Baseball Coming...Basketball Hasn't Left

Dictionary.com, an Internet website, defines "promise" as a declaration that something will or will not be done, given, etc., by one.

Brad Spieser's definition is just like that, minus about forty percent. I'm constantly promising a specific column or podcast in the coming days and only sometimes do I follow through.

Well, let me tell you, boys and girls, I *promise* you a lengthy Reds preview before the end of the week. This, I'm guessing, makes you horny.

But before we transition into full-on baseball mode, allow me to focus on NCAA basketball for a moment. Here are four more thoughts heading into this weekend's Final Four:

1. If you're an NBA GM, how in the hell do you evaluate UConn forward Stanley Robinson? Do you see the versatile, skilled and frighteningly athletic dynamo who's been a true difference-maker in March, or do you see the guy who disappears for not just games or weeks at a time, but years at a time? Your guess is as good as mine...

2. Not that we haven't known this for over a decade now, but college basketball is a little man's game, and that was made abundantly clear during North Carolina's thorough ass-raping of Oklahoma on Sunday. There wasn't a player in the building anywhere near as great as Blake Griffin, and he had a predictably dominant (and remarkably efficient) game, yet Ty Lawson's one-sided beatdown of Austin Johnson proved to be all the Tar Heels needed. (And you can spare me the crap about OU's piss-poor 3-point shooting; sure it hurt, but not nearly as bad as OU's inability to feed Griffin in the post.)

3. Which brings me to topic three, something I didn't whip up on my own. Pop quiz: What do North Dakota State's Ben Woodside, CS Northridge's Mark Hill, the little guy at Siena (I'm guessing he has a name), the little guy at Cleveland State (ditto), the little guy at American (ditto) and that Mendez-Valdez dude from Western Kentucky have in common?

Answer: They're all undersized (and under-recruited) guys who didn't draw a sniff from a major D-1 school because of their size. Which is ridiculous, because they were probably just as small and just as dynamic in high school. Plus, we see it every year in March: the little guy from the small-conference school gives the big boys fits. Look, it's happened every year for my entire life, so you can throw out the common theory that Player A simply "had the game of his career." The reality is that Player A is friggin' good, and talented enough to hang with the major conference teams on a nightly basis.

Which brings me to the obvious question, posed by my buddy Cam during an opening-round hoops-watching marathon: Why don't big conference teams go out and get one of these guys? There's always a need for game-changing point guard play, and -- as witnessed by the Oklahoma-North Carolina game -- having a super-elite post game can only do so much.

The legend of Devan Downey's recruitment...

As the story goes: During the middle of fourth-seeded Cincinnati's 2004 first-round struggle with No. 13 East Tennessee State, Bob Huggins -- after being torched by ETSU's lighting-quick midget of a point guard, some cat named Tim Smith -- turned to one of his assistants and said, "get me one of those guys." Twenty months later, 5'9 Devan Downey played his first game as a Bearcat and terrorized the Big East.

4. Finally, and I know I bitch about this every year, but flopping/taking charges is out of control -- to the point that it's become difficult for me to watch this thing I obsess over. I mean, when a necessary ingredient of winning is to simply fall down with hopes of a referee rewarding your acting performance, that's a large effing problem. I've written about this time and again (please click the link to truly understand where I'm coming from), yet nobody seems as outraged as I am. But why? Why do you accept that it's become a smart move for a defender to either (a.) fall down after minimal contact or (b.) slide under an opponent flying towards the rim, well after he's taken off?

Anyone?

Before sending you home, I'd like you to read what Minnesota Timberwolf Mark Madsen wrote earlier this month after Shaq famously flopped against Dwight Howard. It's pretty interesting, quite telling and more than a little maddening (stolen from True Hoop):

I played with Shaq for three years in Los Angeles and while I did see the big fella sacrifice his body and step in and take charges, I never once saw him flop in those three years. And the funny thing is that almost every team in the NBA tries to flop against Shaq. There are probably even coaches that teach their centers and forwards to try to flop on Shaq. So, this whole commotion about whether or not Shaq's play against Dwight Howard was a flop is so funny because everyone in the league tries to flop on Shaq and Shaq never flops back.

The funny thing about this is the way the game is called on this type of play at the NBA and college level. Every year, an NBA official comes in and talks to every NBA team at the beginning of the season.

One year, we were in this meeting and a Timberwolves player made the point that NBA players are strong and have good balance and that for an NBA player to fly backwards after getting hit is actually almost "impossible" without the player faking it.

The referee disagreed, but hey, I can tell you it's true.

In some ways, the art of the flop makes the game fun because fans get so riled up over it. In another way it takes away from the game because it's purely acting and it takes away from the athletic skill of other players.

... There is a dramatic difference between "taking a charge" and "flopping." Taking a charge is when a player is coming at you full speed and out of control and you step outside of the charge circle and sacrifice your body and fall backwards. This hurts, it takes skill, and you might really get hit hard by the fast moving player. Most NBA players respect "taking a charge." A "flop" is when you barely get touched and fall to the ground or flail uncontrollably.

Again: 'NBA players are strong and have good balance and that for an NBA player to fly backwards after getting hit is actually almost "impossible" without the player faking it.'

Telling quote, but it's something we've known forever.

That being the case, why is flopping rewarded and not penalized?

*****End of words*****

Reds preview guaranteed by the end of the week. Also, Craig and I should be recording within the next few days, so be on the lookout for new podcasts.

Final thought of the day, which is completely unrelated to all them words you just read: Whoever wrote "If U Seek Amy," and I'm assuming it wasn't that hick Britney Spears, is a goddamn genius. And yes, I mean "goddamn genius" in the John Nash sense.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/31/09

Video Of The Year: Alan Cutler Chasing Billy Gillespie

This video is priceless. Craig and I tried telling you in various podcasts, when Cutler is coming your way...RUN! Run as fast as you can...

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/28/09

Another Heartbreaker For The Muskies

Forget about the Levance Fields three. That happens. A lot. Levance Fields makes big shots. We've seen it a few thousand times over the past nineteen years (or however long that spectacular midget's been at Pitt). Anyway, here's what I'm thinking following Xavier's devastating loss to Pittsburgh

1. If CJ Anderson inbounds the ball underneath Pitt's basket, as opposed to chucking the ball the length of the court, Xavier almost certainly wins.

