And then there were two

Brief today. Easter festivities. I’m feeling a little under the weather. Or maybe equivalent to the weather since it’s snowing out here in NY.

In the games last night Duke blew out Michigan State setting up a fun Monday night for Heather as her Blue Devils attempt to secure the NCAA crown for themselves and the mystery prize and RI title for her.

In the 2nd game Wisconsin was finally able to do what no one else could do this year, beat Kentucky. The Badgers will face off with Duke for the title on Monday night and they will also be attempting to bring home the mystery prize for Marcia Milam.

Good luck to Marcia and Heather!

Congratulations to the fellas for our amazing winning streak of….one RI title in a row. With the win from Marcia or Heather the ladies take back the crown and push their RI title lead to 9, 11 to 2. Oh fellas, we have to get this figured out otherwise they are going to take their lead to double digits next year. Doh! Thanks to Matt Hollins and Will Hagy for making noble runs for glory, but it wasn’t to be. Once again the ladies get it done. Not a surprise at this point. Their dominance continues after a brief interlude from last year’s champ Chris Mann who must have been too busy enjoying his mystery prize loot to submit a contending bracket this year.

Have a great Easter everyone! Tune in on Monday night to see who brings home to title. Sometime later in the week we’ll do a final review.

Cheers,
Greg

The Final Four

Almost there

Back on Sunday Duke defeated Gonzaga and Michigan State snuck past Louisville in an overtime thriller to complete the NCAA Final Four. I hear a Michigan State fan had a sign that read, “January, February, Izzo, April”. It’s true, Tom Izzo always seems to get his team to play their best ball in March. If I’m remembering correctly it’s the 4th time he’s led a team seed #5 or higher to the final four. Certainly he’s among the most respected coaches in the game today. Then there’s that other guy. Coach krew-sha-wooski.

Whether you root for Duke or not, it’s hard not to respect Coach K. I love the guy. I was watching the end of the Gonzaga game and to see the way he hugged his players when they come off the court. Nothing but love there, for his players and the game. And then as the teams shook hands, watching the way he took extra time speaking to Zags Senior Point Guard Kevin Pangos. Impossible not to respect how he handles himself. And then, there’s this commercial you probably remember.

So it’s Duke, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and favorite Kentucky in the Final Four. Who’s it gonna be?

The Remaining RI Contenders

Finally making it to the top of the RI leader board is mystery prize frontrunner Will Hagy. Can Will really win this thing on his first attempt? Cinderella story. Will can actually lock down the coveted mystery prize on Saturday with wins from Kentucky and Michigan State.

Conspiracy Theory

So how is Will doing so well on his first attempt? It’s almost as though he has first hand basketball experience…maybe even first hand knowledge of one of the teams still playing. I submit to you exhibit A:

I’m just saying. Has anyone ever seen Will Hagy and J.J. Redick in the same room?

Winning Scenarios

Will Hagy – Will will win if Kentucky wins over Michigan State or if Michigan State wins over Kentucky. In other words he needs them both to win on Saturday. He’ll also win if Michigan State wins over Wisconsin.

Matt Hollins – Matt will win if Kentucky wins it all over Duke.

Heather Carkuff Joson – Heather will win if Duke wins it all. Will this be the year Heather makes up for 2010 when Duke won it all and Heather would’ve won if she hadn’t picked Duke to lose?

Marcia Milam – Are the Milams going to finally ride Wisconsin to glory? Marcia Milam will win if Wisconsin wins it all. They’ll have to get by Kentucky first and then the championship on Monday night.

Joel Shilliday – not going to win.

So there you have it. Will (J.J.?), Matt, Heather, and Marcia battle it out for the RI13 crown. Good luck to you all, but there can be only one.

Thanks to everyone for participating and a special thank you to whoever captured this footage of Melissa and I at our last Target outing.

