Providence Ruined My Perfect Season

Before the Big East conference season started, I looked into my retarded crystal ball (it's filled with Sanka and Mr. Boston vodka - try it sometime) and tried to predict the outcome of all 18 of Syracuse's conference games. Well, I decided to go back and see how I was doing and wouldn't you know it, I was eight for eight before Wednesday night's loss. I thought the Orange would pull out a close game - turns out I was wrong.

This little experiment shows two things - 1) that you can never trust a team coached by a guy named Keno and 2) the only good thing to come of Rhode Island is the Griffen family.

And before you ask, if my predictions had been way off, like most are, there's no way in hell I would have put a post up like this. Carry on.

Don't Be That Guy: Super Bowl Party Edition

"What's this? You're wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see? Don't be that guy." ~Jeremy Piven (Droz), P.C.U.

Super Bowl Sunday is quickly upon us. If you're anything like us 3 idiots, then you'll be planted on a couch somewhere grazing on tasty snacks while enjoying a few adult beverages with your buddies.

For party hosts and attendees alike, T3I continues our series of "Don't Be That Guy" with some tips for this year's Super Bowl party.

The Big Grab Bag Guy- This is the guy who shows up at your house having only brought the 99 cent "Big Grab" bag of Doritios at the 7-11 down the street. Coincidentally, this is also the guy who has no problem gorging himself into a blood sugar coma on the homemade food everyone else busted their ass on.

Numbers Guy- He has no problem at all letting you know the numbers he needs to hit on his Super Bowl board from the office. He'll let you know again....and again...and again....and again. You might know his cousin:

Scenario Guy: There's one minute left in the first quarter and Scenario Guy is going to tell you exactly what needs to happen in the next 60 seconds in order for his numbers to hit. "Yea, all we need here is a safety, with a kickoff return for a TD folllowed by a two-point conversion."

Beer For Me Guy: He's either a) the guy who shows up with a 12 pack of some really bad, cheap beer that only he'll drink, or b) the guy who shows up with a 12 pack of some god-awful microbrew that Jeff the Drunk wouldn't touch. He's multidimensional, but still an idiot.

Mr. Hijack- This is the guy who sneaks his way into prime position and decides he's going to run the remote control. Bonus negative points if you're watching a game with DVR/TIVO capabilities, because Mr. H decides when and where the replay feature will be used. Someone usually has to remind this guy to get the TV off Comedy Central because you are about to miss the 2nd half kickoff.

Not Enough Room Man- A note to all potential hosts out there--- don't invite more people to your party than your living room can handle. We've all been to a party at this guy's house.....you're crammed into a corner on the floor trying to see the TV from behind a potted plant sitting on a rawhide bone that the dog left behind. Not fun.

Mr. Chips- If you're going to host, please....we beg you, please have something to eat besides 10 different kinds of chips. Warm appetizers and finger foods do not require a lot of energy.

Al Bundy- We love Al. He likes beer, football and junk food. But Al decides to relate every football game he watches, including the Super Bowl, to a high school game he played in back in 1990.

Ms. Groupie- This one is for the ladies out there. Please don't throw out a "Wow, he's really cute" comment in a room full of men when the cameras zoom in for a player closeup. We could care less, and let's be honest--- it makes us less secure in our manhoods. Men however, it is your duty to comment on cheerleader closeups.

Greg Robinson- As soon as Greg speaks at the party, everyone is thinking "What did he just say?" True story of an experience I had with a Greg Robinson: during one Super Bowl party we all threw in some money for a "pick a player who'll score the first touchdown" bet. We're going around the room making our selections and Greg decides to pick a DEFENSIVE END with his first pick. Don't be this guy, please dear God don't.

Leftover Man- Another tip for the hosts out there-- that leftover dill dip from last week...probably not the best idea to re-serve for your party guests.

Feel free to add any other guys we certainly missed. And to all of the members of Idiot Nation, enjoy your day of grazing and may your pants fit a little tighter come Monday morning.


Previously on "Don't Be That Guy"
Carrier Dome
Fantasy Football

Ebay Item of the Week

Orange cagers, take a peak before your next game.

If only Tom Emanski sold basketball videos, we'd be back-to-back-to-back Big East Champs.

Indefensible

Another year another late January swoon for the Syracuse Orange. The 2008-09 version dropped their third straight game tonight, losing 100-94 to the Providence Friars in the Dunkin Donuts Center. The Orange, playing without Andy Rautins and essentially without Arinze Onuaku, also played without any defensive intensity, surrendering 56 points to the Friars in the second half.

While they were certainly playing short-handed, the players they were missing, Andy and Arinze, do more damage on the offensive end than defensively, so using their absence as an excuse for the loss would be a cop out. The real culprits were season long problems like turnovers and a lack of defensive effort. It's a shame too because a superb 35 point, 6 assist effort from Jonny Flynn was wasted.

The Orange currently sit at 5-4 in conference play and if things keep going down this path, it wouldn't surprise me if they end up under .500 in league when everything is all said and done. Notre Dame is the only decent team they've beaten in conference and we've since learned, they aren't athletic enough to be an upper echelon Big East team.

There were a ton of things about this game that pissed me off, in no particular order, they are:

Defense

As I mentioned above, there was a stark lack of defensive intensity from the output. The zone was shredded by Providence's shooters and ball movement. After playing it ineffectively all game, SU finally did go man to man and the Friar guards beat them off the dribble, leaving easy opportunities for Providence's big men.

22 games into the season and they still can't stop anyone. The zone is not active and with a less size on the wings, it's easy to shoot over. They aren't forcing turnovers (Providence only had 11 tonight) and right now the defensive strategy appears to be "hope teams miss" - like Memphis did. That's not good enough.

