Taj79

whew!!!!! I can leave this earth now knowing that my job here is done. Roy has a job! Anyway, I can still look at the picture Steve sent and rest well with the fact that at least I'm still prettier.

Got up to Princeton yesterday to see the Lady Bills and old friend Coach Tim Champion take on the Princeton Lady Tigers. That is a nice team Tim has going for him and despite the 2 to 1 loss, the team performed admirably and the match was undecided up to the last. It also made my daughter's day as Tim let her and her friend sit on the bench with the team for the entire game. Here's one male chauvenist pig asking for more support for this team, they represented Saint Louis University really well despite a refereeing who seemed intent on running us out of New Jersey all by himself. While we may have lsot on the scoreboard we won the yellow card battle three to nothing. You know you're old when ..... two players on the team are daughters of guys you knew or went to school with. Larry Hulcer's daughter Courtney and Steve Pecher's daughter Tressa. Not only was the game great, but the team actually thanked us for being there .... something about how great it is to have even one fan present to play for. Hearing that simple of a comment made the drive worth it. Support these girls as well, they deserve it.

First of all, living here in Maryland, all you get as far as the local news is concerned is The Sun. For all intents and purposes, it should be named The Maryland Sun. The Washington Post and Times do have inroads into suburban DC which encompasses some of Maryland but those folks see themselves more as "national" papers and not locals. You have a few local rags in places like Frederick, Hagerstown, Cumberland, Salisbury but The Sun is the paper here. Vecsay has been a columnist here for a little over a year. She plays a role on The Sun much like Miklasz plays on the Post-Dispatch. For the most part, you never see a letter to the editor favorable in her corner. This may be because negative always seems to be the letter flavor du jour in The Sun. And they only run them on Sunday's as well. Vecsay replaced Ken Rosenfeld who I believe moved to The Sporting News. Kenny's forte was baseball. Vecasy tries to present a national dialogue; Mike Preston is now the local Baltimore guy and he seems to constantly be taking the racial side of things here. He hates Billick, Angelos, Modell, Polin, lacrosse, soccer, etc. but seems to love Ray Lewis, Bouleware, Jordan, Arrington, basketball, etc. Its palpable. Vecsay's column is probably two-fold in intent .... its to bash the UMd football program and the ACC on one hand, but to then blame everyone else as well because if you notice, she takes it to the fact that the guys complaining (Tulane, etc.) all became more timid when their part of the money pot was increased to pacify them. Seems to make sense .... money talks.... I know broy has some deep-seeded beleifs that this Myles Brand is going to change things but I still don't agree with that. This money grab will continue until the banks breaks or a school or two does. I am really starting to believe that the real college-athletes are those at Washington University, Carnegie-Mellon, Case Western and all those other Division III or lower schools. I hav eno idea what Vandy thinks its doing by combining intercollegiate and intramural athletics at its school under one program and then elimianting the athletic director position. Nice first attempt? I think the last line in Vecsay's column applies to Vandy and some others (maybe even us). Not all the schools can play with the big boys. The money has to end somewhere and sharing is not an intuitive human attribute.

