vatos deportes

Since 1980, when Bill Murray’s ‘Carl Spackler’ helped popularize the concept of the Cinderella sports story, the NCAA tournament has become the ideal stage for unheralded teams to shine. Three years after Caddyshack was released, the tourney featured its first Cinderella team of the ESPN-era, Jimmy V’s North Carolina State Wolfpack, who claimed the title as a sixth-seed. Since then, every analyst, couch expert and casual fan eagerly awaits Selection Sunday to study the field of teams, fill out their bracket and ultimately identify their prospective Cinderellas.

However, the story of Cinderella features a terrific range of colorful characters that are overlooked during the madness of every March. Once again we’ve dug deeper into both the fairy tale and the bracket to match the main players of the Cinderella story with teams for the 2013 tournament.

Cinderella played by the Valparasio Crusaders & Ole Miss Rebels (North Dakota State Jackrabbits and Wichita State Shockers as understudies). 

Butler (6th seed East) and VCU (5th seed South) are the sexy picks, but that’s because they’ve already been fawned over as recent Cinderellas at the Big Dance. They are more like established princesses now, not unexpected beauties in waiting.

Valparasio were once Cinderellas in their run to the Sweet Sixteen back in 1998, their best result at the tourney in school history. They now return to the dance for the first time since 2004 after claiming the Horizon League championship. Their coach Bryce Drew was the hero of the 1998 team after he sunk Ole Miss on a miracle buzzer-beating three in the opening round. This year as the 14th seed in the Midwest quarter Valpo drew 3rd seed Michigan State in their opener and would potentially face the Wicked Stepmother Duke in the Sweet Sixteen.

Ole Miss (12th seed West) may have already had their Cinderella moment during the SEC tournament when little used backup guard Derrick Millinghaus propelled the Rebels past Missouri in the quarterfinal. Ole Miss went on to claim the conference championship and punched their ticket to the dance as their fiery gunslinger Marshall Henderson mockingly ‘Gator Chomped’ at the Florida team along the way. It’s going to be difficult for Ole Miss to be wholeheartedly adopted by the fans as a Cinderella unless Henderson undergoes a serious makeover. He’s currently one of the most hated players in college basketball, a brash, outspoken, hot-head, who’s also one of the most dangerous scorers in the field. If they can escape their opening game against Wisconsin, their half of the West region is favorable with either one of the 13th seed play-ins (Boise State & La Salle) capable of toppling Kansas State, while either Ugly Stepsister Gonzaga or understudy Cinderella Wichita State could be awaiting them.

Prince Charming played by the Kansas Jayhawks (Georgetown Hoyas as understudy).

Last year’s runner up was never ranked number one during the regular-season merry-go-round of top ranked teams and punched their ticket by claiming the Big-12 championship over arch rivals Kansas State. Their coach Bill Self jokingly said his team ‘was the worst team that Kansas ever put on the floor, since Dr. Naismith was there’ after a disappointing road loss to Texas Christian. That loss was part of a three-game slide in early February, however they bounced back and won ten of their final 11 regular season games before sweeping through their conference tournament and earning the top seed in the South region.

The Jayhawks are led by a pair of well-rounded NBA-ready seniors in Jeff Withey and Travis Releford, while freshman sensation Ben Mclemore is a superstar in waiting. They’ll likely go up against established princess VCU or trendy Michigan (possible Pumpkin Carriage) in the Sweet Sixteen and would meet their understudy Georgetown led by Otto Porter in the Elite Eight if all goes to plan in the bottom half of the South region.

The Hoyas (2nd seed South) were also never ranked number one during the regular season and were nationally ranked fifth heading into the glamorous Big East Conference tournament. They were bounced by Syracuse in the semifinal, but still put together an impressive season without any seniors thanks to the do-it-all Porter, who was named the Big East Player of the Year.

Hobbling on one ankle against the Indiana Pacers on Friday, Kobe Bryant looked like a generic NBA player straight out of central casting.

And without Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers looked like the 2009 Orlando Magic.

Dwight Howard laid the foundation with 20 points, 12 boards and four blocks as the Lakers handled the Pacers 99-93 to improve to 35-32.

Howard’s line was just about on par with any given night for the Magic in 2009, while Bryant’s false start on his gimpy left ankle was more like a down night for the 2009 Keith Bogans.

