When are the 2 times we play North Carolina?
When are the 2 times we play Maryland?
*looks at the rest of the schedule*

When my Duke Blue Devils basketball schedule comes out every season, that's exactly what I look for in that order, I always have, and I always will, that is until the fall of 2014.

With the University of Maryland leaving the ACC in 2014, for the Big Ten, those 2 great games a season between Duke/Maryland will be no more. If you aren't big into college sports, it's the equivalent of the Redskins/Cowboys not playing every year, or the Red Sox/Yankees not playing every year. It's a big deal

Maryland has been a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference since it was established in 1953, one of the original six teams still remaining in the conference.

I personally feel that tradition is the best part of college sports. I enjoy watching the close games in College Park that might decide a tournament bid, and as much as I can't stand Carolina blue, the best part of the regular season is watching Duke/North Carolina play for the ACC title in the last game of the season. Tradition is the biggest reason I like college basketball over the NBA, at least I think I still do.

Since 2010, over 50 conference changes have taken place or been announced for the future. By time 2014 rolls around half of the conference names in Division I sports will be inaccurate

Big Ten-will have 14 teams
Big 12-will only have 10 teams
Pac12-was PAC 10 before realignment
Big East- will drop from 18 to 14 and have a team from Idaho

The Maryland switch affects me the most as a Duke fan which is why I chose to single it out.

February 16th will be the 2nd to last time Duke/Maryland play in the Comcast Center as conference opponents. In November, tickets for this game were still on the market. 2 weeks ago, there were less than 20 seats left for $300/seat. College basketball tickets NEVER sell out that far in advance, except for when its the end of a tradition I guess.

We all know the University of Maryland made the move based on money, no matter what excuse they say in public, but 5-10 years down the road I hope the school President and Board of Trustees realize that tradition is priceless.


While doing my research for this article I found that Duke Men's Basketball coach Mike Kryzewski recently went on his on personal rant about this same topic. Coach K has been coaching at Duke since 1980 and has 942 career wins, so it's fair to say he knows a little something about tradition. The link to his article is posted below.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1488210-mike-krzyzewski-delivers-epic-rant-on-maryland-ncaa-conference-realignment

Who knew Honey Nut Cherrios could end up being such a controversial topic.

When Kevin Garnett allegedly told Carmelo Anthony that his wife, LaLa, tasted like a box of Honey Nut Cherrios on the court in the middle of a game this past week, life got real.

Everyone who pays a decent amount of attention to the NBA knows that Kevin Garnett is just as good at getting in your head as he is actually playing the game but his latest antics bring up a serious question.



IS THERE A SUCH THING AS CROSSING THE LINE WITH TRASH TALK?

Anyone who has participated in any type of competitive environment, whether it was a high school football game, a game of 2k, or a pickup game of basketball, has done some type of trash talking. It's in the spirit of competitiveness. Nobody likes to lose, so you attempt to get any type of advantage possible, sometimes trash talking gives you that mental edge you need.

I personally feel that when you step on the court/field, you subject yourself to anything that comes your way. That's part of playing the game. If I hit a 3 in your face and say "it's too easy", I can't get mad when you turn around, dunk on me, and tell me that my wife tastes like Honey Nut Cherrios. The level of trash talk you choose to display is up to you but you have to be ready for whatever level comes back.

Back when I played lacrosse in high school, as a goalie I remember talking trash to any opponent that came near me. I knew if I could get in a player's head, half my work was done for the night.

But there was a particular player I had a passionate dislike for, honestly because he was that damn good. I said some things to him that could get you killed in the wrong place at the wrong time, but for the 48 minutes we were on that field, I couldn't have cared less. We always went back and forth all game. Funny thing about the situation is we never knew each other until we played each other for the first time. After I played my last game against him during my senior year, he was a junior, we stayed on the field for 30 minutes just talking and actually became good friends. I now coach a youth league with him.

For whatever event you are participating in, you have to be ready for whatever comes your way. I'm a big fan of trash talking, mostly because I'm a big trash talker myself but a lesson that I had to learn at a young age, that some professional athletes still don't understand is that:

What happens on the court/field, stays there. You can't let it affect your personal life

As an African American male pursuing a career in sports broadcasting/journalism, the essential termination of Rob Parker by ESPN hits home for me.

On December 13, 2012, during a debate about Robert Griffin III on ESPN First Take, Parker questioned RGIII's "blackness" by calling him a "cornball brother".

Rob Parker began working for ESPN in 2003 and made his public break doing the same thing that ended up breaking him in the eye of the public, debating Skip Bayless on ESPN First Take.

The day before this incident, RGIII had been presented a question about being a successful African American quarterback in the NFL, another sensitive topic in Rob Parker's history. Griffin III simply responded by stating "Yes I am African American, but that is not how I want to be defined."

When Parker was asked his opinion on these remarks, his response was that it raised a red flag, which he followed up by asking the biggest question of his career, "Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother." Anyone who follows Rob Parker knows that he tends to attempt humor with those types of statements, so he was asked to explain his remarks.

"He's not real. OK, he's black, he kind of does the thing, but he's not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black but he's not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he's off to something else."

