Desperation in College Park

Lots of topics but so little time - or space.  But after watching Carolina defend the ACC's honor on Saturday, I feel compelled to jump start my blogging with Maryland's short-sighted decision to leave the ACC for the Big 10.  

The decision to leave speaks more to desperation even more than it points to money.

The athletic department at Maryland's flagship university has faced severe budget cuts recently, and drastically decided to cut seven Olympic sports in the last year. Cuts included core collegian sports like swimming and track and field. 

The school had hoped that football and basketball would pay the freight for the rest of their athletic department - as it does at the other ACC schools - and expanded the capacity of Byrd Stadium as part of that plan. But those new seats stayed empty even as now-fired Ralph Freidgen reinvigorated the football program.  At the same time, the men's basketball team oddly slid into mediocrity in the wake of the 2002 National Championship, stopped going to the NCAA tourney every year, and as a result attendance - and revenue - dropped.

Much of the cash that did come in was mismanaged, sports were dropped, and the solution was seen as a conference with its own TV network in the Big 10.

Maryland may make more money from the Big 10 Network, but don't forget the ACC has its own network - at least when it comes to basketball.  It's called ESPN, so the TV money will likely be a wash.

But back to mismanagement and the ill-fated decision to expand Byrd Stadium.  Where Maryland will make money is selling out their stadium but with Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan alums instead of Terps fans. The athletic department is probably happy to trade schools like Wake, Duke, BC, and Miami with schools that have large alumni fan bases in DC. Or ones that have fans that travel; the ACC arguably only has one football program with fans who will go anywhere, and that's Virginia Tech.

In that regard, the Terps are replaying a sad and common refrain sung by other DC-area teams - "come watch the other team." The Wizards have done that for years, alienating a grassroots basketball community so much that a recent survey of local sports fans found the Lakers as popular as our hometown team.  For years the Nats did the same, courting Phillies fans to come to DC until a noticeable fan backlash, and an infusion of talent, stopped that noxious ticket-selling strategy.

Unfortunately, instead of getting more competitive – at least in football - Maryland decided to desperately chase the equivalent of Phillies fans to balance the books at the athletic department.  Disapponting and desperate.

A few more Maryland notes:

• Maryland the university and STATE belong in the ACC. The university was a charter member, but culturally and geographically the state is an ACC state. Like Virginia,  the Carolinas, and Georgia it has a tidal coast on one end with mountains at the other. It's early economy was dominated by tobacco (and slavery). It shares the same weather and many of the same demographics as its fellow south of the Mason-Dixon Line brethren.  Now the Free State is mixed up with states like Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota (all great places to play football in October and November).  Good luck recruiting Florida and the southeast!
• Fans of Terps football should get used to winning only 2 to 5 games a year in perpetuity. Why would any player play football there? Maryland could - and did - compete for ACC championships even after FSU and Miami joined.  But does anyone think the Terps will ever compete with Ohio State or Michigan or anyone in football?
• Don't expect basketball to benefit either. Big 10 basketball is NOT as glamorous as the ACC. And big time recruits from the east will likely stay in the area to play at Carolina, Duke, UConn or Syracuse. And why would big-time recruits from Chicago or the Midwest pick Maryland over Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio State or other regional powers?
• Finally, Maryland has become a big time soccer school, for both men's and women's teams. Outside of Indiana, the Big 10 stinks regarding the world’s most popular sport, while the ACC excels.  
• Other than those reasons it's a great move!

Republican Paradise?

One reason most Greek-Americans will likely vote for Barack Obama – again I might add; most surveys from 2008 showed more than 60 percent of Greek-Americans voted for Obama - is the way Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Republicans everywhere compare the Obama Administration’s spending and economic policies to the current crisis in the motherland.

“If the President gets reelected we’ll end up like Greece” they shriek (of course, many of us still think some things in Greece are worthy of emulation, but that’s another matter).

But modern Greece should look like a paradise to Republicans, especially ones like Paul Ryan who idolize Ayn Rand.

As you know, Rand’s central philosophy was that enlightened selfishness and hyper individualism was the best way to build a modern society, and she rejected collective - especially government - action and programs. 

In Rand’s idealized society, it’s every man for himself. Do not help others; they will eventually crawl their way out of the mire, or perish (either way, taxes stay low!).  Small government, anti-tax Republicans love her - even though she was an atheist.

So to the modern Republican Party, ‘Greece’ is shorthand for ‘bad’ and ‘failure’ and Rand is simply fantastic.

But the current situation in Greece is as much a failure of Ayn Rand-like thinking as it is a failure of an over-leveraged nation state.

In Greece, the political and economic elites have always operated under Rand’s central principle of every man for himself.  Consider:

 

• Wealthy Greeks do NOT pay their taxes.  Republicans don’t want to pay taxes, so they’d love Greece.  
• Greek elites such as judges, politicians and regulators always put themselves and their economic self-interest above all else. That’s why bribes are a way of life in Greece. Bribes are seen as a way of increasing your individual wealth rather than seen as weakening the public’s confidence in the nation state or government institutions and accountability.  I got to get mine! Who needs public confidence in the nation state anyway?  Not Republicans. Once again, for the GOP Greece should be the word. 
• Instead of hiring legal, Greek workers, economic elites love to hire and rip off illegal aliens.  Hiring illegal aliens and paying them in cash, off the books and without receipts epitomizes enlightened selfishness. Why pay someone legally, pay taxes and fees on income, or contribute to building a Greek middle class by using union labor when I can save money by hiring (and intimidating) an illegal alien who will work for peanuts?  The bottom line is more important to Ayn Rand Republicans - and Greek business leaders - that building a middle class or certainly unions. 

Those are just 3 examples of why crisis-ridden Greece is a Republican paradise - and the main reasons why Greece is in such trouble.  Maybe the insults will stop. 

Or worse! Maybe folks like Paul Ryan will move to this unbeknown Randian paradise know as modern Greece.

Guns and Cynicism: Two Strains of Anti-Americanism

Today’s most recent outrage involving guns reminds me of one of the greatest ironies in contemporary American life: gun owners claim to be the most patriotic citizens in our nation.

