History of Dixie State vs. BYU-Hawaii

Nov. 29, 2006: The first ever meeting between the Seasiders and Dixie State College. Before DSC was part of the Pacific West Conference and back when the school nickname was still Rebels, these two schools faced off in St. George, Utah.

This was Dixie State's sixth game ever as an NCAA Division II school, and it was the first game for the Rebels at home as such a school. Dixie State was ready for the jump to Division II. The basketball team went 11-16 that season, and this game against BYU-Hawaii was a sign of things to come. The Rebels lost by six, 78-72, but this was the beginning of what has become a young, yet stingy rivalry between BYU-Hawaii and Dixie State College.

In just the third meeting between BYU-Hawaii and DSC, the boys from St. George got a win in this series. A two-game series between the two in St. George on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24, 2008: The Seasiders won another close matchup against Dixie State. This time it was by eight points. However, the two teams came out against each other the next day and this time it was Dixie State that got the win. It was a 15-point win and a statement. The next year when DSC would join the PacWest, Seasiders beware because DSC was here to take over the conference.

However, BYU-Hawaii went on to win the next three games against DSC. Was the conference takeover just a myth? A fantasy? The answer was nay.

On Jan. 7, 2010, BYU-Hawaii made its way to Burns Arena in St. George. With BYU-H's star Lucas Alves hobbled by injury this was the perfect opportunity for the Red Storm to take over the conference. DSC got its second win in the series to make the overall record 5-2 in favor of the Seasiders.

When the teams met in Laie, Hawaii, on Feb. 18, 2010, I thought the time to take over the PacWest was then and there. However, it would be halted as the Seasiders knocked off the Red Storm by 17. But for the first time, DSC clinched a share of the PacWest title. And it clinched the title with BYU-H.

But even the conference championship wasn't enough to make this rivalry feel like it was merely a dream on my part. The stage was set: the conference co-champions on the floor together on Jan. 27, 2011, DSC introduces its new mascot Big Dee, and the Utah Jazz Bear was in town to try and excite the crowd. But it wasn't meant to be. The Red Storm suffered their largest margin of defeat against the Seasiders at Burns Arena on that day. An 83-61 win for BYU-Hawaii. I thought it was over. I thought there was no way we could lose by 22 points at home and then go to Hawaii and beat the Seasiders.

The boys proved me wrong. As my friend Mark would say, "Richard, don't be a fair-weather fan."

A little bit of magic? Yes. A double-overtime win 99-96 gave Dixie State its first ever win in Laie. Stunned, elated, stoked. Whatever the word may be. The rivalry was back on.

The two teams met up a month later in the NCAA Division II Tournament: the Regional Final, a.k.a. the Sweet Sixteen. BYU-Hawaii got the win, but it set the stage for the game 16 days ago.

Feb. 4, 2012, it was a game that featured large leads by both teams, but it ended in high drama. With Dixie State leading by one point, the Seasiders had a shot to win the game. BYU-H's Jake Dastrup pulled up for a jump shot to win the game, but it bounced off, giving DSC the win.

So here we are this week. Dixie State clinches at least a share of the conference championship with a win over BYU-Hawaii on Wednesday, and because the Red Storm will have beaten BYU-H twice they will win the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

This actually feels a little unfamiliar even after having won back-to-back PacWest championships. It's the Seasiders who look to play spoiler with the Red Storm trying to secure a spot in March Madness. BYU-Hawaii holds an 8-4 series lead over Dixie State, and it was inches/seconds away from being 9-3. It's a young rivalry, but it's a great rivalry because for the last three years the conference championship has been on the line. It's on the line again for Wednesday's meeting.

Rivalry Week

The Sports Geek is back. And what better way is there to get back into the swing of things than a themed week? It's Rivalry Week at Dixie State College (although I'm sure there's maybe 100 of us out of 9,000 who even know that) so I'll be taking a look at the two men's basketball games this week to help build the hype.

On Monday, I'll start the hype leading up to the game on Wednesday against BYU-Hawaii with a recap of the past four years playing against the Seasiders. How did this rivalry start? Why is it important? Of course, the Red Storm can clinch a share of the Pacific West Conference championship by beating BYU-Hawaii on Wednesday. What's funny is that these roles were completely opposite just two years ago. The Red Storm have become the dominant team in the PacWest, usurping the Seasiders' power. We'll go over all those aspects tomorrow.

I'll have a little fun on Tuesday. My friend Mattie Tueller attends BYU-Hawaii. He and I will have a trash-talking duel to represent our schools proudly. I've been saving up some good Seasider jokes for the past four years. BYU-Hawaii guard Jet Chang will likely be in there somewhere among the insults.

Wednesday is game day so I'll have to be a little more serious. I'll quickly break down some of the key matchups on the floor for the game between Dixie State and BYU-Hawaii. I'll most likely be giving some good praise to Griffon Jones and *cue Denzel Washington voice* my man Maurice Cole *end Denzel voice*.

