The Sins of Realignment

It was made official today that the Big East is splitting up, effective July 1st. The so-called Catholic 7 will retain the Big East name, history and MSG for the basketball tournament, while the football schools will have their own league, which looks like it will be called "America 12" (pardon me while I laugh). Even if the split was going to happen next year, this was still going to be the last year of the Big East as we once knew it. Rivalries and the Big East Tournament will never be the same again.

The next nine days will give a glimpse of what will be missed as the winds of college sports have ruined the greatest basketball league assembled. Two rivalries will no longer have scheduled games starting next season; sure they might have games post-split but it won't be the same when these games are being played in December instead of March. The first of these rivalries that are coming to an end is Rutgers-Seton Hall, who will finish their Big East series tonight at the Prudential Center. I'm certain there will be games against these two for years to come, but it will be once a year and losing the round robin nature of the series will hard to get used to. There is a bias when I speak of these two teams since I'm a Seton Hall alum and perhaps I overrate this rivalry (both of us aren't that good at playing basketball). However, I know I'll miss going into every season looking to finish ahead of Rutgers.

The rivalry everyone will miss is Syracuse-Georgetown, which will play it's last scheduled game tomorrow at noon in Washington D.C. Where Rutgers-Seton Hall is like Newcastle-Sunderland in terms of rivalry/derby; the Hoyas vs the Orange are the defining rivalry since the Big East was formed in 1979. Names like Patrick Ewing, Sherman Douglas, Alonzo Mourning, Pearl Washington, Sleepy Floyd and Gerry McNamara are part of Big East history. John Thompson and John Thompson III patrolling the Hoyas sidelines, while Jim Boeheim is Big East hoops since Day 1. Tomorrow, the Cuse have a chance to knock the Hoyas out of a number 1 seed in the Big East tournament and who knows, perhaps they will have another matchup next week in New York. If not, there's no plans right now of these two continuing their rivalry in the new conference.

Next week, for one last time, you will see Syracuse, Pitt, St. John's, Villanova, Louisville and Rick Pitino among others share the Madison Square Garden stage for the last time. One prominent absence will be UConn, who if Georgetown was the representation of the Big East during the glory years of the 80s and Syracuse being the best team throughout the entire history, the Huskies have been the dominant power of the last twenty years. It's already a lesser tournament next week without UConn and retired coach Jim Calhoun. Teams like Notre Dame and Cincinnati know that this is the last time they will get this March trip to NYC for great basketball. As good as Xavier and Butler are, teams like Villanova and St. John's know that not playing Syracuse and Pitt in March makes a Big East title a little hallow.

If you grew up with the Big East, you grow up with basketball in your bones. You knew that how you did in the NCAA Tournament was second to how you did in the Big East Tournament; great to be national champion, but losing in the first or second round doesn't ruin the year if you won it all at MSG.  There will be a version that still will have great basketball, with some history, but a lesser version it will be nonetheless. And who knows if Syracuse and Pitt can avoid the pitfalls that happened to Boston College when they left for the ACC. For one more week, let's enjoy what made the Big East great before the reality sets in on what makes college sports infuriating.

Lundbelivable Linsanity Is SHU Cray

Valentine's Day 2012. No, it wasn't the first time the Knicks, Rangers and Seton Hall Pirates won on the same day, but it was the first time that you can say that it was reasonable to be hopeful for good things to come from all three at the same time (at least since I decided to commit to Seton Hall as the school of my choice, which is when I officially became of Pirates fan).

Consider that Seton Hall had lost six in a row, yet they still hadn't officially knocked themselves out of the NCAA Tournament list. A fact like that in it of itself is surprising as a six game losing streak is more or less typical for a Seton Hall team that always seems to have the deck stacked against them. One tourney appearance in the last seven years and they were the first team eliminated that year against Wichita State (perhaps I was lucky I had a test that day and couldn't just skip class to watch it). That lose in fact started the Gonzo Era, which if you're a SHU alum, student or fan, you wish you can forget existed. It was a time when our school became a laughingstock, punctuated by the time Bobby Gonzalez was arrested for shoplifting a manpurse.

