Weekend Recap brought to you by the #Daytona500
Well, after taking the weekend off to focus on a job that actually pays money, I’ve put quite a bit of thought into what I could write about. I’ve watched all of the Daytona 500, including that incredibly awesome fire that Juan Pablo Montoya caused (and subsequently all of the Red Flag coverage). Tomorrow, I’ve got a few posts planned (that I’ll actually write tonight after the race) that should make you cock your head and smile. Maybe. Haven’t looked at stats yet.
Let’s recap the weekend that was in Cleveland Sports:
Friday:
- The NBA All-Star game was this weekend, and Cavs guard Kyrie Irving was named MVP of the BBVA
Compass BowlRising Stars Challenge. Kyrie had eight 3-pointers and finished with 34 points, helping Team Chuck beat Team Shaq 146-133. - News leaked out that Browns GM Tom Heckert won’t attend the NFL Combine in Indianapolis because of an unspecified medical issue.
Saturday:
- Cleveland State locked up a 2 seed in the Horizon League tournament with a 77-55 win over Wright State.
- The worst NBA Dunk Contest I have ever seen took place in Orlando… Derrick Williams is still trying to complete his final dunk.
- Tribe closer Chris Perez is out 4-6 weeks with a strained oblique
- The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired defenseman Jack Johnson and a first-round pick from the Los Angeles Kings. But the best part of the deal might have been what the Jackets gave up, center Jeff Carter and his 10-year contract. Carter was a malcontent in Columbus, unhappy from the moment he was traded from Philadelphia to Columbus on the eve of the 2011 NHL entry draft.
- The NBA All- Star game ended in dramatic fashion… #6 had a chance to win it in the clutch, but instead tried passing and turned the ball over. #trollface
- News broke out that Browns GM Tom Heckert underwent heart surgery last week, which is a perfectly good excuse to miss the NFL Combine.
- The Blue Jackets are unable to deal Rick Nash. I’m not even going to pretend like I know if he’s any good- although reports I’ve read suggest that he is one of the most valued players in the league.
- Country Folks across America scratch their heads when Brad Kesslowski sent a tweet from the track of the Daytona 500, leading them to ask “What is a Twitter?” and thereby running to their nearest dial-up connection and sign up and follow him. He gained 50,000 followers in an hour. No, I’m serious.
Gary Waters: Brown “will play on Saturday”
courtesy cbssports.com
Well, that’s damn good news for a Cleveland State team that is certainly trying to dig themselves out of a hole lately.
Now I can yell DAUNDRAAAAYYYYYY at the top of my lungs.
Cleveland State Ends Drought, Beats Detroit
Tonight was a rare occasion. I was in class, as usual and I decide to check Twitter on my laptop. I see a tweet from Cleveland State Athletics Department saying something about a LIVE STREAM of the CSU/ Detroit game and my heart sinks. This is too good to be true. I’m in a 2 hour and 45 minute class with arguably the most boring teacher on the planet yapping about health insurance and god knows what, and the basketball Gods send me a divine gift from the cloudy heavenness that Pete resides on and the stream actually works.
I tuned in at about halftime, and I’m excited. The teacher can tell I’ve obviously lost interest in whatever the hell he was talking about because he calls on me to fill in the blank with whatever he’s talking about and I say “I don’t know. I wasn’t listening” and look back down at my screen. The game finally comes on and it looks dead up like a 1990’s TV feed. All pixellated and whatnot… just abysmal. But, I did get a good look at J-Mo’s beard (it’s Rick Ross-esque) and I got to see CSU tie the game up twice but always screw up when they had a chance at the lead.
Then, as if it were the EXACT opposite of what I wanted to happen, the teacher lets the class out 25 minutes early and I miss the last 15 minutes of the game. It was heartbreaking.
CSU beat Detroit 77-64, and Marlin Manson (god, it is still really hard not to type “Marylin Manson” chimed in 15 points to compliment Trey Harmon’s 16, Charles Lee’s 12 and Aaron Pogue’s 10. Pretty balanced scoring. CSU shot 48% from FG and held Detroit to a staggering 28%. CSU also shot 35% on 5-14 shooting from 3 and held Detroit to 33% on5-15.