2. The same can be said about Derrick Brown keeping his Nike in bounds.

3. Just two days ago my buddy Kevin, a lifelong Xavier season-ticket holder, asked me if I thought BJ Raymond could play in the NBA. My response was short: No, his ball skills aren't good enough. Fast forward to last night, on Xavier's most important possession of the season, and Raymond's shaky handle ended any legitimate chance of the Muskies playing in their third Elite Eight in six years.

4. Why in the hell didn't Brad Redford hack Levance Fields as he laid the ball in to move Pitt up four after Raymond's turnover? That was the only move that could've given the Muskies one last shot to win -- foul Fields, and hope he splits the pair at the line. That one made absolutely no sense to me.

In the end, it was par for the course with Xavier. As great as they've been in March this decade, they've been thisclose to being that much better.

How about the '04 Elite versus almighty Duke: Anthony Myles, the only post threat on the roster, fouled out with about ten minutes remaining thanks to truly lousy officiating. Even so, XU almost beat Duke; they lost by four. With Myles, who knows...

The other biggie was St. Patty's Day, 2006 -- second round, Ohio State. That game was full of what-ifs...

a. What if the zebras call an intentional foul on Greg Oden after his frustrated, I-give-up-because-we-just-lost two-handed shove?

b. What if Justin Cage, after playing the best game of his career, makes his ninth free throw of the day -- after sinking his first eight?

c. What if Sean Miller decides to foul Ronald Lewis?

d. What if Ronald Lewis misses the three-pointer.

The answer to all of those questions: Xavier wins and advances.

I feel for Xavier fans this morning.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/27/09

Vitamin Water Commecial And Sweet 16 Games

One thought before posting Sweet 16 Vickers...

You've probably seen the semi-decent Vitamin Water ad starring Christian Laettner and Rick Pitino. If not, here goes:

Two items of business here...

1. When Laettner shoots the Vitamin Water bottle into the recycling bin, it hangs in the air to long. Stuff like this will always drive me nuts.

2. Christian Laettner was an underrated NBA player. It seems to me his name is often equated with bust, but that's simply not the case. While it's true Laettner never approached star status, he did manage to have five seasons averaging over 16 ppg, and in his fifth season, his first full season with the Atlanta Hawks, the dude made the All Star team.

Now that we have that out of the way, here are the Vickers for the Sweet 16 round:

******$500******

Arizona-Louisville UNDER (139)

******$300******

Boilers (+6.5) vs. UConnecticut

******$200******

Nova (+2.5) vs. Duke

(Note: I'm not putting money on this one. Duke is simply better than Nova, and they will win tonight.)

Mizzou (+4.5) vs. Memphis State

One quick prediction about this weekend's best game, Syracuse-Oklahoma: Blake Griffin attempts twenty free throws and fouls out both Jackson and Onuaku in a high-scoring Sooners victory.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/26/09

NCAA Tourney: A Look Back, A Look Ahead

1. North Dakota State guard Ben Woodside will play in the NBA (and I'm taking bets via email). By no means is this guy "just a shooter." The way he consistently split Kansas double teams was far more impressive than any long-rage bomb he nailed. It also gave me a chance to reference Mark Price 263 times in one day.

2. Cal State Northridge entered the tournament with a 17-14 record. To that I say...how? They gave Memphis all they could handle, and their point guard, Mark Hill, was the best guy on the floor for most of the game. Again, I have no idea how that team ended with 14 regular season losses. Between Hill and the big white in the middle (I'm sure he has a name) they have two guys who absolutely would've started for the Bearcats this season.

3. While I'm on the topic of Cinderella teams that couldn't quite get it done, East Tennessee State almost knocked off No. 1 Pitt in what would've been the strangest tourney upset of my lifetime. Consider...

a. ETSU shot only 30 percent from the field and 50 percent from the free throw line.

b. ETSU's guard play was atrocious; they're only decent player, a small forward named Tiggs, shot 6-21 from the field.

When the big boys go down it's usually due in large part hot outside shooting and excellent guard play. That wasn't the case with ETSU-Pitt. ETSU killed them on the offensive glass (an unheard-of 19-9 advantage) and generally stuck around (down only three with under 3:00 remaining) without being superior athletically. Pitt survived to the Sweet Sixteen, and they should beat Xavier, but this team really isn't that good.

4. Is Oliver Purnell the next Pat Kennedy (i.e., good recruiter, terrible game coach)? Seriously, if I'm a Clemson fan I'm asking for that guy's head. Their season-ending results never match the talent level at Clemson.

5. I said it before the tournament, and I'm sticking with it: UConn is playing in the title game. Partially because they have a buttload of talent, but also because nobody from the Midwest/West side of the bracket is good enough to make it there. That means you, Memphis and Louisville.

6. Vegas lost their ass this past weekend. So did Vickers. That happens every few years in the tournament. Whattya gonna do? Is it my fault Syarcuse was only a twelve-point favorite over Stephen F. Austin? What about a slow-ass IVY League school like Cornell getting less than two touchdowns against a race car like Missouri? Every other year of my life I'd have been dancing in the shower with all my extra money. This year, the gambling gods had different plans. Keep the faith, though. And sorry if my advice burned a hole in your pocket...

7. In my preseason college basketball preview, I allowed the world to see the eleven teams I wagered on (with accompanying odds) to win the whole damn thing; only five remain.

A moment to toot the horn...

Here's part of what I wrote Kansas: "If I could actually bet on such a thing, I would place a healthy amount of American dollars on Aldrich's stock rising higher than any player on the planet over the next five months."

Anyone see what Aldrich did against Dayton on Sunday? How about 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocks.

8. One team I guarantee will open in next season's top five: Purdue. They return everybody. Can they pull an '06 Florida and shock the world a year before it was expected? Probably not, but trust me, nobody ants to play them right now. They're (a.) talented, (b.) well coached and (c.) peaking at the right time.

9. I've said this about a million times already, but I'll say it again: Even if North Carolina brings the goods Friday against Gonzaga they might lose. Man for man, the Zags are equally as talented. This one has the potential to be a never-to-be-forgotten shootout.

10. Do you realize Xavier is one win away from making the Elite Eight for the third time in six years. Think about that for a sceond...

*****End of thems words*****

More tourney thoughts (plus Vickers) to be posted before Thursday's games.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/25/09

Sexting, Girl's Basketball And The Jerks At Bruegger's

1. Be honest, if you're a straight male over the age of 25, the first thought that goes through your head when you read a story about teenage girls sending naked pictures on her cell phone is, "Jesus, why can't I be 15?"

2. Is there anything funnier than watching (supposedly) good female basketball players routinely miss wide-open layups? I say no.

