The Drubbing

Baseball scholarships of a different kind

Nate Tharp, Friday, April 10, 2009 at 1:00 PM Comments (0)

With all the tragedy and turmoil in this crazy world, it warms the heart when you hear a story about something good every once in a while.

Rick Reilly has uncovered some of the good that the Arizona Diamondbacks are doing in their community. The D-Backs have recognized their place of prominence in the community and when they saw their community struggling, they have stepped up and taken action to ease the pain of some of their biggest fans.
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By now, can we all agree that the WWE is fake?

Nate Tharp, Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 8:15 AM Comments (0)

The other night I stumbled across the WWE’s 2009 Hall of Fame Induction show on the USA Network, and I wished they’d been showing reruns of Wings or even Becker. As expected, it was being filmed in some stadium in middle-America in front of a packed house. And I wondered, there’s a WWE (formerly WWF, formerly Worldwide Wrestling Federation) hall of fame? For what? What are the criteria. Best undetected whisper to an opponent during a match? Best celebration after the victory of a match with a pre-determined outcome?

So like any passerby of a massive car accident or train wreck, I stuck around longer than necessary and assumed that someone else had already called 9-1-1. And I noticed, that every single “wrestler” used the terms industry, company, business and organization to describe the WWE. But they never once uttered the term sport.
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Clark Kellogg must go

Nate Tharp, Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 1:34 PM Comments (0)

I’m tired of Clark Kellogg ruining NCAA tournament games. There is such a great pool of announcers, there is no excuse to continue to let him make a fool of himself and a mockery of the NCAA and the game of basketball. And I love Jim Nance, but Jimmy’s best place is up in the tower at Amen corner broadcasting The Masters live from Augusta National. Let’s leave this game to the professionals (that doesn’t mean you Doris Burke).

Don’t get me wrong, removing Billy Packer was a welcome change, and long overdue. But replacing one bad announcer with another isn’t really a change. It was really just an ACC shift. I’ve never heard any announcer openly root for any team than Billy Packer for Duke. Until maybe I heard Clark Kellogg root for UNC while doing the championship game.

In case there is anyone out there besides Clark “Kelly” Kellogg and Jim “Nancy” Nance, that don’t think they should be replaced, I decided to collect a few of Kelly’s rambling buffoonery during this year’s contest. Cause we all know, the game wasn’t that entertaining to begin with.
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The Basketball Jesus Rankings: Week 21

Nate Tharp, Monday, April 6, 2009 at 11:35 PM Comments (0)

1. LeBron James [2633]
2. Dwyane Wade [2610]
3. Vince Carter [1891]

Note: Point, rebound and assist total listed next to the player.

The Basketball Jesus Rankings: Week 23

Nate Tharp, Monday, April 6, 2009 at 8:00 PM Comments (0)

After a month filled with NCAA basketball, this first week of April has been leading up to the NCAA Championship tonight. But once that’s over, the focus will quickly shift to the NBA Playoffs, Where Amazing Happens.

Ironically enough, we actually have two players in the rankings this week that played for one of the teams competing for the NCAA title. Vince Carter in the number 14 spot and Antawn Jamison in the number 7 spots both suited up in Carolina blue for the UNC Tar Heels. Will that bode well for their alma mater, only time will tell. Now on to the rest of the players in this weeks Basketball Jesus Rankings.
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A forgettable NCAA tournament

Nate Tharp, Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 9:32 PM Comments (2)

I remember looking at the bracket the day after it was announced (my cable wasn’t hooked up yet on selection Sunday) and thinking, this is either a really weak field, or a really strong field. I just wasn’t sure which.

I couldn’t believe that Louisville and UConn were number one seeds. And I was shocked that Memphis and Duke were number two seeds. But then the question remained, if not those teams, then who? And I had no answer.
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The Basketball Jesus Rankings: Week 19

Nate Tharp, Monday, March 23, 2009 at 10:25 AM Comments (0)

1. LeBron James [2633]
2. Dwyane Wade [2610]
3. Kobe Bryant [2379]
4. Dirk Nowitzki [2242]
5. Dwight Howard [2166]
6. Chris Paul [2152]
7. Antawn Jamison [2058]
8. Chris Bosh [2043]
9. Kevin Durant [2019]
10. Tim Duncan [2003]
11. Pau Gasol [1918]
12. Joe Johnson [1914]
13. Yao Ming [1909]
14. Paul Pierce [1908]
15. Vince Carter [1891]

Note: Point, rebound and assist total listed next to the player.

NCAA Men’s Basketball March Madness is finally here

Nate Tharp, Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 9:30 AM Comments (2)

The ball is tipped, and there you are. You’re running for your life, you’re a shooting star. That song means one thing, March Madness has returned. The time of year when every office secretary throws caution to the wind and ponies up the cheddar to enter their office pool and for some unknown reason automatically get the best odds of actually winning the whole thing.

To help you bring home the bacon in your own bracket pool, we’ve polled our staff of NCAA basketball experts to get their final four predictions.
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The Basketball Jesus Rankings: Week 18

Nate Tharp, Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 1:30 AM Comments (0)

LeBron James continues his reign for another week as Dwyane Wade continues to fend of Kobe Bryant for the number three spot. Chris Bosh has taken quite a tumble. He was once attempting to solidify his position as the number three ranked player and since Kobe took that position from him he has steadily slid down and now sits at the number nine position.

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How to make pricing your baseball card collection easier

Nate Tharp, Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 1:06 PM Comments (0)

For anyone like me that still has boxes and boxes and boxes of baseball, football, basketball and soccer trading cards in their parent’s attic, hoping that the mice will leave them alone, that the moisture level will stay low, and that these cards will count as their “retirement plan” there are some tools you can use to see if you’ll be eating Ramen Noodles when you’re 75, or if you’ll be kicking it in a swank pad in Naples, Florida.
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