NYC Marathon: What Happened Here?

I want an explanation. Tonight, amidst enormous pressure from both sports media outlets (mainly ESPN) and those in the mainstream news, the NYC Marathon and Mayor Bloomberg made the decision to cancel annual event which was to be held on Sunday. That in my opinion, is absolutely the right decision, but probably should have been made much sooner. I am however, not taking great issue with that. My issue lies with the source of the ridiculous attention and pressure that was put on the mayor and the NYC Marathon to cancel, whereas the Heat/Knicks game tonight, 2 days prior to the marathon, and the Steelers/Giants game in The Meadowlands in New Jersey on Sunday seem to have escaped with only a fraction of the scrutiny, if any at all. ESPN is the worst culprit here, and it's pretty obvious why, but they are not the only ones as the public seems to have a rather distorted view of the issue as well. Please understand that I am not regular follower or fan of the NYC Marathon, I have just come across a bizarre double standard that I simply cannot find an explanation for.

Now I've never been a fan of ESPN, however, the purpose of this post is not to rip ESPN about their usual shortcomings when it comes to reporting, but rather shed light and ask questions about the stance they decided to take on the NYC Marathon issue compared to some other sports events going off in New York City this weekend. The network has been bringing it up for days, on television and on their website, and while they did not take an official stance on the matter, they pushed articles and stories to the front of their outlets that took a hard line saying the decision by Mayor Bloomberg and the marathon itself were wrong.

There has not been one article however (online at least, I haven't watched ESPN television recently so I cannot comment on that) asking whether the Heat/Knicks game tonight should be played or if the Steelers/Giants game on Sunday should go on either. The most that I have seen is a story about Dwayne Wade questioning the decision to play tonight (MAJOR credit goes to Wade on that, and he even put his money where his mouth is, donating his entire check from tonight's game to the relief efforts). They also put up a poll in the last hour, asking whether the Steelers/Giants game should be played (more on that later, the results are staggering). What's happening here? Well it just so happens that ESPN is airing that Heat/Knicks game tonight, a very high profile NBA game that I'm sure will bring great ratings for them. There's also that contract that they have with the NBA to air all of those games during the regular season as well as the postseason. Hmmmm. Well okay, what about the Steelers/Giants game? Oh yeah, maybe that $1B (with a B) Monday Night Football contract has something to do with it. The Worldwide Leader In Sports clearly has a vested interest in staying away from any criticism of the NBA or the NFL, so why not make the NYC Marathon the goat in all of this? ESPN has always been a colossal failure when it comes to attempting actual journalism on serious topics (see: Jerry Sandusky and Bernie Fine coverage) and this is clearly no different as they have thrown the concept of impartiality out the window.

What about the mainstream media? Well they have fallen right in line as well as over the last few days you could find the story on the front of places like Yahoo, with no mention of the Knicks or Giants games. What about the public? What's their stance on this? This is shocking to me. Here are the results of the poll ESPN put up not too long ago, which was the first mention I have even seen questioning the validity of playing the game on Sunday.

Now it was either yesterday or Wednesday that a similar poll was conducted, but with the NYC Marathon as the main topic. While I unfortunately do not have the screenshots of that poll, I can tell you that the results were almost identical to this one, except it was flipped. A great majority of the public said it needed to be cancelled. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? I simply do not understand.

I have yet to hear a good reason for this double standard. Runners taking up all the hotel rooms? Well I would assume most of the people running the race are already there, so it's a little late to solve that problem, and you don't think Steelers fans travel? Please. The football game is in NJ, it's not downtown like the race? Madison Square Garden. The manpower needed to run the race could be better used elsewhere? Absolutely, nobody will be needed for either of the other two games. New Yorkers could use a distraction from this reality for a few hours, rooting for their teams? Sure, just disregard all the reasons to cancel the marathon, to play those.

The reality is that none of these events should be played this weekend, the city needs manpower directed elsewhere, and these games will still be here when the city is fixed. I however, have yet to find an answer to why the NYC Marathon was made to be a punching bag in this situation by the media and the public, while the other 2 events escaped unscathed. Are we just seeing an 8th grade popularity contest here? There are 3 culprits here, someone needs to be punished, so let's beat up on the unpopular little guy. I do not understand what happened here, and I do not yet have any answers, but I will continue to look for them, as elusive as they may be.

