A memo to the sports blogosphere

To: Sports bloggers
From: Big Al @ the Wayne Fontes Experience
Re: NCAA brackets

As one of your own, I'm going to be truthful because it's for your own good.

So you are a blogger who picked Davidson to make the Sweet Sixteen? Had Duke getting knocked off in the first weekend? Called Sparty's tourney run? Your Final four picks are still alive? Congratulations! Good for you.

Just keep this in mind. I don't care.

Sure, we all did brackets, be it online, in the office, at your corner bar with your buddies. Filling out NCAA brackets is the American way. But there is no such thing as "bracketology." It's pure, unadulterated, bullshit fueled by MSM hype.

I honestly don't give a shit...No, make that two shits...how good or bad your NCAA brackets turned out. You are in the 90th percentile? I have no interest whatsoever. Picked every upset in the first two rounds? Big fucking deal. You aren't some bracket savant, you got damn lucky.

We all hear the stories on the Monday after the first weekend. There's a secretary who has never watched a college basketball game in her life, made her picks using favorite colors as a guide, and did just as well as you. Some dude sitting in a sports bar did his brackets while drunk off his ass on Jagermeister, yet he managed to more games correct than you.

Lucky or good, idiot or genius, at least they didn't feel the need to incessantly talk about their picks.

Please, I'm begging you. Enough already. Do us all a favor, and declare a moratorium on blogging about your brackets, OK? Thanks!

Regards and salutations,

Big Al

PS: Everything I said above also goes for your fantasy baseball/football/basketball/hockey/cricket/lawn bowling teams. Got it? Good. We're cool.

I hate "One Shining Moment"

We all love the NCAA Tournament. (Well, not everyone, like this Eno character) The first weekend is beer and munchies fueled heaven on a couch. But for all the drama, the days full of exciting (For the most part, even if day 1 was chalk) basketball, there are some things I just can't stand about the NCAA's.

Seeing the same commercials over and over and over and over: I love Thin Lizzy as much as anyone, probably more than most of you youngsters out there who aren't familiar with the output of the late, great Phil Lynott's band. As soon as I heard the opening chord in the Miller Lite dalmatians ad, I immediately knew "Jailbreak" was to follow. It's a great song from the 70's I've never grown tired of hearing...Till now. The damn ad runs incessantly.

Same goes for the Pontiac G8 Spyhunter ad. Just a wonderful, creative, nostalgic commercial...The first 100 times I watched it. Now it's just annoying. We're bludgeoned over the head with the same ads till our ears bleed. Enough of the chick with the caffeine buzz in the Sonic ad, the AT&T ad of the doofus shooting hoops in a bar, or any promo for a CBS show only blue hairs watch. Please CBS, stop the commercial madness!

CBS refusing to cut away to a better game, even when the home team is winning in blowout fashion: It gets frustrating as all Hell. You are stuck watching a snoozer of an early round game, while you see the close score of a much better game being shown in another region on the box at the top of the screen. Screw the home team, I want to see the better game, DAMMIT!

CBS has gotten better over the years, but they still seem to be slow on flipping the switch. I want upsets! I want drama! I want close, entertaining games! I don't want to watch Michigan State taking a team to the woodshed while a better game is going on in another region.

"One Shining Moment:" I may be on an island with this one, but "One Shining Moment" is pure, unadulterated tripe. Seriously, you have to admit it blows. It's so sappy, you'd think Mitch Albom wrote it. If the song hadn't been co-opted by CBS for the NCAA's, it would have long disappeared into the oblivion it richly deserves.

For that matter, highlight montages are hackneyed and overdone. I don't need to have my heartstrings intentionally tugged by highlight clips (Most of which I've already seen...Several times) accompanied with a bland pop song. I haven't watched the "One Shining Moment" bit in years, and don't plan on watching another.

DUKE: I hate Duke. You hate Duke. Everyone hates Duke. I don't know a single person who would consider themselves fans of the Blue Devils. Yet CBS feels the need to feature Duke at every fucking opportunity, shoving Coach K down our throats, gagging all the way.

There's always the one early weekend game that has no competition, shown nationwide, and it ALWAYS has Duke. If Belmont had knocked off Duke yesterday, the entire country would have celebrated. As the clock ran out on plucky Belmont, and the Blue Devils escaped an upset the whole nation wanted to go down, I could only say two words. "Fuck Duke."

Billy Packer: Is there a more joyless broadcasting soul than the soulless Packer? As much as the likes of Gus Johnson (Who should be calling the Final Four) and Bill Raftery are enjoying themselves, and damn fun to listen to, Packer is a dour ass crank who's a drag on the entire broadcast, and on those watching.

Jim Nantz deserves all the credit in the world for not wanting to kill himself after calling 4 games in a day with Packer. The man is evil incarnate. Pure evil. Billy Packer is the curse of the NCAA's.

Detroit fishwrap comment of the day - Sparty wins, and moves on

If there is one type of comment thread that gets real redundant, real quick, is one involving MSU or U of M. Within a couple of posts, you can expect to see old and busted put downs like scUM stinkbear, Moo U and Spartina used by the cretinous mouth breathers who tend to haunt fishwrap forums.

Call me jaded by my daily forays into the stink that is newspaper commenting threads, but to see insult after insult after insult, it becomes more tiresome than anything else. Which is why it was refreshing to see a MSU fan named msulaw quickly analyze Sparty's easy 72-61 1st round victory over Temple in the NCAA's. Nothing more, nothing less.

This was a good game by Neitzel. Sure, it would be nice if he scored more, but if teams are going to continue to double/hound him, that just frees up the rest of the team to score. Pitt will be a much tougher opponent than MSU, but I also believe that Pitt is a bit overrated. Sweet 16 is probably the best this team can expect (though Memphis is quite beatable), but maybe this team will surprise like it did 2 years ago.

Sparty did what they had to do, win and move on. I don't care if it got a little ugly at the end, or that Drew Neitzel had too quiet a game. Who cares about style points, or that Tom Izzo's team matched up well with Temple. Upsets happen in the NCAA's, especially in the 5-12 matchups, yet it didn't happen to the Spartans. The Spartans won, and winning is all that counts in the big tournament.

MSU always shows up prepared for the NCAA's, which is to Tom Izzo's credit, of which, in my mind, he doesn't get enough. With today's win, Izzo is a marvelous 24-9 in tournament games. How many coaches have a .700+ winning percentage in the tournament? I'm too damn lazy to look it up, but it can't be very many.

Which why I never understood the criticism Izzo sometimes gets from Spartans, and he got more than his fair share this year. 20 win seasons are now commonplace, along with NCAA berths. Some considered 07-08 an off season, but Sparty find themselves 26-8 overall, moving on to the round of 32, after beating Temple. That's one HELL of a season. Wolverines can only dream of such seasons.

If he Spartans continue to play solid ball like they did today, and get Neitzel going? I would not be surprised one iota to see MSU advance into the regional finals. In fact, I'd be loathe to bet against any Izzo coached team in the tournament...Unless they are playing Wisconsin.

Denver, Colorado is in the south? Who knew?

Congratulations go out to the Michigan State Spartans for their number 5 seeding in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament. I hope they have a long tourney run.

One question though.

Sparty takes on the Temple Owls in Denver? The South Regional has 1st round games in Denver and Anaheim? In what geography books are Colorado and California considered in be in the south? Much like kids were taught the "New math," is this the "New geography?"

I know the NCAA Tournament has evolved over the years, to the point where the regional sites are often directional in name only. But you have to go west to play in the south? Go figure...