Quote of the Day

“That’s what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that’s great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on. -Mike Krzyzewski

Jam of the Day

Cheers,
Greg

RI 13 – Day 10!

So close for Notre Dame

I’m sure 2012 RI champ and Notre Dame alum Laura Patterson Hoffman could taste the Notre Dame victory last night, they were so close. So close! But a few missed foul shots, a few great plays from Kentucky, and once again the Wildcats slip off the hook and remain perfect. Notre Dame goes home heart broken. My heart breaks a little for Laura and the other Notre Dame faithful, but then again such is the way of March. It’s a death march. In the way of Highlander, there can be only one. And it’s not over until it’s over. But for Notre Dame, the fat lady is singing. And for Kentucky the dream of the perfect season still lives. Good for the Kentucky players, they showed great heart. But I’d be lying if I said I was rooting for them or the outcome. My heart was with the underdog. And against Kentucky Coach John Calipari. He just comes off as a little too smug for my liking. And perhaps a little condescending. But the game is the game. And on court the Wildcats are still dancing and still the favorite to win it all. A valiant effort by the Irish. They played great, but just couldn’t close it out in the end.

The Badgers are back

For the second straight year the Badgers of Wisconsin have advanced to the Final Four and they will be the next hurdle for the Wildcats of Kentucky. Yesterday, at halftime the showdown between Wisconsin and Arizona looked as though it could go either way, but in the 2nd half Arizona was just outclassed as Wisconsin put on a shooting clinic led by Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. They were simply unstoppable. Now, onward to face Kentucky carrying with them the hopes of the Milams, Aaron Rodgers and Badger Nation. Perhaps they can succeed where everyone else has failed and they can topple the Wildcats.

2 spots left

The other two regions will be decided later this afternoon as Michigan State squares off against Louisville and Duke takes on Gonzaga to round out our Final Four. Can Duke carry Heather’s heart and bracket into the Final Four or will the Zags prevail and keep alive the hopes of Joel and all the other Gonzaga brackets? Can Kevin keep hope alive for the Marcus Family with his Louisville bracket or will it be Michigan State? Tune in and find out. We’ll know soon.

Dave Kimmel Back on Top

After briefly seeing the leader board on Friday night Dave Kimmel was finally able to park the ghost of Adam Spear’s Audi atop the end of day leader board with the wins from Wisconsin and Kentucky. Adam’s Audi was cool, but I’ll always be partial to his red Pontiac LeMans. I still remember riding with Adam and Joey Hayden (and I can’t remember who the 4th person was) one night from in town in Cambridge to a party over in Hurlock (or somewhere). Good times. The world lost Joey a few years later in a car accident. But he left behind a lot of smiles and laughter by all accounts. I’m always reminded every year during RI time of Andy, Gilly, Joey, and so many others who we’ve lost. Lost in physical form, but not in mind, hearts, or spirit. There they only grow if we feed those parts of ourselves. And I think the best part of doing that is to remember how fleeting it all is and to everyday continue to build our legacy of love, light, and laughter by sharing these things with the world. Any way, like I was saying, Red Pontiac LeMans….great car.

William Hagy and Gordy Dawson have taken over the 2nd spot behind Dave, and then everyone else. Since we’re so close to the action resuming and knowing the whole Final Four, we’ll wait to breakdown all the resulting scenarios until then. So on to today’s quote and jam.

Quote of the Day

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” ― Thomas Campbell

Jam of the Day

cheers,
Greg

RI 13 – Elite Eight!

