No Real Loser

As many of us already know, the madness came in a final showdown. The Duke Blue Devils vs. the Butler Bulldogs. This game was one to go down in history and is to be considered one of the greatest national titles in college basketball. The game literally came down to just a few points and a few seconds. I am titling this blog no real loser because as most of us know, and if you dont you must really not pay any attention to sports, Duke did end up winning. Like i had said in a previous blog i had wanted Butler to win it all, and in some sense they did and in other they just bricked it. just in came you did just some how miss the game or key plays here is a nice little video to help you along.
So as you can see this game came down to the seconds and just two points; a final score of 61-59. The point that I mostly want to make is on the behalf of Butler. They broke all the boundaries of the publics reputation and what they expected from them. many thought that they would lose in about the second bracket, and if they were lucky they would make it to the sweet sixteen, but then lose. That didnt happen though. I can not be here right now though and say that i have been a Butler fan or believed in this team because to be honest I didnt really know about them until they started to pull off all the upsets. In my own defense though I have said that I am just a fan of March Madness and really could care less about the regular season. This Butler team did so much for the culture of the college basketball game. Being a 5 seed and making the just about the closest run you can at a national title. I am not right now providing any evidence for those people who want to open the tournament up to about 128 teams though. This is a crazy idea and really just a waste. Yes some teams can make runs for it, and yes the upsets are what make the whole thing fun, but no not this many teams need to be in the tournament. I do not want to get too off topic, but I just know there is someone out there right now thinking that they should, but you are wrong for thinking that; now where was I. Oh yeah on how Butler really impressed people. If you watched the video, and if you didnt you should because it will help in you understanding because I am not going to summarize everything that happened in the game, plus it gets you in the scene. Well right in the final closing minutes Butlers shoots the ball in a fade away and right here I am thinking short because the dude is drifting back. I guess he was also thinking this too because he put just a little more push on it and it squarely hit the back part of the rim. At the time this would have given Butler the lead. We dont know what would have happened after that though. So well stick with the fact that he missed it and the game continued as is until the last approximate three seconds. Now here the Butler guy grabs the rebound and off the missed second free throw and get to about the corner of the mid court line. Now I dont know about you but I didnt feel anything really. I mean I was thinking the game is over. The shot missed and Duke won. Then about a minute afterwards, yeah it took me awhile, I realized that if that last shot had done in Butler would have won the game. If that shot had done it Butler would have made the greatest national title in college basketball ever. If Butler would have made that shot that guy would be trampled and the place would be exploding. The thing is he didnt, but it was crazy how close he even came. I remember hearing a Duke player in an interview about what he was thinking while the ball was in the air, and he had some time because that was a heck of a shot. The Duke player responded something like he thought it could go in, but he really hoped it wouldnt. That shot not have come that close to winning the game. A few inches down on the back board and it would have been good. Enough with the would have, could have, should haves. That fact is the game truly didnt have a loser. Yes technically Duke won and congratulations, but Butler had won just to get there and to play at the level they did and come a few of just about everything close to winning. I respect Butler and wish them the best of luck next year at the tournament.

Its April

So I hope everyone has had a great start to their April. April though, can sometimes have a rude awakening. Either it can rain the first week, or end up being abnormally cold. This year, at least where I live it has been pretty nice. There is this one thing I am forgetting about though. That would be April 1st, or April Fools as we all know it.

It is like it sounds. A day to be reasonably foolish. It was said to have begun sometime in history when the calender which New Years from April 1st to January 1st. Now of course back then word could only get around by word of mouth or by horse. Either way if you are trying to tell everyone in a country it may take a while. So while some people were celebrating the new New Years, the others were celebrating on the previous date. Well the people still celebrating on April 1st were called fools and had tricks played on them. Now today the date and customs have changed a little and it is a fun and games to pull a trick on somebody on April 1st. So once April comes around each year you better be on your toes and ready for almost anything, and don't believe everything you hear because you might become a fool for falling for the trick.

The Confusion about Easter

Have you ever just sat down and decided that you would begin to think about the oddities of some parts of our lives. Well if you nave never done this I will give you a very easy topic to start with. Holidays, Events and the imaginary kind of things we associate them. Still Easter is this weekend this would be the perfect time and the prefect example.

