The Vig

The Phoenix New Times yesterday filed a notice of claim against several Arizona public officials.  The action is in response to the October arrests of Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, owners of the New Times’ parent company, The Village Voice.  I talked about the situation here.

I expect the state is going to seek to settle and hope this can all go away.  If you’ve spent any time at all reading the fantastic Feathered Bastard blog, you already know there’s next to zero chance of that.  They want their pound of flesh.  Will the county give it to them?  Or will Sheriff Joe force the issue into court, increasing the county’s exposure exponentially?  If they’re smart, they’ll cut the check.  But we all know, Sheriff Joe isn’t that smart.

Thursday night in Corvallis, the Oregon State Women’s basketball team beat Arizona 94-88 in double-overtime.

So what, you ask?

Well, due to injuries, illness, and academics, Arizona only suited up six players.  Two of them fouled out by the end of regulation.  Arizona, playing with only four players, built a six-point lead in the first overtime.  Oregon State finally tied the game with :06 left on two Britney Davis free-throws.

Arizona lost another player in the second overtime.  With only three players on the floor, Arizona built a four-point lead with 1:42 to go.  Oregon State finally took the lead :33 later.  Another Arizona player fouled out a few seconds later and Arizona was forced to play the last minute with only two players on the floor.

I’m not sure which team this game says more about.  Kudos to the Wildcats for not letting up.  No tape of the game has surfaced yet.  DeCarolis has probably ordered all copies destroyed except the one he’ll be keeping around for LaVonda Wagner’s performance review.  Once the ‘Cats are back in Tuscon, no doubt they’ll be uploading some of their stuff to the YouTube.  It should make for some fun/awkward viewing.

This story has popped up in a few different places the last day or two.  There’s definitely something to it.

James came to the Cards right as I dove headfirst into my fandom.  The whole time he’s been down there, he’s seemed to be more of a sideshow than anything else.  Like Emmitt Smith before him.  A big-name free agent meant to put butts in the seats and nothing else.  He languished last season behind a brutal offensive line and an idiot head coach.  This year, he showed glimpses of greatness, but ultimately he’s just not the same player he was in Indy.  Well, he is the same player, he just doesn’t have Peyton Manning lining up next to him.  I have a feeling if he went back to Indy or even to New England, the Edge of old would reappear.  It’s all about the system, and he just doesn’t fit whatever Arizona’s trying to do.

Winter Hawks: If you’ve been thinking about attending a Hawks game this season but are unsure when to go, might I suggest Friday December 28th against the Moose Jaw Warriors. You can get your tickets here. Why do I recommend that game? Well, there’s the return of Fraser McLaren, which should make for some fireworks. There’s the fact they’re the defending league champs. It’s always nice to see a good team. And last but not least, the Hawks are 3-1 against the East Division this season. I can’t explain it at all. Does it have anything to do with the fact Portland is the most southernmost outpost in the league? There’s something to that, I’m sure. Whatever it is, I like it. Saturday night’s game sounded like a continuation of Friday night’s effort. The Hawks were competitive the whole way through. Battled back when down and ultimately came up short. Win or lose, I love those type of games. Last night was the sugarplum game, so named because it’s the final game before the Christmas break. Coaches never know whether they’ll get Jekyll or Hyde out of their team. Everett led 3-0 at the media time-out 10-minutes into the first period. It was 6-0 at the second time-out 10-minutes into the second. Greetings, Mr. Hyde. While the officiating had some curious moments, the power plays were even on the night. So it’s not like the Hawks lacked for opportunity. Does anyone know how Gabriel escaped the 10-minute misconduct for not having his jersey tied down? Was it because he kept his gloves on? He made up for it on the cross-check. He spent that entire shift looking to hit the showers early. And he did. Playing “Cry Me a River” as the kid Gabriel laid out was still down on the ice was a classless move by the Hawks. I wish they wouldn’t let Everett get under their skin like they do.

Man City: All season, everyone’s been saying “wait until Christmas” before deciding whether this squad can make a serious push for the top-four. Well, here we are. Thanks to Man U the Scum’s victory over Liverpool yesterday, the Blues are in fourth place, three points clear of the Reds. There are rumblings that City is close to signing Mexican forward Nery Castillo. Here’s a fantastic YouTube of the guy in action. Hopefully the Ukrainian oligarch and the deposed Thai president can both tuck their manhood in long enough to get something done.

Trail Blazers: We can all agree the 8-game seven-game winning streak is a mirage, right? This is the same team which lost 9 of 10 immediately before this streak. It was fun listening to the guys on the 5th quarter speculating as to whether Oden will screw with the chemistry next season. Right. There’s a nice little six-game home stand starting tonight against New Orleans. The real test comes Wednesday against Chris Bosh and the Raptors. That may be worth checking out.

Oregon State Beavers: Listening to the final moments of last night’s home loss to Tennessee Tech made me think of Pepperdine, of all places. They’ve got a coach down there who rose through the ranks of high school and JC hoops. He’s got a Herculean rebuilding task down there, but it can be done. And he believes. We had similar hopes for Jay John when he came to Corvallis from Lute Olson’s Arizona program. Alas, it just never worked out. It was time to move on a year ago, but for whatever reason DeCarolis kept him around. It’s not impossible to win in Corvallis. Heck, they’re doing it in Pullman and Spokane. You can win in Corvallis. Especially given the fact Ernie Kent does zero in-state recruiting. Here’s hoping DeCarolis finds a young coaching stud to take this project on next season.

