Madison Square Garden a.k.a The Inferno

God bless journalists and the absent-minded people we often confront. Most times we can overcome roadblocks, but this is something:

Now The Knicks Are Pummeling The Reporters

In November, we told you about the pure bliss that went into being a beat reporter following the New York Knicks. (Note: We are employing The Sarcasm there.) But covering the Knicks doesn't just involve hating yourself and your choice of career; it can actively mean being beaten up by security.

Some New York Giants players were interviewed by media at halftime of the Knicks-Celtics game yesterday, but when reporters tried to talk to a fan who was being ejected -- you'd be amazed how often this is happening at Knicks games right now -- matters went dangerously awry.

I would estimate that a dozen ushers surrounded the three reporters, including myself, physically blocking our path and berating us for not listening to their orders, not "respecting" them and not letting them do their jobs. I explained that, in truth, it was the other way around. The security staff was keeping us from doing our jobs. One reporter was physically restrained and had his credential torn off his neck.

I've gotten to know a few ushers and security people at the Garden over the past couple of years, and like them. But I don't envy their jobs. I don't envy anyone who has to work in this place, under these conditions. It's sad, really, is the best way I can put it.

Honestly, this might be one of the most depressing sentences we've ever read in sports journalism: "I don't envy anyone who has to work in this place, under these conditions." Sigh. For months, we've encouraged the Knicks to hang onto 2007 SHOTY winner Isiah Thomas for raw entertainment value. But we dunno; he's turning that place into a toxic swamp. Maybe we should get him out of there before the Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers arrive.

Clip of the Day

Bear with me. I'm a little more than a week through my final semester of school, but will try to keep posting as much as possible.

Here's a Clip of the Day for the last week or so - and it's worth that many. This is one of the funniest YouTube videos I've seen.

Enjoy ya boi, Bo Ryan, do SOULJA BOY.

Farewell Andy Roddick, Also

I'll always root for Andy Roddick, but it gets hard at times.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

I sometimes feel Roddick's passion for an athlete's nightlife supersedes his court success. I want to blame him for that, but it's not fair. I don't know how I'd handle the celebrity life. He doesn't seem to embarrass himself in the public spotlight, he just enjoys himself in it.

His third-round loss at the Australian Open is a disappointing start to the 2008 season, but he may rebound. He has in the past and this time, I'll hold out hope that he does.

Andy Loses Out to Kohlschreiber

January 18th, 2008 11:42 am

By Andyroddick.com Staff

Andy’s Australian Open campaign came to an end at the hands of Philipp Kohlschreiber on Friday night in Melbourne, the German produced an outstanding performance to win 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-7(3), 8-6 in three hours and 53 minutes.

World No. 27 Kohlschreiber played a magnificent match, hitting 104 winners in total and 32 aces to finally edge out Andy in the fifth set at 2:05am in the morning at Melbourne Park.

Serving was a big factor in the match, with Andy hitting a career-high 42 aces throughout, and he lost the first set with just one poor service game which Kohlschrebier capitalised on to then go on and close out the set 6-4.

Throughout the first set, Kohlschreiber had been dominant and aggressive from the back of the court, and this did not relent. However, Andy was able to get a foothold in the German’s serve in the fourth game of the second set and after securing the break of serve, as Kohlschreiber netted a half volley, he raced through the set to level up 6-3.

The serve continued to dominate in the third set, with no breaks factoring at all, despite both men having opportunities late on. Andy had chances at 5-5, but brave play from Kohlschreiber, including a a backhand down the line winner, saw off the danger. Similarly, Kohlschreiber held set points when leading 6-5 but a huge serve and fine net play from Andy ensured the set went to a tie-break.

The tie-break was a tense affair, though Andy got the first break through at 5-3 with a forehand passing shot to earn a mini break. However, at 6-4, he couldn’t convert either set point he held as a backhand winner and a lob from Kohlschreiber brought them level. Set points continued to be swapped between both men, neither able to convert until, at 9-9, a forehand cross court return winner gave Kohlschreiber a set point on his own serve which he converted with an unreturnable serve. It was a set the 24-year-old German arguably deserved to win after hitting a remarkable 32 winners in the set to just eight unforced errors.

