Monday, March 05, 2007

Scratching my basketball itch

So fresh off watching my beloved Marist College Red Foxes Men's Basketball team get beaten by our arch-rival Siena Saints last night in the M.A.A.C conference semi-finals I've decided to hold off on my post-game analysis until the bitterness of the loss and anger from the loss dies down a bit. For those not in the know, the college I graduated from over a decade ago had their best team assembled since 1987 when former NBA player Rik Smits led Marist to back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids. They were a good team in 1995 but the infamous "Mustafa Barksdale" and the phantom 4 point play ended our NCAA Tournament hopes and sent us towards the N.I.T. So with our last postseason appearance being 1995 and having the #1 seed and a postseason appearance in this year's N.I.T already locked down we were hoping to get to see Marist finally make it back to the big dance for the first time since 87. Alas it wasn't meant to be as they had to play Siena for the second time within a week and Siena made the proper adjustments (and shot lights out all game) to finally defeat us. Didn't hurt that our 7 foot center went 0-6 from 3 point land (my feelings for him were described in an early blog entitled "The Tallest P*SSY ever"). Anyway, as mentioned that's a rant for another day since the blood is still boiling a bit.

Although one highlight of the weekend was watching our woman's basketball team clinch their 3rd trip to the big dance in 4 years. The women's team was far better than the men's team this year, with their only losses coming to Duke, Maryland (defending National champs), Villanova (in OT), Yale (bad loss) and Loyola, MD. So congrats ladies on a job well done! They should receive an #11 or #12 seed so maybe this is the year they can actually win a game in the NCAA's!

Anyway with March Madness in full swing and with my basketball itch just urging to be scratched, I wanted to share this cool article I found regarding the history of basketball video games. It's pretty cool, especially for those who long for the games of yore like Double Dribble, Dr. J vs Larry Bird, NBA Jam, Lakers vs. Celtics and the NBA Playoffs and NBA Live 95! (here are some images to bring you back a bit)






Here's the link to read the full article and view more images: http://www.ugo.com/channels/sports/features/basketball/games_2.asp

It's a fun read and takes you through the history of gaming. Although they left out one of my personal favorites: Marv Albert's talking basketball game for Sega Genesis. I would just play with the soundboard all game, making Marv say "Yes!" and "Yes, and it counts" time and time again. Good hours of wholesome family fun (and especially funny since those who know me know I have a great Marv Albert impersonation!). In fact he was long my idol and hero, until he bit that prostitute in the back. Although I won't blame Marv for that. Everyone gets hungry every now and again. Just ask Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about your team's loss...sadly to say i'm not much of a video game person, but really interesting to see the evolution of games throughout the years. cheers!

Anonymous said...

thanks for the walk through time! i remember playing the ole' Dr. J vs. Larry Bird on my commodore! wonder if there's any youtube video of Dr. J breakin the backboard with the janitor that comes sweeping it up! classic!

Anonymous said...

yo son, those old games are whack...you need to getz u a 360 or ps3.

Anonymous said...

nice reference on the tyson/holyfield debacle.

Anonymous said...

must go buy commodore 64