Play Ball!

I was writing a post on another subject today, but I had to stop.  Today is Opening Day of the baseball season.  Teams have traveled from sunny Florida and Arizona to the frozen fields of Chicago and Minnesota.  Rosters have been trimmed to twenty-five, and fantasy teams have been drafted.  Multimillionaire free agents and unknown rookies will take the field with dreams of the World Series.  Hope is in the air, even for Cub fans.  The greatest game in the world is back after the long cold winter.  Play ball!

Still Madly Marching

If you were not already convinced that I am terrible at predicting the outcome of basketball games, this round proves it.  Only one of my elite eight teams is still in the tournament.  Thankfully it is Kansas, my national champion.  If I was not writing this at work, I could check my old brackets, but I am sure this is fewest teams left ever in this round.

Three more Jayhawk wins could get me out of last place.  Apparently I used up all of my sports luck last April.  Even after repicking the games, I still only got four of the eight.  My new final four picks are Kansas, Butler, Arizona, and North Carolina.

Butler is an easy pick because I have to pick against Florida.  Butler is becoming one of my favorite teams with their deep tournament runs these last two years.  The other two picks are more difficult.  I am only picking the Heels to keep from jinxing Kentucky.  Though this could be the reverse jinx.  I have seen very little of the Arizona games and know nothing about them, but I am picking them as a reward for beating Duke.

Maddy McMarchson

My bracket had a decent second round of the tournament, but my third round was terrible.  I finished the round 8-8 and have already lost half the games in the next two rounds.  My bracket’s only chance at redemption is if I got the title game right.  After watching some or all of 31 of the 32 second round games (I refuse to watch Duke games) and the eight Saturday games, I saw only parts of four games on Sunday.  Whether watching or not my predictions did not come true.

So now that my bracket is toast, I can cheer for the teams I like, instead of the teams that I picked to win.  BYU is now my team.  I rarely pull for the Mormons and still hold a grudge from that time they killed a bunch of Arkansans.  This is BYU’s 26th time in the tournament, the most appearances of any team without a trip to the final four.  In the midst of their best season ever, one of their players violated the school’s honor code.  BYU suspended Davies for the rest of the season and in the process jeopardized their chance at a championship.  This is in stark contrast to what you would expect from a major college sports team.  I remember one time when a Murray State player got a DUI and was suspended for half of a half of a game.  My respect for this team and school has growth immensely, and I would be cheering for them even if they were not playing Florida.

My number one rule when filling out my bracket is that Duke does not get past the sweet sixteen.  Every year they get a high seed and play their first two games in North Carolina.  Because of that, it is foolish to pick against them in the early rounds.  This year I picked Texas to beat them in the next game.  The Longhorns lost Sunday, so it is now up to Arizona to beat Duke.

I have picked Wisconsin, Florida State, VCU, Richmond, and Marquette to lose all eleven games that they have played.  VCU and FSU play each other next round, so I will have to pick one of them, but I will continue to pick against the other three.

As March As Two Mad Things

I wanted to take off work next week, so that I could go to Kentucky.  However, around here spring break is next week, and there was no leave available then.  So to get revenge, I took off work the last two days.  I went to the Krogers on Tuesday and stocked up on food for my marathon ballgame watching.  I got home from work Thursday morning and, after a quick blog post, went straight to bed.  That two hour nap was enough sleep to keep me going through sixteen games of basketball.  I turned on the picture in picture so that I could watch two games at the same time.  I kept my remote controls within reach so that I could change channels during commercials and flip the sound from one game to another.  There was even a time that I needed to watch three games at once, so I watched the third on my laptop.

The tournament got off to a great start with Morehead State beating Louisville 62-61.  I loved seeing Rick Pitino lose in the first round.  Though I was disappointed that two teams from Kentucky had to play each other in the first round.  The only other instate match-up was Penn St/Temple, unless you count Georgetown/VCU.  If that was not bad enough, UK, the third team from Kentucky, was playing at the same time.  I do not remember how often multiple teams from other states were playing at the same time, but basketball is more important in Kentucky than in those other states.

If you count Morehead’s 2009 win over Alabama State in the “play in game,” this win gives the OVC a tournament win for the third year in a row.  Hopefully these two wins will give the conference more respect from the tournament selection committee and from future recruits.  Unfortunately other teams from the conference have all lost in the postseason.  Murray State, Austin Peay, and Tennessee Tech lost to Missouri State (NIT), Boise State (CBI), and Western Michigan (CIT) respectively.  All of those loses were on the road.

My bracket was perfect through seven games before Richmond beat Vanderbilt.  My first day record was 12-4.  I got two upsets right (Morehead State and Gonzaga), but picked three that did not happen (Belmont, Missouri, and Michigan State.  The Spartans were my Saint Patrick’s Day pick on Thursday, but their green uniforms were not enough to beat UCLA.