Easter is probably the most screwed up commercial holiday that we have. First off there is the Easter bunny. Fine there really isn't anything truly wrong with associating a semi peaceful and cute little animal with a holiday. Also bunnies are kind of a sign of spring and Easter happens to occur around spring time. But there are just a few flaws. First of all we always call the animal the Easter bunny and not the Easter rabbit. Some how the name bunny just sounds more innocent and cute than rabbit. Second of all this bunny apparently hops around to everyones house in one night and delivers candy, goodies, and toys. This part is worst than Santa. At least Santa doesn't manual have to go to each house, he just sits in a sleigh. Not only does the Easter bunny have to travel by foot, but by hopping. I would just like to see you try and jump all the way down your street and back, let alone everyones house. Also if this bunny has to go every where what does he use to carry all these goodies for all the children. It is not like he has a huge sleigh or magic to help him with that. So not only does he have to hop everywhere he has to hop back and forth from his house and carry as many baskets as he can at a time before he has to go back again and restock.

Enough with the bunny business. Now to the eggs. The egg part of Easter is alright and kind of neat. It is rather kind of strange though too. Who ever thought of decorating your eggs, but I guess it is kind of similar to Halloween when we carve out pumpkins or paint them. Just a reason for those people who enjoy playing with their food to do so. Fine we decorate our eggs and have a good time, so what. Well that is not enough. We think we have to go and hide them around our homes and make it a big hunt. Why did we begin to hide real eggs in our houses and claiming that a bunny came by and hid them and left baskets full of goodies? I mean it would stink to not find the last egg, literally.

Well there was your seasonal example of the one of the holiday oddities that we have. The next could be the tooth fairy.

And Then There Were Four

As we all know, or most of us know, it is now April, and no longer March. That does not mean that the madness is far from over though. Of course I am talking about March madness, the college basketball tournament. Well just a little less than a week ago the Final Four were decided. Oddly enough though, only one of the four teams remaining in the tournament are a number 1. That would be Duke. Even having that said, there is still maybe a little bit of a surprise there. Duke was kind of said to be before the tournament one of the number one seeds to go down, and maybe even in the first couple of rounds. But now on the one side we have Duke and West Virginia. A number one seeded Duke vs. a number two seeded West Virginia. All in all though according to the seeds, there should not be that much of a surprise in that match up. If you look to the other side of the bracket there are some pretty big shockers. We have two, five seeded teams playing each other, guaranteeing a five seeded team into the National Title game. This match up is Butler vs. Michigan State. This entire tournament seemed to have that little bit of extra madness this year, and it could go all the way. Whoever is the winner of the Butler vs. Michigan State game will be playing in the National Title game as a five seed. Then this winner will be playing either a number two seed or the last remaining one seed. The fact that a five seed will make it into the final game just adds to the suspense and attitude of the tournament. It also just kind of builds up the high possibility of a big upset in the National Title game. Personally I don't really like Duke that much and would like to see them lose against West Virginia. That is not to say that I particularly want West Virginia to win it all. I would like to se the upset in the National Title game. It would the the cherry on top and the perfect summary of this years March Madness tournament. The overall number seed getting upset by Northern Iowa and not even making it into the Sweet Sixteen, and all the other unexpected upsets that happened earlier. Personally I would like to see Butler win it all. Michigan State is okay, but they did beat out Northern Iowa, who I was originally rooting for, so they aren't really on my top list. Also I think Michigan State after losing their key player won't be as good competition in the title game. If Butler makes it into the title game it will make for a good local story too, because the Final Four is being held in Indianapolis, and Butler is real close to there. So my hopeful finalist would be Butler vs. West Virginia. I would like to see Butler win, but if West Virginia happened to win that would be okay too since they haven't been this far in the tournament in I believe about 50 years. In the end I hope to be seeing Butler, the local high spirited team from around Indianapolis, cut down the nets. All we can do now is just wait for tomorrow while the Butler vs. Michigan State games runs in the afternoon and the Duke vs. West Virginia game runs in the evening. Then the two winners will battle it out to decide the National College Basketball Champion.

