Your favorite gazelle represented LaSalle tonight at a National College Fair in Boston. Good to be on the ground, walking among the pre-frosh who may one day be cheering for the blue and gold. I got many "I hear your Nursing program is good. What's your average SAT score?" and a few parents prodding about the "safety of the neighborhood."
You know what question I didn't have to answer - "You must have been proud to see Darnell Harris win the 3 point contest. What's it like to watch a home game under the basket?" Which proves that the three point shot can only take you so far.
You know who did have to answer that question? Siena. That's right, # 13 seed Siena who upset Vandy in the first round. Siena was across the aisle, four students deep all night. Three weeks ago these kids knew as much about Siena as I did - it's a light brown color in the crayola palette. Tonight, they knew it as a cinderella team and swarmed around their recruitment table wanting to know about their forensics program.
I ran into the admissions guy from Siena at the refreshment stand and the first thing he said to me after learning I was from La Salle was "We used to play each other in the old MAAC. Man, it's been a long time since La Salle made the tournament." 16 years, Siena. 16 years.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Yeah, Well, LaSalle Has a Good Forensics Program Too
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Another Blue and Gold
We're going to try to keep this blog as focused on La Salle and lions as possible. We know that's why our readers are here. Every once in a while we'll deviate and post something about a Liger or another college basketball team that doesn't wear the blue and gold. It just so happens that Kevin Love's squad does wear the blue and gold so we're still good.
Kev Love is a great b-boy name.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
I'll be selling bootleg dvds in the subway this week
Senior Darnell Harris laced them up for the Explorers one last time and brought home the 3-Point championship. Darnell outshot Tennessee's Chris Lofton in the final round to win a glass trophy with the word Midas on it. Midas, I'm not joking, next time I need a muffler, I'm headed your way. You've got Darnell to thank for that.
Sidenote - Darnell was always pretty close to not getting the last money ball out of his hands. If you had three seconds left, it seems like you could just pretty much drop that last ball, count that as your shot, and then shoot the money ball.
Speedy Hates a 'Backstabber'; Gets 3 Game Suspension
Philadelphia Daily News reports that our old friend Speedy Morris has been suspended for three Catholic League games for 2008-2009. Archbishop Wood AD and Catholic League czar Joe Sette went against the voted plan and pulled a Roger Dorn, calling his own number in deciding the best playoff format for the CL. Speedy didn't take too kindly to the benevolent dictatorship. He didn't go John Chaney nuts, but to his credit, he didn't go for cheesesteaks either:
Therein, Morris expressed distress over a new playoff plan approved by the athletic directors and claimed that Joe Sette, Archbishop Wood's coach and AD and the moderator for CL basketball, had "stabbed his fellow coaches in the back" by not pushing harder for a plan the coaches had approved by an overwhelming margin.Calling a fellow coach a 'backstabber' is three games in high school? Chaney threatened to kill John Calipari in 1994 and got one game. If an NBA player actually stabbed another player, he gets a game for every inch deep tops.
Reached last night, Morris declined to comment.
When asked whether Morris could erase or reduce the length of the suspension by appealing to the league's principals, an administrator who insisted on anonymity said flatly, "I think that would be a futile experience."
Speedy's Top 5 Most Hated Backstabbers Besides Joe Sette:
5. Geunter Parche against Monica Seles. She was 19 and going to retire anyway, but tennis is supposed to be civilized.
4. Danny Noonan against Ty Webb. Only lasted nine holes and he did redeem himself, but inexcusable.
3. Mo Cheeks against Dr. J. Mo has Doc on the wing in '83 to clinch the title against L.A. and he dunks it himself?
2. Rollie Massimino against the Big 5. Remember all those fun pasta dinners the Big 5 coaches had together? They became less fun with knives in our back.
