A Thinking Man's Tourney Time

March Madness is my favorite sporting event of the year. I love the event for the excitement of the actual games and for the great story lines that usually come out each year. It is neat to see the little guys make a run at the big guys and send them home. It is exciting to see players come out of nowhere and have the tournament of their lives. It is cool to have so many games going on at once (at least in the early rounds) - this also allows you to skip out on the ones that are blowouts and watch the more interesting games.

Each year for a number of years, I have completed a bracket and I have run bracket competitions. I am not sure when I started this, but I know I have run bracket competitions but I remember students at HCA and GCCS being involved in bracket competitions and doing the scoring manually before the days of all these nice internet sites that figure out the scoring for you. For the last few years I have hosted a bracket challenge here at A Thinking Man's Thoughts and this year is no exception.

I have not had the opportunity to watch much of the tournament yet, but I have enjoyed the parts that I have had the opportunity to watch. (I have had the opportunity to listen to some and have found Westwood One to be doing a great job with the radio broadcasts of the game.) I happened to be home briefly (I was bringing home a couple of bookcases) on Thursday and was able to see the last minute or so of the Temple v. Penn State game. Even though I was only able to watch about a minute of the game, I saw two incredible plays in just that little time.

With about 17 seconds left, Penn State's Battle put up a three-point shot from well beyond the arc to tie the ball game. It was an incredible shot and I yelled "Wow" to my son. He came in and watched the last seconds of the game with me. If you watched the game, you know that this was not the end of the story. Temple came back with ball and Fernandez had the ball in his hands with the time running out. He pivoted over and over looking for a shot, but was pretty well defended. With one second left, he leaned over to his left and put up an incredible leaning shot that went in to win the game for Temple. Wow! What a play. THAT is why I love March Madness.

Anyway, after the first round of this year's NCAA Tournament, out standings at The Thinking Man's Tourney Time show a couple of Andy's up in the lead. Long-time sufferer Andy Efting has taken the early lead with 127 points, followed closely by Andy Rupert with 121 points.

Ron Bean has a perfect West Region Bracket so far and Jon Knisely has a perfect East Region Bracket. Everyone other than Matt Jury and I have at least all of their Elite 8 teams remaining. Matt was perhaps doing a little more "rooting" than picking since he had Penn State in the Elite 8. I was a little too convinced in the chances for St. John's since they had knocked off some pretty good teams this year.

So, here are a standings and totals after the Round of 64.

1. Andy Efting 127 points
2. Andy Rupert 121 points
3. Frank Sansone 112 points
4. Matt Jury 110 points
5. Jon Knisely 109 points
6. Ron Bean 108 points
7. Don Johnson 107 points
8. Sarah Nething 102 points

A Couple of Sports Thoughts

First of all, we have reached the championship game of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. This has definitely been a unique tournament and the set-up for the National Championship Game continues to add a little bit of intrique as we get the proverbial "David vs. Goliath" match-up of the perinniel powerhouse Duke Blue Devils vs. the upstart small-school mid-major Butler Bulldogs.

Many people will be playing up the comparison to the movie "Hoosiers" and the 1954 Milan High School basketball team upon which it was (very loosely) based. The connections are definitely interesting and will make for some great copy for those who wish to pursue them. (For instance, the movie's final scene where tiny Hickory High won the championship was filmed at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse, the real person upon whom the movie's basketball star "Jimmy Chitwood" is based upon was a young man named Bobby Plump, who followed his career at Milan by playing at ... you guessed it - Butler University. The coach of the 1954 Milan team was a graduate of ... Butler University.)

The story line of little Butler vs. mighty Duke will get lots of play this week, although the story is actually a little bit of a stretch.

For instance, while Butler does not have the storied history of Duke, the reality is that seeing them in the Finals this year should not be much more of a suprise than seeing Duke in the Finals. Back at the beginning of the year, the expectations for both teams were actually quite similar. The pre-season AP poll had Duke ranked 9 and Butler ranked 11. The pre-season ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll had them at 8 and 10 respectively. (You can see the polls here.)

Even the size difference is not really that great. Butler enrolls about 4.000 undergraduate students while Duke enrolls about 6,400 undergraduate students.

However, that should not make it any less fun to watch if the realitively unknown Butler can defeat the mighty Duke Blue Devils.

In regards to our Thinking Man's Tourney Time, the final results are now set since no one picked either of the remaining teams.

So... without further ado, the results of the 2010 Thinking Man's Tourney Time are:

1. Sarah Nething with 36 correct picks and 190 points.
2. Andy Rupert jumped into second place with the Duke win and finished with 37 correct picks and 180 points.
3. Don Johnson finished third with 36 correct picks and 179 points.
4. Ron Bean finished with 37 correct picks and 178 points
5. Jon Knisely - 35 correct picks - 169 points
6. Matt Jury - 35 correct - 160 points
7. Frank Sansone - 32 correct - 145 points
8. Andy Efting - 25 correct - 119 points

Congratulations, Sarah on winning the Tourney. Very impressive.

