This week's post was going to be mostly about my family's trip to DC...But things didn't work out quite as we planned...We were to leave on Thursday...Monday the wife got a stomach bug...By Tuesday she was fine, but I got it Monday night...I took Tuesday off to try and beat it...Wednesday I was back at work...By Wednesday night, I was dying...Fever over 104, chills, puking, shits, pure hell...I wasn't better Thursday, and the baby got a touch of it...Slight fever, and the Hershey squirts...

The wife and other two kids went...The whole reason for the trip/family get together was her uncle's military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery...


As they rolled into town the first thing they saw was the Washington Monument...I later found out from my brother-in-law that Little Beeze started calling it "The Mega-Weiner"...That's my boy!


There he is with his big sister at "The Mega Weiner."


Here's the boy at The Smithsonian...They were really excited to go there...They were talking about it for a couple weeks...The Mrs. talked about coming back Saturday, knowing that I was having a rough time, and she was missing the baby...But I told her no way...They had to go to the Smithsonian....There was no way they were going to get short-changed because I had the shits...

They got back Sunday, and Molly went bat-shit crazy when they pulled in...She was dying to see her big brother and sister, and mom...It made Mother's Day nice, having mom get home...

So while they were away, what did me and my peanut do, besides being sick...Well, she got over it quick...I didn't start feeling well until Saturday, and then I was still rundown...Over the course of these few days we played a lot at our front window...


That's her favorite place to play with her toys, color, and eat...Oh, and watch the birds, squirrels, and bunnies that hang around our yard...A few mornings we threw some bread out there for the birds, and then she got a kick out of watching them eat...

We also watched plenty of Baseball...Mostly Indians vs Red Sox...Let me say this, it was great seeing the Indians beat the hell out of stupid Josh Beckett, and his over-inflated, arrogant, ego...The Tribe ran his ass in 2 innings, which was good, because I had to go blow mud...Then came the Red Sox bullpen...What a Island of Misfits Toys that thing is...Then the next night was the battle of two mental defective pitchers...Ubaldo Jimenez, and Clay Bucholz...These two dolts just don't want to win games, the way they've been pitching...

The next two games the Sox beat the Tribe down...But the Red Sox pitching has some serious problems...But Saturday's game wasn't really on my radar...I had more important things to do...Early in the day we went to The Hooley...A fun little neighborhood street party with two stages, food, drinks, and more...Molly enjoyed the pony ride, and the Irish Dancers...

After we got home she had a long nap...We had dinner, and got ready to watch the Rangers take on the Capitals in game 7...She wasn't going to bed anytime soon after that nap, let-alone with dad fired up, on the edge of his seat, rooting on his Rangers, who squeaked out a 2-1 win...Monday they take on New Jersey in the Conference Finals...

And for the people who hate on the Rangers like they're the Yankees...Hockey ain't Baseball...Hockey has a salary cap...The Rangers aren't rocking some kind of Yankees like advantage...They've got a team of mostly home grown talent, hard working grinders...Not two lines of super stars...And for the people who cry and go back to the Rangers in the '90s...Yeah, they spent a ton of money, on star vets...What did they get for it...One Cup...They aren't the Yankees...And it was teams spending like that, that got Hockey to fix itself...So fuck off...Thank the Rangers, and watch them take it home this year!

And shit, I can hear the conspiracy theorists now, if it ends up New York, and LA in the Finals...Wake up dummies, and actually watch some Hockey...Look it how these two teams goalies have played...They're un-fucking-real...

Go Rangers, fuck everyone else!

Have a week...

The Beeze.

The Kansas Jayhawks had a terrific season.  I think they were ranked high in the preseason polls and picked to win the Big XII due more to their reputations and history rather than true talent.  Yet, the Jayhawks played to their ranking and preseason predictions.  They won their 8^th straight conference title and were ranked in the top 10 for most of the season.  They earned a number 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  While these accomplishments don’t seem like a surprise, I have to honestly admit they really exceeded my true expectations.

KU featured a fine starting five and a very thin bench.  When the season started, Tyshawn Taylor had more career minutes played than all of his teammates combined at Kansas.  Jayhawk fans are used to a solid rotation of 8 or 9 almost every season.  This team played its bench only when it was necessary.  Yet, they found a way to succeed and play to the seemingly unrealistic preseason predictions.  Mirroring the toughness of their head coach, Bill Self, Kansas fought and scraped their way to success.  Few games were easy or runaways and the Jayhawks seemed to be playing from behind much of the season.  They found a way to win game after game. 

The NCAA Tournament followed the established pattern for the Jayhawks.  They didn’t play well in the first halves and those kids were able to turn things around in the second halves, making furious comebacks in several postseason games.  Even in the championship game, the Jayhawks struggled early and found themselves digging themselves out of a hole late.

Kentucky is a fine team.  There has been little doubt the Wildcats were the best team throughout a down year in college basketball.  They were young but talented and athletic.  Coach John Calipari got them to buy into his system and to play defense, a deathly combination for the opposition.

There is no doubt Kentucky was more talented and athletic, player for player, than Kansas.  The Wildcats dominated the first half and it was all the Jayhawks could do not to be blown out and embarrassed.  KU popped out of the locker room after the half just as they did several other games.  Kansas made a couple of shots and made a couple of defensive stops.  In my opinion, the key play of the game was when Jeff Withey failed to get an easy dunk through the cords early in the second half.  KU had cut into the lead and their fans were just starting to feel the momentum swing.  If that dunk goes down, who knows if the outcome would have been different.  So much happened after that play.  Immediately though, UK scored a basket and snuffed the Jayhawks’ growing momentum.  I want to make it clear that I am not blaming Withey for this loss.  Without him, KU would never have been even close to the championship game.  It just happened to be his missed dunk that I felt was the key.

