Below are the 11 most recent journal entries recorded in ncaadivision1bb's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
2:20 am	What's on TV? Monday January 29, 2007 *** all times pacific; add +3 for eastern; adjust for other time zones *** *** predictions are not the most likely outcomes *** *** predictions attempt to catch the randomness of each game *** *** FSN/FoxCollegeSports games may be regionally aligned. YMMV *** *** by the law of averages, I am bound to have some incorrect listings *** *** please double-check with your local listings *** LIVE GAMES! 4pm, Pitt at Nova on ESPN. Big Monday starts with a Big East high-stakes game. Prediction: Pitt gets a road win. Game of the Day! 4pm, Central Conn at Quinipiac, regional-FSN/FoxCollegeSports 5pm, 3am, Rider at St Peters, regional-FSN/FoxCollegeSports 6pm, Kansas at Nebraska on ESPN. A chance for the Bill Self All Stars to show everyone that they can win comfortably on the road against a middle of the ...road team. Perhaps if they can do that Bill Self won't have to get upset when asked questions about how his team is doing. Prediction: Kansas 9pm, San Diego at Gonzaga, on ESPN2. The Zags rarely play at home anymore, but I predict a comfortable 20 point win. It appears that ESPN is going into SuperBowlWeek mode, so no College Gamenights CLASSIC games and REPEATS 7am SF at Gonzaga, FoxCollegeSports 9am UCF at UTEP, CSTV 11am, from 1998, Pitt at Nova, on ESPN-Classic, in anticipation of the Big Monday game later today 11am Utah at San Diego State, CSTV 1pm, 5am, UCLA at Stanford, FoxCollegeSports, Repeat of the Day! 130pm, MSG's College Basketball Weekly, 30-minute preview show on FoxCollegeSports, covering the NY/NJ area 2pm Pepperdine at StMary's, CSN 3pm, 3am, Oregon State at Washington, FoxCollegeSports 5p UCLA at USC, FoxCollegeSports 830pm, USC at Cal, CSN 11pm, 5am, Boston College at Duke, FoxCollegeSports 1am, from 1999 USC at Oregon, FoxCollegeSports (I think) 3am, Coastal Carolina at Winthrop, FoxCollegeSports 7am (Tuesday), 1-hour edit of the 1993 Indiana vs Penn State game on ESPN-Classic 11am (Tuesday), 2-hour edit of the 1998 Illinois at Michigan State on ESPN-Classic, in anticipation of their game later on Tuesday. If you find these listings useful, you can encourage this blog to continue posting them by making your Amazon.com purchases via the affiliate link here or the Amazon logos in the blog. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006
1:13 am	Tweety Blew It Watching MSNBC Tweety is interviewing Edwards ... Tweety Blew It Watching MSNBC Tweety is interviewing Edwards. Edwards is doing very well demonstrating that he knows the name of the head of government (or state) of Canada, Mexico, Iraq, Germany and Italy and, much more important, that UCLA is second in the ap college basketball poll (he mblew Mbeki too and didn't know Harper's first name or party). Tweety however is embarrassing himself. He brought up Bush's failure to name heads of government in 2000 but said (I am quoting from memory) "they were some pretty obscure countries, Pakistan, Cecenia, South Korea ... I forget the other one [Taiwan ndrjw]. Bush only got one, but that wasn't hard. Guessing Lee is president of South Korea you don't risk much." OOOOOOOOOOOOOPS Tweety risked more than he thought. Lee is[n't update] (and [but] was then) the president of Taiwan. The president of South Korea (then and now) is named Roh. Lee is a rare name in Korea. When in doubt about Korea guess Kim, not Lee, Kim. update: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSSSS I blew it too. Lee was president of Taiwan but has long since been replace by Chen Shui-Bian who has been elected then re-elected in spite of being almost assassinated as he began to campaign for re-election. update II: Elisabeth Edwards came on stage with John. Matthews asked Sen Edwards about Kerry's joke about not studying and going to Iraq. J Edwards said "he made a mistek" E Edwards broke in to criticize. Matthews asked her IIRC "when he comes home do you bite his balls off like that ?" She pointed out that her children were watching. Tweety asked "what happened to the Stepford wives". the booooo in North Carolina (Chapel Hill yes but still in North Carolina) was very reassuring. Why is that man on TV ? (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006
