Ryan Pravato currently attends the University of Michigan, but attended Oakland University for two years.
The Oakland Golden Grizzlies took care of business against the IPFW Mastadons Monday night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Final score was 71-58, but it was a tad closer than that. At half IPFW owned a one point lead. Oakland head coach Greg Kampe was not pleased one bit, and probably gave his team an earful in the lockerroom. Multiple times throughout the broadcast Greg Kampe could be heard swearing up a storm. Though I preferred Kampe's outbursts over the commentators who called the game.
The Fox Sports Net (Detroit) broadcast team of Dillweed Knownothing and Repeatmyself Overandover were atrociously boring and annoying. Sure, they knew Benson has NBA potential and that Johnathon Jones is a stud point guard, but they repeated much of the same info over and over again and offered little to nothing else in analysis or anything that showed they did any preparation at all. They failed to mention OU starting forward Drew Maynard's injury that forced him to miss the game. They had to mention OU's motto for this season (can we finish) at least five different times. They couldn't stop talking about how talented Keith Benson is and that he needs to get stronger in order to compete effectively in the NBA. And they're completely correct about Benson, though we the audience don't need to be reminded a dozen different times throughout the game. As it was Keith Benson scored 17, grabbed 17 rebounds and swatted 6 shots. This wasn't even one of Benson's better games from an offensive or defensive standpoint--was pushed around on both sides of the court.
Though my biggest beef with the commentators was this: I think it was Dillweed, used the word 'hoss' to describe three different OU players. First, Keith Benson, then Will Hudson, then Blake Cushingberry (6'3, 230). Now obviously being called a hoss is normally a compliment, but that was the first time I've ever heard anybody use it quite that often in a basketball telecast of any sort. And also, I usually equate hoss as somebody who looks like this guy
As for the championship game Tuesday, 9pm on ESPN 2, it will likely be Oakland v. IUPUI, as IUPUI is leading Oral Roberts by 17 at the half right now.
[Ed. note -- this was posted late, and the game is going on right now. Oakland leading by 5 just before the half.]
In light of last night's Oscars, I have consulted the Sports Academy (myself) and have given out awards for the year that was in sports. So butter the popcorn, put on that designer dress and get ready to blow George Clooney like everyone else in Hollywood does. Here are the winners of the 1st annual Sports Academy Awards.
Best Athlete in a Supporting Role:
The New Orleans Saints Offense
We all know that Drew Brees was the Jack Nicholson of the Saints. He was the overwhelming leader of the Super Bowl Champs. But the supporting cast that Brees had was the real reason they were able to take down the Colts and win their first Super Bowl. Never have I seen a team which such a well-balanced array of offensive weapons than this years Saints. Devery Henderson, Lance Moore, Reggie Bush, Robert Meachem, Pierre Thomas, Jeremy Shockey, Marques Colston (hell, you could even throw Mike Bell and David Thomas in there for good measure). The collective talent and effort the Saints had made it impossible to focus on one player, which was a perfect complement to Brees.
Best Original Score:
Alex Ovechkin's One-Handed Goal
I shouldn't be surprised at Alex the Great's spectacular goals anymore, but I am. His wizardry with the puck always seems to top his previous goal. This one-handed goal he put in with five seconds left for his 500th career point is as original as it comes. See for yourself.
Best Costume Design:
The Detroit Lions (had to)
The Lions new, sleek "out with the old, in with the new, let's forget about the 0-16 season" uni's ushered in the Matt Stafford era. The new look was the first step in getting rid of the stench of the 2008 season. And it's working. Kind of.
Best Athlete in a Lead Role:
Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers)
Bryant finally won an NBA championship as alpha-dog, cementing his place as "best basketball player of MY generation." His will to win and ice watery veins make him the undoubted leader of his team and one of the greatest competitor's of all-time. And, he's a prima donna like most Hollywood actors.
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Alex Rodriguez
One of the greatest baseball players of all-time (please don't bring up steroids-- not the place or time and I will crush you in this debate) finally won a World Series, and avoided joining the Barry Bonds, Dan Marino, Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing in the best-player-to-never-win-a-championship category. His career numbers (.305 AVG, 583 HR, 2531 H) can finally be validated with the Yankees 2009 World Series Championship. Because that's how we measure our athletes, with championships, right?
Best Director:
Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints)
In just four seasons, Sean Payton took the Katrinia (yes I brought it up, deal with it) ravaged city, the home of the "Ain't's" and turned that team into the Super Bowl Winning New Orleans Saints. He inspired that team and that city, and I'm pretty sure they are still partying on Bourbon St.
Best Team:
2009 North Carolina Men's Basketball
The Saints may have been the sentimental pick in this category, but we forget that the Tar Heels were the best team all season long and breezed through the NCAA tournament, eventually slaughtering my Spartans in the championship game. Ty Lawson, Danny Green, Wayne Ellington and Ty Hansbrough were way too much for any team to handle. Plus, any team Obama picks to win is going to be the best team.
So there you have it. Second guess all you want. But at the end of the day, I am George Clooney.
