Only four teams remain standing following a tournament filled with minor upsets. My bracket is busted and my Final Four predictions, save one, are completely toast. But, how about that one. Purdue finds itself in the Final Four for just the third time ever and the first time since 1980, so the hope remains alive for this weekend. Purdue faces 11-seed NC State tonight, and wouldn’t losing to a double-digit seed be a way to go out after these last three years, with defending champion UCONN and Alabama in the other game. The winners face off on Monday for the national championship.
Tag / Alabama
How Sweet (16) It Is
The Sweet Sixteen kicks off today following an opening weekend with upsets galore that played havoc with my bracket, although my entire Final Four is still intact, which is better than some.
Things look pretty decent here. Auburn’s loss to Yale knocked me for a bit of a loop, but, aside from that, things are fairly clean, with three of the four teams heading into this weekend still alive.
Things are slightly worse on this side of the bracket, with just two of the four teams I picked playing this weekend. While Nebraska did me dirty, I correctly picked that Wisconsin had peaked after beating Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament two weeks ago.
It’s Time To Dance
The nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks as the NCAA tournament kicks off later today. I’m not in any pools this year, so most of these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, aside from personal pride. I do have the potential to purchase tickets for future rounds should a certain school from West Lafayette manage to get out of their own way and not embarrass themselves this weekend. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
My selections here are mostly chalk, with a couple early upsets but with the top four seeds heading to the Sweet Sixteen. Iowa State is my pick to advance to the Final Four.
Fun fact: the first men’s college basketball game I ever attended was Purdue versus Houston at Market Square Arena back in 1993. Both teams are once again top seeds in this tournament. I’m hoping Nebraska continues to pull off upsets against teams they have no business beating. In the end, though, I have Marquette going on to Phoenix.
How Sweet It Is
The Sweet Sixteen kicks off today following an opening weekend with upsets galore, completely wrecking my bracket. Half of my Final Four was wiped out, including my champion. Ugh.
This region is a wreck, with only one team remaining in the Sweet Sixteen, and that team I had losing in this round, so this one was a dud.
Things look much better on this side of the bracket, as the only Sweet Sixteen team I had that didn’t make it is IU and, honestly, I’m ok with that.
It’s Time To Go Dancing
The nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks as the NCAA tournament kicks off later today. I’m not in any pools this year, so most of these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, aside from personal pride. I do happen to have a hotel room booked for Houston for Final Four weekend just in case, so fingers crossed. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
Alabama enters the tournament under a cloud of scandal, as their star player was recently involved in the murder of a young woman. Because of that, I have second seed Arizona going to the Final Four.
Fun fact: the first college basketball game I ever attended was Purdue versus Houston at Market Square Arena back in 1993. Both teams are top seeds in this tournament. It pains me to have Indiana going as far as I do, but they were a formidable opponent this year, so I see them giving the field a run for their money. In the end, though, I have Xavier going on to Houston.
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 →
The Sweet Sixteen
We enter the Sweet 16 with upsets galore. leaving me without my champion pick, An Ohio State University, who lost to a 15 seed in the opening round. My Boilermakers also crapped out in the first round, making my trip to Indianapolis last weekend a questionable decision.
Gonzaga, the overall #1 seed, has to be even more of a favorite to win the whole thing at this point.
The Big Ten did me wrong in this region, as both Purdue and Ohio State were upset in the first round. Continue reading →
Socially Distanced Dancing
Because money is more important than the health of their so-called student athletes, the NCAA tournament returns after a year break caused by the outbreak of the corona virus. For reasons that I’m sure make some sort of sense, games this year will be Friday through Monday instead of Thursday through Sunday. As the nation’s attention is grabbed for the next few weeks, let’s take a look at my picks for this year’s tournament.
A few minor upsets, but the overall #1 seed, Gonzaga, makes it out on their way to the Final Four.
Purdue finds themselves the #4 seed, playing tomorrow night at Lucas Oil Stadium. Again, there’s a few minor upsets early in the going, but I have things chalk in the Elite Eight, where Ohio State, the #2 seed, gets through. Continue reading →
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.
Book 4 (of 52) – Melissa Explains It All
Melissa Explains It All: Tales From My Abnormally Normal Life – Melissa Joan Hart with Kristina Grish
Starting right with the subtitle of her memoir, Melissa Joan Hart, star of Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina The Teenage Witch, wants you to know that she is normal. To prove it, she offers up what might just be the worst of these celebrity “tell-alls” ever produced. Certainly the worst that I have read. Which is a shame.
Clarissa debuted on Nickelodeon during my junior year of high school. Clearly, I was not the target audience, but, during the summer, we would occassionally come across it, along with other classics like Hey Dude and Salute Your Shorts. 5 years later, Sabrina debuted, which I watched for most of its run on ABC. I guess you could say I was (am?) a Melissa Joan Hart fan, so you would think her book would be right up my alley. Sadly, she hardly touches on her experiences on these shows, glossing over most of her time on the shows and instead on who she roomed with or how she was out with her hairstylist.
The one big “scandal” that Hart was involved with was her racy Maxim cover, which wasn’t out of the ordinary for the magazine, but landed her in hot water with Archie Comics, the owner of the Sabrina property. This whole thing is covered in about 3-4 paragraphs, while an entire chapter is devoted to her husband’s love of Alabama football.
In her attempt to tell us little people how normal she actually is, Hart succeeds in showing how out of touch she truly is. She lists the 4 things that she is unable to do to this day, things normal girls learned as teenagers, like putting on makeup or making fashion choices, but she always had professionals to do them for her. She could have listed a 5th, tell a compelling story in a way that makes a reader relate to her.