Weekend observations

    I'm not wasting my time on an ND basketball team ever again, or at least until Mike Brey and his goofy-ass Bill Belichick-light turtleneck sportcoat disappear. ND was outplayed, outcoached, and outclassed last night and I'm pissed I wasted time watching them.

Wear a tie and try getting to the Sweet 16!

    I watched Fab Five this past weekend and enjoyed it thoroughly. It reminded me of my younger days and I'll never forget that UNC/Michigan matchup. You can tell Jimmy King is still irritated with the timeout (how could he not be?). I still wonder why Webber just didn't wait for Rose to come to the ball. He panicked after his travel (that wasn't called). What's with C-Web not taking part? That's cowardly if you ask me. You made your bed, now lay in it. ESPN has always been a target of mine, but I have to say the 30 for 30 series has been spectacular. 

    How much money did the marketing company that created that NAPA commercial (you know it if you watched the tourney at all) get paid? Whatever it was, they were paid too much. That is the worst commercial I've seen in while---how did they decide who was going to be the customer who sings alongside the quasi-country singer behind the counter? Did they have a casting call for a Mario lookalike who could smile and mouth words? More importantly, how much was that guy paid? 

    No more talk about how the Big East is tough. I don't believe it. 

    Not sure where I stand on Libya. Part of me feels that we should have done it sooner. It's not like we were waiting for France and the UK to join us. They were waiting for us. Now the "action" is going to take much longer. Granted, the President probably wanted the rebels to do it themselves, but anyone paying attention knew that Qaddafi's superior firepower would overwhelm the rebels eventually. Do we know who we are dealing with on the rebels' side? Are we ousting a dictator to replace him with a group of people who want to implement sharia law and create wahhabi-sect schools (like Saudi Arabia, our friends...hmm)? I guess that is unfair of me to assume the worst. In the end I want the money we are spending to be worthwhile. If we are going to remove him (and I don't know how you can't at this point, he won't willingly step down), I hope those who take over recognize what the West did here. We tend to take a lot of heat in the Middle East (and...sadly...most of it is justified), but in this case I believe we are a force for good and I hope that is acknowledged by the people of Libya. 

The most efficient practice

   Everyone knows I am in love with efficiency. No, I'm not Fredrick Taylor, but I do love the idea of being efficient at all times (great reference by the way). In fact, I've toyed with a book titled The Efficiency Doctrine in which I give guidelines on how to be more efficient (only watch the last five minutes of an NBA game, one line e-mails, etc.). The idea has been on hold ever since my wife and I had a son (who just turned two), but recently I came upon what I consider the most efficient activity I have ever engaged in: books on CD. Now I am able to get to the books I haven't found the time to read and I'm doing it while driving. Usually I commute with my wife and child to work, but with tennis season in full force I've had to drive alone. There is nothing more efficient than using that time to listen to a book I've wanted to read. I love books on CD! They are quasi-performances just for the listener.

  With that said, I'm now concerned that I won't receive credit for reading books if I listen to them on CD. Can I claim I've read the book if I've listened to it? Can I, at a dinner conversation, claim I've read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison if I listened to the last half on CD (especially if one of the attendees happens to be a frequent Barnes & Noble visitor who makes remarks such as, "Hey, they have Kafka on the mural here. They don't have Kafka on the mural in Prescott, ha, ha".)? This is a controversy and I'm interested in hearing opinions from my readers (all three of you).

Friday video

   With the NCAA Tournament now upon us, I figured it was fitting to post a coaches rant from a few years back. I think this guy is angry.

NCAA Tournament

    Well, I'm glad I didn't put any money down on my bracket. Like a fool, I believed in Rick Pitino and his tough minded Louisville squad. With images of their upset of ND in the Big East Tournament still fresh in my mind I picked them to go to the Final Four. Is it me, or is the Big East overrated? ESPN tends to show a lot of the Big East and thus all you hear about is the Big East (the same thing happened a few years ago in college football when they praised the Big 12 countless times), but St. Johns got dominated by a 'Zags team that is nothing special and the Cardinals looked mediocre against Morehead State. I know that's only two teams out of the 75 that make up the Big East, but still, I expected better. Of course, this begs to question how I feel about ND's chances in the tourney. I picked them to go to the Elite Eight, but now I believe a loss to Purdue is more likely. Then again, what do I know? I have only watched a handful of college games this year and can't name the starting five on my favorite team. I love the tourney, but I must admit that I am no longer a college basketball fan. I consider myself a college basketball casual observer. Go ND. 

The disappearance of...

     I don't want to be one of those bloggers who wastes your time with senseless ramblings about the mundane (such as: "today I realized that I like vanilla soymilk better than chocolate soymilk and to prove my point I will offer a five reasons" or "yesterday I was playing with my dog. She's so cute when she..."), but I feel I must share with you the discovery I made yesterday. My copy of NBA Jam Tournament Edition for the SNES is missing. This is a troubling development. It is the only game I play on that oldie, but goodie of a system and although I play it once every six months I like the idea of having it around. Of course, now that I can't find the game it's all I want to do. I would even play with Eric Montross or Dino Radja! Ya, that particular game had a rookie team and those two gems were on the team. Now you understand why I am devastated.  Apparently I can download it (for a fee), but it's not the same. I've never wanted to blow a 12 point lead in 35 seconds (thanks to the ridiculously unfair computer) this much in my life.