Holy $#!‡, Pitt

Well, tied will do

That did not last long, but I'll take tied in PPR.

Hey Nellie, want to go back to San Antonio?

Go Spiders

I am loving this game!

And I know better than to compete in smack talk with this witty group, but I am feeling good to have surpassed our national and family dignitaries in Possible Points Remaining.

Nell

Hate the Duke Blue Devils? Not anymore - ESPN

Great article on the change in Duke and college basketball in general:

So I ask, outside of ACC fans and maybe UNLV and Michigan alumni, can you still really gin up authentic hate, rage, antipathy and rancor for Duke? I can't. The Duke worth hating, the Duke worthy of hating -- you know, Laettner-chest-stomping, Woj-floor-slapping, always-in-the-Final Four Duke -- that Duke is resting in peace.

Hate the Duke Blue Devils? Not anymore - ESPN

Clarkson's Bracket in Top 400 Nationally

Our most senior prognosticator is doing well as the third round gets underway. In our own little pool, he is leading the pack, tied only with everyone's favorite Irish man O'Bama. But Clarkson is also doing well nationally: he ranks 399th at this moment.

Headline Challenge #2

How should the press (satirical or otherwise) write about Friday's
basketball games or the McDowHoops bracket results? Here are my takes.
Add yours in the comments.

--After a First Half of Bricks, Mason Dismantles Villanova

--Georgetown Can't Dodge Rams, Tough

--No Oyster for Pearl: Michigan knocks of Tennessee

--Kansas Covers Boston: More Than A Feeling to Carry on My Wayward Son

--Huskies Mush Dawgs: Washington wins first ever game in North Carolina

--Nation's Most Respected Bureaucrat Leads Pool, Ties Barack Obama

Ohio St. vs. GMU

We have got an amazing match-up in our future, folks! Not to jinx Ohio State this afternoon, but I can barely wait for Piers vs. Dodie in the next round.

Hidden meaning

"Villanova" has "no VA" in its name. GMU should have realized their fate was sealed already...

MMMMMMemphis

Franklin got board while going through the brackets, and after filling
out the East, he decided that he would choose teams based on their
shared letters with him. As he has two Ms, two Os, and two Ns in his
name, he used this order to pick his winners. His final game has
MeMphis losing to VirgiNia COMMONwealth. So he needs Memphis to win
today.

Nova at the Half

I traditionally root for Nova, since Meredith's entire family went there, and they own the student hangout bar called Kellys. However, I have to root for Dodie's direct employer over Meredith's cousins' school. Dodie, have you had any basketball players in class, along with their "tutors"? Or does the administration simply pressure you to give them an A, without the help of a "tutor"?

Putting the NO in Villanova

Villanova takes the court against George Mason in just over an hour,
and I invite you all to put the NO back in Villanova. In German,
that's nein. And how homophonically appropriate is that? 'Nova is a
nine seed that finished 9-9 in Big East play. Nein, nein, nein. No to
'Nova.

Instead, I hope they get ate up. By the eight seed, my employer,
George Mason. This is Mason's highest seeding in six trips to the
dance, though their 6:1 ratio of final four appearances to tournament
qualifications must be among the highest in the country. George Mason
the man said NO to signing the Constitution at the end of the 1787
Constitutional Convention because it did not have a bill of rights.
That was a hard no. NO to 'Nova is easy.

Dawgs and Cats up for a W

Just posting a little shout out to my two alma mater's. Hopefully
they can both squeak through the first round, if only to then face the
big boys. Of course, Arizona has a shot to make it to the sweet
sixteen this year, if not the next 8. Too bad Lute's not around...
Thanks for including me in the fun!
Marissa

Headline Challenge #1

How should the press (satirical or otherwise) write about Thursday's basketball games? Here are my takes. Add yours in the comments.

• If Obama Legislative Agenda Looked Like His Bracket, Republicans Would Be Out in First Round
• Red Neck Death Match: WVU eliminates Clemson
• Zags Zig, Johns Flushed
• Huskies Sound Death 'Knell: Kemba Walker's career high eliminates PA school
• Louisville Doesn't Want Morehead After All: Pitino Quips, "This Sucks"

Richmond!

At least they did it to someone else this time.

