Doc

Are you stuck in St. Louis? Not too late to make the drive up if you leave now. . took me only 5.5 hours Friday afternoon. Weather was great and roads are in fine condition.

That would actually be a better mascot. I always wonder how we selected the male of a species as the mascot of a coed college. I mean we have the "Lady Bulls"... can't blame anyone for making that mistake. Before we were the Bulls, we were the Golden Brahman. I think the term is not gender-specific. The women's teams are not the "Lady Bulls," just "Bulls" but I have felt that returning to "Brahman" for the women's teams would make more sense, and some schools already so something similar (OSU Cowgirls, UMass Minutewomen, Hawaii Wahine). If I understood our story correctly, there are a problem with the spelling, or using it as an adjective instead of a noun, that led to confusion with a breed of chicken. Also, I'm not sure if "Brahman" is already plural, or if you have to add an "s". . . Maybe just best to leave it as "Bulls."

Just read that South Dakota St pulled in almost 3800 for attendance today against Indiana. Hope I'm wrong, but it will be tough for our crowd to top that. The atmosphere in Kansas a few years ago when our ladies cut down those nets is something I'll always remember.

Great win for the ladies! Came real close to making the drive to MSU. . . of course, the butterfly effect would have almost guaranteed a different outcome (could have won by 20, lost by 20, missed final shot, etc), so I guess I'm happy with the result as is. Any word on the attendance for South Dakota St and chances for hosting if it comes down to us and them? I'm looking into making the drive up there should they host us in the championship. I wouldn't be able to make it to Tampa, Seattle, or El Paso.

Maybe I'm being a bit greedy, but the AAC can still sweep all the basketball hardware. Men's NCAA: UConn Women's NCAA: UConn Men's NIT: SMU Women's NIT: USF Louisville is still in it for the women's NCAA and Rutgers for the WNIT, but I'll leave them only at the second tier since they're leaving the conference. I guess there are also those lesser tournaments, but we can leave those for the ACC.

Or you could just drive the entire way! In our cUSA days, I visited each of the original eleven cities for a USF sporting event without ever getting onto an airplane.

Drive home safely, and thanks for repping the Bulls on the road!!! Thanks, it's always my pleasure. Made it home safely a short time ago, and the weather cooperated nicely for the trip. Oh, and for the record, I wasn't the one who screamed out during the critical free throw miss by Bradley. Can't take the credit. There was a small group of vocal USF supporters behind the other backboard, and I really do think that it made a difference on that shot. The free-throw shooter was taking an unusually long time getting into his shooting motion at the stripe. . . but only silence from our fans who were making at least some steady noise at all the previous free throws. Then, just when I figure, "OK, I guess they aren't going to yell this time," one of them lets out a single shriek that shatters the tomblike silence as the ball is just about to be released, and the foul shot is missed. . . badly.

Whew. Winner 61-57. Tide turned when both bigmen were on the floor at the same time. BU didn't have an answer defensively. A USF fan behind the basket yelled on a free throw which I do believe altered a BU foul shot. Kept game tied instead of behind and made a difference. Good job whoever you are!

Talent and size-wise, we're much better than Bradley. Rebounding looks good for us too. Just too many ill-advised long-range shots early in the shot clock. With Collins not playing and when Allen is sitting, the team is just lost offensively.

Doesn't look like this one will be televised. I am making the trip to Peoria (about 2 and 1/2 hours from St Louis) this afternoon. Judging by the tickets available, it doesn't appear that we're much of a draw for them either.

Cardinals fan = epic suckage. PATS #1, Bucs #1b no love for the rest Epic indeed, but I still stick with them. And my Bulls too.

Glad at least one of my teams won on that field this weekend, thanks to some late-game heroics by my Arizona Cardinals. Looks like the Bucs "fans" have fully returned to their former glory in the empty stadium -- I just wonder what happened to all those lifelong supporters who complained about not being able to get tickets a decade ago. Tampa is, and has always been, a bandwagon town. And yes, I'm still bitter about getting pelted with garbage at a game by those Bucs fans in 1997.

Decent crowd here for a womens soccer match against Pepperdine before the main event.

Just got a glimpse of the Michigan Wolverines soccer field. . . not as awe-inspiring. Who's joining me here in Ann Arbor?

