Bracket Buster Week!

Alright, it's the MWSF Challenge again! I took last week off, mostly due to a combination of business that got in the way and laziness to actually get it done so I could do this.

I went with two ballsy picks last time and two safe. The safe ones held up, the ballsy ones both were losers, for a 2-2 week. That puts me at an overall 12-10. With it being bracket buster week, I'll get myself back to multiples of four by picking a super-week again and going six games.

The games:

Saturday
4:00 PM ET No. 15 Southern Illinois at No. 12 Butler
9:00 PM ET No. 4 North Carolina at No. 21 Boston College
1:00 PM ET Army at Navy

Sunday
3:00 PM ET Northwestern at Illinois

Monday
9:00 PM ET No. 8 Kansas at Kansas State

Thursday
9:00 PM ET No. 11 Washington State at No. 17 Oregon

Three ranked vs. ranked, three unranked vs. unranked.

Time for the analysis and picks!

#15 Southern Illinois @ #12 Butler

Southern Illinois has been doing this for several years. Despite two coaching changes in recent memory(Bruce Weber to Illinois, Matt Painter to Purdue), this program, now under the guidance of Chris Lowery, has been a very good team the last several years, and if my memory serves well, has not missed the tourney in at least three years. I believe it's actually four years.

Southern Illinois has been hot, winning 7 in a row in the superior Missouri Valley Conference, while Butler has also been hot, winning 10 of their last 11(a loss to Wright State last week being the only blemish). I have more faith in the bigger conference team, with the better RPI and Sagarin rating, not to mention that while I have no affiliation whatsoever with SIU, they're in my home state, so I'm making Southern Illinois my pick to win this game on the road.

#4 North Carolina @ #21 Boston College

I picked against North Carolina in the Duke game, and that didn't work out so well. Also, having seen how abysmal BC played against Duke, there's no way I'm picking them until they show something. I honestly don't think there's any way they play as bad as against Duke, but North Carolina is in a different league than Duke this year, as they've proven all season long. The pick here, in my mind, is easy. North Carolina beats Boston College, probably by double-digits.

Army @ Navy

Both teams sport 11-13 Div. 1 records and are mid-200s in the Sagarins. Both are also 3-8 in the Patriot League, not an impressive league. The difference in the RPI is slightly more, but still not impressive(about 20 ranks difference). However, the pick here is Navy, and here's the fairly easy reasons why. First off, they're at home, and in tossup situations, the home court is a nice advantage to have. Secondly, Army is currently the losers of 7 in the row, where Navy has won 2 of their last 3. This game will be covered on CBS, because of automatic ratings generated by millions of veterans in this country, but from a college basketball standpoint, this should be relegated to regional access, because these teams are, as usual, pretty bad.

Northwestern @ Illinois

There's a lot of news for Illinois lately. Carlwell is out until at least the Big 10 Tourney with a concussion, Jamar Smith is out for the year and even the mascot, Chief Illiniwek is about to be out for good. Illinois might be reeling from this, but they still have the home court, and a very tough home court. My brain tells me Illinois is the better team, they have home court, and Weber is smart enough that Northwestern, with their offense, is a team you can't overlook, but my gut is telling me that Illinois may not put up their best showing tomorrow, so I'm going to go with the gut, and pick against my team for the second time in the MWSF Challenge. I'm taking Northwestern to put a hurtin' on Illinois' NCAA Dance chances.

#8 Kansas @ Kansas State

I was looking for a reason to take the upset here. K-State was surging until recently, with a 2 out of 3 skid they're looking to end with this game. They had a 7 game winning streak prior to this skid where they pounded all comers(only non-poundings were on either end of this streak, with the last game in the streak being against ranked Texas). K-State also has the home court.
Despite that, Kansas is still a first place team in the Big 12 and just last week ended K-State's win streak with a 27-point beating. I can't pick against Bill Self's team, even though he often puts up stinkers in his time with both Kansas and before that Illinois. The pick here is Kansas.

