Tobacco Road Rivalry Resumes: Carolina Tops Duke 79-73

The beginning of February brings the last gasps of winter’s chills, or so the frozen masses hope. With it comes the realization that March Madness approaches. The groundhog emerges and begins to contemplate what team he thinks will go all the way this season. He too needs to get his brackets in on time. Some years the groundhog hits the snooze and slumbers through the final weeks before the NCAAs. Not this year. You know he was watching last night as the Battle of Tobacco Road was again joined at Cameron Indoor Stadium. A night that had promise early ended in disappointment for the Devils as the Tar Heels battled back from double digit deficits to win 79-73.

Freshman Brandan Wright scored 19 points while Tyler Hansbrough added 16 to lead the fifth-ranked Tar Heels past No. 16 Duke 79-73, earning their second straight win in Cameron Indoor Stadium and handing the Blue Devils their first three-game losing streak in nearly eight years.

Rookie Ty Lawson added 15 points for the Tar Heels (21-3, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who trailed by 10 points early in the second half before finally going ahead to stay in the final minutes.

Last year, Hansbrough led a youth-laden group into Cameron to close the regular season and spoil All-American J.J. Redick’s final home game in an 83-76 win. And once again, the Tar Heels rallied from a double-digit deficit and came up with the game’s big baskets in the final minutes.

This time, however, the Tar Heels hung around while constantly subbing in an endless stream of fresh bodies while pressuring Duke’s ballhandlers the entire way. By the time the game was entering its final minutes, North Carolina looked fresher and found ways to knock down the critical shots against the fast-starting Blue Devils (18-6, 5-5).

North Carolina didn’t take its first lead until there were about 5 minutes left, but shot 59 percent after halftime and hit 7 of 8 free throws in the final 31 seconds to seal it.

The regular season for both teams wraps up in Chapel Hill in less than four weeks. The Tar Heels record and big wins against Ohio State and Tennessee have made up for a pair of in conference disappointments (at NC State and at Virginia Tech) and an early season loss to Gonzaga. They play four of their last seven games at home, and are poised to contend for a number one seed in the NCAA tournament.

Duke meanwhile is riding a three game losing streak, and has to travel for five of their remaining seven games. Despite the 26 points from Freshman Jon Scheyer, the Devils were unable to hold off the Heels. This is a young Duke team. The sole Senior has logged one minute of playing time this season. How they respond to this adversity will define them and give some indication of how far they can and will go in the tournament. By the time the Devils get to Carolina they could be a broken team, or they could be riding high winners of six straight and looking to avenge last night’s loss.

Neither team faces a ranked opponent until that game. When the rivalry picks up where it left off. Five weeks from today the big dance kicks off with its sixty four entrants. The groundhog is awake and he will be watching.

Those Crazy Bears Fans

Peyton Manning plays for the Colts. This Peyton Manning roots for the Bears.

He doesn’t want to do it, but die-hard Bears fan Scott Wiese is changing his name.

The 26-year-old Forsyth man told friends that if his beloved team didn’t win the Super Bowl, he’d become Peyton Manning after the Indianapolis Colts star quarterback.

Yeah, he lost a bet.

Danelo’s Brother: “I don’t believe that’s what happened.”

Reacting to Monday’s autopsy report, Joey Danelo, brother of Mario Danelo believes the police ruled out foul play too quickly. ESPN has the story:

Mario Danelo’s brother isn’t convinced the Southern California kicker fell to his death last month, despite the findings of law enforcement.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said in an autopsy report released Monday that Danelo was legally drunk at the time of his death but couldn’t reach other conclusions.

“Nobody knows what happened to him that night,” Joey Danelo told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I don’t believe that he fell from the top of that cliff — no way. That’s just my personal opinion. I don’t believe that’s what happened.

Suspicion with police reports are nothing new. Whenever a young person dies unexpectedly or under unusual circumstances, finding out exactly what happened is always paramount. Unfortunately, discovering that without witnesses or much forensic evidence will prove very difficult.

