Bits and Bytes: Of hoops skeds and Huggins starring

No mention of where this guy went to college. Don't worry. It's coming.

Turns out the men’s basketball schedule was further along than I realized the other day. Thanks to Twitter pal Andy Towne and Loyal Reader Jojogunne for sending along the information that Hofstra will host Holy Cross (date TBA) and visit Manhattan (Dec. 18).

The CAA schedule also has its first confirmation: UNC Wilmington released the CAA portion of its schedule (not the entire thing, as I erroneously wrote on Twitter) Thursday afternoon and the Flying Dutchmen will host the Seahawks Jan. 19 and visit scenic Wilmington Feb. 23. Both are Wednesday games.

Below is the schedule as we know it thus far:

Nov. 13: Farmingdale

Nov. 18-21: Puerto Rico Classic (three games)

Nov. 26: Wagner

Dec. 4: CAA opener, site and opponent TBA

Dec. 8: at Binghamton

Dec. 11: Florida Atlantic

Dec. 18: at Manhattan

Dec. 29: at Iona

TBA: Holy Cross

TBA: at Rider

Jan. 19: UNCW

Feb. 23: at UNCW

TBA: Bracket Buster

The non-conference schedule might be complete. Exams take place the week of Dec. 13, so there won’t be any games between Florida Atlantic and Manhattan. I’d guess the games against Holy Cross and Rider will take place the week of and the week after Christmas. Squeezing a game in Dec. 27 would be a good way to begin preparing the Dutchmen for the whirlwind first five days of the real CAA schedule. It's possible another game could be scheduled for Christmas week, but I think what you see is what you’re going to get.

I’d also wager the Farmingdale game will count, because that gets Brad Kelleher one game closer to the floor. Unless someone farts in Kentucky and the NCAA decides to punish the Wildcats by ordering Kelleher to sit out another season. Oh wait, Morehead State just went on probation, we’re probably safe.

Anyway, a couple other bits and bytes for the weekend:

—The first football-free fall at Hofstra since World War II—chew on that for a moment—officially begins today, when the volleyball team becomes the first squad to open its season by hosting the Hofstra Invitational at the PFC. The Flying Dutchwomen will play Canisius at noon and Texas State at 7 p.m.

The women’s soccer team also opens play today by visiting nationally ranked Boston College. Field hockey begins tomorrow, when the Dutchwomen play Boston University at the University of Albany Invitational, while men’s soccer debuts with a home game against Stony Brook Wednesday.

—We won’t forget football here, we can promise you that. The Daily News had a nice article Wednesday about former Flying Dutchmen offensive lineman Kevin Brown, who transferred to Eastern Kentucky and is preparing for his junior season there.

—And it’s beginning to look as if Kareem Huggins, the former Flying Dutchmen running back, is going to do his best to make sure nobody else forgets Hofstra football, either. Huggins is having a monster pre-season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (coached by Hofstra alum Raheem Morris and still, of course, The Official NFL Team of Defiantly Dutch) and has gone from a fringe special teamer to, perhaps, sharing the Bucs’ starting job with Cadillac Williams. Huggins has 99 yards on 16 carries—that’s a mind-boggling YPC of 6.2—and is impressing people inside and outside the Buccaneers’ organization.

Indeed, as I read this St. Petersburg Times column about Huggins, it struck me how remarkably similar his ascension is to the one Wayne Chrebet enjoyed with the Jets 15 years ago this month. Chrebet was trying to make a Jets team that had, almost literally, no wide receivers, while Huggins brings big-play capability to the Buccaneers, who didn’t have a rush of more than 35 yards last season.

Unfortunately, while Chrebet was painted as having come out of nowhere, Huggins kind of does now. But what an appropriate bookend that would be, if Huggins becomes a household name the year after Hofstra football was wiped from the map and 15 years after Chrebet helped put the Dutchmen on it.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Behold the power of Bucco Bruce and the Creamsicles!!

See what happens when you listen to Defiantly Dutch and go old school?

Tim Ryan: “How much credit do you give to the creamsicles?”

Sam Rosen: “The creamsicle uniforms paid off!”

Tim Ryan: “Wear them the rest of the year!”

I’m not usually one to open a story with a quote—too cheesy, and all that, though my archives feature plenty such pizza-worthy ledes—but I could be Houdini with the written word and I still couldn’t sum up the first win of the season by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—known worldwide as The Official NFL Team Of Defiantly Dutch—as succinctly or as truthfully as Fox announcers Tim Ryan and Sam Rosen.

The Bucs, coached by Flying Dutchmen alum Raheem Morris, wore the franchise’s old orange uniforms and donned the old Bucco Bruce helmet Sunday, when they shockingly and gleefully ended their pursuit of history Sunday by storming back from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to knock off the Green Bay Packers, 38-28.

The franchise that began play in 1976 with an 0-14 season and was finally relieved of its burden as the worst team ever last season by the Detroit Lions doesn’t have to worry about regaining its spot in history. Nobody remembers 1-15, baby, and all it took for the Bucs to fix things was a trip in the Way Back Machine. (I will conveniently ignore how awful the Bucs were during the Creamsicle Era here)

1-0 in the old orange uniforms, 0-7 in the current uniforms—and the Bucs don’t want to mess with a good thing. Linebacker Geno Hayes told The Tampa Tribune earlier today he “…wouldn’t mind wearing them again at all” while Morris mused immediately after the game Sunday about how he and the players would “…have to get into some negotiations to see if we can put on our orange some more.”

I’d just like to point out that I was calling for a return to the original duds when Morris was hired in January. Listen to me, people. I know what I’m talking about. Sometimes.

Sure, the Bucs’ old uniform scheme was a hideous one, but it was original and it assured only the diehard fans wore the apparel. The current look has coincided with sustained success (six playoff berths and, of course, the glorious victory in Super Bowl XXXVII), but it looks like it was designed by a focus group determined to improve the Bucs’ merchandise sales. I hate walking through a mall, seeing someone in a Bucs uniform and wondering if he also wears a multi-colored Yankees hat, or if he’s sporting the uniform as part of a gang initiation.

