Black Tuesday is just a lot blacker this year.
And we were thiiiiis close, twice, to Black Tuesday 2010 being one of the best in years, maybe decades.
Black Tuesday is the day after the men's NCAA championship, and the start of a week of the most overcovered event on the planet and of three months of daily obsessive analysis of every remote item involving a baseball team or player.
Welcome to the dead zone.
All would have been so much more palatable had Gordon Hayward got a little more air under the baseline fadeaway over Brian Zoubek that was tantalizingly close.
Goodness, it's already an instant classic and will be rebroadcast tonight (4-6-10) at 5:30 on ESPN Classic. Same damn ending, though.
Congrats to CBS, already in bad form now for the Masters.
The network screwed up “One Shining Moment”, made it about the "artist", and is increasingly approaching Fox Sports’ level of execution. This is not something to aspire to.
What can put the lump in a grown mans' throat or make a 20-year-old kid a little misty eyed turned out to be almost a commercial for Jennifer Hudson.
What's next, Jay-Z dubbing the music for 'It's a Wonderful Life." A new version of' "White Christmas" by Lady Gaga?
TV folks tend to whiff way too much gel and rouge.
A botched "One Shining Moment", though, may have been appropriate, following a depressing ending to an exhilarating and exhausting game, and a remarkably entertaining tournament.
And now? Analysis of how many times Tiger blinks per minute and whether 82 degrees or 85 degrees will affect a starting pitcher.
When's the All-Star game?
OH NO THEY DI'IN'T
Oh yes, they did, those phreakin' Philadelphia Eagles.
They went and sent Donovan McNabb to Washington, immediately making Monday a big day at the ticket office in D.C.
Trading within the division is interesting, and Andy Reid is getting props for his "respect" of McNabb by trading him to a not-too-crappy team, and one that's barely a playoff contender let alone good enough to pass Philly for a few years.
But, man, Jason Campbell can't get a football break for his life.
At Auburn, he has different offensive coordinators and plans every year, and shines when he gets a good one.
Then he pays for some family crime by going to Washington, and facing the same thing: no administrative stability.
Just when it seems the light shines his way with the hiring of Mike Shanahan, kaboom. Here comes Donovan, and not as mentor.
For all the harassment McNabb got from Philly fans - yeah, "harassment" and "Philly fans" in the same sentence? - he never got the proper support around him on offense and defense.
And not to doubt that Kevin Kolb can't be a good quarterback, but don't be surprised if the Eagles start making better moves. There's no McNabb to put too much on or to kick around anymore.
LOUGHDMOUTHINGS
All of a sudden, West Virginia can't guard somebody 20 feet from the basket? And doesn't get better after getting scorched?
Ah well.
While all non-Dookies were pulling for the Mountaineers and at least hoping for a better game, we did get one of the more heartwarming sports scenes in awhile.
WVU coach Bob Huggins was, until Monday night, the latest recipient of DDF - Duke Doesn't Foul - but how he dealt with Da'Sean Butler after the knee injury was absolutely goose-bump material.
To see what a great kid Butler is and to figure he would spark at least one or two more runs, and to see him go down like that and have that sort of reaction was a gut-wrencher.
And then to see a head coach wipe away a kid's tears and try so hard to calm him down, and to be a little shaken himself?
People forget that big-time coaches and big-time players are simply humans, and anybody that thinks Huggins was "using" the moment clearly doesn't know anything about Huggins and is clearly just likes skepticism and negativity. ...
Anybody who thinks that there are high school boys teams out there who can beat UConn doesn't have a daughter, and has swollen knuckles from the constant dragging.
Fact is, if you believe that, then you better believe there are high school teams out there that can beat Division I men's teams. ...
Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel says quarterback Terrelle Pryor has more poise and polish than a year ago.
Gee, Jim, shouldn't he? He's spent two overrated years in Columbus and as often as not isn't allowed to talk to anybody.
If he isn't better after two years, then something's wrong. Then again, he hasn't played an SEC team in January - or any other month - so we still don't really know. ...
Reports are that the New Jersey Nets are going after Duke's Mike Shushefski.
They needn't waste their time. As good as the reviews were for Shushefski coaching pros in the Olympics, he can't get away with the same manipulation in the NBA as he can in college.
The new Russian owner is said to be thinking of offering $12 million a year or more with some general manager possibilities thrown in.
A) Shushefski's got plenty of money, and other things money doesn't buy: quality of life, admiration and a stable situation;
B) Throwing that much money at anybody is bad management, let alone a guy who's never been in the NBA;
C) Shushefski is - and this floored me - 63 years old. And he's smart. Does anybody think a 63-year-old with still the college basketball world at his feet - and facing almost no media scrutiny - is going to the NBA, to New York, to a rebuilding situation with a team that's won 14.3 percent of the time this year?
No.
I struggle to buy that a coach can't go from college to pro or vice versa - I know they're out there - but there are situations that are stretches, and this is one. ...
Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer has been at the Final Four and sees Butler’s UnderBulldogs away from the cameras: The Butler guys, coach included, were forthright, grateful and absolutely without guile. Brad Stevens says of coaches such as Boeheim and K,
“For them to come over and shake my hand, they don’t need to do that.”
The great thing is, if this is an act, Stevens is a good coach and Lawrence Olivier.
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