Rob Q. Ink - A Philly Sports Blog

As George Mason is heralded as the epitome of what the NCAA basketball tournament is all about this weekend, I’m curious if fans really want lower seeds invading the Final Four. I know this sounds a little crazy. We all love watching the 12 seed upset the 5 on the first two days. If “the little school that could” makes it to the Sweet 16, all the better. It’s exciting. It’s a great story. It reminds us that on any given day, any bunch of guys can beat the future lottery picks. But, let’s face it, the office pool is why this tournament is so popular. And as much as we all swear that the airhead who picks Tulsa because her boyfriend went there always wins the damn thing anyway, we don’t really believe that. We start anew each year, putting our college hoops expertise to use, knowing that this year would be different. This year our half hour of study of team summaries in the paper — along with our Saturdays on the couch — is going to pay off. Of course, it never does because some damn 11

I’ve been tracking a couple of those free pick services, and the inevitable finally happened. Brandon Lang and Maddux Sports picked the same game . . . on opposite sides. So, knowing I was likely risking a less than mature reply, I e-mailed both services to inquire about their free pick philosophy. Was it the best one that didn’t make the for-pay picks (both said yes) or something else? I also mentioned the contrasting picks, not as a complaint but as the reason I’d chosen today to ask. I got an immediate reply from Lang’s folks, which began by arrogantly asking me if I really thought they cared about Maddux Sports. I pointed out that I never said they would, but that Lang might care that his support staff was obnoxious. (Actually, I doubt it.) This apparently won me the “chutzpah” award for bothering their very busy staff about another service even though I’ve “NEVER bought a pick,” according to an e-mail received from their “customer service director” (as if it wasn’t the same guy) m

With the apparent ouster of Mike Missanelli from 610 WIP, the vacuum of good midday sports talk has returned. Reportedly fired after his second physical altercation with a co-worker, including one with morning guy Angelo Cataldi, Missanelli was the only reason to tolerate midday sports talk. His firing offers a chance to review what sports fans are left with on the two sports talk stations in town. While I was excited about WPEN 950 going to an all sports format in the fall, it’s done little to enliven things for fans. I enjoyed Tony Bruno for a while, and may hear his 9-to-noon airing more now with Missanelli gone. Bruno is funny and the show moved. A national perspective from a former Philly guy was a nice change of pace. However, I eventually went back to WIP in the morning because I got sick of being sure to change the channel before Jim Rome came on. Even the first few minutes of his rehearsed, supposed-to-be intense monologues was too much to stomach. He spent weeks initiating P

Now that the basketball coma that is the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament is over, it’s back to reality. Sadly, returning to “reality” as a sports blogger is almost as ugly as returning to work after vacation used to be. (Almost.) Some lowlights while we all enjoyed hoop heaven: The Philadelphia Eagles continue to just not get it. After signing a bunch of B-list free agents, Jeffrey Lurie was quoted in Friday’s Inquirer by Bob Brookover: "The decision-making is always about evaluating the player, evaluating what he can bring into a potential championship season," Lurie said. "We have never been an organization that would ever want to make a headline for the sake of making a headline. "I think you look around the league and you find that the teams that make the right evaluations and make the smart decisions, whether it be the Patriots, Steelers or us, it's a much smarter way to go. It's great if you want to make a splash, but unless you pick the right

Here is a link to my entry in the WIP NCAA pool . And, here are my NCAA tournament picks for round 1: Gonzaga -5.5 vs. Xavier Illinois -8.5 vs. AirForce Marquette -3 vs. UofAlabama TexasA&M +1 vs. Syracuse Straight pick parlay: Illinois over Air Force Kansas over Bradley OhioSt over Davidson UNC over Murray St. BC over Pacific Tennessee over Winthrop Gonzaga over Xavier Final Four: Texas over UCLA UConn over ’Nova Finals: Texas 81 UConn 74 Of course, picks are for entertainment only. And as Jody Mac says (or at least used to): You get what you pay for…and how much did you pay for these?

