Random Sports Thoughts 5
Filed under: MLB, baseball, cycling, following the locals, football, swimming
Around and about the world of sports…
- Brett Favre retired. For good this time. Or so he says. I’m surprised; I really thought he was going to go on and join the Vikings. But he didn’t, and I’m actually relieved. Let’s hope he sticks to it; he’s done the league proud and he has nothing more to prove by coming back.
- If I’m Tavaris Jackson, I’m breathing a lot easier, but I would still be a little salty. After all, he’s spent just about all of the offseason practically being thrown under the bus while his organization courted Favre (maybe he commiserated with Jason Campbell in Washington). Now, he will go into training camp as the man, but still with Sage Rosenfels wanting the job as well. He’s probably on a short leash though, so he will have to produce or he may see a quick hook.
- Lance Armstrong did NOT win the Tour de France. Apparently, his third place finish didn’t sit well with him; immediately after the race he informed the world via Twitter that he was forming a new team for next year’s race sponsored by Radio Shack. Do you think it was because one of his teammates this year happened to win? I don’t know, I’m just sayin’…maybe Lance was a bit jealous that the spotlight wasn’t on him.
- Michael Phelps lost a race at the swimming World Championships this week, and his coach threatened to pull him from the rest of the competition. Sour grapes or something about the swimsuit the winner wore, which will be banned from competition at the beginning of next year. Someone needs to remind the coach that this is swimming…pulling Michael Phelps from the second biggest event in the sport isn’t exactly the way to get more folks to get interested. So he got beat. Great competitors come back the next time and handle their business, which he did by setting a world record in the 200-meter butterfly. If Phelps is as great as they say (and eight gold medals in the last Olympics pretty much cements his greatness), he’ll bounce back without his coach’s unneeded protection.
- At last, what can I say about the Orioles? Has the swoon begun early this year? Granted, the schedule makers did not do the O’s any favors after the All-Star break. Road games with the White Sox, Yankees and Red Sox (with two wins to show for it). And they don’t seem to have snapped out of it against the Kansas City Royals at home, losing the first two games of a four-game series and losing 3-2 as I write. Still trying to keep the big picture, and hoping that this isn’t the swoon Oriole fans have been accustomed to.
- Finally an interesting debate…is Steve McNair a Hall of Famer? I’m glad I don’t have to make the decision, though I can see the case for and against. Aaron Wright, writing for the Baltimore Sun’s Toy Department blog, makes the case for here; Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, as part of his Monday Morning Quarterback column, gives his early impressions against here (No. 5 in his Ten Things I Think I Think). We’ll see which one is right a few years down the line.
Random Sports Thoughts III
Filed under: MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, baseball, basketball, blogs, following the locals, football, random sports thoughts, sports
Around the world of sports in the last week:
- The Brett Favre soap opera: Lord knows I’m tired of this one! Once again, another NFL offseason, another round of speculation as to whether or not Brett Favre will come back to play for someone. Again, the Minnesota Vikings have been mentioned as his most likely suitor. And once again I say. Don’t do it! If comments from some of the New York Jets from last season are to be believed, Favre doesn’t appear to want to put the work in during the week to get ready for the games; he just wants to play the games. I suppose when you’ve been around as long as Favre has, you can figure where corners can be cut. But in the NFL, cutting corners isn’t necessarily a strong strategy. These are year-round athletes, even if the season only lasts a few months. In my opinion, he needs to be just as committed to the work that leads to the games, as he is to the games themselves. In just the last week he has gone from definitely retired to meeting with the Vikings to discuss coming back, to being committed to retiring (again), to listing conditions which will allow him to play again. The story has been getting non-stop play on ESPN, being mentioned on SportsCenter every quarter hour or less just to make sure the audience is paying attention. Basically, he needs to decide if he wants to go through another season and remain committed to doing so, or just give up the game he loves. I understand he has an itch to play, but maybe it’s time to look in another direction. I also left my opinion on this issue at a blog post at MKRob’s Sports Blog.
