Rumblings

So this Blog thing has taken a back seat to life over the past few weeks. It Happens. Let's ease back into this with an easy format of Rumblings.

*As detailed in an earlier Blog, I do not enjoy Donovan McNabb's sense of humor. It is always nice when feelings are shared by others, especially when the others include famous columnist Bill Simmons. Here is what Simmons had to say on ESPN's Page 2 in his Round 2 NFL Playoff Awards.

The Kobe Bryant Award For "Best Ongoing Misguided/Contrived Attempt to Make It Seem Like There's a Sense of Humor Lurking Somewhere Even Though There Isn't"To Donovan McNabb for pulling the "I'm on the Giants sideline, I think I'll pretend to make a phone call!" trick on the heels of his "I just caught one of Minnesota's sailing passes at the end of our win, I think I'll hop around like I just caught a real interception, laugh hysterically and keep the joke going for six seconds too long" moment the week before. Let's hope he leaves the comedy to the pros and sticks to what he does best: sucking Philly fans into loving him again, then calmly destroying them like Natasha Henstridge's mates in "Species."

*I was on the phone last week with this Kid and we were discussing the NCAA Basketball Tournament and Coaching Carousel in College Basketball. At some point in the conversation I was asked what conference Memphis was in before Conference USA and who was their coach before John Calipari. I answered with "I know they were in the Metro but that was over before Conference USA and I remember them being coached by Larry Finch but there had to be someone between him and Calipari." Well I was right, I had no idea. I think this one would Stump the Schwab. Memphis had a short stay in the seven team Great Midwest Conference from 1991-1995 and was coached by Tic Price, a former New Orleans Head Coach, from 1997-1999. Price was then fired for his relations with a University Coed. Price was then replaced with Johnny Jones on an interim basis for one year.

I can honestly say I have never heard of The Great Midwest Conference, Tic Price, or Johnny Jones.

*After reading Chop Cultures (http://chopculture.blogspot.com/) MailBag answer to his opinion of the best month for sports and then enjoying the Final Round at Augusta as much as I have ever enjoyed watching a sporting event I began to contemplate The Best Days in Sports. In my humble opinion they are as follows:

1. First Thursday of NCAA Tournament - Excitement of the best month in sports getting started. Games from Noon - Midnight on a weekday. Upsets. Buzzer Beaters. Gus Johnson.

2. Any College Football Saturday - Pick any Saturday during the Fall. Wake up at 10:00 to watch Gameday. Turn on a JP game at Noon. Crack a few beers and watch CBS's 3:30 game while flipping through Game Plan to see what is happening in the other 14 games. Order in food and watch the ESPN 7:45 game while finishing off your 12 pack. Pass out watching Gameday Final. Tell me that is not heaven.

3. Sunday at One of Golf's Majors - To watch grown men at the top of their profession wither under pressure is fascinating. Only more fun to watch when they overcome the nerves to become legends.

4. Baseball Game 7 - Do or die in America's Past Time

*Call me obsessed. Tell me I talk way too much about Facebook to hate it. I don't care. I was attempting to do an experiment this weekend on Facebook but my wife stopped me. She has the right because I was using her account. I wanted to see how people react to the Facebook Asshole. I was going to reply to every one's stupid comments on what they are doing with smart ass replies. I think it would be great but for some reason my wife thought people would get upset with her. For your enjoyment here is what it would have looked like:

BDF writes "is grilling a 6 lb pork shoulder" - I reply "Great Dave, unless you are going to feed your 92 friends why do we care"

Kelly Stallings writes "is celebrating Miss Raffo's Birthday all day!" I reply "who the fu*ck is Miss Raffo"

My Cousin writes "Enjoying Easter with my beautiful family" I reply "You're lucky your husband took you back after you had an affair on him two years ago"

Some chick named Cassie Schrz writes "Crazy Master, first three way playoff since 1987" and I reply "Really? How many of those have you watched Bitch?"

