It’s been about 10 months since I last (seriously) considered shutting this whole thing down. At the time I was stressed out and just tired of trying to keep this up. So, I stepped away, and though I didn’t necessarily have any intention of returning, I left the door open and eventually did.
Again, however, I’ve decided it’s time to move on. I won’t say I’ll never do this again, because, you know, you’re never supposed to say never. But at this point in time, I’m considering this to be my last post. I’ve said all I have to say here, or at least all I’m going to say for a long time. I’ve been at this around three and a half years now. And I think that’s enough.
You may find me posting notes on Facebook on occasion, though far less frequently. And if you follow me on Twitter, my activity there will likely remain the same. (My contact page is still here as well.)
But not here. I’m going to keep this site up for a while because I may do something else with it. I have no idea what right now, but I’m going to think about it. I’ve moved the blog to gregfielder.com/blog so that I can leave it here for a while as well. What I do with all of this in the future, if anything, remains to be seen.
Blogging has (for the most part) been fun, but my work here is done. It’s the end of the blog as we know it.
Tonight’s trip to College Park will not be easy by any means. Maryland is at home with much to play for, not to mention the fact that Duke beat them by 41 in Cameron last month. They always hate Duke and with revenge for an embarrassing loss added to the mix, it’s going to be extremely tough to go back to Durham with a win tonight.
But a trip to College Park brings to mind one thing for Duke fans (and probably for most Maryland fans, too).
That one thing is the “miracle minute”.
In the 2001 meeting between the two teams at College Park, Maryland pretty much handled Duke for 39 minutes. The game was pretty much in the bag. But Duke gets the ball with about one minute left, down by 10, and goes on a 10-0 run in the final minute to force overtime. Jason Williams scored 8 of those points in only 14 seconds. And Duke won in overtime. A Duke classic.
That season was a great one for Duke/Maryland games. They played four times, and despite Maryland winning in an upset at Cameron about a month later, Duke would get them twice in the post-season. First they beat the Terps in the ACC tournament on a tip-in in the final seconds, and then overcame a 22 point deficit in the first half to beat them for a third time in the final four, on the way to their third national championship.
There is nothing else like it. To say this is the greatest rivalry in college basketball is a gross understatement. That’s an easy one. There is minimal disagreement on that. Kansas-Missouri, Kentucky-Louisville, Indiana-Purdue – they’re all nice little rivalries that produce some great games as well. But they’re not Duke-Carolina.
In the kingdom of college basketball rivalries, Duke-Carolina reigns supreme.
Say it’s the best in college sports, and you might get some disagreement from football fans from Ohio State and Michigan, or the faithul of Alabama and Auburn. Say it’s the best in all of sports, and you’ll probably hear many more objections, the loudest likely coming from Yankees and Red Sox fans.
But in my admittedly biased opinion, I don’t think there’s anything better, anywhere. Proximity certainly plays a role, with the two schools only eight miles from each other. As Mike Krzyzewski once said, “We use the same dry cleaners.” The excellence of the programs is another factor. These teams live down the road from each other and on a yearly basis compete for recruits, for ACC titles and for national titles. Mocking your rival from the next state over or from the other side of the state is one thing. Knowing you have bragging rights when you see him at the dry cleaners is another altogether.
The rivalry is always heated. The Art Heyman/Larry Brown scuffle in the early 60’s. Dean Smith trying to bypass the scoreboard operator at Cameron to buzz in a sub (and not receiving a technical), resulting in Krzyzewski’s “double-standard” charge in the 80’s. Eric Montross’ bloody face in 92, and Tyler Hansbrough’s in 2007. Chris Collins’ and Matt Doherty’s chest-to-chest screaming match in 2003. All of the faux-controversies Roy Williams has created in his own mind over the last few years. And the many Dean/Krzyzewski stories that I don’t have space to mention. It’s always a battle on and off the court, both teams trying to get a leg up on the other, trying to get the advantage for the next time they step on the court.
