In Which Gains Are Made, Respites Are Granted, And The Late Menu Consists Of Grilled Cheese And All The Fish You Can Eat
My mom thinks Donovan needs a haircut. I can't disagree with that.
Watched Jets-Pats and couldn't help but think that Santana Moss missing that time in his rookie year hurt more than everybody thought at the time. They really need to get him more involved, as he's the only guy on the roster who can give them what Coles used to.
Here's the deal with Price: In Buffalo, he was No. 2. In Atlanta, he's Nos. 1, 2, AND 3. The Falcons would be better off moving Dunn out there, as he's more dangerous as a receiver than any other wideout the Falcons have. Hell, Sapp's a more dangerous receiver than any other wideout the Falcons have. Was he doing the Bunny Hop? What WAS that?
Stolen from Johnny's blog, which he stole from ESPN NFL Insider 'cause it's funny: "With QB Mike Vick out of action with a broken leg, the Falcons would be left with P Chris Mohr or RB Woodrow Dantzler as possible quarterbacks if QBs Doug Johnson and Kurt Kittner were to get hurt during a game. We're told that head coach Dan Reeves has talked about turning to a version of the single-wing offense, which doesn't use a traditional quarterback, although nobody can tell if Reeves is serious."
Yeah, Priest Holmes is fine.
Nothing like a rivalry game to blow everything except the resulting heart problems out of proportion. The Giants are worrying me for all the wrong reasons - that comeback probably shouldn't have happened either, although Ramsey had maybe his best game yet.
I think I saw some of the Packers actually MELTING in the highlights. Sad. Whenever a team that's looking 0-16 bad wins, it's always on something relatively improbable, like the Cards shutting down Green. One thing that's been overlooked is how poorly the Packers have drafted recently - Ferguson and Reynolds both look like complete busts.
Four field goals? FOUR FIELD GOALS? Against the fucking Browns? Refresh my memory, but wasn't shit like this the reason Erickson now has that job in the first place? And don't look now, but T.O.'s not happy. Holcomb stays in steaks and out of Steak-Umms for another week, but he hurt his leg doing it.
"Brian Urlacher was seen macking with Paris Hilton in Vegas this weekend, the New York Post's Page Six blabs this morning. So apparently only the Bears' offense can't score this season." He, unlike his team, can do better.
I wonder who called the scoreboard op in Seattle and told him about Alexander's fatherhood. It may have been Shaun himself. Who knows. QB controversy in St. Louis? Did Warner actually have a concussion? Doesn't matter now, does it? It's Week 3 and the West is Seattle's to lose. "I'll be DAMNED." - Ron Simmons
Ricky just carried the ball for the 439th time. This is probably the worst game Bledsoe's ever had and it'll never happen again. You can't score if you don't HAVE the ball.
If I were inclined to do so, I'd think buying into Geritol's a good idea right now. The magnitude of this ass-kicking was quite unexpected, though I'll never count out Plummer just because I've seen him beat the Eagles five or six times.
Fantasy Report: No surprise - Scott kicked my ass. With Faulk out and the Grayders stinking up the joint, a deal with Butch (who I face this week) was struck - Chris Chambers and John Avery for Clinton Portis, probably the best deal I could've made at this point. Here's a sentence no one ever expects to hear in a fantasy league: "Fuck it. I'm going with Plummer next week." Though the Raiders do play the Chargers.
TOP 3:
1. Kansas City - Hey, I can admit when I'm wrong
2. Seattle - Biggest win ever?
3. Buffalo - Like I said, that won't happen again
BOTTOM 3:
30. Arizona - You guys STILL suck, you know
31. Chicago - They finally go home Monday. Will the locks have been changed?
32. Jacksonville - Leftwich era may begin this week
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Illinois-Chicago Diary (Week 4)
Academics: It turned out to be a good thing that Will Wagner got into Saturday’s game, because he won’t be playing again for a while. Academic suspension. That 1.81 GPA didn’t do anyone any favors. He’s gone for at least four weeks. That’s something we’ll have to emphasize over time, as most of our guys are in the low to mid-2’s, with only three players above a 3.0.
This and Scott’s injury screw up coach Mills’s rotation somewhat — Correa’s become the primary backup at the point, which means Adam Fields will have to log more minutes at SF than PF. The winner could be freshman PF Vidal Muhammad, who may see time at C as well as getting Fields’s PF minutes.
Polls: Florida’s still on top of both. Arizona was No. 6, but got bounced after losses to Nebraska (WHAT) and then No. 20 (and now No. 11) Mississippi in overtime. North Carolina fell from 9 to 24 after a 77-66 home loss to Xavier. And under “Others Receiving Votes” you can find a familiar and surprisingly big metropolitan school in a small conference near the end of the list. Yep, the 4-0 Flames got three votes from the writers this week, and four votes in the .400 Sports poll, which consists of writers, coaches and fans. (Probably because we did win three straight on the road.)
Recruiting: We’re going hard (but moderately so) after Winkfield this week, as Xavier has also made an offer. Swift’s mulling over an offer from Bowling Green as well. We called Conrad again just to keep in touch.
Two more visits this week:
SF Jerry Blevins (6’7”, 199, Penny Meridian HS, Indianapolis)
SF Antonio Morrison (6’4”, 180, Bay Springs, MI)
Neither guy is really a standout. Blevins has a scholarship offer from Ball State. Remember that we’re losing two SFs (Jones and Correa) to graduation, thus the emphasis on that position. Fields looks like the front-runner to take over the spot next year, but that may change depending on who we get.
My RV guys could end up being teammates again — St. Peter’s has shown some interest in both of them.
Only two consensus top-20 players have chosen schools so far.
Awards:
Horizon League Player of the Week: PG - #21 Dante Caskill, 6’1” senior, Loyola-Chicago (23 ppg)
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: PF - #24 Damian Jackson, 6’5” freshman, Wisconsin-Milwaukee (22 ppg, 5.5 rpg)
National Player of the Week: PG Max Cambridge, 6’ junior, Texas A&M (28.5 ppg, 8 apg)
National Freshman of the Week: SF Rashad Millford, 6’6” freshman, Alabama-Birmingham (24.5 ppg, 8 rpg)
Other Stuff: There are two Martin Sanchezes in the Horizon League. One is a 6’10” senior who goes to Detroit; the other is a 6’8” senior who goes to Youngstown State. Both went to St. Catharine’s High School in the Ontario town of the same name. Both are fine rebounders. Martin Detroit wears #31; Martin Youngstown wears #32.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Greg Morrill — the blind guy — has played in one game so far. Four minutes, one turnover.
Game 5 Report
Albany (1-3) at Illinois-Chicago
Monday, December 2, 2002
We returned home unbeaten (I’d say we’re “avoiding embarrassment” rather nicely), but down two bodies. I’m a little concerned that we’ve given up more points in each game than the last.
The early minutes were nothing to write home about, then Miller started heating up. Two quick threes and some more quality board work by White helped Clyde get 10 early points. The Danes’ Brett Abel had something of an answer with six straight points of his own, but we were up 16-11 when we went to the bench with 13 minutes left in the first half. Correa stayed on the bench for a couple more minutes because we didn’t want to risk wearing him out, too.
He came in with 11:32 left, along with Jefferson. We switched to a perimeter zone offense to show off our shooters, but we were still having problems stopping Abel down low, and Jefferson was cold for the first time all season. He couldn’t make anything, and Abel and Albany’s leading scorer, D.A. Martin, led a mini-run that ended when Martin drained a 3 to tie the game at 22. Time out! Back to the isolation. Miller and Cooper came back in, and Miller scored again, but Danes PG Ron Walls started getting his guys better looks, and they took a five-point lead.
This was new and different and, while not altogether unexpected, troubling. We hadn’t been down by this much at any point until now, and we were worried about how the guys would respond. Williams picked up his second foul with 3:49 left in the half, and Muhammad already had two. Miller needed a breather, so Jefferson came back in, most likely only for a minute or so. Nothing. Our savior up to this point turned out to be Danny Jones. Jones scored five points during this stretch, capping it off with a three that got us the lead back, 37-36 with two minutes left in the half. Gotta love seniors.
But the lead was short-lived as Marque Bell came off of a screen and hit another three to give the Danes the advantage again. Some good acting on their part got them to the line twice in the last minute, but they whiffed on the back ends of both one-and-ones. Miller got a bucket to give him 16 for the first half, but for the first time all season, we trailed at halftime, 42-41. We were perfect at the free-throw line, but they’d made 4 of 8 threes and were beating us on the boards. What to do?
Switch to a 2-1-2 zone, that’s what.
But that didn’t have anything to do with us blowing two early fast break opportunities in the second half. Meanwhile, Albany had apparently decided to shoot nothing BUT threes for the rest of the game, as they took five in the first five minutes of the half. So we switched again to a 3-2 to make them stop. Didn’t work. They hit two more, and with less than ten minutes to play, we were down 62-57. Fields can’t guard Dunn. Jefferson can’t guard Martin. NOBODY can seem to guard Abel. Back to man-to-man.
White and Jones came back in, and the ACTING~! continued as White drew his fourth foul on a phantom charge (the home crowd exploded with boos after that one.) Martin hit YET ANOTHER THREE-POINTER to make the score 70-63 with less than seven minutes left. But Jones, as he’d done all game, hit a big basket immediately after coming in, and Correa’s two free throws (we’re still perfect from the line) cut the lead to three. We got a stop, and Jones made a three on our next trip down to tie the game. We traded baskets for the next three minutes until Jones came up with a steal, and Muhammad (who’d had a nice game with White in foul trouble) hit a three of his own! 77-74 with 2:44 to go! And neither team was in the bonus yet.
An actual close game at the end — how would the team react? A short jumper by Williams and two White free throws extended the lead to seven points before Martin got Nos. 19 and 20 at the line. They started fouling, and we kept making them. Martin drained a three to cut the lead to 83-79, but we were still perfection from the stripe. White finally missed one for us (after 18 straight!), but we were already in the double bonus and there were 47 seconds left. Time to start defending against those threes, so we went back into the 3-2. Despite Albany’s poor free throw shooting night, Mills instructed his men NOT to foul so as not to risk any four-point plays, since everyone in the building knew they’d be jacking up threes from here on in. White came up with a big steal with 10 seconds left, and of course, hit his two free throws to seal it. Then two more at the very end. 92-81. What a game.
Miller again led the Flames with 20 points. White had another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Cooper had 10 and seven assists again, but the hero was Danny Jones with 16 points, at least seven of which were absolutely clutch. Correa had 10 points and six assists off the bench, while Muhammad took advantage of White’s foul situation by scoring seven points in 16 minutes, including the three that gave the Flames the lead for good. Albany’s D.A. Martin led everybody with 23 (6-for-9 on three-pointers). Abel added 14, and Dunn had 13. Ron Walls has 15 assists before fouling out.
Three-point comparison: Albany 10 of 21, UIC 5 of 10.
Free throw comparison: Albany 15 of 25, UIC 25 of 26.
“We needed a game like this,” Mills told reporters afterwards, “just to see how we’d react. I’m glad we won because we had to learn how to win a game like this. Now we know.”
Game 6 Report:
Florida International (2-2) at Illinois-Chicago
Saturday, December 7, 2002
Hopefully we’d come down enough after the Albany game so that we wouldn’t get ambushed today. I’m still worried about the defense.
Not right away, though, as we went on a 9-2 run to start the festivities. The Panthers called time and decided they needed to move the ball around more, so they switched to a motion offense and made up some ground, but they still couldn’t catch us.