I should have known things were going to go well for the Bucs and I when a quirky bit of scheduling even gave us the opportunity to watch the game. The Giants were playing at 4 on CBS and the Jets were off, meaning Fox was able to give us a rare out-of-market game at 1.

We got Cardinals-Bears, which made my wife the Bears fan quite happy, but things really began to go my way when Fox made the rare decision to dump that game with the Cardinals up 34-7 early in the second half and take us to Tampa, where the Bucs were surprisingly not getting blown out.

Still, it looked like the Bucs would have to be content with a competitive defeat until the magic of Bucco Bruce and the Creamsicle uniforms emerged in the fourth quarter along with rookie QB Josh Freeman, who displayed the type of poise that suggested he could be the franchise QB the Bucs have been searching for since Doug Williams.

A long kickoff return set up Freeman’s seven-yard TD pass to Kellen Winslow, and following a Packers punt, Freeman impressively led an eight-play, 72-yard drive that he capped with a four-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to give the Bucs the lead with a little more than four minutes left.

Tanard Jackson returned an interception 35 yards for the insurance score in the final minute, which was appropriate icing on a game in which the Bucs set up their first TD with a long interception return and scored their second TD on a blocked punt return. Mmm, defense and special teams setting up scores for the offense. That’s good football.

Good for the Bucs, good for Morris—and good for Hofstra, which really needed some positive sports news after a crappy Saturday in which the Flying Dutchmen football team lost another heartbreaker in the final minute, the field hockey team was knocked out of the CAA tournament with a 5-1 loss to Drexel (I’m pretty sure five goals in field hockey is the equivalent of, like, 150 points in basketball) and the men’s soccer team, which spent much of the season atop the league, missed out on the CAA tournament after a 0-0 tie with UNC Wilmington.

With the Flying Dutchmen four nights away from visiting top-ranked Kansas, I think we need to change up the luck in order to ensure an upset of the Jayhawks. Out with the blue, white and gold color scheme and the lions logo, in with orange and white and Bucco Bruce!!

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch. 

Bits and Bytes: Of championship swag and rivalries gone by

Local sporting goods stores better carry Hofstra championship swag in March!

Since I am a loving husband, I agreed to go with my wife to a local sporting goods store (hey, if the chain wants me to mention its name, it’ll advertise with me!) Thursday night in search of some Yankees championship swag for her. This, even though I would have preferred the Yankees lose, since it’s fun to tweak the spoiled, entitled, quick-to-jump-off-the-bandwagon-at-the-first-sign-of-trouble brats that encompass most of their fan base (but which certainly does not include my loving wife nor Loyal Reader John, my college roommate, just want to make that abundantly clear) and even though showing up at a store to buy championship swag feels like such a clichéd act.

It reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where Bart and Milhouse go to a concert and a T-shirt vendor bellows something like “Show ‘em you were here by buying a T-shirt!” Just change it to “Show ‘em who you root for and remind everyone of your superiority by buying a T-shirt, hat, sweatshirt, coffee mug, pennant and car flag!” and you’d be all set.

And it feels like such a Pavlovian response to the cackling overlords of professional sports. I mean, Jorge Posada still hadn’t hugged anyone Wednesday night and weasels were out there giving the Yankees hats and T-shirts, hoping to pry open the wallets of millions of people.

Of course, it worked: We got there and the store was packed, all the good stuff was picked over and the line to the cash registers stretched dozens of people deep. Recession my ass.

Or maybe covering professional sports for so many years has turned me into a jaded bastard, because as the wife was browsing, I got to daydreaming about the concept of Flying Dutchmen championship swag being on sale at this particular store, and I got that goofy fuzzy feeling one gets when one imagines his team cutting down the nets in March.

And I realized that if—nay, when—the Dutchmen win the CAA title March 8, I’ll be disappointed if there aren’t championship shirts for sale at Richmond Coliseum the moment the court is stormed by the seven fans that made the drive from Hempstead. I’ll be the old guy!

Anyway, here are some other bits and bytes that probably aren’t related to championship swag.

—OK, here’s a connection to championship swag, albeit a flimsy one. The last time the Hofstra logo was emblazoned on a championship T-shirt was 2001, when the Flying Dutchmen, for the second straight season, beat Delaware in the America East title game.

At the time, there didn’t seem to be a better mid-major rivalry on the east coast than Hofstra-Delaware, largely because it was a heated one in multiple sports. And it seemed as if it would only get better in coming years with the two schools defecting together to the CAA and the Dutchmen finally about to join Delaware in the Atlantic 10 for football.

Alas, the reality turned out to be far different. When the Dutchmen visit Delaware Stadium today, it’ll be like an awkward reunion with the old high school buddy with whom you have nothing in common anymore.

As I wrote in February, the two schools are going in completely different directions with their hoops and football programs, rendering the games in those sports routine except for the most loyal and longtime of followers. In September, I identified Old Dominion as the Dutchmen’s biggest basketball rival, and the wife understandably scolded me for behaving like Hofstra and ignoring anything that happened before 2004.

But you know what? I hadn’t even thought of Delaware as a current hoops rival until she pointed it out. Terrible, I know, but it’s another reminder of how awkward and unmemorable things are now with our old friend Delaware, and how the distance has made melancholy our memories of those long-ago classic.

We want it to mean as much as it used to, but it’s just not there anymore. We’ve befriended Old Dominion, and we’ve got so much in common and have such a good time with the Monarchs that we just don’t have time to hang out and try to repair our relationship with the Blue Hens.

Maybe there’s a Facebook-like reunion with Delaware in our future, one in which the gap is mended and new memories can be created. But my guess is recalling the approaching 15th anniversary of the 41-41 tie with the Blue Hens will be a lot more fun than anything that occurs on the field today.

—Speaking of that tie—which, for the record, occurred Nov. 12, 1994—I’m still cooking up a feature on it as well as the 24-21 loss to Towson Oct. 27 and hope to have them up next week. Last week was a hectic one here and I just didn’t have a chance to do the legwork necessary.

