Thank You George Michael

George Michael died today and that made me sad. Before there was Chris Berman or Dan Patrick or Scott Van Pelt or any of the SportsCenter greats, there was George Michael, blazing a trail on Channel 4, WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.

I grew up in Baltimore and didn't get channel 4 as a so-called local station. But in the days before everyone had cable, what you had on your house to get better TV reception was a big old antennae and from our home in Owings Mills, Md., we could pick up the DC nightly newscasts. This was when channel 4 was actually on channel 4 and channel 13 meant you literally turn the dial to 13, etc. Remember VHF and UHF? I do, and I remember 'finding' George Michael on Channel 4 one day. I have no idea when exactly I found him, but I remember being captivated.

After radio gigs as a rock DJ in Philly and New York, George got to DC in 1980, the year I turned 10. So I'm guessing I found George shortly thereafter, as a sports obsessed 10 or 11-year-old who needed as much of a fix as he could find. And boy did he deliver. Before anyone was doing national highlight shows, George revolutionized what to expect from your local sports anchor. I used to make sure our family changed the channel at night to catch him, rotating the dial on our antennae to make sure the channel came in as clear as possible.

And when everyone else was doing 5-7 minutes of local scores, George was rocking The Sports Machine, a 30-minute highlight extravaganza that put everyone else to shame. He had such infectious enthusiasm and star quality that you watched him as much as the highlights. The Sports Machine ran on Sunday nights and it was great. I would hope that George would include the Orioles in his packages so I could see the home team. He would even do some goofy stuff, like pro wrestling highlights when no one else was putting them on the sportscast ... and this was before pro wrestling was "out" as a "fake" sport, so it was semi-controversial.

I want to thank George Michael, for doing what he did. He had a vision to make sports highlights more than just a few minutes. But a long-form experience where you could settle in and see different highlights and players and games from around the country. He also seemed to really love what he was doing, night after night, and had great chemistry with his team, especially newsman Jim Vance.

Ironically, as the number of channels and shows has exploded over the years, one thing that's been taken away is the ability to watch the local news in DC from Baltimore. I remember feeling kinda proud to have been watching George long before the Sports Machine went national. I knew he was great, and then the nation saw him being great too as the show was picked up in syndication.

George Michael was a guy who was really good at what he did. He had vision and energy and charisma and he really knew how to deliver.

Villanova 95, Maryland 86

Is anyone surprised?

Maryland put up a good fight and certainly showed that they can hang with a top 5 team, but in losing 95-86 to Villanova, the Terps once again fell short against a quality program.

So that's oh for 3 this year, 1 for 4 if you count Indiana, a team that isn't very good.

I dutifully watched the game, but did not expect Maryland to win and hence wasn't that upset when they didn't. There were definitely some positive signs. First, Maryland came back from a 16 or 18 point second half deficit and cut it back to 3. Second, Jordan Williams seems to be gaining more and more confidence and appears to be the real deal in terms of a frontcourt player. Third, Sean Mosley is really stepping up as a leader on the team and looks to be in amazing condition. He is starting to emerge as a star and that's just what Maryland needs because....

Grevis is a mess right now. Not sure if it's in his head or he's just streaky or what, but he has been downright bad so far this season. He's shooting 32 percent from the field and 28 percent from 3. Maryland needs GV to play like he can play - at a very high level - or they are just not good enough to beat the Villanovas of the world. Eric Hayes, Landon Milbourne and the rest are all nice, complimentary players. Greivis, when he's on, is something special. A triple-double threat kind of a player who can take games over and carry his team to big wins. But when he's bad, he leads you in the opposite direction, shortening possessions with bad shots and turning the ball over and generally not helping the team win.

Basically my feeling is that as Grevis goes, so go the Terps.

Quick Juan Dixon Update

This is a tad wacky. So after Juan Dixon got cut from the Hawks, his agent found him a job in the Greek professional league with a team called Aris. From what I can tell, Aris is bad, but the key for Juan (and any American trying to make an impact overseas and make some dough) is that he'll get minutes and be expected to score. And once he does those things, he can latch on with a bigger club with more money that plays in the EuroLeague - which pulls the best teams from the country leagues to play against one another.

Anyway, in Juan's first ever professional game outside the US, his team played Panathinaikos -- the defending EuroLeauge champs -- whose starting 2 guard just happens to be .... Drew Nicholas. Sarunas Jasikevicius is also on the team.

And guess what? Both Nicholas and Dixon scored 12 points, though Nicholas' team won, 70-62.
Here's the boxscore.

That had to be a really strange feeling for Juan to face off against Nicholas - and lose - in playing his first pro game outside the NBA. Nicholas has been in Europe since 2003 and has done extremely well for himself. Here's hoping Juan finds similar success. If nothing else, he will (hopefully) finally get regular minutes and do what he does best - score.

Atlanta Hawks Cut Juan Dixon, Ensuring Bad Karma Forever

Sad day for Juan Dixon today and Maryland fans as the Terps' all-time leading scorer was cut from the Hawks roster. Alas, they had a glut of guards and no room for the man who overcame so many odds to become the leader of 2 Final Four and one National Championship team.

Dixon cut by Hawks.

Gary Williams resurrected Maryland basketball, but it was Juan Dixon who took the Terps to the promised land, willing the 2002 team to the national title. For the last eight seasons, Dixon bounced around on NBA teams. When given minutes, he always put up points, but at a skinny 6-3 without explosive power or natural point guard skills, Juan never really found a long-term home in The League.

Regardless, he overcame so many obstacles to earn minutes at the highest level, including a 35-point performance in a playoff game for the Wizards.

I'm guessing Juan's next stop will be overseas, where he can make a handsome living and hopefully become the man again for a European team. He's one of the all-time great inspirational stories in sports period. Good luck Juan.

Hoops season is just around the corner

Maryland basketball media day is next week, along with midnight madness. Should be a really interesting season for the Terps. For the first time in a while, squad seems to have the pieces in place to be a factor in the ACC and not just hold on for dear life and hope to squeek into the NCAAs. Big year for Gary and the boys coming up.