SportsNation - Greatest Highlight Poll

ESPN is doing a Greatest Highlight Poll that I find particularly entertaining. I'm picking my 10 based on how strongly I can see them in my memory. I'm not going to rank them. That would be just too hard. I also noticed that I was much more likely to pick a highlight if I happened to watch the moment live, as is true of all the highlights on my list after 1990. What are your 10?


- Bobby Thomson hits ''Shot Heard 'Round the World'' (Oct. 3, 1951))
This was the highlight that Fyall and I elected to tape our own commentary to at the 2001 All-Star Game Fan Fest in Seattle. Turns out Thomson didn't take any pitches in the at bat, so it was really short and we didn't have time to do much with it.
- Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth with home run (April 8, 1974)
"He's sitting on 714..."
- Carlton Fisk wills HR fair in World Series against Reds (Oct. 21, 1975)
Even though it ended up being meaningless, something about Fisk waving the ball fair just burns this into your memory, doesn't it?
- Dwight Clark hauls in Joe Montana's TD pass against Dolphins (Jan. 10, 1982)
The play that all fingertip catches in the backyard are compared to. Come to think of it, this play is more remembered for that SI photograph then as a highlight, but I'll leave it on here anyway.
- Cal-Stanford ''The Band is on the Field'' (Nov. 20, 1982)
My favorite part is when the guy with the football clobbers the trombonist in the end zone.
- Bill Buckner's error gives Mets life in World Series (Oct. 25, 1986)
Run, Ray Knight, run!
- Don Beebe's hustle denies Leon Lett in Super Bowl (Jan. 31, 1993)
This one I voted for out of sheer loyalty to those Bills teams, and the defining play of their star-crossed run.
- Michael Jordan's jumper against Jazz gives Bulls title No. 6 (June 14, 1998)
I'm only voting for Jordan once, and this one has to be it, even if it didn't end up being his last game.
- Tiger Woods' chip drops in on way to Masters title (April 10, 2005)
Not his definitive win (for my money, the 2000 US Open at Pebble) or even, in my mind, the most enduring image (his fist pump at the 1997 Masters for his first Major), but highlight-wise, that was a classic moment.
- Boise State's Statue of Liberty beats Oklahoma (Jan. 1, 2007)
By some stroke of luck, I turned on the TV that night with 4:30 to go in regulation. I'll always say the hook-and-later' was the play of the game, but the statue of liberty has surpassed it on highlight reels.



Not on ESPN's list, but on my biased list...
*Hak's Block to seal the 2003 championship, one of the most underrated plays in NCAA championship game history.
*Robin Ventura's walk-off Grand Slam/Double in the 1999 NLCS.
*Louie McCroskey groins Hilton Armstrong in the face on a breakaway dunk in the 2006 blowout loss against UConn.
*McNabb to Brominski, November 15, 1998.

Get Well Soon Devo

After watching the first round of NFL games, I checked Syracuse.com for any update to Eric Devendorf's injury in SU's record-breaking barrage last night. Donna Ditota had the scoop...the worst. Torn ACL, out for season.

Make no mistake, losing Devendorf is a crushing blow. As I suggested after the Virginia game, Devo was contributing a critical consistency to our young offense. We all know how emotional he can get on the court, for better or for worse, but none of us know the role he was playing as an upperclassmen leader in the locker room. Quotes from Johnny Flynn in the initial post-game write-up suggested that role was substantial.

The season has suddenly taken on an entirely new look. Somehow, seeing the "Junior" next to Devendorf's name on the pre-game roster diminished the transitional aspect of this season. Now Onuaku will be the lone upper-classman listed, though we all know he's a sophomore in function and eligibility. He and Paul Harris have the personality to be leaders, but the Orange are officially a young team, through and through.

The entire bench will have to step up. I suspect, with the murmurings that Harris will be moving to shooting guard, that freshman forward Rick Jackson takes the empty spot into the starting lineup. He leads the bench in minutes. Scoop Jardine, hidden by the glare of Johnny Flynn's brilliance, has a lot of promise. Boeheim has wisely played the high school teammates, Jardine and Jackson, together for extended periods. Look for that trend to continue for the short term, until both players get comfortable in the college game. Finally, Kris Ongenaet, who has put in terrific effort in his short minutes on the court, will also see his role expand.

As for wide receiver Mike Williams, don't believe the buzz that he will have a big role on this team. He had seven points down the stretch last night, but that was a blowout. I can't imagine Boeheim using him ahead of any of the three players mentioned in the previous paragraph. At the most, he'll get the kind of minutes Ongenaet was seeing to this point: a couple minutes here or there at the end of the first half or in blow outs, and not in every game.

It's tempting to think about next season, when Rautins will return along with Devendorf, and the youngsters will have another season under their belt. But that would be shortchanging the talent this current team has, and the fact that they are still very much in contention for the NCAA field. Besides, Donte Greene is already a lottery pick. At this point, I believe it is 50/50 that he leaves after this season. Harris and Flynn could also conceivably depart.

So while we wish Devendorf a speedy recovery and look forward to his return to the court, let's not miss out on the fantastic young bunch that are still playing. Make no mistake, this will be an up and down season. It already has been. But with Boeheim at the helm, a man who has seen just about everything, there is still plenty of hope in the dome.

Pre-Season Bracket

OK, I've finally finished my projected bracket based on my Ultimate NCAA Rankings. Before I unveil that, let me also give you my conference rankings, based on the average rank of teams in each conference, which is provided in parenthesis:

1. Pac-10 (53)
2. SEC (71)
3. Big 12 (87)
4. Big East (88)
5. Big 10 (91)
6. ACC (107)
7. Mountain West (109
8. MVC (143)
9. WCC (151)
10. Big West (157)
11. Horizon (160)
12. A-10 (162)
13. SoCon (165)
14. Colonial (168)
15. MAC (174)
16. Patriot (175)
17. C-USA (177)
18. WAC (179)
19. Big South (194)
20. OVC (196)
21. MAAC (199)
22. Big Sky (205)
23. Ivy (212)
24. America East (218)
25. Atlantic Sun (219)
26. Southland (219)
27. Sun Belt (224)
28. MEAC (231)
29. NEC (236)
30. Summit (246)
31. SWAC (254)


Couple notes... while the Pac-10 has the highest average rank, I still think the Big East is the best conference. The top ten teams in the Big East have an average rank of 31! I do, however, think the ACC is down this year.

OK, onto the Bracket. I'm not going to muck about with all the technicalities, like avoiding conference match ups. I'm just going to slot everyone in through an S-curve based on my top 65, with every projected conference champ getting a bid. Conference champs are in bold.

EAST
1. Georgetown
16a. Sacred Heart
16b. IUPUI
8. Southern Illinois
9. Utah State
5. Kentucky
12. Wyoming
4. Ohio State
13. UW-Milwaukee
6. USC
11. Temple
3. Washington State
14. Tennessee Tech
7. Notre Dame
10. Texas A&M
2. Tennessee
15. ETSU

MIDWEST
1. UNC
16. Hampton
8. Davidson
9. Arkansas
5. Butler
12. Texas Tech
4. Syracuse
13. Miami (OH)
6. Duke
11. Saint Louis
3. Louisville
14. Lehigh
7. Mississippi State
10. Xavier
2. Michigan State
15. McNeese State

SOUTH
1. Memphis
16. Miss. Valley State
8. Oregon
9. Kansas State
5. Virginia
12. Dayton
4. Texas
13. Minnesota
6. Kent State
11. Arizona State
3. Vanderbilt
14. Montana
7. Connecticut
10. Wisconsin
2. UCLA
15. Winthrop

WEST
1. Kansas
16. Vermont
8. VCU
9. Marquette
5. Purdue
12. Providence
4. Pittsburgh
13. UC-Irvine
6. Missouri
11. Saint Mary's
3. Gonzaga
14. Siena
7. Califronia
10. Western Kentucky
2. Indiana
15. Penn

Remember, these are based on my pre-season rankings, so obviously I wouldn't give Syracuse a 4-seed right now. Of course, that's not to say they couldn't still finish hot and do it after all. The other thing is that I've got at-large teams getting 13-seeds, which almost never happens. Usually, the conference tourney upsets result in conference champs taking up all the seeds from the 16s into the 12s. Anyway, we'll take a look back at this at the end of the season. For now, I'll leave you, Lunardi-style, with the last 8 teams left out of my bracket, and the breakdown of the multi-bid conferences.

