Category: Sports

  • Football Thoughts: Fifth Edition

    Where do we begin? League play took hold this week and we’re starting to see the legitimacy of the contenders. Just like in basketball, the non-conference games can give false positives for teams because they’re playing in weird places, staying in weird hotels, and playing teams they don’t normally play. But when you head into conference play you are playing teams you know, schemes you’ve seen before, etc.

    Lack of Defense

    In watching parts of a number of games yesterday the thing that stuck out to me is that the offenses are way ahead of the defenses right now. Obviously, the West Virginia game was entertaining… but a horrible offensively played game. While fun to watch (kind of) none of these teams are serious contenders as they will all eventually play teams with defense. Geno Smith’s 25,000 yard, 119 TD game was cool. We’ll see just how good he is on the road against Texas in a few weeks. Right now, he’s got Heisman hopes and the stats to back it up. He might be this year’s RG3.

    That trend continued all day as there were lots and lots of high scoring, highly entertaining football games. I think the thing that was so shocking wasn’t just the numbers… but how open some of these receivers were. I think there is such emphasis on stunts and blitzes defensively right now, because that might cause turnovers… that offensive coordinators are just out-scheming these defenses. Find the open man caused by the blitz, toss it for 6 points.

    SDSU

    There better be some panic on the Mesa today. Rocky Long, longtime labeled as defensive guru, saw his defense give up 655 yards last night, 484 last week, and 533 two weeks back. It’s like they aren’t even trying to stop the passing game. Big whoop, you stopped the run. The 3-3-5 depends on having a great inside linebacker which they don’t have. (Miles Burris graduated last year and is starting for the Oakland Raiders now) Time for Plan B defensively. So many times they gave up chunks of 25-30 yards to a completely unguarded receiver. That can’t happen.

    Offensively, I love what I’m seeing from Adam Muema. That kid can play. And Ryan Katz (the QB) has moments when he’s great. But 5 turnovers last night ultimately put the defense in such a hole that they couldn’t possibly keep up. The first pick wasn’t Katz’s fault, but the other 2 totally were preventable.

    Notre Dame

    Nice to have a week off and move up in the rankings. Thank you Stanford. 

    Let’s hope the only news items coming out of next week’s Miami game are…

    A win next week has everyone looking at the Irish as potential BCS game contenders. And another big game by Manti Te’o has him moving up in the Heisman talk.

    Big 10

    Michigan State losing to Ohio State was bad news for the Big 10 on a day full of bad news. I felt bad for ESPN yesterday. How did they get stuck with Iowa/Minnesota and Illinois/Penn State? Gosh, Illinois is bad.

    Nebraska beating Wisconsin put Nebraska on the board and puts Wisconsin on the pathway to the 5th place bowl. No idea where that league is headed… it’s looking like Northwestern is still in the drivers seat.

    Pac 12

    Oregon State is legit. It’s really fun to watch them play… too bad the Pac 12 network makes it so that no one really gets to see them. Oregon is the real deal. The question won’t be if they are good enough to get into the title game, the question will be if their defense is legit enough to not get run over by Alabama in the title game.

    Big 12 vs SEC Challenge

    Have you seen the top 15 rankings? 9 of the 15 are from either the SEC or Big 12. Obviously, there will be winners and losers now that they have to play one another. But its pretty clear that those 2 conferences are this years “top tier” and the other AQ conferences + Notre Dame (minus the Big Easy aka Big East) are second tier.

    Question?

    Who’s “The best of the rest?” Who do you think has a shot at the title that I’m not giving love to?

  • Football Thoughts: Fourth Edition

    This season is beginning to take shape. Some teams are exactly who you thought they were while other teams are emerging for breakout years. Here’s a quick rundown of what I saw and what I think headed into mid-season.

    Notre Dame

    For the second week, the SDSU home game start time prevented me from watching the game. But I followed along pretty closely nonetheless and watched highlights later. What is happening is Brian Kelly’s investment in the defense is starting to pay off in spades. As reported on ESPN, Denard Robinson now has the same Heisman hopes as his left tackle. The Michigan QB, who looked like Mike Vick against the Irish for the past 3 seasons, called his play “the worst game of my career.” There was a stretch in the second quarter where I’m sure Mitt Romney looked at the TV and thought, “Wow, they are having a horrible week, I feel so much better about myself.”

