Bittersweet Sixteen: March Madness 2014

Well, this is definitely not one of my better years predicting the tournament, as witnessed by all of the glorious strikethroughs on my bracket.  There’s still room for me to right the ship as I’ve still got three of my Final Four teams remaining, despite losing Ohio State within the first three hours.  (See if I pick Ohio State to do anything again.)  I’m having some issues with SoundCloud – in that I haven’t purchased a pro account yet – so we’ll have a written tourney recap in place.  Will Call Radio will be back soon enough, no worries.

South Region: Flying Colors

As mentioned earlier, the South Region was the first region to become completely wrecked on my bracket after Ohio State lost to in-state rival Dayton in the first few hours of the tournament.  Though, I’m not sure I can call it a rivalry since Ohio State refuses to schedule them, and now I guess we know why.  The Dayton newspapers deservedly celebrated their win over Ohio State, and an advertisement in the paper gave a nice follow up nod for their berth into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1984.  They’ll take on the kids from Stanford who bumped off a Kansas team (without Joel Embiid) in dramatic fashion.  In the upper part of this region, Florida and UCLA took care of business as usual and will face off for a trip to the Elite Eight.

Top Performer: Dyshawn Pierre – Dayton:  At first, Vee Sanford of Dayton was going to be my choice, the man who beat Ohio State with a kiss off the glass in the final seconds, but the 6’6 forward contributed an average of 13 points and 7 rebounds over Dayton’s wins over Ohio State and Syracuse.

Predictions: UCLA will give Florida a strong run, but I see the Gators as too much.  Stanford vs Dayton is definitely the game to watch in this region, and I’ll give it to the Flyers to continue their upset run.  With that said, I see Florida defeating Dayton booking a trip to Dallas.

2014 NCAA Tourney Picks!

Well, here they are: my picks sure to go wrong.  You can join the Will Call Bracket Pool here, and you guys will probably beat me again this year.  One year will be mine.  Anyway, good luck to you guys!

Will Call Radio: 26 February 2014

This week on the show, I talk about the Olympics, the Champions League, and a little college basketball action.  Hope you enjoy the show, as always if you’ve got questions or comments you can tweet me @WillCallJD!

Will Call Radio: 8 January 2014

It’s all football all the time this week on Will Call Radio! This week I discuss the final BCS Championship, as well as the four BCS Bowls that were played, and talk a bit about the NFL Playoffs. Also featured on this week’s show is Big Blue United writer Felix Davila III to further breakdown Florida State’s big win over Auburn.

Felix and I go back to our college days where we used to host a sports talk show together, you can expect to hear more of him on the show as the year wears on.  Also, check out his NFL and college draft scouting articles at Big Blue United here.

Write to the show at WillCallRadio@gmail.com and you can also tweet me by @WillCallJD on Twitter.  Use the hashtag #PickThree and tell me who you’ve got in the Colts/Pats, UNC/Syracuse and Thunder/Nuggets!

All Swans: FA Cup Round 3, Day Two

José Cañas celebrates with match winner Wilifried Bony following Swansea’s late goal – Photo from the South Wales Evening Post

Manchester United and Swansea headlined a second day of FA Cup action and supplied a great match on Sunday morning.

Swansea got a foot out in front early when Wayne Routledge got behind the United back line between the midway line and the penalty box and finished with a pretty chip over Anders Lindegaard just 12 minutes in.  United took no time to level the score just four minutes later when Javier Hernandez deposited a cross from Alexander Büttner on a well paced counterattack.

Two-Nil: FA Cup Round 3, Day One

Theo Walcott of Arsenal reiterates the score on his way off the pitch- Photo from Mirror.co.uk

The third round of the FA Cup kicked off today across England and Wales and while every supporter had matches that they were looking forward to, no match was more anticipated than the remarkably early draw of North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham.  The match met all expectations and got off to a sparkling start with both clubs creating goal scoring chances from the get go, and there was no shortage of intensity from the players either.

