Can You Smell What March Madness is Cookin'?

     Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages..........the bus that is March Madness just took a slight detour for a quick stop at instant awesome on the way to the Final Four. There were some big games Saturday, and we'll get to that, right after we pay homage to the greatest spectacle in entertainment - Wrestlemania - which invaded Silicon Valley Sunday night for its 31st installment. For all of you who understand the virtues of the WWE and the inspiration that simply oozes from the most electrifying man in sports entertainment, sit back and enjoy:

     And not lost in all the madness here is the unparalleled inspiration for all of our young impressionable daughters out there who have to look no further than the duo that is Stephanie McMahon and Ronda Rousey. I'll be moving this instant classic to the top of the DVR queue so my four daughters can't miss it. I will say this though, I do miss getting together with friends and watching the Rock lay the smackdown on some Rudy Pooh Jabronis on RAW. Speaking of The Rock, check out this sack on Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward back in the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oINkMsJ068o

     Now let's get that bus back on the road to Indianapolis. But before we do, can we make a quick stop in Las Vegas so everyone can throw down on whichever team I am cheering against? You will all make a quick buck and you can all thank me for it. I had Arizona as my tournament winner. I had Notre Dame upsetting Kentucky (and even though Calipari said his team played horrible, it was Notre Dame who controlled the entire game until the final two possessions - sometimes you just gotta recognize coach).
     And I'm originally from the great state of Washington so of course I was pulling for Gonzaga and Louisville (Pitino recruits the Pacific Northwest very hard. Peyton Siva (Seattle, Franklin HS) got him to two Final Fours and his 2013 NCAA title; Terrence Williams (Seattle, Rainier Beach) was their key cog from '05-'09, and their top recruit and 6th man this year is Shaqquan Aaron from Seattle).
     They all lost, and now we have what many are dubbing an epic Final Four - Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State, and Wisconsin coached by Calipari, Krzyzewski, Izzo, and Ryan. I think the world at large prefers a Cinderella or two, but it is what it is and whoever wins will add another notch into their Hall of Fame belt.
     This Final Four did get me thinking about other epic foursomes and who they might be mostly aligned with:

• The Fantastic Four - Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, the Thing
• The Ghostbusters - Spengler, Venkman, Ray, & Winston
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Donatello, Rafael, Michelangelo, & Leonardo
• The Beatles: McCartney, Lennon, Harrison, & Ringo
• Wizard of Oz - Dorothy, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, & Scarecrow

     As enticing as all of those are, I'm likening the Final four to the new-look One Direction. They have all the fame, clout, and star power of Liam, Harry, Niall, and Louis, but they're just not the same without Zayn who upset the balance of the free world this week and departed the band. Rumor has it, Zayn will be performing under the stage name Cinderella when he tours the US in March next year since he has plenty of time now. 

Kinda looks like Cinderella

     And get ready to place your bets people because I'm now cheering for Wisconsin and Sam Decker. On Wisconsin!

     Front Butt Sports is not responsible for your poor opinion.

Monday Musings - Tuesday Morning Reflection March Madness

What a weekend!

     Let me first state that all of my brackets are busted. I fill out brackets and compete with coworkers, family, friends, and even got invited to participate in a church group pick 'em this year. Suffice it to say that I am fully entrenched in mediocrity again this year with the majority of my predictions in the 50th percentile overall. However,  I do have one bracket in the 91st percentile which I will brag about and claim to the world at large as my official bracket, especially to all those who have not seen this blog. And here's the kicker, that 91st percentile bracket I'm bragging about, appropriately dubbed Back Door Cut, currently ranks 1,036,208 overall in the ESPN Tournament Challenge. Take that all you experts, I'm almost in the top 1 million!!!!

I found these fun stats from the CBS Sports Bracket Games concerning the very first two games of the day on Thursday:

• 2:30 p.m. ET: 98.5 percent of brackets potentially perfect after Notre Dame's win
• 2:45 p.m. ET: 2.9 percent of brackets potentially perfect after UAB's win

Two games in - totally busted. Then Georgia State won and less than 1% of brackets were still potentially perfect. In other words, don't feel bad you were busted, we all were.

