Thursday, March 5, 2015 – March Madness – Part Three – The Bracket

Posted on March 5, 2015 | Leave a comment

Thursday, March 5, 2015 – The Bracket

A bracket is a tree diagram that represents a series of games played during a tournament. The bracket used for the NCAA college basketball tournaments is a single elimination bracket. There is no consolation for this tournament.  That means win or go home.  This type of bracket is also known as an Olympic system, or a knock out, or a sudden death.  My favorite is the single penetration name.  One does not see that name used often.

Completing a bracket leading to The Final Four has become an entity in and of itself. There are people whose profession is “Bracketologist.” They study a pseudo-science called bracketology.

There are 64 teams that will be selected to play in The Big Tournament or the NCAA tournament. Teams are “seeded” according to the number of wins and the level of the teams played.  The seedings of teams is done by a committee. Teams are placed into mini-brackets in certain regions.  Each mini-bracket feeds into the overall bracket.  Seeding of teams usually results in a lack of geographic awareness and some teams have to travel cross country, while others play in their own back yard or court as the case may be.

To play a tournament bracket is easy. One completes a bracket by predicting which team will win each game from the opening games or rounds to the final game.  In other words, you guess.  The time is called March Madness because an entire game, season and reputation can rest on an injury or illness, a foul that is called, a foul that is not called, a foul shot made, or a foul shot missed.  And of the course the worse is the dreaded buzzer beater when the big round brown ball is thrown toward the hoop with a last second heave and the ball goes through the 18 inch hoop and the team wins.

Completing a bracket is easy.  You really do not have to know anything about basketball. Here is an easy method for completing your bracket.

  1. Go to NCAA.com and download a copy of the bracket you wish to play. I like to play both men’s and women’s brackets. These will be available around Monday, March 16.
  2. Make several copies of the blank bracket. You will want to complete one. You will want to have one to keep track of who actually wins the games. And you will want another one when you rip yours faster than Oliver North when your team loses against a lesser opponent. See buzzer beater above.
  3. Then complete your bracket by selecting the teams you think will win and proceed through the bracket until they reach The Final Four and then pick the National Champion.

Here are several methods for choosing which teams will win and thus advance to the finals. These methods are equally and statistically valid in terms of probability and possibility and usually have similar results regardless of method used to predict winning teams.

How to select teams.  Select a team based on:

  1. The color of their uniforms,
  2. The most tattoos, (Note: this can be by player or by team.)
  3. The best, longest, and/or most creative tattoos,
  4. The school’s mascot. Note: One seldom sees live mascots at basketball games. I supposed a BEVO cleanup in the free throw area is not in the janitor’s contract,
  5. The players’ hairstyles. This includes men’s and women’s teams. Be sure to include west coast teams, whose hair colors were not originally intended for hair hues,
  6. By the coaches you like or dislike or what the coach wears,
  7. By the college you attended or graduated from or by the T-Shirt from Wal-Mart you wear if you had attended college,
  8. Actually do statistically analyses comparing won loss records and strength of schedule data,
  9. On the men’s bracket, predict Kentucky as the winner and work backwards,
  10. On the women’s bracket, predict UConn as the winner and work backwards.

Good luck and BTHO Auburn. (SEC Tournament – Lady Aggies vs. Auburn)

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Wednesday, March 4, 2015 – March Madness Part Two

Posted on March 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

Wednesday, March 4, 2015 – March Madness Part Two

First our assessment question from yesterday.  Who has bigger balls? Men or women? If you said men, you answered the question literally and receive a two, or passing grade.  If you said women, you are philosophically correct and receive a three, or excellence, for the answer.

Now to today’s topic – what to look for when watching a basketball game.

When watching a basketball game on TV or at courtside, it is necessary to conduct a fashion police check on both coaches.  This is sometimes called “dishing,” and should not be confused with a pass in basketball which can be referred to as a “dish.”

One must examine the coaches’ attire, including footwear, neckwear and the hair do. You thought this was going to be about the actual game?

