Efird Inquires

In 1999 the traditionally staid, upper-classman Efird dorm at Wake Forest was turned into a debacherous house of vice when a record freshman class entered the Winston-Salem university and the residence life & housing office was forced to move first year students onto the upper-quad for the first time in recent history. Efird that year was like many other dorms on campuses across the country, but because just 29 freshman populated a small dorm filled with upper-class co-eds while their classmates were relegated to larger dorms across campus, Efird developed an infamous reputation at Wake and eventually forced the school’s higher-ups to temporarily ban freshman students from living in the area.
Today, former Efird residents are spread throughout the country, working mundane jobs and soldiering on through a difficult basketball season. Their college lives are in the past, yet each one would drop whatever it is they were doing at the mere mention of Punch Party VI.
This afternoon, some old Efird residents make some inquiries:

Alex Obaza
Cockeysville, MD

Don't you think Coach K should start resting J.J. Redick a little bit? Duke has locked up the regular season title and he's obviously going to get the ACC scoring record. The rest of their games between now and the NCAA tournament are meaningless (with the exception of UNC for pride). Yet, Coach K keeps him in there 40 minutes a game. Keeping in mind what happened to Kenyon Martin a few years ago is Coach K playing with fire?
Duke has clinched the ACC regular season title and all but locked up a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. You're right, it makes little sense to keep playing Redick for 39 minutes a game, as he’s been doing during the ACC season. In the Devils’ last seven games Redick has played 40, 37, 35, 39, 39, 43 and 40 minutes. Before that he had a run of three straight games with a full 40 minutes played.
Considering Duke will need everything Redick has if they want to win a National Championship, it makes sense for Coach K to give him a few breathers every now and then. I don’t think he will though. Oh, he might not play 40 minutes against Temple on Saturday if the Blue Devils take a big lead (although the Owls’ zone could give Duke a little trouble), but I doubt we’ll see Redick getting significant amounts of rest over Duke’s final three games.
Coach K is often in a position to rest players during the end of the season and ACC Tournament, yet he rarely does. While some coaches (like Gary Williams) view the ACC Tournament as a mere prelude to the NCAAs, Krzyzewski’s teams always play hard in the conference tourney and, more often than not, win them. He risks injuries to do so, likely believing that the Kenyon Martin incident is the exception, not the rule.

Are the Redskins going to cut Lavar Arrington and what kind of market do you think he'll command?
I have absolutely no clue what the ‘Skins are going to do with LaVar. Columns by Len Pasquarelli and John Clayton suggest the Redskins will have difficulty fielding a team due to their salary cap excesses but since cutting LaVar provides no help for 2006 (he’ll count $12 million against the cap if retained, slightly more than that if let go) and would be a killer in 2007 (assuming that year is capped under a new CBA), it’d be hard to imagine them letting him go.

What do you think is the more likely story line for the upcoming World Baseball Classic? All Star pitching staffs dominate stacked lineups or the other way around?
I thought teams were overreacting when they were publicly expressing their displeasure over players competing in the WBC. “Stop your whining,” I said, “it’s just a few games. They’ll be fine.” Then I saw the full rosters and discovered young Nats pitcher Chad Cordero was on the U.S. team, along with catcher Brian Schneider, and second baseman Jose Vidro was on Puerto Rico’s roster.
The 24-year old Cordero broke down at the end of last season, Schneider battled injuries all season and Vidro spent much of the year on the D.L. The moment I saw they were scheduled to play in the Tournament I immediately saw where those cautious teams were coming from. The last thing I want is Cordero throwing out his arm in a game against Japan and forcing the Nats to go with Mike Stanton as their closer. The mere thought of that is enough to drive me to the sauce. That’s why I think hitting will be the story of the day in the WBC. Pitchers might take a little off their fastball or drop their arm a little on the breaking stuff. Hitters can react the same way in a spring training game as they do the World Series with little fear of injury. Pitchers don’t have that luxury.