Eric Devendorf

I've been a staunch defender of Devendorf on this blog - but tonight was the worst 27 point performance I've ever seen in my life. While he scored 27, he must have been responsible for about 40 of the Friars points. He had NINE - yes NINE turnovers and racked up a grand total of zero assists. On the defensive end you would have had to put a mirror under his nose to see if he was breathing. In the zone his hands were at his side, in man, his feet were glued to the floor.

Champ texted me at the end of the game, noting Devo almost had double-double and I have to hand it to him, 27 points and 9 turnovers isn't something you see often, so give the guy credit there. A 0-9 assist to turnover ratio is not good enough.

The Waffle

I love the guy, but I honestly understand why he doesn't play more. He has an uncanny knack of making the great hustle play - and then instantly negating it by doing something stupid, which he did again tonight. Whether its a killer turnover or a dumb foul, he's always got something up his sleeve. This team needs his hustle and energy, but he racked up 4 turnovers in just 16 minutes of play. That's not good enough.

Boeheim

I am loathe to criticize Boeheim - he's a hall of fame coach with a national championship and a gold medal - but the fact that he couldn't get last year's group to guard anyone, coupled with the fact that this year's group has no desire to guard anyone is on him. The last time SU won a tournament game was 2004, they haven't even played in a tourney game since 2006 - and unless he fixes this, it might be 2010 before they get back. You can't beat anyone if you can't stop anyone, and when the beloved zone isn't working, its OK to change defenses. Right now JB can't get SU to guard anyone and isn't making in-game adjustments - and that's not good enough.

The team now has a much needed week off and it's certainly coming at the right time, because there's a lot of work that needs to be done and not much time to do it. My head hurts.

PHOTO: Steven Senne, AP

43 Reasons We Don't Care About This Game

Another NFL season comes to an end this Sunday in Tampa. A year ago all three idiots were not looking forward to the Giants-Pats battle in Arizona. In fact, we were able to find 42 reasons we hated that game.


This year is a bit different. The Russianator is still smarting over the NFC Championship game that his beloved Eagles came up short. Me? Well, as a Raiders fan (stop laughing now) I've been off the NFL since Barret Robbins' Tijuana bender before Super Bowl XXVII. So naturally, both of us really don't care that much for this Sunday's game.


Our third idiot, Boss, holds a much different opinion. He's a life-long, die-hard Steelers fan and I'm certain he's anxiously awaiting the big game. Surprisingly we don't hold that against him. As our readers know (both of you out there), we don't hear much from Boss anymore. So without his defense, the Russianator and I present:


43 Reasons We Don't Care About This Game

I- Terry Bradshaw still living in the 70's

II- Kurt Warner's wife (she went from the Mom on "Webster" to half hot now - google her and check it out - bizarre make over)

III- The Steelers will be trying for their 6th Lombardi trophy, which would be a record. Over/under number of times you will hear this?

IV- Ken Wisenhunt and Russ Grimm v. Steelers - we're tired of this storyline already

V- Bill Bidwell's bow tie

VI- Terrible Towels (these are tur-a-ble)... Rally ShamWows kick their *ss.

VII- 11 people on the pregame set, that will work

VIII- The "it's a Rooney family thing" mentality of Steeler fans

IX- Edgerrin James transformation to a fantasy bust

X- Heartburn….getting old sucks

XI- The game sucks so bad, everyone is doing these columns

XII- Only one logo on the Steeler's helmets....and this is because?

XIII- The “What was your favorite commercial” discussions you will be forced into at the office on Monday

XIV- Wing shortage related riots

XV- Reruns of Joe Greene Coke commercials

XVI- The disappearance of those gumball machine mini-helmets....why hasn't this been investigated?

XVII- No more "Neil Lomax was the best QB in our franchise's history" discussions

XVIII- Ditto Roy Green at WR

XIX- R.I.P. Lingerie Bowl

XX- Did you know Kurt Warner once bagged groceries? Seriously he did.

XXI- Oh that lighthearted Jerome Bettis on the pregame show

XXII- We are still missing Bud Bowl

XXIII- Getting terrible numbers on your (recreational purposes only) board

XXIV- When you look at the historical success of these owners, Bidwells v. Rooneys, it's the equivalent of the Washington Generals vs. Harlem Globetrotters or a GRob Era Cuse Team vs. anyone

XXV- Larry Fitzgerald's hair--- get it cut hippie

XXVI- Ditto Troy Palamoulu

XXVII- All the "Steelers are a reflection of the blue collar city" remarks we'll be hearing

XXVIII- Arizona Cardinals? NFC Champions? Really?

XXIX- I can't wait to check out NFL Network's coverage....oh...wait...a...minute

XXX- The endless Mike Tomlin/Raheem Morris comparisons

XXXI- Jeopardy time. The answer is "one." What is the number of Syracuse players on active rosters for the game Alex? (Anthony Smith, Pittsburgh)

XXXII- No good Matt Leinhart stories so far this week. Cmon Matt, you're in Tampa for Pete's sake.

XXXIII- Lazy bloggers mailing it in with "list style" posts

XXXIV- We hate the fact Santonio Holmes hasn't been arrested for walking around with weed again. This Superbowl is boring and Santonio is due.

XXXV- The Cardinals dragging out Rod Tidwell's contract negotiations.

XXXVI- "A 30 second ad costs (insert obscene amount of money here) this year." That laid off auto worker from Michigan will love hearing this.

XXXVII- Play the game on Saturday night, NFL. Give us Sunday to recover.

XXVIII- "Coming this March on NBC, Celebrity Apprentice!"

XXXIX- The "I only watch the game for commercials" lady you work with. Really? No one does this.

XL- Arizona has no signature food. Pittsburgh has Primanti Brothers, Philly has cheesesteaks. What does Arizona bring to the table? Exactly.

XLI- Where's the "Best Damn Idiots of the Superbowl" countdown show featuring Eugene Robinson, Stanley Wilson, Barret Robbins and Leon Lett?

XLII- The guarantee we'll see about a million Dan Hesse from Sprint commercials. We hate Dan Hesse.

