How ironic is it that in a 24 hour stretch two of the longest streaks in Ohio sports history come to an end. One showing that things can finally get better and one proving that perfection is impossible.
The Cavs started the weekend on Friday night by finally winning a game, their first in 27 tries. Mo Williams, coincidentally, finally played after missing weeks due to injury. J.J. Hickson showed up and Antawn Jamison, who answered all of the tough questions during the streak, provided a big veteran presence and kept other players motivated, iced the game with a 3 to put the Cavs up by 4 in overtime against the L.A. Clippers.
While the losing ended for the Cavs, it finally happened to Ohio State Saturday afternoon at Wisconsin (yeah, the same Wisconsin that beat #1 OSU football at home). Ohio State is now 0-6 at the Kohl Center up in Madison since its inception. Ohio State played tough but a great game from both Sullinger and Buford wasn't enough.
Here are the facts. Both teams, despite busting their streaks, are in contention for #1 (the Bucks WILL return to #1 in College Basketball, ot atleast obtain a #1 seed and the Cavs can still get the #1 pick come lottery time in June). The Cavs have missed starters Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao for the majority of the year, and actually beat the Celtics at the beginning of the year.
OSU lost because Wisconsin refused to miss a three pointer. Ohio State shot a higher field goal percentage, outrebounded the Badgers, had more assists, less turnovers, a higher free throw percentage, more steals, less fouls all on Wisconsin's home floor. The Badgers just so happened to shoot 50% (12-24) behind the arch, which accounted for 36 of their 70 points in a game Wisconsin won by 4. That's like if Wisconsin football would've won by 3 with 4 punt returns or if a team wins in baseball by 1 run with 2 grand slams in a game. Simply put, it rarely ever happens that a team gets that much of their offense in such an obscure way. There is nothing to worry about Buckeye basketball fans. If the Badgers were even 40% for 3 (still above average), Ohio State wins.
Wisconsin fans, savor the win. It is very likely that just like football, your season ends with a loss to a mid-major while Ohio State fans celebrate the biggest win in the history of that sport for the university (even though it was the Sugar Bowl, it was OSU's first win over an SEC team).
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Arthur Ashe
Who was Arthur Ashe? Most people know him as the black tennis player who got AIDS and has a tennis court at the US Open named after him.
Born July 10, 1943 in Richmond, VA, Ashe was one of the pioneers in tennis for black athletes (without Ashe there may be no Serena or Venus Williams dominance in tennis). Career record of 818-260, 33 career titles and 3 major wins (the US Open in 1968, the Australian in 1970 and finally Wimbledon in 1975) and reached the number 1 ranking in the world in singles. Before his first Grand Slam title, Ashe served in the Army from 1966-1968.
People think that because Ashe contracted HIV that he was "dirty". Ashe contracted HIV from his second heart surgery in a blood transfusion. Ashe found out that he had HIV in 1988, but kept it private until 1992. Ashe did a lot to call attention to the newly discovered disease, AIDS. Ashe founded the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and received awards for humanitarian work in the latter days of his life.
Ashe was not only a legendary tennis player, he was a pioneer, a humanitarian and a brave man to face his imminent mortality with no regret.
Born July 10, 1943 in Richmond, VA, Ashe was one of the pioneers in tennis for black athletes (without Ashe there may be no Serena or Venus Williams dominance in tennis). Career record of 818-260, 33 career titles and 3 major wins (the US Open in 1968, the Australian in 1970 and finally Wimbledon in 1975) and reached the number 1 ranking in the world in singles. Before his first Grand Slam title, Ashe served in the Army from 1966-1968.
People think that because Ashe contracted HIV that he was "dirty". Ashe contracted HIV from his second heart surgery in a blood transfusion. Ashe found out that he had HIV in 1988, but kept it private until 1992. Ashe did a lot to call attention to the newly discovered disease, AIDS. Ashe founded the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and received awards for humanitarian work in the latter days of his life.
Ashe was not only a legendary tennis player, he was a pioneer, a humanitarian and a brave man to face his imminent mortality with no regret.
No football?
There are three letters that are scaring the life out of me: C. B. A. Like something out of a Stephen King horror, there is the looming possibility that the 2011-2012 NFL season may be brutally murdered.
The NFL Player's Association and the NFL owners have yet to agree on a deal for how much money each side makes and how many games a season will be (among other things) in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The two sides have until March 3 to come to an agreement. However, the sides have reportedly had 9 hour meetings as recently as Tuesday the 8th with little to no progress at all. Basically, it's millionaires who have their brains beaten in for a living, whose average career is about 2 years and also have few retirement benefits against the greedy, billionaire owners who want to extend the season, charge higher prices for tickets, get replay boards for the stadium which interfere with the actual game and manage to displace 400 fans for the Super Bowl in an attempt to break the all-time attendance record.
Ok, so maybe you figured that I empathize with the players a bit more than the owners. At the end of the day, it's millionaires versus billionaires and each side is asking for a larger cut of the league's profits. The most frightening thing is that both sides are also willing to compromise the season itself for this money (which we the fans will be paying for in the end). As a matter of fact, only two parties will suffer in the end, and neither have a say in this clash for cash.