—And speaking of those whose pasts are much better than their present: Our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers—known worldwide as The Official NFL Team Of Defiantly Dutch—lose even when they don’t play. The Bucs were thankfully visiting Brigham Young Elementary last week, but they nonetheless cemented their status as the worst team in the league when the previously winless Rams and Titans both recorded victories.

The Bucs are now the only winless team in the league, a shockingly horrible distinction considering the Rams, Titans, Chiefs and Browns are all still members of the NFL. But it’s a “well-earned” one as the Bucs rank among the bottom five in both points scored and points allowed.

The Bucs probably won’t get in the win column this week, when rookie Josh Freeman—the Bucs’ third starting QB of the year—makes his first career start against the high-powered Packers, who are surely eager to erase the sting of last week’s loss to the Brett Favre-led Vikings. Egads. On the bright side, the Bucs will at least be dressed for the occasion: They’ll be wearing the awesome old Creamsicle uniforms and Bucco Bruce helmets, in which the franchise lost its first 26 games in 1976-77.

—More good news: If the Bucs finish the season winless, they’ll probably have company! The fledging UFL reportedly visited Hofstra Wednesday as New York lost to Las Vegas, 41-10, to fall to 0-4. I say reportedly because, well, can anyone really confirm this didn’t take place on an Xbox or something? The announced crowd was 4,392, which was probably a generous estimate given the UFL’s microscopic profile and the fact the game was played the same time the Yankees were beating the Phillies to win the World Series.

If you missed the game, don’t fret. There are some rumors the New York franchise—which is playing its home games at three different locales this year—may make Shuart Stadium its permanent home in 2010. Which means Hofstra students and the Long Island community alike can ignore two different football teams that play games at Hofstra, but I digress.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Bits and Bytes: Enjoy no. 1 while you can, Kansas!

That's right, Bill. You've got two weeks left as the unbeaten top-ranked team in the land.

It’s official: Your good friend and mine Jeremy Kniffin can get rid of the qualifier “likely” when it comes to referring to Kansas as the preseason no. 1 team.

The Associated Press unveiled its first poll of the ’09-’10 campaign Thursday, and despite rampant internal dissension in Lawrence and the overwhelming likelihood of a lopsided loss to the Flying Dutchmen two weeks from tonight, the damn liberal media still made the Jayhawks the overwhelming pick to win the national championship. Kansas, which returns all five starters from a year ago, received 55 of the 61 first-place votes.

Amazingly, the anti-Hofstra bias in the poll was three-tiered. The only school in the top six not to receive a first-place vote was Villanova. Still disrespecting Jay Wright for his Hofstra days, AP dudes and dudettes?

Even worse, two CAA teams received votes, and neither is based in Hempstead. Defending champion VCU got two votes and reigning Collegeinsider.com champion Old Dominion received one vote. So many doubters, so little time.

That’s OK though. The over/under on Hofstra’s spot in the next top 25—to be tabulated, of course, after the Dutchmen shock the world—is 1.5. Bet the under if you know what’s good for you.

Some other bits and bytes as I put the finishing touches on my Tom Pecora costume and prepare for the Freak Formal tomorrow night:

—Speaking of Pecora, sort of, I have to begrudgingly admit that Noted Hofstra Hater Mike Litos made a pretty good case yesterday for Northeastern’s Bill Coen, and not Pecora, as the best coach in the league. From literally the moment he stepped on campus in 2005, Coen has done more with less than anyone in turning a hockey school into a perennial basketball contender.

Still, what jumps out at me there is not the ruthlessness of Ron Everhart or the spot men’s hoops occupies on the athletic totem pole at Northeastern. It’s that the administration there was willing to send one of its secondary programs across the country to continue its season in a new—and admittedly dubious—postseason tournament.

Am I unnecessarily harping on an issue I already ranted about in April? Possibly.  Is this going to annoy the powers that be? Positively. And with the benefit of hindsight, I can almost—ALMOST—see how the disappointing performance of last year’s seniors could have influenced the decision not to continue the season, as was rumored way back when.

But, again: I keep coming back to how the Dutchmen performed down the stretch last year—better than both Northeastern and James Madison, the latter of which won two games in the CIT, and almost as well as Old Dominion, which edged the Dutchmen by one point in the CAA quarters—and it annoys me a program that is The Program on campus, one with an underclassmen core that was just beginning to gel in February and March, didn’t get an opportunity to gain some valuable postseason experience.

Is it any coincidence the CAA’s consensus top two teams both recorded victories in these new tournaments last season? I think not. Anyway, that’s all out of me about that. Until the Dutchmen play Old Dominion, at least.

—I try not to be one of Those People who harps on every little error or misconception a national writer makes about my alma mater, but I can’t let this one go without comment: In reporting the UFL’s decision to move next Wednesday’s New York-Las Vegas game from the Mets’ new stadium (screw them, I’m not calling it by its actual name) to Shuart Stadium, Examiner.com writer Andrew Kossak theorizes it’s a good idea because “…it’s on a college campus, meaning ticket sales could easily increase as the student body is looking for some entertainment.”

Yeah, ask Joe Gardi and Dave Cohen how far the Hofstra student body has to look for entertainment options before it settles for the football team. Kossak is also a bit too optimistic in projecting the crowd at Shuart Stadium, writing “…it’ll look a lot better on TV to see a half- of three-quarter full Shuart Stadium than a near empty [Corporate Stadium Name redacted].”

I’ll bet you, right now, that even the announced attendance for next week’s game is closer to the 2,751 that turned out for the James Madison game than the 7,160 that showed up for the opener against Stony Brook. And that might even include me, because I whole-heartedly support minor leagues that temporarily call Hofstra home! When is the United States Basketball League starting again, anyway?

—Speaking of the UFL, how bad are things going for our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers, known worldwide as The Official NFL Team Of Defiantly Dutch? So bad that Tatum Bell thinks his UFL team—the Florida Tuskers, whatever the hell that is—could beat the 0-7 Bucs, who mercifully have a bye this week but will debut their third starting quarterback of the season next week against the Packers.