If a separate division is to emerge and some of the current P5 schools don't want to or cannot afford to pay out the cash, I wouldn't expect that we or other G5 schools would just take their place. Mizzou fans and boosters are finding out that despite their golden ticket to the SEC, they aren't exactly willing to finance a "football-factory" and pay their head coach a $6M salary, even with added TV revenue. There wouldn't be 64 teams, or possibly even 32. Just a majority of the SEC schools plus Florida St, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Ohio St, etc. You know their names. Make it an NFL farm-league, and heck, don't even make their players enroll in class if they don't want to; divorce it from the school except for the uniforms and venues. This could ultimately have only a regional appeal, but if they want to kill the golden egg-laying goose, I say let them. The P5 schools who don't want this (the Mack Brown "weedouts") can join us.

Just a thought for something different. Does anyone think Navy will play a single down of AAC football? With the ACC at an awkward 14+1, I could see them going after Navy to balance out ND (and UConn for 16), thus regaining a presence in Maryland and all-state-contiguity. Who would we backfill with? UAB/USM to complete our descent into cUSA?

Looks like it's just one guy's opinion with a pre-determined set of priorities. Doubt he's even been to some of them -- "plush greenery" at Rentschler? I've been to five on the list (UL/UC/UConn/USF & Temple for NFL) and while there is nothing wrong with Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, I don't see where it deserves such gushing praise (other than the fact that the school that happens to play there has quickly become the newest media darling). The gameday atmosphere there was hardly unique. If you go by amenities (which the author obviously didn't), then the NFL stadiums trump the others on the list. If you go by atmosphere, then it probably goes by who happens to have a winning team at the time.

Memphis makes sense. Still have good memories from our last cUSA tourney in Memphis, defeating Huggins and his Bearcats to make it to the semifinals. Agree with the arena, a much cozier atmosphere that puts you closer to the action than the cavernous MSG. Cost of travel will also be an improvement, and the drive for me much better (4-5 hrs instead of 16-17 hrs through unpredictable March weather). If it rotates, then I'd expect Cincinnati and New Orleans to get cracks at hosting it too. Assuming they keep the women's tournament in Hartford, it would be more difficult to make it to both.

Congratulations! The officiating in the bottom of the 10th, however, was a disgrace. FRAUDS.

By which team? If DePaul was at-bat, just imagining what Coach Lenti would've said is making me blush. Several years ago at a tournament in Louisville, he supposedly shouted out to one of his own players, calling her a -bleeping-bleep-hole-, prompting the L'Ville faithful to write a letter complaining to the DePaul AD. Didn't do any good, since the AD just happens to be his sister.

When I saw her in Chicago, her foot did look like it was hopping forward, although to a lesser degree than last season. Never got called, although the DePaul pitcher got dinged at least four times for illegal pitches (for a different reason, not the hopping motion). Sounds like the area of emphasis for the umps has changed this year, although I worry in the post-season, other coaches are going to point this out about Nevins and demand it get called.

I'm guessing Seton Hall is glad we canceled that game earlier. . .

I DID actually consider going to the series if we would've beaten Syracuse and not had to depend on rain to win the regular season title. Would have worn the full costume and sat in a visible location for the ESPNU audience on Saturday -- to be a conspicuous reminder to the announcers as well. Also would have been able to catch our baseball team while there. Harder to justify the 6-hr trip though, if I had to root for bad weather (then DRIVE through it as well).

There is usually a "drop-dead" time set prior to the start of the games. My understanding is that the first game lasted longer than anticipated and that the coaches mutually agreed to not start the second game since it would have run past this pre-set time.

In the past, the "home-team" designation hasn't always followed seeding. Really dumb. In Louisville a few years ago, we were the "road-team" on the scoreboard despite being seeded higher than DePaul and lost in the championship game. Someone told me that only the first day's designation follows the seeding, then it goes to a coin toss. Makes absolutely no sense, but it has happened before. In baseball/softball there is unquestionably a tactical advantage being the "home-team." We are only locked into the #2 seed if UL/ND get all three games in. If they split and one game gets rained out, we could possibly be as high as #1, and would at least share the regular season title. If several games get rained out, we could be as low as #3. Now, if they split, and the third game goes down as an official game (5 innings or more) and gets called a "tie" due to weather or travel time constraints, it would depend on how the BigEast handles a tie in the standings/winning-percentage. For comparison, the NFL considers a tie as a half-win/half-loss, and in such a case 18-3 would beat 18-3-1.