Sports Talk
Fran Dunphy is Leaving Penn…
Monday, April 10th, 2006I’m hanging out in a hotel room in San Francisco, and I’ve got ESPN News on the TV in the background. I look up for a second, and the crawl on the bottom is about Penn Basketball! Go figure…
It seems Fran Dunphy has accepted an offer to coach at Temple University next year. The end of an era, I suppose.
Thanks for the memories, Fran. It’s been fun…
Categories: Sports Talk, University of Pennsylvania | Comments Off on Fran Dunphy is Leaving Penn…
Live blogging: Penn vs. Texas, Round 1
Friday, March 17th, 2006CBS is showing free, live streaming video of all the games, so even though the Penn game doesn’t rate national television, I’m still able to watch it live. Here’s the scoop:
NCAA Tournament – Round 1
University of Pennsylvania vs. University of Texas
Dallas, Texas
1ST HALF
6:34 left to play: Penn 14, Texas 13
Yes, really. Even more amazing: Penn has 4 3-pointers and 2 foul shots. They haven’t made a 2-point shot yet.
3:41 left to play: Penn 16, Texas 16
They finally got a 2-point basket and they’re holding their own against Texas. I’m sure this will all fall apart in the end, but for now, WOW!!!
1:59 left to play: Penn 19, Texas 18
They are playing amazing defense. No fast breaks. No lay-ups. Double-teaming the best guys, and then getting back to cover their own men when he passes it off. Quote from the announcers: “Who would have thought…”
1:00 left to play: Penn 22, Texas 20
That’s two more 3-pointers for Penn. Unbelievable…
HALFTIME: Penn 23, Texas 22
YOWZA!!! And for those who care, the Penn Band’s version of “Fight On, Pennsylvania” is drowning out the Dallas, TX crowd. Go Band!!!
SECOND HALF
Penn is shooting 28% to Texas’ 38%, but they are 6/14 in 3-pointers. The bad news is, I think we might have pissed them off. Here we go…
18:10 left to play: Penn 25, Texas 25
Texas keeps shooting & missing, but they keep getting the rebounds. Penn better start hitting their shots, or this could get ugly…
16:35 left to play: Penn 25, Texas 27
Fast break…Penn missed a 3-pointer and Texas took the rebound coast-to-coast…
15:20 left to play: Penn 25, Texas 29
Texas made two foul shots, Penn couldn’t get a shot off before the shot clock ran out, and then they fouled Texas again. The crowd’s getting into it now. Penn needs a 3-pointer to turn the momentum tide RIGHT NOW…
14:30 left to play: Penn 28, Texas 31
Texas made two more foul shots, but Penn got that 3-pointer, and now Texas turned it over. Very cool…
13:14 left to play: Penn 28, Texas 31
No scoring, but the Penn guy was just rolling around on the floor with the ball, while the Texas guys tried to take it away. IVY BALL!!! Such a familiar sight… ;-)
10:00 left to play: Penn 31, Texas 38
If there were quarters, this would be the 4th. They’ve still got the lead, but the game’s not out of reach. Penn just has to stay close, and then get lucky at the end. This is the best they could have hoped for at this point…
8:49 left to play: Penn 36, Texas 39
Gotta love those 3-pointers. One more & we’re back to square one. Let’s go Quakers! Announcer quote: “Penn will not go away…”
7:48 left to play: Penn 36, Texas 41
They got a rare fast break & put one in. But Penn has two foul shots coming now (they’re in commercial)
7:48 left to play: Penn 38, Texas 41
WOOOSH!! WOOOSH!!!
6:19 left to play: Penn 40, Texas 41
PENN with a fast break. Can you believe this? 3-Point scoring right now is Penn 27, Texas 3. Time out, Penn. GO BAND!!!
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Just turned on CBS. They’re still showing the UNC game, but the Penn score is now one of the three running totals at the top (to be fair, it’s probably because all the Texas fans are curious about their #2 seed, not all the Ivy League viewers, but still…)
5:00 left to play: Penn 40, Texas 43
Texas got a layup. Penn just lost the ball. Uh oh…
3:49 left to play: Penn 40, Texas 45
…and Texas has two foul shots coming. Penn just missed a 3-pointer. Like I said, they have to get lucky at the end. Still a chance, but it’s getting dimmer. Porten’s right – this is going to be a heartbreaker. I’m just not sure I know who’s heart right now…
(EDITOR’S NOTE: UNC has 38 seconds to play. I bet they switch to the Penn game on CBS when the UNC game ends…)
3:32 left to play: Penn 42, Texas 47
Penn made two foul shots. Now they’re trying a full court press. Foul on Penn… Ah, well.