That’s crazy talk, as AOL Fanhouse blogger Matt Snyder subtly points out. But with the Bucs’ final nine opponents owning a 34-21 record, can we get a game at Hofstra against the Tuskers, just to assure one win?

—Lastly, stop back later tonight or tomorrow for a Halloween-themed Time Machine. And don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten yesterday’s 15th anniversary of the gut-wrenching loss to Towson. I’ve got a feature in mind to commemorate that and am hoping to speak to a couple people in time to unveil it next week.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Bits and Bytes: Delayed football edition

The football team at this guy's elementary school is incredibly busy.

From the “it’d be on time if I was writing it for The Chronicle!” files come these thoughts on the Flying Dutchmen’s 28-16 win over Rhode Island Saturday. In all seriousness, I was in and out of the room during the game and didn’t get to listen to the entire broadcast, so I felt as if an entire post about the game would be a little inauthentic. Anyone can recite the stat package, I’d like to do more than that and not try to fool you when I can’t go in-depth.

Anyway, that said, the win was a workmanlike one for the Dutchmen, who did what they had to in disposing of the struggling Rams and keeping themselves in the mix for the CAA North title. Those pounding the keyboard for Steve Probst to take over as the starting quarterback were no doubt thrilled to see/hear the sophomore give the offense quite a jolt in the third quarter, when he threw an 89-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Weaver and scrambled 29 yards for a score on consecutive drives to give the Dutchmen a 21-3 lead.

The next drive, quarterbacked mostly by Cory Christopher, stalled at the URI one-yard-line when Christopher fumbled on fourth down. Still, I’d expect the timeshare to last the duration of the season. Two quarterbacks are essential for a team that operates the zone read offense so much. Christopher leads the Dutchmen in carries while Probst ranks first on the squad in yards per carry (6.2) and yards per game (54.2).

The most important game of the season awaits Saturday, when the Dutchmen host New Hampshire. At 2-2 in the CAA North, and with games remaining against UNH and UMass—the only one-loss teams in the North—the Dutchmen can win the North and put themselves in contention for a playoff berth by winning out.

Of course, they knock off three ranked teams (UNH is eighth, UMass 16th and Delaware 23rd in this week’s coaches poll) in the final five weeks (the Dutch have a bye—or, as we called it in college, Brigham Young Elementary—next week and visit downtrodden Northeastern, losers of 13 straight, Nov. 14) and the Dutchmen will have really earned that postseason appearance.

Alas, with three losses already—including the eyesores to Richmond and Maine—the Dutchmen’s playoff hopes will probably be snuffed out with a loss Saturday. New Hampshire has won the last six games against Hofstra, three by six points or less and three by 20 points or more, including the last two by a combined score of 85-28. And any hopes of catching the Wildcats snoozing ended when they lost to UMass last weekend.

One thing is certain: A win over UNH would trump the win over James Madison—which is 0-2 since the loss to the Dutchmen—and would rank as perhaps the biggest upset victory for the program since the 1994 rout of New Hampshire. Stay tuned to this page over the next 48 hours, as I’m hoping to put something together on that seismic victory.

Some other Bits and Bytes:

—The Dutchmen didn’t receive a vote in the coaches’ poll this week, but they received 17 votes in The Sports Network media poll, good for 41st and a single vote ahead of Old Dominion. Ha! You can take your preseason no. 1 pick in basketball and cram it, Monarch Nation!!!

—Things are not looking good, at all, for our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers, known worldwide as The Official NFL Team of Defiantly Dutch. The Bucs came back from a two-touchdown deficit Sunday to tie the Panthers in the fourth quarter, but Carolina mounted a 16-play, 80-yard drive and scored the winning touchdown with less than a minute left to win, 28-21.

And honestly, it was a bit of a fluke that the Bucs were that close. They closed to within 21-14 on a 97-yard kickoff return by Sammie Stroughter and tied it on a 26-yard interception return by Tanard Jackson a little less than midway through the fourth quarter. The Panthers finally realized what the rest of the world has known since the NFC Divisional Playoffs last January—interception-prone QB Jake Delhomme cannot be trusted to run a flag football team, never mind an NFL team—and ran the ball 15 times on their winning drive.

At 0-6, Raheem Morris and the Bucs are off to the franchise’s worst start since 1985, and the 10-game losing streak dating back to last year is the Bucs’ longest since their NFL record 26-game skid in 1976-77, way back when I was blogging nostalgically about my Terrible Twos. And contrary to what I wrote three weeks ago, I’m beginning to worry that the Bucs are prepping for quite a run at becoming the first NFL team to ever endure two winless seasons. The rest of the schedule, starting with the rejuvenated New England Patriots in London this week (good news: it’s a home game for the Bucs!), is brutal. Can’t they beat Brigham Young Elementary next week?

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Bits and Bytes: Of Homecoming kings, hoops and our skidding Bucs

Sigh. Another year in which Tom Pecora and I have a better shot at wearing a crown from BK than the Homecoming crown.

The latest evidence why it’s much better to go to a mid-major than BCS U. occurred Saturday during Homecoming, when Charles Jenkins, Greg Washington and other members of the Flying Dutchmen basketball team took in the football game without the National Guard being called in to make sure they didn’t try to storm the field and kick the crap out of the gridders. You know, unlike at, oh, I don’t know, KANSAS.

Before we saw Jenkins & Co., the wife and I walked into Shuart Stadium at the same time as Tom Pecora and his son. The Pecoras were unbothered except for some goofy-ass blogger asking Tom if he was going to win Homecoming King. His answer: “Guys like me never win Homecoming King.” I feel your pain, Tom, maybe next year we’ll finally split it.

Last weekend was the final one of the off-season for Pecora and the Dutchmen, who begin practice Friday and are now officially less than a month away from knocking off Kansas. The Jayhawks, chemistry-busting dysfunction and all, earned the top spot in Gary Parrish’s pre-season poll over at CBSSports.com. Add him to the list of non-believers!!