Temple basketball coach John Chaney retired today after 24 years at his post. He was rather eloquent at his press conference, clearly showing he concerned himself with more than just basketball. His concern for the university as a whole, the underprivileged, and the development of his players as men dominated his remarks and career. But, if anyone is surprised that this happened one year after “Goon Gate,” they’re kidding themselves. Reportedly, his wife is sick, and that no doubt weighs on Chaney’s mind. But there’s no doubt in my mind that after last year’s events, when he sent one of his players into a game for the purpose of committing hard fouls resulting in a broken arm of an opposing St. Joe player, that this retirement was put on the schedule for this Spring. So far, the subject hasn’t been brought up by the media. Maybe Chaney deserves that, just as he deserved a year to end his career away from the swirl of controversy. Nonetheless, it is part of this story. The timing must r

As the Eagles’ front office apparently took the opening weekend of free agency office, the players many fans wanted to see in silver and green went to other teams that were open for business. Despite reports to the contrary, the Birds seem to be sticking with last year’s plan of going after B-list free agents. Antwaan Randle-El? Gone. LeCharles Bentley? Gone. Mike Anderson? Gone. Joe Jurevicius? Well, you get the idea. He signed elsewhere, too. The worst part may have been their attitude about it as displayed on their own website. In a post on Saturday by ultimate spin man Dave Spadaro, “What’s New? Right Now, No Free Agency Action,” the team offered this: And on day one in free agency, it was quiet at the NovaCare Complex. No visitors scheduled. No media camped out waiting for some news. No nothing. If you wanted to spend your Saturday hunched over a computer screen waiting for some good news to flash on the screen, well, you will wait through at least this first day. As of 4 p.m. on

A side note to the National Football League agreeing to a new labor deal appears to be that very soon to be ex-Eagle Terrell Owens will not be punished the next time he decides to destroy a team because his mental instability got the best of him. The Inquirer (and, no doubt, other sources) reported that as part of the new deal teams can no longer deactivate a player for disciplinary reasons. I don’t get why this isn’t getting more attention. It’s absolutely pathetic. The fact that the NFLPA would bring something like this into negotiations is flat-out laughable. Owners no doubt got something in return for giving into this clause, which is sad enough. But for a union representing millionaires to act like it’s protecting its members with a we-can-be-idiots-if-we-want clause is a slap in the face to fans, players who choose to act like adults, and people who actually need unions to ensure fair working conditions. In a small story the Inquirer reported: "We essentially reversed the

The irony was palpable. Today, according to the Daily News’ Rich Hoffman , was National Sportsmanship Day. It was also a day that sports talk was dominated by news of the upcoming release of a book that details Barry Bonds’ alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. Hoffman did his usual quality job, pointing out the wretched state of sportsmanship: . . . take the incident from Saturday night, when a brawl/melee erupted at the end of the boys’ Philadelphia Catholic League championship game between Neumann-Goretti and Roman Catholic. Cops were called, arrests were made, people were hurt — although, thankfully, not seriously. By most accounts, after Neumann-Goretti’s Derrick Rivera hit the last-second, game-winning shot, he ran over to celebrate in front of a group of fans from Roman Catholic, soon to be joined by teammates and Neumann-Goretti fans streaming onto the floor. Plastic bottles and other debris were thrown from the stands in reply, and then it all broke loose — with adult fa

There may be hope, Eagles fans. The Inquirer reported today that the Philadelphia Eagles will look to sign New Orleans Saints’ all-pro center LeCharles Bentley. I’d be lying if I said I knew a damn thing about him, but I know something about the Eagles, and this is the sign I think we all needed to have some hope after last year’s debacle. The Eagles seem to have fallen into a pattern with free agency. They either come out of the box strong or they don’t come out at all. As much as we’d all like to block out last year, see 2005 free agent acquisition (notice the lack of plural) Mike McMahon as evidence of the latter. Whether the Inquirer is right or not, I still need to see more out of the Eagles to believe the Super Bowl is a possibility, which is still all that counts this year. Regardless of exactly who the Eagles sign, they must show that their 2005 slumber is over. Talking specifics with free agency – as far as who they can and can’t sign – is almost as bad as doing so with trades