Boycott of Mike and Mike

So Mike and Mike trash weathermen in their new book and then they post that excerpt on espn.com as a sample of their book. Here's the link
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/story?id=5038937

You know what Greeny I take back my acceptance of your apology for calling it 'Martin Luther Coon, I mean King Day.' Golic, ND has a vastly bloated opinion of itself like you do and just as irrelevant in sports especially football. Mike and Mike, you are dead to me...

Tiger Shots

And the shots or hits keep coming at Tiger Woods. Vanity Fair is publishing a story in their newest issue that details many stories of Tiger Woods' personal life. Citing women he has slept with and former insiders of Tiger Woods' circle as sources, they allege that his inner circle knew about the affairs and actually helped facilitate them.

Also a former adviser told Tiger to stay away from Jordan and Barkley because he thought they were bad influences. The former adviser said of Jordan, "'Stay away from that son of a ***** (Jordan), because he doesn't have anything to offer to the ****ing world in which he lives except playing basketball, which he did yesterday.'"

Here is a link to a summary of the Vanity Fair story: http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/mistresses-ex-adviser-reveal-shocking-tiger-details

You wonder if these statements and stories are true and if most of them are, you wonder why athletes, politicians, and celebrities just can't tell the whole truth when they get caught and tell the 'truth' about what happened. Ridiculous...I still hope he does well at the Masters though, hahaha

Downslope Winds and Snow

Yesterday brought crazy fast and intense downslope winds to the lee side of the Sierras. Wind gusts were over 55 mph in the valley with sustained winds in the 30-40 mph range. The real good momentum got washed out by the spillover precipitation happening earlier than expected. If the precip had held off we could have seen upwards of 70 mph in Reno with crest wind speeds approaching 120 mph.

But we are getting some good snow in the mountains. Mt. Rose and Squaw had received 8-12 in as of this morning and it has continued to snow all day with shots of snow coming through the valley. However not much is sticking with air temperatures in the low 40's. Snow should continue in the mountains until early Thursday morning. Total accumulation should be upwards of 2 feet or more. This will result in some good spring skiing and also some major avalanche concerns. I'm sure the ski patrols will be blasting a lot in the next couple of days.

Final Four Saved by Duke?

NOOOOOOO. After David Stern pushed the button for the refs to gift wrap Duke a final four berth in the 2nd half of the Duke Baylor game, it made Jason Whitlock look like Nostradamus and me furious. I know I am a Duke hater, but it was brutal from what I've heard and seen.

At any rate, the final four teams are West Va, Duke, Butler, and Michigan St who have gutted their way through several wins and fought through injuries to reach here (with the exception of Duke of course). I am hoping for a Butler West Va final, but I wouldn't mind seeing Duke win and then get trounced in the finals by either Butler or Sparty.

I have no idea who is going to win but I'll find myself rooting for West Va and Butler so why not go with those teams.

Elite 8 Team
G DaSean Butler West VA
G Nolan Smith Duke
F Durrell Summers MSU
F Gordon Hayward Butler
F Epke Udoh Baylor

6th Man
Raymar Morgan MSU/Shelvin Mack Butler

4 in, 4 to go

Butler, Kansas St, Kentucky, and West VA all punched their tickets for the Elite 8. Butler did it with out hustling and taking care of the ball which Syracuse did not (note:before the tourney started I said Syracuse would struggle due to a lack of a true PG). Kentucky swarmed Cornell, who didn't help themselves with an awful shooting night. West Virginia turned it over way too much, but Washington wasn't talented enough to take full advantage. Finally, Kansas St edged out Xavier in an epic 2OT Sweet 16 thriller. Thank God Gus Johnson was calling this game. As blog contributor B-Dubs said, Gus was having gusgasms throughout the 2nd half and OTs.

Jacob Pullen hit two killer threes in the 2nd OT to help Kansas St pull away. They might not get the same exposure as Farokhmanesh's 3 pointer got, but they were huge. Jordan Crawford and Holloway kept Xavier in it with huge shots and FT's. Crawford's 30 ft. 3 pointer at the end of the first OT was ginormous. Near the end of regulation Holloway calmly sank 3 free throws to tie the game after a bad foul on a 3pt shot.

Bill Simmons wrote a great article about how March Madness affects a player's NBA draft stock. Crawford and Pullen even before this epic game passed his test to be legit NBA players. Link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100326

There are four more great games scheduled for tonight with Duke vs Purdue, Baylor vs St. Marys, N. Iowa vs MSU, and Tennessee vs Ohio St. Hopefully, there will be at least one more epic game, even if Gus Johnson isn't announcing it.

Coach Meyer aka Hal McCrae

Coach Meyer continued his arrogant, untouchable, and holier than thou actions when berating an Orlando Sentinel Florida Gator beat writer for publishing a quote from Gator WR Deonte Thompson in which he discussed the difference between new Gator QB Brantley and former QB Tebow.

Here is the story that started this confrontation: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_college_uf/2010/03/florida-gators-wr-deonte-thompson-sounds-happy-to-usher-in-post-tebow-era.html

Her is the video of Urban Meyer threatening the reporter: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5027317

And here is a funny take on how Meyer thinks the media and everyone else should treat his program: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/100325_urban_meyer_reporter_guidelines&sportCat=ncf

Meyer vehemently defends his players as if they were his own kids, which I can respect. However, his program has had a checkered history with off the field incidents and Meyer jumps on any reporter that criticizes any facet of his program no matter if it is warranted or not.

Then there was the whole HealthGate saga with him resigning and then taking a 'leave of absence.' As with most powerful coaches in sports, he has a major ego which can help propel programs to great heights, but also rub a lot of people the wrong way and can bring trouble to the programs (see Pete Carroll and John Calipari).

Meyer looked like a pissed off soccer dad while telling the reporter he would fight him if Thompson was his own kid. Maybe a he, Roy Williams, and John Boehner should spend less time in the tanning bed and more time focusing on their jobs and actions.

Sweet Mountain Weather

Strong winds came across the Sierras last night with gusts over 50mph that brought cold enough air aloft to provide a dusting to an inch of snow around Reno early this morning. The mountains got 4-6in of snow overnight with another shot of snow possible later this evening. The radar image from overnight is above.

This begins an active period of weather with plenty of cold air sliding into the western United States and causing widespread snowfall and rain (see other image) over the next 10 days. This will give the resort ski season one last good shot to stay open another 2-3 weeks...hopefully.

Quick Stories

Doc Gooden was arrested after he was involved in a two car accident. He was under the influence of drugs (shocker) and he also had a child in the car (inexcusable).

Tim Tebow apparently was told to 'shut the f*** up' (other prospects laughed) when he asked other draft prospects to bow their heads in prayer before the Wonderlic Test. No prayer could explain why he didn't do so well on the test...

Ben Jacobson signed a 10 year extension to stay with N. Iowa.

Onawaku is out for this Thursday's game versus Butler

Check out the Mustache Mafia on ESPNU with blog contributor and friend Eddie Radosevich
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5002972

Ali! Bumaye!

Wow...the first weekend of the NCAA tournament was unreal. So many upsets and buzzer beaters consumed the first 4 days of the tournament that nearly everyone's bracket is in shambles. Northern Iowa pulled off the upset of the tournament with their win over the #1 overall seed Kansas. Ali Farokhmanesh solidified himself in the ranks of Bryce Drew, Michael Jordan, Drew Nicholas, Tyus Edney, Scottie Reynolds (2008 version), and Christian Laettner with his dagger 3-pointer with about 30 seconds to go. Northern Iowa made Kansas feel the pressure of the tournament favorite by leading nearly the entire game and absorbing all the blows Kansas threw including the full court pressure late in the 2nd half that got Kansas back into it.

Omar Samhan has led the tournament in scoring and provided some honest and funny post game interviews. He led his Gaels over Nova with the help of his Aussy teammates to provide the second biggest upset of the 2nd round. The best team from the west coast looks to continue their run against the very talented and long (copyright Jay Bilas) Baylor Bears who could pose big problems for Samhan.