Some other (mostly) basketball-themed bits and bytes:

—You can gauge the expectations for the men’s basketball team by the efforts of the athletic department to promote it. Three years ago, with Hofstra still riding the waves of publicity generated by the Great Screw Job and the Dutchmen favored to win the CAA behind the returning trio of Loren Stokes, Carlos Rivera and Antoine Agudio, the school produced a weekly 30-minute show starring Pecora.

Hopes were not nearly as high entering the subsequent two seasons, and I remember counting about three dozen people in the stands for the annual Blue/White Scrimmage last October. Things are different this year, of course, which is why the university is providing regular updates on season ticket sales, coming up with a snazzy slogan for the season and organizing a day-long Fan Fest Oct. 24 that will be capped by that Blue/White Scrimmage. Safe to assume there will be a lot more than 30-something people there a week from Saturday.

Now comes the news that Pecora will host a show on the school’s official website. Pecora is funnier first thing in the morning than Jay Leno has been at any point after 10 p.m. since 1992, so here’s hoping the production values are worthy of the talent. The Hofstra Basketball Report looked as if it should have aired after Wayne’s World on Aurora cable access (and I remember a whole lot of 6 am viewings on MSG or SNY, so maybe it did).

—Hofstra is apparently trying to replace the Stony Brook rivalry with games against Long Island’s Division III programs. The Dutchmen, who played Old Westbury last year, will open the home schedule this year against Farmingdale Nov. 20. So for those of you keeping score at home, the Dutchmen will open the season at Kansas and with two games in the NIT—including a likely matchup against UConn—followed by a home opener against Farmingdale. One of these is not like the other.

The big news is that the Farmingdale game is free. I had to grip my chair tight when I read that, since “free” and “Hofstra” are in the same sentence about as often as “Jerry Beach” and “made deadline on time.” So enjoy it while you can…and wait ‘til next year, St. Joseph’s!!

—Not a good week for our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers, known worldwide as The Official NFL Team Of Defiantly Dutch. The Bucs lost to the Eagles, 33-14, to fall to 0-5. More importantly, a late safety recorded by the Eagles’ defense cost me my fantasy football game against Loyal Reader Eric. I really don’t want to talk about it.

The Bucs’ struggles have made them a target of Daily News writer Sean Brennan, whose weekly “Going Deep” is hilarious must-read stuff, at least when he’s not attacking our favorite team. Brennan, whose local hoops blog made him one of our favorite writers until he was mean to the Bucs, figures the end of the world in 2012 can’t come fast enough for suffering fans like us. I don’t know about that, but I figure the Bucs better steal one this week against Carolina, because the schedule after that through November goes Patriots-Packers-Dolphins-Saints-Falcons. Uh oh. Can’t they schedule Farmingdale?

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Bits and Bytes: Panic time for the Bucs!

Send the Bucs to the UFL!!

As noted Wednesday, most of us need to do a better job of realizing the inherent peaks and valleys of a sports season and reacting accordingly instead of alternately running to avoid the falling sky and planning the route for the celebratory championship parade.

Except, well, I tried that last week and our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers—known worldwide as The Official NFL Team of Defiantly Dutch—blew a 10-point lead against the Washington Redskins, otherwise known as the most dysfunctional organization in sports outside of the team that plays near the parking lot that used to be Shea Stadium, and lost 16-13.

The Bucs are now 0-4 and already four games behind the Super-looking New Orleans Saints in the NFC South, so I think it’s time to pull out the heavy weaponry that worked last week on the Dutchmen.

That’s right: It’s time for Flying Dutchman alum Raheem Morris to change quarterbacks (never mind that I’m not really sure where he can go since the backup to unfinished product Josh Johnson is the even rawer Josh Freeman) and for the Buccaneers to ponder downgrading the program to the UFL, which is supposed to start next week and will surely scare the bejeezus out of the NFL by capturing the imagination of the professional football fan who just finds his Sunday a little lacking.

There. That oughta do it. The Bucs will be 12-4 before you know it. Some other bits and bytes to ponder as you scrounge enough money together to buy tickets to the Bucs’ first playoff game:

—It’s not like I’ve got anybody else to award the trophy for “Most Hilarious Opposing Football Coach,” since post-game press conference Saturday was the first one I’d attended since 1995, way back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. But James Madison’s Mickey Matthews apparently decided laughter was the best medicine following the Dukes’ 24-17 loss to the Dutchmen.

For instance, here’s Matthews on the Dutchmen going 4-for-5 on fourth down conversions: “The missed one must have been somewhere in pregame warm-ups.”

On the possibility that the officials missed a pass interference call on the Dukes’ final play from scrimmage: “I thought the last play of the game was a bad call. But I’m not going to say nothing. I would have told them they reffed better than we coached.”

On the Dukes’ sluggish play, particularly on defense, in the first half: “I think we decided to play. We [were] really enjoying the sights of Long Island. And it sure is pretty up here. Nice hotel. Nice mills. Nice looking girls. Nice people and nice stadium.”

Maybe he can pen the “About Long Island” section of next year’s media guide.

—The Dutchmen aren’t the offensive juggernaut of the Joe Gardi era, but you’ve got to figure Gardi would have loved coaching quarterback Steve Probst, who chimed in at the post-game press conference after Cohen talked about the Dutchmen’s aggressiveness on fourth down.

“Nobody likes to punt,” Probst said.

—You, too, can help the Binghamton men’s basketball team defend its America East championship! (Of course, Binghamton couldn’t even hold an open tryout without ticking off the authorities) As long as, one assumes, you pass a thorough background check.

—Loren Stokes and Antoine Agudio were among the 25 players named to the CAA’s 25th anniversary team this week, a pretty impressive feat considering the five other teams to join the CAA since the turn of the century combined to place just one player on the team (Northeastern’s Jose Juan Barea). Clearly, Tom O’Connor had nothing to do with the selection process.

