If you need a laugh

If you need a laugh check out this blog; http://www.waiterrant.blogspot.com Edit: HAPPY JUSTIN?

This is one of the best blogs out on the internet, besides this one, Justin's Random thoughts, and ofcourse Save a horse - ride a nascar Driver. But no blogs are in that league.

~Chag

The Final Four is set

By John Chagaris, College AP
March 28, 2005
Hamden, CT - The final four has been set, and nobody predicted that Louisville would face Illinois and that Michigan State would face North Carolina, and if you can honestly tell me that you predicted all four of these teams then allow myself to bow down in front of you.

This weekend may have been the greatest college basketball weekend in the history of college basketball. Three out of four games were decided in overtime. And the Wisconsin v. North Carolina game was tied at 44 at halftime.

Let us begin the Sweet Sixteen recap with the Chicago bracket. Let me be the first to write that it was not fair to allow Illinois to compete in the Chicago bracket. Sure Illinois was the best team in the regular season, then you would think because of that they would face the winner of the play in game instead of the winner of the Northeast Conference. Just like you cannot tell me that you predicted these four teams, you cannot tell me that Illinois would have gone on that 20-5 run to tie the game and then end up beating Arizona if Illinois did not basically have a home court advantage. Arizona did not stand a chance and Illinois should have by my math been in the Syracuse bracket because that is where the play in game took place. It only makes sense that if 1 faces 16 in each bracket than the number one overall should face the worst team in the tourney.

Flying down south to Albuquerque, and this final had all the excitement that you could want. Keep in mind that West Virginia was up by twenty points over Louisville and it took a 33-4 run to get them back in the game.

``I've never abandoned a whole scouting report at halftime,'' Pitino said. ``But it had to be abandoned.''

To add to the incredible run, Larry O'Bannon scored 24 points while Taquan Dean had 23. Pitino also did something that surprised everybody who knows his coaching style as he told his players to no longer play a zone defense, but instead trap and press and to be as aggressive as they can on offense. And because his team followed his advice, Coach Pitino was able to become the first coach in history to coach three different teams to the final four, (Providence, Kentucky, Louisville).

The Syracuse bracket was home to upset city. It all started in the first round when Bucknell upset Kansas, which was the first of many bracket busters during the tournament. And as we now see North Carolina blazed through the tournament and what many people do not remember is that North Carolina should not, I repeat should not have advanced past Villlanova as the whistle was blown with a few seconds remaining after Allan Ray shot, most fans believed that Melvin Scott fouled him but the referee had other plans as he called a traveling which left everybody scratching their heads. Tom O'Neill must have seen something that nobody else in the world must have seen.

The Michigan State v. Kentucky game last night might have been the best basketball game in the history of college basketball. And for a while it looked like it was going to come down to the three pointer from Patrick Sparks and if it was a three. He shot the ball and it bounced three times and then found the whole, but was his foot on the line? After replay after replay and after seeing his foot zoomed in, we still could not tell but since the replay system is like football and there was not enough doubt that his foot was on the line, the points were recorded. My question is, where was the foul? You can clearly tell that Sparks was hacked after his shot yet nothing was called at all. And then I felt as I was watching the Arizona game again as there is not that much time left and Azubuike had the ball and yet he did not shoot the ball which forced the game into a second overtime. Folks, we learned in elementary school that the only way to win ball games is to shoot the basketball.

And now for the picks; Louisville will defeat Illinois. Yes I know that every team that has faced Illinois I have said was going to beat them but I mean it this time. Both of these teams are going to be riding momentum as they both had key come from behind wins but when it comes down to coaching, Petino is just the better coach.

Then how can I pick against UNC, they face Michigan State but I honestly cannot see Michigan State beating UNC because right now I feel that UNC is going to win the whole thing.


