Gerry McNamara’s tears of joy turned into tears of sadness and betrayal after he heard this quote from his former coach Jim Boeheim after last night’s Syracuse win over UConn…

“I’ve got no words.  I’ve never been prouder of any team I’ve coached.”

A confidential informant has told our investigative team that Tim Higgins, Ed Corbett, and Gary Prager — the officials who handled the Big East Championship game between Villanova and Marquette this afternoon — are on the payroll of Buffalo Wild Wings.  Considering that the 42 fouls these officials called made the regulation game last nearly two and a half hours, we have not dismissed the informant’s claim.

Reading this article, we realized something… that even when Freeman doesn’t mainly assert the racial argument, that guy still misses the point. While we don’t necessarily disagree with is premise, we do think Griffin will win player of the year - which is pretty solid hype.  And one slight point he did not mention between Griffin and Hansbrough… Griffin plays for Oklahoma.  Do you know how many times Oklahoma has been on national TV in a prime time game this year?  Not half as many as UNC.  Could have something to do with it - but we digress.

Anyway, he complains that people don’t think of Griffin as a hustle guy and gritty.  He wrote, “it’s the play of Griffin, who has been every bit as intense and gritty and nightmare-fueled this season as Hansbrough was last year, but has gotten a fraction of the press and appreciation.”  We did not see the stat box from a week’s back or watch the actual game, but we can guarantee you we knew that Griffin had a 40-point, 23 -rebound game this season.  So when he does well, we know.

But at the end of his article, to show one coach he thinks highly of Griffin, he quotes Pat Knight: “Have you guys ever seen the movie The Terminator?  That’s what that kid is like. That kid has no facial expressions. He just plays and it’s like every kid out there on him is like Sarah Connor, and he’s just going to take his time and kill ‘em.”

And there’s the problem - Griffin does not show any emotion.  “That kid has no facial expressions.”  It’s a great quality, but that’s where Hansbrough is different.  He looks all angry and fired up all the time - Griffin looks in control and smooth.  That’s why Griffin, in our opinion, does not get the praise of being gritty.  If Hansbrough dives for a ball, he flails all over then whoops it up afterward.  Griffin would go after the ball, then get up and run down the court.

That’s just how it is.  Griffin does not call attention to himself.  And we’re pretty sure that when NBA draft time comes around, Blake Griffin will be plenty intense and gritty for lottery teams.

We just came across this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Tennessee’s new football recruiting program.  Apparently, Lane Kiffin’s assistants get all the recruits fired up about Volunteer football by ripping their shirts off Superman-style and yelling.  According to the article, some of the recruits actually found this entertaining and moved Tennessee up on the list.

We’re just praying that Kansas never catches word of how successful this tactic can be.