VCU Rams Running Through CAA

Anthony Grant doesn't lose basketball games very often. He didn't as an assistant coach at Florida. Grant's continued the trend in his first season at the helm at Virginia Commonwealth. VCU defeated Drexel today 75-68 in front of 2,500 at the Daskalakis Center in Philadelphia, PA.

The Rams improve to 10-0 in the Colonial Athletic Conference, 18-3 overall. It's the second straight road victory for Grant's squad against tough CAA competition. On Wednesday night, VCU handled George Mason, 75-62.

A big part of both victories can be attributed to the play of senior guard B.A. Walker. Walker dished out 24 points against George Mason on Wednesday and matched that total today against Drexel.

With the two road wins this week and the best road record in Division I (9-0), VCU has a legitimate chance at being ranked in the NCAA polls on Monday morning. It would be the first time the Rams have been ranked in the top 25 since the final poll of the 1984-85 season, when the Rams were No. 11.

VCU has lost only three games this season, Toledo (10-8), Appalachian State (16-5) and Xavier (15-6). All three losses were by a combined seven points.

Every win takes a little pressure off Grant's team when it comes to NCAA Tournament bids. If the Rams were not to win the CAA Tournament in Richmond this March, they could still receive an at-large bid to the dance.

VCU benefit from the success that George Mason had in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, when the Patriots made an incredible run, reaching the Final Four. Playing in late March and early April is nothing new for Grant. Last year he won an NCAA title at Florida.

The Rams return home to the friendly confines of the Siegel Center on Monday night versus a much improved William & Mary team.

Will DirecTV be the Only Provider Dishing Out MLB Package?

I always thought it was funny that my dad has both Comcast Digital Cable and Directv. The reason he has the dish is because Directv has exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket package. Now it looks like the NFL might have a follower in Major League Baseball, and I might have to join the terrestrial/satellite party.


It was announced this week that Directv is currently working towards being the exclusive carrier of MLB Extra Innings. Extra Innings is a subscription based package for out-of-market games. Usually, the package contains anywhere from 8-10 games per day for roughly 170.00 for the season.

This is devesating news for most die hard baseball fans. If you're a Braves, Cubs, Yankees, or Orioles fan, it doesn't matter as much, because many of those games are televised nationally, or in the case of the O's, regionally.

But, if you're like moi and follow a small-market west coast team like the Oakland A's, you're screwed. No more Fox Sports Bay Area.

What is baseball thinking? If anything, it should be adding more available games, not snatching them away from cable subscribers.

According to the Sports Business Journal, Directv pays $700 million for rights to the NFL, with a subscription base of $2 million. A number that I thought was pretty low with the popularity of pro football.

Cable television is not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, many people prefer digital cable over a dish. Baseball should look and see what television provider is most common. Did MLB think that there might be a corelation between the television package and merchandise or ticket sales? Alienating the avid Los Angeles Dodgers fan that relocated to Texas isn't the answer.

I really don't want to have to get a dish just to watch baseball.

Celebrating a Virginia General

Robert E. Lee turns 200 today.

The bicentennial is being marked throughout Virginia and other Southern states to commemorate General Lee. The Museum of the Confederacy is holding a special exhibit of a rare portrait of Lee, not displayed in public since 1868. At Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA, there will be events to remember Lee's five year stint as the school's President following the Civil War.

While his legacy may be deemed controversial by some, Lee was a very important figure in our nation's infancy. Not only is he considered to be one of the greatest military strategists our nation has every seen, Lee's battle for state rights over overpowering central government is still being fought on many lines today.

Now many of the battles are being fought over the man himself. It seems as though everywhere you turn there is some sort of PC campaign to erase Lee's memory. Last year, the Virginia General Assembly created a commission to celebrate Lee's birthday through the availability of license plates and education in public schools being reduced to almost nothing. It ended up being a $5,000 grant to publish a tourist brochure on statewide events.

Many people shutter at the word "confederate," which means united in a league or alliance. The only thoughts that comes to mind are slavery and white supremacy. Yet history shows that Lee distasted slavery, even supporting the idea of enrolling slaves in the Confederate States Army.

Lee also penned a letter to President Franklin Pierce denouncing practice. Lee wrote"there are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild and melting influences of Christianity than from the storm and tempest of fiery controversy."

Lee was a fighter, standing up for what he believed in for his army and Virginia. History should not be ingnored. Hopefully people in Richmond and throughout the South won't let that happen. Especially not today.

Dunder Mifflin Looking to Take Home Some Golden Globes

Awards show season is in full swing. Tonight, NBC will telecast the 64th Annual Golden Globes at 8:00 EST. If it's anything like last years show, I will be pulling for Steve Carell and "The Office," my favorite show, to take home some hardware. While not as important as "The Dundies," there is good reason to watch. If you need an example, take in the clip below.





