Opening Day(ish)

Today is opening day (assuming you don't count the two games the A's and Red Sox played in Japan or the game the Braves and Nationals played last night in D.C. to kick off the season)

As far as I am concerned today is opening day.

The Tribe will get under way at 3:05 today from the Jake Progressive Field. The forecast is calling for rain (a huge upgrade from last year's snow) so it will be iffy to see if they can get this one in.

Anyhow it is Mark Buehrle for the White Sox against C.C. Sabathia for the Tribe.


Yeah Baseball!!!!

Beer of the Week

Week of March 31st 2008 --- Beer of the Week



Messiah Bold






A solid effort from Schmaltz brewing company. If you enjoy Sam Adams you will definitely enjoy a Messiah Bold.


Great beer, better name.


Seriously folks, it is the chosen beer.

Sunday Hoops

Kansas over Davidson (the dream dies today)

Texas over Memphis (upsetish)

Tonight

UCLA over Xavier

UNC over Louisville

Boring, I know.

Friday Night Hoops

Coverage maps courtesy of Awful Announcing

Hopefully you will have a chance to watch the games unlike me, who will be working a recruiting weekend. Kick Ass!

Sweet 16

Here is a quick breakdown of the match ups over the next two days. If you are going to fill out a second chance bracket and have not done so yet, I encourage you to pick exactly the opposite of me (this is based off of my track record from the first two rounds)

Thursday:

Xavier vs. West Virginia (Phoenix, 7:10pm) Hooray for Duke not being in the Tournament anymore! I think the Drew Lavender/Joe Mazzula matchup with be the determining factor in this game. I know Mazzula has come off the bench for the Mountaineers in the first two games, but he has been the spark plug that has ignited them thus far. Unfortunately it will not be enough for WVU. My pick – Xavier by 7.

North Carolina vs. Washington St. (Charlotte, 7:27pm) UNC wants to get up and down the court to the tune of 90+ points. WSU would love to see a game in the low 60s, it will be interesting to see who gets control of the game first. WSU stomped Notre Dame and UNC has had a walk in their first to games. I am going to say this is close for awhile before UNC’s deep bench takes control late. My pick – UNC by 11.

UCLA vs. Western Kentucky (Phoenix, 9:40pm) Probably the most unlikely sweet 16 game. No one expected WKU to get past Drake more or less UConn in the second round, then a funny thing happened and San Diego took care of UConn and we got a 12/13 second round game. UCLA may (read: most definitely) had a little help from the refs in the last 20 seconds against A&M, but I don’t see a miracle upset here. My pick – UCLA by 19.

Tennessee vs. Louisville (Charlotte, 9:57pm) Tennessee has been less than impressive in their first two games. Louisville ran an overseeded Oklahoma out of the gym in the second round. A lot of things I have read think that UT is going to have no trouble with the Cardinals, but I am going to disagree. My pick – Louisville by 3.

Friday:

Wisconsin vs. Davidson (Detroit, 7:10pm) Davidson is not as surprising as WKU do to the fact that they have an NBA caliber guard (Stephen Curry) absolutely carrying them through the tourney. Wisconsin plays big tough bruising basketball and it will be interesting to see if they can knock Curry around and get him off his game. My pick – Davidson by 5. The dream continues.

Texas vs. Stanford (Houston, 7:27pm) This should be one of the best games of this round. Stanford snuck past Marquette and Texas handled Miami in the last round. It will be interesting to see if the guard play of Texas or the interior play of the Stanford twins can dominate the game early. My pick – Texas by 9.

Kansas vs. Villanova (Detroit, 9:40pm) This is an interesting game, Nova is no ordinary 12 seed, having knocked the #3 team in the ACC out in the first round. Kansas has not had any trouble yet, but I think Nova will give them a run for their money only to come up a little short at the end. My pick – Kansas by 14.

Memphis vs. Michigan State (Houston, 9:57pm) I think this is the best chance for a one seed to go down. MSU has been a up and down team all year long, right now though the are playing some of there best ball of the year. They are a physical Big Ten team that will not be afraid to send people to the line. That said Memphis is the second worst free throw shooting team in the country (out of 330 some odd teams). Eventually Memphis will end up in a close game that free throws will hurt them. This is that game. My pick – Michigan State by 1.

