Category: NCAA

Petition To Fire Mike Rice

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 4 Comments

If you haven’t seen the videotape of Rutgers “head coach” Mike Rice’s abusive behavior, then here it is: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rbaYqcMMZ6A

I am so enraged that I don’t exactly know where to start, but let me say it is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE that Mike Rice hasn’t been fired yet. What Mike Rice did to his players was abuse. It was borderline assault. It was some of the most disgusting behavior I’ve seen from an “authority” figure in my life. This person (because he is certainly not a man) felt that it was acceptable to put his hands on players, shout homophobic slurs at players, and hurl basketballs at players heads. This person clearly has issues that go way beyond what you saw on the videotape. I’m not here to figure out or analyze those issues because I honestly don’t care one bit about Mike Rice. I care, as everyone should, about the young men at Rutgers that were subjected to such treatment. I don’t want to hear about the old days and how this used to be acceptable. I don’t want to hear about how these words are thrown around locker rooms all the time. And I certainly don’t want to hear that this behavior was in some way a motivational technique to prepare players for disrespectful opponents. Believe it or not, these are some of the positions that people are taking in actually defending this animal. I understand that every story has two sides, but this story DOES NOT!! This is cut and dry. Mike Rice should have been fired back in November when this footage was viewed by the Athletic Director at Rutgers, Tim Pernetti. Instead, Rice was suspended 3 games without pay and fined $50,000. That’s it?!?! That is the punishment that is supposed to fit this crime?!?! What should happen today, Wednesday, April 3rd is Mike Rice and Tim Pernetti should both be fired. If they’re not, the entire state of New Jersey and all bordering states should go down to Rutgers and protest right on campus. We as parents, peers, and concerned citizens should do whatever it takes so that this thing is relieved of it’s duties. And don’t forget to drag Tim Pernetti right out the door with him. How Pernetti can defend his own actions of not firing Rice on the spot is beyond me. If Pernetti lives in a world where Rice’s behavior is NOT a fireable offense, then Pernetti needs balls thrown at his head too; and then be fired as well.

College coaches should be role models that help mold young men into adults. Yes, some players are being groomed for the NBA (even though this treatment won’t help anyone at any point in their life), but the players at Rutgers University aren’t there to be abused.

BREAKING NEWS: Mike Rice was just fired as the head coach of the Rutgers men’s basketball team. Thank you whoever made that decision. Now all you have to do is fire the Athletic Director who put up with Rice’s behavior in the first place. Then we’ll be all set.

Let me wrap this up before I throw something across the room, because I am disgusted with people. College sports has become Wall Street. Apparently it’s okay to screw people over as long as you end up with some personal gains. This is college!!! This is not supposed to be a “shiesty” mechanic. This is supposed to be continuing education (the key word in that sentence is education). We as parents, teachers, and coaches are supposed to be educating our youth to become model citizens, not berating them to make yourself feel better. I’ve had enough of this topic. I’m out.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

What’s On TV??

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

It’s Friday night and you had a long week. You don’t feel like dragging your butt out of the house into the cold when you’re tired; so don’t. I’ve got just what you need to keep you company. So sit back, relax, and enjoy these basketball games on the collegiate and pro levels. Today, as most of you know is the 2nd day of the NCAA basketball tournament. Tonight you’ll have some good games starting at 7:20 p.m. EST. The action will start on TNT where North Carolina(8) will take on Villanova(9). North Carolina is the favorite in this one having played well leading up to the tournament. Look for UNC to win this one by 5 points. After that game you can switch over to either TBS or CBS for two interesting 7 vs. 10 match-ups. At 9:20 p.m. you’ll find San Diego State(7) taking on Oklahoma(10), and at 9:45 p.m. you can see Notre Dame(7) take on Iowa State(10). Both should be close games, but I like the lucky number 7 in both of these games. And lastly, in the final game of the 1st round you’ll have UCLA(6) taking on Minnesota(11). You can find that game on TruTv at 9:57 p.m. I see a nice upset in this game, with Minnesota showing the world why the Big Ten is the best conference in college basketball this year. I think they will pull out the victory by 7 points.