And the stakes are most often high. Besides battling for ACC supremacy, there’s often national considerations as well. This year, both are in play again. When they last saw each other, at Cameron last March, they were tied in the ACC coming into that final regular season game. The winner would win the ACC regular season, and get a #1 seed in the ACC tournament and, likely, in the NCAA tournament.
While this is only the first game this season, it will still have an impact on both. They are again tied at the top of the conference, and the winner will take sole posession of first place heading into the final weeks of the season. Duke needs the win for at least two reasons: they don’t need to lose a home game against anyone to stay in play in the ACC this year, and Carolina has the friendlier schedule for the remainder of the season.
While both teams have to travel to Maryland and Virginia Tech, those trips could prove more difficult for Duke than Carolina. The Devils have on occasion struggled against Virginia Tech in recent years, and after blowing out Maryland by 40 a couple of weeks ago, the Comcast Center will be ready for their arrival, and ready to make those two hours hard on Duke. And Duke, unlike Carolina, must play Wake a second time, although at Cameron this time. (Have I ranted lately about how much I hate the lack of round-robin play in the expanded ACC??)
Oh, and, of course, there’s that trip down the street to Chapel Hill to end the season. Home court hasn’t seemed as important this decade, with Carolina having won four times at Cameron (including the last three) and Duke having won six times at the Smith Center (including two of the last three.) But still, home court is home court. This is their game to win, the game with more in their favor. It may or may not be a “must win” for Duke, but they will certainly make life in the ACC tougher on themselves if they don’t win.
Of course, the ACC has been all over the place this year. Carolina started out 0-2 in the ACC amidst talk of them possibly going undefeated, including a loss to BC in Chapel Hill. Wake beats both Carolina and Duke, but loses at home to Virginia Tech and by 27 at Miami. Clemson beats Duke by 27, only to follow up that game by blowing a 19-point lead at home and falling to Florida State. Nothing is predictable this year. Nothing can be taken for granted, either.
There are so many things to consider, but my thoughts regarding keys to this game for Duke involve only two things: shooting and defense. They must shoot the ball well. Their shooting has fallen off of late and it must be present for 40 minutes tonight. Another Clemson performance, or Miami first-half, and their chances are slim. And on defense, they must prevent Carolina from running. They’ll fare much better forcing Carolina into a half-court game, despite the probable advantage Carolina has inside. And part of that defense will be preventing offensive rebounds for Carolina. Duke must win that battle. If they can do those things well, I think they will win this game.
If Carolina wins this game, I don’t doubt at all that they will be alone at the top of the ACC standings when the regular season ends. I still think they have the best shot regardless of what happens tonight, but I believe a win tonight would serve notice to the rest of the league that they don’t intend to lose again. And they just might not.
I admit that as the clock moves forward today, I’ll find it more and more difficult to concentrate on anything else. I’ve currently got at least 10 tabs open in my Firefox browser with articles about tonight’s game and this rivalry. I hope I have time at lunch to read them all. I’m already suffering a bit of Duke-Carolina overload from having read other articles, watched games, and considered this post. Hopefully, I’ll make it through the day and evening and remain sane.
Tonight, another chapter in the historic rivalry will be written. Enjoy it, because it doesn’t get any better than this.
This week is one of the best week’s of college basketball every season, probably the best prior to March. ESPN is loaded with “rivalry games” all week, and one of the best games is often Kansas-Missouri.
Last night was no exception when Missouri hosted the Jayhawks. I missed the first half, but picked it up at halftime and watched a great comeback by Missouri. Down fourteen at the half and still down ten with about eight minutes to go, the Tigers rallied in the final minutes to take a two point lead. Kansas tied it on their next possession, before Zaire Taylor got a friendly bounce on a 10-footer with 1.3 seconds left to give Missouri the win.
Rivalry week got off to a great start. But no matter what other games are played this week, there is no doubt that the highlight of Rivalry Week – as it always is – will be on Wednesday night when the greatest rivalry in college basketball takes center stage.