- Manny Ramirez’s 50 game suspension: what more can I say? The game of baseball gets yet another black eye on this one. Now that it seems that the substance he was accused of taking has been suggested to be something players take when cycling down from steroid use raises all kinds of questions, maybe even more than answers. I don’t know where the end is with the drug tests. In the NFL, when players fail drug tests, it doesn’t seem to rock the game the way it does in baseball. I guess this all goes back to the Mitchell report and the over 100 players on the semi-protected list of failed drug tests. Baseball, it appears, has a long way to go to get past this.
- The NBA playoffs have seen some great games and some great individual performances. They’ve also seen some chippy play, in both the Boston-Orlando and Houston-LA Lakers series. Rafer Alston smacks Eddie House on the head; Derek Fisher cross-checks Luis Scola. Alston and Fisher get one-game suspensions, which, after watching the plays hardly seems fair. Fisher should have gotten more than one game for his pre-meditated hit. Then other players, who commit egregious offenses, don’t get suspended at all-Kendrick Perkins comes to mind for his foul on Mikael Pietrus in the Celtics-Magic series. I know they have a scale for flagrant fouls and suspensions. It’s just that the discipline for obvious offenses should be fair.
- After just watching the Orioles drop the final game of a three game series to the Yankees by a 5-3 score, it looks as though the bullpen, which going into the season was thought to be a strength, is going to be a problem. Koji Uehara left after six innings with a 3-1 lead, only to see the bullpen give up four runs in the top of the seventh on two home runs by Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon. Uehara pitched well enough to get a win, which seems to be a theme when he starts. Yankee pitching shut down the Oriole offense after the first inning, where Aubrey Huff hit his second three-run homer in as many games. If the bats aren’t working, then the O’s have to rely on pitching and defense all the more, and if they aren’t getting good pitching from both starters and relievers, you will see the results that they have been getting over the last couple of weeks.
- The Ravens held their first minicamp of the offseason this weekend, and every player expected to attend was present. Terrell Suggs was absent, and was expected to be absent, as he has not signed his franchise tag tender, and as such is not officially under contract. Both sides are still negotiating a long-term deal that will keep Suggs on the Ravens defense for years to come. The big news from the non-contact camp from a fan’s perspective is the list of injured players. Most, if not all should be ready for the start of training camp, though Derrick Mason sounds an ominous note, only guaranteeing he’ll be ready for the first game of the season as he recovers from shoulder surgery. Also of note is that the team held a three-man tryout at wide receiver between Kelly Washington, Jerry Porter and Tab Perry, with observers giving the edge to Washington, based on making more plays and his versatility allowing him to be used on special teams. News about the minicamp can be found at the Baltimore Sun’s Ravens Insider blog and James Walker’s AFC North blog at ESPN.com.
- I don’t usually watch much hockey, but after hearing the hype for Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Malkin and Sidney Crosby, I tuned in to watch a good portion of game 3 of the Penguins-Capitals series. I watched it at the expense of game 2 of the Boston-Orlando series in the NBA playoffs. And while I don’t follow the game much, it was easy to see the electric atmosphere in the crowd in Pittsburgh and the talented players on both sides going at it for all they were worth. With the Penguins victory, and wins in the next two games, they have taken a 3-2 series lead on the Caps. If history is any indicator, the Penguins will find a way to beat the Caps in the playoffs again.
Traditional Sports Media Takes Another Hit
This week, the Baltimore Sun let go of four of their columnists: David Steele, Rick Maese, Ray Frager and Bill Ordine. As Zach points out in his post at the Baltimore Sports Report, as newspapers have failed to adapt to the internet era, they have fallen by the wayside. He states that people aren’t reading newspapers anymore, when all a person needs to do to get their news is go out on the internet and get what’s happening almost instantly.
