Rules to fill out your NCAA Basketball Bracket

Hey everyone, happy St. Patty’s day. I’ve always enjoyed this holiday. At my staff meeting today, someone asked why everyone was wearing green and we told him it was St. Paddy’s Day. He said he was Jewish and couldn’t participate. I told him I’m Black and I was still wearing my green tie.

Of course, this always leads to the Black Irish joke, which I don’t mind at all.

This day also reminds me of one of my first college campus visits as a high schooler, when my tour pulled into Georgetown on this day and this incredibly attractive blond woman comes up to us and in a drunken state tells us to go there. We proceeded to have a fun night, no drinking at that level, we were too young, but it was still a good vibe.

OK, on to the purpose of this post…the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

First..

Music to listen to: Coma Pony by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez



So chilled, I love this type of music right now, puts me in a reflective mood.

I love the Tournament, you love the Tournament and the most enjoyment you get out of it is making brackets and placing predictions on who you think is going to win.

Now, not to brag, but I’ve done well on more than one occasion on these brackets because I follow a few simple steps which I will share with you now. After that, I will fill out my own bracket here so you may witness my methods in effect.

Rule 1: Business is business

Save your emotions for your children or a puppy.

Rule 2: Loyalty is for losers.

My favorite team is Vanderbilt. It’s my alma mater, love the place, proud to be a Commodore. However, I have no problem picking them to lose to Murray State if I see it happening. In fact, if it will ultimately help me win a pool, hate to say it, but Go Racers!

Rule 3: Biases are for suckers

I don’t like Duke and I despise Tennessee with a passion. However, if Duke looks like they’re going to win a national title, I have no problems projecting that. If I think that Tennessee finds a way to make a run to the Elite Eight, then it shall be.

Rule 4: Beware of the overvalued BCS school.

If there is a battle between a top mid-major school and an average or below-average team from say the SEC or Big 10, the mid-major school is going to win the majority of the time.

Now, the only three mid-majors that don’t apply this season are Butler, New Mexico and maybe Gonzaga.

Matchups like this that I see at first glance of the bracket include San Diego State v. Tennessee, BYU v. Florida, Utah State v. Texas A&M, Siena v. Purdue, Old Dominion v. Notre Dame.

Rule 5: Beware of the “hot” conference tournament champion

A few years ago, I remember seeing Syracuse win the Big East Tournament in 2006 by winning four games in four days, including upsets over Connecticut, Georgetown and Pitt. All of the games were decided by four points or less. Everyone was hyped that they would make a run in the NCAA’s accept for me. I picked them to lose to BYU in the first round and they got smoked, just like I predicted.

This happens for two reasons. First, if a team had to win that many games in a few days, its physically taxing on them, I don’t care how young the legs are. Second, after the euphoria of winning the conference tourney, they have to go back to campus, get everyone patting them on the back, then get back to work without feeling too high about themselves. That’s a lot to ask from 18-22 year olds.

Victims of this for the Tournament may include Houston, San Diego State, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Wofford, West Virginia, Notre Dame and St. Mary’s

Rule 6: Guard play is important but post play is just, if not more, crucial

We’re all excited to see guys like Collins out of Kansas, John Wall from Kentucky, Evan Turner from Ohio State, Schyer and Singler from Duke, Butler from West Virginia and other perimeter guys do their thing, but the reason that Kansas and Kentucky are probably going to meet in the finals while the other guys would be fortunate to reach the Final Four is post play.

Kentucky and Kansas both have post players who can get points inside and can give you solid rebounding. The thing that happens in the Tournament is that the pace slows down and rebounding becomes paramount. Keep this in mind when doing your bracket.

Rule 7: Beware of the One-Man Gang

I’m looking right at you Ohio State. Not since Danny Manning with Kansas in 1988 has one player alone led his team to a title. If Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, David Robinson, Grant Hill at the end at Duke, John Wallace, etc. couldn’t do it, then its not going to happen for a while.

Rule 8: Upsets are cute for the first round but it’s a marathon

It may be cool to pick North Texas over Kansas State but if the Wildcats win and make it to the Final Four, you aren’t going to win your pool. Its pretty much mathematically impossible. If you love to pick upsets for fun, stick to 5 v. 12, 6 v. 11, etc.

Rule 9: Don’t get silly with your picks

You may like their uniform, have a girlfriend that went to the school, had a good time in the city the school is in, know someone that knows someone who had a cousin take classes there, you get the idea.

Don’t be stupid with this, accept for which mascot would win in a fight, because that’s an awesome debate.

Rule 10: Don’t trust Crappy Big 10 basketball

I love to pick on the Big 10 because their sports suck. Football, basketball, baseball, you take your pick. They never do well nationally on this stage accept for Michigan State basketball and I’m not so sure about them this year. Purdue was a legit national title contender, no joke, until Hummel went down and now they aren’t as good but they have a reason. Avoid ALL Big 10 schools.

