Friday Random Thoughts
1. In case you didn't notice, El Presidente has scored a major victory over technology on all fronts. I'd put Thursday, February 24th 2005 right up there with VJ Day in terms of importance to this Nation. Not only have I mastered the art of sending out a mass random thoughts email to Stoolies everywhere, but the Barstool Sports website has also undergone major improvement. Basically a transplanted Stoolie had gotten fed up with trying to read Barstool Sports via the website because of all the PDF hassles. He took it upon himself to create a program that allows us to use links like every other website in the country. It is truly a great day in the history of Barstool Sports. Now all I need is for people to get all their friends, enemies and anybody else they may know to sign up for the daily random thoughts blast. El Presidente is one step closer to world domination or at least paying the cable bill. (By the way, if you want to hire this Stoolie for any web site programming I highly recommend him. He was great. His name is Ian White and I can get you his contact info if you want it. )
2. I have certain regrets with the way I’ve lived my life so far. And one of those regrets is that I haven’t paid close enough attention to John Chaney. I really never should have taken my eyes off of him after he told John Calipari that he’d kick his ass in a post game press conference years ago. In his latest press conference John Chaney suspended himself for one game for sending in hired goons to commit goon like fouls against St. Joe’s the other night.
Upset by what he thought were illegal screens by Saint Joseph's that were not being called by the officials, Chaney turned to seldom-used 6-foot-8, 250-pound Nehemiah Ingram to "send a message." Ingram started throwing his arms around and tossing elbows, once connecting hard to the chin of Hawks center Dwayne Jones, and had a hard foul on John Bryant that left him sprawled on the court for several minutes. Ingram fouled out in four minutes. Chaney said after the game he was going to send in a "goon."
Gotta love John Chaney. My question is how long do you have to work at a job before you can suspend yourself from work. Can I suspend myself from the Stool? Can a guy who works in a cubicle suspend himself from cold calling because of misbehavior? Regardless, the lesson here is never to take your eyes of John Chaney. He clearly has a screw loose which may help explain why nobody can figure out the Ameba defense that Temple plays. It comes from the mind of a mad man.
3. I just saw a basketball fly by my window in Allston. My guess is that Antoine has arrived in Boston and already started hucking 3’s from downtown. Kudos to Danny Ainge. He found the only way to force the Celtics back onto the front page of the newspapers. All he had to do was bring back Antoine Walker, wiggle and all. This story was so astounding to me that I had to call all my buddies and try to break the news first. It’s just such a strange sequence of events. It’s too bad that Citizens Bank finally got around to taking down those Antoine Walker playoff banners a couple weeks ago. It I’ve always been a big Antoine Walker fan so I’m glad to see him back, but it gives me serious doubts about the vision of our man Danny Ainge. Hmm, if Antoine is back does that mean we’re bringing back all our old stars in all sports? Nomar, I love you.
4. I was telling somebody today how I feel intense pressure whenever I meet a Stoolie in person. It’s kind of like when Seinfeld goes to visit the sick guy in the hospital and needs to make him laugh. I feel like I need to be at the top of my game at all times. I just don’t want people treating me like Rocky treated Clubber Lang in Rocky IV. “Hey El Presidente, you ain’t so bad. You ain’t so bad.” I may bring cue cards to the March Madness party at The Place so I can have tons of jokes readily available.
5. Speaking of our March Madness party, we need more people to go. It is March 18th at The Place. Send us an email if you are interested. There is free food, it’s the day after St. Patrick’s Day and there will be tons of Stoolies in attendance. What more can you need?
Reader Email
Email #1
I meant to write to you about the dunk contest earlier, but I haven't noticed you mention it, so I guess it's not too late. My question is this, was it rigged? All I heard about on TNT heading into the contest was some kid on the Hawks named Josh Smith. Then he gets straight tens for putting on 'Nique's jersey and doing a similar (but mush less spectacular) windmill dunk? Amare's off the backboard, off Nash's head, alley-oop was one of greatest dunks I've ever seen, if only they had pulled it off on the first try.