Now, before I was a citizen of the internet (whatever that implies; some people are in more places on the net than I am), I read newspapers. There was a time when I read my local newspaper, The Star-Democrat, the Sun and The Washington Post in one day, everyday faithfully. That time wasn’t all that long ago. But as I began doing more and more on the net, I gave up reading the newspapers. Back in that time, I had subscriptions to all three papers. Now, I only subscribe to the local paper, and I don’t even read it much of the time. That’s primarily because I can get what I need/want to read on the web, particularly about national stories. With a good feed reader to catch the headlines and stories from blogs, I am usually kept up to date on not just sports, but the news of the day as well. Even social networking sites, such as MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter, can help keep a person up to date without having to pick up a newspaper.
Meanwhile, newspapers are having a tough go of it in this current economic cycle. Many papers have shrinking circulations, one of the reasons being that much of their content is available on the web for free. Couple that with how television sports on local TV stations have almost been swallowed whole by newscasts that focus on the weather and traffic and features, as well as the news headlines of the day, sports in the traditional media (newspapers and television) have become almost a niche product in the local markets. When ESPN and the Comcast SportsNet channels have more time to do more with sports than a local station that has maybe five good minutes on a newscast, what will sports junkies gravitate to? When I watch the local newscast, there may be a couple stories about local sports, a quick look at one or two national stories, and scores. That’s about it. TV can’t even give what newspapers can in terms of coverage, while the internet can and often does exceed what newspapers offer, or at least equals it.
I’m not quite smart enough to admit that newspapers are about to be abolished from the face of the earth; I think there will always be a percentage of the populace that will want a newspaper in their hands in the mornings or evenings. I do think, that the percentage is going to keep dwindling as more and more people get online and find what’s out there.
Why Adam Jones Matters
Filed under: MLB, NBA, NFL, african-americans, baseball, basketball, following the locals, sports
Adam Jones (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
After my last post about my first impressions of the 2009 Baltimore Orioles, I received an interesting comment about Adam Jones, the young centerfielder, in response to another earlier comment. Here’s an excerpt below:
Seems to me a persons body fat has very little to do with talent. Jones is an outstanding athlete with marginal major league baseball abilities. I’ve seen no signs of him being anything other than that. I agree Roberts and Markakis are valuable parts to Baltimore’s successes. Aubrey Huff is probably the person you meant as the trio, rather than Jones, he is the real deal. There really isn’t a whole lot to the Orioles team after that.
Well, as baseball players go, body fat may be an insignificant statistic. I get that. However, no credit was given to Jones’ hot start at the plate nor his improvement from the same time a year ago. Anyone who has watched the Orioles would notice that Jones is not the same hitter he was at the beginning of last season. Granted, this is only his second full season in the big leagues, so Jones should be looked at more for his potential than for being the real deal. But if you are a fan of the Orioles, you are counting on Jones to make noticeable strides in his development. The end of last season and the beginning of this one seems to bear that out. And while Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff are proven talents, my point in the original post was that Roberts, Markakis and Jones represent the future of the Orioles. Markakis and Jones are being groomed to be cornerstones for the club for the future. If the trio continues to produce throughout the season, the Orioles offense will be in good shape. The Baltimore Sun, in its Toy Department blog, and even ESPN.com’s Tim Kurkjian are both showing Jones some early season love.
However, there is another way that Adam Jones is important. With Jackie Robinson Day upcoming on Wednesday serving as a backdrop, it is disturbing to note that participation in baseball, particularly at the major league level, by African-American athletes has been on the decline for some time. Jones, in fact, is the only African-American on the Orioles active roster. Now before anyone gets angry about my bringing race into the mix, let me explain. I don’t think that baseball is necessarily at fault; the draw of basketball and football to young African-American athletes has been strong over the last twenty years. And baseball, through its RBI program, is trying to get kids in the cities to play the game. Add in the fact that it takes more people and equipment to play baseball, and in the cities there are fewer places to play, and you can see several factors in play for a decline in participation.When I was younger, it was almost taken for granted that you would see African-Americans playing baseball. Many of those were following the trail blazed by Jackie Robinson. As such, we played (or in my case tried to play). Now, when younger kids look at baseball, they see a different game, without a great number of African-Americans. Within a few years, with consistent success, Jones could join the ranks of Jimmy Rollins or Torii Hunter, for example, as African-American ambassadors of the game. So the potential success of Adam Jones, in some small way, may be looked upon by a young kid as an inspiration to pick up the game, as opposed to playing football or basketball.
