Thankfully

When I click on the small picture of Todd in the post below, only another small picture of Todd appears.

New Poll!

The key feature of this poll is that you should change your vote once you have become awesome (unless you're among those hopeless individuals in the third category).

Grading Todd

Effort: A- (started slowly, but has come on strong)

Smack: B+ (too easy on Raskin and fawning all over Clarkson)

Blog identity: A ("the boy from Palouse Hills")

Picker: A- (basketball and nose)

Attitude: D (nothing like repeated little cheap shots at good ol' Piers, eh?! Back atcha baby!)

Nickname: F (Unless your real name isn't Todd, in which case you get an A+)

Degree of difficulty: 10 (for a guy who doesn't follow basketball, you blog it well!)

Overall: A (but remember I'm not a math guy)

That should make you smile.

<-- Like that!

Correction

Mook, I'm not sure how I skipped over your bracket! My apologies. In my defense, I was moving fast to get my post up before the judge came in this morning. You did pick Memphis. I'm wrong to call into doubt their likelihood of making the Final Four. (The pool collectively thinks there's a 64% chance Memphis will make it.) You have Georgetown winning it all, which explains your anemic PPR ... so far Lauren hasn't crunched new numbers, but I predict that we won't be tied for long! Anyone else who wants a midterm grade should just let me know. I thought it would be pretty obnoxious to grade everyone, so I just targeted a few of you (which was only mildly obnoxious). Here is another selection of smack grades: Mook: A+ for cricket smack; A for birthday smack; A- for NCAA smack Charles Stuart: A+ for nickname (great "O or D" post!) Ole: F Sarah: F

Hello?

Todd:
I realize that I'm living in a country with ~ 1 billion people, and a city with ~ 20 million people, but I'm a little hurt to be so over-looked.  I'm tied for second place.  WITH YOU.  Not only do I have Memphis in the final game, I feel I've talked my fair share of smack.  About basketball AND cricket.

 

Wondering what it takes to get noticed around here...

Mook

 

PS - Anwar said that Tendulkar was the greatest cricketer of all time.

Lauren: please run the new numbers

Okay, UCLA has not looked particularly dominant in their latest two outings. Nevertheless I have picked them to go all the way. In my office (money) pool, where I'm in the hunt at third, I have UNC going all the way -- I'm not crazy. But in this pool, I wanted both a shot at winning and a chance to talk smack about west coast teams along the way.

So I'm still in this thing, but I wouldn't bet on myself. Lauren, what does your analysis say? Dodie has a lot of PPR, but he's banking on two upsets: Xavier and Wisconsin in the Final Four. Also, he and Lauren are the only ones in the top five who picked Memphis to make it to the final four. Will that happen? (You'll remember that Hillary has them going all the way.)

I second the call for Ole and Sarah to join the blog. Meanwhile I was psyched to see more posts from Margaret and Jeff. Clarkson maintains his A+ status for smack talk, although I'd like to correct the record to say that Piers is the one who avoided the D in Physics. I am the one who avoided a D in Evolutionary Biology. Don't ask Dodie about the courses he avoided D's in.

A brief selection of people's smack-talk grades -- this is just the midterms, so don't worry too much, folks -- might be awarded as follows:

Piers: A (for quantity)
Lauren: A (for quality)
Raskin: B+ (more posts and more insults, please)
Will: C- (narrowly avoiding a D; get with the program)
The Mysterious Crawford: F

Sitting Next to Todd

Just like I said I would be... 

 

-Mook

When Your Bracket is. In the Tank

My bracket is in the tank so now iI have the freedom to pull for alll of the underdogs.  WKU is trying to pull one of the all time major upsets. They may fall short but you have to love them. 

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Vols dealt bad Cards

Looks like it's Clarkson (and Leslie) who's stewing after that awful game played by those hound-dogs.

A lesser team would be in trouble.

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Watch Tennessee

   The Vols have my bracket in their hands.   I think they are getting ready to make a move
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

No O or D?

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that neither of Clarkson's "Offense Wins" or "Defense Wins" is doing anything worth squat in the pool?  Clearly the best teams are the ones those that play neither.

Also, Todd, hope Washington is paying you for the PR job you're doing.