Rule 11: Only do one bracket

Just fill out one bracket, don’t look at it for about 20 minutes, take a deep breath, review your picks and submit them. None of this five “different” brackets with various outcomes. Don’t be a pussy, be a man.

Rule 12: Coaching matters…to a degree

Coaching is important but at this stage, talent usurps most. When all else fails, take the team with the most talent.

Rule 13: Don’t listen to experts

I don’t look at other people’s brackets unless by accident. It muddles my thoughts. You start playing this game. I think that Washington is going to beat Marquette but everyone on ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Twitter, etc. has Marquette. So now you doubt yourself and take Marquette only to see Washington cruise to a win. Even if you lose with your pick, at least it was yours and not influenced by anybody. Trust your own instincts.

Finally…

Rule 14: This is unpredictable

You’re placing your hopes on 18-22 year old men. I don’t know about you but when I was that age, a girl could look at me funny and it would place me in a funk all day. I could have gotten a bad grade and it would ruin my night. Point is, its not a rational age to expect consistency. All it takes is for one guy to be mad at something, lose focus and ruin things for his entire team.

The team that wins a title has to win six games in a row in three different locations. If your national title team hasn’t shown the ability to win consistently, than its probably not going to happen now.

OK, on to my picks…

Midwest:

First round “upsets”: San Diego State over Tennessee and Northern Iowa over UNLV

Sweet 16 teams: Kansas over Michigan State and Georgetown over Ohio St.

Regional Final: Kansas over Georgetown

West:

First round “upsets”: UTEP over Butler

Sweet 16 teams: Syracuse over Vanderbilt (yes, I have Vandy there, and I’m nervous about it) and Kansas State over Xavier

Regional Final: Syracuse over Kansas St.

East:

First round “upsets”: Cornell over Tempe, Wofford over Wisconsin, Missouri over Clemson

Sweet 16 teams: Kentucky over Cornell, West Virginia over New Mexico

Regional Final: Kentucky over West Virginia

South:

First round “upsets”: Utah St. over Texas A&M, Siena over Purdue, Old Dominion over Notre Dame, St. Mary’s over Richmond

Sweet 16 teams: Duke over Utah State, Villanova over Baylor

Regional Final: Villanova over Duke

Final Four: Kansas over Syracuse, Kentucky over Villanova

National Championship: Kansas over Kentucky…of course, I could be wrong

My mid-career crisis

Hey everyone, hope all has been well in your world. Its been a while since I’ve written on the blog, actually its been a week but I used to write everyday and I’ve heard from some of you about that.

I would love to write everyday…before I continue, time for you know what…

Music to listen to: In a State by UNKLE

Some chilled music for you.

So, I would enjoy writing on Pourtout Pancakes every day, but life honestly gets in the way.

When I was a grad assistant at Belmont in athletics, I had more free time, especially during the day, so there was more opportunity to write. I could cheat and actually write posts while at work. I don’t have that luxury with my current job.

My schedule consists of waking up about 6:30 a.m., going to the gym from 7-9, working at the job from 9-5:30, getting home at 6 p.m. and taking care of personal needs before going to bed around 11 p.m.

The job has really drained me of energy and when I get home, the first thing that I want to do is go to bed. This doesn’t lead to good times to write.

Its even affected my New Year’s Life Alterations. I haven’t taken one French lesson, haven’t played one note on a guitar, haven’t talked to my father, you get the idea.

Before this turns into me bitching about my job, that’s not the case. The job is good but it’s a job, if that makes sense.

But the reality of the matter is that I haven’t been happy with one aspect of my life the past few weeks.

I’m going through a mid-career crisis.

I’m unhappy with the path of my career and where I’m at with it right now. I’m 28 and my current position is entry level and is in essence a paid internship.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a history of changing my career interests. When I was in fifth grade, I wanted to be an engineer so that I could design sports stadiums. Maybe it was attending games in the dump known as the old Shea Stadium to see the New York Mets that inspired this, me wanting to build something better. However, my interest in math didn’t stay and I moved on.

When I first started high school, I wanted to be a doctor that performed surgeries on professional athletes like Dr. James Andrews. The process of reaching this goal, particularly medical school, didn’t interest me.

When I first started undergrad at Vandy, I wanted to be a sports psychologist but that got sidetracked when I wanted to become a sports agent. This even led me to applying to law schools for three straight years after I graduated college. I didn’t get into any of them.

Since graduating college, I’ve interned at a fashion magazine, worked in a public relations firm that specialized in clients in the financial industry, worked at a men’s clothing store, was a communications assistant for a non-profit organization specializing in assisting underprivileged children in public schools, was a media relations assistant at two colleges and got a masters degree in sport administration. Now, I work in professional wrestling.

You would think with all of that stuff, I would have a more established career but it hasn’t happened. Part of it is economics. Every industry has experienced hard times in the past two years but sports has been feeling it a lot. If it was 10 years ago, I would have a full-time job, probably middle-management and be in a better financial position. Now, people like me are getting turned down for unpaid internships.

