Week in Review 04.11.2011

Do you want to know what's really, really awesome?  The burgers at The Blue Door Pub.  There's only seating for about 25 people in the entire place so even at 6pm on a Friday night when most of the going out public is in Minneapolis following the Twins' home opener the wait was still an hour to get a table for four, but it was totally worth it. 

We tried a variety of their burgers, from The Frenchy (stuffed with caramelized onions and swiss cheese and served with au jus) to the Cajun (stuffed with pepper jack and diced jalapenos) to the Luau (stuffed with mozzarella and Canadian Bacon and topped with grilled pineapple and a sweet chili lime sauce) and they were all awesome, as were the fish tacos, tator tots, and deep fried pickles.  Add in an awesome selection of beer on tap and it might be my favorite restaurant ever.  Of course, seeing as how long it takes to get seated I don't know if I'll be going very often but I really can't recommend it highly enough.  Go there.


WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  The Masters.  Now that, my friends, was a freaking awesome golf tournament.  Really it had everything you could want:  Tiger making a Sunday charge, the best of the young guns (McIlroy) and the most underrated (Day), vets who had won majors before (Ogilvy, Cabrera) and who were still looking for their first (Choi), two guys trying to drop out of contention for the best player never to win a major (Donald, Scott), and and the next in the line of South African studs (Schwartzel).  Most importantly, outside of McIlroy's implosion, which happened early enough to not affect the enjoyment of the back 9, and fades from Bo Van Pelt and Choi on the back, everybody brought their A-game down the stretch.  Donald's chip, Day's putts at 17 and 18, Scott's tee shot at 16, or any of Schwartzel's birdies from 15-18 could have been a signature moment, but this year's year's tournament was just stuffed with 'em, and was so competitive 8 different players had at least a share of the lead on the back nine on Sunday.  Just insane.  Such an awesome tournament, I can only hope the other three majors come close.

2.  Edwin Jackson.  Well shit.  When the Sox were trying to maneuver to acquire Adam Dunn last year, the thought was they got Jackson from Arizona simply because they knew the Nationals were sweet on him and they would use him to try to facilitate a trade for Dunn.  When the trade never materialized, it was awesome because it looked like they screwed themselves.  Unfortunately for all those who hate the White Sox (which is everyone in the world outside Chicago and prisons) it looks like Jackson may be a keeper all by himself.  His 8 inning, 4 hit, 1 walk, 13 strikeout performance against Tampa puts him at 2-0 for the year with a 1.93 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 20-5 Ks to BBs.  He looks like he might actually be good and that's unfortunate because the team of evil deserves to have nothing good happen to them, ever.

3.  Alex Gordon.  It's taken forever, a bunch of false starts, a few really poor seasons, and a position change, but maybe, just maybe, Alex Gordon - former #2 overall pick in 2005 - has arrived.  He's been in the majors since 2007 (with a few trips to AAA sprinkled in) and managed just a .244/.328/.405 over that time with about 1 HR ever 40 at-bats and twice as many strikeouts as walks, and he threw in shitty defense to round it out.  Basically the kid was looking like a monster bust.  This year, however, things may be looking up.  He's currently hitting at a .357/.400/.548 while leading the league in hit and playing a passable left field.  He's also showing some power, at least compared to his previous years, and has cut down a bit on the strikeouts.  I'm not saying he's arrived, but he's finally looking like a competent player.  Which brings the Royals total to 3.

4.  Ty Lawson.  It's not often I write about the NBA in the regular season.  I pay attention in the playoffs, of course, because playoff NBA basketball is one of the most entertaining and skillful displays in any sport at any time, but the regular season is nearly as boring as the WNBA or your average Gopher men's home game.  That being said, occasionally something happens that is so inexplicable and/or bizarre that I need to mention it, and that's why this part here with Ty Lawson is here.  Lawson is a great penetrator and distributor and is fast as hell but going back to his days at North Carolina it's always been known as a terrible shooter.  But naturally everything changes and gets flipped on its head when the Wolves are involved, and Lawson hit 10 of 11 three-pointers.  That's 10 of 11 threes, including his first 10 (an NBA record) on his way to 37 points (a career high).  Lawson's previous career high for three pointers hit in a game was three.  THREE!  God the basketball in this town sucks. 

5.  Trevor Plouffe.  I don't know if he's the middle infield answer (more on Casilla later), but he's certainly showing he might be ready by destroying AAA pitching thus far this season.  Rochester kicked off their year on Thursday and Plouffe started slowly going 0-4, but he's followed that up by going 3-5 with a double and a homer, 3-5 with a walk, a double and two homers, and 2-4 with a walk, bringing his early season line to .444/.500/1.056.  Simply put, so far he's been completely on fire.  Some may say it's early still and the Twins should wait and not bring him up yet, but those people are the same idiots who stare at a fire in the corner and wait until the entire house is ablaze before reacting.  Come on Bill Smith, don't let the house burn down.  We need some Plouffe.


WHO SUCKED


1.  Alexi Casilla.  I'm sorry, but this guy is not a shortstop and not a starting caliber bat at any position, possibly including National League pitcher.  I'm not even sure he can throw the ball from the hole all the way to first, and just how many times this year are we going to see him dive to stop a ball, get up, and not get the guy or not even bother throwing the ball?  Just don't even bother stopping the ball if you can't throw anybody out.  And don't even get me started with the bat - he's just terrible.  The worst part is that he's actually the best option right now, because the only other player who can play short on the major league roster is Matt Tolbert and we all know what a giant piece of crap he is.  Honest to god, can we get Plouffe up here please?  Maybe he's the answer and maybe he isn't, but at least he's got potential and brings hope to the position.  Every time they read off the Twins lineup and say Casilla's or Tolbert's name a little piece of me dies inside.

2.  Matt Thornton.  I don't know why you'd bother giving the closer to anyone else when you have the nastiness that is Chris Sale - who might have the best stuff of any pitcher in the league - but for some reason the White Sox decided to roll with Thornton.  He repaid that trust by going 0-2 in save opportunities this week, blowing the first against Kansas City (after they scored 3 runs on Joakim Soria to almost steal the game) and then followed that up by getting absolutely bombed for four hits and five runs against Tampa.  The good news for the Sox, and bad news for all White Sox haters which I assume is everyone, is that they look like they may have moved the closer duties over to the unhittable Chris Sale, who picked up the save on Saturday (although he did give up a run).  Hopefully, for the children and America, they stick with Thornton.

