It would be fitting for me to write a blog about a sleeper team as most people are snuggled away in their beds, having March Madness nightmares. Flying brackets are coming at them at high speeds, with large seeds being planted deep in their membranes. Should I pick that upset? Should I keep this team in my Sweet 16?
Yes, you should pick that upset - that's what March Madness is for. And yes, keep them there - you're always better off going with your gut instinct with these things.
One team you shouldn't sleep on is one that practically fell asleep mid-season, but was fairly awake for the beginning part of the year along with wet dream games against Ohio State and Indiana. In fact, they lay claim as the only team in the tourney that can say they beat three of the top eight seeds in the tourney.
Yes - Illinois fits the role of the Cinderella. Will the shoe fit?
Beating the Big Boys
It fit when they traveled to Spokane in the early part of the year when they shot lights out against Gonzaga in a hostile environment. A month later, they never trailed in a blowout of Ohio State at home. Another month after that, a spirited second half comeback helped the Illini upset then No.1 Indiana.
Sure, they've had their clunkers (see: plenty of the Big Ten schedule, especially games against Northwestern at home and at Wisconsin). Not too often an 8-10 Big Ten team is worthy of a 7 seed in the tourney, but the Illini's strength of victory has to be considered when the bracket is put together.
This blog might be useless come Friday afternoon if they lay a dud against Colorado (possible). But the way Illinois has played this season, they feel like they are just as likely to advance to the Elite Eight as they are to lose in their first game.
Yes, I believe they can beat Colorado, Miami and their third opponent (whoever it may be). Hell, if Indiana is still standing at that point, I believe Illinois could beat them as well - they already proved earlier this year that they can play with them.
Track Record
Besides, let's not forget what their new coach John Groce did with mid-major Ohio last year, leading them into the Sweet 16 and taking top-seeded North Carolina to overtime before just missing a chance at an Elite 8 appearance.
When Illinois is playing at its peak, it has proven it can beat the top teams in the country. Here's to hoping, especially as an alumnus of the Fighting Illini, that they can find some of their early season magic, which led to a 12-0 start and win a string of games that can take them into the second weekend of the tourney and beyond.
I have Illinois losing to Indiana in the Elite Eight, for what it's worth. I might take a shot before the tourney starts at Illinois' 275/1 odds to win the tourney.
When they lose in the first round against Colorado, don't say I didn't warn you (and don't say I covered my ass by including this disclaimer - talking out of both sides of our ass is what writers/prognosticators do).
If the shoe fits....we shall see.
3/19/2013
Dos and Don'ts of March Madness Bracketing
Wanna be charged with a case of bracketeering?
Don't get on my bad side when it comes to filling out March Madness brackets. I'll point out the few types of folks that bother me the most.
(P.S. If you want to join my Yahoo bracket league, click on the following link and join: http://y.ahoo.it/Z7vBSl5l or just look up Group 12771 on Yahoo's Fantasy Sports Tournament Pick'Em page)
Don't Be The...
1. Guy Who Fills Out 10 Brackets...and then is bragging when one of them has an upset that occurred. If you want to fill out several brackets, that's cool. But one of your brackets has to be the master copy - the one which has what you think will actually happen, not every single upset possible just to brag when one of the 30 comes in.
2. Guy Who Picks a Square Bracket - Will each bracket feature a #1 vs. #2. in the regional final? Probably not. Will the top 4 seeds in each bracket make it to the Sweet 16? I'm going out on a limb and saying no. Please, please, please....don't be that guy who picks nothing but the highest seeds to advance in every round. Even if you're in a money pool, there's a handful of people already doing that, so you will need some variety to your picks.
3. Guy Who Picks Notre Dame over Montana in the NCAA Final: According to a friend of mine, he knows someone who has this match-up as the championship game of the tourney. If anyone does this in the groups I entered, I will say - thank you for your donation. At this point, you've probably picked so many upsets that winning the pool is completely unrealistic.
I'd be willing to donate a testicle to science if this is the NCAA final game.
On the other hand, you should be the....
1. Guy who has a handful of double digit seeds winning in the first full round. What fun is it to pick all the top seeds (1-8)?
And while we're at it, you should sprinkle in a few of these teams into the Sweet 16. Not all of them, but some of them.
2. Guy who has 1 or 2 #1 seeds in the Final Four. The likelihood of all 4 #1 seeds making the Final Four pays off at a 50/1 clip on 5dimes. On the other end, the likelihood of no #1 seeds making the Final Four is a 4/1 proposition - 12.5 times more likely to happen than all #1s. The best odds lie in 1 or 2 top-seeds to make the Final Four. My bracket fits this bill.
For what it's worth, the sportsbooks have the over/under of the total sum of all seeds in the Final Four to be at 12.5 - which my picks are slightly under that. I'll post some more of the fun props below.
3. Guy who has a top 3 seed winning the tourney. Realistically, the top 3 seeds are the best bet when determining who will be the champion. In the 30 previous Final Fours of my lifetime (including 1983), there have been only four teams who have been seeded 4th or higher that won the title, and none since Arizona as a 4 seed in 1997.
