caulfield12

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/yankees--desp...-032917823.html Passan rips Yankees for the deal.

By SCOTT CACCIOLA Published: March 24, 2013 PHILADELPHIA — After pregame player introductions, Florida Gulf Coast’s Sherwood Brown began to dance as his teammates, their arms interlocked, spun in a circle around him, their speed building and building until they broke apart and scattered. Tournament Bracket and Forecast Nate Silver is calculating each team’s chance of advancing to any given stage of the N.C.A.A. tournament. View his bracket and keep tabs on the latest results. In a sense, that was how the Eagles hoped to play against San Diego State on Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center: fast and exciting and borderline reckless, a bunch of grown children coloring outside the lines. Why not have some fun? Florida Gulf Coast officially turned the N.C.A.A. tournament into its own big celebration, romping to an 81-71 victory over San Diego State in the Round of 32. In the process, the upstart Eagles became the first No. 15 seed in tournament history to advance to the regional semifinals. “As everyone’s seen, we’re doing something special out here,” Brown said. On Friday, Florida Gulf Coast will face Florida, the No. 3 seed in the South Region, for a spot in the Round of 8. Yes, you read that correctly. Brown, the Atlantic Sun Conference’s player of the year, pushed his way through foul trouble to score 8 points in a late 17-0 run that blew apart a tight game. There were 3-pointers and dunks, fast-break layups and defensive stops. In other words, business as usual for the Eagles. It was such compelling theater that many Duke fans — awaiting their team’s late game against Creighton — stood and cheered for the Eagles when they returned to their bench for a second-half timeout. Brown, who finished with 17 points, waved his arms, urging them on. Bernard Thompson scored a game-high 23 points for Florida Gulf Coast (26-10), which shot 55.9 percent from the field. Brett Comer, the team’s sure-handed point guard, finished with 10 points and 14 assists. And Christophe Varidel, a sharpshooting guard, had three 3-pointers off the bench. “We just want to make history,” Thompson said. “We live for moments like this.” San Diego State Coach Steve Fisher, who has a condominium in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., not far from Florida Gulf Coast’s campus, said he was familiar with Coach Andy Enfield’s program, perhaps as familiar as any coach in the country could have been. It did little good. “They play with a swagger, and they have a right to do that,” Fisher said. Jamaal Franklin scored 20 points for San Diego State (23-11), which committed 17 turnovers after being sucked into Florida Gulf Coast’s vortex. “I don’t like to slow our style down,” Enfield said. “I like to let our guys play.” In just its second season as a tournament-eligible Division I program, Florida Gulf Coast has suddenly gone from one of the country’s most unknown teams to perhaps its most celebrated. On Friday, the Eagles pulled off the Round of 64’s most remarkable upset, knocking off second-seeded Georgetown. In the wake of that win, Enfield said he received 450 text messages, e-mails and voice mails. But such was life in the spotlight, not that his team was going to change. After all, these were the same players who, just before taking the court for their Atlantic Sun tournament final earlier this month, opted to keep loose by partaking in a locker-room round of freeze tag. The players refer to Fort Myers as Dunk City — for good reason, based on the evidence they have provided. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Enfield said. At the same time, Brown said he and his teammates were not satisfied with one win, with one upset. They wanted more. It might have sounded brash, considering the team played in Division II as recently as 2006 (and in the N.A.I.A. before that). Did they care? No. The Eagles were amped from the start. When San Diego State’s Chase Tapley pump-faked on a 3-pointer on his team’s opening possession, Brown barreled into him like a bulldozer. At the other end, San Diego State’s aggressive defense continually forced Florida Gulf Coast into using the entire shot clock. This was not the Eagles’ preference. They wanted to leak out in transition and score easy baskets. Still, Florida Gulf Coast looked to be easing into its familiar rhythm midway through the half when Comer found Eric McKnight for an alley-oop dunk — a play reminiscent of the team’s high-flying acrobatics against Georgetown. It spoke to the team’s carefree, go-for-broke style. “We’re going to be in full attack mode the whole entire game,” Comer said. The Eagles dealt with adversity against San Diego State. Brown picked up his third foul early in the second half, but his teammates took up the slack. Comer got into the lane for a runner, and Varidel hit a 3-pointer. By the time Chase Fieler raced in for a fast-break layup, Florida Gulf Coast was ahead, 52-46, and Fisher was desperately calling for a timeout. Brown hit another 3-pointer for a 58-52 advantage, and the lead grew from there. “It’s hard when we keep going and going and going at you,” Comer said. Nobody has been able to slow Florida Gulf Coast. Not Georgetown. Not San Diego State. The team’s next stop is Arlington, Tex., though Enfield did not seem entirely sure of the destination. “Where are we going?” he asked. His players knew: Dunk City was headed where no No. 15 had been before. “Everybody be ready,” Thompson said. www.nytimes.com

