UCONN Women Picked #1 in the Big East

This past Thursday at the ESPN Zone in Times Square, the Lady Huskies were chosen to finish #1 in the Big East this upcoming season.

Last season was the first time the Lady Huskies weren’t picked to finish first. So this year with one of the best recruiting classes in the nation, it’s only appropriate that the Lady Huskies assume their usual position.

Two Lady Huskies, Renee Montgomery and Charde Houston, were chosen to the pre-season All Big East Team. Montgomery was chosen to the First Team while Houston was picked to the Honorable Mention All Big East team. Tina Charles was chosen by the coaches to win the Big East Rookie of the Year award.

Also during the press conference on Thursday, Coach Geno Auriemma announced his captains for the 2006-2007 season. His choices were Mel Thomas, a junior guard from Cincinnati, and Renee Montgomery, a sophomore point guard from West Virginia. Both were chosen by Auriemma because of their leadership abilities on and off the court.

For those of you who have seen Mel Thomas play, you have to ask yourself this. Why wasn’t she chosen to the preseason Big East team? I would like to know what the 15 other coaches of the Big East teams were watching last year when they played the Lady Huskies. Did they not see the beginning of the season when Mel Thomas led the Huskies to the Preseason NIT title and was named MVP? Did they not see who gave it her “all” each time she stepped on the court?

I am not trying to rip Charde Houston at all. She had her “good” moments and she had her “bad” moments last season. Houston was so unsure of her role at UCONN, that she even considered transferring to another school before an “intervention” by Mel Thomas, Brittany Hunter, and Ketia Swanier convinced her to stay at UCONN. And from all accounts that I have read, theres a “new” Charde Houston on the campus this year. One who is rededicated to making the most of her time at Storrs. Not the same one who was ripped all the time by Coach Auriemma for her poor work ethic or lack of focus. So I see how she can be chosen to the preseason team but how can Mel Thomas not be chosen.

I, for one, cannot wait to watch Mel Thomas lead the Lady Huskies this year. I feel really bad for all these coaches who slighted her this preseason, as I am sure she will be gunning for each team they play in the Big East just to prove them wrong. Good luck to Mel and the Lady Huskies this season.

Curse of Will Leitch Ends

For those of you who are asking yourself right now, Who is Will Leitch?, I will tell you. Will Leitch, the editor of Deadspin, is a lifelong Cardinals fan who when in attendance, the Cardinals lose.

Will’s first Cardinals game this year took him to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati to see his beloved Cardinals lose to Bronson Arroyo and the Reds 6-1. Will’s next game and first in the new Busch Stadium saw him witness Jeff Weaver’s first start in Cardinals uniform lose to the Braves 15-3. The next night he was back at the new Busch only to watch the Cardinals lose again 14-5. This brings his record now to 0-3 so far this past season. Thus the Curse of Will Leitch was born by the commenters on his site, Deadspin.

The next night at Busch, the heavens unleashed themselves and what seemed like a mini tornado hit Busch, the game was played anyways and yes, you guessed it, Will’s Cardinals lost again.

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Will’s next trip to see his Cardinals play was over in Flushing at Shea Stadium only to watch Carlos Beltran hit a walkoff homerun to defeat the Cards. This leaves Will now at 0-5. Will, probably using his Gawker Media pull, scored himself tickets to game 2 of the NLCS, where he was greeted with another lose by the Cardinals in Game. But somehow the Cardinals managed to win the series and went onto the World Series.

Somehow again, Will managed to score tickets to game 4 of the World Series. Will drove from his childhood home in Mattoon, IL, to St. Louis, only to spend two hours sitting in a ballpark watching the rain fall and the tarp on the field. So now Will would have a chance to attend Game 5 of the World Series since the tickets for Game 5 were actually good for Game 4 due to the rainout.

Well tonight with Will in attendance, the Cardinals won the World Series behind the bat of David Eckstein and the pitching of you guess it, Jeff Weaver. The same pitcher Will saw get smoked in his first game at the new Busch Stadium. Although Will was 1-7 this year seeing the Cardinals play, Will saw the one game that essentially meant the most to him, the game in which the Cardinals clinched their first World Series in 24 years. Thus ending the Curse of Will Leitch. Congratulations to Will and the legions of St. Louis Cardinal fans around the world.

At least Will didn’t have to wait 86 years for his curse to end.

Boston Red Sox News

The Boston Red Sox announced today that they had resigned Mike Timlin to a 1 year $2.8 million dollar contract. The deal is incentive laden and includes bonuses for pitching in 39 games, then 50, 60, 70 games respectively.

I wonder if they included a provision in his contract for when he blows games (8 games) like he did this season. Does he have to give money back? I am very critical of this move. Timlin is always overused out of the bullpen and usually struggles towards the end of the season. Couldn’t the beloved Sox gone out and gotten themselves a better setup man. I mean right now, the Sox don’t even have a closer since Jonathan Papelbon will enter 2007 as a starter.

West Haven’s Thomas Arrested

In an incident which took place Saturday night on the campus of UCONN, Senior offensive lineman Donald Thomas. from my new hometown of West Haven, CT, was arrested and charged with third degree assault and breach of police by the UCONN police. It stemmed from Thomas striking an employee of the Wings Over Storrs restaurant on campus.

Thomas was suspended by Coach Edsall for two games. He will miss the Rutgers game this Sunday and the following game versus Pittsburgh. He makes the 9th UCONN player arrested since May of 2005. He is scheduled to be in court on October 31st, Halloween, at which I’d have to assume he will either have the charges dropped or apply for accelerated rehabilitation like most of the UCONN athletes do when they get arrested.
What bothers me about this is that basically if you are a UCONN football player, it is ok to get into a fight. If you look, he was only suspended two games. The players involved in “Beergate” were kicked off the team. I know the “Beergate” players violated team rules but isn’t there a team rule about getting arrested or fighting for that matter. Just doesn’t seem right to me at all.

UCONN Center Ruled Eligible to Play

Hasheem Thabeet, UCONN’s 7’3″ center from Tanzania, has been ruled eligible to play by the NCAA. There had been some questions considering his eligibility based on his transcripts from high school overseas. He had spent last year in Houston at a local high school there.

Thabeet has been eligible to practice with the team pending this result. This now allows Coach Jim Calhoun to work Thabeet into the rotation. Expect Thabeet to block a lot of shots with his size this year.

Also in other men’s basketball news, UCONN was picked to finish 5th in the Big East this season. This was expected as UCONN will have 8 freshman on the team this year.

Fans will be able to get their first look at the Huskies on November 1st, as UCONN plays Coach Calhoun’s alma mater, American International College (AIC), in an exhibition game at Gampel Pavillion.