An Athlete with Class

Tonight the Sacramento Kings will retire the Jersey of #21 Vlade Divac. For those of us who live here in Sacramento we know that Vlade was at least as important as any other King during the glory years between 1999 and 2005. No Vlade was not the most talented players on the team (that honor would have to go to Chris Webber) but he was clearly the leader. Divac's playing skills have always been under appreciated- a typical game for Vlade would be somewhere between 10 and 15 points, 7 to 10 rebounds and 5 to 8 assists-stats that can only appreciated by the true Basketball fan. More than his playing ability though was Vlade's ability to lead and his professionalism. With Divac you never heard any griping about anything (unless it was to the ref's after one of his famous flops) and there was never a hint of any kind of unethical behavior.

Most importantly Divac set the tone for the Kings-he never got to high and he never got too low-once the game was over he was ready to move on to the next game. As Kings fans we often complained about his inabiltiy to jump or how he could not do this or he could not do that-Vlade we were wrong ! Welcome home and THANKS for everything you did for us.

A Rising Star

As I said when I started this blog you would probably hear more about Fresno State than you wanted to-but then again maybe not. A Bulldog alum is really becoming a rising star on the PGA Tour. NickWatney won the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines (His 2nd career win)-he battled Phil Mickaelson down to the wire in the World Golf Championship and has two other 12th place finishes in 7 starts this year. He stands 3rd in Fed Ex points and third on the money list-having won close to 2.1 million dollars so far this year.

Watney-who probably would not have gotten a scholarship to any school had his uncle (Mike Watney) not been the coach at Fresno State has taken advantage of every opportunity. Reviewing Nick's stat's show that he does not do anything extremely well he just does everything well. As a matter of fact his driving accuracy is 149th on the tour-which just goes to show how well Nick can scramble out of trouble. Watney opened the Arnold Palmer invitational at Bay Hill with a 67 today and stands only 2 strokes back-as we near the first of the 2009 majors keep and eye on Nick as a possible sleeper at Augusta for the Masters.

Missing the Upsets

Well the NCAA tournament has been a real disappointment to me this year. The thing that makes the tournament is when the mid-majors get a real shot and take advantage. Can anyone forget the run that George Mason made a couple of years ago as they went all the way to the final four. Arizona may be a 12 seed but they don't do anything for me. For my part I will be rooting for Xavier at this point. By the way just because Arizona won does not prove that they deserved the bid-I suppose because they are the last team playing they are the best in the Pac-10 I DON'T THINK SO. By the way St Mary's rolled in there first NIT game-does that prove anything.

By the way I am tired of some of the power teams getting to play in there own backyard -North Carolina & Duke in Greensboro; Villanova in Philadelphia-howabout playing real "Neutral Court" games, ah but then the power schools would actually be at some "risk" with the mid-majors. Let's face it the Big 10, ACC, SEC, Big East, Pac 10 and Big 12 would rather take there ball and leave all the little guys behind.

March Madness-How the Little Guy gets screwed

Well the selection's have been made and several teams that clearly to me do not belong have received bids while some that were very worth were left out. It is interesting to note that of all the teams on the so-called bubble-all the Major Conference teams received bids and non of the Mid-Majors did.

The following teams in my opinion and based on my earlier rules DO NOT DESERVE A BID

1. Maryland-PLEEZE- The were 7-9 in Conference, they did not win 65% of there games and did not even reach the ACC Tournament Finale-for God's sake they lost to Gonzaga by 22, to Georgetown (not even a tournament team) by 27, to Clemson by 29 and to Duke by 41.Also per my rules only half of the teams in any conference can get in.

2. Arizona-19-13 -Only 9-9 in the Pac-10 and they lost in the first round of the Conference Tournament-a 59% winning percentage deserves an NCAA Bid. They come stumbling into the tournament having lost 5 of there last 6

3. Michigan 20-13, Minnesota 22-10 and Wisconsin 19-12-The Big Ten was not that strong that year-and if they are going to get a fifth bid it should go to Penn State who played in the same league and had a better conference record than either Michigan or Minnesota-why the hell even have a conference season if it does not mean anything. Bythe way 7 bids for the Big Ten come on.

The following teams clearly DO DESERVE A BID

1. St Mary's 26-6 with that kind of record and 4 of your 6 losses without your top player how can you leave them out. If you ask do I think they are better than Arizona or Maryland my answer would be a resounding YES they are. They also get in because they won 80% of there games.

2. Creighton 26-7 I would submit to you that the Missouri Valley is as tough as the Atlantic 10 and can compete with the Big Ten. This is a league that has proven it can compete year in and year out. The MVC could make a case for 3 bids with Illinois State.

