NCAA Tournament

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Thoughts about a loss from a UK fan

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There is only one problem with caring about things – the pain that comes when things don’t go how you wish they would. I have to say that I am somewhat ashamed about how I react when Kentucky loses in the NCAA tournament.  It pretty much ruins my weekend.

Oddly though, I prefer this feeling, being somewhat crushed by a loss, to the feeling I have had the last few years as a UK fan.  When we lost in the first round of the NCAAs or the second round of the NIT it was expected.  And rather than ruining my day, it was just one more loss.  That is especially difficult when you consider the state of the program during my time at UK.  Those years saw 2 national championships and 3 consecutive trips to the final. Last year’s NIT was painful.

They program is back now.  This year, UK should have won the tournament, but one bad game is all it takes.

So I am crushed by a loss, but I am already looking forward to next season.  I obviously have no idea what to expect from the football team but I feel that the basketball team is back where it belongs.  And if it means more pain caused by a loss, I’ll take it.  It’s a lot better than being numb.

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It's NCAA Day

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Today is my favorite TV watching day of the year.  I love the NCAA tournament, especially the first two rounds.  I will be working some today but with digital cable and 4 games at a time most of the day, I'll be pretty distracted. Also I have read somewhere that the NCAA office pool is the most popular workplace game of all.  With the advent of the internet it's easy to join many groups and play at multiple places.  I assume that everyone is in at least 2 bracket pools.

Now the age old question.

Do you enter the same bracket (a sheet of integrity) into all your groups or do you play multiple brackets for multiple groups.

[polldaddy poll=1469083]

If you are the sheet of integrity type, let us know your final 4 in the comments.

Commercials

I rarely watch TV live. I don’t even know when my favorite show, Lost, comes on. I watch it on Sunday nights whenever a new one shows up on my DVR. The only things I watch live are Around the Horn and PTI. I usually ride my exercise bike while I watch these and change it to Seinfeld during the commercials. So, even then, I don't see many commercials. I also watch sports live. It is very rare for me to put a game on the DVR.

So, because I have watched a lot of basketball, I have watched a lot of commercials over the last 2 weekends. This post is about the commercials. I would expect that advertisers would realize that they have to raise their game to make commercials something you want to watch. I cannot be the only person who has cut his commercial intake drastically since the invention of the Tivo.

I appears however that advertisers have not raised their game rather they take 2 tactics. First, repetition. Show the commercials so much that you want to smash their product with a sledgehammer if you see it again. (see apple computers) Secondly, and go with creepy. These are the commercials that make you feel uncomfortable in some way.

The rest of this post is just me reviewing some commercials. I’ll talk about the ones I like and the ones that make me want to refuse to ever buy the product.

First, the five commercials I wish were never made.

MacBook Air – Every human in the USA has seen this commercial at least 5,000 times. Initially I had nothing against it, but now I think if I hear “I’m a new soul…” one more time I could smash a mac into a million pieces.

Charles Schwab – These half animated, half live-action hybrid commercials give me the creeps. I have no money to be buying stocks with, (And guidestone already manages my massive retirement.) but these creepy commercials where people talk about their broker being money grubbing turds (because clearly, Schwab exists completely altruistically and their brokers are like charity workers) definitely make me want to stay away from Charles Schwab.

Taco Bell – All of the current Taco Bell commercials are stupid. Especially the one with the fake looking CG cheese. I’m disappointed, because Taco Bell has had very good commercials in the past.

Volkswagen - I despise everything about this commercial which runs during every single break. (The one where the man keeps approaching the car, and the lights flash and the horn honks) If your message is “Volkswagen, the car for either weird or annoying people”, mission accomplished.

Now my favorite commercials that run during the NCAA tourney

5. E-trade baby- I like the one with the clown. Mainly because of the following quote. “I really underestimated the creepiness.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdfvWAp5GUw]

 

4. Subway – I don’t particularly like the commercial, but the five dollar foot-long song is catchy

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiL8tafYcxc]

 

3. Holiday Inn express – The “Hot Bar” commercials are funny. The designated driver who gets a plate and starts loading up is the best one. (download it here)

 

2. Sonic – I really like the Sonic commercials. The husband and wife sitting in the car eating and talking about stupid stuff are pretty much all good.

 

1. Pontiac – The Spy Hunter commercial is great in every way. It is, by far, my favorite commercial currently running.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W29zZXiBsPw]

Beef Stew League By the Numbers

Breaking down our leagueHere’s the numbers in the Beef Stew league. Thought yall might find this interesting

Members – 15 (the largest ever) Mystery players – 1 Average age* – 32.7

By Occupation Accountants* – 4 Ministers* – 4 Students* – 2

By Family Status Single* - 5 Married* - 9 Parents* – 5

Picked Kentucky over Marquette - 11

Predicted in final 4 UCLA – 11 UNC – 10 Texas – 8 Kansas – 8 Memphis – 6 Tennessee – 4 Georgetown – 3 Duke – 3 Wisconsin – 2 Vanderbilt – 1

Predicted Champion UNC – 8 UCLA – 4 Tennessee – 1 Duke – 1

* Does not include mills120

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Clearly there is something wrong with me. Tomorrow is the beginning of the NCAA tournament and I am in full March madness mode.

It works out for me, because I am only partially employed, but I feel like Thursday should be a holiday. I could tolerate working on Friday because the basketball-fest on Thursday will satiate me enough to get through the day.

There is no event in all of sports that excites me like the first two rounds of the NCAA. And I really like…

The Super Bowl

The Daytona 500

The World Series

The college bowls (though they are ultimately unfulfilling)

The night race at Bristol

The PGA majors

The SEC tournament

All these are great events, but none of them are as enjoyable as the first 2 rounds of the NCAA tourney. I think its because of the fact that there is wall-to-wall basketball, sometimes 4 games on at once. Also because everybody picks the tournament.

The only thing that can make it better is when Kentucky is a contender

Just thought I’d share

BTW: my final 4 is UNC, Texas, Wisconsin, UCLA.