Cornell dominated Wisconsin, but they will face a completely different type of team in Kentucky then they did the first two rounds. Temple and Wisconsin are more methodical and not nearly as athletic as Kentucky. This game will prove the ultimate test of youth versus experience. Both teams are talented, but Kentucky has the decided edge in athleticism while Cornell is the best outside shooting team in America. The key matchups will be John Wall vs Louis Dale and DeMarcus Cousins vs Jeff Foote. If Cornell can win these match-ups or at least break even, then the Big Red will be there in the end.

All Sweet 16 Team
G Ali Farokhmanesh N. Iowa
G Louis Dale Cornell
G Jacob Pullen Kansas St.
F Omar Samhan St. Marys
F Jordan Crawford Xavier

6th Man
G Chris Kramer

Elite 8 Picks
N. Iowa
Ohio St.
Syracuse
Kansas St.
Kentucky
West VA
Duke
Baylor

March Madness

Sorry for the lack of posting the last few days...

1st of all, I loathe you, Georgetown. Ahh I feel better for getting that out of the way...

The first day of the tournament was unbelievable. I don't even mind (that much) that I went 10-6 yesterday with all the upsets and close games. Washington (didn't pick) hit a last second layup by all everything G/F Pondexter, Northern Iowa (the guards name sounds like BabbaGanush) and Murray State (picked both) hit dagger jumpers to win their games while good ol Texas choked a game away. This was the best opening day that I could remember and many people agreed with me. Northern Iowa, Wake Forest, Murray State, Washington, Nova (awful officiating), BYU, Old Dominion, Tennessee, and New Mexico all won close games.

All-Thursday Team
Jimmer Fredette BYU
Ali Farokhmanesh N. Iowa
Quincy Pondexter Washington
Danero Thomas Murray St
Armon Bassett Ohio

6th Man
Ishmael Smith WF

The Duke Bias

All credit for this post goes to one of my favorite writers, Jason Whitlock, who wrote an article immediately after the brackets were released about how ridiculous Duke's placement was/is.

If you polled the country to rank the top teams we would come up with something like: #1 Kansas and Kentucky a close #2, then Syracuse, Duke, Ohio State and West Virginia would be fighting for the next highest rank.

According to the selection committee, they agreed. Kansas was the top overall seed, but regional setup looks very fishy. I already discussed who I thought should be fighting for the other two #1 seeds. So if Kentucky and Kansas are the top dawgs, they shouldnt have one of those guys as a #2 seed right? Nay. The selection committee dropped West Virginia and Ohio State into the regions with the Jayhawks and Wildcats. While Duke gets Villanova, whom is melting down faster than Phil Mickelson at Winged Foot.

Plus, Duke gets probably one of the weakest 3-seeds (Baylor) and 4-seed (Purdue). Unless Robbie Hummel limps onto the floor Willis Reed-style, but you know... actually can score some points for his team, then Purdue might not make it out of round-1.

Now Duke has a pretty healthy resume, but they looked anything but a clear-cut #1 seed in the ACC tournament. And there is NO WAY they should have the easiest road to Indy.

Well Mr. Whitlock has the answer... its a contract year for the NCAA tournament. ESPN and CBS are vying for a deal to lock up the tournament for several years and the NCAA wants to jack-up the price. So to do that, you need monster ratings this year. To do that you need one of two things:

Either reveal one of Tiger Wood's "conquests" at halftime of each tournament game while playing One Shining Moment. Or you need a bunch of white, tattooless guys led by a legendary white coach to make a deep run in the tourney.

Unfortunately for all of us, they decided to go with the latter... Boo on you NCAA. I can't wait to root for University of Arkansas Pine Bluff in round one.

Stay Classy,

B-Dubs

Tiger's Comeback

Tiger Woods is coming back to golf at the Masters in August April 8th. This seems to be a great fit for Tiger commencing his comeback. The Masters is the most controlled atmosphere and gallery in golf which should dispel much of the possible heckling while Tiger is playing.

Tiger also loves playing Augusta and wants to make a big splash in his season debut. I believe we will see an intensely focused Tiger (even more so than normal), but probably a more open and accommodating Tiger as well. He has that competitive streak that Jordan and Ali possessed, but he now has to worry about his image and the only person that can salvage it is him and it will take time. Kobe repaired his image after rape allegations, but Kobe was never put on the pedestal that Tiger was.

