Best of the Rest part III

This week in "Best of the Rest" Curtis gets the recognition for his 20 point effort in the loss to Hilbert.  These consolation prizes do not taste as sweet as they did when we were winning.  But if I remember correctly, there has not been a week without a Barronballer on the list*.  I'll take that.

*I did not post it, but last week I think Duke was on the list.

.000

Another road game, another loss.  Any game Duke and Kay score a combined six points will be a hard one to win.  On a positive note, Sgt. Slaughter did make his return from his shoulder injury to drop 15.

The loss drops the FUS to 0-2 in conference play and last place in the AMCC.

Box Score.

FUS writeup.

PPD

Due to inclement traveling weather, today's home game, our first conference home game, Connor's last home game has been postponed.  

Two Home Games in 1 Weekend? Hell Yeah.

So my name is. . . oh forget it.  I'm working on the BaronBasketBallBlog, just trying to get you the lowdown on the Men's Baron Basketball Team.  As always, if you have any questions, comments, complaints, or even a request for a date, just leave me a comment below.  I'll try to respond as quickly as I can, especially if it's a date request.  And now for the blog.

So I guess the big question today is if we can follow up that big game on Friday night with another big win, against a U of Pitt Bradford team that is one of the teams to beat in the AMCC.  Even though they are 3-4 this season, that record is a little deceiving. Currently they are 2-0 in the AMCC.  The Panther's last win came last Wednesday in overtime against a Medaille team that was 4-0 at the time.  In another victory they topped the 100 pt mark.  Plus they’ve got a lot of poise for being a primarily younger class-man team.  The Panther's have got some players to watch out for, oh do they ever.  Lead by the freshman Moore brothers, Junior Mike Ridge, and Sophomore Dan Heisey, they plan on being a team that is built for competition for the next few years.  

Keys to Sunday’s Game:

All right Baron’s, there’s a few things we need to key in on if to get this W. 

First thing, The Panthers really do not rely on the 3.  So that means when they are scoring, they are driving to the net.  We need a strong defensive presence!  This means our big guys, lead by the man known for his Tenacious D Curtis Allen, will need a big game tomorrow to keep them out of the key.  If Pitt gets in there, they will be deadly.  (Mike Ridge already has a game this season where he scored 32 points, none of them were threes, and only 4 were gimmee buckets from the free-throw line.  And if we neutralize him, we still would have to worry about the Moore brothers [think the twin Lidel towers of last season minus their good looks]).  

Second thing, the Panthers are not that tall of a team, meaning they will be fighting for rebounds anyway they can get them.  We need to box them out hard every play, and not be afraid to get a little physical for this game.  Last game when the middle of the 1st half was getting pretty tight, Hiram got some key offensive rebounds that kept them in the game.  We need to eliminate that by playing tough defense.  This team will be comparable to our Barons in size, so we gotta fight them.  I want our entire team to suddenly be overcome with whatever Danny “headband” O. is tripping on, because every time he’s out there, he out-hustles every player on the court.  In these areas, we have a real chance at dominating them, which could swing the game our way.  

After those things are done, here are the Barons that need big individual games to get the win.

Duke will need a big game since they can’t match his size (their tallest starter is 6'3'') as he drives to the rim.  He's like a Mack truck, there is no way to stop him.  If you try stopping him, you end up on the floor wondering how got there.  He's the Chuck Norris of Baron Basketball.  The be all, and end all.  The alpha and omega. . . ok, i'll stop now.  you get the picture.  He's the Duke.

Another key Baron: Connor Flanagan.  Why?  Because he’s just that sweet of a player at rebounding, creating lanes, or just taking that fade away jump shot for a nice mid-range basket.  And so this is when I would like to start a movement to push Connor's Austria experience to Fall 2009.  You see, what good ever has come from Europe?  ABBA?  David Beckham?  Really, Europe just sucks, it’s not even worth visiting.  The Kartause has worse food than the caf, everything is twice as expensive as it would be here, and the beer sucks.  OK, that last one is a terrible lie for which I am crying on the inside for having typed it, but the truth of the matter is, we love you Connor.  If you leave us, we won’t anymore.  OK that one is a terrible lie too.  Fine, then what about this, Connor?  Make these last few games your best ones of the season, and I’ll stop crying myself to sleep at night when I think of your departure.  Deal.  (But seriously, if you see him around tell him it's not too late to push it back a semester.)

