2006 : The Year of the Mid-Major

It's becoming more and more apparent that this year, more than ever, we'll have an influx of teams from mid-major conferences in the NCAA Tournament. If you look at conferences like the Missouri Valley and the CAA, they're each deserving of more than one bid into the "Big Dance". But is this a good thing? I think so.

People seem to have an endless debate over whether or not it's a good thing to see these smaller schools getting into the tournament. The argument always goes to this question. Would you rather see a 2nd place Missouri Valley team or 6th or 7th place ACC team get in? The question, I think, is an easy one to answer. Bring on the little guy!

Every year, the best moments of the NCAA Tournament come from the first few rounds, the one with all the upsets. Valpo, Gonzaga, Butler, Bucknell. These schools are known to everyone now because of dramatic wins over high powered programs on national television. They are truly what is beautiful about the NCAA Tournament. It tugs at the heart strings when you see a program make a name for themselves by beating a national power. It is the quintessential David vs. Goliath story.

The math is simple. Give us more mid-majors and we'll see more of these upsets. And it appears that this season, we're going to get a boat load of them. This is why I'm looking forward to the first couple of days of this year's tournament, more than the first few days of any other tournament in recent memory. I want to see Wichita State beat someone good. I want to see a Winthrop give some big school a run for their money. I want to see another Bucknell-like story. With more mid-majors in the mix, the chances of that happening are very very good.

Kind of a non-eventful weekend for me, personally. I went to see UNCW-Georgia State yesterday. Kind of a boring game. Lots of fouls called, too many in my opinion. Neither team could really ever get into a flow. But with the win and the help of Hofstra, UNCW clinched the #1 seed in this week's CAA Tournament.

Speaking of the tournament, big time thanks goes out to Seahawk Sports Marketing and Mike Vaccaro, for allowing me to use their broadcast equipment while I'm up in Richmond later this week. Don't worry. We don't break anything!

My fiance is on the couch right now, watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. That movie never gets old. And who hasn't quoted Ben Stein's character in the movie, saying, "Buueller? Buuuuueeelller?" Great flic that's withstood the test of time.

As always, your comments are welcome. Feel free to leave'em as you see fit. Take care!

Civil War ends in disappointment for NC State fans

I can't imagine what it must feel like to be an NC State fan today. Here we have a team, a team that has had a tremendous season, and yet they still could not muster up enough patience, poise, and determination to defend their home floor against their bitter rivals, the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Some State fans were calling this the biggest game in Herb Sendek's tenure at the school. I can't agree with that logic, but I can understand how someone could feel that way. I mean, afterall, this was Herb's chance to show that when he has a better team, he can kick his rival when they're down.

Did I say the Tar Heels are down?

Well, they're supposed to be, aren't they? They lost seven players from last year's National Championship team. They lost 90-something percent of their scoring from a year ago. This was supposed to be a team in transition. This was supposed to be a young team that would wallow in the middle to lower tier of the ACC. But it hasn't.

Roy Williams has done a better coaching job this year than, perhaps, he's ever done. He's taken a group consisting of a walk-on, several freshman, and a guy who averaged less than four points last season and turned them into, perhaps, the second best team in the ACC behind Duke.

Think of this, folks. Wes Miller, the team's starting shooting guard, just a few years ago, was playing for James Madison and getting trounced by UNCW. Tyler Hansbrough was worrying about what he was going to wear to his Senior Prom when the Tar Heels were beating Illinois for the title. David Noel? He had a good view of things at last year's Final Four...from the bench.

This team should not be this good right now. And NC State should not have lost to them.

Games like last night make it awfully hard for me to continue to defend Herb Sendek on-air. I mean, yes, he's having an outstanding season. His team is going to go to their fifth straight NCAA Tournament, which would tie a school record. But he's 8-38 against UNC and Duke. 8-38. To their biggest in-state rivals. 8-38!

Herb will have to answer to boosters, he'll have to answer to fans, and he'll have to answer to recruits who ask why he can't beat UNC and Duke.

