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March Madness Day 2

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Blog Related
Posted on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 10:15:57 AM EST
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The ATS Picks (Bracket picks in bold) (I was 11-3-1 ATS yesterday, 1 loss in my bracket):

San Diego State +2½ (3 units), Texas +2½ over Cincinnati, South Florida +3, LIU +20 over Michigan State, Duke -12 (3 units), St Mary's CA -2 (3 units), Virginia +3½ over Florida, Missouri -21½, BEST BET - North Carolina -15 1/2 (12 units)Kansas -14 (3 units), Michigan -5½, Xavier +2½ (3 units), Florida State -6½, Memphis -3, Georgetown -4, Alabama -1½ (4 units.)

Go Gators!!!!!

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    March Madness Day 2 | 37 comments (37 topical)

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    NORFOLK STATE!!! (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:00:05 PM EST
    They just screwed my bracket, Mizzou is going home, but damn that's the kind of game that makes me love this tournament.  "It's just very beautiful to watch," as Woody Allen's character said of basketball in ANNIE HALL.

    LEHIGH!!! (5.00 / 1) (#35)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 09:59:39 PM EST
    And please wave bye-bye to Coach K and Duke, everybody. Now, that's one I would never have seen coming. Who'd have thought we'd see two No. 2 seeds out in the first round?

    And overshadowed by all that, perhaps mercifully for the feelings of some of the Wolverine faithful, the No. 13 Ohio Bobcats took down No. 4 Michigan, 65-60.

    Looks like a lot of brackets are going to be in somewhat of a shambles after tonight. And that's a good thing.

    Parent

    Going with the Aztecs over NC State, eh? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 10:25:12 AM EST
    Gonna be tough for SDSU, since they are terribly undersized this year.  But their guard play is stellar.  Should be a good game.

    And taking the LIU Blackbirds to beat that 20 point spread, very nice.

    Good luck with your Gators, even though for wagering purposes it looks like you're putting your bones on UVa.

    And I was really hoping Syracuse became the first No. 1 to lose to a 16.  Oh well, it'll happen some day.

    MWC is damn good (none / 0) (#2)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 10:31:49 AM EST
    I had New Mexico yesterday and I think SDSU is better than them (even though UNM won the conference tournament.)

    I think you get value with that bet as the ACC is overrated.

    Parent

    Except for FSU (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 10:39:45 AM EST
    I'd agree the ACC was overrated this year.  Like I said, my only worry with SDSU is they have almost no inside game at all.  

    Note, I really like FSU this season.  I have them winning it all.  So they are probably screwed.

    On an NBA note, thought I hate losing Derrick Fisher (as classy and consistent a player as you'll find), I am excited for my Lakers to get Ramon Sessions.  All the trade talk around them in the last few months with big men, all I could think was just go out and find the best damn PG you can, wherever on the planet he is.  Sessions to me, has never really had the chance to shine.  I think he'll get it at Staples.  And glad as hell we kept our big front line intact.

    Parent

    Bynum is the key (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 11:25:01 AM EST
    Funny to see the Clips falling apart though.

    Parent
    Bynum IS the key, we agree (none / 0) (#7)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 12:06:26 PM EST
    You have no idea how many Laker fans I've had to convince that Bynum is the man.  AND that he's still kind of a kid, so be patient.  As long as his body holds up, his best days are still ahead of him.  But I worry about that body, coming into the Association as a big man at 17, that's alot of mileage on a still growing body.

    As for the Clippers, I've always thought Vinny Del Negro was a terrible choice for a coach in tinseltown.  Dunleavy would be better with this group, and he sucks.  No real leaders on the Clip roster either.  But the playoffs are a new beast, and perhaps their youth will sustain them.  But I hate the Clips like I hated the Angels as a kid, when I bled Dodger blue like no other kid in the 1970s San Gabriel Valley.

    Parent

    Well, you never met me. Even my ... (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 04:42:01 PM EST
    ... leukocytes probably had a blue tint to them in the 1970s and '80s. I absolutely lived and died with the Dodgers while growing up in Pasadena, and my bedroom was a veritable treasure trove of Dodger kitch and memorabilia.

    I don't know how many nights I spent doing my homework while listening to the radio, with Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett with the play-by-play on the old KFI-AM (which was way before that station turned all right-wing looney tunes).

    Fortunately, I had a baseball-loving grandfather, who could almost always be talked by his grandson into taking him -- and any other sibling or cousin who wanted to come along -- to Chavez Ravine whenever the Boys in Blue were in town. My mother and grandmother did frown upon our going on most school nights, though if it was a big game, they'd usually look the other way or occasionally even join us at the ballpark.

