Championship Week: deliver me from the office
Oh, for the chance to sit at home this week.
By Ben Osborne
I love working at SLAM, but I have to say that this is one crappy week to be shipping an issue. ESPN has effectively renamed this week Championship Week, and were it not for my J-O-B, they would be getting a lot of my viewing attention the next few days. Here’s the deal with Championship Week: it’s heaven if you’re at home and/or camped out at a bar. I have an affinity for two things it is connected with—college hoops and sports at odd times. Any time I’m watching a live sporting event when most people are sitting at work, I feel like I’m getting over. Well, there is probably not a better week than this one for live sporting events during business hours.
It started slowly with some spring training baseball yesterday, picked up with Champions League soccer today (Barca out to Liverpool? Damn.) and goes absolutely buckwild tomorrow when the Big East Tourney kicks off. By Thursday you’ll have more college tourney games on then you could possibly watch. When I was in college, it was a wrap for classes this week as I camped out in my room and loaded up on the hoops. And that was the old days of the mid-90’s, when there were many fewer games on then there are now. Shoot, the Big Ten had just started it’s postseason tourney then and the Pac-10 didn’t even have one yet, and there were still mad games on. But nothing like the extravaganza of early March, 2007. Between noon tomorrow and 7 PM Friday, ESPN’s family of networks will broadcast 20 men’s college games during SLAM office hours. And the worldwide leader doesn’t even have a monopoly on this panoply of college hoops. Here in New York there are also Pac-10 games on Fox Sports (thankfully many of these air late at night because of the time difference) and women’s games on at all sorts of odd hours as well. Elsewhere in the country I’m sure there is some nice coverage of slept-on tourneys like the Mountain West and the WAC.
One tournament that I couldn’t watch any of this week even if I had no job is the Atlantic 10’s. This is relevant since I mentioned my own college days before. Well, I went to George Washington, which you should know plays in the A-10. The A-10 was once a rising star in the college hoops world but now—while conferences such as the Missouri Valley and Colonial Athletic have become media darlings that understand how to manipulate the selection committee—it doesn’t seem to have a single program (out of 14; as a league it can’t count) that knows how to spell RPI. For real, we are now basically a one-bid league. Where have you gone, Coach Cal and John Chaney?. Now the league is a joke, and this week’s tournament sums up how far it has fallen. Pardon my sounding like an old man, but in my day the A-10 Tourney was on syndicated TV throughout the East Coast and it was held at the tradition-steeped Palestra in Philadelphia. This weekend’s tournament is being held in Atlantic City (classy, huh?) and is being shown (save for the championship game) on CSTV, a channel I have never seen in my life. Way to go, A-10. At least I won’t be missing any of those games being at work.
Thankfully, while many of the obscure games of the midweek will be done, Saturday is still a college hoops fest, and I plan to indulge. See you then, couch. As for you lucky Slamonline readers who are still in college or have some other life circumstance that allows you to watch the games this week, let me know what I’m missing…
24 Responses to “Championship Week: deliver me from the office”
Mar.6 at 8:22 pm
Harlem_World says:
You’re surprised Liverpool pulled it off? I’m not. Barca had to go in there and beat them by 2 goals clear. That was never going to be easy.
Mar.6 at 10:03 pm
Ben Osborne says:
I’m not surprised by today’s outcome, moreso that Liverpool beat them over the two games, and even moreso that Barca has been so mediocre for the last 6 weeks. Delayed championship hangover I got (and Eto’o health issues).
Mar.6 at 11:13 pm
Ryan Jones says:
F*ck L*verpool, Ben.
Mar.7 at 12:13 am
Ben Osborne says:
Was I implying I liked them, Ryan?
Mar.7 at 2:00 am
Harlem_World says:
Damn Ryan, I take it you’re a Barca fan? lol…
Mar.7 at 11:03 am
Ryan Jones says:
Not at all, Ben. I just needed to say it. Feels good, every time. We got your boys this weekend, by the way…
Mar.7 at 11:03 am
Ryan Jones says:
And no, HW, I’m not.
