They say the optimal range for having your wisdom teeth extracted lies between 16 and 25, with 25 leaning towards extremely bad. I'm going to turn 32 this July. You can see where this is going. I had mine extracted last Friday and I have to tell you, writing while hopped up on Percocet is an amazing experience. Percocet, they say, is not to be unexpectedly stopped being taken after 5 straight days, otherwise you will suffer from withdrawal. This is a metaphor for exactly how I'm feeling about the NCCA tourney, which is going to come to an abrupt end next Monday, but after these past two weeks plus the awesome league tournaments I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms to the best 3 weeks of college basketball I've ever seen.
I haven't been frequently paying attention to my ESPN brackets. I looked before the Sweet 16 began and then I checked it again this morning. I've seen all of the attention being given to the "bracket busting" Final 4. Well folks, for the first time since I won a pool in high school I'm doing exceptionally well. According to ESPN I am in the 98.8th percentile of the few million entries to their online pool. That's up from the 79th percentile prior to the Sweet 16. I'm shocked. I'm not shocked at the reason why I rocketed up, because I honestly thought UCLA and LSU were the two best teams coming out of their respective regions. The other two I had were BC and UNC. UNC was a team I thought would sneak right in under the radar. They happened to forget I had these plans for them.
BC, once again, killed me. I watched a lot of their games this past year and I thought they had the horses to do it, especially because their brand of basketball is different than your average college team. Looking at their bracket I felt that the only threat was Florida. Villanova and their 4 guard line-up just seemed so wrong and would eventually be exploited. Unfortunately it came one game too late for me. BC on the other hand has a few Achillies heels and they reared their ugly head last Friday. They are turnovers (lazy one's in particular), free throw shooting and Al Skinner. I'll be honest that the first two killed BC far more than Skinner did. I was just shocked at two second half decisions he didn't make that could have tipped the balance and allowed BC to escape with a win.
Sean Marshall, as much as I like him, was ice cold after the first 5 minutes of the game. When you go cold you need to step up on defense, but unfortunately for Marshall he wasn't quick enough to cover Nova's guards. When that is the case Al you put the ridiculously fast
Tyrese Rice in. I don't care if you're holding a grudge because he was unecessarily gunning in the first half. I don't care if he's a frosh. You put him in, tell him not to shoot and make him stick to his man like flypaper. Secondly,
Sean Williams was a menace from the ACC tourney all the way through to that final game. Why did you wait so long to put him in? His presence kept Nova out of the middle and forced them to keep launching threes. If you're going to lose make them earn it the hard way. Needless to say I popped some Percocet after this one.
Overall this has been the best touney that has ever been played. Almost every game was dramatic and it seems that half of those went into overtime. This weekend should be fun.
...and here are some other thoughts that I would be sharing with you if I could drink beer and eat steak.
This is a question for the Boston media. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to be making some enemies soon, because these guys are getting on my nerves. It's not for the obvious reasons that most of us despise some of the local scribes for, but it has a lot to do with the high holy horse these folks have mounted since winning the World Series. When did you become the center of the moral universe? Case in point being
Eric "Debbie Downer" Wilbur's blog post today regarding Section 8 relief pitcher Julian Tavarez. On the grounds of full disclosure some of you are aware that Eric and I went to high school together and spent many an hour debating the pros and cons of our beloved Red Sox, but the professional Eric is not my favorite card carrying member of his profession. (It's as if the Jedi Knight of negativity, Dan Shaughnessey, has Eric in an apprentice program that will allow take over once Dan retires.) For those of you who don't know, Julian mistook yesterday's exhibition against Tampa Bay for the two club's annual Wrestlemania level brawl and slapped Joey Gathright around. I say slapped, because if you saw how Julian makes a fist you would not be thinking facial reconstruction surgery. Eric made a bold statement by saying that "Tavarez makes Carl Everett look like John Lennon." This kind of "I'm taking estrogen supplements" commentary has Eric one step away from
daddyblogging. This incident is fresh off of Josh Beckett
losing his mind for 5 minutes the day before against the Phillies. Everett and Tavarez aren't even in the same league of craziness. Carl is on his own planet and a lot of that has to do with his own personal beliefs combined with holding huge grudges against every team he played for prior to his current team. Tavarez has the Latin fire (others describe it as anger management issues) I love, because in all seriousness I don't want to watch a bunch of robots go about their day. It's completely uninteresting. Sure it was wrong, but as long as Julian doesn't break his hand at any point during the season then I'm excited about what could happen next. Aside from Dali Llama Wakefield this entire ptching staff has some very unique "issues". The potential drama could top even the worst episode of Melrose Place. It's a long season and I'm going to sit back and enjoy the show. This is why I'm losing my patience with the media, because they won't relax and have fun with their job. Instead they attack the players from a morally cleansed soapbox.
A lot of people have asked me my take on the Vinatieri situation and I kept quiet about it all last week. I have to tell you nothing could have shocked me more than this event. I mean the Colts? Adam, you could have gone anywhere else and I would have said good luck and given you a big hug, but now that you're kicking for team "Cut That Meat" I possess not one fiber in my body that can do this. You're not a traitor. I think you're smart for doing what's best for your family, but you're dumb for accepting the fact that you will never go to a Super Bowl again. You do know this right? The Colts still have Peyton. Dungy is still the coach. They lost Edge, who I think is a tad overrated, but at least he helped open up the passing game. Now that's gone and all the pressure is back on the shoulders of the one guy who has proven time and time again that he cannot handle it. There isn't a field goal kicker alive or dead who can help them. Yes, I wanted the Pats to do whatever it took to re-sign Adam. Give him $4 million/year for all I care. All the extra dough that the team has generated via their 3 Super Bowl wins proves he has earned it, but by not signing him I'm convinced something else is in play here and we'll find out sooner or later. As tight lipped as the Pats are I'm convinced they were willing to let him go for a reason. Adam didn't have a typical Vinatieri type performance last season. We all know he was hurt most of the season and missed some important kicks, especially in that Denver game. That was actually the first time I started believing that he was no longer invincible. Does that warrant letting him walk? Not in my book, but the kid in me who sat through horrible year after horrible year on those disgusting aluminum benches at Schaeffer/Sullivan Stadium is perfectly happy with the obvious youth movement this team is taking. Perhaps the next Vinatieri is ready to be undrafted and signed by the Pats. There are some areas where they desperately need to get younger and if you want to stay on top then you make some very painful decisions to ensure your future looks bright. In the case of the kicker you normally don't have to get younger until they're 50. However, I smell something big coming our way on draft day. I know they have a kicker in mind and my guess is that they trade up for an instant impact player.
