Tag: Boston College

[Business Day One] Now We’re That Couple

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Boston College’s own Ron Brace was drafted by the New England Patriots this past week. ??? ???? ????? ?? ???????? In other words, a player from my favorite team has been drafted by my girlfriend’s favorite team. We’re getting matching jerseys. So if you see us, don’t make fun. Yes, we’re that couple now, but we have a very good reason. ????? ????

Thank you, and Let’s Go Eagles. ????? ??????? ?? ????????

[Business Day One] I Need A New Drug

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So Boston College Basketball got bounced in the first round of the NCAA’s, squandering a 7 seed to those surfing long-hairs out of Southern California.  About an hour later, the BC Hockey team coughed one up to those Phish-listening  train riders out of Boston University. ???? ???? ??? ??? ????   Crappy night for me.

The BC spring football game is about a month away, and I wish our baseball team the best but can’t possibly sit through collegiate baseball more than once every six years.  As such, I need a new college sport to follow. ?????? ???   It’d be preferable if it was Boston College related.  So here’s a mission.  If you’re a current BC student, start an intramural league of some sort and apply sabermetrics to it.  Then, e-mail them to me and let me analyze them and right snarky stuff about it.

Go, time’s a wastin’! ??????? ???? ???? ?????

[Business Day One] Unexpected Generosity

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After a week of conference championship games, Selection Sunday swept into our lives and delivered the NCAA Tournament field to us.  Like kids on Christmas Eve, we waited to see what came down the chimney.  We speculated, audited in our heads how our years have gone.  Were we naughty or nice?  What’s Santa’s track record been in the past?  Does Daddy not having a job affect my odds of getting that pimp Lego Castle?  You talk yourself into believing in the most beautiful possibilities.  You think and hope and pray so hard that they become real.  Such is human nature.

Accordingly, life is filled with disappointments. ???? ?????   There are always more stories about vacations falling apart or an expensive restaurant being overrated or, say, your team getting ignored for the Big Dance than stories of unexpectedly perfect situations.  We as sports fans accept this.  We know, deep down, that our sunny predictions born of baseball’s spring training or football’s draft won’t be fulfilled.  But despite this, every so often the Gods of Sport give your team a gift.  Perhaps an entirely unexpected gift, a wholly undeserved gift.  But a gift.  And a beautiful one.

The Arizona Cardinals got one this past year – making it to the SuperBowl with a one dimensional offense and a terrible defense.  The Kansas City Chiefs got one in the form of a discount Matt Cassel.  And my beloved Boston College Eagles just picked one up in the form of a 7 seed in the tournament.  Granted, I think BC’s unexpectedly generous seeding isn’t on the same level of “holy flying God are you lucky” as the Buzzsaw’s run into the playoffs or The Last Cassel’s new home in KC, but it hit me close to home. ???? ???? ???? ????   So I’m going to talk about it.

BC beat Duke at home and UNC on the road.  We won the first game of the ACC tourney and played the Blue Devils to the final seconds in the next one.  We had the resume for a 9 or 10 seed, considering we dropped ugly games to St. Louis (road) and Harvard (home, in front of me).  The season proved that Boston College has the legs to either run into the Final Four or drop in the first round – in other words, they’re the perfect 9 or 10.  Just high enough not to be a Cinderalla, but just low enough to fly under the radar until the Sweet Sixteen.

Then the 7 seed happened.  I learned about it on a basement computer in the green room of my comedy theatre.  “Wow,” I said aloud.  “I think that’s a little generous.”  That right there is a rarity in sports.  We’re so used to disappointment, so used to our teams being disrespected, that when something so fun and unexpected happens, we have no idea what to think.  How often in the history of your own sports fandom have you had a “we don’t deserve such good news” moment?  You’ll probably think about thirty different “we got hosed” moments trying to come up with one. ????? ???????

So between now and Friday’s game against USC, I’m going to do my best to appreciate the sports equivalent of finding a $20 bill on the street.  Go Eagles, YOUR tournament 7 seed!

