Harvard!?! Are you serious???

Enough said....Well, if at first you don't succeed try, try again. Maybe in another 9.2 quintillion years, I will post a perfect NCAA bracket. 

Saint Mary's Gaels vs. Memphis Tigers - NCAA Tournament Game - Recap - March 21, 2013 - ESPN

My biggest first-round upset special goes down to a narrow defeat. Hopefully not a bad omen, although close would be way better than I have done the last couple of years. For the record -- not that anyone would be cribbing my sheet -- I have Duke, New Mexico, Kansas and Miami in the Final Four leading to a Kansas - New Mexico Championship and a rock, paper scissors Jayhawk title.

Sorry, I meant a Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk title. That chant is so hauntingly annoying and without meaning to me. There, I just jinxed the whole thing.

Oh well, it's only first-round points so it's a minimal loss. Plus, you look good if you pick the "biggest:" upset in the first-round. Some early water-cooler cred. It's Mrs. TheSlav's work pool, so it's her cred on the line. And her money. So heck, I don't care. I would like to have bragging rights at the next company Christmas party though, so Team Slav needs to step it up.

from ESPN:
Saint Mary's Gaels vs. Memphis Tigers - NCAA Tournament Game - Recap - March 21, 2013 - ESPN:

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Down by five with only a few seconds remaining, Matthew Dellavedova and Saint Mary's nearly pulled off an NCAA tournament stunner.

Instead, the senior star's last-second shot sailed long, and sixth-seeded Memphis moved on to the next round.

Dellavedova's 3-pointer from the right wing missed everything as time expired, allowing Memphis to hold on for a 54-52 win over 11th-seeded Saint Mary's on Thursday. The Tigers led by 15 in the first half but nearly gave the game away in the final seconds.

'via Blog this'

The value of one year of a Division I men's basketball scholarship - USATODAY.com

The value of one year of a Division I men's basketball scholarship - USATODAY.com

To estimate the dollar-value of one year of a Division I men's basketball scholarship, USA TODAY interviewed more than 50 sources, including current and former players and coaches; college athletics administrators and consultants; player agents; pro basketball scouts, executives and administrators; academic researchers and experts in sports sponsorship valuation, college financial aid and federal data related to the U.S. workforce. USA TODAY also used individual-school and aggregated data from revenue-and-expense reports schools file annually with the NCAA. School data were obtained through open-records requests. The median figures are based on reports covering the 2008-09 school year, the last one for which the NCAA has published aggregated data for all Division I schools, public and private. The figures for individual schools are based on their reports for the 2009-10 school year and 2010-11 season ticket costs

NCAA Final Four and the future of March Madne$$

OK, just because I did not pick ANY of the Final Four teams for the first time, doesn't mean I am going to ignore the event like it's the pre-season NIT or the Maui Invitational Tournament or something. But I was thinking along those lines.

The remaining match ups are intriguing.

Cinderella and home town favorite Butler vs. perennial tournament heavyweight Michigan State.

I like Team Sparty here, based mainly on their rebounding and toughness. Coach Izzo's experience in this environment should help as well. The Butler is a very entertaining team to watch, so this will be a close call. My guess is it will be a pro-Butler crowd, but that should not deter Michigan State. It's not like they are very popular at fellow Big Ten venues.

Perennial favorite Duke and West Virginia.

For a change, I actually like this Duke team. Maybe it's the Chicago area product John Scheyer. He looks like he might be the tenth guy picked on the playground, but he scores, he passes, he makes his teammates better. He may have to play some D here. Singler looks like a cross between Dirk Nowitzki and Jack Sikma. Dare I say love-child? He's a good player though. I like Nolan Smith as well. They have trouble with athletic, physical teams like West Virginia and Coach Huggy-bear comes close to nullifying any coaching advantage Coach K would usually hold. I would feel better about the Mountaineers if their PG were healthy, but Duke in a battle.

Then Duke over Michigan State in the final.
--------

NCAA to increase play-in field by 3500%

On a separate note, apparently the NCAA plans to expand the March Madness field in the future from the current 65 team field to 96 teams.

So in the future, the 97th best team in the country, likely with a near .500 record will be whining their way to the NIT (also owned by the NCAA).

No stop-over from 65 to 68, maybe by increasing the play-in field from one to four teams first, just to see how that works.

I like the fact that now the mid-major teams that win their regular season conference championships will make the field automatically rather than having to win their conference tournament as well.

A team that plays well all season, but is banged up, can be left at the curb (or the NIT) by fading in a one-week tournament. The Cinderella stories that win their late season tournaments will still make the Big Dance.

The future NIT tournaments are going to be real hoot. Maybe they can capture fan interest in the future by pitting the NIT champion against the womens champion or the WNBA champion or something along those lines. Just a thought.

It's all about the CA$H register and the non-revenue sports that are desperate for funding in a post Title IX world.

Hey, maybe now that women are entering and graduating from our nations colleges in greater numbers than men in recent years, we can pass a "Title XI" that would save some of these "minority programs" -- MEN'S PROGRAMS -- JK N.O.W. -  I don't want a pink brick thrown through my window or anything.

