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!

Taking a Flying Leap

February 29th. A special day, but still a lousy time on the sports calendar. Nothing much exciting happening yet in the NHL or NBA. The NFL is non-existent right now. Baseball has barely begun spring training. Even college basketball is still two weeks away from the conference tournaments and then the Madness. I don't feel much like talking about a PGA tournament of also rans at the Honda. So, to commemorate this once every four year mark on the calendar, I thought I'd "leap" onto the grenade of trying to predict all of the scores from the upcoming Saturday night in the NHL. I must warn you that my hockey picks lately have been terrible and that I can't figure out how teams that looked so good at the start of the year (see: Detroit, Ottawa) are falling apart so badly now. Without further adieu, here we go:

Atlanta @ Boston - Boston just destroyed Ottawa and Pittsburgh and while all the talk was about those "good" teams losing, ignored in the matter was that Boston looked great! I'll take the B's 4-1.

Philly @ NYI - after just 4 wins in 19 games to start 2008, the Isles rolled of 6 wins in a row before losses to the Devils and Pens this week. With Philly struggling lately I'll take New York 3-2.

Pittsburgh @ Ottawa - now here's a couple of desperate teams. Pittsburgh looked horrible last night, but Ottawa has looked pretty bad for weeks now. I think the Pens will bounce back and take this one on the road 5-3.

Toronto @ Washington - does anyone have any idea what's going on in Toronto? The GM has written the team off, but I'd like to think that they'll bring all their fans great excitement by creeping into a playoff spot only to break down and miss the dance at the last possible moment. Leafs 3-1.

Tampa @ Carolina - how has Tampa got to be feeling today after Richards chalked up five points in his first game with the Stars? This team went from bad to worse and don't stand a chance down the stretch. Canes 2-0.

New Jersey @ Montreal - This should be a great game between a couple of teams riding high in the standings. I'm interested to see Carey Price handle the pressure of being number one down the stretch and I think he'll do it well. But not well enough on this night when Brodeur goes back home. Devils 3-1.

Nashville @ Dallas - Coming back to Richards' five point night, I sure hope that it isn't a sign of things to come or else Dallas will be unbeatable in the West. Against a pretty weak Preds team tomorrow night this should be a cakewalk. Stars 6-2.

San Jose @ St. Louis - Not much to say about either of these non-descript teams. The Blues are still a back of the pack team and the Sharks are slightly better, but coming off a game against Detroit tonight while St. Louis will have two days rest, I like the Blues to be the better team on this night. St. Lou 3-2.

LA @ Colorado - There sure is a lot of excitement in Denver this week! We'll see how much help they really get out of a guy like Forsberg who hasn't played in far too long though. My guess is he'll be good, but not great the way he used to be. But against the lowly Kings, not much is required. Avs 4-1.

Calgary @ Phoenix - Phoenix has lost their last two against Calgary, but Gretz has them sitting right there on the verge of the playoffs for the first time since 2002. I'd like to think that they'll have a decent stretch run and then lose in the first round again. Desert Dogs in this one, 3-2.

Enjoy the games! I'll enjoy taking a look in on them tomorrow night.

It Passed With a Whimper

Trading deadline came and went without much excitement yesterday in the NHL. It's always difficult to predict this early, especially when a lot of the trades were for picks, but the biggest pickup would seem to be Brad Richards heading to Dallas. Richards has had proven success, winning the cup a few years back and may be just the thing to put Dallas over the edge. With the Red Wings struggling lately, the Stars have come way back and still have a real shot at winning the West down the stretch and Richards could be just the piece to make that happen. The other big winner yesterday was Pittsburgh picking up Marion Hossa, Pascal Dupuis, and Hal Gill from Atlanta and Toronto. I'm not ready to declare this a clear victory though because Hossa is in the last year of his contract and Pittsburgh actually had to give up quite a bit to get these guys. The Penguins now won't have a pick in the first two rounds of the draft this year where they've been quite successful the last few years in building a solid young heart to their team. We'll see how that effects them over the next few, because I don't think Hossa and Gill are going to be enough to get Pittsburgh the kind of immediate playoff success they're hoping for.

