Division II Athletics: Part II

(Please read Division II Athletics: Part I below before reading this article.) As I mentioned in the previous article, Division II athletics have held a special place in my heart for over a decade now. Some of you are probably wondering: How did this connection start? (Some of my loyal readers surely know the answer; nevertheless, it is still a good idea to hearken back to when it all started.)

It was the late 90s, certainly a whimsical time for some. I was young and pondering about being born in St. Cloud, Minnesota. In particular, I felt that I needed to embrace being a native of St. Cloud and form a connection with the city. Being into sports, what better way to do that than to follow a St. Cloud team? The problem is, St. Cloud isn’t that big of a city. So there are no professional sports teams there. However, there is a university there, St. Cloud State University. So I decided to start following their athletics teams. To be exact, I followed men’s basketball, football, and even their golf team.

Over the next few years I was able to go to multiple basketball games at Halenbeck Hall and some football games, initially at Selke Field, and later at Husky Stadium. The games that I didn’t go to (which was most of them since I lived in Esko, Minnesota) I listened to over the internet on the radio. I spent many an evening listening to Jay Caldwell of WJON give the play-by-play. One season in particular stands out, the 2000-2001 basketball season.

Every game that year I either went to or listened to on the internet. I still remember the starting lineup. A 6’2” freshman guard from Litchfield, MN Alex Carlson (The older brother of John Carlson, and in my mind, a better athlete than John. At the very least he had a better college athletics career than John.); a 6’1” sophomore guard from Morris, MN Forrest Witt; a 6’6” sophomore forward from Cold Spring, MN Jason Kron; a 6’9” junior forward from Bratislava, Slovakia Rado Rancik; and a 6’7” junior forward from Portage, WI B.J. Brant. What was great about that starting lineup is that they all averaged double figures (ok, Alex Carlson averaged a little under 10, but that is pretty close) and they could all shoot the 3-ball. It was the most balanced starting lineup I have ever seen. Unfortunately, that season would end with a close loss to Southwest Minnesota State in the region final (essentially the sweet 16 of Division II basketball). The game I try to remember though is the game before that when they beat the defending national champions Metro State by about 40 points by hitting 3-pointers from all over the gym.

In conclusion, I urge you to support your local Division II College’s athletics programs (well, it doesn’t have to be a local Division II college, St. Cloud State certainly wasn’t local for me) and hopefully you can build great memories of Division II teams just like I have. I will try to take my own advice and get out to seen the Michigan Tech Huskies in action more often as well.

Division II Athletics: Part I

Division II athletics have held a special place in my heart since about the turn of the millennium. I have unfortunately been somewhat disjointed from Division II athletics for a few years now. This past Saturday we were reunited though, as I went to watch my Michigan Tech Huskies in a basketball match against Hillsdale College.

It was great to be out supporting Division II athletics once again. I was especially excited to be at this game because it featured one of the best players in Division II basketball, Michigan Tech’s Ali Haidar. Haidar came into this game averaging about 26 points and 11 rebounds per game. He definitely did not play his best game against Hillsdale, but he still had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Fortunately, Michigan Tech was still able to secure a 73-55 victory over a then undefeated Hillsdale squad thanks to some strong guard play on the offensive end of the court. All in all, I was impressed by Haidar’s supporting cast on the perimeter. In particular, I was impressed by Brown’s drives to the tin, Armga’s mid-range jumpers, and Culy’s 3-pointers. Hopefully, I will be able to make it to a Michigan Tech basketball game again soon.