NCAA BRACKETOLOGY - SECOND ROUND ACTION

Amazingly, the two brackets representing Team Slavik held their ground in the group standings while at the same time meeting the shredder at home.

Losses to Kansas and Villanova killed our eventual champion and another Final Four entry. This chokes off our future prospects. This has so far shaped up as a tournament of upsets, perhaps showing even more this year the extent to which the playing field has been equalized throughout college basketball. Small schools can step up and compete for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen or perhaps the Final Four, if not a National Title.

The mid-major conferences are showing that they can compete with the major conferences and traditional basketball powerhouses. Now if only somebody can knock off Duke, we can enjoy the rest of the tournament.

NCAA BRACKETOLOGY - FIRST ROUND ACTION

Not a bad start for the two Team Slavik entries. In a pool of 44, Ledra's entry is in a rather large tie for second. She is currently holding down the third spot if you consider "best score" as the next tie-breaker.

My bracket comes in a large tie for third, seventh overall considering the best score remaining.
So not a bad start. Ledra had 25 correct picks out of 32 to my 24 of 32. The best entry in our pool currently stands at 26 correct, so we're in decent shape there.

We clicked on the Cornell 12/5 upset of Temple and the St. Mary's 10/7 victory over Richmond.
Florida as a 10/7 upset over BYU was looking good until O/T.

On the hurt side, Georgetown pulled the choke earlier than anticipated and I had them advancing further. Notre Dame's annual folding chair act was a bit of a surprise, but it shouldn't have been. I was looking at Washington as a live dog versus Washington but did not pull the trigger.

Murray State over Vanderbilt probably hurt more than just our entries. The Clemson loss and Oklahoma State losing to Georgia Tech in the 7/10 spots were not huge surprises or hurts.

So off we go to the second round in pretty good shape. Kansas to win on both cards was probably not too smart--the whole putting all our eggs in one basket thing, but we shall see how it plays out.

IS TOM IZZO THE BEST COLLEGE BASKETBALL COACH?

He may be the top college coach that doesn't get his due. And I say this after his team eliminated my entry in the office poll. Thanks a lot Tom, ya rat bastard ya!!

Who had Michigan State advancing this far in their bracket? One person in our pool picked them to win, but I believe there were more who picked Duke to win. Or Louisville. Or North Carolina.

Look at the following factoids.

* Izzo's .756 winning percentage (31-10 record) in the NCAA tournament ranks third among all active coaches with 10 or more games coached:

1. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke, 72-22 (.766) 2. Billy Donovan, Florida, 22-7 (.759) 3. Tom Izzo, Michigan State, 31-10 (.756) 4. Rick Pitino, Louisville, 37-12 (.755) 5. Roy Williams, North Carolina, 52-17 (.754)

No offense, but on the recruiting trail Coach K is asking kids to go to Duke. DUKE!!!! Donovan can sell the Florida sun and the effect it has on the young coeds level of dress throughout the year. ADVANTAGE GATORS!!! Pitino has Louisville and it's tradition to sell. Roy Williams has North Carolina, a guy named Jordan as an alumnus and many other selling points.

Izzo has to convince kids to matriculate to East Lansing!! No offense to East Lansing but in this list of venues, you run a distant fifth out of the five entries.

Izzo is currently the longest-tenured basketball coach in the Big Ten Conference. Michigan State began a streak of twelve straight NCAA tournament appearances, which is the 5th longest current streak among Division I teams. During that run only Mike Krzyzewski (29) has more NCAA tournament wins than Tom Izzo (26).

Who knew the Coach Izzo was running neck and neck with the great Coach K?


And if that wasn't enough, there is this description of his coaching philosophies.

Izzo's teams are known for guard play, toughness and rebounding. Izzo got attention when people learned of his "war" rebounding drills, in which the players have sometimes worn football helmets and shoulder pads.

His motto is "Players Play – Tough Players Win".

His other coaching philosophy is that "he doesn't determine playing time, players do."

Even if the Spartys do not rise up and upset the Tar Heels, perhaps it's time to acknowledge Tom Izzo as one of the top coaches in college basketball.

MARCH MADNESS BACK IN THE PICTURE

Well, after what seemed to be a disaster weekend, Team The Slav is back in the picture. We moved up to 13th out of 42 participants in our pool. Of the players who picked North Carolina to win it all, I have the second highest "Best Score" remaining, so we could place after all.

I have only 42 correct so far, but I have the potential to get the final three games correct and run the table with the UConn-UNC final plus the UNC as champions combo.

Team BHO appears to have hit the skids. Like myself Team BHO has North Carolina going all the way. BHO got hurt by Louisville getting dumped as well as Memphis loss. Missouri I would guess hurt a lot of people. Oklahoma hurt, but was a fairly popular Final Four pick and some even picked them to go all the way.

I still need the UConn-UNC final to elevate, but I'm feeling pretty good about that. Depends on how much Michigan State can harass UConn point guards. If the Huskies get set up, well, drum roll please, Thabeet rolls on!!!!
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Villanova needs to slow down UNC point guard Ty Lawson as well. They should take a look at the model of the Villanova championship year team style. Slow it down, grind it out, milk every possession and hit your shots.

