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!

We actually do have sportswriters.

Apparently the Finnegan Fieldhouse operates through Christmas Break. Today I was rummaging around the Athletics section of one of my favorite websites and found that there has been some new game recaps posted about our beloved Barons. I cannot say when they were put up because they have no time stamp, but I can say two things about them.
1. The game recaps are a little bit late.
2. (And since we do not like to be critical here at the Baron Blog) at least there are recaps up.

Here are the two latest games
Waynesburg and Altoona
and here are two other game recaps that were recently posted
Ohio University Eastern and Hiram.

Wow. 27 Turnovers.

1-11. 9 straight loses. I guess its because we're playing really good teams or something.
Again, FUS does not have an article on its Athletics page. But fortunately for you the Yellow Jackets of Waynesburg and the Baron Blog came through. Their account can be found here, but I will summarize it.
1. Score at halftime was 52-17.
2. Again we jacked up 3s, but only made 2-12 in the first half, 16.7%.
3. And not to overdo it, but we had 27 turnovers.

Altoona?

At least I have one more chance for Santa to give me a Baron win.
Last night the Barons fell to the Altoon Lions, or whatever they call themselves. It wasn't a pretty score, 76-57, but it was close at one point when the score was 48-43 with 13 minutes left in the second half. Maybe the score was a little lopsided because we jacked up 28 3s. I don't know, maybe? Chas Marks led the way with 20 and Nate got 17. And apparently Nate Stanton is going to join the AMC conference next year, I guess thats pretty rare for a player. That little tidbit is courtesy of the Penn State Altoona website. You can read the rest of their coverage here, but you will be unable to find any FUS coverage. Interesting, no?
The Barons have another game tonight when we travel to Waynesburg University, game time at 7:30.
Prediction: I think we get this losing streak done with, get some momentum going into the second half of season with a win.
Fearless Predictions:
1) Score-68-60
2) "5-5" has another huge game
3) Zach brings down 15, all offensive boards

All I want for Christmas is another Barons W

Sorry to all our adoring fans for not posting in a long while, but there has been no home games as of late to blog about. The Barons do have two (2) huge games coming up. With a win it would bolster our record to 2-9 and possibly 3-9. It's too bad that none of us here at the "The Baron Blog" will be use our gas cards and travel with the team. But of course we will resume blogging once the spring semester begins. We will continue with the most consistent, compelling, and up to date coverage of our beloved Barons.
Merry Christmas.

A response to our "All Weather Fan"

Greetings from Baronville!
Well we've encountered some resistance.... from students and administration alike. But we're trying for a peace offering with administration, but with our "all weather fan", let's respond to your post. For those of you too lazy to click on the comments link in our assessment of the St. Vincent game, I will repost his comment here:


Man, after the obviously qualified hide-behind-my-computer-blog-coach(charles) noted such a great improvement in play following the St Vincent game it sure would be great if we had an update from him regarding the away game at Hiram tonight....win or lose he obviously knows more than the man hired to actually lead the team (and the years he has spent ACTUALLY on the court coaching).... oh wait, he only bashes the team when it doesn't take a toll on his gas card....

First of all my all weather friend, we are not here to bash this team. We are here to give our opinions. We give credit where we think credit is due, and complain when we think something should be fixed. It's our opinion. And so far we have been equal opportunity employers, when a player does good, we say good job, when he does bad we say so. And as far as the coach goes its the same thing. When he does a good job we say so (St. Vincent), when we think he didn't we'll say so too (JCC). We love this team, the athleticism, the youth, the leadership, this university. We aren't here to bash. Show me one place where we have said somebody sucks at basketball. Or should quit. That's bashing. We don't do that. We respect the players and what they do. But a little constructive criticism, or praise for that matter, doesn't hurt anyone. We aren't mean. Otherwise I wouldn't be so nice right now.

Second we might not be coaches, but we've played one in a blog. Kidding. But seriously everyone is entitled to their opinion. If you want to create an all love fest blog go ahead. Conform to the University's unwritten policy of criticism is a sin. But we are trying to give our opinion, with a humorous twist on it. That's fine to disagree, but don't challenge our decision to "hide" behind our computers. We did that on purpose. There was already a witch hunt to try and get us out. And I don't see you using your real name either.

All three of us have prior playing experience, one of us even at the college level. We might not be coaches but we can still figure out that if you're going to keep 32 players on the roster, you might as well use them. Especially if they have some real talent.

Finally, we, like yourself, are college students. This blog is something we do to get out our "creative juices" and show our love for sports. But we're college students first. No I'm not going to travel 2 hours to go see us lose by 20 when I have exams starting the next night. That's too much pain for a recreational hobby. Obviously this team means a lot to you. Did you go (And it doesn't count if you had to go as part of the team or a manager, etc.)? If you didn't go and are worried about last night's score we still got it for you. It will be coming soon after this post. But in the long run we might go check out some away games, but for the most part we'll update you on the scores, but not much else.
So that's what we've got to say to you Mr. All Weather Fan. Calm down a bit. Don't get your panties all tied up in a knot.
It's just a blog.
It's just a game.
It's just a 1-8 D-III team.
If you don't like our opinions there's a little red box with an X, in the right top corner of your screen. Click it.
Otherwise stop being an ass. My firewall I "hide" behind can't block that.

PS- Thanks for reading and commenting on our blog! Please pass it along to friends if you like it.
-The Baron Bloggers