Life on Mars and Other Random Thoughts

I finally finished watching ABC's version of Life on Mars and I'm not quite sure what to think yet! But let me give it a try...

The ending, well...I appreciate that there was an ending. Too many shows to list have let down fans by just stopping & never tying up loose ends (first ones coming to my mind are Las Vegas, The Nine & The Agency, two of which were also on ABC, one also starring Jason O'Mara). So ABC does deserve credit for finishing it, but that was the ending? ...(stop reading this paragraph if you haven't finished the show yet & come back another time)...A space trip to Mars with neurostimulated brain scenarios? The idea of it is somewhat fascinating in and of itself, but its an "empty" end to what was a pretty good show.

Which leads me to why it was canceled - I thought the Pilot was fantastic, then week 2 or 3 seemed to be a little too far out there, and it continued along like that for a few months. I know a number of people who gave up on the show during this time, as it was harder to follow, and had twists that just didn't make sense. In my non-TV critic opinion though, the February & March episodes knocked it out of the park. They had crisp story lines with "plausible" twists, while still being quirky enough to stand apart from other cop shows. Unfortunately, too many people had already given up on the show by then, and its fate was already sealed.

If you were one of the people who gave up on it, but liked it to start the season, I suggest going to iTunes & picking up the Feb & March eps. to see how it all came together - http://tiny.cc/iTunesLifeonMarsABC. It could be interesting to go back and watch again now that I know the ending too...I'm just wondering if the writers had decided what the ending would be from the very beginning.

Now on to the random thoughts:

• The Minnesota Timberwolves finished the season tonight with a loss to the Sacramento Kings, making their final record 24-58. As bad as this record feels, it is only the 7th worst record the team has had, though I wouldn't start bragging about that! The Wolves were 8 point favorites at home tonight, but even with some extra crowd support, they couldn't hang with the worst team in the league, who only has 17 total wins, with this being their 6th win on the road. Uff da (which is Norwegian speak for "good grief," or the equivalent of a really big sighing noise/exhale). Maybe having Senior Night (starting the 5 oldest players) backfired, but then they seemed to do better than the young guys. At least former Gopher basketball star Bobby Jackson, who never played for the 1997 Final Four team that never existed, had a nice night in the Twin Cities (14 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast & 4 stls)! The Wolves also only finished as the 6th worst team in the league, so they'll need some lottery ball help, which has never happened before. That means they are due, right? I have more thoughts about this T-Wolves season, but I'll save those for another day.


• Along the same lines, I'm wondering what teams think when they get rid of coaches who just couldn't "win the big game" only to find out without that coach, that they no longer get anywhere near playing in the big game! The T-Wolves experienced this with the still regrettable firing of Flip Saunders in 2005. All those first round losses in the playoffs look really nice compared to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs while people still have ornaments up on the Christmas trees! Phoenix Suns may be going through that same feeling now. They didn't actually fire Coach Mike D'Antoni, but there was a lot of grumbling from fans, the media, etc., and the team allowed him to talk to other teams about jobs, which is not exactly the same vote of confidence as say, a contract extension. D'Antoni made the Suns so much fun to watch, but they just couldn't get over the hump and win that big game. In the previous 4 years, they lost in the 1st round once, the Conference Semis once & the Conference Finals twice. This year, the NBA Live 2009 video game is the only way this roster will even be playing any first round games. D'Antoni's New York Knicks aren't going to be in the playoffs either, but considering the mess he inherited there, even the prickly New York fans are not bickering...too much! A first or second round loss would sound mighty good to Suns fans right about now!


• To update my short text blog yesterday about Minnesota Twins reliever Luis Ayala...well, it got worse. If you need a reminder, I wondered why the Twins signed Mets free agent relief pitcher Luis Ayala to fill the Neshek/Reyes void, when I had consistently watched Johan Santana leave Mets games with the team holding a lead, only to have every member of their bullpen collapse to send the team on their way to a loss. Yesterday I wasn't happy that Ayala's ERA was around 7. Silly me. After tonight's appearance vs. the Blue Jays, his ERA is a nice round 9.00 (for those of you who don't follow baseball stats, this means that if he were to pitch 9 innings, the length of a game, he'd average giving up 1 earned run per inning/9 runs for the game - which wouldn't include any unearned runs, generated with the help of things such as errors). His WHIP (Walks & Hits per innings pitched) is 2.17. The goal is to be around 1.00. Opponents are batting .429 against him. Even a healthy Joe Mauer can't hit .429...unless he got to bat against Ayala. The majority of Twins games are played at night, and on turf...his ERA on turf is 10.80 & at night is 11.25. The Twins won't be winning games when he appears. In fact, the Twins have only won 1 of the 6 games that he pitched in, a 6-5 win over Seattle in which he was the winning pitcher after they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th. Of course, if he hadn't given up a run in the top of the 9th inning, the Twins would only have needed 2 runs to win. Yet the writers of the stats rules say he's the winning pitcher, because he was the last guy on the mound before they made their comback. I am rarely the critical fan about players, and usually give them the benefit of the doubt too much (I'm still sad that Juan Rincon is gone, even though I had gotten to the point that I no longer wanted to see him in games, but I still had a hard time saying anything bad about him!), but Ayala is not a long-term Twin that I'm pulling for out of loyalty. So far he just looks like a bad free agent signing!


• Finally, speaking of relievers, why did the Twins let Bobby Korecky get away on waivers? I thought he was back on the Triple A Rochester Red Wings, until I saw stats from him pitching for Arizona, suddenly appearing on my phone. During the time that he failed to clear waivers, I had a personal family issue going on, and wasn't paying much attention to those details, so I was surprised to learn that today. Korecky did much better than Ayala in his first attempts at pitching in the big leagues when he came up with the Twins a few times last year! I was really hoping that the multiple time Triple A All-Star closer could get a spot in the Twins bullpen for the long term, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. At least I was there at the Dome when he got his first major league hit last year, in what should stand as the one and only hit recorded by a pitcher in an MLB game at the Metrodome! That was pretty fun. He pitched pretty well too in that extra inning game, coming in to a very tight situation & shutting down the Rangers, picking up his first MLB win the same night he got that first hit, all of which allowed the Twins to have the celebration pictured below! I'll miss you Bobby! http://tiny.cc/BobbyKoreckyNight
  

I watched the 2008 Mets bullpen consistently blow leads handed to them by ace Johan Santana. So exactly why did the Twins go after Mets reliever Luis Ayala???

My Top Priorities While I Have no Income

Like many others around me, I am currently unemployed. Mine is a result of post-concussion syndrome/Mild traumatic brain injury issues, not the economy (as my job is still being held and performed well by the person who replaced me!), but regardless, I am in that position that many are familiar with right now. I decided to think about what my top priorities are for the $ I do have. Thank heavens for that 201k...I mean 401k, that I could siphon some $ from now!

The obvious things are paying for health insurance, car insurance, family related things, etc., but that's boring. Yes, I will be doing all that, but my list of top priorities does not include those obvious things, just like your to-do list for the day likely doesn't include "Brush My Teeth," "Take out the dog before leaving for work" or "Visit the bathroom if the need arrives rather than investing in Depends." So that being said, here are my top priorities while I have no income (in no particular order):

• Keep my Minnesota Twins Season tickets. When I've mentioned this to people, some have said something about "keeping my priorities straight." Yep, I am. And as you can now see, this is a top priority! I decided to join the season ticket family, a dream I have had since I was a little kid wearing my Twins spring/fall weather jacket, on the same day that I punched myself to start this whole concussion adventure. It was when I tried to read the benefits of being a season ticket holder, that I noticed that all the words were fuzzy. But nonetheless, I joined up! I want to be in that new stadium, enjoying outdoor baseball (on opening day and then in May, June, July & early September...I might pass on cold April & hot August, but I hope October is part of the package!), no matter what it takes. Even if I need to walk out the door of my temporary home at Mary's Place across the street, I will be a season ticket holder next year (when I do have an income again though, I will be sending donations Mary's way, even if I never need to use her services!) Twins have proven to me the past few years how much they care about and appreciate their fans, and it is an honor to be a season ticket holder for my favorite team among all the sports teams that I love a lot!


