Defiantly Dutch Q&A: Tom Pecora

If you’re among the handful of Loyal Readers at Defiantly Dutch (the check is in the mail!), you know by now that Tom Pecora is in a class by himself when it comes to filling up a notebook and a digital recorder—even on nights like Tuesday, when he was the headline attraction at a Hofstra basketball meet-and-greet at a Westbury steakhouse.

Pecora, as always, was kind enough to break away from the crowd for a few minutes and discuss the upcoming season, which, as you may have heard by now, begins tomorrow night when the Flying Dutchmen visit some Podunk school in Kansas. Hope you enjoy the Q&A and thanks as always to Pecora for his time. And make sure to stop back tomorrow for more stories previewing the upset victory over Kansas as well as the 2009-10 campaign.

What are your thoughts on the team after almost a month of practice?

I think with the new guys, they’re really working hard, which I’m impressed with. They’re still making mistakes, because they’re freshmen, but they’re not making the same mistakes over and over again. And that’s important to me. The other thing I’ve been impressed with is their ability to make a mistake and just shake it off and keep playing. I think a couple of them have no idea how good they can really be, and that’s typical of young players. Their talent level is very high, and each day in practice, different ones have really been able to step up. So I’m encouraged by that. Our veterans have been great. They’ve been great leaders. We basically have them mentoring the younger guys.

But we have to have the personality of our veterans, not of our young guys, every game. Because if we have that personality of the young kids, it’s going to get us in trouble.

Having a core of three underclassmen is obviously reminiscent of the Loren Stokes-Carlos Rivera-Antoine Agudio days, but Nathaniel Lester and Greg Washington are a lot less experienced at this point than Rivera and Agudio were. Do you think it’s advantageous that they were able to serve an apprenticeship of sorts the last two years?

I think that’s a question you can’t answer until the season is over and you see what kind of year they have. The pressure is on them to step up. And that’s the same with our seniors. I say you can only be as good as your seniors, and it’s been nice, the last few practices—Mikey Szabo and Corny Vines have been really good. And when they play at a high level, we’re a really good basketball team. So I don’t want them to be saying ‘Oh, don’t worry, the juniors are going to handle it.’ They’re seniors. It’s their team. We need them to do what they do best and play within themselves and make us a good team.

Adrian Uter had a pretty quiet season as a junior transfer before emerging as a star in the front court his senior year. Do you think Miklos Szabo can experience a similar transformation?

He’s been great and was very good in a scrimmage versus Columbia. We did a rebounding drill the other day and he got 15 of 45 rebounds [in] a 10-minute drill. And that’s what we need him to do. If he can rebound the  ball like that, he’ll be a double-double guy because his ability to score on offensive rebounds and score in transition—and all the other things—will play off of him rebounding the ball.

How deep a rotation do you think you’ll have this year?

I think we’re probably going to be deeper. I think last year, we were more experienced. This year, we’re more skilled, but we’re younger. We have very skilled freshmen. In the past, we had solid veterans who were limited but they knew what they could do and couldn’t do, which was good coming off the bench. You look at the five veterans and then eventually Brad Kelleher—he might get hacked with a couple games—but once we get him back and then you look at our freshman class: Chaz Williams, Halil Kanacevic. Yves Jules was great in practice last week and the scrimmages. And David Imes played very well Saturday. I’m going to expect those guys to step up some. That will give us a solid 10 and you just never know when people are going to go down. God forbid one—even worse, God forbid, you get two down.

You guys had a pretty up and down season last year. With such a young team, do you think you’ll be prone to such peaks and valleys again?

Generally, with young guys, when that happens, it’s late because they hit the wall. I think last year it was directly correlated to Charles. When Charles was struggling to score the ball, we struggled as a team. But he was able to right himself and get back and still have a great year. Hopefully, as a junior, he’s not as inconsistent. And by him being more consistent, I think everyone else will follow suit.

What do you think Charles learned from struggling last year?

He was working too hard. At night, he was coming in shooting. I want them to come in at night and shoot free throws. He’s coming in at night and shooting two, three hundred jumpers. So he was just exhausting himself. I actually had to kind of throw him out of the gym for a while and say ‘You’re not allowed in here at night, rest your body.’ He’s just so big and strong, you don’t think a body like that needs it, but it does. We all do.

Would you like to have him play the point less often than he did last year?

The way we play, once we’re into the offense, everyone’s a point, because everyone comes off ball screens. But there’s times he’ll be bringing the ball up the court. There’s times Chaz and Brad [wlll]. There will be times Corn [does]. A lot of that will be dictated by the matchups of our opponent and who we think has the best matchup that’s going to allow them to get the ball up the floor and get us into offense.

I think getting [Jenkins] off the ball a little bit freed him up more to score late in the year, when we played Greg Johnson more at the point. And that was a good thing for Charles. But what makes him a great player is he can score with the ball and he can score without the ball. He can hurt you on the glass. He does what the great ones do—he throws up a box score.

Charles has more starts (61) than the rest of your roster combined (58), yet almost all the preseason projections have you finishing in the top half of the league. What does that say for the program?

I think our program is respected within the league, and that’s nice. I think that when you have a player of Charles’ caliber, people are aware that he can one-handedly win some games for you, too. And I think, like myself, there’s a lot of people who believes that it’s time for Szabo and Vines, coming from junior college to have that year, that big senior year after a transition year. And also for Washington and Lester—they’re big boys now. They’re juniors. It’s time to step up and take care of business.

Going back to the influx of newcomers: Most of your teams peak in February and March. With such an inexperienced team, do you expect to be better after the New Year than before it?

Well, I hope so. The problem is you’ve got to have a good non-conference record if you have any chance of getting an [at-large] bid. So we’ve got to get them old quick. We’ve got to find ways to eke some games out. But I always say we play well in February and March because by then they don’t have to listen to me anymore. They’re tired of hearing my voice and they just nod their head ‘yeah’ and do what they have to do to win games.

Outside of Charles, who is the most pivotal returnee? And who is the most pivotal newcomer?

I think Mike Szabo is probably the most pivotal. If we can get Mikey to play at the level I think he’s capable of and you have him on the inside and Charles on the outside, everything else will fall into place. And of the newcomers, it’s going to be interesting. A lot of people would say Chaz Williams, but I think Halil Kanacevic could be it, because we need that baseline support. When we go to the bench on the baseline, I think he’s going to be a big factor for us.

Last year marked the second straight season Hofstra averaged less than 70 points a game. Is it fair to say this team has more firepower than the last couple squads?

The problem is we turned the ball over last year 15 times a game and our goal is 12 times a game. So that’s one of the issues. The other thing is we shot the ball poorly. You look at our field goal shooting percentage (39.4 percent, ahead of only Drexel in the CAA), we weren’t a great shooting team. But I think that our goal is to push the ball a little bit more. I think style of play could dictate how many points you [score]. Again, [what] you really look at is what your field goal percentage is and how many turnovers you have. But our goal is to get back into the high 70s.

Lastly, what are your thoughts on the CAA and your expectations for the season?

I think it’s so hard to predict in any good conference, because there are so many things that could happen between now and then. I think late in the year, as it’s always been, it’s very difficult to knock off those southern teams out of their tournament in Richmond. And eventually, it’s going to happen, and this year, I want it to be Hofstra that does it. But we need to go down and play our best basketball late in the year in Richmond.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

In which Tom Pecora seamlessly handles same-day visitation with Mike and the Mad Dog

When the inevitable reunion between Mike and the Mad Dog occurs, historians better note Tom Pecora's role in making it happen.

I was incredibly fortunate to grow up in a home in which divorce was something that happened in other families, so it took me until yesterday, at age thirtymumblemumble, to get an idea of what it must be like to be the product of separated parents. Presumably, it’s not as easy as Tom Pecora made it look in dealing with the volatile duo of Mike Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.

Mike and the Mad Dog were a true friend of Hofstra over the last decade, during which they broadcast the America East championship game in 2000 and 2001 and regularly had Jay Wright and then Pecora on the air as guests. But the titans of New York sports radio had a messy and bitter breakup last summer as Russo bolted for a lucrative deal with Sirius satellite radio.

As I noted last December, the two decided to share custody of Pecora during the fall and winter months, when he appeared multiple times on both shows, but I’m pretty sure yesterday marked the first time both hosts wanted him to appear on the same day.

It should have been a disaster, with either Francesa demanding exclusivity or Russo refusing to have Pecora on after he’d already appeared with Francesa earlier in the day. Yet there was Pecora, shooting the breeze with Francesa shortly after 3 pm and then trading pleasantries with Russo 90 minutes later.

The lack of drama Wednesday is probably more a matter of Francesa and Russo—each of whom has made an appearance on the other’s show in the last month—realizing they are far better together than apart and, perhaps, beginning to lay the groundwork for a reunion. Even the epic egomaniac Francesa has to realize that while he still rules New York sports radio, his show isn’t nearly as compelling without a foil. And Russo has alluded multiple times to the anonymity with which he operates on satellite radio, which, despite being the greatest invention ever, still only has a cult following.

Still, even though the two are playing nice, the differences between the imperious Francesa and the more approachable Russo were obvious even in the completely innocuous interviews with Pecora. Francesa wasn’t quite as insufferable as he was in talking to Pecora last December, but it still took him less than a minute Wednesday to make the interview all about him.

Pecora: “I’ll tell you what, there is a method to our madness. Larry Keating, the associate AD out there, he and I have been friends for years…”

Francesa: “Larry Keating is at Kansas?

Pecora: “Yeah he’s with Lew Perkins."

Francesa: “Oh I didn’t even know that.”

(Pecora then says something about working with Keating at Adelphi, but he’s drowned out by Francesa)

Francesa: “Oh yeah I know Larry Keating. Sure. He used to be at Seton Hall too.”

Later, Francesa managed to turn a conversation about the frenzied environment at Allen Fieldhouse into a story about how he once broadcast a game in Oklahoma that was “…as loud as any game I ever remember.” Ahh, how quickly he forgets those America East title games.