3. Do me a favor: The next time you go to the downtown Cincinnati Bruegger's Bagels, located (I think) at 4th and Vine, tell them I said to fuck right off. And why?

The answer to No. 3, as well as conversation on Nos. 1 and 2, can be heard in our latest podcast, "Sexting, Girl's Basketball And The Jerks At Bruegger's."

Shhhh...it's listening time.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/24/09

Tattoos, Video Games, Sexting, Etc.

1. I've posted a new podcast -- "I Think About Eulogizing Craig." Once again Craig opens about some pretty heavy stuff.

2. I'm now a member of Facebook. Find me and and request my online friendship. It's likely that I will accept you as my friend. This means that you will be my friend -- except it will not change the dynamics of our current relationship in any way.

3. I'm not saying I won't join Twitter at some point, I'm just saying it's the dumbest goddamn thing in the history of dumb goddamn things.

4. What do video games and tattoos and sexting (or sex messaging) have in common? Well, I'll tell you...

Twenty years ago you could not get a "real job" with a visible tattoo -- you just couldn't. Simply: Society wasn't ready for it. It meant that you were some sort of degenerate or drug addict or rebel (or worse, all three) who would scare off clients and co-workers and at some point blow up the office with dynamite. But everyone has a tattoo now...they're socially acceptable.

How about video games twenty years ago? If you were an adult playing video games you were a pathetic bum who never came close to unhooking a brasserie Now? Let me tell you, as a man who doesn't play video games, I feel like the minority. Seriously, everyone's doing it. And you're no longer a pathetic loser if you spend your entire lunch break discussing Madden '09 with your work buddies.

Which brings me to sexting. There have been approximately 82,394 stories in the news recently about teenage girls sending naked pictures to their boyfriends via cellphone. And if you ever enter an adult conversation about sexting, inevitably the same topic always arises: Sexting is a career killer. The belief is that if a naked picture from your sophomore year of high school is hanging out there it will be an impossible hurdle to clear in your post-graduate life, regardless of your academic achievements. To that I say...just wait. Sure, I see how it looks now, but wait twenty years from now, when the folks doing the hiring experienced something similar when they were seventeen.

Young people are stupid, always will be. But if enough of them get tattoos and send naked pictures and continue playing video games well into their thirties, it will force the hand of every employer nationwide. Life still comes down to making dollars, and with a drastically smaller pool of "clean cut" candidates, the once frowned-upon crazies will have their day in the sun.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/23/09

Sunday Vickers...

It's going to be a big day. I can feel it. Translation: We need it. Brian Vickers needs it.

******$500*******

Arizona State (+2.5) vs. Syracuse

Cleveland State/Arizona UNDER (134.5)

Dayton/Kansas UNDER (133)

******$400******

Siena/Louisville UNDER (143.5)

Wisconsin (+3.5) vs. Xavier

Cleveland State (+2.5) vs. Arizona

Okie State/Pitt OVER (150.5)

******$300******

Marquette (+3) vs. Mizzou

******$200******

Dayton (+7.5) vs. Kansas

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/22/09

Collegiate Athletics On Saturday!

Saturday Vickers...

******$500******

UNC/LSU UNDER (159)
Gonzaga (-11) vs. Western Kentucky

******$400*******

Nova/UCLA OVER (144)

******$300*******

Michigan (+7.5) vs. Oklahoma

(Note: More games could be added throughout the course of the day.)

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/21/09

T-Minus Sixty Minutes Til Mega Millennial Madness!

Definition of fandom: After checking my email this morning the first place I visited on the Information Superhighway was Rob Neyer's blog. Jesus, do I love that guy. I think I'd read the warnings on the back of shampoo labels if he penned them. In case you were wondering, Neyer's three posts today focused on (a.) the third base issues in Houston, (b.) Boston's backup catching situation and (c.) whether it's worth it for a team to offer Pedro Martinez a contract. And I devoured every last word. There's nothing wrong with reading one man's opinion of these topics, of course, but it's kind of interesting when you on consider the following two items:

1. I hate baseball.

2. It's the morning of the best day of the year.

My Final Four picks:

Wake, UConnecticut, UNC and Duke.

UNC over UConn in the championship game.

(Note: Substitute Oklahoma for UNC if Ty Lawson isn't playing -- or even if he's a shell of himself. The Tar Heels can't do it without him. News flash, I know, but I have to cover my ass here.)

Before listing the opening-round Vickers, let me offer a glimpse into next football season, when Craig and I will unleash a more sophisticated Brian Vickers System, complete with weighted games. For instance: Instead of wagering $50 on every game, we will scale our bets upward when the lines are outrageous and scale them down when they're just a little off. Because even though our record was something like 360-300 when we last posted our daily picks in this space, we gave away a ton of cash on games that were borderline Vickers-worthy.

So, beginning today, and without a flashy new title, here's a sneak peak of what I'm talking about. And just to keep things easier to track, I've clumped games in five different groups, with the top group being our strongest plays of round one. Let's assume we place $500 on the top group, $400 on the next group and so on. I think you'll find at the end of the tournament that while our overall record is solid, the money raked in is more than a little impressive. Stay tuned.

********** $500 **********

Clev St (+8) vs. Wake
Pitt/ETSU OVER (148)
Steve F. Austin (+12) vs. Syracuse
Cornell (+12) vs Missouri

********** $400 **********

North Dakota St (+10) vs. Kansas
Wisconsin (+2.5) vs. Florida State
Morgan St (+16.5) vs. Oklahoma
Bob Morris (+15.5) vs. Michigan State

********** $300 **********

American (+15) vs. Villanova
Mississippi St (+5.5) vs. Washington

********** $200 **********

Tony Kornheiser (+24) vs. Duke
Akron (+14) vs. Gonzaga

********** $100 **********

Temple (+5) vs. Arizona St
Siena (+2) vs. Buckeyes

(One final note: Depending on the connection at my buddy's house I'll try to submit a few posts throughout the day. It won't be live blogging, necessarily (I hate that), but more of just a record of different shit that caught my eye over the course of the day.)

I'm horny for Gus Johnson.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/19/09

The Madness Of The Madness...

Four more tournament thoughts before it tips off...

1. North Dakota State, which is a prime candidate for an upset, is playing in Minneapolis. Why is that important? Because the incomparable Gus Johnson is calling games in Minneapolis. Can you imagine his rising inflection as NDSU (I'm assuming they have a nickname, I just don't know it) buries deep three after deep three? I can't fucking wait.

