NCAA Tournament Observations

1. Forget the hype about Cornell. There's just way too much of it. Yes, they are a good team. Yes, they did place 3 players on the Ivies' first team. Yes, they almost took Kansas in Lawrence. All valid points. They are good. But, so is Temple. And Temple is better. The Owls play very stingy defense, particularly on the perimeter, and they don't turn the ball over. Sure, Jeff Foote of Cornell is good and got a lot of hype, but Lavoy Allen of Temple is better. Great basketball IQ, outstanding rebounder, good scorer and passer. Cornell is one of those trendy picks, but they would have been better off playing an up-tempo team they could stun instead of a buzz-saw, grind-it-out team like Temple. Cornell barely beat Princeton twice this year, edging the Tigers both times by about 3 points per contest in low-scoring games. Princeton had a good year but with a weak RPI. I just can't see that same Cornell team going a full 40 minutes with Temple and winning; they might go a good 30 minutes, but in the end I see it as Temple 56 Cornell 43.

2. The college hoops gods smiled upon Duke when they created the brackets. What was that all about? Not only did Duke get a #1 seed, they were rated as the third-best #1 seed. Sorry, but they probably shouldn't have been a #1 -- that spot should have gone to West Virginia (as the fourth #1 seed, with Syracuse being the third). Duke has this Dallas Cowboys-like aura -- a bunch of fans around the country, but if you don't root for them they're probably the first team you root against, because you dislike the hype and the sometimes self-righteousness that surrounds the program. Ask any fan of a team in the NFC East, and they'll tell you that they like to beat all of their rivals within the division, but they like to beat Dallas the most. So it goes with Duke. I admire what the program has accomplished -- it's hard not to respect them -- but I think that the Dookies got a big gift in the post-season, especially when you look at the road Kansas will have to get to the final game. Still, somehow, I'm not sure that Duke gets past Cal in the second round or Villanova or Baylor later.

3. My Final Four -- Kansas, Syracuse, West Virginia and Villanova, with Kansas winning it all, beating West Virginia in the final game. Of course, I'll be totally wrong about this.

Princeton Hoops: I Was 1 of the 665 in Attendance

I didn't know whether to go to the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational last night. Princeton was hosting Duquesne (rumor has it that the Tigers paid roughly $60,000 for the privilege of hosting the game and having it televised on HDNet), the Princeton students were on spring break, and the two people whom I thought might be interested in going were out of down. "Don't worry," I told my wife, "there are some die-hard alums there whom I know, I probably just end up sitting with one of them." And so I did. The conversation was probably better than the game, or, more fairly, the first 10 minutes, when both teams played as though they had molasses on their sneakers and butter on their fingers. But the Tigers snapped out of it with about 9 minutes to go into the first half, took the lead going into the locker room and didn't look back.

Click here for the link to the Princeton Basketball website for the full report. Princeton won, 65-51, thanks to solid play from guard Douglas Davis, heady inside play by frosh forward Ian Hummer and great passing from senior center Zach Finley. Best moment of the night was when seldom-used senior Nick Lake dunked with less than a minute to go in what might have been his final game in Jadwin Gym. If so, it's a nice way to go out. Princeton will take on the winner of IUPUI-Hofstra, site, I think, to be determined.

It seemed like there were more than 665 people there. It didn't seem like there were any Duquesne fans in attendance, and you'd have to think that each Tiger player (say there were 15 dressed) didn't bring 42 fans apiece. So, actually, there were some students, some older alums and some administrators and professors in attendance.

But not that many. Good win for the Tigers, and it's good to keep playing basketball for as long as you can, I suppose. The beginning of the game left a lot to be desired, but the last 28 minutes or so were worth watching.

Princeton Women are a #11 Seed

And, only in America. . . they get to travel to Tallahassee to play St. John's, the #6 seed, in the first round.

Of course, it's the big dance and all, but couldn't they have met halfway, say, at Fairleigh Dickinson or St. Peter's, and played there?

Just kidding, of course, but it's hard to imagine that more than a contingent of Tiger parents, diehard fans and relatives will make the trek to Florida State's home court.

The game will take place on Saturday at 12:21 p.m.

Go Tigers!

Will the NCAA Expand the Field in the Men's Bracket?

It's all about the bucks, kid. (I think it was Gordon Gekko who said that in Wall Street).

Click here for an article in the New York Times on the subject. Note that it's the coaches from the more academic-oriented, low-Division 1 schools that contend that the NCAA will be diluting the honor of making the tournament and the brand if they permit 96 (of about 336 Division 1 mens' hoops teams) into the tournament. I suppose, then, that they'll re-name the NIT the NOT tournament (perhaps signifying the "Nincompoops Only Tournament"). Lest I digress. . .

Here's what the NCAA is contending with:

1. The NCAA men's basketball tournament constitutes 90% of its revenue.
2. The NCAA has the right to opt out of its contract with CBS after this version of March Madness. ESPN might be waiting in the wings and willing to pony up more money for the tournament.
3. The economy stinks, opportunity is knocking, ergo. . . if another network shows the money, CBS can kiss March Madness goodbye.
4. The big-time schools will love this, because you can't begin to think that the NCAA will be doing this to ensure that two teams from each of the 31 conferences receiving automatic bids gets in. So, unless two Ivies have transcendant years and beat some bigger-time schools, it's very likely that only one team from conferences such as the MEAC, the NEAC, the Ivies, the Patriot, the SWAC, etc., will go dancing. But, think of the fun you could have watching the #6 team from the Pac-10 playing the #9 team from the Big East in a Round of 96 play-in game.
5. The coaches absolutely want this. Remember, many get fired because they cannot get their teams repeatedly to the NCAA tournament. Expansion means greatly increasing their odds, particularly in the 6 "major" conferences. So, go 18-12 every year, you might earn, what, a #26 seed.
6. Tom Izzo makes a good point, though. Expansion might end teams scheduling cupcakes to puff up their won-loss total. Which means, of course, that coaches could take a page out of John Chaney's book and actually schedule some formidable teams early in the season. Somehow, I don't think that will happen as much as Izzo contemplates, but it's a good thought.
7. The word "hypocrisy", of course, comes up, too. For years, the BCS schools and the NCAA have argued against a Division I-A post-season tournament for the laughable reason that a tournament will cause the kids to miss more school. But Divisions I-AA and III, particularly, which have more academically inclined schools among them, have post-season tournaments. And, do you mean to argue (convincingly) that expanding the NCAA tournament won't distract the kids more, either?

65 teams always puzzled me, and 64 teams sounded about right. Heck, I'd compromise at 72, figuring that there are about half a dozen or so teams whose bubble bursts every year and who might be worthy. That type of expansion will guarantee a few things -- 1) at-large bids for Mid-Major schools (at least as many as 8), 2) that bubble teams won't get penalized when the odds-on favorite in a Mid-Major conference loses in its conference tournament (thereby guaranteeing that conference two spots but pushing another worthy team out of the tournament and 3) that more than 25% of the Division 1 population doesn't go to the tournament, thereby making getting a berth pretty scarce and, thus, valuable.

It has struck many observers that the problem with 2 of the 4 major professional sports leagues is that the seasons are way too long for as many teams as make the playoffs. Way too many teams make the playoffs in the NBA and the NHL, and both those leagues suffer from oversaturating fans with meaningless games and playoffs that are endless. It's preferable when the regular season means something and when teams that are less than top-notch make it to the post-season. The NCAA might just be making a similar mistake, and my guess is that if they do so the stats after five years will bear out that no seed below a #48 really has a chance, which will kind of make the whole exercise of expansion pointless.

But if the NCAA has created a structure where so much of its funding depends on a single sport, it might have left itself with little choice other than to take its Golden Goose and put it on steroids.

Watch out.

Bracketology: Princeton Women Will be a #11 Seed

And, by doing that they'll have achieved a higher seed than their counterparts in the men's bracket, the Cornell Big Red, who are a #12.

And they'll have done that with much less fanfare.

Click here for ESPN's bracketology for the women's bracket.

Wow! (Of Course, It Probably Won't Happen)

Perhaps ESPN published the story to spice up a weekend of terrible weather on the East Coast.

Perhaps some ESPN baseball writers boozed it up a bit too much in Florida weather that really hasn't been great, either.

Perhaps the teams actually discussed what the story reports -- that the Phillies and Cardinals have spoken about swapping -- gulp -- Ryan Howard for Albert Pujols.

The Phillies deny the story, but at some level it makes some sense, particularly for the Cardinals. Pujols can become a free agent after this season, and it will take a boatload of bucks to re-sign him. Howard is signed through the 2011 season and is from St. Louis. The Phillies also could use a big righty bat to complement lefties Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez in the middle of the order (as well as switch hitters Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino). Pujols probably is less of a gamble for a long-term contract because he's the best hitter in the game, much less streaky than Howard and won't have to worry about his weight as much.

The only reason this deal could happen is if the Cardinals believe they won't be able to ink Pujols to a long-term deal and if the Phillies think that they can. If that were to happen -- wow! If that were to happen, and, say, the Phillies were willing to sign Pujols to a 5-year, $150 million deal (unlikely, as Philadelphia sports teams traditionally have treated nickels like their manhole covers, but, to be fair, the Phillies have stretched more in recent years than they have historically), then you'd continue to have a nucleus beyond the 2012 season and you'd build the team for more than a two-year horizon. It's not as crazy as it seems.

But it sounds far-fetched right now.

Good Day for Guys Who Coached or Played In (and in One Case, Still Coaches in) the Ivy League

Georgetown. (John Thompson III played for and coached at Princeton).

Temple. (Fran Dunphy coached at Penn).

Richmond. (Chris Mooney played for Princeton).

Cornell. (Steve Donahue was an assistant coach at Penn).

