Ball or Nuthin'

Miami, Ohio State Begin Their BCS Marches

T Lamont — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:42:18 +0000

It’s opening night for the NCAA football season – and while we’ll have to wait until Monday for a real powerhouse match-up – a couple of top-tier teams made some noise as their started their campaigns to BCS success.

The Miami Hurricanes and Ohio State Buckeyes smashed their opponents by a combined score of 90-7, as they got themselves off to a predictably good start in those BCS computers.

The ‘Canes stuck it to the Florida A&M Rattlers tonight, 45-0, with quarterbacking sensation Jacory Harris leading the way. Harris was efficient, completing 12 of his 15 pass attempts for 210 yards and three touchdowns. And, oh yeah, this was all in the first half. The junior sat out the second half, making way for Alonzo Highsmith and Spencer Whipple – the team’s second and third-string quarterbacks.

But the Hurricanes were far from one dimensional. They netted 155 yards on the ground, led by Larry Miller’s 65 yards (and touchdown). The ‘Canes displayed balanced dominance by gaining 22 non-penalty first downs – half of them each by air and ground. And their defense held the Rattlers to 110 net yards.

Jacory was so good that he didn't even break a sweat in the second half against FAMU.

Ohio State’s opening game was just as lopsided. The Buckeyes ran all over the Marshall Thundering Herd, 45-7. And, indeed, it was the running game that allowed OSU to control the game. They outrushed Marshall by the margin of 280-44. Senior Brandon Saine rushed nine times for 103 yards and two TDs. Jamaal Berry also ran for 80 yards on seven carries.

Not to be outdone, Heisman Trophy candidate Terrelle Pryor threw for 247 yards and three scores. Pryor was certainly getting everyone involved, as nine different receivers caught passes in the game. Of his 25 tries, Pryor connected on 17 of them.

After this week’s impressive tune-ups, the teams will have much tougher opponents next week – - namely, each other. With Miami being ranked #13, the game is more important to their BCS hopes than it would be to #2-ranked Ohio State. However, with the season still in its infancy in Week 2 - and with conferences games yet to be played - there’s plenty of time left to recover from a blemish.

Just as long as it disappears from our thoughts and minds by the close of the season.

As well as the formulas in those pesky computers.

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Marlins Should Pay Price For Foul Play

T Lamont — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:55:39 +0000

Let’s set the stage on this one…

Last night, in a meeting between the Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals, the D.C. club’s outfielder Nyjer Morgan was involved a crash and burn play at home plate.

With the game tied 0-0 in the 10th inning, Morgan attempted to score from second on an infield force out. Seeing Florida catcher Brett Hayes with his body in a home plate-blocking position, Morgan slammed into him, putting him out of the game and injuring his shoulder.

Many opinions were offered about Morgan’s aggression and they mainly centered around the assertion that the play was unnecessary. Even ESPN’s Aaron Boone’s questioned Morgan’s bulldozing of Hayes last night.

Let me just say that any questioning of what Morgan did is absolutlely uncalled for. Hayes clearly had his foot planted over home plate in a blatant attempt to block Morgan from the plate. That being said Morgan was certainly within his rights to use force to score.

Last I checked, the runner has the right of way to any base…and when a defender puts his body between the runner and the base it is at his own risk.

So, tonight, with the incident fresh on the Marlins’ minds, the Florida pitching staff gave Morgan the business. Up 14-3 in the fourth inning, Marlins pitcher Chris Volstad threw a pitch right at Morgan – clearly hitting him as a payback for Tuesday night’s incident. Morgan brushed it off – he probably figured it was coming – and trotted to first base.

What happened next is subject to controversy. With such a large deficit, there is apparently some sort of unwritten rules that runners shouldn’t steal bases. Morgan easily swiped two bases – that’s his specialty – and then scored on a shallow pop out to right-center field. That, too, did not sit well with the Marlins.

