Battle For Ohio

December 21, 2009

Cincinnati Sports Dealing with PMS?

Filed under: Bengals, Reds, UC Football, Xavier Basketball — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — George Herron @ 3:36 pm

Yeah, Cincinnati saw a bunch of those symptoms over the last week.

Not the greatest of weekends for ‘ol Cincinnati.  I mean for me personally it was pretty good, I got the new Droid phone by Motorola, offered by Verizon.  It is incredible.  I have not been able to put it down since I got it.  It was like before I was using a 1990 bag phone compared to what I have now, it is amazing.

Now as far as the sports teams around here, well we have a mixed bag of sadness, disappointment, hope, and confusion.  Add chocolate and crying to that list and I just described any woman when her monthly visitor comes to town.  So, is it just Cincinnati’s time of the month?

Symptoms:

Bengals:

  • Sadness. They lost Chris Henry last week and judging by the touchdown celebrations by Chad and Carson, they truly loved  “Slim.”  Chad was almost in tears after going to his knees in the end zone.  Carson threw the ball up in the air just like Chris used to do, his own personal homage to a receiver that Carson would have loved to have more time with.  And of course there were others on the team that were feeling the emotional pull during the game as well.
  • Forgetfulness. I know this may not be a “symptom” of the monthly visitor, but if women out there are like my wife, she tends to get very scatter-brained and forgetful during this time.  It seemed to be no different for the Bengals.  21 rushes total.  Only 15 to Benson.  WTF?  Seems to me that ‘ol Bob Bratkowski got mad that the media and fans said that the passing game sucks, so they made sure to show that they can pass the ball.  Ummmm, second and goal on the 2 and you don’t give it to Benson?  WTF?!  It was those kinds of brain farts throughout the game that lost it for us.  Get back to what you do best, run the ball, wear down the defense and control the clock.  That’s great that you remember how to pass and you can mix that in as needed, but championship teams run the ball.  Oh and somewhere along the line Andre Caldwell must have forgotten that he wasn’t Chris Perry.  HANG ON TO THAT BALL SON!

It was a pretty emotional week for the Bengals.

  • Hope. Like some crazy emotional roller coaster the Bengals spared no feelings in this game.  They tied the game with less than 2 minutes on the clock.  They converted the two point conversion like they needed to.  They were going to rely on the defense that has been so strong all year to get the ONE stop they needed to force overtime.  It was all in front of them.  The upset was within reach.  Which leads me to…..
  • Disappointment. They came up short.  The defense could not make that stand.  That makes two losses in a row for the first time all year, ouch.  Benson was held under 25 carries and under 100 yards.  The number 2 seed in the AFC is gone, which means the first round bye is gone.  This game was the most important non-division game on the schedule.  They needed this win, not only for the seeding, but to prove that they CAN beat a playoff team. Sadly, they came up short and now they have to wallow in that sick disappointing feeling.  I just hope this doesn’t bring the host of self-esteem issues that normally follow with the MV (monthly visitor).

UC Football:

  • Anger. Brian Kelly made the jump to Notre Dame.  After holding a meeting with his players and telling them that he was staying put he takes the job that everyone thought he was going to take.  How dare he string those kids along?  How dare he leave a team with a chance at undefeated on the line?  How dare he leave a team when the season isn’t completely over yet?  How dare he not honor his contract?  That’s a lot of “how dare he’s” huh?  I tend to get those a lot when the wife has her MV in town.
  • Hurt. Is UC not good enough?  All UC was to Brian Kelly was a one night stand?  A fling?  How embarrassing.  Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.  UC changed to be with Brian Kelly, but he would not change to be with UC, there was no compromise, what an ungrateful bastard.  When UC found him he was toiling away in Conference USA.  UC brought him in and gave him a home and all for him to turn his back on them.
  • Rebound. Enter Butch Jones.  The new head coach of Cincinnati.  Notice like a good husband, the Athletic Director at UC wasted no time in hiring a good coach to replace Kelly.  I know when my wife is pissed and there is something I can do to fix it, which is rare, I do it.  Immediately.  It helps make the rest of the day not look like hell on Earth, or in UC’s case, the rest of the season.  UC handled this beautifully.  They hired a good coach who knows the system already in place, but they are letting the interim head coach, former OC Jeff Quinn remain in place to coach the bowl game.  Fans are still a little angry, but all the Brian Kelly talk is pretty much over.  UC handled it like a band-aid that was just ripped off and did what they needed to make it better.  Precisely the tactic that most (smart) husbands do when the wife is starting to spiral out of control on a certain problem that can be fixed.
  • Acceptance/hope. This “stage” normally isn’t seen until a couple days after the MV is gone.  But that is where UC football seems to be now.  Kelly is gone, Jones is here.  Talent wise there might not be too much of a drop off and he runs the same offense, so nothing should change too dramatically.  It’s time to get over Brian Kelly and throw our full support behind Butch Jones and focus on what he can do for this school.  It’s also time to stop worrying about the coach and worry about Florida and the biggest game that UC football has ever played.

