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15
Minutes of Fame That's all it took to beat the tar out of the Heels....fifteen minutes, and it was indeed over. The 2008 NCAA Basketball Tournament has been a snooze-fest, and it became official when the Final Four doubleheader showcased more of the same....double-digit blowouts. How can four number one seeds get together and play a pair of lousy games? Half of the games played so far in the tournament have been decided by a dozen points or more. So much for some drama and thrilling finishes. If not for the Davidson Wildcats, this tournament is nothing more than the NIT on steroids. But back to the Alamodome...just what happened to North Carolina? Simply put: Roy Williams and his ACC Champs were absolutely obliterated in San Antonio. When the score reached 40-12, fifteen minutes into the game, it looked like Kansas was playing N.C. State. The Heels were destroyed, in every sense of the word. Roy Williams must have been more concerned with his KU approval rating than in actually getting his guys ready for the upcoming onslaught. Rock...Chalk....Jayhawk. As the KU Final Four t-shirts stated....Kansas: "The Birthplace of North Carolina Basketball". There was no doubt that the folks from KU owned Roy and the Heels on Saturday night.
I'll be honest with you: I've never seen a North Carolina basketball team so flat and ill-prepared for a big game as they displayed in the primetime game in San Antonio. You could hear America turning off their television sets and asking why they even bothered to watch the NCAA Semi-Finals. Both games sucked out loud. The Heels get a big "Slow Clap" for cutting the 28-point deficit down to four points, but inevitably the Jayhawks kicked Roy and the Heels to the Riverwalk by blowing them out again down the stretch and winning by 18 points. Tar Heel fans will scratch their heads over this one for years to come. After cruising through their first four tourney games, all in the state of North Carolina, and averaging 93 points per game....they were defended to the hilt and only scored 66 points in their dreadful semi-final effort. The game was over in 15 minutes, and KU fans got the ultimate thrill in watching their boys wear out Old Roy. The Heels were so bad on Saturday that Dick Vitale actually questioned them in the post-game show on ESPN. Speaking of ESPN's Final Four coverage: is it me, or is it a contractual obligation for everybody on the set to kiss Bobby Knight's ass, refuse to disagree with him, and also give him a nudge or hug while talking to him? I swear I saw Jay Bilas wearing knee pads with his tailored suit...and I believe he was getting jealous that Vitale and Digger were closer to the General for the ESPN "group hug". I had to turn the channel. The only thing that was as offensive as the Heels might be Barack Obama's effort at a backwoods Pennsylvania bowling alley last week. It took Obama about 15 minutes and 10 frames to post an amazing score of "37". It was as feeble as UNC's first half effort against KU. I'm not sure how you fire a 37 in bowling and you're actually trying to roll a bowling ball between the gutters. Nice job, Barack...did Roy Williams give you a couple of tips? In fifteen minutes, the Heels' season came to an end...just like my beloved San Francisco Giants' 2008 baseball season. I still claim that they can reach 100 losses and be the worst team in baseball before we get to the World Series. Speaking of coming to an end, I couldn't help but notice that one of the biggest blowhards in sports media lost another gig this week. Stephen A. Fraud (Smith) watched his ESPN radio career get placed alongside his excruciating cable TV show "Quite Frankly" and his lame column with the Philadelphia Inquirer. Evidently, the Worldwide Leader can't seem to find a home for a man that has single-handedly delivered a 0.1 rating in radio, television and print. When in doubt, put him on the NBA beat. I don't normally talk about the National Hockey League, but what a bummer for the Carolina Hurricanes. I was hoping to make a trip up to Raleigh for the playoffs, but that idea came to an abrupt halt when the Washington Capitals stole the Southeast title on the final night of the regular season. Just two weeks ago, everything looked great for the Canes, but an ugly home loss to Florida on Friday (first time since 2002) and a Caps' win against the same Florida team the next night was enough for the Canes to go from a division-winning third-seed to completely out of the playoffs. That's harsh....but in the world of the NHL, it's unfortunately reality for Carolina. In the pro ranks, if you think what happened to the Carolina Hurricanes was rough, how about the Charlotte Bobcats? On Saturday, while the city of Charlotte was watching the Heels get blown away, fans at the Charlotte arena watched the NBA's best team, Boston, come to play Michael Jordan's squad. Here's the twist: the Celtics decided to rest their big three - Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. I'm sure if fans had known that going into the game, it would've been played in front of a crowd that resembled that of the Aluminum Jungle (Kenan Stadium) during the Tar Heels' Spring game. For the record: UNC cancelled their football game due to possible bad weather, and moved it to a Monday afternoon affair...plenty of 50-yard line seats are still available. So, the Celtics' scrubs and Summer League team proceeded to wax the Bobcats by 23 points. How is that possible? Boston's big three generate nearly 58 points per game, but didn't play, and they still treated the Bobcats like they stole something from them. The good news for the Bobcats is that there is so little interest in the team, nobody cared or was remotely upset. Finally, the Masters starts this week at picturesque Augusta National. If this tourney is anything like "March Madness", Tiger will win by double digits. Before everybody picks him to win going away, keep in mind he has won at Augusta only once in the past five years.....who am I kidding? I just hope he doesn't finish it off in fifteen minutes. |
Packman
on Sports Commentary
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