Berkeley Game Follow Up

First on the Ryan Anderson play, this is from The California Golden Blogs, referring to the video posted in the previous entry:

We here at the California Golden Blogs do the dirty work you don’t have to. We watched this video. Over and over and over again. Hoping to see those damnable Bruins hogtie up Anderson and roll the ball out of bounds as the refs received millions of dollars in cash money from Bill Walton. Hoping to see something. Anything.

Well……………….and this is not what the Cal fans are not going to want to hear, but it actually looks clean. I know I know! The refs. Screwed Cal. No hope. Braun not at fault.

It goes down like this. Player #0, Russell Westbrook, comes towards Anderson from behind. He drapes his left hand over the back of Anderson. However, this is done with the gentlest of care, as if Westbrook and Anderson were in a committed monogamous relationship. Then, Westbrook slaps vertically down upon the ball and it looks like ONLY the ball. Then, Anderson falls to the ground as the ball bounces off his knee.

Now, here is where it gets a bit tricky. Even though its in slo mo and HD, it is tough to make out what happens next exactly. Westbrook clearly bounces the ball once, trying to recover it. It looks like Anderson then punches the ball out of bounds as he falls forward. I cannot tell if Westbrook in any way touches the ball also at this point. Another Bruins player comes over, but it does not appear as if he touches the ball. I have watched that section of the video innumerable times in both the side and front angle, but it is still a bit unclear. If you stuck a gun to my head and asked my opinion, I’d have to say that it looks like Anderson was the last player to touch the ball.

What this means is that the refs might have gotten it totally correct. From the video, it appears that the non-call on the foul was correct. And it looks reasonably certain that it was Bruins ball. I hate to have to say this. But I’m just trying to be objective and reasonable about it.

I still think that Shipp’s shot was apparently illegal and should have been waived off. I also still think Cal would have nonetheless found a creative and exciting way to lose the game. I mean c’mon.

Now, about that shot, here's what an expert thinks (emphasis mine):

According to Hank Nichols, the NCAA's national coordinator of men's officiating, the rule is often referred to as the Wilt Chamberlain rule because its original intent was to prevent a team from lobbing the ball over the backboard to an immensely tall and talented player because the play couldn't be defended. "The intent wasn't to stop a circus jump shot," Nichols said.

So, we have even Berkeley fans admitting that there was no foul, and the ball correctly was given to UCLA, and we have the NCAA coordinator of officiating saying that there's really no good reason that Shipp's shot shouldn't have counted. Seems pretty cut and dried to me.

Thoughts on the Berkeley Game

First, before reading any further, watch this.

You should notice a few things. First, Russell Westbrook got 100% ball on the slap that knocked the ball from Ryan Anderson's hands. Much like Dee Brown did against Mustapha Shakur in 2005. Just because you slap down, it's not an automatic foul. You actually have to hit the guy, which Westbrook didn't do.

Second, Ryan Anderson is a fucking liar. He claims "they clearly tackled me." Of course, he apparently realized how ridiculous that sounded and quickly backed off. "maybe not tackled me -- but I fell to the ground and it didn't go our way." That's better.

Third, if you watch the play and actually pay attention, you'll see Anderson's hand knocking the ball out of bounds. Right call on the no foul followed by the right call on out of bounds play.

As for the shot, the letter of the rule doesn't look good for UCLA, but it depends on the interpretation. To me, a shot going over the backboard is a shot that originiates from either directly in front or directly behind the backboard. If you're shooting from the side, they either have to make it so that it never counts if you start from behind the plane of the backboard, which would be stupid, or set up some sort of trapezoid from which shots won't count. Quite frankly, it's a dumb rule anyway, but that's beside the point. Ultimately, it's debatable, and I can see why people would be pissed, but tough shit.

One win ought to lock up the number one seed in the West, but they'll have to do it against either a fired up Berkeley team that will be out for revenge, or a Washington team that took the Bruins apart a few weeks ago. If Brockman is hurt bad, it will probably be Berkeley.

Congrautlations, Bruins

Three straight Pac 10 titles: Good

Darren Collison: Very good

Call at the end of the game: Probably not that great, but they blew a couple of huge calls that led to Stanford points, specifically Mitch Johnson's double dribble and Lawrence Hill's charge on the go ahead basket.