—You might see the calendar, realize yesterday was the 15^th anniversary of the Dutchmen’s 62-7 thrashing of Central Connecticut State—a win that finally vaulted Hofstra into the top 25—and wonder where in the hell is the recap of that game. More than likely, this is the first you’ve thought of it. That’s OK, I forgive you.

Anyway, we went away for a few days and taking a giant Chronicle blue book on the trip seemed like a bad idea of ginormous proportions, so that recap will appear upon our return late tonight or first thing Friday. Stop back for that as well as a more in-depth look at the 28-6 win over New Hampshire, otherwise known as The Game That Changed Everything.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Bits and Bytes: Bucs, basketball & Binghamton

Raheem Morris and Josh Johnson probably don't have to worry about joining the 1976 Buccaneers and Steve Spurrier in NFL infamy.

His days as a Division I-AA star and assistant coach are long in the rearview mirror, but ex-Flying Dutchman Raheem Morris—the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, known worldwide as the Official NFL Team of Defiantly Dutch—proved he hasn’t forgotten his roots Monday by naming former University of San Diego star Josh Johnson the Bucs’ new starting quarterback.

Oh sure, Morris had plenty of reason to make a change after the Bucs and former no. 1 signal-caller Byron Leftwich set the NFL back several decades Sunday in a 24-0 loss to the Giants in which they gained just 86 yards and didn’t record a first down until more than nine minutes into the third quarter. But I prefer to believe that the tiebreaker went in favor of Johnson because he played his entire career at a I-AA school while Leftwich went to Marshall after it upgraded to I-A.

That box score, by the way, is amazing. The Giants shut the Bucs out despite recording no sacks and forcing just one turnover. That’s got to be the most remarkable do-it-yourself shutout in league history.

The beloved Bucs are 0-3, but unlike the truly wretched Cleveland Browns, who look like they might make a legitimate run at the 1976-77 Bucs’ record of 26 straight losses, the countdown to a winless season shouldn’t gain much steam. The pitiful Washington Redskins, who on Sunday “snapped” the Detroit Lions’ 19-game losing streak (the second longest in league history), are on the docket this week and the similarly winless Carolina Panthers await Oct. 18. I’m fairly confident the Bucs will be a perfectly harmless 2-5 by the time Morris returns to Hofstra and grants me an exclusive interview during the Bucs’ bye week Oct. 26 through Nov. 1.

Some other bits and bytes unrelated to the Bucs:

—Brian Mull, who provides excellent beat reportage of the UNC-Wilmington men’s basketball team for the Wilmington Star-News, is just the latest person to disrespect the Dutchmen and risk earning the wraith of all of Dutch Nation (snort) by picking Hofstra to finish below first in the CAA. When will these people LEARN?!

Anyway, Mull picks the Dutchmen sixth, just like noted Hofstra Hater Litos. Mull also pegs Charles Jenkins as his preseason player of the year and, in writing how the post-2006 talent surge has made the league better and deeper than ever, also does a pretty good job of indirectly explaining how the best player in the league could play for a middle-of-the-pack team.

Of course, as Litos points out, that balance makes predicting the CAA tougher than ever. It’s not just pro-Hofstra spin to declare that no fewer than six teams could make a legitimate run at the championship. Of course, when the Dutchmen emerge as the champion, I will not recall this reasoned, rational take and will instead bellow about the Dutchmen shocked the world and the non-believers.

—I probably shouldn’t give anyone a hard time about predictions, even in jest, because I’m a couple weeks away from looking pretty foolish in print (as opposed to, you know, how I usually look). Thanks in large part to a kind recommendation from Litos, I was fortunate enough to write the America East previews for the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook (which you can order by calling 877-807-4857 or by visiting the Blue Ribbon home page here).

Once I was told I couldn’t pick Hofstra to win it all, the preseason favorite seemed obvious: Defending champion Binghamton, which returned four starters.

Not anymore. One day after star guard Tiki Mayben was dismissed from the team following his arraignment on cocaine possession charges, Binghamton coach Kevin Broadus booted five other players, including two starters—one of whom, D.J. Rivera, led the Bearcats and finished second in the America East in scoring last year—and the team captain.

Broadus has long come under pretty heavy criticism for recruiting players with checkered backgrounds, but Binghamton didn’t mind the bad publicity when the Bearcats were (mostly) limiting their court appearances to the basketball variety. Broadus signed a contract extension through 2013-14, but to the surprise of no one, the administration is in C.YA. mode now and tsk-tsking Broadus for bringing such bad apples to campus.

CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish properly skewers Binghamton for its hypocrisy here. If Broadus gets the boot, here’s hoping the president and athletic director are following him out the door.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Bits and Bytes: Poor time management confuses the mind…

The Hat is not in this video.

Twelve hours after I became the oldest rookie in WRHU history (blatant yet delayed self-promotion, many thanks to Christian Heimall and Jonathan Lauder for having me on the air) last Friday, Sully Ray became the oldest rookie in the history of our fantasy football league (in which, you’ll no doubt be interested to know, the conference names are Yankee, Patriot and Colonial) when he joined the rest of the Defiantly Dutch readership (and nine other people, too!) at our fine suburban residence.

You’re probably saying to yourself “Didn’t the season start Thursday?” Yes. Yes it did. But really, you’ve got to admit, drafting after the official start of the season makes a lot of sense for a league “run” by me.

Along those lines, Sully Ray had some sharp words as we waited for the draft to begin.

“Beach you were supposed to work all weekend last weekend and you didn’t,” he said in the familiarly admonishing tone of someone who arrives five minutes early for every appointment, pays all his bills two weeks ahead of time and gets his eight hours of sleep from 10 pm to 6 am instead of 8 am to 4 pm. The responsible adult is so boring.

Alas, the boring responsible adult Sully Ray is also right. I have been lax here, partially because of some paying work that was due last week but also because of awful time management skills that should earn me a starring role on some late-night infomercial.

