March Madness is my favorite time of the year, and this time, it lived up to its bidding. This has been the greatest tournament I can remember.
The first day alone--unbelievable. A one-point game to start things off, two overtime games, upsets, a buzzer beater (Murray State over Vandy). Just incredible. My bracket was already hurting badly after day one (just 10 out of 16 games correct) and I didn't care. Seeing all those close games--there is just nothing like it.
Then Friday was a little bit meh. Nothing all too exciting happened, but I'm not sure those of us watching could have taken much more drama. you just needed a little bit of a break from the absurdity.
No worries though, things got back to insane for the weekend. Saturday and Sunday games were awesome, with Northern Iowa's major upset of Kansas being the signature game from the two days. All in all, the greatest opening two rounds in my tournament-watching career: mid-major's have ruled so far, the majority of games have been close and Duke is still alive and playing well.
Surprises
How about Cornell. The 12th seeded Big Red have won by 13 and 18 points in their two games. They have just been raining threes, and its been phenomenal to watch, even though they beat Temple in the first round.
Jon Diebler. The Ohio State guard has been absolutely on fire, and making the Buckeyes look like a legit title contender all of a sudden. He's shooting 50 percent from distance, and that is cause for concern for the rest of the field. If he keeps that up, Ohio State is actually good.
Disappointments
The A-10. Being a fan of the conference I came in hoping they would do well in this tournament. Instead, Richmond and Temple both laid eggs in the first round. Granted, the teams they lost to then dominated in the second round, but still. They looked like garbage in their games. Xavier has barely survived its first two games now, but they of course always seem to do that.
Purdue. The Boilermakers came into the NCAAs looking like a d2 team against Minnesota. They barely reach double digits as a team in the first half of that game. Then, they were a popular pick to get upset by Siena in the first round without Robbie Hummell. Now my boy Mike Liberio's squad is in the Sweet 16. Pretty awesome turnaround from them.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
...And so it begins
It's noon, and the dance is starting in just about 20 minutes. I haven't been this excited in a long time. I've got some studying to do, and I can't think of a better way to do it than with some Florida-BYU/Old Dominion-Notre Dame/Robert Morris-Villanova in the background. There is no better time than this.
Three games going on at the same time to start things off. 16 games will be played today. 16! O man its going to be great. I finished my bracket late last night, and think it is a pretty decent one. I went with the boring pick of Kansas to win the national championship, but still made some gutsy picks in the earlier rounds, so it isn't the lamest bracket of all time.
Things to keep an eye for today:
Saint Mary's vs Richmond: Should be a really good 10-7 matchup between two great mid-major programs. I'll be looking for Richmond to win. They are a lot of fun to watch and it would be good to see an A-10 team do well. By the way, without even meaning to, I picked the A-10 teams in this tournament to do extremely well. I have Richmond in the Sweet 16 and Xavier and Temple each going to the Elite Eight. Kinda Crazy.
Wake Forest vs Texas: Maybe the dog game of the tournament. These two teams were both looking waaaaaayyyy better than they finished on the season. They are probably the two biggest end-of-season collapses in the entire tournament field.
Okay, its 12:18, time for me to concentrate on other things. Hope everybody is able to watch the games. If you don't know about it, check out March Madness on Demand to watch any of the games in the Tournament.
Three games going on at the same time to start things off. 16 games will be played today. 16! O man its going to be great. I finished my bracket late last night, and think it is a pretty decent one. I went with the boring pick of Kansas to win the national championship, but still made some gutsy picks in the earlier rounds, so it isn't the lamest bracket of all time.
Things to keep an eye for today:
Saint Mary's vs Richmond: Should be a really good 10-7 matchup between two great mid-major programs. I'll be looking for Richmond to win. They are a lot of fun to watch and it would be good to see an A-10 team do well. By the way, without even meaning to, I picked the A-10 teams in this tournament to do extremely well. I have Richmond in the Sweet 16 and Xavier and Temple each going to the Elite Eight. Kinda Crazy.
Wake Forest vs Texas: Maybe the dog game of the tournament. These two teams were both looking waaaaaayyyy better than they finished on the season. They are probably the two biggest end-of-season collapses in the entire tournament field.