Way to go, Andy R. and Ron for getting the most picks correct, with 37 each.

Andy E. and I will have to say like the old Brooklyn Dodger fans - "Wait until next year." BTW, Andy's "jinx" finally ended in this last round as he mentioned in the comments of the last basketball post that he wanted Butler and Duke with Butler winning it all.



On an unrelated sports note, the Philadelphia Eagles traded away our "franchise" quarterback, Donovan McNabb, to the Washington Redskins today. While no one should be shocked at the Eagles trading McNabb (it has been talked about for the last couple of weeks), I was a little suprised that the Eagles traded him to a division rival whom they will face at least two times every year.

Eagles fans have long had a kind of "love/hate" relationship with Donovan McNabb. From the "booing" at the Eagles' selection of McNabb as the number 2 pick in the 1999 draft (btw, the "booing" was not directed against McNabb, but against the Eagles management as many Eagles fans wanted the Eagles to draft Ricky Williams - or at least get a lot of picks for not drafting RW).

Donovan McNabb has been a very good player for the Eagles and I agree with Andy Reid that his career will likely be considered a Hall of Fame career when it is over. Over the years it has been my opinion that McNabb and Andy Reid's offense were not a good match - I know, considering McNabb's 73-39 win-loss record as an Eagle, that seems kind of a stretch.) My point has been that while McNabb has a fairly high completion rate, he seems to lack one of the most important skills necessary for success in a "West Coast" type of offense - the ability to consistently "lead" your receivers with your passes. If you have watched many Eagles' games over the year, you will notice that McNabb is notorious for throwing behind the receiver. Even though many of those have been caught, the receiver is seldom able to get many "yards after the catch" in that type of play - and the whole point of the West Coast offense is to set up the receivers to get those very yards after the catch.

I have said over the years that the Eagles either need to switch their offense to an offense more suited to McNabb's skills - perhaps a "run and gun" type of offense, or if Andy Reid is so wed to the West Coast offense that he will not do that, he needs to find a quarterback that can run the offense he wants to run. (BTW, I believe this issue of the "leading" the receivers is why you have had a number of Eagles back-ups do well when they replaced McNabb over the years - Koy Detmer, A. J. Feeley, Jeff Garcia, etc. It is not that they are better overall quarterbacks than McNabb, but that they seemed to have been able to make those lead passes that McNabb could not consistently make.

Anyway, a new Eagles era has begun. I hope Andy Reid knows what he is doing.

Just my sports thoughts,

Frank

And Now We Move on to the Elite Eight

Tonight completed the round of 16 of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tourney and The Thinking Man's Thoughts Tourney Time Challenge has become very close.

I am still in first place, but Ron Bean is only 2 points behind me and newcomer Jon Knisely has moved into third place, with Josiah falling into fourth place.

At this point in the tournament, all of the human players except for Josiah have picked at least five of the elite eight. Ron Bean has 6 of the 8 and Jon Knisely has an incredible 7 of the 8. Very nice, guys.

Here are the standings after the first three rounds.
Name Points Correct
1. Frank Sansone 236 42
2. Ron Bean 234 46
3. Jon Knisely 226 45
4. Josiah Sansone 220 35
5. Andy Rupert 193 41
Higher Seeds only 190 42
6. Sam Knisely 188 39
7. Andy Efting 168 36
8. Barack Obama 165 38

2nd Round of NCAA Tournament

I worte this a few days ago and just realized that I never published it - sorry. I know some of you are on the edge of your seat. :)

The second round of the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has ended, without a whole lot of upsets and with a change in the leader board of The Thinking Man's Tourney Time.

Josiah had a rough second round - all four of his Final Four teams have been eliminated, making his chances of winning it all pretty slim.

I have overtaken Josiah and moved into the lead - although my picks are not nearly as impressive as the picks of Ron Bean. Mr. Bean has picked 40 of the first 48 games correctly and sits in third place with two regions that he is still perfect in - the South and the West. He also has 15 of the 16 Sweet Sixteen picks correct - very impressive.

(In case you are wondering how he could have picked that well and not be in 1st place, well, it has to do with the scoring system in use, which awards points based on the victory and the seed of the team that wins - meaning that a victory by a 4 seed is worth 5 points (1 for the victory + 4 for the seed) whereas a victory by an 11 seed is worth 12 points (1 for the victory + 11 for the seed). It is kind of a risk/rewards system. Picking an underdog increases the chances that you will have a game that earns you zero points (since they are not expected to win), but if you pick a lower seed and it is successful, you get the extra bounce of the seed value. So, while Mr. Bean has more correct picks than I do, my successful underdog picks have given me the lead (currently).

