Balanced Billikens Keep Rolling

Friday night, the Saint Louis University Billikens achieved something that hadn't been done by any previous team in school history.

They defeated the 15th ranked Butler Bulldogs 65-61, giving SLU its fourth win of the season over a ranked team. The last time the school had even registered three such wins in a single season was during the 1993-94 campaign when the likes of Erwin Claggett and Scotty Highmark were on the roster. I was eight years old at that point, so to say I've been waiting for this kind of success for a long time would be an understatement.

After ranking 26th in votes in both polls this past week and knocking off a pair of ranked opponents in Butler and Virginia Commonwealth, the Billikens certainly deserve to be ranked. I was hoping for 22 or 21, but they rocketed all the way up to 18 in the AP poll and 19 in the USA Today/coaches poll. This is their highest ranking since February 28th of 1994. After the week SLU had in addition to the season that they're having, I certainly agree that it's a valid ranking, but I was still surprised as they've been underrated for most of this season. Regardless, it will certainly be nice to see a number on the left of their name on the ESPN scoreboard this week and hopefully for several weeks to come.

Perhaps the best part of this team is that they don't have those letdown losses after a big win. After knocking off Butler at home, then ranked ninth, the Billikens had a home game against Dayton, in which they blew out the Flyers by 29. They then had a pair of road contests against conference bottom feeder Fordham and Richmond, who while no cake walk, was a game the Billikens certainly should have won. And they were up to the task, beating the Spiders 56-46. They came home and defeated the Charlotte 49ers in what could be the two teams' last meeting as conference opponents, as the Niners will return to Conference USA next season. Charlotte stuck around for most of the game in what was an extremely physical battle, but SLU pulled away late to eventually win 75-58.

This set the Billikens up to run the gauntlet. On Tuesday, they would host 24-ranked VCU and visit number 15 Butler on Friday. I've always had a cautiously optimistic approach as a SLU fan, hope for okay and be thrilled if it's better. So I was thinking SLU would be in pretty good shape if they could just split the two games. After all, VCU is a team that gave two ranked teams fits in Duke and Missouri, in an early season tournament, and pulled off the win against ranked Memphis in the same tournament, so winning that game wouldn't be easy. And if that wasn't difficult enough, the Billikens then had to go to Hinkle Fieldhouse, where top-ranked Indiana suffered their first lost of the season and second ranked Gonzaga fell victim to a buzzer beater. If you go on Joe Lunardi's bracketology on ESPN, that's home wins over two of the current four number one seeds. Had the Billikens been intimidated by either opponent, I would've understood it. But they weren't. Not in the slightest.

They nearly ran VCU out of Chaifetz Arena in the first half on Tuesday, just like they did to Butler and New Mexico, the other two ranked opponents to visit SLU this season. The Bills then sustained a second half charge from the Rams, who cut the halftime lead of 17 down to 11. SLU instantly responded with four points from junior guard Jordair Jett to build the lead back to 15. And although the Rams would only lose by 14, it wasn't even that close as they hit two threes in their last two possessions, one of which came with under two seconds remaining.

The Billikens now had a chance to go to Indianapolis and take a commanding lead in the Atlantic-10 (er...16) standings. SLU got off to a decent start and had a 9-7 lead on the Bulldogs, but the Billikens didn't shoot very well during the first half. One of the team's leading scorers, senior forward Cody Ellis, was held scoreless for the entire game. I think this shows what a great team the Billikens have the potential to be. A top scorer gets shutout on the road against a top-15 team and they can still win. Junior guard Mike McCall Jr. took over for the Billikens, going on to lead the team with 18 points which included a couple of big threes and two clutch free throws at the end of the game to ice away the victory. Junior forward Dwayne Evans also had a huge game, scoring 17 points while senior guard Kwamain Mitchell added 12 in what was his most effective game since January 23rd at lowly Duquesne.

