Friday, February 27, 2015

Cleaning out the inbox-sports edition

Time to clean out the inbox of the sports items,so we will start with another Grantland Unheralded Rivalry that to me personally might be the biggest in the game in Xavier-Cincinnati.

I've never had a hatred for the Bearcats and I even root for them at times,but I've always been a Xavier guy dating back to the days of Pete Gillen and especially his successor-the late Skip Prosser.
I know fans on each side would say "how could you ever root for the other"?
But it's not tough,even if clearly preferring Xavier.
I'd go as far as saying the Musketeers are my favorite team in college hoops over Ohio State.
I'm a Buckeye fan to the core,but I've always been against their stance of no in-state games especially when two programs of the caliber of Xavier and UC are available to play.
Considering that the rivalries I once was so passionate about are gone in the games (Maryland in the ACC),this clearly is the biggest game of the season to me.
Xavier won and continued a recent control of the series and it may stay that way considering Xavier is now the team in the Big East and Cincinati is the team in the mid-major league (AAC).....

A sad story that should be a caution on this rushing the court nonsense.
I'm not against fun and I'm not going to say this should never be done,but it should be reserved for rivalry wins,conference clinchers or maybe a win over the top team in the country,not for a run of the mill win over a ranked team.
The recent two showed the difference to me.
Kansas State rushed the floor for a win over Kansas,but the Jayhawks were second in the country and the top rival.Maryland rushed it for a win over number four Wisconsin,but the Terrapins were ranked as well and Wisconsin has no rivalry at all with the Terrapins.
I realize Maryland is trying to build something in the Big 10 and at least they aren't being ridiculous like Penn State was when they joined with six "rivalry trophy game" with everyone down to Minnesota (Governor's Victory Bell,anyone?),but this seemed excessive in excitement for a basketball school.
Personally,if I was Maryland,I'd be working on Penn State as a rival-closest school and a school that you'll consistently whip in the sport you care about most,but that's just me.....
Check out the above link for the story of Joe Kay and I think you'll think a bit differently on the whole rush the floor concept....

Here's a link to an article on Pirates reliever Jared Hughes,who has been a long time favorite of ours dating back to when we really started to dig deep into the world of autographing and minor league baseball.
Remember this? I'm still frozen from this day...
The article focuses on Hughes and his four stints with AA Altoona along with his shift from the starting rotation to the bullpen and resulting rise in effectiveness.
I came very close to landing Jared for an interview back then,but when it was time to do it,Jared had to back out as he told me then-Pirate GM Dave Littlefield had enacted a policy on bloggers-as in don't talk to them.
Considering the heat Littlefield was under,that was likely because of his issues with non-credentialed writers!!
Hard to believe that was almost eight years ago!
I've never stuck this long with anything in my life like this other than the lovely Cherie!

Two fights from Europe this weekend in the boxing challenge.

IBF Jr,Featherweight title.12 rds
Carl Frampton vs Chris Avalos

R.L:Frampton KO 5
TRS:Frampton KO 8

Middleweights.12 rds
Dmitri Chudinov vs Chris Eubank Jr.
RL:Eubank unanimous decision
TRS:Eubank split decision

We wrap up with two boxing notes.
First we go to UCN,a new boxing site that took the best from MaxBoxing and made it better and a article on former bantamweight champ Alfonso Zamora turning 61.
We did a small mention of Zamora and his non-title bout with fellow champion Carlos Zarate in a recent Overhand Right and this is a comprehensive look at his career....

And we wrap up with a goodbye to former light heavyweight champion Harold Johnson at the age of 86,
The smooth boxing Johnson owned wins over Archie Moore,Ezzard Charles and Jimmy Bivens,all hall of famers over the course of his career....


No comments: