The most amazing Full Court Press in America

Please tell me you all saw Duke-Clemson last night. Please. You didn't? Well in a nutshell, Duke got destroyed by Clemson 74-47, with several monster dunks by one Trevor Booker, including the best one, shown in this post's picture and also here for my video demanding readers:

This is all besides the point, though, because Duke COULD NOT HANDLE A FULL COURT PRESS.

The formerly #4 team in these United States of America could not deal with, handle, or break a full court press from the Clemson Tigers.

Completely panicked, unable to concentrate, rushing passes and dribbling in to traps, they looked like a high school team playing in their first real tournament. I have never seen a team so flustered against the press, and I am even more flabbergasted by the fact that Duke is normally always well prepared. This is something that is so basic, and something that these guys should have learned

back in High School or basketball camps. You break the press by good passing. I saw several plays on sportscenter where Clemson was able to apply wonderful pressure to the ball handler, and simply force stupid passes. I mean, I saw a play where Duke threw bad inbound passes. Unexcusable at this level. This is one step from the NBA! I was shocked that a Coach K team would be so bad, and his post-game press conference made me feel sorry for

what is going to happen to his guys at today's practice. Suicides and press break drills for all! According to the box score,Duke committed turnovers the first two times it saw the press and had three in the opening four minutes. All told, the Blue Devils finished with 16 turnovers to seven assists. Another huge reason Duke was destroyed was that Clemson did not allow them to drive and kick, as they have effectively done all season. In essence, Clemson's man to man defense was so good they were able to put one defender on the ball handler and not double to compensate for any penetration, effectively nullifying Duke's ability to kick the ball for wide open 3's. It also certainly didn't help that Duke shot around 30% from the field for the game.

This was the most lopsided loss suffered by Duke since the 1990 NCAA title game vs. UNLV. I guess we will just have to wait and see if Duke can learn from this and bounce back, or if this is a harbinger of things to come.

No credible threats to the Super Bowl....what's the deal with this venue?

According to an article from ESPN, The FBI is stating that their are no credible threats to SuperBowl XLIII, although there are plenty of credible concerns about effectively securing the venue. According to the article, A joint FBI and Homeland Security intelligence assessment cautions that Raymond James Stadium, the site of Super Bowl XLIII, does not have the typical security features of permanently secure buildings and arenas.

This sounds BAD. For a number of reasons. I guess the most important reason this sounds bad is that the FBI, press, and Security allowed a story like this to get out to the public, through the worldwide leader in sports, no less. Why don't they make a giant billboard for the terrorist saying, "Hit here!" It's normally not the smartest decision to publicize that you don't feel great about the venue not having "The typical security features of permanently secure building and arenas." I find that statement a bit interesting. Does that mean it lacks a centralized security command area? Scanners and Metal Detectors? The ability to quickly secure and lockdown the building in an emergency? It would seem that if it doesn't have the typical security features, it will need them in a hurry in order to host one of the biggest sporting events in the World. Especially at a time when America unfortunately is  disliked (even hated) throughout portions of the world. Even more terrifying, though, is the article's closing statement: Officials are also concerned that terrorists or criminals could impersonate government or military officials because some Florida law enforcement badges and uniforms were stolen in 2008.

What?! Excuse me?? You are saying publicly that it would be rather easy for a complete stranger or terrorist, if those uniforms got into the wrong hands, to waltz into the stadium and be granted access?? Homeland Security must be absolutely out of their minds. At the very least they need to completely change the uniform scheme for the SuperBowl staff and Security, and red flag the stolen uniforms style so that if someone shows up wearing it, they are placed under increased scrutiny. This is completely unacceptable and mind boggling to me. Have we learned NOTHING since 9/11? They (terrorist) wanted to fly planes into towers, they took flying lessons. They want to infiltrate the SuperBowl, they get actual authentic badges and uniforms. Follow my logic. It's not rocket science. I certainly hope that Homeland Security and the FBI get there act together to protect the NFL's "Crown Jewel" of stadiums, and the thousands of people who will be there to cheer their team.I can't imagine how devastating it would be for a Terrorist attack on an event we as a country hold so dear.

Brought Back for your reading pleasure... Classic post-For the last time....Kobe Bryant isn't better then MJ! (part 1)

In case you haven't paid a visit over to the worldwide follower in sports, they are doing a whole section of the site on the best Shooting Guard in NBA history, with the people voting, etc. etc. I would like to draw your attention to a post I did 6 months ago concerning the top 2 people on the voting list, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant:

It gets really old comparing Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, but lets try to look at it from 3 facets: statistically, physically, individual accolades, and overall team performance. Stats are probably easier to look at objectively, so we'll start with that.

Michael Jordan's first 9 seasons:

667 games:

32.3 Points per game
6.3 Rebounds per game
5.9 Assists per game
2.7 Steals per game
1.03 Blocks per game
84.6% FT (9x per game)
51.6% FG (24x per game)

And keep in mind this is factoring in the year he only played 18 games because of a broken foot. His stats were actually BETTER than this in the other 8 years.

Kobe Bryant's first 9 seasons:

627 games

22.4 Points per game
5.1 Rebounds per game
4.5 Assists per game
1.5 Steals per game
0.6 Blocks per game
83.1% FT (7x per game)
45.2% FG (17x per game)

And you people HONESTLY are trying to state that Kobe is as good as Jordan is, and could even end up greater?

Kobe would have to post averages better then 32 points a game for the next 11 seasons to tie Michael Jordan's career scoring title. In that final season, Kobe Bryant would turn 40.