Jeff Capel, 79-41 and updated

Update (FRIDAY, March 10): VCU has extended Jeff Capel's contract two years, keeping him with the Rams until 2012. See quotes below.

CAA Sidebar Two:

The men’s basketball coach at Virginia Commonwealth University, Jeff Capel, has solidified the Rams program in the four years he’s been head coach. Capel is already an established success at an age, 31, that most Division I coaches-in-the-making are still assistants.

Early in the Hofstra game Coach Capel reminds his players they, too, need to score points.

Capel says he loves Richmond. We’ll see. Because the offers for jobs elsewhere are going to keep coming.

It’s no secret Capel, who as a player started at Duke for four years, can coach. With a father who has coached at the collegiate and professional levels, Jeff’s pedigree is legit. He spent part of last summer as one of two assistant coaches of the Gold Medal-winning USA entry in the World University Games in Turkey.

Capel’s overall record to date, 79-41, is an improvement on what his three VCU predecessors, Mack MacCarthy, Sonny Smith and Mike Pollio accomplished in their first four years on the job. And, they all had prior head-coaching experience. By the way, only Smith lasted longer than four years. Sonny compiled a 136-127 record over nine seasons (1989-98); he is VCU’s all-time winner as a coach.

The gamble VCU took with replacing the overly seasoned windbag, MacCarthy, with a green but talented Capel has paid off. So, kudos to VCU President Eugene Trani for his vision, and I congratulate Capel for making his boss look good.

Now what?

Can Capel go on to establish VCU as the best team in an ever-improving Colonial Athletic Association? Or, frustrated with his inability to recruit quality big men to play in the Fan District, will he start listening to those offers? Will he start thinking he may have taken VCU as far as he can?

Nick George hits a sweet jumper in the Coliseum

Next year Capel loses Nick George, his most valuable player for the last two seasons. But he has a real comer on hand in freshman point guard Eric Maynor. Swingman Jesse Pellot-Rosa has the potential to become an all-conference player.

If Capel could travel through time and plug in a young Bernard Harris (VCU 1970-74) or Ren Watson (VCU 1975-79), he’d have a squad that would scare a lot of people. Alas, quality big men are in short supply at the mid-major level.

Having no idea whatsoever of what Jeff Capel’s personal or professional goals might truly be, I won’t guess at how long he is likely to coach at VCU. But I can say that as long as he does, VCU is lucky to have him. Capel is a class act.

Photo credit: F.T. Rea

Update quotes:

Regarding his contract extension Capel said, "I am very excited about remaining at VCU. We have done so many great things and have built such a strong foundation with the help of all the VCU fans. It is truly an honor to be part of such a remarkable program. I cannot thank the VCU family enough for its passionate support."

"Jeff is an asset to VCU athletics and the entire University," said University President Dr. Eugene Trani. "We feel the contract extension solidifies and assures the stability of the future of one of VCU's very important programs."

Skinn should walk the plank

CAA: Sidebar One

The Colonial Athletic Association once again put on a good show with its postseason men’s basketball tournament. Just prior to the tournament’s start it was announced that the CAA will continue to stage the event in Richmond through 2012, which reads as good news to me. This year’s champion, UNC Wilmington should represent the league well in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

On Sunday the Seahawks will learn from the NCAA who and where they will play next. As well, the CAA will find out if it really has arrived, to the extent that it can generate an at-large bid for a second, or perhaps even a third member school.

The CAA’s commissioner Tom Yeager saw his vision realized in 2006, when the league brought Georgia State and Northeastern aboard to expand to 12 members. Both new teams won games at the tournament. Even the Old Lefthander, Charles “Lefty” Driesell (pictured above, still objecting to calls by the refs) showed up at the Coliseum to cheer on his Panthers (Driesell coached Ga. State from 1996-2003). So it has been a good year for Yeager.

At this desk, I have just two bits of advice for Commissioner Yeager, regarding the CAA’s just finished tournament:

Unsolicited Advice No. 1: Figure out a way that prevents George Mason’s little hoodlum of a point guard, Tony Skinn, from suiting up in Patriots colors again. Whether it’s handled by the conference or the school doesn’t matter.