Me: Very, very sick.

Doug Gottlieb: Very, very stupid.

This is from the "Around the Rim" column today:

UCLA looked OK, but got nothing from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Alfred Aboya, Lorenzo Mata-Real and Josh Shipp. Even Russell Westbrook was highly ineffective at times against Stanford.

Only in Doug Gottlieb's strange little world is 10 points and 11 rebounds from your fifth option, playing against two seven footers, "nothing". And only in that same world is 19 points "ineffective". Christ, every player has times during a game where they're ineffective. Let's face it, Doug Gottlieb is an expert on two things, stealing credit cards and missing free throws. The guy's an idiot.

Now it's time to close it out and win the title outright on Saturday.

Ready for a War?

Kings vs. Senators, tomorrow night. I don't know why, but for some reason the last two games between these teams have been freaking awesome.

In 2001, the game that made Adam Deadmarsh a Kings legend.


A (small) sample of what happened in 2006 when they met again.


And what happened after Jim Fox called out Bryan Murray for being a punk and sending big Zdeno Chara after Tim Gleason.


Let's hope tomorrow night is just as fun.

Most Anticipated Album of 2008 - for the time being

At least, now that the new Raveonettes album is out...

Spiritualized gets a date for the U.S. release of "Songs in A&E". This is really a reminder to myself more than anything. Here's some older stuff from J. Spaceman.

UCLA 68; Arizona 66

It's funny. A fan base can get so used to things going their way that they don't even realize what little bitches they become when the tide starts to turn. For two and a half decades, Arizona has been led by one of college basketball's Eddie Haskells. Mike Kzysrcksvisklseiski is the same way. These are coaches who seem so friendly and gentle in interviews and when away from the court, but who spend approximately 39:55 of a 40 minute game berating officials and whining like children. In their defense, it works. For years, each team has gotten virtually every call. Hell, Lute didn't even pick up a technical when he ran across the floor to call Lucas Johnson "crazy" in 2000. And somehow they had no problem with the officiating the regional final that season when six Illinois players fouled out, and no Wildcat had more than three fouls.

But times change, coaches change, and standards are replaced. For the seventh consecutive time, UCLA defeated Arizona, despite a great performance from Jordan Hill, and a "better than he usually does against UCLA" performance from Chase Buddinger. It wasn't enough to overcome 24 and 15 from Kevin Love (10-11 from the free throw line), and 16 points from Darren Collison, who continues to be hot from long range (2-3 in this one).

In a fairly surprising development, Arizona got more minutes, and more production, from its bench than UCLA. Part, perhaps most, of that was due to foul trouble, particularly from starter Fendi Onobun, who lasted only 13 minutes before fouling out. Jamelle Horne also struggled with foul trouble, and Jordan Hill caught the bug in the second half.

On the other side, every Bruin starter played at least 33 minutes. What looked like a deep bench at the beginning of the season has been dramatically shortened, and that could cause problems for the Bruins down the stretch. Chace Stanback has been somewhat disappointing in that regard. Note that I'm in no way calling him a bust. Very few freshman come in and contribute right away, but the Bruins benefited the last two years from unexpected contributions from Darren Collison and Russel Westbrook. Both of those players have proven that their freshman contributions were no flukes. They're very special players, and not everyone can bring what they've brought. But of all the bench guys, I figured Stanback might be the guy who could give them a five minute shot in the arm from game to game, but it never materialized. Nikola Dragovic has been a bit of disappointment as well. If anyone could have replaced Mike Roll's shooting, a desperate need for this team, Dragovic figured to be the guy, but he's struggled with his shot all year.

McKale is never an easy place to leave victorious, but Bruins managed to do it yet again, and now they'll fight for a number one seed this week at home against the Bay Area schools. Beat Stanford and they clinch the Pac 10 title. Lose, and they may not be the top seed in the conference tournament. And if they win that game, they absolutely cannot afford a let-down against Berkeley on Saturday. The West Coast road to the Final Four is theirs for the taking. Now they just need to get it done on the court.

Coach Wooden Hospitalized

Get well soon, coach.