3. Penn State-22-11 I am not sure that they deserve a bid but how can you pick Michigan and Minnesota ahead of them-they play in the same league and they had a better conference record.

4. San Diego State 23-9 or New Mexico 21-11-New Mexico was tri regular season champions with Utah and BYU (both of whom got in easily) and San Diego State was only a game back and barely lost in the Mountain West Tournament Finale to Utah.

Clearly the committee favors the Major Conferences and the idea that the Mid-Majors should go play them is not right-as soon as they become solid teams the Big Boys find ways to get them off the schedule. Later on this week I will tell you who I think will be the surprise team and I will pick my final four.

March Madness Rules Update

Before I come out with who I think did not deserve a bid and who did-I have one more rule to add-all seedings must follow regular season conference records-i.e. No School can be seeded higher (they can be seeded the same) than a team in there own conference with a better regular season record.

The Will to Win

One of the things that we forget as Sports Fans is how much of any game is Mental. This past week we had a great reminder of that in Syracuse's 6 Overtime victory over Connecticut in the Big East Tournament. After having a last second shot (that was initially ruled good) waved off-Syracuse went through 5 OT's and not ONCE in any of those overtimes did they lead- and yet they collectively REFUSED TO LOSE. They were constantly fighting an uphill battle, there top players had either fouled out or were running on fumes-at one point in the 6th (and final) OT they had a walk-on who grabbed is first rebound of the Season !

What is it that Set's the greats apart ? It is the Mental Approach to the Game that Set's the great one's apart-there are many outstanding golfers and yet only Tiger Woods has his incredible ability to stay focused and desire to win. The same was true of Michael Jordan . All of the true greats have that incredible ability to stay mentally focused-which is so rare in ANY human being.

Selection Sunday-How about some rules ?

This Sunday the NCAA Basketball Committee will invite 65 teams to the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament. Thirty One bids will be automatic-based on each conference's champion (with the exception of the Ivy League) all won in the Conference Tournaments. The 34 remaining bids will be based on the committee selections. Little is known about how the committee arrives at these choices - and for that reason I would like to propose certain rules

1) No more than half of the teams in any conference may receive bids
2) Any team winning 80% of it's overall games is automatically given a invitation
3) Teams must win 50% of there league games in order to receive an invitation
4) Teams winning exactly 50% of there league games must win there first game in the conference tournament
5) Teams must win 65% of there overall games in order to be considered for a bid
6) Whenever considering multiple teams in a league precedent must be given to
A) The team with the better regular season league record
B) If A is tied then the team that went farther in the league tournament
C) If A and B are tied then the team with the better overall winning %

I belief that these rules would make it more equitable for all teams to have a chance to go to the big dance.

Spring Training ?

One of the many things I don't get in life is the appeal of Baseball's Spring Training. Some people actually schedule vacations every year to Arizona and Florida. You are going to see a bunch of people, the majority of whom make way more money than you do play practice games getting ready for the real season-by which time they will charge you $40 and up for decent seats. I kind of get that spring time thing about the coming of summer and getting out of the cold-but if that's all it is why don't you just go to Hawaii or the Caribbean or Southern California-where the beaches are much better.

As I've said I have no great love of Baseball-the whole sport seems to be about who has the most money. Teams are not rewarded for finding and cultivating there own talent-but the time it's really ready to blossom some other teams offers to pay for more for that player. It could be that you could get closer to the players-but nowadays why? What are you going to ask them-what kind of performance enhancing substance they are using. I guess my feeling is get a life-there are a lot better things than going rich guys practice there craft in games that don't matter.

The Unheard Success Stories

So often today we hear about College Athletes who are in the news because of there run-ins with the law, what we don't hear so much about is those athletes that take advantage of the opportunities presented by there Athletic talents and parlay those into success outside the Athletic arena. I would like to introduce you to two friends of mine who did just that.

The first is Joe Becker. Joe's dad worked in the facilities department at UCLA- and could not afford to send Joe to college. After two years of Junior College Mr. Becker won a football scholarship to Fresno State. As a player #71 was outstanding-winnin all conference honors his Sr year-more importantly Joe worked hard in the classroom and got a degree. Becker is know a successful businessman in the Sacramento Area. All this has been achieved because he took advantage of his scholarship.

