Blind Bracket Picks & Penishead Exits?

It’s bracket time and I know absolutely nothing college basketball. I haven’t watched a single game from start to finish and I’ve probably watched no more than five straight minutes of any one game. So these picks are out of complete ignorance.

Every year, I tend to have all the number ones in the Final Four, and last year was the first time I ever got that right. This year, I have all the number ones except for Memphis, which is a number two. Oh, and virtually every year I pick UNC to win and this year's no different.

So, we’ll see how close these picks are…

In the Midwest:

First Round
(1) Louisville over (16) Morehead State
(9) Siena over (8) Ohio State
(5) Utah over (12) Arizona
(4) Wake Forest over (13) Cleveland State
(6) West Virginia over (11) Dayton
(3) Kansas over (14) North Dakota State
(10) USC over (7) Boston College
(2) Michigan State over (15) Robert Morris

Second Round
(1) Louisville over (9) Siena
(4) Wake Forest over (5) Utah
(3) Kansas over (6) West Virginia
(2) Michigan State over (10) USC

Sweet 16
(1) Louisville over (4) Wake Forest
(3) Kansas over (2) Michigan State

Regional Final
(1) Louisville over (3) Kansas

In the West:

First Round
(1) UConn over (16) Chattanooga
(8) BYU over (9) Texas A&M
(5) Purdue over (12) Northern Iowa
(4) Washington over (13) Mississippi State
(6) Marquette over (11) Utah State
(3) Missouri over (14) Cornell
(10) Maryland over (7) Cal
(2) Memphis over (15) Cal State Northridge

Second Round
(1) UConn over (8) BYU
(4) Washington over (5) Purdue
(3) Missouri over (6) Marquette
(2) Memphis over (10) Maryland

Sweet 16
(1) UConn over (4) Washington
(2) Memphis over (3) Missouri

Regional Final
(2) Memphis over (1) UConn

In the East

First Round
(1) Pitt over (16) E. Tennessee State
(9) Tennessee over (8) Oklahoma State
(12) Wisconsin over (5) Florida State
(4) Xavier over (13) Portland State
(11) VCU over (6) UCLA
(3) Villanova over (14) American
(7) Texas over (10) Minnesota
(2) Duke over (15) Binghamton

Second Round
(1) Pitt over (9) Tennessee
(4) Xavier over (12) Wisconsin
(3) Villanova over (11) VCU
(7) Texas over (2) Duke

Sweet 16
(1) Pitt over (4) Xavier
(3) Villanova over (7) Texas

Regional Final
(1) Pitt over (3) Villanova

In the South

First Round
(1) UNC over (16) Radford
(8) LSU over (9) Butler
(5) Illinois over (12) Western Kentucky
(4) Gonzaga over (13) Akron
(6) Arizona State over (11) Temple
(3) Syracuse over (14) Stephen F. Austin
(7) Clemson over (10) Michigan
(2) Oklahoma over (15) Morgan State

Second Round
(1) UNC over (8) LSU
(4) Gonzaga over (5) Illinois
(3) Syracuse over (6) Arizona State
(2) Oklahoma over (7) Clemson

Sweet 16
(1) UNC over (4) Gonzaga
(3) Syracuse over (2) Oklahoma

Regional Final
(1) UNC over (3) Syracuse

Final Four
Louisville over Memphis
UNC over Pitt

National Title
UNC over Louisville

World Baseball Classic Notes

I didn’t pay any attention to the World Baseball Classic in 2006 when it first started but I’ve watched a few of the games this time around. A couple thoughts: This means so much more to people in other countries than it does to Americans. When you look at the games that took place in San Juan, the stands were packed and it was wild.

Second, the two games between the Dominican Republic and Netherlands were absolutely incredible and fun to watch.

Finally, I realize that injuries can happen in Spring Training but when Chipper Jones is out with an oblique injury that I have a feeling will be nagging him all season long and USA manager Davey Johnson puts Braves’ catcher Brian McCann out in left field, I can’t be too enthusiastic about the WBC.

Side Notes

Last night, I hardly slept. My side was really hurting and I couldn’t get in a position that would allow me to go to sleep. I finally managed to fall asleep a little after 1am and then I woke up for a while after 3am. I then woke up at 5:30am and I didn’t get back to sleep until about 7am. I then woke up for good a little after 9am.

Besides being really tired today, the bigger concern is how this affects the San Francisco trip. Over the last couple weeks prior to this week, I was feeling better. I was cautiously optimistic that maybe I’d be near 100% by mid-April and that the planning wouldn’t be affected by my side. Unfortunately, it appears likely that it will be a factor while I’m out there.

I’ll try to plan around it the best I can but there’s a part of me that believes that this might be the only chance I have to go out there and if there are things that I don’t see, I’m going to really regret it. And it’ll probably cause me to push through when maybe I shouldn’t and it’ll cause me to do possible significant damage.

The biggest day that I’m concerned about is Friday, where I’m set to do the most amount of walking, possibly three miles or so. I’ll have pain killers on hand and might need to prioritize some things so that if I absolutely can’t keep walking, I won’t miss anything too important.

But it is a concern. I’ll try to be careful over the next few week so that I can be as healthy as possible by trip time. For instance, I have undated tickets to Six Flags and while I’d love to do that before the trip, that’s not going to be possible. My real goal would be to go before school gets out but that looks unlikely.

I could go on April 18th, the week after I get back but I imagine I’ll be pretty worn out. That next weekend, my girlfriend and I will be going to Talladega for my first auto race. So that makes it unlikely until May. Because the tickets are undated, it means I can wait to see what the weather is going to do and then go.

So Long, Penishead!

Okay, so apparently Penishead’s last day really was yesterday. He’s been saying that his last day was near since November. ‘My last day is next Monday’ or ‘My last day’s the Monday after next’ is all I’ve been hearing for the last five months. So it wasn’t a Monday at all…it was a Tuesday.

Is there a chance that he’s still there today or tomorrow? Will his desk be cleared out? I don’t know. I’m still not sold. I realize that he was given a cake and flowers and everyone was saying goodbye but I still have trouble believing he’s really gone this time. He’s fooled me so many times before that I just don’t want to be fooled again.

Final Thoughts

I was clearing out stuff in my jacket pocket yesterday and I had a receipt from Applebee’s from a couple weeks ago. The name of the waitress that night was Say-Ruh. That’s the way a person from Macon would pronounce Sarah.

Research shows that old age begins at 27 and I feel it. I tell you, sometimes I start sentences that I never