Yeah, It’s a Mailbag

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Posted by L. Wood Kellogg on 02/04/2010 – 3:42pm
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Being that this column is decidedly slanted towards my teams, you have to realize that is opinion based.  When I say something like “Missouri is the worst team in the Big XII this season because their ’40 minutes of hell’ is a total gimmick, and last year was complete luck”, that is an opinion.  There is really no factual basis there except for the fact that their supposed vaunted press was absolutely raped last night by Texas A&M.   

I understand that because I write an opinion column, some misguided people will have an opposing opinion on the same subjects.  That is why Ihave opened myself up here.  I have provided my e-mail address  (lwood@kcsportspodcast.com) to any and all who want to write in, and tell me what they think.  This idea has been met with overwhelming support.  Which means that I can now publish the very first official L. Wood Kellogg Mailbag. 

And away we go…

Who the hell gave you your own column on a website?  From what I can tell, you are nothing but a Kansas homer who is so blinded by your fandom, you can’t see reality anymore.  Douche.  – Bill (St. Louis)

LWK: Well, we are off to a positive start.  I don’t know how the hell I convinced a man I had never met to let me post here.  I guess I got a vote of confidence from Bellwether.  And you’re right; I am a KC homer.  So what?  You clearly like your teams.  Doesn’t that make you a homer as well, Bill?  Yeah.  The funny part is, despite my failure to “see reality”, you still take the time to read this, and email me.  Now who’s the douche?  Oh, it’s still me.  Dammit.

How can this be a “Kansas City Sports Column” when you write about hockey?  Kansas City doesn’t have a hockey team!!!  Douche.  – John (Olathe)

LWK: Well, I love hockey.  I don’t care if there isn’t a team in KC.  It’s the best sport ever.  It’s not my fault that you guys failed to support the one team you had.  If and when KC gets a team, you’ll be damn lucky to have such an amazing hockey beat writer already entrenched in KC sports.  You don’t want Bellwether covering the Kansas City Coyotes for you.  Trust me.  Oh, and it is not required that all emails to me end in “douche”.

I saw a recent comment on one of your columns from BW Johnson alluding to someone you know shitting in their bed.  Did that actually happen, and who was it?   - Scottie (Lenexa)

LWK: Uh…let’s just go to the next question…

How do you think the rest of the season goes for KU?  I think they will fall flat on their faces.  Goddamn Beakers.  – Claude (Columbia)

LWK: While I don’t think that they will “fall on their faces”, I do think there will be some struggles down the stretch.  I think they lose to Texas on the road, and then lose in the semifinals of the Big XII tournament.  However, I think they get the overall number one seed in the NCAA tournament, come to St. Louis, and go to the final four.  After that, it’s anyone’s guess.  I really need that to work out like that.  Otherwise, Bellwether, HP and I will be getting drunk watching teams we don’t care about play here.  That’s just not going to be as good of a blog…or is it?

Did you know they are making a MacGruber movie?  WTF???  – Drew (Levenworth)

LWK: Oh, come on.  MacGruber is awesome.  Here is the trailer.  Now tell me you don’t want to see that.  Oh, you don’t.  Well, I am going to see it.  MACGRUBER!!!!

So you’re the hockey expert, eh?  Well, didn’t you predict the Red Wings would beat the Hurricanes to win the Stanley Cup?  The Red Wings will be the 7 or 8 seed in the West at best, and the Hurricanes are the worst team in the entire NHL!!!  – Jay (Minneapolis)

LWK: Um, injuries?  I don’t know. The Eastern Conference is so inferior to the West that it really doesn’t matter who makes it.  I guess I’ll just eat it on the Canes prediction.  Sorry.  I’ll revise my picks and say Chicago over New Jersey (formerly KC Scouts) in 6 games.  Enjoy.

So, you gonna watch the Olympics?  Can we expect Olympic coverage from the KCSportsPodcast Team?   - Kendall (Wyandotte)

LWK: Hell yes I am.  While I can’t speak for everyone else, I will absolutely write about the Olympics.  In fact, be prepared for my Olympic Hockey preview and my Curling preview in about 7-10 days.  Yes, I am serious…curling rules.

Why are you so much better than me at Golden Tee?  I mean, I practice and practice, but every time we play you crush me.  Please give me some pointers.  Hippolito (St. Louis)

LWK: I don’t know, HP.   I think it’s about consistency.  You have stretches where you’re good, but then the wheels fall off.  I’m never too high, never too low.  And in the end, I win.  Good luck!

What’s your prediction for the Royals this season?  Will Rick Ankiel make a difference?    - Bryan (Overland Park)

LWK: I am not as down on the Royals as some.  That being said, I am strongly considering asking my cable company for the exclusive Royals/Pirates/Padres package that only runs from April through June.  The Royals signed Rick Ankiel???  Well, we found our fifth starter.  Oh, wait…

I saw on one podcast that Bellwether was referred to as “Head Writer”, while you are listed as “Contributor”.  How’s that make you feel, bitch? P.S. I own you.  - Name Witheld (Des Moines)

LWK: Not cool, dude.

When I find your Mizzou bashing ass, I am going to kill you.   – Steve (Unknown)

LWK: Just make sure it doesn’t conflict with any of your NIT games.

So there you have it.  For those of you whose emails didn’t make it this time, feel free to keep trying.  And if you think you have what it takes to make the mailbag, give it your best shot.  Oh, and HP, just keep practicing.

Roy

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Posted by Bellwether Johnson on 02/02/2010 – 10:34am
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April 7th 2003:

I am brimming with confidence.  We’ve just demolished Dwayne Wade’s Marquette team to get to the NCAA Championship Game, and I’m sitting in Des Moines, IA, the backyard of Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison, refugees from Tim Floyd’s departure form Iowa State who were swooped up by Roy Williams to help in bringing him his elusive first NCAA title. 

After valiantly falling to eventual champ Maryland the year before, it was our turn.  The previous three champs were laden with senior leadership: Mateen Cleaves and Mo Peterson’s Michigan State squad in 2000,  Shane Battier and Nate James’ 2001 Duke team and Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter’s previously mentioned 2002 Terrapins.  Who were we playing??  A Syracuse team who’s leading scorer was a freshman, and who had only one starting senior, Kueth Duany, a forward averaging a scant 11 pts and 3 rebs per game. 

This was ours.

Two hours before the game, Hippolito Pichardo picks me up, and we head to DrugTown to get liquored the hell up for the game.  I couldn’t be more excited.  HP, like many of us is a superstitious fellow; he’s been wearing the same KU shirt for each tourney game, but that shirt is conspicuously absent from his shoulders as I hop into his car. 

“Dude,” he tells me, “You’ll never believe what happened.”  Apparently his fiancé’s sister’s dog took a huge shit on his shirt that afternoon. 

My first reaction is this.

My next is this.

With that, I knew…it was over.  We would loose, and in heartbreaking fashion.  It was after that game that my dad (an Illinois grad) clued me into the rumor that Roy would leave and would be replaced by Bill Self.

I still to this day don’t know how to feel about Roy Williams.  I couldn’t really feel that much rage over him leaving for North Carolina.  To be honest, I was more ticked about losing DeShawn Stevenson and Charlie Villanueva, recruits whose verbal commitments waved bye-bye along with Roy. 

Roy had never been a Kansas guy.  Like he said in his goodbye presser, he was a Tar Heel born and would be a Tar Heel dead…or something like that.  Jayhawk fans should hold more animosity for Dean Smith – who grew up in Emporia, who played under Phog Allen, who was a coach on the staff of the 1957 team that lost in triple overtime to North Carolina – for never coming home. 

Then, two years ago, we exorcized the demons.  We absolutely throttled his team in the final four, and then with Roy (and his giant Jayhawk sticker) watching on, we won the title.  I remember half of the KU fans assembled to watch the game booing Roy when he was interviewed at halftime wearing his allegiance to Kansas.  I wondered why.  We crucified the guy for the four-plus years since, and had just given him his pink slip from the tourney two nights earlier.  The way I saw it, we could use all the help we could get to keep another group of upper-classmen from losing to a freshman phenom again.