Arsenal scored first just after the half hour mark with Santi Cazorla capping off a fast paced breakaway with a well placed shot to the right side of the goal.  They carried that lead into the half and then sealed the game away just 15 minutes into the second 45.  Tomas Rosicky stepped in on an unaware Danny Rose at the midway line and sprinted his way to the box and chipped Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris to move the scoreline to its final interval of 2-0.

Will Call Radio: 1 January 2014

Welcome to 2014!  On the first show of the year, I discuss the NFL Playoffs, the first half of the Premier League season, and give a short look back to 2013.  Happy New Year, everyone!

Also, you can now email the program!  Reach me at WillCallRadio@gmail.com and you can always tweet me @WillCallJD if you have ideas for the show, questions, or comments.

Glad All Over: 21 October 2013

Pajtim Kasami celebrates his spectacular volley- Associated Press

English Premier League

Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace 1-4 Fulham

Scorers: Mariappa 7′ – Kasami 19′, Sidwell 45′, Berbatov 50′, Senderos 55′

Other Things: Hangeland subbed off at half with back injury

“Oh. My. Word.”

Arlo White said it all when Pajtim Kasami got the Cottagers off the mark with a vicious right footed volley that is now a prime goal of the season candidate.  Words cannot describe that goal, the best you can do is just watch this gif multiple times over. (via 101greatgoals)  Not to disregard Fulham’s spotty defending that put them 1-0 down less than 10 minutes in, but why dwell on that?

For only the second time this year I made it to my favorite pub downtown to watch Fulham, the first being matchweek 1, which makes the location 2-0-0, as well as me wearing last year’s pinstriped shirt.  Understandable for a Monday afternoon match that featured, well Fulham and Crystal Palace, the place was empty except for me besides the staff, which was still a pretty fun experience.

Behind Enemy Sidelines

These last few days have been interesting for me from a sports broadcaster standpoint.  It all started on Thursday night in primetime on national television.  North Carolina Central hosted South Carolina State in football on ESPNU.  I currently work for NCCU Sports Network, though this past May I graduated from South Carolina State.  Football is a large point of pride at SC State, we do have the most conference championships in the MEAC after all, so the entire evening was a large exercise in restraint as a sideline reporter.  It was interesting to say the least.

On paper, the game was slated to be a fantastic contest.  NCCU started the season well, if not a bit slowly, but they seemed to be coming into form starting with a large win over UNC-Charlotte in Week 3.  SC State started the season with a couple of tough contests with Clemson and Coastal Carolina, but have since defeated North Carolina A&T in a big rivalry game that was played in the Atlanta Football Classic this season.

Both teams had big wins the week prior, Central at Howard, and SCSU against A&T and to quote just about every coach within the conference, the match was poised to be a heavyweight fights between two strong teams.

One Under Par: 5 October 2013

5 October 2013

English Premier League

Fulham 1-0 Stoke City

Scorers: Bent 83′

This past Saturday, I spent my entire morning and a good part of my afternoon participating in a golf tournament with my church; foursome, superball format.  I played the course decently, tightened up my mechanics, and even managed to uncork a 230 yard drive which I was decidedly proud about.  Over the course, my group and I burned quite a few putts that would have shaved so many more shots off of our score, but we did play par golf and didn’t manage to give any shots back, and birdied one hole to finish one under par, and not last.

Since the match was actually going to be televised where I am this morning, I set my DVR the night before, and turned off all match notifications on my phone so I could come home and watch the match unspoiled in its entirety.  It was a good plan, and it was a well executed idea.

The only flaw with my plan was that I was on Twitter thinking it was alright seeing how long ago the match ended.  I thought I was good until on my Twitter feed I saw the official Fulham account retweet Pajtim Kasami celebrating a victory.  I mean, it was great knowing we would end up winning the match, I just wish I would have seen it for myself.