The 2nd is Dr. (yes-of Medicine) William Griever. Bill is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. Neither of Griever's parents attended college and he would not have been able to attend college were in not for his football talents. At Fresno State Griever (playing tight end) saw the field every year. He caught 6,1,4 and 20 passes during each year of his career-he never scored a TD although he did catch a critical two point conversion during the Bulldogs 1982 California Bowl victory over Bowling Green. The classroom was were Griever was an All-American. Bill double majored in Chemistry and Biology and won the President's Medal (top undergraduate in the whole university) upon Graduation. Griever went onto Medical School at Boston University and is know a successful General Practitioner in Massachusetts.

So I hope that the next time you read about Athletes dropping out of school or having scrapes with the law there are many others who are taking advantage of there scholarships.

The Greatest Ball Player of them all

As I mentioned in my first blog I am really not much of a fan of Baseball-however the arrival of spring and the ongoing steroid saga (which has over the past few years reduced even further what was already a limited interest in the sport) brought to mind my favorite player of all time-and in my opinion the greatest of them all-Henry Aaron. This player personified class and the contrast between Aaron and the selfish ego-maniacal players of today (led by Barry Bonds) is really hard to belief. Hammerin Hank was the quiet unassaming star who in the days and months leading up to his breaking Babe Ruth's career record faced the kind of pressure that today's ballplayers could not imagine. As you may remember in 1973 and 1974 racism still very much existed (especially in the South) and Aaron faced it all and he managed to maintain a sense of decorum that is rarely seen today. As a 15 year old I remember reading in Newsweek or Time the things that Aaron faced and was moved to write a letter-several weeks later I received back a letter (on Atlanta Braves letterhead) signed by my hero.

To this day I don't think Aaron gets the credit he is due-when the greatest outfielders are mentioned you always here May, Mantle, Williams and a few others-all of whom played in huge media cities. But if you review their stats to Aaron's - a lifetime .305 hitter with 755 home runs and 2297 Runs Batted In they don't stand up.

To this day the 75 year old Aaron maintains his dignity-even sending a congratulatory message to the cheater (Bonds) when the Giants star broke the career Home Run record. Today's ballplayer would do well to look at the way Aaron carried himself on and off the field-to see the proper way of comporting yourself.

Tiger Woods Return

As you all know (unless you were in a complete coma) Tiger Woods returned to the PGA Tour last week. This fact got me to wondering-what did his compatriots on the tour think of this. Sure they all said the right things to the media-we're glad to have him back etc. But is that really what they were thinking ?-after all it's not like one of the Boys was coming back-it wasn't like Tiger would join them in the locker room-as far as I know the only person on tour that he is remotely close to is Mark O'Meara who I belief at this point is mainly playing the Seniors Tour. All the other players are competitive so they want to beat the best in the world-but don't you think some of them were saying damn he's back-we were doing OK without him and it's not like he needs the money ? Maybe they thought even if we beat him over the next couple months in anything other than a major-all the media will say is either 1) He's just rounding into shape and getting ready for the major's or 2) He's just using this tournament as a tune-up for the majors.
I guess it all boils down to this- wouldn't you like to have a private off the record conversation with the other players and really find out what they think about Tiger ?

March Madness

Well March has arrived and it's time for that crazy event known as the NCAA Basketball Tournament- affectionately nicknamed March Madness. In truth the craziness starts this week with the Conference Tournaments. This week always wreaks havoc on the tournament field-as teams given new life raise there game for 3 or 4 days and suddenly find themselves in the Big Dance. I always enjoy this week because upsets in several of the mid-major conference result in some of the big boys losing there bids (you will find that I bear no great love of the so-called BCS conferences). There are certain mid-major teams that really need not worry about there conference tournaments they have bid's locked up (Xavier in the Atlantic 10, Creighton in the Missouri Valley,Davidson in the Southern Conference,Butler in the Horizon league, Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference) and yet in each of these conferences there are solid contenders that could win the automatic bid. Equally enjoyable are the conference tournaments in which the teams know that only one of them will advance to the NCAA's and beginning this week they are starting over with 0-0 records. Think about that - teams like North-Carolina Greensboro (5-24), Detroit (7-22) and Marist (9-22) are only 3 or 4 games away from going to the big dance.

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my blog-whenever you come here you will find my opinion and thoughts on the world of sports. The main focus will be on College Sports-focusing on Football-not only the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) but the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II and Division III. During the spring I will have a lot on Track & Field. You will also hear my thoughts on the NBA, NFL and just about every other sport although you probably won't find much about Baseball-that is just about the only sport that does not do anything for me. One other thing you will probably find is that I will write an inordinate amount about my Alma Mater-Fresno State. Hopefully you will find my opinions stimulating and thought provoking. I plan on posting a couple of times a week.