Many of you are entering pools when doing these brackets, so why not think over some of these tips when entering your brackets? I wish everyone the best of luck with their brackets. I will post my bracket on Thursday.
In the meantime, ponder some of these props that are on 5dimes:
I already have a bet from late last month on California to win the tournament at 225/1 odds - 15 to win 3750. I am considering some other long shots (Kansas State at 100/1 & Illinois at 275/1 are crossing my mind).
Don't get on my bad side when it comes to filling out March Madness brackets. I'll point out the few types of folks that bother me the most.
(P.S. If you want to join my Yahoo bracket league, click on the following link and join: http://y.ahoo.it/Z7vBSl5l or just look up Group 12771 on Yahoo's Fantasy Sports Tournament Pick'Em page)
Don't Be The...
1. Guy Who Fills Out 10 Brackets...and then is bragging when one of them has an upset that occurred. If you want to fill out several brackets, that's cool. But one of your brackets has to be the master copy - the one which has what you think will actually happen, not every single upset possible just to brag when one of the 30 comes in.
2. Guy Who Picks a Square Bracket - Will each bracket feature a #1 vs. #2. in the regional final? Probably not. Will the top 4 seeds in each bracket make it to the Sweet 16? I'm going out on a limb and saying no. Please, please, please....don't be that guy who picks nothing but the highest seeds to advance in every round. Even if you're in a money pool, there's a handful of people already doing that, so you will need some variety to your picks.
 |
| If your bracket looks like this, don't join my pool. Or any pool for that matter. Your brackets need a little variety and spice. |
3. Guy Who Picks Notre Dame over Montana in the NCAA Final: According to a friend of mine, he knows someone who has this match-up as the championship game of the tourney. If anyone does this in the groups I entered, I will say - thank you for your donation. At this point, you've probably picked so many upsets that winning the pool is completely unrealistic.
I'd be willing to donate a testicle to science if this is the NCAA final game.
On the other hand, you should be the....
1. Guy who has a handful of double digit seeds winning in the first full round. What fun is it to pick all the top seeds (1-8)?
And while we're at it, you should sprinkle in a few of these teams into the Sweet 16. Not all of them, but some of them.
2. Guy who has 1 or 2 #1 seeds in the Final Four. The likelihood of all 4 #1 seeds making the Final Four pays off at a 50/1 clip on 5dimes. On the other end, the likelihood of no #1 seeds making the Final Four is a 4/1 proposition - 12.5 times more likely to happen than all #1s. The best odds lie in 1 or 2 top-seeds to make the Final Four. My bracket fits this bill.
For what it's worth, the sportsbooks have the over/under of the total sum of all seeds in the Final Four to be at 12.5 - which my picks are slightly under that. I'll post some more of the fun props below.
3. Guy who has a top 3 seed winning the tourney. Realistically, the top 3 seeds are the best bet when determining who will be the champion. In the 30 previous Final Fours of my lifetime (including 1983), there have been only four teams who have been seeded 4th or higher that won the title, and none since Arizona as a 4 seed in 1997.
Many of you are entering pools when doing these brackets, so why not think over some of these tips when entering your brackets? I wish everyone the best of luck with their brackets. I will post my bracket on Thursday.
In the meantime, ponder some of these props that are on 5dimes:
| Thu 3/21 | 15743 All #1-#4 seeds in Final 4 | +173 | |||||
| 1:40PM | 15744 Any #5-#16 seed in Final 4 | -205 |
| Thu 3/21 | 15731 Exactly three #1-#3 seeds in Final 4 | +135 | |||||
| 1:40PM | 15732 Not exactly three #1-#3 seeds in Final 4 | -155 |
I already have a bet from late last month on California to win the tournament at 225/1 odds - 15 to win 3750. I am considering some other long shots (Kansas State at 100/1 & Illinois at 275/1 are crossing my mind).
Hawaii 5-0: 50 Awesome Things About the Aloha State
Rather than write an actual blog, I'm going to list 50 things about Hawaii that I like/reasons to visit Hawaii. It took me several days to write this blog. In no particular order, here we go:
1. 85 and sunny
2. Fresh pineapple
3. Running views like this:
4. Catamaran trips
5. Hearing waves crash in the night sky
6. Delicious local brew
7. Fruity drinks - not just for women and effeminate men. At least not in Hawaii. Shhhhh....
8. Last in the Union, but certainly not the least
9. Isolation - all by itself in the Pacific
10. Natives treat you like family
11. Pro sports start at 1pm local time - not sure I'd like NFL starting at 7am though.
12. Leis - how can you not feel welcomed after being greeted with one?
13. Exotic animals
14. Whale watching
15. Swimming year-round
16. No snow - ever (this isn't a selling point for me, but it should be for others)
17. Pearl Harbor
18. Hotel views like this:
19. Polynesian Cultural Center
20. Luaus
21. Hawaiian shirts - usually only associated with festive folks. I once embraced these shirts after becoming great friends with Jeremy Spencer. Now, only one Hawaiian shirt remains in my collection.
