It's March; Are You Mad Yet?

If you are not a fan of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Basketball, the question may not resonate. But if you are a denizen of CBC Sports, and you are familiar with the work of announcers Clark Kellogg, Jim Nance, Dick Enberg, Jay Bilas, Gus Johnson, Tim Brando, Len Elmore, and Bill Raftery, to name a few, more than likely you know the deal. These are several of the leading voices of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, commonly known as March Madness, or The Big Dance.

The Tournament, which plays out over three weekends, kicked off last Thursday, and ends Monday after next. It features sixty-five teams, sixty-four games, and one winner. The format is Single-Elimination; losers go home! A panel of “experts” spends a weekend, sequestered, seeding thirty-four Conference Tournament Champions, and twenty-nine at-large entries. The final two teams meet in a play-in game, played at The University of Dayton, to determine the sixty-fourth seed. The winner earns the distinction of facing the overall Number one seed. This year, that formula resulted in a game between Morehead State University, and the University of Louisville, two schools from the State of Kentucky.

Teams are placed in four Regions (East, West, Midwest, and South), and seeded one through sixteen in each Region. The tournament typically creates a number of much-anticipated pairings, and often unpredictable outcomes, complete with buzzer beaters, multiple overtime games, and of course, blow-outs. The Tournament established in 1939 moved to a sixty-four team format in 1985, and added the play-in game in 2001. The one Natural Law that has prevailed since the inception of the sixty-four team format is, no number sixteen seed has ever defeated a number one seed.

There are some people who seek attention by sharing their unconventional views and others who are simply fond of going against the odds, by routinely predicting it will happen one day. It will not! At least it will not unless some unfathomable circumstance befalls a number one seed just before the game. The variation in talent is simply too great to imagine the sixty-fourth seed defeating the number one overall seed, or even the sixty-first seed defeating the number four seed, overall, especially on a neutral court. Ever!

The first weekend of the tournament is considered one of the most thrilling times in all of sports. Sixty-four teams gathered across eight sites (Dayton, Kansas City, Boise, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Greensboro, Miami, and Portland, this year) and started down the Road to the Final Four, which this year will be held in Detroit, at Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions. Yes, that is a football stadium. But if you understand everything up to this point, you know the deal. Increasingly, that is how NCAA Tournament Championship basketball is done. It’s all about the Benjamins, as 71,000 seats will be for sale…but that is an entire story unto itself; another day perhaps.

While there are always upsets, this year’s first two rounds produced no results that would be considered truly stunning. All four number one seeds, Louisville, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and Connecticut, advanced, winning the two games needed to get to The Sweet 16. But in addition, so did all four number two seeds, all four number three seeds, and two number four seeds. Of the two teams not seeded in the top sixteen, one was a number five (Top 20), and the other Arizona, was seeded twelfth, the only genuine outlier to survive the first weekend. At this point, that “panel of experts” is looking pretty smart.

Last year was the first time since seeding began that all four number one seeds advanced to the Final Four. I expect the increased level of competition to result in the elimination of at least one top seed this weekend. The four sites for the Sweet 16 are Indianapolis, Boston, Memphis, and Glendale, Arizona.

If the games hold to form, a number of scintillating match-ups await. While it is unlikely, if the top eight seeds win Thursday and Friday, then, on Saturday and Sunday, fans would see Michigan State-Louisville, Duke-Pittsburgh, Oklahoma-North Carolina, and Memphis-Connecticut. Nothing like that has ever happened, of course. Don’t expect it this weekend.

The Tournament attracts interest from a wide variety of people. This year, President Barack Obama, acting in his newly created capacity of Hoopster-in-Chief, revealed his personal bracket to the Nation. Bracketolgy is one of the most popular diversions generated by the Tournament. The phenomenon is 100% art, zero science. It is usually a function of a fan scouring the sixty-four team bracket and devising a creative way for the team he or she likes best to advance as far a possible. Sometimes, money is as stake. In the case of the Hoopster-in-Chief…I hope not!

On Monday, April 6th, sometime around midnight, the “Madness” will culminate. With it, the end of the sixty-fourth game, the elimination of penultimate combatant, and the elevation of the last team standing. The squad and coaching staff will, as tradition dictates, bask in the glow of a triumphant season, while exuberantly murdering the words to “One Shining Moment.”

