Day 89

I know I have been talking a lot about sports lately, but today and I riled up.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, what did I do to deserve this? Last night, I watched another gut-wrenching choke job by my beloved KU Jayhawks. Up by 9 with 1:53 left at our rival Missouri, we choked it all away with poor coaching and worse free throw shooting. Even still, the score was tied with 5 seconds left when senior walk-on Christian Moody caught an unbelievable dish under the hoop from super frosh Mario Chalmers and got fouled with no time left. One made free throw and we win. Moody is a 50% free throw shooter and naturally he misses both. Of course, we end up losing in OT when our execution again failed us. This is the same Missouri team who lost in the same building to Sam Houston State (who?). The loss, our 5th by 4 points or less, moved us to 10-6 and we are probably going to miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1989. I didnt want to say it, but I will, Bill Self cannot coach. There is some real talent on this team and Self has no clue what to do with them. Maybe in two years we go to the Final Four and I eat crow, but on January 17, 2006, this program is in dissarray. Sound familiar?

The Tribe ownership is so cheap that they cant capitalize on the fact that they are on the cusp of a World Series run. The Browns are a leaguewide joke. The Cavaliers, even with the pre-eminant young star in the NBA, Lebron James, have shown their lack of depth since Larry Hughes has gotten hurt and lost 5 in a row. We all know the inevitable, he will be gone in two years and the Cavaliers will go back to be meaningless. All of my teams are moving in the wrong direction. Its time for me to re-evaluate. I spend so much time loving my teams, reading articles, watching games, etc etc. What has it brought me besides anger and heartache? I'm real bitter today in case you hadn't noticed.

As pissed off as I was after that loss last night, I can't even imagine being Christian Moody. Imagine if you will being him for a minute. The poor kid is a walk-on who works harder than anyone on the team. He has been a two year starter and our most consistant big man. He goes to the line in the most raucous arena he will ever be in. He has two chances to be a hero and go down in KU history as the guy who sanke the free throw at the buzzer to beat our hated rival Missouri. Instead, for all of the great things he has doen over the past two years, he will always be remebered as the guy who missed. Not to this magnitude, but he is Earnest Byner - the guy who had the game of his career and fumbled at the goaline with a chance to tie the game in the 1987 AFC title game. Moody is studying to be a doctor, so at least he has that going for him. I'll say this though, he will be going back to his home state to practice medicine after he graduates because this one will stick to him in the state of Kansas for the rest of his life. Again, like Byner, blowing this game was hardly his fault. He didn't choke away a 9 point lead all by himself. In fact, he was a big part of building that 9 point lead. But as Bob Dery once said "it all comes down to free throw shooting and rebounding." KU was 21-35 from the line, Missouri was 19-25.

Song of the Day: "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley - need something positive today.