Some random sports reflections in late June...
*I didn't do a version of "If I were in charge of..." for NASCAR but if I did, the first thing I would do is keep Sprint Cup races on broadcast television. FOX has the first half of the season & and shows all the Sprint Cup races on their station. When June rolls around, there are barely any races on broadcast TV the rest of the season (TNT has about 6 races or so during June & early July & then ESPN picks up the telecasts showing barely any races on ABC) . Like the problem I have with college football, if you take the championship (Chase for the Cup) off of broadcast TV (only 1 or 2 of the Chase races are on ABC, final race isn't one of those), you're not going to get the most people watching it. I do know that you have to deal with football once fall rolls around but at the same time if it is compelling enough people will watch.
*Speaking of college football, it is looking more and more like a playoff system will be in place in about 2 years. Having been a proponent of a playoff system, this is a good first step forward with a 4 team playoff. I do think they should (and eventually will) expand it to at least 8 teams. But the fact that all indications are one will be put in place is a huge step forward.
*Even though the countries that I was pulling for have already been knocked out of Euro 2012, I've enjoyed watching the tournament so far. Any time you can watch great soccer in a major tournament format is worth it. Even though I'm "late" to the sport (didn't pick up really watching it until I was in college), I've grown to like and enjoy watching it. I've even grown to defending the sport against people taking shots at it. I guess that really means you like a sport when you do that. For those that are like eh about soccer, I would suggest watching the semis & the finals of Euro 2012 (and be sure to watch when the World Cup happens in 2 years).
Showing posts with label tournament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tournament. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Random Sports Reflections
Some random sports reflections...
*I'm not really a big golf guy (that and tennis are probably the two sports that I enjoy the least watching) but this year has been interesting to say the least. So far in the two major tournaments (the Masters & the US Open) that have been played, the two winners (Bubba Watson & Webb Simpson) are strong & vocal followers of Jesus. Simpson's twitter profile describes himself as this: " *sinner* loved by a Savior". I really am encouraged that more and more athletes are vocal about their faith in Christ, and that they are using the platform that God is giving them to point back to Him. Very cool indeed.
*After my last post about Manny Ramirez, he recently asked for his release from the A's. It didn't seem like they were going to promote him from AAA and so he wanted to see if he can get back into the big leagues another way. I don't know if he will find another team but I do wish him the best.
*The NBA finals are going on and for the first time in my life I've not watched one game of the Finals, even though I am able to (I wasn't able to watch any back in '09 because I was in Poland and it's like a 7 hour time difference). The reason? Simply put Oklahoma City is in the finals. Anyone that knows me, knows that I lived in Seattle and did ministry work there for 3 years. I was there the final years that the Sonics were in town before they moved. So I know better than a lot of people how people in Seattle feel right now about the Thunder, because I saw a lot of what went down firsthand. I can't bring myself to root for the Thunder let alone watch the games. Because I remember what the ownership did. To me, they brought to light the ugly side of sports. As much as I didn't like LeBron James and how he handed "The Decision", that wasn't as bad as what the Thunder ownership group and David Stern did to the city of Seattle. Growing up I was a huge NBA fan. But now, the NBA is like 4th or 5th (behind NFL, MLB, NHL & soccer). I hope that someday Seattle gets a franchise back. But the consequences of what happened with the Thunder still continue to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
*Speaking of soccer, right now in Europe there's a major tournament going on called Euro 2012. The top 16 European countries are competing in a tournament to decide the top team in all of Europe. The tourney is held every four years and this year it's being held in Poland & the Ukraine. I'm happy that Poland is getting to co-host the tourney (sad that they got knocked out of the tourney a few days ago). I loved going over there a few years ago and spending the summer as an intern doing ministry work. I continue to pray for the people of Poland (specifically those in the city of Krakow) and major international tournaments like this are a great reminder to pray for countries.
*I'm not really a big golf guy (that and tennis are probably the two sports that I enjoy the least watching) but this year has been interesting to say the least. So far in the two major tournaments (the Masters & the US Open) that have been played, the two winners (Bubba Watson & Webb Simpson) are strong & vocal followers of Jesus. Simpson's twitter profile describes himself as this: " *sinner* loved by a Savior". I really am encouraged that more and more athletes are vocal about their faith in Christ, and that they are using the platform that God is giving them to point back to Him. Very cool indeed.