Every game the Billikens play, you never know who is going to step up for the team and be the guy. It could be Ellis, Evans, Mitchell, McCall Jr., Jett, or even junior forwards "Awkward" Rob Loe and Jake Barnett. Barnett shot out of his mind against Charlotte, draining four threes in five attempts. Loe went off against UMass to start conference play with a career high of 20 points while adding seven boards and an assist. The team's balance on offense and stingy defense will make them a formidable opponent for anyone in the tournament. Butler's coach, Brad Stevens, has been quoted as saying the Billikens are a Final Four caliber team. I'm not going to fly off the handle quite yet due to my cautious attitude towards my favorite college basketball team, but I could see it as a possibility with the right draw and a few bounces going our way. All I know is, that I'm ready for March. And so are the Billikens.

Lastly, for those of you who haven't seen it, below is my celebration video after beating Butler on the road on Friday. Enjoy!

Pattern Presents a Problem

The Blues got out a brilliant start this season, winning five of their first six. They came from behind in three of those five victories, showing heart and spirit. Over the past three games, this spirit has disappeared.

After a tough road loss in Detroit in which a horrid call cost the Blues at least one point, when captain David Backes was ejected for a hit to the head (it was actually to the shoulder), the Blues came home for a four game stretch in St. Louis. The first game of the homestand was against a Nashville team that they'd beaten twice already this season and did so soundly at home the second time with a 3-0 win. One would expect the Predators to be tired of losing to the Blues and to come out with a big effort. Well, they certainly did that and the Blues had no answer for it. The final was 6-1 and it was pretty embarrassing. I fell asleep after it was 3-0 and it was pretty obvious that the Blues were content to lay an egg that night. I wrote it off, as many of us did, to these things will happen on occasion, especially with such a condensed schedule. With Detroit coming in two days later, they'd want to take it to them after they got robbed at the Red Wings' place just days earlier. Wrong. The Blues came out strong in the first, but got behind 2-0 fairly early and had a "woe is me" lull. They began to play well again in the second and got a power play goal from Alex Pietrangelo to cut it to a 2-1 Detroit lead. In the blink of an eye, the Wings answered with two goals in 1:31 and that was all she wrote. It was 4-1 and even with a period left, they essentially gave up. That one lull right after scoring cost them the game.

Saturday night, the Blues had Anaheim in town. The Blues grabbed the momentum early with a quick power play goal, but they gave it right back when goalie Brian Elliott gave up perhaps his softest goal of the season, a straight shot right off his arm that trickled across the line. The Blues hung with it and while I feel they didn't outplay the Ducks by that much in the first, finished the period with a 3-1 lead. Things fell apart in the second period. Anaheim scored three goals in a span of 1:41, with defensive breakdown after defensive breakdown. Obvious plays like putting a body on a guy who is approaching 700 career goals in Teemu Selanne escaped the Blues during this span and it cost them. A two goal lead became a one goal deficit almost instantly. The Blues would rally with a goal to tie it at four early in the third and then the two team would trade goals in the last six and a half minutes of the third, forcing overtime. The Blues caught a bad break when they scored what looked to be the winner in overtime, just to have it waived off when Patrik Berglund was shoved into the Ducks' goalie and eventually lost in the shootout. But the point stands, that it never should have come down to overtime. Without the Blues taking two minutes off in which they allowed three goals, they would've been in great shape to win the game. 

The most frustrating thing for me after the game on Saturday as I walked out of the arena with my friends, was some moron started sarcastically chanting Brian Elliott's name. I pointed out how his defense hung him out to dry during that three goal span, but he just argued it further. Elliott hasn't been good over the last few games by any stretch of the imagination, but to blame solely him for the Blues' losing streak is ignorant and short sighted. Saturday's game was a team loss and so were the other three games before it. The Blues need to get it together and start putting together team wins again.

