Bracketology 2009

Fired up and ready here in the Pugsleysports war room.

The internal debate between the multiple voices in my head has subsided. Here are the picks:

.

Midwest Region
.

Upset Alert - Siena returns all five starters from last year's team that knocked off Vanderbilt. Ohio State comes out of the massively overrated Big 10. I know the game is in Dayton and I don't care. Siena gets the win.

.

First round winners - Louisville, Siena, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Kansas, Boston College, Michigan State. .
.
Second round - Louisville over Siena, Wake Forest over Utah, West Virginia bounces defending champ Kansas and Michigan State.
..

Sweet 16 - Louisville over Wake Forest (barely), West Virginia over Michigan State..

.

Final Four bound - The seedings hold serve, Louisville wins the battle of the Big East and beats West Virginia to head to Detroit.

West Region
..

Upset Alert - Based on the seedings, Maryland beating Cal in the first round will be the biggest upset.

.
First round winners - Connecticut, Texas A&M, Purdue, Washington, Marquette, Missouri, Maryland, and Memphis.
.
Second round - Connecticut, Purdue, Marquette upsets Missouri and Memphis.

..
Sweet 16 - Connecticut over Purdue, Memphis in a squeaker over Marquette.

.

Final Four bound - Connecticut over Memphis

.
South Region

Upset Alert - Western Kentucky over Illinois. The Illini return to the dance and are quickly bounced by a Hilltopper team that beat Louisville this year.

.

First round winners - North Carolina, LSU, Western Kentucky, Gonzaga, Arizona State, Syracuse, Clemson, Oklahoma.

.
Second round - North Carolina, Gonzaga, Syracuse, Oklahoma.

.

Sweet 16 - North Carolina over Gonzaga, Oklahoma over Syracuse....in six overtimes, of course.

..

Final Four bound - Tyler Hansbrough over Blake Griffin.....North Carolina over Oklahoma. This will be the best game of the tournament.

.
East Region

.

Upset Alert - I'm aching to take Wisconsin over Florida State, but VCU over UCLA is the upset special here. The Rams did it to the Pukies two years ago, now the Bruins feel the wrath.

.

First round winners - Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Xavier, VCU, Villanova, Texas, Puke (that is not a typo).

..

Second round - Pittsburgh, Florida State, Villanova, Puke.

.

Sweet 16 - Pittsburgh over Florida State, Villanova over Puke.

.

Final Four bound - Villanova, not Pitt, represents the Big East in this side of the bracket.

.

.

.

Final Four - Three Big East teams and the ACC regular season champion Tar Heels.

.

.Look for Rick Pitino and his Cardinals to get past UConn and Roy Williams and the Tar Heels to beat Villanov and advance to their second title game since 2005..

.

National Championship Game

.

North Carolina 77, Louisville 75. Tyler Hansbrough takes home Most Outstanding Player honors and the writer of this blog is very happy.

Just A Few Thoughts

Couldn't stay awake for the end of the Syracuse/Connecticut game last night......sorry I missed it. It won't matter, West Virginia will beat the Orange tonight in a game that tips in a couple of hours......

.

Seems as though March Madness is off to an early start this year......Can't wait for the brackets to come out, I'll anxiously await them to come out, feel great about my picks on Monday, and feel like a tool come Saturday morning when the first round is over.

.

Early thoughts on the tourney
.
Underrated: Watch out for Siena in the first two rounds. The Saints have been there and beat Vanderbilt last year. All five starters from last year's team are back.

Overrated : Duke........They suck and will be out by the second round.
.

Welcome to Buffalo, Mr. Owens
.

How happy am I that T.O. has landed in Buffalo? Glad you ask.......I'm thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis happy (picture Elastic Man's arms at full length). To be fair, the Bills were smart to give this idiot a one-year deal with hopes that he won't rip apart the locker room.....On second thought, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, guess what ? He'll do more harm than good out in Western NY.

Jay Cutler is pissed that the Broncos got a trade offer for him. Grow up........My Bruins are slumping, need the boys in the Hub to get things rolling in the next few weeks. If not for themselves, then for me.

.

Marty Brodeur is set to pass Patrick Roy as the game's winningest goalie.......good for him. He's been a class act his whole career. So classy, I can't think of a bad thing to say about him and I can usually find a bad thing to say about anybody.

.

Two weeks until my fantasy baseball draft, this has to be the year for Team Pugsley.......Hope Chase Utley's hip is okay........Prince Fielder is a key to my team. It doesn't help me sleep at night knowing my fortunes might rest on a guy who weighs more than I do....I've been sandbagging on my keepers the entire offseason. I can post that here 'cuz I'm not sure how many of my foes in this 20-year league read this blog.....The ones who do take a peek can't read anyway, they click the link for the pictures.......

Still stinging from that shocker on the Bachelor.......oooooops, wrong blog....

The too-soon-to-make-them-but-I'm-bored-predictions

The Oakland A's will win the AL West. Anaheim is overrated and the A's have improved themselves. While I'm at it, the Red Sox will take the AL East (that pains me), Detroit will take the Central. The wildcard will be the Chisox.

.

In the NL, Arizona will hit enough to win the West, the Mets won't gag until the playoffs but will make it and the Cubbies will claim the Central. I like LA to win the wild card.

.

It's early, but we'll take the Cubs over Boston in the World Series although I reserve the right to change that before opening day. It has to happen sometime, doesn't it?

. .

Bracket projections next week. Have to get the pen and paper ready.

Confessions of a Juicer

First apology of the column - yes, I am aware it has been 26 days since my last post.
.
I've been hesitant, but the time has come.
.

I cannot live with this deep, dark secret any longer.

If my heroes, such as Jason Giambi, A-Roid, and Jose Canseco can admit it, so can I.

.
Yes, I’m on the ‘roids. The Juice. Gym Candy.

.

I'd like to apologize to my wife, my family, my friends, all my wonderful fans, and most of all, THE GAME that has given me so much in this life.

I know, you’re shocked. I was always pretty buff (see right)……… but even I had to turn to the dark side.

Be clear (pun intended), it isn’t a cream and my butt hasn’t been injected with anything……ever. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!).

I take juice the old fashioned way, in the form of a pill. Unlike A-Roid, I’m leaving my cousins out of this one. I got my “helpers” from a legit “doctor”, at least that is what I call him.

.
Like Andy Pettitte and many others, I’m on the juice to help rehab from a physical ailment. Seriously.

The dreaded foot infection.

Sure, I’m now able to type 180 words a minute – error free, of course – and my accounting skills have never been better on the day job. Heck, I’ve already closed our first quarter of the year and we still have one month to go before the quarter ends.

The downsides to my new hobby? There are a few but I’m managing to deal with them.

.
Roid Rage? No problem. I’m a menace on the roads anyway so what’s the difference ?

True, a coach tried avoiding a direct question after I did a hoop game the other night. I got in his face and got the answers I wanted. I call that “results”.

At the day job, I expend the extra anger the juice affords me by calling deadbeat clients who have a hard time putting the pen and the checkbook together.

Shriveled ‘Nads? Again, no problem. I’m old anyway. It was inevitable.

The lesson? Well, I feel better, almost cleansed in coming out of the 'Roid closet. Where is Peter Gammons? While I don't have a pretty blue sweater like A-Roid, I'd welcome an interview.

Memo to any ALLEGED 'roiders......Roger, and Barry, and you too Raffy and Big Mac among others....... come clean, you might just feel a wee bit better.

.
For me, I only have three more days of magic left in my un-refillable bottle.

Wonder if A-Roid’s cousin is available for a phone call?