22. Being named Chief Bolek thanks to interaction with New Zealanders at #19
23. Paddleboarding - didn't do this activity, but I imagine it would be worth living in Hawaii for.
24. Being called "cousin" or "uncle" by people you don't even know. Goes back to #10
25. Running into random celebrities, like Donovan McNabb.
26. Poolside TVs
27. Leaving window open and hearing the waves as I fall asleep
28. Skydiving, 29. Sushi. 30. Snorkeling - I didn't try or have time to consume all of these activities, but all of the co-workers who did seemed to enjoy themselves when they did. I'll have to recommend on their behalf.
31. Leaving the work laptop from arm's length for the most part of the trip - it's so hard to remove myself from all of the technology that I use on a daily basis, especially as it is related to work. I recommend leaving all electronics in your room if you stay in Hawaii if at all possible
32. Making people jealous with continuous photos posted on social networks.
33. What good is a trip to Hawaii without awesome people to hang out with? Again, couldn't have enjoyed Hawaii without the great company of Tango2 folks.
34. No need to wear pants. I mean, still need to wear shorts...so don't get any ideas of turning Hawaii into a European beach.
35. Getting a ride from the cab service to the airport, having him apologize for the weather for the week, when only the initial arrival (a rare rain storm) was remotely bad. If that's as bad as you got, I'd like you to meet Ms. Chicago. Ms. Chicago, meet Honolulu....discuss.
36. Nothing but sandals. Everyone gets to see my unpedicured feet, with ten toes that have way too short of toenails. Too much information...I digress.
37. Time change where you can call your g/f before you go to bed, but after she wakes up from sleep for work. This happened once on the trip.
38. Participating in a volunteering event. We volunteered at a shelter, repainting the building's doors, sanding down tables and powerwashing the outside. The best thing about Tango2 - how we give back to the community.
39. Golf course - again, one of those things I didn't do. When driving by the course, it looked amazing. Perhaps it's my lack of golf playing in the past couple years.
40. Have you made it this far down the list? Gonna have to start making things up. I'll go with "Aloha". It's such a versatile word - "Hello", "Goodbye", "Love" are just some of its many upbeat meanings.
41. Greeted with a smile everywhere. Being on a resort area sure helps, but even off the resort area, people seemed happy. Hard not to be, as described by everything above.
42. The Naked Pirate. It's a drink, not what I'm dressing up for Halloween as (at least not in the plans). If you've never had the drink, it contains gin, rum and pineapple juice. I thought it'd be stronger than it was.
43. Plenty of reading time...in airplanes. There's no short path to Hawaii, so you'll have time to catch up on some book/magazine reading. I was able to start/finish a couple of books.
44. Seeing the oil still bubbling from the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Over 70 years later. Mind-blowing.
45. This book is worth your money if you visit Pearl Harbor gift shop (or if you want to buy it on Amazon):
46. A nice year-round tan, if that's your thing. Just make sure you carry sunscreen.
47. Tropical, casual clothes to work meetings.
48. Did I mention pineapple already? I did? It's worth mentioning twice.
49. And pineapple.....and....yeah.
and finally 50...something to look forward to when I come back to the mainland: a rose, a pineapple, and a pretty g/f.
 |
| Probably the best view from my hotel room. How can you not want to go to Hawaii? |
1. 85 and sunny
2. Fresh pineapple
3. Running views like this:
5. Hearing waves crash in the night sky
6. Delicious local brew
7. Fruity drinks - not just for women and effeminate men. At least not in Hawaii. Shhhhh....
8. Last in the Union, but certainly not the least
 |
| Delicious Kona beer |
9. Isolation - all by itself in the Pacific
10. Natives treat you like family
11. Pro sports start at 1pm local time - not sure I'd like NFL starting at 7am though.
 |
| Not even 10 mins off the plane and I got leied. |
13. Exotic animals
14. Whale watching
15. Swimming year-round
16. No snow - ever (this isn't a selling point for me, but it should be for others)
17. Pearl Harbor
 |
| And this isn't even the best view |
18. Hotel views like this:
19. Polynesian Cultural Center
20. Luaus
21. Hawaiian shirts - usually only associated with festive folks. I once embraced these shirts after becoming great friends with Jeremy Spencer. Now, only one Hawaiian shirt remains in my collection.
22. Being named Chief Bolek thanks to interaction with New Zealanders at #19
 |
| Before being named Chief - a dance that us Tango2ers were all in sync for |
23. Paddleboarding - didn't do this activity, but I imagine it would be worth living in Hawaii for.
24. Being called "cousin" or "uncle" by people you don't even know. Goes back to #10
25. Running into random celebrities, like Donovan McNabb.
26. Poolside TVs
27. Leaving window open and hearing the waves as I fall asleep
28. Skydiving, 29. Sushi. 30. Snorkeling - I didn't try or have time to consume all of these activities, but all of the co-workers who did seemed to enjoy themselves when they did. I'll have to recommend on their behalf.
