March 8 - Lets Clean up the Tourney Talk

John Feinstein - esteemed author and college basketball nut - hosted a radio program last night and he used the show as a platform to rail against the overuse of the term “on the bubble.” Feinstein challenged his guests and audience to come up some other terms that could be used to replace this worn-out term. The Sportsaholic agrees that bubble is overused and should be repalced, but he wonders why we should focus all our attention on just this one particular tourney cliche? The Sportsaholic thinks we need to go much further. As long as we are housecleaning, it’s time to eliminate Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight from our tourney vocabularies. Let’s go back to the old days when games in these rounds were referred to as Regionals and Regional Finals. As far as the Sportsaholic is concerned, Illinois lost to Duke in last year’s Regionals and Georgia Tech beat Oklahoma State in a terrific Regional Final. This is the way it was before CBS and their vaunted marketing machine began shoving clichés like Sweet Sixteen down the public’s throat. If we don’t stop this now, CBS will at some point start referring to the final game as the Terrific Two. “So Clark, who do you think will be making it to the Terrific Two this year?” And while we're at it, lets stop using the term “run” to describe a team’s advance in the tourney. Run implies that a good deal of distance is covered, but in this case it is misused. Commentators will often fall back on the word “run” to help explain how a low seeded team made it to the REGIONALS. An example might be – “who can forget Vanderbilt’s great run to the Sweet Sixteen a year ago?” What kind of run was involved? For gods sake - they won two games. Is that a run? It sounds more like a jog or a jaunt to me. From here on out, lets reserve the term “run” for those teams that actually make it out of the Regionals and all the way to the national semis. Four games is a run. Two is just a nice weekend. Lastly, we should do away with all references to Cinderella. As I recall, Cinderella had a happy ending and the same cannot be said for the litany of teams that have been referred to as “Cinderella Stories” over the past 20 years. Most crash and burn in the Regionals and unless my memory is off, Cindy did not face such a fate. If Xavier had truly been a Cinderella story last year, they would not have suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Duke in the regional final. That wasn’t a Cinderella Story. I’d say it was more like an “Open Water” story where the heroine gets eaten by sharks at the end of the story.

Word has it there could be an interesting name on next year’s ballot in the race for Pennsylvania governor. Time magazine is reporting that former Steeler Wide Receiver Lynn Swann is considering seeking the Republican nomination to face incumbent Ed Rendell. Swann, who has been stuck as a sidelines reporter since I was 16, has formed an exploratory committee and has been making some grass roots appearances. And while Swann has no political experience per se, he does chair the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, which is the same job that Arnold parleyed into a governorship. If Swann were to win, and he will be an underdog, he will be the second major Republican office holder whose membership in a Hall of Fame is absolutely mind-boggling. The first to achieve such distinction was Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), a pitcher who won a meager 224 games for Detroit and Philadelphia, none of which came in the post-season. If I could pick one pitcher in the entire Baseball Hall of Fame to FACE in a big game, Bunning would be the guy. If Congress should investigate anything, it is how this guy managed to sneak into Cooperstown. Now lets move on to Swann. This is a guy who is in the Hall for one reason and one reason only: he had two big Super Bowls. Under this logic, Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch is headed for Canton around 2015. Aside from his Super Bowls, Swann caught more then 50 balls exactly once in his career. ONCE! You want to put that number in perspective – Mr. Phylicia Rashad caught 50 balls six times during the span of Swann’s career. Granted, the league was different back then and the Steelers were not exactly run by Air Coryell, but Swann wasn’t even the best receiver on his own team. This is a guy with 315 career receptions. Art Monk has triple that number and the only way he gets into the Hall is if gets to be Jerry Rice’s date.