The only upset that I picked for Friday was Tennessee, but they did not even show up.  Not surprising since their coach was all but fired earlier in the week.  So after today’s four upsets, my second round record was 23-9.  5 of the 7 second round upsets came out of the Southwest bracket, and 3 of the 11 seeds won.

All of my television watching dreams were coming true until around 7:20 Friday night when my cable went out.  I had just fixed supper, so I had to force myself to concentrate on eating to hold back the tears.  I could not even watch games on the internet because I get my internet from my cable company.  So I grudgingly left my house a day and a half earlier than I had planned.  I joined my friends at church, where we hang out most Friday nights and watched the rest of the night’s games there.

My picks for the next round are pretty boring.  Kansas State, Morehead State, and Michigan State are the only lower seeds that I picked, which means that I have already missed the UCLA/Florida game.  For me, Donavan is in the same category as Pitino, which means that I am forced to cheer for UCLA tomorrow.

Church on Sunday is really going to cut into my basketball watching, but by then I may be ready for a break anyway.

The March to Madness

I have poured over all the stats, watched game film from all 68 teams, and consulted all of the basketball experts.  I am now prepared to correctly predict the winners of all 67 games.  Though if you remember my last post, you know the I already missed the first game of the tournament.  I have not picked the championship correctly since 2001, so it is unlikely that I get it right this year.

My final four picks are Kansas, Ohio State, Pitt, and Texas with Kansas beating Ohio State for the title.  I did not want to put Pitt in there, but their region is pretty weak.  In the past I have picked more upsets than I did this year.  I did not even pick any 12 seeds, though they have a history of pulling off upsets.  I picked two of the 13 seeds, Belmont and Morehead State.  I picked the Eagles mostly because last year I did not pick their conference mate Murray State and took lots of grief for it.  The other reason is because they are facing Rick Pitino.  I can not stand the Cardinals coach and always pick them to lose early.  Also every win for Morehead State means another game for the NCAA all time leading rebounder Kenneth Faried.  If Morehead State has a long run in the tournament, it increases the chance of that title staying in the OVC.

The first round game that I am most looking forward to is the Cincinnati/Missouri game.  My two favorite coaches who made the tournament are facing each other in this game.  Missouri's Mike Anderson was an assistant at Arkansas under Nolan Richardson back during the Hog's glory years.  Cincinnati's Mick Cronin spent three years as head coach at Murray State.  He won one regular season and two tournament conference championships while there.  I picked Missouri to win the game, but I will be cheering for the Bearcats.  But not as much as I will be cheering for Hampton to beat Duke.

The Madness of March

In 2001 a new basketball conference was created, so instead of 30 conference champions, there are now 31.  The BCS conferences refused to give up one of their at 34 at large tournament bids.  So the tournament field was expanded to 65 teams.  This year in ploy to get more money for the tv networks, the NCAA added 3 more teams.  I have several problems with these expansions.

Teams that play in these early games get cheap wins.  I am watching UALR play as I write this.  I hope that my hometown team can get the win, but a win over 16 seeded UNC Asheville will count the same in the record book as Murray State's victory over the 4 seed Vanderbilt last year.  Before that game Murray State had the worst tournament record of any team that had won a game, 1-13.  The 16/16 match ups feel like an insult to the teams that suffer close narrow defeats to high seeded teams.

The first round games are played in Dayton OH today and tomorrow.  Clemson and UAB play tonight at 8:00.  The winner of that game plays Thursday in Tampa FL at 11:00 am.  That is a huge advantage West Virginia.  I am too lazy to do the research, but it seems like the winner of the early round game usually ends up playing on Thursday.  UALR and Clemson (my picks to win) should get Friday second round games to give them a better chance.

Those complaints aside I love the NCAA tournament.  I am really happy that all the games will be on television this year, so that CBS can not force me to watch Duke this year.  I will wait until Thursday to reveal my picks, so as not to influence anyone else when they fill out their brackets.  But now it is time to watch the NIT, Murray State vs Missouri State.

Not Entirely Perfect

Previously, on Today I Was POMPOUS, Shane imagined a conversation where he finally got to use the movie quote that he has been wanting to use for a while.  Like most of the things that I say, the goal of this statement was insight laughter.  Being a fan of the movie Empire Records and the arbiter of all thing funny, Ellen is, as usual, the person to whom the comment is directed.  When a bystander was not familiar with the movie, I described it as one of the five funniest movies of all time.  I immediately realized how bold a statement that is and knew that I needed to make a list.

The first titles to come to mind were Clue, Rustler’s Rhapsody, Mallrats, and Fletch.  This has long been my Mount Rushmore of comedies.  This only left one spot in the top five.  To be fair to all the other comedies out there, I checked with the experts, AFI, to see how they ranked them.  I got some ideas from their rankings, but my list looks nothing like their list.  Movies are always funnier with multiple viewings, and  I have only seen 24 of the top 100 more than once.  So it is not surprise that Groundhog Day is the only movie on their list to make my top 10.