Okay, its 12:18, time for me to concentrate on other things. Hope everybody is able to watch the games. If you don't know about it, check out March Madness on Demand to watch any of the games in the Tournament.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Atlantic City behind the scenes
As I said in my last post, I was going to Atlantic City to cover the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Covering and watching the games was cool, but there is just so much more that happened from the time before I even got here until now.
It all started at about 5:40 a.m. Friday morning. I was getting picked up to drive to the airport, and was tired but ready to roll. it was still pretty dark out at that point in time, and I can only assume that some student who had been having a great time Thursday night decided it would be a great idea to remove the cover from the sewer drain outside of Lawnview Apartments.
See where this is going?
If you can't, read on. I began to walk to the car, and this sewer just so happened to be in my path. Being tired and not able to see very well, I walked right over this hole in the ground, and all of a sudden my waist was even with the ground. It took me about two seconds to realize what had even happened to me (one doesn't fall into a manhole very often), but when I finally did get it, the pain took over. I still have the bruise on my right hip and the cut on my left shin to show for it.
Sooooo not the greatest start to the trip. We got to the airport and the flights went off without a hitch, so that was good.
We made it to AC and I posted up in my media spot before the UD game and started to get ready. It was fun blogging and tweeting (my first experience with that), and the game was great to watch from a fanboy standpoint until the final 10 minutes. O well.
One thing that was cool during that time was Verne Lundquist showed up. He is going to be calling the championship game on CBS Sunday and was stopping by to start preparing for his broadcast and watch some basketball. He was sitting two seats down from me, so I talked to him after the Dayton game. He is a really nice guy, and we talked for a few minutes about the games that day. Never talked to a big time broadcaster like that, so that was cool.
I've learned that Terrell Holloway and Chris Mack are both punks this weekend. I have no problem with them being affiliated with the team I dislike the most. Holloway doesn't shake hands, and Mack smiled at the crowd when he called a completely unnecessary timeout with two seconds left and got booed. Coming from a coach, that is embarrassing if you ask me.
It all started at about 5:40 a.m. Friday morning. I was getting picked up to drive to the airport, and was tired but ready to roll. it was still pretty dark out at that point in time, and I can only assume that some student who had been having a great time Thursday night decided it would be a great idea to remove the cover from the sewer drain outside of Lawnview Apartments.
See where this is going?
If you can't, read on. I began to walk to the car, and this sewer just so happened to be in my path. Being tired and not able to see very well, I walked right over this hole in the ground, and all of a sudden my waist was even with the ground. It took me about two seconds to realize what had even happened to me (one doesn't fall into a manhole very often), but when I finally did get it, the pain took over. I still have the bruise on my right hip and the cut on my left shin to show for it.
Sooooo not the greatest start to the trip. We got to the airport and the flights went off without a hitch, so that was good.
We made it to AC and I posted up in my media spot before the UD game and started to get ready. It was fun blogging and tweeting (my first experience with that), and the game was great to watch from a fanboy standpoint until the final 10 minutes. O well.
One thing that was cool during that time was Verne Lundquist showed up. He is going to be calling the championship game on CBS Sunday and was stopping by to start preparing for his broadcast and watch some basketball. He was sitting two seats down from me, so I talked to him after the Dayton game. He is a really nice guy, and we talked for a few minutes about the games that day. Never talked to a big time broadcaster like that, so that was cool.
I've learned that Terrell Holloway and Chris Mack are both punks this weekend. I have no problem with them being affiliated with the team I dislike the most. Holloway doesn't shake hands, and Mack smiled at the crowd when he called a completely unnecessary timeout with two seconds left and got booed. Coming from a coach, that is embarrassing if you ask me.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tournament home games are weird
...At least this one was. UD beat George Washington last night in an okay game for the Flyers. It was nice to see them win a close game anyway. Still, that was really not what caught my attention during the game.
What did have my eyes and ears perplexed was the fact that the UD employed people that work at the scorers table were wearing black sweater vests instead of red. In addition to that fact, the PA announcer was announcing the game from an unbiased perspective. Think about that for a second. I've never heard that dude's voice unless it was championing Dayton's cause.
I'm used to "THREEEEEEEEEEEEEE Chris Johnson!"
Instead I got "Chris Johnson, three points."
It was bizarre, I'm telling you.