Mark
A.K.A. friend of Dizzle, who's real name is Mark as well.
I didn’t watch the dunk contest so I’m not sure what happened. I’ve obviously seen the highlights. My impression was that the “soccer dunk” wasn’t Amare’s last dunk right? If that was his last dunk and that’s the one that lost then it was fixed.
Email #2
Prez -
First let me say that I was psyched to open my email and see Random Thoughts back.
I'd like to comment on Bledsoe signing with Dallas. I think Drew will help Dallas get back to the playoffs. We know Parcells is the kind of coach who has his own breed of players and Bledsoe is part of that breed. Testaverde is too, but Vinny was washed up four years ago when Chad Pennington was promoted to starter with the Jets. We saw how the Drew Henson experiment worked (or not) on Thanksgiving day when he played only one half, while Bledsoe helped lead the Bills to a phenomenal second half. Bledsoe will lead the Cowboys' offense in a system he already knows and is comfortable with, along with guys like Keyshawn and dare I say Terry Glenn. Not to mention Julius Jones, who will only get better. Bledsoe's biggest asset to Parcells, though, could just be the role of teacher. Drew was instrumental in assisting Brady to become a big time NFL quarterback and I know I don't have to remind you that Tom Brady was Drew Henson's back up at Michigan.
-Moschella
Las Vegas, NV
You sound a bit like my buddy Cal who lives for Drew Bledsoe. He’s already left me 19 messages about the old coach and the old gunslinger. My question is what has Drew Bledsoe done since 1995 that would lead you to believe that he has any skills left in him at all? And I think you may be giving Drew a tad too much credit for saying he was instrumental in assisting Brady to become the best QB of all time. All Drew did was not get in the way. It will be interesting to see what happens and I’m rooting for Bledsoe, but the fact is that he just isn’t very good. And at the end of next season the thing that all Bledsoe supporters will be left hanging their hats on again is the fact he took out a full page ad in the Herald and Globe to thank the fans when he left town.
As a side note you know Ron Borges has his fingers crossed.
Email #3
El Presidente,
The Vikings must have really wanted to move Moss badly. They got Napoleon Harris and a 7th round pick. Harris has been a disappointment and a 7th round pick is a joke. Oakland got a great deal. What's the over/under on how long it takes before Moss is barking at Collins on the sidelines? Collins won't have any excuses throwing the rock to Moss, Porter, and Curry. My question is who is running the ball?
I agree with you about Bledsoe but I'm surely going to enjoy watching him with a star on his helmet. Bledsoe left a team with stout defense, better rec'ers, better O-line and two great runners and he struggled plenty. It will be interesting to see. I'm glad Bledsoe is out of our division and in the NFC. I have no problem rooting for Drew. I will particularly enjoy watching Parcells rip Bledsoe when he throws one of them "over-the-shoulder-I'm-getting-sacked" interceptions. Pure entertainment my friend! It's too bad that Drew most likely is going to be remembered for a lack of mobility, bad decision making and can't win the big one instead of the Pro Bowl QB he was early in his career with NE.
Andrew J. Bergeron
Yup, Vikes clearly wanted to dump him. It’s almost like how we got Dillon. The Raiders offense will be loaded now. It’s a great move by them. I can hear the NFL Films Raider music being played in Al Davis’s office as we speak. I’d love to see Randy wearing those white jump suits that Al wears as well. Straight Cash Homey.
Email #4
Dear Pres,
I won't bother discussing the whole Tier I thing; I think you did a good job of defining it for the superfans and proving why they don't belong. Instead I need to point out some issues with Matt the BC Alum's court-storming justification. First of all I think generally gratuitous court-storming is incredibly common these days and is basically an excuse for students to harmlessly mini-riot, which is perceived as fun. Whatever, it’s a fact at almost all campuses.
But Matt said; "it did not bother me one bit to see the students rush the court after virtually guaranteeing themselves a Big East Championship".