UPDATE: This post at the Baltimore Sun’s Toy Department blog states that African-American participation in baseball has increased for the first time in almost fifteen years. Adam Jones is also quoted in the post.
A Spring Ritual: Hope
Filed under: MLB, baseball, following the locals, newspapers, sports
If the calendar is nearing the end of March or the beginning of April, the sports fan knows what time it is: Opening Day is right around the corner.
Opening Day for Oriole fans is one of renewal and hope. Renewal of the traditions and routines that follow the grand old game of baseball, and hope that better things are ahead for the O’s. When you have suffered 11 losing seasons in a row, and are coming off a last place finish where it seemed that everything fell apart in August and September, all you can really have is hope.
Predictions for the O’s in the Baltimore Sun have been universally dire, centering on a lack of starting pitching. I think I read that every columnist has penciled the Orioles in for a last place finish in the American League East. Not really surprising, considering the outlook for the starting pitching staff. The predictions were leavened with the thought that no matter what, this is a transitional year for the Orioles. This is the year, hopefully, that Andy MacPhail’s work starts to pay off. With several top prospects down at the minors, the talent drain the Orioles have faced for years finally shows signs of slowing down. By the end of the season, the fruits of MacPhail’s labors should become apparent.
My prediction, if you want to call it that: progress. It may not be apparent early in the season, and it may result in another last place finish, but I am hopeful for progress. Definitely, I want the O’s to avoid another late summer swoon. Instead, I want to see them finish strong, as opposed to fading late. If it ends up being one of the worst teams in baseball, I am okay with that as long as there is noticeable progress. Throughout the season, there may be a lot of 9-8 games; the offense appears to be in fine shape to compete with the other clubs in the American League. It’s just that the pitching is the great unknown.
At the least, the Orioles can give their fans a great feeling on Opening Day by laying it to the heavy spending, overrated New York Yankees. GO ORIOLES!!!
Leadership: Easy To See, Or Hard To Define?
Filed under: NFL, blogs, following the locals, media, sports
The Baltimore Sun’s new blog, The Toy Department, recently had a very interesting post on leadership in sports, and whether it is overrated because it can’t be defined. The article focused on two athletes in particular, one near and dear to Baltimore’s heart, and one hated and reviled, though possibly respected, in the same city. The athletes in question are Ray Lewis and Derek Jeter. While I don’t follow the Yankees closely enough to give a qualified opinion on Jeter’s leadership, that won’t stop me giving my two cents in regards to Lewis.
It can be said with a fair amount of certainty that any sports fan who has listened to any sports program over the last decade has heard plenty about how both Lewis and Jeter function as leaders on their teams. Lewis has been called a leader on the Ravens almost since he stepped in the locker room. As such, when his recent flirtation with free agency arrived, many fans (myself included) believed that the Ravens had to keep him on the team, primarily because of his ability, but also because he has become the heart, soul and face of the franchise. It was hard to see Lewis in any other uniform. But what if he had lost some of his ability, i.e. made fewer tackles, didn’t stand up for teammates and coaches, or made comments about leaving to play with other teams? Would Lewis be less of a leader? It could be said that Ray has done just about all of those things, and his reward was a new contract worth $22 million over the next three years. Does his leadership status take a hit? Conversely, is the contract a sign that the player’s leadership would be hard to replace if he were gone?
It’s hard to see what leadership qualities Lewis or any athlete brings, particularly if you aren’t around the club, or in the locker room/clubhouse. Regular fans are often at the mercy of the beat reporters, or the media that cover the teams and personalities involved on a day to day basis. Perception and public relations often play a part in determining whether or not a player is or isn’t a good leader as the post’s author, Kevin Van Valkenburgh, states. And then, there are the questions that inevitably arise when an athlete becomes less than what he once was. Valkenburgh uses statistics to state that while Lewis has been consistently good, he hasn’t been as good as he once was. And when does that inability to do what he once did on the field outweigh his “leadership” abilities off the field, in the locker room/clubhouse?