But nothing could be farther from the truth. Only loving one of the Bill of Rights does not make you a patriot, it makes you a cynic - and it makes you un-American.

Here’s why.

One, a functioning democracy is based on trust. Americans trust their fellow citizens to collectively pick our leaders and decision makers every two to four years.  But you have to trust you fellow Americans with that power and authority.

Two, America is an act of faith.  Faith in people’s better nature, faith in your fellow citizens’ ability to choose good leaders, faith that if you work hard you will get ahead no matter where you started.  More importantly, faith that the shared values enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and our laws – as opposed to an Old World shared blood, ethnicity or religion – and institutions will result in the kind of society where everyone’s rights are protected and you can enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

Owning a gun conflicts with both trust and faith (let alone life and happiness). 

Gun owners do not trust their fellow citizens with their own safety. They justify gun ownership, at least hand gun ownership, with the paranoia that they could be attacked by their fellow citizens AT ANY TIME. 

If you don’t trust someone with your day-to-day wellbeing and safety, why would you trust them with the vote or any profound decision making? 

On faith, gun owners have absolutely no faith in American society, ideals and institutions. In addition to needing a gun to protect themselves from their neighbors, gun owners argue that they need protection from the government or other large forces (usually the UN, not Exxon or Monsanto).  Do they really have so little faith in U.S. laws, courts, the press, citizens groups – let alone their elected officials – that their only recourse is to arm themselves?  Are they that cynical about our democratic institutions that they think our elected officials or decision makers are capricious dictators - or kings or despots - who will eventually attack or arrest them?

Institutions like the police or military have often stumbled in our republic’s history; ask any African or Native American.  But in 21^st century America our institutions and democracy are strong, and can be trusted. That’s why gun ownership should be limited to law enforcement and the military; that’s what a mature democracy would look like.

Obviously, especially now with Obama, many right-wing nuts who love guns more than Jesus – who was against violence in any form, by the way – or money no longer think that we have a democracy or rights. 

They have absolutely no faith or trust in America.  Their cynicism toward their country is both sickening and too often deadly.  And it is un-American. 

6 great minutes

For six minutes on Friday, the world seemed back in balance.  After George Samaras tied Greece's game versus Germany in the EURO 2012 championships in the 55th minute - on a beautiful pass from Dimitri Salpingidis - it was as if Ellas was finally able to draw on some of it's civilization equity to make things even with the EU, European Central Bank and the IMF (AKA the troika).


We owe you billions in bailout money, you owe us for inventing most of what makes up modern western society.  Let's call it even, 1 to 1.


Then stubborn reality showed up in the form of a blizzard of goals from Germany, and all of a sudden it was 1453 again.  After overachieving, we lost Constantinople and the football game 4 to 2. 


Germany is very, very good.  They made great passes and were aggressive the entire game.  Ellas was on her heels most of the game, yet resiliently stayed in the EURO longer than anyone expected. 


Of course, the country looks likely to stay in the euro zone longer than expected, too.  All the hand wringing leading up to last weekend's election proved to be nothing more than that.  The Greek electorate was pretty mature (something you can't say about our electorate, at least in 2010) and elected enough members of parliament from the 3 'stay in the euro zone' parties - New Democracy, PASOK, and the Coalition of the Democratic Left - to form a new coalition government and ease fears that the motherland would leave the common European currency.


Much like the performance of our football team, the elections turned out as well as could have been expected. Though Greeks elected a pro-euro coalition into power, almost 60 percent of the electorate voted for anti-bailout parties. That number gives the new government some leverage to renegotiate the terms of the bailout with the troika.


With Merkel stubbornly opposing euro bonds or a EU stimulus package, Greece's best hope for economic recovery is a renegotiated debt repayment schedule. One reason so many Greeks voted for Syriza (the Radical Coalition of Leftist Parties) and other anti-bailout parties is the accurate assessment that Germany and the European Central Bank are more concerned with repaying loans to German banks then in helping Greece out of it's current crisis.  


Of course, that perception helped make the Germany-Greece football match so news worthy and prominent on front pages - not just sports pages - around the world. 


The Ethniki played hard and well in advancing to the elite 8 of the European championships.  Let's hope their play shows Greeks what can happen when the nation rallies together and thus inspires Greeks to pay their taxes and keep their heads up as they face the crisis. 


Let's also hope the elections inspire the troika to cut Ellas some slack and renegotiate our debt repayment schedule.  


After all, the Germans scored 4 goals to our 2 - how much more do they want?


And don't forget, for six minutes everything was in balance with our contributions off-setting our debt.  Zito H Ellas!


A few more EURO 2012 notes:

• What are the odds that 3 days after Antonis Samaras is inaugurated as prime minister that George Samaras scores our game-tying goal? Big week for Ellas and that sir name.
• Though the game was not really THAT close, would have loved to see what would have happened if suspended Greek captain George Karagounis had played against Germany.  Tough way for him to go out.  At 35 you have to wonder if he will play for Greece again even if Ellas does qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
• Sports is always full of 'what ifs.' For Greece, hard NOT to wonder what would have happened if Karagounis had converted that penalty kick versus Poland.  If Ellas wins that game we play Portugal instead of Germany, a team we defeated twice in Lisbon on our way to the 2004 European championship. Tι εάν ...
• I'll blog about this later, but congrats to Labron James and the Heat.  I'm not a big fan of Dwayne Wade and strongly dislike Pat Riley, but James is clearly the best hoopster on the planet, worked hard after last year's humbling loss to Dallas, and Miami was the best team.  The decision show and the stupid and preening celebration with Wade and Chris Bosh will always be viewed as huge, ego-driven mistakes. However, James learned from those mistakes. Isn't that the point of life?  Congrats to him.

Greek voters may decide world economy's future

"Greek voters may decide world economy's future."  That's the headline, on page A15, for one of the Washington Post's 3 articles on today's Greek elections.

For most peoples, that headline would be a bit intimidating.  But Greek voters have decided the fate of the world's future before. We did it at Thermopylae, at Marathon, at Guagamela.  We were the first nation to defeat the Axis Powers in World War II.*  We established three of the greatest cities of all time in Athens, Constantinople and Alexandria.  

