Bubble Just Got Popped

I was working at an event today, watching some middle-aged guys schmooze around before things got going. All they were talking about was the Clemson Clobbering, as some are now calling it. They talked about all the things I routinely discuss in these columns - turnovers, the freshmen in the rotation, Vasquez, missed shots and even Jerome Burney.

I didn't say a single thing.

It was simple: I didn't have the heart to say anything because I was at that game. I still don't understand exactly what happened last night, and I probably never will. This is what I felt like last night:



Today? I just don't know. It actually humiliating to thing we choked with a 20-point lead in hand. We got the lead at 11:21 in the 2nd half. We scored exactly one point all the way until 6:44, when Clemson had shrunk the lead down to 7 points. Also, from 4:48 left to 1:30, Maryland didn't score once. By then Clemson was down only by four, which became two, which became a tie, which became a 3-point lead with 2.3 seconds to spare.

By the way, most effective full-court press I've ever seen. We could not break it at the end of the game. Instead, our strategy was to play kind of badly, or at least that was the strategy we executed.

It stinks to get all the negative press just after we got on the radar. We were being talked about as an "in team." Now, what are we? Uhh ... well in this projection, but for how long? Do we really want to be among the last four in? ESPN pundits yesterday were saying Maryland is the team that is saying, "Please, take us out of the tournament!" Kinda sorta, we speak with our play.

I know Gary calls out the fans every once in awhile, and I'm for trying to have positive outlooks, but the truth is that sometimes the fans deserve better. When I was looking around, it looked like there wasn't an empty seat in the house. The crowd came out, and they did their job, and they cheered when they were supposed to. Some people on the court did not do their job, and I think the players would likely agree with that sentiment.

It's a harsh reality to face, but let's face it:

- One win against ranked teams
- A mediocre 18-12 record (we'll have to reach for 20 wins)
- A mediocre 8-7 conference record in a muddled conference
- Weak final opponent before ACC tournment (UVA)
- Probably a weak first ACC tourney game, followed by a hard one

That's not NCAA material. Bottom line. Period. Finito. I can't put anymore emphasis on that.

If we want a partner at the dance, I would advise the team to start winning. We can do this by:

- Making more than 2 three-pointers
- Limiting our opponent's offensive rebounds (The Tigers had 17)
- Not turning the ball over 21 times

But I'm not sure that we can do those things. I'm going to be honest: the thought that the Tigers could actually win didn't even enter my mind until they cut the lead to 4. Even the last shot, I didn't think would go in (and it was a fantastic shot, to Oglesby's credit, plus he was fouled). But the letdown after ... something I have trouble describing.

JEROME BURNEY WATCH: Burney played a solid 16 minutes and ended up with 6 points, 3 rebounds and a stunning 4 blocks. Good overall effort, but I thought that he could've rebounded better and that his blocks typically led to a Clemson offensive rebound. Still, he played just as well as Boom, who had a bad night for his standards.

Extra notes:

I know everyone is down now (except other ACC team fans), but I thought maybe some things would brighten up your day.

Some of you are aware that Hank Steinbrenner recently denied the existence of a national Red Sox fanbase. ESPN got his take on some other franchises as well.

Also, an interesting story and a cautionary tale about why you should never let your players take too many liberties with their bios.

That's it. Let's regroup and crush UVA.

Photo Credit: Baltimore Sun

On the Rise...

Terps are on the rise everywhere. It's true - the press is starting to scramble for information and stories about Gary Williams' team that's ripping up the ACC.

As many sites now recognize (I saw this over at East Coast Bias), Greivis Vasquez earned top spot last week in the country according to ESPN.com's Andy Katz, and James Gist was cited by The Sporting News as last week's best. Very cool stuff.

But I think the star article today is one I read in The Diamondback this morning by Daniel Kobrin. He makes the claim that Greivis Vasquez is the best player in college basketball, which I couldn't possibly agree with, but I follow his logic. Please read it so you can follow my logic from here on out.

Kobrin masterfully sums up my feelings about Greivis and how the fans treat him. He's never gotten the respect from his home crowd that he richly deserves. When he does well, Terp fans gloss over it. When he makes mistakes, everyone screams to bench him. I try to defend him and change the mass perspective whenever I get the chance.

While I definitely think that racial undertones are involved in this issue, I also believe that the Maryland faithful desperately want Eric Hayes to be the next Steve Blake because they perceive the two to be similar players. Hayes is solid, but he's no Steve Blake, and I doubt he'll go on to follow Blake in the NBA as a starting point guard.

I think the tide is finally starting to turn: ESPN recognizes his contributions, as does The Sun. College basketball is an emotional game - we can't pretend that every player should be a quiet, dignified guy who doesn't ham it up or celebrate after a good play, however inappropriate. Yes, Greivis is emotional, but so are Terps fans, and no Terp fan likes to be told to hold back their emotions (however inappropriate). He has faults, but so does every player. I encourage fans to embrace the player Greivis is, because he's pretty damn good at what he does.