Thanks the blog for today, leave it.
~Chag

Red Sox Top Ten List

Red Sox Top Ten List

# 10; Curt Schilling Questioned the Wisdom of Terrell Owens Attempting to Play in Super Bowl on Injured Ankle.

#9 Bill Belichick Politely Said, "No Thanks" to Terry Francona's Offer to Meet and Offer Tips on How to Handle the Pressure of a Big Game

#8 Yankees Offer to Formally Apologize for 86 Years of Humiliation if Sox Agree to Postpone Ring Ceremony

#7 Sox Front Office Tells Players to Stop Sniping at ARod, and Direct Their Insults to the Entire Yankee Organization Instead

#6 New Survey reveals a slight majority of Yankees fans have teeth

#5 Theo Epstein Annoyed at Having to Once Again Pose as an Elf for the Red Sox Christmas Card

#4 Red Sox and Yankees Wives Brawled During Christmas Charity Event

#3 Henry Sells Starbucks Rights to Name Seventh Inning Stretch the "Caffe Latte Interlude."

#2 Report: Sox Tested Suturing Process on Unwilling Byung Hyun Kim Before Using it on Schilling

and finally #1 Umpires Who Changed Calls on Bellhorn Homerun and ARod Slap in ALCS Game 6 are Missing, Steinbrenner Questioned

~Chag

2, count them, two days until Selection Sunday

I'm ready to head for spring break so here is a quick version of the Austin Bracket.

#1 Wake Forest will defeat #16 Delaware

#9 Texas Tech will defeat #8 Stanford

#5 Florida will beat the American East champiion #13 Vermont

#4 Michigan State will make quick work on Kent State

#11 St. Mary's will beat #6 Pacific

#3 Oklahoma will defeat #14 UCF

#7 Nevada will defeat #10 Minneasota

And #2 BC will beat #15 Niagara

For those of us on Spring break, have a good one for everybody else I'll see you a week from Monday.

~Chag

3 Days until Selection Sunday

For some reason Blogger ate my post from yesturday so today you get to experience the Syracuse region as well as yesturday's Albuquerque region. So without any further Adu here is Albuquerque.

In round one Kentucky will take on Fairleigh Dickinson, the school that I have grown to hate almost as much as CCSU. Well Kentucky will make easy work of Fairleigh Dickinson and I honestly thought FD was going to have to face Oakland in the play in game.

#8 Iowa State games on #9 Creighton and I give the edge to Creighton.

#5 Utah is up against Old Dominion and do you smell that, yep upset Old Dominion wins.

#4 Gonzaga against #13 NC State, I love my Zags so I am giving them the nod.

#6 Syracuse is going against #11 George Washington and I have to give it to the Orangemen.

#3 Louisville v. #14 Wisconsin-Mil. Louisvill will beat the winner of the Horizon conference.

#7 LSU takes on #10 Miami of Ohio and I have to give Miami of Ohio the nod.

And #2 Duke against Eastern KY and if you think I'm not taking Duke then you don't know JACK.

Switching gears over to the syracuse bracket;

North Carolina will kill who ever wins he play-in game.

#8 UCLA will beat DePaul

#5 Villanove will beat UL-LAfayette

#4 Alabama will beat #13 Holy Cross

#6 Charlotte will lose to #11 Notre Dame

#3 Oklahoma State will beat Winthrop

#7 Wisconsin will beat UTEP

#2 Arizona will make short work out of Chattanooga.
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And a quick Zags goes to the maker of our tag board, your server is down AGAIN!, as soon as I find a new tag board provider you guys are gone.


Thats the blog for today, leave it.
~chag

Selection Sunday cannot come soon enough

This Sunday is the Sunday which most College Basketball fans love the most. No this isn't the Super Bowl,it is when we find out who plays where and then we can down with a pencil and attempt to create our own perfect bracket. What upsets will take place this year, will we see another Manhattan v. Florida upset, which yours truly picked last year. Can my Bulldogs finally win it all this year, or atleast contend? How will my Boston College Eagles do and most importantly how will they do next year in the ACC?

Well selection Sunday is just five days away, and instead of being home watching Bracketology 101 on ESPN I am going to be seeing the Red Hot Boston Celtics as they play the Washington Wizards. Each day this week I will cut apart, and talk about each team that will probably be in each bracket and today we will start with the Chicago Division.