XLIII- The Immaculate Deception...that ball hit the turf.

It's not just the dolphins that will make you cry

No thanks, I'm full from my Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch:

Are They Who We Thought They Are?

Eight games down and ten to go in the brutal Big East conference and it's time to ask -- how good is this Syracuse team? They sit 17-4, 5-3 in conference and this is what we know -- they've beat the teams they needed to beat (unlike Georgetown) and lost to teams that are we thought, going into the season, would be better than them. With a tough schedule and the potential loss of Andy Rautins, where they go from here is anyone's guess, but let's take stock of what we've seen so far.

The Good

- Offensively this team is good enough to outscore most teams on nights when they are shooting it marginally well. Between Rautins, Devendorf and Flynn, they have enough shooters to spread the floor and all 3 of them are good enough passers to get the ball inside to Arinze Onuaku when teams run at them.

- Speaking of which, Arinze has built on last year's solid season and become even better. He leads the nation in field goal percentage, has soft hands, his foot work is getting better and most teams don't have an answer for him. He can also score with either hand - as long as he's not at the free throw line, more on that later.

- Jonny Flynn, even with a couple of "off games" (his decision making was poor down the stretch against Louisville) is still one of the best guards in the country. Besides super athleticism and all his obvious physical skills, his best attribute is his feel for the game. If other guys get going, Jonny will feed them all night, if he's hot, or the team needs a basket, he steps up, or at least tries to.

- Both Rautins and Devendorf have returned from bad knee injuries and shined at times. Its easy to forget that this time last year both guys were trying to get their ACLs to heal. This year they are out making plays.

- Paul Harris has quietly improved his jumper and continues to hold his own on the boards, despite standing 6'3."

- Unlike past years the team is capable of playing man and mixes up defenses, which is a good option.

The Bad

- Depth is an issue. For whatever reason, Boeheim has essentially been playing 6 guys and spotting Kris Joseph around 5 minutes a game. Kristof Ongenaet went from starting to waterboy in the blink of an eye, and Mookie Jones hasn't shown he's ready to play at this level - this year anyway. Sean Williams is a project who in all likelihood will never be a major contributor.

- Defensive intensity has been spotty at best, regardless of what defense they're playing. At times they simply aren't interested in stopping anyone and with a league as tough as this, even taking a few minutes off can cost you a game. In my opinion, some of this is related to the fact that if you know you're not coming out of the game, you know you can afford to take a play or two off.

- Rebounding has been a major concern, it cost them the game today, as the Cardinals killed the Orange on the boards. When your best rebounder is a 6'3" guy, that's an issue. Arinze has been solid on the boards, but after that, it's spotty. Rick Jackson is getting better every day, but he needs to get stronger to be a more effective rebounder and scorer.

- Lack of a "glue" guy. Right now this team doesn't have a guy that's going to get that the extra loose ball, get a key defensive stop, or give them a shot of energy off the bench. Great teams all have guys that make little plays and right now, this team doesn't have one. In theory Kristof could be that guy. I understand why he hasn't been playing, because on offense he's been brutal, but they need to find an energy guy and find one quickly.

The Ugly

- Arinze Onuaku's free throw shooting. When your field goal percentage is nearly DOUBLE your free throw percentage, that's an issue. If you are on the court when Arinze's at the line, here's some advice - duck. Rick Jackson and Kris Joseph need to improve at well.

Outlook

The season doesn't get any easier and Rautins' ankle injury means Kris Joseph and Kristof could both find themselves on the court more. If they step up and meet the challenge, and then Andy comes back, the team will be better off for it. If they don't, put your seatbelts on, because the ride is going to get real bumpy real fast.

Right now this team is playing like at team that will finsh 5-5 or maybe 6-4 down the stretch, which would leave them with 10 or 11 conference wins. In other words, it's almost where we thought they'd be before the season started. That means they'd also be a team that's good enough to make the NCAA tournament, but with too many fatal flaws to make a serious run.

There is still more than half the conference schedule to be played, so a lot can happen. Will they step up and become a truly dangerous team? Right now its easy to say no, but that's why they they play the games. The next one is Wednesday against Providence - and it's a lot more important now than it was a week ago.

The Final Four

CNBC's Darren Rovell has been having some fun with a 64 team "As Seen on TV" bracket. Well, he's down to his final four as Girls Gone Wild takes on T3I favorite Shamwow in one semi, while the George Foreman Grill takes on Bowflex in the other.

Take a look and vote; it's a good timekiller.

My tourney observations:

A Sunggie/Shamwow 2nd round match....brutal

I really thought the Tom Ermanski videos would make a deeper run

Last team out: Jim Lampley Eagle Eye Sunglasses

Doug's Disciples

If you haven't had a chance yet, get over and check out Donnie Webb's recruiting updates on our beloved Orangemen.

Donnie points out that the Orange have received verbal commitments from QB Charley Loeb, CB Dale Peterman, LB E.J. Carter, and DB Philip Thomas.

It looks like the Peterman commitment can be attributed to new DC Scott Shafer who had recruited Dale from his days in Ann Arbor.

I know we should not be getting carried away with ourselves here, but after the shambles that New Michigan DC Greg Robinson left the Syracuse program in, here are a few reasons I'm genuinely excited in January for Syracuse football:

• The Peterman commit-- reading that we beat out schools like Michigan, South Carolina, NC State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska is a lot more palatable than fighting with 1-AA schools over prospects
• Peterman's comments that the Dome will be a fun place to play
• David Oku-- while Syracuse is probably a long shot to land this kid, let's think about this.....Coach Marrone et al, convinced him to give us a look. Land him or not, just the fact that we could get a kid like Oku on campus in our post-Robinsonian state makes me want to do back flips.
• The Florida pipeline-- it looks like it's opening back up

I don't care about recruiting service star ratings.....Coach Marrone you've already scored an "A" with this idiot.

