The State of Sports Jan 30th

-College Basketball

-BC finally beats Georgia Tech
It was one of those games where it was close the entire game. Just when you thought they would pull away and win by a slim lead, GT would just bounce right back into it. It was among the most sloppyest games ive seen BC play this season, and I wish they would play a lot more consistently. A game that started out bad from the beginning with both teams had a combined 9 turnovers, in 4 minutes of play, and one free throw scored by Jared Dudley. But they hung on for the victory, and thats the important thing.

One thing that I think really kills a team is turnovers. BC had 19, and GT had 20. I think Georgia could have beaten them by a lot more, had BC not played a decent defense. I think the BC defense got streched too thin at lots of points. They gave up the easy layup and the three pointer, from college range. This allowed GT to get back into the game, even when BC clearly had the game won, with 3-4 minutes to go.

One of the things I do like, however, was the press breaker that BC ran to stop the 2-3 zone full-court press that GT ran. GT was just forcing BC to make bad throws and mental errors, but they showed a lot of poise and got easy layups and created mismatches. The other thing that Eagle pointed out, was that Craig Smith had a good game, and he is just playing so consistently for them right now. Smith was 9-9 from the floor, had 13 rebounds, and 23 points on the game. One of BC's other strenghts is knowing how to score baskets by getting guys in the post, when a team plays a good zone defense on you. They were 2-12 (0-8 in 2nd half) from the three point range, and I give a lot of credit to BC for scoring points, the other way.

BC needs to play their best defense, they cant afford to make turnovers, or other mistakes if they want to beat Duke. I cant wait to read Eagles preview on what the keys to game are in this game. He follows and watches BC like a die-hard, and hes always got good points that I dont think twice about, when it comes to BC Basketball. After Duke, BC should have challenges with VT and Wake Forest (both 1-6 in ACC), and then they have Clemson, who almost beat NC State yesterday.

BC has definately stepped it up though. After dropping consecutive losses to GT and NC State, BC has won five in a row. They went from a 0-3 hole in the ACC to 4-3. I think they can play a lot better than they have and at least finish the season strong with a 4-5 seed in the ACC tournament. It should be an interresting week.

Random Thoughts:
-Mike Riess reports on his blog that Bill Belichick will be a pre-game analyst for Super Bowl XL (40 if you dont know roman numerals). I think this a great move for ABC because who tunes into the pre-game show. Last year I watched the game with my good friends at Northeastern. An hour before the game, they had musical guests on. When they announced that they were going to be Kelly Clarkson, Charlie Daniels, and John Fogerty, my friend Danny remarked "Whos John Fogerty?" My other friend Andrew then says to his suitemate, "Hey want to play some Madden?" And they switched off the pre-game.

I think adding Belichick as an analyst for this pre-game might boost the ratings up slightly. I still want to read the "Education of a Coach" book, by David Halberstam. Im still waiting for it to come out in paperback

-If your one of those people that doesnt know whats going on with the Coco Crisp deal, check out the Globe's Extra Bases blog. I think its a good wrap up, and has very good content thats been published over the weekend. I also liked reading Gammons this weekend. I was talking to my sports editor for the paper, and pretty much blew him off, because I was reading Gammons while talking to him on AIM.

-Olney makes a good point this afternoon, as lots of money was spent on middle relief this winter. I believe Gammons once said that "so many games are won and lost in the 7th or 8th inning, because you dont have a consistent setup man to set the stage for the closer to close out and win the ball game for you." I think this is the trend in baseball today. If a baseball francise wants to be competitive today you need a good middle relief-setup man in the bullpen.
-Olney has a chart that says that teams spent $232,215,000 on 47 total contract years for relievers compared to $265,425,000 and 34 total contract years for starters. While it was a small market for free agents this year, and both starting and relief pitchers really collected on money this year, teams focused on strengthening their relief corps. Especially when you dont have several pitchers leading the league in complete games with anywhere from 20-30 games. Pitch counts are watched religiously by pitching coaches in baseball today.

I liked his point, and I look forward to the many articles that ESPN will publish on the subject of middle relief this year.

-The Padres have reportedly signed future hall of fame catcher Mike Piazza to a two million dollar deal. I thought this was interesting because of the way that it was done. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Towers had his eye on Piazza then, but decided to wait and see when the time was right. I remember not even seeing Piazza's name in the list of interrested suitors, and the Padres werent on that list. Being subtle and quiet is the way to go sometimes. Its tricky, and its just so devilish. Towers played the right card here.

The terms of his contract allow for Piazza to have more control over where he bats. He is best suited for the #4 clean up spot, that last year, generated the most offense for the Padres. (.279, 19 homers, and 97 RBI's; Piazza was .261, with 19 homers and 62 RBI's total). The Padres are hurting for offense. The Dodgers look to contend with their revamped offense with Nomar, and Bill Mueller and the Giants with Barry Bonds returning all look to contend in that division. The Padres are in desperate need of offense and pitching, and it gives them an added advantage they really need.

Piazza, a veteran catcher, should give them solid numbers from the cleanup position, and leverage helping out a rotation that is young. Jake Peavy, Chris Young, and Shawn Estes should benifit from having the tandem of Doug Mirabelli and Mike Piazza. This also might have an impact on Chan Ho Park and his overpaid contract of 15 million dollars. Park has not had a good year since 2001.