Sorry if I'm a tad bit excited, my future alma mater just clinched a birth in the NCAA Tourney with a win over William & Mary tonight in the CAA Tourney, much to the delight of half of Brothers Mottram and much to the chagrin Bullets Forever Ballhype Group member, Gheorge: The Blog. Of course GTB can take solace in knowing that it was an amazing run and that most graduates of W&M end up much higher on the corporate ladder than their GMU counterparts.
As for your links...
- Probably the most interesting quote of the week comes from Ivan Carter who more or less ripped the Wizards' fan base (or the Verizon Center people, depending on how you look at it) a new one after the Raptors game:
And I know I've mentioned this before but it is games like last night's when the difference most NBA arenas and the VC is shocking. The fans here in this hockey crazed city were nuts during the second half of that game last night and didn't need piped in sound or goofy promotions to make noise. It was pure, honest to goodness enthusiasm. Or a whole lot of Molsons, whatever.The other half of Brothers Mottram offers a rebuttal for Ivan. I'd say the reality lies somewhere in the middle (Three cheers for not taking a side!). I was actually thinking about writing a post on the subject but I couldn't find a way to do it without somehow angering some fan base, so I'm going to leave it at that.
Calderon on the Toronto fans: "The fans are always with us and that's why we've won a lot of games this season because they've helped us come back."
Jordan on the Air Canada Centre, where the Wiz had lost four straight: "It's a great environment to play. This crowd gets into it man and you're really at a disadvantage if you don't have the confidence and the veteran poise to get through it."In three years covering the Wizards, I've never heard an opposing coach or player said that about Verizon Center, which too often resembles the gym in Vegas during summer league. At the VC, the staff has to put up a Duke logo or picture of the Dallas Cowboys to get fans to make noise. Pathetic.
- Mo Williams and Yi Jianlian will be sitting out Tuesday's Bucks-Wizards game. No word on if it's a sign of sympathy considering Caron's been injured twice in Milwaukee.
- Who's the only player that can compare basketball players to surf and turf? Gilbert Arenas.
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Calvin Booth > Allen Iverson.
- The Good News: DeShawn's game-winner against the Hornets has been re-created with NBA 2K8. The bad news: The person that made it didn't use the dagger call for the audio. It's still worth a look:
- Hardwood Paroxysm recaps the season to date in 28 words: "You have to admire the Wizards' resiliency. They don't complain, they don't freak out. They just keep plugging. They might want to invest in some better trainers, though."
- The first person to make a "My team is taller than your team" T-Shirt gets a prize!
- Finally, I think this quote from the latest Wizznutzz post jumped to number one on my top 10 list of Wizznutzz quotes:
Meantime Andray Blatche is having sophmore troubles. He couldnt be more skinny and bipolar if he was 6 OClock. We should call him PAYCHECK cuz hes just trying to get from game to game. Dray is like a brother walking into an old pawn shop: he's either grinnin and winnin cuz hes about to lay down some packet for an Akai HiFi (auto rewind son!) and hes feeling on top of the world --- or hes slinkin in shoulders down, hoodie up full o shame cuz hes about to sell the family sandwich-maker to buy himself a busticket to nowhere.
BONUS: The latest edition of the Blogger MVP/ROY rankings are out. Caron got a vote! I'm at a loss as to who could've possibly voted for him, since I now know that it wasn't home cookin'.