THE MADNESS IS SLIPPING AWAY

Not a good weekend in the pool for Team The Slav. Our chances to win are slip sliding away. A 6-4 Saturday followed by a 5-1 Sunday leaves me mired in 28th among 41 in our pool.

Wake and West Virginia were predetermined losers going in. Washington losing to Purdue hurt early. I reached for Michigan over Oklahoma and they gave it a good effort. Wisconsin completed the carnage by realizing where they were.

The Baller in Chief made a startling comeback however. Congrats to Mr. President.
A 14-2 weekend leaves him 2 back. He would place 37th of our 41 bracketologists.

Can he catch Team The Slav? Given our respective remaining brackets, I believe he could tie but not overcome The Slav. It may come down to a tiebreaker. The Prez has Memphis over UConn. I went with the Huskies. I'm a bit worried here. He also has Louisville advancing to the Finals over my UConn. I need a Memphis choke job, I guess.

FIRST ROUND MADNESS

Well, the smoke has cleared a little bit as 1/2 the games are in the books.

We're in a pool where you get only one point and no bonus for the first round. I think it's time for a scoring update. The first round is all about picking the upset. After that it's just win, baby. But the charm of the first round is to be the one who had the stones to pick the potential Cinderella of the tournament. Why should picking a 1 vs. 16 match up give you the same points as going out on a limb and nailing that 5-12 upset or a 4 vs. 13? The first round points should be weighted to the size of the upset (i.e. if you pick a 12 to win over a five you get 7 points - 12 minus 5). If you pick the favorite you get 1 point.

In the subsequent rounds, if you pick that 12 to bounce a four, you get 16 points. The 12 minus 4 multiplied by 2 for Round 2. And so on down the line. If you pick the favorite, you just get 1 point in the 1st Round 2 points in the second round and so on.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Let's continue.

Team Obama picked 19 of the first 32 correct according to ESPN. I came in at 24 correct. That puts me in 18th place out of 39 office workers at my wife's firm. The Prognosticator in Chief would be DEAD LAST in my wife's office. This has not been a good week for the Comedian in Chief. First his misspeak on the Tonight Show reveals he would be a mediocre Special Olympics bowler. And now this.

Maybe as Coach Shisshevskivich, Coach Shhiskabob, aw heck Coach K from Duke said, he should concentrate more on the economy than brackets and comedy. I mean, poor Little Timmy Geithner doesn't even have anyone to get him coffee at the Treasury and we are in the middle of an economic meltdown and all. I'm not saying anything, I'm just saying.

The two tools I used to get my bracket right were as follows:

I looked at historical precedent dating back to 1985 and found in the first round teams seed 13-16 were very unlikely to win (39-345 record) and 10-12 seeds were pretty dicey as well (97-191). So there needs to be a compelling reason to pick them.

In the 2nd round same trend, 13-16 came in at (6-33) and 10-12 improved to (45-52). So I didn't go deeper than 13-16 in the first round. I have #12 Wisconsin winning another but that's it for the deep dogs.

In the Regional Round, Teams seeded 9th or higher get the boot. A (13-41) record will do that for you. Everybody else is in play..

In the Regional Finals, same thing. 9's and higher are (2-11) at this point.

In the Semis', anything higher than a #6 seed goes home (1-4). Fourth through six seeds are a combined (4-10) mostly due to the #4 seed (2-7) record. Seeds 1-3 are (41-34) not great, but not bad.

In the title game, 1 seeds are (14-9). After that, (10-15). So the higher seed is a 60-40 chance to win.

For the rest of the coin-toss games or where the historical precedent didn't lead me anywhere, I went with the Sheridan ratings. Dude is a 1970 MIT Mathematics graduate, so if I'm going to let anyone help me with my homework, it's going to be him.

I looked for game where the dog was better than the higher seed and went with it.

Arizona (15)was rated 83.01 vs. Utah (5) 85.38.
Southern Cal (10) was rated better than Boston College (7) by 84.36 to 82.63 plus they finished strong.
Maryland (10) was rated 82.83 vs California (7) 85.21 plus you have tradition and coaching on your side.
Wisconsin (12) was even with Florida State (5) 84.78 to 85.35. Close enough and I like Bo Ryan as a coach.
Michigan (10) was 83.85 vs. Clemson (7) at 87.36, so that was worth the try.

Minnesota (10) vs. Texas (7) didn't some through but Minnesota was 84.52 vs. Texas 85.15. It was worth a try.
Butler was rated higher than LSU by 84.47 - 83.59 and I liked their style of play so it was worth a try even though it didn't work.

Still a basket here or there and maybe I'm questioning the methodology. But it seems like a basket cost me at least two W's.

But that's what makes horse races. And March Madness.

Hopefully the methodology works in the later rounds. I think I went to much with the favorites down the road and that will come back to bite me. No real Cinderellas. I did like North Dakota State but they got a tough draw with Kansas in the Opening Round. Welcome to the NCAA Tournament fellas.