It matters that you try

I haven’t been very funny this year. Usually I’m very funny — in my own mind at least — but, there’s only so much time to go around each day. I hear it’s 24 hours, although it feels like much less as there’s always a multitude of things left on my TO DO list. I’m an optimist and so my daily list usually looks something like this:

Things I’m going to do today

• Item 1
• Item 2
• Item 3
• Item 4
• Item 5
• Item 6
• Item 7
• Item 8
• Item 9
• Item 10

That’s pretty ambitious. But I always feel like I’m going to get all the way to item number 10. The reality in 3 kid world is you really have 2 lists that look something like this:

Things you will do today

• Take care of the kid stuff
• Take care of work
• One other thing

Never gonna happen

• Item 4
• Item 5
• Item 6
• Item 7
• Item 8
• Item 9
• Item 10

I understand this reality and yet I still make out my TO DO lists with 10 items. I’m an optimist. Sometimes take a shower is the one other thing. Sometimes it’s not!

There are days when I get to Item 4, Item 5, sometimes even Item 10! But a lot of days, it’s just that one other thing. So it’s important to prioritize. When it comes to writing these RI updates priority one is “get something done”. Priority 2 is “write something funny”. I try to get #2 done, but during this write up I’ve already had to dress black horsey, break up 2 kids fights, and print out a picture of Luke Skywalker. And I still haven’t taken that shower yet. The point is prioritizing is important if you are going to tackle the most important things in your life. You may never reach those items on the bottom rungs of your list, but the point is you try. Trying counts for a lot.

Thanks to all of you for prioritizing the Radcliffe Invitational as a worthwhile yearly tradition. It’s a whole lot of fun and it supports Andy’s Memorial Scholarship which supports some awesome kids! And thanks for trying to fill out a winning bracket again this year, although let’s face it, most of you BLEW IT and your brackets are in shambles. But that matters little. It matters that you try.

What the heck was the point of this rant? I have no idea, but I’m sure given more time it would have both been important and funny. Onward.

Dennis Pool ascends to the top of the Standings

Poor Joel. Poor little Joel. He enjoyed a good run atop the RI leader board, but he has yielded to new leader Dennis Pool. Joel drops to the 5 spot. Dennis has his Final Four intact and is looking for an Arizona over Michigan State Finale. But we’ll get into more of the winning scenarios once we get past the weekend.

Dave Kimmel, who briefly made it to the top of the RI leader board last night, is holding strong in 2nd. He’s followed by Gordy Dawson (fist bump) and Will Hagy who are tied for 3rd. Then it’s the hard charging Brady Gustafson who seeks the first Gustafson title. Marcia and Heather continue their run in the top 10 and are tied for 7th. Heather should have a much more relaxing Day now that Duke is through. Tomorrow it’s nervous time again as Duke battles Gonzaga in the regional final. Rounding out the top 10 it’s Richard Era and Kenny Klinglesmith.

I hate to burst your bubble

Going down in flames with recent losses by their predicted champion are: Jackie Radcliffe, Dana Wood, Jenna Welch, Ben Mann, and John Weaver.

Other priorities prevent me from delving any further into the madness, but I hope everyone has an awesome Saturday! We have two colossal games tonight at 6:00pm and 8:30pm EST that may go a long way to determining our RI champion: Wisconsin vs. Arizona and Kentucky vs. Notre Dame. Get your popcorn ready Milams! Get your bourbon ready Laura!

Quote of the Day

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying. –Michael Jordan

Jam of the Day

Cheers,
Greg

RI 13 — back under way

Kentucky Trounces West Virginia, Sorry Jer

Kentucky destroys West Virginia showing why many experts are predicting they will run the table and become the first undefeated men’s NCAA basketball team since the Indiana Hoosiers accomplished the feat 39 years ago back in 1976. And do you know how much Kentucky won by last night? That’s right, 39 points. 78 to 39, actually so the # 39 was represented in that final score in more ways than one. Foreshadowing? Kentucky fans certainly hope so, but if they want the Kentucky undefeated season to come to fruition Kentucky must next get past the Irish of Notre Dame who overwelmed Wichita State with their shooting to advance. Kentucky is not going to beat Notre Dame by 39, they shoot the ball too well. Anyone who beats Kentucky is going to HAVE to shoot the ball REALLY well (not a characteristic West Virginia was known for), they are just too tough by the rim. When the tournament brackets were announced, before West Virginia advanced and became the popular upset pick, Notre Dame was being touted as the first real hurdle for Kentucky. We’ll see if that turns out to be the case. West Virginia did not turn out to be a hurdle.