Having watched Skinn play for three seasons at Mason I can’t say that I’m surprised that he would do something cheap on the floor. But what he did to Hofstra’s star guard Loren Stokes -- a very deliberate, sneaky punch to the groin -- was beyond the pale. That was surprising, no, shocking.

The video replay of the incident makes what happened all too clear. Put it this way -- if you don’t issue a strong statement on this occasion, what would it take? Would it make a difference if Stokes’ injury prevented him from playing the next day, or ever?

Just because it appears Stokes was not seriously injured doesn’t let anyone off the hook. The act was what it was. Coming on the heels of two other nationally noticed incidents of the worst kind of sportsmanship, perpetrated by collegiate athletes on state football teams -- UVA’s Bill Butler and Va. Tech’s Marcus Vick -- now we see a George Mason player do something that maybe tops them. It was creepier, anyway, if not more dangerous.

If the Patriots win, and Tony Skinn appears in a second-round NCAA game, or in the NIT, you know that awful low-blow video clip will play many more times. So, maybe it would be better for both the conference and George Mason to make it absolutely clear that such behavior will not be tolerated, and it will be punished severely.

Sorry, a one-game suspension is just not enough in this case. Skinn should walk the plank; he’s a senior, so it’s a moot point as to whether his suspended status ought to extend beyond this year.

Unsolicited Advice No. 2: Down in the CAA Zone, 86 the hotdog eating contest (pictured right) for next year.

Not so fast, union-busting breath

At the bottom of the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Editorial Page today is an item billed as: The Bottom Line. In its entirety it reads as follows:

“A House of Delegates committee vote against Danny LeBlanc's nomination as Secretary of the Commonwealth is a direct consequence of the Kaine administration's threatened smash-mouth tactics against Republicans opposed to tax hikes.”

No argument is made in support of this pronouncement.

One might be left to wonder if the anonymous writer, speaking on behalf of the newspaper’s editorial department, is applauding the House committee’s unprecedented move, or not. That is, unless one is familiar with what the chief of the editorial staff, Ross Mackenzie (depicted above), has written about trade unions over the decades, going back to the bad ol’ days of the Byrd Machine.

Or, maybe even a new reader of the RT-D can see there's a telltale clue in that one sentence opinion piece. It is the word “direct.”

Direct, in this case, not only says there is linkage between the stated cause and its effect, it also suggests that the connection is natural, something one would expect to be there. In other words, the RT-D is saying that Gov. Tim Kaine should have known better and he only brought this on himself.

Well, sitting at my desk in the penthouse of SLANT Towers, I must throw a penalty flag on that deceptive play. As Johnny Carson might have said, “Not so fast, union-busting breath!”

The unprecedented thumbs-down vote on a Virginia governor’s traditional prerogative to appoint the people he wants for his cabinet is not something anyone should have expected, because of the meaning of the word “unprecedented.”

If Virginia’s House Republicans are at odds with Kaine over roads and taxes legislation that should have nothing to do with rejecting an appointment. That is, unless one wants to use any monkey wrench in the box to do any injury possible to the enemy, or simply to strike a partisan pose.

The logic of saying “direct consequence,” would say to me that it would also be OK to set fire to a neighbor’s mustache, because he’s a Dallas Cowboys fan. Or, it’s fine to pour ink into your boss’ fish tank, while he’s out to lunch, as payback for the obnoxious bumper stickers on his monster-sized SUV. And so forth...

Plus, if there’s one topic RT-D (and the Richmond News Leader) editorials have consistently foamed at the mouth over, for as long as I can remember, it’s trade unions. According to Mackenzie, the union movement -- rather than having brought a measure of dignity to the working man's life -- is, and always has been, the spawn of Satan, or communists, whichever is worse.

Bottom Line: The rejection of Danny LeBlanc is about his union background. It’s not about roads or taxes.