Since then, I’ve been indifferent.  I rooted for Michigan State in last year’s final, but out of rooting for the underdog, not because of some misplaced aggression toward Roy (or love for Tom Izzo, for that matter).  I root against North Carolina because I want KU to be #1.

Before the season started, the three most storied college basketball programs in history (sorry Indiana, UCLA and Duke) were all within distance of 2,000 all-time wins.  Kentucky, thanks to John Calipari, have already passed that milestone, doing so on Dec. 21st this season.  Looking at the perceived strengths of UNC before the season started, there was no reason to believe that KU would reach that milestone before them.

Well…guess what…

UNC currently sits at 1997 wins with a 13-8 record this season. 

KU currently sits at 1990 wins with a 20-1 record.

Say it with me:

FUCK ROY

Episode 12: 01/30

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Posted by KCSportsPodcast.com on 01/31/2010 – 12:42pm
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Conor Jay, Big Pat, and D-Lee give you a special pre & post game podcast of the KU/KSU basketball game in Manhattan, KS.

Part 1: ESPN’s College GameDay observations, the Octagon of Doom, banned blue chickens, and defining EMAW.
Part 2:  Post-game reactions and rants.

Episode 11: 01/28

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Posted by KCSportsPodcast.com on 01/28/2010 – 11:26pm
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Conor Jay and D-Lee talk with contributing KCSportsPodcast.com writer L. Wood Kellogg for the first time to discuss web rankings, infamous MU/Vikings fans, free KU tickets, and the MU shellacking.

We’re Goin’ Streaking!

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Posted by L. Wood Kellogg on 01/26/2010 – 2:18pm
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I promise not to dwell on what happened last night.  It was not a surprise that KU ran MU out of the gym.  The Tigers haven’t won in Lawrence in 11 years now; so I am not shocked.  I will give a brief two part comparison between my opinion on the game, and the opinion of the MU fans on Mizzou message boards.

Why KU won:

Me: Because they are a better basketball team, have better players, played at home, and are better coached.

MU Fans: Because Cole Aldrich murdered a number of players during the game, and the refs are all from Lawrence

On the Refs:

Me: I thought they let them play a little bit.  Cole’s tip in off the missed free throw was over the back, but Xavier was hacked on a breakaway (that’s a hockey term that I may have misused there).

MU Fans:  The refs were clearly an Al Qaeda sleeper cell placed here to advance the  terrorist scheme of Cole Aldrich.

On what will happen in Columbia:

Me: It will be closer, but KU isn’t going to get any worse between now and March.  KU wins 75-67.

MU Fans: KU should not even come.  We will provide our own refs, give Morningstar some cocktails, and poison Aldrich.  Mizzou wins 185-4.

On why my fiancée won’t talk to me today:

Me: it’s a simple misunderstanding.  We are adults, we like two different teams.  It’s no big deal.  We’ll make up, don’t worry.

MU Fans: She’s an idiot for even dating me.  She isn’t giving me the silent treatment.  She is merely busy writing her final goodbye to me before her father tracks me down, and blows my head off with a shotgun.

So that is that.  I am looking forward to that final game of the season (if I make it that long). 

Now, KU ran it’s home win streak to 54 including 15 this season.  That’s a really long time.  So when will it end?  I mean, the Big XII, with the exception of Missouri, is no slouch.  (Sorry honey…)  The Jayhawks have five home games remaining.  So I took the time to handicap who has the best chance to end “The Streak for The Beak”.  Yeah, I made that up.  Feel free to use it.  In order of likelihood…

5. Colorado 25:1

The Buffs aren’t the worst team in the Big XII (see Tigers, Missouri)*, but they also aren’t a real threat for much. They did beat Baylor at home, which is impressive.  But they also lost to Tulsa on the road.  This just isn’t the year CU.  Thanks.

*I should be prepared for a few nights on the couch.

4. Iowa State 15:1

I know that KU stomped on the Cyclones in Ames, but I think that ISU is better than that.  Brackens and Gilstrap can play.  Plus, they get the customary “Eustachy odds bump”.  Despite all of that, it just isn’t going to happen for you either.

3. Nebraska 7:1

You lost to Mizzou, and have only one guy who averages double digits in ppg.  No.  As a matter of fact, I am bumping you behind Iowa State.  Sorry Colorado, They’re still better than you.

2. Oklahoma 5:1

I don’t know what to think of OU this season.  Why have they underachieved?  Oh, that’s right; Blake Griffin was given the curse of the Clippers.  They still have Willie Warren and a guy named Tiny Gallon (yeah, I am serious).  Besides, they may overlook this one waiting for the rematch against…

1. Kansas State 3:1

Come on, who else on this list was going to be in this spot?  Look, I think that K-State is good.  I think KU is better.  If KU loses on Saturday at Bramlage, then I give the Cats no chance in this game.  But, if KU manages to smear shit in the collective faces of this team in their home litter box, then watch for the wrath of Manhattan on March 3rd.

At the end of the day, I don’t expect KU to lose any of these games.  I expect the streak to stay alive until Mizzou visits again next year.  I would assume, based on the following post I lifted from a discussion board today, that we have no chance next season.

“we will own lowrents next season!  when they loose collins, henry and they dont have that toothless thug inside getting away with plying like a bull in side”

Okay, maybe we should just wait and see.  Rock Chalk!

To Each His Own

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Posted by L. Wood Kellogg on 01/23/2010 – 11:22am
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Anyone that knows me knows that I have my teams, and I root for them hard.  No one questions my passion for the Jayhawks, Chiefs, Royals, and Wild.  So I am certainly not questioning anyone else’s love of their teams.  You can root for anyone you like*.   But anyone that really knows me knows that, along with my teams, I have the teams that I hate, loath, and generally wish ill will upon. You have these teams too.  They may be different than mine, but you have them.  You know the ones where even if your team loses, it’s okay because they lost too.   I wouldn’t piss on these teams if they were on fire.  Though I might piss on them if they aren’t on fire.

*I do request that you have some legitimate reason for liking who you like.  My future brother-in-law loves the Cowboys and the Oklahoma Sooners despite the fact that he appears to have never left the state of Missouri.  He just jumped on a bandwagon in the 90’s.  Now that’s irritating. 

I have many reasons for hating a team.  They may be a rival like the Vancouver Canucks.  They may have players that I dislike like A-Roid.  But the two teams that I hate more than any other two teams in the world have something in common: Their fans are arrogant for absolutely no reason at all. 

The Minnesota Vikings and the Missouri Tigers

What have either of these teams ever done to warrant the amount of trash talking that comes from their fans?  Nothing, that’s what.

What do you call a Viking with a Super Bowl ring?  Thief.  Yes, that is one of my favorite jokes ever.  They have been to four Super Bowls, and lost them all.  They haven’t been back to the big game since 1976.  They have lost a couple of NFC championship games.*  They lost one NFC championship to the Giants 41-0.  Not exactly a resume that lends itself to shit talking.  You shouldn’t be talking shit when all the other person has to do is tell that joke again. 

*In college, my roommate Grant was a huge Vikings fan.  On January 17, 1999 we were driving back to Des Moines after a weekend back home.  The Vikings were playing in the NFC championship game against the Falcons.  Grant begged me to let him put his little Vikings car flag on the passenger window of my car.  I eventually agreed.  However, Gary Anderson (who had not missed a field goal all season) pushed one left that would have sealed the game. Then the Falcons drove down, and tied the game with 49 seconds left.  And then Morten Andersen nailed a 38 yarder to send the Vikes home.  It may have been the most satisfying moment of my life seeing Grant slowly, manually crank down the window of my 1996 Chevy Cavalier, and let that flag just fly away into a cold field in Iowa some where.

Oh, Mizzou.  Please Tiger fans, tell me why you are so great.  Seriously, e-mail me at lwood@kcsportspodcast.com, and tell me.  I just don’t see it.  At least the Vikings can say they have been to the championship game.  You can’t even get to the semi-finals.  No final fours…EVER.   No BCS bowl games…EVER.  Even Kansas went to a BCS game, and KU football was a joke for a couple of decades.  You haven’t had an All-American basketball player since 1994, and even then it was Melvin Booker! (Most of you probably didn’t even know that) You aren’t ranked this season, and won’t be.  You might make the tournament, but will lose…again.