By the way, ever notice that at airport security they have lines for the "expert" traveler and the "casual" traveler and that these categories are not mutually exclusive? There's only one of me, folks! This reminds me of the continuing studies student who came into my office hours this quarter to say: now that's he's been taking philosophy classes he can't make any decisions, and his brain hurts. His question: "When does it stop hurting, professor?" My first attempt: "Well, at some point you specialize." My second attempt: "Would you rather go back to how you were?" He answered no to the second question, and so we moved on. Still, it would help him get past the pain of philosophy if he would do more of the reading for class. Just sayin'.

Dude, Where's My Bracket?

Unfortunately I began filling out my McDow Hoops bracket too late this year, and got locked out of ESPN. I will still be following the McDow Hoops blog, rooting for PAC-10 teams, and giving Piers a hard time. Given that there is nothing of any interest going on in the world right now, all of my free time will be devoted to following NCAA basketball.

Bracketeer in Cheif

I have put in President Obama's picks, listed under "Presidential Pick 'Em." Last year he picked Kansas to win it all, but like many of us, his bracket got Farokhmaneshed. He also has Richmond over Vandy in the 2nd (previously 1st) round.

Here is a video of the unveiling of the "Barack-et."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/16/obama-bracket-2011-ncaa-tournament_n_836595.html

Virginia, Pennsylvania Best Basketball States based on Teams in the Tournament

State Origins of the 68 Teams in the 2011 NCAA Tournament

South Carolina underrepresented because the Citadel and Winthrop did not make the cut this year.

Academic Progress Rate bracket

I entered one of my brackets based on Inside Higher Ed's calculations based on the NCAA-tracked Academic Progress Rate, with ties broken by Graduation Success Rate. The whole article is here: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/03/14/the_ncaa_tournament_bracket_based_on_teams_academic_performance

8 years of Yale education ...

... and I still can't figure out how to work the ESPN site correctly. I have two brackets, but I really only want the one called Yankee Interloper. I appear unable to delete the other one (called something like "not this one"), so you can disregard it. Unless it wins, of course, in which case THAT's the bracket I want to use. -Greg

1991

Last night on a plane from Atlanta to RDU I had the chance to watch some espn classic on the seatback TV screen. They were showing a classic from 1991 - Syracuse v Richmond, a #2 vs #15 seed. I assume Piers remembers this game. For Nellie's sake I'll remind everyone that 1991 was the first year a 15 seed beat a #2 seed. Here's to Richmond partying like it's 1991. Here in Durham expectations are rising after Sunday's game and I've taken the bait in my current bracket. Here's to Blue Devils v Buckeyes. And I'll be U-dub's biggest fan in the second round. Don't let March end...

Helloooooo

Good to be back. 'Cuse has a hard road (in a bracket with UNC and OSU and Kentucky)... assuming we can get past Indiana State. Of course, if the Orange lose, then hopefully OSU will carry on. Nice to have a couple of dogs in the race.

George Mason, Washington, Duke, Tennessee, Memphis, Vanderbilt, Richmond, Pittsburgh... who am I missing? No GW, no BC, no Winthrop, no Citadel, no S. Carolina (though USC is in),  no Lawrence, no Yale...

Who is St. Peter's? And who will God prefer if they play St. John's? I hear St. John's had some revelatory games, while St. Peter's was rock-solid.

And it begins ...

Ah March - my favorite time of the year. When the whole McDow family gets together virtually to see who's cleverer. I look forward to the smack talk. And to my Pitt Panthers, who squeaked into a #1 seed.

2011 Questions

With the bracket already set, and the family's fore-front bracketeers already chewing their pencils and scratching their heads, it's time to put some questions on the board.

First, with only two South Carolina teams in the Big Dance, who will be the family favorite? (It bears mentioning that the only remaining student of the family has the Spiders in.)

Second, is there any limit to the amount of smack Pierce will talk about the Big East?

Third, will anyone whose name is not Leslie be pulling for the Vols given their proclivity for recruiting violations?

And so, with the brackets now out, I now say to the whole family, Happy Smack Talkin'.

