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Jordan Clarkson

One of the great perks of my job is covering good, competitive basketball in South Texas.

Every now and then, I’ll get to cover a standout. A few years ago, I covered Phillip McDonald at Cypress Springs. McDonald, a silky, smooth-shooting swingman, is now at New Mexico.

I’ve also covered other hoops stars, like Cypress Falls’ Devin Gibson, an all-around talent at point guard who now plys his trade for the University of Texas-San Antonio.

And, the latest star I’ve seen in person is San Antonio Wagner’s senior swingman Jordan Clarkson, a 6-3, 170-pound scoring dynamo who scored 38 points for the Thunderbirds – the No. 1 Class 5A team in Texas – against Laredo United last Friday en route to an 87-83 win.

Clarkson single-handedly pushed the Thunderbirds to victory. Gritty, hot-shooting United held as much as a 23-point lead, including 19 at halftime, and a seven-point advantage midway through the fourth quarter.

Clarkson scored 24 of his points in the second half, including 14 in the crucial fourth quarter.

It was his 3 from dead center that tied the game with 3:49 left, and it was his lay-up that put Wagner ahead for good with 36 seconds remaining.

He scored inside, our, above and under, using his athleticism and length to penetrate the defense and get to the hole whenever he wished.

He has a fluid stroke from 3, and gets his points withing the offense. I never saw him rush a shot or take one for the sake of taking one.

Reportedly, he has signed to play college hoops at Tulsa. But with Wagner on the Texas map, be on the lookout for him.

He’s a great talent, and I can’t wait to see the talent that will come the rest of the season. United, due to gutsy scheduling by its head coach, also will play Judson and San Antonio Madison – the No. 2 ranked team in the Greater San Antonio area – so I’m anxious to see what other players South Texas boasts.

It’s off to a great start.

It’s the type of shot you’d try pulling off during a game of HORSE—from behind the backboard. Usually we try from out of bounds, but on rare occasions, it can happen in-game.

Kobe yesterday:

Jordan:

Bird:

And what the heck, how about some Josh Shipp:

The Coogs basketball team stopped off in Nevada on their way to Alaska tonight to take on the Wolfpack. Apparently the bus with the defense arrived a little after the rest of the convoy.

Nevada jumped out to an immediate 11 – 4 lead over the UH Aubrey Colemen. After only 4 minutes it was 14 – 6 and things were not looking good. Aubrey and Houston’s other highly-touted guard, Kelvin Lewis, tried to keep it close but Nevada made another 5 – 0 run to stretch the lead to 21 – 11 forcing Tom Penders to call a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout Sean Coleman knocked down a 3 but there would not be much more shot-making by the Coogs for the next several minutes. 9 minutes in the gap was 17 and the Cougars had already given up 36 points. Houston finally got on track but they couldn’t get the lead into the single digits. That was mainly because of Brandon Fields.

Fields went back door then drilled a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions with about 5 minutes left in the half to give the Wolf Pack 50 points already. He added another trey a moment later and finished the half with 22 points but he wasn’t the only player killing the Coogs.

Joey Shaw was having his way also with 14 points in the half and the perimeter players threw in 4 more 3s in addition to the 4 hit by Fields. The deficit grew to around 20 and 2 steals and a dunk by Aubrey to end the 1st period only made it a 17 point game.

Aubrey on the other hand was a blistering 4 of 12 from the field to start and the offense could not get any rhythm.  

44 – 61 Nevada at the half.

A different UH team came out for the 2d half and this version was actually playing defense. They started pressuring the Nevada ball-handlers and getting turnovers (18 of them with 8:00 still to go in the game). They also knocked down some perimeter jumpers.

Adam Brown hit 5-8 threes and 9-12 overall on his way to 25 points and Sean Coleman hit all 3 of his attempts from beyond the arc. Aubrey started to pick up his play also as the Coogs closed the gap to 95 – 81. But Nevada continued to dominate the paint.

The Cougars couldn’t keep the Wolf Pack bigs off of the offensive glass; 17 offensive rebounds is way too many in any game but espacially when Nevada shot over 60% from the field. It seemed like every time they missed they got another try at it. But the Cougars were still making headway.

A dunk by Aubrey and free throws by Brown got it down to 9 then a steal and fast break dunk by Aubrey made it 96 – 89 with 6:00 left. Aubrey’s 30th points kept the Coogs within 7 but Houston turned it over on the next possession and the Wolf Pack fended off the UH charge. Desmond Wade made a nice “and 1″ in the lane to make it 100 – 94 but that was as close as they would get.

Sean Coleman fouled out with a hack of Shaw who knocked down those Fts and added another basket to put the score at 104 – 94 with 4:27 to go. Shaw and Aubrey went back and forth on the next couple of possessions but the Brown and Aubrey both missed open looks for 3 in the same possession and Nevada was able to milk the clock for the rest of the game.

112 – 99 Nevada final score.   

Positives:

1. 99 points is usually enough to get the job done. The offense looked fine.

