For Your Viewing Enjoyment: Booziers

Official trailer for the upcoming Crossbones Productions release!

When a disgraced former coach takes a new job as coach at a small town school, he finds out that he, like his new players, just needed a second chance to finish first.

From the studio that brought you Jesuit House, Monopoly, The Notebook, and Writer's Block.

Starring
Steven Sandberg as Norman Dale
Sara Sanchez as Myra Fleener
Nate Coombs as Shooter
James Churchill as Jimmy Chitwood
John Brian Condon as Ollie
Andy Paris as Ray
Dan Seibert as Strap

Looks like Orlando wants to lose

The Orlando Magic, down 2-0 to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009 NBA Finals, faced a must-win game 3. A loss on their home floor would most likely doom the Magic to a finals loss.

In order to get the crowd pumped up and motivate the team, the Magic brought in a guest speaker during pregame introductions.

That person ... Nick Anderson.


Yes, the same Nick Anderson whose missed free throws in the 1995 NBA Finals demoralized his Magic team and led to them being swept by Houston.

Good call...?

POSTGAME UPDATE: Wow, I guess it didn't matter. Magic 108, Lakers 104. The series is now 2-1. Maybe they can get Horace Grant and Dennis Scott for Game 4...

ESPN Los Angeles - or - how ESPN fakes viewers into thinking they care about the West Coast

ESPN, like many other sports media institutions, has long been accused of having an East Coast bias.

That's certainly understandable. Naturally, as a network located in Bristol, CT, they are going to have better access and insight into the New Yorks, the Bostons, the Philadelphias simply based on geography alone. I don't care about how far technology has come, if you are closer to the action, you will be able to report on it better.

But a difference in geography, time zones, and market size led to ESPN neglect the West Coast.
-Geography: It's harder to care about something when it's 1,000 miles away.
-Time Zones: "We East Coast types have to stay up so late to catch the end of West Coast Games."
-Market Size: The biggest markets are in the East. Who really cares what San Jose did tonight?

And so, in a supposed attempt to make reporting on West Coast sports easier, ESPN created a studio in Los Angeles. The goal was to provide a West Coast presence on ESPN, so that coverage could be focused less on the Yankees and more on the Dodgers.

But in reality, ESPN Los Angeles is a big, fat waste of a studio, and an excuse for ESPN not to pay time-and-a-half.

In the broadcasting world, a network like ESPN must employ countless people to gather video, log it, edit it, and get it on the air. To do this, you need editors, scriptwriters, and anchors for Sportscenter.

The problem that arises is that many West Coast games end after midnight Eastern time, which means that ESPN is put between a rock and a hard place: either they pay employees overtime to stay at Bristol and cut, write, and read highlights of a Padres game, or ignore the games altogether and fear the stigma of having an east coast bias.

So ESPN chose the former. They built a studio in Los Angeles, flew Neil Everett and Stan Verrett out there, and promised viewers a more West-Coast oriented Sportscenter.

Of course, behind the scenes, the brass at ESPN was thinking "that ought to shut them up for a while."

Watching Sportscenter-LA, it is indistinguishable from its Bristol counterpart. There's nothing inherently West Coast about it. The set looks the same, the graphics are the same, and worst of all, the stories are the same.

On the June 8, 2009 edition of Sportscenter-LA, the A-block opened with highlights of the Yankees and Rays. After a discussion on the amount of home runs at the new Yankee stadium - gee, where have I heard that before - they moved on to their longest highlight of the night: Braves and Pirates, two East Coast teams under .500!

Their first highlight from anything on the West Coast didn't come until after the first commercial break.

What's the point?

The Changing of the Guard

Note - This column will appear in the 2009 edition of Gonzaga Spires.

At 5-foot-11, freshman guard Demetri “Meech” Goodson wasn’t exactly the biggest player to ever grace the basketball court for the Bulldogs. There were certainly larger players with larger-than-life personalities. But for a generation of Zag fans, it was the image of Goodson saving the day that will forever stay with them when they think of Gonzaga’s run through the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

With the Zags tied with Western Kentucky in the second round with only seven seconds left, Goodson received the inbounds pass, took it the length of the court, and put in a running jumper, giving the Bulldogs the win and sending them to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2006.

It was oddly fitting: Here was a 2009 team that featured two seniors – Jeremy Pargo and Josh Heytvelt – who were on the last Zag team to reach the Sweet 16 in 2006, and yet, the moment and the glory went to a young freshman. Those seniors received a shot at redemption for the 2006 heartbreaker, but it took the efforts of someone who wasn’t there to suffer that misfortune.

Goodson’s shot made a statement: A new chapter in Gonzaga basketball had begun.

The Zags entered the 2009 NCAA Tournament as a 4-seed, and were on a roll after cruising through the West Coast Conference season. This Zag team had been hailed as one of the most talented in school history, and expectations were high as the team traveled to Portland for the first two rounds.