UPDATE: (11/2/12 7:11 PM) ESPN has released a poll with over 25k responses asking if the right decision was made regarding the NYC Marathon. Here are the results.

I don't even have words for this anymore. This is in direct contradiction with the poll released just an HOUR ago about the Steelers/Giants game. The American public seriously needs to sit down and think about the stances they're taking here. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? Ladies and gentlemen, these are some of the same people voting for your next president in 4 days time. Opinions without reason or thought behind them. Incredible.

2010 FIFA World Cup Analysis, All 8 Groups, Coming This Week!

     Yes I know, it's been awhile since The Show last aired, but I'm back just in time to provide you with some World Cup insight! Tired of hearing those clowns on ESPN try and talk soccer? I sure as hell am. Why not get some analysis from someone who follows international soccer like a religion? Over the next 8 days I will be bringing you group-by-group analysis for all 8 groups and all 32 teams, with predictions and the things YOU should be watching for! Kick it here at The Hurricane Joe Show for everything leading up to and during the 2010 FIFA World Cup! It's finally about here, it really is!

My Thoughts On HBO's The Pacific So Far...

Sunday night is a fantastic night of television. Between The Pacific, Breaking Bad, Celebrity Apprentice, and The Amazing Race I'm on overload Sunday nights. Well I'm catching up slowly and I just finished the 3rd and latest installment of HBO's 10-Part miniseries, The Pacific.

First let's preface this with a couple things. I was a HUGE fan of Band of Brothers. I loved everything about it, start to finish, and have seen it more than a few times. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg did an unbelievable job with it and I consider it the best miniseries ever made (although I'm also a huge fan of Into The West), and an epic on par with anything that has been done in the last 10 years of cinema, especially anything made for TV. So my expectations for this are very high as the Hanks and Spielberg again head this up, but with an even larger budget this time around (which doesn't really mean anything in regards to how good it will be). The second big thing I must mention is that I am a ridiculous history buff and World War II is one of my favorite topics. However, The fight in the Pacific with Japan just has never grabbed my interest as I have always been much more enthralled with the fight in Europe with Hitler and the Nazis. So coming in, I've had high expectations, but I don't expect it to be as good as Band of Brothers.

The Pacific has been very good so far, although I think it has taken a slightly different path than Band of Brothers in how they approached the start of the series, and that is one of my main issues that I will get to. The Pacific throws you right into the fight as the first and second episodes both revolve around the Battle of Guadalcanal. The fighting scenes are incredible even though the scenes at night can sometimes be hard to follow. They definitely took a different approach here in trying to get viewers in with fighting right off. This is where I think they made a mistake.

In Band of Brothers, there wasn't a lot of fighting in the first couple of episodes as most of it centered around boot-camp and deployment. The great thing about this though was that there was a ton of character development done and by the time the fighting ensued you were really involved with the characters and knew who they all were and their stories. I could honestly say that I didn't really know who anyone was for the first couple of episodes of the Pacific so it lessened my interest in the fighting a little bit. Instead of giving us solid character development early on, it seems they waited until episode 3 to give us the bulk of it. There was a lot of it done in the last one, and it definitely got me more involved with characters, especially Pvt. Leckie and Sgt. Basilone. I just wish they would have done this first so the fighting in Guadalcanal would have meant more.

That's pretty much my only issue with the series so far, and otherwise I'm loving it. I'm starting to get a better grip on some of the characters and I'm really looking forward to seeing where things go from here. You might need Wikipedia to help you follow some of what each character is actually doing for the first couple of episodes, but it's totally worth it. If you haven't checked The Pacific out yet you need to do so as it's only going to get better from here.

The Amazing Race POWER RANKINGS (episode 7, aired 3/28/10)

1) Louis & Michael: I'll be honest, I initially thought these two were just goofballs and weren't going to be very good. Boy was I wrong about that one. They started the race very slow, and have even said that they have adjusted and changed how they operate and wow has it made a difference. I believe they've won 2 legs, and they were in first here until the order got reshuffled when everyone got on the same flight to The Seychelles. They drew one of the bottom 3 numbers and that set them back. But they didn't make mistakes like everyone else in hauling the coconuts, and they pay great attention to detail (because they're detectives right? Haha.). This is the strongest team left in the race, and should be there at the end.

