So when the folks at GameDay Rugs approached me last week and asked for a plug, of course I said yes. GameDay Rugs is a new online retailer selling team related rugs for both indoor and outdoor use. While they have started with some of the larger college football and basketball teams, they are working on expanding the line to include additional college teams and professional teams.

Clemson Football Rug

I interviewed GameDay Rugs Account Manager and die-hard Clemson football fan Joey Westmoreland about the company, his products, and Bills rookie CJ Spiller (yes, I had to go there.)

Kat: Why did you decide to get into the sports rug business?

Joey: Sports are my life, so I was very fortunate to have been brought into the business by a friend while GameDay Rugs was still in the concept stage. I had seen what the parent company had accomplished with Astroturf and knew, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, that I wanted to be part of this.

Kat: What is the most creative way you’ve seen one of your rugs used?

Joey: Actually, I was at the NC State v Boston College game this past weekend and walked right passed two little boys, they were maybe 3 or so, and were perched on one of our football field area rugs playing their own game right there on the concrete, moving small helmets around as if they were players. Also, I’ve seen a circle Alabama rug used as wall art, but the tailgating child’s play takes the cake as most creative use.

Kat: I have it on good authority that you are a Clemson fan. I’m a Buffalo Bills fan, and we’re hanging a lot of hope on Clemson grad CJ Spiller. Do you have any thoughts on him?

Joey: I think he’s a super guy who will represent the Bills with the integrity that he’s demonstrated to date. The fact that he came back as a Senior speaks volumes of who he is, how he represented Clemson and how he will represent the Bills organization. His record, being chosen Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, and the fact that his jersey is being retired are testaments of what he’s meant to Clemson football. In my opinion, your hopes are well placed, and you have nothing to worry about.

Kat: Your company has a good selection of football schools. Any plans to expand to other schools and or other sports teams?

Joey: Absolutely! We take daily steps toward expanding our line, and offer a way on our site to collect fan suggestions for additional teams, although it takes time to get new designs approved by the universities and the CLC (Collegiate Licensing Company). Keep checking back often as new designs are constantly being added and we have some great plans for future product lines.

GameDay Rugs has a free shipping promotion ongoing through October 31, 2010. Visit their site at GameDayRugs.com.

******

Legal Note: I did not receive any compensation from GameDay Rugs or any affiliated party in exchange for this blog post.

I am not exaggerating. I have lived in Boston for five years, and only twenty percent of those I run into have actually heard of Binghamton University, the State University of New York branch I graduated from. That is, until the university hired men’s basketball coach Kevin Broadus, and his prize recruits started finding themselves in the back of police cars.

The first two times the Binghamton athletic program fell astray this past year, I didn’t wince, chalked it up to coincidence, pointed out to those who brought it up that other Division I schools had much worse discipline and academic problems. The New York Times profiled my alma mater, claiming that it had compromised academic achievement, was actively recruiting students from “diploma mills” and was taking chances on players other schools had given up on. I defended the school against the Times report in a blog post, claiming that the Times had cast the magnifying glass unfairly, and that the rapid growth of the Athletic program had brought a spirit and identity to campus that had not existed prior.

Then Wednesday night, several media outlets reported that Binghamton guard Tiki Mayben had been accused of being in possession of and distributing cocaine. His hometown police in Troy, NY arrested him of such after a three month investigation. Mayben pled not guilty on Thursday.

“I did all I could,” the New York Times reported Broadus as saying about the situation.

My initial reaction was that I had done all I could, that I could no longer turn a blind eye to the troubling situations at my alma mater. I could no longer carry the perspective that if larger, more successful Division I schools have similar problems, then Binghamton must be doing something right. I just could not, morally, support this basketball team anymore. The ribbing and commentary of those whose teams were either keeping their players well-disciplined, or just covering everything up much better, was going to get old quick.

As much as athletics can be a motivating and unifying factor on campuses that have previously lacked an identity, there is a threshold. A school just can not sell their soul to the devil just to have a good athletic program. Sometimes there is a good reason why a student has been dismissed previously from an institution. A school probably should not give a student-athlete his or her sixty-fifth chance, proclaiming that this good deed is being done because they truly deserve it, not because of the real reason – because he or she is a great basketball player that will make the rest of your mid-major conference look like 10 year olds.