For the teams who are coached by men, one looks to see if the coach wears a suit and tie or not.

Examples include: Women’s coach, Jeff Walz of Louisville, does not wear a coat and tie, but chooses a well –pressed sport shirt in the team’s red and white colors.  Women’s coach, Gary Blair of Texas A&M (GB as the team calls him) wears a suit and tie as does women’s coach Geno Auriemma from U Conn. Men’s coach Scott Drew of Baylor usually wears a shirt and tie, but seldom a coat or jacket. Mike Krzyewski or Coach K, of Duke, always wears a suit. It is important to note who does and when the suit jacket comes off.  Coach K never removes his coat. GB takes his coat off when the game becomes tense.  Geno A takes his off the first time he screams at the referees, which is usually in the first three minutes of the game.

On the women’s side, one can bet Tara Vanderveer and Holly Warlick of Stanford and Tennessee, respectively will wear a tasteful, yet drab suit.  Karen Aston of Texas will wear a suit or slacks with a nice blouse.

Nicki Caldwell and Dawn Staley from LSU and South Carolina respectively will be styling regardless of what they are wearing.

Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame will wear a knee length, nun-approved straight or pencil skirt and a nice blouse, perhaps with a matching scarf. She will then wear six inch stiletto ho heels to offset the outfit. Somehow she manages to retain her balance and her dignity as she squats in front of the bench as the game is played.

You can bet Kim Mulkey of Baylor will wear a cutting, if not sometimes bleeding edge fashion. Where does one buy tight, black leather pants? Fifty-shades of Waco?

It is necessary to take a quick look at footwear.  This is more so for the women’s coaches, but GB does sport a nice maroon suede pair of loafers on occasion. One can bet every female coach mentioned so far will have on shoes that display the most current fashion sense, but reflect little of the common sense regarding footwear and comfort. Well, maybe not Vanderveer or Warlick.

And now the hair style.

Muffet McGraw’s is same pixie, leprechaun style she has worn since Clinton was president. Tara Vanderveer has probably worn her hair like that since she was five years old. Karen Aston has a really good hair dresser. With everbody else, it’s a surprise. And especially with Caldwell and Staley and maybe Mulkey.

The opposite holds true on the men’s side for coaches’ hair styles.  Some of those hair styles have not changed since Ronald Reagan was president.  I bet Georgia women’s coach Andy Landers’ hair has not moved since Reagan was president. Neither has Coach K’s or Mathew Mitchell of Kentucky women’s team.

One should pay attention to all jewelry worn.  It tends to range from tasteful to gaudy to “wow, I did not know necklaces or earrings could be that big.”

These topics are sometimes half-time report discussions, so be prepared. Tomorrow – What is a Bracket and How Do I Fill One Out?

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March 3 – March Madness Begins – A Basketball Primer

Posted on March 3, 2015 | Leave a comment

March 3 – March Madness Begins – A Basketball Primer

On Feb. 28, 1940, the first televised college basketball games were broadcast by New York City station W2XBS as Pittsburgh defeated Fordham, 57-37, and New York University beat Georgetown, 50-27, at Madison Square Garden. Get ready there are about to be a lot more broadcast as March Madness begins.

So to guide through this cultural phenomena, I give you: Basketball 101 or A Basketball Primer by Me

As in college football, I only write about teams I like and teams that play teams that I like. Oh yes, this is only about Division I schools.  There are two more divisions that do March Madness. Are you ready to tip off?

Another exciting season of March Madness approaches welcoming another college sport into the commercialization and marketing by ESPN and its sister networks. I wonder if Larry Culpepper from Dr.. Pepper will appear.

March Madness, also known as The Big Dance or The Final Four, is a series of basketball games played by NCAA basketball teams during the time frame between the end of college football and The Master’s Golf Tournament.  Let’s assume you know nothing about the game or just landed from outer space.  I know people who can fit into either category.