And NC State fans? You'll have to answer to all your Carolina fan buddies for a while...at least until the ACC Tournament.

This job can be hectic as heck

The CAA Basketball Tournament is coming up next week. A week from tomorrow, I leave for Richmond to follow the UNCW Seahawks as they attempt to become the first non-Brett Blizzard team in school history to make it to the NCAA's.

It'll be the first CAA Tournament I've gone to cover since 2003, when they crushed Drexel in the championship game, only to go on to have their heart's broken by Drew Nicholas' three pointer at the buzzer for Maryland. That year was easy. We were a young radio station. We didn't have much going on. The one set of remote broadcast equipment we had was more than enough.

Enter 2006.

Taking a look at our station now, we certainly have more going on now. UNCW Baseball. Remotes and appearances at businesses all over town. Now, though, we have a problem.

Our only set of remote broadcast equipment is going to be used over the weekend to broadcast UNCW Baseball on our station. How, may I ask, am I supposed to do a show from Richmond without remote equipment?

Unfortunately, there is an answer to this question. It's my cellphone. Yep. I may wind up having to do an entire three hour show on Friday, a two hour show on Saturday, and possibly another three hour show on Monday with a cellphone!

Can you say pathetic?

Ahh, the trials and tribulations of working in a small market.

NBA All-Star Weekend : The Black Super Bowl?

Hey guys and gals. I don't really have a ton of time to write today, so instead, I offer a link to one of the funniest sports columns I've read in a long time. It's written by espn.com's Bill Simmons aka The Sports Guy, and it's about the NBA All-Star Weekend which J.A. Adonde refers to as the Black Super Bowl. GREAT read. Funny stuff here.

And for the record, I was much more impressed with the All-Star Weekend than I thought I would be. That dunk by Iguodala was just plain sick! If you haven't seen it, run, don't walk, to a TV with SportsCenter on it and sit and wait until they show it. And don't worry, they WILL show it. It's just that good.

Enjoy...

Bill Simmons
Welcome to the Black Super Bowl

Remember when it was fun?

Remember when? Can you remember back when the NBA Slam Dunk Contest was actually fun to watch?

Guys like Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Shawn Kemp (pre-beer belly), and Spud Webb were showing off for us and wowing the crowd. Marquee players in the league at the time, still they entered their names into the contest, hoping to impress their peers, their fans, and anyone else looking on.

You don't even have to go back into the 80's and 90's to find a time when the dunk contest was worth watching. Remember the year Vince Carter won it? How about Kobe Bryant?

Enter 2006. Welcome to the Slam Dunk Contest, Mr. Josh Smith, Mr. Hakim Warrick, Mr. Andre Iguodala, and Mr. Nate Robinson.

Who?!?!

Yes, these four men (kids) will be center stage tonight during the NBA's "Rising Stars" Slam Dunk Contest. They had to rename it "Rising Stars" because the vets stopped coming. It's going to be a showcase of skill, of athleticism, and of a bunch of guys who the average fan could care less about.

There is one sure fire way to bring interest back to this All-Star Weekend competition (if you can even call it that anymore). Up the ante. Pay out big bucks for the winner. You give the winner of the Dunk Contest a million bucks and I guarantee you we'll actually know who is in it every year. Put a million dollar payout in the mix and guys like Carter, Bryant, LeBron James, and Richard Jefferson will make their return to this mockery of a contest.

So...the Daytona 500 is tomorrow, huh?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Sorry. I just can't get into cars turning left for four hours. NASCAR bores the ever living you know what out of me. Wake me up when someone picks a fight in the garage after the race, ok?

It's beginning to look a lot like March

Okay, so as I type this, the date is February 16. Still 13 days until March, but I'm telling you, if the level of play in college hoops is any indication, March Madness is already here.

Sitting courtside at Trask Coliseum last night, I watched a fierce game between two of the CAA's best teams as UNCW successfully defended their home floor and beat Hofstra. The game looked and felt like a CAA Tournament game. I thought so. Hofstra coach Tom Pecora said after the game that he thought so, as did UNCW coach Brad Brownell.