Now he had a program of his own, although he was hamstrung by NCAA restrictions that prevented him from hiring assistant coaches until April 17. There was a small core of returning players, most of them unaccomplished. Enfield needed more. Hence, on April 8 of that year, he was in a room at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, talking to Eric McKnight, a freshman at Iowa State University who had just received his formal permission to transfer. Enfield was in a hospital because his wife was about to deliver their third child. The wife breathed. The coach recruited. "At one point, Amanda said, 'Put the phone down, we're about to have a baby,''' recalled Enfield before his team's practice at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. He stopped. Marcum was born, the couple's third child, after daughters Aila and Lily. Soon after the baby was delivered and transported to the nursery, Enfield fired up his cell phone again. As he recalls it, this time the obstetric nurse was changing his wife's IV when Amanda began questioning his sanity. "Amanda said 'Will you please be quiet? The nurse is trying to change my IV and I can't even hear.' I left the room. And I kept my recruiting call going.'' This time he wandered the hall until he found an empty birthing room, plopped onto the bed and continued talking to McKnight. At one point another nurse walked in and said, "Are you having a baby?'' Enfield shrugged sheepishly at the telling. McKnight, a willowy 6-foot-10 forward from Raleigh, N.C., signed with the Eagles and after sitting out a year, has started 31 games in this historic season. (Told on Saturday about the circumstances of his recruiting call, McKnight said, "Really? He was in the hospital? That makes me feel pretty honored that coach Enfield would do that.''). It is one story among countless stories surrounding the Eagles, who have hijacked a giant slab of March Madness and made it their own. (Harvard, too, took a mighty piece of the bracket into Saturday's game against Arizona, after shocking New Mexico in the opening round, but imploded against the Wildcats). There is the story of the school: Florida Gulf Coast University has 13,468 students, which already makes it among the largest universities in the U.S. Yet its recognition among college basketball fans was minimal. On Friday, the school's homepage received 432 percent more views than it had on the previous day, a phenomenon that mirrors the sudden recognition brought to Butler University when the Bulldogs first improbably reached the Final Four in 2010 (and then did it again in 2011). Yet it's not even clear FGCU needs the push; according to a school spokesman, the glistening campus, with its own sprawling lake, is already growing by 800-1,000 students each year. Yet the age of the college and the suddenness of its rise (FGCU began playing in Division I only in 2006-'07), lend an air of shock to everything the Eagles achieve. There is the story of the coach. Unless one of his peers has a well-kept secret, Enfield is the only startup entrepreneur in the Division I coaching ranks, having co-founded a software contract management company in the health care industry called TractManager in 2000, along with partner Tom Rizk, who had previously been the CEO of a publicly traded company. "My partner is a genius, I can say that for certain,'' Enfield said, yet he is palpably uncomfortable in discussing other aspects of his ongoing association with TractManager, which at one point was valued at more than $100 million. "I retain a part of company, but I'm not involved any way in management,'' Enfield said. He declined to provide the size of his stake, "because it's a private company.'' In 2003, while working in New York both with TractManager and his basketball consulting business (focusing on skills development), Enfield was introduced to Amanda Marcum, an Oklahoma native (and Oklahoma sports fan) with a thriving career as a fashion model. Their first date was arranged by a mutual friend, and Enfield said that upon first seeing Marcum, "As soon as I saw Amanda get in the car, I knew it would be a good trip.'' He took a fashion model to a game at St. John's and ate Taco Bell at the student union beforehand because nothing else was open. "I figured if she still likes me after Taco Bell and a basketball game...'' Enfield said. They were married in 2004. Two years later, Enfield took his career, and his wife, to Tallahassee. "What a sacrifice she has made to give up ... from flying all over the world to doing fashion shoots to moving to Tallahassee, which is a nice place, but it's not New York and it's not Milan and it's not Sydney and it's not Paris.'' Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/-college-.../#ixzz2OWkZ4WjD

