ISportsFan

Yeah he did They were called Illegal Screens If they aren't calling it, then keep on doing it. Remember, Augustine played less than 10 minutes and picked up 5 cheap fouls. Sean May illegally used his size to score in the post on numerous occasions (specifically the possession where he caught the ball at the block, physically bullied Powell to the rim and scored). Those are not legal either, but it happened. Sure, it happens in every game where there's a post presence, but it is illegal to displace a player from his legally gained position (which Powell had). No ref ever calls that as an offensive foul, but it happens all the time. May does that, and lowers his shoulder to gain space in the post, almost every time he touches the ball. Complaining about illegal screens is fine; some were illegal. But the same thing has to be said about the other end. May was clearly dominant tonight and Illinois had nobody to stop him. But, he used illegal moves to do it. Should May be considered a horrible player? No. Illegal screens happen all the time and they are rarely called, especially in college basketball. Weber deserves credit for designing the plays to get people open. The shots didn't fall. Carolina deserves credit for winning a national championship, no doubt. While I hate them, they deserve all the accolades for beating a team tonight they might not have beaten on another night; however, I like the fact that it's do-or-die, and tonight Carolina did and Illinois died. Jason

What we learned tonight was that Carolina playing at near their best beat Illinois playing at nearly their worst. Illinois has not missed that many open shots all season, but I have to give Carolina a ton of credit for finally utilizing their biggest strength (May) by giving him the ball nearly every possession when it really counted. Carolina definitely has better talent; for instance, the three that Felton hit with two guys in his face is amazing. But, Illinois constantly got people open with screens and had open shots nearly every possession. Unfortunately for us, the shots did not fall like they had during the previous 38 games in the season. Hats off to Carolina for winning, but they are still as hatable as ever. McCants is the biggest pussy in the tournament, as evidenced by the complete lack of hustle in nearly every situation when the ball is rolling on the floor. He refuses to dive after the ball (see: Michigan State game). He's very talented, but I can't stand him and it just bugs me that he will get a ring. I contend that in a best-of series, Illinois wins. However, that's not what the tournament is about -- you have to bring your "A" game six games in a row, and Illinois didn't do it tonight. Next: Carolina reloads with 5 new McDonald's All-Americans and Illinois will probably go to the middle of the Big Ten after likely losing Williams to the draft and definitely losing Head, Powell, and Ingram to graduation. Hopefully this season will eventually pay recruiting dividends, but I am not holding my breath. Another thing to keep in mind: Bruce Weber was constantly considered the weak link out of the four coaches in the Final Four, but he called some great plays near the end of the game to get nearly unlimited open looks at the basket. Unfortunately, they didn't fall. But, his coaching job, especially in getting a 15 point comeback against the Tar Heels working, should not go unnoticed. Jason

The refs are bad, but that's beside the point. Illinois is missing a ton of open shots and they are not exactly doing an outstanding job defensively (a couple of miscommunication points, especially on baseline out of bounds plays). Just a horrible half by my school. Jason

The White Sox game was very fun to watch. 1-0 Sox win over Cleveland with a great pitcher's duel between Buehrle and Westbrook. Westbrook pitched awesome, but not awesome enough to beat Buehrle's 8 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, and almost no difficult plays for the defense. Jason

I'll say the obvious here: this match will suck. Neither of these guys can build a convincing match with nearfalls. How in the world, with neither having established or credible submission moves, can they have a quality match with a stipulation like this? I would think a better stipulation that can play to these guys' strengths more (no disqualification, first blood, cage, anything involving brawling). I know that Rock v. Foley was pretty good in the "I quit" environment, and I hope JBL and Cena can produce, but this is seemingly a stipulation that is counterproductive to making a good match for these two. Jason

Very exciting time for White Sox fans today -- the first opening day at home for the Sox in 15 years today. Jason

Yep, if what I am remembering is correct. That's what Crumb was talking about with the Dusty Finish. Jason

WM XIV, if I remember correctly, had Rock v. Shamrock with a disqualification so Rock kept the title. He got wheeled out on a stretcher clutching the belt and Shamrock attacked him in the aisleway. At least I think it was a DQ, but I remember the finish very well. Jason Edit: Got beat to it by 2 people.

WM XX was not a one match card. Benoit/HHH/Michaels, Eddie/Angle, Jericho/Christian, and Evolution/Rock & Foley were all quality matches at worst and outstanding at best. WM XXI, I think, was not as good. The world title matches were both worse. The Angle/Michaels match was great and the ladder match was awesome too. Orton/Undertaker was one of the better Undertaker matches, but it wasn't as good as an undercard match as say, the handicap match was last year. Eddie and Rey were extremely underwhelming, seemingly lost on a few occasions -- nothing compared to Christian and Jericho last year. There was less filler in terms of matches this year, but there was more filler in interview segments. More importantly, the crap this year was much worse than the crap last year (sumo and Hemme easily were worse than anything on last year's card other than perhaps the treatment of the cruiserweights). WM XX had a better crowd from a television standpoint, too, but I think it had more to be excited about (especially in the title matches). WM XXI was not a bad card, but don't say WM XX was a one match card because it certainly wasn't, and compared to WM XXI it was probably the better card with a more emotional, better finish. Jason