Sorry, luke, how about we agree to disagree? While you are probably right about the Virginia and Ncstate chances for this year, so what? That happens every year. Some pretender comes out of the ranks of the downtrodden in the ACC to make a little noise. Maryland two years ago. I can tell you living up here in Maryland, the state has really gotten behind Twerp football since Large Ralph Friedgen came back into the fold (UMd grad). But I am betting right now that it will be fleeting and short-lived. UMd fans are as fickle as the winds that blow in DC. Clemson's national title is about as history as the Billikens winning the NIT. Twenty plus years ago don't cut it in today's what-have-you-done-for-me-lately society. I think there are about maybe 10 schools that can reload year-after-year and go for the national title: Miami, Florida State, Ohio State, Mighigan, Oklahoma, Florida, Notre Dame, Texas and a few others. Clemson is not there. I wouldn't even rank Clemson in the second tier .... where they are around at least half the time in a ten year span ..... those schools are like Penn State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas State, USC, Colorado, Georgia, VaTech and probably some others I know I am missing. I would probably put most of the ACC schools in a third or fourth tier .... once in every decade they experience a magical run when all the planets align. I think they would be more appropraite in a fourth tier ... behind a third tier with the likes of Auburn, LSU, Alabama and some others. I would rank Clemson football along the same lines as the current Georgetown basketball progam .... living more on the laurels of the past than the present or future. But you never know, hope srpings eternal. You are right, adding Miami and VaTech to the brood will make ACC football better. But not for the downtrodden that are the original ACC football programs. As a matter of fact, I think it will just make it more harder on teams like NCstate, Virginia and Maryland to rise up as regularly as they might now. They will have to play those big four ..... they might lose out playing Duke or Wake more times than not ... and those wins will now be losses. The rich eat the poor ...even in their own conferences. I will, however, root for your team in those big games because, as I said above, I love it when the Northern Illinois of the world beat the big boys. Even in conference ... and I see Clemson being medicore in the conference more times than not. Six or seven wins a year. Some bowl game against some mediocre CUSA team. But no lofty heights. Just one guy's opinion ... worth not much neither here nor there.

I have never believed the A10 was their lot in life, Mac. I thought that when the Great Midwest folded into CUSA and we left Dayton behind as we did, that was the wrong thing to do. I've never been able to understand what both Dayton and X see in playing the crap of the A10 that is Duquesne, Fordham, Rhodey, Richmond and some of the others. Once they break east of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers it makes no real sense to me ... not from a geography standpoint but also from a rivalry standpoint. UMass, Temple and some of the others are okay but that's about it. And bringing those guys to the midwest makes no sense either. From a geographic stadnpoint, I always liked what SLU had in the MCC .... Indy, Cincy, Detroit, Chicago, even Oklahoma City .... but not totally enamored with all the schools .... Loyola, Oral Roberts, Evansville. The fact that the two schools we talk about here are in Ohio, and the last time I checked Ohio had little to do with the Atlantic Seaboard, has always puzzled me. Oh well. But what we did to Dayton seems to be happening now to us now. The bigger brothers of the conference are all running off with the prom queen and her court and we are left out in the cold. This is what UD must have felt like all those years ago. Now we are scrambling to find someone to take us in. Maybe a downgrade .... that is the MVC talk we keep hearing. You can't tell me Dayton taking the A10 was an upgrade from what they had with us. I forget where X went after the MCC but the best games I remember were all those MCC games against X and Byron Larkin, Tyrone Hill and Company and all those games against Loyola when they were good with Andre Moore, Carl Goldstein, and others. Again, I agree with nark but I just see us as the begagr at the window looking in right now. We don't bring mych to the table. And for those who keep thinking Biondi is the man and all that ... I have great respect for the good father, have talked with him on many occassions, and I can't see him having much to do in those conference meetings right now. You keep hearing how the commissioners and ADs are in charge. Meaning our fate is held more likely by Woolard than by Bionid IMHO. Not good as far as I can tell.

I will go to my grave believing quite adamantly in the fact that ACC football sucks! The only schools that really play football in there right now are Florida State and Georgia Tech ... two retreads from eariler Metro days. Not real ACC schools. Now, we can or will add Miami and VaTech to the list. Again not two true ACC schools. Yeah, yeah, Maryland, Wake, NCState, UNC and Virginia all manage to place a team or two in bowl games every year but CUSA had what, five bowl teams last year? Big Freakin' A! Short of the ACC's now Big Four, we won't really ever seen anyone else come out of that conference much from now on and that also probably includes GaTech. I rooted for Northern Illinois that night, broy. While I do like to enjoy an ACC basketball game, they can take their crap version of football and shove it. And to think their league and football are the reasons the dominoes are falling around college basketball is pathetic.

Be careful...... youth can perform in erratic ways. Let's neither get too high right now .........

