Spring Training is Almost Here

Well, the Super Bowl is over, so the next big events are the beginning of spring training and slightly after that and slightly more important than that is March Madness. Not that spring training is not important, but I feel like the games are not on TV enough, especially of the Phillies, so it is difficult to watch that much. Regrettably, I don't exactly know how long it is until pitchers and catchers report, but I know that is within the month, so that is very exciting. As I have said before, I feel like the Phillies are the team to beat not only in the National League but also in all of baseball. I really don't know who will challenge well this year, but I have to assume that Atlanta will be solid because they have been solid every year since the early 90s. You never know with the Mets or Marlins, and we can safely assume that Washington will not be too great although they do now have Jayson Werth, and I know that he is an excellent hitter who will solidify their lineup. It will be a fun year, and I look forward to having a better prediction of the World Series than I did for the Super Bowl.

Looking Forward

Well, apparently Brett Favre is retiring for real this time. Of course, we have heard this before, but he isn't getting any younger so it probably will be true this time. Nevertheless, the playoffs are coming, so that will be a lot of fun, and it will of course be capped off by the Super Bowl featuring the two best teams in the NFL and the Black Eyed Peas at halftime. Then, after that we have March Madness and baseball season, two of my favorite times of the year. Interspersed with this will be a few more dunks by Blake Griffin I'm sure simply because he does something highlight reel worthy almost every night. That guy is ridiculous! Baseball season will be fun because there's no reason that the Phillies should not dominate this year. They now have the best rotation in baseball to go with the offense that is still one of the best even though it is not quite as strong as it was in right field. Maybe Dominic Brown will surprise us all! How nice would that be? Either way, we have a lot to look forward to in the next few months, so enjoy your fantasy that your team might win the World Series this year because once the season starts, we all know who's going all the way.

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Hazardous Growth

It has finally happened; the NCAA has expanded the tournament field to 68 teams. I know that more basketball is always a good thing, but I'm not really huge on the added games simply because I feel like the only reason they were created was because the NCAA wanted to allow more at-large bids so that the power schools have better chances of getting in. Schools like UVM are going to be relegated to the play-in game, and some of them will never get to see the teams like Syracuse that beat the Catamounts this year. I realize that this is a business move because having more games will generate more revenue through advertising, ticket sales, etc. However, I feel like this usurps the power of each conference receiving a bid because some of these schools from non-basketball conferences won't even be able to make the field of 64 and not have that "one shining moment." I know that the little team never has much of a chance versus the powerhouses, but it's definitely fun to have that one try. Sometimes, upsets happen, and people like me get very excited. Now, all of these teams who have the opportunity to pull off the biggest upset will have to play one game before the one seed and already be tired. I love March Madness, but I think that we need to preserve the tournament as a showcase of the best from each conference and not allow all of these at-large bids to come in and more ACC or Big East teams.

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Bracket Busted

Choosing a bracket and be a humbling experience. ESPN gives you the ability to choose up to 10 brackets, so you can choose many different combinations and still have the potential to mess them all up. Surprisingly, even though my brackets did horrendously, I guess most of America did bad as three of my brackets were in the top 10% on ESPN now my absolute best was in the 97.9% percentile. Here is a link to my best bracket (I hope it opens). I guess you can tell the Ohio University kind of ruined the fun I would have had if Georgetown could have gone all the way. However, to console myself, I opened up the best bracket on ESPN which was chosen by Matt Walker. Here is a link to his bracket. It makes me feel better that nobody could have accurately chosen this entire tournament like they do some years. However, it was amazing that Matt had the Final Four as well as the championship perfect. So, congratulations Matt, nice job, but I was not particularly consoled!

On the same note, how many people wanted Butler to knock off Duke? I'm sorry to all my friends who are Duke fans, but I wanted to see a Hoosiers type story. The small school from Indiana knocking off the perennial powerhouse from the ACC would have made a great sorry that newspapers would have been talking about for the next few months. However, if it wasn't meant to be, I guess it wasn't meant to be. Nevertheless, I wish I could root for the perennial powerhouse, but I can't. There's something in my mind that urges me to root for the underdog regardless of if they have any chance of winning. I like Kansas, and I chose Kansas to win the national championship in many of my brackets, but I had to root for Lehigh when it looked like they might potentially give Kansas a run for at least the first few minutes. Apparently, I'll have to wait for next season to see the 16 seed knock off a number one seed (unless the NCAA is totally mindless and expands the tournament to 96 teams; I guess you know my opinion).

