I'm pissed.
Since you're here, I bet you'll listen while I vent (and no, not the gay Coors Light venting).
If you were (un)lucky enough to be unemployed like me, you probably watched all of the games this afternoon. They sucked. Period. I left for Milwaukee (grad school @ MSOE) shortly before 5. Evening games started at the same time as my class. Being the good fanatically religious college hoopster I am, I watched the scoreboard the entire time. The first batch of evening games made me jealous of all of you donkeys that were watching the games with a beer in hand at your favorite watering hole. Jerks.
An aside, how awesome are the Jordan "Be Legendary" commercials??? I love the factory in Syracuse, NY, where no Rays or Raymonds work. http://www.nike.com/jumpman23/home/index.html#jtvContent?contentID=1247
Another aside, while I'm on the topic of awesome commercials, I love the Jimmy Rollins/Dick's Sporting Goods commercial. Yeahhhhhhhhhhh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kFH4gV8rGY
So, I was wrong a bit about my evening plans. I was able to sneak in an update as class was wrapping up and I decided against going to the bar, 'cause I wanted whiskey and didn't want to pay bar-prices for it. So, now I'm chillin' on my couch, watching WKU beat up on the (not-so) Fighting Illini with a stiff Jack & Coke in my hand.
As much as I hated watching the opportunity for 3 big upsets pass in the 6pm round of games, I have to congratulate Buttski for picking every single game correctly so far. If you want to cheer against him, he has Western Kentucky, Duke, UCLA & Oklahoma. Not terribly adventurous if you ask me.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Game commentary, afternoon day 1
- A&M is running away with it. I could almost call this one now.
- Cal State Northridge just took the lead. About half of you have Memphis in the championship game.
- I miss having DirecTV for just these two days. I'm quite bored with a tied 8 v 9 game. Would much rather watch Memphis & CS-N.
- Bear with me as I iron out a couple of bugs in the sheet. If you see something that's wrong, let me know.
- A thoroughly unexciting afternoon. UNC puts up a Hundy on Radford and UConn doubles up Chattanooga. UNI and Maryland almost made it interesting, but not interesting enough to keep me from a well-deserved nap.
- (6:03pm CDT) The Miss. St. vs. Wash. game is over. Website is updated. Class is starting. Like I said earlier, I'll post late tonight or tomorrow morning.
- Cal State Northridge just took the lead. About half of you have Memphis in the championship game.
- I miss having DirecTV for just these two days. I'm quite bored with a tied 8 v 9 game. Would much rather watch Memphis & CS-N.
- Bear with me as I iron out a couple of bugs in the sheet. If you see something that's wrong, let me know.
- A thoroughly unexciting afternoon. UNC puts up a Hundy on Radford and UConn doubles up Chattanooga. UNI and Maryland almost made it interesting, but not interesting enough to keep me from a well-deserved nap.
- (6:03pm CDT) The Miss. St. vs. Wash. game is over. Website is updated. Class is starting. Like I said earlier, I'll post late tonight or tomorrow morning.
... and we're off!
116 entries this year. Good stuff.
I'm still waiting on 4 brackets, 2 from Jay Johnson and 2 from Brigid Mckeown. Jay had formatting problems and Brigid is having trouble finding a computer with excel. I know both of them have completed their entries, so I'm giving them a break - hey, its my pool....
I'll post as we move through the weekend, but for those who religiously follow the blog, I have to step out this afternoon at 5 or so. I have a class for grad school from 6-9 up in Milwaukee and might hit the bar afterwards. I'll post scoring updates when I'm home.
In the spirit of honesty and all that junk, I took 3 free entries, one for BabyK, due at the end of July. President Obama gets a free entry, though I probably won't pay him if he wins. The way he's giving out cash to banks and automakers, I don't think he needs it. I'm also subtracting $40 for fees paid to GoDaddy for the domain and website hosting and taking out $30 in paypal fees. Cool? Good. I'm glad you agree.
