Due to the lack of games, plethora of teams, and conference play, NCAA sports are the place in the American arena for matchups of relative unknown styles. For the major programs, the first half of the season usually contains a couple of games against strong non-conference opponents and a bunch of filler games against local smaller schools. Once conference play kicks in, the teams that play each other every year will play each other up to three times before entering the NCAA tournament. Because in-conference games make up the bulk of the season, teams have to be built to play and win inside of their conference. A successful tournament team, however, has to be able to adapt and succeed against a variety of styles that they may have never seen inside of their particular conference.

Some teams are dominant within their conference, but continually lose in the NCAA tournament to teams that they appear to outmatch on paper. Focusing on the Big Ten, where the in-conference games are played at an unusually slow and grinding rate in comparison to the other BCS conferences, there is a large variance between the team that has dominated the conference over the past seven years and the teams’ success in the NCAA tournament. Since Bo Ryan became their coach seven years ago, Wisconsin has won the big ten three times and finished second twice. The farthest Wisconsin got as the Big Ten champion was the Sweet Sixteen, and when placing second in the conference, they only reached the second round of the national tournament. The Badgers have made the elite eight under Bo Ryan, and at times looked dominant when their shots were falling, but outranked athletic teams consistently have run them out of the tournament. Wisconsin can play in the Big Ten, and even dominate the league, but they have failed to show the versatility to make a legitimate run at the NCAA title.

Michigan State, however, is consistently a lethal threat who yearly provides upsets of teams that outseed them in the tournament. Tom Izzo’s Spartans have gone to the Elite Eight and Final Four in the last seven years, without ever representing the Big Ten as its champion. It’s true that the Spartans have lost their first game, and been upset before, but their in-conference records are usually 10-6 compared to Wisconsin’s dominant 13-3, 12-4 and last year’s 16-2 mark. Going back some to the four years when Michigan State was the dominant team in the Big Ten, the Spartans put on an incredible run through the tournament making three straight Final Fours and taking home a National Championship. In the five seasons when Izzo’s Spartans won at least 13 games in the Big Ten, they made four Final Fours. Ryan’s Badgers have won 13 games in the Big Ten twice, but only reached as far as the Sweet Sixteen in the process.

Michigan state’s teams always have a few athletic players who can play enough with the athletic players of an unseen ACC opponent to replicate their in-conference dominance on the national level. Bo Ryan’s Badgers haven’t had that player since Devin Harris went to the draft, and consistently lack an athletic threat to keep them in games when another team is running and playing out of the Big Ten’s mold.

During March Madness, we see teams who are used to playing particular styles for their final 18-20 games forced to switch gears in the national tournament, then learn and adapt to different tempos and defensive zones. The only professional sports competition that offers a similar situation is the UEFA Champions League competition (and UEFA cup, but for now I’ll ignore that as soccer’s equivalent to the NIT). The top teams of Europe spend an entire season competing in their respective countries, with their own referees and tempos, then play against each other in a competition that brings in foreign teams and styles, foreign referees and a new sense of tournament urgency that is lacking in the season-long pennant race that is league play.

Playing in a conference, or league, naturally leads to teams being built around the styles that work within the conference. For example, Big Ten basketball is historically a slow, half court game, where the ACC has more teams that like to run and play a more uptempo style. In the soccer world, the English league promotes methodical drives as opposed to the high speed styles of the Spanish league. It’s understood that referees in the English League are less likely to blow their whistles, where in the continental countries the slightest touch by a defender can draw the official’s eye. In a sport with such little scoring, one call can have a larger effect on the game than in any other sport. In this year’s Champions League Liverpool has advanced against what were supposed to be two superior opponents in Inter and Arsenal, however in both draws the English side used key flops to take advantage of the European whistles.

In the last four competitions Liverpool has both won the Champions League trophy and finished as a runner-up, consistently outperforming its Premiership brothern in international competition. Earlier in this season, while Liverpool was beating European teams in early Champions League games, they were struggling to obtain the fourth position in the Premier League to assure that they would return to the Champions League competition. In fact, Liverpool finished no higher than third in their domestic standings while making their recent runs at the International trophy. I believe it to be more than a fluke that Liverpool’s been successful where Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have not been.