We may even smite Germany in soccer this week.

Bring it on.

Like many Greek-Americans, I have gone through bouts of hand wringing in anticipation of today's vote (which, by the way, will likely be inconclusive).  

I don't like the idea that New Democracy, the centrist party seen as the counterbalance to the leftist Syriza, winning today.  They are the heirs to George Bush in Greek politics; they cooked the books and lied to the EU about Greece's debt and ran the country into the ground, leaving a mess for Barack Obama/PASOK (the traditional Greek left party) to clean up.  Voting for them would be like rewarding Mitt Romney with the presidency in November so he can do what Bush 41 did to the economy: tax breaks for the wealthy and no regulation of our criminal financial sector. 

But my loathing of New Democracy is not the main reason I hope Syriza wins today.  No, after much internal debate I actively hope Syriza wins so that finally, a political party and more importantly a people will stand up to the barbarians (AGAIN in the case of Greece) and say NO to austerity.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras wants to keep Greece in the euro zone, but he - and the battered Greek people - also want the troika of the European Central Bank, World Bank and IMF to compromise and give Greece a better deal.  

[Syriza will also - and finally - start collecting more taxes from wealthy Greeks, a huge part of the problem with the nation's financial crisis.] 

Most Greeks believe, and liberal economists such as Paul Krugman agree, that the current bailout deal has mainly helped German banks recoup their money.  However, the bailout and debt repayment schedule has NOT helped Greece's economy grow.  It has devastated the Greek health care system and shaken Greek civic society and even bruised the arrogant Greek psyche.  

Austerity and only caring about paying back your debts is not a successful program for any nation, as the U.S. can attest, and does not lead to growth.

How Greek voters react today will beg the big question for Angela Merkel and Germany.  It's time to act like a responsible nation, but will they? The Germans fashioned the current monetary union for Europe - and have benefitted like no other nation on the continent.  

If Syriza wins and forms a government, Germany will be asked: do they care more about Europe?  Or do they, and Merkel, mainly care about protecting German banks from their willfully-made bad investments?  

The Germans should compromise, and renegotiate Greece's debt repayment, if they are serious about the euro and saving Europe.  Doing so would go a long way in deciding the fate of the world's economy.  It can't always be the Greeks!

But as has often happened in our planet's history, the Greeks will have to decide the world's future one more time, in this instance by rejecting austerity today.

If it weren't for bad luck

Sometimes a person, but in this case an entire country, simply can not catch a break, has absolutely no luck.  


That's true of the Greek state, a nation battered by bad leadership, bad economic problems - and even worse solutions.


Sports is one potential reprieve.  But whereas Friday's spirited fight and 1-1 tie with Poland was inspirational, today's depressing defeat to the Czech Republic was just 'throw up your hands' sad. 


What more can happen to the motherland?  We came out sloppy on defense, victim to a new back line made up of transplanted midfielders and a new goalie. The Czechs immediately took advantage of Greece's awkward back line to score two quick goals within the first seven minutes (a EURO record, BTW).


Our back line was weak, our goal keeper Halkias even weaker. The second goal in particular simply and sloppily squirted right past him.  Bad luck defense, bad goal keeping.


Like they did versus Poland, things proceeded to get a little worse. With five minutes left in the first half Ellas scored, but the goal was negated by another bad call - this time a terrible offsides call.  It's soccer's worst and most inconsistently called rule, and it stung the inventors of civilization today.


Greece did admirably fight back in the second half, and Fanis Gekas punched in a misplayed ball by Czech goalie Peter Cheh to cut the lead in half early in the second period. Despite outplaying the Czech Republic squad for the final 50 minutes Greece could get no closer, and lost a crucial game today.


All is not lost.  If Greece manages to defeat Russia and if the Czechs defeat the Poles the motherland could advance to the knock out round.


Greece miraculously won EURO 2004; no one expects a repeat of that improbably championship. However, it would be nice to see Greece win a game or two, or at least not run into so much bad luck, bad goal keeping, and tough calls from the refs.   But I guess when you are on a country-wide losing streak, complete with double digit unemployment, a 3-year long recession, record deficits, and a mean spirited and ineffective austerity plan' that's simply too much bad juju and bad karma for the Greek soccer team to overcome. 


Our Ethniki has admirably shown some fight at EURO 2012.  Let's hope the team - and of course the nation - is rewarded for that effort against Russia on Saturday.

THAT'S what it is!

As many folks know, the Washington Nationals' new slogan is 'Natitude.'  It's hard to define a made-up term, one primarily chosen - in this case - because it sounds cool and is a nice melding of Nationals with a sports and societal buzzword.

In the old days, when lions like Dean Smith or John Wooden or Bobby Cox or even Joe Torre coached a team, attitude was bad. Teams strove for the antithesis, a sort of honest blend of confidence, success and humility sometimes called class, grace, or simply sportsmanship.

Now attitude is strived for, easy to market and exploit.  Combine that with a team coming into it's own led by young and therefore modern stars, and voila - Natitude.

I like using the hash tag #Natitude, but could not really define it in the case of the 2012 Nats.  But that was before this weekend's sweep of the Red Sox IN FENWAY.

The Nats went into Boston and were not intimidated as they swept the three-game series. Nor did they display much attitude.  They were LeBron James in game 6 serious as, for 3 nights, they picked up each other.  On Saturday, Ian Desmond got a big hit, with help from Adam LaRoche.

On Sunday, it was Danny Espinosa and Roger Bernadina with huge hits, with help from Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman.

On the mound, Mike Gonzalez and Sean Burnett picked up Gio Gonzalez one night, Tom Gorzelanny picked up Jordan Zimmerman the next.

And Tyler Clippard picked up everyone all three nights, earning an equal number of saves.

Doing your job, helping your team and teammates, is one definition of Natitude.

The one exception was Friday night, when the Nats' modern young stars simply dominated and didn't need much help.  Stephen Strasburg struck out 13, including Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded in the 6th, to shut down the Sox with poise and simply nasty stuff.  Bryce Harper did the same  with his bat in blasting 3 hits, including a 420+ foot bomb to center.

