March Madness Day 5 Recap

With sincere apologies to Don McLean:

So bye, bye silly bracket of mine,
Went to Phoenix, then got deep-sixed, I lasted longer this time,
At least it wasn't by Bill Self's design
But this is the day that it died.

Yep, 12 years I've run this pool and this is the twelfth year I've had to write this intro. My bracket went up in flames last night when Michigan State got owned by Louisville. In a way, it's nights like last night that drive me in running my pool. If all the pool consisted of was filling out a bracket, keeping track, and then announcing the winners, a night like last night would kind of end the fun part of the pool. Instead, I try to keep tabs on as many games as possible, keep a running commentary on as many things as possible, and share it all with you, so that there's still something to do from Day 6 through Day 10.

So that's why you get rambling, babbling words all over the place with sparse moments of semi-coherence. Anywho, let's get on with things:

Shoutouts:
To Noah K, C-Mo, Mannuel J, and Denise K, for all correctly prediciting 3 of the 4 games last night. On a day where 14 participants got 0 correct picks, 3/4 is a terrific day. Extra shoutout to Denise, for lapping the K family field, outpointing all of the rest of the K family. Way to go, Mom! combined.

To our current leaderboard:
1) Noah K (--)
2T) Colin M (-1 pts)
2T) Linda Y (-1 pts)
4) Melissa R (-3 pts)
5T) Manuel J (-4 pts)
5T) Barack Obama (-4 pts)

Extra shoutout to Noah, the lone member of his family to not finish Top-3 in last year's pool, using his strong Day 5 to leave the rest of his family in the dust in this year's pool.

To Ryan and Suzie W, for joining Celinda and I (and Miles) for dinner last night. Fun time was had by all (especially little Miles).

To Miles, for staying up over an hour later than his usual bedtime but remaining his usual charming self throughout (after a brief shy period at first). Miles does lose some points for turning around and waking up at 5 AM again this morning. Sleep like the Michigan State offense, little buddy!

Condemnations:
To the Jets. Really? Tebow? At some point, you have to make a choice: Sanchez is your guy, or he isn't. Now, he shouldn't be, but first you chase Peyton Manning (defensible), fail, then give Sanchez an extension (not a good call), and THEN, you bring in Tebow, so you can run more wildcat packages and try to have a college-like 2 QB system (hang on, let's get Charles Barkley...TURRRRRRR-IBLE decision!) If the idea was to give Sanchez some competition, okay, I get it. But to bring in a QB with a vocal, passionate, deluded fan base who will be chomping at the bit to chant his name as soon as Sanchez puts a foot wrong, AND bring more turmoil to your broken locker room? Really? This seemed like a good idea?

To Peyton Manning. I am thrilled you chose not San Francisco. But really, you should have chosen San Francisco instead. I mean, it wasn't close.

To Roger Goodell. I get that to appease your lawyers you HAD to come down hard on the Saints for the Bounty issue. But I don't fully understand the punishments. Payton gets a full year? After Belichick got nothing other than a fine? You cited assaults on the integrity of the game in Payton's punishment, and what Belichick did (while not on the same level) also committed such assault. I'm not saying Coach Hoodie should have been suspeneded anything close to a year, but the difference between the two punishments is staggering.

Also, Payton's suspension runs April 1, 2012 to April 1, 2013. Yet you suspended the GM, Mickey Loomis for 8 games starting week 1 of the season. And Loomis KNEW this was going on and WAS ORDERED BY HIS OWNER TO STOP IT AND DID NOTHING. Yet he gets off easy, and you wait until after a) the draft and b) the roster is finalized for the start of the season to start his suspension? Seriously? Things don't add up here. Enjoy Day 6!