Alma Ada Mada Mater

For all you latte sipping, NPR listening liberals out there trying to be the average man by pickin' your bracket and watchin' the hoops, your favorite Saturday night date went to the interlecutulal capitol of the Midwest this week. Check out Appleton on this week's Prairie Home Campanion. They even had some of those people who sing with out no muzak. I think Piers calls 'em a cup a fellas. As for me, I'm ready for some baseball.

Hopped up on Sugar Smacks

That's my excuse for losing to Dodie (and just about everyone else). Props to the whole McDow family for Maggie, who is in 34,712nd place nationally. I'd hope the smartest representative of your whole clever clan could've done better than that.

Comment to Dodie's post

Since I think it was suggested we comment as a new post: Dode, did you spend more time picking your bracket or photoshopping your picture onto the Sugar Smacks box?

Posting to a Blog Is Not Easy for Oldtimers

Last night I was home from a meeting in DC and anxious to add to the misinformation that goes on this blog, but couldn't figure it out.  My bracket is so far into the toilet that my plumber can't find it.  While everyone was excited about 'Nova (since being sent to 'Nam, I hate words shortened by leaving out the first syllables), I looked at the bracket and figured that UNC would win it all and either Leslie or Maggie would win depending on whether Louisville or Michigan State won today.  Now that Louisville has fallen, it will be Maggie winning it all unless the UConn Huskies can salvage some of the Big East's pride.  By the way where were the "over rated" cheers from Michigan State?  Anyway, if Connecticut wins instead of UNC, the Birnbaum entry looks good unless it is disqualified for lack of smack support.  If Pitt wins so does Cat Stew, oh I forgot they are gone.  If Louisville wins  Captain (ex)Cuse wins.  

I am not going to win this year but my daughter Maggie will win this year and next year it will be Ella's turn so we can be the first family  to have three generations win three years in a row.  Ella is practicing by regularly singing the "Ramble Song."

Thomas is commended for trying to boost academics with his South Carolina Academic Picks. Only trouble is that his only final four team is Connecticut and they only graduate 23% of their African American players and 30% overall.  Dodie had a point that they talk about student athletes but when was that last coach to get fired for failing to graduate the so called student athletes?   I doubt if the people on the top of the blog want a lecture on values from those of us who have no bracket left.  We do have to admire Maggie Lou for sticking with her loyalties though her pushy father would not let her chose her beloved Pitt. Now how anyone can love Pitt is beyond me.

My best to all of those still competing. For me and the South Carolina Gamecocks we will wait to next year. For me and The Citadel Bulldogs we are waiting for next century or is that the last century.

Clarkson

Give me a smack and I'll smack you back.

Basketball fans. My platform for smackdaliation just grew immeasurable higher when the Louisville Cardinals failed to live up to their high billing and handle Michigan State. My bread is in the oven and I am about to be toast. I am comfortably tied for 14th place and have a grand total of zero more points available. And I am not even good at losing. I'm the second highest ranking person with zero possible points left. Once again Piers is my better. But that is not what this post is about. I will wallow in self pity over on Twitter. With only 140 characters. I am here to set the record straight. Maggie Lou still wanted Pitt to win. She was disappointed with their loss, but when she heard that she was still highly ranked, she shrugged and did what any sensible person would do: she said the serentity prayer. Or at least she channelled it. Smiling with a this-is-not-what-I-wanted-but-I-guess things-might-turn-out-OK grin. And then when I told her that Louisville also lost, she looked up from the game she was playing with Franklin and said, "Oh well. I don't even like basketball anyway. Its so stupid. All you do is throw that ball through the hoop." She will think differently when she learns to type faster. On ad alma materum attacks. Please. Especially looking for the false equivalents (Georgia Tech's intramural champ vs. Lawrence's varsity). What about Georgia Tech's stoner frats? I am sure they could not hold a smoldering doobie to what LU could roll out. Or hot midwesterners with a nasal twang. Nothing. Regardless, it is pointless. Piers even goes after Chuck Stew for his crunchy college's lack of smackitude. What does one's college say about them? Not much. And certainly the athletes, er, student-athletes, don't represent the school. Even at some of the oldest and most famous universities in the country, the social and intellectual lines between the recruited athletes and the regular students is wide. And I know because Todd's roommate was one. The last point should carry over to academics too. Florida State is now getting fried for academic improprieties for their athlete-students, and I am sure that they are not any worse than the other schools in their conference and all that play at their level. (Spare me the Duke stories, Will. I smack my hands on your court.) A reliable source in Chapel Hill has informed me of the high level of intervention that comes from the athletic department for students in big time sports. And I am sure the SUC and the Big Least are as bad or worse. I realized during the election that what we hate about politics is what we hate about college sports. In politics, they pretend its about ideas but it's really about winning. In college sports, they pretend that they care about academics, but it's about winning. Principles go out the window when they help the ball go through the hoop. And those back benchers who keep complaining about the lack of smack: everyone likes talking about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Todd called some people onto the electronic carpet, and that is good. But this is a collective venture, and unless you put your hyperbole where your common sense used to be, we're no where. Having put in my 200 cents, let me add to Todd's roll call: Clarkson, where are you? Don't tell me you don't know how to blog. You at least know how to send email, and your responsible son explained how to do it via email here. Thomas, what about you. You respond "to all" via email at a drop of a hat. Consider my backward baseball cap dropped. Looking forward to hearing from you all.

