Oh where o where has my bluff divers gone? Partial Reader Mail Bag #3

-Where have you been? No posts in like a week! What's going on?
In order to delay my eventual lay-off from Triumph Douchebags, LLC., I have taken a brief hiatus from at-work bluff diving. Once let go by these ass munches I will be able to devote full effort into Bluff Divers nation. I am planning on taking BDs international in my quest to be the next Hasselhoff (btw great other guy: The Black Guy from Baywatch!) However, I have remained strong in my other areas of interest including but not limited to: annoying my friends and family, breaking out in echsima, drinking, pleasuring myself, Redsox baseball, my man-crush on Nomar!, hot pockets, general insanity, and the mis-treatment of the fairer sex. I will be back to full time bluff diving in a week or two.

-How 'ya doing in your poll?
Winner winner chicken dinner. The irony is my poll was really strong because I picked the Big East to choke (easy) but I would have clinched after weekend one (yes, weekend one) if I would have not switched Villanova at the last second. I might have won national polls had the A-10 not let me down in round one! Picking 27 of 32 first round games, 14 of 16 sweet sixteen, 7 of 8 elite eight, and 3 of 4 final four teams just goes to show you how sweet I really am!

-Is the Big East really overrated? If ESPN is the reason this is true, aren't the Red Sox and Yankees (and their rivalry) overrated too?
Are you personally trying to piss me off? First off the Big East is WAY overrated. This "super-conference" is basically a creation of the cable networks that single handedly tried to deplete and/or ruin two other good basketball conferences, the Eastern Eight (predeccesor of the A10) and Conference USA. Memphis might laugh their way to a national title! Due yourself a small favor and look up national titles, head to head league matchups, pro-sports stars from the Big East compared to other conferences, fan attendance, etc. and ESPECIALLY this years tournament performance and you will find the Big East WAY behind some of the other conferences historically and currently. There is NO way they deserve 8 teams in the tourney...ever. Eight teams in the tourney, 1 in the elite eight, 0 in the final four. Enough said. Do yourself another favor and attend an ACC game (any except for the former Big East schools) and then go to a Big East game the next day...and then tell me which conference is better in terms of style of play, level of play, atmoshpere, etc. Its not even close folks.

Here is they deal. The Red Sox and Yankees are overhyped not overrated. Professional sports is decided by play on the field and "rankings," clearly guided by media bias, have no effect on post-season play and/or the eventual champion. So you cannot truly overrate a pro-team as its success is determined ONLY by its play. You can overhype a pro-team, which ESPN does to a lot of teams so kiss me where the pampers are. Regardless, "overrating" or "overhyping" has no calculated or proven effect on outcome in any pro-sports, except for maybe influincing officials and umpires (see 1999 ALCS), so your answer is no!

Side Note: The fact that the media has any part in deciding a champion (seeding and at-large bids) is the biggest downfall in college athletics. This is why the tournament should not be seeded and only include conference champions and second place "wild card" finishers within each conference. Then and only then can you crown a true champ. This would also due wonders to spreading the talent around to different teams (like the Dukes) because every team would be basically on an equal playing field in terms of making it to post-season play. Regular season play would be massively more important and conference play would be fantastic. This would make the NCAA a true champion of amateur athletics.

Back to your questions: The Red Sox are the best team in baseball, on the field, the last five years (and one of the best franchises in history) and the Yankees are the winningest franchise, on the field, in all of pro-sports (as much as it pains me to admit that). Kind of hard to overrate those two teams performance-wise although its very easy to overrate players (...see Phil Rizzouto, Mantle, Mattingly, Guidry, Jeter, etc.).

The Yankees vs. Red Sox rivalry existed prior to the advent of television and before even the first radio broadcast...so you cannot argue that ESPN and/or the national media had any effect on its inception. The close proximatey of the cities to each other and the fact that the two teams dominated the sport (particularly the BOSOX) at its inception, made this rivalry what it is today...tits.

It is the greatest (and only true) rivaly in PRO SPORTS today as these two teams actually hate each other (which is hard to find in this day and age), and the rivalry overwhemingly capitvates 9 states, nevermind the rest of the country.

SO NO....RED SOX vs. YANKEES IS NOT OVERRATED AND THE BIG EAST SUCKS!

Is Shawn James going pro?
No. At least not to the NBA. A lot of players test the water by declaring themselves eligible for the draft to get the league's assesment of where they will be drafted. Shawn James won't be drafted so I don't forsee him signing an agent other than Swiftus Lazarus any time soon. FYI, He is not on one reputable draft board as going in either the first two rounds. He could play in Europe if he wants to and since he is 24 years old this may be an option, especially since he is getting married and is injury prone. My gut tells me he will come back for his final year regardless to try to improve his draft standing (first rounders get three years guaranteed money) and/or make his European contract as large as possible. Teflon Ron has not signed one post-player to replace James and or Archara, so if he leaves the Dukes will be in trouble.