UCLA 70: ASU 49

Not exactly where I expected the score to be after about 15 minutes of truly horrid offense from both teams to start the game. But suddenly Darren Collison found his shooting touch, the UCLA defense started forcing turnovers, things started to open up, and what was an 11-11 game with 5:35 left in the half turned into a 29-18 first half lead for the Bruins. 11 points in almost fifteen minutes, and 18 in the last 5+.

It was the Bruins starters who led the way, save for a quiet statistical night by LRMAM. Love, Collison, Shipp, and Westbrook all hit double figures, Love's 18 points leading the way to go along with his 12 rebounds, and a couple of the bullet passes that have really been a joy to watch this season. For a team that didn't make a jump shot until the final 10 minutes or so against Oregon, the Bruins shot the ball pretty well. They were 49% for the game and 10-20 from beyond the arc, which is almost a requirement if you're going to beat a team that relies so heavily on the zone.

Personally, I hate zone defenses. They're tediously boring to watch, and to my mind, they're essentially an admission that your team is simply not good enough to play man to man (and I'm sure it's not a coincidence that my two favorite teams, UCLA and Illinois, are coached by men who flat our refuse to give in and play zone). And while the conventional wisdom says the Bruins have struggled against the zone in the Howland era, I'm not quite sure the facts bear that out. Part of the problem is they just don't "look" good against the zone. They've never had a boatload of shooters to bust zones up, and they typically run the shot clock out before shooting. But this tends to be more typical in the first half as they probe the zone and get used to playing against it. They rarely struggle in the second half against zone defenses, and last night was no exception, as they put up 41 points to cruise to the easy victory. I think their struggles against zones are oversold, and going into the tournament, it's not really something that concerns me.

Josh Shipp finally showed signs of breaking out of his slump, hitting his first three of the game, and first in 21 shots, before looking awful on his next two. Two of those came in a relatively pressure free second half, but the key right now is confidence, and hopefully he regained a fair amount last night. Darren Collison, in comparison, knocked down five of the six he attempted, and four of those came in the first half when things were still in doubt, including a terrific shot at the end of the first half that gave the Bruins a double digit lead that they would never relinquish.

Has any team been as crazy as ASU this year? They have wins over Xavier, Berkeley, Stanford, and two over Arizona. But they've been just decimated twice by UCLA, and they were slaughtered by an awful Illinois team to start the season. They probably need at least two conference wins, and a win in the Pac 10 tourney to make the tournament. Not sure if they can pull it off. The good news for them is that they finish with the Oregon schools. That OSU game could be tough. It's the last game of the conference season, and OSU will probably be gunning for their only conference team. They could be dangerous. Crappy, but dangerous.

On to Tucson to face a reeling Arizona squad that looks like they have NCAA tournament issues of their own. They'll be looking for payback after the drubbing they took at Pauley.

Beware of Falling Objects

Do not get in this kid's way.

Pretty Close to a Dream Lineup

At least until the Lassie Foundation comes to Chicago.

April 4th. The Vic.

White Rabbits.



The Walkmen.



Spoon.



All on the same Goddamn night. Thank God for internet pre-sales.

UCLA 56; U$C 46

It was an ugly game, and a really ugly final five or six minutes of offense for the Bruins, but on defense, it was a thing of beauty. Yes, the thugs shot 46.5%, but the trojans were one and done virtually all night, collecting only five offensive rebounds. Of course, that was when they weren't none and done. UCLA forced 22 turnovers, against nine of their own. T.O. O.J. Mayo had almost half of those by himself. When you grab eight more rebounds, and force 13 more turnovers, most of the time you're going to win the game, even on a night where shots and free throws aren't falling.

As for Mayo, Westbrook simply dominated him on defense. He finished the game with four points on 2-8 shooting. Darren Collison added 14 points of his own while applying excellent pressure to Angelo Johnson. It was a different Darren Collison than the one we saw in Seattle.

I'll admit, I'm a little confounded that Ben Howland didn't try to pound the ball into the post a lot more, especially after Taj Gibson picked up his third foul. Floyd showed that nothing short of a gunshot wound (it *is* South Central) or disqualification was going to keep Gibson out of the game, so I really expected UCLA to go inside in attempt to get Gibson his fourth foul. $C only got eight minutes from their bench, and those came after Davon "I hope they bring it" Jefferson picked up his second foul.