If it were up to me, Swann would get the nomination and Rendell would step aside. In his place I would tap Philadelphia Eagle great Mike Quick and we would hold a statewide referendum on the careers of these two players. The winner gets the keys to the Keystone Capitol. Both had great hands, but Quick was faster and more productive, albeit in an injury shortened career. Voter registration is probably a bit titled toward Philly and I think this helps Quick secure a narrow 52-48 victory. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that if Swann runs for governor, he won’t be the first Hall of Fame wide receiver to seek a governorship this century. Seahawk great Steve Largent – a lock, stock and barrel Hall of Famer – ran for the top job in Oklahoma in 2002, but he couldn’t keep his feet in bounds and ended up losing a tight one. He now spends his days wondering why he let Jerry Rice wear his retired number when the San Francisco Treat showed up in Seattle last year.

Bud Selig said the other day that steroid use in Major league Baseball fell from somewhere around 6 percent in 2003 to something closer to 1.5 percent in 2004. In other words, somewhere around 45 players tested positive in 2003 while only about 12 players tested positive in 2004. That really isn’t that staggering a number. In fact, based on this ammo from Selig, I would bet there are more homosexuals, coke addicts, sexual abusers and gimps in baseball then there are steroid abusers. (Based on that new Nike commercial, there is at least one gimp and his name is Mariano) With steroid use down to trace levels in 2004, I suspect that a new round of testing launched last week is unlikely to uncover much use in 2005. Nonetheless, the Sportsaholic is hoping that at least some tests come back positive. The players have known about this testing for months and the Sportsaholic will take great glee in ridiculing those who were dumb enough or weak enough to fail. The odds are against me, but if I had to pick three guys who will show up on the list, I will go with three guys coming off injuries: Nomar, Maglio and Phil Nevin.

It has been a bad week for free agent cornerback Fred Smoot. The Washington Redskin ball hawk was considered to be one of the top free agents at his position when the market opened for business last week, but there has thus far been little interest in Smooty. Other corners on the market spent last week signing big deals, but Smoot has thus far been unable to find a buyer. He is in Minnesota today, but he may be a bit pricey for the tightwad Vikings. The Vikes are also in the market for Plaxico Burress and it would be surprising if they ordered two drinks off the NFL’s top shelf. To make matters worse for Smoot, the Redskins have always had a standing offer extended to Fred if he wanted to return to Washington. This offer reportedly called for Smoot to receive a $10 million dollar signing bonus, but the boys at Pro Football Talk are now reporting that the Skins have pulled the offer. It seems the Skins took a huge salary cap hit when the moved Lavernaues Coles and they no longer can afford Smoot’s services. Smooty has got to be wondering what is going on here.

Are the Dolphins trying to get rid of stud defensive end Jason Taylor? This Patriots fan sure hopes so. Again, I’ll give credit to the guys at Pro Football Talk for reporting that there may be something afoot down in Miami. In just the last week, the Fish have brought in free agent Defensive Linemen Vonnie Holliday and Kevin Carter and that seems to open up a question of where Taylor fits in if the Fish go to a 3-4 under new coach Nick Saban. There is a chance that Taylor could play some linebacker in a 3-4, but Taylor’s agent told PFT that Taylor is “The Man,” and isn’t interested in moving positions. I sure would like Taylor to move teams. He absolutely eats up Patriot Left Tackle Matt Light and it would be nice if Light didn’t have to face Taylor twice a year. Taylor may be a bit small, but he is too quick for most tackles and as a result, he makes a ton of plays. There is no doubt that another team would be getting a terrific player if Miami is looking to go in a different direction.

Could the defending NBA Western Conference Champions miss the playoffs in 2005? It is looking more and more likely every day. This is because the Denver Nuggets have won seven in a row and are now tied with the Lakers for the eighth and final spot in he Western Conference. Granted, the Nuggets have made this run against some of the leagues worst teams, but that doesn’t mean the games don’t count. After sleepwalking through the first half of the season, the Nuggets finally woke up and began playing some defense. Reports out of Denver have even mentioned some sightings of Carmelo Anthony on the defensive side of the court. I guess Anthony finally tired of people saying that he plays D like former Denver Matador Alex English. The Spurs – sans Tim Duncan - are next up for the Nuggets and after that, its seven at home at the Pepsi Center. Over that same period, the mediocre Lakers have a six game road trip along the Eastern Seaboard. The Lakers schedule doesn’t much easier when they get home from that trip and so the Nuggets definitely have an edge going down the stretch. I doubt the Nuggets are good enough to slam the door shut on the Lakers over the next two weeks, but it looks like they are the slight favorite at this point.