That being said, here are a few notes of the game I collected:
- J-Mo’s beard is awesome.
- CSU can’t fill up an arena very well (Pete told me that they put up a picture of a crowd in the end zones so it looks like they have a packed house. Can anyone confirm this?)
- With D’AUNDRAAAYYYY out, this team doesn’t have many options on offense and it usually leads to a turnover.
- Same on defense, they don’t have anyone really long and athletic so it’s easy for teams to get backdoor cuts/ drive the lane.
- Live tweeting (even if for a few minutes) is really fun.
Before the game, I started to compile a list of grievances I had with the team. They go a little something like this (it was saved as a draft because I wanted to focus on the game):
“The Vikings have lost 5 straight to Valpo, Butler, Milwaukee, Drexel, and Green Bay. They’ve fallen from being projected as a #9 seed in the NCAA Tournament to being projected to miss not only the NCAA field but the NIT also. StatSheet.com has them projected to be a #2 seed in the CBI (College Basketball Invitational). This has been quite a whirlwind season for the Vikings, starting out 11-0 with a HUGE win over Vanderbilt to start the season.”
… and that’s it. That’s all I had.
The win ends Cleveland State’s 5 game losing streak and puts them at 21-9 on the season, with a record that should keep them out of the tournament.
Wheels Up!
Good morning, sleepy heads! Rise and shine! I’m on my way to Cleveland with David to enjoy a weekend of podcasting and general debauchery with he and Peter. Peter, if you read this… post something. The well of posts is running dry. Replinish it! If anyone is interested in our trip (codename: #blogsohard roadtrip), follow me on Twitter. @white_millz
RT, PLZ?????
Sorry 4 The Wait
On behalf of Pete and myself, we apologize for the distance between posts. Things happen. I’m not saying anything happened in our lives… but we’re both college students who work particularly demanding jobs at a Home Improvement retailer that emphasizes the color orange. That being said, let’s get caught up on what we’ve missed throughout our absence. Before you take my hand and embark on a journey that is/ was the past 3 days in Cleveland sports… click ‘play’ on this video and just listen as you read. It’ll make things more romantic… or just creepy as shit.
…and the crazy thing is… I actually like that song. Yikes.
The noteworthy news of the weekend:
- Anderson Varejao fractured his wrist. This is particularly bad news for the Cavs because he was playing some insane basketball at the time, racking up double doubles like Conway Twitty racks up the ladies (see what I did there?) From what I’ve heard, a timetable has not been set for a return. ANTHONY DAVIS, HERE WE COME!
- Cleveland State has hit a 3 game skid, starting with an 18 point loss to Valpo at home (59-41), a buzzer beater from Butler at the Wolstein Center 52-49, and another buzzer beater tonight at Milwaukee in OT 86-84. I wish I could get to watch this team, because it has seemed to be a tale of two seasons for the Vikings.
- Delonte West likes chicken.
- The Cavs lost to Milwaukee Friday night 113-112 in OT in a game which I can neither confirm nor deny that Pete attended. They also lost to Philly 94-88 Saturday night, bringing them to a 10-16 record (which I am not ashamed to say I did NOT expect at the beginning of the season)
- The Tribe signed Asdrubal Cabrera to a 1 year contract, avoiding arbitration.
- Ohio State’s 39 game home winning streak was snapped on Saturday by Michigan State, 58-48. Impressive win for Tom Izzo’s Spartans. Holding a top 5 team to 48 points is VERY impressive. It always seems like Tom Izzo teams suck in the early going but start to do well in the latter parts of the season.
- Ohio State beat Minnesota tonight, 78-68… thus crushing any hope that I had in my heart that Tubby Smith could be successful elsewhere. Buford had 24 points, 5 assists, and 8 rebounds and Sullinger had 23 and 8 on 10-12 free throw shooting.
- The Louisville Cardinals have created their own hashtag. #L1C4 is real, people. Better get your respirators… because it is spreading QUICKLY.
