Ruben Brown Road Trip: Newman Arena, Ithaca, N.Y.

Last night, I ventured to Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y. to take in Cornell's Ivy League finale against Princeton. When I originally purchased the tickets, I thought I'd be watching the Big Red attempt to clinch the Ivy title and the NCAA berth that goes with it. But, alas, it was not meant to be. Cornell took care of business on Friday by dismantling Penn (Aside: Penn's banner hanging in the Newman rafters is impossible to read. See above photo.), but Princeton went and fucked everything up by losing to Columbia (Columbia?!) by 14.

Still, it was an enjoyable evening. When the majority of your college basketball viewing is done at the Carrier Dome, it's nice to catch a game in an intimate atmosphere every once in a while. (I'm even considering a trip to the America East final on Saturday, should Binghamton advance and host. I really want to storm a court, even if I have no emotional connection to the team.)

A couple random thoughts from Cornell/Princeton:

• I now understand why Princeton lost to Columbia. Princeton is horrible.
• The Tigers have a player who I referred to as Adam Morrison throughout the evening. Upon viewing his profile, he in no way resembles Adam Morrison. He also didn't cry when he lost.
• Ivy League basketball relies entirely on players who are willing to pass (even whey they're standing alone right next to the basket) and can knock down jump shots. Cornell succeeds at this.
  
• Conversely, Ivy League basketball (specifically Princeton basketball) can be tough to watch when players struggle to knock down any form of jump shot. The Tigers shot shot 35% from the field and 26% from 3-point range.
• Newman Arena is, all things considered, a very nice venue. HOWEVER, you can't see the court from the first few rows of the balcony due to the railing at the back of the lower sections. I quickly realized why nobody sits in those seats.
• The halftime elementary school basketball game was entirely too entertaining. And a few of the players could have played minutes for Princeton.
  
• Cornell's student section enjoys counting down when the opposition's shot clock is about to expire.
• Cornell's student section enjoys beginning its countdown at the wrong number.
• It took Princeton a few times through to figure this out.
• Much like every other student section in America, Cornell's student section is better than that of Syracuse.

A few more shots of Newman:

Mind = Blown.

Saturday, March 7, 2008 will go down as one of the greater days of all time. I'm sure of this. I also assure you this is my brain talking, not the Admiral Nelson currently running through my veins (Note: Admiral outranks Captain on the high seas. Thus, Admiral Nelson > Captain Morgan).

• Syracuse wins a road game over a real team in overtime
• Time Warner Sports Immediately cuts to a high school section championship game that ends in overtime with a game-winning layup with 2.2 seconds to go
• I immediately cut to the USA/Canada baseball game that ends with the U.S. winning by one, and Canada leaving a runner on second in the top of the ninth
• The Bills sign Terrell Owens (Still wrapping my head around this one)
• I view Cornell defeat Princeton, which is fun despite the fact that Ivy League teams suck (SUCK!) at playing basketball
• Marathon of Guitar Hero/Rock Band, where the singing and drum playing gets progressively worse as the night goes on.

Side note to K-Gun: Feel free to delete drunken blog ramblings.

Additional side note: I half-heartedly called the T.O. signing in a post a few days ago.

Also: More to come on Cornell tomorrow.

T.O. IS COMING TO BUFFALO!

1 year, $6.5 million.

ESPN.com has it.

NFL.com has it.

AHHHHHH!!!!

I am in shock right now. Shock. Since when did the BILLS do things like this?!

I have nothing else to say at the moment. Time to go try wrapping my mind around the thought of T.O. in a Bills uniform.

Wow.

Red Rover Red Rover, Jauron Calls T.O. Over!

According to SalSports.com, the Bills are attempting to put together a meeting with Terrell Owens in hopes of potentially signing the free agent head case/wide receiver.

The "source" in the story says it is, in fact, Dick Jauron's idea to put together this meeting. Seems odd considering Dickie loves high character players, so maybe he sees something in T.O. that others don't see (or sees his job being taken away if they don't make the playoffs next season).

Would T.O. come to Buffalo? Tough call. I'm not sure why he would want to come to a team with such a history of losing and such a mediocre passing game, but he may see some upside in going to a weak media market where he won't get as much attention as other places.

Would Buffalo fans welcome T.O.? This is the bigger question in the matter. If he showed up and said the right things, I think the potential is there for him to be embraced. But as soon as there is a sign of him acting up/like himself, that grace period would disappear rather quickly.

Personally, I would love it if they could bring in Owens. Who cares if he could potentially ruin their team chemistry and Trent's psyche? Obviously the current chemistry is only good enough to win 7 games a season, so that's not really a huge loss. If Trent can't handle the trouble that is T.O., maybe he shouldn't be an NFL quarterback. With a second major weapon on the outside, Edwards might even be tempted to throw more than just screen passes on occasion.

And hey, if anything, I imagine T.O. and Marshawn could provide some hilarious moments for us - of course assuming Marshawn doesn't screw up any more.

They Cared!

Final in OT: Syracuse 86, Marquette 79

I am in complete shock that they withstood Marquette's late run and didn't lose in regulation. I guess that's the life of rooting for Syracuse, assume the worst - but the worst didn't happen for once, thankfully.

This day really couldn't have gone much better for the Cuse. A legit conference road win to close the season ... clinch the 6 seed ... Seton Hall comes back and beats Cincinnati to grab the 11 seed, meaning Syracuse plays the winner of Hall/South Florida on Wednesday in the Big East tournament.

The only thing I can think of that would make this day better: DePaul earning their first conference win by beating Georgetown later on. Go Blue Demons!

Will They Care?

In a matter of minutes, Syracuse is going to take the court in Milwaukee attempting to do something that they have yet to do this season: win a legit Big East road game.

During the non-conference schedule they were able to beat soon to be Big 12 champion Kansas at a "neutral site" game in Kansas City. A few weeks later they were able to defeat a Memphis team on the road that is now ranked #5 in the nation - and hasn't suffered defeat since losing to Syracuse.

And yet, Syracuse can't seem to beat any worthwhile teams on the road in the Big East. It's not just that they can't beat them - they can't even keep it close. They lost by 14 at Georgetown (which at the time didn't seem like a big deal because the Hoyas were still considered a good team, who knows what happened to them). They lost by 18 at Pittsburgh. Only lost by 6 in Providence, but this was a game in which they never got closer than 5 for the last 17 minutes of the game, and were down double digits for a while in that second half. They lost by 17 on the road against Villanova. Obviously after all this, they weren't going to have a chance on the road against UConn (lost by 14).

Sure, it can be argued that a lot of this has to do with how tough the Big East is, and when you are playing so many difficult teams, it'll be hard to win on the road. Beating good teams on their home court is just difficult in general.

But that is not the issue here. The issue is, to put it bluntly, giving a damn. In all those aforementioned road losses, Syracuse looked like they couldn't care less about playing basketball. They would play lackadaisical defense, leading to being unable to get any defensive stops when they were needed. Combine this with spending entire games taking stupid three pointers...needless to say, games would often spin out of control quickly.

So what will happen when 'Cuse takes the court today, on the road, against a decent team? Marquette playing without Dominic James - possibly their best player - should make them beatable. A win and Syracuse finishes 6th in the Big East, a loss and they finish 8th. While it shouldn't matter in terms of making the tournament, it could have a big effect on where they end up getting seeded.

Let's hope Syracuse realizes the importance of today's game and they show up to play. When they do show up and play like they care, they can play with anyone in the country. But it's just that, a question we always have to ask ourselves when Syracuse goes on the road: will they care?

McNuggets Emergency Redux

Remember this story about the woman who called 911 with her McNuggets emergency? I just happened upon this video of a guy on YouTube discussing this story. This gentleman is correct, the boys in blue have obviously never had chicken nuggets before, or they would understand the emergency.

McNugget Mania begins at around the 1:54 mark.

He's Ryan Fitzpatrick. He went to Hahvahd.

Meet the guy who's going to lead the Bills to a 1-3 record in relief of Trent Edwards this year.

BREAKING NEWS: A-Rod Got Up This Morning!

Today I woke up at my usual late morning hour, did my usual morning things, then decided that I would like to see some highlights from last night's basketball games. I was particularly interested to see highlights from Oklahoma-Missouri, because the idiot Sooners ruined my bid for $1 million in Streak for Cash. My streak was up to 10! I was on my way!

So I flip on the TV right around noon. This is perfect, top of the hour, I'll get my highlights pretty quickly. I mean, game between two top 12 teams in the last week of the college basketball regular season, that has to be important right?

Here is a running tally of what I sat through on my quest to watch Missouri ruin my dream.

12:00-12:02
A-Rod has hip troubles. Out till May! Well that's good news.

12:02-12:12
Terrell Owens was released! I mean, that's cool, but does it take ten minutes to share that?

12:12-12:17
Teasing what's coming up after the commercial, then commercial. Okay, fine I'll sit through this and I'll get my highlights.

12:17-12:22
BREAKING NEWS! A-Rod is out until May because of hip surgery! Wait a minute, how is it breaking news at 12:17 if you just reported it at the top of the hour?

12:22-12:25
Whoa! Something else! World Baseball Classic! Japan vs. China!

12:25-12:26
Terrell Owens gets mentioned quickly. Did you not just spent ten minutes talking about him earlier?

12:26-12:30
Tease/commercials. Live Manny News Conference after the break, great.

12:30-12:51
Discuss Manny. Manny news conference. Okay fine, the upside to live Sportscenter all day, you can take things like this live. I assume since the hour will be almost over after this, we'll get those highlights I was looking for. Or any highlights for that matter, as far as I know there were a lot of college and pro basketball games last night.

12:51-12:55
Tease/commercials. Gah.

12:55-1:00
More Terrell Owens! How many ways can you say "The Cowboys released Terrell Owens?"

1:00
Top of the hour! New Sportscenter time! At this point I don't care what highlights I get, I just want proof that sporting events occurred last night.

1:00-1:01
BREAKING NEWS! A-Rod out until May! I've always wondered: how long does a story have to be around before it's not breaking news any more? You would think that once the story has initially been "broken," it is no longer breaking news. It is now just current news, that your report as such. Oh well.

1:01-1:12
DEVELOPING STORY! Terrell Owens released! Another thing I don't understand. How is this story developing? Once he is released, that's it, that's the story. Owens' release was first reported at midnight last night. He has been released for well over 12 hours now. The story is no longer developing. It is a discussion point, but there is no more development.

1:12-1:16
Tease/commercials. This is getting predictable.

1:16-1:21
Breaking News. A-Rod. Come on.

1:21-1:24
WBC - Japan v. China. Who the hell cares?

1:24-1:27
More T.O. talk. Yawn.

1:27-1:30
Tease/commercials. I wish there was something else on TV so I didn't spend the last hour and a half watching Sportscenter.

1:30-1:34
Basketball highlights! Finally! Oklahoma-Missouri! Wow, Blake Griffin sucks. Kansas-Texas Tech! Chris McKendry just told me Kansas only hit 1 three pointer. That's interesting considering the box score on the website for the company she happens to work for says they hit 4 of them. Whatever.

1:34-1:35
Quick recap of "Sportscenter Right Now." You guessed it, we were reminded about A-Rod and T.O.

1:35-1:41
More Terrell Owens talk. Great. I'm done tracking this.

So for those of you keeping score at home, in one hour and 41 minutes of Sportscenter, this is the break down:

36 minutes on T.O.
21 minutes on Manny News Conference
20 minutes on commercials
13 minutes on A-Rod
6 minutes on World Baseball Classic
4 minutes on two Big 12 games
1 minute reminding us that A-Rod and T.O. are the two top stories
0 minutes on 6 other games that involved 7 total ranked teams
0 minutes on 10 NBA games

Wow. Nice work, Worldwide Leader.

7-9, Here We Come.

Just received word from Bills Headquarters (Sounds more impressive if I say it that way. In reality, I signed up for text message alerts) that running back Kevin Jones and wide receiver Joey Galloway are in Orchard Park today for a tour of Buffalo's facilities.

Here's to hoping they hate everything they see.

Jones ran for a whopping 109 yards in 11 games last year (note that is his total for 11 games, he did not rush for 109 yards on 11 separate occasions) and never set foot in the end zone, aside from running to and from the tunnel before and after games. Galloway, meanwhile, had 13 receptions for 138 yards and no scores in nine games in 2008.

So, in summary, the Bills are interested in two players who collectively had one good game last year, if you count their entire season as one game. I know, I know, Galloway had three straight 1,000-yard seasons prior to last year, but he also had a string of six sub-1,000 seasons prior to that.

Or, as K-Gun so eloquently put it in a text message after receiving the same text from the Bills: "Galloway is another Lee Evans. Just 47 years older."

T.O.'s also available. Maybe they can make a run after him. I can definitely see him being happy with the steady stream of screen passes and dump-offs to the tight end.

Getcha popcorn/buffalo wings ready.