Reasons To Be Happy

Oh! There are so many reasons to be happy today.

1. Michigan State won a 1st round NCAA game and didn't even look half inept. Actually, I didn't get to watch the entire game, so I am not 100% sure about that, but they did hold Marquette scoreless for the first ten minutes of the first half. That's gotta mean something! I really hope they don't get Chapel Hill next, but a No. 1 seed has never been knocked off before.
2. So far the Big Ten is 2-0 in NCAA games with Michigan St. and Ohio St.'s wins. Take that all you haters!
3. Did you know Duke has not lost a first round game NCAA tournament game in like ten friggin' years? Talk about crazy. But this bizzaro win streak, finally ended today! I admit to being as much of a Duke hater as the next person. But that being said, I think Duke played pretty well, but VCU played better. And more than that VCU's game just wore them down. I have never seen a press quite like that before. Pitt better watch out!
4. I had almost forgotten about the Gin Blossoms, and then I turned on the TV. And there they were...

Finally, A Little Honesty

A lot of people aren't huge fans of Hillary, and neither am I. She never seems real. She's always a little too stiff and a little to rehearsed. After hearing her talk, I always wonder what she's really thinking. Well today, she finally told us. She actually outlined a fairly detailed position on Iraq, and while it is likely to be immensely unpopular, and I am not in complete agreement with it, I do respect her for it.

Prior to today, Hillary was shades of Kerry with her double negatives in explaining her Iraq vote. Like she would not have not voted for the Iraq war if she knew what she knew now. But Obama and Edwards have been equally tired with their call for a unilateral pull out of Iraq. Sure we were wrong to go in, but we are there now. It's a cesspool of violence, and in going in, we have allowed Al Qaeda, who didn't have much traction with Saddam, to get in. So while Iraq did not originally pose much of a threat to the us or the rest of the world, it is safe to say that they do now.

I like Hillary's idea of maintaining some small presence in Iraq for the foreseeable future. It allows the US to have some eyes and ears on the ground to actively monitor the situation. The scaled down presence will also force the Iraqi government to get it together and start doing their job. Finally, it will prevent Iran from having a free reign in the country.

While I think Hillary may have shot herself in the foot with her statements, I do have to give her some credit! If the rest of the candidates would get a little real instead of pandering to their base, all this pre-election campaigning might actually mean something!

The New York Times

After reading Kristof's Op-ed on Darfur, I decided to post something on his blog. A bunch of people beat me too it, and some of them were pretty far off topic, but still you can check out my comment. Although I think one of the later posters thought I was an ignorant American for highlighting that Darfur was a case of Muslims fighting against other Muslims.

It's That Time of Year Again

It's that time of year again... spring, flowers, and MARCH MADNESS!

So the brackets were announced the other day, and I breathed a sigh of relief when they announced MSU. After the initial euphoria though, it was back to sadness. Even if State gets past Marquette, they have to face off against Chapel Hill, and I have some bad memories of the last time that happened. I hate ACC teams from North Carolina, sigh...

All things considered the Big Ten did a decent job of placing teams in the tournament with a grand total of 5. Sure other conferences had more teams, and typically I don't mind... but the PAC-10? Come on! They (for the most part) play basketball worse than me, and while I play a mean game of HORSE, I am not sure that's saying all that much.

Not only did the PAC-10 get more teams into the tournament, they got them in at a higher average seeding. (See below.) Some of these teams came out of nowhere to earn these seedings. And while the guy who lead the selection committee may be a fellow Princetonian, I have a serious bone to pick with him!

Setting aside my PAC-10 hatred, the bracket does look interesting. I could jump on the bandwagon of those who think the mid-majors got screwed (I do think they did), but it would be rather hypocritical given that State might not have made it if Drexel and a few others had.

Here are some teams I like...

MidWest
Florida because despite Billy Donovan's used car salesman look, and the fact that OSU is rated No. 1 in the AP, Florida is still the team to beat.
Old Dominion because someone has to fight the fight for the mid-majors.
Wisconsin because they can slow down a game like no one else and make you fall asleep standing up.
Oregon because I was afraid of jinxing a team who shall not be named.

West
Kentucky because the Wildcats and Tubby have something to prove.
UCLA because they are bitter about not being a 1 seed, and because they are the only really deserving PAC-10 team.
Pitt because yeah, I don't know why. They are the 3 seed and shouldn't prove why?
S. Illinois because they are the Salukis and they got D.

East
Michigan St. because they are my boys!!
Texas because they got a big man, and I would love to see some USC ass-kicking!
Georgetown because they won the Big East, have little John Thompson, and Ewings' son.
George Washington because they have some legit wins and both Vandy and Wash St. are takeable.

South
Ohio State because Greg Oden is the man!
Memphis because they are huge, also perhaps seeded a little higher than they deserve, which should help early on.
Louisville because they can leverage the home court advantage
Long Beach St. Why not? They have a crazy winning streak, and a coach whose contract needs to be renewed.

