Talking Points 11/17

1

Watching college basketball in November is like Christmas shopping in August. Do we really need it in our lives when the big event is four months away?

Unless there’s a LeBron James equivalent forced to play NCAA hoops for a year, there’s little intrigue luring us in when we know 68 — it’s 68, right? — teams will be doing the collective rumba in March in pursuit of a national championship.

And this is a point those advocating a college football playoff should note. Yes, it’s maddening when an NCAA football season ends and there’s no definitive champion — a risk that accompanies the BCS format every year. But eliminating the repercussions of a regular-season loss would also render can’t-miss games, well, missable.

Talking Points still thinks the NCAA should enact some type of playoff to satiate the nation’s competitive spirit by year’s end. But Talking Points also realizes the potential trade-offs for getting its wish, and thinks the public should, too.

2

Timberwolves forward Kevin Love tallied 31 points and 31 rebounds last Friday against the Knicks, the first time anyone in the NBA has logged a “30-30” game since Moses Malone did so in 1982. It got Talking Points thinking about other great single-game performances in recent years.

• Of course, there is Shawn Green going 6 for 6 with four home runs for the Dodgers in 2002, a night in which he touched 19 total bases.

• There is New England quarterback Tom Brady completing 26 of 28 passes and throwing for three touchdowns in a playoff game against Jacksonville in 2008.

• There is Texas QB Vince Young throwing for 267 yards and rushing for 200 more against USC in the 2006 BCS title game.

• There is also David Duval entering the final round of a 1999 PGA tournament down by six strokes, then carding a 59 to win by one.

• And you can’t forget about the time Greg Oden…yeah, right.