NBA Playoffs - Round 2

Being a sportsfan with a team in the playoffs shortens life expectancy...especially when any of the teams you are rooting for are from the Bay Area. Don't get me wrong, this past year in sports has been pretty amazeballs for the Bay -- SF Giants are the reigning World Series Champs, the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl, the SJ Sharks are currently in the playoffs, and the Warriors have made it to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs -- but these teams make it SO taxing to watch them!

Case in point --> Game 1 Warriors 127 - Spurs 129 2OT

The only time the Spurs led during regulation was during the first 30 seconds of the game when the score was 3-2. The Warriors were winning throughout the first 3.75 quarters of the game and gave up a 16pt lead to force OT. It looked like the Warriors were going to snap a 29-game losing streak to the Spurs at home, but that turned out to be wishful thinking. There are lots of little things I can complain about, but I'll spare you and just hope for the best in Game 2. After all, the Dubs lost Game 1 in the Denver series and came out on top there.


OTHER SPORTS NOTABLES (that have occurred since I last posted)

• Bulls take Game 1 from the Heat in Miami (sorry, Bron-Bron!)
• Giants swept the Dodgers in SF over the weekend
• Lakers were swept by the Spurs in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs
• NBA Player Jason Collins becomes the first male professional sports player to come out before retirement
• NFL Player Kerry Rhodes denies pictures rumors of being gay

NCAA March Madness Shockers

I know I've been on hiatus for a while, but had I written a post after Selection Sunday my advice on your bracket would be - flip a coin! Sure there have been years where the Final Four teams are only 1 and 2 seeds, but this year of college hoops has been ridic, to say the least. During the regular season the #1 ranked team fell to off-the-radar teams a handful of times, which is typically unheard of. With that being said and the outcomes of the first 1.5 rounds on the books, here are the upsets that prob F'ed your brackets hard.

ROUND OF 64
12 Cal (GO BEARS!!) over 5 UNLV - tied at halftime, the Bears kept the Rebels scoreless for 11min in the second half to eke out the upset. PAC-12 Player of the Year, Allen Crabbe, put up 19pts and 8 rebounds in the win but was unfortunately thwarted by Syrause in the next round. Syracuse's D was crazy on point and they stuffed Crabbe who was only 3/9 for the night. Womp.

12 Oregon over 5 Oklahoma State
12 Ole Miss over 5 Wisconsin
13 La Salle over 4 Kansas State
14 Harvard over 3 New Mexico
15 Florida Gulf Coast over 2 Georgetown

ROUND OF 32
12 Oregon over 4 St. Louis - Oregon is excelling at just the right moment. I think they were seeded too low to begin with, but they are now proving their worth and are headed to the Sweet 16. Yay PAC-12!!

9 Wichita State over 1 Gonzaga - It sucks to be the Zags right now as the first #1 seed out of the tourney, but Wichita shocked everyone by hitting 14 3-pointers in the game.

BTW, I am writing this post from Tamarindo, Costa Rica - this is the gringo bar I've been watching the games at ☺ Although I have been thoroughly enjoying all the beaches, my biggest irk is that I didn't find a place to do 13.3, a Crossfit Games Open workout, so now my online score will be incomplete. I know this gets me absolutely zero sympathy from anyone, but just needed to vent. Oh well. Pura Vida!

Hiatus Over
Ok, ok. Sorry for the hiatus. I thought I was just going to take a short 5-day break after my heart broke when the 49ers lost the Super Bowl (uggh, it still hurts me that they aren't undefeated in the SB anymore), but not much has been über exciting to me in the sports world as of late. My Golden State Warriors are on a six-game losing streak, womp. They haven't won since the Niners lost in the SB!

NBA All-Star Weekend, meh
I know this commentary is a few days late, but here it goes...I used to love NBA All-Star Weekend, but my fave event, the Slam Dunk Competition, keeps getting worse and worse! Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the athleticism it takes to dunk a basketball, but why can't Lebron or any other mega awesome bball phenoms compete?!? if Lebron can do this during the All-Star game 

along with a couple other great dunks (all in the first quarter too), why can't he do this for the Slam Dunk Competition? I feel like the NBA should have at least one spot for the fan vote for the Skills, 3-Point, and Slam Dunk comps. Lebron and everyone else in the NBA for that matter, are paid $$$$$$$ to play the game and entertain us. Do your job and entertain us dunking the ball!

The most interesting thing to me was the ridiculous outfits the players wore as spectators:

EXHIBIT A: Russell Westbrook

Yes. Those are camo suit pants.

EXHIBIT B: Kevin Durant & James Harden

James Harden has a hooded sweatshirt vest over a plaid button-up?

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Here's Durant before he took his jean vest off. Notice the detail of the black stars and other jewels studded onto his t-shirt. I wish I had a pic of both Harden and Durant in their vests... :P

EXHIBIT C: Dwayne Wade & Lebron James - Leather Pants!