Siena. (Fran McCaffrey played at Penn).

Houston. (Ah, you might have forgotten that Tom Penders once coached at Columbia).

Ironic first-round match-up, Temple versus Cornell, as Big Red head coach Steve Donahue worked for and with Temple's head coach Fran Dunphy for 10 years when Dunphy was the head coach and Donahue an assistant at Pennsylvania.

For all of the talk about the Princeton family tree of coaches, score this one Penn 3, Princeton 2, Columbia 1.

Men's All-Ivy Hoops Teams

Courtesy of Princeton Basketball News.

A couple of observations:

1. The first-team is what most Ivy observers would have predicted, including 3 Cornell players, and one each from Harvard and Penn (despite Penn's awful record).

2. I am not a close enough observer to say it's curious, but it's interesting that second-division Penn got a player on the first team and the second team while Ivy runner up Princeton had two players on the second team. That suggests, of course, that the Princeton team played better together and had much more depth than Penn, which had a bad season.

3. As one observer noted on PBN, it was surprising that Princeton's Kareem Maddox did not draw any mention at all. He was a force to be reckoned with in many Ivy contests.

Congratulations to all players on the list for a job well done.

Richmond Coach Chris Mooney's Road to the Big Dance

Excellent article in today's New York Times about former Princeton player Chris Mooney, the head coach at Richmond, on the jobs he held before he got to Richmond. It's a classic case in starting at the bottom and working your way to the top.

The Washington Wizards Have 7 Assistant Coaches

Click here to see the roster.

Logical responses are, as follows:

• why?
• WTF?
• huh?
• are you kidding me?
• no wonder why the NBA is in big trouble.
• Bill Simmons must laugh every time he hears this, because he generally thinks that most head coaches don't make a difference.
• are you *#(_@&! kidding me?
• can I get myself a job like that? (Six-figure income, travel on chartered planes, stay in top-rated hotels, get a per diem on the road, probably a good medical plan and a 401(k) with a decent match, to boot).
• can I get myself a job like that?
• can I get myself a job like that?
• are they hiring?
• really?

At any rate, it's hard to believe that 7 assistant coaches can make a difference -- for any team.

Sometimes, the headline says it all.

Free Landon Donovan!

Now. Forever.

Perhaps the best U.S. player has been playing in the English Premiership recently. Yes, as a starter for Everton. Okay, Everton isn't among the top 4 in the Premiership, but it's having a good season, and Donovan is primary among the reasons why. He's achieved all that he can in the MLS, which is a second- or third-tier league. It's time for MLS to let him go. More importantly, it's time for U.S.A. Soccer to work with the U.S. pro league to help ensure that the best U.S. players are playing for the top European teams. Until the top 25-50 U.S. players are playing in the English Premiership, for example, with many of them starting, it's hard to see that the U.S. will be a serious contender to get past the Round of 16 in any World Cup.

The reason is simple -- unless your players are playing against elite competition year-round, it's hard to see how say half a dozen players who've played well in the Premiership can partner with a dozen and a half who are playing in the MLS. Not when the top players in Europe are playing in the top leagues in England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy (okay, so I highlighted the Premiership above, but I did so only because it's the league with the smallest language barrier, among other reasons). Read this article and see what you think.

The L.A. Galaxy most certainly are entitled to some amount of consideration. That's the way of the world in soccer, and Donovan's the Galaxy's most valuable asset. That said, the U.S. needs to get more of its best players playing in the top European leagues. That is, if the U.S. wants to make a serious run at a World Cup.

Earl the Pearl

Sometimes legends get embellished over time.

Not this one.

Click on this link for a You Tube highlight film of Earl Monroe.

Seeing is believing.

The Fall of Allen Iverson?

The bad news just keeps on coming for the former MVP.

The whole article is worth reading.

I've always wondered what happens to former players, especially the high-adrenaline guys who push themselves to their limits (even if, in Iverson's case, they don't always play smart or play the best team ball) and then leave the game because time or injuries catch up to them. What do they do after they're gone? What can they do that will help them repeat the experiences that they were perhaps best suited for? It's hard to turn the edge that helps them become stars off. It's not that they just flip a switch and then say they'll become a physical education teacher and coach in their hometown, a stockbroker or a car dealer. It's not to say that some can't, but what do most do? Where do they go? What becomes of them?

I worry for Allen Iverson. What will he turn to now?

Movie Review: "More Than a Game"

I had long flights this week and had the opportunity to watch the documentary about LeBron James, the kids he grew up with, and how they fared at St. Mary's High School in Akron. Short answer -- watch this movie, it's a good one.

Cameras followed LeBron and his buddies as they played youth ball and then made it to high school. The producers, writers and directors did a good job of following the team, the emergence of LeBron James as a transcendant star, and the interactions of the core group of kids who got their start by playing at the Salvation Army. Sure, you know how it ends with LeBron, but nonetheless this movie is worth watching.

Strat-o-Matic's Negro Leagues Game Cards Just Arrived

Either I need more hobbies or need to spend more time on the hobbies that I have. At any rate, I look forward to batting Josh Gibson cleanup, Cool Papa Bell leadoff, and pitching Satchel Paige.

Princeton Women's B-Ball Can Make History

The Tigers can clinch the Ivy title this weekend and make their first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament. They're on the road facing a tough trip at Harvard and Dartmouth; the Crimson are 9-2 in the league (Princeton is 11-0), and Harvard is the only team with a chance to win the title other than Princeton.

Blame It on Chicago!

So says Milton Bradley.

The Cubs' organization must have hijacked his body and done something to him, because nowhere does he indicate that he had anything to do with his disappointing year.

Should be a fun time in the Mariners' clubhouse this season.

Remember, hope is not a strategy. So if the Mariners hope that Bradley will fit in well, they ought to have a better plan than that.

Two Good Pieces on Cole Hamels

SI.com's Jon Heyman writes that Hamels is the key to the Phillies' season.

Okay, so Phillies' fans know that. But Heyman writes a good article differentiating between the 2008 version and the 2009 version, worthy of a read.

And then there's this piece in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. Hamels' curve ball went AWOL last season, making him a rather predictable two-pitch pitcher (still, he won 14 games). This season, the lefty working on improving his curve and is developing a cutter. If he can throw three pitches for strikes, look out. If he throws all four for strikes, you're talking Cy Young territory. Then again, if he only throws two for strikes, he'll get hit.

Nostalgia Night: Photo of Wilt Chamberlain with a Young Rasheed Wallace

Unless you're a really Philly hoops junkie, you don't have to read the article, but look at the top photo -- Wilt Chamberlain with then-10th grader Rasheed Wallace. Rasheed looked much happier then.

Retiring Wilt Chamberlain's Number at Kansas Years Ago

This ceremony took place a few years before Wilt passed away.

Warm. Kind. Poignant.

View it here.

Also, take time to read the comments section on YouTube.

Wilt used to say that nobody liked Goliath.

On this date, they did.

The NBA: Bill Simmons is a Kindred Spirit

Read here and you'll see why.

Simmons has all sorts of suggestions for making the NBA more watchable, more efficient, more cost-effective for fans. He wonders aloud why the NBA hasn't thought of some of these things, and so do I. Of course, the big question is whether the owners need some protection from themselves. In any event, Simmons' basic premise is that when you're losing $400 million in a season, you're failing.

Read the whole thing.

A Tale of Two Efforts -- Princeton Men's Basketball

On Friday night, Princeton's men's team put on a clinic on ESPNU, thrashing Yale, 82-58. The Tigers defended aggressively, had 25 assists and shot 13-19 from behind the arc. They also executed numerous backdoor baskets and made the Bulldogs work for every shot. Among the shooting stars for the Tigers was their second-leading scorer Dan Mavriades, who has a great touch from beyond the arc and had 20 points (5 Tigers scored 3-point field goals, including Mavriades (4-7 from behind the arc) and sophomore forward Patrick Saunders, who shot 4-5 from behind the arc and finished with 14 points).

Based on that peformance, the Tigers looked invincible going into Saturday night's contest against a Brown team that beat Penn at the Palestra on Friday night.

A Brown team that was 7th in the Ivies going into the game, 8-17 overall and 2-6 in the league.

So, I went to Jadwin Gym figuring on a relaxing evening with great defense, layups arising from backdoor plays and some good three-point shooting. I got the first two -- from the Brown Bears, and not much of the above from the Princeton Tigers. Brown upset Princeton, 57-54, overcoming a 30-24 halftime deficit.

Brown both outcoached and outplayed Princeton. Brown's game plan was simple -- take away shots from the perimeter for the most part (except to permit guard Marcus Schroeder, a heady Tiger player but not a great shooter, going 2-9 from behind the arc) and force the Tigers to do something else with the ball. While Schroeder had 17 points (he was the only Tiger -- save some moments from forward Kareem Maddox -- who had anything going on Saturday night), the Tigers struggled mightly to solve Brown's defense. They got the ball inside to a combination of post players -- Pawel Buczek, Zach Finley and Ian Hummer -- but they couldn't do much with it. Hummer and Finley converted a few baskets and showed some fire, but the two seniors -- Finley and Buczek -- overall had bad games at both ends. Mavriades (2-8 from behind the arc) and Douglas Davis, Princeton's exciting sophomore lead guard, had trouble getting open for good shots on a consistent basis. Put differently, the Tigers typically won't win when Schroeder takes 16 shots in a game or when, in any game, he takes only 1 less shot than Mavriades and Davis combined (which is what happened last night). Additionally, whatever 3-point attempts the Tigers got were not easy looks.