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 24, 2013 -> 09:01 PM) I'll never understand why they didn't go into ST thinking that Santiago was going to be a starter. Because Ventura wasn't listening to the experts at SoxTalk who've more correctly diagnosed Danks?? This is just idiotic, since none of those guys would pitch better than Santiago in the AL, and none of them would be part of the long-term solution, either. I'm not expecting to see Mitchell or Walker traded for some journeyman veteran who will soak up additional resources and hurt our future as well.

Hard to say which one was better, Fieler and Comer in the upset over GU FRI or the McKnight one in the first half today. FGCU and LaSalle/Mississippi and Oregon (well, not really) are looking to be the only double digit seeds left. Would be great to see Creighton knock off Duke, too.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2013 -> 09:43 AM) Belle wouldn't classify as a miss. They got his best season, and then he left just in time to get hurt and be done. Yes, but a lot of those stats were put up after the Sox were far behind in the standings. Most importantly, he never really fit in with his teammates, wasn't cooperative with the front office and nor was he ever embraced by the fans.

http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/hom...home-court-live Article on why it will take a long time to ever trust a Gonzaga team again as a top seed or NCAA favorite.

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/ra...d-pasts/2110921 Another form of Moneyball, played by the Rays. The White Sox have been right out there over the last decade, taking numerous similar chances of their own. Of course, it didn't work so well with Swisher, O-Cab or Javy, for it usually has. There have been notable misses, like Albert Belle or David Wells, though.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 08:41 AM) Odds are he is probably behind Castro and Molina as well. Maybe even Rienzo. And Johnson, based more on potential.

Morel? They're not going to risk a $150-200 million roster on Morel, no way. At any rate, wish they were still playing Mitchell, Walker, Thompson in major league games more instead of Brandon Short.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 23, 2013 -> 10:11 PM) How so? There have been like 6 good games in 3 days. There have been a lot of upsets, but not so dramatic endings. The only really exciting one was Marquette/Davidson. After watching Marquette take out Butler, they really have to be kicking themselves even more down in Virginia. One ill-advised pass away from possibly being the Cinderella School of the Sweet 16. Now that title goes to WSU or Oregon. But those are not huge shockers, not to those who follow basketball year-in, year-out. Florida Gulf Coast would be the biggest story if they could win tmrw, and Creighton/Temple/LaSalle could also be legit underdog stories. Last 9 seed to knock out a 1 was UNI, I think.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 23, 2013 -> 10:09 PM) This is just what happens when you never play any competition. Well, nobody wants to play Gonzaga non-conference in Spokane, and it's not easy to schedule for that program...plus the remote location and travel times that are involved for a school in the Pacific NW. There's nothing to gain for most top D-1 programs in playing them, except for other mid-majors and mid-tier big conference teams, who all want to put a feather in their cap by knocking them off. But, yeah, Olynyk was fouled, no doubt about that. But Gonzaga didn't play that well against Southern, either. Definitely weren't at the top of their game this tourney.

