DG147 - Part 2

Let's continue now with our look at pro basketball players with dreads during the 2012-13 season in part 2 of dread gallery #147.
And we begin with a question: To reduce (your dreads) or not to reduce? For most players the answer is a quick and simple no. After all, what's the point of letting your dreads grow long if you're not going to show them off when you're on the court. Unfortunately not everyone shares my opinion. In fact, for three of the 10 players with dreads in the NBA this season you never knew from game-to-game if they were going to let their dreads flow or keep them stifled. We already saw Cartier Martin in Part 1. Now let's look at the other two.
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1. For Jordan Hill there is no middle ground. When he reduces his dreads, the 6-10, 235-pound reserve center for the L.A. Lakers clumps them together so tightly that it's difficult to tell that he even has dreads. If your seats are in the upper deck, he looks like any other player with clean cut hair. And when he has them flowing freely, he barely holds them back at all, never bunching them, and wearing a band so close to his head that they get nearly full extension when he's on the court - like here on Nov. 11 as he battles for a rebound against Kings F James Johnson during 1st half at Staples Center. Hill had 8 points, 7 rebounds, and a season high 4 turnovers in 19 minutes in this game as Lakers improved to 3-2 with a 103-90 victory over Kings.

DG146 - Part 1

With the first pick in the 2013 NFL draft the Arizona Cardinals select Matt Barkley.

That was the forecast by my crystal ball a couple of days before the start of the 2012 NFL season. But as we know now, Barkley played himself out of the top spot in the draft (and out of the 1st round altogether) with a good but not great senior season as the QB at USC. And the Cardinals? They played themselves out of the top spot too, finishing the season with a better record than 5 other teams.

But that's OK, because it allowed them, with the 7th pick of the 1st round, to have the honor of selecting the first player with dreads in this year's draft. Just as desperate for help on the offensive line as they were at quarterback, the Cardinals picked former North Carolina G Jonathan Cooper. NFL teams usually show very little love for interior offensive linemen in the draft; but apparently Cooper, a 6-foot-2, 312-pounder, is so highly rated as a prospect that not only is he expected to start on opening day, there's already talk of him having Hall-of-Fame potential. Have fun living up to that kind of hype, Coop.

The 2013 draft didn't have as much dread star power as 2012, when 5 of the top 15 players picked (and a total of 7 in the 1st round) had dreads. This year Cooper was the only player with dreads selected in the top 15 and the first of 5 selected in round 1. But the grand total of 36 players with dreads for the entire draft not only easily surpassed last year's total of 30, I think it also is an all-time high for any draft.

DG146 - Part 2

Part 2 of dread gallery #146 features the rookies for teams in the AFC North, NFC North, and AFC South. We'll begin with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I doubt that the Steelers' front office saw my Week 21 dread news report back in February; but with the players they drafted, you might think they did. I gave the Steelers a C- grade for their dreads in 2012, the only team in the division worse than an A-. But that grade is sure to be a lot better in 2013 because of the 9 players they drafted, five (!) have dreads.
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1. Jarvis Jones' dreads made a great showing at Georgia's pro day on Mar. 21, but apparently Jarvis Jones the player did not. Expected to be the first player with dreads drafted, Jones' stock plunged after he didn't run as fast as the scouts wanted him to, and he ended up not being selected until the Steelers took him with the 17th pick in the 1st round.

DG145

Dread gallery #145, our final look at the 2012-13 season in College Basketball, covers the final two weeks of March - featuring players on teams good enough to be invited to one of the four postseason tournaments. And there will be a few special extras as well.
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After a disastrous 3-game losing streak at just the wrong time ruined their chance to make it to the NCAA Tournament, Louisiana Tech took their 26-6 record to the NIT, where they were seeded #5 in one of the four regions.

1. Sophomore G and St. Petersburg, FL, native Kenneth Smith defends against G Michael Snaer as Louisiana Tech takes on #4 seed Florida State in an NIT 1st-round game on Mar. 19 at Tallahassee.

DG144

There are two more dread galleries to go in our look at College Basketball 2012-13, and both feature the month of March. Dread gallery #144 covers the first half of March, including action from the end of the regular season and the conference tournaments. For those players whose seasons ended with losses in their conference tournament, I'll include their stats for this season (unless I already did so in my dread news report).
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1. Sick sophomore David Rivers and C Andre Almeida of Nebraska pressure 7-0 C A.J. Hammons of Purdue during the 1st round of the Big 10 tournament at Chicago on Mar. 14. Rivers had 4 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out in 24 minutes as the Cornhuskers, seeded 10th after a 5-13 finish in the regular season, defeated 9th seeded Purdue, hanging on after nearly blowing a 48-39 lead to win 57-55.