*And Finally Friday Night Lights turned in a stellar Season Finale Friday night and pulled an unexpected twist that proves the writers are geniuses. How do you get ready for two more seasons in a show that seems destined to end. Write in a move to a newly opened high school for Coach Taylor after a rich kid and his dad get him run out of town. That equals the biggest rivalry in TV since the Roadrunner and Coyote. Go East Dillon Lions!

Selection Sunday

Christmas is here. As I mentioned last week, I have an unhealthy infatuation with the NCAA Bracket. For the past three years I have attempted to predict the teams going to the Tournament and what seeds they will have. I have had varying results.

Last week I found a website called The Bracket Project that has graded the majority of the bracket predictions on the web. The rankings are based on receiving 3 points for every team correctly predicted, 2 points for every seed correct, and 1 point for every team with in one seed. In 2006, I scored 278. Ranking 17 out of 23 brackets. In 2007 I had my best year, I ranked 2nd out of 30 brackets with a score of 297. Beating the likes of Joe Lunardi, Jerry Palm, CBSSportline, CNNSI, Rivals, and Yahoo. Then last year I was brought back to earth quickly with a score of 293, which ranked 49 of 53. Lets see how I do this year.

The Bubble was extremely tight this year. I had 6 final teams fighting for 3 spots. My last 3 in were Minnesota, Arizona, and Creighton. My last 3 out, Auburn, Wisconsin, and St. Mary's. Auburn was knocked out at the last second by conference foe Mississippi St. making a surprise run in the SEC Tournament. This was not based on SEC affiliation simply by being the final team in on my board.

The two biggest difference you will see in my bracket will be the exclusion of Wisconsin and Duke as a 1 seed. Wisconsin just did not have the big wins Arizona and Minnesota had and had the same number of top 100 wins as Creighton. As for Duke as a 1. I think the committee will reward them for being the only highly ranked team to take care of business during Championship week.

So to the predictions

1 seeds - Louisville, Pitt, UNC, Duke
2 seeds - Uconn, Memphis, Michigan St, Oklahoma
3 seeds - Kansas, Wake Forest, Missouri, Villanova
4 seeds - Washington, Syracuse, UCLA, Florida St
5 seeds - Gonzaga, Illinois, Arizona St, Purdue
6 seeds - West Virginia, Marquette, Tennessee, Ohio St.
7 seeds - Utah, LSU, Clemson, Xavier
8 seeds - Butler, Oklahoma St, Texas, Texas A&M
9 seeds - USC, BYU, Cal, Boston College
10 seeds - Maryland, Michigan, Dayton, Temple
11 seeds - Utah St, Arizona, Siena, Minnesota
12 seeds - Cleveland St, Creighton, Western Kentucky, Mississippi St.
13 seeds - Akron, Binghamton, Northern Iowa, VCU
14 seeds - North Dakota St, Portland St., CS Northridge, American
15 seeds - Cornell, Robert Morris, East Tennessee St., Stephen F Austin
16 seeds - Alabama St, Morgan St., Chattanooga, Morehead St., Radford

Enjoy the Selection Show!

Follow Up - Grading BZ Nation in 2009

64/65 teams. 28 seeds correct and 54 seeds within 1 line.

This year the avearge grade the Bracket Project gave to its 60 brackets was 303.4. The picks above score a 302, putting me below the average bracket and finishing 39th out of 60. BZ Nation does not accept mediocrity so this was not an acceptable year. However you would have been better getting your picks from The Nation than The Washington Times, Yahoo, The New York Post, The Sporting News or Sports Illustrated. All publications we outscored.

Now on to the games!

