Seeing as The Best of the Sports Rant has been constantly searched by users of this site and has been, also, continually in the upper half of articles read, I figured we shell out a Part 2. Well, not exactly a part two because when I went nosing around YouTube.com, I found some video that is just priceless but not exactly a rant. So, while it might stray a little in consistency, it doesn’t stray in hilarity. One of these videos is truly one of the funniest things ever put to film and another one shows how quickly the human psyche can snap (in a funny way). So, with no real discernable introduction to this article, let’s get it on. Check out this link for the first installment. Read It Here

Sometime last week, the Grizzlies did something that we’ve been waiting on for almost six months- they secured themselves the worst record in the NBA. And don’t for a second believe it was as easy as it sounds. First, they had to run out the string better than the Milwaukee Bucks, who at last report were starting a group that consisted of three players from Our Lady Of The Good People But Bad Athletics Varsity High School team in Wabash, Wisconsin, they had to navigate the losses batter than the Edward John Smith led, err Doc Rivers led, Boston Celtics. (By the way, when I Googled ‘NBA Lottery Odds’, the first thing that came up was the interview below with the Celts Basketball Operations Analyst. When people remember back in ten years about how truly bad this Celtics run has been under Rivers and Ainge, that should definitely be one of the bullet points at or near the top of the page. ‘Screw the League office, if anyone knows how the Lottery works it’s the Celtics front office.’ Sadly, Bill Simmons is hitting his shins with a tire iron right now.) But hey, Grizz fans, we got want we wanted.

While under the complete knowledge that anything Soccer will turn most Americans away quicker than a Courtney Love on-stage photo shoot (or a Pat Summitt cheerleading spread), I am still going to recommend this book to all. Soccer, while a hardcore pastime of mine, has not yet entered that phase of most teenaged and adult Americans. And no, David Beckham isn’t going to change that in the near future. But, as far as comedy goes, this book is a nonstop laugher. And, in the way the English treat their extraordinarily wealthy hero’s, there is also a lesson to be learned by all American sports fans.

(Eds Note: The Promotions for a game are listed within the parentheses next to the opponent. Kids are allowed to run the bases on every Sunday following the game. Sundays will be designated with a # next to the date of the game. Click on the link and the entire schedule with all promotions are there. Remember, the promotions are subject to change and we'll try to keep them as up to date as possible. And, as always, Go Redbirds!)

I’ll admit it. Ever since the brackets came out, I wanted to write about this game. Not for the storylines and not for the Tigers attempt to break through the apparent glass ceiling and punch through to Atlanta. Nope, none of this intrigues me more than anticipated Steel Cage match that will be played in the low blocks between to men who look like George Burns compared to normal collegiate basketball players. Joey Dorsey v. Greg Oden in the winner takes all Death Match. They should let Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan referee this thing. No fouls. Just let them bang it out and see who’s left standing. I am being very serious about this. Billy Raftery said it best in the last game “If you’re not fast, you don’t need to be on this court.” Let’s change this one to “If you don’t have the ability to be a WWE wrestler, don’t get on the court.” By the way, this game could only make Dorsey millions of dollars. All we’re missing is the masks, the square circle and goofy nicknames.

(Editor’s Note: Sorry to all of you who aren’t following the Tigers and the NCAA Tournament for all these stories regarding basketball. Some moron named Jonathan has hijacked the site and will not allow anything other than basketball related content to come across these pages. It will end soon. Like April 3rd soon. We promise.)

It’s been covered from all angles. The Tigers are playing in San Antonio, some 200 miles from Texas A&M’s campus. The Tigers aren’t getting any respect from the national media. The Tigers are the underdogs once again. We’ve seen it, read it, heard it and discussed it. If any of this is news to you, you’ve been under a boulder for the last four days. Oh, and by the way, CDR injured his ankle. I know, groundbreaking stuff here on DI2M.com. So, coming from a guy who watched at least ten A&M games this year, here’s an (attempted) unbiased account of the game.

On to the Sweet Sixteen and a date with the hometown Texas A&M Aggies. Of course, we’re all on edge to hear exactly how badly that sprained ankle of CDR’s is (at last report Monday morning it was characterized as a mild to moderate sprain which sounds good enough to play). Even without Douglas-Roberts, on a neutral floor at least, the Tigers would be the better team going in. Of course, when you’re playing a Sweet Sixteen game at home, well, I’ve made my comments on this. Regardless, the Tigers are still getting no credit. In fact, for next year’s Tiger Basketball posters, I say drop the team concept and just put a big old photo of Rodney Dangerfield and leave it at that. I don’t mind the not getting any credit, what I mind is the complete shrugging off of this team. In the studio, everyone is ready to write them off but as soon as the ball tips (and maybe this is because Billy Raftery and Verne Lundquist were calling the first two games and no one knows college basketball better than Raftery) and the Tigers let loose on their opponents, the team is really tough to beat. I’ll get to more about this subject later on in the column. For now, let’s look at a few of the things not being covered about this team.

