Madden ’12

By Blaidd Drwg

EA Sports, in conjunction with ESPN is letting the fans pick the cover of Madden ’12. Each team has one player listed and the voting is taking place in a bracket format. There are some guys on there who you would expect and some really questionable selections. I have no idea what criteria they used to pick the players, but here are the selection that make me scratch my head:

Pats: Danny Woodhead. Seriously? On a team with Wes Welker and Tom Brady, you pick the RB who had 4 good games in his career and will probably disappear quicker than he appeared? Heck, Bill Belichek would have been a better selection than Woodhead.

mcv12-12th-man — This guy might grace the cover of Madden '12. Seriously.

Broncos: Tim Tebow. Yes, he has the pedigree but he started 3 games, completed 50% of his passes and looks like he will have a better NFL career as a RB than a QB (hint to Jack Locker). Granted, the only other guy I could name on the Broncos is Brandon Lloyd, but still, Tebow? Don’t see it.

Panthers: Jordan Gross. Raise your hand if you have any idea who Jordan Gross is. I had to look him up – he is a right tackle. You know you are in trouble when you are resorting to an offensive lineman as your Madden cover choice. The Panthers are bad, but why not Charles Johnson, Steve Smith, or the sentimental favorite, 41 year old kicker John Kasay.

I say, we start an online campaign to get Jordan Gross on the cover, you know, just because.

Dolphins: Jake Long. Another O-Lineman? Really? Why? Could it get any worse than this? YES:

Seahawks: The 12th Man. WTF? They couldn’t even pick a player? I know that the Seahawks don’t exactly have household names on the roster, but how unimaginative is this? You might as well put me on the cover at that point.

Given the Madden Curse, I think this is going to turn into a screw your rival process where a good number of fans are going to vote for the guy on their rivals team or vote against their own favorite player. Besides, if by some miracle the 12th man ended up on the cover of Madden, does that mean that every Seahawks fan would end up injured in some bizarre way causing them to miss the rest of the season?

Mike Sweeney calls it a day

By Blaidd Drwg

1996-pinnacle-mike-sweeney — In 1995, the possibilites were endless for Mike Sweeney. Oh, what could have been.

Mike Sweeney signed a one day deal with the Royals yesterday and then promptly announced his retirement. Sweeney was probably the most feared hitter no one ever heard of back in the early 2000’s playing for the Royals, posting OPS+ numbers between 117 and 148 each season between 1999 and 2005, before back problems pretty much killed his career. Sweeney is generally considered to be one to the nicest guys in baseball, from what people who have met him have told me. Sweeney started his career in the Royals organization as a catcher and really hit is stride when he finally moved to 1B, He put together 2 minimally productive seasons with the Mariners before getting dealt to the Phillies late last season. Sweeney ends up in the “what could have been” category for me – a guy who would have put up some great numbers if he could stay healthy and would have been more well known if he didn’t play in the black hole that is Kansas City.

I wish him well in his retirement and hope that some team is smart enough to offer him a coaching job if he wants it.

The Big Dance – Sweet 16 Results Show

By Blaidd Drwg

I really need to congratulate myself. With Ohio St. losing, my bracket is officially done, before the Elite 8. I think this has to be a record for someone who was actually picking games with some degree of knowledge. There were some great games in the Sweet 16 – Bulter continues to surprise everyone, Uconn still refuses to lose, and VCU and Florida St. are in a barn burner. You have to love an Elite 8 with only one #1 seed left. Here are the gritty details :

Coltrane	Annie S	Blaidd Drwg	Winner
Ohio St.	Ohio St.	Ohio St.	Kentucky
Syracuse	North Carolina	Syracuse	North Carolina
Uconn	SDSU	SDSU	Uconn
Duke	Duke	Duke	Arizona
Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Butler
Florida	Florida	Michigan St.	Florida
Notre Dame	Purdue	Notre Dame	VCU
Kansas	Kansas	Kansas	Kansas
W – 3 L – 5	W – 3 L – 5	W – 1 L – 7

Here are the standings after the Not So Sweet 16:

	Wins	Points
Blaidd Drwg	31	400
Coltrane	34	520
Annie S.	31	470

Basically bragging rights are coming down to the Florida-Butler game. If Florida wins, Annie S. gets bragging rights and if Butler wins, Coltrane takes the crown. They both have Kansas winning the whole thing, so that is the only game where there is a chance for Annie to take the lead. Here is what we all have remaining:

	Elite 8	Final 4	Final 2	Champ
Blaidd Drwg	1	0	0	0
Coltrane	3	1	1	1
Annie S.	3	2	1	1

Butler_Basketball.sff.slideshow_main.prod_affiliate.80 — Brad Stevens - Seriously, is this guy even old enough to drive, let alone coach a college basketball team?

