Rock Chalk Red Sox

Last nights college basketball title game was the best college basketball I have seen in a long time. It had everything you could have asked for in a championship game. Clutch plays, bonehead coaching moves, and the classic "questionable call that is not really a questionable call cause the ref had his head up his ass". Of course the call I am refereeing too is Derrick Rose's bank shot with the shot clock winding down. It should have never come to the refs checking the monitor. The ref was right behind Rose as he is taking the shot! He missed the call but luckily for Kansas and Wizard the refs made the correct call. The bonehead coaching move was Calipari not having his players foul Collins right before Chalmers' 3. Coach Cal says that they were trying to foul but on the replay you can see Rose kind of backing off Collins. I'm surprised that you don't see teams foul in that situation more often. How many times do you see a team not foul and then give up the game tying 3? I see at least 5 times every basketball season. Its too early to decide where Chalmers shot ranks in all time NCCA tourney history. It will be up there with Keith Smart, Christian Laettner, Michael Jordan, and Bryce Drew. Laettner and Drew's shot weren't in the the final but Smart and Jordan's were. The difference between Smart and Jordan was they were wide open and Chalmers had a couple hands in his face. Just an unbelievable shot in and unbelievable game. As for Bill Self, I don't think he'll go to Oklahoma State, even though it is his alma mater. Leaving a great basketball school like Kansas to go to Oklahoma State would be like leaving Notre Dame football to coach Georgia Tech. Its a step down in terms of history and tradition.

Just a beautiful day at Fenway Park today. Not only did the Sox beat the Tigers 5-0 and Dice-K pitched great but with all ring ceremonies the highlight is the pre game festivities. All the Boston sports championship trophies were together today as Bobby Orr led Bruins greats with the Stanley Cup trophy, Bill Russell was with Danny Anige, KC Jones, JoJo White, John Havlicek, and for some reason ML Carr (I was surprised that he wasn't waving a towel). The Pats were led by Tedy Bruschi, Kevin Faulk, Larry Izzo, and long snap expert Lonnie Paxton. The players with the 2004 World Series trophy were a great collection of old friends. Dave McCarty, Curtis Leskanic, and the original dirt dog Brian Daubach (who, if my memory serves me correctly, was only with the team for like the first month of 2004). It was really fun to see all the trophies together but I guess the real highlight was the vindication of Bill Buckner. Buckner came of the Monster and threw out the first pitch. You could tell on his walk to the mound that he was emotional. Buckner was the face of the whole curse business and its too bad because he was a great player and a great hitter but he is always remembered for the ground ball in 1986. People forget that the game was already tied cause the shaky Sox bullpen blew the two run lead but Buckner became the main goat. I suppose that 2 World Series later his is truly vindicated and I'm glad for him and I suppose that Red Sox Nation has forgiven him. It was a great moment to see. Maybe next year Grady Little will throw out the first pitch.

Plus I always love to see how the players interact with Johnny Pesky. Watching him and Big Papi hang up the 2007 World Series banner was great to watch. Seeing Manny give him a little kiss on the cheek and a hug was classic. The whole team just has smiles on their faces when Johnny Pesky is around and for good reason. Johnny Pesky is Mr. Red Sox and his number should be retired with all the others.