March Madness – Bracketology and Other Chides of March Trash Talk
Spring is in the air! And, thanks to the Bush EPA, a whole bunch of toxic substances are in the air with it. But, for the moment, lets leave the real work aside and get our swerve on again with the trash talk. There is a lot of ground to cover with March Madness in full swing, MLB opening day a heartbeat away, the stretch run in the NBA at hand and, my own pet favorite, the start of the Formula One Grand Prix season. Here is a very brief rundown; we will fill in the details together in the comments.
The Madness: Ya gots ta love March Madness. It may not be the biggest sporting event in the world (although it seems to be getting there fast), but it is awfully special. The energy and passion of the kids, before they turn into cynical and self centered pros, is really special. Every year there are shots and storylines that become the stuff of legend. As you all know by now, there is no joy of the Big Dance in Sun Devil Country, but the future is looking very bright and they will be there next year. I will be riding the Kevin Love Boat with UCLA all the way. Bracket up and tell why your team is better.
America’s Pastime: I predict this is the year we end the curse. The curse of suffering the incessant high and mighty chatter from the Beantown Batfans that is. The Shill is gone baby, or at least on the shelf for a good long time anyway, and the Sawx have never won a thing without him. That is my story, and I am sticking to it. As you might would guess my hopes ride with the Baby Backs of the Diamond variety. Young solid talent everywhere, deep farm system, and good pitching (I again want to thank Freepatriot for giving us Dan Haren, a very shiny gift. Really, you should not have been so generous). In the Senior Circuit, I think the Padres, Cubbies and Mets are going to also be very good. Especially the Mets now thaqt they have added Johan Santana, and the early reports on the newly rehabilitated Pedro Martinez are that he is looking scary good already. In the Designated Ringer League, of course there are the aforementioned Red Sawx and the Team That Fired Torre. Also looking strong are the Halos, Mariners, Tigers, Indians and Jays. Whose balls and strikes are you arguing?
NBA Stretch Run: I love the NBA. Had season tickets to the Suns for almost 15 years, but i gave them up in 2002. It just isn’t the same without Barkley and Jordan; not to mention Magic and the Bird. The game is still just as good or better, but the magnetic personalities today do not measure up to those that are gone. The Celtics and Pistons look to be the cream of the crop in the East, and if it is anybody but those two for the Eastern Conference crown, I’ll be shocked. Teh Western Conference? Whoa Nellie, we got us a real donnybrook going on out here. Eight teams within four games of each other. The Lakers were looking pretty scary for a bit, but an injury to Gasol and the announcement that Andrew Bynum won’t be back before the playoffs, and that is a bad time to reintegrate a major player, have brought them back to earth. The road to the conference crown still runs through San Antonio until somebody proves otherwise, but I am going out on a limb and saying that it is now or never for the Phoenix Suns and they are going to get it done in the west. What say you?
F1 Grand Prix Circus: Befitting one of the most erudite blogs on the web, we got yer Formula One trash talk right here. All you NASCAR lugnuts can drive around in circles elsewhere, cause this is about the most popular and sophisticated motorsport on the planet. And it ain’t even close. For those of you not familiar with F1, you are missing out. The whole incredible scene surrounding the F1 circuit is known by aficionados as "The Circus". The rich and fascinating history, national passion of the fans and manufacturers, the spectacle, the technical sophistication and the driver skills are unmatched. If you want to get a taste, and a pretty good look at what it’s all about, rent or find a copy of Grand Prix, the 1966 classic by John Frankenheimer. It is quite simply the best movie about motor sports ever made, a great flick and a hell of a good story to boot.
Last year, up until the last race of the season, it looked like Lewis Hamilton, the Brit rookie wonder driving for McLaren-Mercedes, was going to take the crown. F1 is the absolute best of the best, and rookies just don’t do that; but man is this kid good. Scary good. Smooth too, and that is critical in the Grand Prix circus. However, due to a string of mechanical and freak events, Ferrari ace Kimi Raikkonen claimed the Driver’s Championship by a single point over Hamilton by winning the last race of the year in Brazil. I gave a link above to the official F1 website if you are interested. The first race of the 2008 Circus was down under, and Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off last year by winning the Australian GP. This weekend is the Malaysian GP. Coverage in the US is provided by the SpeedChannel on cable and their coverage is quite good, check your local listings. If you want more info, just use da Google, you will find plenty because Formula One is the biggest and most popular spectator sporting series/league in the world (yep, you read that right), or ask a question in comments and I’ll try to answer. Strap in and fire up the engines!
Well, thats it for now. We have a lot of sports trash to catch up on. So put the beer on ice, fire up the grill and, for godsakes, put a hat on! Play Ball!
Hey bmaz. Haven’t followed basketball in a few years.