3.  Tampa Rays.  I know Evan Longoria is important - not just to the Rays but to all of Major League Baseball, the world, the safety of our nation, and the love in my heart - but it's pretty sad how Tampa has basically just given up after his injury.  A pathetic 1-8 start to the year, and it's been even uglier than that.  They currently rank dead last in the majors in runs scored, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage and in the bottom six in ERA, quality starts, and batting average against.  Only B.J. Upton is hitting the ball remotely well and he leads the team in basically every batting stat, while the starting pitching has been atrocious and is backed up by a pretty poorly performing bullpen.  This is really, really ugly.  Who knew Longoria had this kind of effect on the entire team?  Pretty clear he's the AL MVP at this point.  

4.  Austin Jackson.  I like Austin Jackson.  He's fast, a good fielder, and he can hit the ball with power and average - at least in theory - but he's been brutal this year.  He's hitting just .184 this year (with an OBP of .244 and SLG of .289), but that's not even the most troubling part.  That would be his impressive 14 strikeouts in just 38 at-bats, a pace that would leave him at 228 Ks for the year if he reaches the 618 at-bats he had last year - a new single-season record.  Although I feel pretty safe saying that if he doesn't start getting some hits he'll be logging some of those ABs down on the farm.  He's a free swinger and is always going to strike out a lot (and never really bothers to walk), but he needs to produce when he does put the ball in play, as he did last year.  The weird thing is that his contact rate isn't even that bad at 76.5% (Carlos Pena is at 58.5% - worst in the majors) and you can have plenty of success even if you swing and miss frequently (Nelson Cruz is at 64.2%), but when he does hit the ball he's making terrible contact (4.3% line drives vs. 52.2% fly balls).  Things are not lining up well for Mr. Jackson to turn it around.  And yes, he's on our fantasy team.  Joy.  

5.  UND Fighting Sue.  I don't know anything about hockey and to be honest don't even completely understand most of their crazy rules, but I know gambling and I know the Sue were a huge favorite at -220 (meaning you'd have to bet $220 to win $100 - that's a huge favorite) so I know that them losing to Michigan was a pretty epic chocke job.  I'll let Snake elaborate further:

"I would like to take this first sentence to thank the Michigan Wolverines for doing gods work and beating the prairie scrubs from the University of North Dakota.    

Certain things can be expected every spring in the midwest.  Robins return, the snow melts, flowers bloom and coach Hakstol and the University of North Dakota lose in fantastic fashion in the NCAA tournament.  Of course nothing changed this year.  Coach Hak brought the best team in the country into a frozen four field filled with mediocre teams.  Instead of walking through the field they got shutout 2-0 by a Michigan team who played a walk-on goalie and lost to the gophers 3-1 this year.  This was a choke job of epic proportions.  Vegas had the Sioux at -250 to win it all while Michigan was +175, UMD was +450 (which bogart cashed) and Notre Dame was +500.  

So basically UND losing on Thursday was a bigger upset than Russia losing to the USA in 1980 olympics.  Only this was better because the majority of TRUE americans hate North Dakota more than those Red bastards from the USSR.  As usual, UND fans took the loss with class and dignity!"

First Annual (but not really) NBA Draft Diary

Draft time. I usually just comment on the picks that night or the next day, but this should be fun right here. A lot of picks, and already a lot of trades in the NBA (not just the Wolves). The Shaq trade is interesting. I won't pretend to know enough to really break it down, but I know Shaq is still good enough to average 18 and 8 and the Cavs got him for essentially zero. And his contract expires after next season, so they really aren't giving up that flexibility. Basically I have no idea what the Suns are freaking doing. And I just learned that Vince Carter is headed to the Magic for Skip 2 My Lou and change. I haven't really looked at it yet, but my knowledge tells me anybody getting Vince Carter is on the wrong end of the deal.

Anyway, it should be cool, and I'll be here to document all the mistakes, like whoever drafts Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, or Roy Hibbert II (Thabeet), as well as whoever grabs the bargains, like Ty Lawson, Austin Daye, Earl Clark, or Sam Young. So here we go.

- Clippers take Blake Griffin, no surprise. You know, people who believe in curses, as just profiled on ESPN and in Billy Simmons article on ESPN, are idiots, but man have the Clips have a shit-ton of bad luck. Danny Manning and Shaun Livingston's injuries are two of the worst derailers I can remember, not counting Len Bias. Griffin and Eric Gordon are a nice young inside/outside punch. Maybe they finally turn it around?

And speaking of idiots, can Dazzle and Gordy please please please stop talking about the Sports Illustrated curse? Please. I'm begging. I'm seriously on my knees right now, begging. Please? That's the kind of stupid thing that only dudes like Dawger believe in, but he also believes in things like tarot cards, alien abductions, leprechauns, and the holocaust, so what does that tell you? {NOTE: El Chupacabras and vampires are real.)

- Fun Fact - Blake Griffin wants to host Saturday Night Live, and Tivo's it every week. My money is on his favorite sketch being "The Target Lady."

- The Memphis nightmares take Thabeet, and thank god for that. Look, he might end up being a Dikembe Mutombo, but I don't think he'll even end up that good. His offensive game is barely functional right now, and he is awfully soft for a 7-2 shot blocker. He makes me very, very nervous, but everything I read said he's a good fit for the Grizzlies, so good for them. Fun Fact - Thabeet's MUST IMPROVE: Offensive game. Well no shit.

- And Kevin Durant gets play with James Harden, in what I consider a surprise. I didn't expect harden and is Urkel-suit to go quite this early, I figured the Wolves could grab him at 5 or 6. The real good news here is that the Wolves are going to get either Evans or Rubio. Of course, they are now set up pretty well to take your boyfriend Stephen Curry, too.

- The Kings steal Tyreke at #4. I love this pick. I think, other than Griffin, Evans has the biggest chance to be a star out of this class. He's also kind of an idiot, but he's young and his ability to get to the rim, play defense, and overall out-athletic everybody makes him an almost automatic success. Crap. At least we'll get Rubio.

- BAM! Ricky Rubio on his way to the Wolfies. Obviously, I wish I had seen this kid play so I could evaluate him, but everything I've heard I like. Young kid, held his own on the international stage, has been a pro in Europe since age 14, is just supposed to be an overall stud. As a bonus, he speaks broken Engrish so he's going to a quote laugh machine. The downside is that he's only 18 and the groupies are going to eat him alive, and he looks like a Jonas brother. Jay Bilas just said, "Rubio has a Gretzky-like feel for the court." What?

