“Wait, why was Huddy on a website called dazzlejunction.com?”
“Hey, shut up, jerks. It was in Google Image Search.”
Good morning and Happy Hump Day Cougs! You’ve gotta love this time of year, don’t you? Spring has finally rolled around and with it all the spoils of the season: Men’s League has started at my golf course, The Masters is coming, spring training is in full swing, the NHL is winding down to the greatest playoffs in American sport, March Madness is in full swing and above all else, WASHINGTON STATE FOOTBALL STARTS SPRING PRACTICE TOMORROW!!! With all of this in mind I had a hop in my step as I stepped out my door this morning an — What the @&#! Snow?! Really?! Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. Nothing like scraping a bunch of ice and snow off your car to ruin your spring optimism. March came in like a lion and is apparently going out like a douche. Alas, I must press on. A quick look at the Crimson and Gray Game advent calendar shows we’re down to 5 weeks until the big day at Joe Albi Stadium (4 and a half, but whatever). After a brief writer’s block/CBI Madness induced hiatus from the countdown last week, it resumes today. Unfortunately, the writer’s block lingers and I’m strapped for this week’s theme of five Coug-specific items to talk about. That’s why they pay me the big bucks, folks. It should get easier after this week when there will be real life football reports to digest, but for this week, it’s time for five random not-so-quick hits. You know the drill, my friends.
As I mentioned, this is the week that Mike Leach really truly, honest-to-goodness, the NCAA is OK with it and everything takes the reins of the WSU football team when spring football practice officially starts. If you haven’t seen it yet, the schedule is available on the WSU Athletics website along with a jazzy hype video. There are plenty of questions to which we’ll start to receive answers starting tomorrow: Will the vaunted sand pit be used and how much? Which of our quarterbacks will take the early lead in the competition for the starting job? How will players adjust to the new system? Who the heck will make up the back seven of the injury/weed/rap sheet depleted defense? What are we supposed to do without Longball in Pullman providing updates and awesome interviews? Tomorrow marks the beginning of a very long process, but for the football junkies among us, at least it’s something.
Give me a C! Give me a B! Give me an I!What’s the spell? Nothing, but it is an acronym for a delightfully humble little tournament that, courtesy of two solid performances by the Cougar basketball team, has captivated Cougar Nation. I don’t know if captivated is the right word, but at the very least, it seems like people are watching/listening to/Gamecasting/Twittering/smoke signaling the details of the games. I think we can all go with a, “Yeah, I was just playing” about the negativity that surrounded Wazzu’s participation in this tournament before it started. Regardless of the quality of opponents or television coverage or whatever, the young guys on this team are getting extra practices and some sort of post season experience while the vets are finishing their careers in style. Abe Lodwick, Marcus Capers and Charlie Enquist are definitely not going out with a whimper and it’s been fun to see. We’re back at it tonight with Round 4 of the Cougs-Beavs season long slugfestshoving match. The Cougs were excellent in The Spokane Scuffle and The Malice in Corvallis, but had the usual Pac-12 Tournament poop fest at The Melee in LA. The Malice in Corvallis Part 2 ain’t exactly the Rumble in the Jungle, but it would still be pretty sweet to win. A showdown with either Butler or Pittsburgh for the 39th most prestigious championship in American sport (take that, United States Equestrian Championships) would be a cool deal.
As for that other college basketball tournament, (no, no the NIT. Pipe down, Huskies) we’re down to the Sweet 16 and holy crap are there some awesome match-ups looming! I took Thursday and Friday off last week to soak it all in and test the limits of how lazy and disgusting a single human could be. After a painfully slow start Thursday when there were basically no games that offered up any thrills, the Madness began in earnest on Friday. My bracket isn’t in complete shambles just yet, which is unusual. I’ve got 10 of the 16 teams left, but 7 of my Elite Eight and all of my Final Four picks are still hanging around. Either way, I’m really looking forward to the match-ups tomorrow and Friday. Michigan State-Louisville, Marquette-Florida, Cincinnati-Ohio State, Syracuse-Wisconsin, Kentucky-Indiana, Baylor-Xavier and NC State-Kansas all seem like terrific match-ups to me with UNC-Ohio the only stinker of the bunch. Admittedly, I didn’t watch many of these teams in the regular season, but even picking up during conference tournaments and being pretty thoroughly immersed Thursday through Sunday, I’ve come to know a lot of the teams and players. I’m all in now. Keep the Madness coming.
If you’re not a fan of the NHL, first of all, I don’t get you. That’s OK, though. I’m enough of a narcissist to believe that everyone should like things that I like so I’m going to convince you to become a fan. With tight races in each conference to determine the last playoff spots, it’s do or die time for several NHL teams. This year, the least of teams includes my Washington Capitals who are clinging to the 8 seed in the East. The last few years I’ve been spoiled by the Caps as they’ve cruised to high seeds in the playoffs with nothing in doubt for the last few weeks of the season. They’ve been kind enough to wait on delivering the swift kick to my nuts until they fall apart in the first or second round. This year, though, has been a season long series of nut kicks, but in spite of it all, they still have a pretty solid shot to get into the show. While it kinda sucks to be in the position, I’ve gotta admit there is a ton of excitement in being involved in the race for eighth place. Once the playoffs start, all hell breaks loose and every team has a shot. That’s true in every sport with a playoff system, of course, but especially so in hockey. The level of intensity this time of year is unbelievable. I’m starting to freak out a little bit just thinking about it. Playoff series take years off my life I think, but they’re totally worth it. Also, I get to break out my hideous playoff “beard” if the Caps get in so let’s all root for that. Even if you don’t like hockey, you probably like the idea of me looking like an idiot for a few weeks.
Last but not least, let’s talk a little baseball. Not the big leagues, though. My Mets are going to be turrible and most of you readers’ Mariners are going to be turrible so the only enjoyment will once again come from beers at the ballpark. On the Coug front, though, Donnie Marbut andthe boys are already almost 20 games into their season. At 10-8, the record doesn’t exactly look promising, but just about all the losses have been in tight games and the schedule shows two wins over teams ranked in the Top 10. On top of that, Derek Jones is building a pretty spectacular resume that has him climbing up WSU’s all-time record book. College baseball isn’t exactly the easiest sport in the world to follow, but I hope everyone keeps up with how the Cougs are faring. Coach Marbut has put together a very solid program so I give them this official shout-out.
Go Cougs.
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