Here is this year's live blog (with special guest). It will start at 11:45.
Monday, November 14, 2011
It's Back On, Baby
After what I believe is a year hiatus, I'm once again attempting to watch every last minute of ESPN's College Hoops Marathon.
On the off chance this is your first visit to this blog and are new to my endeavor, I'll provide a (mostly brief) background.
When I was in Junior High School I read an excellent book by Norman Chad called "Hold On Honey, I'll Take You To The Hospital At Halftime." In the book, Chad had a chapter in which he decided to watch 24-straight hours of ESPN, simply because ESPN is a 24-hour sports network, and the option was available. This struck teenage me as an excellent idea, and I always planned an attempt at climbing the 24-hour ESPN mountain myself. Several attempts in college were thwarted by a variety of factors, but then ESPN announced its first College Basketball Tip-Off Marathon, which seemed like the perfect opportunity, considering other 24-hour ESPN blocks almost certainly involve SportsCenter re-runs or exposure to Skip Bayless.
At some point, it also occurred to me that perhaps my friends who found my behavior most likely appalling, but perhaps also entertaining might "sponsor" the event, as a way to take something good out of my useless activity. And since my love of sports stems almost directly from my father, who passed away as a result of heart disease far too young, I thought I'd try and solicit contributions to the American Heart Association.
I now realize this was not at all a short explanation, but if you feel inclined to contribute, here is the link and at the end of the 24 hours I'll match whatever total we brought in this time around.
There will also be a live blog of the event that I'll put in the next post, and will begin promptly at midnight, and will hopefully feature noted basketball blogger Dr. Slam Please feel free to stop by and join in the fun.
On the off chance this is your first visit to this blog and are new to my endeavor, I'll provide a (mostly brief) background.
When I was in Junior High School I read an excellent book by Norman Chad called "Hold On Honey, I'll Take You To The Hospital At Halftime." In the book, Chad had a chapter in which he decided to watch 24-straight hours of ESPN, simply because ESPN is a 24-hour sports network, and the option was available. This struck teenage me as an excellent idea, and I always planned an attempt at climbing the 24-hour ESPN mountain myself. Several attempts in college were thwarted by a variety of factors, but then ESPN announced its first College Basketball Tip-Off Marathon, which seemed like the perfect opportunity, considering other 24-hour ESPN blocks almost certainly involve SportsCenter re-runs or exposure to Skip Bayless.
At some point, it also occurred to me that perhaps my friends who found my behavior most likely appalling, but perhaps also entertaining might "sponsor" the event, as a way to take something good out of my useless activity. And since my love of sports stems almost directly from my father, who passed away as a result of heart disease far too young, I thought I'd try and solicit contributions to the American Heart Association.
I now realize this was not at all a short explanation, but if you feel inclined to contribute, here is the link and at the end of the 24 hours I'll match whatever total we brought in this time around.
There will also be a live blog of the event that I'll put in the next post, and will begin promptly at midnight, and will hopefully feature noted basketball blogger Dr. Slam Please feel free to stop by and join in the fun.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
And......we're back
Here we go again. Not that anyone is reading, but live blog is back and ready to go.
Done for now
Time to start getting ready for work (though I'm going to wait until halftime of St. Peter's/Monmouth).
But I'll be back with another live blog around 6:45 tonight. Hope to have even more folks offering comments this evening.
But I'll be back with another live blog around 6:45 tonight. Hope to have even more folks offering comments this evening.
Monday, November 16, 2009
24 Hours 2009 Edition
Okay folks, here's the deal. Unfortunately work and other responsibilities prevent me from ignoring life and watching 24 straight hours of ESPN this year. But, because I enjoy doing stupid things for very little reason, I am going to begin the hoops marathon at approximately 11:55 this evening, stay up all night and watch games, go to work and then attend my class tomorrow, and then come home and watch the rest of the games until around midnight.
So while it won't be 24 consecutive hours of TV watching, it will be staying up for 24 consecutive hours, and watching as much basketball as my schedule allows.
Also, I'm trying out a new liveblog feature this year, which allows you the devoted readers (as if there are any) to post comments etc. as I post things. This is partially just so I can test this software for future use with my job, but I thought it would be fun.
Also, since I am not able to watch all 24 hours this year, I won't be soliciting donations to the American Heart Association. But if you stop by, and feel like clicking the link to the right, I will once again match whatever contributions are made this year.
And with that, I hope to see you all later this evening.
So while it won't be 24 consecutive hours of TV watching, it will be staying up for 24 consecutive hours, and watching as much basketball as my schedule allows.
Also, I'm trying out a new liveblog feature this year, which allows you the devoted readers (as if there are any) to post comments etc. as I post things. This is partially just so I can test this software for future use with my job, but I thought it would be fun.