I was thumbing through a USA Today last week when I was struck by a piece of news that I found simply incredible. It seems that a new member of the Milwaukee Bucks was having trouble finding a number to wear since his preferred number 32 had already been retired. I knew Jabbar, Oscar and Sidney Moncreif didn’t wear thirty-two so my mind began to wander. What other Buck deserved to have their number retired? The answer is no one, but that didn’t stop the Bucks from retiring the number of Brian Winters, a 16 point scorer for the Bucks from 1976-1983. Winters was a two-time all-star, but he never played in an NBA finals and he failed to average 20 a game in a single year (he did chalk up 19 a few times). To make matters worse, Winters has the distinction of being part of a trade that ended up costing Milwaukee a guy named Kareem. Does such a resume justify retiring a number? The story doesn’t end with Winters. Upon further research, I found out that the Bucks have also retired the number of Junior Bridgeman. The Bridge was a real nice sixth man, but he is not exactly in the same league as Milwaukee’s great triumvirate. Based on these findings, I have to throw the Bucks right up at the top of the list of those franchises that have a very twisted sense of their own history. Hey, they have the right to do anything they want with these numbers, but how about a little discretion? Where does it end? With Winters and Bridgeman as precedents, is there any doubt that Michael Redd’s #22 will someday be off limits. And I have to wonder why Bridgeman was selected over guys like Marques Johnson, Ricky Pierce, Paul Pressey. Why were at it, shouldn’t Randy Breuer’s number be up in the rafters of US Cellular Arena?

I have a simmering problem with those pundits who say that Notre Dame, Georgetown and West Virginia need at least one win in the Big East Tournament to earn their way into the NCAAs. Such a statement completely ignores the fact that each of these teams play pitiful teams in the opening round of the Big East tourney. That begs the question – why should a victory over one of these teams have any impact whatsoever on a team’s tourney resume? Digger, do you think the NCAA tourney selection committee is going to look at Notre Dame any differently if it beats a team like Rutgers? For gods sake, we are talking about Rutgers. Notre Dame might as well be playing the Blue Hens from Delaware for all I care. The same goes for Georgetown. If they beat Seton Hall on Wednesday, will it erase the fact that they had ended the season on a five gaming losing streak that included a loss to lowly Providence? Sorry guys. The three aforementioned teams are all in a bit of trouble. If I had to guess, two of the three would not get bids as things stand. In order for any of the three to improve their lot, they will need to do a lot more then win an opening round game. Wednesday cannot really help these teams, but it sure can hurt.

Staying in the same general neighborhood, does any well populated state in this country have more pathetic college basketball teams then the state of New Jersey? Almost nine million people live in the garden state yet there is not a single college within the its borders that can play a lick of basketball. As mentioned above, Rutgers – the state’s largest school – was simply dreadful this year. This is not such a surprise since Rutgers has been irrelevant for years, but Seton Hall was arguably no better in 2005. I am not sure you could have put together an NCAA team if you took the best players from these programs and combined them into a single squad. If you ask me, Sutgers would be a bubble team at best. These programs are teetering on the edge of the Bog East’s abyss and the Sportsaholic believes that both should give serious consideration to joining a less competitive conference like the Atlantic 10. To make matters worse, Princeton, which usually fields a real competitive team, had a terrible year. That leaves us with Farleigh Dickinson and Monmouth as the state’s best hope for securing an NCAA bid this year. Well, not so quickly. Monmouth appeared like they were headed toward the NCAAs after winning the Northeast Conference regular season title, but they were upset the other night by Wagner. Now, the state’s fortunes lie entirely on the shoulders of FDU. The Dicks will be favored when they play Wagner tomorrow night, and the Sportsaholic feels they will get the job done for the great state of New Jersey. If they don’t, all eyes in New Jersey will turn to Rutgers woman’s team which quietly had a real nice year and could make some noise in the women’s tourney