So in the midst of March Madness, I want to share my thoughts with what has gone on and what is going to happen here in the next two weeks. Let me just start by saying that all the upsets and crazy games that we have seen are the reason that we have March Madness, for the little schools or low seeds that win games.
All of the brackets that I have filled out are completely worthless, and I think that this is true for just about everyone haha. You can maybe guess some upsets that will happen but when a double digit seed makes it to the Sweet 16 it is really hard to predict that. Unless you are from one of those schools, then you have your team winning it all. Schools like VCU and Marquette give people hope when they bust into the Sweet 16, and personally I love it because I am always a fan of the underdogs. And alot of the teams that I dont like are traditionally high seeds so I love to see them lose too, so there is that haha. But like I said, every one loves a good cinderella story, like George Mason or Gonzaga in the past. Who will it be this year, VCU has played two very good games so far beating Georgetown and a very good Purdue team, and they have a chance to go to Elite 8 because they play a OK Florida State team. And Marquette even though they are from a power conference has kind of disappeared in the last few years after their head coach left for Indiana. So this is there jump back into the spot light, and I think they will be a team to watch out for the rest of the way. I am excited to see what happens the rest of the tournament, I am hoping for more upsets so I can still have hope in all the underdogs out there.
Now I want to address this kid oddly nicknamed Jimmer. If you have never heard of this kid, you must be living in a barn or under a rock, and I think you would of still have heard of him. This kid has taken the college basketball world by storm this year, he is easily an All-American, and is the front runner for player of the year. One cool thing about Jimmer is that he plays for BYU, when was the last time a player that went to BYU was up for player of the year, not a powerhouse like Duke or Ohio State, much less a West Coast school. His name should speak for itsself, or the notoriety that it has reached. To be "jimmered" is now an acceptable term to hear, there is also a remix of Teach Me How to Dougie, called, you guessed it Teach Me How to Jimmer. The reason that this kid is so good is because he can create hos own shot from anywhere on the floor, and when I say anywhere, I mean everywhere. Just look at this clip of a game against New Mexico where he scored only 52 points link. I think his official range is out to the half court line, and he makes it look easy. And just when you want to guard him tight, he uses his deceptively quick first step and intelligence to blow by you and get to the basket. Once he gets to the basket he uses his strength to draw the foul, where he shoots a, surprise, about 90 percent. Before I saw him play I wondered how he could score all those points, he must take almost all the teams shots and not pass, you know the classic "ballhog", but once I actually say him play I was very impressed with his court vision and his ability to pass the ball. I dont know what position he would play in the NBA because he is not a true point guard, and may be a little slow to play the 2 but we will see once he gets drafted. But I can say confidently now he is an amazing player and if you havent seen him play, look him up he is legit.
So my predictions for this tournament still holds strong because fortunately the team I picked to win it all is still in contention, and that team is the UConn Huskies. Their point guard Kemba Walker is to me the runner up for player of the year, he is a great true point guard but scores as well. UConn is one of the hottest teams coming into the tournament winning at least 6 games in a row, including 5 games in 5 nights in the Big East tournament.
This is obviously my favorite month of the year because it is all basketball all of the time, and it is any sports lovers dream. Now I am not able to watch every game due to my lack of cable but I try and watch every game that is on CBS, so if you wanna get a hold of me this month you know where I will be.
And now let me teach you how to jimmer:
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
My Life As We Speak
This is a post not so much relating to sports, I know I said this blog was gonna be all about sports, but hey I am not one dimensional, like Donkey says, I am like an onion I have many layers, sports is just a really thick layer. But it will still be interesting, cause its about me obviously.
Since about January until about a week ago, I was in a rut/funk or whatever noun you want to use for this word. I had just recently gotten back to Washington after finishing up an internship in Arizona. I really loved it down there and I tried my hardest find a job so I could stay and live down there. But despite my best efforts, the economy has hit especially hard down there so I was not able to get a job. During my last few weeks down in Arizona I had been talking to my buddy Jeff and he said that if I cant get a job down there that he could get me a job working for a company called Center Partners in Spokane and that he also had a apartment and was looking for a third roommate, so to me this sounded like a great deal, little did I know, but we will get to that later.
