These notes are going to be a bit frantic, because everything, besides I suppose NASCAR and IndyCar, is happening at the same time. Everything in the world. Besides (I suppose) NASCAR and IndyCar.
Ice, Ice, Burnley
Ok, so it was snow, not ice, but the message is the same, and the message is that Burnley’s match on Sunday morning was postponed due to snow. Biblical snow. If, you know, there was an instance in the Bible where snow was falling really fast and they couldn’t keep the field clear and they had to cancel the match. This is terrible for Burnley, because they were probably going to lose to Tottenham even if they had James Tarkowski and Ashley Westwood, but now they won’t have James Tarkowski and Ashley Westwood for the match against Wolverhampton on Wednesday, which is winnable, or at least drawable. Bummer all around. Except…
Tottenham fans are being idiots about it. They’re saying Burnley was scared. Never mind that this hurts Burnley. Never mind that Burnley and Tottenham agreed together on postponing the match. Never mind that Tottenham stinks right now and nobody should be scared to play them unless that somebody is Rebecca Welton in the first eight or nine episodes of Ted Lasso’s first season, meaning that somebody wants to lose. The great Tottenham conspiracy theory relies on a number of flawed premises, but perhaps none more flawed than the one that Tottenham is anything of which Burnley is scared. Losing? Burnley does that all the time. Don’t need to play Tottenham to do that.
The beauty here is that Burnley and Tottenham now have beef. Add this to Burnley’s natural rivalry with Arsenal, Burnley’s recent equity on the pitch with Liverpool, and Burnley growing into a real pain in Chelsea’s ass, and as long as the city of Manchester bans footie, Burnley’s going to have significant conflict with each of the big four. Moving up in the world.
On the women’s side, the club’s through to the third round of the FA Cup. Hell yeah, Burnleys.
Brady Got Bit
I know I’m not supposed to start these notes with Burnley and the Senators (me posting so much about Burnley and the Senators is part of why I was told to switch to these notes), but it was quite the weekend for the Sens, who followed up Thanksgiving by scratching their franchise goalie (I think Matt Murray was the third-highest paid Senator, quite possibly in the world), followed that up by losing 4-0 (I think it was just their second shutout in the last two years?), followed that up by waiving Matt Murray (who cleared waivers and is now making $6.25M in the AHL), and followed that up by losing again, to the Kings, whose Brendan Lemieux bit Brady Tkachuk on the hand in a fight, a happening that provoked Brady Tkachuk to do this in the penalty box (click it, it’s a great video) and say this:
This is the one time I’m going to answer this. It was the most gutless thing somebody could ever do. This guy, you can ask any one of his teammates, nobody ever wants to play with him. This guy is a bad guy and a bad teammate, he focuses on himself all the time.
The guy’s just a joke. He shouldn’t be in the league. This guy’s gutless. No other team wants him. He’s going to keep begging to be in the NHL, but no other team wants him, he’s an absolute joke. I can’t even wrap my head around it. People don’t even do this. He’s just a bad guy.
It’s outrageous. Kids don’t even do that anymore. Babies do that. I don’t even know what he was thinking. He’s just a complete brick head. He’s got nothing up there. Bad guy, bad player, but what a joke he is.
The best part? Tkachuk and Lemieux’s dads used to get into it, most notably in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. Generational feuds. We need more of those.
The Sens are home on Wednesday to play the Canucks, then go to Carolina on Thursday to play the Hurricanes. The Canucks game is big because Vancouver’s one of just four teams within three games of the Sens for last place in the entire NHL. Yikes.
Memphis Did Not Repeat, But They Helped Their Repeat Cause
Bear with me here (not bare with me that means get naked and my clothes are staying decidedly on for these notes). The Memphis Tigers did not win the Upsie NIT Season Tip-Off (Iowa State somehow did, and yes, they’re now an NIT contender too), but in losing, they showed that they could once again be an NIT candidate, which has the faithful, yes you heard me the faithful, in a real tizzy. Big news for Memphis. Big news for the NIT. The assumption has always been that Memphis is dropping bags, and I can think of nothing better for the NIT’s brand than having the biggest bags dropped on its champions.
Loyola vs. St. Bonaventure: Who’s the NIT Favorite?
It’s St. Bonaventure. Getting beat handily by one of the worst Northern Iowa teams in recent memory, at home, will do that. (This is a compliment, by the way—you have to be good to come out of a loss like that with the NIT in your sights.) But Loyola looked good on Friday, beating Arizona State, and as we’ve established, Loyola looks unlikely to have any all-that-good wins come March.