I hope Tiger comes back and kicks tail. What he did was wrong, but he didn't kill or rape anyone. He made some very bad life decisions and has paid dearly publicly and privately. I think he was always an awkward, nerdy kid that finally made it big and rich. Then he lost himself within the fame and fortune and having Barkley and Jordan be your sponsors in those endeavors was not the best choice. It's almost like an 80's movie where an uncool kid becomes popular and turns on everything that got him to that point (see Teen Wolf 1&2).

With Tiger's determination and skill set, he may be the only person alive to take 5 months off from competitive golf, come back at a major, and win. And I hope he does it, unless Lefty is in the hunt too, haha.

March Madness

The 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament field was announced yesterday afternoon/evening. Some of the bubble teams that didn't make it (Miss St., Illinois, and Va Tech) probably had better arguments than teams that did make it (Florida, Minnesota, Georgia Tech). However, none of those teams figure to make it past the second round and maybe not even the first round. The 4 #1 seeds weren't very surprising either (Duke, KU, Kentucky, and Syracuse).

Now with the brackets set, let's admire how work production falls off a cliff in most places. With frantic and in-depth research and all the office pools that get formed, work becomes secondary the first week of the tournament. Not to mention you can watch any game for free online at cbsportsline.com. I will be watching a few games, and I will always have Gus Johnson's game on audio though.

As for picks. I will wait for Wednesday to make those public. I am still working on my bracket and haven't even decided all of the 1st round games.Although, this year could be filled with upsets with so many teams notched so close together and the top 7-10 teams so far ahead of the rest of the field. Even if your bracket falls apart this year (like mine during the 2nd weekend, 28-5 (1st rd), 12-4 (2nd rd), and finally 6-6 3rd and 4th rds combined) it still represents one of the best sports weekends of the year with a glass slipper or two to be handed out.

Tahoe Snow Report Update

Most of the Tahoe resorts received somewhere between 12-18in of snow Friday and Friday night. I was able to make it up Sunday morning after getting my bindings repaired and the snow conditions were still really good.

However, most of the Pacific Coast and intermountain west will be under the influence of an upper level ridge bringing warmer conditions throughout the week. The only system of note in the next 5-7 days is a weaker trough that will move through the Pacific NW and slide down through Utah and Colorado late Thursday and into the early part of the weekend. Resorts around Tahoe will see temperatures in the low 40's at the summit and low 50's near the base of the mountain. This will get the snowpack melting fast and have less than stellar skiing conditions. The sloppy, wet snow during the day will then freeze overnight and repeat the same process of thawing and becoming 'mush' midway through the morning. Not the best stuff to ski on.

Hopefully, we get another shot or two of snow next week to keep the season going into April with decent conditions.

Mike Leach Doing What Coaches Do

Locker room video of Mike Leach getting after his team. So say this is offensive, I say it's normal and nothing is wrong with it. You be the judge

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/news/story?id=4987339&POLL476=100000000000000000

(God Squad Guys, lol)

PS
I'm still too upset to blog about Michigan's lost. Time to gamble on the remaining tourney games

Arkansas Severe Weather

A big supercell formed west-southwest of Little Rock this afternoon/evening. A classic v-notch, mesocyclone, and hook accompanied the storm. I can't wait for video and images to crop up because it looked big. Once I figure out how to post pictures, I will add some to the posts.

This is the first and probably the last time I'll say this...I wish I was in Arkansas right now...

Surprise Tahoe Snow

Lake Tahoe resorts reported 4-8in of snow overnight, but as my boy Hatchett (La Vida is his author name) said, Squaw got at least a foot and with prime wind deposited areas, 2 feet of fresh powder was to be shredded. The NWS under forecasted this event. They were calling for around an inch or so of snow around Tahoe. As we have seen in the past and especially this year, if the temperature range -14C to -20C is in an area with the most lifting, larger amounts of snow will fall.