So, Brown's defensive game plan was good, and the Bears -- a physical team -- executed well. But where Princeton broke down even more was on the defensive end. Sure, if you look from a distance you can say that giving up "only" 57 points wasn't too bad, but many of those points were from five feet or less, with many being layups off of excellent passing and the physical play of Brown's senior forward Matt Mullery, who finished with 15, and forwards Peter Sullivan (13) and Tucker Halpern (12). Brown outplayed Princeton when Brown had the ball, because from my vantage point Princeton's help defense was sporadic at best and non-existent at its worst. Princeton has plenty of size, but they didn't use it often enough to help out when someone got open inside. And that killed the Tigers -- they gave up way too many easy baskets and fouled too often (21 fouls to Brown's 13). Brown converted 18 of 19 free throw attempts -- and that was the ball game.

On Friday night, Princeton had 25 assists, 12 turnovers and shot 13-19 from behind the arc.

On Saturday night, Princeton had 6 assists, 13 turnovers and shot 6-25 from behind the arc.

Yikes!

The Tigers, at 16-7, 7-2 in the Ivies, are no longer tied with Cornell for first place, but for them this remains a very good season and one which shows that their future is looking up. Last night's loss is a big disappointment for them, but it should serve as a reminder that they still have some ground to cover to become the elite Ivy team, and it should serve as a motivator that despite whatever they do on a given night, they'll have to come out and earn it even more on the following night.

Because that's how you become the elite team in the Ivies -- or any league for that matter.

The Ivy is a tough league to play in because teams play back-to-back games on weekends. It's hard to get up two nights in a row -- hard to keep your momentum if you won big and hard to get re-focused if you lost a tough defeat the night before. Remember, we're dealing with late teenagers and young adults here, and their focus and emotions -- especially at academically challenging schools -- are all over the place. So Brown's achievement is very noteworthy, because I doubt that there have been more than only a handful of times in the school's history where Brown has defeated Penn and Princeton on the road in the same weekend. Hats off to Coach Jesse Agel and the Brown squad for a job well done. By the way they played, you wouldn't have known that Brown was 8-17 going into the weekend and in second-to-last place in the Ivies.

The Princeton Tigers learned a painful lesson last night, but one that should serve them well in the upcoming years.

Landon Donovan Gets Serious

I've blogged before that I wondered about the commitment of Landon Donovan to be among the best in the world if he didn't play professionally among the best. Yes, the MLS is a good league, but it's not the English Premiership. Donovan has been on loan to Everton, where he's played great. This is a great development for U.S.A. Soccer, which now has many good players playing among the world's best in the top leagues in Europe. In order for the U.S. to become a serious contender in World Cup play, its players must hone their skills in the elite leagues. So, cheers for Landon Donovan, who's crossed the pond and is distinguishing himself.

Presumably the Bats May Remain

Major League Baseball just announced a policy banning employees of teams from bringing deadly weapons to work. (Believe it or not, I believe that there's a Second Amendment issue that might prevent, in certain circumstances, employers from disciplining employees on this topic under certain circumstances, such as if the employee keeps the weapon in his car).

Sounds like a good idea to me.

I was wondering if syringes are included on the banned list?

Just think, Gilbert Arenas and Jarvis Crittenton of the Washington Wizards ruined the fun for everyone.

Stupid Met Trick?

Or, stupid metric?

Johan Santana says he's the best pitcher in the NL East.

Now, as a Phillies' fan I hardly can take a holier-than-thou attitude, given the bulletin board material Jimmy Rollins created over the past couple of years. Rollins' team, though, backed it up.

Needless to say, there are a few hurlers in other NL East cities who will beg to differ and who probably will stay mute on the topic.

But what is it with the Mets? They somehow cannot get out of their own way. Santana might be the closest thing the Mets have to a team leader, and while I can appreciate self-confidence, the smart thing to do would have been to have created a non-story, something along the lines of: "Well, it's an interesting question. There are many good starters in the NL East, and we play the games to determine which team is the best." Or something like that.

Of course, "it ain't braggin' if you can back it up," but rest assured that this headline will be posted on some bulletin board somewhere.

And, last time I checked, it might be nice to have the best pitcher, but it's even better if your team makes the playoffs (which the Giants didn't do) or advances to the league championship series (which the Cardinals didn't do).

A Visit to the Apple Store

Attention all retailers! Attention all manufacturers!

On Monday, the family and I ventured to the King of Prussia Mall, one of the largest in the U.S., to do some shopping. The girls went one way, the boys went the other (we purchased Roy Halladay uniform t-shirts for the kids), and the boys happened upon the Apple store.

It was hopping! Most of the other stores were rather slow, but the Apple store was full, and it was buzzing. Take it for what it's worth, but there is a big lesson to be learned from this.

People want to be around innovation, the new thing, a company that looks to make their lives easier, that never stops trying to advance. It was amazing to see the number of customers there compared to all of the store's neighbors.

Bracketology: Joe Lunardi Has Princeton Women as a #12 seed

Check out the brackets for yourself here.

The Princeton women's team is 19-2 and 7-0 in the Ivies, with 7 games remaining (3 at home, 4 on the road). They still have much to accomplish, and playing road games in the Ivies on back-to-back nights is pretty tough.

Coach Courtney Banghart has accomplished a lot during her short tenure with the Tigers. This weekend, they play at Yale (which played them tough in Princeton for about 30 minutes) and at Brown. The Tigers defeated both teams by more than 20 points several weeks ago in Princeton.

If you're a fan of the Princeton men's team (which is 15-6, 6-1 in the Ivies and coming off a win at Penn last night), you also should watch the Princeton women's team. They're very good.

Is Phillies' Farm System Now Lean?

Click here on this list of the Top 100 prospects from ESPN.

The good news: top prospect Domonic Brown, the untouchable one, comes in at #14. No other Phillies' prospect ranks in the top 100.

Schadenfraude news (sort of): None of the players traded for Cliff Lee ranks in the Top 100.

Reverse whammy news (sort of): None of the prospects obtained for Cliff Lee ranks in the Top 100, either. Not only that, but the Mariners didn't give the Phillies any of their top 3 prospects for Lee(Dustin Ackley is #8 (he's the Chase Utley-alike from North Carolina, playing OF now), Carlos Triunfel is #44 (he's a 2B), and OF Michael Saunders is #74.

The other news: Michael Taylor (now with Oakland and part of the Roy Halladay trade) is #24, and Kyle Drabek and Travis D'Arnaud, also part of that trade, come in at #s 40 and 99.

Rivals (and, possibly bad for the Phillies' news):

Atlanta has #s 1, 43, 63, 67 and 85;
Florida has #s 5, 21 and 62;
New York Mets have #s 23, 41, 64 and 73; and
Washington has #s 2, 31 and 92.

What does this all mean?

1. That the Phillies are built for the next couple of years (which makes sense, because by 2012 a bunch of their stars will be pushing 33, 34);
2. That the Phillies might not have enough prospects to trade should they need to make a mid-season move to fortify the team; and
3. That the Phillies are working hard to fortify their minor-league systems.

It also means that Washington might just have a plan, that the Mets have some young prospects who could help (but who probably cannot repair the holes they currently have) and that the Braves should be picked to finish second in the NL East.

I'd love to look back on this list 5 years from now to see a) how everyone turned out and b) how well those not on the list fared in comparison.

Pitchers and catchers report this week!

Superagent David Falk on the NBA's Labor Woes

I suppose it's time to pile it on the NBA's labor woes this week, but superagent David Falk also believes that the NBA has big problems.

Falk has one major lament -- that marginal players are making too much money and some possible solutions -- enabling the players to share in all revenues of the NBA, including sales of luxury boxes, revenues from overseas, etc. Read the whole thing to get his take on the problem.

As for salaries, isn't a perennial problem a) that teams sometimes have woeful GM's and therefore can't get out of their own way (read Bill Simmons' book on that score and see, e.g., Isiah Thomas' work in New York and Billy King's in Philadelphia, among others) and b) that too many teams often seem saddled with long-term deals that they can't get rid of, ensuring that their teams will be bad for years because they've lost the flexibility of those deals. That seems to be a recurring theme in the NBA.

The players' union would argue that it's not responsible for saving teams from themselves and hellacious personnel moves, and that argument will have some legs. The structure of the current collective bargaining agreement, though, puts teams in the "I'm afraid to lose this guy" mode that helps make a bad situation (the overall status of the NBA) worse by having 'fraidy cat GMs give long-term deals to too many middling players. Sure, it was Billy King who offered the long-term deal to Samuel Dalembert (and I haven't heard that the 76ers filed a police report alleging that three masked gunmen held guns to their head at the time). But, by the same token, the game is hurting for reasons other than salary woes. You can read my post from yesterday for some solutions.

Make no mistake, the players' union and the league need to make progress -- and soon -- and do their laundry in private. They cannot afford a lockout or a lost season the way the NHL did. The hockey owners benefited from shutting down their league before the recession; if they NBA misses a season now, it might be harder to get fans to come back. As I've written before, the battle for the marginal sports dollar is fierce, and those marginal dollars might find other alternatives if the NBA doesn't show up for a season.

Trouble for the NBA -- Updated

Update (original posted one day earlier):

More from NBA Commissioner David Stern on the NBA's money woes.

From this once-upon-a-time-more-interested-than-he-is-now fan, the following:

• Too many teams = dilution of talent
• Too many teams making the playoffs = anticlimactic regular season
• Too many games = makes each individual game less meaningful (especially given how many teams make the playoffs)
• Too expensive (tickets) = makes it hard for a family of four to go to a game regularly
• Too much made-for-ESPN's-Top-10-Plays basketball = a product that's not as compelling as the college game. What coach who wants to teach his young players how to play the game well will recommend an NBA game over watching a Top 10 college team?
• Too much "entertainment" = Most fans wouldn't take their daughters or wives to a strip club, so why would they want to subject them to the dancers that the teams deploy?
• Too many empty seats = Confirmation that points one through five have some merit.
• Too many tattoos (probably) = Whether or not you agree with a player's right to express himself under the First Amendment, these probably turn off a bunch of the fans.