I will not pretend to have approached the NCAA Tournament will any degree of objectivity. Though I have no bracket on the line, and no money wagered, I do have a passionate and vested interest. I am a Tar Heel born, and a Tar Heel Bred. “It’s March, and I’m Mad.” So, if you did not know before, GO HEELS!

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2009/03/breaking-cbs-releases-announcer.html

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/ncaa-tournament-cbs-announcers-41921

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/brackets/viewable_men

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_NCAA_Men's_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament

http://www.ncaa.com/

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=2009+Ncaa+basketball+tournament+sites&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=abvJSZLyPJDCtweKvYSlAw&sa=X&oi=news_group&resnum=4&ct=title

http://college-basketball.suite101.com/article.cfm/2009_ncaa_mens_basketball_tournament_schedule

http://www.point-spreads.com/college-basketball/031609-2009-ncaa-basketball-tournament-odds.html

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090316005301&newsLang=en

http://virginiadem.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/barack-obamas-2009-ncaa-basketball-tournament-picks/

"Irish Eyes Are Smiling!"

If you have been following this space for a while, you know I generally dial it back during holidays. That seems particularly apt when an important aspect of the holiday is consuming alcoholic beverages, and the following day happens to be a work day. To wit, since that is the hand that has been dealt, Break It Down is breaking it down!

As we wind our way through the year, there has been a lot going on. National and global economic distress has abounded. When combined with a host of other individual and communal concerns, it is easy to have missed the fact we are nearly a quarter of the way through what seems like just a short while ago was a New Year. Yesterday we observed, and many celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. The occasion is an antecedent to spring, and an opportunity to recognize a variety of national, regional, local, and even personal ties to Ireland.

It is common for folks of Irish descent, and those who just love a good party, to don green attire, and if personal habits and taste buds permit, to imbibe mass quantities of green beer. In many ways the prevailing attitude can be concisely stated by paraphrasing the now infamous February 16th Newsweek cover headline, “We are all Irish Now.”

Obviously that is an overstatement; but in the spirit of the occasion, perhaps not by much. So I ask you, what do the names Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have in common?

If you used your brilliant sense of deductive reasoning to beat the buzzer and answer, “Who are presidents of the United States, Alex,” you get partial credit, because even though that is not the answer I am looking for, it is a statement of fact. If you used your sense of deductive reasoning, have all your appendages, and counted your fingers and toes, and added three, and then responded, “Who are twenty-three presidents of the United States, Alex,” you get more, but still partial credit; for the same reason noted above. Now, if you used deductive reasoning, counted all your fingers and toes, added three, and were shrewd enough to inject the Title above into the equation, and you then answered, “Who are the twenty-three United States presidents who share Irish heritage, Alex,” then you, my friend, answered the bonus question correctly.

Imagine; here we were all this time thinking President “O’bama” was making history as the first African American president, when in actuality, he is really the twenty-third Irish American president. Indeed, the residents of County Offaly must be very proud; “Irish Eyes Are Smiling!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link:
http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

http://www.countyoffaly.com/offaly_map.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick's_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_American

http://www.post-gazette.com/magazine/20000317irish9.asp

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090317/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_st_patrick_s_day

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-17-voa31.cfm

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/17/obama-lauds-irish-ties/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-03-17-stpatricksday_N.htm

http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/national/nat_ap_wash_obama_lauds_irish_us_ties_2009031712112260847

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZKMY8k4IunVoByD9RiLPV3le5DgD96VSRG00

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Irish-American-Heritiage-Month-2009/

Tempest Fugit (Or Does It); 50 Days and Counting!

You knew it had to happen. Some time ago, I mentioned that after mere days had elapsed, there had emerged a preoccupation with all things Obama; so consuming that various media outlets were engaging in a full-scale assault on providing the definitive reckoning of the first 100 Days of the Obama Presidency. Well, yesterday was the half-way mark to that signal occasion and as you might imagine, there was a veritable explosion of coverage by the collective media on “Obama’s First 50 Days.”