[Business Day One] Marching Towards March

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“BC didn’t look too good this weekend,” said a BU-alum co-worker.

“Yeah,” I replied, “but we’ll make the Dance.”

Boston College beat Duke at home and UNC on the road this season.  A couple of thrilling games against top competition.  As part of any NCAA Tournament portfolio, they’d be those “well, now we have to let you in” type games that guarantee an 8 seed.  But in this baffling season in which the ACC beats up on each other more than usual, nothing is certain. ??? ???? ?? ??????? ??? ?????   After beating UNC, my beloved Eagles returned home and got clobbered by Harvard, a team with slightly more athletic talent than my high school’s.  I was there at Conte Forum when it went down.  If you dig up the ESPN highlights (I won’t, since it hurts), you’ll be able to see me in the background with my head in my hands and my girlfriend being a good soldier and trying to make me feel better.

The road to March Madness reminds me a lot of the road to the Oscars.  Way too many people using way too much specious reasoning to determine the future.  “Mickey Rourke won some support when he thanked his dogs during the Golden Globes, so that puts him in a great position.”  “Texas Tech is only at .500, but with their strength of schedule being what it is, maybe it’s enough to get some looks.”  Pundits of all types are weigh in, using the same information in different ways.  Interesting things happen when “news”casters need to fill two hours on one subject.

Like the Oscars, when the Tournament actually happens it is cause for a massive party, drinking games and friendly wagers.  But darn if the trip there is agony.  I’m not here to say that going to daily RPI trackers or Perez Hilton for gossip is wrong, but I am here to say that anticipation, when too bloated, invariably leads to letdown.  People love setting themselves up for disappointment. ???? ??????? ??? ????   I’m sure that some of you who braved the seven hours worth of the Academy Awards spent a lot of it wondering why your Lead Pipe Locks didn’t win their respective awards after you spent days in advance researching their roles and figuring out who actually is in the Academy. ???? bingo   I just trust you don’t make the same mistake with the NCAAs.

[Business Day One] The Heights – A New Drama Series

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Did I expect Boston College to beat North Carolina in a game of basketball at the Dean Dome this weekend? ??? ???? ???????? No, I did not. Did I expect Boston College to prepare to fire its head football coach after he decided to interview for the New York Jets position? No. Yet oddly, both this happened.

College sport is a lot of things to a lot of people. To some, it’s everything. While I’m not as wrapped up in the exploits of my alma mater as some, I’m more involved than most. ????? ?????????? ??? ???? As such, this odd combination of events this weekend has affected my sleep last night and my appetite today. How can I be hungry when I need to keep checking my message boards for breaking news?

Whether you love schoolboy hoops or not, or have ever been to a college football tailgate, you’ve all be acquainted with the dizzying experience of being hit with both wonderful and horrible news at the same time. ??????? ????? It throws you for a loop in a way that you can’t really explain. The bad news doesn’t seem as awful because the good news tempered it slightly. Yet, unfortunately, that good news isn’t as sweet as you could’ve expected. Both events are brought into their weird hazy middle ground, that you get lost in instead of gettinga good night’s sleep. I’ve always found the idea of willingly becomming a sports fan funny – you’re signing up for far more heartbreak than happiness. Whenever I forget about that fact, fate reminds me.

[Business Day One] Midweek and Exhausted

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It took an exhausting long weekend in Las Vegas and a lot of fun time play Vietbet after going through Vietbet Sportsbook review to prevent me from writing on Monday, and for that I apologize. I could’ve theoretically gotten my column together on Tuesday, but I was so jetlagged that I slept until 2 in the afternoon and didn’t know my name when I woke up. I’ll try to make the wait worth it, America.

Here are the thoughts I cobbled together during the past week and a half.

# As I mentioned last Monday, I’m at a point where I no longer believe that any off-season move, no matter how impressive on paper, could help the Yankees. A Mecha-Ty Cobb could be constructed and signed to a ten year, fifteen cent contract and I’d be certain that no good would come of it. I call it The Pavano Mindset. Anyway, CC Sabathia is about to sign on the dotted line and I couldn’t be more terrified for him. He’s going to show up to training camp 200 pounds overweight, or he’ll suddenly decide to play in Japan this year, or he’ll be crushed by falling space debris. I just know it, and I’m sorry in advance for the Sabathia family. This is my life as a Yankees fan.

