Last Night's Winner: Josh Pastner
In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like Memphis coach Josh Pastner, who didn't even win! Don't think that won't stop him from becoming college basketball's new golden boy.
Memphis was supposedly decimated when John Calipari took everything but The Door with him on his way out of town, but the 32-year-old head coach took his rag tag bunch of SAT fakers into St. Louis and nearly knocked off the No. 1 team in his second game. Their conference (and the rest of their schedule, really) is still very winnable so expect a lot more "boy genius" stories before this year is out. Maybe someone will take a picture of him at an actual game before the year is out too. (Seriously, this is all the AP has on him.)
Honorable Mention: Matt Bradley. He had to leave the Rangers-Capitals game last night after getting beat up in the first period and got six stitches over his right eye. Then he scored the game-winning goal with five minutes to go in the third. That's a so-so night. [Wash. Post]
Isiah Thomas: He won a game! He won a game! I don't believe what I just saw! [Sun-Sentinel]
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As mentioned earlier, we're trying something new this week. Since Barry's last post is actually the first thing that most of you see when you get up in the morning, that's the new "Wake Up, Deadspin!" So keep sending your "Morning Crap" photos and they'll generally end up there. Then I'll be making this spot the new daily version of the "Weekend Winner," as way to highlight one key story from last night's sports action. Is this a good idea? Who the hell knows? We're holding this thing together with paper clips.
If this upsets your rigid, Rain Man-like morning schedule, I apologize. There's still ten minutes to Wapner.
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