Andy’s frustrations began to tell in the fourth set, so desperate was he to pull level and fight into a fifth set. His determination told ultimately when the duo arrived at another tie-break after Andy had staved off early break points in the third game of the set.

This time Andy did not miss his chances in the tie-break. He played a blinder to take it 7-3 after a fantastically worked point finished with a cute volley had earned him the mini break at 3-3.

By 4-4 in the fifth set, both men had dropped just two points on their respective serves in the set as the serve once again came to the fore. But that was about to change as Kohlschreiber earnt himself four match points with Andy serving at 4-5.

The first came about as Andy hit close to the baseline and after Kohlschreiber had sent up a lob which was going long he challenged the call. Andy rightly argued that this shouldn’t have stood as the German had already played the ball, but the call stood anyway as Hawk-Eye showed the ball to be plum on the line. The following three match points were saved wonderfully with three aces (one at 147mph) onto the far sideline. “Go! Go! Go!” was the cry from Andy and his team as he raced towards his chair ready to fight on.

However, having pulled himself through the service game, Andy could only watch on in wonder as Kohlschreiber, playing in the biggest match of his career, produced some more clutch tennis to lead 7-6 and put the pressure back on Andy.

This time, the pressure told. Three stunning passing shots from Kohlschreiber brought up two more match points at 15-40 and, as Andy hit a forehand wide, the German claimed a fine victory on his fifth match point to book his spot in the fourth round.

Farewell Dave Odom

Now was the time. If Dave Odom remained and these young players hadn't reached their potential, the players would have lost out.

Bring on Greg Marshall!

COLUMBIA, S.C. - University of South Carolina head men's basketball coach Dave Odom announced Friday he is retiring at the end of the 2007-08 season. The announcement was made at an 11 a.m. press conference at the South Carolina Practice Facility. Coach Odom, who has been in college coaching for 43 years, is in his seventh season with the Gamecocks and recently won his 400th career game. He has a 123-94 record at South Carolina and a career heading coach record of 401-268 record (East Carolina, Wake Forest and South Carolina).

Statement from South Carolina Head Basketball Coach Dave Odom:
"Everything has a beginning and an end. It's a hard decision because this profession and this game are all about passion and I can tell you the passion is still there, but I recognize the signs and I recognize the thoughts that brought me to this decision. The best way to help the University of South Carolina basketball team at this time is to answer the concerns about my future and Gamecock Basketball. By announcing my decision today, every Gamecock fan can expend all their energy for and encouraging our team by helping them become the best that they can be this year. It is my hope that our players will feel the energy and enthusiasm of our students and fans and that motivation will drive them to new heights as players, students and young men. Establishing that atmosphere in the Colonial Center for our remaining games is an important step for the future of Gamecock basketball. Our players and our university deserve as much.

"Lynn and I share a real fondness and love for Carolina, the Columbia area and the state of South Carolina. We are confident the remainder of this season will be filled with many exciting moments as we will focus all our energy on the remainder of the season. It is our hope and desire that we complete this season on a positive note that builds toward the future. I'm certain we will enjoy revisiting many special memories as we reflect on our time as members of the Gamecock family."

New Nebraska Head Coach or...Evil Pirate in Pirates of the Carribean?

The answer is...I'm not sure. But apparently this is Bo Pelini, Nebraska's new head football coach. God help Nebraska's PR staff.

Courtesy of Deadspin, this is Pelini post-national championship.

Deadspin is On Point... Again

Let me say this once and for all, to all the Ohio State fans out there:

Thankfully, mercifully, finally... S.T.F.U.

Dan Shanoff Is the Bandwagoneer

Stop yapping, stop emailing, stop commenting. After your season of bitching, we don't want to hear from you. Certainly not today. Let's throw in next year, too, as a penalty for last night's bed-shitting.

For the second straight year, your team has shown up in the national title game ranked No. 1, boasting the sport's "best" defense (at least on paper, which let's all agree was bullshit) and gotten shellacked.