Awesome comeback from WSU, and coach Gregg Marshall. Baker has STONES, man. A 10 point lead just evaporated, like that, in a heartbeat. Just incredible backcourt play down the stretch, and free throw shooting, to boot. And what the HELL was Stockton doing out there, passing up shot after shot? Definitely not the player his father was. Van Fleet's a Rockford kid, btw. And, if California can come back on Syracuse, what an incredible weekend for the PAC-10 compared to pre-tourney expectations.

It looks like it's going to finish with just over $5 million, but that's not bad at all considering it's only expanding to 1,000+ screens. Some of the predictions were overly optimistic, with just over $9 million, but that probably wasn't realistic. Plus, for 16-30 year old boys/men, it's competing with the NCAA basketball tournament. The per screen average is almost twice as much as admission, the Paul Rudd/Tina Fey movie. I think the word-of-mouth will really carry this movie well, and lots of repeat viewings as well. In fifth place, the Disney-girls-gone-bad entry Spring Breakers snuck ahead of the Tina Fey/Paul Rudd comedy Admission, though neither are headed to huge grosses. Spring Breakers earned $2.1 million from 1,104 theaters, while Admission had to settle for sixth place and $2.06 million from 2,160 locations. Each film is looking at a $5 million weekend — a gross that makes sense for a strange art piece like Spring Breakers, but is simply embarrassing for a mainstream wide release with two A-list leads like Admission. Fortunately, Focus Features only spent $13 million on the production. www.ew.com/movies From what I've read, Admission's supposed to be a very "smart/clever" movie, but maybe that's not what most audiences are really looking for these days.... In sixth place, the Disney-girls-gone-bad film Spring Breakers found $5 million from 1,102 theaters. The A24 release has garnered massive publicity thanks to the allure of seeing onetime Disney starlets like Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens (who, granted, didn’t have a squeaky clean reputation) traipsing about in bikinis while wielding guns, but the deeply strange R-rated art piece, which also stars James Franco, confounded many young moviegoers this weekend, and word-of-mouth is destined to squash Spring Breakers‘ hopes of mainstream success. Still, the film cost only $2 million to produce, and it should ultimately become a profitable venture for the fledgling studio.www.ew.com Disagree here. Think it will end up being hugely profitable over time...especially in places like here in China, where you now have to pay .75 to $1.50 to download a movie at youku.com, tudou.com or funshion.com. Not to mention DVD sales, and when it comes to cable, HBO/Showtime/Cinemax and Pay-Per-View. A lot of people probably won't go to watch it in the theatre but are curious, in the same way many women were shy to see MAGIC MIKE, for example. While it wasn't able to break out, A24's Spring Breakers still made an impact at the box office this weekend with an estimated sixth place take of $5.0 million. The much buzzed about low-budget film starring James Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens earned a solid $4,529 per-location average from 1,104 locations. With the addition of last week's strong platform performance, Spring Breakers has grossed $5.41 million to date.www.boxoffice.com A film that you probably weren’t aware even existed, starring Lindsay Lohan, Michelle Rodriguez, and Adrien Brody (the man has an Oscar, remember?) and directed by Vince Offer — a.k.a. the ShamWow/Slap Chop infomercial pitchman (and occasional prostitute beater) — just had one of the worst box office debuts since The Oogieloves in the BIG Balloon Adventure. The movie, called InAPPropriate Comedy, earned $172,000 from 275 theaters this weekend, yielding a wretched $625 per-spot average. According to its IMDb description, the Freestyle Releasing film follows what happens when “a computer tablet full of the world’s most hilariously offensive apps breaks through the borders of political correctness, stirring up cultural anarchy.” www.ew.com

Guess there are no MSU fans around SoxTalk.

That was the least shocking of the 2/15 defeats in NCAA history. With GU now losing four consecutive times to double digit seeds, it seems surprising now when they don't lose those games (ever since the Final 4 team).