#11 Washington State @ #17 Oregon

Gotta love(not really) Dick Bennett basketball. Nothing is better for inspiring small children and old people to take a mid-day nap than popping in some 2000 Wisconsin game tapes, or the more recent Washington State tapes. This is a team that has been very good this year though. This is a team that since a loss at home to this Oregon team, has allowed on average only 53 points per game from their opponent. For the season, they defense only gives up 57.7 ppg. They've scored wins over Arizona(twice) and Gonzaga, and were very close to knocking off UCLA when they were ranked #1. But Oregon just beat this team, in State's arena, about 3 weeks ago. I look to three games on Oregon's schedule that matter to me in picking this game. At Georgetown, back in November, where they won 57-50, at Cal, just this last week, where they lost 63-61, and at Washington State, where they took Bennett out of his style of play and got the score into the *gasp* 70s, with a 77-74 win. This 2-1 record in games where Bennett-style, slow it down and try to score in the high 50s or low 60s, basketball was played, is telling to me.

However, Oregon also has gone 1-4 in their last 5 since that win against W-State.

This is the toughest of the games to pick, and while I thought I was setting myself up to take Oregon, I'll take the road team for the 5th time in 6 games and go with Washington State to avenge their loss to Oregon. I won't be at all surprised if Oregon wins though.

The Recap!

If things go well, it'll be a good week for road wins! I've picked 5 road teams, with only Navy defending their home court. I've also picked against my boys in Orange and Blue for the 2nd time this season, but have made up to my home state by picking the boys down south for a win today.

Southern Illinois over Butler
North Carolina over Boston College
Navy over Army
Northwestern over Illinois
Kansas over K-State
Washington State over Oregon

"I hate gay people"

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

These are the words of former NBA star Tim Hardaway, in response to a question of how he would handle a gay teammate.

If my blog is the first you’ve heard of this, then let me thank you for making my blog one of your first stops, but I don’t imagine that’s very many people if anyone.

Regardless, Tim Hardaway’s rant on Dan Le Batard’s Miami talk radio show is a sign of a problem in the United States. Homophobia and the inability of reasonable people to see hatred of gays as any different than hatred of blacks or Jews or Latinos.

Change the quote to this: “You know, I hate black people, so I let it be known. I don’t like black people and I don’t like to be around black people. I don’t like it. They shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”

If this were said, there would be nobody who would possibly agree with it, and otherwise reasonable-minded people, which Tim Hardaway probably is, would find these quotes despicable. However, when this quote is about gay people, you can find plenty of people, that while they may not be willing to go as far as Hardaway did, they obviously have similar feelings they’re unwilling to voice for fear of being ostracized.

It’s the same as if you walk through any high school hallway, which I do everyday as a high school teacher. Students have no problem throwing around the word “gay” as derogatory, just as they have no problem calling someone a “fag.”

However, most of these same students would be offended at what you said if you threw around racial epithets the same way they throw around these terms.

The other thing that bothers me almost as much as the actual statements themselves is that, as usual, he gave an apology, calling it “his mistake” later that day in another interview. When someone comes out and says “I hate gay people,” they’re very clear. There’s nothing to apologize for. I understand when someone says something because they’re naïve and don’t realize it will be offensive. There’s no naïveté involved in saying “[Gays] shouldn’t be in the world or the United States.” That’s straight-up bigotry. Tim Hardaway isn’t sorry he’s a bigot. He’s sorry that he lost his job with the NBA and that people will look at him in a negative light. His image is and should be tarnished.

This is America. So obviously, he has the right to say this and he has the right to feel how he wants to about homosexuals. But we also have the right to judge him as a bigot and a person who has shown what a small mind he has.

Some people make the point as to why we care about what athletes say. We care because sports are a microcosm of society. Maybe not always completely accurate as to the rest of society, but in those locker rooms of basketball teams and football teams and baseball teams are people who represent all that is good and bad about our society. When bad things exist in the mind of those athletes, it usually means it exists outside in our society as well.

Mike Matheny Retires

This is actually relatively old news at this point, having been announced last Thursday, but former Cardinal catcher Mike Matheny retired from baseball after 13 seasons. All of us here at MWSF(which of course is just me) want to wish him well in his future endeavors, and I decided there's no better time than to discuss the catcher's achievements than now.