In the other set of Elite 8 match-ups last night, #1 Wisconsin outlasted North Carolina and #2 Arizona outlasted Xavier.

Joel holding onto the top spot…barely

On the Radcliffe Invitational Leader Board, despite his picking West Virginia over Kentucky, somehow Joel Shilliday holds onto the lead. I know for a fact that Joel is really proud of himself. As he should be, leading the Radcliffe Invitational is no small thing at this point in the tournament, but don’t celebrate too much Joel before you have the Mystery Prize in the barn; it’s still an uphill battle to RI glory. Does Joel’s bracket have what it takes?

Nipping at Joel’s heels just one point back are Marcia Milam and Heather Carkuff who’s bracket did some climbing last night to reach the second rung. Marcia and all the Milams have their hopes pinned to the Wisconsin Badgers as they always do. They proved worthy last night, but they’ll have to string together 3 more wins if Marcia is going to have a chance. For Heather it all hinges on her Blue Devils of Duke University. Of course, if you know your NCAA history you know Duke has overcome undefeated teams before on their way to National Titles. And isn’t it interesting that the game that gets remembered from when they took down undefeated UNLV for the 1992 championship isn’t the championship game, but rather their win over Kentucky which many now tout as the greatest college basketball game of all time.

Next up on the RI leader board are Dave Kimmel and Richard Era. Then tied for 6th we have Leone Welch and Steve Makovsky. Then tied for 8th it’s Will Hagy who still remembers being in first for a brief second, another pair of Welch’s, Bruce and Harry, and Jason Dzikowicz and Gordy Dawson who’s bracket did some climbing last night to reach the top 10. Then everyone else: some still with legitimate shots to win it all, others…not so much.

Here are some folks who won’t be winning this year

Adam Grant: Love Adam’s homer pick of Maryland to win it all, but it was not to be. No worries, those of you who know the Grants know their minds are occupied with their own wild journey right now. Hugs and prayers Grants, you guys are AMAZING!

Jenna Welch:: Jenna’s chances for a 2nd RI crown went up in blue tarheel smoke last night, but those of us who know are RI history know Jenna had a BIG role in a 2nd RI championship already. And I know better than to speak ill of Jenna or she might cross check me into the boards. Jenna has been playing some professional hockey over in Europe…in other words, don’t mess with her.

Ben Marcus: – Well, Ben’s Kansas pick didn’t work out. If Ben is to become the first Marcus to win it all it won’t be this year.

Julie Trommatter: — You picked LSU to win it all Julie? Was that a pregancy brain pick? Well no RI glory for Julie, but good luck to Julie as she approaches motherhood. That’s much better than RI glory…although in the future perhaps you can make better picks and experience both.

That’s all I got. It’s 5:30 AM at present. I was up until close to midnight. There’s lot to do today. There are more games tonight. So I better get crackalackin’ with my friday which needs to start with some coffee!

You made it. It’s FRIDAY!!! Enjoy.

Quote of the Day

“For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.” -Anonymous

Today’s quote is being proven true by current RI leader Joel Shilliday. #burn #allAboutJoel

Jam of the Day

This feels right for today,

More tomorrow.

Cheers,
Greg

RI 13 — Sweet Sixteen Update

The first rule of the Radcliffe Invitational Leader Board: You don’t talk about your spot on the RI leader board (leave that to me). The second rule of the RI leader board: You don’t talk about your spot on the leader board. Yesterday RI rookie Will Hagy made both of these mistakes and he paid the price. Early in the afternoon Will passed Joel Shilliday to reach the top rung of the leader board, but then after Joel passed him back Will made the mistake of looking into what it would take to get back into the top spot and talking about it. Consequently the evening games didn’t go his way and Will finds himself in a tied for third as Joel leads us into the Sweet Sixteen. I see on the RI facebook page this morning Joel has stated, “I want everyone to feel as though my picks are theirs.”. Take that for what it’s worth. I’m sure Joel will have additional commentary between now and when the sweet sixteen games get rolling on Thursday night.

Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9! If you have kids you certainly are most likely familiar with this little bit of number humor. Yesterday afternoon in the NCAA tournament it was #2 seeds who found themselves being devoured by the #7 seeds as the action began with #2 Virginia falling to #7 Michigan State followed quickly by #2 Kansas losing to #7 Wichita State. I’d imagine that this had the Gonzaga faithful pretty nervous as they began their game against #7 Iowa, but they were able to right the ship and prevent the day from becoming a sweep for the #7s in the 2 vs. 7 matchups.

Joining #2 Gonzaga, #1 seeds Duke and Wisconsin also advanced leaving smiles on the faces of the Milam Family and our Duke Alums Heather and Anna. And in the late night action, Louisville advanced and West Virginia toppled Maryland (No!!!) in a game that went south for Maryland very quickly after their star point guard Melo Trimble went to the bench for good with a head injury. Granted MD had a lot of turnovers already up to that point, but they really looked clueless once Trimble was out of the game.

I know a lot of the RI field had to be disappointed with the MD loss, but I’m sure Mountaineer and former RI Champ Jer Hubbard was celebrating. I hope you’re happy with yourself Jer. Next up for West Virginia, in what could be a highly entertaining game, powerhouse and overwhelming tourney favorite Kentucky. Clear your Thursday night calendar, Jer. While I noticed that Jer has Kentucky over WVU in his bracket, I’m sure he’d be willing to sacrifice the bracket points for the upset.

After Joel, we have Marcia Milam still standing strong and in 2nd place. Jason continues to do well and is tied with Will in 3rd place. In 5th, JoAnn continues to set the pace for the Welch Family. Next it’s a 3 way tie for 6th between Heather, John Weaver, and our 2013 champ Mindy. The top 10 gets rounded out with Jesse, who won’t go away despite no Wyoming, and then a 3 way tie for 10th including Dave Kimmel, Kenny Klinglesmith, and my girl Ellie.

Now that we enter the Sweet Sixteen let’s start to look at some brackets based on who you picked to win.

The Kentucky Brackets

54 of us have Kentucky winning it all. It’s still too early to break down all the scenarios, but here are the current top 5 Kentucky brackets in terms of possible points:

• 1. Will Hagy
• 2. Dave Kimmel
• 3. Mindy Black-Kelly
• 4. Tom Brooks
• 5. Kenny Klinglesmith

The Duke Brackets

There are 9. Here are your top 5:

• 1. heather Carkuff
• 2. Rebecca Fox
• 3. Bryant Hall
• 4. Chris Maurer
• t5. Sam Radcliffe
• t5. Jeremy Testa

The Wisconsin Brackets

The Milams have some competition. Here are your top 5:

• 1. Marcia Milam
• 2. Andrew Milam
• 3. Meghan Wulster-Radcliffe
• 4. Melody Wollgren
• 5. Celia Milam

The Gonzaga Brackets

Here are your top 5:

• 1. Joel Shilliday
• 2. Michael Giese
• 3. Jason Dzikowicz
• 4. Brady Gustafson
• 5. Sean McGinnis

The Arizona Brackets

Here are your top 5:

• 1. Dennis Pool
• 2. Mike Anders
• 3. Laura Era
• 4. Ryan Harper
• 5. Greg Radcliffe

The Notre Dame Brackets

• 1. Christy Murphy
• 2. Alex Gower

The Oklahoma Brackets

• 1. Jackie Radcliffe
• 2. Dana Wood

The Louisville Bracket

• 1. Kevin Marcus

The UCLA Bracket

• 1. Jenna Welch

The Utah Bracket

• 1. John Weaver

The UCLA Bracket

• 1. Ben Mann

So there you have it. I’m sure some of the folks listed above are ‘boxed out’ by brackets above them, but it’s a safe bet that a lot of the names above are still in the hunt as are a few that appear nowhere on the lists above. Once reach reach next weekend and the Elite 8 the true contenders will really start to emerge. Stay tuned!