2. The role players and bench guys played well. UH had a chance to win the game even though the 2 main guns, Aubrey Coleman and Kelvin Lewis, were only 13 – 30 and 3 – 12 from the floor respectively. You have to believe that those 2 are going to play better almost every night so, if the other guys can continue to play like this, the season could be very successful.

Negatives:

1. Nevada had about 10,500 fans at the game; compare that to the 3,076 that went to the Houston opener with Nicholls State. I know I have no room to talk because I went to the Rockets’ game that night but 3,000 is just sad.

2. The defense and rebounding were indescribably bad. The Coogs were outrebounded 57 – 27 and allowed 61% shooting by Nevada. I would like to offer some advice but where do I start? Those are some of the worst numbers you are going to hear on any level. It really sounds more like a video game stat line that an actual D-1 game.

Insights:

Aubrey Coleman felt the need to take 30 shots when the rest of the guys were shooting the ball well?… Uhm… I’m amazed. I mean Sean Coleman was 4-6, Desmond Wade was 4-9 and Adam Brown was 9-12; why did Aubrey not make it a point to feed the hot shooters? I know he’s the man on this team and I know that he has the ability to score a ton of points but he has to learn to make the right play. The defense will not get better if he continues to take 30 shots. These guys are young and they need to touch the ball to get into the game and get motivated on defense and the boards. The entire team only had 11 assists and 5 of those were from Wade. He has to decide if he wants to be a basketball player or a scorer.  He’s capable of doing whatever he wants on the court, whether or not he will do is something we’ll have to wait to see.

Not Particularly Happy with the Effort,

Multatuli    

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Free College Football Sports Betting Pick for Saturday November 20th

TCU Vs Wyoming

TCU showed the world last week that they deserve the top ranking they have. They jumped to #4 in the country and with that came an inflated line. TCU has struggled a bit on the road in November (4-9-1 ATS). Wyoming is 13-5 ATS off a SU win and 5-1 ATS at home with revenge off a straight up and ATS win. Letdown is a real possibility with this inflated line.

Play: Wyoming +31.5

15 Team Teasers and parlays!!

Some serious—and I mean serious—back pain this morning. I think I pulled a muscle.

I just joined a gym and started lifting again, only I only lift extremely light weights because I don’t want to be lifting at all. I want to be doing yoga, but I don’t know the first clue about how to choose one kind or find a teacher. I am being a baby about it, I know, but I thought doing the light lifting would help in the meantime. Holy sh*t, I was wrong. I can barely sit up. Feels like someone is corkscrewing into the lower-right of my back.

Ryan said I need to have more posts with Barack Obama in the tags, so his tag gets bigger than A-Rod’s. Fair enough. I’m not sure how what I’m about to say fits with Obama, but I’ll see if I can connect them.

Today’s [insert series of intellectually disparaging adjectives] column to the contrary, I like Bill Simmons. I even bought his book, The Book of Basketball, and I’m enjoying it. It’s less a history of basketball than one man’s history of basketball, designed to start and sustain arguments between two people or the reader and the writer (Basically, it’s a 600-page blog post). It’s pretty good, and I just got to the part where he wants to move the Basketball Hall of Fame and change its induction policy. I agree with both parts. It’s in Springfield, MA, now, and I’ve driven by it plenty of times but never had the desire to go. Not a good sign.

He says move it to Indiana, the home of basketball. At first, I thought it was ridiculous, and thought it should be in Manhattan. I don’t think that’s an inherently NY-centric view. Put it here, in the city with the “World’s Most Famous Arena,” make it a tourist attraction, and people will come.

Then I thought about it some more, and came up with a better idea. If we’re going to blow it up and move it, why not make it its own tourist attraction?

That’s what the Baseball Hall of Fame is, but that’s its own thing. No one’s going to go to Indiana just to see the basketball Hall of Fame. Basketball simply doesn’t draw on its past the way baseball does, so there’s no reason to think that people will go to Indiana just to be in Indiana, the way people flock to upstate New York just to go there. No: there needs to be another draw.

So here’s what I was thinking. Put it in Indiana if you want. Or Chicago. Or Vegas, ideally, but that ain’t going to happen. But make it a destination by making the HOF only part of the draw. Put it next to a golf course. Better yet, have dozens of open basketball courts, like the US Tennis Center has tennis courts. Have open play available for visitors who otherwise have put their balling days behind them. Use the courts to play High School championships and for summer camps. Put restaurants, bars, and hotels on campus. Make it a both a bachelor party and family destination where the groups can split up. “What are you doing today?” “Oh, I’m going to hit the pool and play in the 3 p.m. pickup game.” “Nice. I’m going to check out the Celtics exhibit.” “I saw it yesterday, and it’s awesome.” Etc.

I’d put $500 on it for a weekend, wherever that was. You know who else would? President Obama.

There you go.

I like Stephen Curry as much as I’ve like any basketball player in years. His near-run to the Final Four two years ago was the single greatest virtuoso performance I’ve seen in college hoops since Dwyane Wade put it in Kentucky’s *** (phrase trademark M.A.) a while back, the difference being that even then Dwyane looked like a baller, whereas Steph looks like a 12-year-old who wandered onto the court at recess.

