The Sports Stew A jambalaya of local, regional, and national sports topics.

To hear Josh & Tyler’s College Hoops Power Rankings live, listen to WGEM SportsCenter every Tuesday from 7-9 a.m. on ESPN 1440 or wgemradio.com/sportscenter, where … We’ve Got Your Game.

JOSH’S RANKINGS                                                             TYLER’S RANKINGS              

1) Kansas (29-2)                                                 1) Kansas (29-2) up 1 spots 

2) Kentucky (29-2) up 1 spots                             2) Syracuse (28-3) down 1 spot

3) Syracuse (28-3) down 1 spot                            3) Kentucky (29-2)

4) Duke (26-5)                                                   4) Duke (26-5)

5) Ohio State (24-7) up 2 spots                                  5) Ohio State (24-7)

6) Purdue (26-4) down 1 spot                               6) Michigan State (24-7) up 2 spots

7) West Virginia (24-6) up 1 spot                          7) West Virginia (24-6) NR

8 ) Kansas State (24-6) down 2 spot                     8 ) New Mexico (28-3) NR

Posted under Sports

Take a trip with WGEM SportsCenter host Josh Houchins, as he recaps the weekend in his own weird way…

* What a weekend for this guy. Going from the start of NFL free agency and watching his favorite team lose players left and right to spending nearly 40 hours at the WGEM Home & Living Show … I’m a tad tuckered out. Right now I look a little like the Missouri Tigers after Kansas walked in to Mizzou Arena and walked right back out a few minutes later with a 20-plus point win. That was not pretty, Tigers.

* First, I have to salute the WGEM Radio Sales crew on a job well done at the Home & Living Show. How a small group of talented individuals can put on a show like that takes a ton of work and I tip my hat to them.

* I also have to tip my hat to the Louisiana boys high school basketball team. Growing up in northeast Missouri, the Bulldogs were amazing in all sports. The school/teams have fallen on hard times as of late and to see the boys team claim a district title was great. I know it’s still just sports, but sometimes something as trivial as sports can boost an entire school. Well done.

* Maybe “Hooch Tipping his Hat” should be a new segment on WGEM SportsCenter.

* Nobody in the history of the NBA can compare to LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki. If you can think of

I admire his mustache.

someone for each let me know.

* Quigley Down Under is Tom Selleck’s best film. “The dingo ate my baby!”

* Speaking of movies, did you notice how dead-on I was picking the Academy Awards? I love that award show, as it’s the only one I care to watch. But here are my quick thoughts of last night’s show: 1) Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were great, 2) something has to be done with the middle of the show because it’s really boring, 3) The Blind Side would have been terrible sans Sandra Bullock, and 4) Bullock is amazingly hot.

* People want to bash the Arizona Cardinals and their inability to hold onto “great” players, but just think about how “great” that defense was in the postseason. Two guys just got heavily over paid. Kurt Warner is, and will be, the biggest loss this off-season.

* The QHS boys losing shocked me. Maybe we got spoiled with how the Blue Devils finished the year last season.

* If you have a second, check the final call of WGEM Radio’s Chuck Mahon, who has been the only voice of the Blue Devils for a generation of fans. Kids that grow up now will always compare high school basketball play-by-play guys to Mr. Mahon. He is one of my radio role models with the way he called games as a professional.

Not a good start for Reyes.

* Whoever decided to put popcorn and sugar in a kettle deserves a medal. Kettle corn rocks.

* Like I said of Friday’s radio show, the Bears are acting like the Redskins this off-season. Are the Bears truly trying to fix what was wrong last year, or are they signing players just so it looks as if they’re trying? It appears to me they are placing a Band-Aid over a broken leg. Not going to help until you add something to the offensive line and also a piece to the receiving corps.

* And finally, before you start asking for Ben Roethlisberger to be slung up from the next tree, please recall the Duke lacrosse team for a second. Everybody went crazy calling for members of the team to be released from school and worse. All I say is wait for passing judgement.

– HOOCH

Posted under Sports

By Josh Houchins, WGEM Radio Host

With the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday night I wanted to make sure my picks were out in the open so I can brag when I’m right.

Plus, if I’m wrong I will most likely erase this post. It’s just easier than saying I was wasn’t right.