I'll be shifting focus on Thursday to a more general Rivalry Week topic: pep rallies. Why doesn't Dixie State have pep rallies? Do they fear no one will show up? I understand that this isn't high school anymore, but how are people supposed to know it's Rivalry Week when there are no pep rallies?

Finally, Friday will be the final day of the special Rivalry Week blogging for the Sports Geek. I shift my focus to the Silverswords. Dixie State's first ever nationally televised basketball game took place against Chaminade University, and since then these two schools share an under-the-radar rivalry. I'll talk about Dixie's clean sweep of the Silverswords in 2011, which included a win against Chaminade in the NCAA Tournament.

Get ready for a great week. Rivalry Week is unofficially official right here on the Sports Geek blog. Seasiders and Silverswords are coming to town.

Football!

Let's face it. The reason I haven't been blogging is because now that school has started I have plenty of things to write, but this blog is important. The world needs some goodness from the Sports Geek.

Now that the school excuse is out of the way let's focus on the other reason I haven't been blogging: Football has started, and I've been way too busy watching rather than writing.

Quick hits on football season:

1. College football season is awesome, but we were tricked into thinking every matchup was awesome. Oregon/LSU was the only good matchup to watch, and it turned out to be a cruddy matchup.

2. The lockout jacked up the NFL during week one. It was apparent if you watched any offense, except of course for the Saints and Packers.

3. Your favorite team is never as good as you want them to be.

Alright, so we have the quick hits taken care of. Hopefully those of you who had a rough week in your fantasy leagues are looking to make some adjustments. Picking three Kansas City Chiefs players on my fantasy team was a big mistake. To Jamaal Charles, Dwayne Bowe and the Chiefs defense--the Buffalo Bills? Really? I was banking on that fact that you all were playing the Bills. My week one loss is attributed to you.

Actually, my fantasy team was a [expletive] this week--a perfect storm if you will. Phillip Rivers was meh and Steve Smith (of the Carolina variety) was on my bench. Who knew Cam Newton would have a career game in his first game? I don't think I'll get that same kind of production this week when my favorite team--the Carolina Panthers--takes on the Green Bay Packers. But Smith has been moved to the starting rotation, so we'll see what happens.

Look for more awesome Fantasy tidbits as the season goes along. I've been playing fantasy football since I was eight-years old and have only made the playoffs twice. That's right, I'm the Arizona Cardinals of fantasy football.

But I'll continue to give advice as best as I can.

NBA Lockout leaves Sports Geek crying in rain

As I’ve been reading multiple blog posts from one of my roommates I decided to incorporate his idea of having readers listen to different songs while reading my blog posts.

With the NBA Lockout now in full effect I will give you my two cents of sadness. The theme song for the NBA Lockout is Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” That’s what I’m listening to as I’m writing this post, and I feel that it sends the message of what the NBA Lockout is all about.

“Beat It! Beat It! No one wants to be defeated!”

That’s the slogan of the NBA owners with the lockout now in place. They do not want to be defeated by the players any longer. All three sides of this triangle are at fault—and no, the fans are not third side of this pyramid of shame.

The NBA owners created a system 12 years ago that allowed for big contracts to be signed. It also created a system where players would be forced to stay with the teams that drafted them—they could make the most money by staying with those teams. That didn’t matter after last year’s circus called NBA Free Agency highlighted by LeBron James’ “Decision” to kick it in South Beach with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Now the owners find themselves in a situation where they’re paying ridiculous sums of money to the likes of Darko Milicic. That was pillar one to fall.

Pillar two was the sliminess of player agents. The agents knew the system put in place. They’re purpose in life is to sell the players they represent at the highest price. They taught the players to take advantage of the system.

Players are naïve and greedy, so they were the third pillar to fall. They allowed the agents to teach them how to take advantage of the system, and we now have the problem we have.

The fans are the fourth pillar, and without the other three pillars it doesn’t matter that the fourth pillar is strong.

So now the NBA is in lockout mode with the NFL. Unlike the NFL, progress doesn’t seem possible in the NBA. It’s a very clouded future. Obviously the situation will be fixed one day and we’ll have basketball again, but when will that day be?

I love the NBA so I know I’ll be back to support the sport, but I fear that this lockout is going to hurt the popularity. The NBA has been the best it’s been in years. This lockout could set the sport back 10 years.

LeBron doesn't want to be what we want him to be

Charles Barkley's comments about LeBron James were interesting, but we've heard them before. He said it's not LeBron's personality to be "a killer" like Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan.

I don't know what's going on inside LeBron's head nor will I pretend to make logical guesses as to what's going upstairs underneath that black headband. All I know is he has a whole hosts of physical talents that aren't being used the way he should be using them.

When LeBron dunks people in the lost city of Atlantis feel it. He's powerful and I know my jaw drops every time I see him jam it home. Why isn't this happening more often in the NBA Finals? Are the Mavericks really playing such stifling defense that the King himself can't penetrate to the hoop? D-Wade is getting there, so why not LeBron?