Curry’s on the Golden State Warriors now, a team that would be perfect for him if it wasn’t falling apart at the seams. They play a high-tempo, defense-lite style, which is good for the guy who’s automatically got one of the top five prettiest shots in the League. (Seriously, Google this man-child.) The good part is that the Warriors just traded Stephen Jackson, a malcontent who had no real value other than to sabotage the career of one of the NBA’s most marketable future stars before it even got going. Now Curry’s starting, and he can learn his NBA point guard role on the fly. The bad part is that he plays on the West Coast, and I’m here. He came one pick away from going to the Knicks, which would have eventually had bittersweet results for this old-minted Celtics fan. Then again, everything the Knicks touch goes to shit these days, so maybe everyone wins.

The question is, do I shell out for NBA League Pass online? I would go for the $100 “Follow 7 teams” version. I’d go with some combination of Warriors, OKC, and Celtics (definite) and Lakers, Spurs, Rockets, Suns, Blazers, Cavs and Bucks (possible). The Bucks only get on there because of Brandon Jennings, but they do get on there. Ben gets this in Seattle and chose the Blazers and, in the most dickish move imaginable, the Blazers are blacked out in the former Sonics town because it’s now their “home market.” Wrap your head around that one.

Still, might not be a political liability big enough to keep me from my Steph. Thoughts?

SHOCKINGLY QUICK UPDATE: My cousin gave me his account of the same problem, leaving out no information, and how it would pass. I’ll get over it. Word.

Sparkler radish planted October 5-6th.

Ok. I finally took some pictures, but then had to load the new PS Elements 8.0 before I could bring them to you. Lame, I know. And that took a few more days because then my mouse was out of commission. So, finally we are back in business. Thankfully. It has been so beautiful outside that I am just loving it. Unfortunately, so are the birds. And despite the fact that they have plenty of bird seed, they are thinking that my lettuce and newly sprouted lettuces are wonderful and eating them down to the ground. At first, I thought I had some kind of worm, but then discovered the birds. Some baling wire to make some little hoops to fit over the lettuce and seedlings & a trip to the local hardware store to buy some bird netting to fit over those hoops has solved the eating problem, but not the bird issue. They are seriously everywhere. My dog is going crazy chasing them. And somehow, every morning I go out there, they are getting into the chicken coop. I just came in from there, and there were seriously 10 sparrows and a dove. The dove is still in there. It wouldn’t come out. So, I say, whatever, to it!

I planted some celery this year, and don’t know if it will make it, but it has sprouted and they are seriously the smallest little leaves I think I have ever seen. The brussel sprouts have sprouted and the peas are starting to climb. YAY! I have a couple more new little basil plants that if anyone wants, they are  free to come pick up, since I have 3 already and really don’t need anymore. Although, I did discover that my chickens love basil. I have been giving them the extras. And I started with 9 strawberry plants and am already up to 12.

Overall view of garden

Celery seedlings

I am excited to see the scarlet runner bean growing just like a bean! And by that I mean, it is a fast growing plant, so much that I can probably measure it’s growth every day! I am excited to see it in a few weeks. I do have a laurel bay that I really need to get into a pot, as it is sitting in it’s plastic nursery pot in the garden. I am pruning it into a topiary and it is pretty so far. The leaves look awesome as wreaths so that will be kind of nice to have as well as the culinary uses.

Ok. Gotta go. I have tickets to “New Moon”.

TTYL

I didn’t really know what to do with this one, but I had this idea. Usually, if an idea pops into my head, I try to run with it. If it works, great. If not, well, I figure I know what works and what doesn’t next time. I was really keen on this illustration, but I’ve since had two of the players in the illustration ask me for copies, so I guess it was OK for them.

Great College Football Free Sports Betting Picks

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Thursday Night Free Pick: Colorado is trying to end a season that has been one of the worst seasons in a long time. The straight up winner has prevailed by double-digits in 14 of the past 17 meetings between these Big 12 rivals. The Cowboys have cashed 11 of 14 as favorites and at a 14-5-1 clip at home versus conference competition. They are also 10-5-2 ATS in their last 17 finales at Pickens Stadium. The Buffaloes are 4-13 as dogs with revenge. This game is a blowout and Oklahoma ST cruises and wins by 30 points!
Play: Oklahoma St -18

…for UCLA Men’s Basketball.

Just watched the Bruins lose to cross-town community college Cal State Fullerton (ok, technically a state college, but not much difference) in 2OT. Two uninspiring overtime periods in which UCLA scored a combined total of 8 points.

Here’s how they scored in the 1st OT, which pretty much sums up the Bruins’ offensive production for the night:

missed 3, missed 3, missed 3, Mike Roll hits a 3, missed 3.

5-minute total: 3 points.

The Bruins shot a whopping 29 attempts from 3-point land, connecting on just FIVE. AGAINST A ZONE. Give me 29 3pt attempts from 30-feet out, and I’ll guarantee more than 5 makes. Good lord.

The fact that CSUF’s scoring was just as anemic doesn’t bode well as to the caliber of the opposition.

