No High Fives?

Lame.

Connecticut, I'm disapointed. Middle School students in Milford, CT can potentially face *expulsion* by making any physical contact with any other student in any manor, even something as simple as a high five. It all stems from a student was sent to the hospital after being struck in the groin.

The principal of the school sent out a letter to the parents of the students that stated:

"Observed behaviors of concern recently exhibited include kicking others in the groin area, grabbing and touching of others in personal areas, hugging and horseplay. Physical contact is prohibited to keep all students safe in the learning environment..."

Now, this particular situation is appealing to me because I work as a resource room teacher at a middle school. I walk all over the school all day long and go in and out of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classrooms all day as long as walk alongside students in during passing time. I one of my first priorities in my job is the safety of the students. There have been times where I've walked through the hallways and seen some suspect things where I have had to go in and tell the kids to go on their way to class, but nothing extremely out of line and worth handing out punishments.

I'm all for safety for the kids.

But to ban all contact is just ridiculous. There are probably five kids of mine that always hold their hand out for a high five every time I walk past them. There are plenty of kids that high five one another on a daily basis. Middle school girls hug each other every chance they get, middle school girls hug like most people breathe, it is just always going on.

Also you have to realize that these kids are going through puberty. There can be times where there are kids of opposite sex that are fairly close to one another and will kind of flirt with one another and a small degree of touching one another happens. In which case, you simply have to pick your battles. Then you have to think about gym class, and how if the kids are playing basketball that they will be making physical contact with one another, its just the nature of the game. This principal needs to get with the program and walk down the hallway of the school to see what goes on themselves. Get the teachers to open their eyes more and fairly punish things that diserve being punished. But to make it so that the kids can't high five one another after they talk about how they did something cool the night before...

Lame.

Old People and Technology (Plus Weekend Quick Hits)

So my uncle and cousin were up this past weekend from Connecticut to attend my late grandfathers induction into the Hingham High School Hall of Fame. They both ended up spending the evening at my place, which was nice because I had not seen either of them in a while. However, due to sleeping arangements, I was moved from my bed to the couch downstairs so my uncle could sleep in the bed. Kind of stunk, but oh well thats life, it could have been worse. I was woken up on Sunday morning to the voices of my parents and my uncle talking about the Men's NCAA Tournament and who was playing that day and at what time?(Louisville vs. Michigan State and Oklahoma vs. UNC) Neither the three of them, all sports fans mind you, could come up with either matchup. There was a computer connected to the internet literally 10 feet away from them and neither of them took the ten steps to go to
the internet and type in www.espn.com or something of the like.

It almost gets to a point where it is frustrating when people have such simple questions yet neglect to use their resources. Sure the internet isn't something that they grew up with like modern young adults, however at some point they are going to have to suck it up and
start using these resources. A little bit after the discussion about what teams were playing yesterday(at this point I was awake and off of the couch), my uncle asked what channel was the weather channel so he could see the forcast for his drive back to Connecticut. I reluctantly told him it was 47 while in my mind I was thinking just to go to Weather.com and type in the appropriate zip code.

Another thing that is frustrating about old people and the internet is that my other uncle (who gave a great acceptance speech for my grandfather, his father, by the way) is in his late 60's and only knows how to really use e-mail. He aquired my email address a while back and each day I used to have my inbox flooded with e-mail forwards. Now my uncle is kind of a sick man and will forward on anything, including some horrifying pictures of naked males with rather small parts and extremely overweight females doing basic things like riding a bicycle amoung a plethera of dirty jokes and the like. Due to my frequent checking of my email at work(I work at a middle
school), it got to a point where I did not want to get in trouble for something that was in my inbox, and I had to block his email. I feel bad doing it, but it got really annoying and the last thing I need is to lose my job over something like this.

So if you happen to be an old person who is reading this: learn to use the internet.

But you're definitely not an old person, as this is the internet... sigh.