History of the Game

In early December 1891, the chairman of the physical education department at the School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, instructed physical education teacher James Naismith, known to many as the inventor of basketball, to invent a new game to entertain the school’s athletes in the winter season.

In Texas we think the game of basketball was invented to give people something to do when there was no football. The fact that it offered the PE teachers something to teach while it was cold as a witch in brass brassiere outside was also helpful.

Originally a player would try to toss an inflated, round ball into a wooden peach basket suspended from a hoop mounted to a pole about 10 feet off of the ground. When this task was accomplished, the school janitor would bring a ladder, climb up, retrieve the ball, return it to the player and remove the ladder until he was needed again.  I am not certain if there was a janitorial union intervention and this task was beyond his contractual responsibilities or what. But soon some brainiac thought to cut a hole in the bottom of the peach basket and the janitor was no longer needed.

Equipment Needed

The game is played with a large, inflated, round, brown ball. In the men’s college game, the ball is 29.5 inches in diameter.  In the women’s game the ball is 28.5 inches in diameter. One advances the ball by bouncing it down a flat, rectangular flat surface called a court. This bouncing of the ball is called dribbling.  One may also pass the ball to a team mate to advance the ball. The passing of the ball is called passing.

At either end of this court is a hoop that is 18 inches in diameter. This hoop is 10 feet off of the ground and mounted to a backboard.

Objective

The player must dribble the ball using only one hand and without stopping and then throw this big round ball through that 18 inch hoop on the pole.

The Rules

Google them.

The Players

The game can be played by men or women.  Sometimes, in the women’s game it is difficult to determine gender however. The game is played by two teams. There are five players on each team.  Each player has a number based on the position he or she plays.  Actually, the position played is usually based on level of skill sets and body types.

Point guard (often called the “1“): usually the fastest player on the team organizes the team’s offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time.

Shooting guard (the “2“): creates a high volume of shots on offense, mainly long-ranged; and guards the opponent’s best perimeter player on defense.

Small forward (the “3“): often primarily responsible for scoring points via cuts to the basket and dribble penetration; on defense seeks rebounds and steals, but sometimes plays more actively.

Power forward (the “4“): plays offensively often with their back to the basket; on defense, plays under the basket (in a zone defense) or against the opposing power forward (in man-to-man defense).

Center (the “5“): uses height and size to score (on offense), to protect the basket closely (on defense), or to rebound.

The Challenge

Now this sounds like a simple fun sport now, doesn’t it? I failed to mention at each position there is a seven foot giant, with an arm wing span like a small airplane, who has a vertical jump of 30 inches from a standing position, and is quicker than a New York pick pocket who trying to prevent you from putting the round ball into the hoop. It adds a bit more challenge to just tossing the ball into the modern peach bucket.

Go study for the assessment.  Tomorrow we look at What to Watch in a Basketball Game.

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Posted on March 2, 2015 | Leave a comment

March 2, 2015 – I’ll Bet You a Lone Star Beer That You Cannot

– I’ll bet you a Lone Star beer that you cannot sing the state song of Texas. Or at least the first verse and chorus. Unless you attended Texas A&M or Baylor University chances are you do not know the words.  Those two universities sing Texas Our Texas, not to be confused with the school that sings I’ve Been Working on The Railroad,prior to football games.

It is Texas Independence Day where just a piece down the road over yonder at Washington on the Brazos the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed. Texans, as the group of men referred to themselves, signed a declaration of independence from Mexico 175 years ago today for what? Freedom only gives you partial credit. Freedom to do what?

The country of Mexico wanted to stop the immigration of white people coming from The United States into Texas. These would be people searching for a better life and willing to travel over uncharted, Indian infested lands to do so.  But these white settlers brought slaves.  Slavery had been outlawed in Mexico in 1829. Therefore, those immigrants who brought slaves were breaking the law of the land. Ironic, isn’t it today?