Senior forward and lone-returning starter Nikola Dragovic shot so horribly, he couldn’t have thrown a pea in the ocean. Jerime Anderson looked completely lost. Roll—the lone bright spot on offense with 17 points—missed on the front end of a crucial 1 and 1 at the end of regulation, which could have effectively sealed the game before the OTs ever happened.

If last night was a sign of things to come (actually, it already might as well be—they barely escaped their two preseason match ups against Concordia and Humboldt State), UCLA’s going to be in for a loooong season.

I miss Darren Collison & the gang.

UCLA fans are crying, like Ammo. Wish we had Afflalo to pick us back up...

College Hoops: becoming deflated?

This week: time for another season of men’s college basketball. Sure, there have been some games played here an there before now, and yes the season doesn’t really begin until next year when conference play gets going, but the former greatest game in America begins making its primetime TV debut this week, with matchups between Michigan State and Kansas and Memphis v. Gonzaga airing tonight and other great match ups (UNC v. OSU) waiting later in the week, and plenty more great basketball before the close of 2009.

And yet, we can hear a moral minority out there say: so what? College basketball is no longer what it was.

Last week ended badly for this writer as high schooler Harrison Barnes announced he would play for the University of North Carolina next year (it ended great for Chapel Hill’ers). In case you haven’t heard of him, he’s the next Kobe or at least basketball’s latest Messiah. Barnes takes the place of John Wall, last spring’s divine avatar of roundball. He is gracing Kentucky University’s roster this season, taking them from NIT also ran to preseason #4 in the nation.

“Who cares?” say the conscientious few. Gone are the days when Magic sparred with Bird, or Jordan faced Ewing years before they would memorably clash in the NBA. That’s a college basketball of the distant past, before the NBA began a policy of systematically colonializing the sport, harvesting basketball’s brightest before ripe, importing them to a homogeneous professional marketplace, where they digest blandly in the estimation of the consuming public, leaving behind a college ecology of oddly shaped, irregularly speckled talent, competing in what amounts to some kind of lackluster minor league. The Barneses and Walls of 2010 (and the Roses, Durants, Odens and Anthony’s of previous seasons) are an emblem of the college game’s decline they say. Is it true?

Before 2006, the best talents in the basketball avoided college all together. Kobe, LeBron, Garnett never enrolled; they graduated from high school and into an NBA franchise. In a few years (or immediately) they were “stars” and multimillionaires. Every year a few (a small few) made this leap from high school to professional, leaving the majority of players to suit up in a place of higher education.

One & Done, or Money in the Bank

Then, in 2006, the NBA unveiled what has come to be known as the “one & done” rule: NBA players must be at least 19 years old and year out of high school. As a result of this rule, basketball prodigies must spend a year — no more; not when NBA millions await — behind a college jersey. NCAA officials cheer: they say the rule causes high schoolers to hit the books in order to achieve the minimum SAT score to enroll in a university, spurring a lifelong love of learning:

[NCAA President Miles Brand] thinks the great benefit [of the one & done rule] is “hundreds, maybe even thousands, of young men each year who are now taking their high school studies more seriously rather than thinking, ‘I can blow off high school and go right into the NBA.’ … That’s going to put them in good stead for their lives.” Read more.

And what does the NBA get? Well, I couldn’t find a quote from NBA Commissioner David Stern to illustrate it, but the biz gets a year of free, 24-7 media hype for next years’ crop of rookies, a built in fan base of earnest college alumni for this or that NBA franchise, and more tickets, more merchandise, more revenue…

Few buy the NCAA’s story. Kids are probably marginally better of having spent a semester taking crip courses, and another flunking out before winging for the pros, but only marginally. A lot of us (literally) buy the NBA’s story (otherwise the League would be even more boring). But here’s what one coach thinks the NCAA actually gets (from ESPN Magazine, Nov. 16, 2009):

Paul Hewitt hates the one-and-done rule. For years, the Georgia Tech coach has argued that high school players should be able to go right to the NBA. But once a player hits the quad, Hewitt thinks he should have to stay two years, to give the program some stability. Still the man is a realist. “Unless I can convince [UNC coach] Roy Williams to stop recruiting,” he says. “I’ve got to keep going after the best players out there.”

He’s not the only one. As Michael Wilbon argues here, the one & done rule isn’t college ball’s only problem, but it’s a big one that would be solved, to the betterment of the game and its would be “student-athletes,” by adopting a rule similar to the one described by Coach Hewitt. Football has certainly figured this out, with its rule requiring a 3-year stint in college propelling the undergraduate game as well as the pro into the forefront of American sport.

So what to do about this season of college hoops? Should we care? Or give into that small, but nagging coterie of naysayers?

I offer my own vote of confidence, for what its worth, if for only one reason: the games season ending tournament, sport’s penultimate event (second only to the world cup), a.k.a. “march madness.” It is still intact, still thrilling, and still largely immune from the the one & done phenomena.

Still sports' 2nd Greatest Spectacle

Last years’ championship team, UNC, featured a stellar roster of juniors and seniors rocking the Heels’ predictable run & gun style to a level of perfection they failed to achieve in two previous seasons of good-but-not-greatness. The winning Kansas team of 2008 was similarly comprised of upperclassmen, defeating one & done’er Derrick Rose & Memphis with a buzzer beater from junior Mario Chalmers’ hands. Florida’s 2007 title team featured a band of junior brothers, back to repeat of their 2006 Championship (instead of cashing in for the pros). You have to go back to an anomalous Syracuse in 2003 for the only instance of a team riding a ephemeral frosh to the right to the ultimate ladder & pair of scissors. Meanwhile, the number of one & done’s drafted in the NBA has increased every year.

So, grin & bear it this season. Ignore the hype, and root for the likes of Cal, Purdue, WVU, Texas, Missou, MSU, and UConn (okay, not UConn) come tourney time. They (have teh most experienced starting line-ups). Savor the unforeseen ways in which Kentucky and its mercenary band of erstwhile coeds will stumble (they’ve got the most highly touted freshman class in the land). If history is a guide, one & done or none, it will be the team with experienced savy players — bumps, bruises, warts & all — playing fundamentals of the game at a very high level, that will cut down the nets in one of sports’ greatest spectacles, the NCAA men’s basketball championship, in what remains one of sports’ best games, college hoops.

Let the madness begin!

Big Monday Night Football Game!

The Ravens play the Browns on Monday Night!

It was another great NFL Sunday as I nailed my NFC Game of the Year with a big win with the Panthers over the Falcons. Now I am back with another winner in tonight’s Monday Night Football game between the Ravens and the Browns. I am a documented 61% in the NFL this year and tonight will be another winner in the NFL. Don’t miss this game tonight!

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Tonight’s Free Pick:

Portland Blazers +3.5

The Blazers can get revenge for an earlier meeting they lost at home to the Hawks. The Haws have been very surprising and have played very well beating some of the elite teams in the league. The Blazers will be ready and have proven to be road warriors this year on the road. The Blazers are 24-9 ATS in their last 33 games overall and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 road games. The underdog is 8-2 ATS in the last 10 meetings and the road team is 10-2 ATS in the last 12 meetings.

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Monday morning and here we are again looking at the box scores of ND, Purdue and IU. As another sad season of college football in the state of Indiana ends, less Butler, which has enjoyed great gridiron success, fans of the Big 4 IU-Purdue-ND and Ball State look to the hallowed halls of Hoop Hysteria in need of a quick fix called success.

ND and their overhyped coach…Hi My Name is…..Charlie “I am a good person” Weis lost to another top 10 football program on Saturday evening. Memo to Lou Holtz, I know ND is still paying you, but please do not ever go on National TV and say that they will play in the BCS Championship game as long as the Michelin man is patrolling the sidelines. 

Dave Wannstedt, who has been compared to other great college coaches, Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes, Amos Alonzo Stagg….Sorry I was carried away. This same Dave was fired in Chicago and Miami as a Pro football flop. Now maybe the college game is more to his liking, however Dave is only 34-24 as the headman at Pitt. Nevertheless, how Pitt is playing is how the pundits assumed ND would play this year with the Jimmy and the man being in charge in South Bend.

Interestingly Dave and Charlie made their college debuts against one another in 2005 with ND winning big, but since that time Dave’s Pitt team has become more competitive and ND has become increasingly worse.  Pitt has gone 5-6;6-6;5-7;9-4 and currently 9-1; ND has done the opposite under CW against lesser competition going 9-3 and 10-3 with Ty Willingham’s recruits and 3-9;7-6;and 6-4 with his own superstar recruits. Enough Said!

IU….Ohhhh what a bad team….Ben Chappell, Academic All American, I am sure he is great young man and I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do I life, but as a QB, he is bad. I applaud Bill Lynch, the same Bill Lynch that lost 70-0 to KSU in 2000, for being patient with Edward Wright Baker and allowing him to stay in redshirt status so we can at least see him do some great things over the next four years.

IU’s defense, which many non-fans will lament for giving up too many big plays, has been decent for the most part, IU defense has recorded 16 interceptions that ranks in the top 10 nationally ahead #2 Alabama and #5 Cincinnati! The rank #2 nationally in total unassisted tackles, #53 in sacks and #8 nationally in turnover margin. IU again is not a strong team statistically against the pass or run but opportunistic. If you do not have Alabama or Texas talent on the defensive side of the ball then your kids have to be in a position to capitalize on the others team’s miscues AKA interceptions, fumbles!

IU’s Defense has accomplished the goal of capitalizing on the miscues and missteps of Iowa, Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State. The offense on the other hand has been pathetic. Ben Chappell is terrible at red zone reads; the offensive line cannot grind it out and get a tough 2 or 3 yards when needed. Demarlo Belcher, Tandon Doss, Darius Willis, Mitchell Evans and Max Demond have been bright spots on the offensive side of the ball, but that is where it stops!

Indiana ranks #83 in Red Zone offense, while Ben has tossed 15 touchdowns he has also given up 13 interceptions.