Also, since I am not able to watch all 24 hours this year, I won't be soliciting donations to the American Heart Association. But if you stop by, and feel like clicking the link to the right, I will once again match whatever contributions are made this year.
And with that, I hope to see you all later this evening.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Final post of the night
Okay folks. Arizona/UAB is getting exciting, and I want to shut down the computer. I'll post some more stuff tomorrow, but I wanted to give a brief recap.
I watched ESPN from 11:47 PM EST on Monday night until probably 1:35 AM EST Wednesday morning (guesstimating the end of this game).
I watched parts of 12 different basketball games, along with some bowling, some billiards and some college football.
I made 104 blog posts (counting this one).
I received straight donations totaling $95 from four generous people.
Added to the approximately $243 pledged prior to the event and that gives us a total of $338, with a few more people still to decide on their pledge.
I will then match that total, so I think we can safely say my nonsense will have raised around $800 for the American Heart Association.
Thanks to everyone who contributed and who chatted with me to help keep me going.
Much love.
I watched ESPN from 11:47 PM EST on Monday night until probably 1:35 AM EST Wednesday morning (guesstimating the end of this game).
I watched parts of 12 different basketball games, along with some bowling, some billiards and some college football.
I made 104 blog posts (counting this one).
I received straight donations totaling $95 from four generous people.
Added to the approximately $243 pledged prior to the event and that gives us a total of $338, with a few more people still to decide on their pledge.
I will then match that total, so I think we can safely say my nonsense will have raised around $800 for the American Heart Association.
Thanks to everyone who contributed and who chatted with me to help keep me going.
Much love.
Impressive
A quick list of players who impressed me over the course of this fiasco.
-Tony Gaffney from UMass scored 16 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.
-Amorrow Morgan from Idaho State was strong the whole game. Though when his team lost, it prevented me from using my incredibly witty title for a blog post which was going to be "the sun will come out Amorrow." pure genius.
-Though he missed the potential game-tying shot I did like the game Brennan Votel had for Penn. Did a little bit of everything.
-Pretty much everyone looked good for UNC Asheville. No one really stood out.
-While Devendorf and TMJF were the obvious choices, I did like the way Onuaku looked. If he remains solid, Syracuse could be good. Though he needs to tighten it up defensively.
-I've never been a huge Tyrese Rice fan, but I liked the way he looked perfectly happy setting up his teammates tonight. I think he's better in that role than his normal gunner role.
-Blake Griffin is an obvious choice, but the main is just a beast.
-I liked the game Stephen Rossiter played for Davidson. He obviously doesn't have much of an offensive game, but I thought he was solid all-around and brought a lot to the table.
-Tony Gaffney from UMass scored 16 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.
-Amorrow Morgan from Idaho State was strong the whole game. Though when his team lost, it prevented me from using my incredibly witty title for a blog post which was going to be "the sun will come out Amorrow." pure genius.
-Though he missed the potential game-tying shot I did like the game Brennan Votel had for Penn. Did a little bit of everything.
-Pretty much everyone looked good for UNC Asheville. No one really stood out.
-While Devendorf and TMJF were the obvious choices, I did like the way Onuaku looked. If he remains solid, Syracuse could be good. Though he needs to tighten it up defensively.
-I've never been a huge Tyrese Rice fan, but I liked the way he looked perfectly happy setting up his teammates tonight. I think he's better in that role than his normal gunner role.
-Blake Griffin is an obvious choice, but the main is just a beast.
-I liked the game Stephen Rossiter played for Davidson. He obviously doesn't have much of an offensive game, but I thought he was solid all-around and brought a lot to the table.
Final food tallies
Well, I'm consuming my final adult beverage at this time. And I won't be eating anything else. So I've listed below my entire food intake over this period. When possible, I tried to give calorie totals (at the request of Team Gr[e/a]y Captain David Roberts.