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Pursuit of Excellence

I was watching the girls' basketball All American game earlier today, and I was not so amazed to hear that three of those players are headed to the University of Connecticut. The team that already has the most probable number one picks in the WNBA draft also has a relatively large percentage of the best incoming freshmen in America. Connecticut will essentially have as much talent coming in as going out. It is amazing how one team can become so dominant for such a long period of time. However, how does a team go about establishing this image of dominance that is alluring enough to draw so much talent? I think that there are some main points as to why Connecticut has been able to do this.
• Excellent coaching
• Excellent reputation
• Excellent players currently
• Excellent fan support
• Excellent media coverage
• Excellent facilities
• Excellent academics
Do you notice a trend? If you want to be the best, you need to have a commitment to excellence. Excellence in and of itself does not ensure becoming the best, but in order to be the best, excellence is a prerequisite. With its commitment to excellence, the University of Connecticut has become dominant, and I think Baylor and whoever they might be playing in the finals will be up for a tall test.

Now, a few orders of business before I end tonight. First, for any of you have not figured out my April Fools' Day puzzle, look at the first letters of each word in the first two sentences in my April 1 article. What do they spell? Finally, happy Easter to all of you; remember why we have this life-changing holiday.

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A Letter to Dee Dee

Dear Dee Dee Jernigan,
I know that many people have surely been criticizing you about two missed layups in the Elite Eight. However, what these people fail to notice is that there were many other missed shots in that game. In fact, your team as a whole missed a total of 37 shots throughout the game. I realize that some people will say that I cannot assume that shot made earlier in the game would affect the final outcome in the same way that these late game layups would have, and they might be right. However, another shot made earlier in the game by Xavier would have only shifted the momentum toward the Musketeers. Again, as my history professor would say, this is counterfactual speculation, but it seems that people are much too quick to assign the blame directly on you simply because you are a convenient target as the last one to miss one of the 37 shots. Also, assuming you made the shot, there was still the full court drive by Stanford that ended up breaking the tie and advancing the Cardinal. Again, assuming that the game might have gone to overtime, who knows what would have happened? You would have no more won the game for Xavier then many people are claiming you lost it. Winning and losing is a team effort; no one player can be absolutely held responsible. As difficult as it may be, ignore those people who are needlessly and groundlessly heaping this loss on your shoulders. Without all of the shots you made throughout the season, this Elite Eight berth may not have even been.
-Zak

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SUPRISE!

Wow, Butler has pulled it off and made it into the Final Four! Who would have thought that Syracuse and Kansas State would topple at the hands of Butler? I guess a lot of people probably did, but after watching Syracuse a few times throughout the year, I had thought that they had a pretty easy path to at least the Elite Eight. Well, I was right there, but my next prediction about them making it to the Final Four was obviously wrong. Butler has been to the NCAA tournament quite a few times in recent years, but why is it that many teams who are so-called "mid-majors" do not get the recognition that they are proving they deserve

Well, one obvious reason is media coverage. This area is improving due to efforts such as ESPNU and other networks that focus on college sports. Because there are so many NCAA teams and only so much network time on ESPN and ESPN2 for college sports throughout the season, the few games that are broadcast often feature Duke, UNC, Kansas, or any other university that has become all but a perennial powerhouse. While Butler has been very successful, they have yet to develop that national image that will secure them a spot on the major networks. Because of this, many average sports fans will overlook the mid-major. Even I underestimated Butler; I knew they were good, but I never thought they could topple the Orangemen.

Another reason that Butler could be seen as a surprise by people such as myself is because of geography. Syracuse is much closer than Butler; Boston College plays in the ACC, so teams such as Duke and North Carolina come closer to home. When the local teams are covered as they should be, that leaves limited time for teams from faraway lands such as Indiana. Those flat states often times get forgotten in Vermont simply because we like to think that the more local teams that we have watched all season.

However, none of this constitutes a viable excuse for my neglecting Butler. I guess I need to be more aware next season in order to make a bracket that doesn't end up being covered in red ink.

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Lady Cats Prowl

Before I start on anything else, I just want to say that no one listens to me. Of the two fantasy drafts I have been a part of this year, Joe Mauer has been picked second overall (ahead of Albert Pujols even) and eighth overall. Again, you know I love Joe, but there is no way I would take him over a guy like Albert.