After reflecting on the situation, however, I become a tad more tolerant. These disobedient basketball players are three student-athletes of maybe 300 in the entire school – in any sample of young adults, a small percentage is going to run into trouble, be they athletes or not. I also understand, more so than some due to my full-time work, the political factors that have led to this point. Broadus, the maligned coach at the center of recruiting all of these disruptive student athletes, came from Georgetown University with high recommendations. When making large athletic program decisions at mid-majors, the academic status of other schools are considered just as much as the athletic status, and Georgetown is a school Binghamton looks up to in both fields. Georgetown is where Binghamton wants to be, and is always striving to be – of course they saw no significant problems with bringing Broadus on board just about three years ago. If Georgetown – a school ranked 57 spots ahead of them in the US News and World Report College Rankings, as well as a school known for basketball prowess – had no problems with Broadus, than he couldn’t be that bad. Right?

Late Thursday evening, however, it seemed that Binghamton – with enough poor publicity to last the next sixty-three years – had actually had enough. It publicized that it had suspended Maybin from the basketball team, and mentioned the judicial sanctions he might face via the school’s judicial affairs office in said release. And it sounded like my alma mater was now going to look at Broadus’s decision-making much more critically. “We appreciate that Coach Broadus has given second chances to athletes,” Binghamton President Lois DeFleur stated Thursday, “but our program cannot take these risks.”

When my father used to drive me to Binghamton at the beginning of a semester, he would approach the gray, depressed city and wonder why the city or the school – both of which he was quite fond of – wouldn’t just take some risks to get their name out there and reenergize both the campus and city communities. A few years later, Binghamton took his advice – and, well, it did get their name out there.

"Even SUNY Programs Need 2 Dance" (Photo: Pressconnects.com)

Now the rest of the country knows my little school. Binghamton University won the America East Men’s Basketball Championship yesterday, securing their first NCAA Tournament bid. Over 5,000 fans packed into the Events Center to watch the game, and the ESPN2 announcers couldn’t heap more praise onto my trusty little alma mater that could.

“I’ve covered a lot of games,” said one of the announcers. “But this has to be one of the most electric atmospheres I have ever seen for a game.”

The photos from the Press and Sun-Bulletin support the announcer’s statement. You had President DeFleur in the stands in one of the special give-away shirts, then cutting down the net at the end of the game. You had the students with signs aplenty, then storming the court after the win. Students had pictures of Tony Kornheiser in his Binghamton jersey from Friday’s Pardon the Interruption. Watching it on ESPN2, the crowd came across as so loud and buoyant that you couldn’t help but want to join them.

This game meant a lot to this school, and you couldn’t really deny them this, a conference tournament win, a place in the NCAA tournament, on their home court – a court built specifically for such a day, no less. Unlike many other America East schools, who have football or hockey, all Binghamton has is their basketball.  A few years ago, basketball was obviously made a priority by Athletics and the rest of the school, and Saturday was the result.

I get shivers at a lot of fan bases – mostly whenever Boston University wins the Beanpot – but watching yesterday’s game on ESPN2 made me shake. I believed that someday Binghamton would be a contender for a NCAA berth, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. This school has been waiting for this for years, and now, Bearcats have something to aspire to and believe in. They could very well get crushed by Duke on Thursday, but this year was just the beginning.  This is a program to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future.

Fun fact: If Binghamton somehow made it to the Sweet Sixteen, they’d play at the TDBanknorth Garden here in Boston. Just saying…

Needless to say that this weekend, I have an excess of nervousness and excitement.  Frankly, I’m a nervous wreck.  I have channeled this excess excitement and nervousness into doing my nails multiple times. (I even went as far as to buy a new buffer. That means I’m serious.) But the nail filing and buffing isn’t working.

Last year to the day, I wrote a piece about excitement and nervousness, and how your favorite teams may ebb and flow throughout the years, the way you act when they’re in the playoffs may never really change.  The original post (which I very much enjoy) is located here.

Now someone pass the top coat.

To kick off our series, I am reposting an oldie-but-a-goodie I wrote about Senior Day for the Binghamton University men’s basketball team in 2004. I was a senior about to head off to Boston University for graduate work, and the Bearcats’ opponent that day was the Terriers.  The original post – edited to take out the non-basketball stuff that followed the original post – is after the jump.