*After my last post about Manny Ramirez, he recently asked for his release from the A's. It didn't seem like they were going to promote him from AAA and so he wanted to see if he can get back into the big leagues another way. I don't know if he will find another team but I do wish him the best.
*The NBA finals are going on and for the first time in my life I've not watched one game of the Finals, even though I am able to (I wasn't able to watch any back in '09 because I was in Poland and it's like a 7 hour time difference). The reason? Simply put Oklahoma City is in the finals. Anyone that knows me, knows that I lived in Seattle and did ministry work there for 3 years. I was there the final years that the Sonics were in town before they moved. So I know better than a lot of people how people in Seattle feel right now about the Thunder, because I saw a lot of what went down firsthand. I can't bring myself to root for the Thunder let alone watch the games. Because I remember what the ownership did. To me, they brought to light the ugly side of sports. As much as I didn't like LeBron James and how he handed "The Decision", that wasn't as bad as what the Thunder ownership group and David Stern did to the city of Seattle. Growing up I was a huge NBA fan. But now, the NBA is like 4th or 5th (behind NFL, MLB, NHL & soccer). I hope that someday Seattle gets a franchise back. But the consequences of what happened with the Thunder still continue to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
*Speaking of soccer, right now in Europe there's a major tournament going on called Euro 2012. The top 16 European countries are competing in a tournament to decide the top team in all of Europe. The tourney is held every four years and this year it's being held in Poland & the Ukraine. I'm happy that Poland is getting to co-host the tourney (sad that they got knocked out of the tourney a few days ago). I loved going over there a few years ago and spending the summer as an intern doing ministry work. I continue to pray for the people of Poland (specifically those in the city of Krakow) and major international tournaments like this are a great reminder to pray for countries.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
If I Were in Charge of.....College Basketball
This is part two of a series of posts on if I was the Director of the Department of Sports and what all I would do if I was in charge. Last time was about the NBA, this time it's college basketball. Last week was the end to another run of March Madness and partly from that run came the idea for this series. This entry will tie in well to last one as there will be some ideas that will be helpful in both arenas. So, if I were in charge of college basketball...
*No more one and done athletes. Like I mentioned with the NBA post, if a high schooler wants to jump straight to the pros fine but if he signs with a university he stays a minimum of three years and puts himself on track to graduate if he leaves early. Give a real emphasis to "student athlete" and not just "barely a student just so they're able to play one year and then leave".
*Scholarships are a 4 year commitment not a 1 year commitment renewed 4 times. I will probably use this instance as well when I talk about college football but the argument is good here as well. If a university is signing a student to a scholarship it should be for the length of the time that the student will be there. That student can be assured that their scholarship won't be yanked away and given to somebody else on a whim.
*With regard to automatic bids, power conferences can give them to regular season champs, mid-majors to tourney champs. Power conferences can still have tourney champions and get some bonus (better seeding in NCAA tourney) if they win but don't have to worry about a regular season power conference champion being an at-large bid in the NCAA tourney. For the mid-majors, their conference tournaments can be highlighted because of keeping the tourney champ as the automatic bids.
*Have the automatic qualifiers ranked as the higher seeds (1-8) and at large bids as the lower seeds (9-16). This is probably the most out there one but I think it make things interesting. It would assure mid majors that are really good that they will not be ranked no lower than an 8 seed and at large teams that were so so would be ranked no higher than a 9 seed. On top of that, the last 8 at large teams would be the ones playing in the "First Four". Automatic qualifiers from mid major schools shouldn't be the majority in the "First Four". It should be teams that were on the bubble that should be playing in Dayton. Make them earn their way into the tourney.
*Gus Johnson should call March Madness games again. This year, Gus wasn't calling games because he doesn't work for CBS. There should be a contract that allows him to work March Madness games. I know that Jay Bilas for a time worked March Madness games while working also at ESPN. They could do the same for Gus. March Madness isn't the same without Gus. That should be fixed.
That is part two of "If I Were in Charge of". Feel free to go back and check out other posts in this series and leave a comment on how you would change things if you were "in charge".
