Condensed Thoughts

Damn it Will, make a post!

Anyway, here are some thoughts about the first half of this weekend:

As mentioned yesterday, Ty Wigginton is a fucking beast

[MASN, again]

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Brian Roberts signed a 4 year, $40 million extension, meaning he'll get to see a winning Orioles season! Also, it means he could be the first lifetime Oriole since Cal. Who does that nowadays? Class acts, that's who. I'm buying a Roberts player-tee first chance I get.

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Penguins win over Philly in the City of Brotherly Filth. If you play for the Flyers, you probably hate yourself. Their fans have confused being assholes with being enthusiastic. Every time the prompt is "Let's Go Flyers" they shout "Crosby Sucks". Yeah, because the 2nd best points scorer in the NHL who just dropped 4 points on your team, including the game-winning goal, sucks. Retards.

[NHL.com]

It'll be interesting to see if the fairweather Caps fans who've sprung up recently will emulate their cousins 2 hours northeast. I hope so, nothing motivates Sid like a bunch of retards saying he sucks.

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Resign Ruslan ("ROOOOOOSE") Fedotenko. The guy is 100% heart and looks good on Crosby's line. The first line of Dupuis-Crosby-Fedotenko was absolutely dominant this game. Enough of amateur GM.

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Has Maryland done enough to get into the NCAA tourney? Not yet. A win over Duke and an overall 2-2 finish would be enough I should think, especially on the heels of beating the... Heels.

But losing to Duke, and winning out the rest of the season would put the Terps at 20-10 (9-7), which in my opinion should be enough to get them into the NCAA bracket. If you let any PAC-10 or Big Ten or (your God forbid) a Big XII team in before them, there's something seriously wrong with your judgment. 3 of 7 losses against two of the top 10 in the country? Nothing to sneeze at.

It's going to take some falls by Arizona, Michigan, and other bubble teams to make this more of a reality. Two or three wins in the ACC tourney would be crucial as well. If Morgan State wins their conference, MD looks better as a result. Michigan State winning out would also help the Terps a ton. In short, it's one of those iffy situations that never seem to favor the Terps. I'm not expecting them to make the big 65, but they at least deserve consideration this year.

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If you don't like Pitt's basketball team, there's something seriously wrong with you. In recent years, they've tried a lock-down, defensive style that only their mothers could love. This would be successful in the regular season, but kill them in the tourney. This year, after Blair was in foul trouble early for a few games, they decided to open up their play. The result was big wins, including in Hartford against UConn. Fields is a great quarterback for the offense. Blair is THE rebound machine. Dixon is Juan Dixon's brother. Young is also great. I sincerely hope these guys win the whole tournament, they're the most likable team since Curry appeared at Davidson. Plus I get to riot.

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Tomorrow: even if the Pens leave Washington with no points, this weekend can't by any means be considered a loss. Going up against the 2nd and 4th seeds on their turf, would you have believed they could split? I'd hoped, but it seemed unrealistic. Now, the Pens have met their 2 point total.

2 games ago, someone brought up the point that 92 points, 43 wins should be enough for the playoffs. This required the Pens to go at least 16-8-0. So far, it's 2-0-0. The difference between 64 points and 60 points seems astronomical nowadays. Even if the Penguins miss the playoffs, they're putting on a hell of a show late in the season. I'm feeling every game like I'm rooting for a playoff club, and the atmosphere in Pittsburgh is frenetic, amazing. Camaraderie between true Pens fans is huge, and you can see the hope on everyone's faces. It's the stuff I usually sneer at when it comes from Steelers fans, but I've softened up a ton about that.

Being a sports fan in Pittsburgh is honestly better than being a sports fan everywhere else. This city suffered such a slow burn in the late 60s and 70s, and the population had to get their minds to something happy. This explains the slavish Steeler devotion. Think about what Detroit's going through now, and magnify that. If only the Lions were any good...

Anyway, that's my take on the early weekend. It's good to feel so good about all three of my favorite teams. Chargers will win Super Bowl 44, fact.

- Matt