If you are interested in contributing a piece to the series – be it about senior days for your team or about this year’s Terrier seniors, email me at sportsgirlkat@gmail.com.

The Battle of the BUs–A Senior Day In Every Sense

Today’s men’s basketball game at the Events Center was not only the last home game of the season for the men, but also senior day. And I found it fitting that the senior day game opponent was Boston University.

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention to my away messages, profiles or who haven’t spoken with me in the past…oh, year, I am currently in love with Boston University. Sure, I applied to five graduate schools, but since I decided I was going to go to grad school, Boston University has been one of my top choices. They were the first school to accept me (the letter was waiting for me two days after my birthday in my school mailbox). They might not have the best program in Higher Education, but they have tons of opportunities for internships and assistantships (especially in new facilities management–they‘re in the process of building the “Student Village,” a huge building project for athletics, residential life and student affairs, which working with would look soooo good on a resume), and they are just such a cool school in general. I walked around there in August and just couldn’t believe how much I liked it–I didn’t want to come back to Binghamton for another year. I was tempted to finish up my credits at Binghamton in the fall and start at Boston University in January, but I was talked out of it by a lot of people, seeing that I wanted to try for Harvard and Boston College as well. But the more I think about it, the more I want to go to Boston University. But I have to wait and see what happens.

So I attended today’s game and couldn’t decide who to cheer for–my current school, who I’m becoming increasingly disenchanted with knowing that there’s so much else beyond Binghamton, or what very well may be my new school. Well, seeing that I had student tickets and didn’t feel like being beat up (which could happen, as evidenced by what occurred at last week’s Nazareth/Fisher basketball game), I put my Boston University shirt away and wore the green Binghamton hoodie and went along with the “Let‘s Go Bearcats” chants.

The Terriers (Boston University) are currently #1 in the America East conference, and this game showed why. Marsha, Jamie and I were watching the warm-ups when Marsha remarked, “They just don’t miss,“ gesturing to the Terriers’ free throwing. They don’t–they only missed once that I recall during the game. While the first half was close, with Nick Billings being the whole Binghamton team as usual (it’s not that he can play, or that the others can’t, it’s just that he’s seven feet tall), the Terriers dominated in the second half, working with leads between 10-20 points most of the time. The final score was 69-53, but if our two seniors hadn’t been inspired to get in there and make the best of their last minutes on the Events Center floor, it probably would have been more like 75-50. The Bearcats turned over the ball constantly, and their shooting was way off most of the game. They couldn’t make a free throws at all in the second half, and easy points weren’t made because they were over-shooting the net. They announced that the official attendance at the game today was 4,823 at the end of the game. However, the end of the game lacked so much hope that people began to leave in droves after the 8 minute mark. I turned to Marsha. “Official attendance, 4,823. Official attendance after the 5 minute mark: 1,000.”

It had been noted all week that the Bearcat men had never defeated the Terriers since joining the America East three years ago, and I think the pressure of trying to overcome that in the new building on senior day was a bit too much for them. There are so many expectations for this team to do well so early on in their Division 1 career, seeing that we just built them this new venue, and we moved into a conference that caused us to eliminate one of our traditional sports (wrestling). They’re growing well, but to expect them to have beat the number one team in the conference right now wasn’t really feasible.

On another note, the Events Center is a bit…small? I was disappointed somewhat, and I don’t know why. I imagined an arena…which to me congers up mental images of the Blue Cross Arena up in Rochester. This was on a much smaller scale–the BCA holds 12,000 for concerts and the Events Center, when completed, will seat 8,000. Right now a sell out for basketball in the Events Center is 4,823. The Center is pretty sterile right now, more than likely due to the fact that they’re not really done with it. I fear that it’ll become out of date quickly, but I could also see how it could be easily renovated if that did happen. I don’t know. Did I expect more? Yes. Do we need more as a mid-major D1 school with more student apathy than the Yankees have money? No. On a semi-side note, one of my biggest fears as I leave Binghamton is that the backlash from students and faculty about the alleged “overspending on athletics” is going to deter any more growth in that area–we need more athletic opportunities because unlike what most Binghamton students think, athletes do possess brains. Also, with the local community being as stubborn as it is, I think athletics is going to be the school’s only way to make its point that we are now the economic center of the Broome County area, and therefore, should be accommodated as such.