    We did take in an occasional California Angels game, at least three or four a season. But Anaheim Stadium was over 40 miles from Pasadena, and as the L.A. metro traffic worsened over the years, our forays down to Orange County became infrequent, so I was never a big Angels fan. Dodger Stadium was only 20 minutes from home, and that was my first love.

    Parent

    I still remember... (none / 0) (#13)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 04:59:46 PM EST
    ...the "H. Salt Fish & Chips" Dodger Scoreboard, which was nothing more than a fifteen second commercial, featuring either a smiling or frowning fish, depending on a win or loss.

    First Series when I was old enough to be a fan was in '74, against those powerhouse A's.  Taste of things to come.  Joe Ferguson played in the outfield one game and threw out Campanaris at home plate on an attempted tagup, which my best buddy and I re-enacted over and over that summer.

    Walter Alston's slumping and quiet presence gave way to Lasorda's I-bleed-Blue bluster, and I couldn't have dug it more.

    I got lucky and went to a couple of those World Series Games against the Yankees in '77 and '78.  First year, we found out our tickets were counterfeit, but they let us stay and stand/walk around.  Second year, we were late, parking lot was fully and we had to park way up in a dirt lot on a hill, trudging down a steep trail with every other latecomer, everyone in a jolly mood, anxious to get into the stadium that was aglow and alive so close. That game we sat in the right field pavilion, toward center, two rows in front of the USC marching band, who had performed the anthem.  I think I still have impaired hearing from that night, but I loved it.

    In my last year in little league, having suffered a power outage, I switched batting stances from a Jim Rice to a Davey Lopes and proceeded to homer in each of the last five games of the year.  To this day, Lopes is my favorite Dodger from back then.  Because his stance salvaged my LL career AND because his brother repped one of those companies that came to school to get you to sell magazine subscriptions door to door for prizes -- and, of course, to make money for someone else.  We were just little slaves with all that stuff, hoping to win a blacklight poster or a lava lamp or, dream of dreams, a new Schwinn Stingray bike.  Knowing the guy in front of us that assembly was Davey's brother, shoot, I was entranced by his pitch, and I sold my butt off.  But I couldn't get that bike.  Some kid whose dad worked at the local paper got literally everyone in his company to buy a subscription to win the bike for his kid.  I pounded pavement for a lava lamp.  It was cool though.

    And in 1981, that crappy strike year, when we finally beat the Yankees in the series, with that bizarro threeway MVP, was just enough vindication to last until Gibson's Roy Hobbs shot in 1988, which was really the swan song of my serious Dodger fandom.  Funny though, the principal of my school got in trouble for putting some of the school's activities fund money on the Dodgers that year against the Expos in the NLCS.  I remember clearly, as we watched the game in the Athletic Director's office with him and some other jocks, when Rick Monday hit that homer that catapulted us into the Series, no one was leaping for joy more than our principal, who was a guy in his sixties.  I actually remember us telling him to calm down, he was going to have a heart attack.  Only later, when he was fired, did we find out why he was that ecstatic.  He has some serious school dough on the game.

    Sick.

    Who remembers Vic Davalillo?

    Parent

    That's terrible! (none / 0) (#17)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 05:47:48 PM EST
    Dadler: "Funny though, the principal of my school got in trouble for putting some of the school's activities fund money on the Dodgers that year against the Expos in the NLCS."

    It conjured up memories of a former elementary school chum's mother when I was playing baseball in high school. She used to work as an auditor for the Pasadena school district, and apparently for several years had been betting on the ponies at Santa Anita with monies that were supposed to go toward the purchase of the school's liability insurance. And because she was an auditor, she was clever enough to hide the purloined funds from oversight for quite a while.

    For some reason, school district officials weren't very understanding and sympathetic when they finally found out about it.

    She and your school principal should've gotten together. No doubt, they'd have truly deserved each other.

    Parent

    No doubt (none / 0) (#25)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:17:55 PM EST
    A regular Bunnie and Claude.

    BTW, about the Dodger stuff and kitsch, do you remember Scully pitching the "Danny Goodman Special" during broadcasts?  You'd get, say, a pennant, a keychain, and four photos with printed autographs, all for a dollar fifty or some low price.  

    And, of course, to this day...Farmer John.  Easternmost in quality, westernmost in flavor.

    Parent

    Pennants, robo-graphed photos, etc. (none / 0) (#32)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:53:48 PM EST
    If it was Dodger blue, you name it, I had it. My proudest possession was the Steve Garvey-autographed photo and baseball. They were the real things. I had gotten him to autograph them personally.