2. How far has Xavier's basketball program come in the last twenty years? Every Muskie fan I know has no faith in this year's team, and kind of thinks they're just plain average. Even if I sort of agree with them, isn't it borderline unfathomable to consider that XU is a goddamn No. 4 seed? Xavier, a four seed! A big game for them fifteen years ago was at Evansville!

3. One of the more intriguing matchups of round one is Clemson-Michigan. On one hand you have Clemson, a supremely talented squad led by an inept coach in Ollie Purnell. On the other you have the minimally talented Wolverines, led by one of America's ten best coaches, John Beilein. Clemson should homicide Michigan, but Beilein should be able to keep his boys in it. Stay tuned, people.

4. UConn's making the championship game. Out of every contender from the Midwest and West regions, I don't see a major threat to the Huskies. When it comes down to it I just don't see Memphis, Missouri, Michigan State, Louisville, Wake or whoever taking them down.

Final Four predictions and opening-round Vickers to be posted Thursday morning.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/18/09

I Saw Tony Bobbitt Last Night...

I've slept for much of the last fourteen hours, and yet I'd still rank that stretch as one of the strangest fourteen-hour periods of my life. It's also sad, funny and overflowing with more jealousy than that jerk-off from the Gin Blossoms could ever understand.

Explain.

It's the morning of St. Patty's Day and I'm not drinking. I continue to be reminded of this by the drunk dialers and texters who (a.) want to know where I am, and after I tell them I'm writing, they seem to (b.) take pleasure in calling me a homo. I'd like to say I'm unfazed by all this, but then I'd be a lying liar. Look, you can call me a homo for French kissing dudes and I'll smile and continue on with my day. But never call me a homo for not drinking on the morning of St. Patty's Day -- it will screw with my head.

That concludes the jealous portion of this piece.

Rewind about fourteen hours, when I returned home from my basketball game: Just as I'm getting out of my gold '98 Dodge Intrepid, five of the biggest goddamn deer were running down the middle of my street, about nine inches from my automobile. Was it kind of awesome? Yes, kind of. Was I terrified? Yes, and then some. Did the experience prove once-and-for-all that deer aren't man-killers, as I've claimed for 28-plus years? Not really. There's really nothing else to add to this but considering what happened to me exactly one hour before said deer attack it warranted mentioning in this space.

One hour before...

As I was entering the Western Sports Mall to play a basketball contest against a cornucopia of out-of-shape dentists, out-of-shape substitute teachers and out-of-shape wiggers I happened to walk directly past none other than...wait for it...wait for it...

Tony Freaking Bobbitt!

Tony Bobbitt...No.15 in your media guide, No. 1 in your heart.

Well, No. 1 in my heart. I loved that guy. He only played two years at UC, probably made an impact in half the games he played, frustrated every diehard who knew he could've been better and either quit or was thrown off the team on more than one occasion.

By all accounts, I should've hated Tony Bobbitt. But I didn't. Even when his disappearing acts and absentmindedness reared their ugly heads I rooted for Bobbitt. And it wasn't just a matter of believing in his ability, either. I mean, Robert Whaley was one of the five most talented humans to play under Huggs, and I couldn't care less about that waste of semen. With Bobbitt, there was something extra going on. I don't know the man personally, obviously, but he never seemed like a bad guy. He always seemed like someone who was worn down mentally and always needed a pat on the butt.

But anyway, I saw Tony Bobbitt leaving a crappy rec-league game last night and was overwhelmed with sadness. He's too good for this, I thought.

Me and Bobbitt have a strange relationship. I'll try to do this quickly...

1. Bobbitt arrives in Clifton as a ballyhooed (and much-needed) JuCo shooting guard. A month into the season he hadn't made an impact. He'd play sparingly, occasionally looked the part of a big-time player, do something stupid and sit for games at a time. That's how it went at first.

2. The Oregon game. Only twice in my life have I bet against UC. My win was when they played Troy Murphy's Notre Dame team in the Wooden Classic in Indianapolis and my loss was the game against Oregon and the Lukes at (I think) the Meadowlands for the Jimmy V Classic. Why was I wrong? Tony Bobbitt was on fire. He came off the bench and scored (again, I think) 27 points as the Cats blew out the fifth-ranked Oregon Ducks. I was immediately attached to the shooting guard from Daytona, Florida. Leonard Stokes was supposedly the go-to player on the team, and Jason Maxiell was an emerging sophomore, but that team was going nowhere without a big performance from Bobbitt.

(Note: Not only was the Oregon game the moment I grew attached to Bobbitt, but also the first time I realized that something wasn't right with the guy. After the game, as Dick Vitale interviewed him in a half-full gymnasium, Bobbitt was acting like he'd just won the Super Bowl. But it wasn't in a typical 21st-century-athlete-look-at-me sort of way. I'm having trouble describing the situation, but I'm telling you, something was a little off with this guy. Or as my dad would say, he's a space cadet.)

3. Just as Bobbitt appeared to figure it out, he disappeared...literally. Over the next six weeks he either quit or was booted from the team more than once. For the first time in my life I blamed Bob Huggins, and not the player. I was furious. It seemed pretty clear to me that Bobbitt needed kid-glove treatment and Huggs was only offering tough love. Plus, he was the best perimeter player on UC's worst team since 1991...

(Note: Trailing by three, and on the critical possession of UC's first-round tourney loss to Gonzaga, Huggins drew up a play to get Bobbitt the ball for on open three-pointer. Bobbitt didn't follow instructions, the spacing was horrible and the Cats got off a terrible shot.)

4. 2004, senior year. Not a lot sticks out from Bobbitt's 2004 other than he was a remarkably consistent scorer off the bench, and the nation's best sixth man. And all of his past immature knuckle-headedness was washed away with the biggest shot of his basketball career:

Jesus, I was happy when he nailed that shot. It was his defining moment as a Bearcat (as long as you don't count the time a Depaul player punched his nuts). He had the purest jumper of any player in the Huggins era. Durden, Burton, Logan...forget about it. Bobbitt's was textbook, and the number one reason why he shouldn't be playing Monday night basketball at the Western Sports Mall.

5. I was out of commission for three months in the spring of '04 after complications from an appendectomy and I spent most of it (a.) reading Bringing Down the House, (b.) longing for Skyline, (c.) watching the Portsmouth Invitational on tape delay and (d.) swallowing percocet with alarming frequency. I must say, for a man fighting off death I was having a pretty good time.