Dwight Howard on Cuse-Louisville

T3I caught up with NBA All-Star and reigning slam dunk champion Dwight Howard as he offered his thoughts on today's Syracuse-Louisville game:

STOMP

More on the latest Syracuse loss in a little while, but in case you missed this last night, Chase Budinger of Arizona got a facial last night - free of cost. Except for the pain.

Come and Chat on our Door

For anyone that is not at the Syracuse-Louisville game today - and by the sounds of it that won't be many people - we'll be here chatting away the game, feel free to stop by.

Mike Jarvis, Porn and Police Escorts

Credit Sadler Hall at the Syracusefan message board for providing us with an update on former St. John's coach Mike Jarvis. Jarvis is now the head coach at Florida Atlantic University, which is great for college basketball fans because as an announcer, Mike was brutal. Between the super annoying accent and his insane ramblings, he could ruin any game he worked.

So, while Mike's new job is good news for college basketball fans, for him - things aren't going so well. The Owls are 4-16, 0-8 in conference and riding an 11 game losing streak. The 11th game in that losing streak was the other night and Mike managed to rack up 4 technicals and get a police escort off the court (video below).

According to photographic evidence from the Sun Sentinel, porn star, celebrity rehabber, and failed California gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey was at the game as well.



Mike's disastrous reign at St. Johns is something the Red Storm is still trying to recover from and it looks like he's well on the way to destroying whatever program they have at Florida Atlantic as well. But at least you have to give the guy credit for getting some porn stars to attend a low level D I game. Maybe he got tossed to try and impress her?



Or maybe he was hoping Gary Coleman was with her. I think Mike and Gary would get along just fine, as they've both got a bit of a temper.

Can Kragthorpe Coach the Basketball Team Too?

Louisville football coach Steve Kragthorpe did something no other person on the planet accomplished - he lost TWICE to Greg Robinson. Maybe we can pull some strings and get him to coach the Louisville basketball team too, as they are headed to the Dome to face the Orange this Sunday. We all know that when Kraggers is involved, good things like this happen.



And if anyone sees this guy in the Dome on Saturday, pour a beer on his head, I'll pay you back.

Like a Phoenix, Rising from Arizona

I realize that I'm a day late on this, but I've had shit to do, hey it happens. On Wednesday night our beloved NJIT Highlanders got off the schneid with a stirring 61-51victory over Bryant University. We commend NJIT for this milestone victory even if 99 percent of the people in America have no clue where Bryant University is, or that it even exists.

The good news is that 51 game losing streak is a thing of the past. The bad news, NJIT is still tied for the worst record in Division I with Sacramento State. Each team has a 1-18 record this year, but the season isn't over and we believe in Highlanders. With 347 colleges playing Division I men's basketball, there's a very good chance they could be the 346th best team in the country this year. So they've got that going for them, which is nice.

If NJIT does finish at 347, they should take some advice from Homer Simpson who once memorably said, "You tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try."

Keep trying NJIT - at least for now.

Ugly Women - Kryptonite to the Williams Sisters

All of our readers know how dedicated this blog is to women's tennis, so it's only right that we break down the women's draw in the Australian Open. Here's your analysis - ugly women are kryptonite to the Williams sisters.

Last night, Serena easily defeated Gisela Dulko (below) in straight sets.



However today, Venus was taken down by the 'less than hot' Carla Suarez Navarro.



Deep Thoughts by T3I - If you want to beat a Williams sister, it helps to be ugly.

And yes, the whole reason this post exists is that I wanted an excuse to run some photos about a hot tennis player I'd never heard of before, so here's one more.

Finally, a purpose for ESPNU?

Doctor Gross, get on this.

Ebay Item of the Week

Your new Syracuse Orange fire pit would best be used for:

A) Burning all tickets stubs and game programs from the last four football seasons

B) Grilling some Pat Shadle Pork Belly or other Humpin' good tailgate fare

C) Singing doo-wop outside the Carrier Dome with Eric Devendorf

D) Keeping warm until your Snuggie arrives

The Winds of Change

How do you spell defense? G-R-O-B.

January 20th, 2009 is a day that will live forever in the memories of Americans. The winds of change have blown over this nation as a new leader assumes office. This once-in-a-generation visionary has inspired a nation with his clear and articulate message.

Yes, Greg Robinson is the new defensive coordinator at Michigan.

Take a minute and check out the above link. Texas Coach Mack Brown and former Longhorn LB Derrick Johnson sing the praises of GRob. Surprisingly T3I was not asked for our comments. Also, anyone else notice how his 4 years at Syracuse are really glossed over in that press release?

Our Three Idiots Midwest Affiliate provides Columbus, Ohio's reaction to this historic day:

Big Blowout Monday

Well that didn't go as planned. Syracuse could never get in a rhythm and the Pitt Panthers took a three point halftime lead and turned it into a 78-60 win over the Orange. Syracuse looked tired in the second half as the Panthers took control of the game.

The Orange also suffered through both Jonny Flynn and Eric Devendorf playing their worst games of the year on the same night. To complicate matters DeJuan Blair made Arinze Onuaku look more like Gheorge Muresan than the dominate AO we saw against Notre Dame. Hey, at least the photo shop below is as bad as the Orange performance in the second half. We strive to be terrible around here.

Luckily the team has a few days off to recover from this loss, in the meantime maybe I'll practice my horrific photo editing skills....maybe.

A Checklist for Brutal Losses

It's been over 24 hours since the Eagles took a colossal dump in the desert and it still doesn't feel any better. I mean the f*cking Cardinals are headed to the Superbowl. The Cardinals - that's about as conceivable as a Rosie O'Donnell work out video or Mark Cuban writing a book on how to dress for success. It makes no sense.