However, out of the rubble from those teams is Jordan Theodore and Herb Pope, both men seniors, both have had terrific years that allowed the Pirates to dominate non-conference play, against a pretty tough schedule. Going 11-1 with wins over St. Joes, VCU on neutral sites and Dayton on the road gave the Hall some breathing room. That breathing room expanded when they beat West Virginia and UConn, starting Big East play 4-1. Then, a missed FT by Theodore in the closing seconds against South Florida started that six-game tailspin. However, when they needed a win against Rutgers, Theodore wouldn't allow them to lose. He did everything possible to win that game, one that would allow him to finish with a perfect 4-0 record at the RAC. Add a comeback win against Pitt and a completely dominant performance over St. John's and now the Pirates are right in the hunt for tourney bid.

While Seton Hall was running St. John's off the gym, I was more concerned with the NY Rangers, who were battling the defending Cup champion Bruins in a game that may have told us who the best team in the East is. Instead of allowing the Bruins to maintain momentum early, the Rangers struck first with a power play goal by Ryan Callahan, then Ryan McDonagh scored on a shot from the boards that tipped in off Zdeno Chara. When the Bruins came out flying in the second period, the Rangers defense gave them so little room to make great chances, and when they did, Henrik Lundqvist was there for the challenge.

The post-lockout Rangers always had a chance to win because of Hank. That's the kind of goalie he is. However, we are witnessing the greatest season for a goaltender in Rangers history. Hank will win the Vezina when it's all said and done and the Hart trophy is also a possibility. His improved play (from regular excellence to unreal greatness) is why the Rangers are tops in the East and why it will be hard to knock them off that perch come playoff time.

When the Rangers had taken control over the Bruins, it was time to flip the Knicks on. They were in Toronto and I knew they were losing for most of the night. Yet, somehow, they came back again and now Jeremy Lin had the ball with seconds left. Instead of finding an open man, he took the shot, swished it and stole a game from the Raptors. It made the fact I had tickets to yesterday's game against the Kings even more anticipated.

Knicks fans for 9 years had nothing to cheer about. No luck in the draft, no competence in the front office in regards to Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas and a horrible roster of players. Until Lin showed up, we were about to rule out the Melo-Stat Era as more of the same. Now? The promise of this team is now wide open. One might think this is just a few games, but what NBA just dominates out of nowhere after a few games? If a player is drafted in the first round, he has pedigree and a level of expectation that won't allow him to sneak up on anyone. While a second round pick generally doesn't have same expectation, it gets nullified if he went to a major college and we remember him (like Gilbert Arenas at Arizona and Carlos Boozer at Duke). Jeremy Lin went to Harvard, was undrafted and bounced around a couple teams and was the 12th man on their bench before he started against the Nets. It's mind-blowing how he can be this good this quick and just fell through the cracks.

I really look forward to Carmelo Anthony returning. Either he will thrive with Lin or he won't, but Lin is here to stay and Melo better understand that. If he doesn't, we'll see what the team looks like as a result. If he does, then the Knicks are about to become interesting.

So here we are, three teams, three examples of the inspiration of hope. The hope of breaking through into the world of relevant for Seton Hall; the hope of becoming contenders for the Knicks and the hope of becoming champions for the Rangers. One things for sure, and with the afterglow of the Giants Super Bowl still there; New York (and New Jersey) can continue to be optimistic. Isn't it a funny feeling?

Randomness While Hoping Jay Leno Doesn't Take My Blog Away

Before I start the post, I'd like to take the time to show my support to the people of Haiti and those Americans of Haitian descent who are dealing with the devastation after the earthquake there, particularly one of my best friends.