The first Duke-Carolina game of the year is always one of the most anticipated regular season games of the year. This year will be no exception as both teams are highly ranked (again). I plan to talk more about the rivalry and the upcoming game tomorrow, but I wanted to share this today.
As the game tomorrow night is at Cameron, Jay Bilas recently shared his five greatest Duke-UNC games at Cameron in this video from Blue Planet.
I wouldn’t argue with Jay’s selections, though he apparently limited his list to only games where Duke finished on top. All games considered, no matter the location or winner, I would submit a few other great Duke-Carolina games that come to mind along with the ones Bilas listed:
1984, ACC Tournament – After two losses that season to a Carolina team featuring Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, Matt Doherty, Brad Daugherty and Kenny Smith, Duke upsets the #1 ranked team in the ACC semifinals, announcing their return to the national stage.
1992, Smith Center – Undefeated and top-ranked Duke loses by two when Christian Laettner failed on two shots in the final seconds. One of only two Duke losses that season on their way to their second straight national title.
1995, Cameron – Duke, on it’s way to a 13-18 season and at the time 0-7 in conference, took the #2 ranked Tar Heels to double-overtime before UNC wins by two. This game included one of the most memorable shots in series’ history when Duke’s Jeff Capel hit a half-court shot to send the game to the second overtime.
2000, Smith Center – UNC’s Joe Forte hits a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime after Duke had led by as many as 19 points in the second half. However, Duke holds off the Heels in OT for a four point win.
2001, Cameron – Duke, on it’s way to it’s third national championship, falls to the Tar Heels after a foul by Shane Battier gives Brendan Haywood two free throws in the final seconds.
2004, Smith Center – Jawad Williams hits a three to tie the game in the final seconds before Duke’s Chris Duhon takes the inbounds pass and drives the length of the court for a game-winning reverse layup.
2005, Smith Center – Eventual national champion Carolina, down by nine with three minutes remaining, storms back to win in the final minute and avoid a season sweep by Duke.
And I know there are many more. ESPN Classic is playing classic Duke-UNC games during the day this week, including some of the above games. I recorded two yesterday and will be recording two more tomorrow which I plan to save on DVD. There are so many great games in this rivalry, by two programs that are consistently not only at the top of the conference, but among the top teams in the nation as well. As I said, I plan to say more about it tomorrow, but I don’t think there’s anything better in sports than Duke-Carolina basketball. It’s absolutely the best.
I figured it was time again to throw out some new (or new to me) music, and the albums below are the newest downloads I’m listening to these days.
I’m enjoying it all. I love Alison Sudol’s voice (A Fine Frenzy) and I always like (although never really love) Andrew Bird. I have to be in the right mood for Bird, and I’d echo that for Cold War Kids as well. There are a couple of CWK songs I just don’t care for, but as a whole I really like the album. The music of Ra Ra Riot often brings to mind Vampire Weekend, and Cool Hand Luke is sometimes reminiscent of another of last year’s favorites, The Myriad.
But the two highlights of the year so far are Bruce Springsteen and Ray Lamontagne.
The new Springsteen is, not surprisingly, very good. I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews, probably slightly more negative than positive. And I would admit that it did take me several listens before it really grabbed me as a whole. I liked it initially, but I’ve grown to like it more and more each time I’ve heard it, and it seems unfathomable that it will not be in my top ten at year end.
The newest from singer-songwriter Lamontagne is excellent, too. Recommended to me a while back by Scott, it is just a great piece of work, that, like …Dream, seems destined for my top ten this year. My understanding is that this is his most diverse album to date (I’ve not heard his previous work), and based on what he’s done here, I cannot help but look forward to more from this guy.
Here’s a track from each one…
Working On A Dream Bruce Springsteen
“Kingdom of Days”
Gossip In The Grain Ray Lamontagne
“You Are The Best Thing”
One Cell In The Sea A Fine Frenzy
“Come On, Come Out”
Noble Beast Andrew Bird
“Oh No”
Love, Save The Empty Erin McCarley
“Love, Save The Empty”
Loyalty To Loyalty Cold War Kids
“Something Is Not Right With Me”
The Sleeping House Cool Hand Luke
“Cast Your Bread”
The Rhumb Line Ra Ra Riot
“Ghost Under Rocks”
Butterfly Sketches far beyond frail
“Portland”
That’s it. That’s the list.