'Toon by F.T. Rea

The Barry, the Shame

If there’s a harder guy to like in baseball today than long-ball machine Barry Bonds, well, I can’t think of him right now. The Barry’s contempt for the National Pastime’s fans and history is palpable in his every appearance on television. Now a new book is about to be released on Bonds, "Game of Shadows," that should convince a few more stubborn Giants fans to see him my way.

This AP story tells more:

“...Authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who led the newspaper's coverage of the BALCO scandal, recount in remarkable detail the specifics of Bonds' drug regimen, which they write started in 1998 with injections of Winstrol, a powerful steroid also linked to Rafael Palmeiro. According to the book, Bonds was using two undetectable designer steroids, informally known as the cream and the clear, plus insulin, human growth hormone and other performance enhancers by 2001, when he hit 73 home runs for the Giants to break Mark McGwire's single-season record of 70 set in 1998.

“The seven-time NL MVP enters this season with 708 homers, seven shy of passing Babe Ruth and 48 from breaking Hank Aaron's career mark.”

Babe Ruth remained silent on the Bonds-on-steroids topic. Better not ask crusty old Hank Aaron, he might tell you what he thinks.

Webb Throws Hat In

Today, in Richmond, James Webb threw his hat into the ring. Finally, Webb has officially become a candidate in the Democrats’ June senatorial primary, seeking the party’s nomination to face Republican incumbent George Allen in the general election in November.

When the Democratic party was winning more elections than it has in recent years, it was a lively bunch that allowed for differences of opinion within its ranks. Honest debate and fair compromise were seen as healthy aspects of a vigorous political party. Since allowing that natural style to degenerate into bitter arguments over syntax and purity tests, many Democrats have been so busy striking poses they couldn’t be bothered with the gritty business of winning elections.

My hope is that James Webb’s candidacy can lead Virginia Democrats out of that swamp. Then, too, I see that some of Webb’s rabid supporters are already insulting Democrats who oppose them in overblown ways that may make coming together after the primary more difficult. That won’t help defeat Allen, either.

If Webb can make most anti-Republicans realize that staying at home on election day, or throwing in with third parties, has been steadily electing Republicans -- politicians with an agenda that is heavily weighted toward enlarging and protecting the fortunes of the super wealthy -- then Webb will once again be an American hero.

For my money, the richest people in a society aren’t intrinsically better suited to make decisions for one and all. But the neoconservatives of the Republican Party sharply disagree with me on that. How about you, dear reader?

However, my fear is that if Webb wins the primary, those anti-Republicans who easily found ways to not support Al Gore and John Kerry will again seize on arcane differences they have with the nominee, so they can turn their backs on him, too.

Yes, Webb’s maverick streak could be a problem for the more-donkey-than-thou wing of the Democratic Party. If Webb can overcome this problem he should defeat George Allen in a state -- make that a “commonwealth” -- that’s nowhere near as conservative as it was when it elected Democratic governors Chuck Robb, Gerald Baliles and Doug Wilder in the 1980s. Think about that...

Bonus incentive: If Allen loses I suspect he’ll move back to Southern California and we’ll be rid of him for good.

Photo Credit: Washington Post

CAA Champs: UNC Wilmington

For the fourth time in the last seven years UNC Wilmington has come to Richmond in the first week of March and left town with a bid to the Big Dance in hand. The Seahawks took an early lead on the Hofstra Pride in the CAA championship tilt at the Coliseum, then withstood a furious second-half comeback -- UNCW hit 11 straight free throws down the stretch -- to win the tournament: UNCW 78, Hofstra 67.

Now Wilmington (25-7) must wait until Sunday, Mar. 12, for the NCAA's selection committee to name its opponent and the site of their first-round match-up.

The Seahawks were once again paced their junior guard T.J. Carter, 6-3, 195, who scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Carter's 52 points and 26 rebounds in three games made him an easy choice as the event's Most Valuable Player. Beckham Wyrick scored 12 points; Wyrick and John Goldsberry, who added nine points and 10 assists, both earned all-tournament honors, too.

Hofstra was paced by Loren Stokes' 26 points and Carlos Rivera's 16. Both were named to the official all-tournament team, as well as Northeastern's Shawn James.