Francesa is the parent who brags about his kid less because he’s actually proud of him and more because he thinks his son’s accomplishments will raise his profile. If Pecora were a high schooler, Francesa would be name-dropping Bill Self left, right and center all week, telling all his friends how his son is BFF with the BMOC.

Russo is the parent who would be happy to see his child carve out a niche for himself, no matter how unglamorous it might be, and willing to give said child an opportunity to prove how independent he is. That said, Russo probably asked Pecora for his thoughts on the rule changes in college basketball, the national championship picture and the biggest coaching changes of the off-season because of the more national scope of the show, but still, it was nice to hear someone treat a guest like the expert instead of expecting the opposite.

Of course, in the process of talking to Pecora about the top teams in the country, Russo proved he and Francesa still share a knack for going on the air without being all that well-informed about their guests.

Russo: “Early season, what are your thoughts on some of these really good teams? I know Kansas is supposed to be good. Texas is supposed to be good. I’m sure Carolina lost a million players…”

Pecora: “I can tell you all about Kansas Saturday morning because we’re playing them Friday night.”

Russo: “Oh you are? Where is that game?”

[Editor’s note: Where the frick do you think it is? The Hofstra Arena?]

Pecora: “We open up at Kansas Friday.”

Russo: “Oh wow.”

Later, Russo said again he had no idea Hofstra was playing Kansas Friday. Geez, Chris, at that point just don’t mention it anymore. It’d be like forgetting your wife’s birthday and then striking up a conversation about it before bed.

Russo had the quality faux pas, but as usual, Francesa had the quantity—as he proved when he didn’t even know his alma mater was playing Hofstra.

Francesa: “You don’t play St. John’s do you?”

Pecora: “We do.”

Francesa: “Oh you do?”

Francesa also assumed VCU—or, as he annoyingly continues to call the school, “Va Comm,” note to Mike, Va Comm prefers to be called VCU—and George Mason were the favorites in the CAA while Russo at least mentioned Old Dominion first in the list of the league’s top teams.

As for Pecora, he was his usual smooth self, hitting on the talking points that make his bosses happy (on both shows, he touted the publicity boost Hofstra will get from playing Kansas as well as mentioned how 25 boosters will make the trip; my invitation apparently got lost in the mail), uncorking sound bite-worthy lines (he called Allen Fieldhouse “Duke on steroids” in each segment) and doing it all with a wry sense of humor.

Pecora stroked Francesa’s ego, telling him that “…obviously, this show [is] the most important” publicity the school can receive from playing Kansas, and later delivered a subtle dig at St. John’s that only us diehards would get.

“We’re excited about [playing St. John’s],” Pecora said. “It’s always nice of them to do that.”

Pecora opened his appearance with Russo by asking why Russo hasn’t returned his calls and finished it with a bit of self-deprecation in saying the CAA has “…really good players, and, with the exception of Hofstra, really good coaches.” Yeah but I bet you Blaine Taylor or Tony Shaver couldn’t get dueling radio hosts to play nice.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Bits and Bytes: Working (and waiting) for the weekend

Even Canadian rockers Loverboy are keeping their fingers crossed the Flying Dutchmen get lucky this weekend!

The Flying Dutchmen have Kansas right where they want ‘em. Or, to be grammatically correct no matter how awkward it may sound, the Flying Dutchmen have Kansas right where they want it.

The top-ranked Jayhawks waxed Division II Pittsburg State, 103-45, in an exhibition game last night, thereby assuring they’ll be overconfident and arrogant come Friday night and not prepared at all for the full fury of the Flying Dutchmen.

Freshmen Thomas Robinson and Xavier Henry combined for 27 points and one technical (assessed to Robinson for hanging on the rim after a dunk), or four points and one technical more than senior stars Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins had. Dissension! The new kids are leading a palace revolt! Pretty soon the Jayhawks will be fighting amongst themselves instead of rumbling with the football team!

As you can tell, we’re a little worked up about the season in general and the imminent upset of the Jayhawks in particular. Stop back the next two days for plenty of preview material, including a Q&A with your good friend and mine Tom Pecora as well as a couple features. In the meantime, here are a few bits and bytes to tide you over.

—The football team will be relegated even further into the shadows this weekend, when it visits future East Coast Conference football rival Northeastern, a little more than 12 hours after the Dutchmen shock Hoops Nation.

Alas, it’s difficult not to wonder how meaningful Saturday’s game could have been for the Dutchmen, whose 28-24 loss to Delaware last Saturday marked the third time this season they turned the ball over on downs inside the 50-yard-line with a chance to tie or win the game in the final minute. The Dutchmen have lost to Delaware, New Hampshire and Maine by a combined 14 points. Wins in those three games would have the Dutchmen 7-2 and primed for a playoff berth, but instead Dave Cohen and his staff will have to hope the heartbreaking losses will provide fuel and a foundation for next season.

It’ll be interesting to see if Steve Probst gets more time at quarterback over the final two weeks. As I’ve written here before, I’m a fan of Cory Christopher, but now that the focus is entirely on 2010, it’s about time to see Probst behind center for all 60 minutes.