11:43 am	College Football Picks: Week 10 Since there's a pretty big game tomorrow night (as in, the biggest game so far of the season), and because I have to start some College Basketball previews soon, my football picks are a day early here. (12) Arkansas @ South Carolina I picked the Gamecocks to upset Tennesse last week, but they came up just short. Fool me once, shame on you. This week, South Carolina has a chance to beat a ranked team in the 12th ranked Razorbacks. The same Razorbacks whose only loss came that opening night against USC. Things have changed since then. Darren McFadden and Felix Jones have formed a lethal backfield combo, Mitch Mustain is getting comfortable, and the defense has been very good. I think Arkansas is too good, and too talented at RB to fall to South Carolina. ARKANSAS 21-13. (16) Boston College @ (22) Wake Forest Don't look now, but both of these teams are 7-1. Um yeah, the ACC isn't that good this year I don't think. Not to trivialize what these teams have done, because there have been some nice victories. Boston College has notched wins over Clemson, Virginia Tech, and FSU so far this year while Wake Forest has, well, Wake Forest hasn't really beaten anybody yet. I'll believe it when I see it. BOSTON COLLEGE 27-20. (18) Oklahoma @ (21) Texas A&M Tough game here. I picked against the Sooners last week, and they beat Missouri relatively easily. The Aggies are 8-1, but they end their season with games against Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas. They're tough at home, but I'm not picking against Bob Stoops and that Sooner defense two straight weeks. OKLAHOMA 19-16. (13) LSU @ (8) Tennessee I know Tennessee has a good record and they've beaten some good opponents, but I'm still having a hard time trusting them. They needed 4th quarter comebacks to beat Alabama and South Carolina in the past couple weeks, and other close calls throughout the year. But I think the luck runs out this week. LSU is very talented, very good defensively, and the offense has played better. Maybe I'll finally be able to believe in the Vols if they win this game, but I'm going with LSU. LSU 17-16. (3) West Virginia @ (5) Louisville The game of the year so far, at least as far as its importance. With both teams undefeated, the winner could be looking at controlling their own destiny to make it to the BCS Title Game. When I first prognosticated on this game, I picked Louisville. But now Michael Bush is hurt. They've done a solid job replacing him as best they can, but he just added a whole different dimension to the offense... when they were by the goal-line it was just a given they were going to score a TD. They don't have that now. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers just continue to roll along. Pat White hasn't been great throwing the ball, but with the 1-2 running combo of White and Steve Slaton, he won't have to be. WEST VIRGINIA 34-31. Last Week: 3-2 Season: 31-14 (Comment on this)
Friday, September 29th, 2006
7:15 am	They Know Jack House Report Details 485 Contacts Between Abramoff Team and White House Officials: A 95-page report, which was released by the House Government Reform Committee on Thursday evening, includes an analysis of more than 14,000 pages of documents provided to the panel by Abramoff's former lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig. …In total, the committee was able to document 485 contacts between White House officials and Abramoff and his lobbying team at the firm Greenberg Traurig from January 2001 to March 2004, with 82 of those contacts occurring in Rove¹s office, including 10 with Rove personally. The panel also said that Abramoff billed his clients nearly $25,000 for meals and drinks with White House officials during that period.Bear in mind, Abramoff is a liar free of the burden of ethics, who may very well have billed his clients for meetings with White House officials that never took place in reality, in order to charge higher fees by exaggerating his influence. So it’s very unlikely that the White House was as accommodating as “485 contacts between Abramoff team and White House officials” sounds. Just because Abramoff emailed someone at the White House doesn’t mean they responded every time—and probably didn’t. Abramoff is nothing if not a fantasist. But the report does note some things that appear certain: During the period examined by the committee, Bush administration officials repeatedly intervened on behalf of Abramoff’s clients, including helping a Mississippi Indian tribe obtain $16 million in federal funds for a jail the tribe wanted to build. Abramoff was able to block the nomination of one Interior Department official using Christian conservative Ralph Reed as a go-between with Rove, according to e-mails between Abramoff and Reed. …The committee was able to uncover numerous times when Abramoff and his associates attended social events with senior White House aides using tickets or passes supplied by Abramoff. For instance, Abramoff attended an NCAA Tournament college basketball game with Rove in March 2002. Afterward, Abramoff told an associate that Rove was “a great guy” who told him “anytime we need something, just let him know” via Rove’s assistant, Susan Ralston. Ralston worked for Abramoff before moving over to the White House.Basically, the relationship between Abramoff and the White House appears to be not as awesome as Abramoff would have one believe, and more troublesome than the White House would have one believe. And I highly doubt that anything will come of all this, unless it’s more trouble for Abramoff alone, because the GOP is not interested in pursuing it. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
