the mad sports man

louisville blowout the louisville cardinals just blew out the duke blue devils 85-63 to advance to the final four and will face wichita state.  it was a pretty tight game until the second half then louisville blew it open.  they were also playing inspired after kevin ware, as he was landing while tryng to block a shot, broke his leg. was pretty gruesome to watch.  he will be feeling better after this win.  here is hoping for a speedy recovery.  louisville vs wichita state and michigan vs syracuse is saturday night. and the championship game on the eighth

wolverine attacks gator the michigan woverines are in the final four with a convincing 79-59 win over the florida gators.  it was michigan all the way in this one.  they started the game on a 13-0 run and led as much as 24 points.  michigan will now face syracuse in one national semi final game.  coming up is louisville vs duke.  winner faces wichita state.

historic opening night tonight marks the beginning of the major league baseball season, and the opening night game features the texas rangers at the houston astros in the astros first ever american league game.  after 50 seasons in the national league, the astros are starting a new chapter in the american league.  this was at the request of new ownership.  the new owners of the astros put in the condition that the astros move to the AL as part of purchasing the team.  commisioner bud selig agreed to it and the sale took place.  with both the AL and NL  having 15 teams, this starts a season long bit, an interleague series.  the first AL vs NL series starts in cincinnati as the reds host the los angeles angels.  first game is tomorrow.

wichita state 'shocks'  ohio state the wichita state shockers just knocked out ohio state 70-66.  this got pretty close the last ten minutes of the game.  wichita state was up as high as 20 pts before ohio state made a game of it.  the shockers will play louisville or duke.  that one is tomorrow

syracuse in final four syracuse put in a convincing 55-39 win over marquette to punch thier ticket into the final four. wasnt that close at the end as syracuse opened it up in the second half.  they play michigan or florida, who plays tomorrow.  coming up has wichita state vs ohio state.

regional semi final day two the remainder of the elite eight is set.louisville beat out oregon 77-69 toreach the elite eight and will face duke, who knocked out michigan state 71-61.  the cinderella team of the tournament is out as florida gulf coast, who started the game up 15-6, lost 62-50 to the florida gators.  a great run by fgcu.  florida will face michigan, who won a thriller over kansas 87-85 in overtime.   michigan was trailing by 14 with 5 minutes to go, came back to tie it at the end of regulation and won in ot.michigan vs florida and duke vs louisville will play on sunday.

regional semi final day one wichita state put the finishing touches on a 72-58 win over lasalle.  they will face ohio state in one elite eight game.  ohio state beat arizona 73-70 in a vert entertaining game. meanwhile, syracuse took out indiana pretty convincingly 61-50 to get to the elite eight.  they will face marquette, who took out miami 71-61.  that game was more one sided than the score indicates.  tomorrows games will round out the remainder of the elite eight.  games include louisville vs oregon, michigan state vs duke, kansas vs michigan and florida vs florida gulf coast.  should be good matchups

florida gulf coast does it again the florida gulf coast eagles pulled one out agai n, this time knocking out san diego state 81-71 and will face the florida gators in the sweet 16 in north texas.  FGCU is the first 15 seed to make  the sweet 16 as well.  wow.

the upsets continue this one just ended not that long ago.  the oregon ducks, the 12 seed in the midwest,  upset #4 saint louis 74-57.  oregon out played saint louis big.  right now #9 wichita st is leading #1 gonzaga in the west bracket 26-18 in the first half.  could this be an upset?  find out later. update:  wichita st has knocked out gonzaga 76-70.  first 1 seed to get knocked out this year

day four and upsets continue two more upsets and both in the west.  first, #13 lasalle knocked out #4 kansas st. 63-61.  second, #12 ole miss knocked out #5 wisconsin 57-46.  wow.  lasalle and ole miss play each other in the next round.  oy.  its getting fun now. update:  and yet another.  in the south bracket,  florida gulf coast became the seventh #15 seed to knock out a #2 seed when they beat georgetown 78-68.  one of the bigger upsets so far. update:  and one more to cap off the night as #11 minnesota knocked off  #6 ucla 83-63 as the last game of the night ends.  what a way to finish day four.  more tomorrow

official first round (they say second) today  marks the beginning of the second round (the first being the play in games) and already one upset so far from what i have seen where, in the nidwest bracket, #12 oregon beat #5 oklahoma st 68-55.  already an interesting start.  let the madness begin. update:  upset of the night just happened in the west bracket with #14 harvard stunning #3 new mexico 68-62.  this after #12 california beat #5 unlv 64-61 in the east bracket.  oy.

first day of spring as of 4:02 am this morning, spring officially arrived.  too bad winter hasnt left in this country and other places.  snow is coming down out east.  supposed to get 8-10 cm starting tomorrow for the day.  oy  old man winter will not die.  anyone sick of winter yet?

march madness time again tomorrow is the beginning of the NCAA mens basketball tournament, a.k.a march madness.  tommorrow is the first two of the play-in games.  officially called the first four anyways.  gonna be lots of baseketball and a few upsets to go along with it.  we will definitely see how this tournament goes.

happy st patricks day tis a chilly st patricks day and a bit snowy as well.  tis -17 at the moment.  this blog entry is green,  there is some green beer flowing somewhere, and assuming it isnt frozen, the chicago river is green.  at least full of green dye.   few people wearing some form of green.  so enjoy the green and the day.

so you think its march? most of alberta is getting a dump of snow.  could get anywheres between 10 and 20 cm of it.  western and northern parts even more.   plus chilly temps.   chillier the further north you go.  in high lever there was a -37 wind chill today (if i remember reading that right).   first day of spring is this coming wednesday and its supposed to be chilly.  so its supposed to be march eh?  beware the ides of march i guess.

the end of the brier brad jacobs of northern ontario and representing sault ste marie, put the wrap on an 11-4 beating over jeff stoughton of manitoba to win the 2013 brier.  first brier win by a northern ontario team since al hackner in 1985.  brad jacobs will now represent canada at the worlds beginning march 30th.  the womens worlds begin this saturday in riga latvia.  rachel homan will be representing canada there.

birthday win in las vegas great way to celebrating a birthday - by winning.  great win by matt kenseth as he beat out kasey kahne to win in las vegas, despite kahne leading most of the laps.  kenseth is the third driver to win on his birthday (the others being cale yarborough twice and kyle busch).  congrats to matt.  jimmie johnson is still leading the points, this time by 5 over brad keselowski.  keselowski finished 3rd and johnson was 6th.

time to spring forward. it is the weekend to change your clocks forward an hour - unless you are in parts if the continent where you dont have to. 2am sunday is the official change, but i for one do so before bedtime so its done already.  downside is one loses an hour of sleep.   mmmmmmm sleeeeeep novelty.  dalylight saving time.

subway fresh fit 500 carl edwards hung on to win in phoenix today.  held up jimmie johnson on the last couple of restarts to win.  denny hamln finished 3rd.  jimmie johnson still leads the points, now by 8 over brad keselowski and dale earnhard jr.  next race is the kobalt tools 400 in las vegas.

mens curling championships begin today today the mens curling championship - also known as the brier - begins today.  edmonton is the host this year.  it is looking like a competitive field, with kevin martin of alberta, jeff stoughton of manitoba and brad gushue of newfoundland and laborador in the mix.  also glenn howard skipping ontario.  edmonton set an all time attendance record in 2005.  rexall place is the location for the brier.  it ends on the 10th with the winner going to the world championships.