According to the University of Maryland, Freshman forward Shane Walker will be leaving Maryland and transferring to another school. I'm still not sure how I feel about this. I think Walker has a lot of potential and is very good under the basket, boxing out and grabbing rebounds, so in that regard, I'm sorry he's leaving, especially since Gus Gilchrist isn’t eligible to play until the end of December. The real question now is, what do the Terps do with an extra scholarship? A few weeks ago, it seemed like the Terps would have loved to have an extra scholarship so they could give it to Bobby Maze. The Terps have signed Tyree Evans and Sean Mosely, so at this point signing another guard would seem pointless, as Maryland is in desperate need of front court help, especially until December when Gilchrist becomes eligible.
In other Terps basketball news, as many people know Maryland will be playing in the Old Spice Classic down in Orlando over Thanksgiving Day weekend. But the team to replace Memphis, who backed out, in that tournament is none other then…GEORGETOWN! Sweet mercy do I hate Georgetown. Not only is the school full of a lot of douchebags who think their money automatically makes them better people, but their basketball team and program is full of cowards. Maryland and Georgetown are separated by 10 miles
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(at least from the Verizon Center to the Comcast Center…just as a side note there, the fact that each school’s arena is sponsored by rival telecommunications companies should be proof that this is a rivalry between the schools) and yet they haven’t played each other since 1993. Do you remember what happened in 1993?
That was the last time Maryland was scheduled in the regular season to play Georgetown. I think the last time we played them though might have been in 2001 in the Sweet 16, on Maryland’s run to the Final 4.
Maryland use to play Georgetown annually from 1943-1980 (Maryland leads the all time series 36-25) but a dispute over revenue has soured the series since 1993. It is suppose to be Georgetown’s turn to come to College Park in the series, but they refuse. I guess they don’t want to get embarrassed. But it is a shame that these schools don’t meet on an annual basis because they have a good rivalry and they’re so close to each other.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
O's beat Seattle - Has Cabrera turned the corner?
Daniel Cabrera has pitched great over his past 2 starts, including last night when he pitched 8 innings, struck out 5 and probably most importantly, walked no one. He only gave up 2 runs and 5 hits over those 8 innings and kept the O's in the game and picking up the win after Nick Markickass hit a solo homer in the top of the 8th to break a 2-2 tie. Manager Dave Trembly brought in Sherrill to close out the game, which he was able to do, while earning his 7th save (4 of which have come against his former club).
There are a few questions now that arise for the Orioles and one of them is, has Daniel Cabrera finally turned the corner and started to become the dominant pitcher that the Orioles have said he could be for the past 3 years? Over his past two games, he's pitched 14 innings, only walked 2 batters, and given up 2 earned runs. There are two very important things to consider here - Cabrera's lack of walks and the fact that the Orioles have worked with him to throw his fast ball more, which seems to have helped tremendously. Over his last 3 starts, which was the start of his new "throw your fastball more" philosophy, Cabrera's ERA is 3.74. Its also important to note that the Orioles have won every game Cabrera has started this year. And although he only has 2 wins in the 5 games that he's started, he has no loses and 3 no decisions and has kept the Orioles in the game, a far cry from last year when he led the league in loses, walks allowed and ERA.
Only time shall tell if these is a new Cabrera who will consistently be good and who has turned the corner to possibly future star.
One last note - the O's trade with Seattle seems to be bette and better for the Orioles as time goes on. As someone who was initially opposed to the Bedard trade, I now think MacPhail is brilliant! Don't believe me? Go read Seattle blogs and message boards about the trade and how Seattle fans think they gave up too much...and they're probably right!
There are a few questions now that arise for the Orioles and one of them is, has Daniel Cabrera finally turned the corner and started to become the dominant pitcher that the Orioles have said he could be for the past 3 years? Over his past two games, he's pitched 14 innings, only walked 2 batters, and given up 2 earned runs. There are two very important things to consider here - Cabrera's lack of walks and the fact that the Orioles have worked with him to throw his fast ball more, which seems to have helped tremendously. Over his last 3 starts, which was the start of his new "throw your fastball more" philosophy, Cabrera's ERA is 3.74. Its also important to note that the Orioles have won every game Cabrera has started this year. And although he only has 2 wins in the 5 games that he's started, he has no loses and 3 no decisions and has kept the Orioles in the game, a far cry from last year when he led the league in loses, walks allowed and ERA.
Only time shall tell if these is a new Cabrera who will consistently be good and who has turned the corner to possibly future star.
One last note - the O's trade with Seattle seems to be bette and better for the Orioles as time goes on. As someone who was initially opposed to the Bedard trade, I now think MacPhail is brilliant! Don't believe me? Go read Seattle blogs and message boards about the trade and how Seattle fans think they gave up too much...and they're probably right!
Yankee Suck
On Saturday, after spontaneously deciding to go to the O's-Yankees game, I was reminded about how much I hate the Yankees. I haven't written about my Yankee hatred in a while, so I felt this was a good time to renew my feelings for this stupid team.