The “Correa as backup point guard” experiment got an extended test when Cooper went to the bench with two fouls seven minutes into the game. A shame; he’d been playing well. Jefferson hit a three coming off the bench, and Correa added two more to force the Panthers to call another TO and temporarily halt another 9-2 run. At this point we’d only missed four shots. Jefferson gave us two more threes while Vidal Muhammad blocked a shot. With 6:11 left in the first half, we were up 37-25. The Panthers cut the lead to eight late in the half before Correa hit a three to beat the halftime buzzer and send us into the locker room with a 50-39 lead.
Jefferson’s struggles against Albany seem to have been a one-time thing, as he had three 3-pointers in the first half and led us with nine. Panthers freshman Tarik Walker, who’s averaging 18.8 a game for them, led everyone with 10.
The first four minutes of the second half, we couldn’t buy a shot. We also turned the ball over three times and allowed them to get within 54-49. We went to the bench, and Jefferson came in and hit a jumper, but Walker nailed back-to-back threes. Fortunately, we managed to finish off a couple of fast breaks for once, and the score was 60-55 with 12:48 to go. Cooper and White both took breathers with three fouls at this point, and we switched back to a help man because the Panthers were just shooting over our 3-2 zone.
With 11:02 to play, Nick Turner hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 62. That started a run of nine straight points for him, and the Panthers led 68-63 with 8:49 left when we called time. Jones and Cooper returned, as I would need Jefferson’s shooting to get back in the game. But we couldn’t take care of the ball (FIU had six steals at this point), and Walker picked things up to stretch the lead to 74-63 with 6:32 left. This game had literally gotten away from us.
From here… well, it only got worse. Three more steals for the Panthers and some suddenly hot shooting ended this one 80 seconds early. Because that’s how much time was left when Chris Mardis entered the game. Our first loss, 88-73.
Walker led all scorers with 20. Wayne Dickenman added 18 and Turner 16 for the Panthers. Jefferson led us with 12, and Jones chipped in with 10. But the stat of the game was our 14 turnovers to their eight. We need to find something on defense that’ll work, and we need to find it fast.
Conference Roundup: Indiana killed Cleveland St. DEAD Monday night, 100-48. The next night, #16 Temple beat Wisconsin-Green Bay 82-55. On Thursday, #8 Duke went to Butler and won, 78-43.
This and Scott’s injury screw up coach Mills’s rotation somewhat — Correa’s become the primary backup at the point, which means Adam Fields will have to log more minutes at SF than PF. The winner could be freshman PF Vidal Muhammad, who may see time at C as well as getting Fields’s PF minutes.
Polls: Florida’s still on top of both. Arizona was No. 6, but got bounced after losses to Nebraska (WHAT) and then No. 20 (and now No. 11) Mississippi in overtime. North Carolina fell from 9 to 24 after a 77-66 home loss to Xavier. And under “Others Receiving Votes” you can find a familiar and surprisingly big metropolitan school in a small conference near the end of the list. Yep, the 4-0 Flames got three votes from the writers this week, and four votes in the .400 Sports poll, which consists of writers, coaches and fans. (Probably because we did win three straight on the road.)
Recruiting: We’re going hard (but moderately so) after Winkfield this week, as Xavier has also made an offer. Swift’s mulling over an offer from Bowling Green as well. We called Conrad again just to keep in touch.
Two more visits this week:
SF Jerry Blevins (6’7”, 199, Penny Meridian HS, Indianapolis)
SF Antonio Morrison (6’4”, 180, Bay Springs, MI)
Neither guy is really a standout. Blevins has a scholarship offer from Ball State. Remember that we’re losing two SFs (Jones and Correa) to graduation, thus the emphasis on that position. Fields looks like the front-runner to take over the spot next year, but that may change depending on who we get.
My RV guys could end up being teammates again — St. Peter’s has shown some interest in both of them.
Only two consensus top-20 players have chosen schools so far.
Awards:
Horizon League Player of the Week: PG - #21 Dante Caskill, 6’1” senior, Loyola-Chicago (23 ppg)
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: PF - #24 Damian Jackson, 6’5” freshman, Wisconsin-Milwaukee (22 ppg, 5.5 rpg)
National Player of the Week: PG Max Cambridge, 6’ junior, Texas A&M (28.5 ppg, 8 apg)
National Freshman of the Week: SF Rashad Millford, 6’6” freshman, Alabama-Birmingham (24.5 ppg, 8 rpg)
Other Stuff: There are two Martin Sanchezes in the Horizon League. One is a 6’10” senior who goes to Detroit; the other is a 6’8” senior who goes to Youngstown State. Both went to St. Catharine’s High School in the Ontario town of the same name. Both are fine rebounders. Martin Detroit wears #31; Martin Youngstown wears #32.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Greg Morrill — the blind guy — has played in one game so far. Four minutes, one turnover.
Game 5 Report
Albany (1-3) at Illinois-Chicago
Monday, December 2, 2002
We returned home unbeaten (I’d say we’re “avoiding embarrassment” rather nicely), but down two bodies. I’m a little concerned that we’ve given up more points in each game than the last.
The early minutes were nothing to write home about, then Miller started heating up. Two quick threes and some more quality board work by White helped Clyde get 10 early points. The Danes’ Brett Abel had something of an answer with six straight points of his own, but we were up 16-11 when we went to the bench with 13 minutes left in the first half. Correa stayed on the bench for a couple more minutes because we didn’t want to risk wearing him out, too.
He came in with 11:32 left, along with Jefferson. We switched to a perimeter zone offense to show off our shooters, but we were still having problems stopping Abel down low, and Jefferson was cold for the first time all season. He couldn’t make anything, and Abel and Albany’s leading scorer, D.A. Martin, led a mini-run that ended when Martin drained a 3 to tie the game at 22. Time out! Back to the isolation. Miller and Cooper came back in, and Miller scored again, but Danes PG Ron Walls started getting his guys better looks, and they took a five-point lead.
This was new and different and, while not altogether unexpected, troubling. We hadn’t been down by this much at any point until now, and we were worried about how the guys would respond. Williams picked up his second foul with 3:49 left in the half, and Muhammad already had two. Miller needed a breather, so Jefferson came back in, most likely only for a minute or so. Nothing. Our savior up to this point turned out to be Danny Jones. Jones scored five points during this stretch, capping it off with a three that got us the lead back, 37-36 with two minutes left in the half. Gotta love seniors.
But the lead was short-lived as Marque Bell came off of a screen and hit another three to give the Danes the advantage again. Some good acting on their part got them to the line twice in the last minute, but they whiffed on the back ends of both one-and-ones. Miller got a bucket to give him 16 for the first half, but for the first time all season, we trailed at halftime, 42-41. We were perfect at the free-throw line, but they’d made 4 of 8 threes and were beating us on the boards. What to do?
Switch to a 2-1-2 zone, that’s what.
But that didn’t have anything to do with us blowing two early fast break opportunities in the second half. Meanwhile, Albany had apparently decided to shoot nothing BUT threes for the rest of the game, as they took five in the first five minutes of the half. So we switched again to a 3-2 to make them stop. Didn’t work. They hit two more, and with less than ten minutes to play, we were down 62-57. Fields can’t guard Dunn. Jefferson can’t guard Martin. NOBODY can seem to guard Abel. Back to man-to-man.
White and Jones came back in, and the ACTING~! continued as White drew his fourth foul on a phantom charge (the home crowd exploded with boos after that one.) Martin hit YET ANOTHER THREE-POINTER to make the score 70-63 with less than seven minutes left. But Jones, as he’d done all game, hit a big basket immediately after coming in, and Correa’s two free throws (we’re still perfect from the line) cut the lead to three. We got a stop, and Jones made a three on our next trip down to tie the game. We traded baskets for the next three minutes until Jones came up with a steal, and Muhammad (who’d had a nice game with White in foul trouble) hit a three of his own! 77-74 with 2:44 to go! And neither team was in the bonus yet.
An actual close game at the end — how would the team react? A short jumper by Williams and two White free throws extended the lead to seven points before Martin got Nos. 19 and 20 at the line. They started fouling, and we kept making them. Martin drained a three to cut the lead to 83-79, but we were still perfection from the stripe. White finally missed one for us (after 18 straight!), but we were already in the double bonus and there were 47 seconds left. Time to start defending against those threes, so we went back into the 3-2. Despite Albany’s poor free throw shooting night, Mills instructed his men NOT to foul so as not to risk any four-point plays, since everyone in the building knew they’d be jacking up threes from here on in. White came up with a big steal with 10 seconds left, and of course, hit his two free throws to seal it. Then two more at the very end. 92-81. What a game.
Miller again led the Flames with 20 points. White had another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Cooper had 10 and seven assists again, but the hero was Danny Jones with 16 points, at least seven of which were absolutely clutch. Correa had 10 points and six assists off the bench, while Muhammad took advantage of White’s foul situation by scoring seven points in 16 minutes, including the three that gave the Flames the lead for good. Albany’s D.A. Martin led everybody with 23 (6-for-9 on three-pointers). Abel added 14, and Dunn had 13. Ron Walls has 15 assists before fouling out.
Three-point comparison: Albany 10 of 21, UIC 5 of 10.
Free throw comparison: Albany 15 of 25, UIC 25 of 26.
“We needed a game like this,” Mills told reporters afterwards, “just to see how we’d react. I’m glad we won because we had to learn how to win a game like this. Now we know.”
Game 6 Report:
Florida International (2-2) at Illinois-Chicago
Saturday, December 7, 2002
Hopefully we’d come down enough after the Albany game so that we wouldn’t get ambushed today. I’m still worried about the defense.
Not right away, though, as we went on a 9-2 run to start the festivities. The Panthers called time and decided they needed to move the ball around more, so they switched to a motion offense and made up some ground, but they still couldn’t catch us.
The “Correa as backup point guard” experiment got an extended test when Cooper went to the bench with two fouls seven minutes into the game. A shame; he’d been playing well. Jefferson hit a three coming off the bench, and Correa added two more to force the Panthers to call another TO and temporarily halt another 9-2 run. At this point we’d only missed four shots. Jefferson gave us two more threes while Vidal Muhammad blocked a shot. With 6:11 left in the first half, we were up 37-25. The Panthers cut the lead to eight late in the half before Correa hit a three to beat the halftime buzzer and send us into the locker room with a 50-39 lead.
Jefferson’s struggles against Albany seem to have been a one-time thing, as he had three 3-pointers in the first half and led us with nine. Panthers freshman Tarik Walker, who’s averaging 18.8 a game for them, led everyone with 10.
The first four minutes of the second half, we couldn’t buy a shot. We also turned the ball over three times and allowed them to get within 54-49. We went to the bench, and Jefferson came in and hit a jumper, but Walker nailed back-to-back threes. Fortunately, we managed to finish off a couple of fast breaks for once, and the score was 60-55 with 12:48 to go. Cooper and White both took breathers with three fouls at this point, and we switched back to a help man because the Panthers were just shooting over our 3-2 zone.
With 11:02 to play, Nick Turner hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 62. That started a run of nine straight points for him, and the Panthers led 68-63 with 8:49 left when we called time. Jones and Cooper returned, as I would need Jefferson’s shooting to get back in the game. But we couldn’t take care of the ball (FIU had six steals at this point), and Walker picked things up to stretch the lead to 74-63 with 6:32 left. This game had literally gotten away from us.
From here… well, it only got worse. Three more steals for the Panthers and some suddenly hot shooting ended this one 80 seconds early. Because that’s how much time was left when Chris Mardis entered the game. Our first loss, 88-73.
Walker led all scorers with 20. Wayne Dickenman added 18 and Turner 16 for the Panthers. Jefferson led us with 12, and Jones chipped in with 10. But the stat of the game was our 14 turnovers to their eight. We need to find something on defense that’ll work, and we need to find it fast.
Conference Roundup: Indiana killed Cleveland St. DEAD Monday night, 100-48. The next night, #16 Temple beat Wisconsin-Green Bay 82-55. On Thursday, #8 Duke went to Butler and won, 78-43.
