You Call It Madness, But I Call It Love....pt. 2

I realized the other day that I have been seriously neglecting my hockey posts lately. To be honest, I've not paid a whole lot of attention this season to the comings and goings of the NHL, especially since my beloved Caps are kinda struggling. So I was bound and determined to make today's post about something hockey-related.

But, really, who am I kidding? It's March Madness people!

On Sunday night, after a wild weekend of conference tournament finals, the field of 68 was announced. It seems like just yesterday I was commenting on Midnight Madness, and yet...here we are. With three of the top four seeds losing in their conference tournaments, I have a feeling that the term "madness" is going to be absolutely apt for the next few weeks.

In every bracket there are some obvious picks to make a deep run, but here are my thoughts on a few "sleepers" to watch for:

SOUTH REGION

The VCU Rams may have lost some key talent from last year's Final Four team, but the CAA champ is once again poised to make a run in the tournament. The Rams, led by phenom coach Shaka Smart, employ a "havoc defense" that forced Drexel to commit 17 turnovers in the CAA championship game. This could cause problems for unsuspecting teams.

VCU Rams

Speaking of unsuspecting, the Colorado Buffaloes may be on the verge of something special. Winning a conference title in just their first year of a weak PAC-12, the Buffs certainly don't have an easy draw in the tournament. If they make it past the Runnin' Rebels of UNLV, Colorado will face a highly ranked Baylor Bears squad. This team is on a roll, though, and momentum can be a very powerful thing.

Meanwhile, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have the distinction of being the only team to hand Syracuse a loss in regular season play. While the Irish don't necessarily burn up the court with fire power, they tend to lull their victims opponents into a stupor with long possessions and smart shot selections. Look for junior forward Jack Cooley to be a big playmaker against Xavier, and Notre Dame's defense to be too much for Duke.

WEST REGION

I don't particularly see a whole lot of upsets happening in this part of the bracket, but I do think someone other than a 1 or 2 seed can take the region.



Murray St. Racers

 One of those teams may be the Louisville Cardinals, who defeated Cincinnati to win the Big East tournament championship. The Cards can be schizophrenic, but junior Peyton Siva and seniors Kyle Kuric, Chris Smith, and Jared Swopshire can be brilliant when they want. Also? Never count out a Rick Pitino-coached squad.

America shouldn't count out Murray St., either, even though the talking heads have been poo-pooing them all season. At 30-1, the Racers actually bring the best record into the tournament and, unlike Syracuse and Kentucky, managed to win their conference tournament title.

MIDWEST REGION

Michigan Wolverines

The weakest of all the regions, in my opinion, the Mid-West might be a free-for-all. Although one of my late season favorites South Florida should be able to play its way into the field of 64, it's the Bulls' second round opponent Michigan Wolverines that could possibly shake things up. John Beilein's team has been playing consistently well all season, beating both conference foes Michigan State and Ohio State during regular season play (let's just forget about that 22 point loss to the Buckeyes this past weekend, mmmkay?). A Beilein squad is always dangerous come tourney time for teams who have little time to prepare against his complex offensive schemes and disrupting 1-3-1 defensive sets.

The Wolf Pack from NC State might also be a dangerous contender. The Pack lost a close game to North Carolina in the ACC semi-finals, and they seem to be peaking at a good time. Don't let the fact that they were the last team to hear their name called fool you....NC State, led by all-tournament selection C.J. Leslie, are a very possible sweet sixteen team.

EAST REGION

The east region has so many possibilities, that I'm excited just thinking about it. Let's start with the winner of the Vanderbilt/Harvard match-up. The Commodores just came off a THRILLING victory over number one overall seed Kentucky to win the SEC Championship, while the Ivy League champ Crimson have impressive victories over Boston College and ACC Tournament Champ Florida State.

Montana Grizzlies

Even more exciting might be the possibility of the Montana Grizzlies. The Big Sky champs only lost one game in conference, and they haven't lost in nearly two months.

