Lax Escape

After a morning dominated by ad nausea ESPN coverage of Michael Vick leaving prison, and the relentless debates that ensued (should he be allowed to play in the NFL, where will he play, is he truly a man of remorse.. blechhh.!!!) I needed something healthier for the brain.  Sport that doesn’t cause repulsion.  Let’s get outside for some state championship lacrosse.

 Didn’t think I’d see the high school tournaments running longer than any of the collegiate men’s teams seasons, but here we are on May 2oth with the Century girls facing Patterson Mill for the 1A/2A title.  UMBC offering a fantastic venue on the most perfect of days to play and watch lacrosse. 

An interesting storyline as Century has a premier program led by the most premier of players.  For Patterson Mill it’s the first year of lacrosse.  First year, and in the title game.  But the cinderella story ends  for the Huskies today. 

Katie Schwartzman, who next year plays for Kathy Reese and Maryland, with 2:08 left in the first half has outscored P.M. 7-5 by herself.  Her 2nd goal of the game (a gorgeous shot after a first step quicker than Mike Vick’s out of Leavenworth… my brain has yet to fully recover) gave her 300 for her career.  Now at halftime Century leads 15-5, likely on its way to state championship number three.  Impressive for a program only in its 7th year of existence.

But seriously, I need to do this more often, and maybe we all do.  Our 24 hour news culture is dominated by so many stories that degrade, disturb, and desensitize.  But hopping in the car and joining about 300 others taking in sport at the purest of levels is helping my karma.

Burnt Ozone

Back to back for the Angels off Koji Uehara.  And then they get to punishing.  Two batters after Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales crushed homeruns, Gary Matthews smoked a line drive into the mid-section of Uehara.  L.A. takes “knocking around a pitcher” to a whole new level.  Uehara fortunately walked off the field, replaced by Danys Baez.  A shame, Uehara pitched six great innings,  but when the wheels fell off the ride ended in a hurry.

At least though, Uehara didn’t take the liner off his head like Tim Lincecum a few weeks ago. 

L.A. not just picking on Koji either, moments ago a line drive off the ankle of Baez loaded the bases.  And with a wind chill of about 42, there are some miserable Orioles right about now.

This day gets better and better…

For once, it’ s not a sarcastic headline.  Just before the first pitch, the Dean of Baltimore Sports Vince Bagli arrived in the press box.  Considering Vince created one of the main veins for me getting into the business, offering an internship 14 years ago. 

Talking with Vince is like visiting a sports museum, only with a gravelly voice.  Forget six degrees of separation, it only takes Vince three to get to anywhere.  My favorite comment so far refers to Angels pitcher Shane Loux, number 68.  “68, what kind of number is that?  Sounds like a guard who gets called for holding.”

We’ve lauded Adam Jones in center, and lamented the lack of production despite the Orioles flat out killing the ball off Loux.  And by the way, watching Jones play center reminds me of Kelly Leak in the Bad News Bears when Buttermaker told him to catch everything.  Felix Pie unfortunately plays the roll of the Ahmad Abdul Rahim.

Through three innings the Orioles lead 1-0.  It’s a slow game, considering the company, I hope it stays that way.  For those that don’t know Vince, I found this clip of him taking us through the Colts move to Indianapolis.

Rude Awakening

Hey a day game? ?  Sweet,  short sleeves, sun block, sun glasses, extreme incentive to get to work.

/walks out front door

What the *#&$^#@????

Three days of summer obliterated in one night’s sleep.  54 fun shunning degrees at Camden Yards for the conclusion of a two game series with the Angels. Sun Columnist and WBAL Radio host Peter Schmuck seems the most disheartened as he hoped to set an April record with four Hawaiian shirts adorned in a row.  At least Dave Trembley is now fully cooled off. 

A rough night for the Birds as they dropped game one to L.A.  The 7-5 loss included Trembley’s first ejection of the season.  A not so questionable balk call (no question Jamie Walker didn’t balk), sent Trembley on a trip to meltdown mountain.  A solid rant from the O’s skipper whom typically avoids such spectacles. 

At this point in a post I’d typically embed a video of the greatest Oriole Manager meltdowns (IE: anything from Earl Weaver) but the language just doesn’t suit a family style blog.

Instead, how about some Rick Dempsey interview bloopers.  God, I love youtube.

Anyway, I’ve blown on my hands eight times during the construction of this post, it’s that chilly.  And I will continue to do so in order to bring you random musings from the Oriole Park today as the O’s battle the Halos.

Standings on their head

Get your flip flops on for a quick check of the American League standings.  First place in the East: Baltimore, in the Central: Kansas City, in the West: Seattle.  What do all three have in common?  All finished last in 2008. (okay I assumed the Royals finished last. What you blame me? They finished next to last just in front of Detroit).