Out of this entire mess, other than Eagles fans you do you know who must feel the worst? Chicago Cubs fans. The Cardinals are headed to the Superbowl and the damn Cubs have spent 100 years beating their heads against the wall. How does that feel Cub fans? The Cardinals now have more to brag about than you do. Good luck with that -- and hell yes I'm bitter today, settle in.

Back to my original point, as football fans (Detroit Lion fans can stop reading here) we've all experienced a heart breaking loss in the playoffs. You'd think as an Eagle fan it would get easier to deal with after 4 conference championship game losses an one SuperBowl failure in the last 9 years, but sadly, this isn't the case. Over the years these failures have allowed me to develop a checklist for how to deal with the disappointment. Here it goes.

1) Don't turn on SportsCenter for a week. There's no point, unless you actually enjoy the feeling of getting kicked in the balls, then by all means, have at it.

2) The day after, read all the local columnists. It would seem to be the exact opposite of rule number one, but it's not. Local sports columnists will commiserate with you. Stuart Scott will show Larry Fitzgerald highlights and say boo yeah. Local guys will bitch about yet another failure and totally contradict everything they wrote the week before when the team was winning. In other words, they are just like you and misery loves company, so dive right in.

3) Immediately turn your attention to another sport. In my case, it's the Syracuse basketball team. It is important to note that sometimes this doesn't work - not even a little.

4) Justify the loss. Try and convince yourself that its better that your team out performed 28 other teams and it was great to have a chance. This is total bullshit but if you can't lie to yourself then you must be one horrible liar - I feel bad for you. Defense mechanisms rule. Learn to embrace them.

5) Pretend you are the general manager and start plotting the future of your franchise. Tell everyone how your team is just one receiver on offense and one play maker on defense away! Research available free agents and e-mail the team with your trade suggestions. Trust me, your team wants to hear from you - they NEED to hear from you.

6) Forget the fact that the next meaningful game your team will play is almost 8 months away. Drink heavily if that's what it takes.

7) Embrace Mel Kiper. Now that your season is over, hang on his every word. Mel knows there's a sleeper now playing at Delaware State that is going to make the difference for your team if they'll only draft him in the third round. April isn't that far off and Mel is Mr. April. Mel deals in hope. You need some. Get to know each other.

8) Actively bitch about how bad the SuperBowl will be to anyone and everyone. The high school drop out with bad social skills and hellacious body odor working behind the counter at the Mobil Mart needs to know how bad the game will be - and you are the one to tell him. Don't waste any time. It is your duty.

9) Wait until next year - Cubs fans have been doing it for a 100 years, so suck it up nancy-boy.

Big Monday Chat

Syracuse rumbles with Pitt in about an hour - stop back, we'll be here.

It's on...

While we talk the Russianator down from his ledge....it's official....your Super Bowl XLIII matchup is on:

Kurt Warner

VS.

Big Ben

Preach on Kige

Kige picks the Eagles to beat the Cardinals today - that's good enough for me.



And just because - go Eagles.

Just Like Football - Except the Opposite

I would estimate there was never this many people in the building for any football game other than Penn State last year. You'll have to excuse the crappy blackberry camera, it was all I had on me.

Fack Notre Dame

Photo courtesy of Fack Youk

Syracuse bounced back from the beat-down Georgetown laid on them Wednesday with a resounding 93-74 win over Mock Turtleneck Brey's Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

I was lucky enough to be in attendance for this one, along with 30,000 of my friends. The atmosphere in the dome was electric and you could tell the team fed off the energy of the crowd. They also gave the crowd plenty of reasons to get loud.

Here are a few quick observations - offered with the following caveat - I started drinking at 8:30 am, so my powers of observation could be a smidge off.

* The first thing you have to love about this performance is the balance. Six guys in double figures will give opposing coaches headaches as they try and figure out how to stop this team.

* Axe said Harangody's 25 points was less than impressive. I'd tend to agree. If you need 28 shots to get 25 points, that's not efficient.

* McAlarney hasn't forgotten how to shoot.

* Jonny Flynn has a great feel for the game. When they needed offense early he provided it. When they needed him to distribute the ball later in the game, he took care of that too. A 3 to 1 assist to turnover margin for Jonny wasn't bad either.

* Rick Action Jackson played his best game as an Orangemen. If he keeps improving, SU is a match up nightmare. All season long the weak link on this team has been the 4 spot, that could be changing.

* Arinze was as efficient in the low post as he's ever been. The Shaq-like free throw shooting is a little scary, but we'll have to live with that. AO v. DeJuan Blair on Monday - that's two big boys going at it.

* Boeheim essentially played 6 guys yesterday, with KJ playing only 5 minutes. I'd expect the bench to play more on Monday night, with the short turnaround v. Pitt.

* Speaking of Pitt, Louisville handed them their first loss yesterday, I'd expect them to be fired up.

* I had a chance to meet Doug Marrone yesterday. He exudes enthusiasm, I'm officially excited about his tenure. Well, at least until he loses to a MAC team.

* The picture above comes from a new blog call Fack Youk. It's done by a friend, go check it out for some great screen grabs of the game yesterday and to get your fill of vulgarity and Boston hating. Anyone that hates Boston is a clearly has great taste.

Good times in Columbus, OH

"Greg Robinson? For real? Woo hoo!"

Brutus the Buckeye is dancing in the streets of Columbus upon hearing the latest gossip that former Orange Head Coach Greg Robinson may be headed to the University of Michigan to serve as Rich Rodriguez's defensive coordinator.

The Idiots Strike Back

Sean at Nunes sent out a call for Orange Nation to keep an eye out for any sign material for the Hoyas return date in to Syracuse on 2/14. CuseCountry originally posted this sign from Wednesday night's debacle:

To those Hoya fans I offer up a hearty, "Well played." And heeding the call of our blog leader Sean, I'm offering up some suggestions to the members of Orange Nation. Of course most of these grudges are pushing 20 years old (yes, we have problems)...but remember you're dealing with a bunch of idiots here.