Okay, thank you for letting me vent. Now, on to the real story as the UVM women are ready to take it to Notre Dame. Following their first-ever NCAA tournament win, they're looking to be more successful than the UVM men were when they knocked off Syracuse a few years ago for their first-ever NCAA tournament win before getting killed by Michigan State. I believe that UVM will be able to fight with the Irish simply because so far they're hitting their shots. As I said about the UVM men, if they hit their shots, they will be able to play with anyone. Upsets occur because the upper seed can't hit a shot and therefore are very vulnerable. It really does not matter how well you played the rest of the year; if that were the case, we would crown the Connecticut Huskies champions already and not bother wasting our time with a meaningless tournament. However, the joy of a single elimination tournament is that you only need to win once. This may seem a bit redundant, but any team can be unlucky on just one night. So, enjoy the night, cheer for the Catamounts, and hope that UVM will be able to secure Groovy UV its first Sweet 16 appearance!

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Bad Streak

Wow, my bracket is essentially dead. With the fall of Kansas, my national champion is gone. With the fall of Georgetown, one of my Elite 8 teams is out. UTEP, one of my favorite upset teams, never pulled off the upset I hoped for. Washington has survived two more games than I thought they would. Villanova choked by almost falling in the first round before being knocked out by St. Mary's in the second. It is kind of pathetic that I have only nine of the Sweet 16 correct. However, I guess you can't pick them right all of the time, but I admit that I would have rather picked them right more often than I have. So ends another fantasy game that I had any hope of winning even though the tournament is far from over. I will continue obviously to enjoy the tournament, but I will not have a chance of winning this fantasy game. Now, we move on to fantasy baseball where I fully intend to do much better! However, this also will entail a vast amount of luck on top of some expertise. There's not much you can do when you draft that can't miss starting pitcher only to discover that in his final spring training start he tore his rotator cuff and will be done for the year. In a season of 162 games, there is so much that can go wrong; it seems about as random as real life. Every so often we have those breakout moments where we can't miss and we feel like we have improved greatly. To contrast this, we all have those moments where we need to break this slump and get rid of the bad luck. See, I bet you never thought that fantasy baseball might be applicable to everyday life!

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Why Would I Write About Climate Change on a Sports Blog?

In society today, climate change has become a buzz phrase. While typically applied to environmental climate change (a.k.a. global warming, even though ironically enough some areas will become colder as a result of global warming), it would be impossible not to mention the climate change that is devouring the NCAA tournament right now. As I'm writing this at 10:09 PM, there have been six upsets and six "predictable" outcomes. To compare, in the 32 games last year, there were 10 upsets. We are on pace to have six more upsets than they had last year. For crying out loud, right now I am watching Lehigh up 12-4 on overall number one Kansas with 14 minutes left in the first half (note: Kansas has since made a run and is in the lead). I realize that there is a ton of time left and Kansas will probably come back to win, but what is happening to the high seeds? Honestly, I think the change is that prospects are electing to go to mid-majors where they now they will be the star and see significant playing time right from the beginning. Why go to Duke and get buried on the bench when you can go to University of Ohio and be a star with much more playing time? Think about Stephen Curry who went to Davidson, a classic mid-major in the Southern Conference, became the leading scorer in NCAA, led his team on a deep run into the NCAA tournament for which he was largely credited, and all of the sudden became the number seven pick in the 2009 NBA draft. If he would have gone to a classic power school even though he had immense talent, any success would not have helped build his legend because there would have been several other great players who would have been attributed some of the credit. Obviously, not every player is Stephen Curry, but I do believe that mid-majors are on the rise due to the success of programs such as Davidson and George Mason that show prospects that mid-majors are not necessarily a step down; they be a step to amazing fame and legendary status.

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Tournament Benefit

I hope that everybody has filled out the NCAA tournament bracket. For me, I bet you that Kansas and Duke will be on top at the end with the Jayhawks reigning triumphant. However, this tournament will be about more than just one game. Think about this fact; according to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, more than $3,000,000,000 will be bet over the course of the tournament. The city of Buffalo, who incidentally happens to be hosting the first 16 seed who will upset a number one seed, is estimating to take in an extra $5,000,000 in revenue just from the first two rounds of games in the East region. Obviously, the economic impact of this is amazing. The NCAA will most likely make $750,000,000 off of its broadcasting deal with CBS during the final year of its contract which occurs in three years. It's crazy how much sports influence the economy. Studies also show that only the World Cup knocks down productivity as much as the NCAA tournament. The World Cup involves the whole world and therefore hurts other countries besides the United States whereas I would assume that March Madness mostly Americans because it involves all American teams. Again, imagine what people would do with all the extra time. Honestly, I would probably still "waste" it, but many people could be positively influencing the economic development of America. Does this sound familiar? That would be the non-sports fan attacking. The informed sports fan would reply that because the NCAA tournament brings people happiness. According to the president of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman, says that one of the three main components to human, and more specifically worker, happiness is "the ability to savor life's pleasures." Basketball happens to be one activity that brings pleasure to many people. Therefore, by savoring this pleasure, workers will be happier. Happier workers are more productive workers according to Gallup. Therefore, we can deduce that because the NCAA tournament raises happiness for some workers and happiness increases productivity, the NCAA tournament indeed increases worker productivity. Does it sound like a stretch? To me, no. Maybe it does to you. However, even if you hate the NCAA tournament, it is happening now, and people like me are going to enjoy it.