I have 17 eMusic downloads left that I need to use this week. Any suggestions?
First of all, hat tip to Bud Collins for my post title. He used a similar phrase in post-match comments yesterday.
Depsite yesterday being “Super Bowl Sunday”, I was actually more interested in another sporting event. Sunday evening (but very early Sunday morning Central time), the Australian Open men’s final was played between #1 Raphael Nadal and #2 Roger Federer. If you pay attention to tennis at all (and you probably don’t), you know that this rivalry from the last few years has become the best thing in men’s tennis in a long time. And it has produced some great tennis and great finals as well.
The stakes were high, with Roger Federer attempting to win his 14th grand slam singles title, which would match Pete Sampras’ record. Nadal, on the other hand, was trying to win his first grand slam on a hard court, with his previous five coming on clay and grass. And, of course, they’re the two best players in the world, and whoever wins – no matter what the rankings might say – could have bragging rights for a while longer.
I didn’t know what to expect here. Prior to this tournament, Federer had been considered the better hard court player, and so you expect him to have the edge and perhaps be favored. He won the last hard-court slam back in September at the U.S. Open, where he did not meet Nadal in the final due to his being ousted in the semifinals. And it didn’t help Nadal’s chances in Australia when he was forced to play a five set (and over five hour) marathon match in the semifinals, while Federer had played his semifinal on Thursday. Whoever scheduled these matches, by the way, needs to be fired. It’s ridiculous that one finalist gets an extra day of rest.
In the end, though, it turned out not to be a factor in the outcome. In another marathon – nearly four and a half hours – Nadal managed to prevail yet again in five sets. This is the third straight final in which they have met and Nadal has won. If it wasn’t evident last year, it would seem so now that the guard has officially changed. This is the second straight final (along with Wimbledon 2008) that they went to the fifth set. It wasn’t as great of a match as that Wimbledon final (or even the Wimbledon 2007 final that Federer won), but it was still an oustanding match.
It’s been a while since I enjoyed watching two players play as much as I do these two. It is a bit unfortunate that Federer is five years older than Nadal. While Federer is still playing great tennis, clearly the closing years of his career are closer than Nadal’s, and it would be nice if they would have a few more years of this, but it seems unlikely.
Two questions are certainly going to be debated at this point in their careers. For Federer, the obvious – will he get number fourteen (or more)? Can he tie or pass Pete Sampras, or have his opportunities all passed him by? I don’t think he’s done yet, but I believe that 2009 could be his last best chances at number fourteen. I think it’s clear that Nadal is still going to be very hard to beat at the French this year, but some of the other clay court players could challenge him. But Roger – despite last year’s defeat – is still most at home at Wimbledon, and he will certainly be motivated this year to take back that crown. And he will certainly be there in New York in September again to defend his title and attempt to win his sixth straight U.S. Open. I think he has a very good chance to get number fourteen, but it will probably be his most difficult title to win.
As for Nadal, he’s owned the clay courts at the French, and last year he conquered the grass courts of Wimbledon. Now, with the Australian title, he’s done it on a hard court, too. So while it may be a bit premature to ask, I still wonder: Can he win the grand slam this year? He accepted the trophy yesterday from Rod Laver, the last man to win the grand slam. That was 40 years ago. Sampras could never win the French, and Federer has yet to do it, either. And while Nadal still lacks a title at the U.S. Open, I think his time will come. If he could remain undefeated in France and defend his Wimbledon title, he would have his shot at history in New York in September. There’s a lot of tennis to be played, and as Federer can attest to, it’s very difficult to make history. Nadal may very well have the best chance of anyone in a long time, but he’ll have to be at his best all year long.