A Look At This Year's Bubble

March Madness is sneaking up on us and no doubt next week at this time you will probably be wasting productive time at work studying the recently released NCAA Tournament Bracket. This is my favorite time of year and I may be a dork but the NCAA Bracket is something I have always been enamored with. As a kid, you could say #12 seed in the Southeast in 1992 and I would say New Mexico St. These days unfortunately, I am not that bad. Life has surely gotten in the way of me being completely obsessive but I am still close. Three years ago I began predicting the bracket and have been mildly successful, In 2006 and 2007 I got 61/65 teams correct and last year improved to 64/65. I have gotten seeds correct an average of 27 times and been with one seed on at least 53 teams in each of the past two seasons. This blog will be a preview of next week's projection by giving you a few teams to watch during Championship Week to see if they can sneak off the Bubble.

Right now I believe 28 teams are fighting for 11 spots in the field of 65. Some of these 28 teams obviously have a better chance than others but they are in no order.

Dayton - Should be in with a couple quality Non-conference wins but a loss in their first A-10 Tournament game could mean trouble

Rhode Island - A team on every body's Last 4 In or Last 4 Out. I think they need to do some damage this week to be included.

Temple - A long shot but with wins over Tennessee and Penn St. a run to the Finals this week and they are at least in the conversation.

Maryland - Need 2 wins in ACC Tournament

Virginia Tech - See above

Miami - See above

Kansas St. - Not much of a chance but a few big wins this week in the Big 12 Tournament and losses by other Bubble Teams might get them on the fringe

Providence - 10-8 in the Big East is great but a lack of big Non-Conference win might keep them at home

Georgetown - Say there is no chance at 16-13? If they get they beat St. John's, Marquette, and Villanova in New York this week watch out at 19-14 with the #1 schedule in the country. Remember Georgia a few years ago getting in at 16-14?

Notre Dame - Like Georgetown needs a deep run in Big East Tournament to even be considered

Ohio St. - Good RPI. Probably safe but will sweat if they lose first Big Ten game.

Penn St. - Loss to Iowa Saturday killed them. Need a few more wins.

Wisconsin - See Ohio St.

Minnesota - See Wisconsin

Michigan - I think they get in with wins over Duke and UCLA

Northwestern - Great story but needs a few wins this week

Creighton - Gave the Committee a chance to leave them out by losing Saturday

New Mexico - Good record in MWC but squarely on the Bubble

San Diego St. - See above

UNLV - Great wins early but can they get in over teams they finished behind in Mountain West?

Arizona - Should be in but a win over Arizona St. Thursday will make Selection Sunday easier

USC - Make a run to PAC 10 Championship and we will see

South Carolina - No team has ever been left out at 10-6 in the SEC. Could this be the first?

Auburn - If South Carolina is not the first 10-6 SEC team left out, Auburn will be

Kentucky - Here because of the name, need a lot to happen to get even close

Florida - Will be one of last few in or out

Davidson - If they sneak in we will know CBS has a spot at Selection Committee Table

St. Mary's - Beat Gonzaga tonight and end the debate. Lose and we will see if the Committee takes into account 3 of 5 losses came without best player

These teams need Siena, Memphis, Butler, and Utah St. to win their tournaments this week or Siena and Utah St will join them on the list and Butler and Memphis will take one of the 11 available bids.

See you Selection Sunday!

Where Are They Now?

Sports Illustrated publishes an issue every year with information on what former athletes are currently doing. I have always enjoyed reading what these folks are now up to and reminiscing on what I was doing when they became a star. To bring the thoughts a little closer to home I decided to do research on some individuals who once were a part of my daily life but I have lost track of over the years. The result was my very own "Where Are They Now?" article. I hope you enjoy catching up with these guys who probably were some part of your life in some way in the 1990's.

Jay Watts

The former JV basketball coach at Walsingham Academy who led the Junior Trojans to a 5-26 record during his two years on the sidelines moved to Atlanta shortly after graduating from William & Mary in 1994. Jay immediately took a job at Westminster Academy and taught Middle School Math and assisted with both the football and basketball programs. Jay has now been at Westminster for 15 years and has moved into the role of Assistant Athletic Director, Head Varsity Girls Lacrosse Coach, and Assistant Varsity Girls Basketball Coach. Jay was responsible for beginning the Girls Lacrosse program at Westminster 10 years ago and has won 5 State Championships during his tenure. He is very involved with US Lacrosse, still claims to be a rabid Alabama fan, and actually has one son named Campbell.