Next time Morgan came to the plate – in the sixth – Volstad threw yet another pitch behind him. Morgan, immediately realizing that the bad blood was still there, charged the mound. He took a swing at Volstad, but was met with a Gaby Sanchez clothesline. Both benches cleared and the rest was history.

Marlins' hurler Chris Volstad threw at Morgan during two consecutive plate appearances.

There are a couple of things that irk me about professional baseball:

1. Who determines when a game is over? If Morgan decides to steal a base, isn’t it the defense’s responsibility to stop him from doing that? He’s just supposed to stop playing his game? What an idiotic assessment for any baseball player (or analyst, like Aaron Boone) to make .

2. Also, baseball needs to crack down on purposeful beanings. It amazes me that this is blindly accepted as ‘part of the game.’ Somebody on the Marlins team should be penalized for hitting a batter on purpose. The pitcher? The manager? Doesn’t matter…but the action was one that was expected and agreed upon by the Marlins, as a team. It’s straight up stupid and can be unnecessarily hurtful.

Throwing a hardball at someone because you don’t like what they did? What a punk move.

Of course, the whole scene ended with Nyjer Morgan looking like he was the one who was out of control. I think the major leagues is lucky that T Lamont is not on a team roster.

Hit me with a pitch on purpose, twice, and it’ll be Nyjer Morgan all over again.

Note To Usain: Don’t Bolt For the Soccer Field

T Lamont — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:36:58 +0000

Not long ago, super sprinter Usain Bolt was suggesting that he might be a decent wide receiver in the NFL.

Now, he’s thinking he has a shot at playing for a storied soccer franchise.

The brother must think speed is the solitary prerequisite for every sport.

The 2008 Olympic gold medalist is campaigning for a spot on Manchester United. Now, of course, speed helps in any sport. But the skills required for soccer players are intricate, and running fast will be to no avail if Bolt can’t control the ball, or even kick it.

But hey, maybe Bolt is trying to stay ahead of the game. It’s quite possible that he’s foreshadowing the end of his dominance on the track – particularly following this crushing loss to Tyson Gay:

While neither runner put on his best display, it was obvious that Bolt was not at his best. A 9.97 for Bolt is comparable to Rex Ryan saying one curse word in a speech. They both can do it in their sleep. Gay’s 9.84 isn’t the best he’s run, but it’s within a range that can be expected on him. Bolt can, and has, easily outrun that mark multiple time before. Nevertheless, it was a big win for Gay – who has been repeatedly mentioned as one of the top sprinters in the world, but hasn’t really come up with a big win to back up those claims.

What’s interesting is to hear Bolt shifting his focus instead of vowing to whip up on Gay the next time around. And claiming that Gay “hates his guts” is not going to cut it. Saying that his priority is major events? That’s cheap. Bolt beat everyone else handily, cruising to a second-place victory. He simply didn’t have enough to upend Gay on August 6.

We know that Usain is a runner. But with Gay finally appearing to assemble himself into peak form, what we don’t need is for Bolt to come up with excuses for a poor performance.

What we do need is for him to man up and stop running from this challenge.

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Wake Up Coach K!!

T Lamont — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:31:48 +0000

As always, the latest edition of Team USA has better individual players than its FIBA opponents.

Even in a nail-biting victory against Brazil, 70-68, the extraordinarily lopsided talent gap was evident in certain instances:

- After a Brazil offensive rebound, Rudy Gay’s flat-footed rejection on a putback attempt.

- Seasoned Brazilian players being repeated scorched off the dribble by Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook.

- The defensive quickness and anticipation of Andre Iguodala.

- And, of course, the Durantula (Kevin Durant) going nuts and no could stop him.

Now, Mike Krzyzewski makes a living turning All-American high schoolers into cogs in the machine that is the Duke Blue Devils – one of the most polarizing teams in the landscape of college basketball. Would NBA players be much harder to teach? Of course, you might say. They are stubborn millionaires who have no reason to want to transform themselves into team players.

To that, I would strongly disagree. These players could have taken the summer off, collected their enormous paychecks and staying home checking for their own player attributes on the upcoming NBA Elite 11. But they want to help the USA reclaim its hoops dominance on a global scale. Surely, they be willing to listen to proper instruction.