THE MADNESS BEGINS

We are off to a flying start. At least we beat the Bracketologist in Chief on the first day. President Obama apparently scored only 11 winners on the first day. I had 12. So now, I feel like I want to not just win my pool but to at least do better than the President. Then I'll take on the financial crisis. WTF nobody else seems to be able to solve the crisis.

Anyway, if the Wisconsin Badgers can defeat Florida State, which I feel good about, I'll have nailed the two (5-12) upsets. Arizona over Utah is already in the books.

Also, nailed down three of the four (7-10) splits. Only a razor thin victory by Texas over Minnesota prevented a clean sweep. And I had all four as upsets.

On the pain side of the ledger, West Virginia hurt big (Sweet Sixteen). Kids must want to get away from Huggins by this point in the season. Illinois tanked before Western Kentucky. Come on guys, that is WEAK.

I had Butler over LSU, BYU over Texas A&M and Tennessee over Oklahoma State in a massacre of the (8-9) match ups.

I need Wisconsin to win bad since I have them winning two. And it looks like Wake Forest is going to put Cleveland State back on the map, trailing big early. I have them winning two as well. Way to go Demon Dufuses.

Oh well, it's not like I have any money at risk. This is just for recreational purposes anyway. ; ;

LET THE (MARCH) MADNESS BEGIN

But first a tip of the cap to the under-loved March tournaments.

IN THE WBC:

We're down to the Final Four and my bracket is toast.

Japan finished it's single handed demolition of my tournament favorite Cuba by shutting out the Cigars for the second time in the tournament.

Japan now faces Korea for the right to play second ranked U.S team. Venezuela gets the loser of the Asian World Series having dispatched the U.S. 10-6 in a game played only for seeding purposes.

The U.S. team is battling injuries and showing a Dream Team like tendency to try and turn the effort and intensity on and off like a light switch. This combination is a recipe for elimination. But what do I know, I had them bounced before this.

Japan seems to want to defend their title and culturally they will fall on their sword to win. And according to one senator, they might just do the same with an apology chaser if they lose. Seppuku (切腹, or "stomach-cutting") is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment that used to be performed by their warriors after battlefield losses. So that would be nice theater. Hey, come to the ballpark - see a potential suicide.

So, I guess Japan becomes my new favorite from here on out.
--------------

IN THE NIT:

Baylor has already ruined my NIT bracket by defeating one of my final favorites Georgetown in the FIRST ROUND. Thanks Baylor, good luck the rest of the way you rat bastards. I should have known Georgetown would lay down and not play. Probably disappointed they didn't make the NCAA tournament, which is a vexing problem for the NIT poo-bahs. Maybe the Hoyas should have made sure their opponents didn't out-rebound them over the course of the season. Rebounding and defense are all about work ethic and the Hoyas surprisingly lacked that this season.

Now I have to root on my other final favorite Miami and their NBA-quality long distance sharp-shooter Jack McClinton. Hopefully the 'Canes don't lie down like dogs as well.

My final four was Miami - Notre Dame and Georgetown - St. Mary's so we'll see how it plays out. St. Mary's has to possibly get by Washington State in the first round (no easy deal) and then tournament darling Stephan Curry and Davidson in the second round, so we'll see. My bet was they would play hard. This is their NCAA tournament.

Notre Dame is a threat to puke up a bad game at any time. Miami has a tough road in their bracket with Florida and Penn State as potential later opponents.
---------------------

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST - THE NCAA TOURNAMENT:

Again, as last year, pretty close to the vest.

I have Louisville, UConn, Pitt and North Carolina in the Final Four.

I'm already thinking I made a mistake not advancing Memphis over UConn.

Most of my upsets are in the first round.

I have Wisconsin advancing further than most, winning not just over Florida State in the (5-12) match up but again over Xavier in the second round. I added Arizona over Utah in another (5-12) upset.

I took Butler over LSU in the first round for a mild (8-9) upset. I went Minnesota (10) over Texas (7) as well. And Michigan over Clemson in another (7-10) upset.

And I have Southen Cal over Boston College (7-10) and Maryland over California (7-10) upset.

Marquette and Illinois make me nervous in the first round and I have Syracuse winning three times. That may be a killer as well.

I do have UNC winning it all. So I agree with the President in this important national matter. Hopefully, Lawson's toe holds up.

LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!!!

NCAA BRACKETOLOGY - PART III

I'm hopelessly out of the money on both of my brackets uh, our brackets, and so I'm on a desperate search for cover bets to make back the money quick.



At the moment I'm considering the over/under on the length of time it takes Bobby Knight to choke the living shit out of of one his new ESPN "colleagues". Now I'm confident that fellow coaches Digger Phelps and Dicky V. are safe. He'd never go postal on those guys. Even Jay Bilas appears safe, but only by the grace of Knight's respect for Coach K.







Oh please God, if you could possibly arrange it, even though I think Rece Davis is pushing his luck a little bit and is certainly a viable candidate, please, please, please God let it be freaking Doug Gottlieb. Please, it's just so right, he stole while he was at Notre Dame, under the shadows of Touchdown Jesus. And he has Eddie Musters' hairline for God's sake. Oops, sorry about that one.