Quote of the Day

“An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.” – Emil Zatopek

Jam of the Day

Cheers,
Greg

RI 13 — Day 2, Go Ellie!

An uneventful day 2

Day 2 was a rare day when the higher seeds held serve except for the #11 Dayton Flyers moving past Providence. There were a few close games including the hometown Terps sneaking past Valpo (Go Terps!) and Louisville surviving UC-Irvine, but other than that it was a pretty uneventful day by March Madness standards. #1 seeds Duke and Wisconsin flexed their muscle in comfortable wins ensuring that this would not be the year when a #16 seed finally beats a #1. Onward.

Wyoming Update

In some not so good news for our Wyoming contingent Fales Family, the Wyoming Cowboys did not advance past Northern Iowa. This is quite a blow for some of the Fales brackets. In fact, Jesse and Vickery had Wyoming going ALL THE WAY and winning the National Championship. Admittedly, that was quite the homer pick by sisters Jesse and Vick. But, I love them for it. Go with your heart I say, even if it means your bracket goes belly up before the weekend. Besides, I hear Jesse and Jason are expecting their first child later this summer! Congrats Fales Family, that’s something pretty amazing for you to celebrate. A Wyoming tourney loss and some sunken brackets are nothing. It’s all about perspective.

The Rise of Ellie

As we head into the weekend the top of the RI leader board is graced by the youngest Radcliffe, Ellie who will turn 4 this summer. I will have to try to conduct an interview with her later today. I’m sure she’ll have some insightful comments about the tournament thus far and about what we can expect over the weekend. A photo of our leader here seems appropriate.

Tied for second we have Richard Era, Celia Milam, Emily Kund, and Laura Clark. A great group here, off to a strong start. Let’s see how their brackets hold up through the weekend.

Rounding out the top ten we have John Weaver (no bracket from Drew again, I can see I really need to harass him) who is still reeling from the Butler loss to Duke a few years back which left him just shy of RI glory, Marcia Milam (strong start for the Milams), Martha Clark, Bruce Welch, and expectant parents Jesse and Jason (although a bracket separation may be looming as the Wyoming loss may become a lead weight that pulls down Jesse’s bracket as the tournament progresses).

Some of the rest of the field

Brandon Hesson — Our Cambridge Main Street Director who gained notoriety this winter for his mustache and his crab basket Christmas Tree. Brandon is off to a strong start, currently tied for 12th in his RI debut. And I still say there was Easton Bias at play in this year’s Cover Your Chin for Charity Competition.

Allow me a self indulgent moment as I share a few pics of the tree, Brandon’s ‘stache, and my near award winning beard from this winter.

I know, right? Clearly bias. We we’re robbed Brandon, we were robbed.

Anne Gustafson — An RI veteran, also tied for 12th. I wonder what Eagle Fan Anne thinks about all the NFL offseason moves. The Eagles have a new QB and a bunch of new RBs. Should be interesting Anne, should be interesting.

Heather Carkuff — Currently tied for 23rd. Is it worth it Heather? Heather is enjoying a good start for her bracket, but is it coming at the cost of her Blue Devil soul? Heather was caught almost celebrating the UNC win on RI Day 1 and I have to believe that’s a violation of the Cameron Commandments. If you are a Duke Alum and you sell your soul to the devil for bracket glory is it worth it? Or is this just common place because you are a “Blue Devil”. I don’t know, this is all very confusing. We’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out for Heather and Duke, but if you’re into placing cosmic karma bets then go lay down some money on a Duke vs. North Carolina finale with the Tarheels coming up victorious. And Heather, you may shake off this notion of cosmic karma, but what happened the one year you didn’t pick Duke to win it all in your bracket? They won it all and it costs you the RI title. When are you going to learn you can’t have it all?