2) Steve & Allie: Steve & Allie finally broke through and won a leg this week. They have been consistently finishing in the top half of each leg all race though. This is another team that doesn't make many mistakes (minus leaving their bags behind this week) and they're pretty good at the challenges too. They have been one of the most consistent teams over the course of the race and have pretty much flown under the radar until now. TV time for them has been limited too, but if they keep up performances like this week, they'll be getting much more, and on the finale in particular. A factor that might affect these two is whether or not they are going to have their bags to begin the next leg or not, it might hurt them if they don't.

3) Dan & Jordan: Here's another team that I thought was weak early on in the race. I don't know whether they have moved themselves up in my eyes or if everyone else just moved themselves down. Either way, this appears to be one of the better teams when they're in an English speaking country, it's when another language is spoken that these two have real problems. They were smart enough this week to double check that they had all their coconuts in their cart before they moved on, and that gets them a ton of bonus points as more teams screwed that one up than did it successfully. My friend thinks they are going to one of the final 3, but I'm not ready to make that kind of prediction for them yet. They are fast and athletic, as well as good at the challenges, but will their youth and inexperience catch up to them in the end?

4) Brent & Caite: Now I may be mistaken here because I don't exactly remember, but weren't these two consistently in the front of the pack early on in the race, and even win a leg? Their problem is that keep making silly mistakes on the race and their bickering seems to get in the way sometimes too. This week their problems continued when they were leading the group and not only got a slow ox, but also forgot a coconut and had to go back for it. They've been hanging at the back of the pack for awhile now and their buddies Jeff & Jordan were eliminated last week. The real question for these two is if they can clean it up for a leg or two and just get to the finale, because if they do, I absolutely think they can win the whole thing.

5) Jet & Cord: I was pretty sure Jet & Cord were the lucky team on the race before, but they confirmed that for me this week. I know they won a couple legs, but that was a direct result of them catching that bus that gave them a lead that not even they could screw up for a couple legs. They cost themselves big time this time around though when they left the bottle on the boat. Absolute stupidity. They are now going to have to compete with a speed bump next week, and I'm not sure they can recover from that. Neither of them are very experienced with traveling and I don't think they've been out of rodeo land very much. They are going to have a lot of trouble next week just staying in the race.

6) Carol & Brandy: These two should have finished last this week, but they have Jet & Cord to thank for that not happening. I still can't believe they didn't even make an effort to try and get seats at the front of the plane, and they knew it might end up costing them when they made that decision too. They drew one of the last 3 numbers and that put them behind right off. I'm also quite tired of hearing them argue, which they seem to do a lot of. They aren't very good at the challenges, and they aren't very fast either. It's a battle between them and Jet & Cord for elimination next week.

The Amazing Race HITLIST (episode 7, aired 3/28/10)

Okay so I didn't think buy or sell was really going to work for this show (or Survivor really for that matter) and I wasn't really too keen on a hit or miss column because it seems too blah. But that's what I'm going to go with for now until my creative juices help me come up with something better. Okay, on to my thoughts about this show!

HITS

The Seychelles: Wow what an amazing place. I felt like I was watching Survivor from time to time because this was that kind of environment. The camera shots they took of the water were incredibly gorgeous. I didn't even know this place existed until I saw this episode. Very cool location and I'm glad TAR went there.

Allie: Up until this episode, we really haven't seen much from Allie and her dad Steve, but we got a lot of them here as they went on to win their first leg of the race. I'm very glad they did win though because it meant we'd be treated to more Allie and her personality really shone through in this episode. I'll be honest, I've got a major crush on this girl now, she was just cute before, but now it's full blown crush territory. I mean what's not to like about the sweet, cute, religious girl right? Her interaction with the turtle was adorable too. Okay I'll stop gushing now.

Detour - Turtle Toddle or Ox Trot: First things first, given these and what they said about them, I would have gone with the Turtle Toddle. I feel like they were trying to trick the teams because I mean, who would pick something that was contingent on the movement of a turtle right? That's the point. But onto the Detour, I thought it was a good one. Steve & Allie were done with this very quickly (and they did Turtle Toddle!). The tasks were relatively simple, minus guiding the ox along, teams problems were that they weren't careful enough with the coconuts. I give this detour a hit because it messed a lot of teams up and I loved the turtles (more on that in a minute).

