Sunday, March 31, 2013

Tournament WInds Down and Heats Up.

Last night the semi Cinderella Wichita State Shockers beat a pretty good Ohio State team and will make an appearance in the Final Four. I guess I will have to root for them. I wish Florida Gulf Coast, a true long shot if there ever was one, had held on and beaten the Gators to advance.

Not that it really matters. The title will go to Louisville this season. Mark it.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

And the Tournament Continues

I have watched quite a bit of the NCAA D1 basketball tournament this past week (along with a little CBI and women's tourney) and have come to the conclusion that Louisville is the team to beat. I have not watched Indiana though and some say they are a team that can easily earn the title. Time will tell...

After watching 16th seeded Southern give Gonzaga all they could handle the other day, it was no real surprise that Wichita State "shocked" us all by beating them in round two. Gonzaga is just not all that good.

Memphis and KSU are out. Again not a real surprise. I like both teams but don't think they are near in the same league with Louisville, Duke, Indiana or perhaps the Jayhawks of Kansas. Speaking of the Jayhawks, they have a tough one coming up with NC. Should be a good game.

Miami has not really been talked about so much. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because they are not typically a basketball "power" and are being overlooked? I wouldn't rule them out for an appearance in the final four.

It is a shame that SDSU and this years' Cinderella team; Florida Gulf Coast, have to meet next. I like both but only one of them will move on. My money is on the Aztecs.

There is quite a bit of talk about the "surprise" that is Oregon. They are doing a fine job thus far but no one is really saying much about the other 12th seed that is still in the game. Ole Miss is still there and they may be at their peak at this point. We will see if they can stay alive.

It would be fun if one of the non traditional power teams goes all the way this year.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Tournament Time

In my humble opinion the best play off in college sports is the NCAA basketball (baseball is pretty good also) tournament. Comes around about this time every year. As usual there are a few surprise teams in the mix and there are some that are certainly more deserving than others (and some left out that should be in) but, when compared to the travesty that is practiced in D1 football to produce a "national champion," well...........

This year I am going to pull for Memphis, KSU, Northwestern State, Ole Miss, WKU and whoever plays Duke, Georgetown, Illinois or Indiana.  I will be wishing ill on the Gators of course. Goes without saying.

The lower seeded teams, say 13 or below, usually don't stand much chance in the tournament but I am actually looking for St Mary's to knock of Memphis in the first round. As a Tiger fan, I would hate to see that happen, but believe there is a better than even chance. Gut feeling.  I do believe though that St. Mary's is actually an 11th seed. That is certainly not unprecedented.

There are other men's playoffs in progress. The NIT is the consolation tournament and some very good teams find themselves relegated when they should in reality be in the big boy tournament. It was nice to see Kentucky and FSU fall to lessor lights. I am going to pull for Louisiana Tech to take this one although think it unlikely.

There are also the CBI and CIT tournaments. Not sure really what the point is here. Quite a few teams with mediocre records at best. Texas. with a season losing record, comes calling tonight at Hofeinz Pavillion to take on the Houston Cougars. I suppose that I will go with the local squad to at least say they accomplished something this season and go all the way. Really these tournaments are just not worth any one's time but I suppose the kids want to keep playing and the die hard fans to keep rooting.  Why not?

It is easy to forget the lower divisions, NAIA, and women's tournaments also. Other than the D1 women's tournament there is so little coverage. The women's D1 tournament gets a good bit of play with the usual suspects; Baylor, Tennessee, UConn, Stanford, ND, and Duke in the mix. A couple of other teams may make a play. Texas Agriculture and LSU come to mind. I suppose I will pull for long shot Chattanooga in the Division I women's tournament.
I have always liked that town.

Have a good week and enjoy the games.

On a side note, I have again enabled the word verification for commenting. Sorry. The spam has been getting ridiculous of late.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Random Bull

I have not really had much to say of late. Have been rather busy, but mostly just have not been in the mood for much "blogging." Still not. Guess the "inspiration" will come to me soon and I will be motivated. Or not. Be that as it may, I suppose I will make a few observations this fine evening......


