Gerry speaks:

Gerry McNamara was waived last week from the Utah Jazz. Dang.

He couldn't beat out Deron Williams, Ronnie Price or Brevin Knight. No shame in that first name, at least. No shame in any of them, Gerry contends:

"They're locked up. They've got three guys that are great players and all three of those guys are capable of running a team as well as anybody. It's a good experience for me to be around guys like that — not just any guys — but guys that have been in the league and have done it.

"For someone like me who hasn't played in the NBA and is trying to, to be around guys like that and try to pick their brain and see what they do that makes them successful is a good experience."

I'm about finished with Gerry's NBA aspirations. I hope the guy makes it, I do, but I don't like him bouncing about like an unemployed hobo.

Gerry was ridiculously clutch. No doubt. But he was slow. The man couldn't drive on 75 percent of the guards in the Big East. And he couldn't really guard another 30 percent.

So, well, thanks for the memories. Time to hang up the sneakers.

U-20 MNT features local boys

Hey! Ho! Look at this!

Two local boys (Anthony Arena from Kenmore, Wash., where I grew up, and Gale Agbossoumonde from Syracuse, N.Y.) are making waves in the U.S. soccer world. They both were called into the roster for a U-20 national team training session in Spain next month. Not too shabby, right?

The blogger, Ives Garlacep, said the roster is "chock full of many of the best prospects in the U.S. pipeline."

Excellent.

J Mac factor

One of my favorite ever Carrier Dome activities was tracking the ratio of fouls to points from the national championship's defensive stopper Jeremy McNeil. (Dude has his own Wikipedia page?) The so called JMac factor was named after Jim McIllvaine, who did the Sonics wrong, prison style, in the mid-90s.

Anyway. SU's JMac man blocked a lot of shots. And even though he hardly started, he played in, and fouled out of many games. (BTW: Dude is fifth all-time in appearances at SU?) The fouls-to-points ratio was always most amusing when it hovered around 1:1.

I was very pleased to discover, then, that the Big East will be home this year to ANOTHER JMac defensive stud. Score! (Foul?)

Go team.

ESPN individual player lists

Best PGs - Johnny Flynn #4
Best Defenders - Johnny Flynn #5
Best Rebounders - Paul Harris #7

Bam!

Great Open Letter from Rob Konrad to Darryl Gross. The letter was evidentially co-written by some other SU grads.

My favorite passage?

It’s our contention that Syracuse University should not endeavor to acquire a “big” name during a coaching search in order to cajole enthusiasm for the program. A search of this kind would more than likely yield a fiscally inappropriate candidate that again would waste several years attempting to learn how to recruit the Northeast and build a successful program at Syracuse.

Booyah face.