COMMENTARY: On Matt’s Mind

Ready to repeat

The VCU Rams men’s basketball team
is poised to defend its CAA Tournament
championship this weekend at the
Richmond Coliseum. Having won the
conference by three games (15-3), the
Rams are no doubt the top team in the
field.

Two of the three teams they lost to
are in the bottom half of the bracket
(George Mason and James Madison),
meaning VCU wouldn’t face either
before the championship game Monday
night. Old Dominion would be VCU’s
opponent in Sunday’s semifinal, and the
Monarchs bested the Rams by just one
point Feb. 16.

Friday’s bye guarantees the Rams
a spot in Day 2’s action with a date
against the Hofstra/Towson winner.
The Rams were a combined 3-0 against
those schools this season, winning by an
average of 17 points. Antoine Agudio of
Hofstra was neutralized in both matchups
– mostly by Jamal Shuler (Jacksonville,
N.C/Jacksonville). Neither the Pride nor
the Tigers will have an answer for the
Rams’ nation-leading
26.6 percent 3-point
defense.

Should the Rams
face Old Dominion
again, revenge would
be a driving factor.
VCU dodged a bullet
last year when George
Mason knocked out
the Monarchs and
prevented VCU/Old
Dominion III. That
rivalry could very well
be renewed Sunday
and the Monarchs
are always a handful,
whether they’re the
fourth seed or the 12th
seed.

VCU is the only
CAA school with atlarge
potential for the
NCAA Tournament. Every other school
must win the championship and guarantee
itself a bid. VCU’s RPI stands at 43rd
in the nation-30 spots ahead of George
Mason, the next closest CAA team. Old
Dominion is next at 120th and, well, you
see the trend.

With quality wins
against Maryland (RPI
63) and Houston (RPI
69) on neutral courts,
and Akron (RPI 81)
on the road, the Rams
have a résumé that is
respectable enough to
be considered at least
a bubble team if they
lose in the conference
championship game.

Long live Brett Favre’s retirement

After 17 seasons in
the NFL, Brett Favre
finally decided to call
it quits Tuesday. Don’t
be ashamed if you
breathed a sigh of relief
upon hearing that.

Let the five years of Brett Favre’s
pre-Hall of Fame shelf life begin before
the all-time passing leader gets inducted
into Canton. It’s not that Brett Favre
doesn’t deserve accolades, it just tends
to get excessive … every week during
the season. Turning on SportsCenter
Wednesday morning, it was impossible
to avoid half the show being filled by
Brett Favre talk. Is Brett Favre the best
quarterback in history? More than 12
percent of the voting participants on an
ESPN poll think so.

Perhaps you’ve heard comedian
Frank Caliendo’s impression of NBC
commentator John Madden gushing
over Brett Favre. It usually goes like
this: “If only humans were allowed to
play football, Brett Favre would not be
allowed to play football.”

Although that’s clearly an exaggeration
of how Brett Favre is viewed in the
football world, it’s only a slight one. In
the eyes of guys like Madden, Chris
Berman and others, Brett Favre can do
no wrong. It’s just that “child-like” love
for the game.

One can only hope that Brett Favre
stays in retirement and lives a happy
life cutting ribbons at department store
grand openings and maybe open a couple
used car dealerships a la John Elway.
No disrespect to the achievements Brett
Favre has posted, it’s just that too many
people buy in to his “heroics” and don’t
pay enough attention to Brett Favre’s
five-interception games.