Perhaps the L-O-N-G-E-S-T Super Bowl game in History. BALTIMORE’S RAVENS bested the SAN FRANCISCO FORTY-NINER’S by a score of 34-31. Last night Championship was extended by a power outage. I have read some say it was an external feed, and another report that it was snafu inside the arena; an equipment failure. Either way the side line announcers had the burden of filling in unexpected time. Another thing that made it seem longer to me was the half baked,…er time show. I know many of you are Beyonce fans. But I would like to have more entertainment than a bunch of women in their swimsuits jumping around and making noise. I actually switched over to watch bits of a COLUMBO re-run. Now to the game. Yes my Math and my Scientific methods both failed. Therefore I could claim the Ravens win to be a fluke. But that was not the case. In fact it came down to, (as I said), D-E-F-E-N-S-E. Baltimore brought their defense and San Francisco’s was running way late on it’s arrival. I believe both QB’s did an excellent job. I also believe had San Francisco got their defense together before the power failure. They would have won the game. But they didn’t, and they didn’t. The game hinged on the 108 yard return by Ravens’ Jacoby Jones. There is no way that return should have happened. The 49’ers defense left the whole field unprotected. No one stayed back. Just as in a high school game I watched this past season. The kicker rushed down and tackled the receiver 5 yards after the catch. But that was a mistake. Even though he was able to do that. His coach wasted no time in letting him know it was a mistake. The rest of the season he stayed back and saved many potential scores. Flacco was GIFTED the MVP. Yeah, he did a good job. WAS it a better job than Kaepernick. Not in my eyes. The true MVP was the Ravens DEFENSE. But how do you give MVP, (the “P” is singular) to a group. Thus you give it to a single person. Jacoby Jones would be a fair choice, it was his run back that won the game. But that was only one play. The DEFENSE on the other hand was on thier game most all night. So I suppose as the QB is often considered the leader an Spokesman for the team, Flacco would be give MVP, on behalf of the team. After all , as in any T-E-A-M SPORT, one person can not win the game by himself. Congratulations to the BALTIMORE RAVENS. And I want to compliment fans on both sides. I have not seen any reports of rioting or anything. This shows me their fans are (both Baltimore, and San Francisco), are CHAMPIONS too. Hope to see you NFL fans back here again next year. I have time to try to figure what I did wrong this year. I suppose the next big event is NASCAR SEASON. and for some the NBA All-Star game. I don’t care for the All-Star game. Because they don’t really have any BASKETBALL stars. Merely Media Darlings. I will go into my feelings about the NBA at a later time. I may have opinions to share about NASCAR later. Looking forward to NCAA Basketball tournament. will give my picks, updates and OPINION; just like i did last year. For now We close the book on: 2012 FOOTBALL,and the 2013 SUPER BOWL XLVII. One final note some of the commercials were good. Some not. But at least some got more exposure due to the 34 minute delay. My favorite was, again Budweiser, with the CLYDESDALE COLT. Thank you for indulging me. Views: 103
Category: NCAA Tournament
Then There Are TWO
The Final TWO. If I were a betting man I would pick the team that starts with a “K”. And that is my final prediction for tonight’s game.
Down To Four
Down To Four. We started with Seventy Two Teams and now there is only Four. We have seen Sixteen Upsets. (Ironically the same number as in SWEET SIXTEEN). We have but one number One SEED team remaining. U. Kentucky. Two number two seeds, and One fourth seeded team. We have three teams in a conference named “BIG…..”. Odd man out is …….Kentucky, representing the SEC (South Eastern Conference). Their Opponent, Louisville, represents the BIG EAST CONFERENCE. While Ohio St. is appearing under the BIG TEN CONFERENCE. With their opponent, Kansas, is with the BIG TWELVE CONFERENCE. Side note the Big Ten Conference has twelve teams. The Big Twelve Conference has but ten teams. Go Figure. For all intents you could say all four teams are from the midwest. The distance between Kentucky, and Louisville is a mere 77.56 miles. In contrast the difference between Kansas and Ohio St. is 696.8 miles. Now let us see whom according to distance would be the closest to HOME team. Care to guess………..? Which team will have to travel the farthest………….? With Sixteen upsets if you had played your bracket with the upper seed all the way this is what your brackets would look like. To this point. Just a little bit of trivia, I guess, after all who really cares, about these little tidbits. Oh yes. Before I go, here is the answer, to the Home, (closest to New Orleans) would be LOUISVILLE, to travel 706.22 miles. U.Kentucky, will travel 743.97 miles. So we know these two are the closest. Thus giving Louisville, the “HOME COURT” advantage. Which means we now have Kansas, and Ohio State University. Ohio State, will travel 909.4 miles. Kansas a mere 874.12 miles. Thereby giving Kansas the “HOME COURT” advantage. I’ll bet most of you thought Kansas would have the longest trip to New Orleans. Louisville thusly will have “home court advantage” as long as they last in the tournament. Remember the higher seed team is usually billed as the “home team”. That Is How I See It. Views: 187
My 2012 March Madness Picks
I rarely won our office pool. It usually was won by a woman (65 +). How? I don’t know her secret, she wouldn’t tell me. But she does love sports. I Still see her at our monthly get together of those of us who were at our place of employment for nearly 20 years until they shut the place down. Like I said, she loves sports. How many women in their mid 70’s (Shh. I didn’t tell you), still subscribes to SportsIllustrated. March 24,2012: How is your bracket looking now HOW MANY OF YOU STILL HAVE A TEAM LEFT IN THE WEST REGION? Any way here are my picks. No rhyme or reason. Just gut feeling. MY PICKS I know, I know. What are the odds of two teams from the same conference playing for the NCAA championship. But that is where the fun comes in. RESULTS UPSETS Good Luck everyone. Enjoy the games. That Is How I See It. As you know we experienced an on going down time from our old host server of in excess of 70 hours. Finally got access to allow us to recover our Database. It appears we were able salvage most everything. Thanks for your patience. Wayne Lawrence Views: 512
NCAA Tournament Picks Night Two
So, as I said yesterday, I will now give my picks for Wednesday’s games. But First let me say I didn’t do too well yesterday. Who would think a team could shoot 30%, have 28 turnovers and still win. Oh well, Isn’t that why it is called “March Madness” ? Anything can happen. WEDNESDAY MARCH 14,2012. 6:30 pm Tonight we begin with a game of basketball featuring LAMAR UNIVERSITY, CARDINALS. Representing the Southland (east) Conference. Out of Beaumont Texas. This will be Lanar University’s first appearance in March Madness since the year 2000. The Cardinals come into tournament play with a 23-11 record. A schedule that is stronger than weak but less than a medium toughness schedule. Lamar will meet Vermont. University of Vermont. The CATAMOUNTS from Burlington,Vermont, and representing the American East Conference. With a 23-11 record comes in with a similar schedule difficulty, similar to their opponent Lamar. This will be their first appearance since 2010. This is a difficult pick, two quite similar teams. My pick is…(drum roll) Vermont by 3 points or less. WEDNESDAY MARCH 14,2012 9 pm Our final play in game of the year brings us from the Pacific 12 Conference the University California, Berkley Golden Bears, from Berkley California. Entering with a 24-9 record, Had an impressive strong schedule this year. The Golden Bears will meet University South Florida, Bulls. The Bulls represent the Big East Conference with a 20-13 record. They too had a very strong schedule. This game I will have to give the edge to South Florida, by 2 points. Recap: Vermont moving on to the Midwest Region as a number 16 seed facing number 1 seed North Carolina. South Florida also enters the Midwest Region as a number 12 seed against number 3 seeded Marquette. That Is How I See It, Views: 451
My NCAA Picks Play In Games