The Dumbing Down of America

I was talking to some friends earlier in the week about the increasing sophistication of certain mainstream Hollywood movies. Movies like Babel, Little Miss. Sunshine etc. are a definite departure from the American Pie cliche. Part of this could be due to Americans growing appreciation of cinema as an art form, or as my more cynical, often international, friends suggest, the fact that Hollywood generates the majority of its revenues overseas where audiences crave a more substantive product. So imagine my surprise after a year of great movies, 300 has just broken the March box office records with its use of blood, gore, violence, CGI, and use of Muslims as the big bad.

In the Service of America

Halliburton, the Cheney corporate toy, that is always in the service of the American people (who are in fact their biggest source of revenue via the federal income tax), has decided to move it's headquarters from the lovely state of Texas to Dubai. Interesting, no doubt... the general claim is that by shifting headquarters, Halliburton will be able to better serve the Middle Eastern oil mega-entities. But what about us, the little people in America? By shifting headquarters, not only will Halliburton continue to be able to siphon off American tax dollars with the tacit approval of Bush, Cheney, & Co., but they will also be able to get huge tax breaks in tax-free Dubai. I sense a record year for Halliburton profits, a record year for the cheating of the American tax payer, and a record year for leaks of top secret US information by a shady government contractor. Rather than a strategic move, this appears to be a shifty move. I wonder if Cheney has some backdated options sitting next to the skeletons in his closet...

The Secret Lives of Republican Men

If Ann Coulter is to be believed, liberal women are ugly whereas Republican women are "pretty-girls". Now I personally think Ann Coulter should be taken with a large dose of salt, but if you are a Republican and believe her, can you explain why so many Republican men leave their pretty-girl wives?

Rudy Guiliani - Presidential nominee wannabe and thrice married. Rudy even had the nerve to dump his second wife during a press conference, before telling her... shades of Matt Damon on Oprah.

Newt Gingrich - I guess Republicans like to do things in three, because Newt (and who names their kid after an amphibian) is thrice married as well. In fact, he divorced his first wife when she was fighting cancer, and he divorced his second wife for an aide (read: someone half his age). Seems that despite their "prettiness", Republican women seem to have a hard time keeping their husbands occupied.

Bob Packwood - Not only did he sexually harass over 20 women, but he also documented all his exploits in a diary. This proves that not only are Republicans dirty, old, men, but they are also flat out dumb!

Clarence Thomas - Technically he has never run for office as a Republican, but I don't think he could be considered anything but by any stretch of the imagination. Thomas claimed he was 'lynched' by the Judiciary committee, but I doubt it. Women didn't come forward with sexual harassment claims back then without getting their reputations trashed. So I am firmly sticking with Anita Hill's side of the equation.

The FOX News "reporters" (and I use the word loosely) - While hating on Clinton and Democrats everywhere, O'Reilly apparently had enough time to try and solicit a colleague for phone sex. In further proof that Republicans are ugly SOBs, he got shot down and sued for sexual harassment. Rush Limbaugh (FOX news consultant?) is a serial dater and cheater. By my count he may be on wife No. 4. Looks like Republican women are pretty darn desperate if they are going for fat, balding men with addictions to oxycontin.

Got anyone else to add to the list?

On Sport: The Game of Lying, Cheating, and Name Calling

So apparently Ann Coulter thinks that John Edwards is a 'faggot', and she plans to endorse Mitt for President. I suppose Edwards should feel offended by this, but looking at the spectrum of those Coulter hates - liberals, Democrats, agnostics, Muslims, widows of 9/11, African-Americans, journalists, and those she likes -- Joe McCarthy (her personal hero), Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity... maybe he should be thankful. Coulter's disdain means that you are always on the right side of virtually every issue!

Imagine my surprise when in the middle of the Mich. - OSU game, I am subjected to a painful HOOTERS commercial featuring none other than Dick Vitale. Talk about your low budget commercials. Vitale looked like he was pasted into literally every scene. You would think HOOTERS has made enough money off of truck-driving middle America to pull off a better editing job than this. And you would think Vitale has enough self-respect to avoid such tasteless promotions...

So Mich St. loses a buzzer beater to Wisconsin in the Cheese State. I am certain Michigan State would have won the game had the refs been only slightly less biased. Never have I seen so many offensive fouls called in one game, and the vast majority of them went against State. The Big Ten is all about a physical, inside game. What were these refs hopped up on? Oh well, Wisconsin has history on it's side. The Badgers have only lost 5 games at home in the past six years. But next year baby! those Badgers are going to be nothing but road kill!

Who says Michigan players are not cheaters? I watched the Michigan - Ohio St. game and I can certainly attest to the fact that Sims poked his finger into Cook's eye. That seems like a not very sporting thing to do...

Apparently, Obama's maternal relatives owned slaves. Perhaps he can win the South after all? (just kidding... I think...)