But anyway, the Portsmouth Invitational...

Listen: Yeah, I'm a maniacal sports fan, and yeah, I had nothing else to do, but I'd never watch a second-rate draft camp unless I had good reason. Tony Bobbitt was a good reason. And he was great, easily playing the best ball of his career. He shared MVP honors with USC's Desmon Farmer (don't ask me how I remember this crap) and appeared to be a shoo-in for the second round of the NBA draft. Accurate long-range shooters will never go out of style in the NBA, and Bobbitt -- despite being a streaky shooter -- had a flawless stroke.

6. Draft day came and went without hearing Bobbitt's name called. Shortly after he was scooped up by the Lakers where he was taken under his wing by Kobe Bryant. I can't find any literature on the topic now (actually I don't feel like digging), but I can remember more than a few stories about Kobe really taking to Bobbitt. But that didn't really matter.

If memory serves, he was cut by the Lakers and picked up again later in the season. Basketball-reference.com (an Internet website) says that he played two games for L.A. (scoring five total points), banked $305,000 and hasn't appeared in an NBA game since.

That, I can understand. Maybe Bobbitt just wasn't good enough to cut it at that level. But why is he playing in crappy recreational leagues as opposed to overseas, making six figures? I mean, I'm sure Hungary isn't the coolest place in the world, but six figures is six figures, you know?

I'll never know Tony Bobbitt on a personal level, but I'll always just assume he's the weirdest person around. And seeing him last night at the Sports Mall, for whatever reason, kept me up last night.

Before hitting "Publish Post" on this sucker, allow to relay two hilarious Bobbitt stories, both told to me a few years ago by my close friend who was a backup QB at UC while Bobbitt was there...

1. While my buddy had just finished working out he noticed a dry-erase board in the weight room with UC's basketball roster listed on it. Next to the names were listed times of some conditioning drill. Everyone's time, from Maxiell to Hicks, was somewhere between twenty and thirty seconds. Well, everyone's time except for Bobbitt. His posted time: Two minutes and thirty-something seconds. That, in a nutshell, is the Tony Bobbitt Experience. And so is this...

2. Scene: weight room. Bobbitt was unable to bench press 185 lbs. just one time. The strength coach was yelling at him. "Come on, Tony. You did this a bunch of times the other day!" Bobbitt's response: Yeah, but I went to Martino's last night."

This should make me hate him for his level of dedication, but it somehow makes me remember him more fondly.

End of words.

(Important note: Opening-round Vickers will be posted sometime Wednesday.)

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
St. Patty's Day, 2009

Mega March Millennial Madness Is Upon Us! (Exclamation Point!)

Ten quick thoughts about Mega March Millennial Madness...

1. Everybody is sleeping on Duke. It seems the media thinks this year's Duke is the same team who clearly wasn't good enough these last few years. This year...they're good enough. Carolina is the nation's best team, and a team the Blue Devils are incapable of beating, but Duke is the best team in their region...a region that includes Pitt.

2. Pitt might face Duke in the Elite Eight, but they'll have a bitch of a time getting there. Why? Both potential second round opponents, Okie State and Tennessee, are markedly more athletic than Pitt. As for Florida State, the No. 5 seed I envision matching up with Pitt in the Sweet 16, they have a point guard, Toney Douglas, who is exactly the kind of player who will swallow up Levance Fields. Just watch.

3. In terms of and coaching and overall talent, Ohio State is precisely the type of team that could knock off No. 1 Louisville in the second round. But they don't have the point guard play necessary to withstand the Ville's perimeter D.

4. Far away the best team nobody's talked about all year is Washington. They're really good. Like, Final Four good. Check that...in terms of talent they're Final Four Good. In terms of in-game coaching, they're a mess. Seriously, Lorenzo Romar makes Rick Barnes look like Vince Goddamn Lombardi. Remember 2005, when Washington surprisingly nailed down a No. 1 seed? Well, do you also remember their Sweet 16 game against Louisville (coached by the brilliant Rick Pitino)? It was a one-sided shitfest from start to finish. Ever look at the box score from that game? Louisville had Francisco Garcia (averaging 8.8 ppg thus far in his four-year NBA career) and little else to offer. The Huskies? How about an NBA star in Brandon Roy and a dynamic offensive player in Nate Robinson (18.2 ppg this season). But wait, there's more. Washington's starting point guard that season, Will Conroy, had a cup of java in the league, as did wing man Bobby Jones. More details: Brandon Roy is a two-guard who occasionally plays the point, while Nate Robinson and that Conroy guy are also point guards. That Jones guy was an unbelievable defensive player and often times matched up with the opposing team's best perimeter player.

I know I've written a lot (read: too much) about Washington, but bear with me here...

The NCAA tournament is supposed to be a guard's game, and Washington -- despite truly dominating guard play in '05 -- got rolled by an inferior team. The reason: Coaching. Lorenzo Romar can recruit with the best of 'em, but he can't coach his way out of a paper bag. I'd love to pick Washington to make an Elite Eight run, but I simply can't pull the trigger.

5. I've run tourney pools every year since I was 12, so I have a good feel for this kind of thing...the Arizona-Utah game will be the first time a No. 12 seed gets picked to beat the No. 5 seed in most pools. In fact, it'll probably be 70/30. Vickers, anyone?

6. North Dakota State is a dangerous No. 14 seed. Will they beat Kansas? Probably not. But they could. I have one rule in life, and it's this: Never bet against a team full of fearless honkey shooters.

7. Marquette will thump Missouri in round two. Everyone is stroking Missouri after their Big 12 tourney championship, but Marquette is being slept on without Dominic James. My only hesitation with this pick is that I still don't know a thing about Marquette's coach (including his name), while Mizzou's Mike Anderson (after his run at UAB) absolutely can coach in this environment.

8. Biggest upset of opening weekend: Maryland over Memphis, round two.

9. In 2002, both Missouri (a twelve seed) and UClA (an eight) flexed their talent when it mattered most, and made the nation forget about an underachieving season. Who fits the mold this year? Obviously Arizona is a prime candidate, but I'm going with Texas. They have Elite Eight/Final Four talent, and while I don't see them getting past Duke, they really could play the perfect game and move on to the second weekend. (Note: Dexter Pittman presents Duke with all sorts of matchup problems underneath.)