I can’t stand listening to Missouri fans claims that they were Big XII Basketball champs last season.  You weren’t.  You were Big XII tournament champions.  There’s a difference.  KU won the Big XII championship last season by beating just about everyone, and finishing at the top.  You won the tournament by beating the 11 seed, 7 seed, and 9 seed.  Good work.

I have already been hearing from MU fans here in St. Louis that they are sure that they will walk into Allen Field House on Monday and dismantle KU.  How?  If I were you, I would be more concerned about beating Nebraska on Saturday.   As Bellwether said on the last podcast; call me when you break the top ten in the polls. 

Bottom line is that no matter the outcome of the Vikings-Saints or Missouri-Kansas games, these fans will continue to boast about their teams until the end of time.  And these boasts will continue to irritate me to the core.  But I suppose that’s what makes sports great.  Maybe I am being a little hard on some of you.  Now that I think of it…

To all Vikings fans, good luck this weekend.  I’ll still be rooting for the Saints, but I wish you the best.  This may be your time.  Enjoy Jared Allen.

And to all you Missouri fans…wait, I just can’t do it.

Muck Fizzou!

Episode 10: 01/21

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Posted by KCSportsPodcast.com on 01/22/2010 – 12:08am
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New Year – New Season!

Conor Jay and Big Pat talk with head writer Bellwether Johnson on Frank “The Tank” Martin and the team as a whole, KU’s scare against Baylor, and why MU sucks (Sorry Steve).

Frank Martin Makes Me Want To Pee My Pants

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Posted by Bellwether Johnson on 01/20/2010 – 12:45pm
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“What does this win mean to me??  It means we won a game on January 18th.  Look, these guys should be proud of the effort they showed tonight, but on Wednesday, they’d better come ready to compete with the same intensity or I WILL DESTROY THEM in practice.”

-Frank Martin after K-State’s win over Texas

Christ, he’s terrifying.

We practice a lot of homerism here in this site.  But we can.  It’s not like we’re journalists or anything.  And other than Asian Schwab, we all pretty much follow the straight path of what I believe is the plurality of  KC Sports fans.  That is, we follow and root HARD for the Royals, Chiefs, and Jayhawks Basketball.  I don’t think we need to apologize for it, but that doesn’t mean that I have to look at KC sports thru any prism other than what a specific sporting event will mean to the teams listed above.

So, with that said, I can say without trepidation that I am completely and utterly horrified of this K-State team.  They are big, they are brash, and they don’t give a FUCK.  They’re like a hockey team out there, and if there were boards on the court, rest assured they’d pull a Sutton/Dupuis any chance they could.

Not to say they’re dirty.  No, they simply play with an attitude that they are going to be more physical than you in every single aspect of the game.  They committed 32 fouls against Missouri.  They committed the same against Colorado, and the Buffs retaliated with 36 of their own, making it the most heavily foul-called basketball game in Big XII history.

While that many fouls might not mean smart basketball, it certainly does mean that K-State is playing a brute style that might not be the most pleasant to play against; at least it wasn’t to Texas on Monday, and certainly won’t be for Kansas in the upcoming Big XII season.   And that’s a reflection on their coach.

Picture this: a young, under qualified coach comes into a head coaching position with almost no relevant experience.  He his thrust into this position mostly for who he knows more than what he can do, and is probably more a product of the players he coached than they of him.  On top of that, he’s a hothead.  He constantly yells at, berates and belittles his players, often times on the playing field.  He’s ornery with the media, and lackluster when he doesn’t have superior players at every position.  Oh, and Jason Whitlock hates him.

Sounds familiar, huh??   But it’s not Todd Haley I’m talking about.  Noooooo.  I happen to be talking about Frank Martin.  Remember this??

“The Wildcats are being swallowed by the enmity, paranoia and feeling of victimization that permeates the K-State fan base and fuels…Frank Martin’s coaching style.”

