Oh, I'll get to that news ray of sunshine later. First, let's pick apart these Sweet 16 match ups shall we? What a helluva weekend in college basketball! I have watched alot of tournament games in my day and have not been more perplexed by an outcome than Northern Iowa's beat down of Kansas. Of course upon its finale I was clamoring for a ODU-UNI Championship rematch. I swore we could have taken them this time. That was until my distant Texan cousin LaceDarius Dunn decided to be the Dunn to take out ODU. (I was gearing up for it you know) Anyways, shall we start this dance?....
Like before, day 1 will cover the West and Midwest.
The West gives us 'Cuse v. Butler and Kansas St. v. Xavier. At first glance both games look like for sure blowouts. But beneath the surface, oh how things, well look, the exact same. 'Cuse has won convincingly without their most dominating inside presence. These Orange "crushes" (how many times do I have the chance to quote R.E.M.?) occurred against a Vermont team that dominated their conference all season, in addition to having dunk-of-the-year momentum, and over a Zag team that never loses by 20 this time of season. If they can make it look that easy against those opponents without an interior defensive presence then I can't see Butler winning. Even though they are playing out of their minds right now. But they only beat UTEP (not as good as I thought) and Murray St.(ditto), so Cuse should walk through this one. Kansas State, with Clemente and Black Wolverine, uh I mean Pullen, were the best team to take out Kansas during the season in the Big 12 and now they have shown it. If Crawford doesn't miss, Xavier can win. If he does his best Aerenas impression, then it will be a long night for the Ohio representers.
Final Four: Still 'Cuse
In the Midwest we have a Cinderella who could very well March on and another match up that truly should be this divisions final. First, if you would have asked me yesterday I would have told you that the Panthers of UNI had absolutely no shot against Kalin Lucas and Izzo's unwillingness to lose in the tournament. But then news broke that Michigan St. has all but guaranteed Lucas out for the remainder of the tournament, and oh how the wheels of destiny have turned. Farokhmanesh is clutch and Spartan countries best player just took a nosedive off of that cliff those Mastadon/elephants fell off of in "300". America, get yourself familiar with the Northern Iowa Panthers. In the other match up, If Tennessee can somehow stop Turner, and Hopson plays the game I know he can, UT will advance. If Hopson and Chism's bitch ass both lay eggs like in the SEC tournament then the Buckeyes can punch their ticket to Indianapolis. Those are both strong if's though.
Final Four: Ohio St
To the topic du jour. Yes, yes, yes Mauer deserved every penny of this deal. And if one more person comes at me with that "this move will invariably tie up the Twins payroll in the future, disallowing them to add key guys later" argument I'll kill you myself. So is this the "double-edge sword" that everyone was jarring about last week? No. Because if we didn't sign him, we Twins fans would have been crushed and the reverberations of Johan number two would have been broadcast in high definition for all to debate over. Bottom line is we had to do this signing. For Minny. For fans. Heck, even for Mauer. Do you think he would have appreciated not being given maximum dollars from his hometown team. A team he killed himself for since being drafted. A team that he has not been shy about stating his unfathomed love and devotion for. I mean if I were his lady I would be scared of him cheating on me with the Twin cities. That's how much he loves this town. So before you go ripping the signing let me give you a few pointers to think about. First, we have billionaire owners. The money was there so we spent it. If we aren't competing in five years, Mauer will wave his full no trade clause anyways and another team, I'm sure, will be happy to scoop him up. So not being able to sign big time free agents or resign hometown pieces won't matter because we'll be rebuilding anyways. Second, allow me to remind you that three of the top four salaries in baseball belong in New York, with CC's not being far behind. If they can pay Jeter six million dollars more and Tex only four million less, and Mauer is giving you Jete's no lose attitude and leadership,and Tex's power and plate discipline, how could you not resign him. Third, do you even begin to understand the consequences of us NOT resigning him. The Twin cities would have imploded and caused a ripple effect in the sports circuit that my hero Kirby would have felt in his grave. The Vikes, T-Wolves, and even the Gophers would have felt the pinch. Their are die-hard fans there. They would not have accepted anything less. Lastly, read my Re-sign Mauer. Yes, we can! article. This backs up these points and provides you with more. This guy just made a wonderful decision. A decision that will ripple through sports as well. No? You telling me that LeBron, D-Wade, the Cavs, and Heat weren't all paying attention to this display of loyalty. It proves that you can have your cake AND eat it too. Or at least your millions. Thumbs up Twins!!
A quick note from this weekend to end on.
Chew on this. You know there are only four tracks that Jimmy hasn't won on. Only four! That's like the amount of people that think Cornell actually has a shot against UK. Or the amount of times I have watched "Winning Time". Or, the amount of times the lady has made me watch 500 Days of Summer.(An extremely well acted and underrated film BTW) So what does this all mean? It simply means that 48 is as an unstoppable force as Nascar has seen in sometime. Reggie is the purest jump shooter of all time. And, I am slowly falling in love with Zooey Deschanel. And Joseph Gordan Levitt for that matter. (Sorry but I have to say Bella and Edward they were not. Chemistry was actually alive and well here, whereas with those two, dare I say it, the chemistry seemed to have been sucked out of them. ha ha Had to do it.) Great show Jimmy! Sorry Kurt Busch. Maybe five tire changes would have worked on that last pit. Or simply a winning car. Next time, try harder. In the immortal words of one Richard Bobby "If you ain't first, you're last!"
No comments:
Post a Comment