- I don't even want this pick right now. I hate Hill and Curry, and there's no way they'll take Flynn here. Either figure out a way to trade it, or just take Terrence Williams. Crap, they're going to take Curry, aren't they? They are, right? Just tell me, I can take it.

- Oh thank god. Flynn is the pick, and I'm not sure but I think might have just gotten a little bit of a boner. Two PGs is a bit of a question mark, but Rubio is going to take some time (like a season or two) to be ready, so you put the ball in Flynn's hands now and then see how the two of them develop together. Flynn is supposedly a good leader, although all I saw is him leading Donte Greene to shoot nothing but threes and Eric Devendorf to hit some bitch, but I don't give two craps about that. He can ball, and he can get to the rim. Loving this pick. LOVING.

- I'm pumped.

- Atlanta just traded for Jamal Crawford, giving up Acie Law and Speedy Claxton. I'm bored by this. Twenty bucks says the Warriors take Hill here.

- Nope, they go with Curry. Wow. And, unfortunately for me, this is probably the one place Curry can thrive (or the Knicks, actually, whose fans are booing like crazy right now). A team without much of a half-court game that relies on the run and gun and doesn't play much defense is actually a good recipe for success for Curry. They'll be in their best shape if they have a good PG (I seriously have no idea. Tim Hardaway?) so he can just find his spots on breaks. Crap. He's going to have a good year but he still straight up sucks.

- Knicks take Jordan Hill. That guys a nightmare. Not for opponents, for the team that picked him. Mark it down.

Speaking of marking things down, I heard a discussion between Danny Gladden and Gordon today on the radio about who the Twins best pitcher had been this year. Gladden said, "Well, Blackburn has the innings and the ERA, but Slowey has the wins so I'll go with him." I shit you not.

- Derozan goes 9th to Toronto. The only thing I know about the Raptors is that they have Chris Bosh. The only thing I know about Derozan is that he is the reason Lil Romeo ended up with a scholly to USC. (FYI Lil Romeo - 2 minutes per game, 0.5 points - career high = 2 vs. UT-Martin).

- Milwaukee takes noted gigantic crybaby whiner idiot failure Brandon Jennings. HAHAHAHAHA. Way to go Wisconsin. You guys always suck at everything that isn't college football or basketball, up to and including just being a human being. And now this isn't going to help. Although Jennings will fit in well with all the other failures of humanity in that god-forsaken state. Other than Mike Redd, have the Bucks every had a a good pick? Don't forget, they traded Dirk Nowitzki for Tractor Traylor. I love Wisconsin.

- Just saw more details in the Vince/Skip 2 My Lou trade. Orlando also gave up Courtney Lee (bummer) and Tony Battie (more irrelevant than Dawger's opinion), but New Jersey also gave up Ryan Anderson, formerly of Cal. That is going to be the sneaky difference here. Anderson was an offensive stud in college, but was (and still is) weak on defense, but he will continue to develop. He put up 7 and 5 in twenty minutes per game this year. Looks like a throw-in, but makes this trade a very shrewd one by Orlando.

- Crap, NJ takes Terrence Williams who I was still hoping against hope would keep sliding. Hopefully Earl Clark will be there instead. There are a lot of uninspiring big men/wing men that the Wolves could end up with, but Clark would be a steal. Fun fact: Williams carried his books in a barbie backpack in high school to be "different." Suddenly, and politically correctly, I'm very happy he didn't end up a Wolf. We don't need no queers in the locker room, I'm pretty sure most of that team is a couple of glasses of wine and a back massage away from some "experimentation."

- Bobcats (that still cracks me up) take Gerald Henderson in a pretty uninspiring pick. Isn't that team made up of nothing but Tar Heels at this point? Isn't this like introducing a stupid dog into a house of awesome cats? Seems like team chemistry would be destroyed here. Ron Gardenhire isn't going to be happy about this.

- Pacers go for Hansbrough at 13. It's kind of a shame, he would have been absolutely perfect for Salt Lake City, but the second best fit is Indiana. Don't they just seem like they always have a bunch of white guys flitting about, going back to Smits and Schrempf? Also I love the NY crowd, firing up an overrated chant. Sweet. Amount of seconds his mouth was closed during his interview = 0.

- Fun fact: Hansbrough helped a man having a seizure on a plane on the way back from the Maui invitational. See haters, hustle and gamey-ness always come in handy. I bet Nick Punto would have found a way to rebuild that guy as the next 6-million dollar man.

- Phoenix, seemingly in give up mode after throwing Shaq to Cleveland for basically nothing, crush my hopes and dreams by taking Earl Clark. Damn you Dan Majerle. Damn you to hell.

- DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now they're going to take someone stupid like BJ Mullens. Ugh. Don't ruin it now, you're doing so well! Please, please, please take Austin Daye instead. Please.

- Jennings being interviewed about skipping college to play in Europe, "It's a great experience, I think more kids will do it and more kids should, it was great." Really? What happened to this? You're a god damned liar, Jennings.

- Ugh, kill me in the face. Daye gets taken by Detroit at 15. Yes, he's a little soft and a little weak right now, but his all around game is absolutely off the charts. This sucks. I love this guy. BJ Mullens here we come.

- Dickie V loves the Hansbrough and the Curry picks. I'm shocked. Claims Hansbrough should have been a lottery pick and Curry will be rookie of the year. Isn't it about time to "retire" him. Like, the way they "retire" snitches in the mob?

- The Bulls take James Johnson from Wake, which surprises me since they are probably losing Ben Gordon. Johnson never impressed me either. I'm calling this the fourth worst pick behind Curry, Thabeet, and Hill.

- You know who would be great at 18 now? DeJuan Blair. He's like Craig Smith, but with skill, drive, hustle, and talent. This would be excellent.

- 76ers take Jrue Holiday. I watched a couple UCLA games last year, and he really never stood out to me - at all. I haven't seen nearly enough of him to really bash this pick or anything, but I know he's no Cameron Dollar.

- Wolves up. With #18 they go with Ty Lawson. I love this pick, but they already took two point guards. Best player available strategy? I am a little confused, but I don't really love anybody else here, and I think Lawson is absolutely the best pick in this spot, if you aren't paying attention to positions of need. Trade in the works? I don't know, I'm too drunk to really evaluate this pick right now.