31. Leaving the work laptop from arm's length for the most part of the trip - it's so hard to remove myself from all of the technology that I use on a daily basis, especially as it is related to work. I recommend leaving all electronics in your room if you stay in Hawaii if at all possible
32. Making people jealous with continuous photos posted on social networks.
33. What good is a trip to Hawaii without awesome people to hang out with? Again, couldn't have enjoyed Hawaii without the great company of Tango2 folks.
34. No need to wear pants. I mean, still need to wear shorts...so don't get any ideas of turning Hawaii into a European beach.
35. Getting a ride from the cab service to the airport, having him apologize for the weather for the week, when only the initial arrival (a rare rain storm) was remotely bad. If that's as bad as you got, I'd like you to meet Ms. Chicago. Ms. Chicago, meet Honolulu....discuss.
36. Nothing but sandals. Everyone gets to see my unpedicured feet, with ten toes that have way too short of toenails. Too much information...I digress.
37. Time change where you can call your g/f before you go to bed, but after she wakes up from sleep for work. This happened once on the trip.
38. Participating in a volunteering event. We volunteered at a shelter, repainting the building's doors, sanding down tables and powerwashing the outside. The best thing about Tango2 - how we give back to the community.
39. Golf course - again, one of those things I didn't do. When driving by the course, it looked amazing. Perhaps it's my lack of golf playing in the past couple years.
40. Have you made it this far down the list? Gonna have to start making things up. I'll go with "Aloha". It's such a versatile word - "Hello", "Goodbye", "Love" are just some of its many upbeat meanings.
41. Greeted with a smile everywhere. Being on a resort area sure helps, but even off the resort area, people seemed happy. Hard not to be, as described by everything above.
42. The Naked Pirate. It's a drink, not what I'm dressing up for Halloween as (at least not in the plans). If you've never had the drink, it contains gin, rum and pineapple juice. I thought it'd be stronger than it was.
43. Plenty of reading time...in airplanes. There's no short path to Hawaii, so you'll have time to catch up on some book/magazine reading. I was able to start/finish a couple of books.
44. Seeing the oil still bubbling from the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Over 70 years later. Mind-blowing.
 |
| Mitsuo Fuchida |
46. A nice year-round tan, if that's your thing. Just make sure you carry sunscreen.
47. Tropical, casual clothes to work meetings.
48. Did I mention pineapple already? I did? It's worth mentioning twice.
49. And pineapple.....and....yeah.
and finally 50...something to look forward to when I come back to the mainland: a rose, a pineapple, and a pretty g/f.
3/09/2013
The Big 3-0-0: Looking Back at What My Blog Was & What It Has Become
The blogs are starting to add up. Now serving #300.
I'm delighted to get to such a high number. When I first starting writing these in September 2010 under the blogger.com domain, I wasn't sure how long I'd be writing these for. Other attempts at maintaining blogs failed miserably. For the life of me, I can't remember the blog site that I wrote a couple dozen postings on during my college years, and I probably deleted most/all of the posts as I became more aware of the permanence of all things Internets. Then, Myspace entered the picture and I was able to share with everyone my emotion at the time of writing the blog as well as a song to go with it. I finally got around to deactivating my Myspace about a year ago.
I'm not even sure what got me writing again. I guess it was the easiest way for me to express my sports thoughts. It may have been out of boredom, not really sure. -My first blog set the tone somewhat for what was to come with this setting: a blog about sports, gambling, and uhhh, sports. From there, there was a fair share of immature, pointless blogs (kinda like this one). The blog after that was titled, "Florida: America's Wang." Classy, I know.
But I believe it has become a tad more mature and a lot more well-rounded. I've tackled some issues that have bothered me. I've had fun at my dad's expense, although I'm not sure where the picture for this blog went. I've tried to predict the past three seasons (including this season) of baseball, basketball and football, at a very low success rate. I believe the only prediction that's come close to being right was predicting Miami over OKC last year in the NBA Finals - didn't really take a brain surgeon for that.
I've also gotten political lately, starting with last year's SOPA madness that resulted in me writing a few letters to my local senators, even getting a nice response back from Mark Kirk. I won't bother linking the Dick Durbin one since, well...yeah. I also threw my support behind a president for the first time in my life. The last time I voted before 2012 was for John Kerry (as reluctantly as one could vote for someone), so these writings about Gary Johnson were refreshing to transcribe, as his beliefs align with my own about government's role in our lives and our society.
But what really took my blog into a new readership was the introduction into my online dating life. Based on the enormous views that I got from those blogs (three of my top 10 viewed blogs came from that seven-chapter series), there's nothing y'all like more than the juicy tidbits of single people's love lives. One of these top-viewed blogs comes from my date with the lovely and beautiful Jen, who I am still with to this day. One thing that came out of this blog series, outside of people being really curious with my love life, was the realization that my blogs about personal stuff (not the "what I ate for dinner" crap but more the "here's a fun new thing I'm trying out or a realization I've come to") were well-received and well-read. That doesn't mean I've abandoned my bread-and-butter which is sports, but I've kept that in mind while trying to balance the sports stuff with the fun, random life observations.
