2015 March Madness is Too Tough

Another year, another March Madness showdown in the JMR family.  For the past five years, I have been pitted against C, G and DLG/Mom.  Without independent research, I am confident that i won the first four so I am now defending my crown to win the JMR for the fifth year in a row! 

This year looks fairly easy to predict.  Easily the two best teams in the brackets are Kentucky and Duke.  Don't get me wrong, i detest both of those programs, but a victory is a victory and victory at any cost tastes just as sweet.  When the teams were announced a couple of weeks ago, I started my challenge with a Championship Game of Kentucky over Duke.  I would then back out my teams from there.  To add some extra pressure on me, Mom declared that she would use my picks as her picks in her work pool.  I asked her if she was going to share her winnings if my picks won.  The answer was not startling to hear.

But little did I know that C has watched more basketball than I have this year.  Apparently, all of the Instagrams and Vines have taught him a little bit about College Basketball this year.  He was ready for the challenge.  Or so he thought.

Can 2015 Be Their Year?

The first couple of rounds (we always disagree about whether the first four games are actually the first round of the pool) were not so kind to the JMR pool.  My South bracket was decimated when Iowa State and Davidson both lost in their respective first games.  I had Davidson going all the way to the Elite 8, in a fit of Stefan Curry overload.  I was not going to get any extra points from that part of the brackets since all four of us had Duke advancing.  Coupling that with a couple of upsets that did not materialize - Buffalo, Albany and Ole Miss come to mind - and I was mired in a tie with DLG and Mom for second place after the first week.  C was winning with 48 points and G was stuck in last place with 37 points, 2 behind us.  I never gave up hope.

Despite being berated by an angry Mom who declared that she should have just made "her own picks" in her work pool, I kept the faith.  All of my Final Four teams remained in tact, and I had a couple of late round upsets that could vault me into the lead.  We will see at the weekend ends.  Below are the standings after the Sweet Sixteen Games were played along with the teams still in:

C:  68 points (Kentucky, ND, Wisconsin, Arizona, Duke)
JMR  67 points (Kentucky, ND, Wisconsin, Arizona, Louisville, MSU, Duke)
DLG/Mom 57 points (Kentucky, Arizona, Louisville, MSU, Duke)
G:  55 points (Kentucky, ND, Duke, Gonzaga)

Points will be updated later this weekend.

Biz Markie Rules the World

Ask DLG what her favorite song is.  Go ahead, I dare you.  You might expect a song from Frozen, one of the theme songs from her Nickelodeon shows, Taylor Swift or one of the Disney movies that seem to be playing incessantly in the house.  You would never guess.  And it was inspired by yours truly.

Nope, her favorite song is that classic from 1989, "Just a Friend" by Biz Markie.  Yes, that song, from that rapper.  Bad matching beach ball attire and all. Strained lyrics that stretched the boundaries of acceptable rap music at the time of N.W.A.  Her favorite song in 2015 is the same song that delighted immature teenagers in the early 1990's.  Who knew?  Although I had an inkling that her favorite song would be an older song since one of her favorite episodes on those Nickelodeon shows is the Victorious episode that is based on The Breakfast Club.  Tacos substituted for pot, of course!

It all started when we watched the Jimmy Fallon/Brian Williams/Lester Holt mash up of Rapper's Delight on the Tonight Show.  A classic sketch that grew funnier to DLG when she heard the original song from 1979.  We, or course, then went through my teenage years listening to LL Cool J, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, Young MC on YouTube.  I happened to stumble upon "Just a Friend," and a hit song was born.  The hook was contagious and despite the fact that it was borderline comedic music, DLG loved the beat and what lyrics she could understand (See adult themes below).

Forgetting about the fact that I wore a Georgetown sweatshirt at a Halloween dance and called myself Biz Markie,  this song held a lot of great memories for me and my friends from high school.  I was actually happy that DLG liked the song and reminded me of good times.  While I like the beats, we really liked the chorus that implored "Youuuuu, You got what I nee-eeed..."  The memories.

DLG loved the video even more than the song.  Which was problematic, right?  Singing about a girl that Biz Markie was trying to get with had thematic elements that were a little strong for an 8 year old, but I thought if I didn't say anything that it would just go over her head.  Thankfully, it did go right over her head.

"What was your favorite part of the video?" I asked, not really knowing what to expect coming back at me.

"I liked it when he wore the wig and played the piano.  And when that little guy was dancing behind him!"  Powered wig?  Sounds good to me.

Next, we will breakdown the entire 8 minute video for Rapper's Delight, especially the determination of whether that guy's yellow t-shirt is too tight.

