Update

So, here's the deal.  There are two days left in the month and with this one post, I'll still be four blog posts behind.  Will it happen?  Who knows.  I suppose, technically, I do.  But that's not the point.  The point is, will I be able to find as many things to write about in the short amount of time left in the month to fulfill my promise of thirty one blog posts in thirty one days?

Maybe.

Let's recap a little, because it's daunting even to me.  Several of the last blog entries have been related to March Madness.  This year it really is madness.  For all four of the number one seeded teams to have lost is unbelievable.  I'm sure it's happened maybe once or twice in the history of the tournament, but it's not something that happens every year.  Who is VCU, anyway?  Of the Final Four teams, that's the one that I know the least about.

Virginia Commonwealth University was founded in 1968.  Based on its name, I figured it was founded in the 1800s.  Looking over their website, they seem to be an impressive school, academically matching UConn, Kentucky and Butler.  But, having never even been to Virginia or Kentucky or Connecticut or Indiana, how would I know?

That doesn't mean that I don't want to go.  Each of these universities (based on what little I know about them) seems to have a great campus that I would love to visit.  I like visiting college campuses and going to their bookstores.  There's something about having a tee shirt to wear of some other college than your own, just to get people to ask you, "Hey, did you go there?" to which you can respond whichever way you prefer.  Technically, you did "go there" or else you wouldn't have gotten the shirt.  But did you really attend?  Sometimes it's just fun to let people think.

Alright, that's enough rambling for now.  Here's hoping for inspiration or excitement.  Or at least blog entries.


Until next time (since I'm trying to catch up).

Am I Really Writing About Basketball Again?

This is crazy. I cannot believe that Florida has been ousted from the tournament. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Ohio State, the overall number one in college basketball was eliminated yesterday. Of course, there is a reason that games are played. If they didn't play the games and simply decided the games by the way everyone got seeded, then there would be no reason to have a tournament and get millions of people to submit brackets to various companies and hope to predict perfection.

If you had seen my blog a few days ago, you would have seen the statistic about the amount of people that had predicted the many upsets of the first day.  Only 1700 people out of 6.5 million (in case you forgot or didn't want to look back).  I wonder how many of those are still perfect?

I know mine isn't.  But does that really matter?  I mean, think about it?  To me, I never pay for any of the bracket challenges that I join.  It's all for fun, right?  I like to find out just how good I can be without having watched an entire season of college basketball.  I'm sure some of the "purists" might find this to be a little annoying, but in all of the years that I have been selecting teams in a bracket format, I've managed only twice to predict the winner.  And yet, I still didn't really win.

I will say that all of these teams deserve some respect.  Each and every team that makes it to the tournament is the best in their league, going up against the best of the best.  Sometimes the better teams prevail and sometimes, like this year, it's the underdogs, the Cinderella teams, that get to stay at the dance longer.

I've always wondered why they call it "The Big Dance", but maybe they stay with the whole Cinderella theme and it's like those that shouldn't be there are there - at the "dance".  Who knows?

Whatever it is, it's fun to watch every year and hope that my bracket doesn't end up with a lot of red splotches (the mistakes) instead of the green (the winners).  Plus, it's a great distraction from the uselessness of Spring Training baseball until the actual season starts.


Until tomorrow.

Super Sweet 16

No, I am not getting ready to throw a party for my baby girl.  And no, I am not talking about the television show on MTV.  This is about basketball.  Good college basketball.  Let's start with a riddle:

The Blue Devils, the Badgers (we don't need no stinking badgers),the Aztecs and the Cougars.  What do all of these teams have in common?  They were considered some of the best teams in college basketball this year.  And why did I use the past tense?

Because the Wildcats, the Bulldogs, the Huskies and the Gators decided to come to town to take those crowns away.  Other than the Duke/Arizona game, which was good for the first half, the other games were all very good. 

San Diego tried their hardest, but UConn had a strong three point game that SDSU could not defend.  No matter what they tried, it seemed that their three point shooters would still make it.  Plus, Kemba Walker was all over the place, scoring over thirty points for the eleventh time this year.  Crazy good player.  And though a team with a guy named Jimmer just seems destined for glory, BYU could not pull off a win against Florida.  It was good, though, since BYU was the only team to defeat the Aztecs - twice - this year, so them not going to the Elite 8 was victory enough.  Butler pulled off a minor upset by defeating a number four seed, but they played better and held the Badgers below sixty points, despite almost giving up a twenty point lead.

All in a all, a great first day of games for the Sweet 16.  Of course, my bracket is toast and has been since Pittsburgh lost and SDSU won last weekend (I know I rooted for SDSU today, but that was after deciding that I was not going to win my bracket).  Let's hope the games tomorrow are just as exciting as today's, because that will make the Elite 8 games even that much more interesting.


Until tomorrow.

My Poor Bracket

After this weekend of college basketball, the only thing that comforts me is the fact that I did not have Pittsburgh in my Final Four.  I did, however, have both Notre Dame and Kansas State advancing to the Elite 8.  Oh well.  I suppose it's a good thing that I don't do this for money, or, if I did it for money, I would at least not be losing much.

A crazy weekend for March Madness saw a number one fall (Pittsburgh) a number two fall (Notre Dame) and Arizona come away with a win by the seat of their pants.  Some people think that Texas got the bum rap when a five second violation was called on them, but I don't think so.  Watching the replay, I don't think that the player managed to signal the timeout before the five second count was up.  I could be wrong because I only watched the replay once and not a million times or so as someone must have.  Right?

Plus, being an Arizona guy, I have to at least root for the UofA, even if my brother in law doesn't like them.  They've had spunk all year and despite the fact that they have had trouble finishing off opponents in the second half, they still managed to be seeded fifth in their region.

Watching the games was rather fun, too, despite many outcomes of the weekend.  There have been a lot of great games so far and none from the presupposed "great" matchups.  Sure, some of those games were great to watch, like Duke and Michigan, but there were plenty of other surprises too. 

So, despite my apparent lack of Bracketology (as ESPN calls it), I still had a fun paying attention to the games and hoping beyond hope that I was smart enough.  As I heard the other day, over six million people had created brackets on ESPN before the tournament and after the first day, 1700 were still perfect.  1700!!  That means that those 1700 people figured that Morehead State would beat Louisville and that Florida State would beat Texas A&M.  Crazy.


Until tomorrow.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day Morehead State

Punks.  And while I'm at it, Temple.  And Richmond.  And St. John's.  How could all of these teams win?  It's nuts, really.  Actually, the game I was really worried about was Princeton and Kentucky.  THAT was a close game.  And if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's March Madness.

And while I'm not really mad at these teams (read: yes I am), I'm disappointed in the teams that they played against because they ruined my chances of winning the Bracket Challenge.

March Madness kicked off with a great set of games, several of which were decided in the last thirty seconds of the game.  Crazy.  And with each of those wins came upsets (Morehead State beating Louisville, Kentucky almost getting knocked off by Princeton and Butler beating Old Dominion on a final millisecond shot).

My alma mater, University of San Diego, has been to the big dance once since the time I went to school there.  And even then, that was only the second or third time that they had been.  And yet, Gonzaga, our school's rival in the northwest, perpetually goes to the dance and does well.  Well, except last night, when they lost out to Saint John's.  I feel slightly better about that even though it ruined that portion of my bracket as well.

All in all, the games from the first day were incredible, which, hopefully means that the rest of the games and especially the next round should be rather fun to watch.  Here's hoping at least, or I will have to find something else to get behind.  Oh wait, isn't it only two weeks to Opening Day of the better sport anyway?


Until tomorrow.