Hi. Life got in the way today, so aside from the chat, not much in the way of the blog this morning. I hope you were still able to get by. Slightly time crunched, so here's a quick blog/show preview....
FIVE MO' THINGS, 2/27/13
1) The Musketeers win on #XavierTweetup Night. Give the Muskies credit. Coming off a demoralizing loss at home, in a game that amounted to a glorified exhibition, and playing shorthanded, the shorthanded Muskies not only played as hard as they have all season, but they spent most of the evening controlling a quality team that sorta looked like it felt it simply had to show up. The win didn't come easy, and late in the game it felt like it was slipping away, but the way they found a way to win despite no Dee Davis, off nights from Christon, Martin, and Redford says something about the job Chris Mack is doing with a greatly undermanned team.
XU is an extreme long-shot to make the NCAA Tournament, and given the high expectations that come with a program that's been a March mainstay, the season feels a little unfulfilling, with Mack getting heat in some circles for what I'm sure has been a very trying season. I actually think that to an extent, this team has overachieved a little.
Kinda like the guy in this picture, taken last night, with the Fox Sports Ohio Girls.
2) An NFL team asked a prospect if he likes girls, or so says some guy named Nick Casa. The NFL says it's looking into it, claiming that they expect their team to abide by all federal, state, and local employment laws. I say, good luck with that.
No, a team should not be asking a prospect anything about his sexual orientation. If you're a GM and you think this will be an issue on your team, you've built a bad team. And there are a number of ways to throw oddball questions at a guy without being too invasive.
But Nick Casa will probably only hurt his draft stock by outing whatever team it was that asked him if he liked girls. Other prospects know they'll be better off answering invasive questions and being quiet about it, making it damn near impossible for the NFL to legislate what teams ask draft prospects.
3) MLB does not need to ban home plate collisions. Mike Matheny, a former catcher and current Cardinals Manger, is the latest to join the chorus of people calling for the sport to ban collisions. Buster Olney wrote about it again today as well. I think a new rule is unnecessary. Let individual clubs coach the right way to both prevent runs from scoring and approach the plate as a runner. Let teams coach players on measuring risk/reward. Enforce rules that are already in place about blocking the plate without the ball. Preach common sense. There.
4) One more UC Watch Party at the Holy Grail Banks on Monday, for the Louisville game. We have prizes from Cardboard Heroes and tickets to UC's last home game against South Florida. And beer specials. Here's the flier. It looks pretty, except for the part with my face. 
5) Today's radio show. We'll talk hoops with Mike DeCourcy at 4:04. Dan Hoard talks Bengals and Bearcats at 5:33. We talk about nearly everything I just wrote about on this blog, plus the #MoEggerTQD at 4:33. The fun starts at 3:04 on ESPN1530. Please UC, don't do this.
Sadly, there's a generation of people who don't get this...
