Monday, March 28, 2011

Weekly Schedule March 28-April 3

Here is my schedule for this week

Key:

(Y) = Will Attend

(P) = Probably Attending

(M) = Might Attend

(D) = Doubtful to Attend

Note: My attendance at all games this week is dependent on when Maintenance fixes my room and allows me to move back in it. Currently I am temporarily in Connecticut Commons, which are much closer to the athletic facilities. My room should be ready again by Wednesday, and depending on what time it's ready/if it's ready, I may or may not attend some of the events below.
Wednesday, March 30:

4:00 PM: Softball vs. Boston University (M)

Thursday, March 31:

3:00 PM: Softball Doubleheader vs. Quinnipiac (M)

Friday, April 1:

3:00 PM: Baseball vs. St. John's (P)

4:00 PM: Women's Lacrosse vs. Georgetown (D)

Note: I will almost certainly attend ONE of these events, probably baseball.

Saturday April 2:

12:00 PM: Softball Doubleheader vs. Rutgers (D)

1:00 PM: Baseball vs. St. John's (P)

Note: Once again, I will be attending ONE of these events, probably baseball.

Sunday, April 3:

12:00 PM: Baseball vs. St. John's (P)

Update re: Baseball Games


  • Due to the extreme cold, I left the baseball game after the third inning on Saturday. No review will be posted.

  • Also due to the extreme cold, I did not attend Sunday's game. So, no review will be posted

  • Weekly Schedule for this week will be posted soon.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

March 25 (Game 63): Baseball vs. Pittsburgh

What: Baseball vs. Pittsburgh

When: Friday, March 25, 3:00 PM

Where: J.O. Christian Field

Result: Win 7-0

This was our Big East home opener and turned out a lot better than last game. Matt Barnes pitched a complete game shutout, and we actually scored some runs and won 7-0. I had LJ Mazilli in the "Run of the Game" Contest which I didn't know existed last game. He was on third with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the first inning, but the umpire blew a call at first and called Batter/Runner John Andreoli out at first when he was clearly safe to end the inning. Nevertheless, between the shutout yesterday and the 15 scoreless innings I witnessed yesterday after arriving in the middle of the first, in the 24 innings I have witnessed, UConn has not allowed a single run. Not bad.

Also, for all the veteran UConn baseball fans out there, does anyone know if they started playing "Sweet Caroline" at the end of baseball games this year or if they started earlier? When I watched webcasts last year, I don't recall them playing it, but that could easily be because they shut off the audio after the final pitch. According to Wikipedia, "It is also played at sporting events by Florida State University and the University of Pittsburgh". It doesn't mention us. If anyone wants to find a reliable source (by Wikipedia policy, this blog is NOT considered a reliable source, particularly if I edit the page myself) and add our baseball team to the Wikipedia page, go ahead. I may try to find one too.

There are two more games today and tomorrow. And, with the buses running today since it's the "make-up class day", I'll be able to take the Blue Line directly to I-Lot across from the Stadium instead of having to take the Weekend Shuttle to the Co-op and walk the rest of the way. And I'll be taking the Blue Line to South Campus Dining Hall to eat breakfast in a few minutes since the other dining halls don't open until 10:30. Curse my alarm for waking me up at 6:00 since I forgot to put it in Weekend mode. Go Huskies!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

March 22 (Game 62) Baseball vs. Holy Cross

What: Baseball vs. Holy Cross

When: Tuesday March 22, 3:00 PM

Where: J.O. Christian Field

Result: Tie 2-2 (16 innings)

Wow. This was an amazing game. I arrived from class in the middle of the first inning with Holy Cross up 2-0. Little did I know at that time what would result. We got two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a home run by Ryan Fuller. But after that, both teams would be held scoreless for the next twelve innings. At that point, since J.O. Christian Field lacks lights, the umps were forced to call the game on darkness.

Do you realize how aggravating it was sitting out there in the cold for almost four hours, watching 16 innings of baseball, and then it ends in a tie? Come on. Just ridiculous. At the very least, they should have suspended it and made it up some other time. If it were a Big East game they would have.

Nevertheless, it was pretty fun watching my first UConn baseball game. I'll be at all three games of the weekend series vs. Pitt. Hopefully things turn out well for us now that we're playing at home instead of in sunny Florida and California. Of course, it's snowing at UConn right now, so perhaps we'd have been better off staying down in the sun and warm.

On a news note, I was unable to make it to the Women's Basketball Round of 32 game as a result of the long ending, because the game ended around 7:10 pm and by the time I got to Gampel it would have been 7:20 or so and the game would probably already have been a blowout so I just went back and watched it on TV. It also happened to be a factor that I was completely freezing at the time and the Blue Line bus happened to be right there at the bus stop 15 feet from the field when I left. So that helped.

That's all for now. Go Huskies!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

March 20 (Game 61): Women's NCAA Tournament First Round vs. Hartford

What: Women's Basketball NCAA First Round vs. Hartford

Where: Gampel Pavillion

When: Sunday, March 20, 12:05 PM

Result: Win 75-39

This was an interesting contest. It was my first NCAA Tournament game attended and it was a lot different from regular UConn Women's games. For starters, the student section was in Section 204, in the upper level of the arena, pretty much in the corner. The view was less than stellar. But what do you expect? They want the people who pay more to have the better view. Basic Economics.

Hartford brought their band and their mascot and cheerleaders. It was the first time I've seen a visiting team bring those to Gampel. But it was the tournament, and they're half an hour away, so I shouldn't be surprised.

As for the game itself, it was a blowout. UConn came out a bit slow, but we never trailed the whole game. Nobody scored more than 12, but five players were in double figures. It was ultimately a very good game. I did not stick around to watch Kansas State-Purdue,  but Purdue won 53-45, so we will face them on Tuesday. I will be there again. Go Huskies!

Blog News Update

Here is some blog news:

  • I attended the Women's Lacrosse game for a little while yesterday before leaving midway through the first half because the basketball games were close. I will not be writing a review for this,  nor will I include it in the game list.

  • Women's basketball NCAA Tournament is today. I will be attending UConn-Hartford and possibly Kansas State-Purdue. If I attend KSU-PU, it will be listed in italics on the Gamelog, similar to the first Big East Field Hockey Semifinal and the undercard games of the Worldvision Challenge. Both games will appear in the same review.

  • Baseball and softball are here. Check out this post for information on what happens when I arrive late to weekday games.


Go Huskies!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Schedule Week of March 21-27

Here is my weekly schedule for March 21-27. As always, the Key is as follows

(Y) = Definitely Attending

(P) = Probably Attending

(M) = Might Attend

(D) = Doubtful to Attend

 

Tuesday, March 22:

3:00 PM: Baseball vs. Holy Cross (D)

7:00 PM: Women's Basketball NCAA Second Round vs. Kansas State/Purdue (P)

Note: In the unlikely event that the UConn Women lose to Hartford in the first round on Sunday, I will not attend that game on Tuesday, but MIGHT attend the baseball game that day (more likely)

Friday, March 25:

3:00 PM: Baseball vs. Pittsburgh (Y)

Saturday, March 26:

1:00 PM: Baseball vs. Pittsburgh (Y)

Note: The Men's Basketball team may play an Elite 8 Game at 4:20 PM on this date. Should this happen, I may leave baseball slightly early to watch on TV.

 

Sunday, March 27:

12:00 PM: Baseball vs. Pittsburgh (P)

Note: There will be a Women's BB Sweet 16 game on this day involving UConn (assuming they win their first two games). If this conflicts with baseball, I may (or may not) choose to watch it on TV.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Softball Update (+ Other Schedule Updates)

UConnHuskies.com is reporting that the Softball game scheduled for tomorrow at 3:30 PM has been moved to Thursday at the same time. Since there will be NCAA Basketball games abound at that time, I will not be attending the softball game. I also will almost certainly not be attending Women's Lacrosse Saturday vs. Rutgers due to March Madness.

As for Women's Basketball Sunday afternoon at Gampel, it is now apparent that we will have the noon game with Kansas State-Purdue at 2:30. I will almost certainly not be staying for the late game, but we will see. I will post my schedule for next week shortly.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Blog News: On Incomplete Games and Other Baseball/Softball Issues

With baseball and softball season starting, and weekday afternoon games abounding, it is time we address a possibility - games I partially attend. Here are what I will establish as the "ground rules", if you will.

  • Softball games are typically 7 innings, while baseball games are 9. Therefore, for softball I must arrive by the middle of the fourth inning for it to be included in my game count. For baseball, I must arrive by the middle of the fifth inning.

  • Resumed editions of suspended games will be included in the game counts only if I was at the original at a sufficiently early point for it to ordinarily merit inclusion. Should this happen, the pre-suspension game will get its own review, as will the post-resuming edition, although the latter will be lumped in with any full game that occurs in the same session.

  • Just because a Game is not included in the official count does not mean I won't write a review for it. If I feel I was sufficiently there to commentate, I will. And all games I am at will be at the list regardless of whether they are included in the count. Should I be at one for an insufficient amount of time, it will be denoted as INCOMPLETE accordingly.

  • Also, doubleheaders in baseball and softball (although we don't have any scheduled ones in baseball this year) will be noted in the same blog post, but will be noted in the log as two separate games, and as such will count twice.