I don’t have the answer to that question, and I’m not sure most other fans do, either in Lewis’ case. In the end, did the Ravens’ pay too much for Lewis, a certain Hall of Famer, just to keep his “leadership” and status as representative of the franchise around despite his somewhat fading skills? I think the Ravens did what they had to do, but how much of it was for leadership vs. ability, I can’t tell you from my living room couch.
Colts Still Gone
One post about football, in the midst of all the basketball…
As a football fan, as a Baltimore football fan, an ignominious anniversary just passed on Saturday. Saturday was the day, 25 years ago, that the Baltimore Colts snuck off in the dead of night on the way to becoming the Indianapolis Colts. When I realized that it was the anniversary, I can’t say that I felt any real anger, or sadness. For me, the Colts have been gone long enough and the Ravens here long enough for any of those emotions to really resurface.
However, for quite a few years after the fact, I was highly upset. Granted, much of what I remember of the Baltimore Colts of my youth was losing seasons, few folks in the stands, and mismanagement. The Colts’ last three years of playoff appearances occurred when I was in the fourth through sixth grades. They were my team, primarily because they were local and also of their rich history, which older heads let me know about. The years after the playoff seasons served to turn me away from the Colts, as they became a shell of their former selves, and I didn’t follow them as closely. Yet even when they left, there was bitterness, anger and sadness. Particularly after seeing the owner promise that the Colts were going nowhere, particularly after Mayor William Donald Schaefer worked tirelessly to keep them in Baltimore. And then, in the middle of the snowy night, they were gone.
After a couple years, my football allegiances switched down I-95 to the Washington Redskins. Shameful, perhaps, but in my teenage and college years I wanted a team to root for, and after being raised to root for the “local” teams, the Redskins were the closest thing to local. During that time, they went to three Super Bowls, winning two, and were always in the hunt in the always tough NFC East. You can read more about how I became a fan of teams in this post. This period lasted roughly until the great NFL expansion derby of the 90s arrived. I remember being very excited, feeling there was no way that Baltimore would be shut out from getting a team. We had history, and fan support on our side. Day after day I searched for any kind of news, any snippet of information that would tip the scales in Baltimore’s favor. There was the preseason game that Baltimore packed the stadium for, one sure sign that the area would support a football team. Schaefer, then as Governor, pushed hard to bring football back to the state. When the NFL decided that Carolina and Jacksonville would be awarded teams, my heart sunk. My allegiance to the NFL was shaken. At that point, I couldn’t even be bothered to root for the Redskins. I became cynical that Baltimore would ever get a team, to join the club that it was a charter member of. How could the NFL deny a city that helped make the NFL the institution it is today? Did it have no sense or memory of its history?
When Art Modell moved his Cleveland Browns to Baltimore and the team was reborn as the Ravens, it took a little while for me to fall in line behind the franchise. I was happy that Baltimore finally had a team, but I wasn’t feeling all that great about how it got there. When it came to light that Cleveland would be able to keep it’s logos, uniforms and team records, I wondered why the same consideration was never given to Baltimore. And I can remember Bob Costas, at the Opening Day game for the Ravens, going on a tirade about how Art Modell should be vilified for moving the Browns to Baltimore. I seem to remember after that, I was a Raven fan for life. I couldn’t understand how Modell was to be reviled while the Indianapolis Colts took what was rightfully Baltimore’s without so much as giving anything up. It seemed, then and even now, that everyone believed that Cleveland should get sympathy, while Baltimore got bupkus. I thought that inherently unfair, which made me a Raven fan all the more.
Yet I can understand the pain that fans of the Baltimore Colts felt, and many may still feel. A fine example of this can be found here. Those who were fans during the glory years of the late 50s and the 60s have every right to feel angry and betrayed. And those of us who lived through it are charged with letting the younger generation of fans understand what Baltimore endured before the Ravens arrived, as stated on this blog. Nevertheless, David Steele of the Baltimore Sun says that now it is time to let that anger subside, as now all three cities are better off than they were twenty-five years ago. All are better off because they are full-fledged members of the best club in sports-the NFL. I will say, as I stated earlier, I felt no anger or sadness at the passing of the 25-year anniversary of the move. Perhaps that’s because, as Steele notes, Baltimore has a team we can root for.