Harper may best epitomize Natitude, specifically his home run trot.  It's actually a sprint that takes less than 20 seconds.   No boasting, no standing in the batter's box admiring his handy work.  Simply and confidently blasting a home run, then not showing up the pitcher and getting back in the dug out as fast as you can.

Success without excess.  Natitude.

Maybe Football DOES Explain Everything

Yesterday's post pointed out how, contrary to one book's title, soccer does NOT explain the world.


But today's 1-1 tie between host Poland and the motherland was practically a microcosm of Greece's current plight. 


Facing the host nation in the Euro 2012 opener, Greece came out with what appeared to be a mixture of lethargy, sluggishness and even disinterest.  The players on the pitch vividly, too vividly, represented the populace of a proud nation whose citizens have been worn down by recession, unemployment, incompetence and pessimism.


Less than 20 minutes in, Greece trailed 0-1 after Poland took advantage of our goal keeper getting out of position; was it a metaphor for Greece's out of whack accounting ledgers? 


Things got even worse - believe it or not - when Sokratis Papastathopoulos was forced to swallow the equivalent of hemlock when we was given two highly highly dubious yellow cards (which equals a red card) and was ejected.  


So Greece was cheated by a referee and after the ejection were reduced to 10 players - a metaphor for austerity?


The combination of lethargy and being a player down resulted in Greece being thoroughly outplayed in the first half, and down 0-1 after 45 minutes.


But then, improbably and hopefully, some rays of hope emerged.

One, instead of giving in to the notorious Greek fatalism the Hellenes fought back.  Led by second half substitute Dimitris Salpingidis - the best player during the qualifying round of EURO 2012 - Ellas was much more aggressive and active.


Salpingidis was rewarded for his effort when he scored the equalizer less than 15 minutes into the second half after he poked in a rebound off a header from Fanis Gekas.  Despite being down a man Greece had come back and tied it.


The good fortune continued in the second half when the Polish goalie was given a red card for taking down Salpingidis in front of their goal.  


Of course, we are talking about Greeks here, a peoples who seldom do a good job with good fortune (for instance, we get the Olympic games but they help bankrupt the country; after World War I we're given half a loaf of Asia Minor but blow it trying to conquer the entire loaf, etc. etc.).


Today, that turned into George Karagounis, the Greek captain and a hero of the 2004 European champions, failing to convert a point-blank penalty kick.  Though we were down a man, we should have scored there and won the game.


Ten minutes later, Greece's bad luck struck again when a iffy off sides penalty was called against Kostas Fortounis - a Greek footballer who plays where else, in Germany - and negated another potential goal from Salpingidis. 


What a game.


Greece, a country battered by their own political incompetence and punished with a draconian austerity plan imposed by their European partners, fielded a team that had their own battles against a partisan home crowd, a bad referee who called two crazy yellow cards, a 10-player squad for most of the game, and a tight off sides call that negated the potential game-winning goal - yet still managed a tie and thus a point against Poland.  


Being down a player seemed to inspire fight rather than fatalism.  It was a proud nation showing admirable fight and pride in the face of adversity.  


I think all Greeks, members of the Greek diaspora, and phil-Hellenes hope that kind of fight continues in Euro 2012 but also inspires our motherland to do the same.


Zito H Ellas!

• Greece's next game is Tuesday at noon against the Czech Republic. The Czech's were demolished 1-4 against our Orthodox brothers from Russia today.  
• If Greece plays 90 minutes versus the Czechs the way they fought in the second half today I love our chances.  Greece was on the attack in the second half, and made a great comeback.
• Kudos to ESPN's crew for their Hellenism.  
• One, Greek-American Alexi Lalas proudly talked about the Greek squad in the pre-game show, complete with excellent Greek language skills pronouncing the long Greek last names.
• Two, ESPN's Ian Dark pointed out the many Greek Communists settled in Poland after their side lost the Greek civil war. Excellent historical note!
• Finally, three, Bob Ley summed up 2,500 years of Greek history when he said in the post-game shpw: "Sometimes your good, sometimes your lucky, sometimes your Greek."

Greece Still in the Euro . . . 2012 Football Championships

Greece will be in the Euro for at least one more month as the Ethniki Omada (national team) compete in the 2012 Europe Football Championship, the second most prestigious title in world football.  Greece kicks off the tournament Friday at noon eastern when they take one of the two (racist?) host nations, Poland, in group A (to be fair to Poland, the real racists appear to be in the other host country, Ukraine). The game will be shown live on ESPN.


Since World War II there have been 3 significant events in Greece.  One is the restoration of democracy after six years under the junta in 1973.  Two is Greece's entry into the European Union in 1980.  And three is the sporting events of 2004, a year that saw Athens host the Olympic Games and the motherland some how win the 2004 European Championship.


That 2004 title is one of the improbable in the history of sports. It's Villanova beating Georgetown in 1985, or Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson.  Consider that prior to 2004 Greece had NEVER WON A GAME in an international football tournament, let alone a title.


Of course, 2004 was the good old days in Greece.  The country was flush with money, some borrowed and some donated by the EU, to build new Olympic facilities, up grade ports and build a new airport (which is efficient but styleless, but what do you expect when you pick a German architect to build it?), dramatically expand the Athens Metro system (which was a huge success), and build new hotels.  


We visited in 2005, a year later, and the pride in their city was evident from every Athenian we talked to.  


Now we know the back story: that the government in power in 2004 and 2005 had been cooking the books and lying to the EU about Greece's deficit spending for years; the wealthy (who supported the conservative New Democracy government) continued to NOT pay their taxes; and the deficit got larger and larger and larger - and Greece's standard of living was not sustainable.


What a difference 8 years makes.  Greece was riding high in both sport and society in 2004.  Heading into Euro 2012 it's doubtful that this year's team can repeat that magic, or how long the motherland will even be in the euro zone once the Euro tournament ends the first week of July.