- UPDATE: Lawson is heading to Denver for a future first round pick that is originally coming from Charlotte. Since Charlotte is so shitty, I definitely approve of this. You realize this could end up being Ralph "Black Jesus" Sampson III next year.

- I had some Chuckles this weekend. You know, Chuckles.

Black and Orange are the best, Green is the worst. I didn't even know they made them anymore, but sure enough, if you go to the gas station with the White Castle in it in Hinckley, you can get not only Chuckles, but also Bottle Caps, Necco Wafers, and Charleston Chews. It's like a time machine created by a joint venture between Jesus and Willy Wonka, only with stench of White Castle Ass wafting in from the background.

- Jeff Teague from Wake at #19 to the Hawks. I could pretend I know anything about Atlanta here, but I'd be lying. When I saw they made the playoffs this past season I assumed I had wandered into a time machine - one perhaps created by Jesus and Willy Wonka.

- Jazz take Eric Maynor. Very good player, excellent pick, but Utah is a horrible fit. The Jazz have the point locked up for the next ten years in Deron Williams. They just grabbed a guaranteed back up point guard in the first round. Although Snacks has been texting me bitching about the Rubio/Flynn combo and how they drafted a backup point at either 5 or 6, despite the fact that there was nobody there to pick at 6 other than a point guard and I assume they couldn't trade it. Nobody ever said Snacks was a good basketball mind.

- Charlotte New Orleans Hornets go with Darren Collison, continuing the run on back up point guards since they already have the supremely overrated Chris Paul. I don't like Collison much. He's very much like a Jacque Vaughn. I mean, I guess if you're looking for a fluffer you're good here.

- Portland apparently moved up from 24 to 22 for some reason when I wasn't paying attention, or so Stew Scott tells me. And they take some Spanish retard. The Blazers have a ton of young guys under contract for a few years, so a Euro makes sense, but I really don't get moving up to get him. There's a lot of weird shit going on these days. I'm cautiously optimistic about the new Wolves' guy so far. Two PGs at 5 and 6 is a bit off, but they were the two best players available and nobody else really stood out at those spots. The trade of the 18th pick didn't cost you anybody overly exciting after Clark and Daye were scooped up, and has a good chance of being a lottery pick next year, since it comes from Charlotte, not Denver. Like I said, cautiously optimistic.

- I'm starting to think they need to sell Vodka by the keg. That would probably be a negative on my draft resume.

- Speaking of Vodka, Sacramento takes some Russian. Actually, they're trying to tell me he's from Israel, but he doesn't look Jewish so I stick by my Russian call. The part of the draft when everybody takes the commies is super boring. Let's get into the drafting of college guys who I have heard of but have no shot at being good in the NBA.

- They just interviewed Shaq about the trade. I fast forwarded through the whole thing. Eff that guy.

- Dallas takes BJ Mullens. Isn't this the same franchise that took Shawn Bradley? And some other guy whose name began with an A who I don't remember? I actually think Mullens has a shot to be decent, even though I bashed him earlier. He showed some seriously nice moves at times last season, and has more polish than a lot of seven footers who hit the NBA. I'm thinking he will either end up being a very, very good player or completely disappear. Not a lot of in between here.

- I just made a reference to Goofus and Gallant from Highlights magazine to Mrs. W, who proceeded to ask me just what exactly was wrong with me. Somebody else has to remember them, right?

- Somebody who is picking take another foreign bastard. What is going on here? Do I need to shut this down? How are DeJuan Blair and Sam Young still on the board?

- The Bulls take Taj Gibson, one of the most overrated players in the history of history. And he's not that much different than Ty Thomas, so I'm not sure what the point of this pick is.

- Finally a good pick, seems like it's been forever. Memphis takes Demare Carroll from Missouri. Although, again, they already have Hakim Warrick, so not sure what the exact point is. Is this what the draft has been reduced to - picking backups? I don't really know, I haven't paid this much attention to the draft in years, but I remember the entire first round seeming very impactful. Maybe it was my own naivety.

- Interesting pick here by the Wolves at #28 in UNC's Wayne Ellington. Nobody would ever think he'll be a star, but he could be a good fit with the Wolves. With Miller and Foye shipped out, there really isn't a shooter left on this team. With Rubio and Flynn, there are going to be some drive and kick opportunities. Similar to Curry, Ellington might have just found himself in a situation where he can thrive and produce well above his actual abilities. I don't love this pick, but it could work - work to help them win 21 instead of 19 games the next couple of seasons, but still.

- Ok, screw that. I can't believe they didn't take Blair or Young here. Either of them would have been a good pick at #18, and they are both still there. Ellington is only a good pick here if you are on the cusp of contending and need a shooter to put you over the top. He has no room to improve, and is a good bit role player, but with an upside of Mike Miller. Blair and Young offered you more. Dropped the ball here, big time.

- Lakers take Toney Douglas from FSU and Cleveland grabs some dude from the Congo (genetically altered Ape programmed to kill? That would be a good pick) to close out round 1. I'm tired and drunk and tired and am a little burned out. I'll take a look at round 2 tomorrow.

Weekend Review

WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Ty Lawson. I could just put the whole UNC team here after an incredible run through the NCAA tournament where they were never really challenged, but I want to recognize Lawson because I've dogged him pretty good in the past. He's really made a huge leap in his point guard play from last year. He's still not the best shooter, although he's getting better (shot 50% from three in the tournament) but he's figured out how to completely take over a game from the point position without having to score, and he did it again last night, culminating in the Final Four MVP award (I assume, I didn't look it up). Lawson really elevated his game in the tournament, outdoing his season averages in scoring, rebounding, stealing, and assisting while turning it over less. I don't usually change my mind about a player - ever - but this is a rare exception. Congrats to the Heels, and thank god we don't have watch/hear about Hansbrough anymore.

2. Derek Lowe. I think I described Lowe signing with the Braves using words like retread and patchwork, and might even have thrown a washed up in there, I don’t remember for sure. In any case, Lowe proved me wrong in the Braves’ 4-1 opening day win over the defending champion Phillies (who trotted out Greg Myers instead of Cole Hamels for some reason that I don’t want to look up). Lowe was masterful, going 8 innings and only allowing 2 hits, naturally walking nobody and striking out four. When Lowe is on, he does exactly what he did on Sunday night – doesn’t strike out many, but walks zero and gets a lot of ground balls (the Phillies hit 13 ground balls compared to 7 in the air). I’m not quite ready to start believing in Atlanta, because I still think Javier Vazquez sucks, but it looks like Lowe might have at least one quality season left in him.

