Intentional Foul

Barack-etology, Now With Video

Chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:29:44 +0000

Earlier today, we mentioned President Obama’s Final Four — KU, UK, Villanova, K-State — and now, thanks to ESPN not blocking YouTube’s embed function, we have video!!! Huzzahs and other celebratory exclamations!!!

In his bracket, President Obama’s biggest upset is Cornell over Temple, something that should make Jay Bilas pretty happy.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Barack-etology, Now With Video

The Bacon Bracket Rules Us All

Chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:50:14 +0000

The culinary creator who brought us the God-like Bacon Lombardi Trophy is back again with another marriage of bacon and sports masterpiece: The Bacon Bracket. As you can see in the lead image, the name provides us a perfect description of the bacon-y goodness in Ben Krout’s latest development. For this creation, it looks like Krout made liberal use of what looks like a Cheez Whiz substance to create the bracket look.

The teams are represented by strips of bacon, naturally.

One hopes the losing team’s bacon piece gets eaten as a reminder that, while failure might suck, it can taste pretty damn good when there’s some bacon to go along with it.

H/t to The Shiver for the heads up.

Oh, and speaking of bacon, today’s the last full day to join IF’s Bacon Explosion Bracket Challenge (PW: letmein) over at Yahoo’s Tournament Pick’em thingee. Don’t miss out on your chance to win over four pounds of pork goodness.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

The Bacon Bracket Rules Us All

Be Safe, Happy, and Green

Chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:49:05 +0000

Happy St Patrick’s Day, folks. Eat, drink and be merry — and if you have a chance to do those things with a women similar to the fine one leading this post, all the better. Oh, and if this is your first time drinking green beer, don’t be surprised when your pee comes out green too.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Be Safe, Happy, and Green

Obama’s Final Four

Chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:04:12 +0000

Much like the presidents of past generations would take to the radio airwaves for weekly broadcasts, it appears as if President Obama has created something of a tradition in relation to the Final Four. Thanks to the buzz he received picking last year’s bracket, not to mention the fact that he got the National Champions correct, we now have an annual unveiling on our hands. Obama’s bracket segment on ESPN doesn’t air until this afternoon, but the WWL was kind enough to release the President’s Final Four. Somebody get the chalk ready:

Kansas Jayhawks
Kentucky Wildcats
Kansas State Wildcats
Villanova Wildcats

Quite obviously, Obama is fans of teams with feline-related mascots. While Kansas and Kentucky were to be expected, the selections of K-State and Villanova, while higher seeds, is a little bit of a gamble. Perhaps my reasoning here has to do with the fact I’m not sold on either team; although, I do love me some Scottie Reynolds, and both look ripe for earlier-round upsets. In fact, once you get past Syracuse and K-State, the West Bracket looks downright messy.

A case could be made for both 7th-seeded BYU and 4th-seeded Vanderbilt to make surprising runs to the Elite Eight.

For what it’s worth, last year, President Obama picked the following four teams to make it the last weekend of the tournament — North Carolina, Pittsburgh, UCLA and Kansas. Of those four, the only team he got right was North Carolina. Granted, he picked the Tar Heels to win the whole thing, but considering the talent Roy Williams had in Chapel Hill in 2009 (not so much this year, apparently), that’s a pretty safe pick.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Obama’s Final Four

Tiger Confirms Masters Return, Twitter Erupts

Chris — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:26:49 +0000

Tiger Woods confirmed he will be returning the PGA Tour on his website with an announcement saying he would be playing at Augusta when The Masters begins. As he normally does, Woods controlled the message and its delivery by distributing it on TigerWoods.com. Step 2 of said dissemination is merely waiting patiently while word-of-mouth does the work for you.

Granted, with all things Tiger, it’s doubtful the patient wait took much longer than it did for Woods to hit the “enter” key, confirming he did indeed want to publish his post. Here’s part of Woods’ announcement, which was undoubtedly read around the sports world this morning:

“The Masters is where I won my first major, and I view this tournament with great respect. After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta.

“The major championships have always been a special focus in my career and, as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be, even though it’s been awhile since I last played.

“I have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy, and I am continuing my treatment. Although I’m returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life…

As indicated, the most popular “instant knee-jerk reaction” software client in the world — Twitter — absolutely erupted when Woods’ statement became public, complete with all the sex/cheating jokes you can handle. A few examples:

Magary delivers

An Internet white knight defends Elin (can’t really blame him)

Shoot the messenger? If they overdo it, I can understand the sentiment

Perhaps the most accurate report about Tiger’s return

I think this one captures the mood of many quite well

Obviously, the amount of control Masters officials have over the way the press covers their tournament, The Masters is the obvious choice for Tiger’s return. I sincerely doubt we’ll see a bunch of bloggers/TMZ folks running behind Woods with their paparazzi army. Instead, these folks will be greeted by charming gentlemen with stern Southern attitudes that wouldn’t allow for such shenanigans on a respectable golf course like Augusta National.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Tiger Confirms Masters Return, Twitter Erupts

John Wall Crushes Rick Stansbury

Chris — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:21:06 +0000

To say Sunday was a crappy day for Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury would be bordering on extreme understatement. Not only did his Bulldogs miss making the NCAA Tournament by .01 of a second — thanks to the big paws of DeMarcus Cousins — he also got absolutely smashed by John Wall during an attempt by Wall to deflect a long pass. Unfortunately for Stansbury, he wasn’t quite paying attention when Wall’s path led him directly into the shoulder of the Mississippi State coach.

The result: Stansbury got hammered like he was playing SEC Football.