I'm still waiting on 4 brackets, 2 from Jay Johnson and 2 from Brigid Mckeown. Jay had formatting problems and Brigid is having trouble finding a computer with excel. I know both of them have completed their entries, so I'm giving them a break - hey, its my pool....
I'll post as we move through the weekend, but for those who religiously follow the blog, I have to step out this afternoon at 5 or so. I have a class for grad school from 6-9 up in Milwaukee and might hit the bar afterwards. I'll post scoring updates when I'm home.
In the spirit of honesty and all that junk, I took 3 free entries, one for BabyK, due at the end of July. President Obama gets a free entry, though I probably won't pay him if he wins. The way he's giving out cash to banks and automakers, I don't think he needs it. I'm also subtracting $40 for fees paid to GoDaddy for the domain and website hosting and taking out $30 in paypal fees. Cool? Good. I'm glad you agree.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
'twas the night before...
some bulleted notes for all of you as you on NCAA's Eve.
- 74 entries so far. I've probably received 40 since 4pm!
- as usual, i'm giving myself and the BabyK (due late July) some free picks.
- in addition to the paypal fees I usually subtract, I'm also deducting fees paid to GoDaddy in securing the new domain name and hosting service (~$40)
- for next year (don't hold me to it), Buttski and I are working on moving this whole thing online. you'll login to enter your picks with a unique name and password. you'll also be able to call up anyone's picks as well as see all the normally excessive scoring breakdown you're used to.
- You can keep up with the scoring at www.upsetpool.com and my tourney blog, well... here.
- Someone from the post office opened and removed Dennis Johnson's payment. Don't know if it was a check or cash, but this one gets a free entry on account of the USPS sucking.
- I'm working on a sort of "family tree" for the upset pool. You can check it out here: http://www.mindomo.com/view.htm?m=0dd8aed4a1eb438dab965eab9f3aead2
- So far, there are only 3 people who have picked champions other than #1 or #2 seeds - they picked 'Nova, the Zags & 'Cuse. Bold.
- 74 entries so far. I've probably received 40 since 4pm!
- as usual, i'm giving myself and the BabyK (due late July) some free picks.
- in addition to the paypal fees I usually subtract, I'm also deducting fees paid to GoDaddy in securing the new domain name and hosting service (~$40)
- for next year (don't hold me to it), Buttski and I are working on moving this whole thing online. you'll login to enter your picks with a unique name and password. you'll also be able to call up anyone's picks as well as see all the normally excessive scoring breakdown you're used to.
- You can keep up with the scoring at www.upsetpool.com and my tourney blog, well... here.
- Someone from the post office opened and removed Dennis Johnson's payment. Don't know if it was a check or cash, but this one gets a free entry on account of the USPS sucking.
- I'm working on a sort of "family tree" for the upset pool. You can check it out here: http://www.mindomo.com/view.htm?m=0dd8aed4a1eb438dab965eab9f3aead2
- So far, there are only 3 people who have picked champions other than #1 or #2 seeds - they picked 'Nova, the Zags & 'Cuse. Bold.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Protest
I'm not watching the selection show. I decided that its dumb. Its just a bunch people bitching about who's in and who's out. I'll just wait until someone publishes the whole thing on a website.
Plus, a rematch of the last World Baseball Classic championship game is on - Japan @ Cuba.
Plus, a rematch of the last World Baseball Classic championship game is on - Japan @ Cuba.
Friday, March 13, 2009
ok, ok, ok....
So, I wrote that last post shortly after the end of regulation of the Syracuse vs Uconn game when Diefendorf (sp?) missed the win by the length of his fingertips. Now we're in the 6th overtime. Honestly, is there a better way to get excited about the NCAA Hoops tourney??? 3 days ago, I was wishy washy about even running the pool. Now, I can't control my excitement.