The network giants, ABC, and CBS, cable news mavens, CNBC, and CNN, print news heavyweights, The Chicago Sun-Times, and USA Today, were joined by the BBC, AOL, and a host of bloggers…just to name a few. The number of Google entries on the subject is dwarfed only by the colossal dimensions of the current economic meltdown; by 9:30 p.m. last night, the number was 29 million.

There is no denying, it has been quite a ride. Economic indicators have mostly settled into an erratic, and downward spiraling course, partisan grousing, and more important voting, have persisted, Democrats, who control the Senate and the House, as well as the Presidency, have found no compelling reason to close ranks, and Republicans have warmed to the task of performing the duties of a loyal opposition.

A number of the stories focused on the 18% decline by the Dow during the past 50 days. At least one, CBS News EconWatch, injected the 32% decline since Election Day into the discourse. Some theorized the President has lost his focus. Others embraced the Goldilocks’ philosophy. Proponents of this view assert President Obama is either too hot; scaring the nation with his stinging rhetoric about how severe the myriad problems of the economy are, or claim he’s too cold; trying to do too many things at once and failing to target resolving our economic malaise with single-minded purposefulness and vigor.

In the same CBS News story cited above, billionaire Warren Buffett, known in some circles as the Oracle of Omaha, is quoted in a CNBC interview as saying, “The only authoritative voice in the United States who says, 'This is what we're going to do, this is what we're not going to do,' and very specifically, is the president of the United States."

Meanwhile, in a classic case of the show must go on, yesterday, the Senate passed a $410 billion omnibus spending bill to fund the U.S. government for the remainder of the budget year, through September 30, 2009. The vote to end debate was 62-35. Nevada Senator Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leaderr, postponed the vote last week because he was not sure he had the 60 votes necessary to prevent a filibuster.

Immediately after the Senate voted to pass the bill, Arizona Senator John McCain, labeled the vote “business as usual.” The bill included more than 8,000 congressional earmarks, totaling nearly $8 billion. Senator McCain, who ran against then Senator Obama for president, added, "If the president were serious about his pledge for change, he would veto this bill. He won't."

In the face of stiff criticism about the earmarks, the Obama administration said the bill was a holdover from the previous administration. The group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, says there were only five Senators (out of ninety-seven) who requested no earmarks in the bill, suggesting, despite the furor, this is actually one of the few bipartisan measures in Congress today. Sadly, it is on the wrong side of the ledger. The five Senators with no earmark requests included 3 Republicans, Senators Tom Coburn, Oklahoma, Jim DeMint, South Carolina, John McCain, Arizona, and two Democrats, Russ Feingold, Wisconsin, and Claire McCaskill, Missouri. If your favorite Senators were not on that list, they requested earmarks, either solo, or jointly.

White House Spokesman, Robert Gibbs, revealed the president is planning to unveil new guidelines to reduce the number of earmarks that find their way into future appropriations bills. Gibbs suggested the new guidelines carry an implied threat the president may veto future bills that do not meet his objectives for reducing earmarks.

Of course, even though economic issues and legislation have dominated the first 6½ weeks of the Obama Presidency, there were other issues of note. The president has had major challenges filling Cabinet level and other high profile positions. A PBS news story reported 71 people have been nominated or named for various positions; only 41 have been nominated, and only 28 confirmed.
This is a problem, of course, but a problem that must be put into context. Much of the slowdown has occurred as a result of the extensive vetting process the administration has been using. In retrospect many people thought had Governor Sarah Palin been subjected to a more rigorous vetting process, the Republicans may have run a more effective campaign last fall. The Obama administration appears to be saying, “better to vet than regret.”

I hasten to add, while President Obama has endured an intensely scrutinized First 50 Days, First Lady Michelle had on own stories yesterday. Mrs. Obama has engendered an energized following, somewhat due to the other First…that she is the first black First Lady. But her appeal goes much deeper. She radiates a charisma that underscores a certain comfort in her own skin. Moreover, her sense of style has kept media and citizens alike, abuzz. One telling example of her mega je ne sais quoi is her appearance on the cover of the April Issue of O, the Oprah Winfrey Magazine. While she will be sharing the cover with Oprah, Mrs. Obama’s appearance will mark the first by anyone other than Oprah in the ten year history of the magazine. That’s juice! No word yet on FFD (First Fifty Days) stories for Natasha and Malia; but who knows?

