March Madness concludes 1st week amid carnage and chaos - Sweet 16 left standing

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After the first two rounds the NCAA March Madness has all the makings of the Mad Hatters Tea Party with upsets aplenty and about half the games last second thrillers and the other half last second laughers.

So what team is playing far better than their NCAA seeding?  Kentucky, of course, along with Louisville.  These are the defending national champions of the last two years and one of the greatest rivalries in America yet they were seeded 8th, Kentucky and 4th, Louisville.

I think there is a media bias against Kentucky teams most likely because they are dominant forces in basketball.  Certainly it is not from the fact Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky although didn't the Civil War end about 150 years ago?  Or not?

Anyway the tournament selection committee clearly does not like freshman dominated teams any more than the Associated Press basketball poll.  John Calipari's "One and Done" coaching philosophy of recruiting freshman who will jump to the pros rather than finish college is quite controversial to say the least.

So in the last AP poll of the season before the tournament Kentucky was no where to be found among the top 25.  Even the USA Today/ESPN experts poll had Kentucky far down at number 21.  Louisville fared better finishing number 5 in AP and 4 in USA Today/ESPN.

So there are 4 number one seeds, one from each region.  One might think the top four teams in the rankings would be the top four teams.  Louisville was in the top four in USA Today/ESPN and #5 in AP so should have been seeded 1, or 2 at worst since the top 8 teams should be number 1 or 2.  Louisville landed number 4.  What is that all about?

Ashley Judd loves UK

As for UK who did not even make the top 25 in the minds of the sports writers, a week ago they lost to the number one team in America, Florida, in the SEC conference championship in the last second 61-60 and a week later they beat Wichita State, seeded #1 and ranked #2 in the nation, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, 78-76 ending the Shockers quest for a national title.

No doubt it will be remembered as one of the best fought games in NCAA tournament history and both teams fought valiantly and could have won but the Kentucky Wildcats did win.  What the newspaper writers forgot to mention, however, when telling us how great Kentucky has become in spite of having all freshmen as starters, is they didn't even think enough of UK to put them in the top 25 and they seeded them way down at 8th.

When was the last time an unranked team played the number 1 and 2 teams within a week losing by 1 point and winning by two points?  Are you kidding me?  The people doing the polls for national rankings and tournament seedings should go into politics where everybody knows the polls are nonsense.

Now the press hype will turn to the Kentucky - Louisville game next Friday at Indianapolis, just across the border from Kentucky.  Not only is it s bitter rivalry but both coaches, John Calipari of UK and Rick Pitino of Louisville have won national championships.  In fact both won national championships for UK, then Pitino won another last year for Louisville.  It will be entertaining.

Other notable survivors doing quite well were Arizona and Virginia, both seeded #1.  Florida struggled but also advanced.  There are still 2 #11 seeds, 1 #10 seed and 1 #8 seed left in the Sweet 16.  Giant killer Dayton, coached by Archie Miller, brother of Arizona coach Sean Miller, is the most valid Cinderella team and if both teams keep winning the brothers would meet in the championship game.

Before the season started I wrote a profile on Kentucky basketball saying we should watch both schools and both the men's and women's teams this year.  So here we are at tourney time and UK and Louisville are about to square off in a classic quarter-final battle to see who gets to the semi-finals while the women's teams, both UK and Louisville, survived the women's first rounds and both are seeded #3, a testament to Kentucky basketball and of course the foresight of the Coltons Point Times.

Just kidding...

PS  As much as I like the UK Wildcats, my heart remains with the Arizona Wildcats where long ago I once played.

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Busted - The Millions in the Billion Dollar Bracket

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With a huge sigh of relief the Buffett boys and their insurance companies escaped paying out a billion dollars for a perfect NCAA bracket and the end came astoundingly fast.  Before the first round of 64 was over the 15 million entries were through, finished, done, busted.

For all the excitement the end came just 25 games into the 32 first round games.  Not a single entry made it through the first round.

According to contest officials, when Memphis beat George Washington in the 25th game it was over.

Can the Gators be stopped?

So whether the odds were 1 in 128 billion or 1 in 9.2 quintillion it didn't really make any difference how many zeros were added, no one was going home with the goods.
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Obama & Putin - Don't Let Politics & Egos Trigger Economic Chaos

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There is one thing our leaders seem to have forgotten in their war of words and brinkmanship, their clash of egos and their refusal to compromise and that is millions, maybe even billions of people will have to bear the brunt of the hardship for whatever they do.