Update: Coverage Maps for Thursday (Awful Announcing)

Beer of the Week

Week of March 24th 2008 --- Beer of the Week


Corona





After spending the last 4 days pounding Coronas as my bracket went to shit, I figure I should make it the beer of the week. Plus who would not rather be sitting on a beach drinking beer?

Two other things:


-Even though your bracket is probably falling apart (and if it isn't you are a lucky son of a gun, or a girl who has no clue) you have to admit that it has been a very entertaining tournament thus far. Two 12s, one 10 and a 7 seed left in the sweet sixteen. Let's all root for a Davidson/Nova elite 8 matchup.


-Second, anyone who buys Corona Light because they think that Corona is too "heavy" should immediately give up drinking beer. I am not even kidding a little bit.


Oh and depending on how much I feel like procrastinating (so that I never, ever ever, leave college; at least not until they kick me out) I may write up a little something* about the sweet sixteen.


*Something that you should probably totally ignore if you are participating in a second chance bracket (Yahoo! Group #: 2339 password: 12345)

Why are you reading this?

Seriously go watch some basketball

NCAA Tournament Coverage Maps (Friday)

Once again from Awful Announcing NCAA coverage maps

NCAA Tournament Coverage Maps

Just in case you were wondering what game you will be getting. Also, so you can be jealous if another market is getting a better game.

Coverage Maps for Thursday (Found on Awful Announcing)


I would like to point out that this is the one time of year that I like Time Warner Cable. I am not sure if other cable providers have this and if they do we can all be happy, but Time Warner gives you 4 CBS feeds so that if you have enough TVs (I will) you can watch all four games that are on at one time.

If your cable provider is not hooking you up (or you don't have cable) you should check out CBS march madness on demand. This way you will at least be able to get a live feed of whatever game you want.

Tourney Preview

This is probably going to be a losing bracket but after 3 days of looking at games, changing picks, looking again and changing them back this is what I have come up with. So if you need a little last minute help filling out your bracket you should probably avoid any picks that I have made.

MIDWEST

1 Kansas vs. 16 Portland State

The Pick: Kansas

8 UNLV vs. 9 Kent State

The Pick: Kent State

5 Clemson vs. 12 Villanova

The Pick: Villanova

4 Vanderbilt vs. 13 Siena

The Pick: Vandy

6 USC vs. 11 Kansas State

The Pick: USC

3 Wisconsin vs. 14 CS Fullerton

The Pick: Wisconsin

7 Gonzaga vs. 10 Davidson

The Pick: Gonzaga

2 Georgetown vs. 15 UMBC

The Pick: Georgetown


Round of 32: Kansas over Kent State; Vandy over Nova; USC over Wisconsin; Georgetown over Gonzaga.

Sweet 16: Kansas over Vandy; Georgetown over USC

Elite Eight: Georgetown over Kansas

Not in my bracket, but food for thought…

Dark Horse for Final Four: USC with supertalent OJ Mayo who is great at times

Dark Horse for Sweet 16: Siena. Vandy has been struggling as of late and in a 12-13 matchup anything can happen

Best First Round Upset: Kansas State over USC. Other superfrosh Michael Beasley could trump Mayo, but does not have as good of supporting cast.

SOUTH

1 Memphis vs. 16 Texas-Arlington

The Pick: Memphis

8 Mississippi State vs. 9 Oregon.

The Pick: Mississippi State

4 Pittsburgh vs. 13 Oral Roberts

The Pick: Pittsburgh

5 Michigan State vs. 12 Temple

The Pick: Temple

3 Stanford vs. 14 Cornell

The Pick: Stanford

6 Marquette vs. 11 Kentucky

The Pick: Kentucky

7 Miami vs. 10 St. Mary’s

The Pick: St. Mary’s

2 Texas vs. 15 Austin Peay

The Pick: Texas

Round of 32: Memphis over MSU; Pitt over Temple; Kentucky over Stanford; Texas over St. Mary’s

Sweet 16: Pitt over Memphis; Texas over Kentucky

Elite Eight: Texas over Pitt

Not in my bracket, but food for thought…

Dark Horse for Final Four: Stanford. Solid Pac Ten team with two 6’11” guys in the middle can cause a lot of matchup problems

Dark Horse for Sweet 16: Michigan State. Is it wrong that a 5 seed is a dark horse to get into the sweet sixteen? But really you never know which MSU team might show up

Best First Round Upset: Cornell over Stanford. Stanford in the final four or out in the first round there is some confusion.