Mar.7 at 11:38 am
Susan says:
So tell me about this “Liverpool” team…should we do an In Your Face on them? We still do basketball here, boys, right?
Mar.7 at 12:14 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Ryan actually has an intense, SLAM feature story waiting for him in Liverpool if he wants to go over there.
Mar.7 at 12:32 pm
Ryan Jones says:
That was SLAM managing editor Susan Price, folks, looking up from a shopping website just long enough to chime in.
And Ben: I’m working on it. Soon…
Mar.7 at 12:38 pm
Bill Biehl says:
Damn, Ryan you’re into this college ball arent you? Sounds like Liverpool shakes up that sand in your vagina. I’m with Susan, let’s give Liverpool a cover, and two feature stories in the next issue. It’s not like any of this matters anyway, its all about the Greg Oden show this year. Muck Fichigan.
Mar.7 at 12:53 pm
Ryan Jones says:
“…shakes up that sand in your…” I’d be impressed by your eloquence, Bill, if I knew what the f*ck you were talking about.
Mar.7 at 1:12 pm
Ben Couch says:
Ben, you’re on for Saturday, ha. As a UNC grad, I’m all about the college hoops. (Chuckle when that makes sense …)
Mar.7 at 2:09 pm
Nadav Mor says:
Gotta love Soccer…Liverpool loses and moves on. That and the lack of playoffs in European soccer leagues is why the NBA is the greatest
Mar.7 at 2:34 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Chuckling
Mar.7 at 3:30 pm
ERIC Froman Chappy says:
I know you and Brick Slick were chillin in DC, holed up in those tight quarters watchin Yinka (*RIP*) tear it up…those were the days… J-Dubs has been crying about his Blue Devils lately… Congrats on the Editor’s post. Well deserved. –McClean McCleaners
Mar.7 at 6:51 pm
H to the izzo says:
From your first brilliant comment Ryan I take it you’re a Everton fan?
Mar.7 at 8:22 pm
spence diamonds says:
i miss the G-mac era. I love college ball, but the one problem is i actually get said when i see a player i really like who ive watched for a while and read lots about leave his school. I cried when G-mac got the standing O last season in seniors night and im still depressed that UCONN lost its whole team. I loved those guys…DB, boon, laptop, Hilt the stilt, Rudy, rashad…those were the days…sorry if ive gone a little off topic
Mar.8 at 12:06 am
Bill Biehl says:
Ryan: You seemed to get huffy-puffy, uncomfortable, upset when someone mentioned Liverpool. And i’m guessing that if you got sand in your vagina, it would cause the same reaction. What’s the deal? Some dude from Liverpool take your girl? It was a joke. Is this easier for you to understand?
Mar.8 at 8:24 am
Karan says:
fuck barca
Mar.8 at 9:44 am
Ryan Jones says:
Nothing brilliant about it, izzo, but yes, I am, as has been noted on this site numerous times before.
And Bill: I get it — I have a vagina! Whooo… You got me there, buddy. Good one.
Mar.8 at 12:48 pm
H to the izzo says:
Anything bad about Liverpool is brilliant
Mar.9 at 5:08 pm
DP(Devontae Palmer) says:
The G-Mac era will be replaced by the Devendorf era. Even though they lost against the Irish, Devendorf is the best player on the Orange. They are going to be top ten next with their upcoming freshman. play wit it.
Mar.13 at 11:54 pm
» A Different Type Of Game Notes - SLAM ONLINE says:
[…] As I wrote last week, there wasn’t much time to watch conference tournaments last week. There was little TV watching until the weekend, and I couldn’t make my usual mid-day jaunts to the Garden for the Big East Tournament either. I more than made up for this deprivation last Thursday night, however. Credential in hand and bball gear in my gym bag, I trekked over to Madison Square Garden a little after 7 PM. […]