But perhaps the MOST exciting is the possibility of my beloved Mountaineers. I know I'm going to sound like a homer, but hear me out: WVU, while only a 10 seed, managed to pull a first/second round site of Pittsburgh, giving them virtually a home court. If the Mountaineers can get past a pesky Gonzaga squad, they should play up to a very, very good Ohio State team. After that, it might be smoother waters, with a possible rematch against conference foes Cincinnati and Syracuse. WVU beat the Bearcats and, if not for a very controversial call, might have beaten the Orange in regular season play.

So, March Mad Hatters....who do you think might have the ability to wear a Cinderella slipper? Do you think that Kentucky will win it all, or will some other school take the crown? Let me know!

Oh, and....I'll probably bring you something hockey-related next week. Probably.

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2021 Eastern Conf. Final Preview

Happy Friday everyone! First off, let me issue a mea culpa for disappearing from your lives. I had a verrrryyy exciting weekend, and it turns out my poor system couldn't handle it. I think this may be a sign that I should get out more. Or, perhaps it's a sign that I shouldn't eat crab-stuffed salmon that's been sitting uncooked in a car ride from DC to WV. Either way, I'm back, I've missed you, and I hope you feel the same!

Part of the aforementioned weekend was a trip to the Verizon Center to watch the Washington Wizards take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since a friend of mine works for the Cavs organization, and my bud Julia had never been to a professional basketball game, I figured there was no time like the present to kill two birds with one stone. I now present to you a diary of our NBA excursion.

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Saturday, 4:30 p.m.: Jules and I arrive at the Washington Plaza Hotel after a lovely afternoon of shopping in Georgetown. I soon discover that Jules cannot hold her sugar, as she has gone into some sort of system shock following a delicious frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity 3. 

Frozen Hot Chocolate, you hurt so good.

Saturday, 5:00 p.m.: I'm starting to get concerned, as Jules is still lying on her bed with a slightly glassy expression. I'm not sure if I'm going to have to throw water on her or what, but I'm beginning to panic that we're not going to make it to the game.

Saturday, 5:10 p.m.: "JULIA...WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? GET UP! WE HAVE TO GO!!!" I'm pacing and calculating how fine of a line there is between concerned friend and raging bitch.

Saturday, 5:30 p.m-5:45 p.m..: We finally make it out of our hotel room and catch a cab to the Verizon Center, where we quickly walk in the direction of Jaleo, Jules's favorite Spanish Tapas restaurant.

Saturday, 5:48 p.m.: We see Jaleo boarded up, with a sign saying "Coming Soon! A Brand New Jaleo!"

Saturday, 5:49 p.m.: Julia makes us walk even closer to confirm that her favorite restaurant is indeed shut down, and we've just wasted ten minutes.

Saturday, 5:50 p.m.: I suggest that we check out the other Spanish Tapas restaurant in the vicinity, La Tasca, which is located directly across from the arena.

Saturday, 6:00 p.m- 6:50 p.m..: We waltz inside, get seated immediately, and devour delicious sangria and tapas selections. This proves my Spanish restaurant is clearly superior to Julia's. The fact that hers is boarded up is irregardless.

Saturday, 6:55 p.m.: We join a queue of people waiting in line outside the Verizon Center. Why there is a line, I don't know. I'm concerned people don't realize they're going to a Wizards game.

Saturday, 7:05 p.m.: We finally make it in the building and to our seats just as the National Anthem is ending. Our seats happen to be located about ten rows behind the Cavalier bench, giving us an ample view of both the court and the who's who of the Washington elite (spoiler: it's not Jack Nicholson, Spike Lee, Leonardo DiCaprio, or anyone remotely fun).

Saturday, 7:15 p.m.: Now settled, I begin to sort of pay attention to what's going on in the game. Entering the contest, the Wizards sported a whopping 8-28 record. Meanwhile, the Cavs stood at 13-22. I'm perplexed as to which juggernaut will come out victorious.