On the outside, both teams were awful, combining to go 4-21 from beyond the arc. Kevin Love hit the only two three pointers for the Bruins. Josh Shipp's shooting woes continued as he finished just 2-7, 0-2 from long range. But what they lacked from the outside, they made up for with very strong interior defense, and the aforementioned rebounding edge. It can't be any clearer at this point that the Bruins are a different team with LRMAM in the lineup than they are without him. Without him, they are a good team. With him, they are a great team. Coming off a bad ankle sprain, he put up 10 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and blocked a shot. They need him healthy for the tournament.

This is not one that will be featured on any classic games telecast, but the Bruins got a much needed win, and now have only one road trip remaining. They are once again in the driver's seat for the conference championship.

Super Furry Animals w/ Jeffrey Lewis and Times New Viking at the Metro - 2/16/08 - A Quick Recap

SFA is a band for whom I no longer have any expectations where their live shows are involved. They've released eight complete albums, as well as a b-side collection, and when there is that much material from which to draw, it's a waste of effort to go to the show expecting to hear your "favorites". At the same time, because virtually their entire catalog is so good, it's almost impossible to leave the show without having heard a bunch of stuff that you wanted to hear.

Jeffrey Lewis opened the evening. One dude, one guitar, and few hand made comic books. It was actually a really cool set. It lasted about 20 minutes, and his stuff is certainly unique. It's like spoken word set to music, but nowhere near as pretentious as that sounds. He also draws comic books and presents them as "videos". Here's an example of what you're in for (he played this last night).


Times New Viking took the stage next, and they pretty much provide about a half hour of noise. It's not bad, mind you, but I think they're an acquired taste. They make Guided By Voices sound slick and over-produced.



SFA took the stage a little after 11:00, and in a first for the Furries since I've been seeing them, there were no video screens, no grand entrance. There were still a few theatrics, as the opening strains of Slow Life announced their arrival. Huw Bunford, Cian Ciaran, Guto Price, and Daffyd Ieuan took the stage, picked up their instruments and started playing along. Gruff Rhys strolled out shortly thereafter in his Power Rangers helmet and sung through the rest of the song. (Go here for pictures).

From there it a solid 90 minutes of SFA as they played material covering most of their career. They ignored Fuzzy Logic, but every other album was represented. And as expected, they played a fair amount from the new album "Hey Venus". Here's the incomplete and out of order setlist, though again, I'm fairly sure this is complete (I should probably give this a new name):

• She's Got Spies
• Do or Die
• Keep the Cosmic Trigger Happy
• Calimero
• Ice Hockey Hair
• The Man Don't Give a Fuck
• Rings Around the World
• Juxtaposed With You
• Receptacle for the Respectable
• Hello Sunshine
• Golden Retriever
• Slow Life
• Zoom
• The Gateway Song
• Run Away
• Gift That Keeps on Giving
• Neo-Consumer
• Into the Night
• Baby Ate My Eight Ball

As is their custom, they closed with "the Man Don't Give a Fuck", though it didn't play for 20 minutes as it usually does, probably because there was no video screen backing them up. Also a first, there was no encore. And really, there was no encore required. They played roughly the same amount of time and material as they'd normally play. In fact, at the end, Huw held up a sign saying goodbye to Chicago, and Gruff held up a sign that said "Resist Phony Encores". And that was that. Another superb SFA show. When they've hit this town, they've never played anything but a terrific show. Can't wait until they come back. Until then, enjoy Neo-Consumer (live on David Letterman), Golden Retriever, and Receptacle for the Respectable.

There is funny, there is absolutely hilarious....

And there is "so batshit insane that it made me laugh for days."

Then, there is this:

IMO, the NCAA is fishing. They have an ax to grind ever since Coach Sampson got around his recruiting restrictions by text messaging. The NCAA is trying to "find" evidence against him so that the university will overreact and terminate him.

