Where is the Passion?

I haven’t updated this in awhile and, believe it or not, the sports world has remained active. Well, I did horrible with my NCCA bracket this year. Horrible is an understatement to say the least. I had the Oregon Ducks winning it all and, needless to say, I was wrong. It was a good tournament this year and I think things went pretty much to plan, a lot of people picked Florida to win and they did.

I’m in a bad mood for many reasons, the main reason though, is the Red Sox first game of the season ended up with them losing 1-7 against the Kansas City Royals. The Kansas City Royals! I had to turn the game off I was in such disgust. I wondered if maybe they lost because I just recently bought a new Red Sox hat and I was wearing it at the time. Then I realized what it was, Curt Schilling could careless if he does a good job pitching. He knows that the Red Sox are probably not going to renew his contract at the end of the season, so he has no reason to do any better than what he showed the other day.

I’m starting to feel very let down as a sports fan. I feel that the majority of the athletes that compete in sports today don’t have the same drive and fire that athletes did maybe 10 or 15 years ago. I’m not saying all athletes don’t have drive, but there are a lot that don’t. I know that’s a pretty big accusation to make but if I’m wrong, then prove me wrong. Show me the passion; no actually, show everyone the passion and the fire inside that makes you want to win a game regardless of the amount of money you’re getting paid.

The Red Sox play Kansas City again tonight with Beckett pitching. Hopefully things will go better. I know I’ll be watching.

I hope to update more later today and elaborate more on what exactly today’s athletes need in order to help them reignite their passion. For now however, look up information about Larry Bird and his drive to win. I might be miss quoting him, but I believe Bird said that “I've got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.”

NCAA Bracket --- Click to make it bigger!

ACC Tourney

UNC Won....

Going going... gone.. and.. gone again?

Opening day is almost here. I know everyone is looking forward to it, as they should be. Based on what I read Ortiz re-joined the team and hit a homer to right field that traveled past the initial fence and then past a second. Seems to me Big Papi is ready to go.

In other news it seems Mike Timlin is having some problems with his oblique muscles, and it looks like he'll be shut down for the week. Even though Timlin has been in the league for awhile I still feel that he is a really strong closer. I'm glad that Terry Francona decided to rest him for the week. It's better to work on those injuries now in spring training before the regular season.

Other than that the Red Sox look to be pretty primed for opening day 2007. As far as I can tell we have a really good bullpen this year and I think our hitting rotation is going to work out nicely.

Hopefully I can put an update on here soon regarding some of my opinions on some of the other players. Stayed tuned!

ACC Scores

FINAL
FLORIDA STATE
(20-12) 58
NORTH CAROLINA
(26-6) 73


FINAL OT
MIAMI (FL)
(12-20) 71
BOSTON COLLEGE
(20-10) 74


FINAL I can't believe this one!
NC STATE
(17-14) 79
VIRGINIA
(20-10) 71


FINAL
WAKE FOREST
(15-16) 52
VIRGINIA TECH
(21-10) 71

Simon sez knock you out!

If you've turned on your TV today at all you are probably well aware that in the NHL last night Chris Simon of the New York Islanders clotheslined the Rangers' Ryan Hollweg with his hockey stick. I'm have had very little exposure to hockey and can honestly say that I have never watched full game. The closest thing that to a hockey game that I've watched was when I was a kid I saw the movie "The Mighty Ducks". For some reason or another I've always been under the impression that what Chris Simon did is kind of the norm for NHL, apparently though, I was wrong.

As soon as I turned on Mike & Mike in the morning I heard what had happened, and then again on Sports Center and on SI.com and every where else it seems. What I'm wondering is the college basketball scene so boring that they need to have constant coverage of this one event? Most of the time sports channels barely touch on hockey, but all the sudden someone gets chopped in the chin with a hockey stick and we're paying attention.

Personally, I think that bad publicity for the NHL is actually great publicity. On any other day I'd be talking about basketball or the trades going on in the NFL off season or the upcoming Nextel Cup at Las Vegas, but not today. No, today I'm talking about hockey, and so is everyone else.

It's sad that it takes something very violent to happen for a lot of us to take notice. Do I think Chris Simon should be suspended for the rest of the season? Yes, and no. Yes to the fact that performed an extremely violent act, but no to the fact that he's creating publicity. The NHL needs all the help it can get.

As of right now Simon has been suspended indefinitely which is the right thing. Also, Hollweg get a few stitches in his chin and will be playing in the next Rangers game. A game that I might actually watch or at least pay attention to. Why? Well the NHL has all the sudden got my attention.

ACC Tourney 3/8

FINAL
FLORIDA STATE
(20-11) 67
CLEMSON
(21-10) 66


FINAL
MIAMI (FL)
(12-19) 67
17 MARYLAND
(24-8) 62


FINAL OT
NC STATE
(16-14) 85
21 DUKE
(22-10) 80


FINAL OT2
WAKE FOREST
(15-15) 114
GEORGIA TECH
(20-11) 112