There's plenty of other things I could link up that I'm proud of writing, like my series on fans of out-of-town teams (I am looking to expand on that for next season - goal is to get at least 6-8 more fan bases represented). It was fun to get people to interact with me and make their stories come to life a little bit.
I originally titled this blog Hawaii 3-0-0, thinking I might end up writing about my pending Hawaii trip. As I've been known to do, I went off on a little tangent and ended up writing exactly one paragraph about it. Which reminds me, I created an urban dictionary word five years ago when hanging out with my cousin Frank. I found it as I was looking for the old blogging page that I used in 2004/2005. Here's the word, in case you are interested in looking at it: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tangentation.
Anywho, I hope you all continue to read my blogs, no matter the subject. I hope to come up with some new ideas for blogs in the near future, including some potential new series of blogs.
Thanks for reading. Hope you continue to read for another 300 more and beyond.
I'm delighted to get to such a high number. When I first starting writing these in September 2010 under the blogger.com domain, I wasn't sure how long I'd be writing these for. Other attempts at maintaining blogs failed miserably. For the life of me, I can't remember the blog site that I wrote a couple dozen postings on during my college years, and I probably deleted most/all of the posts as I became more aware of the permanence of all things Internets. Then, Myspace entered the picture and I was able to share with everyone my emotion at the time of writing the blog as well as a song to go with it. I finally got around to deactivating my Myspace about a year ago.
I'm not even sure what got me writing again. I guess it was the easiest way for me to express my sports thoughts. It may have been out of boredom, not really sure. -My first blog set the tone somewhat for what was to come with this setting: a blog about sports, gambling, and uhhh, sports. From there, there was a fair share of immature, pointless blogs (kinda like this one). The blog after that was titled, "Florida: America's Wang." Classy, I know.
But I believe it has become a tad more mature and a lot more well-rounded. I've tackled some issues that have bothered me. I've had fun at my dad's expense, although I'm not sure where the picture for this blog went. I've tried to predict the past three seasons (including this season) of baseball, basketball and football, at a very low success rate. I believe the only prediction that's come close to being right was predicting Miami over OKC last year in the NBA Finals - didn't really take a brain surgeon for that.
I've also gotten political lately, starting with last year's SOPA madness that resulted in me writing a few letters to my local senators, even getting a nice response back from Mark Kirk. I won't bother linking the Dick Durbin one since, well...yeah. I also threw my support behind a president for the first time in my life. The last time I voted before 2012 was for John Kerry (as reluctantly as one could vote for someone), so these writings about Gary Johnson were refreshing to transcribe, as his beliefs align with my own about government's role in our lives and our society.
But what really took my blog into a new readership was the introduction into my online dating life. Based on the enormous views that I got from those blogs (three of my top 10 viewed blogs came from that seven-chapter series), there's nothing y'all like more than the juicy tidbits of single people's love lives. One of these top-viewed blogs comes from my date with the lovely and beautiful Jen, who I am still with to this day. One thing that came out of this blog series, outside of people being really curious with my love life, was the realization that my blogs about personal stuff (not the "what I ate for dinner" crap but more the "here's a fun new thing I'm trying out or a realization I've come to") were well-received and well-read. That doesn't mean I've abandoned my bread-and-butter which is sports, but I've kept that in mind while trying to balance the sports stuff with the fun, random life observations.
There's plenty of other things I could link up that I'm proud of writing, like my series on fans of out-of-town teams (I am looking to expand on that for next season - goal is to get at least 6-8 more fan bases represented). It was fun to get people to interact with me and make their stories come to life a little bit.
I originally titled this blog Hawaii 3-0-0, thinking I might end up writing about my pending Hawaii trip. As I've been known to do, I went off on a little tangent and ended up writing exactly one paragraph about it. Which reminds me, I created an urban dictionary word five years ago when hanging out with my cousin Frank. I found it as I was looking for the old blogging page that I used in 2004/2005. Here's the word, in case you are interested in looking at it: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tangentation.
Anywho, I hope you all continue to read my blogs, no matter the subject. I hope to come up with some new ideas for blogs in the near future, including some potential new series of blogs.
Thanks for reading. Hope you continue to read for another 300 more and beyond.
3/07/2013
My Struggle to Get Interested in the Blackhawks and Hockey in General
 |
| Streak or not, the only way this season can end in true success for the Blackhawks is a reappearance of this Cup in city limits, at least in my eyes. |
 |
| Will this be on Chicago Theater in June 2013? |
 |
| A parade this time around could net about double the attendance. |
Hockey is a sport I wish I could get into, but I just can't. Maybe it's because the product translates poor to TV (at least to me). Maybe it's the lower scoring - although I'd disagree with that because I love me a 2-1 baseball game more than anyone I know.
I know I hate their way of distributing points in overtime/shootouts. The idea that a team can earn a point even when they lose the game seems absurd to me - a loss of any sort in any situation should not be rewarded, even if it comes in extra time. Think about it this way - would you want other sports to give losing teams credit for forcing overtime or extra innings and have weird baseball records like 78-72-12? Personally, I think the system before was just fine - maybe add about 5 minutes to overtimes and if it ends in a draw, so be it. To decide a winner on such an arbitrary process (the shootout) seems stupidly silly. Like my friend Jay said, it'd be like basketball ending in a free-throw contest (Dwight Howard vs. Blake Griffin could go on for days).