While that’s not quite an insult-to-injury moment, you have to feel bad for Stansbury, considering the way his Sunday went. While there’s not much shame in an NIT bid, it’s certainly not where the Bulldogs expected to be when they opened the season.

Considering the way it started with the Renardo Sidney snafu, I suppose losing the way they did, coupled with the league’s Player of the Year running your over, was only fitting. And hell, if that sideline tackle didn’t give Stansbury nightmares, that crazy 3-pointer Wall hit in overtime probably did.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

John Wall Crushes Rick Stansbury

The Bacon Explosion Bracket Challenge Strikes Back

Chris — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:46:01 +0000

It’s March Madness time, ya’ll, and you know what that means: The Intentional Foul Bacon Explosion Bracket Challenge (or IFBEBC for short) is back for its second go-around. The rules are simple: Join our Bacon Explosion Bracket Challenge (Yahoo), pick your winners, sweat out the tournament, and if you’re picks are worthy, you might find yourself as the new owner of a Bacon Explosion. In case you can’t smell what the guys at Burnt Finger BBQ are cooking, allow this description to entice your imagination and your appetite:

2 pounds thick cut bacon
2 pounds Italian sausage
1 jar of BBQ sauce
1 jar of BBQ rub

So yeah, it’s a worthwhile Bracket Challenge, especially if you are one of the millions of people on the bacon bandwagon. Of course, when you’re fighting for something like the Bacon Explosion, that’s not a bad bandwagon to be apart of.

Anyhow, the information for our Tournament Pick’em is as follows:

Bacon Explosion Challenge (group ID# 71753)

PW: letmein

Simply go here, enter the group ID (71753) and enter the password (letmein). Oh, and there’s only one bracket per entry, so get it right.

Best of luck to all the entrants, may the best bracket win. Oh, and one more thing, the winner will need to provide us with a mailing address in order to collect the Bacon Explosion prize.

One last thing: I’m the only one who can pick Kentucky to win it all.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

The Bacon Explosion Bracket Challenge Strikes Back

Evan Turner Is Simply Fantastic

Chris — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:32:19 +0000

Words fail when it come to describing what Evan Turner did to end the Michigan/Ohio State game. “Bad defense on Michigan’s part” might come to mind, but you still have to make the shot.

And Turner did. In fine style.

Obviously, I’m a John Wall lover, but Evan Turner = Player of the Year. And that shot was his exclamation point.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Evan Turner Is Simply Fantastic

Butler’s Bank Is Open for March

Chris — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:10:17 +0000

Buzzer beaters. Game winners. Prayers. Call them what you will, but there’s something indescribably enjoyable about seeing these acts; unless, of course, your team is on the receiving end of such a thing. When they happen in March, it’s even bigger and in some cases, much more painful. Just ask Mike Cronin, Dion Dixon, Lance Stephenson and anyone else affiliated with the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Da’Sean Butler delivered such a (gifted?) gem in the Garden last night, and while he needed some good fortune to even get a chance at the shot, when the opportunity came, Butler simply gave the fans the best “Onions!!!!!!” play he could.

One thing’s for sure: The crowd loved it.

To quote an old school NBA tag line, “March Madness action. It’s FAN-tastic.”

Butler’s “the bank is open” heroics paves the way for an intriguing Notre Dame/West Virginia match up. The Irish have been playing good ball in the tournament, and with Harangody back in the fold and performing well, the game promises to be something to see. Granted, neither the Mountaineers or the Irish are scoring at an incredibly high rate — Notre Dame is averaging just under 60 points in two tournament games, and WVU only scored 54 against the Bearcats — it promises to be hard-fought, at the very least.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rejuvenated Irish pull the upset.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Butler’s Bank Is Open for March

Anthony Johnson Defines March Madness

Chris — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:16:41 +0000

There are performances that transcend the very game they take place in. Just ask Anthony Johnson and the rest of his Montana Grizzlies team. Facing Weber State in the final game of the Big Sky Conference Tournament, Montana found themselves facing a 20-point deficit at halftime. Little did Wildcats of Weber State know, that, apparently, was right where Johnson wanted them. What else explains Johnson’s absolutely ridiculous second half?

After scoring a good-but-not-great eight points in the first, Johnson went absolutely ape-shit in the second, dropping 34 points — including the game-winner, on top of the final 21 points for his team — to lead Montana all the way back. What impressed me the most, well, besides the obvious, was the fact Johnson’s scoring assault came without an over-reliance on the three-point shot. Sure, he made a couple, but it wasn’t some ridiculous Stephen Curry-style barrage that gave Johnson his impressive second half.

Instead, he used a mix of mid-range jump shots and layups, as Weber State absolutely failed to keep Johnson out of the lane. Actually, I should probably amend that to read, “Weber State absolutely failed in doing remotely anything to slow, let alone stop, Anthony Johnson’s second half tirade.” You know, for accuracy’s sake.

Over at The Dagger, they have a post detailing some of Johnson’s personal history, and it’s a good read. Lucky for us March Madness fans, he didn’t give up on what is obviously a promising career in basketball.

I also borrowed the statistical readout below from the guys at StatSheet.com, showing Johnson’s points for the year. While he’s been a solid scorer for Montana all season long (19.6), seeing the spike at the end, caused by him essentially doubling his average, is kind of humorous.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Because of Johnson’s heroics, Montana is going back to the Big Dance for the eighth time in the school’s history. I have no doubt the idea of facing a scorer with Johnson’s ability will cause opposing tournament coaches all the heartburn they can handle.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Anthony Johnson Defines March Madness