With the amount of available shooters the Cavaliers had, Brown’s team should have always had their very capable gunners shooting with fresh legs. It’s amazing the Cavs lasted as long as they did, when they really looked like a train wreck at times. I know the team was shaken up late in the year, but the additions were all complimentary pieces necessary for LeBron. The Cavs could have used Larry Hughes to slow down Paul Pierce, but without Wallace and Smith, who would have kept Garnett scoring in the teens? Sure the roster isn’t unstoppable, but it wasn’t a piece of magic that they made the Finals last year out of a pathetic Eastern Conference. When the best player in the league is playing in a conference filled with mediocrity it’s logical that they would advance to the Finals or at least be an annual contender. When the Broncos were making the Super Bowl in the 80s it was in a joke of a conference, and those teams never would have beaten the Giants, 49ers or Bears to get to the Super Bowl if they were an NFC team. To claim Brown is a great coach for advancing through mediocre competition than getting demolished by a real opponent, is just east-coast media ignorance.

This year’s game seven was a very winnable game for the Cavs, especially the way LeBron was playing. With the Cavs holding the ball in the final minute there was no timeout called and instead the game was left up to LeBron James’ improvisation. This of course ended with him being triple teamed as he drove to the lane and threw up some sort of prayer hoping for a whistle AND the basket to go in? In the final minute I think the Cavs forgot you can shoot a three-pointer, and don’t have to earn them the old-fashioned way.

Brown’s situation right now reminds me of Brian Billick’s a couple years ago. His defense is solid, but the offense is performing at an unprofessional level. Would it be possible for the Cavaliers to bring in a big-time offensive assistant coach like a Don Nelson, that wouldn’t undermine Brown’s status with the club? I’m not sure it’s the right idea to fire Brown right away, but to defend him for taking the Cavs to the finals is a weak defense. This team isn’t LeBron James and the Timberwolves’ roster, there are some decent players around James. There is no Pippen, or a Gasol, but the roster was enough to have a shot at the Eastern Conference finals. To be a legitimate contender to actually winning the title, and not just upsetting the Pistons, the Cavaliers will need another all-star. I agree with that, but that doesn’t make Brown any less responsible for not having some offensive plays against the Celtics this weekend.

Brown is coaching the league’s best player in a conference where the third seed would barely make the playoffs in the Western Conference, and yet all I read about is how tough his situation is. When any coach is in that situation, and they don’t win, they have to be ready to hear this sort of criticism. it comes with the territory, and if Brown is smart, he’ll heed his offensive weaknesses at this point in his career and adjust them in the off season.

The first bad sign came when we walked up to the ticket window and talked to a woman whose microphone must have broken. It was like in Wayne’s World when they order from Stan Mikita’s. I understood just about every fifth word she said, but I did hear “___ dollars,” “go…glass doors.” and “side___warehouse.” We walked to the side of the warehouse without a struggle, because speaking with the talking head was hurting my ears and I was happy to find a human to speak with.

We were greeted with a classic East/South Baltimore woman; hair in an updo, short in stature, but wider than all three of my friends combined, she even looked polish to complete her stereotype. Instead of being an ear of sympathy, the clearly blue-collar woman informed us that our vouchers needed to be turned in for tickets by 4 pm, at which time the box office closed. She then told us we could pay $10 in cash if we wanted to go to the game at the special in-game price. None of us carried cash, and as I opened my mouth she raised her short, heavily-accented voice and shut the doors like she was the guard of Oz. No One Sees the Orioles! Not You! Not Nobody!

Apparently, the Orioles did not care that the game started close to 4 pm, or that the stadium was empty on a Sunday afternoon. Instead they told us to give them $10 cash for in-game tickets…what a deal! Since none of us had cash, a walk to the ATM would allow me the chance at some sweet $14 tickets to a game that I had already paid to go see. No thanks.

Our last hope was that the ushers would let us in. There was an old guy at the turnstiles, and an assortment of others standing around near him. All of them looked like your classic blue collar Orioles fans, but when we tried to see if the ushers would let us in with just our vouchers, we were greeted with the same condescending voices that the Orioles rep enchanted us with. I swear they talked to us like we were eight years old; very slowly, small words, and the Orioles rep woman even sort of yelled at me when I just inquired about the situation. After they told us to leave, and we said the normal and expected lines of “who cares the stadium’s empty,” I said loudly “Fuck the Orioles!” I looked back and saw this complete devastation in the face of the ushers. Here was their youth, and the future of the team, walking away from a mess of poor policies and by-the-book part-time employees.

Looking back I should have thrown my Orioles shirt into the trash, after I said “Fuck the Orioles.” It’s a cheap away Orioles jersey that I found at a Goodwill. Of course my away jersey doesn’t have “Baltimore” scripted across it, that would just be too kind to the city. Instead, we remain the only city in the majors that doesn’t have their city on their away jersey, despite the fact that Washington now has its own team. That’s another gripe for another day, and one that just about every Baltimore writer or radio host has complained about while the warehouse seems to be in no rush to change the situation.