Happy Birthday, Texas! And Happy Birthday to The Sound of Music movie which appear 50 years ago today.  The Hills Are Alive with Smell of Brisket!

http://www.texasourtexas.info/

“Texas , Our Texas “

by William J. Marsh and Gladys Yoakum Wright
Texas , Our Texas ! All hail the mighty State!

Texas, Our Texas ! So wonderful so great! Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev’ry test O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest.

(Chorus)

Texas , Our Texas ! Your freeborn single star, Sends out its radiance to nations near and far, Emblem of Freedom! It sets our hearts aglow, With thoughts of San Jacinto and glorious Alamo.

(Chorus)  

Texas, dear Texas ! From tyrant grip now free, Shines forth in splendor, your star of destiny! Mother of heroes, we come your children true, Proclaiming our allegiance, our faith, our love for you.            

(Chorus)

God bless you Texas!  And keep you brave and strong, That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.

  God bless you Texas !  And keep you brave and strong, That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.

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Sunday, March 1, 2015 – Spock

Posted on March 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

Spock (800x600)

To grieve for an icon, would be illogical.

Thank you Leonard Nimoy.

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Friday, February 27, 2015 – Another Beeping Machine

Posted on February 27, 2015 | 1 comment

Friday, February 27, 2015 – Another Beeping Machine

I now own another beeping machine.  In this case, the adjective “beeping” is used literally and is not euphemistically used as a curse word.  When the doors on any of the appliances in my home are not closed, the appliance makes a beeping noise.  Factor in “devices” such as phone, tablet, ice maker, IPOD etc. and there are times I search the house for the machine that is the culprit of the noise.  If the wash has completed its cycle, the new washing machine beeps.   The wonders of technology.  Sometimes, you have to wonder about it. Sometimes you have to wonder about me.  Who else do you know that posts pictures of the inside of the new washer?  Nice optical illusions, huh?

New washer 2015-02-26 002 (800x600) New washer 2015-02-26 004 (800x519)

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Thursday, February 26, 2015 – Mrs. Wolowitz

Posted on February 26, 2015 | Leave a comment

Thursday, February 26, 2015 – Mrs. Wolowitz

Trivia Question – What was the name of the doorman on the 1970’s TV show Rhoda?

But before we begin – I forgot to make this clear. There are no prizes for knowing the answer to whatever day I deem as trivia day.  But thank you for playing.

Veteran character actress Carol Ann Susi, best known for her role as the bellowing, never-seen Mrs. Wolowitz on CBS’ The Big Bang Theory, died after a brief battle with cancer at age 62 last November 11.

How The Big Bang Theory deals with the death of one of its major characters is dealt with in recent episode. But this is about the voice.  As Mr. Bowrag says, one can hear that screeching voice in almost any event that allows shouting and sometimes in nightmares.

And I am pretty sure the woman who has tickets behind “mine” at the Baylor Women’s basketball games channels in Mrs. Wolowitz for the entire forty minutes of a game.  No one involved in the game from either side is safe from her constant screech.  She yells at the referees, the coaches and the players.  Her voice is somewhere between fingernails on the chalkboard and a clowder* of cats fighting over a bird. This woman even yelled when Texas star player Nneka Enemkpali went down with an ACL tear.  Please note the entire Ferrell center stood and clapped as the player was carried off the court.  Well everybody except one.

Mrs. Wolowitz will be missed on The Big Bang Theory. But her voice lives on somewhere at the next sporting event you attend.  Rest assured the voice will be sitting near you.

And the answer is:  In the TV series Rhoda, every time the buzzer rang, an unseen drunken voice said “Hello, this Carlton, your doorman.” Carlton was the, if not one of the, first unseen characters. Remember, no prizes for knowing the answer.

  • If you watch The Big Bang Theory, the episode where Sheldon obtains all of the cats, you would know a group of cats is called a clowder. Other terms for a group of cats are a clutter or glaring and also a “big, stinky house.”.