I then checked my vault and found some great movies that I have seen many times, though unfortunately not lately.  I struggled ranking these, and on any other day they may have ended up in a different order.  So here is my ten funniest movies list.  Feel free to disagree, but do take the time to see these movies.

10. Groundhog Day
9. My Cousin Vinny
8. Trading Places
7. Fletch
6. The Big Lebowski
5. O Brother Where Art Thou
4. Empire Records
3. Mallrats
2. Rustler’s Rhapsody
1. Clue

Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From

I usually love my job.  Well as much as I could love any job.  I am not chained to a desk and am not responsible for anyone but myself.  They pay me well and let me listen to music.  That is all that I want from an employer.

My job does not require my full mental focus.  The repetitive nature of my work leaves most of my mind free to wander.  I spend this time doing things like planning my day and thinking up ideas for this blog.  On the rare occasion that I find a good idea for a post, I will write (and rewrite) a rough draft of it in my head.

I talk to myself a lot.  Some of the time I will relive past conversations.  I will think up the perfect "I should have said" hours after a conversation has ended.  Other times I will imagine future conversations.  As Mac loves to point out, when I have a good story to tell, I think about the best way to tell it.  I guess this is not necessary when you are as good a public speaker as Mac and can add a Good Will Hunting references into any conversation.  But for an average storyteller like me, it helps to have an outline or script prepared.

To be continued...

This was supposed to be the introductory paragraph for a post inspired by an imaginary conversation.  But then I realized how long this is now and how much longer it would get, so I decided to make this a two parter.  So tune in tomorrow for the dramatic conclusion.

A Beautiful Life

Anything that can be said sounds funnier in a Scottish accent.  If it comes from Dr Patrick Mead, it is also filled with wisdom and love.  He spoke three times yesterday at Pleasant Valley Church of Christ and will be speaking the next three nights at 6:30.  I encourage anyone who can make it to Little Rock to come here him speak.  If you are too far away, you should listen to his sermons at the above link.

The best laid plans

I had a great series of blogs planned for the next week.  Tomorrow I was going to write about the OVC Championship game.  Then while waiting to find out who the Racers would play in the tourney, I was going to write about Murray State's tournament history and the greatest buzzer beaters in school history.  Unfortunately tonight the Racers shot 3 for 18 from 3 point range and lost 64-59 to Tennessee Tech.

Things I Was Reminded of this Weekend

I can not sleep on command.  Usually the only thing that is required of me to fall asleep is to sit still.  Knowing this and that I would likely be staying up late on Friday night, I slept three hours during the day on Friday.  That is at least an hour more than I ever nap on a day that I plan to sleep at night.  Combine that with an unlimited supply of coffee, and I had much tossing and turning and very little sleep throughout the night.

 

Hay bales are fun.  They are a great prop for photo ops and even better for running on and jumping off.  There was a Great Wall of Hay in the field behind my house growing up.  It was square bales rather than round, and in my memory it was there for years.  Though it may only have been there for a season.  However long it was there, I spent much time climbing and playing on  it.  I wish that I had a picture of it so that I would have a better idea of its dimensions other than just a child’s memory.  I will guess that it was at least ten feet tall, ten feet wide, and one hundred feet long.  I loved it.

Always empty your pockets before getting in a canoe.  I was a nervous wreck after I got in the boat remembering that I had my iPhone in my pocket.  My anxiety was bad enough just floating around, but then Capt Ahab decided that he needed to ram all of the other boats in the pond.  When we pulled over to pick up a third sailor, I handed my phone over to someone on the shore and was able to enjoy the voyage more.

Never play a video game for the first time when there is a audience.  I was peer pressured into Just Dance.  I had never even seen it played until that day.  There were words on the screen, so I was singing, not watching the dances, before it was my turn.  To make matters worse, I had to dance to a song that I did not know.  Despite that, I did not make too big a fool of myself.  Later I played Mario for the first time in ten or fifteen years.  Thankfully I was playing with people who knew what they were doing, so I was able to ride their coattails during the difficult sections.

Inside jokes are hilarious.  They are especially funny when the butt of the joke does not realize that he is being laughed at.  How do you like them apples?

Fire is really cool.  Saturday night I went out and sat by the fire while waiting for the shower after everyone else went to bed.  I just sat there for half an hour hypnotized by the flames.  I did not get any pictures when the fire was big and my pictures of the coals do not do it justice.

The Oscars are more fun when you have seen the favorite.  I have not seen The King’s Speech which won four or The Fighter that won both supporting Oscars.  I did see Inception, four Oscars, and The Social Network, three Oscars, but they were both just alright for me.  Though I do love Aaron Sorkin and Jesse Eisenberg’s fro.  Natalie Portman did take home Best Actress, but my favorite Winter’s Bone went home empty handed.