• Continuing the annual tradition of going to Sarasota, FL every August (hence the word "annual") to the timeshare my parents bought back in 1979. The maintenance fees cost enough to make a down payment on a cabin in Northern Minnesota, but this is about memories and having a very special place that feels like home, except the Gulf of Mexico is right in front of me when I sit on the lanai & stare out the ceiling to floor windows. My sister hasn't been able to go there as much lately due to her job, which is very disappointing, but I'm hoping she can get there some this year, and I'm hoping when she gives me nieces & nephews down the road, that I can take them down to the beach if she has to stay home and work (with the full-time babysitter that she'll obviously be sending along with them, as I would just be there for the fun parts!) There is no other place that has been in my life for that long. My childhood house was sold when I was a senior in high school, grandparents moved from their house where we spent so many holidays, and even my high school/middle school is finishing up a long process of upgrading & improving to the point that I would not even recognize it if not for the "Minnehaha Academy" signs outside on the lawn. Sarasota Sands is that one constant, a place where I can completely relax as soon as I walk through the doors & throw down my bags. A place where I know the options of where to eat and shop, even better than I know those same things in most of the Minneapolis suburbs. The only place where I am fine with showing off my white Minnesotan legs by wearing shorts all the time.


• Dingo bones. If you have a dog, and haven't discovered these yet, please do your dog a favor and go to http://www.dingobrand.com/ and order some treats! They are rawhide bones that have real meat (with a rawhide like texture) mixed in them. They are like crack for my dog, Cookie. My sister's dog Keesha loves them too, so whenever I got money for whatever reason, I always place an order on their website to be shipped to my house & my sister's place. Taking care of the dogs is extremely important! My only suggestion might be to invest in a gas mask. Sometimes, well, as the dog is digesting it all, it doesn't smell so good, but that's a small price to pay for their extreme happiness!!


• DirecTV w/sports pack & Tivo service...I keep hearing that getting rid of cable or satellite will save money, and that sounds great, but its not happening. I'll go for the pity factor. I used to be an extremely avid reader. After reading an average of 10-12 hrs a day at work, I would read at least another 2-5 hours at home. Books, magazines, web sites, emails, etc. I love reading. Unfortunately, that aforementioned head trauma thing has affected that. I am up to being able to read an average of 2 hours a day, spread out at different times. On a really good day, I might hit 4 hours, but then I tend to pay for it with reduced cognitive function a few days after that. So if I can't read like I'd like to do something other than stare at the walls and slowly move toward complete insanity...TV is definitely a necessity! The Sports pack is required because Gonzaga's regular channel for their games is Fox Sports NW (Seattle), which is part of the Sports Pack. I believe I only missed one game all year on TV, only because it was shown on delay on FSNW. Every other game was on FSNW (or one I caught on FS Pittsburgh), or one of the three ESPN options. I would say Gonzaga games fall under the "need" rather than "want" category! : ) Then, without DirecTV (or crappy cable) I wouldn't get 90% of the Twins games, or any of the Gopher basketball games. Yeah, we're keeping the TV!


• Internet/Cell Phone - Gotta get on the web...I don't see people often away from the house anymore, but I get to stay connected with friends through Facebook, text messages, etc. Plus I get to post tons of photos for people to laugh at, which serves an important purpose of enriching people's lives and improving their mental health & inner balance! Oh, and how could I write this blog without my DSL or unlimited data plan on the cell phone?? Case closed.

I'm not sure what would go first if I got to a place where I had to start eliminating them, but there is no question that the #1 priority would always be to take care of the little 4-legged princesses in my life, so Dingo Bones top the list! Now I need to start googling to find that gas mask...