Ebay Item of the Week

Sure that loss to Georgetown stings. But we have two choices Orange fans: we can sit here and feel sorry for ourselves, or we can strap on our Syracuse Orange Zubaz pants and make the world right again. Me? I'm going with the Zubaz.

Hoya Hatin' Chat

Hate Georgetown? So do we, stop on by and tell us about it. You know the drill.

Know Thy Enemy - or at Least Their Bloggers

Syracuse versus Georgetown is less than 20 hours away and the only way to truly find out how the Georgetown faithful feel about the game is to check out their blogs. It's scientifcally proven that 60 percent of the time blogs are right every time. We personify this - and we also love lamp. Let's get started.

- In this post on the Hoya Hoops blog they don't make a prediction on the game, but rather ask for predictions on how many points and rebounds DeJuan Summers will have. Since the post has been up over 12 hours and they have exactly one prediction posted, I'd suggest we help their traffic and offer up some ideas. I got us started by quoting Dean Wormer and going with ZERO point ZERO for DeJuan. Go ahead, give it a whirl, it's fun.....and now there are two comments. You're welcome Hoya Hoops.

- The Hoya Prospectus offers a very detailed, stat oriented breakdown of the game. Frankly, it's far more intelligent and well thought out than anything that's ever appeared on this site. They think the game will be close, but offer no prediction. It's hard to disagree with that assessment, and it's hard to be wrong too.

- HoyaSaxa does not have an official preview post up at the time of this writing, but they do have an item noting Syracuse leads the Big East in attendance this year. There's no permalink, so blame them for that. While we are on the topic of attendance, expect a good amount of loud Orange fans in the MCI Center for this one. Also, for the record, I prefer HoyaSuxa to HoyaSaxa any day of the week.

- The VanBuren Boys claim to be the 'latest source' for Georgetown hoop news, yet they haven't updated the site in a week. They do get points for a great blog name though - while it may not always be updated, they certainly know the secret hand signal to get them out trouble.

-Hoya Paranoia lets us know the Big East is good. Thanks for that. Syracuse plays 9 of its next 10 against ranked teams, so ummmm yeah - we get it.

So there you have it - a quick tour of the Syracuse Georgetown game through the eyes of their blogs - hey, someone had to do it.

Official Idiotic Prediction

As far as this idiot's prediction I'll try and get serious for a second. You have to respect how good Greg Monroe is already, JT III has proven he knows what he's doing (bring back Esherick) and sadly I don't really believe Summers will put up a double goose egg.

However, Arinze is playing out of his mind right now, they don't have an answer for Jonny Flynn (Doc Rivers' kid gave him problems last year - he's gone now) and the Hoyas struggle to shoot from distance. In a hard fought battle, I'm banking on Jonny to make enough clutch plays down the stretch as the Orange to pull out an 78-72 win.

And if any Georgetown fans make it over here - it's all in good fun, feel free to trash talk until you are blue in the face, we can take it.

It's Time To Rumble With The Hoyas

And when it's time to rumble, NO ONE gets you fired up like Vince McMahon:

Catching Up - or Throwing Up - With Kige

Lost in the shuffle of the holidays, the Syracuse basketball team's number 8 ranking, Andy Reid's wildly ugly, yet effective playoff beard (suck it Giant fans) and the fact that my employer expects me to work for my paycheck (boo) - I've totally lost track of YouTube correspondent Kige Ramsey. Boy was that a mistake. If I had been paying attention, I would have realized Kige has moved into instructional videos like:

How to throw football:



How to save money shopping:



But it's good to see that even though he's branching out, he's still got the ability to deliver some crisp analysis of sports, like this video breaking down the Eagles-Giants game (cliff notes version - the Eagles did good)

Jim Rice Takes Facial Hair to Hall of Fame Levels

Jim Rice finally makes the Hall of Fame and to celebrate, he grows some sort of weird "lip mitten" facial hair, where he wraps his 'stache around not only his upper lip, but lower lip too. Really Jim? You've been waiting 15 years and that's what you come up with?

If anyone has any suggestions on what we should call this new look, please let us know below.

SlamWow! The T-Shirt

Now you can forever relive Jonny's Piscataway poster art with your official T3I "SlamWow!" t-shirt available, along with other crap you won't buy, here at the T3I store.

The back commemorates "The Dunk Heard 'Round The World."

Sweet fancy Moses, this never gets old:

Evil Consolidated

The video below is nine minutes 30 seconds long, I don't expect you to watch all of it -I certainly didn't. It is the opening minutes of a Georgetown-UTEP game from 1985. You'll notice at the very beginning of the clip, the officials are Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Gene Steratore. The Georgetown coach is obviously John Thompson. That's right folks, Burr, Higgins, (who both look old back then) and Thompson all gathered in one place. How the gym didn't burst into flames I have no idea.

A couple of other fun things to watch from a video that's now 24 years old:

- The AWESOMELY FANTASTIC mustaches on the fans in the very opening shots.

- The really short shorts that were standard issue back then - they never get old.

- It sure appears like Georgetown has enough thugs on the team.

It's Georgetown week - get fired up, and be sure to drink in as much HoyaSuxa as possible.

Good Night New York

For Philadelphia Eagles fans, an improbable run continues with a trip to Arizona next week. Five weeks ago if anyone predicted Philadelphia would be playing Arizona for the right to go to the Superbowl, they would have been drug tested faster than Roy Tarpley after a vacation to Amsterdam. However it happened, the Superbowl is within reach and I couldn't be happier. Bring on Kurt Warner and the Cardinals. Go Birds and stay sleepy Giant fans.

SlamWow

Here's my recap of the Syracuse-Rutgers game last night. Syracuse has Jonny Flynn and Rugters doesn't -- game over. Here's Jonny's sick dunk over Mike Rosario - remember, he's 6 feet tall - maybe.

Cuse-Rutgers Chat

We're chatting over at Superman Wears Rob Long Underoos tonight, stop on over.