Plus I want to see more from the bench.  It hasn't been contributing enough.  First of all, when the heck will James McDonald be healthy?  He’s a big dude who could get in someone’s grill, and we’re gonna need that soon.  Plus I want to see Danny the Headband drive to the net a few times.  He’s got sweet ball-handling skills, now I just want to see his shooting skills.  I know one of my fellow baronbloggers has a man-crush on Danny the Headband, and I could grow to love Danny too if he knocked down a few more baskets a game.

Basically it comes down to this, if the whole team brings the same effort we had in that game against Hiram, we will definitely have a chance tomorrow night against this Pitt-Bradford team.  Stick to the fundamentals, and let’s just make this a good clean fight.  With that being said, let’s get a big crowd at the game, and, as always. . .  

Go Barons!

No Prisoners in The House

Fearless Prediction: 86-80

Final Score: 88-80

On the day of Hall of Fame Game our Barons manage to pull out the win and climb back up to .500.

2-0 in the Fieldhouse.

Update

I am a little disappointed about the admission tickets.  Connor is obviously deserving of having his picture on the ticket, but I was kind of hoping for a collector's item deal.  Maybe an incentive of going to each home game and collecting the whole team.

Update II

Box Score.

Hiram Who?

Lordy Lordy it's an old fashion beat down. What a win Baronballers. All of us in Baron Land could not be more impressed. I'm literally speechless about the win tonight, I don't know what to type... lets just get to some of the Good the Bad and the Ugly, but do it a bit different. Instead of GBU we'll go with the Good the Better and the Best. Stats at the bottom of the post...

THE GOOD
1. The Fans- Not gonna lie, I didn't expect that many students to show up, being reading day and all. But I was wrong, and what we got was a treat. Way to cheer on the team and give them some energy. I still have a criticism though:
- I understand Christian Charity, but its ok to try and intimidate the other teams players a bit. Give 'em an "AIRBALLL AIRBALLLL" when their best three point shooter misses the rim on a wide open three. We won't be sent into eternal darkness for it. Lets make them remember playing infront of the Finnegan Faithful (Finnegan Faithful is a coprighted phrase of Greg Hurst. Used with permission)

2. Matt Lidel sighting (part deux)- yes, again we saw everyone's favortie baronballer from last year cheering on the team. Matt is looking for a return to Franny U next semester, and is hoping to be able to play on the team. Got to admit, getting him would be great. We are loosing our Scotty Pippen with Connor heading to Austria, so having Matt back would help fill that role of scorer/banger. I suggest everyone offer a Rosary a day for Matt's return...no? please? maybe? I'm being heretical? I should stop? Ok...just be hopeful.

THE BETTER
1. Curtis Allen (clap clap clap-clap-clap)- Denacious D my friend, Denacious D. All over the court. Dropped a few threes. Completly clutch from the line. Just played one of the best all around games I've seen him play in my time as a Finnegan Faithful (Finnegan Faithful is a coprighted phrase of Greg Hurst. Used with permission).

2. Donny- He had these guys ready to impress in front the '58 team. They were motivated, focused, and except for a few minutes at the end of the second half, totally and completly dominating. Way to stick to the game plan, and keep the team focused.

3. The '58 Championship Banner- Great to see these guys back in Stubie. I feel an article for the Troub next semester coming together. I just can't wait until I become the first Sports Writer in the Baron Hall of Fame for my excellent team coverage...no? please? maybe? I'm being egotistical? I'll just stop.

4. Duke- Same old same old from the Catholic Kobe Bryant. And only one charge tonight.

THE BEST
1. Ak-47-
$(#)%% ($%# $%(%$!!!!!!!!!!
What a game from the man down low! Kay is really growing into a baller this year. I'm incredibly impressed. Other than fouling out, he held his own in the middle. It was amazing to watch him just go at it with Pfouts (#40) and the other post players, not giving up ground at all. He is the physical presence we needed down low.

2. Hoosier- I think I've found a nickname for little Sam Titus. Not only is he from Indiana, but he just plays like a kid from the Hoosiers movie. Smart little point guard with an excellent basketball IQ. Just like every great guard from the Hoosier State. Only going to get better.

Random Tangent: This nickname got me thinking: is Duke Franciscan's version of Jimmy Chitwood? Think about it. Great player who didn't play at first. Tall and lanky permiter player who can take it to the rim. Took some prodding, finally joined, and led the team in scoring. Freaky. Maybe we actually can do something special this year. Measure the distance from the rim to the floor. It's 10 feet tall in every gym...

3. Energy from the bench- Gotta say I love the way this team supports eachother. Each teammate really cares about the other. And the players on the bench really bring some intensity and encourgement to those on the floor. We've said it before, but we have to say it again: Major props to the way Danny Headband leads this initative. I think he pulls a Hendrix and saturates that headband with that 5 hour energy stuff. Just always focused on the game.

