Congratulations to the WNBA for finally morphing into a product that the average American sports fan really can relate to…a pier six brawl! Okay, so it wasn’t as much fun as the original Malice at the Palace(what is it about Auburn Hills, MI?), but it did have former NBA bad boy/current WNBA assistant Rick Mahorn shoving Lisa Leslie to the ground. Uhhh, Rick…I know you were feeling the “Bad Boys” flashback, but that’s not MJ and the Bulls. Okay, so that’s it for your WNBA highlight on Thee Blog, at least until they start doing things like this on a regular basis or in a kiddie pool of Jello.
The First (and likely only) WNBA highlight on Thee Blog
Published by July 23rd, 2008 in Basketball. 13 CommentsEarlier this week, I said on thee blog that I’d have a discussion today about the Hurricanes and the role they play in the community. But after e-mailing with a few of you and talking to Canes media relations czar Mike Sundheim, I realized that what you would like to talk about and what I had in mind aren’t the same thing.
The last couple of days, on my end, have been ridiculously hectic, so I haven’t had the chance to figure out the best way to go about having this discussion. Until we can do it right, it doesn’t make much sense to do it.
Hopefully, we can get this done before Glenn comes back on August 4. If not, we’ll do this another time. But we will do this before the start of hockey season. My apologies for the bait-and-switch, but I’d rather push this back than do it now and waste everyone’s time.
The ACC Kickoff in Greensboro, Georgia features the typical coachspeak from head coaches and optimistic talk from players, but there is another group that hangs around the media event. Movers and shakers like ACC Comissioner John Swofford and bowl CEO’s network over rounds of golf. Somehow, Adam Gold was able to convince these important people to talk to him rather than ask him to valet the car.
ACC Commissioner John Swofford on moving the title game to Tampa
ACC Commissioner John Swofford on the BCS
ACC Commissioner John Swofford discusses “one & dones”, academics
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan
Orange Bowl CEO Eric Poms celebrating 75 years of oranges
Tampa rep Rob Higgins on hosting the title game
Do you find yourself so excited about Saturday’s tailgate and 3pm kickoff that you can’t, ahem, perform on Friday night? Victoria’s Secret has just the thing to make sure your unhealthy obsession with football carries over into the bedroom. Introducing the Pink College Collection, featuring school logos on everything from hoodies to underwear. Surprisingly, Oregon State is not a featured university. Perhaps some things are simply understood.
North Carolina does have a line of Victoria’s Secret gear, and adding some pink actually makes the school colors a bit tougher looking. NC State doesn’t have a “Pink Collection,” which is probably a smart move. Wolfpack fans would simply build up immense expectations on what the panties were capable of doing for their wives and girlfriends, only to realize the panties didn’t get them as far as they would like to go at the end of the night. At that point, Pack fans would want to fire their wife or girlfriend and blame the News & Observer for the lack of action.
H/T: Red & White
Coming as a shock to nobody, Clemson was the preseason pick to win the ACC Championship. The Tigers received 59 of the 65 first place votes in the Atlantic Division, and 51 of 65 votes to win the whole thing. Virginia Tech was preseason pick to win the Coastal Division with 58 votes, while North Carolina wrangled up 4 votes. The actual surprise came from first place votes for Miami, Georgia Tech and Virginia. It appears Greensboro, Georgia has a nice beer selection and a few members of the media hit the sauce early.
NC State and Duke are in spots most people expected the teams to be, dead last.
This year we’re changing it up again and crowning not only one, but two Buzz Babes in celebration of our 10 Year Anniversary. We’ve selected eight finalists and randomly placed them into a bracket style format. Round 1 starts today, so vote early and vote often.
After suffering for years from the effects of the criminal workload he endured at some points in high school and Dusty Baker’s old school belief that starting pitchers are made to go more than 5-6 innings — my theories on both — how mad must Kerry Wood be that he can’t get on the mound because of a friggin’ blister?
For pitchers, blisters are ridiculously painful and, even if they weren’t, they make it hard to grip a baseball. I’ve got two on my right hand that, while not painful, are really messing up my grip on the golf course. They’re also not terribly uncommon in baseball (”Blisters” should be Josh Beckett’s nickname).
I just feel for the dude on this one. Some cats just can’t catch a break.
Plenty of storylines emerging from Greensboro, Georgia during the ACC Kickoff media event. The intriguing trend concerns North Carolina and their possible success in the Coastal Division. The players are talking big, pundits are expecting a winning season, and some are even floating the idea of a Tar Heels appearance in the ACC Championship game. I’m buying, and went on record last Monday saying North Carolina will represent the Coastal in Tampa. That’s a huge jump for a team that went just 4-8 last season and has a returning QB with a re-engineered shoulder. It’s not because North Carolina has suddenly become an elite team after just one year under Butch Davis, it’s because the division is just that weak and ripe for the taking. For all the questions the Tar Heels have to answer about defense, runningback and youth…Virginia Tech has just as many issues. The Hokies return just 10 starters and lost big names such as Vince Hall, Chris Ellis, Xavier Adibi, and Brandon Flowers. Overall, Virginia Tech has lost 6 of their defensive front 7 over the last 2 years. Offensively, the running game is nebulous thanks to injuries sustained during Spring practices. The offensive line needs to improve after giving up 54 sacks last season, which was near the bottom in the NCAA.
The bottom line: All these possible issues between North Carolina and Virginia Tech make the September 20th matchup in Chapel Hill a tossup with huge implications. The winner is on track to take the division. For a youthful group of Tar Heels, that win can provide momentum for the rest of the year the same way winning was contagious at Wake Forest in 2006.
AG talks with UNC defensive back Deunta Williams
The Miller Lite Ad That Wasn’t - Danica vs. Milka
Published by July 21st, 2008 in National. 10 CommentsAt first I thought this video was staged. IRL drivers Danica Patrick and Milka Duno have a spat, some towel slapping, and then eventually take their differences into a kid’s pool filled with Jello pudding. Who forgot to call Cosby, where’s the pudding!?
Interesting blog item from the Y! about a survey on how North Carolinians feel about the Hurricanes. Or whether people know they exist.
- “Did you know that North Carolina has a professional ice hockey team, the Carolina Hurricanes?” While 82 percent answered “yes,” that meant 18 percent of respondents were unaware the Hurricanes played in their state after 11 years.
- Perhaps even more disturbing, six percent of respondents in the 919 area code, where the team’s arena is located, said they did not know the Hurricanes existed.
Interesting spin on this one from media relations chief Mike Sundheim. “Those are probably the same six percent who couldn’t name the Vice President of the United States if you did a survey asking them what his name is,” Sundheim said (turns out 31 percent don’t know the VP’s name, a fact that scares me).
Here’s the rub, though. It’s one thing not to know the Vice President’s name. It’s another to not know there’s a such thing as a Vice President. That said, I bet you could also find some 10% of a sample that’s never heard of Duke, either. Probably says more about the respondent than the subject of the question.
This is my favorite part of the post…
“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Sundheim. “I remember in the Stanley Cup finals, a guy for ESPN that was based here in Durham basically ripped us and said nobody cares about us. Well, that guy must have literally not left his house during the two months of the playoffs that year to say that nobody here cares.”
Hey, I know that guy…
EDIT — for those that don’t know, here’s the piece by that ESPN guy (whose name, I’m pretty sure, Sundheim is aware of, for Mr. Rutherford certainly is). Feel free to join him, and most local readers, in missing the point.
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