Thomas Roberts

This versatile All-CAA big man who was seen making many a big shot at William & Mary Hall in the early 1990's has now become a very successful business man. After leading the Tribe in the most exciting game at The Hall I have ever seen, an improbable overtime loss to 19th ranked Virginia, Roberts played professionally in Gmunden, Austria, Dubai, and United Arab Emirates. After his career was over he became a very successful high school basketball coach and made his way up to a Wall Street VP through time at Wachovia, JP Morgan, and Citigroup along with an MBA at UNC. Roberts has since left Wall Street and and founded Roberts Education Corp, an unconventional education group that provides innovative, action, skill, and behavior-based content, curriculum, and training. REC specializes in on-site workshops, programs, and training sessions.

Shane Eddy

After resigning his position as Coach Computer at Walsingham Academy in 1997, Shane Eddy moved to Northern Virginia to pursue a career in Information Technology. Since leaving The Sister's of Mercy, Eddy has finished his MBA at George Washington and held positions at Northup Grumman a Software Technician and Security Engineer. Shane also still has a deeps passion for Gymnastics and is often seen performing back handsprings at company functions.

John Grant

The former WA school President, known to many as Johnny Jingles, has made a name for himself in politics in a much bigger way than just lobbying to get a Fruitopia machine in the Lunch Room in 1996. After graduating from Duke in 2000 and spending a year in New York doing improve, John moved to DC and started working in the Senate. He worked for Illinois's Peter Fitzgerald and Tennessee's Lamar Alexander before graduating from Georgetown Law School. After earning his JD, Jingles began working for Senator Collins of Maine as her counsel, advising her on intelligence, privacy, and civil liberty issues. John is not married and from information in a current email conversation does not plan on being so anytime in the near future.

Heath Burris

After torching the Trojan Basketball Team on various occasions, this 3-point guru from Greenbrier Christian took a scholarship at Chowan College in North Carolina. After a year at Chowan, Burris packed up and headed home to chase his dream of playing Division I basketball at Old Dominion Universty. Burris lettered twice for the Monarchs and averaged 8 minutes and 3.6 points per game during his Senior campaign. After graduating from ODU Burris got his degree in ministry from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He got his first ministry position at Debaun Baptist Church in Chesapeake on an interim basis and also served as Associate Pastor of Youth and Education at Bethel Baptist. Heath can now be seen in the pulpit every Sunday in the role as Pastor at River Oak Church on Great Bridge Boulevard in Chesapeake.

John Cacetta

Still living the dream.

Facebook's 25 Things

I think Facebook is a joke. I refuse to sign up for an account no matter how many people tell me how great a tool it is to keep up with friends from college and high school. I keep up with everyone I want to pretty well and have no desire to have Rose Ann Bermisa friend me and look at pictures of my child. Sorry Dave.

I do however have a bad habit of sneaking on to my wife's Facebook account and looking at her friends and seeing what they write on each other's walls and seeing what their status is. This is entertaining for a couple reasons. First of all a lot of her friends are actually my friends and I can see how much time they are wasting on this online popularity contest and second of all I like to laugh at how corny a lot of things that occur on this site are. The latest example of pure corniness is a game called 25 things. This game works when one of your "friends" tags you. Once you have been tagged you are required to list 25 random things about yourself that many people may not know.