But some of it has to go on me as well. I underperformed in college and barely graduated, which I was reminded of last night and will get to later. If I got better grades, I would have probably had a job right out of school and my path may have been different. I could have been a better employee at some of those other places I’ve worked. Shoot, I can be a better employee right now, you can always improve your work performance.

So, I sit here writing on my blog late on a Wednesday night and want better for myself. I’ve been evaluating my career and learned that there is a connection between my professional happiness and personal contentment, meaning if I’m unhappy with my career, it affects a large part of how I feel overall.

I’ve been thinking about whether I want to work in sports at all. it’s a fun industry that I have a lot of experience in but the grind is a bit much, especially if I want to have a family of my own in the future. Plus, the pay isn’t good.

But then I think about how important sports are in my life. it’s the one thing outside of my family that has kept me sane over the years. I love it too much. Plus, I’m pretty darn good in the industry. I’ve never had a lot of money in my life so having a lot or a little of it isn’t going to worry me.

So then you go into what part of sports do I like the most. Do I want to get into coaching? Maybe game management? Public relations and marketing? Journalism? Law?

I then think back to my studies in sport management and my favorite class was sports law. I’ve always enjoyed studying law and merging that with sports was exciting. Learning about labor law, antitrust issues, constitutional law, things like that excite me. I still crack open the sports law text book for fun reading.

So do I want to be a sports lawyer now? Dare I say it, does this mean that I have to go to law school? Can I even afford law school? The questions keep coming.

I do know that I like sports, particularly the legal matters in relation to it. I also like business journalism, how do I merge these things together? Do I start my own sports law/business journalism publication? Do I make a blog? Do I work for a publication, sports or non-sports related, to gain the experience in that field?

To do these things, do I have to move to a bigger market than Nashville?

I like mixed martial arts, do I start my own MMA organization?

One final thought. I was talking with my buddy Andrew last week and my interest in law came up. I told him about how I applied to law schools and decided not to go in the end. So last night, I decide to check to see if my LSAC account was still open…oh, to apply to law school, you register with the LSAC and they handle your LSAT, transcript, letters of recommendation, sometimes school applications, etc.

Sure enough, it still is and all of that stuff mentioned above is still on file. I even got to see my Vandy transcript for the first time in years and saw my grades. They weren’t good, in fact, they were pitiful. My LSAT scores weren’t much better. Now I understand why law schools didn’t accept me as a 22-year old with those credentials.

I think I wasn’t ready for it overall. I was still in a sheltered state and didn’t have life experience. Honestly, if I went to law school at 22, I would have failed out of it.

But now, I’ve matured greatly in all aspects of my life and have gotten smarter or at least know how to handle it.

I’m seriously considering this option now but I may change my thoughts tomorrow, hence the mid-career crisis.

In the end, I'll figure something out or it will be done for me. Either way, I'll keep focusing and keep it moving.
　

Curling...Sport of the 21st Century?

What’s going on everyone, hope you’ve had a good few weeks. Things have been OK for me. I’ve learned over time that as long as you wake up in the morning in good physical condition and you have people that love you, things are going to be all right.

Music to listen to: Lateralus by Tool

I’ve been a major kick right now listening to Tool, maybe besides The Mars Volta, my favorite rock group ever. This song takes me to a positive mental place.

So I’ve developed a love for curling the past few weeks when it was on the Olympics. I would come home from work and immediately flip to CNBC to see the latest games. I guess I wasn’t the only one that caught on because it became the sport that gained the most buzz from what I’ve seen. People were Tweeting about it. The participants, especially the women players, became mini-celebrities, especially Cheryl Bernard from Canada, whose the one in the picture above and known as the “Curgler.” Yes, it means exactly what you think if you say it out loud.

I listed on my Facebook my thoughts about the game as it was going on but I’m going to elaborate about it here with the five reasons the sport is great.

One more thing before I start the list, I’m playing this sport in my future. I’ll get into it more on the list but its gotten to the point that I was looking up the Nashville Curling Club information, but its Web page was down. I would have loved to have gone to the 2010 USA Curling National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. From Mar. 6-13 but frickin work is getting in the way.

I have to start training for the 2011 U.S. Nationals Qualifying Rounds in January of that year and eventually go to the World Championships in Esbjerg, Denmark in March.

OK, on to the list

1) The rules are simple. Its like shuffleboard on ice. You throw stones and try to get yours closest to the center than your opponent. Of course there’s a LOT more strategy to it such as protecting your shots, putting out guards, keeping the “hammer” on your end, etc. However, its not as complicated as sports with judges. I can’t watch figure skating because of this, well, I take that back…I can’t watch it because I just can’t sit there with a straight face and see dudes in those outfits performing dance acts. I’m pretty liberal with my sports viewing and respect the athleticism of it but I have my limits.

Anyway, the rules are not difficult to comprehend and the scores are low, which is a good thing.