If you could arrange for Rece to have a case of strep throat, or laryngitis or whatever it takes.



Then you'll have to arrange for ESPN management to be stupid enough to consider putting Gottleib and Knight in the same studio.



What, that's not such a stretch, God?



ESPN is stupider than even you could imagine? HAHAHA. Wow, that's saying something because you've seen everything.



No, no I believe you. In fact, it doesn't surprise me at all.



And no, I haven't forgot about the Giants and the Super Bowl, but really I didn't ask for that and it did kinda fit in with your campaign against evil. What, you have me down for a prayer received by your staff right before the David Tyree catch? And another one right before the Plaxico Burress TD catch to put the Giants ahead? Well yeah, I remember those now, sure but...oh all right, I guess those count too.



















OK, I promise I won't ask you to do anything for the Cubs. They can wait another century or so, right?



OK, so I have the under on Knight to choke the living shit out of a colleague.



The next one have my eye on is the over/under on Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl falling from grace as the result of a sexual scandal of some kind.



IF HE LAYS ONE MORE HAND ON ERIN ANDREWS HE'S GOING DOWN:

This one is like taking candy from a baby.



Yeah, yeah put me down for the under on that one as well. Well, that should do it. I ought to be able to recover my money in no time.

NCAA BRACKETOLOGY 101 - PART II

Well, we're done. Both brackets torched to smithereens. Thanks for playing Slavs. Ledra is 27th out of about 50 entrants, mine is about 38th. Yeesh.

TAMPA IS ONE UPSET CITY

Unbelievable. The number of top seeded teams going down in flames to double digit seeds in Tampa.

Drake, take your Cinderella dreams out of here. I had them winning two.
UConn, bye-bye baby.
Vanderbilt, see you later. I had them down for two W's
Clemson, time to go home.

The 5 vs. 12 and 4 vs. 13 match ups were not kind to the favorites in T-town. And all across the land the bottom half of the bracket (the West & Midwest) has been torched.

The Mrs. has 24 correct after the first round, I only have 22. She is still in it as far as the entries that have UCLA winning the whole thing. So far, neither of us has a Final Four team eliminated. That's what cooks your goose, since in our pool the points are higher in the later rounds:
------------------------------------------
GROUP RULES:

Deadline for submitting your brackets is Noon EST on Thursday prior to the start of Round 1 games.

Tiebreaker is the total score of the final game.

Scoring
Round Weight Bonus
Round 1 1 None
Round 2 2 None
Round 3 4 None
Round 4 8 None
Round 5 10 None
Round 6 15 None

Max brackets per user: 2

Constitution:
$x.xx per entry
Use total points in final game as tiebreaker
Payout is xx% of pool for first place
xx% of pool for second place
xx% of pool for third place

NCAA BRACKETOLOGY 101

As another spring snowstorm moves in on the Chicago suburbs, we are warmed by the return of March Madness and another chance to participate in the office pool. Actually, I participate in the pool that the folks at Mrs. TheSlav's workplace organizes. She bankrolls the entrance fee and I figuratively light the match that will ignite her investment dollars and turn them to ashes for yet another year.

It must be the "system" I employ, which is a mix of playing the chalk for the most part, with selective hedging on the "coin-toss" games, combined with a flyer or two on an upset from a so-called "Cinderella" team. The problem is there really are no "Cinderella" teams anymore. Everybody and his cousin who has access to a microphone and an audience leads up the week to the madness with their best guesses for "this year's George Mason". You almost have to be the first idiot to pick a #16 seed to crash the Final Four to be seen as the office "savant".

So ultimately it comes down to being the person in the lead who has picked the eventual national champion.

Just to give you insight into the lack of a life I lead, The Mrs. (or is it Mrs. The??) and I spent considerable time last night arguing about the relative fairness of my assigning the ownership of the "first" bracket to myself (just for bragging rights, I have zero chance of seeing any of the money should it win) and the "second" bracket to her. My argument is, since I rarely win these type of things, my first impression is generally sufficiently wrong so as not to have any real chance of winning the whole thing. Therefore, hers would have the better chance, at least against mine. Also, I had all four #1 seeds in the Final Four vs. her two out of four. She has Georgetown and Texas crashing. We both have a UCLA-UNC final, I have UNC winning, she has UCLA, so we'll see. I found her argument "why do you always come first?" both childish and inaccurate. But I kept my opinion to myself, even though our couches are very comfortable and spacious.

She wasn't buying my arguments obviously, but by the end of last night, I had four wrong vs. her one wrong. Our service also had the Texas A&M game marked wrong whether you had BYU picked to win or A&M I had BYU, she had A&M.

As I right this, Davidson #10 seed is beating Gonzaga a #7 seed, A Slav upset special on both cards. HOW ABOUT THAT!!! Last night, I split the #11 K-State vs. #6 USC game, she won of course. Drake is struggling in Tampa, which would hurt us both. They are a Sweet Sixteener for both of us.