A few more EURO 2012 notes

• There is some good juju for Greece's team, however.  In 2004, Greece opened the tournament by beating the host nation Portugal 2-1 to put the tournament on notice.  Once again, Greece opens the entire tournament by playing the host nation.  If Ellas wins 2-1 again watch out!
• Why would you award EURO 2012 to Ukraine in the first place? Racist behavior by their fans has been a long-standing problem there, to say nothing of the performance of the Quisling government in Ukraine during World War II.
• During the 2010 World Cup, I read "How Soccer Explains the World." It was a fun read, but it was also depressing.  It should be called "How Soccer HELPS PERPETUATE SOME PROBLEMS IN the World.'  Chapter after chapter talk about soccer rivalries that serve as proxies for ethnic or political or racist strife and tensions in Serbia (Nazi collaborators vs. partisans), Scotland (Catholics vs. Protestants), Spain (fascists vs. Catalonian nationalists), etc.  I guess we can expect a new chapter or editor's note on new Ukrainian racism in the next edition.  

Good Playoffs, Shorter Seasons

Watching the NBA playoffs, one wonders why bother with the regular season?  Of course, you need the regular season to figure out who makes the playoffs.  But it's striking - and obviously obvious - to see how much better the play is in the post season.

Both series are pretty compelling; the young Thunder led by arguably the best scorer since Michael Jordan taking on a Spurs team that is professional and compelling, and the old guard Celtics led by young gun/old soul Rajon Rondo taking on the must see TV that is LaBron James and the Heat.

The NBA should consider institutionalizing the 66-game, lock-out induced schedule.  Like all leagues, the NBA regular season is too, too long at 82 games (the only exception to this is college basketball, whose 30 game schedule capped by a tournament seems about as perfect as 90 feet between the bases*).  There are too many bad NBA teams - thanks mainly to expansion - to waste our time watching.  Shorten the season, and put us and hapless teams like our hometown Wizards out of our collective misery sooner than later.

But the playoffs are a different story. The level of play is fantastic, as is the effort.

That, along with wanting to see who wins,  is what really stands out for me watching these playoffs.  Effort.

One stereotype about the NBA is that players don't play hard for four quarters or that defense is an afterthought. Watching the playoffs should dispel both of those lazy analyses. 

In the playoffs, every shot is contested. And that's true for the first shot of the game and especially the last.  You can feel the defensive intensity oozing from your TV screen.

The effort extends both ways.  It was pretty compelling to watch Rajon Rondo play 53 minutes - 53! - and make shot after shot in a losing cause.  It was inspiring stuff. 

Ditto Manu Ginobili or James Harden as they recklessly and repeatedly attack the hoop, or Kevin Garnett go down low - though he hates it - to exploit Miami's lack of a big man.  Or watch Kevin Durant patiently wait for the game come to him then simply blow up and take over, as he did last night.

Anyway, check it out.  It's the playoffs after all not the regular season - inspiring stuff.

A few more sports notes:

• What else is inspiring? Watching Stephen Strasburg bounce back from 3 consecutive average outings, only one of which he actually pitched badly BTW, with seven innings of shut out ball, with 9 strike outs and no walks to boot.  Not only was it great to see him dominate yesterday and lay to rest rumors of a tired arm or similar post-Tommy John surgery problems, Strasburg did what number one pitchers do on a contending team - he slammed the door on a 3-game losing streak.  
• We're heading to Nats Park in about an hour for Evan's annual birthday party game with his crew.  Excellent weather, an excellent celebration - and we get Gio Gonzalez on the bump.

* Schedules

Back to scheduling for one more second.  On one level, it's easy to understand the main reason why owners and TV execs in particular would oppose shortened seasons: fewer games to sell tickets and TV rights.  

But shortened seasons would benefit all four of the major leagues (baseball, basketball, football and soccer; I do not consider a sport that penalizes players 5 minutes a game for fighting a major sport; you ball your fist in any of the real major leagues and you get suspended 5 GAMES - as it should be. Grow up NHL.)

Expansion has greatly diluted talent pools for all the sports, as has the simple explosions of sports and leagues.  The larger number of teams in each league is one - but not the main - reason you see so many foreign players in all the leagues not named the NFL.


One way to minimize the impact of a diluted talent pool is to player few games.  A shorter season in all the leagues would help immeasurably.  Or, measurably.

• It would help cover the lack of pitching depth in the majors.  If MLB went to the old 154-game schedule teams could experiment for 4-man rotations, need fewer pitchers in general, and baseball can get rid of the asterisks that go along with comparing records in the pre and post-162 game era.   And, with baseball expanding it's post season a shorter season would ensure that the Fall Classic is completed before November.  Baseball is already a grind; why not make it a little less grindier?
• We've already discussed the NBA.  A shorter season gets us to what we want to watch - the playoffs - sooner.  No one pays attention to the NBA any way until after March Madness anyway. Start the season like the NBA did this year - with a Christmas Day triple header (which was awesome, BTW).  Let the NFL have Thanksgiving, the NBA can take Christmas.
• The MLS season already makes no sense, interrupted with side competitions, national team games, etc. and spanning from who knows when to who knows why. They should go back to the traditional world football schedule of games from October to May; MLS is afraid of competing with the NFL for fields and attention.  But with teams getting their own venues that is no longer a problem. And the NFL only plays once a week; MLS should shoot for the other six days and play a shorter season, too. Like the NBA, the MLS playoffs are usually more compelling that a numbingly boring 0-0 tie played in August during the regular season.   
• In an earlier post I pontificated on how to fix college football, including a shorter season, and try to restore the balance between being a student and athlete.
• But the NFL is most in need of a shorter season.  In the old days, when I first started watching the NFL, they played a 12-game season. It's now ballooned to an abusive 18-game schedules that wears out bodies faster and faster. In an era with heightened concerns over head injuries and an epidemic of debilitating injuries, doesn't it make sense to expose the players to fewer risks via fewer games?  The NFL will still make boatloads of money thanks to their lucrative television deals.  The least they could do is shorten their employees' exposure to life altering traumas by playing fewer games (and giving out guaranteed contracts).

Two is the magic number

In case anyone WAS wondering, it looks like it took me two months to get over Carolina's loss in the elite 8 this year. In a related development, Kendall Marshall has also yet to fully recover from his wrist injury. 

Obviously, that makes two of us.

But there too many good stories - and one bad one - to keep Carolina Hellenic Blue from getting back on track.