10. I've seen Tyler Hansbrough flat-out embarrassed three times in my life: 1. By Gonzaga's Josh Heytfelt during the 06-07 regular season, (2.) against USC's Taj Gibson later that year in the tourney and (3.) last year versus then little-used Kansas reserve Cole Aldrich in the Final Four. In the coming weeks it will happen again. Heytfelt and Gonzaga get another shot in what could be (but won't be) an awesome Sweet 16 game, but in the Elite Eight against Oklahoma, in a matchup of maybe the two best teams in the country, Blake Griffin will ass rape Hansbrough on the biggest stage. I still haven't made up my mind who will win the game (leaning toward Carolina at the moment), but I'm positive who will win that individual battle.

End of words.

Other tourney thoughts and Final Four picks coming later in the week.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/15/09

Incoherent Thoughts About Syracuse-UConn (And Hoops In General)

"I'm with u. they're one of maybe 8 schools that can do it."



That was roughly 40 hours ago.



The topic: Syracuse.



It was a text reply I sent to my buddy Cam during the first half of Syracuse's Big East tourney win over Seton Hall. (Note: Cam's message predicted Syracuse to win it all. We think alike.)



Are my words important right now? Of course not. Do you believe me? Does it matter?



I hate being too busy for this site. Syracuse defeated UConnecticut last night in what is inarguably the best non-March Madness game ever, and I'm stuck here writing how I wanted to tell everyone just how great Syracuse is (or could be). But again, it doesn't matter.



The only thing worse than dishonesty for a blogger is tardiness. Facts don't matter nearly as much as being first. This time around, I screwed up big time.



Story.



When I received the March 9, 2009 Sports Illustrated (see above), I thought three things:



1. That's an awesome cover.



2. Pitt, Memphis and Lousiville are supposedly three of the eight best teams in the country, and yet they don't have what it takes to win six consecutive games in March.



3. Wait, is Sports Illustrated stealing Grant Wahl's bit?



Explain.



1. The cover is awesome.



2. I've been through this already with Pitt. Levance Fields will get swallowed whole by a better point guard (not his fault, he's just not that talented) and DeJaun Blair, while great (and he got robbed by having to share the Big East P.O.Y. award) isn't the type of player who will carry a team to six straight wins in a one-and-done format (and what if he gets in foul trouble?). Trust me, when it's all said and done, you'll see that Pitt is one of those maximun-effort, sum-is-greater-than-the-whole teams that loses in round two or three when their more-skilled opponent matches their energy and focus for forty minutes.



As for Memphis, I'm still not sure what makes them so special. Their best player is freshman point guard Tyreke Evans, and he's nowhere near as good as last year's freshman point guard, Derrick Rose. The surrounding parts? There's nothing to see here. Good but not great. I'll bet anyone any amount of cash Memphis isn't playing on the third weekend of the tournament.



It pains me to add Louisville to the list of teams I can't see winning it all. They have almost every ingredient needed to win a national title: Coaching, depth, overall athleticism, size, guard play, a talented do-everything senior who kills himself on both ends (Terrance Williams), perimeter defense (their backup guards, Preston Knowles and Andre McGee remind me of former Bearcats A.D. Jackson and Terrance Gibson) and although it's not a necessity, they also have a guy who can score -- and sometimes be a force of nature -- in the post (Samardo Samuels).



But I said almost.



Lousiville can't shoot a lick. Making matters worse, they think they can. Have you ever seen a Pitino-coached team who didn't have at least one marksman? I haven't. I don't have the statistics in front of me, but it seems like they jack up 800 3s a game, and as much as I've watched Louisville this year, I've never felt like one of them was going in. If you watch hoops, you know what I'm talking about -- you just know who's a good shooter and who isn't...or who even has the ability to get hot.



Nick Van Exel (probably not the best example for a rational argument) wasn't a great three-point shooter. But he could get piping hot for weeks at a time. Lousiville has nothing resembling a mammal like that on their roster, but they play like they do. Which is why they won't be cutting down the nets in early April.



(I swear this whole thing is about Syracuse...)



3. Grant Wahl is Sports Illustrated's best college hoops writer, and although I haven't read his online column in over two years (for no reason whatsoever), I always liked his early-winter "Magic Eight" piece, where he selects not the best eight teams in the country, but the eight teams who have the necessary ingredients to win the damn thing. Big difference. (For instance, nobody in their right mind would say Pitt isn't one of the three or four best -- much less eight -- teams in the country.) Anyway, Sports Illustrated, Wahl's employer, kind of stole his gimmick last week. And it got me to thinking...now I have a chance to steal Wahl's gimmick.



I looked at that awesome cover and thought, Jesus, three of these teams aren't even good enough to play in my backyard, much less win it all. The other five, I thought, had a great shot.



Let's take a look:



North Carolina: The best team. You're likely winner. I'll be rooting against them.



Oklahoma: Not-so-long-shot prediction: Blake Griffin finishes his NBA career as one of the eight best power forwards of all time. The last time I was positive a big man was going to carry his team to the Final Four was early-March, year 2000. His name was Kenyon Martin. (Doctor, I'll inject myself...)



Duke: Maybe the second best team in the country. Can't beat Carolina. The good news: Won't have to face them until the Final Four.



UConnecticut: Having Jerome Dyson around puts them at 1B to Carolina's 1A. Without him, they still have to be considered one of the favorites. (Quick thought: If I'm a Husky fan, I'm thrilled my team lost in 6OT; the last thing they need is dead legs next week.)



Michigan State: Math time...great point guard + good overall talent + Tom Izzo will never get outcoached = Sparty is plenty good enough to make a run at it.



But that's just five teams. If I want to truly rip off Grant Wahl, I need more.



First up...Syracuse.



Anticlimactic, I know, but it doesn't make it any less true.



They have a great point guard who can both score and distribute (Johnny Flynn), they have a streaky two-guard with A+ passing and finishing skills (Eric Wiggerdorf), a moneyball shooter (Andy Rautins), an athletic, muscle-bound finisher who mostly understands his limitations (Paul Harris), bangers down low who aren't stiff idiots and a coach who's coached in title games during each of the last three decades. Plus, as we officially know today, they're bloody hot with a ton of heart. But the signs have been there for a month, and I'm not really sure why everyone was sleeping on them before the UConn game. The Cuse can win six straight, but I didn't need to tell you that.



Wake Forest. There's a good chance that of the three current college hoops players who will have the best NBA careers, Wake has two of them (Teague and Aminu). The Deamon Deacs are (a.) athletic as hell, (b.) skilled and (c.) ballsy. What else do you want? They're also perimiter-oriented (a big plus) and possess the "Let's do it for our dead coach" angle, which will undoubtedly be played up by CBS come the second week of the tournament.



