March Madness isn't so Mad!

I really enjoy the college basketball tournament.

I think it's for really the same reason that I like the NFL as opposed to either the NBA, the MLB or the collegiate football. There is a finite number of teams (you know who's in and who's out); and there are a finite number of games (when it's over, it's over). In the NBA and MLB, their seasons go on forever followed by endless and confusing post-season play.
I don't want a "Best-of X games" to determine the winner. I want to see two teams enter and one team leave.

In College BB, there are 64 teams selected to the NCAA tourney (school divisions aside).

• Round 1 ------- 64 teams (32 games over 2 days)
• Round 2 ------- 32 teams (16 games over 2 days)
• Sweet 16 ------ 16 teams (8 games over 2 days)
• Elite 8 ---------8 teams (4 games over 2 days)
• Final 4----------4 teams (2 games on 1 day)
• Championship-----2 teams (1 game for the trophy)

Why can't the other sports/leagues do the same? Even NCAA Collegiate Football is a confusing mess. You'd think that if the NCAA can get BB right, they ought to be able to get FB right too. But no, there is no Collegiate FB National Championship tournament (what they call "National Champion" is a purely mythical creation).

Let me break down the MLB schedule as an example of what I despise.

Major League Baseball: What a clusterfrak they have. The MLB has the World Series. Every player dreams of it, but how does one get there? Let's see if I can piece it together.

• There are two Leagues, the American and National League both of which operate under a "League" called MLB (but that's another blog unto itself.)
• There's a pre-season called "Spring Training"which lasts a couple of months beginning in February and sometimes even continues after the start of Regular Season.
• Regular Season goes from April through September (or to first Sunday in October). That's SIX freakin' months of regulation play. Each team plays a 162 game schedule!
• Generally speaking and assuming my calculator is correct that means: That's just over a game a day for each team and a League (or Leagues) –wide total of 2,430 games in a regular season!!!
• The regular MLB season culminates with 8 teams entering the Postseason. Four teams (3 Division Winners and a Wild-Card team) from both Leagues (AL, NL) play in the NLDS (National League Division Series) or the ALDS (American League Division Series) respectively, both of which are a best-of-five games series. The two "winners" of these play each other in another best-of-seven series called the ALCS (American League Championship Series) and the NLCS (National League Championship Series).
• The winners of the ALCS and the NLCS play each other in the World Series; another best-of-seven.
• That means that the over-all winner (the World Champion) is chosen from among eight divisional "winners" in the course of somewhere (again assuming my math is correct) between 20--34 games.
• Oh, one more thing… stuck in the middle of the regular season is the “All-Star Game” which pits players from the AL against the NL. The winning league, gets homefield advantage for their leagues team in the World Series.

The MLB post-season has just too much insanity going on. I would love to be more interested. I actually like baseball, but they’re scandal filled and… not worth it.

The NBA: They start with a regular season of 82 games for each team…
you know, I think I’ll stop right there. I don’t dare go into their post season antics as it’s more confusing than the run for the baseball World Series.

Anyway, as I said I like the NCAA tournament. This year's tournament is as exciting as any I’ve seen.

Go Memphis!

Foggy morning in the Mid-South.

I love foggy mornings. Actually I really like foggy days, foggy nights, and foggy afternoons too. I don't know exactly why this is. The fog gives a sense of mystery. You never know what's around the corner and as long as you aren't driving too fast, it can be adventurous. The temperature is usually somewhat cool and moist and feels good to your skin. I also like how sounds travel with the fog. As the air is always still, sounds always seem a little more eerie and surreal.

I wonder where the foggiest place on Earth is? I've always heard of coastal bays like San Francisco getting fogged in. Around here we get the occasional fog roll in, but it seems all to infrequent.

I can't wait for the next fog here in the Mid-South. I'm glad I didn't hear of any major pile-ups on the expressway-- makes the foggy morning all that much better.

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(photo by NASA, Challenger moving in Fog to Launch Pad)

Has it been that long?

I made this thing quite a while back and then forgot about it. I guess I got busy or something. Now that I have more time *eyes rolling* maybe I'll occasionally toss something on here.
--villain

A Beginning (cont.)

In the beginning there was nothing. And nothing lasted for years. And then one day Tod decided he wanted to attempt a blog. And thus it began. And it was blank but for a few basic features. But lo he looked toward a future when there was more than nothing. And it was good. Okay. I can't continue this; just too silly.

This is going to be a practical, enlightening, humorous, sarcastic, skeptical, musing, amusing, and a few other adjectives worth of my thoughts on things. It will be a place where I put things I like.

So return to your seats and stow your upright tray table because the captain has turned on the fasten your seatbelts light.