If you are the 4 people in the world that are not into college basketball, then let me highlight the best NBA games on TV tonight. Starting with my favorite team, the New York Knicks, they will be in Toronto this evening to take on the Raptors. You can find that game on MSG Network at 7:00 p.m. I foresee the Knicks winning a close game by 6 points. Lord knows they need to keep winning basketball games. If you want to watch the Miami Heat attempt to extend their winning streak to 25 games, then turn on NBATV at 7:30 p.m. They will be taking on the Detroit Pistons at home (I think it’s safe to say they’ll extend their streak). Whatever you tonight, enjoy yourself. Thanks for reading!

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook athttp://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

March Madness Is Finally Here!!

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

It is official. March madness has finally arrived. Today marks the beginning of the best sports tournament in the world. Today at 12:00 EST, the first set of games will tip-off. Today there are 64 teams. Come April 8th, in Atlanta Georgia, there will be only one team left standing. Who will it be? We can all play with our brackets and do our best fortune teller impressions, but no one knows what will happen. Upsets happen everyday in this tournament, and there is always that upset that happens that absolutely no one saw coming. While I wish there wasn’t so much parody and 1 and done players in men’s college basketball, I still love this tournament. So, I want to wish everyone good luck with their brackets (unless you’re in my pool then I hope your brackets stink).

Final four: Louisville, Ohio State, Michigan, and Miami

Finals: Louisville over Miami (81-75)

Enjoy the games everybody!!

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook athttp://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

In Case You missed It

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

While everyone has been gearing up for the most exciting tournament of the year, there have been some other sporting events that you may have missed. I missed them as well, for good reason, but let me fill you in just in case you haven’t heard about them. Let me start with the most insignificant of them all. Did you guys really just storm the court for an NIT victory? I get it, Robert Morris probably isn’t supposed to beat anybody so beating Kentucky is a big deal, but it is the NIT. Who wants to watch the leftover scraps play basketball? This tournament isn’t meaningful, and I don’t know why we even have it. Most teams, like Kentucky, are so disappointed that they didn’t make it into the real tournament that they mail in an effort in the NIT. Congratulations Robert Morris, you beat a team that didn’t even want to be there.

Something else you definitely missed was the finals of the World Baseball Classic. Man is this tournament a bad idea. ALL PLAYERS should be with their respective REAL teams in March. You know, since they are holding this little thing called spring training right now. If you wanted to watch baseball’s watered down version of the ‘World Cup’, then I guess you were 1 of the 14 people who watched the World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic dominated the World Baseball Classic going 8-0 in the tournament. They capped off their run though the Classic with a 3-0 victory over Puerto Rico.

Also, over the past week we have seen a handful of free agent signings in the NFL. Steven Jackson signed with the Atlanta Falcons, bringing the size and strength their running game has been missing. Sure you can say, well what about Michael Turner wasn’t he a good strong back? No, no he wasn’t. The guy looked like he was running in quicksand. Jackson entering his 10th NFL season will be a better fit for the Falcons then Turner ever was. Greg Jennings has signed with the enemy; the Minnesota Vikings. There used to be a day when people would cringe when players signed with their rival, but the game has changed. In today’s NFL, there is no such thing is loyalty. It’s all about the Benjamin’s baby! Jennings should be a nice addition for the Vikings who traded Percy Harvin to the Seattle Seahawks prior to free agency. The New York Jets are still holding Darrelle Revis in limbo with his playing career. The Jets obviously aren’t pleased with the offers they are getting for Revis, or else he’d be gone by now. This begs the question, will Darrelle Revis be traded before this season or will the Jets get stuck with him? Ed Reed is a big name that has yet to sign on a dotted line, however Baltimore is showing interest in re-signing him and the Houston Texans have shown some interest as well. Lastly, you had one of the weirdest situations in the history of the NFL happen last week. Elvis Dumervil, the outstanding defender for the Denver Broncos, had until 4 p.m. on March 15th to decide whether he would restructure his contract or be released by the Broncos. He had decided to restructure, however his decision which was sent via fax was received by the Broncos just minutes after the deadline. This snafu could cost either Dumervil millions of dollars or the Broncos one of their best players. Either way it is definitely one of the most interesting situations in NFL history.