To think that I was sort of excited to see the young, energetic Orioles team that Lee McPhail is putting together. Foolish me. I forgot that the Orioles will forever screw their fans in new ways (closing box office before the game hits the third inning) and in their old ways (being too embarrassed to put Baltimore on their jerseys).

It was during the rain delay that we watched ESPN Classic’s highlights from the 1970 and 1971 World Series. I recognized every face on the Orioles and I’d met nearly all of them, those members of the Oriole Way. We drank our Natty Bohs and walked to the game just as our fathers did at Memorial Stadium. Stories of how the ushers would let in young fans after the startof the game, have now been replaced with ushers who disallow $40 worth of tickets because a box office window couldn’t stay open an extra hour to compensate for the three-hour rain delay. My story to tell my kids is just another bitter Orioles story. The day three young Orioles fans got extorted for $30 cash, after already purchasing tickets. Thanks Orioles, King Peter, Bud Selig, and everyone else who helped ruin Major League Baseball, the Oriole Way, and a fun day at the ballgame.

I’m not saying I could have a draft as successful as a playoff NFL team, but it wouldn’t be a franchise-ending draft. The fact is that most teams today get their information from the same scouting service, and everyone with the NFL network now has the luxury to watch the NFL combine. With so many analysts dissecting and cutting apart the college level, it is difficult today for a team to consistently draft poorly. In addition to the salary cap, free agency and revenue sharing, the endless draft coverage is a huge reason why there is so much parity in the NFL compared to other leagues.

In 1983, the Baltimore Colts drafted John Elway with the first pick, and everybody in the area knows how that turned out. What is sometimes forgotten however, is the fact that in 1982 the Colts used the fourth overall pick on another quarterback, Art Schlichter. Schlichter, an option-quarterback from Ohio State, was taken by the Colts over Brigham Young’s Jim McMahon. Schlichter never had played in a pro-style offense, while McMahon’s BYU team had a complicated pass-first attack that often forced McMahon to make throws downfield. Schlichter had gambling problems during the season and the upside of Stanford’s Elway tempted the Colts into drafting a quarterback with a top-four pick for the second year in a row. This is an unheard of move in today’s environment. I am not proposing that the drafts today are flawless, but no team gives up on a top-five pick in one year anymore.

It would be hard to believe with today’s yearlong draft coverage that a team would have such poor judgment. There are so many prime time updates on the draft, that a good chunk of America knew the name Joe Flacco for weeks, and the biggest game he played in college was against the Naval Academy. People can point to the Chargers drafting Ryan Leaf, or the Bengals drafting Akili Smith, but these players performed at big time colleges and had the physical tools to perform at the NFL level. They failed because of other reasons, which aren’t as easy to predict as what the combine numbers tell us quantitatively. We still haven’t broken down the science of mental and emotional makeups that determine a man’s fate against the top competition. Some psychologists show up and say so-and-so player has the perfect mental makeup to be a quarterback, but it’s always mentioned after a player has already performed at the top level. This happened with Peyton Manning, and similar comments were made about Brady, but of course the comments came after these players were well on their way to winning four superbowls.

Nevertheless, a player with the character issues of a Schlichter now is tagged as having those problems and every year a player of proven talent drops due to his off-field problems. One could click on ESPN’s draft listings and see the players marked for their off-the-field issues, and predict a drop in the draft value. Obviously, the good drafting teams like the Ravens, Patriots, Eagles and Steelers have better judgment than the Redskins front office has shown, but the Redskins still pull out starters from their drafts. After the Ryan Leaf disaster and some years of futility, Archie Manning feared his son Eli would have a similar career that he had with the Saints if Eli played for the Chargers, so Manning held out and was sent to the Giants. The draft picks given to the Chargers were put to good use, and now they’re perennially one of the best teams in the league. Teams just don’t spend decades drafting poorly anymore, and this is the least acknowledged reason for today’s parity in the NFL.

So, does this mean that Mel Kiper has a shot at the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor? This isn’t as ridiculous an idea as one would think. Dick Vitale just got put into basketball’s hall for his contributions that made college basketball and March Madness the phenomenon it is today. March Madness is now part of the American experience for even non-sports fans who fill out brackets, but this was a fairly easy sell–a single elimination tournament to decide the best basketball team in America that has always provided excitement for basketball fans. The NFL Draft, however was an incredibly hard sell. A days long practice that has no competition, no winner at the end of the day, and without Mel Kiper explaining to the country who each player drafted was and what he can do, it was not a spectacle. Mel Kiper’s love affair of the draft, his devotion to at least knowing a blurb about each player taken, has made him invaluable to the sport of football’s growth.