So I made the harrowing trip back up to Washington, luckily my little brother flew down to Arizona and drove back with me. When I got back to Washington and lived with my parents for a while, the first thing I did was fill out an application to work at Center Partners as a Sales Agent. I knew a little about the company but not a lot. I had an interview set up for about a week and a half later in Spokane, and also on this trip I was going to take a look at the apartment I was going to be renting. The interview process was pretty easy and I was reasonably confident that I would get the job and they let me know that day that I did. So at least that part was out of the way. I also went and looked at the apartment and it was awesome and cheap.
Anyway I started working for Center Partners in the middle of January. The first 2 weeks of work were all training and I quickly realized the first day that I might be in over my head because if anyone knows me I am not what you would call a people person, and thats really what this job is is talking to people. My job was to take incoming calls from people who wanted to set up service with T Mobile, which may sound easy but more than half of people who call in arent trying to set up service, they have other questions and it was our job to try and sell them something using the ruse that we could save them some money. I am not good at this kind of thing, so it was really hard for me to want to go to work, or even want to do well at my job. This was the start of slip into a funk, it was this job that started me down the slippery slope. I was not happy at work, and my schedule was 2 in the afternoon until 10 at night, which made it so I could never really do anything during the week and I never saw my roommates until the weekend. It was a very lonely time as well because I only ever saw people at work, and not my friends. The first day I got hired I started looking for a new job, and I looked everyday, thats not an exaggeration at all, every day.
Through all of this I have also been having money troubles so that has not made it any easier for me when I have to worry from paycheck to paycheck. All these factors put together really put me into a rut which I am not accustomed too. I was never in a really good mood, and just didnt like where my life was at.
Fortunately in the last few weeks things I think have started to take a turn for the better. My obsessive job hunting finally paid off because I found and got a job with the city of Liberty Lake working on their "Parks Crew", which means I am able to work outside and with my hands, and most importantly not deal with stupid people who have no idea how to be successful in life. This job is really more suitable for me and I have already seen a change in my attitude for everyday. I am tired at the end of every day but I think that is a good thing, because that means I accomplished something, when I can step back and say I did that.
I am glad that I did not give up because I may have been stuck in that job for a long time if I didnt have the motivation to look for another job, but thats how bad it was, immediately I started looking. But anyway, my life is now on the upswing, and right now I couldnt be happier, that is all.
Since about January until about a week ago, I was in a rut/funk or whatever noun you want to use for this word. I had just recently gotten back to Washington after finishing up an internship in Arizona. I really loved it down there and I tried my hardest find a job so I could stay and live down there. But despite my best efforts, the economy has hit especially hard down there so I was not able to get a job. During my last few weeks down in Arizona I had been talking to my buddy Jeff and he said that if I cant get a job down there that he could get me a job working for a company called Center Partners in Spokane and that he also had a apartment and was looking for a third roommate, so to me this sounded like a great deal, little did I know, but we will get to that later.
So I made the harrowing trip back up to Washington, luckily my little brother flew down to Arizona and drove back with me. When I got back to Washington and lived with my parents for a while, the first thing I did was fill out an application to work at Center Partners as a Sales Agent. I knew a little about the company but not a lot. I had an interview set up for about a week and a half later in Spokane, and also on this trip I was going to take a look at the apartment I was going to be renting. The interview process was pretty easy and I was reasonably confident that I would get the job and they let me know that day that I did. So at least that part was out of the way. I also went and looked at the apartment and it was awesome and cheap.
Anyway I started working for Center Partners in the middle of January. The first 2 weeks of work were all training and I quickly realized the first day that I might be in over my head because if anyone knows me I am not what you would call a people person, and thats really what this job is is talking to people. My job was to take incoming calls from people who wanted to set up service with T Mobile, which may sound easy but more than half of people who call in arent trying to set up service, they have other questions and it was our job to try and sell them something using the ruse that we could save them some money. I am not good at this kind of thing, so it was really hard for me to want to go to work, or even want to do well at my job. This was the start of slip into a funk, it was this job that started me down the slippery slope. I was not happy at work, and my schedule was 2 in the afternoon until 10 at night, which made it so I could never really do anything during the week and I never saw my roommates until the weekend. It was a very lonely time as well because I only ever saw people at work, and not my friends. The first day I got hired I started looking for a new job, and I looked everyday, thats not an exaggeration at all, every day.
