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Weekend Musings
From almost being in the NIT to the Sweet 16
So the first and second rounds of the Men’s NCAA Tournament have come to a conclusion and I know many who would argue that most of the fun is now over. I would certainly be in that boat. If you can remember, awhile back one of my first posts was on the Top 5 Sporting Events people look forward to each year. The Men’s NCAA Tournament was a staple of many people’s lists – more specifically the 1st and 2nd rounds. So I thought it appropriate to write a little follow-up post. Overall, the first and second rounds were a lot of fun – Thursday was a little on the blah side, but Friday through Sunday were great. Both Friday (Ohio St. vs. Siena & Wisconsin vs. Florida St) and Saturday night (Gonzaga vs. W. Kentucky & Duke vs. Texas) were great games that capped off great days of basketball. Last night was a little less exciting, but the Marquette vs. Missouri & Michigan St. vs. USC games provided some nice Sunday afternoon drama. It seems that over the past several years a 13 seed has managed its way into the 2nd round and Cleveland St. did just that by beating Wake Forest pretty handily. I’d have to say that the Ohio St. vs. Siena game Friday night was my favorite of the weekend, but you could make an argument for numerous others.
After doing pretty horrendous in the first round with my picks I made a second round comeback by getting all 16 second round games correct (I think this is the first time ever I have had the entire Sweet 16 correct). The funny thing is – I didn’t watch any college basketball or do any pre-tournament research before making my picks. I usually get a little crazy between the time the bracket comes out and Thursday morning, but due to my school schedule and the much more important fantasy baseball draft that occured on Saturday I just didn’t have the time to put effort into the bracket. I probably filled it out in less than 15 minutes hoping for the best….and what has transpired? I’m doing much better than when I actually think I know something about it all.
Just a couple other musings from the weekend – if you’re into golf, how amazing were the Master’s commercials this weekend? Every time I hear the music and Jim Nance saying, “A tradition unlike any other” I get goosebumps and entirely too giddy. I cannot wait for April 8th. How annoying are truck commercials – especially these ones with Howie Long. Why don’t they just come out and say what they’re basically saying, “my manhood is bigger than yours because I drive a Chevy” or whatever truck he is promoting. Seriously – does driving a horrendously big pickup truck make you more of man?!? These commercials are driving me crazy! Let’s see…what else – I had my fantasy baseball draft this weekend and I really wanted to write a post about it, but I can’t think of an angle that anyone would care about (do you care that I drafted Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder in the 1st and 2nd rounds? No, you don’t, so I’m not going to write about it). All in all I think it went well though and I thoroughly look forward to the beginning of the baseball season.
That’s it – a little housecleaning post. How is everyone doing in their brackets….anything particular happen over the 1st and 2nd rounds that you’re extremely excited/disgusted about? Which team looked the best to you? Thoughts on the Masters….stupid truck commercials? We all saw the same 14 commercials over and over this weekend….any other ones extremely annoying or good?
If you have something to say...
I, for one, love the Chevy commercials. It tells me and probably some of the impressionable youths that watch March Madness that a real man does not need a step to climb things. Rocky would have been more of a man if he leaped to the top of that museum in Philly. The President of the US doesn’t need steps to enter and exit Air Force one. (He would rather have a 100,000 mile warranty).
Seriously, the commercial comes off as questioning a man’s sexuality if he uses a “man step.”
@Joe the step commercial might be the worst. Having that guy get down off his truck like he is 104 years old – it’s so insanely ridiculous.
don’t underestimate my interest in your fantasy baseball draft. i love talking about that stuff, particularly draft strategies.
as for basketball – i love every minute of it. i only wish there were more upsets.
@Matt nice! I’m addicted to fantasy baseball. I went starting pitching heavy this year (took CC and Hamels in the 3rd and 4th rds). Never taken pitchers early before so I’m interested to see how it works out. We’ll have to chat about this over Vegas.
First off – Masters commercials: Man. Nothing steals my attention better. Seriously, no matter what I’m doing at the time, as soon as I hear that music I immediately turn to the TV and watch the same commercial I’ve seen a dozen times in the last hour. I really, really love it.
As for stupid truck commercials- all I think when I see those is “Why is Howie such a jerk?”.
Lastly- I think it’s important for your readers to know the fun you and I have going with our brackets:
For the first year in the last eight we didn’t talk to each other while filling them out – BUT – we ended up with almost identical brackets. Right now we are within one point of each other – with the only remaining difference being the UConn vs Purdue game – if UConn wins then I beat you and if Purdue wins you beat me. Nothing else matters.
Hilarious.
@Zach this somehow slipped my mind while writing this post. It really is creepy how identical our brackets are – maybe 5 differences.
Howie is a jerk. Leave the guy getting off the truck alone. Maybe he has bad knees because of his labor intensive job and he needs a step. Or why are you making fun of the guy who gets 18 miles to the gallon highway? You think you’re being all green with your 19 miles? Stupid Howie. Stupid Chevy. Stupid truck commercials. I can’t wait to see them all over again this weekend.
