Its March 1 and that means it is my favorite time of the year. "March Madness" is officially on. My obsession began with the greatest college basketball starting five of all time - that was Michigan's "Fab 5". The Wolverines were loaded with Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, Juwan Howard and C-Webb. I was so attached to that team and thier two runs to the national championship that it's embarrassing. Something about their baggy shorts, black shoes, play-ground skills and their bad ass attitude was mesmerising to me.
The great thing about college basketball is that it doesn't stop with one team. Every year there is a new team to claim as your own. I loved Keith Van Horn and Utah, Mike Bibby's Arizona wildcats, D-Wade and Marquette, Juan Dixon's Maryland Terps, Duany Duany's Cinderella Wisconsin Badgers.
College basketball's NCAA tournament memories stick with you forever. I remember being in study hall in high school and watching Bryce Drew drain a half court 3 pointer to win a game, and being in a bar with my parents (I was like 10 - no I'm not 40 years old) and watching Christian Laettner crush my dad with a turn around half-court jumper. Don't lie, everyone ran to the nearest basketball court and tried Drew's halfcourter and Laettner's turn-around jumper. I am writing this entire piece with a giant smile on my face, because I can't hide my building excitement for the impending March Madness.
So with all that excitement I stroll into The Burrow to do OWL TV's broadcast for the FAU vs. FIU tournament basketball game. These two teams are rivals, and earlier this season De Andre Rice of FAU nailed a jumper with little time left in the game to give the Owls the victory down in Miami. Obviously FIU is not thrilled with FAU, and the Owls had a calmness about them that you can only get by beating a team two times in the same season.
From the tip off this game was intense, with Carlos Monroe being the coolest head for the Owls. If you've been to any games you know that Monroe is cooler than a polar bear's toenails, and he has a John Wayne strut every time he goes to the free throw line. So as the Owls struggled with their nerves, it was Monroe - who nearly registered a double double in the frist half - who kept them in the game.
When the second half began the game was on. After De Andre Rice hit a beautiful layup with about 12 minutes to go, super sub Derreck Simmons fouled out of the game on one of the most questionable calls ever made against FAU. With Simmons out the FIU Panthers nailed consecutive 3 pointers to give them a 10 point lead. Matters only got worse after De Andre Rice was mugged on the way to the basket by a FIU player. No foul was called, and the Panthers took off in the other direction. Well Carlos Monroe wanted FIU to know that they couldn't come into our house and push us around, so he hog-tied a FIU player which started a small brawl on the court.
The Owls had two choices: go out like punks or rise up and show the Panthers who the class of the Sun Belt was. The Owls chose the later. The senior star Rice put the Owls on his shoulders and scored on consecutive AND 1 drives to the basket. After senior guard Brent Crews fouled out after getting 11 assist, Sean Alarcon put on his Superman cape and made two monumental steals, one late in regulation and one in overtime that he converted the layup on and gave the owls a 1 point lead. Monroe and Parmer sealed the game with some key rebounds, and Rice knocked down all his free throws in the second half and overtime to seal the greatest game I've seen in person.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Recruiting Bonanza
If the biggest day in FAU football history came and went without being noticed, did it really happen? Lets hope the answer is a resounding “yes." For those of you who are not sports nerds with no life like myself, let me inform you of what happened last Wednesday.
Howard Schnellenberger landed arguably the two biggest recruits in school history. 6’3", 300 pound Offensive Tackle/Defensive Tackle, Jarvis Givens from Miami, signed his letter of intent to play football for the Owls for the next four years. Givens is ranked as the 56th best lineman in the country, and ESPN.com gave him a grade of 76 out of 100. By comparison all other FAU recruits (besides Xavier Stinson, who’ll I get to) graded out at 40.
Now for Xavier Stinson. To phanom how big of a recruit he is, first understand that FAU beat out national powers Pittsburgh, Iowa, Tennessee and Rutgers (who is notorious for stealing talent from the state). Stinson was a star running back/linebacker at Chaminade-Madonna College Prep in Hollywood, drawing comparison to former Atlanta Falcons RB, Jamal Anderson. ESPN.com rated him as the 39th best running back in the country, and an overall grade of 78.
The rest of the class is filled with local stars like OL Chris Newbold,(Ft.Lauderdale) and RB Jeff Blanchard (Del Ray), both of whom will have to improve tremendously to help FAU compete for a Sun Belt Championship. Overall FAU's recruiting class is on par with the rest of the Sun Belt, which is a improvement from previous seasons.