Saturday, 7:40 p.m.: Not sure what exactly the motivation was, but the Wizards' Jordan Crawford and the Cavs' Antawn Jamison (formerly Mr. Wizard himself) seem to be having a personal scoring battle.

Saturday, 7:45 p.m.: Jules and I have now fully noticed how one of the DC Capital Game Crew has an extraordinary amount of energy, making us feel simultaneously bad about ourselves and intrigued as to what sort of kool-aid he was drinking.

Saturday, 8:00 p.m.: Half time. Cavs are leading 55-50. A city-wide dance squad comes out to perform, causing Julia to squeal like a bride on her wedding day. I'm now fairly sure she's still riding a bit of her sugar high.

Now is also a good time to air a grievance. Before coming to the game, I was entertained by a story where my cousin and her family had gone to a Wizards/Cavs game and sat in a similar spot. Turns out they ended up sitting next to Washington Caps superstar Alexander Ovechkin. The family next to me was lovely, but definitely no Russian millionaire hockey player. I cry foul.

Saturday, 8??? p.m.: 3rd period. Jordan Crawford and Antawn Jamison continue their scoring battle. John Wall and Kyrie Irving occasionally get into the act. I wonder if John Wall still does the John Wall.

Saturday, 8??? p.m.: Early 4th quarter. The Wizards take 79-78 lead. Suddenly the game gets exciting.

See that guy looking at me? Facebook asked if I wanted to tag him as my friend. I think that's called stalking.

Saturday, 8??? p.m.: With 3 and a half minutes left, Washington extends its lead to 10. Cleveland's Kyrie Irving (and number one draft pick) goes into psycho robot mode, scoring eight points.

Saturday, 8??? p.m.: 6 seconds left. The crowd is now on their feet. John Wall misses the second of his free throws, keeping it a 3 point game.

Saturday, 8??? p.m.: Cleveland's Anthony Parker misses the tie-ing 3 pointer at the buzzer. WIZARDS WIN! WIZARDS WIN??? WIZARDS WIN!

Fast forward a few days....

Wednesday, March 7th: Wizards: 106, LA Lakers 101. I feel like my presence has blessed Washington, and they are now well on their way to the 2012 NBA Championship. If you care about the Wizards, then you are most welcome.


Images provided by the Sportsonista.

This Ain't My First Rodeo......

Today's Friday fun post will be about professional bull riding.

Just kidding. Although...my first "lifelong" goal was to ride a mechanical bull. True story.


Regardless, I'm putting on my spurs and cowboy hat to do a round-up of all the sports tidbits that I've been neglecting to bring you since last week. I apologize for the little break, but sometimes life just gets in the way. Like planning your world domination.. Or being lazy.

So, without further ado, here's what you I  we missed:

Last Friday I talked about my excitement for the NBA All-Star special events, specifically the slam dunk contest.  After faithfully tuning in Saturday night, I realized that they just don't make them like they used to. Or maybe they do, and we as a people have too high of expectations. I mean, is it really too much to ask for a dunk after jumping off some sort of wild animal? I think not.

Now this? Would be awesome.

(Incidentally, Utah's Jeremy Evans won the contest. Evans was a late replacement for New York's Iman Shumpert, so that should tell you something about the quality of the contest)

Speaking of the All-Star weekend, the actual main event was fairly uneventful....except for Lakers star Kobe Bryant getting his nose broken by Miami's Dwayne Wade. Ummmm, D. Wade? You know this game didn't mean anything, right? We all think Kobe is an a-hole, but save it for when it counts, mmmkay?

In addition to the All-Star hoopla, this weekend was also the running of the Daytona 500. Or it was supposed to be, anyway. For the first time EVER, the event was rained out of its Sunday time slot and was pushed back to Monday afternoon. Then Juan Pablo Montoya slid his car into a vat of 800 liters of jet fuel, causing the track to erupt in flames. And if that wasn't ridiculous enough, racing champs Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon finished 42nd and 40th, respectively.

Was Adele there, setting fire to the rain????

