Josh Q. Public: You know that we’re down with wutchyalike. Yeah with wutchyalike. Yeah. And though we’re usually on the serious tip check it out: Tonight we’re gonna flip and trip and let it all hang out tonight. We’re gonna say what we like. -Digital Underground
Public Service Announcement: OK, here we go! Is to too early? Maybe, but I’m getting squirrely. Doing NCAA Basketball like my name was Bobby Hurley. So the chit-chat has begun. March Madness is almost here. The questions are being asked. Who are the contenders? Who are the pretenders? Who are the Cinderallenders? And most importantly, whodayalike? Who’s your daddy? Do you still like Florida? The Gators, fresh off losses to Vandy, LSU and good ole rocky top. Rocky top Tennessee. Can Yannik and Tito’s boys still hold it 
down? Still go to town. Downtown Freddy Brown. Downtown Julie Brown? Do you like The Ohio State University? The Gigantic-O and company. Seemingly getting better and better with each game. Michael Conley emerging as a premiere floor general. Do you like Georgetown? The beasts of the Big East. TEAM basketball. Coach Norman Dale style. Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert. Hibbert and Green. Green and Hibbert. How bout UCLA? Best of the West. You like them? Can hot point guard Darren Collison keep this up? Is Arron Afflalo the real deal? Do they 
have the rebounding to get them where they want to go? To win the biggest of shows. On Wisconsin, on Wisconsin. Does the loss to the Buckeyes mean anything? Does the loss of Brian Butch, the team’s leading rebounder mean more? Kansas? This Sherron Collins character sure has come on as a major late-game threat. Before last night, the Jayhawks had won its last six games by an average margin of nearly thirty points. Yowza! Maybe the most unsung team so far. Maybe the most scary team so far. What will the Memphis Tigers do 
when they see real basketball teams? Is Nick Fazekas enough to carry Nevada? Can you count out Coach K and the Dukies? Coach Pitino and the Cardinals? How bout them Heels? Brandan Wright has scored in double figures in five of his last six games, including a career-high twenty-four against N.C. State on Wednesday. The Salukis? For real? For real, for real? Yes they are. Did you see the Evansville game? Did you see 6-foot-7, 235-pound, Saluki junior Randal Falker steal the show? Steal the show with a career-high thirty points on thirteen of fifteen shooting. Steal the show with a game-high seven rebounds. The Butler 
Bulldogs? The Maryland Terrapins? Kevin Durant, all by himself? Don’t wanna be all by myself anymore. All by myself. Don’t wanna live all by myself anymore. Don’t worry, you won’t. You’ll be living in the NBA. Marquette? Notre Dame? BC? Want some sleepers? Sure to make the big teams weepers? Jeepers creepers? This year’s George Mason? I’ll give you some. Eastern Tennesssee State. Courtney 
Pigram: Twenty-nine points, eighteen dimes and grabbed eight boards the other night. Talk about a monster. The Winthrop Eagles. Decimation in the Big South quarters. This team could be Sweet Sixteen bound. Keep flying under the radar and the Eagles are ready to shock the world. Muhammad Ali style. My homer pick? Holy Cross. First, the have to take care of business.
First, they have to take care of Bucknell. But once that buffalo soldiering is done, Keith Simmons and defensive dynamo Torey Thomas will make some noise come March. Who do I like? Is that what you’re asking? I’m gonna pick two. Get the papers, get the papers. Is that fair? Do you care. Do I dare? I’m picking Georgetown and the Ohio State University. Kinda like Kansas too. Is that three? Oh well. There I said it. March Madness, whodayalike?
Public Spectacle:
Peace out homies. Six Two and Even!
Illustrated. The savior of the Packers. The toast of the town. The next season, Majkowski was injured when he was upended and tackled on his shoulder by Freddie Joe Nunn. His season done. No more laughing, no more fun. He was never the same. Tore ligaments in his ankle. Lost his job to Ted Stroehmann’s boy Brett Favre. Wally Pipp style. He played for the Colts. He played for the Lions. But the magic was gone. His account overdrawn. No more Dom Perignon. 