So, reduce the number of teams, the number of teams making the playoffs, the number of games, the prices of tickets and emphasize good basketball, games that have meaning, and an affordable product. And chuck the dancing girls and the silly between periods gimmicks and DJ's in the stands that many teams use. I still don't think that simply reducing players' salaries is the answer. The NBA needs an overhaul.

Ah, so someone might argue "what are you talking about?" because about 90,000 fans will attend tonight's All-Star game. That has to be a sign of the league's popularity and health. It's not, because it's a statement that American fans love to go to events (as opposed to individual games), so it's a fun thing to do, to take your grandchildren or children to an All-Star game. Lord knows, most fans probably would see it better on TV than from the nosebleeds at Jerry Jones' new monument to himself, but come to think of it, the monument is a draw, too.

That same person might argue, "but the NBA is popular internationally." But what does that really mean? So, they sell a few jerseys in China, but as Commissioner Stern said, the league is losing money. (Even if he is the one who touts the league's international popularity). That leads me to a story. I once worked with a guy who split time between Philadelphia and New York. He told the Philadelphia people he was busy in New York and the New York people he was busy in Philadelphia, but as best as I could tell, he didn't have a lot of traction in either city, and dividing his time didn't pay dividends. The NBA needs to strengthen its core for it to be strong elsewhere.

And that person might argue that the entertainment is part of it. Sure, but even 18-35 year-old men want to see a good product on the floor (i.e., the guys in short pants who are playing the game). They won't watch so-so basketball forever. But if they were to go to a well-regarded movie or a concert or even, heaven forbid for that demographic, a play, they'll get a guaranteed product. You don't always get that with the NBA.

To quote Kurtis Blow, "basketball is my favorite sport." But the NBA is in a downturn, and it needs a new business plan that involves more than just cutting player salaries.

Original Post:

The league and the players' union don't seem to be in sync regarding the next collective bargaining agreement.

Normally, most fans don't pay attention to the legal stuff. Most fans normally think that the owners are rich, they have plenty of money to pay the players, that the teams are a hobby so why run them for a profit, and that ultimately there is plenty of money to go around. All they care about is having a competitive team in their city (which most cities, by the way, do not have).

Now, though, fans should be concerned. Despite Bill Simmons' elegy of Commissioner David Stern, the NBA is in trouble. Oh, sure, their marketing is hip, but if the ads sway you, then do you also buy a steak in a restaurant purely for the sizzle? Yes, the merchandise is cool, but what about the underlying product itself. Or, is the product an entertainment extravaganza, thereby making me (a hoops purist) an old geezer, because I do expect more than ESPN highlights when I go to a game. I expect no traveling, good defense, picks that are set well, rolls from the picker, on-ball screens, off-ball screens, and all that sort of stuff. But the NBA seems to be about a much more complicated algorithm than just pure basketball.

The NBA is competing for the marginal sports dollar of the fans. I've blogged about this before, but the NBA, NHL, professional tennis and golf (if Tiger Woods can't repair his image) are competing against college football, college basketball, the NFL, Major League Baseball and NASCAR for that extra sports dollar.

And it's failing.

Isn't it?

Because if it were succeeding, wouldn't it be fighting with the players' union about increasing the salary cap number? Wouldn't there be plenty of money to go around? The proposal that the league put on the table suggests a far different picture of the league's health from what David Stern's propaganda suggests.

And that should trouble owners, players and fans alike.

Penn Shocks Cornell

Basketball is a great game. College basketball is a kids' game (even though adults from time to time try to interfere with that notion). So that means that kids can do extraordinary things -- both good and bad. Cornell got off to such a good start that pundits were equating this year's Big Red teams as among the best of all Ivy teams ever. That's what the prominence of a recent, excellent team does -- fades the memories of those great teams that preceded this one.

The same Cornell team that also beat then-Number 1 Kansas in Lawrence lost to a 3-15 (going into the game) Penn team in Philadelphia last night, 79-64. Pick your verb -- stun, upset, shock -- because that's what Penn did. The Quakers went into the game with their worst team in God knows how long, a team beset by injuries and not nearly as long on talent as the ones their coach, Jerome Allen, played on. Yet no one told them that at 3-15 they were supposed to go through the motions and cave in, but, kids being kids, you have to believe that the Cornell Big Red probably thought that they could handle the Quakers pretty easily.

Penn showed the Ivies that they still have plenty of grit in them, and Cornell showed them that a loss to Princeton tonight and they're about to become Ivan Drago to an aging, but cagey, Rocky Balboa. The reason -- the Tigers are (quietly) 5-0 in the Ivies, and Cornell is 6-1. A Princeton win and the Tigers are 2 up, albeit with 8 games (which is a lifetime in the Ivies) on the Big Red. Of course, the Big Red will be fired up and determined to avenge their loss against Penn, plus they'll be fighting for their lives, so to speak, in the Ivies. Yet, they have to play Princeton in Princeton, and Coach Sydney Johnson's team is having a pretty good year. Princeton has a unique opportunity tonight -- it has one its top rivals on the ropes, and it has a great opportunity to wound Cornell's title hopes significantly tonight.

Meanwhile, Penn hosts Columbia, a 10-point loser at Princeton last night. The Quakers are fired up and should be primed to damage the Lions tonight, but, kids being kids, it could well be that Penn falls flat and the Lions get a rare win in Philadelphia. The reason? All Ivy kids play for pride -- almost all aren't going to play basketball after college. Columbia will be fired up to knock off the team that knocked off nationally ranked Cornell -- that's the way all schools -- including the Ivies -- work.

All this makes for great watching tonight in Princeton and Philadelphia.

Deflation Might Be Coming to the NBA

The NBA is going to make sure that its players have a fun All-Star weekend. According to this article, the league is going to seek a massive restructuring of its collective bargaining unit with the players' union, looking to reduce salaries significantly.

This bears watching. If you "Google" SportsProf, you'll see that over the years I've been on the NBA's case for weakening its brand, having too many teams, too many games, tickets that are too expensive and emphasizing merchandise and entertainment at the expense of the integrity of its core product. That weakening, in my opinion, must be affecting the franchises greatly -- and I would speculate that many are losing money. Reducing players' salaries is only part of the solution -- the league also should reduce the number of teams and the number of teams that can make the playoffs. Let's make the regular-season games more meaningful, and let's trim the fat from the league. That's a harsh thing to say, but the NBA is competing in a very difficult landscape for the marginal sports dollars that aren't spent on the NFL, college football, college basketball, baseball and even NASCAR. The league needs to do something to stay relevant, but it's more than just taking it out of the players' salaries.

Why Are So Many (Good) Lefty Relievers Unsigned?

A few years ago Joe Beimel and Will Ohman were worthy of multi-year deals for some good money because they ranked among the best situational lefty relievers. Today, they're unsigned, as are much-more-toward-the-end-of-their-careers-than-the-beginning Alan Embree, Ron Mahay and Ron Villone.

So much for my theory that you want your kids to grow up to be left-handed pitchers (I chanted that mantra to my wife's midsection when she was pregnant with both our kids), emphasizing the part about becoming a lefthanded relief pitcher. My inspiration -- the ageless Jesse Orosco, who made his name pitching for the Mets but who pitched until he was 46 and who, from 1991 through 1993 (his last season) never threw more than 57 innings in a season. The way I figured it, a kid could make great money, work outdoors (but without heavy lifting), stay in shape, work in the national pastime and then retire in his mid-40's, presumably to a life of volunteer coaching, commentating, celebrity appearances and perhaps discovering the latest biotechnology drug that can reduce aging without any side effects (okay, the latter part's a stretch, but teaching English at a prep school while coaching baseball might be a good second career).

Alas, the mystery remains. Are teams tapped out? Are they more willing to try an up-and-comer for the second or third lefty reliever position in their 'pen at baseball's (very healthy) minimum wage than pay for some grizzled veterans with tread on the tires, sure, but with track records that demonstrate that they're not too fearful of entering Wrigley in the middle of the seventh on dollar dog day the day after they lost the 2016 Olympics and ending a no-out, bases loaded jam (I'm not sure that anyone had this opportunity, but that's the type of situation that these situational guys find themselves in; entering the game at the beginning of an inning -- like the top of the ninth for a closer -- is a luxury for these fellows).

I happen to appreciate very much the role of the situational reliever -- all teams need them, and those who advance far into the playoffs have solid bullpens. These guys can come in handy, and I'm sure that each of them will surface somewhere during the season.

Princeton's Women's Basketball: 17-2, 5-0 in the Ivies

They're having their best season ever.

They've received Top 25 votes.

Could this be the year that the Tiger women go to the Big Dance for the first time ever?

9 games left in the league, including Harvard and Dartmouth (whom they swept this weekend and who are perennial favorites) on the road.

Anything can happen, but this Tigers' team is aggressive, it can handle the ball, and it can shoot it.

And one more thing -- it has size. As my pre-teenaged daughter put it, "they make 5'8" look small."

Go Tigers!

Waiting to Draw Aces Is Not a Good Thing

So says SI.com's Tim Marchman.

Major League Baseball clubs are going to significant lengths to sign their aces or potential aces to long-term deals, with only Matt Cain and Cole Hamels eligible to be free agents after the 2011 season. The good news is that the Yankees and the Red Sox will have to work harder to develop their own top-of-the-rotation starters (sure, but the guys they have now are pretty darned good) and won't be able to poach the likes of the Royals and Twins for their homegrown talent. The bad news is that if your team is an ace away from making a serious dent in the post-season, you'd better be prepared to deal some of your best prospects to get a guy who has half a season or, at best, a season and a half, left on his contract.