4. We played defense. Well. And we boxed out.

5. Three Pointer falling: But we didn't rely on them. We ran the offense instead of jacking up 45 threes. And it showed.

4. Our spot on prediction: major props to my commrade in arms Crazy Pills for his fearless prediction.

Thats it for the GBU, here's some Fast Facts to end the night. Sorry for the lack of info, but we don't have full box scores yet, or the numbers for Hiram.

Fast Facts:
- Duke led the team with 19 points
-Kay and Connor with 17
-Allen 15 (7-8 from the charity stripe. clutch)
-Hoosier had 16, dropping 4 of 5 from behind the arc
-Hiram shot only 37% from the floor tonight

We brought our: A++ game
Record: 3-3
Next Game: Sunday 6PM AT HOME vs University Pitt-Bradford. Its a Conference Game, so we hope to see all our Superfans back out there. Forget studying for finals...no? Please?

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Breaking Down The Terriors...

6'3", 6'4", 6'6", 6'3", and 6'4"

That's the height of the starting line-up for Hiram. Let's hope they are padding the stats in the Media Guide, otherwise we are in "big" trouble. Hiram comes in with a 3-1 record, coming off an 8-18 campaign last year in the NCAC. They lost two All-NCAC selections from last years squad, but with the additions of three stellar newcomers, this team is off and running and looking hot. This team is athletic, can shoot the three, or bang the post.

Players to watch for:
Roberts (#24)- This freshmen is a god amongst men. He is a fast, strong, scoring machine. Roberts is averaging 25 points a game. That's a freshmen. God help us with this one.

Pfouts (#40)- He is one of only two upper-classmen on this team, and he was third in scoring last year. Was off to a rough start until he exploded for 25 last game. Look for him to be a team leader.

Milton (#20)- Three point specialits sixth man. Think Kyle Korver but whiter. Plays starters minutes off the bench.

How to beat them:
1. Limit Roberts: hard to do, but had only 18 points in their one loss. We've got to shut him down.

2. Take Advantage of the Takeaways: this team turns the ball over alot, so we need to push the floor when we get the turnovers.

3. Limit the assists: They win when they have lots of assists, when they control the passing lanes. We need to clog them up to keep them from getting easy baskets.

We'll stick with our prediction for a win tonight, but look for this team to impress.


Bring our: A+ Game
Chances of winning: 45%
Prediction: 86-80 Barons

See ya'll out there! Link to the Terriers website

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!!!!

Back to .500?

The Hiram College Terriers come to Steubs tomorrow to play the Barons' first Friday night home-game at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  The Terriers are in the middle of a four game road-trip and will have to travel about an hour and 45 minutes to Finnegan Fieldhouse.  It is hard to win four away games in a row let alone three, so naturally I am predicting a win for our Barons.  Hiram is averaging 84.7 ppg while Franciscan is putting up only 68.4, but Finnegan is a really tough place to play in.  I mean we had an attendance of 215 at the home-opener.  The Barons don't take prisoners in the Ville's House.  

Fearless Prediction: Barons 86-80.

Welcome Troub Readers

To all you excellent people who have popped over here cause of Greg's article, we welcome you with open arms. Welcome to the baron blog! Please remember that anything we have ever said is not personal but professional, and to those who read and think we are "uncharitable"... o well.

Kidding aside I look forward to bringing some actual talent to the troub sports section next semester (kidding Greg). I think he's done a great job this past year, and left me alot to expand on. From the limited time I've spent with the Troub staff there seems to be some new and semi-exciting things that will be happening next semester, including maybe/hopefully moving onto the internet, allowing me to start an actual blog on an actual website. Not that anyone would read that one either.

Well thats all for now, enjoy perusing our site. My personally favorite is "Royalty Wanted", one of if not my first post on the blog. Gotta say we were right about getting Duke...And yes, there will be a Duke day coming soon.
Peace,
The Baronbloggers
including the newly crowned sports editor Jake Krempel (can't hide behind my computer anymore eh? thanks Greg)

O yeah- we don't think Greg hates us anymore... he accepted our bribe money didn't he?

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!

Welcome to the AMCC

Well, Penn State Altoona's Nittany Lions are much better than our Barons.  Bad prediction.  The Lions ran away with the game.  From Altoona, it sounds as if the game was never that close.  Maybe Altoona won because of the live broadcast on public access television that reached Blair and Cambria counties, or maybe it was because the Altoona's bench outscored the ours 46-5.  No box score, but the leading scorers

Flanagan 16 points 6 rebounds

"Jason Ducoulombier" 13 points 7 rebounds

managed to produce about 67% of the offense tonight.  The loss now has our Barons in seventh place.