I am calling for a change on the sidelines @ Indiana and Notre Dame. I will give a pass to Ball State and Purdue for having new coaches. Purdue has actually looked better as the season has progressed. Boiler fans, be patient with Coach Hope, I think he is the right person for the job. He beat Michigan and Ohio State in the same year.

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Saturday Free College Football Pick

Saturday November 14th: Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh

The Irish lost to Navy for the second time in as many years at home and the hot seat is getting really warm for Charlie Weiss. He needs to win all remaining games or be out as head coach. When you start to count out the Irish is when they start to play well. The Irish have won and covered nine of 12 against the Panthers and came away with upsets in their last two visits. Take the Irish and the points.
Play: Notre Dame +7

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Three weeks into the season, and already some spectacular dunks have taken place.

In honor of Jason Kapono, enjoy:

X's and O's

Last week we got off to a slow start – we were down by 11 early. After a timeout, we emphasized making a commitment on the defensive end and really stymied our opponents. But not before Keith and O got exposed (just a little). I may have been the first player in league history to nearly post a triple-double without scoring a single point. Big Game James was a set-up man this week after exploding for some crafty buckets in the previous game. Everyone else scored in double-figures with Chip (24 points) leading the way. We did a solid job at the charity stripe, which was different for us as we almost lost our first game due to Shaq-Fu from the line. The story of the game was how we really buckled down on defense, forcing a shot-clock violation and several consecutive turnovers that really made the difference in the outcome. Check out other highlights

Martin could pass to Ro for an open lay-up, but that would be too easy

The game was hardly uneventful in terms of highlights. O got crossed something disgusting in the final minutes. After the game O commented, “I didn’t wanna foul him, so I just let him go by.” Uhhh, that’s not what it looked like from my angle bruh. Keith swatted a couple of shots around after giving up a few lay-ups. Martin put on his hard hat (no pause) and toolbelt and went to work in the paint… Again. Ro had a smooth 14 with short jumpers and drives to the cup. Chip hit a mean step-back J right in the face of the defense. Oh and Chip hit somebody with one of the most devastating ball fakes I’ve ever seen. While keeping his dribble he fooled his defender into thinking he was shooting. HIs man held turbo while he pressed Y for the swat. I think he was still in the air by the time Chip finished the lay-up. I shot a mean free-throw… from the 3-point line. All in all, it was a great win.

Why are you watching your man score Keith?

We play tomorrow at 5pm. Please be on time. The other team is talkin’ trash so we have to make a statement with this one. They’re disappointed that we’re accepting a forfeit while playing them instead of giving them a chance to win with subs (non-registered players). Let’s push our streak to five games fellas! As usual, feel free to add any high/lowlights I may have missed. Oh, and check out exhibit O:

O's Defense

LeBron James is stealing again. First, he borrowed Michael Jordan’s number. Then he borrowed Kevin Garnett’s playing-with-the-talcum-powder, rotating it a touch so that he tossed into the air and prostrated like Jesus Christ instead of clapping it into the scorer’s table a la Garnett. There’s nothing wrong with any of these things, they just show a distinct lack of imagination. That’s understandable for a kid that’s been in the national spotlight since he was 15 years old. He has developed a stable “Superstar” identity, only playing to the masses in controversy-bleached Nike commercials. When would we have expected him to learn about the world, and create some sort of real identity in it? Never, that’s when.

But now LeBron has gone too far. I love him, but if you take him at his word he’s about to make a huge mistake. He’s about to emulate Kobe. Now you might be thinking, “Bryanjoiner.com, what’s wrong with emulating Kobe? Isn’t he the World Champion?” He is the World Champion, but that’s not the point. The point is that I hate Kobe, and I like LeBron, and I don’t want LeBron taking cues from Kobe. Especially not this one.

If we take LeBron at his word, LeBron’s going to change his number after the season. He said as much after last night’s game. He said “no one” should wear 23 any more, in honor of Jordan, and he’s wants to make a switch.

Don’t. Do. It.

I know a sportswriter writing in a dark corner of the Internet is unlikely to make him change his mind, but I’m going to try anyway. First, he never would have considered doing this if Kobe hadn’t done it first. That’s just a given. The idea that superstars should change their number for a reason other than it being forced (Ray Bourque, Michael Jordan) simply never existed before Kobe’s self-imposed rebranding. Kobe probably thinks changing his number was part of a growing-up process, but I see it as childish. The point of keeping a number so long is to frame the player behind it, and watch them grow up inside of that frame. It gives every moment context, and gives you a game to play every time you see a highlight. When is that? Oh, that’s when his hair was short, it must be during 2005—before he learned to trust his teammates. Oh wait, he just passed. That’s 2009! He won the title that year? And so on.

Second, it screws over previous jersey owners. Of course, if LeBron changes teams, he’s welcome to change his number to whatever he wants. Once change is in the air, might as well embrace it. Is this a double-standard? Hell yes. But it’s one I like, and this is my blog, so there you go.

The biggest problem, though, is that LeBron’s whole rationale for ths switch is wrong. Michael Jordan isn’t Jackie Robinson, and even in Robinson’s case I think players should be allowed to apply to Major League Baseball to wear number 42, which is currently retired league-wide (Mariano Rivera is grandfathered in. Cue grandfather jokes). Look at soccer. Pele wore number 10, and now anyone who wears that number is associated with his greatness. It’s an honor, and one that doesn’t get bestowed lightly. We can do the same thing with number 23. Hell, LeBron, you already did.

