The House Of Heat

I received a rather disturbing email from a Bruin fan who started DumpDorrell.com, a feverishly angry site dedicated to firing UCLA's coach, despite posting a TEN WIN SEASON last year. And you thought I took it bad when we lost to U of A... sheesh. DD is caling this the "'Ass in the Ice Bucket' Fire Bowl," an appropriate title considering the loser may be surfing monster.com by Christmas.

The Bruins are in a tough spot as USC's whipping boy and the stress is starting to show. ASU hoops fans can attest to the frustration of absolute inferiority in the face of one's hated rival, but UCLA has the unfortunate burden of optimism. At least we know ASU basketball sucks and we expect routine beatings on Thursday and Saturday nights throughout the winter and spring, but somewhere along the line UCLA got it to their heads that they deserve more. They have certainly had better success than most Pac-10 teams historically, but how many Bruin head coaches can you name? I can only come up with two- Terry Donohue and apparent job seeker Karl Dorrell- the two most recent coaches. Why can't you just take your powerhouse basketball program and be satisfied? Florida has apparently ruined it for everyone.

I'm planning on doing another Q & A with the boys at BruinsNation, so if there are any questions you want answered leave them in the comments section. I'll also attempt a preview sometime this week, but it really comes down to one thing: which ASU team will show up?


They Play Other Sports At ASU?
Speaking of basketball, the Sendek ship has started it's voyage a wee bit off course, but that's okay. No one here is expecting jack or shit at Wells Fargo Arena this year (how have things changed?) as Herb Sendek tries to give birth to a basketball program. Note I use the term birth as opposed to revive- there's no past at ASU that needs to be brought up again, I don't care how nice of a guy Ned Wulk was. (RIP) Jut a reminder for you Wulk supporters, no one outside of 85281 knows who we're talking about. Last night's loss to NAU featured a few bright spots in an otherwise dismal preview of the months to come.

* There were students in attendance for a non-conference game for the first time since the mesozoic era.

* The announced attendance was 10,262. Spectators attest that there were far fewer butts in seats, but that will still look good in a box score. If Rob Evans was retained, that number would be in the 4,000 to 5,000 range. That, I assure you, is not a joke.

* The two best players on the court were true freshmen Jerren Shipp and Christian Polk, scoring 23 and 22 points, respectively. Some think that next year's studded recruiting class will actually create depth at the guard position. Eddie House sits stunned in New Jersey, I assure you.

* The new uniforms are simple and snazzy. Removing the gold trim from the white-maroon combination has done wonders.

Keep at it boys, it's going to be a long year.

OOOO! CFB Gossip!
Let's dish. There's a party tonight in Tallahassee as Jeff Bowden "resigns" his post of offensive coordinator at Florida State and bloggers everywhere are using quotation marks to make it look suspicious. While he was a successful coach at other schools before his dadgum daddy hired ol' Jeffy-poo on, his play calling left a lot to be desired and the stench finally reached the head coach's office. The reasonable guess is that enough pressure from the high dollar boosters was applied to FSU's athletic director and someone's head had to roll for a non-championship season. Lynchings would occur if Bobby were to leave his job by any means other than graceful retirement, (he will ALWAYS be loved in Tally) and his weight was probably enough to make things look nice by allowing Jeff to present the facade of moving on to bigger and better things. Peace and chicken grease, Jeff. It appears that FSU will go back to kicking the shit out of it's opponents by using the same 5-star athletes whose sucess you've been hindering.


***Random fun nugget!***
Here is a little something I posted on a message board regarding ASU's attendance woes for this season and many others like it. It some of my best work, and I know both of you loyal readers will appreciate it.

"I don't see why going to hang out with 70,000 of your best friends every week to drink, scream, and yell is such a chore. People go to church every week, and that's hardly exciting. I just don't get it. Nothing aginst Jesus, but if it were as cool as college football people would tailgate."

They really have it all in South Bend.

Labels: blog links, hoops, message board nonsense, Pac-10 business, regular old crackers