# Watching sports in Las Vegas is odd. I watched Boston College get pasted by Virginia Tech at the Caesar’s Palace Sports Book. People who had no affiliation with either school were cheering wildly in one direction or the other. It was unsettling in a way and cheapened the experience. I watch my sports at my house (where I cheer loudly), at friendly sports bars (where a hundred people cheer loudly), or at the stadium (where 50,000 people cheer loudly). And most of those people are hooting and hollering because they love one school or hate the other. Not so in Vegas. People are cheering for their money. They might as well be cheering for Australian rules football or curling. It’s all the same to them, I think. Online sportsbooks such as https://sportbetting.ph allow fans from the Philippines to bet on the favorite sports, including college football.

# Three teams at 8-5 in the AFC East is an interesting proposition. I don’t believe the Jets are going to make it into the playoffs. I really don’t. Just a gut instinct.

# Speaking of playoffs, I’m 10-4 and a #2 seed in my fantasy football playoffs. This is Year 4 in my league, and I’ve finished in second, first and third in my first 3 years. Here’s hoping for continued success.

# I wish John Daly would stop playing golf and get himself some help.

[Business Day One] Incendiary Comments

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Chew on these, America.

–I hope Charlie Weis stays as Notre Dame’s coach for the rest of his tenure. As a Boston College alum, I’m thrilled that the Eagles have outplayed and outcoached the Irish in each season during the big guy’s tenure. Charlie Weis for Six More Years! ???? ???

–I’m at a point where I don’t believe any signing the Yankees will make this offseason will result in an AL East title.

–The New York Giants are going back to the Super Bowl. ????? ?????? ?????? Plaxico Burress will not be on the team. ???? ?????

–I’m getting this feeling like Crosby and Ovechkin just aren’t as charismatic as the NHL wants them to be.

–Somewhere, right now, Al Davis is building a mountain fortress.

[Business Day One] I Was Ready For Some Football

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Between 8 p.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday, I watched more football (7 hours) than I slept (6 hours). Not a bad way to live, if you can manage it. I took in a rain-moistened Boston College-Notre Dame game at Alumni Stadium and then a sunny affair at Gillette. The good guys won each. BC, by a score of 17-0, and the Patriots, by a score of 20-10.

Both wins felt good, as wins tend to. ????? ?????? But each was particularly important, and the exuberance of the sold out crowds reflected that. Boston College won their sixth straight against the Fighting Irish, becomming bowl eligible for the season. The Patriots are holding on to a share of first place in the AFC East (along with the Jets). A weekend win for each team isn’t the only similarity between the only football programs in town. Both the Eagles and the Pats are 6-3 now, despite early season question marks at the quarterback position. Both teams are playing without a defensive star (Brian Toal and Rodney Harrison, respectively). Both teams are making statements with their young ground games (Harris/Haden at BC, Green-Ellis for NE). Get your top fantasy picks out on draftkings for this season, lets go and do this quick and early folks!

So how is each team going to do down the stretch? BC plays on the road at Florida State and at Wake Forest before coming home to close out the regular season against Maryland. I sincerely hope they win one of those games. ??? ????? The Pats have the Jets, Dolphins, Steelers, Seahawks, Raiders, Cardinals and one more against the Bills. There are two Will-Wins (Seattle, Oakland), two Should-Wins (Cardinals, Bills), and three that really could go either way. As of right now, I’d say that the odds of the Pats having a higher winning percentage than the Eagles is pretty good. But as is the case with football, anything could happen. ??? ?????? ??? ???????? New injuries to each team (BC lost their fullback, the Pats lost Adalius Thomas) will test them down the line. Regardless of what the rest of the season brings for each, I was thrilled I got to see two passionate fanbases watch their team take their sixth win.

Let’s go Patrigles.