Mark Fidrych: The Bird. The pride of Northborough, Mass. The quintessential one-hit wonder. 1976 was the year. The Bird showed no fear. Making Tiger’s fans everywhere stand up and cheer. He put together one of the most captivating seasons back in 1976. He filled Tiger Stadium. He filled visiting stadiums. His arm electric. Hs antics eccentric. The Bird went 19-9. He did not make his first start until mid-May. He threw seven no-hit innings, giving up just two hits. The Bird went on to win a total of 19 games. The Bird went on to lead the league with a 2.34 ERA. The Bird went on to lead the league with twenty-four complete games. He was the starting pitcher in the All-Star Game. He won the American League Rookie of the Year Award. He finished second in voting for the Cy. The Bird talked to the baseball. He swore at the baseball. He paced the mound like a mad man. He made the cover of Sports Illustrated twice. Get the papers, get the papers. He made the cover of The Sporting News. He became the first athlete to ever appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. He had the nation in the palm of his hand. We loved him. Six weeks into the next season he felt his arm just, in his words, “go dead.” Torn rotator cuff. Played some. Sat some. But that was pretty much it. That 1976 season was perhaps the most magical seasons I have ever witnessed.
Buster Douglas: Buster had been fighting since the late 1970s. He had all the tools. All the physical necessities. He lacked desire. He lacked the hunger. He lacked motivation, determination. Simply gave up against Tony Tucker for the IBF title. When he found himself going up against Iron Mike, he was a 42-1 underdog. Speed of lightning, roar of thunder. Fighting all who rob or plunder. Underdog. Underdog! Buster dominated the fight from the beginning to end. His mighty right, his best friend. Michael’s knees he did bend. By the fifth round the champ’s left eye was swollen shut from all of Buster’s rights. So many rights, Mike was begging for a left. The Dynamite Kid was able to knock Douglas to the canvas in the eighth, but that was it. You know what happens next. You don’t have to read the text. The punch that left a nation vexed. After one minute and five seconds of round ten: Uppercut! Body blow! Body blow! Left-right-left! Down goes Tyson! Down goes Tyson! Down goes Tyson! Rocky Lives! He shook the world! Buster seemingly ate all his winnings and never was able to recapture the glory.
Others: Gord Kluzak. Number one pick by the Boston Bruins in 1982. Injury after injury. Joe Charboneau. Super Joe Charboneau. A guy who could blast a booming homer and then celebrate after the game by opening a beer bottle with his eye socket. Who’s the newest guy in town? Go Joe Charboneau! Turns the ballpark upside down? Go Joe Charboneau! Who’s the one to keep our hopes alive? Straight from seventh to the pennant drive. Raise your glass, let out a cheer, for Cleveland’s Rookie of the Year! The Boz. Valeri Zelepukin. Kevin Maas. Timmy Smith. Jim Carey. Clint Longley. Al Hill. Todd Maranovich. Funny, couldn’t think of any NBA guys. 
with his gaudy record of 37 wins, 0 losses, 0 draws and 24KOs. A World Champion at four different weights. There’s Marco Antonio Barrera. Anyone who said that his career was finished was proven wrong. Proven wrong after sound beatings of Erik Morales and Rocky Juarez. There’s Washington DC’s own Winky Wright. Wright, completely outclassing Ike Quartey, the WBC and WBA Light Middleweight Champion. There’s WBO Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe, just dominating his division for about a decade. And then there’s Manny Pacquiao.
left. Welcome to dreamland baby! The fight earned Republica Number One, Fighter of the Year honors. The fight established this two-handed punch machine as the greatest fighter today. The Destroyer’s planned April 14 showdown against world-rated Mexican Jorge Solis may be in jeopardy. He has hinted that he may decide to wait for a big money showdown against the winner of the March 16 battle between World Boxing Council Super Featherweight Champion Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez. I don’t care who he fights. I just want to watch it. I just want to watch the Destroyer. The sweetest scientist in the world.