If the draft’s over-coverage today is a reason for parity in the NFL, and Kiper was major catalyst for the coverage of the draft, then Kiper has to be considered a true contributor to the sport. Without Kiper, it would be very possible that teams like New Orleans could still be making terrible drafts decades at a time. Kiper’s goofy hair and machine-gun delivery of information are becoming every bit as iconic to sports as Dickie V’s bald head and overly loud delivery of catchphrases.

I’m not the world’s biggest Kiper fan, Just don’t be too surprised or outraged if one day in your lifetime Mel Kiper hears his name called to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I don’t really know the origin of this drink. it seems to be a pretty logical combination, and it was probably mixed for years before it was patented by Arnie and his Army. Today, Arizona Iced Tea sells these big jugs of Arnold Palmers. Which of course, I had to buy for Masters weekend. The HD grass and a sip of an Arnold Palmer makes for a good moment, but I’m definitely not a golf guy, so let’s move this discussion onward to other beverages.

When I think Baltimore soda, I remember Suburban Club. For those of you who aren’t from the area or are too young to remember, Suburban club was our equivalent to Detroit’s Faygo sodas, albeit on a much smaller level. There was the guy with the golf swing on the bottle, the two different flavors of ginger ale, the standard Coke knock-offs, but the holy grail of the company was the distinctly flavored Almond Smash- a drink that was just a memory to me for years before I saw one in a city convenience store. I have since seen them carried in some smaller grocery stores, and I always grab bottle when it’s near. The design has change, I think they abandoned the whole suburban country club design once everyone moved to the suburbs, and now they are just called Suburban and have some strange fiesta design. Maybe marketing told them Hispanics would be the only people willing to try an almond-flavored soda, I am no genius at selling anything, but I’d say their new design is too generic for anyone to take seriously who isn’t already aware that the product is not a Wal-Mart, or store brand soda.

The taste is great, and it’s cheaper than a Jones soda with just as unique a flavor, the main difference being that you could drink Almond Smash every week and not get sick of it. As this article moves further into Baltimore beverage I would like to introduce my own invention…The David Lee Froth.

I have no clue how I came up with this drink, but it probably was the gods smiling on me for spinning so much Van Halen on my record player. To tie in Baltimore sports, I’ll be using a Rick Dempsey novelty glass.

First, the ingredients. You will need Hawaiian Punch, Sprite, grape soda, orange soda and iced tea mix. The brands don’t matter, this is just what was in the house. I will start by mixing the Sprite and Hawaiian Punch. This is a tasty drink in itself, and has sometimes been called a “Diver Down.”

Next add the orange and grape sodas. A mix of just the orange and grape drinks gives you a murky brownish soda, that some people might call “Eddie’s Brown Sound.”

Now for the important part, put one scoop of iced tea mix into this unique, fruity drink and watch it explode.

This drink you’ll see is quite tasty, and even though it doesn’t require alcohol, feel free to dump some vodka in it.

Testaverde was underrated and under-appreciated, and Dilfer managed games well enough to win the superbowl, but McNair was a guy who had made so many plays when they counted that he would be a true hero. A play-making quarterback is needed, now more than ever, to win superbowls. With the defensive holdings, tuck rules and all the other rule changes that assisted the air game in the last few years, a Trent Dilfer-style quarterback can no longer win the superbowl based on the strength of those around him. Almost a decade ago, the Bucs, Ravens, and Steelers all had dominant teams without a real playmaker at the quarterback position. Ravens fans knew they had a solid roster in 2005, but the quarterback play was so spotty that there was no real chance to compete and Steve McNair was going to change all of that.

In 2006, the Ravens were a dominant 13-3 side, with a record to finally match their swagger. The difference maker, was the ever-confident veteran quarterback, Steve McNair. McNair was never expected to be the player he was when he was a co-MVP, or when he led the Titans to the super bowl, but for some stretches during the season he was all of the player Ravens fans had hoped for. The only problem was that the chinks in his armor were all too noticeable in some games during the regular season. Besides the first game, McNair started very slowly for the Ravens, often threw wobbling passes and showed an uncharacteristically weak arm on deep throws. Ravens fans were assured that McNair was getting healthier by the week, and that he was also learning more wrinkles of a complicated offense that was different from the one he ran as a Titan.