*No more one and done athletes. Like I mentioned with the NBA post, if a high schooler wants to jump straight to the pros fine but if he signs with a university he stays a minimum of three years and puts himself on track to graduate if he leaves early. Give a real emphasis to "student athlete" and not just "barely a student just so they're able to play one year and then leave".
*Scholarships are a 4 year commitment not a 1 year commitment renewed 4 times. I will probably use this instance as well when I talk about college football but the argument is good here as well. If a university is signing a student to a scholarship it should be for the length of the time that the student will be there. That student can be assured that their scholarship won't be yanked away and given to somebody else on a whim.
*With regard to automatic bids, power conferences can give them to regular season champs, mid-majors to tourney champs. Power conferences can still have tourney champions and get some bonus (better seeding in NCAA tourney) if they win but don't have to worry about a regular season power conference champion being an at-large bid in the NCAA tourney. For the mid-majors, their conference tournaments can be highlighted because of keeping the tourney champ as the automatic bids.
*Have the automatic qualifiers ranked as the higher seeds (1-8) and at large bids as the lower seeds (9-16). This is probably the most out there one but I think it make things interesting. It would assure mid majors that are really good that they will not be ranked no lower than an 8 seed and at large teams that were so so would be ranked no higher than a 9 seed. On top of that, the last 8 at large teams would be the ones playing in the "First Four". Automatic qualifiers from mid major schools shouldn't be the majority in the "First Four". It should be teams that were on the bubble that should be playing in Dayton. Make them earn their way into the tourney.
*Gus Johnson should call March Madness games again. This year, Gus wasn't calling games because he doesn't work for CBS. There should be a contract that allows him to work March Madness games. I know that Jay Bilas for a time worked March Madness games while working also at ESPN. They could do the same for Gus. March Madness isn't the same without Gus. That should be fixed.
That is part two of "If I Were in Charge of". Feel free to go back and check out other posts in this series and leave a comment on how you would change things if you were "in charge".
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Reflecting on Video Games and College Basketball
Last Saturday, I participated in a video game tournament that made for a really good story and one I thought I would share with you. To preface, in January I started listening online to a sports radio show out of Nashville called 3 Hour Lunch. I spend my middays working on homework and listening to their show. Well, I found out that they were holding a video game tournament and it just so happened to take place while I was back in Tennessee for spring break from seminary. So I signed up and looked forward to it.
The tournament was held at The Score which is a video game store in Cool Springs. Not only do they buy, sell & trade games but they have places where you can play games including the "arena" which is in the middle of the store and has like stadium seating and two big screens projecting games. It was pretty cool. So I got there kinda early and just kinda hung out and looked around. It was to start around noon but didn't officially get going until around 12:15.
The rules were then laid out for the tourney. It was a single elimination tournament playing NCAA Basketball 10 on XBox360. The brackets were just like the real brackets. Each participant would draw the name of a school from a box in the order in which they signed up online. The team you drew was the team you played with. There weren't 64 participants so if there was a matchup and there weren't two participants then you got a bye. It was to be 5 minute halves on varsity and played on neutral courts.
So each person's name was called and drew a name. I was probably the 10th person or so to be called. I went up drew a name and got....East Tennessee State. Yup, a 16th seed from the Atlantic Sun Conference. I wasn't the only one who got bad draws. A lot of the ones who went early got bad draws. At the end 3 of the 4 #1 seeds finally got picked and I think only 1 of the #2 seeds. There were a lot of high seeds that were pulled.
When I first walked in, my goal was to make the Sweet 16. When I saw a lot of teenagers there, I adjusted my goal to not getting embarrassed. I found myself playing in the first round against a kid who was probably 8 or 9 years old. He was wearing a Kentucky jersey and was there with his dad who was also wearing a Kentucky shirt. Needless to say, there was irony in the kid drawing Kentucky.
So it was Kentucky vs. ETSU in round 1. And I met my first goal....I didn't get embarrassed. In fact, I ran the kid right out of the gym. Even with him having John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, me and my Bucs beat the Wildcats and advanced into the 2nd round. How do you ask? Well I did the only thing I could do with a team that wasn't that talented or had great 3 point shooting, I played an up-tempo game and ran, ran, ran. I would get a rebound and sprint down the court and get a layup. I'd inbound the ball and get it to my point guard, who happened to be my best player, and just went coast to coast with a layup. He couldn't ever stop it so I kept doing it. I was like, well if it works, keep doing it.