Welcome to the AMCC part II- more info rolling in.

Well that was ugly. More info has come in about our "game" with Altoona.
Fast Facts:
-Final score: 86-43. That's not a typo and neither is this...
-Half Time Score: 40-15. 15 points in a half? That is down right fugly.
-Conner had 18 points not 16, our mistake.
-Only 6 Barons scored! Six! Compare that to the 46 bench points that Altoona scored.

I guess you could sort of expect this in our first ever conference game. While we predicted a win, our gut feeling has always been it will be a "growing" season. And nothing makes you grow like scoring half as many points as the competition. This was just an old fashion blow-out. Their leading scorer only had 11, meaning the whole team and probably the towel boy saw some playing time.

Well a loss is a loss, albeit a killer loss, and we might as well just put this behind us get ready for Friday's home game. Hope to see you all out there. Maybe even a few of Greg's superfans will show up. Please? Lets get a crowd this game.

Sorry this post is all over the place and short on humor, but Labor Econ can do that to your brain. See ya Friday Baronballers!

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!!

Best of the Rest Part II

Andrew Kay is the newest Baron to be recognized for his excellence by the execs at the AMCC.

Tomorrow marks the first conference game that our Franciscan University Barons will play.  They square-off at Penn State Altoona at 8:00 tomorrow night.  The Altoona Nittany Lions have a 2-3 record and lead the series 2-1.  Altoona's victories have come against  1-4 Juniata College and 1-2 New Jersey City University.  Here is the detailed write-up of the game from Altoona.  I think we can win this game, this is the Barons first conference game and Donovan should have them geeked for the big game.  They need to start strong like they have been and then keep it going through half-time.  Ima mark this one up as a win but I think it comes down to Donovan and how he handles half-time and the second half.

Currently, the Barons have the fourth best offense in the conference with 74.8 ppg while the Altoona Lions have the seventh with 67.4 ppg.  Plus, the Barons have four players in the top 30 scorers in the conference

3. Duke 18.0

10. Flanagan 13.8

12. Allen 13.5

24. AK 10.8 

where as the Lions only got three, with their top scorer, Colin Geiger, tied at three with my boy Duke.  In the rebounding category we got 3 players in the top 10 and 4 in the top 20 with AK in the number two spot.

2. AK 8.2

4. Flanagan 7.2

10. Duke 6.2

20. Sam Titus 4.8

Stats.

Best of the Rest

Franciscan beats Christendom, 76-61, and Flanagan gets "Best of the Rest" honors from the man at the AMCC headquarters.

The Barons then fell to the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets with a final score of 84-58.  Just as in the Barons first loss, they were leading at half-time, but the Yellow Jackets, "exploded for 55 points in the second half."  Good news is that for the first time all season we have a box score.

Spot-on Prediction, Blowout

Duuuuuuuuke!  Josh Ducoulombier played out of his mind, 25 points and 19 rebounds are the statistics of a Man.  Yes, the Nittany Lions of New Kensington did not have much height but there must be a "Duke Day" very soon. 

The game started off a little slow with countless fouls and numerous clock stoppages, but the Barons got it rolling shortly thereafter.  Andrew Kay, John Moore and Dan O'Brien all added energy and a spark coming off the bench.  Andrew Kay should have his number changed to 47, I mean the official petition starts now, right here.  John Moore showed flashes of explosiveness that I have not seen the past two years and I think Dan's headband is pure energy.

How about those tickets that were given prior to entry, congratulations Finnegan, you are really stepping it up.  If you did not see the tickets, they were strapped with Flanagan looking like he was about to kick someone's ass, and as usual Number 5 kicked ass and took names adding 15 points.

Easily the most exiting part of the  night was a Matt Liedel Sighting.  Another petition coming soon for the return of "5fer5."  Another exiting development is moving from 10th place in the standings to" a getting close to respectable" 7th place.  AMCC Standings.

Penn State New Kensington has not yet posted an article of their embarrassing defeat, but here is the article from FUS.

Tony "Showtime" Houghton Kicked Our Ass

Our Barons dropped the season-opener 91-74 to Penn State Beaver.  The score does not indicate a close game, but from here and here a different story is told.  Apparently, the Barons jumped out to an 8-0 lead and eventually a 15 point lead.  But by half-time the Nittany Lions trailed only by one point.  Then in second half Tony "Showtime" Houghton put on a clinic and made some key plays to put the Barons to rest.  

