About Me:
Though I am a life-long Southerner, ice hockey is my game. I was likely the first hockey-specific sportswriter in the state of Louisiana when the ECHL arrived in 1995. I was a freelance hockey sportswriter for local fishwraps between 1995-2000.
Being
About Me:
Though I am a life-long Southerner, ice hockey is my game. I was likely the first hockey-specific sportswriter in the state of Louisiana when the ECHL arrived in 1995. I was a freelance hockey sportswriter for local fishwraps between 1995-2000.
Being
About Me:
Though I am a life-long Southerner, ice hockey is my game. I was likely the first hockey-specific sportswriter in the state of Louisiana when the ECHL arrived in 1995. I was a freelance hockey sportswriter for local fishwraps between 1995-2000.
Being
Selfish thoughts on Game 1 of the Western Conference Semis:
1. The Spurs can run--those graybeards are fast. Bowen had a great first quarter, but I don't think he should play 34 minutes if that means Parker or Manu have to sit.
2. As advertised, Paul and West are the show. If they are playing well, the Hornets will always be in the thick of it. Horry, Oberto and Thomas looked like statues trying to guard West.
3. Paul reminded me of Baron Davis the way he drove to the hole. When his outside shot wasn't working, he drove and dished.
4. Parker is unbelievably good. Fast as lightning with a great outside shot. Manu is a great shooter in traffic.
5. Bowen should have been called for all the shoulders he put into Paul during the game.
6. Bonzi is a Spurs killer. If he can produce 10 points a game in twenty minutes, the Hornets will win. I would start him instead of Mo Pete. The fact that he can play both SG and SF gives Scott flexibility.
7. DON'T BLAME HUGO!! Blame the Hornets' organization and the New Orleans Arena staff.
8. I expect a big game from Duncan in game 2. I think he will be guarding West on the defensive end.
9. Chandler's ability as an offensive-zone rebounder was a key factor last night.
10. I was surprised to see the Spurs doing less complaining after each foul called against them.
USA Hockey is replacing gray with green at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in Halifax and Quebec City.
The Americans, with a roster filled with NHL players 25 and younger, beat a spirited Latvian crowd and team 4-0 in Halifax, Nova Scotia in each team's first game of the tournament. The annual World Championships are usually held in Europe, and this is the first time Canada has hosted the event.
Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks), Dustin Brown and Patrick O'Sullivan (Los Angeles Kings) and Zach Parise (New Jersey Devils) scored for the US. Next up for the Americans is Slovenia, then a date with a Canada squad playing on home ice in the national sport.
The National Team Advisory Group of Don Waddell, David Poile, Ray Shero and Brian Burke went with a youth movement this time around, while American stars of the past like Keith Tkachuk (St. Louis Blues), Bill Guerin (New York Islanders), Mathieu Schneider and Doug Weight (Anaheim Ducks) all sat this one out.
Now, the Green Team is hoping to come away with gold. A medal is not out of the question, but gold may be. Americans have never won a tournament without strong goaltending. Can Tim Thomas be the difference?
Selfish thoughts and commentary: It's about time USA Hockey gave John Tortorella his due. I bet many NHL fans don't even realize he has more wins than any American-born coach in NHL history. He's got the fire and confrontational style of a Herb Brooks. I think he can coach like him as well.
In the midst of USA Hockey's necessary youth movement, it is great to see future Hall-of-Famers Mike Modano and Jeremy Roenick playing so well in the NHL playoffs. Both of them were the standard-bearers for USA Hockey for 20 years, and I believe these two 500-goal scorers finally put to rest the appaling idea that Americans could not score in the NHL.
I've seen it before, but it props to USA Hockey for the National Team Development Program. Most of the US roster has gone through the system and have trained and played together at various tournaments. No more all-star teams!!
Head-scratchers: Where were Brian Gionta, Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson and Ryan Kesler in Team USA's plans?
On a day when Canada's streak of consecutive victories ended at 20, the USA made a huge step towards a second U-20 World Junior Hockey Championship title with a 3-2 victory over Russia in the Czech Republic on Saturday.
