big east game #9 ... #4 syracuse 59, depaul 57 ... only live game video was on something called espn "full court" ... last week it was "espnu" ... espn has more profit centers than sportscenters ... i decided against spending another $5 to listen to the radio broadcast ... i mean, this should have been easy ... until they snuck up on marquette 10 days ago and stole a one point win, depaul had lost 24 straight big east games ... depaul lost to florida gulf coast in december ... wtf ... down by 18 points in the 1st half ... wtf ... "we stunk, we played awful" jim boeheim said ... a quick glance at the box score reveals the source of stink ... surprisingly it's not turnovers (12) and not missed free throws (6-8 75%) ... the culprit, field goal percentage (24-57 42.1%) ... this from a team that leads the nation in field goal percentage at 53.4% ... a narrow escape from the midwest should end any thought the cuse might leapfrog villanova or kansas in next week's rankings

up next is providence (12-9/4-5) at 7:00 pm on tuesday night from the carrier dome ... mark the calender ... saturday, february 27th at 9:00 pm ... "espn gameday" will be live at the dome that evening ... #3 villanova (19-1/8-0) @ #4 syracuse (21-1/8-1)

mid-winter ... mid-week ... no cuse basketball til saturday ... this vid will warm the heart and bring back fond memories ... the last time the orangemen won an ncaa basketball championship ... gmac was a freshman and the team's starting point guard ... now he's a freshman coach of the current edition of the team ... here coach gmac talks to espn about monday night's comeback win over georgetown ... for more on the 2009-10 syracuse orangemen ... check out this week's edition of the scoop and wes show

t-shirts for haitians ... last week it was prematurely offered and pre-sold ny jets' afc champions t-shirts ... this week, it's kentucky's #1 ranked t's ... about midday on monday, the new men's basketball rankings come out ... kentucky moves to #1 after texas loses twice the previous week ... president obama calls coach scumbag to congratulate the team for their #1 ranking ... about 36 hours later, kentucky loses to unranked south carolina ... goodbye undefeated season ... goodbye 1st place in southeastern conference ... goodbye #1 ranking ... next to wear the bullseye? ... #2 kansas (19-1) <> #3 villanova (19-1) <> #4 syracuse (20-1)

big east game #8 ... #4 syracuse 73, #7 georgetown 56 ... once again syracuse plays only 37 of 40 minutes in the game ... but unlike the escapes at west virginia and against marquette ... it's in the first 3 minutes the cuse struggles this night ... georgetown jumps out to a lightening quick 14-0 lead on a bunch of 3's and syracuse turnovers ... boeheim calls time out, inserts super subs kris joseph and scoop jardine ... 14 of orange's first 18 points come from joseph/jardine ... after the hoya's initial blitz, syracuse outscores georgetown 34-15 and leads by 5 at the half ... orangemen dominate early in the 2nd, outscoring georgetown 18-8 ... the cuse's 2-3 zone is active and intense all night ... game over ... win #20 ... 32nd time in 34 seasons jim boeheim has coached a syracuse team to 20+ wins ... gaudy numbers <> wes johnson 14 points/9 rebounds/2 assists/4 blocks/3 steals/7 turnovers <> andy rautins 15 points/6 assists/6 steals <> kris joseph 15 points/2 assists/3 steals

this day begins with the daily orange's headline "30 years of hate" ... and ends with a dominant 37 minutes of orange basketball against a longtime rival and one of the big east's elite teams ... good test ... good measuring stick ... well done

next up is depaul (6-11/1-6) at 2:00 pm on saturday from allstate arena in rosemont, illinois

it's hold your nose time ... later today, the nfl's conference championship games will be played ... combatants for super bowl xliv will be determined ... the new york jets vs indianapolis colts will be up first ... if the jets win this game, espn will not be seen on my big screen for 2 full weeks ... no way i'm watching / listening to 2 weeks of "the second coming of joe willie", "the sanchise" or crazy rex ryan talk ... i can live with all manning all the time ... peyton manning <> archie manning <> new orleans mannings <> super bowl mvp mannings ... i won't live with all jets jets jets all the time

