The Final Four

The Final Four killed my brackets. If anybody chose this exact Final Four, they are completely amazing, and completely lucky. I don’t think it is possible to be this good at predicting upsets and wins.

When Louisville lost, I knew that my bracket was down the drain. It began with the fact that I had Kansas beating Michigan St. in the first place. So when Michigan St. went two further games than what I predicted, I lost. I was confident that Louisville would at least get out of the region, but at least I didn’t have them winning it all. I didn’t think that Michigan St. had it in them. They are coming from one of the easiest conferences in the nation, the Big 10, and they had to play some good teams just to get to the Elite 8. This is why I thought Kansas would pull one off; I think Sherron Collins is the one of the best guards in the nation, but Kevin Lucas proved why he was the Big 10 player of the year. At least I’m not some crazy TV analyst who chose Louisville to win it all and told everybody that there was no way they could lose.

The other Final Four team that I missed was Villanova. Wow I did not see this one coming. In my mind, there were two possible teams that could come out of that bracket, Pitt or Duke. There was no way that the Elite 8 game could be anything but that. I guess I was wrong. But when a team only shoots four for a thousand from the field, they are most likely going to lose. But ok, Villanova beat Duke, big deal, there was no way they were going to beat Pitt. Pitt was just too good. But once again, I guess I was wrong. I don’t know how they did it, I thought Pitt played fairly well, but Villanova pulled off the upset by 2. I can’t tell you how surprised I was.

So the only way that my bracket could have any dignity left will be if UNC and UConn win and UNC wins it all. But I really don’t know anymore. I have basically given up on my basketball predicting skills. But I don’t think I’m alone, I have not heard of anybody who chose this Final Four, so I’m in good company.

Sport vs. Non-sport

There is a problem in the world. It is unjust and wrong. People, many of whom do not play sports, consider certain things a sport when it is very clearly not. This is one of the things that bothers me most. I can’t stand it when somebody calls something a sport when it is not. So here is what I believe…

The true definition of sport is “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.” The first part of this definition I completely agree with, sports require physical skill that not all people have the ability to perform. The second part I also agree with, sports are rather competitive. But the third part I have some problems with, I don’t think that some of the examples given are sports. Let me go into further detail.

My definition of sport is any strenuous, physical activity that takes skill to perform and cannot be preformed well by the common public. This means that you have to be able to use your body, hand-eye coordination, and more to do a physical activity. I’m not sure if this makes complete sense, so here are some examples. NASCAR is not a sport. I do not care how many people think it is. It is glorified driving, and the last time I checked, anybody (even 85 year old grandmas) can drive. Yes, I understand that it takes a toll on the driver’s body, but any goof can do it. Fishing is not a sport. It is an activity. Once again, anybody can go out on a boat and catch a fish. Some people may not have much success, but they can do what this so called “sport” requires it participants to do. But the biggest NOT A SPORT that some people call a sport is cheerleading. Wow. The first time I heard this called a sport I almost fell over laughing, but the person was completely serious. I am not going to say what I really am thinking about this, because it would be offensive to some people (cheerleaders in particular).

So overall, in case you missed it, here is a list of NOT SPORTS that some people consider a sport (I will most likely miss a few, so don’t consider this a complete list):
NASCAR, motocross, fishing, bowling, curling, cheerleading/dancing, darts, chess, hunting, baton twirling (from the Olympics), video games, croquet, and synchronized swimming.

Answering a Question

I often find myself faced with the question, “what is your favorite sport?” Or sometimes they ask, “what do you like better, football or basketball?” depending on the person asking. I will always tell the truth, but most times my answer just avoids the question. This is because I truly don’t know yet. I don’t know if I want to play a sport in college, and if I do, I don’t know what sport. So I have three definite answers to either of the questions. 1-I don’t know. 2- Whatever I am playing/ whatever is in season. 3- Ping-pong.

I don’t know. This is my answer if I just want to avoid the subject all together and start talking about something else. Its true that I’m not sure yet, so I’m not lying, but I’m also not answering any question. This is also my answer to people who I would rather not talk to, maybe because they annoy me or maybe because they are fairly dumb, because it is easy to understand and it is straight to the point. There are really no follow up questions that can be asked after this response, so that is also a plus.

