MITCH BLATT

While browsing ESPN and SI.com this morning, I noticed ESPN and SI had the same topics for almost all their headlines but ESPN’s headlines were framed in a much more exciting manner.

For example, how do the two sites headline a story about Dwight Freeney tearing a ligament in his ankle.

ESPN headlines his torn ligament:

Source: Freeney has torn ligament in ankle

While SI takes the Colts sources and headlines their denial:

Colts deny Freeney has ligament tear in ankle

When it comes to Rex Ryan flipping the bird, ESPN headlines:

Jets’ Ryan sorry for flipping fans the bird

While SI refers to “flipping the bird” simply as an “obscene gesture.”

At ESPN, Julius Peppers’ agent is “convinced” that Peppers will “leave the Panthers.” At SI, it’s simply a question: “Peppers done with Panthers?”

The final analysis shows that 70% of their headlines are about the same topics. Here are the screenshots:

ESPN

Sports Illustrated

SCOTT JACOBS

Cornell rolled to an Ivy League championship last year.

This year wasn’t nearly as easy.  To claim their fourth NCAA Tournament berth the Big Red just needed a loss from second place Princeton, which fell earlier in the day to Columbia.  Cornell (20-9, 10-3 in Ivy League play) is projected to be a 15 seed in the Midwest region according to our friend and SI Bracketologist Andy Glockner.  Who does Mr. Glocker have them facing?  None other than Duke, which he has as a projected 2 seed.

Last year if you recall, a fiesty and game Belmont squad nearly pushed the number 2 seeded Blue Devils to an epic first round defeat, before flaming out in the waning seconds of an agonizing 71-70 loss.  So does Glockner see history repeating itself should this matchup come to fruition?

“No, this isn’t a very good Cornell team, he said. “Duke should handle them comfortably if that’s the matchup.”

Now the Ivy League conference is interesting in the fact that they award their automatic tourney berth to the winner of the regular season champ.  Most conferences, even one-bid conferences like the Ivy League, put their automatic invite in the hands of a post-season champ, thus making it more likely that some mediocre or less deserving school can come out of nowhere and steal a spot.  I asked Andy if he thought this was fair.  I’d say his answer was pretty straightforward:

“All small conferences should give the auto bid to the regular-season champ,” he said. “Tournaments make no sense in one-bid leagues.”

It’s hard to disagree.  What kind of value does a regular season have for a one bid conference when some undeserving team can get hot and win a few games in a row? I guess that’s the Ivy League’s logic as well.  No wonder they’re the smartest~

Photo: AP

SCOTT JACOBS

Yesterday, I asked the question: where does the NCAA Tournament committe come up with its geopraphical pairings for the first and second rounds?  Quite simply I was baffled that a team like FSU could be slotted in to the East region, yet end in Portland for the first round game, when a location like Miami was also available.  The idea was to provoke a discussion, but who needs that, when you can just get the answer straight from the source.  Yesterday, when I cited the latest tournament projections I linked back to Mr. Glockner’s latest tournament bracket.  Well, apparently he stumbled onto it later in the day, and lo and behold, sent me an email.  Here in it’s entirety is our email exchange.  I think it answers a lot of questions.

Andy Glockner: Stumbled across your entry on the lame georgraphy for the NCAAs. You missed the pivotal point, though. There are only two foursomes that end up in each subregion, and the committee will give precendence to the highest seeds. UNC and Duke are both going to end up in Greensboro, so FSU can’t end up there. Right now, Clemson and Wake are both 3-seeds, so they get regional preference and end up in Miami, so FSU can’t go there.
Likewise, Memphis gets KC, Michigan State gets Minneapolis, etc. The end result is that the leftover teams end up in the West because there are very few highly seeded teams out there. Villanova ends up in Philly because only UConn is ahead of them to end up there.  Memphis can’t play in the South regional, btw. They are the regional host.

Juiced Sports: Thanks for that explanation.  I guess I understand what you’re saying, but my qualm is that it doesn’t seem fair.  I don’t truly understand why Portland would be a location for the East.  That just baffled me. But that makes sense I suppose. I do have a question though:   What did you think of my suggestion that they group the locations like this:

SOUTH (Memphis): Greensboro, Miami
WEST (Glendale): Portland, Boise
MIDWEST (Indianapolis): Dayton, Kansas City
EAST (Boston): Philadelphia, Minneapolis

That seems to make the most sense to me, but there must be a reason that they don’t do that.  Any chance you could clarify the reasons why?

Glockner: The goal is to hook teams up for the first two rounds, and then by geography as possible for the regionals.

Portland has nothing to do with the East regional. They are two distinct events. FSU can be in the East or South, which makes the most sense for the Sweet 16, and still end up in Portland because that’s what’s left over after all the 1s, 2s and 3s get sites closer to them.

Ideally, they would work out similarly to your batching, but that would require a much more equal distribution of high seeds nationally, and that’s simply not the case. If FSU ends up as a 3-seed ahead of Clemson or Wake, they would get Miami. Or if the committee decides that Philly is five inches closer to Winston-Salem, they could put Wake there and screw Nova.

JSB: O wow, okay that’s interesting… I guess it just comes across as misleading when you’ve got teams from the East regional playing in Portland.  But I suppose since there’s a week in between regionals the whole thing becomes moot.  So pretty much the committee does a balancing act of getting the top teams the closest locations, and the others be damned. While at the same time they have to try to to logically give teams that make it to the sweet 16 the closest place to play from their campus.

So while my batching makes sense it’s more complicated because there is a different balance of power, ala: North Carolina, Duke, Pitt, UConn, Wake Forest, etc.  So in other words, if FSU beats Virginia Tech in its final game and then advances to the last round of the ACC Tournament they’ll end up in Miami?

