are JJ Redick and Courtney Lee.
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