David, I agree with your overall assessement of the CUSA/NASCAR circuit should things happen. There are a number of problems and the major one of which is greatest concern to me is that SLU does NOT control it own destiny right now. Why? For one, the Big East aggressor schools see SLU adding nothing to their conference. I've said this before ... we may as well be Gonzaga for that matter as far as the eastern perspectives are concerned. So we don't merit consideration as does DePaul (Chicago market) and Marquette (recent Final Four). Lousiville and Cincy are pretty much givens because of the football thing. We are on the outside looking in. Without going along for the ride, it means either stay the same (CUSA) or change (evolve). We can't evolve to where most of us want to go (Papal Conference, etc.) because either the schools are in exodus (MU, DeP) or already involved with conferences that they are happy with (Creigh, Day, X, etc.). If the exodus goes, we are not in the same situation but it would be extremely difficult in my book to convert others to our way of thinking. We're the beggars on the street in that case and again onthe outside looking in. CUSA only made sense when it involved the old Great Midwest band of brothers. That's over if the BE takes our four closest brothers. No way we can compete philospohically iwth Memphis and UAB. Case in point .. UAB just went Division I football. About the only group we can commiserate with is Charlotte ... but they are a public institution and we are private ... the marriage won't last and the geography will kill that sooner rather than later. As for the arena, another idiotic statement and some insist on believing it .... the fool lives! Finally, if you don't think football runs the NCAA roost ... look at I believe its Sports Illustrated college football rankings. Every school ranked is a BCS school. Pretty soon .. they'll figure out how to instill the same set of criteria to NCAA basketball. The rich will get richer .... we are on the outside looking in.

Prima donnas coaching and gm-ing prima donnas. Haven't seen a game in maybe 10 years. Who cares .............. I'm sure the money he made in three years will be more than I can even dream of. Poor, poor, poor Isiah .......

Got it Steve .... thanks. Who took that, I don't remember. It proved to my wife that I go to those things and not some other, seedy X-rated type area ..... at least for a while. And I still look better than Roy! When you get your email address send it my way home and we'll look into that DC visit thing. It seems that since that fateful 9/11 day, I don't seem to visit DC and Pentagon as much as I used to but you never know. Good luck.

While the suspensions may hurt at game time, they won't be affecting the practice time ... suspended players can still practice. So too will the redshirts. As noted, the first three games without Reggie are cupcakes and they are also at home if memory serves. It might give those playing a chance to get more time and turn that time into some positive contributions later on. Say Hunt and Varner play and play well. It might provide some needed experience for later when they are needed for some minutes against bigger bruisers like Louisville and Marquette. I am not sold on this Greek kid. I heard all the great stuff before about Latimore, and Nondas, and IO. I have yet tosee that international stud-type player emerge. Forgive me if I take a wait-n-see attitude with the Greek kid ... 10 game suspension not withstanding.

You just like him because of your total disregard for Booby Knight. But even a blind squirrel will find a nut once in a while .... maybe Myles shot his wad with that one. I envision a different scenario ... call it the second coming (or going) of Jimmy Hoffa .... Myles starts messing with the money brokers and he's pushing up TexTurf blades in a concrete end zone somewhere ....

.. okay, that I already knew .... I thought there was something new that jsut blazed up for this one. I understand all that. Thanks.

... I know this is the Bills board but this off ESPN on the continuing Mizzou issue. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=1603791 What's interesting to me at the end of the story is how the coach says he's backing the investigation by the compliance department. Why wouldn't he say more about the overarching effort? Does he really believe its not necessary? But I guess no one really cares.

... hand-held, home-painted signs and placards from all games involving CUSA basketball teams .... conference, non-conference and tournament. Why do you think the kid up and left for the A-10 and George Washington University? You don't believe it had anything to do with college and getting an education, do you?