I'm aware that players are more likely to be tired with the shortened scheduled, but that can't be an excuse with every team dealing with those issues. No one is going to feel sorry for the Blues. They have to get back to playing the way they were at the beginning of the season, not taking shifts off, fore checking relentlessly, and being accountable on defense. If the Blues do that, they can get back on track and contend with the Blackhawks for the Central Division title.

I Hope the Ravens Get Murdered...

Super Bowl Sunday. If it weren't already on a weekend, I'd propose it should be considered for national holiday status just as much as election day.

For the first time ever, I was actually scheduled to work today. I instead used vacation days to take off both today so I can fry a turkey and consume some adult beverages with my Uncle Greg and tomorrow so I don't have to go to bed at halftime to get adequate sleep before working tomorrow. Super Bowl Sunday has thus become Super Bowl Weekend for me. I highly recommend it.

As for the game itself, I'm really not sure who will win. It's pretty much the worst possible match up for a Steelers fan. If the Ravens win, our biggest rival win the Super Bowl. If the 49ers win, they tie the Steelers for the most Super Bowl titles. I'm also still a little on a San Francisco hate vibe due to the NLCS (I can never leave town with a 3-1 NLCS lead again, now 0-2). Throw in the fact that I'm also a Rams fan, so I hate the 49ers anyway, and this postseason has just culminated in a horrible mess for me on a personal level.

I'll be cheering for the 49ers, as my hatred for Baltimore overrides just about everything else. You can bet the Ravens will be getting the Streak for the Cash curse. I'd say that pans out for me at least 3/5 of the time and about half of the time when I really care about something. And seeing as the Giants cursing didn't pan out, even with me drinking myself silly on French wine, I'd say the curse is due for a good showing in a big game scenario.

From a straight up analytic perspective, I would go with the Niners to take care of business as well. I think they need to take full advantage of the fast track provided by the Superdome and have quarterback Colin Kaepernick run a muck on the Ravens' defense like he did against the Packers. On the other side of the ball, pressuring quarterback Joe  Flacco will definitely be the key. People can talk about records and things all they want, but my opinion is still that Flacco sucks. And even if the Ravens were to win tonight, it probably won't change my mind. After all, the only other time that the Ravens won the Super Bowl, they played two quarterbacks that suck: Trent Dilfer and for I think one snap, Tony Banks. Banks is probably one of the worst quarterbacks of all time and Dilfer is almost certainly the worst starter at the position to ever win a Super Bowl. And while Flacco isn't as bad as Dilfer (typing that was pretty painful), he's still not the amazing player many say he is. And if the San Fran defense can get after him, it will show up.

Go 49ers is still option number two behind go category five hurricane in February that tears up the Superdome and somehow prevents the game from happening, I guess it's my most realistic option. At least I can cheer for a couple of Mizzou alums in Justin and Aldon Smith (no relation, duh) with San Fran instead of the murderer. I'm going to balance out the coverage Mr. Stabby has been getting this postseason and not type his name in this post. But I will leave you with one of my favorite SNL videos of all time that refers to him. Enjoy the video and the game. My various picks are under the video.




Coin Toss: Heads
Times the Harbaugh parents are shown during the broadcast Over/Under 8: Over, easily
Game: Niners
MVP: Kaepernick

Return of the Zambon-I

Two Sundays ago, at a little after eight A.M., I received the news via text message from my friend, Tyler. Hockey is back. 

I was pretty much having a completely shitty day at that point, as it was eight A.M. on a Sunday and I had already been at work for over five hours. And with one text message, that changed. I had my favorite thing in the world back. I'm still all for my Gary Bettman needs to die in a fire (#DIAF on twitter) campaign, but I was beyond happy at this point. 

