Some Pub for 'The Jerome'

This little Conference Tournament pool I'm in is getting some publicity on the blogosphere thanks to some self-serving mentions by other participants.

Yahoo! Sports' Dan Wetzel took the challenge and came out of the mid-major closet, first disclosing the madness of The Jerome...

Thamel put it in his NYT.com blog

Mike Waters has mentioned it in the Post-Standard's SU Basketball Blog

By the way, still too early to tell but I am 1-1 with a runner-up as unanimous pick Winthrop came through and East Tennessee lost in the Atlantic Sun final to Belmont. I will be losing ground in the Ohio Valley as last year's champs Murray State was bounced in the Quarterfinals.

I as well as many "bubble" teams are nervously watching the SoCon Final. My pick, Davidson is hanging on to a three point lead with 13 minutes to play...

The second wave is due on Monday and I will post my picks then.

Broncos get an "FU" from Jake the Flake

The Broncos were all set to trade Jake Plummer to Tampa Bay for a Fourth Round Pick...

However Raider-hating Rumor Mongerer Adam Schefter is reporting that Plummer has decided to retire nullifying the deal.

This is one of those rare occurances where two sports sources are conflicting. Taking Schefter's closeness to the Broncos, I am taking his word and retiring to nix a deal after giving the Broncos no indication that he would is something Jake the Flake would do.

For the record, I always like Jake and defended him while he was here, but if Mike Shanahan thought John Elway screwed him by retiring after the draft, then he can't be liking Jake Plummer today.

Update: The ESPN story now acknowledges the retirement possibility

Better Bly Night

The Broncos acquired Pro-Bowl Cornerback Dre' Bly from the Detroit Lions in exchange for Tatum Bell, Tackle George Foster, and an undisclosed draft pick.

As the Portis for Bailey trade did three years ago, this trade makes the Broncos a better football team. Like Bailey, Bly's effectiveness is as much in reputation and its effect on an opponents' gameplan as it is in talent and game ability, if not moreso.

The Broncos give up two players who never fit into Denver's offense. Bell wasn't the 25 carry guy that Broncos Runningbacks in the past had been and Foster was the complete antithesis of Bronco linemen (high pick, big oeffy guy who got penalized a lot)

Expect the Broncos to draft a runningback at some point in this draft or acquire a disgruntled player on another team (e.g. Thomas Jones)

Thamel's Blog

The New York Times has let my friend Pete Thamel write a blog on their website for the entire March through the NCAA Championship.

Read this blog to catch up on some teams you may not have seen as much of all year (e.g. Wazzu, Winthrop and Old Dominion) or watch a legitimate journalist try to adapt to blog format (there are three paragraphs on Nevada's potential seed and an article on Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall's wife) before your eyes.

Deja Vu?

According to the Post-Standard's SU Basketball blog, maybe the best way to follow Orange Basketball, Syracuse is all but locked into the 5th seed in the Carrier Classic. As the 5 seed they would play either St. John's or Connecticut WEDNESDAY AT 2PM.

Need someone with TVs at work to send updates over e-mail.

The Jerome

Conference Championships start today! Now before you get out your legal pads and scouting caps on and call to yell at your cable company for not offering ESPN U, today's games are only the 7-10 8-9 matchups in "One Bid" Conferences so no one you should expect to see in the Big Dance is playing yet.

I am once again this year participating in "The Jerome" a conference tournament pool in which I and my little spot in the blogosphere pick teams to win conference each of the 30 conference tournaments and compete against College Basketball beat scribes from the New York Times, New York Post, Orlando Sentinel, CSTV.com and ESPN.com among others, whom I've met through my friend Pete Thamel.

Rules are 5 points for each champion picked. 2 points for a conference runner-up. Bonus points for picking teams outside the top 2 seeds (this is not a smart strategy due to lack of parity in the "one bid" conferences) and for picking teams who play no games on the home court (this makes the major conference tourneys worth more).

Here are my picks for the tournaments that start THIS WEEK:

America East: Vermont (over Albany)
Atlantic Sun: East Tennessee State (over Belmont)
Big Sky: Northern Arizona (over Weber State)
Big South: Winthrop (over High Point)
Colonial: Old Dominion (over Drexel)
Horizon: Butler (over Wright State)
MAAC: Siena (over Loyola, Md.)
Mid-Continent: Oral Roberts (over Valparaiso)
Missouri Valley: Missouri State (over Bradley)
Northeast: Central Connecticut State (over Sacred Heart)
Ohio Valley: Murray State (over Eastern Kentucky)
Patriot: Holy Cross (over Bucknell)
SoCon: Davidson (over Appalachian State)
Sun Belt: Western Kentucky (over South Alabama)
West Coast: Gonzaga (over Santa Clara)

I will update you on my progress throughout the next two weeks. Wish me luck!

