Back in the first NGS, I started a post called SoCal's Daily Affirmations. In this post I get to basically rant about the things that I feel are relevant on that day, week, or month. This morning I felt it was the best way to once again post on numerous topics for you the blogging community.
UConn is lucky enough....Washington is unlucky enough...Memphis has some luck of its own as does UCLA. Villanova is playing really well and Florida will match up well against them, but LSU is good enough, smart enough, athletic enough, and dog gone it, I like them....
If you follow Golf you know that Davis Love III needs some daily affirmations today. Repeat after me Davis, "You are not Tiger, you are not Ernie, you are not even Freddie, but dog gone it people like me" (For those of you who don't follow golf, Davis Love just earned the notorious distinction of being the first golfer ever of leading a tournament on the first day and missing the cut on the second day. He shot a 65 on the first day followed up with an 83 on Friday missing the cut.)
Tiger Woods flew home to be with his dad the day before the TPC at Sawgrass. Tiger you are good enough to just stay home if you like. Your invite to the Master's is already secure. Go ahead and take a week off and let the new Tiger, Villegas take the stage. Keep your eyes on this rookie, Camilo Villegas, because he is fun to watch. He weights in at around 140 lbs put routinely drives the ball 310 yards. Camilo has a natural flair and is sure to be the rookie of the year. He is good enough and fun to watch. Is it me or is he just really taking the Tiger thing too far when he crouches like a Tiger to read the green on his putts? Hey, I guess if it works for you, keep it up Camilo.
Carolina just got a whole lot better by signing Keyshawn Johnson. Johnson, much like TO, has a reputation. For the most part he performed last year for Dallas without any incidents and was a perfect compliment to Terry Glenn. This is a good move for the Panthers as Keyshawn has been a perfect citizen since Tampa Bay and Gruden taught him that the coach and team has the power to fire you if you step out of line. He will be a great addition and only help Steve Smith be that much more dangerous. In my humble opinion, Keyshawn is one of the best possession receivers and is always going to catch the ball on third down for that 10-15 yards needed for first down. He has great hands and by golly he is just looks so happy in that SI swimsuit photo and does anyone have a nicer smile than Keyshawn. I can think of 19 million reasons for him to be smiling about now. Keyshawn repeat after me, "I look good, I am good, women love me and above all Carolina likes me...."
Did anyone else think that Adam Morrison looked silly on the floor after the Gonzaga loss? JJ was in tears too, but Coach K was there to console him. I was disappointed in the way Adam handled himself until I saw his quivering lips and that cheesy porn moustache and then I remembered he was just a kid. Adam, repeat after me, "You are good enough to play in the NBA, you have the skills, but stay in school one more year. With JJ gone you will be the talk of the town for the whole year. You can shoot the three, dunk the ball, and even post up on smaller forwards, and by golly the scouts love you.."(Is that Adam Morrison waving goodbye to his senior year?)
Well that is all the time we have today but keep your eyes peeled for more of SoCal's Daily affirmations.
Your advice to Morrison is good. He'll have 8 or 10 years in the NBA. What are they compared to one more of being the big guy in college basketball. If I had that opportunity I'd wring every bit of the enjoyment out of the experience I could.
Socal- I dont now much about golf except how to play Hot SHots Fore on the PS2. I always left that as a guy thing so they can go out with their buddies and scratch themselves and curse when the ball goes into the rough, and talk about guy stuff what ever that maybe. Keyshawn Johnson going to the Panters will help them but it willbe a little while before they become pretty solid I think. I know basketball enough that you can take me to a game and I wont have to ask every five seconds whats going on but I dont really pay any attention to it.
Morrison HAS to stay at school for another year. Imagine if he pulls that #### after a team gets knocked out of the playoffs? He'll be a definite top10 pick this year, he'd be a definite top 3 next year. Panthers didn't need Me'Shawn, but he's a relatively cheap investment and he's a quality veteran possesion receiver to replace what they lose by Proehl retiring.
I agree that Keyshawn will be huge for Carolina. He will pull the double and triple team off Smith and get that 8th guy out of the box for Foster. He is an awsome blocker making DeShaun's 7 yard runs, 15 yarders, and you wont find a better 3rd and 5 guy in the league.
If Thomas Davis moves back to OLB to replace Witherspoon, that also helps their defense because he was a horrible safety. I feel good about Carolina next year, but we will see what the draft has to offer. Hopefullyone of the primo HB's will fall ar enough to get Foster some help.
Hey Handsome, nice post! I enjoyed all including Villegas (sp) anyway I saw him at an ivitation tourney out here. I am so bummd (sp) out. Cal Ripken Jr. was right down the street from me for a whole week and I didn't even know it. He is such a grat roll modle and talented ball player. I never was an Oriole fan but I would watch them just to see him play! LOve the Mr Rogers Dude!
morrison should return, if for no other reason, than to grow up. seriously, if a 21 year old college kid cries like that after scoring straigh A's throughout school, only to get a B+ on his final term paper, and prospective employers see it, will they want to hire him as their new salesman? i know he's human, and he's young, blah blah blah. once again, we're giving him a pass claiming that his immaturity was the reason he broke down and cried. someone mentioned the other night that perhaps he was crying because of the emotion of that being his last collegiate game.....he's a junior, and if it hurt that much, PLAY YOUR SENIOR YEAR AND END IT WITH A WIN, AND A CLUTCH PERFORMANCE, RATHER THAN A SUCK-FEST. i think his reason for crying was that he thinks that performance cost him a few spots in the upcoming draft, more than the emotion of it being his last game in college. that's weak in my opinion....really weak.
cuzzifer I bet you never played college sports. I totally believe he cried because he has zzero chance to ever go back, try again, He's done. All that physical energy and emotions got to come out some way. I cried atmy last meet!
no, i never played college sports.
of course he has no chance of ever going back to the sweet 16, since he's going to take the money and run in the nba draft. why does everyone insist on sympathizing with grown men who cry over playing lousy in a sport they either do, or about to, get paid millions of dollars for? i agree that his performance was sad, but not something to cry over. if you could convince me that he was crying for his teammates and all the fans and students of the school, i might cut him some slack.....IF....he comes back next year.
I wasn't crying over the students, or the team. It was totally for him! And why not. It was his performance, it is his career. His emotions. He is not crying to be a cry baby. He is crying so he doesn't punch somebodies lights out. He has spent a lifetime to get this far. YOu mean to say if you were in his shoes you wouldn't take the money. Hell he can always finish college later. Take the money now. It may not be ther later.
so if he spent a lifetime to get to the final 4 or win a college championship, he should take the opportunity that he would still have next year to accomplish that. next year, as socal said, he'll be THE MAN. then, after his final, senior season, he can take the money and run. dont tell me the money is what wont be there next year. if he takes the money now, it is his senior season, his last remaining year of eligibility in college, EVER, that will be gone, NOT the money.
1 more year means he moves up 1 or 2 spots in the draft, and as we all know, the contracts will be bigger anyway, so yes, the money will definitely be there.
I think you are way off base cuz and not because of what rae is saying either. I make fun of both Adam and JJ because it was on TV, but the fact is they were caught up in the moment and if you have ever coached kids, and I have, sports are emotional. Grown men cry when their teams lose in the Super Bowl. Grown men paint themselves green and yellor, or orange and brown and go out in the freezing cold weather to cheer on their teams. SPorts brings out the emotions. As much as I make fun of him just so my post was comical, I know what he was going thru, hurting because his team lost. BY the way, he played fairly well, his team mates didn't. Losing sucks to a competitor and I would take Adam Morrison on my team anyday.
If he gets hurt in his senoir year, what then Cuz? At least if he gets hurt in the pros there some payment. Yes he could go back onemore year but why? He is high the draft now why wait. Yes I am all for college. But if you can bank some future for yourself finacially, I say go for it. Baseball players do it all the time. Get your your money now, go to school during the off season. I know this sounds very contraindicting but, school will always be there, he only has a few classes left. Hey these days go for it while the gettin is good!
if he gets hurt his senior season, he gets hurt. rehab, and come back after a redshirt season, or rehab, go pro, and earn a big contract. if he's injure bad enough that he cant play, then he can get a normal job like everyone else who cant make it to the professional ranks in sports. i understand the emotions in sports, but i just dont think i need to feel sorry for him. i can only imagine how tough that loss was. i also dont agree with people's reasoning as to why he cried.
crying because you are giving up your senior season to cash in with a huge nba contract is not a reason to cry....as i said, if he was emotional because it was his last game, he HAS another year of eligibility, and he should (every athlete, not just him) not even have been thinking of all the "should i or shouldnt i go pro" stuff until, at the earliest, AFTER all the basketball was done being played. unlike the favre situation, he owes nobody an answer to his future accept himself until the season is over. maybe i'm just recalling the days when nobody left early, and there was never all this speculation as to who was going, when they were going to tell us they were going, and what fake reason they gave as to why they were going. there's only 1 reason...money, pure and simple greed.
i dont hate adam morrison. the fact still remains, that if he cried like that at the end of a first round nba playoff loss, EVERYONE would question his mental toughness. redick's too. bottom line, i question if he's mature enough to handle the pressure, and if he's not, it would be in his best interest to stick around 1 more year and grow, not just as a player, but as a man who many people are going to count on to be strong at the next level.
So when Magic cried b/c he had to retire early due to HIV then he just wasn't mature or tough enough to handle it. Cuz come on. Haven't youever cried?
I mean just out of pure fruastration, exhalation, or exasperation!
you picked the wrong guy with the wrong reason to "have to retire." magic johnson, not that i believe anyone deserves to contract the AIDS virus, but...as the saying goes...he made his own bed, and now he must lie in it. i guess he made alot of beds that werent his too, but i wont get into that discussion.
yes, i understand it was an emotional time. yes, i understand that morrison may never see this opportunity again. however, as i have tried to get across, i do not feel the reasons people here have given are sufficient to change my opinion. i'm sure he had his own unique reasons for breaking down like he did. but please dont tell me that it is because he feels bad that, because he's going to enter the nba draft, and rake in a mountain of cash, that he wont have the chance to pursue an NCAA championship again. i cut redick slightly more slack because this truly was his last shot at an NCAA championship. if this had been morrison's SENIOR season, i probably would go easier on him too. here's some food for thought. we're debating over 2 players, who happen to be the most hyped in college basketball. but what about the several hundred other kids who lost in the NCAA tourney, the NIT tourney, their conference tourney which caused them to not be eligible for either the NCAA or NIT, the kids who didnt win enough to qualify for their conference tourney, dont have a conference tourney, were injured during the season...etc etc etc.
why are morrison and redick any more deserving of extra sympathy, even though they have a basketball future, while so many others dont. that is my most important point here. they're not the only 2 guys to ever lose their final game, so lets not roll out the sympathy parade just for them....lets feel bad for every kid who's college career (and probably basketball career, period) ended within the past 3 weeks.
I guess I missed something. I do feel bad for them all. Just just the few. And I don't think he cried because he can't go back due to the NBA. I trule believe it was pute emotion, fraustration, exhaustion, OMG we lost, noway!
They are not due extra sympathy. The whole team is due sympathy. The fact is the camera only shows Morrison or JJ because they were seniors and leading the scoring race all year. If they had panned the bench you would have seen lots of players in tears or emotionally distraught. No one says these two deserve more sympathy, but just as we feel sad when our team loses, we can feel sad for these two guys. I agree, Adam should come back, JJ can not.
Rae, for me Adam should come back for his senior year because no amount of money can replace all the fun he will have in the spotlight next year. He will be the scoring champion again and no JJ to share the spotlight with. Also, he will have one more shot at a national title. As for me, I loved college and it is a great experience. As to leaving early for big money, he will always have big money available to him. I know you can worry about injuries, but hey Bobby Hurley turned pro as did Jason Williams, both from Duke, and both got hurt in motorcycle accidents. You can not stop living because you worry about an accident. His type play is not nearly as dangerous as say a big man down low. Ultimately, it is up to him and I would have no problem if he left early for money. It is his choice to make, but the point is he can go back if he chooses but that in no way eliminates the pain of losing this past weekend.
i'd just like to see one big name college athlete turn down the money and fame and play the extra year. to me, it would almost be like returning the favor to the school, who gave him the opportunity to play in the first place....and that goes for all athletes. i'm not sure if ricky williams played his senior year at texas because he wanted the career rushing title, but he would not have had to stay 4 years. neither would ron dayne. the money is going to be there, 1 more year isnt going to change that. yes, there's always risk of injury, but they could declare for the draft tomorrow, and be killed in an auto accident the next day. thats just the way life is.
They do every year at Duke. Shane Battier and others. Redick finished his year this year. A few other programs have seniors come back as well like UConn. Two years ago I think his name was Ben Jordan or something like that and now he is playing for the Bulls. The good programs manage to keep seniors and that is why they are competitive. Look at Kansas 2 years ago, Heinrich also with the Bulls now. He was a senior.
right, Ben Gordon. See not all leave right away cuz and in the long run, I think it helps those players, but Carmello Anthony left after one year and it did not hurt him financially or physically, maybe still adjusting mentally but judging from half the bloggers here it seems marijuana is rampant everywhere not just in the NBA.
i think there's also something to be said about the conditioning of kids that leave school early. even those that go for 4 years have trouble adjusting to the more physical, longer season (82+ games compared to 35-40). andrew bogut is finding out how long an nba season is. as hard as redick and morrison have had to work to get shots, its going to be that much tougher in the nba.....a good conditioning program for morrison this summer, and 1 more year of college ball, and he'll be that much more prepared for the rigors of the nba.
Hey, I guess if it works for you, keep it up Camilo.