The very tentative plan is to attend the game Saturday, because my love of Boston is surpassed only by my desire to experience famously rustic Parsons Field for myself, but our schedule is subject to change if I spend all night celebrating the win over Kansas. I expect you to breathlessly stay tuned to this website and my Twitter until I make my decision!

—John Feinstein is many things I am not—including, apparently, crazy. The prolific author and Washington Post columnist appeared on NPR Monday (I, of course, was too busy listening to hair metal hits on satellite radio, so thanks to Brian Mull for the link) and said he expected the CAA to send four or five teams to the NCAA Tournament. If the CAA sends four or more teams to the NCAAs, I’ll stand on my head, a la Dick Vitale and Austin Peay in 1987. Even if all four or five of those teams are located in Virginia. Where is my conspiracy theory font?

—The disrespect for the Flying Dutchmen just keeps spreading. Collegeinsider.com released its first top 25 of the season, and not only aren’t the Dutchmen ranked, they weren’t even among the 55 teams receiving a vote. Seriously. Eighty teams got a vote and Hofstra didn’t. I’m going to channel and paraphrase Harry Doyle here: “One vote? We couldn’t get one goddamn vote?”

Four CAA schools are in the top 25, led by defending Collegeinsider.com Invitational champion Old Dominion, but at least Hofstra’s not alone in not receiving a vote: None of the other seven CAA schools did, either. That’s OK. The Dutchmen will be there next week!

—The NCAA is mad at Kentucky for hiring John Calipari, so for the second straight year, it’s probably going to suspend a Hofstra transfer for playing in professional games in his native land. Maybe Miklos Szabo—and Greg Washington, who also knows what it’s like to be at the mercy of the NCAA’s hilariously ineffective, inconsistent and unpredictable Clearinghouse—can give Brad Kelleher some tips on how to pass the time.

—Finally, I’ve updated the links on the right hand side of this page. You’ll notice (or maybe you won’t) no Newsday link. Apparently, there is no college basketball blog this year. Hey, that’s a good idea, let’s cut the news hole, double the price to $1, make our website free only to Cablevision subscribers (hooray monopolies!) and then not bother giving those folks anything extra to read online. Awesome. No wonder newspapers are so healthy. Little birdies also tell me they’ll provide Hofstra even less beat coverage than usual, which, you know, is great.

Anyway, check out the new alignment of sites covering Hofstra, the CAA and mid-majors, especially The Mid-Majority, which is so good I cannot do it justice in a piece like this. At some point soon I’m going to pen an ode to that place, because it is just freaking amazing, every single day. Also check out the self-explanatory Friends of Defiantly Dutch further down the page. And, of course, buy my book!

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

CAA Predictions: Running Tally III

CAA prognosticators obviously remembered Five Guys' advertisements at Hofstra games when evaluating this year's Flying Dutchmen.

A bit later than I’d planned, but here it is (boy, have my family and friends heard THOSE 10 words before): The third Running Tally of CAA predictions. We’re up to 13 polls now, three more than last year, and always eager to see more as we approach Friday (it’s almost here, it’s almost here, it’s almost here!). So if you come across a poll that isn’t included here, send it to me via email or Twitter so I can update the rankings.

These rankings include four new polls—CBSSports.com, Blogging The Bracket, The Sports Xchange and The Sports Network—and it’s interesting to see how these predictions shake out since three of them are based on the most current information. (The Sports Xchange poll was included in the USA Today Sports Weekly college hoops issue)

Without further ado:

1.) Old Dominion (10) 18

2.) VCU (3) 32

3.) Northeastern 41

4.) George Mason 47

5.) HOFSTRA 68

6.) James Madison 76

7.) Drexel 104

8.) Georgia State 105

9.) Delaware 124

10.) UNC Wilmington 128

11.) Towson 133

12.) William & Mary 138

First place votes in parenthesis

Polls collected thus far: CAA, Blue Ribbon, Sporting News, Lindy’s, Athlon, Brian Mull, Rivals.com, Bleacher Report, Rush The Court, CBSSports.com, The Sports Network, Blogging The Bracket, The Sports Xchange

—It took lots of bellowing on my part, but the closer we get to the season, the more seriously the damn liberal media seems to be taking the Flying Dutchmen. Hofstra was picked fifth or higher in all four of the new polls (three fifths and a fourth from The Sports Network)—one more top five placing than in the first nine polls combined. Pretty neat: The Dutchmen are picked fourth, fifth or sixth in every poll (six sixths, four fifths and three fourths), making them one of only two teams, along with Old Dominion, picked entirely within a three-spot range. The Dutchmen are also one of just four teams projected to finish in the top six in every ranking (along with ODU, VCU and Mason). Lastly, their six sixth-place predictions make the Dutchmen one of just two schools picked in the same spot in six polls (Northeastern and second).

—Old Dominion remains the overwhelming preseason favorite, but apparently, publications and websites that now or formerly held the TSN moniker don’t like Old Dominion. The Monarchs received three firsts and a third (from The Sports Network) in the latest polls. The third was the first time the Monarchs had been picked that low since Sporting News. ODU is the only school picked in the top three in all 13 polls.

