Attack of the cell phone zombies

I felt like I was in a real-life video game.

Dodging zombies left and right as I tried to make my way down the hallway of an academic building on our college campus.  A class must have just ended as about 20 to 25 students were making their way down towards me.

Plenty of room, right? No way.  It was an obstacle course of sorts to elude every single one who were more focused on their cell phones than watching where they were going.

Seriously, the President of the United States could have been walking down the hallway, but he would have had no trouble enjoying a peaceful, uninterrupted stroll because nobody would have noticed.

I can't be too critical without sounding hypocritical as I rely heavily on my own smart phone to keep in touch with important emails and messages, as well as the latest scores. I'm a news and information junkie and I do find myself checking on the phone quite often.

Survey's by the Pew Research Center indicates that 80 percent of adults have a cell phone, and recent data shows that the number of cell phones in out-numbers the U.S. population.  I would believe it.

It's an important part of today's society. Advances in technology has certainly helped make our lives easier to stay connected, but it has also consumed our daily lives and in a way, ironically, hurt our ability to, of all things: communicate.

We'd rather email or text rather than pick up a phone and make a call. We'd rather send an instant message to someone just down the hall than get up and take a walk to visit face to face. And when we do have an encounter with an individual, the conversations are awkward and difficult.

So is this an improvement.  I'll let you know once I figure out how to safely navigate the hallways in between classes.

Look out.

I'm ready for spring, are you?

Thank you old man winter, for flexing your muscles and giving us a good 'old fashion arctic wonderland for the past several months.  But I'm tired of it.  I think I speak for many when it comes time to bid winter adieu and welcome spring with open arms. 

It is, after all, the last week of March and we are expecting yet another snow storm. This at the heels of a week of January-like bitter cold highlighted by a lovely blustery weekend where the wind-chill dipped into the 20's.

I read over the weekend about an Ohio prosecutor officially indicting the over-hyped Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog who earlier in February (Feb. 2 to be exact) predicted an early spring. 

Ohio prosecutors "indict" famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil over spring forecast: apne.ws/ZZQtpo -KM
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 22, 2013

That may be a little much. It is an animal after all. Plus, with something like 450 cameras and news stations shedding light on the little guy's burrow, how could he NOT see his shadow. 

As ridiculous as it may be, you can see the point. It's been a little cold and it's time to at least feel a little warmth.  Maybe not in the 70's, as it was a year ago this month, but just a little sunshine without having to scrape ice off my windshield in the morning. 

Global warming, right? 

A Curtain Call?

A curtain call of sorts

I sure hope not. Though things will never be the same.  

The Big East Conference will still exist, but only in a shell of itself. It’s not to say that there will still be great heated rivalry games, last-second shots, pep bands and mascots, fans wearing their school colors proudly.  The new Big East will feature seven of the current members of the basketball behemoth, plus perhaps a few newcomers to join the fun.

Syracuse and Pitt battle in Madison Square Garden 2013

But past glory, brotherhood, and tradition is only a memory.

I’m writing this while taking the 178 train from Penn Station back to Providence after catching an afternoon matinee featuring Georgetown, Syracuse, Pitt, and yes, Cincinnati too. I guess they have been in the Big East for a few years now.

For Pitt and Syracuse, this year marks their final conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. Choosing to trade Broadway for Greensboro (kind of ironic name) all in the name of football money that awaits in the ACC.

And for me that’s a shame. 

I’ve written in the past about how important the Big East was to me growing up in New England. I loved basketball, and I loved all that the Big East embodied.  I watched proudly as an eighth-grader the conference land four teams, Georgetown, St. John’s, and Villanova in the Final Four in 1985.  A feat that still to this day has yet to be duplicated.  And what a Final it was with Villanova pulling off the huge upset of the heavily favored Hoyas.

I pulled for Syracuse. My uncle had played football there, but it was a New York City kid named Dwayne “The Pearl” Washington that drew me in. I was a point guard only wishing to be able to push the ball and magically dish the ball like The Pearl.  The Orangemen (now Orange) were loaded.  Coleman, Triche, Addison, and later the likes of Sherman Douglas and Stevie Thompson. I remember the Dome Ranger (don’t know if he still gallops around the Dome anymore, but it was great.

My friend Chag loved Villanova.  Well, let me put it this way: He LOVED Villanova.  In fact, he picked the Sweet 16 bracket in 1985 perfect, capped by the ‘Nova upset of G’Town.

My friend Jason Palmer loved Georgetown. Patrick Ewing, Michael Graham, John Thompson, and Hoya Paranoia.

We all played basketball together growing up, and when we weren’t, we were watching basketball, talking basketball, and breathing basketball. Big East basketball.

