New Orleans Pelicans

The New Orleans Hornets will be the New Orleans Pelicans starting next season.  As a St. Paul's Pelican alum I am on board with this sweet name/logo change.  No word on what the jerseys will look like but check out the new colors and logo below.

-Keefe

Bellator MMA, Tournaments!

Bellator MMA is back for another season and this time it's on Spike TV.  I have always been a huge fan of the tournament style, from early UFC to Pride to DREAM, and now Bellator.  The Light Heavyweight bracket looks like this, and starts tomorrow night...

I would love to see a Babalu vs. King Mo final with the winner taking on the champ Christian M'Pumbu.

Save Gasol

This is fantastic.  A friend sent me this link, he found it on Deadspin.  What an absolute mess the Lakers have been.

Hard White Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Check out this XMas jingle from our buddy Opey.  (Keefe & Besse make small appearances...)

Bowl Season!

There are now 124 Division 1 (BCS) College Football teams.  And yes that includes UMass.  There are 35 Bowl Games.  And yes that includes the "Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl."  Quick math says that over 56% of teams will play in a Bowl Game.  Quite an achievement for those clubs.

If you are 6-6, you are going to a bowl game, if you are 6-7 like Georgia Tech, but lost in the Conference Championship game, you are still invited.  The Yellow Jackets could very well finish the season 6-8, but they played in a Bowl!

Every year we talk about the ridiculous Bowls that seemingly pop out of no where.  These are all real Bowl Games:

Belk Bowl
GoDaddy.com Bowl 
Pinstripe Bowl 
Potato Bowl 
Beef O'Brady's Bowl 
Little Caesar's Bowl
Military Bowl
Russell Athletic Bowl
Meineke Car Care Bowl
Armed Forces Bowl
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl
Heart of Dallas Bowl
Compass Bowl

Even all the good Bowl games have crazy sponsors now that muddle up the name.  I know College Football is all about money (have you seen the conferences lately?), but what an absolute joke and embarrassment these once proud Bowl games have become.

The "good" Bowl games suck this year too for the most part.  With Louisville winning the Big East and Wisconsin winning the Big 10, combined with Northern Illinois somehow getting to play this year's Boise State, Utah, or TCU, the BCS games are crap, outside of Oregon vs. Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl and of course Alabama vs. Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship game.

At least the playoff is next season... Wait, not next season?  Ok the following year.  Great.

-Keefe

5 Questions With John Wall

"5 Questions" is back.  I talked with the #1 pick of the 2010 Draft, Washington PG John Wall, prior to the Celtics-Wizards game on Wednesday night.  He is currently sitting out with a knee injury, but in 2 seasons he is averaging 16.3 points, 8.2 assists, and 4 rebounds per game.

1. How is the recovery (knee) process going?

Wall: It’s cool.  Same stuff I’ve been doing since I’ve been injured.  Just taking my time and trying to get healthy.

2. I know you haven’t been able to play, but have you noticed a difference between this year and last with some of the new veteran additions to the team?

Wall: I just think with the coaching staff, and the pieces we added to the coaching staff.  We added players that are going to contribute a lot.  I think we are very deep team.  We got a lot of veteran guys, and a lot of young guys that grew up and understand what it takes to win and lose in this game and how hard you got to compete every night.  We’ve been competing the first two games we just got in a deep hole in the beginning but we’ve been giving ourselves a chance to win.

3. You and [rookie] Bradley Beal are clearly the future of this team.  What do you think of how he played in the preseason and in the first two games?

Wall: In preseason he played pretty good.  So far, he started off good in Cleveland, but he’s been kind of struggling, but that’s a part of the game.  Just keep his motivation and keep taking shots, just be more aggressive.

4. Have you set any individual goals for yourself when you do come back?

Wall: Yeah I keep them to myself though.  I don’t like to tell my goals, I like to keep them to myself.

5. Do you have a target date to return?

Wall: No, no target at all.  No.

-Keefe

They Were In That?: Horror Edition

A lot of big time actors appeared in Horror Movies earlier in their careers.  Some, I'd say, would have to be more proud of their work than others.  I'm sure I'm missing a bunch, but these are pretty good.

Jennifer Aniston - Leprechaun (1993)

Kevin Bacon - Friday the 13th (1980)

Ben Affleck - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

Paul Rudd - Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

Johnny Depp - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Renee Zellweger - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)

Matthew McConaughey - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)

Patricia Arquette - A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Jack Black - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

Dana Carvey - Halloween II (1981)

Josh Hartnett - Halloween: H20 (1998)

Eva Mendes - Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998)

Ving Rhames - The People Under The Stairs (1991)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Troll (1986)

Brook Shields - Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

Rainn Wilson - House of 1,000 Corpses (2003)

Michelle Williams - Species (1995)

Naomi Watts - Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996)


Lots of great work right there.  I actually like a bunch of those movies, probably more than the actor/actress in it.

Happy Halloween

-Keefe