There’s no fighting here at Random Sports?? Brooklyn has best backcourt in NBA?? Beezer is happy about Wild?? All this and more in this weeks edition of…

Wow, I finally endorse my own blog. That’s me relaxing at the pool. I don’t know which was worse. The 100 degree temperature or the warm water in the swimming pool. Still had a great time.

Richard Roundtree turned 70 this week. Wow, with that here is the theme to SHAFT.

Wow the Nets have started to make things interesting.

First they announced that they traded for Joe Johnson, the six-time all-star from Atlanta. Brooklyn traded Anthony Morrow, Jordan Farmar, Jordan Williams, Johan Petro, DeShawn Stevenson and the Rockets 2013 lottery protected first round pick to get Johnson. Johnson averaged 17.8 points per game in his 11-year NBA career.

Then the Nets resigned Gerald Wallace on a 4-year deal worth 40 million.

But, the best news was Deron Williams saying he will be signing with the Brooklyn Nets. The three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA point guard will become the face of the franchise as the Nets move to Brooklyn and into their new palace, the Barclay Center. Williams deal is expected to be $108 million for 5-years.

The Clippers sent Reggie Evans to the Nets, in a sign-and-trade. The rebounding machine will get $5 million over three years.

I am glad the Nets stopped going after D12, and resigned Brook Lopez. Now they can keep their 3 number one picks. A line-up of Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace, Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries (hopefully the Nets resign him) would be pretty good.

Do the Nets have the best backcourt in the NBA? There aren’t too many that can match the point output that Johnson and Williams can provide.

There is plenty of player movement in the NBA. When the dust settles on July 11^th teams will look a lot different then they did at the end of the 2011-2012 season.

Nash to Lakers. Ray Allen to Heat. Kidd and Cambry to the Knick. Novak resigns with Knicks. Lin-sanity to sign with Houston and Knicks to match.

In the Beezer’s “State of Hockey Wants to Live Up to It’s Name” he toots the horn about the Wild’s signing of the biggest free agents in the NHL Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. The Beeze states “I love this move for Minnesota...I love it for Hockey...The western Conference just got more competitive…”

To see his blog go to this link:

http://www.yougabsports.com/pt/State-of-Hockey-Wants-to-Live-Up-to-Its-Name.7-5-2012/blog.htm

True they needed to do something to “take them over the top.” But to “buy players” to do it. If the Wild win the Stanley Cup will the analysts say they bought the Stanley Cup?

Don’t rush to say no. If the Yankees would have signed “Prince Albert” and Prince Fielder everyone would have said the Yankees bought the World Series. So what’s the difference between what the Wild did or what the Yankees could have done?

I think the NFL came up with the greatest idea this week. They will allow those at NFL games see what the ref is looking at when they go to the replay booth. That’s right, you will be able to see what the lead official is viewing on the sideline monitor. Fans will see the exact same angles at the exact time the ref is viewing it.

Sunday, during the Rangers-Twins game the scariest thing happened. Here is the clip:

You can hear it on the TV. Can you imagine what it sounded like at the Stadium.

You have to see this video of a brawl between two men at a Little League baseball game near Columbus, Georgia. It started when one man asked another man to turn down his music he was playing after the game. First it was words exchanged than it was punches exchanged. The fight was taken from a person at the game.

Sorry for the advertisement. You can skip it after 5 seconds.

Attendance for the 2011 NFL season was the lowest since 2002.

Til next time

Scott

It has been a crazy couple of days filled with shock, anger, confusion, joy and, of course, anger. Whether it be the always thrilling excitement of seeing a free throw contest to having your star player thrown to the ground like a cheap Raggedy Andy doll to having the sole reason why the Pittsburgh Steelers were eliminated in the playoffs last season getting traded to the bastard child team of the New Jersey-New York area, an area in which I reside in, then there were feelings all over to be had. First, it would not be a proper arrticle if I did not include a funny image relating to the title, so here is this to (maybe) tickle the funny bone.

T

here now that we got that out of the way, let's continue.

Speaking of things that make my piss boil whenever they are mentioned: basketball officiating. I love when a basketball game that has a Final Four berth at stake and has two very commanding powers in college basketball like Ohio State and Syracuse gets played on the godforsaken free throw line! I understand that foul need to be called during the course of the game, but 42 free throw attempts for Ohio State?? For fuck's sake, this is not a Division II team that is out there, it is Syracuse!  Granted, I enjoyed seeing them struggle (), but coming from a Seton Hall University student and member of the Big East, that is beside the point. Games should have even numbers of foul for both teams.... that is, unless you are the Ohio Bobcats and, while trying to become the first 13th seed to reach the Elite 8 and only getting 24 fouls called against you compared to eight for almighty North Carolina. There's bad officiating but then there is downright favoritism. There is nothing I fucking hate more than referees ruining a perfect game of college basketball. The best part of that game? Despite the calls going against them, Ohio had a Gordon Hayward moment and missed the game winner by a sliver.