This temperature region is prime for dendrite formation (snowflakes) and when upward motion is maximized in and around this temperature layer, higher amounts of snowfall can occur. Last night, a shortwave moved through aided by the left exit region of the 300mb jet to help provide some more lifting. The 12z Reno sounding shows a very saturated and unstable vertical profile while the radar images had dBZ returns between 20-35. No doubt some weak convection and upslope flow aided in the higher snowfall amounts.

To make a long story short, I should have went skiing today and I will go skiing tomorrow, haha.

Champions League Soccer

After watching the first four teams punch their way to the quarterfinals it will be interesting to see the other half of the teams who make it followed by the draw next friday. The draw is very important at the quarterfinal stage, as we all saw last year man utd was given a cake walk to the finals in playing easy opponents like porto and arsenal. It will be interesting to see if they end up being paired up against a more challenging team such as Barcelona or Chelsea/Inter Milan. Manchester United had no problem dismantling AC Milan today and i think at the moment that there is only a handful of teams that have the potential to beat them. I would relish the chance to see Barcelona play Manchester United in the quarterfinals as a rematch to the finals of last year.

Quick Tid Bits

Milton Bradley was interviewed by Colleen Dominguez about his time in Chicago. He complains about racism and hate mail. The racism is uncalled for, but the general disgust Cubs fans had for him is part of the game. He made $10 million last year and played awful. Any professional athlete will tell you that the public will dislike you no matter what color you are when you don't produce. Just ask Derek Anderson.

Bradley's interview & Cubs Response
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4982604

Nomar Garciaparra signed a 1 day contract with the Red Sox and then retired after 14 MLB seasons. He will join ESPN as a baseball analyst. http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=4981701

There's always room for college football on this blog. Here is a list of coaches on the hot seat for next year. And yes I think Rich Rod should be #1, and probably #2,#3, and #4 on this list. http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/coaches-who-need-to-win-this-fall

UConn women's basketball>UConn men's basketball

Mike Dunleavy is finally out as GM of the Clippers. I know this will make one of the blog's authors very happy. http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=4980825

OU men's basketball plays at 4 pm pacific time today in a Bedlam matchup vs OSU.

Bulls center and new Bill Lambeer, Joakim Noah, is out for 2 weeks while trying to recover from plantar facsitis. His defense is already missed with the Bulls giving up 132 points to the Jazz at home last night.

Finally, some weather.
Looks like the Tahoe area will get another shot of snow but the west lake areas will get the most. Squaw and Alpine should receive 6-12in of snow, while Mt. Rose, Northstar, and Kirkwood look to get about 3-6in. So that should be enough snow to freshen up the pow runs especially in the wind blown areas of the mountains.

College Basketball

Some of the smaller conferences are finished up or are finishing up their conference tournaments early this week. The larger/BCS conferences have most of their tournaments starting this week and finishing up this weekend. The bubble has become quite tenuous for many at large teams. Jay Bilas described this as 'the weakest at large field ever.' Considering my schools (OU, Michigan, and Nevada) are not in line to make the tournament, and with few intriguing storylines, I find myself less enthusiastic about March Madness. Nevada has a chance to steal a bid this week in Reno (might go to a game or two) at the WAC tournament. However, Michigan and OU woefully underachieved this year finishing in the bottom half of both of their conferences.

I will be rooting for New Mexico (like Steve Alford, can't stand BYU), San Diego St. (my boy Steve Fisher is coaching), Nevada, and for many of the mid majors to have good showings this week. With a wide open field, March Madness could be a lot more upset ridden than last year.

Kansas has to the be the favorite over the young Wildcats and the point guard less Orangemen. You need 4 man post rotation, outside shooting, and an outstanding point guard to win a NCAA championship. Andy Rautins is a fantastic college player, but I do not think they have that dynamic point guard like a Sherron Collins or even a John Wall to set the pace of the game.

Connecticut women's basketball team goes for their 71st straight win tonight versus Notre Dame tonight. This streak is simply amazing, but now I have to stop talking about women's basketball because I have exceeded my allowance the past week...

NFL Free Agency & News

Just a few highlights of the first day of Free Agency

Bears signed DE Julius Peppers to a 6 yr deal and RB Chester Taylor to a 4 yr deal.