Virginia’s NIT Case
In high-major land, Virginia hasn’t really turned the corner yet, and it’s possible they just won’t. As I type this, they’re down a good chunk to Iowa in the first half of a 2013 NIT Quarterfinal rematch, and Iowa’s fine, but were the Big Ten effectively NIT-eligible, they’d be on our radar themselves.
I’m hopeful for Tony Bennett. Imagine the NIT attention that man’s suits would draw.
The Pac-12 Has Begun
And NIT hopeful Colorado beat Stanford yesterday. Lit.
Other Big Ten/ACC Challenge Things
Notre Dame’s got a good NIT shot, and they play an ailing Illinois after the Iowa/Virginia game. Tomorrow we get Indiana playing at Syracuse and Northwestern playing at Wake Forest and Clemson playing at Rutgers. Wednesday, North Carolina hosts Michigan while Virginia Tech goes to Maryland and Wisconsin goes to Georgia Tech and Louisville goes to Michigan State. Who’s the NIT team in these matchups? The ACC team. It’s always the ACC team. It’s really freaking hard to manage a .500 overall record or better in the Big Ten these days, and the committee doesn’t seem willing to take teams worse than that mark. The Big Ten is merely a pawn in the ACC’s scheme to put 16 teams in the NIT. Basketball, not checkers.
UC-Riverside Update
Joe Kelly’s alma mater visits Saint Mary’s tonight. Saint Mary’s didn’t win Maui-Vegas, right? Wisconsin won Maui-Vegas? Wisconsin, whose brand is synonymous with those of both Maui and Vegas?
Joe Kelly Update
Nothing. The powers that be are keeping it hush-hush. Smart. Don’t want to roil the global markets into a frenzy too early. Save that for the right moment.
When Does the Lockout Start?
This is an earnest question. My impression is the MLB lockout starts Wednesday night, but the free agency wheels are turning so quickly today that it feels like it starts at any moment, and people are talking about it like it starts at any moment, and I FEEL OUT OF THE LOOP. Sorry, I’m overwhelmed. Someone tell me when the damn lockout starts. Joe says he doesn’t even know.
Why Aren’t the Cubs Doing Anything?
Joe’s got a spin zone on this coming out soon, but it feels early to get too worked up about it. Have the Cubs done anything big in free agency the last couple years? No. Has anything the Mets have done worked? Also no. Getting concerned about what seems to be a Mets-driven flurry feels like the silliest thing to me. When you were in school, would you be afraid if the dumbest kid in the class had turned in his test while the smart kids around the room were mostly still working?
Lincoln Bye-ley
Wild week of college football, on and off the field. I’m pumped for Jim Harbaugh, milk proponent that he is. I’m pumped for Oklahoma State, an entity that lives up to its name as the Cowboys. I’m pumped for Alabama giving us the maximum amount of intrigue and making everybody spew the stupidest takes come Sunday about who should and shouldn’t be in the playoff (nothing makes people spew stupidity like college football). And I’m pumped for the Big 12, which is an absolute power vacuum into which…it’s gotta be BYU, right? This is when BYU takes over? Demographics favor the Church of Latter-Day Saints. BYU’s religion is growing in numbers faster than the rest of the country, and it has no competition for recruits or donor dollars among that segment. Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma, a school with a ton of money but little explanation for why they have so much money (I think they’re big up in Dallas and Fort Worth, but I’ve never really spent time in Dallas and Fort Worth), seems to set up Oklahoma for at least a few years in the desert. Texas clearly isn’t close. BYU joins the league next year, right? It’s BYU’s time, guys. Somebody show me BYU national championship odds for the next three seasons. I want to make a wager.
Shaka Smart 6, Texas 4
Gotta get this off quick before Texas tips against Sam Houston State and the decision desks call it based on exit polls. But yes, Shaka Smart’s Marquette Golden Eagles are 6-1. Dominos.
***
I really think that’s it. I think we’re caught up. Whew.
Viewing Schedule
Just college basketball tonight. Oh. And refreshing Twitter frantically to see if the Cubs have managed to resurrect Ted Williams and sign him. Virginia/Iowa right now, ND/Illinois after that, you can watch Montana/Oregon if SMC/UCR is off TV (scandalous stuff). Enjoy it.
