Not off the Press: My bracket is busted
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Don't get me wrong, filling out a brand new NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament bracket ranks up near the top of my favorite sports days of the year.
Then comes the actual games, and well … that pain of seeing my picks being wrong on my bracket brings shame to myself and my family. Then I tear it up into 200 pieces and throw it in the garbage can.
Never again will I listen to Seth Davis, Jay Bilas or Charles Barkley of the NBA on TNT. Never again will I tune into ESPN and listen to Dickie V tell me who is his primetime player or his diaper dandy is. Why is Kenny Smith on NCAA coverage? If I remember correctly, I've seen him on NBA games all year long. Why did I listen to him?
C'mon VCU, really? What did I ever do to you? At least if Colorado was put in the tournament they would have lost by now. Thanks for nothing, VCU.
Each year, it is the same sequence of events: the tournament is selected, I listen to a team whine about how they didn't make it, then a couple days later I fill out my "winning" bracket, and by the next Sunday night I am staring at my bracket like it is a car wreck, wondering how exactly did it get this bad.
Thanks to teams like Butler, Pittsburgh, Richmond, VCU and Morehead State, my bracket won't be hanging on the fridge anytime soon. No smiley face sticker saying good job for me. Not even a scratch-and-sniff sticker. (Do they still make those?)
My bracket looks like the officials' shirts … black lines everywhere. I had to use three pens I drew so many lines through my wrong picks.
I wish I could review my bracket like the officials do their calls. No, I'll do the honest thing and not even review a decision made … just like them.
Sorry, I'm just grumpy. I need to break this up into sections. Yeah, let's do that. Deep breaths.
• Dante Jackson
I also can't believe the NCAA career of Greenfield's Dante Jackson is complete. He was so much fun to watch these past four years playing for Xavier. He made the NCAA Tourney all four seasons while at Xavier, reaching the Elite 8 his freshman season. He's the greatest high school player I've ever covered, and I just want to thank him for representing his high school, and Highland County, with great pride these past four years. He had many great moments on the court for the Musketeers and was just fun to watch.
• My new favorite NCAA coach
Did you hear Marquette head coach Buzz Williams talk after one of his two NCAA tournament games? He has a cool voice. He almost makes the raspy sound I speak in sound normal. He is my new favorite coach.
• My Sour 16
Here was the final 16 teams I predicted: Ohio State, Kentucky, Syracuse, Washington, Duke, Texas, Connecticut, San Diego State, Kansas, Louisville, Purdue, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Brigham Young and Florida.
Here is the real Sweet 16: Ohio State, Kentucky, Marquette, North Carolina, Duke, Arizona, Connecticut, San Diego State, Kansas, Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, Florida State, Butler, Wisconsin, Brigham Young and Florida.
UGH!
My picks were worse than the MTV show "My Super Sweet 16." At least I'll admit my 16 are at least spoiled, just like those kids on that show. Either way, I currently am not a fan of either one. Man, I hate that show.
Oh well, I'll still watch the games, or at least keep track on my phone. Try sitting in Frisch's for dinner, trying to be a normal person, and looking at the web on your phone while Pittsburgh is crumbling, along with my bracket. Yep, that actually happened. I was on my best behavior though, no worries. I just smiled and continued to eat my dinner.
Yes, all smiles here.
• Quit fouling with seconds remaining!
Do college players know not to foul when leading, with seconds remaining?
You would assume players who spend that many years and hours preparing to make the NCAA tourney would know better. I've seen it too much already this tournament, and afraid I'll see it more.
• Will Ohio State get any respect?
If you know me, you know I don't cheer for the Buckeyes, but dang, the panel on CBS seemed to find everything wrong they could with OSU following their dominating win over George Mason.
One of my buddies was about to break his flat screen, he was so mad at Kenny Smith. I laughed.
But in all honesty, as much as I like to mess with my Buckeye friends, this OSU team can shoot the lights out of the basketball.
The weather forecast in Cleveland on Sunday said it was raining threes.
Even though I am a fan of the UK Wildcats in college basketball, this Buckeye team scares me. So. Many. Shooters.
OSU made 16 3-pointers against the Patriots of GM, and shot over 60 percent from the field. The Buckeyes are 34-2 overall.
Another fact I don't like headed into the game this Friday, March 24 … OSU is 5-0 all-time in the NCAA tourney against UK.
All I know is OSU has my respect. Well, their basketball team does, at least.
