Too many teams in a bloated event but one game worth watching

Far many little things today, didn’t see any one item rant-worthy and the lads were off so there was no big news out of the basketball here, either.

We’ll try to be better tomorrow after I get settled in Charlotte (Air Canada, American Airlines and the weather willing) and I know Ri-Ra and plan a stop but The Chicken gave me Brixx and a local brew called Copper or something so anyone else with a Charlotte recommendation, I could be all ears.

Anywho …

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Being Of A Certain Vintage, I’m old enough to remember – vaguely – when only the NCAA conference champions got into March Madness (I do recall a brilliant game – I believe it was North Carolina State-Maryland for the lone ACC tournament bid that was one of the best single games I’ve ever seen) so you can imagine what I think of silly play-in games and a field of 68 teams.

Yeah, too bloated, all thanks to money and the NCAA’s inherent greed and, no, I don’t imagine I’ll be locked on any TV in a Charlotte saloon tonight watching, even though it’ll be hard to escape it in that bastion of college basketball.

But that remains the way things are going these days everywhere, all the regular seasons in sports mean very little with so many unqualified teams eligible for the “post-season.”

I do quite like the one-and-done nature of the tournament, it adds a whole different layer of drama from the pro sport series, but I just think it would be – and was – more compelling with there were far fewer teams taking part.

Oh, and it’s going to make my silly bracket even harder to fill out and give you all kinds of chance to mock starting Thursday morning when you see it.

Yeah, I’ll do one after tonight’s games when we get to a field of 64 (oh, my best guess now is that I won’t have any of the First Four actually winning a game) and put it up here in Thursday’s usual fare as soon as the Tall Foreheads tell me how to do it.

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So I ask this friend of mine to give me all the pertinent details on Canada Music Week because I have no real clue and when I get the list of things I should see or pay attention to, I’m totally in a fog.

But then there’s this one and it’s not too bad at all,, pretty darn good in fact, so you should know about Trouble & Daughter if you want something current.

Oh, and the big fella is the son of Denny Dougherty of Mamas and Papas fame so there’s some DNA working pretty well.

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A priest, a rabbi and a reverend walk in the bar.

Bartender looks up:

“What is this, some kind of joke?”

(I’m here all week, folks)

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Obligatory Raptors note since they were off yesterday to rest up for last night’s big fund-raising Players Gala with the pucks and the TFCs.

(Actually they got the day off because they have to get to 16 on the season and it was logical)

Anyway … Talking a guy yesterday about Quincy Acy down in the D League and whether or not he’d be back here any time soon and it sounds like, for now, they just want him down there in Bakersfield and playing a lot.

Seems he’s playing all right, too.

They like that he’s averaging 7.6 rebounds, 13.3 points and about 29 minutes a game in what has always been a guard- and wing-dominated league.

And as long as he’s playing a lot there, there is no need to bring him back to the NBA where he might get a minute here or there in rare circumstances.

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Speaking of the NCAA, can’t imagine too many of you paid rapt attention to the women’s selection show.

But here are four teams you might want to at least pay a little attention to for the Canadian content:

Notre Dame: Natalie Achonwa, a No. 1 seed in the Norfolk regional.

UCLA: Nirra Fields, a No. 3 seed in the Oklahoma City regional.

Syracuse: Kayla Alexander, a No. 7 seed in the Oklahoma City regional.

Texas Tech: Christine Hyde, a No. 7 seed in the Spokane regional.

Not sure how much, if any, of the women’s tournament we’ll be able to see on TV up here but if you can watch, you should at least check it out.

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No, the Netherlands didn’t win.

Figured as much.

But I’m thinking a Puerto Rico-Dominican Republic final in the WBC tonight might be one of the best baseball “parties” you will ever have seen.

As we know, significant international sports events evoke such tremendous passion it’s hard to describe and when you get two nations of close geographical proximity and a history, a one-game showdown for something declared as a global championship only adds another layer of intensity.

And seeing how these are the dog days of sports – relatively uninteresting regular season games are about all we’ve got, although that Boston-Miami NBA game last night was special – having something of important to watch kind of makes it a night.

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Oh, speaking of Canadian music …

Super Son, like so many other urchins, comes off a week’s vacation last and it’s back to school and the grind of education, right?

Well, maybe not.

He announces to me yesterday that, while Monday was indeed a full day of readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmatic he gets to bail on a period or two Wednesday because, well, I guess because an entire week of uninterrupted education would be too much for a teen’s brain to process.

But then he explains and I guess if you’re going to ditch a class or two and you have some musical interests, blowing off English to listen to the Canadian Brass play isn’t a bad thing.