Adding these players to a young team full of developing young stars like WR Avery Holley and DT Jevonte Jackson, puts FAU in a prime position to challange for thier first Sun-Belt Championship.
Howard Schnellenberger landed arguably the two biggest recruits in school history. 6’3", 300 pound Offensive Tackle/Defensive Tackle, Jarvis Givens from Miami, signed his letter of intent to play football for the Owls for the next four years. Givens is ranked as the 56th best lineman in the country, and ESPN.com gave him a grade of 76 out of 100. By comparison all other FAU recruits (besides Xavier Stinson, who’ll I get to) graded out at 40.
Now for Xavier Stinson. To phanom how big of a recruit he is, first understand that FAU beat out national powers Pittsburgh, Iowa, Tennessee and Rutgers (who is notorious for stealing talent from the state). Stinson was a star running back/linebacker at Chaminade-Madonna College Prep in Hollywood, drawing comparison to former Atlanta Falcons RB, Jamal Anderson. ESPN.com rated him as the 39th best running back in the country, and an overall grade of 78.
The rest of the class is filled with local stars like OL Chris Newbold,(Ft.Lauderdale) and RB Jeff Blanchard (Del Ray), both of whom will have to improve tremendously to help FAU compete for a Sun Belt Championship. Overall FAU's recruiting class is on par with the rest of the Sun Belt, which is a improvement from previous seasons.
Adding these players to a young team full of developing young stars like WR Avery Holley and DT Jevonte Jackson, puts FAU in a prime position to challange for thier first Sun-Belt Championship.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Society's reflection in sports
For my first few blogs I've been promoting all of the great aspects of sports at FAU and in America. Sports can be a release from the stress of everyday life, a place to revert back to a blissful childlike state of aw. I still get the same feeling when I see D-Wade or LeBron James play as I did when Michael Jordan would fill my dreams with visions of a man so amazing he could fly. That's why I love sports. It's a way to leave reality for a few hours. Because, as I'm going to elaborate, reality can suck sometimes.
For good or bad, sports are more than just a way to relax, it's a reflection of what is happening in society. Take this past Super Bowl. It was the first time an African American coached in the game. The good news didn't stop there. Both coaches were black, and obviously an African American won the Super Bowl for the first time ever.
On the flip side of that great achievements the NFL has no African American owners, and college football has 117 teams and only three black coaches. That is definitely a reflection of the plight of African Americans today. They are making strides to break down walls of institutional racism in sports and society, but they're only poking holes when the wall needs to be torn down.
A few days after the Super Bowl, former Orlando Magic Center John Amaechi announced (or came out, I don't really know how to phrase it) that he was a homosexual. It was a bold move because only a few athletes have ever come out, and none of them while they were playing. The reaction from around the league was mild. LeBron James was quoted as saying that he would want a gay player to tell him if he's gay, because the team is a family. Charles Barkley stated that he didn't care. He had gay friends, and its none of his business what they do in their homes. I'm glad to see that my favorite athlete (Barkley) shared my opinion. I care if someone is gay as about asmuch as a gay person cares I'm straight.
According to Amaechi that's not the overall sentiment in the NBA. He believes that he was forced out of the historically moral backwards Utah because it was suspected that he was gay. There is no denying that Amaechi had to feel like an outcast in a atmosphere were the words like "fag" and phrases that use the word "bitch" in a homophobic way (i.e. Shaq made Amaechi his bitch). In addition to the locker room, the NBA has fans who are famous for heckling players. One was so obscene that he called Rockets Center Dikembe Mutombo a "monkey face" among other horrific names.
If you want to get a social temperature for big issues like race or sexuality, a easy barometer is sports, where just like in everyday society for every step forward we need to look back and realize that we are not anywhere close to equality.
FYI FAU has no African American Head Coaches besides Dyanne Loput, who coaches Dance. I'm not saying FAU is behind the times, in fact sadly they are on par if not better than most schools with these issues.
For good or bad, sports are more than just a way to relax, it's a reflection of what is happening in society. Take this past Super Bowl. It was the first time an African American coached in the game. The good news didn't stop there. Both coaches were black, and obviously an African American won the Super Bowl for the first time ever.
On the flip side of that great achievements the NFL has no African American owners, and college football has 117 teams and only three black coaches. That is definitely a reflection of the plight of African Americans today. They are making strides to break down walls of institutional racism in sports and society, but they're only poking holes when the wall needs to be torn down.