Game 5 of the 1987 playoffs. Boston Gahden. The old Gahden. When the Celtics were winning and the Gahden was rockin’, there was nothing quite like it in the world. The self-proclaimed Bad Boys. The hated Detroit Pistons. Series tied at 2-2. Detroit up one late. The Godfather of Hate, Isiah Thomas, inbounding the ball to Bill Laimbeer. I take you now to Johnny Most, high above courtside:
memory that sends the blood rushing through our superior cerebral veins. The memory we all love from North Station to the Ukraine. But there was more. So much more. There was the 1984 finals against the Lakers. The shake and bakers. The running and gunning make you do a double-takers. The clothesline finals. The finals that changed Pat Riley from Showtime coach to Big East style coach. It was also the finals that had Dennis Johnson shutting down another Johnson. Magic Johnson. Shutting him down in the last four games of those finals. Playing the 
best ever-loving defense I ever saw in the last four games of those finals. Knocking ‘em down in the last four games of those finals. DJ scored 22, 22, 20 and 22 points, respectively. Knocking down the game winning free throws in game seven. Shutting ’em down, knocking ‘em down, and locking down the Celtics’ fifteenth ring. Dennis Johnson was a five time All-Star. Dennis Johnson was an NBA Finals MVP for the Seattle Supersonics back in 1979. Dennis Johnson wears three championship rings. Dennis Johnson was a first team All-NBA. Dennis Johnson made nine straight appearances on the league’s All-Defensive team. Dennis Johnson retired in 1990 after becoming only the 11th player in NBA history to record more than 15,000 
points and 5,000 assists in a career. Larry Bird called Dennis Johnson the best player he’d ever played with. Dennis Johnson was clutch. The last six minutes is where he got on his double-dutch. The last six minutes is where he found his super-soft touch. Larry Bird: “At the end of of the game, DJ was money!” Bird should know. How many times in big games was the Legend double-teamed? How many times late in big games was the Legend double-teamed? How many times late in big 
games when the Legend was double-teamed did he find DJ? Larry Bird: “He never failed to deliver.” Delivering up and down the old Charles River. Giving mugs no hope, not a sliver. Delivering with that awkward, off of one foot jumper. He delivered in 1987. He delivered when the Legend stole the ball. Johnson on the spot. Bird stole the inbounding pass, laid it up to DJ, and DJ laid it up and in. It’s fitting the Celtics play the Lakers tonight. We gotta win that fight tonight…Let’s do it for DJ, man. We’ll do it for DJ. DJ, you freckle faced summabitch, you will be missed. Rest in peace.
rejoice! Hockey Rama. Hockey hockey. Hockey talkie. Here I come to save the day, that means Martin Brodeur is on the way! The best player in hockey today. The best from Los Angeles to the Mahone Bay. Satan’s Wallpaper comes to play. All I hear these days is Sid the Kid. All I hear these days is Alexander Ovechkin. All I hear about these days is Daniel Briere. Martin Hossa, Jarome Iginla, Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Pronger. Aren’t you forgetting someone. A very special someone. A Martin Brodeur someone. Making incredible saves. Impossible saves. Unimaginable saves. Preposterous saves. Not your daddy’s typical Quebec butterfly goaltender. Not this cat. That’s a fact. This cat has great reflexes. This cat’s glove hand is like none other. 
Never out of position. Always in focus. The best puck-handling goaltender of all time. It’s like having a third defenseman out there. Like having Ray Bourque as your third defenseman out there. Brodeur just dominates the ice. Dominator Haseks the ice. But even better. A beast. The Door never sits. He’s played in 58 out of the Devil’s sixty games. Back to back to back. Talk about an iron man? Brodeur made his 30th consecutive start for the Devils on Tuesday. That’s the third time in his career that he has had a single-season streak that long. He made 44 consecutive starts during the 1995-96 season, and had a 31-start streak last season. Remarkable! How remarkable? Consider that Brodeur’s total of three such streaks matches the total for all other active NHL goaltenders. All of them. Nikolai 
Khabibulin had a 42-start streak in 1996-97; Dominik Hasek had a run of 33 straight starts in 1998-99; and Tomas Vokoun started 38 straight games in 2002-03. Yowza! Se magnifique! This year, Martin leads all goalies in games played. This year, he leads all goalies in games started. Leads all goalies in wins and shutouts. Leads all goalies in wins and shutouts while playing behind the second-lowest-scoring playoff-positioned team. He plays toughest in low scoring games. The Devils edged the Rangers 2-1 in the Swamp on 
Tuesday. Brodeur turned away 35 shots. That marked the 18th time this season that Brodeur has won a game where his team scored no more than two goals, far and away the highest such total for any NHL goalie. Brodeur has 18 career shutouts with a 1-0 score. In the NHL’s “modern era”, the only goaltenders with even 10 shutouts by a 1-0 score are Ed Belfour (15) and Terry Sawchuk (14). En flambe! He is second in goals against. Second in save percentage. Second to no one in the game of hockey. All he does in win. Wins so much it’s a sin. Making mugs think about 
games that could have been. He’s on pace to break Bernie Parent’s 33-year-old record of 47 wins in a season. He’s moved up on the career list to second in wins with 474. He’s moved up on the career list to third in shutouts with 88. In the past, these contributions might have been overlooked. Might have gone by the books. They might have, due to the Devils’ reputation as a stingy defensive team. Charles Montgomery Burns stingy. Excellent. But the post-lockout rules changes have limited where he can play the puck and thus increased chances against him. He’s facing five more shots a game than in his 2002-03 Stanley Cup season. He has more shots against him than any other goalie in the league. The Devils have been out-shot in 30 of his games. The Devils are still one of the four best teams in the National Hockey League. The Devils still have as good a shot as anyone to win the Cup. The reason? Martin Brodeur. The best player in hockey.
