George Wasington

Karl Hobbs, sorry, not your team, but the President. My favorite of the two Presidents recognized this month, his birthday is today, so lets give a big birthday shout out to the man who stood up in a boat when you're not supposed to and owned the British. While on this revolutionary kick, I was up in Boston this past weekend with the family to watch my brother and his teammates dominate on Salve Regina in their "final" home game of my brother and the four other seniors on the Gordon College men's basketball team. They dropped a 30-point beat down on S. Regina (Providence, RI). They already wrapped up the regular season TCCC title but it gave those seniors one more chance to go out and do what they came to Gordon to do and that's make the NCAA DIII tournament. Gordon will have home-court advantage throughout the conference tournament, a court they only lost once on this year, so hopefully they win tomorrow, Thursday, and Saturday and go dancing. (The DIII championship is in Salem, VA so I want to have a good excuse to go up there, that being my brother and the Fighting Scots are laying it on the line to raise the hardware) So I took in a little DIII action while I was up in Boston but I also did some things I've been meaning to do for a long time. I went to Glouscester, MA (home of The Perfect Storm, both book and film). I not only wanted to see the memorial for all the men lost at sea from the oldest fishing town in the United States, but I wanted to go to The Crow's Nest. I scored a shirt from the watering hole and just because and in a little tribute to the fishermen who went down I ripped straight Jaeger at 11:45am on Saturday. The lady either A. did not know how to make a so-co lime or B. just didn't have the ingredients. I'm guessing A&B. When I asked for a Jaeger Bomb she said, "We don't do bombs here honey." So I went with straight Jaeger, which she and I both agreed I couldn't go wrong with. It wasn't just a rinky dink shot either. She meant business when she gave me a full glass of Jaeger. I downed it and scoped the pictures just in time for my welcome to wear out. I could literally feel the locals eyes burning a hole through my back as I took in the scenery, it's ok, I'm sure they get a lot of "me's" in there so I'm cool with it. I also discovered a new favorite beer that unfortunately I'll never be able to get again until I return to Massachusetts. Mayflower Porter by Mayflower Brewing Company out of Plymouth, MA. Unreal. I highly recommend it if you're in the Boston area. Overall a very successful trip to Boston. Oh and by the way, Essex County where Gordon College is, most expensive cost of living county in America. According to my brother, there is no house less than $2 million in the county and believe me when I say that would be a correct statement.

Meanwhile down in Charlotte, NC, Xavier grabbed another big time road win, this time in conference. Xavier pulled away from the surprisingly strong 49ers late in the first and kept them at bay in the second half. Once again Jordan Crawford did what he does and that's ball out. Jamel McClean continues to impress each and every outing. I pose this question to you, imagine how good Jamel could be if he had the range of Derrick Brown? If he had any sort of outside game, even if it was 15 ft. and in, he really could cause a lot of problems. The guy in my mind is more athletic than Derrick, he cares more than Derrick (rebound effort shows this), his energy is higher than Derrick's. Just imagine with any sort of mid-range let alone outside game the guy could be a big time hoss in the A-10 and college basketball. I love his effort this year and he certainly has got to be in the argument for most improved player next to Tutu. Let me reiterate the greatness of Xavier basketball, especially in February and March, the most crucial moments of college basketball season. Currently we have won 3 of 4 road games so far this month and we are playing like we always do when it comes to this time. That just goes to say what a strong SOS can do for teams when it matters. (Dayton, maybe you should take notes, or maybe you'll just continue to suck) Dayton lost at Duquesne yesterday. What a bunch of chumps. They got all the pre-season accolades and look where they are. Middle of the pack, crying because the truth hurts, they just aren't very good and are overrated. Listen here Dayton, and this is in no way shape or form in disrespect to Richmond or Temple, but we all know the A-10 runs through Cincinnati. The Tradition of Excellence lies right off of exit 5 on 71. I hope Dayton enjoys the NIT with Cincinnati, I'm sure it will be a great field of teams that you guys are used to playing since your RPI and SOS are garbage. I'll continue to advise you to stay in the shallow end Dayton until you can learn to swim with the sharks. Sorry, I lost my train of thought, Xavier, yeah, we're setting ourselves up for a strong stretch run into March and hopefully late into March.

Well, Ohio State is continuing to do the things. Evan Turner, you are the man, there is nothing more I can say. The Buckeyes are a half game back of Purdue in the Big 10 after a big time win at the always hostile Izzone in East Lansing. I didn't get to see the game but it sounds like the Buckeyes had an all around good game and held off a run by Michigan State to get the big W.

The Cavs have yet to win a game with the new line-up but I'm not worried. This is definitely the team they need to do big things. The next step is to play like a team and win the title. After that, roll out the red carpet, open up the check book, and do everything it takes to keep LeBron. Finally, win the title and keep LeBron. Simple.

Rumor on the street is that the Browns are close to finalizing the deal up with Joshua Cribbs. Great news! Soon I can go back to being a happy Brown fan. That's exactly what they need to do in order to prevent mass rioting in the streets. Mock drafts have the Browns taking Joe Haden. I like it. Not as much as I like them taking Eric Berry, but that's just too much to ask for. I like Haden and him and Eric Wright should be two solid corners.

I can't leave out the spectacular effort the USA showed last night in beating Canada. I can only imagine what it must have felt like back in 1980 during the Miracle on Ice, but last night was pretty awesome. USA is so young but so talented, not nearly as talented as Canada though so the win is big time. Plus we hadn't beat Canada...ever. So that's pretty fresh.

My tour of everything east of the Mississippi continues this weekend when I head to the windy city for a wedding. I'm pretty jacked. Is there anything than weddings? No. Dressing up, feeling the flow, and cutting a rug...you can't beat that. It should be a great time and I'm looking forward to this weekend.

--'Killa