6:11 pm	Anonymous no more I know you are all wondering if it was Woodward or Bernstein who blew the lid off the Texas A&M non-conference misranking in a recent post on the SI college basketball blog. I can tell you that in fact it was me. I had to post anonymously b/c I don't want people who read the SI college hoops blog to be one click away from getting to this blog. Especially when I pointed out 3 teams w/ lower rankings than A&M but excluded the 4th (Penn State) b/c obviously I'm not going to expose the beloved Nittany Lions. But since you're here already I figured you should know that I spend my day looking at RPI rankings from previous college basketball seasons. I'm glad I could share that w/ you. (Comment on this)
Friday, August 18th, 2006
11:18 am	Marquette Basketball: The Benchmark for Marketing A Program Here's an article I never thought I'd see . . . Marquette being recognized as the benchmark for how to market a college basketball program. This article validates what many of us have noticed in the last decade -- MU is not only committed to big-time basketball, they are equally committed to providing a sense of excitement, pride, and owndership in the program to its key constituencies. Bravo, MU. Here's the article by Lauren Reynolds at ESPN.COM, and a key excerpt. Without a population in the millions to draw from (like other multi-sport cities), there are often more sporting options than fans. Attracting a consistent crowd for Marquette basketball games at the Bradley Center has been a lesson in creativity for the athletic department. (Comment on this)
Friday, August 11th, 2006
10:31 am	Being Stereotyped Feels So Wrong I found this article plastered all over our college notice boards. It was regarding the inter-college basketball finals match: "Perlawanan bola keranjang ini menyaksikan majoriti pemain bola keranjang adalah berbangsa cina. Ini mungkin disebabkan faktor ketinggian serta pendedahan dari kecil terhadap sukan ini. Perlawanan berakhir dengan menyaksikan kontinjen Kolej 10 muncul sebagai juara." And that was the entire article. Unlike the other reports concerning the inter-college match finals for football, futsal, hockey, badminton, the basketball finals match write up had no rosters, no highlights and no play by play action. Just one very disturbing stereotypical statement on the chinese community. Taller? Yao Ming was a fluke for crying out loud! Anyway, I'm looking on the bright side. After all, we (chinese) are known as the new african-american of basketball in Malaysia. (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
5:40 pm	College basketball playoff This is my idea for a new college basketball playoff system. There has been a lot of talk recently about whether the NCAA should expand their national tournament to 128 teams instead of keeping it at 65. And I agree with some of the arguments on both sides. Someone in support of the 128 team tournament would argue that for almost all small and mid major conference teams, the regular season is absolutely worthless. Since their only real hope of getting into the national tournament is by winning their conference tourney, then their regular season is basically a warmup for that one chance. Also, the regular season for the best teams in the major conferences are also "essentially" worthless because all they are fighting for are seeds in the tourney. Its not like they are fighting to keep their season alive. So, since you have all these teams whose regular seasons are essentially worthless and the tourney is already somewhat watered down with so many average teams, then you may as well just make the tournament even larger and add a whole nother round of excitement. Now someone in support of keeping the 65 team tournament would say the product is already watered down enough and is already exciting enough, so why bother changing it? Its already one of the most exciting sporting events of the year and youd be stupid to change it. And I agree somewhat with both arguments. If youve read my piece on