More Maddening

I just entered half a dozen brackets in several different places online: Yahoo, ESPN, CSTV, etc. Including one of my usual office pools -- haven't heard from the other one back in Pennsylvania yet -- what about it Dave? I'm always good for donating my money to yun's.

So who did I pick? I haven't watched so much as half a game of basketball all season. They've pretty well ruined for me; remember when basketball was a non-contact sport? Sheesh! At least the 3-point shot is still in play. But with the clock and full body blows it's not the game it once was. But enough of my peeves.

As usual I picked the Atlantic Coast Conference teams to win at least their first round games -- not a big stretch since they mostly ended up favored. I pushed Maryland, a 4-seed, through to one Final Four, and since the committee graced North Carolina with a #1 slot I have pushed them through to St. Louis on most cards. Maryland, with D.J. Strawberry, looked good for the few minutes I watched them a couple weeks ago, with proud papa Darryl looking almost respectable in the stands.

What about upsets? I listened to John Feinstein on NPR and went with Winthrop (11) over Notre Dame (6). I hate to cheer against the Irish but you got to make a stand someplace. I also tended to disfavor SEC teams when things get close, mostly because if the upset happens it should give me a nice edge in the office.

One of my alma mater's is actually in the tourney this year: VCU; but as they are facing Duke straight off I couldn't give them a sentimental nod.

Well, let's get started. It's the only sporting event on TV that comes close to living up to its hype, even though these days I'd rather be watching women's soccer.

Kareemisms

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has held a special position for me among super-star athletes ever since I saw him play in the early '70's at The Spectrum, aka "The Tuna Can" in Philadelphia. He and his Miluakee Bucs took down the 76'ers. Jabbar further endeared himself to me when I listened to his book, A Season on the Reservation (reviewed here), where he spends a basketball season helping to coach a Native American basketball team.

Now Kareem is on the lecture circuit, most recently at Technology, Entertainment, Design 2007, dispensing wisdom like this:

-"It’s like the guy who has three Ph.Ds, one in philosophy, one in psychology, and one in sociology. He doesn’t have a job, but he can explain why."

There's more at Wired News' Epicenter blog: The Quotable Kareem.

Maddening March

It's been one of those Working Girl confluence of coincidences kind of days where I've gotten 3 referrals to the NCAA's March Madness. It feels a little like the radio playing Christmas carols before Thanksgiving (granted it is March already, so we can't stretch the analogy back to Halloween, but still). First Yahoo! sent me a notice that registration was open for their Pick 'em; next The CSTV Bracket Challenge did pretty much the same thing. (You can bet I'll be in both these, and a couple more before Thursday the 15th's midday tip off. I did win a local newspaper's office pool in 2004 thanks to a strong run by one of my ACC teams, a number 3 seed that year, Georgia Tech.)The third thing? Business 2.0's #8 on their list of "What's next" on the web in the March 2007 issue: PicksPal. I haven't checked it out in any depth yet, but it looks a bit like "Pick 'em" meets Limbomobile. I'll let you know.

Lunch 'n' Run

I broke out my Adidas and went for a run outdoors today at lunch, the first time this Spring, although there have been some other warm days. I'm not sure what the inspiration was, I'd been staying in at the Wellness Center and watching Cramer's Mad Money on CNBC or The Family Feud and ticking off a couple miles on the treadmill. Maybe is was seeing the new Nike Zoom's at Fleet Feet's grand opening this past weekend. It put me in mind of my original running shoes, a pair of Nike Waffle Trainer II's, bought new in 1979. I know, 10 years later they were a collector's item in Japan, but I had started using mine for softball by 1982, they made a pretty good outfielder's shoe, but the lateral movement and the basepaths wreaked havoc on their sides.Anyway. Back to today at lunch. It was gorgeous. I didn’t see any coyotes like my wife did during her run at dawn this morning, but I did see plenty of ducks and fish. I followed the running group out from the old shower building. I hadn’t crossed over to the neighborhood that way since last summer sometime – there are houses in between the back campus road and the lake now – you still have to cross a patch of dirt and follow an unpaved road for a couple blocks. It was also too far for me, probably 5 – 6 miles; I haven’t run that far in 6 months probably. But I slowed down the last couple miles and didn’t suffer too much…(BTW, what's up with Adidas' Yoda-ism slogan: "Impossible is nothing"?)