And here's some more good news for all the aspiring coaches out there - it's apparently a physically taxing gig as well as playing the game:

The Georgia State coach, Ron Hunter, tore his Achilles while celebrating his team's conference championship win and this is how he celebrated his 2nd round NCAA tournament win over Baylor:

 

Unfortunately the Panthers didn't make the sweet 16 so we won't be seeing any more failed celebrations from Coach Hunter, but don't think for a moment that we won't be seeing this every March for the next decade and beyond, a la Christian Laettner and Bryce Drew.

Brackets are busted, injuries are piling up, Gonzaga is in the Sweet 16 for the first time in 6 years, and it's time to strap in for another wild weekend. Just wait, by this time next week you might be hearing from a top 1 million bracketologist! 

Monday Musings - Let the Games Begin

Gentlemen and Ladies,
     The greatest three weeks in sports are upon us, the field is set, the dance floor is lit, the mirror ball is spinning and it's time to cut a little rug and bust out some slippers. Here are my 5 bold predictions for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship field of 68 and the least productive days of the year for the American workforce. And if you feel like this after your day one, you're not alone. Only one team wins it all.

#1 - Kentucky will not win the title. Vegas currently has the field as a slight favorite over the Wildcats. But I'm sticking to my guns from last week saying if they lost in the SEC tournament they would win it all. Well they won the SEC tourney and they are one hot shooting Melo Trimble half of basketball away from global disappointment. Remember that name.

#2 - If Oregon gets by Oklahoma State, they will knock off the all TV pundit darling Wisconsin in the round of 32. Wisconsin has great talent, but they are down their starting point guard and play a style of basketball that makes it hard for them to keep up with a team is they get down. They are capable of a bad loss, see Rutgers, and Oregon is a tournament sleeper. I am no Oregon fan, but Joseph Young is a better version of Eddie House, the former Arizona State star who once dropped 61 points in a game. This aint the NBA playoffs, this is one and done and all it takes is a magical night from downtown (and I heard that the new Cinderella movie is great btw.)

#3 - BYU, one of the last four in, will make the sweet 16. They will win the play-in game and the momentum will carry into the next two games making for fairly easy victories. They score from all over, check that, anywhere but inside the key, and they score a ton, 2nd in the nation at over 83 points a game, and they are 5th in the nation in assists. They're all old men, they knock you down on a foul and then pick you up and ask if they can be your pen pal, and they're actually pretty good at basketball.

#4 - Arizona will win the national title. That's all I have to say about that.

#5 - I will once again lose all my bracket challenges, and I do way too many, to someone who could care less about college basketball, someone who selects their winners by favorite mascot, someone who threw darts, and someone who makes their choices based on uniform color.

And on a closing note, I now officially know why it's called March Madness - every wife and girlfriend in America is mad at their husband or boyfriend for putting hoops ahead of them in the priority list. Sorry girls, you've got us all well trained, except in March.

Enjoy the Madness!!

Front Butt Sports is not responsible for your poor opinion.

Monday Musings March Madness Vol. 2

     The Madness has begun and is there a better way to start the week than with this fine young man, Stephan Putnam, a freshman at North Florida University and the future of our great nation. If you don't know who he is, you will soon. On a side note, North Florida is wearing dancing shoes for the first time in school history.

• Congratulations to Kyle Collinsworth of BYU who just earned his 6th triple double of his career (all this year) and joins Shaq and Drexel's Michael Anderson as the all-time Division I NCAA leaders. He's got a couple games left to break the record, another reason to tune in to the madness.
• Congratulations to Kentucky for a perfect regular season, 31-0. Dollars to doughnuts they don't end the year with a perfect record - hit me up, I'm good for it. My favorite teams growing up were Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV Runnin' Rebels. They had a perfect season back in '90-'91 and they were a shoe-in to win it all with the highest average margin of victory in history. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself Kentucky, we all remember how that season turned out. And don't forget Wichita State last year.
• The Manhattan Jaspers (of Brooklyn) just clinched their second NCAA bid in a row. Yes you heard correctly, the Jaspers. If you thought, "What the filth is a Jasper?" well you absolutely aren't alone. The Jaspers are named after Brother Jasper of Mary who served at the college in the late 19th century. Now you know. Oddly enough, he was also their first baseball coach and the inventor of the 7th inning stretch now celebrated in every major league game. He's now your answer to a trivia question someday too. Check this out:  http://www.gojaspers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=640189
• And lastly, for the first time in my life, I made the Kiss Cam at the Bakersfield vs. Utah Valley men's basketball game on Saturday. After the move I made on my beautiful wife, I'm pretty sure we'll never be put on the Kiss Cam again if and when we are someday allowed back in the arena. We have a fun, family friendly Fan Cam dance all prepared for games we attend, but let's suffice it to say that I shoulda kept it PG on the Kiss Cam.