Clearly This is the Work of the Sport Hump

Our good friends over at the Sport Hump love a lot of things - shitty beer, SU sports and more than anything else, they love mustaches. Don't get us wrong, over at T3I we LOVE mustaches as well, but they've taken it to another level over there.

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that the New York Times story today that mustaches are becoming cool again. People will no longer underestimate the influence of the hump I fully expect a story next week on how Utica Club isn't a bad beer.

I also think the American Mustache Institute owes them a debt or gratitude. Have a stachey day.

Giant Fans - Brian Dawkins is Ready

Most readers (all 9 of you) of this blog share with us a love of Syracuse athletics - as such, many of you live in NY and are fans of the NY Giants. Many of my friends - including my girlfriend - love the Giants. As you all know, I'm an Eagles fan. I have loved the Eagles since I was three years old and my mom took me to visit my great grandmother in Philly.

Looking back on it 30 years later, I've decided three year olds don't make the best decisions, but what's done is done. Over the past three decades my passion for the Eagles has grown. I love this team more than John Daly loves drinking beer at Hooters. It's irrational, completely stupid and usually provokes me to write posts after games about how Andy Reid should be fired. Hey, it happens.

So for the next two days, I hate you all. No offense or anything - I just hate your guts. I hate your crappy team. I hate the Giants colors, I hate Eli, I hate Brandon Jacobs and I hate the ghosts of Michael Strahan and Tiki Barber. I wish you nothing but misery this weekend. Monday we can all go back to being friends but for now I'm officially in Brian Dawkins mode.

A Request for Brent Axe

I found this yesterday over at the Big Lead, so you may have already seen it, but please, please, please Axe, do whatever it takes to get Tim Brando on your show. I want to ask him how much football he's coached:

Dutch Idol

T3I Entertainment is getting you ready for this week's "American Idol" premiere with a little help from the Netherlands:

Oh the humanity

A moment of silence for the bottles of beer that gave their lives on 481.

Remind me again, why do we live in CNY?

Ebay Item of the Week

What better way to throw your support behind new Orange coach Doug Marrone than by owning coach's rookie card from the WFL?

Starting bids at $0.99....get in while you can Orange fans.

Wednesday Night Wrap Up

There's a ton of stuff going on in the world of sports tonight, so let's cover a few of them real quick before I go to bed and dream of the day this place opens up.


Syracuse - DePaul


Obviously the Orange took care of the Blue Demons, winning 85-68 tonight. Here are some quick observations:


* Any win in the Big East is a good win, so we'll take it. Overall it was an uneven performance by the Orange. When they were good, they were very good - and when they were bad, like 5 straight turnovers to start the second half, they were awful.

* During the live chat we hosted, I described the team as spurty. Yes, I know it isn't a word - but expect us to use it anyway. In other word invention news, I'd like to thank reader Mr. Plow for coining a new term for missed lay ups - waffle. As in, Jonny got all the way to the rim, but he waffled the lay up. In addition, we got a few more ideas for content that came out of the chat, look for some more dopey stuff soon.

* Andy Rautins continues his stellar play - 5 more threes, 17 points and 6 assists. The only bad thing about him right now is his hair, and even that is getting better.


* The best play of the night hands down was the alley oop FROM Rick Jackson to Jonny Flynn.


* I'd like to see Arinze make quicker decisions with the ball, but 14 and 12 is gold any night. However his free throw problem is obviously in his head right now. He's basically reached the Shaq stage - which isn't good.


* Jonny was Jonny - the problem with him is that he's sooooo talented that when he merely has a good night, we don't even notice anymore. Jonny is amazing.

* Congrats to Paul Harris for scoring his 1,000th career point. To celebrate he needs to break out this do - and then in March score his first NCAA tournament point.


* I honestly think the team gets bored at times. The good news is that they are winning teams against weaker opponents. The bad news - the gravy train is over. Rutgers is up next and while they aren't winning, they are playing well, almost beating Marquette tonight. After that, the schedule gets absolutely brutal. Bring it on.


Bad Times in Boston


Our favorite Big East defectors have been in the news all week. Today was no different.


* For their football program, the Jeff Jagodzinski death watch is finally over, and one Boston writer tells us the break up sounded more like a divorce than a firing. What an embarrassing situation for that program. Hopefully they keep it up - more ammo for us. Waaaaaah - my coach interviewed for another job - waaaaaah.

* Tonight the BC basketball team suffered the mother of all let downs - losing to Harvard at home. By the way, Harvard is 8-6 on the season and coached by Tommy Amaker - who sucks. To make matters worse, from the ESPN highlights, the gym looked half full and it's a small arena. Really BC fans? Half full after beating the number one team in the country? You guys suck.

Adios Pacman

* First ESPN's Ed Werder caused holy hell in the Cowboys locker room by reporting on the whole TO, Witten, Romo saga. Now it appears Ed's colleague John Barr got Pacman fired - by reporting he tried to get people SHOT.

While I could give a shit about Pacman (he's had more chances than most people in the workforce) - ESPN should thank it's lucky stars that Jerry Jones is one of the world's biggest attention whores - because if it was any other organization, I'm guessing access to the team would be more difficult after these two incidents.

SU - DePaul Live Chat

Sorry for the delay, had some computer problems - let's get started.

Welcome Back Mike

Welcome back Mike.



It was nice knowing you Derrel.

Meanwhile, Coach Marrone attempts to further exorcise the demons of the Greg Robinson Era. Welcome aboard Torian.

Kenny's Got His Very Own Ed McMahon

Kenny Haas is back with another edition of Kenny's Two Pennies and this time he kicks it up a notch and introduces a new sidekick named James. Kenny then immediately throws it to a commercial for a place featuring booze and since it appears James just miiiiiight be underage we know Dick Vitale would not approve......Enjoy yourself some Kenny.