It was also weird that only 6,930 people made it out to the game. I mean, come on. Even if the fans have given up on the NCAA Tournament and are disappointed in what Dayton has done this season, they should still be coming to the game. BG said something I really like after the game: "Some of our faithful have put conditions on their faithfulness." He's right, and that is embarrassing. Fans should be fans no matter what, and that Arena should have been full like usual last night.
At any rate, I'm going to Atlantic City, which should be pretty cool. I'll be blogging and taking pictures and what not for Flyer News a lot, but hopefully I'll be able to get over and get a post or two up on this thing for the weekend.
What did have my eyes and ears perplexed was the fact that the UD employed people that work at the scorers table were wearing black sweater vests instead of red. In addition to that fact, the PA announcer was announcing the game from an unbiased perspective. Think about that for a second. I've never heard that dude's voice unless it was championing Dayton's cause.
I'm used to "THREEEEEEEEEEEEEE Chris Johnson!"
Instead I got "Chris Johnson, three points."
It was bizarre, I'm telling you.
It was also weird that only 6,930 people made it out to the game. I mean, come on. Even if the fans have given up on the NCAA Tournament and are disappointed in what Dayton has done this season, they should still be coming to the game. BG said something I really like after the game: "Some of our faithful have put conditions on their faithfulness." He's right, and that is embarrassing. Fans should be fans no matter what, and that Arena should have been full like usual last night.
At any rate, I'm going to Atlantic City, which should be pretty cool. I'll be blogging and taking pictures and what not for Flyer News a lot, but hopefully I'll be able to get over and get a post or two up on this thing for the weekend.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Ruh Roh
What is it Scoob?
I'll tell you what it is. A story involving Mets outfielder and shortstop Carlos Beltran and Josey Reyes showed up on ESPN.com today.
Basically the story says Beltran was questioned by federal officials about a doctor he saw for a knee injury. This doctor also happens to be involved in some activity with some banned substances, Actovegin and HGH. The story goes on to talk about how Beltran and Reyes are probably fine, whatever help they sought was legitimate, and the doctor's troubles are unrelated to them. Forgive me for not wiping the sweat off my brow just yet.
It just seems like in baseball lately there is nothing but bad news when drugs are involved. Any time a guy gets involved in a drug-related discussion, he denies it until there is no way to do so anymore. We've seen it with Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and most recently Mark McGwire, who held out longest of all.
I realize this is not quite the same thing with Beltran and Reyes, because they were simply questioned because they have been in contact with the doctor for other reasons (so it seems). Still, I wouldn't brush this story aside.
The thing that makes this really aggravating is that Jose Reyes is my favorite player in all of baseball, and CB isn't far down on the list. Both are lean, athletic guys that play great defense, steal bases and hit for a pretty good average. Neither of them looks anything like they could be taking steroids. Unfortunately, I don't think there are as many tell-tale signs of PEDs as there used to be. It would stink to find out those guys have been juicing.
I just don't want to be let down like so many other baseball fans have recently. Please don't let me down, Jose.
I'll tell you what it is. A story involving Mets outfielder and shortstop Carlos Beltran and Josey Reyes showed up on ESPN.com today.
Basically the story says Beltran was questioned by federal officials about a doctor he saw for a knee injury. This doctor also happens to be involved in some activity with some banned substances, Actovegin and HGH. The story goes on to talk about how Beltran and Reyes are probably fine, whatever help they sought was legitimate, and the doctor's troubles are unrelated to them. Forgive me for not wiping the sweat off my brow just yet.
It just seems like in baseball lately there is nothing but bad news when drugs are involved. Any time a guy gets involved in a drug-related discussion, he denies it until there is no way to do so anymore. We've seen it with Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and most recently Mark McGwire, who held out longest of all.
I realize this is not quite the same thing with Beltran and Reyes, because they were simply questioned because they have been in contact with the doctor for other reasons (so it seems). Still, I wouldn't brush this story aside.
The thing that makes this really aggravating is that Jose Reyes is my favorite player in all of baseball, and CB isn't far down on the list. Both are lean, athletic guys that play great defense, steal bases and hit for a pretty good average. Neither of them looks anything like they could be taking steroids. Unfortunately, I don't think there are as many tell-tale signs of PEDs as there used to be. It would stink to find out those guys have been juicing.
I just don't want to be let down like so many other baseball fans have recently. Please don't let me down, Jose.
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