My Ode to Heady Topper (The Beer)

I don't often write about beer.  I like to enjoy it.  I like to enjoy 3 or 4 of them with LC or my friends.  It's rare that I would actually sit down and write about a beer.  That's how special the Alchemist Brewery's Heady Topper is.  It has inspired me to write it about it.

The story is now a part of drinking lore.  Located in Waterbury, Vermont, Heady Topper was born out of this idea that canned beer made with quality is a great thing that should be enjoyed. A hoppy canned beer was actually the way to brew these kinds of beer to preserve the flavor and aroma.  Starting as a tavern, the Alchemist as a restaurant was destroyed by Hurricane Irene a couple of years ago.  Only the small brewery remained.  Pumping out a couple of hundred cases every day was not enough to meet demand, thus a legend was born.

People stand in line for hours at local central Vermont corner stores waiting for that days delivery of Heady Topper.  The closest one to me is the Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier, three hours away.  And yes, I have tried to plan going up there to wait in line like everyone else.  I have had a taste of these beers before; a friend of mine was given one can (ONE CAN!) by his uncle and knowing that I was a beer maven, he decided to bring it down to share with me.  ONE CAN!!

Who cares that you wait in line for a four pack of beer for 3 hours when it really comes down to it?  It's the experience and the journey in getting the beer that is more important than the beer itself.  I think they like it that way.  My story will be told with more detail some other time, suffice it to say though that I was able to score a case of the wonderful suds.

Which leads me to my review.  It's the number one rated beer in Beer Advocate.  Ratebeer.com has it in the top 10.  But how does it taste?  How does it match up to some other imperial IPAs that are de rigeur around New England?    

The drinker is implored not to pour the beer into a glass and to drink it from the can.  I surreptitiously ignore that plea, look around to see if anyone is watching, and pour the heavenly beer into one of my favorite drinking glasses.  It pours out a bright cloudy orange, just like a good imperial IPA should.  You are immediately hit by the hop aroma as the beer comes out of the silver bullet can (the real silver bullet).  I throw the empty can into the recycling bin - it's a Vermont beer after all - and swirl the beer around.  The first taste is full of hoppy flavor, with some notes of citrus.  It's a classic Northeast IPA.  Not too bitter either.  It tastes like a wonderful ray of sunset sunshine attached to it.  And at 16 ounces, there is always an extra bonus of 4 ounces of beer when you think that it has gone away.  A truly wonderful beer.

Now don't get me wrong.  There are numerous beers that match up nice to Heady Topper and don't require you to sit in line for 3 hours to enjoy it.  But this is my ode and I'll enjoy it if I want to.   Three hours in line to sip a little sunset sunshine?  Count me in.

Dean Smith, UNC and the Carolina Way at the Heights

I've always liked North Carolina Basketball.  Although they enjoyed the same kind of success as the hated Duke Blue Devils, UNC always seemed like a nicer, more benevolent alternative to ACC Basketball.  UNC had Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Vince Carter.  Duke had Christian Laettner and Cherokee Parks.  Enough said.  I always liked North Carolina.

That's why Dean Smith's passing saddened me so much.  More than Roy Williams, Dean Smith was an icon.  He made North Carolina Basketball.  Jesus, they named the Tar Heels home court after the man, instead of after some tobacco company!  You can read a lot of better obituary-type odes to Dean Smith.  He was the first Deep South program to recruit a Black player.  He was the catalyst that gave us the shot clock (Because of his 4 corners offense). And he was the believer of the "Carolina Way."

Which made it somewhat ironic that we saw the Boston College game versus the Tar Heels just hours before he died.  The Tar Heels, still ranked No. 12 in the Country despite losing convincingly to the Virgina Cavaliers earlier in the week, was looking for an easy win as they went into their showdown with Duke in a couple of days.  Boston College, mired in the bottom half of the league with a losing record (1-9 in conference) was checking out how Billy Curley's (Take that Tar Heels!) students were doing down in the South Shore.  Similar to our Duke game last year, we were looking forward to the opponent more than the home team.  Although, Roy Williams doesn't have the same cache as Coach K, we were still interested in seeing how Dean Smith's successor works his 5.

Chestnut Hill, MA.  3pm.  We enjoyed great seats, right next to the BC band in Section C.  Close enough to see the action but so close that the annoying drunk college students were getting in our way because they wouldn't sit down.