Some trades that I quite enjoyed were Wade Belak going from Toronto to Florida and Marty Lapointe going from Chicago to Ottawa each for a bag of pucks and a water bottle. I take a sick kind of pleasure in seeing Lapointe, a guy that left Detroit because he wanted more money rather than another chance to win, fail in his last two cities while playing out that huge contract.

In other NHL news, the Wings blew another one last night. They finally managed to put a couple of pucks in the net, but hanging onto a one goal lead with two minutes left was too much pressure, so they fired a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty and gave up the tying goal. What followed, was Edmonton's record 13th win of the season in a shootout where Detroit went back to normal and couldn't score on Garon. I have to wonder a bit what Babcock was thinking though putting Jonathan Ericsson, a defenceman in just his third game of the season, up first in the shootout. With the number of guys Detroit has who should be scoring but aren't lately, what better opportunity is there than during a shootout to get one of them going? Chalk up another "L". At least we got a point for this one.

Kick 'Em While They're Down

That appears to be the attitude in the NHL right now when it comes to playing the Red Wings. But while I'd like to make excuses for Detroit getting beaten by everyone over the last couple of weeks while half the team is out with injuries, there's still no real excuse for the team not being able to put any pucks in the net. The injuries, on the back end primarily (with Lidstrom, Rafalski, Chelios, Hasek, et al out Saturday night), will have some impact on the forwards being able to set up and create an attack, but the reality is that the only regular they're missing up front is Cleary and the rest of the team just hasn't stepped up. With the trading deadline less than 24 hours away now, will Ken Holland be able to make a move for a top six forward who isn't in the tank right now? We'll see. But I think what Detroit really needs right now is a couple of lucky bounces to get those guys of the schneid.

Speaking of the trading deadline, I want to address the situation of those poor Leafs fans. The team has five relatively senior guys with a no trade clause in their contracts and not a single one of them has indicated any willingness to waive it. Now, I can understand a desire for stability when you sign a long term contract and if you've got the leverage to get the no trade clause put in, good for you. But on a team as bad as the Leafs are right now; On a team that has absolutely no shot at making the playoffs this year; On a team that doesn't appear to have anything positive in their outlook for the foreseeable future; How can you not want out of dodge?! Sundin is the biggest example. He claims to just have the Leafs in his heart and can't playing anywhere else. Yet if he was willing to take a trade right now to a team that has a chance, he would not only finally get a shot at winning the cup, but his beloved Leafs would get a bunch of prospects that could brighten their future and he could sign right back with Toronto in July! He's basically telling the fans of Toronto, "I don't want a chance to win now, and I don't want my team to have a chance to win in the future either." It's a sad time in Leafsland, and amazingly, I actually feel sorry for all those fans. They deserve better.

And Then There Were 8

The World Match Play Championship is on this weekend in Tuscon, Arizona and over the last three days, they've whittled the field from 64 down to 8. In this most unpredictable of tournaments, I will attempt to guess who might prevail this Sunday ... you're gonna be surprised! Tomorrow morning Tiger will tee it up against KJ Choi to try to win the Bobby Jones bracket and advance to the quarterfinals against the winner of Henrik Stenson and Woody Austin. Despite being a higher rank, I think Stenson has gotten through an easier path so far and that Austin is going to beat him tomorrow morning, but then lose 3 and 2 to Tiger in the afternoon. On the opposite side of the draw, look for Angel Cabrera to beat Stewart Cink and Vijay Singh to beat Justin Leonard in the morning and then Vijay to prevail in the semi-final to advance to a great final match with Tiger. And do you think that Tiger will remember that match from several years back at the President's Cup when Vijay had his caddy wear a hat that said "Tiger Who?"? My guess is that Mr. Woods might have a little motivation to kick Vijay's butt again on Sunday. So yeah, I guess it's not a surprise who my pick is going to be to win it all ... Tiger.

The late HNIC game on Saturday is the Vancouver Detroit matchup that I've been waiting for all season. Unfortunately, now the entire Red Wings team seems to be injured, but if the way Vancouver has played lately is any indication, that shouldn't stop Detroit from whipping all over them anyway. I'm not optimistic enough to predict a repeat of the 9-3 win I watched here in Vancouver a couple years back, but I'll put it at 4-2 for the Wings.

Enjoy the weekend! I'll be watching.