Next year, I think I get the "which mascot wins in a fight" strategy, she gets the other one. I'll just tell her there were a lot of upsets.

UPDATE: WOW, Emmenaker from Drake just flopped his way to a charge to take the last possession away from W. Ky. Thanks ZEBRAS. OT, Baby!!! The refs suck at this level, they really do. Pawlus for Duke carried a ball five feet out of bounds, right in front of the ref yesterday and no call. Almost cost Belmont the game, maybe it did. You can argue that Duke didn't score on the possession, but the fact is, BELMONT SHOULD HAVE MAINTAINED possession and who knows what happens if they put it in from under their basket. They should just let the Dukies call their own game like the biggest kid on the playground does by force of personality and overall mass. That way we wouldn't have the hypocrisy we do know that it's a somewhat evenly called game.

Drakie goes to the line down one late in OT on a ?? call. Not much contact under the boards, if any it was initiated by Drake. ZEBRAS must also have Drake going deep. Big guy hits two. WKU has to go the length of the court, Tyus Edny style, to win. WOW, WKU's guard goes length of the court, gets cut off and kicks it back for a deep three to win it. BYE-BYE Drake.

Goodbye Bracketology, Hello Baseball!! As soon as the Masters is over

Well, thanks to the semi-pro Florida Gators, Team Slavik finishes tenth in the local office pool, costing us the $5 entrance fee. I HATE GAMBLING!!!! Now, I'll never be able to retire.

Bonds looks good, hitting a home run, stealing a base, and making defensive plays in LF. Maybe he'll make the All-Star Game (being held in San Francisco this year). And maybe he'll break Aaron's record, which of course will cause the end of the world as we know it. HAHAHA.

Devil Rays look good, taking one of two in Yankee Stadium. I'd be really excited about their chances if they had more pitching. Upton, Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes, three of the four Devil Rays bad-boys seem ready to make their mark on the field instead of by doing and saying stupid things. Good for them.

And the fourth bad-boy, Josh Hamilton, a former 1st pick overall, now Rule 5 reclamation project of the Reds, was one of the the feel-good stories of the spring. Yes, Johnny you too can virtually piss away your career by doing and make a comback in the minds and hearts of America. That's been proven once again by the Josh Hamilton story. Pssst, Johnny....just make sure you're a white-boy, or as they say, it just won't play in Peoria. Sorry folks, but if you can cite an example that shows where I'm wrong about this, please let me know. The tone and theme of the stories would be entirely different if any of the other three guys (Upton, Young, or Dukes) were drug users to the level and repetiveness of Hamilton. It would not be portrayed as a feel-good story, I can assure you of that. I'm still not sure the media is done demonizing Delmon Young for tossing a bat at a scab umpire (who hasn't wanted to do that?). He sure hasn't been publicly forgiven yet. I bet umpires as a group have forgiven him more than the media and the public at-large.


Nice to see baseball doing the right thing by honoring the anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut with the Dodgers. And it is a nice touch to have ANY African-American who desires, wear his number on that day in honor of the event. Kudos to Griffey for coming up with the idea. MLB marketing honchos can take the rest of the year off, if necessary.

Every Dodger will wear number 42, which will be a scorekeepers nightmare. Not really, the names over the number will give them a clue.

In discussing the event this week, it was interesting to hear some of the commentary from the major players in the mass media. Some commentators made note of the declining numbers of Afircan-Americans who play the game today as opposed to 10-20 years ago and launched into a search for the answers.

It was pricless to hear Gary Sheffield interviewed and asked his opinion why the numbers are declining. His answer ran along the lines of white owners don't promote black superstars, if anyhthing they run them down or promote inferior white players instead. The NBA and NFL, by contrast, will positively promote black superstars. They almost have to in most cases. They have no choice.

After the interview, it was hilarious to hear the two clown-asses (KO and DP of ESPN)
try to make the case why Sheff was wrong and of course, these two had a better answer. I mean, who would be in a better position to know the hearts and minds of young African-Americans, Gary Sheffield or Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman?

When you ask a brother a question about the brothers and he give you an answer, perhaps you should give it some serious consideration. Not dismiss it and come up with speculation of your own. It makes white people sound stupid at best, mean-spirited and stupid at worst. PLEASE STOP.

And things like the new DIRECT TV deal and no afternoon World Sereris games are not the answer either. That's just stupid talk. I became a fan when there was ONE GAME a week on TV not the daily saturation of games and highlights available now. My dad left me handwritten notes of the results of west coast Giants games on the refrigerator. That was my version of Sports Center. And I became and remain a fan. There's never been a better time, in my opinion, to be a baseball fan.

To hear a self-absorbed, douchebag commentator whine about the DIRECT TV deal because his Manhattan association won't allow installation of sattelite dishes, smacks of elitist whining, not the concern of REAL baseball fans. Go figure out, how to link President Bush to this decision and leave the sports commentating to the full-timers.