I just wish there’d be some way when I was growing up to let us combine out-of-school interest with getting a few hours out of class.

But I guess there weren’t any experts in “Ditching Geography and French To Play Pinball Before Checking Back In For Basketball Practice.”

Too bad.

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Comments

[LeeZ]

Nice video, Doug. Man, does the big felluh ever look like his old man, who was also in a band with a beautiful blonde singer and, well, had this terrible crush on her, even though she was married to Papa John and all. Hope the acorn falls a bit farther from the tree! As for Quincy, yeah, I hear ya, but I'm thinking, heck, why not call him up and play him more than just a minute or two? Amir, bless his heart, is playing a gazillion minutes and as we all know is banged up pretty bad, and Acy was actually looking pretty decent when he got some burn a few months ago. Why not give the kid 15 minutes a night against the big boys, and avoid hobbling Amir's ankles even more?

Blogger's note: They may very well get to that point, just aren't at it yet

[AT]

Its really hard to knock March Madness.... BY FAR.. it is one of the only sporting events that ALWAYS lives up to the hype. Considering this:
-relatively low hype before the tournament
- a ton of close games
- enough spacing of games between rounds to catch up with reality
- usually can find some story line in every game from a Raptor perspective (a Canadian playing, or future lottery pick)
One of the only annoyances is the over abundant in game commercials which seems to be after every stop in play.
Overall, best event there is..(Olympics, world cup included !!

[Mike K.]

Just a heads-up, a really interesting piece on the Raptors' use of analytics just went up on Grantland:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9068903/the-toronto-raptors-sportvu-cameras-nba-analytical-revolution

[Stephen Graham]

I have to disagree with AT's comment about March Madness. My perspective might be different because I've been watching the tournament for about 30 years now. I won't deny the excitement and the one and done nature of the tournament makes it very compelling. The problem is the quality of the basketball has seriously deteriorated in the last couple of decades. I heard a colour commentator refer to the 1980's as the golden age of college basketball and when I would have to agreed with that (although admittedly I can't speak to the level of play in the 70's, 60's, etc.). There were some great teams and great players playing in the tournaments during the 80's and it's just not the same anymore. In my opinion the reason is almost entirely because the best players leave after one or two years. Every year teams are dependent on freshmen rather than having a complement of juniors and seniors who are far more advanced in their understanding of the game, skill levels and team play. It's too bad because in addition to diluting the quality of play in the NCAA they are going to the pros before they're ready and in most cases are a liability to the pro teams. Wish they could find an equitable solution that would keep these kids in college for four years.

[Basil]

Doug,

fantastic beer and great place. You'll find it all over the Carolinas. See if you can bring back a trawler on the plane for those of us back in Toronto...

Old Mecklenburg Brewery
www.oldemeckbrew.com

[john]

Hey Doug, out of curiosity why are you taking a milk run route when when there are 5-6 direct flights every day to Charlotte? As an experienced traveller you must realize that any connection through the USA using an odd mix of two airlines that dont code share is simply courting disaster.

Blogger's note: Long story involving a change of travel arrangers at Mother Star

[kent]

Why don't you just tell your boss that you don't know anything, and I mean 1 single thing, about NCAA basketball? Or does your boss think that readers of this newspaper should just consume completely random guesses as valuable information?

Blogger's note: Because I actually do; quite more than, um, some of you. But thanks for writing.

[Mike D.]

Pinball?? Not even Defender or Pac-Man? When you did attend class, did you have to whittle your own pencils and boil the lead yourself?

[saatuk]

The NCAA tournament has its moments. The problem is that CBS's TV coverage is usually atrocious. They never let one watch a game, especially when there're four on. They zip from one game to another and, if you're lucky, you _might_ get to see more than 1/4 of the game you want to see. The minute I start getting comfortably in to a game, they zip over to another one.

To enjoy college ball at this time of year, I recommend watching the NIT if you can, since there are good teams (all conference regular season champs who didn't make the NCAA are in, for instance) and you can watch all 40 minutes of the game. The final four is in Madison Square Garden with a great crowd.

[Peter]

I'm not a huge March Madness fan, but I don't mind the size. Whether there are 64 teams or 16 teams, I'm not going to know more than 10 players anyways, so to have a rankings system where there are several chances for updates, that makes for good theatre. It's always fun to watch a lower seed beat a higher seed, and the one and done format with this many teams means that there is a chance for a story line each week.

It's like being able to see the Raptors knock the Heat out of the playoffs because the Heat had a single bad game, and the Raps somehow, put it together for a day.

64 teams allows for those stories. 16 team playoff scenarios without a one and done format leaves someone like me showing little interest until an elimination game where a low seed has a chance to clinch, or until the final few teams are playing each other, and the drama begins as spectators get to wonder who will win.

