WHAT IS ‘MARCH MADNESS’?

What is it about men’s college basketball? Especially the NIT and the NCAA tournaments.

We spend hours agonizing over what schools to pick, do we go for the long shot or pick the favorites.

Some fans will use the school mascots as the deciding factor.
What school’s mascot will win over the other school’s mascots?
There are still others that will simply flip a coin, but no matter how it gets done, it seems that
everyone had their bracket.

Use to link to set up your bracket or to follow who’s in and who’s out

http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/basketball-men/d1

It starts with smaller tournaments all over the United States, each division only able to send it best college teams to the tournament.

It all comes down to only 68 teams competing over a matter of just a few weeks starting in March, hence the term ‘March Madness’ and it doesn’t end until there is just one team left standing.

The winning college teams enter the NCAA tournament; the college teams that are the runners up enter the NIT tournament as their consolation prize.

But it’s the NCAA tournament that will have people glued to their TV, radios and their computers.

Well over 3 million people signed on to ESPN’s March Madness last year to filled out their brackets, with many more just doing it for fun and not using ESPN at all.

If you are not a basketball fan it would hard for you to imagine what all the fuss is about.

http://www.ncaa.com/

I joined in on the fun last year and picked most of the favorites to win and before the end of the tournament even got close, most of my bracket was a complete bust.

However, while it lasted I was glued to the TV, watching and holding my breath as my teams either won or lost, (mostly lost) and enjoying every minute of it.

It wasn’t always like this, long before the idea of March Madness, there was still college basketball.

I can remember watching college basketball long before I had ever heard of bracketing.

However I did a ‘google’ search to find out that the use of brackets go all the way back to 1943.

But didn’t catch on until the mid 1982 when CBS actually showed the use of the bracket on TV. However, I personally think the whole bracket obsession really began with ‘social media’ .

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304537904577279624141400742
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Anyone that owns a cell phone, Pad, or computer can keep track of all the basketball teams, the scores and get immediate updates regarding the status of their personal bracket.

That in itself opened up the game of college basketball to everyone and anyone.

All I know is that I am a UCLA Fan, but I have also been known to root for USC, Stanford, Cal, and a few other California College team, but my heart still belongs to the Bruins.

There was hope this year for UCLA and several other CA college teams to immerse from their local tournaments and onto being one of the 64 teams to go to play in the March Madness tournament.

We all know that Baseball is still listed as ‘The Great American Past Time’.

But with the invention of the brackets, and social media, college basketball might be the new great American past time at least during March Madness.

There has been quite a bit of news regarding the loss of production in the work force do to this madness for college basketball.

Some employers have tried to embraced it and use it as a means to improve moral in the workplace, others just see it as a waste of time, their time and their time is money.

http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/march-madness-will-cost-businesses-134-million-why-arent-employers-concerned/

I see no end to this phenomenon known as ‘march madness, as long as everyone loves a winner and these games are set at such a fast pace, what’s not to love. TV sponsors know this and have adjusted the showing of ‘March Madness’ to guarantee a large viewing audience. No longer does March Madness actually end in March but closer to mid-April, ensuring the games are mostly played over weekends thus a larger audience. There are now 68 teams that will start the ‘Madness’ on March 17.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament

Last year I had to toss out my bracket before even getting to the ‘Final Four’ I am hopeful that this year
I will actually have a enough teams left to make it all the way to at least the ‘final four’ .

But no matter how bad or how good I do, it is still so much fun to at least try my luck and there is always ‘next year’.

www.sportstalk4dummies.com

Sports Blog – December 2013

With 2013 winding to a close, it time to reflect on what has happened this past year in the world of sports and ask where did the time go?

http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=top+baseball+plays+of+2013

As a Dodger fan, it was definitely a good year under the new ownership. We saw some amazing pitching by Kershaw and Greinke. Kershaw even won the Cy Young. There were great plays by several Dodger players, such as Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Carl Crawford.

We also saw a rookie not only play well, but Yasiel Puig brought back excitement to the Dodger Stadium that the fans have not seen for several years. The Dodgers didn’t make it very far into the playoffs, but there is renewed hope for next year.

www.dodgers.com

Our local collages football teams also had a lot to offer us sports fans this past year. Without a NFL team in the Southern California both USC and UCLA get a awful lot of our support.

