Is there a better time in the year for any sports fan than now? I mean, you have college football with all the excited surrounding the BCS rankings and bowl bids. You have pro football getting into the final stretch of the regular season with the fight for the playoff spots getting more and more interesting. I have to give a shout-out to my team – Go Patriots!!! Talking about dealing with the injuries and still fighting for a playoff spot… What an amazing wining culture they have up there in New England. It is good to see the Cowboys finally bouncing back with T.O. playing like he used to (instead of crying about lack of the touches). Finally, the college basketball season is underway now with the first major upsets to nationally ranked UCLA and Memphis. Seriously, I can’t imagine better way to spend your weekend than in front of TV or at the actual games.

Rackauskas says SMU head coach Matt Doherty preaches the value of Metroplex bragging rights when the Mustangs tip off against TCU (photo by Travis Johnston).

Speaking of games, did you get a chance to check out the SMU Mustangs at home for the SMU Tip-off Classic Tournament? I was there for two games (Friday and Sunday) so let me start by giving you guys my thoughts.

First of all, can somebody call Dick Vitale and tell him to add Paul McCoy to his “Diaper Dandies” list? Seriously, the guy is simply phenomenal. The most impressive thing for me personally is his poise and leadership. We all know that it is a tough transition to make from high school to college, because it is such a difference in speed and competition level that it usually takes most freshmen quite a few games to get comfortable playing at that level. Paul looks like he’s been doing this for a few years. He is not afraid to take the lead, he’s vocal on floor, and it seems like he performs the best when the team needs it the most. For his efforts, he rightfully earned the All-Tournament team honors as well as Rookie of the Week for Conference USA.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the team. Even though we lost the game Sunday against Illinois State (SMU went 2-1 for the weekend), I still saw a lot of improvement in team. Overall, we have number of guys who are tall, athletic and fast. I was really impressed with the speed of the game, which creates a very exciting playing style. It definitely helps that Coach Doherty can utilize 9-10 guys in his rotation who will be very important down the road as the guys get very valuable experience. I also think we did a great job switching defenses, the man-to-man and zone. I know the coaches and players will watch the film and work very hard to fix all the little things that cost us a perfect tournament.

But now it is time to prepare for the next game, and this one is really important as we take on TCU in Fort Worth.

The best thing about the college athletics is that it is based on different rivalries. I mean, how exciting is to watch the North Carolina-Duke matchups … or Texas vs. Oklahoma … or Ohio State against Michigan… That’s what drives the college athletics and it creates great excitement. Well, TCU is our biggest rival. Like our coaches used to tell us every time before the TCU game: “The winners get the bragging rights for the year in DFW area!” … and it is a big deal!!! Since we have been struggling a little bit as of late against the TCU in other sports, basketball always gets pressure to redeem the university, and I guarantee you that the best thing in college basketball is to win on the road, in a very hostile environment, against your biggest rival school — it feels great! I love being in a hostile environment, when it is only your team versus the home team and its fans. There isn’t anything better than to leave the whole building quiet at the end of the game and have their fans leaving for home in silence!!! I was part of the team that beat TCU two years ago in Fort Worth. The game went up and down the whole time while both teams struggled to establish any significant lead.

We had a great chance to close the game at the final minutes, and a few costly turnovers almost cost us the game. We were down by two with seconds to go but we were able to pull an amazing play and Dez Willingham’s last-second shot gave us the win (assisted by yours truly)!!!

So let’s hope that our guys will play extremely hard, give all they got, and pull another exciting win on the road in the Froggie land. I know they will be ready for it. It’s rivalry time!!!