    Also impressive was the noise factor at Notre Dame stadium. It was loud and buzzing and starting to act like a college stadium instead of a church. They retrained their ushers and did some PSAs…  you won’t hear “Down in front” or “Sit down” anymore.

    With a bye week ahead and a gaudy 4-0 record, they’ll be in the top 10 this week. And since they don’t play they’ll have the chance to move up again before playing Miami on 10/6. I expect them to be #9 today and #7 by 10/6. Trust me, NBC wan’t ND vs. Stanford to be as high a ranking as possible on 10/13. 

    All of a sudden Notre Dame looks like they could got 10-2 or 9-3. Either of those is good enough for a BCS bowl bid.

    San Diego State

    Offensively, we did pretty good in scoring 34 points. Unfortunately, the defense continues to suck. So while we enjoyed going to the game and it was entertaining… we won’t win many games giving up so many points.

    Worse than the defense is the special teams play. Just kick the ball out of bounds and give it to them at the 40. Or go for an onside kick. Special teams play lost this game for the Aztecs and exhibited the lack of depth for the team.

    The really bad news is that San Diego fans won’t come watch a .500 team. If it weren’t for the 10/6 Sky Show I’d expect 15,000 fans for the Hawaii game. If we lost a couple more we’ll be in the 10,000 range again very soon. And that’s unfortunate.

    The Big 10 Isn’t

    Central Michigan beat Iowa? Wisconsin struggled with UTEP. Ohio State and Penn State‘s games don’t count. Michigan literally handed– make that tossed — the game to Notre Dame. And only Michigan State and Northwestern handled their business. Those two teams are in the drivers seat. Which will be in the Rose Bowl and will anyone care?

    The Pac 12

    I thought Arizona would play Oregon tough… but I think they are the only team who can give Alabama a run for their money. (Only if its outside of the south, though.) The only team that is impressing me in the Pac 12 (besides Oregon) is Oregon State. Again, with Oregon headed for the national championship game will anyone really care to watch a Northwestern vs. Oregon State Rose Bowl? At least they will have a cool parade.

    Other conferences

    The Big East is a turd this year. The MAC looks like the best mid-major. The Mountain West is somewhere between awful and terrible. And the Big 12 should get an award for not playing a decent non-conference game among all member teams. Seriously, what’s that about?

  • Football Thoughts – Third Edition

    A big, fun day in college football yesterday. With a week or so left in non-conference play the match-ups are getting better. And Saturday saw a big round of upsets… something which always adds some fun and makes the college game unique.

    The Aztecs

    With temps well over 100 the past few days fans stayed home for this game. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so few people at the start of the game. Then it just turned out that there were a ton of people hanging out in the hallways waiting for the sun to go down! The McLane family was on the home, shady side, but the heat really wore us down and we left after the third quarter. Week 2 of “everyone goes to the game” wasn’t quite as fun as week 1.

    To me, the first two plays of the game dictated what was going to happen. On the first play our d-line pushed the North Dakota o-line back into the QB and running back. In the second play, our DB jumped a route and ran for an easy pick 6. North Dakota moved the ball… combined the game ended with just over 1000 yards of total offense. It was a classic track meet. The final score was too close for comfort but the Aztecs were never really in doubt about the outcome.

    Notre Dame

    Because the kickoff was the same as the Aztecs game I only caught the last few minutes of the game on TV. But, in watching highlights and reading all of the articles it seemed like a breakthrough game for Brian Kelly. I watched an hour long press conference on National Signing Day in 2010 which talked about all the defensive talent they had brought in. That press conference was on display yesterday in East Lansing. I’ve visited a bunch of college campuses on game day and a night game at Michigan State is one of the more hostile places around. To go in there and basically shut Michigan State down is very impressive. There’s a lot of talk today about Notre Dame being good enough for a BCS game this year… it’s too early to know that, but this was a major step in the right direction.

    Upset City

    This week in the sports media we’ll start hearing about parody. Outside of Alabama and LSU no one is overly dominant so anyone can win week to week. Case in point, UL Monroe took Auburn to overtime the week after beating Arkansas, Stanford reminded Matt Barkely that he’s no Andrew Luck, Utah handed their rival a reminder, BYwho? On and on it went. This will be a year when anyone can win on any given week… and that’s a lot of fun.