Riding that Love Boat, I’m sure seeing O.J. Mayo and the Trojans flunk the first round didn’t ruin your lunch. My grumpy ‘ol dad sez they earned it — I’m buying him lunch tomorrow.
Well, you know, I actually don’t dislike the Trojans as much as it might look like; I’m actually kind of a fan if they are not playing ASU. OJ Mayo is a hell of a kid; unbelievable basketball talent and pretty bright and attentive to his academic endeavors as well. Have to love that.
And may even be smart enough to know he’s not ready for the NBA just yet. Hard to say what the team will look like around him, but as for yesterday, I’m with Evolute’s dad. WAY grumpy.
Nice to see another F1 fan in the USofA. Hamilton gets the rest of the marbles this year, Raikkonen’s already in a hole after the first race. Yeah, it’s a long year ahead.
Qualifying is at 2:00 AM for those of us on the east coast. Along with the usual suspects, McClaren and Ferrari, there is a pretty good BMW car this year. All very interesting and certainly a lot more so than bouncing a ball around the floor.
Only the first race Kimi R will be back look for two championships in a row
DNF is a heckuva hole to climb out of, but I’ll give you the fact that he has the whole year ahead to do it in. And on the bright side, hey, he did get a point out of it, though I’m still not sure why.
Yah, I’m a closet fan myself, makes for lively dialogue around the folks. Other than ragging on the Bush crime family, national political discourse runs smack into the wall of hard-headed dead ends, my step mom (besides super) is a liberated Hillary supporter and dad’s smart enough to see her point, so blabbing about the nuances of sport is after all a lovely sport.
Now to shit that that really matters. See the movie? That old critter I’m buying lunch for tomorrow spent 51 years on the transportation end of making Hollywood all sunglasses and autographs. Often when he came back from location he’d bring a relic or something of interest to talk about besides the endless headache of making the glitter shine. Scrimshaw from befriended Eskimos, Nome, Alaska – Quick Before It Melts. A chromed lighter shaped like the Seattle Space Neetle, a gift from Elvis – It Happened At The World’s Fair. And from Grand Prix he gave me the white racing jacket with “James Garner” printed on the label. I like the movie too.
Heh, cool! I have been a fan and kind of around F1 since I was a teenager. My mother’s best friend married Phi Hill in the early 70s and I spent my summers after high school and during college in Santa Monica working with him restoring antique cars. I grew a deep love for F1 as a result. FYI, Phil was good friends with Frankenheimer (I met him at one of the early Long Beach GPs) and actually drove the main camera car for the on track footage in Grand Prix, and had a bit speaking part in a couple of the driver’s meeting scenes. Trivia, the James Garner character in the movie is loosely base on Phil.
I had to think about before I started bashing NASCAR, I didn’t want those of us at the Emptywheel end of the Lake to be accused of being latte-drinking Eurosnobs (remember the blowup about Howard Dean and the Confederate flag emblazoned pick-ups), but as Bmaz can confirm, FI is huge in the rest of the world. My Italian inlaws (straight off the boat) can’t understand NASCAR – they call it taxicab racing. Bmaz, you doubtless remember the great Gilles Villeneuve, who could have been as great as any driver had he not been killed at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982 – his son Jacques had the name, but not the talent, I could have won driving the car he had with Williams in 1997, and now he is driving pickup trucks in the NASCAR minors. Personally, I believe Schumacher and Senna would have won all the races in their prime, the cars being equal.
Now, onto baseball, especially what I prefer to call the Premier League, the American League East. I call it for Boston (no surprise!), but I see the Blue Jays and the Yankees fighting for the wild card with Cleveland. The Blue Jays have awesome pitching this year, and I see the Tigers, Indians and yes, the Twins and the White Sox beating the shit out of each other in the central – 90 wins gets the wild card this year.
As for basketball – can anyone deny how beautifully the Celtics play, amazing fundamentals and defence, and they have had the West’s number all year. Shaq will slow down the Suns offence and neutralize the great Canadian playmaker Steve Nash, I don’t see them getting out of the first round if they get a bad matchup.
I love most sports, but Formula 1 is one I could do without. March Madness, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
from last topic;
marcy, look to the srint data card, you get dsl speed wherever there is a sprint signal, I get 1000 kps most of the time, you need this and will never miss your dsl with speeds like this
pretty inexpensive too, look into it
Maybe I’ll get into F1 while living in southern France…doubt it! I don’t like being in huge crowds anymore.
I picked Kansas over UCLA in my madness pool. Could easily see UCLA or NC winning it all as well. If there is ever a year that all the #1 seeds make the Final Four this could be it though I picked Tex over Memphis in that bracket.
As for who I’m actually rooting for…Go Michigan St.!
In the NBA…go Pistons!