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I'll be posting about March Madness soon, so keep an eye out for it!

SB47: Ravens 34 - 49ers 31 :(

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8912996

</3 HAR(t) B(r)AUGH(ken)...OK, I know that was stretching it, but it's hard to write this post. Baltimore played an amazing first half and the Niners weren't firing on all cylinders. Most notably Chris Culliver missed a TON of tackles that ended up in BIG plays for the Ravens. I can't help but think that this was karma from his jaw-dropping anti-gay remarks from earlier in the week...Dude! You play in SAN FRANCISCO. You can't say ignorant shiz like that!! I wanted to punch him in the face for every missed tackle/blown coverage.

At the end of the first half, the score was 21-6, Ravens. So you think (or hope with all your might) that the 9ers would make adjustments and play the same dominant game they have been playing the entire season, but then the first play happens (a Super Bowl record-making 108yd punt return, nbd), and the Ravens are up 28-6. Uggggh. But wait! Then there's a BLACKOUT and the Niners score 17 unanswered points to finish the 3rd quarter! It obvi turns out to be too little too late...(TMI alert - Don't read the rest of this paragraph  and skip to Beyoncé below if you're not a 49ers fan/don't really care about the details)...It's easy to play the shoulda-woulda-coulda game, but one thing that bugged me during the Niners comeback rally in the second half was the fact that they didn't go for the two-point conversions on their TDs in the third quarter. If you're down 22 points, the quickest conventional way to cut the deficit is 4 scoring possessions (3 - 7pt TDs and 1 - 3pt FG = 24pts), but if you take a more aggressive approach, the quickest way to get back in the game only requires 3 scoring possessions (3 TDs w/at least 2 successful 2pt conversions = 8+8+6=22). THIS IS THE SUPER BOWL. There is NO next game to regroup for...The 9ers should have played more aggressively in the second half and shouldn't have left the attempt for a 2pt conversion until their last TD in the 4th quarter. Also, in the 4th quarter when the Niners failed to score with 4 minutes left in the game, Kaepernick should have ran in for the TD from the 5yd line instead of trying to force a pass in the end zone. Womp.


Beyoncé Bowl

Destinys-Child-Super-Bowl.jpg

On a lighter note, Beyoncé absolutely KILLED the halftime show!! It was so exciting to see Destiny's Child reunited on stage and do Bootylicious :) There were 5.1 millions tweets about B's halftime performance, including one from FLOTUS herself - "Watching the #SuperBowl with family & friends.@Beyonce was phenomenal! I am so proud of her! -mo". Here's a link from Huff Post for other celebrity tweets on Mrs. Carter.

Super Bowl XLVII Basics+

If you're the type of person who watches the Super Bowl just for the commercials (I must admit I am def guilty of not watching the SB at all during a few of the Niners sucktastic years), here are some tidbits of information to keep you somewhat up-to-date on what happens in-between the commercials:

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The TWO Absolute Things You MUST KNOW:

• The San Francisco 49ers (5 SB Championships) are playing the Baltimore Ravens (1 SB win) in Super Bowl XLVII (SB47) at the Mercedes-Benz Super Dome in New Orleans
• John (Ravens) and Jim (49ers) Harbaugh are the first brothers to face each other in the Super Bowl as Head Coaches for each team. People will be calling this game HarBowl, Harbaugh Bowl, Sup-Har Bowl, Super Bro, etc...please don't get confused, we're all talking about the same game

Extra Stuff:

• Ray Lewis (Ravens LB) is retiring after Sunday. He's played in the league for 17yrs and is a future Hall of Famer. Lewis also leads the NFL in the post season with 44 tackles.
• Colin Kaepernick (49ers QB) will be making just his 10th career start, the 3rd fewest starts for a QB in the Super Bowl ever
• Both coaches have pulled some ballsy moves late in the season - The Ravens got rid of their offensive coordinator in December even though their record was 9-5, while the Niners replaced their starting QB during Week 11 even though their record was 7-2-1

Fun Stuff:

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• Alicia Keys is putting a spin on the National Anthem
• Beyoncé (& friends possibly? - Jay-Z, Destiny's Child, maybe even Alicia Keys???) is headlining the half time performance
• Here's a link to the list of SB47 commercial spots
• Did you vote for your favorite Doritos Crash the Super Bowl ad?
• How did this VW commercial cost $10 MILLION?!?