If curling scores got into the high teens or to the thirties or forties, it would be hard.

2) I could play it. I have some athletic skill but I’m not going to become a luger. Am I going to be a competitive snowboarder? No. Will you see your boy making a run at joining the speed skating team? You already know the answer to that.

This may sound like I’m underestimating the athleticism of curlers and that’s far from it. In fact, the curlers at the Olympics made their sport look easier than it is. I would have busted my butt dozens of times moving across the ice like they did.

What I mean is that I don’t see a specific body-type that you have to be to play curling. I’m a big boy and I can actually see myself being a competitive curler with the proper training. I don’t see that in many other sports, which bring me to my next point…

3) Unique scope of player. In many of the sports that we watch, the athletes are at a physical and mental level above us. Whether it’s the height of basketball or volleyball players, the size of football players, the leanness of track sprinters, the thickness of hockey players, most of us see them and not ourselves.

However, when I saw the male curlers, accept for the Norwegians and their hideous checkered pants, I saw men who were in good shape to perform in their sport but nothing outside of the ordinary.

4) Attractive players. It is what it is. There were some very attractive female curlers in the Olympics. You had some cute Canadians, the Sweden team didn’t disappoint (yes, I catered to the stereotypes), I dug the Danes and their black skirts with black leggings, not in a perverted way, but for it being stylistic. And I fell in love with Carmen Schafer of Switzerland. She’s also above, the brunette in the red shirt.

That was a pleasant surprise for me. I don’t intentionally watch women sports for the attractiveness of the athletes but if it happens, I’m not going to complain.

5) Calm chaos. The beauty to me of a sport like baseball is that it may look like nothing is happening when 20 things are taking place. Before a pitch is thrown, you look to see where the fielders are placed, where the catcher receiving the ball is, the body language of the pitcher, the stance of the batter, what the runners on base are doing, etc. Then the pitch is made and things go into motion.

The same takes place in curling. When a stone is thrown, you see the direction of the throw. Was the stone thrown fast or slow, was it curled, are the sweepers going hard or soft, is the stone going for the center, is it a guard for another stone, is it a guide or setup for another shot.

Most viewers just see somebody sliding a stone down the ice and don’t realize the strategy of it, same as baseball. Personally, I love it.

With many good things in life, there are flaws. Here are mine.

1) The men’s uniforms. I frickin hate to bite off of someone else’s idea, especially with how popular he is, but listening to Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, on his pod cast a few days ago, he suggested the men have jerseys in an American football style and I agree. Seeing Great Britain in their snuggly fit white polo shirts made them look overdressed and I think contribute to their weak showing.

I would say get rid of the Norway pants but if that’s the style that they want, let them.

2) You need ice to play curling. I live in Nashville, Tenn. The amount of locations that have ice are less than say in Minnesota or Wisconsin, which seems like the American hotbed of curling from my limited experience. Similar to ice hockey in America in general, its going to be tougher for some people to play it. You can play football or basketball anywhere. Ice is harder to come by. This may limit the growth of the sport.

3) It has elements of boredom. I love baseball. It was my first sports love, before basketball, football, soccer, mixed martial arts, all of them. However, there are some baseball games that make me want to crawl out my skin. I mentioned all of that cool stuff about baseball and curling and the action but when you have a 2-0 game when nothing really happens, it turns off an American society, me included, that has been trained into the fast pace of football and basketball.

That’s why soccer and hockey will only reach a certain level of popularity in this country. People

would rather see a score of 35-28 or 105-98 than 4-3 or 2-1. We accept it in baseball because the sport has been around for so long.

So is curling going to take over the world? Maybe, maybe not but I’ve been hooked and want to play. Who’s going to join me?

The Miracle on Ice Means Nothing to Me and Other Thoughts on USA Hockey

I’m going to write about some Olympic men’s hockey and insult some Americans…don’t change the Web page yet, give it a chance.

First, some music to listen to: Triad by Tool

This one of my top-five Tool songs and is arguably their best instrumental, even though it isn’t technically one because of Maynard’s sounds from the vocals. It does fit Tool’s ideal of making something so simple sound complicated yet developed.

OK, so this is the 30th anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” you know, the USA men’s hockey team beating the USSR team in Lake Placid during the 1980 Winter Olympics. The US team was a heavy underdog, facing arguably one of the top teams of all-time.

BTW, that’s legit. The Russian team beat NHL All-Star teams and featured Hall of Famers. The USA team were amateurs, college kids.

So, the USA wins the game amid the background of the Cold War and during the conflict in Iran and American patriotism was at a low but the win inspired a nation.

I don’t care about it 30 years later.

First, I wasn’t alive during the game. I was born in 1981. I wasn’t alive to see it. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the moment. It was a major win for those guys and congrats to them but it doesn’t resonate with me at all.

It’s the same with the 1972 Dolphins. I know that going undefeated in the NFL is a major accomplishment but its beyond my scope.