The Turtles: The turtles were all kinds of awesome. They were adorable as they just scooted along and I couldn't help but laugh every time one of them had banana all over their face. The whole thing was just funny even though I felt bad about the poor things being lured around with a banana. I didn't even know turtles ate bananas! It seemed like you were either going to get one that wanted to cooperate or you weren't. Carol & Brandy just happened to pick the most defiant turtle around apparently. Or he was just full.

The Coconut Guy: This guy was a riot. He didn't say too much, but every time someone came to him and had forgotten one, he delivered his "It's not enough coconuts" line, which was just hilarious since they had so many in the cart already and to say it wasn't enough when they were missing one was funny to me for some reason. Plus, he was laughing his ass off whenever he told someone that, it was like he took pleasure in sending them all the way back. It was great.

Underwater Phil: What the hell was this? This was so random to just have Phil attempt to explain the roadblock while he was underwater. Blubb blubbbb blub blubbb. Thank you CBS for the subtitles there though, my underwater speak had been lacking. I put this as a hit because it was just too funny and totally random. Anytime they take Phil out of his element I like it. Anyone else really want to see Phil and Jeff Probst do the Amazing Race together or is that just me? Probably just me.

"From what I've heard, it's pretty anonymous, amongst the teams.": Good one Brent. And I thought your girl Caite was the one that was supposed to deliver all of the stupid lines this season. This gets a hit simply because it blows my mind that these two can be such complete airheads.

MISSES

Carol & Brandy Not Getting Seats At The Front Of The Plane: I assume when you apply to be on TAR, that you have seen the damn thing before right? I always thought it was just a given that teams would try to get seats as close to the front as they can. Every team every year does this, at least the good ones do. Carol & Brandy are not a good team, and this is just further proof. They would have come in last too if Jet & Cord weren't such morons.

Teams Forgetting Coconuts: The detour obviously said somewhere that it was important to make sure you had ALL the coconuts, because Dan & Jordan were smart enough to go back and double check. So my question is, what the hell are people doing not double checking!? Seems pretty simple to me that you just do a quick search around before you leave, or look back as you're leaving! For crying out loud, Carol & Brandy actually ran over their coconut as they left! It's little things like this that end up costing teams the most on the race.

Road Block - 7 Bottles Up: This was the road block? How hard was this really? It took like 2 minutes tops. Weak.

Jet & Cord Forget Their Bottle: Seriously guys? They even said they knew there was some pouch inside there. You knew, but didn't bother to look at all? Just wow. These guys were so lucky to win the couple of legs that they did.

7Up Reward: I'm sorry, is this Survivor? We're giving out rewards now? I think this is going to become a theme on TAR. Survivor has no problems pimping their sponsors, and there's no easier way to do that then through rewards. TAR has always been more low key when it comes to sponsors (minus Travelocity), but I think we're going to start seeing more rewards given to teams at the end of legs because it opens it up more for other sponsors. Rewards in TAR, it's going to become the norm soon, you heard it here first.

Celebrity Apprentice 3 Power Rankings! (episode 2, aired 3/21/10)

TEAM TENACITY

1) Maria Kanellis: Wow, I never thought I'd be putting her #1, but damn did she impress as Project Manager in the "Kodak Moment" challenge. She not only gained respect from the rest of her team, which I think she was lacking before because of her age, but she stood out huge to Trump as well. She showed that she is more than capable of organizing and executing, and her creativity is second to none. She's on top of Team Tenacity right now.

2) Summer Sanders: Summer kinda laid low in the first challenge when she was working in the kitchen, but was still an integral part. This week however, she got mentioned by name by the Kodak executives who were extremely impressed with her work and even said that they would hire her on the spot to be a rep for them. I've always liked Summer since her days as the host of Figure It Out (yeah I went there), but she showed here that she can be a formidable competitor to win this competition as well. Anytime you get singled out in a positive way by the execs for the company you're working with, that is nothing but good news. Trump took notice as well.