Matheny was a very fierce competitor who from previous interviews and seasons worked very hard in Spring Training and the off-season trying to improve his anemic batting average. While in St. Louis, he worked several off-seasons with 2005 MVP Albert Pujols, working on improving his stroke, even considering becoming a switch-hitter fairly late in his career to try to improve upon his career .239 average.

His best season came in 2005, his first season with the Giants, when he only batted .242, but hit 13 home runs and drove in 59 runs(both career highs) and posted an OPS of .701(also a career high). That year was also the last of his four gold gloves(others in 2000, 2003 and 2004, all with St. Louis). Other career highs include his .261 batting average in St. Louis in 2000, his first season with the Cardinals, and his strong 2003 season where he had a career high .320 on-base and played in 141 games.

His career highs, offensively, are not impressive, but they don't really fully depict what Matheny meant to his teammates and especially to his pitchers.

From the above linked article on ESPN.com: "As my catcher and as a person he just meant so much to me," said Giants pitcher Matt Morris, who also threw to Matheny in St. Louis. "On the field he taught me how to be a professional. Off the field he taught me to be a man and a respectful person. He's going to be sorely missed by everybody."

This appeared to be how many pitchers viewed him, as well as his former manager with the Cardinals Tony La Russa, who at one point questioned out loud that, had Mike Matheny been healthy to catch for Rick Ankiel in that 2000 NLDS, whether Ankiel would be the star pitcher that everyone in St. Louis envisioned he would be.

His work with Yadier Molina has turned Molina into one of the best defensive catchers in the majors as well, so by that coaching job, I honestly hope to see Matheny in a Cardinal uniform as a coach someday.

He seems, by all accounts, including the account of my wife, who had the opportunity to meet him in the St. Louis clubhouse after my brother-in-law took a batting practice ball to the head during pre-game one time, to be a wonderful person and a clubhouse leader. My wife has been completely in awe of Matheny since that day, far before I ever met her.

Mike Matheny--Not that you're reading this, but I'll talk directly to you anyway--have a wonderful life away from baseball, and we hope to see you back sometime as a coach. You'd make an excellent one.

This week's game and picks!

Shorter post today, because I'm traveling this weekend.

4-2 last week, with the disappointment of Wisconsin losing(from what I've heard, Wisconsin has never fared well at IU in the Bo Ryan era, so not as big of an upset as you might imagine).

After the 4-2 week, I rest at a respectable but not great 10-8.

Back down to just four games this week!

First game:

Saturday, 2:30 CST - Gonzaga at Pepperdine

With no real games of top 25 teams facing off this weekend, I'm forced to go hunting in the regional listings. Gonzaga and Pepperdine are typically the top two teams in the WCC, but not this year. Gonzaga, while not up to their normal level, are still the class of the conference. Pepperdine, meanwhile is hurting this year, off to a 6-16 D-1 record. The obvious pick here then is Gonzaga.

Saturday, 7:00 CST - Minnesota at Illinois

I was going to try to avoid taking an Illinois game again, but the lineup - as stated earlier, is pretty weak during the Saturday games. To be brief, Minnesota is in too much of a state of disarray, and I'll pretty much take any Big 10 team, maybe short of Penn State to beat them, so the pick here, especially at home is Illinois.

UPSET ALERT!
Monday, 8:00 CST - #23 Texas at #8 Texas A&M

This is probably stupid, but I'm gonna go with the man-child Durant and pick the upset. I'm still not sold on A&M, although I probably should be, considering by the only game I saw, they REALLY pushed at that time #1 UCLA. But regardless of that, I'll take Texas.

Wednesday, 8:00 CST - #3 North Carolina at #10 Duke

It's at Duke, which makes me lean towards them, but I'm not sure if they have the horses to keep up with North Carolina and the upbeat style that is allowing them to blow teams out. Neither side will come into this game unprepared. When it's a rivalry game, you almost always have to go with the home team, if they're at all evenly matched. So against my better judgment, I'm going to say Duke wins narrowly at home(but watch for the rematch, because I can't imagine I'll pick Duke at UNC.)

Recap!

Gonzaga over Pepperdine
Illinois over Minnesota
Texas over Texas A&M
Duke over UNC

I'll seeing a big 2-2 coming at me this week, but praying for one of my upsets.