If a kid in the 3rd grade wins his class’s spelling bee contest, should he be called the spelling bee champion of the whole school? That’s an obvious answer, right?

So then how is it that the winner of Major League Baseball’s championship series, The World Series, is crowned World Champs — even though Team USA (fielding what was arguably an MLB all-star caliber team) only got as far as the semifinals in the World Baseball Classic?

How about you just call it “MLB Champions” until you’re arguably the best country in the world at the sport? The same goes for all other American sport that refers to their own champions the same way.

john calipari is our new coach and I couldn’t be more excited.

I guess you had to be there the last 2 years when billy gillispie was pig-headedly, unapologetically running our program further into the ground.

you’ve probably seen this already but I figured I’d repost on here.

unless you’ve been living under a rock, or simply do not care about professional basketball, you are aware that the Seattle Supersonics‘ new owner upped and moved the team to oklahoma city.

you know, this sort of stuff happens now and then. as you can imagine it really sucks if you’re a local fan of the team.

me? I’m not affected by it, really. but what offends my sensibitilies is the new nickname and the team colors.

to me the logo looks and the name sounds like a team from the nbdl (the nba’s minor league). examples include the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Reno Bighorns, and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. not to mention the Albuquerque Thunderbirds.

so not to be That Guy who just bitches about things in a blog and have nothing else to offer, here’s a list of my suggested teams names right off the cuff.

The Oklahoma City Obliterators
The Oklahoma City Oscilloscopes
The Oklahoma City Octopi

and my personal favorite:
The Oklahoma City Ombudsmen

there you go.

the media is going phelps-crazy, and hey I’m rooting for him just like everybody else, but let’s not forget america sends two swimmers for each event. that means for each event michael phelps swims in there’s another american gunning for the gold.

it bothered me when the nbc sideline/pooldeck reporter woman asked jason lezak (who swam the final leg of the unforgettable 4×100 freestyle relay) how he felt to be a part of olympic history by helping michael phelps go for mark spitz’s record.

you know what, lady? this guy spent his entire life to get where he is. he busted his ass for HIMSELF and HIS COUNTRY. you don’t think he would have swum just as fast had phelps not been in the running for the record?

and what IF an american competitor edges out phelps in a race? will he be congratulated as he should, or will he be seen as the guy who prevented phelps from acheiving the record?

phelps is visibly uncomfortable whenever he’s asked about his “quest” for the record. it’s obviously on the back of his mind but any sensible athlete would tell you they don’t like to look ahead and definitely not TALK about what’s ahead.

I know the media is just trying to sell more advertising, shoving phelps into the spotlight to feed the hype machine.

but let’s not forget there are other swimmers in beijing chasing their dreams.

…goes to my buddy ming.

“china beat tokyo in men’s volley ball”

managed to completely fumble the US national anthem during the swimming medal ceremony tonight. the anthem started somewhere in the middle of the first verse, then seamlessly skipped back to the beginning, and then ended before the big crescendo at the end.

bravo.

exactly what the title says. very much worth checking out.

…kansas really handed it to memphis. even when they were down they pretty much had control of the game

this is what happens when:

- I go out on a limb and pick my hated teams to do well (duke, I’m looking at you)
- this year being an exceptionally weak year for kentucky, my interest in the tournament was equally as weak
- my brackets got shot all to hell by the time the sweet sixteen rolled around

so tonight is the championship game between kansas and memphis. the only thing I’m looking forward to is the two boots pizza we’re ordering.

holler.