Last season the Barons defeated Penn State Beaver 77-75  when FUS won four of their last six game, so it is a shame that we lost.  But I really wasn't expecting our young team to win their first road game this season.

Wednesday marks the home-opener for the Barons, they will open against the Penn State New Kensington Nittany Lions at 8:00 p.m.  The Barons have had mixed results when playing the NK Lions.  FUS has lost 74-61 (2.11.08 away), lost 79-64 (1.31.07 away) and won 63-45 (11.10.06 home) in the past two seasons.  If the trends continue then FUS should blow out the Nittany Lions tomorrow.  But I am not even going to worry about the history, I believe that our FUS Barons will ride the opening night success to a 1-1 record come Wednesday at 11:00. 

Last Place Already?

Now that Franciscan University of Steubenville is right in the middle of all the action in the AMCC, the standings, player of the week and history of the AMCC can be checked out.  Who does these polls and why do they hate us so much?  There is no way Mount Aloysius should be in ahead of our Barons.  Here are the standings 

AMCC Preseason Poll (last season AMCC), (last season overall)

1. Penn State Behrend  (15-3) (24-5)

2. La Roche (10-8) (13-13)

3. Medaille (9-9) (15-13)

4. Penn State Altoona (10-8) (14-13)

5. Frostburg State (8-10) (9-16)

6. Pitt-Bradford (6-12) (10-15)

7. Pitt-Greensburg (10-8) (11-15)

8. Hilbert (8-10) (12-13)

9. Mount Aloysius (1-17) (5-20)

10. Franciscan (6-19)

and here is the site.

Midnight Madness 2008

I really think the basketball team needs a new slogan for this year.  Do they really think they can just throw the same "The Barons are Back" number at us for two years in a row?  I guess if one thinks about it the Barons do keep coming back year after year, but they used it last year and the first half of the season was kind of a wash.  The FUS Sports Marketing Department should sit down for five minutes and just think of a new mantra, or maybe make a new opening video with exiting content and actual highlights.  But on to thoughts of the "game."

For the first two minutes the Barons looked really good, but then I remembered who we were playing.  Before the game started I heard we were playing an actual team, but then I saw the competition warming up.  After about the first five to seven minutes the score was still pretty close and the images of the really good team evaporated.  Granted, the Barons ended up blowing out the makeshift team, I expected more.  But we get the opportunity to see what the Barons are made of on Wednesday November, 19 at 8:00.  Although they have their first test at Penn St. Beaver on Monday November, 17.  

A very warm welcome to our new starting point guard, Sam Titus.  Titus showed off his passing skills and if I remember correctly did not jack up any wild shots. 

I shed tears of joy when I saw Duke on the court, then tears of sorrow when he lost the jump ball.

Duke is listed at 6'5 and Kay at 6'1, very interesting.

Always great to see "The Headband."

Next Game--11/17/08 @Penn St. Beaver  

They lost an exhibition game to Community College of Beaver County 69-74, so maybe the Barons can sneak out a win.

11.17.08

Tryouts are over and the roster is set, although it probably was not that hard.  Wednesday marked the first day of tryouts and sources revealed that about fifteen eager ballers came to tryout.  But Big D's run and gun atmosphere must have been too much for some of those ballers to handle, resulting in only twelve tryoutees to show.  So the team is set, and now we wait.  

Roster coming soon.

The Bloggers are back!  Well it's that time of year to put away the golf clubs and head to the intramural fields for flag football playoffs, settle in for October baseball, college and pro football and of course, Baronball tryouts.  Before we get to the inside info on tryouts, there's a new segment we are going to introduce.  Ladies and Gentlemen:

PROPS AND NOTS

Props and Nots are going to be our weekly shout outs and call outs of all things sports at Franciscan. So without further ado...

-Good Props to Greg Hurst for stepping up his articles so far this semester in the Troub.  We here at the blog are pleasantly surprised and happy at the humor and subjects (praise God not to much Boston sports) he's gone after so far.  Keep up the good work Greg. Maybe we would welcome you as a guest blogger sometime. 

-Grand High Exalted Props to ManBearPig for allowing us to read an article by Dylan next week that's not about his Spartans.  Unless of course he writes a two page "Spartans Season Recap" where he spends 1 1/2 pages writing about his 13 sacks.  Or maybe he'll just leave that to his Spartans Facebook group... O yeah, and put away the fake headset when "coaching" your girl's team.  I think I have a new idea for a Jeff Foxworthy CD: "You might take intramural sports to serious if..."

