In a last (or maybe second to last) ditch effort to have more than 20 people reading this NCAA Tournament project, I've enlisted some friends to pimp this blog for me. I'm tracking the readership of this blog and have hits from as far away as Phoenix and Honolulu. A very special thanks to Senator Nate for his help. You can most certainly count on my vote Senator. I'll admit right now that I've become power hungry. After my humble beginnings with this project, where I didn't care if only 3 people were reading it, I've become obsessed with power and exposure. This is simply the natural course of things because it perfectly sets up my next blog where I'm strung out, exhausted, and on death's door after power and fame have ruined me...only to be encouraged and saved by those loyal and true friends/fans who were there for me in the beginning. My goal is to be ranked in the top 500 blogs on the website where this blog is being tracked I've been in the top 2000 and 1500 without even trying, so a little bit of whoring myself out shouldn't make this goal too difficult. To my new readers, welcome to this wonderful world where I'm literally filling out 30 Conference Tournament Brackets. To my faithful readers who have been there with me and for me all along...I'll only swear you off after I get famous...then come back to loving you after I've hit rock bottom. Seriously though...thank you all for reading. Nothing is going to change here...until ESPN or some other organization dangles a check in front of me. Then I'm completely selling out. Everyone has a price.
Three quick college basketball related note:
- My beloved Iowa Hawkeyes bowed out of the Big Ten Tournament gracefully today with a first round loss to Michigan. Head coach Todd Lickliter (formerly of Butler) is going to be a great fit in Iowa City, it's just going to take some time.
- Bob Knight did a great job yesterday on his broadcast debut for ESPN. Coach Knight was brought in to be a studio analyst during Championship week and throughout the NCAA Tournament. A lot of articles have been written in the last 24 hours bitching about how bland and "corporate" Coach Knight was during his debut (I believe some of these articles were written before he actually went on the air). What the hell do you want people?!? Would you prefer that he goes ape-shit and throws a chair at Digger Phelps? Or maybe you'd enjoy it if he leaned over the desk and choked Rece Davis? The people who are complaining about how Coach Knight's debut wasn't compelling television make me sick. He's not a fucking monkey that's only around to amuse you while throwing temper tantrums and telling off reporters. Coach Knight is a living legend who has won more NCAA Division I basketball games than any other coach. Show the guy some respect. He's not a circus animal. It's a privilege to have him around for the Tournament in any capacity. It goes to show that casual fans, not to mention a large part of the media, are selfish bastards who just want to be entertained to their ridiculous standards until something loud, new, and shiny comes along in 10 minutes. I hate to be arrogant (actually I love it), but I'm completely right on this issue.
- I'll get around to posting my column on the 5 Conference Tournaments that started today. These are the last 5 Conference Tournaments to predict and cover (numbers 26-30)! This process hasn't been as bad and painstaking as I thought it might be. You'll just have to take my word and know in your heart that I filled out these brackets ahead of time. Enjoy the games tonight. Go Pitt and Go Irish! (At least for one more day)
Well I can beat your Honululu, try Shanghai, China. Now you have an international flair to your blog. Thanks for the props in yesterday's post, too bad after Nova's loss to Georgetown I have a feeling that Coach Wright will be picking up a new hobby, it's called NITting. By the way, you have to devote at least one entry for Jay Wright being the best dressed and classiest head basketball coach in D-1, Pearl may have the flashy clothes, but Wright has the classy digs.
ReplyDeletecall me a selfish bastard, but i'd love to see knight throw a chair. seriously though, shouldn't he at least appear like he wants to be there? at least digger gives some energy and enthusiasm.
ReplyDeletephil...if coach knight threw a chair, it would be the last chair he'd throw on espn. he'd be canned about 30 seconds after any incident. the guy is exhausted, let's give him a break. he stepped down from texas tech because he was worn out. what has me interested is the fact that coach knight has always had a disdain for the media, and now he is one of them. i'll be interested to see how that plays out.
ReplyDeletewhat i'm surprised with is that you're going to sit there and ignore matt's comments about jay wright having the best digs of any head coach in college basketball. i know he is wrong (Wright is trying his hardest to be a stylish Steve Lavin, but failing miserably), howewver, i need proof. i'm looking to you and annie and any of my readers to help sort this out. i DO know for a fact that Jay Wright dresses better than Mike Brey. that mock-turtleneck is the reason Notre Dame lost last night. yikes.
well i agree with matt whole heartedly. he usually wears the three-piece, four button, double-breasted (i don't actually know what that means) suit. it's often pinstripe. as in here:
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/pretzel/spl_jay.jpg
what other proof can one ask for?
i fully expect villanova to get an at-large bid based on jay wright's wardrobe.
hmmm...maybe i need to spend more time researching Jay Wright's wardrobe. maybe i'll have to write a post listing the 5 coaches with the best wardrobes. we can only hope that the selection committee takes fashion sense into at-large considerations. i wish the links posted in comments would be live too.
ReplyDeleteHere is some research for you, if the selection committee considered fashion sense or classiness then the following 5 teams would have never made the tourney:
ReplyDelete5. Utah under Majerus, turtle neck plus sweater = Theo Cosby, by the way I am surprised you didn't mention the incidents where Majerus was accused of showing off his plumbers tool to former players during practice, that is definitely a part of his legacy.
4. Iowa State under Larry Eustachy (I am not even sure if they ever made it, but they shouldn't have), I know the co-eds must have dug his outfits, but I think he started the mock turtle neck trend, which should have never been started.
3. Cinncinnati under Huggins, I mean open V-neck windbreaker, that says NIT all over it.
2. Arkansas under Nolan Richardson, I mean some of his suit collections make some of the NBA draft suits look tame, plus his suits looked like they were taken off the clearance rack of the Goodwill...in Arkansas.
1.Temple under John Chaney, I mean there is no outfit that can class up straight up ugly. I think his face still gives me and Coach Calipari nightmares.
i'm going to turn the ideas and comments from this section into a column early next week. be patient and feel free to comment more to give me even more fodder.
ReplyDeletematt, i must take issue with john chaney being on your list. while i don't want to defend his fashion sense, there is an important distinction to be drawn between ugliness and weathered wisdom. he always wore a tie (albeit loosened), and of course, a black sweater (for at least the first 3 minutes of the game).
ReplyDeleteit was fear for john calipari's life that gave him nightmares.
i suggest that you replace chaney with mike brey, whose apparel and appearance make him look like a villain from a bad graphic novel.
i need to sort something out...are we limiting this to coaches who have/had made the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis? because I'd really like to throw Charlie Spoonhauer in the mix. that guy ONLY owned turtle-necks. i think i have to take umbrage with Nolan Richardson...that guy was stylish and classy before professional athletes tried to upstage one another (Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, et. all) Larry Eustachy is a solid choice...that guy dressed looked like he was trying to bed coeds. its funny that he took so long to get busted. also, does a coach have to be young and hip to dress classy? is there room on this list for a Jim Calhoun or Lute Olsen? a man's age shouldn't limit where he can be on the well-dressed or worst-dressed ratings.
ReplyDeleteWeathered wisdom would be people like Eddie Sutton, Rollie Massamino and Gary Williams. Wisdom and Chaney don't seem to flow together, it would be like saying nice and Charles Manson. Maybe I am biased by his antics during his last 10 years of coaching, he ruled at Temple, but his coaching skills definitely do not follow under the adjective of wise.
ReplyDeleteAs for a different subject (not really), could you imagine if John Clayton and Chaney could bear a child together...sorry I just got shivers from imagining the birth of the Cloverfield monster.