The 2013 Lakers have had many different looks, but at no time have they resembled anything like their 2009 championship team or the formidable threat they posed on paper before the season started.

With just 15 games remaining in the regular season their highly-touted dream lineup has only shared the court 17 times resulting in a lacklustre 6-11 record.

.353 ball is more like the 2009 Golden State Warriors (29-53), a team headed by three of the loosest NBA cannons; Stephen Jackson, Jamal Crawford and Monta Ellis.

The Year of the Snake has been the most challenging NBA campaign of the self proclaimed ‘Black Mamba’, physically exerting himself to the point of immobility in an attempt to glue together the sum of the Lakers’ parts.

He’s the only Laker that’s played in all 67 games to date, desperately delving deep into his bag of tricks; dabbling as a point guard, summoning some of his most potent attacks and at times finding some of the old bounce from his legs.

However, time after time through Nash’s knee, Howard’s shoulder, Pau Gasol’s foot and now Bryant’s ankle, the fearsome beast that was to be the 2013 Lakers continues to fragment.

If the Lakers were a snake they would resemble Benjamin Franklin’s famous ‘Join, or Die’ cartoon rattlesnake from 1754.

Back in those days, the superstition was that a snake that had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the pieces were put back together before sunset.

In 2013 Mr. Kobe Bryant is in a hellish final pursuit, chasing history and racing against the clock to put together all the pieces before the sun sets.

So it turns out Joey Ratzinger lacked the moxy to hold down the top spot amongst the Cardinals organization.

The former Hitler Youth little leaguer recently became the first Cards skipper to resign in 598 years.

The unrivalled privilege and honor of becoming Pope is a life commitment, not something one simply turns their back on and walks away from when so much time, effort, lobbying and consideration goes into their appointment.

Ratzinger’s decision to call time and step out of the batters box permanently was the soft option, which now leaves the big seat in Vatican City vacant and in need of filling from a truly worthy Cardinal.

Had Ratzinger decided he no longer desired to be the Vicario de Jesús Cristo as early as last year, he could have made way for the greatest Cardinal of all-time (and devout Catholic of course), Stan ‘The Man’ Musial to hold his rightful position as Pontiff.

Unfortunately, Musial passed away earlier this year, but on the bright side; in death he is now eligible to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church as a first-ballot saint.

To call Musial ‘The Man’ is almost selling his superhuman feats short, as he continually performed miracles at the plate.

The Church asks for two documented and authenticated miracles from candidates in order to qualify as a saint, and we can easily put forth a pair of examples for consideration.

On July 25, 1949 he hit for the cycle against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

On May 2, 1954 against the New York Giants at Busch Stadium he became the first player in MLB history to belt five home runs in a double header, hitting two dingers off cagey knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm in the nightcap.

Musial also never struck out 50 times in a season, won seven batting titles, three MVPs and three World Series’, had exactly half of his career 3630 hits at home and half on the road, and also missed the entire 1945 season to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

We’d like to say he spent his Naval stint helping fight Nazis, but instead he was stationed in a ship repair unit in Pearl Harbour, where he was able to maintain his diamond skills by playing baseball in the afternoons.

Alberto Pujols could have been a papal candidate after his All-World career as a Cardinal, however like Ratzinger he turned his back on the organization and walked away in search of supposedly bigger and better opportunities as an Angel.

A player more worthy of consideration is Carlos Beltrán, who joined the Cardinals in 2012 to help fill the void left by Pujols.

Although Beltrán only has 151 appearances for the Cards, the switch-hitting slugger produced 32 home runs and 97 RBI to help them return to the playoffs.

In 2008, Beltrán appeared in a straight-to-DVD documentary Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition, which showcased several MLB player’s devotion to the Catholic faith.

Another Catholic player that appeared in that DVD was one-time Cardinal and hitting maestro Lance Berkman.

After some down years with the Astros and short unsuccessful stint with the Yankees, Berkman rediscovered his swing with the Cards in 2011.

The Big Puma bounced back to the tune of .301 with 31 home runs and 94 RBI, but it was in the postseason where he etched his name in the Cardinals’ scriptures.

In the epic Game 6 of the World Series, Berkman was the game-tying run on David Freese’s incredible 9th inning triple which forced extra innings.