The first and best one has got to be our hometown Washington Nationals (I'll blog the others: Greece; NBA playoffs; EURO 2012; etc. starting tomorrow). They are playing so well, despite so many injuries and bad luck, that my hopes and expectations are Carolina high.  All season long, I've found myself pacing and getting as nervous during Nats games, especially late, as I do during a Carolina game.  

How is that for perspective?  

It's hard to believe that the Nats are in first place without Drew Storen or Michael Morse having played a single inning, then losing Jayson Werth, Wilson Ramos, and Brad Lidge for most of the season so far.

But that's how good our starting pitching has been.  Our starters and Adam LaRoche did all the heavy lifting - with some help from Jim Tracy pinching hitting like Ted Williams - for the first month of the season and got the Nats off to phenomenal and exciting start.  Steven Strasburg in particular was lights out his first 6 starts.

In the last month however, the worm has turned as the starters - except for Gio 'Best Pitcher in the NL' Gonzalez - have returned to Earth. But now the offense is starting to produce and carry the squad.

Some of that productivity is due to the return of Ryan Zimmerman from the DL, moving Ian Desmond out of the leadoff spot and into more RBI-worthy situations found in the 5th or 6th hole, and Danny Espinosa finally staring to hit.  

But it's been two rookies who were not expected to help the Nationals this year, or at all, who are most responsible for the recent offensive surge of the Nationals.  

One, as we all know, is Bryce Harper.  He may be in over his head some times as he adjusts to life in the big leagues but Harper is a six-tool player, perhaps the first in baseball.  He hits, hits for power, runs well (an understatement), fields well, and throws exceptionally.  His sixth tool?  

Harper does something exciting every night; you can't take your eyes off of him.

One night, it's stealing home, another turning a single and a bobble into a double.  Or maybe it's scoring from second on a ground ball that ricochets off the second baseman's glove, or crashing into the wall in center.   Or running the bases in 17 seconds on a home run, Mickey Mantle style.

For me, the epitome of Harper - at least so far - was Sunday against old favorite(s) Livo Hernandez and the Braves.  The first time Livo faced him, he struck Harper out on a 64-mile an hour curve ball.  One inning later, Livo tried that again on an 0-2 pitch.  That time, Harper lined a home run the opposite way that got out of the yard in about 3 seconds and barely rose higher than 15 feet.  

To paraphrase W: 'Fool me once, shame on me.  Try to fool me twice, shame on you.'

But the other rookie that has helped the Nats stay in first place is Steve Lombardozzi.  Inserted into the lead off spot by Davey 'Yes, I still have it at 69 years young' Johnson, Lombardozzi is hitting 320 with an on-base percentage close to 400.  He's mainly started in LF, but also got some time at third when Zimm was hurt and at second spelling Espinosa.  I hope Johnson keeps finding him at bats when Morse (would could come off the DL next week) and Werth return.   Lombardozzi gets on base like a lead off hitter should.

Finding him ABs after Morse returns is a GREAT problem to have.  As I said at the top o' the blog, it's hard not to get excited about watching this team compete.  That's one of the greatest things about baseball - you get to follow your team every day for six month.  And if your team is good, that's hard two beat.

GO NATS!

A few more Nats notes, then it's off to the Mall for some CLAW softball.

• The return of Morse could give the Nats a stacked line up, and would keep Lombardozzi in the line up at least until Werth returns. I assume Johnson will go: Lombardozzi LF; Harper CF; Zimmerman 3B; LaRoche 1B; Morse LF; Desmond SS; Espinosa 2B; Flores C.
• Jesus Flores will turn out to be the unsung hero for the Nats, our savior in the wake of Ramos' injury.
• One last encouraging thing about the Nationals' season thus far? Not only have they flourished without Morse, etc. but they are off to a 6-4 start as the Nats enter the most brutal part of their schedule.  Those six wins have come against the first-place Orioles and on the road at Philadelphia and Atlanta.  It's a tough month of games, as the Nats are in Miami, home versus the Mets and Braves, then travel to Boston and Toronto, come home for the Yankees and Rays, then finish that stretch in Baltimore.  
• That's 33 games versus nothing but quality and pennant-worthy foes from the NL and AL East.  If the Nats are in first place by the time the Rockies come to DC on June 25th tell Mike Rizzo to start printing playoff tickets!

Wrists and shoes - and of course Harrison Barnes.

First the wrists were broken, then the other - and other - shoe dropped as Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes, and John Henson announced their intentions to enter the 2012 NBA draft today.

I could have pivoted from wrists broken to hearts broken, but that's a little overly dramatic for Dean Smith's basketball program. Also, for most if not ALL Carolina fans, our hearts were broken Sunday - twice. Once when it was announced that Marshall would not play against Kansas, and the second time in the excruciating final four minutes against the Jayhawks that saw Carolina outscored 0-12.

Today was merely a formality, at least for Barnes and Henson. Everyone knew that this season was likely to be their last in Chapel Hill. Hopes were raised slightly by the small possibility that that trio would return in order to make a run at the 2013 national championship, but that was frankly a smaller-than-small possibility.

Injuries often are THE deciding factor for players facing these kinds of decisions, so even though Marshall's was a bit a of a surprise his draft stock is sky high, and honestly how could he play any better than he did down the stretch this year?  The combination of an injury and the talent level (ceiling?) he reached apparently clinched it for the Dumfries, Virginia sophomore. Marshall has been compared to Jason Kidd, though he's slower than Kidd was when he was also entering the NBA as a sophomore, and with the right team he should become a star.

Henson leaves after 2 years of scintillating play on both ends of the floor.  Interesting to note that he came to Carolina hoping to develop into a 3 for the NBA, only to comfortably reassert himself as a traditional - and game changing - power forward who can block shots on one end, score with either hand on the other. Like Marshall, his draft stock is likely at it's peak. If his body can withstand 82 games in a man's league, Henson should thrive in the league on his defense alone. But his quickness and ability to hit the mid-range jumper should also help him succeed.

As it has been since he stepped on campus in the fall of 2010, it's harder to assess Harrison Barnes. When he was great, he was unbelievable. But he wasn't always great, and for a smart and sophisticated guy his concentration and effectiveness maddeningly waxed and waned this season.