EAST

1 North Carolina vs 16 Mount Saint Mary’s

The Pick: UNC

8 Indiana vs 9 Arkansas

The Pick: Arkansas

5 Notre Dame vs 12 George Mason

The pick: ND

4 Washington State vs 13 Winthrop

The pick: WSU

6 Oklahoma vs 11 Saint Joseph’s

The pick: St. Joe’s

3 Louisville vs 14 Boise State

The pick: Louisville

7 Butler vs 10 South Alabama

The Pick: South Alabama

2 Tennessee vs 15 American

The pick: Tennessee

Round of 32: UNC over Arkansas; WSU over ND; Louisville over St. Joe’s; Tennessee over USA.

Sweet 16: UNC over WSU; Louisville over Tennessee

Elite Eight: UNC over Louisville

Not in my bracket, but food for thought…

Dark Horse for Final Four: I don’t think anyone in the bracket that is not a top 3 seed has a real shot at the final four, but if I had to pick someone I would go with Butler. They have a bunch of seniors who have played together for years and if they get hot from downtown they can beat anyone.

Dark Horse for Sweet 16: Winthrop. If they get past Wash State they will probably face a Notre Dame team that they knocked off in the first round last year.

Best First Round Upset: Boise State over Louisville. A couple double reverses, a flea-flicker or two, and a quarterback sneak at the buzzer. Oh my bad this is basketball.

WEST

1 UCLA vs 16 Mississippi Valley State

The Pick: UCLA

8 BYU vs 9 Texas A&M

The Pick: BYU

5 Drake vs 12 Western Kentucky

The pick: Drake

4 Connecticut vs 13 San Diego

The pick: UConn

6 Purde vs 11 Baylor

The pick: Baylor

3 Xavier vs 14 Georgia

The pick: Xavier

7 West Virginia vs 10 Arizona

The Pick: Arizona

2 Duke vs 15 Belmont

The pick: Duke

Round of 32: UCLA over BYU; Drake over UConn; Xavier over Baylor; Arizona over Duke.

Sweet 16: UCLA over Drake; Xavier over Arizona;.

Elite Eight: UCLA over Xavier.

Not in my bracket, but food for thought…

Dark Horse for Final Four: UConn. With a 7’3” patrolling the middle all you need is a couple of guys to get hot on the offensive end.

Dark Horse for Sweet 16: BYU. They would have to knock off UCLA in Anaheim, but stranger things have happened.

Best First Round Upset: Western Kentucky over Drake. Drake has no tourney experience and a first year coach. Can they live up to the great regular season.

Final Four

UNC over Georgetown

UCLA over Texas

National Championship

UCLA over UNC. Finally UCLA gets it done after a national runner up and a final four appearance in the last two years.

Beer of the Week

Week of March 17th 2008 --- Beer of the Week

Finally the beer that you have all been waiting for (OK, fine the beer that I have been waiting for)

Guinness






It is finally St. Patrick's Day and Guinness is finally the beer of the week. It was hard to hold off naming one of my 5 favorite beers as beer of the week for so long. So go out get yourself a couple of Guinness's but don't forget to throw down at least one Irish Car Bomb this St. Patrick's Day.

Tourney Time

The field has been seeded. Don't forget to fill out a bracket.

Here is the info.

http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/

Select Join a group, and enter this info


Group ID#: 3576
Password: 12345


And since Ohio State is not in the tournament ... Let's Go Peay!!!

Best on the Net

Scouring the interwebs to find the best stuff out there so you don't have to.



Never give up on the story. (Awful Announcing)


Solid Interviews (I have no idea where I saw this first, it has been a long week)



Shaq playing with a little too much reckless abandon. (The Sports Hernia Blog)



The hit TV show of next fall?? (The Big Picture)

On Tap (Championship Week Edition)

Helping you get your weekend viewing priorities straight since 2007

You can fill in most of the gaps on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with quarterfinals and semifinals games. Get out a pencil and paper and start picking your upset special teams.