I am pulling for Butler for the rest of the Tournament. Not that I want to see Coltrane win, I just want to see Butler have another shot at a national title. Besides, how could you not cheer for a team where the head coach looks like he is fresh out of high school himself.

The Not So Big 10 Conference

By Blaidd Drwg

Remember a few months back when the president of THE Ohio State University was less than complementary about the non-AQ schools and was raving bout how good the Big 10 is. Well, let’s see how they did in their bowl games:

Wisconsin	19	TCU	21	Loss
Iowa	27	Missouri	24	Win
Illinois	38	Baylor	14	Win
Michigan St	7	Alabama	49	Loss
Penn St	24	Florida	37	Loss
Michigan	14	Mississippi St	52	Loss
Ohio St.	31	Arkansas	26	Win

ncf_u_tcubillboard_576_crop_340x234 — Hey, Ohio State, remember us?

The Big 10 managed to put 7 teams into bowl games this season, which isn’t as impressive as you would think as you just need to win 6 games to qualify and the Big 10 teams generally play 4 non-conference games, mostly against pretty weak opponents. In the 7 Bowl Games, the Big 10 is a less than stellar 3-4. Only one of those 3 wins was particularly convincing, with a 7-6 Illinois team beating a 7-6 Baylor team, although I will give Iowa credit for managing to beat a pretty good Missouri team. The 4 losses are the problem – Michigan, Penn St and Michigan State all got completely blown out in their bowl games, with the Spartans, co-Big 10 champs, being completely overmatched and run out of the building by an obviously superior Alabama team. Wisconsin ended up losing an epic game to TCU, one of the non-AQ schools that E. Gordon Gee believed should have not been playing in a game like the Rose Bowl. It wasn’t like Wisconsin came in not wanting to be at the game – it was looking like early on the game was going to be a shootout, only to have both teams make adjustments and play what I think might have been the best bowl game of this post season. It really makes me realize just how badly TCU got screwed in the poles and should probably be playing for a National Championship.

I would still love to see Ohio State step up and play Boise St or TCU on the road next season, just to prove that the big boys shouldn’t have anything handed to them on a silver platter. Instead, Ohio State’s only non-conference games that might be a challenge are going to be at Nebraska , and maybe, only because of the suspended players and coach, at Miami. Otherwise, I don’t think Toledo, Akron and Colorado will be too much of a bother for them.

Las Vegas And The Ashtray Of Shame

by A.J. Coltrane

It was a good long first weekend in Vegas of March Madness gambling. I made over 50 (straight) bets on college basketball and won about 65% of them — I had money on all but about two games between Thursday and Sunday. (For the record, betting on every single game is *not* the recommended way to be successful in Vegas.)

The highlight of the weekend was the San Diego State – Temple double overtime game. The Aztecs were 6 point favorites, and the score was close as the game wound down. So close that everyone who had picked San Diego State — and that was everyone in the bar — were loudly rooting for overtime at the end of regulation. And at the end of the first overtime. San Diego State finally pulled away in the second overtime to win by a whopping 7 points! The bar erupted, and there were high-fives with complete strangers all around!