    And I had the biggest man-crush on Garvey in the '70s. I thought he was absolutely the coolest of the cool, and he was my role model as a ball player. Only later did we learn that he won 1988 "Stud of the Year" honors by fathering two children out of wedlock with two of the three different women he was romancing at the same time.

    Parent

    Garvey (none / 0) (#33)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 07:28:17 PM EST
    I remember he and Cyndy appearing on a game show, Gambit I think it was, in the mid 70's.  Garvey was the man back then, no doubt, hitting homers and for average, digging balls out of the dirt, and stretching like he did for a close play at first, sometimes into the splits.  

    Regular sperm donor for a few years there, tho, as you remind me.

    Parent

    Helen Dell on the organ... (none / 0) (#24)
    by shoephone on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:16:09 PM EST
    Those were the days. Vin Scully, Jimmy Dean's Sausage, Dodger Dogs, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Dusty Baker...and Helen Dell on the organ!

    Parent
    Jimmy Dean??? (5.00 / 1) (#26)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:18:40 PM EST
    Heresy!  Farmer John, baby.  Easternmost in quality, westernmost in flavor.

    Parent
    Oh my, you're right! (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by shoephone on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:27:54 PM EST
    Chalk it up to temporary brain damage due to the stress of discovering my phone company never instituted one of the services I signed up for over six months ago...

    Since you corrected me, I can actually hear Vinny Scully's voice in my head doing that promo for Farmer John's!

    My first attendance at Dodger Stadium was the 1965 World Series...when people still dressed up to go to the baseball games. Men in suits and hats, women all gussied up, and little shoephone in her blue and white party dress and shiny black patent leather party shoes...

    Parent

    One of my greatest baseball memories... (none / 0) (#31)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:50:37 PM EST
    ...came in 1990 or 91, when I worked as a P.A. for a couple of Padre games at Jack Murphy against the Pirates -- they of the young killer B's, a sinewy and lean Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla.  Had a field pass all weekend, it was heaven.  Jon Miller was doing the Sunday Night Baseball game with Joe Morgan, and when I drove Miller from his hotel to the stadium that afternoon, he graced me with his crazy-good impersonation of Scully.  He would do for Joe Morgan during commercial breaks and it drove little Joe crazy.  

    Parent
    But did you ever see (none / 0) (#14)
    by CoralGables on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 05:10:02 PM EST
    Nolan pitch in Anaheim? I saw the Angels play the KC Royals with the late Paul Splittorff on the mound against Ryan. Nolan pitched a complete game. It was the same month the Angels Lyman Bostock was killed. Don Baylor hit a grand slam.

    Funny thing, I can't remember what I had for lunch today.

    Parent

    I saw Nolan Ryan pitch in one game. (none / 0) (#15)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 05:29:00 PM EST
    It was in July 1974. He threw a complete game against the Oakland A's, but lost 5-3. Not exactly his best stuff that night; he gave up 3 runs in the top of the 8th, as the Halos blew a 3-2 lead.

    And speaking of lunchtime, I've got to go to Murphy's and meet someone in 15 minutes.

    Parent

    went to a few Angels games (none / 0) (#16)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 05:45:58 PM EST
    And if the Dodgers weren't playing and the Angels were, then I'd tune in to listen to Dick Enberg and Don Drysdale with the call on the radio.

    Went to a double-header with my best friend on his birthday, also against KC, when big John Mayberry was their first baseman.  Huge guy, even from the second deck.  We thought it would be cool doing a twin bill, but by the end of the first game, we could hardly imagine sitting through another, so we wandered the stadium for most of game two.

    In '82, I think it was, another friend got me a ticket to one of the ALCS games against the Brewers.  I think it was the year new Angel Reggie Jackson tied for the league lead with 39 HRs.  All I remember about that game really was a brawl that broke out, started by a pair of drunken idiots who looked like twins.  Watched then entire thing from the level just above, about ten guys ended up beating the crap out of each other.  Good times.

    Oh, and I did buy a cheap nosebleed ticket (this was back when the stadium was still enclosed for the football Rams) for Jim Abbot's major league debut.  That was something to see, it really was.  

    Parent

    Abbott didn't last long that game, as I recall (none / 0) (#18)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 05:49:05 PM EST
    But it was a huge crowd for a baseball game, and just watching him compete for a few innings was inspiring as hell.

    Parent
    I was playing ball in college ... (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:09:43 PM EST
    ... when Jim Abbott played for the University of Michigan. I remember thinking how it was preposterous, that a one-handed baseball player just had to be some kind of stunt. Then I saw him pitch, and he was the real deal. He led the Wolverines to several Big Ten titles.