You see, both teams, entering the game, were being talked about as possible "bubble" teams. The CAA is enjoying it's best season in a long time, with a conference RPI of 10. There is an extremely realistic chance that the league will send more than one team to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1986. A loss for either team last night would likely end any hope of earning an at-large bid into the Big Dance. So in a way, it was an elimination game.

And it sure did feel like it. John Goldsberry hit the deck so many times I can't count. One guy on Hofstra had to come off the floor and get five stitches above his eye. Temi Soyebo knocked knees with a guy and was hobbling around afterwards. There was just a lot of intensity and a lot of bodies falling on the floor.

But UNCW isn't the only place that had some exciting hoops going on. The Tar Heels came back from a 20-point deficit to beat Georgia Tech. Tyler Hansbrough broke a freshman record in the process with 40 points. I am having so much fun watching this young Carolina team play. One of Roy Williams' best coaching jobs? I think so.

It was good to see a few old faces in the media room last night. Brian Hendrickson, who used to be the beat writer for UNCW, among other things at the Wilmington Star-News, was there. He's now covering the Portland Trail (Jail) Blazers for a newspaper in Vancouver, Washington. I'm so happy for Brian, although I don't envy the fact that he has to watch the Blazers night in and night out. That team is brutal! (Although they did beat the Bobcats the other night)

I also saw former WWAY sports gal Dawn Davenport. She's working up in Richmond, VA now a days and doing well for herself. It's always good to see media members from this town move on and do well in larger markets.

I guess Sammy Sosa is done now. I hate to say it, but who really cares? Ever since the corked bat, I haven't thought the same of Swingin' Sammy. I mean, come on! The guy said it was the first time he'd ever used a corked bat in a game, but in the same breath, said it was an accident, and that he didn't know he picked it up. If it was an accident, how do you know it was the first time? If it's that easy to accidentally pick up a corked bat and take it to the plate, chances are you've done it plenty of times before. Don't insult our intelligence, Sammy.

Well...time to go do some show prep. Talk to you guys later on.

Valentine's Day Scam

When does "no" really mean "yes"? Apparently, when it comes to Valentine's Day, "no" always means "yes". Allow me to explain...

Ever since my fiance and I got engaged, we made a pact to avoid buying each other anything on holidays until after the wedding. What I didn't know when I got engaged is that from that day until the big day, any and every bit of spare cash you acquire must go into this new thing called the "Wedding Fund". I didn't realize this venture was going to require an entire fund. But that's another story.

Anyway, I was under the assumption that Valentine's Day was included in this whole "non-gift buying" deal my woman and I made with each other. Good thing I don't usually rely on my assumptions.

After careful deliberation, I decided to be the nice guy anyway, and send her some roses at work. I placed the order on ftdflowers.com yesterday. I ordered a wonderful arrangement of roses and some other kind of red flower, along with some scented candles. Women dig that sort of stuff.

I was pretty damn proud of myself. I thought to myself, "Wow, I really went above and beyond. I really did something that I wasn't expected to do."

WRONG!!

I talked to Aimee as she was on her way home from work. She thanked me for the flowers, but proceeded to say, "Good thing you got them for me. You would've been in trouble!"

I thought to myself, "Wait a sec. This is something I should be rewarded for, not something that, if wasn't done, I would've been in trouble for!" I was confused. So I asked her about it.

She explained to me that no matter what, flowers are the bare minimum on Valentine's Day. She said that no matter how poor we might be, I should always give her roses on Valentine's Day.

So today, I learned what I think is a valuable lesson. Valentine's Day = Flowers.

But the moral of the story is this. Why in the hell do the women have a day like today, yet we don't? Why don't us guys have a similar type of day where we're the ones being spoiled?

It's probably a question I'll be asking myself for the rest of my life. At least we still have Super Bowl Sunday. Only 355 days to go!

Shawn Alexander as a Panther?

Shawn Alexander as a Carolina Panther? Could this REALLY be a possibility?

After watching the Pro Bowl yesterday (yeah, that was me), and seeing the interview with Suzy Kolber and Shawn Alexander, I started thinking. Could he really be coming to the Panthers?