Can’t say nine days into the year it’s a monumental accomplishment, or that I expect the trend to continue much longer, but for the time being it provides a smile for some rather down trodden teams. 

And in Batlimore, where the streak of losing seasons has nearly reached middle school age, taking the first three series of the campaign has folks bleeding orange.  Not so much for the rest of 2009, although knowing this team will score runs makes it more fun to watch, it’s seeing the future come to life. 

Adam Jones looks like a staple for the next decade in center field, and last night in Arlington, he showed his promise at the plate (1:35 into the video please):

Pleasant thoughts from the Yards

A sun drenched 59 degrees at first pitch (for which I wasn’t yet here, too many diapers to change) at Camden Yards as the Orioles go for a sweep of the Yankees.  The bright skies part seems possible, but the whole sweep thing still causes a double take.  Kicking off the season by kicking around the most expensive team in baseball elicits a city full of smiles. 

Throughout last night’s game in which the Orioles beat the Yankees 7-5, there were pockets sporadic cheering coming from all corners of the TV-11 newsroom.  Colleagues from all over the building kept popping into the sports office to see how the game was going.  As you can imagine, that hasn’t much happened since the Clinton administration.

Don’t take this the wrong way though.  Nobody’s talking playoffs, most still think a losing season is preordained.  Yet, you can’t take away the enjoyment of the last two games.  Good pitching, clutch hitting, and knowing the gnashing of teeth in Gotham has fully commenced makes for pure entertainment.  And in these economic times, we’ll take it where we can get it.

The sweep though looks less and less likely.  Top of the 6th and the Yanks lead 4-2 with two men on.  Mark Teixeira has quieted many of the Boo Birds with a 410 foot home run and a broken bat base hit.  Speaking of which, many a national writer came to defense of Teixeira, writing as if he needs comfort from those awful Orioles fans.  Really, we need to attack the fans for booing a guy who signed a 180 million dollar contract as unemployment nears ten percent?  Perspective people please.

Since the beginning of the last paragraph the flood gates have opened.  It’s now a 7-2 NY lead thanks to one of the more improbable errors I’ve seen.  O’s reliever Brian Bass, with the bases loaded fielded a weak grounder but threw a wild pitch from 20 feet as he went home.  It’s just not easy to miss that badly from so close. 

Anyway, still a nice start to the season.

For the record: the response and what happened to the Terps

Bold musings from a guy who likes to think he knows something about college basketball (see previous post).  I probably though failed to mention, when guaranteeing VCU and North Dakota State victories, that I also backed Lehman Brothers, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and the French in most any war. 

Courtesy: Cleveland.com

courtesy: historycentral.com

Sorry about that.

The one I got right was Maryland.  The Terps didn’t lay waste to Cal, but Maryland attacked the Bears perfectly (do not try at home) using quickness on offense and a 3-2 zone.  Jerome Randle played great against Maryland’s man to man, but disappeared against that zone.  It was perfect.

Then came the day off.  More meetings with the media for players and Greivis Vasquez forgot to pack his filter.  Saying that Memphis would have a losing record in the ACC and lamenting Conference USA’s lack of talent probably didn’t make Memphis shoot 3 pointers like Larry Bird in a contest, but that did not shed a good light on the team. 

Come Saturday, Memphis looked like an elite team.  The Tigers had it inside and out, had it any way they wanted against Maryland.  At no point past the 16:00 minute mark of the first half did you think the Terps could beat Memphis.  And by the end of the game, the pro Tigers crowd derisively chanted “ACC – ACC”.  Point taken about mouth running.

But looking beyond the immediate disappointment for Maryland players, coaches, and fans.  At least the conversation continued until March 21st.  They offered great moments this season including wins over Michigan State, North Carolina, and Wake Forest.  Once they learned how to compensate for a starting lineup that seemingly offered nobody taller than Sean Astin, they went to work.  Never did they quit.

Lots of work for future as they have to find some bigger and better players to have a conversation in April too.   That message appears received loud and clear by Gary Williams so in the meantime, consider a trip to the Thin 32 (I just made that up) a nice way to keep you from spreading mulch for at least another Saturday.

For the Record

No event so massively engulfs a sports fan like the Men’s NCAA Tourney. It also brings in the passive fans, and compels people to care that otherwise know nothing about the game (how awesome is it to be in a pool with someone who has Chattanooga to the Elite 8 and Maryland winning it all!!).  It’s power is like that of the Super Bowl but lasts for three weeks, not one day. I hate the tired phrase of March Madness,  but what could ring more true?

So on the eve of the fun, I share a few picks for the field of 64.

My Final Four includes Wake Forest, Memphis, Pittsburgh, andOklahoma with John Calipari’s underrated Tigers winning it all.  This team plays better defense than last year’s National Runner Up and still scores at will.