Mindy Black-Kelly — Also tied for 23rd. Another former RI Champion off to a great start. Keep it up Mindy, keep it up.

Chris Mann — Our reigning champion isn’t going down without a fight, but I feel like the near Harvard upset of UNC that didn’t happen is going to come back to bite Chris’s bracket.

Nancy Marcus — Oooh, my Aunt Nancy had Iowa State winning it all. That’s going to take her out of the running. If a Marcus family member is going to finally break through and win this thing this year then it’s going to have to be someone else.

Alright, we’ll continue to delve into more of the brackets as the tournament progresses, but that’s going to have to do for this morning.

The RI leader board and tournament landscape are sure to change a lot over the next 2 days. As I sit here sipping my coffee on a much needed lazy Saturday morning, CBS Saturday morning is on in the background and they just threw out a stat saying March Madness will cost employers 1.9 billion dollars this year due to drop in employer productivity during the tournament. Interesting, but I think this is a surface level statistic that doesn’t tell the whole story, as is the case with most statistics. March Madness is good for the soul. Although a temporary dip in workplace productivity is to be expected the depressing malaise that would settle in if we were deprived of such joys would lead to a far greater drop in productivity. Duh.

CBS Sunday Morning also threw one more stat out there for the fellas: Doctors report a 50% spike in the # of vasectomies scheduled early in March. Apparently guys plan it for then so they can watch a lot of basketball during their down time. Well, while I don’t think the decision of whether your fathering days are up should be governed by your desire to watch March Madness, if you’ve come to this decision any way for other reasons then scheduling your procedure for early March just seems like smart planning. Okay, on this weird note let’s call it an update and I’ll leave you with a quote and a jam of the day.

Quote of the Day

How about a quote from a great Maya Angelou poem:

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I rise.

Here, as a bonus, here’s the whole thing:

Perhaps we should all start watching this every morning.

Jam of the Day

Enjoy the weekend and the games!

Cheers,
Greg

And so it begins…

The calendar says March 20th which means it’s the first day of Spring, but when I made the mistake of rolling down my window as I was leaving the house this morning an avalanche of icy snow fell in on my lap. A tough start to the day, just like yesterday was a tough start to the tournament for anyone who advanced Baylor and Iowa State deep into their brackets. But this is just the beginning, the skies may soon clear revealing a little sun to warm your life and raise your bracket. The bottom line is this: suck it up! At least you filled out a bracket. You got yourself in the game. That’s what it’s all about. Sure, you may have pie in the sky dreams about taking home the RI title and the highly coveted mystery prize this year, but the results are really secondary. At least for the moment be grateful. Embrace the tradition. Embrace life. All of it! Thanks for taking part!

North Carolina and Notre Dame headlined a number of high seeds that were able to narrowly escape upsets in a Day 1 that featured a ton of close games (many that I worked or slept through) with the shot of the tournament thus far coming from Cincinnati’s Troy Caupain who sent the game to overtime with this miraculous effort that somehow went down and sent the game to overtime where the Bearcats eventually prevailed. That was a Dave Miller bounce if there ever was one.

But perhaps the best moment of the tournament thus far came when Georgia State’s R.J. Hunter hit a DEEP three to help lift his team to the upset victory over Baylor causing his father and coach Ron Hunter who is suffering from a torn achilles to fall out of his chair. Even if you watch no basketball the rest of the year, it’s hard not to enjoy March Madness. Let it in.

What will Day 2 bring? We’ll find out soon enough. Most likely it will mark the start of the steady climb of my bracket up the leader board to glory.

