Looking forward to April

Well, I didn't update it, but the mascot method fell apart on day two of the tourney last weekend. Of course, on Saturday and Sunday, my bracket got blown up as well, so I certainly can't brag. As stated last week, I really wish that I had pulled the trigger on picking WVU over Duke, but I'm going to lean on the old "It's the thought that counts" to make me feel good about my picks!

After the first weekend, I didn't have the 75% victory rate I was hoping for to stay competitive in the pool, but I still had hope for 7 of my elite 8 picks to pull through. That took a further hit with Tennessee playing terribly last night but 6 of 8 and all of my final four is still potential if Memphis, Kansas, and Texas can pull through tonight!

In other sports action, I've noticed that April is shaping up to be fabulously exciting! Obviously, we've still got March Madness wrapping up on the 7th, followed by the NHL playoffs starting on the 9th. Mix in Tiger trying to win another Masters from the 11th to the 13th, and I'm going to have a tough time tearing myself away from the TV long enough to do all my training! I'm thinking the PVR will save me. I can get through everything I want to see commercial free with a minimal amount of bothering the Pants. Let's just hope that thing has enough free memory!

16 Down ...

And the mascot method is clearly superior. With the glaring exception of having Kansas going down, the Pants' picks beat the heck out of mine and put her in a strong leading position going into day two of the Madness. At 13-3 with her only losses coming in Midwest Regional, Amy's results bettered my 12-4 results. However, I hold my head high with only having lost one of my sweet 16 teams on day one this year. I can only hope that tomorrow goes as well.

As for Duke getting a scare, I'm really wishing now that I had pulled the trigger on picking WVU to beat them on Saturday. Oh well, maybe coach K can rally the troops so that they lose to Xavier next weekend instead!

Interesting Starts

Maybe I should have let the Pants take the first cut at filling out my bracket. The "Mascot Method" has yielded a 5-2 start versus my 4-3 start and I like a surprising number of her picks to also do well. The only bright spot I see in my early selection woes is that I haven't lost any of my picks from the next round yet, which has in the past, been a good sign. Especially since I was pulling for the upsets in all three of my losses.

When Mascots Collide ...

So I thought it would be funny to see how much better Captain Pants could fill in her bracket than me using any style of her choosing as compared to my diligent research. She seems to have gone with matching up the mascots, and quite frankly, I'm expecting her picks to be better than mine! Without further adieu, I offer you today's guest blogger ...

I’ve done my research. I’m ready to pick my teams. Or whatever it is you do for these things. I did a whack of research for this. Already so here are my calls for round one:

North Carolina v Mt St Mary:
Tarheels take on the Mountineers. Tarheels: crappy name but bonus points for having a mascot that at some point or other was actually living. More points because it had its own sweater/blanket thing and looks really pissed off in this picture.

Indiana v Arkansas:
So I can’t read Arkansas without saying R-Kansas in my head and Hoosier is a little to close to hoser eh, so I don’t know here. Razorbacks versus something whose name historically means hick… mmm tough call. Boars have tusks. Done.

Notre Dame v George Mason:
The Irish up against the Patriots. The Irish are probably still drunk. So Notre Dame it is. Them drunken leprechauns are wily little buggers.

Washington State v Winthrop:
This will be good. Butch the Cougar battles Big Stuff the Eagle. I know I wouldn’t dare call a cougar a butch. Especially at a bar in Denver.

OK v Saint Jo’s:
Who has a wagon as a mascot??? Honestly! But it does come with two ponies: Sooner and Boomer. Ponies can kick a hawk’s butt any day.

Louisville v Boise State:
Red Bird the Cardinal (really? Cardinals are red? Thanks for the update Einstein!) and Buster the Bronco. I’m letting the pony take this one too.

Butler v South Alabama:
One of the MANY unis with a bulldog as a mascot: Butler Blue II. I pick the jaguars for this one.

Tennessee v American:
Volunteers (and Lady Vols)? Seriously? But at least it’s better than the predictable Eagle of American University. And Clawed Z. Eagle??? Maybe it’s just that I’m Canadian and I say “z” the right way (zed) so it didn’t make sense the first time I read it and when it did I groaned. So Tennessee it is… wondering if they have to actually live up to their name to graduate?