Parker then cited Griffin having a white fiancee and talked about how he's a Republican (though he acknowledged having no information to support this)

Later that day, ESPN announced an indefinite suspension for Parker. On December 20, Parker issued a public apology to ESPN and the Griffin family. His suspension was reduced to 30 days.

On January 8, 2013, ESPN announced that Rob Parker's contract had expired on December 31, 2012 and there would be no renewal, essentially terminating his services at The Worldwide Leader in Sports.

Immediately after learning Parker would not be returning, I hit the social media platformed society we live in today and saw numerous comprasions to Don Imus.

While I don't agree with the majority of Don Imus' morals and beliefs, he chooses the proper platform to express them, satellite radio rather than national tv. Therefore I find the comprasion completely irrelevant.

Parker, an African American himself, fully understands the struggle we face when pursuing the peak of our goals in the journalism world. It's 2013, but we still live with the image of not knowing how to read/write and just being deadbeats in Corporate America.

Rob Parker was the first African American journalist at the Detroit Free Press in 1993. 2 years later, in 1995, he became the first sports columnist at Newsday in New York.

Don't get me wrong, I am beyond thankful and appreciative for those who have come before me and made my path smoother to walk on, but I do have an issue with those who set our minority back by living up to society's expectations.

You can argue that Rob Parker does deserve to have a job at ESPN on his 49th birthday, today, (ironic timing) or you can argue that he deserves to be in the exact position he is now. I haven't yet, but I have learned from all of this that there is a time and place for everything in all aspects of life.

13x Pro Bowl Selection
2x NFL Defensive Player of the Year
Super Bowl XXXV MVP/Champion
Quickest to enter 20/20 and 30/30 Sack/Interception club
ONLY player in NFL history with 40 sacks/30 interceptions

Those are all numbers, and as a Baltimore Ravens fans since their birth in 1996, please believe me when I say they are great, but what he has done as a leader and overcoming adversity is why I'm dedicating this post to Ray Lewis.

Let's go back to January 31,2000. Don't get me wrong, I was only 7 years old, but I understood what it meant for my hero to be slapped with a murder charge.

Lewis fought the charge and settled for a guilty plea to Obstruction of Justice and served a year on probation, the maximum sentence for a first time offender. While Lewis was done with the matter in the legal system, he was only just beginning to feel the effects elsewhere.

After the guilty plea he was fined $250,000 by the NFL, the largest fine for any of the field incident at the time, and to this day Lewis still has the word "murder" associated with his name.

Let's jump from the night in question, January 31,2000, to January 28,2001. The jump from Super Bowl XXXIV to Super Bowl XXXV, the jump from being in the wrong place at the wrong time to doing his infamous dance before leading his team to their 1st Super Bowl title in only 4 seasons of existence. Ray easily won the MVP that night. For anyone who doesn't know, the Super Bowl MVP recites the famous line "I'm going to Disney World" after being acknowledged of the award, except tonight. On this night, despite being arguably the worst quarterback to win a Super Bowl, Trent Dilfer got awarded not only the quote, but the actual trip to Disney World as well. One can only assume that the murder charge Lewis was slapped with less than a calendar year ago was the reasoning for this.

And then there's the race factor. If a white linebacker had just beaten a murder charge and then recorded 3 solo tackles, assisted on 2 other tackles, and batted down 4 passes in the biggest game of his life, would he have received the same treatment? Only one can wonder.

Now we move back to present day. To this day, if you google "Ray Lewis", the first related search option will be "Ray Lewis murdered girlfriend" but Ray Lewis has not only overcome the adversity he dealt with back in 2000, he is now recognized as one of, if not, the greatest leaders to ever step on a football field, once again, completely ignoring his statistical accolades.

College coaches from California don't bring you in from Maryland to speak to their team before a preseason game unless you are inspiration. You don't get unanimously named a captain every year dating back to your freshman year at the University of Miami unless you are a leader.

Last Wednesday, Ray Lewis announced that he will be retiring after 17 seasons at the end of this current playoff run. As a Ravens fan it hurt to hear despite knowing the time was coming. I have never gone through an NFL season without Ray Lewis being a Baltimore Raven. I find it no coincidence that he was the 2nd overall pick in Ravens history and his name is Ray. I also have no shame in admitting I shed a single tear when he did that last dance at midfield after Sunday's game. He said if the Ravens made the Super Bowl this season he might pull the dance out one more time, that's all I can hope for.

Sterling Blount
September 19, 1992
Older Brother of 3
Broadcast Journalism Major
Sports Addict

If I had to sum it up without giving a life story, that's who I am. A 20 year old broadcast journalism major with 3 16 year old siblings (triplets) and a passion for sports.

About 2 years ago I started a blog, maybe made 6 posts and abandoned it simply because there was no real drive to keep going. Now I've got the keys and I got places to go.

Like I said sports is my passion so that's what I'll talk about the most but there is more to life so anything can be expected.

All I ask from my readers is to always feel free to provide feedback and help promote this thing. This is an open discussion blog, no boundaries, no limitations.

We all have a purpose and we all have places to go