Jeff and Mike - Doing the Limbo

One of the most interesting sports stories to surface in the last two days is the saga involving the current/possibly former Boston College head coach Jeff Jagodzinski and his interview with the NY Jets. According to the Boston Globe, the interview did happened today. It has been widely reported that BC Athletic Director Gene DePhilippo said the coach would be fired if he took the interview. As of the time of this writing, there's been no word on whether Jagodzinksi will keep his job.

While I can understand DePhilippo wanting to keep continuity in the football program and I also understand that a lot of 18-22 year old men committed to BC because of the coach - but frankly his position is absurd. There are only 32 NFL head coaching jobs available in the world and for DePhilippo to stand in his way of someone that has a shot to reach the highest level of his chosen profession is a joke.

Now, if the coach wanted to go to another NCAA school, I could understand DePhilippo's stance. I mean, this is a guy who must still be smarting from the fact that his last coach bolted for NC State two years ago. That's right N.C. F-ing State -- a place with a football tradition which is the automotive equivalent of the tradition of the Ford Pinto.

So while Gene must be smarting, he should understand that coaching against the New England Patriots is a little different than looking across the field and seeing the Kent State Golden Flashes. So now we wait to see if Gene gives his coach his walking papers or if he's all talk. Either way he looks bad, because if the coach does get fired, he's got plenty of options. I for one can't wait to see how this plays out, because train wrecks like this are great entertainment.

And speaking of waiting for something to play out, Donnie Webb is reporting Mike Williams still has not enrolled at SU. We'll be waiting on this one as well, but I think we've got a better chance of seeing Jagodzinski coaching the Eagles next year than we do of seeing number 1 streaking down the sideline in Orange - stay tuned.

They only won because of their high priced free agents.

"The key today was me getting real drunk and my partner not missing, and us coming out and proving we're the best,"

NY wins another World Series.

New Gear for a New Year

Did you see what I did with the title? See how the words gear and year rhyme? GOD DAMN I am awesome. I don't even know what I'll come up with next, it's too scary too think about.

In the meantime, with the Big East season underway and the Syracuse basketball team ranked in the Top 10, that means only one thing -- more shirts. The two below celebrate the excellence that is Syracuse Orange (free throw shooting excepted). They are available along with all our merchandise at our zazzle store or by clicking on the waffle shirt to your right.

Celebrate new starter Rick "Action" Jackson with this sweet shirt.

And if you see number 10 or 11 come roaring down the lane, you best be scared.

Vote for CHANGE

What if I told you could make a difference in this world? What if I told you that for just a few brief moment of your time, you could take part in a democratic process that would bring real change to the blogosphere? What if I told you that a very important decision was in your hands?

Well I'm not telling you any of that. What I am telling you is that nameless bloggers are begging for votes from people they don't know so they can win meaningless awards - and they need your help.

Our good friends over at Hugging Harold Reynolds have been nominated in the Best Sports Blog Category of the 2008 Weblog Awards. The current back to back winner of this award are the evil doers over at Kissing Suzy Kolber who shameless politic for votes using half-naked women and terms like cockwallet.

So I ask all 12 faithful readers of T3I to CLICK HERE and vote for HHR - because a vote for Hugging Harold Reynolds is a vote for change - and more importantly its a vote against cockwallets.

It's Been a Busy Day for BC

Sunday, January 4, 2009 will go down as a huge day for Boston College athletics. Not only did the men's basketball team rack up a huge win over North Carolina, late Sunday night a report surfaced stating that football coach Jeff Jagodzinski WILL BE FIRED if he attends a scheduled interview for the Jets head coaching job on Monday.

This seems like Randy Shannon style reaction that BC would be wise to re-think, because the last time I checked, the dude has managed to win 20 games in two years -- good luck finding someone to repeat that. Stay classy BC, and coach Marrone - it might be time to start calling up some BC recruits and asking them if they're interested in a more stable situation.

Thank You Tarvaris

The Philadelphia Eagles won a rough, physical battle with the Minnesota Vikings tonight and now head to New York to face the hated Giants in the early Sunday game. Give credit to the Vikings defense, they absolutely took away the Eagles running game, but with one screen pass, Brian Westbrook proved why he's such a dangerous weapon.

The Eagles defense held Adrian Peterson in check, with the exception of one 40 yard touchdown run, and forced Tarvaris Jackson into an awful 15-35 performance. He did throw one touchdown -- to Asante Samuel -- and while trying to make a tackle managed to get pasted in the process. Relive that glorious moment in the video below, courtesy of the 700 Level.

Great Moments in BC Sports History

Congratulations Boston College fans. You now have a third entry on your "greatest sports moments" list. So, as we see it, the definitive list of Boston College sports history includes:

1. Flutie's Hail Mary
2. '93 Notre Dame Win
3. Beating #1 ranked UNC

Congratulations Superfans......you're still the best hockey team in the ACC!

Connecticut is the football capital of the world

The state government in Connecticut has offically declared a state holiday next week in recognition of the Huskies memorable International Bowl victory over NY's new team, the UB Bulls.

In addition to the week long holiday, Connecticut governor M. Jodi Rell announced the following actions in recognition of college football's finest:

*the renaming of Bradley International Airport to Randy Edsall International Bowl Airport

*negotiating with ESPN to revamp it's "Greatest Game Ever Played" special on the '58 Colts-Giants NFL Championship game to now feature the 2009 International Bowl

* installing road signs that will put the '88 NIT ones to shame

* petitioning the College Football Hall of Fame to relocate to Storrs, after all nothing says history and tradition like the Yankee Conference

* mandating all Connecticut grade school students to recite the U-C-O-N-N chant every morning after the Pledge of Allegiance (note, we at T3I consider that neglect)

* litigation against the BCS for failing to give the Huskies an at-large birth

* new state motto...."Connecticut, home of relevant football since 2003"

* expansion of the UConn football trophy case....that 2007 Motor City Bowl trophy was getting lonely