Perhaps me writing this much about hockey is actually a reflection of my inner-fan coming out - after all, why would I write this much about the problems I have with hockey if I didn't care. I don't think I'll ever be an active fan, which is a shame. Most of my close friends are big into the sport, and during these non-NFL months, it would bring me into the sports conversation for an extended period of time. At least long enough to pass the time until NFL comes around.
So to bury the lede - yes, I have noticed that the Blackhawks are on a historically sick run. Part of that has resulted in foolish decisions on my end, as I've bet against them a few times in this streak when a really high betting line presented itself. I think the streak is good for the NHL - hell, any positive coverage, even if portrayed by an ignorant hockey entity like ESPN, should be viewed as a good thing. With how bad a second lockout in ten years could have been for the sport, the NHL needs as much of this as they can. The longer this streak goes, the better it will be for them. This is somewhat comparable to what Cal Ripken's streak did for the MLB. Coming off of a strike in 1994, baseball needed a great story to attach itself to. And what a better story for them to come along than one that involves a sacred number (2,130) in a sport that attaches itself to sacred numbers.
As long as the Blackhawks continue to add to this streak, the NHL needs to do everything it can to promote it. Hockey has very little opportunities in the national spotlight and needs to capitalize on this so that they can turn casual fans like me (but not necessarily me - people who haven't experienced the sport) into lifelong fans. The long-time Blackhawks fans can bitch all they want about the bandwagon fans coming along for the ride, but I don't see the wagon getting any smaller anytime soon. With the old Wirtz in there, there was little reason for people to actually care about the Hawks - I give many props to those who toughed out those years as fans and stuck with them through the thinnest of thins.
As far as the bandwagon subject goes...To those long-time fans who complain about the bandwagoners, I say - Be open and accepting to their presence. Teach them about some of the nuances of the game (like explaining offsides, icing, etc.). As long as they are willing to become genuine fans of the Blackhawks and hockey in general, give them the respect you would want when you are learning about or finding interest in something for the first time. Besides, these fans aren't going anywhere.
 |
| As crazy as it seems, this crowd WILL be larger if there's a parade in 2013. |
3/01/2013
Fit Happens Chapter 4: Weight For It...How I Met Your Weight Loss Goals
Everybody loves (another) comeback story. It all starts circa November 2008.
Step 1: Decide to join a gym.
Step 2: Work out hard core for a 2-year period and lose 45 pounds. You become a running machine.
Step 3: Get a job where you work from home and start night class at the same time.
Step 4: Stop going to the gym. Plump up and regain a whole bunch of weight (and then some). You become a washing machine.
Step 5: Join weight loss contest with several friends in order to repeat/exceed results seen in Step 2.
Step 6: Don't repeat Step 4 - ever.
As I reside in Step 6, I have been complimented quite a bit about my decreased figure, including from some people who I wouldn't expect to notice such weight loss.
It's the beauty of changing ourselves for the better. Whenever a person decides to change something about themselves like quitting smoking or losing weight and they are successful for an extended period of time, his or her friends are quick to point out how much better they look (or in the case of smoking, congratulate them on the progress made in not smoking). Never mind the fact that you should have made better decisions about your diet or not started smoking in the first place - those people who focus on these things as a habit are not complimented nearly as much as they should be. We love comeback stories in sports, but it hits closer to home when the comeback is made by you or someone close to you.
(Editor's note: I had to edit some of the paragraph below because I wrote this story last night under the notion that I would be repeating as the monthly champ of Fit Happens. Since it didn't happen, I had to bite the bullet and edit it to the truth)
In the two months of the weight loss contest, I have already lost exactly 20 pounds (down to 215.6). I got a little ahead of myself by posting a picture of my weight after working out last night. I was so close to winning the first two months of the contest. It was something that I did not think was possible when entering the month. I figured that with all the weight I lost in January that I would have great difficulty going back-to-back. Nick took Month 2, but I am still on top of the overall leaderboard w/ 8.49%.
Now as far as the challenges ahead in March?
In the next chapter or so, I am going to try interviewing some of the other contestants to see their progress in this contest and what they have done to lose weight.
Step 1: Decide to join a gym.
Step 2: Work out hard core for a 2-year period and lose 45 pounds. You become a running machine.
Step 3: Get a job where you work from home and start night class at the same time.
Step 4: Stop going to the gym. Plump up and regain a whole bunch of weight (and then some). You become a washing machine.
Step 5: Join weight loss contest with several friends in order to repeat/exceed results seen in Step 2.
Step 6: Don't repeat Step 4 - ever.
As I reside in Step 6, I have been complimented quite a bit about my decreased figure, including from some people who I wouldn't expect to notice such weight loss.
