Quick Hits

- In stunning news, the always-excellent Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News reports that the 2008 Lingerie Bowl has been canceled (for the second consecutive year) because of bungling from the promoters. Sounds like these guys are about as with it as the marketing team behind the NHL All-Star Game (that was this weekend, in case you didn't know. Which you didn't.)
- Following up our story yesterday on Kevin Love being heckled mercilessly by Oregon fans, here's a fan sign that is creative, well-done and isn't too personal. Well done, kid. The Duke abides.
- The Seattle Times on-going investigation of the 2000 Washington Huskies shows a level of malfeasance, corruption and lack of morals that, even for a cynical sports fan like me, is pretty shocking. As Deadspin pointed out, everyone associated with the team seem like horrible people. You'll want to bathe after reading the stories, just to get the filth off. And the head coach of that 2000 Huskies' team? Rick Neuheisel. Should be some...interesting times...at Westwood the next few seasons.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 12:11 PM 3 comments  

Quick Hits

• Former USC, Arizona and Missouri head coach Larry Smith died today in Tucson after a lengthy illness. He was 68. At least he lived long enough to see someone come along who would ensure that he wasn't remembered as the worst coach in modern USC history.
• Speaking of USC, I don't know if you got a chance to watch the game against Oregon on Saturday, but it was a doozy. USC "blew" a 14-point lead against the Ducks (and I put "blew" in quotes just because USC didn't play that mad down the stretch - Oregon was just unconscious from beyond the arc in the final three minutes), but still got off the deck to win in overtime. OJ Mayo scored 25 while dealing with persistent leg cramps (and having briefly been declared ineligible by the NCAA and then made eligible again after the whole free ticket mess), while Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis each had career-highs with 26 and 24 points each.
• Speaking of Oregon...coach Ernie Kent had to go out before the USC game and implore the student section to behave in an appropriate manner. This was on the heels of the game against UCLA on Thursday, which was the homecoming for Kevin Love. Needless to say, when Ben Howland uses the terms "vile," "inappropriate" and "disgusting" to describe the fans, it's pretty bad:

"One fan brandished a homemade placard alluding to the cocaine use of Love's cousin, Brian Wilson, of the Beach Boys. Others waved signs displaying the digits of Love's cell phone number or questioning his sexual orientation. And at one point, the entire sea of yellow-shirted Oregon students showered Love with profane taunts and screams of delight when he left the game after being poked in the eye."

I'm sure a lot of it was inappropriate and borderline awful...but referencing a coked-to-the-tits Brian Wilson? That's just funny. And terrible. But funny.

• And by "the luck of the draw," Premiership leaders Manchester United and Arsenal will face each other in the Round 16 of the FA Cup. It seems about as "random" as Triple H and John Cena drawing the Nos. 29 and 30 pills at the Royal Rumble last night - who knew Mr. McMahon was a soccer fan, much less ran the English FA?
  

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 3:25 PM 0 comments