PM Roundup: Rutgers and Villanova Got Shafted
Baseball, College Football, ESPN, Fantasy Sports, Media Gossip/Musings, NFL, Politics, Video, Video Games February 12th. 2008, 3:22pm
* If they’re killing off Ombudsman, we can only pray ESPN doesn’t get rid of Le Anne Schreiber, who never seems to miss. (Salon, ESPN)
* Speaking of ESPN, we wanted to talk about the Travesty in Tennessee (put that on a T-shirt and make it a rallying cry, Vivian), which screwed Rutgers last night in a rather thrilling women’s basketball game. Why is ESPN not permitting this video to be embedded? (ESPN Video)
* Worst places to live: Detroit is first, New York is fourth. (Yahoo)
* In Congress, Pettitte’s story backs McNamee’s, apparently. (Newsday)
* On pimping and Chelsea Clinton. (A Large Regular)
* The 2000 NFL draft was very weak. (End Zone Buzz)
* How might Trent Green look in a Ravens jersey? (Ebony Bird)
* Breathing on Georgetown’s Jon Wallace is a major no-no. (Can’t Stop the Bleeding)
* John Feinstein says nice things about Dick Vitale – much nicer than Mike & the Mad Dog, who absolutely trashed the guy yesterday. (Washington Post)
* EA extends license with NFL. (Gametap)
* Students were sent home from school because 85 chickens were found roaming the halls. (Philly Inquirer)
* Reports in Minnesota claim Vikings defensive end Kenechi Udeze has leukemia. (Star Tribune)
* If you want in on an NFL mock draft. (The Hazean)
* Losery PSU fan begs Terrelle Pryor to sign with Penn State. (Mondesi’s House)
55 Responses to “PM Roundup: Rutgers and Villanova Got Shafted”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
So New York, LA, and Chicago are 3 of the 10 “worst” cities to live in this country? Who’s writing that list?
February 12th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Trent Green would look good if the Ravens want to make a Geezer’s QB squad along with Steve McNair.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Thanks for the plug TBL. Much obliged. Any insight to where you guys are looking to go with the Oakland pick???
February 12th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
*appreciated* not *obliged*. Apologies.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Any list of worst cities that doesn’t include Cleveland but has NY/Chicago is crap. That PSU vid was awful, but as an aside I have that exact cardboard JoePa hanging in my office. Lastly, the EA/NFL deal is terrible, it just means Madden will continue it’s downward craptastic death plunge.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Also, this whole Clinton “pimping” thing is almost as funny as Obama supporters trying to cite one of his accomplishments.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I for one am outraged that anyone would suggest that Hillary is pimping her daughter! Outraged, I tell ya!
February 12th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
As a basketball official, I cringe watching the highlights of the Tenn/Rut and Nova/G’town games.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I’m a big Portman fan.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
How the officials could call something so ticky tacky with .1 second to go amazes me.
I can’t even imagine Georgetown fans could feel good about that call with a straight face. What’s even worse for Villanova is they might end up being a bubble team and that one game could cost them.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Those are two attractive girls.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Roe-Dog:
in the Nova game, do you think he had to call a foul since the guy stepped out of bounds ? it would be foolish to give Nova the ball if the guys steppped on the line, considering he was bumped.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
W Magazine:
Let’s take two hot women and make them look like weirdos and completely unnatrractive.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
2 chicks 1 pup.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Hey alright, Cleveland’s not miserable. Suck it, world.
On a side note, I fucking hate Forbes’ lists, because they never just give you the list. They make you watch a stupid slideshow.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
There is no “intangible” that has a bigger actual effect on sporting events than home court advantage in college basketball. It’s astonishing the breaks that refs give home teams in college hoops. If you go on the road, especially in-conference, you basically have to outplay the home team by 10 legit points in order to even have a chance in the last few minutes.