According to a recent CBSsports blog post by Gregg Doyel, my spomance fav Bob Knight isn't having quite the same love affair with the University of Kentucky. In fact, supposedly Knight's distaste for Head Coach John Calipari is so great that he refuses to mention Kentucky or star player Anthony Davis when discussing top teams and players, respectively.

Another coach not feeling the love? UCLA's Ben Howland, who was reported this week in Sports Illustrated to be the reason behind the Bruins' recent decline. The program, which once made three consecutive runs to the Final Four in the late 2000s, is now ruled by party-crazy, rebellous players.

Finally, Jeremy Lin continued to be "Lin"sane by helping lead the Knicks to a thrilling come-from-behind victory Wednesday night against the Cavaliers. Down 61-49 at the half, many were wondering what the heck had happened to the seemingly revitalized Knicks. Well, like Stella, New York certainly got its groove back in the 3rd and 4th quarters, outscoring Cleveland by 29. For his contribution, Lin had 19 points and 13 assists.

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So, I don't know if you lasted more than 8 seconds reading these tidbits, but I hope you enjoyed. See ya on the flip side!

Images provided by solecollector, animals.m-y-d-s, and storage.canoe.

Slammer (Dunk) Time

Remember when I said how much I hated the NBA and rarely watched a game, except in those special circumstances of husband hunting and the Slam Dunk Contest?

Well, this weekend is one of those circumstances. And no, it's not the husband hunting one.

The 2012 All-Star game in Orlando is upon us, which means that the 2012 Slam Dunk Contest is also just 'round the corner. Tomorrow, Chase Budinger (Houston), Paul George (Indiana), Jeremy Evans (Utah), and Derrick Williams (Minnesota) will vie to take this year's slam dunk title.

The outrageous and always entertaining event probably draws in more viewers (ahem, moi) than the actual All-Star game. Cause let's be real...would you rather watch Blake Griffin jump over a car or watch bazillionaires play in a scrimmage that means nothing? That's what I thought.

To get you in the mood, here are some of my all-time favorite dunks. Enjoy!

5. 2006- Andre Iguodola's Behind-the-Back dunk

Though he didn't win that year, Iguodola's perfect score dunk was spectacular. The jump before he took the ball around his back? Crazy Town!

4. 2000- Vince Carter- "It's Over"

In what some consider to be the best performance EVER by a slam dunk contestant, Vince Carter finished off his title winning show with a between-the-legs dunk, assisted by teammate Tracy McGrady. Best part? Carter mouthing "It's Over". And it was.

3. 2009- Nate Robinson- 3 Time Champ

Robinson is the all-time champion of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and it's easy to see why. Always innovative, Robinson stepped it up against foe (and dunking partner in crime) Dwight Howard to take the title in 2009. Keep in mind....Robinson is 5'9". Howard is 6'11".

2. 2007- The Sticker Dunk

Oh, Dwight Howard, you were robbed in the 2007 contest. Howard's dunk was deceptively simple....until you realized he put a sticker with his face on it at the very top of the backboard. Still my favorite. Of. All. Time.

and finally....

1. 1988- Michael Jordan's "Legendary" dunk

The myth and legend himself earned a 50 to win the Slam Dunk contest in 1988. Jordan's take-off from the free throw line is the image we all see in our minds when we think of the superstar. When your dunk becomes your signature, you know it's the best!

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And while we're on the subject of dunks, quick shout out and props to Shepherd University Men's Basketball coach Justin Namolik, who was clearly having a slam dunk contest of one this past Wednesday. 

               

See Worthy

Last week I wrote about how enamored I was of fashionfinder on asos. Then I discovered Polyvore.

Thus was the beginning of a torrid love affair. I know, I'm a terrible person and a cheat. But I'm ok with that.

Anyhoo, not only is polyvore awesome for providing templates, backgrounds, magazine articles, etc to create looks, but it also lets you post directly to your blog. Formatted and everything! It's like a fashion blog fairy. J'adore!!!!!!