Last 8 Out
George Mason
Maryland
Missouri State
UC Irvine
UNLV
Georgia
Tulsa
UC Santa Barbara

Conference Bids
Big East - 8
Big 12 - 6
Big 10 - 6
Pac-10 - 6
SEC - 5
A-10 - 4
ACC - 3
WCC - 2
Horizon - 2
MAC - 2

Rhode Island

Apparently the A-10 might be good this year. On a night when Dayton upset Louisville, Syracuse was hit with its second straight home loss to an A-10 team with Rhode Island pulling one out in the dome (UMass was the other).

We've entered the part of the schedule where five straight games are on Time Warner sports, so I probably won't be able to watch them. I'll refer you to the Post-Standard's always excellent SU coverage, led by Mike Waters. Their front page blurb got the story right, explaining how SU had a decent lead with a couple minutes to go but went cold from the field. The lesson for the boys: finishing games. We are running out of time to keep learning these lessons.

The other reason we lost was rebounding, and the reason for the bad rebounding was Paul Harris had his worst rebounding game in memory, pulling down only two.

SU-Virginia

This is a rambling post, but I have a lot of thoughts about SU, as usual. Thanks for listening. You'll be rewarded at the end.

It's funny. Two years ago, I could probably write a whole column about how big a win this was tonight for Syracuse. After last year's NCAA selection committee (which, by the by, had no representatives from the Big East) ignored SU's great finish in the Big East and left them out of the field, everyone here in Syracuse knew going in that SU had a lot to gain from a win tonight. As Bud Poliquin put it on the radio today, this was a great "scalp" for our resume. Even though the Orange are led by Freshmen, you can bet that the holdovers made it clear to everyone that this game was important.

Just for fun, let's take a look at the official Sports Sauna pre-season rankings of the teams SU has played so far this year, as well as their current records:
Siena (3-3) - 61 - W
Saint Joseph's (4-3) - 206 - W
Fordham (4-4) - 143 - W
Ohio State (4-3) - 16 - L
Washington (4-3) - 86 - W
UMass (5-2) - 215 - L
Tulane (4-3) - 198 - W
Virginia (6-2) - 19 - W

That's a pretty respectable stretch of early season games. All winning records. And note that Ohio State's only losses have been to Texas A&M, Butler, and UNC (speaking of a tough early schedule).

In fact, I believe that schedule is a bit too tough for a team made up of mainly freshmen. I think 9 years out of 10, or even 999 years out of 1000, a team with Syracuse's 2006-07 resume gets into the tournament. Given the choice, I would have preferred to be 7-1 right now with lesser teams replacing UMass and Virginia rather than 5-3 with the scheduled loss at Virginia. Then the non-conference schedule would basically be a pre-season for the Big East, where we'd find out what kind of team we really are anyway. As it turned out, we won the game tonight, which completely makes up for those two losses anyway. I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, so I'll just say that I'd rather be a 7-1 team with a few wins over Siena-like teams then risk losing a handful of games with a young team that needs time to get ready for our brutal Big East schedule. Of course, it appears we're not going to lose a handful of games after all, and now we enter a stretch of games that should put us on a nice roll heading into the Big East season:

Rhode Island (9-1) - 262
East Tennessee State (4-3) - 81
Colgate (6-3) - 237
Cornell (4-2) - 180
Northeastern (3-4) - 254

OK, so Rhode Island has already beaten two Big East teams this year (at South Florida, Providence). I think they'll wilt in the dome. ETSU is off to a slow start. And Cornell has beaten Siena, but lost to Colgate in their quest to prove me wrong and steal the wide open Ivy League. A loss in any of these games would be a setback. Look for the Orange to be on a nice winning streak entering the New Year. Almost as if Boeheim planned it that way...

* * *

As for the game itself, it was very encouraging on a few levels, the most obvious being that we beat a team of Virginia's caliber on the road. Virginia fans will say that Sean Singletary's illness was the difference, and I am sympathetic. They were a totally different team without him on the floor. I've never been so impressed by a supposed scoring machine who only had 10 points on 3 of 14 shooting. They guy is a leader, and UVA will go as far as he takes them.

At the same time, I do think the game revealed SU to be the better team. The Virginia crowd was great, and the players really fed off the emotion of that building. It's easy to see why that place is such a home court advantage, even through the TV set. But the young Freshmen, who until now had played only in the dome and the home away from the dome (MSG), battled through. Other than the start of the game, they didn't have any incredibly hot stretches to keep the crowd out of it. They just took care of business.

