Memorial Day: Pass the BBQ

Memorial Day kicks off the unofficial start to summer.  As our expanding waistlines indicate, summer means grilling and smoking to us.   We're offering up a salute to the delicacy of barbecue which, as Rhett and Link remind us below, is a noun and not a verb.


 

Interactive Ebay Item of the Week: Who Is This Man?

Yeah we know, business has been slow around here.  We're sure all three of our regular readers noticed.

Anyways, it's time for our weekly lame feature that looks into the world of on-line sports memorabilia.

Take your best guess here boys and girls.  Can you name which Syracuse legend has been commemorated with the above pictured bobble head?

Your answer can be found here.

Ebay Items of the Week: T3I Goes USA Today

Following the lead of USA Today, when in doubt we're throwing some pretty graphs and charts your way.

What's the going rate for a game used Syracuse basketball jersey?  Well, take a look for yourself:

Was Kueth really three times the player Kristof was?   Was Donte more valuable than Rick Jackson?  Of course not, but we couldn't help ourselves and make some outrageous conclusions based upon the "data" we've provided.

Hoosiers, The Remake

Hollywood remakes stink.  What's beyond egregious is the reboot of the sports classic "Hoosiers".

Changing the central plot revolving around Hickory High to that of this year's Denver Nuggets squad is one thing.  But replacing Dennis Hopper with 20yo unknown Savannah McMillan-Christmas in the role of "Shooter"...well that just plain stinks.

Ebay Item of the Week: More Politically Incorrect SU Memorabillia

Here's a Saltine Warrior mascot from the 1960s that looks like...well....it looks like it's from the 1960s.

Video Basketball Games Have Come a Long Way Baby

ESPN's Anish Shroff, a Syracuse grad and all-around outstanding guy shared the following video on his Facebook page tonight. If you are a certain age, like we are *cough really really old cough* then you grew up playing video games with questionable graphic standards.

For us, the games were almost always sports - and the clip below takes you on a journey from the inception of the video basketball game until today. It's a genre we know well. Champ and I spent countless hours playing NBA Jams, often to the point where the only thing that stopped us was wrist pain -- now known as carpel tunnel syndrome.

I'm old enough to have played just about every game in the clip and whether it was having Dell Curry (Stephen and Seth's dad) score 40 points a game on running three pointers or having Dennnis Scott shoot 35 threes a game, I always enjoyed taking one dimensional long-range bombers and turning them into unstoppable forces that could only happen in the video world, so this video brings back all sorts of fantastic memories.

Enjoy:

The End of an Error: The Johnny Marinatto Pasta Bowl is Empty

John Marinatto spent too much like with his head in the sand

Brett McMurphy reports that Big East Commissioner John Marinatto resigned this morning after being asked to do so by the league presidents - thus ending Johnny Boy's ill-fated reign as the head honcho of a once proud conference.

Readers of this space know we aren't fans of Marinatto's work - and let's face it - when San Diego State is all set to play in the Big East, it's pretty clear things have gone completely off the rails.

To be fair,  the conference unraveling wasn't entirely his fault, as the current chaos that surrounds college athletics was set in motion years ago - but in a brutal dog eat dog world Marinatto was a chihuahua wearing milk-bone underwear. Against pitbulls like John Swofford, he didn't stand a chance.

With the reign of error over, let's look back fondly at some of the fun times we've had with John:

It was clear from the outset, John was more into the Neville Chamberlain style of diplomacy - and sending roses doesn't work out too well when you're up against a bunch of conference commissioners who are focused on taking what they want.

So last fall after all hell had broken loose, it was no surprise that even with an angel in the background, Marinatto didn't get it.

But let's give him credit, he did have the secret combination that would save the Big East:





He came up with the master plan after first trying to bring in Paul Tagliabue to help sort things out, but that didn't exactly go according to plan:



And in the end, when TCU left before ever playing a game in the conference a clear message was sent to Marinatto:

TCU had a clear message for the Big East

So in the end, even crazy dreams to REALLY SUPERSIZE Big East couldn't save John - and that's too bad. Because with SU safely in the ACC, his firing has robbed us of great future material.

Ebay Item of the Week: If Bill Cosby Were a Cuse Fan...

he'd wear this killer sweater.

And while we're at it, can someone please bring back Pudding Pops?