1. Kobe Bryant against Philadelphia, LaSalle, and that young lady from Colorado. I could have had another 29-1 season and the city would have been proud to call you a son (even if you are from Lower Merion)
Top Big Five Schools We Hate (in order)
4. Penn - It's hard to work up much bile against a team that lets you play in their gym for like 3 games a year. OK, that's what's nice about them. Here's the rest: Penn students are cocky, arrogant, and rich, and we you have pathetic names like Chadwick Penworth Waddington IV.
3. St. Joe's - When I was younger, one of my brothers joked before we all sat down to dinner that he was going to apply to St. Joe's. Two things happened that night: He didn't get dinner and the rest of the family took shots punching him in the face until we could prove the he bled La Salle blue. That isn't a true story because of the color properties of blood when it hits the outside air, but you get the point.
2. Villanova - You break up the Big Five on the strength of the 1985 National Championship and you get our #2 spot, you overdressed humps. Nova fans aren't quite as full of themselves as Penn students (see above), but they did steal the right of La Salle fans to point to our 1954 National Championship banner and feel like we're special. And for that, we do not forgive you.
1. Temple - Yes, the Owls earn the top spot. Not only did you take Fran Dunphy from us (alumns should ALWAYS come back to their alma maters to coach like Roy Williams did for UNC - that's called loyalty, and you've got none of it Dunph), but we don't really like sharing Broad Street with you very much. You crowd the R5 regional rail line when you go to school (for those of you who do go to class) and you don't shower often. Bad combo.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Don't Take the Warm-Ups Off, Darnell
La Salle is not accustomed to playing a key role in Final Four weekend over the last 50 years, but tomorrow night the road back ends. That is, if you don't mind hitchhiking and riding in the sidecar of a URAL to get there. The Blue and Gold is sending sharp shooter Darnell Harris to compete in the 20th Annual 3-point contest. The event will be televised Thursday at 9 pm on ESPN immediately following the NIT championship showdown between Ohio State and UMass.
Has anyone with decision making authority asked themselves this question: Who wants to watch a 3 point contest when the entire college game is a 3 point contest? 20 years this event has been going on? Unless you are Larry Bird in a green warm-up or Billy Hoyle shooting for Sudan, I don't want to see you standing on the elbow hoping you make the moneyball.
NCAA and ESPN, time to mix it up and get a little street with it. Forget about shooting skills and slam dunks. Time to bring back the match game. Seabiscuit and War Admiral. Kobra Kai and Myagi-Do. Lions call it "eat my dinner" in the animal kingdom; on the playground we call it "Rise and Shine."
There are 327 division one teams. 65 enter the dance. 32 go to the NIT. That leaves 230 schools to fall into the third dimension - The Fight Club. Each school sends one player to compete in a "Rise and Shine" tournament. Score three baskets, you advance. You lose, your school is out. I want 12 courts going at once like we are watching the All Valley Karate Championships, and keep track of the winners using a Big Board with removable panels stamped with their conference affiliation. 
Hey, Bruiser Flint, don't go stepping in front of no car windows, you hear.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Under Compression
Thanks to some dude on ebay and $4 I got 50 La Salle alumni cards. These will provide me with minutes of enjoyment. Hopefully I will unlock some secrets to La Sallian success through these relics. If archaeologists can do it with broken dishes and pieces of tibia (great band name, feel free) then I should be able to do it with these cards.
First up, the best card out of the bunch.
I wonder what is helping Lionel rebound so hard and causing dude between his legs (pause) to look up at the L Train in awe....hmmmm........oh, I don't know, maybe the perfect length compression shorts?
The compression short is part jock strap, part spandex, part loving hug for your legs. Wearing the compression short is like dancing - do it right and look awesome. Do it wrong and look kinda like a girl.
Late 80's early 90's, compression shorts underneath your champion mesh shorts was very necessary. The bicycle hat and the Sizzler eating was optional.
So what happened? If me and Lionel and Sidney looked so awesome in compression shorts, why aren't we still wearing them? 
Damn boosters. La Salle has never recovered.