Through all of this I have also been having money troubles so that has not made it any easier for me when I have to worry from paycheck to paycheck. All these factors put together really put me into a rut which I am not accustomed too. I was never in a really good mood, and just didnt like where my life was at.
Fortunately in the last few weeks things I think have started to take a turn for the better. My obsessive job hunting finally paid off because I found and got a job with the city of Liberty Lake working on their "Parks Crew", which means I am able to work outside and with my hands, and most importantly not deal with stupid people who have no idea how to be successful in life. This job is really more suitable for me and I have already seen a change in my attitude for everyday. I am tired at the end of every day but I think that is a good thing, because that means I accomplished something, when I can step back and say I did that.
I am glad that I did not give up because I may have been stuck in that job for a long time if I didnt have the motivation to look for another job, but thats how bad it was, immediately I started looking. But anyway, my life is now on the upswing, and right now I couldnt be happier, that is all.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
College Bowl Season
I know I am not the first person to say that the college bowl season is getting ridiculous in terms of length and sponsorship. When an announcer has to say a stupid sponsor name every time they say the name of the bowl it gets more annoying every time, especially when its something like the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, or my personal favorite the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman. These names take away from the quality of the bowl games because it makes them seem like they sold out, and some of the names just make it sound pompous. The one bowl that is the exception to this rule is the Chic-fil-a Bowl which has not changed the name of the bowl since they started sponsoring the bowl, which was way before a lot of the bowls. Some of the bowl games I did not even want to watch in fear of how many times I would hear the stupid sponsor name. Some are so ridiculous that they literally make me laugh out loud every time i hear them. I was talking to my dad and he remembers when bowls were just the Military Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and the Gator Bowl. I realize that companies will use any platform to market for their company, but apparently having signs all over the stadium is not enough anymore. The NCAA needs to look into this problem and quickly find a solution, limit the words, or say that signs are enough and do not need to blemish the name of the bowls.
On another but no less annoying point about the bowl season is how long it drags on and on and on and on. You can ask my mom, I love football way more than anyone should, but even I think there are to many bowls to watch. It seems like every team is in a bowl nowadays. Teams that are 6-6 with six division one wins are eligible for bowl games, which to me is just promoting mediocrity. These teams are obviously not the cream of the crop in college football but are still being rewarded for finishing right at 500. They need to cut down the number of bowl games, the count for games this year was 35. So 70 teams made it to bowl game this year, and I bet about 15 of those teams were a mediocre 6-6. I think they should cut the number down to around 16 bowl games every year, which would make the games much more competitive and would give extra motivation for teams to win. More people would tune in to fewer games because they have not become saturated with average football. Now I do know that some of these average teams do pull an upset once and a while, like this year when Washington flattened Nebraska in a rematch of a earlier game this season. These games are few and far in between, but they do appeal to people, who always love an underdog. So some would state the case that teams that finish 6-6 or even 7-5 do deserve a chance to play in a bowl game, but I think that you need at least a 8-4 record to make it to a bowl game, the competition and audience would sky rocket. I mean I am just saying, but I like to think I know what I am talking about.
On another but no less annoying point about the bowl season is how long it drags on and on and on and on. You can ask my mom, I love football way more than anyone should, but even I think there are to many bowls to watch. It seems like every team is in a bowl nowadays. Teams that are 6-6 with six division one wins are eligible for bowl games, which to me is just promoting mediocrity. These teams are obviously not the cream of the crop in college football but are still being rewarded for finishing right at 500. They need to cut down the number of bowl games, the count for games this year was 35. So 70 teams made it to bowl game this year, and I bet about 15 of those teams were a mediocre 6-6. I think they should cut the number down to around 16 bowl games every year, which would make the games much more competitive and would give extra motivation for teams to win. More people would tune in to fewer games because they have not become saturated with average football. Now I do know that some of these average teams do pull an upset once and a while, like this year when Washington flattened Nebraska in a rematch of a earlier game this season. These games are few and far in between, but they do appeal to people, who always love an underdog. So some would state the case that teams that finish 6-6 or even 7-5 do deserve a chance to play in a bowl game, but I think that you need at least a 8-4 record to make it to a bowl game, the competition and audience would sky rocket. I mean I am just saying, but I like to think I know what I am talking about.
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