20060320

Sheedy: he loves those dang corndogs!
(somewhere this morning Jon Harris is hitting
his head against the keyboard at the realization
that he married this guy's sister)

The Great American
March Madness
NCAA Basketball Pool

These days I'm helping to coach Jack's 3rd grade lacrosse team as well as the 4th grade team, so I was gone for most of the day yesterday at the two team's games and didn't have a chance to watch a lot of basketball action. Imagine the scene as we get in the car after a long day at the lacrosse field (that saw our two teams get whooped up on by those doofuses from Indian Hill by a combined score of 21-1). I turn on the radio and the good news just keeps coming. Yep, Pat Sinnard and his Bradley Braves had knocked off Pittsburgh, my Final 4 pick from the Oakland region, and in the process putting any chance of winning this year on the ropes . Great.

Epstein??? You gotta be kiddin' me!

My older, more NCAA savvy brother

Leader board

Entrant Pts

52
52
49
47
47
47
46
46
46
46
46
45
45
45

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Matt Stevens (1)
Matt Stevens (3)
Sebastian
Frank McGurrin (1)
Laura Reilly
Sheryl Hemphill
Chris Reilly (2)
Lisa Allard
Loretta Pazdan
Mike Santoro (1)
T. Robinson (3)
Chris Dennehy
Sean Hayes (2)
Tony King (1)

Well, last year I made a couple of throwaway comments in one of my updates about those Burger King commercials with that Hootie and the Blowfish guy, saying how bizarre they were, etc. Well, my old buddy Chris Reilly then points out to me on the message board that his brother Rob actually created them. It was a complete "open mouth / insert foot" type of moment, which for those who know me is like my trademark (exhibit A: the Bradley Braves). Well, this year I get an email from Chris asking if his brother could play in the pool. I got a little nervous thinking it was "the Burger King" one. Instead, I was relieved to find it was the self-proclaimed "temporarily retired" one, Jimmy. Phew!

In any event, below is a cut and paste job of the whole sordid affair from last year:

Bad Karma!
Sinnard's Bradley Braves
put Commish in the Pitts!
Title hopes take hit in Panther loss!

Thankfully, my Villanova squad was able to pull out a squeaker vs Arizona to keep my faint title hopes alive. Not to mention their own. At this point, I still have both of my two finalists alive, Villanova and Duke, as well as another Final 4 team in UConn. However, in an interesting twist, it appears I'm now going to have to pull for Bradley to win the Oakland regional if I want any chance at all of winning. Karma hates me. She really does. My name is Greg.

I actually almost missed the end of the Villanova game. I had gone over to my neighbor's house, Dan "Dorkfish" Sheedy (pictured at right), to help him with some computer problems he was having. Thankfully Mrs Commish made an emergency phone call over there to drop the 411 on me that 'Nova was going down to the wire. Dan's computer issues would have to wait. We headed for the TV in time to catch my main man, Allen Ray, ice Arizona at the free throw line. Phew! I live to fight another day.

In any event, heading into the Sweet 16, the standing shape up as follows:

The Commish and his two yutes are tied at 43 points. Mrs Commish trails us with 40.

Okay, in my last update I made passing reference to last year's "Burger King controversy" involving Chris Reilly. I received a couple of emails from pool newcomers (or as Kramer Hendricks calls them ... "noobs") asking for details on what that's all about. So here ya go ...

Well, games resume Thursday. I'll try and have an update for ya then. If you missed one over the weekend, you can find them here.

The Commish.

Sweet 16
Schedule

THURSDAY, 3/23/06

#4 LSU vs #1 Duke

#13 Bradley vs #1 Memphis

#6 West Virginia vs #2 Texas

#3 Gonzaga vs #2 UCLA

FRIDAY, 3/24/06

#11 G Mason vs #7 Wichita St

#4 BC vs #1 Villanova

#5 Washington vs #1 U Conn

#7 Georgetown vs #3 Florida