John Marinatto Turns to Doublemint Gum to Solve the Big East's Scheduling Woes

"When faced with a hard decision, I look to our office vending machine for inspiration."

Let's make Syracuse and Rutgers play each other twice next football season.  Bravo John, bravo.

Ebay Item of the Week: This Picture of Fab Makes Me Feel Uncomfortable

Don't get me wrong, I'm as big of fan of Fab as the next guy.   There's just something about this picture that has me a little uneasy hanging it over the fireplace.

Five Observations From Syracuse's Victory Over Georgetown

For Hoya Suxa the mission has been accomplished, the Hoyas were destroyed

The Syracuse Orange defeated the hated Georgetown Hoyas in overtime last night, winning 64-61. Let that be a lesson to you people - good always prevails over evil - unless you're dealing with your insurance company, then you're screwed.

Here are five quick observations on the win.

1. Obviously SU doesn't win without Fab Melo last night. His improvement has been so dramatic and he's so far ahead of Baye Keita and Rakeem Christmas that I'm convinced Syracuse wouldn't win the Big East without him. He's that good.

2. Jim Boeheim was rightfully pissed about the rebounding problems last night and much of that stems from the build of the team. SU doesn't have a true power forward on the roster. Christmas starts but is almost always out of the game before the first TV timeout. CJ Fair is a willing rebounder, but he's not big enough to hold his own and Kris Joseph would rather bath with rattlesnakes than put his ass into someone and go get the ball.

Everyone's hero Doug Gottlieb correctly pointed out on Sportscenter last night that the guards have to do a better job as well. Scoop and Dion in particular  are too eager to leak out on the break rather than track down the ball.

3. Rebounding woes aside, holy hell Kris Joseph was amazing on the offensive end of the floor. He shot over the top of the Georgetown zone and when the Hoyas went man to man he beat his guy off the dribble and got to the rim. This isn't exactly insightful, but it was clearly the best offensive game of his career - because no one else really got it going. Say it with me, Kris Joseph - go to guy.

4. The great Anish Shroff of ESPN (SU Alum) dubbed Dion Waiters the Retweeter last night. As far as I'm concerned, that's his name from now on. It seems to me the spectacular early season play of the Retweeter has gone to his head. Early in the year the Retweeter was beating guys off the dribble and sharing the ball. Now he's looking for his shot too much, even when other guys (cough - K. Joseph - cough) were red hot. The fact that Scoop and the Retweeter couldn't get Joseph a look at the end of regulation was inexcusable. That isn't exactly humble and hungry play.

5.  Don't worry people, Brandon Triche is safe and sound in the witness protection program. For all the talk about SU's depth -- and the team is crazy deep - six guys had more than 5 minutes of playing time last night. At the end of the day, Boeheim is who he is - a guy that is going to find his guys and ride them.  It's working, so I'm not complaining - just pointing it out.

Go Orange

Sons of Evil - 10 Things You May Not Know About JT III

Kim Jung Un and John Thompson III have much in common

Kim Jung Thompson leads his band of international incident inducing thugs into the Carrier Dome tonight to take on the noble Syracuse Orange. Like his kindred spirit Kim Jung Un, Thompson inherited the reigns of an evil regime from his father and like North Korea, the world knows while he's mildly incompetent, he must be kept in check nonetheless.

After taking over as the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Time Magazine did a piece on 10 things you might not know about Kim Jung Un. It is filled with interesting nuggets such as how he had his picture taken with Toni Kukoc and how he reportedly had plastic surgery to look more like his grandfather.

While Kim Jung Thompson has been the leader of Georgetown since 2004, there is much we don't know about the leader of this nefarious program. So, we here at T3I are proud to present you with 10 things you might not know about John Thompson III.

1. He puts mayo on hot dogs.

2. He still writes checks at the supermarket.

3. He has unsuccessfully lobbied Georgetown officials for years to get on the kiss cam during games, and sitting next to JT III was reportedly a condition of Kevin Broadus' return to the program.

4. He recently pulled a hamstring trying to "Tebow."

5. He lists Skip Bayless as his "intellectual idol."

6. He often submits letters to the editor to the Onion.

7. He once ordered Kobe beef at a restaurant and was confused when Kobe Bryant didn't appear to greet him.

8. He has a tramp stamp.....of Kathie Lee Gifford.

9. At night in his room he has pretend tea parties with his Andre Hawkins and Michael Graham dolls. The parties always break up when Graham sucker punches Hawkins for drinking all the Earl Grey.

10. He looks just like the Hoya mascot.

Allen Iverson to Practice in Puerto Rico?

From Los That Sports Blog we learn today that Allen Iverson is being courted by a Puerto Rican professional basketball team. With AI's options limited at best right now, and given the fact that he could make $20,000 a month, it seems like something he'd want to consider -- especially since jewelry isn't cheap.

Of course, if he does go through with it there will be challenges, like the language barrier. However, we are kind souls around here so we went to the trouble of going to Google translate and popping in Allen's favorite saying:

"estamos hablando de la práctica"

For those of you who don't speak spanish, loosely this means:



Even Aaron Rodgers likes to talk about practice....

Brent Musburger and Bobby Knight to Call SU-Georgetown

When Syracuse takes on Georgetown in a rivalry-week game this Wednesday, SU fans watching from home will be in for treat as Brent Musburger and Bobby Knight will be calling the action. I always enjoy these two and it will be nice to bring them back east, as it always seems like they are working games in the south or midwest.

And if the action on the court isn't riveting enough, it's always fun to listening to Brent make things interesting depending on who he has action on that evening or seeing what lovely ladies are really into the General.....

The Giants Beat the Patriots Taiwanese Animation Style

As a Philadelphia Eagles fan, there's nothing more bitter than watching the Giants win the SuperBowl. Champ is a long-suffering Raiders fan and at least got to root against Tom Brady, against whom he has held a decade-long grudge thanks to the tuck rule. However, I obviously couldn't root for a rival and also find Belicheat and the Patriots only slightly less-reprehensible than Brandon Jacobs and the rest of "big blue."

So while watching the game wasn't much fun for me, you know what was? Watching the Taiwanese animation version of the highlights which are below. They include:

• Mario Manningham catching a pass with a basket
• God using players from the old vibrating football game to set up the rematch from 4 years ago
• Madonna using a walker
• God hating Tom Brady

If I could have watched the whole game in Taiwanese animation it would have kicked ass.