Or this gem??

“All the game-day, over-the-top negative energy/vulgarity directed at the refs, the opposition…is undermining the Wildcats’ growth.”

And now this:

“[Martin] has a chance to be the Latino/Brown/Cuban John Thompson, college basketball’s groundbreaking Hispanic coaching star.”

Excuse me?? 

Those first two quotes were from columns that Whitlock wrote in Martin’s first season in Manhattan (since deleted from kansascity.com…nice archive, guys).  The last was from today’s paper, imploring new K-State AD John Currie to sign Martin to an extension.

So what’s the difference??

Winning.  That’s it, plain and simple.  It doesn’t really matter what type of coach you are, as long as you win, nobody cares what you do.  Hell, you could shit in a towel as long as you’re tallying points in the “W” column. 

When looking at coaches, it’s important not to look at the reasons why a coach might not be successful, but rather to look at why he is successful.

In the case of both Martin and Haley, Whitlock as focused so intensely on the first that he has forgotten about the latter.  Martin yells and screams, but he relates to his players.  Haley yells and screams, but has a great eye for talent, and knows exactly what he needs out of his players.  There is a reason why these guys were hired.  They know how to coach.

Trust me, the tide will turn for Haley when he gets legitimate talent to work with.  In the mean time might I suggest the beard??

Hell, it seems to be working for RobertoClementeVinceLombarti Martin.  And like I said before…terrifying.

KU to Cancel Rest of Season

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Posted by L. Wood Kellogg on 01/11/2010 – 3:36pm
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I was sitting here in the KCSportsPodcast News Room doing research when I was handed this bulletin from our crack staff:  It’s official; Kansas has decided to forfeit the rest of their games this season in return for an automatic bid into the NIT tournament.  In the wake of yesterdays monumental loss to Tennessee, Bill Self addressed the media this morning.

“We just aren’t good enough to play against NCAA tournament teams. Teams of that calibur are just too talented. Cole, Sherron, Xavier, they just looked overwhelmed. This was something that I was afraid of going into the season. We would play well against the lesser teams that we scheduled, but we just could not get around playing a team like Tennessee. And now, to expect us to play a full Big XII schedule; I just don’t think we could handle that. I mean, have you seen Mizzou?? They beat K-State for crying out loud!”

Aldrich was unavailable for comment. He left Allen Field House early on Monday morning, and boarded a bus back to Minnesota to prepare for the NIT, and get some ice fishing in.

Collins was more vocal while cleaning out his locker. “I don’t know what we were thinking. All those heroics over the last three years, it was all luck. Plain and simple. That’s why I didn’t enter the draft. I wasn’t actiually going to be drafted. This was just a distraction.”

This is a huge blow to Kansas Basketball. A season that started out with so much promise, has come crashing down. It wasn’t just the loss on the road to a nationally ranked Tennessee team. This collapse was epic, beginning all the way back with a 57-55 squeaker-win at the hands of Memphis in November. You could tell then that this team just didn’t have what was necessary to make a run.

The slide continued with a 73-61 win at UCLA. Sure they won, but they were never really in that game. Plus, UCLA had no fans show up, and only two players who had ever heard of basketball before. The rest of their team had been fielded only moments before gametime from homeless people outside the stadium.

“We couldn’t believe that we walked out of there with a victory.” said Self, “I was sure that we would take an aboslute beating there. I mean, I know they had the homeless guys, but a couple of them were pretty tall.”

But I think we all knew this was going poorly when KU was only able to edge out nationally ranked Temple by 32. How can you not go on the road into a hostile environment and win by at least 50?? The simple truth is, this KU team just doesn’t have the talent.

So, it’s easy to understand why Lew Perkins has made this decision. He’s already had to dismiss a football coach for mistreating fried chicken wings. He couldn’t afford another black eye on this already down-trodden university…

Wait…Bellwether has just handed this to me. Let me see if I can get through this…

Kcsportspodcast.com has just learned that Kansas has decided to go ahead and play on Wednesday at Nebraska. No official statements have been made as to why the change of heart. The athletic department has only announced that they plan to be in Lincoln on Wednesday, and they will field a team to play against the Huskers.