Here is the standings after the second round.
Place Name Correct Score
1. Frank Sansone 37 213
2. Josiah Sansone 33 211
3. Ron Bean 40 207
4. Jon Knisely 38 194
5. Andy Rupert 36 170
6. Sam Knisely 34 166
Higher Seeds Only 36 164
7. Andy Efting 31 146
Coin Flip 21 146
President Barack Obama 33 144

1st Round of March Madness Complete

Wow. That was fast. Real life responsibilities - and sleep because of those real life responsibilities - caused me to not be able to watch more than 2 minutes of any of the games in the first round. As one who thinks this is the greatest event in sports and that the first four days of the madness are the best, this is kind of disappointing. The only exciting thing I was able to see was the last 15 seconds of the double overtime Ohio State loss to Siena. (I woke up* and it was on. The guy hit the three pointer before I could even process what was going on with the game and then in 3.4 seconds it was over and I knew Josiah would be disappointed this morning - as would the rest of Buckeye nation.)

My son, Josiah, joined us in the tournament this year for the first time. He picked a little bit with his heart and choose Ohio State to win it all. (While he is not from Ohio, Mom Mom and Grandpa live in the state of Ohio and he has somehow became an OSU fan as his favorite college sports teams.)

This year Sam Knisely attempts to defend his two-year run as the winner of The Thinking Man's Touney Time. Jon (his brother, perhaps) has signed up to join the rest of us in trying to stop his impressive streak.

After the first round, Josiah is actually in the lead, despite the loss by Ohio State which knocks out his eventual champion and the loss by Illinois, who he also had in the championship game. He does have a perfect West region so far and only missed one game in the East region, but maintaining his lead will be pretty tough unless there are major upsets to ruin everyone else's final four picks as well.

In second place is me :). My best region is the Midwest region where the only game I missed was Ohio State. I think this is a pretty impressive regional backet, considering the fact that my correct picks in that region included picking 13 seed Cleveland State over 4 seed Wake, 12 seed Arizona over Utah (despite many saying Arizona doesn't even belong in the tourney), 11 seed Dayton over 6 seed West Virginia and 10 seed USC over 7 seed Boston College. A region that featured 5 games where the lower seed won and I picked correctly 4 of those upsets and the only game I missed in the whole region was the double overtime loss by OSU.

In third place is Ron Bean. Mr. Bean has picked two perfect regions - the West and the South. Very impressive - someone should get you a Moxie :). Considering the fact that Josiah has lost two of his Final Four picks and I have lost one of mine, my guess is that Mr. Bean is the favorite at this time - here's hoping that someone knocks out North Carolina soon to relieve him of one of his Final Four picks.

New player Jon Knisely is in fourth place with a perfect West region and all four Final Four picks still surviving. Jon also got all four of the 7 vs. 10 games correct - correctly realizing that Texas was the only 7 seed that was going to survive - impressive.

Rounding out the top five is our returning champ, Sam Knisely, who is struggling a little bit. He also picked a perfect West region and still has his Final Four intact, but a rough Midwest bracket has got his score a little down. He may need Michigan State to make it to the Final Four to have a chance.

As I do almost every year, I also added a few "fake" competitors into the mix. For those of you who are in the A Thinking Man's Tourney Challenge and can actually see the standings and brackets of all of the players, "Joe Blow" is a made-up player whose games were picked via random coin flips at www.random.org/coins with "Heads" as the higher seed and "Tails" as the lower seed. (This mythical person would be in fifth place right now.) "Frank Republican (1)" is simply if all of the higher seeds won every game and "Frank Republican (2)" is if all of the lower seeds won every game. (The "Republican" in the name is because one year I made some mythical picks based on the way the states of the various teams had voted in the previous U.S. Presidential election.)

Here are the standings so far.

1. Josiah 178 points 28 correct picks
2. Frank 161 points 26 correct picks
3. Ron B. 140 points 25 correct picks
4. Jon K. 139 points 25 correct picks
Joe Blow 133 points 18 correct picks
5. Sam K. 123 points 23 correct picks
F. Repub2 118 points 10 correct picks
6. Andy R. 109 points 22 correct picks
7. Andy E. 107 points 21 correct picks
F. Repub1 104 points 22 correct picks
Frank Cheek 83 points 19 correct picks

Rounding out last place is a mysterious competitor listed on your score sheet as "Frank Cheek" - in reality, these are the picks of the President of the United States - Barak Obama, as copied from the ESPN.com website. Considering he is kind of considered a big basketball fan, I thought I would see how he would have done in The Thinking Man's Tourney Time. I am impressed with how our group is doing in comparison. He got clobbered pretty badly in the Midwest region (missing five of the eight games). To be fair, he actually has a prety decent bracket in later rounds (he still has all of his Final Four, all of his Elite Eight, and 14 of his Sweet 16 teams remaining), so he could still do fairly well, but right now he is in last place with less than half as many points as my 12-year old son.