The WJC lacks sufficient coverage here in the United States, while our Cousins in Canada can watch all the Maple Leaf games on live TV. It was no surprise the NHL Network had highlights of Canada's momentus loss but none of the US's victory.
And that is a shame. Just last year, Patrick Kane was lighting the lamp for the USA, not the Chicago Blackhawks. Two more future NHLers, James vanRiemsdyk (drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers) and Kyle Okposo (New York Islanders) were on that team last year, and are doing quite well this time around. Okposo also just signed with the Islanders, and will join them after the WJC is over.
USA Hockey is doing its part by having all of the American games via audiocast on the organization's web site, but that is cold comfort for holiday hockey fans like myself who have ached to see American WJC games on TV for twenty years.
Lost in the shuffle is Nashville Predators prospect goalie Jeremy Smith, who has allowed just 5 goals in the first three games. When the US gets good goaltending, anything can happen.
TV viewers in the US should demand that some regional network accessible to a majority of cable and satellite subscribers purchase access to these games. If I had a choice between endless (and largely meaningless) college bowl games and international hockey, I'll take the latter every time.
There are enough of these players who will play in the NHL (in big media markets) next year to make it work. There are enough players on College and Junior programs --like the Wisconsin Badgers and Minnesota Golden Gophers--right now to give more viewers a reason to watch, too.
Sometimes the past can haunt you, and some times it can bite you in the backside. Monte Towe may still be looking for a piece of his bottom on the floor of the RBC Center after Sunday night.
The visiting University of New Orleans Privateers pulled off a major upset last night, defeating the North Carolina State Wolfpack 65-63 in Raleigh, NC. The event was significant on its own-a lesser UNO team from a lesser conference (the Sun Belt), and on the road at the home of Jimmy Valvano, Norm Sloan, and oh yes, Monte Towe.
Towe, now an assistant coach under former NBA coach Sidney Lowe, coached the Privateers from 2001-2006. Towe left UNO after the 2005-06 season, presumably to go back home, where he led the Wolfpack to the 1974 NCAA Title.
However, given the time frame and the season from hell he endured because of Hurricane Katrina, one can wonder not too deeply to find reasons why an assistants' job in tobacco road was more appealing than a head coaching gig in a rebuilding city--recovering from the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.
Quite a few of us evacuees went through what Towe must have been thinking: namely asking yourself if the chance in front of you trumps the reality you have in New Orleans going forward. I spent 10 months in Dallas myself after the storm--away from my house, my family and my life as I knew it. But I had to go back home. And I did.
So, this article is not about how a selfish Towe abandoned his team and his adopted city for greener pastures. He went home- and no one-least of all those of us that know true separation from the place you love, can deny him that choice.
But he did leave a UNO team that desperately needed a steady hand, a talented coach (which I believe Towe is), and a leader for the University of New Orleans in its time of need. You see, UNO Men's basketball drives the athletic budget, pitifully small however it is. The Privateers' home arena was flooded by Katrina and has yet to be repaired over two years later. UNO still plays its home games in what amounts to a high school gym, and will for the foreseeable future.
It is not surprising that Towe would leave under such circumstances. It's like being the executive chef at Commanders Palace then after the storm being relegated to a short order cook at Waffle House in a FEMA trailer. Such Spartan conditions cost UNO Towe's replacement, Buzz Williams, who left for an assistant coach position at Marquette after just one season with the Silver & Blue. Williams, too, is a talented coach with nothing but blue skies ahead of him.
The heavy task of coaching the Privateers was given to California assistant and relative youngster Joe Pasternack (right). At least Pasternack gives some emotional gravitas to the situation: he's a New Orleans native and his parents, flooded out though they were, chose to stay in the New Orleans area. The youthful and energetic Pasternack may just be what UNO needs-passion, enthusiasm, and an upset here or there, to build up the recruiting base and get more people in the seats at the Human Performance Center.