Church Super Bowl Party Cancelled…by the NFL

Warning: If you are hosting friends for the Super Bowl and you are going to use more than one TV or a really big TV, read on and be afraid.

The NFL is telling Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis that the church’s plans to use a wall projector to show the game at a party for church members and guests would violate copyright laws.

NFL officials spotted a promotion of Fall Creek’s “Super Bowl Bash” on the church Web site last week and sent pastor John D. Newland a letter — via FedEx overnight — demanding the party be canceled.

Initially, the league objected to the church’s plan to charge partygoers a fee to attend and that the church used the license-protected words “Super Bowl” in its promotions.

Newland told the NFL his church would not charge partygoers — the fee had been intended only to pay for snacks — and that it would drop the use of the forbidden words.

But the NFL wouldn’t bite. It objected to the church’s plans to use a projector to show the game on what effectively was a 12-foot-wide screen. It said the law limits the church to one TV no bigger than 55 inches.

The NFL, fairly or not, has acquired the moniker the No Fun League. This incident is confirmation of that. What does this say about sports bars, that have numerous televisions and charge for drinks and food?

H/T: Brian Wilmer, of the Writer’s Radio network.

Super Bowl XLI Preview

Da Bears. Da Colts. Da Game. The forty-first clash of football’s champions in a winner take all festival of excess, the national celebration of pigskin supremacy. Ladies, gentlemen and children of all ages, I give you your Super Bowl matchup. Indy is the unstoppable force. Chicago is the immovable object and yes, it is cliched, but you work with what you got.

QUARTERBACK
Peyton Manning	Advantage Colts	Rex Grossman

Peyton Manning has made it to the big game, at last. Long denied by the machinations of an evil cabal led by Paul Tagliabue, who always liked Tom Brady better, Peyton finally picked himself up off the carpet after ten lackluster quarters of football and finally said, “screw it, I aint got nothing to lose.” And he played like it, dismembering a tired Patriot defense and outplaying the sixth round pick who had long tormented him in both regular and postseason play. Peyton Manning arrives in Miami looking to add a Super Bowl ring to his gaudy passing records. For the Bears is Rex Grossman. Grossman has been the subject of much scrutiny, especially after the way the Packers stomped Chicago in the season’s final game. Grossman has largely relied on his defense and tried minimize his mistakes. The mistakes he made were often when he attempted to exploit a superior secondary. Indy’s secondary is pretty good.

RUNNINGBACKS
Joseph Addai Dominic Rhodes	Advantage Bears	Thomas Jones Cedric Benson

The Bears primary strength on offense is with their ground game. Jones and Benson grind out yards, and possess enough breakaway speed to make some big plays. These guys aren’t the heralded backs of the NFL, the Shaun Alexanders or the LaDainian Tomlinsons. But they get the job done. For the Colts Joseph Addai has not replaced Edgerrin James, but he has proved a fresh look, that has been useful in keeping defenses from going Cover 2 and only leaving four up front to rush the passer. He has been effective in a limited role, but he had a few dropped balls in the AFC Championship game and that’s not a trend he wants to continue in big games.

WIDE RECEIVERS
Marvin Harrison Reggie Wayne	Advantage Colts	Mushin Muhammad Bernard Berrian Rashied Davis

Harrison and Wayne have been the best receiving duo in this postseason and they remain so. Chicago’s secondary is very good and it will take Charles Tillman, Danieal Manning, Ricky Manning Jr., Nathan Vasher and Todd Johnson playing their best to shut down this pair. Bernard Berrian has been Grossman’s go to guy this post season accounting for 190 yards in the Bears two games. Muhammad remains a reliable target as is Jones out of the backfield.

TIGHT ENDS
Dallas Clark Ben Utecht	Advantage Colts	Desmond Clark

D. Clark should lead all tight ends in balls caught and receiving. The question is which one, Dallas (Indy) or Desmond (Chicago)? The Bears featured Desmond Clark as greater part of their overall offensive scheme. His six receiving touchdowns tied for the team lead. Dallas Clark and Ben Utecht combined to slightly exceed the production of Desmond Clark, giving Indy’s balanced tight ends a slight edge.

