Who You Calling Granny?
Florida guard Canyon Barry (24) shoots an underhand free throw during the first half against Charlotte in an NCAA college basketball game in the Orange Bowl Classic tournament, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016, in Sunrise, Fla. Barry is the son of former NBA great Rick Barry, who also shot foul shots underhanded. Joe Skipper/AP
It's the most wonderful time of the year - March Madness, obviously. Team BNDWGN gets things rolling (deviating almost immediately from the prepared show plan - THANKS, BRIAN) with all the possible ways the Illinois men's basketball team could find itself invited to the Big Dance. Post-recording verdict: It could actually happen.
The 2017 baseball season is practically here, and Major League Baseball has officially rid itself of the actual pitching of its four-fingered salute - the intentional base on balls - to "quicken the pace of the game". Two of us think this change is utter BS. One of us is like, just do it already. There are a LOT of opinions on the subject. Who knew?
Plenty of players in professional sports have gone on to be coaches or managers. Then there are the guys (and they're mostly guys) who think they have the business acumen to be behind the scenes in the front office. How often does that really work out? Here's a recent front-office acquisition for the Miami Heat.
Free throw percentages go up when players shoot underhand, which means they make more baskets, which means they score more points, which means they could win more games. But it's big news when anyone starts shooting free throws underhand. Why? Why will almost every player do anything to win, but they won't do that (there are exceptions)? All credit to Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast, an episode of which put Lisa on the road to thinking about this awhile back. [CORRECTION: Canyon Barry, mentioned during the podcast and, you know, our photo for this ep, plays for the Florida Gators, not whatever team we said he played for. Sorry 'bout that.]
RIVALRY:
It's Brian's turn, and he chose to re-live the pricklier-than-usual years of the Iowa - Illinois men's basketball rivalry. As in, it was a fairly boilerplate rivalry until 1990 and some stuff went down.
STATUS UPDATE:
John dishes on the roster for the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars
Lisa wishes she worked for Warren Buffett (not really, she loves her job)
Brian ponders the still-looming figure of John Thompson, Jr over Georgetown's basketball program
We'll be back with a brand new episode in a couple of weeks, where we won't talk about basketball at all. Until then, follow us @bndwgnpdcst on Twitter to get the latest and/or to tell us if you'd shoot free throws granny-style to win a game of HORSE.