• Now onto high school sports
Well, this was a really slow week for me in terms of covering high school sports. There were no games involving Highland County teams that needed covered. It was a good time to recharge the batteries, and with it being another slower week again, I will be fresh for the start of the spring season.
Remember, as far as high school baseball, we had four teams win at least a share of a league title last year. Hillsboro and McClain won shares of the South Central Ohio League title, and Whiteoak and Lynchburg-Clay each won their share of the Southern Hills League.
Speaking of the SHL, I want to thank them for being organized enough to send me a list of their All-League team via email. As for other league I cover, well, since I was not sent any information by one of the nine ways to contact me (visit the office, work phone, cell phone, HCP email, individual work email, HCP Facebook, Twitter, regular mail or fax), I didn't print the information. I wasn't even told the league announced the top players. My email even goes straight to my cell phone. My apologies to those student-athletes.
But I am starting to get the itch to get back and cover something soon. Last week was rough with not one sporting event to attend and write about. It was weird going home at a normal hour. One day, I left the office when it was daylight. That was neat.
• 10 Thoughts/Questions on high school sports
1. I'm curious about the upcoming baseball season, and if teams can repeat as champions.
2. It was strange not going to a basketball game last week. Really strange.
3. Congrats to the Manchester Greyhounds for a great season and representing the SHL in a positive way.
4. Who will the boys state basketball champions be?
5. What are you looking forward to the most for the upcoming spring sports season?
6. I really hope the OHSAA changes the way the sectional tournament is located next season.
7. Any last thoughts on the basketball season that just happened? Speak now or forever hold your peace.
8. I will say covering sports these past few weeks was a stress reliever for me.
9. Did I mention I can't wait to watch baseball?
10. Good luck to all the spring teams.
• I have no high school quote of the week, since I didn't interview anyone.
• No games means no stats of the week for high school sports.
• Here is a stat for MLB: 10 days until Opening Day.
• Non-high school Stat of the Week: Of the 11 Big East teams in the NCAA Tournament, only two made it to the Sweet 16.
• Another non-high school Stat of the Week: Richmond, Va. has two teams in the Sweet 16 in Richmond and VCU.
• One last item of Business
I am sick of the NFL players and owners. This is the last time I speak of them until they quit crying and act like adults. Really, $9 billion and they can't agree. They all just need to shut up. They seem to forget they need us more than we need them.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/hcpsportseditor.[[In-content Ad]]
Then comes the actual games, and well … that pain of seeing my picks being wrong on my bracket brings shame to myself and my family. Then I tear it up into 200 pieces and throw it in the garbage can.
Never again will I listen to Seth Davis, Jay Bilas or Charles Barkley of the NBA on TNT. Never again will I tune into ESPN and listen to Dickie V tell me who is his primetime player or his diaper dandy is. Why is Kenny Smith on NCAA coverage? If I remember correctly, I've seen him on NBA games all year long. Why did I listen to him?
C'mon VCU, really? What did I ever do to you? At least if Colorado was put in the tournament they would have lost by now. Thanks for nothing, VCU.
Each year, it is the same sequence of events: the tournament is selected, I listen to a team whine about how they didn't make it, then a couple days later I fill out my "winning" bracket, and by the next Sunday night I am staring at my bracket like it is a car wreck, wondering how exactly did it get this bad.
Thanks to teams like Butler, Pittsburgh, Richmond, VCU and Morehead State, my bracket won't be hanging on the fridge anytime soon. No smiley face sticker saying good job for me. Not even a scratch-and-sniff sticker. (Do they still make those?)
My bracket looks like the officials' shirts … black lines everywhere. I had to use three pens I drew so many lines through my wrong picks.
I wish I could review my bracket like the officials do their calls. No, I'll do the honest thing and not even review a decision made … just like them.
Sorry, I'm just grumpy. I need to break this up into sections. Yeah, let's do that. Deep breaths.
• Dante Jackson
I also can't believe the NCAA career of Greenfield's Dante Jackson is complete. He was so much fun to watch these past four years playing for Xavier. He made the NCAA Tourney all four seasons while at Xavier, reaching the Elite 8 his freshman season. He's the greatest high school player I've ever covered, and I just want to thank him for representing his high school, and Highland County, with great pride these past four years. He had many great moments on the court for the Musketeers and was just fun to watch.
• My new favorite NCAA coach
Did you hear Marquette head coach Buzz Williams talk after one of his two NCAA tournament games? He has a cool voice. He almost makes the raspy sound I speak in sound normal. He is my new favorite coach.