3:10 left to play: Penn 42, Texas 49
Two more foul shots for Texas. These guys just don’t miss…
2:00 left to play: Penn 42, Texas 49
I think Penn’s starting to unravel. They’re pressing inside, rather than trying to find the 3-pointer. Texas keeps taking the ball away inside.
1:22 left to play: Penn 45, Texas 51
Jabber just made his first 3-pointer of the half. Maybe someone on the bench is reading my blog. ;-) Anyway, it still looks bleak, but it ain’t over yet…
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Funny, the announcer keeps saying, “let’s go back to Greg Gumbel” and then keeps talking. It just occurred to me that the TV broadcast probably breaks back to Gumbel, but the Internet feed is not going to leave this game…)
1:00 left to play: Penn 45, Texas 51
Penn did a great job of trapping Texas, but couldn’t get the ball. Finally, they fouled. Now Texas has two foul shots…
52.8 seconds left to play: Penn 45, Texas 52
Texas made one of them. Penn drove right to the basket & missed. Penn trapped them in the backcourt and they called timeout. Great trapping, but it’s costing valuable time. I would think they’d run down the court, take a 3-pointer, and then foul right away…
35.8 seconds left to play: Penn 45, Texas 52
Same thing: great trapping – took Texas almost to the limit to get the ball over the half court line, and then Penn fouled. So they succeeded, but it cost them 27 seconds. I don’t get it…
30.8 seconds left to play: Penn 47, Texas 54
Texas made them both, but Jabber just made a shot and got fouled. Missed the foul shot, though…
28.6 seconds left to play: Penn 47, Texas 56
Another two foul shots.
23.5 seconds left to play: Penn 49, Texas 56
A field goal for Penn. Band is playing Cheer, Pennsylvania. They stack up nicely to the Texas band, who I’m sure does more rehearsing. Nice job, guys…
14 seconds left to play: Penn 52, Texas 58
Another time out. Texas band is playing a smokin’ version of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad…” Penn needs some unanswered 3-pointers, and I mean NOW Unfortunately, they don’t have the ball…
10.7 seconds left to play: Penn 52, Texas 60
Two more foul shots. Dunphy is subbing in some other players (so they can say they played in the game).
GAME OVER: FINAL SCORE: Penn 52, Texas 60.
What. A. Game.
Hurrah for the Red and the Blue….
Categories: Sports Talk, University of Pennsylvania | 10 Comments »
The World Series – When’s That On?
Friday, October 28th, 2005The TV ratings are out on the 2005 World Series, and they’re the worst they’ve ever been. Before you write off the Fall Classic, though, think about this:
Despite rating so low in comparison to other World Series, the four games of this series were each the highest rated prime-time network programs on their respective nights.
So the World Series was the most popular show on television last week, but also the least watched World Series in history. I think what we have here is a commentary on the number of choices on television, not the popularity of the Series itself. Don’t forget – the last time the White Sox were in the World Series (1959), most TV’s had fewer than ten channels to choose from. The other two times they were involved (1917 & 1919), TV’s didn’t exist (but that’s another story).
The other variable here is the fact that each World Series is not created equal. When the teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, or Braves are involved, there’s a much wider “hometown” audience to draw from, which has got to boost the ratings. Heck – if the Cubs were in the series instead of the White Sox, I bet the number of viewers in Chicago would have gone up tremendously. So comparing TV ratings between World Series is like comparing homeruns in Yankee Stadium to homeruns in Fenway Park – apples to oranges…
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A bad influence…
Friday, October 21st, 2005Now, this is funny…
WYRM – I’m sorry to hear you think I’m a bad influence on my children. You may be interested to know that that kid is five years old now, and when I told him that the World Series starts in Chicago tomorrow night, he said, “That’s because the White Sox won home field advantage, right Daddy?” With this kind of head start, I’m guessing that when he gets to be your age, he’ll know what the squiggle is above the ‘n’ in Spanish words…
Oh, and by the way, he has a brother who I’m similarly corrupting…
Categories: Family Matters, Sports Talk | 1 Comment »
Why Statistics Professors Don’t Enjoy Baseball Games…
Monday, October 10th, 2005So, what’s more amazing? The fact that one guy caught two homerun balls in a single baseball game (alright, a double baseball game – it was 18 innings long), or the fact that the Chairman of the Department of Statistics at Stamford University calculates the odds of catching a homerun ball, without factoring in the thousands of seat-sized spaces in the outfield where a homerun could land and no one would catch it?
(Side note: I bet the guy figured he had million dollar souvenirs on his hands. Must’ve been a letdown when someone offerred him $20 for the pair…
Categories: Sports Talk, The World Wide Weird | 2 Comments »