"The Office" is up for awards in:

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ENTOURAGE
THE OFFICE
UGLY BETTY
WEEDS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
ALEC BALDWIN (30 Rock)
ZACH BRAFF (Scrubs)
STEVE CARELL (The Office)
JASON LEE (My Name is Earl)
TONY SHALHOUB (Monk)

Hey New Joisey, You Stink!

I must preface this entry with the fact that this Richmond kid has numerous family members that currently reside in New Jersey. They are good people living in the wrong state.

The Big Apple was turned rotten on Monday with the smell of sulfur. Yesterday, environmental officials said they now believe that the odor traveled across the Hudson River into New York. From where? You guessed it, New Jersey! Poor New Jersey, they can never catch a break. But this isn’t the only reason New Jersey is affectionately known as the “armpit of America.” Here are some more… What, yous gotta problem wit dat?"

Let’s start with traffic patterns. In New Jersey they have jug handles. When driving through a jug handle, you must make a RIGHT-hand turn just BEFORE you wish to make a left-hand turn. Then, you swing back around 180 degrees and cut across the road from which you have just come. Got that? Basically, you can go for miles on end without being able to make a left-hand turn on a main road in New Jersey.

Tolls. Tolls. Tolls. Having an EZ-Pass in Richmond isn’t a necessity quite yet. In New Jersey, it’s up there with a driver’s license and social security card. There are tolls everywhere. The Garden State Parkway is littered with them. We better watch out. They might soon spread south. And if you want to exit the New Jersey Turnpike and check out some of the "gardens," be careful. There are only 15 or 16 exits in the entire state.

When traveling through the jug handles and tolls don’t you dare pull over and try to pump your own gas. It’s illegal. Self-serve is not in the vocabulary. I hope they give residents a tutorial on how it works when residents leave the state. I bet the pay-at-the-pump credit card machines really screwed them up when they were first introduced.

After the attendant fills up the car, many Garden Staters head to the shore. The shores of New Jersey have a few nice spots. Stone Harbor and Avalon included. Then, it’s welcome to 1985. The New Jersey shore looks like it is in a time machine. How did modern time skip such a pristine area? “Wife Beaters,” hair gel, and gold chains dot the boardwalks. Enter any arcade to play some Golden Tee or Atari, and you are sure to hear Bon Jovi’s “Lay Your Hands on Me” blasted over the crackling speakers. And don't for get to pick up one of Vinny's signature Gyro's along the murkey waterfront.

Even the sports teams won’t identify with New Jersey. The Nets are moving to Brooklyn. And the Giants and Jets just needed some space in the lovely swamp to play. Both teams are looking to relocate to New York as well. But don’t worry, there’s still hockey and the New Jersey Devils.

Throw in high taxes, mobsters, toxic waste dumps, and former Gov. Jim McGreevey, and there you have it, New Jersey.

image courtesy of cyberxdesigns

Nifong Turned Rape Case into Race Case

If you need know anything about Durham, North Carolina, you should know that it’s one of the most polarized towns in the south. Durham consists of privileged white men and women walking the sidewalks of Duke University, in a town that is primarily made up of blacks.

This past April, a young black woman proclaimed she was gang raped by white lacrosse players at a Duke University party. The partygoers, 47 members of the lacrosse team, had paid her and another stripper to perform for them.

The stripper was a student at North Carolina Central University, a historically black institution located in Durham.

The reaction by the racially divided community was straight out of an overpriced sociology textbook: overblown, yet predictable. There were numerous protests, save the night rallies, and the cancellation of the lacrosse season.

This is where Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong comes on the scene. Nifong was nothing more than your average attorney before these allegations were made. Nifong was more worried about his ability to be elected to his post rather than proving right or wrong in this highly scrutinized case. Nifong had previously fired the woman that was running against him in the election. So he knew that if she won, he was going to get a pink slip.

His solution, win over the black electorate of Durham.

An op/ed in today’s Baltimore Sun said it best:

Politically, the case had everything: white jocks from affluent
families at a rich and prestigious university vs. a black woman who was a
student at a far poorer and less-distinguished historically black institution
nearby. Above all, there were black voters who could swing the election Mr.
Nifong's way if he played the race card and conjured up all the racial
injustices of the past, which he would now vow to fight against in the
present

Nifong claimed he would go after the accused players even if the DNA evidence found the three accusers didn’t rape the woman. It is important to note that DNA samples were taken from 46 of the 47 team members. Why not all members? The one player not required to give a sample was black.

The DNA did'nt match. In fact, the results found genetic material from several men — no Duke players— on the accuser’s underwear. Nifong never told anyone about it. Now the DA is facing ethics violations for his actions.

For Nifong, it all comes back to the ballot box and the election that he eventually won. But there might be a price to pay in the form of disbarment.

Too many rape cases seem to go by the "guilty until proven innocent" mantra, and this is a perfect example of that. The three embattled lacrosse players are still trying to get their lives back to normal, two of them possibly enrolling in Duke once again.

Two people need to be prosecuted in this case, Nifong and the stripper. It's black and white.