-Mad Props to the Rays for putting the BoSoxs on the ropes... Sorry Greg, but it's time to put an end to this dynasty talk. 

-Mad Nots for the new Intramural Volleyball "Conduct Rules".   I guess peers cannot handle any adversity for a job that they signed up for.  

-Garlic Nots for the Refs again this year in flag football.  They've put a bad taste in our mouth by all their "hurdling calls", "impeding the runners", and pretty much 2-3 horrid calls a game.  Just let them play my friends.  Shame on the Fieldhouse Staff for not teaching them better. 

-And finally Ballin' Props for Duke joining up with the basketball team.  It's about time man! 

Which leads us into our fast facts about tryouts we've heard so far.  Quickly here we go:

- Yes you read that right, Josh "the Duke" Ducolmbier was there for tryouts.  Our team just got a lot better. Get ready for Duke day, coming your way next semester, just as we promised.

-Only 15 guys have gone out for the team this, far fewer than in previous years.  Word is we are going to greatly miss our graduated seniors.

-Saddest news of all... "Baby" Ben Liedel, and his brother Matt are not going to be playing this year.  Ben accepted a scholarship at Ave (we also heard he's not going to play for them either), and Matt may be back in time for next semester.  But probably not. 

-Mike Fuez is looking like the leader in the clubhouse the Barons need.  We belive he is the frontrunner for starting point-guard, with Dan "Headband" O'Brien and newcomer Sam Titus fighting behind him. 

That's it for now, more when we can get back in and take another look.  So far it's seemed like mix results as far as talents, we might be taking a step back this year.  But you never know until they get on the court.  So keep your head up Barons, keep repeating to yourself:

Duke...

....Duke...

...Duke!

Duke!!

Duke!!!!

Duke!!!!!!

DUKE!!!!!!!!

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!

They're Back

Today marked the first day of tryouts for the Men's Basketball Team for your Franciscan University Barons.  Open tryouts were scheduled from 9-11 p.m. eastern time tonight, and continue until Friday.  Tomorrow Crazy Pills and Chris Mullin will try to visit these open tryouts and try and get a pulse of these '08-'09 Barons. 

B-Ball's Comin...

The Bloggers are back! After a wonderful summer break spent working hard on our golf games, the call of school is bringing us back to where we belong, good old FUS. Which means we are only a few months away from the start of everyone's favorite season: Basketfall. We start November 17th against Penn State Beaver (who we beat 77-75 last season). We are only 56 days away from nirvana!!!!

We'll be back in the next 52 days to give you some previews on the season, players, and how much we improved our golf games (I myself lowered my handicap to a 7...not to brag). But enjoy the start of school Baronballers, and our hearts and prayers are with the cross country team.
THE BLOGGERS ARE BACK!

1500

Do you remember way back in the day, November 26, 2007 to be exact, when the Barons surprised everyone and won their first game? If you don't then read this. Well back on that fateful day is when a group of three ragtag artists came together to start everyone's favorite bookmark-->this blog. So we finally got 1500 hits, a number we have been waiting for a long time. Now granted this number has been greatly inflated due to the fact that we check this blog multiple times of everyday to see the hit count and to see if we got any comments. We would now like to offer our thanks to all ten readers and Greg Hurst-->our muse.

Thank you all for reading,
the basketball موحمد

Top 5 Reasons Greg Hurst Hates Us

1. We're Supposedly "Donny Haters"
2. We have creative nicknames
3. We can write
4. Our articles are not boring.
5a. Our blog has a greater circulation that his paper.
5b. We criticize the team
5c. We get all the women
5d. We have better style
5e. We liked it when the Patriots lost
5f. We wear pink polos and tight jeans. Admit it, thats bad ass.
5g. We like Michael Bolton
5h. We like "The Notebook"
5i. We like "chick flicks"
5j. We actually know something about basketball

To counter act our evil left wing pro Jewish reporting, the Troubador has started it's very own Fox News, "Fair and Balanced", "No Spin Zone" reporting, lead by non other the fair and balanced Greg Hurst. I feel like CNN. Our new competition in the Baron Basketball world doesn't really like us. We think. Then again maybe he has never read our blog, but it seems like he is writing to us.

First of all I just have to say: We aren't Donny Haters. Let me say that again. WE DON'T HATE DONNY. Just his hair style. Kidding...Truthfully I don't get where these people get off saying this. Yeah we've been harsh when it needed to be (blowing JCC game 1 anyone?) but when we think he does well we give him props. Take a look:

St Vincents Game:

PROPS TO COACH DONNY
The man coached with crazy emotion in a game that we all knew we couldn't win AND explored the depth of his 42 men bench. Hopefully this wasn't just an experiment in a game that was a throwaway, but rather a realization of the potential of this team. God only knows.