A. Virtually guaranteeing!? BC had 4 games left at the time. After last night's loss to Nova they've now gone on to lose the 1st of these 4. Now doing the math it’s still probable that BC finishes with the best regular season record in the conference. This is because subsequent to beating Syracuse, everyone in the Big East besides BC had 4 losses except for UConn (3 conference losses) who at the time still had to play at Pitt and home vs. ND (UConn won) & Cuse. But I've never heard of a school celebrating a "virtually guaranteed championship" with 4 games still left to play.
B. Point of basic fact is the only Big East Champion is the winner of the Big East tournament. The Big East does not declare the team with the best conference record the winner of the "regular season" or any kind of champion. The team with best record merely gets the first seed in the conference tourney. Serious college hoop fans know that the winner of the conference tournament is the Big East Champion, gets a trophy, can hang a banner and of course gets the conference's automatic NCAA bid. If BC regularly contended for the BE championship the superfans might know this. But because their teams and fans only show up once every few years they don't.
Rich
Good points. But I don’t argue that BC is legit and has had a great season this year no matter what happens from here on out. And to be honest I could care less who wins the Big East tournament or who wins the regular season. It’s all about The Big Dance.
Email #5
With regard to Randy Moss, say what you will about the guy, (and I have!) but he has instantly re-installed the Raiders on the NFL coverage radar. The once-proud Raiders have become an afterthought over the past few years, and Moss will lend them instant media credibility. Another master stroke by the Evil Genius!
Bledsoe to the Cowboys-Please! Bill must really be getting ready to take the train out of Dallas. With Bledsoe the story never changes--$10 Million Arm and a 10 cent head. His uncanny inability to move his feet laterally is his other added bonus!
My sympathies to all of the BC rooters at the Avenue in Allston last night who plunked down a bunch of Daddy's coin on the old alma-mater. Ecstatic at getting what seemed like a dream line of +5 on the 3rd ranked team in the Country--the weekly spending spree went painfully down the tubes with BC getting hosed by the refs and losing by 6. Oh the pain! The pain!
By the way--it was great receiving the Random Thoughts e-Mail this morning. Keep it coming!
Smitty
Allston
Tough gambling loss for the Superfans yesterday. Real tough. Any time the #3 team in the country is catching 5 at the #24 team in the country with the point guard not playing red flags should have been raised. I hear BC is a good academic school so hopefully they picked up on this fact.
Email #6
El Presidente,
I realize you are very passionate about your sports especially your home teams! But remember you are a journalist also! Your random thought on Teddy Bruschi being a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee was way off base. Let me start by saying I think he is a very good football player, a great person, wonderful family man and the emotional leader of the Pats. He has been an important piece of one of the best teams ever assembled but not a Hall of Fame candidate. His stats are slightly better than Mike Vrabel's and Vrabel scores touchdowns every time he touches the ball on offense. Does that mean Vrabel is a first time ballot inductee? What the Pats have done is put together some very good football players and created a GREAT team. Unfortunately, induction into the Hall of Fame is an individual accomplishment. If you had said Belichick, Brady or Vinatieri I would agree whole heartedly (maybe Seymour in a few years) but not Bruschi. I again appreciate your passion but!
Looking forward to your coverage of the "Madness" in March Rock Chalk rocks!
Keith B
So let me ask you this. Everybody agrees that Deion Sanders is one of the best corner backs of all time. Now his career interception numbers probably aren’t the highest because people didn’t throw to his side of the field. Instead a crappy defensive back will get way more chances at Int’s because he gets the ball thrown to him more. My point is that football stats can’t be compared to baseball stats. It’s more of a team game. If a guy is the most important defensive player on a dynasty he should be in the hall of fame. I’m sick and tired of this “they’re a great team” thing, but no great players. It’s bullcrap. Tedy Bruschi has made more big plays at big times then virtually any player in the past decade. He should be a first ballot hall of fame guy.