Lions signed DE Kyle Vanden Bosch to a 4 yr deal and WR Nate Burelson to a 4 yr deal (former Wolf Pack WR)

Chargers traded CB Antonio Cromartie to the Jets for a conditional 2011 draft pick (2nd or 3rd rounder)

Colts re-signed LB Gary Brackett to a 5 yr contract

Panthers released QB Jake Delhomme

Dolphins release LB Joey Porter

Jets released RB Thomas Jones to avoid paying a 2.8 million roster bonus, but are trying to re-sign him

Brandon Marshall visited the Seahawks today (he's a restricted FA, and was tendered at a 1st and 3rd rd picks)

Steelers QB Ben Roethlesburger has yet again been accused of sexual assault and charges are pending in Georgia

"Today was a good day..."

Went up and skied at Mt. Rose today. The snow conditions were surprisingly good. They only received several inches of snow from this past storm system, but the cold temperatures made the snow fantastic. While it wasn't champagne powder, it was not icy, or extremely heavy for the Sierras. It was a good groomer day today, and the trees and certain lines in the chutes still had untracked powder. Additionally, I threw my first grab off a jump today. OK it was more of a touch, but hey, you have to start somewhere. As Ice Cube would say, "Today was a good day..."

Women's Basketball...

Women's basketball probably won't make many appearances on this blog, but I will make an exception for this. Brittney Griner's punch to Texas Tech's Jordan Barncastle was a nice off balance roundhouse. No one has confirmed if Kermit Washington or Stephen Jackson have been mentoring and training Griner. Here is a link to the punch...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=4966163

Big Snow Around Tahoe

Storm totals for ski resorts around Tahoe...

Squallywood- 26"
Alpine Meadows- 30"
Kirkwood- 36"
Flatstar(Northstar)- 8"
Heavenly(Hacker's favorite resort aka 'Why didn't we go to squaw?')- 16"
Mt. Rose- 6"

Snow conditions should be good with the cold temperatures as the snow fell and it should not get above freezing throughout the day or tonight. Chances for snow tomorrow afternoon through the weekend with some breaks in between, but the snowfall totals won't be as high.

USA v Netherlands Game

Man after seeing the US game versus Holland, Bob Bradley has a lot to do to have his troops ready for battle. I know we did not have out full strength squad but if u normal see the dutch play you can tell that they were only playing half speed against us. If it were not for bocanegra being unmarked for our goal this game could have been a lot worse....

Dat Boi Uch


PS
Sorry Uche, you copied and pasted the wrong thing, so I re-posted what you said.

Tahoe Ski Resort Snow Reports

And looks like a busted forecast for snow totals on the Mt. Rose side with the ski resort only getting a few inches, but Squallywood (Squaw Valley) has received upwards of 20'' of new snow and should get a few more inches tonight. It looks like Kirkwood and Mammoth will get the most out of this storm with Kirkwood already receiving over 2 feet with more on the way tonight and Mammoth receiving 7'' so far and another foot on the way.

Good articles about Squallywood and CR Johnson, the skier that died there over a week ago.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/skiing/news/story?id=4952468

http://sports.espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/news/story?id=4944104

Tiger Woods and Ali

Bill Simmons wrote a really good article comparing Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods. It focuses on each of their comebacks and details the similarities and differences in their careers and personalities. Another must read by BS. Also check out Jason Whitlock as the self proclaimed 'Racial Czar'. All of his stuff is fantastic.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100303

http://msn.foxsports.com/writer/Jason_Whitlock

1st Entry

This is the new blog for sports and weather bums. We will have multiple views and inputs about all things sports and weather. I hope everyone will enjoy it.

Remember the USA and Netherlands friendly today at 2:45ET. You can catch it on ESPN2 or espn360.com. Additionally, there are some big college basketball games tonight...KSU vs KU, UCONN vs ND, and Duke vs Maryland. Hopefully we can get some input before and after these games.

The Sierras are getting hit with some big snow. The crest around Tahoe should get 10-14in out of the storm with some minimal spillover. Mt. Rose is looking to get 6-10in.

Until later.