3) Holly Robinson Peete: I thought she did an excellent job the first week in organizing people as well as being the top fund raiser for the team. She's shown that she has the savvy to flourish in The Apprentice and she always seems to be the voice of reason in tough situations. She's been very impressive so far, even though she may not get as much TV time as Sharon or Cyndi.

4) Sharon Osbourne: I thought about dropping her a spot to #5 because of how she left sick, but I think she has a lot to offer to the team. She tells it like it is, and sometimes teams need someone like that to set them straight. She is also arguably the most recognizable celebrity that the women have. She could be very essential to their success and hopefully she doesn't bail out on them sick again.

5) Selita Ebanks: As gorgeous as she is, she's the one I tend to forget about on Team Tenacity. She played a central role in the first week, taking over the cooking duties for the most part which did win the team $10,000, but she didn't do too much this week. I would be very interested to see how she would do as Project Manager. She has ruffled no feathers though and that is a good thing.

6) Cyndi Lauper: What purpose does she serve really, besides purely entertainment value? I understand that along with Sharon they are the most recognizable celebs (although I couldn't point her out of a lineup before this), but she seems to be a bigger pain in the ass than anything else. Is she entertaining? Hell yeah. Funny? Yeah, whether intentionally or not. But I really thought she should have been fired Week 1 as she did a poor job as leader in a challenge where they got destroyed. The longer she stays around, the less credibility I give this show.

TEAM ROCKSOLID

1) Darryl Strawberry: To be honest I had a hard time finding a #1 for the men, so I'm going to have to go off of this week and say Darryl. He is loved in the city of New York and was their top celebrity attraction for sure. Trump seems to like him a lot as well and he's been good at everything he's done so far. He's kind of quiet too so we don't get to hear too much from him, but I think he's going to be hard to fire down the line.

2) Curtis Stone: He was excellent last week in the restaurant challenge as that's right in his wheelhouse. He's well spoken and the ladies seem to like him a lot too and that showed in the "Kodak Moment" challenge. Stone also seems like the type that isn't going to get on anyone's nerves. He's been strong so far.

3) Bret Michaels: Yes he had his little breakdown this week, but I think that was because of Sinbad more than anything else. The previous week as Project Manager he was excellent in his role, delegating when he needed to and making sure everyone had something to do. It's just too bad he seemed to wash all that goodwill away very fast with his little rant about the cameras this week.

4) Goldberg: I don't really know what to say about Goldberg. I can't say that he's really stood out in either of the last 2 challenges. He's not pissing anyone off either, but I'd like to see him in a more active role soon. He doesn't get all that much TV time either for that matter.

5) Michael Johnson: Michael just seems lost at times, like when he got confused this week. He's another guy that doesn't get a whole lot of TV time either so it'll be interesting to see what he's able to do. He seems like a pretty smart guy though, but he has to go down here on the list just because I haven't seen much from him.

6) Rod Blagojevich: I love Blago. He's entertaining as hell and funny as hell too, even though sometimes I don't think he's trying to be. That being said, he's definitely at the bottom of the rankings. He doesn't fit in with the rest of the group at all, and as evidenced by the balloon thing this week, I'm not sure they take very seriously. There's also the issue of the reaction that he gets from people on the streets, and I'd imagine that it's mostly negative. I'm not sure how that can be an asset to this team. I hope he does something great for them because I want to see him stick around. Trump was right though, he's got some guts for coming on to this show.

Happy Birthday to...

THJS would like to deliver a birthday shoutout (by request) to Kenny Chesney, country music artist and University of Tennessee alum, who is celebrating his 42nd birthday today! Hell of a birthday present today eh Ken? His Tennessee Volunteers will be making their first ever Elite 8 appearance this weekend after their win over #2 seed Ohio State earlier this evening. Happy birthday!

Celebrity Apprentice 3 BUY or SELL! (episode 2, aired 3/21/10)

Picking the Project Managers: I am BUYING the women’s process and SELLING the men’s. Who the hell put Blago in charge!? The women collaborated on the decision and I think that paid off in the end as they made a good choice in Maria (more on that later). Blago just appointing Sinbad made little sense, and the rest of the group  going along with it like that was cool made even less sense. I mean, c’mon, who makes decisions like this?