In MLB, my favorite team in any sport…Go Tigers! talk about a loaded lineup.
ha! kansas, pistons, tigers… my sentiments exactly. though i picked memphis over texas.
Hey, lookee here. Told you this goofball was freaking unstable. MacNamee “blacks out” behind the wheel and drives head on into a bus, causing a multiple vehicle collision. This guy is seriously off kilter; I still don’t think the future is promising, and probably not long, for MacNamee.
Oops, here is link for above comment.
Ouch … ongoing medical condition caused the crash, he claims …
I hope it’s not from drugs/steroids … in my 20 years of being a yoga/meditation teacher, I’ve seen lots of good people get ruined by these, and many of them get these recurring blackouts …
Great post, but MacNamee is a good shit, in my book…
a guy you could have a beer with…. unlike Bush, Schill, and
Clemens who you would throw a beer at… (all arrogant shitheads)
Clemens has been dead to me since he put that fucking Yankees cap on!!!
MacNamee is a wormy psycho rapist puke (allegedly, heh heh). This is not all going to work out well for him; I predict a very ugly end for Macnamee. You can do far better for drinking companions right here in the friendly confines of Wheelville.
hey, it’s a trash talk thread, right? Nice!
I’ll drink to that…
So,
Granderson — MVP
Jacoby Ellsworth — Rookie of the Year
Pedro Martinez — Comeback Kid
Mets will win the NL…
Clemens — 2008 Indictment Award (he will lose his license to pitch)
NBA East … *gasp* … no mention of the Cavs ? I’m hoping my Raptors will stay healthy and go all the way.
F1 – what you said about an NBA without Barkley, Jordan, Magic and Larry, I say double for an F1 without Ayrton Senna, the greatest since Fangio …
I know that your Coyotes and my Maple Leafs suck, but a sports blog with Hockey is sadly incompete, IMHO *g*
Senna was amazing; there have been only a handful of talents like that in the history of F1. Schumi carried the load for a long time after Senna’s death. I was really worried that I wouldn’t find the Circus as interesting when Schumacher retired after 2006; but it was a great season. Hamilton is a real talent though, I have never seen someone so young drive a car so smoothly; he is going to be fun to watch. Raikkonen, although a very good pilot, has never been a favorite for me, but now that he is with Ferrari, I guess he is my boy.
The greatest race ever was the Grand Prix in Japan, when Senna’s car stalled at the pole position just as the race began. He popped his clutch and got his car going. He drove from last to first, taking the checkered flag and the world championship …
My Dad told me about the time Fangio won a race with only one working gear in his car …
I don’t do sports. When I go outside, I go underwater. The first time I SCUBA’d in open water, I was privileged to observe a pair of spotted eagle rays. Majestic creatures. When I saw the story about the one that breached and collided with that unlucky woman on that boat off Florida yesterday, and the photos with that beautiful ray still in the boat, I was as sad for the animal as I was for the human.
I love March Madness, but bmaz, you’ve got to get out more.
MM has got a helluva long way to go to get there. Ever hear of that little get-together called the “World Cup”? Per wiki: “The cumulative audience of the 2006 World Cup — including all of the matches — is estimated to be 26.29 billion.[1]”
Ah, true, but the WC is not a regular yearly league/series, and F1 is bigger than any of the individual big soccer leagues. It was probably stupid of me to get into the “biggest” stuff, because it is so hard to compare and there are a lot of different, but valid, ways to look at it. Most Americans, unfortunately, have no idea how big F1 is, and I was just trying to get the concept across. You have no idea how many people I have heard talk about how the “greatest drivers in the world are in NASCAR”. Ugh.
Ratbastahd – Yeah, but we work pretty hard on some very serious stuff here every day; like you say, it is good to let loose every now and then. Crikey, without sports and my family, I would get terminally depressed with the state of the nation and world. I agree the Tigers are loaded for bear offensively; believe it or not, I worry about their pitching though. Rogers is old and the young guns seem a tad injury prone. Including, as you noted, the bullpen and Zumaya. Todd Jones isn’t going to take them through the Series, they could use some help there.
OK, if you’re going to limit it to yearly events . . .
And I’m with you on F1. As a little kid, I had this board game called “Speed Circuit” which was a very simplified version of F1 racing. Players got cars with different abilities (acceleration, braking, cornering, etc.) and raced through different circuits.
Over the last couple of days, my family and I went to my parents’ home to help them prepare their house for sale. To keep my son busy, my mother opened a closet with a bunch of puzzles and games in it. My six year old saw the race cars on the box and pulled down my old “speed circuit” game. “Daddy, will you play this with me?”
Ya know, sometimes I feel guilty about my love of sports, with so many other important things going on out there, but the escape is important. Also, the physical fitness side of it, and I know being a college athlete kept me from partying my way out of school. Now as a teacher I see the same impact for some of my students. People need a passion in life; for some it’s art, theater, writing, music, etc., but sports is just as good an outlet as any other. I guess it’s the big money and poor role models that give it the negative aspect.