Teams

I finally tried to enter a bracket this morning, too late. But I can still trash-talk, I mean, participate. Thanks for organizing, Will! What team commitments do we have, besides the USA? How strong are Dodie's ties with any of the African representatives? My teams: Switzerland (I was born there) Germany (for kids in the German part of Switzerland, it made more sense to root for (West) Germany, who are always good, and my first favorite player was the West German star, Karl Heinz Rummenigge.) England (I lived there two years of my life and spent plenty of time watching the Premier League) Mexico (Abby and I lived there for two years, and I can still remember being there during the 2002 World Cup and hearing cheers out my window at night when Mexico scored.) USA-USA-USA!!! And I always root against Argentina and Italy. But especially Argentina.

World Cup Soccer bracket

If you’re still following McDow Hoops blog, you need to get help.  And it’s on the way.  The World Cup bracket.  Join the fun at:

http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en/group?groupID=39204

 

Join the Group: McDow_kicks_and_scores

Password: **email me if you can’t guess it**

 

Here’s what to do: First select which two teams will advance out of each of the eight groups. The order you select them - 1st or 2nd - determines where they are placed in the 16-team bracket. Then predict the winner of the 15 bracket matches throughout the Finals. All picks lock with the first kickoff on Friday, June 11, 2010.

 

Will

 

This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by a person other than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal.

One for the Ages!

I don't remember a better game in the finals. Maybe the '82 game when a Georgetown player threw the ball to James Worthy. Tonight they both made great plays. I don't know how to set up the voting, but we should vote on Will's heart rate as that final shot bounced off the rim.
Congratulations to Dodie to prove that graduation rates can count. Next year I am going to have a Southern Fried Grad Rate team. It could beat the Chicken Curse.
Unless you are a Duke fan please join me in the Official Slogan of the South Carolina Gamecocks -- "Wait 'til next year!"
Clarkson
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Honk!! Honk!! Yeah Baby. Honk!

The sounds of Durham tonight. If "Hoosiers" were real and not a movie that last shot is one-quarter inch to the left. Truly a game that either team could have one. But tonight was painted Duke Blue, not Butler Blue. If that coach stays there, Butler will have its night. Burn Baby Burn!!

a great game

I define a great game as any game that keeps me awake after 10:30--and this was a great game.  I cheered for Butler all the way, but I had to admire both teams.  The commentators said before the game that butler needed to keep Duke's scoring below 60 and they sure did come close! I think I heard Will cheering all the way from Durham.  Congratulations Laura Mish!

Next year....

When all else fails, there is always tradition

I have actually only seen about 15 total minutes of the tournament (really, of the entire 2009-2010 basketball season). And I'm not watching the game tonight because I'm (trying) to help Thomas with an Initial Brief of Appellant for an appeals case. While I do prefer what I'm doing to what you guys are doing, I am grateful for all of the on-line chatter to keep me company while I work.

One of the original polls this year was about why people participate in McDow Hoops, with one of the options involving hating Duke and one option being a slave to tradition (paraphrased, a bit). The current poll is about how much you hate Duke. With no actual knowledge about the teams - as evidenced by BOTH of my brackets - I am going to rely on tradition and cheer for Not Duke, which I believe would be Butler.

MC

The Final Game

This has been a great tournament with enough upsets to last a lifetime. The writting has improved as the brackets tank. One gains a little humility as his vast knowledge of the game loses to someone who picks Vermont to the final four because her friend lives there.
There are good reasons to be for either of these schools. My preference for underdogs makes me love Butler. While I could pull against Will's team, I have to be on Laura Mish's side. Therefore, I am pulling for Duke. Don't worry about the Chicken Curse because the Gamecocks hate Duke so much from their ACC days Duke is immune to the curse. Butler is pretty good and could win this thing, but don't count on it. So for Laura Mish, "Go Duke."
Clarkson
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Chatter

At the half and Butler's hanging in there. Predictions?

Get me a barf bag

See post below.