It's the beauty of changing ourselves for the better. Whenever a person decides to change something about themselves like quitting smoking or losing weight and they are successful for an extended period of time, his or her friends are quick to point out how much better they look (or in the case of smoking, congratulate them on the progress made in not smoking). Never mind the fact that you should have made better decisions about your diet or not started smoking in the first place - those people who focus on these things as a habit are not complimented nearly as much as they should be. We love comeback stories in sports, but it hits closer to home when the comeback is made by you or someone close to you.
(Editor's note: I had to edit some of the paragraph below because I wrote this story last night under the notion that I would be repeating as the monthly champ of Fit Happens. Since it didn't happen, I had to bite the bullet and edit it to the truth)
In the two months of the weight loss contest, I have already lost exactly 20 pounds (down to 215.6). I got a little ahead of myself by posting a picture of my weight after working out last night. I was so close to winning the first two months of the contest. It was something that I did not think was possible when entering the month. I figured that with all the weight I lost in January that I would have great difficulty going back-to-back. Nick took Month 2, but I am still on top of the overall leaderboard w/ 8.49%.
| Dave | -16.0 lbs | -5.54 % |
| Hippo | -20.2 lbs | -8.18 % |
| LionEsquire | -18.6 lbs | -7.62 % |
| B-Bo Knows Weight Loss | -20.0 lbs | -8.49 % |
Challenge...Accepted:
As many of you have read in the previous blog, one of the challenges I set forth in February was not consuming any alcohol in the month of February after the Super Bowl. I am proud to say that I easily succeeded in this task. In addition to the happenings in Fit Happens Chapter 3, I had a few other times where drinks were present and I was really tempted. The last such instance was at Twin Anchors Ribs (great ribs), where a 40 minute wait meant that I had to stand like a sardine in a can while watching a bunch of people drink what I assumed was sweet, delicious craft beer out of the tap.
In addition to halting my alcohol consumption to nil, I have also increased the intensity of my workouts. It was my goal this month to be able to run on the treadmill for 3-4 miles by the end of the month, which I was able to do. I would have like to have worked out a few more times (I worked out 14 of the 28 days of the month - aiming for 100 gym visits during the 6 month contest), but the important thing is getting my ass motivated to the gym.
The diet has improved a little. A lot less snacking and eating/ordering out, more home-cooked meals. I ordered Pat's Pizza (the South Loop version) only once, which is a rare thing for me. I've only had Pat's twice in the current calendar year. If you've ever had their thin crust pizza, you'd know how easy it would be to down an entire pizza by yourself - ok, maybe not you, maybe the November, chubbier version of me would know.
I expected that losing 4-to-6 pounds was the realistic goal for this month, given (1) the fewer days in February and (2) the weight loss plateaus that come after a month or two of working out. Luckily, the combination above really worked in my favor, and I am happy to say that I exceeded this goal by a pound.
 |
| Not as light as the picture posted Thursday night, but still a 7 pound weight loss for February (exactly 20 lost overall) |
Sandcastles in the Sand
Now as far as the challenges ahead in March?
- Hawaii: Have I mentioned I am going to Hawaii for work this month? Oh....yeah. I'm going to Hawaii this month. Yeah, awesome. As far as my weight loss project goes, I hope I don't have to put it on hold while I am here. I know the idea of all expenses paid will make drinking tempting. I don't think it'll be much of a problem, but it does present its temptations. I'm hoping there's a gym I can work out there at least a few times.
- March Madness: Per my usual doings, I am taking off for the March Madness tourney. This has presented itself as an ugly convergence of gambling and beer in my recent past. Again, I believe my self-control is much better than before, so I should be ok. I may need to work out a little harder in the days to follow the first two days of the tourney.
- St. Patty's: Actually, this day shouldn't be a problem. I've never gotten into the spirit of this "holiday". In fact, I mostly despise it thanks to an incident involving my brother nearly getting ran off the road on the day of the Parade (that story is for another day).
Clap Bet
Now that the second month of the "contest" is over - which at this point has served its purpose and then some for all involved - I am looking to continue the weight loss and have adjusted my goals slightly based on the results of the first few months. Here are a few of the things I am cheering for myself to accomplish in the next four months and beyond:
- One of my original goals was to get under 200 pounds by the end of the contest. That still remains a goal, but I'd like to take it a step further and say I'd like to get under 195 (possibly to 190) by the end of June.
- I am looking to run a race at some point during this contest. I have a variety of races to choose from, but may be limited in my choices. The Shamrock Shuffle is in April and is an 8K. I'm not sure if I will be in the shape I'd want to be in to run an 8K. Even when I was back in shape in 2010, I was not running 8K or more outside of my intense 7.5 mile treadmill runs.
Other races I am looking to run: United Run for the Zoo at Lincoln Park and/or the Warrior Dash. Unfortunately, the latter requires me to race in the very first heat of runners, likely by myself since the group of friends I would like to go with are racing the next day. I'd be racing that day if it wasn't for a work conference in Florida I am going to that day.