What does not make any sense to me is how when the Final Four is in St. Louis, can this cities most hated rival have a bracket home?

Anyway right nowin Chicago the number one seed is the hometown favorites as Illinois looks to be playing the champion of the MEAC in Delaware St. How can the number one raked team not be playing the play in team?

Chag's Pick: Illinois

Stanford (8) looks to face Texas Tech (9) and Bobby Knight's teamwillbeat Stanford.

Utah (5) takes on West Virginia (12) and right now I am leaning toward an upset, I really think that West Virginia can win.

Gonzaga (4) against North Carolina State (13), we all know how much I love BC, Duke, and Gonzaga so there is no way that I would pick against them in the first round.

Cincinnati (6) takes on Maryland (11) and how can a team that defeated Duke twice be a number 11 seed. I have Maryland in an upset.

Yukon (3)v. Winthrop (14) who is the winner of the Big South) No contest, Yukon wins.

Southern Ill (7) takes on UTEP (10) in a game in which nobody really cares so I'll take UTEP in an upset.

And Kansas (2) takes on Eastern Kentucky(15) I don't know how ESPN has Wake Forest as a number 1 and Kansas as a number two but I have to go with Kansas here.

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Allow me to turn my focus towards College Hockey and finally my Quinnipiac Bobcats are getting some DAP when it comes to best college hockey teams, as finally we enter the power rankings at number 19. And the USA today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 mens's hockey poll shows that the Bobcats are finally getting some national votes. It's about time.

So allow me to break down the Frozen 16, if the season ended today.

In the Worcester Regional (1) Boston College would face off against (4) Quinnipiac, and allow me to tell you that BC would kill QU.

(2) Ohio State would face off against (3) Boston University and BU would win setting up a BC v. BU shootout and BC would end up winning the East.

In the Amherst Regional; (1) Denver faces off against (4) Dartmouth and Denver would take Dartmouth to school.

(2) Harvard would take on (3) UNH and I hate UNH so much so my vote is going towards Harvard.

Denver would then destroy Harvard moving on to the Frozen Four.

In the Grand Rapids Region (1) Michigan takes on (4) North Dakota and Michigan would win.

(2) Cornell takes on (3)Wisconsin and I have seen Cornell in person and was not impressed thus I have Wisconsin winning.

Michigan would defeat Wisconsin, easily.

Finally in the inneapolis Region;(1) Colorado College takes on (4)Bemidji State. Having seen Colorado College when they faced QU I can tell you that Bemidji doesn't have a chance of winning.

(2)Minnesota takes on (3) Maine and go Blackbears as they defeat Minnesota in an upset.

And in an upset, The Blackbears of Maine will defeat Colorado College.

This sets up the Frozen Four to be Thee Boston College Eagles v. Denver, which would be a great game but I have to think that BC would win it in a very close game.

Michigan v. Maine, this is going to be a tough battle for the Black Bears and their luck will run out as Michigan advances to the frozen two.

And Michigan will defeat Thee Boston College Eagles in double overtime.

That's the blog for today,
~Chag

Quinnipiac v. CCSU

By John Chagaris, College AP
March 1, 2005
New Britain, CT - Last night at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) or known to Crazy bobcat fans as "Safety School #1" the #9 Quinnipiac Men's basketball team faced the #8 CCSU Blue Devils. The winner of this game would grab the #8 seed in the Northeast Conference and would have the honor of being destroyed by #1 Monmouth. The Bobcats came out hungry after losing a tough game against the Blue Devils last week 75-70.

CCSU started off the game quickly as Demario Anderson hit a layup 17 seconds into the game to give the Blue Devils an early 2-0 lead. At the 18:44 mark, Van Crafton hit a three pointer to give the Bobcats a 3-2 lead which they would hold until the next trip down the court as Demario Anderson threw up a three pointer of his own to give CCSU a lead of 5-5. The Bobcats tied the game up 5 seconds lader on a layup by CJ Vick. The bobcats then stole the ball and CJ Vick was fouled going up for a layup and made one of the free throws to give the Bobcats a 6-5 lead. Kevin Jolley extended the lead to 8-5 when he hit two free throws at the 16:58 mark. just over a minute later Rob Monroe extended the lead to 10-5, the biggest lead Quinnipiac would have all game.

