After starter Jason Campbell was lost to a broken collarbone, Jackson engineered a risky trade which acquired aging semi-retired quarterback Carson Palmer from the Cincinnati Bengals for a 2012 first round pick and a conditional 2013 draft pick. The move reeked of desperation as it went down 2 days after Campbell went down. It looks even worse with the Raiders slumping down the stretch losing 4 out of the last 5 games including a late collapse against the Lions at home and then a loss to the Chargers at home to end the season. Jackson was also victimized by many other key injuries, Darren McFadden and Jacoby Ford being a couple on the offensive end with Matt Shaughnessy being a key injury on the defensive end. The Raiders were never a consistent football team in 2011, not closing out games, setting a new NFL record for penalties, not showing discipline in key moments. Jackson may have expressed his disbelief with the team after they lost the last game of the season at home to San Diego but the problem had loomed for weeks and along with Denver’s struggles down the stretch, the Raiders should have somehow squeaked into the playoffs. 

Well enough harping about what the 2011 season could have been for the Raiders. Let’s just look forward to the future and hope Reggie McKenzie can build the Raiders program like he did in Green Bay. We just want to win one for Al in the future! Just Win Baby!

A costly error by Daric Barton led to the Twins beating Oakland in extra innings. The following day, Tyson Ross exits the game after only 7 pitches. The A’s lose 11-1 to the Twins, completing the 2 game sweep. Only 2 games, but losing it like this to the worst team in baseball, unacceptable. It later came to the surface where Tyson Ross and Brandon McCarthy would be going on the 15 day DL with minor injuries.

Coming into the series with the defending World Champs, weird to say this I know, the A’s were reeling. 3 starting pitchers on the DL, a shaky bullpen of late, and the worst being the lack of offensive production. The struggles weren’t going to get any easier with Oakland facing the likes of Vogelsong, Lincecum, and Sanchez respectively.

Friday night, after giving up a run in the first Trevor Cahill dominated the Giants. He only allowed one hit and one run through 6 innings, yet was lifted for a pinch hitter when Oakland had a run in scoring position with 2 outs in the 7th and the score tied 1-1. Now on this front, I more blame Bob Geren for poor managing rather than the A’s lack of offense. Cahill had been dominating the Giants, only allowing one hit and seemed to be getting stronger and stronger as the game went on. I understand that you it’s more important to get that run home, but the team’s strength is preventing runs more than scoring. Yes, Freddy Sanchez made an incrdedible play to save the run, but in that sequence, the A’s lost Hideki Matsui, Cahill and Conor Jackson in that sequence. Chalk that up to a fail on Bob Geren’s part, especially when he saw Jeremy Affeldt warming up in the bullpen. DOUBLE FAIL. The A’s ended up not scoring the rest of the game and Brian Fuentes ended up losing it in the 10th (surprise, surprise).

Saturday, Bob Geren put out a questionable lineup against one of the NL’s elite pitchers in Tim Lincecum. A lineup top to bottom with only 9 total homerun, yes 9. Most of those coming from Josh Willingham. So naturally when a team is struggling to score runs, and they are against one of the best in the game, its going to be tough to scratch out runs. The end result, Lincecum throws a shutout, making the A’s bats look silly in the process.

Sunday things seemed to be looking up. Going into the bottom of the 8th, Oakland led 4-2. But then more late game meltdowns by Oakland. First Nate Schierhotlz takes Grant Balfour out on a pop up that carried over the short right field porch at AT&T park, with a little help from the wind. Then, our “failure of the week,” Brian Fuentes goes 2 innings in the extra frames, only to give up the winning run to Darren Ford and the no-name Giants lineup.

Maybe I’m just a bitter A’s fan, but I think that the San Francisco Giants aren’t really that good of a team. Shown by this weekend, they seem to be a team who is average, with extraordinary pitching and just the right amount of luck in San Francisco. Shown by the A’s 9 straight losses in San Francisco. There is nothing to fear about this team but their talented rotation, which as far as I am concerned, the A’s have out-pitched this year so far.

Last night was rough, and by rough I mean season altering rough. The A’s managed only 1 run against the Angels, and managed to stay in the game until the bottom of the 8th. Why? Our pitching as always. The offense could not muster much, yet our pitching gave up 1 run. In that fateful 8th inning, Fuentes took the mound in the game again with the score tied late on the road. Once again, the same result would pan out, another loss for Fuentes, his 4th in the last week, dropping his record to 1-7 on the season. He has acounted for 24% of the Oakland losses this season. As an A’s fan this frustrates me, based on our pitching leads MLB in several categories or is at the top, yet we seem to lose games because of our pitching. Very confusing. Then Fuentes goes on to rip Bob Geren to the media. Really? Come on, just because your not doing your job means you need to put the blame on others. Yet I do feel for the guy, but before you air out your issues to the media, try and keep it in house. 6 losses in a row is tough, but when everyone in baseball knows the team is bickering, not a good look.

At some point something’s gotta give, whether its shaking up the roster with more offense through trades or through the farm system, we have to do something soon. Especially when this could be a year we could potentially make a run. We will see, this 6 game losing streak needs to end, and our team needs to unify. Maybe when the injuries stop, maybe we can get some momentum.

East Region:

2nd Round

#1 Ohio State over #16 UTSA

#2 North Carolina over #15 Long Island

#3 Syracuse over #14 Indiana St.

#4 Kentucky over #13 Princeton

#5 West Virginia over #12 Clemson

#6 Xavier over #11 Marquette

#7 Washington over #10 Georgia

#8 George Mason over #9 Villanova

3rd Round

#1 Ohio State over #8 George Mason

#2 North Carolina over #7 Washington

#3 Syracuse over #6 Xavier

#4 Kentucky over #5 West Virginia

Regional Semifinals – Sweet 16

#4 Kentucky over #1 Ohio State

#2 North Carolina over #3 Syracuse

Regional Finals – Elite 8

#4 Kentucky over #2 North Carolina

West Region:

2nd Round

#1 Duke over #16 Hampton

#2 San Diego St. over #15 Northern Colorado

#3 Connecticut over #14 Bucknell

#4 Texas over # 13 Oakland

#5 Arizona over # 12 Memphis

#6 Cincinnati over #11 Missouri

#7 Temple over #10 Penn St.

#8 Michigan over #9 Tennessee

3rd Round

#1 Duke over #8 Michigan

#2 San Diego St. over #7 Temple

#3 Connecticut over #6 Cincinnati

#5 Arizona over #4 Texas

Regional Semifinals – Sweet 16

#5 Arizona over #1 Duke

#3 Connecticut over #2 San Diego St.

Regional Finals – Elite 8

#5 Arizona over #3 Connecticut

Southwest Region:

2nd Round

#1 Kansas over #16 Boston University

#2 Notre Dame over #15 Akron

#3 Purdue over #14 Saint Peter’s

#4 Louisville over #13 Morehead St

#12 Richmond over #5 Vanderbilt

#6 Georgetown over #11 VCU

#10 Florida St over # 7 Texas A&M

#9 Illinois over #8 UNLV

3rd Round

#1 Kansas over #9 Illinois

#2 Notre Dame over #10 Florida St

#6 Georgetown over #3 Purdue

#4 Louisville over #12 Richmond

Regional Semifinals – Sweet 16

#1 Kansas over #4 Louisville

#2 Notre Dame over #6 Georgetown

Regional Finals – Elite 8

#1 Kansas over #2 Notre Dame

Southeast Region

2nd Round

#1 Pittsburgh over #16 UNC Ashville

#2 Florida over #15 UC Santa Barbara

#3 BYU over #14 Wofford

#13 Belmont over #4 Wisconsin

#5 Kansas St over #12 Utah St

#6 St. John’s over #11 Gonzaga

#10 Michigan St. over #7 UCLA

#8 Butler over #9 Old Dominion

3rd Round

#1 Pittsburgh over #8 Butler

#10 Michigan St. over #2 Florida

#3 BYU over #6 St. John’s

#5 Kansas St over #13 Belmont

Regional Semifinals – Sweet 16

#1 Pittsburgh over #5 Kansas St

#3 BYU over #10 Michigan St

Regional Finals – Elite 8

#1 Pittsburgh over #3 BYU

Final Four

Arizona over Kentucky

Kansas over Pittsburgh

National Championship

Arizona over Kansas

All I gotta say is Derrick Williams is a beast. The Wildcats are deep and poised to make a run, and with the benefit of a few upsets, they can make a run to the title.

While the Lakers vs. Heat match-up was just another March regular season game to many, there were many underlying story lines. The Heat, on a 5 game winning streak and taking much criticism from the media, were in a must win situation. Win and get back the confidence they know they possess, or lose to the red-hot Lakers and risk becoming a pretender as opposed to a contender. The game went back and forth, never one team taking the stranglehold of the lead and dominating the game.  In the end, the Heat were finally able to close out a game and beat the defending champion Lakers, 94-88.  So what did we learn from this game, well the Heat are a good team. They will contend for the East crown and can close out games. I still don’t think they can beat the Bulls or the Celtics in the playoffs, but i know for sure they will make for a great second round match-up. 2 days later, the Lakers visited the Mavericks, not doing what they could to shake any South Beach hangover they might have had, the Lakers had a true statement win. Beating the Mavericks in their own house, to pull closer to that all important 2 seed in the NBA playoffs.

In what was probably the biggest sports story of last weekend, the Big East Tournament. Not just the best conference in the country, but the most exciting stretch of days in recent memory. 2 years ago we were treated to a 6OT thriller in the QUARTERFINALS with Syracuse and Uconn squaring off. That year the Big East got 9 teams into the NCAA tourney, a record. This year the Big East is projected 11 teams. Coming into the tournament Notre Dame and Pitt both had double-byes and were favorites to win the tournament in order to secure top seeds in the NCAA Tournament. But nobody outside of Hartford, Ct saw what was coming. Kemba Walker would put on one of the most impressive runs in conference tournament history, setting a Big East tourney record scoring 130 points, knocking off DePaul, Georgetown, Pitt, Syracuse, and finally Louisville to capture the Big East Tournament title. In the aftermath, Connecticut, which had been ranked #19 in the previous polls, was able to steal a #3 ranking in the West region.  Kemba Walker, who was on the roster in 2009 during the 6OT loss to Syracuse, was determined to lead his team to the title and opened many peoples eyes. Walker is no stranger to the limelight, he hit many go ahead shots during the season and continued to come up in the clutch, beating Texas on the road, knocking off Villanova at home, and then in his best Jordan impression, shook off a defender and hit the game winning shot in front of a raucus crowd as MSG. How far will Uconn go in the tournament? As far as Kemba Walker and the supporting cast take them. They played exceptional in the Big East tournament, so the only question is, can they make another 5 game run to get to the national championship game, because if they do, Kemba Walker is the guy you want on your team if you need one win, because as we saw in the Big East tourney, he can get it done.

In Case you missed it:

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Next, was the University of Tennessee and their Men’s Basketball team. Bruce Pearl was suspended for the first 8 games of this year’s SEC season for what is being called, “a violation of NCAA rules and misleading investigators.”  Unlike with USC, Pearl’s infractions were only specific to the SEC therefore making his penalty specific to the conference.  Initially they had considered suspending Bruce Pearl for the whole season, but his admission of misleading the investigators gave him a lighter sentence. So he admits to lying to investigators, and only gets 8 games. Seems a little too light for the punishment, considering Tennessee played non-conference games during this time and Pearl was able to coach every single one of them.

Then there was the case with Jim Calhoun and the University of Connecticut. Calhoun was suspended for 3 FUTURE Big East games in what is being called, “failure to create an atmosphere of compliance within the program.”  These will be the first 3 conference games of the 2011-2012 season. UConn was also hit with scholarship reductions for three academic years, recruiting restrictions, and dissociation of a booster and three years probation. Now why is Calhoun being suspended next season, because the investigation is still underway?

Recently, the University of Oregon  football program popped up in the news again, this time not for the right reasons. The NCAA announced that they would be investigating the program based on payments made to recruiting services which helped steer top recruits such as LaMichael James and one of this year’s top running backs in Lache Seastrunk. While this may be legal on paper what happened, the NCAA is conducting an investigation looking for any sort of indiscretions about this which to me is the smartest idea. USC in the wake of a dominating stretch in the Pac-10 conference in football was penalized, since the penalties, Oregon has flat-out dominated the conference and doesn’t look to have many contenders next year, with USC still bowl ineligiservices ble. But there is something sketchy going on with this service Oregon claims to have. They plaid $25,000 for someones to recruit the top running back who happens to be from Texas. How many top recruits from Texas leave the state, to the Pac-10 nonetheless or even to play in the Pac-10. Something isn’t right about this. Not because I am a USC fan, but I just don’t see this situation panning out as some over-hyped action by Oregon and the NCAA.

Ohio State, which before the Sugar Bowl this year had suspended 5 players for issues with selling memorabilia for tattoos, today announced Jim Tressel was recieving a 2 game ban and would be fined $250,000. Just 2 games? Apparently Tressel knew about these incidents in April of last year, and still did nothing! In most cases this is a fireable offense. He chose to take a blind eye to what was going on in front of him, so he decided to let it go. Then when the NCAA found out, he makes the players involved take a vow that they would return for next season in order to play in the bowl game.  Tressel also had been informed that two of his players had been caught up in a federal drug trafficking case. Now the biggest issue is should Tressel be fired for what he did not tell NCAA? There is information out that he received an email in April about the issue and he said he would get right on it, yet still those 5 players were able to play every game this season and will not sit out until next year. The games which they are suspended for are against the likes of Akron, Toledo, Miami (FL), Colorado and Michigan State. The only game out of these which should give them trouble is Michigan State. So for these players not to suffer a serious penalty, really bothers me. This is something they did themselves, meaning it should affect them during their season. In the case with USC and their players, none of them committed the offense. Also, why is the NCAA allowing these players and coaches choose when they serve their suspensions. Something is not right, and the NCAA needs to fix this soon or else there will be a bigger issue in the future.

Miami, on the heels of a 3 game losing streak found itself Sunday morning in a must win situation at home against Chicago. Coming into today, Miami had just been blown out by San Antonio by 30 points on the road. It was the Heat’s 4th loss in 5 games and their 3rd in a row. The game with Chicago wasn’t any easier. After being up early and most of the second half, the Miami Heat once again failed to close out their opponent and faltered on the last possession with Lebron James once again unable to put the ball in the basket on the last possession. Dwayne Wade had the last shot after a loose ball went his way. The final score, 87-76 and another close loss for the Heat. Their 4th in a row and cause for concern. The Heat once again failed to close the game out in the end and put their opponents away and now there is cause for concern. With less than 20 to play, the Heat find them in their worst stretch of basketball of the season, and as Wade stated after the game, “The world is a better place, now that the Heat are losing.” It seems as if the Heat are defeated, their coach said to the media after the game, “There are guys crying in the locker room.” Wait, crying in the locker room after a REGULAR SEASON game? No doubt tough losses this week should have them a little disappointed and mad, but not to the point of crying. Especially when your still in the regular season. Seems like this team is lacking a little bit of mental toughness. They have a tough week ahead, they host Portland on Tuesday before the Los Angeles Lakers come to town. 2 losses here would seriously put the Heat in a tough place.

Those Los Angeles Lakers, who had won 6 straight coming into Sundays match-up, went on the road to face the NBA’s best team (record wise at 51-11). While many consider the Spurs the best team in the NBA, the Lakers were out to prove they still hold the crown after 3 straight years as the representative of the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. Well the Lakers looked every bit like that team, jumping out to an early lead and playing like they have since the break. They led 34-13 at the end of the first quarter and led 65-37 at the half en route to a 99-83 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Texas. Though the final score wasn’t really indicative of how the game went, the Lakers at points were up by 30 points at times, with the lead reaching 34 in the 3rd quarter. This win was classic on how the Lakers have managed to win games since the break, with defense, holding yet another opponent under 90 points, their 4th straight and 6th team since the break they have kept under 100 points. After stumbling into the break, the Lakers have played like the 2-Time Defending NBA Champions and have “gelled” at the right time as the stretch run is upon us. As for the Spurs, the lost snapped their 22 game home winning streak and also showed the league how many teams need to defend them. Defend the 3-ball and force them to go inside the key.

Another big week is upon us, the Heat try to snap their 4 game losing streak before they host the Lakers, along with NCAA Championship week getting underway. Should be a lot of good basketball.

2011 NCAA Tournament from Houston, Texas

What a final saturday it was in college basketball! Going into Championship week, the real contenders and pretenders are starting to show themselves. This is the first year they have expanded the field to 68 teams this year, so 3 of those teams who normally would be on the outside looking in are going to get that shot to wear the glass slipper and be this years cinderella team.

On what was the last weekend of the season, we witnessed many teams wrap up their conference championships. By virtue of Iowa upsetting #6 Purdue, #1 Ohio State clinched the Big Ten title, and the top seed in next week’s conference tournament. In a matchup of the top 2 teams in the SEC, the #14 Florida Gators went into Nashville, Tennessee and beat the #20 Vanderbilt Commodores.

Ealier this afternoon, in what is considered the toughest conference in the nation, the Big East put on a show. Despite a late charge by the #16 UConn Huskies and their star Ben Hansborough fouling out early in the second half, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish won in Storrs, Connecticut, clinching a double bye in the upcoming Big East tournament. The title of the Big East was won outright by the Pittsburgh Panthers, who also will have a double bye in next weeks Big East Tournament. The Big East tournament is looking to break it’s own record, and send 11 out of their 18 teams to the tournament. Some include Marquette, Cincinnati, Lousiville and West Virgnia. The latter two, engaged in a tough battle this morning with West Virgnia stealing a win away from Louisville who down the stretch, couldn’t seem to put away the Mountaineers. With teams of this caliber all converging on the Madison Square Garden next week, I’m sure we are in for what should be one of the best conference tournaments ever.

As far as the either power conferences, Kansas squeaked out a win over Missouri to clinch the Big 12, and spoil a perfect home record for the Tigers. The Arizona Wildcats were able to close out a perfect home record, en route to clinching their first pac-10 title in 6 years under 2nd year coach Sean Miller. Arizona is a team who missed the NCAA tournament last year along with another major school we are used to seeing in the limelight in the UNC Tar Heels, who today beat their arch-rival Duke Blue Devils to clinch the ACC Regular Season title. It’s great for college basketball that teams such as UNC, Arizona, St. John’s and UCLA are all making their return to NCAA tournament this year. Only the future holds where these teams will finish at the end of the season, but expect an exciting finish to the season!

What a game last night! The Orlando Magic went into American Airlines to face the Miami Heat and stole a win last night. Down 24 points in the 3rd Quarter on the road, the Magic went on a late 40-9 run over the span of 15 minutes and the aftermath was the 2nd largest comeback in franchise history and the 2nd time this season the Heat have failed to close out a game with a 20+ point lead. During this run, many of the Heat’s stars went into witness protection, Lebron James and Dwayne Wade being the main culprits. After scoring 47 points in the first half, 2 more than the Orland Magic as a team, Wade and James went 3 for 13 from the field in the second half including 0 for 4 and 0 for 2 by Wade and James respectively in the second half. Lebron James, who is soon to lose his moniker of King James if he doesn’t step it up son, failed to score a point, record an assist, or even grab a rebound in the 4th quarter. Dwight Howard, who finished with 14 points and 18 rebound, out rebounded the Heat himself in the fourth quarter 10-9.

What’s more interesting about this game is that Lebron James this week, sent out a tweet saying he was re-focused and was taking no prisoners and that he has no friends in war but his soldiers. Now I know Lebron wants to be the so-called villain these days, but using twitter to hype up the media about how he is ready for the second half is baloney. On top of that, the Heat’s performance in the second half makes me along with many other sports fans and realize that he can’t be the villain. Michael Jordan was a villain, he would go into Madison Square Garden to prove a point and would do everything in his power to make sure the Bulls came out with a victory. Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce are guys who are the same way, ice water running through their veins and that killer instinct. In his 7 plus years in the NBA, I can only find once instance where Lebron had that killer instinct and that was in the playoffs against the Pistons. If Lebron wants to be a true villain, he needs to quit messing around and make a statement on the court, not trough the media or any other outlet, but on the court, whether in the Regular Season or the Playoffs. If not soon, he is just going to be another one of those overrated, overhyped superstars who couldn’t get it done.