One last look at Mr. Putnam just doing his thang: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12452966.

And the madness rolls on.

Front Butt Sports is not responsible for your poor opinion.

March Madness Monday Musings

     Firstly, I could not pass up the alliterative opportunity in the title this week. Secondly, it's my favorite month of the year in terms of sports, due in large part to March Madness, but spring training is in full swing, the Champions League gets pared way down, curling championships are crowned, everybody preps for the Masters, and the NBA playoffs are in sight so the game start to mean something again, which brings us to the first of our Monday Musings:

• Almost half of March Madness is now in April, go figure. League games should have ended this weekend, conference tournaments this week, stack 'em up Sunday and start knocking 'em down next week. Before long, there will be no March in the Madness. And the NBA took a full week off for the All-Star break this year for the poor kids killing them selves night in and night out. Did you know, the average age of the Philly 76's this year is 23.7 years old (the ancient Spurs hit the list at 29 years old). Michael-Carter Williams is playing more than anybody else at just under 34 minutes a game. On an average week that's about 130 good solid minutes of work. And the average 24 year old in the league is banking $4 million this year. I totally understand why they need a full week off now. Here's a link to the 2014 NBA census that has some fun insights. And let's shorten the MLB season PLEASE. I'm a fan of tradition and respect for the game, but c'mon, and while we are at it, drop the DH already.

• Ndamukong Suh is an unrestricted free agent now - How about Seattle? Be a part of the best defense ever.
• Here is the maddest shot of the year - maddeningly funny. My 2 year old shoots better:

• Kevin Garnett had a March (late Feb) homecoming of sorts, traded back to the Minnesota Timberwolves where he spent his first decade in the league. He was greeted long ago by a mad fan dubbed Jiggy Boy and he was there to welcome him home once again. This may be the greatest welcome home ever - this never gets old:

• And lastly, before basketball monopolizes the sporting world, there's a feel good story in the NHL that needs to be told. Jordyn Leopold, the 11-year old daughter of NHL player Jordan Leopold, missed her traveling hockey dad playing for Columbus while herself living with the family in Minnesota.  She took it upon herself to write a heartfelt letter asking for him to be traded closer to home. It's well worth the read and guess what? Jordyn will be seeing much more of Jordan now. He was a trade deadline move to Minnesota. Good on ya Jordyn.
  

Let the Madness begin. Front Butt Sports claims no responsibility for your poor opinion.

Monday Musing Oscar Style

     Coming at you from NOLA this week, and in commemoration of the Oscars, Monday Musings will follow the protocol of the 87th Academy Awards handed out yesterday in Los Angeles. But before we get to the sports, only one outcome from Hollywood's big day was utterly befuddling and once again fueled the flame that is my lack of faith in the Oscar winner selection process. How the song Glory from Selma beat out Everything is Awesome from the Lego Movie is a tragedy, to say the least. The beat, the lyrics, the profound depth of the song is simply incredible.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Rick Pitino
     In this day and age of prima donnas and free rides and sweeping adults horrible behavior under the rug, the 10th ranked Louisville head coach dismissed one of his best players and starting point guard this week for some poor decision making. Many would not adapt the same way in such a high profile and lucrative situation and for the courage to make the right decision the the statue goes out to him.

Lifetime Achievement Award - 1980 US Men's Olympic Hockey Team
     35 years later, if you still don't get goosebumps every time the clip gets replayed on ESPN then you either don't remember any part of the Cold War or you are Russian.