Whatever I am playing/ whatever is in season. This answer I give to people who are serious and who deserve an answer. This is the closest to the truth, and most times needs an explanation. The sport that I am playing when this question is asked is most likely the sport that I am enjoying most. I like the sport I am playing because I am totally engulfed in it and I devote my time to it. Another reason why it is closest to the truth is that I like all sports that I play equally. No one sport (except ping-pong) is a clear favorite in my mind.

Ping-pong. This is the answer that is dealt if I feel like the person asking the question doesn’t really need a serious answer and I feel like joking around. But not joking here, ping-pong may actually be my favorite sport. It is amazingly fun, and I seem to be fairly good at it, which helps. I love to challenge someone in ping-pong and I have only found a couple of people who can beat me. But even if I don’t win, I love to play the sport, it just won’t take me anywhere in life.

Two Great Movies

This past week was my spring break (which may have been noticed by my lack of posts, or not because that is not an unusual occurrence). Spring break means two things: 1- spring weather is approaching, even though the snow hides that fact, and 2- there is a little extra time to watch movies. So this past week I had the opportunity to watch a couple of very good movies.

In Bruges and Let the Right One In are the two best movies that I have seen recently. Both easily make it into my top 10 favorite movies of all time, and come very close to the top five. This is not an easy task, but these movies deserve it with every ounce of sincerity that I have.

In Bruges is a very dark, very funny movie. It is about two Irish hit men who are sent to Bruges, Belgium because the younger one made a mistake and killed a little boy. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (the two hit men) perform beautifully together and have the special connection that portrays to the audience the emotion going through their minds. This movie was unexpectedly funny, but not the Anchorman/Zoolander funny, it was dark and witty. The dialogue was incredible, and the Irish accents gave it just the right sound to make me laugh harder to it than to a movie like Anchorman (which is one of my favorite comedies of all time). This movie also took many unexpected twists. In the beginning, the audience gets a general idea for the movie and a mood is set that has humor, but remorse (he kills a little boy, come on). But after a while I started to realize (with the hints that were given along the way) that there were two hit men for a reason. I’m not going to spoil the ending, but I would recommend that you view this film sooner rather than later, you are really missing something if you don’t.

The next movie that I watched was absolutely amazing. Let the Right One In is a low budget, non-Hollywood (key), Swedish film. Doesn’t really sound promising, and just to add to that, it’s about a 12-year boy and the young girl vampire he meets. Great, right? It truly was. I was completely and utterly impressed by this movie. There was something about the innocence of the relationship, and the caring for one another that drew me in and never let go. I came in skeptical, but left dazzled. I’m not sure what else to say about this movie, it’s hard to explain and doesn’t sound very good when I try. But trust me, this film is worth seeing. Just a side note, if you get this on DVD, watch with the English subtitles, not dubbed. When it’s dubbed, the acting loses all of its emotion. Don’t be lazy, and just read what they are saying to get the full effect intended.

The Philosophy of the School Year

Spring break is much needed. It signifies the end of the hardest part of the school year, and the beginning of the end. The hardest part of the year is between the end of Christmas break, and the beginning of Spring break. This is three months of consecutive school with no breaks at all. I know that some people may say that three months of school is nothing, but for high schoolers who are used to getting a week off every month of two, this is torture. Teachers expect more out of students and students want to be even lazier than they have been. This is not a good combination, and it results in teachers getting mad and students getting poor grades. Spring break is much needed time off for everybody to cool down and relax.