3. NY Mets Bullpen. The biggest reason for the Met collapses the past two years have een their shitty bullpen, culminating last year in the most blown leads in the entire major leagues. Instead of standing pat and signing some journeyman and pretending like it’s going to help (cough, cough) they went out and did something about it. They signed single-season save record holder Francisco Rodriguez away from the Angels to close, and then helped their middle relief by making a trade for Seattle closer J.J. Putz, also getting set up man Sean Green in the deal. On Monday, that paid off, as the three new acquisitions combined to toss 3 and 1/3 innings of scoreless ball, giving up just one baserunner and striking out two, giving Johan Santana the win. It is probably pretty awesome to have a GM who actually will do something.

4. Travis Snider. As bad as my call on Cliff Lee looks right now (more on that later), my call on Snider as AL ROY looks just as brilliant. Snider was one of the top prospects in baseball for the last couple of years, and looked the part when he was called up by Toronto at the end of last season, hitting .301/.338/.466 with 2 homers in 79 at bats. Yesterday, he started his ROY campaign with a bang, going 2-4 with a solo homerun off Tiger ace Justin Verlander. Keep an eye on this kid.

5. Felix Hernandez. I could just have easily put the Twins' offense in the who sucked column instead, and specifically Mike Cuddyer who struck out three times against Hernandez and pretty much looked overmatched (yes he had a hit and an rbi, but it was not pretty and leaving three guys on base negates that). Instead, I'll let the optimism flow for a bit longer, and credit The King with an excellent outing. He's been a bit of an enigma in his short career, bursting on the scene as a rookie in 2005 and looking awesome, then regressing a bit the last three years, being a good pitcher, but not living up to the promise he showed that first half season. That being said, he's as talented as anybody throwing the ball, and maybe this is the start of the year he puts it all together. Or maybe the Twins' offense is as bad without Mauer as I feared. If they can't get anything going against Bedard tonight, it's time to worry.


WHO SUCKED

1. A.J. Price. Before the MSU/UCONN game tipped off, Bogart, Snake, and myself were at the Dayton bar and were discussing who would be on our all-tournament team so far. I picked A.J. Price as one of my guards, which I suppose doomed him to his horrid performance against the Spartans. Price’s numbers were bad enough, 5-20 shooting, 2 turnovers and just one assist, but watching him play was even worse. Adrien and Thabeet were really able to dominate the Spartan big guys inside, but Price continually decided not to get them the ball, and instead insisted on trying to bull his way into the lane and kept forcing up some brutally bad shots. I think he was just trying to draw fouls and get to the line, but the refs were calling the game Big Ten style and he just looked like a fool. When he wasn’t busy looking like an idiot, he was lazily walking around the three point line – I seriously watching him an entire UCONN possession where he never even moved as fast as a jog. Just a really horrible game and effort from a guy who was having a good tournament that cost his team the game – yes, I am blaming the UCONN loss entirely on Price.

2. Cliff Lee. A lot of people looked at Cliff Lee’s incredible numbers last year and decided he had to have been a fluke. A lot of people figured a mediocre pitcher couldn’t suddenly make the leap Lee made to win the AL Cy Young award last year and then keep it up, and he’d come crashing back to earth. They saw his 1.10 WHIP (vs career of 1.31) and 2.54 ERA (career = 4.1) and his 5.0 K/BB ratio (career = 2.5) and figured it was an aberration. Not me. I was convinced his pin point control and cerebral approach was more Greg Maddux-like, and he’d sustain this success. Once again, I’m an idiot. Lee got completely rocked by Texas yesterday, barely getting himself out of the fifth and finishing with a line of 5ip, 10 hits, 1 walk, and 7 earned runs given up, including a three-run homer by Hank Blalock. I drafted him in two fantasy leagues where people were avoiding taking him, assuming he would suck this year. Looks like they were right and now I’m screwed.

3. C.C. Sabathia. The Yankees' big, fat, offseason pickup, Sabathia got rocked yesterday by the lowly Orioles to the tune of 4 and 1/3 innings, 8 hits, and 6 earned runs. It wasn't so much those numbers that are scary, although they are, but even worse, Sabathia walked 5 and struck out nobody. Not a single one. For a pretty good strikeout pitcher throughout his career, that's warning sign number 1. Warning sign number 2 was the way the game unfolded, if you watched. The problem was that he couldn't get his fastball by anybody. The batters he faced were always able to at least foul it off, and once they realized they didn't need to be scared of the heater, they were able to lay off his slop slider he usually uses to get batters to chase, leading to the five walks. It's early, obviously, but after one game this is a bad sign for the Yanks.

4. Jason Motte. If you play fantasy baseball, you know that one of the toughest categories to figure out is saves. Not only are you never really sure when to draft the closers, but only a handful of teams have a real, established guy who you know will be in the role all year, so you're always looking for someone you can draft late. When Motte dominated his way through spring training and was anointed the Cardinals closer, it was a boon to those who pay attention to these kind of things. Most people don't know who he is, so he was available pretty late and it sounded like not only was he basically given the closer role for the year, but that he would dominate. Oops. Motte came into yesterday's game against the Pirates looking to shut the door with a 4-2 lead. By the time he finally got out of the top of the ninth, the Pirates led 6-4, and Motte had given up four hits and four earned runs to earn the loss and blown save. Perhaps he wasn't as huge a late steal as I (and many others) anticipated. Sorry Bogart.

5. Chris Allen. I can't bring myself to put the Spartans here as a whole, since they beat two #1 seeds just to get to this position, even though they turned it over 21 times and generally gave themselves no chance to win last night, but I can single out one player who had an awful final four, and that's the most dangerous player in the Big Ten, Chris Allen. Allen, who can usually score ten points in about 30 seconds if you aren't paying attention, couldn't hit anything in the final two games, going a combined 1-14 from the floor in the two games, including 0-9 from three, wrapping up a tournament where he shot just over 25% from the field. Of course, this will probably just make him angrier and he will end up being the runner-up for Big Ten Player of the Year next season (JaJuan Johnson has that one in the bag).