The members of that team and Al Michaels have turned the moment into a profitable endeavor for themselves and good for them in that regard, accept for Al Michaels.

You didn’t play in the game. I get mad at people who use the royal “we” when talking about their favorite team. You didn’t score the touchdown, hit that home run, make that free throw. You’re a broadcaster.

And don’t give me the whole, “Hey Marcel, he came up with the do you believe in miracles statement that everyone remembers from the event. Shoot, its called The Miracle on Ice for a reason.”

That’s fair to a degree. He did contribute to the atmosphere with his broadcasting. However, when I see interviews with the players including Al Michaels, the sports information/public relations director in me cringes.

The first rule of public relations and sports broadcasting is that you’re not the show. Its about the athletes/clients you are presenting. They are the show. Michaels violates this rule in this instance.

The point of all of this is saying that I see the clips of the game and I’m disconnected. If I was alive during the game to completely comprehend the significance of it than maybe I would feel different…

Which brings us to the game last night between the USA and Canada. The Americans gave an inspired effort and earned the win in this contest. I enjoyed it and it seemed like a lot of others did as well.

However, people found a way to bitch about it because it was on MSNBC, not NBC, and I’m not kidding, it wasn’t in High Definition.

My thoughts:

1) There was a reason it wasn’t on NBC and its called ice dancing. If you’re reading this, you probably follow sports for the most part and can’t comprehend figure skating usurping hockey in popularity, but it does. For all of the talk about this being the Olympics and competition between the best athletes in their sport in the world, it’s a business.

The whole concept of television is to sell advertising, not to present original programming. People tend to reverse that but it’s not accurate.

Hockey isn’t as big of a ratings draw as figure skating. The ice dancing hits two huge demographics, women and older people. Hockey hits middle-aged males. Advantage figure skating.

2) This game wasn’t even in the medal round. The semifinals and finals are going to be on NBC, puck heads, it will be all right.

3) Even if the game was on NBC, it wouldn’t increase the viewing of hockey in the United States. If the Miracle on Ice didn’t make the sport mainstream, nothing will.

4) People are mad about the game being on MSNBC because the USA won. If Canada won 4-0, which was a distinct possibility and the game was on NBC, people would be complaining about the terrible scheduling of NBC. You can’t win whatever you do.

5) This isn’t 1980. The majority of people have cable and if you have basic cable, you have MSNBC. Its not like the game was on the NFL Network that a significant amount of people don’t get. If you don’t have cable and there have been times I’ve been without, last night was a rough break but it happens. I would love to see Dexter on Showtime or Entourage on HBO, but I won’t pay for the package. So if there’s an epic Dexter episode on during a new season, I can’t get pissed that I didn’t see it.

6) Seriously, people are complaining about not being able to see the game in HD because I guess MSNBC doesn’t come in HD or some shit like that. I don’t have HD so I don’t know.

The elitist nature of that thinking is beyond me.

You want to go back to the olden days. OK buddy, 20 years ago, that game doesn’t get shown on TV until later. CNBC and MSNBC don’t exist so you have to wait through the ice dancing and see the game on midnight, on tape delay.

Instead, you got to see one of the biggest wins in USA hockey history, live, in your home and you want to complain about the game not being in HD so you can see the extra crispness of the lines on the uniforms, fall back!

7) Final thought, if you think that this is the last time that we see NHL players in the Olympics, you are kidding yourselves. Back in 1980, the Olympics were a major, major event. There was minimal competition. You had no choice but to watch it because you had three networks. Having cable was beyond a luxury back in the day.

That’s why the Miracle on Ice was so big. Even people who didn’t know a blue line from a power play heard about it. Now, we have so many distractions. Plus, the Cold War is over, the tension between Russia and the USA doesn’t exist today.

I guess the closest thing that we could have to it today is if the North Koreans won three straight World Cups in soccer using professionals and a group of USA college kids won the next one. Even that is a stretch.

You could pull off the amateur thing in 1980, not in 2010. We want to see stars. We want to see Ovie and Sidney Crosby duke it out. We want to see the Americans, who are very gritty and play like a bunch of college kids, relatively speaking for this competition, show that their professionals are just as good as the rest. We want to see the older men like Forsburg and Jagr represent their countries for the last time.

Once again, it is all about ratings and amateurs wouldn’t bring them.

So in conclusion, the Miracle on Ice means nothing to me and people annoy me with their complaints, sounds about right for a Pourtout Pancakes post.

Good fight and good night.

NBA Halfway Point Review

First, some music to listen to: I Wanna Rock (remix) by Snoop Dogg, Jay Z and Ludacris

Your boy is moving into the 21st century musically, heard this on the radio today and was blasting it in the car.

We’re at the unofficial halfway point of the NBA season and its been an entertaining. Teams like Oklahoma City and Memphis have become playoff contenders while San Antonio and Boston have regressed. We’ll get to them later but the best way for me to do this is to review my preseason predictions and go from there.