• My Sour 16
Here was the final 16 teams I predicted: Ohio State, Kentucky, Syracuse, Washington, Duke, Texas, Connecticut, San Diego State, Kansas, Louisville, Purdue, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Brigham Young and Florida.
Here is the real Sweet 16: Ohio State, Kentucky, Marquette, North Carolina, Duke, Arizona, Connecticut, San Diego State, Kansas, Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, Florida State, Butler, Wisconsin, Brigham Young and Florida.
UGH!
My picks were worse than the MTV show "My Super Sweet 16." At least I'll admit my 16 are at least spoiled, just like those kids on that show. Either way, I currently am not a fan of either one. Man, I hate that show.
Oh well, I'll still watch the games, or at least keep track on my phone. Try sitting in Frisch's for dinner, trying to be a normal person, and looking at the web on your phone while Pittsburgh is crumbling, along with my bracket. Yep, that actually happened. I was on my best behavior though, no worries. I just smiled and continued to eat my dinner.
Yes, all smiles here.
• Quit fouling with seconds remaining!
Do college players know not to foul when leading, with seconds remaining?
You would assume players who spend that many years and hours preparing to make the NCAA tourney would know better. I've seen it too much already this tournament, and afraid I'll see it more.
• Will Ohio State get any respect?
If you know me, you know I don't cheer for the Buckeyes, but dang, the panel on CBS seemed to find everything wrong they could with OSU following their dominating win over George Mason.
One of my buddies was about to break his flat screen, he was so mad at Kenny Smith. I laughed.
But in all honesty, as much as I like to mess with my Buckeye friends, this OSU team can shoot the lights out of the basketball.
The weather forecast in Cleveland on Sunday said it was raining threes.
Even though I am a fan of the UK Wildcats in college basketball, this Buckeye team scares me. So. Many. Shooters.
OSU made 16 3-pointers against the Patriots of GM, and shot over 60 percent from the field. The Buckeyes are 34-2 overall.
Another fact I don't like headed into the game this Friday, March 24 … OSU is 5-0 all-time in the NCAA tourney against UK.
All I know is OSU has my respect. Well, their basketball team does, at least.
• Now onto high school sports
Well, this was a really slow week for me in terms of covering high school sports. There were no games involving Highland County teams that needed covered. It was a good time to recharge the batteries, and with it being another slower week again, I will be fresh for the start of the spring season.
Remember, as far as high school baseball, we had four teams win at least a share of a league title last year. Hillsboro and McClain won shares of the South Central Ohio League title, and Whiteoak and Lynchburg-Clay each won their share of the Southern Hills League.
Speaking of the SHL, I want to thank them for being organized enough to send me a list of their All-League team via email. As for other league I cover, well, since I was not sent any information by one of the nine ways to contact me (visit the office, work phone, cell phone, HCP email, individual work email, HCP Facebook, Twitter, regular mail or fax), I didn't print the information. I wasn't even told the league announced the top players. My email even goes straight to my cell phone. My apologies to those student-athletes.
But I am starting to get the itch to get back and cover something soon. Last week was rough with not one sporting event to attend and write about. It was weird going home at a normal hour. One day, I left the office when it was daylight. That was neat.
• 10 Thoughts/Questions on high school sports
1. I'm curious about the upcoming baseball season, and if teams can repeat as champions.
2. It was strange not going to a basketball game last week. Really strange.
3. Congrats to the Manchester Greyhounds for a great season and representing the SHL in a positive way.
4. Who will the boys state basketball champions be?
5. What are you looking forward to the most for the upcoming spring sports season?
6. I really hope the OHSAA changes the way the sectional tournament is located next season.
7. Any last thoughts on the basketball season that just happened? Speak now or forever hold your peace.
8. I will say covering sports these past few weeks was a stress reliever for me.
9. Did I mention I can't wait to watch baseball?
10. Good luck to all the spring teams.
• I have no high school quote of the week, since I didn't interview anyone.
• No games means no stats of the week for high school sports.
• Here is a stat for MLB: 10 days until Opening Day.
• Non-high school Stat of the Week: Of the 11 Big East teams in the NCAA Tournament, only two made it to the Sweet 16.
• Another non-high school Stat of the Week: Richmond, Va. has two teams in the Sweet 16 in Richmond and VCU.
• One last item of Business
I am sick of the NFL players and owners. This is the last time I speak of them until they quit crying and act like adults. Really, $9 billion and they can't agree. They all just need to shut up. They seem to forget they need us more than we need them.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/hcpsportseditor.[[In-content Ad]]