Waiting to draw aces?

Better to draw up a solid plan for your farm system and grow them in your own hothouse.

Are the Clippers Ready to Outdo Even Themselves?

There's a report out there that the Clippers have made overtures to Isiah Thomas.

The report also says that the Clippers shot down the rumor that they had approached Thomas to be coach, GM, President, head of ticket sales, head of merchandising, corporate concierge for Billy Crystal, lead talent scout and the public address announcer.

I'm currently reading Bill Simmons' book on hoops, which shows a) that Simmons is an NBA savant, b) that Simmons is funny and c) that Simmons is certifiable in his love for the league. The book also does quite a number on Thomas (shots are taken at the Clippers to). So, on paper, this would be a marriage made in the heaven of Bill Simmons' sense of humor. If you read Simmons, you know that the possibilities of this match would be endless.

Chameleon Sighted Amidst Pennsylvania Snowstorm

Pennsylvania has Groundhog's Day.

Now this.

Why Doesn't FIFA Sign Up the Guys Who Officiated the '72 Olympic Men's Hoop Final While They're At It?

Accountability doesn't extend to FIFA's overlords, apparently. They added to the roster of officals the guy who blew the obvious hand ball call in the World Cup qualifier between Ireland and France. Click here for the story.


This type of management arises from senior managers who are accountable to no one. Their attitude is, "hey, not only did we not make a mistake regarding that referee or that game, this guy's a terrific referee based upon past performance in the clutch, so we're going to give him access to the biggest stage possible." Have you ever worked in a place like that? Decisions like that do wonders for credibility and morale, but if the business is a cash cow, I suppose there are always a few places where you can stash Fredo Corleone and not get hurt.


You wonder why FIFA did this. Is is that the others on the list don't pay bribes to the governing body to keep their jobs, made worse decisions such as puking on Carlos Renaldo before a big game between Portugal and Spain, or sleeping with the spouse of the guy who heads up the South African soccer federation and posting their first dinner date on YouTube? Or, if FIFA's guys are about as honest as the folks on the International Olympic Committee who planned the winter games in Utah over a decade ago, such that they putting a guy on the roster whom they control so completely that when some Russian Oligarch or international media baron over whom it's hard to get jurisdiction in any democracy wants to manufacture the outcome, they'll put this guy in charge of that game?


Look, the referee in question had a bad game, but it was a bad game at a critical time in the qualifying for the World Cup, and it dashed an underdog country's hopes. That referee shouldn't be officiating in this World Cup; he should have a chance for redemption somewhere else, but not here. And FIFA need only to look to Major League Baseball for recent precedent. Some umpires originally designated to work the World Series were yanked from the roster after they made questionable calls in the prior rounds of the playoffs. The result -- the best umpires umpired the World Series, and people remember only the fine play of the Yankees, the pitching of Cliff Lee and the batting heroics of Chase Utley, not the name of any umpire who caused a controversy.


Let's watch FIFA's governing board and decision makers closely. They're likely to blunder more before the tournament starts this summer.

13 Year-Old Commits to USC (at least, tells them that's his school)

Click here to read all about it.

Given his ability to move around, it could be that Trojans' head coach Lane Kiffin won't be at USC when this Steve Clarkson-trained prodigy makes his way to Los Angeles.

Could be that Kiffin will be on his second job after USC by then.

Wonder if Las Vegas will be running odds any time soon.

Of course, there's also the story of why schools are taking an interest in kids this young and whether it's good for the kid, the head coach, the school, the middle schools' cheerleaders, the local hotel trade (which might not benefit from room rentals to assistant coaches from major programs who otherwise would stop by to pay a visit to the phenom, his assistant pre-school teacher and the nurse at his pediatrician's office, the reassuring one who gave him all the shots when he was a kid). My view is that the big-time schools should chart marriages of big-time athletes to one another.

For example, wouldn't you want dibs on the the children of Candace Parker and Shelden Williams? Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm? Wonder if anyone is doing any tracking on stuff like that? I mean, they froze Ted Williams' body in Arizona, so you would think that someone would keep a log on stuff like this.

Is Princeton's Women's Hoops Team En Route to Its First NCAA Appearance Ever?

Okay, so I'm probably getting ahead of my skis, and I might be doing for my alma mater's women's hoops team what SI might have inadvertently done for the Harvard men's program, except that I am realistic and humble to realize that no one involved with the Princeton women's program reads this blog. That said. . .

The Princeton women are 15-2, off to their best start ever, atop the Ivy league, tall, mobile, and they won their games this weekend by an average of 26 points. You can read about their weekend here.

My family and some friends went on Breast Cancer Awareness night, many of us wearing pink to get in for free (but at $5, the admission is a bargain). It was about 18 degrees outside, but I'd venture to say 2,000 brave souls ventured out to watch a good contest.

Yale battled for about 30 minutes, keeping the game within 10 points, but in the second half the Tigers went on a 17-0 run and put away the Elis, 69-48. Princeton starts one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen (although PG Lauren Polansky went down with what looked to be a pretty serious ankle sprain in the second half, so we'll have to see about her availability). Junior Addie Micir led the way with 16 points and some good floor generalship. Sophomore forward Lauren Edwards is an outstanding player in transition, has a good left hand and scored some good baskets off breaks. Sophomore center Devona Allgood had 10 points, is an outstanding inside presence on defense and had a few blocks. All in all it was a terrific performance from an exciting team, a team on the rise.

If you live in Bucks, Mercer, Hunterdon or Monmouth Counties, check out the Princeton women's team's schedule and go to a game. The coaching is good, the teamwork is excellent, and the future is very, very bright.

Memo to Harvard Basketball: Never Let Sports Illustrated's Puff Pieces Go to Your Head

Last night was one of the biggest men's b-ball games in Harvard's basketball history. You've all heard the story -- Duke great Tommy Amaker, after struggles at Seton Hall and Michigan, arrives at Harvard, perhaps gets more cooperation from the athletic department and admissions office, and is getting kids to seriously consider Harvard over scholarship schools that combine good academics with good basketball. To top it off, the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated contains a puff piece on Harvard hoops that gushes over the Crimson more than first-time grandparents do over a newborn.

And two things must have happened because of that. First, that article must have really pissed off Cornell, which has one two straight Ivy titles and has to put up with knocks on its recruiting from other Ivies (who say the likes of, "I wish we had an Ag School to stash all of our hoop recruits) and other such nonsense. After all, why couldn't the puff piece have been about Cornell, which has the recent hoops history to deserve mention in the pantheon of Ivy great teams with teams from Penn's and Princeton's past? Second, despite how brilliant the Harvard kids are supposed to be, they must have let the article get to their head. After all, if so many kids and current recruits are considering Harvard over the likes of Stanford, they must believe that they can beat the average Ivy hoopster by just showing up. Look, an article like the one in SI that appears before the big game is every coach's nightmare. Forget about the SI Jinx. Just remember that you're dealing with kids, good kids, I'm sure, but they are kids, and kids like praise. And, because they're kids, they tend to believe it.

That is the backdrop of what happened last night in Ithaca, New York, when undefeated (in Ivy play) Harvard visited undefeated (in Ivy play) Cornell.

The result: Cornell 86 Harvard 50.

Yikes. Coaches fear the concept of having their team provide "bulletin board" fodder for the opposition on the eve of the big game. Well, it's not that the Harvard program did or didn't do anything (but, you have to admit, that big an article in SI has to be huge for recruiting) except cooperate with the writer, but heck, that article was bulletin-board fodder. Cornell not only ate up that press clipping, it devoured the Crimson.

That said, it's only one loss, and Harvard will get a chance for revenge in Cambridge soon enough. But for a program that's on the rise and stocked and getting fatter on much better recruits than the Crimson had in the past 20 years, it's a big lesson. They can't avoid talking to the press, but they must avoid believing what's written about them.

Reflections on Coaching Third- and Fourth-Grade Basketball (Ctd)

We're about 2/3 of the way through our season. We practice one night a week for one hour. Some teams spend half their time running a set play and the other half on fundamentals; others spend most of their time on fundamentals and some of the time on situations (such as having their kids play in a 2-on-1 format). We do the latter, and we find that we're pretty good at putting the ball in the basket. Two of the teams that we faced that run set plays could execute the play on occasion, but most of the time the shots they got clanked off the backboard.

We spend time in practice on dribbling drills, working on both hands, working on fingertip control and working on protecting the basketball. We coach our kids to make every pass count, to throw crisp passes that the receivers don't have to bend too much or dive for. We have placed more emphasis on the bounce pass, for example. Also, we stress defense. We figure that if the kids can work hard on defense, they can stay with anyone. As a result, we want them to get into a good defensive stance and to slide their feet. We also encourage them to deflect the ball as much as possible. We even instituted a "tie up the ball drill" where a player rushes toward a coach and tries to tie up the ball (the assumption is that the opposing player has picked up his dribble). We've instituted a "three man weave" drill to work on passing and footwork, and we've shown the kids how to cut to get open. We've run give-and-go drills and pick-and-roll drills, all with a view toward giving the kids a sense of how to set a screen (and I saw one yesterday that would make an NBA coach envious, given that some of the most recent screens I've seen attempted in the NBA are heartless ballet moves that simply go through the motions). We also run shooting drills, including one where we have kids shoot off the blocks from both sides of the basket (at our last practice, we hit 16 shots in a row). And we stage 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 situations, so that the kids learn spacing on offense.

In other words, we're a bit like Mr. Miyagi from "Karate Kid". We repeat these drills so that the kids who never played before this year get an inundation of fundamentals. The kids with more experience work to improve their games. For the most part, we've been successful.