Xavier Basketball:

  • Self esteem high/low simultaneously. Xavier again went out and beat the more popular girl in school and won the heart of Cincinnati again this year.  Every year Cincinnati pits the popular girl (UC) against the hot girl that everyone ignores because she is artsy (Xavier).  And again the artsy girl shows some spunk and attitude and came out victorious and stole the heart of Cincinnati once again for a year.  But with that win means that all the popular girl’s friends get upset and will make excuses for her.  She wasn’t feeling well, she was bloated, she was tired, blah, blah, blah….So the city is torn between two lovers which causes Cincinnati to feel pretty good and pretty crappy at the same time.  Just keep telling Cincinnati that the artsy girl is smarter and has a much better personality on top of being pretty cute and Cincinnati should be fine, going to take A LOT of reinforcement though, so be prepared.
  • Anger and suspicion. Anger is bad enough by itself, but anger and suspicion together is terrible.  Let’s say that you normally come right home from work everyday.  So you are in that routine and your wife knows it.    But lets say you know that the MV is in town, so you stop off and get some flowers on the way home.  This of course alters the time you normally get home.  During that time your wife is thinking up every worse case scenario that she possibly can.  So by the time you show up with flowers she has already thought you were dead or cheating.  Then you show up with flowers, so it was obviously cheating because why else would you get flowers, you must be trying to cover your own guilt right?!  The exact thing happened at the end of the Xavier game against Butler.  There was a lot that was out of the ordinary at the end of that game to arouse suspicions and anger, and rightfully so.  I am not going to go into full detail, just watch the video and see if you don’t act like a suspicious, angry wife with her MV in town, I bet you do, I know I did.



  • Confusion. Xavier is in the middle of an identity crisis.  They have a new coach, a young team, and they don’t play consistent defense like they have been famous for doing over the last couple years.  Their big men aren’t dominant and they are not good enough shooters to live and die by the three like they want to.  Their only hope might be to run and gun and hope to wear out the other team.  In any case, Xavier is more confused than Tiger is when he has to remember whose name to call out in bed.  For my wife I find something positive to focus on, in this case it is tough, but you can think back to a couple years ago when they made that amazing run in the A-10 tourney, right?

Reds:

  • Frustration. The Reds have done nothing so far in the offseason.  This is like when your wife catches you playing video games when the bathroom hasn’t been cleaned in two days.  I know the Reds have a lot of money locked up in Harang, Arroyo and Cordero, but the Reds have to be smart about what they do here.  They traded away all their top-line closer prospects last year, and I am sure they want to get the most for their money for any of these guys.  It might take a while to find the right deal, and don’t expect the bathroom to be cleaner than the last time I cleaned it either.  The Reds are not going to get top dollar for any of these guys for a multitude of reasons.  Age, recent performance, money, you name it.  Yes we need a shortstop who can hit over the Mendoza line, and yes a catcher that is more than a ball returner would be great too, but temper the expectations and realize what we have to work with here.  The bathroom will get cleaned, when people are coming over or when it actually gets dirty.
  • Nausea. Some of the deal that have been floated out there concerning Harang have been enough to make me want to vomit.  My stomach gets all tense and it just hurts.  Don’t settle Reds, get what you WANT or more importantly what you NEED.  Don’t make us fans curl up in the fetal position and about cry when you send what used to be our most dominant pitcher to some club for a no name triple A player that scouts tell you will never make it on a big league level.  Damn, too late, I just threw up a little.

