SB Nation User Blog: Roz

Nothing Left But Bare Trees

Roz — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:31:36 -0000

It ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, as we quietly knew, even before the last 4:00 TV timeout , that we had come to the end of the line. The proverbial fork could have been "stuck in" us somewhere/anywhere in the mid second half, when another just-sparked Louisville run was hatched still born as a Card big man would become entangled in his own feet, or a body to body potential foul call would be left to "play on," or another methodical Spartan three would rattle in by one of MSU's unmissing, automaton-like guards. It would all keep us in our place. The phrase that "there's always tomorrow" began to fall as empty as the seats in the far off environs we witnessed in the tournament's early rounds.

It's always hard when it's over. So complete. Final. At sometime late yesterday afternoon, you could almost physcially feel part of your spirit, part of your soul, leave your body. For those of you who traveled, the ride back home must have been rough. I can just imagine while mile posts and road signs rushed by, you all went through the mandatory various stages of grief...point by point just like Dr Phil and the rest of the media psychologists say you must. They are all MoFos.

Well, we were beaten soundly. Maybe not "behind the woodshed" soundly, but they were the better team yesterday. There was no chicanery. No trickery or finesse. Just them on top of us.

Izzo's game plan worked nicely. Take the air out of the ball. Use up clock. Control the boards. We had no answer. And the fact that we didn't get any breaks (it would have been nice if a foul were called when Sosa was decked as the ball slowly rolled out of bounds-potential four point swing) didn't help either.. They played like a herd of elephants, and took away our speed to the point that we scored NO fast break points in the entire game.

And much of the loss was in the center position: They had a professional; we had an amateur. He hit outside shot after outside shot and, particularly in the first half, this wrecked us. Our center was slow and can't jump. Our center has a decent power move, is a wide body, takes up space, is a good free throw shooter, and has a good work ethic. But he has always worn cement shoes, will never have good feet, and has his own shot blocked as often as he blocks an opponent's shot. Yes, he's only a frosh, but he's twenty, not eighteen, and among players of national programs, he will remain undistinguished.

So the bomb has detonated. The Geiger count is high. We look around this radioactive landscape and imagine what lies before us. Next year we will rebuild. Don't get so discouraged, it won't be so bad. Little by little we'll pick up the pieces. There will be green shoots among the bare trees. Despite losing Andre, we gain that kid from Seattle, and we will be rich in guards, embarrassingly so. Our center position is filled, warts and all, and with the two returning will be at least adequate. What scares us is the 3, and the 4. And for now, at least, it is hard to imagine PKay bringing the ball past mid court and not handing it off to Williams for the set up...perhaps for a whip pass underneath to Earl for an easy bucket.

Goodbyes, hugs, and kisses to E5 and 'Dre. Thanks for it all. Everything.

Waves to TWILL. Yeah, he kind of disappeared a little bit yesterday on offense, but he played good D, made great passes, and rebounded like hell.

There will never be another TWILL.

We were lucky there was one.

On God's Answering Machine

Roz — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:55:29 -0000

"I know it's been a while since I've been in touch. I know you've been busy with the terrible economy, and the government bail out, and the Mid Eastern thing, and filling out your March brackets. Oh yeah, thanks for the new President, he was on TV last night filling out his brackets, too. I saw him playing hoops a while back; he played point, looked good, but I wish he would go to his right once in a while.

Now, you know that it's coming. You know I'm gonna ask a favor, but I'll try not to ask for too big of one.

I'm not gonna ask you to let the Cards run the table and streak to sixteen straight victories and become NCAA champions.

I'm only asking that you not let us lose our last game this season.

That would be great.

Sorry I missed ya. And thanks for everything.

Hit me back, sometime."

Psychological Study/Quick Hits

Roz — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:50:09 -0000

If you hit your Wiffle Ball into Jim Boheim's back yard, he'd sigh deeply, wait for you to come by to claim it, and then humorlessly give you a twenty minute lecture on private property law, torts, and how, as a coach, he is really a "teacher," and that he will take this opportunity to teach you not to hit your ball into his yard.

If you hit a Wiffle Ball into Jim Calhoun's yard, he'd scurry out, like some burrowing animal, look around so that no one was watching, furtively pick it up and run back into the house. There the sour puss coach would put it with the 1114 other Wiffle Balls he had stolen over the years, count them all again, and with a glazed look, imagine how their impending sale on Ebay would help augment his skimpy $140,000 per year pension from the state of Connecticut.