Yes, the Colts are still gone. But I don’t feel any pain about it anymore.
Ravens Review: So Close, But Not Quite
Filed under: NFL, following the locals, football, ravens review, sports
The Ravens came very close to adding a great victory to their young season by playing the Pittsburgh Steelers dead even for four quarters, but came up short in overtime 23-20. While the loss is disappointing in that the Ravens were dominant for a good portion of the game and managed to battle back to tie after momentum swung toward the home team, there is no shame in losing to a division rival on its home field. If anything, the Ravens earned a measure of respect for their performance. Coming into a hostile environment with a rookie quarterback making his third NFL start, it would not have been surprising to see the team fold under the pressure when the Steelers scored two touchdowns in less than a minute. Yet Joe Flacco regained his poise and led the Ravens down the field for the tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. While Flacco has much to learn, the offense seems to be improving week to week. The defense, as usual was solid and at times spectacular.
There may be no such thing as moral victories, but the Ravens have to know deep down that if they keep playing the way they have over the season’s first three games, they will win their share of games. Let’s not jump ahead and call them a playoff team yet, though. A lot can happen in the remaining thirteen games, with no bye week thanks to Hurricane Ike. Even Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun, who for years has been down on the Ravens (not without some justification), even seems to like this team. If nothing else, the play of the Ravens thus far has given Baltimore fans a reason to feel good again, especially after the way the Oriole season just ended.
Black Music Month: Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly
After recovering from watching the BET Awards the other night and reading (and laughing) at the live blogs done by SoulBounce.com, Inkognegro 1.75, and AverageBro, I needed a soul music fix. Thankfully, there were some moments in the show that fulfilled the need; notably from Al Green and Alicia Keys. The tribute to Mr. Green was a very satisfying affair, and while Jill Scott wasn’t necessarily at her best, Anthony Hamilton and the reappearance of Maxwell made it worthwhile. But when Al Green got up to sing “Let’s Stay Together” and “Love and Happiness,” you could feel the vibes, those good old soul/R&B vibes come alive. Considering that most of the show to that point (with the exception of Alicia Keys and her tribute to the girl groups of the ’90s) had been less than stellar, moments like those are what give me hope that R&B lives. Sorry that this opening was off-topic, but I had to get that out there.
To get to the point of the post, I came across an article in the Baltimore Sun by Rashod Ollison, the paper’s pop music critic, about the music of Frankie Beverly and Maze. In a roundabout way, this is related to my first Black Music Month post in that Marvin Gaye helped Maze get a record deal with Capitol Records. Ollison’s article really says everything that you need to know about the group, including how they continue to sell out arenas and tour, even without a hit record or even a recent album release. Some of their songs are considered classics in the R&B tradition, such as “Before I Let Go,” “Joy And Pain” “Happy Feelin’s,” “Back In Stride,” “We Are One,” “Silky Soul” (itself a tribute to Marvin Gaye), and many others.
I was fortunate enough to see this band perform in concert and they were worth the price of admission. They came out, they played their music, the crowd ate it up. Many of the people in the audience were still singing long after the concert was over. I saw them at the Convention Center in Washington, DC, not long after the release of the Silky Soul album. I remember that Regina Belle was the opening act and she hardly got any attention from the audience. The crowd was waiting for Maze; no disrespect for Ms. Belle, who was actually very good if anyone had bothered to pay attention. But when Regina finished, no one was milling about in the crowd; everyone was waiting for what was the “real” show to begin. And Frankie and the band delivered.