[Peter]

upsets, not updates. (autocorrect)

[Rob.V]

Where is everyone today??? Okay, well, lots of space to fill so I won't feel so bad about my extend-o-rant!

Oh my! Anyone catch that Denver/Bulls game last night. 1 min left - Mosgov (CLEARLY) interferes with the ball in the cylinder. All 5 bulls players jumping up and down, Bulls bench jumping up and down, 20,000 (or so) fans in Chicago jumping up and down... ME! at home... jumping up and down. What do the refs do? Why nothing of course... basket good... Denver up 1.

Noah then tips in an errant Belinelli shot which appeared to be a good (to take a 1 point lead).

What happens next? Yup, they decide THIS ONE should be reviewed, and the refs waive the basket off. Just then, I'm sure I heard: OH NOOO! get out the salami and cheese mama... Bulls lose, Bulls lose, Bulls lose!! from a local announcer.

Now, there was no way Noah's tip was as blatantly obvious to the naked eye as Mosgov's as the call on the floor was good basket, and even after about 10 replays the TV crew, me, and others I'm sure still questioned the call.
Chicago got jobbed in that game.

The moral of the story kids? It's not just terrible officiating towards the Raptors. It's a league wide problem. Now, for teams that franchises end in the names: Heat, Lakers, Celtics and a couple of others, it's bad. For the rest of the league?, its really, really, REALLY bad because the other teams don't get the benefit of any doubt.

We've been saying this for years, they have to fix it. A call, is a call, is a call.

Respect calls
Make up calls
No rookie calls/rookie fouls
Moving a foul from one player to another

They all exist... but shouldn't! Seriously, the fact that I can write this and people know what I am referring to with respect to calls and non calls should be an embarrassment to anyone associated with this (professional) Basketball league.

Okay, I'm veering off topic now however going back to our discussion from a couple of days ago. In this instance they didn't even go back to look at the replay of Mosgov's basket (which I believe they could have in the last 2 minutes). But let's suppose this was not a reviewable play. How ridiculous is it that "certain" plays are reviewable while others are not? Last time I checked all 2 or 3 point baskets counted (or erroneously not counted) affect a 1 point loss!!

The 2 points here counted for Denver helped seal the win. Mosgov's tip was interference but somehow the refs standing 10 feet away miss it. Noah's was much more difficult to determine and there was no clear evidence to suggest that should have been overturned.

There has to be someone in a booth making the correct call for these refs. Either this (and or) you have to allow each team 2 challenges per game. At what point does a forward thinking league like the NBA realize that the size of the players and the speed of the game has simply passed the 3 referring system by?. How much more taped evidence has to be compiled for the powers that be to acknowledge that the officiating is a problem for it's fans, that it is getting worse every year?.

I'm tired of complaining about the refs, the responsibility lies with the league. Unless the league is willing to recognize there is a problem everything else is just a waste of time.

No, not our Raptors this time. But terrible. Again, just too many times terrible!.

[doug]

I concur with your thoughts on the NCAA tourney and @Stephen Graham's as well....too many teams playing mind numbing ball, yes there close games but their terrible too watch for the most part....and also in watching the NCAA tourney it irritates me that not one announcer ever critiques/disses/questions a coaches move or non-move, NCAA coaches in all sports get off scott free, and their are a lot of bad ones....good vid, I was like you but since being involved at the EL Mo the amount of good young bands and the variety of music they play, and the quality is quite heartening, the music scene is alive and well and thriving....ok cheers...

[D-Mac Ottawa]

@AT and @Stephen Graham: I think you're BOTH right. There is still nothing to compare with March Madness for energy, intensity, story lines, great endings, upsets, pure sport entertainment. And it's not nearly as great as it used to be.
Basketball wasn't having a golden age only in the NCAA is the 80s – it was doing the same in the NBA. No coincidence.
From 1975–78, there were 32 teams in the NCAA tournament. At that same time, the NBA had 18, then added 4 ABA teams, for a total of 22.
From 1980–82, the NCAA tournament expanded to 48 teams, then 52 in 1983. In 1985, it bulged to 64 (and now we're at 68...).
Meanwhile, the NBA was puttering around with 23 teams in the early 80s, added 4 more in 1988–89, started going global with recruiting (think Dream Team, the world went gaga over basketball). Then a couple of upstart, yes, Canadian teams were added in 1995....
There's your story. Basketball was GREAT in the 80s because it wasn't watered down yet. You had the best of the best playing. They played through their 4 years of college ball. They came into the NBA FAR better prepared – and both the NBA and NCAA played shorter seasons!
Less really is more. Cheers. Go Jays!