G. Paul Falkowski
Medford, NJ

Who has a better shot of winning the ACC tournament, Wake Forest or Maryland?
Wake Forest, but only because Maryland teams have a history of giving up under Gary Williams. I never criticize Gary, mind you. Even after a Valentine’s Day loss at home to Florida State in 2001 put the Terps on the NCAA bubble and people in D.C. were calling for his head, I was on Gary’s side. And I still am today. (Maryland eventually went to their first Final Four that season, by the way.) But his teams have a breaking point and I think they’ve hit it this year. Last night's loss to Florida State was an absolute killer. Even with a win at UNC this weekend (which won't happen), the Terps will be hard pressed to make a run in the ACC Tournament without Chris McCray in their backcourt.
Wake, having the “luxury” of being an 11 or 12 seed in the ACC Tournament can beat the 5th or 6th seed in the play-in game and then could beat a #3 or #4 they would face in the second round, particularly with the game taking place in their own backyard (Greensboro). None of this will happen, mind you, but Wake still has some fight left in them. Maryland has completely given up.

Has Dick Vitale ever loved another player as much as he loves JJ Redick? Does he love him more than you love dogs?
I wish I could check the tapes on this one, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say Redick is only Vitale’s second most-loved Dukie behind Steve Wojciechowski. Vitale loves Redick’s game and how it’s improved (more on that in a few days) but I think deep-down he really gets off on how tenacious Wojciechowski was and how he did so much with so little talent. It’s the “Rudy” syndrome, I think.
And no, Greg. Nobody will love anything more than I love dogs.

Are Dick Vitale and Mike Patrick the most unwatchable college basketball commentators ever to call a game?
When Coach K got his tech last night I thought Vitale was going to go all secret service on us and jump in front of the refs T signal to deflect such a penalty from the coach he loves.
Vitale has become a caricature of himself, while Patrick is arguably even worse. But lets cut Mikey P. some slack. For the past 15 years he's had to work with Dick Vitale all winter and Joe Theismann and Paul McGuire all fall. That's enough to make any man go crazy.
Maybe instead of torturing guys at Gitmo they could just send Paul McGuire down there. I bet after hearing 'watch this' and 'look here' a few dozen times those terrorists would be singing like Kelly Clarkson.
If my prayers are to be answered, Dick and Mike will call the Duke/Temple game on Saturday that you’ll be attending so I can do my 3rd annual “Evening with Dickie V”. Frankly, I’d be shocked if Vitale wasn’t at the game where J.J. Redick took over the all-time ACC scoring lead. That'd be like a father missing his daughter's wedding day.
(An underreported note: When Kobe scored his 81 points many people pointed out that Chamberlin got 100 without the three-point line (failing to realize that a nine-point line wouldn’t have helped Chamberlin since he scored most of his buckets in the paint). Yet I haven’t heard one person mention the fact that guys like Dickie Hemric, Johnny Dawkins, Jeff Lamp and Mark Price didn’t play with the three-point rule as Redick has. I’m not taking anything away from Redick - even if I wanted to take his masculinity, I'm already much too late - I’m just saying it’d be nice to hear it mentioned.)

How long will it take for the NFL and the players association reach a new labor agreement? WIll the 2007 season be uncapped? What are the odds of a lockout?
The odds of a lockout are 5%. I’m not going to put the squadoosh on it because anything can happen, but I’d be shocked if Tagliabue and Upshaw couldn’t come to an agreement. There's way too much at stake from the league and the union to engage in a pissing contest. Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones could gum up the works by insisting they be allowed to keep the money they get from tickets, local media and advertising, but they need to remember the sacrifices made by Wellington Mara and George Halas back in the '60s. The Giants and Bears could have printed their own money, but Mara and Halas agreed to revenue sharing so the Green Bays of the world could compete with the major markets. It's tough to argue with Snyder supporters who say he shouldn't have to give away the money his team earns, but there is a precedent. He's not the first owner who will have made a sacrifice. Snyder wouldn't have the opportunity to make boatloads of cash if it weren't for Mara and Halas' sacrifice. This is something he needs to remember.

Nick "Wolfman" Streit
Morton Grove, IL

How many teams from the ACC do you see making the Tournament?
Duke, Carolina and State are all locks to make the Tournament. BC is a lock too, but since you asked about “teams from the ACC,” they don’t fit the criteria. If the season ended today, only those four would make it. But don’t be surprised if UVA puts together a little run at the end of the season and sneaks in as well.

What are the Bush twins doing these days?
You’re not wrong about much, Wolfman. But – And there goes my back. I found out I had a slipped disc yesterday and apparently it’s slipping again. I’m going to have to cut this short. Jenna Bush is hotter though, Wolfman. And you know this.