"I Don't Know What You Heard About Me..."
So last night we had a little going-away get-together at the bar for two of our part-timers. Tom's going to a full-time position at an area weekly, while Nancy's going to be a part-time photographer at another daily.
I didn't actually get to the bar until 1:30 because I left something out of the paper. Don't worry, it got in. Got to the bar, and Tom and his girlfriend are there, along with Shaun (who used to work for us and may be coming back), Charles, and Nancy with her boyfriend (So much for that. Ah, the story of my life. But that's another post).
I grabbed a seat and had my usual rum and Coke (what's odd is that I don't drink Coke straight) and we all shot the shit for a while. I've had this running gag on Nancy for a few months that started with a cold she had for about six weeks over the summer. She'd go into these coughing fits that lasted upwards of a minute, and after a while I'd pretend to get fed up and make a snide comment like "Come on now" or, "You know what? That's enough." I even threatened to buy her a bag of cough drops (and DID) if she kept it up.
Sooooo... at about 2:30, Nancy and the boyfriend (Matt? I think. That's becoming a trend with female friends of mine) got up to leave. She said her goodbyes and shook all of our hands, then i stood up and said I had something for her. I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out...
...a bag of cough drops. Tossed them right onto the table. Everyone broke up laughing, mostly from the absurdity of me giving her cough drops as a going-away present, but Nancy's the only one who actually got the joke. She even thanked me and gave me a hug.
That's right - a bag of cherry flavored Hall's upgraded me from a handshake to a hug. "Big pimpin', spendin' cheese / We doin' / big pimpin', on B.L.A.D.'s..."
Hey, I take what I can get.
Later today I'll post the NFL Week 3 roundup and the next Illinois-Chicago diary. Both posts will be proverbial doozies.
I didn't actually get to the bar until 1:30 because I left something out of the paper. Don't worry, it got in. Got to the bar, and Tom and his girlfriend are there, along with Shaun (who used to work for us and may be coming back), Charles, and Nancy with her boyfriend (So much for that. Ah, the story of my life. But that's another post).
I grabbed a seat and had my usual rum and Coke (what's odd is that I don't drink Coke straight) and we all shot the shit for a while. I've had this running gag on Nancy for a few months that started with a cold she had for about six weeks over the summer. She'd go into these coughing fits that lasted upwards of a minute, and after a while I'd pretend to get fed up and make a snide comment like "Come on now" or, "You know what? That's enough." I even threatened to buy her a bag of cough drops (and DID) if she kept it up.
Sooooo... at about 2:30, Nancy and the boyfriend (Matt? I think. That's becoming a trend with female friends of mine) got up to leave. She said her goodbyes and shook all of our hands, then i stood up and said I had something for her. I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out...
...a bag of cough drops. Tossed them right onto the table. Everyone broke up laughing, mostly from the absurdity of me giving her cough drops as a going-away present, but Nancy's the only one who actually got the joke. She even thanked me and gave me a hug.
That's right - a bag of cherry flavored Hall's upgraded me from a handshake to a hug. "Big pimpin', spendin' cheese / We doin' / big pimpin', on B.L.A.D.'s..."
Hey, I take what I can get.
Later today I'll post the NFL Week 3 roundup and the next Illinois-Chicago diary. Both posts will be proverbial doozies.
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Thursday, September 18, 2003
DMZzzzzzzzzzzz
And here IS that post I was working on before I was so rudely interrupted.
I'm not a morning person. Never have been. Partly because of my job, partly because of my nature. So you can imagine my joy when I realized that it was time for my driver's license to be renewed. That means a trip to everybody's fourth circle of Hell, the Department of Motor Vehicles. On top of that, New Jersey has instituted some new identification regulations, no doubt somewhat inspired by 9-11. Coming soon to a state near you, I'm sure. So I had to go home Wednesday and get my birth certificate. (Aside: Mom's not sure what she's more sick of hearing about: Isabel or J-Lo & Ben.)
Back to today. Gather my paperwork, spend 15 minutes looking for my keys, and I'm off at 7:40 a.m. A.M! This... this is a FUCK! The agency, as all DMVs are, is in a corner of a strip mall. I park, stopping to let a woman in a miniskirt cross the drive in front of me. Remember her.
I walk in and give my papers to the woman at the reception desk, and she tells me that I've forgotten my proof of residence. DAMN IT. What about my insurance card, she asks. It's in the car. But as I'm running out to get it, I remember that the car's registered in my parents' name and at THEIR address. So I'm screwed.
BUT WAIT.
For some reason I'd brought along the mail-in registration form - you know, the one they sent to MY apartment, so they KNOW where I live, but I digress - and I had that. She's not sure if they'll take it, so I go up to window 3 and give them everything. No problems. Suddenly I feel less safe.
So I sit and wait. If there's a less intimidating sight than a security guard in bandages, I don't know what it is. My name gets called, and it's photo time - The woman behind the camera asks me if I'm ready, and as I say "yes" she takes the picture. I'm not sure what would have happened if I'd said "no." The picture shockingly came out as well as driver's license pictures come out; I was sure that I'd have that fish mouth going because I'd opened my mouth to speak as she took the pic. I got my new license and left.
Oh, and the miniskirted woman who crossed in front of me? Got in before I did, was at the desk before I was, and she hadn't moved by the time I was up, snapped, and out.
Lucky me, I guess.
Afterwards, I had a McGriddle. While I give them points for the concept, it's too sweet and all of those flavors really weren't meant to be tasted all at the same time.
I'm not a morning person. Never have been. Partly because of my job, partly because of my nature. So you can imagine my joy when I realized that it was time for my driver's license to be renewed. That means a trip to everybody's fourth circle of Hell, the Department of Motor Vehicles. On top of that, New Jersey has instituted some new identification regulations, no doubt somewhat inspired by 9-11. Coming soon to a state near you, I'm sure. So I had to go home Wednesday and get my birth certificate. (Aside: Mom's not sure what she's more sick of hearing about: Isabel or J-Lo & Ben.)
Back to today. Gather my paperwork, spend 15 minutes looking for my keys, and I'm off at 7:40 a.m. A.M! This... this is a FUCK! The agency, as all DMVs are, is in a corner of a strip mall. I park, stopping to let a woman in a miniskirt cross the drive in front of me. Remember her.
I walk in and give my papers to the woman at the reception desk, and she tells me that I've forgotten my proof of residence. DAMN IT. What about my insurance card, she asks. It's in the car. But as I'm running out to get it, I remember that the car's registered in my parents' name and at THEIR address. So I'm screwed.
BUT WAIT.
For some reason I'd brought along the mail-in registration form - you know, the one they sent to MY apartment, so they KNOW where I live, but I digress - and I had that. She's not sure if they'll take it, so I go up to window 3 and give them everything. No problems. Suddenly I feel less safe.
So I sit and wait. If there's a less intimidating sight than a security guard in bandages, I don't know what it is. My name gets called, and it's photo time - The woman behind the camera asks me if I'm ready, and as I say "yes" she takes the picture. I'm not sure what would have happened if I'd said "no." The picture shockingly came out as well as driver's license pictures come out; I was sure that I'd have that fish mouth going because I'd opened my mouth to speak as she took the pic. I got my new license and left.
Oh, and the miniskirted woman who crossed in front of me? Got in before I did, was at the desk before I was, and she hadn't moved by the time I was up, snapped, and out.
Lucky me, I guess.
Afterwards, I had a McGriddle. While I give them points for the concept, it's too sweet and all of those flavors really weren't meant to be tasted all at the same time.
Isabel Can Kiss My Black Ass
This post was originally supposed to be about my day and my trip to the DMV, but in mid-post, Isabel knocked the power out.
As many of you know, I am a fan of the Professional Wrestling, and I'd parked myself in front of the TV to watch the Angle/Lesnar Iron Man match on SmackDown! tonight.
Guess what time the power went out.
Yep.
As many of you know, I am a fan of the Professional Wrestling, and I'd parked myself in front of the TV to watch the Angle/Lesnar Iron Man match on SmackDown! tonight.
Guess what time the power went out.
Yep.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
By The Pigskin Of Our Teeth, Week 2
In Which Our Correspondent Is Stunned Into Silence, Much Is Made Of Moral Victories, And A Flirtation With Necromancy Is Considered
See, here's the thing about the Chiefs: They're gonna score a lot on offense. So you CANNOT AFFORD to give them EVEN MORE points on defense and special teams. And NOW we can say that it looks like Holmes is OK.
Wilbon: "So far what [the Redskins]'ve done is beat a Jets team without Chad Pennington by three and a Falcons team without Michael Vick by a deuce." IOW, let's not say any mea culpas and start sucking Spurrier's dick just yet. Now Atlanta needs a second receiver to help Price.
295? That's an interstate that runs through my hometown, not a RUSHING TOTAL! Jebus. The Browns should have replaced their defensive line along with their linebackers.
The Dolphins needed to win and knew it. Dare I say that if they'd lost, they'd be, well, where the Eagles are at the moment. Testaverde has over 40,000 career passing yards. Whoda thunk it.
This just in: the Colts have only given up 13 points.
Sad to say, Aeneas Williams may still probably be the best cover guy the Rams have. Even worse was the guy on the 49ers getting caught inbounds afterwards and NO ONE CALLED THE FINAL TIME OUT. You leave a time out on the table in that situation, you NEED to lose.
Obligatory Week 1 Item I Forgot: Those Titans alternates? SWANK. Johnny mentioned this somewhere.
Is there a worse feeling in football than seeing your kick blocked? How about seeing it THREE TIMES? Brad Johnson threw 61 passes? What universe is this? And for the record, I only said Delhomme would die (9-23, 96 yards)... I said nothing about the outcome of the game. ;) Wonder how many suicide pools got sunk after that.
A conversation with Rob a couple weeks back:
Radical Rob T: and they've got that veteran winner, JEFF BLAKE, at QB. They could suit up Tiny Tim and Blake would still toss him strikes!
Radical Rob T: *ducks and covers as sarcasm meters shatter*
IdeaMan405: And God forbid anything happens to him.
Radical Rob T: who, Blake? Hahaha OMG I hadn't even thought about that.
Radical Rob T: They have Shipp if Emmitt goes down but good lord....
IdeaMan405: *looks in his Street & Smith's*
IdeaMan405: Somebody named Josh McCown from Sam Houston State
Radical Rob T: I've seen McCown play - not too bad, actually. His brother (Cade McCown? The name escapes me) was a bigtime bust, though.
IdeaMan405: You're thinking of Cade McNown. And yes, he did suck.
The old Bengals would have folded like Rey taking a German from Kurt and never have made that comeback, especially considering how the Raiders took the lead. The first and most important change has to be the attitude, and Lewis is doing that. The Raiders... see the Fantasy Report.
Apparently none of the Eagles can catch anymore, either. PROTECT THE FOOTBALL. The Pats used an awful lot of misdirection and fakes. We keep losing defensive linemen like this and someone may have to exhume the corpse of Jerome Brown. All right, that was tasteless. But I'm not happy. What's strange is that the fans have skipped over Koy and are already chanting Feeley's name.
Two weeks in and I'm still not believing in the Vikings. You hit 'em right out of the gate with a bomb to a guy so low on the depth chart he's wearing a number in the teens, and then let them get back to within four? Uh-uh. I don't like it. This Moe Williams, though, he ain't bad.
I should point out that the only reason Matt Bryant is kicking for the Giants again this year is because Mike Hollis got hurt in camp. What good is the squib kick? I mean, really? Seriously, somebody explain it to me. This should never have happened. I'm no Giants fan, but I'd root for the Klan or HHH over the fucking Cowboys.
Fantasy report: Jeff had Jamal Lewis. So I'm toast, right? Well, I got five sacks and a TD from the New Orleans defense and ended up losing only by about eight points. Fuck Rich Gannon. Fuck him up his stupid ass. Next week I face Scott, who has every Rams player of consequence that I don't. And since Westbrook and the Eagles have a bye this week, Bettis is gone and John Avery is in.