Hofstra (24-6) will be considered a team "on the bubble" until the field of 65 for the NCAAs is announced. Due to its improved national standing the CAA seems poised to join the conferences which send more than one member to the NCAA tournament.

George Mason (23-6), because of its sudden fall from grace in Richmond, may have popped its bubble. Tony Skinn's now infamous deliberate punch below the belt of Hofstra's Stokes, documented by the camera on Sunday night, certainly won't help the Patriots' cause. Thus, Mason may have to forget expectations and settle for a trip to the NIT.

Whereas, ODU (21-9) surely will hear from the NIT's committee and be glad for a chance to play again. Northeastern (19-11) and VCU (19-10) are waiting, hoping to hear from anybody.

CAA Tournament: Low-lights

George Mason's senior point guard Tony Skinn is a player with a style I've never particularly liked. Am I surprised by his low blow -- punching an opponent below the belt -- in yesterday's semi-final action at the Coliseum? No, not all that much. For the details of this story, read Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Paul Woody's account of how Mr. Skinn embarrassed his school yesterday and what his coach did about it.

"...Some things are bigger than a basketball game, though, and George Mason coach Jim Larranaga acknowledged that last night.Two hours after George Mason had lost a semifinal game in the CAA tournament to Hofstra, Larranaga recommended to George Mason Athletic Director Tom O'Connor that senior point guard Tony Skinn be suspended for the Patriots' next game."

Kudos to Mason's coach, Jim Larranaga, for doing the right thing with Skinn, right away. That, in marked contrast to what Va. Tech's football coach, Frank Beamer, did last season with his badboy ex-quarterback, Marcus Vick, when Vick deliberately stomped on an opponent's leg and stayed in the game, nonetheless.

wagging the blog

Lists can be fun. Passing the time making up one’s top ten favorite movies, to compare with others, is a harmless diversion. That is, if killing time is the goal. Arguing over who were the ten best basketball players of all-time in the Atlantic Coast Conference is, for many, a better way to make a happy hour pass than discussing the merits of the line item veto. And so it goes.

But best political blogs? Rating blogs by colors? Most influential bloggers? I pick you and you pick me... Horsefeathers!

That sort of malarkey, which there has been a raft of lately, reads like the bleatings of wannabes trying to get into a fraternity they fear mightily is way too cool for them. What ever happened to that tangy Groucho Marx spirit, when he cracked that he wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have him as a member?

Now some of the so-called "political bloggers," are so vexed with virtual life, as it has become online, they ask: Are there too many blogs? In other words, maybe YOU should stop blogging? Do they want to clear the air in search of truth, or so there will be more time for us to read THEM?

The self-absorbed bloggers -- is that redundant? -- who are promoting such notions, as if they should be part of any real political debate, should probably go back to masturbating in private. Please! As well, the fretting bloggers should maybe consider leaving the top ten list-making to Letterman and wags in bars.

Baseball and Real Estate

OK the bad idea for a new baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom has fizzled and is no longer in play. Now comes what seems to me to be another bad idea for a new baseball stadium at the old Fulton Gas Works. However, this time Mayor Doug Wilder is not asking tough questions of the developers. No. This time he's on board with the movers and shakers behind the scheme.

What's the difference? I wish I knew.

So far we know less about the new deal, but on the face of it this one sounds like it might be nearly as bad as the aforementioned fizzler so many know-it-alls told us a year ago was a done-deal. The Richmond Braves general manager, Bruce Baldwin, was issuing ultimatums last spring. I wondered then how many hats he was wearing in that big deal, which seemed to be more about real estate than baseball.

Now, I wonder how the newest big deal is different. Isn’t it, too, mostly about real estate and who makes the money? Bill Glass, writing about the real estate aspects of the situation for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, seems less than convinced of the merits of the latest effort to replace The Diamond. His words ring true for me. That, while I'm a baseball fan, as well as a loyal Atlanta Braves fan, too.

