2/01/2007

THIS IS WHY COLLEGE HOOPS IS SO MUCH BETTER
The NBA's New Jersey Nets unveiled their new dance team last night...

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Give me an A! Another A! Give me an R! Give me a P!

Man, these are not your father's cheerleaders. Oh wait, yes they are -- in fact, he probably dated a couple of them. Seriously, we'll stick with the college game, where the cheer squads wear spankies, not Depends, under their skirts. Yeesh.

1/30/2007

GAME 5: WHO'S YOUR DRADDY?
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"As far as I am concerned, Manhattan College is still a big urban myth, the place where Mikey died eating pop rocks after watching an alligator come out of the sewer." -- Ducats, Monday

'Riverdale? Where the fu*k is Riverdale?'

This was the most common reaction by folks who heard that me and my fellow Roundball Nut, codename Ducats, would be visiting Riverdale to take in a Tuesday night college basketball game between Manhattan College and the visiting Red Foxes from Marist at Draddy Gym.

To me, it sounded like a place where Hobbits might gather. Or maybe a place the Lord of the Dance would go to retire, ya know? But believe it or not, Riverdale is in New York City. Barely. Let's just say this: If you were lost in Yonkers and you went south a few blocks, you'd be in Riverdale. It is the absolute northern-most point in New York City. It's also home to the Manhattan College, despite the fact that it's in the Bronx. Go figure.

Amazingly, this odd little enclave called Riverdale is serviced by a subway. If you take the '1' train all the way to the freakin' end, you'll end up at Manhattan College, home of the Jaspers.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what the hell a Jasper is, here's one:

He had a wicked jump shot.

Yes, this is Brother Jasper, the namesake of Manhattan College's athletics programs. He looks fit, doesn't he? Maybe not, but he is credited with inventing baseball's 7th inning stretch. Who knew? No word on whether he had anything to do with 'Cotton-Eyed Joe'. Let's hope not.

At 6 pm, I met Ducats on the subway platform at 42nd St. and we headed north, 200 blocks north in fact, all the way to 242nd St. We were unsure of what was to come at the end of that long trek, and frankly, we were worried. Had anyone ever been up that far? Would the train burst into flames once it passed 200th? Did they take American currency up there?

We weren't sure of any of these things, but we knew we had no choice but to find out. We're on a mission, and Riverdale is part of it. We stood clear of the closing doors and we were on our way.

Game 5: Marist Red Foxes (15-6) vs. Manhattan Jaspers (10-10)
We did not burst into flames. In fact, when we finally did reach our destination, it was snowing. My god, had we traveled that far? We'd reached the North Pole, I was sure of it.

Or maybe we were just in the Bronx, Riverdale to be exact. The campus itself was situated high up on a hill and was very nice. A lot of steps, but nice. Oh, and a lot of Virgin Mary and Friar Tuck-looking statues. But nice. Did I mention nice?

Tonight's tilt offered up a tantalizing match-up between two teams tied for 2nd place in the MAAC, both one game off the pace of Loyola College (Md), a team the Jaspers shocked last week. Marist, the pride of Poughkeepsie, had the better overall record at 15-6, but the league records were an identical 7-3. It was going to be a good one, you could just smell it... or maybe that was the pungent aroma of 'gym' that permeated the Draddy when we walked in. Either way, we were pumped.

The Red Foxes are led by superstar guard Jared Jordan, who is averaging nearly a triple-double a night from the point guard position. Scary. Ducats was intrigued primarily by his name, which we both agreed sounded like a character from Beverly Hills 90210, Brandon Walsh's new best friend or something. Here he is, #25 on the right:

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Dreamy, no? Seriously, does anyone know who Jared Jordan is taking to prom this year? Because I'm really hoping he chooses me. Oh Jared Jordan, you can do no wrong. *swoon*

I decided I would hate Jared Jordan for the rest of the evening.

Meanwhile, Manhattan is led by the trio of Arturo Dubois, Devon Austin and freshman guard Antoine Pearson, who suffers from asthma and thus is affectionately dubbed 'sheezy', as in 'fo sheezy i'm wheezy!' Be proud son. He's been ripping the league up so far this year.

