THE DAILY HOOP

How will the Republican party react in the wake of Barack Obama’s victory (not to mention the loss of multiple House and Senate seats)? David Brooks of the New York Times sees a fight on the horizon.

I can’t remember the last time there was such good will aimed at an incoming president. According to George Will though, we’ve been picking presidential nominees incorrectly for quite a long time now. One could infer from Will’s piece that Hillary Clinton (or even Joe Biden) should have been the nominee and not Obama.

Three guesses as to who wrote this:  “I am convinced that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose. For it’s precisely the pursuit of ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy and the sheer predictability of our current political debate, that keeps us from finding new ways to meet the challenges we face as a country.”  That’s right, this comes from Barack Obama (specifically, from his book “The Audacity of Hope”).  I haven’t read the book yet, but I found the excerpt in a terrific New Yorker article.  I’m ready for the new Age of Deliberative Democracy.

Fresh off and vacation and anxiously awaiting the start of NFL training camps across the country, here are a few tidbits to get ramped up.

It appears beer - of all things - has been integral in the natural selection process.

Here is a neat piece on Anna Kournikova. She wasn’t much of a singles player but she seems to be doing fine a decade after crashing the internet.

What Brandon Jennings is doing fascinates me on several levels. I’ll have more on this in a later post, but this is an interesting take on the hardships waiting for Jennings when he hits Europe.

Chuck Amato is in real trouble. I know that phrase is thrown around a little too much, but this time it is a factual comment. Lee Fowler, State’s AD, refuses to talk. And Amato’s press conference started yesterday with the provision that any “status” questions would bring an end to the festivities. So, the fine people at the Technician decided to test the waters.

Unless the Pack just obliterates ECU on Saturday, I can’t imagine a scenario where Chuck keeps his job. As many have pointed out, Amato has reached the point where every game is a referendum on his job. That’s a horrible place for a coach to live (see: Sendek, Herb). It’s time for Amato to find a new neighborhood.

Early in the college basketball season, I’ve been very impressed with Georgia Tech and Maryland from the ACC. If Tech can be consistent with its defense and ball-handling, they will be a monster later in the year once their young folks get some experience. The Terps handled a solid Winthrop team last night and currently sit at 6-0. With all the attitudes gone, this year’s Maryland squad looks like one of Gary Williams teams from back-in-the-day. They press, they work, they’re smart, and they have some moxie. Mike Jones and DJ Strawberry provide Williams with a super backcourt. Both teams should make the big dance easily.

Call me crazy, but I think Duke will make it to the Final Four this year. The Devils have some size (McRoberts, Zoubek, Thomas), some versatility (Nelson, McClure, Henderson), good guards (Paulus, Scheyer, Henderson), and a great coach. This team reminds me a little of K’s Final Four groups of 1988 and 1990. Neither of those teams had superior players (although Danny Ferry certainly could be considered as such), but they were both extremely good defensively and very versatile (with good passing big men). This year’s Duke team is similar. If they can hit the 3 ball enough, they’ll be difficult to beat.

It’s true that the Tar Heels might be struggling some right now (although this is relative…just ask Boston College, Kansas and Texas). But Tyler Hansbrough is not part of that struggle. He’s been awesome. Mike DeCourcy has a great piece on Psycho T.

A sad day in Ann Arbor. Bo Schembechler was an icon, and a terrific coach. I’d like to see OSU win the game this weekend, but it would be nice if the Wolverines could squeak out a victory for Bo.

I realize that the Ohio St. and Michigan folks take their annual get-together seriously, but I’m not sure the people running the OSU side of this rivalry really want to promote this. Somebody please tell me the Buckeyes aren’t letting folks bring these things in to the stadium.

The college hoops season is just getting underway, but it’s never too early to size up the brackets. Maryland is my pick to make it in to the projected bracket next week, especially if they can beat Michigan St.

How about those Rutgers Scarlet Knights? They scored 21 unanswered points and held Louisville to about half their average in winning last night’s game. The Knights have no chance of playing for the national title, but they sure did open the door for a bunch of one-loss teams (USC, Texas, Notre Dame, just to name a few). And check out the scene after the game on the Rutgers site. You think those kids were ready to party?

At roughly 1am on election night the focus of attention turned to 2008. While the Democrats grabbed control of Congress, it appears that the GOP is in good shape at the moment to keep the White House. A variety of polls indicate that the Republican candidate would defeat any Democrat in a general election. And look who is at the top of several GOP-nominee polls (not McCain).

If you’re a fan of good songwriting and country music, you’ll enjoy Vince Gill’s new 4 CD box set. That’s right, 4 CD’s. Gill has lots of great folks helping him with these songs. If you’re curious (like I was) why Vince would attempt something like this, read CMT’s insightful interview with him.