So, here we go.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

WHY — This movie has everything voters want. A reluctant director (Kathryn Bigelow - The Weight of Water, Point Break), a short star cameo (Guy Pearce), and a story plot based on an unwanted war. BINGO!

The Hurt Locker

I WOULD LIKE TO WIN — Inglourious Basterds. Was most creative picture by far that had a ton of violence yet was underscored by an amazing script. That’s Tarantino in a nutshell.

Best Director: Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

WHY — She got more out of one actor (Jeremy Renner) than most get out of an entire cast.

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

WHY — The guy has been a solid movie star who went deeper than the others in a movie not given a lot of looks.

I WOULD LIKE TO WIN — George Clooney, Up in the Air. For a movie I feel he didn’t want an Oscar for, I was hoping he would win one for it.

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

WHY — With the extreme lack of acting by her two co-stars in the movie (Tim McGraw as Bullock’s husband, and Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher), Bullock made the movie one of the year’s best. When you carry a movie that made a ton of money and was not a comedy, you deserve the award.

I WOULD LIKE TO WIN — Bullock. She’ll give the best speech of the night.

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

WHY — Did you see this movie? When it’s over, Waltz is the guy you remember. Not Brad Pitt or the two hot German chicks. It’s Waltz, who has the nickname “The Jew Hunter” and provides two amazing moments in the film that locked it up. The first was in the beginning when he lights up this huge pipe right after the man he is interrogating smokes an average small pipe. The other has him having a conversation with a disguised Jewish girl while eating strudel. You can hear every bite.

The pipe says it all for Waltz.

I WOULD LIKE TO WIN — Woody Harrelson, The Messenger. Ever wanted to see a stoned Oscar-winning speech? It would happen with Harrelson.

Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, Precious

WHY — You have to wonder if her outside personailty hurts her cause. She’s always been in bad movies (sans Beerfest, of course), which hurts her “serious” role. But the role in the movie strikes a cord with today’s times and she’s a perfect fit for what the average movie goer wants cinema to be about.

I WOULD LIKE TO WIN — Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart. Ever since The Dark Knight I have became a big fan.

Posted under Uncategorized

The guarantee was made. The guarantee was wrong.

And WGEM SportsCenter host, Josh Houchins, paid for it by transforming his one-time lovely mane into what’s called a Canadian Mullet following the USA men’s hockey team NOT winning gold like predicted.

Posted under Uncategorized

To hear Josh & Tyler’s College Hoops Power Rankings live, listen to WGEM SportsCenter every Tuesday from 7-9 a.m. on ESPN 1440 or wgemradio.com/sportscenter, where … We’ve Got Your Game.

JOSH’S RANKINGS                                                             TYLER’S RANKINGS              

1) Kansas (27-2)                                                 1) Syracuse (27-2) up 3 spots 

2) Syracuse (27-2) up 4 spots                             2) Kansas (26-1) down 1 spot

3) Kentcucky (27-2) down 1 spot                        3) Kentucky (27-2) down 1 spot

4) Duke (25-4)                                                  4) Duke (25-4)

5) Purdue (24-4) down 2 spots                                   5) Ohio State (23-7) up 1 spot

6) Kansas State (24-4) down 1 spot                     6) Kansas State (24-4) down 1 spot

7) Ohio State (21-7)                                          7) Villanova (23-5) up 1 spot

8 ) West Virginia (22-6)                                    8 ) Michigan State (22-7) NR

Posted under Sports

Take a trip with WGEM SportsCenter host Josh Houchins, as he recaps the weekend in his own weird way…

* For myself, I cannot recall an ending to an Olympics more riveting than the one that finished last night. It may have been the perfect ending no matter the country you were rooting for or against. In the giant realm of sports, the home country fought off an extreme charge by a neighboring country which was trying to win at a game the home team calls its own. It went into overtime which meant the audience will see a game-winning goal no matter. Well done, Olympic hockey.

* And how fitting was it that Sid the Kid had the winning goal? Hockey right now in Canada (and the NHL) is being structured around Crosby, and for him to cap a quiet Olympics with such a goal can do nothing but help the game.

Gotta get more Wilde!!