Weekend Quick Hits:

-Villanova over Pittsburgh... too bad I could only watch the stattracker on my cousins blackberry while at the HOF induction(which tells me I need a blackberry/iphone ASAP).

-First a 911 call over McDonalds McNuggets, now a form of payment... for prostitution?!?

-Is the ShamWow! guy gonna have to smack a bitch?

- Jack Edwards is the best NHL announcer in the league, and i'm happy hes the Bruins announcer... and he just went crazy on this cheap shot by Lucic

64 Things I Love About March Madness

Who ever does not like March Madness needs their sports fan hood questioned. Here are 64 reasons why I love March Madness:

1 - buzzerbeaters

2 - the 5 vs. 12 matchup

3 - taking your bracket out of your pocket every five minutes

4 - when your final four team wins a nail-biter in the first round

5 - teams that live by the three

6 - how Gibbons(former college roommate) loves Oral Roberts

7 - dominant 2-3 zones

8 - teams that die by the three

9 - how Digger's highlighter matches his tie

10 - noon tip offs

11 - Jim Beoheims wife, what a babe

12 - the most random CBS announcers

13 - the even more random CBS sideline reporters

14 - how work places become non-productive

15 - Dicky V

16 - praying for upsets

17 - the scrolling scoreboards on the top of the screen

18 - skipping classes/work to watch

19 - chest bumps

20 - bench players interlocking their arms

21 - cutting down the nets

22 - Stephon Curry

23 - the word 'bracketology'

24 - stattracker

25 - hearing all of the fight songs

26 - seeing the rare redshirt senior play his last game

27 - cheerleaders/children crying

28 - championship week

29 - the fact that the world knows of Tony Skinn and Jai' Lewis

30 - when rivals face off

31 - bragging after picking that upset

32 - bubble watch

33 - t-shirts under the jerseys

34 - the highlights of the past seasons

35 - bragging rights

36 - how every possession is valuable

37 - overtime

38 - hearing clips from the Jim Valvano speech

39 - Steve Hill

40 - Bruce Pearl

41 - the selection show

42 - having multiple brackets

43 - wondering if Carmello Anthony's Syracuse Orangemen would have repeated

44 - TJ Sorrentine

45 - the looks on the faces of a team that lost by a buzzerbeater

46 - still wondering why Grant Hill was not guarded, and how every similar inbound situation
from then on has been covered

47 - fans storming the court and, as Farley puts it, going shithouse

48 - Tyus Edney

49 - lefty free throws from Bo Kimble for his late teammate Hank Gathers

50 - Bo Kimbles free throw percentage during his tribute: 100% (3 for 3)

51 - full court press, 40 minutes of hell

52 - Syracuse 127, Connecticut 117, 6 Overtimes

53 - the players simply being able to tell their grandchildren that they once danced

54 - knowing that Adam Morrison and JJ Reddick played Halo online together, we got it the first time

55 - pressure one-and-one situations (a rule the NBA should adopt)

56 - college band versions of songs, espically the Emperial March from Star Wars

57 - the facepainted fans

58 - 2007 Georgia Bulldogs doubleheader victory to take the SEC

59 - Erin Andrews

60 - streaming games online

61 - wondering who this years Cinderella is, and wondering when midnight is going to strike

62 - Bryce Drew

63 - how winning the play-in game and getting crushed by the top overall seed is better than winning the NIT

64 - one shining moment

Six Overtimes?!?!

Personally, Thursday is one of my favorite days of the week. First off, its Thirsty Thursday and everyone likes alcohol, right? But every Thursday my friends and I go out to a local bar and play Bar Trivia (which by the way, I would definitely recommend everyone that enjoys Jeopardy, Cash Cab). I look forward to trivia each and every week and I always have a really good time, its an opportunity to hang out with my friends, work as a team, enjoy some trivia, and also have some sweet sweet alcohol. My friends and I have been going to the same place every Thursday since the middle of this summer and we thoroughly enjoy it.