6 overtimes??? I'm starting to think conference tournaments are better than the real thing. If you've been keeping up with the Big 12 Tourney, you'd agree. All 4 top seeds are out over there. Granted, I'm somewhat partial given my Iowa State heritage (yes, I was in school when #15 Hampton beat Tinsley & Fizer's #2 seed 'Clones). Anyway, I've caught the fever. Bad.
I just hope the field of 64 (65) is as exciting as this game!
Also, Dick's Sporting Goods has been running some great commercials lately. Being a guy who led my conference in getting hit by pitches (no joke), my recent favorite has got to be this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kFH4gV8rGY
Wow. Game's over now. Congrats to both teams. This was truly one of the most unbelievable games I've ever seen.
6 overtimes??? I'm starting to think conference tournaments are better than the real thing. If you've been keeping up with the Big 12 Tourney, you'd agree. All 4 top seeds are out over there. Granted, I'm somewhat partial given my Iowa State heritage (yes, I was in school when #15 Hampton beat Tinsley & Fizer's #2 seed 'Clones). Anyway, I've caught the fever. Bad.
I just hope the field of 64 (65) is as exciting as this game!
Also, Dick's Sporting Goods has been running some great commercials lately. Being a guy who led my conference in getting hit by pitches (no joke), my recent favorite has got to be this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kFH4gV8rGY
Wow. Game's over now. Congrats to both teams. This was truly one of the most unbelievable games I've ever seen.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
2009!!!
Here we go again. Its conference tournament time and I'm just now getting excited.
It has been quite an interesting year+. Since we last crossed paths, I had just left a great job testing explosives for the Navy and started working on fuel cell powered generators for Modine Manufacturing in my homeland of Southeast Wisconsin. Since then, things have been busy. I started grad school in the engineering managment program at Milwaukee School of Engineering. Angie finished her school year at Barnhart Elementary in Waldorf, MD. We moved into Mom's basement in Cedarburg, WI. We sold our home in Waldorf after nearly a year on the market and at a substantial loss. After living with my overly generous mom for 51 weeks (thanks for putting up with all of my crap and doing my laundry!), purchased a home in Racine, WI. Not 3 months later, Modine's stock tanked requiring drastic reorganization and layoffs, one of which was me. Somewhere in there I managed to get Angie pregnant. Now, I'm looking for a job (I'm a mechanical engineer with test and product development experience if you know of any openings - email for a resume) and trying to enjoy my time off. Somehow, despite all the turmoil, I'm terribly excited. Excited to become a father, excited to explore a new job and excited that its nearly NCAA tournament time!
If you've found your way to this blog, you've either been a long time participant or are considering it this year. I'm looking forward to another fun tournamnet and pool. Stay tuned for somewhat live updates as the tournament progresses.
It has been quite an interesting year+. Since we last crossed paths, I had just left a great job testing explosives for the Navy and started working on fuel cell powered generators for Modine Manufacturing in my homeland of Southeast Wisconsin. Since then, things have been busy. I started grad school in the engineering managment program at Milwaukee School of Engineering. Angie finished her school year at Barnhart Elementary in Waldorf, MD. We moved into Mom's basement in Cedarburg, WI. We sold our home in Waldorf after nearly a year on the market and at a substantial loss. After living with my overly generous mom for 51 weeks (thanks for putting up with all of my crap and doing my laundry!), purchased a home in Racine, WI. Not 3 months later, Modine's stock tanked requiring drastic reorganization and layoffs, one of which was me. Somewhere in there I managed to get Angie pregnant. Now, I'm looking for a job (I'm a mechanical engineer with test and product development experience if you know of any openings - email for a resume) and trying to enjoy my time off. Somehow, despite all the turmoil, I'm terribly excited. Excited to become a father, excited to explore a new job and excited that its nearly NCAA tournament time!
If you've found your way to this blog, you've either been a long time participant or are considering it this year. I'm looking forward to another fun tournamnet and pool. Stay tuned for somewhat live updates as the tournament progresses.
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