-NBC this week has really proven to be the dumbest of networks. Following an embarrassment of an announce team they put together for the Jets-Bengals, now this Leno-Conan issue has completely blown up in their face. They too quickly wanted to keep Conan from leaving to another network, so they rushed him into the Tonight Show slot. When Leno didn't want to leave, they gave him the 10pm slot, screwing Conan and their affiliates in the process. Now, NBC wants to get everything back to how it was, with Leno late, followed by Conan and Jimmy Fallon. It's such a mess, you'd think Jim Dolan was in charge of NBC.

-Harrison Ford's film legacy should be as the best at finding roles which he can utter famous lines in serious movies. His latest one was so received, it has it's own YouTube clip before the movie comes out. Not even Jack Nicholson is as good with finding these roles, despite two famous lines. Not when you consider Indiana Jones, The Fugitive and Air Force One.

-Now to sports, let's start by saying I completely agree with Kevin Iole in his column about the failed Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. It's everyone's fault. Yes, I include you Floyd, you're the bully, with Pacquiao's career and reputation damaged by this. Meanwhile, Bob Arum and everyone else are just vindictive fools who'd rather have a pissing match then make money. An agreement should of been made, it wasn't because just like in Kindergarten, everyone involved couldn't get along with others.

-I'm going to make this a two-part Randomness, with Babe of the Week tomorrow. First things first, I've starting contributing at Gonzo Ball, the official SBN site for Seton Hall men's basketball, though I would probably post other sports should someone at SHU do something noteworthy. I started with covering last Thursday's loss to Georgetown and should write more posts as the season goes along. So be sure to follow me there, as well as the outstanding founder of Gonzo Ball and the soon-to-be official cast of writers.

-Time for my picks for Saturday's Divisional Playoff games. Let's start with the soon to be high-scoring fest in New Orleans, as the Saints take on the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals will score on the Saints unless Kurt Warner has a stinkbomb of a game (which is very possible, though in playoff time, not as likely). However, when will the Cards stop Drew Brees and the Saints offense, at home no less. I think this plays like the 1999 game between Warner's Rams and the Vikings with Cris Carter and Randy Moss. The Rams won that one 49-37 because their offense was a little better than the Vikings that year (since Jeff George was the Vikes QB). I think the same thing happens today, except against Warner here. Saints (-7.5) over Cards; final score: 41-31.

-In the nightcap, Baltimore goes to Indianapolis (gee, where did we hear that one before) with the Ravens coming off a dominating performance against a clearly inferior Patriots team. The Colts, on the other hand, staggered into the playoffs after losing their last two games, ending a 14-0 start. The manner in which they lost seemed to infuriate everyone, since the Colts sat their starters, giving the Jets a win which put them into the playoffs. People always look at the Ravens defense and figure they will play a close game, and give Manning trouble. However, historically, Peyton Manning has gone 7-2 against Baltimore, the two losses in the only two years the Colts missed the playoffs in the Manning Era (yes, it includes one in Jim Mora's final season, the week after the "PLAYOFFS" rant). Also, Manning has thrown 17 touchdowns with only 5 interceptions with a 65 percent completion and a 103.8 QB rating. These stats tell me that Manning has the Ravens number and add the fact that the Colts are the best at primetime (which this game is being played), I have to think the Colts take care of business. Especially once the Colts know that they just need to make Joe Flacco beat you. Colts (-6.5) over Ravens; final score, 27-10.

Randomness While Channeling My Inner Barry Switzer

And apparently, this guy above also did the same thing. Bill Belichick did everything to lose that game Sunday night in that final Patriots drive. New England enters this drive with two timeouts and blows one before the first play for no reason. After setting up 3rd and 2, Belichick calls a pass play, instead of a run to set up the two minute warning, and that pass is nearly run back for a pick six. As the Pats offense leaves the field, Belichick arrogance comes into play and calls for another pass play on 4th and 2 at their OWN 28. The confusion of that play made the Pats burn their last timeout. That timeout was important as the Pats missed converting on the 4th down play on a close play that either you could use the timeout to challenge or save for the Colts possession and give Tom Brady more than 10 seconds to drive down the field.


