Some Advice For LeBron Courtesy of Jimmy McGinty

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra needs to channel his inner Jimmy McGinty and give LeBron James some advice courtesy of The Replacements. Yes, it's a football movie, but I think it's a nice parallel.

First the movie version:

Photo Credit: deliberationroom.com

Jimmy McGinty: Falco! If I had wanted Cochran to have the ball I would've called it that way!
Shane Falco: I read blitz.
Jimmy McGinty: Bullshit! I put the game in your hands... you got scared.
Shane Falco: I READ BLITZ.
Jimmy McGinty: Winners always want the ball... when the game is on the line.

Now,  the Miami Heat version:

Photo Credit: offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com

Spoelstra: LeBron! If I had wanted Haslem to have the ball I would've called it that way!
LeBron: I saw the double team.
Spoelstra: Bullshit! I put the game in your hands... you got scared.
LeBron: I SAW THE DOUBLE TEAM.
Spoelstra: Winners always want the ball... when the game is on the line.

Look, passing to Haslem against the Jazz last night was not a bad basketball play. James was being double teamed, Haslem was open, and that 18-20 footer he took is a shot he usually makes. But at some point, James needs to realize that he's the best basketball talent on the planet, and when he's in a zone like he was last night (8 for 9 in the 4th quarter) he needs to be the guy taking that shot at the end of the game. He should WANT to be that guy. When I watch the replay, to me it doesn't look like he was EVER thinking about shooting on the play. Just like the All Star game, LeBron was more willing to defer than he was to step up in that moment and be the man. And honestly, that's probably part of why he hasn't won a title yet. The Heat are not are their best when James sits back and plays passive facilitator. They're at their best when James goes berserk and steps on other team's throats.

Take it from Jimmy McGinty, LeBron: Winners ALWAYS want the ball when the game is on the line. You're not going to win 7 titles on the shooting prowess of Udonis Haslem. Time to step up.

Women's U-20s Thrash Guatemala

17 year old Lindsey Horan scored three goals and the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team defeated Guatemala 6-0 on Friday in the team’s first match of the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championships. Julie Johnston, Katie Stengel and Cari Roccaro also scored for the United States while Crystal Dunn added a pair of assists in the win. The U.S. continues group play tomorrow with a match against Cuba and then conclude the first round against host nation Panama on Tuesday. The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals with the top 3 teams in the tournament qualifying for this summer's FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Japan.

Photo Credit: ussoccer.com

The U.S. is looking to improve upon a disappointing performance at the U-20 World Cup in 2010 when they blew a late 1-0 lead against Nigeria in the quarterfinals and subsequently lost on penalties, but obviously the first step is qualification. Sydney Leroux, now featured on the Senior Women's National Team led the U.S. with 5 goals in the last U-20 World Cup.

USA Defeats Norway, Prepare for Japan Rematch

Abby Wambach and Sydney Leroux both scored in the second half as the U.S. defeated Norway today by a score of 2-1 in group play at the Algarve Cup. The U.S. Women now get ready to take on Japan on Monday with first place in Group A on the line. Japan defeated Denmark 2-0 today as they also improved to 2-0 in the tournament. The U.S. women have the edge in goal differential thanks to their 5-0 win over Denmark on Wednesday so a draw will be enough to push them through to the finals. But you can bet they'll be out to exact some revenge for their crushing shootout loss to the Japanese in last summer's World Cup Final.

Norway's lone goal came late in stoppage time when Elise Thorsnes scored in the final seconds of the game. It's the first goal that Hope Solo has allowed in 2012. The American women have now won 8 in a row to start the year.

MLB Expands Playoffs

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Major League Baseball's wild card has been so successful since its introduction in 1994, that 2012 will feature an additional wild card team in each league. Each league's two wild card teams will face off in a do-or-die one game playoff with the winners advancing to the Divisional Round. For Braves and Red Sox fans, it's probably a year too late, but the reality is this is a really good thing for baseball. No major sports league in the U.S. had fewer than baseball's eight playoff teams. The NFL went from 10 to 12 in 1990, the NBA and NHL each have 16 and even MLS had 10 last year with the 7 through 10 seeds being involved in play-in games.

