Quote of The Day

For tailgates, you need to drink to make up for the fact that you're standing in a semi-circle for five hours in 30-degree weather for no real reason.
Bill Simmons, ESPN.com

March Madness

I'm sure, over the next few weeks, I'll put up many posts on this topic... but here's my round one, some tidbits from my head:

The Winner: UConn
I know that, like every year for the past decade, everyone on ESPN is getting off on Duke. J.J. Reddick is a God, yada yada yada. I'm sure the magic yap yap man, Dick Vital, would just cry that I disagree with him (because I'm sure my opinion matters to him), but I'm going with UConn. Why? Duke is J.J. Reddick. UConn is balanced. Period. One player cannot a championship make, unless that player goes by 'Melo. Depending on the draw, Duke could lose in the Sweet Sixteen, and I wouldn't be surprised, nor would I cry over it.

Suprise Team: Texas
Balance and experience. That helps. They can beat anyone. But, they've proven that they can lose bad too. None the less, everyone in this bracket will be beatable, and Texas can beat anyone.

First One Seed to Flop: 'Nova
Complete and utter lack of balance. Four gaurds look pretty out east. Run into a hungry big man, and they could lose in the second round. Of course, this depends on the draw, so check back.

Iowa Watch: Elite Eight
They have balance and hungry senior leaders. These two elements, combined, of course, with credible talent, help out in the tourney. They're probably not taleneted enough to make it farther than the Eight. Actually, they're probably not talented enough to make it past the Sweet Sixteen. Heart will take them one more round before Alford jumps to Indiana.

MVC Team in Sweet Sixteen: Missouri State
I like to think one of these teams will make it. But Creighton's beat up, playing without their star, Nate Funk, or their point, Josh Dotzler. Tolliver is playing his heart out, but can a 6'9" center really do much in the tourney? UNI and Southern have forgotten how to win. That leaves us with Missouri State and Wichita State. I'm giving the nod to MSU based on the Bracketbuster last weekend, when they won at UW Millwaukee, while WSU lost to George Mason.

Iowa Fans Don't Care?

After a deluge of e-mails, Luke Winn of SI changes his mind about Iowa fans. Turns out, they won't care if Steve Alford leaves for Indiana. He says,

And if the end of the Horner-Haluska-Brunner-Erek Hansen era in Iowa City does coincide with the end of the Alford era there, one gets the feeling, judging from the e-mails, that Hawkeyes fans are not sweating what will come next. The Iowa faithful think that by following Wisconsin's strategy (i.e., grabbing a coaching-star-in-the-making with local ties, like Bo Ryan was at UW-Milwaukee) and pulling Greg McDermott from Northern Iowa, the Hawkeyes could maintain their grasp on state talent, play high-efficiency Big Ten-style basketball and build the program without the constant recruiting fear of their coach leaving for Bloomington.

As for me, I may be coming on board this ship. After all, his Big Ten record has been horrible, and as S.M. from Des Moines says,

I and many others believe that this year's senior-laden team is no better or worse because of Alford's coaching, and that three key Iowa-bred players (Jeff Horner, Greg Brunner and Adam Haluska) would have joined the team regardless of who the coach was.

Chiller Challenge

Holly and I ran the Chiller Challenge yesterday. Not smart ;) It was around 15 degrees outside. The run was an 8k (4.97 miles), and the last two miles were ice covered! We did ok though, considering. I ran 40:56, finishing 27 out of the 34 men in my age group. Sounds like a not so great finish, but hey, that's an 8:15 mile! Holly, on the other hand, finished 13th out of 27 women in her age group, with a 42:21 (8:32/mile), and won a medal! The run also got us memberships into the Omaha Running Club.

Here We Go Again...

Steve Alford to Indiana?? Dan Patrick is yapping about it right now on ESPN radio. The St. Paul Pioneer Press says, "Don't be surprised if Indiana men's basketball coach Mike Davis resigns within 48 hours. Former Timberwolves assistant Randy Wittman, an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic, will be a finalist for the Hoosiers job. But the latest is that another Indiana grad, Steve Alford at Iowa, already has the backing of influential alumni."

Iowa Chokes

Can anyone explain to me why Iowa can't hold a lead at Northwestern? Last year, they gave away a twelve point lead in the second half. This year, eleven. It looked like they got a little to confortable. It's so frustrating... after spending the whole year expecting them to lose, they get into first place, my hopes get up, and I watch them choke. Ehhhh.... Ok... I'm done with my Iowa rant now.

Quotes of the Week

Nobody's dieing directly from Budweiser. You get in a car and hit a tree, that's a you problem.
Kevin Cowherd

On average, Nebraska's economy is doing just fine. But a man whose head is in the oven and whose feet are in the freezer takes no comfort in knowing that his average body temperature is perfectly normal.
Richard Dooling, New York Times