DG143

The month of February is featured as we continue looking at action from the 2012-13 season in College Basketball. Let's start out West.
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In their televised first meeting on Jan. 10 I found out that both Northern Colorado and Montana State each have a player with dreads. And in their second meeting on Feb. 9 ......
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1. Freshman G Marcus Colbert goes to the basket early in 1st half, but this layup is about to be blocked by #22, F Tim Huskisson. Colbert hit 1 of 4 from the field in the game, finishing with 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.

DG142

Now it's time to begin the 2013 portion of the 2012-13 season in College Basketball with a look at action from January in dread gallery 142.
As conference play got underway in earnest there were three conferences tied for the lead for the most teams with at least one player with dreads. The Big South, Southland, and OVC had four teams each where you'd be able to find some dreads. But let's start DG142 with the ACC, where there's only one player with dreads.
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1. Sophomore G Rod Hall of Clemson begins ACC play by getting his shot rejected by Florida State C Kiel Turpin on the first possession of the day on Jan. 5.

DG141

More nonconference games from the College Basketball 2012-13 season are featured in dread gallery #141, as we look at action from the month of December.
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There were several games in December that had players with dreads on opposing teams, including one on the first day of the month that featured a pair that made my Dread all-America team.
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1. He started the season with his dreads reduced, but Morehead State senior G Devon Atkinson begins December with his dreads right, as G Reggie Arceneaux drives to the basket between him and F Bruce Reed on Dec. 1 at Dayton.

DG140

I do not like to keep falling back on the old excuse of "better late than never;" but sadly, that's the way things are in the House of Dread. I simply do not have the time to do everything I'd like to do in this blog, and the things that I do do are hardly ever done in a timely fashion. All I can do is say I'm sorry and hope that you please bear with me.
The calendar says summer is about to begin, but in the HOD it's basketball season. So let's take a look at some photos from the recently completed 2012-13 College Basketball season (which I will still refer to as this season), starting with the month of November here in dread gallery #140.
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FOR OPENERS .....

1. William & Mary sophomore G Marcus Thornton prepares to launch a jump shot over Hampton C Emmanuel Okoroba on Nov. 9. Thornton, whose 18.8 PPG scoring average was tops among Division 1 players with dreads (and 31st among all players), had 24 points along with 4 rebounds on opening night in W&M's 69-51 home victory.

College BB '13 Dread News

The 2012-13 season in College Basketball was almost like a blur as far as I was concerned. It came and went so quickly that I didn't have a chance to do anything except for that First Look post back in January. I watched a lot of games but not nearly as many as in previous seasons. Actually I should say I saw portions of a lot of games because there weren't many I stayed with from start to finish. By the time the season was over the roster of Division 1 players with dreads (that I know of) included 64 names; but only 50 or so of those players were on the court for significant minutes this season. As usual, there were a lot of highlights as well as some serious disappointments. But before we get to my annual All-America teams, I have a few things I wanted to mention. 

He might have dreamed it would end this way, but no way did Sherwood Brown expect his career would end this way - with him being named the player of the year in his conference; with him helping lead his team to its first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament; with his team then suddenly transforming itself into something that came to be known as "Dunk City" and taking the tournament by storm, becoming the first team ever seeded 15th in a region to reach the sweet 16; and with him posing with cheerleaders from the opposing team before games and shaking hands with the TV announcers after games.

DG139 - Part 1

There currently are only a handful of players with dreads in MLB; but it sure was a blast watching them perform in 2012.
If you've been following this blog over the years, you already know that I like to ring in the start of another baseball season with a look at the previous season. Yes, I'm aware that the season begins in the first week of April, not May. But due to a lack of time, I didn't have this DG ready in the first week of April. But it's ready to go now, so without further delay, here's dread gallery 139 - a look at MLB 2012.
For your enhancement I'll be including links to some videos from MLB.com  I recommend you click on them; but if you do, be prepared to sit through a 15-second commercial.

We'll start Part 1 with a new member of the house in 2012. Prince Fielder dabbled with starter dreads a couple of times during his 6 seasons with the Brewers. Finally, in his first season with the Tigers after signing as a free agent, he decided to take the plunge.

1. Prince Fielder connects for his 2nd solo HR of the game, giving Tigers a 7-0 lead over Red Sox during 5th inning on Apr. 7. He also homered in the 4th. They were his first two HR of the season as the Tigers won 10-0.

DG139 - Part 2

Every game of the Pittsburgh Pirates and every fifth game of the Cincinnati Reds were must-see TV for me last summer. For real, watching Andrew McCutchen and Johnny Cueto perform in 2012 made for a lot of enjoyment. McCutchen and Cueto are the feature attractions of Part 2 of dread gallery #139. But before we get to them, we'll start with another player who brought the enjoyment (and the excitement) - although you had to strain a bit to see his dreads.
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1. Rockies OF Eric Young, Jr. sprints across home plate with the go-ahead and eventual winning run in top of 8th inning in a 5-3 victory on Opening Night at Houston on Apr. 6.