    Conference Picks

    Three weeks in it feels like I can gauge where some teams are. Here are my picks for conference champions of all the major leagues. I’ll even put the #2 team in parenthesis)

    ACC – Florida State (Va Tech)

    Big 12 – Oklahoma (Texas)

    Big East – Cincinnati (South Florida)

    Big 10 – Wisconsin (Michigan State)

    Conference USA – Tulsa (Central Florida)

    MAC – Ohio (Toledo)

    Mountain West – Boise State (SDSU)

    Pac 12 – Oregon (USC)

    SEC – LSU (Alabama)

    Upstarts of the Year

    These are teams that are on the upwards track. They might not with their conference in 2012 but are headed the right direction.

    • Northwestern
    • South Carolina
    • Notre Dame
    • Arizona
    • UL Monroe (Is anyone going to schedule them next year?)

  • Football Thoughts – Second Edition

    It’s week one of the NFL season. As a college fan, the only thing I like about the NFL is seeing where my favorite college players have ended up. It’s exciting to see that Miles Burris will be starting for the Oakland Raiders today as a rookie.

    Here’s what I saw in week two of the college football season.

    Powder Puff City

    There weren’t a lot of great match-ups going into this week. It was tough flipping for the at-home viewer yesterday… lots of very boring games. The top 5 didn’t really play anyone. LSU & Alabama continue to show us why they should be in the AFC East. Seriously, the SEC is in a league all their own right now. I watched parts of a few games and the teams, the crowds, the level of play… it far surpasses the other leagues right now. It’s really not even close.

    Perhaps Arkansas will get kicked out of the SEC for what they did yesterday. UL Monroe beat an SEC team? I didn’t even know UL Monroe existed.

    Up and down the schedule there weren’t many top teams playing interesting match-ups. I’m looking forward to next weekend when we have a few more top 25 match-ups.

    Pac-12 B Crazy

    USC struggled with Syracuse? In football? Yeah, that was weird. And the Oregon game… OK, so most of the 25 points game during garbage time. But you’d think Oregon’s 3rd string could hold Fresno State. Also in the league you had Washington getting blown out by LSU, Oregon State beating up Wisconsin, and then Colorado and Utah losing to community colleges.

    I’m not sure what to think of the Pac-12. They are better than last year, but more schizophrenic than ever.

    Penn State

    Each week I find myself cheering for a new, more random team. This week it was for Virginia, who are going to win 4-5 games this year in a weak ACC. While PSU didn’t fold like they did in week one they continue on the downward spiral national television is there to capture. One of my twitter friends described watching Penn State like its a rerun of a train wreck. You know what’s coming but wow… you have to keep watching. 

    I expect for them to get a win against Navy next week before getting beat up badly in the Big 10.

    The Rest of the Big 10

    So, when your conference favorite gets beat by a lower tier Pac 12 team… where does that leave you? Michigan State is in the drivers seat now. Ohio State is looking a little better. Michigan is going to be helter skelter depending on Robinson. The irony is that Wisconsin is still the favorite, right? But based on their non-conference games it’s really hard to know who is who, yet.

    Notre Dame

    I only saw bits of the game so I don’t know a lot. Any time we beat Purdue, I’m happy. But needing to go to last year’s hapless starter in order to get a 2-minute offense going isn’t a great sign of things to come. Each time I see them I can see that Brian Kelly has them on the right track. The key is if the fans are willing to wait out an actual rebuilding process which might take 5-6 years or if they are going to continue to fire perfectly good people. The team noticeably tackles better, has more depth, and more talent than during the Weis years.

    I think we’ll get pounded by Sparty next week. We always get beat there. 

    One thing I noticed yesterday, and I think its new, is that they were piping in music like a regular stadium between plays and at time outs. The house that Rockne built was bumping like it was built by Jay-Z yesterday…. I love it! (It’s part of the AD’s new “Take a StaND” initiative.) The atmosphere at Notre Dame stadium is, by default, way too formal. I liked hearing the music as it definitely brought the fans (and students) into the game a bit more. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told to sit down and be quiet in that stadium. It’s really no fun going to a game there… I hope its changing.

    If you’ve never been to Notre Dame stadium, it is worth going. Just know that they have cranky church ushers in yellow jackets. Literally, if you stand up and cheer too loud you can be kicked out. Seriously. 

    San Diego State

    Um, wow. I didn’t see us rolling over Army. Player for player we were faster than the Black Knights… it felt like we were playing at normal speed and they were playing with heavy shoes. We were 6 point underdogs and the entire 4th quarter was garbage time for the back-ups to get reps. A very impressive showing on both sides of the ball. My favorite play was Colin Lochhart’s 96 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. My second favorite play was when Ezell Ruffin stiff-armed an Army defender in the open field and scampered 57 yards down field.