Kansas v Portland:
Baby Jay the Jayhawk against one of many Victor E.’s, this one being Victor E. Viking the Viking. Pillaging and plundering hands down.

UNLV v Kent State:
Runnin’ Rebels and the Golden Flashes. Sounds like a comic book match up to me. Would be much better if Kent State’s mascot was the Flasher. But I can’t say that I have much faith in a school who calls their mascot Hey Reb! So Go Kent!

Clemson v Villanova:
Some cat on cat action here. Who would win in a back of the bar cage match: a Tiger or a Wildcat? Or in this case a Tiger Cub verses Will D Cat. I’m going with Tiger since Will is probably too ashamed of the lack of creativity in his name to put up much fight.

Vanderbilt v Siena:
Mr C takes on a Saint. Would be better if it were Mr T. But I still give the Commodores the upper hand here.

USC v Kansas State:
Trojans (and the woman of Troy) take on the Willie the Wildcat. For the record this is our 2^nd Wildcat team. Historically the Trojans were fooled by a big wooden horse. They better have learnt their lesson. Do it for Helen.

Wisconsin v Fullerton:
Bucky v Tuffy (the Elephant… of the Titans… yeah I too thought it was Carthaginians who had Elephants). Points lost for not knowing their Roman history. Badgers all the way.

Gonzaga v Davidson:
More Bulldogs and more Wildcats. Spike Q. Bulldog (who was a living animal) and Mr. Cat. Mr. Cat? Really? Sic Spike!

Georgetown v UMBC:
Hoyas (which means “what” or “such”) with their bulldog Jack against True Grit the Retriever. A Chesapeake Retriever to be precise. Maybe Vick can help us out here. I’ll go with the Hoyas for this one… even if their name makes no sense. It does make a good comedic moment “the Georgetown what” “hoyas” “what” “hoyas” “that’s what I said: what”.

Memphis v UT- Arlington:
Tigers and Mavericks. Pouncer and Blaze. Tiger all the way. They have claws and teeth.

Mississippi v Oregon:
Bulldogs (AGAIN!!! I’m telling you! No imagination! At least I was Gryphon and then a Thunderbird – mythical creatures and very nifty – they have wings). And so do Ducks. But I’m sorry Donald doesn’t really inspire me all that much. I have to go with the Dog again for this one.

Michigan State v Temple:
Sparty the Spartan (which I was in high school before I switch schools and became a Raider… dddaarrrr) and Hooter the Owl. I thought a hooter was a restaurant with tiny t-shirts. Sparty it is.

Pittsburgh v Oral Roberts:
Claws, fur and feathers. A Panther fights a Golden Eagle. I’m going with the Panther.

Marquette v Kentucky:
I was disappointed to learn that this was U of KY so it’s the Wildcats not the Thorobreds. (This just in: to my disappointment there are in fact 2 American Colleges with the Thunderbird mascot. Damn it. I though BC had that one locked up). I’ll go with the Golden Eagle on this one.

Stanford v Cornell:
The color Cardinal (which I guess is the color of the bird of the same name, and birds sit in trees… so therefore Stanford = Tree mascot), and Big Red Bear called Touchdown. This is basketball Cornell… not football, even the Tree knows that!

Miami v St. Mary’s:
Hurricanes represented by Sebastian the Ibis take on the Gaels. Gaels are from Ireland. See my thoughts about Irish above. Go Gaels!

Texas v Austin:
Longhorns take on the Governors (and the Lady Govs). You know it really grinds my gears all the states that realized that girls could play sports too but couldn’t go for a gender friendly name and so just stuck the word Lady in front of some shortened version of the team name. Besides, Texas has a live longhorn steer called Bevo. And I’m a fan of beef. Go Texas!

UCLA v Mississippi Val:
Joe Bruin fights the Delta Devils. Hmmm… I’m gonna have to go with UCLA here. For no other reason than I want to.