- It’s official. I have gone Linsane.
- I have an app on my phone that allows me to count down the seconds until Twitterless David and I arrive in Cleveland. As of 1:00am on February 15,2012… the seconds count stands at 298,795.
Follow me on Twitter so you can read my highly irrelevant tweets that primarily troll on casual fans of sports. @White_Millz
Cleveland State gets pounded by Valparaiso
Cleveland State guard Trey Harmon tries unsuccessfully to score late in the first half Thursday night
In what was clearly their most important game of the season, the Cleveland State Vikings (20-5, 10-3 Horizon) laid an enormous turd last night at the Wolstein Center. Facing Valparaiso (18-8, 11-3 Horizon) for the top spot in the Horizon League, the Vikings hyped the game up as their biggest of the season, and certainly their most noteworthy game since toppling then-#5-ranked Vanderbilt back in November. The Vikes lost 59-41, in a thoroughly demoralizing fashion.
Adding further… injury… to injury (?), it appears that Cleveland State senior forward DAAUUUUNDRAAAYYY Brown will miss significant time after suffering a groin injury early in the first half of the game.
Cleveland State will face Butler (14-12, 8-6 Horizon) at the Wolstein Center at 11:00am on Saturday, a game that will be featured on ESPN2, and is expected to draw the largest crowd of the season. It will serve as the Vikings closest shot at redemption, and a victory would allow them to remain just a half-game back behind Valparaiso in the Horizon League standings.
It’s Officially Basketball Season.
This picture is the devil.
If you’re like me, you hate Duke and North Carolina. Also, if you’re like me you love to snuggle in with your favorite soda (whaddup, Ale-8?) and have your eyeballs glued to the TV if a game is close and if it’s not… well then you put your TV on “HDMI-2” setting and fire up some NHL 2010 and play as the Blue Jackets and beat the Red Wings. Okay, so maybe you’re not like me. A lot of America isn’t. Last night marked the beginning of basketball season… post Superbowl, post football… no other sport going on. Although ESPN tried to spark the fire on Monday with Kentucky and Florida (it was beautiful), the Duke and North Carolina game last night threw a gas can on the kindling. As much as I hate Duke and North Carolina (again, I’m a Kentucky fan) the ending to that game is what gets America tuned in to watch twenty-somethings battle it out on National Television. That being said, let me give you a few quick hitting notes and things for you to tune into this week in the realm that is the greatest sport played on hardwood:
- Former Cleveland State guard Norris Cole got his first NBA start last night against the Magic, playing 31 minutes and adding 9 points and 4 assists. Considering the amount of talent he is surrounded by, 9 points is pretty damn good but the 4 assists is a tad disappointing. Not bad for a rookie who is playing with LeBron, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Mario Chalmers.
- Sticking with Cleveland State, the Vikings take on Valpo tonight at the Wolstein Center, leading to a hashtag on Twitter which probably won’t get much attention. #BeatValpo
- The Cavs played the Clippers last night in the first game of the post- Chauncey Billups era, beating them 99-92. What’s encouraging is that the Cavs won without Kyrie Irving, who was a late scratch because of a concussion. Antawn Jamison racked up 25 points and 9 rebounds, proving that much like the old guy at the rec center… don’t count him out. He did allow the Albino assassin to get 25 and 15. If you listened to the Podcast (look below this post), the man David calls Anderson Varejew continued his impressive stretch of games by nabbing 15 points and 11 rebounds. Ramon Sessions threw in 24 points, 2 rebounds, and 13 assists. So now we’ve got two guys playing the best basketball of their lives. That is phenomenal.
In case you don’t know what you should be watching on TV this week (especially if you don’t live in the Cleveland area and you can’t watch the Cavs games), here are the highlights of what you should be watching basketball- wise:
- Thursday 2/9: Ole Miss @ Mississippi State (7pm, ESPN2):
There’s not much to watch tonight… but if I didn’t have a 6pm-8:45pm class, I’d be watching this one. Mississippi State is a team that could beat Kentucky when the Wildcats travel to Starkville on the 21st. I’m not saying that Kentucky will lose, but if Kentucky is going to struggle, look for them to struggle on Saturday (at Vanderbilt), on the 21st (at Miss. St) and March 4th (at Florida).