It was a great game to begin.  For a Saturday afternoon, the crowd was pumped up considering the enduring legacy of Conte Forum is that they don't sell beer at the games.  A little bit had to do with the fact that the Tar Heels were making one of their first appearances at the Heights (and brought all of their fans with them), a little had to do with the fact that it was Saturday afternoon in the middle of 4 feet of snow.  What else were we going to do?  The boys were just as pumped up too.  Although they couldn't name anyone on the current roster, they did know Harrison Barnes and Michael Jordan, and that made it better than BC.

Now BC was led by a high scoring guard named Olivier Hanlan, BC's 6'4" Junior from Puerto Rico.  He's really the only Eagle who has a chance to go to the next level.  It wasn't a fair fight, when you think about it.  But that didn't stop BC from making a game of it.  At the end of the First Half, the game was tied at 36.

The Human Slinky was our halftime show.  What the Hell was that?

North Carolina comes out in the Second Half ready to take over.  They break out a run at the beginning of the half to take a 13 point lead.  North Carolina's strategy of playing all of its big men together seemed to finally be working.  Even Justin Jackson, the Freshman who runs like he's 50 years old got in on the action.

At the end, despite a couple of mini runs by the Eagles, The Tar Heels prevailed by 11 points, 79-68.  North Carolina even broke out some of the 4 corners delay tactics at the end as they were drawing the shot clock down.  The Carolina Way, indeed.

Brady, Butler and Edelman - Super Bowl Champions

Super Bowl XLIX - Patriots 28, Seahawks 24.  Super Bowl Champions!

The first thing I thought of after Tom Brady's second kneel down is that the Patriots have to build a new room at the Hall of Fame for this Lombardi Trophy.  At first glance, this game set up a lot like the Patriots last two Super Bowls.  A tough match up against a strong, stout defense.  A QB that people were hyping up because no one knows what a good QB looks like any more.  A lot of talk about "legacies," "history" and "gates."  The game featured a miraculous play, big come backs and questionable play-calling.

Only the game was flipped on its head.  While some would say that Jerome Kearse's fumbling and bumbling catch on the Seahawk's last drive was miraculous, the real miracle came when Malcolm Butler jumped the quick slant on one yard line to intercept Russell Wilson's pass to seal the game.  While some would say that the Seahawks almost drove down the field in 2 minutes to wing the Super Bowl, the real big comeback was the Patriots erasure of a 10 point deficit in the Fourth Quarter to score 14 unanswered points.  And while I was certainly questioning Belichick's decision not to call time out when the Seahawks had the ball on the one yard line, the real questionable call was that pass on second and goal.  Why not run the ball on second down, call the timeout and then pass if you don't get in?

A couple of fleeting thoughts:

1.  C told me after the Seahawks took the 24-14 lead that "That's it.  The Patriots lost."  I actually told him that I would not be able to handle it if he talks about that again.

2.  G went over a friends house with his cheesy nachos.  While I did most of the work, he actually did chopping and other prep as well as the cheese topping.  He texted us after the game about whether we watched the game.

3.  DLG was pretty sure that the Patriots won the Super Bowl, she was too busy working on her Minecraft mansion.

Carroll took a Dump, I agree

4.  Pete Carroll's explanation for why they called a pass on that last play of the game was non-sensical.  Way to step up and take the blame for the Offensive Coordinator who called a terrible play.

5.  On that subject, I am convinced that the Seahawks were Hell-bent on making sure that Marshawn Lynch was not going to be the star of the game, the MVP of the Super Bowl or the face of the franchise.  At the time of the interception, Russell Wilson had 2 TDs, but did not look dominating.  Lynch had one TD and a second may have put him over the hump for the MVP award.  Not only should they have run Lynch one more time, but when you see the overhead view of the play, Lynch was open in the flat for an easy touchdown on that Butler play.  He could have waltzed into the end zone.  Carroll just hates these kinds of guys who don't believe in his "ra ra" motivational voodoo.

6.  I think Carroll wanted his guy, Wilson, to win the game.  It would have been sweet for Carroll to show Robert Kraft what was what after all those years ago when Carroll was fired.

7.  If Kearse's catch at the end of the game would have led to a Seahawks' victory, would we be calling the last 8 years the curse of Spygate?

8.  I don't think Edelman suffered a concussion on that hit by Kam Chancellor.  It was just a big hit that staggered him for a couple of moments.  I think he also hurt himself on that play right in front of the goal line.

9.  Who allowed Mark Mark out on the field at the end of the game?

10.  Why were the commercials trying to get people to cry?  Nationwide and dead children.  Budweiser and a lost puppy.  Nissan and an absent Father.  #likeagirl, Toyota and sad Fathers.  What the Hell was this all about?

In any event, to coin a term from Bill Belichick, We're on to Baseball season.