up in early August of 2005. Time to get it into gear. Long live the King, the King is here. At 19 years, 118 days, he was the youngest pitcher to appear in the major leagues since José Rijo came up with the Yankees back in 1984. His start has been lackluster at best. He’s been out of shape. It wasn’t until the midpoint of last season that we saw the real King. Pitching with zing. Back in full swing. In full swing hurling his first career shutout. In full swing hurling a five-hitter against the Angels that saw him burn through just 95 pitches. In full swing with a 2.93 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 176 Ks in 191 innings and a 2.39 groundball-fly ball ratio. 
Chicago, Illinois. 1988. All-Star week-end. His Airness and the Human Highlight Reel going toe to toe. Slam for slam. Daaaaamn! And, there was the Legend. Larry Legend. Larry Joe Bird. Bird, Bird, Bird. Bird is the word. 1988. Larry Bird. Reigning three point king. Larry Bird. Two-time reigning three point king. Larry Bird doing his thing. The world on a string. All that and a chicken wing. The Legend going for a three-peat. You know what happened next. I know you do. But I love telling it. As the shooters dressed in the locker room, Bird stood up and announced, “All right, who’s playing for second place?” Wooo 
doggie. It’s on. Dale Ellis. Dale Ellis, the Silent Assassin. Dale Ellis, fresh off his NBA Most Improved Player Award season. Dale Ellis, third all-time in three-point shots made. Dale Ellis had one of the sweetest jump shots I have ever seen. Deadly off the screen. Like a three point machine. Eliis was unconscious. Knocking ‘em down one after another. Knocking ‘em down all the way to the finals. All the way to Larry Joe Bird. In the Finals, Dale still kept knocking ‘em down. He wanted that crown. Showing everybody in old Chi-town. Knocked down shot after shot in the final round too. Finished with a score of 15. Pretty, pretty good. Not good enough. Larry’s tough. He plays rough. Larry Joe ties it up. Ties it up with one ball remaining. The money ball. Goodness gracious. You know the 
rest. You know why Bird was the best. Like he wearing a bullet-proof vest. Shooting as if he were blessed. The Legend puts it up. A split-second later, the ball barely off his fingers, the Legend turned and walked away. Turned and walked away with his index finger in the air. I…am…number one. No matter if you like it, ready take this, sit down and write it. I…am…number one. What does it take to be number one? Two is not a winner, and three nobody remembers. Larry Bird: “I’m the three-point king, I’m the three-point king!”
but he’s in there when in counts. When the pressure mounts. He was in there in there against the Lakers. The fakers. The black mamba snakers. Knicks have the ball. Down one. This is getting fun. More than a shot clock remaining. Quentin Richardson fires up the tre. He misses. But here comes our boy. Straight from the dog pound. Here to astound. Getting high off the ground. Grabs the O-bound. Dish to Jamal Crawford. Thunderous alley-oop to Eddy Curry. Ballgame! Knicks win! Knicks win! Knicks win! Yes the Knicks win. Thanks to David Lee. Rookie/Sophomore MVP. Winning 6th Man Award easily.
.jpg){kind=small}
