Sports

Ah, Rasheed… :) (Number 19 of the NBA 101.)

I didn’t watch baseball that much when I was a kid, but when I started watching, I was a Red Sox fan. I don’t know why, since my dad liked the Braves. It made it pretty exciting when the Red Sox played the Mets in the World Series in 1986. Neither my dad nor I liked the Mets at all, and here were the Sox with a chance to break the curse and win the World Series. ...

Tyler Hansbrough of UNC, and J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams of Duke, were unanimous picks for the All-Conference team in ACC men’s basketball. Hansbrough is the first freshman in ACC history to earn a unanimous selection. UNC’s David Noel and Reyshawn Terry also made the second and third teams, respectively, giving UNC more All-ACC players than any other school. Pretty good, when you’re picked to finish sixth. :)

Weird for a young team. Starts two freshmen, brings several more off the bench, goes 3-3 at home in the ACC so far, and wins 6 games out of 7 on the road. Two of those wins this season were against NC State, which is supposed to have an experienced team on the upswing. The win last night was business-like, not the result of a young team riding a wave of emotion. This UNC team is incredibly mature, considering the lack of experience, and could prove a formidable opponent for a lot of NCAA Tournament teams in March. ...

UNC freshman record…Dean E. Smith Center record…ACC freshman record…one point behind the current ACC high score. What more can be said? Last night was the first time I’d seen a team come out and try to really beat up Hansbrough. Georgia Tech deserved every foul they got…it was the college version of Hack-a-Shaq. Problem is, Hansbrough was still putting the ball into the basket, and he’s good at free throws. Pretty amazing performance. ...

Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl II. Slightly more organized than the Super Bowl. Man, that poodle is a freak. ;) The black and brown beagle’s got some sense, though. Hang out on the outside…sniff around. Don’t forget the Bissell Kitty Half Time Show. Thrill to daring attack runs that abruptly end as the attacker figures out the other cat is looking at them. :)

The Rivalry heats up again tonight, with Duke playing at Carolina. Given Carolina’s personnel losses, Duke would seem to have the advantage, but this series never works out that easily. (Anyone else thinking of the 1995 double-overtime thriller which a powerful UNC team barely managed to win against one of the weaker Duke teams in recent memory?) I’m hoping UNC can keep a guy on J. J. Redick tonight. Given Duke’s recent game plan of “Get him the ball,” that can prove difficult. Ah, Jackie Manuel, why couldn’t you have just one more year of eligibility? ...

Eddie Guerrero passed away this past Sunday. I’m sitting here watching men and women who worked with him crying as they pay tribute to him both through their words and through their work. They aren’t folks you would normally see cry. You see, Eddie was a professional wrestler.

Recent National Champion Jawad Williams, UNC grad, has played his first game for Spain’s Alta Gestion Fuenlabrada, a team located just outside Madrid. Also, in the same article: Fellow UNC grad Jackie Manuel is about to start the NBADL season with the Fayetteville Patriots. Oddly enough, Wake Forest’s Taron Downey was released from the same team last week. (I don’t know know the reasons behind it, but if he wants to, I hope Taron can play basketball somewhere. He’s an impressive player.) ...

Jackie Manuel will be expanding the posse to Fayetteville, NC. He has signed to play for the National Basketball Association Development League’s Fayetteville Patriots, as has Wake Forest’s Taron Downey. Good going, Jackie! :) (Since he’s so close, maybe he can stop by Chapel Hill and teach the new UNC players how to play defense.)