The Real Reason Mike Rice Got Fired
Posted: April 6, 2013 Filed under: NCAA Basketball | Tags: basketballs, bob, Bobby, fired, knight, losing, Mike, players, punching, rice, rutgers, throwing, video, winning Leave a comment »
Man, poop has hit the fan in Piscataway, New Jersey. Head basketball coach, Mike Rice, took his coaching a little to serious and his actions reached the “inappropriate” level (here is the video). Did you watch the video? Good, I don’t want to explain what he did. I want to get into the real reason he was fired. It is really simple math. Here are the numbers .463 and zero. That is his win percentage and a zero representing many things: winning seasons at Rutgers, national titles and NCAA tournament appearances. Those numbers are the real reason Rice got the axe.
We have seen a coach go about things very similarly and he got to keep his job. I am sure you all remember some guy named Bobby Knight. His numbers are a little better. Just looking at his time at Indiana, he had a .731 win percentage, three national titles. The only zero he had was the losses his team had in 1975-76. Yes, Knight eventually got canned, but it wasn’t the chair throwing, the player choking, the fan pushing, the cop punching, the lack of sensitivity toward rape, the cussing at Big Ten commissioners, the shooting of hunting partners or the grabbing of students. It was the losing.
Bobby Knight had quite a few more incidents over a longer period of time and got to keep his job. Why? It’s simple, he won. Winning cures all problems. Mike Rice no longer has a job, because he didn’t win. Losing creates problems that may not even exist, so when the problem does exist, it makes it exponentially worse. The point is when you win, you can get away with murder. My suggestion to everyone is just win a bunch and then go crazy. You’ve earned it!
Opening Day: Seattle at Oakland at Safeco?
Posted: April 1, 2013 Filed under: MLB | Tags: 1080p, a's, athletics, baseball, day, field, giant, Mariners, oakland, opening, safeco, screen, season, seattle 1 Comment »
The headline seems a little confusing doesn’t it? Well, let me clear it up for you. Today is the first game of the 2013 Mariners baseball season. They are playing against the Athletics in Oakland at 7:05p to start the season (weird). The good news is the game will be played on the brand new giant 1080p HD video display above the center field bleachers.
The screen is 201.5 feet long and 56.7 feet tall. That is 2,182 42-inch television screens. You will be able to see pitch, hit, chew spit, cup adjustment, and blade of grass as clear as day.
There is free parking down by Safeco Field starting at 4:00p and doors open at 6:00p. Edgar’s Cantina and other concessions will be open. Oh hey! The fences were moved in! Homers galore! It’s like a whole new Safeco and No Fair Weather Fans will be down there. Come down, have a few beers and talk some sports with us. BYOB to the conversations.
The Contest
We will also are having a contest. Guess the number of games the Mariners will win this season. The tie-breaker is give us the total number of dongs they hit. The tie-breaker of the tie-breaker is to tell us tonight, in person at the game and you have an extra leg up. The prize will be a free pitcher of beer at your choice of any Seattle bar and you get to spit hot fire on our podcast.
Look forward to seeing you down there. Happy Felix Day!
#22 No Fair Weather Fans Podcast – NCAA Tourney, Mariners and More
Posted: March 28, 2013 Filed under: Podcasts | Tags: azteca, brandon, Bulldogs, chris, coast, costa rica, fgcu, Florida, Gonzaga, gulf, Hansen, heat, hitting, Ibanez, Kings, Mariners, maurer, mexico, miami, michael, morse, NCAA, pitching, raul, Sacramento, seattle, snow, soccer, sonics, tournament, tourney, university, usa, zags Leave a comment »
All these upsets are making this tournament fun! Relax, everyone’s brackets are wrecked. Dunk U. (FGCU) has won everyone’s heart, not Hart. Mike Hart and the Zags are out, much to the pleasure of Ben. The Mariners made a few moves and we are torn on whether they are good or not. Watch out of all the innuendos!
Other topics touched on:
- Hansen swoops another 7% on the Kings.
- Heat streak is stopped at 27.
- USA soccer win in the snow and “win” a point in Mexico.