Our Second Half Re-cap (Best High School Team in the Land):

4. Wins! Enough said. Props to Coach Donny for getting these guys to play at the next level. Next year is looking more and more promising, and it seems to be because of coaching.

How is this Donny Hating? Why do they think that? From the very beginning we have said he is a great guy, with good charisma, good recruiting, and a solid faith foundation. All things we respect and admire. HOW IS THAT HATING? We only said he had to work on his coaching. Which he has. So we said so. Plus to steal a line from one of our anonymous commenters: we write with the seriousness of Naked Gun 33 1/3. Enough said.

Next thing: since when do we have an agenda? What is our agenda? He thinks we have one? You have got to be kidding me! Sorry for caring about the team Greg. What happened to not being the kid that jumps on the bandwagon when the team starts winning? We were at every loss cheering on this team. So just because we started sharing our opinions we have an agenda? Come on man. The only thing we want is for this team to do well. Sorry for pushing that "agenda".

And as far as jumping on the band wagon... why did it take the Troubador the whole season to actually care about the team? Our school newspaper only starts to give article space (other than the random recap) to them in the second half of the season. Where have you been Greg Hurst? Must of taken a while to come up with five reasons to love this team. And they weren't even good reasons to love this team.

And "hope of glory"? Puh-leese. Connor's good, but not the best player on the team, and not our hope. Even though his basketball skills have turned me gay (and evidently Greg too), he's not worthy of that name. Or the airtime he's been getting in that article every week. I feel a little "scratching your buddy's back" going on in this situation.

I could go on and on but I'm tired of this. Yeah the team is winning. But we still have a loosing record, with 20 losses. I think there is some room for improvement here. Our "agenda" is still relevant. But then again Pats fans are hardly rational. Or the Troubador.

Basically these articles just seemed forced. Are they really trying that hard to keep up with us in the funny, creative, blog-style writings? But thank God they didn't give that column space to Dylan "The Spartans" Ehle. His intramural writings (and football team's play) are painful enough.

CHEIF IRON HORSE!!!

You can't make this stuff up. Guess the sports writers at the field house are trying to catch us in creativity. Robert "Iron Horse" Slattery. Good try. In case they really want our opinion here's what we would of called him:

ROBERT "Mr. Roboto" SLATTERY

Gotta love the Styx reference. Plus if he is Mr. Roboto he is still a robot and robots are hard workers.

ROBERT "Sgt. Slaughter" SLATTERY

Come on... every little kid wanted to be Sgt. Slaughter. Plus as a GI Joe, he was the coolest. Until he started supporting Iraq in the WWF. Then they cut him out of the show...sad day. But he too is all that is man, like Robert is. And it rhymes.

So there are our ideas...here's to you Mr. Roboto, our Sgt. Slaughter. I don't know how to tell you how I feel... I think Styx puts it best:

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the jobs that nobody wants to
And thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For helping me escape just when I needed to
Thank you-thank you, thank you
I want to thank you, please, thank you

PS Fieldhouse writers- Instead of spending 3 days trying to figure out incredible nicknames for our guys, put the stupid recaps up.
THE BARONS ARE BACK

"The Best High School Team in the Land"

Too bad we play D-III college ball. Well life is somewhat better in Baron Land, where the win column is not so barren, thanks to our community college tour. Let's break it down:

The Good:

1. Ben Liedel- Dang man. 22 points against our "rivals" from the west side. 15 against Penn State New Kensington. 13 3 and 3 against Ohio Eastern. The kid is becoming a man. I think a nickname change is coming on- I just can't figure it out. He's no longer a baby.

2. Matt Liedel- We no longer have to put him in here. Same old same old from Matt. Doing it on both sides of the floor. From now on just assume that he's in the good.

3. Team Play- These guys are finally starting to jell. Good team play, better defense is what is giving us a few of those W's

4. Wins! Enough said. Props to Coach Donny for getting these guys to play at the next level. Next year is looking more and more promising, and it seems to be because of coaching.

The Bad:

1. 4-18 (or 5-18 or 4-19, they still haven't posted Friday's score...). Guess it could be worse, but take a look at who we've beaten:

1. Ohio State Mansfield: a branch college (community college), record is 4-23. I have family in Mansfield, let's just say that it's a farming town...yeah...we'll leave it at that...