So there is a wrap-up of the last week or so of Cincinnati sports.  Kind of an emotional roller coaster isn’t it?  I haven’t been this emotionally confused since I lost my virginity and all my girlfriend did was cry.  Boom, roasted.

Let’s see, we covered nausea, frustration, anger, confusion, suspicion, self-esteem issues, hope, hurt, rebounding, sadness and forgetfulness.  The only thing we didn’t see was cramping and weird food cravings.

Not to fear though, these things only last about a week right?  So we should be back to normal anyyyyyyyy time now, right?  My fingers are certainly crossed!

December 14, 2009

X wins best Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout in years.

Filed under: Xavier Basketball — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — George Herron @ 1:25 pm

You want to know what I love more than Xavier winning?  Xavier beating UC when UC is ranked.  Is there any better feeling than beating your cross town rival when your team in the underdog?  Maybe sex.

You can see me acting the same way during many games.

I will be honest, I didn’t even watch the game.  I had a chance to go to it and I said no thank you, sorry Ali.  I very rarely watch this game, it tends to put my blood pressure in a range the Dr.’s will only refer to as the dead-zone.  For years they were amazed that my blood pressure could go that high and not kill me.  I tend to look a lot like Donald Duck during one of his tirades.

So, as this year wasn’t any different i was shocked when I got a DM from Ali through Twitter about what a hell of a game it was. I immediately ran to my PC and checked the score.  There it was, Xavier won in double OT.  Perhaps one of the greatest Skyline Chili Shootouts ever and I missed all of it.  Probably better for my long-term health, but what a game!

Impressions:

  • Foul shooting won this game.  Xavier was a very adequate 78% from the charity stripe.  Jason Love was only 1-4, but Terrell Holloway was an impressive 11-11.  The Bearkittens were a measly 46%.  Ouch.  Shaq called and said that foul shooting was embarrassing.
  • The senior stepped up for his last Crosstown shootout.  This was Jason Loves final chance to leave his mark on the Crosstown shootout, and he was impressive.  Yeah, OK, maybe the 7 points aren’t going to overwhelm anyone, but the 19 rebounds and 5 blocked shots are.  Oh yeah and he did that with only accumulating 3 personal fouls in a double overtime game.  Nice.  Love might not be a leader night in and night out, but he was last night.
  • Mark Lyons speed continues to impress.  It must not be just me either, because if I heard correctly he started last night over Crawford.  Xavier does have an interesting problem with their guards.  They have like 20 they could start, unfortunately I am told that is against the rules.
  • Is Jamel McLean sand bagging?  Are they not trying to involve him more?  Is he just not that good?  He seemed to me to be a perfect slasher/swing man, but again last night he laid an egg, what gives?  I am going to have to watch some more games, but it doesn’t seem to me that they even want to involve him in the offense.  I have seen the kid make plays, he is quite gifted athletically, even if it means running some back door or alley oop plays for him, he seems perfect for it.
  • Brad Redford played 15 minutes and didn’t take a single shot?  Isn’t that against his religion?
  • Ummmmm, how about that 28% shooting from behind the arch?  Why the insistence on shooting the three when you are stone cold from there?  Not that UC was any better, actually thankfully they were worse with 22%, but just as enamoured with it.  Both team shot over 18 shots from 3-land, despite not making them.  Please look up the definition of insanity.
  • The only other thing that concerns me is that we had more turnovers and less assists than UC.  That has been a growing trend all year, we do not take care of the ball.  We sadly have a lot of young kids on this team, but like last year they are going to have to grow up fast and take better care of the ball.  It is tough to win when your guards are passing it to the other team.

"Shhhhhhh, UC sucks."

So congratulation X, you guys played your hearts out and won the most important game on the schedule.  Looking forward, you guys might want to get more production from Frease, and McLean, and start playing Robinson more.  Need to find the combination of big men, otherwise we are going to get eaten up down low, and on nights where the guards are cold it is of the utmost importance!

November 18, 2009

XU Blows past BGSU.

Filed under: Xavier Basketball — Tags: , , , , , , , , — George Herron @ 1:28 pm

It was a great game, dunk you very much.