Here in America we are still struggling to get over a terrorist attack on 9-11, two of the longest and most ill-conceived wars in our history and five years of Obama and his policy of intellectual constipation as a better alternative than truth.

Now that political partisanship as mastered by the president has effectively paralyzed our government and there is really very little more damage that can be done to the national reputation there is a danger of detachment by the two political leaders that spells danger to the millions they represent and the millions more they could harm.

We pretty much recognize that Putin is going to do whatever he thinks will contribute to the resurrection of a Russian Empire as that seems to be his destiny.  Whether such an Empire will embrace the brutal Communism of Lenin and Stalin remains to be seen.

Here in the colonies we seem to have forgotten a lot about the history of the world and I suppose when your own history is barely 500 years old, it would be hard to relate to people and places dating back 5,000 years or more.

Well consider this.  When the Soviet Union collapsed and we tried to impose our cherished system of Democracy on the people freed from the yoke of Communism did it ever occur to us we might be making a mistake?

Of course not.

Our Constitutional principles of individual freedom and equal opportunity should be enjoyed by everyone.  But can it be?  People fled to America to be free.  But what about the people who never left their homeland?  People like the Russians, Muslims, Asians and others.

I traveled to Russia during the conversion from Communism to chaos and it did not take me long to realize our freedoms and our opportunities were alien to a civilization that lived under the rule of Czars for over 1,000 years before the iron-fist control imposed by Communism.

None of the average Russians I reached out to had a clue what democracy meant and the thought of electing their leaders had never happened in thousands of years.  In fact, many of the people who grew up under Communism and were cared for from cradle to grave felt being cared for was far more important than how much wealth could be accumulated.

In other words, they didn't deny Americans to be who were are but seemed to be asking why can't you respect us for who we are.

We seem to forget it has taken us 500 years to master our own destiny.  The first half were spent under the same English, French or Spanish systems our ancestors fled and the last 238 years have been spent trying to figure out how to make democracy work.

Think about it, just 150 years ago we were ending the Civil War that threatened to destroy our fledgling experiment in democracy so we have really only been at it, the art of governing the people in peace, for 150 years.

When you think about the American wars, riots against wars, abuses by businesses, corruption by governments, lack of civil rights, etc., since the Civil War ended one wonders if we have even reached a state of maturity yet as far as our form of governing.

In truth, we don't really know what is best for ourselves, we are a work in progress, and we sure don't know what is best for the rest of the world.  If we do not recognize the history and respect the expectations of people in other countries then we should not impose our will and ways on them.

Of course every human being should enjoy individual freedom and have equal opportunity but that certainly does not happen overnight, not even over hundreds of years.  And that might not even be what the people want.

Obama and Putin are trying to impose on the Ukrainian and Crimean people what they see is best for those people.  I already wrote that Crimea was far more a part of Russia and the Ukraine more a part of Europe.

At the same time, Russia's most valuable asset, oil and gas, are dependent on a series of pipelines running across the Ukraine to the Black Sea and Europe.  They have a right to expect them to be protected just as we have protected our oil and gas interests in many countries in the Middle East.

No one's hands are clean and conscious is clear when it comes to wealth and power and those in power must be accommodated if anyone wants to share in their wealth.  Every time we try to change the balance of the world things get bad, economies are disrupted, people lose their jobs, savings and sanity and the rich, well they just keep getting richer.

Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and on and on are proof of the folly of wealth-driven foreign policy.  With the United States and Russia two of the most wealthy nations on Earth in terms of natural resources and economic wealth, maybe it is time to reconsider whether our foreign policy should be dictated by economic incentives or concerns for the needs of the people.

If so I expect a far different outcome than what we have today.                

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March Madness Triggers END of DAYS for Pools

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Day 1 of March Madness and already heart attacks have tripled, divorces are certain to skyrocket, liquor sales have doubled and David not only knocked the Hell out of Goliath but also out of about 99% of all the people expecting to win the Buffett Billion Dollar Pool and thousands of other pools requiring perfection.

Remember these names, Dayton, Harvard and North Dakota State, they are the villains who stopped you from landing on Easy Street for the rest of your lives.  In a matter of about two hours 99% of the millions in pools around the nation were stopped dead in terms of achieving the perfect bracket so you all can now sit back and enjoy some of the best, most unpredictable basketball in modern NCAA history.

Here is an AP story that says it all.

NCAA upsets crush bracket hopes

By JOHN MARSHALL (AP Basketball Writer) 12 hours ago AP - Sports

SAN DIEGO (AP) — So you were confident in your bracket, hoping to win the office pool, maybe get lucky and take down that $1 billion prize Warren Buffett is offering for a perfect run of picks.