In addition to giving more teams a chance this set up also should, in theory, give the division winners an advantage over the wild card teams. The wild card winners now have to play an extra game, have an extra travel day, and presumably won't have their ace available for Game 1 of the Divisional Series. These may not be considerable disadvantages, but it's certainly more than they had to deal with in the old format and it makes winning the division a little more important.

And look, you can argue that baseball's postseason is long enough already, but we're only talking about adding one extra game. This isn't going to result in playing baseball into December. And really it's not the number of games that's the problem now, it's the number of days off during the postseason. It shouldn't take 12 days to play a 7 game series, but that's another story.

And yes it's true that now a third place team could conceivably win the World Series, but it's been possible to win your division with a losing record and win the World Series for decades and no one's had a problem with that. 

My favorite quote in opposition to the new postseason format came from Boston's David Ortiz today:

"One game? That's kind of crazy. You know how many things we've got to move around and pack for one game?"

No, David, I have no idea how many things you've got to pack for one game. I'd assume it's less stuff than when you pack for a normal three game series though. If that's the best argument against the new format, I'd say they probably did a pretty good job. Unfortunately you could probably add ten wildcards in each league and my Astros would still probably miss the playoffs. Oh well.

So Others May Live

The 2008 Coast Guard Academy Bears Soccer team won 13 games including the 2008 ECAC Division III New England Championship when they knocked off top-seeded Eastern Connecticut. Senior James Toohey, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, scored the game's only goal in the closing minutes of regulation sending the Bears to their third ECAC Title and first in over a decade.

Photo Credit: uscgasports.com

Sadly, one of the key members of that '08 Bears team is no longer with us. LTjg Thomas Cameron, one of team's tri-captains, was one of three Coast Guardsmen killed in a helicopter crash in Mobile Bay this week while a fourth crewman remains missing.

Cameron tied for the team lead in scoring his senior year with 7 goals and 4 assists and also tallied 7 goals as a junior including the game winner against rival Conn College. A key cog in a class of players that helped restore a winning tradition at the Coast Guard Academy under head coach Chris Parsons, Cameron was more than a just great player. By all accounts he was also a great teammate and just a great kid, and his loss will be felt by all those who had the privilege of knowing him.

RIP TC. You'll be missed.

U-23 MNT vs. Mexico: Highlights - Feb. 29, 2012

Highlights from yesterday's U-23 MNT 2-0 win over Mexico. Juan Agudelo and Mix Diskerud with goals as the U.S. now sets its site on Olympic Qualifying:

Here's a look at the Olympic Qualifying Schedule for the U.S.

3/22/12 - USA vs Cuba
3/24/12 - USA vs Canada
3/26/12 - USA vs El Salvador

All three matches will be in Nashville, Tennessee.

The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals with only the two semifinal winners advancing to the Olympics. Group B is comprised of Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago.

Who IS that Masked Man?

Photo Credit: usatoday.com

After suffering a broken nose in this year's All Star Game, Kobe Bryant was forced to wear a Rip Hamilton-esque face shield in order to play in last night's game against Minnesota. It might not be a good look for him, but it certainly didn't seem to affect his play on the court: 31 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists in a 104-85 win. Heck if he continues to play like this with the mask on, he might just have to go Hamilton's route and where the thing all the time!

Photo Credit: sportsfixchicago.com

I think Hamilton looks a little sharper, but let's face it. The guy's been wearing the thing for like a decade. I'd hope he'd have it down to an art by now. Give Kobe some time. These two aren't the only guys who have donned the face shield over the years though. Check out some of the others:

LeBron James

Photo Credit: nba.com

Zydrunas Ilgauskus

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Alonzo Mourning

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Brandon Williams

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Roy Hibbert

Photo Credit: espn.go.com