March Madness

It's been a great few weeks with the exciting play of college basketball known as March Madness. The final four is this weekend and we have matchups between THE Ohio State University vs.Kansas, and also Kentucky vs. Louisville. The storylines are made for the movies in these games. The Ohio State and Kansas is a rematch from earlier this season in which Ohio State lost without its All-American forward Jared Sullinger. Sullinger is playing his best basketball of the season and was named the most outstanding player in the region. Point Guard, Craft won Big Ten defensive player of the year honors and has been on a lock down mission since the tournament began. I'm looking forward to rooting the buckeyes on to a national championship this year. The Kentucky vs. Louisville matchup features two of the best coaches in the country in John Callipari of Kentucky and Rick Pitino of Louisville. Callipari is known for always getting the best incoming freshman and making a run at national titles. Rick Pitino is in his 12th season as the head coach at Louisville and has a national title under his belt already.  I'm picking the Buckeyes and Kentucky for a rematch of last years sweet 16 for the national title game. There is going to be great TV to watch on Saturday night and I'm going to be glued to it.

-Derek Flores

WELCOME BACK TIGER WOODS

Over the weekend arguably the greatest golfer ever, Tiger Woods, ended his two year PGA win less drought by capturing the Arnold Palmer Classic. He did it in dominating fashion also. Tiger showed up for Sunday's final in his usual red attire, but this time he had back his stare. You could tell when watching him Sunday just how focused he was on his game. Tiger was on a mission. A mission to win, a mission to show the world what they have been missing for the last two years. Tiger wanted to prove a point, not only to the fans, but to himself. He needed this win more than ever. Tiger hasn't been the same since his life fell apart during his scandal.
 Everyone knew that his golf game would suffer, they were just didn't know how long. Well, now we all have the answer, 923 days. That was the time in between his PGA tour wins. But does this mean the old Tiger is back? Only time will tell. I'm not even sure if it's possible for the old Tiger to exist anymore. I think we are on the verge of seeing Tiger 2.0. I don't believe he'll ever be feared on the tour like he once was. Other golfers have seen his "mortal" side, and are no long intimidated the way they once were. But with The Masters right around the corner we will be able to see how Tiger reacts to his recent win and the pressure that will be on him to show why he was the number one golfer in the world for so long.

-Derek Flores

Madness

This time of year is truly crazy. In the sports world I do not know how anybody could complain on the headlines. Normally the main topic in March is just the basketball tournament but this year there is the Peyton Manning dilemma in which what team he would decide to play of which could be the rest of his career. I do not think that anybody would expect to pick the Denver Broncos though especially with the media saying that it could be Tennessee or San Francisco. His decision is a very large one especially with Tim Tebow finishing up as their quarterback this past year. Now the question is with Peyton In is Tim out? And if so where do you think he is going to go?

The next thing making this March so crazy is the tournament that makes and breaks dreams in college basketball. The first two rounds have been very exciting and have had a few surprises and upsets that nobody saw coming. The Duke Blue Devils were defeated as a number two seed and several other teams “choking” on teams that should have been an easy win. The great stat that sticks out in my mind is how many teams are left in the tournament that are from the great state of Ohio. Ohio State was expected to make it this far but not so much the other teams especially Ohio University.  Xavier has looked good in the tournament even with a bad ending to the season but have had a strong showing in the tournament. Finally the last two teams from Ohio are Ohio State and Cincinnati which they have to play each other in the sweet 16. I think it would be great for this states basketball reputation if one or more teams move on into the next round.  The real question is will a team advance to the next round and if so which team will it be? I really would like to see anybody advance but I think it would be great if Ohio advanced even if it a long shot for who they are playing. With their win it would be great for their university and for the MAC conference.

I hope all of you enjoy this tournament just as much as I do. 

Matt Konyesni

The Blaming Game

            It is that time of year again when college basketball teams put their heart and soul into making it to March Madness tournament. People from all around the country whether they are huge basketball fans to just the occasional follower of the sport print out their brackets and try to guess who will win the whole thing. The Men’s tournament gains a lot more recognition and attention for its tournament than the ladies do for theirs. When the brackets came out for both genders on both ESPN channels all they talked about was the men’s bracket. About 5 years ago it could have been argued that this was different after Don Imus made his comments about the Rutgers Ladies basketball team. In which he called them by names such as “nappy headed hos.” After Imus said his statements on his show there was a huge outrage against him and his show.

            After making those comments he apologized in which he tried to excuse his comments on the African American society saying that those terms are used in lyrics for rappers in their songs and it is a cultural saying. He also pointed out how black movie directors such as Spike Lee say the same or similar things in his movies. In my opinion this reasoning or excuse on why he said these things is not justified at all. It goes with the old saying my dad would always say to me “if somebody was to jump off a bridge, would you do the same thing?” This can also be implied in the music and film world. By what he is trying to reason is that since rappers talking about shooting people and selling narcotics is alright to do in real life because they said it in a song that was put out to make money? Another example would be in the movies if somebody robbed a store it doesn’t mean it is alright to do that in real life. He was better off on just owning up to what he said instead of him trying to put the blame on somebody else.

            In your opinion do you agree with my statements or do you disagree with what I have said and think he justified his actions. If you think he justified his actions please explain so maybe I could get a better reasoning on this topic.

Matt Konyesni