TOP 3:
1. Buffalo - Sunday night Fishing trip will be first real test
2. Kansas City - New defense playing better than I expected
3. Carolina - I NEVER would have thought this could happen
BOTTOM 3:
30. Jacksonville - Really an anonymous bunch
31. Cleveland - That Holcomb thing's working out real well, too
32. Arizona - Should've been here last week but I forgot they existed
See, here's the thing about the Chiefs: They're gonna score a lot on offense. So you CANNOT AFFORD to give them EVEN MORE points on defense and special teams. And NOW we can say that it looks like Holmes is OK.
Wilbon: "So far what [the Redskins]'ve done is beat a Jets team without Chad Pennington by three and a Falcons team without Michael Vick by a deuce." IOW, let's not say any mea culpas and start sucking Spurrier's dick just yet. Now Atlanta needs a second receiver to help Price.
295? That's an interstate that runs through my hometown, not a RUSHING TOTAL! Jebus. The Browns should have replaced their defensive line along with their linebackers.
The Dolphins needed to win and knew it. Dare I say that if they'd lost, they'd be, well, where the Eagles are at the moment. Testaverde has over 40,000 career passing yards. Whoda thunk it.
This just in: the Colts have only given up 13 points.
Sad to say, Aeneas Williams may still probably be the best cover guy the Rams have. Even worse was the guy on the 49ers getting caught inbounds afterwards and NO ONE CALLED THE FINAL TIME OUT. You leave a time out on the table in that situation, you NEED to lose.
Obligatory Week 1 Item I Forgot: Those Titans alternates? SWANK. Johnny mentioned this somewhere.
Is there a worse feeling in football than seeing your kick blocked? How about seeing it THREE TIMES? Brad Johnson threw 61 passes? What universe is this? And for the record, I only said Delhomme would die (9-23, 96 yards)... I said nothing about the outcome of the game. ;) Wonder how many suicide pools got sunk after that.
A conversation with Rob a couple weeks back:
Radical Rob T: and they've got that veteran winner, JEFF BLAKE, at QB. They could suit up Tiny Tim and Blake would still toss him strikes!
Radical Rob T: *ducks and covers as sarcasm meters shatter*
IdeaMan405: And God forbid anything happens to him.
Radical Rob T: who, Blake? Hahaha OMG I hadn't even thought about that.
Radical Rob T: They have Shipp if Emmitt goes down but good lord....
IdeaMan405: *looks in his Street & Smith's*
IdeaMan405: Somebody named Josh McCown from Sam Houston State
Radical Rob T: I've seen McCown play - not too bad, actually. His brother (Cade McCown? The name escapes me) was a bigtime bust, though.
IdeaMan405: You're thinking of Cade McNown. And yes, he did suck.
The old Bengals would have folded like Rey taking a German from Kurt and never have made that comeback, especially considering how the Raiders took the lead. The first and most important change has to be the attitude, and Lewis is doing that. The Raiders... see the Fantasy Report.
Apparently none of the Eagles can catch anymore, either. PROTECT THE FOOTBALL. The Pats used an awful lot of misdirection and fakes. We keep losing defensive linemen like this and someone may have to exhume the corpse of Jerome Brown. All right, that was tasteless. But I'm not happy. What's strange is that the fans have skipped over Koy and are already chanting Feeley's name.
Two weeks in and I'm still not believing in the Vikings. You hit 'em right out of the gate with a bomb to a guy so low on the depth chart he's wearing a number in the teens, and then let them get back to within four? Uh-uh. I don't like it. This Moe Williams, though, he ain't bad.
I should point out that the only reason Matt Bryant is kicking for the Giants again this year is because Mike Hollis got hurt in camp. What good is the squib kick? I mean, really? Seriously, somebody explain it to me. This should never have happened. I'm no Giants fan, but I'd root for the Klan or HHH over the fucking Cowboys.
Fantasy report: Jeff had Jamal Lewis. So I'm toast, right? Well, I got five sacks and a TD from the New Orleans defense and ended up losing only by about eight points. Fuck Rich Gannon. Fuck him up his stupid ass. Next week I face Scott, who has every Rams player of consequence that I don't. And since Westbrook and the Eagles have a bye this week, Bettis is gone and John Avery is in.
TOP 3:
1. Buffalo - Sunday night Fishing trip will be first real test
2. Kansas City - New defense playing better than I expected
3. Carolina - I NEVER would have thought this could happen
BOTTOM 3:
30. Jacksonville - Really an anonymous bunch
31. Cleveland - That Holcomb thing's working out real well, too
32. Arizona - Should've been here last week but I forgot they existed
Monday, September 15, 2003
Illinois-Chicago Diary (Week Three)
Polls: Florida is now No. 1 in both polls, getting more votes than Kentucky in the IP poll this week. Stanford and USC went from top 10 to out of the poll with losses to Auburn and UC-Irvine, respectively.
Recruiting: Only four high schoolers declared for the draft, all in the East.
We’ve got a JUCO player on our radar now.
SF Aaron Swift (6’3”, 175, Hammond, IN, Vermillion CC)
Excellent defender who projects to SG. He’ll be visiting campus this week along with…
C Aquil Cooper (6’10”, 223, Lamphier HS, Springfield, IL)
We haven’t made him an offer yet or anything. His GPA is 2.01, which makes now a good time to point out that grades come out next week.
Conrad & Winkfield were at the game Thursday night and were impressed enough that they’re still considering us. Conrad seems to be very interested, and getting a player ranked as highly as he is would be an absolute coup for the Flames.
Largent now has an offer from Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Awards:
Horizon League Player of the Week: C – #35 Ramon Richardson, 6’9” senior, Youngstown St. (2 games, 32 ppg, 9 rpg)
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: SF – #24 Andy Hayes, 6’3”, Wright St. (2 games, 12 ppg)
National Player of the Week: PF - #5 Chris Reece, Weber St. (2 games, 34.5 ppg)
National Freshman of the Week: SG - #4 Jamal Courtney, Georgetown (2 games, 32 ppg, 6 apg)
Game 3 Report:
Illinois-Chicago at Virginia Tech
Monday, Nov. 25, 2002
It may be the dregs of the Big East, but it’s still the Big East.
But that didn’t seem to matter, as we started out with a 10-3 run. It was Miller and White again early on, with Jones chipping in a little later in the first half. We started missing shots; our free-throw shooting was dicey. Fortunately, the Hokies’ was worse, and they only made a slight gain on us.
Looking over our team’s skill ratings before the game, I’d gotten the idea that maybe I could use Correa as another option at the point if the need arose, as he’s a decent ballhandler and 6’4” to boot. Knowing that Cooper had two fouls already, I pulled Correa off the floor and sent Jefferson in in his place, thinking that Scott would tire quickly as always (even though he’s got a high endurance) and I’d rather not see Cooper get three fouls in the first half. So Correa came in at point with 8:30 left in the first half and didn’t embarrass himself, getting two assists. They were fouling us left and right, and we built a 14-point lead mostly at the free throw line. That’s the lead we took into the locker room — 44-30.
Miller had 12 points at the half. White had eight and eight boards. Free throw attempts: 24 for us, eight for the host Hokies. There’ll be no home cooking tonight, it seems.
Or was there? Three fouls in the first three minutes — all on us — made me wonder. The Hokies made a little run, cutting the lead to six at one point. We pulled away with the help of Fields and Jefferson, but Hokies backup center Adam Pettway then decided he was gonna take over, scoring Va Tech’s next six points to get them back within six and forcing me to call time. Williams got a breather, and Miller and Jones went back in. A few possessions later, Tech’s Phil Tiggs hit an NBA three-pointer, but Miller came back with one of his own to get the lead back to 14 with 5:20 to play.
White got his fourth foul with just under four minutes left. We were up 12; I left him on the floor. He’s got 12 rebounds. They’ve got fouls to give and are in the bonus situation. We need to clamp down.
White fouled out with 3:03 left. Eight points, 12 rebounds. Williams replaced him, and I changed our defense from the 3-2 zone we had just switched to from a 2-1-2, to a 2-3, since our front line at that point was 6’7” (Jones), 6’7” (Greer), and 6’6” (Williams). Virginia Tech entered the double bonus with 2:01 left, and it’s 71-62. Cooper picked up his fourth. Tech forward Xavier Jack was also out as I’ve adjusted our scoring emphasis from outside to inside. We’re up nine, so no need to foul. And it was just as well, as the Hokies couldn’t make anything down the stretch, and we won, 75-63. We’re 3-0!
Miller led with 21 points and five assists. Jones added 14. Greer gave us eight points in 16 minutes off the bench. Pettway led Virginia Tech with 13 off the bench. We only turned the ball over seven times.
Coach Mills addressed the team after practice the next day.
“Three games, three wins. I’ll be honest; I’m not quite sure what I’ve got here yet. But I’m seein’ some good things; I’m seein’ the start of a team here. Enjoy your holiday, guys. Remember, Friday noon, be at the Pavilion! No exceptions. We’ll have a short practice, a short meeting, then we got a long bus ride ahead of us.”
Game 4 Report:
Illinois-Chicago at St. Francis (Pa.)
Saturday, November 30, 2002
A nine-hour-plus bus ride, to be exact. Loretto is a small town tucked in the southern part of the Allegheny Mountains, about 10 miles west of Altoona. Jimmy Stewart’s hometown of Indiana also isn’t far from here. This is football country; where the names Montana, Marino and Kelly were first uttered in hallowed tones. But we came for hoops.
It was an inauspicious start. We got four, they got four, and it went from there. The Red Flash started out with a really small backcourt (5’11” and 5’9”) but quickly realized that wouldn’t fly (even though our guards aren’t huge) and brought a 6’6” swingman off the bench in the first minute. We fought back, led by Miller who got nine early, and led 15-12 before White went to the bench with his second foul eight minutes into the half. Correa came in at point guard and worked a beautiful give-and-go with Greer, and we finished off an 11-3 run before St. Francis blew its whistle.
Didn’t matter. Correa scored eight straight points and the run turned into 23-5 before St. Francis called another TO with 8:24 left in the half. It was 29-14. Also at this point, we were dominating them on the boards, 14-4. Correa got another basket to give him a team-high 10 later. Miller got his second foul, and Jones and Williams came back from the bench. With 1:36 left in the half and a 41-23 lead, Chris Mardis was summoned from the bench for some very rare first-half garbage time. It was the first game action of his career for the deep reserve freshman center, and he did… nothing.
43-28 at the half. Correa had his 10 and Miller nine. Cooper had six assists. Our rebounding edge was 20-9. Damian Ress seemed to be the only St. Francis player we’d have to worry about, as he led everyone with 12 at the break.
We missed our first two shots of the second half, but our lead never dropped into single digits. We’re starting to improve on our fast breaks, and we’re playing in control. Except for White, who started the second half but picked up two more fouls and was on the bench with four only seven minutes into the half. At least we hadn’t needed him. Jefferson began to heat up here, too, scoring five points to give him 10 and us another 18-point lead with nine minutes gone.
The lead was extended to 20 with six minutes left as Miller returned and started making his money (so to speak) at the free throw line. The Red Flash had made up some of their rebounding deficit on us, but we were shooting 60 percent at that point. We started pondering when to empty the bench, as Scott hadn’t appeared in this game and Will Wagner had yet to take the floor this season. Cooper played his best ball of the season during this stretch of game time, finishing off another break and continuing to draw contact and fouls.
76-61 with 1:36 left was as good a time as any. St. Francis’s Brett Slane tried to make things interesting, but he really only succeeded at being a pest. Mardis returned to finish the game, as did Wagner (making his debut), and Scott finally got on the floor. They made a couple of late threes and punked out Scott (who had to leave the game afterwards), but we were too much for them. 80-70, and it wasn’t that close.