If you hit a Wiffle Ball into Jay Wright's yard, he'd smile, jog off the back porch, pick it up, go into a playful little windup, toss it back and yell toward you, "Hey, do you think you can show me how to throw a knuckleball sometime?"

Quick Hits

Biggest play was in the first minute of the second half, when "The Suit" hit the second three pointer from the left flank to cut the lead to three. Such shock and awe that 'Nova called the TO and when Preston strode back to his gleeful teammates on the Cardinal bench, his huge cajones, rolling around in a wheelbarrow, preceded him.

Edgar, who at one time (after the A&M game two years ago) probably thought he might be a premier point guard in the country, finally seems to realize that he might only be the fourth best guard on the TEAM. Yeah, he might have made a bad pass last night, but it wasn't too spectacularly bad, and again, he seemed genuinely happy in his teams success.

Mr Jennings...we couldn't have done it without this beautiful MoFo. He had great energy just when we needed it the most. Timely rebounds. A blocked shot or two, and a couple of free throws.

Swop, as Frank points out, will be a very good four year player, and he did get a rebound last night, and he does spell the other big guys, and I know he'll be spending eons in the weight room. But doesn't he remind you of the new born Bambi at this stage...still moist...shaky legs...and all?

Samardo - I keep forgetting that you are a frosh and I know I've been way too hard on you. I like your work ethic. I like the way you can make your free throws. Last night, though, every time I looked around you were on your can, sprawling on the hardwood. It almost seemed like you were playing in quicksand. It seemed as though somebody had drugged you...and not in a good way.

TWILL, I hope your eye will be OK. Man do we have some rebuilding to do when this guy leaves. As I said before, he, even more so than Earl, can be substituted for, but n e v e r replaced.

Have a great day, everybody.

Roz

Anybody Ever Go To Vegas For The NCAA's?

Roz — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:40:24 -0000

I was just wondering if anybody ever experienced March Madness in the desert city.

I guess there are huge game rooms where you can wager, drink, eat, curse your losses, cheer your wins, ogle the snow cones of your server named "Traci," and be part of some heathen mob who's aim in life is to push the envelop toward the scarey edge of hedonism...only leaving to answer nature's call or to steal a few winks. All done with close friends, Army buddies, and best roommates. Comrades on the garish, grotesque, Las Vegas strip.

Sounds appealing to me.

But hell, maybe you guys do all this now.

It brings to mind one of my favorite beginnings to 20th century American literature and your own Sir Hunter Thompson.

"We were half way to Barstow when the drugs kicked in."

Or something like that.

Once Upon A Time

Roz — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:39:16 -0000

Recently, fellow poster, Hari Seldon, pointed out that many of the younger generation, don’t really care about what happened years ago, don’t really care that Unitas went to UofL, don’t really care about history. He was correct, of course, but that doesn’t make it right.

So we play Cincy today. Huggins, Thuggins, Kenyon Martin, maybe Nick Van X, if you go back that far.

Well, there was a basketball program up the Ohio long before that.

Oscar Robertson, the “Big O’ (before every half way decent player had a flashy nickname) may have been the best college player of all time, better than Alcindor, better than Walton. He led the Bearcats to national prominence in the late ‘50’s and along with Jerry West of West Virginia, became one of the best NBA players in history. He was a tall two guard with a great jumper, excellent assist man, and could rebound. I always preferred West in the NBA because of his defense, but Oscar once averaged a Triple Double for the SEASON.

The Cincinati Bearcats, led by Ed Jucker, went to five Final Fours in a row. I’m gonna say that again, FIVE Final Fours in a row. And much of this was accomplished after Oscar graduated. The early 60’s team led by George Wilson, Tom Thacker, and Ron Bonham, won the NCAA championship two years in a row, and were nipped by Loyola of Chicago in OT in their third attempt. The vanquished victims in the championship games were the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeye team was led by Jerry Lucas, Larry Siegfried, John Havlicek, Mel Nowell (who all had significant NBA careers), and a slow moving, always gunning, substitute guard, named Bob Knight, who couldn’t shoot, and played shitty defense. And by the way, three of the Final Fours were played, you guessed it, at Freedom Hall.

Yeah, it was long, long ago, but that should not make Cincy’s accomplishment less distinguished, less important. It was hard to win an NCAA championship back then, too.

And to diminish their run merely because so much time has gone by, will, at some point, begin to diminish our championship years of 1980 and 1986. After all, it has been a while between sips for us, too.

And we all know what George Santayana said about history and stuff:

“Those who fail to learn from the events of history are destined never to return to the Final Four.”

WHAT THE HECK IS ON TV TONIGHT?