When your best rebounder is your small forward, you're either a very good rebounding team or a very bad rebounding team. SU is a very good rebounding team. That's an unbelievable luxury to have, and a nice safety net for a young team.

Looking ahead to this game, I wondered if the Orange might be better off starting the game right off with man-to-man defense, just to try to keep Virginia from getting hot right away from three-point range. Of course, Boeheim is a man of routine. He always starts in zone. And of course, it worked. In fact, other then when one of the best PG's in the country wasn't hyperventilating, the zone was the best it's looked all year.

Eric Devendorf is going to go down as the least-liked excellent player the Orange have ever had. Orange fans, search your feelings. You know it to be true. You're not that crazy about him handling the ball, right? You're not comfortable when he drives the lane, are you? And you'd much rather Greene, Flynn, or even Harris shoot the three, yeah? Well guess what. Devo is our most consistent player. He's a lock for 15-20 points a game. And I will bet you that doesn't change when the Big East starts. He'll even go for 30 one night and single-handedly win it for us. And yet, even I still won't really like him that much.


OK, I've vented. Your reward: here is a video we made this fall about the Arras's annual football match against my cousins.

Notent Notables

• I'm still shocked that England failed to qualify for Euro 2008. It wasn't until they drew the groups for the finals the other day that it hit me the three lions wouldn't be participating. I haven't seen a game since I left, and I'm still upset. I can't imagine what the nation is going through. If I were Steve McClaren, I'd go hide in Florida somewhere for the rest of my days. Good heavens, what a disaster.

• I think we can all agree that the NFL is the biggest sport in America. But that doesn't mean it necessarily has to stay that way. Thinking the NFL will always be king is like thinking the US economy will always stay strong or that America will always be the strongest nation in the world. Baseball used to be the biggest sport in the country. In the 80s, as I understand it, the NBA was bigger. Personally, even though I followed Michael Jordan religiously and liked college football more than the NFL when I was a kid, I've always admitted the NFL was on top. But now I'm sensing a change. I'm finally seeing Chris's point, that the parity in the NFL might have gone too far. Sunday Ticket isn't quite as appealing as it was 5 years ago because the number of worthwhile teams has dropped. I still like tuning in when all the games are ending, in case it gets exciting, but most of the afternoon the games don't have my attention. Don't get me wrong, I think the playoffs are going to be amazing this year. But I think the overall quality of the product has slipped...

• ...while the NBA is looking better. I think the number of worthwhile teams is growing this year. I also think that with the Big Three in Boston and Dwight Howard's emergence as an all-time superstar in Orlando, the East has legitimate contenders this year. In fact, I think more teams can realistically win the NBA championship than the Super Bowl. Count 'em yourself. The NBA is coming back, folks. I'm intrigued.

• College Football will always have its base with the Solid South, but the lack of a tournament is really killing it. This season has been the most exciting one that I can ever remember. It is true that the significance of the upsets would have been lessened slightly by a post-season playoff. But ask yourself this: how many of the huge upset games have been "appointment viewing" for the casual college football fan? For me, the only appointment viewing games have been the Ohio State-Michigan game, and the Missouri-Kansas game, both of which would have been on my list of games to watch even if there was a playoff system. (Think of it this way: if #1 plays #2 in college basketball during the regular season, are you going to watch?) My point is the exciting storyline of the season isn't making me actually sit down and watch more games. And I'm not really interested in any bowl game other than the national title. But an 8-team playoff, that included the 6 major conference winners plus two at-large teams...I'd watch every game that stayed close, and I'm sure other casual college football fans like me would, too.

• I have Jim Valvano's ESPY speech on our downstairs TiVo tagged with "Save until I delete" status. If you're in town and need a pick-me-up, feel free to drop by.

• On SU's loss to UMass. That was a wildly entertaining game. Well into the 2nd half I was still watching with glee. But about halfway through the 2nd half (which was, I realized later, when Donte Greene cooled off), I got one of those bad feelings that you get when you really know your team is going to lose. You know what I mean? Sometimes it can work in the opposite direction, and you'll just know your team is going to pull it out. The problem, I decided, was that we weren't playing Big East basketball, or Syracuse basketball for that matter. Syracuse basketball wins with defense. As spectacular an offensive team as we are this year, our defense needs to be a lot better. We're not going to win too many games in the Big East playing shootout basketball. I didn't see the Tulane game, but it sounded like we took a step in the right direction. I think we're going to learn a lot more about this team on Wednesday, in Virginia.