Now to the big boys, you would think that after all the nasty events that occurred in the history of the National Basketball Association, from the Kermit Washington/Rudy Tomjanovich punch to the Malice at the Palace to the Knicks/Nuggets brawl, one would think that these bums would realize that, while they have to do their best on the court, there is a limit between playing your best and acting like a thug on the streets. That brings us to the Colorado State product known as Jason Smith.He is thrown into the national spotlight due to his hip check of doom that sent Clippers uber star Blake Griffin tumbling into the hardwood. Smith was ejected and the New Orleans crowd cheered. That would be all fine and dandy for people for stand and applaud for a player that got decked by another, potentially harming the player who fell to the ground, only to see that the decked player got up, no harm being done in the process.... except that the crowd was cheering for the ejected Smith, who left the floor like he just became the heavyweight champion of the world.  Seriously? All I can say is....

Nothing more really. Funness for all! Right????

67 free throws...

67!!! Unfucking believable...

Am I bitter??? You bet your fucking ass I'm bitter.

These fucksticks that called themselves refs shouldn't be allowed back on the floor. A simple brush-by play by OSU was called as a blocking foul on Syracuse... 

Watch any of the other games and you will see the same play a hundred times and the game will continue until the player driving with the ball either passes it or takes a shot. The game won't stop 40 feet from the basket. The game won't take almost 4 fucking hours to play because the dumbasses in the stripped shirts want to be on TV longer...

How in all that's fucking holy does OSU win that game if the ref's don't send them to the free-throw line 42 FUCKING TIMES... 42.. FORTY-TWO!!! SAY IT OUT LOUD... FOUR-TEE-TWO... OSU was 31-42 from the charity stripe tonight... Syracuse was 20-25 from the stripe.

Go ahead... Do the math... I'll wait...

Did you figure it out?

Easy, wasn't it... 

Fucking zebras...HOLY FUCK!!!

How many times did they change their minds on who had the inbounds play on the one call??? First it was out on OSU, then Thad, WHO THE FUCK CALLS THEIR KID THAD, cries and gets the call reversed, then they say it is SU's ball, then no, it's OSU's ball, nope, back to SU, then FINALLY the douche nosle gerble smugglers give the ball to OSU.

3 other times OSU threw the ball out of bounds and the needle-dick bug-fuckers gave the ball back to them because a SU player WAS ON THE FLOOR IN THE GENERAL AREA AND MAY HAVE TOUCHED THE BALL...

Are you fucking kidding me???

Jesus fucking H Christ... I just got a foul called for typing this post too loud...

FUCK YOU ZEBRAS I HOPE YOU ALL DIE IN A FIERY CRASH!!!

FUCKTARDS!!!

Why wasn't Carter-Williams on the floor? Why did Boehiem only use 3 bench guys when he saw that the blind motherfucking piece of shit knob-gobblers were blowing their whistles like Sanduski blowing 10 year olds at a Cub Scout Convention??? Boeheim got his FIRST technical foul of the SEASON a few minutes into the game because of some retarded call the refs made... Should have known it was going to be one of those nights... Good thing I had plenty of alcohol...

All I can hope for now is UNC to lose to Kansas and Kentucky to get past Baylor and I will have 3 of the Final 4 in a money bracket at work... Louisville winning against Florida was a nice surprise... I had turned the TV off to head over to a friends house to watch the refs ruin a perfectly good game that was yet to be played when L'ville was down by 8 with about 10 minutes to play.

FUCK YOU REFS...

No... Really... FUCK YOU!!!

S.

This morning I heard that out of 5.7 million brackets known to ESPN only two. 2, count 'em T.W.O got the final four right. It's possible that over the larger group not known to ESPN there are a few more but when one applies the empirical odds, a “few” is about right. Naturally I give congratulations to these teams but only as I'm making sure that there are not sharp objects or things that shoot convenient to the NCAA or the (damn) media. However great a story this may seem to the public, it's a disaster to those running the tournament and those broadcasting it as well as those talking or writing about it. Why, you ask. Well, here are a few reasons.

1. Publicity. Advertising is sold on the notion that the more popular teams are those that audiences will watch. Of the four remaining contenders, Kentucky has the broadest appeal but that doesn't touch the numbers following a Duke or an Ohio State. Certainly VCU has their followers but not a significant number to wow the people putting up the sponsorship money for the games.

2. The Cinderella Factor. Every year there are one of two team who, in spite of odds, size of school and their relative obscurity, make it beyond the nosebleed seats (otherwise known as the round of 64) and advance well into the tournament. Everyone loves a Cinderella team, the guts, the spirit, the courage....However, when Cindy gets testy and starts taking the big boys to the woodshed and coming out alone, she's getting pushy. (Butler, in it's second year of being a Cinderella must be growing tired of this. Once is wonderful, twice signifies a non-recognition of talent [See Boise State].)