The likely race to run is the Run for the Zoo. If anyone wants to join me for this, please let me know. By then, I believe I will be in 8 minute-mile shape. - Of course, one of my goals is a "No shit, Sherlock" goal: I am looking to win this contest. But I feel all of us agree that the weight loss contest was more of a motivating technique, a means to an end, to change behaviors that needed to be changed. I am delighted that the four of us have been keeping in constant contact during the two months, sharing our positive stories, motivating each other and congratulating certain milestones reached. Everyone has lost a significant amount of weight so far. At this pace, no one will have to worry about any of the detrimental sides of the bet (like changing avatars/gamer tags or wearing a dress to dinner with the guys).
- I am still looking to get to the gym 100 times in the 6 months. I have gone 28 times in the first 59 days of the year, meaning I have to average 18 visits to the gym per month the rest of the contest. If I am able to do that, I believe all of the goals above will be achievable.
In the next chapter or so, I am going to try interviewing some of the other contestants to see their progress in this contest and what they have done to lose weight.
I hope you enjoyed the latest legen.....wait for it.....dary Fit Happens chapter.
2/27/2013
No Comments: Why Most Websites Should Shut Down Commenting Sections
When opening up a website to read a story or watch a video, or hell, even an up-and-coming blog, you'll often see a comment section at the bottom of the page. It can be tied to people's Facebook pages or simply just a stand-alone comment section.
If all you do is read the comments section of pages, you are likely among those people who think the world is going to hell or already there. With the exception of a handful of people, most commentators on websites are complete morons.
In most web stories that allow commenting, the items posted usually end up devolving into very polarizing, ignorant, and absolute statements. I'm convinced that any story or video posted on the web that allows commenting can eventually become an argument about race, gender, religion, politics or sexuality.
A story about bubble gum? A couple comments down, you could get into an argument about abortion.
A lost dog? "Your" a racist.
The music industry failing? "F- you, you liberal piece of shit".
These particular examples might be made up - at least I believe I made them up. But if you look closely at the comments posted on the stories you read, your IQ will go down about 10-15%. And many of them may be on innocent stories like the topics I mentioned above - which have nothing to do with the t
Very little is gained from a comments section. I can understand why my friend Nick closed it off on his site (www.berserkhippo.com), even though I don't know how much spam/stupid comments he would get if he had it open.
The comments section on my blog is usually empty. When it's not, it's usually filled with coherent information that doesn't look like it was crafted at a junior high Klan meeting. I appreciate my audience and feel that they can comment on stories as they wish - and I look to respond to those folks as soon as possible. I would not hesitate to shut that function off if I felt like morons were taking over my blog with their ignorance. So to reiterate, this commenting beef is not with my folks - my comment people are great.
It's all the other sites, the sites that lend themselves to massive amounts of views and clicks. I believe many of these sites would benefit to go the way of my friend Nick and get rid of their commenting sections. Very little is gained from their presence on stories posted on Yahoo or some newspaper chain.
I hope that the people who randomly comment on stories here keep commenting, because they're usually well-versed folks. If I have to start moderating moronic comments, that may be the day I heed the advice I'm giving to the news conglomerates and shut down the ability to comment.
Added after blog post: looks like I already wrote a similar blog in July 2011. I guess this can happen from time to time when one is nearing 300 total blogs. The same moronic things are cyclical apparently.
If all you do is read the comments section of pages, you are likely among those people who think the world is going to hell or already there. With the exception of a handful of people, most commentators on websites are complete morons.
In most web stories that allow commenting, the items posted usually end up devolving into very polarizing, ignorant, and absolute statements. I'm convinced that any story or video posted on the web that allows commenting can eventually become an argument about race, gender, religion, politics or sexuality.
A story about bubble gum? A couple comments down, you could get into an argument about abortion.
A lost dog? "Your" a racist.
The music industry failing? "F- you, you liberal piece of shit".
These particular examples might be made up - at least I believe I made them up. But if you look closely at the comments posted on the stories you read, your IQ will go down about 10-15%. And many of them may be on innocent stories like the topics I mentioned above - which have nothing to do with the t
Very little is gained from a comments section. I can understand why my friend Nick closed it off on his site (www.berserkhippo.com), even though I don't know how much spam/stupid comments he would get if he had it open.
The comments section on my blog is usually empty. When it's not, it's usually filled with coherent information that doesn't look like it was crafted at a junior high Klan meeting. I appreciate my audience and feel that they can comment on stories as they wish - and I look to respond to those folks as soon as possible. I would not hesitate to shut that function off if I felt like morons were taking over my blog with their ignorance. So to reiterate, this commenting beef is not with my folks - my comment people are great.
It's all the other sites, the sites that lend themselves to massive amounts of views and clicks. I believe many of these sites would benefit to go the way of my friend Nick and get rid of their commenting sections. Very little is gained from their presence on stories posted on Yahoo or some newspaper chain.
I hope that the people who randomly comment on stories here keep commenting, because they're usually well-versed folks. If I have to start moderating moronic comments, that may be the day I heed the advice I'm giving to the news conglomerates and shut down the ability to comment.
Added after blog post: looks like I already wrote a similar blog in July 2011. I guess this can happen from time to time when one is nearing 300 total blogs. The same moronic things are cyclical apparently.
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