Finally, in case you missed it, I'll leave you with One Shining Moment from last night. Yes, it's already on line.



God I love that.

Hello My Friends

Yep, traveling once again, and once again I'm in the great state of New Jersey. Since I have nothing better to do, let me fill you on some of my random, no doubt profound, thoughts.

- I'd like to start with a little story from the airport this morning. After I cleared security and was putting my shoes back on - with little to no foot odor - some other doofus gets through and walks up to his two friends. One of these said friends, an even bigger doofus - with bluetooth headset - says to doofus #1, "so you cleared waivers" and then looked around for a laugh. His friends ignored him. He said it again. Still nothing. Then he goes, "Hey Tommy. Tommy. Hey Tommy. Hey. Hey Tommy" like a little kid. When "Tommy" finally said, "what?", he goes, "So you cleared waivers, huh?" and his friends looked at him like a retard (I tried to pay attention, he didn't actually seem special in any identifiable way.) It was awesome. Yet, strangely familiar.

- Pretty good flight though. I got upgraded to first class (again) and accidentally got a little drunk (I ordered a screwdriver and two cranberry & vodkas, and each time they would bring me a glass with ice and full of the juice, and then a little airplane sized bottle of Skyy vodka. I thought the juice was just juice, but instead of that, it was actually an already mixed drink which I didn't figure out until the end. So I had six drinks instead of three. Still trying to figure out of this was a positive or a negative. The real good news is that I had an empty row for myself. There's nothing worse than having some guy start talking to you. One time I was reading a book on Quantum Physics, and the guy started telling me that he was a science teacher in Utah (ALERT! ALERT!) and then told me that what he really loves about science is how it shows how God really loves building blocks and how everything is ordered. I asked him how he reconciles that belief with Quantum Theory and the inherent randomness at the level, and he started telling me about how an atom is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Hi. I'm reading a Quantum Theory book. I'm pretty sure I get it. At that point I just pulled the same move that Snake pulled when I gave him the upgrade on our way home from Chicago when some guy started talking soccer with him - smile and put on the headphones.

- Speaking of God, there are a shitload of God stations on the radio out here. I was trying to find something to listen to and found at least four or five, including one that wanted us all to know, "The economy will never recover as long as abortion is legal." I'm pretty sure that would only make things worse, but since that is an issue I have no wish to delve into in this forum, instead I will just say that stridently religious people are loony tunes.

- Enough of that garbage. I'm much more interested in what the holy hell is going on with Joe Mauer's back. Since this apparently isn't related to his December 22nd kidney surgery, we'll ignore that for now. The most recent update I can find is from March 18th, and its says that although Mauer is experiencing back pain that won't allow him to play, it's "not a surgical issue." So, like, I don't get it. It seems nobody really knows what's going on, but it seems that letting your all-star, two-time batting champion and most important player on the team just linger is not a major issue. The only diagnosis I've found is that he has an inflamed sacroiliac joint in his lower back. What's that you ask? It's lower back pain. Yep, that's it. You know what the treatment is? Ice and Ibuprofen. The real Jesus resurrected from the dead, but the baby Jesus sits out two months with a backache. Maybe it's time for a new nickname. All I know is if Wendell the black running back can keep playing with a busted up knee after a simple shot of the Bud Kilmer juice, Mauer has no excuse for missing months upon months of baseball. Can't he just DH?

- Speaking of injuries, it looks like Ty Lawson is the latest one to pull the Tiger Woods aka the Michael Jordan, and overplay his injury/illness when things aren't going well only to be miraculously cured if things go his way. One of the lead stories on ESPN right now is that Lawson will play for the Heels on Friday against Gonzaga. Really? Well I'd god damned hope so. He just played 31 minutes on Saturday in a win against LSU, and although there was a shot of him on the sidelines with his shoe off whining like he was Joe Mauer, you better believe when he was in there running around his shots were somehow miraculously falling and when he found the trampoline in the floor like they used to have in rock and jock and managed to dunk, he was jumping around celebrating like a slave who made it to the north. Old....Man.....River...(dammit I can't find the actual clip, but if you can it's hilarious). What was my point? Oh yeah, you watch on Friday. If things are going well for him and the Heels, he'll be fine. But if he's missing shots or turning it over, look out for the waterworks - just like Tiger in the US Open.

- Ok, my co-worker just called and she just arrived, so I have to go meet her in the hotel bar for a drink. While I'm gone, I want you to ponder this: "That Travis Busch, he do be hustlin'"

- Back. Some assface in the bar is a dick. I asked them to change the channel from some stupid Primetime show called "What would you do" to the NIT game, and before the bartender gets any further than the guide, dickhead guy is like, "Aw man, you're changing it? We was watching that" and yes he said was. So they don't change it. Keep in mind it's a show about how people react to situations, and yet there was no volume or subtitles. So I watch this dink the whole time I'm in bar, ignoring my co-worker but I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything - and he doesn't look at the tv the whole time. Not even once. He was too busy making googly-eyes at his boyfriend. So I missed Penn State knocking off Florida. I'm sure it was thrilling.

- I got it. The baby Tracy McGrady. That dude is hurt constantly, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere half the time it's because he's just being a whiner. Perfect for Mauer.

- Well, well, it looks like America's boyfriend who is really a douche but America is too close to see it but all America's real friends (me) can see he's a douche and no matter what we do America won't break up with him, Stephen Curry, blew it once again. This time in the prestigious NIT. The Currys lost to St. Mary's, with Curry going for 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. And once again, that's all you'll hear about. Nobody will mention the 11-27 shooting or the six turnovers, it's all about the fantasy stats. I'm not going to rehash it for the millionth time, because obviously America won't listen, but go here and scroll down to the Davidson section and re-read up on his stats versus good teams. I'll wait, it's the first entry in the WHO SUCKED section. I seriously hope he doesn't turn pro so I can watch this trainwreck of a relationship again. He'll suck against good teams and just when America is starting to question their love, he'll go off and have a huge night against Furman and it'll be first love all over again. Great guy, America, you sure can pick winners. Curry and Favre. Really top notch. You're dead to me.

- Speaking of the NIT and meltdowns, which I think is where I started that whole Curry thing but I can't remember for sure, Auburn just completely blew it against Baylor. Baylor was up like 7 with 2 minutes left, and thanks to a few three pointers and a couple of forced turnovers, they got the ball back down one with 16 seconds left because Baylor is a bunch of idiots who refused to make the NCAA tournament despite having the talent to win the whole thing. So they get fouled, need one to tie and two to take the lead with 9 seconds left. Miss both. Lose.