So, I got one win. I was happy and waited around until the next time I played. In the 2nd round I matched up against Texas. This was an interesting matchup as I was going against one of the hosts of the show, Brent. He had never played the game and so during the loading time, he asked me a few questions and I told him what to do (like what's the shoot button, what's the pass button, etc.). This was a tough game as he got ahead on some quick buckets. But I just went with the same gameplan as in the 1st round and it worked according to plan. I sped up the game and in the end pulled out another victory. 2-0 for ETSU and onto the Sweet 16.
So I made my original goal, at least make it to the Sweet 16 and I earned it with two victories. Now I had a matchup with Temple. This game was with one of those many teenagers that were running around. I was kinda worried but I was like, I'm playing with house money, I got nothing to lose. So again, played same up-tempo style...and it worked again. I got so far ahead that in the game the fans started chanting "Warm up the bus". 3-0 and onto the Elite 8
It was getting nervous time as I got ready to play in the Elite 8. I went up against a guy who had West Virginia. This was going to be hard because 1) he was a good player and 2) he had a talented team. So I had to buckle down and play well. In the first half I got ahead but then went cold and he was head by a point at half. In the second half I got down at one time by 6. I then switched up how I was playing defense and that coupled with him missing shots crawled back into the game. With 8 seconds left, I was down by two. I went the length of the court and tied it up with 3 seconds left. He then inbounded the ball went the length of the court and hit a shot at the buzzer to win the game. It was a tough way to lose but in gracious fashion I shook his hand and congratulated him on the victory. He later ended up winning the the whole thing so I lost to the champ.
In the end, I didn't do too bad. I took East Tennessee State, a 16th seed to the Elite 8. I was the highest seed to advance to the Elite 8 and did so winning 3 games with no byes. I was even complimented on two occasions including the guy who beat me as saying that I was "one of the best ones here". And though I didn't win a prize, I did a pretty good job and I have a great story to tell.
The tournament was held at The Score which is a video game store in Cool Springs. Not only do they buy, sell & trade games but they have places where you can play games including the "arena" which is in the middle of the store and has like stadium seating and two big screens projecting games. It was pretty cool. So I got there kinda early and just kinda hung out and looked around. It was to start around noon but didn't officially get going until around 12:15.
The rules were then laid out for the tourney. It was a single elimination tournament playing NCAA Basketball 10 on XBox360. The brackets were just like the real brackets. Each participant would draw the name of a school from a box in the order in which they signed up online. The team you drew was the team you played with. There weren't 64 participants so if there was a matchup and there weren't two participants then you got a bye. It was to be 5 minute halves on varsity and played on neutral courts.
So each person's name was called and drew a name. I was probably the 10th person or so to be called. I went up drew a name and got....East Tennessee State. Yup, a 16th seed from the Atlantic Sun Conference. I wasn't the only one who got bad draws. A lot of the ones who went early got bad draws. At the end 3 of the 4 #1 seeds finally got picked and I think only 1 of the #2 seeds. There were a lot of high seeds that were pulled.
When I first walked in, my goal was to make the Sweet 16. When I saw a lot of teenagers there, I adjusted my goal to not getting embarrassed. I found myself playing in the first round against a kid who was probably 8 or 9 years old. He was wearing a Kentucky jersey and was there with his dad who was also wearing a Kentucky shirt. Needless to say, there was irony in the kid drawing Kentucky.
So it was Kentucky vs. ETSU in round 1. And I met my first goal....I didn't get embarrassed. In fact, I ran the kid right out of the gym. Even with him having John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, me and my Bucs beat the Wildcats and advanced into the 2nd round. How do you ask? Well I did the only thing I could do with a team that wasn't that talented or had great 3 point shooting, I played an up-tempo game and ran, ran, ran. I would get a rebound and sprint down the court and get a layup. I'd inbound the ball and get it to my point guard, who happened to be my best player, and just went coast to coast with a layup. He couldn't ever stop it so I kept doing it. I was like, well if it works, keep doing it.
