Sweet sweet NCAA bracket

Sweet can turn sour faster than a Blackberry Warhead.

But, as of this moment, I’m content my NCAA Tournament bracket. I’m pleased with my rational, yet sometimes serendipitous picks that came to fruition while others sit in their basements and dent up their mini-fridges with a steel toed boot.

Thirteen of sixteen predictions have made it through the first weekend of March Madness. Only Ohio (Michigan), Xavier (Duke) and Wisconsin (Vanderbilt) have been keen on snaffuing my binge to the top of the heap.

Over six million brackets were filled out on ESPN.com alone, not a one of them being exactly right.

This guy isn’t far off though. With my bakers dozen of sweet sixteen teams, I reside in the 99.8% percentile. A dazzling one of only 11-thousand people will this good of a bracket. (*big head motion*) I’m the Pirates Cove Golf Course Pro, more lucky than good but I do know how to play the bank rock “better than most”.

My Final Four contains Indiana, Marquette, Syracuse, and Kansas. But we’re a long way from there.

March Madness; Pick crazy

You're probably more likely to get struck by lightning then being able to pick the entire opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The odds, which this time of year are shaky at best, are thunderously, and factually 587,000 to 1, not in your favor.

So when filling out your bracket you shouldn't think like a college basketball expert; especially one that rattles off stats and RPIs like it's their job. Get in a bracket challenge with your mom and you'll soon find out that it is nothing more than a crap shoot. 

Roll the dice because there is no way your going to make a ripple if you don't get a little crazy. It is called "March Madness" for a insanely good reason.

No pick is safe. Doubt the most obvious. Stare in the mirror, shave half your face and then reconsider that #5 versus #12 matchup again. 

Everyone thinks Kentucky or Syracuse is going to win it. They are number one seeds, they are supposed to win it and prove all the "experts" right. But that would just mean there are a million experts in this country. Don't go with the flow, because that flow is stale.

Turn off the television. Sit in the dark. Eat nothing but Cheetos for whole week. Then pick the tournament.

You'll either look like a genius or you'll be a thorn in your English teacher's side with the amount of "coulda", "woulda", "shoulda"s you say. Either way you'll have to sit in the corner of the classroom with the dunce cap on. You're singled out for being the person that made that pick, with no regrets, and either they hate you for being right or laugh at you for being wrong.

Race hamsters. Change your name. Draw on an Anthony Davis unibrow with a crayon. But remember there are 5,608,500 brackets on ESPN (2011 numbers) lightning should strike at least once, right?


(Ha! That was a trick... Doubt everything!)

Murray State loses, but it's a long race

Don’t these Racers know it’s actually a marathon?

What’s worse than getting picked in March to win it all is, as a mid-major, getting picked to go to the Final Four, like Cinderella RSVPing to the Castle, in early February. There are a lot of ways to lose, but the worst way is when everyone picked you because you were the rabbit in the race.

Murray State now sits an awful, atrocious, even ghastly 23-1 on the season. They’re last of the unbeaten to fall, and the symbolic cork-bottle popper for the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers team. The Racers looked beaten down, both on the scoreboard and across the faces of numerous players, as they lost to Tennessee State 72-68. (The TSU Tigers are a respectable 16-10 by the way.)

But this is what they should want at this point of the season.

The Racers will drop to about #20 in the rankings, but their popular stock will fall even further down the list, possibly into glorious obscurity. Staying under the radar, even while possibly cruising to their Ohio Valley Conference title and easily getting into the NCAA Tournament. You just don’t want to be the team the middle school teachers and mechanics pick as their sleeper.

Murray State can’t play the same type of game as the big name schools; they’ll have to take a different route. It’s journey that will lead them away from the hype and hoopla that could be their downfall. Losing ground now isn’t the end; it’s a reposition of sorts that could fundamentally assist in their travels amid madness in March.

The Racers can make a run but they don’t want to be looking back and realizing that sneaking up from the back of the field, from the rear of the pack so to speak, might have been the best strategy the whole time.

“I don’t want to be that guy mumbling into his drink at the bar,” as famously spoken by, none other than, Billy Murray.

College basketball revolving door

Does it really still count as the Glass Slipper if what Cinderella's searching for in March is more like a worn bowling shoe?

In the first 10 weeks of the college basketball season (There's been over 2 months of college basketball?!?) there were three teams that have accompanied the top spot in the polls. North Carolina was toppled, Kentucky nipped and now Syracuse is trying to remain as the #1 team as it heads into Big East Conference play. Not to mention seven total teams have recieved votes for the number-one spot. And this is just the beginning of a revolving door in college basketball.