My brother loved St. John’s. And why not? Walter Berry, Willie Glass, Bill Wennington, Louie Carnesecca are just a few names off the top of my head.

Many think the 1986 title game between Syracuse and St. John’s (won by the Johnnies on Berry’s block of the Pearl’s attempt at a game-winner in the closing seconds) was the best of the best. Of course, a little six-overtime game between Syracuse and Connecticut on the same floor would rightfully take it’s place as maybe the greatest game ever.

I’m okay with that. It was a Big East game. It was in the Garden. Tune into other conference tournaments on TV and tell me how many seats are filled. The Big 10, the ACC, the Big-12, the Pac-10: all have nothing on the Big East.  By tipoff of today’s quarterfinal game, at noon mind you, the Garden was packed full of students, alumni, fans, Wall Street executives, all who made the pilgrimage, but by car, train, plane, and taxi to catch the Broadway Show that is the Big East Tournament. It is nearly impossible to describe the electricity in a packed arena with a tight game and everything on the line.

Next year will be a new day.  Teams will leave and new ones will take their place. I’ll still cheer on the Big East, whatever shape it decides to take. I’ll also have many great memories that nobody can take away.

Heading to Gotham

New York City and the Big East Tournament, here I come. 

I thought out it for a little while, but then history and my childhood got the best of me. I've always been a fan of college basketball and with March upon us, it can only mean one thing: The Big East Championship.

I know I've written about this tournament, the greatest week in college basketball, several times before. But I thought I would relive a few fun memories after purchasing my train ticket to Penn Station this morning to catch the quarterfinal round in New York City.

Sports was my life growing up. But basketball was my favorite. I was a junkie, staying up late Monday night's to watch Big Monday, which way back then featured teams from the Big East and capped off with the Big West (a conference I actually had the opportunity to be a part of for several years as a communications director), tipping off at midnight.   Yes, I remember seeing UNLV at UC Santa Barbara and the flying tortillas.  I may have been the only one up on the East Coast, but it provided a talking point during my career in California.

But back to the Big East. Hands down the best tournament. I got hooked as a follower of Syracuse in the days of "The Pearl," Howard Triche, Stevie Johnson, Rafael Addison. I loved St. John's with Mullin, Louie, Walter Berry, Willie Glass and the immortal Bill Wennington.  Didn't like Georgetown, but boy were they tough with Ewing, Thompson and the Hoya Paranoia.  Pitt with Miller, Charles Smith and Jerome Lane's back-board breaking style came a bit later, but they were the Big East.

It was enough to draw me in as a college hoops junkie and now, for the third time in the last five years, I am heading down to MSG to soak in the atmosphere and childhood love of mine.

Train leaves at 6:45.

A birthday trip to Reno

March in New England can be notorious for some cold wintry weather as folks anticipate the coming spring.  As I made my way through the snow, slush, wind and cold, it reminded me of a birthday trip I took on my way to Reno, Nevada about a decade ago. 

The Donner Pass from Truckee, Calif. can be tough in the winter.
Bring your chains.

I was enroute from San Luis Obispo, Calif. to the so-called "Biggest Little City in the World," a.k.a., Reno. Joined by a colleague, the two of gassed up our rental car and set out for the six-hour drive from the Central Coast to the snowy mountain passes on Interstate 80. 

Cal Poly was playing in the Big West Conference Basketball Tournament and I was set to handle the radio broadcast.  Also, what better way to spend my birthday, than heading to Nevada.  

Rolling hills and farmlands on I-5 quickly turned into some higher grades as we made our way past Sacramento. But the sunny skies quickly turned into gray and darker clouds.  The weather was about to change. 

The first warning was the Cal Trans LED message to motorist: "Winter Weather Advisory Ahead." This wasn't going to be good. 

Keep in mind, I certainly was dressed for the occasion. It was nice and warm when I left my apartment back in SLO. I was after all just going to be in a rental car, right? 

Nope.  By the time we got to Truckee, Calif,. the snow was coming down pretty good. Road conditions were starting to deteriorate.  This was nothing new for those who travel this part of I-80 regularly, but this was a first for me.  

By the time we got to the base of the infamous Donner Pass, the Cal Trans message board had the sign we didn't want to see:  "Chains Required."  

What were we supposed to do. We were in a rental and while I am sure there was a spare tire in the trunk, but chains?  

We inched our way slowly as far as we could before we came to a wide area of the interstate where officials were checking for chains and telling those who weren't outfitted properly, to turn around.  Luckily, we pulled up alongside a place where officials were providing chains for those willing to install.  Naturally, this was not an easy task. 