Rashun Cooper had his best game of the young season, scoring 13 points and passing out seven assists. Jefferson was our high man with 15. Miller finished with 13, and I again got quality minutes out of Correa at the point, as he finished with 12. Ress led all scorers with 20 points, while Slane had a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists. Rebounds ended up evening out.
The next day brought bad news to the Flames’ camp. Noel Scott tore his ACL during the last few minutes of yesterday’s game and is pretty much gone for the season. The decision to try Correa at the point (and its success) just became that much more insightful. “It hurts to lose a kid like Noel,” Coach Mills said, “but at least we now know we have some options.”
Still, 4-0 after a three-game Eastern road trip, and the next three games at home — a good time to build up a head of steam before going to Georgia (currently ranked 14th) two weekends from now.
Conference Roundup: A pair of Turkey Day shitkickings: No. 13 Kansas 113, Wisconsin-Green Bay 46 (55-8 at halftime); No. 19 Temple 101, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 64.
Recruiting: Only four high schoolers declared for the draft, all in the East.
We’ve got a JUCO player on our radar now.
SF Aaron Swift (6’3”, 175, Hammond, IN, Vermillion CC)
Excellent defender who projects to SG. He’ll be visiting campus this week along with…
C Aquil Cooper (6’10”, 223, Lamphier HS, Springfield, IL)
We haven’t made him an offer yet or anything. His GPA is 2.01, which makes now a good time to point out that grades come out next week.
Conrad & Winkfield were at the game Thursday night and were impressed enough that they’re still considering us. Conrad seems to be very interested, and getting a player ranked as highly as he is would be an absolute coup for the Flames.
Largent now has an offer from Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Awards:
Horizon League Player of the Week: C – #35 Ramon Richardson, 6’9” senior, Youngstown St. (2 games, 32 ppg, 9 rpg)
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: SF – #24 Andy Hayes, 6’3”, Wright St. (2 games, 12 ppg)
National Player of the Week: PF - #5 Chris Reece, Weber St. (2 games, 34.5 ppg)
National Freshman of the Week: SG - #4 Jamal Courtney, Georgetown (2 games, 32 ppg, 6 apg)
Game 3 Report:
Illinois-Chicago at Virginia Tech
Monday, Nov. 25, 2002
It may be the dregs of the Big East, but it’s still the Big East.
But that didn’t seem to matter, as we started out with a 10-3 run. It was Miller and White again early on, with Jones chipping in a little later in the first half. We started missing shots; our free-throw shooting was dicey. Fortunately, the Hokies’ was worse, and they only made a slight gain on us.
Looking over our team’s skill ratings before the game, I’d gotten the idea that maybe I could use Correa as another option at the point if the need arose, as he’s a decent ballhandler and 6’4” to boot. Knowing that Cooper had two fouls already, I pulled Correa off the floor and sent Jefferson in in his place, thinking that Scott would tire quickly as always (even though he’s got a high endurance) and I’d rather not see Cooper get three fouls in the first half. So Correa came in at point with 8:30 left in the first half and didn’t embarrass himself, getting two assists. They were fouling us left and right, and we built a 14-point lead mostly at the free throw line. That’s the lead we took into the locker room — 44-30.
Miller had 12 points at the half. White had eight and eight boards. Free throw attempts: 24 for us, eight for the host Hokies. There’ll be no home cooking tonight, it seems.
Or was there? Three fouls in the first three minutes — all on us — made me wonder. The Hokies made a little run, cutting the lead to six at one point. We pulled away with the help of Fields and Jefferson, but Hokies backup center Adam Pettway then decided he was gonna take over, scoring Va Tech’s next six points to get them back within six and forcing me to call time. Williams got a breather, and Miller and Jones went back in. A few possessions later, Tech’s Phil Tiggs hit an NBA three-pointer, but Miller came back with one of his own to get the lead back to 14 with 5:20 to play.
White got his fourth foul with just under four minutes left. We were up 12; I left him on the floor. He’s got 12 rebounds. They’ve got fouls to give and are in the bonus situation. We need to clamp down.
White fouled out with 3:03 left. Eight points, 12 rebounds. Williams replaced him, and I changed our defense from the 3-2 zone we had just switched to from a 2-1-2, to a 2-3, since our front line at that point was 6’7” (Jones), 6’7” (Greer), and 6’6” (Williams). Virginia Tech entered the double bonus with 2:01 left, and it’s 71-62. Cooper picked up his fourth. Tech forward Xavier Jack was also out as I’ve adjusted our scoring emphasis from outside to inside. We’re up nine, so no need to foul. And it was just as well, as the Hokies couldn’t make anything down the stretch, and we won, 75-63. We’re 3-0!
Miller led with 21 points and five assists. Jones added 14. Greer gave us eight points in 16 minutes off the bench. Pettway led Virginia Tech with 13 off the bench. We only turned the ball over seven times.
Coach Mills addressed the team after practice the next day.
“Three games, three wins. I’ll be honest; I’m not quite sure what I’ve got here yet. But I’m seein’ some good things; I’m seein’ the start of a team here. Enjoy your holiday, guys. Remember, Friday noon, be at the Pavilion! No exceptions. We’ll have a short practice, a short meeting, then we got a long bus ride ahead of us.”
Game 4 Report:
Illinois-Chicago at St. Francis (Pa.)
Saturday, November 30, 2002
A nine-hour-plus bus ride, to be exact. Loretto is a small town tucked in the southern part of the Allegheny Mountains, about 10 miles west of Altoona. Jimmy Stewart’s hometown of Indiana also isn’t far from here. This is football country; where the names Montana, Marino and Kelly were first uttered in hallowed tones. But we came for hoops.
It was an inauspicious start. We got four, they got four, and it went from there. The Red Flash started out with a really small backcourt (5’11” and 5’9”) but quickly realized that wouldn’t fly (even though our guards aren’t huge) and brought a 6’6” swingman off the bench in the first minute. We fought back, led by Miller who got nine early, and led 15-12 before White went to the bench with his second foul eight minutes into the half. Correa came in at point guard and worked a beautiful give-and-go with Greer, and we finished off an 11-3 run before St. Francis blew its whistle.
Didn’t matter. Correa scored eight straight points and the run turned into 23-5 before St. Francis called another TO with 8:24 left in the half. It was 29-14. Also at this point, we were dominating them on the boards, 14-4. Correa got another basket to give him a team-high 10 later. Miller got his second foul, and Jones and Williams came back from the bench. With 1:36 left in the half and a 41-23 lead, Chris Mardis was summoned from the bench for some very rare first-half garbage time. It was the first game action of his career for the deep reserve freshman center, and he did… nothing.
43-28 at the half. Correa had his 10 and Miller nine. Cooper had six assists. Our rebounding edge was 20-9. Damian Ress seemed to be the only St. Francis player we’d have to worry about, as he led everyone with 12 at the break.
We missed our first two shots of the second half, but our lead never dropped into single digits. We’re starting to improve on our fast breaks, and we’re playing in control. Except for White, who started the second half but picked up two more fouls and was on the bench with four only seven minutes into the half. At least we hadn’t needed him. Jefferson began to heat up here, too, scoring five points to give him 10 and us another 18-point lead with nine minutes gone.
The lead was extended to 20 with six minutes left as Miller returned and started making his money (so to speak) at the free throw line. The Red Flash had made up some of their rebounding deficit on us, but we were shooting 60 percent at that point. We started pondering when to empty the bench, as Scott hadn’t appeared in this game and Will Wagner had yet to take the floor this season. Cooper played his best ball of the season during this stretch of game time, finishing off another break and continuing to draw contact and fouls.
76-61 with 1:36 left was as good a time as any. St. Francis’s Brett Slane tried to make things interesting, but he really only succeeded at being a pest. Mardis returned to finish the game, as did Wagner (making his debut), and Scott finally got on the floor. They made a couple of late threes and punked out Scott (who had to leave the game afterwards), but we were too much for them. 80-70, and it wasn’t that close.
Rashun Cooper had his best game of the young season, scoring 13 points and passing out seven assists. Jefferson was our high man with 15. Miller finished with 13, and I again got quality minutes out of Correa at the point, as he finished with 12. Ress led all scorers with 20 points, while Slane had a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists. Rebounds ended up evening out.
The next day brought bad news to the Flames’ camp. Noel Scott tore his ACL during the last few minutes of yesterday’s game and is pretty much gone for the season. The decision to try Correa at the point (and its success) just became that much more insightful. “It hurts to lose a kid like Noel,” Coach Mills said, “but at least we now know we have some options.”
Still, 4-0 after a three-game Eastern road trip, and the next three games at home — a good time to build up a head of steam before going to Georgia (currently ranked 14th) two weekends from now.
Conference Roundup: A pair of Turkey Day shitkickings: No. 13 Kansas 113, Wisconsin-Green Bay 46 (55-8 at halftime); No. 19 Temple 101, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 64.
Saturday, September 13, 2003
Dolla Dolla Bill, Y'all
Man Buys Groceries With Fake $200 Bill
ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. - Police are searching for a man who paid for $150 in groceries at a Food Lion grocery store with a $200 bill. The man walked out of the store with his groceries and $50 in change before the fake bill was discovered Sept. 6. The bogus bill -- the U.S. Mint does not print a $200 bill -- bore the image of President George W. Bush on the front and had the White House on the back. It also included signs on the front lawn of the front lawn of the White House with slogans such as "We like broccoli" and "USA deserves a tax cut," Roanoke Rapids police said.
Instead of being labeled a Federal Reserve note, the fake bill was marked as a "Moral Reserve Note." The bill bore the signatures of Ronald Reagan, political mentor, and George H.W. Bush, campaign adviser and mentor. Officials at the local Food Lion had no comment. Food Lion officials at the company headquarters in Salisbury could only say their normal policy is not to accept bills over $100.
Meanwhile, police in Roanoke Rapids arrested a man Tuesday who attempted to spend a $200 bill at a convenience store in August. Authorities say Michael Harris was jailed Tuesday night under $2,500 bond. Investigators say Harris is not the same person who passed a similar fake bill at the Food Lion grocery store, but police believe the two cases are connected.
ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. - Police are searching for a man who paid for $150 in groceries at a Food Lion grocery store with a $200 bill. The man walked out of the store with his groceries and $50 in change before the fake bill was discovered Sept. 6. The bogus bill -- the U.S. Mint does not print a $200 bill -- bore the image of President George W. Bush on the front and had the White House on the back. It also included signs on the front lawn of the front lawn of the White House with slogans such as "We like broccoli" and "USA deserves a tax cut," Roanoke Rapids police said.
Instead of being labeled a Federal Reserve note, the fake bill was marked as a "Moral Reserve Note." The bill bore the signatures of Ronald Reagan, political mentor, and George H.W. Bush, campaign adviser and mentor. Officials at the local Food Lion had no comment. Food Lion officials at the company headquarters in Salisbury could only say their normal policy is not to accept bills over $100.
Meanwhile, police in Roanoke Rapids arrested a man Tuesday who attempted to spend a $200 bill at a convenience store in August. Authorities say Michael Harris was jailed Tuesday night under $2,500 bond. Investigators say Harris is not the same person who passed a similar fake bill at the Food Lion grocery store, but police believe the two cases are connected.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Power Points
Got home from work at about 2 this morning, a little later than usual. I was sitting here at the comp going through my email and getting ready to type up the NFL summary (below) when everything goes black.
This actually happens a lot around here for some reason, so I don't think too much of it - it usually comes back within seconds. So I wait. The lights flicker back on... and they cut out again.
OK, maybe this time it's a little more serious.
