Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Bracketology
Monday
March 12, 2007
Unlike what I've done in the past, I don't intend to post any predictions or brackets for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on here. I used up all of my mojo on the 1996 tourney (when I finished #6 in the nation in the ESPN online pick 'em, picking the final four right and Kentucky over Syracuse in the finals.) And, because this stuff posts on here are semi-permanent, I set myself up for mockery for years with a bad run. And, yes, I have had people write me out of the blue in the past to give a "ha ha!" Nelson-style. Never underestimate the enthusiasm some people have at busting balls.
Tonight I watched WWE Raw... and it was actually a really good show. World Wrestling Entertainment can vary wildly with its product quality, but with WrestleMania to concentrate on WWE has been able to gear up, focus on the big matches, and put out a quality product. Very limited "ha ha" humor (which is seldom actually funny), though the matches have been paint-by-number (WWE style), but still Raw has become a fun show to watch. After April 1, who knows what will happen, but it's fun for the short term.
That's not to say that the WWE product is remotely close to what it could be, and it's with the understanding that wrestling is going to be by and large an afterthought, and that Vince McMahon will push himself to satiate his ego at the expense of the company. But, hey, it's better now than it has been in awhile.
Last night I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with severe neck pain. If my migraines were a 10 (out of 10), this was a 7 or 8. Not "make you cry" pain, but it was enough to wake me up out of a deep sleep (which is very difficult; only a migraine has done that to me before.) I was on the short-shift with the hour lost by Daylight Saving Time (throwing off my natural ability to know what time it is without having a clock in front of me) and knew that I had to be at the office at 7:30 a.m. CDT, sleep or no. This was pain that no-sold the Baclofen, which is rare for neck pain with me.
Luckily I broke out the heating pad and it helped soothe me back to sleep, though it took a good half hour to get back there. That was not fun.
There's a great article here from ESPN.com columnist Gene Wojciechowski about how sports odds are set with a fascinating look at Las Vegas Sports Consultants, Inc.. It's a must-read for any sports fan, as it shows how the power players there use stats to help calculate odds (and how spot-on they tend to be as a result.)
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