Manziel Captures 2012-2013 College Football MVP Award

I am the judge and the jury and the verdict is usually guilty. However, this time I have decided to give a second chance. That is why jasathletics.blogspot.com would like to name Johnny “John Football” Manziel of Texas A&M as its 2012-2013 College Football MVP. This is the first time that a freshman has won this prestigious award, and this is the first time that a player not from the Big 12 Conference (Texas A&M was in the Big 12 last year though and who really knows what is going on with the conference landscape in college sports these days) has won the award. This was not an easy decision at all. Jordan Lynch (who finished in a close second) of Northern Illinois put up some huge numbers this year. He threw for 2962 yards and 24 TDs and only had 5 INTs. He also ran for 1771 yards and 19 TDs. Manziel’s stats were equally impressive though and they were accumulated against better competition. Manziel threw for 3419 yards and 24 TDs and only had 8 INTs. In addition, he ran for 1181 yards and 19 TDs. In the end, what really hurt Jordan Lynch was his bad performance in a losing effort against a well below average Iowa team, which was one of only two BCS conference teams that Northern Illinois played this year (the other was a Kansas team that was even worse than Iowa). Against Iowa Lynch was 6 out of 16 for only 54 yards. He did run for 119 yards and 1 TD though. On the other hand, Manziel’s solid performance against Alabama, who is probably the best team in college football (sorry Notre Dame fans), in a win helped put him over the top. In that game he threw for 253 yards and 2 TDs and ran for an additional 92 yards. That game was in Tuscaloosa too. For those of you that don’t think Johnny Manziel should have won this award because of his off the field issues, I would like to let you know that I am aware of his arrest this past summer and am ready to drop a guilty verdict at any moment if he makes a mistake. If such a situation comes about (I sure hope it doesn’t), he will be stripped of the award and it will be given to Jordan Lynch. But for now, jasathletics would like to congratulate Johnny Manziel for a great season. Furthermore, I suspect that tonight Manziel will become only the second player in the history of college football to win the jasathletics.blogspot.com College Football MVP and the Heisman Trophy in the same year.

State Flags

Every state in the United States of America has its own flag. However, besides my home state of Minnesota's flag and Texas' flag, there are probably only a couple of other state flags that I would recognize if you showed them to me. I have always been a proponent of state flags, and in particular, I encourage my fellow Minnesotans to raise the Minnesota state flag high just as I have done. There is no doubt that state flags should be more widely used. With all of this in mind, I stumbled accross something very interesting while looking at the scores from this year's United States Disc Golf Championships. Every competitor had his state's flag displayed next to his name, unless the competitor was from a foreign country. Unfortunately, my favorite disc golfer and fellow Minnesotan Cale Leiviska (A couple of interesting facts about Cale: He played shortstop on Joe Mauer's high school team at Cretin-Derham Hall and his uncle is Paul Molitor) did not win. It was cool to see the Minnesota state flag displayed next to his name though. Hopefully this will lead to state flags being more widely used. This probably won't be the case, but at least this is a step in the right direction. To see the scores from the 2012 United States Disc Golf Championship that include state flags (which I strongly suggest doing) go to http://www.usdgclive.com/leaderboard/open/.

A Melancholy Farewell to Minnesota

On October 18, 1989, I was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Since then I have not even spent a fortnight (fourteen consecutive days according to the World English Dictionary) away from Minnesota. Although I was born in St. Cloud, there is no doubt that Esko, Minnesota, is my home town as I have lived there the majority of my life and hold a diploma from the prestigious Lincoln Secondary School (aka Lincoln High School aka Esko High School aka Independent School District #99). Not only that I have met many great people and have a lot of great friends from Esko. While it was fairly inevitable that I would eventually have to leave Esko, I had hoped that I would be able to stay in the state of Minnesota. I could not pass on the opportunity to go to graduate school at Michigan Technological University though. So, it is with much sadness that I say farewell to Minnesota for the moment. My fellow Minnesotans can rest assured though, as I will be bringing my Minnesota state flag with me, and I will always be striving to get back to the greatest state in the Union.

Mount Rushmore: Lack of Patriotism or too Many Canadians?