So, I got one win. I was happy and waited around until the next time I played. In the 2nd round I matched up against Texas. This was an interesting matchup as I was going against one of the hosts of the show, Brent. He had never played the game and so during the loading time, he asked me a few questions and I told him what to do (like what's the shoot button, what's the pass button, etc.). This was a tough game as he got ahead on some quick buckets. But I just went with the same gameplan as in the 1st round and it worked according to plan. I sped up the game and in the end pulled out another victory. 2-0 for ETSU and onto the Sweet 16.
So I made my original goal, at least make it to the Sweet 16 and I earned it with two victories. Now I had a matchup with Temple. This game was with one of those many teenagers that were running around. I was kinda worried but I was like, I'm playing with house money, I got nothing to lose. So again, played same up-tempo style...and it worked again. I got so far ahead that in the game the fans started chanting "Warm up the bus". 3-0 and onto the Elite 8
It was getting nervous time as I got ready to play in the Elite 8. I went up against a guy who had West Virginia. This was going to be hard because 1) he was a good player and 2) he had a talented team. So I had to buckle down and play well. In the first half I got ahead but then went cold and he was head by a point at half. In the second half I got down at one time by 6. I then switched up how I was playing defense and that coupled with him missing shots crawled back into the game. With 8 seconds left, I was down by two. I went the length of the court and tied it up with 3 seconds left. He then inbounded the ball went the length of the court and hit a shot at the buzzer to win the game. It was a tough way to lose but in gracious fashion I shook his hand and congratulated him on the victory. He later ended up winning the the whole thing so I lost to the champ.
In the end, I didn't do too bad. I took East Tennessee State, a 16th seed to the Elite 8. I was the highest seed to advance to the Elite 8 and did so winning 3 games with no byes. I was even complimented on two occasions including the guy who beat me as saying that I was "one of the best ones here". And though I didn't win a prize, I did a pretty good job and I have a great story to tell.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Reflections on March Madness 2010
It's Wednesday and it's the eve of March Madness. The next four days starting tomorrow is one of my four favorite days of the year, especially Thursday and Friday. I love watching the tournament and the excitement that comes with it. I have filled out brackets but before breaking down the brackets, here's some random reflections on college basketball.
*I'm not the first to say that the selections committee did a not great job and I won't be the last. It's a tough job but they could've done better than stacking the Midwest region with the overall #1 seed and the East with the #2 seed and making the South and West lighter. Also, Tennessee should've gotten higher than a 6th seed in the Midwest, you beat the #1 and #2 overall teams in the country and that gets you only a 6th seed in the toughest region?
*With all the talk about raising the amount of teams to 96 and such...I'm neither for nor against that yet. I will say this, if I was running the show this is what I would do. I would make the 31 automatic bids the top seeds (so roughly 1-7 or 8 seeds). That way A) it doesn't penalize the teams that won their way into the tournament like the mid-major schools and B) you still have the top teams in the top conferences as the 1 or 2 seeds because typically if they're that good they'll win their conference tournament. You then have your remaining 34 at large teams be the lower seed 8-16 with the last two "bubble" teams play in the play-in game. Of course that will never happen but it's a nice thing to think about.
*One thing that I have been reminded of in recent weeks is something that I talked about a while back in one of my video posts. I talked about how at least I am trying to talk positively about the teams I root for and not talk negatively about teams that are rivals or those I don't necessarily like. And for the most part, I've done a good job. If my team has won, I was excited and said great things about my team but I didn't denegrate the other team. If my team lost, I said they put up a good effort and gave the winning team their due. What has disappointed me is that I've seen, read and heard those friends of mine who haven't done that. They have made it a point to say bad things about the other team for no reason it seems like. Case in point. I have several friends who root for Kentucky. In the last few weeks when Tennessee played them in basketball, they made it a point to make snarky (a word I use sometimes that means like a sarcastic putdown) comments both when Kentucky lost and when they won. I don't know why they felt they had to say those things, maybe they're around Tennessee fans who make those kind of comments around them and they feel they need to respond in kind, I don't know. I know my tendency deep down is to respond like that if people are saying those kind of things and I kinda wanted to respond to them like they were responding but instead I thought about what good that would do and instead chose to say good things both about my team and theirs. I think definitely those who are pastors and ministers like myself need to be reminded that our words do mean something and they have an impact like our actions, and that includes being a sports fan. One cannot separate being a fan and being a follower of Jesus, because it's all wrapped into the person God has made you and called you to be. I'm not perfect in this but I'm trying and hopefully that will end up being edifying to God.