Irrational Zags Fans: YOU MAD
Posted: March 25, 2013 Filed under: NCAA Basketball | Tags: #1, Bulldogs, fans, Gonzaga, Hart, kelly, Mad, Mike, NCAA, Olynyk, seed, shockers, state, tournament, upset, wichita, You, zags Leave a comment »
I heard a lot of chatter from the irrational Gonzaga fans before the NCAA tournament that Mike Hart and the #1 ranked Bulldogs were going to have no problem running through The Big Dance. There was the non-stop “Mike Hart has so much hustle!” or the “Long hair don’t care, Kelly Olynyk can’t be stopped!” Saying a guy has a lot of hustle without mentioning any other part of his game is the same as saying an ugly person is nice (trust me I know, I am really nice). Good players don’t get mentioned with the word hustle, because it goes without saying. All of this, of course, was based on the Zags wrecking the WCC. I know, I know, the WCC is terrible but Gonzaga fans were serious with the WCC talk. I am not even going to get back into how terrible that conference was.
The wheels almost came off in the first game against Southern. As RJ stated in the previous post, that game didn’t have any affect on the next game, which is true. It was merely just a sign of what was to come. Southern exposed Gonzaga for what they were, which is a below the rim team who relied too much on jumpers. That works fine against the crappy WCC, but it doesn’t work against the best teams in the nation. Wichita State put the nails in the coffin on a familiar sight for Gonzaga, putting the Bulldogs out in the Round of 32.
Now that we have seen Gonzaga go do the same ol’, same ol’ in the tourney, all you irrational Zag fans can zip it up with all the “we deserve to be #1″ talk, forever. Gonzaga is a very successful program and what has happened in Spokane fan should be proud of. However, they are only the best of the second tier. Your blind fandom as irrational fans makes for a great atmosphere in The Kennel, but makes it impossible to tell you about the flaws of your team. No matter how many times you were told your team lacks depth, back-court size, they hadn’t played a decent team in almost three months, or the lack of athleticism, you wouldn’t listen to the rational folks of the world. Maybe, you will start to listen after another bad showing on the big boys’ stage.
Irrational Zag fan you have once again been humbled by the poor play of your team against tournament teams. I have used my “Jump to Conclusions” mat to notice that your lack of Facebook, Twitter, texts and other social media mean…
Is Gonzaga in Trouble?
Posted: March 22, 2013 Filed under: NCAA Basketball | Tags: 1982, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2013, Alabama, Dick Vitale, East Tennessee State, Elias Harris, Georgetown, Gonzaga, houston, James Madison, Michigan, NC State, NCAA Tournament, North Carolina, oklahoma, San Diego, Southern, UCLA, Villanova, Wichita State Leave a comment »
Hold on to ‘em tight!
Dick Vitale was quoted yesterday to say Gonzaga would lose their next game against Wichita State, given their poor performance against Southern.
Do I agree with Dicky V.?
The short answer is a resounding “NO!” The long answer is a bit more complicated than that…
Here’s a quick history lesson. In 1989, #1 seed Georgetown beat Princeton by 1, 50-49. They went on to win their next game by 13. In the same year, #1 seed Oklahoma beat East Tennessee St. by 1, 72-71. They won their next game by 43, 124-81.
Yes, Gonzaga’s win against Southern was the smallest margin of victory for a #1 seed since 1996. And the game was tied with less than four minutes to play. That’s why they play 40 minutes, not 36.
In 1982, #1 seed North Carolina beat #9 seed James Madison 52-50 in the second round. NC went on to beat Alabama, Villanova, Houston, and Georgetown to win the tournament.
In 1983, NC State won 5 of their 6 games by a total margin of 13 points (two games by one, two games by two, and one game by seven…they beat Utah by 19 in the Sweet Sixteen) and went on to win the tournament.
In 1993, eventual runners-up, #1 seed Michigan, beat UCLA by only two in the second round.
I could keep listing situations where teams who eventually won (or went to the Championship Game) had a close-call with a team they should beat. It happens almost every year, and that’s what we all love about the NCAA Tournament. Every game is a new game, especially in the NCAA Tournament.