Wearing only loafers and a fairly nice pair of dress pants, I plopped myself down in the dirty, slushy snow and did my best to try and wrap the pair of chains around the front tires.  But it was too icy and I just couldn't find a way to hook the chains up.  My hands were freezing and my feet were soaked. 

Nearby, a trucker was putting some on his big rig and was kind enough to offer some help. With a little cash in my pocket, we both accepted his assistance and so glad we did.  Continuing through the pass was just a white-knuckle type of ride you would expect at an elevation of more than 7,000 feet. 

It was an all-out blizzard, but we kept moving along and finally on the downward slope, things started to ease weather-wise. But there was one problem:  the chains were still on the front tires.  

The maximum speed you could go with chains on was about 35 mph, and we were on I-80 where the speed limit in clear conditions was at least 65 mph.  We just didn't want to stop.  We did our best to work our way to Reno as the city's lights in the distance was the equivalent of a beacon calling us to port in a storm. 

Crunching on the asphalt, we pulled into our hotel and since my pants were already ruined, figured I would try and unhook the chains.  It was much easier to unhook the chains when there was virtually no snow and ice and slush to contend with. 

We were exhausted, but happy to make it to our destination safely. A memorable birthday, and if I seem to recall, I think I treated myself to a new pair of shoes. 

It's time for madness

Villanova defeated Georgetown in 1985 in one of the most memorable finals. 

Always thought Duke could go winless and still receive a top seed in the Charlotte Regional of the NCAA basketball tournament.  

Sure, teams that belong to some of the powerhouse conferences certainly have a tough go of it when it comes to picking up wins. That’s why you see schools from the Big East, the ACC, Big-10, dot their early season schedule with games that they can get the win, also known as “buy-games” where a top program will actually pay a school from a smaller conference to come to their place and take the loss.  

Instead of meeting again the following year at the “small-school” gym, the payment buys out the home-and-home return trip.  Basically, Big Time program gets the win, and smaller school helps fills holes in the department budget, or maybe can finally buy a new set of uniforms.

And that is fine.  It’s the nature of the business and sometimes you see the major upsets, but rarely.

But to avoid getting off-track.

Remove names of schools when discussing selection for the tournament. I know it’s not as easy as it sounds. The committee takes a look at each team’s schedule in depth and probably would be pretty simple to figure it out.  Or would it?  Couldn’t you just assign each team a nickname (other than the school’s mascot).  Maybe a crayon color.  A monopoly piece?

A power conference certainly deserves to have more teams in the tournament, but does the 10th-place team in a so-called power league, really deserve to go?   Perhaps as it is hard to argue when your schedules for the months of January and February feature teams ranked in the top-25 on a weekly basis.

The beauty of the NCAA tournament is the opportunity for a team to prove it is a national champion by its performance on the court. The field has expanded considerably over the years, and I think the current field of 68 is just about right.  If you are not one of the 68 best (34 at-large selections), then probably you don’t deserve to be in the tournament.

But unlike FCS football (I-A) where a computer and coaches decide on a telephone call who will play in the national championship, the basketball tournament let’s the players decide who is the best.  The opportunity to see a David vs. Goliath and the underdog team make a run and challenge the top seeds to see which is a better team.

Villanova and Georgetown of 1985 was a classic case. Villanova was the No. 8 seed of the tournament but earned its way to the finals and pulled off the perfectly executed game to defeat the powerhouse and top-seeded Hoyas from Georgetown in the championship game. Others have followed. Butler, VCU, Gonzaga, Xavier have all been NCAA underdog darlings, coming so close but only to finishing just short of winning the national title.

The part of me that feels for the underdog is knowing how valuable strength of schedule is in selection for an at-large berth. As I mentioned above, the major conference members benefit from playing each other to bolster its strength of schedule and RPI. For many of those schools at the low to mid-major level of Division I, it is almost impossible to schedule teams from the “Big Six” power conferences to arrange an out-of-conference schedule to draw serious consideration.

Power schools are happy to schedule “winnable games” or “money games” to schools they know they can beat (though sometimes they don’t). But for a team from a mid-major level conference, and pretty darn good, they only chance they’ll get, if any, is to go on the road and forget about scheduling a return trip.

Long Beach State of the Big West has done a fine job scheduling the likes of North Carolina, Syracuse, Pittsburgh.  But what benefit would it give a team in the a major conference to schedule a game with the likes of Creighton, Akron, Butler, Ohio, Wichita State, Northern Iowa, Albany (hello Washington) where the chance of actually losing a game, is pretty high?

I could go on and on, but heck, just give me a bracket. I’m ready to go.