In the stands, I was surprised to find a familiar face. If you go to many Yankee games, you probably know all about Freddy 'Sez', a regular fixture at The Stadium since the mid-80s. He can be found at nearly every home game, a sign strapped to his chest, his trusty shamrock pan in hand ready to be banged for luck. Well, now we know what Freddy does in the off-season: He attends Jaspers games.

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The first half saw the Jaspers go down early, come back to take a lead, and then quickly relinquish it after a number of wicked cuts to the hoop by Jared Jordan, that guy I hate, and a flurry of '3s' by teammate Will Whittington. By halftime, Freddy's pan didn't seem to be bringing much luck as the Jaspers found themselves down 8.

Enter Coach Bada Bing. Seriously, Manhattan's head coach, Barry Rohrssen, is a dead ringer for Tony Soprano... ok, maybe Tony Soprano after a Trimspa program, but still. Whatever the case, he must've threatened to whack his team at halftime, because the Jaspers came out on fire in the 2nd half, quickly erasing that 8-point deficit.

Bada Bing!

The rest of the way Manhattan seemed to always be down by two or three points, never quite able to tie or take the lead. I can't remember how many times at the start of a posession I thought to myself, 'here, they're finally going to get a lead right here.' Only then, something like this happened:



Doh! Manhattan hadn't had a lead since the 7:49 mark of the first half. But throughout most of the second half they always seemed to be within that one bucket. They were down just a point when the turnover in the video above occured. After that, Whittington sunk a killer '3', putting Manhattan down 4 with under a minute to go. But then, Sheezy Pearson came through with a giant '3' of his own from the corner, cutting the lead back to one. After a Jared Jordan (hate him) miss on the other end, and 19.1 seconds on the clock, this happened:



That's freshman Darryl Crawford hitting the clutch floater there, and then Devon Austin getting the swat on the much hated Jared Jordan at the other end to just about seal it. All great and exciting stuff. Really, we were going absolutely nuts.

But the best part of that video comes toward the end. That heap of people you see on the court is the result of one crazy student who had been whooping it up all game as though he were at Cameron Indoor. When Austin blocked Jordan's shot, this lovable bastard rushed the floor all by himself. Problem was, there were still .8 seconds left on the clock, and so security tackled and dragged him away. He missed the final moment of the game, but he can take solace in the fact that he will be forever immortalized here on Roundball Nuts. He shall be knighted an Honorary Nut, part of the crew for life. Congratulations sir.

And yes, the Jaspers did prevail, holding on in that last .8 to edge the mighty Marist Red Foxes, 75-74 to take sole possession of 2nd place in the MAAC. I guess Freddy's pan worked after all.

Oh, and here is that final .8 for you to enjoy. If you look closely, you'll see that at least one person succesfully rushed the floor. You go girl.




FINAL: Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting 75 Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting 74 (recap)

1/29/2007

DAMN LUCKY DUCKS
You know, if I'd seen this story about 'Perky' the duck beforehand, I probably wouldn't have been so boastful in my post ahead of the Cougars/Oregon game last week.
"I think right now her chances are really good, she's made it," said Noni Beck, wildlife rehabilitator at the Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary in Tallahassee, Florida.

Perky was hit in the leg, neck and wing by a local hunter last weekend. Ms Beck said the duck was felled, carried back to the hunter by his dog, hung in a brace of dead ducks, taken to his house and placed in a refrigerator.

Two days later the hunter's wife went to the fridge.

"When she opened the door this little duck raised her head ... she immediately called her daughter and said they had to do something," said Ms Beck.

The daughter took the duck to a local vet for treatment.
The Ducks from Eugene seemed as lucky as Perky when they pulled out an OT miracle in Pullman Saturday night. Great game, disappointing ending, rematch at The Pit on Feb. 22.

You're dead to me Ducks.

Ok, I'm going to get back to East Coast basketball now. Stay tuned for the Nuts foray into the wilds of Riverdale later on this week.