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Time to Turn It on!

Well UVM, it's time to pull off another upset versus the Orangemen. Personally, I think the Cats deserved a higher seed than that seeing how they were able to knock off Rutgers from the Big East on the road as well as almost beating Cornell, the Ivy League champions in Drexel, and by knocking off Buffalo in Buffalo who were able to knock off Ohio University who are also in the tournament at a higher seed than Vermont.

The Catamounts will need to rekindle the magic of Taylor Coppenrath and TJ Sorrentine to march over Syracuse again. This time, though, it will be even tougher because a game in Buffalo is basically a home game for Syracuse as Buffalo is only just over 2 1/2 hours from Syracuse according to MapQuest. For college students, a 2 1/2 hour drive is nothing; some high school fans even travel that far. UVM on the other hand is just about 7 1/2 hours away from Buffalo; that's a much harder drive to make. All I know is I don't like this draw for UVM; they were so much better than a 16 seed who drew just about the worst possible matchup they could have. However, there has never been a 16 seed to upset a 1 seed... until 2010.

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Bracket Time

Tonight, I hope that you are all tuned in at six to CBS to watch the NCAA Selection Show. For those of us in Vermont, we can breathe easy knowing that our boys have an automatic bid after taking down Boston University with a strong showing yesterday. However, there are many other teams who are not quite as comfortable on campus tonight. I assume that it would be easier knowing that you absolutely had no hope of getting in then it would be to sit in the locker room while most likely a camera from CBS would be watching you nervously stare at the TV anchored on your wall waiting for your name. You would hope that this camera will catch you and your team wildly celebrating while we can almost hear the student body roar with the excitement that can only be unleashed when miracles often. Odds are, we will see teams from Florida, Wake Forest, Illinois, or Mississippi State nervously gazing at the TV while undoubtedly at least one player will attempt to break the tension with some form of antics. However, even if there is a player who can make a joke in such a high stress environment, I would bet that he would not be appreciated. These highly competitive players have played all year to make The Big Dance; they do not want to be left out now. I better post this now so that it will be before a majority of the field is released!

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Lack of Efficiency

Okay, it's honesty time. You don't need to tell me obviously, but think about it. How many times have you logged on to some media outlet during the first few rounds of the NCAA tournament when you should have been working? Last year, I wasted quite a bit of time following the NCAA tournament when I could have been effectively using study hall in the library. However, we all know that libraries aren't meant to study; obviously, libraries were meant to provide computers to follow basketball games. Well, myself and I bet many of you, are not alone in succumbing to the temptation of midday basketball. According to a new study I read about in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the first week of the NCAA tournament could possibly cost employers $1.8 billion. Obviously, this is a significant chunk of money that employers are losing out on because of a leisure activity. One factor that I didn't realize was that when you watch the games on the CBS webcast, they have a "Boss Button" that pops up a fake spreadsheet that would supposedly hide your activities from your boss. While this is meant to make fun of the trend of employees, it is a sad commentary that this button was hit almost 2.8 million times last year.

Some companies are taking steps to combat this loss of productivity. They install "big brother" type software would then allow them to track all employee Internet activity. My question would be: how expensive is this monitoring service? If employers on the whole spend more than $1.8 billion on this service just for one week, obviously it would not be worth it. Therefore, I do not think that this service is really worth it. I do not think that the money that this would save would be worth it. The added staff morale would lead to higher future productivity which I would assume would generate more revenue than the original one week period. Also, I think about some of the best employers to work for who offer employees everything from gym memberships to haircuts according to Fortune. Why would they be offering all of these incentives if employees were not better off by doing them? Allowing employees to waste a few hours out of the entire year apparently would perhaps increase worker productivity and therefore make the NCAA tournament a blessing rather than a waste of time and money.

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If It Ain't Broke...