the later game has minnesota vs new orleans ... no matter what happens here, i may go into espn avoidance mode ... if the vikings beat the saints, my football season is over ... there's not a chance in hell i'm watching a 14 day brett favre lovefest ... i was way over brett favre 3 years ago ... even if minnesota loses, we will be in for at least 7 days of speculation about favre's 3rd annual retirement ... in this scenario, i'll wait til coverage focuses in on the super bowl and it's stories a week from now ... i can listen to manning, manning and more manning vs "never been to a super bowl" saints talk ... i'll watch the game, enjoy it even ... and hope the new orleans saints find enough defense to slow down peyton while drew brees, reggie bush & co put up points and win a super bowl championship

big east game #7 ... #5 syracuse 76, marquette 71 ... no espn, no espn2, no espn360 ... had to listen to the streaming audio of this one ... here's what i gathered ... big carrier dome crowd, 28,000+ ... huge height advantage for syracuse ... a lot of cuse scoring from close to the basket ... orange had a 26-9 rebounding advantage at the half ... super sub kris joseph grabbed 9 himself in the 1st half ... even with a height advantage, high percentage scoring opportunities and rebounds galore ... the score was tied at the half ... if not for way too many turnovers, the cuse lead would have been double digit ... syracuse leads the big east in turnovers per game (16.0) ... the other side of that coin is they also lead the conference in steals per game (11.2) ... second half, the orange build to a 17 point lead with 3:45 on the game clock ... more front line scoring (johnson finished with 22, jackson 12, onuaku 12 and joseph 14) ... then they let down for a second saturday in a row ... they turned the ball over some more (22 in the game) ... they forgot marquette leads the nation in 3-point scoring percentage (.431) ... they seemed to forget it's 40 minutes of basketball, not 37 or 38

we're now 20 games into the season ... we have 19 wins, a gaudy #5 ranking and some very talented hoops players ... but, if syracuse is going to realize it's full potential come the big east tournament (where a #1 tournament seed will be on the line) and then march madness ... they need to improve in 3 key areas ... 1) focus for 40 minutes, no let-up, no taking a lead for granted ... 2) turnovers, 16 per game is awful ... and 3) free throw shooting success, 65.3% is well below average

next up is #12 georgetown (15-3/6-2) at 7:00 pm on monday night (1st game of espn's big monday) from the carrier dome ... crowd should be huge ... battle has potential to be another georgetown vs syracuse classic

quick notes from the big east ... georgetown (14-3/5-2) beat pitt (15-3/5-1) last night 74-66 ... first loss for pitt in conference ... villanova (17-1/6-0) is now the only unbeaten and sits atop the big east

villanova and west virginia (14-3/4-2) also won last night ... and uconn (12-6/3-3) broke it's 3 game losing streak, beating st john's 75-59 without jim calhoun on the sidelines (medical leave of absence)

another ranking out today ... cbs power ranking has syracuse #1 ... rpi.com also has the orange at #1 in their power ranking

wasn't too long ago we were hearing theo had made a serious bid for "king felix" at last july's trading deadline ... now the 24 year old ace of the seattle mariners pitching staff, felix hernandez, has signed on to stay in the pacific northwest for 5 years/$78 million ... hernandez was arbitration eligible and a free agent to be ('10)

down the left coast in the city by the bay plays "the freak" ... he's 25 years old and he's been a starting pitcher for less than 3 years ... he's only 5'11"/170 lbs ... his pitching motion is violent and unorthodox ... in november of 2009, he was arrested on a driving with reefer charge in his home state of washington ... he was paid $650,000 in 2009 and the san francisco giants have offered to raise his salary to $8 million in 2010 ... seems fair ... not quite ... tim lincecum, the 2 1/2 year veteran with a pitching motion that's been called "controlled fury" ... the reigning, 2-time cy young award winner as best pitcher in the nl has countered the giants arbitration offer ... lincecum says he wants $13 million ... my advice to gm brian sabien and his giants ... you know the terms of felix's new deal in seattle ... $15.5 million per annum is the current free market cost for brilliant young starting pitching ... sign "the freak" tomorrow ... give him all the dollars he's asking for ... avoid arbitration at all costs

ten days ago, former one dimensional oakland and st louis 1st baseman/cheater (1986-01) mark mcgwire admitted using steriods for much of his baseball career ... including 1998 when he broke roger maris' long standing single season home run record ... DUH ... the cheater mcgwire said "i did this for health purposes ... there’s no way i did this for any type of strength purposes" ... BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT

last week, former san francisco and st louis outfielder/1st baseman (1978-92) jack clark sounded off on mcgwire's comments ... this week, it's hall of famer and former boston red sox and chicago white sox catcher (1969-93) carlton fisk having his say ... i'm with old #27 ... "come on, give me a bucket"

barry bonds <> roger clemens <> brady anderson <> mark mcgwire <> jason giambi <> gary sheffield <> miguel tejada <> sammy sosa <> juan gonzalez <> mike piazza <> nomar garciapara <> ivan rodriguez <> rafael palmeiro <> shawn merriman <> rodney harrison <> andy pettite <> alex rodriguez <> manny ramirez <> david ortiz ... LIARS every one of them ... CHEATERS every freaking single one of them

the only baseball player i believe when he talks about his own steroids use is former chicago cubs and arizona 1st baseman (1988-03) mark grace ... "i am a single guy now and i was a single guy then and i like my sex life ... i want to be able to perform ... it's kinda funny but it's not ... that stuff will tear you up as far as your manhood's concerned"

big east game #6 ... #5 syracuse 84, notre dame 71 ... beaten at their own game ... notre dame makes a living on the 3 pointer ... tonite the orangemen shot 8-17/43.1% from long range, the irish only 8-29/27.6% ... andy rautins matched notre dame 3 pointer for 3 pointer early (5 of 6) and finished with 21 points ... wes johnson had 2 3's and 22 points ... kris joseph and scoop jardine once again contributed mightily off the bench ... espn's jay billis says arinze onuaku is the worst free throw shooter of the "last decade" ... tonite, he made 4 of 7 ... solid effort against very good competition ... 3 game road trip ends with 3-0 record ... reportedly there were 26 nba scouts in attendance this evening

the new week's college basketball rankings are out ... syracuse a solid #5 with villanova just ahead at #4 ... pittsburgh jumps to #9 (after wins over uconn and louisville), west virginia falls to #11 (after loss to syr), georgetown holds at #12 (after loss to villanova) and uconn drops from top 25 (after 3 straight losses) ... rpi.com's power rankings has syracuse at #2 and usa today's jeff sagarin has the orange at #4 ... espn's updated "bracketology" has syracuse as #1 seed in west ... the orangemen cannot be slotted in the east come march because the regional finals will be played under the dome

next up is marquette (11-6/2-3) at 2:00 pm on saturday from the carrier dome ... marquette's big east losses are 78-76 and 74-72 to #4 villanova and a 63-62 to #11 west virginia

big east game #5 ... #5 syracuse 72, #9 west virginia 71 ... add this one to the already long list of tight, well played games decided in the final seconds in the big east this season ... when you match the 5th and 9th ranked teams in the country ... when you match up two of the original big east basketball powerhouses ... you expect excellent basketball ... we got that this afternoon

early on, it's a stifling syracuse zone, then west virginia "d" and cuse turnovers ... the orange have early leads, the mountaineers come back ... one point syracuse lead at the half ... mountaineers open the 2nd half aggressively ... they ride momentum to a 6 point lead ... andy rautins and brandon triche lead the the cuse back ... 10 point orange lead late ... west virginia uses the "3" and quick fouls to claw their way back ... almost all the way back ... freshman triche was the star of this one (16 points/5 assists but also 5 turnovers) ... wes johnson played under the weather ... kris joseph, recovered from his ankle twist, was a major contributor (13 points) off the bench ... mookie jones will probably be twitting about playing time come monday .. he only got 3 minutes today

next up is notre dame (14-3/3-1) at 7:00 pm on monday night (espn) from south bend ... in between, another great big east matchup on sunday afternoon ... #11 georgetown (13-2/4-1) vs #4 villanova (15-1/4-0)

big east game #4 ... #5 syracuse 81, rutgers 65 ... when second division teams show up on the schedule ... you just gotta take care of business ... and that the orangemen did against big east cellar dweller rutgers ... andy rautins was the star of the night (23 points/4 3's/8 rebounds/9 assists/5 steals) ... and his backcourt mates contributed mightily (triche 12 points <> jardine 12 points <> jones 11 points) ... that's 58 of 81 points scored from the backcourt ... if he can play basketball and keep his mouth shut about playing time, young mookie jones is a dangerous weapon off the syracuse bench ... jones is 25/54/.463 in 3 point shooting so far this season