MLB: the American League is loaded. The Tigers are as good as any of ‘em but noone is a lock. Still look at that lineup: Granderson, Polanco, Sheffield, Ordonez, Cabrera, Guillen, IRod, Renteria, and J. Jones. Whew, but they need help in the bullpen.
Flash from teh Madness! San Diego (go ANYONE from the West Coast…) beats UConn in OT, 70-69. A 13 seed knocking off a 4 isn’t often seen.
And they’ll be playing the 12th seed Western Kentucky. I picked neither, but it happens every year.
I look forward to seeing some soccer in Europe. Speaking of scuba, has anyone gone in the Med. Sea? I might work on certification while I’m there.
No, but for chrissakes, try not to cut the telcom cable while you’re down there…
Cable splicing certification? Ah yes, I see, scuba…Hmmm scuba certification…That’s what THEY all say!
LOL! It’s all just a coincidence, I know nothing
Even though I still root for all my Michigan teams, I’ve been in Oregon since 97, so today…Go Ducks!
Indeed!! And while we’re talkin’ about Oregon teams, I hope EW truly appreciates our center fielder gift to the East coast, Jacoby Ellsbury. OSU’s been a really pleasant surprise here, so much so that the Ducks decided they need to get back into baseball.
I agree with the shoutout for Jacoby – he reminds me of a better version of Ken Griffey Sr!
I didn’t want to be an obnoxious homer, so I didn’t go into NCAA baseball. But when in Rome, I am a Roman too. Both of those are fine teams indeed, but have you noticed who is undefeated an sitting on top of the collegiate polls?? Aye, good guess. That would be the ASU Sun Devils. Oh, in other, lesser, news the Mildkittens from down south are number two.
And where were those Beavers rated last year going into the tourney? *g*
Yeah, I noticed that. So I guess I’ll have to fall back on USC’s total NCAA World Series titles…
with alums like Randy Johnson, Fred Lynn (POY and ROY in ‘75 for the Red Sox) and Barry Zito, stuff like that just ‘happened’ for a long time there. Do I miss Rod Dadeaux.
Still, over the years, there’ve been a LOT of Pac-10 and Pacific Coast (CS-Fullerton) winners in Omaha
Are ya ready to win some scratch?
NCAA Brackets
NC in East (Sentimental Pull Louisville)
Kansas in Midwest (Sentimental Pull Vandy)
Pitt in South
UCLA in West (Yep Phoenix is in it)
They are just coincidental with Obama’s picks.
I notice no losing teams in the NCAA have talked about teams they want to playlike someone’s wascally husband did today. LOL.
MLB:
Mets
Cubs
Diamondbacks
Yankees
Tigers
Angels
Yankees over Diamondbacks in the Series
So how ’bout them Hilltoppers? And Kentucky’s early season loss to San Diego doesn’t look quite that bad now.
Sweet win for USD vs UConn… managed to catch the end of regulation and the OT on a TV here at work… biggest tournament win around here in some time.
And yes, really does sort put the shine on that win over Kentucky, but all you’ll hear about is the 3-point buzzer beater in the WKU game.
OT-Possible new Foggo charges.
Loo Hoo are ya’ pullin’ for UCLA?
Who is UCLA up against?
I’ve got Kansas, UCLA, Texas and Tennessee in my final four and even though I have degrees from both Kansas and UCLA, for some reason (probably the 15 years I’ve lived in Gainesville and the last two champs coming from the SEC), I went with Tennessee as champ. I’m sitting at 17 right out of the first 24 games and getting my butt kicked by my fifth grader who has 20 out of 24, including the San Diego upset.
I’ve given up entirely on MLB but have season tickets for the Gators. They’re off to a hot start with a new coach. Their first road series in SEC play starts tonight. Home Gator baseball games are great fun. Wonderful trash talk from the stands. Every opposing pitcher is “Earl” and gets heckled mercilessly. When the ump makes a bad call, the lead heckler begins “Hey blue, we know you’re blind” and the rest of the crew joins with “we’ve seen your wife”. Also, the leader starts with “Blue, pull your head out of your” and the crew quickly puts in “pocket”.
S plicing
C ables
U nderwater
B maz
A bhors!
Hey, Randiego!
F1 racing? Can I get champagne with that?
Have you ever tried to imagine a world with no hypothetical questions, or
try to answer a rhetorical question, and if you shouldn’t drink and drive,
why do bars have parking lots?