Memories of 1999-2000

Will and Nell's posts have inspired me to weigh in on my allegiances this evening. From mid-1999 to mid-2000, Meredith worked for a Duke-associated nonprofit in Durham, N.C. I visited her about twice a month. We were surrounded by Duke fans (including Will), the team had a lot of memorable players (Battier, Boozer, Dunleavy), and we were invited to numerous parties to watch the games, both regular season and tournament. Will even scored tickets for us one evening, and we sat with him in the grad student section and cheered wildly. As most of you know, I don't really care about basketball at all. And I think that, as a general rule, high-level NCAA sports have exerted a corrupting influence on these supposedly nonprofit colleges. For one thing, it's hard to believe that all of this revenue isn't taxable! It's also hard to believe that these major sporting events have anything to do with the overall collegiate mission. Finally, I wonder what lessons these students learn from their exposure to constant recruiting violations, perks that operate as a kind of under-the-table payment, and "tutors" at certain programs who complete all or most of the players' classwork. Since I don't have any ties to NCAA sports -- other than being the former roommate of an NCAA cheerleader -- I participate in the pool for the fun of the pool itself. Mainly it's fun to hang out with McDows and associates, even if only on line. But part of the fun is rooting for underdogs and rooting against teams like Duke. When all is said and done, after giving it some thought today, I've decided that my fond memories of Duke-rooting in 1999-2000 outweigh the general principles that favor rooting against Duke. Go Duke!

The underdog

I'm pulling for the underdog tonight. That's right, the little engine, the David, the Cinderella. I'm pulling for that one. Who better fits that profile than Laura Mishler. For the non-McDow's, Laura Mish is 6 years old but was born 11 weeks early at 2lbs 3ozs. When it comes to bball, she picked Vermont in the final game because her best friend lives there. and she picked any school from Texas because her aupair was talking about moving to Texas. Those picks didn't work out so well and she hovered in the celler. But now she is on the verge of winning the McDow Hoops Challenge, assuming we all disqualify method brackets. Sorry Dode - you are a Goliath. So I'm pulling for the underdog. All it takes for her to win is a Duke victory. If I must for my daughter, I'll pull for Duke. And when she's asleep and the TV turned up loud, I'll sing a quiet little "Go to Hell Carolina, Go to Hell" just for the fun of it and because this is not March 2009 anymore. Go DUKE. Will PS - If one more person says what a small school Butler is, please remind them that Duke only has 300 more undergrads than Butler does. It's not about the size of your school. [It does help to have a large athletic budget...]

Mandatory Smack

With a bracket that has Butler to take it all, I feel obligated to provide some clever smack talk to all you losers, many who have had no possible points remaining since before the final four.  The difficulty is that the bracket in which I chose teams that I actually thought might win, puts me in that loser category with the rest of you.  It is hard to talk smack when you make choices on a set criterion and not from the heart or the head. Yet I do have one of the last remaining brackets and I reluctantly must brag and point out my obvious superiority.  And I think that I might be wise to do that while I still can!  My only hope is that  this is not the year of the K's---Kansas, Kentucky, Kansas State and Coach K.

 And then, there is always next year.

Nell

With Duke in the final I'm happy...

for Will. But I'm sad for America. I guess that's a wash.

Duke v. Butler!

It's down to the last game Monday night. My wife's Alma Mater (Duke) against the biggest surprise finalist in my memory. And Dodie's grades bracket against Nell's wins bracket and Maggie Lou's bracket trying to hold onto a piece of first place. Good luck!

Duke vs WVU

From the bracket point of view, I've got some insulation. In my two
brackets that are still hanging near the top of the pack, I have Duke
winning the whole she-bang in one of them, and West Virginia taking it
all in the other. Let's see what happens...

Sweet 96

Am I the last guy in the country to hear about this crazy idea -- a 96-team bracket? Article here.

Beginning of Basketball Withdrawl

Every year, just as the azeleas begin to bloom in the south I get that sad, sad feeling. Like a friend going away to school while I'm left at home with nothing to do. There's only three basketball games left in the year. This time two weeks ago, there were four games starting every 2 hours. And my bracket. Two weeks ago I had a bracket. So fresh and young and unblemished. But with the end of basketball, there's always something else exciting and new. Like long email chains that have been passed from computer to computer, picking up grease stains and unwanted pathogens. In honor of what we have to look forward to for six long months, I've posted one such email below. Enjoy. PS - Some of these are cute. And who doesn't like a well crafted insult? "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde "He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright "Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde 'He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.' - Abraham Lincoln A Member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease." "That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."