(Some great new nicknames offered up by Piers, if any of the younger cousins are looking for one.)

Not exactly down and out

My team may be returning to the Palouse Hills, but fortunately I hedged by picking UNC. I am currently #1, wreaking havoc on Lauren's formula. However Dodie has moved up to #2, in support of Lauren's formula. We shall see what happens next.

Get it together UT!

Leslie, where are you? I need you to get your team in gear!

A-10 fanatacism

Jeff is on fire tonight. He wanted me to post: With Xavier's win tonight and UMass winning at Captain 'Cuse, the A-10 is no 12 and 10 against the Big 10 this year. If GW can't even make the A-10 tourney, Jeff will find his highlights wherever he can.

Let's call him Cat Stew

Or cat-baller or Stewed cat or fish balls or.... ? Dodie picked Xavier to go to the Final Four, so he is pleased. He is currently on the road to Philly, to spend the night before going to a meeting in NYC. Maybe he will inspire Ole and Sarah to join the blog during his stop-over. Cougars (and Todd) down and out.

Vote Stewballer

I voted for Stewballer but that is not his best nickname. In days gone by he went by the name of "Catfish."

Nighty Night or Mighty Mite?

I think they are better than you think. Lousville will not be playing the last game but are playing this game. When is the last time that Loserville did not fold early? Believe me Gamecock fans can smell a team about to fold. We have had much experience. The Stewballer will be stewed before this deal is over.

Let's go Xavier

That's it. I need them to win.

You mean: Nighty-night Vols!

While you you were working hard for the government, Clarkson, you must have missed Louisville's last game. Looks like Stew-Baller is running away with the poll. Rightly-so.

The Night of the Tennessee Vols

I am sorry that I have been working my day job the last few days and am actually still there trying to get caught up for a long weekend. In my absence I notice that the discussion has reached a level of intellect that is possible with my participation. I will drag the discussion to a level that will remove all doubt why SC is 49th in education. Todd avoided a D in physics but I was right proud of mine. The math of Lauren's formula was not nearly as impressive as the fact that it proved my point exactly. I least I think it did. Us D students don't exactly work the formulas. We look them over, comment on them and then take a guess at the results. Actually calculating a formula is the sign of a real nerd. Back to basketball. That is a sentence fragment so don't tell Thomas who would immediatly throw me out of the family. This is the year of the Leslie teams. Sunday we pulled out Davidson and tonight it is Tennessee's night. They have saved their stuff for the last four games. No use bringing your A game to the first and second round. Save it for the big games. I think I am the only one taking them to the Final Four. Does Leslie have an excuse for not supporting her own teams. I will miss it but UNC and Washington State should be a classic game of offense vs. defense. My bracket has UNC and they may win, but I hate betting against a team that was able to wipe the floor with Winthrop. I will check later to see how my teams are doing. I think my point about potential is valid though the better argument against it is not a formula but a reminder that only eight days ago we all had the potential to win all the points. They don't really count until your team is ahead at the final whistle. Capt. Cuse can vouch for that. Otherwise Syralose would be playing South Carolina in the Big Dance.

Jiminy Cricket! Let's get back to basketball!

Today's line-up:

7:10 PM ET
(7)West Virginia (26-10, 11-7 Big East)
(3)Xavier (29-6, 14-2 A 10)

7:27 PM ET
(4)Washington State (26-8, 11-7 Pac-10)
(1)North Carolina (34-2, 14-2 ACC)

9:40 PM ET
(12)W Kentucky (29-6, 16-2 S. Belt)
(1)UCLA (33-3, 16-2 Pac-10)

9:57 PM ET
(3)Louisville (26-8, 14-4 Big East)
(2)Tennessee (31-4, 14-2 SEC)

All excellent games that could go either way. Cougar success will depend a lot on whether Baynes can stay out of foul trouble. But Hansbrough (Psycho-T, as they call him) is good at drawing fouls. I think this means a tough night for WSU. I hope I'm wrong!