Anybody who watched Wake's first game against the Tar Heels knows they won't be afraid of the biggest stage.



Gonzaga. I can't help it. I'm a sucker for the Zags, it's true, but this squad is different -- I'll always love the Zags (their ten-year run is truly astonishing), but I'm not attached the way I once was. I used to root for Gonzaga because they played with huge balls. But the Pargo-Heytfelt group is soft, always has been. It's more mental than physical, but it still counts. But they're also one of the five most talented teams in college basketaball, so it's not a shocker that I'm sucked in again.



Fact: If Gonzaga plays six perfect games they can beat anyone. Anyone.



Fact: It won't happen.





So there's my eight. I've been dying to write this column for over a week, but haven't had the chance. I had a recording session scheduled today with Craig and canceled it Thursday afternoon because I wanted to write these words before Selection Sunday. Does it have the same glimmer now that Syracuse basketball is tatooed on everyone's consciousness? No. Do I want to kill myself because of it? You betcha.



Before saying goodbye, a couple things about last night's game:



1. I barely watched any of it. Last night was my first night bartending (a trainee!) and despite being surrounded by a million TVs, I only watched here or there. Focus, man. Focus.



2. But I did watch here and there, and I was desperately rooting for UConn, especially at the end of regulation. This is because I didn't want to come off like a chump when Syracuse proved their worth. All I wanted them to do was fade away, secure a five seed and rip things up in the tourney. Once it got to the third overtime I knew that was merely a pipe dream.



3. I was so mad at the outcome of the game -- and what it meant to this column -- that I still haven't watched highlights or read game accounts since returning home from work. If that ain't bitterness, I don't know what is.



That's all for now.



More March Madness thoughts (and a return of the Vickers!) to come in the next few days. I can hardly sit still or keep a though in my head.



-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)

3/13/09

sentences

New podcast posted. It's about Craig's marrage.

Listen or receive anthrax in the mail.

-Brad Spieser
3/11/09

As I Take Me A Drink To The Middle Of The Street...

Definitive sign that I may be drinking too much:

Yesterday was Monday. Today is Tuesday. It's not even the middle of the week yet. And I received no less than four text messages this morning that went something like this: "R u alive dude?"

"Of course," I said. "LOL!"

(In case you were wondering...yes, I popped my karaoke cherry last night. Three times! The songs? "Shoop" from Salt 'N' Pepa, "It Takes Two" by MC Rob Base and D.J. Ez Rock and "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. Predictably, there was no need for the teleprompter.)

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/10/09

Strange Things Are Afoot At Downtown YMCA

My friend Craig is a legend at the Linn Street YMCA. And by "legend," I mean he was solely responsible for the most psychotic act that building has ever seen. We even did a podcast about it! (Note: scroll down the podcast player to "Craig Gets Thrown Out Of YMCA Basketball Game.")

Anyway, the Linn Street YMCA, or "The Carl" as it's also known, was recently a topic of two short podcasts -- I fused them together and now you can here them on my Internet website, www.TwinKilling.com!

Keep the change, you filthy animals.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/9/09

Asian Baseball + Black College Football = Blog Topic

Things...

When I was 11-years-old I wondered why Grambling wasn't a dominant football program. I am now 28 and I wonder why Japanese and Korean baseball players are so much better than Chinese baseball players.

I am not the poster child for progress.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/8/09

Bearcat Basketball and Bengals Football (Sports!)

(SITE UPDATE: New podcast posted. Me wants to drink Miller High Lives. Me doesn't want to preview the newest podcast.)

I briefly glanced at the television last night, and it was showing the cable network called ESPN. And on this ESPN was a basketball contest between the Providence College Shamgods and the Villanova Fighting Eric Eberz's, and anyway, I happened to notice a projected Big East tournament bracket. Among the things that caught this guy's (pointing at myself) attention:

First round: Cincinnati vs. Depaul...winner gets the aforementioned Providence Shamgods...with the winner likely facing UConnecticut.

Ladies and gentlemen, sign me up. I still kinda think the Bearcats stink, but to have a cakewalk (relatively speaking) first rounder against the Blue Demons, followed by a beatable Providence squad, to essentially playing UConn in a win-and-you're-in set-up...I couldn't ask for anything better. Especially considering the egg they laid down in Tampa.

Now, I give them very little chance of pulling this off -- maybe 10 percent -- but hey, it's something.

End of Bearcat words.

***Bengals matters***



Forget for a second how much I hated the Lavernues Coles signing and focus on how I'm sick of Marvin Lewis treating Bengals fans like incompetent morons. Listen up, buddy: We can read. And thanks to the Internet we have access to much of the same statistics as you. Jerk off!

Here's a portion of the head coach's comment about the recently acquired wideout: "If you look at his yards per catch, his average is very high and that's where we needed to improve."

To that I say...REALLY! It was 2003 the last time Coles had a noteworthy YPC (see for yourself). In the five seasons that followed, Coles averaged 10.6, 11.6, 12.1, 11.7 and 12.1 yards-per-catch. It's not awful, but it's certainly nothing to brag about. I did a little digging (sounds impressive, doesn't it?) and discovered that Coles hasn't finished higher than 58th in the YPC category over the past five years.

And let's not forget he's never had more than seven TDs in any one season.

And now he's a Bengal.

And he'll be 35 when his contract expires.

His contract, by the way, will pay him $7 million per year.

! (Exclamation Point!)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Several Exclamation Points!)

What the hell are the Bengals thinking? If they were going to over-pay a free agent, why not one who plays a position of need. Does a Matt Birk or a Jeff Saturday ring a bell?

To recap...

1. Marvin Lewis is a liar. And a jerk off.

2. Mike Brown doesn't have a goddamn clue.


But we already knew that.

Question: Why do I still care?

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/6/09

Do You Love Your Family Because You Have To?

Why do love your parents? Is it because they're great people, or perhaps it's only because you know them longer than everyone else? Isn't there a great possibility that people living right down the street from them are much better people?

What about friends and other family members? Do you truly enjoy their company? Do you even have all that much in common with them? Or again, do you just know them longer? Are you simply used to them?

If it seems like I've been reading a bunch of Malcolm Gladwell lately, I haven't. But Craig and I recently recorded about various topics, including "why he hates (yet loves) his big brother, The Hobbit." And although we laugh throughout the four-plus minute podcast, there's more than a few legitimate things to chew on.