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Wednesday, February 25, 2015 – I’m Off To Buy A Washer

Posted on February 25, 2015 | 2 comments

Wednesday, February 25, 2015 – I’m Off To Buy A Washer

Ready, Munchkins? Let’s all sing and click our ruby red slippers because,

 

I’m off to buy a washer, a wonderful washing machine,

A wash, a wash, a wonder wash, a wonderful washing machine,

The one of twenty years it broke, it cost me lots of tears, no joke,

So now I must buy a macheeeeeeene, a wonderful washing machine.

I’m off to buy a washer, a wonderful washing machine.

 

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Tuesday, February 24, 2015 – Frozen

Posted on February 24, 2015 | Leave a comment

Tuesday, February 24, 2015 – Frozen

Is there ice where you are? Are you having a snow day in Texas?   It is currently 30 degrees at 9:30 am here in the beautiful Brazos Valley. However, there does not appear to be much ice.  Just keep reminding yourself that spring is just around the corner.

There is absolutely nothing of interest today. Or think of it as Fifty Shades of Lazy. Stay warm. Stay dry. Be safe.

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Monday, February 24 2015 – Formative Evaluation of FB

Posted on February 23, 2015 | 1 comment

Monday, February 24 2015 – Formative Evaluation of FB

This Facebook thing is a sociologist and psychologist dream come true. There appears to be representation from every walk of life, every viewpoint and an endless supply of photos from your life or what you like in your life.  Assuming of course that white, overweight and old constitute the study criteria. Either people of color do not “do FB” or the people I have friended do not have friends of color.

I have now been on this social media vehicle about two weeks.  I said from the beginning, that I did not want “to Facebook.”  It has more to do with how the organization Facebook operates and takes advantage of its members than what is posted online. Just my luck I have a change of mind just as terrorists are using it and other social media as recruitment vehicles to join.  I only joined to see if I could attract more readers to Here’s What I’m Thinking.  Thank you to the new readers and especially those who comment.

But looking around on FB brings up many questions.  For example, did you mean to look like a serial killer in your profile?  Did you intentionally choose a bad photograph to use or was that the only one you figured out how to upload? And the foremost existentialistic question – why are we doing this? (Note: Doctorate degree in action in the last thought process.)

Once upon a time BFF Luddite and I decided to take advantage of the three free months online dating services.  We have some photo/profile rules left over from that misadventure and they seem to apply equally to FB. Please note in the previous sentence, I did not split my infinitive.  Thank you, Wanda Traugh, my high school English teacher.

But here are some of my online dating and now FB photo rules:

  1. If one is unable to determine your gender, you are not my friend. While I realize you are displaying your Harley Davidson motorcycle (as well you should, b/c I used to have one too,) may I suggest you wear something besides a leather motorcycle jumpsuit and pull UP the visor on your helmet?
  2. If there is a reptile of any type in the photograph, you are not my friend. Now dead deer photos are situational. Fish are usually good, but nothing from the reptilian genus. Other dead animals are usually not going to bring me as a friend, but we’ll see.
  3. If I am able to determine from your profile photo that you are not showing a full set of teeth, you are not a friend. I know that is snobbery on my part, but I have been in bars in Montgomery County where, besides mine, there was not a full set of teeth sitting among the ten people sitting there. So a full set of teeth is non-negotiable. Yes, fake teeth are acceptable, preferably not the kind you take out at night, though.
  4. If there is a golf scene, I can pretty much assure you of our friendship. To quote the great Harvey Pencik, “If you play golf, you are my friend.”
  5. If you mention in your profile you are “getting back on your meds soon” I am pretty sure friendship is not in our cyber future.

Those of you who have been kind enough to “Friend me” should not have high expectations of this.  I only plan to post DAILY, if you recall, Here’s What I’m Thinking.   After reading a couple of weeks of entries, I bet some of you are rethinking that Friend Request, huh? I bet you are wondering What IS she thinking? It’s so nice to have a brain. But I am going to continue to think and hopefully you will continue to read.

Stay warm.

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