Lets Get off the Sub-Continent

As far as batsmen go, my vote has got to be for Brian Lara.  Not only did he set the record for most individual runs in an innings once, but after his first record of 375 was broken, he re-set it at 400.  The two innings both came against England, but were separated by 10 years.  He has also scored a phenomenal 20% of the West Indies runs.  And speaking of Tendulkar, Lara is tied with number of innings to reach 10,000 runs (one of only five crickiters to reach this total).  His average, over 50 runs puts him in the ranks of the great Garfield Sobers (considered by many to be the best West Indian all-rounder ever).  He also captained the Windies on many different occasions, leading them to the the semi-finals of the world cup in 1996.

Tendulkar vs. Khan

From Wikipedia, an impeccable source: Tendulkar's two tenures as captain of the Indian cricket team were not very successful. When Tendulkar took over as Captain in 1996, it was with huge hopes and expectations. However, by 1997 the team was performing poorly. Azharuddin was credited with saying "Nahin jeetega! Chote ki naseeb main jeet nahin hai!," which translates into: "He won't win! It's not in the small one's destiny." Imran Khan, on the other hand, had a "career-high as a captain and cricketer ... when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 ICC Cricket World Cup. Playing with a brittle batting lineup, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to provide stability in the top order together with Javed Miandad, but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. In the final match, at the age of 39, Khan scored the highest runs of all the Pakistani batsmen and took the winning last wicket himself." Arsalan wants me to point out that Imran Khan was a fine example of a captain translating his smart cricket thoughts and moves to practical execution. He was brave to take uncomfortable decisions and base his cricket on aggression. It was either playing for a win or a loss, never to draw games. Raskin, if you get a chance, you should post a photo of Morris in the Tendulkar jersey! I would love to see it.

Back to cricket

This is not a joke: coincidentally my son Morris went to nursery school today wearing a Sachin Tendulkar shirt that I got when I was in India a couple years ago. Tendulkar would get my vote for best cricket player, not to start a little India/Pakistan rivalry on sMaCkDOWn or anything. I have played cricket once, in Australia, in 1997, with Dave Leonhardt's ex-girlfriend; I found it fun but totally weird and yes, kind of slow moving. Which is probably how she found Leonhardt, come to think of it. Is he even on this blog? Can you talk smack about someone who's not here? Doesn't seem quite fair, but then that is incentive to get your picks in on time next year.

Non-math guy speaks

This is from a guy who had to talk his way out of a D in physics in college (I was taking it credit/D/fail), but isn't the problem with Lauren's calculation just this: it relies on a proportionality that evaporates in later rounds. In the early rounds, with many games at ten points each, there are many different score levels one might come in at. What I mean is, if someone got 70% right in the first round and say there were a hundred points at stake (10 games x 10 pts per game), then one got 70 points. But in later rounds, where there are fewer point slots, doesn't that 70% rating Lauren gave you just turn into 50 points in the semifinal round (because - with 2 games x 50 pts pers game - in that round one can get either 0, 50, or 100 points, and nothing else). So if someone got only 60% right in the earlier rounds, shouldn't that also slot into the 50 point slot in the semifinal round? I can't express the point well, but it seems to me that her numbers will have to be way off because of this kind of thinking. If someone can explain to me why my thinking is d-u-m dumb, or can explain it better, I'd be grateful. Of course, Lauren is still a genius... for having so magnificently stroked Dodie's ego.

Late entry into the smack talk arena Nell (not Nellie !!)

This is the not a great year for smack talk, but I was so impressed with Lauren’s formula to predict who would win the brackets that I suggest that we just start a new poll to see who can come closest to predicting who will come closest to predicting.  Surely we could be more successful at that we are at actually predicting the results of the games.  Or maybe we could have Lauren develop a formula for predicting the game scores.

Imran Khan has a mullet

By the way if you do a google image search for Todd Keithley, the 8th thing that comes up is this:





Looking good, Todd!


And, yes, if you search for Piers Turner, it doesn't take long before you get to this:




This dissertation has taken its toll!

Stew-Baller

Check out the new poll: who has the best nickname?

I'm a fan of Stew-Baller. I was curious what a Google image search on "stew baller" would find. I was kind of worried that it would get me in trouble at work, but this is what turned up:



P.S. One nickname is missing from the poll: Captain Lose.

