Bay Area Billiken

First, I do not think the Big East will expand past 11 schools, UConn reportedly to be the 11th, as the Big East wants to keep the round-robin schedule. Eleven (11) conference teams allows the coming trend 20 game conference schedule. At this point, I think SLU needs to make the best of the situation in the A10, become the dominant force in the A10. SLU has the potential to do that. One good thing about the A10 is we know SLU can win the A10 and make the NCAA Tournament from the A10, as it has 4 times. As for the A10, I believe SLU should lead the charge to add Loyola Chicago to the A10. Loyola is from Chicago, the Nation's #3 media market, and a large SLU alumni base. Loyola would be my first A10 expansion target. The second would probably be Belmont, from Nashville, Tennessee, a hot, growing city and state.

I didn’t think the Sharks fans in my area and walking to and from the Shark Tank were that bad. There was no trash talk at all walking in and out. Some isolated Shark fans uttered some F Bombs at the Blues and tried (flailed and failed IMO) to rip STL after all was lost for SJ and the score was 5-0 STL, but a group of us Blues fans, sporadically seated, brought some of it on by chanting “Let’s Go Blues!” One misguided Sharks fan cited STL eats at Hardee’s (so what’s the issue), perhaps not realizing Carl’s Junior is the West Coast version of same. Another bellowed that STL doesn’t have a football team. Sign of the day, while I was walking out at the atrium, a Blues fan was holding up a sign, “Hands Off Our Cup.” Another sidebar, black on one side, white on the other, waving towels greeted us at our seats. When waved en masse, they look like orcas, killer whales, wrong species. I’m told orcas actually eat Sharks (like the Blues are doing). Let’s finish off the finned ones tomorrow night!

Long Live The Note! Let’s Go Blues!

BAB was there at the Shark Tank yesterday. It was awesome. I was safely seated next to a big “Enforcer” from Bridgeton, MO via Castro Valley, CA. Blues were dominant, the best I’ve ever seen them play. Blues need one more win to reach The Promised Land for the first time since 1970. Finish off the Sharks in Tuesday night’s Game 6 in STL. Don’t be like the Mathenaged Cardinals losing Game 5 of the ‘12 NLCS at home in STL to SF when the Cards had the Giants on the brink of elimination. It was good get the win at the Shark Tank after the last 2 Billiken NCAA games there ended in disappointment.

I was numb after that Blues game, said nary a word. But man, that was bad. The Blues should have won in Regulation. I'm out here in the East Bay with all these lousy non-fans, whose #1 priority is the Golden State Warriors. It was all I could do to get the establishment to put the hockey game on the screen at dinner last night. The Sharks are way down the list. They do have the Dot Com following in San Jose and Silicon Valley. The Bay Area is a big TV market, #5 in some studies depending upon what cities and counties are counted. Follow the money, as always. I am old enough to remember when the NBA Hawks were still in St. Louis. Given the explosion of the NBA, it's too bad the Hawks were sold to out of town interests in Atlanta. St. Louis should be big enough, with nearly 3 million people, to support both the NBA and NHL. I also remember when the fledgling Blues made the Stanley Cup Finals their first 3 years when the NHL put all 6 expansion teams in the same division. It's been 51 long years, and 49 since the Blues made their last Stanley Cup Final. Will we ever get to sip from Lord Stanley's Cup?

The San Jose Sharks have now been the beneficiaries of three key calls that have aided and abetted their playoff run to date: 1. The phantom major penalty called on Vegas, involving Joe Pavelski, in the Third Period of Game 7 of the first series. The San Jose season was at the figurative death's door when that manna appeared. 2. The off-sides that negated a Colorado game tying goal in Game 7 of the second series; 3. Last night's blown no-call on a clear hand pass by Timo Meier in the same play sequence as the game winning "goal" in overtime. Meier even received an "assist" for the violation. Last night's blown call has gone international, literally, was the lead story on the sports report on CJAD 800 AM in Montreal this morning.

Congratulations, Steve!

The rib eye, along with the Texas toast was good, and cheap.

Best Steak House- Is it still there? The place helped me survive at SLU.

For God, For Country, Four-Nine-and One.

While this California taxpayer is also less than impressed, UCLA fans keep waiting for the return of John Wooden. They basically are happy with no one except the Wizard of Westwood himself.

LOL. In the words of Yogi Berra, it's deja vu all over again.

What is going on at Duquesne? I watched on TV Eric Williams @ SLU. This is a huge loss for Duquesne and the A10.

The UC Irvine Coach, Russell Turner, also Eric Musselman, who just moved from Nevada (Reno) to Arkansas. Whenever Pac-12 jobs open, St. Mary's Randy Bennett's name is often in the mix.