"...Time Warner owns both the Atlanta Braves and the Richmond Braves. It is no secret that Time Warner is trying to sell the teams. My question is this: What incentive is there for Time Warner to spend its money for a new stadium when it plans to sell its baseball teams?

On the other hand, if there is a commitment to build a stadium without their dollars, doesn't it stand to reason that the value of the team increases to the benefit of (guess who) Time Warner?

Although there have been no details regarding the financing of a new stadium, you can bet that it will be the taxpayers who are on the hook.

CAA: Championship Notes

According to the CAA's voting its two best coaches for the 2005/06 season are meeting in its championship game. Last week UNC Wilmington's coach, Brad Brownell (pictured left), was named as Coach of the Year at the conference's Thursday night pre-tournament banquet. Hofstra's Tom Pecora came in second in the voting, which was done by the league’s coaches, sports information directors and members of the media.

Coach Brownell, in his fourth year as the Seahawks head basketball coach, came to Wilmington in 1995 to serve as an assistant under Jerry Wainwright. Brownell was also selected as the CAA’s best coach for the 2002/003 season. Coach Pecora is in his fifth season running the Hofstra program.

The minutes on the floor in a tournament begin to really add up on the third consecutive day of play. Pecora played only six men today; Brownell went 10-deep.

Three of Pecora's best players have had little or no rest in two nights of action. Out of a possible 80 minutes of play in two games Carlos Rivera has played them all; Aurimas Kieza has 79 minutes; Antoine Agudio has 78. Whereas, Brownell has only one player, John Goldsberry, with over 60 minutes on the floor in the two tilts. Brownell's other key players are down in the 50s in minutes played.

Before the championship game starts tomorrow night both of these coaches will have already made many of the decisions which will determine its outcome.

Photo Credit: UNC Wilmington

CAA Tournament: Day Three

Game 9: Playing against the stingy defense of the Seahawks of UNC-Wilmington, Jose Juan Berea, pictured left, scored 17 points and dished out five assists for Northeastern. Sounds good, but with what he got in the way of help from his teammates it wasn't nearly enough to extend the Huskies run in the CAA tournament: UNC W 69, Northeastern 54.

Perhaps the six-for-19 field goal performance from the league's 2006 Player of the Year, Berea, was really the more telling stat. Wilmington, which earned a first-round bye, thus advances to tomorrow night's championship game by defeating an opponent playing for the third consecutive day.

The victorious Seahawks were paced by Beckham Wyrick's 11 points/17 rebounds and Todd Headley's 14 points/nine rebounds.

Game 10: Carlos Rivera played every minute of the game, scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in leading Hofstra to a place in the championship game, the last CAA men’s basketball game of the 2005/06 campaign: Hofstra 58, Geo. Mason 49.

Now the scenario that will test the expanded CAA's supposedly improved clout. In some minds George Mason's record (23-7) and RPI standing (No. 23 in last week's index) merit an at-large invitation to the Big Dance. Now the CAA's champ, with the automatic bid, will either be Hofstra or Wilmington.

So, will Mason get the call? The last time the CAA got two berths in the NCAA tournament was in 1986. Navy, led by David Robinson, won the postseason tournament and the University of Richmond was the at-large team invited. Actually, that's the only time it has happened in the league's history.

Game 11, the Final Round, to be played on Mon., Mar. 6:

The CAA tournament's championship game will begin at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Coliseum. It will pit the event's No. 3 seed, Hofstra (24-5), against the No. 1 seed, UNC-W (24-7). The Seahawks have won the CAA tournament three times (2000, 2002, 2003). Hofstra became a member of the CAA for the 2001/02 season; this is its first appearance in the league's championship match-up. ESPN will carry the contest live.

Prediction No 3: In the last game Wilmington's depth should be a factor.

CAA Tournament: Day Two

In the photograph above, shot at the 9:54 mark of the first half of game 6, Northeastern's shot-blocking sensation Shawn James (No. 21) was called for fouling ODU's Alex Loughton. It looked like all-ball to me. Nonetheless, the only upset of the second day of competition in the CAA's tournament at the Coliseum was the second game, in which Northeastern, seeded 5th, topped Old Dominion, the 4th seed.

