Tag / Michigan State

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It’s Dancing Time

The NCAA tournament returns in full force after a year break in 2020 and a bubble tournament centered in Indianapolis in 2021 due to the pandemic.  I’m not in any pools this year, so these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, aside from personal pride.  So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.

Gonzaga is the overall #1 and my pick to come out of this region and moving on to the Final Four.  I did throw the occasional upset in the earlier rounds, so we’ll see how those pay off.

A bit of an upset here, as I have #3 Tennessee advancing. Continue reading →

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2021 Final Standings

The 2021 college football season, at least the regular season, has come to an end, after Purdue beat the dreaded Hoosiers last weekend to notch their first 8 win season since 2006.  After going 5 seasons without a football game, I attended 3 (almost 4) games this year, my highest total of all time.  I also managed to travel to two different venues, bringing my lifetime total up to 5.

2021 Team Records
TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Purdue Boilermakers 3 0 1.000
Northwestern Wildcats 0 1 0.000
Michigan State Spartans 0 1 0.000
Illinois Fighting Illini 0 1 0.000
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Fitbit VII – Week 41

Another disappointing week, helped along by trip to a football game.  Things got off to a bad start on Sunday, as I finished with 3100 steps.  Monday was slightly better, as I jumped up to 4100 steps.  Tuesday fell off quite a bit, coming just 18 steps away from 2600.  Wednesday, as usual, was the worst day of the week, as I failed to even get to 2000 steps, ending with 1900.  Thursday saw a bounce back, finishing 3 steps short of 3700 thanks in part to a team lunch that sent me out in to the world.  Friday was even better, thanks to a day off, finishing only 7 steps shy of 4600.  Saturday was the big day of the week, as a trip down to West Lafayette to see Danny and Purdue upset Michigan State put me over 10,600 steps.

Total steps: 30,754

Daily average: 4393.4

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Doomsday Scenario

The Big Ten announced yesterday it was postponing its fall sports season, including football, because of concerns about competing during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It becomes the first Power Five conference to postpone and follows the MAC, who postponed their season last week, and the Mountain West conference, as well as Massachusetts and Connecticut, both football independents, who canceled their falls seasons this week.

Illinois recently announced it had 23 athletes, including 18 football players, test positive since June.  Northwestern paused workouts earlier this month after one player tested positive and 37 players were quarantined, until it was determined the test was a false positive.  Michigan State quarantined its entire team after 16 players tested positive, and Rutgers halted workouts after players reportedly contracted COVID-19 while attending a party, raising the team’s positive cases to 28.  A dozen Big Ten football players had previously opted out, including Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons and Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore.

The conference hopes to move the fall sports to the spring, assuming the pandemic lightens up and allows for it.

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16 Left Standing

We enter the Sweet 16 without the major upsets of last year, but also without the Cinderella team for the nation to rally around.  My Boilermakers are still alive, thanks to their thrashing of defending champion Villanova last weekend, which makes me cautiously optimistic about their chances this weekend.

Things look pretty good in the East, with only one of my Sweet Sixteen picks already out of the running.

Things aren’t looking so hot here, where I only have 2 picks still alive and none of them picked to pass through to the Elite 8.  On the plus side, this may mean an easier road to the Final Four for the old alma mater.

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Time To Go Dancing

It’s that time of year again, as the nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks. I’m down to just one pool this year; one at my mom’s work.  Without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.

I’m not seeing much in the way of upsets here, with overall #1 seed Duke my pick to make it to the Final Four.

Purdue finds themselves the #3 seed, playing the first weekend in Hartford.  Given Virginia’s historic poor showing last year, I don’t see them doing much with the #1 seed, so I expect quite a few upsets in this region.

Continue reading →

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Dancing Days Are Here Again

It’s that time of year again, as the nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks. I’m down to just two pools this year; one at my mom’s work, and one run by a friend, as the work pool died due to lack of interest.  If it weren’t for my upcoming trip to Las Vegas, I’d likely be heading to Detroit this weekend to cheer on the Boilermakers.

A couple of upsets make up my first bracket, with the #2 seed, the Bearcats of Cincinnati, being my pick to advance to the Final Four.

After some late season stumbles, Purdue winds up as the #2 seed.  Villanova is the early favorite to win the whole thing, and, using my head instead of my heart, I’m picking them to come out of the East.

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Dancing Days

It’s that time of year again, as the nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks. I’m down to just two pools this yearone at my mom’s work, and one run by a friend, as the work pool died due to lack of interest.  I will be in Milwaukee tonight to watch the Purdue Boilermakers make their third straight tournament appearance, hopefully advancing past this first weekend.

Last year’s champion, Villanova, gets the overall #1 seed and are my pick to advance to the Final Four.

Purdue ends up as the 4 seed in the Midwest, and I have them going to the Elite Eight, before falling to Oregon.  I have tickets to the first two games, so I hope they can at least win those 2.

Continue reading →

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Tournament Time

It’s that time of year again, as the nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks. I’m in three different pools again this year, one at work, one at my mom’s work, and one run by a friend.  The Purdue Boilermakers return to the tournament for the second straight year, though they will likely not have an easy go of it.

2016SouthThe South bracket has the overall #1 seed in Kansas, who is also my pick to win the whole shebang.

2016EastThe Big 10 is well represented in the East region, with both IU and Wisconsin picked to make it to the Sweet Sixteen.

 

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