Now I am definitely a college basketball fan, however it is not exactly my expertise. To be honest I don't even really watch college basketball until conference play begins because to me it is where the season starts to get interesting. Championship week to me rivals the tournament in itself, I love them both, but with my two TV set up I can watch one game on ESPN and another on ESPN2, ABC, Fox Sports, or any other network that my be showing the game.

So this past Thursday my friends and I play trivia, I get home at approximately 11:30 and then turn on the TV to ESPN only to see replays of Eric Devendorf hitting what looks to be a miracle game winning shot at the buzzer. I love overtime in any sport... it is why coaches make their players run sprints at the end of the game. As a player you hate it at the time, however when the time comes when you need to dig deep at the end of the game or in overtime it pays off.

I just need to say that that was one of the best games i've ever watched, and I only got to see 30 mintues of the game in a game that was 70 minutes long. Such a courageous effort by both teams. Towards the end you had star players on the bench due to fouling out and even had a walk-on for Syracuse on the court. Johnny Flinn and his Orange were incredible, but...

I haven't heard many people talk about how good the officiating was. Granted, I didn't watch a minute of regulation so there may have been bad calls during regulation, but starting with the decision to take Devendorfs three pointer at the buzzer off of the board to make the game go into overtime as it should have, to at the end of the 4th(maybe the 3rd, or even the 5th) overtime where at first glance it looked like a Syracuse player was fouled on a layup in the final seconds that was not called, only to see it from another angle and it clearly was not a foul. Everyone is talking about how many players played more than 55 of the 70 minutes, but the officials were up and down that court for 70 of the 70 minutes making many sharp and correct calls, my hat goes off to them.

Great game all around, this game definitely got me in the mindset I need to be when it comes time later to night to start to break down the brackets.

Why is Jay Cutler crying?

Hey Cutler: Shut up. Since you have been a member of the Denver Broncos your team has gone 9-7, 7-9, and 8-8. If my calculations are correct, and they are, that means your team has gone 24-24... thats not very good. It isn't terrible by any means, but won't cut it. Furthermore, as a starter, Cutler went 2-3 in the 2006 NFL season, meaning that as a starter he is 17-20. Again, not good. You do post some good statistics, and as a fan of the game I do realize how this past season the Broncos rushing game was suspect, but not the other two seasons. Mike Shanahan is famous for his zone blocking scheme in which he consistantly gets 1,000 yard seasons out of multiple backs. But Shanahan got axed, enter former New England Patriots offensive co-ordinator Josh McDaniels as the head coach. He has a relationship with current Quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, Matt Cassell, and expressed interest in him.

And then the tears came rushing down. I don't get it. Cassell started 15 games, and took over for the Patriots when Tom Brady went down, and took the Patriots to a 11-5 record. Thats two more wins than Cutler has ever lead his team to as a starter, and i'm not including the three quarters of the season opener that he won. So new head coach Josh McDaniels decides he wants a quarterback who is familiar with his system, makes sense to me. Sure the Bronocos lack a Randy Moss caliber reciever, but the WR's on their roster are currently Brandon Marshall(stud; closest to R. Moss on their roster), Brandon Stoakley (a poor mans Wes Welker... remember all those great seasons with Indy?), Jabar Gaffney(played under McDaniels in NE, played WITH Cassell last season), and the up and coming Eddie Royal who is a known speedster. Not to mention that the Broncos got Correll Buckhalter this offseason who is great out of the backfield and will swallow up some Kevin Faulk like short yardage passes along with... and here is another stunner... former Patriot LaMont Jordan(yet another player who knows the system)!

