Saturday, February 09, 2008

Saturday 02/09 (Very) Quickie









Settling in for a day of college hoops...

-- D.S.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Friday 02/08 A.M. Quickie:
Bracket Porn, McNamee Photos, Shaq, More

Today's Names to Know from today's Sporting News column:

Brian McNamee, Shaquille O'Neal, Darren Collison, Eric Gordon, Curt Schilling, Steve Spagnuolo, Kurt William Havelock, Chris Webber, Chris Duhon, Pedro Martinez and More.

Including: Why I love NCAA bracket porn... Why Ansel Adams would appreciate Brian McNamee... why the Suns ARE going to win the NBA title... why Kevin Love is the most valuable player in college basketball... why Curt Schilling will win the media battle over his bum shoulder... why the greatest Super Bowl ever nearly turned into the most tragic Super Bowl ever... why Chris Webber's return to Golden State sucked... why the Pro Bowl is useless and more... after the jump.

Meanwhile, Big Daddy Drew's final NFL Jamberoo of the season is a must-read. It basically describes my life, so it must be right. Catch you here all weekend with all-new material.

-- D.S.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Thursday 02/07 A.M. Quickie:
Clemens, Duke, Signing Day, Shaq, Pedro!

Today's Names to Know in today's Sporting News column:

Roger Clemens, Brian McNamee, Greg Paulus, Ty Lawson, Kevin Hart, Julio Jones, Darrell Scott, Shaq, Shawn Marion, Chris Paul, Kyle Korver, Pat Knight, Ralph Wilson, Matt Walsh, Steve Spagnuolo, Gregg Williams, Pedro Martinez and More!

Why Roger Clemens has a "dirty needle" problem...
Why I have nice things to say about Duke (for once)...
Why Kevin Hart deserves a scholarship*...
Why Alabama was Signing Day's big winner...
Why I'm coming around on the Shaq trade for the Suns...
Why Kyle Korver was a bigger trade prize than Shaq...
Why Roger Goodell is like Nathan Jessup...
Why we're all Bills fans today...
Why Steve Spagnuolo is the new Gregg Williams...
And why Gregg Williams is the new Steve Spagnuolo...
Why Pedro Martinez is the new Mike Vick (or not)...
And so much more... after the jump!

Wow, was yesterday a loaded sports day or what? Amazing.

* - Best line I've written all week: "Hart may only be a 2-star football prospect, but he's a 5-star fabulist."

-- D.S.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Wednesday 02/06 A.M. Quickie:
Shaq Trade, Signing Day, UNC-Duke, More!

Today's Names to Know in today's Sporting News column:




-- D.S.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Let Your Kid Play for Bobby Knight?

Great question over at Varsity Dad for your comments and observations: Would you want your kid to play for Bobby Knight? The answer is likely either (a) absolutely or (b) never.

Look forward to hearing your personal take, whether you have a kid or not. Head over to Varsity Dad to leave your comments.

(Wow, just remembering that one of my earliest columns ever for -- back in 1997, I believe -- was saying "Never." Got a strong reaction, both ways, if I remember correctly. Columns from '97 precede Google, unfortunately.)

-- D.S.

Tuesday 02/05 A.M. Quickie:
Knight, Belichick, Clemens, Vitale, More

Today's Names to Know from today's Sporting News column:

Bob Knight, Pat Knight, Bill Belichick, Matt Walsh, Steve Spagnuolo, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Carmelo Anthony, TJ Ford, St. Mary's, Dick Vitale, Curtis Granderson, Juan Gonzalez, Michael Vick, Tyson Gay, Tom Brady, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and More... after the jump.

Including: Why Bob Knight is as big of a prick in retirement as he was as a coach... why Bill Belichick's "walk-off" will define this Super Bowl as much as Eli-to-Tyree... Why Roger Clemens will say more than Andy Pettitte... Why Juan Gonzalez is the new Rick Ankiel... and more.

Don't forget to vote, if your state is having a primary or caucus.

-- D.S.

Monday, February 04, 2008

What About the '72 Dolphins?



Giants Shock Pats: The Morning After

Three reads this morning:
Today's Sporting News column.
Last night's instant reaction.
My in-game Twitter experiment.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

AAAAAH! Giants Shock World, Beat Pats!!!

Oh my god! OH MY GOD! Count the superlatives:

This is, without hyperbole, the Greatest Upset in NFL History. (Particularly given that the Pats presumably sealed the win with that late TD.)