I love to watch these guys, and I wouldn’t be disappointed to see them play in the finals of the other three slams this year. It would be great. Not only are they the best two out there right now, they’re also friends, and they’re very humble. Seriously, Nadal apologized to Federer after winning. How often do you see that in any sport, especially an individual sport? He knows how much getting to fourteen means to Federer, and he actually seemed to feel bad about denying Roger of what would be a historic win. That is another one of the reasons I hope we get to see a lot more of them in the next couple of years. When players like these two win, everybody wins.
Here are their words at the trophy ceremony last night:
College Basketball
A wild couple of weeks in college basketball, especially the ACC, has led to what will be a third straight week with a new #1 team. Wake Forest lost a surprising game to Virginia Tech to lose their number one ranking, only to do the same thing to Duke when Duke came to Winston-Salem on Wednesday. This week, Connecticut should be #1 when the polls are released today. However, their reign may be short-lived as well, since they travel to Louisville tonight, and the Cardinals have been playing very well of late.
Duke rebounded this weekend against Virginia (while Wake lost another game they shouldn’t have, at Georgia Tech, who was previously winless in the ACC.) They could have beaten Virginia much worse than the 25-point hammering they put on them. I think they weren’t as motivated to completely crush the life out of the Cavs the way they did Maryland last week. It’s no secret that Krzyzewski and Gary Williams aren’t exactly BFF’s, and Grevis Vasquez’s comments probably made the players want to add a little extra in the Maryland game. And I loved it.
There could be more movement atop the polls again next week. Besides Connecticut, Wake will be vulnerable at Miami this week and Duke travels to Clemson. Pitt, Oklahoma, and North Carolina should escape the week unscathed, so a Connecticut loss tonight could mean Pitt returns to the top next week. And Louisville and Marquette could make their way into the top five. Should be a fun week.
Super Bowl
Since acquiring a DVR for the first time about 5 years ago, I rarely watch sporting events completely live from beginning to end. Usually, I’ll pause it (if I’m not already recording it) and wait at least a half hour so I can skip through commercials, timeouts, etc. and just watch the action. The exception, however, is the Super Bowl.
Although it becomes more apparent every year that it no longer deserves to be the exception. I remember back in the days when the commercials running during the Super Bowl were more of an attraction than the game. That simply is no longer the case. They suck a little bit more every year. And considering the last two Super Bowls, with the exciting, final-minute wins by New York and Pittsburgh, even really good ads don’t live up to the game itself. So, while I didn’t skip the commercials like I might normally do watching sports, I might as well have.
I really didn’t have a horse in this race, but I never do. There’s not an NFL team I consider “my team”, but this year I was kind of partial to the Cardinals since, well, they’re the Cardinals. The Steelers already had five Super Bowl wins. The Cardinals had never been near the Super Bowl before. I would liked to have seen them pull it off, and they almost did. It didn’t seem many gave them much of a chance in this game and some even implied that they weren’t quite worthy to be there in the first place, but I think they proved otherwise last night. I said when it happened that the interception on the final play of the first half may have killed their chances, and you could certainly argue that it did. Nevertheless, a great game, the way a championship game should be.
The best part, however, was the main event. As Seth Meyers said on SNL, the “Steelers and Cardinals will be opening up for Springsteen.” And he put on a great (albeit far too brief) show during halftime. Here’s “Glory Days”:
Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez commented this week on their upcoming visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on soon-to-be #1 Duke.
“That’s my house,” the junior guard said. “I love going in there. It’s going to be fun.”
Vasquez followed up his comments with a stellar performance this afternoon, shooting 2 of 10 from the field to finish with 4 points, along with 1 assist and 4 turnovers, in an 85-44 rout by the Blue Devils.
Perhaps it’s not as common in Venezuela, but the phrase “don’t poke the bear” comes to mind. Because when you do, you lose by 41 points.
I posted a few thoughts in November after the historic election of Barack Obama. Today, of course, he has been inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States of America.
