Delivering American University's news and views since 1925 | Sunday, December 3, 2023
How convenient that in the last week of this column, we have probably our biggest week of the semester. We have the NBA and NHL playoffs, and, as I said last week, the most media-hyped event in the world, the NFL Draft (or Mel Kiper Invitational). Truth: The Devils will win the Stanley Cup.
Spring is officially here. With baseball in full swing, the NFL Draft approaching and all kinds of winter sports playoffs, there's plenty to talk about. But, we'll start off with something none of us want to talk about. Truth: The media is making way too big of a deal about the Duke Lacrosse rape scandal.
A month ago, Army women's basketball coach Maggie Dixon found herself on top of the world. She was headed to her first NCAA tournament in her first season as a head coach against one of the greatest programs in the country, Tennessee. Life couldn't get any better for the 28-year-old firecracker of a coach, who became the nation's sweetheart through her countless ESPN interviews and stories of the dream season she led.
Wow, what a week. Baseball is starting, basketball and hockey are ending, and the NFL draft is heating up. Tragedy, triumph and turmoil surrounded the week. But, at the end of the day, we still have two truths. and a lie. Truth: Brett Favre will be back in the NFL next season.
Well, March is over, and with the start of the baseball season, spring is officially here. In a week filled with much drama and excitement, we saw champions crowned, new beginnings and depressing endings. Thus, this week's edition focuses on the difference between projections and reflections.
Wow, I'm a battered human, a shell of my former self, dead to the world, or any other pathetic clich? you can come up with for what happened to me and my bracket last weekend. If you can find it in your hearts, please disregard the "four truths" column I gave last week, when I proclaimed Duke, Villanova, Gonzaga and U-Conn.
Tala Hadavi was recruited to AU as a transfer from Virginia Commonwealth to be the leader of a program that was headed for its first NCAA berth. In two years of eligibility, she had one of the most up-and-down careers in Patriot League history. She played only eight games her junior year before blowing out her knee, and 22 games this year before suffering the same injury on her other knee.
What would the third week of March be without a Final Four projection? Instead of the normal "Two Truths and a Lie," we're going to switch it up and go with simply the "Final Four Truths." Truth: Duke will beat Texas to advance to the Final Four. Maybe it's the easy way out, but the Dukies are playing well again after a couple rough games.
This week was all about shattered images. From Barry Bonds to Daunte Culpepper to Alfonso Soriano and the National Football League, professional and college sports are not having their finest day. Truth: Barry Bonds should have all his records stricken from the books and be banned from baseball.
Trekking up to Worcester, Mass., for her team's Patriot League tournament game against Holy Cross, AU coach Melissa McFerrin knew exactly what her seventh-seeded Eagles needed to do to have any hope of scoring an upset: Hustle, play defense and keep the game in the 50s.