Think like a Bird

So I am gazing out my window again, and peering across the street again, searching for a topic again, and I see something to write on my blog again. You see I live in a fairly new neighborhood, and most every house has a newer tree. The oldest tree on the block is probably only about fifteen years old, so none of these trees are very big. Well anyways I am looking across the street at my neighbors front lawn tree when I noticed somethings on their tree. At first it didn't really click as to what they were, and I feel kind of stupid admitting this, but it just looked like little blobs. I saw at and looked away, but I just looked back again because I was confused at what those little blobs were. Finally I came to the well thought through conclusion that they were just little birds. The only thing I have to say in my defense of not realizing they were birds from the start, would be that it is the beginning of spring and winter just ended, therefore I am not quite use to seeing little birds on trees yet again. Once I did realize that the mysterious blobs were birds I decided to count them. 10 in all. Then me just being me noticed that no other birds there anywhere to be seen. Not even on any other tree around. I have a tree in my front yard and there were no birds on it, yet my neighbors tree was hogging all the birds. So why were all the birds just on that one tree? What was so much better about that tree than any other tree around it? Why had all ten birds selected to sit on that one tree? Well there isn't any real answer, but this is why the title of the blog is: think like a bird, just so it is possible to come up with the best and most justifiable answer. One answer could be that birds like to travel in packs. For example geese. If one bird chose to land on that tree, then maybe all his buddies decided too, that they would come hang out on that tree with him. Or it is just possible that that tree was just the preferred tree. Maybe the way the branches are, the structure of the bark, or the particular height of that tree. All the birds were lined up across two branches in a row of ten. Maybe it was all a coincidence that all the birds in the area that I could see decided on sitting on the same tree. If I was a begging person though I would have to say that this is the least likely of the possibilities. The mostly likely is something more to do with the birds and probably less to do with the tree itself. People like to be around other people that they know, and hang around them too. So, I guess birds really aren't much different. A bird or two probably chose to sit on a tree and some other birds followed their lead. Now one just left the tree and flew away and slowly all ten decided to leave to. Now all the trees are empty of birds and just stay there planted in the ground waiting for the next thing to happen.

Made for Hula-Hooping?

One of my teachers is kind of known for giving out semi odd extra credit. For example, when there was snow on the ground if you went out and made a snow angel you got a little extra credit. The kids obviously do not mind, and it is extra credit so no one is forced into doing any of it if they do not want to. Well to get to my story just this last week we could gain a little extra credit by hula- hooping. Seems kind of odd right? Well the only rules were you could get some if you tried and if you beat the time of the teacher you got double, and you had three tries. Well first off the teacher had to set the time limit. He put in on his waist and spun the hula-hoop around. It wavered there for and second or two and then fell to the ground. The official time to you had to beat was three seconds, so in other words if you do it you are almost guaranteed to get some extra credit. My whole point in this blog is not to just tell you about the extra credit opportunities in one of my classes, but more to discuss the art of actual hula-hooping. My teacher made a comment that went something like this: Men are more shaped like apples and the women are more shaped like pears. This comment was not made to be offensive by any means, but strictly made by the observation through this hula-hooping activity. A little history about the hula-hoop that I found to be slightly interesting at first though was that hula-hoop was "invented" by a guy. The only thing that I could think of why it was not a woman who invented such a thing was that still in the fifties women were still seen as a kind of minority and were not really "fit" for such a profession. But anyways the whole thing about the comment is that women seem to be shaped better to hula-hoop. Also it cold be that now in todays society if a guy is seen hula-hooping for fun it is seen as being weird or abnormal. It is just odd that the guys have to do the earthquake, row the boat, or corkscrew method to try to get the hula-hoop to stay up while most of the women kind of bend one of their legs back in forth and it stays up no problem. It is just one of those things in life that women seem to be built better for than men, but it does work both ways though. By the way, I was able to hula-hoop for longer than three seconds, so I recieved my extra credit, so I am happy.

All the Madness

This year of March Madness seems to have just a little extra madness so far. There have been so many upsets in just the first round and who is to expect what might come the the second, third, and so on. I enjoy sports quite a bit, but college basketball kind of gets left out all up until March. Then it is actually worth all the attention. This last year was one of the first years this I had made a bracket, and I didn't do all that bad. I didnt make one this year and I am kind of glad that i did because i think I would just be embarrassing myself just trying to predict who is going to win each game. Also trying to make a descent bracket without really paying attention to what was happening in the regular season makes it a bit more challenging too. This year though you could be really lucky and just try your best. Even the sports analysts who are suppose to be the experts on this are going down with many surprises. They always try to predict the upsets, but so far those are the ones that have not been upsets, but some of the other games have been. one upset that would be huge would be if UNI would go ahead and beat Kansas, or if another ranked 1 or 2 team would go down in the second round. This really screws with peoples brackets and really opens up opportunities in the tournament. I guess this is all for now, and we will just have to wait and see how this years mysterious March Madness works out til the end.

