Big Time Basketball

Big Ten basketball hasn’t gotten much national respect in recent years, despite the noted Final Four runs of some teams.  And although I love the Big Ten, I must admit that critics have grounds for their comments.

But this year looks to be different.  The Big Ten opened conference play with a very, very impressive non-conference record, including victories against top 10 teams, and very few embarrassing losses against smaller schools.  Indiana was an exception, but they will be back on track soon. 

And as Big Ten play opened this week, the season promises to be very entertaining.  Illinois beat the pre-season favorites, Purdue, in West Lafayette.  Michigan State knocked off undefeated Minnesota at the Barn.  And Wisconsin beat the Michigan Wolverines on the road, as well.  Penn State and Ohio State both just barely held on at home against Northwestern and Iowa, respectively. 

If these games are any indication, nothing will be a given in conference play.  Home court may not be a very big advantage.  Top 25 rankings may not matter.  And whoever survives will be in good shape to make a strong run come March.

The Yankees and the Cowboys: Each Other’s Cautionary Tale

When the NFL playoffs begin on Saturday, the Dallas Cowboys will not be participating. The fact has occasioned much hand-wringing from the Cowboy faithful, and much hilarity from, well, just about everyone else. The Cowboys have a perpetually loaded roster and are always in search of the best championship money can buy, but recent years have left them with nothing to show for it.

Does this, perhaps, sound like any other professional sports franchises you are familiar with?

If you said “the Yankees” then congratulations. You are either smart or able to read, possibly both. Let’s examine further, shall we?

1. Both teams are unable to learn from their mistakes. Not only is this a commonality, this is the premise upon which their entire relationship is based. Were the Yanks able to learn from their past, they would not be in the situation they are in now. Had the Cowboys an iota of self-awareness, they would not be in the situation they are in now. But reflection isn’t in the cards for these two. That’s why they need each other. If they can’t learn from their own mistakes, perhaps they can learn from the mistakes of the other.

2. Both teams sign players based on one criteria alone: some sort of basic talent level. I imagine that, in both team’s headquarters, the following sign is placed:

Sign players based on perceived level of talent. Not to be considered:

• Player’s history (or lack thereof) of actually capitalizing on said talent
• Player’s leadership abilities (or lack thereof)
• Player’s positive (or negative) presence in clubhouse
• Degree to which player does (or does not) fulfill actual need
• Player’s ability (or lack thereof) to come through in pressure situations
• Whether player may be reaching (or totally and completely past) his prime

3. Both teams think that problems can be solved by doing more of what hasn’t worked for the past several years: namely, signing players to inflated contracts, with no obvious over-arching strategy other than to reach some undefined critical mass of talent. You know that whole thing about insanity meaning that you do the same thing over and over again and think you’ll get different results? Yeah. Cowboys and Yankees, meet each other.

What’s that? Signing overpriced veteran after overpriced veteran got us right out of the playoffs? Well, let’s remedy that by signing another half-dozen or so this off-season!

What’s that? Signing a malcontent wide receiver didn’t put us over the hump? Let’s mortgage out half of next year’s draft picks to trade for another one!

4. Both teams seem to devalue proper coaching leadership. A big part of me suspects that this is because both franchises are helmed by notorious egomaniacs, who are probably loath to allow anything that might undermine their King of the World status. For the Yankees, this most recently meant they got rid of a coach before his time. Let me be clear. I think Joe Girardi is a fine human being and a good manager. I think he has a long career ahead of him. I think, at this point in time, he is better suited to managing a young, developing team as he is a young, developing manager (a observation I first made when the Cubs chose Piniella over Girardi). And he was obviously not cut out to wrangle a team full of me-firsties. That’s not a knock on him. It IS a knock on the Yankees, who obviously underestimated the skill that Torre had exercised in keeping the team in check. And when Torre got the Dodgers to a surprising NLCS bid and managed to turn Manny Ramirez into a productive team player (though I’m sure the prospect of a fat salary also had something to do with Manny’s good behavior)—can there be any question that the Yanks miscalculated?

The Cowboys’ most recent genius coaching move was the opposite of the Yankees’. They’ve decide to retain Wade Phillips, a coach who has obviously outlived his effectiveness as captain of this team. But I suspect the root cause is the same. Is Jones afraid to expose himself as an idiot by firing the coach he stupidly backed throughout all of this year’s drama?

Both teams have employed good coaches in the past. Heck, before this year’s brainlessness, Torre capably handled the Yankees for years. But ego and a healthy dose of foolishness dooms those arrangements sooner rather than later.