You might bring up the fact that Krzyzewski (along with Jerry Colangelo) resurrected United States basketball with a gold medal performance in the 2008 Olympics.

To that, I would also strongly disagree. King James, the Black Mamba, D-Wade and ‘Melo (among others) resurrected USA basketball in Beijing. Anyone watching the games could see that the U.S., stocked full of NBA superstars, was not running any particularly special sets. They were simply outballing their counterparts. Think you could have won a few games with that group of athletes?

Guard Russell Westbrook only saw the floor for thirteen minutes on Monday.

In yesterday’s Brazil-USA game, the Brazilians fed the U.S. a steady diet of pick and rolls. The Americans were unable to stop the effectiveness of Marcelo Huertas and Tiago Splitter. The two international veterans worked the play to its maximum potential as their team was awarded with numerous easy, uncontested shots in the first half. As the game progressed, there were no adjustments from a defensive standpoint for Team USA. This singular offensive philosophy kept Brazil in the game from start to finish. The fact of the matter is, had Brazil converted open field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, Team USA would have left the court with a loss.

But not only were there no defensive adjustments, but the Americans didn’t run any offense. Again, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve seen this before. However, I’d take my chances with one-on-one play from LeBron, Carmelo, Kobe or Wade. Durant is a horse, but the drop-off to Rudy Gay, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook is a pretty steep one.

So what’s left? With no organization on the offensive or defensive ends of the court, maybe Team USA can wear down its opponents. After all, Colangelo prided himself in assembling a deep roster with plenty of interchangeable, athletic parts. If there’s one thing that Coach K knows how to do, it’s get the most out of his personnel, right?

Wrong. Well, at least not during this game. The starting lineup of Durant, Rose, Iguodala, Lamar Odom and Chauncey Billups played 161 out of a possible 200 minutes. Sharpshooting sparkplug Eric Gordon played just enough to get his jersey sent to the cleaners (five minutes). The coveted interior presence of Tyson Chandler only lasted for five minutes. And each of the starters played more minutes than Gay and Westbrook combined.

Brazil, with its share of NBA names, was definitely the toughest challenge to date for the American team. And there were an absolute plethora of lessons to be taken from Team USA’s underwhelming performance.

I just hope that Coach K woke up in time to jot them down.

McNabb Looking For Grand Entrance

T Lamont — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:55:24 +0000

If Donovan McNabb is about to learn anything, it’s that he can make the Washington D.C. metro area hold its collective breath with his game-time probability.

The concept of an injured McNabb is one that NFL fans have grown accustomed to. McNabb and his reckless style of play is, for the most part, a thing of the past. However, the effects of his scrambling and play-extending abilities are duly noted by the fragility of his body.

No doubt, the Redskins were fully aware of this when they acquired him. But Washington is gambling that his underrated cerebral ability will become more instinctive and allow him to stay on the field for the duration of the season.

McNabb on the field - - a sight that Washington would like to get used to.

Sure, the former Syracuse star may miss a game or two along the way, but Washington should maintain a widescreen view of this season. If their new quarterback is able to start and finish the season without sustaining any major ailments along the way, then by default the ‘Skins will have put themselves in a much better position for playoff competition than in years past. Chris Foreseter, the offensive line coach, will have the significant burden of protecting McNabb. And he’d better be creative in his determination of when his lineman can maintain the traditional pocket and when they need to be move it. Subtle repositioning of the pocket may prove to lengthen Donovan’s potential for lasting the duration of the season.

And just how much is McNabb toying with the emotions of the Redskin faithful?

We’ll never truly know. The six-time Pro-Bowler is a walking assortment of bumps and bruises, but has played at least 14 games in each of the last three NFL campaigns. And my bet is that he will start the regular season opener. With the anticipation of improvement in the nation’s capital, McNabb will not want to be the source of further disappointment to long suffering Washington fans.

He simply wants to make a grand entrance.

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