Note: Originally posted June 2nd, 2006.
A 13 year old girl from New Jersey has won the Scripps Spelling Bee. Katharine Close spelled some word which she will probably never again use in her life but hey it was good for the gold last night. Close beat out Finola Mei Hwa Hackett of Canada and Saryn Hooks of Taylorsville, NC who got royally screwed by the judges for saying she missed a word she actually spelled right. Now how does that happen? Don’t the judges have the word in front of them? I am unsure how she can spell the word correctly and the judges dismiss her when one would think they have the word written down in front of them? Also, I did not know there was instant replay in the Scripps Spelling Bee. Apparently it is more like the college football system where the officials make the call. Can you imagine the excitement if the parents could challenge like NFL coaches do?
Because it is a competition ESPN usually covers the Bee and for the first time ABC showed it in prime time. I actually could do with even more sports related references during the Bee which would undoubtedly make it more entertaining:
Continue reading ‘Retro THF: The Spelling Bee’
The NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket is out and UNC begins the road back to Omaha as the #3 overall seed. Vanderbilt is #1 and Rice #2 ahead of UNC who is followed by Texas, Arizona State, Florida, Arkansas, and San Diego. This basically means UNC can stay in Chapel Hill all the way through to the College World Series since they are hosting the regional and if they win they would host the best of three Super Regional. According to the bracket should UNC survive the regional they would host the winner from the Columbia regional which includes South Carolina, NC State, Charlotte, and Wofford.
Yeah, there is nothing I can think of that would be better than NC State at UNC in a best of three series to determine who goes to the College World Series.
The Tar Heel baseball team, who came very close to winning it all last season, picked up some hardware in Jacksonville today winning the ACC Championship knocking off Wake Forest 3-2. The Heels also received word that they would be one of the NCAA Tournament regional sites for the first round of games beginning on June 1st. The Super Regionals would follow on June 8-11 should the Heels advance.
At least I can imagine that is the general feel for Yellow Jacket Nation as Javaris Critteton makes the monumental mistake of leaving his name in the NBA Draft. Looking at some of the mock drafts out there no one has him in the lottery and at least two have in at 22nd. NBADraft.net had him at 15th but it is clear as a bell to me that Critteton is going to miss out on a better pay day next year despite the fact that draft will be rich with point guards.
As for the ACC this defection hurts GT in a lot of ways because the difference between the top and bottom tiers of the ACC is usually found at the PG slot. Looking at last season you had UNC, UVa, VT, BC, Maryland, and GT finish in the top six. All of those teams had great play at the point. NC State, based on their play with a healthy Engin Atsur, showed they could have been upper tier. Duke, Clemson, Florida State, Wake Forest, and Miami all had suspect play at the one spot and they struggled mightily in conference play.
Winning the Turnover Battle(hat tip Deadspin) delved into the Google Patent Search and found some fabulous sports inventions which will never see the light of day including a “no hang basketball net” which apparently will prevent thousands of playground basketball hoops from having their nets ripped down my wayward youth. Obviously the lack of nets on basketball hoops around the country is so daunting we needed to invent a net which does not hang down despite the fact that (1) The goal will continue to look naked since the net will not be hanging down and (2) Having played basketball enough I can safely say that not having a net hanging down really hinders your perception of the goal itself from certain angles.
And I would also point out that most playground lack nets because the weather dry rots the twine and they get ripped off from shear wear, not because people pull on them.
UNC got it’s first class of 2008 commitment with PG Larry Drew opting to dawn the Tar Heel blue. This is a good catch during a recruiting period which had seen Delvon Roe change his commitment at the last minute. Drew’s father is an assistant coach which the Atlanta Hawks and based on what I have read he is a smart and hard working player. I think we can safely assume Ty Lawson will go pro after the 07-08 season which will put the PG responsibilities on Bobby Frasor and Drew.
According to Scout.com UNC is in the hunt for several top recruits and hopefully will land at least two more big names for this class.
David Glenn sums up the commitment on his blog…sounds like a perfect PG for Roy’s system.
The NBA had their fabulous dog and pony show otherwise know as the Draft Lottery. When it all shook out Portland ended up at #1 followed by Seattle, Atlanta, Memphis, Boston(sorry Bill Simmons) and Milwaukee at #6.
- Looks like Greg Oden is heading to Portland. This is really a no brainer since they are filled out on any position Kevin Durant might played. Of course this did not stop Jon Barry from suggesting during the Spurs-Jazz pre-game that Portland should trade their pick for veteran players. Mike Wilbon basically told Barry he was a blinking moron for suggesting that. I would agree.
- If Oden goes to Portland then Seattle should take Durant which means the two Pacific northwest teams would get the two certifiable stars from this draft. Not to exude any East Coast bias but I would think the NBA cannot be overly happy with that arrangement…not that they could do anything about it but having these two play half the season in the Pacific time zone plus all of the West coast games they would have to play by being out there means they will have less exposure than they would in the East or Central.
- I am imagining that Boston Celtics fans are feeling pretty low right now.
- One question I have is what this does to Brandan Wright’s draft status. I have seen Wright tied to Milwaukee in previous mock drafts at as high as third. The Bucks ended up sixth in the lottery which is a little lower than most experts thought. Looking at the order, obviously the first two picks are out and I would think given that Atlanta has Marvin Williams and Shelden Williams that would eliminate them from taking Wright. So it comes down to whether Memphis or Boston are interested in Wright and based on a quick scan of their roster they could have room for him. If they wave off he could fall down to sixth where Milwaukee is sitting. At any rate I think there is a real chance Wright could end up out of the top five.
- I also think it is interesting to note that there are many players who declare early and hire an agent before the lottery when I think the smart move is to wait until at least after the draft order is determined before making their entry a final deal. In Wright’s case it probably still does not matter though if he received indications that he would end up sixth or seventh earlier in the process I would think it could have impact on the ultimate decision.
Maybe I should just declare this “Caulton Tudor Week” on the blog.
Tudor discusses how Roy was once a virtual unknown toiling at the very bottom of the totem poll in the UNC basketball world before working his way up to where he is now, Hall of Fame coach who just had his contract extended until 2015 at the same school he graduated from and received his first college coaching job.
Continue reading ‘Tudor: Looking for the Next Great Coach’
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