The Sporting Gnomes

ACC Tourney, Round 1

Broken Gnome — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:20:28 +0000

Tonight’s opponent is NC State. The game is scheduled for 9PM. RAYCOM has the TV coverage, and Vegas says Clemson is favored by 7. I hope to God Clemson advances to Round 2.

In Baseball News

Broken Gnome — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:15:38 +0000

Clemson beat the snot out of South Carolina on Sunday, 19-6. With the win, Clemson took the series in the this year’s new, 3-game, in-state rivalry format.

Couldn’t do it.

Broken Gnome — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:02:33 +0000

It’s hard to win on the road in the ACC. Clemson lost at Wake Forest last night by a final score of 70-65. Clemson came in on a hot streak and Wake had recently been stone cold. With the loss Clemson dropped from being the #3 seed with a bye in the ACC tourney to the #6 seed.

My advice for the Tigers moving forward is to set smaller, albeit no less challenging goals. Namely, don’t try to win the ACC. Set a goal to become good on the road. Achieve that and championships will follow.

Wins make me happy

Broken Gnome — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:48:57 +0000

I dare to say it, but Clemson may be peaking at the right time. Last night the Tigers pulled away in the 2nd half to defeat Georgia Tech 91-80 in Littlejohn. The Tigers have won 5 of their last 6 and seem assured of a spot in the NCAA tourney. That’s the good news. The bad news is that 4 of those 5 wins came at home, and it may be that the late season strength is just a reflection of being scheduled well. This is also potentially bad news because the team may relax and lose intensity at just the wrong time now that the NCAA bid seems assured. It’s imperative for the Tigers to go to Winston-Salem on Sunday and put down Wake Forest giving Clemson a very respectable 10 wins in conference.
Via Examiner.com, there’s a poor quality video of the NFL network’s official 40 runs at the combine. Despite the low-quality, it’s pretty interesting to see the results with Ford and Spiller taking 1st & 3rd places, respectively.

There is some speculation that Spiller could end up being drafted by the Browns. That would likely re-unite him with James Davis. Chansi Stuckey is also with the Browns right now.
Bleacher Report lays out the case the Michael Palmer should be getting more attention from the NFL than he is. Since Palmer became one of my favorite player’s last season, I would love to see him overcome the odds and make it in the NFL.

Monday morning updates

Broken Gnome — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:55:00 +0000

After last night’s road win over FSU, I took a deep breath. However now is definitely not the time for the basketball team to relax. They’re still something of a bubble team with 2 regular season games remaining. Next up is GT, at home fortunately. The last game is Sunday at Wake Forest. Wake is on a three game skid and just lost at home to UNC.
The baseball team remains undefeated after sweeping Wright State over the weekend. With the wins I can now claim collegiate baseball dominance over my dad, a Miami University alum, and my brother a Wright State alum who even made a decent run to be a walk-on for the Raiders many years ago.
From the NFL combine, we get some reports of the best 40 times. Per the Buffalo News:

The fastest running back was California’s Jahvid Best at 4.35 seconds. Next was Clemson’s C.J. Spiller at 4.37 seconds.

The fastest time among receivers was run by Clemson’s Jacoby Ford, who was timed in 4.28 seconds, according to the NFL Network.
The Bills are apparently taking a look at Charlie Whitehurst. Maybe he’ll end up getting some playing time within the next 5 years.
Lastly, Khalil Greene’s fresh $750k contract with the Rangers has been voided. Hopefully Khalil can get his shit together.

Give credit

Broken Gnome — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:09:45 +0000

Road wins in the ACC can be nothing if not few and far between. So it is with no small amount of pleasure that I can say that Clemson beat a pretty good (20-8) Florida State team in Tallahassee.

[Trevor] Booker hit four straight free throws in the final 11 seconds and blocked a 3-point shot by the Seminoles’ Deividas Dulkys with 5 seconds left that could have tied it.

But it was the outside sniping of sophomore guard Andre Young from nearby Albany, Ga., that made the difference. His 3-point basket gave the Tigers a 49-47 lead with 30 seconds left.

Free throws? We won the game on free throws? It certainly looks like it. ESPN says Booker was 7-9 (78%) and the the team was 15-19 (79%). FSU was only 14-24 from the charity stripe.

Good win, Clemson!

Figures

Broken Gnome — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:43:39 +0000

I just turned checked the score of tonight’s Clemson-Maryland game. Clemson was winning. For about 2 seconds. Maryland now leads by 5, and has apparently been dominating the 2nd half. Clemson blowing a lead in the 2nd half. Unfathomable!

Non-crack-related news

Broken Gnome — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:31:31 +0000

Baseball season is nearly upon us. The first game is Friday night versus Miami University. Of course I want Clemson to win. However I won’t be too upset if the Redhawks win as it certainly make my dad, a Miami alum, quite happy.

Tigernet has a pre-season writeup.
In the last couple weeks, the men’s basketball team has regained momentum by winning 3-of-4 games. The wins came against Maryland, FSU, and Miami, all at home. The next game is Saturday against the hated Cavaliers at Clemson, fortunately.
There are rumors swirling that conference re-alignment is impending, and many people are speculating that Clemson could be offered a spot in the SEC. It’s an interesting concept.
Larry Williams doesn’t believe that anyone will leave the SEC.

Never mind the level of competition, this is an issue about money, as is virtually every major issue in big time college athletics.

This is precisely why Arkansas ain’t leaving the SEC. This is precisely why no one is leaving the SEC. And this is precisely why, at least to this observer, talk of Clemson to the SEC is merely talk.

I’m not sure I agree with Williams here. Money is important, to be sure, maybe even extremely important. However, winning is also important. As much fun as it may be to be among the big boys, at some point the desire to win will push a school to take their ball and go somewhere else. Does the cliche “big fish in a little pond” ring any bells?

What should Clemson do if, IF invitations to the SEC are made and Clemson gets one? I vote for staying in the ACC because it gives Clemson a better chance of success.

Clemson beats C of C in tennis

Broken Gnome — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:04:30 +0000

CLEMSON, S.C. – College of Charleston men’s tennis fell to 64th-ranked Clemson, 5-2, on Tuesday evening at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center.

Good for men’s tennis team, who is now 5-0.

Speaking of the C of C tennis team, I’m reminded of a story about a couple of their players being “forced” to smoke crack. Twice.

The disappointment continues

Broken Gnome — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:17:48 +0000

The OP has a pretty good summary of last night’s loss.

Several times in the 2nd half I was thinking of the Ron White line, “That boy’s got a lot of quit in him.” The OP was thinking the same thing:

They, according to OP, worked on determination in practice.

If I didn’t know that, I would have guessed they worked on give-up-itude. Seriously.

At the end of the game I didn’t think they looked like quitters. They kept battling in the end and closed the gap they had allowed to develop earlier in the game.

Ultimately it seemed as though they lacked energy or leadership or both. Frequently the team was running at half speed, looking lost, and almost as if everyone was afraid to touch the ball. It was a sad, disappointing performance.