Random Thoughts for a Friday night/Saturday morning

Here are a few thoughts that crossed my mind recently:

• Due to injuries, Minnesota Wild Forward Marian Gaborik has only played in 13 of the teams’ 78 games to date. He has 9 goals & 5 assists in those 13 games, for a total of 14 points. The 9 goals make him 10th on the team, even though he’s only played in 17% of the games. He’s one of only 5 members of the team to have a positive +/- number for the year (and two of the other guys have spent half the year in the minors). His 1.08 points per game far surpasses anyone else on the team (Captain Mikko Koivu is 2nd with 0.84 points per game). The Wild as a team are currently on the outside looking in for the Western Conference playoff race, needing to probably win 3 or 4 of their final 4 games, and get help from some other teams, in order to sneak in to the post-season. They’ve won 47% of their games this year, and had 9 games where they earned 1 of a possible 2 points with an overtime loss (22% of their losses were OT losses). With Gaby in the line-up, they’ve won 62% of the time, and 40% of their losses were OT losses where they earned that 1 point and didn’t go home completely empty-handed. Basically what all of this stats mumbo-jumbo is saying (and the numbers are a lot simpler than they may look!), is that if Marian Gaborik had stayed healthy this year, the Wild would be trying to play for home advantage in the playoffs right now, rather than crossing their fingers & hoping that enough other teams lose for them to slide in to the second season. What I don’t know, is if that’s an argument for the team to try to hold on to him whatever it takes, or an argument for the team to cut ties, and try to find a difference maker who might be on the ice a little more often than the frequently injured Czech all-star. Wild fans saw what happened last year though, when he stayed on the ice for the essentially the whole season – the team won its first Northwest Division Championship. Hmm…
  


• Life on Mars on ABC. Poor Jason O’Mara never seems to get a show that lasts long. He was in The Agency, In Justice & now Life on Mars. The Agency lasted the longest at 22 episodes. In Justice was 13 & Life on Mars has been canceled after 17 eps. (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0641816/) I have watched Life on Mars all season (but don’t tell me how it ends since I am 3 episodes behind on my iPod), and haven’t been sure what to think. I thought the first couple episodes were great, and they hooked me in, but then the next one was just odd, and it seemed to alternate between a fun & different cop show, to too bizarre to really watch. All the ones from February have, in my opinion, really clicked and demonstrated what the show could be, but it had already lost too many viewers by that point, and was canceled. I loved the concept of the guy being stuck in 1973 & not knowing if it was a dream, a coma, time travel, etc., but they just experimented with making it too many different kinds of shows early on. Disappointing. Good thing Burn Notice comes back in June for Season 3 (and I’m following @jeffrey_donovan on Twitter in the meantime- he plays Michael Westen - as gives little updates on the filming & even some fun photos from the set).
  


• My latest sports rant is about slam dunk contests. They need to change. I think after years of stagnant, boring type competitions, the dunks have gotten much creative again, from the high school level, to college, to the pros, but the judging needs to change. One, get judges that have a clue. Jon Secada doing the high school one? Calvin Johnson (Detroit Lions wide receiver) doing the college one, and giving a 7 on a dunk when everyone else gave it a 10 might show that he didn’t really know what defines a good dunk. Two, let them use video replay in their voting! With some of the creative dunks that kids come up with these days, its sometimes hard to catch all of what they did when watching it in real time as it happens. Some dunks don’t look quite so impressive until you see the replay, and then I often find myself thinking “How on earth did they do that?” I realize this is not quite as important as improving the economy & establishing world peace, but this has a much easier fix too!



• Congrats to Gonzaga basketball seniors who had some fun this week in Detroit. While it wasn't for the Final Four, as they would've wished, they made their presence felt in the College All-Star competitions. Jeremy Pargo & Micah Downs were two of the eight participants in the slam dunk contest. They each had some of the best dunks in the first round, and advanced to the semis, but failed to get their dunks down in the Semis, so hence, didn't advance to the finals. One of Pargo's dunks made the Sportscenter highlights though: http://tiny.cc/2009CollegeDunk and one You Tube site showed all the 1st round dunks http://tiny.cc/09DunkRd1 and here are a couple other good Pargo dunks from real Gonzaga games: http://tiny.cc/PargoatSMC, http://tiny.cc/Pargo360, http://tiny.cc/PargoAkron. Unfortunately, even though Micah Downs had one of the best game dunks I've seen last year, which was #1 Top Play on Sportscenter, I can't find a video of it online, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but I did find one little dunk video I took last year, which is at the end of this post. I haven't figured out how to edit videos yet, so after Micah's dunk there is a lot of nothing, and then a fairly routine Ira Brown dunk, so just watch the beginning! Then in the Hershey's All-Star Basketball Game, big man Josh Heytvelt played a big role in team Reese's coming back to win, as he hit a go-ahead 3 pointer late in the game, finishing with 17 pts & 11 rebounds, in another opportunity for him to show off to the scouts his ability to play inside & outside. http://tiny.cc/HeytveltReeses