DEFENSE
Dwight Freeney Cato June Antoine Bethea	Advantage Bears	Alex Brown Brian Urlacher Charles Tillman

This is clearly the Bears biggest advantage. Their secondary averaged better than a pick a game, (24 on the season) which has continued with a pair of interceptions in the playoffs. They also pressure quarterbacks recording forty sacks in the regular season. They swarm and stuff. In comparison, Indianapolis’ 15 picks and 25 sacks are dwarfed by the Bears unit. The Colts have a fairly good secondary, but their run defense leaves much to be desired.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Adam Vinatieri Hunter Smith Terence Wilkins	Advantage Colts	Robbie Gould Brad Maynard Rasheid Davis

Adam Vinatieri has won two of the last six Super Bowls with field goals in the waning seconds. Robbie Gould was working construction last year. Smith and Maynard both averaged just over 44 yards per punt. They are almost equal. Terrence Wilkins is the superior kick returner, but Devin Hester is a threat on punt returns. Between Davis and Hester, the Bears have a slightly better return squad. Overall the Colts have the better special teams unit.

COACHING
Tony Dungy	Advantage Bears	Lovie Smith

Both coaches have proven their mettle in guiding their teams to the ultimate goal. Super Bowl’s are not won on talent alone. Good game planning and solid coaching makes a big difference. Tony Dungy’s steady reliable coaching has often earned criticism as his teams have underperformed, both in Tampa and in Indy. Smith has not had similar complaints. His Bears teams have overachieved. His players have taken to his style and gone out to battle for him. I’m giving the slightest of edges here.

COMMON OPPONENTS
Lost to the Patriots 17-13	Advantage Colts	Beat New England twice
Blew out Buffalo 40-7	Advantage Bears	Squeaked out a 17-16 win at home against Buffalo
Lost to the Miami 31-13	Advantage Colts	Beat Miami 27-22
Blanked the Jets 10-0	Advantage Bears	Beat the Jets 31-28

The common opponents tell us a little about the teams. The Colts overall 5-0 record against the 2-2 split the Bears earned doesn’t make Indianapolis clearly superior. The Bears were beaten by two teams with comparable if not superior defenses. And this year Indianapolis matched up well against New England and Miami. The Jets who ran well against the Colts were shut down in dominating fashion. Tough to tell what it means, but the Colts hold the overall edge.

Indy’s talent is far better than the Bears. On offense, the Colts can rocket past the Bears. But offense is about timing and rhythm and defense is about disruption. It is easier to game plan for defense because of this. The Bears superior defense will keep the game close. A simple game plan of intense pressure on Manning and tight man to man coverage in the secondary may yield a serious disruption of the Colts offense. Meanwhile the Colts have to figure out both how to maintain their offensive rhythm and shut down the Bears running game. An advantage for Chicago is that they have only played twice. The Colts have been through three games including the last two grueling contests – a grinder against the Ravens and the emotional AFC Championship.

The more I look at this game, the more I am reminded of Super Bowl XXV. The K-Gun offense went up against the Giants. The Giants just ran the ball over and over and over and kept the vaunted Bills offense off the field. The Giant defense held tough but it took a missed field goal to secure the victory for New York. The Colts brought Adam Vinatieri in to make those late game clutch kicks.

Indianapolis 22, Chicago 20 Vinatieri splits the uprights, right down the middle, as time expires. And with this game winning kick, you secure your bust in Canton.

Miami Stadium Progress

The Marlins may not be moving after all. Yesterday’s Miami Herald has the developments.

After seven years of last-minute political defeats, the plan to help the Florida Marlins build a new ballpark with the help of state funds got a major boost Wednesday when Gov. Charlie Crist announced he is a fan of using taxpayer money to subsidize sports stadiums.

Crist, a former minor league baseball attorney and one-time college quarterback, said stadiums rev up local economies and benefit communities in other ways.

”I would look favorably upon it,” Crist said at The Associated Press’ annual legislative preview meeting. He did not specifically mention the Marlins, but he indicated he would support state-sponsored stadium financing because it keeps ballclubs operating in Florida.