* Due to me guaranteeing an American gold medal on WGEM SportsCenter and it not come true, I will sport a Canadian Mullet this Wednesday. (And a Canadian Mullet is closely-shaved sides with top and back long and illustrious.)

* A congrats goes out to the QND Lady Raiders, who came home Sunday with a second-place finish in Class 2A girls basketball. They graduate an amazing senior class, but fans do not need to worry as I predict they may claim at least two more state trophies the next three years.

* Not sure what Olivia Wilde does, but I’d wish she’d do more of it.

* Gatorade, you waited until now to drop Tiger? Now has to be the time for an upstart company to jump at sponsoring Tiger. I have not been good at guaranteeing things as of late, but Tiger being back on top is one I feel 100-percent certain on. Grabbing a stock when it’s slightly cheaper and struggling a little has to be the right way to do business.

* I’m still standing by the fact the Rams need to trade the No. 1 overall pick. They need three things: 1) A big receiver, 2) a defensive tackle, and 3) a future QB. Draft WR Arrelious Benn, DT Dan Williams, and QB Tony Pike.

Hunter with the win!

* If golf is a gentleman’s game, then why does the PGA Tour make a stop at Phoenix?

* And actually, Pulp Fiction is one of my favorite movies of all time, just not because of Willis. I like Willis better in Die Hard.

* And finally, a very nice time was had by all at the Alzheimer’s Association “Maintain Your Brain” Trivia Night!

–HOOCH

Posted under Sports

By Josh Houchins, WGEM Radio Host

Things got a little out of hand Thursday morning on WGEM SportsCenter.

While laughing over the title of Mark McGwire’s brother, Jay’s, book title concerning Big Mac’s roid days, Mark and Me: Mark McGwire and the Truth Behind Baseball’s Worst-Kept Secret, the question was tabled on when the movie of the Steroid Era will be released.

The listeners chimed in left and right with who would play whom and so on. The WGEM SC Crew decided they would create the perfect cast for the film, which will most likely go straight to DVD.

Playing Mark McGwire will be Bill Goldberg.

Goldberg’s portrayal of Romeo/UniSol 2500 in Universal Soldier: The Return in 1999 was just a mere few votes shy of knocking off Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules) as Best Supporting Actor. Goldberg has the goatee and muscles to get the job done. (Brian Bosworth, who joined Goldberg in Adam Sandler’s The Longest Yard, will play Jay McGwire.)

Playing Jose Canseco will be Tony Danza.

Many of things to compare here. The dark, feathered hair is the first. Tony may need bulk up a bit to fill out the T-shirt, but the hair is already there. Canseco had Madonna. Danza had Angela. Hello! Madonna and Angel. That’s just too freaky to pass up.

Due to having such lovely hair, Danza will also play Tony La Russa.

Playing The Clemens Family will be The Russell-Hawn Family

It’s more about finding a good-looking acting family that has stayed together through junk and still going strong to fit the role of Roger and Debra.

Playing Sammy Sosa will be Chris Rock

Sosa always played second fiddle to McGwire. Rock always played second fiddle on SNL to the History of Eddie Murphy.

Playing Barry Bonds will be Tim Meadows

Bonds always played second fiddle to Sosa in the steroid chain. Meadows always played second fiddle to Rock in the SNL chain. Plus, Meadows was The Ladies Man and Bonds was as well.

And playing Bud Selig will be Abe Vigoda and Bea Arthur

This will be a two-part deal as Vigoda will play the happy, smiling Bud, while Arthur will play the sour Bud. You need very accomplished thespians to play the multi-faceted commissioner of baseball.

What’s that? Bea Arthur is dead? Oh. Bud’s been the same in baseball for a couple years now anyway. Not a big deal. A dead Bea could do just as good as a job.

Posted under Sports

By: Josh Houchins, Radio Host

The AP reported Monday that the UFC is headed to the big screen.

The mixed martial arts league reached an agreement to show its main fights in over 300 movie theatres, starting with UFC 111 on March 27 featuring UFC Welterweight Championship bout between Georges St. Pierre versus Dan Hardy.

Quincy or Hannibal?

Right away I contacted Stephanie Schoonover, general manager at Quincy Showplace 6, to see if the fight would be available in town.

“Unfortunately, it takes special digital projectors and that’s something we do not have,” she said.