    Week two of Rockyball was non-existent. I don’t think they went for it on 4th down, ever. And they kicked field goals and extra points where you’d expect them to. I don’t know if he just threw that hot mess out the window or if it just wasn’t needed this week.

    This was our first game where all 5 McLane’s reported to section 36. We even tailgated for the first time, which went flawlessly. And while its definitely fun to barbecue before the game and soak in some of that atmosphere I’m not sure tailgating is in our future. In truth, its just so much easier to take the trolley than it is to drive. Plus, the parking lot was like a tarmac yesterday so we all got overheated.

    All-in-all, we’re pumped about home games next week versus North Dakota State and the week after against San Jose State.

    Question: Will LSU or Alabama lose in 2012? 

  • 10 Ways to Make Olympic Sports More Interesting to Watch

    The commercials have begun. The summer games are coming and we have a moral obligation to care. Soon you will know what the official toilet paper and sports drink is of the 2012 Olympic Games.

    But let’s be real. For 3 weeks NBC is going to pretend like these are sports the average American cares about. Seriously? Sailing is must-see TV? Are you going to watch a preliminary field hockey match between Slovenia & Finland at 3:20 AM?

    Not unless they can make it interesting.

    Here’s 10 ways to tweak Olympic sports to make them interesting TV:

    1. Move the equestrian events around to other random events. Nothing would spice up round 3 of fencing event like some horses in the background. And think about how much fun water polo would be with a couple horses in the water?
    2. Put archery and shooting in the rough of the golf course. You want to see some golfers sweat? If a dude slices into the rough he should have to time his shot to avoid getting shot with an arrow. “It’s going to be a tough up and down, especially after he lost his sand wedge over on the shooting range.“
    3. Have all the discus, javelin, and hammer throw people go at the same time. (Not each discipline, mind you, each of those separately) If you survive a round and your object goes the furthest… we will crown you champion. Think of the international incident possibilities? “Well, Jack. The real interesting thing here is that the Russian threw his hammer the furthest, but the Turk accidentally hit him in the head with his, so it looks like the Russian will fail to advance.”
    4. Badminton and table tennis should be played on the roof of Canary Warf. At 771 feet above street level and with some of London’s notorious drizzle, this should make both of these event worth watching.
    5. Several modifications to soccer would make it more fun to watch. I appreciate the toughness, but let’s bank the sidelines so that the ball flows into the middle better. And a motte at the half line would be appropriate for London. Also, when a team scores a goal they should lose a player until they can score another goal so the other team is advantaged to score. Go up by 3 goals and you lose your goalie for 10 minutes.
    6. Track would be better with more chaos and less stretching. Time the 100 meter to go at the same time and in the opposite direction as the 400 meter and you’ll have some TV worth watching. Combine the 100 meter final and pole vaulting? Dang, I’d get a Tivo for that.
    7. Distance running should include some chase scenes. Who wants to watch some poor dude run 26 miles? Not this guy. But add a dog or some bulls every once in a while and I’m IN!
    8. Field hockey needs some checking. No doubt it’s a fun game to play. But we need some hits! Also, change the time on the quarters to say… 5 minutes. We need to pick up the pace.
    9. Combine weightlifting and the canoe/kayaking events. I’d love to see those big bulky dudes wedge themselves into a tiny little kayak, then beach it to try to pull-n-jerk 450 pounds on a little raft in the middle of the Thames. Are you kidding? With the clock running? This is amazing TV.
    10. Gymnastics, swimming, and diving need some defense. How about some gladiators during the floor competition? Or what if swimming included some goons in the middle of the pool? “Did you see Michael Phelps, he swam right underneath the Italian defense. Unbelievable!” 

    Do some of that stuff and I’m all in. That would even make the closing ceremonies worth watching as it’d be a parade of survivors and unlimited montages of great hits and unforgettable moments.

  • The worldwide leader in…

    I’ve been a college sports fan my whole life. It’s safe to say there has never been a time like this.

    Never. Ever. Ever.

    One by one the most trusted names in college sports are having the skeletons removed from their closet and broadcast on national news.