The final scores for CAA Tournament Day Two were:

UNC-W 69, Delaware 56
Northeastern 71, ODU 63
Geo. Mason 61, Ga. State 56 (OT)
Hofstra 72, VCU 66

The top performances of Day Two, stats-wise, were:
Jose Juan Barea (Northeastern) - 20 points, 9 assists
Alex Loughton (ODU) - 14 points, nine rebounds
Jai Lewis (Geo. Mason) - 12 points, 13 rebounds
Antoine Agudio (Hofstra) - 34 points, 4 assists
Nick George (VCU) - 28 points, 12 rebounds
In the photograph above Geo. Mason's senior Jai Lewis, 6-7, 275, grabs a rebound with 1:20 remaining in regulation time of game 7.

If you draw a line from the top of the "5" you can see on Lewis' uniform horizontally to the right, the bald man sitting on the aisle in the stands is Coach Charles "Lefty" Driesell. At times it seemed Lefty, who once coached Georgia State, 1996-2003, was the only fan the Panthers from Atlanta had in the room. With attendance in mind, the CAA's officials had to be happy the heavily-favored Patriots escaped with a victory, as Mason is the only Virginia team remaining in the field of four.

Sunday's Schedule for Day Three:
Game 9 at 3:30 p.m. - Northeastern (19-10) vs. UNC-W (23-7)
Game 10 at 6 p.m. - Hofstra (23-5) vs. Geo. Mason (23-6)

Prediction No. 2: These four teams will all surely play more basketball after this tournament, somewhere. With this a particularly good year for the conference, RPI-wise, ODU (21-9) will probably look pretty good to the NIT, too. The Rams of VCU (19-10), the league's sixth place team, may even be on the NIT bubble. And, today I look for the two semi-final games to be low-scoring affairs.

If the refs let the defense-minded favorites, the Seahawks and Patriots, muscle their opponents, both could win convincingly by taking the air out of the ball. But if they can't shake the underdogs loose, if the games are called tight or shooters get hot, it could be trouble for the top-seeds in both cases. That's because the Huskies and the Pride both have all-star playmakers who can always get off a good shot.

Photo Credit: F.T. Rea

Laura Loe

Last night I saw an usual art opening at the Rentz Gallery, at 1700 W. Main St.: “The Spirit of Life.” It was unusual because there was so much recently-done art from just one artist. And, it was unusual because I liked it all so much, without any reservation. The Laura Loe show was a knock-out. The overflowing crowd was interesting, too.

Laura Loe (do click on her site's link to see more) is an artist who has hit her stride. Her confidently composed paintings explode off the wall. And, get this -- they sold off the wall, too. Loe's paintings were still selling like hotcakes when I left the gallery.

With the opening of the Andrew Havenhand show at Main Art, one block to the east (also last night), suddenly the Fan District art gallery scene seems to be holding its own against other parts of town.

CAA Saturday

Friday's Results:
Delaware 52, Drexel 49 (an upset)
Northeastern 74, JMU 56
Ga. State 72, Towson 64 (another upset)
VCU 62, Wm. & Mary 59 (whew!)

Diminutive guard Herman Favors (No. 50) paced Ga. State's upset of Towson with his 20 points. Heading into the second day of CAA competition at the Coliseum the top performers on the winning teams from Friday’s opening round games, stats-wise, were:

Harding Nana (Delaware) - 16 points, six rebounds, three blocks
Shawn James (Northeastern) - 24 points, nine rebounds, nine blocks
Jose Juan Barea (Northeastern) - 17 points, seven rebounds, 12 assists
Herman Favors (Ga. State) - 20 points, four rebounds, seven assists
Jesse Pellot-Rosa (VCU) - 10 points, five rebounds, three steals

Today's (Saturday) Schedule:

12 p.m. - UNC-W vs.Delaware
2:30 p.m. - ODU vs. Northeastern
6 p.m. - GMU vs.Ga. State
8:30 p.m. - Hofstra vs. VCU

Prediction No. 1: Every smart CAA fan in town, except Hoftra's, will be rooting for VCU on Saturday night. Nobody wants to play the Pride.