—VCU, on the strength of four top three votes (including a first from The Sports Network and a pair of seconds from CBS and BTB), jumps past Northeastern and back into second place overall. VCU was second after our first running tally. The Rams have been picked in the top four in every poll and in the top three in all but two (Blue Ribbon and Rush The Court). Third place remains their most popular selection (five votes).

—People seem to be growing a bit uncertain about Northeastern, which has six second-place votes and was picked in the top three in eight of the first nine polls but was ranked as high as third by just one of our four new ones (CBS) as it returns to third. The Huskies were ranked fourth by BTB and TSX and seventh by The Sports Network. Before this, the Huskies were picked fourth or higher by everyone except Sporting News. Hmm. There’s that TSN bias again.

—Conversely, momentum seems to be building for George Mason, which is as solidly entrenched in fourth as Hofstra is in fifth. The Patriots were ranked in the top four in all four additions—two seconds (The Sports Network and TSX), a third and a fourth—after being picked in the top four in six of the first nine polls. The Patriots have also been picked in the top six in every poll.

—James Madison earns this Tally’s Motley Crue video by recording three sixths and a seventh (CBS). The Dukes have slowly slipped behind the Dutchmen, with whom they were tied in the first Tally and a mere two points behind in the second. That said, JMU almost joined Hofstra and ODU as the most consistent team in these polls: The Dukes have been picked four times apiece in fifth, sixth and seventh. The lone outlier was a fourth-place vote from Lindy’s.

—The other spot swapping in the poll occurs at seventh and eighth, where Drexel edges past wildly unpredictable Georgia State by a point to regain the seventh slot. Drexel, which is annually the least predictable team in the CAA, is one of just three schools picked in a different spot in each of the four new polls. A fifth from The Sports Network is enough to offset an eighth, ninth and 10th. That fifth-place vote is the highest Drexel has received. The Dragons have been picked seventh four times.

—It doesn’t matter if the publication is of the dead tree or online variety, nor whether the rankings were compiled two months or two days ago. Georgia State remains all over the place. Like Drexel, the Panthers were picked in four different spots—from sixth (CBS) to 12th (The Sports Network) with a seventh and a ninth thrown in there as well. Georgia State is one of three schools to collect at least two votes in five different spots, but nobody has the wacky range of the Panthers, who have been picked twice apiece in sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth—and three times in 12th. The bottom six teams in the overall rankings have been picked in the top six just five times out of a possible 78 ballots, but Georgia State accounts for four of those. So after all that, the Panthers will probably finish first, second, third, 10th or 11th.

—Delaware received its first eighth-place vote (BTB) since preseason magazines Sporting News and Lindy’s, as well as its first 12th-place vote (TSX) and two nines. Delaware is one of three schools picked eighth or lower in every poll. The Blue Hens have been picked ninth four times.

—Of the bottom four teams in the overall rankings, the one that seems to have the most positive momentum is UNC Wilmington, which is the only one of the quartet not to get a last-place vote in the most recent polls. The Seahawks got a seventh (BTB), two 10ths and an 11th (TSX) to solidify their 10th-place ranking. They’re also the only school among the bottom four teams predicted to finish higher than eighth in any poll (they were also picked seventh by Lindy’s). The Seahawks have been picked 11th and 12th three times apiece and twice each at seventh, eighth and 10th.

—Towson is as close to last as it is to 10th after getting an eighth (TSX), two 11ths and a 12th (CBS) in the new polls. Nor is this encouraging: The Tigers have been picked at least twice apiece in five different spots—twice each at eighth and ninth and three times each at 10th, 11th and 12th.

—Finally, the College of Bill Lawrence continues to bring up the rear, but the Tribe got its highest vote yet from The Sports Network (eighth). It was also picked once apiece at 10th, 11th and 12th. Overall, the Scrubs have been picked in double digits in all but two polls (Sporting News picked them ninth, hmm, another TSN/TSN similarity). The Tribe has been picked 11th five times.

—Only two of the new polls (BTB and TSX) also picked a player of the year, but TSX selected Jenkins, which puts him alone into second place behind Larry Sanders (BTB’s pick as POY) in the POY Running Tally. Sanders has four votes, Jenkins has 3.5 and Lee has 2.5.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Behold the power of Bucco Bruce and the Creamsicles!!

See what happens when you listen to Defiantly Dutch and go old school?

Tim Ryan: “How much credit do you give to the creamsicles?”

Sam Rosen: “The creamsicle uniforms paid off!”

Tim Ryan: “Wear them the rest of the year!”

I’m not usually one to open a story with a quote—too cheesy, and all that, though my archives feature plenty such pizza-worthy ledes—but I could be Houdini with the written word and I still couldn’t sum up the first win of the season by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—known worldwide as The Official NFL Team Of Defiantly Dutch—as succinctly or as truthfully as Fox announcers Tim Ryan and Sam Rosen.