At Oriole Park, it is now a rarity to see the stadium more than 50% full unless its opening day or the O's are playing the Yankees or Red Sox. Saturday, the crowd was over 40,000 but a good portion (probably 40%) were Yankee fans. Having so many Yankee fans at my stadium annoys me on so many levels. Many of these d-bag Yankee fans act like they own the place, like they're playing at home. And I can never decide if these people are just Yankee fans who live in Baltimore, travel in from NY, or are former Oriole fans who have turned to the darkside during the O's recent 10 year slump. Either way, when cheers of "Let go Yankees" break out in your home stadium, I get a little annoyed. But at the same time, having these Yankee fans here can be a good thing - they're supporting our payroll, they're putting money into our economy and most importantly, I think they actually make other O's fans want to come to Camden Yards because they can't stand having it full of these Yankee jerks (yours truly included).
Oh, how sweet it was when I started a "Lets Go O's!" cheer in the top of the 9th, from the last row of section 386 that caught on throughout the stadium as the O's recorded the final out to beat the Yankees 6-0.
The only cure to this problem is winning, plain and simple. The more wins the Orioles have, the less Yankee fans you'll see at Oriole Park. Hopefully, the O's can continue there early season success!
At Oriole Park, it is now a rarity to see the stadium more than 50% full unless its opening day or the O's are playing the Yankees or Red Sox. Saturday, the crowd was over 40,000 but a good portion (probably 40%) were Yankee fans. Having so many Yankee fans at my stadium annoys me on so many levels. Many of these d-bag Yankee fans act like they own the place, like they're playing at home. And I can never decide if these people are just Yankee fans who live in Baltimore, travel in from NY, or are former Oriole fans who have turned to the darkside during the O's recent 10 year slump. Either way, when cheers of "Let go Yankees" break out in your home stadium, I get a little annoyed. But at the same time, having these Yankee fans here can be a good thing - they're supporting our payroll, they're putting money into our economy and most importantly, I think they actually make other O's fans want to come to Camden Yards because they can't stand having it full of these Yankee jerks (yours truly included).
Oh, how sweet it was when I started a "Lets Go O's!" cheer in the top of the 9th, from the last row of section 386 that caught on throughout the stadium as the O's recorded the final out to beat the Yankees 6-0.
The only cure to this problem is winning, plain and simple. The more wins the Orioles have, the less Yankee fans you'll see at Oriole Park. Hopefully, the O's can continue there early season success!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
A lot going on
A lot is going on in my sports world, in a time when normally baseball is the only sport I'm focused on. Steve McNair just decided to retire, UMD Men's basketball just signed a great, but baggage filled guard (and there seems to be an odd man out), the O's are still contending, and Terps football just signed a very good QB for the class of 2009. Whew! All of this going on while I'm trying to buy a house!
I'll try to get to more things later, but for now, I'll stick to the shocker of the day, Steve McNair deciding to retire. McNair had been training all off season and from everything I heard, was in great shape going into this season. Since Steve is such a competitor, I don't think anyone expected him to want to finish his career on such a sour note. This puts the Ravens in a very interesting position - what do they do at QB next year? Do they now go with Boller and have Smith as their back up? Or go with Smith and have Boller as the back up? Do they use both QBs? Since several players on this team (Ray Lewis, McCalister, Rolle...) are nearing the end of their prime, I don't think the Ravens want to go into quasi rebuilding mode here and start a rookie QB. That doesn't mean they won't draft one with the 8th pick. But the Ravens playoff hopes might have just taken a big hit unless Boller or Smith can carry this team next year.
I'll try to get to more things later, but for now, I'll stick to the shocker of the day, Steve McNair deciding to retire. McNair had been training all off season and from everything I heard, was in great shape going into this season. Since Steve is such a competitor, I don't think anyone expected him to want to finish his career on such a sour note. This puts the Ravens in a very interesting position - what do they do at QB next year? Do they now go with Boller and have Smith as their back up? Or go with Smith and have Boller as the back up? Do they use both QBs? Since several players on this team (Ray Lewis, McCalister, Rolle...) are nearing the end of their prime, I don't think the Ravens want to go into quasi rebuilding mode here and start a rookie QB. That doesn't mean they won't draft one with the 8th pick. But the Ravens playoff hopes might have just taken a big hit unless Boller or Smith can carry this team next year.
Monday, April 7, 2008
O's in first!
Take THAT Seattle! Da O's are in first place, hun! Maybe all of you Boston Bandwagon fans will start cheering for the O's now...I mean, they're in first place. Isn't that what you guys do, just root for the team that's doing best? Or maybe most of you are just d-bags and found the Red Sox to be your common bond...but I digress...
So while the O's are in first place with a 4-1, (make that 5-1 after Huff just homered and the O's have won yet again!! Swept Seattle - Impressive!), I must enjoy this feeling for as long as I can. The Orioles are supposed to be bad this year...really bad. 100+ losses bad. But aside from their opening day loss, they look like anything but a bad team. Good, patient hitting, good defense, and a strong bullpen. If we can get our starting pitching straightened out, is there actually a chance we could be, dare I say this, a .500 or better team? Granted, Luke Scott isn't going to hit .500 all season, the bullpen isn't going to be this dominate, especially if they have to keep coming in early for starters that aren't doing their job, and you can't always count on coming back in the bottom of the 9th when you're down 2-0. But that does show you this team won't give up. They have bought into Trembley's attitude and style. This has to give O's fans hope...hope that the team is going in the right direction, hope that the offseason trades are going to pay off (it looks more and more like MacPhail robbed Houston in the Tejada trade and that the Bedard trade will benefit us sooner than we thought), hope that some of the players last year *cough* Huff *cough* severely under-performed and still have some pop in their bats.