“Hi I’m Jerry Beach, locally famous author and blogger. Before I took Timmy Time’s course, I spent all day surfing the Internet, watching old music videos on YouTube, watching episodes of old sitcoms and soap operas I’ve already seen 100 times apiece, crafting witty status updates on Facebook and obsessing over my fantasy baseball and football teams. My blog posts were made during caffeine- and exhaustion-fueled bursts in the middle of the night. But one day with Timmy Time has me working a regular 9 to 5 schedule, limiting my television viewing to live sports and living an otherwise productive existence! Thank you Timmy Time!”

Where in the hell was I? Oh yes. Anyway, please accept my humble apologies for the tardiness of posts this month as well as the declaration that I’ll try to be more on top of things. It’s no fun watching Extreme’s “Hole Hearted” and worrying the song was written about me, even if I was 16 when the song was written.

With that, let’s get to the news of the past few days:

— An out-of-town trip for Labor Day weekend and an imploding car, respectively, made it impossible to attend either of the Flying Dutchmen’s first two football games, so I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m some expert on what transpired. I will say that the wins over Stony Brook and Bryant seemed to go about as well as possible for the Dutchmen, who never trailed in dispatching of the Seawolves and Bulldogs and escaped the games mostly unscathed, injury-wise.

Still, the 2-0 start doesn’t seem to have filled the faithful with optimism. Perhaps it’s because the Dutchmen are supposed to beat Stony Brook, against whom they are 12-0 all-time, and a fledgling I-AA program such as Bryant. Or maybe it’s the specter of upcoming road trips to top-ranked Richmond, the defending I-AA national champion, and I-A Western Michigan and the possibility of back-to-back unmitigated floggings.

My hunch is the Dutchmen are, for the most part, playing with house money the next two weeks. A split would be outstanding (let’s not even get into the 1994-like euphoria a sweep would inspire). And going 0-2 won’t extinguish their playoff hopes, as long as the losses are reasonably competitive and not of the James Madison variety.

For the sake of a program that needs all the momentum it can get, here’s hoping the next two games provide some encouragement for the Dutchmen as well as some reason for Long Islanders to come out to Shuart Stadium the first two weekends in October. Otherwise, the bridge to basketball season could be a bleak one.

—Speaking of basketball, your good friend and mine Mike Litos has already begun unveiling mini-previews at his site, and the school batting leadoff in his series is also the school he’s picking to win the whole darn thing. I won’t ruin the suspense by revealing the team here (click the link!), but I will say it’s not Hofstra.

I’d like to threaten to unleash the full venom of Dutch Nation (snort) upon Litos for not picking the Dutchmen first, but the truth is, as evidenced by this pre pre-season poll conducted by the fine folks at VCURamNation.com, we’re in agreement. Of course, I only picked against Hofstra to ensure I wouldn’t hex them. Yeah. That’s the ticket.

—Interesting stuff, too, from Litos last week about the future of the CAA. We’re in agreement that a football conference that is almost laughably better than the rest of the I-AA field will determine the direction of the CAA, but while Litos foresees a I-AA landscape in which the CAA is the dominant football and basketball conference, I still wonder if the CAA will try to ride a handful of programs that could support I-A football into a seat at the big boys’ table.

Litos’ theory that the BCS schools will run away and hide sometime next decade, thereby allowing the NCAA to finally shed any pretense of equality and divide Division I into a I-A and I-AA, is something I’ve wondered about myself the last few years. But I change my mind on an hourly basis as to what it would mean to potential I-AA program such as Hofstra.

On one hand, it would be nice to have a legitimate chance to compete for a national championship, albeit a less glorified one. But I also remember the blank stares I got when telling friends about Hofstra’s outstanding I-AA football program in the mid-90s and how frustrating that was. Apparently, the carrot that lures one to Hofstra as a teenager remains just as dangly and attractive in his mid-30s.

Plus, as much as it sickens me to type this, George Mason proved in 2006 that it is still possible—bloody unlikely, but still possible—for a mid-major to overcome the odds and the obstacles placed in its way and crash the party. Of course, it also helps to have a crooked athletic director on the Selection Committee, but I digress. Why rob the rest of the mid-majors of that once-in-a-generation opportunity just to help the obscenely rich get even more obscenely rich? (Because college basketball is life, that’s why)

—It wasn’t a good opening week of the season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the official NFL team of Defiantly Dutch, but Newsday ran a nice feature on new Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris, who tells the newspaper he is less than a decade removed from hoping he could someday become the defensive coordinator at Hofstra.

Instead, of course, Morris ascended the coaching ranks in remarkably fast fashion is now the NFL’s youngest head coach. He’s also single-handedly attempting to increase employment among Hofstra graduates: Ex-Dutchmen Kyle Arrington and Kareem Huggins made the Buccaneers’ 53-man roster and practice squad, respectively. If only Hofstra graduates ran websites and newspapers. Sigh.

—Lastly, I’ll end where I began with our fantasy draft, because I’m sure you want to know about my fantasy team as much as I want to know about yours, and let you know that while I may be an inconsistent blogger, I am consistent when it comes to following my own fantasy football advice. That’s right, I drafted the Colts’ Donald Brown, a mere 54 weeks after he carved up the Dutchmen in UConn’s 35-3 win.

Watch out world and watch out Sully Ray, who was in such a hurry to leave a draft that lasted several hours beyond his bedtime that he left his sharp Bethpage Black U.S. Open hat here. Sully Ray wrote me earlier today with a brief but forceful request: “Don’t wear my golf hat.”

Apparently, he’s forgotten how I infuse non-descript hats with character as well as world-wide fame.


Fine, Sully Ray. I’ll trade you your hat for Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams. Otherwise, the hat and I are going on the road with Extreme.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

In which I interrupt this basketball season to announce the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the official NFL team of Defiantly Dutch

If Raheem Morris' first act as Buccaneers head coach is to bring back Bucco Bruce--except in blue and gold--he will instantly become one of favorite people ever.

Was traveling all day Friday, so imagine my surprise when I got a text at 1:35 a.m. this morning from semi-loyal reader JG about the only other team I root for outside of the Flying Dutchmen: “Wow, shocker on Gruden.”

