Women's NIT Challenge, Second Round

Meant to post this yesterday. Oh well.

Here are the scores from the second round of the 2008 PH4H Women's NIT Pick-'em challenge:

1. Jeff: 20 correct picks, 20 points, 44 possible points remaining
2. Justin: 18 correct picks, 18 points, 8 possible points remaining
3. Dan: 16 correct picks, 16 points, 8 possible points remaining
4. Dara: 16 correct picks, 16 points, 54 possible points remaining

Third Annual PH4H NIT Pick-'em, Round 3

The Men's NIT Quarterfinals are now over, and the final four are Ohio State, Mississippi, Florida, and Massachusetts. None of us got it exactly right, and only Inbal got 3 of the 4. Which is why she's the current points leader in a very close game.

Anyway, here are the current standings:

1. Inbal: 38 points, 22 correct
2. Bo: 37 points, 23 correct picks
3. Dara: 31 points, 19 correct
4. Rachel: 25 points, 17 correct
5. Andy: 22 points, 16 correct
6. Jeff: 21 points, 16 correct
7. Dan: 19 points, 16 correct
8. Justin: 16 points, 13 correct

The next games aren't until April 1st, so until then, here are some interesting-ish points to ponder:

• Jeff, Dan, and Justin are now mathematically eliminated.
• Four of eight of the Pick-'em participants picked Florida to win, but only three of them have any connection to the school or the state.
• One of those (me) believes that the finals will feature a repeat of last year's NCAA championship match, to the same result.
• Bo is an Ole Miss and Florida alum, yet he did not pick either to play in the finals.

Third Annual PH4H NCAA Tournament Pick'em -- First Update

Well, it's been a crazy week of upsets in the Third Annual PH4H NCAA Tournament Challenge. Here are the standings going in to the second week:

1. Caroline: 207 points, 32 correct picks
2. Steve: 175 points, 35 correct
3. Dan: 172 points, 35 correct
4. Justin: 159 points, 34 correct
5. Andy: 158 points, 29 correct
6. Bo: 149 points, 31 correct
7. Rachel: 142 points, 17 correct
8. Jeff: 140 points, 31 correct
9. Aaron: 138 points, 31 correct
10. Dara: 120 points, 27 correct
11. Inbal:118 points, 29 correct

Third Annual PH4H NIT Pick-'em, Round 2

The second round of the Men's NIT is now over, and the not-so-elite-eight are Ohio State, Dayton, Virginia Tech, Mississippi, Arizona State, Florida, Syracuse, and Massachusetts.

Bo actually got all eight right -- which would have been pretty amazing, if we weren't talking about the NIT.

Anyway, here are the current standings:

1. Bo: 29 points, 21 correct picks
2. Inbal: 26 points, 19 correct
3. Dara: 23 points, 17 correct
4. Jeff: 21 points, 16 correct
5. Rachel: 21 points, 16 correct
6. Dan: 19 points, 16 correct
7. Andy: 18 points, 15 correct
8. Justin: 16 points, 13 correct

Women's NIT Challenge, First Round

Here are the scores from the first round of the 2008 PH4H Women's NIT Pick-'em challenge:

1. Justin: 11 correct picks, 11 points
2. Jeff: 9 correct picks, 9 points
3. Dan: 8 correct picks, 8 points
4. Dara: 7 correct picks, 7 points

Third Annual PH4H NIT Pick'em Update -- Round 1

The scores from the first round of the 2008 PH4H Men's NIT Pick-'em challenge are in:

1. Dan: 13 correct picks, 13 points
2. Andy: 12 correct picks, 12 points
3. Bo: 12 correct picks, 12 points
4. Inbal: 12 correct picks, 12 points
5. Dara: 11 correct picks, 11 points
6. Jeff: 11 correct picks, 11 points
7. Rachel: 11 correct picks, 11 points
8. Justin: 10 correct picks, 10 points

Why I love The Onion

This might be the funniest thing I've seen about the election:

NIT Pick'em Challenge, continued

Here is the bracket for the 2008 Women's NIT. Games start tomorrow, so get it to me ASAP.

CBI pool

No NIT for your team (Jeff, Andy, Stephanie, all of you raucous Rider alumni)? Don't despair! The CBI comes to the rescue!

Everybody e-mail me your pick for the winner! (Brown all the way!) Winners receive endless admiration.

In the spirit of "NIT" standing for "Not In the Tournament," please also submit your ideas for what "CBI" stands for. "Couldn't Buy an Invitation," for example.

Third Annual PH4H NIT Pick-'em Challenge

You know what's even better than an NCAA Tournament Pick-'em Challenge designed to make you pick upsets? Yep, that's right -- the Third Annual PH4H NIT Pick'em Challenge. As we've said in the past, the NIT is truly in the spirit of PH4H, rewarding mediocre (at best) teams.

And yes, once again this year, we're having a contest for both the Men's and Women's NIT.

Here is the Men's bracket. (The Women's bracket will be available soon.) If you want to play, email me your bracket (or post a link to it in the comments) before the tip off of the first game tomorrow at 6pm.

Dessert Empanada Picture

Third Annual PH4H NCAA Tournament Pick'em

The PH4H Tournament league is back for the third straight year! Like last year, it utilizes a scoring system that uses a point multiplier based on seeding, to encourage picking upsets.*

And, in our inimitable fashion, the winners are the people with the highest and lowest scores (i.e., even if your picks stink, the only way you're not in the running is if you don't play).

So, if you played last year, all you need to do is log in with the same username and password, and you should automatically be back in the user group. If you didn't play last year, just go to the website (http://ph4h.mayhem.sportsline.com/e), and enter the password "reverse." Either way, once the brackets are released, all you need to do is make your picks before the tournament begins on March 20.

Good luck!



* Based on last year's poll results, I tweaked the scoring system a bit. The relative value for a correct pick in each round is now higher. The first round is worth 1 point, the second is two points, the third is four points, the fourth is eight points, the semi-finals are sixteen points, and the final game is thirty-two points. Of course, if you make a correct pick, those point values will be multiplied by the seeding of that pick.

Empanadas and the Economy

From the Express:

Rise of the Empanadas: Economy Down, Prices Up
IT'S A SIGN OF THE TIMES. As global food prices continue the rise and U.S. consumers worry about inflation, the price of one reliably low-cost snack has increased locally.

According to signs posted at local chain Julia's Empanadas, as of Monday, the price of the meat- and vegetable-filled pastries jumped by 23 cents, the first such increase in three years. So get ready to dig out some extra change for a saltenas empanada with chicken, potato, green peas, hard-boiled egg, green olives and onion, or a Chilean-style beef empanada with raisins, hard-boiled egg, onion and olives.

Perhaps such a price bump was inevitable as the nation frets about the state of the economy. As MSNBC reported late last month, the price of cheap eats — from pizza to bagels to even the famous "Recession Special" at Gray's Papaya in New York City — has been increasing.
And now, too, the simple empanada. Still, the stuffed pastry remains one of the cheapest options out there.

Congratulation Kerry Collins!

With the retirement of Brett Favre, Kerry Collins is the current active interception leader!

However, with 174 interceptions at 6 years old, and only 4 starts in the last 2 years, it's hardly likely Collins can catch Favre's 288 career interceptions.

Garfield Minus Garfield

Check out this website: Garfield Minus Garfield.