As the crowds left the Events Center this afternoon, I felt like this was the beginning of the end. It was Senior Day for the two graduating players, but it was Senior Day for me as well–watching my last Binghamton basketball game, having what could be my new school defeat my current school. The next time I’ll be in the Events Center will more than likely be 77 days from now for Commencement. Binghamton may have been where I spent the last two years, but I’m ready to move on.

As the car prepared to turn into the gym parking lot, artsy girlfriend said to us all, filled with self-importance, “I wish people wouldn’t go to the basketball games. Binghamton doesn’t need sports.”

I took the bait. “Oh, of course we do. It puts the university on the map to the general public.”

“I didn’t hear of Binghamton through sports, ” huffed artsy girlfriend.

“Well, neither did I, but we also live in New York State. What about those in other parts of the country? They don’t know Bingo from Adam.”

“Well,” she pointed to me. “I don’t want those people, people that only find out about colleges because of their basketball teams, to come to my university. They don’t contribute anything.”

Not about to tackle how, how…just plain weird that statement was, I decided to tackle the argument from another point of view. “Think about the students that get to attend Binghamton that wouldn’t be able to otherwise due to athletic scholarships. Just like we give out merit scholarships and scholarships for the arts, here’s a chance for even more students to attend school who might not have the money to.”

“Well, they shouldn’t get money for playing sports. Arts are fine, but sports just aren’t.”

Luckily for me, we had just pulled up to the gym. “Look, it’s my stop!” I thankfully announced. “See you all back in the room.”

The sports versus arts versus intellectual pursuit debate has dogged me my entire life. When you grow up the daughter of a part-time musician and science fiction writer and attend a performing and creative arts high school, but have a lifelong dream to be a sportswriter, your stances on that debate become mighty convoluted. Sure, I think the arts are undervalued in our current American society. Sure, I have studied the horror stories at big Division I football programs with students having bogus SAT scores and taking classes that don’t amount to any degree at all. Sure, I understand professors who are angry when a hockey or basketball team receives more media excitement than their important research.

But I always look at it the way my father always explained things to my sister and I. My sister was a gifted athlete and a gifted artist, but not necessarily a gifted intellectual. Academics bored her, not because she was bad at them, but because creating and moving and kicking and acting inspired her more than math and reading and the periodic table did. And, according to my father, that was okay. “There are some of us in this world who will be blessed with athletic talent,” he would nod towards Megan, then put his hand to his chest. “Just like those of us blessed with artistic talent.  And there are those of us blessed with smarts,” he would nod towards me. “And the world needs a little bit of everyone, and everyone needs exposure to people with all of these traits. So to say that our schools shouldn’t have opportunities for all of these pursuits would be wrong.”

And with that explanation always echoing in my head, I chose to attend a university fighting with its identity. What was Binghamton going to be? When I transferred there in 2002, it has just gone Division I, it had just started to build a new arena for basketball and new technology and engineering buildings, and it was starting to get the credit it was due for being an amazing research university in the social sciences. The school was so young compared to other institutions – it was founded in 1946 – and lacked distinctive spirit and points of pride.

Because of this, you had students on campus who were gung ho about the school spirit sports would bring, and those who saw the sports as ruining the good thing that had been going – this high caliber incubator of creation and research – albeit under-the-radar to most of the East Coast, let alone the country. Debates such as the one between me and artsy girlfriend happened all over campus, and eventually manifested itself into a New York Times “expose” last weekend on Binghamton.

Titled “At Binghamton, Division I Move Brings Recognition and Regret,” the Times interviewed professors angry with student-athletes missing classes for competition, and zeroed in on the criminal digressions of two members of the basketball team this season. What the article lacked to mention was that unlike some other institutions, the school quickly and swiftly continues to take action against student-athletes who miss class, miss assignments or act out of line.  But the damage was done – there were some truths to the article, and the article did concrete damage to a university who has received very little bad press over its 63 years of existence.

Finally, the intellectual argument had its ammunition to win the never-ending debate. The New York Times, the newspaper for true intellectuals, had given that side its giant rocket to finally muffle those who saw the need for athletics on the campus. Athletics was ruining the university, not giving it an identity or spirit.