What about Hannibal?

“We’re not set up satellite-wise,” an employee at Main Street Cinema 8 said. “We have the digital projectors but still lack a little of the equipment.”

That's a big no-no to UFC in the area.

Can they not just merge for the one night? OK, maybe not.

Schoonover also said that she does not see Quincy Showplace 6, one of the 97 theatres owned throughout the Midwest by Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, obtaining digital projectors anytime soon.

“It’s a very expensive process and all of that is up to AMC,” she said. “The closest (Kerastotes) theatre to carry the fight will be Springfield West.”

(AMC refers to AMC Entertainment, which signed an agreement with Kerasotes in January to acquire substantially all of the assets of Kerasotes.)

So, it looks like you’ll just have to stay home and drink beer instead of catching a fight on the big screen with popcorn.

Sorry.

Posted under Sports

To hear Josh & Tyler’s College Hoops Power Rankings live, listen to WGEM SportsCenter every Tuesday from 7-9 a.m. on ESPN 1440 or wgemradio.com/sportscenter, where … We’ve Got Your Game.

JOSH’S RANKINGS                                                             TYLER’S RANKINGS              

1) Kansas (27-1)                                                 1) Kansas (27-1) 

2) Kentucky (26-1)                                           2) Kentucky (26-1)

3) Purdue (23-3)                                              3) Purdue (23-3)

4) Duke (23-4)                                                  4) Syracuse (25-2)

5) Kansas State (22-4) NR                                 5) Duke (23-4)

6) Syracuse (25-2)                                           6) Ohio State (21-7) NR

7) Ohio State (21-7) up one spot                          7) Kansas State (22-4) up 1 spot

8 ) West Virginia (21-6) down 1 spot                   8 ) Villanova (22-4) down 3 spots

Posted under Sports

Take a trip with WGEM SportsCenter host Josh Houchins, as he recaps the weekend in his own weird way…

* USA! USA! USA! In our (yes, the use of the term ‘our’ is OK in this sense as it is a country vs country event) win over the Canadians last night, I feel we should eat nothing but Canadian bacon and maple syrup all day long. Plus, all medicines should be half-off. Canada’s good for bacon and cheap drugs!

* I may be one of the few, but I do feel a United States gold medal in hockey would mean a lot for the sport in the states. It would put the sport on the tips of people’s tongues and in the first part of each conversation. But, then it’s the NHL’s obligation to make it stay there. Will they? Not likely. But the chance may arrive soon.

* Yes, the Orlando Sentinel used THIS HEADLINE while commenting on Danica Patrick’s 31st place finish on Saturday. Should either receive a handshake or firing.

She's marrying NHL's Mike Comrie? Didn't he date Lohan, too?

* Hilary Duff (right) is engaged. I hope someone sends her a career as a wedding gift.

* Want to know what happens during commercial breaks on WGEM SportsCenter? Check it out.

* Thoughts on Tiger Woods:

1) I don’t care about his personal life. I want to watch him play golf,

2) My mother said it best with this: “Does the media know that people don’t care?”

3) ESPN’s Tom Rinadi really said the Tiger statement could go down as a “Where were you when…” moment? It will IF Tiger falls apart and struggles to regain his once-dominant form. But I will not compare that to 9/11. I do not compare that to the Challenger exploding.

4) If Tiger was any other human right he would have sold two books, sold a ton of public appearances, and made as much money as possible.

* Does MTV play music videos anymore?

* As it turns out Ohio State may be the best team in the Big Ten. Purdueis ranked higher, yet the Boilermakers and Buckeyes have each won on the other’s home court. My big determinate in saying one team is better than the other always comes down to road wins. Both have won at Michigan State and both lost at Wisconsin. Key win? I truly think it’s the Buckeyes’ easy win at Illinois when the Illini were on fire.

Big win ... two times!

* Gary Williams went from being the goat to the you-almost-screwed up coach. Wow, how crazy was that game against Georgia Tech???

* And finally, a big tip of the hat to the QND Lady Raiders. They waltzed through the regional and sectional with the state tournament in sight. Some are saying the only way they may lose is my beating themselves. With so much experience, I do not see that happening.

–HOOCH

Posted under Sports