Gonzo: there was so little time left, they could have just not called anything and no one would have noticed or cared.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
@Gonzo, it should’ve just been a no call either way. The clock was about to run out. They should’ve let them play it out in OT.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
we already tried an old former chiefs qb.
grbac worked out great didn’t he.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
strong PM roundup TBL.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Gonzo – I try to officiate by asking the question “was an advantage gained or taken away?” If the answer is no (which is what I think watching the clip), you can typically eat the whistle. Even if he calls the out of bounds, no one is going to argue particularly given the similar contact on the ‘Nova ballhandler seconds earlier.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
@Jack: I agree about in conference home court advantage. I don’t understand why they can’t call games more fair. The refs do games at all these gyms. You would think they could call it more fair. The UT/Rutgers game was ridiculous. Apparently, their clock is set to stop when a whistle goes off, and you can clearly hear an inadvertent whistle with .2 left when the clock appears to stop for no reason.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
It’s been awfully sexy around here this afternoon.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Jack – I think that’s just a fans perspective. No official worth his salt cares who the home team is or about giving them some sort of advantage. I can’t tell you how many times I hear coaches say “We’re the home team, we’re supposed to get that call” and I just cringe.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Dont get me wrong guys, I’m not agreeing with the call. It bothered me. but after looking at the replay, i decided to think outside the box.
Roe-Dog – i am glad to get an official’s opinion on this. thanks a bunch.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Rumor around the intertubes is an upcoming movie with Scarlett and my personal favorite Penelope Cruz (her younger sister Monica is a fox) has a hot lesbian-esque scene in it.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
i hate my city.
why did i leave texas again? god damnit.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Le Anne Schreiber rules. I’d like to see her as the Roundup feature photo.
And how do they not show her the roast tape? She’s the freaking ombudsman.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
oh, hey, were not even on there!! im immediately less miserable.
/delusion
February 12th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
@asu -
That is correct, though with such high potential (Johansson and Cruz go lesbian then go 3-way w/ Javier Bardem), it is a Woody Allen flick, so it may be ‘artsy’ and not the graphically lewd action we all hope for.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
As a PSU alumnus, I am just embarrassed by that pony-tailed loser sucking up to Pryor. He probably went to Penn State-Allentown campus. Sigh. Way to f it up for the recruiters, smart guy.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
ASU/ben – actually, you’d think with a name like Woody Allen directing the movie it would be distributed by Vivid and include the lewd action we’re hoping for.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Big East Commish Tranghese (sic) is on Mike and Mad Dog and says that it was too bad the Nova-Gtown game could not go to OT but that the official had to either call the foul or the out of bounds and either call would have been tough.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
have you guys read about 90dayjane from the Morning Round-Up? What a wild situation
February 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Roethlis-Good to hear that there is another official that reads this site. How long? What level?
February 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
While groping and making out would be great, unless there’s mouth to bush, I’m calling bullshit.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
@Ben: Penelope has shown some TA before. Penelope is amazing.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
on face value, schreiber is FANTASTIC. in reality, her work is, at best, an exercise in futility.
if the suits at the mouse house actually took her seriously, that would be one thing. but she is looked up with contempt and disdain. her being hired (or soloman for that matter before her) was nothing more than window dressing. “hey, look! we care about the viewers. we hired an ombudsman (ombudswoman)! we are ethical!”
i mean, really, what influence has she really had? some may say she was responsible for cowturd getting his hands slapped over the criminal act he pulled on TBL but i’m not so convinced.
please don’t misunderstand. i like her a great deal. her columns are fantastic and a bullseye each time. but i’ve yet to see any tangible influence she has had on bspn.
full disclosure: aside from assorted live games, PTI on occasions and college gameday, i quit watching bspn over many of the issues schreiber writes about. from what i have read from various blogs, i haven’t noticed any seachange at bspn as a result of schreiber’s solid work.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
@Ben..again: I agree. I want to see some action!