Monday, I heard half the sports world rightly kill Belichick for his handling of the 4th down play and the other half defend him because "he's unconventional" and obviously anything he does is always the right call. The fact is, Belichick should have punted, and everyone expected it, which is why the Pats threw on third down (which you can't do) and threw basically the same route on fourth down. You can't take a chance that Peyton Manning gets 30 yards to win a game, but make him go 60-70 yards against you're defense that has made him uncomfortable all night, including a couple of interceptions (one in the fourth quarter).


Random note: I know about the video of Belichick's bodyguard knocking over a cameraman as they left the field. The thing that cracks me up is after Belichick shakes Jim Caldwell's hand, Jim Sorgi randomly approaches Bill just as the cameraman was taken down. Random note two: Since I didn't post this after this article, I must give Ed Werder credit for the "channel his inner Switzer" line. We both thought it, he put it on record first, plus he actually spoke with Barry Switzer about it, so he deservedly gets credit.


Good luck for the NY Jets, who have to face the Patriots who after their last loss beat the Titans 59-0. Add that the Pats lost the way they did, that the Jets beat them in September and how Belichick just plain hate the team, I wouldn't be surprised if 59-0 is the halftime score.


Jets have their own problems after another tough loss to the Jaguars Sunday. The key play was Maurice Jones-Drew stopping at the one yard line, a la Brian Westbrook, in order to run the clock down for a winning field goal. Gregg Easterbrook in his comprehensive TMQ column made an interesting point on the play, not by calling MJD dumb for trying to run the clock, but stating that Jack Del Rio would be to blame if the Jags somehow missed the FG because all they did was take knees to set the kick up (also you see him defend Belichick's fourth down decision, which I'm sure he was fight 100 bolts of lightning in doing so).


This is about the Jets, who have self-destructed before our very eyes, at least to those who live in New York. They lost Kris Jenkins and Leon Washington, Kerry Rhodes is the anti-Ed Reed, Mark Sanchez is playing like a rookie and Rex Ryan is coaching without a clue. This is a team that has talked like they won the last ten Super Bowls, where the coach has no clue about clock management and how to use his timeouts, where a rookie QB reads a prepared statement and thinks he can get away with pissing off the New York media. Now they're 4-5, certain to be 4-6 and headed to a 6-10, 7-9 season. The Rex Ryan Era Everybody!!!


Where last Sunday was an awful day for the Jets, it was golden for the Giants. Why? They didn't play. Also, the Cowboys, Eagles and Falcons lost, with all three and the Broncos each losing key players to injury. In a related story, the Giants play all three teams in the next four weeks. If Chris Simms is the starter on Thanksgiving, no chance do the Giants lose, hell the Lions or the Rams have as good a chance of winning. Thus, the Giants could avoid Brian Westbrook (concussion), Kyle Orton (ankle) and Michael Turner (ankle), plus the Cowboys had multiple injuries.


The Bengals are for real and no one can ignore them anymore. They swept both AFC Championship teams from a year ago, plus they have Oakland, Kansas City, Cleveland and Detroit which will get them into the playoffs. The defense is very good who have absorbed the loss of Antwan Odom without losing the ferocity of their pass rush and they have the best pair of corners for any team (with Green Bay the one possible exception) in Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall.


I remember back in the mid-90s that Bud Adams was one of the worst owners in sports with how he handled coaches and obviously how the Oilers left Houston for Tennessee. Then, he has seemed like a good guy during the Jeff Fisher era, but giving him the Cowher treatment and not firing him. After last Sunday, I'm glad that Adams can be hated once again after his two bird salute to a Bills section, not to mention Commissioner Roger Goodell.