If you are a Xavier fan, then this was perhaps one of the best games you have seen in a while.  Fast breaks?  Got it.  Big dunks?  Got it.  Balanced scoring?  Got it.  Domination?  Definitely got it.  A cheerleader driving my new guy, Ray, nuts all night?  Got it.

It was a great night down at the ‘ol Cintas Center last night as the wife and I joined her client, Ben, and his friend Ray.  Again let me take this opportunity to thank you again Ben, it was super nice of you to take us.  I doubt I will be blogging about every single XU game, but if I go to the game you bet I will!

The Good:

  • Jordan Crawford.  I take back a lot of the negative things I said about him in my last post.  He was nothing short of spectacular last night.  24 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 0 turnovers, and 2 steals.  He had a monster put back dunk, oh and he was only 4-6 from behind the three-point arc.  Sounds like someone had their Wheaties!  Thank you Indiana for falling from grace so hard that he transferred here!
  • Kenny Frease impressed me.  He really has grown up from last year and it isn’t like he is really tall and really skinny like most college big men.  Remember Obi Harris?  He was 7″ and like 200 pounds soaking wet.  Not Kenny, he is listed at 7″ 265.  He is a big boy and I think he will get better as the year goes on and he might be ready to dominate the low post next year.  His post moves need some work and he is bad if he has to put the ball on the floor, but again he is just a sophomore.  I really think all the playing time he got last year was extremely helpful.
  • The guard play.  The guards were sensational.  The starting three dished out 12 assists and only had 2 turnovers and then had two steals.  It looks like this is going to be a smaller quicker team since they almost have to start three guards because that is where Xavier’s talent really is this year.
  • The three-point shooting.  Um, 63%, are you freaking kidding me?  They straight TORCHED the nylon from deep.  It was crazy, especially considering that almost all of Redford’s shots where well behind the NBA three-line.  I just hope that they don’t fall in love with it, because you know the saying, live by the three, die by the three.
  • Xavier’s depth.  When they are able to rotate in players like Mark Lyons, Kenny Frease, Brad Redford and Jeff Robinson, well you are in good shape.  They don’t really seem to miss a beat with those guys mixed in.  Of course it helps that Frease and Redford saw significant minutes last year as freshmen.

I would leave him alone Boggs, or he is going to snap!

The Bad:

  • About halfway through the first half BG was still in the game, actually is was kind of close.  BG discovered that the boys from X didn’t know how to defend the back door screen.  They abused us with that back door so much that I thought it was a prison movie.  Luckily X clamped down and went all Andy Dufresne on BG and it was never close again.  But that is troubling that it took an entire quarter of the game to see what was going on and stop it.
  • The girls that had clearly traveled from BG to watch the game were holding up the banner that read “Will the real Jordan Crawford please stand up.”  You mean the one that totally dominated BG and almost single-handedly beat them?  Oh, no you meant the Jordan Crawford that plays for BG didn’t you?  The one that shot 1-5 from the field and had two points?  Ouch, I’m sorry.  Just know that the two hours it took to glitter and bedazzle that sign that he never even saw are two hours of your life you will never get back.  You are girls in college, shouldn’t you be drinking until you puke, experimenting with drugs and making out with other girls at parties?
  • Transition defense.  Anytime Love and Frease were on the floor together they were of course SUPER slow.  Like running backwards slow.  But even with just one of them out there X seemed slow to get back on defense.  By the way, has anyone ever seen Dante Jackson run?  He looks like he has something shoved up his ass.  Seriously next time you get a chance check it out, you will laugh, I promise.

The Ugly:

  • Kenny Frease’s three-point attempt.  Seriously, why?
  • Ray’s horrible excuse as to why he didn’t get a phone number of a Xavier Cheerleader in Mount Adams.  Something about getting distracted and then letting her just walk away.  Man up Ray!  If you want something, you got to go get it!  Now all you have is a story about the girl who got away.  Wouldn’t it have felt great to walk up to Ben and ask him if he liked apples?  Remember that next time.
  • Our big men’s defense.  Of the 57 points that BG managed to put up, 34 came from their forwards and center.  Mostly on those back door screens.  McLean, Frease, and Love are all going to have to step up defensively.
  • The BGSU uniforms.  Seriously, poop brown and burnt orange?  Now that TV’s are in color and all, it might be time to make a switch.  For the sake of everyone’s eyesight, I am begging you to make a change!