3. Does it play in Peoria? No. Again, taking Peoria as sort of an everyman sort of city, who in these teams electrifies the 115,000 souls in Central Illinois? Certainly there's some interest, but, from an advertisers standpoint, frighteningly little.

4. Name That Player. Between the four survivors there really aren't any players who can draw a crowd. There are some “names”, some “All Americans” but none the level of past players, Michael Jordan for example, who can make the throng cheer.

5. One of these teams is going to win, go to Disneyland(world), meet the President of the United States and then....fade into obscurity. This isn't to infer I'd rather someone else would win, I'm saying that from a marketing standpoint it would be better if someone else won. Each year we hope and pray for upsets, for a Cinderella to emerge but in the final analysis we want a name brand to take home the top prize.

The thing about the NCAA tournament is that it's supposed to represent the best and the most talented (the two are not the same). It's a showcase for (theoretically) Amateur Sports and those guys from all over this great land having a shot at the title. All well and good. We want them to have a shot at the title, in a bizarre sort of way we want them to crush our carefully considered brackets and, God knows, the sports books in Vegas want a slightly more predictable outcome. (Let us say you put a friendly fifty on VCU to get to the Final Four or, horrors, win. What's the payout? Would Steve Wynn have to take an equity loan on one of his hotels?) I'm sure the people in Indianapolis are having a field day (and wherever VCU comes from as well. But there's a comment. I could look it up but until I heard someone say “Virginia Commonwealth University” I didn't even know what VCU stood for; Veterans Confederation of Unicorns? Vice Controllers United? And I mean that as no slur, but, be honest, how many of you more than 500 miles from Virginia knew, or had even heard of them. Until last year, Butler was the county next to Sedgwick in which Wichita is. There's a Butler Juco but no Butler University (or perhaps it's college)?

I'm going to pick Kentucky if only because in a film I quite enjoyed, “2011”, Roy Scheider's character talks about them making good Bourbon and playing good basketball. As to the other three, I know zip, nada, nul, niente, nicht, nyet. Etc. And I might even get it right. My own personal bracket, blinded by an unfounded loyalty had Kansas winning. Of course, my final four feature Kansas, Ohio State and two other non-entities. That piece of paper has been shredded, thrown from a window and blow around the corner onto the Avenida Libertador.

The coming weekend should be interesting for lots of reasons beyond just who wins and, well, who doesn't. The (damn) media and sponsors and networks are going to be watching every demographic like it was an advancing solar burst. All of them need to know if a final, and the games preceding it, have sufficient “draw” to justify the monies that will be spent on next year's tournament. The frightening thing to advertisers is that the way the NCAA sets the invitees isn't a known thing until rather too late to make or back out of sponsorship. Ditto the various networks who commit hunks of their time to shows about analysis or post mortems. It all comes down to can we feel certain that a final four of lightly known teams (and, yes, I can hear the jeers when I put UConn in that goup, but, compared to OSU, Duke, Kansas etc, they're a notch or two down save in there own area.Most fans can identify Duke or Kansas even if they aren't entirely sure where they are.) has the power to command a sufficiently large audience to be worth the investment.

Take away television and this tournament could be played in a series of High School Gyms. Sure, the faithful to this team or that would follow, but only the final game would have much meaning. There was a time when this was true and it's not so far back. Just now, the NIT-in many ways the precursor to the NCAA tournament (the NCAA owns both tournaments to clarify the point) is headed for New York and their final four. The difference over the years is that while both are invitational, the NIT was more restrictively so. When I was in my teens, fans from Wichita would hire trains to follow the “Shockers” of Wichita University when they did well at the NIT. (They're doing well this year only now it makes more sense for the loyal and faithful to hire a Boeing or two.) But few outside those associated with the university had much interest. What the NCAA did was strip some of the trappings of elitism from the NIT and make the tournament seen more as a truly national affair. As the dominoes fell, and television came along, the games could be seen everywhere, and not just in those cities or areas who had a dog in the hunt. But the problem there is that as the tournament grew in importance, the costs associated with it grew as well. Cities made big offers to host a Regional. (One city, Greensboro, North Carolina, went so far as to take an already too small stadium, the Greensboro Coliseum, and add seats that were virtually more vertical than anything else. Everyone got a “birds eye view” and not a few people were injured trying to climb the stairs leading ever up to their seat atop Mt. Blanc. Not to mention those who became physically ill as a result of Vertigo.)

The NCAA as big business is an established fact. The next thing they need to establish is that it really doesn't matter who plays, the support for the tournament outweighs remains strong regardless of who plays. Next Monday we'll all know who won the championship but not who won the war for the attention span of The United States.