I realize that business owners want to make a profit; being a business major, I understand this. Without profit, the business is bound to run into a tough situation. However, when the motivation for profit interferes with the overall integrity and tradition of the business, there is an issue. According to my business textbook, this commitment to the betterment of the community as a whole is often referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR. However, though I am typically a fan of NCAA basketball, I wish that they would ignore the profit motivation that seems to be pervading their judgment recently and focus on their CSR which is to provide the best basketball experience for their fans.

Looking at the column that was written earlier today on NBC Los Angeles, I was absolutely shocked to find out that the NCAA tournament is very close to expanding the tournament field to 96 teams as opposed to the traditional 65. 31 more teams will be dancing in March if this deal goes down as several sources are predicting it will. What's wrong with this you might ask? First of all, the NCAA tournament is supposed to be a matchup of the best of the best. Granted, there are always teams on the proverbial bubble who should be in but aren't. However, do any of these themes on the bubble have the potential to seriously contend for the national championship? As much as I love a good Cinderella story, realistically, the lowest seed ever to win a national championship was a number eight seed, which was Villanova in 1985 according to the always reliable Wikipedia. This means that a team in the bottom half of a regional bracket has never won or even made the national championship. Odds are, many of these 31 new entrants would be of a similar caliber and probably have no chance of making a serious run at the national championship. Therefore, what difference would these teams make? I'll tell you what difference it would make; it would make a lot more money for the NCAA. The amazing number of viewers who watch these games would only be multiplied by the fact that there would be more games to watch. According to the article I saw on NBC, the first round of the tournament will consist of seeds 9 to 24 competing for the right to play the one through eight seeds. This would create many more games; as opposed to the 64 games there are currently including the play in game, there would now be 95 games as the new round of "play in" winners would then meet up with the top eight teams from each bracket which would be reminiscent of the 64 team field we have right now. Typically, I say that more basketball is a great thing, and it is. However, what significance will the season have if approximately one third of all teams get in? All a team in a highly competitive conference would need to do is go .500 to all but guarantee a spot in the field. However, I think we will still have many of the same problems of the underrepresentation of mid-major teams. Many teams will still get in based on reputation; the Selection Committee is just as biased as many of us fans.

The added revenue for the NCAA seems to be a good enough reason for the NCAA to expand the field. However, they need to remember that their first responsibility is to provide the best experience for their fans. Why mess with the system? It already draws millions of viewers every year and has become one of the most popular sporting events of the year. After all, how many events do you know that have the power to alter national activity for a whole month?

Inspiration Sells

It seems like foreign made cars are all the rage lately because they are more reliable, less expensive, and more fuel-efficient. However, as Honda, Toyota, and Mazda have been gaining momentum, little has been said about Nissan's luxury brand Infiniti despite the fact that they have been selling well since 2000. This is about to change though.

Earlier today according to an article on the PR newswire, Infiniti has decided to play Cinderella. Through an agreement with ESPN, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the SEC, and the Big Ten, Infiniti will unleash a new marketing campaign that will run until the national championship game on April 5. This article also notes that the campaign will run through television, print, and digital media. This way millions of people will see these advertisements, and Infiniti hopes that by unveiling the 2011 Infiniti M during the tipoff of the championship game will generate enough buzz to make the costs, which I assume are ridiculously high, worthwhile.

Despite the price, I believe that this marketing strategy will work for a few different reasons. First, when a product can associate itself with the elite of a group, it gains the reputation of being the choice of the elite regardless of whether or not this upper-class really uses the product. Several interviews with the perceived best coaches in NCAA such as Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan, and Roy Williams will explain to the viewer how important inspiration is in college basketball. I assume then that this will then be expanded for the need of inspiration in each of our lives. Wow! What a coincidence! Infiniti prides itself with the message of "Inspired Performance." So the message will be clear that without inspiration life would be less exciting or possibly less successful.

Another reason I believe this marketing strategy will pay off is because of the sheer number of people who watch the NCAA tournament. According to The Nielsen Company, last year 136.8 million unique viewers tuned in to at least one minute of an NCAA tournament game. Even if Infiniti only influences .1% of viewers, they will still sell 136,800 vehicles. This would be amazing considering in the calendar year 2009, the entire Infiniti division only sold 81,089 units according to PR Newswire. I do realize that many television viewers would not be able to buy these vehicles due to age, price, or a multitude of other factors. However, the ability to reach such a large market for a few months while appealing to America's obsession with March Madness I believe will allow Infiniti to move ahead and improve their position in the fight for sales.