The Bucs, coached by Flying Dutchmen alum Raheem Morris, wore the franchise’s old orange uniforms and donned the old Bucco Bruce helmet Sunday, when they shockingly and gleefully ended their pursuit of history Sunday by storming back from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to knock off the Green Bay Packers, 38-28.

The franchise that began play in 1976 with an 0-14 season and was finally relieved of its burden as the worst team ever last season by the Detroit Lions doesn’t have to worry about regaining its spot in history. Nobody remembers 1-15, baby, and all it took for the Bucs to fix things was a trip in the Way Back Machine. (I will conveniently ignore how awful the Bucs were during the Creamsicle Era here)

1-0 in the old orange uniforms, 0-7 in the current uniforms—and the Bucs don’t want to mess with a good thing. Linebacker Geno Hayes told The Tampa Tribune earlier today he “…wouldn’t mind wearing them again at all” while Morris mused immediately after the game Sunday about how he and the players would “…have to get into some negotiations to see if we can put on our orange some more.”

I’d just like to point out that I was calling for a return to the original duds when Morris was hired in January. Listen to me, people. I know what I’m talking about. Sometimes.

Sure, the Bucs’ old uniform scheme was a hideous one, but it was original and it assured only the diehard fans wore the apparel. The current look has coincided with sustained success (six playoff berths and, of course, the glorious victory in Super Bowl XXXVII), but it looks like it was designed by a focus group determined to improve the Bucs’ merchandise sales. I hate walking through a mall, seeing someone in a Bucs uniform and wondering if he also wears a multi-colored Yankees hat, or if he’s sporting the uniform as part of a gang initiation.

I should have known things were going to go well for the Bucs and I when a quirky bit of scheduling even gave us the opportunity to watch the game. The Giants were playing at 4 on CBS and the Jets were off, meaning Fox was able to give us a rare out-of-market game at 1.

We got Cardinals-Bears, which made my wife the Bears fan quite happy, but things really began to go my way when Fox made the rare decision to dump that game with the Cardinals up 34-7 early in the second half and take us to Tampa, where the Bucs were surprisingly not getting blown out.

Still, it looked like the Bucs would have to be content with a competitive defeat until the magic of Bucco Bruce and the Creamsicle uniforms emerged in the fourth quarter along with rookie QB Josh Freeman, who displayed the type of poise that suggested he could be the franchise QB the Bucs have been searching for since Doug Williams.

A long kickoff return set up Freeman’s seven-yard TD pass to Kellen Winslow, and following a Packers punt, Freeman impressively led an eight-play, 72-yard drive that he capped with a four-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to give the Bucs the lead with a little more than four minutes left.

Tanard Jackson returned an interception 35 yards for the insurance score in the final minute, which was appropriate icing on a game in which the Bucs set up their first TD with a long interception return and scored their second TD on a blocked punt return. Mmm, defense and special teams setting up scores for the offense. That’s good football.

Good for the Bucs, good for Morris—and good for Hofstra, which really needed some positive sports news after a crappy Saturday in which the Flying Dutchmen football team lost another heartbreaker in the final minute, the field hockey team was knocked out of the CAA tournament with a 5-1 loss to Drexel (I’m pretty sure five goals in field hockey is the equivalent of, like, 150 points in basketball) and the men’s soccer team, which spent much of the season atop the league, missed out on the CAA tournament after a 0-0 tie with UNC Wilmington.

With the Flying Dutchmen four nights away from visiting top-ranked Kansas, I think we need to change up the luck in order to ensure an upset of the Jayhawks. Out with the blue, white and gold color scheme and the lions logo, in with orange and white and Bucco Bruce!!

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch. 

Bits and Bytes: Of championship swag and rivalries gone by

Local sporting goods stores better carry Hofstra championship swag in March!

Since I am a loving husband, I agreed to go with my wife to a local sporting goods store (hey, if the chain wants me to mention its name, it’ll advertise with me!) Thursday night in search of some Yankees championship swag for her. This, even though I would have preferred the Yankees lose, since it’s fun to tweak the spoiled, entitled, quick-to-jump-off-the-bandwagon-at-the-first-sign-of-trouble brats that encompass most of their fan base (but which certainly does not include my loving wife nor Loyal Reader John, my college roommate, just want to make that abundantly clear) and even though showing up at a store to buy championship swag feels like such a clichéd act.

It reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where Bart and Milhouse go to a concert and a T-shirt vendor bellows something like “Show ‘em you were here by buying a T-shirt!” Just change it to “Show ‘em who you root for and remind everyone of your superiority by buying a T-shirt, hat, sweatshirt, coffee mug, pennant and car flag!” and you’d be all set.

And it feels like such a Pavlovian response to the cackling overlords of professional sports. I mean, Jorge Posada still hadn’t hugged anyone Wednesday night and weasels were out there giving the Yankees hats and T-shirts, hoping to pry open the wallets of millions of people.

Of course, it worked: We got there and the store was packed, all the good stuff was picked over and the line to the cash registers stretched dozens of people deep. Recession my ass.