And now here's a story:

2 weeks ago we were missing 2 of our top 6 kids, had a late afternoon game, had some kids recovering from illness, and had one kid decide that he was going to imitate an NBA player by tossing up shots from all over the floor. The other team had some good athletes, but we weren't in sync, both teams played aggressive defense, and we lost, 5 baskets to 4. We probably shot 4 for 29 or something awful like that, our best players couldn't finish, and, well, we chalked it up to being down two players and having an off day. That said, the kids need to learn how to rebound from disappointment, and we didn't expect that we were going to win them all. We tried hard, but it didn't work out.

Fast forward to this weekend, and we heard that the team we were going to play had waxed everyone it had played so far, beating each opponent pretty badly. The other team didn't have a full complement of players, and we did, so instead of playing a third-grade unit together and a fourth-grade unit together, we mixed and matched (because the other team didn't have its complete third-grade unit, we would have risked having inexperienced third-graders guarding more aggressive fourth graders, they might have had the same predicament, and both coaches did their best to make sure their players had good challenges). Anyway, that probably wasn't the best for anyone's continuity on offense, but both teams did the best that they could. And, remember, that we had beaten everyone we played before last week, including a well-coached, talented team that we beat by 10.

The result for us was our best game of the year. Eight players scored, and one of our third graders, who didn't have a basket all year, scored three. Another third grader, who hadn't scored all year, scored his first basket. We set more screens in this game than we had all year, we took better shots, dribbled with more authority and played our typical aggressive defense. Both teams moved the ball well, drove the action, but, in the end, we beat them by about 8 baskets. The reason -- teams fare well when a) they give a good effort, b) they work on defense (tying up the ball on many occasions), c) they play unselfishly and screen for each other, d) they spend a little time on rebounding and e) they don't force shots. The coaches on our team took great satisfaction both at the development of the individual players and of the teamwork that they have built. (For example, in our pre-game warm-up, we work a 2-on-1 drill, and the kids line up accordingly without being told. When one of the third graders scored his first basket, he received hugs and high-fives in between periods).

Now, kids are kids, and who knows what will happen next week. But if you care about each kid's development, encourage him and his parents, get the kids to focus and work, you will see a solid effort, and, if you see that, you'll see improvement and good results.

Have fun!

Bill Simmons' Book is Hilarious

I've only read about 75 pages of the Book of Basketball, and I haven't laughed so hard reading a book in a long time. His analogies and footnotes are worth the price of admission, so to speak. Would that, of course, the NBA were as interesting or amusing as the book.

Will Jayson Werth Be With the Phillies After This Season?

Now that the Phillies have the following monies committed for 2011, will they be able to sign Jayson Werth to a long-term deal if they want to keep their payroll around $140 million:

Carlos Ruiz -- somewhere around $2 million (he's filed for arbitration, but expect the Phillies to sign him to a multi-year deal)
Ryan Howard -- $20 million
Chase Utley -- $15 million
Jimmy Rollins -- $8.5 million
Placido Polanco -- $6 million
Raul Ibanez -- $12 million
Shane Victorino -- $7.25 million
Roy Halladay -- $20 million
Cole Hamels -- $9.5 million
Joe Blanton -- $8 million
Brad Lidge -- $11.5 million
Ryan Madson -- $4.5 million.

That's $125.25 million right there for 11 players. Sure, you lose the contracts of Jamie Moyer ($7.5 million) and J.C. Romero ($4 million), but you still have to pay an average of about $1.5 million for 14 other guys -- your back-up catcher, utility infielders, extra outfielders and most likely give more money to up-and-coming starter J.A. Happ. So if the Phillies want to go for it all in 2011, their payroll -- without Werth -- might have to be around $150 million.

With Werth, it's a different story. If he has another year like he did last year, he's bound to be in the range of a bigger deal, a Jason Bay-like 4-year, $66 million contract. If the Phillies were to, say, give Werth 4 years at $14 million, then their payroll for 12 players for 2011 would be $139.25. That's a lot of money, but, then again, it's one pretty awesome nucleus of players.

A nucleus, by the way, that will not last forever and that is built to win between now and say 2013. Spend the money now, and, yes, the Phillies could have a swollen payroll. Refuse to do so, and then the team could miss an opportunity that might not come around again for 20 years.

The Werth situation bears watching. Is Domonic Brown, the untouchable prospect, going to be ready for prime time after this season? More likely is that the club will want him to replace Raul Ibanez after the 2011 season (and perhaps serve as the fourth outfielder in 2011). If that's the case, then who will play right field in 2011? If that's the case, then doesn't a failure to sign Werth give Ryan Howard a ton more leverage over the club, for the simple reason that if they were to fail to re-sign Werth and Howard, the club as fans know and love will cease to exist and, once again, local sports management will be accused of being cheap and blowing a good thing up.

It all will depend on what Werth asks for. If he takes the route of both Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton, the Phillies will have a chance to ink him to a free-agent deal that is within their range. If he decides to talk like Cliff Lee and send a signal that he wants to test the free-agent market, there's no telling what some of the biggest spenders out there might offer. And then the Phillies won't be players for him.

Stay tuned.

The Curious Case of Gary Mathews, Jr.

Why the Mets wanted him is a mystery.

This acquisition by the Mets also makes their rivalry with the Phillies more compelling. The reason: his father is the Phillies' main color commentator on TV broadcasts. What's worse is that Mathews, Jr. is a controversial figure for a variety of reasons. No doubt, though, that Mathews, Jr. is bound to be a much bigger problem for the Mets than he will be a distraction for the Phillies' broadcasting team.

Who Will Succeed Bud Selig?

I speculated on this three years ago.

I would add Phillies' president Dave Montgomery and Pirates' president Frank Coonelly to the list. I add Montgomery because he's both well-liked and well-respect, and I add Coonelly because his prior job was as chief counsel to MLB's labor relations committee. I doubt that baseball would consider a certain former Rangers' owner, whose Q rating ranks down there with those of John Edwards and Tiger Woods these days.

Reflections on Charlie Weis

I wrote this almost 5 years ago, reflecting on the future of the Notre Dame coach.

He might well have been the next Pete Gillen.

The Phillies' Payroll

Originally posted on January 21; updated on January 22.

Here's an analysis that was done in the blogosphere before the 2009 season. (I've been looking for something more current, but I haven't been able to find anything yet).

Here are a few observations:

1. It's amazing how many players change teams from year to year. By my count, the Phillies will have 8 players on their opening-day roster who weren't with the team at the end of 2009. Forget about the beginning of 2009, just the end of it.

2. The list shows that the club has only 1 player signed beyond the 2011 season -- Chase Utley. Let's update that list for Roy Halladay and Placido Polanco, who have contracts that extend through 2013 (with perhaps another year) and 2012 respectively, Cole Hamels (whom the Philadelphia Inquirer reports in an article this morning is signed through 2012), and now Joe Blanton and Shane Victorino (yesterday the stories broke that the club was signing both through the 2012 season). Finally, the Phillies will have rights to J.A. Happ at least through the 2012 season. Four starters for 3 straight seasons -- that's great. What a difference a day makes! The Phillies now have a pretty solid nucleus of 7 players signed through the 2012 season.

3. This means, of course, that the Phillies have to do some longer-term planning to figure out whom to sign beyond the 2011 season. You have to figure at at 40, Raul Ibanez will be gone, and that Brad Lidge, at his price point and perhaps with continuing consistency issues, will be gone too. The Phillies are also talking a multi-year deal with Carlos Ruiz. It would be hard to see Ruiz getting more than a 2-year deal at this point, but I'm not an expert under baseball's collective bargaining agreement to understand, in Ruiz's case, what the team should or should not do.

4. In any event, the Phillies don't want a bare cupboard after the 2011 season. They'll have to make big decisions on Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth (as well as to re-evaluate their bullpen because the contracts of Lidge, Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero all will have expired). The Phillies did extend Rollins through 2011, but Werth's contract expires after this season. If he puts up similar numbers to last season's, he could command Jason Bay-like money in the off-season. Whether the Phillies decide to go long-term on Werth will depend on several factors, as follows: a) whether they think they he's worth signing to a five-year deal through his mid-30's; b) whether they think that he'll be able to hit righties enough to make it worth it over that long haul, c) what their views are on their payroll through, say, 2015 (that is, will it expand?) and d) how likely they believe they can sign Ryan Howard to a long-term deal. At the end of the day, they'll also have to groom young players, as this nucleus won't continue to perform at its current very high level when these players range in age from 35 through 37. That just doesn't happen.

5. The more you win the more you have the pleasant problem of trying to reward your outstanding players and keeping your payroll in check. Your players perform well and become more valuable, and other teams will come after them on the free-agent market. Your players know this, and most will want to take the best deal. So in the long term it's hard to fathom how the Phillies will be able to keep all of these players. And there's another variable.

6. How well will they age? The core group is between 29 and 32 years old. In 3 years, they'll be between 32 and 35. You probably don't want the oldest roster in baseball, so you might have to make some choices. Some, the players will make easy for you, because either their play will fall off or the money they command is well beyond what you want to pay (I foresee teams bidding for Ryan Howard after the 2011 season and offering him $100+ million for 5 seasons, which would be a risky deal for a player of his physical size, according to various items I've read in Baseball Prospectus.

All of this bears watching. As a Phillies' fan, it would be nice to see how management assesses the situation. Still, the signings of Blanton and Victorino are very positive developments, as was G.M. Ruben Amaro's pronouncement this morning that while he likes the roster he has, he's not satisfied, and that the Phillies are evaluating whether to sign another starter and another reliever. Also boding well for the Phillies was that the Mets failed to sign either Bengie Molina or Joel Pineiro. Finally, Joe Blanton's comments in this morning's Philadelphia Inquirer as to why he opted not to wait for free agency also could form part of a good sales pitch why the Phillies are a team a player would want to be on.

Book Review: Jeffrey Marx's "The Long Snapper"

Here's another excellent book from Marx, whose last book I wrote about here.

Marx writes about Brian Kinchen, a seventh-grade bible study teacher at a private school in Louisiana in the fall of 2003. Kinchen, an LSU grad, had played tight end and long snapper in the NFL for 13 years before leaving the game in 2000. Like many players, he had unfinished business. He was only 35 in 2000, not ready to quit, but no team came a-calling after the 2000 season. So he settled into life as a middle-school teacher and a part-time volunteer coach with his alma mater (then coached by Nick Saban).

And then the call came. He was 38, out of football for three years, and the New England Patriots had a problem. Their long snapper got hurt, and the team was holding auditions in a couple of days. There were about 3 games left in the regular season, the Patriots were doing fine and priming for a deep post-season run. They wanted to know if Brian wanted to travel to Foxboro and try out.

Kinchen got the call because he had played for the Cleveland Browns when Bill Belichick was the coach, and Scott Pioli, New England's head of player personnel, had worked in Cleveland and the two were friends. That said, this was all business; Kinchen wouldn't be granted any special favors. He would have to beat out three other guys -- and he did just that.

I'm not going to tell you the rest of the story -- get the book to find out how Kinchen's journey went (one clue -- it wasn't all a bed of roses; there were some thorns to overcome). But it's an inspiring story about a man in the middle of his life, his faith, his family, the game he loves, and what his purpose will be after his playing days are over.

Jon Dorenbos Makes the Pro Bowl -- His Inspiring Story

In case you're wondering, he's the long snapper for the Philadelphia Eagles.

In case you're wondering why you should care, read this story for inspiration. Dorenbos' father murdered Dorenbos' mother when the long snapper was 12. Life hasn't been easy.

It's great to see a good guy get recognition for a job where you only get noticed if you make a mistake.

NFL Observations

1. Anointments are dangerous. How many people jumped onto the Cowboys' bandwagon after they thrashed the 11-5 Eagles twice within two weeks? How many people thought that they were the best team in the NFC and had a chance to go to the Super Bowl? Many, but their analysis belied the fact that the Eagles' offensive line was battered and tired, that they had very little at linebacker and that their defensive backfield wasn't all that good at the season's end. So, was it a question of the Cowboys' being that good, or the Eagles' having faded? Moreover, how did the Vikings all of a sudden become a questionable football team? Even diehard Cowboys' fans have to temper their optimism in the future -- a first-round playoff win should build confidence, but not arrogance. That's not to say that the team itself got a big ego, but something bad happened out there for Dallas yesterday. They got whomped.

2. Are Andy Reid, Wade Phillips and Norv Turner simply good coaches who can go no further? You have to believe that fans in Philadelphia, Dallas and San Diego are asking this question and wondering aloud. In Reid's case, how could he have boasted upon his re-signing that he had the best organization in football? He's been there for 11 years, but he hasn't won the Super Bowl.

3. Drew Brees is a class act. You need to read this week's Sports Illustrated for an article about Brees, who is as good a civic leader as he is a quarterback. The guy dines with big whigs every two weeks, and they decide on the causes they're going to raise money for to continue to rebuild New Orleans. Not only is he a class act, but he's one outstanding quarterback, and the Saints looked great this weekend.

4. Are Jets' fans pinching themselves? They must be. The Jets beat a good team on the road yesterday. Sure, they have a tall task, taking on Indy in Indy, but Rex Ryan's team has some mojo going on big time, and there's enough fight left in this dog to make it a battle next weekend.

5. What's the future of the league? What will an uncapped year mean? Will there be a lockout in 2011? Labor relations seem to be at an all-time if not long-time low. The uncapped year won't necessarily cause some teams to go hog wild, if only because of how bad the economy has been. That said, teams won't be required to spend a minimum, and some teams won't. There are other complications that The Sporting News highlights in this week's issue. You should check it out.

A Curious U.S. Export to China

Many goods in the U.S. say "Made in China." But now we're exporting someone to China -- Stephon Marbury. Not sure how this move will affect U.S.-China relations, but it will be interesting to see how the Shanxi club and Mr. Marbury get along.

Observations from Coaching Third- and Fourth-Grade Basketball

It's hard to gauge how good your team is in non-competitive leagues, where you practice only once a week. If your league assigns kids randomly without much of a sense of their skill-level or experience, there are bound to be mismatches. In our league, we try to play the best kids in the second and fourth quarters as a means of getting good players to play with and against each other. Still, not all teams or games are even.

Yesterday, the team I coach played a well-coached team, a team whose best player was more aggressive and probably more talented than any of the players on our roster. This team also had a different approach from ours, so it presented a good challenge to our players.

The opposing team's coach drills his players on the fundamentals for a half an hour and then runs plays for the other half. Our opponents had a nifty give and go off the high post that created some good shots for their players. Basically, the ballhandler (whether benefiting from an on-ball screen or not) passed the ball to a player at the foul line and then made a quick cut to the basket. The player at the foul line would throw a short bounce pass to the ballhandler, who would try to go in for a short shot or a layup. The execution at the beginning of the play was excellent, but unless that team's best player was the ballhandler and the recipient of the pass, they had trouble finishing the play. The pass from the high post sometimes hit the recipient in the feet, or, more likely, it was a decent pass but the recipient couldn't get off a good shot. Still, it was fun to watch.

Our approach to coaching is a bit different. Think Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid. We run endless drills on dribbling, gives and gos, shooting off the blocks, rebounding, passing, pick and roll, all with a view that if we drill enough upon some prompting the kids will remember to implement some of the drills in a game, such as throwing a good bounce pass, following a shot, setting a screen. Our offense wasn't nearly as organized as our opponent's, but we outscored them in the contest because of a few factors. First, through our drills, the kids know how to finish their shots. It struck me that the danger of coaching a single play is that unless you have kids who are talented finishers, there's no substitute for a ten-minute drill on shooting from the blocks so that the kids get the feel of putting the ball up softly against the backboard. Second, there's no substitute for defense.

We tell the kids to slide their feet, to stay between the basket and their man, to keep their hands up and to deflect the ball, tie it up or steal it at any opportunity. We teach this because great defense creates opportunities on offense. And that's what happened yesterday. Two of our fourth graders played inspired defense on the other team's best players, so much so that those players got frustrated or shut down. The other kids followed suit -- deflections, steals, fast-break opportunities. In the end, it was our defense that helped us prevail.

It was a great game, and we outscored the other team by about five baskets (one of the grandfathers in attendance kept count). We felt like we were in a contest, but the difference was that while only one or two kids scored baskets for the other team, seven of our eleven kids scored. The difference was defense.

All that said, I learn a great deal from the guys I coach against. Yesterday's lesson was that my team should have the confidence to put in a play for our fourth graders. They can handle the ball, so if we put in a high-post offense like our opponents use, we might be able to score a basket or two off a cutter off the high post. With this crew, it might just work.

The kids continue to give a great effort, and that's all that you can ask from them. You want them to pay attention, play tough defense, and play smart on offense. I could tell from when they came off after a period that they had expended a lot of energy. For the kids who have played for a few years and love the game, they felt gratified. For the kids for whom this is their first season, they're still a bit bewildered. This generation doesn't watch much basketball on television, with the result that what we're teaching them is unfamiliar ground. For these kids, a pick might be something you use with a guitar, a screen is on your front door in the warmer weather months, and a jump stop might be a cousin to the Game Stop store. We try to be patient and encouraging, and so far the results are promising.

So, we're still practicing the fundamentals, and while there are normally about 25 drills I'd like to run, we typically run only about 10 in a practice. We don't scrimmage 5 on 5, because we don't get a full court (we get a "sideways" court in a middle school's gym), and even 3 on 3 doesn't always end up being productive. Because there can be mismatches, we go 3 on 1 or 3 on 2, so that we can stress ball movement and finding the open man. It's hard, but the kids seem to be getting to know each other better each week and, as a result, they are more familiar with one another. At the end of the day, if you get the kids to play hard, play good defense and rebound, good things will happen.

Martha Coakley Should Watch Her Sports Analogies

The Democratic candidate in Massachusetts' special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat blundered recently when she called Red Sox hero Curt Schilling, he of the bloody sock and clutch pitching that helped lead the BoSox to their first World Series victory in over 8 decades, a Yankee fan.

Huh?

She also may be the poster child for a candidate with a huge advantage in the bluest of the blue states to blow that advantage and turn victory into disaster for the Democrats in Massachusetts and nationally. Yes, that's right, to create another sports analogy, think the 2007 New York Mets, who were up 7 1/2 with 17 games to play only to blow it big time. If Coakley loses -- and a recent poll says that she's trailing -- well, her name could become part of the lexicon in the English language.

Here's why: in the early 1900's, Man 'o War was the biggest, baddest and fastest horse around. He was entered in a race, where he lost to a horse named Upset. At the time, the word upset meant (and still means) to overturn, as in to overturn a table. But once the news of Upset's surprise victory spread, the word "upset" took on an additional meaning.

Which means that if Martha Coakley, who dissed one of the Red Sox most significant heroes, loses on Tuesday, she'll have Coakleyed the race.

And then perhaps she'll have Curt Schilling calling her a Mets' fan.

Jack Clark and Andy Van Slyke Criticize Mark McGwire

Read all about it here.

I've written about the steroids era over the years, and I've been clear -- it was wrong and it was awful. I also read articles about McGwire's statements, and I still don't think he's coming clean totally. Some of what Andy Van Slyke said resonates with me. Forgiveness is easier than reconciliation or forgetting, and, as such, I don't think McGwire or any of his fellow abusers belongs in the Hall of Fame.