On this, another historic day, I am proud – proud to be an American, and proud of Americans for what we have made happen today. As I said in November, I believe Barack Obama was the best choice of all of those who ran for president, and that’s why I voted for him. But, the fact that his skin color is different than that of the first 43 presidents cannot be ignored, and in fact, should be celebrated. It is another reason I am proud today. We have not rid ourselves or our nation of racism by any means, but we are continuing to progress in that area. The election of Barack Obama is evidence of that.
Also, I have hope. Hope and change were closely associated with Barack and his campaign, and I have hope for many things, including change in how the president governs, how he works with leaders on both sides of the aisle, and how our lives are lived both as Americans and as citizens of this planet. And, perhaps as important as anything else, I have hope that the country can move more towards unity and away from division. That the right and the left will not continue to tear each other down and that, while recognizing the many great things about this country, Democratic and Republican leaders will work together to make the U.S. an even better place.
At the DNC in 2004, when Barack Obama made his first national impression, he spoke these words:
Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us … Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America – there’s the United States of America.
And certainly it is still true that there are those who will seek to divide. There are those who will want to see Obama fail, just as there were those who wanted to see Bush fail. But of all of those who threw their hat in the presidential ring two years ago, I truly believe that Barack Obama is the one who is most likely to move us closer to unity – closer to being the United States of America again.
Today, history has been made, and we are all hopeful that our future will be far better because of it.
New year, new music. Here’s what I’ve been listening to over the holidays and in the new year…
Balance
Ty Tabor
As is well known, I’m a big fan of all things King’s X. And another solo album from guitarist Ty Tabor is always a reason to rejoice. I love his vocals and his guitar work, and his solo discs have all been very good. This one – a bit heavier than his past solo work – is no exception. Check out “‘Cause We Believed (Blame It)”
Seeing Things
Jakob Dylan
Thanks to Jason for the tip on Dylan’s disc in his year end album list. I’ve liked some of Dylan’s work with the Wallflowers, and I’ve been wearing out this solo debut over the past week. This is a very enjoyable collection of “stripped-down” acoustic songs. Check out “Something Good This Way Comes”.
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
David Byrne & Brian Eno
I recall owning a Talking Heads cassette in the 80’s even though I never became a big fan. This album, however, has proven to be an early favorite for me this year. Byrne’s lyrics set to Eno’s music has produced an excellent album worthy of repeated listens. Check out “Everything That Happens”.
Chinese Democracy
Guns N’ Roses
A friend started his review of this album with “I waited 17 years for this?” A co-worker simply said, “It sucks.” I admit it didn’t grab me right away, and it’s still growing on me. It took a few listens before I actually started to like it, but this Slash-less version of GNR is just not the GNR I knew and loved. Check out the title track.
Promised Land
Dar Williams
Scott had recommended singer-songwriter Dar Williams sometime last year. Finally, I’ve gotten around to downloading it, and wish I hadn’t waited so long. A very good folk/pop album. I haven’t yet heard any of her previous work, but because of this album, I will soon. Check out “It’s Alright”
Volume One
She & Him
Actress and singer Zooey Deschanel teams up with singer-songwriter and guitarist M. Ward for this pleasant pop album that sounds as though it could have been released over 30 years ago. I love Deschanel’s vocals here and find this album to be a lot of fun. Check out “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?”
Fortune’s Favor
Great Big Sea
This is the only GBS music I’ve heard to date, and from what I’ve read, it’s not necessarily representative of their body of work, which is more often traditional music from their native Newfoundland. This album is not absent that Celtic influence, but is also a pop/rock album. And it is quite good. Check out “England”.
New Surrender
Anberlin
I liked Anberlin’s Cities enough for it to make my “honorable mention” list in 2007. The alt rockers continue to get better on this their newest release, which is also their most accessible release to date, and it will likely be in contention to land somewhere on my list in 2009. Check out “Feel Good Drag”.
Death Magnetic
Metallica
As Rolling Stone put it, Metallica has returned to being, well, Metallica. This is their best work since 1991’s self-titled “black album”, but is more akin to their 80’s work than anything else since …And Justice For All. It’s nice to have you back, guys. Check out “The Day That Never Comes”