They mentioned the entry cost of playing baseball, the equipment, fees, etc. Which are no higher on a relative basis than the were 10-20 years ago. And then they detour into celebrating what the arrival of Tiger Woods has done for the numbers of AA who are able to play golf. Ever priced how much it costs to play golf? Are the number of young African Americans playing golf really increasing enough to explain the dissapearance of number from baseball. Kids and lower income families can't afford cable or satellite installation, but they can afford golf equipment and greens fees. COME ON!! Let's be realistic.

Sheff's right, it's time for a reality check. And in the same way that owners and the baseball media closed their eyes to the PED scandal, they are metaphorically closing their eyes and ears, but unfortunatley not their mouths, to the issue of race and racism in baseball. Denial is not just a river in Egypt fellas.

Aaron passed Ruth thirty years ago, but Ruth was still the deity, THE REAL HOME RUN CHAMPION, not Aaron.

We fixate today on whether or not Bud Selig will be there when Bonds passes Aaron, as if that's a big deal, and conveniently forget to mention that Commissioner Bowie Kuhn (GRHS) did not attend the game where Aaron passed Ruth. Just another case of history repeating.

Let's hope we someday do a better job of righting the wrongs of racism and the declining numbers of African American males participating in baseball, than we did trying to FIX the PED problem. It might require that some, who have little knowledge of the subject matter, do less pontificating about the subject and more listening to those who are in a better position to know the answers. And if you don't know who you are, I'd be happy to let you know.

Judging how the debate and the formulation of a solution to the PED issue has gone, unfortunately, I fear the worst. But I'm willing to hope for the best. For all that he went through to blaze a trail for his fellow man and raise hope for a better day, Jackie Robinson deserved better.

Random Pre-Final Four - Opening Day Notes

OK, OK. Michael Irvin is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but out as ESPN commentator? It's a deal. WTF, at least the HOF doesn't broadcast blabbering bullshit into my living room on a weekly basis. How I'm going to understand TO now, without his personal mouthpiece pontificating from his bully(bullshit?) pulpit, I don't know.

Reminds me of the old lawyer joke though. You know the one. What's 1,000 lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean? (Answer: A good start). Well, this is merely a good start by the Worldwide Leader. A necessary spring cleaning.

Theismann out of MNF, another nice touch. Ron Jaworski as replacement is a nice upgrade. You don't have to worry aboout Jaws being dull on air, or too exciting off the air. Plus, seeing him and hearing his voice is a constant reminder of LT coming off the corner and blindsidng his ass. It would be like how Eagle fans would feel if Joe Pisarcik were the new analyst. Hey, those are the breaks. At least Herman Edwards is still coaching, right? So it evens out.

But let's get serious ESPN. Let's really roll up our sleeves and go all the way. There's not anyone roaming the halls in Bristol,CT or cleaning the stalls for that matter, who has more knowledge and camera presence than Jeff Brantley? He should be next. And Kruk too for that matter. I'm not seeing the appeal or feeling the knowledge. Orestes Destrade seems ready to move up to the big club.

And how about Doug Gottlieb? How many more lunches have to mysteriously dissapear from the employee lounge fridge before ESPN security puts two and two together? How much loose change has to be pilfered from hard-working, lower level employees desks before justice is done once and for all?

And how can the good women employees of ESPN feel safe from sexual harassment? You throw them the bone of the Harold Reynolds firing yet leave the carcass of Sean Salisbury and his wonder-cell-phone? Qu'elle charade!!

Oh well, on to the Final Four Front. Team Slavik has 3 of the Final Four and had 6 of the Elite Eight and still sits 16 out of 32 brackets in the company pool. That's a tough pool. I'm glad I don't gamble, at least not with my own money (sorry honey).

You gotta love the Cubs chances this year, huh? I mean who'd have guessed that Mark Prior and Kerry Wood would open the season on the DL? What are the odds? They both seemed so healthy and with such immaculate past medical records. Hey, they've come so close to a century of futility, why mess it up now, who knows when you might get an opportunity to be a part of this type of history of futility again? Go Cubs.




Are Jeter and A-Rod still dating? TLF, right? Pre-pubescent girls talk about and stress over not sleeping over their friends house, not major league MVP candidates. OMG!! At least you know these two guys are not on the juice, too much estrogen here. And what's with Mussina v. Pavano and the little hissy cat-fight these guys have going on? Old-time Yankees are spinning in their graves. Back in the day, there would be a little clubhouse dust-up, or even better an on-field brouhaha, and the combatants would go out, have a beer and it would be over. Now, everyone wants to get in front of a microphone and talk about their problems with Dr. Phil. Sometimes, old-school is better. I guess violence is never the answer, except maybe when it beats the alternative. Go Yankees.



Devil Rays in the World Series by 2010? That would be too cool and yet somehow maybe plausible? Possibly improving to possible if some things go right. Still a frontline ace pitcher and a stud closer away, at least. But they're young enough and talented enough and gosh darn it, people like them. Go Devil Rays.

My pre-season Divison winner predictions:
NL East: Mets
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Dodgers
Wild Card: Giants

Al East: Yankees
AL Central: Tigers
AL West: Angels
Wild Card: Indians

World Series: Giants vs. Yankees
World Series Winner: Giants

Over/Under on Bonds breaking Aaron's record: September 3rd.