Now...onto the brackets. Just like last year I filled out 14 brackets (10 on ESPN, 3 on Facebook and 1 on Yahoo). I went with a variety of ways of filling out the brackets. Some were scientific (Strength of Schedule, Average of RPI and Strength of Schedule, Records vs. Top 25) and some were simply not scientific (Mascots, Numbers out of a Hat, Completely Random, First Impressions). Here are some thoughts on the brackets:
*I'm not buying some of the easy upset picks that a lot of the "experts" are going with, and not just because I'm a Tennessee guy. I don't think Tennessee or Vanderbilt will be upset. In fact, I think Vandy will be a sweet 16 team. Some sleeper teams I'm picking are Utah St., Washington, Minnesota and Cornell.
*I have seen a lot of Big 12 games living in Kansas City. It is a tough conference and Kansas is a very tough team. They have talent + experience which to me is a deadly combination. I think a lot of people think that Kentucky is the top team like a lot of other people think Kansas is the top team. I've seen both teams and there's no question, Kansas is better. Kentucky does have talent but Wall is too much of a kamakaze point guard who has a propensity to turn the ball over and have a Kobe Bryant mentality of shooting shots. Cousins is a player who could just as easily take his team out of a game as well as keep them in it with his attitude. Their best player to be honest is Bledsoe. When you're top three players are all freshmen, I do think that's not a formula for tournament success (see Michigan in 1993 with Fab 5). Kansas has the depth and talent with Collins, Aldrich, and the Henry twins. Along with that talent they have experience with Collins and Aldrich being seniors. That will play a factor to me as the tourney goes on.
I have two brackets in which I'm thinking are my best. In my first bracket I have in my final four: Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia and Villanova and in my second bracket I have the same with the exception being Baylor instead of Villanova. I have in the championship game in both brackets Kansas and West Virginia with Kansas taking the title.
Good luck to everyone filling out the brackets and hope you enjoy watching some basketball!
*I'm not the first to say that the selections committee did a not great job and I won't be the last. It's a tough job but they could've done better than stacking the Midwest region with the overall #1 seed and the East with the #2 seed and making the South and West lighter. Also, Tennessee should've gotten higher than a 6th seed in the Midwest, you beat the #1 and #2 overall teams in the country and that gets you only a 6th seed in the toughest region?
*With all the talk about raising the amount of teams to 96 and such...I'm neither for nor against that yet. I will say this, if I was running the show this is what I would do. I would make the 31 automatic bids the top seeds (so roughly 1-7 or 8 seeds). That way A) it doesn't penalize the teams that won their way into the tournament like the mid-major schools and B) you still have the top teams in the top conferences as the 1 or 2 seeds because typically if they're that good they'll win their conference tournament. You then have your remaining 34 at large teams be the lower seed 8-16 with the last two "bubble" teams play in the play-in game. Of course that will never happen but it's a nice thing to think about.
*One thing that I have been reminded of in recent weeks is something that I talked about a while back in one of my video posts. I talked about how at least I am trying to talk positively about the teams I root for and not talk negatively about teams that are rivals or those I don't necessarily like. And for the most part, I've done a good job. If my team has won, I was excited and said great things about my team but I didn't denegrate the other team. If my team lost, I said they put up a good effort and gave the winning team their due. What has disappointed me is that I've seen, read and heard those friends of mine who haven't done that. They have made it a point to say bad things about the other team for no reason it seems like. Case in point. I have several friends who root for Kentucky. In the last few weeks when Tennessee played them in basketball, they made it a point to make snarky (a word I use sometimes that means like a sarcastic putdown) comments both when Kentucky lost and when they won. I don't know why they felt they had to say those things, maybe they're around Tennessee fans who make those kind of comments around them and they feel they need to respond in kind, I don't know. I know my tendency deep down is to respond like that if people are saying those kind of things and I kinda wanted to respond to them like they were responding but instead I thought about what good that would do and instead chose to say good things both about my team and theirs. I think definitely those who are pastors and ministers like myself need to be reminded that our words do mean something and they have an impact like our actions, and that includes being a sports fan. One cannot separate being a fan and being a follower of Jesus, because it's all wrapped into the person God has made you and called you to be. I'm not perfect in this but I'm trying and hopefully that will end up being edifying to God.