Berkman then kept the Cardinals alive one out from elimination in the bottom of the 10th with a RBI single to once again help pave the way for Freese’s timeless heroics in the 11th and final inning.

He finished the Series 11-for-26 (.423) with five RBI and nine runs, to cap his first World Championship, his sixth season as an All-Star, while also collecting the National League Comeback Player of the Year award.

Besides Pujols, Berkman, Freese and Allen Craig, the anchor of the 2011 World Series Champion Cardinals was their faithful catcher Yadier Molina.

Yadi is a prime papal candidate, like Beltrán he hails from the Catholic-dominant Puerto Rico and the four-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glover and two-time World Champion has done it all in the Cardinals uniform for nine years now.

In 2012, he helped pick up the slack left by Pujols, achieving career highs in batting average (.315), RBI (76) and home runs (22).

Behind the plate he also recorded career highs in putouts, assists and double-plays.

The impressive caliber of these St. Louis Cardinals makes you wonder how Ratzinger ever ascended to the Palace of the Vatican, in 35 years as a Card how many home runs did he hit?

It was a seemingly insignificant inside fastball in spring training, it made a crack and the reverberation echoed loudly as an unintentional exclamation point for the revamped Toronto Blue Jays and the refreshed state of the grand old American League East.

The New York Yankees were already staring down the barrel of a long season even before Curtis Granderson had his forearm broken on that pitch by Toronto’s J.A. Happ.

For the first time in 20 years, not only is the AL East wide open for the taking, but the Yankees enter the season as just one of those regular well-rounded Major League Baseball teams.

The old saying of; ‘every team’s going to win 54 games, every team’s going to lose 54 games, it’s what you do with the other 54 games that counts’ certainly applies to the Yankees this year more than ever.

No longer are they the fearsome formidable franchise responsible for claiming 14 division titles from the last 19 seasons, and where the measure of success was once strictly based on winning the World Series, it now rests as it does for most teams to simply reach the postseason.

First and foremost the Bronx Bombers will lack their typical ability to bomb, Granderson was good for 43 long balls in 160 games last season to anchor their power department.

The once feared Alex Rodriguez has seen his reputation and intimidation in the batter’s box quickly dissolve since his swing and confidence disintegrated during last year’s playoffs.

The Yanks lost former All-Stars Russell Martin, Nick Swisher and Raúl Ibañez, who at 40 was the Yankees’ greatest threat at the plate as he blasted his way through a postseason for the ages last year.

In 2013, the pinstripes’ hopes are held together by ageing and fragile limbs; Derek Jeter’s ankle, Mariano Rivera’s knee and Ichiro’s slight frame.

For the first time in 20 years, the Blue Jays start the season as the team to beat in the AL East.

It’s been 20 years since Joe Carter finished rounding the bases at the then named SkyDome, a moment that still stands as the Jays’ most recent memory in the playoffs.

The emergence of Edwin Encarnación, the development of Brett Lawrie, the return of Jose Bautista, along with the arrival of José Reyes, Melky Cabrea and Emilio Bonifacio has the line-up stacked like it’s 1993.

The addition of R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle to the rotation is on par with the usual Yankee-Redsox roster loading of the past decade.

For once the Yankees made no blockbusting acquisitions, they’ll say they’re gearing up for the the upcoming off-season and a return to prominence in 2014.

As for the Red Sox, they’re still in direct competition with the Yankees, but now as a sensibly well-rounded baseball team, not a superpower.

They’re ready to rebound after they hit rock bottom last season with Bobby Valentine.

The young Baltimore Orioles were a surprise packet last year, they’re still hungry, fearless and mean business.

The Tampa Bay Rays may have lost a bat and an arm, but they still have their core and are the best managed team in baseball.

The richest division in baseball is set for an incredible ride; along the way the inside pitches will carry more venom, more bones will be broken and the strongest team to survive might even get a chance to dance with the Tigers, Angels, Dodgers, Nationals or Giants.

27 Febrero 2013

Brittney Griner is a woman.

She is a basketballer.

She is unparalleled, unrivalled and virtually unstoppable, all while turning a blind eye and deaf ear to endless ridicule about her femininity.

She leads the number one ranked and defending national champion Baylor Bears (25-1) in points, rebounds and blocks, and she’s also known to throw down the occasional in-game dunk!