• Jeremy Pargo also did his part earlier this year to help promote the "Coaches vs. Cancer" fight for the Spokane area chapter. Zags coach Mark Few has had many fundraisers, which have made him the #2 money raising coach nationwide for Coaches vs. Cancer. Pretty impressive for the smaller school in a very small media market! Here's a video that Jeremy Pargo did, and yes, this text number is still applicable to make $5 donations to the cause! http://tiny.cc/PargoCVC
  


• Finally, those of you reading this on Facebook, you should take a look at what will be a continuing series of a photo diary, where Sleepy (as in the 7 Dwarfs) shares the picture story of his life, traveling with me for work trips & vacations, including his thoughts and comments. He got started yesterday, but I'm only letting him do a few pictures at a time, so you'll have to keep checking in on him! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67181&id=533074373&l=26b89ea2fd.
  

NCAA Basketball - why aren't coaches & players treated the same when "transferring"?

NCAA coaches & players have totally different rules, and something isn't right about that. Washington St. men's basketball coach Tony Bennett is taking the open head coaching spot at the University of Virginia (read about it at http://tiny.cc/wEQya). I have no issue with him switching jobs, and going to the ACC school with the state of the art basketball facilities that UVA alum Jeff Kelberg keeps mentioning when he says they can't settle for mediocrity. He will be able to start coaching the team right away, and will be sitting on the Cavaliers bench all next season. (As the article shows, this also was a big surprise, because Bennett turned down the Indiana coaching spot last year, which led everyone to believe he probably planned to stay at Wazzu for a long time).

Meanwhile, the Cougars have players like soon to be sophomore Klay Thompson, the son of former Minnesota Gophers/Portland Trailblazers/L.A. Lakers great Mychal Thompson. Klay got upset and according to his father, wanted to go somewhere else, but dad calmed him down and reminded him that he'd have to sit out a year if he transferred to another school (a talk he likely had with oldest son Mychel last year, when Pepperdine coach Vance Walberg resigned mid-season). Why should Klay have to sit out though, if he wants to do the same thing his coach is doing?

I believe if the head coach of a school quits/is fired/goes to another school, kids from that team should be allowed to transfer with no penalty of sitting out a year, and kids who want to transfer to that team should be allowed to play right away as well. It wouldn't penalize kids who made this huge college decision based on a coach who is no longer going to be there, and it might give some other kids a chance to get more playing time, simply because kids who were recruited by the original coach want to go elsewhere.

That's really the only "fair" option, because heaven knows the NCAA would never make the coaches sit out a year, nor would that really make sense to anyone. Just even it out for the kids. Those Washington St. players are the ones who put the wins up on the board that made Tony Bennett desirable to a team on the other side of the country!

Meanwhile, the Washington St. head coaching spot is open now. According to the Seattle Times article by Bud Withers (the link found earlier in this blog), all 4 leading candidates have some sort of connection to my Gonzaga Bulldogs:

