Tag: West Virginia

Now THAT’S What I Call A Weekend!!

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 1 Comment

There are weekends. And then there are WEEKENDS!!

All-Star festivities. NCAA basketball. MLB free agent news. NASCAR (yes, I said NASCAR). And the Olympics.

WHAT WERE YOU WATCHING?? 

NBA All-Star Weekend

You probably only watched because it snowed. They don’t care why you watch, ratings are ratings.

The 3-point shooting contest was the most exciting part of the weekend. I know, I know, just hear me out. The skills competition was boring. And the dunk contest used to be exciting, but since the superstars don’t compete, and there are no original dunks left, what’s the point?!

Devin Booker and Klay Thompson, however, put on a show from the 3-point line. Booker set a record for most points in a round, edging Thompson 28-25 in the finals.

As for the game, wait, there was a game?! Yup. And it was preceded by the worst National Anthem in the history of National Anthems. If your ears didn’t have the displeasure of hearing it, please CLICK HERE.

If you made it through the entire video without saying, “What the **** is this?!”, I have questions for you.

Team LeBron, despite injuries to nearly his whole roster, pulled off a 148-145 victory. Dunk, nice pass, 3-pointer, dunk, and oh yeah, another dunk. You didn’t miss much. LeBron took home his 3rd All-Star Game MVP Award with 29 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 1 steal.

NCAA Men’s Basketball

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Bob Huggins isn’t happy. His West Virginia Mountaineers fell to the Kansas Jayhawks 77-69. No one likes losing, but upon closer review of the box score, you’ll see why Huggins is so upset. Kansas was awarded 35 free throws, to West Virginia’s 2. I’m not saying this game was fixed, but this game was fixed.

MLB Free Agency

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MLB free agents are finally finding homes. Some will be able to afford nicer homes than others. Eric Hosmer could buy every one of his teammates a mansion if generosity took hold of his body. Late Saturday night, Hosmer signed an 8-year, $144 million deal with the San Diego Padres. It sounds worse than it is. Hosmer is a consistent run producer with a .284 career batting average. There are worse 1st baseman to lock down for the next 8 years. You’re next J.D. Martinez….

NASCAR

I vowed I’d never write about NASCAR. Never say never.

(You’re welcome Mike).

So, apparently this was Danica Patrick’s last Daytona 500. The 35-year old will be retiring this year and wanted to go out with a bang. Oh, she went out with a bang alright. On the 102nd lap of a scheduled 200 laps, Patrick was involved in a 517-car crash, ending her day, and career, early. I guess she couldn’t get her pre-race, Aaron Rodgers’ kiss out of her mind.

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As for the race, Austin Dillon captured his 1st Daytona 500 victory. Dillon became the 2nd Daytona 500 winner to win after only leading for 1 total lap. What the what?! What kind of “sport” is this?!

Oh, right….  

Olympics

Have you ever been sucked into the black hole of television. That’s curling at the Olympics. It’s like planning to lay down for 2 minutes and waking up 8 hours later (that was me — last night).

And then they switch over to the Biathlon. Because ya never know when you’ll need to shoot a rifle while cross-country skiing.

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Apparently Martin Fourcade likes photo finishes. After missing out on Gold by 3 centimeters in the 2014 Olympics, Fourcade won by the same margin on Sunday in the Biathlon. Now that’s riveting television.

 

Tell me what you watched this weekend in the comment section below.

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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.

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