Basically McDaniels was trying to get an offense that best resembled his offense with New England, and having #16 in the backfield tossing the rock around is a good way to emulate that. So Jay, why are you so upset? McDaniels made a statement saying that anybody and everybody would be expendable at the right price. Thats just a part of the business. You're making $6.5 million dollars, let me repeat that, million dollars. In a time where most people are lucky to just have a job and healthcare in this country, you're making a good chunk of change. God forbid you get traded, guess what, you still have a job, and $6.5 million in whatever city you play at, thats the beauty of the contract. The mere fact that McDaniels said what he said has set you off to the point where it appears that you don't even want to play for the Broncos any more. It would be one thing for Peyton Manning to be talking like this, but Manning has proved himself.

Sure I am biased towards New England as they are my local team and the team I grew up with, but to me it makes complete sense: McDaniels wants to be successful as a head coach, not go .500.

Shut up Cutler and prove yourself. You are expendable.

The 2009 World Baseball Classic

(Note: Italy vs. Venezuela and Dominican Republic were in process while this was being written, so bear with some of the tense changes)

I feel like I am alone when I say that I actually look forward to the World Baseball Classic. Seeing international competition between countries playing sports is one of my most favorite things to watch. Weather it is the Summer or Winter Olympics or something like watching the international side of the Little League World Series, there is something to me about representing your country. Unfortunately, like most of America, my least favorite sport is soccer. I feel like soccer could make some rule changes that could appeal to the non-fan (like the recent rule changes in the NHL). Although, I did watch this past years European Soccer Championship, Euro '08, and fall in love with the underdog/miracle run that Turkey made. One of my favorite sayings is that sports are poetry in motion. Watching a quarterback drop back and read the coverage and make the right read and throw a magnificent pass, or watching Dave Roberts take his lead off of first base when everybody in the house knows that he is going to steal in what turned out to be the series changing moment in the 2005 ALCS, or where an Autistic member of a high school basketball who was only a team manager before the head coach let him not only dress, but play during senior night where after missing his first career high school shot with three minutes and forty six seconds left in the game, ended up finishing the game shooting 7 for 13, 6 of 10 from behind the arch, accumulating 20 points and posting the high school for the game... his only game. To me, nothing is better than the magic of sports and competition when it is not played for financial purposes, but for national pride.

With Major League Baseball being in its offseason, all we have been hearing are the normal news updates: Steroids. The names of the past being Mark McGwire, Raphael Palmero, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco, and of coarse Barry Bonds. This post season is all about one Alex Rodriguez and how he is admitting to taking steriods and just recently went under the knife to repair his hip. I think I speak for most sports fans when I say that nothing gets more annoying than tuning into their favorite sports source and it is about steroids. Although, in the past week, those talks have kind of dwindled a bit and a lot of it has to do with the World Baseball Classic. Sure, Grapefruit, Cactus, and whatever the rest of the names of the spring training baseball leagues are have started and we're starting to see highlights and start to watch our favorite players take a couple of meaninful hacks at the plate before getting taken out in the third inning to let players who won't make the team show what they have. Personally, spring training baseball isn't my cup of tea, exibition games are boring. However, the oppertunity to make a big play in an international game for your country is incredible. Sure, you can argue that the first rounds of the WBC are boring and it weeds out the garbage, some would argue that 16 teams are too many because teams like China, South Africa, and Australia stand no chance against the teams of America, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Japan. But games are not played on paper which provides for oppertunity. A team can beat another team on any given day, thats the great part about sports.

I don't think anyone saw the following to take place: Netherlands over the Dominican Republic and Australia over Mexico (by mercy rule, none the less). Yeah Japan, America, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Korea have already advanced, but the fact that Australia and the Netherlands have oppertunities to move on is awesome. It is comparable to watching that 5 vs. 12 game each March. I for one would love to see the Netherlands make it to the next round and make a George Mason-eqsue run for the glory.

Sure the overglaring thing with the WBC is the pitch count rule, but after all you have to realize that a lot of these players are under salary and the last thing that MLB clubs want is for their star player to throw 25 innings and be worn out by mid-August when Division and Wild Card races really start to heat up, only to risk injury. As much as I look at this in comparison to the LLWS pitch count rules, it is after all a good idea even though I'd love to see a magical 9 inning performance.