Cricket Talk

We have seen a decent number of bollywood movies here, and one of the better ones is Lagaan. The IMDB synopsis is this: Sometime during latter half of the 19th century, a small village in North India is facing drought conditions. Captain Andrew Russell, the British captain of the nearby cantonment, demands double of the usual land tax (lagaan) from the villagers. When the villagers' representatives go to meet Captain Russell to discuss the situation, Capt. Russell challenges them to a game of cricket with his team after three months. A young villager Bhuvan accepts the challenge and starts to build his team of villagers for the showdown with their colonial rulers. The movie is fair, but as the villagers learn cricket, so does the movie audience. If anybody needs a not-so-quick primer, it's available from Netflix. And it's about 3 1/2 hours long. I'll have to check with Anwar, our driver, about cricket smack-talk. We'll see who HE thinks is the best cricketer of all time (though I can already guarantee he'll play for an Indian team). Mook

Imran Khan

Sadly, we haven't been able to make it to Thanksgiving in a long time, and Meredith's schedule this fall will be the most inflexible of her residency. But if we make it down, count us in for cricket. My co-clerk, Arsalan, is a huge cricket fan and we've actually followed it here in chambers. We're fans of Imran Khan, who, according to Arsalan, is the greatest cricketer of all time. Nowadays he's an opposition politician in Pakistan, and we were on the edge of our seats last year when he demanded the death penalty for Musharraf, was put under house arrest, and then escaped!

How 'bout we keep talking cricket until the basketball tournament resumes? Anyone have any thoughts about which stat is more important, wickets or balls bowled?

Cricket - I'm in!

CS:
If you'd like to learn cricket, that can be the activity for Thanksgiving '08.  Hell, one year you guys built Thomas's deck.  Anything's possible over a long holiday weekend.  Bring your laptop, an external hard drive, and the latest version of excel.

 

-Diego 

Cricket?

CS:

I can't pick teams for the NCAA basketball tournament.  I played basketball (in elementary school), I managed the basketball team (in junior high - no jokes Dodie about "managing") and kept score for the team in high school.  It is the only sport I enjoy watching live or on TV.  And you want me to learn CRICKET??  Are you insane?  It takes more than one day to PLAY the sport.  It's slower than baseball (you wanted smack CS, you got it!).  I don't think so...

Thanks for the "suggestion" but I'm going to pass.  In fact, in order to evade suggestions of learning about cricket, I think I'll just leave India at the end of May...

 

But I do agree with you that there has been a disappointingly low amount of smack talk.  What has happened??

 

Mook  no-freaking-way-I'm-learning-cricket  Rincon

It's a Good Thing Piers lives in Chapel Hill, not Syracuse...

If he ever wants to see his top-seeded home team win in a tournament.

Ricky Harris scored 23 points as Massachusetts rallied from 17 points behind in the final eight minutes and defeated host Syracuse, 81-77, on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament....No team had beaten Syracuse twice in the Carrier Dome in the same season until the Minutemen made their stunning rally.

Piers, sorry that there was no juice in the Orange this year.

-Dode

November 08?

Is Clarkson running for office?

It looks like this blog has turned into a fan-page.  What happened to the sharp-tongued smack-talkers of old?  What happened to the stinging criticism, once feared by all those has-been and never-were bracketeers?

I may be tied for 14th with a few others, one who's new main sport ought to be cricket. But it won't stop me from doing a bit of taunting as my final four advance onward, much to the dismay of the Hoyas, Blue Devils, and Tigers (the one's with the purple jerseys).

Loverman

I have long admired Clarkson's profile.

Do we all need to see this again?

Who is viewing Clarkson's Profile?

It could be the other members of the rap music affinity group he joined.

Clarkson's profile

I was also procrastinating on the day's work, and saw Todd's post below about Clarkson's profile. (It is funny.) As of right now, Clarkson's profile has been viewed 38 times! Who are all those people?

Happy Birthday Alison!

I realize that Alison is not an official member of McDow Hoops, but I wanted to use this forum to wish her a very happy birthday!!

-Mook

Clarkson's Profile

Procrastinating on the day's work, I checked out Clarkson's blogger profile. Take a look. It's pretty funny.