I think everyone's aware that the Yankees have won more games that the Nets, Knicks, Giants AND Jets combined in November. But does anyone know that the Seton Hall Pirates hold that same claim and they started playing games last Friday. Just sayin'. (This is no longer true because the Knicks remarkably won in Indiana, holding Danny Granger to three second half points. So now it's a tie.)


As for the Pirates, I believe they will make the tournament, despite Keon Lawrence getting suspended for DUI. Herb Pope will make the difference and finally give the team the size they've been lacking. I rarely pick college in November because a) too many new players so I have no clue how they mesh and b) I know teams that are thought of as good fall on their faces way too often.


After blowing the draft pick this year and selecting Jordan Hill over Brandon Jennings and a still questionable Danilo Gallinari pick last year, should Knicks fans be concerned that Donnie Walsh is the GM? Also, does this make it a good thing the Knicks don't have a draft pick in 2010, thus Walsh can't screw up another one?

Huge weekend boxing where Manny Pacquiao puts himself in the elite class of fighters after his dominant win over Miguel Cotto. There were some shades of the Ali "Rope-A-Dope" in the early rounds which Cotto was forcing the action, before one switch at the ropes and Pac Man was brutal the rest of the fight, forcing Cotto's wife and son fleeing the arena (just like Mick Foley's wife and kids). Now, the entire world is salivating over a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, hopefully to be seen on the unofficial fight weekend of the year, Kentucky Derby day (doubling as the weekend of my 24th birthday).


Pacquiao supporters can claim that he dominated Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton better than Floyd and that Miguel Cotto was the best fighter either guy faced. While Mayweather supporters can claim the win of Juan Manuel Marquez is better than Pacquiao's struggles with the guy, the fact is, Marquez was a better fighter at a lower weight. One thing that's true about Pacquiao, he hasn't lost his speed as he moves up weight class and winning titles in seven divisions is as good a feat as ever done in boxing, while Mayweather must continue to stay unbeaten because that's his claim to fame, aside from a lot of bravado and boring defensive fights (he's clearly the San Antonio Spurs of boxing for the simple fact that I think he can throw when he wants to which he did against Hatton, just as the Spurs could score with the Suns when necessary). Pacquiao's place in boxing history will be looked on kind regardless of a win/loss against Floyd, but Mayweather can establish himself in a greater light. That's why Floyd needs this fight, though not more than the sport of boxing itself.


Finally, the World Cup qualifying ended Wednesday as the last six teams made the 32-team field which will be played in South Africa next year. Kudos must go to our upset winners in Greece (who I always root for, except against the U.S., in deference to some of my cousins) and Slovenia, who knocked off Ukraine (leading to this scene being rehashed) and Russia respectively (think of Russia's luck, they probably were among the top 5 teams in qualifying, but they had to be grouped with Germany and couldn't beat them. They win if grouped with France or Italy). Algeria won a special playoff over Egypt, Uruguay won their playoff with Costa Rica while Christiano Ronaldo can breathe easy because his Portugal squad made the field without him.


The final one was between Ireland and France. The French won the first leg 1-0 in Ireland and the Irish scored first in the second game leading to extra time. For anyone who doesn't know, because both teams scored one goal and on the road, they needed the extra time; if France would score, it would force Ireland to score or the French move on. In the 103rd minute, the play that happened will instantly be compared to Diego Maradona, the Montreal Screwjob, the Bennett Salvatore Game, Jeffery Maier, and No Goal among the list of worst officiating moments in sports history. Thierry Henry clearly touches the ball with a handball, which gets uncalled and the France win on the ensuing goal. Personally, I'm done talking about it, the Irish were robbed and France will undeservedly go to South Africa, it's that simple.


Here's my pick for tonight's NFL Network game. Home team in CAPS
CAROLINA (-3) over Miami- Without Ronnie Brown, the Wildcat isn't as effective and the Dolphins will lose tonight. Please don't make me curse picking you Jake Delhomme.