I get it: you want your own identity now. You want to transcend Jordan. Here’s what you do then: instead of paying lip service to how great Jordan is, come out at say it. Say “I want to be better than him.” Throw down the gauntlet. Say you don’t want to wear number 23 because you don’t want to overshadow him, not because you want to honor him. Say something interesting. For once.

We know it’s what you’re thinking.

20. “Ryde or Die Vol. 1,” 2001

One of the last videos with that 1990s feel, Rob Welsh came storming through with a section that observers and supporters had been waiting on since he popped up in the Mad Circle video. Kind of like the Pier 7 opener, there maybe are flaws to this section, but they’re awful hard to make out amid the crooked grinds and Wu-affiliated musics. Aside from the fade-to-whites, “ROD” also features rare full-length appearances from Kevin Taylor and Clyde Singleton, who floats that monstrous bar ollie, and Joey Pepper comes off all forward-thinking nowadays with his Stooges song and backside nosegrind pop-out 180s; this video also featured a pretty good John Igei part and a Mannie Fresh instrumental, ensuring it a top-20 position.

19. “In Bloom,” 2002

TWS’s first am-boosting video featured two of the most visceral parts committed to DV tape this decade from Trainwreck and TNT, more than balancing out the comparatively humdrum footage from the young Evan Hernandez and Mikey Taylor. Tony Trujillo was at the height of his powers, clinging onto tricks he should’ve bailed and ending with a sort of literal smash. People who don’t skate have watched this part on my TV and termed it poetry in motion, and also tight jeans. Whereas P-Rod stood on the cusp of cashing in his little-kid chips for a spot on Girl and probably should’ve had the last part with all the switch gap stuff, it becomes difficult to logically argue against Slayer and 100-mile-an-hour handrail jumping by the rapidly sleeved and unfairly maligned Alex Gall, practitioner of a truly brutal form of gnar skateboarding. I wish he’d stuck around. Finally, this entry would be remiss not to mention the inclusion of Chris Cole when he started getting more interesting, indulging in the Misfits and the Love Park gap.

18. “Man Down,” 2001

Everything that “Tilt Mode” was and more, except a little less, since there was no Juvenile and Steve Cab didn’t take another run that one crazy handrail, perhaps on sound advice from his lawyers. Saying that the Tilt Moders re-injected “fun” into things misses the point and can make the sayer sound embittered for his or her own bizarre and unfortunate reasons, but videos such as “Man Down” did seem to make a point to encourage drinking, indulging in peculiar fantasies, and generally taking things less serious than the pros who stare at handrails, or wap themselves over the head with their boards for instance. Marc Johnson’s last trick in this video was a switch hardflip backside tailslide, which Rodrigo TX did for his last trick in the Flip video last month. Marc Johnson also skated to the disco Rolling Stones and if you slow-mo certain tricks you can see him bludgeoning seal pups for fun and profit.

17. “This Is Skateboarding,” 2003

Retroactively the Emerica video with the kinda-silly title gets lumped in with the leather-jacket-and-basic-handrail-trick movement from the early part of the decade, which it was part of sure, but “TIS” had a lot more depth than that thanks in part to the crack production squad of Miner and Manzoori. Opening on a dismal/dour note with a subdued Heath Kirchart section, they meander through the noisome world of Ed Templeton and his ollie impossibles, the most legitimately urban Tosh Townend part, and the last major effort from Chris Senn who did that crazy f/s pivot. Kevin Long roared onto the scene here, spinning both switch and frontside, and the Reynolds closer has that opening line for the books and some serious left-field tricks like the switch backside shifty.

16. “The DC Video,” 2003

DC’s vaunted debut video was notable for a few reasons, including Rob Dyrdek seeming to make a sincere effort, Josh Kalis making some of the first miscalculations when it came to choosing tricks, and Colin McKay skating to Jimmy Buffet while foreshadowing the rise of the Geico insurance lizard. The video as a whole though gets over on three parts: Anthony Van Engelen’s blistering crooked-grind melee, Brian Wenning doing less than five tricks regular-footed throughout his other great video part, and yea, the Danny Way. A generation in skateboard-years later the mega-ramp is a known commodity, with its own X-Games designation and related baggage, but seeing the iron man jump and twirl and soar over that thing for the first time was a very, very nutty thing to see, and the victory lap with the rainbow rail sealed the deal.

15. “Mind Field,” 2009

Reminding us what a video can do aside from whomping you over the head with unending ledge combos, “Mind Field” returned Alien to form in time for the decade to close out after a few years of soul-searching brought the company to Burton’s doorstep. Purists will quibble about putting on Arto and distribution strategies but in the end-results department “Mind Field” was a triumph, dragging AVE back out of the gutter, putting a match to the incendiary Omar Salazar, letting Jason Dill do as he must and anointing Jake Johnson as a new standard-bearer for New York City – before Heath Kirchart blows through and wipes out everything. Maybe if we were doing this list five years from now, this video would be higher.

