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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Car Racing, Ice Cream and Fat Bastards

Last week's NASCAR racing was pretty interesting. Not a big fan of NASCAR (I prefer open wheel) but, like the Super Bowl, it is somehow un American not to tune in to the Daytona 500 for a least a while. I actually attended the race back in 81 or 82, and watched from the infield no less. I don't remember much about the race, couldn't tell you who won, but I do remember that there were such things to be seen that rivaled some of the things I have seen the numerous time I went to Mardi Gras. Not that there is anything wrong with that mind.
The wreck that occurred in the  preliminary race the day before the big event was something. It is by the grace of God that no one, driver or spectator, was killed in that one. Pretty impressive wreck to be sure. Predictably there are now some who are wanting to make things "safer" in NASCAR. Even more predictably there are those do gooders who would really want to do away with the entire sport for various reasons. Perusing various message boards, I came across those who actually want close down racing because of the "fuel it wastes." People like that can be discounted as ignorant asses of course but I don't know how one would make car racing a risk free sport. Jayhawk billsandiego.blogspot.com points out that blocking is forbidden in Indy racing and perhaps should be banned in NASCAR also. Makes sense. Other than that I don't see what else can be done to make the sport any safer.
In just about any sport there is a least a little bit of risk to fans. Someone can get bonked in the head by a baseball or broken bat and I believe a few years back a young woman was unfortunately killed by a hockey puck that went over the partition. It is rare that these things happen but there is a slight risk of injury just rolling out of bed in the morning. Oh, almost forgot, I did once see video where a bull got loose in the stands during a bullfight somewhere and I hate to admit that I found it rather amusing. Nothing is completely safe.

I have never met a person that did not like at least some sort of ice cream or other. Never. I'm sure someone exists somewhere that dislikes the frozen dessert but I have never met them. Every part of the country it seems has some sort of regional premium brand that they tout to be the best there is. Down this way one claims to be "the best ice cream in the country." It is very good no doubt but that is a pretty big claim. Up Arkansas way there is Yarnells and I would certainly put it against Blue Bell anytime. How could I think otherwise? I am, after all, a Southeastern Conference man (yes I know the Aggies are now in the SEC). In the last few years there have been some premium "store brands" that are, to me, every bit as good as the top shelf brands. At least one grocery chain has their own plant and do not contract out the manufacture of their product. Needless to say it is somewhat cheaper (not much) than their premium competitors and there no difference in the quality as far as I can tell.
It would probably be an impossible task to determine just which ice cream really holds the title of "best in the country." I wouldn't mind taking on the assignment of trying to find out though. This leads me into the next item of interest.......

They say that the United States is a nation of fat bastards. I have to agree frankly. The "American diet" is chock full of fatty and unhealthy foods, many of which have been manipulated to our detriment by "food" manufacturers. There may be more than one reason behind the explosion of heaviness that is epidemic in this country and it might have not so much to do with the type food we eat, but rather the frequency in which we eat unhealty fare. Most folk can eat pizza and burgers from time to time without any detrimental affect on their girth, but when that is the staple of the diet......Won't be long before you are a member of the fat bastard club sure.
Why then do people tend to consistently eat unhealthy foods? It could be that it is a matter of convenience which goes hand in glove with the trends that American society has taken in the past few decades. It is darn hard for most households to have anything worth a damn unless both adults are working. For the most part in the "nuclear family" (whatever that is) both the mother and father have to have some sort of income to live above the subsistence level. When mom and dad are coming home from work it is easier to stop by for a pizza, etc. than to go home and prepare a decent meal. In some homes it might be ten pm or later when everyone has finally eaten and gotten ready to wind down for the day. I would submit that the demands of society are a major cause of the the United States becoming a nation of fat bastards.

What is the solution to the girth problem? Fuck if I know. Really don't much care either. I do know that it is not "banning" fast foods and sanctioning those who are in the industry. That is truly un American and should not even an option in a free society but then those who are advocates (Michelle and Michael B) of such action can't really call themselves American.
Can they?

  Enjoy some racing and ice cream related Rule 5.

Computer Hacking and Red China

Red China's military (PLAN) has been accused by some in the U.S. of mass attacks on critical American computer networks of late. I believe that even Coca Cola alleges they have been victimized (attacked). Interesting. Is this what low intensity conflict between (developed and developing) nations has come down to? Not as violent (yet) as sending various Mohammedans to meet the virgins but.....

Is computer espionage and "hacking" with evil intent an act of war? I would imagine that some Iranians believe it to be just that. The "worm" that did some damage to the nuclear ambitions of the Islamic Republic originated somewhere (Israel and the U.S. allegedly) and reportedly slowed down Iranian progress in the nuclear field. In this particular instance, no one rational should have had any problem with warfare conducted in this manner. Probably a rather benign prelude to real fireworks in this case but the computer assault may have delayed the inevitable for a bit. Another subject perhaps...

The Red Chinese attacks are a different matter entirely. At some point in time (perhaps even now), China may have the capability to do real damage. Not talking about stealing secrets from some under secured business' computer system (although that is damaging enough), but real damage to the American infrastructure. When the power grid and communication systems are compromised with the net result of shutting our society down (until the warrior geeks sort it out), we will then know that computer warfare is real warfare.


Actually the ball is in our court here. China needs the U.S. much much more than we need them. They are dependent on our market (and to some extent our traitorous corporate types who offshore American jobs to mainland China), and they are owed God knows how much "money" from this nation.
If push comes to shove, this political class of this country could just decide that what is owed to Communist China is so much toilet tissue and that all American manufacturers are to cease doing business in that country forthwith.

Neither will happen of course what with our political leaders being globalists and weaklings. What to do then? Turn about is fair play. It is probable anyway that the game that China is playing against us is the same game we are playing against them.

One thing of note about this (rather) new form of warfare. It can be played by those who are militarily incompetent or lack capability. It would not be a surprise if many third world nations (Russia, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa  etc. etc.) are in the computer espionage and warfare business in a big way.

This new type of warfare has not yet led to a real shooting war. There is a first time for everything.