The lowlight was BYU failing to cover as 8.5 point favorites against the Wofford Terriers. Here are the last fifty seconds:

Time	Wofford	Score	BYU
:50		63-73	Jimmer Fredette missed Free Throw.
:50		63-74	Jimmer Fredette made Free Throw.
:41	Cameron Rundles missed Jumper.	63-74
:40		63-74	Noah Hartsock Defensive Rebound.
:14		63-74	Jimmer Fredette missed Three Point Jumper.
:08	Wofford Defensive Rebound.	63-74
:02	Terry Martin made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Cameron Rundles.	66-74

That was a killer! Fredette missed a free throw with BYU up 10, then threw up a terrible brick of a 3-point attempt with 14 seconds to go. Wofford capitalized on this “opening” by making a meaningless 3-pointer with 2 seconds to go, reducing the deficit from 11 to 8, and bringing a collective groan from the crowd. (Nobody had picked Wofford, either.) It was kinda funny actually — most times there’s at least some grumbling and swearing when bets are lost. But to lose the bet like that — what are you going to do? Stupid Jimmer Fredette.

What happens to all of those losing tickets?

The Ashtray Of Shame! For proper effect, say it like a super hero would say it.

The Big Dance – Day 4 Results Show

By Blaidd Drwg

Not a good day for any of us. Losing ND further destroys my already miserable bracket. The ugly truth:

Coltrane	Annie S	Blaidd Drwg	Winner
Ohio St.	Ohio St.	Ohio St.	Ohio St.
Syracuse	Syracuse	Syracuse	Marquette
UNC	UNC	UNC	UNC
Duke	Duke	Duke	Duke
Texas	Texas	Texas	Arizona
Kansas	Kansas	Kansas	Kansas
Purdue	Purdue	Georgetown	VCU
Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Florida St.
W – 4 L – 4	W – 4 L – 4	W – 4 L – 4

Here are the standings after day 4:

	Wins	Points
Blaidd Drwg	30	360
Coltrane	31	400
Annie S.	28	350

Coltrane extends his lead, but Annie is in the best shape for the rest of the games. Here is what we all have remaining:

	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Final 4	Final 2	Champ
Blaidd Drwg	6	4	2	1	0
Coltrane	9	5	3	2	1
Annie S.	7	6	4	2	1

The Big Dance – Day 3 Results Show

By Blaidd Drwg

Day 3 was an utter disaster for me. The ending of that Pitt game, well, lets just say I am never picking them again. It was a good day of hoops watching though – lots of exciting, close games to keep the viewing interest. I had a bunch to say about the games today, but I am so pissed off at Pittsburgh, that will be for another day. The bloody carnage:

Coltrane	Annie S	Blaidd Drwg	Winner
Kentucky	West Virginia	Kentucky	Kentucky
Uconn	Missouri	Missouri	UConn
SDSU	SDSU	SDSU	SDSU
Florida	Florida	Michigan St.	Florida
Gonzaga	St. John’s	St. John’s	BYU
Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Kansas St.	Wisconsin
Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Butler
Lousiville	Lousiville	Lousiville	Richmond
W – 5 L – 3	W – 3 L – 5	W – 2 L – 6

Here are the standings after day 3:

	Wins	Points
Blaidd Drwg	26	320
Coltrane	27	280
Annie S.	24	270

My bracket is essentially done – I have lost the entire Southeast Region. Here is what we all have remaining:

	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Final 4	Final 2	Champ
Blaidd Drwg	7	6	3	1	0
Coltrane	8	7	3	2	1
Annie S.	8	7	3	2	1

It is now between Annie and Coltrane for bragging rights.

The Big Dance – Day 2 Results Show

By Blaidd Drwg

Day 2 was a much better day for picking games than Day 1. There were some tight games and fantastic endings. Memphis came within a last second blocked shot of pushing my record to 15-1 for the day and George Mason made a furious comeback to down the once Tops 5 ranked Villanova Wildcats (what happened to them). The game that hurt me is Georgetown losing to VCU, meaning I lose another sweet 16 team in the process. How about Marquette? Has any team ever been the same double digit seed (#11) in their conference tournament and NCAA Tournament in the same year? They are tough and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they end up pushing Syracuse in a tight game. The results from day 2’s games:

Coltrane	Annie S	Blaidd Drwg	Winner
Ohio St.	Ohio St.	Ohio St.	Ohio St.
Villanova	Villanova	George Mason	George Mason
Xavier	Marquette	Marquette	Marquette
Syracuse	Syracuse	Syracuse	Syracuse
Washington	Georgia	Washington	Washington
UNC	UNC	UNC	UNC
Duke	Duke	Duke	Duke
Michigan	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan
Arizona	Memphis	Memphis	Arizona
Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas
Kansas	Kansas	Kansas	Kansas
Illinois	Illinois	Illinois	Illinois
Georgetown	VCU	Georgetown	VCU
Purdue	Purdue	Purdue	Purdue
Texas A&M	Texas A&M	Florida St.	Florida St.
Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
W – 12 L – 4	W – 12 L – 4	W – 14 L – 2