How about Memphis? Are they next in line to get a number one seed should one of the other four falter?  Who’s the closest one seed to being on the verge of being a number two?

Glockner: What you said is more or less correct. They try to do their best with the protected (top-4) seeds, but it doesn’t always work out for everyone because of the different geographic concentrations and the set arena locations.

I think a lot of people are overlooking Duke as a potential No. 1 seed. I don’t think Memphis has the schedule strength or good wins to deserve one, but we’ll see.

Photo: AP by Michael Perez

• Genuine thanks to you all for giving me some of your time. I hope I am able to entertain you with my rapid take on the week that was in the world of sports.

• Tarnished baseball legend Roger Clemens and controversial trainer Brian McNamee met with congressional investigators this past week in preparation for their February 13th hearing on steroids in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Clemens and McNamee have conducted an intense smear campaign against one another designed to discredit and slander the other man’s word before Wednesday’s much-anticipated testimonials. To date, McNamee has dominated the mudslinging war by providing the feds with vials that allegedly contain traces of steroids and human growth hormone, as well as blood-stained syringes and gauze pads that purportedly contain Clemens DNA. For good measure, McNamee reportedly told investigators that he also injected Clemens better-half, Debbie, with HGH before she posed in a bikini alongside her portly husband for a 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition photograph. McNamee preserving the noted evidence could simultaneously be the sketchiest and most pertinent proof since Monica Lewinsky revealed her semen-stained dress and it may be the smoking gun that lands Clemens in a “Federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.” On the positive side for “the Rocket,” he recently shed his frost-tip haircut. That bodes well for the notorious headhunter because such manes are likely very popular behind bars.

• Robert Montgomery Knight, 67, resigned this past week as the Head Coach of Texas Tech University. Knight, who quit on his team with the most career coaching wins in NCAA Division I history (902-371), is renowned for running clean programs (not one of his squads was ever sanctioned for recruiting violations) and graduating the large majority of his players. Regardless of his vast pedigree on the sideline, Knight is a miserable bully whose accomplishments are dwarfed by his hideous behavior and treatment of others. Knight’s callous and offensive statements and actions are innumerable. While coaching the U.S. team at the 1979 Pan American Games, Knight assaulted a Puerto Rican police officer over a dispute regarding a practice facility. In 1993, he kicked his own son Pat in the huddle of a game at Assembly Hall in Indiana leading the Hoosier faithful to jeer their inexplicable “hero.” In an April 1988 interview with Connie Chung, Knight said “I think if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” The mentioned is a very, very brief exemplification of the malevolent individual that Knight really is. Bobby Knight was a great basketball coach. Bobby Knight never was and he never will be a good man. As Kent Harvey said when he was an IU freshman, “Hey, Knight. What’s up?” Luckily for the world of collegiate athletics, “the General” no longer is.

• University of Illinois athletic officials apologized for their fans behavior Thursday night in an 83-79 double overtime loss to arch-rival and 14th-ranked Indiana (19-3, 8-1) and their superstar turncoat Eric Gordon, 19. Gordon, a freshman guard who reneged on a verbal commitment to play for the Illini in late-2005, endured some of the vilest treatment since William Wallace meet his English executioners toward the end of Braveheart. Despite the hostile road environment and his shoddy play early, Gordon scored 18 second-half points to lead the Hoosiers to a colossal Big Ten victory. A crucial win like this is yet another reason to believe that the month of March will be very kind to the Hoosiers and don’t be surprised if Kelvin Sampson’s crew is singing “One Shining Moment” come April.

• Former WBO Heavyweight Champion Tommy “the Duke” Morrison (47-3-1), 39, who tested positive for the HIV virus in 1996, is scheduled to fight Matt Weishaar Saturday night on a Top Rank-promoted pay-per-view card in Leon, Mexico. The Association of Boxing Commissions is urging Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler to mandate a blood test despite the fact that Mexico does not require them for fighters. The deadly HIV virus, which can not be cured, is transmitted via infected blood, semen and vaginal fluid. Boxing is a blood sport. No matter how minimal the chances are of acquiring the HIV virus in the ring, it is categorically insane to even contemplate putting the Rocky V star in a bout.

• The Miami Heat sent iconic center Shaquille O’Neal, 35, to the Phoenix Suns this week in exchange for 4-time all star forward Shawn Marion, 29, and Marcus Banks. Many hardwood pundits think that the Suns banged the pooch with their decision to acquire the aging and fragile big man. I am not one of those pundits. Granted, the Phoenix Suns have been one of the elite teams in the NBA for years and their fast-paced offense is a thing of beautiful production. But, they have never been able to get over the proverbial hump and there is nothing to indicate that they would have this year without making a transaction of some genuine magnitude. The acquisition of Shaq will grant Amare Stoudemire with great protection down-low and I believe the Suns, being led by two-time MVP playmaker Steve Nash, will create serious match-up issues for every team that they meet from this point on. The Suns couldn’t win it all without Shaq. Now we’ll find out if Phoenix will rise to championship glory with Superman on its side.

• New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury, 30, will miss the remainder of the season because of complications he’s encountered from ankle surgery he underwent 3-weeks ago. With Marbury on the sideline indefinitely, the Knickerbockers quest for a championship is in grave jeopardy. Ha!!

• After drinking like Mickey Rourke’s character in Barfly, my friends and I began to discuss the male soap opera that was formerly known as the WWF. During the bender, a fascinating question was broached by my friend, Latroy. Latroy wondered who was the most prominent and important grappler among the trio of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. I entirely realize that I’m probably going to get a great deal of flack on my comment board for writing about a topic that many find to be such a reprehensible waste. But, if there is anyone with love for 80’s squared circle action, your feedback would be appreciated.

• Thanks again for providing me with some of your time. Without your readership, I’d have no reason to write.