One game in and ... done.

Way to go, Dayton.

Thanks for piling on, Harvard.

And North Dakota State — you've got to be kidding.

The first full day of the NCAA tournament got off to what has become its usual scream-at-the-TV start on Thursday, opening with three upsets that sent a wave of crumpled brackets — at least 95 percent missed at least one game before the tournament was 12 hours old — flying from Buffalo to San Diego. By the end of the night, fewer than 1 percent of brackets remained unblemished in contests by ESPN and CBSSports.com.

"Being bounced from the billion THAT early definitely made me feel some type of way," said Marcus Arman of Portland, Ore. "I can tell you this: I will not be supporting the city of Dayton in any shape, form or fashion so long as my foam finger still points upward."

Dayton, the No. 11 seed in the South Regional, got it started in the first game of the 64-team bracket, knocking off sixth-seeded Ohio State 60-59 in Buffalo, N.Y.

A few hours later, No. 12 East seed Harvard had its David-vs-Goliath thing working for the second straight year, taking down fifth-seeded Cincinnati 61-57 in Spokane, Wash.

Two upsets, and almost everyone shooting for perfection was eliminated before they got home from work.

North Dakota State, No. 12 in the West, finished off the day of dead pools by outlasting fifth-seeded Oklahoma 80-75 in Spokane's second upset of the day.

Thanks for playing everyone.

With Dayton's win, about 83 percent of the brackets in Yahoo's Tourney Pick 'Em game were one and done, perfection flushed in 40 minutes. Wins by Harvard and North Dakota State only figured to add to the number of disappointed would-be billionaires once the official numbers were released.

It was a 9.2 quintillion-to-1 pipe dream to begin with, and Buffett has to like his chances even more now.
"Yesssssssssss HARVARD!!!!!!! Messing up a lot of peoples chances at $1 billion lol," former Harvard and current Houston Rockets guard Jeremy Lin said on Twitter.

At CBSSports.com, Dayton took out 81 percent of the poolers in the bracket challenge. By the time the Bison roamed over the Sooners in the evening, 0.4 percent of the brackets were still perfect.

Of the 11 million brackets in ESPN's Tournament Challenge, over 80 percent had Ohio State advancing to the next round. That's about 8.8 million brackets with a blemish after one game.

And to the 2.2 percent that had the Buckeyes going all the way to the Final Four: Oops!

Through 12 games, there were 41,315 perfect brackets out of the original 11 million — or about 0.3 percent.

This, of course, is nothing new.

We are in the era of upsets, where seedings and status have little bearing on the bracket.

A year ago, not a single person of the 11 million who entered on ESPN's website was perfect after a first day filled with upsets. Just four got 15 out of 16 right.

By now, we've learned that Cinderella's carriage doesn't turn into a pumpkin once the NCAA tournament starts. It becomes a Formula One car racing through the bracket — and it may be moving at an even faster pace this year.
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AP Sports Writer Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis contributed to this story. 
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The Scoopala on the Hoopala - March Madness is Here!!!

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At long last the college basketball season is over and the conference tournaments have left more questions than answers so it must be time for March Madness when men become boys watching the boys become men playing.

Thank God for sports in America and the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, March Madness, World Series and every other athletic showcase that separates the best from the rest.

If we had to live only with the news, politics and current events the suicide rate would be ten times higher in America, the gambling industry would be dead, and guys would have so much more time to spend with their girls the divorce rate would probably double.

Think of the economic impact from sports.  Billions spent in pools, billions more spent on booze, and for the first time we will know the economic impact when potheads try to keep up with the high speed boys in shorts.  We can actually measure the economic impact in Colorado (where it is legal) and also poll the fans to see how many even realize the University of Colorado is in the tournament.

"Hey man, what the hell is a Buffalo doing running up and down the court?  I thought we were watching B-ball not National Geographic."

This will also be the first time in history we have a billion dollar pool thanks to The Sage of Omaha Warren Buffett and speaking of Omaha the Creighton Blue Jays are also in the tourney along with player of the year candidate Doug McDermott.

The last two national champions, Kentucky intra-state rivals the Louisville Cardinals and the University of Kentucky Wildcats are in the same bracket and will have to play in the third round, long before the championship game.

One of the #1 seeds, the University of Arizona, is my alma mater where I played on the Wildcats team long ago and should have a good shot at winning it all but the field is well balanced and any number of teams could win.