But the beauty of the bracket, the real satisfaction comes in picking the upset.  You can walk down the street bragging to anyone about having Davidson to the Elite 8, just as some guy did last year, and all you can do is tip the cap.

I love NorthDakota State, the 14 seed in the Midwest, to knock off defending champ Kansas in the first round.  A host of 5th year seniors that red shirted specifically to wait until the team went division one.  They’ve played together forever (in college life) and face the Jayhawks whom lost all their starting five from last year and rely on freshmen all over the place. And don’t forget, Kansas went out in the first round in 2005 and 2006. 

 VCU gets the 11 seed in the East, facing the 6 seed UCLA.   Pity the Bruins.  Eric Maynor led the Rams to a win over Duke two years ago in the 1st round and the reigning CAA Player of the Year is better now.  The Rams also have a nice post presence while the Bruins lack the same skill that led them to the past three Final Fours.

Andwhile it’s a mild upset in the brackets, the fact Maryland even made the tournament is amazing.  The Terps couldn’t even see the bubble machine six weeks ago, then scratched and clawed their way back into relevancy (who knew turtle had claws?).  For the effort they face the 7 Seed Cal in the West Region and will beat the Bears.  Cal shoots the ball great but has no inside game.  None.  That’s from their head coach Mike Montgomery himself.  Maryland has struggled so much at times this season trying to cover up their lack of post presence, andnow they need not worry about it.  Maryland moves on to the 2nd round. 

And to get you in the mood on Tourney Eve:

A real play-in game

The NCAA Tournament includes a play-in game this coming Tuesday (although, in completely patronizing fashion they refuse to call it that). But for Maryland, the play-in game comes tonight.

Beat Wake Forest, thus earning a 3rd victory over a top ten team this year (two of them on neutral courts) and Maryland returns to the NCAA Tournament. Incidentally, for the next four weeks I hope to neither write nor utter the phrases “March Madness, punch their tickets, and big dance”. It’s a personal protest to the laziness to which I had succumbed, along with seemingly every other broadcaster in the country. No More!

Back to the Terps and Gary Williams’ bid to defiantly rub all doubters noses into the sewer with his 13th trip to the Big DanceNCAA Tourney.. (Grrrr, habits)… For some reason, the improbable often morphs into the likely this time year. Can’t explain it, but thank God for it. We wouldn’t be having all these conversations about who’s in and who’s out without it. But still, when you take the court you’d always rather be the favorite. It means you have more talent. And that’s the problem with Maryland V. Wake Forest (this one’s for you Kristen).

The Terps must offer a nearly flawless game, must knock down at least eight three pointers, and get to the free throw line 18 times. Anything less against the towering front court of Wake and the all around excellence of Jeff Teague and Maryland readies for a home game against George Mason in the N-I-T.

Dave Neal led the Terps in their last effort against Wake, nearly delivering that perfect game. But even at home, nearly perfect wasn’t good enough. Tonight in Atlanta, it won’t come close.

Perspective in check

March Madness occasionally extends to the sports office and not in a good way.  This past Sunday felt like one of those games when the under dog drains crazy threes off the backboard as the shot clock expires.  I was not the under dog. 

Technical difficulties prevented us receiving Orioles highlights,  same for Towon’s game in the CAA semifinals (a spectacular effort from the undermanned Tigers).  And while we had some highlights from the Maryland Women’s incredible overtime victory against Duke for the ACC Championship (their 1st in 20 years), we were unable to obtain any post game interviews.

So by 8:00 that night, I’m trying to get in touch with Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese.  She’s been a good sport in the past, not displaying the ego that typically accompanies a National Championship Trophy and a seven figure salary.  The avenue available came via text message to her husband Mark Thomas.  He tried to help us find some players to interview, and then said if that didn’t work out, just come over to the house and Brenda will be happy to talk.

Brenda Frese (courtesy: Sports Illustrated)

Are you kidding me?  Again, the resume… National Champion, ACC Champion, elite coach.  She has no need to bend over to accommodate the media.  Maybe in 2003 when the Terps were 10-18, but certainly not now.  She also has another job, mother of one year old twin boys.  She’s kind of busy.

But there we were, Sunday night around 9:15 rolling up to Casa de Frese and she opens the door with a big smile..  “Come on in, sorry for the mess.”

We got our interview, and exited quickly hoping to interrupt as little as possible. 

On the ride back to the station I just couldn’t get over the decency of the gesture.  She knew we needed a hand, and despite her certain exhaustion and certain desires to be out of the public view for an evening following a long weekend in Greensboro, NC she didn’t blink.  I can’t think of many, if any, in that position whom would have offered the same.  Hard to picture an invitation from Gary Williams on a Sunday Night for a quick minute at his house.

So thanks Brenda and Mark, and here’s hoping we have many more occasions to bug you late on weekend nights.