BYU v Texas A&M:
Cougars and Aggies. Well we had Aggies at my Uni. And they threw some wicked pub nights. And these Aggies have a live Collie named Reveille to boot. So I’m going with the Aggies for reasons of nostalgia.

Drake v Western KY:
More Bulldogs and something called a Hilltopper which is represented by Big Red which is a red, blob like costume. So again I give into the slobbering dog named Spike.

Connecticut v San Diego:
Jonathan the (live) Huskie and the Toreros. Sounds like some new project from the makers of Making the Band XIII. I like dogs and this is the first Huskie we’ve had. So Go Connecticut.

Purdue v Baylor:
This one got me. Creative yes. But good name? not by a long shot. The Boilermakers. Who have a train. Yeah I know. Take on Bruiser and the Bears. Well when it comes down to it, train does beat bear. Physics and everything considered.

Xavier v Georgia:
Well thank goodness they aren't the Peaches, but Georgia is (drumroll please) another team of that slobbering canine favorite: the Bulldog. While Xavier has the Musketeers. And D’Artagnan has a musket. And we all know it’s not guns that kill, it’s people… but having the gun must help somewhat.

West Virginia v Arizona:
Picture this: a man in the mountains with only his wits, and a can of beans. He meets a wildcat. They look at each other. Stare deep into the other’s eyes. And then at the same moment they lunge forward to attack. Who wins? The Mountaineer of course. I said he had a can of beans, but not a can opener. He’s freakin’ starving.

Duke V Belmont:
Blue Devils and the Bruins. Wait! I’m having déjà vu here. Didn’t we just have this match up. Well I’ll even it out for the Devil. I’m picking Duke here.

I'm Back!

Having pulled a disappearing act for the last couple of weeks, I'm back to blogging in this most exciting week. I hope to jot down my comments Thursday and Friday during all of the excitement, but for now, I'll offer my very limited insight into the tournament ...

My intelligence is limited this year as I haven't watched any basketball leading up to this weekend. However, I've been listening to a couple of ESPN podcasts all winter, so I at least know that UNC and UCLA are about as good as it gets and that Tennessee got jobbed not being given a one seed and then getting thrown into the Charlotte bracket with UNC. I've had a hard time finding a 12 that can beat a 5, as happens every year, so I've gone with MSU to lose because, generally, the Big Ten sucks. In fact, the Big Ten is so bad that I've got only Wisconsin winning a game and then, only one. I've seen a few people picking Oral Roberts as an upset special for the first round, but I stuck with Pitt and instead went with Siena to pull the upset on Vandy who played terribly down the stretch. USC-Kansas St. is about the most exciting first round game because it pits the best two freshman against each other before they leave college for the big paycheck. Davidson-Gonzaga is another great first round game with the majority of brackets I've seen picking Davidson in the upset. Finally, I'm a little upset after going through my picks to see that I picked the one through four seeds into the sweet sixteen in both the South and West regionals, but I can't find any major flaws in any of the picks, so I've left it. If I were to make a change (which I probably will before Thursday because I can't leave well enough alone), it would be for WVU to upset Duke in the second round.

My final four is UNC over Kansas and UCLA over Texas with Kevin Love and the Bruins prevailing on April 7th in San Antonio.

How'd I Do?

I got to watch a little bit of the Montreal-New Jersey game on Saturday night and while the early going had some good action, I was having a hard time getting intrigued by a game that seemed to not have any meaning. Both the Habs and Devils are going to be making the playoffs and their positioning in the conference seems to mean so little once the playoffs come, that my excitement level with little vested interest was lagging. However, the finish turned out to be pretty exciting with both teams playing well and Montreal getting a good bounce to pot the winner after NJ took a couple of dumb penalties.

But more importantly, how were my picks for those ten games that took place on Saturday? Well, if you are a betting man, you'd be wise to bet against me. 3-7 is a pretty pathetic record. Somehow I just can't get the league figured out lately. Perhaps it'll just take a little more time for the dust to settle after the trade deadline. Or maybe there's just going to be a bunch of surprises in this playoff run that's kicking up with only 15-18 games left for most teams. Either way, I think there are going to be a lot fewer games that I feel are meaningless over the next four weeks!