Ben Roethlisberger doesn't like fuzzy TV receptions. He also doesn't take, "no, I don't want to have sex with an overrated QB" for an answer, either --Roethlisberger has been charged with sexual assault, less than a year after a civil suit for rape was brought against him.
But that's not news to D4L. My cousin who grew up in the same hometown as Roethlisberger and also went to Big Ben's alma mater at Miami of Ohio told Dupree and I last year on the heels of him allegedly raping a hotel employee that he's a huge creeper. Not surprising at the time, either.
After the most recent news broke, she was able to reiterate her account of Big Ben and his forceful usage of Little Ben:
Participants: ------------- D4L, Cuz Messages: --------- D4L: Good call on roethlisberger Cuz: Whaaa D4L: Charged with Sexual assault Cuz: Hahahhaha Cuz: I'm not surprised Cuz: He's suchh a creep D4L: Can I quote you on that? Cuz: Aaha absolutely Cuz: He's from my hometown Cuz: Such a waste he is Cuz: He was always hitting on high school girls even after graduating from miami Cuz: Playing his celeb card Cuz: Soo creepy
So there you have it, folks. Maybe he didn't sexually assault or rape anyone, maybe, but our character witness is not surprised by the allegations one bit. Hmmmmm.
Actually, it is fun, and I'm a grown ass man. There's nothing more exhilarating than having a basketball rim within dunking height (about seven feet for me!) and just whaling away at it with reverses, 360s, off trampolines, off your brother's back, etc., etc. So much fun the ball doesn't even have to be included.
Yeah, well it's all fun and games until the rim smashes someone's brains out. This ain't for the squeamish (or anyone whose biggest pet peeve is someone improperly installing a 95-year old hoop on their garage overhang):
I hope this kid (Kurt, I presume) is alright, but man, it didn't look pretty.
Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller (Michigan State) received a standing ovation in Pittsburgh tonight for leading the United States to an Olympic silver medal — cheers louder than those given the Penguins’ own Sidney Crosby.
Some Penguins fans admittedly were conflicted, enthused by the United States' successful tournament -- the Americans were unbeaten before losing to Canada -- but too loyal to Crosby to boo the player who led Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup last spring. {...}
[...] There was a mixed reaction when a replay of Crosby's game-winning goal was shown on the Mellon Arena scoreboard, with some cheering but also audible booing. Later in the game, when the replay was shown again during a break in play, there were noticeably more boos than cheers.
Good for Pittsburgh.
... Now back to hating them/being bitter about last year's Cup again.
Lebron James has officially decided on a new jersey number for next season. James had hinted in prior months that he intended to cease wearing the number twenty-three, out of reverence to his idol Michael Jordan. James announced that beginning next season, he'll be donning the number six instead. He failed to elaborate why he chose six as a replacement, although it was his Olympic number.
The idea of changing from MJ's jersey number is classy, but his alternate choice left more than a few NBA fans confused. Bill Russell, who won more NBA titles as a player than anyone in league history, was also number six. It gives the impression that James simply doesn't respect the leagues oldest and most productive star, like he does his boyhood idol Jordan. Granted, Russell last won a title fifteen years before Lebron was born, but that doesn't make his accomplishments any less impressive.
Regardless of his choice of jersey number, the only thing that will matter at the start of next season, is the logo accompanying it.
Ryan attends the University of Michigan and infrequently writes for lifeondumars.com
It really pains me to type this, to even admit this, but the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies are the second best college basketball program in the state of Michigan, and for the most part have been knocking on the proverbial door for a while now. Finally this season the door has swung open faster than Kramer use to do it on Seinfeld, just that Oakland has done it with a little more grace and a lot more warning.
As a former Golden Grizzly for two years (my OU fan rant last season) I’d be lying if I said I felt zero disappointment in not being able to bask in the glory that is this 09/10 OU hoops season along with the rest of OU nation. Yeah sure, I can bask from a distance, but it’s not even close to the same thing as it is when in the presence of likeminded OU basketball friends and aficionados.
Coming into this season Oakland was the almost unanimous favorite to be the Summit League champion and the league’s representative in the NCAA tourney. Oakland came up just short of going dancing last season (three points short!). Anyways, this season, at least in the all important conference portion of the schedule, OU has more than taken care of business--comfortably securing a number one seed (regular season champs) in the conference tourney in Sioux Falls (March 6-9) by churning out an impressive 17-1 mark (23-8 overall).
Adjustment
Early on in the season when OU was making their now yearly trips to the big, bad BCS schools to get pounded on (and they largely did get pounded on), the season forecast didn’t look quite as promising. But level-headed OU fans knew it would be a struggle early on. It just had to be. Probably meant to be.
The team had to reincorporate integral fifth year senior guard/forward Derick Nelson into the offense while also learning to play without arguably the best shooter to have played college hoops in the state in some time, Erik Kangas.
No one was exactly sure if Nelson would be effective coming back from a serious foot injury that forced him to sit out most of last season. Fortunately Nelson has been more than fine, and while his ppg totals might not be close to where they were his junior year, he’s accepted a different role in his final season: defensive stopper. Though Derick is still capable of filling it up from time to time.