•Infielder/outfielder Cody Puckett has been traded from the Reds, with whom he has spent his entire career, to the White Sox, Puckett himself tweeted. In return, the Reds will receive a player to be named later, tweets John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Splitting last season between Double-A and Triple-A, Puckett saw time in the infield (mostly at second) and corner outfield, and hit .233/.306/.390 with 16 home runs over 488 plate appearances. More depth for the AAA roster. Seems like he's got some pop. Not sure how good his IF defense is...

Josh Pastner=Cillian Murphy's half-brother Wow, the B10 is just on fire so far, with the exception of WI (normal for them in the post-season recently). MI and MSU both playing like Final 4 teams. Memphis just doesn't have that one player who can take over a game offensively and roll up 30 points. Can't believe Iowa had MSU down 13 points in the B10 Tourney....Harris wasn't playing as well last weekend as he has been so far today. And Stephens has to have a high 40's vertical. Hope he makes it in the NBA or with the Globetrotters, he's fun to watch and 100% energy despite the asthma problems.

If McGary keeps playing this well, he's going to be getting a lot of NBA attention. Seems like the type of kid who will stick around at least one more year, if not two.

Why would there be a "conspiracy" to prove that John Danks is actually healthy when he's not healthy? To sell more tickets? C'mon, the fact of the matter is that there's a decent chance that Santiago or Axelrod could put up similar numbers to Danks in April...if Danks isn't yet 100% comfortable. The fact of the matter is that this coaching and training/conditioning staff has the best track record in the business with pitchers. Sure, we can all retroactively launch "fire KW" threads a year from now when/if John Danks is pitching more like Jim Parque, but, until that happens...we just have to wait and cross our fingers that he'll return to the pitcher he once was, and hopefully more like the 2008 version.

QUOTE (southside_hitman @ Mar 23, 2013 -> 12:27 PM) False. Those are not my words. That is a quote I cited from an article which pertained to actual capsule injuries to other major league pitchers. The man who used those words was none other than Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek, the surgeon who operated on Saberhagen at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan and who also did Santana's repair. Want to apologize now? Interesting to see that you insist on engaging me on what is really, a non-issue, especially when it seems like you as well as a few others have not bothered to read the article I cited. This is information from a surgeon who has actually done these surgeries on pitchers like Santana, not an unnamed, anonymous physical therapist professing to be an expert in a highly specialized area. Meanwhile I have had another legitimate new thread removed by someone. What is up with that? What is going on here with this kind of nonsense? Is this a forum for genuine Sox fans like myself or a den for trolls? It wasn't nearly as exciting as signing Mitch Mustain, Juan Silverio or Anderson Gomes.

You wonder how long Michigan can keep it going. Michigan's athleticism is really bothering VCU...every shot is contested, although the Rams have missed quite a few open looks. There probably will be at least 2-3 runs in the 2nd half. The old cliché about the first five minutes after halftime being critical. McGary looks like a beast. If he keeps playing this well, he might start considering the NBA option. Michigan's made a lot more turnovers than normal (almost their game average in one half) and they've still blown the game wide open. Impressive.

You wonder how long Michigan can keep it going. Michigan's athleticism is really bothering VCU...every shot is contested, although the Rams have missed quite a few open looks. There probably will be at least 2-3 runs in the 2nd half. The old cliché about the first five minutes after halftime being critical. McGary looks like a beast. If he keeps playing this well, he might start considering the NBA option. Michigan's made a lot more turnovers than normal (almost their game average in one half) and they've still blown the game wide open. Impressive.

I don't really root actively against Illinois or Iowa State or WI or Creighton (probably the one I'd root for hardest), because basketball thriving in the Midwest is going to be good in general for Iowa Hawkeye BB too, but it's easier to at least not to root against those teams in the NCAA tournament than it would be to root for the Cubs in the World Series. Iowa State's had a very impressive run, Hoiberg's done great (especially recruiting) and so has McDermott. And it's nice to see Larry Eustachy back on his feet and doing well. He also took Southern Miss to the NCAA's, and it will be interesting to see if he can ever get another offer with a major conference team again. Losing those games to Hampton and MSU were killers, back a decade ago.