And unfortunately, when his team needed him the most in the wake of Marshall's injury, Barnes responded by missing 22 of his last 30 shots in the regional semi-final and final.  

Barnes was coming off a great second half of this freshman year, a half season that saw him explode once Marshall was installed as the starting point guard. Carolina fans expected Barnes to continue that progression this season. Instead, Barnes leveled off into an effective but not always dynamic offensive player whose rebounding improved.  

Finally, he never became the superstar we expected - or needed against Ohio and especially Kansas. Rather than evolving into the next Tyler Hansbrough, an unstoppable combination of skill and will that led Carolina to another national championship, Barnes ended his season - and career in Chapel Hill - as the third-best player on his own team.

We expected those NBA shoes to drop, but did not expect Barnes to settle for that ranking on this year's Tar Heels squad.

End of the Year Effort

It’s an effort to figure out where to start the last blog of the Carolina basketball season, a season that began with the Heels the pre-season favorite to win our third national championship in 8 seasons.

In that context, losing in a regional final looks like a failed season.  But you can’t say that about this year’s Heels.

For most of the year, THE question around this squad was ‘Will the Heels pull it all together after the injuries - first to Strickland then Henson - and the terrible road loss in Tallahassee in time to win the championship?’

The answer to that question was answered in the second half against Creighton – heel yes. 

Carolina looked that good in the second (third) round game in Greensboro, just the way they looked in humiliating the devils in Durham to close out the regular season with a 14-2 record.

Of course the entire sports world knows what happened next. All-everything Kendall Marshall, whose offensive blossoming down the stretch was THE Carolina story even more than Tyler Zeller becoming the ACC Player of the Year, went down with a broken wrist.  And any realistic chance at national championship broke down with it.

However, the reason the 2012 campaign was not a failure is the way the Heels responded to Marshall’s injury.

The fought, they competed, and they expended maximum effort. We measure sports contests with wins and losses, but sport is really about one thing and one thing only – effort. 

Against Ohio (sure, it was only Ohio, but they played well!) the Heels could have easily hung their collective heads, especially Harrison Barnes, when they went down by 4 with 4 minutes to go; ‘oh well, what can we do?  We don’t have Kendall Marshall?’

But the Heels did the opposite. John Henson hustled back to block an Ohio fast break basketball, Barnes refocused and calmly hit two big shots in overtime, and Reggie Bullock manned up and repeatedly hit big threes down the stretch and to start overtime to carry Carolina.

They did not feel sorry for themselves; they competed.

For 36 minutes against Kansas, it was a tie game. The Heels, playing their third- and fourth-string point guards, were toe-to-toe in a regional final. 

White withstood the pressure from Kansas’ guards. James Michael McAdoo made play after play, and the Heels were a great shooting team for the first 24 minutes, getting points from all over the floor behind Barnes and Henson and Zeller.

Unfortunately, coming out of the under-four time out, the Heels were spent. Points were left on the rim – two nice drives by Barnes ended with missed shots including a Zeller tip-in that did not go in – and Kansas over played Zeller and Henson, forced White and Bullock to take and miss shots.  And just like that, the great and promising season ended.

It would have been great to see Barnes score on those drives, to see the freshman White direct Carolina into the final four.  Unfortunately, the reward was not the one Heels fans wanted but we DID get to see the Heels compete.

Injuries are the wild card in sports.  Stay healthy and expend the effort, and you will be rewarded.  The effort was there, and for that we can be proud.

GO HEELS!

A few more notes:

• The last four minutes of that game reminded me a little of the 2007 regional final against Georgetown, where the Heels simply could not make a shot down the stretch. In that game, we took some bad shots. Yesterday, the Heels were spent and going against a tough and smart Kansas defense.
• Sad to see Bullock end the season with a bad game shooting 3s. He had been so hot coming in, I really expected him to help carry Carolina one more game. But he was fantastic as our starting shooting guard this year.
• Enough cannot be said about Stilman White handling the first two starts of his career with such aplomb. Has any freshman had to do that, have their first two starts come in the sweet 16 and elite 8?  Or forget starts, just talk about getting significant playing time for the first time in the NCAA tournament.
• McAdoo was electric yesterday versus Kansas, much like he was in the second half of the season. He was the second-biggest story of the second half of the season. Mark my words: McAdoo will become Rasheed Wallace next year.
• The worst part of any ‘end of the season Carolina blog’ – even when the Heels win a national championship – is the speculation about who will come back.  Of late, Barnes, Henson AND Marshal – probably McAdoo, too - have been projected as early- to mid-first round picks in the NBA draft (as has Zeller, for that matter).
• I guess there’s a scenario where 2 of the three come back – either Henson or Barnes, along with Marshall – but I would not get my hopes up.  Then again, this is a pretty deep draft (six Kentucky players alone will go pro, along with Austin Rivers, Jared Sullinger, etc.), so maybe Marshall comes back for another season to work himself into a lottery pick rather than the 15^th or 16^th pick in 2012.
• Or maybe Barnes wants to keep increasing his brand one more season, or comeback to do something truly worthy of getting your jersey in the rafters?  http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/04/moneyballer/8911/
• Either way, next year’s team will be a fun one, with McAdoo, a freshman at 4, Bullock (taking Barnes’ spot), Strickland (at one?), P.J. Hairston (starting over McDonald at 2), Leslie McDonald, even Desmond Hubert battling Maryland, NC State, Syracuse and I guess Duke next year. FSU, Virginia, and Pitt will be a little down next year after losing key seniors, with Clemson, Miami, Wake, Georgia Tech, BC and I guess Virginia Tech still another year away.
• One of if not THE saddest parts of ending this season is saying goodbye to classy and successful Tar Heel seniors Tyler Zeller and Justin Watts. It would have been fantastic to have them leave with book ended national championships. But they leave with a great legacy nonetheless. I think Zeller will be a very successful pro. You put him on a team like Phoenix or Oklahoma City, teams that like to run and he could really thrive.

Survive and Advance

If last night's overtime win over Ohio is not the definition survive and advance, I don't know what is.

