Maryland Upsets North Carolina In College Park

The Maryland Terrapins defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels Saturday, improving their record to 17-9 (6-6).

Greivis Vasquez outperformed every other player on the court, finishing the game with only the third triple-double in Maryland school history. Vasquez scored 35 points on 13-24 from the field, he had 11 rebounds and dished out 10 assists. Vasquez had recently hit a slump but definitely had a comeback party against the Tar Heels at Comcast Center today.

Maryland continues to make some noise in bracket discussions but they have a good chance of falling short of the bubble. They have quality wins against Michigan State, Miami, and now UNC, but they also have losses to teams like Morgan State and Florida State. The Terps also have a tough four games remaining in order to make their way to the bracket: Duke, @ NCST, Wake, @ UVA.

I’d love to see my Terps in the tournament, it’s been too long. Gary Williams needs this, the players need this, and the fans need this. But in order for the Terps to win their last games and get past the first round in the tourney, everyone has to have Greivis-like effort in every game.

Must See: 2009 Konica Minolta FACE-OFF CLASSIC

Inside Lacrosse Presents

2009 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic

Saturday, February 28th @ 12 p.m.

M & T Bank Stadium, Baltimore Maryland

The 2009 lacrosse season kicks off with a bang! Visit www.faceoffclassic.com to get your tickets to one of the best days of lacrosse all year. Come and watch the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays battle the Princeton Tigers, followed by one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports, the Maryland Terrapins against the Duke Blue Devils. Tickets are available but you must act fast. Don’t miss the biggest kick-off event of the entire lacrosse season.

The season starts here!

 

The truth behind ‘Question 2’

Other than voting for the next President of the United States, Question 2 was the hot topic on this year’s Maryland election ballot. Question 2 was to authorize the state to issue up to five video lottery licenses and no more than 15,000 slot machine units. The people of Maryland voiced their opinion and the establishment of slot machines within the state has been passed. Many people opposed Question 2 and continue to be angry with the final outcome. However, many of those people do not understand what the state of Maryland is missing out on.  Below is a breakdown of the top four categories that account for 94 percent of the revenue:

 

1.)    48.5% – Education. Legislation created an Education Trust Fund that provides funding to public schools through “Bridge to Excellence” formulas. Some of that 48.5% would be used to improve public schools, help to start and finish capital projects at community colleges (how about AACC?), and help with projects at other higher education institutions.

2.)  33.0% – Slot Operations. Don’t gawk at that number! In fact, 33% is one of the lowest allocations to slot operations in the entire country (that includes Vegas and Atlantic City). The guys trying to get the slot licenses bid competitively and pay a fee of at least $3 million for every 500 machines. And those fees they cough up go directly to the Education Trust Fund. Not so bad after all, right? License holders will then be required to pay $425 per machine per year in order to fund hotlines and assistance programs for those who have gambling troubles.

3.)  7.0% – Purse Dedication. You have to feed the horses! 80% would go to beef up the thoroughbred purses and 20% would go to the standard-bred purses. Juicing the purses could increase competition and bring the state more money through horse racing.

4.)  5.5% – Jurisdictions. 5.5 percent would go directly to the jurisdictions in which the slots are located. Of that 5.5%, 18% would go to revitalizing Baltimore City (including Park Heights and Northwest)

5.)  2.5% – Race Track Renewal. Bettering the race tracks and making them more attractive for larger events will increase attendance and coverage and lead to higher revenue.  

6.)  2.0% – Lottery Commission. Goes to Lottery Commission in order to cover the costs of governing slot operations.

7.)  1.5% – Special Account. Goes to an account that provides investment capital and loans to small, minority- and women-owned businesses.

 

To me, all of the above seems to be a pretty legit all-around allocation. With these kinds of numbers, we’re all looking at educational improvements for our children, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc. How much can the lonely 15,000 slot machines really make, you may ask? State legislative analysts estimate total gross slot revenue of more than $1 billion in 2012 and more than $1.4 billion in 2013. So the next time you hear someone bashing ‘Question 2’, fill them in on the truth behind the proposal, or send them here to check it out.

 

Special thanks to Donald C. Fry for providing us with the great statistics listed above. Donald C. Fry is the president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee.

Mediocre plays

Last week’s plays were a little twisted. I picked the big upsets, in both college and pro football, but couldn’t pick the easy ones. I went 3-4 on college plays with the Maryland win over Clemson really helping me out. In professional ball I went 2-2, with the two Washington plays bringing my record to .500. I believe that gives me an overall record of 5-7 on NFL plays and 4-6 on college football plays.

I’ll be putting up some more picks for this week’s football games, both levels. There is already a couple games I like in the NFL, including Buffalo (+1), Seattle (+7), and Washington (+5). In the college ranks, why stop rolling on Maryland? I look at it as riding the wave while it’s still high, which will give you a stupid cliche  as reason to stick with Washington (NFL) and Maryland (CFB).