For those who didn't see it, Kolber asked him if anyone had been doing a lot of lobbying while in Hawaii. He said that Steve Smith, by far, was doing the most selling of his team.

I got to thinking about it, though. He's the league's MVP, but he's going to command a huge salary. From all indications, he's a good locker room guy, but still. The money he's going to make is going to require the team to make some tough personnel decisions. Guys are going to have to be cut.

Will the rest of the team resent that? Will his future teammates hate the fact that maybe their best friend was cut so that the team could sign #37? How would Nick Goings feel, having to possibly give up his jersey number?

On the surface, it's easy to say, "HELL YEAH, SIGN HIM!!". But I think after further review, the sacrifices they'd have to make far outweigh the positives. If I'm Panthers GM Marty Hurney, and Alexander's agent gives me a call, I'd say, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Three wins in a row will have to be enough for now...

Well, the streak has finally ended. After winning all three of their previous three outings, my Charlotte Bobcats have had their win streak ended, thanks to the Toronto Raptors. This is significant for a number of reasons.

For one, the mere fact that they even HAD a three game winning streak is amazing, considering the injury problems they've had. Emeka Okafor, Sean May, Gerald Wallace. All hurt. All missing a significant amount of time. Lose three players of that calibur on an expansion team and you're looking for trouble.

Secondly, they are STILL an expansion team. Injuries or no injuries, this is still a team that everyone and their brother predicted to finish at the bottom of the NBA. And they still may.

But the biggest, most significant part of the three game winning streak is this - It got me excited about Bobcats basketball, and the NBA in general. Allow me to explain.

Back in 1988, the Charlotte Hornets first took the floor. I was 11 years old at the time, and enthralled with all things Hornets. I had the Kelly Tripuka poster, I had the Hornets' Rooting Rag (a terrible towel ripoff), I had the complete team set of basketball cards (Robert Reid and Kurt Rambis included), I had the posters, I had everything! I was a true Hornets fan.

Then the unthinkable happened. George Shinn and company moved the team down to 'Nawlins. Now, mind you, I was living in Wilmington at the time and hadn't been to a game in a few seasons, but still. It was the first major pro sports team my hometown had...moving away from my hometown. It just flat out sucked.

After that happened, my interest in the NBA kind of evaporated. The only time I'd really watch with any sort of passion was when the New Orleans Hornets were on TV, allowing me to root vehemently against them.

Then it happened. The Bobcats became the rebirth of the NBA in the Carolinas. I went to a game last year (a win versus Hawks, win #3 in franchise history). I went to a game this year (a win versus the Celtics to open the brand new arena). But I still wasn't completely goo-goo over the 'Cats.

But then the streak happened. And before you call me a front runner, allow me to explain that it wasn't the fact that they won three in a row that made the Bobcats finally "get me". It was the fact that the city was finally showing interest. The newspaper was writing about'em. The sports talk radio in Charlotte was talking about'em. Bobcats Basketball came alive, for a few short days.

Hopefully, that won't be the last three game winning streak we see this year. But they've got to get healthy, and they've got to keep playing hard. Bernie Bickerstaff has his work cut out for him with this group. But win or lose, I'm in it for the long haul now.

GO BOBCATS!!

Tuesday after Super Bowl Hangover

So...it's the Tuesday after the Super Bowl. Where do we go from here? In sports radio, this is the time of year where we struggle to find interesting things to talk about.

I know, we're in the middle of ACC country. We should be able to ride on ACC hoops until March, right? Wrong.

While we could easily fill up an entire three hour show with talk of the Duke-UNC rivalry, or how the NC State fans feel inferior because of Herb losing the recruiting battles, sometimes, it just gets old.

The rivalries in ACC hoops go much deeper than jumpshots and bounce passes. People legitimately HATE fans of their rivals. HATE them. That hate shines through when people call into the show to talk smack to the fans of the other teams.

With that said, today's show will more than likely be filled with these types of calls. If it's what the people want to talk about, who are we to keep them from doing so?