I had designs on working yesterday. I even had designs of working on both DivingIn2Memphis and The Press, getting a little writing in for a site I do some freelance work for and maybe even cooking some dinner. Of course for the last twenty years, I haven’t accomplished one thing of note during the first round of the NCAA tournament. Ever. Why did I think this year would be different? Well, because I apparently love to tease myself with the unthinkable. I thought, wrongly, that I’d watch a few of the early games, get out and do some work (people need The Press, right?) and get back for the start of the one game I really cared about- the VCU-Duke match up. Seeing as I have VCU going to the Sweet Sixteen, this would be my 2007 NCAA tourney swan song. Lesson learned, people, lesson learned. If I ever make the comment that I’m doing anything other than watching the tourney in its’ first few rounds to you, you have the right to beat my shins with a tire iron. On to the Random Musings from Thursday.

Very little in life, or at least in sports, can be both good and bad at the same time. Sometimes, there can be that split emotion, but typically it roots itself on one extreme or the other. For example, when your team, the team that you watched play like a bunch of Xanaxed fed elephants for the past five years and you still watched every damn game with the 16 other diehards, starts to compete- I mean really compete- and all of the sudden you have to deal with everyone being your best friend and uber-fan Number One from supposedly the day they were born. But, 90% of you is still rooting for the championship run while the other 10% of you swears that if you see another bandwagon jumper you’re going to remove their larynx with a melon baler. That’s about as close as it comes to being split in your opinions of something in the sporting world. Actually for me, and the other members of the hardcore Tigers basketball faithful, we have a perfect analogy- the first game of the Tigers NCAA tournament. Of all of the teams around the country, all 325 or so involved in their conference tournaments, I only cared about two of them. The rest of the teams could’ve all been swept up into a spaceship and taken to Sam Cassell’s home planet and I wouldn’t have minded. Nope, two teams. Memphis and North Texas. That’s it.

Author: Rick Reilly
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (May 6, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385488858
ISBN-13: 978-0385488853

This is a book that I put off reading for so long, it was almost like I had the only chocolate ice cream on the planet sitting in my freezer but I didn’t want to eat it for fear that I would never have that taste again. On one hand, one of my favorite, if not the favorite, sports writers, Rick Reilly, penned a new novel (well, new to me at least). On the other hand, it was about golf, a sport that intrigues me just about as much as Star Jones, chicken livers and pedicures. Combined. But, as some of us have found, Reilly could write a treatise on the solidifying of concrete and it would, at the very least, be funny. So, with a looooong flight to bide my time, it was finally the moment to crack open Who’s Your Caddy.

Nevermind the steroids. Forget about one of the most embarrassing moments in front of Congress any individual had ever displayed (McGwire’s refusal to answer questions about “the past” was almost better than Big Bill stating flatly that he “did not have sex with that woman”). Let’s look at the raw statistics and how they were accomplished. First, a caveat, though, as McGwire and Barry Bonds are now to be forever linked as players who were great at the start of their careers, took a dive that no one believed they could come back from and then all of the sudden became two of the three great home run hitters, again, in their mid to late thirties. Or, as the legendary Frank Robinson stated flatly last week- "Let's take Barry Bonds. You don't get better as you get older."

Much has been written and discussed about the events leading up to the draft (hello, Jerry West), the draft itself and now the subsequent moves that the Memphis Grizzlies have made to upgrade the roster. The Griz went into the summer free agent and draft period openly wanting to become a better team through the acquisition of athletes and youth while still maintaining their place among the Western Conference’s playoff picture. While this is a truly tough task at any level of sport, the Griz accomplished just that without sacrificing the future of the franchise and awakening those less than enthusiastic fans from the conclusion of last season seeing progress made through the new players.

Over the past month, a World Cup that has been both electrifying and controversial has enthralled the world. It has been electrifying enough to finally get some of the United States actually interested in the Cup. On the flip side, it has been so controversial and the games have been officiated in such a strange fashion that it has pretty much undone all of the great soccer that has been played. This all leads to a larger discussion about the state of US soccer and the viability of the sport as a whole in this country. I’ll get back to this subject later in this article, but it bears reminding that this is the overtone of the entire World Cup as it pertains to the US.

This year’s draft, more than any other in recent memory, is more cloudy and congested than the shallow end at the public pool on a hot Saturday afternoon. There are a bunch of guys at the top who may or may not become NBA stars and there are a bunch of guys at the bottom that might have that Gilbert Arenas type impact at the next level. If you spend anytime at all reading the notions that Chad Ford at ESPN.com or at NBADraft.net extol you are now keenly aware that everything you thought you knew about this draft has gone right out the window. On both of their projection pages, we’ve seen four different potential #1 selections in the past two months. Some players have seen their stock rise and then fall while others have seen their stock stay strangely the same. In a weird draft year, I’ll try to sort out this mess with some rational thinking.

As I can finally write about the Tigers great 2005-06 season, a season that saw the Tigers come up one brutal game short of making the Final Four and thusly all of the faithful were left to wonder and not speak to each other about the season until right around now. If the Elite Eight is going to be the standard as to where this team expects to be every season then we are in for a treat. But, before the next season starts this Tiger team will be radically different as one player is definitely gone, one player is almost definitely out the door and one is testing the waters.