And then, mere days later, a standing-room only Events Center witnessed the troubled and emotional-roller-coaster riding men’s basketball team win their first America East regular season championship in their six year history in the conference. (They share the regular season title with the University of Vermont Catamounts.) This secured the school its first men’s basketball NIT bid ever.
(Binghamton fans storm the court Thursday evening to celebrate a Bearcat regular season championship.)

Those 5,500 or so members of the University community jumping onto the court after the final buzzer had their say, just days after the Times decided to blast the school and it’s decision to go Division I. These attendees see the need for athletics at the institution.  – to unite.  On Thursday night, for one of the first times ever, Binghamton University was united. After years of searching for its idenity and spirit, over 5,000 students found it – at a basketball game. The debate will continue,  in the halls, in classrooms, in offices and in cars coming back from a Denny’s brunch on the Parkway, but for one night, sports showed that they had a place on the campus.

I had only gone to one sporting event in my life where the number of fans for the opposing team had come close to the fans for the home team. That would be Niners-Bills in October of 1998 (aka the closest I’ve ever had to a major religious experience).

Well, then I went to the Canisius-Boston University men’s basketball game this afternoon, where I found myself in the midst of all of the Canisius alumni in New England.

I went primarily to see my boss–aka, Boston University’s Anthem Lady–sing the National Anthem. I had never seen her sing, and I’ve worked for her since the beginning of June, which wouldn’t be a big deal except that she is the Anthem Lady. I don’t know how else to put it, but she’s pretty much the most famous person I’ve ever known. I can pretty much guarantee that if you’ve lived in Boston for any length of time and are a sports fan, you know who she is. Name a sporting event, and she’s sang at it. So I had to rectify this situation and finally go see her sing. And I figured, while I’m at it, to finally take in a Boston University basketball game in Boston, as opposed to the two I had taken in over the years in Binghamton.

I will admit, I copped out five minutes into the second half due to Anthem Lady’s offer of a ride home (yes, I may be queen of public transportation, but I never turn down a ride home–she had to leave early to pick up her kids). But from what I did see, Boston has a rather deep team. Unlike the team Binghamton fielded while I was in attendance, Boston has no one overwhelmingly good player–the campus and surrounding media make it out to be Chaz Carr, but from my experience, he’s not leaps and bounds better than everyone else, just slightly better at getting the ball, and he doesn’t produce as much as he’s made out to when he does get it. Compare that to Binghamton, where we had mediocre players–hard working, don’t get me wrong, but mediocre–and then one substantially overhyped media “superstar” who we’d put in the game to take “easy” free throws that he’d never make. (But really, I love the Alaskian. He made getting lunch in the Union that much more hysterical for us 5’1 and unders who had the pleasure to stand next to him in line.)

However, Canisius took the first half in a performance that was rather unfitting of a 1-6 team. I didn’t know their record before hand, and was astonished after I got home and learned it was 1-6. They sure didn’t play like it in the first half. They’re tough and excellent at blocking shots–they just get in the way like no team I have seen previously. But I think they may get easily intimidated. Once BU went up by 4 or so, they retreated and were too busy thinking through their defense instead of executing it. It wouldn’t of been too hard to defend–every play in the latter first half and the part of the second that I saw was that had Carr dribble outside, pass to the coach’s son or another similar looking guy whose name I’m not sure of, who then would dribble, Carr would move inside, and the ball would then be passed to either Carr or Peterkin, who would shoot it in for 2 or muscle to the basket for 1. All Canisius had to do was defend against Peterkin, and they could of slowed BU down, but I feel they didn’t have a clue Peterkin could be a threat (all of the PERD people I sat with had no idea who he was–I found out this morning that he’s a transfer from Notre Dame).

However, despite the Griffins initial scoring burst and their eventual bust on defense, what was most surprising was how many Canisius alumni live in Boston. Tons of alumni were there, and if they didn’t outnumber the BU fans, they came really close. Canisius is in Buffalo, and I guess this further supports my theory that if a Western New Yorker is going to drudge away to a big city, they tend to go to Boston. This is because Western New York is just a grayer, boring, more spread out Boston. Think about it. Bills fans are just like Red Sox fans, we all love our baseball, we think nothing of winter weather, we have strange lingo that no one else in the country uses (bubblers? pop? white hots? frappes?), and we have weird accents (or at least everyone tells me Western New Yorkers do.)