February 12th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Refs do not give “breaks” to home teams. The crowds do, and obviously some clock operators do. The refs should have look at the replay and concluded that the clock should have run out. Not sure how the college replay rules work, since I dont do college. But if there is an error where the clock should have started or it somehow stops, the officials can rule that it should have ran out.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
i thought the official timer was also an official referee?
February 12th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I read Mondesi a lot as a Pittsburgh native, and I’m a PSU alum. guys like the one in the video are jackasses, but Mondesi also has a well-developed Penn State bias, so I’m not surprised he linked it.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
@benji – i’m guessing 90dayJane is a hoax. Nevertheless, some of the comments on her blog are tremendous.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Official Timers are just that, timers. They aren’t trained referees. The Head referee has final decision on scoring and timing. The scorer can give their input.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
@412- she was asking for suggestions on suicides methods, and someone posted “How about asphyxiation by my cock?” I spit my gatorade all over my computer. Funniest comment on there.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Quite Frankly, I thought the refs would add some time to the clock. considering it stopped with 0.1 seconds left, from the time the ref blew the whistle to the time the timer hit the STOP button, there had to be some delay. I am surprised they didn’t add 0.5 seconds or more.
Did you see G-Town’s coach after the final whistle ? he was clearly upset at how the game ended. and Jay Wright is a class act, he didnt complain much.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
OwlX – been officiating about 9 years now. Work high school, predominantly the upper two classifications (for both boys and girls) in PA. Have a few district playoff games to work this week. Haven’t convinced myself to make the effort to try college ball yet with the travel costs/time associated with getting to area NAIA and DIII schools.
You’re right about the timer – not an actual official. Sometimes you’ll luck out and get a retired official doing it, but not often.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Roethlis-looks like we are in the same boat. 10 years, boys and girls, doing district playoffs this week, the only difference is I am in the basketball powerhouse state of Idaho! College is tough to break into because of the time/money thing, I have been looking into it.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Hey, did you hear? The Forbes slide show said that people in Philadelphia booed Santa Claus!
Seriously, can we please declare a moratorium on this reference? And I’m not from Philly and have no allegiance to Philly.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
@ jimmy
Agreed, I think her influence is minimal–having an ombudsman at all seems like ESPN screaming, “Look, we’re journalists! We actually have standards!”
I don’t know of many ombudsmen/public editors who have any real influence, especially at such a bohemoth like the WWL. But I think it’s great to have an actual pro who reads through all the messages that’s easy for a suit to cast aside as uninformed chatter and to say, “You know what? These idiots are right.”
And I also would like to catch a ride on that wagon she’s draggin’ (this is going a strange direction).
February 12th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I said this in the late comments last night, but my favorite part of that list is that they make the point that being a victim of violent crime and being a fan of the Cubs are of equal misery.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Agree on the observations about refs in conference games, especially in the Big 10.
The Penn State goober video made an otherwise crappy day only somewhat crappy.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Roethlishotdog and Owl X: I am not necessarily saying that officials consciously decide to call games in favor of the home team. I’m just saying that the crowd or the circumstances or whatever lead to it happening. It’s ludicrous to think that refs just go “well, gotta give that one to the home team.” I’ll put it this way: if home teams didn’t get way more calls, coaches and players and fans would never have even thought stuff like “we’re the home team, we should get that call.” It just happens, and it sucks, and last night two prime examples occurred on national TV. There’s no way on God’s green Earth that ref calls that foul if the game’s in Philadelphia. No way.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
RE: Booing Santa Claus.
Long story short – at an Eagles game in the late 60’s (the Eagles were terrible) – Santa was to go onto the field and wave at halftime. the original Santa didnt show up, so they asked some schlep to do the job. Well, he was drunk and acting like an idiot. therefore, he was booed.
I’ll see if i can find a link and give it to TBL explaining the entire story.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I <3 the ombudsman.
February 12th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Scarlett Johansson is simply drop-dead, stop-the-traffic georgous.
I cannot hear Portman’s name or see her face without thinking of her gansta rap video from SNL. Classic stuff! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc7q5_nathalie-portman-rap_fun