After those consecutive personal-foul penalties that effectively ended the game, I actually had this thought, only half-sarcastically:

If Ohio State really wanted to win the national championship this season, the Buckeyes would have been better off turning down the BCS title game and playing USC in the Rose Bowl, hoping for a win against the Pac-10 and salvaging a split title. Because it's obvious this "winning a title outright against an SEC team" BCS Championship stuff doesn't really work for them.

OSU 0-9 vs. SEC in Bowl Games

One more notch on the belt.

Tell It like It Is...

I couldn't keep up with all of Colin Cowherd's incredible comments in the first 15 minutes of his 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. show on ESPN Radio.

Cowherd speaks words of magic. These words couldn't be truer.


I haven't seen a national championship thumping like that since, oh wait, last year.

-paraphrase of Colin Cowherd, ESPN Radio's Best


Truer words were never spoken.


Ohio State's got great players. The rest of the Big 10 doesn't.

-paraphrase of Colin Cowherd, again.



"It's sort of like SEC women vs. Big 10 Women."

-Colin Cowherd

"Ohio State is so much better than their Big 10 competition it sways voters."

-Colin Cowherd

We'll take your best shot, but you got to take ours too. LSU's best shot? 31 unanswered points.

-Colin Cowherd

"A blitzkrieg that Ohio State never sees in the Big 10."

-Colin Cowherd

Clip of the Day - Barack Obama Has/Had Game?

After perusing YouTube for a video to accompany the "Politics and Sport" story, I found several revealing Barack Obama's passion for basketball.

That said, here's a look into Obama's past basketball days. But before you view, think about how a game with all the candidates would look.

Dennis Kucinich on a basketball court? How about John McCain? Goodness.

Politics and Sport

This clip comes courtesy of the folks at Deadspin. Great stuff after a momentous night in Iowa.

To Whom Did Your Favorite Sports Figures Donate?

If you'll excuse our end-of-day dip into our other obsession, the Iowa caucuses are tonight. After our reading tonight, we're heading home to watch the results pour in. The Iowa caucus is like the BCS, but somehow makes less sense. We love America!

We thought we'd take a moment and find some prominent sports figures who contributed money to each of the major candidates. This is unscientific, but just what we could dig up. So ... for fun ...

REPUBLICANS
• Rudy Giuliani: George Steinbrenner, Brian France, Jeff Gordon, Kiki Van De Weghe, John Elway, Alex Rodriguez, Fran Tarkenton.
• John McCain: Roger Goodell, Jerry Reinsdorf, Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, George Bodenheimer, Lute Olson.
• Ron Paul: Wrestling "superstar" Kane.
• Mitt Romney: Robert Kraft, Vin Scully.
• Fred Thompson: Peyton Manning.
DEMOCRATS
• Hillary Clinton: David Stern, Bob Bowman, Rodney Peete, Maloof Brothers, James Dolan, Jeffrey Lurie.
• Chris Dodd: Bud Selig, Dick Ebersol, Robert DuPuy, George Bodenheimer, Jim Calhoun.
• John Edwards: Scott Boras.
• Barack Obama: Juanita Jordan, Jerry Reinsdorf, John Papenek, Desmond Howard, Scoop Jackson, Billy King, Stephon Marbury, Emmitt Smith, Phil Jackson.

I imagined Scoop Jackson would have some strong political convictions, didn't you?

And, here's a look at Barack Obama showing that his basketball touch remains.




Hope you enjoyed. Take a look at how he used to run back in the day above.

Clip of the Day

In the spirit of the 15-degree night outside here in suburban Washington D.C., I thought of snow and well...the snow leopard.

Thank the heavens for Planet Earth - here's your Clip of the Day.

Clip of the Day for SEAN TAY

Today's Clip of the Day is in memory of former Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, an untamed athlete but one with calculated skill.

The man could play. His Redskins teammates remembered that skill and his life as they glided past the rival Dallas Cowboys 27-6 Sunday evening.

My firsthand thoughts on the tailgate, game and postgame will follow this.





R.I.P SEAN TAYLOR - GO SKINS