I don't have any plans to purchase a jersey this year like I was originally planning, but I want my hockey team to be there for me, so I will be there for them in the stands. After all, I'm well aware that Tom Stillman and the rest of the Blues' new ownership group didn't want any part of this lockout. The Blues were recently listed as the least valuable NHL franchise, so losing money by not playing 34 games and alienating fans would be about the worst thing they could do. Jeremy Jacobs, the owner of the Boston Bruins and just a handful of others were the reason for this lockout, the third work stoppage under Bettman (#DIAF), and it was completely unacceptable. Their greed cost us fans roughly half of a hockey season just eight years after it cost us an entire one. But since the St. Louis owners weren't the problem, I can't boycott them like I did the Cardinals' owners during the 2012 regular season for messing up the Albert Pujols situation. 

When Saturday rolls around, I will be in the stands ready to yell "Let's go Blues!" at the top of my lungs, decked out in a jersey and cap. I'll heckle the Red Wings just like usual (I once yelled at Pavel Datsyuk while he wasn't even on the ice. Alcohol may have been involved.) Maybe it's due to the longest withdrawal I've had in years, as hockey is my crack, or maybe it's because many pundits are picking the Blues to go far in the playoffs this year, but this may be the most excited I've ever been for a hockey season to begin. 

 

The Blues stellar goaltending tandem of Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott that propelled them to their first Central Division title in 11 years is back and healthy, after Halak injured his ankle in the first round of the playoffs last season. Overall, the Blues are bringing back 22 of the 25 roster players from last season. Carlo Colaiacovo left in free agency to join Detroit, but for me, that's addition by subtraction. He would make gritty, solid plays at times, but he would often make silly, careless mistakes that would cost the team. And that was when he could actually manage to stay healthy, which wasn't often. The other blueliner that won't be back is Kent Huskins. His play was consistent when he was in the lineup, but nothing special that can't be replaced. The Blues added veteran Wade Redden to fill the void left by Huskins. Ian Cole appears like he will be stepping into a full time role with the Blues for the first time as a replacement for Colaiacovo, so Redden's signing will be more for depth than anything else. The 35-year old D-man may bring some additional leadership as well, but this hockey club isn't short on that either. David Backes will resume his captaincy with the team for the second season and the same four alternates of Andy McDonald, Alex Steen, Jamie Langenbrunner, and Barret Jackman.

The only forward of last year's roster that won't be returning is veteran Jason Arnott. He was a great player for the Blues last year, recording 17 goals and 17 assists with six of his goals coming on the power play, tying him with Alex Pietrangelo for second on the team. Arnott simply didn't fit into this year's roster for the Blues, as they had to make room for perhaps their most exciting addition, rookie Vladimir Tarasenko. After spending his past two season in the KHL in Russia, Tarasenko's contract was up and he decided to make the leap to the NHL. David Perron, T.J. Oshie, and Backes certainly have offensive firepower, but not the same kind that Tarasenko wields. He could really bring an offensive punch to the roster that the team was missing at times last year. Personally, he is what I'm most looking forward to seeing this season live. He's great to watch on Youtube, but I'd much rather see the real thing (here's a video of him scoring a hat trick in the KHL anyway). 

And now that this is a possibility, the possibilities for this Blues team are endless. They have the goaltending, the defense, and the offense. They have head coach Ken Hitchcock returning, last year's Jack Adams Award winner for coach of the year. They have general manager Doug Armstrong, whom they just signed to a five-year extension, who was last year's NHL executive of the year, who is willing to add whatever little pieces the team may need, like Redden. And they certainly have the fans behind them again, as it appears that Saturday's opener against Detroit will sell out. Bring on hockey season and let's go Blues!

Bears Slam Rams Back to Reality

Sunday, following the Rams' first win in a home opener since 2006, was full of hope. They had a chance to beat a Bears team that was down to their second running back and struggled mightily to protect quarterback Jay Cutler the previous week in Green Bay.