It was an excellent night and it was nice to meet Ben and Ray.  Good guys, even though we all decided that Ray looked like he had just come from bible study.

Sorry Ray, you just gave me too much material!

November 16, 2009

Cincinnati; WOW!

Filed under: Bengals, UC Football, Xavier Basketball — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — George Herron @ 1:12 pm

Amen!

And here I thought last weekend was huge in Cincinnati, this weekend was even bigger in the sports scene.  Xavier basketball opened their season with an easy win to get Chris Mack’s feet wet.  UC football battled one of the toughest running opponents they will see all year and survived to tell the tale.  And the Bengals went into Heinz Field and ripped the heart out of the Steelers.  Simply put, what an amazing weekend in Cincinnati sports.   When was the last time it felt this good to live in a real life sports town?  The mid 70’s?  So what were some of the highlights from the weekend?  Lets see if we can cover some here.

Xavier Basketball:

The Good:

  • Good first game for Chris Mack.  It is important to get your career started off feeling good and a solid win over Youngstown State was just what the doctor ordered.
  • Xavier shot the ball well from the field, shooting 51%, shot great from the arc shooting 41%, and a very respectable 81% from the foul line.  A good shooting night is always good on the first game, a great confidence builder because lets face it – they scheduled Youngstown State for a reason.
  • Dante Jackson and Jason Love seem to be doing a great job of providing different styles of leadership that are meshing well for this team.  Love is a silent get it done type.  Jackson is more firy and an emotional guy.
  • Mark Lyons is so fun to watch.

The Bad:

  • Jamel McLean’s seeming disappearance.  7 points, 7 rebounds.  I thought this guy was going to be a double/double threat all year.  He is going to have to step up and showcase that athleticism more if this team is going to have success against Dayton.
  • Jordan Crawford.  He turns the ball over too much and I am worried about the prima donna attitude.  He had 1 assist and 4 turnovers.  He has to get that under control with as much as he is going to be handling the ball.  And I don’t like that he has led the team in scoring in each of their games that I have seen.  I am worried about him trying to take over games and I don’t think he is quite ready yet.  The turn overs alone speak to that.

"Kenny ANGRY! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!" Be scared people.

The Ugly:

  • They went into cruise control in the second half.  They only outscored Youngstown State by two in the second half.  I would like to see more focus in the future and maybe keep the foot on the gas, huh?
  • Kenny Frease angry.  Can’t you see him just snapping and going on a rampage?  Like some sort of monster.  He reminds me a little of Frankenstein’s monster.  Mark my words, there is going to be a hard foul one day and Kenny is going to lose it.  They will have to clear the Cintas Center and bring in a team of specialists armed with high-powered tranquilizer guns.

UC Football:

The Good:

  • They beat yet another ranked opponent in #25 West Virgina.  Of course this still wasn’t enough to get ahead of TCU in the BCS.  UC stays at 5 despite the toughest battle they had to face all year.  You know the good ‘ol BCS, if you don’t win by 50 then you might as well have lost.
  • They were able to use both Quarterbacks effectively.  Zach being 100% healthy and quicker on his feet got the bulk of the duties from 20 to 20.  Inside the red zone they would turn to Pike, being that he is 6′6″ and can see the whole field.  It worked pretty well since Pike went 2-4 with two touchdowns.

Contraversial, yes, but count it!

  • Isaiah Pead had a coming out party.  He went for 181 yards on just 18 carries.  For those of you keeping score at home that is a whopping 9.7 average.  He had a 52 yarder as well as a touchdown.  This freshmen’s future is bright.  But as bright as it might be, our friend Heather could not stop making fun of his name.  It is kind of funny.
  • Were able to outlast one of the best running attacks they are going to see all year.  UC didn’t give up 100 yards to a single running back.  That is good considering West Virgina had the personnel to do it.  Even more impressive considering that the West Virgina game plan was to run the ball early and often.

The Bad:

  • Zach Collaros showed some signs of humanity.  He threw an interception and no touchdowns.  Of course in all fairness they did tend to let Tony Pike quarterback when they got in the red zone.  But the interception was a bad throw in  a tight spot that he didn’t need to make.
  • Mardy Gilyard was all but silent with the exception of a couple nice kick returns, especially one of them.  But West Virgina did a great job of taking him out of the game.  While playing receiver he only caught two balls for 22 yards.