Well I didn't think it was fair that just because I don't subscribe to the Facebook way of life that I can't be tagged. So I tag myself and here we go:

1. I sing out loud to Jewel.

2. My favorite car that I have ever driven is a convertible PT Cruiser.

3. I hate animals.

4. I have 2 love children with Anne Marie Urso. One of them was born last year.

5. I have a nickname for both of my nipples.

6. I have absolutely no interest in learning a foreign language.

7. Mary Beahm changed my life.

8. I cheer for #2 seeds over #15 seeds in the NCAA Tournament because I want my picks to be right.

9. Shaving my chest is one of the five best decisions I have ever made in my life.

10. I have Googled your name before.

11. I pee sitting down.

12. In 9th grade I got a hand job from my best friend Dave's girlfriend, Sarah Ann Goodwin.

13. I have a passion for marine life.

14. I think I am a better person because I do not know how to play an instrument.

15. I am scared to death of the man who narrates Unsolved Mysteries.

16. I gave Craig Harris his first beer.

17. I eat at Captain D's once a week.

18. I really don't think it is that cool to be a gym teacher and high school tennis coach. There I said it.

19. I killed my sister's cat.

20. I once touched Joe McKnew in secret place while he was sleeping just to see how it felt.

21. I still feel guilty for making fun of the heritage of my high school librarian, Mrs. Mangeri.

22. I compare life situations to scenes from 90210 and Saved By The Bell.

23. If Neal Pratt had not been holding me back in 7th Grade I probably would have kicked the shit out of Warren Cobb.

24. I made up my own nickname. You gotta fuckin problem with that?

25. Even though Chop Culture (http://chopculture.blogspot.com/) inspired me to begin writing my blog, I think BZ Nation has taken over as the #1 Blog of Walsingham Academy Grads.

Steelers 6-Pack? It Should Still Be 4!

Roughing the Passer? Roughing the Holder? Holding? Fumble?

After watching the biggest football game in America this year, all of these calls had to leave you scratching your head.

I do not think that the NFL would ever tell its' referees to fix a game, let alone make sure a certain team won the Super Bowl. That being said I can't help but wonder why after the last two times the Pittsburgh Steelers played in the NFL's biggest game there have been such a question as to how the game was officiated.

First of all, lets take a trip back to 2006 when the Steelers played the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. This was a game the Steelers won 21-10 but it was a contest that without controversial flags thrown the result would have gone the other way.To start things off, a 16 yard touchdown pass in the 1st Quarter was nullified after an offensive pass interference penalty was called. Offensive Pass Interference eon this? Really? ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vURI_Cz-p6s ) That drive resulted in a field goal, ultimately costing Seattle 4 points. Then later in the game, the 4th Quarter to be exact, a holding penalty brought back a Matt Hasselbeck completion to Jeremy Stevens that put the ball on the Steeler 1 yard line. Holding is a call that could be called on every play, but as you can see at the 5:15 mark of the following link this hold should not have changed the outcome of a Super Bowl. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzdqIpArpJ4&feature=related ) A touchdown on that drive would have given the Seahawks the lead. Three plays after the penalty the Steelers intercepted a pass that ended the threat and ultimately put the game away on the next drive. Penalties happen but when looking closer into the statistics after the game Pittsburgh was penalized 3 times for 20 yards while the Seahawks were flagged 7 times for 70 yards. A discrepancy that should not happen in as big of game as a Super Bowl.

Now this year. The early parts of Super Bowl XLIII belonged to the Steelers and after a late first half interception return for a touchdown it looked like Pittsburgh was going to run away with the game. Then the second half started and the Cardinals showed up and felt they still had a chance. They made big plays and looked like the better team but penalty after penalty kept them from getting any closer than the 10 point hole they had been in at half time. The most blatant mistake occurred early in the 4th Quarter when a roughing the passer call extended a drive for Pittsburgh. Not only was the roughing the passer questionable at best but a much more obvious intentional grounding call was ignored. Ultimately this mistake resulted in 3 points for Pittsburgh. Then in the fourth quarter plays were made by both sides and scores were exchanged in the last 5 minutes that led the Steelers to a 4 point lead with seconds remaining. The Cards were unlikely to make a game changing play in the final seconds but the game ended on a controversial fumble that neglected a final chance for Arizona to win the game. Once again looking at the stats one sees Pittsburgh 7 penalties for 56 yards and Arizona flagged 11 times for 106 yards. Should this big of game be decided by the official throwing flags?