Spring Training Fever

It's nearing the end of February, and that means one thing:

Spring training is in full swing my friends.

Yep, in Florida and Arizona, your favorite MLB teams are gearing up for the 2012 season. A season which is 43 days away, in case you were wondering.

Also? Who here doesn't think spring officially starts with Opening Day?

So grab your mitt and your batting helmet as we survey some MLB notes and notables.

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No Place Like Home

OF Nate Mclouth is once again returning to the Pittsburgh Pirates after spending the last three seasons with Atlanta. I mourned Mclouth's loss from the Bucs roster, but I'm curious to see how he will fit into the current line-up. Nate's return, along with the Pittsburgh's off-season acquirement of pitcher A.J. Burnett from the Yankees should have Pirate fans giddy for the upcoming season.

Speaking of the Yankees, the men in pinstripes just signed Raul Ibanez to a one-year contract as a DH. Ibanez, who beat out free agents like Johnny Damon for the gig, is expected to provide defense for New York.

I get to hang out with Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd,
and Danny Glover, right?

Also joining a new team this season is Albert Pujols, who is leaving the reigning World Series Champs St. Louis Cardinals for greener, more western pastures. Pujols will be sporting an Anaheim jersey come this April after spending the last 11 years in St. Louis. The Cardinals' loss is Anaheim's gain, since  "The Machine" brings with him two championship rings and countless MLB records. Looks like California might be seeing some Angels in the Outfield....or at least on the first base line.

And finally, SF Catcher Buster Posey is returning to his catcher's position after last season's devastating injury.  One little difference? Posey has been told by Manager Bruce Bochy that under no circumstances should he consider blocking the plate again. Bochy, who is lobbying for stricter regulations concerning contact with catchers, said that he'd rather sacrifice a run or two to keep Posey from getting re-injured.


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MLB fans....excited that spring training is here? Thrilled that Opening Day is just around the corner? Hit me up and let me know!


Images provided by texas.rangers.,mlblogspittpeas, and sportscasm.

Isn't It Spomantic???

This past Tuesday, there was some sort of "holiday" that supposedly celebrates "love". But really, it's just "Hallmark and Stover's Candy Day". Amiright?

When it comes to sports, though, I DO have mad love....mad love for those individuals who have captured my heart and soul and won my sworn allegiance. 

No, I'm not talking about romantic love. I'm talking about a spiritual connection deeper than the Pacific Ocean:

The Sports Romance, or the "Spomance", as I like to call it. It's like a "bromance", except it involves sport figures. And also, women can have them.

I've had several over the years, and they've all brought a little something different to the table. Enjoy!

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Bob Knight....I mean, look at that face. Who could not love it? Sure he has had some anger management issues in the past, but what's a little choking and chair throwing between spomancers? I like to think of it as having a strong personality and definitive life goals, don't you?

The former Redskins tackle Chris Samuels was a multi-year Pro Bowl selection. But our spomance started the day that this endearing United Way commercial hit the airwaves, and it hasn't stopped since.

Mora, who played third base for the Baltimore Orioles, won me over with his indecipherable Venezuelan accent and infectious smile. But really, I think our Spomance is based on his adorable six children, five of which are quints.

Sometimes you can't explain your spomance....it just is. This is one of those cases. Tre Johnson didn't last long in the pro world due to difficulty passing those pesky physicals, but he remains a big part of me. Mostly because I have an autographed hat hanging on my wall from when my step dad built his house. True story.

Rece Davis is as respected and like able as they come in the broadcasting world. I always look forward to hearing him talk, and let's be real....communication is key in a spomance!

and finally

Pat White has appeared once or twice on this blog, and it's no secret why: I adore him. His work ethic, his fancy footwork, and his will to win are a big part of that. But a bigger part is the small moments when he was "proving" he didn't have a concussion by performing a somersault and giving the "wink and a gun" to trainers, or when he was meowing like the Pitt Panther. Yes, meowing. And on top of that, he's just a genuinely nice guy. 

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So fellow spomancers, who tops your list? Let me know!

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