”It’s not just the players who benefit from that,” the governor said. “People park cars at those facilities and serve hot dogs at those facilities. And it provides a lot of economic opportunities to our state. And it showcases Florida in many ways.”

Governor Crist’s logic is wonderful. It sounds nice and positive about economic opportunities and how it showcases Florida.

It’s also a pack of lies.

When communities use taxpayer dollars to finance the building of new stadiums, the cost is rarely recovered in any meaningful way. Yeah, there are the occasional upticks in hotel occupancy. But the jobs that states brag about creating are often seasonal employment and thanks to economic concepts like the substitution effect and leakage, those economic benefits do not always pan out.

Neil deMause, writing in Baseball Prospectus‘ Baseball Between the Numbers, documents a large part of the argument against subsidized stadium deals. The most damning statistic is this:

[T]he most cited stadium study…was conducted by Robert Baade, an economist at Lake Forest College in Illinois.

[...]

Among the thirty cities with new stadiums or arenas, twenty-seven showed no measurable changes to resident income at all. In the other three, per-capita income appeared to drop as a result of the new sports facility.[emphasis original]

The arguments by now are familiar, but the logic surrounding them has always been fuzzy. Residents typically have a limited budget for entertainment purchases. Going to a ballgame means less nights at the movies or fewer trips to other local attractions. Economists refer to this as the substitution effect. Another inherent problem with stadiums as local economy boosters is that unlike many local entertainment attractions, the revenue generated by a new stadium often does not stay within the community in which the stadium has been built. Players, owners and other personnel may not reside within the city limits and therefore take their earnings home to another city, state or country.

As the public knowledge of taxpayer subsidies on stadiums have soured them on funding the buildings, teams, governments and major league baseball have gotten cuter about hiding and shifting subsidies. Recent provisions among the owners allow them to deduct the cost of building stadiums from the income they have to submit for revenue sharing. This explains why the Yankees and Mets are “self-funding” their new homes. In truth though, thanks to generous promises of free land and property tax shelters by Mayor Bloomberg, they both are getting nearly $400 million each to build their new homes.

With such generous subsidies, the Marlins have no excuse for not paying the good young players they have what they are worth and maintaining a strong baseball tradition in Miami.

Clemens “failing at retirment”

Should he play or should he go. That’s what the Rocket wants to know. Cause if he quits there will be trouble, but if he plays he’ll bring double, so what he really wants to know, is should he play or should he go. The AP is reporting

Roger Clemens talked about his plight and laughed.

“I’m failing at retirement,” he said. “Let’s just face it. I’m failing miserably at it.”

The 44-year-old right-hander, unsure whether to retire or return for a 24th major league season, was the keynote speaker for the St. John’s winter baseball banquet on Wednesday night.

If he does pitch – and it sounds as if he will – Clemens will choose among his hometown Houston Astros, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

“I think if it wasn’t for more than a handful of phone calls from my teammates, not only my teammates here, but in Houston and the guys in Boston, I don’t think I’d take it to heart as much,” he said. “It would be real easy to step away and be done with it.”

Clemens’ words to the contrary (If it were easy to walk away he wouldn’t play this game year after year) the desire is clearly still there to pitch at the major league level. He may not make an announcement until May, he may not decide until then, but he will take the hill wearing one of three uniforms this June. He can come full circle and wrap it up in Boston. He can go back to the city of his greatest success in New York. Or he can stay with the Astros.

Brian Cashman seems to be taking the Yankees into a smarter direction. Less overpriced and elderly veteran players. More younger and flexible talent. Is there a place for a very expensive 44 year old starting pitcher. To keep him out of Boston, they’d make room. And the Red Sox with their six starters on the roster seem to have no room for Clemens, either, but surely they would make room. Houston must be tired of this game, but the hometown fans would not be happy if Clemens walked the way that Nolan Ryan did. It is a nearly perfect situation for a pitcher of Clemens’ talents. He has three franchises interested, two of which will fight to the death for him.

But which team will be best served by the presence of Roger Clemens in their rotation?