But it wasn’t Gonzaga’s talent that would define their Tournament run. For all the accolades, highlights, and awards, it turned out none of it mattered. As it turned out, what would define this tournament was something that belonged to the Zags of old, the immeasurable quality of teams that never had the talent of this 2009 squad.

Heart.

Almost before anyone could blink in the first round, Gonzaga found itself trailing to 13-seed Akron at halftime 38-35. Suddenly, it was obvious that talent alone would not carry the Bulldogs to victory.

Pargo wore a look of anger, frustration, and focus as his team came out for the second half. He was the senior leader, and he was determined to not let another opportunity slip away. The Zags fought back, cheered on by the thousands of Zag fans who made the trip down. In the waning moments of the second half, Pargo threw down a vicious slam, turning the tide and pushing the Bulldogs to a 77-64 win.

As a senior, it was perhaps Pargo’s final defining moment as a Bulldog, because in a poetic changing of the guard, it was a freshman who would capture glory two nights later in the second round.

Against Western Kentucky, Gonzaga trailed again at the half, but found the strength to make another comeback. They retook the lead late in the second half, but WKU refused to go quietly and staged a comeback of their own, scoring nine straight points to tie the game with only seven seconds left.

“Meech” raced up the floor as the clock ticked away. Pargo was screaming for the ball, but the freshman refused to let rank be pulled. That moment belonged to Goodson. He nailed the runner and sent the Zags into a pandemonium.

But that moment proved to be the final happy moment for the Zags in the 2009 Tournament.

They traveled to Memphis for the Sweet 16, facing possibly the best team in the country: North Carolina. There were no glorious moments in that game, only two heavyweights trading punches back and forth. In the end, though, the Tar Heels proved just how elite they were, building a big lead over the Zags and never letting up.

After all the emotion of their first two games, the Zags just didn’t have another comeback in them.

The locker room after the game was a mixture of frustration and sadness. Seniors like Heytvelt and Pargo knew they would never play another game in a Bulldog uniform; their careers were book ended by disappointing finishes in the Sweet 16.

But the loss overshadowed another successful run in the Tournament – one filled with heart and determination. Those have always been the defining characteristics of Gonzaga basketball. The Zag legacy was carried on by a team that refused to quit.

So when a freshman who had never known those past teams took the ball coast to coast and scored an unlikely game winner, it became perfectly clear:

The torch had been passed.

A final game; a final, heartfelt thank you

Microphone in hand, Josh Heytvelt looked out upon the beaming crowd at the McCarthey Center. It was senior night at the Kennel, and he now was being given the opportunity to say a few words about how he felt after his final home game as a Bulldog.

The crowd let out a cheer as Heytvelt walked to the front of the group on the floor, prompting a nervous smile from the 6-10 center. Finally, he started to speak.
“I want to thank everybody in this gym, and this community, uh…” he managed, before he choked up. He put a hand on his forehead and shifted his gaze to the floor.

For Heytvelt, this was a moment that was two years in the making. Two years after a fateful arrest and suspension, two years after doubts and whispers, and two years after an inspired and determined comeback, Heytvelt could finally say how he truly felt about the Gonzaga community.

His eyes wandered anywhere but on the student section. If he had made eye contact, he would have broken down like everyone else upon finishing his heartfelt statement:

“… for accepting me back, and letting me do what I did the last couple of years.”

The crowd and his teammates let out a raucous standing ovation. It was a cheer large enough to represent an entire Gonzaga career, which for Heytvelt lasted five seasons in Bulldog blue.

His emotions spilling out, Heytvelt buried his face into Austin Daye’s shoulder as the cheering continued. It was a cathartic moment that seemed long-overdue, a moment where Heytvelt, who had become so stoic and guarded during his career, could finally let the shield down and embrace the outpouring of sentiment from everyone in the arena.

The intimidating, rim-rocking center seemed, at that moment, suddenly very humble under the applause from his peers. He was a 23-year old kid giving a simple thank you for the support he had received.

It wasn’t a Lou Gherig speech, but it didn’t need to be. In 28 words, Heytvelt summed up the feelings of every Gonzaga fan, coach, player, and supporter.

In 2007, it could have been very easy to give up on Heytvelt, to write him off as someone who made a bad decision and nothing more. The fact that this didn’t happen is a testament to the integrity and heart of the Gonzaga community. In a crucial moment, we leant him a hand. He was still our brother.

With the support, and a second chance, he fought his way back on and off the court. He was reinstated to the team months later and nearly won the WCC player of the year this year. And more importantly, he gradated in 2008, and moved on to graduate studies.

One minute and 28 words was all it needed to say a proper thank you.

As Heytvelt finished his words that night, young men and women fought tears in their eyes. Others beamed smiles of pride. At that moment, it finally became clear just how strong that bond is between this man and the community who supported him. It finally became clear that the support was always there, but its heartfelt nature finally decided to show itself on Heytvelt’s final night in the Kennel. It finally became clear that, though thick and thin, highs and lows, Josh Heytvelt and Gonzaga would never let each other down.