Now...onto the brackets. Just like last year I filled out 14 brackets (10 on ESPN, 3 on Facebook and 1 on Yahoo). I went with a variety of ways of filling out the brackets. Some were scientific (Strength of Schedule, Average of RPI and Strength of Schedule, Records vs. Top 25) and some were simply not scientific (Mascots, Numbers out of a Hat, Completely Random, First Impressions). Here are some thoughts on the brackets:
*I'm not buying some of the easy upset picks that a lot of the "experts" are going with, and not just because I'm a Tennessee guy. I don't think Tennessee or Vanderbilt will be upset. In fact, I think Vandy will be a sweet 16 team. Some sleeper teams I'm picking are Utah St., Washington, Minnesota and Cornell.
*I have seen a lot of Big 12 games living in Kansas City. It is a tough conference and Kansas is a very tough team. They have talent + experience which to me is a deadly combination. I think a lot of people think that Kentucky is the top team like a lot of other people think Kansas is the top team. I've seen both teams and there's no question, Kansas is better. Kentucky does have talent but Wall is too much of a kamakaze point guard who has a propensity to turn the ball over and have a Kobe Bryant mentality of shooting shots. Cousins is a player who could just as easily take his team out of a game as well as keep them in it with his attitude. Their best player to be honest is Bledsoe. When you're top three players are all freshmen, I do think that's not a formula for tournament success (see Michigan in 1993 with Fab 5). Kansas has the depth and talent with Collins, Aldrich, and the Henry twins. Along with that talent they have experience with Collins and Aldrich being seniors. That will play a factor to me as the tourney goes on.
I have two brackets in which I'm thinking are my best. In my first bracket I have in my final four: Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia and Villanova and in my second bracket I have the same with the exception being Baylor instead of Villanova. I have in the championship game in both brackets Kansas and West Virginia with Kansas taking the title.
Good luck to everyone filling out the brackets and hope you enjoy watching some basketball!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
100th Post...Buzzer Beater Special
In honor of my 100th post, I thought I'd share with you this clip of a game that took place yesterday. It was the NCAA Division II Championship Game between Findlay (from Ohio) and Cal Poly Pomona. Findlay came in undefeated, the game went into overtime. And then this is how it ended up:
This is yet another reason why I love this time of the year...
This is yet another reason why I love this time of the year...
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Aftermath of Week 1 of March Madness
The first weekend of March Madness has come and gone and with it a lot of cheering, booing, excitement and marking on brackets. After the first weekend of the tourney, I have only one team that I'm rooting for still in it (Gonzaga). My other two teams were elimated in the first and second rounds (Tennessee and Washington).
There weren't that many upsets. As far as "Cinderella" teams remaining in the Sweet 16 there is only Arizona (12 seed) and I don't know if I would call them a Cinderella team. In some ways, it's starting to shape up like last year with four #1 seeds in the Final Four with so many favorites winning.
As far as my brackets go, several bit the dust early and some are still doing pretty good. My best overall bracket is one that saw me pick 14 out of 16 for the second round and still has it perfect all the way to the championship game. It'll be interesting after next weekend how my brackets will look.
There weren't that many upsets. As far as "Cinderella" teams remaining in the Sweet 16 there is only Arizona (12 seed) and I don't know if I would call them a Cinderella team. In some ways, it's starting to shape up like last year with four #1 seeds in the Final Four with so many favorites winning.
As far as my brackets go, several bit the dust early and some are still doing pretty good. My best overall bracket is one that saw me pick 14 out of 16 for the second round and still has it perfect all the way to the championship game. It'll be interesting after next weekend how my brackets will look.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Upsets Galore in the Tournament
Well, it waited until the second day of the tournament for upsets to really show up. Those people who were in Tampa got to see a show for sure. Four upsets including two overtime games. I know I didn't have Western Kentucky vs. San Diego in my bracket. Most of my brackets survived the first round without too much disruption. I only lost a few sweet 16 teams. It'll be interesting to see how the weekend plays out with the second round.
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