Gloom Mode

I was eager to find out what my crystal ball (CB) thought about the finish to Super Bowl 49 right after the Seattle Seahawks - the team CB had predicted would repeat as champions - suffered that stunning and heartbreaking 28-24 loss to the New England Patriots back on Feb. 1. But I had to wait; because almost immediately after the game ended, steam began to emanate from CB - so much steam in fact that in less than a half hour it was so dense that I couldn't see anything, and CB had literally become too hot to handle. So I waited some more. It wasn't until a whole two weeks later that CB finally cooled off enough for me to see what it was displaying ......  ?&@*{&#!(%WTFMAN!?!?!??
Indeed, wtf, man? - the same question a lot of Seahawks fans must have been asking too.

Revenge of the Birds

Way back in the infancy of the house of dread, which would now be 7 years ago, one of the first things I posted - appropriately under the title of "Totally Clueless" - was the first NFL forecast of my shiny new crystal ball (CB, for short). That first year, predicting the 2008 season, CB earned an overall grade of 'D' for its picks, a mark that still ranks as its lowest ever. Instead of the CB-approved Cowboys' victory over the Jaguars in the Super Bowl (neither team even made the playoffs), it was the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Arizona Cardinals in that exciting finish at Tampa. I mention this now because when I consulted CB 9 days ago for its forecast of the 2015 season, the first thing that came up in big capital letters was "DEJA VU." No, not the clueless part; CB means the part about the Cardinals facing the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Only this time it will be the Cardinals who will prevail, avenging their loss from 7 years ago, with the smiling face of WR Larry Fitzgerald (photo above) on the podium when the Vince Lombardi Trophy is presented after the first Super Bowl played at the 49ers' new Levi's Stadium next February.

DG159

It's tourney time!
In DG159, the last of the three dread galleries covering the 2014-15 College Basketball season, here is a look at how some of the 72 Division 1 players with dreads did in their conference and postseason tournaments.

1. Senior F Reco McCarter and the Campbell Camels didn't do very well in the Big South tournament. McCarter drives against the defense of Gardner-Webb G Adonis Burbage on Mar. 4 during a 1st round game in the tournament. McCarter finished with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocked shots in his final game in a Campbell uniform as the Camels fell behind by 14 at halftime and never seriously threatened in the 2nd half, losing to G-W 72-64.

DG158

Dread gallery #158 features action from the 2014-15 regular season in College Basketball.



















1. In DG157 I mentioned that Memphis junior F Shaq Goodwin scored the most important 2 points of the game in their victory at UConn on Mar. 5. Well, those 2 points came on this jump shot to the left of the lane over the arm of the late-arriving 6-10 F Phillip Nolan with 8.1 seconds to play and gave the Tigers a 54-53 lead .....

DG157

Before switching back into football mode for another season, there's still a little time left to see how some college basketball players with dreads did during the 2014-15 season - specifically, the 72 players on Division 1 teams that I know of who had dreads when the season ended. That total of 72 is the most ever, thanks to (as I mentioned in my first look post back in February) the large number of players who just began growing their dreads this season. None (as usual) of the 72 finished the season playing in the Final 4 of the NCAA Tournament; but there were a couple who got to raise trophies in the minor tournaments. Two of the 72 were drafted by NBA teams. Congratulations to William & Mary G Marcus Thornton and Louisville F Montrezl Harrell (photo above), both of whom were selected in the 2nd round of the NBA Draft on June 25. (Pay no attention to those dreads that Kentucky C Willie Cauley-Stein, a 1st round pick, had on draft night - which he didn't have until after the season was over - because they were already gone by the time the summer league began two weeks later.) If not for the injuries they suffered, there would have been two more players with dreads selected in the 2nd round.