Listen, I know I'm a homer a lot of times, but how can Orioles fans not be excited about this? I know we still have 156 more games this season, but maybe we will be better than expected this year. Maybe, just maybe there is some Oriole Magic in the air. And if not, we're going to enjoy our time in first place as long as we can. That is what 10 straight losing seasons will do to you.
And after all, so long as Boston and NY not in 1st and or 2nd, that's a moral victory right there.
So while the O's are in first place with a 4-1, (make that 5-1 after Huff just homered and the O's have won yet again!! Swept Seattle - Impressive!), I must enjoy this feeling for as long as I can. The Orioles are supposed to be bad this year...really bad. 100+ losses bad. But aside from their opening day loss, they look like anything but a bad team. Good, patient hitting, good defense, and a strong bullpen. If we can get our starting pitching straightened out, is there actually a chance we could be, dare I say this, a .500 or better team? Granted, Luke Scott isn't going to hit .500 all season, the bullpen isn't going to be this dominate, especially if they have to keep coming in early for starters that aren't doing their job, and you can't always count on coming back in the bottom of the 9th when you're down 2-0. But that does show you this team won't give up. They have bought into Trembley's attitude and style. This has to give O's fans hope...hope that the team is going in the right direction, hope that the offseason trades are going to pay off (it looks more and more like MacPhail robbed Houston in the Tejada trade and that the Bedard trade will benefit us sooner than we thought), hope that some of the players last year *cough* Huff *cough* severely under-performed and still have some pop in their bats.
Listen, I know I'm a homer a lot of times, but how can Orioles fans not be excited about this? I know we still have 156 more games this season, but maybe we will be better than expected this year. Maybe, just maybe there is some Oriole Magic in the air. And if not, we're going to enjoy our time in first place as long as we can. That is what 10 straight losing seasons will do to you.
And after all, so long as Boston and NY not in 1st and or 2nd, that's a moral victory right there.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Lady Terps Ride is over
Sadly, the basketball season for the University of Maryland's women's team came to an end Monday, as the Terps fell to Stanford. Maryland played well offensively but couldn't stop Stanford's Candice Wiggins who singlehandedly led Stanford to a victory over Maryland with her 41 points.
Every time MD went on a run and started gaining confidence, Wiggins was there on the other end to swing the pendulum back in Stanford's favor. It seemed like every time MD nailed a 3 and began to get close, Wiggins was there to answer on the other end. Maryland had no answer to her on defense. Credit to her and Stanford for running the triangle offense to near perfection, something no other ACC team does and thus that might have been why Maryland had such a hard time defending against it.
Although it was disappointing that Maryland didn't make it back to the Final 4, what was even more devastating was that this was the final game for Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper. Those two, especially Langhorne, were highly touted re
cruits who Brenda Freese convinced should come to Maryland and help revitalize a program and put it back into the National Spotlight. The fact that Harper got injured her freshman year just allowed Langhorne to develop more and faster, eventually resulting in her being Maryland's all time leading scorer. After Shay Duron decided to come to Maryland, the fact the Crystal and Harper did the following year, helped show people that Maryland was for real. Then they went out and won the 2006 National Championship game. Maryland will still be great next year, but losing Crystal and Laura, in addition to Ashleigh Newman, Jade Perry, and Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood is going to hurt.
After all, how can losing the best player in Maryland Women's hoops history not hurt you?
Best of luck girls, we'll miss you.
Every time MD went on a run and started gaining confidence, Wiggins was there on the other end to swing the pendulum back in Stanford's favor. It seemed like every time MD nailed a 3 and began to get close, Wiggins was there to answer on the other end. Maryland had no answer to her on defense. Credit to her and Stanford for running the triangle offense to near perfection, something no other ACC team does and thus that might have been why Maryland had such a hard time defending against it.
Although it was disappointing that Maryland didn't make it back to the Final 4, what was even more devastating was that this was the final game for Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper. Those two, especially Langhorne, were highly touted re
cruits who Brenda Freese convinced should come to Maryland and help revitalize a program and put it back into the National Spotlight. The fact that Harper got injured her freshman year just allowed Langhorne to develop more and faster, eventually resulting in her being Maryland's all time leading scorer. After Shay Duron decided to come to Maryland, the fact the Crystal and Harper did the following year, helped show people that Maryland was for real. Then they went out and won the 2006 National Championship game. Maryland will still be great next year, but losing Crystal and Laura, in addition to Ashleigh Newman, Jade Perry, and Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood is going to hurt.After all, how can losing the best player in Maryland Women's hoops history not hurt you?
Best of luck girls, we'll miss you.
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