- Texas Goes Down
- NFL Coaching Carousel
- NBA All-Star Voting
1. In the world of College Basketball the top story is the number one team in the land, Texas, lost playing at Kansas State. The fact is this game was hugely important for K-State but as for Texas not so much. If I am Texas coach Rick Barnes I wouldn't be MAd at all about who or where the first loss was to but how. The Longhorns looked out muscled and out hustled by a very hungry K-State team who scored 30 out of their first 33 points in the paint. When a fan of the game of basketball reads that stat it reads in one very big way and that is that the guys from K-State wanted this game much more then those of the Longhorns. My bet is that if you asked a Texas player they would be dissapointed about the loss but they would also say it wasn't the most important team from Kansas that we play all year. In the Big 12 this year all anyone will remember is who won the Kansas-Texas showdown which will most likely feature the two teams ranked in the top 5 in the country. This is why Rick Barnes and Texas can breathe a sigh of relief because this upset didn't necessarily showcase Texas's shortcomings but the underestimated talent of Frank MArtin's Kansas State team. It wasn't even MArtin's star players who impressed, Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente combined for 17 points on 4-24 shooting. Instead it was Bigs shining for K-State Curtis Kelly and JaMAr Samuels combined for 37 points and 20 boards owning the paint and helping secure K-State's third win against a number ranked team. Hats off to the Wildcats should be a popular 2 or 3 seed picked to advance to Indianapolis in MArch.
2. In the NFL's ever changing roster of coaches one was added today that really puzzled me. Chan Gailey, yes Chan Gailey, was hired by the Buffalo Bills. Now I know hardly anyone wants to visit Buffalo let alone coach or play in Buffalo but the Bills couldn't have tempted anybody with more of an appealing resume then Chan Gailey?? Gailey has been a mediocre coach at every level he has coached at. Although he led Georgia Tech to 6 straight bowl games he had more then seven wins only once and lost 4 out of the 6 bowl games as well as never beating rival Georgia in his six year tenure. In the NFL he was a combined 18-16, not bad I guess, including two playoff loses with the Dallas Cowboys. If I am a Bills fan I am irrate, this guy personifies mild regular season success and postseason failure. With coaches out there like Jon Gruden who has won a Super Bowl to not even get a call from the Bills truly perplexes me. The Seahawks lured away a prominent college coach why not try that on the east coast Buffalo? Dave Wannstedt has built a great program at Pitt and has previous NFL experience and success why not throw some money at him? With the recent coaching changes at USC, Tennessee, Kansas, Texas, USF and puzzling hires by the Seahwaks, Bills and surely more NFL teams it seems harder and harder each day what it means to be a professional or college coach.
3. Last weekend Celtics star guard Ray Allen MAde some statements that revolved around the NBA's All-Star selection process. Ray MAde the suggestion that instead of the game being 100% decided by fans it should be 50/50 between fans and a combination of media and players. Frankly I don't care how you do it but the NBA must adhere to Ray's suggestion in some form because it is a mockery of an All-Star to have Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson even mentioned in this year's game. In order to play in an All-Star game one of the requirements is playing in the games in which the players are meant to be evaluated in. It's equivalent to receiving an A for a test you didn't even take or becoming a lawyer without going to law school and passing the bar, it is an absolute travesty that this is even a topic of discussion for NBA fans and players. Becoming an or being selected by a knowledgeable panel as an All-Star is something that should be earned and merited based on performance not on sentiment or athletic infatuation.
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