Unfortunately, in football, you have to play on both sides of the ball. The Rams' defense was everything they could've hoped for against the pass. Cutler was just 17-31 for 183 yards and a pick without a touchdown. He was also sacked twice. The Bears' rushing game wasn't extremely effective either, overall, but they allowed the Bears to convert on a couple of crucial third downs. Their goal-line stand on which running back Michael Bush rushed for the Bears' only offensive touchdown was also unimpressive. But what was most disappointing about a pretty decent defensive day for the Rams, was two extremely stupid penalties that led to both the aforementioned touchdown and a field goal by extending two Chicago drives. Even the replacement refs know that you can't hit the punter and you can't hit the quarterback late. The Rams probably got away with a few late hits on Cutler, but if you do something illegal enough, you're probably going to be caught eventually. And that's exactly what happened. The flag was thrown, the Bears kept the ball, and eventually scored the game's only offensive touchdown to build a 10-0 lead. The Rams' anemic offense would ensure that would be all that the Bears would need.

I know that the St. Louis offensive line has struggled in years past and has already been decimated by injuries this season, but that's starting to not be an excuse anymore for quarterback Sam Bradford. He was sacked six times on Sunday and I would estimate that at least three of them, you could put on Bradford. He's simply holding on to the ball for too long. In the NFL, quarterbacks can not expect to get five seconds to throw the ball. They're lucky if they get three on most plays. If he can extend the play by scrambling, that's fine, but he doesn't do that very often. Bradford often goes into the fetal position and just take the sack. Sacks are better than interceptions, but these are not all coverage sacks, with zero open receivers available. On the pick-six he threw, wide receiver Danny Amendola was wide open on the left side of the field as the, but he forced it deep into tight coverage that quickly became double coverage on the same side of the field. He's clearly not going through his progressions and is still not comfortable in the pocket. Teams don't win many games in which their quarterback takes six sacks, so Bradford will either need to start making plays with his legs or at least learn to get rid of the ball quicker to get back to winning like he did in college.

Labor Day

Both the NFL and NHL don't seem to get it.

The NHL is on the verge of its second lockout in under a decade and the owners and Players' Association are supposedly still very far apart on a new CBA. The NFL announced earlier on Wednesday that it will begin the 2012 season with replacement referees. Both of these situations could be greatly damaging to the leagues.

Only in the last couple of years has the NHL truly started to get back its fans in most of its markets. Most of the Canadian teams, Detroit, Boston, and New York, got their fans back either right away or pretty quickly. But even Chicago, an Original Six team, didn't see their fans come back until a few years after the lockout. This was partially due to their now deceased owner, William W. Wirtz, running the franchise in a very non-fan friendly manner, but the lockout certainly didn't help matters. St. Louis, which is a historically strong hockey town, also dealt with ownership problems in the post-lockout era and frankly wasn't a competitive team again until the 2008-09 season when they rallied to make the playoffs, before being swept by Vancouver in the first round. And like in any city, even when the fans are there, the tickets sell better when a team is winning. The Blues have raised ticket prices the last two years, which is certainly a signal that their fans are back strong. This is the case in many NHL cities at this point. But there are still franchises that are struggling as well.

The Phoenix Coyotes have been in financial trouble for years in the desert, and the vultures have certainly been circling the Jobing.com Arena for a while. The Coyotes are still currently being run by the NHL itself and are constantly being discussed as a team that could possibly move cities. The same can be said about the Florida Panthers. The Dallas Stars used to sell out routinely, but they've struggled in recent seasons both in the standings and in attendance. Even the New York Islanders, a historical franchise that had a dynasty of four consecutive Stanley Cups in the early 80's, have been talked about as a potential franchise that could move. The Islanders haven't won a division title since the 1987-88 season and have rarely been in the playoffs since the 80's. Their crosstown rivals, the Rangers, are bigger draw as they win more often, have the more famous arena, and have more history.

It is situations like these that could make the average fan side with the owners on the CBA. Teams like the Islanders, Panthers, Coyotes, and Stars can't afford to see the salary cap creep closer and closer to where it was before the 2004-05 lockout. But franchises like the Red Wings, Rangers, Flyers, Maple Leafs, and Canadiens certainly can. These teams might not like the revenue sharing, but they have to play someone and without all of the other teams, it just wouldn't be the same league. On the players' side, the owners and the league were completely unreasonable in their first proposal to the NHLPA. In addition to a steep drop in revenue sharing between the players and owners, they asked for salary rollbacks, a lower salary cap, and extended entry-level contracts, which was probably the worst part. There is absolutely no way that the NHLPA would agree to that and the NHL had to know that.