The school year can be broken down into four sections: Beginning, mid-break, torture time, and the end. The Beginning is the start of the year and everybody is halfway excited (even if they wont admit it) to be back at school and see all of their friends everyday. It goes by fairly quickly and easily because you are still getting back into a routine. This section lasts until the end of the first term or Thanksgiving break. The mid-break section is the time between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break. This is only about a month of school where nobody really pays attention, including the teachers. This is the best time of year because not much work is expected and you don’t really have to attend much school. But after Christmas break come the torture section. As I have discussed previously, teachers expect a lot from students and there is no fun to be found anywhere. This lasts for three months and ends at Spring break. The last section of the year is the end. This is from Spring break until the end of the school year. This section is at least tolerable because the weather is getting better so we don’t have to be cooped up inside all the time. It is also the section when the idea that school is almost out comes to play. This idea works wonders for many students because they think to themselves, “well, there’s only two months of school left, if I have survived thing long, I will be able to make it to the end.” And, after Spring break, most students do make it to the end.

This is the philosophy of the school year, and why Spring break is one of the most important times off for everybody in the school.

Bracket Predictions

Since yesterday was selection Sunday, I think I should write about the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. In my mind, this is a very good and efficient way to find out who the best team in the nation is. I wish college football would do something similar, but that is a whole different topic. So here are my bracket predictions.

The first thing I should say is that I see no clear-cut winner. Nobody is a definite favorite to go the distance. There are many teams that, if they play well, are capable of beating anybody else. As seen by the constantly changing number 1 team during the year, every team has their off day. I think that three of the 2ed seeded teams could have been 1^st seeds. Duke, Oklahoma (with Blake Griffin), and Memphis are good enough to run the table, but if they make one mistake, are bad enough to lose early.

Pittsburg is going to kill me. I think they are a very talented and tough team, but they have their lapses. I would like to choose Pitt to win it all, but I’m not going too. I think that they will have their off game, I just can’t figure out when. I’m not sure if its going to be in the second round, or the championship, but I just don’t have enough confidence to choose them as the best team in the nation. I think Oklahoma is very similar to Pitt. They are talented enough to make a run, but they just don’t have enough to win it all. When Blake Griffin is healthy and playing well, they are a very hard team to stop. But when he is off his game, or when he is injured, they are susceptible to a very ugly loss.

I think that the upsets are going to be hard to call in this tournament. No team got a high seed than they deserved, so the higher seeds have the advantage because the low seeded teams deserve the low seed. The most likely upsets in my mind are Arizona over Utah, and Northern Iowa over Purdue. Other than that, I don’t see many. I’m going to go out on a limb and call a Cinderella story team right now. This is all likelihood will not happen, but if it does, you heard it here first. Cinderella story= Mississippi St. 

Now for my final predictions. The final four will have at least 2, if not all of the number 1 seeds. I have Pitt, and Connecticut as the two that might not make it, but I have confidence that North Carolina and Louisville will. I have North Carolina and Louisville playing in the championship, and it pains me to say this because I dislike them so much, but I think that UNC will win it all. There you have it. 

Track

Track started for me yesterday. I have already posted about how absurdly early the track season starts, but now it seems like track season. It feels like we should be running outside, enjoying the nice warm weather and bright sunny days. But no, my first day of track practice was held in the gym, because it was too cold.

When I think of track, I think of running in shorts and a tee shirt around a track that is nice and warm. I don’t think of myself needing to wear tights and sweatpants and four long sleeve shirts just to begin to feel warm. I don’t think of running on a track that is covered in ice, and I don’t think of running by the still snow covered ground. This whole weather thing put a damper on my outlook of track.

But since I am running now, I am yearning for spring to fully arrive. I can’t wait until its 65 degrees and sunny on a regular basis only interrupted by a little rain. Rain in March I can deal with, but snow and ice is a different story. These long Iowa winters start to take their toll when it comes to decent weather.

I like running track. I know that may sound odd to some people, why would you want to just run? How could running be fun? But to be honest, I really don’t run all that much in track. I am a high jumper and hurdler. This means that the farthest I have to run at any meet is 110 meters plus whatever the approach to the high jump is. So I don’t go out and run, I go out and have fun because I’m around all these people who are running while I don’t really have to. If I said this to my coach though, that would not be pretty, but it is the truth. I like track because it is not as demanding as football or basketball, but I have fun nonetheless. I don’t have to spend three hours every night practicing and track practices are laid back and not very intense. So overall, I have to work hard at track, but I don’t have to devote my whole life into it like I do for football and basketball.