Only ties with Charlotte (weak ones at best) and distant links to Memphis and Tulane (old Metro days not forgotten) appeal to me here and that's stretching it for Tulane. Calipari won't stand for this ..... he b*tched and moaned because he didn't get to play the tougher American division folks in the bifurcated CUSA .. what do you think he'll do now .... now that his RPI tanks even greater if BE committments take those four completely out of the equation? Of course, he could opt in believing that no one left in this conference would ever challenge Memphis superiority and take for granted a trip to March Money Madness nine years out of every ten (maybe ten out of ten if he's arrogant enough).

.. what is this JUCO rule change of which we speak? NCAA change or SLU change?

... Brandon chose this route? Someone up above talks about how the kid may have figured out that he didn't want the 8 hours of summer work in Philosophy or Theology or Anthropology. What if he also just said, "hey, I'd rather go home and play." Kid is from Kenosha or somewhere up there ... maybe Green Bay was more appealing. Maybe his "sweetie" enrolled there. I don't profess to know any more than the next guy (and maybe he'll know more) but pointing all the fingers at SLU is premature as well at this point. As for broy's point about Myles Brand coming in and doing some sort of something .... I doubt it ... money talks, bullshat walks ..... even if you began to concetrate on the grades issue as long as CBS has the billion dollar carrot onthe stick that is March Madness, and the winner gets more, someone somewhere is going to do whatever it takes to get that. I think you need to take all the TV money, CBS, ESPN and whatever, throw it into one big pot called the NCAA, and let each and every school that is a member of that pot take an equal representation once its all over. Ain't never going to happen.

Torn meniscus can be as simple as a torn fingernail or as complex as a torn hamstring. I've had two .... both were extremely naggingly painful but that pain went bye-bye once the arthroscopic procedure was done. I was out playing ball two weeks after the one surgey. Seriously, if its the fingernail version, you clip it out and the pain is gone because the tear is rubbing on something inside. If his original diagnosis was tendonitis, they doc should have seen a problem sooner than what he did. If its as extreme as a hamstring, it will require some more serious repair and rest. It could even involve substituting a replacement "pad" in his knee. Synthetics are amazing now a days. I would not retreat on this kid over a torn meniscus. As a matter of fact, I'd offer right now on the spot if he is as good as folks say he is. I also blew out the ACL in my right knee ..... being older I scrapped the plans to rehab. The serious of such an injury might come later in the form of a knee replacement. But the doc told me that was years later.

Ditto to the above ... plus I'm local so you know the offers are always there .....

Old joke ............. Q: Why are the footballs fields in Iowa made of astro-turf? A: So the cheerleaders don't graze.

The opening post had a line that said "I still think with all the speculation about a possible BE/C-USA merger,soccer helps the Bills.With soccer being stronger on the coasts,maybe having one of the elite soccer programs could help the Bills with the eastern schools.Anyone think so,or is soccer a non-issue?" I would offer that seeing as a huge revenue source is the cause of all this ruckus to begin with(BCS football with championship games, multi-million dollar payoffs, TV audiences, etc.), soccer means absolutely nothing outside the world of those who play it. Frankly, I lump soccer in there with lacrosse ..... which, by the way,is huge in my part of the country but nowhere else. Soccer may have a bigger pull overall, but in the grand scheme of the current nomadic collegiate landscape .... zero, zilch, nada.

nm

Wow ... someone actually got that one!!!!!!

Dear Mr. Anita ..... bringing Mrs. Taj to the tourney would be akin to when George introduced Susan to the group in "Seinfeld." The happy-go-lucky George that Jerry, Kramer and Elaine new would essentially "die" if Susan came into the group. My keeping Mrs. Taj away keeps my need for buying toxic envelopes to a minimum! As for 72 thinking I am odd .... damn, just imagine if he ever really met me!?!?! I will say this though ... if I EVER did hit the lottery as 72 hints, the first thing I would do is finance the remaining arena needs. Bank on it! P.S. At the ripe age of 45, I have, in my entire life to date, both one ........... count it ...... ONE .... lottery ticket. Ever. Chances are that this pattern will not change in the near future.