Many of you play your office NCAA Pool. As I no longer have anyone but myself in my office, I’m just going to share my first four picks with you. So be this a short post here goes. TUESDAY MARCH 13, 2012 7 pm Mississippi Valley State, (20-12), Located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Known as the “Delta Devils” The Southwestern Athletic Conference Champs. Take on the Western Kentucky “Hilltoppers” of Bowling Green Kentucky. Represent Sun Belt (East) Conference, made their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009 I see all the games as being close and highly competitive. But looking at the quality of schedule I will have to give the nod to Mississippi Valley State . Most likely by less than 5 points. UM!!! Can I rewrite this? Great game. Great comeback WKU. TUESDAY MARCH 13,2012 9 ish BYU (Brigham University), Cougars coming out of Provo Utah, appears to have a relatively weak schedule, (compared to the majority of schools in the tournament). Representing the West Coast Conference, and SWEET SIXTEEN appearance last year. Face off with Iona, “Gaels” from New Rochelle, New York. Representing the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference also has a weak schedule. So this should make up an interesting match up. My pick Iona by 4 points or less. Good Luck to all four teams. To Recap I have: Mississippi Valley State moving on as 16 seed in the SOUTH Region to face Overall Number One seed Kentucky . Iona College to a 14 seed in the West Region facing Number 3 Marquette’ Tomorrow I will post my other two game picks. Then my entire tournament picks will before the first game of the 64 is played. I really need to rewrite this. That Is How I See It. Views: 283
NCAA Countdown Timer
This is going to be a short post. Some people question; “WHY is your timer different from all the others” “Your counter says the tournament starts at 7 pm Tuesday.” Well, like it or not the traditional field of 64 is now 72, Therefore the difference in the timers. My timer is a countdown to the actual start of the NCAA TOURNAMENT. As I said, like it or not we have and expanded field. Most people refuse to accept this as a part of MARCH MADNESS. Some claim these games don’t count. They are merely a preliminary to the tournament, a last chance qualifier, if you will. I feel it it weren’t part of the Tournament the NCAA Committee, would not be the group which selects them. They are however, if you are familiar with High School Wrestling Tournaments, call pig tail matches, with the winners advancing on in the Tournament. By doing this there is no need to alter the original bracket. For example the winner of the first game, will be considered as a number as the 16 seed in the SOUTH Bracket, facing ALL around number 1 Kentucky. The winner of the second game will move as a 14 seed in the WEST, and face number 3 Marquette. Third game winner will advance as a number 16 seed in the MIDWEST bracket and face number 1 North Carolina. The winner of the fourth game will move into the 12 th seed slot in the MIDWEST and play number 5 Temple. I look at it this way. Tne COMMITTEE could not decide who the two number 16 seed, The number 14 and 12 seed should be so this is how it will be decided. And if you look at the 12 and 14 seeding these team probably deserve to be in the Tournament more than the NCAA placed number 16 seeds. What I can’t understand is why does the MIDWEST have 2 pig tail matches and the EAST is the only bracket without a pig tail match. Well that explains why my countdown timer is different. The people who see the other timers will miss , most likely the four most evenly matched games of the tournament. That Is How I See It. Views: 157
BCS…..Best
BCS…..Best Game. Supposedly the BCS Championship game should be the BEST college game of the year. But as usual it turned out to be a ho-zzzz-hummer. Very one sided. And as is the usual case it appeared one of the teams forgot to show up. (Or partied too hard). Wasn’t there just one touchdown scored? I did not watch all the BCS games. But I did watch several. Of all the ones I did watch I would have to state MY PICK would have to be The OREGON DUCKS and WISCONSIN BADGERS. This game has plenty of action. Defensive, Offensive. Much scoring. Great plays. Real sportsmanship. Lead Changes. Strategy. Long runs. Long passes. Much scoring. What more could you ask for in a game. There was only two real mistakes, which I though altered the game. Unfortunately for the BADGERS, THEY committed both in the last few minutes of the game. First, I can’t remember the man carrying the ball, however the ball carrier had gained the first down running down the sideline. The problem was; he failed to properly protect the ball. He had it hanging down as if it was a bucket with a handle, thus allowing the “Quack,Quack” Ducks to strip the ball loose. Result DUCK BALL. The next was a coaches call. To Spike the ball with 2 seconds to go? What was that all about? Granted the referee did clearly start the clock before the snap. BUT!!!! Two (2) seconds. Makes no sense to me. If you know what was to be gained by this spike call….Please let me know. I know there were several records set during the course of the game. MOST points in a quarter, MOST points in a half. LONGEST run for a TD. Probably MOST points scored in a game. All this from theGRANDDADDY of BOWL GAMES. Not to mention the parade. Did the Alabama Vs LSU game have it’s own parade. I must have missed it. So the good old BCS didn’t let us down. It was it’s usual lackluster showing. For my part I would rather watch teams like OREGON, and WISCONSIN, play anytime. That Is How I See It. Views: 336
Silly NCAA Rule