Just look at the evidence that the NCAA has, 2 Purdue recruits, 1 Illinois recruit, and a high school teammate of that Illinois recruit. In a court of law I don't even know if these witnesses would even hold up in court. Purdue and Illinois are obiviously Indiana's biggest rivals, I have a feeling both teams wouldn't mind seeing Coach Sampson fired and IU hurt. Doesn't anyone find it interesting that Matt Painter was the one that called out the bag, shirt, and shorts for Eltson? Painter has wanted Derek Eltson from the get go, and I am sure he wasn't happy when Eltson committed to IU.

The bottom line is, I think these allegations of lying are TOTALLY FALSE. The NCAA is just digging for stuff to get Coach Sampson fired. It isn't about justice or truth, but it is about making an example. I would be willing to bet that if Indiana stood behind their coach, did their own invesitgation, and took the NCAA to court, they would have a good chance of winning this case. The NCAA's allegations and evidence are weak, and it is obivious they have a grudge against Kelvin Sampson.

That, folks, is grade A hilarity. Delusional, but hilarious.

Indiana is going down, and they're going down hard. But who could have imagined that a guy who had made 500,000 illegal phone calls would commit additional violations and lie about them?

The sad thing is, Indiana didn't have to do this. They have multiple national championships. The state is hoops crazy. They were the last school to go undefeated. They should have had their pick of top coaching prospects. Yet they settled for a guy who is a) dirty, and b) a mediocre coach to begin with. Well done, Hoosiers. Way to hire a crappy, dirty coach.

Hope Eric Gordon was worth it. One season, in which they won't get to the final four (probably won't get to the elite eight) in exchange for multiple sanctions. Damn I love Schadenfreude.

NHL Network

Imagine if you will a sports highlights program where the emphasis in on the highlights. Yes, there's a studio crew, but their job is to introduce the highlights, and when they kick it over to the action, the action is the show. Imagine a show that shows highlights narrated by the actual people calling the game! Feel the excitement of the broadcasters who call the action as if they were calling while it happens (even though it's a replay)! Imagine a show where the action speaks for itself!

I know what you're thinking. Where's the "Boo-Yah!" to tell me when something interesting happens? I am a sheep who requires prompting!

Well, if you're not thinking that, and you long for the highlight program that SportsCenter could be, that Sportscenter USED to be before they decided personalities were more important than actual highlights, then NHL network is where you belong. One small caveat is that you have to like hockey, but I kinda figured that was a given.

Seriously, though, the nightly highlight show on the NHL network is sports highlights as they were meant to be seen. It's actually quite similar to what you used to get at halftime of English League games. Pure highlights, no distractions, and not just all goals. Good scoring chances, great saves, and big hits make the cut as well. All the action that's actually worth seeing.

If only certain unwatchable sports networks could take the hint.

UCLA 61; Washington 71

Two things are clear. First, this is not the same team without Luc Richard Mbah A Moute. Second, the Bruins will not be traipsing through the West on their way to a third straight final four.

Outplayed, outhustled, and yes, outcoached. Whatever Lorenzo Romar schemed for this game, Washington had players wide open under the basket all afternoon. And time after time they outnumbered the Bruins around the basket, which led to offensive rebound after offensive rebound and second chance point after second chance point. Ultimately, that was the difference in the game. As poorly as the Bruins executed, had they not been outhustled, they still could won this game.

It didn't help matters that the Bruins couldn't shoot. O for everything from beyond the arc. Darren Collison was clanking floaters as if he were new to the game. I'm not sure any of the three pointers that UCLA took actually got to the basket until the game was no longer in doubt. Literally, I think every three pointer they took was missed short. And every time they'd close the gap, they'd let up and the Huskies would separate again. Three point deficits became nine point deficits, and when they'd pull to three again, the Huskies would lengthen to eight.

This was not the Bruins team that most of us are used to seeing. They didn't do any of the things we're used to seeing them do. They were dominated on the glass, they rarely, if ever, ran their offense effectively, and they failed to play strong interior defense. That's a recipe for failure on the road in the Pac 10. And make no mistake, this loss is all on UCLA. Washington is not a good basketball team. They have one good player, and they've been torched at home recently. When you're number two and losing to a mediocre team, it's a loss. It's not a tough game that the other team pulled out. It's not a game where the opponent played a great game. It's a game where you failed to show up and do your job. That's why UCLA lost tonight.