Again, it was my cousin and his record collection that introduced me to the band. He had the first five albums the group released, including the Live In New Orleans album that I wore out the grooves to. I bought the cassette (yes I know that dates me) as well and even the DVD of the show. I bought the rest of their output on my own; he paved the way and I followed the path. It’s a path that I’m glad I have followed. The music still doesn’t feel like it’s stuck in its time period, just as Ollison mentioned in his article. His statements regarding “Before I Let Go” are truly on point; anyone from any generation of black America is not only familiar with the song, it never fails to get people to sing along and dance. And I don’t know anyone who doesn’t sing along to the chorus of “Joy And Pain.”
Maze was a band that stuck with what they did, regardless of the trends of the time. They played music that was rooted in traditional R&B and told stories of love and relationships. They did not make concessions to disco, synth-pop, or hip-hop, and yet they still had hit records and gold and platinum albums throughout the time they released their music. They have been and will continue to be a favorite group of mine; their music is timeless.
From their Live In New Orleans performance, here is a version of “Joy And Pain”:
And a live version of “Before I Let Go”:
A Few Words About Maryland's Other Terps
Filed under: Women's NCAA Tournament, basketball, college basketball, following the locals, sports
Late last night, the University of Maryland women’s basketball team fell short in its bid to return to the final four, losing to Stanford, 98-87. Amazingly, the Terps outrebounded the Cardinal and shot better from the field 54 to 51 percent. Yet, the ladies only made 15 of 24 free throws and the defense allowed Stanford to shoot 50% from three point range. This three-year run is the best Maryland has had in some time and it includes a national title two years ago. Many of the players on that team were also on this team. Now though, with Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper departing, it will be interesting to see if Maryland can keep the run going. Langhorne, the all-time women’s scorer and rebounder at the school, will be especially hard to replace. Rick Maese’s column in the Baltimore Sun illuminates what Langhorne has meant to the program the last few years.
I watched several of the women’s games this season, and while they were capable of explosive offensive performances, their defense was kind of suspect, and turnovers were a constant problem. Most games, Maryland’s talent would overwhelm most of the teams they played. If the talent level was even, execution became a greater concern, and if the Terps turned the ball over too much, or did not play terrific defense, they could be beaten. It only happened four times in 37 games; however the last time it happened was when the stakes were the highest.
With Kristi Toliver, Marissa Coleman and Marah Strickland returning, the Terps have three skilled perimeter players to build next year’s team. Whoever fills the post positions for Langhorne and Harper will have big shoes to fill.
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- COLLEGE LACROSSE Loyola's dream home becomes reality March 13, 2010$62M complex will see first action as Greyhounds host Duke in men's lacrosse $62M complex will see first action as Greyhounds host Duke in men's lacrosse […]
- ACC TOURNAMENT: GEORGIA TECH 69, MARYLAND 64 One and done: Terps fall in quarters March 13, 2010Maryland comes up short in comeback attempt against Georgia Tech in quarterfinals Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez is defended by Georgia Tech's Iman Shumpert (1) and Zachery Peacock in the first half. With a chance to tie on a 3-point shot in the closing seconds, Vasquez was stripped as he went up to shoot by Shumpert. It helped the Yellow Jackets close […]
- Dunbar girls struggle in 41-36 loss to Smithsburg March 13, 2010Poets can't overcome early jitters, fall in Class 1A state semifinal The Dunbar girls basketball team averaged 87 points in its first three playoff games. The Poets fell well short of that Friday night. […]
- Owings Mills beats Snow Hill, advances to Class 1A title game March 13, 2010Eagles' Malcolm blocks last-second 3-point attempt to preserve win - Teams making their first appearance at Comcast Center in the state semifinals are usually just glad to be there. It's almost always a fun night, and then a long bus ride home. […]
- Morgan State survives Hampton in MEAC semifinals March 12, 2010Bears overcome Holmes' struggles, advance to tournament championship Reggie Holmes was off, Kevin Thompson was frustrated and Morgan State was struggling in its Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference semifinal against Hampton on Friday night. […]
- Ravens Insider: OT Adam Terry signs with Indianapolis Colts March 12, 2010[…]
- MyTeam: Friday Varsity scoreboard March 12, 2010[…]
- City boys roll over Easton, will defend 2A title March 13, 2010
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