So, West Virginia won the NIT, and they got t-shirts:
Look carefully, though -- there's a small problem with those t-shirts:
The "West Virginia" printed on the shirts players wore after winning the NIT title with a 78-73 victory over Clemson on Thursday night is missing the last "i" in "Virginia."
Ongoing divorce proceedings between New York Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner's daughter Jennifer and her husband, Steve Swindal, could rock the Yankee hierarchy. Swindal was set to inherit the Yankees from Steinbrenner, but now it's up for grabs. Could there be an internal war?
. . . or it's going to be a really long year.
King Kaufman on the National League East:
You won't have to imagine the Washington Nationals losing 90 games. They could take care of that by Labor Day. Just about the only reason to watch this team is third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. The Nationals will have a significant number of games started this year by pitchers who wouldn't earn a single start with a single other team, including Pittsburgh.
But it's not all bad news in Washington.
Oh wait. Yes it is.
Predicted finish: Philadelphia, Atlanta (wild card), New York, Florida, Grand Canyon, Marianas Trench, Washington
I already put this in the comments of Dara's post (well, after a couple corrections)....
But Aaron is the 2007 PH4H NCAA pool champion. He has 218 points currently, and the most possible by anyone else is Steve, with 220 points possible. But Steve and Aaron both have Florida winning in the next round, so in order for Steve to get his 220 points, Aaron will get more than 220 points.
Congrats to Aaron!
Minor League Baseball is doing a NCAA tourney-like bracket, Moniker Madness, to determine the best all-time name in all of MiLB (current and past players). Among the contestants: Winter Polo, Gil Gil, Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha, and Jorge Poo Tang. You can see the entire bracket and vote here on the Sweet 16 matchups.
This weekend's games are over, and the final four is now set: Florida, Georgetown, Ohio State, and UCLA.
Our standings are as follows:
Check back after next week's games for another update.
Funny Quote of the Day - Tommy Bolin - "The best money I made was panhandling."
Evidently the postal service is teaming up with the Force. You know, I thought the FedEx guy looked like Darth Vader. www.uspsjedimaster.com.
Well, the NIT might not be over -- but our competition is. Almost everyone picked Syracuse to win, and, as you may or may not know, Syracuse got eliminated last night. So, as a result, no one has any active picks left in this game.
For the record, the NIT seeding strategists must be brilliant. I mean, who would have guessed that the final four would consist of all four 1-seeds?
Anyway, here are the final point totals:
Jeff: 31 (20 correct picks)
Bo: 23 (18)
Justin: 22 (15)
Andy: 21 (16)
Jon: 20 (16)
Dan: 16 (13)
Dara: 15 (13)
Jeff will receive the "Gary Williams Memorial NIT trophy" sometime soon.*
Man, I can't wait for next year, so that we can attempt this excercise in futility yet again.
*Per Justin's suggestion, the trophy is named after the Maryland coach, who, last year complained about missing the NCAA tournament, having to play in the NIT, and mid-majors in general -- and then proceeded to lose to Manhattan. This year, his team lost to another mid-major in the NCAA tournament.
So, for those of you that haven't read my blog in a while, I was nominated in, and have now made it to the finals of a contest on the Best DC Blog site.
I need all the help I can get to win, so vote for me in the poll.
Even though I said I wouldn't update again until the end of the NIT quarterfinals tonight, I thought I should provide this little bit of information, since none of us had Mississippi State or West Virginia in our final four -- or championship game. (Stupid 'Noles.)
As a result of this development, Jeff will ultimately be our winner.
And, for the record, the lowest seed still in the tournament is a 3-seed (DePaul).
Here is a breakdown of the possible points remaining:
Andy -- can still earn a total of 28 points, depending on how far Syracuse (2-seed) goes.
Bo -- same
Dan -- same
Dara -- totally out, ha ha. (Stupid 'Noles.)
Jeff -- can earn up to 28 points, depending on how far Syracuse goes, and can earn 4 if Air Force (1-seed) beats DePaul (3-seed) tonight.
Jon -- can earn 28 points, depending on how far Syracuse goes, and can earn 4 if DePaul beats Air Force tonight.
Justin -- can earn 4 points if Air Force beats Syracuse.
The second round of the NIT is complete -- and strangely enough, Jeff managed to get a perfect score in our challenge.
Our leaderboard is as follows:
Jeff -- 27 points -- and with all of his final four teams in play.
Bo -- 23 points -- with three of four.
Andy -- 21 points -- three of four.
Jon -- 20 points -- all four.
Justin -- 18 points -- two of four.
Dan -- 16 points -- two of four.
Dara -- 15 points -- one of four (and guess which school it is?).
Quarterfinals start today and end by Thursday. The next update will follow the completion of the round.
Well, so far, it's been a bad year for upsets -- and thus for our particular little tournament contest. As of the end of the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, Aaron is well entrenched in first place, and Andy is in last place (not altogether unlike last year).
For the record, all of the Florida grads picked Florida to win -- and all (one) of the Wisconsin grads picked Wisconsin to win (even though he could have made the same argument for Illinois) but none of the Virginia or Maryland grads picked their respective schools. While that proved to be correct, I think it's kind of pathetic. Where's your school spirit, boys?
