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.

Elijah Dukes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/20/AR2008022002742_2.html?sid=ST2008022002769

Looks like the Nationals are taking a chance on Dukes, hoping he will be like Young next year. I think PH4H should sponsor either the Comeback Player of the Year award or its counterpart, the Falldown Player of the Year Award. If this one works, I heard the Nat may sign Darrell Strawberry and Dwight Gooden.

Idiotarod

Yes. You read that correctly.

Not sure whether to laugh or cry

Oh, Virginia. You make me so proud.