Florida basketball's loss to Georgia Saturday was something you could see coming a mile away. This team refuses to make anything easy. Alex Tyus was absolutely awful Saturday. Wherever his head was, it was not in that game. Tomorrow night, he has to come out and play or Florida is not going to beat Vanderbilt. Chandler Parsons told me after the game, "When Alex plays well, we play well." In Athens, he didn't and neither did they. Of course Dan Werner should have taken the shot at the end, but nothing in history gives any reason to believe he would make it. That game was lost with a disastrous showing defensively in the first half, not on the final play. Thanks to the Tennessee win over Kentucky, UF's likely degree of difficulty for picking up a win at the SEC Tournament may have gone way up as well since they're just about guarunteed to be the fourth seed (and thus don't get to face LSU). Dan Werner Senior Night is going to be interesting.
While pro football beat guys are busy dissecting every last drill from the NFL Combine, the most important story to me from Indianapolis this week had nothing to do with 40 times. The NFL is finally going to take a look at a new overtime idea. It wouldn't get rid of sudden death completely, but it would require a touchdown to win on the first posession. I'm all for anything that makes the deciding moments of a game more like real football than a field goal kicking contest. Want to win? You'd better go score a TD rather than settling for a 42 yard field goal try on first down with ten minutes left on the clock. Hopefully this will pass.
As much as it was disappointing for the US to lose the hockey final to Canada yesterday, I'm glad that happened in overtime. That game was entirely too good to go down to the ridiculously artifical shootout. Unfortunately for the NHL, if potential new fans want to follow up on a hugely viewed game like yesterday's by watching more hockey they're probably not going to be able to find it. Versus has a game at 9 tonight, but finding that would require people who aren't already NHL savvy to 1. know Versus exists, 2. know it has the league's TV deal and 3. know where to find it on the dial. Good luck with that - nice call to take the games off ESPN, Gary Bettman. Bettman doesn't seem to want the NHL to make players available for the Olympics in 2014, which tells you all you really need to know. How does this man still have his job?
I was surprised when I was driving in Tampa last week to see a huge Tag Heuer billboard on Dale Mabry Highway featuring Tiger Woods. I thought by now just about everyone had taken down their Tiger signage with the exception of Nike in their stores. Turns out that for the luxury watch company, Tiger's much chronicled adventures have made him a more effective endorser. Apparently in China having a number of mistresses is very impressive to the people Tag Heuer is looking to reach. Not sure if they think he got the women because of the snazzy watch or not. Tiger aside, I can't think of a single human alive that could get me to want to buy a luxury watch just because they supposedly wear one. Apparently people who do base their purchases on such things exist, but I'm not sure I have ever met one.
1 comment:
I don't put the blame for that boneheaded play (or the loss) on Werner; but I don't understand what Billy was thinking having him out there in the clutch when there's a chance that the ball might end up in his hands. I don't think anyone who has seen him play throughout the course of his career would expect him to make any sort of normal basketball play in that situation. Billy hasn't traditionally had a problem in sitting guys without talent and I just don't understand why he continues to play Werner when he's shown time and again that he's more of a hindrance on the court for this team than anything. The fact that people can only point to one or two plays throughout Werner's career as evidence to his contributions only proves the point I'm making. I'm not joking when I say that there are a handful of guys at Southwest Rec who would be more productive on the court. Do you have any insight as to why this guy keeps playing, Heath? Bottom line is we need to put the best team on the court, even if it means sitting a guy, if we're going to stop tripping over ourselves and make the tournament.
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