• Portland St. coach Ken Boone might not have coached with the Zags, but he holds the rare honor of having coached a team to victory at Gonzaga in the 2nd version of the "Kennel," the McCarthey athletic center. Since the new Kennel opened in the fall of 2004, the only opposing teams to win there have been Santa Clara, the aforementioned Washington St. (coached by Tony Bennett) and Portland St. this season.
• Ray Giacoletti just finished his 2nd year as an assistant coach for the Zags, after being the head coach at Utah and prior to that Eastern Washington, which is in the same general vicinity as Gonzaga & Washington St. He took a Gonzaga team known for being all offense and no defense, and turned them into the team that finished with the 2nd best opponent field goal shooting % in the country this season (after being #1 up until the last week of the season, when Memphis took over...speaking of schools where the head coach is about to take another job).
• Billy Grier, San Diego Toreros head coach. Prior to his last two years in the sunshine, and the 2008 NCAA tournament upset of UConn, Bill Grier spent 16 years as an assistant to Mark Few, Dan Monson & Dan Fitzgerald when they took their turns as head coaches of the Zags.
• Dan Monson, Long Beach St. head coach. He is, of course, the Gonzaga coach that started the string of 11 straight NCAA tournament appearances, and the only one to lead them to an Elite 8 (with both Mark Few & Billy Grier on his staff). Then he decided to take the money and head for the "greener pastures" of the Big Ten, and the sanction riddled Minnesota Gophers. Unfortunately, someone forgot to water the grass in those pastures, and he endured a long, bumpy, probably not all that fun ride in Minneapolis, but as a Gopher fan, I appreciate that he got the team out from under the weight of the scandal, and got the players back into class again! They didn't win enough though, so he was given the opportunity to resign before they were going to show him out the door if he didn't.

Odds are, one of these men will be named the new Washington St. Cougars head coach. I hope its someone that young sharpshooter Klay Thompson enjoys playing for over the next 3 years!

Tonight's Random Thoughts/Tidbits

After I told my mom that I would probably write a lot about sports in my blog, she said she hoped I'd do more than that, because I have such deep thoughts that I could write. I can see it now - "Deep Thoughts with Liz Strand" but for some reason, that "Deep Thoughts" title sounds familiar already. Hmmm.

I'm in the mood for shorter tidbit thoughts, so here goes:

• I get how the 5-hour Energy drink/shot could be effective, as it does include the amount of caffeine that is in a premium coffee, which ranges from 100-200 mg, depending on where you get it. Apparently brewing at home is closer to 100 mg, while Starbucks is closer to 200 mg. What I don't get, however, is how the Decaf 5-hour Energy works. Caffeine doesn't always work for me. Sometimes it actually makes me more tired, among the other odd ways I react to it, so I thought I'd try the Decaf version (only 5 mg of caffeine), and it actually worked, making me feel more energized and lively for a few hours. My question is, was that 100% psychological, because I believed that it would work, or does the "Energy Blend" in it, plus a few other vitamins, actually make a difference?
• Back to sports (sorry mom, but at least I had one non-sports thought there). The #4 seed Vanderbilt women's basketball team definitely gave #1 seed Maryland quite a scare today, before falling short at the end. It reminded me of the #3 seed Gonzaga men vs. the #2 seed UCLA team back in 2006 (picture Adam Morrison crying on the court and it will all come back to you). Vandy led by 18 in the 1st half; Zags led by 17. Vandy led by 9 with about 5 min left in the game; Zags led by 10 with about 5 min left in the game. Vandy only scored 3 points the rest of the game; Zags only scored 2 points the rest of the game. I have a friend who is a Vanderbilt fan, so I was pulling for them to win, plus I have a healthy "sports-related bitterness" feeling toward Maryland coach Brenda Frese, after she used the University of Minnesota women's team as a stepping stone/group of girls to walk all over on a very brief stop as the head coach of the Gophers. Bummer. Thankfully, the Vanderbilt loss won't enter my nightmares like the Gonzaga-UCLA loss did for many days after it happened. (I'd say those nightmares were still happening now, but that might lead some people to question my sanity, so I'm sticking by my story that they only lasted a few days).
• I admit that I did not participate in Earth Hour tonight, as I was watching the Hopkins-Osseo Boy's Basketball MN State tournament game between 8:30 and 9:30, although I didn't actually have a light on, as I always watch TV in the dark in my basement. I was a bit curious though, since my sister is in Las Vegas celebrating her 30th Birthday right now - exactly how would Vegas go about turning off the lights for an hour? That would be bad for tourism, but could really up the overtime hours for those crime lab stars on CSI:!
• I'm wondering if it is possible to have an addiction to something that technically has no addictive qualities. In honor of Sarah's 30th birthday, while she is celebrating in Vegas, I ordered a Cookies by Design frosted pan cookie for me to share with the parents (I did order her a cookie package that she got in Vegas too). I cannot resist it. Its a large pizza size chocolate chip cookie with a lot of frosting on it. I have to continually fight the urge to eat it. I also love chocolate, but as people may recall from back in the day when I had the candy jar on my desk (and had the extra candy locked up to protect it from Newman & other candyaholics who would stoop to theft in order to get their fix), I had no problem ignoring that and not eating it...although the same cannot be said for some people who walked past my desk a lot! So why do the frosting covered cookies have a pull on me that I feel I am powerless to resist?