During the Week 7 bye week, Brian Billick fired offensive coordinator Jim Fassel, and took over the play-calling duties. Everything seemed to click with McNair after that point. The Ravens won nine of their last ten games and McNair’s quarterback rating during that stretch was consistently in the 90s. The only problem was that McNair still looked shaky in the week thirteen Bengals loss and in the week seventeen Bills win. It was fairly obvious in the first half of games to see which arm McNair was equipped with, and at times he might as well have thrown with his left arm. McNair never lost his confidence over the season, and in games when he was less than equipped physically he still seemed to have one drive in him to win a game, like in the week three Browns win.

It was apparent quickly into the playoff loss to the Colts that McNair wasn’t in his full form, but for some reason the pass plays kept being called and Jamal Lewis had the ball taken from him. The wobbly armed McNair would reappear in his injury-plagued 2007 season, that only seemed to mount disappointments on top of each other. It is sad that McNair’s career ended this way, but he was always banged up, and it would have been hard to imagine him walking away from the game in an Elway-type fashion after his frailties were all too apparent in the 2007 season.

Some radio show callers questioned why McNair retired before finishing his rehab, but after seeing his performance last season I was amazed that he even was trying a rehab program. The average quarterback would have retired years before McNair did, and it was an amazing feat that he fought through the injuries he had over his career to lead the 2006 Ravens to the playoffs.

McNair was a great player, the face of the Titans franchise for many years, and a solid role model, however I don’t think he was a hall of famer. Had he won a superbowl in Baltimore or won the superbowl against the Rams, McNair could have been considered hall of fame caliber. It’s no slight on his career that isn’t a hall of famer, he was a great player who should be considered alongside guys like Boog Powell and Gil Hodges who are just a step below the hall.

Attendance and fan interest became such an issue in the years following the strike that Washington began to offer $10 upper level and $25 lower level seats for students on Thursdays and Fridays. I thought the lower levels seats would obviously be undesirable seats tucked away in the corners of the arena, but boy was I wrong. Seats as close as the third row were available to students, and there were plenty of tickets to go around that one could buy several student tickets a few hours before the game as long as the buyer had a handful of student IDs. I confess to taking advantage of the rule, and bringing my father along for what turned into an unforgettable night of hockey–Ovechkin’s four goals against Montreal including the game-winner in overtime.

The early crowds were scattered, and we sat along the glass whenever we went, but by the end of the season, the building was packed and only upper level student seats were available. The Capitals fan interest was obviously sparked by winning, but there is something more special going on right now. Most winning teams get good crows, but this team has the sort of charisma to handle a losing season and still sell seats. The Caps have such a likeable roster that even Baltimoreans who occasionally watch hockey are glued to their televisions.

This team is so young, energetic and tatlented that it is invaluable to the NHL right now. The Penguins may win the Cup first with their young team, but the Caps have what it takes to draw in the common hockey fan. it’s what Bobby Orr and his Bruins had that the 70s Canadiens didn’t, and it’s what has turned the Verizon Center into a sea of Red.

4-2 Flyers leading the Caps going into the third, and Alexander Ovechkin held as a complete non-factor. Number 8 not only had no points, but no shots on goal, before defensive star Mike Green scored twice in the third period leading to Ovechkin’s magical steal and game-winning goal. The young star has caught the eye of not just Washington, but the entire hockey world, and in the process is turning the ever-important peripherals of Washington into a solid Capitals-supporting nation. This is what makes franchises, and I love every minute that these kids play.

Caps-Flyers Game 1 Highlights

Looking across at the Devil Rays dugout, Carlos Pena and his 40 homeruns would have fit in nicely at a cleanup spot that is currently vacant. Just as I start to get jealous at Tampa Boay’s acquisitions, I see Cliff Floyd batting fifth and I gain a small ounce of faith in the Orioles. A thirty-five year old Floyd is the type of acquisition the Orioles pre-McPhail would have gotten before lauding his productivity of five years ago. Ironically, this year I think that sort of player would make sense to give us some pop, but I’ll take the avoidance of accumlating middle-aged “bargains” as a good sign for the club.

Well, the Orioles lost 6-2 and even though this could be as close to first place as we’ll be all year, opening day was a helluva a lot of fun. Plenty of drinking, bratwursts at two for $5 and a good social environment of pleasant ORIOLES fans. It’s hard to remember sometimes how much fun Orioles games used to be. There were a couple Yankees and Red Sox hats, but they were drowned out by a happy group of true Baltimore fans. Not to mention, I got my picture with local celebrity Rob Roblin. As my father told me, “you could see a no-hitter, and this will be3 the best moment of your day.”-it was