Anyway, here are the scores and number of correct picks:
1. Aaron 173 (38)
2. Steve 147 (35)
3. Justin 142 (32)
4. Caroline 139 (27)
4. Dan 139 (34)
6. Dara 138 (30)
7. Rachel 135 (32)
8. Andrea 133 (33)
9. Debby 128 (33)
10. Inbal 127 (31)
11. Jeff 126 (31)
12. Bo 120 (27)
13. Andy 106 (27)
There's still time though! Check back after next week's games for another update.
Sidney Ponson is pitching against the Orioles in an exhibition game today in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He's trying to make the Minnesota Twins' roster. Anyone for a Sir Sidney empanada bet?
The first round of the NIT is complete.
And in our challenge, the leaders, thus far, are the newcomers -- Bo has 13 points and Jon has 12. Andy, Jeff, and I are tied with 11, and Dan and Justin are in last place with 10.
Justin is, however, the only one to have correctly picked Marist.
(I have no idea what that means.)
The second round ends on March 19, so look for the next update on the 20th.
And, for the record, there is still 1 hour and 22 minutes for you to post your bracket for the regular (i.e. NCAA) tournament challenge at http://ph4h.mayhem.sportsline.com/e.
A few of us have filled out brackets for the Women's NIT, which expanded this year to include at least one team from every conference. E.g. Missouri, whose storybook season includes finishing 10th in the Big 12 and losing in the first round of the conference tournament. If you want to fill out a bracket and e-mail it to me, your deadline is 8 p.m., when the games begin.
It's the most wonderful time of the year for this blog: The NIT pick-'em Challenge.
As explained last year, by rewarding mediocre play, the NIT is truly in the spirit of PH4H. Thus, the challenge.
It is very simple (and technologically unadvanced). If you want to play, leave me a comment with your e-mail address, and I will send you the bracket form. Fill it out, including your name in the blank space at the bottom, save it (preferably putting your name somewhere in the filename), and e-mail it back to me, by tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., before the games start. (If, like Jeff, you have a problem saving the .pdf file, copy the window by pressing "Alt" + "Print Screen", paste the result in Word or WordPerfect -- or even Paint -- and save it there. If that still doesn't work, fill out the bracket, scan it, and e-mail it to me. And, if you don't have a scanner, screw it, just e-mail me your picks.)
I will then keep score manually, probably using an excel spreadsheet. First round games are worth one point, second round games worth two, quarterfinals worth 4, semifinals worth 8, championship worth 16.
Results will be posted on ph4h.blogspot.com at the conclusion of each round. There are no prizes, other than the ability to brag that you're the best at picking the teams that are not quite good enough to play in the real tournament. (Go Noles!)
For the record, last year, Jason won the challenge by picking the most correct games.
So, despite my heartbreak at Florida State not receiving an invitation this year, the PH4H NCAA Tournament league is back. Like last year, it's on CBS Sportsline, so that we can utilize their scoring system that uses a point multiplier based on seeding, to encourage picking upsets.
Again, the league name is is PH4H, and the group password is: reverse. The link is: http://ph4h.mayhem.sportsline.com/e. If you registered last year, all you need to do is login with your username and password.
Brackets are due by 12:00 pm Thursday, March 15.
I'm still working on the NIT tournament. Stay tuned.
Curt Schilling has a blog. I'm not his biggest fan, but I think that's pretty neat.
This Pittsburgh Pirates promotional schedule may be one of the greatest promotional schedules ever. Aside from your usual hat nights, bobblehead nights, and fireworks nights, it also features free concerts by Styx, LIVE, Smash Mouth, and Big & Rich. And out of the 81 home games, 70 will be promotional games. Come to PNC Park for free stuff- oh yeah and there's a Pirates game too....
A Wisconsin man told police he was a werewolf and could change shapes after he was arrested for breaking and entering.
I finally figured out a way to get into the new blogger! Who's up for helping redesign the PH4H Fantasy Baseball league?
Also I will bring copies of the February CD, "Baseball's Greatest 'Hits'" to Dan's concert on Sunday. Please let me know if you will be there so I can bring you a CD.
Forget about spring training . . . baseball season officially starts for me at 10 tomorrow morning, when I get to watch my five year old cousin play indoor tee-ball.
How awesome is that?
I hope to post pictures.
For the record, when you hold up his state flash cards, he can tell you what pro teams play in that state. I would think that he's a boy genius, except for the fact that he roots for the Mets.
This had to be about the easiest headline in the world to write.
The following is from a perfectly legitimate e-mail from my perfectly legitimate credit card company. It is not spam.
"Dear Dan Gordon
RE: Your account number ending in xxxx
Need extra cash this winter? Enjoy the warmth of a balance transfer. With a click, you can ..."
I've often had the thought, on those cold winter nights, "Hot cocoa sounds fine, curling up under a fleece blanket sounds nice and all, but what I really wish I had right now is a balance transfer." What could be warmer than that? I mean, really.