    • Jim Tressel, the squeaky clean football coach in the sweater vest at Ohio State, was revealed to be the type of guy who rigs kids raffle contest so the best players prep players get free Ohio State gear. [Source]
    • Joe Paterno was absolutely kicked to the curb by Penn State when it was revealed that he knew about allegations of sexual assault in his football building but did nothing about it.
    • It looks like Syracuse’s longtime basketball coach Jim Boeheim is next. Yesterday his assistant Bernie Fine was fired when ESPN revealed tapes of Fine’s wife corroborating an accusers story. Boeheim issued a statement yesterday that he knew nothing of the allegations. All it’ll take is one email or voice mail with him talking about it before last week and he’s out.

    The Witch Hunt is On

    Once the witch hunt begins, in this latest case trying to determine who knew what and when about Bernie Fine’s sexual abuse of ball boys– it’s nearly impossible to know who is the hunter and who is the hunted.

    I’m not saying these guys are innocent. I’m just wondering if there is more to this witch hunt than what is being presented. Maybe the hunter isn’t as innocent as they appear to be?

    ESPN is the Common Denominator

    As I listened to the news about Bernie Fine yesterday I couldn’t help but pick up on this detail… they’ve had this tape since 2003. Eight years! When you are talking about a man who uses his position to molest children eight years is exactly eight years too long to hold a story. Eight years where someone, probably a lot of people, chose to protect Syracuse basketball instead of protecting young boys.

    That’s not acceptable. We simply cannot let them hide behind this little statement of journalistic “integrity:”

    Davis first gave the tape to ESPN in 2003. At the time, ESPN did not report Davis’ accusations, or report the contents of the tape, because no one else would corroborate his story. [source]

    Wait… did you catch that? Someone at ESPN decided not to air the tapes because THEY couldn’t corroborate the story. They aren’t the police… they are a sports news agency!

    A man comes to them with proof that he was molested by a coach at Syracuse University, seeking help since local police wouldn’t do anything about it, and they sat on the story for eight years.

    Eight years.

    What kind of person doesn’t call the police when he knows a child has been molested? Do we really value sports above children in this country?

    So why now? 

    In the three cases I mentioned  above ESPN had knowledge of these stories long before they broke. Lots of people around Penn State knew of a grand jury investigation of Jerry Sandusky. And no one said a thing while they knew Sandusky continued to have access to the football facilities.

    Lots of people knew the Sports Illustrated article was going to expose Jim Tressel’s knowledge of player indiscretions. And they sat on hard evidence about Bernie Fine was molesting boys for eight years.

    So why now? Why is ESPN holding stories and then subsequently releasing them? What makes 2011 special?

    It’s always about the money…

    I’m not presenting a conspiracy theory. I’m just starting to connect the dots. (And asking you, my fair reader, for your input.)

    ESPN does what they do to make money, right? They tell the story that will make them the most money. And they cover the games and leagues that will make them the most money.

    That’s fair. (While not always moral) It’s a free market system and we live in a country with freedom of the press.

    But I wonder if this has anything to do with conference realignment and TV deals? On November 1st USA Today ran a story entitled, “Is ESPN the Force Behind Realignment?” It was almost a rhetorical question. Of course ESPN is the force behind realignment. As the article mentioned, every team or league will ask ESPN if added or removing a member school will increase or decrease their over all television worth. That automatically makes ESPN the linchpin in all of the realignment conversations as leagues will do whatever it takes to get a better TV deal from ESPN.

    And ESPN would love to see teams play in conferences that worked better for their markets and allowed them to make more money. (Even decreasing travel or shipping by 10% would make them millions more!) Why else would the Big East want San Diego State if it weren’t for their location in the 9th largest TV viewing market in the country… and the only major market without a team covered by ESPN?

    Conference realignment has everything to do with making more TV money for member institutions. Pure & simple.

    Don’t even get me started about the college football bowls. Did you know ESPN owns more than half of the bowls? That’s why we can’t have a playoff, duh! It’s about them protecting their assets.

    So here’s what I’m wondering. Could it be that they held and released these stories to devalue Big 10 football (Ohio State & Penn State) and Big East (Syracuse) basketball?

    You could say… “These are ESPN products, why would they devalue them?” And I’d hypothesize… “Because they have a monopoly and if they can devalue the product they can negotiate cheaper deals with member institutions.”

    What do you think? Did ESPN have the responsibility to involve law enforcement when the Bernie Fine tapes were given to them in 2003? Do you think ESPN would have any reason to hold this (and other stories like it) until “the right time?”