The Terriers were securely in the lead 34-24 when I left, and ended up winning 62-45. Not an amazingly dominant performance by the Terriers, but they’re still at the top of the America East (don’t ask Binghamton’s record–it’s depressing). Surprisingly, Tyler Coppenrath led Vermont are struggling at .500 right now, which should make upcoming conference play very interesting indeed.

***

I’m writing this entry on an Amtrak train in business class. Yes, I kind of wish I had an eggnog latte so I could feel even more Peter-King-ish.

I know you’re saying, “But Kat–you were supposed to fly home for the holidays. What happened?”

I bought the ticket despite my horrendous fear of flying–over my childhood I backed out of two trips to Disney World because it meant I’d have to fly–but freaked out yesterday when I realized that when I had the panic attack I was sure to have when I got in the tunnel and as the plane took off, I would have no one I knew around to calm me down. I’m lucky enough not to usually suffer from panic attacks. I’m a pretty calm and collected person–except when I’m on a plane. Now, five years ago I had a whole group of people I knew with me, and they were all aware of my fear and were able to combat the ensuing attack pretty quickly. But this was going to be different. I would be between two strangers who’d be calling for the stewardess frantically. I couldn’t do that. Plus my flight wasn’t a straight shot–it was Boston to Baltimore, Baltimore to Rochester–so it meant I’d have to go through the takeoff and landing twice, and I didn’t think I could do it. So I woke up at 4:45am from a really restless night of sleep, and canceled my ticket. Luckily, some train tickets had opened up over the past few days–in business class of course, because it’s not like they could make it cheap or anything–so I got those.

And here I am. The chicken of all chickens, rather enjoying my time on the train. Of course, we’re only close to hour 3, meaning I have…seven more hours ahead of me. Good gosh.

****

Remember my last post? The Cinderella fantasy football season of me? Well, this past weekend was the equivalent of Cinderella’s left behind glass slipper being picked up by the Prince and pounded into shreds. Then Cinderella goes back to her room to find out that her other glass slipper is OUT WITH A FRACTURED FIBULA for the REST OF THE SEASON.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system…

The best I can finish now is 3rd place in both leagues. And true, the worst I can do is 4th. But still! I had my hopes up! I’ve been a football maniac since age eleven. To have a disappointing finish to a fantasy football season at age 22 (almost 23) is saddening. It’s depressing. I’ve been following football now for half my life! Horribly horribly depressing.

But I should stop complaining. Third is good. Third sets me up well to build on next year. That is if anyone will have me back in their leagues.

***

So I finished 10-6 last week. 10-6. After a 13-3 week. Man, last weekend was just not good football wise for me. Well, except that I got to see the Bills kick the tail out of the Bengals (get it–tail, tigers? Laugh at me instead of with me if you must, as long as you laugh at that.) That’s a rarity in good ol’ Boston, to see a Bills game that doesn’t involve the Pats. On a Pats note (and yes, we’re ignoring that Tom Brady had a really bad game on Monday night solely because he’s wicked hot even when he’s sad), I did my first Pats “we” interchange this week. I said “we” when speaking about the Pats. “We” used to be reserved for the Bills, formerly reserved for the Niners when they were led by our favourite number 8 there. I think that means I’m a real Bostonian now. (The Red Sox pronoun replacement happened a while back, but that’s because I’d been a Red Sox fan for a little bit already.)

So before either a) my computer overheats because it’s on my lap and not on a table or b) the battery dies, let me do my picks. These will be minus the Packers-Vikings game, which starts in five minutes and to which I’ll be sadly oblivious to while I sit here on this internet connection-less train.

Kansas City over Oakland–As my fantasy football confidant/student worker Chris would say, Kansas City has been “lights out” lately.

Tennessee over Denver–Go for broke when no money is on the line is what I say, so here’s this upset special. I don’t know if ya’ll realize this, but Shanhan has been with the Broncos almost a decade…and he’s proven that the West Coast offense doesn’t work for everybody. He lucked out in the 90s with his string of quarterback luck (Young followed by Elway–he got three Super Bowl rings out of those two). But I think it might be time for him to go.