The Heat's game plan in Game 3 was awesome at the start of the game mainly because Mario Chalmers was hitting shots. Lebron and Wade were taking the ball to the basket, and it eventually left Chalmers wide open for 3-point shots. This game plan was effective, but it seemed to be abandoned. If the Heat go back to this game plan then I can see LeBron going back to being the King we wanted him to be.

Barkley said it isn't LeBron's personality to be "the killer." Well if that was the case then we wouldn't have seen "The Decision" take place on ESPN. You want the publicity, LeBron, but you shrink during the moment that counts? Again, I have no idea what's going on inside his head, but something is not adding up.

I wanted the Heat experiment to fail. I hated them when LeBron joined forces with Wade and Bosh. But I'm intrigued to see what happens. If the Heat win the NBA Finals this year then the experiment will have worked, and you'll see other teams perform the same kind of unions, assuming the inevitable lockout doesn't ruin the current model.

But in order for the Heat experiment to succeed then LeBron needs to stop being an introverted eighth grader. It's time for him to be the guy. I'm not a fan of the team, but the NBA is better right now than it's been in MY lifetime. People in '80s will say their era was the best, but I wasn't born until 1987, so today's NBA is the best it's been in my lifetime. Today's NBA needs the Heat to win the title--RIGHT NOW.

Only LeBron knows what he really wants, but actions speak louder than words. He clearly wanted a championship so bad he was willing to let the state of Ohio turn against him. Now, he needs to prove that he wanted that championship. Wade and Bosh need him in order to win two of the next three games.

Goodbye, Shaquille

Shaquille O'Neal's retirement has a special place in my heart.

He was more than just a center who won three championships with my favorite team. He was the person who helped me become interested in basketball. I was a seven-year-old kid who had just started getting into the NFL, and it was time to take my talents to the NBA.

The first time I saw Shaq on TV was the one of the coolest moments of my childhood. He immediately became my favorite basketball player. My first jersey I ever had was a Shaquille O'Neal Orlando Magic jersey during the '94-'95 NBA season. I even remember feeling sad when I watched SportsCenter one night, and the reporter on screen talked about the Chicago Bulls' game plan to doubleteam Shaq was the key to beating the Magic.

When Shaq moved to Los Angeles to join the Lakers I joined the Lakers with him. His fan-friendly personaliy and powerful dunks always made Shaq easy for me to love.

Even when he was traded to the Miami Heat and I was supposed to hate him, I couldn't do it. I kept my fandom for Shaq at bay until it was OK for Lakers fans to start loving him again. Even when Shaq went to play for the Boston Celtics this season I still had a soft spot for the big guy.

Shaq represents my entire childhood of being a basketball fan. With him gone I can honestly say it's the end of a huge era of my life. I have his basketball cards. I still have his Orlando Magic poster framed with the caption, "RIM SHAKER." Yes, I even liked "Kazaam."

I'll miss you, Shaquille O'Neal. The era had to end someday.

My Top 5 Shaq Moments:
5. 1997-Shaq returns from injury to hit a buzzer-beater fadeaway from about 10 feet to beat the No. 1 seed Utah Jazz.

4. 2009-Shaq wins co-MVP of the All-Star Game with Kobe Bryant. The under-Dwight-Howard's-legs pass to himself was amazing. Oh and don't forget his pre-game intro with the Jabbawockeez.

3. 2000-Shaq helps bring home the first title of a three-peat against the Indiana Pacers.

2. 1998-Shaq chooses not to shoot a 3-pointer in a blow-out win against the Milwaukee Bucks. They left you open, Shaq! Take the shot!

1. 1992-2011-Shaq's whole career is my top moment. Even during his twilight years as his skills and power deteriorated he still had the personality to make people happy.

NBA Finals: Whoever wins I lose

Now that the Miami Heat officially eliminated the Chicago Bulls with their Dallas Mavericks-like comeback in Game Five, we can now look toward the NBA Finals I didn't want to see.

The Finals have an "Alien vs. Predator" feel to them seeing as how whoever wins I lose.

I was a part of the group of people that immediately hated the Heat for forming the dream team with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. I refuse to jump on the bandwagon now. And as much as I should root for the Mavericks so I can say my Los Angeles Lakers were defeated by the champs, I can't do it.

I wanted to see the Bulls back in the Finals. It would have been very NBA-on-NBC-esque. Plus, how cool would it have been to hear the Bulls intro music during their starting lineups for the Finals. I have goosebumps thinking about it, but it wasn't meant to be this year.

Instead, the team we all wanted to fail is in the Finals against this year's "America's Sweetheart." (*GAG*)

I'm pretty much over my Lakers hangover, but not having Oklahoma City vs. Chicago is a bummer to me. I'll watch the Finals this year because I love basketball and even though I hate the Heat they are fun to watch, but I still feel like a Finals loser this year.