Or maybe covering professional sports for so many years has turned me into a jaded bastard, because as the wife was browsing, I got to daydreaming about the concept of Flying Dutchmen championship swag being on sale at this particular store, and I got that goofy fuzzy feeling one gets when one imagines his team cutting down the nets in March.

And I realized that if—nay, when—the Dutchmen win the CAA title March 8, I’ll be disappointed if there aren’t championship shirts for sale at Richmond Coliseum the moment the court is stormed by the seven fans that made the drive from Hempstead. I’ll be the old guy!

Anyway, here are some other bits and bytes that probably aren’t related to championship swag.

—OK, here’s a connection to championship swag, albeit a flimsy one. The last time the Hofstra logo was emblazoned on a championship T-shirt was 2001, when the Flying Dutchmen, for the second straight season, beat Delaware in the America East title game.

At the time, there didn’t seem to be a better mid-major rivalry on the east coast than Hofstra-Delaware, largely because it was a heated one in multiple sports. And it seemed as if it would only get better in coming years with the two schools defecting together to the CAA and the Dutchmen finally about to join Delaware in the Atlantic 10 for football.

Alas, the reality turned out to be far different. When the Dutchmen visit Delaware Stadium today, it’ll be like an awkward reunion with the old high school buddy with whom you have nothing in common anymore.

As I wrote in February, the two schools are going in completely different directions with their hoops and football programs, rendering the games in those sports routine except for the most loyal and longtime of followers. In September, I identified Old Dominion as the Dutchmen’s biggest basketball rival, and the wife understandably scolded me for behaving like Hofstra and ignoring anything that happened before 2004.

But you know what? I hadn’t even thought of Delaware as a current hoops rival until she pointed it out. Terrible, I know, but it’s another reminder of how awkward and unmemorable things are now with our old friend Delaware, and how the distance has made melancholy our memories of those long-ago classic.

We want it to mean as much as it used to, but it’s just not there anymore. We’ve befriended Old Dominion, and we’ve got so much in common and have such a good time with the Monarchs that we just don’t have time to hang out and try to repair our relationship with the Blue Hens.

Maybe there’s a Facebook-like reunion with Delaware in our future, one in which the gap is mended and new memories can be created. But my guess is recalling the approaching 15th anniversary of the 41-41 tie with the Blue Hens will be a lot more fun than anything that occurs on the field today.

—Speaking of that tie—which, for the record, occurred Nov. 12, 1994—I’m still cooking up a feature on it as well as the 24-21 loss to Towson Oct. 27 and hope to have them up next week. Last week was a hectic one here and I just didn’t have a chance to do the legwork necessary.

—And speaking of those whose pasts are much better than their present: Our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers—known worldwide as The Official NFL Team Of Defiantly Dutch—lose even when they don’t play. The Bucs were thankfully visiting Brigham Young Elementary last week, but they nonetheless cemented their status as the worst team in the league when the previously winless Rams and Titans both recorded victories.

The Bucs are now the only winless team in the league, a shockingly horrible distinction considering the Rams, Titans, Chiefs and Browns are all still members of the NFL. But it’s a “well-earned” one as the Bucs rank among the bottom five in both points scored and points allowed.

The Bucs probably won’t get in the win column this week, when rookie Josh Freeman—the Bucs’ third starting QB of the year—makes his first career start against the high-powered Packers, who are surely eager to erase the sting of last week’s loss to the Brett Favre-led Vikings. Egads. On the bright side, the Bucs will at least be dressed for the occasion: They’ll be wearing the awesome old Creamsicle uniforms and Bucco Bruce helmets, in which the franchise lost its first 26 games in 1976-77.

—More good news: If the Bucs finish the season winless, they’ll probably have company! The fledging UFL reportedly visited Hofstra Wednesday as New York lost to Las Vegas, 41-10, to fall to 0-4. I say reportedly because, well, can anyone really confirm this didn’t take place on an Xbox or something? The announced crowd was 4,392, which was probably a generous estimate given the UFL’s microscopic profile and the fact the game was played the same time the Yankees were beating the Phillies to win the World Series.

If you missed the game, don’t fret. There are some rumors the New York franchise—which is playing its home games at three different locales this year—may make Shuart Stadium its permanent home in 2010. Which means Hofstra students and the Long Island community alike can ignore two different football teams that play games at Hofstra, but I digress.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation of CAA Dorkdom

Can someone explain to me how there were as many Revenge of the Nerds TV movies as theatrical movies? So wrong.

In immersing myself in the CAA predictions over the last eight seasons, I thought it’d be interesting to run the numbers for the last eight years and see which teams most often exceeded—and failed to meet—expectations. I recognized even at the outset that it would likely be a flawed exercise, because teams that are traditionally picked low would have an obvious “advantage” over those that are typically picked and finish higher, but since I’m a nerd, I figured I’d do it anyway.

I was right, to a degree, but the findings were still interesting. Below you’ll find the overall standings (with the number of times the school finished in its predicted spot in parenthesis) followed by some analysis.

Just as a reminder of the methodology of this study, as first explained Monday: I went through the last eight seasons and awarded teams the difference between their predicted finish and their actual finish. So last year, when the Dutchmen were picked seventh but finished fifth, they earned two points.