The usage by McGwire and Sammy Sosa cast a bad light on good players in that era who didn't use. To me, Fred McGriff was a great player, but he never buffed himself up with performance-enhancing drugs to have a mega-season the way McGwire and Sosa did. I think that McGriff is a borderline Hall of Famer, but his numbers don't stack up with McGwire's. But, because McGriff was clean, his candidacy should be enhanced. He shouldn't be punished because of transgressors like McGwire, Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro.

In addition, and I know some might think that this is stretching things a bit, the articles that I read on Barry Bonds indicated that he decided to use performance-enhancing drugs because of the home run derby between McGwire and Sosa. There was Bonds, the best player in the game, all of a sudden not getting his due or putting up the biggest numbers because these two guys loaded up on the juice and put up huge numbers. So, the story went, Bonds decided to use.

Look, I'm not defending Bonds here, and I've been very critical of him. What he did was wrong. The problem is that the first users created a culture where a player might have felt he couldn't have survived in baseball if he didn't use. McGwire was one of those people who created that type of thinking. He wasn't alone, and Lord knows who were among the first users.

The whole thing is a sorry mess. It was a bad era, and baseball seemingly has moved on, but bad conduct and a very late and incomplete apology shouldn't make Mark McGwire eligible for the Hall of Fame.

How Hot is Temple Head Coach Al Golden?

ESPN.com reports that Tennessee wants to talk with him about its head coaching position.

Wow! That says a lot Tennessee, Golden and Temple football.

Great for Temple that it has such a hot coaching prospect. As a Temple fan, I hope that Coach Golden stays on North Broad Street for a long time to come. That said, it's great to have a head coach who is considered to be able to lead a very competitive program in the most competitive league in the country.

Wow.

Lane Kiffin: Perhaps It Was Too Hard in the SEC and Perhaps His Initial Mistakes Were Too Great

Here's an article on Kiffin's arrival at USC.

I find the move perplexing, because didn't Kiffin say the same thing at Tennessee -- that he was going to put together a dream team of coaches and recruit all over the place? He did just that, but a) his rally girls showed up in the wrong places, b) some recruits found a creative way to add to their monthly stipends for laundry and expenses, c) he said some bold things and d) he made an accusation he couldn't back up. Oh, and he found himself competing against Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Les Miles. That's tough going.

At USC, he won't have any of those coaches to compete against. No school has the tradition that USC does, and all opponents have their ups and downs -- none is or expects to be a perennial power. You don't have Washington State in the SEC. Oh, sure, the Oregon schools are tough, Washington is on the rise and Jim Harbaugh is a great coach at Stanford, but those schools don't play like Alabama, Florida or LSU. So, in a way, it's a smart move for Kiffin -- get to an easier conference, a school with a great tradition, a school you're familiar with, and learn from the many mistakes you made at Tennessee (which may end up with sanctions because of some of the activities under the Kiffin administration).

I'm not crying too much for the Vols, because there's a rough culture in college football that makes the business side of it ugly, and the SEC and schools like Tennessee contribute to that. By the same token, young kids listened to the promises of Kiffin and his elite coaching staff, only to have the head coach bolt after a year. Those kids should have the freedom to move to another school without penalty. What the heck-- if their coaches can bolt without pretext, they should be able to do the same.

Lane Kiffin does not look good here, but it's hard to say that he's any different from many other major college football coaches.

How You Rub Off on Your Kids: A Larry Bird Vignette

My daughter is in middle school, and she and her classmates have to write a report on a biography they've read. One of her friends, a girl, is writing on Magic Johnson. This selection prompted some of the boys in my daughter's class to hurl trivia questions at the girl.

"What team did Larry Bird play on?"

The girl didn't know, so my daughter answered for her.

"The Celtics."

Frustrated, the asker threw out another question.

"Okay, so what number did he wear?"

The girl didn't know.

My daughter jumped in again.

"33."

The boys backed off.

I asked my daughter how she knew that.

Her response: "I'm growing up in your house, Dad."

True, but I don't think that we ever got down to levels of detail sufficient to discuss numbers.

So I taught her three more -- Dr. J and Bill Russell wore # 6, and Wilt Chamberlain wore #13.

Pretty cool kid, I think.

Coaching Third- and Fourth-Grade Basketball: The Three-Man Weave

I learned this drill/play decades ago in junior high school (I guess I'm dating myself because they're called "middle schools" now). Anyway, it once was called the Wisconsin Weave, because in the 20's the University of Wisconsin deployed it successfully against, among others, Purdue. In the late 20's Purdue had an all-American named John Wooden, who played against it. Of course, the Purdue teams had to solve the riddle of the weave, but it's a pretty cool play.

The basic premise is that you have three guys spaced out in a row, and you tell them "behind the man I pass it to and head downcourt." So, the player in the middle passes the ball to the guy on his right, and then he runs behind him to the right wing. The kid who catches the ball passes it to the kid on his left; this passer runs behind the kid on the left, while the kid on the left passes the ball to the kid on his right (who was the kid who started the drill). They keep this "weave" going until they're close to the basket, and then the kid with the shot puts in a layup.

Sound easy?

Well, the third-graders who hadn't played before had some trouble with it, as some of them were running in front of the the kid they passed it to, so I isolated a group of fourth-graders and had them do it together. Well, they caught on pretty quickly, they ran down the floor, passing crisply, weaving in and out, and putting up good layups. The less-experienced kids thought it was cool, the parents thought it was cool, and the kids wanted to continue the drill when we stopped it. What they learned, I hope, is cause and effect -- throw a crisp pass with good movement and no selfish one-on-one dribbling rifts and you can get a good shot. We're going to run that drill every week -- it also will help get the kids to sleep faster at night.

All kidding aside, it's an oldie but goodie. Try it some time.

Miep Gies is Dead

It's fitting that this is my 1,888th post, because 18 in the Jewish religion is the sign for chai, or life. And it's fitting that today you read about a true hero, someone who put her life on the line daily for several years in the face of unfettered terror, in order to protect neighbors that she cared about. In order to try to save other lives.

Her name was Miep Gies, she was 100, and she died Monday in The Netherlands.

She was one of the people who protected Anne Frank and her family. And she was the person who found and saved Anne's diary, preserving it so that when her father, the only person in Anne's family who survived the death camps, returned from them, he could publish it and tell the entire world his teenaged daughter's story.

Sports, of course, is a great release for all of us. But the sporting world and the sporting press overuse the word hero to the point that the word has become diluted. Even Gies herself thought so, denying that she was a hero. But that humility, that selflessness made her all the more compelling a figure.

The world is blessed with everyday people who once in a while take a stand and in so doing accomplish something extraordinary. Miep Gies was one of those people, and the world was lucky to her her (and the many other Dutch people) who put their lives on the line to save those less fortunate.

If Kurt Warner Doesn't Get Into the Hall of Fame. . .

there should be a Federal investigation -- especially after yesterday's performance.

(There are so many Federal investigations that I figure one extra one wouldn't push the budget over the cliff).

Seriously, the guy has had a great career, has a good story about persistence, is one of the best precision passers of his era, and, sure, he didn't go up against the Steel Curtain or the Purple People Eaters yesterday, but he delivered big-time.

He belongs in Canton.

The Greatest College Basketball Game in a Long While

Was played yesterday in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Vols had kicked their best player off the team and suspended 3 others. Others were injured or in foul trouble, and a walk-on with a name that belongs more in a law firm that handled your grandfather's estate than on a hoops floor nailed a 3 during crunch time to help the Vols upset #1 Kansas. You can read the recap from espn.com here.

It's not everyday we hold as equivalents character and NCAA Division I sports. But Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl and the Vols' administration took a stand -- at great cost to their program -- and they were rewarded with the type of effort that should epitomize college sports. They're not always supposed to be about the exploits of the kid who was identified as the star when he was 12 years old. On occasion, they're supposed to be the stories of walk-ons such as Sklar McBee, the player who hit the critical 3-pointer. Sure, McBee probably went into the season figuring that he'd add value as a gung-ho, happy-to-be-there practice player, but yesterday he showed that he's much more than that. The kid shined on a national stage.

Which makes you wonder what if everyone -- from boosters to your average alums to athletic directors, coaches and players -- had the attitude of the walk-on or lightly recruited player who's told up front that he'll have little chance of the bright lights and playing time but who shows up day after day and gives his all?

What would all college sports -- and particularly the revenue sports -- be like?

Hats off to the Tennessee Volunteers for one of the great character moments in the recent history of college basketball and the NCAA.

Should the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Have 96 Teams in It?

Good article in December from the Wall Street Journal.

I agree with Northwestern's Bill Carmody -- 65 teams (the current number, out of a possible 334 Division I basketball teams) is plenty. I like the scarcity -- it gives the regular season a great deal of meaning, and there aren't all that many controversies about who gets in and who doesn't (outside of 1 or 2 per year). Another argument against increasing the number is that some observers believe that increasing the number would just be a payoff to the big conferences, given that right now they get most of the at-large bids. So, increase the number of teams to 96 and, guess what? Will the Big East, which now gets about 7 of its 16 teams into the tournament, suddenly get 12 of the 16? Would the Big East deserve it?

The article points out that more than half the teams in the NBA and NHL make the playoffs. And look what that lack of scarcity and selectivity has done to those leagues? Their brands are diluted and weak. But, the article also points out that the NCAA can opt out of its $6 billion contract with CBS, precisely because of the reason that it might want to increase the roster of teams to 96.

This bears watching.

The Hidden Benefits of Exercise

Required reading from the Wall Street Journal.

Climb stairs. Walk instead of ride. Get an exercise bike, a treadmill, some light dumbbells, medicine balls, Pilates or yoga DVDs, but whatever you do -- do something! You'll enhance your quality of life, fortify your good cells, kill the bad ones, live longer and think better. Sometimes it's hard to get started, but once you do, you'll look forward to exercising every day.