Here are the standings after day 2:

	Wins	Points
Blaidd Drwg	24	240
Coltrane	22	220
Annie S.	21	210

It is still anyone’s game especially since my bracket isn’t looking so hot in the later rounds – I managed to not pick the winner in only 8 games, but in 5 of those cases, I had the winner going to the Sweet 16, so that does hurt. Here is what we all have remaining:

	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Final 4	Final 2	Champ
Blaidd Drwg	11	7	4	2	1
Coltrane	15	8	4	2	1
Annie S.	13	8	4	2	1

There are a couple games today that should be interesting:

I really want to watch Richmond-Morehead St. It doesn’t matter who wins this one, there will be at least a #12 seed in the Sweet 16 this season, but you have 2 teams who are playing on a major high, which I think has the makings of a great game.

Gonzaga-BYU should be a win for the Zags. Gonzaga has become another Purdue for me – the years I don’t pick them to do anything, they end up winning a bunch of games and the years that I do pick them to advance, they get bounced in the first round. This year, I picked them to lose in the first round, so of course they beat St. John’s and should beat an undermanned BYU team.

Cincy-Uconn – nothing like having 2 conference rivals play each other in the NCAA tournament. I think this is the letdown game for Uconn – this will be their 7th game in the last 2 weeks and I think the air finally gets let out of the tires in this one.

The Big Dance – Day 1 Results Show

By Blaidd Drwg

For the Big Dance, Coltrane, Annie S. and I decided to pick brackets for bragging rights on the board. Here is how we did on Day #1:

Coltrane	Annie S.	Blaidd Drwg	Winner
Vandy	Richmond	Vandy	Richmond
Louisville	Louisville	Louisville	Morehead State
West Virginia	West Virginia	West Virginia	West Virginia
Kentucky	Kentucky	Kentucky	Kentucky
Missouri	Missouri	Missouri	Cincinnati
Uconn	Uconn	Uconn	Uconn
Penn St	Penn St	Penn St	Temple
SDSU	SDSU	SDSU	SDSU
Pitt	Pitt	Pitt	Pitt
Old Dominion	Old Dominion	Butler	Butler
Kansas St	Utah St	Kansas St	Kansas St
Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Wisconsin
Gonzaga	St Johns	St Johns	Gonzaga
BYU	Wofford	BYU	BYU
Michigan St	UCLA	Michigan St	UCLA
Florida	Florida	Florida	Florida
W-10 L-6	W – 9 L – 7	W – 10 L – 6

The standings after round 1:
Coltrane – 10
Blaidd Drwg – 10
Annie S. – 9

Where it gets ugly is the later rounds – Coltrane only lost one of his Sweet 16 teams, Annie 3 and I lost 4, including one of my Elite 8 teams. That is not good for me.

I missed most of the games today as a result of being out of town. Tomorrow I will be working from the couch enjoying about 87 million hours of hoops. Hopefully day 2 will end up better than day 1 for me.

Thundering Hooves rides off into the sunset

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I am a regular customer of Thundering Hooves. I like their products (pastured, humanely raised livestock out near Spokane), their prices are good and one of their pickup locations was less than a mile from the Iron Chef homestead. Needless to say, I was sad when I read their newsletter today:

Due to unfortunate financial circumstances Thundering Hooves LLC is ceasing all operations immediately. All existing orders and all new orders for our products will not be filled or delivered. We are extremely sorry to inform you with this news and for any inconvenience this may cause you. There may be a limited amount of inventory that will become available. Check the website for updates.

Thank you all for your business, your confidence in us and our products, and your friendship.

Most sincerely,

Joel Huesby
Managing Member

I know they were changing their operations because they had gotten too big, too quickly and couldn’t handle it. I am going to miss their products (and their sales), especially the bacon, a favorite of Mrs. Iron Chef. So long Thundering Hooves. I just wonder what the hell happened.