A few days after the Super Bowl, former Orlando Magic Center John Amaechi announced (or came out, I don't really know how to phrase it) that he was a homosexual. It was a bold move because only a few athletes have ever come out, and none of them while they were playing. The reaction from around the league was mild. LeBron James was quoted as saying that he would want a gay player to tell him if he's gay, because the team is a family. Charles Barkley stated that he didn't care. He had gay friends, and its none of his business what they do in their homes. I'm glad to see that my favorite athlete (Barkley) shared my opinion. I care if someone is gay as about asmuch as a gay person cares I'm straight.
According to Amaechi that's not the overall sentiment in the NBA. He believes that he was forced out of the historically moral backwards Utah because it was suspected that he was gay. There is no denying that Amaechi had to feel like an outcast in a atmosphere were the words like "fag" and phrases that use the word "bitch" in a homophobic way (i.e. Shaq made Amaechi his bitch). In addition to the locker room, the NBA has fans who are famous for heckling players. One was so obscene that he called Rockets Center Dikembe Mutombo a "monkey face" among other horrific names.
If you want to get a social temperature for big issues like race or sexuality, a easy barometer is sports, where just like in everyday society for every step forward we need to look back and realize that we are not anywhere close to equality.
FYI FAU has no African American Head Coaches besides Dyanne Loput, who coaches Dance. I'm not saying FAU is behind the times, in fact sadly they are on par if not better than most schools with these issues.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Bury the Burrow in Red
This is a message to all FAU students. We have an opportunity to show how great our school is on Saturday Feb 10. I've been informed by Assistant Media Director Mike Bosiak that ESPN (probably ESPNU) is coming to FAU to broadcast the Owl men take on archrival FIU. The stadium is so packed with media that Owl Radio (who covers all FAU men's basketball home games) was barely able to get a seat to do the game.
I hope everyone has seen the posters around campus about "burying the burrow in red." My plea to you is please do. Show the nation what FAU is about. We need to think not about setting an attendence record, because the old one is pathetic (no more 3,000). What we need to do is sell out the burrow to give the players the support they deserve. I'm confident that if you show up, FAU will dominate FIU, who they beat earlier this year on a last-second jumper by star senior DeAndre Rice.
FAU players, like everyone else, play better at home. They have won 8 of 10 at the burrow, and even thier two losses were close games that in my opinon would have been won if the Owls had the fan support they need. Owl Starting Point Guard Brent Crews says, "I play better for a big crowd. For me, my game is enhanced when people are cheering."
We have something special here. We are only losing three players off this year's roster, and although they will be missed, the Owls are bringing back an assortment of exciting players. Starting Shooting Guard Paul Graham calls this team "a family" that continues to grow with every game.
So, you- the fans- need to get out and join the FAU men's basketball family, and enjoy what is on campus. You have no excuses not to show up. It's on campus, less than a few blocks from the dorms. It's free with your student ID. The team is winning at home. In fact, they're dominating at home, despite the fact that most of you don't show up. If you go I gurantee you will have a great time. And, if you like it, talk to the PrOWLers or The Rowdy Rex's and see if you can join up with them, and join a group of loyal fans. Get out there don't be lazy like most south florida fans.
I hope everyone has seen the posters around campus about "burying the burrow in red." My plea to you is please do. Show the nation what FAU is about. We need to think not about setting an attendence record, because the old one is pathetic (no more 3,000). What we need to do is sell out the burrow to give the players the support they deserve. I'm confident that if you show up, FAU will dominate FIU, who they beat earlier this year on a last-second jumper by star senior DeAndre Rice.
FAU players, like everyone else, play better at home. They have won 8 of 10 at the burrow, and even thier two losses were close games that in my opinon would have been won if the Owls had the fan support they need. Owl Starting Point Guard Brent Crews says, "I play better for a big crowd. For me, my game is enhanced when people are cheering."
We have something special here. We are only losing three players off this year's roster, and although they will be missed, the Owls are bringing back an assortment of exciting players. Starting Shooting Guard Paul Graham calls this team "a family" that continues to grow with every game.
So, you- the fans- need to get out and join the FAU men's basketball family, and enjoy what is on campus. You have no excuses not to show up. It's on campus, less than a few blocks from the dorms. It's free with your student ID. The team is winning at home. In fact, they're dominating at home, despite the fact that most of you don't show up. If you go I gurantee you will have a great time. And, if you like it, talk to the PrOWLers or The Rowdy Rex's and see if you can join up with them, and join a group of loyal fans. Get out there don't be lazy like most south florida fans.
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