It’s not her fault she walks and talks like an effeminate adolescent male, but rather it’s our fault for thinking that she does.

If there is a line between what being a women and being a man is exactly beyond genitalia, then the line is well and truly blurred these days.

On the court Griner is tall, long, strong, tough, physical, intelligent and sometimes tip-toes the line of playing dirty with pushes, shoves, take-downs and one-time even a punch.

That line in basketball is clearly governed by a set of rules and consequences for breaking them, unlike the imaginary line that defines gender-roles, there are no rules.

It’s not her fault that her game has some masculine characteristics, in women’s basketball the great players often possess similar skills to that of the opposite gender.

There’s plently of other women in college basketball that display a dude-like demeanor, and unlike Griner, it almost seems as though it’s their intention to swag like a man, be it by way of hooping, strutting, posturing, gesturing or being braggadocious.

For instance, Skylar Diggins is a petite, albeit feisty and supremely talented point guard, who fuels the number two ranked women’s program, Notre Dame.

She’s a media darling of women’s college hoops; charismatic and glamorous, but even she hoops and talks a little like a dude.

She’s easy on the eyes and despite her tendency to swag like a man, she has a hall-pass from the type of negativity that latches onto Griner, who seemingly can’t help projecting a similar persona.

What about Diggins’ fellow Notre Dame alum and star defensive captain of the football team, Manti Te’o, who was duped in a tumultuous relationship hoax late last year.

In the wake of his emotional personal and public relations disaster, Te’o was left looking more like a vulnerable high school girl, rather than the courageous linebacker on the verge of making the NFL that he was projected as.

The line is no longer blurred, it’s non-existent and like the song by “The Androgynous One” Prince; it’s simply just a Sign o’ the Times.

21 Febrero 2013

In what could have been Game One of the 2013 NBA Finals, LeBron James and Kevin Durant ushered the league into the All-Star break for an intermission of incredible individual campaigns being put together by the superstar pair.

James came out on top on this occasion, falling just two shooting percentage points from extending his record run of 30 or more points on 60 percent shooting to seven games, but the King is already in rarefied air.

As the NBA world celebrates the 50th birthday of his Airness, James is reaching a level of spiritual enlightenment with his game on par with the greatest players of all-time.

James’ simply can not be stopped right now, excelling at every facet of the game for a nightly line of 27 points on 56 percent shooting with eight rebounds and six assists.

[Tony Parker is the only other player averaging more assists on the season with a field-goal percentage over 50, and he’s taken 114 less three-pointers than James.]

Yes, James frequently dunks, but he’s also shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc and knocking down step-backs and fade-aways on any opponent willing to stand in front of him in a quasi-defensive stance and raise a hand in vain.

Against the Thunder, James toyed with Durant, Thabo Sefolosha and Kendrick Perkins during four consecutive possessions late in the first-half, resulting in a blistering run of 10 points and a choke-hold on the game.

Durant was able to turn around an ice-cold 0-of-7 start from the field into a 40-point (12-of-24 shooting) sprint to try and chase down the red-hot Heat.

In the bigger picture, Durant is putting together a season for the ages; leading the league in scoring, while chasing two even more impressive and distinct hallmarks of greatness, of which neither has been married together in a singe season or both achieved by one player before.

His shooting percentages of 51.9 from the field, 42.7 three-pointers and 90.7 from the line, is on pace to earn Durant membership to the elusive 50-40-90 club with Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. 

[Nash is once again hovering around 50-40-90 in what would be his fifth time doing so, but has only played in 30 of a possible 64 games on the season.] 

At the same time, Durant is exhibiting an even rarer sign of overall versatility; having accumulated 103 three-pointers, 84 steals and 65 blocks, which has him on pace to join another select club only shared by Robert Horry, Rasheed Wallace and Shawn Marion.

The unique skill-set of Horry, Wallace and Marion, saw all three players collect at least 100 three-pointers, 100 steals and 100 blocks in a single season.

Amazingly, when Horry became the first player to chalk up those numbers during the 1995-96 season, he achieved the feat in the 66th game out of the 71 he played (Durant has played 53).

All-round greats such as James, Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce, Scottie Pippen and Cliff Robinson all flirted with the milestone at times during their careers, but fell just short of achieving it.