Recently I had business up near the metropolis of Hope, Ar. Not much there really but just north of I-30 the country gets rather hilly and worth looking at. A fisherman's paradise they say and I would believe it. There are numerous good sized lakes....On thing about this Hope is that it is the birthplace of Slick Willy, in fact there is a sign on the freeway advertising the "National Historic Site" that is the home of Clinton. I guess that is something. I suppose that Obama's birthplace sign in Honolulu would read something like "Alleged Birthplace of B. Obama/National Historic Site or "Birthplace of Barack Obama (Allegedly)."

This sequester thing is still in the news. A bunch of brouhaha over not much it seems. The administration has tried to scare the country with the falsehood that our national defense is compromised. That along with the release of criminal aliens is nothing more than grandstanding on the part of the administration. Cut what needs to be cut (a full 30percent of the federal workforce) and leave what is vitally important alone.

I wonder who Tony Larussa voted for in the Papal elections what with him being a Cardinal and all.  Are the ballots secret?

I suppose I will have to turn on my spam blocker again at some point. It is such a pain in the ass for those who wish to comment though but lately the spam has been out of control. A lot of it is about masturbation of late. As if I ever needed a lesson in that pastime.

This morning I happened to tune into MSNBC to see what was up on the "Morning Joe" show. Don't know why. About one minute into the segment there was footage of Palin drinking a giant soft drink. For whatever reason the bimbo on the show seemed to get rather angry and walked off the set. I suppose that this is the Brzezinski woman that ranted and raved the other day when a judge overturned some leftist facism over large soft drinks. Perhaps it was a different person...?

Morrissey, an entertainer, apparently boycotted the Jimmy Kimmel show recently over the scheduled appearance of the guys from the hit television show Duck Dynasty. Should have been no real big deal. The majority of the audience would rather see the old Duck guys than Morrissey anyway. Morrissey is dated news for most. I like the guy frankly or to be more accurate I like his music. He really only had one hit worth mentioning probably but he does have talent no doubt. His body of work (as they say) is rather impressive.
I don't watch (or not watch) a minstrel on television or film because of their politics and the same goes for a musical performer. I don't want to hear their views on various issues any more than I want to hear the views of the local green grocer. Do you?

I warned you I didn't have much to say. Enjoy some early Morrissey when he was the front man for The Smiths.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Party Bartender Available for Lawyer Funerals.

My thoughts have been on lawyers of late. Don't really know why. I have no current or upcoming legal issues (that I am aware of). Thankfully. I don't care much for lawyers even though I am fairly certain I would have been quite good. Having a conscience and being basically a non bastard, I would not have been able to work defending some major conglomerate that is in the business of screwing people over but, hey, that's just me.

Watching a good lawyer in action, like watching an accomplished actor, is entertaining and interesting. I, unfortunately, have had the opportunity of watching (and being on the receiving end) of a talented attorney ramming me and mine in an insurance dispute years back. He knew his business, was ruthless scum,  got the job done for his client and I certainly wanted to hit him in the mouth with a stick (as any lawyer should be now and again. Here and there as it might be).  My "co-attorneys?" He made them look like the bumbling buffoons that they were. Live and learn. When the need arises to hire trash, make darn sure that the trash is smart and cold bloodedly ruthless. I guess I should take this opportunity to point out that our adversary was Allstate Ins. Anyone who has been around for any length of time knows what they are about.

A friend of mine used to run a mid level catering firm in the area and I would help him out from time to time. At one point he took on a "team" of attorneys who were representing DOW Chemical against an older gentlemen whose health (and life) was (allegedly)ruined by some action or other on the part of the large conglomerate. They (the law firm) was paying top dollar for catering service (lunch and dinner) and my friend paid top wages (as far as such things go) to deliver, set up, and break down. I had some reservations about working with these people but did the job I was hired to do. Of course the legal mercenaries ran roughshod over the poor old dude. It wasn't a fair fight. Numerous (Yankee) attorneys, paralegals, and clerks setting up shop in one of the few decent hotels down Freeport, Tx. way against one old dude and his local yokel lawyer.

I'm pretty sure those corporate litigation attorneys didn't have trouble sleeping at night. They didn't seem like that kind of folk to me.

On a side note, during one dinner "set up" I did drop some rolls on the floor. No I didn't feed them the tainted fare. Crossed my mind perhaps..........How could it not?

This  professional bartender will come out of retirement at any time for a lawyer funeral. Chocolate fountain and DJ service available on request.