Personally, I can overlook the pitch count because of the double-elimination format of the Classic. If it were a 'Series,' that would be different because pitchers single handedly have the ability to take over games, where as batters typically get 4 or 5 at-bats per game. This causes teams to be forced to have depth and rise to the occasion. This is also similar to the most recent LLWS tournaments where it used to be that teams could get away with having two stud pitchers who consistantly threw one hitters. It would be interesting if in some way this could be countered offensively however, such as having batters be limited to something like 10 conscutive at-bats before having to take a game off (i.e., going 2-4 in Game 1, 1-4 in Game 2, and having to be taken out of the game after his second at bat in Game 3). That is something that just popped into my brain, but I'm sure there could be better ideas out there that could balance what should be reason for there to be more offense during the Classic.

To me what really separates the WBC from other sports is the fans, espically the ones that represent the Latin American and Asian teams teams. They proudly wave their flags around and paint their faces and simply are in the stands having *fun*. This is not a knock against any other fans, it just so happens that the L.A. and Asian fans tend to be more over the top, but thats what gets noticed. Also, naturally I wouldnt imagine Italian fans to travel to Toronto to watch Baseball, and other such teams go to various cities where the games are being played. If it was the World Cup, that would be a different story. But these games tend to have a World Cup feel to them, at least based on the fans reaction. Thats what sports are supposed to come down to: Fun.

Steroids, steroids, steroids, blah, blah, blah. We get it, Alex Rodriguez took steroids, I would guess that most of the public doesn't care too much about which specific steroid it was and which little store in the Carribean he was able to send someone to buy them over the counter for. I get it, Rodriguez took steroids. The bigger story coming out of New York should be that the Yankees went out and spent $423 million dollars on four players and then have the balls to ask the city of New York for $400 million dollars so that their stadium is finished in time for opening day. I'm not too upset that the Yankees went out and spent the money on free agents, thats the business behind the game and because there is no salary cap, the sky is the limit(the salary cap is a separate issue for another day). I'm not upset that they spent the money and going to wine about 'the evil empire buying a championship.' Thats not my style, even as a Red Sox fan.

I'd rather be seeing storys about the Neatherlands, a team with few major league stars playing top baseball against a glorified MLB All-Star team and beating them 3-2, and then taking them into extra innings in an elimination game a few days later. This is why sports are great. If the Dominican Republic go on to win the game, will I be upset? No, not really, I think that they can compete with the best and it could make some awesome potential match ups in the later rounds... But to see a team that nobody though had a chance stand up to the Golaith and prevail is special. Thats why sports are special. I am going to be watching the gamecast on www.worldbaseballclassic.com like I have been while I have been writing this article.

One things for sure: WBC, I'm interested.

Welcome to Red Shirt Senior

hi boys and girls

well, this here is my first post of my first ever blog, welcome. This blog is going to be an experiment for me... this is just kind of a way for me to sit down and do some writing where i may or may not hit upon something big. i am a fan of many blogs and wonder to myself just how much effort goes into blogs and would like to see first hand.

this page will be primarily about sports, which is my first passion, and mostly focused on boston based teams and the sort being as i am from boston. however this is not going to be just about boston sports or sports in general, but i will brush upon many big current events such as the hilarious recent inncodent where 911 was called about mcdonalds chicken nuggets which i'm sure you've heard about. i'll most likely also post randomly about things that i enjoy, such as video games, john madden football, music, things that happen to me in my every day life, maybe a couple of things about celebrities here and there, and quite frankly whatever else i feel like writing about. you'll probably see various top 10 style lists thrown in here from time to time.

my first major post will likely be later tonight, but it could possibly be earlier if something comes to me that i want to write about. but i am planning on having my first major post be about something that a lot of sports writers appear to be neglecting while i personally think it is a great thing for sports: the world baseball classic.

-B