From champs to chomped: How Urban Meyer broke Florida football (via Sporting News)

Posted on April 9, 2012 by AD

The uproar and controversy of Urban Meyer’s stunning recruiting coup at Ohio State settled in and Stefon Diggs, still on the Buckeyes’ wish list, was debating his future.

Diggs, the second-highest rated wide receiver in the country, had narrowed his list of potential schools to Maryland, Florida and Ohio State. For more than a week following National Signing Day on Feb. 1, and before Diggs eventually signed with Maryland, Meyer relentlessly pursued Diggs.

Multiple sources told Sporting News that Meyer—who won two national championships in six years at Florida and cemented his legacy as one of the game’s greatest coaches—told the Diggs family that he wouldn’t let his son go to Florida because of significant character issues in the locker room.

Character issues that we now know were fueled by a culture Meyer created. Character issues that gutted what was four years earlier the most powerful program in college football. … Read More

(via Sporting News)

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Champions League Semifinals Preview

Posted on April 9, 2012 by bpbrady

After last Wednesday’s matches, the semifinal matchups are set and in two weeks’ time we will know the identity of the two teams that will compete for Ol’ Big Ears at Allianz Arena at the end of May. First off, let’s see how I did on predicting the quarterfinal games. I correctly picked 3 out of 4 games, whiffing only on the Chelsea-Benfica tilt, in which I picked Benfica to advance. Now, on to the quarters!

Real Madrid v. Bayern Munich
This is the more compelling of the two semifinal games. Both sides boast quality at every position on the pitch, especially in attack. Real will look, as always, to Cristiano Ronaldo and secondarily to Karim Benzema, who has been having a stellar Champions League campaign so far. Bayern will look to striker Mario Gomez, their leading goalscorer, as well as to midfielders Ajern Robben and Franck Ribery. Real have an important game the Saturday between their two semifinal games, traveling to the Camp Nou to face arch-rivals Barcelona. How much of a distraction the game against Barcelona proves to be could be a deciding factor in this fixture. Real currently sit 4 points ahead of Barcelona in La Liga, and if that gap narrows between now and April 21, Real could be forced to field a first choice XI that could leave them tired out for the second leg against Bayern.

Prediction: Real advance, 1-2 at Bayern, 3-1 at Real.

Barcelona v. Chelsea
A whoooooooooooooooole lot of history here in this one. Here’s a quick primer. In 2009, Barca and Chelsea met in the Champions League semis. After a 0-0 draw at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Chelsea looked set to advance after Michael Essien’s 10th minute strike was followed by Barcelona defender Eric Abidal got sent off for a poor tackle. Barca battled on, and their efforts were rewarded with an injury time goal from Andres Iniesta to tie the game at 1-1 and send Barca on to the finals on the away goals rule.

http://vimeo.com/39465964

Chelsea players and fans were pretty hot and bothered over the whole ordeal, feeling that they had been denied as many as five clear penalty shots by the referee. Three years later, and Chelsea is looking for revenge. Barcelona is motivated in their own way, looking to prove that they can beat Chelsea without controversy. I fully admit I am biased, but I think this one could get pretty ugly. Chelsea has some good players, but they do not boast the talent that is on display at the Camp Nou. Barcelona also have the Charlie Weis Schematic Advantage™, courtesy of head man Pep Guardiola.

Prediction: Barcelona advance, 3-1 at Chelsea, 4-0 at Barcelona.

I think we are going to be seeing a Clasico final in Munich in May, with eternal rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid vying for the ultimate prize. It would be a real “cracker of a match” as the commentators in FIFA often say.

The DET Offensive: Tigers open 2012 season with Sawks sweep

Posted on April 9, 2012 by AD

Alex Avila’s walk-off homer– the first for any player in the young 2012 season– in the bottom of the eleventh last night secured a season-opening sweep of the Boston Red Sox in a series that showcased the promised strength of this Tigers team and cast some light on potential weaknesses going forward.

This lineup was expected to be absurdly productive on offense, and they did not disappoint. Over the three games, they scored 26 runs on 39 hits, including seven home runs, all from Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Avila.

The first game, a 3-2 victory, showed that ace Justin Verlander was picking up where he left off last season, a dangerous prospect for opponents considering the fact that the pitcher won the Cy Young and the MVP last year. Batting pyrotechnics in the second game, a 10-0 win, were enough to momentarily overshadow the injury to Detroit’s #2 starter, Doug Fister, who landed on the 15-day DL because he sprained a side muscle after pitching 3 2/3 shutout innings. This injury could damper the Tigers’ hot start, especially since the team has “no clue” who Fister’s replacement will be. Manager Jim Leyland:

I have no idea who’s going to start. Don’t ask. Please. I have no clue. I just told you that. There’s no sense searching. I have no clue. I keep trying to make that perfectly clear to you guys, but you keep searching. I have no clue who’s going to start. None.

… We will have a starter at the appropriate time. Who it is, I have no clue. None. Next question

That’s concerning. Number 3 starter Max Scherzer got shelled in the third game, and relievers Jose Valverde and Joaquin Benoit looked a bit out of sorts in this first series. If Tiger fans learned anything from 2006, it’s that a baseball team that lives by its offense can die by it when the hits evaporate. This team is both more balanced and more offensively powerful than that team, which made it to the World Series, and last year’s squad, but it looks like they are going to be able to need to bat their way through some early defensive hiccups to continue this strong start. If any team can do it, though, it’s this one.

For now, it feels really great to open the season in grand winning fashion, sweep a media darling like Boston, and find out that the grand slugging experiment, initiated when the Tigers signed Fielder to replace the injured Victor Martinez, really works.

Bubba Watson now owns two prestigious pieces of American history

Posted on April 8, 2012 by AD

This evening, Bubba Watson added an Augusta National green jacket to his personal collection, which already includes the General Lee, pictured above.

Watson also owns one of the best shots ever hit, thanks to his effort on the second and final playoff hole, where he spun the ball out of the woods and onto the green, setting himself up for the win:

We Almost Lost This Jam

Posted on April 6, 2012 by AD

What’s that you want? Some new music in this spot with a sports connection and a socially conscious tilt? Fine. Here’s a brand-new video from a current act named after a NASCAR driver that’s hip to sports and modern rock.

Bdoyk turned me onto these guys, and I’m becoming a fan of their personality as much as their music. Their new video, which features scenes from the city they call home, actually is a reworking of a 1977 Gil Scott-Heron bit described as follows:

The most popular cut on the album, “We Almost Lost Detroit,” which shares its title with the John G. Fuller book published in 1975, recounts the story of the nuclear meltdown at the Fermi Atomic Power Plant near Monroe, MI, in 1966. This song was also contributed to the No Nukes concert and album in 1980.

The Tigers almost lost their season opener against Bdoyk’s Bosox yesterday when the perfect-in-2011 Jose Valverde blew his first save opportunity of the 2012 season and ensured that reigning MVP-Cy-Young-winner Justin Verlander didn’t get his first opening-day win in his fifth consecutive attempt, but the home team pulled out the victory in a Gamecast-hindered bottom of the ninth by scoring on the much-touted (be real: what in Boston sports isn’t “much-touted”?) Alfredo Aceves.

Paragraph-long sentences. Hyphens. The Jam:

Previewing the 2013 NCAA Men’s Final Four

Posted on April 3, 2012 by AD

They say that the first Super Bowl preview show begins shortly after the prior Super Bowl finishes, and with the crowning of Kentucky as the 2012 national champs late last night, today is the perfect time to post the first preview of the 2013 Final Four. There’s already much to discuss, and we can be sure that the 2013 Final Four will look much different from the one we saw over the last few days.

For one thing, most of the top players from the 2012 tournament– including Kentucky’s Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kansas’ Thomas Robinson, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, Michigan State’s Draymond Green, and Vanderbilt’s Jeffrey Taylor– will be gone to the NBA.

Another reason the 2013 Final Four will look different is that it will be played in Eastern Europe.

In one of the great moments of stealth marketing, the NCAA subtly announced during last night’s championship game that next year’s Final Four would take place in Alanta, Lithuania, a town of 464.

This is a sensible choice for basketball and non-basketball reasons, and it’s a great way to expand the NCAA’s brand abroad.

Lithuania has a strong, proud, and hip basketball tradition most notably marked by its 1992 Olympic team, known as “The Other Dream Team.” Led by Arvydas Sabonis, the Lithuanian squad represented their burgeoning democracy and their sponsors– Grateful Dead Productions– well, taking home the Bronze Medal by defeating Russia, their former overlords, in the Barcelona games.

After surviving a Napoleonic invasion and two World Wars, Alanta has displayed a ruggedness that deservedly caught the eye of the NCAA and shows that it is more than capable of hosting next year’s Final Four.

ALDLAND’s March Madness Challenge: Final Results

Posted on April 3, 2012 by AD

Last night’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament championship game gave us two champions. Most publicly, Kentucky’s 67-59 win over Kansas handed the 2012 national championship to the Wildcats.

Most importantly to readers of this site, John Calipari’s first national championship sealed Bingo_Bango’s victory in the inaugural ALDLAND Mad as a March Hare March Madness Challenge, a result even casual observers knew for weeks was a lock. A 99% accuracy rate is impressive. Bingo_Bango should email us at aldland[dot]com[at]gmail[dot]com to negotiate a worthy prize.

Here’s the rest of the top ten:

Honorable mentions go to mjpascha 1, who turned in a consistently solid second-place performance, and Goulbourne Supremacy, the winner of the best-entry-name division for the combination of nomenclature and performance.

Finally, dishonorable mentions to your two writer-participants, Brendan and I, who finished outside of the top ten.

Thanks to all of you for playing.

Mike Leach Favors Cougars

Posted on March 30, 2012 by AD

I was a Mike Leach fan long before Craig James took the helm of the mothership and got Leach fired from the head coaching job at Texas Tech. I think I first learned about Leach through an interview on Jim Rome’s radio show and was hooked by his deadpan demeanor and the facts that he has a law degree from Pepperdine and kept an automatronic pirate-skelleton in his office. I’m not even a pirate guy, but the random, dry sense of humor, and the nonchalance with which he carried on his job as a successful college football coach of one of the highest-flying offenses in the nation all combined to hit me just right.

When Leach finally landed his next coaching job, Washington State plainly had gotten a real steal, and though his tone of voice would never betray it, it appears that Leach has embraced his new home as well. From an interview posted yesterday on SB Nation’s WSU site:

Jim Moore: In a battle to the death among Pac-12 mascots, which animal or person wins?

Mike Leach: The Cougar absolutely. Let’s go through this a little bit. A cougar obviously kills a duck and a beaver. A cougar against a husky … that’s pretty well a massacre. A cardinal or whatever: I don’t know exactly what a cougar would either climb it or I wouldn’t want to think of what else he’d do on it. Now Golden Bears could be kinda tough. I think you’d want to be a little fast and loose with them. You don’t want to get caught by that bear. The Ute … you gotta dodge some arrowheads, but I still like the Cougar. Buffalo … I think the buffalo would be pretty tough to beat. Wildcat: Cougars are bigger than wildcats. Sun Devils, that’s mythical anyway. Trojans, they may be as well. I think you gotta look out for the Bruins and the Buffalo. The Golden Bear, Bruin and Buffalo .. I think those are the tough ones.

Moore: Why the Buffalo?

Leach: Do you want to fight a buffalo? I don’t know, those buffalo are big. You know, buffalo are significantly bigger than elk. I grew up near Yellowstone so I’ve been near buffalo. Buffalo are huge. And then the other thing I’ve always gotten a kick out of: When you play Colorado, there’s those buffalo dragging those six handlers around. Those handlers aren’t dragging the buffalo. The buffalo’s dragging him.

Ralphie’s not even a big buffalo. Ralphie pulls those people wherever he wants to.

More on the interview, including audio, is available here.

At the very least, Leach gives WAZZU fans a reason to believe they can climb out of the Pacific Twelve basement and the rest of us a reason to watch that miserable conference.

Picking a Friday Jam

Posted on March 30, 2012 by AD

I woke up this morning without a Friday Jam in mind, but I was thinking about the fact that the Final Four gets underway tomorrow in New Orleans between two Midwest teams and two Kentucky teams, and then it come to me. It came like a flash; like a vision burnt across the clouds! I wrote it down, but I learnt right away that it wasn’t an Arlo Guthrie song.

What better than a newgrass tune from a Midwest band about Louisiana? And if you don’t like that, at least you can gawk at the people trying to figure out how to dance to it, or not, as the young gentleman’s preference may be:

Of course, what we really ought to have for you in this spot is a nod to the recently departed Earl Scruggs. Click here for a song and a brief tribute.

MLB season preview

Posted on March 30, 2012 by bpbrady

Yesterday marked the beginning of baseball season, as the Seattle Mariners stomped on the Oakland Athletics 3-1 (a 2 run win qualifies as a big win for Seattle). For most teams, however, opening day does not occur until next Thursday. That’s good, because it gave me time to write this preview. Be warned: MS Paint is heavily involved, because I have been playing a lot of Draw Something lately and I want to keep drawing stuff. Also, I just need something to set this apart from any number of other MLB previews out there. Accordingly, after every division preview you will find a graphical representation of the division. I’ll go through division by division and then say who I think will take the various wild cards. Keep reading…