Pittsburgh over Baltimore–I used to like Rothlisberger because a) he’s my age and b) he too has an unpronounceable and unspellable last name. However, this whole winning thing is getting old quick for this Pats and Bills fan. Darn it, just lose for once!

Detroit over Chicago

Giants over Cincinnati

San Diego over Indy–It’ll be close though. Come on, give the Chargers some credit.

Jacksonville over Houston–Unfortunately.

Carolina over Tampa Bay

Atlanta over New Orleans–There is more than Vick on this team. They can win against a horribly weirdo Saints team without him.

Pats over Jets–I wish this game was on Saturday so I could laugh at my Jets and Yankees loving uncle. Hahahahaha. I should of gotten him a choker for Christmas.

Washington over Dallas

Seattle over Arizona–Homgren will suit up and go out there himself if he has to.

Miami over Cleveland–I love Wes Welker. Hate the Dolphins, but think the world of Wes Welker, with his cute little name and Belichick-like multi-purposes.

Philly over St. Louis–Mark Bulger has dropped just that much further on the hottest QBs list.

And of course, the Hailey’s Comet of football matchups (okay, it happens a little more frequently than that, but it’s always a special day when it comes around), Buffalo over San Francisco. I wish this would end up a little bit more of a contest, but it won’t. But what’s most important is that I’ll be in Rochester on Sunday, which means this will be on TV for me!

Happy Holidays everyone!

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention to my away messages, profiles or who haven’t spoken with me in the past…oh, year, I am currently in love with Boston University. Sure, I applied to five graduate schools, but since I decided I was going to go to grad school, Boston University has been one of my top choices. They were the first school to accept me (the letter was waiting for me two days after my birthday in my school mailbox). They might not have the best program in Higher Education, but they have tons of opportunities for internships and assistantships (especially in new facilities management–they‘re in the process of building the “Student Village,” a huge building project for athletics, residential life and student affairs, which working with would look soooo good on a resume), and they are just such a cool school in general. I walked around there in August and just couldn’t believe how much I liked it–I didn’t want to come back to Binghamton for another year. I was tempted to finish up my credits at Binghamton in the fall and start at Boston University in January, but I was talked out of it by a lot of people, seeing that I wanted to try for Harvard and Boston College as well. But the more I think about it, the more I want to go to Boston University. But I have to wait and see what happens.

So I attended today’s game and couldn’t decide who to cheer for–my current school, who I’m becoming increasingly disenchanted with knowing that there’s so much else beyond Binghamton, or what very well may be my new school. Well, seeing that I had student tickets and didn’t feel like being beat up (which could happen, as evidenced by what occurred at last week’s Nazareth/Fisher basketball game), I put my Boston University shirt away and wore the green Binghamton hoodie and went along with the “Let‘s Go Bearcats” chants.

The Terriers (Boston University) are currently #1 in the America East conference, and this game showed why. Marsha, Jamie and I were watching the warm-ups when Marsha remarked, “They just don’t miss,“ gesturing to the Terriers’ free throwing. They don’t–they only missed once that I recall during the game. While the first half was close, with Nick Billings being the whole Binghamton team as usual (it’s not that he can play, or that the others can’t, it’s just that he’s seven feet tall), the Terriers dominated in the second half, working with leads between 10-20 points most of the time. The final score was 69-53, but if our two seniors hadn’t been inspired to get in there and make the best of their last minutes on the Events Center floor, it probably would have been more like 75-50. The Bearcats turned over the ball constantly, and their shooting was way off most of the game. They couldn’t make a free throws at all in the second half, and easy points weren’t made because they were over-shooting the net. They announced that the official attendance at the game today was 4,823 at the end of the game. However, the end of the game lacked so much hope that people began to leave in droves after the 8 minute mark. I turned to Marsha. “Official attendance, 4,823. Official attendance after the 5 minute mark: 1,000.”

It had been noted all week that the Bearcat men had never defeated the Terriers since joining the America East three years ago, and I think the pressure of trying to overcome that in the new building on senior day was a bit too much for them. There are so many expectations for this team to do well so early on in their Division 1 career, seeing that we just built them this new venue, and we moved into a conference that caused us to eliminate one of our traditional sports (wrestling). They’re growing well, but to expect them to have beat the number one team in the conference right now wasn’t really feasible.