Preseason predictions by division (in order)

Preseason Atlantic: Boston, Toronto, Philly, New York, New Jersey
Current Atlantic: Boston, Toronto, Philly, New York, New Jersey
Thoughts: Off to a good start on my predictions.

Preseason Central: Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee
Current Central: Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indiana
Thoughts: Cleveland will have the best record in the conference, maybe even the league. The Bucks have been surprisingly springy. Detroit has seen much better days. Indiana is well, Indiana

Preseason Southeast: Orlando, Washington, Miami, Atlanta, Charlotte
Current Southeast: Orlando, Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, Washington
Thoughts: The Magic are doing what I expected. Respect to Atlanta for surprising me. The Wizards are a complete mess right now. Charlotte has been a spunky group and may cause damage in the playoffs. The Heat are still the Wade show.

Preseason Northwest: Utah, Portland, Denver, Oklahoma City, Minnesota
Current Northwest: Denver, Utah, Oklahoma City, Portland, Minnesota
Thoughts: The Nuggets have emerged as the second best team in the conference. Utah has been solid as always. Portland has been a good surprise, thriving despite injuries to some core players. Minnesota, specifically their general manager, should be ashamed.

Preseason Pacific: Lakers, Phoenix, Clippers, Golden State, Sacramento
Current Pacific: Lakers, Phoenix, Clippers, Sacramento, Golden State
Thoughts: Not bad, nothing special.

Preseason Southwest: San Antonio, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis
Current Southwest: Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis
Thoughts: Maybe the deepest division in the league.

Preseason Eastern Conference Finals: Boston over Cleveland
Current Eastern Conference Finals (most likely): Cleveland over Atlanta
Thoughts: Ignored Boston’s age.

Preseason Western Conference Finals: Lakers over San Antonio
Current Western Conference Finals (most likely): Lakers over Denver
Thoughts: Ignored San Antonio’s age…sense a trend?

Preseason NBA Finals: Boston over Lakers
Current Finals (most likely): Cleveland over Lakers
Thoughts: Honestly, Cleveland and the Lakers are a toss-up.

Preseason MVP:
1) LeBron James, Cleveland
2) Kobe Bryant, Lakers
3) Chris Paul, New Orleans
4) Dwight Howard, Orlando
5) Kevin Durant, OK City and Derrick Rose, Chicago (tie)

Current MVP Standings:
1) LeBron James
2) Kevin Durant
3) Kobe Bryant
4) Dirk Noritzki, Dallas
5) Carmelo Anthony, Denver and Steve Nash, Phoenix (tie)

Thoughts: I thought James has one of the best individual seasons ever and got his first MVP award. This year, he has been even better. He’s finally balancing scoring and distributing to the point that he’s averaging nearly nine assists a game and he’s a forward. Durant has been a monster this season and was legally allowed to drink a little more than a year ago. Kobe is still Kobe and is the engine that makes the Lakers run. Dirk and Carmelo have reached a maturity level where they do more for their team than score. The injury bug has definitely hit Bryant, Paul, Anthony and Rose, affected their seasons and placement in the MVP voting. I’ll have more on Howard with the Magic review.

Preseason Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin, Clippers
Current Rook of the Year: Tyreke Evans, Sacramento

Thought: Griffin is out for the year with a knee injury and hasn’t even played a game. Evans gets the edge over Brandon Jennings of Milwaukee because he has been more consistent.

Preseason Sleeper (East): Chicago

Thoughts: Hasn’t completely worked out but Rose can carry the Bulls to a first-round playoff win.

Preseason Sleeper (West): Utah

Thoughts: This one may work out for me.

OK, some quick thoughts on each team so you can sound smart to your co-workers:

Cleveland: With the addition of Antawn Jamison, they are clearly the class of the East. If he can incorporate himself with James, this team is going to be scary . Shaq can’t get injured because their front line has gotten thinner.

Lakers: Them and the Cavs are the top two teams in the league. I worry about three things. First, Kobe’s health. He’s a warrior but if he breaks down, problems. Second, don’t like the point guard play. Jordan Farmer has to be a big piece for them. Finally, Bynum is too inconsistent for my liking. it’s a good sign when I mention three potential negatives for the Lakers and not say Ron Artest.

Utah: Its all a tease people. They will win a round, maybe even two in the playoffs but will lose to the Lakers in five games, it happens every year. What has been good is that Deron Williams may be having the best season by a point guard in the league this year, maybe.

Orlando: Something is off about this bunch. Never liked the unofficial trade of Turkoglu for Vince Carter. All of the matchup advantages that they had in the playoffs last year are completely gone. Howard needs to really get some more touches on offense.

Denver: Biggest issue for them is health. They have to get Carmelo, Kenyon Martin and Billiups on the same page to make a legitimate run at the Lakers.

Oklahoma City: If Durant played for a top-ten NBA market, he would be more known. He’s probably going to win a scoring title this season and is getting even better. Did I mention that he’s only 21? His current streak of scoring at least 25 points in 26 consecutive games is impressive but I like the other numbers, like him averaging nearly eight rebounds a game, shooting more than 50% from the field, giving effort on defense. Those things are making him an MVP candidate.

