NCAA Elite 8 results

Atrocious.

1/4, with only the Tar Heels making it through. Pittsburgh and Louisville let me down.

My wife is 3/4, which put her bracket past mine. Since we both picked UNC to win it, she has beat me. And it's just her second year playing!!

Her Final Four: UConn, Michigan St., Duke, and UNC. Duke was her only mistake.

Office pool standings: irrelevant.

A demonstration in how not to spell

I took this with my cell phone, so it's not real clear.


In case you can't read it, Culver's flavor of the day in Rhinelander, WI, on 2/15 was:

"ROKCY ROAD"

Mark Driscoll on the same page with John MacArthur?

Much has been made over criticism of Mark Driscoll by John MacArthur and more recently by Grace to You Executive Director Phil Johnson.

So it was interesting to see Mark Driscoll devote an entire blog post this week to honoring John MacArthur.

I'll be interested to see if MacArthur responds at all. I have a feeling he won't.

I also have a feeling that they aren't quite on the same page. But maybe - just maybe - MacArthur and/or Johnson will return the olive branch.

Elite 8, round 1

I'm 0/2.  The first game was irrelevant since Memphis was my pick to beat Connecticut.  I had Pitt winning the second game and can't feel too badly about missing that one considering how close they came.

Office pool standings: 65/107

Where I'd be in the office pool standings if I'd remembered to change the Wake Forest pick: 32/107

Jamie picked UConn for the Final 4.  She also picked Michigan St. and UNC.  We both have Louisville and Michigan St. in our Elite 8 and we each picked a different winner.  If Michigan St. wins, she will beat me this year.

Sweet 16 damage

Elite 8: 5/8

Misses: Memphis (finals), Syracuse (Elite 8), and Duke (Elite 8).

I feel pretty good about having 3/4 of the Final 4 still.

Office pool standings: 43/107

Office pool standings if I had remembered to switch my Wake Forest/Louisville pick: 16/107

Mistakes hurt.

Jamie's Elite 8 is exactly the same as mine (she lost Memphis, Arizona, and Duke).  her Final 4 is also down just one with Duke out.

Day 1 of round 3

2/4.

Ouch.

I picked Memphis for the finals and Duke for the Elite 8.

Office pool standings: 24/107.

Chances of winning my office pool: not good.

Tongue-in-cheek quote about Mark Driscoll

From the Irish Calvinist.

"Sure you may not like the fact that he watches ultimate fighting and says ‘dude’ while wearing jeans during a sermon, but maybe he is troubled by your stamp collection and pleated pants."

Toy discrimination

We're having the Crims - friends with 4 kids - over for dinner tonight. I asked my wife what toys we might have for the kids to play with. She said that we have Legos and a Mr. Potatohead, but "they are not playing with my Army man!"

I didn't realize the importance of this toy, which slowly moves along in a crouched position, gun ready for action. I asked whether the kids could play with Mr. Potatohead, thinking he too may be set aside for some greater purpose.

"Mr. Potatohead? Yeah, they can play with him. You can get a Potatohead anywhere."

But apparently Army men are a rare bred.

UPDATE: here's a picture of the Army man.

Nothing like watching a really bad parking job

To make you feel like a really good driver.

Round 2 damage

Well, I'm hanging in there, but not by much.

Day 2 of round 2: 5/8

Sweet 16: 12/16

Elite Eight: 8/8

(I'm ignoring the aforementioned online entry mistake in my numbers, though those numbers will begin to impact my overall office pool rankings if Louisville wins the next two games. Those are the only games affected though and it looks like they would only really impact my score against one opponent.)

Office pool standings: 16/107

Critical wins needed to have a prayer at winning my office pool:

1. Final Four with Pittsburgh, Memphis, and UNC, with UNC beating Memphis in the championship game.
2. Duke beating Villanova (this is arguably the most critical)
3. Syracuse beating Oklahoma
4. Louisville losing either of the next two games (preferably the first, though that's unlikely against Arizona)

Yes, the fourth will hurt my real bracket, but since I screwed up my office pool, I need it to happen.

Oh, and my South bracket is perfect. Other than the Marquette/Missouri game, my West bracket is also perfect.


Jamie's Sweet 16: 11/16

Jamie's Elite 8: 7/8 (Arizona State is her lone dropout)

Big oops

My initial Final Four pick out of the Midwest was Wake Forest. Thankfully I changed it to Louisville.

Unfortunately, I apparently only changed it on my handwritten bracket. I just realized that my electronic bracket with my office pool was never updated.

That could come back to bite me.

Loving this tournament

7/8 today, with my UCLA upset pick over Villanova going bust.

My West and South brackets are still perfect.

I've slipped to 8/107 in my office pool. Thankfully a number of people in front of me picked Memphis to win it all.

Go Tar Heels!

NCAA Day 2: not perfect, but not bad

Round 1 results: 26/32

Teams I picked that lost: Ohio State, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Boston College, Tennessee, and Florida State.

Sweet 16 teams that are out: Wake Forest and West Virginia.

Office pool standings: 3/107.

My West and South brackets are 100% intact and I have my Sweet 16 intact in the East. I'm missing 2 Sweet 16 teams in the Midwest but my entire Elite 8 is still with me.

There were three 12/5 upsets, so I feel pretty good about picking two of them (Western Kentucky and Arizona).

I feel good about where I'm at but fully expect to be pounded as round 2 gets going today.

(Oh, and my wife is 24/32 in the first round, is missing just 3 Sweet 16 teams - Utah, Florida State, and Illinois - and still has her Elite 8 with her. Not bad at all.)

The typical NCAA day one damage...

...didn't happen to me this year.

16/16.

I've never done it before (last year I was 14/16) and I know it won't happen tomorrow. But for now, I'm relishing.

I'm the only person in my office pool with a 16/16 record. I was 6/84 last year at this point, but quickly dropped. I'm at 1/107 right now.

And Western Kentucky has now come through for me two years running. Love those Hilltoppers!

This is where I am right now

I love this place!

A dog that needs NyQuil

Not the best way to wake yourself up.

Random acts of quirky skillfulness

How many of these things could you do?



H/T: Owen.

Sometimes it's better to walk

This seemed like something that my brothers would laugh at.

After all, it's something I couldn't help but laugh at...

Don't wear green...

...when standing in front of a green screen.

This video is made even better for me because it includes my hometown!

How popular is your name?

White Pages will tell you.

Of course, their database is off of phone listings, so little Madison's name won't look very popular for another 10 years or so.

Still, it's intriguing.

My full name is the 167,893th most popular name in the country. My first and last name fare much better in individual rankings (as opposed to being ranked together as a full name).

In my home state, I'm the only person with my full name, ranking 1,376,868th. North Carolina (15) and Texas (13) have the most people with my full name, which makes sense since North Carolina is where my dad was born.