Whistle Stops

Tonight the OSU basketballers looked superb in a 93-75 win at #9 Florida.  The Bucks completely dominated the 2nd half, erasing a 3 point half-time deficit.  I was particularly impressed with freshman point guard Aaron Craft (#4 above, 7 pts, 5 asts).  His decision-making, especially against the Gators' full court press, seemed beyond his age.  It would appear that the Buckeyes have a solid floor leader for, at least, a couple of seasons.  Jared  Sullinger (26 & 10, 13-17 fg) looks unstoppable.  Another freshman who plays like a junior, Jared is considered one of the top 3 freshmen nationwide.  All of this and a stellar game from 5th year senior David Lighty, who knocked down 9-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-7 at the line on his way to 26 points.  Lighty's mobility is back to 100% following a string of unfortunate injuries and he might finally be the offensive weapon he was touted as 5 years ago.  For a team transitioning in a new PG and a new primary big man, Ohio State plays like a team in late February rather than mid-November.  Winning big, early season games (last year only 12 of like 10,200 D1 match-ups featured 2 top 10 teams) is not OSU's forte, but they sure as hell showed up tonight.  It's not all peaches and ice cream.  Jon Diebler was abused by Florida SF Chandler Parsons, the team was out rebounded 26-17 (that's right, only 7 non-Sullinger boards) and Lighty was the only player to make a free throw.  Still, should the Bucks continue to develop throughout the season, I look forward to the steam-roller that this squad can become by the time March rolls around.

Jake Westbrook has re-signed with the Cardinals thus killing my dream for his return to the tepee.  The deal is 2-years $16.5mil with an $8.5mil mutual option for 2013.  Also included is a "blanket no-trade clause," which, I would guess, requires Jake's consent on any trade.

The Marlins have traded Dan Uggla, the only 2B in MLB history to have 4 30+ home run seasons, to the Atlanta Braves for "all-star" IF Omar Infante and LHP Mike Dunn.  Inter-divisional trading?  Here, Beckham, Beckham, Beckham...

Expect All-Star catcher John Buck to be a Marlin soon, on a 3-yr $18mil deal.

Doc Halladay is your unanimous NL Cy Young award winner.

After 356 yards passing on Sunday, Troy Smith has asserted himself as the 49ers starting QB ahead of not 1, but 2, former #1 overall picks.  Over 2 starts Troy has completed 61.7% of his passes for 552 yards and 2 scores without a pick.  That translates to a 116.6 rating, which is friggin' awesome.  Smith also has a rushing TD.  Troy Smith made be a believer in "The Greatest Game Ever" and, with the offensive skill players (Gore, Crabtree, Vernon Davis) available to him in San Fran, he should be able to parlay this opportunity into a full-time gig.

Congrats to my Bobcats who are mere minutes from completing an upset victory over Temple in Philly.  With 4 minutes to go the 'Cats lead 31-10 against an Owls team that had outscored its opponents 100-10 over its past 3 games.  The win would put OU at 6-1 in the MAC and only a win over Kent State away from the Eastern Division title and a trip to the championship game.  They control their own destiny, which rocks.  The Bobcats were impressive to watch this evening, particularly the ground game and pass defense. 'Twas a shade different from their play at the Shoe in September.

Cheers.

Juwanna Mann?

This is "Britney" Griner.  "She" plays for the Baylor women's basketball team.  "She" can dunk.  "She" got suspended last season for punching a chick in the face.  Some say "she" has a huge dong.  Fuzzy wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?  Time for me to go play field hockey.

Fielding Dreams

The new hardwood at Oregon.  Way to use that Nike money.

Wrigley Field laid out for Northwestern football.  Awesome.

Who Watches The Watchmen?

Granted, I do not internalize as much "hard news" as I should and the veritable triviality of sports sometimes shocks my system, but shouldn't beat writers still be impartial?  And if they're not shouldn't they be classified as PR men rather than journalists?  Directly, I'm referring to Anthony Castrovince, the "official" Indians blogger.  I hate to dog the kid, as he's a fellow Bobcat, but the man has totally lost touch with reality.  When I started reading Anthony's stuff over 2 years ago, he seemed insightful and witty, someone devoted to delivering Tribe news to Tribe fans.  As blogging became so prevalent in our society (see this page), I was hesitant to accept the facts and opinions therein as anything more than the quips of one lucky enough to be close to the team.  Yet, Anthony's work was more than that.  Castrovince provided a humor and perspective that made me feel like one of us had finally snuck inside the henhouse.  It was almost as if I had my ear to the door of the Indians front office or was lounging pre-game in the locker room.  I was grateful for it.

That began to change over this past season as Castrovince took on additional responsibilities from MLB.com, sliding into a more professional role.  He became more distant and his answers in the mailbag became more like press releases than an honest discourse.  The proverbial straw came in the form of a recent response to a question about Jared Goedert.  The reader asked Anthony's opinion on Goedert's chances of being added to the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 deadline.  In a reply that seemed eerily similar to a dozen others that I've read, Castrovince stated that the knock on Goedert was, and always has been, his defense at third.  Fine.  Whatever.  It was relayed as the reason Goedert never got a shot last summer.  This would all be cool... If I believed that Anthony Castrovince had spent any reasonable amount of time watching Jared Goedert man the hot corner.  As the "beat reporter" Anthony travels with the team, so, outside of a a few spring innings and a blue moon, Castrovince has not invested the time to qualify his answer.  I've watched Goedert play during a dozen games for Columbus and have absolutely nothing bad to say about his glove, especially compared to presumptive Tribe starter Jayson Nix. 

Castrovince is regurgitating rhetoric from the suits and it's worthless.  I don't begrudge Anthony the opportunity to further his career, but he could at least be familiar enough with the players to be able to write intelligently about them without betraying his obvious ignorance and driving me to such irritation.  Aaaaah!!!  He should be able to present something less vague, some tidbit more compelling than "uh... his de... fense is... uh... weak.  that's it.  yep, weak.  no more questions."  Yeah, yeah, I'm jealous of his job.  So what?  I'd do it better.

I do dig the shot of Goedert that I co-opted from the inbox page.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl 11.16.10 - Kat Dennings

More than a handful is certainly not a waste.