From now until April 7 we can forget about the world and join our families and friends in one of the greatest reality shows in the world, the NCAA Basketball championships.  These kids have spent their entire lives working for this moment.

Most world and national championships like the Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup and even the Olympics give the players multiple chances to win since they can always qualify the next year but once your college career is over there will never be another chance to win in your lifetime.

Of course the cheerleaders add glamour and energy to the proceedings and it is their only moment in the national spotlight as well.  Come to think of it there should be a contest for the best cheerleading squad as well.

So here is some of the scoopala...

Watch Doug McDermott of Creighton, the smoothest shooter in the nation, continue to set records.

Will the only unbeaten team in America, Wichita State, survive?  They have to get past Kentucky, St. Louis and Louisville in the first three rounds.

Can #1 Florida keep it up after escaping a loss to Kentucky in the last second of their last game?

What conference will win the most games?  What conferences may not exist next year?

Will there be a Cinderella team this year (San Diego State?)?

Which teams will self-destruct in the closing minutes when a player forgets the team and seeks individual glory?

What better way to end the Winter of our discontent than letting your globes get glued to the radiation generator screen and cheering for the underdogs.  Move over Putin, we got better things to worry about.

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Obamaville March 18, 2014 - Obama who? What foreign policy?

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There are times when it seems the entire liberal social establishment in America has obliterated the memory of our sitting president from their minds, and thus from the news as well.

You see, when you control the media YOU decide what fodder to feed the foolish public and mums the word when it comes to the former darling of the liberal left.

 

 

One must admit that they have had quite a run of back luck or silly policy which ever you care to believe.

 

 

There is the case of promising to end the wars his first two years as president, made nearly six years ago by my math.  More people are being killed since we left Iraq than when we were there.  So much for bringing peace to the birthplace of civilization.

 

 

The only reason we will be out of Afghanistan by the end of this, his 6th year, is because President Hamid Karzai GCMG is throwing us out.  With the Taliban radicals patiently waiting across the border in Pakistan for us to leave, don't count on much peace there.

 

 

Then there was Libya, Egypt, Iran and Syria where revolts were won and lost and each time the people moved farther and farther away from good relations with America.  Did I mention Benghazi and the murder of our ambassador and other Americans?

 

 

Now, with the fracturing of the Ukraine and separation of Crimea American foreign policy is more fitted to cartoons, Saturday Night Live skits and MAD magazine than any serious strategic consideration.

 

Add to that the NSA scandals.  It's bad enough spying on your own people let alone spying on the leaders of your closest allies so no wonder the administration has a propensity to shoot itself in the foot.

 

 

Don't you find it rather ironic that our spy agencies can look down from satellites and read what kind of cigarette pack you have in your hand but they can't find an airplane, Flight 777, bigger than three football fields?

 

Now all those foreign failures alone are more than enough pain and consternation for most politicians but foreign policy failures are just the tip of the iceberg and Obama's Titanic billion dollar political machine long ago slammed into the iceberg.

 

 

When the truth of the past four years slaps the liberals across the side of the head they will also realize their last great hope, Hillary Clinton, is also on that same Titanic sinking swiftly to the ocean's floor because her fingerprints are right there along with the president in planning and carrying out the toxic foreign policy disasters.

 

 

It will take a lot more than an ex-president from Hope, Arkansas to salvage the colossal failures the Obama Dream brought us.  Speaking of ex-presidents, the public is yet to be told the truth about how the Clinton administration was responsible for gutting energy and financial regulations that enabled the greatest Wall Street scandals in our nation's history, scandals in which the perpetrators have yet to see a day behind bars at the expense of the government.

 

 

The biggest danger to the Democratic party in losing control of the Senate this year and the White House in two years is not that they will lose their liberal stronghold in Obama and Harry Reid, because most of the Obama agenda has not been enacted, even during the two years the Democrats controlled everything.

 

 

No, I suspect their biggest fear is the danger that could result in vigorous and long over due prosecution of those people and institutions who plotted with the Clinton administration to bend the rules and make a huge windfall profit while gutting the federal treasury and leaving the people on the brink of personal bankruptcy.

 

 

A Republican president and congress just might decide it is time the people know the truth about the energy price spikes, the home mortgage collapse, the Wall Street shenanigans, bailouts, payoffs and 401k retirement disasters brought about since the Clinton presidency.

 

 

The next Obamaville article will focus on more of the Obama legacy in terms of his domestic affairs record from the endless stream of broken promises to the few successes that mutated into disasters.

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