This is by no means a resurgance of the little school, the Patriot league team that makes a miraculous run into March past the high-heel, highly touted one-and-done school. This is the overall ambiguity of top-class, top-tier talent.

The Big 6 Conferences, soon to be widdled down, seeing to more and more conference opponents will inevitably face of in the Sweet-Sixteen and beyond.

Conferences and the teams that reside in them will only get stronger. They will swivel on top of each other forcing the overall strength of the league to increase. Smaller schools without the visibility of ESPN or upcoming conference networks won't be able to get the looks, and respect of outsiders. At-large bids will go to schools in-large conferences.

Some big schools will still topple like an cruiseliner in a bubble bath when the drain is pulled, yes, but that is due to a lack of maturity that seems to becontagious throughout the NCAA. Smaller schools don't have as many opportunities as they once had, theirs only so many 'Magic Beans' to sell to the Jacks of the college basketball realm.

College basketball is big business, it's "this town ain't big enough of the two of us" country western. So, little schools I wish you luck in the near future, tighten those neon velcro straps and just try to sqeeze in the swiveling front door.

Oregon v LSU: Part Deaux

The BCS standings are more disputed than the appetizer selection at Outback steakhouse on a redneck Thanksgiving.

But if everything continues to go in this direction that is so inevitably appears to be then the BCS is in good shape. Louisiana State and Oklahoma State are on the path to meet at the Superdome in New Orleans. They, and Houston which could win 20 games this year and not go to the Championship Game, are the only undefeated teams in the nation. But what if it doesn’t?

Oklahoma State, assuming that they win out to go undefeated, deserves a spot in the National Title game on January 9^th. Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon are as good a combination as we’ve seen in college football.

What if, by most sort of fluke, the Cowboys trip up over the course of the last two weeks? (They are sort of lucky, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, due to the conference realignment. There is no Big XII Championship game because the league does not field enough teams.)

Who is going to go play LSU? It will be a rematch, for whom a second chance is given would be the sole factor now.

Alabama or Oregon? Houndstooth apples or third-alternate oranges?

You probably couldn’t go wrong with either, but Oregon (in my respectfully omnipotent opinion) should get their number called.

The Ducks are the best coached team in the nation, hands down. Their class is only equivalent to their skill and only slightly behind their unbridled speed. The Ducks did lose to LSU 40-27 at Cowboy Stadium on the opening weekend of the college football season, but they have come a long way ever since.

They “made Stanford look like a JV team,” said respected analyst Kirk Herbstreit. And the Tide had their shot, midseason form in the game of the century, at home, and they couldn’t pull it off.

Oregon is arguably the best and deepest team in the nation. Chip Kelly’s team is ready to go down to Louisiana and take on what can only be assumed to be a pro-Tiger crowd. It will be Oregon versus LSU; Part Deaux.

Classic ‘Carrier Classic’

America’s pastime is baseball on a chilly October night. It’s traditional and elegant; it’s Joe Buck and the St Louis Cardinals. But America’s present-time is most definitely college basketball. It’s innovative and eloquent; it’s Gus Johnson and the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Where else would you expect the most influential man in the free world, President Barack Obama, watching the biggest game on the opening weekend of college basketball? As only Andy Samberg can put it; on a boat.

The first-ever, ironically named ‘Carrier Classic’ could not have been better.

It pitted two of the most successful programs, Michigan State and North Carolina, led by two of the best coaches in the game, Tom Izzo and Roy Williams, on the flight deck of the ship that accomplished the most successful mission in the US’s fight against terrorism.

The USS Carl Vinson was the ship that took Osama Bin Laden’s body out to sea. It showed genuine creativity and a good-hearted spirit. The 4.5 acre top of the flight deck hosted just 7,500 fans, most of who continue to serve this country. The referees of the game all had a military background. And the players were wearing camouflage-like jersey to smooth out the icing on the top.

The game, although not very close on the scoreboard, but like every other college game it kept you hooked until the very last buzzer. It honored some of the most distinguished and unselfish people the only way they knew how; with a game and what a beautiful game it is.

University of Colorado 32nd Most Profitable School

                In a recent poll published by ‘The Business of College Sports’ the University of Colorado ranks as the 32rd most profitable athletic department in the nation. The Buffaloes pocketed over $13.6 million last year.

This successful collegiate program is also an extremely helpful tool for academics at those same schools. The money the athletic department raises in ticket sales, merchandise and other forms does not remain in the department; rather it is filtered through the universities landscape like a large bag of mulch.

And that amount, that bag of cedar, is only going to get bigger moving into the newly formed PAC-12. The conference signed a network television deal with FOX and ESPN worth $3 billion over the next 12 years. (That’s $250 million a year, split 12 very equal ways.)