On that note, I'm going to let my tired little brain get some much needed rest, and hope it has some energy tomorrow!

How Zags could've beaten North Carolina

I have a few thoughts in my mind, which must be what kept me awake until 6:20am today. Just to clarify, I in no way think I know more than Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few, nor am I questioning anything he did. I'm just expressing what I observed about the game.

The turnovers were a huge issue, and leaving jump shooters open was a problem, but I think if Gonzaga had taken good shots, they could've beaten North Carolina. Rick Pitino, head coach of #1 overall seed Louisville, said after their win over Arizona yesterday "That's the great myth for us. People say you're not a good shooting team. We're not when we take challenged shots. When we pass, we're a great shooting team. Our press feeds off the passing and the scoring." ( http://tiny.cc/RickPitino ) That was a major issue for the Zags, and I believe it stems from how they played against "lesser" teams all year. They took way too many long jump shots without ever passing the ball inside, or driving the ball inside first. On Friday, those shots usually didn't go in, and North Carolina was able to get the long rebound and run down in transition to score. Over, and over, and over.

Gonzaga was able to get away with doing this all season long against teams that were not as good, but by getting in those bad habits, it kept coming out on Friday night against a much tougher opponent. When the Zags drove inside first, or passed inside first, good things happened! Heytvelt scored or was fouled, Bouldin took a smaller defensive player to the hoop, or it was passed out for an easier jump shot for someone like Gray. I'd been arguing this point to my family watching the game with me, the whole night. Clark Kellogg started to say the same things on CBS all throughout the 2nd half (I'm fairly certain I never thought that Billy Packer and I were on the same page in the past!).

I completely believe that UNC is the best overall team in the tourney this year, and as Mark Few also said "It's just -- and I've said all along, if all 16 of us, if we all play at the top of our game, North Carolina wins the national championship. I just feel like, when they're playing at their highest end, they're better than the rest of us. " (http://tiny.cc/LL5nY ) I also believe that North Carolina didn't necessarily play their very best, but had a chance to show off their best skills because of offensive mistakes made by Gonzaga .

Alas, we'll never know. Thanks to Jeremy Pargo for 4 years of intense dedication and fun moments; to Josh Heytvelt for showing everyone how a tough experience can make a person better overall, both on and off the court; to Micah Downs for taking on the true "Zag" role this year, as the biggest hustler & scrapper on the team, combined with a very high talent level; to Ira Brown for showing fans some special athleticism and energy off the bench; and to Andrew Sorenson for always being fun to cheer for, for always being the first off the bench to great teammates, and for making us all smile with the 15 pts on senior day!

Liz's First Blog Post

I have always done a lot of writing in the past, and I started text messaging before it was the cool thing to do (way back in 2000...). I gave in to peer pressure and joined Facebook, and write too many thoughts there, and I started the microblogging on Twitter, but I've never done an actual blog. I'm guessing no one will be standing in line to read my blogs, but I figure this is a good way for me to get some of my thoughts "on paper" and express them, because I've always found that things make more sense when I write them down. Even if no one else reads them!

This blog won't have one special subject matter or focus, but it will just be whatever is on my mind. Of course, most of the time, that would be something related to sports! But some Disney thoughts might creep in as well, or just random things that come to mind. I just want to get myself writing again, and see if that inspires me to do more writing!