Todd - It's been too long...

... Since you've been to Rock Hill.  The picture on the top of the blog is NOT Duke.  

Of course, having chosen Syracuse to win it all, I wouldn't necessarily mind a change of scenery.

Mook

I agree that the smack talking has been a little disappointing this year. Maybe it is because a lot of us were in Rock Hill the first weekend. In my opinion, that is always the best time to talk smack because the possibilities are endless. I have stayed away from the smack talking because I am in first place. I have to say, I much prefer talking smack from way back in the pack. For some reason, talking smack while in first seems like it is in poor taste. Not to mention what happens when my bracket falls into oblivion with no way of recovering (thank you Villanova and I need a win from Michigan State today). This year, I have decided to put aside my distaste for UNC and picked them to win the whole thing. While I feel good about that choice, there is just something that just can't get excited about pulling for them. With that said, I thought for sure that at least one of you bozos would have taken over the lead by now. I picked my bracket in about ten minutes in the midst of packing us all up to go to SC while I had a slight fever. Surely one of you could make better picks than that!

Updates I'd like to see

After today's games are over, I'd love to see the following updates: 1. Lauren: Will you be running your predictions again this year, based on remaining available points, to tell us who is likely to win? 2. Dodie: When will you tell us how Maggie Lou responded to Pittsburgh's loss? It's a really interesting question if Louisville wins. After today's games, let us know whether Maggie Lou is an idealist, sticking to her principles no matter what, or a pragmatist, happy with a bracket that's accidentally still in the running. 3. Ron: I know you're busy with your residency, but I'm still hoping for one post out of you. 4. Erin: Our hats are off to you for wading in with a smart-alecky comment about oldsters passing as youngsters. Keep up the good work! 5. Will: Is this your blog or not? If you don't make a few more cracks, I will petition for an update of the Duke photo atop the blog, replacing it with this lovely shot of Syracuse: 6. Abby and Margaret: You can't tell me you don't know how to blog -- I read your blogs every week! Throw some posts up here. 7. Finally, Mary Ann made a comment that I thought should be aired as a post (possibly for self-serving reasons), so I'm promoting it here (along with Piers's response): Mary Ann: As a casual observer of the March Madness, I agree with some other contributors that the smack talk has very disappointing this season. I care nothing about who wins what game but I love to read the banter. This year it has been slow to say the least. Are so many of you depressed over your standing in the brackets that you cannot get up the energy to contribute some read-worthy smack? If it weren't for Piers and Todd, I would quit logging onto this site. Piers: Our basketball smack may not be so good, but our smack smack is flourishing, it seems.

Bracket = busted

But that just frees me up for more of the real purpose of this exercise, which is taking the rest of y'all down with me. So beware. Long live the Pitt Panthers!