So North Carolina's annihilation against Michigan St has come and gone... and I just cannot believe the amount of folks that some how found a spot on the Tar Heels bandwagon.
Look, I'm an ACC follower. Maryland is the team I watch and root for. Do they suck? Sorta. Are they that great? As long as they leave Vasquez with no support, not at all. But I'm a Terp fan, through and through.
All of that said, I tend to root for anyone in the ACC that's still in the tourney (outside of Duke, YUCK!), so even though I am an underdog lover and wanted to root for Michigan St, I knew that North Carolina would win.
From Saturday night until today, I keep seeing the following on Facebook updates and twitter lines:
"Go Tar Heels"
"I told y'all, no one can stop dem bois in babee blu" (this status is sooo wrong for so many reasons)
"Y'all already know... Tar Heels all day baby!"
Okay, so where were you people before the tourney started? Better yet, before the season started?? Why are you front running???
Let's be clear. Front running is becoming a "fan" of a team when they are either the fan favorite, in contention for a championship or a media darling. It's totally separate from rooting for a team that you don't care about during a game. To show you what I mean, I've taken the liberty of pointing out to you two examples of front running...
Where are their Heels colors, jerseys, hats, ANYTHING!!! *sigh*. Most folks choose a side for whatever reason, whether you are betting or just because you feel the need to choose. But when that game is over, you go right back to not caring. All of the jawing and smack talk after the fact doesn't even come to play, because that's not your team anyway.
See, where I'm from, you get laughed at for being a front runner. Why? Because it shows you like whose "in" right now. No one takes front runners seriously anyway. We laugh at you because we think you have no real working knowledge of the sport anyway. The minute there's a new hot team running the show, you want to be yapping again, talking about, "That's my squad!!"So we just look at you like every time you start to talk. Man go sit down somewhere.
Honestly, who can trust a front runner? If they can jump on and off a squad, whose to say they would look out for you when you needed them?? Can you depend on a front runner to bail you out of jail after you just cussed out a cop, or lie for you when you needed to get out of the house to go hang with the homies??? They're too flip floppy. You could learn a lot about a person's personality if they are a front runner.
Bottom line: Being a front runner is wack! Find a team, and stick with them. For better or worse, through sickness and health. Having a true team to follow is like a marriage, with ups and downs. Having a front runner is like having an affair. It's a pain to maintain both, they want too much of your time and they almost always finds a way to bite you where the sun don't shine.
Hey bloggers and bloggettes. Good to be back after a long weekend of having fun (and losing money) in Viva Las Vegas.
I must say, the time difference has taken a toll on me and I'm moving in slow motion. I need to find a way to get my blogging swag back.
Today is my day to just spew off random thoughts in ANY sport, not just NFL. There are a few things going on in the sports world, so why not sound off on them!
Random Thought #1- Speaking of Vegas, can someone tell me why the SportsBook betting areas was the HOTTEST place to be this weekend.
Forget the craps or blackjack tables, every casino we went to had the Sports Book area packed like a night club. Between NCAA basketball, NBA basketball, preseason baseball and more, folks were going CRAZY! With all of the cheering and beer drinking going on, I thought Frank the Tank was gonna come in streaking. It was all the way live. My cousin became a sports book junkie in a matter of hours. We had to basically drag him out of there. Random Sports Thought #2- I knew the moment I couldn't change my NCAA bracket that picking Pitt as my national champion was a big mistake. And I was right. They lost to Villanova on Saturday, but I wasn't surprised at all. They played pretty crappy during the entire tournament and looked like they were running out of gas. This is why I hate bracketology..... I suck at it. First Pitt loses, then Louisville. I think I had both of them as my finalists for the National Championship game.... UGH! Remember what I said my bracket looked like when I'm done? Well, if you forgot that fast, let me show you:
Random Sports Thought #3- Am I the only one that's glad the officer involved in the Moats incident resigned??? I know that he had a job to do. I also know that running red lights is a no no. But the second the nurse confirmed the story that the mother-in-law in fact WAS dying, human instinct should have kicked in, and he should have allowed the him and the family to see her before she left this earth. I don't want to lump him with all cops, because they aren't all heartless. But this is why law enforcement has a bad name now. He FINALLY did the right thing, in my opinion.