Finally, when the ball was successfully inbounded with about 35 seconds to go, Alfred Aboya should have just hauled off and decked the piece of shit who through the ball off his face.

The Whigs w/ the Rikters and Tulsa @ Schuba's - 2/9/08

Saw about half of the Rikters set, and I thought they were pretty good. Local Chicago act, so there will probably be more chances to see them. Tulsa followed with two really good songs, and then sort of went to a grungy alt-country thing that was good, but not great.

The Whigs took the stage a little after midnight and opened the set with the opening tracks off their two albums to get the crowd going. They switched back and forth between albums for a few songs before settling into the newer stuff, and threw out a few covers toward the end. Setlist below, which is actually complete this time, and in order for the first few songs:

• Nothing is Easy
• Like a Vibration
• Technology
• Production City
• OK, Alright
• Violet Furs
• Half the World Away
• I Never Want to Go Home
• Right Hand on My Heart
• Sleep Sunshine
• Hot Bed
• Already Young
• God's Biographer
  
• Hey, You, Get Off of My Cloud
• Need You, Need You
  

The first highlight was Already Young, which just feels like a great live track the first time you listen to it. They didn't disappoint, as the song drew arguably the loudest applause of the night until they played Right Hand On My Heart, which was also terrific.

Whenever I see a band like this, it always feels like there's one song on which I was lukewarm after listening to the album. Then I hear the live version and it blows me away. Hale Sunrise from the Broken West was like that. Last night that song was Half the World Away. It's a slower track, and the keyboards are prevalant. It's easy to tune out when you're just listening to it in the background while working. But about 2:45 into the song, there's a terrific bridge, which almost sounds like a studio jam. It actually really rocks, and in a loud, live setting, it was phenomenal. It's a perfect little digression that doesn't overstay it's welcome. From now on, that song will never sound the same to me.

They closed the set with a cover of the song God's Biographer by the Dutch band Bingo Trappers. Then, jackets off and sweaty from the performance, they braved the cold (about 15-20 degrees). Schuba's has no backstage. Bands head outside before playing their encore. Needless to say, it can be a bit of a shock to a band from Athens, GA. So before too long, they were back, and closed it out with Hey You, Get Off Of My Cloud, and finally Need You, Need You.

All in all it was a great hour of music, and I'm kicking myself for leaving early when they played with the Broken West a few months ago. I'll try not to make that mistake again. They didn't play Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip, which was a bit of a disappointment, but really, no complaints.

Angels Spring Training Preview

Brian Ward asked me to put something together about the Angels for his Spring Training blog. They're getting this together for every team. My contribution is below. Feel free to tell me why I'm an idiot. FWIW, I was just on a conference call today where we made plans to go to a client location in Phoenix the first week of March. Spring Training was the first thing that popped into my head.

Location: Tempe Diablo Stadium
Pitchers and Catcher Report: February 14th
First game: February 28th
Schedule

Projected Opening Day Lineup

1. Chone Figgins (3B)
2. Howie Kendrick (2B)
3. Vladimir Guerrero (RF)
4. Torii Hunter (CF)
5. Garret Anderson (DH)
6. Casey Kotchman (1B)
7. Gary Matthews Jr. (LF)
8. Mike Napoli (C)
9. Erick Aybar/Maicer Izturis (SS)

Projected Rotation

1. John Lackey
2. Kelvim Escobar*
3. Jered Weaver
4. Jon Garland
5. Joe Saunders

*Expected to open the season on the DL.

Bullpen

Long – Ervin Santana
Situational – Darren Oliver, Dustin Moseley, Jason Bulger, Chris Bootcheck
7th Inning – Justin Speier
8th Inning – Scot Shields
Closer – Francisco Rodriguez

Key Battles: The biggest question mark going into Spring Training is clearly at shortstop. The off-season trade of Orlando Cabrera, which brought pitcher John Garland in return, opened up the shortstop spot for a battle between Maicer Izturis and prospects Erick Aybar and Brandon Wood. Aybar appears to be the early favorite based on public comments by Mike Scioscia, who favors the young Dominican for his defense and ability to make contact. Izturis is more of a proven performer at the plate, and is solid defensively, but has never put everything together for a whole season. He also provides the versatility to sub at third base and second base if needed. Wood is a long shot, but if he explodes this Spring, he could force some difficult decisions for the Angels brain trust.