Super Bro Info:

Jim (L), John (Center), & Jack (R) images www.baltimoreravens.com

• John in 15 months older than Jim, but Jim is 3" taller
• Jim is the better athlete, having played 15yrs in the NFL, John is more studious and won the Football Scholar Athlete Award for his 4.0 GPA his last two years of college
• Their dad Jack has coached football for over 40 years
• Both John and Jim helped save their dad's career and Western Kentucky University by actively recruiting prospects in their spare time -- John (assistant at University of Cincinnati at the time) picked out players who didn't quite make the D-1 cut for Cinci and had Jim (star QB w/the Colts) visit with them one-on-one; they resuscitated the program together
• In 2007, Jim wanted John to be his defensive coordinator at Stanfurd (John declined and got a contract extension with the Eagles, then signed on as head coach to the Ravens a year later)
• Jim's son Jay is an intern for the Baltimore Ravens
• John fired his offensive coordinator Cam Cameron this season (see ballsy move mentioned above); Cameron (as an assistant) coached Jim when Jim was playing college football at Michigan 

Super Bowl Info Overload - aka Media Day

So today was Super Bowl media day, where most starters had to sit on a podium for an hour and be available to answer any and all questions from the media -- ranging from the serious (allegations of illegal behavior) to the inane (who's the best locker room dancer?). Niners DE Ray McDonald summed it up best saying, "It’s like Mardi Gras with cameras instead of liquor".

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Here are some things I learned (or was reminded of):

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Randy Moss (49ers WR) has a big mouth - He actually said, "I really do think that I am the greatest receiver to ever play this game". To which Jerry Rice responded, "You have to look at the stats, you have to look at how you impacted the game, and it’s all about winning this right here, this is it, the Super Bowl, and I was fortunate to win three" (Rice = 3 SB rings, Moss = zero). I do like that Moss' confidence is super high going into this game, but just look at the numbers and he's not even close to Rice.


Terrell Suggs (Ravens DE) might have ADD - from belting Meatloaf's I Will Do Anything for Love (I wish there was a youtube clip up of this!) to talking about his film in the Cannes Film Festival (he's a legit writer/producer/actor, yo! Just check out his imdb page) to saying he wants to go to Hogwarts or the lost city of Atlantis, Suggs is def a character.

Joe Flacco's (Ravens QB) dad thinks he's dull - la;skdj fpueadfghljkkdkalfasdjkl...I just dozed off thinking about writing about him. He's boring. End of story. 

Older Har-bro John (Ravens Head Coach) is weird (according to Raven's safety Bernard Pollard) :P The older Har-bro is actually pretty charming and eloquent and I do agree that he is the "teddy bear" of the two brothers. (Don't get me wrong though, I do <3 the fiery charisma of the younger Har-bro)

Alex Smith (49ers back-up QB) is a class act, through-and-through - he was bombarded with questions even though he didn't get a podium and still took the high road. I still feel bad for him...it sucks it took the team so long to actually click before his ability was recognized. I watched this video on him today and have even more respect for him (just a warning, the video is 20+min long, but is really well done and has some great Niners highlights).

Silliest question from media day - "On a scale of 1 to 10, how ticklish are you?" Flacco answered "5" (snore) and Anquan Boldin (Ravens WR) said he's "not ticklish at all"...he also looked like he wanted to eat the reporter who just asked him the question.

SIDENOTE: Today marks the 18th anniversary of the 49ers last Super Bowl victory. Niners won over the Chargers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX. Woot woot!

Sup-Har Bowl - Ray Lewis/Patrick Willis Spotlight

Three factoids to know for this post to make sense:

1. Jim Harbaugh is the head coach for the 49ers
2. Ray Lewis is a future Hall of Fame linebacker on the Ravens and is retiring after the Super Bowl
3. Patrick Willis is probably the best linebacker in the NFL right now and on the 49ers

Mind partially blown - Jim Harbaugh & Ray Lewis were both on the 1998 Ravens

http://i.imgur.com/uWAlqFD.jpg

Mind actually blown! - Lewis' 1st sack ever was...wait for it...Harbaugh! This happened in 1996 when Harbaugh was playing for the Colts (also the same year Harbaugh appeared on an episode of Saved By the Bell).

Linebacker Love

Ray Lewis : Patrick Willis :: Mufasa : Simba

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/mufasa-and-simba/images/17932601/title/mufasa-simba-screencap

Listening to a bunch of interviews this week I learned that Ray Lewis has been a mentor to Patrick Willis during his career and they call each other "Mufasa" and "Young Lion"...doesn't that your heart melt a little?!

 Patrick Willis baby onesie on Fox's The New Normal

NBC's The New Normal Season 1 Episode 14 - Gaydar

Someone on this show is a 49ers/Willis fan!!! For those of you who don't know, The New Normal is a TV show on Fox about a gay couple and their surrogate. The screenshot above is what Justin Bartha's character (yes, this is the guy from The Hangover) thinks is appropriate attire for his baby's birth announcement. :)

More Willis...

Duracell did a "Trust Your Power" spot about Willis' journey to the NFL; it's really well done and inspiring!

One Last Thing...Lewis/Willis wear the same number! (although not on purpose)

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1498026-ray-lewis-vs-patrick-willis-comparing-the-past-present-of-the-lb-position

Lewis and Willis are the motivational speakers for their respective teams and have lots of similarities. Click on the link above if you want to learn more from bleacher report's article on them.