| Time (EST) | Food | ||||||
| 0:15 | Medium Dunkin Donuts coffee, with cream and sugar | ||||||
| 0:15 | Pumpkin donut from Dunkin Donuts | ||||||
| 4:44 | Bowl of Ramen with 1 1/2 cups frozen vegetables. Approx 215 calories. | ||||||
| 10:22 | Two bagels (whole wheat & everything) with butter. No idea on calories | ||||||
| 11:10 | Half a Kit Kat bar | ||||||
| 11:46 | Small bag of Peanut M&Ms (very small, trick or treat size | ||||||
| 15:09 | California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizza. 290 Calories | ||||||
| 15:09 | Sam Adams Winter Lager. 175 Calories | ||||||
| 17:32 | Some chips and salsa calories unknown maybe 200. | ||||||
| 17:32 | Sam Adams Winter Lager. 175 Calories | ||||||
| 19:05 | Medium Dunkin Donuts coffee, with cream and sugar | ||||||
| 21:21 | Large salad bar salad (no idea on calories | ||||||
| 21:25 | Sam Adams Winter Lager. 175 Calories | ||||||
| 22:30 | Sam Adams Winter Lager. 175 Calories | ||||||
| 11:22 PM | Sam Adams Winter Lager. 175 Calories | ||||||
| 12:15 AM | Sam Adams Winter Lager. 175 Calories | ||||||
Davidson thoughts
So as it probably has become clear during my blogging, I've sort of adopted Davidson as my unofficial team. For those who are unaware, this is primarily because my brother is a Davidson grad, and because I've run naked around the Davidson track while heavily intoxicated. So I felt like I "knew" about Davidson before they broke onto the national scene last year.
As such, I wanted to offer my thoughts on Davidson's 82-78 set-back to Oklahoma.
There has been a lot of talk this season about how the loss of point guard Jason Richards from last year's team is going to impact the team, specifically Stephen Curry. After tonight it seems clear to me that the loss of Richards isn't really going to hurt Curry, but rather is going to hurt the rest of the team. Curry is good enough to create space and get (and make) shots against anyone. But against the top-level teams that Davidson is now playing in the non-conference there isn't anyone else on the roster, at least as far as I can tell, who is capable of creating his own offense. And that was the role Richards played, not only creating shots for himself, but also creating easy shots for the non-Curry members of the team. And while Curry is capable of playing the point in the sense that he can handle the ball and initiate the offense, it doesn't seem like he really wants to, or is being asked to create easy opportunities for others. That means if the other Wildcats are hitting open threes, the rest of the team is going to struggle to score against top-level foes.
As for Curry, here's my best attempt to explain why I think I enjoy watching him so much. Obviously much of it is the obvious stuff--he's incredibly talented, plays very smart, seems to genuinely be a good teammate, etc. But I think what has amazed me is that, and granted the sample size is pretty small, is that he rises to the occasion and seems to have that "it" that superstar players have in the big moment that actually makes you EXPECT them to come through in big spots. And while that certainly doesn't make him unique, I can't ever remember seeing a college athlete who reached that level where I genuinely expect them to step up and make the big shots in big moments. He seems to have that, and I really think it's a unique trait in a college athlete...and it's absolutely a blast to watch. This was on display again against Oklahoma when he drained that absurdly long three after the steal with about eight minutes to go to cut the lead to seven, and then the nuts step-back three late over Griffin. Yes, he didn't make every play (how is it possible he scored 42 and had a bad night?) but the fact remains that he seems to have that sense of the moment that the great ones have. And he has it as a college junior. Remarkable.
As such, I wanted to offer my thoughts on Davidson's 82-78 set-back to Oklahoma.
There has been a lot of talk this season about how the loss of point guard Jason Richards from last year's team is going to impact the team, specifically Stephen Curry. After tonight it seems clear to me that the loss of Richards isn't really going to hurt Curry, but rather is going to hurt the rest of the team. Curry is good enough to create space and get (and make) shots against anyone. But against the top-level teams that Davidson is now playing in the non-conference there isn't anyone else on the roster, at least as far as I can tell, who is capable of creating his own offense. And that was the role Richards played, not only creating shots for himself, but also creating easy shots for the non-Curry members of the team. And while Curry is capable of playing the point in the sense that he can handle the ball and initiate the offense, it doesn't seem like he really wants to, or is being asked to create easy opportunities for others. That means if the other Wildcats are hitting open threes, the rest of the team is going to struggle to score against top-level foes.
As for Curry, here's my best attempt to explain why I think I enjoy watching him so much. Obviously much of it is the obvious stuff--he's incredibly talented, plays very smart, seems to genuinely be a good teammate, etc. But I think what has amazed me is that, and granted the sample size is pretty small, is that he rises to the occasion and seems to have that "it" that superstar players have in the big moment that actually makes you EXPECT them to come through in big spots. And while that certainly doesn't make him unique, I can't ever remember seeing a college athlete who reached that level where I genuinely expect them to step up and make the big shots in big moments. He seems to have that, and I really think it's a unique trait in a college athlete...and it's absolutely a blast to watch. This was on display again against Oklahoma when he drained that absurdly long three after the steal with about eight minutes to go to cut the lead to seven, and then the nuts step-back three late over Griffin. Yes, he didn't make every play (how is it possible he scored 42 and had a bad night?) but the fact remains that he seems to have that sense of the moment that the great ones have. And he has it as a college junior. Remarkable.
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