In basketball news, the Miami Heat still haven’t lost a basketball game in a little over 23 years. Oh my bad, I meant 23 games, they’ve extended their streak to 23 straight wins and they haven’t lost since January. Also flying under the radar are the Denver Nuggets. They beat the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to 13 games. In other mega-important news Tiger Woods is dating….ah who cares, just win golf tournaments buddy. And that about raps this past week in sports. It has been mostly irrelevant, but it was enough to hold us over until the main course; the NCAA tournament.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook athttp://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

The End Of An Era

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 1 Comment

Saturday night at Madison Square Garden marked the end of an era in Men’s College Basketball. In case you missed it, Louisville beat Syracuse by a score of 78-61 to capture their 2nd straight Big East Conference Tournament Championship. That final score is not exactly an indication of the way the game went, but I’ll get into that in a minute. This is meant as a tribute to the Big East, in my estimation the best conference in Men’s basketball for the past 15 years. Some can argue for the ACC, but after Duke and North Carolina that Conference isn’t made od much. Year after year we have seen 7 or 8 teams enter the NCAA tournament from the Big East. And as for the Big East tournament, there has been no other place to find more thrilling games (thanks Madison Square Garden). If you think college players don’t get up for a game on Madison Square Garden’s floor, than you are crazy. We have had the privilege of watching Uconn, Syracuse, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, West Virginia, Providence, St. John’s, DePaul, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, South Florida, Rutgers, Villanova, and Seton Hall battle it out on the hardwood for years. And now sadly, thanks to the all mighty dollar, the Big East will be disbanding in the coming months.

The final game for the Big East was not the overtime thriller we’ve grown accustom to, but it certainly had it’s own type of drama. Syracuse looked like they were cruising to a victory and the Big East Conference title. However, Louisville had something else to say about that. With 15:34 left to play in the 2nd half, Syracuse held a 16 point lead (45-29). What happened next was epic. Louisville turned up the volume on every aspect of the game. They proceeded to go on a 49-16 run to close the game, winning by 17 points!! The comeback was truly a team effort, but the Cardinals were led by Montrezl Harrell, who scored 12 of his 20 points in the 2nd half. With their Championship victory, Louisville has most likely planted themselves firmly as the #1 overall seed of the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament is awesome, but it has definitely lost some of it’s flare. There is a significant amount of parody in Men’s College Basketball these days. Parody is not a good thing for this tournament. People want to watch great teams dominate, just as they want to watch history unfold right before their eyes. Do you honestly feel confident in picking the winner of the tournament this year? I know I don’t. Indiana??? Maybe??? I have no clue, and that’s why I might as well let my cat Precious fill out my bracket by scratching the team she likes on the paper. Ah, I suppose I’ll watch anyway, but this whole one and done stuff is ruining college basketball (thanks David Stern). I digress. I’ll get back to my problems with Men’s College Basketball another time. For now, let’s get back to remembering the big East for the good times they gave us, and wondering what the landscape of Men’s College Basketball will look like for years to come. It is a shame that the Big East will be splitting up, but time goes on I guess. We will just have to man up and get over it, because what other choice do we have, right?

NCAA Men’s College Basketball has many problems that I will cover in a future article. These problems include players being forced to enter College for at least one year before entering the NBA draft. If you can’t force a student-athlete to complete all 4 years in college in order to receive a degree, than they should be left to decide their own future. David Stern shouldn’t be the one to come up with such a foolish rule just to save his reputation. Another problem is money of course. What else is new right? If these schools and organizations can profit so much from the hard work and dedication of these players, who is to say that the players don’t deserve a fair share of the profits? I am in favor of players being on a pay scale while they are in school. I’ll see if I can fully tackle these major issues in the near future. For now, enjoy selection Sunday which is coming up momentarily. Check back to find my predictions for the free for all that is the NCAA Tournament.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook athttp://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

March Madness in….February?!?!?

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

What a Saturday in college basketball!! If this day was a sign of things to come, then you better hold on to your hats. Four games were decided by 3 points or less, and two of those games required extra time to be decided. If you missed the Louisville vs. Notre Dame game, well I guess you don’t read my blog(I told everyone it would be one of the games to watch this weekend). This game went 5 overtimes and both teams cracked the century mark in points(you don’t normally see that in college basketball). Notre Dame was outplayed throughout most of this game except for when it mattered most, down the stretch. Time after time they made clutch plays to continue pushing this game to an extra frame. At one point, Jerian Grant of Notre Dame managed to score 12 points in 42 seconds!! Garrick Sherman of Notre Dame didn’t enter the game until overtime, and he had 17 points! In one word this game was ; CRAZY!! This was another reason why everyone should learn to love Big East basketball. It is always epic. Notre Dame pulled out the win 104-101.