1.) Towson: 9 (2)

2.) VCU: 8 (1)

3.) William & Mary: 8 (1)

4.) NU: 6 (0)

5.) Drexel: 4 (1)

6.) Old Dominion: 2 (1)

7.) UNC Wilmington: 1 (2)

8.) Georgia State: -4 (1)

9.) HOFSTRA: -5 (0)

10.) Delaware -8 (2)

11.) George Mason: -10 (1)

12.) James Madison: -11 (0)

—Ninth shall be first, at least here! Hofstra’s tenure in the CAA has been marked by consistent inconsistency The Dutchmen finished far short of expectations in their first two seasons in the CAA, when they were minus-5 in 2001-02 (fifth to 10th) and minus-2 (seventh to ninth) in 2002-03, before proving the prognosticators wrong each of the next three years (seventh to fifth, seventh to fifth and fourth to third). But the Dutchmen produced two straight negative finishes in 2006-07 (first to third) and 2007-08 (fifth to eighth) before bouncing back last year (seventh to fifth). Good news: The trends suggest a couple more seasons of exceeded expectations!

Now on with the rest of the teams in order:

—Towson’s “victory” here is the very definition of an empty one. The Tigers have never been picked higher than seventh and have been picked to finish last or next-to-last six times, including in each of the school’s first four years in the conference.

—Conversely, the most impressive collective performance has been produced by VCU, which has been picked lower than fourth just once yet is still second in our poll. Of course, the Rams finished first the year they were picked sixth, which accounts for more than half their points, but still, it’s impressive work to be picked among the top teams every year and meet or exceed those forecasts.

—Like Towson, William & Mary’s placement near the top of these standings is a byproduct of continually being picked in the bottom quadrant. The Tribe were picked to finish in the bottom three in each of the first six years, and their highest forecast (eighth) occurred last year in the aftermath of their surprising run to the CAA finals the previous March. Half of their points in this poll came from finishing fifth in 2007-08 after being picked ninth.

—Northeastern benefits a bit from the school’s more recent inclusion in the CAA, but four seasons is enough time to include the Huskies without any sort of asterisk. Plus, their performance warrants the plus-6 rating: The Huskies finished higher than predicted in their first three seasons and third last season, down from second in the preseason.

—Drexel’s overall performance is an impressive one, but it’s come with plenty of twists and turns. Last year, the Dragons were picked 12th and finished sixth, the biggest positive difference between projection and reality. The year before that, the Dragons were picked fourth and finished 10th, which is—you guessed it—the biggest negative difference between projection and reality. The Dragons also exceeded expectations by five spots in 2001-02 (ninth to fourth) and three spots in 2003-04 (fifth to second). All of which means the Dragons will probably be a long way from seventh this season, one way or the other.

—Old Dominion’s plus-2 total would seem to make sense for one of the CAA’s traditional powers, but the Monarchs collected five points in exceeding low expectations in the first three years, during which they were picked seventh, eighth and sixth. The Monarchs have been picked in the top four in each of the last six seasons and have never finished outside the top four in that span.

—Drexel has been wildly unpredictable the last eight seasons, but the Dragons are positively placid compared to UNC Wilmington. After being picked and finishing first in 2001-02 and 2002-03, the Seahawks’ performance has gone as follows: Minus-4 (third to seventh), plus-3 (sixth to third), plus-4 (fifth to first), minus-5 (fifth to 10th), plus-4 (sixth to second) and, finally, a mere minus-1 (11th to 12th). Whew. At least Benny Moss has plenty of evidence when he’s speaking to the Seahawks about their ability to exceed this year’s minimal expectations.

—Georgia State, like Northeastern, has been in the league for just four years, but the Panthers are the anti-Huskies in that they’ve yet to better their predicted finish. That’s discouraging considering the Panthers have never been picked higher than sixth and were picked among the bottom five in each of their first three seasons.

—How’s this for a summation of the David Henderson Era (Error?) at Delaware? In his final five seasons at the helm—the first five seasons of this study—the Blue Hens never once exceeded expectations. They finished lower than predicted four times and in their projected spot once. And the year after he was fired, the cupboard was so bare the Blue Hens finished 12th, as predicted, under Monte Ross. The Blue Hens’ first gain (from 10th to seventh in 2007-08) was negated by a minus-4 last year (fifth to ninth).

—I’d love to sit here and tell you George Mason’s 11th-place ranking is accurate and that the Patriots are the second-worst program in the CAA, but, well, that’d be a lie, unfortunately. The Patriots are the inverse of Towson: They were picked in the top three in each of the first seven years of this study and fourth last year. Mason has exceeded its prediction just twice and has finished lower than predicted five times, but it has never finished lower than sixth.

—The last-place ranking for James Madison, on the other hand, is pretty accurate, though things certainly seem on the upswing with Matt Brady in charge. The Dukes have never been picked higher than sixth but finished lower than their predicted spot six times in the first seven years of the study. Last year’s plus-2 (ninth to seventh) represented their biggest net gain.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.