4.10.13 … Storybook good … TWEET!

2013 NCAA Tournament, college basketball, Louisville Cardinals, Kevin Ware, Luke Hancock, Rick Patino, tattoo, Spike Albrecht, Pat Forde, Yahoo! Sports:  My husband came in dead tired from a business trip and although he is a native Louisvillian, he fell asleep … so I was left to watch on my own. I did love this pre-game prayer … LOL.  Little did I know how much they were going to need it!

One thing I truly enjoy about modern technology is watching on a big tv and following on twitter and social media. As the game was played I was amazed at the silence among my friends .. and said on FB: my, my … basketball fans are very quiet. Wolverine got the birdie’s tongue? … more silence.  But Louisville got the last TWEET!

Pat Forde nailed it in his followup article …

Not far away was Hancock, watching the video after scoring 42 points in two games in a brilliant display of clutch shooting. When Michigan raced to a 12-point first-half lead on the strength of little-known freshman Spike Albrecht’s stunning 17 points, Hancock provided the emphatic answer. He scored 14 points in 2 minutes and 33 seconds, stroking four 3-pointers in a dazzling eruption, and signaling that the Wolverines were not going to get away from Louisville.

Hancock’s gravely ill father, Bill, was watching from the front row behind the Louisville bench – the first games he’s been able to attend this NCAA tournament. What Luke did to calm Kevin Ware in Indy, he did to inspire his dad here. When it was over, Hancock went to his frail, 70-year-old father and repeated the question he asked him Saturday night, “How was that?”

It was good. Storybook good.

“I kind of feel like this pushed him,” Ware said of Hancock. “Going out there and playing for his dad.”

via Kevin Ware’s inspirational story gets picture-perfect ending with Louisville’s national title – Yahoo! Sports.

I’ve commented that I am Not a fan of Patino … but very impressed with his team. I look on him more favorably after this article … He’s human. And I can’t wait to see the tattoo!

Postgame, there was a bit of everything. There were moments of silliness and joy, such as Pitino laughing about how he was going to live up to a deal he made with his players about getting a tattoo if they won the national title. With an 82-76 victory over Michigan accomplished, his fate was sealed.

Sixty years old and for decades the most polished and properly presented coach in America, one who never let a thread of an Armani get frayed, Pitino was going to get inked up. “He would’ve killed us if we had gotten a tattoo,” his son Richard said before shaking his head at the thought of his dad, of all people, with art.

via Rick Pitino makes sure to share spotlight with whole family after years of tragedy and scandal – Yahoo! Sports.

3.27.13 … a little of this … a little of that …

Easter, kith/kin, Peeps, Peanuts, LOL:  I great blend of two of my favorites … LOL!

media, start-up,  Columbia Journalism School, ‘The Big Roundtable, Capital New York, Kickstarter: Opportunities abound …

Lots, according to Michael Shapiro, a Columbia Journalism School professor who thinks he’s developed a way to publish and distribute orphaned features by crowd-selecting stories, putting them up for sale on a website and paying writers $1 for each copy sold.

“There are writers with big, true-life stories to tell. There are readers who might want to see them. These two groups of people too often never meet,” reads a description of The Big Roundtable, a proposed long-form publishing collective for which Shapiro and his collaborators are raising money on Kickstarter. (One day in, they were more than half-way to their $5,000 goal.)

“For centuries standing between them was a gatekeeper—an agent, an editor, a publisher—who decided what people would want to read based on little more than the gatekeeper’s gut, a hunch, an instinct, a feeling. This meant that too many writers were left without readers. And too many readers left having never been told a story that might have mattered.”

via Media start-up hatched at Columbia, ‘The Big Roundtable,’ looks for a new long-form business model | Capital New York.

 ‘The Music Is You: A Tribute To John Denver’, First Listen, NPR, kith/kin: I claim a family member who was a fan.  🙂

Ask die-hard John Denver fans why they love the late singer’s music so much and they’ll likely tell you the same thing: “He makes me cry.” Denver, who wrote unabashedly sentimental songs about love, nature and an ever-homesick life on the road, had a rare gift for stirring something inside listeners. To many, his melodies and lyrics could come off as maudlin and conventional. But for the countless believers — and there are many — Denver was a poet, a visionary and a constant companion.

via First Listen: ‘The Music Is You: ATribute To John Denver’ : NPR.

Cincinnati,  2013 NCAA tournament, Adidas alternate uniforms, The Dagger: College Basketball Blog/Yahoo! Sports: pretty ugly …

Wednesday afternoon also marked the debut of Cincinnati’s alternate uniforms, made by Adidas and unofficially known as the Zubaz model for their unique pattern. The Bearcats are one of six schools wearing them (Louisville and Notre Dame will be debuting their versions at the Garden this week as well), and the rollout last month did not receive the warmest of receptions. Our own Jeff Eisenberg referred to them as “hideous” and he was definitely expressing the majority opinion. Kansas fans were so angry about the Jayhawks version they filed a petition to the White House to get them banned.

via Cincinnati seals up NCAA bid while debuting much-discussed alternate uniforms | The Dagger: College Basketball Blog – Yahoo! Sports.

 

3.22.13 … six awful seconds lead to heartbreak …

Davidson College, Davidson Basketball, Pat Forde, Yahoo! Sports:  Thanks, Pat … I think you “get” Davidson.

 Six awful seconds lead to heartbreak, blown opportunity at upset for Davidson – Yahoo! Sports.

The Irishman from New York who found a home at Davidson and never left, despite many opportunities, has a philosophical side that fits well with his school. Five years ago, when he and Curry took Davidson to the Elite Eight, McKillop was fond of saying, “La vita e bella” – life is beautiful. He has perspective, in a profession that often lacks it.

Thursday afternoon, he tried to find the beauty and perspective in a brutal loss.

“I’ll never forget this moment,” he said. “I’ll never forget this experience – the joys this team has given me. I’ll try to put it in perspective and think about people that are in pain they can’t control, think of the good things in my life.”

How long will that take?

“I’m putting it in perspective now,” McKillop answered, straightening his white dress shirt, trying to restore personal order. “I’m pretty disciplined about these things. I understand it. It doesn’t get any easier or more explicable, but I understand it.”

This is March Madness. For every team it lifts up, another is dashed. It is a zero-sum game with a ruthless bottom line.

That’s the understanding Davidson is dealing with today.

via Six awful seconds lead to heartbreak, blown opportunity at upset for Davidson – Yahoo! Sports.

3.19.13 (updated 3.20.13) … Thanks, Nate, you make me smile … It’s a great day to be a wildcat!

Nate Silver, Davidson Basketball,  Marquette, Indiana, 2013  NCAA Tournament, Business Insider: 🙂

The New York Times’s brilliant, clairvoyant, very handsome stats guy, Nate Silver, says that the most likely-to-occur upset of a number three seed in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament would be Davidson beating Marquette.

He gives Davidson a 35% chance of winning.

via NATE SILVER: Davidson Has A Great Chance For A Big Upset In The NCAA Tournament – Business Insider.

A little more detail about the East bracket …

Marquette is almost certainly the weakest No. 3 seed, and has about a 35 percent chance of being upset by No. 14 Davidson in its opening game. A potential Round of 16 game against No. 4 Syracuse in Washington could be Indiana’s toughest test.

With that said, there is no real reason to go searching for a fashionable upset pick, like No. 6 seed Butler, to emerge from the East. Indiana began the season ranked No. 1, has far and away the best offense in the country, and won the regular season title in the best conference.

via Parity in N.C.A.A. Means No Commanding Favorite – NYTimes.com.