College basketball fans got trolled hardcore by “Jonathon Paige” of “SummerHoopScoop”

June 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Pretty fascinating tale here of someone who decided to see just how easy it would be to fool college basketball fans using Twitter, a blog, and some knowledge of the landscape.

Experiment in Modern Recruiting News

Excerpt:

I found that the easiest fanbase to sway was Kentucky, followed closely by UNC, Duke, and UCLA. This was unsurprising as all three programs have huge fanbases with passionate fans that take a sincere interest in recruiting. Also unsurprising was the reception given to different sorts of recruiting news. If Jonathon Paige tweeted that a recruit was “leaning towards” school X, there would be multiple re-tweets and messageboard posts by fans of that school about the news. If another school in the race for the same recruit saw the tweet and it was brought up on a messageboard, the source and news would be summarily dismissed in short order… until something more positive came out a week later of course.

Perhaps what was most surprising of all was how little effort this all took. Whenever I sat down at my computer I would do a few searches on twitter, browse my timeline, and I would be done in 3-5 minutes.


Filed Under: Today's Best by MSF Tagged With: college basketball recruiting

The Bottoms Line: College Hoops First Impressions – Division Formerly Known as the SEC West

June 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Recently, the SEC announced its decision to get rid of the divisional format, partly in response to the SEC West getting shut out of the tournament last year and partly in response to the annual absurdity of how the conference tournament is seeded.

For this year, the results of this change will be felt only during the SEC Tournament, as the schedules will remain the same with teams playing their former divisional foes twice and the other six teams just once.  Consequently, I’m leaving them split up as I take my first look at each of the major conferences.

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Filed Under: CBB, The Bottoms Line Tagged With: 2011-12 first impressions by conference, Alabama, anthony grant, Auburn, LSU, mi, SEC

Will We Ever See Another Merger?

June 21, 2011 By 1 Comment
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Friday marked the 35th anniversary of the NBA-ABA Merger*. (You can celebrate by watching the 1976 ABA Slam Dunk Contest here.) The American Basketball Association was one of three major professional sports leagues to merge with its more established rival between 1970 and 1979.

The NFL-AFL merger became official in 1970, and the AFL’s ten teams joined the NFL’s American Football Conference. Then, an agreement between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association in 1979 sent the WHA’s Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche), Winnipeg Jets (now the Phoenix Coyotes), and New England Whalers (later the Hartford Whalers and now the Carolina Hurricanes) to the NHL. (Alas, the Indianapolis Racers, who folded one year before the merger, were lost to history.)

These plucky start-up leagues had a lasting, and generally positive, impact on their sports. Without the AFL, ABA, and WHA, we might not have the Super Bowl, the three-point line, or sudden-death overtime in hockey. But could one of these leagues exist today? Could a new league emerge in one of the major professional sports that could compete for top-level talent with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, or even MLS? Will we ever see another merger?

Probably not. For two reasons.

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Filed Under: Away From the Action Tagged With: MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, NHL

Report: Ozzie could leave White Sox after 2012 if he doesn’t feel the love

June 21, 2011 By 1 Comment
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Ho hum. Another uphill battles faces the White Sox as spring turns into summer, and yet again there appear to be issues between Ozzie Guillen and management.

Wake me when it’s over.

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Filed Under: Today's Best by MSF Tagged With: ozzie guillen

Down on the Farm: “Corny” Illinois, and the Indy Indians continue to crawl back into the race

June 21, 2011 By 7 Comments
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This is the third in a monthly series called “Down on the Farm” that will chronicle my visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2011 season. (Part 1 can be found here and part 2 here.)

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Filed Under: Down on the Farm Tagged With: baseball

Is Moneyball money in the bank?

June 20, 2011 By 1 Comment
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The “Moneyball” trailer debuted this past week, and Ken Tremendous, AKA Michael Shur, AKA one of the brilliant minds behind the brilliant but departed Fire Joe Morgan said it all.

My only question about the Moneyball movie is: how braggy is Billy Beane that he wrote, produced, and is starring in a movie about himself?!

Of course, Billy Beane was the subject of Moneyball. Michael Lewis, of The Blind Side fame, penned the surprisingly engaging tale of a small market team thinking outside the batters box in order to compete with big money clubs. Now it seems Lewis and Hollywood are hoping lightning strikes twice after The Blind Side grossed a staggering $255 million during its theatrical run and garnered an Academy Award for star Sandra Bullock.

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Filed Under: MLB, Movies Tagged With: boston red sox, Michael Lewis, Moneyball, new york mets, new york yankees, Oakland Athletics

El Tri: The Players

June 20, 2011 By 1 Comment
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The Mexican national team has run riot in this year’s edition of the Gold Cup, and not surprisingly, it has been 3 of Mexico’s biggest exports that have been at the center of it.