5. Both teams suffer from the “America’s Team” delusion. It is true that both teams are high profile. And it is true that both teams have more fans, strictly in terms of raw numbers. But both also have more haters, strictly in terms of raw numbers. Notoriety cuts both ways. But this nuance escapes them. Instead, both teams have fashioned a narrative in which they are the stars, the recipients of unquestioned adoration and the embodiment of the hopes and dreams of people everywhere. In their hubris (and hopefully you see a theme developing here), they believe the sun rises and sets on them.

So what’s the solution? I’m not sure there is one. Both teams are in too deep and the poor patterns are too deeply ingrained. And any chance of changing things is quickly fumbled away (pun possibly intended). Hiring Girardi could have been an opportunity for the Yankees to change their priorities. Instead, they just used it to compound their mistakes. Discovering Tony Romo could have signaled a new era in Dallas. Instead, they just ponied up a giant contract well before he proved himself to be Big Game Tony (and yes, I am mocking him).

Really, the only solution I see is to keep rooting against both. The more they lose, the more their stupid, selfish methods are invalidated, and the more joy will flow throughout the land.

How About This…

…If you don’t want Bill Cowher to fill your coaching vacancy, raise your hand.

Optimists/Pessimists

Meaningful football lives on for one more week in Chicago, thanks mostly to the Vikings’ epic choke job in the making. The Bears didn’t exactly do a ton to help their own cause in last night’s fortunate victory.

The city of Chicago seems divided right now. On one side are the optimists. These are the guys (and gals!!) who remained Pollyannaish in the face of multiple late-game collapses, believing the team could pull it out in a division that wasn’t expected to be stellar anyway, and has so far lived down to those expectations. On the other side are the pessimists. These are the guys who believe the Bears will get bounced the first weekend even if they do make the playoffs, and that all this moderate success is doing is forestalling needed evaluations of the talent and the coaching.

Readers will know that my position this year has tended strongly toward the latter position. But that said, here are a few things I am tired of hearing—things from both sides.

1. Optimists: “All they need to do is make the playoffs. As long as you get in, anything can happen.”

As a pure statement of fact, this one is true. Anything CAN happen once you make the playoffs. But the rhetorical point behind it—that getting into the playoffs somehow throws open wide the doors of possibility—fails. That “anything” includes getting humiliated on national TV. That “anything” includes losing your franchise player (Matt Forte, in our case) to a career-threatening injury. That “anything” includes a heartbreaking loss. There’s a lot of bad “anything” out there, and, if you think about it, just one truly good “anything.” I don’t want to go into a situation where “anything” can happen. I want to go into a situation where a reasonable expectation of a very particular something (namely, a championship) exists. And that only happens with a level of talent and smarts that the Bears simply do not possess.

2. Pessimists: “Without their defense, the Bears would be going nowhere this year!”

I haven’t heard this exact one too many times this year, mostly because the defense has often been bad. But the variations live on. “Without special teams, the Bears would be going nowhere this year!” Or how about: “Without Matt Forte, the Bears would be going nowhere this year!” Like #1, this passes the pure statement of fact test. Unlike #1, I’d even go so far as to say that this passes the rhetorical point test. The rhetorical point behind this statement goes something like, “The Bears have some glaring deficiencies, spots where the skill level is massively disproportionate to the rest of the team. Specifically, this involves most offensive positions not played by Matt Forte.” That, I can agree with.

So why do I hate hearing this? Well, mostly I hate hearing this because the speaker usually believes he or she is offering some valuable insight. In reality, it’s just stating the obvious. In fact, it’s stating the obvious in two ways. First, it’s stating the obvious in that anyone with one eye and half a brain can tell the Bears have issues on offense. Second, as this sentiment is phrased, it’s so over-broad that it could apply to any team. Football teams are made up of three units: offense, defense and special teams. It is generally accepted that all three units must play well if the team wishes to win on a consistent basis. Remove one unit, and EVERY SINGLE TEAM in the NFL will suffer—even the good ones. Some teams, teams with less extreme talent discrepancies, might fare better than others. But subtract out the contributions of any key unit or any key player, and I submit to you that that team will be a lesser team. So yes, congratulations, genius. You’ve just figured out one of the secret laws of football, that it takes a team effort to win.

These sorts of observations don’t make you sound insightful or perceptive. They just make you sound like an idiot.