Last week I had the privilege of going to Mount Rushmore. While walking around and taking a few pictures an idea came to me. I realized that starting a U-S-A chant at Mount Rushmore would be legendary. So, with dreams of chanting U-S-A with my fellow Americans in my mind, I made my way back to the main terrace in front of Mount Rushmore. I was a little apprehensive. Nevertheless, I raised my arm and began to chant U-S-A. After chanting for awhile I realized that no one had joined in, and in fact, I was starting to get some strange looks. This led me to stop chanting. As I walked away a woman came up to me claiming that she had joined in on the chant even though she really had not. All of this left me quite disappointed, and I could only think of  two possible reasons for why my chant had not worked out the way I had planned. Namely, either there is a lack of patriotism in our great country or on that particular day there were just too many Canadians walking around Mount Rushmore. (I did see a British Columbia licence plate in the parking lot that day.) If the former is the case, then I am very disappointed and I hope that, if you are an American, next time you hear a U-S-A chant you will join in. In fact, I even hope that my American readers would consider starting a chant on their own. (However, Mount Rushmore might not be the best place to start a chant if you are thinking about starting one because I was later informed by a local off-duty law enforcement officer that I could have been handcuffed and kicked out for causing a disturbance.) If the latter is the case, then even though I am very pro Canada, if you are a Canadian, I suggest going to Banff, Jasper, or the greater Vancouver area for your next vacation. If you are a Canadian and absolutely must come to the Black Hills of South Dakota, then I suggest going to Wind Cave because it has the most boxwork in the world. Overall, even though I am disappointed that my chant did not work out, I am glad that I attempted to start a U-S-A chant at one of our great national landmarks.

Is Abe Really Honest?

While filling out an NCAA tournament bracket a person will undoubtedly have a tough time deciding who will win some of the games. On Sunday night when I came across such decisions I naturally turned to Abraham Lincoln because, as everyone knows, he is honest. After Honest Abe told me to pick Montana over Wisconsin, West Virginia over Gonzaga, and Wichita State over Virginia Commonwealth, an idea came to my mind. I realized that I should let Honest Abe fill out his own bracket to see how honest he really is. So I filled out an entire NCAA tournament bracket by flipping Honest Abe once for each game with Honest Abe standing for the higher seed. After Honest Abe finished his bracket one thing concerned me. Namely, Abe picked Wisconsin and Virginia Commonwealth to win. In fact, he has Virginia Commonwealth going to the Elite Eight! So I have to wonder if he was completely honest with me when I turned to him for advice while filling out my own bracket. Another thing that I noticed is that Honest Abe is not afraid to make some bold picks. He has both Michigan State and Syracuse losing in the first round. Abe's final four consists of Xavier, Davidson, West Virginia, and San Diego State, and he has San Diego State beating Davidson in the final. In the end, only time will tell if Abe really is honest. Personally, I have always thought of Abe as an honest person. So don't be surprised if San Diego State cuts down the nets in a few weeks. At the very least though, Abe improved his relationships with Steve Fisher and Stephen Curry. Also, if you are wondering, George Washington likes Murray State to win it all.

Phil Mickelson Claims His 40th PGA Tour Title at the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

In his first three tournaments of the year Phil Mickelson did not play the kind of golf that most people are accustomed to seeing him play. After the first three rounds of Phil's fourth event of the year though, it looked like his game was coming into form. This was especially the case after Phil shot a solid five under par 65 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore) in the second round. However, Phil still trailed Charlie Wi, who was the leader, by 6 shots going into the final round at Pebble Beach. Possibly even more importantly, he trailed Tiger Woods by 2 shots going into the final round. There was no doubt that Phil would have to do something special if he wanted to win.

