Another?

This is the first time since March Madness that I have posted two new entries in consecutive days. There are two reasons why I am doing this: one reason is now that I don’t have school to worry about, I can devote more time to the blog (granted, near the end of the school year the blog took precedence over my school work anyways, but that’s not the point). The other reason is that I was talking to one of my buddies last night, and he told me that another fellow blogger (http://whetstonestudios.blogspot.com/) was apparently griping that I only post about once a week. Needless to say, I feel that it is time that I step up my game a little. Hopefully posting more frequently will also prompt someone I have been badgering for the last three months to finally give me a shout-out on their YouTube channel. With all that being said, I hope that any of my readers that have not already subscribed to my blog will do so, as to give me some motivation to continue to post more frequently. Not only do I appreciate it, but I appreciate it as well.

I think it’s time that I begin writing about sports. Currently the Celtics vs. Magic game is on my TV, which means that the tally is now: Number of French Open matches watched: 1; Number of NBA Playoff games watched: 1. The Celtics are killing them, so I’m not exactly sure why I haven’t changed the channel yet (standup on Comedy Central is pretty tempting right now), but I guess I want to see how they react when the game is over. This is a team who has definitely been through some adversity, but they have proved that good defense and experience will prevail more often that not. Unfortunately, Boston clinching the series means that I won’t be able to write about the epic collapse of two Boston teams in one season, which would have been interesting, but I believe that another Lakers vs. Celtics NBA Finals will be pretty interesting in its own right. Yes, I have already put Los Angeles in as well, because I think last night’s game took a lot out of Phoenix.

The biggest story today in sports is that the University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball team has been found guilty of 8 recruiting violations, stemming from an investigation that began in 2009. The charges include UConn coaches exceeding the number of phone calls that can be made to recruits, as well as giving meals, transportation, and lodging to a former recruit. With John Calipari, Kelvin Sampson, and Tim Floyd before him, I’m not all that surprised that Jim Calhoun has fallen victim to one of these cases. It seems that in order to be successful in college basketball, you have to cheat. It’s sad really, when you think about it, because all that happens to these coaches is that they flee their school and are hired before the summer is over at another school. Look at Sampson; he’s been accused of violations at the last two schools he’s been at, and now he’s the newest name to be thrown in as a possible candidate for the Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching job. Of course, Calhoun won’t be leaving UConn, but if the NCAA really wants to put an end to these kinds of things, they should impose sanctions on the Calhoun, not the team, that won’t be lifted until Calhoun retires. If the NCAA banned any team that Calhoun (or any other coach who commits recruiting violations) coaches from participating in postseason play for three years, then it would set a precedent for future violators. No team would want to hire a coach who is ineligible to take his team to postseason play, which would likely curb the number of coaches trying to cheat. The University of Connecticut isn’t the violator; Calhoun and his staff are. Punish those who commit the crime, and you’ll put an end to the act.

An article was put out today with a list of the 12 most-losing franchises in all of pro sports. The list was made by taking teams’ winning percentages in the regular season since they became a franchise. Let me clarify this, since this is often a misconception; most-losing franchises is not synonymous with worst franchises. For example, the Tampa Bay Rays are far from being one of the worst franchises in sports. They were in the World Series two years ago, and are in first place in their division this year. Considering that they have only been a franchise for twelve years, that’s not too bad a resume. That brings up another flaw in this list: many of the teams (Columbus Blue Jackets, Charlotte Bobcats, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Rays) were the last franchises to form in their respective leagues. Of course those teams are going to have some of the lower winning percentages. I’ll admit, this list isn’t all that important, but if we’re going to invoke a discussion about the worst teams in pro sports, the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Pirates cannot go unmentioned. Now that they’re mentioned, I’ll put this subject to rest.

I’m not going to give my opinion on what I think about MMA-style fighting in high school because the survey is still being conducted. However, I will put up a new poll for you guys. Check it out in the left corner, and if you haven’t subscribed yet, I think it’s about time! On the left hand side, press “Follow”, and it will come up with some options on how you would like to follow the blog. Thanks everyone.

– K. Becks