Photo credit: CAA

Road to Empire Darkening, Narrowing

The cosmic clock of history is ticking on how long the USA can continue to stubbornly follow its imperial policy in Iraq. The road under that policy's wheels is paved with what were once seen as good intensions. Now events have trumped policy.

Maybe you once thought it was a good idea to up and depose a dictator halfway around the world, to look for his supposedly hidden weapons, and to replace him with an invented-out-of-thin-air democracy. However, no matter what you might have once believed about the honesty of the invasion of Iraq's planners, that was then. Get over it.

Today, William F. Buckley is on target with his observation: "Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans."

Yes, events that we here in Virginia strain to understand are now driving the bus in Iraq. America's wishful ability -- with its empire-building policy, and its military might -- to influence the moves of the runaway bus is fast fading out of the picture. Hey! poor old Uncle Sam isn't even on the bus, anymore, he's running along beside.

If you're old enough to remember, don't you have that Vietnam-era sense of dread that news of what’s actually happening over there, trouble-wise, is being systematically minimized by official sources? So, I wonder how long we truly have before the irritant of America's ongoing occupation of Iraq splatters the conflict across borders into a regional religious war -- Sunnis vs. Shi'ites.

Meanwhile, I have no trouble picturing the last American helicopters taking off, with disposable people clinging on... and dropping off. How long does America have to get its military forces out of Iraq before it's way too late?

Justin Raimondo, writing for Ether Zone, opines on all that with his "On the Road to Empire":

“As Iraq descends into chaos and the nascent Iraqi state implodes even before it is born, support for a continued U.S. military presence in the region is plummeting: a new poll shows a whopping 62 percent of Americans think the war is going badly, up from 54 percent just last month. The really shocking news for the administration, however, is that a Zogby poll, conducted in cooperation with Le Moyne College, shows 72 percent of U.S. troops serving in Iraq believe we ought to get out by the end of the year...”

CAA Honors

From the Colonial Athletic Association:

Northeastern University senior guard Jose Juan Barea was named as the Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball Player of the Year for 2005/06 last night at the league’s pre-tournament awards banquet in Richmond, Va. The selection was made by the league’s head coaches, sports information directors and members of the media, who also named UNC Wilmington’s fourth-year head coach Brad Brownell as the season's Coach of the Year. (Pictured above are Barea and CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager.)

The 2006 CAA All-Conference Team:
Jose Juan Barea, Northeastern, Sr. (G) 6-0; 170
Nick George, VCU, Sr. (F) 6-6; 205
Jai Lewis, George Mason, Sr. (F) 6-7; 275
Harding Nana, Delaware, Sr. (F) 6-8; 230
Loren Stokes, Hofstra, Jr. (G) 6-3; 175

Barea made an immediate impact in his first season in the CAA, leading the league in scoring with 21.4 points per game. He ranks second in the nation this season among Division I schools, with 8.4 assists per game. Plus, he's the only D-I player to average better than 20 points and eight assists per outing.

Click here to read more about CAA awards.

• Click here to follow any CAA tournament game's statistical story live.

CAA Tournament

The Colonial Athletic Association, which has staged its post-season men’s basketball tournament at the Richmond Coliseum since 1990, has officially accepted the City of Richmond’s proposal to continue to host the event through 2012. (VCU's all-conference senior forward Nick George is pictured right.)

Tom Yeager, the CAA's only commissioner since its 1985 birth, said, “In our opinion, Richmond’s commitment to the CAA provided the unquestioned best opportunity to nurture and showcase the conference’s premier event."