Tonight as most are well aware is the Duke game, part II. I'm feeling vaguely optimistic about our chances tonight - Maryland plays Duke in Cameron better than any team in the country, and we were only at the start of our upswing when we first played them. I feel confident with all our starters at this point, but we'll need three things:

KEYS TO THE GAME:

- Bench has to contribute (Someone besides Dave Neal, please.)
- Perimeter defense has to lock down on their shooters.
- We need to make threes.

I think this is very doable, and really I feel like if we can accomplish two out of three, I think Maryland has a really good shot at winning this matchup.

See you on the flip side and Go Terps!

Baltimore's Crying Shame - What the Orioles Used To Be

I read something today posted by East Coast Bias, guys who I like to think of as my kindred spirits in the sportsblogosphere (can that possibly be a word?). The headline is what made me read it: "The Orioles Moving from Baltimore." When I passed through my knee-jerk reaction stage and realized it was just a playful story, I really thought about how I felt when I heard that.

Look, anyone who knows me knows that baseball hasn't really flagged my interest in recent years. I think the sport is slow-paced and kind of boring as it is, and it doesn't help that my favorite childhood franchise, the Baltimore Orioles are lost as a team and a franchise. We have no "rebuilding" years - all of them are crummy and we aren't getting better, only further mired in Baseball Franchise Hell.

I'm sure baseball fans are very familiar with the Orioles and their place as American League bottom-feeders. Some of you may be familiar with what Peter Angelos, one of the ugliest men in the world, has done to it. But the ECB story made me think of something that happened a few months ago that I can't really get out of my mind.

I was channel flipping in my room one night when I came across something very strange. It was clearly old footage, and I saw a bunch of old guys in O's uniforms trotting out onto the diamond. The film was a little grainy and the announcers were talking about people I didn't know about, like "Oh, and of course Dusty Dingwallop, who fans will never forget. And here's Monroe Mugglesnot who was on the World Series team! A classic fan favorite!" The whole time between watching old people struggling to get on the field and the announcers talking about every single one of them like they were all related, I was wondering what the heck the event was.

And then, someone said, "Yes, the Orioles sure leave a lot behind in this ballpark." I realized that this was the Orioles' final game at Memorial Stadium, Oct. 6, 1991. Fans had packed the stands to say goodbye to the stadium and pay tribute to their heroes. I watched Orioles legends Eddie Murray, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer and both of the Cal Ripkens jog onto the turf among other players who were legends, but whose names are lost on my generation. Once everyone was on the field, the players formed a giant ring and it seemed as if they might have been praying silently in honor of their old ballpark, the place where they had fought so many battles, the place where they had become a proud franchise. And after that, one of the old fan favorites, perhaps old Dusty Dingwallop himself, led the entire stadium in a cheer, "O-R-I-O-L-E-S, ORIOLES!!!"

I almost cried.

I'm not old enough to remember that day, but I'm old enough to remember how much I used to love the Orioles. When I was in elementary school, baseball was the only sport I was interested in, and the Orioles and Cal Ripken Jr. were my only heroes. I watched 2131. I watched when that little punk Jeffrey Maier caught that ball and the ump was the only person in the stadium who thought it was a home run. The next day I remember how all anyone was talking about was how we heard the Yanks took him out for steak the next day. I remember when Roberto Alomar spit in an ump's face and got himself ejected. Those were the good days - all anyone could talk about was the Orioles.

To show you what I mean about this spirit, this wonderful passion Baltimore had, watch this:



Look how lovable the players are in this commercial:



Other evidence lies in how O's fans still feel about Cal.

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about, the kind of thing that made Baltimore a great baseball town. People cared, people were proud to cheer for the O's, especially when the Washington Senators collapsed. The fan base stretched well into Virginia, just because there was no competition.

Now being an Orioles fan is shameful. I'm actually slow to admit it. Sometimes I try to reason it out by saying to myself, "Well, I loved the Orioles before an evil man took control and ran our team to the ground." But there is no Orioles version I and Orioles version II, just one team that has been ruined by a frugal owner who sold away our youth for flashes in the pan and settled on our team being non-competitive as long as they were profitable. That's why we haven't been to the postseason in a decade. That's why the stadium is only full when we play the Yanks or the Sox - because only their fans come to watch. I hate watching glory die. It's pitiful.

As for Memorial Stadium, here's what happened to it:



And here's the final result:



An ignominious ending for a place full of memories and pride. Truly ironic, given the franchise's similar demise.

Quick links for you boys and girls

I was doing some more research last night into perspectives of the gay community and it took me at least 20 minutes to determine whether this site was a joke or not.

It is, thank goodness.

I also want to shove this down a couple of Yankee fans' throats. I can't believe they tried to run one of the greatest managers in baseball in the last 20 years out of town since the end of last season, and then ask him to come back. The Steinbrenners have some nards to do that, and he turned them down!!!

Sometimes I dream of Torre coaching the Orioles into relevance, but I know he's too smart for that.

The greatest part of this whole thing is the Yankees' worst times are ahead because now that potential managers know the pressure of trying to coach in the Big Apple, and because the most high-profile manager in baseball just got run out, no one wants to follow in his footsteps (that's you, Sideburns).

Does this open up the AL East for the bottom-dwellers? Of course not. Angelos the Demoralizer will screw it up in ways the mortal being cannot even imagine.

This is why I hate baseball.