Hot Mascot-on-Mascot Action

by | Mar 19, 2015 | Sports | 0 comments

I’ve got a fever, and the only cure is more basketball.

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Yep, sounds like a classic case of March Madness. I’m taking today and tomorrow off from work to binge-watch some college hoops. Setting up 2 TVs and 2 laptops in the living room so I can tune in to all the action (if only I could clone my eyeballs). And yes, I filled out a bracket for the office pool… my entry fee is my annual donation to someone who knows a lot more about the teams than I do. Yesterday one of my kid’s friends said he picked a bracket based on the mascots. And my friend Mookie suggested that the NCAA should have a separate tourney that features mascot battles ala MTV’s old Celebrity Death Match show. I love that idea. I’d certainly tune in to see these:

Stephen F. Austin vs. Utah = a Lumberjack against a Ute. Manifest Destiny all over again.

VCU vs. Ohio State: A Ram headbutting a tree nut (Buckeye)… classic Nutcracker scenario

Iowa State vs. UAB: a real danger (a Cyclone) against an imaginary one (a Blazer/Dragon).

San Diego State vs. St. Johns: The Aztec is no match for a Red Storm (aka smallpox)

Xavier vs. Ole Miss: a classic case of culture clash as a chivalrous Musketeer takes on a redneck Rebel.

Wichita State vs. Indiana: “Shocker” and “Hoosier” both sound like punchlines to knock-knock jokes.

Notre Dame vs. Northeastern: Just a few days after St. Patty’s, I think the Fighting Irish leprechaun might still be fighting a hangover, so this pot o’ gold goes to the Husky (hair of the dog).

Coastal Carolina vs. Wisconsin: A Chanticleer? (Honey) Badger don’t care.

Northern Iowa vs. Wyoming. A Panther is tough, but a Cowboy has more weapons.

Providence vs. Dayton: A Friar or a Flyer? Get some serious prayer or get some serious air? Advantage Dayton.

Villanova vs. Lafayette: Wildcat vs. Leopard in the mother of all catfights.

The best mascot name of the tournament, hands down, is UC-Irvine, home of the Anteaters.

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Enjoy the madness!

Like a Pearl who’s a swine

by | Mar 14, 2015 | Sports | 0 comments

Bruce Pearl is a great basketball coach. He’s also a cheater.

He cheated at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

He cheated at Tennessee and got slapped with a 3-year “show cause” penalty, one of the stiffest sanctions the NCAA can levy on a coach. Tennessee fired him, but he got a lovely parting gift of $948, 728. Then during the 3 years of his “punishment” he landed a cushy job as an ESPN analyst, and then was hired by Auburn before his 3 years were even up, to the tune of $2.2 million a year. Rough life, eh?

This NBC sports article is a fascinating read, and the title says it all: “If you win, there’s always another job.” 

When a coach cheats, he doesn’t really suffer. Yet if his cheating results in sanctions for the school, the players are really the ones who are punished.

Let’s hope that for every cheater like Bruce Pearl, there are 10 coaches like Providence’s Ed Cooley, who gave this fantastic speech to his team after they suffered a heartbreaking loss to potential #1 seed Villanova in the semifinals of the Big East conference tournament.