The Ugly:

  • The run defense.  They might not have given up 100 yards to one player, but they gave up 50 or more to three different players.  As a matter of fact West Virgina had more rushing attempts than UC, more rushing first downs, and more rushing touchdowns.  This area still need to be heavily looked at before the Pittsburgh game and definitely before any bowl game they get invited to.  My concern is that there is no fix for this season.

The Bengals:

The Good:

  • Defense.  Four field goals.  That is all the Bengals defense allowed the Steelers.  The defense played their guts out.  Worthlessburger threw for less than 250 yards, NO touchdowns, and an interception.  Rashard Mendenhall, who had been running wild was held to under 100 yards and again, no touchdowns.  And finally there was not a single receiver that had over 100 yards.  Oh yeah, that was without Antwan Odom, Roy Williams, and Keith Rivers, and Leon Hall was in and out after getting banged up early in the game.
  • Protection.  Only two sacks given up to one of the best pass rushes in the game.  Harrison and Woodley were held to the teams lone sacks.  Benson got hurt, but the line was good enough to push the Steelers around enough to net about 61 rushing yards.
  • Polamalu out in first quarter.  Anytime a game changer like Polamalu has to leave the game early you have to breathe a little easier.  Especially early in the game where it looked like it was going to be a day where Palmer felt like he had to force passes.  You can’t force a pass past Polamalu.

The man is on fire! 5 sacks since filling in for Antwan Odom.

  • Fanene.  How huge has this guy been?  Jonathan has really stepped up since Odom went down.  He had two crucial sacks yesterday and now has 5 sacks on the season.  He also got in Ben’s face and swatted a ball down at the line.  The guy has been a terror and quite the surprise.
  • Morgan Trent.  I remember thinking in the beginning of the year I was VERY concerned about the depth at corner back.  The last two weeks Morgan has proven to be a very adequate nickle corner.  He is 6′1″, so he has a little size to him, and he was even sited filling in for Leon Hall on a couple plays.
  • Brian Leonard.  And to think, this guy was on the bubble to make the team.  I LOVE this guy.  There is no one on this team that will fight for yards more than Brian.  I don’t think he is the most gifted athletically, but what he doesn’t have he more than makes up for with determination.  He loves to put his head down and drive ahead.  He might be one of my favorite Bengal players.

The Bad:

  • Bob Bratkowski.  Why o’ why did he keep calling Lavarneus Coles number when it was pretty clear that Randall Gay was all over him, no sexual pun intended.  I mean Gay looked like Prime Time out there against Coles.  And why with Benson out did you run the ball on third and long at the end of the game?  Do you not trust Carson Palmer to win that game for you?  I am just really tired of Bob holding this offense back.  I know that he should get credit for calling a good game against Chicago, but every other game he has played down to his opponent.  Just step on the damn gas and run them out of the building.  Wasn’t it nice beating Chicago by more than a touchdown?  Wasn’t it a lot less stressful?  Wasn’t it nice for a week not to hear how the whole city wants you fired?
  • Darrin Simmons.  This has been a long time coming, but Darrin’s time here might soon be over.  The special teams have been undisciplined and just not very good in years.  The run back off the kickoff aside, since you can’t really coach that.  Two block in the back penalties, one holding call.  Kick off and punt return coverage has been bad all year too.
  • Chris Crocker’s tackling.  I saw him whiff on what could have been two tackles for a loss.  But instead of hitting, driving and putting the receiver or running back on the ground he left his feet and tried the “flying shoulder pad of death.”  it is only death for the person that misses the tackle, however.
  • Ndukwe’s penalty.  Wow, was that awful?  46 yard pass interference and it was so blatant that I could see it and I wasn’t even in the room at the time.
  • Shaynes 51 yard miss.  Where to start?  We franchised you again why?  We are paying you like a top 5 kicker because why?  The Black Knight can miss a 51 yarder, a college free agent can miss a 51 yarder and cost us a lot less.  You were a bigger waste of a franchise tag than Justin Smith.  At least Justin would show up and give 100% every game.  I am not letting this go until you do something, anything significant Shayne.  You have been warned.
Bengals team doctor after a succesful operation completing the transformation of Shayne Graham to a pussy (cat).