The Zags could absolutely lose their game against Wichita State on Saturday. But it won’t be because of their performance against Southern. It won’t be because Elias Harris went 2-10 a day ago. It won’t be because Southern had eight blocks while Gonzaga had zero. It will be because Wichita State outplays them (more specifically, out-rebounds them).
Gonzaga also has a blessing disguised as a curse. They can compete with anyone. In turn, that also means anyone can compete with Gonzaga. And though they won 31 games this season, there were a few close calls with teams who had no business competing with a #1 seed in the Tournament (i.e. San Diego).
Hold on to your butts, Zags fans. Your team is bound to put a few more gray hairs on your noggin before the end of this tournament.
*As I write this, I realize the #3, #4, and #5 seed in the West Region have been knocked out in the Round of 64 (first time EVER that has happened in the same region)…clearing the way for Gonzaga, perhaps?*
On Backtracking – Bring on Percy
Posted: March 20, 2013 Filed under: NFL | Tags: 49ers, AZ, Boldin, Cardinals, carroll, Football, Harvin, Long, NFL, percy harvin, rams, san francisco, Schenider, seahawks, seattle, St. Louis Leave a comment »
Just a few weeks ago, I wrote a little article here on the blog about taking a pass on Percy Harvin to the Hawks. I didn’t know what the trade package was going to be, kinda didn’t care – I just wasn’t interested in having him on the team. I thought there were other places to address on the team first before picking up a wide receiver, and also the corresponding cap hit the Hawks would take by resigning him.
This is my official eating crow post, which I am noticing is becoming a trend.
The facts (and some of my opinions) are what they are, and the more I learn about ol’ John Schneider and Pete Carroll, the more I like them.
- In my mind, the whole cap thing was a little overblown. The way this contract is structured & how the Hawks didn’t spend $13.2M last year (which now gets to carry over), I like how the balance sheet looks.
- Plus, the outlook for the next few years is setting up quite nicely, and guess what – the whole team isn’t going to fall apart AND they can clearly still add players. Check out this post by Davis Hsu over at Field Gulls. I am not going to lie, I am not a total cap expert (and by this I mean I am not at all), but this guy is and the next few years look just fine.
- If the Hawks line up in a 4 receiver set, it’s going to be nasty. Imagine Rice, Harvin, Tate & Baldwin all on the field at one time. Pretty much everyone’s nickel DB is going to either get shredded, or it’s a bunch of 1-on-1 coverage all over the field. I like that with DangerRuss either rolling out or sitting back in the pocket.
- Did I mention in the above scenario, you could also have Beast just chillin’ in the backfield. That’s a nice stretched out defense. Run wild Beast, run wild.
- The injury issues? Oh yeah, those are overblown. It’s been two years since his last migraine and he has been treated for them at the Mayo Clinic. I should have searched that one out on Bing.
- The NFC West is making moves. The Hawks clearly aren’t going to stand pat. If the Hawks didn’t make this move – the additions in the NFC West like Mr. Boldin & Long would have made this irrational fan a little more nervous about the rest of the division catching up. Now, I don’t worry about that as much on my irrational fan pillow at night.
In retrospect – I look at my month-ago self and laugh at him. Welcome to Seattle Percy, this is going to get cray.
#20 No Fair Weather Fans Podcast – PERCY HARVIN TIME
Posted: March 12, 2013 Filed under: General Sports, Podcasts | Tags: cougars, hamilton, Harvin, Huskies, Kings, KJ, NFL, NHL, pac-12, Percy, Salary Cap, seahawks, sonics, TiCats, Tickets, Trade, Utah, Utes, uw, WR, WSU Leave a comment »
Is there really much else to talk about? The Hawks pulled a big time trade yesterday and brought in one of the most electric offensive players in the game today. Did they give up too much? Is he injury prone? Does this limit the Hawks in other ways?
In this episode, Ben and Brad from NoFairWeatherFans.com discuss, and also bring in special analyst RJ to close it out on this nearly power hour.
Other topics discussed are:
- Sonics open season ticket sign ups on SonicsArena.com
- NHL Expansion & Chatter
- Pac-12 Tournament Time
So in the true spirit of a power hour, pick up your 18 pack, a shot glass – take a hit every minute and enjoy this sports broadcast.
You can find us on iTunes, and as always – you can