Also, the Celtics play the Lakers on TNT
Ole Miss 62, Mississippi State 75
- Friday 2/10: No noteable matchups.
Well, this sucks. There’s nothing on TV that is worth watching unless you want to watch the Horizon League matchup between Green Bay and Wright State on ESPN3 at 9pm. My internet is too slow to watch ESPN3, so I guess I’m lucky that I have to work that night.
- Saturday 2/11: Kentucky @ Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt has sucked this year (but Cleveland State still beat ’em!), and when Kentucky steps in the building, everyone’s ears perk up and their hearts race. If you haven’t seen Vanderbilt’s gym… it’s like an airplane hangar. What makes it weird is that the benches are behind the baskets instead of along the sidelines… and I hate watching games games there because I love to watch the coaches’ reactions to particular things and when games are at Vanderbilt… I just can’t do it. Why would you want to miss this?:
why would you want to miss this?!
Kentucky 75, Vanderbilt 68
- 2/9 Michigan State at Ohio State
It’s time to see if Tom Izzo’s Spartans can assert themselves into the top 10 and to see if Thad Matta’s Buckeyes can win a game they’re supposed to. I don’t know if, as a Kentucky fan, there is a team I am more afraid of than Ohio State. Aaron Craft and Jared Sullinger are two elite players that could give Kentucky some fits.
Michigan State 64, Ohio State 78
Also, a great photoshop of what happened last night… (h/t kentuckysportsradio.com)
News and Notes- February 4, 2012
Good evening, my friends. How was your Friday night? You did WHAT?! I can’t believe that… it’s absurd! What did I do? Oh, not much. Ate some Mexican food, went to a movie. With a girl? Nah, I went with some buddies. We saw Chronicles… it was okay. The ending sucked. Also, I’m not a huge fan of the “let’s make a movie using camcorders from Best Buy” way of filming movies such as Cloverfield. They make me sick to my stomach and give me a headache. Oh, well.
Let’s get on to the news from Friday:
Cleveland State Beats Loyola of Chicago, 65-47
Jeremy Montgomery scored 16 points and Cleveland State shot 68 percent Friday night in a 65-47 victory over Loyola of Chicago. The win puts the Vikings at 19-4 on the season, and I’ll be honest… I’d love to see this team matchup with Murray State. I wish they got paired up for BracketBusters, it would be the biggest mid- major college basketball game of the year. I can see it now- the Horizon League/ OVC challenge. Take, THAT, Big East/ SEC challenge! (ESPN…. Get on that!!!)
courtesy of http://www.cbssports.com
Cavs lose to Orlando, 102-94
Dwight Howard flirted with a triple double (19 points,16 rebounds and 8 blocks) and Kyrie Irving had 18 points and 6 assists as the Cavs have dropped three of their last four and continue to do little things that make us all cock our heads and say “hey, at least they’re getting better”. While simultaneously scratching our heads and wondering why a team loaded with all star talent like Omri Casspi, Samardo Samuels, and Semih Erden can’t scatch back and win. The Cavs had 41 points in the fourth quarter, but the Magic just held on for dear life. Oh, and by the way: everyone’s favorite child (Glen Davis) was suspended for two games for “detrimental to the team”. According to cbssports.com:
“Van Gundy acknowledged before the game that he and Davis were involved in a verbal incident during the morning walkthrough, but said nothing physical took place. He didn’t elaborate further, though added he said he didn’t expect the suspension to go beyond two games.”
What is the NBA going to do without Big Baby Davis? SMH.
And something no one expected coming…
Derick Brassard celebrates his game winning goal.... courtesy of http://www.cbssports.com
The Columbus Blue Jackets end a 6 game skid:
As part of my ever-growing effort to understand just about every sport (sans Cricket), I have tried to follow hockey. I even bought an NHL video game and subscribed to the Blue Jackets’ alerts on my ScoreCenter app. The Blue Jackets ended their 6 game losing streak against the Anaheim Ducks in a come from behind victory in overtime as Derick Brassard scored his second goal of the game with 1:02 left in overtime.