    Or am I just a silly fan who had too much time in the car yesterday to think about all of this?

    Sound off.

     

  • Passing on a love of sports

    My dad took me to lots of games at Notre Dame. Later in middle and high school it became more about football than the other sports. But I have lots of fond memories of spending time with my dad at Notre Dame basketball, hockey, and football games. I even remember a couple baseball and soccer games along the way.

    Even though no one in my family went to Notre Dame, we lived so close and experienced so much there, that I have a pretty strong connection to the campus. My friends and I rode bikes all over campus. (Don’t tell my mom!) We played hide-n-seek near the Grotto and skateboarded the trail around St. Joeseph’s Lake. We yelled and made echoes between the giant buildings and dared one another to go into the administration building. (aka Golden Dome) I spent hundreds of hours in the library (aka Touchdown Jesus) during my senior year of high school and still have 10-15 unpaid parking tickets for parking in the basketball coaches spot when he wasn’t there.

    But most of my memories of Notre Dame are from Saturday’s in the Fall. My dad had a group of friends who put on epic tailgate parties. 75-100 people would hang out and party between 3 motor homes starting before dawn and going until dark. When I was really young we went to almost every game because you could always find a ticket for free or almost free. That changed in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Lou Holtz had them in National Championship form year after year. But I managed to find a way in to a lot of games in those days. My stepdad had a brother who was an usher who could sneak me in. I’d get to the stadium several hours before the kickoff and sit in his usher seat during the game. When it was too cold or I’d get bored I’d climb into the scoreboard and watch the game from that little window, listening to the TV cameramen shuffle their feet above my head as they operated the endzone camera. For a couple of years my stepmom was an MBA student and we had tickets at the front of the student section. During those years I got to go to the games it was too cold for my dad and stepmom to enjoy. Cemented in my memory for a lifetime is freezing my butt off and hunting for hot chocolate during the 1992 snow bowl.

    San Diego State

    There’s no comparing Notre Dame to San Diego State. Pretty much everything that could be different about the two schools is different. But what isn’t different is the proximity of where we live. I grew up about a mile from Notre Dame’s campus and my kids are growing up about a mile from San Diego State’s campus. So I want my kids to experience the campus. (Um, the positive sides of campus activities!) That’s why I’m commited to taking them to football and basketball games and other fun/educational things offered on campus for kids.

    I’d love for my kids to build happy memories about a place with their dad. Just like my growing up around Notre Dame… every moment isn’t memorable and not everything is going to make a lasting impression.

    What are you doing to build memories with your kids? What kinds of things did you do with your parents which built lasting memories? 

  • Straight out of Bowling Green, Yo

    This video is right on that line between ridiculously self-gratifying and hilarious.

    What say ye? 

    ht to ESPN Blog

  • The Four Greatest Basketball Movies of All Time

    Everything I’m doing from Thursday to Sunday is measured by the following questions: “What  time does ___ start and who is playing now?” I love March Madness!

    And all of those basketball dreams lead me to this list:

    The Four Greatest Basketball Movies of All Time

    1. Hoosiers – Clearly, the best basketball movie ever made. I’m only slightly biased because I grew up in Indiana and my high school team won the 1994 State Championships.
    2. Hoop Dreams – (1994) The documentary which simultaneously helps you fall in love with high school basketball and the craft of documentary film making at the same time.
    3. White Men Can’t Jump – (1992) Wesley Snipes & Woody Harrelson in a basketball movie? Yes, please! I quote this movie all the time. Any time I receive unexpected money I proudly declare, “We goin’ Sizzler!“
    4. Coach Carter (2005) If this inspirational story doesn’t make you cry than you probably don’t like sports. I’m pretty sure Bobby Knight called Coach Carter to tell him to tone it down a little.

    Honorable mention: Basketball Diaries, The Super, Space Jam.

    Agree? Disagree? What is your favorite basketball movie of all time?

  • Kawhi Leonard’s back story

    It’s one thing to know about this young man’s power on the basketball court. It’s another thing to examine Kawhi Leonard’s story behind the drive, talent, and desire to succeed.

    One amazing byproduct of this amazing season for SDSU is that stories like Kawhi’s get told. As the video above shows, he’s more than just a phenomenal NCAA basketball player. He’s a young man with a developing story of overcoming major life obstacles to now be just steps away from the pinnacle of college sports.

    Bring on March Madness!

    Bonus– Here’s a pre-game video of the student section: