UConn Lady Huskies: A real streak comes to an end at 90.

Mark it on your calendars, folks.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Stanford beats UConn, 71-59, thus ending their streak at 90.

For those who care at all about women's NCAA basketball, about streaks, about sport's history or about seeing the bully get beat, then this game was for you. It was for me indeed and I am so glad I was watching it take place on the tele.
With so many college bowls taking place, I opted to follow this game tonight as the Stanford Cardinal welcomed the UConn Lady Huskies into their venue. Perhaps with a little taste of putrid second place still in their mouths as they lost last year's Women's NCAA National Basketball Championship to the Lady Huskies of UConn. For sure vengeance on their minds to beat the Huskies on this night and a vow silently taken or perhaps just shared between themselves to end the famous UConn streak on this night. I loved this game for what it was, historical and maybe even because it brought Auriemma down a notch. I have stated that though I truly like the UConn women's b-ball program, I have never been a fan of Geno; as far as coaches goes, I the one and only Pat Summitt (Lady Vols).
Anyhouwww...he (Geno) was truly shaken up, pissed-off and antsy during the post-game interview. Maybe I should go as far as to say he appeared mad as hell even though he won't admit it in public. I felt badly for Maya Moore, though, as she tried to carry the team, per se, one too many times on her shoulder by herself. It has paid off in the past, but not this time, not on this night. Her lone, heroine-like antics were not enough tonight and she was unmasked...she is indeed human like the rest of us.
I predicted that Stanford might be one of three teams this year to end the UConn streak. The other two teams I mentioned were the Lady Bears of Baylor or the Lady Vols of Tennessee. All good things must come to an end, though, and this proved to be so on this eve as the Stanford Cardinal beat the UConn Lady Huskies by a score of 71 - 59.

BTW, I got a kick out of Condi Rice as she sat in the audience and cheered on for Stanford, the University where she is employed once again as a Political Science Professor.

Ohio State: The promise / The Lie!

2011 NCAA Bowl Games: And the Longhorns go to the _____ bowl!!!

...the bowl earned by collegiate football programs
that never learned humility -
or how to share...

Laughable comments by Tommy Tuberville: Another gaffe by the wanna-be Texas Tech coach in-training!

As i sat and watched one of the first of many boring, insignificant and mind-bumbling college bowls a few nights ago, a not quite "breaking news" announcement was made by ESPiN...Coach Tubs may play both Potts and Sheffield during our (Texas Tech Red Raiders) Saturday TicketCity bowl vs the Northwestern Wildcats.

"WOW...really, Tommy?"

Not knocking down your decision, Tele-Tubs, just your sense of timing. That you decide this now when Tech fans/alumni kindly began suggesting as such since the season began.

Let's give Tubs the genius award.

Note to Tele-Tubs: you better not let our Red Raiders lose this bowl game. Be "captain"-like and just run our "Air-Raid" and the spread offense which Tech is known for so we have a shot at winning this bowl.
Our Red Raiders are heavy 9.5-betting favorites with a total of 60.5 over Northwestern. The Cats haven't won a bowl since 1949. They are having to play their frosh QB, and are having to make due without 3 of their leading rushers. They were blown out in their last two games giving up a combined 118 points and 848 rushing yards. And for pete's sake - do NOT allow the absence of (former Tech defensive coordinator) coach Willis to detract from the defense rising up to the occasion either. Our d-team need not pick this game to let the Cats scratch their way to a victory.

Wreck 'em, Tech
Let's place a check markunder the "w" column!

Womens NCAA basketball history: UConn women get 89th straight win.

Let's not be nonchalant or apathetic about this streak, folks, it is what it is and it is awesome. Coach Auriemma and his UConn Lady Huskers are not claiming to be UCLA or Coach Wooden, but people like me are saying it. Perhaps they are even better. UCLA did play the caliber teams back in their day that UConn faces these days within its own conference or even during non-conference games and tourneys. The Lady Huskies have gone everywhere (not just regionally) and made it quite difficult for the most part for other women's NCAA basketball teams to compete against them. Usually playing blow-out games versus their opponents with the exception of maybe the Lady Bears of Baylor, the Stanford women or the Lady Vols of Tennessee.
Hey, I am no Auriemma fan; this gal is a die-hard Pat Summitt fanatic. In fact Geno (born Luigi Auriemma, March 23, 1954 in Montella, Italy) quite repulses me at times with his brazen attitude and cockiness. But I guess that, too, is what it is. But at the end of the day, by the time he and his Lady huskies reached this impressive 89th victory, we cannot deny that the man is a great coach, perhaps even going as far as to say that he is a genius of his craft. According to the former and oh-so-great, Lady Husky herself, Rebecca Lobo, Geno is actually a very sensitive guy who cares a lot about his team (players - present and past); he is very likable and cares about all people and will often come to the aid of anyone whom needs assistance.
Again I stress that Geno does not compare himself to coach Wooden. Instead he separates himself from the great coach of UCLA fame. He does not want comparisons or verbal accolades that will attach his current accomplishment to that of the Bruins team ('71-'74). He is ecstatic that his Lady Huskies reached the 89 win mark - and more than likely will add even more victories to the streak and maybe even get more national championships than his current 7. He merely wants his Lady Huskies recognized for what they have attained with win #89. right here, right now! The lady Huskies are also not trying to compare themselves to the UCLA Bruins team that first reached the 89 win mark. They also want their own separate recognition. No demands for it, but would like the respect (maybe even lauds - quiet or loud) that the streak and the team clearly deserves. They are not asking for much - just merely what they earned...trying for the streak or not, they attained it and it was great - is great!
Coach Auriemma may not be coach Wooden, but Wooden was not even Wooden back in the day when his team first reached the 89 win streak. The UCLA Bruins were not the great team of the 70s when they reached the streak. It is our apathy I believe which keeps us all from being able to recognize greatness in present-day life instead allowing history and persons down the road, per se, to decide such things. Maybe the apathy is actually cowardice on our behalf in not wanting to acknowledge such greatness and such feats because we may find ourselves on the wrong side of the majority for now. Instead leaving such praise for others in the future who have had the benefit of time allowed to pass to be able to cite such greatness.
But why does greatness for the most part have to take so long to be recognized. Why can't we just admit to those things as they occur, in their present day history. Why are we so unwilling to take the bull by the horn and deem something so special, awesome and rare as it occurs. Why can't we define our own greatness today as it happens instead of leaving it to persons in the future to deem it as such. Persons who may not have even been born when greatness was happening or much too young to remember; they merely deem such things because it was written in the history books.
I say 'way the hell to go!' to coach Geno and his Lady Huskies for what they did on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010. I was here. I saw it on the tele. I am old enough to remember it. It truly was no small feat. It was fantastic! It was wonderful! It was just freaking awesome!
As I close I want to add that there should be less and less teams out there vying against UConn that end up losing by such huge, ridiculous points or end up losing to UConn at all. The time to kick up the notch and set the bar higher in women's NCAA basketball is upon us and it is in large due to the greatness that currently is Geno Auriemma and his Lady Huskies.

I'm just sayin...
Upset alert for UConn:
either Baylor, Stanford or maybe even Tennessee
will hand them their first upset since their streak!!!

Chaos at Texas U.: Will jumps to Florida. No love lost!

Go, Tubs, Go: Tuberville approached by the "U"!

I SAY..."GO, TOMMY, GO!"...
GO TO MIAMI, THAT IS!
LET'S BRING BACK "OUR CAPTAIN"
TO TEXAS TECH!!!

Smack Apparel (Booty shirt above) available at SportingPress.com

Poor 'Horns: They're still set on going "bowling"...

JERRY'S WORLD: NEW DALLAS COWBOY PLAYER!

All Things Texas Tech: Grading ole Tommy's Texas Tech Inaugural-Coaching Season!

Lets' begin by just looking at the picture below, it says a lot about Tommy's last season with Auburn U in 1998. The Tigers record was an awful 5-7.

It's funny, maybe too uncanny, but for sure hurtful in a way to Red Raider devotees everywhere that this season Auburn, just two years of ridding itself of Tommy (he resigned is how the story goes), it is set to play in the BCS National Championship game. For certain they have earned the right to play in a BCS game. Even a song was made to denote Tub's lousy coaching titled "Wasting Away in Tommy Tuberville" by the Lexington Brothers.
I stated the above as this should have been Tech's year to go to a BCS bowl. It's hurtful to Red Raider Nation because we see Auburn's success after Tuberville left and Tech's less than average season as Tuberville landed on our campus and took over as head football coach. Tech should have instead been grand, lone, overall champions of the Big XII - finally, a title which has eluded Tech since the inception of the conference. Contenders perhaps of a national championship if but for one reason...the Tech administration went all "gangsta" on us and fired Coach Leach. They took "our Captain" and instead gave us a person who would prefer to look his best in the way he dresses versus how his team plays on the field.
Instead of earning a BCS bowl this season, Tech maybe earns a bid to play in the "Ticket City Bowl". A bowl in Dallas at the old venue which once belonged to the Cotton Bowl (the CB was moved to Cowboys Stadium). This bowl barely pays out 1 million dollars and is the first bowl to kick-off New Years Day 2011. Not the best bowl that Tech has partaken in these past few years (under Coach Leach).
The Tech admin is delusional in thinking that Tech fans/alumni should be somehow grateful that the team reached the needed 6-game winning season to be bowl eligible. That somehow Tech fans should be pleased that we are going bowling at all. That is just crazy. Like I stated in another post, going to a bowl for Texas Tech should now be the rule not the exception. Tech has been bowl eligible as most know for the past 18 seasons. Since the Big XII began, Tech is the only team to go to a bowl in consecutive years. The only Big XII team (under Coach Leach) to have players with the best grades among the country's top universities; the best graduation rates as well.
Under Tommy, Tech has already regressed as far as a bowl bid goes. If Tech even is invited to the Ticket City Bowl. Tech has already lost millions in revenue by going to a lesser bowl (one that does not pay as much as previous bowls Tech played in). I still fail to see how Tommy was supposedly behind the best-selling ticket season. Each time I saw a game (which were not many this year - which also cost Tech money) on t.v. or pictures of games at "the Jones", there were many empty seats. I heard rumors that corporations were offered good deals to buy tix in bulk to guarantee high tickets sales, but when game-time arrived, not many tix were handed out or people opted out of attending the boring often losing games. Maybe this season's games were sell-outs on paper, but not in person. People who bought tix sold in groups (e.g. UT/Weber St), attended the better-known rivalry game because of the rivalry itself, not because Tech was playing so great. That is sad! UT ticket holders were giving away the Weber St tix, but apparently there were little takers. Again - sad! All of these things combined makes me unable to see how Tech made all that money that the admin says they did. Better than under Coach Leach? Doubtful. I say Tech not only lost money in low ticket revenue sales, lost t.v. appearances, a lesser bowl bid, but in what they will eventually have to hand over to Coach Leach. The Tech admin should have just sided with Coach Leach and had his back instead of playing "judas" in how they fired him.
Now do not get me wrong, I love my Red Raiders, all things Texas Tech, but the bad taste that was left in our mouths by the administration's shady and negative actions last year is something I am NOT willing to remain "mum" about - I will continue to bitch and complain when things go awry for our football program under the Tuberville reign. After all, Tommy did not inherit a bad team. There is absolutely no excuse for Tech having had the mediocre record it had this season. Tommy had caliber players return this season and an excellent system to draw from since the days of "our Captain"; the days of "Air Raid", the awesome spread-throw offensive days. Tommy just refused to continue the traditions to make his own. Never mind he took players who were brought to the Tech program to play a certain type of system and tried to turn them into something else. Tommy should have waited to make such radical changes for a year at the very least. He should have allowed the players to play the system they knew, the system that the players received their scholarships (or walk-on privileges) to play through this season then Tubs could have waited to draft his kind of players. Tommy waited so late to give in to the pleas of many fans/alumni to finally allow his players to run the "Air Raid" show. A move which is what helped win more games in the end when the win column needed it. Perhaps if Tubs had begun the season allowing "Air Raid" and such to continue, Tech would have won the games it lost. There was no Big XII team on Tech's schedule this season that Tech should not have been able to beat...e.g. Iowa St, UT, A&M, even OU! Coach Leach started and left behind a strong football dynasty. Tommy has no excuse for letting Tech's season end the way he did. But then we must remember and take into account how he let his Tigers "burn" in the end - only here at Tech a year and already Tubs has allowed our beloved team to begin to spiral downwards.
The man is stubborn. From the get-go at Tech, his ego must have seen a Lucifer-like caricature on his shoulder that told him not to listen to Tech fans/alumni to not run the spread or "Air Raid". However, closer to the end of the season, it seems that a more angelic-like creature knocked the other demonic-like one off his shoulder and started advising Tubs to cooperate. For Tech seriously needed him to hand them over another winning season - fans/alumni were not kidding around and were mad as hell. It would not be the best season since the days of "the Captain" but maybe it would be good enough to fool the fans/alumni (NOT) and for sure good enough to merely appease the Tech administration (they would beat grateful for anything these days, for sure they would eat their mothers if needed).
For all those negative, stupid things that the Tech administration did to push our football program down several notches, and for making sure our pride was once again stomped on like the old SWC days. For their (admin) dishonesty and lack in accountability and integrity, for ridding itself unfairly and unjustly of Tech's all-time successful coach and bringing in the likes of Tubs (who is persona non grata at Auburn), I grade the admin an "F".
As for Tubs and company, just because you (coaching staff) may be new to Tech, NONE of you are new to coaching on the collegiate level and once again, you did NOT inherit a bad team. Your have NO EXCUSE for your lousy coaching. You did not take over a sloppy football program loaded with of a bunch of newbies. Most of our players were experienced, veteran (sophomores, juniors, seniors) players. Many were of high caliber, and clutch players. They were well-coached in previous years. Seasoned and ready to begin another successful year. Instead Tommy began this season by firing and replacing our previous coaching staff and kept not a one. His right to do so, but at least keep a coach or two to help with the transition. Tubs brought on a staff accustomed to a different coaching system more popular in another conference. Tubs did not just ignore Tech's previous system, but a system best known to the Big XII conference. Under Tubs, Tech was now playing a system so different but yet so a-typical and elementary that several Big XII teams knew exactly how to counter each and every play and our team suffered and was beaten time and time again. Mainly Tech took a beating because they were playing with confusion and no real direction. Too many games were lost that should have been sure wins. Tech was used to playing in a league that runs the spread and passes quite often versus the style that Tubs brought with him from the east which mainly runs and relies way too much on defense. This inaugural-coaching season under Tubs and his "tellies", Tech was succumbed to playing "pop Warner-like football". For all of that, Tommy, you also get an "F".
And don't you dare think that Tech fans/alumni are grateful that our beloved Red Raiders finally became bowl-eligible at the end of this season under your first reign over them. It was expected of them to reach such a feat; the team expected it of themselves as well. Our Red Raiders began this season ready for better than a 7-5 season. Ready for a better bowl bid than what we are in line to get to this year. You took an awesome team and made them mediocre at best and you continue to appear apathetic about the losses. Your less than successful bid at taking over where "our Captain" left off and your nonchalant attitude over it continues to sicken me, but I remain aware. I am watching you. Raider-Nation is watching you. Stop blaming others going forward because this upcoming season is on you and only you - beginning with post-season play and whatever (lesser and cheaper) bowl Tech plays in, it is all on you, sir!!! Our motto here at Texas Tech is: "From here it's possible"...learn it, live it and raise your grade or you won't last.