In the other game that found overtime Saturday night, Wisconsin willed their way to victory. With the clock running down in regulation, Ben Brust hit a runner from just inside half court to send it to overtime. The crowd went crazy, and Wisconsin carried the momentum into overtime. Wisconsin pulled out the win against #3 ranked Michigan. Get ready for March Madness because it’s on the way. This weekend has been an example of things to come in the best time of the year in sports.

Let It Snow….As Long as My Cable Doesn’t Go Out I’m Good

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 1 Comment

Snowed in this weekend??  No problem.  Here’s what’s on TV to keep you company:

(MSG)Friday @ 8:00 P.M – Knicks @ Timberwolves

Being a big Knicks fan, I will definitely be watching this game.  As I highlighted in my previous post, I believe the Knicks are going to blow out the Timberwolves coming off a bad loss.  I’d look for something else to watch by 9:30.  This game should help the Knicks get back to their winning ways and carry some momentum into their tough match-up with the Clippers this Sunday.

(ESPN)Friday @ 8:00 P.M. – Clippers @ Heat

Here you have a battle of East vs. West.  Two of the premier teams in the NBA meet in a mid-season showdown.  Even though the Heat sit atop the East and the Clippers are currently in 3rd in the West, they actually have a better record than the Heat by 2.5 games.  This game should come down to the wire, so you might want to switch over from MSG once the Knicks game gets out of hand.  I like the Heat in a close game, but they don’t win because Lebron hits a last second shot(as usual).  They win because Lebron puts his team in front by about 5 early in the 4th, and they sustain the lead throughout the rest of the game.

(ESPN)Saturday @ 6:00 P.M. – Pittsburgh(23) @ Cincinnati(17)

This is the first of of 3 match-ups between college basketball’s top 25 teams this weekend.  A Big East match-up between two solid teams.  Pittsburgh is currently tied for 5th in the Big East with a 7-4 record in conference and 19-5 overall.  Cincinnati is currently tied for 6th in the Big East with a record of 6-4 in conference and 18-5 overall.  Cincinnati won their last meeting(70-61) in Pittsburgh on New Years Eve, so Pittsburgh will be looking for revenge tomorrow night.  Shovel Snow or watch college basketball??   Hmmmmmm.  Enjoy!

(ESPN)Saturday @ 9:00 P.M. – Louisville(11) @ Notre Dame(25)

Here you have your second of the 3 top 25 match-ups this weekend.  Louisville is currently in 2nd place in the Big East  with a record of 7-3 in conference and 19-4 overall.  Notre Dame is currently tied for 6th in the Big east with a record of 6-4 and 18-5 overall.  Big East battles are always tough to predict, but I like Louisville on the road in this one.

(CBS)Sunday @ 1:00 P.M. – Indiana(1) @ Ohio State(10)

Finally, you have the third of 3 top 25 match-ups this weekend.  Indiana is currently tied for 1st in the Big Ten with a record of 8-2 in conference and 20-3 overall.  Ohio State is currently tied for 2nd in the Big Ten and 17-5 overall.  This should be a tough conference battle.  You’ll have Indiana looking to bounce back from a buzzer beating loss to Illinois last night.  What a tough way to lose!  In case you didn’t watch it, Indiana had the ball tied at 72 looking to take the last shot.  If they make it they win if not no big deal, they’ll go to overtime.  What happens? They turn the ball over with about 4 seconds to go.  Illinois drives down for a last second shot that gets blocked out of bounds wit 0.9 seconds on the clock.  Then what happens??? Illinois makes a game winning buzzer beating layup to win 74-72.  Now that is a heartbreaking loss.  Ohio State is also coming off a tough overtime loss to Michigan this past Tuesday.  Look for a closely contested ballgame.  I do like Indiana in this one in a down to the wire 3 point victory.

Enjoy the snow!!  It’s the weekend, and if you have kids take them out in the snow once the storm passes and have fun with them.  If you don’t have kids go outside and act like one.  Most importantly, everyone stay safe out there!!  And for the love of god please stop lining up down the block for gas 2 days before a little snow is coming to town.  I get that it’s better to be safe than sorry, but if you happen to get 2 feet of snow this weekend you’re not going anywhere anyway!!  Just make sure you have a little bit of food and water in the house.  A flashlight or candle wouldn’t be a bad idea either just in case we lose power, since it should be pretty windy.  Have a nice weekend everyone!!