Also, if someone can help me understand hockey… it would be greatly appreciated.
That’s about it for tonight. Being as it is shortly after 1 am and I have to be at work at 9 am… I’d say it’s about time to turn it in for the evening.
Sleep tight, don’t let Dan Gilbert send you an angry, hastily written letter in Comic Sans.
I’ll leave you with this:
Yeah, dude. #blogsohard
Wrapping Up the Past Twelve Days…
Good evening, folks! It’s been a while, no? Have you lost weight? Got a haircut? Gained weight? None of the above? Maybe you just got uglier… that happens some times, yano?
Well, after a few weeks of school and work, it’s nice to be back. I’ll be happy to report that David, a buddy of mine, and myself will be making our way up to the land of the Vikings on February 18th through the 21st. It’s going to be AWESOME. We’re gonna eat at Melt, go to a Cavs game, sneak into the Wolstein Center and just generally cause douchebaggerish chaos the whole weekend. Hope to see you there!
Well, it’s been a while since we saw each other last, so why don’t we get back up to speed?
- CSU wins AT Butler
- The first game for CSU I’ve actually been able to watch all year, I was pleased to see that this CSU team is VERY GOOD. Especially in transition. The play of Jeremy Montgomery is VERY underrated and he is what gets this team going.
- I love to watch this team on D. Especially when it leads to buckets in transition. Which leads me to this:
- I don’t know that I’ve seen a better team in transition all year than Cleveland State. Watching Jeremy Montgomery facilitate the ball to DAUNDRAAAYYYYYY is something that I could do all day long, and I mean that with 100% seriousness.
- DAUNDRAAAAYYYYYY is a quiet force for this team. He doesn’t put up mind boggling numbers, but he is the backbone of this team and you can always rely on him when you need somebody “to leeeeaaaaaaan on”.
- Kentucky wins AT Tennessee, wins against Alabama @ Rupp
- This Kentucky team is GOOD.
- Anthony Davis is REALLY GOOD.
- If you’re reading this, you’re probably in it for the CSU analysis and you don’t care about UK, so I’ll stop there.
- CSU beats Milwaukee
- The win gives CSU 1st place in the Horizon League. BEAUTIFUL.
- CSU beat the spread by 20.5 points. That makes the 8th time this season the Vikings have beat the spread.
- The Vikings set season highs for field goal percentage and assists.
After those quick hitting notes, David (the dude mentioned in the Cleveland trip above) mentioned that on tonight’s Kentucky game at Georgia, Jimmy Dykes said to pencil in CSU as a Final Four team… along with Kentucky. If that happens… I will cry myself to sleep. I don’t want that to happen. But, I don’t think that this team is a Final Four team. I think that they’re a legit sweet sixteen team and MAYBE an Elite Eight/ Final Four team if they get a really good draw.
Also, I don’t see how CSU isn’t ranked. I would bet money that if CSU played Duke, they’d either beat them or play them VERY tight. Actually, I guarantee it.
Also, I have been inducted as a fan of the Cleveland Indians (per @peterfenn). How about Fausto Roberto Carmona Hernandez Heredia? That is just stupid. For those of you don’t know, Fausto Carmona was arrested in the Dominican Republic for using the alias Fausto Carmona (which as you can tell is NOT his real name). He is also three years older than he claims, and the only reason he was arrested was because he didn’t pay the REAL Fausto Carmona’s family to use his information to stay legal in the United States. It’s just ridiculous. But, that being said, THIS IS THE YEAR!
One last thing before I start on this accounting homework… check out these pictures from Kentucky’s game tonight at Georgia… they’re just plain funny:
and now the best of the bunch……… “the painting was a gift, Todd. I’m keeping it.”
CSU @ Butler on ESPNU tomorrow
Cleveland State plays tomorrow against Butler on ESPNU. Get your popcorn ready! DAUNDRAAAYYYY is gonna explode!
Cleveland State of Mind 