Catching Up: Ohio State 49, Wisconsin 48

No 1/2 Ohio State beat No. 2/1 Wisconsin 49-48 in Columbus.

The Value City Arena was sold out...

The game was carried nationwide on CBS Television...

All starters and significant players started and played significant minutes...

The game was decided in the final minute, one of the most exciting competitive games all year...

Its as if both teams forgot there'd be a playoff tournament in three weeks...

Who knew?

Catching Up: SCZA Fest

Celebrated Scott's 29th Birthday with a day of basketball and night of drinking. Here is an annotated blog of the day.

The Day of Basketball- Syracuse 71, Providence 67

-As Scott mentioned, the Dunkin Donuts Center is an outdated building. It is due for renovation to be ready in Fall of 2008 which is a cheaper alternative than trying to find space for a new arena in an already overcrowded downtown Providence.

-Scott's friend and co-worker Kristin Stanley and brother Kyle took my other two tickets. They are the children of former Red Sox Pitcher Bob Stanley. Both were very quiet and introverted which became even more conspicuous when we met up with Pizza Parlor KeriAnn. I wonder if having to grow up in Massachusetts during the time their father was a World Series goat contributed to their shyness. If so, I feel bad.

-Beer is sold at "The Dunk", very surprising for a Jesuit College game.

-There was a planned "Black-Out" which is 2007's overused College Basketball gimmick in the tradition of "Jersey Popping" and "Crowd Storming". This was ruined by the 1/8 of the crowd which was Syracuse fans wearing Orange intermittendly around the arena. Syracuse "travels well" in basketball around the Northeast it does not "travel well" to college football bowl games (they're the games after the regular season for you die-hard SU football fans).

-Providence has the whitest dance team of all-time. It's as if there is not one tanning salon in the entire state of Rhode Island. Which is entirely possible.

-Andy Rautins is your star of this game shooting 5-7 from 3pt range while Providence went 2-145 (or so it seems) from beyond the arc. Any win in conference on the road is a good win, even if you needed a little luck to get it.

Night of Drinking- Contempo Skank 1, Grant from Ch. 7 0, Pizza Parlor Derek Retired

-Start at Dillon's in Boston's Back Bay. Long line at 9:30pm would lead you to think this bar has some added ammenity like a dance floor, dollar draft specials, HDTV, or a Mechanical Bull (my favorite). Nope! Nothing. Just your regular in-line bar. Joined by a horde of Scott's co-workers from Ch. 5 in Boston and Scott's friend and SU Alum Grant Grenburgh (sp inc intentionally so he doesn't show up on Google like Scott's wife did after my blog for his wedding) a producer from Ch. 7. We are later joined by Rhianna, another Ch. 5 employee dressed in matching hot pink/orange one piece dress and necklace with black hooker boots. Rhianna is not popular among the Ch. 5 crowd already there. One girl called her a "Contempo Skank" which is nothing I will forget anytime soon. Rhianna's nice enough but no one you'd want to be sitting next to on a plane. Upon hearing about Rhianna's loose reputation in the Ch. 5 group. Grant knows immediately who turn his attention to. You can take the boy out of Syracuse but you can't take the Syracuse out of the boy. Grant lays it on super thick even following her to The Pour House down the street after she, myself and a few others leave. Eventually Grant let his intentions be known and admitted he had no intentions of talking to her afterwards doing himself in. Rhianna leaves, so does the Ch. 5 crowd, so does Grant. Scott and I get chinese in ChinaTown and the night is ended.

-Why didn't I try to hook up with the "Contempo Skank"? Like Jack Bauer in the first hours after coming back from China and a suspect braced for interrogation... "I can't do this anymore".

Catching Up: Congrats and Thanks to the Poop!

A busy patch at work and a weekend away led to this blog taking a brief hiatus over the past week. So needless to say there's some catching up to do.

Congratulations to Paul and Mrs. Poop on their expected child. Paul and Mrs. Poop have chosen not to find out whether the child's name will be "Meadow" or "Mookie" before Mrs. Poop gives birth.

Thanks to Paul for giving this blog a little "rub" by directing his readers to my Mardi Gras Post Its a sad day when someone can post on a blog "Whose boobies do you want to see?" and get no response on their own.