Under then-coach Tim Floyd, UNO was the best basketball team in the state for a good half a decade in the late 80's-early 90's. To get anything near that in the next decade would be a major accomplishment, and just like the city it calls home, the Privateers will be rebuilt under the watchful eyes of one of its own.
Tulane may have lost the game 34-9 to No. 2 LSU on Saturday at the Superdome, but Tulane's return from a near-death experience of Katrina may have just taken a turn for the better in a lop-sided but entertaining loss to the cross-state powerhouse Fightin' Tigers.
Diminutive Tulane quarterback Anthony Scelfo led the Wave to a surprising 10-9 deficit at halftime, the Tulane offense confounding the LSU defense with trick plays and the occasional first down. The halfback passes, laterals and reverses effectively shut down the speedy LSU defensive line and kept the Tigers wondering what happened to a easy victory in an exciting first half.
In the second half, LSU asserted its dominance and literally ran over the Green Wave with 24 unanswered points. Another loss for the Wave? Certainly. A sign of better times on the horizon? Maybe, just maybe.
A lot will depend on Tulane football fans. The two previous games, both at home, had announced crowds well under 30,000, and likely no more than 10-15,000 people actually put "cheeks in the chairs." Keep in mind as well that supporters of the University of Houston and Championship Division-member Southeastern Louisiana filled probably half of those seats.
Psst--It's easy to get a good seat at the Dome for a Tulane football game. Simply buy the cheapest ticket you can and pick your favorite spot-because no one will be sitting in it.
Tulane has had a fan support problem that will seriously inhibit their ability to attract Division I-A talent if they continue to draw so poorly at the gate. An announced crowd of 58,789 saw the LSU-Tulane game on Saturday-good enough to boost Tulane's average attendance but well below Superdome capacity (69,000). The Tulane Athletic Department had as many as 3,000 tickets remaining as of Friday. This, above all the Post-K challenges for the Green Wave, must change if Tulane football is to have a future.
Many fans may have stayed away because of the early start time (11:00 am) and because they could see it on ESPN2. LSU fans, which travel extremely well, hate early start times because they ruin the tailgating routine of watching all the daytime games before heading to Tiger Stadium.
Not only must Tulane's fans buy tickets, they must make wearing Olive and Blue a constant reminder to college football fans that D-I football lives in New Orleans. Wear it with a pride that comes only through adversity. Tulane's coaches and players deserve the show of support.
After spending an entire season on the road, being forced from their home in Katrina's wake, the Green Wave faced adversity hardly ever seen in the annals of NCAA football history. They could not go home. They could not practice nor train on their home field, and could not play in front of a home crowd.
Tulane personified what many of us evacuees went through-surviving only through the kindness of others. It is not a situation any of us would like to be in again. Katrina taught us to rely on ourselves, and maybe this push of inward strength can sustain the Wave as they rebuild their fan base. Those same fans stepping up to the plate to buy tickets (and show up) as well as wear their colors with pride would be a good place to start.
Wear your heart on your sleeves, Tulane fans, and make sure those sleeves are covered in green.
See this, Tulane fans? It would be nice if you wore these more often...
Send Message
Add Friend
Block User
Invite to Group
Report User 
Prospect
The visiting University of New Orleans Privateers pulled off a major upset last night, defeating the North Carolina State Wolfpack 65-63 in Raleigh, NC. The event was significant on its own-a lesser UNO team from a lesser conference (the Sun Belt), and on the road at the home of Jimmy Valvano, Norm Sloan, and oh yes, Monte Towe. 
youngster Joe Pasternack (right). At least Pasternack gives some emotional gravitas to the situation: he's a New Orleans native and his parents, flooded out though they were, chose to stay in the New Orleans area. The youthful and energetic Pasternack may just be what UNO needs-passion, enthusiasm, and an upset here or there, to build up the recruiting base and get more people in the seats at the Human Performance Center.
A lot will depend on Tulane football fans. The two previous games, both at home, had announced crowds well under 30,000, and likely no more than 10-15,000 people actually put "cheeks in the chairs." Keep in mind as well that supporters of the University of Houston and Championship Division-member Southeastern Louisiana filled probably half of those seats. 