Bengals team doctor after a succesful operation completing the transformation of Shayne Graham to a pussy (cat).

  • Benson in noticeable pain.  The sideline reporter said that Benson’s return was doubtful, and my heart sank.  Then suddenly he was on the field and everything was right in my world.  Then they handed him the ball and he hobbled to the outside as quick as he could and ducked out-of-bounds.  It looked bad.  I am concerned, but Marvin Lewis sounded hopeful after the game.  But my neighbor, Mo, and I talked about how many times we have heard of little injuries becoming big injuries in the incapable hands of Bengal’s team doctors?  Uh-oh.  And I don’t want to hear any talk about the miraculous recovery of Carson Palmer, he never uses the Bengals doctors.  Smartest thing he has ever done.

The Ugly:

  • Marcus Purify was seen on the field.  Time to go ahead and declare Jerome Simpson a bust?  When Chris Henry went down we were all told that it was a battle between Purify and Simpson to suit up in his absence.  I saw Purify on the field Sunday, not Jerome.  A college free agent made it on the field before the second round draft pick Simpson.  Waste.
  • Missed XP.  Can’t leave points on the field against the Steelers in their house.  Fortunately this didn’t come back to haunt the Bengals, but those long snap exchanges have to get better.  We solved the snapper problem, now we apparently have to find someone to hold the ball.  I am willing to let this ONE slide, but it has been a long couple years of this crap, get it together.

What an amazingly awesome weekend if you are a Cincinnati sports fan.  UC beat a tough ranked opponent, Xavier kicks off the Chris Mack era the right way and the Bengals have swept the Steelers and the Ravens and controled their own destiny.  This is the most focused and the best equipped Bengals team I have ever had the pleasure of watching, not that there was much competition.

Keep it up Cincinnati, lets put this city back on the map and make people start to notice the ROAR coming from south-west Ohio!

November 4, 2009

X Has Familiar, Fresh Start.

Filed under: Xavier Basketball — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — George Herron @ 12:12 pm

X....A....V....IER!

Welcome back Xavier fans.  The season started last night in the form of an exhibition game against Rollins.  I was in attendance thanks to Ali Margello.  But before I get to the thrashing that Xavier put to Rollins last night I want to go on record and say that I have been vindicated.  If you follow college basketball then you saw #25 Syracuse get knocked off by Division II Le Moyne. I believe that I said that Xavier deserved to be in the top 25 ahead of several of the bottom feeders like Syracuse.  Vindication. Now on to the game last night.

Starters:

  • Terrell Holloway (Guard)
  • Jordan Crawford (Guard)
  • Dante Jackson (Guard)
  • Jamel McClean (Forward)
  • Jason Love (Center)

So, it looks like Xavier is going to start “small” this year.  I kind of figured that they would use this line up to start.  Bringing Frease and Redford off the bench first.  The only other lineup I would think about using is starting Crawford and Jackson at guards and throwing Frease in there instead of Holloway just to have the size. But it is tough to take away the guy that handled the point almost all of last year.

Xavier started off the game really trying to focus on getting the ball inside to Love.  I thought it was weird because they started with the smaller, quicker lineup.  But later I noticed that they were just setting up the inside to get the outside shots.  My fear is that since they have so many guards rotating in and out that this is going to be a 3 point shooting team, and that will drive me crazy all year.  Jason is a senior, feed him the ball.  He is a good enough passing big man that he can kick it back out if he needs to.  I don’t think he is that guy that will try to score no matter what.

Speaking of “that” guy.  Jordan Crawford appears to be that guy.  Every time he had the ball he was looking to score.  It is OK to have that mentality, but sometimes you have to play smart and make better decisions than he was making last night.  He looked better in the second half when Xavier started to pull away, but he really needs to look to pass every once in a while.

Now, imagine that look standing straight up. Hence, "deer in headlights."

Frease has lost some of that “deer in headlights” look that he had last year.  Last year every time the ball touched his hands it was like time froze for Kenny.  There were still a couple times were Lyons or Holloway or Jackson would fire him a pass and he wasn’t ready or expecting it, but if he was ready he would actually catch it and do something with it quicker.  Maybe he is playing while high?  That would explain why he looks like he is moving in slow motion and has attention span issues.