Anyway this is the first round scoring update,

Frank


*Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, I didn't just "wake up" - my wife woke me up because I was snoring too loudly.

Tourney Time ... 2009

Howdy, folks. "It's the most wonderful time of the year..." okay, maybe not quite, but it is definitely time for the greatest event in sports, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

It is almost time to make your picks for March Madness 2009. Tomorrow is Selection Sunday and after the teams and seeds have been announced, you should be able to log in and make your picks and fill in your brackets.

Like last year, each person is able to fill out two brackets if you so desire. This will enable you to make one bracket based on what you THINK will happen and one bracket based on what you HOPE would happen - or in other words, a set of picks from the head and a set of picks from the heart.

Anyway,you should be able to find the tourney information at A Thinking Man's Thoughts Tourney Time Picks located at http://athinkingmansthoughts.mayhem.cbssports.com.

If you have played last year, you should have gotten an email and all you should need to do is log in with your account from last year and fill in your brackets after the teams and seeds are announced.

If you did not participate last year, but you would like to join in, just send me an email at fcsansone - at - gmail . com.

Just for fun,

Frank Sansone

A Couple of Football items

This is the time of the year when even mediocre teams like Notre Dame can play in and win college football bowl games and when the National Football League season gets serious. As a Philadelphia Eagles fan, my team is in need of a good game this weekend over the arch-rival Dallas Cowboys and then some help from some other teams.

I recently read two articles about football that present things in a different way.

The first story is a story about a Christian school in Texas that played a team of young people who were in Maximum Security. The head coach of the Christian school had an idea to do something different with the game which made a huge impact on the young men from the correctional facility. Rick Reilly writes about it here in a column that reads "There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning."

The other story is not as poignant as the first, but was interesting from a football standpoint. A high school coach in Arkansas decided after his team surrendered a punt return for a touchdown in the second game of the season that he was through with punting - for the whole season. Coach Kevin Kelley of Pulaski Academy in Arkansas decided that the math was on his side and decided to forego punting. While I do not know if this would work for everyone, it seemed to have worked for Coach Kelley and his Pulaski team as they won the Arkansas 5A state high school football title earlier this month. This article can be found here.

Just thought these were interesting stories and thought I would pass them on.


Just other people's thoughts.

Frank

Final Four Results and Final Standings of A Thinking Man's Tourney

Wow! Last night's overtime win by Kansas over Memphis was a pretty good game. For some reason, I found myself rooting for Memphis, even though I did not really care who won. I had the privilege of joining with some folks from church as we watched the game projected onto a screen in Steven Fleming's pad. It was pretty cool.

I know it is easy to second-guess a coach after the fact, but Steven can attest to the fact that this is not just second-guessing. I think Memphis should have fouled Kansas on the last play before Chalmers took the three-pointer. With only 10 seconds left, the only way Kansas wins that game is by doing exactly what happened. (Of course, I guess they could have made one free throw and then missed the second one on purpose and gotten the rebound and made a shot to tie - but that is more difficult than making a three-pointer.)

Since Kansas won the game and no one in the Thinking Man's Tourney picked Kansas, the standings remain the same as they were in the previous post. So, for the second year in a row - Congratulations to Sam Knisely for winning The Thinking Man's Tourney.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Final Standings before the Final Four

Leading up to tonight's Final Four match-ups of all number 1 seeds, the scoring for A Thinking Man's Tourney has adjusted a little bit.

The current standings are:

1. Sam Knisely - 217 points
2. Matt Jury - 199 points
3. Frank Sansone - 191 points (my other entry has 190 points)
4. Andy Rupert - 182 points
5. Ron Bean - 174 points
Andy Efting is sittin at 173 points, one shy of making the top five.

Interestingly, nobody has had their Final Champion knocked out and at least three players correctly picked the entire Final Four - Sam, Matt, and Ron.

For the sake of comparison, if you had just simply picked the higher seed team for every game, you would be at 208 points with all four teams remaining.

For those who are wondering, the WhatIf Sports computer (I mentioned it on this post) is beating all of us - it has 225 points with Kansas beating Memphis in the Final on Monday.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Tourney Time - Round 2 Standings

As the NCAA Basketball Tournament has wound down to the Sweet Sixteen, the standings at A Thinking Man's Tourney have adjusted a little, but not much.

Andy Efting has dug himself out of the bottom of the pile and has forged ahead of Ron Bean by two points. This may be a battle between the two of them as we go further in the tournament.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mr. Sam Knisely has a pretty comfortable lead in the overall standings, with 181 points. I am in second place - all the way down at 163 points with my "gut" picks and 159 with my "mind" picks. Matt Jury is right behind me in third place with 158 points and Andy Rupert is in fifth with 151 points.

Don't have much time to comment, except to say that those who thought Eric Gordon was going to lead Indiana through a couple rounds of the tournament (like one of the ESPN analysts) should have taken time to look at some tape of the Illinois-Indiana game earlier this year. As some may recall, Gordon had originally indicated that he was going to play for Illinois and then was "persuaded" to play for Indiana instead. When he came to Champaign to play against Illinois, the crowd let him have it - and he stunk up the place. It was very clear that he was rattled most of the game - which was a sign to me that he would have some problems with the pressure of the tournament. (I know, it would have been more impressive if I had said this before they lost and then they had lost.)

Anyway, just my frivolous basketball thoughts.

Frank

Sam Knisely leads after the first round of NCAA Tournament

A Thinking Man's Thoughts Tournament Bracket Challenge is off and running. Last year's winner, Sam Knisely from PA is again performing nicely and has taken a lead after the first round of games.

Sam Knisely - 140 points
Frank Sansone - 124 points
Andy Rupert - 121 points

Andy Efting is struggling a little this year and is bringing up the rear. Can't blame him too much. His big hit is the loss of Clemson, who he had making it to the Elite Eight (perhaps a little alma mater pride there?).

At a quick glance it looks like everyone still has their Final Four intact and most of us still have our Elite Eight in tact, so things could be tight as we get to the end.

BTW, I nailed the San Diego game - on both my hunch bracket and my "real" bracket. I was thinking that the San Diego coach's time with Gonzaga would be an asset in a first-round upset type of game. (The Zags were great as underdogs, they can't seem to do it as a higher seed.)

If anyone looks at the standings and wonders why I did not list "Pastor Frank" in our scoring on this sheet, that is because Pastor Frank is not a real player. For him, I entered the results from "What If Sports." What If Sports put all of the games into a computer simulator and simulated the tournament 1000 times. The results of those simulations (percentage-wise) is the picks that I made for Pastor Frank. BTW, Frank Cheek is simply picking the higher-seed of each game.

Well, gotta go get some real things done.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

It's Tourney Time

Every year, we have a friendly and free NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge here at A Thinking Man's Thoughts. Last year, Sam Knisely from Pennsylvania won first place and Ron Bean from Virginia won second place, with me coming in third place.

Well, it is that time again.

If you would like to participate, simply go to http://athinkingmansthoughts.mayhem.sportsline.com/e. When asked for a password, enter "tourney."

This game is only for fun (no money) and I will periodically highlight how things are going.

The rules for this tourney are as follows.

1. The games are weighted by round with a bonus equal to the seed number of the winning team. (E.g. a 1st round victory by a number 10 seed awards 11 points - 1 for the round and 10 for the seed).

2. Each particpant should be able to fill in two brackets if you want (one for your head and one for your heart)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Shaq's Debut

Tonight was Shaquille O'Neal's debut with my Phoenix Suns.

My initial thoughts after having seen most of the game.

While the Suns lost (more on that later), I saw some things I liked and some things that need work.

Top four things I liked

1. I was pleasantly surprised that Shaq looked like he was in better shape than I was expecting. As Shaq said, "I am in better shape than I thought I was."

2. There were stretches where you could almost see this working down the road - especially as the game wore on.

3. The Suns rebounding looked like it took a step forward. While I expected Shaq to get some boards, if tonight is any indicator, it looks like his presence will also help Amare Stoudamire get some more boards - and that is a good thing!!

4. Shaq's effort looked pretty good. He dove and ran and looked good.

Top four concerns

1. There were times Shaq looked lost on the plays - and that Nash also looked lost about what to do with/for the Big Guy. This is not unexpected considering this is the first game together, but with the West being as tight as it is, they need to get in sync sooner rather than later.

2. The Suns defense looked very bad at times. The blocks were nice, but the Suns have to stop the pick and roll and Shaq needs to be willing to come out of the paint to get guys like Gasol when they shoot shots from just beyond the elbow.

3. It looked at times like the rest of the Suns were trying to adjust to Shaq rather than the other way around. This is not what the Suns need to do if they want to win.

4. The Suns just dropped out of first in their division, L.A. has the tie-breaker for home court in the playoffs, and the Suns have a loosing record against the other playoff caliber teams in the West. That is not good. (Of course, you could also argue that this is one of the reasons why they needed to make the gamble of the Shaq trade in the first place.)

Anyway, those are my quick thoughts after the game.