They don’t in Germany. Taxi stands, but no parking. Don’t know if they’ve eased up yet, but during my stint in olive drab in the late ’60’s, first offense DUI was 2 years in the slammer and permanent loss of driver’s license, IIRC
My wife cannot understand why nearly every other Sunday morning in the summer, I get up at 6.00 am to walk the dogs and feed the horses so that I can watch F1 (must be even earlier for you, bmaz). Up here, we get a choice of commentary, TSN (the Canadian equivalent of ESPN) which takes the ITV (British) feed and the Speed Channel, and there is no contest since the ITV feed is so pro-British, it’s pathetic (and I’m a Brit). If you are talking about great drivers, you should not exclude Jim Clark, who, in addition to being F1 world champion also won the Indy 500.
You didn’t mention that Lewis Hamilton is black, the first black F1 driver, I think. If, as I think, he wins the championship this year, it would make a nice double with Obama.
Of more concern, I think, is the quality of racing in F1. It is getting more and more difficult to overtake, so that lead changes take place mostly at pit stops. There are bizarre rules which require the drivers to use two types of tyres – a hard compound and a soft compound.
Yeah I thought about ticking off some of the greats, but was kind of in a hurry. i would say the very upper echelon would include Nuvolari, Fangio, Moss, Clark, Stewert, Lauda, Senna and Schumacher. With Graham Hill, Fittipaldi and a few others not that far behind. There are several that would be in that upper group if not cut short like Von Tripps, Hawthorne and Villanueve.
I think that Alain Prost is in the upper echelon too.
there are probably no collage hockey fans out there but Michigan is number 1 in the country and playing for a national championship
I’m weeping for UNH’s loss to BC in Hockey East last night. They kicked Maine’s butt during the season. They were up 4-1 last night, and lost in TRIPLE overtime. Crushing…
Dang! You almost have to WORK to blow a 3 goal lead… key player get hurt? Or maybe all the defensemen? Or both goalies so a team manager had to fill in?
Nope, but the tying goal for BC ricocheted off the UNH goalie’s skate and just barely went into the net. It was a lucky shot. Both BC and UNH played a great game. By the end of the 2nd overtime though, everyone was dragging. The final goal was early in the 3rd OT, everyone was pretty beat by then.
Can’t resist posting this here, as you folks are usually still chatting here while Leno is on TV:
“Today, Barack Obama criticized John McCain for mistakenly saying that Iran was sending aid to al Qaeda in Iraq, which is not true. And afterwards, President Bush told McCain, ‘Don’t worry about it. I didn’t know that either.’”
—Jay Leno
OK, you guys. I sniff some male chauvinism in the wind. How come NO trash talk about the upcoming women’s college basketball tournament, which starts tomorrow? I enjoy watching the women’s game more than the men. They’ve got game!
Perennials Connecticut and Tennessee are once again ranked in the Top 4 (actually at 1 and 3, to be more precise). Recent champion Maryland is ranked #5 in the AP poll, and perennial hopeful Stanford is at #4 in both polls. There are individual stars aplenty: Candace Parker (Tennessee), Candace Wiggins (Stanford), Courtney Paris (Oklahoma) and others who can be expected to be stars in the WNBA. But it takes more than one or two big stars to win the tournament– the good teams know how to shut down the stars, and unless you’ve got 5 really solid starters, you’re not going to make it to the Elite Eight.
My sentimental favorites are Stanford, Maryland, and Arizona State.
Bob in HI
My old boss was the player-coach of Notre Dame Women’s basketball when they made the shift from a club team to a varsity sport. That’s my sentimental favorite.
But I’m a realist enough to say that they will NOT get past Tennessee. For that matter, I don’t think anyone else will either.
Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying begins tonight on Speed.
I put the fine rock protection screen on my monitor, so don’t anyone start throwing stuff.
Does anyone know how common unauthorized access of passport information is? Are the presidential candidates exceptional in having their passport info accessed? Are there common characteristics to whose passport info has been accessed? Just a few questions that come to mind.
All good questions. I don’t think the public has answers or a place to get them available. I’d like to know how many of these contractors are employed by each agency? The State Department led by one of the most incompetent cabinet members in history hasn’t answered any relevant questions on this yet.
See:
Snooping into Obama’s Passport
From Glenn Greenwald:
Also see:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/g…..index.html
If I were hiring a bunch of non-vetted people to work on passports, I’d set up a system where you couldn’t look at anything already in the system with out a special code for each time you looked, and that code would only be available from a Civil Servant with full clearance and training.
And that’s exactly why you are exceedingly unlikely to be given that job.
Aack. Gator baseball team gave the game away in the ninth.
Vandy’s fold was really surprising; I had them in my sweet 16.
As for the question of the frequency of snooping on passport files, it’s a bigger problem than just passports. A recent AP story highlighted the problems of private companies dealing with employees who snoop on private data:
All 4 of the 12/13 seed at the same site won tonight. NCAA 1st.