I don’t know that this is the best idea. I mean, Nebraska is no slouch. It’s not like KU is ranked #1 anymore. You don’t have the “invincibility” that comes with that ranking to protect you anymore. I will see what I can find out from my inside sources, and I will let you know. Stay tuned to this blog for further updates. Rock Chalk.

Open Beak, Insert Owl Foot?

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Posted by L. Wood Kellogg on 01/05/2010 – 12:39pm
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I apologize for the title, but I just didn’t know what and owl’s foot was called.  If you know, please pass it along.  Oh, and I know this game was three days ago…blame that one on Bellwether for posting six minutes before me yesterday.  So…

Hey Temple fans.  What’s up?  I just wanted to let you know that I understand.  I really do.  You were picked to finish a mediocre (at best) eighth in the Atlantic 10 conference.  I am sure that hurt.  You hadn’t received a single vote in either of the major polls.  Insulting, right?   You must have felt disrespected.  You were 8-2, and one of those losses was to #20 Georgetown by one on the road.  And then, to top it all off, you just upset the number three team in the county, Villanova, by 10!  So yeah, I understand your arrogance a couple of weeks ago.  

November 19, 1999 Des Moines, IA.  The Iowa State Cyclones are visiting the Drake Bulldogs.  Iowa State is expected to contend for the Big XII championship.  The Dawgs are expected to hope for a berth into the MVC Tournament at best.  Low and behold, Drake beat the mighty Cyclones 48-44.  They beat Marcus Fizer.  They beat Jamal Tinsley.  They beat the team that would be ranked #6 in the country at the end of the season.  I, along with 5 other people, stormed the court.  Later on, we decided that Drake could make a NCAA tournament run.  You know what happened?  They went 11-18 overall, 4-14 in the conference, and managed to lose 9 of their last 10 games. 

I wasn’t thinking clearly after that game, and you weren’t thinking either when you chanted, “we want Kansas!”  You thought that if you could beat a team like Villanova, then you could beat anyone.  In this case, it appears you bit off more than you could chew.  The old eyes were bigger than the stomach trick.  It happens.

You were holding people to 53 points per game.  Your defense would surely stifle the Jayhawks, who were averaging 90 points per game.  What you didn’t think about was that you had absolutely no one who could play inside with Cole Aldrich, “Marquise” Morris*, Thomas Robinson, or even Xavier Henry.

*That’s my name for the player named Morris who somehow is allowed 10 fouls per game.

Your best player, Juan Fernandez, came in averaging 21 points.  Surely he could help you keep up with Sherron Collins, or Aldrich, or Marquise, or Robinson, or Taylor, or Morningstar, or Reed, or Withey.  Oh, it didn’t.  Crap.

Like I said, I understand.  We all get a little out of hand after a big win.  Maybe you thought you could beat Kansas.  I mean, KU may have been #1, but they hadn’t played anyone.  Through some scheduling quirks, teams like Memphis, Michigan, and UCLA were having down years.  Plus, KU you had encountered some trouble against this cupcake schedule.   Yes, I get the “We want Kansas!” chant two weeks ago.

But here is where your misguided arrogance goes wrong.  Prior to the game with the Jayhawks, you chanted “Overrated!” at KU while they were warming up.  Why would you do that?  What in the name of John Cheney were you thinking??  I mean, I am sure you already had the attention of the Jayhawks.  Everyone heard the original chant.  But now you are going to piss off the “best” team in the country 3 minutes before tip off.  That’s why Sherron lit you up.  That’s why your only lead was 3-2.  That’s why you got ripped on your home floor by 32.  

So Temple, again I understand where you were coming from.  I had even been in that same spot.  However, I didn’t chant anything at Iowa State until we had actually won.  Maybe go with the “Overrated!” chant aimed at Villanova after you beat them.  Or maybe just chant things like “We want UMass!” or “We Want St, Louis University!”   Or you can jump on the band wagon and chant “Rock Chalk Jayhawk!”