- I want to quick mention a book I'm highly recommending, When March went Mad by Seth Davis of CBS and SI fame. The good people over at Press Box Publicity were kind enough to send me an early review copy of the book, and in all seriousness I loved it. I finished it up on the way to Chicago, and plan to have a review next week. It chronicles the 1978-1979 college basketball season following Magic Johnson and the Spartans and Larry Bird and Indiana State, climaxing with their championship matchup that changed college basketball. It also does a great job of following the peripheral players and coaches as well. If you liked the John Feinstein college basketball books (Season on the Brink, The Last Amateurs, a March to Madness) or like basketball in general, pick it up. Full review coming next week.

- - Oh crap, here's something awesome. I just saw that America's boyfriends little brother, Seth Curry, is transferring from Liberty. I don't know why, and nobody knows where yet, but I can only hope he goes to a big school so he can be exposed for the fraud that his whole family (except Dell) is. Seth led all freshmen this year by averaging 20.2 points per game, but I'd assume it's because Dell taught his kids to just shoot constantly - hopefully none of them is a crip or a blood. I did check the stats just to be sure, and he shot 42% from the floor and 35% from three with a 1-1 Assist/Turnover ratio, so it's pretty much more of the same. Plus, does anybody really like anybody named Seth? I mean, really?

- I think that's pretty much it for tonight. Hasta Manana.

Random Hoops Stuff

Just a few random observations from the handful of games I've been able to watch this season.

- It was kind of funny watching Indiana squeak out a 60-57 win against IUPUI and celebrate like they had just won an NCAA tournament game. I suppose it makes sense since they have pretty much nobody on that team who has ever played college basketball, and they don't really realize they are Indiana and should be destroying IUPUI. Well, at least in most years.

- Speaking of the Hoosiers, I think Verdell Jones is going to get beat out by Errek Suhr. Ok, not really Errek Suhr, but your basic Suhr-clone. Short, white, mediocre, full of spastic energy and little skill, but effective none-the-less in Daniel Moore. And he's even got a facemask because of a broken nose. Throw in that he's a hometown Indiana guy, and you know he's going to be the most beloved son of the Hoosier state, and rival Brian Cardinal levels of annoyance to everyone else in the Big Ten.

- Georgia is really, truly, brutally, awfully, bad. Like, record levels of bad for a BCS hoops team.

- Oh, I got so caught up in the Daniel Moore lovefest I forgot to mention that Verdell kind of looked like he didn't belong out there tonight. His numbers weren't god awful (18 min, 1-5 shooting for 2 pts, 3 assists and 1 TO) and he did have 18 points and 5 assists against Northwestern State in their opener - but still turned it over 3 times, shot 4-11, and scored 10 of his 18 from the line - so who knows what to make of him at this point.

- Remember when I mentioned Josh Akognon in this post? Well he scored 41 points against Hawaii. The bad news is that despite being one of the best shooters in the country, right now he's just 8-24 from three and 17-44 from the field, so he's definitely struggling (the 41 points were more a product of volume, not effectiveness - true Michael Jordan style). I haven't been able to watch him this year, so I don't know if it's defenses really clamping down or just bad shooting. Be sure to stay tuned, as I'm sure you're riveted.

- Every player on the Badgers is gay.

- Tubby one-time Targets Krys Faber and Josh Crittle are playing a little for their new teams. Faber played five minutes in DePaul's only game this year, missing both field goals attempts and two free throws. Crittle has been more meaningful for the Ducks, averaging 17 minutes, 4 points and 6 rebounds in their 2 games, including a loss against Oakland. Yes, a loss against Oakland.

- Eric Devendorf absolutely looks like a player who missed all of last season right now. He should be fine though, and so should that team. Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris are so fun to watch, and their bigman, Arinze Onuaku is a beast.

- Ty Lawson still can't shoot for crap, but he doesn't have to. That team is absolutely loaded, and Deon Thompson has stepped in for injured mouth breather and worst nickname ever owner Tyler Hansbrough without missing a beat. They should probably be 1-1 to win the championship.

- An interesting little subplot with Davidson's season was that with last year's national assist leader Jason Richards gone, Stephen Curry would handle most of the point guard play in order to not only help the team, but to boost his NBA stock as well. It worked out well enough in the first two games, as Curry notched 10 and 9 assists against a couple of very bad teams. Last night against #12 Oklahoma, in Davidson's first real test, things reverted in a big way, and Curry went back to the off guard and the bomber role for most of the game. He brought the ball up most of the time like a point guard would, but then passed it off to Brendon McKillop to initiate the offense most of the time. Curry ended up scoring a career high 44 points, but it took 12-29 shooting to do so, and the Wildcats couldn't quite get it done falling to the Sooners 82-78. Also Blake Griffin is much better than I thought.

- With the Gophers signing class for 2009 in the fold, a couple of one-time targets have joined other schools with Kadeem Batts going to Providence and Terrence Shannon to Florida State. Johnny Lacy, Erik Bledsoe, and Darius Smith still have yet to sign.

- Sadly, I think I might have passed Saved by the Bell by. I have always loved the show, but I watched a few episodes again the other day and it was kind of painful. Kind of what everyone else thinks, while I always defended the show and enjoyed watching it. I might be too old now. Sad day. At least I'll always have my autographed photo of Zack and Kelly that Mrs. W stole from her brother (Dr Acula) to give to me.

Double Header

Nice little doubleheader tonight of Gophers vs. Northwestern and Duke vs. UNC. Figured I might as well hang out with my good friend Captain Morgan and watch a couple of basketball games.

As I watch Saved by the Bell to prepare for the games, I'm getting very nervous, and I'll tell you why. No, it's not because I'm semi-attracted to Zack Morris, it has to do with the line on game. First off, the line is 6.5. Northwestern hasn't lost a game by less than 9 this year, and at home lost to Michigan by 10. The Gophers have proven they can play on the road, including going into Ann Arbor and blowing out that same Michigan team. Seems like the line should be at least 9, at a minimum. Fishy.