I'm sitting here in the dark trying to think. Do I remember where my flashlight is? Wait... I don't need to remember - I've got some candles around the house. But where's the lighter...? Is it in the drawer, or did I leave it on the kitchen counter?
With my arms outstretched, I walk. In a pleasant development, I don't rack myself on anything. I find the lighter on the counter and flick it on to see that it was sitting right in front of the flashlight. I light the kitchen candle and the apartment begins to smell of "waterfall" (scented candle in the kitchen to kill the smell of charred animal carcass). I grab the flashlight and hear my upstairs neighbor walking around - apparently it's not just my apartment either.
Bedroom candles are lit, and I take my flashlight outside. The outside light's off, so it's at least the whole building. I walk around for a bit, and all the street lights are out, so it's at least our whole complex. I reach the road, and the housing development across the street is pitch black, too. We are out. And we are out for the duration - it's 3 a.m. (and I must be lonely) and this isn't getting fixed until morning. So I go to bed.
- Spent half an hour on the phone tonight with a woman trying to figure out what my Maxim subscription rate was. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was hitting on me. She called me "sweetie" three times in the first five minutes.
- Groovin' on: Ben Folds Live
- So who exactly is the star of Once Upon A Time In Mexico, anyway? Banderas IS in this movie, right?
- Sabotage made their in-ring debut in Action! this week. I thought it went well... for what it was supposed to do. I, of course, am biased.
This actually happens a lot around here for some reason, so I don't think too much of it - it usually comes back within seconds. So I wait. The lights flicker back on... and they cut out again.
OK, maybe this time it's a little more serious.
I'm sitting here in the dark trying to think. Do I remember where my flashlight is? Wait... I don't need to remember - I've got some candles around the house. But where's the lighter...? Is it in the drawer, or did I leave it on the kitchen counter?
With my arms outstretched, I walk. In a pleasant development, I don't rack myself on anything. I find the lighter on the counter and flick it on to see that it was sitting right in front of the flashlight. I light the kitchen candle and the apartment begins to smell of "waterfall" (scented candle in the kitchen to kill the smell of charred animal carcass). I grab the flashlight and hear my upstairs neighbor walking around - apparently it's not just my apartment either.
Bedroom candles are lit, and I take my flashlight outside. The outside light's off, so it's at least the whole building. I walk around for a bit, and all the street lights are out, so it's at least our whole complex. I reach the road, and the housing development across the street is pitch black, too. We are out. And we are out for the duration - it's 3 a.m. (and I must be lonely) and this isn't getting fixed until morning. So I go to bed.
- Spent half an hour on the phone tonight with a woman trying to figure out what my Maxim subscription rate was. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was hitting on me. She called me "sweetie" three times in the first five minutes.
- Groovin' on: Ben Folds Live
- So who exactly is the star of Once Upon A Time In Mexico, anyway? Banderas IS in this movie, right?
- Sabotage made their in-ring debut in Action! this week. I thought it went well... for what it was supposed to do. I, of course, am biased.
By The Pigskin Of Our Teeth, Week 1
We'd have been here sooner but the whole town lost power last night. But that's another post. Specifically, after I eat.
In Which Our Surprisingly Not Bitter Commentator Ruminates On How Much (And How Little) We Learned, Ill-Thought-Out Flights Of Fantasy, And Florida's Triple Choke Job
But first, breaking news:
MIKE MARTZ ADMITTED HE SCREWED UP.
"I just got an 'Oh, my!' from Dick Enberg!" - Andy Roddick
Horrible miscommunication as far as Warner's concussion goes. Question though, Mike: when you noticed that Warner seemed confused, why didn't you think and do something about it, like, oh, I don't know, take him out or have him GIVE MARSHALL FAULK THE MOTHERFUCKING BALL? "STUPID! You're so STUPID!" And the blueprint for beating the Rams - smack the crap out of them - still holds.
Don't be surprised when Anquan Boldin catches 3 for 30 this week. He was playing the Lions, who haven't had a good corner since Ray Crockett in his prime. And that was 10 years ago.
Linemen running with the football. Does it EVER get old? I submit that it does not. And who would've called this as a shutout? We knew the Bills upgraded their defense, but that much? I'd say Belichick will live to regret this, but he just did.
In a fairer world, Brunell would be quarterbacking the Panthers. Seriously, how do you lose this game to that team? How? And the Bucs are going to physically kill Jake Delhomme next week.
So are we accepting that the Dolphins underrated the Texans? Is that what we're gonna go with? Has Jason Taylor arrived at the stadium yet? And the reason you give Ricky the ball is to run the clock since I would hope you'd have the confidence that he'd get the yards. Y'know? I'm just thinking out loud.
Let's also note that the Vikings (whose defense may now merely be ordinary) came damn close to blowing it. I'm still not buying.
The sad thing is, Rex Grossman won't be any better.
Why am I not bitter? Because Tampa's that good, folks. I'll defend the fake field goal thusly: Sure, you're passing up three sure points, but you get six on that play (and Smith should have caught it) and it's a backbreaker. Jurevicius's catches were of the type that no white man should be able to make. The second one even faked out the cameraman. I can't hate 'cause NOTHING would have worked.
No Dawkins for 2-6 weeks? THAT I'm bitter about.
(Semi-related note: This showed up today. Thank God for eBay deadbeats. And I know this won't help my "Rosser clone" image. It's merely a sick twist of irony.)
Fantasy report: Beat Max on the strength of Gannon and Ward. Bring on Bulger; that means Faulk will get carries. I don't need points from ALL of my WRs. I MUST have points from Faulk. I had the fewest points of all the winners last week, but I only would've lost to Wade and Jeff. So who am I against this week? Jeff. And Bettis hurt his groin, so I dumped Mungro and picked up Brian Westbrook, who will at least return kicks.
TOP 3:
1. Tampa Bay - Sapp & Co. licking their chops
2. Tennessee - A measure of revenge
3. Buffalo - All the pieces fitting so far
BOTTOM 3:
30. New England - Oh, the pain, the shame...
31. Jacksonville - An awful way to lose
32. Chicago - Oh boy.
In Which Our Surprisingly Not Bitter Commentator Ruminates On How Much (And How Little) We Learned, Ill-Thought-Out Flights Of Fantasy, And Florida's Triple Choke Job
But first, breaking news:
MIKE MARTZ ADMITTED HE SCREWED UP.
"I just got an 'Oh, my!' from Dick Enberg!" - Andy Roddick
Horrible miscommunication as far as Warner's concussion goes. Question though, Mike: when you noticed that Warner seemed confused, why didn't you think and do something about it, like, oh, I don't know, take him out or have him GIVE MARSHALL FAULK THE MOTHERFUCKING BALL? "STUPID! You're so STUPID!" And the blueprint for beating the Rams - smack the crap out of them - still holds.
Don't be surprised when Anquan Boldin catches 3 for 30 this week. He was playing the Lions, who haven't had a good corner since Ray Crockett in his prime. And that was 10 years ago.
Linemen running with the football. Does it EVER get old? I submit that it does not. And who would've called this as a shutout? We knew the Bills upgraded their defense, but that much? I'd say Belichick will live to regret this, but he just did.
In a fairer world, Brunell would be quarterbacking the Panthers. Seriously, how do you lose this game to that team? How? And the Bucs are going to physically kill Jake Delhomme next week.
So are we accepting that the Dolphins underrated the Texans? Is that what we're gonna go with? Has Jason Taylor arrived at the stadium yet? And the reason you give Ricky the ball is to run the clock since I would hope you'd have the confidence that he'd get the yards. Y'know? I'm just thinking out loud.
Let's also note that the Vikings (whose defense may now merely be ordinary) came damn close to blowing it. I'm still not buying.
The sad thing is, Rex Grossman won't be any better.
Why am I not bitter? Because Tampa's that good, folks. I'll defend the fake field goal thusly: Sure, you're passing up three sure points, but you get six on that play (and Smith should have caught it) and it's a backbreaker. Jurevicius's catches were of the type that no white man should be able to make. The second one even faked out the cameraman. I can't hate 'cause NOTHING would have worked.
No Dawkins for 2-6 weeks? THAT I'm bitter about.
(Semi-related note: This showed up today. Thank God for eBay deadbeats. And I know this won't help my "Rosser clone" image. It's merely a sick twist of irony.)
Fantasy report: Beat Max on the strength of Gannon and Ward. Bring on Bulger; that means Faulk will get carries. I don't need points from ALL of my WRs. I MUST have points from Faulk. I had the fewest points of all the winners last week, but I only would've lost to Wade and Jeff. So who am I against this week? Jeff. And Bettis hurt his groin, so I dumped Mungro and picked up Brian Westbrook, who will at least return kicks.
TOP 3:
1. Tampa Bay - Sapp & Co. licking their chops
2. Tennessee - A measure of revenge
3. Buffalo - All the pieces fitting so far
BOTTOM 3:
30. New England - Oh, the pain, the shame...
31. Jacksonville - An awful way to lose
32. Chicago - Oh boy.
Sunday, September 7, 2003
Illinois-Chicago Diary (Week Two)
Preseason Tournaments:
Kentucky wins Hawaii Classic
UConn wins Preseason ACT
Florida wins Alaska Challenge
You can guess what these are the equivalent of in real life.
Kentucky is the new IP No. 1. Providence rockets into the poll at No. 8 after beating Arizona in the Preseason ACT semifinals. Florida is still No. 1 in the .400 Sports Poll, where Kentucky is No. 3.
Recruiting:
Ah, the joys of auto-recruiting. I'm letting the computer and my assistants do all the work here. We've made three scholarship offers:
C Matt Conrad (6'11", 268, Bishop Kelly HS, Tulsa, OK)
Rated three stars. #89 overall in the .400 Sports Top 200 Recruits (#33 among centers) #162 overall by Cole Scouting.
Oklahoma and Xavier are interested. Oral Roberts has made an offer as well.
SF Idris Winkfield (6'6", 177, Corliss HS, Chicago)
Rated four stars.
Northern Illinois and DePaul are interested.
SF Norman Joyce (6'4", 189, Highland Park, IL)
Rated three stars.
Already has offers from Eastern Illinois, Bradley, Illinois St., and Chicago St.
Conrad & Winkfield will be visiting campus this week.
Villanova has made Largent an offer.
Game 1 Report:
Cornell at Illinois-Chicago
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002
Clyde Miller scored the first points of my coaching tenure at IUC on a 15-foot jumper. Both he and Rashun Cooper got into early foul trouble, and I have to go to my bench early. Jefferson did what I've asked him to do - shoot jumpers - and scores seven points in 10 minutes. But it's in the frontcourt that I got some unexpected help, as Fields and Greer scored six apiece off the bench in the first half. We lead the Big Red 38-29 at halftime.
The second half began as a symphony in B, as in Brick. Only one shot was made in the first five minutes, and that's on a putback by Williams. He teed off on the glass, though.
Cornell closed to 50-45 with eight minutes left before Jefferson came off a screen and hit a 3. He made another one two possessions later. I like the energy he's giving us.
We played an even game the rest of the way and won 71-57. Jefferson led all scorers with 15 points. Cooper got going late and finished with 10. Williams had nine points and nine rebounds. Sam Green had 12 to lead Cornell.
I've learned some important things already after just one game. Cooper MUST stay out of foul trouble. A lot to ask of a freshman point guard, but Noel Scott, his backup, tired quickly and I'm not yet sure who else I can trust to handle the ball. Foul trouble and Jefferson's hot hand kept me from seeing more of Miller and White. A three-guard lineup (Cooper, Miller, Jefferson) could do wonders if they all weren't so small. Fields and Greer showed ability I hadn't seen from them in practice. Vidal Muhammad did a decent job with his limited minutes.
Game Report:
Illinois-Chicago at Davidson
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2002
After a successful home opener, we head east for three games.
