March 1 - History Repeats Itself in Chestnut Hill

Does history repeat itself? In the case of Boston College it certainly appears as if it does. Last Fall, Boston College was on the verge of winning the Big East Football Championship and securing a bid to the Fiesta Bowl. All they had to do was dispatch a weak Syracuse team in their season finale. So what happened – the Eagles ended up getting torched and as a result, they ended up playing North Carolina in something called the Continental Tire Bowl. Well, it seems the same thing happened to the Eagles last night on the basketball court. BC entered last night’s game with Pitt on the verge of virtually locking up the Big East championship. And just like last fall, the Eagles came up small on the big stage. Pitt manhandled BC in the second half last night, and for the game, the Panthers out rebounded BC by a 40-26 margin. BC forward Jared Dudley had a particularly nice night going 1-8 in 36 minutes, but he was not alone as BC shot only 31 percent as a team from the floor. The win was the sixth straight for Pitt over BC and it helps secure a bid for the Panthers who were coming off three straight losses. Without a big showing in the Big East tourney, BC probably goes into the NCAAs as a three seed while Pitt looks like a 6 seed.

So where does Texas stand after getting blown out last night at home against Oklahoma? The Horns are now 8-7 in the Big-12 and 19-9 overall, with a finale against Oklahoma State looming this weekend. Texas won the first meeting between these two teams, but that was at home and with P.J. Tucker in the lineup. Tucker is now ineligible and so the safe bet is that Texas will lose and drop to .500 in conference. Is that enough for the Horns? Its close. They are ranked 47 in the RPI and they only have two wins against teams ranked in the top 50 of the RPI. The way I see it, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech have four bids locked up for the Big-12. That leaves Texas, Texas A&M and Iowa State fighting for one or two spots. Iowa State was sitting pretty, but they have lost two straight, including one to Nebraska, and are probably in a worse spot then their southern brethren. Texas and intra-state rival A&M have very similar resumes. They have split their two games and so it may come down to the Big-12 tourney. Neither team has that great a resume and so it may come down to who wins an opening round game in the conference tourney. If Texas can’t get it done, Jenna may have to get her father to pull some strings with the selection committee.

We have a good old fashioned intra-city newspaper fight brewing down in Washington between the Times and the Post. This story started yesterday, when the Times reported that free agent cornerback Samari Rolle was at the top of the Redskins wish list. The venerable Post this morning blasted the story out of the water, claiming that a club source says the Skins have never considered going after Rolle. It seems the Times got bad info as they too pulled back from yesterday’s story in today’s edition. But the story doesn’t end there. The Times is out this morning saying that the Skins attempt to trade receiver Laveranues Coles to the Jets for Santana Moss is still alive and kicking. Conversely, the Post went with a story this morning that the trade is flatlining. Jody Foldesey of the Times has a lot riding on today’s story since he has already been roughed up once this week. I hope Jody double sourced his story today cause its clear his primary source with the club is not in the loop. If Coles is not a Jet tomorrow, Foldesy stands a decent chance of being assigned to cover Northern Virginia high school football next year.

If you want evidence of a reporter manaufaturing a story to satisfy his obsessive editors, look no further then a piece appearing in today’s New York Daily News on Red Sox centerfielder Johnny Damon. The headline and lead of the article, penned by former Yankee beat writter Anthony McCarron, implied Damon could be headed to New York when his contract expires after the 2005 season. This is basically the same story the News runs every year on each of Boston’s prospective free agents and McCarron went to the well on a slow news day. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing in the body of today’s article to support McCarron's headline and lead. The article repeatedly quotes the longhaired lefty as saying that he enjoys playing in Boston and would like to stay with Red Sox past this year. In fact, the story even makes mention that Damon thinks that he could agree on an extension in the near future. An objective reporter would have led with the prospect of a Spring Training contract extension. But that is not what you get when a New York paper assigns a beat writer to cover the Red Sox. Rather then any credible news, we get manufactured stories that are filled with useless innuendo and unsubstantiated conjecture. Someone should tell McCarron and his editors that every story coming out of Ft. Myers does not necessarily have a New York angle.