Dante Jackson is the leader of this team period.  I am positive that is why he is starting, that and his defense has looked tremendous.  He really wants to be that guy.  The James Posey, Stanley Burrell guy, the shut down guy.  But it is clear that he wants to be the heart of this team like Raymond was last year.  Even when he was resting on the bench he was always up screaming at the guys, getting excited about big plays, and it was like watching another coach.  I was really impressed with Dante and his apparent emergence as a leader.  He learned from some of the best that is for sure.

I really like watching Mark Lyons, he reminded me of Maurice McAfee.  He is fast, a little reckless, will drive to the basket, but will kick out if he needs to.  Unlike Crawford, he knows when to pass.  The problem is that he has watched too much Sports Center and he is trying to be too creative with his passes, especially to Kenny Frease!  Don’t get too cute with Kenny or the ball will simply bounce off his face.  He might be too fast for his own good but as long as they limit his minutes and monitor his turnovers (because I have a feeling he will have a lot) they should be fine.  But for every turn over he will make some spectacular pass, so as long as you are OK with some give and take You will love to watch Lyons play.

Notice he is well behind the NBA three line there. That is a chip shot for him.

Just because Brad Redford can shoot doesn’t mean that he should every time down the court.  I think someones head is a little swollen after being named the second best shooter in NCAA basketball.  I know the kid can shoot.  I have seen it, all of us saw it last year, but I am not sure you give a sophomore a green light to launch it from literally anywhere and at any time.  I think Brad will be an important piece in this team and I think he will be great coming off the bench and launching daggers in the hearts of Xavier foes, but he needs to settle down and not always look to shoot, at least not until he shakes off some more rust.

The defense looked slow.  Especially in the high energy of when Jackson wasn’t out there.  They were a little slow coming off screens and blocks and it was leaving guys wide open for jumpers and three’s.  Xavier has to lock that up if they want to be successful, good teams aren’t going to miss those wide open shots.  The good news is there were a lot of blocked shots.  McClean, Love, Frease and Crawford were all in on the act.  Timing jumps just right, or just towering over them from behind like Frease!  Of course the defense could have been playing to their opponent, especially since this is the first exhibition game, but I hope to see it improve.

It looks like Xavier is going to want Holloway to be more of a floor general this year instead of scorer.  Looks like they will leave the scoring to Crawford, Love and McClean at least as far as the starters go.  Holloway didn’t drive as much as he did last year, but did a lot of passing and even his defense has improved.

The cheerleaders were in tee shirts.  Lame.  Xavier has always gone with a more conservative dress for their cheerleaders and when I went to school there it was OK, because there wasn’t much to look at.  But come on Xavier, if you are going to have cheerleaders, make it so that they are at least worth watching.  Seriously, everyone ignores them especially if they are in tee shirts.  Give the people something to actually watch in time outs and at halftime.  Show a little skin.  I am not asking for them to go out there in body paint or anything, that is why I have the internet, but something other than tee shirts that were two sizes to big please.

I mentioned this is a tweet during the game last night, but apparently Xavier’s dance team is nationally ranked.  This came as a shock to me, since again when I was in school the dance team looked more like the flag corps from high school.  Even Ali’s dad, who we were sitting next to, made the comment, that there were no “hefty” girls on the team.  I watched their performance, and while as a group they do look better, their dance was not all that impressive.  Perhaps that is why they failed to mention WHERE they were ranked.  Could have been 150 for all anyone knows.

WTH are you? Where did you come from? Meh, who cares, just do some somersaults!

I think I have asked this before, but why does Xavier have two mascots?  And why is one of them a giant Blue Blob?  I went to school there, I even knew someone who wore the Blob suit, but for the life of me I have no idea why he is present at all.  He has nothing to do with the Musketeers, which is our actual mascot.  So what is the deal?  Don’t get me wrong, I love him and get very excited to see him do somersaults, but how did he come into existence?

In any case it was a great game and Xavier rolled over Rollins winning by 39.  If X had brought their A game it could have been by 60.  But I guess everyone was right, Xavier doesn’t belong in the top 25.  Yeah right.  And it looks like the Chris Mack regieme is off to a good start!

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