Friday

4:45 (ESPN2) Patriot League Championship

Saturday

11:30 (CBS) Conference USA Championship

12:00 (ESPN2) America East Championship

1:30 (ESPN) ACC Semifinal #1

1:40 (CBS) Big Ten Semifinal #1

4:00 (CBS) Big Ten Semifinal #2

4:00 (ESPN) ACC Semifinal #2

6:00 (CBS) Pac Ten Championship

6:00 (ESPN) Atlantic 10 Championship

7:00 (ESPN2) MAC Championship

7:00 (Versus) Mountain West Championship

7:00 (ESPNU) SWAC Championship

8:00 (ESPU) MEAC Championship

9:00 (ESPN) Big East Championship

9:00 (ESPN2) WAC Championship

11:00 (ESPN) Big West Championship

Sunday

11:00 (ESPN) ACC Championship

1:00 (CBS) SEC Championship

1:00 (ESPN2) Southland Championship

3:00 (ESPN) Big 12 Championship

3:30 (CBS) Big Ten Championship

6:00 (CBS, ESPN) Selection Show

March Madness

All this talk about brackets reminds me to post the info for the annual march madness bracket competition. This will be the 7th year running.

(The selections are on Sunday evening)

Here is the link:
Yahoo College Basketball Tournament Pick'em

Here is the group info:

Group ID#: 3576
Password: 12345


If that isn't a Michael Gary Scott password I don't know what is.

Beer Madness

This may be the most appropriate thing I have linked to since I started this little blog.


Beer Madness


Brackets and Beer? That is almost heaven. The Washington Post is having a 32 beer bracket to determine the best (favorite) beer.






(Thanks to Steve for the link)

Beer of the Week

Week of March 10th 2008 --- Beer of the Week


Bass Ale






1 week until St. Patty's Day!!!!

Yeah, Bass is not Irish, but it is great mixed with Guinness so deal with it.

Proposition 3-17

This is all I have for the day...






Proposition 3-17

Thanks to D Funk for the tip

On Tap (The holy crap there are a lot of games and I am going to have almost no time to watch them edition)

Helping you get your weekend viewing priorities straight since 2007

Every college basketball game this time of year will tell you a little something about some team that will be playing in the tournament. So, you might as well catch as much of any of these games as you can. Especially pay attention to the Championship games in the smaller conferences to look for NCAA sleepers.

Thursday

7:00 and 9:00 ESPN and ESPN 2. Four games that you should pay attention to for tournament picks. (UConn, Clemson, Michigan State, Xavier and St. Joe’s are all playing)

Saturday

11:30 (ESPN2) Big South Conference Championship

12:30 (FSC) Chelsea @ Barnsley. FA Cup 6^th round (also known as the quarterfinals)

4:00 (ESPN)Marquette @ Syracuse.

5:00 (ESPN2) Ohio Valley Conference Championship

7:00 (ESPN) Atlantic Sun Championship

9:00 (ESPN) UNC @ Duke. Hooray for Dick Vitale*.

Sunday

12:00 (FSC) Arsenal @ Wigan. Premier League leaders (Arsenal) look to stay on top. Wigan looks to take some points that would go a long way to keeping them in the top league next year.

2:00 (CBS) Missouri Valley Conference Championship. You can pretty much pencil the winner of this game to pull a first round upset in the NCAA tourney (Unless the winner is Drake, they will most likely be favored in their first game)

9:30 (ESPN2) West Coast Conference Tournament

11:30 (ESPN2) West Coast Conference Tournament

Monday

7:00 (ESPN) Colonial Athletic Association Championship

7:00 (ESPN2) Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship

9:00 (ESPN2) Southern Conference Championship

Tuesday

7:00 (ESPN) Summit Conference Championship

9:00 (ESPN) Horizon League Conference Championship

9:00 (ESPN2) Sunbelt Conference Championship

Wednesday

7:00 (ESPN) Northeast Conference Championship

*Kidding, I hate that guy.

Beer of the Week

Week of March 3rd 2008 --- Beer of the Week

Smithwick's







Two weeks until St. Patrick's Day!!!

Your Irish beer of the week is Smithwick's. Go out, pick up a 6 pack and start working on your tolerance.