With the Day 1 dust still settling Dennis Pool finds himself atop the RI leaderboard (not Mary Beth Heiskill who was celebrating earlier in the day when she was atop the RI leader board after like 3 games. Now she’s tied for 78th place with yours truly and Chad, Jessica, and Mike. Chin up gang, it’s early.). Nipping at his heels just a half point back we have our former RI Champion (and always champion of awesomeness) Amy Welch. Then it’s a group of 4 including Jason Dzikowicz who has seemed to sidestep the Fales trap of picking Wyoming to advance WAY too far (like all the way….Jesse, Vickery), my Mom Jackie Radcliffe who everyone knows is College Basketball Guru (you did know it was basketball, right Mom?), Kevin Marcus who has stepped out on a limb picking Louisville to win it all (I hear the limb cracking), and former HPL knuckle baller Dave Miller who is still waiting for Wake Forest to return to glory. Rounding out the top of the leader board is a group including Marcia Milam, George Radcliffe, Heather Carkuff, Warren Wood, Tricia Kimmel, Jim Welch, Ellie Radcliffe, Rebecca Fox, Dave Kimmel, Griffin Makovsky, Anne Gustafson, and Dr. Shave Trimmel, otherwise known as Adam Spear.

Other Brackets of Note

• Anna Priester — tied for 19th. A solid start for this Duke Alum, RI first-timer who is currently privileged enough to share an office with yours truly. Her bracket did take a significant hit with one of her Final Four teams, Baylor, going down, but I thought I should give Anna some praise before her bracket totally goes down in flames since a few weeks ago she did surprise me by printing out and putting up lots of great pictures of Melissa and the kids up on the wall above my computer. I mean, really, who does that?! Anna does.
• Richard, Laura, and Tate Era — Good to see some of the Era Family getting in the mix. I hope Jean, Myra and the rest of the Era clan will get on board in future years. Shame them if you have to. So far Richard is leading this family challenge, but it’s still early.
• Andrew and the Milam Family — Well, if Wisconsin wins you may have it surrounded. Such is the case every year, but with Wisconsin as a #1 seed this year it should be interesting to see if the Milams can make their own deep run in this year’s RI.
• Ahmad Dajani — Another first timer. Good to see a Dajani in the bracket, although it’s noted that Muhammad was apparently too scared to fill out a bracket. To be fair he did send me a message about making a donation to Andy’s Scholarship so I’ve gotta give him props for that, but what about filling out a bracket? I guess he’ll fill one out when he’s allowed to pick Nadal to the Final Four.
• Chris Mann CC — A nice start for our reigning champion, but since he picked Kentucky to win it all nice may not be good enough. A LOT of us picked Kentucky. I feel the chance of a repeat already slipping away. It’s sort of like when the Bears have a 10 point lead, but then Cutler throws his first interception..you can feel the fall coming.
• Bryant Hall — How could you let Vickery pick Wyoming all the way? Bryant has Wyoming to the Sweet 16 which seems a little more sensible, but I guess you NEVER know what’s going to happen in March.
• Joel Shilliday — What, no bracket from Liz or the kids? What about my buddy Ryan, how come he didn’t fill out a bracket? Well, there’s always next year. Joel was last seen outside of Sam Goody receiving compliments on his stellar jean jacket.
• Brian Roche — I’m shocked Brian filled out a bracket. He always donates, but is resistant to filling out a bracket. So he’s probably going to win this year. And it’s noted Brian, that you have a Wild”cat” showdown in your bracket. I get it.
• Laura Patterson Hoffman — 10 lousy points in day 1 Laura? I scored 10.5. In your face! 🙂

Well, I’d love to make fun of some more of you, but I’ve got a lot to do and it’s going to be a long tournament so let’s pace ourselves here. As always, thanks for taking part and enjoy the Madness. I’ll leave you with my quote and my jam of the day.

Quote of the Day

Jam of the Day

Cheers,
Greg