Toronto: They are quietly moving up the Eastern conference standings and may even gain home court advantage over Boston. Bosh is playing like the best post player in the league right now, even better than Howard.

Atlanta: They’re not a fluke, third-best, arguably, second-best team in the East. They have everything you would like in a good team. Go to scorer (Joe Johnson), post presence (Al Horford), scoring off the bench (Jamal Crawford). Key to team has been maturity of Josh Smith. Don’t know where it came from but he stopped shooting three-pointers and getting others involved has been a nice surprise.

Boston: Breaking down health-wise. Garnett’s knees aren’t good, don’t listen to what anyone is saying, seen the guy play for more than 10 years now, its noticeable. Pierce is also banged up. Rondo has been very good for them but he isn’t enough. They don’t even make the conference finals this year.

San Antonio: Its tough to dismiss a team with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, but that’s what I’m going to do. They may win a first-round series, but nothing beyond that. Duncan still has his moments like his 26 rebound effort in tonight’s game, but his body can’t keep it up. The Richard Jefferson pickup has been a moderate success and that’s being nice. Ginobili’s body has betrayed him as well.

Phoenix: Nash is playing the best ball of his career and he’s 36 and is a two-time MVP award winner. Its really a physical marvel that he’s kept this up. The Amare Stoudemire saga needs to end this trading deadline. No fault of his own, but both sides can use a change.

Dallas: Like the Caron Butler and Brandon Haywood additions. Josh Howard’s time has drawn to an end there. You now have a second scorer to take pressure off of Dirk, who may be having his second-best season of his career outside of the MVP year.

Portland: Treading water now but desperately need Brandon Roy to return if they expect to have any impact in the second half of the season.

Charlotte: Who expected the addition of Stephen Jackson to be one of the top-five in-season moves of the NBA this season? He now has Charlotte contending for a playoff spot and a tough out in the first round. They have beaten Cleveland two times this year already, not saying that they would beat the Cavs in a playoff series, but the Bobcats can make some noise.

Milwaukee: Jennings has been a nice surprise and Bogut has been productive. Imagine what they could have done if Redd has been healthy the whole time?

Chicago: Speaking of injuries, look at the Bulls since Rose has returned from a bad ankle. They can make a nice run in the East over the next few weeks.

Miami: If they acquire Stoudemire, they become the fourth best team in the East. If not, Wade will continue to be an elite player whose team loses in the first round of the playoffs once again.

New Orleans: Screw this season, I’m very, very concerned with Chris Paul and his knee injury.

Houston: Nice story but not an elite team.

Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Indiana: All having bad seasons

Washington: Not saying that they’re tanking but you suspend Arenas for the rest of the season, and deservedly so, trade Jamison AND Butler. That’s a major purge that may net them a nice free agent or two in the offseason, in addition to a top-three draft pick.

Clippers: Hard to judge them with no Griffin this year, but these are your father’s Clippers, awful.

Sacramento: Evans has been excellent for them but I’m torn on him. He’s playing point guard for them but I don’t know if that’s his ultimate position. He doesn’t pass well enough to play point but doesn’t shoot well enough for shooting guard. He’s more of an off-guard. They also need to figure out if he and Kevin Martin can co-exist long term because in the short term, its not working.

Minnesota: T-Wolves fans should be pissed at the general manager, David Kahn, for screwing up the draft last year. They could have a back court of Rick Rubio and Stephen Curry right now.

Golden State: Free Anthony Randolph and Curry!

New Jersey: What do you say about a four-win team? Not much.
　
Tomorrow: Five storyline to look forward to the second-half of the season.　

Not Bitter on Valentine's Day? I Was Shocked Myself!

First, some music to listen to: You Lied by Tool (live)



This is actually a cover of a song by Peach, a band which included Tool's bassist Justin Chandler so I don't know if this counts as a cover, but its a good track.

So Valentine's Day was on Sunday and it was the first one in a few years that I was bitter that I was single. I think this is for several reasons.

First, I think that people, especially women are finally catching on to the overrated “holiday” and I use that term loosely. You shouldn't have to wait until February 14th to express your love to your girlfriend, it should be a daily event. Plus, I've said this since I've been a little kid, you should be insulted if your boyfriend treats you well on only one day of the year. So this has been an improvement. You're still going to have the few that take the day TOO seriously, but its ok.

Second, I really think that the economy has had a major effect on the “holiday.” People are struggling to pay bills and are literally losing their jobs, so the concept of spending thousands on a gift is a lot for us these days.

Third, on a direct personal level, I've gone through a complete reevaluation of my life and I'm not happy where I'm at professionally and personally, more the former than the latter. I'll get into that distinction at another time, but the point is that I've been more concerned about things like how I'm going to pay rent and what I want from my career in the next five years than worry about my dating situation.