I’m going to be a bit less sweeping: there’s a ‘Race of Champions’ every year done for charity which pits NASCAR, Indy/CHAMP, F1 and WRC drivers against each other in a variety of challenges. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart acquitted themselves fairly well, as you’d expect from their road course results. The ‘turn left only’ specialists, meh, but Stewart started out in karting, runs Grand Am on the side, and I’m pretty sure he’d not be embarrassed at the top level of any driving format. Gordon drove a rally car pretty damn well, too. At the top end, the raw talent is enough to translate across.
Lewis Hamilton is just a phenomenon, though. And it’ll be fun seeing Sebastian Bourdain in F1.
OT, if that’s even possible:
White House: Computer hard drives tossed
Riiiiight.
AP story here.
bmaz .. lol .. iknow a few sawx die hards who’d come whup yore ass if they could find ya …
Bmaz, no worry.
First Fenway honors those who have as they against all odds engaged the Yankees with legendary results. We have, in fact, a Legends Box where you can sit for a junk of change, but probably less than you paid for your Superbowl tickets.
Second, Red Sawx fans are ecumenical and recognize the right of March Madness on our attention. After the football season, respite from high passion is appreciated.
But wait until Opening Day ceremonies. This one especially. Won’t keep people indoors or at home as 2004, but it will be special.
And then we will see. And, I guess tawk baseball a bluestreak. Some lucky people will do in the stands with Senator Dodd–in the stands, mind you, no boxes for this true red Sawx fan. All those years of withstanding loosing must have something to do with courage he has shown in re: FISA, after, of course, the reach out effort to him by the blogosphere.
I don’t know–that is I am really not informed–if there a team as Blue politically where owners and managers are concerned as the (ahem) Red Sawx.
So, if this is not thread hijacking toward the forbidden t0pic, what are the kn0wn alleigances 0f the teams we l0ve.
[s0rry fr the 0, letter 0 key has g0ne akilter again.)
If only we could get decent hot dogs at our games. We have the worst hot dogs in the world. Everyone knows that; everyone talks about it, but no one ever does anything about it. There is something about making hot dogs that Canadians just do not get, except we all know that yours are ‘way better.
I remember Fenway franks. I said to the guy who offered, “Sure, I’ll have one,” and he rolled his eyes and said, “No one ever just eats one.”
Our visit, last year to the Skydome was the high point of our summer.
I can’t remember if I had a hot dog, but the people, food and ambiance
was delightful.
The only problem is that it took us 8 hours to get out of Philly and
we nearly missed the game…
The Molson was good.
I’m not all that happy with the Dome, but I’m told that our beer is good (I’m a wino) and we tend to be niceish, although there have been strains showing lately.
The old Exhibition Stadium (aka the Mistake by the Lake) was agony in bad weather and never a classically beautiful ballpark, but it was more fun in summer than the Dome is. I once sat a couple of rows back from the visitors’ dugout when the White Sox were here on a gorgeous day in July, so I got to see Carlton Fisk close up, striding back from behind the plate in full armour, ten feet tall at least — wow. I don’t think you can get quite that experience in the Dome.
Louisville advances.
Western Ky. takes on San Diego
All picks intact.
The NYT offers a discussion of the intrusive tactics of the feds in the Spitzer investigation, continuing to confuse the issue of whether the SAR was related to Spitzer’s activities or to the Emperor’s Club. Link.
Panty sniffers.
I wasn’t impressed by the feds nebulous justifications for gratuitous leaks in that NYT article at all. While they make many stupid choices, and are now systemically flawed, this prosecution has been managed at the highest levels of DOJ despite the denials and the false assurance that it was handled by public corruption @ SDNY.
They allege they would have been criticized had they not treated Spitzer “like anyone else.” That’s precisely what they did. There are hundreds of megabucks escort services that operate out of NYC that aren’t touched. They don’t leak and detail affidavits on the tens of thousands of johns.
Their main objective was to gut Spitzer, and that they did. Prosecuting him was hardly a concern, and they have had, as they did before they leaked the affidavits, plenty of time to determine there was no significant issue for prosecution.
It’s a shame there aren’t referendums that dock the paychecks of all AUSAs and USAs in districts where this jerking off is allowed to go on. If there were, there would be a modicum of accountability, but there is none.
It amuses me to see the self-hifiving and pious cluck clucking of former DOJ alumna. I don’t know what they think they’re seeing in the current DOJ.
If Bmaz had said that jet lag would be the cause of the Red Sox demise
this year, I’d have believed him. But, to hold the most outrageous,
idiotic, and wacky belief that the Schill is the key, is well, very Bush-like.
Disclaimer: This is trash talking, any reproduction, or other uses of my
delusional, bloviated, thoughts without the expressed, written consent of The Wheel House is expressly prohibited.
