A quarter of a century
We are big on dates around these parts.
Birthdays. Premieres. Happenings and events.
We normally reserve them for the "Today's Question" part of the show, but this one is different. For a family-oriented, interweb-based sports column (FOIB for short), this is one of the biggest sports moments of our lifetime, and it comes on a special anniversary.
It was 25 years ago today that Christian Laettner hit "The Shot" to beat Kentucky and spring Duke into the Final Four. It was, in our view, the best basketball play of our lifetime. (We have frequently made the argument that Lorenzo Charles' dunk to win the 1983 title was the most important sports play of our lifetime because it made Jimmy V, and his celebrity led to his foundation which has raised more than $100 million to fight cancer. So compared to getting Duke to a Final Four, well there is no comparison.)
Both Laettner and Charles are no-brainer selections for the Rushmore of March Madness, but for us personally, Laettner's exceeded the under this simple description. If you had to pick a Rushmore of sports moments, and that definition meant you remembered exactly where you were and everything about it, what's your Rushmore?
And to be true to perspective, you likely need to only pick one from your absolute favorite team. For example, we could have a dozen Rushmores of Auburn football moments we remember every detail down to what shirt we wearing (normally a navy blue AU golf shirt) and what we were drinking (almost always a gentleman named Jack on football Saturdays). For us, the sports moments that take us beyond just the athletic magic and recreate the scene in our life were:
* Laettner (at Auburn, watching the end, bracket in hand, and when the shot when in, hysteria ensued and I contemplated naming my first child Christian Laettner Greeson, and yes wiser heads prevailed for the 5-at-10 tots);
* The US Hockey win in '80 (it ranks as one of my first hard and true sports memories, watching on tape delay with my mother on what I thought was the biggest TV in the world and by today's measures likely would not be a very big laptop screen, and remember the clock ticking in what felt like dog seconds and Al Michaels saying over and over again that there was so much time left for the Russians as we all believed in Miracles);
* Gibson off Eckersley (this one barely edges Buckner's play for two reasons: one I have always been a Dodgers fan and two the celebrations of joy should always trump the celebrations of failure. We were at Chad Logomasino's house - he was the kid in high school whose parents were always out of town - and we took a victory lap when the ball left the bat. That home run and Charles are the closest things to a sports-movie moment happening in real life that I can ever recall)
* Sid's Slide (This was long before we became spoiled by the Braves 15-year run of regular-season dominance. We were at the fraternity house, and there was a big group in the main room pulling for the Braves and a smaller group of Pirates fans in another room. The insults back and forth we priceless and not possible to be repeated in the FOIB format. When Sid scored - and yes, the live-action feed looked like a slow-motion replay for Pete Van Wieren's sake - we rushed the other room and dog-piled them. We had two pledges drive us to Atlanta and we celebrated all night. Ah pledges, the original Minions).
Thoughts?
(And if you want the Auburn memory Rushmore, well, that's pretty easy for us: 30-20, the first time Alabama came to Auburn, the BCS win over Oregon; the Kick Six and we'll take the Comeback in Tuscaloosa in 2010 narrowly over the Prayer in Jordan-Hare.)
Faux sportsmanship
We have wondered this for a while, and this may not be the best example, but we had a mini-square off between a coach and player Monday night.
The sport? College softball, of course. Auburn and Florida are two of the five or best six teams in the country. Auburn salvaged Game 3 of the series Monday 1-0 and afterward, shortstop Haley Fagan did not offer her hand in the hand shake line to Florida coach Tim Walton.
(Back story: Fagan's older sisters were kicked off the Florida team by Walton for undisclosed reasons back in 2012. So there's that.)
Walton appears to give a little shoulder to the youngest Fagan after the hand-slap removal, and the Auburn shortstop turns and pushes Walton in the back. It was kind of surreal.
Our question does not center on postage pushing matches or coach-player altercations and assuredly not on men-women physical exchanges. No, our question is if you truly can't stand a player or coach on the other team, is it really sportsmanship to touch hands even if you each can't stand each other?