Frank

A Game of Interest

As many of my regular readers are probably aware, I am a lifelong Phoenix Suns fan. Having spent a number of my formative years in the Valley of the Sun, I look forward to each basketball season with hope that the Suns will finally be more than "The Little Team that Could ... And Darn Near Did" (to quote the title of a book about the "Fabulous Rise of the Phoenix Suns" by Joe Gilmartin after the Suns nearly won the NBA championship against the hated Boston Celtics early in the team's history).

It seems like most years the Suns have had pretty good regular seasons, but can't quite get over the hump when it comes to the playoffs. As the Suns are putting together another splendid regular season (the Suns are currently tied with New Orleans for the best record in the West at the All-Star break), many folks around the league have indicated that the still don't think the Suns could get it done in the post-season.

Last week, however, the Suns took a giant gamble. The Phoenix Suns made a trade with the Miami Heat to acquire Shaquille O'Neal in a trade that cost the Suns perennial all-star Shawn Marion.

On Wednesday, Shaq is expected to make his Suns' debut in a game against the long-standing arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers.

As a Suns fan, I am looking forward to this game with interest. I am a little mixed on the trade, but after hearing a number of NBA pundits rip the trade for a few days, I tend to think that it may actually be a good trade - or at worst, it was worth the risk.

Throughout the Suns' history, they have often been pursuing the elusive big man. From losing the coin toss for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor in those days) to the disappointment of William Bedford and the tragedy of Nick Vanos, the Suns have never really had a dominating Big Man. The only center in the "Ring of Honor" is Alvin Adams - who was a great player, but at only 6 foot 9 was clearly not a traditional Big Man. Probably the closest thing to a pretty good Big Man the Suns have ever had was Mark West, who put together a couple of decent seasons in the 1990s.

The arrival of Shaq provides the Suns with possibly the first legitimate Big Man in franchise history. The question, however, is if Shaq can still play. Shaq had a down season last year and is off to an even worse season this year. Many of the pundits think that Shaq is washed up and that the Suns should not have made the trade.

The conventional arguments against the trade are as follows:

1. Shaq does not fit into the Suns' up-tempo style and will slow the team down.

2. It is a bad idea to mess with the chemistry of a team that is on track to be the Number 1 seed in the West.

3. Losing Marion means the Suns give up their best defender on a team not known for defense.

4. It weakens the Suns bench, since Shaq will not be able to play the type of minutes that Marion played and losing Banks out of the rotation and the Suns already have a short bench.


There may some validity to some of these issues, but I think the case is not definite.

Here are my concerns then my arguments FOR the trade:

Concerns:

1. Shaq may really be hurt to the point of being just a shell of the old Shaq. I don't expect him to be anywhere close to what he was in his hey-day, but it would help if he was at least 80% of what he was when he helped Miami win the ring two years ago.

2. The Suns may try to make too many adjustments to fit Shaq's style of play instead of vice-versa.

FOR the trade:

1. Championship experience. Shaq has it - Big Time! He has been to the Championship with all three of his previous teams (Orlando, L.A. Lakers, Miami). In none of those teams did he have the complete surrounding cast that he has in Phoenix.

2. Size matters - especially in the play-offs. If you look at the teams that win NBA Championships, one fairly common element is a very good Big Man. (Yes, I know, the Jordan-era Chicago Bulls never had a very good Big Man - but they are the exception that proves the rule :) ). Going backwards, we have Duncan, Shaq, Duncan, Wallace, Duncan, Shaq, Shaq, Shaq, Duncan until you reach Jordan's Bulls (and in the middle of the Bulls' run you have Olajuwan with the two between the three-peats).

3. Marion was wanting out anyway. Those who view this as mortgaging the future, need to realize that Marion was not going to be part of that future anyway. That is unfortunate. I am a big Shawn Marion fan. He is a great all-around player who does not get the attention he deserves. I wish him well in Miami, but rather than just having him walk away at the end of the year, the Suns got one of the greatest Big Men in NBA history (even if it is an older version).

4. Shaq will not slow down the Suns (unless they let him). Remember that the Showtime lakers had Kareem at center. A fast break starts with a rebound (or, in the Suns case, sometimes a made shot by the opponent). Shaq has always been a pretty good rebounder - especially defensive rebounder - which triggers that fast break.

5. Shaq allows Amare to move back over to his natural position. Amare is a power forward who has been playing Center at an all-star level for a couple of years. Shaq's presence allows Amare to move over and not to be forced to play the other team's big man. Hopefully this will allow Amare to remain as fluid as he is without getting into the foul trouble that he tends to get into guarding the centers.

6. This trade should enable Boris Diaw to have a bigger role - he will probably get some of Marion's minutes. Diaw is a very good player. In the year that Stoudamire was out, Diaw filled in admirably and almost helped the Suns into the championship that year.

7. Shaq is a very good team player. Shaq passes very well for a big man. He also has shown (in Miami) a willingness to play second-fiddle when needed. He has a very good understanding of the game and should be able to adjust his game accordingly.

8. Shaq has shown an ability to "turn it on" when needed. He does not have to have a great regular season. He only needs to have a good play-offs.

9. This team does not need Shaq to carry it. It just needs him to contribute in the right way. I would be wary of trying to build a team around Shaq at this point in his career, but the Suns aren't doing that. They are asking him to be a relief pitcher and help them over the hump. I think he can do that.

10. The time to strike is now. Nash is not getting any younger and the Suns' window of opportunity is closing. The last time the Suns were knocking this close for a long-time was in the pre-Barkley days. (Prior to Barkley's arrival, the Suns had won fifty or more games in four seasons in a row and had advanced to the Conference Finals two of those years.) While I was skeptical regarding the Barkley deal when it happened, hind-sight says it worked out okay :) .

Soooo, I am looking forward to seeing the Suns play the Lakers after church on Wednesday night. I don't think we can necessarily tell a lot about one game and I would not be surprised if it does not take a little bit of time until the kinks get worked out, it will be interesting to see the beginning of a new era.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

The Cult of the Young

Ben Witherington has recently written a post entitled "Michael Vick's Mea Culpa". It is worth a read for his whole take on the Michael Vick situation, but his third contributing factor I found intereting.

3) And unlike Biblical culture, our culture is fixated on youth. 'Youth must be served' is our motto. So we watch endless programs with the young and the restless-- swimsuit models with barely any swimsuit and barely old enough to be beyond being called 'jail bait', young athletes, young this and young that. We even made up a phrase for it--- 'the Pepsi generation'. How very different this is from the culture of the Bible where it was the oldest and wisest who were most revered in society, and youth was deemed to be wasted on the young, who were too immature to appreciate such life and vitality. And here is an important Biblical point--- the person to be admired is the one smart enough to realize that youth and beauty are fleeting and vain, and cannot be recaptured once gone, but eternal life, is forever. Life is not too short when its eternal, and you have the gift of eternal life.

I still consider myself a young man (although now that I recently turned 38, I think that this youth is fleeting) and I think his use of "the Pepsi generation" reveals that he is a little "behind the times" :), but what about his point here?

I think that Dr. Witherington is correct that there is an inordinate fixation on youth in our culture. Not only is this seen in the entertainment fields such as the ones that Dr. Witherington mentioned, even more tragically it is seen in areas where it should be even more clear that age and wisdom are important - such as politics and education.

I would even go beyond Dr. Witherington to say that not only is there an inordinate fixation on youth within our culture, there is also an inordinate fixation on youth within our Christian culture. In recent years there has been much said about "Young Fundamentalists" (as well as Young Evangelicals and the Younger Evangelicals). There have been conferences specifically geared towards reaching out to them and how to deal with them has often been the talk of the blogosphere. I have heard of a few different pulpit committees that have made youth a significant part of their criteria in looking for a new Pastor. We often spend much more in churches to focus on the needs of children or youth than we do for the seniors or other groups. I know that there are some reasons for some of these things and I am definitely not anti-youth (I was involved directly in youth ministry for over a decade and I currently teach our teen Sunday School instead of the adult class at our church), but I wonder if sometimes we don't fixate on youth to the detriment of heeding and focusing on the grey heads among us?

Just my thoughts,

Frank

So, what say you, is Dr. Witherington correct or is he a washed up old man?

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Oops, I never did this officially, yet

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Our 2007 Thinking Man's Tourney Time winner for the 2007 NCAA Men's National Basketball Tournament was Brother Sam Knisely from Pennsylvania.

Second place went to Brother Ron Bean from Virginia.

I finished in third place, with Brian Morris and Andy Rupert rounding out the top five.

Congratulations Sam and Ron for a job well-done.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

All is lost - oh, not really

If you have been following the posts on The Thinking Man's Tourney Time, you know by now that Sam Knisely has nicely moved in to the lead of our little NCAA Men's Basketball Bracket Challenge for 2007.

With the loss by UCLA (did they even show up or is Florida actually that good?) to the Gators, Brother Knisely moved into first place in our tournament and Brother Ron Bean moved into a second place tie with me. Both of them have chosen Florida to win it all, so Sam will win the overall title, while Ron has a chance to move into second place. Of course, I am rooting for Ohio State tonight, although I don't really care either way.

The good side of having my teams all gone is that I don't find myself like I did on Saturday - wanting to root for Ohio State, but feeling obligated to root for Georgetown because it would help my bracket more (by not giving Sam and Ron the points for an OSU win).


So, without further delay, the current standings going into tonight's NCAA Men's Basketball Championship are as follows.

1. Sam Knisely - 219 points (47 correct)
2. (tie) - Ron Bean - 216 points (46 correct)
2. (tie) - Frank Sansone -216 points (42 correct)
4. Brian Morris - 207 points (41 correct)
5. Andy Rupert - 199 points (43 correct)

Sam, Ron, Brian, Andy, and John Kjaer (who is in 7th place) can all add to their point totals tonight. Sam, Ron & Brian have Florida winning it all and Andy and John have Ohio State University winning it all.

On a related note, a certain blogging Pastor friend of mine is gloating over the alleged fact that he had picked all four Final Four teams and selected the correct two teams to advance to the championship (you can read Chris' comments at http://mytwocents.wordpress.com/2007/04/01/final-four-check-final-two-check).

I would make two quick comments regarding this post by Chris:

1. Based on his previous comments on my blog at this post, my calculations would indicate that Chris has at best 43 correct picks with a chance for 44 tonight. While that is nice and it beats my 42 correct picks, it doesn't stack up to our Thinking Man's Tourney Time. Even Andy Rupert (who is in 5th place in our Tournament) has the same amount of wins as Chris - and has also picked OSU, so Chris cannot pass him even if OSU wins. Beyond that, Ron Bean (who is currently tied for second) has 46 wins already and Sam Knisely has 47 wins aleady. Both of them also have OSU vs. Florida in tonight's game, but both have Florida winning over Ohio State.

2. I think Chris needs to re-read, this post - or at least the book upon which the post is based :).

Just my thoughts,

Frank

NCAA Update - UCLA Must beat Florida

Wow! The Thinking Man's Tourney Time has tightened up big-time.

Ohio State managed to keep their heads together even when Oden spent most of the time on the bench in the first half and Georgetown failed to use Hibbert effectively and now my lead in The Thinking Man's Tourney Time is down to 3!

UCLA needs to beat Florida for me to win. A UCLA win would seal the victory for me. A Florida win would give Sam Knisely the victory and moves Ron Bean into a tie with me for second place. A Florida championship moves Brother Bean into second place by himself and moves me into third place.

So, GOOOO BRUINS!!!

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Oh, Oh Alfallo (sp?) has three fouls in the first half. URGH!

2007 NCAA Tournament March Madness Update

The Final Four is set. Ohio State versus Georgetown in one game, Florida versus UCLA in the other game.

These should be some good games. This has been a good tournament this year, although without as many of the big upsets that often make the first weekend more exciting.

Things at The Thinking Man's Tourney are heating up. With three games left to play, there are still three of us with a chance to win. At this point, it looks like the key game will be the UCLA versus Florida game. I have picked UCLA to win it all, while the next three players in our little bracket challenge have all selected Florida.

The top five leader board is as follows:

Frank Sansone - 216 points (42 correct)
Sam Knisely - 207 points (45 correct)
Ron Bean - 204 points (44 correct)
Brian Morris - 201 points (40 correct)
Andy Rupert - 187 points (41 correct)

If I am reading the CBS Sportsline information correctly, the top three still have a chance to win, but Brian and Andy have officially been eliminated from winning (Brian can achieve no more than 214 points, which falls below the 216 I already have.)

Sam has moved ahead of Ron in both wins and points after this last round. They both have Florida winning it all, so I don't think Ron can move back ahead.

Just my quick thoughts before taking the kids to school,

Frank

2007 March Madness Update - Elite Eight

We are quickly approaching the end of the 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and with that, the end of the 2007 edition of The Thinking Man's Tourney Time.

As we have reached the Elite Eight, the top five scoring for The Thinking Man's Tourney Time is as follows:

1. Frank Sansone - 205 (40 correct)
2. Ron Bean - 194 (42 correct)
3. Sam Knisely - 191 (42 correct)
4. Brian Morris - 184 (37 correct)
5. Andy Rupert - 177 (39 correct)

Both Ron and Sam correctly picked seven of the eight teams in the Elite Eight.

With USC's loss to UNC last night, I only have five of the Elite Eight remaining - and I am now missing two of my Final Four.

Some may wonder how I can be in the lead with the stats like I just mentioned. Well, I run the tournament :). Just kidding. Actually, I have picked the West bracket almost completely perfect (the only game I missed was a first-round mistake of picking Gonzaga over Indiana) and the scoring is such that you are awarded one point per round for getting a game correct, plus the seeding of the winning team. Thus, picking VCU over Duke (which I did) and Winthrop over Notre Dame (which I did) gives you 12 points in the first round for each of those games (1 for the round and 11 for the seeding). As the rounds increase the round points for each victory increases (so, a win by a team in the Final Four is worth 5 points plus the seeding). So, while I have a lead, I believe I can still be beaten, depending on which teams win. Both Ron and Sam have Florida winning it all, while I have UCLA, so we'll see how things develop.

Just my thoughts,

Frank