Houston	New York	Boston
Roy Oswalt Jason Jennings Woody Williams Wandy Rodriguez Fernando Nieve	Mike Mussina Andy Pettitte Chien-Ming Wang Kei Igawa Carl Pavano	Curt Schilling Josh Beckett Daisuke Matsuzaka Tim Wakefield Jonathan Papelbon

Houston: Oswalt is a staff ace and Jennings is solid. Williams pitched effectively last season in the pitcher’s paradise of San Diego, but with his declining strikeout rates, he will be lucky to keep his ERA under 4.50 in more hitter friendly Houston. Wandy Rodriguez got his eighth win on June sixth and then only got one more the rest of the season, with a demotion to AAA thrown in. Nieve pitched well, but mostly in relief last season. Houston has the most holes in their rotation and therefore the biggest need for Roger Clemens.

New York: The front three are as strong as any trio. Mussina and Pettitte can be counted on for 200 innings of above league average work. Wang is using his extreme groundball tendencies to blossom into a very effective inning eater. And with a better fielding first baseman taking more of the throws at first in Doug Mientkiewicz, he could win 20 games this year. Kei Igawa will need to transition to the US major leagues. How he handles big league hitters in a rough and tumble division is a big question mark. As is Carl Pavano, who might be healthy, might be injured and if he’s healthy there is no guarantee he will be effective. The Yankees will be evaluating their need based largely on Pavano. If Crapshoot Carl is healthy and effective, their need for Clemens is mitigated. Of course Andy Pettitte wants his fellow Texan back in the Bronx, and the Yankees will open the checkbook to bring Clemens back if for no other reason to keep him out of Boston. But their need is less than Houston’s.

Boston: The Red Sox have the deepest rotation of the three. If healthy, Schilling, Wakefield, Beckett and Matsuzaka could combine for 850 innings among them. Jonathan Papelbon is transitioning back to starting and should be stretched out to throw six innings a start. Papelbon has been immensely effective, primarily out of the pen, for the Red Sox in his young career, which makes it hard to figure how he will be as a starter. But there is little statistical evidence to suggest he will fail. In addition, Boston has Jon Lester ticketed for Pawtucket, and Joel Pinheiro, Julian Tavarez and Kyle Snyder in the pen, who can each provide league average innings as starters. The need is the least in Boston, but again, they will woo and wow Clemens to ensure he doesn’t go to the Bronx.

The inescapable conclusion is that he winds up back in Houston. The Red Sox and Yankees would prefer that he doesn’t play for the other. Houston has the greatest need. And Koby Clemens may be up with the big club for a September call up to play a few games with dad on the team. Neither Boston nor New York can offer that. His failure at retirment means the Astros get another shot at success and the elusive World Championship.

Cowboy Coaching Search

Brian Wilmer, one of the writers of the Writer’s Radio network and friend of OTB Sports, discussed in the live net cast of the radio show the Cowboys coach search. In particular Brian pointed to this article.

This year Jones interviewed Cowboys secondary coach Todd Bowles, an African-American, in what some are calling simply a cursory interview before talking to his favored candidates, Norv Turner and Wade Phillips. Pro Football Talk is speculating that the league could change the rule to force teams to interview at least one minority candidate from outside the organization.

Combine that with today’s report in The Dallas Morning News that the Cowboys have no African-Americans in their front office hierarchy, and it’s hard to avoid the feeling that this could become a significant problem for Jones. Of course, there’s one way he could put any controversy to rest: Hire Bowles as the Cowboys’ next head coach.

While no doubt Michael David Smith of AOL sports probably means well, his suggestion that the Cowboys should hire Todd Bowles on the basis of race is just as discriminatory as not hiring Todd Bowles on the basis of race. The comments section at least notes the inherent discrimination of Smith’s suggestion.

These writer’s who spend too much time dreaming up grievances are not doing their job. Their job is to cover sports. Not the hiring practices of various sports franchises. Are those legitimate lines of inquiry? Sure, for the news section, or the Op-Ed page. The Sports pages were once about the nature of the games not the nature of society. They should be again.

