Every year at this time I get many requests from my followers and also some less savory types for my opinions about various games as people compete in pools; Many people ask me to post my own bracket predictions or make suggestions for upsets. I hope you all understand that, by law, I have to refuse these requests. So this does not seem arbitrary, let me explain the reason.
The National Sports Writer's Association (NSWA) has been empowered by congress to monitor illegal gambling practices in sports. Their function is analagous to the SEC in the finalcial world. As part of this process they monitor all blogs in every major sport and identify those bloggers in each sport whose information is so accurate and of a quality that if applied to betting would be akin to "inside information" in the financial world. In College Basketball there are five bloggers from all over the country who are on that list including this reporter.
Consequently, if I did offer my opinion it would be akin to giving inside information punishable by loss of blog license, fines( up to $250,000.00 and at the judges discretion up to a 60 jail sentence.
I am sure you can all understand why I am constrained. Good luck with your bracketology and enjoy the Big Dance.
"You heard it here First"
Steve
Steve Eliot's views and analysis of the Connecticut Huskies Men's Basketball team. Eliot is the three time recipient of the National Sportswriters' Assn prestigious "Blogger of the Year award"
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- FINAL FOUR!!!!! UCONN 65 - Arizona 63
- Walker and Lamb lead Huskies into Elite Eight
- UCONN takes on San Diego State in Sweet Sixteen
- How Sweet(Sixteen) it is! UCONN 69-Cincinatti 58
- UCONN plays Cincinnati tomorrow night at 9:40
- Huskies cruise past Bucknell in 1st round 81-52
- Bracketology
- BIG EAST CHAMPS!
- Walker Delights, Excites and Ignites UCONN in 76-7...
- Kembaya, its a (S)Lamb Dunk! UCONN 76-74
- Huskies at Sea Level; Notre Dame 70-UCONN 67
- Water Seeks it's Own Level; West Virginia 67-59
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8 comments:
Dr. E:
A belated congratulations on a historic week.
The question I have been pondering the past few days is the following:
How did last weeks heroics and excitement rank with other athletic games/seasons you have been a part of as a fan? This is not limited to Husky Basketball....The Knicks in '70....the Dodgers in '55...the Mets in '86...Trinity College National Squash Champs in 2009? Seriously....interested in your thoughts and one fans recollection of a lifetime as a passionate sports fan, consultant and journalist.
Talk soon....
Jem
Jem, an interesting question. For me (and I suspect others as well) there are two essential elements that must be there for a sporting event/game/series to be really exciting to a fan. First I have to identify with and feel really attached to the team - I have to care how they do. Second, it has to be in a sport that interests me.
I am still a passionate Brooklyn, yes Brooklyn not LA Dodger fan. Peter and Andy sometimes say to me in frustration "Dad there is no longer a Dodger baseball team in Brooklyn." Of course, my response is "that's a problem."
So 86' Mets was not exciting to me. Trinity's 13 straight national championships in squash mean nothing to me. I am more identified with my graduate school than Trinity and I have no interest in Squash.
'55 Dodgers and 'Knicks- now you're talking. Becaause of my age (10) at the time and the fact that my family and most of my friends were passionate Brooklyn Dodger fans this ranks #1 on my list.I lived and died with the Dodgers. My Mother would let me stay home from school to watch the games when the Dodgers were in the series.
'70 Knicks ranks second. At the time I was in graduate school and Suzanne and I lived on 15th and 2nd avenue a short walk to your Father and Mother's apt. in Stuyvesant town. Stuy town was the first area of the city to have cable tv and they got all the Knicks games. As the Knicks progressed a group that started with your parents, Suzanne and I and Harry Delf grew to about 20, some of whom we did not even know. Great group experience, great coach, great time- Frazier, Monroe, Debusschere, Bradley, Reed and Co.
This week meets the major criteria and was very =, very exciting but the two Husky national championships were a bit more exciting because of what was at stake.
Steve
This was an historic week for the Huskies & they certainly deserve congrats. But are you guys really overlooking my Bison?? How dare you!! Does anyone remember the last time Bucknell was a #14? Well they beat another #3, called Kansas. Anyway if anyone wants me to blog from the Verizon Center, just let me know. I offered a ticket to our intrepid reporter, but he declined. I guess he was afraid of being embarrassed sitting next to me & in the middle of a LARGE Bison crowd when the Huskies get upset. And btw, talking about hot teams, we've won 10 in a row & 23 of 25 & we didn't exactly play a cupcake schedule. Two of the wins were against Richmond & Boston Univ who are in the tournamnet as well as LaSalle. We also only lost to Boston College by 4 points in Boston. So go Bison!!
Mike, lest you forget this blog is called Huskymania - Steve Eliot's views and analysis of UCONN Men's basketball not of college basketball so don;t take it personally. You have passion about the Bisons so it might be a great idea for you to start a Bucknell blog site. On this site they are just first round cannnon fodder for UCONN.
I would be definitely interested in your observations about the game.
Steve
Mike / Steve - I for one am in no way looking past the Bison (also the alma matter of my former boss Les Moonves). One reassuring (from the Husky perspective) tidbit I have seen is that Bison HC Dave Paulsen said his team played one possession of zone this season, gave up a 3-pointer and abandoned it forever. So the Bison will go man-to-man with the Huskies. Hmmm.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, Kemba has moved up to #3 on my list of all-time Husky favorites (Khalid, no more needs to be said & Lyman DePriest, ask Dana Barros).
Steve - You have truly been on your "A" game all season and risen even higher the last couple weeks along with Huskies.
thanks Dave, I really appreciate that. I love Lyman Depriest for the name alone. I did not love Khalid
If the bison (what happened to the other 4) play a zone look for Walker to score 30+ points.
Steve
I'm unconstrained by the NWSA, so here are my final four picks: OSU, ND, PITT, and UCONN. That's right, an almost all Big East final 4. UCONN over ND in the finals.
Wow! that would be incredible.
Steve
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