@Zach and by the way. Purdue is gonna smoke UConn.
Oh god- I completely forgot about the whole 18mpg vs 19mpg deal.
I seriously lost it the first time I caught that (the 15th time I saw the commercial, I’d toned it out the rest of the times). I mean total profanity filled rant about how NO car commercial should be able to even mention mpg unless it’s above 35. And 18mpg vs 19 is so absurd I don’t even know where to begin. You get Howie’s giant ego weighing down the truck’s cab and you’re sure not going to get more than 10mpg anyway! I mean the size of that guy’s head sticking out the sunroof would even ruin the mileage of a Prius, not to mention the drag caused by his hair-helmet…
But on the “man step” thing – I love how they didn’t even mask the fact that Howie’s a jerk. Next time you see that commercial, make sure to notice the look on the guy’s face after Howie scoffs at him – it’s hilarious- he’s totally pissed. BUT YES, he looks like he’s in pain – so leave the dude alone.
Lastly- I don’t even like Uconn… but they’re gonna demolish Purdue… just sayin.
@Zach I can totally see you ranting at the television during this commercial….along with your mother and father and sister.
I’ve watched the step commercial really closely actually because it’s interesting to watch the other dudes body language after Howie openly insults him. I mean Chevy is trying to completely emasculate the guy by first having him gingerly get off his truck and then Howie make fun of him for it. It’s so ridiculous. Does this stuff actually sell trucks?
@ Drew “Does this stuff actually sell trucks?”
Yes, yes it does. I grew up in a town where your pickup truck wasn’t cool until it had Calvin peeing on one of the competition’s logo. Seriously.
And the 18mpg to 19mpg thing doesn’t matter anyway, because the people that drive those trucks don’t log a lot of highway miles. It’s usually from job site to home.
Also, I’m sure everyone that owns one of those trucks drives it in a manner that can actually achieve that mileage.
@Joe that is so true – no way people driving these trucks are accelerating in a mild mannered fashion.
I’ve seen those Calvin stickers….I don’t think it’s required in Maine to have one of those, but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt.
My bracket isn’t very good – maybe because I don’t really care about the sport of basketball which is kind of a disadvantage. But also because I was spending a lot of time prepping for the fantasy baseball draft too. That and trying to find a job. Awesome. Anyway, I’m still reasonably in it I guess – 12 of the sweet 16 still in it and my elite 8 is intact.
After being incessantly bombarded with John Cougar Mellencamp “this is our country” commercials for about a year straight, I’ve learned to block out all pickup truck commercials. They’re really all the same… Where I’m from its not really about how big or tough your truck is. It’s more like… how amazing slash illegal is your suped-up Mustang GT, Camaro IROC-Z, or Nissan Maxima? Ahhhh… New Jersey.
What a week the first week of April will be… MLB season starts and the Masters that weekend. Sports are back (sorry basketball); time to start watching baseball tonight religiously again…
Drew, I’m going to smoke you in fantasy baseball this year… again.
@Ryan remember how much research I did that year at Skadden and how incredibly crappy I did? I think you gave me the award for “most research conducted that yielded the worst results”. Awesome.
Can’t wait for the MLB season. Opening Day is just one of the best days of the year. Sitting there with like 14 gamedays open. It’s awesome.
And remember when I awesome at fantasy baseball back in 06 and 07? What happened to that guy?
I am going to start a fantasy fantasy baseball league, it will be a draft of all the top fantasy managers in the country.
And you can see through to their rosters and strategies. Would you load up on a pitching centric manager or one that is looking for the big hitters? I don’t know. I am going to start writing books and charging $100 for them.
So this is a little delayed but I thought I share my NCAA experience this year. I did so bad in my bracket that I actually stopped highlighting on Friday (the second day). Furthermore, I have never done more research than I did this year. I will admitt… it consisted of 5 excel spreadsheets. I was doing so bad after the first day that I almost didn’t even pay for my pool because the money wasn’t due in until Friday. I had Memphis winning and they barely got through the first round. I almost had BYU beating UCONN, I had West Virginia going to the elite 8, I had Clemson in the sweet 16, Duke in the final four, and Illinois and Utah in the sweet 16. Just a taste for my bracket. I however did have Wisconsin beating Florida St but by that time I was rooting for Florida St because that’s what Josh had and his bracket was kicking mine. So even when I swtiched to root for Flordia St, they lost. It was a rough year. This has all lead me to the revelation that if you do extensive research at work (like you did at Skadden and me this year) you do terrible in the NCAA tourny. It is God’s way of telling you to get back to work. So I should probably stop writing on your blog. I’m picking the winner out of a hat next year.
@Bailey so that was totally depressing. I can see you sitting in your apartment in disbelief on Thursday night. What the hell is going on??!?! I’d say follow my lead and don’t do any research next year, but remember that one year I did amazing when we were in Vegas? I did a ton of research that year and rocked it…so who knows what to do. I mean I guess we could actually watch basketball during the season, but who has time for that!