Roz — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:52:51 -0000

9:00 PM NBC FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - For the fourth week in a row, Dillon High scores as time runs out in yet another heart stopping victory. As always, it strikes me as odd, that although there is no Public Address announcer, or no play by play booth announcer, every gosh darn play is described in great detail by somebody, somewhere, perhaps the guy sitting next to you in the stadium, yelling a bull horn into your ear: “WITH FOUR SECONDS, THREE SECONDS, TWO SECONDS, RIGGINS FAKES LEFT, AND DIVES......IT’S A TOUCHDOWN, IT’S A TOUCHDOWN.” The best character on television is the team booster who also owns the local GM automobile dealership. Lots of clichés on the show, but take heart, there will be blondes....Oh yes, there will be blondes.

9:00 PM FX RANT Denis Leary versus Dennis Miller. Two out of three falls. Next week, Rachel Maddow versus Ann Coulter.

9:00 PM TNT MURDER SHE WROTE Tonight, a nine hour marathon. Episode one: Jessica solves a murder in Cabot Cove. Dick Van Dyke guests. You can open up a vein any time now.

9:00 CNN LARRY KING LIVE In another theme show Larry interviews Hollywood stars who have played “God” in motion pictures and television. Guests include Morgan Freeman, Alanis Morrissette and the late George Burns.

3:45 AM ESPN OCHO AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL - North Borneo United takes on Perth in an Upper Division tilt (joined live).

10:00 PM TMC “WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S VI” –more madcap hijinks with Andrew McCarthy and that very ripe body in the back of a 1969 AMC Pacer.

10:00 PM A&E DIAGNOSIS MURDER - Angela Landsbury joins the cast tonight, as “Jessica,” an old friend, and maybe more than an old friend, of her former mentor, Dick Van Dyke. Will sparks fly?

9:30 PM THE BREAKFAST CLUB CHANNEL Tonight, the eighties coming of age movie, “The Breakfast Club.” Teenage angst on a Saturday morning detention stint as seen by director John Hughes. It’s all here: The American Princess, The Jock, The High School Badboy, The Nerd, and The Goth (wonderfully played by Ally Sheedy) who wears black every day of the week and on Friday wears “festive black.” She is a true weirdsmobile and twenty-two per cent of you who are now reading this had a crush on somebody like her in High School. Is The Prick School Teacher the same guy who plays the Prick Boss in Office Space? I don't know. Music by Simple Minds.

9:45 PM TLC SPORTS HANDYMAN - Master Norwegian carpenter Laars Swendseeeeeen, begins construction on a wrestling ring. Tonight: The Turnbuckle.

10:15 AMC "MOST OVERRATED TV SHOWS EVER," premiers. Tonight, Number 14, "Everybody Loves Raymond."

In this episode: After paging through the new National Geographic, Raymond’s father gets a small woodie; Raymond’s wife overcooks the lasagna; Raymond tries on a pair of new bowling shoes.

*****

I'm glad Thabeet didn't get hurt badly last night. The play just about made me sick. Just like Luke falling on his white cranium that time. Let's get straightened out this week.

There's Samardo

Roz — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:04:00 -0000

Everybody says we were intimidated...everybody says we were intimidated...everybody says we were intimidated.

I'm not so sure about that. Let's play the new children's game, "Where's Samardo."

He's the one in the Sopwith Camel, second on the left, wearing a World War I skull cap, and his knees are shaking so hard that the joy stick is registering a 6.4 on the Richter Scale.

http://www.edexcellence.net/flypaper/images/20080915kingkong.jpg

Yesterday's Open Thread

Roz — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:33:11 -0000

When I reviewed the transcript of yesterday's open thread I noticed Mike say that he was in Nashville.

Maybe he is in Nashville to work on his masters at Vanderbilt, "The Harvard Of The South."

....I went to UCLA.

....for lunch. It was in the mid-eighties. Nice. Free range pork medalions, truffle glaze, new potatoes, an apricot reduction chutney, served with a crisp chardonay which featured slight persimmons highlights and just a suggestion of pear.

Great old line I once heard from Gus Johnson, the announcer about some Ohio boys going to UCLA:

U pper

C anton

L ower

A kron

Have a great Sunday, everybody. Long wait till kickoff. Even longer wait till tomorrow night.

Roz

Yet she insists she's not in "the tank" for the new President.

Roz — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:47:48 -0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrLiBp4nxyg

Yet she insists she's not in "the tank" for the new President.

Well...um...ah...well...yeah.

Roz — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:44:51 -0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjkP_YSWNjM

Well...um...ah...well...yeah.