Fourth, I've been single every single Valentine's Day in my life, literally. Even back in elementary school and junior high when you would just pick someone of the opposite sex and keep it moving, I never did that. I even broke down about it at 16 years old, will never forget it.

I was coming home on the subway and I saw at least five couples my age looking happy and exchanging gifts. Women were carrying flowers and candy, men were appreciating the affection and I was there staring at them, giving them the patented mean look. It was based on envy and when I got home, I started to cry because of my feeling of lonliness. I balled my eyes out for nearly an hour.

What does all of that mean? If the same thing happens for nearly 30 years on the same date in an annual basis, why get mad at it? I'm going to be single, most likely for the rest of my life, and I've accepted that. No need for tears.

Fifth, being single on this “holiday” saves money and I take pride in my thriftiness with my finances. You can call me cheap, I don't care.

Finally, the “holiday” does focus on love within dating relationships, but it does promote the concept of love in general and who can hate on that?

Before you can find happiness in your life, you have to appreciate the happiness that others are experienceing in their lives. Instead of having jealousy for people who are in loving relationships, I should acknowledge and approve of it. Love is hard to find and not all of us will feel it in our lives.

Plus, your time will come. It may not be soon and it may not be in the form that you expect. I may not come across a loving relationship with a girlfriend or wife until I'm 80 or I may meet her tomorrow, or even worse, maybe I've already experienced it and didn't understand it. Maybe my true love will be a dog I'll purchase next year. Either way, it will happen for me.

So, I wasn't bitter on Valentine's Day and it felt good.

My thoughts on social networks

First, music to listen to: Rock Steady by Aretha Franklin

I saw a special on Soul Train on VH1 over the weekend and it featured this performance of Rock Steady. She kills it on this song and that bass line is a beast.

Came across an interesting article today in USA Today, actually it was the cover story, on the impact that internet social networking, such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. has had on our society.

Here's the link to it: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2010-02-10-1Asocialbacklash10_CV_N.htm

The article is really about how addictive these networks are for some people and the liberation that they feel when they stop using them. While some of the quotes are hyperbolic, comparing deactivating their Facebook account to “regaining their freedom,” it did make me thing about my reliance or lack of reliance on social networks and technology in general.

Concerning Facebook, I usually log on to it once a day to see what my friends are doing, check out some pictures, wish people happy birthday, etc. I'm actually on it right now. Its a good way for me to see what my non-Nashville friends are doing with their lives.

I'm not going to lie, I do look people up from time to time to see what is going on, especially if I haven't heard from them in a few months.

The danger of this is the ever-present potential for “Facebook stalking,” which really does happen, especially to women. If you're a guy and you really want to be creepy, all you need is a name and you can find out all of the information you need, including pictures if that's your thing. Thankfully, I think women have gotten wind of this and have limited profiles.

There's also the element of having friends in general. Some people treat it like its a privilege that they are accepting me as a friend, like I should be honored that they have even considered me. Slow down, bucky. We know each other and there is potential that I may have to interact with you on Facebook, nothing more.

Personally, if I know you in any form outside of the internet, I'll be your friend. If we've had face to face interaction, then we can be friends. However, if its a woman, I always try to tell them that I'm going to message them to be a friend, a forewarning. I think I've requested a friendship with a woman without warning them only once or twice. As a male, you have to be aware of this.

As far as pictures, they're fine as long as you have common sense. I'm not going to put pictures of me socially drinking or doing any other “adult” oriented activities. Its not because I'm afraid of an employer seeing them, I have a Blog, I have a relatively open book to my personal life, but I just don't think people want to see that stuff. When I was an SID for baseball at Belmont, I put up pictures of my travels and people actually liked seeing what it was like for a college baseball team on the road. That was productive. I do like seeing pics of that nature, as well as family pics, your kids, your significant other, its all good in my book.

Now some people put a little too much of themselves out there, I don't necessarily need to see you without a significant amount of clothing, if you catch my drift. However, I rarely run into that unintentionally.

I have no interest in playing any games on Facebook. I don't want to do anything related to Vampires. I don't want to be in a Mafia War.

This is when the social networking can become time consuming. When I first joined Facebook, I had a large amount of friends wanting me to play these games and download applications. I didn't like this for two reasons. First, I didn't want something bad getting on my computer. Second, I just don't have the time or interest to do it.

I have never had an interest in MySpace so I can't comment on that.

As far as Twitter, I have an account but haven't posted anything in weeks. The only good thing for me personally is that its an excellent way to follow sports. All of the writers that I follow will post their items on Twitter, so its an easy way to get to them. Also, during a contest, you get direct reactions from people, so that's a good thing.

I was going to go into other technical things like my lack of a DVR system or lack of internet on my cell phone, but its getting late and one of my New Year's lifestyle alterations was to get more sleep.

The guitar is going to happen by the end of the year and my first French lesson will be on Sunday. Still working on the Dad, its on my end.

Until then grasshoppers, good fight and good night!