    On the surface, if you didn't know his story, you'd say that Abbott's overall MLB won-loss record was not that impressive. But honestly, the very fact that he was even playing at that level is a staggeringly monumental achievement for a physically-challenged athlete that's not likely to be replicated in our lifetimes. He even pitched a no-hitter while with the Yankees, if I remember correctly.  

    Parent

    Boxscore (none / 0) (#27)
    by CoralGables on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:18:47 PM EST
    Abbott No Hitter

    Parent
    Abbott's acheivment is STILL underrated IMO (none / 0) (#28)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:27:20 PM EST
    With the required use of a mitt, it really is astounding he developed that additional dextrous skill required for him to make it to the highest level.  Astounding even when I ponder it today.  There were 60,000 plus people in Anaheim Stadium that day, and the place was electric with pure inspiration and awe, no matter his departure after only 4 2/3 innings.

    Parent
    Losing Billups KILLED the Clips (none / 0) (#8)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 12:07:35 PM EST
    That's really to the heart of the matter.

    Parent
    Thanks for the clarification! (none / 0) (#4)
    by oculus on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 11:16:59 AM EST
    Good luck with your Gators, even though for wagering purposes it looks like you're putting your bones on UVa.



    Parent
    Glad to be of assistance n?t (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 12:40:26 PM EST


    Parent
    How many folks' brackets took a hit (none / 0) (#6)
    by Farmboy on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 11:33:22 AM EST
    after Iowa State knocked off UConn?

    Not mine! (none / 0) (#9)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 12:20:14 PM EST
    The only one I've missed so far was the Indiana v. New Mexico State game.  

    /hates Indiana

    Parent

    Syracuse got some big breaks yesterday. (none / 0) (#11)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 04:13:52 PM EST
    The NCAA playoffs clearly deserve better officials than the crew that worked the Orangemen's game with UNC-Asheville yesterday.

    The officiating was absolutely atrocious at three critical junctures yesterday, and the two botched calls and one unforgivable non-call all favored the Orange -- particularly that out-of-bounds call with 38 seconds left in the game.

    The Bulldogs were in the midst of a final comeback, and they would have the ball with a chance to tie the game or even take the lead. Instead, Syracuse was inexplicably awarded the ball and allowed to run out the clock, as the Bulldogs were forced to foul send the Orange to the line.

    Referees aren't supposed to become the difference in the outcome of a game, and these guys were, to the tune of at least seven points in favor of Syracuse. UNC-Asheville fans have every right to be P.O.'ed.

    UPSET: Norfolk State 86, Misouri 84. (none / 0) (#19)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 05:57:37 PM EST
    C'mon, admit it. That's what most everyone's been waiting and watching for -- the first really big jaw-dropper.

    Further, this is the 15th-seed Spartans' first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. What a debut!

    To those of you who had the No. 2 seeded Tigers in in the pool or your bracket, you have my not-very-sincere condolences.

    You beat me to the keyboard, Donald ;-) (none / 0) (#21)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:00:25 PM EST


    Parent
    Is that the type outcome (none / 0) (#23)
    by CoralGables on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:11:19 PM EST
    that has the Gators thinking they just caught a break into the Sweet 16 on Sunday? Or is it more like, oh god who is Norfolk State, we didn't prepare for this team at all?

    Parent
    I'm a Mizzou gal but you are right - it is games (none / 0) (#30)
    by mogal on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 06:33:51 PM EST
    this one that make the tournament fun. Now if we could just bring Al McGuire back to call the games.  He understood the JOY of the game and the young men who played the game.

    Parent
    Marv Alpert. Had to google as the name (none / 0) (#34)
    by oculus on Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 09:27:46 PM EST
    soundedname sounded familiar. This man could.be a GOP Congresd person.

    Waiting for Donizetti

    He has the trademark (none / 0) (#36)
    by MKS on Sat Mar 17, 2012 at 12:50:29 AM EST
    of exclaiming "yes!" when a big shot, typically a long jumper, goes in......

    Parent
    Marv's one of the best.... (none / 0) (#37)
    by kdog on Sat Mar 17, 2012 at 07:24:41 AM EST
    and for a potential 3-point play the trademark..."Yesss! It Countsss! AND THE FOUL!!!"

    I miss him doing play by play with Walt "Clyde" Frazier for the Knicks every night...a dream tandem.  Clyde's a color man poet.

    Jimmy Dolan, in his infinite ineptitiude, fired Marv in 2004 for being too critical of the Knicks on air.  Objectivity is forboden at MSG Network, arse-kissers only.

    Parent

    March Madness Day 2 | 37 comments (37 topical)

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