next up is #9 west virginia (13-2/3-1) at 12:00 noon on saturday from morgantown ... after that, notre dame (14-3/3-1), marquette (10-6/1-3) and georgetown (12-2/4-1)

big east game #3 ... #7 syracuse 82, south florida 65 ... thank you comcast, espn360 and syracuse university for offering an alternative to the debacle playing itself out down in foxboro this afternoon ... this is a game syracuse needed to win against one of the few lower echelon teams in the big east ... and win they did ... highlight reel plays and big numbers (19 points/13 rebounds) again from the kid with the big smile

the orange started the week ranked #7 ... #1 kansas had to come from behind to beat cornell 71-66 on wednesday night and lost to an undermanned tennessee team 76-68 today ... #4 purdue lost to #17 wisconsin 73-66 yesterday ... #5 duke also lost on saturday to #20 georgia tech 71-67 ... with syracuse's matching 17 point wins over memphis and south florida ... i'd think they should regain the #5 ranking tomorrow ... next up is rutgers (9-6/0-3) at 7:30 pm on wednesday from somewhere in new jersey

funny how the numbers work sometimes ... a year ago, the patriots won 5 of their last 6 games including their last 4 ... the matt cassell led offense seemed to have found it's rhythm ... the team appeared ready to make some noise in january ... they finished the regular season 11-5 ... and became the 1st team in nfl history to win 11 games and not make the playoffs ... with identical 11-5 records, miami won the afc east and baltimore won a wild card slot, both on the conference record tiebreaker over the patriots

now comes 2009 ... new england is 5-4 over their last 9 games ... consistently inconsistent throughout ... and not a very good team away from home ... they finish the season 10-6 and qualify for the postseason (as a #3 seed) with a week to spare ... the afc wild card winners ... baltimore and the "playoff gifted" new york jets ... were 2 of 7 teams with just 7 or 8 wins who could have won those spots on the season's final weekend

i'm sure cousin ed can find the nfl's conspiracy against the patriots somewhere in these numbers ... i'll just say good luck to my wes welker-less new england patriots as they open their postseason against baltimore tomorrow afternoon in what is expected to be "frigid" foxborough ... for the first time in recent memory, my comfort zone is not so comfortable

ari fleischer ... was at one time george bush's mouthpiece to the outside world ... now he runs ari fleischer communications, a sports public relations firm ... so the bcs hires fleischer's firm "to help remodel the tattered image of college football’s postseason system" ... and i'm sitting here wondering ... wouldn't it be money better spent if the ncaa or bcs, whoever, hired a firm "to help remodel the tattered college postseason system ... screw the image ... the image is tattered because the system is fraudulent

so i look for what ari fleischer's firm has done for their money ... i found this ... i was horrified ... first words my eyes focus on are PLAYOFF PROBLEM [unfortunately negative start] ... then i see THE PROBLEM WITH A PLAYOFF [hurdles, roadblocks, potholes, landmines] ... then i see the very last words on the page "and would forever change the bowl system" [exactly] ... i got 2 thoughts ... 1) "forever changing the bowl system" should be the mission of everyone associated with college football ... and 2) if others in george w's inner circle thought in the negative, roadblock at every turn, gridlock at every corner way mr fleischer does on the very first page of his work ... i understand better now how so little was accomplished during the bush white house years

bcs = fraudulent ... national championship = bullshit ... the ncaa says the football game on the other channel is their national championship game ... there's a reason they call it "mythical" ... could also be called "imaginary"... there's a reason i'm watching csi and the mentalist reruns

so alabama (13-0) and texas (13-0) are playing ... can someone explain to me why boise state (13-0) is not playing texas or alabama instead ... when these matchups were set, cincinnati (12-0) and tcu (12-0) could have also asked why they were excluded ... the one school that couldn't ask about exclusion is 2-time defending national champion florida (12-1) ... they were "eliminated" by alabama in a legitimate playoff game

save the typing, explanations are not necessary ... the answer is simple ... MONEY ... crowning a true champion is not what's important here ... ending this sport's season like every other college and professional sport is ended is not what's important here ... giving the true college football fan a credible end result is not what's important here ... what's important here is MONEY