Are the Miami Dolphins looking to jump on the Gus Bus? The guys at Pro Football Talk are reporting today that the Dolphins are interested in bringing Gus Frerrotte down to Miami to compete for the starting quarterback position. It seems that new Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan is a fan of Frerrotte and he wants someone to take the job from incumbent AJ Feeley. I am no fan of Feeley, but I would rather have Gus the kicking mule from the California Atoms than Gus Frerrotte. The mule was dangerous from midfield and the same cannot be said of Frerrotte, who was an abortion during his stint as a starter in Washington. That was several years ago, but I have a hard time believing that Gus aged well since those glorious years. The Pats have got to be licking their chops at the thought of playing six games against division foes headed by Frerrotte, Pennington and Lossman.

Well, its official. ESPN has named Olympic Gold Medalist Amanda Beard as its Hottest Female Athlete of 2005. I predicted this outcome a few weeks ago and did my part by supporting Beard's candidacy throughout the tourney. In the finals, Amanda took out Lokelani McMichael, a Hawaiian triathelete. I am a big fan of Beard, and I am predicting at some point she will take the money and go nude. She is first slated to head up a Speedo Campaign, but Amanda seems like a party chick and those Arizona girls often end up in porn. The other selling point for Beard is that she is one of the top-10 U.S. female swimmers of the past 30 years. That list includes, Beard, Shirley Babshoff, Tracy Caulkins, Mary T. Meagher, Summer Sanders, Natalie Coughlin, Janet Evans, Jenny Thompson, Brooke Bennett, and my old buddy Dara Torres.

There was a lot to discuss yesterday and unfortunately the heavy news-flow prevented the Sportsaholic from discussing one of the more interesting sports stories of the Winter. In case you missed it, and I am sure most of you did, Bode Miller failed to finish another Slalom race on Sunday and his lead in the World Cup has now shrunk to a meager 31 points with six races to go. Miller led Austrian Benjamin Raich by almost 200 points two weeks ago, but Miller has had trouble finishing races ever since. Aside from his failure on Sunday, Miller crashed during a Giant Slalom on Saturday and its becoming clear Miller has lost confidence in his ability to ski the sport’s technical disciplines (slalom and GS). Bode is still in decent shape because the tour now moves to Norway where Miller will get to ski a downhill and a Super G. Miller has a big advantage over Raich in these disciplines, and he should be able to extend his lead before the tour moves to Switzerland for its final set of races. Miller should be able to hold on for the America’s first World Cup since 1984, but he is making things interesting.

I am very disappointed by the fallout I am hearing concerning Cheney-Gate. As I wrote last week, I do not have a huge problem with Father John sending in a goon to mix it up with St. Joes last week. It was stupid, but its not something that gets me all that excited or agitated. My problem with Cheney goes much further then this incident as I explained last week. In my mind, Cheney has a vastly overated resume, but I guess I am virtually alone in this opinion. To hear the national pundits explain it over the last few days, Cheney messed up but he deserves a second chance because of his “great” track record. This cow-tailing is driving me crazy. Just this week, I have heard Dick Vitale, Andy Katz and Mike Francesa all crow about Cheney’s record, but these assertions are made without any supporting evidence. What record are these guys talking about? Vitale had the audacity to throw Cheney in with heavyweights like Knight, Dean Smith, Coach K, Boheim, Calhoun and Skin Flute Lute. This is complete lunacy. It is like throwing Bobcat in with DeNiro, Ed Norton and Sean Penn. Cheney, in my book, is third tier and should be grouped in with guys like Mike Montgomery, Rick Barnes and Gene Keady. I want someone to explain to me why this guy’s track record is above reproach. Is it because he invented the 6:00 A.M. practice or managed to get some poor kids a partial education at a glorified JUCO? Is it because he is an outspoken advocate for the those kids who don't test well? Save those sob stories for Bryant Gumble and the folks at HBO. Remember, Cheney’s only Final Four came in 1978 when he won the Division II national championship. And if you think Cheney should rank ahead of guys like Barnes and Monty, just remember those guys get guys to graduate and have taken Division I teams to college basketball's final weekend. Yeah, Cheney has won 700 games but he has also coached since the Nixon Administration. And you want to assess his game skills – what about that moment back in 1988 when he continued to call Mark Macon's number in a regional final against Duke even though it was clear Macon couldn’t shake Billy King and Robert Brickey. Macon ended up having a John Starks-like 6-29 game that afternoon as the number one Owls fell to Duke. As for player development, I can't go crazy over an all-time Cheney team that includes Eddie Jones, Arron McKie, Mark Macon, Tim Perry, Duane Causewell and Rick Brunson. I have simply had it with the broadcasting industry’s love affair with this guy. It is enough already.