the college football playoff, youd know I dont like the idea of meaningless regular seasons. But on the otherhand, I do love March Madness and wouldnt want to change it. And while listening to both arguments recently, I came up with an idea that would include the best of both worlds. Now its not totally refined and may need some tweaking but I think the general idea is a good one. As of right now, there are 31 conferences in college basketball. I think each conference should be guaranteed two spots in the national tourney. The first spot should go to the regular season conference champion. And the second spot should go to the conference tournament champion. That would give you a total of 62 entries which would leave 2 spots for atlarge teams. Now I could be swayed into saying that for some of the minor conferences, the regular season champion and the conference champion would play for just one spot in the tourney. And I could be swayed into saying that some of the minor conferences should be grouped together as to not give as many spots to bad teams. And I could be swayed into saying that maybe the Big East should be rewarded with an extra bid or the divisions should be thought of separately because their conference has so many teams. There would need to be some tweaking. But hear me out... Back in the day, the only way to make the national tourney was to win your conference tourney. Now, with all the atlarge bids, the major conference tournaments are essentially worthless because the teams that win are probably good enough to have qualified for the national tournament already. Back in the 70's, I guarantee you there were a lot of people who could tell you which schools won the previous 5 ACC tournaments. Now, there isnt a sole on the planet who could. It just doesnt matter. With my plan, these conference tournaments would once again be unbelievable, do or die games with seasons riding on the line. Now with this plan, the regular season also becomes more important. Late in the college basketball season, we know who the top teams are and which of them are making the tournament. So the only games of real importance are the teams battling for 500 in the major conferences hoping to secure a bid. Again, like in football, i really dont care about Indiana with an 8-6 conference record playing Purdue with a 7-7 conference record battling for one of the bubble spots. I just dont care. I want to see 13-2 Duke playing 14-1 North Carolina with the winner earning a spot in the tournament. Now you could argue that the games for Indiana and Purdue now become meaningless but in my mind, they still have to keep playing well because they still have a shot of winning their conference tourney. And they still want to get a better seed for their conference tourney. Also lets say the same school wins the regular season and conference tournament championship. You could have the two second place teams play for the second atlarge bid. Again, youd have another do or die, season on the line game which would make it even more exciting. Now you could argue that this system makes the early nonconference games meaningless. Ive got two responses about that. First, after a bit of tweaking there would probably be more than two atlarge bids and for those schools, the strength and win-loss record against the nonconference schools would come in to play. Also, in the current system, if you think about it, the nonconference schedule really isnt that important anyways. How many bubble teams each year get left out because of a weak schedule? Not very many... three, four, five? Plus, most schools have four or five games against good teams and the rest are cupcakes. So the record against nonconference opponents are usually pretty close for teams of similar talent. Now you could argue that if you awarded each conference two spots, youd have more lousy teams in the final tournament. But the beauty of the ncaa tournament is all the upsets on the first weekend, and then watching the cream rise to the top from the sweet sixteen on. Well in college basketball, you have 7 major conferences(ACC, Big East, Big10, Big12, C-USA, Pac10, and SEC). Then you have a group of conferences that almost yearly produce a couple of really good teams(Mountain West, A10, MAC, and Missouri Valley). So thats 11 conferences each most likely producing 22 really good teams. Couple that with at least two atlarge bids, there will be plenty of great teams to fill out the sweet 16 with possibly an upset or two along the way. So basically in my system you would have a series of tournaments throughout the year. The conference regular season would be a round robin tournament with the winner getting an automatic bid. The conference tournaments would produce an automatic bid. Possibly, if you want to tweak some of the smaller conferences and if the major conferences that have the same school win the regular season and conference tournament titles, then you would have what is essentially a play in game getting an automatic bid. And then youd have the 64 team tournament itself. I think the excitement at the end of the year would be just the same but then youd have more excitement throughout the regular season as well. (Comment on this)