Riding your Bike

I was searching for a topic right and I was not really sure what to write about. I peered out my window and there was this little boy trying to ride his bike with his training wheels. This got me thinking then. I bet most people have a pretty interesting story about how they learned how to ride their bike. It is usually a pretty eventful moment once you learn how to do it. Well for me it mostly was mostly a force by my older sister and friends to learn. I don't quite remember what grade I was in, maybe kindergarten or first. Anyways at my old house we had this little hill on the side of our front yard. When my dad took off my training wheels and I walked my bike up the little hill. I got on the seat while someone held the bike stable. Then I remember get s a little push. I was quite ready, but I was able to get down the hill, but then kind of forgot in the moment that I needed to pedal and fell off to a side with the bike on top of me. Everyone wanted me to try again but I was pretty reluctant because I didn't really want to get hurt again. Well I didn't have much of a choice at the time and got pressured into it. so here went round two. This time i remembered to pedal, in trying to pedal i leaned to much to one side and fall over again. Lets just say that I did learn to ride a bike that day though, just through many painful attempts. Today I do enjoy riding a bike, and I no longer fall down.

Just Around the Corner

Well it seems like it is finally here again and here to stay (or at least for the time being). That would be spring. It kind or all starts when the snow begins to melt. Slowly inch by inch it wear away. Then the lawns and streets are left with this nice sandy caking. But, that is so forgotten when you step outside and hear the chirping of a bird. Then you hear another. Oh the quietness of winter has gone away. Then comes the blue sky. It is usually blue for a few days right in the beginning of spring, but then is covered up with gray clouds again. Don't worry though because these aren't snow clouds, but rather rain clouds. Then if you are lucky maybe another spring sound will make its rather loud presence. Thunder and lightning. With a flash across the sky and the roll of thunder. During this process the temperature finds it way back up to a much comfortable 50- 60 degrees. Watch out because now the sweaters, sweat pants, and boots are shed and the shorts, tank tops, and flip flops make their long waited existence. Outside begins to look more like the place to be. as I look out my window I see the big wheel is able to make it outside today. Couples taking walks and children playing on the play ground. The sun shines down brighter and the days get longer. Peoples mood begins to reflect this too. Things are born and life is rejuvenated. Flowers open and leaves reappear on the trees. Everything gets brighter, more colorful, and livelier. The transition from winter to spring begins its cycle once more.

Suh or McCoy

Now I know that the NFL season just ended about a month ago with the Super Bowl, but now already things are heating back up in the NFL. About a week ago the NFL combine going on in full strength. This is where you really get an idea and a visual of each player in their position, and how well they play, and how well they can take the pressure. Now is time for most players is a time to really show what they can do in hopes of making it into the NFL. For other it doesn't really matter as much because they have proven themselves in the spot during the regular college football season as some of the dominate players. These players often don't even come out to the combine because they pretty much know that they are going to get drafted. But there are a few that know that they are going to get drafted, but come out any way. Two of those just happen to play the same position and happen to be the two top ranked players to go one and two in the NFL this season. Those two would be Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska and Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma.

These two players are extremely athletic and both where very dominate in the game. To throw in some irony the both wore the jersey number 93. The question is who do you draft first? Suh or McCoy? McCoy or Suh? They are just about the same weight and height too. Mmmmmhhhhh? Well I will tell you that I would rather have Suh on my team, but no offense to McCoy because he will find a nice home in the second draft spot. Suh is so strong and quick to the line. Just take his game against Texas. I have previously blogged about this game and how Suh pretty much single handedly stopped the Texas offense. Here is a short video of Suh just rocking McCoy, the QB of Texas. Now McCoy is no small person either but he just went for the smackdown.

I would also pick Suh because of his personality. It is not like I have personally met him or anything, but if you have ever seen him on an interview he is always so humble. He isn't a jerk about being really good. Also many people could learn from his work ethic. He said that he blames himself for losing the Texas game because he didn't block the field goal. He said he had blocked three already, so this one was no different. This just goes to show that whatever team has the honor of picking him up will have a humble, hard working, and a leader on the field. All this things could easily be found in his career with Nebraska.

Now I watched some of the combine and saw Suh run the 40 yard dash. For a 300 pound guy I believe under 5 seconds is pretty darn good. I do not know how that compared to McCoy, but I do know that Suh had around ten more bench presses than McCoy, which is quite a bit. This again just goes to show Suh's strength. For those people out there that say that Suh only has one move I think would have to look again. Yes he can over power, but he can get inside and shed blocks to stop the run. He has really good eyes and is able to deflect passes over top. He is fast enough to get outside and stop the run around the corner too. In my opinion he is able to pressure the passer and stop the run.

So what will it be? Suh or McCoy. Vastly it comes down to the team who has first draft pick and how they see it fit. They will see which one they think will fit best in their program, or what they are going for.So right now all you can do it wait, and when the time comes have your televisions on to hear the first draft pick of the 2010- 11 NFL season. I am already pumped!