To reiterate this, how was it? Any details would be appreciated. We didn't get to see it on TV (Heat or the PPV); it was apparently taped for the DVD only. Thanks a lot. Jason

Credit: PWTorch.com Well, I was going to get the DVD anyway, but why not put it on TV? Jason

The arena is pretty close to an exit off the interstate, and it's also accessible from sidestreets as well. I drove from my house and got there without problems for the episode of Raw with the 8 man tag (Benoit/Michaels/Benjamin/Foley v. Evolution) in April 2004. I can't imagine the traffic being unbearable for a Sunday afternoon or evening getting to or leaving the facility. Jason

I will be going to WrestleMania 22 in Chicago, the first one I've had the chance of going to considering my age and bank account. I begged my dad to take me to WrestleMania 13, but unfortunately it was not to be (seeing Hart v. Austin live was a dream even at age 12). So you can add me to the list next year. Jason

Yeah, the crutches were first on pay-per-view at SummerSlam 91 when he was in the Bushwhackers corner against the Natural Disasters. Jason

- Batista Vs HHH -- Batista - JBL Vs Cena -- Cena (but I'm having some second thoughts) - Benoit Vs HHH Vs HBK -- Benoit - Eddie Vs Angle -- Eddie - Brock Vs Angle -- Brock - Booker Vs HHH -- Booker (I thought the race thing meant a sure Booker win) - HHH Vs Jericho -- HHH (easiest one of them all, even though Jericho should have won) - Rock Vs Austin -- Austin - Foley Vs Show Vs Rock Vs HHH -- Rock (no heel had won up until this point in time) So, 5/7. Jason

It worked so well for Leif Cassidy. Jason

That's not allowed to happen. Teams in the same conference are not allowed to be bracketed to meet each other until the latest possible convienence (i.e. if there are four or less teams, the final four; if there are five through eight teams, the elite eight). The only way they'd be allowed to play in the third round (Sweet Sixteen) is if nine teams from the ACC get into the tournament, which is not very likely at all. Jason

To be fair, SummerSlam 2002's buyrate was good compared to a majority of the buyrates that year. But, expecting it to outdraw Hogan's return to WWE would be very unrealistic. Jason

2002 was a very special case -- it was Hulk Hogan's first WWE PPV since King of the Ring 1993. That really is more comparable to other special "non-big 4" PPVs like Invasion. Jason

Adding onto HartFan86's report, here's Fox News's report. And here's CNN's report.

I: Andre the Giant v. Big John Studd (Bodyslam match) II: Mr. T v. Roddy Piper (boxing match) III: Rick Martel and Tom Zenk v. Bob Orton and Don Muraco IV: Demolition v. Strike Force (tag title) V: Mr. Perfect v. Blue Blazer VI: Ted DiBiase v. Jake Roberts (Million Dollar Title) VII: British Bulldog v. Warlord VIII: Randy Savage v. Ric Flair (WWF title) IX: Steiner Brothers v. Headshrinkers X: Shawn Michaels v. Razor Ramon (Intercontinental title) XI: Lawrence Taylor v. Bam Bam Bigelow XII: The Undertaker v. Diesel XIII: Bret Hart v. Steve Austin (submission match) XIV: Taka Michinoku v. Aguila (Light Heavyweight title) XV: Shane McMahon v. X-Pac (European title) XVI: Too Cool and Chyna v. Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and Perry Saturn XVII: Chris Benoit v. Kurt Angle XVIII: The Rock v. Hulk Hogan XIX: Triple H v. Booker T (World Title) XX: Chris Jericho v. Christian The worst part of doing this is that you have to leave off so many great matches because either a) they're done by someone you already used. b) they're on the same card as another great match. c) they're for a title that is better used elsewhere. And I wanted to do this in about 10 minutes. Oh well. Jason

Relating to the meal post, we had a dinner here in the residence halls on campus at the U of Illinois for black history month. The menu: Fried Chicken Scalloped Greens Kool-Aid Hot Wings etc. Also, every Thursday one of the residence halls has a theme called "Soul Ingredient," with all stereotypical "black people" foods. But, that meal is served to about 90% African Americans, because a bunch of the African Americans go to that res hall for that meal. On topic, I hope this guy gets caught, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is on the loose for a couple of days (maybe even a week) before he gets arrested again. Jason

Or a full nelson. "But does he have the fingers locked?" He said the same thing at SummerSlam 1991 when Perfect hit the PerfectPlex and Hart kicked out. I always loved that one for some reason. Jason

Like HTQ said, they should have fans vote on who will be in the main event and announce the winner two weeks in advance. They can build a mini-angle and have fans vote on a stipulation for the main event to be announced the night of the show. The rest of the matches can have similar voting to last year that are given the night of the show. Jason

Carbondale is VERY south in Illinois, and if Herrin is right by it then it's probably going to be similar. Basically, very southern Illinois is much more similar to Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, and the southeastern states than it is to Chicago, or even Champaign or Peoria. Take that for what it's worth when it comes to how Gunn will be treated. Jason