On another note, the Events Center is a bit…small? I was disappointed somewhat, and I don’t know why. I imagined an arena…which to me congers up mental images of the Blue Cross Arena up in Rochester. This was on a much smaller scale–the BCA holds 12,000 for concerts and the Events Center, when completed, will seat 8,000. Right now a sell out for basketball in the Events Center is 4,823. The Center is pretty sterile right now, more than likely due to the fact that they’re not really done with it. I fear that it’ll become out of date quickly, but I could also see how it could be easily renovated if that did happen. I don’t know. Did I expect more? Yes. Do we need more as a mid-major D1 school with more student apathy than the Yankees have money? No. On a semi-side note, one of my biggest fears as I leave Binghamton is that the backlash from students and faculty about the alleged “overspending on athletics” is going to deter any more growth in that area–we need more athletic opportunities because unlike what most Binghamton students think, athletes do possess brains. Also, with the local community being as stubborn as it is, I think athletics is going to be the school’s only way to make its point that we are now the economic center of the Broome County area, and therefore, should be accommodated as such.

As the crowds left the Events Center this afternoon, I felt like this was the beginning of the end. It was Senior Day for the two graduating players, but it was Senior Day for me as well–watching my last Binghamton basketball game, having what could be my new school defeat my current school. The next time I’ll be in the Events Center will more than likely be 77 days from now for Commencement. Binghamton may have been where I spent the last two years, but I’m ready to move on.

**********

Random Notes:

–The Barenaked Ladies concert at the Broome County Arena last week was awesome. If you have never seen them live, you need to, regardless of your taste in music. You’ll understand why I have been to nine concerts and on my way to my tenth on Wednesday. They exude enjoyment–they perform because they like each other and they like to perform. You’d have a feeling they’d still do this if they made no money from it. I also realized how incredibly lucky I am to have my favourite band be as accessible as they are–many of my friends have never gotten to see their favourite bands live because they rarely tour, or play only big markets if they do. I can pretty much count on if there is a Barenaked Ladies tour, there will be at least one stop in Upstate New York, usually Rochester. Luckily for me, the band’s other most regular tour stop is Boston. They’ve played there…hmm, I think three times in the past year? Four? I love it.

–I am angry at the 49ers. They cut Garrison Hearst, the only player on the team I really liked anymore. Now, maybe I’m off, but I don’t think Eddie DeBartalo and Carmen Policy would of let him go. Maybe they would–he has suffered devastating injuries that could come back to haunt him at any time. But as a team, if you’ve stood by a guy during rehabilitation periods twice, saving him a spot on your roster because not only is that the nice thing to do, but because you know the guy will come back and be one of your best players, why do you cut him? I mean, I know, salary cap stuff, they’re trying to negotiate with Garcia, whatever, but…there’s a level of courtesy that wasn’t extended. From what end, I don’t know. I think Hearst should be willing to work with the Niners to stay, and vise versa. And I think under different management, the Niners would of found a way to keep Hearst. And Derrick Deese, for that matter. I just don’t understand what the Niners are doing anymore, and I don’t know if I care to. I think they can redeem themselves in my eyes if they waive Garcia tomorrow. The Niners have never accepted behavior such as Garcia’s recent DWI arrest, and they shouldn’t start now. Montana and Young never did such stuff, and if you’re going to hold the guy to those two’s standards on the field, you should off as well.

–Scrunchie Girl, aka Chellsie Memmel, keeps proving my gymnastic prediction skills right. In case you’ve never heard the story, my sister and I attended the 1999 U.S. Classic in Rochester, and were way impressed with this girl. She was 10 at the time, and competing child elite. Her scrunchie was as big as her head, and thus the nickname, but she was fearless and right on the whole night. I turned to Megan and said, “That girl is going to be huge someday. She’s going to be a World Champion or something.” Well, what did the girl win last fall? The World Championships. Yesterday she competed at the American Cup, which I got to watch on tv while doing work, and the girl has amazing security on the beam. Just amazing. She finished third, and she seems to be in a good position to make the Olympic Team. And I SO called it five years ago.

Quote of the Week: Mike Heimerdinger, Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator, on why he hasn’t been a candidate for a head coaching job: “They’re looking for big names, not long names.” -Sports Illustrated.

That guy’s last name is three letters longer than my own. I do not envy him. Not one bit.