The Beast : In O-Town with heart in the Gables

Greetings from the “happiest place on earth” … for many, at least. The Beast is blogging from Orlando, on the road with my very fortunate little man, at the Mouse House for the third time in his three years on this planet. Zach will be bliss-filled, mingling with Buzz Lightyear and the Disney cast of character, while dad will be physically waiting in line hours on end for three-minute rides, while mentally back in Coral Gables, thinking about ‘The U’ – my “happiest place on earth”, without a doubt.

I live for this time of year. A rejuvenated Miami baseball headed to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest. Men’s basketball fresh off a NIT win over Florida Atlantic. Katie Meier and her under-loved, under-appreciated women’s squad read to make some noise in the Big Dance. Football on spring break with a few good practices under their belt and chomping at the bit to get back after it at Greentree in the coming days.

Find me a nice tailgating chair, hand me a cold one and find me a shady spot on San Amaro Drive and I’ll be just fine taking in all the Cane-related action.

Regarding all that’s going on, let’s start with men’s basketball. They missed the NCAA tourney (again) and dropped a must-win heartbreaker against top ACC seed North Carolina, but got a much-needed win against the Owls. This team isn’t perfect, is far from great and makes it’s share of boneheaded decisions, but I’m happy for Frank Haith and his guys. They’re in the NIT and finally put together the type of game you’d expect.

Malcolm Grant and Durand Scott were playing within the offense while Reggie Johnson was bringing it on the boards, like you’d expect. There were moments when Big Reg had brain-freeze, doing something with the basketball other than going to the hoop – but it’s hard to knock a guy that gives you twenty boards. The Canes did a great job not turning the ball over (only seven on the night) and made most of their free throws when it counted.

The crowd wasn’t as big as it should’ve been for the post-season, but hopefully more folks get out there this Monday night when Miami hosts Missouri State at The BUC. A few more wins and the Canes will be trekking to New York, which would be a great way to end an up and down season.

Regarding baseball, this team has finally found its offense and Harold Martinez is starting to break out of his slump. The Canes have won four-straight and I believe they’re only going to get better. It was a rocky start, but as we know there’s a huge margin for error in college baseball. Especially this early in the year. Come May, the Canes should be rolling.

On the football tip, several story lines here. The latest, as reported by Adam Kuperstein from NBC Miami, states that six Canes will be suspended for the season-opener at Maryland. The sidelined six-pack included Seantrel Henderson, Storm Johnson, Kelvin Cain, Keion Payne, Dyron Dye and Devont’a Davis.

The report stated that the suspensions are for something other than academics, though UM hasn’t confirmed or denied this report. Either way, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a few guys fell out of line at some point during this coaching transition. Al Golden and his staff are going to lay down the law from the get-go and I’m sure that not only won’t these six slip up again, but the message was heard loud and clear by the rest of the team. Miami coaches are serious and guys will quickly learn it’s their way or the highway. Good job, coaches.

In other college football-related news, our favorite smug, sweater vest-wearing buddy up in Columbus, ‘The Senator’ himself, Jim Tressel has stated that he wants the same punishment as his five players sidelined for the first five games of the 2011 season. Of course Coach Tressel fails to realize he lost the right to choose his own punishment when he lied and hid what he knew about ‘Tattoogate’ last fall.

I shouldn’t be giddy when other programs slip up, but I’ll enjoy knowing that Terrelle Pryor and his merry band of thugs will be watching from the sideline, while Senor Sweatervest takes in the action on the couch in front of the tube this September.

As a college football fan, you don’t want to pile on a dirty program as the NCAA could be knocking on your door tomorrow, but I’m confident right now that Miami is as by-the-book as possible. Despite his flaws, Randy Shannon cleaned things up and ran a tight ship and Coach Golden is proving he’s a no-nonsense guy, as well.

Truth be told, I’d rather Miami played a fully-loaded Ohio State team this fall – eliminating any excuses from delusional Buckeye fans when the Canes pound their asses into the dirt – but at day’s end, a win is a win is a win, so get it however you can take it.

IN OTHER NEWS : There’s been a lot of talk behind the scenes about the athletic director search and I’ve been struggling with how much I should share this early in the process. It’s very early in the process, so I’m more inclined to let some things play out – but I will say that there is an internal candidate who is very high on the list and has the attention of the powers that be.

I can also tell you that I feel pretty confident that a former staffer who’s gone on to bigger and better things has been sniffing around the past few days.

Should either of these gentlemen land the gig, I can confidently say that we’ll be in good hands, so my fingers are crossed. There’s been so much (too much) turnover in the athletic department the past few years, so my hope is that whomever earns the job has a very solid understanding of the challenged that exist in Coral Gables and inside the walls of Hecht.

To truly have an understanding for the inner workings of ‘The U’, I personally believe someone has to have worked at 5821 San Amaro Drive at some point. UM is a much different beast than other prominent universities nationwide.

We’re hoping next week is a big one for allCanes Radio. I put in requests for several members of the football team and staffers. We also have some Big Dance and Little Dance basketball talk, as well as 3’s squad as Jim Morris is back at the helm. If you haven’t tuned in lately, you’ve missed some great interviews and I encourage you to dig into the archives to check out some of the past broadcasts.

… and for those of you who missed the memo, leave Saturday March 26th wide open as we’ll be welcoming five NFL-bound Canes in-store for a meet-and-greet and autograph session. The party starts 5pm, lasts for one hour and we’ll be hanging with Leonard Hankerson, Orlando Franklin, Demarcus VanDyke, Damien Berry and Colin McCarthy.

For more info call 800.226.4247, email Mr. allCanes or check out last week’s edition of allCanes Radio.

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