Tag / MSU

by Greg

Basketball Solitaire?

Everyone is talking basketball these days. It’s March Madness time. Most brackets have been thrown in the trash. Four teams fans are still happy for now. (Including me! Go State!)

Well, I guess I’m getting in on the action. After a couple years “off”, I found another friend (with at least a slightly flexible schedule) who can play basketball with me some mornings. We’re getting a very slow start to our new routine (we’ve only actually done it once in the past three weeks) but it is going to be a good thing once we DO get to it! 🙂

Today, however, my friend wasn’t able to make it, so after 15 minutes of shooting around I decided that since I came to get a workout, I would to do try my basketball solitaire game. It’s quite tiring, actually! Full court, one person … non-stop running.

I could definitely tell that it’s going to take a few more weeks to get back into any sort of (good) shape!

But, next time you have a gym to yourself, perhaps you can get a good workout and try to beat today’s score? (51… not too shabby after a few years on the shelf!)

by Greg

The End

Well, it was a great, great season, and a great run through the NCAA tournament for my Spartans, but last night, it came to a screeching halt. Not only did they lose the game, and not only did they lose it by 17 points, they were simply a shell of who they had been all season, and through the previous 5 games in the tournament. They had more than 20 turnovers, they were dominated on the boards (they led the entire nation in rebounding margin in the 2008-2009 season) and their shooting percentage was just horrible.

Still, they kept getting to within about 15 points for the last 10 minutes of the game or so. They were playing some pretty good defense, and started to catch up in the rebound column… but it was too late, and, well… you have to hit some shots! Sheesh! 🙂

It was a great season, though. Definitely fun to see my team get so far, do so well.

The Sabres on the other hand…

They played last night, too. Actually, they played Saturday night as well. Lost both times. Pretty badly. On Saturday, to their credit, they made a valiant attempt at redeeming an awful game. They got the score to 3-2 after being down 3-0 to start the third period. Dominated the third, but lost. And it was a key loss. Had they won it, they would have tied the team directly above them, and been very much “in the hunt” for the last playoff spot.

But they did not.

So, last night, they needed to win, well, pretty much the remaining four games in the season. Tough task against one of the best teams from the Western Conference, Detroit, but it’s what they had to do. It was 0-0 through half of the game, until they allowed a power play goal… then it just crashed and burned. They ended up losing 4-1.

They still have a slight chance at making the playoffs. They would need the three teams ahead of them to lose most or all of their games, while they win all three of theirs… right. Not going to happen.

The difference between the two endings is, even though MSU was not “on their game” they still kept their heads in the game, and were sticking around to the end. The Sabres… I guess you could say they are trying, and they are “sticking around” to the end, but it also seems pretty obvious that they don’t belong. I’d look for major player turnover in the offseason for the Sabres, while the Spartans will return largely the same team of guys… meaning it should be a good season next year, too!

So, my teams are done… time to start getting ready for Buffalo Bills football!!! 🙂

by Greg

R.I.P. Big Ten

With State being trounced 92-74 tonight, that completed the “sweep” of the Big Ten teams in the NCAA tourney this year. Two made it to the Sweet Sixteen, none made it past that. Quite uncommon.

State scored 54 points in the second half, and did pretty well in all aspects of the game for that 20 minutes. That should tell you how the first half went. 🙂

In other sporting news…

The Sabres did manage to salvage a point, but gave up another lead to lose in overtime. They basically threw away a much-needed point. That pretty much sums up the Sabres’ 2007-2008 season. Work really hard, get some great goals… then have the other team tie it with 14 seconds to go, only to lose in OT. (I believe it’s our 12th OT loss.) Surprisingly they are still in the hunt for the final playoff spot, but at this point, every game is a win or your out kind of game. Fun stuff.

So, it looks like my teams are either out, or soon to be out of my two favorite annual sporting events. Not a good sports day here!

by Greg

March Madness

I may have mentioned this in years past, but I must say… 18 March Madnesses ago, my friend Adam invited me to his house, and he invited Jen Walker. And that night, a friendship began that is still going strong, and only getting better. I sure love my Jen, and in a strange way, March Madness reminds me of that. 🙂

The tourney is also fun when my team (Michigan State) advances. They did that today with a pretty easy win over #12 Temple. #4 Pittsburgh is next. Bring ’em on! 🙂

by Greg

My Teams

As many of you know, I am a sports fan. Many sports, but not all sports. (You won’t find any baseball, golf, auto-racing, or gymnastics being discussed here…) Well, there’s a good deal going on with all of my favorite teams, so I thought I’d give a brief update to those who might be interested (or wonder what sorts of things I and the Campbell fam are doing these days…)

Buffalo BillsBuffalo Bills
Obviously I am following this team the closest, as I still have the number one Buffalo Bills show on the internet! 🙂 The Bills are also making it fun! Two weeks ago they benched last year’s starter – for good – and brought in the first year guy Trent Edwards, who after a 4-touchdown game last week is now 5-1 as a starter! That’s fairly amazing for a rookie, but when you factor in the unprecedented amount of injuries this team has suffered, and the already “green” talent that he has to work with anyway… that’s almost impossible!

Believe it or not, the talk around Bills country is that this team of injury replacements actually has a very good shot at making the playoffs! If they win their last three games, they will finish 10-6, and the best the other two teams they are contending with can do is 10-6. Now, if they all finish with that record it’s bad – crazy tie-breaking procedures – but, if just one other team is tied with them… the Bills will go to the playoffs. (I know… ridiculously hard to understand, but I do think I finally get it.) Basically, if we win all our games, and Tennessee loses just one… we’ll go to the playoffs for the FIRST TIME since 1999! Wow!

So, we’re pretty excited here, and had one of our most fun shows last night. If you’ve never checked out our Buffalo Bills show, click the link and check it out. You might like it even if you’re not a Bills fan. 🙂

Buffalo SabresBuffalo Sabres
I got to see a Sabres game last night – which is rare these days, since we’re not paying the outrageous price for cable just to get the channel that carries their games! – and it was … not so good. Strange, really. The Sabres (if you’ll recall) were the President Trophy winners last season. That means they finished the season with the most points and the best record. Of all the teams… they were the best.

BUT, this year has been very different. They are near the bottom. Were AT the bottom at one point. Bad bounces, players lost in the off-season, injuries, strange bad luck. I saw more of it last night. They outshot the other team more than 2-1, but only scored one goal! Goal posts, great saves, missing the net, more great saves… it was crazy. And so, they are 13-14-1. I don’t think they had 14 losses till March last year! 🙂

Michigan State UniversityMichigan State Football
Yes, my Spartans are in a Bowl Game! December 28th at 5:00pm you can catch the Spartans and the Boston College Eagles on some channel somewhere. 🙂 They have a pretty good team this year. Some stars on both sides of the ball… lost a lot of close games in a very tough conference. They hung with the #2 team in the country, Ohio State. (Or are they #1? I forget…) They are all a bunch of young guys, too… so expect to see them near the top of the Big Ten next season!

That’s a pretty good update for now. There might be more, but I need to get back to working on websites 🙂

Go Bills, Sabres and Spartans!