14. “Vicious Cycle,” 2004

For an outsider this Zoo-backed production signaled a sort of generational torch-passing as far as high-profile New York types – you had Vinny Ponte yelling at people and Robbie Gangemi doing those frontside blunts and Danny Supa, sans Supa-suit, with a bigspin-flip higher than a regular person’s head. It’s hard to ignore Zered Bassett though, seeings how he comes through and switch heelflips over a house or something in basically every section, and all the then-young guns have pretty amazing shit: Charles Lamb, Eli Reed, Brian Brown and most especially Lurker Lou, whose low-key opener features many colorful varieties of the Etnies Rap, and Aquil Brathwaite, who was on some serious Lavar McBride in “Trilogy” and who I would’ve bet the farm was gonna be huge. Live and learn..

13. “Mosaic,” 2003

People bemoan Habitat’s westward shift in terms of personnel, but the squad might have been at its strongest when it struck a balance between coasts. Featuring the dirtbag debut of Danny Renaud, with Brian Wenning and Anthony Pappalardo at the height of their relevance and Jason Dill’s planned/unplanned all-line section, all differentiated the first Habitat vid and realigned things for everybody else to a certain extent over the years to come. One of the few videos where either of the last two sections could’ve closed it, but it’s hard to think of any other moment in time when poised Peruvian Danny Garcia could’ve dropped the curtains, and nollieing a gap to k-grind remains a pretty crazy thing to do even years later.

12. “Baker2G,” 2000

The video that launched a thousand apparel companies centered on black stretch denim. This video shocked upon arrival, first and foremost with the foul-mouthed Knox Godoy, second with the skating, and to a lesser extent the assorted antics and guest appearances from Brad Hayes, Hoops and Chad Fernandez. Greco’s backside noseblunt and Reynolds’ nollie noseblunting ascension to Koston heights aside, the influence of “Baker2G” was felt just as heavily off the board, and it’s to their credit that the bros have stuck to their niche in and out of 12-step programs while finding new ways to heft a middle finger toward, for instance, the Olympics.

11. “Real to Reel,” 2001

A Bay Area classic in the spirit of “A Visual Sound,” “Sick Boys,” and “In A Major Way,” Real’s early ’00s entry is still the best case for Nate Jones’ elevation to flower-child style icon, and watching this video again is kind of disappointing when you wonder how much further he could’ve taken things, what else could’ve been, etc. But “Real to Reel” also launched Hensley revivalist JT Aultz and the barnstorming Dennis Busenitz, with Mark Gonzales refocused on street lines and Cairo Foster at or approaching some sort of peak. Max Schaaf on the money board and shit, even this video’s credits section approaches classic status.

To celebrate the Holidays I am going to post a free winning pick for every day of the week starting on Thanksgiving and going all the way to Sunday. I will also post some great sportsbook bonus so you can take advantage of some of the best in the business! Take time out to be thankful for everything in life and remember the troops that can’t be home on Thanksgiving.

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Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

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Free Pick for Thursday November 26th, Turkey day!

Texas @ Texas A& M

Texas has already clinched the Big 12 South and will play Nebraska in the

Happy Holidays!

Championship game but they can’t afford to get caught napping here. This will be no problem for Texas as they are focused on going to the Championship game after the loss last year that put them out. Texas A&M has flopped in six of nine as dogs of 20 points or more and in 10 of 12 ATS off a home win. The Longhorns have scored at least 41 points in their four previous road games this season. They are 23-12-2 ATS in November and get a blowout win here.

Play: Texas -21

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Free Pick for Friday November 27th

Alabama @ Auburn

Auburn enters this game with revenge after getting blanked last year. Alabama is going to the SEC Championship game against Florida so this game is a warm up. The Tigers have covered seven of 11 against Alabama and the home team is 4-1 ATS in the last five showdowns. The Crimson Tide dropped nine of 13 ATS when giving up more than 11 points on the highway. Auburn will not win but they will keep it close.

Play: Auburn +10

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Free Pick for Saturday November 28th

Arkansas @ LSU

The loss for LSU was a tough one that will linger over to this week. Arkansas has pulled off the upset against LSU the last two seasons. The Razorbacks are 11-6 as road dogs and the visitor is 6-3 in the past nine meetings. The Tigers are 2-14 as SEC home favorites and they have floundered in 27 of 34 ATS at Baton Rouge in November. Arkansas knows hwo to beat LSU and will do it again.

Play: Arkansas +3.5

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Free Pick For Sunday November 29th

Indianapolis @ Houston
Houston will be playing on a short week and they have to get Chris Brown in the right mindset for this game. Houston has cashed eight straight as home dogs and won six of those eight SU, the only two losses at the hands of the Colts by a total of four points. The Colts have struggled within the division, dropping 14 of 21 ATS, while the Texans are 6-2 at Reliant Stadium versus AFC-South citizens. Indianapolis has won six of seven at Houston, but failed in five of seven ATS. Houston finally gets the win against the Colts.

Play: Houston +3