2. Christendom: Raise your hand if your shocked that these guys actually have a team...my point exactly. I'm shocked they didn't have to wear prayer shawls and rosaries while playing. I mean basketball wasn't invented in the century they live in. Record is 5-13

3. Ohio University Eastern: Their team picture says it all:

I could beat this kid....

Another power house of D-III...I mean a branch college. Their team is sooo good, that we can't even get there record off their website. That's right, with less than a month left, they haven't updated their website. Once. They love their Panthers.

4. Jefferson Community College: Even though it's Steubenville, it's Steubenville. And a community college. Plus we lost against them in the first half of the season. In a Bo Sox '86 type collapse. On a scale of one to ugly, It was fugly (that's waaaaaaay above ugly for all those who aren't wise in the ways of gangster).

That's our four wins. 2 branch colleges, a college of Opus Dei kids, and the local CC. Impressive.

2. We are still not playing great defense, good but not great. You could say I'm pulling for straws here, but come on, we could be at least maybe three wins better if we held the other team to 50% from the field instead of 80.

The Ugly

1. If you don't like our lyrics, then fast foward: We are still catching flack for the site. Can you believe it? I can't either. Some people in our wonderful administration want us shut down. Why? Because we express our opinions? Because we're honest? Because we care about sports? Calm down. We've been thru this before. We aren't affiliated with the University, and we are going to keep it that way. No conforming to rules or regulations, we're going to hide behind our right to say whatever the hell we want to. If you don't like our style, if we're too critical for you, or not "positive" enough, then don't read it. But if you disagree with what we say, our analysis, then we'd love to hear your opinion. Otherwise just shut up.

2. Our Website: It's Monday and we still can't find out if we won Friday...

Tonite's Match-up:

The Basket Barons of Francisan Univeristy (4-18 or 5-18 or 4-19)
vs.
The Beavers of Penn State Beaver (6-18)
With their athlete of the week:

I thinks she could out ball half our team... But yeah... these guys are riding a 6 game loosing streak and looking to dam that up. I know bad joke. But home court advantage, our new spirit of teamness, and the Liedels and Stanton leading us should give us an advantage. We'll win. But only because it's a community college.

RANDOM TANGENT: Why don't we have an athlete of the week? I mean it would be cool. Maybe we'll start doing it. Nah... Giving Matt the honor every week would get old...

RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE DAY: From a fan of the barons and the blog: "I wonder if they would of won another game if you guys didn't start the blog..."

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!!!

Our Eulogy to Heath Ledger....Just Kidding Let's talk some Baronball!

Welcome back to baron land baby! the Baronbloggers are back! and so is the team. New semester, new calendar year, same team, same results. And for us bloggers, new countries to drown our sorrows in. That's right, we're traveling abroad. But at least we can legally drink the beer here. Lord knows if this losing streak continues we will need it.
The reason for our excursion is to find peace in our hearts after suffering such a heartbreaking first half. Tomorrow we meet the Dahli-Lama. Followed by the Pope. Maybe he knows some Catholic European Basketball Stars....
Let's break down what we have missed so far:

1. A 53-50 heart breaker to Allegheny
Lidel and Co. continued to struggle on defense letting the other team shoot 75% from the field


2. An 81-72 defeat to the hands of Bethany College
Great job by Zac getting a double-double and Flannigan continues to turn us male fans gay with his season high 19 points. We gave a great effort against a team that was more talented than we were. I'll take 9 points to Bethany.


3. A disappointing loss to rival Christendom...wait...no....HOLY SHIT!!!!!! WE WON!
VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How bout them Barons? Lidel had 25 & 12? The Arby's train was having no more of this loosin' streak. Yeah baby! I was wondering why traffic had picked up in the last few days... Matt is a stud. Duran Duran looks to be leading well from the point, and from all accounts the Nate Stanton of old is back! Major props to him for sticking it out during his cold streak and not mailing in the season. Zac has chipped away his concrete hands, pulling out another great game. two in a row from him? Maybe we will see more from this team. Man I am so excited. I'm going to go have a beer.

A few random thoughts before our victory party here in Europe:

1. R.I.P. Dan O'Brien- we'll miss your energy and enthusiasm on this team. Enjoy Austria!

2. While we bloggers continue our search for the perfect 7'0 European to recruit to our humble team, the posts will be sparse. But we'll keep an eye on the team, and will be back in full force next year

3. Since when is one game a hot streak? I hate our sports writers. They are like communist Russians- spinning the truth.

4. Anyone who wants to let us know how they think the team is doing, since we aren't there in person send us a note.

Thats it for now. Enjoy the win. Big game tonite. Maybe get some momentum and finish this season off right. THE BARONS ARE BACK!