The Cabrera/Garland trade has also created somewhat of a logjam in the starting rotation where, upon the return of Kelvim Escobar, the Angels will have six starters for only five starting spots. Ervin Santana will more than likely start the season in the rotation and remain there as long as Escobar is out. When Escobar gets healthy, Santana figures to be the odd man out, but he could beat out lefty Joe Saunders for the fifth spot. He remains the number one option to make spot starts, or to fill rotation holes should anyone else get injured. Either way, Garland’s addition added depth to an already excellent starting staff.

The acquisition of Torii Hunter created the proverbial good problem to have, as the Angels head into the Spring with five outfielders who could start for at least two thirds of the league, and a sixth who could probably start for 6-8 more. Hunter as the every day center fielder seems to be the only lock at this point. Vladimir Guerrero figures to split time between right field and DH, while Garret Anderson will do the same at the left field/DH spot. There are questions about how much Anderson has left in the tank, but after returning to full health he exploded over the last two and a half months of the season, when he put up a line of .350/.409/.650. It remains to be seen whether that was a fluke, or whether he can carry that forward to 2008. Gary Matthews Jr. will play everywhere, depending on who needs a day off, and who is DHing. For the moment, this leaves both Juan Rivera, one season removed from bad broken leg, and Reggie Willits, who exploded at the start of the season before wearing down in the last few months, on the outside looking in. Both figure to be tradable commodities prior to opening day, and a good spring could lead to a deal, perhaps packaged with an arm in return for a big bat. The Angels probably wouldn’t mind moving Matthews as well, but a no trade clause stands in the way.

Waiting in the wings is Kendry Morales, who started to show what he could do at the plate, hitting .323/.343/.462 over the last month of the season. He could see time at first base if the Angels decide to sit Casey Kotchman against tough lefties, but to this point, Morales has been a better hitter from the left side of the plate, so there may not be much platoon advantage there, and the Angels could decide to stick with Robb Quinlan in that role. Both have seen limited time in the outfield, giving the Angels a seventh option should the need arise, though that seems unlikely.

A smaller skirmish will take place behind the plate, where Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis will split time. The only question is which one will take over the primary duties. Napoli has the superior stick, with a 109 OPS+ over his first 174 games, while Mathis provides better defense. Napoli struggled a bit at the plate after returning from injury over the last month of the season, but even his .707 OPS over that period was far superior to anything Mathis has been able to put up over any month in his career.

What To Expect: Aybar will be given every opportunity to succeed at shortstop, but if he can’t cut it, the Angels may back into a better option with Izturis. Expect Wood to start the season in Salt Lake with a mandate to improve his ability to make contact. I’d be a bit surprised if they broke camp with both Willits and Rivera, as neither figures to be in their top four outfielders unless they can find someone to take Matthews and his big contract off their hands. It’s doubtful that all six starting pitchers will be ready to go in the first week, so I wouldn’t expect the fifth spot in the rotation to be decided until a week or two into April.

Sports Filled Thursday

Lots to take in last night, so I'll briefly touch on the four sporting events that kept me from watching the new episode of Lost.

Kings 5; Red Wings 3

Absolutely amazing third period for the Kings, as they potted four goals to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 victory. Alexander Frolov has been terrific since returning to full health, and the Detroit broadcasting crew named him their player of the game last night. I thought Brad Stuart was awful over the first two months of the season, but he's been terrific over the last month or so, and the Kings really need to think about extending his deal.

I understand the sentiment of those who don't necessarily want to see the Kings win at this point of the season. Barring a miracle, they won't be playing in the post-season, and every point threatens their chances at acquiring the top pick. But this is a team that needs to learn how to win, and they've been doing that over the last month. That experience may prove invaluable heading into next season. Confidence is a curious thing, and when a team has it, it can be very powerful. If they can go into next season not believing that they can be good, but knowing that they have been good, that will be more valuable than the difference between the first pick and the fourth or fifth pick. I hope they keep winning.