Arizona Cardinals: Yesterday’s game at New Orleans was a stay-alive game for the playoffs. The Saints earned the win. With the exception of Edgerin James, the Cards looked listless. Bring on next year…

There’s a reason people tune into you rather than watch the game.  Maybe they’re out running errands.  Maybe they’re driving home from work.  Maybe they’re at work.  Whatever it is they’re doing, they’re listening to you because they can’t watch the game on TV.  No one, and I mean no one, is turning down the TV to hear Dick Enberg and Dennis “Crown Their Asses” Green call a game.

Do the guys back in the truck, or anywhere for that matter, have any access to Dick Enberg’s headset?  Could you please use that headset to remind Dick to give me down and distance maybe every two or three plays instead of every two or three possessions?  The score every minute or so would be nice too.  Twice during the first half last night he went over five minutes between score updates.  I know.  I timed him on my watch.  On radio, five minutes is an eternity.  At one point, rather than give me any actual game information, he gave me some story about how Tony Romo grew up idolizing Brett Favre.  The thing is, neither Romo nor Favre were on the field at that moment.  Aaron Rogers was quarterbacking Green Bay on a drive, but the way Enberg was going on about Romo, I honestly thought the Cowboys had the ball.  I’m still not 100% sure what the heck was going on.  This happened several times during the game.

Green wasn’t any help either.  The more he talked, the more I understood why he was such a train wreck in Arizona.  My absolute favorite part was when he mistook Jason Whitten (6′5″ 265 pound white guy) for Terrell Owens (6′3″ 215 pound black guy).

Green sucks, but last night’s debacle was all Enberg.  I get that he has some time on his hands between now and tennis season.  I understand.  And maybe he needs the Thursday night gig, but I doubt it.  Either way, Enberg belongs on TV.  That way he can blather on about whatever he wants and as long as the score is on the screen, no one has to pay attention to him.  It’s too bad Gus Johnson was busy calling the Knicks game debacle last night.  He would have been perfect.

Well actually with Dixon down, the Ducks have a pretty big one.  But how do they allow Arizona to score 34 points on them?  The UCLA game will be interesting to watch.  Will the Ducks fold up the tent now that there’s literally nothing left to play for?  My guess?  Yes.

Is waterboarding at least abuse? Can my buddy waterboard his kid to find out how his brother’s head got shaved? Can the cops who interrogated me in Arizona waterboard me into confessing to a crime I didn’t commit? Do we only waterboard non-citizens? Have we waterboarded citizens? Can we waterboard citizens?

It’s my sincere hope that Senate Democrats grow a pair and send this nominee back to the president. And the one after him as well. I realize all this means is GWB will do a recess appointment and all this will be moot, but it’s time to stand up. Somehow.

Busy busy busy from sun-up to way past sundown all weekend. Who knew being self-employed could be so…stressful? Thus I wasn’t able to see much of anything. Fortunately my Palm 700p was able to keep me informed.

- Man City kept things rolling early with a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United. There are whispers that Man City could be a top-four team this season. That’s getting way too far ahead of ourselves. Let’s see where things stand at Christmas. #1 keeper Andreas Isaksson is on the mend. His return could complicate things.

- Mua ha ha ha. I watched the game with my housemate, who spent the whole game screaming for the boys in green. I suppose it makes me an a-hole to root against a particular team, but whatever. What’s the point of a rivalry if you don’t hate your rival? My buddy Doug, a noted Duck apologist, sees the team going 2-5 the rest of the way. Nothing would make my black heart happier.

- The Beavers got their butts handed to them. At home. This, of course, is what happens when you take too much pleasure in others’ misfortune.  Schadenfreude overload.  Arizona, fresh off a 48-20 stomping of Wazzu, comes calling next weekend.  I thought maybe that would be a win.  Now I think maybe not.

-  The Winter Hawks played well, but not well enough on Saturday.  A full wrap-up will be coming later today.  Maybe tonight.  Who in the hell is Luke Walker?

-  Despite advice to the contrary, I took the Raiders in the football pool yesterday.  They cruised to an easy victory in Miami.  Unfortunately one of the pool leaders took Kansas City to beat San Diego, scoring 11-1/2 points and all but wrapping the thing up.  And we’re only in week 4.

-  My Cardinals beat the Steelers.  I got to watch the last few minutes on the big screen at a karaoke bar.  Not that I would ever wish misfortune on anyone (other than a Duck), but iy wouldn’t be a bad thing if someone gave Leinart a Gillooly.

I have no idea how much money Oregon State made for playing on ESPN last night.  I sure hope it was worth it.  Paul Buker gets it about right.  The cats on The Fan tried to warn me that Canfield would make me want to pull what’s left of my hair out.  Moevao didn’t do much better.  Each was intercepted 3 times.

In the old days the Beavs had enough sense to get drilled at Georgia, at Texas, at Nebraska and at Michigan.  Now those are some losses to be proud of.  Some real character building happened in the 80s and I have Dave Kragthorpe, Darrell Aune and my dad to thank for it.  Losing at a second-tier Big East school doesn’t even compare.  Nor does it instill confidence in the season ahead.   After the get-well game against Idaho State, it’s at Arizona State, home against UCLA and Arizona,  then at Cal.  It’s conceivable this team could open conference play 1-3.

At least my Arizona Cardinals haven’t disappointed me.  Yet.