Momentum started to turn at the 14:54 mark when Rich Pittman hit an easy layup to cut the lead to 10-7. After two missed layups by Christian Burns the Blue Devils stormed down the court and Tristan Blackwood hit a wide open three pointer to tie the game at ten. The lead would change six times and would be tied twice before the game was tied at 20 at the half way point in the first half. Then at the 9:11 mark Karl Anderson hit a layup to give the Bobcats a 22-20 lead, which would be the last time they would lead this season. That started a 12-2 run started by a three pointer by Javier Mojica. The run would continue to a 28-10 run to finish up the first half.

Flashback, last week when 1.955 fans filled the Burt Kahn Court, the Bobcats were down 36-24 at halftime and cut the lead to two.

The Bobcats would look to do what they did last week; and it started to look good as Rob Monroe started the second half with a layup but Karl Anderson commited the stupidest foul ever created in Quinnipiac History and Rich Pittman extended the lead to 50-32. Later on Kevin Jolley hit a layup to cut the lead to 16. A few minutes later Kevin Jolley hit a cumpter to cut the lead to 11. After a Demario Anderson layup, Rob Monroe ran down the court to hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 10 causing CCSU's coach Howie to blow a timeout. But Quinnipiac's run was far from over as Monroe hit a lay up and a free throw. The finally a few minutes later Crain Benson hit a three pointer to cut the lead to nine. At the 4:46 mark Rob Monroe hit another three pointer to cut the lead to eight, 81-73. CCSU's Justin Chiera went down and tried to hit a three pointer but he missed, Kevin Jolley got the rebound threw it down court and Crain Benson hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 81-76, forceing Howie to call another time out.

The Crazy Bobcats in attendance were starting to go nuts thinking that this season would continue. Then Kevin Jolley commited a foul and Jason Hickenbottom hit two freethrows to extend the lead to 83-76. Rob Monrow then hit his first freethrow but missed the second but Karl Anderson got the rebound the threw the ball home to close the lead to 83-79. Then Jason Hickenbottom drove to the hoop and a defensive foul was called on Da-Shawn Dwight which according to Crazy Bobcat fans in the stands was a Bull$h^& call, that entended the lead to 87-79. Then Kevin Jolley attempted to throw a full court pass that was picked off by Rich Pittman who passsed to Javier Mojica who was fouled by Van Crafton and Mojica hit both free throws to extend CCSU's lead to 87-79. with just under two minutes left. Rob Monroe hit two free throws to cut the lead to 6 but that was all QU had left, Rich Pittman hit a jumper and then Rob Monroe threw up the worst looking three pointer which was rebounded by Javier Mojica who threw the ball the length of the court to Demario Anderson who nailed a dunk which also nailed the final nail into the Season Casket for Quinnipiac. CCSU went on to win the game 95-85.

For a season that started so well it was a shame to have it end this way. starting the season 4-2, only to go on a losing streak capped off by losting to the defending NCAA Champion UCONN Huskies 123-71. But what ruined the Bobcats this year was not being able to hold onto a lead, as they lost to St. Francis of NY 69-63 earlier this year after leading 51-50 with a few minutes left in the game. Quinnipiac this season proved to be a one half team, they would either play a fantastic first half and a horrible second half or a great first half of a half and the second half of the second half but not a full game. Why? Isn't this the same Quinnipiac team that was picked to win the NEC championship last season and make it to the sweet 16? Isn't this the same team with Rob Monroe and CJ Vick? The answer is easy and it lies within the coaching staff here at Quinnipiac University and as long as Joe DeSantis is still in charge the men will not do anything.

Tonight the women's basketball team faces off against St. Francis of NY and if the Bobcats win then they will host a playoff game on Saturday.


~Chag