I’m not a subsidiary, wholly owned or otherwise, of the Lowell Spinners,
Portland and Paw Soxs, or any minor league franchise.
Warning Tracks: Your results may differ, and contents of this missive may shift during transmission.
Also, our esteemed journalist will remind me of every misdeed, fall from grace, or temporary tanking of the Sox.
Free drinks offered at 6:05 AM when Dice-K throws our first pitch (btw
a double will be given to first person to corrctly identify the home team, Boston or Oakland)
March madness…BUMMER
Nancy Pelosi gets another gold star, after the Telecon move, the
law suit against Mick and Meier, and now her support for the Dalai.
If we had any balls, we would boycott the Summer Olympics.
This would not sit well for our fuckhead Bushie. He has an expense-paid visit, where he can kick off his boots and have a grand old time…
Bet, he nevers mentions “democracy”
China may not allow live broadcasts during the Olympics. Afraid of the world seeing how protesters are treated?
Good for Pelosi.
Perhaps the Chinese censors will allow a few select members of the media village to be “embedded” with the official Olympic
JackbootsGuides just like that paragon of excellence and openness, the US Government, did for the IraqOlympicsShock and Awe Fest.BSL @81 and Loo Hoo @82:
Ixnay on the gold stars. Maybe bronze stars, which pale next to her Impeachment is Off the Table idiocy. That, IMHO, is HUGE. Yeah, the Dalai Lama deserves support. And she’s good on dozens of other things. But her legacy will be the impeachment thing, and deservedly so. Her intransigence on that point is so loud that it drowns out all the other stuff.
Is it only Day 1 of EW’s vacation and I’m already suffering withdrawal pangs?
Today, What Would EW Do? (WWEWD)
Bob in HI
No cause for too big a withdrawal pang (its okay I get them too), I will put up a substantive post or two in just a little bit. Had a long night last night with wife’s birthday festivities. It occurs to me that blogging from the left side of the country is hard because it is already mid day in the east and midwest; I need to reorient my time frame I think. Heh, and to prove how mixed up I am, I am telling this brilliant revelation to the one guy that is in an even earlier time zone than I am. Go figure; I am screwed up coming and going here eh?
You are right, but can we give her a silver?
I’m hoping that the lawsuit will go our way, and unleash
the bad boys/girls of the DOJ… DOJ gone wild.
From a friend,
The perfect pastor preaches for no longer than eight minutes, condemns
sin, but never hurts anyone’s feelings…
Where I come from, the perfect priest comforts the afflicted, and afflicts the comfortable.
Happy Easter and/or Spring Felicitations to everyone!
Bob in HI
Or works from 8:00 AM until midnight, doubling as the church janitor?
You’re doing an excellent job, bmaz. Great post & thread. Look forward to reading you all week.
Happy Easter slighly early, one & all. It’s a lovely morning here in Santa Monica, & doubly so because a friend scored Laker tix for tomorrow eve’s game against Golden State. 4 rows up near center court! Hot damn, I never sit that close.
Please say “hi” to my son, the football writer for USC, who had to leave [DC] yesterday because his friend, whose dad’s law firm has season Laker tickets, had scored similar floor seats for the same game.
He’ll be the one waving the “My Momma Supports Obama” or the “We’re an Obama Ohana” sign, just like I told him to. Right.
PS – Bobschacht – I got Obama media to make me templates for the Obama/Ohana signs. Should appear on Maui in mid-May, when we arrive, if not sooner. You can get ‘em at Obama media.
You’re right, Bob. Gold stars, no. But she is doing important work. Makes me think she might now allow Blackwater to take us on, should the “need” arise. Ah, Greystone.
Hey bamz, looks like our basketball teams play each other Tuesday for a chance for the college booby prize. Hard to get excited about picking NITs, though.
Wow. Did you guys see (via Greenwald) what John Cole admits to getting wrong about the war?
Thanks very much Loo Hoo.
Buh bye Dookies!!! Huggy Bear Huggins and the Mountaineers take out the Dookstirs. Gotta say, i didn’t see that coming.
Jim White – ASU/Florida might actually be a decent game to watch. I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched either of the Devil’s NIT games so far, but I just might tune in on Tuesday. Good call.
Bmaz, sounds like your wife and I share a birthday (if it was yesterday).
Damn, my bracket got busted yesterday. Went 13-3 on Thurs. and only 8-8 yesterday. Plus I just lost Elite Eight pick Duke. My chances at the money are slim, very slim. Rooting for K St. in this game.
Yep, yesterday was the day for her. Happy birthday to you too!
bmaz, I see that the FIA stewards penalised McLaren again. Of course, FIA stands for “Ferrari is alright”.