Random Sports Thought #4- I really wish Gary Sheffield gets his 1 little home run, then retires. How many teams did this guy play for, seriously?!
He's the rolling stone of baseball. I know I sound like a hater, but ever since that Real Sports interview, he really rubbed me the wrong way. He seems to never accept responsibility for anything he does. Please someone pick up Sheffield, so he can hit his 500th home run, then go away.
Random Sports Thought #5- Ummmm, I just saw a not-so-funny April Fools joke on ESPN.com today. Is James Walker serious?! I'm still waiting for the "April Fools Suckas!" post behind this blog he just posted. I know the NFL season is slow, and this is a good time of year to post anything to get fans going. Not trying to down the Bengals, because I do think they will be a better team in 2009 with the return of Palmer, an over achieving defense and a soft schedule. But if Walker thinks the Bengals are going to beat out Pittsburgh, or even Baltimore for the AFC North title, then I need some of whatever it is he's smoking, cause it must be good. Not funny James Walker.... not funny at all.
So, I think I have a crush on Gus Johnson. Not a real crush. But a media crush. In my opinion, Gus Johnson is one of the best sports announcers out here. Why? Welll...... since you asked....
I like Johnson for a lot of reasons. He went to Howard University (shout out to the HBCUs), and although his major was political science, he's always been sports oriented. He was the QB for his high school football team in Detroit, and also played on the basketball team as well as the baseball team.
After he graduated from HU, he went on to be a play-by-play announcer for such teams like the Detroit Tigers, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Big East basketball conference. His accomplishments go on and on... because he's awesome!
But my main reason for liking Johnson is because he makes every play sound like the most exciting play you've ever seen... in your entire existence of LIFE. A defender can jump offsides in a football game and he would make the best out of it. I can hear him and his cartoon-ish voice now, "Whooooo and the linebacker was JUST called offsides!!!! Boy, that 5 yards could possibly hurt them in this game..."
Or imagine LeBron James traveling in a game that's a blowout. Johnson would make the best of it..
"OOOOOOOO.. and LeBRON JUST TRAVELED FOLKS!!! I can't BELIEVE he just did that!!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???!!!"
Johnson takes every sport you watch and liven it up about 100 notches. I know sometimes it's extremely annoying and he makes you want to say, "Okay Gus, we get it...... you're excited". But hell, I wish we had more Gus Johnsons on TV.
This is dedicated to my media crush, Gus Johnson!!!
It's that time again... March Madness has arrived... and I'm not as excited as I have been in the past.
See, I'm not dubbed as the "Sports Chick". My name is the NFL Chick for a reason. I'm a bad mutha...... when it comes to my knowledge of football. Yes, I'm tooting my own horn! I tend to focus mainly on football, whether it be college or pro. So I'd be lying if I told you that I am a die hard college b-ball fan.
The truth is, I like it, but I only follow it during.... you guessed it.... March Madness.
I do tend to get caught up in the "bracketology" just like most folks. This one job I worked at, you would've thought the cafeteria was a casino, with all the money being passed around and high fiving going on.
Everyone has the fever. You can see it on message boards, you hear about it on the radio... even talk about it amongst friends. Everyone is excited about March Madness. And I was too.... until I got my bracket.
You see, March Madness shows all of my friends and colleagues just how much I follow college basketball. Aside from the Top 25 you hear about on ESPN and Maryland (that's who I usually root for), I don't really follow it. That ignorance blares like a light in your face when someone puts that bracket on your desk/table. This is what I see when I get back to my desk from lunch during March Madness :
It's a nice clean bracket, with all of the teams and divisions listed. Easy right?! Not so. Once I get out of my Top 25, I really don't who the hell these other teams are. Radford....Who??? Steven F. Austin... Isn't that someone's name??? Siena.... Like Sienna Miller, the actress??
I start getting confused and frustrated. Ultimately my nice clean bracket turns into confusion and frustration, and ends up looking like this:
March Madness is here! Everyone's so excited. They all have the fever. I'm not there yet. I just have a cold.....