This is the Greatest Performance by a Defense in Super Bowl History. (Particularly given the way the Giants D shut down the Pats offense, the most devastating of our time.)

That play by Eli Manning to David Tyree may just go down as the Single-Greatest Play in Super Bowl history: "The Immaculate Escape." (Shanoff says: Firsts! AA's Brian P. has the video, and the astute observation that Joe Buck completely blew the call with his underwhelming delivery.) Eli Manning will never have to answer a single question about his career again. It's over: He'll just have to reference that play. (How about this: Greatest 4th Quarter in Super Bowl History?)

And that's before you even say: Perfection Denied. My god: Perfection Denied. From 19-0 to 18-1... there's very little distinguished about being the most accomplished Super Bowl runner-up of all time. (Except the irony that they displace the Super Bowl XXXVI-losing Rams, whose loss to these Pats was the point of such contention these last 48 hours. Dare I say: Karmic payback?)

All those superlatives -- not to mention the "perfection" stuff -- begs the question: Was this simply the greatest Super Bowl ever? Until the cheating questions came up, Super Bowl XXXVI was up there, but these Pats had so much more on the line than those Rams, and these Giants were given so much less of a chance than those Pats. I think we will look back -- tomorrow, next week and years from now -- and wonder if this is as great as a Super Bowl can ever get. I think that's quite possible.

I have never been so happy to get a prediction wrong. Did I say 41-17? I guess I had a few numbers turned around.

This is just the most incredible, unbelievable sports result I think I have experienced. (You know, that statement has had me up an hour later than I thought. I have experienced some incredible sports results -- Texas beating USC in the Rose Bowl for the national title, Duke beating UNLV in the 1991 Final Four, hell even Florida stomping Ohio State for the BCS title when no one gave them a chance. But this is the NFL, and the Pats were perfect. Again: I'm neither a Giants nor Pats fan -- but I was still blown away by this result.)

As unprecedented as 19-0 was going to be, this result is equally unprecedented, stunning and -- if you are a fan of football... sports... or just life -- completely energizing.

Here's a link to my Twitter coverage. Check out how it falls apart as the game ends!

-- D.S.

Super Bowl XLII Shanoff Twitter Event!

Shanoff on Twitter for Super Bowl XLII! There are plenty of live-blogs out there (I'll be tracking the three over at the Sporting Blog) and -- of course -- the Deadspin Comments section. But check out the Dan Shanoff Twitter page throughout the game for something a little different. I've been dabbling with it all day, but I will really ramp it up around 5:30 or so.

UPDATE: Up to 100 tweets at halftime! Be sure to check it out.

Sunday 02/03 A.M. (Very) Quickie:
XLII, Pats Scandal, CBB Upset, More

The countdown to the Super Bowl is on. Track the game through Shanoff's Super Bowl Twitter at Should start around 6 p.m. ET.

Pats XXXVII Scandal, Cont'd: The Pats deny it, of course, and the league backs them up with a flimsy "it wasn't on the tapes the Pats provided and the Pats said they didn't."

(If the Pats did it, do you think they would provide the evidence to the league and/or admit to it? Those XXXVII tapes were probably destroyed the day after the first whiff of the spying scandal with the Jets at the start of the season, if not earlier.)

Cripes: Wright Thompson is making it unfair. It's getting to the point where everything he is writing these days is off-the-charts must-read. (Like this latest, a profile of the Pats' Ernie Adams.) In my estimation, Thompson is the best sportswriter in America right now.

Penn State shocks Michigan State: I'm not willing to credit Penn State completely; the Big Ten is THAT mediocre, if the league's best team loses to Penn State. But a great win for the Nittany Lions.

UConn beats Pitt, continues sizzling streak.

Stanford shocks Wazzu in Pullman, continues Cougars' stumbling at home.

SEC: Inexperienced, thin Florida routed by Arkansas, Tennessee edges feisty Mississippi State.

Eddie Sutton hits 800 Ws: Wonder if he'll quit coaching the team today? No, I'm being serious.

Kevin Love Watch: 26 and 11 (yet another double-double) for my National Player of the Year, in a UCLA win over Arizona.

Over/under on the number of fans who watched Yao play Yi? Here's an appropriate over/under: The number of people who will watch the Super Bowl.

-- D.S.