Lots of back-and-forth to start this one. We got their big men into early foul trouble, so they went really small (their tallest player on the court at one point was 6'5"), but they stayed with us, out-quicking our big guys. Brought Jefferson in and he scored seven straight points after missing his first two shots. Our guards, especially Cooper, seemed to be playing out of control at times, which flies in the face of my slow-it-down offensive philosophy. We'll have to work on that in practice.
Jefferson's seven sparked a 12-0 run midway through the half, giving us a 22-14 lead with 8:20 to go when Davidson burned a time out. Scott played well off the bench (four assists, two rebounds in seven minutes), but tired quickly again and let us down (and Davidson back into the game) defensively. At 4:20, Williams went to the bench with two fouls after fouling Anthony Pengelly on a three-point attempt. Stupid fouls like that can kill a coach. He made all three free throws, too, and Davidson was within three.
Then another stretch came where seemingly nobody could make a basket. Davidson's Meechy Gates solved that problem by hitting a 3 and forcing us to switch to a 3-2 zone, as they've been shooting over us all afternoon; and an isolation set offense, as we didn't have the shooters on the floor to play a strictly perimeter game. Miller hits a jumper with eight seconds left in the half, and we're up 37-34 at halftime.
We're a little calmer as the second half starts. I'd considered putting Jefferson in to start the second half, but stuck with Miller, and he thanked me by making his first shot. Davidson's in serious foul trouble, and less than four minutes into the half, Gates took his 16 points and went to the bench with four fouls. Smelling blood, I told my guys to pick up the tempo, thinking this is our best chance to put them away. Instead, they ended up throwing the ball away a lot. White came through for us here, getting an important three-point play after a foul while rebounding a Miller miss at the free throw line, and controlling the glass at the offensive end. But he needed a rest, and I went back to my bench and slowed things down.
And Davidson went cold. Their jumpers weren't falling. When we weren't throwing the ball out of bounds, we weren't doing too badly for ourselves. We extended the lead to 61-50 with eight minutes left, and Cooper and Miller came back in. It seemed like Davidson was shooting nothing but threes at this point, but a look at the stats said they only had two more attempts than we did, and we'd only MADE two of ours. We reached the five-minute mark and I wondered why Gates wasn't back on the floor yet, four fouls be damned - PG Dan Smith tried to keep them in it, but his shooting was erratic, like his team's.
Gates returned with 2:59 left. We're up by 15. White had just scored his 17th point - he and Miller had been trading the team scoring lead in the second half. Gates missed his first shot. He made his second, but it didn't matter. The Flames won, 75-61, to improve to 2-0.
White had a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Miller added 15 points. Cooper had five points and seven assists. Jefferson and senior Mark Correa gave us nine apiece off the bench. Gates led Davidson with 19, and Smith had 13. We were 3 of 18 from behind the arc, which is bad. I've got to impress upon these guys that if you can't make them, don't take them. We head north to take on Virginia Tech next.
Conference Roundup: Tenth-ranked Tennessee put a boot in Wisconsin-Green Bay's ass Friday night, to the tune of 101-66. On Sunday, No. 21 Indiana beat Butler, 97-46.
Kentucky wins Hawaii Classic
UConn wins Preseason ACT
Florida wins Alaska Challenge
You can guess what these are the equivalent of in real life.
Kentucky is the new IP No. 1. Providence rockets into the poll at No. 8 after beating Arizona in the Preseason ACT semifinals. Florida is still No. 1 in the .400 Sports Poll, where Kentucky is No. 3.
Recruiting:
Ah, the joys of auto-recruiting. I'm letting the computer and my assistants do all the work here. We've made three scholarship offers:
C Matt Conrad (6'11", 268, Bishop Kelly HS, Tulsa, OK)
Rated three stars. #89 overall in the .400 Sports Top 200 Recruits (#33 among centers) #162 overall by Cole Scouting.
Oklahoma and Xavier are interested. Oral Roberts has made an offer as well.
SF Idris Winkfield (6'6", 177, Corliss HS, Chicago)
Rated four stars.
Northern Illinois and DePaul are interested.
SF Norman Joyce (6'4", 189, Highland Park, IL)
Rated three stars.
Already has offers from Eastern Illinois, Bradley, Illinois St., and Chicago St.
Conrad & Winkfield will be visiting campus this week.
Villanova has made Largent an offer.
Game 1 Report:
Cornell at Illinois-Chicago
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002
Clyde Miller scored the first points of my coaching tenure at IUC on a 15-foot jumper. Both he and Rashun Cooper got into early foul trouble, and I have to go to my bench early. Jefferson did what I've asked him to do - shoot jumpers - and scores seven points in 10 minutes. But it's in the frontcourt that I got some unexpected help, as Fields and Greer scored six apiece off the bench in the first half. We lead the Big Red 38-29 at halftime.
The second half began as a symphony in B, as in Brick. Only one shot was made in the first five minutes, and that's on a putback by Williams. He teed off on the glass, though.
Cornell closed to 50-45 with eight minutes left before Jefferson came off a screen and hit a 3. He made another one two possessions later. I like the energy he's giving us.
We played an even game the rest of the way and won 71-57. Jefferson led all scorers with 15 points. Cooper got going late and finished with 10. Williams had nine points and nine rebounds. Sam Green had 12 to lead Cornell.
I've learned some important things already after just one game. Cooper MUST stay out of foul trouble. A lot to ask of a freshman point guard, but Noel Scott, his backup, tired quickly and I'm not yet sure who else I can trust to handle the ball. Foul trouble and Jefferson's hot hand kept me from seeing more of Miller and White. A three-guard lineup (Cooper, Miller, Jefferson) could do wonders if they all weren't so small. Fields and Greer showed ability I hadn't seen from them in practice. Vidal Muhammad did a decent job with his limited minutes.
Game Report:
Illinois-Chicago at Davidson
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2002
After a successful home opener, we head east for three games.
Lots of back-and-forth to start this one. We got their big men into early foul trouble, so they went really small (their tallest player on the court at one point was 6'5"), but they stayed with us, out-quicking our big guys. Brought Jefferson in and he scored seven straight points after missing his first two shots. Our guards, especially Cooper, seemed to be playing out of control at times, which flies in the face of my slow-it-down offensive philosophy. We'll have to work on that in practice.
Jefferson's seven sparked a 12-0 run midway through the half, giving us a 22-14 lead with 8:20 to go when Davidson burned a time out. Scott played well off the bench (four assists, two rebounds in seven minutes), but tired quickly again and let us down (and Davidson back into the game) defensively. At 4:20, Williams went to the bench with two fouls after fouling Anthony Pengelly on a three-point attempt. Stupid fouls like that can kill a coach. He made all three free throws, too, and Davidson was within three.
Then another stretch came where seemingly nobody could make a basket. Davidson's Meechy Gates solved that problem by hitting a 3 and forcing us to switch to a 3-2 zone, as they've been shooting over us all afternoon; and an isolation set offense, as we didn't have the shooters on the floor to play a strictly perimeter game. Miller hits a jumper with eight seconds left in the half, and we're up 37-34 at halftime.
We're a little calmer as the second half starts. I'd considered putting Jefferson in to start the second half, but stuck with Miller, and he thanked me by making his first shot. Davidson's in serious foul trouble, and less than four minutes into the half, Gates took his 16 points and went to the bench with four fouls. Smelling blood, I told my guys to pick up the tempo, thinking this is our best chance to put them away. Instead, they ended up throwing the ball away a lot. White came through for us here, getting an important three-point play after a foul while rebounding a Miller miss at the free throw line, and controlling the glass at the offensive end. But he needed a rest, and I went back to my bench and slowed things down.
And Davidson went cold. Their jumpers weren't falling. When we weren't throwing the ball out of bounds, we weren't doing too badly for ourselves. We extended the lead to 61-50 with eight minutes left, and Cooper and Miller came back in. It seemed like Davidson was shooting nothing but threes at this point, but a look at the stats said they only had two more attempts than we did, and we'd only MADE two of ours. We reached the five-minute mark and I wondered why Gates wasn't back on the floor yet, four fouls be damned - PG Dan Smith tried to keep them in it, but his shooting was erratic, like his team's.
Gates returned with 2:59 left. We're up by 15. White had just scored his 17th point - he and Miller had been trading the team scoring lead in the second half. Gates missed his first shot. He made his second, but it didn't matter. The Flames won, 75-61, to improve to 2-0.
White had a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Miller added 15 points. Cooper had five points and seven assists. Jefferson and senior Mark Correa gave us nine apiece off the bench. Gates led Davidson with 19, and Smith had 13. We were 3 of 18 from behind the arc, which is bad. I've got to impress upon these guys that if you can't make them, don't take them. We head north to take on Virginia Tech next.
Conference Roundup: Tenth-ranked Tennessee put a boot in Wisconsin-Green Bay's ass Friday night, to the tune of 101-66. On Sunday, No. 21 Indiana beat Butler, 97-46.
Thursday, September 4, 2003
The Fearful Forecast
NFC East:
1. N.Y. Giants (3) - Offensive weapons galore
2. Philadelphia (5) - Will lose division on tiebreaker, and NOT the head-to-head one
3. Washington - At least this time they overspent on players they needed
4. Dallas - No quarterback, no running game, no O-line
NFC North:
1. Green Bay (2) - Class of one-team division
2. Minnesota - Best of the rest of this lot, but not great by any means
3. Chicago - Will change of scenery help Kordell?
4. Detroit - Just not a lot of talent
NFC South:
1. Tampa Bay (4) - Champs lost nothing
2. Atlanta (6) - IF Johnson goes .500. If not...
3. New Orleans - An unfortunate #7 seed
4. Carolina - Division is too tough for QB-less Panthers to contend
NFC West:
1. St. Louis (1) - Can and will still outscore everybody else
2. Seattle - Holmgren's last shot, and he knows it
3. San Francisco - Firing Mariucci + banged-up secondary = bad times
4. Arizona - May be the worst team in the league
AFC East:
1. Buffalo (4) - Upgraded defense gives Bills edge in NFL's best division
2. Miami (5) - Fiedler will need to find another level
3. New England - Can now stop run, but not pass
4. N.Y. Jets - Loss of Pennington sinks Jets in NFL's best division
AFC North:
1. Pittsburgh (2) - Offensive-minded Steelers add speed with Zereoue
2. Baltimore - Rookie QB Boller thrown into lion's den
3. Cleveland - Prediction: Holcomb flops
4. Cincinnati - Improvement won't come until Palmer steps in
AFC South:
1. Tennessee (1) - Can McNair repeat cyborg tendnecies?
2. Indianapolis - Inexplicably let best defender of weak unit leave
3. Jacksonville - The transition has begun
4. Houston - It's Year Two
AFC West:
1. Oakland (3) - Silver and Gray primed for one more big run
2. Denver (6) - This corner says Plummer will help
3. Kansas City - Improved front of defense, but secondary still weak
4. San Diego - Marty, Bolts go for youth
Wild Card:
NFC: N.Y. Giants over Atlanta, Philadelphia over Tampa Bay
AFC: Oakland over Denver, Buffalo over Miami
Divisional Playoffs:
NFC: N.Y. Giants over Green Bay, Philadelphia over St. Louis
AFC: Oakland over Pittsburgh, Tennessee over Buffalo
Conference Championships:
NFC: N.Y. Giants over Philadelphia
AFC: Oakland over Tennessee
Super Bowl:
N.Y. Giants over Oakland
This goes against everything I stand for. I just want you to know that.