Best Original Song - Marshawn Lynch - "I'm Just Here So I Won't Get Fined"
     A man of few words, at least in front of the camera, Lynch filed for the trademark of the phrase last week. This year's only repeat winner, last year he filed to trademark the phrase, "About that action BOSS."

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Alex Rodriguez
     He's back, reported to training camp three days early, and he's once again saying all the right things. Is he for real this time? Growing up a Seattle Mariners fan and witnessing his arrival to the big leagues and his forthcoming bolt to Texas and becoming A Wad and Pay Rod, I ask myself how I would feel about a return to Seattle and his glory days for a finale as Ken Griffey Jr. did. One part of me says nope, and the other part of me says no way.

And finally, Best (Team) Picture - New York Knicks & Los Angeles Lakers
     Two NBA stalwarts, two largest TV markets, massive fan bases, deep pockets, big names like Buss & Jackson and Bryant and Anthony, lots of history, and both teams in complete shambles and at the bottom of the league. This picture has it all, never-ending drama, terrible acting, tanking, losing streaks, scantily clad cheerleaders and a little Swaggy P. Their complete dysfunction leaves the door open for small market teams like Portland, Memphis, and Milwaukee to win next year.

Disclaimer: Front Butt Sports is not responsible for your poor opinion.

Monday Musings - Valentine's Day Style

     I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I am a fan of what it symbolizes, loving someone and expressing it, so this week in celebration of another overly commercialized holiday and for the love of all things sports, here are a few things we can love - or choose not to:

• Rumor has it Davis Love III was just selected to be the Ryder Cup Captain in 2016. Love didn't get a lot of love from his squad last time he captained back in 2012 at Medinah when the US held a 10-6 lead heading into the final day. They lost 14 1/2 - 13 1/2 and most players felt they let him down. Maybe this time the boys can love him up.
• In case you didn't know, the 2015 Cricket World Cup is in full swing down in Australia & New Zealand. Not a common household experience here in the states, the event and the game don't get a lot of love on this side of the pond. It did however remind me of the great John Goodman slamming a "home run" and rounding invisible bases in his royal cricket training in the classic 1991 comedy King Ralph. Not the cricket clip, but check out the classic dessert scene full of love:

• For all you dog lovers out there, it's also the 139th Annual WKC (Westminster Kennel Club) Dog Show and because we all LOVE to say Shih Tzu over and over, it must be mentioned that Rocket the Shih Tzu won the Best of Group in the Toy group. Personally I think it has a face only a mother could love, but that's just me.

• I loved watching the NBA All Star game on Sunday. The NBA is about entertainment and watching Stephen Curry DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) a few defenders and then toss it up in the air for some freak athletes to rip down the rim is priceless. And how about the brotherly love of the Gasol hermanos going head to head during the game? Pau won the tip between the two least athletic guys on the court. Also in  the running for least athletic - Dirk Nowitzki. Does it look like Dirk is in serious pain every time he jumps these days? Gotta love his alley oop though - classic love.
• And finally, tough love for the Little League kids from Chi-town. Great story last summer as the first all-black team to win the US championship and represent the USA in the global championship game. However, bad parents right now as it has been revealed that they cheated by using kids from areas outside their defined geographical boundaries to create a super squad. Some are saying punish the parents, some are saying the kids deserve to keep the championship they were stripped of, and some say the kids are innocent. Here's what I know. I played Little League in my home town growing up and I was a Little League All Star twice. I also knew the rules and I guarantee every other kid on our team knew the rules. We knew the names of every kid who was a flame thrower or monster bat or already had chest hair at age 12 on the other All Star teams in neighboring communities as well. Had one of those kids all of a sudden appeared on our All Star team there's no way it would have flown under the radar or gone unnoticed. I'm not sure how they kept it quiet but I'm quite certain the parents aren't the only ones to blame in this case. I have a 12 year old - they get it. Not a lot of love from the former Little Leaguer. 

Gotta Love sports, especially this week.

Front Butt Sports is not responsible for your poor opinion.