3. Optimists: “Even if we don’t go far the playoffs, this season has been great groundwork for next season. If just a few plays had gone differently, we could be 12-4 or even 13-3 right now! We just need a little bit more to put us over the top!”

Yes, a few plays could have changed the course of this season. And those plays are the very thing that separate the contenders from the pretenders. By not making those plays, the Bears have shown themselves to be pretenders.

You are what your record says you are. Next question.

4. Pessimists: “I’d almost rather that they went 0-16, a la the Detroit Lions. Then we’d at least get a high draft pick. Now we get a middle-of-the-pack draft pick even though we won’t have any playoff success to show for it.”

This statement is based upon the ill-founded assumption that a high draft pick = a good player. Exactly how many more draft busts do these people need to see before they figure out that it’s not that simple? Plus, a top 5 draft pick is expensive, not good for a team that has many needs and might be better served by spreading that money around.

The crowning jewel of dumbassery in that statement is the fact that the aforementioned Detroit Lions have had more high draft picks over the last several years than perhaps any other sports franchise in the history of mankind. How’s that working out for them? This statement disproves itself.

5. Optimists: “Did you hear what he just said? That’s so typical of him. Always looking at the negative. I think he secretly enjoys it when the Bears lose.”

Pessimists: “Of course you’d say that. You refuse to listen to reality no matter what.”

As the entire premise of this post indicates, there are blind optimists and blind pessimists, both failing to see the aspects of reality that don’t support their respective positions. However, it is possible for someone to be critical of the Bears’ play and not be a complete jerk who gets some sort of weird pleasure out of seeing his team fail. And it is possible to be a “let’s enjoy the ride” type and not be completely blind to the team’s problems. Just because someone says, “Man, the Bears sucked out loud in almost every phase of the game last night!” does not mean that person can’t get excited over the victory. And just because someone says, “I can’t believe we might actually make the playoffs! What an exciting season!” does not mean that person is unaware that post-injury Kyle Orton has regressed to a distressing degree.

Where we see wise souls who might be willing to seek out a middle ground, let’s not abort that process by labeling them as dumb optimists or stupid pessimists.

Happy Holidays

Christmas means many different things to people.  And while I’ve been overdosing on Christmas music and lights and shopping and wrapping and parties and more, Christmas also means sports.  The holiday season also includes New Year’s Day, a time to make resolutions that you probably won’t keep, and enjoy more sports…

• College football bowl games now start even before Christmas, and the Day itself means we have just a week to go before the really good bowls start.
• Just before Christmas, one of the best non-conference college basketball rivalry games takes place in St. Louis.  Illinois v. Mizzou.  Fans split the arena down the middle.  And I try to have a Braggin’ Rights party to watch.  Good times.
• Apparently some NBA teams play on Christmas.  But since MJ retired (the first time), I have a hard time caring.  Want to see his son play?  See the bullet above. 
• This year, Chicago has a special holiday treat.  The Blackhawks will play an outdoor game at Wrigley a week after Christmas.  And I’ll have to pay a bit of attention. 
• Oh, and just on the heels of the BCS bowl games and the New Year comes conference play in college basketball.
• And TheSassyOne can tell you how many days until pitchers and catchers report…

So, with all that in mind, happy holidays!

NFL Excitement

In a way, it truly pains me to say this, but the playoff races have been especially exciting this year. It pains me because the Bears are absolutely NOT in the playoff race. They were for about three weeks in November, but that’s it. Then again, per my earlier resolution, I never jumped that bandwagon. And maybe it’s my non-participation on that bandwagon that has allowed me to notice some of the other interesting things going on.

I mean, come on. Next week we have two showdowns for the #1 seed in the playoffs. And in both cases, these are races that two or three weeks ago looked all but settled. Anarchy is kind of fun sometimes.

You’ve also got the Cowboys, who’ve been…well, “fun” isn’t exactly the word I’d use, seeing as how I still hate them. But the drama! Oh, the drama! That’s been interesting to watch.

You’ve got the old stalwart Colts, once left for dead and now right in the thick of things. You’ve got the Dolphins and the Falcons, who no one could have believed would be in the running. You’ve got the Brett Favre storyline with the Jets (still think he should’ve retired, but I can’t hate him). And you’ve got the tantalizing possibility that the Patriots might miss the playoffs.

And speaking of the mighty falling, also satisfying this season has been the unraveling of the Chargers. And the continued patheticness of the Raiders is likewise edifying. And the Lions never fail to entertain with their penchant for EPIC FAIL.