The seemingly overnight sensation Javier Hernandez, along with Giovanni Dos Santos and Andrés Guardado, are the young members of this trio.
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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Andres Guaradado, GIovanni Dos Santos, Javier Hernandez, Mexican National Team

2011 Mock NBA Draft: Top 10 Lottery Picks

June 20, 2011 By 2 Comments
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The NBA Finals have finished, but fans have yet another exciting event to behold: the 2011 NBA Draft.

This is the moment where college players’ dreams are fulfilled, and it is the beginning of an attempt at a legendary career for some. While only two or three of the players in this draft will likely ever make an NBA All-Star game, there is much more at hand than just drafting players.

As an insider of the game I can tell you now: there will be one or two impactful trades in this NBA Draft. Maybe a Monta Ellis or Andre Iguodala? How about that one guy…Dwight Howard? You can always follow me on twitter for the latest on trade rumors.

So who will go in the lottery? I think I might have the answer guys.

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Email the author: DevonAFF93@gmail.com
Twitter: twitter.com/DevonNBA


Filed Under: Devon's NBA Beat, NBA Tagged With: mock draft, nba draft

Official Movie Trailer for “MoneyBall”

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane changed the way people look at the game of baseball, and a film based on the book about him, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, is coming out September 23rd. It stars Brad Pitt, which gives any a guy a great reason to convince his girlfriend to go see this film.

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Filed Under: Today's Best by MSF Tagged With: Billy Beane, Oakland A's

“American tennis in a nosedive”

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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On this opening day at Wimbledon, Pete Alfano at espnW considers the lack of Americans in the WTA rankings and the lack of American contenders on the men’s side and asks, “What happened to American tennis?” Is the absence of American tennis talent part of a cycle or a downward trend? (An aside: This is the first article I’ve read at espnW that was written by a dude.)

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Filed Under: Today's Best by MSF

Apparently, Rory McIlroy has a brother who also won the U.S. Open

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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The top corner of the front page of today’s Daily Herald (suburban Chicago) says: “John McIlroy wins US Open.” Oops. Twitpic via @elliep5


Filed Under: Today's Best by MSF Tagged With: Rory McIlroy

Sponsored Post: Veebeam HD may be the perfect solution for my major at-home annoyance

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of VeeBeam for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Raise your hand if you’ve considered getting rid of your cable plan or satellite TV because a) it will save you money and b) you find yourself flipping and flipping through the channels but lamenting how little good programming is actually available when you want it.

My hand is raised.

The only thing that has kept me from cutting the cable cord is the fact that I do like the on-demand features, I do like being able to watch sports live, and the status quo just seems easier than whatever solution I would find to ensure that I would still have these capabilities. Well, it’s possible that I just found a solution with Veebeam HD.

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Filed Under: Sponsored Posts

Away From the Action Podcast: Matt Baxendell on Jim Tressel, the NHL, and More

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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In this episode of the Away From the Action podcast, Josh Tinley talks with Matt Baxendell of 790 The Zone in Atlanta, National Football Authority, and Bucknuts.com.

Bax (pictured below), who played hockey for Ohio State, gives his take on Jim Tressel, the future of Ohio State football, the Thrashers’ move to Winnipeg, and Beavis and Butt-Head‘s return.

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Filed Under: Away From the Action Tagged With: Jim Tressel, matt baxendell, Ohio State

Beginning Baseball: Is Joe Mauer Worth the Extra Buck?

June 20, 2011 By 3 Comments
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Editor’s note: Amanda Lawson is a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan who is getting into baseball for the first time this year. After much deliberation and counsel, Amanda settled on the Minnesota Twins as her team. With “Beginning Baseball” Amanda is documenting her first season of baseball fandom.

Last Friday, the Twins reactivated Joe Mauer from the DL, marking his return from two long months of recovery. Twins fans everywhere celebrated.

However, Mauer’s long break away from the game has brought up some questioning among fans and some cynicism among the skeptics. After signing an eight-year contract extension with the Twins (worth $184 million) in May of 2010, chatter has developed about whether the organization invested their money wisely.

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Filed Under: Beginning Baseball Tagged With: joe mauer, minnesota twins

Rory McIlroy’s U.S. Open Win Exhibits Golf’s New Era

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Rory McIlroy captured the first major title of his young career on Sunday at Congressional, and the way he won was where the real story lies.

Everyone remembered McIlroy as the one who completely collapsed at Augusta by shooting a final round of 80. He led heading into Sunday, but he could never find his swing and quickly fell down the leaderboard. He was the subject of the media leading up to the U.S. Open, and he knew he had to respond with a strong performance.

I think setting records en route to winning the U.S. Open at the age of 22 accomplished that goal.

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Filed Under: Golf Tagged With: 2011 U.S. Open, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, tiger woods
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