Making this type of money is all well in good only if it is put to work. If they update the University, with a strong emphasis on the athletic department, it’s more than worthwhile. Of all the PAC-12 schools CU is the 2^nd most profitable, only Washington is ahead. But, of all the schools again, CU spent the 3^rd least. Only Washington State and Oregon State invested less.

This is a new chapter in the long and historic lineage of the University of Colorado-Boulder. This new foothold, new West-coast perspective, spring-fresh start should make the school want to evolve, expand and push boundaries. CU could look a lot differently in the next decade, both athletically and academically.

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/06/20/which-football-and-basketball-programs-produce-the-largest-profits/

Shade of Blue

Duke with Coach Krzyzewski and North Carolina with Dean Smith are anything but peas and carrots.

But at this moment in time they are standing together on the same plateau of victories, 879 apiece. They have more wins than Hey Jude has na-na-nas…. looped several times. Smith and K are tied for 2^nd on that long list of prestigious coaches, only trailing Bobby Knight.

Their styles lack the similarities that basketball purists envy; the 2 styles could be said as bluntly as ‘Night and Day’.

Smith had Michael Jordan, K had Christian Laettner. Smith had James Worthy, K had Bobby Hurley. K had Grant Hill, Smith had Vince Carter. K had JJ Redick, Smith had Raymond Felton. And the list goes on and on. Yet they are practically identical in the statistical categories… 11 Final Fours, ACC Titles (Smith 13, K 12) and 1 Olympic Medal each.

Both transformed the game and there is a large disagreement over who the better coach is. And undoubtedly this debate will go on forever. I guess it’s just a depends on which shade of blue you prefer.

[With the probable win tonight against UNC-Greensboro Coach K will only be ‘23’ wins from being the all-time winningest coach in college basketball history… Interesting.]

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Amid controversy, the NCAA steps in like a mean babysitter. They lay down the law, but are also just saving its own head.

[Written in 1989, and it's still an issue.]

This comes after Terrelle Pryor and 4 other Buckeyes will be forced to sit out the first 5 games of next year, (Including the one against the Buffs) but not the Mary Poppins/All State Sugar Bowl. Makes no sense right? Why not put your foot down and really make a statement to college athletics as a whole?

And here’s why, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky right now that they put Cleveland State on probation another three years,” appropriately said by former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian.

But the real problems are the athletes themselves. And the majors they choose. (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2003-11-18-atheletes-majors_x.htm ) How many of these kids fit the prerequisite standards that all the other students abide by? How many would be at this school if it wasn’t for an athletic scholarship and a huge booster seat for classes? And sadly, the answer is very few.

[There are many exceptions to this rule, and it doesn’t get talked about enough. There are some smart people that are also exceptional athletes. But the majority, or super-majority, of student-athletes that get in trouble do not fall in this group of exceptions.]

So how in the world do we expect a group of 20-something kids, that if it wasn’t for their athletic ability would not be in these schools, that get paddy-caked through COLLEGE level courses to remain eligible, that most will not play the sport forever, to be “smart” enough to make decisions that have huge future-threatening ramifications?

It’s absurd.

SCAM NEWTON

“I’m very confident, you know, I’m a person that has did nothing wrong,” said Cam Newton, 2010 Heisman/Davey O’Brien/Maxwell Awards Winner. “And you know whoever wants to ask me that question I’m gonna tell them I’ve stayed firm and told the truth.” http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5903485

In my professional opinion, I just can’t believe him. And this may end up tarnishing the game of college football FOR… EV… ER.

Okay, maybe that was a little drastic and overblown. But I do believe this isn’t the last we’ve heard of the Cam Newton scandal. Like pop’s Thanksgiving stew (it’s going to be frozen in the outside freezer until March) this isn’t the last we’ve seen of it.

The NCAA will find out and they will get theirs. Adolph Rupp and the Kentucky Wildcats had to forfeit the entire 1952 season, just 2 years after they won the National Title. Reggie Bush gave back his Heisman, and USC is still suffering. They don’t care if you the baddest dude in the all the land, they will nab you if you broke the rules.

The interview with Chris Fowler was misleading. Newton didn’t ever give a straight answer about his father, other than his ‘unconditional love’ for him. And Fowler looked like he held back, like Newton’s publicist gave him a stern talking to about not going into to much depth about the allegations. It wasn’t scripted, but Newton knew what not to say. (And the blandness of the conversation is probably the reason you have yet to see it.) Also the Letterman Top-10 (where I get all my hard-hitting bits, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWztPwFOxiY) had no reference to the money. You would think that the writers would have a hay-day on this. But they, once again, were held back by something. Not good.

Like a big Ruby Tuesday dinner on your 21^st birthday… this isn’t the last you’re gonna see of it. So watch out CAM!