Before I go any further, I want to issue a disclaimer: The following is not an argument about where Memphis should be ranked, where Memphis should be seeded or how good Memphis is.

Rather, I want to comment on what I’ve been hearing, mainly on local talk radio, about the Tigers. Most of it is shallow mimicry, people saying the same intellectually lazy things over and over again about the Tigers’ schedule, Conference USA, the losses to Georgia Tech, Arizona and Tennessee, etc.

The problem is, what you hear is two-dimensional analysis about an incredibly multi-dimensional sport. I can guarantee, in a month these same people will be talking about how it baffles the mind that some No. 7 seed made a deep run while some No. 1 or No. 2 seed lost early.

But this is the difficulty in analyzing college basketball. In my opinion, there is no sport where there are more variables that can impact the outcome of every game. Then, you get to the NCAA Tournament, and some of those variables are suddenly eliminated and others are altered, which is why there are so many seemingly shocking upsets.
Read the rest of this entry »

Janet Dale, famous last spring as part of the Grizzly Growlers blog team, has volunteered to blog a bit from the Regions Morgan Keegan tennis event at the Racquet Club. Here’s her next entry:

12 Things I’ve Learned This Week:

01) Tommy Haas really, REALLY likes Starbucks.

02) Andy Murray favors Pau Gasol. (Not a bad thing!)

03) Andy Roddick drinks LOTS o’ water during matches. (I counted 8 bottles opened during the semis)

04) Otherwise healthy athletes can get the stomach bug too! No one is immune.

05) Venus Williams is back. She is!

06) Jamie Murray is everywhere. He’s on the courts, he’s watching courtside, and apparently he and I are in the SAME hallway at the SAME time on a regular basis.

07) There are no bad seats in Morgan Keegan Stadium. (I’ve sat almost everywhere except
courtside….PLEASE?)

08) The men AND ladies perfer the cap over the headband. (sorry Mardy Fish)

09) No matter how often a serve clocks in over 100 MPH, I am still going to be really, REALLY impressed.

10) Google this: “Andy Janet Memphis” and my blog comes up on the first page. I don’t really know what that means, but it’s cool!

11) Not only are Wozniacki and Gabashvili fun to say, they can play tennis too!

12) This whole thing starts over again in less than a year and I’m already counting down the days!

Janet Dale, famous last spring as part of the Grizzly Growlers blog team, has volunteered to blog a bit from the Regions Morgan Keegan tennis event at the Racquet Club. Here’s her next entry:

Last night I went to bed with visions of Roddick dancing in my head.

I felt as if I was trying to unravel a mystery that everyone else already knew the answer to. But, when early morning thunderstorms rolled through, I awoke with a thunderbolt. Literally. It had to be a relatively close strike. But that’s how it hit me. WONDERBOY.

Yes, like the wooden baseball bat that was carved from the tree that was hit by lightning in front of Roy Hobbs house. (say that three times fast)

Andy is the ultimate WONDERBOY, the all-American hero we love! He’s just cocky enough on the court, walking a fine line between arrogance and good-natured fun. He can hit the tennis ball fast enough to make every person in the crowd flinch. BAM! Or maybe that’s just me?

He talked out loud, scared a ball boy with his display of anger but still managed to make the crowd laugh. We were supporting and rooting for him throughout the match last night.

“Come on, Andy!” says the girl behind me. She’s probably 17.

“You can do it, Andy!” says the woman next to me. She’s probably 65.

And then similar words came from my mouth as well, unexpectedly. There’s no yelling in tennis. WRONG! I was clapping and vocalizing just like everybody else. Age? Somewhere between the other two.

He struggled a bit and his frustration showed. His racket took the brunt of his power and was crushed. But after the win, he autographed it and allowed it to be auctioned off for St. Jude.

Also, when asked to buy the first ticket for the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway at $100 a pop, guess what? He offered to buy the first TEN tickets.

How can you NOT love the guy? Big serve. Big Heart.

Let’s Go ANDY!

With Memphis already securing the No. 1 seed, it’s worthwhile to look ahead to what the Tigers’ path might be in the C-USA Tournament.

With 9-4 records, it appears as though Houston and UCF will finish second and third, in some order. Houston plays at UCF on Wednesday, and the winner of that game probably gets the No. 2 seed.

The battle for fourth place — and the only remaining first-round bye — is a wild scramble heading into this weekend. Southern Miss and Rice are 7-6, with five teams a game behind at 6-7.
Read the rest of this entry »

Janet Dale, famous last spring as part of the Grizzly Growlers blog team, has volunteered to blog a bit from the Regions Morgan Keegan tennis event at the Racquet Club. Here’s her next entry:

Tennis Players gone WILD! No. Just kidding.

I admit that I like it when they get a wee bit feisty though! Andy Roddick was definitely feisty last night. He was offering up verbal jabs with the chair umpire over first service calls. BAM! The ball slams and the line judge dodges out of the way. BAM! again!

I guess it’s human nature to run away from a speeding bullet, but when it’s your JOB to watch and see where the ball lands…what do you do? Andy says you need to go ahead and get hit. What? I bet a small object traveling at 120+ MPH would hurt. Of course, that’s what a line judge is paid to do. There is always a chance of being hit by a ball.

Hazard pay? Maybe.

Now Andy Murray is also having a running conversation with the chair umpire today.

Scandal? No. Of course not.

This is the game of gentlemen and ladies. I doubt there will be a rumble between the players that spills into the stands anytime soon. Fans might scramble for balls or towels thrown by players into the crowd. We can handle that!

Janet Dale, famous last spring as part of the Grizzly Growlers blog team, has volunteered to blog a bit from the Regions Morgan Keegan tennis event at the Racquet Club. Here’s her next entry:

As I drove around town today (literally ALL around: Downtown, Midtown, East Memphis, Bartlett) I kept having to remind myself that it’s February. There is a tennis tournament going on, it’s pushing 70 degrees AND it’s February.

Could it be because of all the hot tennis players we have in our midst?
Andy(s), Tommy, Mardy, & Venus: this means y’all!

After enjoying a wonderful evening of tennis last night (parking issues solved by my very own “chauffeur” experience in a Saturn) I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us tonight. I won’t be there in person (have I mentioned that already?), but I’ll be glued to the television. Comcast, don’t let me down.

A quick HELLO again to the person driving an “official car” down Poplar this afternoon. I waved. We’re just THAT friendly here.

Predictions? I think/hope the Andy(s) (Roddick and Murray) will pull through.

I thought I was headed over to Northside tonight to see a pretty attractive District 16-AAA boys basketball tournament final pitting defending Class AAA state champion Hamilton and Fairley.

But how can I resist a storyline in District 15-AAA that has a No. 3 seed in Kirby taking on a No. 5 seed in Wooddale for the district title?

It’s funny, it was in a Feb. 1 column of mine entitled “No easy games in 15-AAA” that Wooddale boys coach Eric Harris said these words: “It’s so even. Even the teams toward the bottom that aren’t doing as well, you’d better play well against them or you’ll lose.”

Who would have thought that Harris, whose team was 15-4 at the time, would actually be talking about his own squad by the time the postseason rolled around, considering that Wooddale limped into this tournament a loser in five of its final eight regular-season games?

Then the Cardinals take down top-seeded Ridgeway on Monday in a semifinal. And Kirby - a team that knocked off just about everyone in the district except Ridgeway during the regular season, yet received little love in terms of publicity this season - knocks off No. 2 seed White Station to set up one of the most unlikely district tournament finals in recent memory.

So I’m off to Houston High this evening, and I’m wondering, who’s the underdog in this one?