The first would obviously be the fans. Although fans have no true say in how the enterprise (the NFL) is ran, each fan is essentially a stock holder and invests in each team and the league as a whole. If this C.B.A. agreement isn't reached, the season may be lost. Fans will be disappointed and all will seem lost.
However, it will not be like the strike shortened '94 season in the MLB, which in my opinion has dropped the MLB behind the NBA in sport popularity. Why? The NFL is too damn popular, period.
I see it like this: the MLB is, say, Jennifer Aniston, who you love. Say she cheats on you. Down the road, while you're in a relationship with another girl, Jennifer wants a second chance. You think about giving her the chance, but she ripped your heart out, and for a time you never thought you could love again.
Now, the NFL is Brooklyn Decker. She is hot beyond belief, you love her and honestly spend time wondering why the heck she's even with you. Then she cheats on you and you're devastated. Some time passes and you're in this intimate relationship with another woman. All of a sudden, Brooklyn wants you back! You don't think twice, you drop this new girl like a hot tamale and sprint back to Ms. Decker! Point is, the fans will eventually recover from a year without football.
The other side to the equation are the thousands of people whose entire livelihood depends on the NFL. Beer vendors, broadcasters, cameramen, (by the way cheerleaders are all volunteers), team physicians, athletic trainers chain gang men and any others I may have missed depend entirely on the NFL having games to make a decent living. The NFLPA and owners must realize that while they are scuffling over what is essentially chump change to them, the real people behind the scenes in the NFL are losing their entire livelihood.
The NFL Player's Association and the NFL owners have yet to agree on a deal for how much money each side makes and how many games a season will be (among other things) in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The two sides have until March 3 to come to an agreement. However, the sides have reportedly had 9 hour meetings as recently as Tuesday the 8th with little to no progress at all. Basically, it's millionaires who have their brains beaten in for a living, whose average career is about 2 years and also have few retirement benefits against the greedy, billionaire owners who want to extend the season, charge higher prices for tickets, get replay boards for the stadium which interfere with the actual game and manage to displace 400 fans for the Super Bowl in an attempt to break the all-time attendance record.
Ok, so maybe you figured that I empathize with the players a bit more than the owners. At the end of the day, it's millionaires versus billionaires and each side is asking for a larger cut of the league's profits. The most frightening thing is that both sides are also willing to compromise the season itself for this money (which we the fans will be paying for in the end). As a matter of fact, only two parties will suffer in the end, and neither have a say in this clash for cash.
The first would obviously be the fans. Although fans have no true say in how the enterprise (the NFL) is ran, each fan is essentially a stock holder and invests in each team and the league as a whole. If this C.B.A. agreement isn't reached, the season may be lost. Fans will be disappointed and all will seem lost.
However, it will not be like the strike shortened '94 season in the MLB, which in my opinion has dropped the MLB behind the NBA in sport popularity. Why? The NFL is too damn popular, period.
I see it like this: the MLB is, say, Jennifer Aniston, who you love. Say she cheats on you. Down the road, while you're in a relationship with another girl, Jennifer wants a second chance. You think about giving her the chance, but she ripped your heart out, and for a time you never thought you could love again.
Now, the NFL is Brooklyn Decker. She is hot beyond belief, you love her and honestly spend time wondering why the heck she's even with you. Then she cheats on you and you're devastated. Some time passes and you're in this intimate relationship with another woman. All of a sudden, Brooklyn wants you back! You don't think twice, you drop this new girl like a hot tamale and sprint back to Ms. Decker! Point is, the fans will eventually recover from a year without football.
The other side to the equation are the thousands of people whose entire livelihood depends on the NFL. Beer vendors, broadcasters, cameramen, (by the way cheerleaders are all volunteers), team physicians, athletic trainers chain gang men and any others I may have missed depend entirely on the NFL having games to make a decent living. The NFLPA and owners must realize that while they are scuffling over what is essentially chump change to them, the real people behind the scenes in the NFL are losing their entire livelihood.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Black History Month
It's that time of year again. The winter is getting harsher, football is coming to an end, the stress of pleasing your loved one (or finding a loved one) for Valentine's day is overwhelming and America is relying on an oversized rodent to tell us when to expect the warmth to return. Sounds pretty horrible, right? However, there is a silver lining to arguably the worst month of the year. It is Black History month. For each person, the month means different things. For me growing up in Tampa, Florida it was the one month I'd actually learn about black history, and by high school, there was no more Black History month education. The only black history I learned in high school were throw away lines in our "complete" U.S. history textbooks. It is ironic that Black History month is also the shortest month of the year. To me, it symbolizes how at first the "celebration" was solely a formality and not a truely educational process. However, at this great university we have plenty of classes about all types of history. From traditional African history to the history of the hip-hop culture, it's all there.
Signing Day
Honestly, Signing Day is an overrated event. It's nice that these high school athletes, the majority of whom will be lost in the shuffle of college football, get a huge stage and nice publicity. However, like I said, the majority of these players will lose their relevancy. It's simple statistics. There aren't even enough starting spots for each of these key recruits. In my opinion, it's nice that these athletes can have their 15 minutes of fame, but the reality is most of them won't even be relevant college football players. Making it to the NFL is a lot like winning the lottery, except that a lot of hard work and talent goes with the luck it takes to make it.
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