Florida Panthers 4; Ottawa Senators 5

I know, this seems out of place, but a fiend of mine is a gambler, and he suddenly decided that he wants me to start picking hockey games for him. I don't gamble, but I've been "owning" the picks I make, so I was very interested in this game, and it actually caused me to miss the beginning of the Kings comeback. After blowing a 3-1 lead, and a 4-3 lead, Ottawa was the first team to five, and only a couple of great saves by Ray Emery preserved the victory.

Indiana 83; Illinois 79 (2OT)

From a purely objective standpoint, this was an excellent game. Fairly well played by both teams. Back and forth most of the night, with Illinois performing their trademark late collapse, losing a double digit lead yet again. Free throw woes continue to plague the Illini. Sean Pruitt missed two free throws at the end of regulation that would have sealed the victory, then did so again in the first overtime. Six of Illinois' losses this year have come by a combined 23 points. That includes three overtime games (one double overtime game). In those six games, they've made 67-122 free throws. That's fifty five points they've left on the court. They're not a bad team when the clock is running, but they've killed themselves at the line all year.

From a purely subjective standpoint, I hate Indiana with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. This one hurt, and it was really a game that Illinois should have won. I've lost what little shred of respect I had for ESPN, as they continue to lie about what happened in the recruitment of Eric Gordon. He did not re-open his recruitment, no matter how much Pat Forde, Fran Frischilla, and Jay Bilas want to believe otherwise. Decommitting or re-opening a recruitment entails a conversation with the committed coach wherein the kid explains his intentions. If Gordon had gone to Bruce Weber and said "The situation has changed, and while I'm still interested in Illinois, I'd like to explore other options." Doing so would have allowed Bruce Weber to do likewise. But Gordon didn't do that. His family assured Weber that his commitment to Illinois was solid virtually all the way up to signing day. Quite simply, they lied. Whether they were simply malicious, or too pathetic to look coach Weber straight in the eye and tell him the truth makes no difference. They lied, and liars like the Gordons deserve to play for cheating scumbags like Kelvin Sampson.

Lost in all the hoopla, and the loss, was a transcendent performance by freshman point guard Demetri McCamey. He went for 31 points, 7-13 from beyond the arc, and kept the Illinois in the game all night. He definitely outplayed Gordon. It hurts this year, but in the long run, Illinois is probably better off with McCamey for three or four years than Gordon for one.

UCLA 63; Wazzu 59

Great battle in Pullman last night as these teams traded the top spot on the scoreboard all night. But in classic UCLA style, they wore down the Cougars in the second half, created some separation, eventually pushing the lead to 10 points. With LRMAM, perhaps their best defensive player, home with a sprained ankle, the Bruins allowed the Cougars to shoot over 50%, but dominated the glass, outrebounding Wazzu 29-20. Ten of those were on the offensive glass, and it was second chance points that eventually did in the Cougars.

Darren Collison followed a scoreless first half with an 18 point second half, while Kevin Love netted 16, and Russell Westbrook added 14. Josh Shipp continues to struggle on the offensive end, making only three out of eight shots for six points.

UCLA will face Washington on Sunday, and following that game they'll have only three road games remaining. If they can defend their home court against the Bay Area schools, they'll have the inside track on a third consecutive conference championship.

More Coming Attractions

The Whigs, Saturday, February 9th at Schuba's.



Super Furry Animals, Saturday, February 16th at the Metro. Behold the greatest concert ending song you may ever be privileged to witness, and a little bit of a Juxtaposed With You remix at the end, for hell of it.

Domination

That, folks, was a slaughter. UCLA simply stepped on the gas from the very beginning, and never let up. It's the type of performance that makes an impression on a national audience. Kevin Love was exceptional, and Arizona simply doesn't have anyone who can guard Russell Westbrook. He made Chase Buddinger look like a chump tonight.

Hopefully LRMAM will be OK. Kind of a nasty turn of the ankle there near the end.

This was simply a great team playing at their best against a good team playing considerably less than their best. But make no mistake, UCLA is better right now at virtually every position, and they have a much better coach. McKale will be a tough place to play in a few weeks, but for now, there's not much question who the class of the Pac 10 is.

And if you're looking for the Wildcats, you might want to check somewhere out behind this: