Sunday, March 25, 2007

Report Faults Officers in Tillman Case

For the most part, this blog is fortunate to be able to focus on fun and even trivial issues. So it's with a heavy heart that I point out that, nearly three years after his death, the truth about the Army's handling of Pat Tillman's final hours continues to unfold.

I don't want to add any commentary of my own to this, except to point out that it may be a good moment to spend a few minutes reading some excellent articles from the Wired Devils Archives, including Kevin Tillman's piece and these items from SI and ESPN.

Women's team continue to impress

The Sun Devil women's hoops team beat upstart Bowling Green to make it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament for the first time in the history of the program.

The program officially hit the big time yesterday with the introduction of a new message board over at Cactus Ranch dedicated to the women's team. Larry moved some of the existing posts over to the new board, including this immortal effort calling for Charli Turner Thorne to be fired. Way to go, "Corey Graving"!

Dan Bickley continues to prove himself to be a complete fraud with this blog entry where he asks "Shouldn't we all (be proud of the women's team)?" Where the hell does Bickley get off referring to Sun Devil fans as "we"? Why should he feel proud of anything related to ASU? He may as well be proud of Rutgers or UCONN.

Meanwhile, 18 hours after the Rutgers/Duke game ended, the ASU website proudly notes that ASU will be playing TBA in the next round. Meanwhile, most other sources seem to think that the Sun Devils will be playing Rutgers on Monday evening at 7:00 p.m. Eastern (some nice primetime exposure on the East Coast!).

Update 3/26/07: 11 hours before tipoff, TheSunDevils.com still has TBA listed as the next opponent on the Women' Basketball Schedule. Is anyone in the Athletic Department awake?

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Loren Howard retires

Loren Howard told the coaching staff Tuesday that he was not physically capable of fulfilling the NCAA-granted sixth-year of eligibility, according to Arizona Republic reporter Jeff Metcalfe. The former transfer from Northwestern was plagued by knee injuries throughout his once-promising career.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Tournament Challenge Update

After the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Wired Devils contest sees a couple of early leaders. Both Berumen 1 and baptist 1 have 510 points after two rounds, putting them in the top 3 percentile nationally. Meanwhile, your humble author ranks in the bottom 20 percentile, and I think I'm only that high because a lot of people signed up but didn't fill out their brackets in time.

It's worth noting that Berumen 1 would be ranked even higher if he/she had not made the almost unforgivable mistake of picking au to get to the second round.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Football returns under Erickson

The Dennis Erickson era of Arizona State football kicks off in earnest Monday with the beginning of spring drills. Fans are welcome to watch each practice, but not without permission. If you'd like to attend you must contact the Sun Devil football office at 480-965-3429 in advance. Dates and times for practices are listed below, but they are subject to change. Don't bring your camera, because only media members are allowed to shoot practices.

Monday, March 19 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Tuesday, March 20 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Thursday, March 22 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Saturday, March 24 9:35-11:45 a.m. at Sun Devil Stadium

Monday, March 26 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Tuesday, March 27 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Thursday, March 29 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Saturday, March 31 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Sun Devil Stadium

Monday, April 2 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Tuesday, April 3 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Thursday, April 5 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Saturday, April 7 1:15-3:45 p.m. at Sun Devil Stadium

Tuesday, April 10 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Thursday, April 12 4:00-6:20 p.m. at Kajikawa Practice Facility
Saturday, April 14 7:30 p.m. Annual Spring Game at Sun Devil Stadium

The biggest change to spring drills this year is the invitation of the media to rejoin everyone else on the practice field. Make sure you welcome back Jeff Metcalfe and the rest of the local gang.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

First prize? Not much except our admiration

Since Herb fell a couple of games short of taking the men's team to the NCAA tournament this year, let's have some fun and see who can predict the tourney best!

I created a Wired Devils group in ESPN's Men Tournament Challenge -- you need to sign up before the first game starts on Thursday.

Maybe this goes without saying, but all entries should have au losing in round one.

What do we know about the UC Riverside Women's Hoops Team?

If you're looking for an in-depth analysis of the ASU/UC Riverside matchup in the first round of the women's basketball tournament, you've come to the wrong place. Apart from knowing that UC Riverside is in Riverside, CA, there's not much I can tell you (but click here for ESPN's take).

The women's hoops team deserves a lot of credit for their performance to-date this season, and it would be the National semi-final game before we'd have to face Stanford again. Since we seem to be able to beat everyone except the Cardinal, hopefully Idaho State, ODU, Xavier or LSU will chop down the tree and clear the path.

And while we're admiring the women's achievements, I messed up big-time by not mentioning the National Championship won by the Sun Devil Women's Track & Field Team this past weekend.

Monday, March 12, 2007

More Sun Devils in the College Football Hall of Fame?

Two greats from ASU's past and two coaches who will be remembered more for their time at other schools are on the 2007 Ballot for College Football Hall of Fame.

Excerpts:
Al Harris, Arizona State-Defensive End-Named unanimous First Team All-America and Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy finalist in 1978…Named First Team All-Conference, he set an ASU record with 19 sacks in 1978.

Randall McDaniel, Arizona State-Offensive Guard-Two-Time First Team All-America (1986-87) – consensus in 1987… Named PAC-10’s Top Offensive Lineman (1987); Led ASU to their first-ever Rose Bowl appearance and victory in 1987… Two-time All Conference pick.

John Cooper-Tulsa (1977-84), Arizona State (1985-87), Ohio State (1988-2000)-Led his teams to at least a share of nine conference championships and 14 bowl game appearances, including two Rose Bowls. Coached Ohio State to a Top 25 finish in 12 of 13 seasons…Coached 21 First Team All-Americas.

Darryl Rogers-Cal State-Hayward (1965), Fresno State (1966-72), San Jose State (1973-75), Michigan State (1976-79), Arizona State (1980-84)-Took Fresno State to two bowl games. Achieved an unprecedented national ranking at San Jose State…Was BIG TEN Coach of the Year in 1977 and National Coach of the Year by Sporting News in 1978…Won the BIG TEN title in 1978.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

A look back at the week that was

Jake the Snake retired? He must really hate those halo rules in the Tampa Bay area strip joints or maybe he is afraid of hurricanes. All he had to do to win the job in Tampa was beat out Christian Laettner err I mean Chris Simms. Instead it sounds like he has entered a game of chicken with Mike Shanahan
to try to get his release so he can reunite with Gary Kubiak in Houston while at the same time getting a nice fat signing bonus for his trouble. In the Salary Cap era Jake is surely making the savvy financial play. While you have to be concerned that a guy with bleached white fake teeth and a better tan than George Hamilton is worried about how he looks, Shanahan can't afford the 6 mill cap hit if Plummer reports to the Broncos.

The Ugly rumor of the week comes out of all places Tucson, the rumor making to way through the circle Ks and Carls Jr's of the Old Pueblo has Lute Olson suffering from early stages of Parkinsons. Sure Lute's coaching style nowadays resembles Paul Westhead or maybe a Westhead Bobble head more than the NCAA Championship coach he was almost a decade ago but to have some of his own folk to turn on him like must be rough. Olson and syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh assert that he is perfectly healthy for a man of 96 and looks to continue coaching into the next decade. However some fans in Tucson aren't buying it or feel that chasing out the Man who put them on the Map for the sake of their own vanity is OK. When I reached Asst. Jim Rosborough for comment he angrily muttered something about ASU under his breath and then destroyed a chair yelling "Fire Bad!"

The More things change the more they stay the same…Hakim Hill is once again arrested on alcohol charges. This time Hill either thought he was in a Taxi or not in the Valley. Last time I checked the police out here love busting rich athletes who act like idiots such as Mike Tyson, Cliff Robinson, Stephon Marbury, Mike Tyson, Louis Sharpe and Mike Tyson. The officer accused Hill of offering a wad of cash in exchange for a ride to the Scottsdale area. Well at least we know Hill that has a pretty good idea of ridiculous rates being charged by Phoenix Taxi companies.

ASU 22 Arizona 8 - Doesn't it figure that the Devils destroy the Cats in a game that doesn't count in the conference standings? This 2007 edition of ASU baseball might have the most talent of any in the Pat Murphy Era. This is both a blessing and a curse for Murphy who has yet to bring Devils fans the national championship they need to place him in the pantheon of great ASU skippers. Murphy upgraded his coaching staff this off season and the early results of new recruiting guru Turtle Thomas have been very promising. Let's just hope that like another famous Turtle future recruits don't pull a Saigon and skip out on their commitments for the big bucks, unless the Red Sox draft them.

Parting Shots
Sam Keller went on record saying that in the NFL when asked he will say he is a Nebraska Cornhusker. Honestly I have no problem with this move and it would be stupid of Sam to say anything to contrary. Nebraska officials did say that if Keller finds himself in the XFL 2 that when asked he can say that he went to ASU.

Dirk Koetter once again made his cryptic comment that ASU is not what it appeared to be. Well Dirk neither were you so let's just say it didn't work out and move on. I've dumped girls who didn't whine about getting the axe as much as Koetter.

Willy Fox now a Demon Deacon pointed out the difference between Wake Forest and ASU this week when he said "ASU is warm, and you have to go to class here. That makes it a little different." Look for other musings in Fox's upcoming autobiography "Sad Realizations".

Friday, March 2, 2007

Sun Devil women's hoops team 3 point favorites over TBA today

As you will know from an earlier post, I am not a big fan of the ASU athletic department's website(s). It's a little like shooting fish in a barrel, but here's more evidence of why something needs to be done.

I don't follow the women's basketball team closely, but I am vaguely aware that the Pac-10 tournament is starting this weekend.

So to get details, I first go to the home page at TheSunDevils.com. I see an article about Aubree Johnson and Emily Westerberg being named to the All-conference team, but nothing about the tournament.

Next I go to the women's basketball page. As of 6:25 a.m. AZ time on Friday, March 2, the page has no mention of the Pac-10 tournament.

Assuming I was mistaken, I go next to the women's basketball schedule, where I am interested to see that on Friday, March 2, ASU will play TBA in the Pac-10 tournament. It is Friday, March 2.

I finally have to go to the Pac-10 website to find out that ASU got a bye, and will not be playing their first game until Saturday, where they will face the winner of today's UCLA vs. Washington State matchup.

Come on people! How do you expect people to be interested when you can't even bother to promote your star program properly? You've got the #7 team in the nation, and you can't even keep their schedule up-to-date?