That was nothing, though, compared to the surprise of clicking on ESPN once we got settled in our hotel room and seeing the name of his likely successor: Raheem Morris. That’s the Raheem Morris who played safety at Hofstra from 1994-97, otherwise known as the bulk of the Defiantly Dutch Era, and spent time as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach with the Flying Dutchmen in 1998 and 2000, respectively.

That’s right. Someone who played football while I was at Hofstra is now an NFL head coach. Boy I’m getting old and inconsequential.

I told my wife the news, to which she replied “Oh that’s convenient. Now you get to name the Buccaneers as the official NFL team of Defiantly Dutch.”

Well, yeah.

This is pretty interesting for multiple reasons beyond Morris’ Hofstra ties. He’s just 32, which will make him one of the youngest head coaches in NFL history. Morris has been viewed as a rapidly rising head coach candidate even though he hasn’t even coached a game as a coordinator: The Buccaneers promoted him from defensive backs coach to defensive coordinator Christmas Day, after which he interviewed for the head honcho job with the Denver Broncos.

And Morris’ hiring is quite a feather in the cap of the NFL, which encourages diversity in its head coaching ranks with the “Rooney Rule.” But two years before the “Rooney Rule” was instituted, Morris began his coaching career as a minority intern with the Jets under Herm Edwards. I remember attending a press conference at Weeb Ewbank Hall in which Morris talked about the program. Who knew I was watching the birth of an NFL head coach?

It’s also interesting to examine the Bucs’ thought process here. Three of the four remaining head coaches in the NFL playoffs have been head coaches for two years or less. Clearly, the Bucs think they can be the next team to find a Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh or Ken Whisenhunt.

And if I think I feel old and inconsequential, imagine how Gruden feels. It seems like he’s been the Hot Young Coach forever, but this is proof that the shelf life of a Hot Young Coach is finite. Gruden is only 46—younger than both Harbaugh and Whisenhunt—but he’s been an NFL head coach for 11 straight years and hasn’t won a playoff game since the Super Bowl following the 2002 season.

The Hot Young Coach is now, officially, a retread…shoved out of office for a Flying Dutchman. What a world. Go Bucs.

***

We didn’t forget there’s a basketball game today against Northeastern, the hottest team in the CAA. The Dutchmen will prove they have plenty of—wait for it!!—pride by coming up with a much better performance than the one they mustered up against Drexel Wednesday. I’ll even wager they’ll hold a lead!

Litos is keeping the faith about the Dutchmen and believes there will be a day when the gang that can’t shoot straight will become the gang that can’t miss. I don’t think there’s much chance of a breakout performance today, though, against a Northeastern team that has yet to be challenged since conference play began For Real. The Huskies have won all five CAA games this month by an average of 17 points.

Charles Jenkins is the pick to click—it has to happen at some point, right?—but I have a hard time imagining the Dutchmen derailing the Huskies’ juggernaut. Perhaps a competitive loss can give the Dutchmen something to build on with William & Mary and UNC-Wilmington—two of the CAA’s three one-win teams—on the docket within the next 11 days.

We won’t be at the game due to the unexpected out-of-state trip, but Sully Ray may step in with some thoughts. Stop back Monday to see if he’s as good with words as he is with T-shirts.

And in the meantime, check out this Litos’ excellent blog from Thursday in which he makes quite a good case for a 22-game CAA schedule. It makes so much sense, it’ll never happen.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com. And join the Defiantly Dutch group at Facebook today!

In which I make a rare departure from commenting solely on Hofstra sports to wish my wife a happy anniversary

The most momentous day in Defiantly Dutch history occurred exactly 14 years ago tonight, and it had nothing to do with sports on campus. I was pacing around my tiny corner dorm room at Vander Poel Hall, watching this thing that used to show music videos and looking for decent clothes to wear for an impending first date, when Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” appeared on my screen.

And at that moment, I thought to myself, holy smokes, this might be my last first date ever. I might end up marrying that really cute news writer from The Chronicle named Michelle.

Sure, the bolt of lightning should have hit me while I was listening to something terribly cheesy, like this. But for some reason, the unabashed ebullience of the “Buddy Holly” song and video—the best and most brilliant video ever made, in my modest opinion—summed up how I was already feeling about Michelle.

I mean, geez, she liked sports as much as me. Our unofficial introduction occurred when she won the weekly football pool at the office and I grouched about how I couldn’t believe I lost to a girl. And our unofficial first date was the result of a bet: I bet my favorite NFL team, the then-godawful Tampa Bay Buccaneers, would cover the spread against the equally crappy Seattle Seahawks. The loser had to buy the winner lunch at the Student Center. A girl who understood gambling? Sign me up!

She thought Jay Wright was really cute, but found the beauty in the subtle games of Darius Burton and Jason Hernandez. She thought spending Arctic-type “spring” afternoons watching the Hofstra baseball team was a great idea, not a sign she should immediately dump me. She agreed that going to North Carolina to see Hofstra play UCLA in 2001 was something we had to do, even though I was unemployed and she was in grad school.

She doesn’t wonder why I spend so much time playing fantasy sports, she’s the competition. She’s the yin to my yang, the one who sat sadly silent on Selection Sunday 2006, opening her mouth only to say how bad she felt for the Flying Dutchmen, while I unleashed a stream of profanity that would make Eddie Murphy, circa 1983, blush.

Her favorite baseball player is Derek Jeter. I think he’s hilariously overrated, and love her anyway.

I’d like to sit here and tell you I took her to a five-star restaurant and then the opera 14 years ago tonight, but that’d be a lie. Like thousands of young Long Islanders doing the mating dance, we went out for pizza and then went bowling, and I managed to get through the night without my heart exploding out of my chest.

A month later, she met my best friends from back home. During the first minute or so in the car on the way back from Long Island, something along the line of “She’s the one, Beach” tumbled out of their mouths. But the words I remember most came from Chronicle editor-in-chief Jeff.

“Don’t screw this one up,” he said.

I like to think I didn’t. Happy anniversary, dear. Hanging out with Sully Ray is fun, but I’d still rather sit next to you at basketball games.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com.