Yeager went on to tout the estimated $25 million impact on the metro area's economy the tournament should provide during its five-year contract extension. Meanwhile, here's the schedule for the 2006 version of the CAA Men's Basketball Championship, to be held March 3-6, at the Coliseum:

Friday:
Game 1 at 12 p.m. - Drexel (15-15, 8-10) vs. Delaware (8-20, 4-14)
Game 2 at 2:30 p.m. - Northeastern (17-10, 12-6) vs. JMU (5-22, 2-16)
Game 3 at 6 p.m. - Towson (12-15, 8-10) vs. Ga. State (6-21, 3-15)
Game 4 at 8:30 p.m. - VCU (18-9, 11-7) vs. Wm. & Mary (8-19, 3-15)
Saturday:
Game 5 at 12 p.m. - UNC-W (22-7, 15-3) vs. Drexel/Delaware winner
Game 6 at 2:30 p.m. - ODU (21-8, 13-5) vs. Northeastern/JMU winner
Game 7 at 6 p.m. - GMU (22-6, 15-3) vs. Towson/Ga. State winner
Game 8 at 8:30 p.m. Hofstra (22-5, 14-4) vs. VCU/Wm. & Mary winner
Sunday:
Game 9 at 3:30 p.m. - Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6
Game 10 at 6 p.m - Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8
Monday:
Championship Game at 7 p.m.

SLANTblog will be providing daily coverage of this event. Stay tuned.

Photo credit: F. T. Rea

Art: What It Is

by F. T. Rea

In a Richmond, Virginia courtroom about 20 years ago I witnessed an entertaining scene in which an age-old question -- what is art? -- was hashed out in front of a patient judge, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the parade of exhibits and witnesses the attorneys put before him. The gallery was packed with paint-speckled-blue-jeans-wearing art students, gypsy musicians, film buffs, and various other stripes of weekend anarchists. The defendant was a handbill artist.

At the crucial moment a popular college art professor was testifying as an expert witness. He was being grilled over just where to draw the line between what should be, and what should not be, considered as genuine art. The Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney asked the witness if the beat-up piece of paper in his hand -- the offending handbill, which had gotten its creator busted -- could actually be "art."

“Probably,” shrugged the prof. “Why not?”

The flyer, promoting a midnight show at an area cinema, had been posted by the theater's manager on a utility pole near a college campus. Rather than pay the small fine for breaking The City’s law forbidding such posters on poles in the public way, the manager opted for a day in court. His defense had his attorneys attacking the statute itself as overreaching. They asserted their client had a right to post the handbill and the public even had a right to see it.

The stubborn prosecutor grumbled, reasserting that the flyer was no more than “litter.”

Eventually, having grown weary of the high-brow vernacular being slung around by the witnesses supporting the theater manager, the prosecutor tried one more time to trip the clever witness up. As Warhol's soup cans had just been mentioned by the art expert, he narrowed his eyes to ask, “If you were in an alley and happened upon a pile of debris spilled out from a tipped-over trashcan, could that be art, too?”

“Well,” said the witness, pausing Jack Benny-like for effect, “that would depend on who tipped the can over.”

The line went over like Gangbusters. The courtroom erupted into laughter. The obviously amused judge fought off a smile. The crestfallen prosecutor gave up. The City lost the case. Although I got a kick out of the crack, too, I’ve always thought The City's mouthpiece missed an opportunity to hit the ball back across the net.

“Sir, let me get this right,” he might have said, “are you saying the difference between art and randomly-strewn garbage is simply a matter of whose hand touched it; that the actual appearance of the objects, taken as a whole, is not the true test? Furthermore, are you telling us that without credentials, such as yours, one is ill-equipped to determine the difference between the contents of a trashcan and fine art?”

Yes, the prosecutor gave up too soon because, whether the wise-guy professor admitted it, or not, that is exactly where he was coming from. A smarter lawyer could have exploited that angle.

Still, the prosecutor’s premise/strategy that an expert witness could be compelled to rise up to brand a handbill for a movie, "Atomic Cafe," a green piece of paper with black ink on it, as “un-art” was absurd. So, the wily artist probably would have one-upped the buttoned-down lawyer, no matter what.

Perhaps the question shouldn’t be -- how can you tell fake art from real art? After all, any town is full of bad art, and good art, and all shades of in-between art. Name your poison.

Rather, it’s probably better to ask -- what is worthwhile or useful art? Then you become the expert witness.

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