Yes, it's tradition. And yes, we make all the kids do it in youth sports. But if we all know that Fagan hates Walton and Walton hates the Fagans, wouldn't the forced hand-slap devalue the entire process?
Thoughts?
Washington Wizards' John Wall (2) drives past Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) for a basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Saturday, March 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Phil Long) Pains in Cleveland
The Cavs were smoked last night by San Antonio.
Smoked. Like 103-74 smoked.
Cleveland shot less than 38 percent had 16 turnovers and were minus-12 in rebounding. It also dropped the Cavs to 7-10 since Feb. 25 and put them in second place in the East for the first time since Nov. 17.
Almost as eye-popping is San Antonio is now 4-0 against the Cavs and the Golden State Warriors and those wins have come by an average of 20.8 points.
LeBron James told reporters after the game: "When you've been struggling, this is the last team you want to play -- a well-oiled machine like this. They exploit everything that you might be doing wrong at this point in the season, and right now, we're just not playing good basketball."
Stewwie has been on the Spurs' bandwagon all season, but it should be noted that the Spurs are still two games back of the Warriors in the West with nine games left, including a visit from Golden State on Wednesday. (Here's betting the stars do not sit that one out, even though the Warriors play at Houston tonight.)
It's getting down to the wire.
This and that
* Turn your heads Falcons fans and skip to the next entry. But the cruel, cruel world that is social media is celebrating today - Happy 3-28 - as a memory for the 3-28 deficit the Patriots overcame to win Super Bowl LI. Ouch-standing.
* UConn played. UConn won. In other news, dogs hate cats and no one likes taxes. UConn now has won 111 in a row and has made 10 consecutive Final Fours.
* Through the first full two weekends of the NCAA tournament, the numbers are up 10 percent year-to-year with an average of 9.8 million viewers for each game. And to highlight the importance of the companies that broadcast live sports to find ways to make money on digital streaming, the impressive 10 percent boast is less than a third of the 31 percent increase in streaming. March Madness Live has generated an all-time record 88 million live streams according to Nielsen numbers.
* Interesting back-and-forth between the players and the powers that be for the U.S. Women's Hockey team. Here's some more details - including the misguided step for the Team USA leaders of trying to find lower-tier replacement players while low-balling the negotiations. Also of note, 20 U.S. Senators are spending their valuable time crafting letters of support on this is a staggering misuse of their time and office. Wonder where those folks were when the U.S. Women's Soccer team - a bunch that has more success and generates close to the same revenue - was having this same debate last year?
* Well, here's a video of Max Scherzer blowing three straight 96-plus mph heaters by Tim Tebow. If you are curious, Tebow is 4-of-24 so far this spring.
* We've said it before and we'll certainly say again in the future, but if TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer is writing on college hoops, we're reading. Here's a great look from Weeds on the major cost to be a major hoops player for mid-major schools.
* Interesting angle here from TFP UTC beat ace Mean Gene Henley on what Tom Arth is doing this spring since the new UTC football coach is not overseeing a position group for the first time as a head coach.
* Of all the power conference basketball powerhouses, raise your hand if you had South Carolina with teams in the men's and women's Final Four.
* According to this report Colin Kaepernick wants a $9 to $10 million a year deal with a chance to start. And according to the 5-at-10, we would love for the Tennessee lottery folks to send us the Power Ball numbers before the next drawing.
Today's question
True or false Tuesday means only one thing, and it's not multiple choice.
Let's get to it, and remember the etiquette: The first rule of True or False Tuesday is you never talk about True or False Tuesday; Secondly, answer the true-and-false options and feel free to leave some behind for others to play along.
Deal? Deal.
True or false, UConn's dominance would still be this great if Pat Summitt had not gotten sick.
True or false, Laettner's shot is the greatest college basketball play of all time.
True of false, the Cleveland Cavaliers are vulnerable in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
True or false, there are only three teams - Spurs, Warriors, Cavs - who have a shot at winning the NBA title.
Go.