From that point, KU ever so slowly scraped their way back into the game but never really gained that feeling of momentum.  The Wildcats seemed to be on the verge of allowing the Jayhawks back into the game mentally but with that failed dunk, Kansas seemed to lose a little something.  They eventually cut their deficit to 5 points but never closer.  UK kept them at arms length and eventually outlasted the comeback.

But that missed dunk wasn’t the only missed opportunity for the Jayhawks.  KU missed 3 dunks and 13 lay-ups through the course of the game.  The fantastic Anthony Davis had a lot to do with Kansas’ tightness around the rim.  Still, KU only lost by 8 points.  If KU had cashed in on just a few of those missed chances, things could have been much different.  Make the dunks (the highest percentage shot possible) and just a couple of the missed bunnies, then maybe there would have been a different result in the outcome.

It is futile to play the “what if” game.  It serves no purpose and it does take away from a great performance by the Wildcats.  I mention these key blown opportunities because it shows that the game wasn’t that far from having a different result. 

I heard a talking head yesterday speaking about how this only proves that Kentucky is the best program and how John Calipari is by far the best coach in college basketball.  All of his arguments sounded pre-written.  I think if KU would have won, this guy would have just replaced Kentucky with Kansas and John Calipari with Bill Self.  His arguments would have held weight for whichever school and coach, depending on who won the game.  He went on and on about now it wasn’t even close to which school and coach was best.  He said no one could argue the point anymore.  My point is that the discussion is still closer than this guy wanted to admit.  Three dunks and a couple of lay ups and who knows.  Kentucky had a fine season and played a heck of a championship game and they deserved the title but KU wasn’t that far behind.

Bill Self proved that he must be counted among the game’s finest coaches.  He has shown in the past that he is a top notch recruiter and has been able to get top players to adhere to his system.  He proved this season he could coach a team with less talent but with huge hearts and still win.  Coach Self and this team should be very proud of their season and the final results.  I know the fans are.  The worst thing is that we now have to wait seven months for the next edition of the Kansas Jayhawks.

Read my movie and TV reviews at jawsrecliner.com.  Catch up on small market baseball news at bigbrotherbaseballproject.com.  Get twitter updates @jawsrecliner

The start of the college baseball NCAA tournament is a reminder that the spring sports are winding down and we’re only 3 months away from the start of college football.

The big news of late is that Jim Tressel will not be at Ohio St., so while I’m writing, I wanted to share a couple of thoughts about that. He did win an especially mythical national championship in the 2002 season, but I think there was something missing between getting good athletes and having them put forth the best effort at getting another. Maybe the compliance problems were related, maybe not, but hopefully Tressel’s departure is a step toward Ohio St., who I expect to continue to be a major program in college football, being a better representative of the sport.

Of course, most of my attention (to the extent I’ve been paying attention to football at all) has been directed toward the Fighting Tigers of Louisiana State University. More of this attention was available than usual in the spring due to the disappointing basketball and baseball seasons at LSU.

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Well it's been quite a while since the last time I did one of these. I feel really bad about my long absence over the past few months, so I feel I should at least explain as to why I have not done any new blogs yet. Also, I will just touch briefly on a few things that need to be addressed. So, let's get started.

MY ABSENCE - To start off, I am currently a freshman at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. I have a Communications major which I have heard from people is a relatively simple major, but I could really give two shits about what other people think about that. Namely, I want to go down either the sportswriter lane, or a writer for TV/film. I feel like I have a pretty creative personality and can think up some pretty demented things if I actually tried, so it would be cool seeing my ideas come up on the big screen (or small screen if there are ideas that are a bit more relaxed). I have one semester under my belt and, to say the least, I was completely stunned when I realized that I had a GPA of 3.62! I say "stunned" because I have never had grades that good before. To put the cherry on top, I received an e-mail regarding an invitation to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (i.e. Honors Society) branch at my school. I had a prime focus on my work, so I really apologize for my extended absence, but I think it might have paid off in the long haul.

SB AFTERMATH - I was a bit upset over the Steelers losing to the Packers to Super Bowl XLV 31-25, but (surprisingly) I got over it pretty quickly. The Steelers played like shit while the Packers capitalized on their mistakes. They deserved to win that game and the fact that the Steelers had a chance to win that game was shocking. To the Packers fans on this site, your team earned it and I congratulate your team on the victory.

RETURN OF THE CADAVERS - Yes, the city of Cleveland has been through sports hell, but this is pretty bad. The Cavs lost tonight to the Pistons (Thank you Detroit for not fucking around and losing like people predicted you would) and are now co-owners of the longest losing streak of the four major American professional leagues, a 26-losing skid, tied with the Tampa Bay Yuckaneers ofthe 1970s. Seriously, I feel really bad for those guys because no one deserves to have this happen. Gee, if only a certain jackass had not decided to "take his 'talents' to South Beach" and ditch them in the night.

MAD MAGIC MAN - Why the hell are people talking about Dwight Howard ditching the Magic after the 2011-12 season? This is not LeJackass, this is Dwight. He is, along with Chauncey Billups and Derek Fisher, my favorite guys in the NBA now and I do not really like seeing Howard get this kind of smack talked about him. Why can't the man just play the game? He will get angry and, wait for it, you won't like him when he's angry.

MOUNTAIN MADNESS - Now I know I will seem like a bandwagon guy here when I say this, but I love seeing the boys from Brigham Young and (more importantly, at least for me) San Diego State up with the guys from the big time schools. I like to see some parity in college basketball and, in a way taking the place of Butler, comes the Cougars and Aztecs.

There is probably more I am forgetting, but that is all for now. I hope this clears up everything a bit better now.