We found out what a difference a coach can make when dealing with a losing season, USC fires Lane Kiffin and turn the team over to an interim coach which turns the team completely around and leads the USC football to several wins.

However it was after the loss to UCLA that USC ended that coach’s rein and hire Steve Sarkisian from the Washington Huskies as the new coach for the 2014 season.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-sp-1203-plaschke-usc-20131203-11,0,6325781.column#axzz2n2OTSyKr

With UCLA taking the win from USC at the Coliseum, it was a upset, UCLA has not beat USC at the Coliseum in a very long time. It was also two years and two wins in a row for UCLA against USC and that hasn’t happened for a long time either.

And although either UCLA or USC made it to any of the BCS Bowls, they will still play in a bowl game. It will be Stanford, with its win over Arizona, and won the Pac-12 title that will play Michigan at the Rose Bowl January 1. This was the second year in a row for the Stanford Trees.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls

We also saw lots of controversy in a lot of different sports. Baseball, NFL Football, hockey, basketball and even collage sports were not spare from making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Hopefully next year will be a better year for sports, with players not resorting to drugs and violence to solve their problems.

What to expect in the early part of 2014

But there are secretworldchronicle.com cialis 5mg generika also ways you can naturally boost your chances of overcoming ED such as exercise. But these inhibitors do not function in everyone, leading to the formation of stones in them. cialis 20mg price It is important for your Physiotherapist to establish a right diagnosis early so that the accurate treatment can start timely. wholesale viagra online It is very important to learn cialis sales canada driving before putting your car on road. For start you have on Jan 25, the LA Kings take on the Anaheim Ducks for an outdoor ice hockey game at the Dodger Stadium.

http://wapc.mlb.com/cutfour/2013/12/04/64380292/the-dodgers-took-over-the-kings-on-tuesday-night

The NFL playoffs start with ‘wild card weekend’ January 4 and 5. The Divisional Playoffs are scheduled for January 11 and 12th. The Conference Championships games will be played January 19 with the winners going on to play in the ‘Super Bowl’.

The XLVIII Super Bowl is returning to New York as the NFL stages its first cold-weather Super Bowl in an open-air stadium on February 2, 2014. They are even preparing for the chance that the Super Bowl might become the ‘Snow Bowl’ of 2014.

http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/48

The city of Sochi in Russia will hold the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014 and the games start February 7, 2014.

http://www.olympic.org/sochi-2014-winter-olympics

Dodgers play their first pre-season game February 21, 2014 against the D-Backs

Angels play their first pre-season game February 28, 2014 against the Clubs
www.mlb.com.

All in all if 2013 was not your teams best year, or even a break-even year, the best part of the starting a new year is that we get to toss out the old and ring in the new year with all the excitement and anticipation that comes with starting anew.

Sports for Dummies would like to wish you and your Family ‘ Happy Holidays, Season Greetings and Happy New’.

Sportstalk4Dummies.com

WHAT IS ‘MARCH MADNESS’?

What is it about men’s college basketball? Especially the NIT (National Invitation Tournament) and the NCAA (National Collegiae Athletic Association) tournaments.

We spend hours agonizing over what schools to pick, do we go for the long shot or pick the favorites. Some fans will use the school mascots as the deciding factor. What school’s mascot will win over the other school’s mascots? There are still others that will simply flip a coin, but no matter how it gets done, it seems that everyone had their bracket.

It starts with smaller tournaments all over the United States, each division only able to send it best college teams to the tournament. It all comes down to only 68 teams competing over a matter of just a few weeks starting in March, hence the term ‘March Madness’ and it doesn’t end until there is just one team left standing.

The winning college teams enter the NCAA tournament; the college teams that are the runners up enter the NIT tournament as their consolation prize. But it’s the NCAA tournament that will have people glued to their TV, radios and their computers.

Well over 3 million people signed on to ESPN’s March Madness to filled out their brackets, with many more just doing it for fun and not using ESPN at all. If you are not a basketball fan it would hard for you to imagine what all the fuss is about.