Monday, July 31st, 2006
9:37 pm	T-Minus 5 Days... So, I've chatted with Bolder and Benny about this, but I still can't seem to calm my stupid ass down. In that vein, I'm going to unload on you. Enjoy. I'm racing in my first Olympic Saturday. Did you know that? Maybe. But probably not. I haven't talked too much about in the last few week's because I've been swamped at work and then traveling to Seattle. I knew it was coming up, but this weekend it hit me. Holy shit. I have a race Saturday. An Olympic race. My first. Holy shit, Nytro. What have you gone and gotten yourself into????????????? Here's the thing... my last race - a sprint in April - was slightly less than a complete failure and that's the memory I've been carrying around with me for the last three or so months. I am in better shape physically and mentally since then, and if I were to be competing in a sprint this week, it would be no big deal. And, I know that after my first Oly, the next two won't be as big of a deal to me either. I know this. But I can't convince my inner-Nytro to shut the hell up. "You know, you are so completely weak on the run. It doesn't matter if you have a great swim and a great bike... remember how you felt on the sprint in April? When all of those people passed you on the run? Yea... get ready to feel like that again because you're toast. Why did you sign up for this?" Or: "You know your calf is going to seize up on you, right? You'll probably DNF because of the stupid thing. How would that look to your family and friends?" Or: "You know what's gonna happen, right? Two words: Flat. Tire. I know you and Benny have gone over this before, but you know when it comes right down to it you'll be too frustrated to actually change the tire and will instead sit on the side of the road and bawl." Yea... those are just a few of the thoughts running around my head right now. I know that some of you are thinking: "Good God, Nytro. It's just an Olympic race. Who cares how you finish?" I know it's just an Olympic. And I know that it's not just an Olympic. I also know that not only do I want to do well, I want to know that I've done well. I want to put my best game out there... something I don't know that I've done since college basketball. I want to feel that competitive spirit with myself and with the other athletes. At the same time, I'm terribly afraid of caring too much and being disappointed. Okay. It's out there. This was not posted to elicit some kind of "Nytro, you're even more awesome than Angelina Jolie... you'll do great!" No. This was more just for me to exorcise my demons. Keep in mind that before my very first sprint I was the exact same way... and I can guarantee that I won't be sleeping Friday night. In fact, anyone who is up for a late-night chat session Friday, let me know. I'll be up all night. (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
4:33 pm	A Town in Turmoil The Colomb-Davis saga began in 1981 when James Colomb signed up for an FHA mortgage on a brick three-bedroom home on the south end of Church Point, Louisiana. James was vaguely aware that the home was located in an all-white neighborhood, but the television news led him to believe that racial attitudes in America had shifted radically in recent years. In one sense James was right. The Federal Housing Administration’s 1939 Underwriting Manual cited the threat of "inharmonious racial groups" and stipulated that "if a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes." But the civil rights movement of the 1960s marked a profound shift in philosophy. Four years before the Colombs purchased their home on the south end of Church Point the Community Reinvestment Act mandated that lending institutions actively encourage applications from low-income clients. If James and Ann Colomb believed a new day of racial harmony was dawning in Church Point, Louisiana they were tragically wrong. In 1981 the sleepy little town was perfectly and (from the white perspective) happily segregated. The black population (roughly 30% of Acadia Parish) had its own Catholic Church, its own park, its own neighborhood—it even had its own Mardi Gras parade. Who could