What I know is, by most accounts, the 50 days since January 20th flew by. But when I think of it in terms of all the political machinations packed into that span, including those of Rod Blagojevich, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Roland Burris, Judd
Gregg, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele, Tom Daschle, Bill Richardson, Tim Geithner, and The New York Post, just to name 10, not necessarily the Top 10, just 10, I feel as though it has been an excruciatingly long and arduous period. Time flies; or does it? It is clear to me now; 50 days (and counting) can be a long time.

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/03/09/business/econwatch/entry4854709.shtml

http://blogs.usatoday.com/community/2009/03/50-first-days-f.html

http://news.aol.com/main/obama-presidency/article/obamas-first-50-days/376700

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/10/obamas-first-50-days-in-t_n_173195.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/10/gibbs-grades-obamas-first_n_173633.html

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10536538.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/President44/story?id=7042171&page=1

http://somehavehats.typepad.com/some_have_hats/2009/03/obamas-first-50-days.html

http://cayankee.blogs.com/cayankee/2009/03/obamas-first-50-days-dow-down-32.html

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29614168

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/10/obamas-first-50-days/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.schaller10mar10,0,3327689.column

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7933966.stm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/10/earlyshow/main4855949.shtml

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/03/first_lady_michelle_obamas_fir.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june09/vacancies_03-09.html

"Rush" To Judgment!

As we all know, February is the shortest month. Often, it seems to serve as a mere place holder between the wintry days of January, and the advent of the coming spring thaw in March. This year however, we were caught off guard by an unusual 1-2 combination.

In an unlikely turn of events, the Republican Party’s newest “Man of Steele,” Michael, also know as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, fired a Saturday night, February 28th, shot across the bough of long-standing conservative icon, Rush Limbaugh. On CNN's D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, Mr. Steele, former Lieutenant Governor of the State of Maryland, called Limbaugh an entertainer, and said his comments are “incendiary" and "ugly.” He countered Hughley’s assertion that Limbaugh is the de facto head of the Republican Party by arguing that he is the de facto leader of the Party. In other news, an unusually late winter snow storm hit Atlanta Sunday, March 1st, giving new meaning to the phrase, “It will be a cold day when…”

Naturally, such a unilateral strike could not be taken lightly; and it wasn’t. Monday, Mr. Limbaugh chided Steele brusquely, saying, “It’s time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do, instead of trying to be some talking-head media star, which you are having a tough time trying to do. I hope you figure out how to run a primary system.” He further added, “It seems to me it is Michael Steele who is getting off to a shaky start.”

As the political dust settled, and it always settles, it became apparent quickly, in this cage match between Republican Super Heroes, which of these Titans is a contender, and which is a pretender. Quicker than one could say Abracadabra, or should I say, "Faster than a speeding bullet" (couldn't resist), news circulated that the man who Saturday referred to the Talkmeister as “an entertainer,” and to his words as “incendiary” and “ugly,” uttered a contritely apologetic and shameless recantation, Monday.

This man of Steele was no match for the Kryptonite-like rebuke Limbaugh responded with. In no uncertain terms, Steele was told to get “behind the scenes,” and he obliged...quickly! In a carefully crafted mea culpa, he humbly submitted, “My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh.” He went on to say, “I was maybe a little inarticulate. There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.” Ah yes, the snow went as quickly as it came, as well.

In retrospect, it is unclear whether Mr. Steele miscalculated, or whether he failed to calculate at all. In any event what is palpably explicit is, he “Rushed" to Judgment!

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/02/steele-takes-on-rush-limb_n_171135.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1CimXFfIH0

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/02/limbaugh-steele-apologize/

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2009/3/2/rush-limbaugh-vs-michael-steele-is-steele-asking-for-a-rush-attack.html

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2009/3/3/gop-to-michael-steele-quiet-about-rush-limbaugh-or-youre-fired.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090302/pl_politico/19498

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19517.html

http://www.lonelyconservative.com/2009/03/02/who-is-right-rush-limbaugh-or-michael-steele/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29478402/

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2009/03/03/rush-limbaugh-and-michael-steele-are-all-good/

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/03/gop.steele.limbaugh/index.html