I understand asking for a lot in order to get a little in a compromise, but when another season is at risk and the deadline for negotiations is this close, this was a waste of time. The first proposal should have been more fair and with that, they could have expected a better first proposal from the NHLPA. We're now on the league's second proposal, with under three weeks to go until a potential lockout and things don't sound like they're coming to a head any time soon. I quite honestly don't think the NHL, which is miles behind the NFL and MLB in popularity, can survive another lockout, especially the franchises that are already struggling. I'm not sure I would want to keep following a league that will continue to shoot itself in the foot every time it starts to turn things around again. And if a hockey fan like me won't be in the stands, then who will?

As far as the NFL's referee situation goes, I again will side with the little guy, but mostly for my own sake as a fan. People complain about officiating all the time, no matter the sport. But in the country's most popular sport, the one that is talked about more than any other, does the league really want poor officiating from inexperienced referees to be what is talked about the most? Probably not. Talking about how bad the refs were on Sunday afternoon doesn't sell jerseys. It doesn't sell tickets either, except maybe on Stubhub when the fans get so frustrated with blown calls that they don't even want to go to the game anymore. By bringing in replacement refs, the NFL is downgrading its product, a product that has become the most popular sport in the United States, passing even America's past time of baseball. Why on earth would you want to give that up? Commissioner Roger Goodell will make $20 million this season. Are you honestly telling me that a league which can afford to pay its commissioner that much money can't afford to make a few concessions to  appease its top officials? Especially when it will help keep its brand as the king of American sports? Please.

The NFL and NHL both need to do what is best for the fans and get these matters settled quickly before they do extensive damage to themselves. After all, the fans are the ones actually paying the salaries.

Cole Hamels IS That Good

I was getting tired of reading about how Cole Hamels is going to get a ridiculous contract from either the Phillies or in free agency, so I decided to write a post about him not being that good and not being worth that kind of money.

Well, it turns out that Hamels has been extremely consistent since he entered the league in 2006. Since his rookie year, his ERA has only finished over 4.00 one time, and that was in 2009, the year after the Phillies won the World Series. He threw what is still a career high of 227.1 innings in 2008 and threw an additional 35.0 innings during that postseason, bringing the overall total to 262.1 innings. Most pitchers struggle after putting up a bunch of extra innings. Just look at Chris Carpenter. After the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series, Carp missed nearly two full seasons, pitching in just five games over those two years. Now it's 2012 and Carpenter won't pitch at all this season after the Cards won the 2011 World Series. Hamels had took a step back in 2009, suffering career highs in ERA, WHIP, and his only sub-.500 season, but he still was decent enough to help the team back to another World Series.

I'm not sure if Hamels is worth $20+ million a year, but the Phillies gave Cliff Lee $120 million over five year and Hamels has a career ERA .30 lower than that of Lee. At least if he does get that much, he can afford a better hair cut. If Philadelphia can't retain Hamels, he would be a prized asset that could bolster any team looking to make the playoffs this season. One major rule change could deter some clubs, though. Players acquired in mid-season trades will no longer result in draft pick compensation if they sign elsewhere. With this being the first year of this rule, it's difficult to tell how it will affect prospective trades, but teams might not want to give up as many prized prospects with the possibility of losing both those young players and the free agent, without a chance to replace either. If the Phillies re-sign Hamels, they're looking at close to $70 million on three pitchers between him, Lee, and Roy Halladay for next season. Add on Ryan Howard's $25 million, and that's $95 million on four players. The Phillies might be better off trading Hamels for the right package so if nothing else, they can keep some balance on their roster keep it competitive.