Really, I find little to complain about this season, other than the fact that the very gross Vikings are about to win the NFC North. I truly can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d rather the Packers win. At least I can respect Aaron Rodgers for how he conducted himself in the whole saga that was his off-season, and for how he saved my fantasy season when Romo was injured.

Out of the AFC, I like the Steelers. In the NFC, it’s harder to say. If Jacobs comes back, I think the Giants are still the team to beat, especially if they manage to retain the #1 seed. But I think the Panthers could be dangerous if they steal the #1 seed. And the Cowboys are in the mix too. Their defense is playing pretty well right now, and they’ve certainly got all the pieces on offense. They’ve had trouble putting those together, but if they catch fire at the right time, watch out. And that definitely pains me to say.

Rankings v. Good Games

Yes, I realize BCS rankings drive everyone crazy.  They aren’t perfect, I freely admit.  This year, the national championship game will be played between teams who entered their conference chamionship games as #2 and #4 in the BCS. 

There’s lots of frustration with this system, and many (including our president-elect) have called for a playoff system.  At one time, I kinda agreed.  But not anymore.  I don’t really care who ends the season at #1. 

I just want to see really good games over the holidays.  But the traditions and conference ties add lots to the Bowl season, too.  The thing is, I don’t remember who played for #1 the year Boise State upset Oklahoma, but I that was a great game.  Maybe it was the same year Vince Young single-handedly beat USC.  That was a great game, too. 

So I’m ok with the Bowl system, as long as they have potentially good games to entertain me. 

I think  Oklahoma and Florida should be a good game.  And I hope that Penn State and UCS deliver a great Rose Bowl game.  I’m a bit leary of Texas against Ohio State — I would rather have watched Texas and Alabama.  The Tide v. Utah just isn’t as exciting.  And Cinci v. VaTech isn’t that eye-catching, either.  But at least lots of fans get to go fun places to cheer on their team.  And they have a good couple weeks to make travel plans…

Yes, everyone wants to be #1, but if you win your Bowl game, you can pretend you are, no matter what.  Lots more people can be excited.  Just my two cents…

Just How Good is Derrick Rose?

This is how good he is: he inspires me to watch Bulls basketball.

As the post-Jordan years have worn on, I had progressively given up on the Bulls. Yeah, I still pay attention to them. But would I voluntarily sit down and watch a whole game? Chances are slim. As much as I admired the defensive abilities and the work ethic of Scott Skiles’ best teams, that never made for hugely exciting basketball. I never sat down in front of the TV thinking, I wonder what the Bulls are going to do tonight. I’ve got to tune in and see what’s going to happen.

I still think the Bulls are overmatched this year. I think Vinny Del Negro is in over his head, though he’s at least shown enough to make me hope against hope that he might get it above water before his deal runs out. As a team, they seem bound and determined to hover somewhere near .500, which might just be good enough to earn them the privilege of losing to the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.

But none of this matters when Derrick Rose is on the floor. When he is good, he is not just good or even very good. He is almost transcendent. It’s still a work in progress, but in just about six weeks of the season, he’s already given us more did-you-just-see-that moments than every other Bulls player in the post-Jordan years has given us. That’s every player in the entire post-Jordan era combined.

Finally, there’s real reason for hope in Chicago basketball. And this alone is enough to make me watch. Heck, I might even buy a ticket just so I can see greatness developing in person.

The Challenge

The ACC – Big Ten Challenge is a great marketing tool created by ESPN to make college basketball fans care about early season, non-conference game.  And they’ve done a great job with that marketing, even though the ACC has completely dominated the event.

As much as marketing ploys annoy me in sports, as a fan I must admit that they make it easy for me to watch and decide who to cheer for.  For example, just a few hours ago I was cheering for Wisconsin to hold off an aggressive Virginia Tech team that came from as many as 13 down to tie the game with about 6 or 7 seconds left.  And then the Badgers hit a little shot in the lane with .9 on the clock.  Exciting game.  Really legitimate competition, which is relatively rare early in the season.  And a made-for-TV battle between conferences that really didn’t care much about each other until March before they invented this deal.

I’m going to be optimistic that the Big Ten is a much stronger conference than they were last year, and I’m anticipating their first victory in the event.  Sure, Michigan State can take North Carolina.  Maybe.  But it will be fun to cheer for them. 

Anyway, in my mind, this week of basketball signals that the season is really underway.  So tune in to ESPN for some quality games this week (I hope), pick your conference and cheer!