Baseball Hall of Fame Nonsense

Bob Ryan, the Dean of Boston scribes, is shocked, shocked, that some members of the BBWAA, the organization that votes for players to be included in the Baseball Hall of Fame would not consider Cal Ripken Jr., and Tony Gwynn as obvious members of the Hall of Fame.

I am currently carrying card No. 151 in the Baseball Writers Association of America. Yes, I voted in the most recent Hall of Fame election. And, yes, I am deeply ashamed because, once again, two obvious candidates were denied the honor of being a unanimous choice of the voting body to receive baseball’s highest honor. What if someone actually thought I were one of the eight who didn’t deem Cal a legit Hall of Famer or the 13 who didn’t think Gwynn had done enough to get in? I may not leave the house without a bag over my head.

Ryan acknowledges the fault in the balloting system, and shines a bright light on the biggest issue facing Baseball’s shrine of legends. It’s not Pete Rose. It’s not Mark McGwire and the players of the so-called steroid era. It is the method of selecting Hall of Famers, and the poisoned pens that use the ballot not to elect players to the Hall, but instead to make a point about this that or the other thing that is right, wrong or needs to be fixed in baseball. As written previously, the pretensions of sports writers reflect a moral preening that is as ridiculous as it is phony.

Sports writers work in the press boxes and the clubhouses. They have sources who tell them things that teams and players don’t want to come out. A number of them are equal in the complicity of the steroids scandal. As are the television networks Fox and ESPN, who paid baseball billions to broadcast the games. When sports writers and television pundits say that “baseball” turned a blind eye to the growing steroids scandal, they are in fact talking about themselves as well.

Ryan continues in discussing the lack of a unanimous first ballot Hall of Famer

[S]ome members of the voting body have a personal policy not to vote for someone the first year he is eligible. I cannot begin to comprehend the depths of such idiocy. I fear a few of these Neanderthals are still entrusted with a vote, and it’s their intellectual company I do not wish to keep.

A good question to ask is whether Ryan wants to keep company with the voting bloc that declares they are the moral arbiters of the Hall of Fame. Largely the sports writers have never played the game, they have only watched it year after year after year. And in addition to watching the game, they have dealt with players in the course of doing their jobs. They need interviews. Players can either be accommodating or difficult. When they are difficult, hard feelings happen.

Will Manny Ramirez, who is building a solid case for Hall of Fame inclusion, be a first ballot Hall of Famer? Probably not, because he is a paint o try to get an interview from. If his performance on the field merits inclusion, then what justification can be used by the writers who vote against it? Here comes the tired line: “He’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer.” And on that basis, voters continue to impose their narrow minded baseball view on fans. Either someone is a Hall of Famer or he isn’t.

Whenever an institution gets head scratching comments from the audience it seeks to woo, the institution needs to rethink its policies. Baseball’s Hall of Fame is not about the players. It’s not about the writers. It’s not about the game. It’s about the fans. The history of the game of baseball is only interesting if there are people who love the game. Whether a guy belongs in the Hall is a question not just for the writers and even the Veterans Committee. A better solution incorporates current and retired players, writers, baseball historians, and of course fans.

The initial phase will be the nomination process. Fans, players, both active and retired, and historians will submit nominees to a panel composed of players and historians appointed by the Hall of Fame. The panel will winnow the field to a ballot of 10-20 players, primarily the recently retired, but also deserving players who were overlooked in their initial balloting. (Think Alan Trammell and other players who did not get enough votes to stay on the ballot, but posted career numbers worthy of inclusion) The ballot will be submitted to the writers who will vote in the customary fashion, with the 75% threshold in effect. After the announcement of the writer’s vote, the remaining players on the ballot are voted on by the fans, at major and minor league games, as well as with an internet vote. Voting will last for a total of ten weeks and players who are named on 75% of all ballots will be enshrined. And in both sets of voting, blank ballots will be discarded.

This is hardly a perfect system, but neither is the system that currently exists. The baseball community needs to move more in the direction of improving a system that is growing more and more flawed. That starts with the Hall of Fame itself and its commitment to the history and heritage of the game.