Why does the NCAA make silly rules? For now let us discuss just this one. For our reference let’s just call it the Indian rule. The NCAA says TRADITION has no say in the INDIAN rule. It is supposedly spurred by the Native American Indians who consider it an insult for a school to have an Indian name or mascot. The rule denies any school with any connection to an Indian name can not host an NCAA tournament. What about the IRISH (Notre Dame). Quakers, (University of Pennsylvania). Indian, Irish, or Quaker, they all have the same complaint. The Universities are using their names, and not all students attending are Indian, Irish, or for all I know Quakers. The names were picked out of RESPECT for the particular TRIBES native to that part of the country. Not disrespect. How many of these tribes would be known of , had it not been for the schools picking their name and spreading it all over the continent. I know there are a lot I would have never heard of; if not for the college connection. They spread the goodwill of these NATIVE Americans where ever they go. I can not recall any school doing anything to bring shame to the particular tribe. CAN YOU? Come on NCAA get into the real world. Unless a school has blemished the tribal name, let them host tournaments. We all know how the Native American helped our forefathers. We all know how our forefathers stole their land, and lifestyle. But the schools have chosen the name out of RESPECT. For all the things the Native American stood for. I hereby grant you, the NCAA permission to use my tribal name Lawrence, for a school nickname. That Is How I See It. Views: 125
NCAA FINAL FOUR
Today we will see who advances to the NCAA Championship Game for 2011. We have Kentucky. A pretty good team. They execute well and are well coached. BUT. I still have a mistrust issue with the Kentucky coach. After all he has more NCAA infractions in his history than all the other 3 coaches combined. To be fair I wish the them the best. Boys do it for yourselves ,the team, the school the conference the State of Kentucky. I just would find it hard to play for a coach with his record of infractions. VCU. What can I say? I really know less about them than any team in the FINAL FOUR. congratulations VCU you have performed admirably. I understand your coach is young (30 ish). But he seems to have set a good work example, for you to follow. He appears to be a good strategist. I have heard no bad things about him or from him. He will put the game in your hands. Listen to him. Connecticut. Great team. Great season. I don’t recall too many bad things about your coach, or any of the players. Teamwork will go a long way down this final stretch. I apologize I don’ t know much about your team other than what I have stated. I could give you an excuse. But, I feel there is no excuse if you don’t prepare. And that is where I failed you on this report. (My excuse would be didn’t have time to look at your program) This is true. But I should have taken the time. Please accept my apology. You however have had time to prepare. Good Luck. Butler. I have had friends and acquaintances, even relatives attend Butler going back to the 1950’s. I was lucky enough to attend one of your home games last year. Outstanding. You have been here before, in fact only one year ago. Many fans wrote you off after losing your “STAR” player. This year you have proven you are all STARS. Matt Howard, Mr. Clutch. Stay the course. Stays calm I would have to call him a great leader of his team. But I believe he is a believer in TEAM, he realizes the Bulldogs would not be there if not for the TEAMWORK they display. Brad Stevens. 30 + but strategy is his game. He knows whatever he asks the TEAM will knock themselves out to do. Sets a good example for his team. All that said here are my picks. Kentucky and Uconn. Close game. (Maybe) Kentucky will either run away and hide for the win. Or we will see Uconn put a clamp on them to keep the game close. If UCONN keeps it close I think they will have a chance to win. Kentucky just doesn’t perform as well in a tight game. I predict Kentucky the winner. Butler and VCU. Should prove to be the game to watch. Both young coaches, strategists. VCU (who would normally be a 16 seed and not an 11 seed.) Only an oversight by the NCAA cast you as an 11 seed. I think probably depriving the College fans of a 16 vs 1 upset. Which everyone would like to see. But seeding doesn’t matter. It is just a starting place. What you do from there is all that counts. Ask the number 1 seeds this year. A lot of heart is what you have. Butler EXPERIENCE the best teacher. You have that experience. Now you have to show what you learned. I believe experience will win out on this one. (I may be just a little prejudiced by my previous stated connections. They all say Butler will be NCAA champs for 2011). But my pick is Butler based solely on the experience side. The only thing that will stop them is if VCU can run off a huge run and hang onto a big lead. Close game Butler all the way. Championship game. Kentucky Vs Butler. The second year in a row for Butler to advance to the Championship game. Can they pull it off. One thing else you have here is the Indiana/Kentucky feud. There will be a little more tension in the air for this game. My pick,,,,,,,,,Drum Roll Please!!!! BUTLER. Again I am betting on EXPERIENCE. Good Luck to all teams. (it still takes some luck to win the championship) That Is How I See It, Views: 199
