SportsHoncho

The CBI? and why I like it!

Its the CBI, and to clarify, it stands for College Basketball Invitational.  Haven't heard of it?  You are not alone.  But let me tell you why I already like it.

It gives my Utah Runnin' Utes an opportunity to play in the post season.  You see... Utah didn't have the best year.  New coach and new system didn't produce the results that we are use to at Utah.  Under Majerus, Utah became a powerful program, during the 1990's Utah was in the top 10 winning-est programs.  The Majerus-era spoiled us and the programs has slipped since.  I am looking forward to the Jim Boylen era and think this year was more a product of the last coach, Gaci-something.   So for Utah to get the chance to play in a post season tournament, at any level is good.  It gives this young team more practice time and competition from around the country.

Looking into the CBI, and this opinion is skewed by my teams chance to play in it, seems well organized and is trying hard to keep fans informed, with their website.  The website has information on each team, news stories about each game and it is updated soon after the games end.

The best thing about the CBI?  It has a tournament ending best-of-3 series.  One draw back to the tournament is that only 11 of the 17 games will be televised and on Fox College Sports, which I don't even get under my expanded sports package.  So unless Utah gets to play a lower seed along the way, I won't see them play.

Utah beat UTEP on their home court, and will face Tulsa on Monday.

GO UTES!

A couple of negative thoughts, before March Madness

Here are my issues with Conference Tournaments, specifically the Mountain West Conference (MWC) Championship:

• Conference seasons are easily enough to determine who should go to the post-season.  Period.  After a 16 or 18 game conference season, the teams have proven where they rank.  Taking into account the non-conference games they play, this should be enough to place them in the 'Dance.' 
• Several tournaments, including the Mountain West Conference (MWC), are played on the home court of a conference team. I don't have a problem with this, IF THAT TEAM EARNS that privilege.  The MWC has played on UNLV's home court for several years and created an unfair home court advantage for them, they have won the tournament 2 straight years.  The conference tournaments need to be played on: 1) Major neutral arena, 2) Rotated arbitrarily through the league, or 3) Played on the home court of the Conference's Season Champion.

Is this whining?  Yes!  Is it going to change?  No!  Its just my thoughts and issues with conference tournaments. 

Now lets talk March Madness.  I know this tournament isn't perfect either;  Legitimate teams get left out (ASU, Virginia Tech), Unworthy teams are allowed in (Baylor, American), and Some bad/lopsided games in the first round.  However, even with these flaws, I can't complain.  I love this tournament, watch all the games I can, cheer for the underdogs, cheer for everyone Duke plays, and come up with creative reasons to miss work on Thursday and Friday. 

We have one day before the tournament starts, I have filled out 12 different brackets and looking for more groups to join, I still don't have my 'illness' lined up for Thursday, but working on it and am stocking the fridge for the weekend... Its March Madness!

ENJOY THE TOURNAMENT!

Update to ZipCodeSports.com database:

The following schedules have been uploaded to the website for the 2008 season (See the 'League Pages' for all schedules uploaded to the database):

• International Basketball League

Playoffs:

• NIT Tournament
• Inaugural College Basketball Invitational (CBI)

Further information and events will be added, as each round is set.  The NCAA M & W Tournament location have previously been added, so the entire college post season is on ZipCodeSports.com

Update to ZipCodeSports.com database:

The Major League Baseball and several minor league schedules have been added, which takes the total ZipCodeSports.com events for 2008 over 10,000.  The following schedules have been uploaded to the website for the 2008 season (See the 'Leagues Page' for all schedules uploaded to the database):

• MLB – Major League Baseball
• Grape Fruit League
• Cactus League
• Pacific Coast League
• Texas League
• California League
• Carolina League
• Eastern League
• Florida State League
• International League
• Midwest League
• South Atlantic League
• Southern League

Playoffs:

• Continental Basketball Association
• American Basketball Association

Indoor Football?!?… Can it satisfy my desire for the college football season?

There are some games that when modified rules are incorporated, enhance the base sport to make it funner, faster and better.  Dunk-Ball in my parents backyard, for instance, is by definition basketball, but with some subtle rule changes make it an amazingly fun game for a bunch of 6' white guys.  Some of the better rule changes are:

• Lowered basket.  The basket is set to about 8'6" so that this bunch of 6'2"-and-under white guys can play above the rim and feel like Michael Jordan.  Its a home-made adjustable basket, that can go from 7' to 11' tall.  I don't think it has ever been put above 8'6" for years.
• Goal-tending.  You can goal tend any shot, except 3-pointers which follow the international rule of 'fair game after it hits the rim'.  This rule gives the shorter white guys, who can't jump, some advantage.
• Back-court line.  The half-court pad is small, even 3-on-3 gets a little crowded, and the back-court line to switch possession between teams is 10 feet from the basket and so you can get a rebound, stick your foot behind the line, jump and dunk it without having to dribble it once.

Between me and my 3 older brothers, and slew of friends, this court was heavily played throughout the 80's and 90's.

Our family went to the Utah Blaze game on Saturday, and I am not sure rule changes have made this football game funner, faster and better.  The game was:

• TOO loud  - The music and PA announcer was always on and the volume control was pegged at 10.
• TOO slow - I really thought the game would be faster, but I think the cheerleaders and promotions team was on the field more than the players.
• TOO boring - The game didn't get me excited as mush as real football.  There are some cool aspects, live kickoffs off the screens, hits against the walls, but overall its not that exciting.
• TOO much scoring - Every possession results in a TD, the rules (see next item) are such that the offense can move the ball and score too easily.
• TOO many weird rules - I realize that some rule changes are in order for this modified game.  However I do not agree with rules that hinder strategy or hobble the athletic ability of the players.  For instance "Illegal Twisting" was called on a defender.  Reading into the rules a little bit revealed that defenses couldn't stunt or twist to break from their blocker.  This means that the defender can only try to go over or through the blocker and not use talents to get around them.  Another rule is that there is no blitzing, only 1 of 4 defensive backs can rush the QB. Also, there was a kickoff that hit the net and after a couple of bounces ended up in the hands of the kickoff team for a touchdown.  However there was a penalty flag down and the TD was called off for (I think I heard this right), "the kickoff team passed the 5 yard line before the receiving team touched the ball."  WHAT?  Isn't the kickoff into the nets and the subsequent rebounds integral to the excitement of the game, and they have made a rule to tone it down?

In my opinion, there were too many rule changes and hindering rules to make the game exciting enough to keep my attention.  I really wanted this to fill the void of college football, but didn't even keep my attention for 4 quarters, we left at the end of the 3rd quarter. 

I am willing to go to another game in the future, due to some mistakes made by me.  My wife and I brought our boys, 2 and 5, which needed to be entertained most of the time, so I couldn't concentrate on getting into the game.  My wife has already said she will not go again, but I will give it another shot, but I am not TOO optimistic about its outcome.

Update to ZipCodeSports.com database:

The following schedules have been uploaded to the website for the 2008 season (See the 'Leagues Page' for all schedules uploaded to the database):

• American Professional Football League (APFL)
• All American Football League (AAFL)
• USL First Division
• USL Second Division
• Mustang Challenge Miller Cup
• Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
• American Le Mans Series

Every week, more and more league schedules will be uploaded.  The MLB and Minor League schedules are being gathered right now and should be uploaded within the next week.