[Nicolas Batum is also on pace to join the club this season, he’s currently sitting on 120 threes, 65 steals and 60 blocks.]

Durant and James are now once again on a collision course set for June, along the way they also seem destined to etch their names in the history books.

For these two duelling protagonists, the story just keeps getting better and better.

16 Febrero 2013

Something special happened in Baltimore, either they know something the rest of the NFL teams don’t know or deer antler extract may actually work?

Ray Lewis was seemingly scratched for the season when he suffered a torn tricep against the Cowboys in Week 6.

The next week, Terrell Suggs miraculous returned to the lineup for his first game of season to help plug the gap left by Lewis.

It was an unforeseen boost for the ravens, as Suggs looked likely to miss the entire season due to a torn Achilies tendon in the preseason.

Ed Reed played through the early part of the season after sustaining a shoulder injury against the Patriots in Week 3 and aggravating it again in Week 10 against the Raiders.

But as is turned out, all three former Defensive Player of the Year lynchpins were on the field late in the final quarter of the season, helping glue together the Ravens defense for a desperate goal-line stand to secure the championship.

They gave Lewis a fairytale exit from the game and at the same time ushered Joe Flacco into the next chapter of his career as a Super Bowl MVP sans the question marks that once hovered above his helmet regarding his legitimacy.

Against the legendary red and gold franchise, Flacco was Baltimore’s version of ‘Joe Cool’, completing the post-season on a run only ever matched by Joe Montana himself.

11 touchdowns with no interceptions, while Colin Kaepernick tarnished the lofty legacy built by Montana and Steve Young by throwing the franchise’s first pick in the Super Bowl.

Reed was the culprit on Kaepernick’s second-quarter misread, while ‘Long-Ball’ Flacco expanded his repertoire with an unexpected Tom Brady-esque screen pass on his first attempt of the game and a scrambling gun-sling at 3rd-and-3 in the third quarter reminiscent of Brett Favre.

It was either one of the bitter home town Saints; Drew Brees or Sean Payton that flicked the power switch off at the Superdome moments after the Ravens went up 28-6 on Jacoby Jones’ scintillating 108 yard kick-off return.

The Niners stormed back in the second half, but a pair of field-goals and an intentional safety in the final seconds was enough for the Ravens to hold on to the game they never trailed in.

Ray Lewis joined the echelon of Elway, Bettis and Strahan in their last games, Kaepernick learned valuable lessons to grow upon, the Harbaugh’s wallowed in bittersweetness, but one character remained overlooked, with such name as ‘Nevermore.’ 

Tied 2-2 in the second set tie-breaker at the 2013 Australian Open Final, a small fluffy innocuous white feather fell from the heavens and paused Andy Murray en route to his second serve attempt.

The feather probably didn’t fall from the ‘heavens’, more likely off a nearby mangy seagull; they tend to hover around Melbourne Park on summer nights.

Once Murray had collected and removed the feather, his concentration was broken and his focus compromised, as he proceeded to double-fault away the point on the way to losing the tie-break, the next two sets and the championship. 

Along the way, his mangled right foot hindered his chances of salvaging the match, once again leaving the vulnerable carrier of celiac disease Novak Djokovic unscathed on his path to glory.

Celiac disease is a condition that inhibits a person’s digestive system from tolerating the presence of gluten; a ubiquitous protein present in most grains such as wheat and barley.

By ingesting or even having gluten diffuse through the nose, eyes or skin; a celiac’s reaction can range from irritability to severe stomach sickness depending on the amount.

One of the most common forms of gluten is in plain baking flour, a substance that can easily be utilized for smiting one’s celiac foes.

By simply introducing flour to the court area, for instance as a faux talcum powder which would have ended up on the tennis balls, Murray could have won convincingly as his diseased opponent succumbed to the Kryptonite.

However, much like their semi-final matchup at last year’s tournament, Murray lacked the strategical intelligence needed for victory.

Just a little seemingly innocuous white powder could have been the difference for Murray, but instead it was that small fluffy innocuous white feather that unravelled him.

‘Luck’ (and Vlade Divac) was on the Serbian’s side on this occasion, or perhaps there was a White Eagle soaring above Rod Laver Arena, looking out for Djokovic?

28 Enero 2013