Indeed Phil did get off to a special start as he birdied the second hole. Then he got some help from the leader Charlie Wi when he started his round with a four-putt double bogey at the first. Phil had barely started his round and he had already cut the deficit in half. After a solid par on the third, Phil made a long birdie putt on the fourth hole to go to 11 under par for the tournament. The fifth hole was where Phil really started to make a charge though. This is because Phil hit his tee shot to one foot on the traditionally tough par three and tapped in for another birdie. Then, after a solid tee shot on the par five sixth, Phil laced a fairway wood to about 20 feet and canned the putt for eagle. At this point Phil was only a third of the way through his round and already had a two shot lead thanks to his amazing play and Charlie Wi's considerably less than amazing play. Phil still had a lot of work to do as Tiger Woods, who he was paired with in the final round, as well of a host of others were only a few shots back. Phil proceeded to make solid pars on holes seven through eleven as Tiger dropped back with three bogeys during that same stretch. Then on the par three twelfth Tiger holed a bunker shot for birdie and it looked like he might still make a charge. This was especially the case because Phil hit a lackluster tee shot and an equally lackluster pitch shot that left him with a long putt for par. Phil proceeded to drain that par putt though and capped it off with a solid fist pump. On the ensuing hole Phil hit his approach shot inside of three feet and made the putt for birdie. Then after another birdie on the par five fourteenth it looked like Phil had the tournament under control. Phil hit a poor approach shot on the fifteenth though that left him short-sided in a bunker. After hitting his sand shot to about thirty feet it looked like Phil might drop a shot. This was when Phil canned another long putt for par. After two good pars on sixteen and seventeen Phil stood on the tee of the famous par five eighteenth at Pebble Beach with a two shot lead over Charlie Wi. Tiger was out of the picture at this point as he had made some more bogeys coming down the stretch. Phil laced two solid irons, which were followed by a solid wedge shot to about five feet on the eighteenth. Phil finished in style by making that putt for another birdie. It was a great sight as Phil and his long time friend and caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay embraced eachother in a hug after Phil had made that final putt. In the end, Phil shot an eight under par 64 in the final round for an overall total of 17 under par for the week, which was two shots better than second place finisher Charlie Wi.

Coming into the final round Phil needed to do something special, and there is no doubt that he did just that. Over the past year Phil definitely has not played his best golf, and his world ranking of 17 coming into this week reflected that. However, this week shows that his game is indeed back on track. Not only that, Phil further solidified himself as one of the greatest golfers of all time as this is his 40th career PGA Tour victory. The table is now officially set for Phil to have a great 2012. I would be very surprised if he did not win at least one more time this year, and I certainly would not be surprised if he won a major this year. In particular, I could definitely see him slipping on the green jacket for the fourth time.

The 2011-2012 jasathletics College Football National Championship goes to Alabama

If Louisiana State had won on Monday naming a college football national champion would have been a lot easier. This is because they would have been undefeated and clearly the best college football team this year. They did not win though, and in turn, I was left to decide which one-loss team was the best this year. In the end, to avoid losing credibility, I decided to stick with the formula that I have used to decide every college football national champion up to this point. Namely, the jasathletics College Football National Champion is the team with the best record out of all the BCS bowl winners with ties going to the BCS national champion. (Now you might be wondering how Texas Christian won the jasathletics title last year, but remember that I imposed sanctions on Auburn because of Cameron Newton.) So this year the jasathletics College Football National Championship goes to Alabama. This is only the second time that the BCS national champion has also won the jasathletics title. Interestingly enough, in both instances Alabama was the team. Even without the formula, I think I would have named Alabama as the jasathletics College Football National Champion. This is because of their dominant performance in the BCS National Championship game and because their one loss came in overtime to a team that was one of the best in the nation. Also, the other two teams that I considered - Oklahoma State and Boise State - suffered their one loss at the hands of a mediocre-at-best team and a slightly above average team, respectively. In the end though, this past college football season just shows, more that ever, that there needs to be a college football playoff. It would have been great for college football if Kellen Moore or Brandon Weeden  or both, which could happen with a playoff system, had gotten the chance to face the stout Alabama defense. Contrary to what most people in the Southeast think, I feel that both Moore and Weeden would have put up some points against the Alabama defense and shown them what a real offense looks like.