Game Schedule March 13-20

Break ends in a few days and I'll be back on campus Sunday afternoon. So for now, here is the schedule for next week, our first week back.

Key:

(Y) = Definitely Attending

(P) = Probably Attending

(M) = Might Attend

(D) = Doubtful to Attend

Wednesday, March 16:

3:30 PM: Softball vs. Fairfield (P)

Saturday, March 19:

1:00 PM: Women's Lacrosse vs. Rutgers (M) Note 1

Sunday, March 20:

12:00/2:30: Women's Basketball NCAA Tournament First Round vs. TBD (Y) Note 2

Note 1: hether I choose to attend Women's Lacrosse on Saturday will depend on whether the UConn men are playing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Simultaneously. We may be able to rule out this possibility on Selection Sunday, but we won't be able to confirm it.

Note 2: There will be a doubleheader, with the first game at 12:00 and the second game at 2:30 PM. I will definitely attend the UConn game. Should the Huskies be the first game, I may or may not attend the second game. Should the Huskies be in the second game, I will definitely attend the first. In any case, the games will be combined into one posting, and only the UConn game will count towards the game total.


 

March 5 (Game 60): Men's Basketball vs. Notre Dame

What: Men's Basketball vs. Notre Dame

When: Saturday, March 5, 2011, 2:00 PM

Where: Gampel Pavillion

Result: Loss 70-67

This was disappointing. Senior Day, and also Kemba Walker Day apparently, since they honored him. He's almost certainly leaving early to go to the NBA, but at least he's graduating over the summer. I'll give him credit for that. Most early jumpers don't. Anyway, as for the game itself, we got off to an early lead then played back and forth basketball. Ben Hansborough appeared to be the key cog in the Irish offense, but he fouled out with ND down 5 and they still managed to come back. And the "Tyler's Better" chants were pretty amusing.

So that's the last home game for Men's basketball this year. We'll have two (assuming they beat the 16 seed) women's basketball NCAA Tournament games (plus possibly a third involving the 8-9 matchup) that I'll be at and then we're wholly into spring sports. My how time flies. It seems like just yesterday, I was attending my first UConn sporting event, a 1-0 soccer win over Boston University my first weekend at school. Kind of makes me wonder what would have happened if I didn't attend that game. I made a moment decision to attend the Goal Patrol meeting that night, and went to every meeting thereafter. I'd probably not have gone to any soccer games this season. The fact is, when I first came here, I didn't intend to go to any games other than basketball, football, and maybe baseball. But now I've been to Field Hockey, Men's and Women's Soccer, Men's and Women's Ice Hockey, and I would have been to a Women's Lacrosse game were it not for the nasty weather. And I will be at a Women's Lacrosse game in the future. Would I have done all that if I didn't get into it right away? I don't know. It's interesting to think about it.

So this basketball season has been fun, and here's to March Madness. Go Huskies!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

February 28th, 2011 (Game 59): Women's Basketball vs. Syracuse

What: Women's Basketball vs. Syracuse

Where: Gampel Pavillion

When: Monday, February 28, 2011, 7:30 PM

Result: Win, 82-47

This was an amazing night. Maya Moore's last regular season game in her career, and what a night it was to honor her. Aside from the fact that it took the PA Announcer a full three minutes to read off her accomplishments and awards, the Huskies dominated this game like they have so many others over her career. In fact, nobody currently in the Big East has beaten the Huskies. That's amazing.

Here's a question... Why do the Syracuse Orange wear blue? The men's basketball wears orange, but the football and women's basketball wear navy blue. Shouldn't they be called the Syracuse Navy then? Or the Syracuse Dark Blue? It just makes no sense. Then again, why do the UConn Huskies wear blue? Have you ever seen a blue husky? Or a purple one for that matter, like U Washington wears? But at least Husky isn't a color. Orange, by definition, is orange. You could paint a Husky blue, I suppose. But you can't paint Orange blue, or it's blue now. Ridiculous.

Anyway, Maya scored 22 points in the first half but didn't play much in the second half. It's a shame, too. She could have absolutely dominated this contest. And what a way that would have been to go out. But we've still (hopefully) got three Big East Tournament games in Hartford, and (almost) certainly two NCAA Tournament games at Gampel. On a side note, I did purchase student tickets for the first two NCAA rounds, so I will be attending those games. Whether I attend the other game on the first day (Sunday) remains to be seen, depending on which one is first and who is playing. Stay tuned.

Saturday is Men's Basketball Senior Day, and after that I go on Spring Break, and will return to campus on Selection Sunday. I will post a schedule for the week after break sometime soon, probably during break. Until then, stay tuned!