But there's more. According to wagerline, 71% of the wagers are coming in on Minnesota. That should be enough to move the line at least a point. But it hasn't moved from 6.5, in fact, at one point today it moved a full point the opposite way. What this means is that 71% of the wagers are on Minnesota, but at least 50% of the money - and probably more based on that movement - is on Northwestern. So someone, somewhere very likely put a very, very large wager on the Wildcats. In general, those kind of people that make those kind of wagers know what they're doing.

It looks like Vegas thinks that either the Wildcats win, or this is going to very tight game. Thus, I'm worried. I'm going to go ahead and try and dull this concern with alcohol. On to the game.

6:02 - Whoever this announcer is it tells us that Spencer Tollackson is the key for the Gophers tonight. Great. That's super. I'm actually in agreement with From the Barn in wanting to see limited minutes for Spence and Williams, and going small against the smallish Wildcats. We shall see.

6:05 - Shamala starting. What. The. Eff.

6:05 - The Big Ten Network has frozen. This is awesome. It's just stuck. Not cool.

6:07 - Fixed in time to see Hoffbauer knock down a three. Apparently he's starting for McKenzie tonight. This is the perfect team for Hoff to have a good game, since his defense won't be exposed as much.

6:09 - Loving Tollackson's new found ability to make free throws. And he looks a lot better. At free throws, not lookswise. He still looks just like The Todd, and he is one ugly MoFo.

6:12 - First break, 8-7 Gophers with Hoff shooting three when they come back. The announcer said, "Lindsay Lohan doesn't get as many second chances" as the Gophers did last time these two teams played. It's going to be a long game.

6:19 - Damian Johnson just airballed a layup. Well, he hit backboard, but missed the rim completely. Seriously.

6:21 - After a three minute frozen tv signal delay, we come back just in time to see Craig Moore hit a three to give NW an 18-16 lead, followed by a McKenzie travel. I knew this was going to happen.

6:24 - Channel out again. I'm going to watch UCONN/Syracuse instead.

6:25 - Johnny Flynn is really, really good. Sweet name too. Sounds like an extreme sports kind of name.

6:38 - I can't believe I'm typing this, but Spencer Tollackson is UNSTOPPABLE!!!!111!

6:42 - UNSTOPPABLE. He's getting the Gophers more second chances than Lindsay Lohan!

6:51 - 47-33 at half, Gophers lead. And this is with the Wildcats shooting 50%. They should easily be able to slam this one shut in the second half. See, idiots? This is what happens when you make free throws. 15-17 in the half.

7:04 - So, yeah. The whole "not play Tollackson alot" thing. Well, I was wrong. And speaking of Tollackson, that Shaq trade for Marion is really bizarre. Now, their Player Efficiency Rating is really quite close. Marion is 20.25 and Shaq is 18.16. Two points, which is about the difference between Garnett and Nowitzki. So Shaq is still playing at a fairly high level. Marion has been bitching for a long time about wanting to be the alpha dog on a team, which he won't be with Wade in Miami, so I don't get why he's all excited to go from a championship quality team to a bottom dweller. And I don't get why Phoenix would want Shaq. You have to change your entire offensive scheme to get him to fit. He can't run, he can't execute a pick and roll. His whole game is posting up, which isn't Phoenix's preferred style of play, because it takes the ball away from Nash. Very interesting. But Shaq is still good enough to be 16th in the league in offensive rebound rating, which means the Suns should get more second chances than Lindsay Lohan.

7:11 - Shamala just owns Evanston, hitting another three to open the half giving him 13 so far, after dropping 19 on them there last year and 15 as a freshman. He's just like me balling at the Y. You can't leave me open, cuz I'm gonna hit it every time.

7:21 - Shamala's career at Evanston: 12-16 from three.

7:25 - Duquesne is up 24 on St. Joes? Jesus, how does that happen?

7:26 - Lack of intensity setting in with 13 to play. 8 straight for the Wildcats to cut the lead to 15. Let's get Busch in there to spark some fire.

7:27 - I'm totally kidding. Busch should never be in, under any circumstances.

7:32- If Shamala and Tollackson were teamed up on NBA Jam, they'd be the Shaq and Penny of the college game. If Shamala ever missed, Tollackson would get him more second chances than Lindsay Lohan.

7:33 - Sweet, Big Ten Network reads Down with Goldy. They just put up the graphic showing Shamala's career three point shooting in Evanston. Only took them 14 minutes to steal my shit. Mike Judge used to steal my bits for Beavis and Butthead when I was in high school too.

7:37 - In case you're unaware, the Gopher football team's recruiting class has been ranked as highly as 16th in the nation. If you care about that kind of thing, and I do in a "I should probably care" kind of way, and you haven't been to Gopher Nation to read all about it, go now.

7:56 - And there it is, 92-72 Gopher win, in a completely dominating performance that also managed to be extremely boring. Now onto UNC/Duke and Iowa/Wisconsin.

7:57 - Holy shit. I wish I had a picture of some guy interviewing Hasheem Thabeet from UCONN. Thabeet is 7-3, and this guy must have been 5-5, and they had a perfect camera angle to show the difference. I literally laughed out loud.

8:01 - Comments in the comments section below from From the Barn about the quality of the radio announcers reminded me of when I was driving home from the debacle of Wisconsin v. Gophers on Sunday, and Lynch started talking about how surprised he was Wisconsin didn't play Kevin Gullikson. The dude who got kicked off the team or suspended or is in rehab or something for getting a bunch of alcohol citations. Nice research, Lynch.

8:12 - If you're watching Wisconsin/Iowa instead of Duke/UNC, you are making a HUGE mistake.

8:18 - I was just thinking about the post I did on Rivalry Week, and I guess you could include Illinois/Indiana in there too. Since the whole Eric Gordon thing I'm thinking they don't like each other much.

8:28 - Duke raining threes at a 7-10 clip so far. It's like a whole team of Shamalas out there.

8:29 - Want to know who is really going to win at Pebble this weekend? Kevin Sutherland. Book it. He's 45-1 to win. Easy money.

8:34 - Or 4-1 to finish in the top 10. That's like giving money away.

8:37 - UNC = not the same team without Lawson. It's really too bad he got hurt. He should probably not be such a giant pussy.

8:40 - Singler dominating Hansbrough. What started as a great game is threatening to turn ugly in Duke's favor.

8:43 - Sideline reporter let's us know that Duke and UNC are located close together. Thanks for that. Also, I really don't find Dickie V annoying at all. Am I weird?

8:55 - Duke 42, UNC 39 at half. This game makes me hate the Big Ten.

FIN