I joined in on the fun and picked most of the favorites to win and before the end of the tournament even got close, most of my brackets were a complete bust. However, while it lasted I was glued to the TV, watching and holding my breath as my teams either won or lost, enjoying every minute of it.

It wasn’t always like this, long before the idea of March Madness, there was still college basketball. I can remember watching college basketball long before the notion of bracketing was even born. In fact, I am not sure when the idea of using bracketology sprung up. It probably has something to do with our ‘social media’. Even the President of the United States filled out his bracket. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/03/20/president-obamas-bracket-2013-ncaa-mens-basketball-tournament.

All I know is that I was a UCLA fan back when John Wooden was their coach www.coachwooden.com and I am still a fan, although I do have a little to less to cheer about this past year and the year before that. I am hopeful that with the hiring of a new coach, he will be able to get past the first round in next year’s tournament http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_22925919/ucla-introduces-new-bruins-basketball-coach-steve-alford?source=rss

In regard to the two major curative options, here’s online cialis pills a look at the potential pros and cons: Prostatectomy – This is the complete removal of the prostate gland. It has completely changed the dynamics through which cheap viagra 100mg people communicate with one another, and even shop for necessities. Such has been the advancement in technology and tough market competition for students, MDU has designed the courses and promises to train the students in the viagra tablets for women best possible way. But, when ED takes place, then it will not affect soft tadalafil your sex life at all. We all know that Baseball is still listed as ‘The Great American Past Time’.

But with the invention of the brackets, college basketball might be the new great American past time at least during March Madness. There has been quite a bit of news regarding the loss of production in the work force do to this madness for college basketball. Some employers have tried to embraced it and use it as a means to improve moral in the workplace, others just see it as a waste of time, their time and their time is money.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Sports/2012/0313/NCAA-Tournament-2012-means-distracted-workers.-What-s-an-employer-to-do

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2170-march-madness-work.html

I see no end to this phenomenon known as ‘march madness, as long as everyone loves a winner and these games are set at such a fast pace, what’s not to love. TV sponsors know this and have adjusted the showing of ‘March Madness’ to guarantee a large viewing audience. No longer does March Madness actually end in March but closer to mid-April, ensuring the games are mostly played over weekends thus a larger audience.

I have tossed out this year’s brackets and have shifted my sports interest back to baseball and regular
basketball. It was fun while it lasted and although I personal did not do well this year with my choices, I can’t wait until next year.

Diana Olmos
SportsTalk4Dummies.com

Christmas For a sports fan

Besides all the regular Christmas and family items, buy the tree, do the decoration, buying gifts, etc, etc. (and the list does seems endless) there is still sports!

December can be a hectic time of the year in the ‘Sports World’, starting with the baseball trades and this year there has been many surprises and a whole lot of money being spent. Both the Angels and the Dodgers, have spent the Angels getting Josh Hamilton for the outfield, to a five-year, $125 million contract and the Dodgers getting Zack Greinke as a starting starting pitcher with a $147 million, six-year deal And South Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin with a six-year contract worth $36 million and more to come, just to help prepare themselves for next season and a chance to make it to the World Series.

Then there is College Basketball and the attempts by each college team to make it to “March Madness’. Sports fans are starting to take an interest in the top schools, taking a peek at who will be in and who will be out. All this to help them get an edge in preparing their ‘Brackets’. As of today’s date, UCLA and USC are struggling and hopefully they will both make it past the first couple of rounds.

Of course, if you a sports fan? There are also the college bowl games, which started December 15 and will end with the BCS Championship game on January 15 with Norte Dame playing Alabama. Before that big game, however, there is still the December 27 Holiday Bowl with UCLA playing Baylor, the Sun Bowl on December 31 with Georgia Tech playing USC and on January 1, 2013, the famous Rose Bowl game with Wisconsin playing Stanford.

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So while you, the Sports fan, are working on that Christmas tree, wrapping gifts, or just out with the family, you will have one eye or one ear fixed to a TV or radio trying to stay informed. It is just how it works with us, the sports fan! Oh, a word to the wise, while you are at that holiday function anywhere near LA, you may not want to bring up the Lakers, that is unless you are a Clipper fan!

Happy Holidays from the Sports4Dummies.com and good luck to your favorite team.