1. N.Y. Giants (3) - Offensive weapons galore
2. Philadelphia (5) - Will lose division on tiebreaker, and NOT the head-to-head one
3. Washington - At least this time they overspent on players they needed
4. Dallas - No quarterback, no running game, no O-line
NFC North:
1. Green Bay (2) - Class of one-team division
2. Minnesota - Best of the rest of this lot, but not great by any means
3. Chicago - Will change of scenery help Kordell?
4. Detroit - Just not a lot of talent
NFC South:
1. Tampa Bay (4) - Champs lost nothing
2. Atlanta (6) - IF Johnson goes .500. If not...
3. New Orleans - An unfortunate #7 seed
4. Carolina - Division is too tough for QB-less Panthers to contend
NFC West:
1. St. Louis (1) - Can and will still outscore everybody else
2. Seattle - Holmgren's last shot, and he knows it
3. San Francisco - Firing Mariucci + banged-up secondary = bad times
4. Arizona - May be the worst team in the league
AFC East:
1. Buffalo (4) - Upgraded defense gives Bills edge in NFL's best division
2. Miami (5) - Fiedler will need to find another level
3. New England - Can now stop run, but not pass
4. N.Y. Jets - Loss of Pennington sinks Jets in NFL's best division
AFC North:
1. Pittsburgh (2) - Offensive-minded Steelers add speed with Zereoue
2. Baltimore - Rookie QB Boller thrown into lion's den
3. Cleveland - Prediction: Holcomb flops
4. Cincinnati - Improvement won't come until Palmer steps in
AFC South:
1. Tennessee (1) - Can McNair repeat cyborg tendnecies?
2. Indianapolis - Inexplicably let best defender of weak unit leave
3. Jacksonville - The transition has begun
4. Houston - It's Year Two
AFC West:
1. Oakland (3) - Silver and Gray primed for one more big run
2. Denver (6) - This corner says Plummer will help
3. Kansas City - Improved front of defense, but secondary still weak
4. San Diego - Marty, Bolts go for youth
Wild Card:
NFC: N.Y. Giants over Atlanta, Philadelphia over Tampa Bay
AFC: Oakland over Denver, Buffalo over Miami
Divisional Playoffs:
NFC: N.Y. Giants over Green Bay, Philadelphia over St. Louis
AFC: Oakland over Pittsburgh, Tennessee over Buffalo
Conference Championships:
NFC: N.Y. Giants over Philadelphia
AFC: Oakland over Tennessee
Super Bowl:
N.Y. Giants over Oakland
This goes against everything I stand for. I just want you to know that.
Fanning the Flames (Or, More From .400)
In an effort to spread myself even thinner than I already am, I got the idea to do a diary for a new Tournament Dreams College Basketball game I've started. I *heart* this game. It puts you in charge of the D-I college basketball program of your choice, and it's one of those open-ended games where you can set whatever goal you want. Maybe you want to win a metric assload of championships, or turn your alma mater into a national power. You can do all of that. Control recruiting and scheduling all the way down to team strategies and individual players' roles.
The team I randomly selected: The University of Illinois-Chicago Flames of the Horizon League.
Why, yes, I AM a glutton for punishment. Thanks for asking!
Preseason/Week 1:
Head Coach: Chris Mills (age 34, Temple ’90)
Assistants: Eric Gearhart (40, Valparaiso ’83), Alonzo Blossom (48, Drake ’75), Kerry Cherry (36, Oral Roberts ’88)
Trainer: Clarence Smiley (56)
Starting Prestige: Very Low (27)
Starting Expectations: Avoid Embarrassment
Freshman Class: Below Average
Overall Talent Level: Below Average
Total Recruiting Budget: $7503/week
Scouting Service: Cole Scouting (2 stars) $5008/week
Roster
Starters
PG - #11 Rashun Cooper (freshman, 6’1”, 162, Crawfordsville, IN)
SG - #15 Clyde Miller (junior, 6’3”, 185, Harding HS, Fort Wayne, IN)
SF – #41 Danny Jones (senior, 6’7”, 205, St. Xavier HS, Cincinnati, OH)
PF - #52 Glendon White (junior, 6’10”, 273, Cook Secondary, Cook, MN) (role set to Rebounder)
C - #21 Damon Williams (senior, 6’6”, 210, Northside College Prep, Chicago)
Bench
C - #20 Larry Greer (junior, 6’7”, 218, Joliet, IL)
PF - #4 Adam Fields (sophomore, 6’5”, 205, Mitchell, IN)
PG - #5 Noel Scott (sophomore, 5’10”, 153, Community HS, Forest City, IA)
SG - #1 Kiwane Jefferson (sophomore, 6’1”, 167, Brookhaven HS, Columbus, OH) (role set to 3-point shooter)
SF - #45 Mark Correa (senior, 6’4”, 194, Vantaa, Finland)
PF - #30 Vidal Muhammad (freshman, 6’10”, 210, St. Thomas More HS, Milwaukee)
SF - #12 Will Wagner (freshman, 6’8”, 189, Hammond-Morton HS, Hammond, IN)
C – #14 Chris Mardis (freshman, 6’9”, 213, Bellevue West HS, Bellevue, NE)
At least my predecessor realized we needed size and got me some before his ass got bounced.
My head assistant, Gearhart, seems to think that most of these guys aren’t going to amount to much this season, especially the freshmen. Jones is probably my best player, but he’s a senior. Thankfully, Cooper’s my second-best player and a true freshman, so I’ll have something to work with.
Preseason No. 1’s:
Arizona – IP Poll
Florida - .400 Sports Poll
Oddities:
Wisconsin-Milwaukee's got this guy:
PF - #33 Greg Morrill (freshman, 6’7”, 192, Indiana School For the Blind, Indianapolis)
(Maybe he's only legally blind.)
Personal/Selfish Note:
Two fictional players from my high school (Rancocas Valley Regional; Mt. Holly, NJ) are being recruited:
C - #5 Ronny Largent (6’6”, 212, 16.3 ppg, 11.9 rpg)
PG - #3 Chris Simpson (5’11”, 156, 11.4 ppg, 7 apg)
Should be interesting. Or absolute hell.
The team I randomly selected: The University of Illinois-Chicago Flames of the Horizon League.
Why, yes, I AM a glutton for punishment. Thanks for asking!
Preseason/Week 1:
Head Coach: Chris Mills (age 34, Temple ’90)
Assistants: Eric Gearhart (40, Valparaiso ’83), Alonzo Blossom (48, Drake ’75), Kerry Cherry (36, Oral Roberts ’88)
Trainer: Clarence Smiley (56)
Starting Prestige: Very Low (27)
Starting Expectations: Avoid Embarrassment
Freshman Class: Below Average
Overall Talent Level: Below Average
Total Recruiting Budget: $7503/week
Scouting Service: Cole Scouting (2 stars) $5008/week
Roster
Starters
PG - #11 Rashun Cooper (freshman, 6’1”, 162, Crawfordsville, IN)
SG - #15 Clyde Miller (junior, 6’3”, 185, Harding HS, Fort Wayne, IN)
SF – #41 Danny Jones (senior, 6’7”, 205, St. Xavier HS, Cincinnati, OH)
PF - #52 Glendon White (junior, 6’10”, 273, Cook Secondary, Cook, MN) (role set to Rebounder)
C - #21 Damon Williams (senior, 6’6”, 210, Northside College Prep, Chicago)
Bench
C - #20 Larry Greer (junior, 6’7”, 218, Joliet, IL)
PF - #4 Adam Fields (sophomore, 6’5”, 205, Mitchell, IN)
PG - #5 Noel Scott (sophomore, 5’10”, 153, Community HS, Forest City, IA)
SG - #1 Kiwane Jefferson (sophomore, 6’1”, 167, Brookhaven HS, Columbus, OH) (role set to 3-point shooter)
SF - #45 Mark Correa (senior, 6’4”, 194, Vantaa, Finland)
PF - #30 Vidal Muhammad (freshman, 6’10”, 210, St. Thomas More HS, Milwaukee)
SF - #12 Will Wagner (freshman, 6’8”, 189, Hammond-Morton HS, Hammond, IN)
C – #14 Chris Mardis (freshman, 6’9”, 213, Bellevue West HS, Bellevue, NE)
At least my predecessor realized we needed size and got me some before his ass got bounced.
My head assistant, Gearhart, seems to think that most of these guys aren’t going to amount to much this season, especially the freshmen. Jones is probably my best player, but he’s a senior. Thankfully, Cooper’s my second-best player and a true freshman, so I’ll have something to work with.
Preseason No. 1’s:
Arizona – IP Poll
Florida - .400 Sports Poll
Oddities:
Wisconsin-Milwaukee's got this guy:
PF - #33 Greg Morrill (freshman, 6’7”, 192, Indiana School For the Blind, Indianapolis)
(Maybe he's only legally blind.)
Personal/Selfish Note:
Two fictional players from my high school (Rancocas Valley Regional; Mt. Holly, NJ) are being recruited:
C - #5 Ronny Largent (6’6”, 212, 16.3 ppg, 11.9 rpg)
PG - #3 Chris Simpson (5’11”, 156, 11.4 ppg, 7 apg)
Should be interesting. Or absolute hell.
Wednesday, September 3, 2003
The End? Oh, It's Here.
KFC's Contest for a 'Reality Commercial'
Tue Sep 2, 4:53 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fast-food chain KFC on Tuesday asked customers to dish up homemade "reality commercials" for a contest to spice up the advertising campaign for its fried chicken.
KFC, a unit of Yum Brands (NYSE:YUM - news), has asked customers to create, direct and submit 30-second commercial spots for its "Bigger, Better Popcorn Chicken" product. The winning spot will receive a cash prize and will be aired once on prime-time television in early October, the company said on Tuesday.
"It's a great way to engage our target audience because reality TV is so hot," said KFC spokeswoman Bonnie Warschauer. "We want a home-video commercial."
KFC's publicity campaign comes as the company overhauls its advertising strategy to boost sales.
The company will be receiving new pitches from incumbent ad agency BBDO of the Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC - news) and Interpublic Group's (NYSE:IPG - news) Foote, Cone and Belding in mid-September for an account estimated at $200 million, according to published reports.
In the midst of its review, KFC's chief marketing officer John Gilbert left the company last month. The restaurant chain is currently working with an executive from parent Yum Brands to shore up its marketing team.
"We've borrowed Scott Bergren (as chief marketing officer)...for KFC and he will be with us until we can turn things around," Warschauer said. "We have many things in the pipeline...we are aggressively working to give customers what they want."
She said that the "reality commercial" idea emerged from KFC's public relations team as it planned a new launch for the Popcorn Chicken food line.
The company released this week two new commercials for the product, showing consumers making sport out of eating the bite-sized chicken.
Tue Sep 2, 4:53 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fast-food chain KFC on Tuesday asked customers to dish up homemade "reality commercials" for a contest to spice up the advertising campaign for its fried chicken.
KFC, a unit of Yum Brands (NYSE:YUM - news), has asked customers to create, direct and submit 30-second commercial spots for its "Bigger, Better Popcorn Chicken" product. The winning spot will receive a cash prize and will be aired once on prime-time television in early October, the company said on Tuesday.
"It's a great way to engage our target audience because reality TV is so hot," said KFC spokeswoman Bonnie Warschauer. "We want a home-video commercial."
KFC's publicity campaign comes as the company overhauls its advertising strategy to boost sales.
The company will be receiving new pitches from incumbent ad agency BBDO of the Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC - news) and Interpublic Group's (NYSE:IPG - news) Foote, Cone and Belding in mid-September for an account estimated at $200 million, according to published reports.
In the midst of its review, KFC's chief marketing officer John Gilbert left the company last month. The restaurant chain is currently working with an executive from parent Yum Brands to shore up its marketing team.
"We've borrowed Scott Bergren (as chief marketing officer)...for KFC and he will be with us until we can turn things around," Warschauer said. "We have many things in the pipeline...we are aggressively working to give customers what they want."
She said that the "reality commercial" idea emerged from KFC's public relations team as it planned a new launch for the Popcorn Chicken food line.
The company released this week two new commercials for the product, showing consumers making sport out of eating the bite-sized chicken.
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