March Madness - Good Luck with your Brackets III

Bad Day for Team Slavik as we head to the Sweet Sixteen. Texas' loss hurt, we had them going to the Elite Eight. Wisconsin hurt as well. Another Elite Eighter. All of our Final Four teams are still competing (Florida, Kansas, Georgetown and Ohio State) and our eventual champion Ohio State, beating Florida, is still alive, but barely.

I'm learning why people hate refs. The Oden non-flagrant foul call on a foul that is in the book under the definition of flagrant foul. The philosophy that says refs don't want to decide games by their calls, is BS. Oden would have decided the outcome via a stupid foul. As it was he got a cheap shot in for free.

The Strawberry block/charge blown call decided a game. It was the wrong call that turned the tide. An officials nightmare for sure.

Illinois I thought also got hurt by a bunch of non-calls made by refs late. They played better than expected, better than they showed most of the year and nothing to show for it.

Chalk continues to rule, Vanderbilt (6 seed) and UNLV (7 seed) are closest to Cinderella. Going to miss VCU who might have been closer to true definition of Cinderella as a 12 seed. Their point guard, Eric Maynor, has a lot of Reggie Miller in him, hitting big shots with the guts of an stone-cold assasin. Lots of respect for that guy.

Here's hoping Tennessee loses before Coach Summit decides to show up at the next mens basketball game with her chest painted to pay back Coach Pearl. Get a room coaches.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BRACKETS!!! Kudos to CBS Sportsline for their on-line bracker set-up for office pools. It's a great way to track how you are doing vs. everyone else in your pool. In years past, you used to have to speculate how well/poorly you were doing versus your competition. Team Slavik is currently 27th out of 32. We need Ohio State to run the table and virtually everything else to go right to get in the money. Oops, I mean third place.

March Madness - Good Luck with your Brackets II

Team Slavik fell from 7th out of 32 contestants in our pool down to 19th place after last nights late results.

Old Dominion almost pulled it off as one of our 12 seed vs. 5 seed upsets, but Arkansas pulled a no-show against USC late at night. Both hurt a bit, but the big hurt came earlier when Creighton had a late shot to win from in close during regulation, losing later in OT vs. Nevada. We had them winning the next game vs. Memphis as well, so that's a major gash. All our final fours are intact, so we have good prospects going forward.

The first round is like being in a knife fight. You're going to get cut. You just hope you're not bleeding too bad at the end so you can survive into the later rounds and be within shouting distance going into the Final Four.

There is an amazing diversity in the processes people go through in order to pick the "perfect bracket". Some go through hours of research worthy of purchasing a million dollar stock position or a major life decision like a home or a car. Others simply choose by what city they would rather live in, which mascot would win in a fight, team colors, etc. (history shows they win most of the pools anyway).

The odds of actually picking the perfect bracket theoretically are 1:2^63 (one in two to the 63rd power) or one in 9 Million Trillion. What a bazillion was taken? According to the odds posted on the Powerball lottery site, you would be 60 billion times more likely to win Powerball than post a perfect bracket.

Most of the Internet sites that run the computerized standings for pool players have their leaders posting a minimum of two to three losers already, just on the basis of the first round results.

In theory, the odds previously stated assume the coin-flip theory (ie: every game is a 50-50 toss-up) and we "know" that's not the case. So we could tilt the odds more in our favor by adding some other assumptions to the mix.

Assume that since a 16 seed has never beaten a 1 seed that those games are "locks" to go to the 1 seed. Two seeds rarely beat 15 seeds (although it has happened) so toss those into the "lock" hopper as well. That's eight games we no longer have to worry about, they're in the bank. We've now reduced the odds to 1:2^55 (one in two to the 55th power) or 1 in 36 million billion.

What if I take into account the "fact" that I have a system (who doesn't) that ranks teams and the system is accurate in picking winners 67% of the time? Your odds with that system would be approximately 1: 240 billion.

If you were 70% accurate: 1:13 billion
If you were 72% accurate: 1: 970 million
If you were 75% accurate: 1:150 million

If you took the "chalk" strategy across the board (ie: picked the lower seed to win every game) 1: 150 billion. NO UPSETS. THAT WOULDN'T BE ANY FUN!!!

So far, this tournament is favoring the chalk, not too many "major" upsets and few minor ones. That could change today and going forward. I have to admit, my approach is closest to the pure chalk strategy, assuming the committee and the various number crunchers have done the homework for me, with a pich of selective upsets tossed in.
I probably am more likely to reach for upsets in the early rounds and stay closer to the chalk later on. I have to have a real feel that the lower seeded team has a good chance to win as well as the favorite being a candidate to go home early.

I guess Winthrop over Notre Dame (yes, it hurt to pick that one) fit the model best.
(Yes, because they won. ODU and VCU were also there for the same reasons, close but no cigar). Winthrop has been knocking on this door for years and ND, although talented, has had some off the court issues and inconsistency throughout the year.

Sometimes you look to the numbers for answers and sometimes you have to trust your gut, I guess. As you can see, sometimes the numbers provide more questions than answers.