My Bracket Finally Revealed And Some March Madness Links

(Editor's Note: Apologies for the dearth of posts during this week but when I have not been simulating games for Stupid Sideline Reporters, I have been swamped with work and trying to get it all done before the tourney begins. You can rest easy knowing that I have not gone AA on you. The schedule post has been updated to include the games I am getting on Friday. I successfully guessed all 8 games correctly. See the end of this post for another editor's note.)

Are you ready? Here you go! Earlier this week I gave you all a sneak preview on Twitter by naming my Final and now I am going to reveal my whole bracket to you. Listed below are my projected matchups for the 2nd round, Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and National Championship with my Nat'l championship winner listed at the end. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for........here are my brackets.

Midwest Region

2nd Round
Kansas vs. Northern Iowa
New Mexico State vs. Maryland
Tennessee vs. Georgetown
Oklahoma State vs. Ohio State

Sweet 16
Kansas vs. Maryland
Georgetown vs. Ohio State

Elite 8
Kansas vs. Georgetown

Midwest Region winner: Kansas

East Region

2nd Round
Kentucky vs. Wake Forest
Temple vs. Wisconsin
Washington vs. New Mexico
Clemson vs. West Virginia

Sweet 16
Kentucky vs. Temple
Washington vs. West Virginia

Elite 8
Kentucky vs. West Virginia

East Region winner: West Virginia

South Region

2nd Round
Duke vs. Louisville
Utah State vs. Siena
Notre Dame vs. Baylor
St. Mary's vs. Villanova

Sweet 16
Duke vs. Siena
Baylor vs. Villanova

Elite 8
Duke vs. Villanova

South Region winner: Villanova

West Region

2nd Round
Syracuse vs. Gonzaga
UTEP vs. Murray State
Xavier vs. Pittsburgh
BYU vs. Kansas State

Sweet 16
Gonzaga vs. Murray State
Pittsburgh vs. Kansas State

Elite 8
Gonzaga vs. Pittsburgh

West Region winner: Pittsburgh

Final Four
Kansas vs. Pittsburgh
West Virginia vs. Villanova

National Championship Game
Kansas vs. West Virginia

National Champion: Kansas

Kansas may not be as good as the 2008 team (or any other 2008 #1 seed, for that matter), but they will be able to survive and win this tournament, though it will by no means be a dominating performance. This is an experienced team that always finds a way to pull out a win in the end. Last year was a chalk year, this year is shaping up to be an upset year, but even through the upsets, Kansas will prevail this year. And now it's time for some March Madness links!

Don't like my picks? Get advice from a true expert in this field: Dan Levy's 3-year old daughter! (On The DL Podcast)

Or you can ask the Predictalator, which simulated the tournament 50,000 times and came up with these results. (Prediction Machine)

Check out the job Mookie and I did at simulating the tournament with the help of WhatIfSports! East Region, Midwest Region, South Region, West Region, Final Four (Stupid Sideline Reporters)

The first round schedule has been edited to include all of the maps for Friday's games as well. (Fire Andy Reid Now!)

Villanova and Robert Morris are already very familiar with each other (The Nova Blog)

Think Cornell is going to upset Temple? Before you lock it in your bracket, consider Fran Dunphy's record against his former assistants (Soft Pretzel Logic)

A breakdown of every game in the first round: Thursday Afternoon, Thursday Evening, Friday afternoon, Friday evening (Rush the Court)

A breakdown of every region: South Region, West Region, East Region, Midwest Region (Keith's Sports Journal)

65 Phillies Blogs square off in a single elimination tournament to determine the best of the best (The Phield)

Still have not had enough March Madness and brackets? Check out Mammal Madness! (I Want To Go To The Zoo With Roy Halladay)

(Editor's Note: Thanks to my fine professor of my 12:30 PM ET Tuesday-Thursday Literature class that I was originally going to skip to watch the Nova game for moving the midterm up at the last minute from next Tuesday to tomorrow. Now I will sadly have to miss the start of the game as there is no skipping the midterm. He showed us the exam in class yesterday and I am reasonably hopeful that I can finish it in 35-40 minutes, thus meaning I will probably be tuning into Nova and joining you guys at the live blog sometime at Keith's Sports Journal sometime around the back end of the first half, at which point the game will either be a boring blowout or at a Nova Panic stage, neither of which have me giddy with anticipation right now.)

Apparently Someone Is Not A FARN! Fan....

I hate to overshadow my YouTube video debut like this (see below post) but apparently there is a hater or 2 out there. Either that or someone just desparate for an odd story did a "Fire Andy Reid" search, clicked on my link which comes up 3rd, and paste it as a bad site without actually perusing what I've done.
Yes, that "Fire Andy Reid" line is a link that leads right to the front page of this blog. But hey, thanks for the link guys! You know what they say, any and all publicity is good publicity!

Rise and shine --- on the 'net (Delaware County Times Blog)

Thursday Afternoon Links, Random Thoughts, And Song Of The Day: "Sound Of Madness" By Shinedown

Seeing as I've got nothing in particular as of now to post, and I'm bored now and I'm working tomorrow, I figured I would throw up one of these posts. I'll try to do this every Friday, but seeing as I probably won't be blogging at all until the open threads, I'm doing it today.

I've never seen weather like this before in my life. It has literally rained here for 8 straight days and if I recall correctly, this is the 9th straight day that we have gotten .o1" or more. Emphasis on more. It completely poured last night and it's doing the same right now. Just flat out miserable. And oh yeah, while it's 70 now, the past few days were in the 50s. And if you recall me saying a few weeks ago, the weather was in the 90s for several days straight in April! Bizarre....bizarre....

Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games. And 49er16 loves it! (Keith's Sports Journal)

Why the Phoenix Coyotes should NOT re-locate to Hamilton, but rather, somewhere else (Puck the Media)

Good luck to any and all of those out there that are currently taking AP tests! Having been through the process myself and seeing some friends go through it now, believe me, it can be tough and stressful. Hang in there and you'll do great!

This Arsenal fan from Kenya took the Arsenal loss to Manchester United in the Champions League Semifinals a bit too seriously. (BBC News)

Is Brett Favre coming back out of spite? (Comcast.net)

The season finale of Lie To Me is next week. If you have not seen the show yet, I'm telling you, it is worth checking out. Awesome, awesome show and last night's show was one of the best of the season and it ended with Dr. Lightman getting a body guard, for lack of a better term. It's on next Wednesday at 8 PM on Fox.

This blog has become more than I ever thought it would be. And while it my no means is a "big name" like Deadspin or Awful Announcing, the fact that I have developed a few regulars, even if it is only 4 known commenters, is something that makes me proud. Thanks for all of the support, guys!

Song of the Day: "Sound of Madness" by Shinedown

Random Thouights From Yours Truly Plus The Song Of The Day

It's Friday and I am going to be going home for the weekend for the first time in over a month!

Angels Field has not exactly been a blessed place to be, to use a really bad religious joke. A few days ago an Angels fan died in a fight there and then yesterday we learned of the passing of Angels' starting pitcher Nick Adenhart, killed in a car crash just hours after pitching 6 shutout innings. R.I.P. Nick Adenhart: 1986-2009.

The NFL schedule is going to be released on Tuesday and ESPN is subsequently airing a 3-hour special over it. 3-hours??????? Are you kidding me?!?!? Am I the only one whose only care is to actually see the schedule, and not have 3-hours of analysis and interviews. Hell, the NFL-N's 2-hour show is far too much overkill. Sheesh, just give me the damn schedule so that I can see it.

For those not following the World Cup qualifying that closely, I have put my post into a better perspective by boldening teams in the standings section that have qualified (although except for host nation South Africa who qualifies automatically) none have done so yet and by putting a line through teams that have been eliminated (of which there are a few, so you might want to check that out if that's not something you've been on top of).

Sometimes the best place to be is to be there when somebody is feeling down.

Sometime this weekend I will try to have a new poll up for you guys.

If anyone is interested in taking over this blog for a week or so, now is the time to start thinking about it. I'll have more information on this in the upcoming months.

The teams in the NHL playoffs in the Eastern conference are now set. Boston, Washington, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Carolina, Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, and Montreal are all in. And I am absolutely pissed that Service Electric Cable in Bloomsburg does not carry Versus. There are some potential really juicy matchups in the Eastern Conference of the playoffs and even though I get both CSN Philly and FSN Pitt to enhance my viewing a bit, if Boston and Montreal becomes a series and if I miss most of it, I will be really pissed.

Song of the Day: "Psycho" by Puddle of Mudd (Sorry for the weird vid; the reason I'm not using the official music video is because Universal Music Group has pretty much disabled embedding for everyone who uploads official music videos; this is the best I can do)


Song

Friday Links

TGIF, everyone! Here are some links that I think you should check out (especially #1, if you like bloggers tearing apart rich NFL franchise owners).

Joe Banner has some strange logic. (Russakoff Rules)

This just in: Brent Musburger is still drunk. (Awful Announcing)

The Eagles actually made a move at wide receiver! Okay, fine, it's just trading Greg Lewis to the Patriots. (ALL THINGS PHILLY SPORTS)

And now, some videos that you should check out.

A longer, better quality video of PSU's 2nd upset over the Illini.


Greg Paulus kissed a boy and he liked it!


And lastly, some classic March Madness finishes from the past few years!

Remember George Mason?


Love UCLA or hate them, their comeback win over Gonzaga was classic.


So, this is what it takes to get Jim Nantz excited!


I'll have more classic moments next Friday.

Friday Links

Happy Friday, everyone! We are one week away from free agency, over 2 months away from the 2009 NFL Draft, and 23 days away from Selection Sunday. With that said, here are some Friday links you should check out.

Today is a great day for fans of the English language. Emmitt Smith is no longer employed by ESPN. (Pro Football Talk) (Yes, PFT is back up and working fine)

A hilarious compilation of bloopers and stupid people doing stupid things (Keith's Sports Journal)

More on the Eagles possibly trading up (Philly Inquirer)

Bango gets banged hard into the hole. (Awful Announcing)

Eagles have a new executive consultant (Philly Inquirer)

The Chargers have greatly angered Mookie (SS Reporters)

Tim Ruskell had made Mookie a very happy person (SS Reporters)

The Mt. Rushmore Presidents race on ice with hilarious results. (YouTube)

A Few Friday Links

It seems like everyone else does these but me, so I figured why not do them, myself?

1. A heart-pounding trip down memory lane of the key play in Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. (Philly Inquirer)

2. The Super Bowl porn incident is getting the treatment of a national crisis. (Awful Announcing)

3. "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Stupid Sideline Reporters)

4. Your tax dollars at work. (Keith's Sports Journal)

I'd give you a few more but I'm in a hurry and I have to be somewhere soon. And FYI, the live blog that I originally planned for tomorrow's Flyers-Rangers game has been cancelled (the live blog, that is, not the actual game itself). Something came up and I won't be able to do it. Don't worry though, the Flyers and Rangers play 2 more times on NBC this year. Nice to see the folks at the Peacock staying original...