ask for anything more? Black residents saw things a bit differently. Compared to the shacks in north Church Point, the Colomb’s three-bedroom FHA dwelling looked mighty inviting and it wasn’t long before other black families were following where James and Ann Colomb had led. Thanks to white flight a once all-white neighborhood is now predominantly black. In the late 1980s when Sammy Davis, the eldest of Ann’s five children, started high school the demographic shift in south Church Point was just beginning to gather steam. A stocky young man, Sammy quickly emerged as a stalwart of the football team. In his freshman year of high school he started dating a white girl. The white community was horrified and the girl’s parents threatened to disown her. Throughout the South, the legislative revolution that allowed James Colomb to purchase an FHA home on the white end of town was resented as a Yankee intrusion. Most white residents of Church Point believed that integrated communities and inter-racial dating were sins against God; as such they could not be countenanced. It wasn’t long before Sammy Davis’s brothers, Edward, Danny and Randy, had white girlfriends of their own. The local Ku Klux Klan responded with a barrage of threatening (and anonymous) phone calls. “You better tell that son of yours to quit messing with our girls or you’re gonna find him hanging from a tree,” the callers would say. “Well, you better make sure there’s another stout limb on that tree,” Ann would respond, “’Cause I’m gonna find out who you are, I’m gonna hunt you down, and I’m gonna string you up right beside my son.” The bold façade masked a growing sense of alarm. As the violence and frequency of the hate calls increased Ann and James had their phone disconnected. Within the youth culture, meanwhile, the strict segregation that had long characterized Church Point society was rapidly disintegrating. The sense of alarm deepened when Edward Colomb began attracting the attention of college basketball scouts and his younger brother Danny showed early promise as a fullback. Star athletes are prime dating material and Ann Colomb’s boys were no exception to the rule. For generations, “the Boulevard” (an oblong drag bordered at one end by the white Catholic church) had been the social centre of high school life. If you grew up in a small town you know the drill—kids circle the block in their cars looking for friends and dating prospects. Cans of beer are passed around and the local cops look the other way because they had been socialized into the same practices a few years earlier. Black people knew better than to show up on the Boulevard . . . until the Colomb boys hit high school. The thought of an integrated Boulevard sent shock waves through the white community. As a tumultuous 1992 gave way to 1993, the racial tension in tiny little Church Point, Louisiana was palpable. Something had to give. (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 27th, 2006
10:19 am	Jock I hate sports. Well, except for basketball and swimming, both of which I love with a passion. I can watch pro, college, men, women, high school, recreation league-any basketball, any time. I was thrilled when, at the ripe old age of 6, Older Daughter wanted to play basketball. My heart was joyful when she won team MVP many years, not only because she was a good player, but also (perhaps more) because she had a great attitude and would hustle. I coached a team of hers to an undefeated season and championship win when she was 12. When Younger Daughter came along, she wanted to play soccer. It started out as a social thing-all her friends played and she wanted to be with them. I obliged, I sat outside in horrible Boston November and April weather, and I sucked it up. I loved watching her play, but I hated being there. I got some relief when we moved south, because I can sit in a warm breeze in the fall and enjoy being outside with nothing to do but watch my baby run. But the sport does nothing for me. She now also plays basketball, and I look forward with great anticipation every year to developing "bleacher butt" for a few months. Enter Gigi. A total jock. She plays basketball, soccer, and softball. She was the star of her high school varsity basketball team in Boston. She's in pre-season hoops camp now for our district high school. She has a completely different mind-set from the other two. While they like to play their sports, I can never interest them in watching a WNBA college basketball game on TV with me. Gigi watches sports on TV, she wears sports clothing all the time, and this morning created a holder for her orange juice to go in the car...her basketball shoe. (Comment on this)