Kendall Marshall's injury was the biggest thing to overcome.  Marshall did not dress for the game, and is unlikely to play on Sunday, too.  Last night the Heels also had to survive:

• Harrison Barnes having the worst basketball game a Tar Heels player can EVER have; he missed tons of shots, turned the ball over half a dozen times, and repeatedly made bad decisions
• The team had 13 turnovers at half, more than the total number of turnovers in the previous 4 games, and finished with 24 for the game. Carolina won a game in which it turned it over 24 times!
• Every Carolina fan's worst nightmare, a team that can bomb away from 3.  In the words of Jay Bilas, the Bobcats were 'good, I mean really, really good.' They made shots, at least everyone except Cooper did.
• Overcome is too strong of a word to describe 'freshman Stillman White's first ever start' but that certainly was a challenge. I think this angle has been underplayed: how many freshman point guards - arguably the toughest position in hoopdom - get their FIRST ever start in a sweet 16 game?  Has that ever happened before?

But the Heels did overcome all those challenges, and gutted out a tough and important win. This game was so tough and difficult that it frankly felt like a loss - and I'm just talking about the fans. I can't imagine how exhausted and relieved the students and coaches must have been when the game finally ended.

Like I said, it felt like and certainly was a case of survive and advance. Barely.

How did Carolina manage that?

Reggie Bullock and Tyler Zeller, with some clutch shots from John Henson, White and even Barnes.

Bullock was the reason Carolina won that game. Period.  In a game where Zeller was virtually unchallenged and finished with a visionary 20-20 double-double, Bullock hit the biggest shots and made the biggest plays. His 3s in the second half were all killers, and each of the 4 he made came with the score tied or the lead at one, and he picked up some key boards. For the game the Kinston native was 5 for 10 from three, had 10 boards for another double-double, and had 5 assists, too. 

Another great sign from Bullock: in 3 NCAA games he is 10 for 21 from deep.  He's playing fantastic basketball.

Fantastic basketball certainly describes Tyler Zeller's night. Carolina was much taller than Ohio so it figured that our front line would excel.  Zeller dominated the first half in particular and was big late, too.  In addition to the 20 points and 23 boards, Zeller had 4 blocks included two athletic ones where he also kept the ball in bounds. It's funny to think that the ACC Player of the Year is somehow underrated, but he is.  Ol' Roy should have drawn up that last play in regulation for Psycho Z, too. 

Of course that last play went to Barnes, who lost the ball going up.  Hard to figure out Barnes, isn't it, despite having played seventy-plus games in Chapel Hill?  Last night he was simply terrible for 43 of the 45 minutes. 

Of course, in those two minutes he may have saved the game and season.  His four-point play that tied the game at 57 with less than 3 minutes to play - yes, the Heels trailed Ohio by 4 late - has huger than huge.  And his one-minute take over of overtime in effect ended the game. But how does one explain his waxing and waning concentration?  Or is that it?  I don't know.

Early in the game he was aggressively taking the ball to the rack.  But once again Barnes had trouble finishing, and so the rest of the game he wandered the perimeter missing shots.  When he wasn't doing that, he was losing the ball off the dribble - his ball handling skills have not improved much - or making lazy passes.  

But for a few game-winning plays, the concentration was there and Barnes made big plays.  To me, concentration equals finishing so I think it must be that, or it could have simply been Marshal being out. After all, Barnes' play vexed many a Tar Heels fan when Drew II was running the point.

But I don't want to even hint that White's play was like Drew's.  White played 32 minutes, made 6 assists against no turnovers in his first ever start.  And as I mentioned before, his first start was not against Elon or Mississippi Valley State it was in the 'frigging' - or is it 'flippin' - sweet 16.  

Defensively, Roy kept White - not Bullock - on Cooper, Ohio's best player for most of the game, and it worked. It was probably a combination of good D and boneheadedness that contributed to Cooper's Barnes-esque 3 for 20 night, but give White credit.  He kept Cooper in front of him, pushed him out past the 3 point line, and effectively kept him off balance all night.

The one downside to White's night was his passes inside to Zeller and Henson. Too often, especially in the second half, White tried bounce passes instead of going over to the top to Carolina's bigs.  So though he finished with 0 turnovers, I imagine a few of Zeller's and Henson's were a result of catching some sloppy passes from White and Justin Watts.  Some of that is Ohio's fault; they did a great job of making up for being shorter by clogging and overplaying the passing lanes.  Against Kansas on Sunday, White needs to to a better job feeding the post.

So led by Bullock and Zeller, the Heels survived and advanced. This game said volumes about those two, but let's also give it up for Carolina's toughness. It would have been easy to get down and feel sorry for yourself in a game like this, even though it's an opponent from the Mid-American Conference.  But the Heels did not fold when the game looked bad.  When we were down four I had my doubts and fears.

Luckily, Carolina stayed Carolina, the Heels ran a great play out of the boxed set to get Bullock that open 3 that he calmly drained to start the overtime, and the Tar Heels made enough smart and tough plays to win that game - and of course survive and advance.

GO HEELS!

A few hoops notes:

• Tough loss for the Wolfpack last night; they did not get down or back down late either and had two excellent chances to win or at least tie that game. But a great bounce back season for NCSU, who finally seems to have found the right coach in Mark Gottfried.  He seems to be a great combination of Lowe's charisma, Sendek's basketball know-how, and Sloan's competitiveness (and if he's Jewish, even some of Valvano's ethnicity!).
• Anyway, I relish the return of the Carolina-State rivalry that I grew up with.  
• That rivalry may return to center stage next season if as rumored Duke's Austin Rivers opts to leave early for the NBA. Duke only has one recruit next year coming in and may not be as good with a Curry-Plumlees-Kelly-Thornton-Dawkins line up.
• I thought all the teams that won last night looked pretty good, especially Kentucky and Ohio State. This weekend's Elite 8 games all look like good ones, except Louisville versus Florida (I have the Gators winning that one).  There are few things worse than watching Pitino coach (watching Calipari is one), but I'd add watching a Pitino protege match 'wits' with his mentor.
• I'm going with a Kentucky - though Baylor looked impressive, too - Florida, Ohio State and Carolina final four.