6’2 guard Larry Wright, a transfer from St. Johns, isn’t exactly the second coming of Erik Kangas. In fact, aside from being a threat from downtown and a dependable free throw shooter there’s not much that Larry has in common with him. But for OU to be successful Wright didn’t have to be another sharp shooting extraordinaire. He had to be himself all the while tinkering just enough with his game to find a way to fit in with his new team. And that he has. As a current student and OU hoops fan said to me recently, “Wright’s nothing like Kangas; his (Wright's) greatest strength is that he actually can dribble, drive, and make pretty good defensive plays at the right time. I'd still rather have Kangas jacking up treys in the clutch, but Larry has been worthwhile.”
Dynamic Duo
Let’s not kid ourselves though, the real reason Oakland is sitting so pretty right now is because of four year starting point guard Johnathon Jones and redshirt junior center Keith Benson. Both have had phenomenal campaigns.
Johnathon Jones
Jones is the antithesis of a shoot first point guard. Now, I could have just plainly said that Jones was the prototypical pass first point guard instead. But I wanted to make certain that people realize that Johnathon Jones without a doubt could be a fantastic shoot first point guard averaging upwards of 18-20 points a game and maybe gaining more accolades because of it. I mean, Jones has a unstoppable mid range-ish pull up jumper and quicks that will make your head spin. He could easily lead most mid-major programs in scoring. Yet Jones would laugh in the face of that kind of nonsense; he’d rather conform to a team oriented offense where there’s a plan in place to win, a focus, a collective effort that can be dominant if executed correctly. But make no mistake about it either, OU doesn’t need Jones to score a whole lot-there are many capable players on the team. Jones is the quintessential leader that a championship caliber basketball team must have, and so far this season his execution has been spot on. When the team’s most creative and potentially lethal scorer can lead the team to a 17-1 mark by scoring only 12ppg, you know that team is pretty darn good.
Keith Benson aka Kito
I could say lots of things (all good by the way) about the enigma that is 6’11 Keith Benson (Detroit Country Day alum). Only a few reading this will understand what I mean by enigma in this context, but so be it. They know who they are.
The short version of the Keith Benson basketball story is that Benson wasn’t highly recruited (only averaged 6.9ppg senior year of HS) and came to OU rail thin. After redshirting in 06/07 Benson has progressed more than he probably ever imagined. The jump he made from his first season playing at OU to his second was scintillating. The jump he made from last season to this season has not disappointed either. He’s bigger, stronger, and more confident with his post moves and with his jump shot. On defense he’s a menace, though, he doesn’t look the part. At all. Sure he has long arms, a nimble body, quick hops, but right as he’s swatting a shot you’d think he was reading O Magazine instead.
Kito being Kito.
Currently he’s 8th in the entire country in blocks/gm at 3.3 and alters many, many more. He’s very good at staying out of foul
trouble too. Benson’s defensive presence is what ultimately makes OU dangerous come NCAA tourney time, not just some cutesy team just content to be there.
*As an aside, here’s some analysis on Benson from some NBA Draft gurus.
Journey
From the early season struggles against the big schools (and a loss to Eastern Michigan as well) to the total dominance OU displayed during the league slate, one thing is for certain: Head coach Greg Kampe kept the team optimistic when it mattered most and kept them grounded when it mattered most. It’s easy to feel down and insignificant when getting your ass handed to you by top 20 teams. It’s also easy to get big headed when your blowing by folks like it’s nothing. Anybody who’s played sports competitively can relate with these types of highs and lows. What is always needed is a coach who knows his team better than the team thinks they know themselves. While at the time of the rampant butt whoopings it might have seemed foolish to have scheduled so many top tier programs, in the long run I can guarantee every OU player and coach knows their vastly better and more experienced for it. Now playing a high quality opponent on a neutral court won’t seem so daunting.
Greg Kampe's been the head coach at OU for 26 years
Careful Now
I’ve now realized that I’ve basically already put OU in the Dance (I’m setting myself up for disaster by thinking like this!). OU still has to win three games in four days to receive that elusive automatic bid (bracket here). Possible second round opponents IPFW and South Dakota State are not complete duds. Probable finals opponent, IUPUI (22-9), beat OU earlier this season by 24 at home while only losing by three to OU on the road. IUPUI can score with the best of them.
I told a buddy of mine at Oakland back very early in the conference season that it would be IUPUI vs. Oakland in the Summit League final. It's looking pretty likely. Oakland is the 1 seed. IUPUI is the 2 seed.
Tuesday, March 9th on ESPN 2 @8pm I hope my prediction comes true.
At 10pm on March 9th I hope I can start guessing which 3rd or 4th seed OU will be playing in the first round of the Dance.
I liked the confidence of the fake Ryan Miller better, although there's nothing wrong with a humbled netminder, either. Clearly MSNBC learned nothing from ESPN the other day, though:
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics.
Advertisers
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
Bloggers Wanted
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 