non-conference game #13 ... #7 syracuse 74, memphis 57 ... last non-conference game on the schedule ... 93-94 was the last time syracuse went thru it's non-conference schedule undefeated ... as in every year, there were plenty of albanys, colgates and st bonnies ... there were also 4 national powers, north carolina, florida, cal and memphis ... and the orange disposed of each with double-digit wins ... but from this night forward, until a champion is crowned at the tournament in early march at msg ... it's all about the big east conference

tonite's game was a win, but surely no masterpiece ... 1st half, sloppie, sloppie ... the cuse just didn't appear in sync, didn't play under control ... too many turnovers, too many missed easy shots, too many missed free throws, too many memphis 3's ... arinze onuaku is horrible from the free throw line, rick jackson isn't much better ... game was tied at the half ... 2nd half, good enough to win ... stronger defense and smarter offense ... johnson (wes) and joseph (kris) took over with 12 and 15 points respectively ... in the end, a grind-it-out victory ... next up is south florida (10-4/0-2) at 2:00 pm on sunday from the dome ... figures the patriots will be hosting the ravens in the same time slot

las vegas oddsmakers have spoken ... and they say indianapolis is the favorite to win the super bowl ... "8-5" are the odds ... having never been a betting kinda guy, i believe that means you give up $5 and if they win, you get back $8 ... next comes san diego at 5-2 ... then new orleans (5-2) <> dallas (5-1) <> minnesota (5-1) <> arizona (10-1)

yikes ... don't like indy ... at 14-0, this team has yet to impress anyone ... exception: peyton manning impresses everyone ... lots of rest for starters has never been a winning formula for the colts ... used to like new orleans ... they started 13-0, they finished 0-3 ... so much for peeking in january ... dallas seems to be building momentum, but they'll have to get by philadelphia 2 weeks in a row ... hate minnesota ... so hoping green bay gets a shot at sending brett into a permanent retirement ... and arizona , yuck ... only reason they get to the postseason is they play in an awful division

my super bowl prediction <> san diego chargers vs dallas cowboys ... san diego will win super bowl xliv in miami

fatal flaw ... from day one, this edition of the new england patriots has been flawed ... something has been missing ... they've been consistently inconsistent and woeful as the visiting team ... but they've qualified for the postseason as the afc's #3 seed ... sadly they will now play their playoff games without their most productive offensive weapon, slot receiver wes welker ... non-contact injury ... torn acl/mcl ... 6-12 months recovery ... essentially the same injury tom brady suffered last season ... timing-wise, the difference is brady had reconstructive surgery in september ... welker's surgery will be in february

ironically, the 1st texan player to reach welker after he went down was safety bernard pollard ... the same bernard pollard whose tackle did in tom brady's knee ... after the game pollard commented "i heard wes yell out the same way i heard tom yell out ... it was the same yell ... it was terrible ... he went down right in front of me ... i saw his knee buckle, then I fell on him" ... patriots tight end ben watson commented "the sad part isn't so much the pain of the injury... it's the pain for wes ... if he's not able to play ... of not being able to do the thing he loves to do in the playoffs ... he's such a great competitor and valuable guy on the team"

big east game #2 ... pittsburgh 82, #5 syracuse 72 ... had to work, didn't see the game ... this was the cuse's big east home opener ... pitt came in 9-2 and had beaten syracuse 6 times in a row ... looks like the orange played ok in the 1st half and pitt dominated the 2nd half ... sophmore back-up's kris joseph (10 points/9 rebounds) and scoop jardine (15 points/3 steals) appear to have again played well ... syracuse has been on a roll since opening night of the season ... they have skyrocketed in the polls and into a national spotlight ... they were probably due for a correction ... next up is memphis (10-3) from conference usa at 7:00 pm on wednesday from the dome

final game at giant's stadium in the meadowlands on sunday night ... final game of the 2009 regular season ... nope, the once mighty new york giants aren't playing ... their closing act in their home stadium was last weekend ... this time it's the jets ... the suddenly playoff relevant new york jets will play for the final wild card on sunday night against the already postseason eligible cincinnati bengals ... and alcohol will not be served at the game ... obviously the new jersey sports authority is well aware of the unruly nature of jets fans ... says the sports authority

"with the late start of sunday's game, coupled with this being the final regular-season and final game at the stadium, we feel it is prudent not to serve alcohol"