Oooh, I have to go check that out. I will say that from what I have read, the purloined tech manual last year really could have been a pretty big deal; although my initial tendency was to kind of discount that. At least they didn’t penalize the drivers points on it; that would have been tough to swallow.
Heh Heh; here you go. Somebody was carping for some hockey talk upthread. I am probably the wrong guy for that, I grew up in the Southwest and don’t know beans about hockey. I know movies though, and used to be on a film review board that screened new movies just before they were released so critics could get quotes and the theaters could decide how to advertise and promote the film upon release. On of my all time favorites I saw while doing this was “Slapshot” with Paul Newman and the infamous Hanson Brothers. Well, what do ya know, the Hanson Brothers are in Phoenix tonight for the Coyotes game against the Mighty Quackers from Anaheim. Cool.
Driveby, will have to catch up on F1 later (I can’t believe other eWheelies know about F1 racing… O.M.G…)
Note that the Wazzu Cougs are now in the Sweet 16, having prevailed over Notre Dame 61-41.
Seeing as how the last time Cougs made it was 1941, the phone lines have been buzzing with jubilation.
Heh!
Hats off to the Cougs and all of Wazzou. Bet masaccio is not real happy about that outcome though.
Guess who picked your Cougars and the Mountaineers to land in the Sweet 16 : ) If we agree to not talk about the South quadrant of my bracket, I’m a pretty happy camper at the moment ; )
The Pac-10 is your friend!
Very true, but I picked the BADGERS, too — just figured that was too obvious to mention ; ) Go BIG 10!!!
That does go without saying; Georgetown/Badgers looks to be a very good game.
Has Georgetown beaten Davidson? I didn’t think they had played yet, I should go check…
By the way, I used to follow Formula 1 back in the ’70s when they covered it on Wide World of Sports. IIRC Fittipaldi dates back to that era, right? Where do you watch the races now?
Oh and Bob Schacht, if you’re still around, I’ve followed the women’s game and tournament for years. I spent some time at Duke and went to all the women’s home games. That was a lot of fun. I love Gail Goestenkors and I always cheer for Duke (women), but I’ve got a lot of friends up this way who are UConn fans. Rumor has it that UConn has a real phenom this year, a freshman whose name escapes me at the moment. I think they will be fun to watch (even though Auriemma makes me crazy).
Phred, F1 is carried on SpeedChannel, which is included in most cable packages. They carry live practice (late Thurs. night/very early Fri. morning depending on your time zone), live qualifying (late Fri. night/very early Sat. morning) and the race itself live (late Sat. night/very early Sun. morning). There is usually a tape replay during the regular part of the day for the above. All things considered, the SpeedChannel coverage is pretty competent; although it falls short of some of the European coverage (however, it is fairly neutral in balance compared to the Europeans, who all have their own bias in play as someone pointed out above).
No the Georgetown game has not been played yet, I was assuming they would beat Davidson. I actually think Georgetown has a decent shot to go all the way to be honest. If Roy Hibbert steps up big, and he is certainly capable of just that, they are awfully tough. Unfortunately for the Badgers, I think that the Hoyas are one of the teams least likely to be disrupted by the defense schemes and slow down game of Wisconsin, which just flat out gives fits to a lot of teams.
Thanks bmaz, I’ll check out the SpeedChannel rebroadcasts ; )
You’re probably right about the Hoyas, but hopefully the Badgers will prevail : ) Go Badgers!
Hats off to the COUGS!!!
old LA area bumper sticker: I’m for USC and whoever’s playing Notre Dame 8^)
Speaking of NCAA Womens tourney, ASU is a 6 seed going up against 11 seed Temple tonight.
ASU actually has a very solid women’s hoops program and have been consistently among the top ten or fifteen teams for many years now. The coach, Charli Turner Thorne, is classy, can really coach the kids up, and seems to recruit well. It is shocking that she hasn’t been stolen by one of the huge schools, but she seems to like it here because she has been given offers several times. I don’t follow the Lady Devils too closely, but I think that, although still good, they are a little inconsistent and not quite as good as usual this year. Hopefully they will rally and make a strong run in the tournament.
Sounds like Lisa Love’s doing a pretty good job. Glad to see that.
There went a bunch of brackets, Davidson (10) over Georgetown (2) by 4, came back from a 17 point deficit.
Looks like I jinxed the Hoyas. Yikes. Had never seen Davidson before; a pretty heady and impressive little team they got there it turns out.
Looks like I’ll finish the day having picked 11 of the sweet sixteen. I had Mississipi State over Memphis. Had a three pointer just miss at the buzzer that would have forced overtime. Oh, well. My final four is still intact.
Gator baseball won today and yesterday. They only missed the sweep on the road against a top ten team by one bad half inning in the bottom of the ninth Friday.
Do the Gators play ASU this year?
Probably not until Omaha.