Will listening to "Craig Hates (Yet Loves) His Big Brother" make you a smarter person? Probably not. Will it get you to examine a handful of the relationships in your life? In the words of Georger Zimmer, "I guarantee it."

Either way, we (and by "we," I mostly mean Craig) deliver more honesty and entertainment than anything you'll hear on terrestrial radio this afternoon.

Tell your friends.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/5/09

This Just In: Cedric Benson Isn't The Savior

Let's start this thing off with the most inappropriate text message that's ever been sent (courtesy of my buddy Cam): "Do you think Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith are partying with Bison Dele right now?

Onto other matters...

The Bengals re-signed Cedric Benson, but their running back issues are far from being resolved. I know, I know, I'm simply stating the obvious here, but maybe not. In today's Enquirer, in the article titled "Benson's ready for full time," some guy named Joe Reedy wrote the following line: "With Benson signed, that means the Bengals do not have to draft a running back early in the April 25-26 draft and can focus on other needs, like the offensive line. It is possible they would consider drafting a running back in the late rounds for depth."

What? Late rounds? Consider? Isn't running back still a priority? Why not round three? Hell, why not anything after round one, so long as a true difference-maker fell to you? Listen, Benson averaged less than three-and-a-half yards-per-carry last season, right on par with his career average...is he suddenly the savior? Has he ever proven that he's capable of full-time duty? I concede he's talented enough to earn carries in the league, but is he anything more than a spoke in the wheel? Just because he was the best RB on the roster last year doesn't mean he was worth a crap -- it merely means he was contending for playing time with washed-up hacks. There's a difference.

Anyway, I'm happy the Bengals signed Cedric Benson to a reasonable two-year contract, and he might turn out to be the savior, but I wouldn't bet on it. Unfortunately, Mike Brown is in control, and it's entirely possible he has his man, meaning that the running back position won't be given the necessary attention it deserves for the second consecutive offseason.

If recent history has proven anything, it's that you should never go more than two years without spending a mid-round pick on a running back. There are more competent players at RB than at any other position in the NFL. Hell, there are guys we've never heard of -- from NFL bench-warmers to undrafted free agents who never get a fair chance -- who are quite capable of an 1,100-yard, 8-TD season. I think this is because, in a pinch, all a running back really needs to do is read his blocks and trust his instincts. Sure, it helps to be an intelligent player, but a missed block here or there is forgivable if you've rushed for 130 yards on the day.

Anyway, the Bengals really shouldn't rely on Cedric Benson as a workhorse, with the usual suspects (Chris Perry, Ken Watson, DeDe Dorsey, etc.) waiting in the wings. They need some new blood, some fresh legs. Look at last year's first seven backs taken after the first round and tell me the Bengals should stand pat:

Matt Forte and Ray Rice (2nd round); Kevin Smith, Jamaal Charles and Steve Slaton (3rd round); Tashard Choice (4th round -- and remember, the Cowboys already had Marion Barber in the fold, and drafted Felix Jones three rounds earlier); Ryan Torain (5th round). All contributed in some way in their rookie year.

(Note: Peyton Hillis was taken in the 7th round.)

That's remarkable. Now, most years aren't going to be like 2008, but they certainly could. Regardless, the running back position should never be neglected. I understand if you don't want to grab one early, but always grab one. Injuries happen, you know? More often at RB than any other positon (or at least it seems that way). But it's also the one position where an organization should never ever ever ever EVER be caught with their thumb up their ass -- just as the Bengals were in '07 and '08.

Draft a RB in the 3rd or 4th round! Any one! Preferably a fast one. They're out there. Trust me.

(Bengals update: My brother just told me the Bengals spent money on Laverneus Coles. My initial reation: I don't like it. I'll comment on this later. For now I have to go to work.)

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/4/09

Two More And They're In?

I watched UC's triumph (or whatever) over West Virginia and instantly turned to my friends and said, "Thank God they play at Syracuse next."

What?

Here's what I was thinking: You look at the schedule before the year and "at Syracuse" is a loss. It just is. This is especially true when "at Syracuse" immediately follows an emotional victory against Huggs and the Mountaineers. There was simply no way they were going to win -- and a blowout loss was entirely possible (remember: this UC team still ain't all that great) -- at Syracuse, against a more talented, similarly desperate Orange team.

Anyway, we've been told for some time now that a 10-8 record in the Big East all but guarantees the Cats of an NCAA berth, and with "at South Florida" and "home/Seton Hall" the only games remaining, it might not be such a bad thing to be coming off an ugly loss in the Carrier Dome. Intensifies the focus, you know?

Now, whether it's as cut-and-dried as "10-8 and you're in" remains to be seen. But I have a hard time believing the Cats will be left out if they accomplish such a thing.

All they (should) need is a modest two-game win streak against two somewhat lousy teams, and it starts tonight in Tampa, Florida, where the Cats will take on the Bulls of South Florida.

Am I excited? I don't know, I guess. Yeah, sort of.

End of words.

(By the way, South Florida, only a two-and-a-half-point underdog is a Vickers tonight, but I'm conveniently giving the system a rest for one day)

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/3/09

Sports Conversation! (Exclamation Point)

Question: What do Jason Richardson, Jose Calderon, Nick Van Exel, JJ Redick, Brian Vickers, Tyler Hansborough, Luke Harangody, Charles Barkley and Tracy Jones have in common?

Answer: They're all mentioned in "Sports Podcast....Sort Of," the latest podcast from www.TwinKilling.com's superstar tandem of Brad (me) and Craig (a person).

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/3/09

Reason To Be Excited (But Not Really)!

Three consecutive Vickers-only posts!

My apologies. I'll post something of substance before bedtime tonight. I kind of promise.

***NCAAB***

Irish (-2.5) vs. Supernova

Longhorns (-8) vs. Baylor Bears

Elon (+14.5) vs. Davidson

***NBA***

Sixers (-2) vs. Hornets

Wiz (+4) vs. Hawks

Heat (+3.5) vs. Pro Cavs

Thunder (+6) vs. Mavs

Clips (+8) vs Spurs

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/2/09

letters on a computer screen

***NCAAB***

The Ville (-9) vs. Marquette Warriors

Rutgers (+3.5) vs. Providence College

***NBA***

Suns (+4) vs. Lakers

Nets (+3.5) vs. Horny

Hawks (+3.5) vs. Pro Cavs

Pacers (+2) vs. Nuggs

Warriors (+5) vs. Jazz

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
March Madness happens this month