There is no denying that the Pittsburgh Steelers made plays to win both games. Nevertheless, you can not deny that the average NFL game has 6 penalties against each team for an average of 45 yards. In 2008 Pittsburgh was flagged an average of 6.1 times for 52 yards each game. The Cardinals were penalized 6.3 times for 48 yards. Do you think in the biggest game of the year the difference should be 4 penalties and 50 yards? How do you explain in the past two Super Bowls that the Steelers participated in that they average 5 flags for 45 yards (right at NFL average) and their opponent averages 9 penalties for 93 yards?

The talking heads will have no problem over the next few days calling the Steelers the best franchise in NFL history but there is a problem with that. Pittsburgh is no doubt a legendary team but they should be 4-3 in the big game and not 6-1. The Seahawks and Cardinals were both robbed of Super Bowl titles because the officials in their game were flag happy. No doubt it sounds bitter but I do not have a dog in this fight. I am not a fan of Pittsburgh, Seattle, or Arizona. I am however a fan of The League and I do feel like it looks a little suspicious when one of The League's flagship franchises gets obvious preferential treatment in The Super Bowl.

Rumblings

• Is it just me or is the older version of Salim in the new movie "Slumdog Millionaire" played by Nick Taylor?

• Has anyone ever really thought about what Cliff Huxtable's occupation was in the Cosby Show? He was an OBGYN who worked out of his basement. Yeah, me too.

• One of my wife's best friends recently sent her a book that she had read that she thought my wife would enjoy. Yesterday I picked up the book, named "Twilight", and turned to the back cover to find a synopsis that said:

"About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him-and I didn't know how dominant that part might be-that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him"

What????

My wife is a very intelligent woman. She graduated from William and Mary Law School and got her undergraduate degree from The University of Virginia. Her friend also graduated from UVA and now has a very good job in Atlanta. What I am trying to say is here we have two smart, successful women both nearing the age of 30. What the hell are they doing reading about people in love with vampires? I guess their comeback would be what is a 30 year old dude doing playing Wii and writing Blogs.

• I am all for finding a job and I think it is admirable that people are willing to do anything to put food on the table for their family. That being said, what the fuck are the people who dress up like the Statue of Liberty and prance around busy roads for Liberty Tax Service thinking?

• I am very happy with the life I lead and I am very comfortable with the person I have evolved into. I still can't help but think if I could have the exact personality I admire the most, I would be Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights until I retire. At that point I would turn into Walt from the recently released movie Gran Torino.

• ESPN recently released the Prestige Rankings for all 119 college football teams. The poll seemed to take all subjectivity out of the equation by giving programs certain amounts of points for specific accomplishments. My Alabama Crimson Tide ranked 6th and were only a few points away from #4 Ohio State. I know I am biased but how can you have a fair poll that awards the same amount of points for a SEC Championship as you do for a Sun Belt Championship or even a Big Ten Championship. The bottom line is the SEC had 8 teams finish in this Top 25 of most prestigious college football programs. The Big 10 had 3. Shouldn't that be taken into account that 8 quality teams are competing for championships over the past 70 plus years while Michigan and Ohio State just rotated winning Big 10 titles. All in all a good poll. I just see Alabama rolling in anywhere from 1-3 along with Oklahoma and USC. The complete poll can be found here: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3849468

• News out Morgantown this afternoon is that God willing sometime tomorrow afternoon I will be a father of a new daughter. Poor little girl. I can think of probably 4 people in the world that think I am mature enough to be a father. Here's to proving them wrong.

• Reason #215 I may not be ready to be a father. I was almost as excited to hear that Mark Gottfried was fired as Alabama Basketball Coach this afternoon as I was to hear my wife was being induced tomorrow. Almost.