Maria as Project Manager: I am absolutely BUYING this. Wow did she make quite the impression. Having known her from her WWE days, I didn’t really expect a whole hell of a lot, but this show has proven that they never really let her personality show though. She was organized, poised, and extremely enthusiastic about what she was doing, and that showed in the final product the women produced. Maria really impressed me here and I’m sure the same can be said for Trump.

Sinbad as Project Manager: I am SELLING this, for whatever I can sell it for, which isn’t much. Wow was he terrible. He was ridiculously unorganized and it was a complete 180 degree shift from how things were running during the challenge the previous week. The men were looking to be told to do something and Sinbad was clueless about it all. And how could you not have anyone at the table shilling the Kodak products!? Isn’t that the who damn point? Fail.

Blago on the Streets: I will definitely BUY this. How freakin’ hilarious is he when talking to random people on the streets? Constantly proclaiming his innocence to anyone willing to listen is funny enough, but being confused for Donny Osmond and that guy who flat told him “You are a disgrace” not once, but twice is simply priceless. He’s so out of place with everyone else on the team too. Pure entertainment, can’t wait to see what he does next week.

Bret Michaels’ Breakdown: I am BUYING this. I believe what he said in the boardroom about it being a self-imposed timeout, and I think that was a good decision on his part not to let his temper get the best of him in regards to Sinbad. The rant about how he has seen all this before and thought he was being made out to be the bad guy was quite laughable though. In the end though, good decision on his part to just walk away instead of clocking Sinbad upside the head, which might not have been a bad thing to be honest.

Maria and the Make a Wish Foundation: BUY, BUY, BUY. Wow this was some emotional stuff. When she was hanging out and having fun with that little girl I’m not gonna lie, I almost shed a tear. You could tell how genuine her enthusiasm was in helping these kids. It was a great thing to see. I wasn’t really a fan of hers in WWE, but after seeing this episode I think she’s amazing. She went out of her way to do these things for the kids, and you could just tell how happy she was to be able to give $20,000 to her charity at the end. We need more people like her around.

Sharon’s Take on Blago’s Face: I’ll SELL this. I think her quote was that he looked like someone pinched his eyes together when he wasn’t done cooking, and that he’s “half-baked” and needs to “go back in the oven”. Was it hilarious? You bet it was. But puh-lease Sharon, you aren’t exactly a 10. Or a 6 for that matter. 

Donald Fires Sinbad: This is a BUY. I see no other option here. Blago shouldn’t have even been in the boardroom, and the incident that Sinbad kept referring to with Bret was such a non-issue in terms of the whole scheme of things that the blame fell squarely on him. The fact of the matter is he didn’t get it done as Project Manager. He was a poor leader and is style did not mesh well with everyone else.

Sweet 16 Preview! (East + South Regions)

EAST REGION

#1 Kentucky vs. #12 Cornell
-This is being billed as the classic David vs. Goliath match and that is precisely what this is. From the non-scholarship athletes of the Big Red, to the differences in pay between John Calipari and Steve Donahue, to the Ivy League vs. the SEC, the differences between the two programs are vast. Kentucky has rolled through its first two games, but surprisingly, so has Cornell. The Big Red has dismantled Temple and Wisconsin which were two of the better defenses in Division I all year. The real question is, can Cornell hang with a team as talented and athletic as Kentucky? They need to keep John Wall out of the lane and prevent him from making plays that way. Wall is the key and if they can slow him down and frustrate him, Cornell can make this a game. As they showed when they took Kansas to the limit at Allen Fieldhouse earlier in the year, this team can hang with anybody when they are playing their best, and they are certainly playing their best right now.

Who Wins? Kentucky. They are too talented and too athletic for Cornell to handle, but The Big Red are more than capable of making this a very interesting game.

#11 Washington vs. #2 West Virginia
-The Mountaineers suffered a critical setback this week with the loss of Darryl Bryant to a broken foot that he got during practice mid-week. He is really their only option at point guard as his backup, Joe Mazzulla hasn't played much this season, let alone run the offense for this team in big time games. Bryant was also one of the team's best shooters on a team really lacking in that department, and Mazzulla quite frankly, can't shoot, and hasn't made a single 3 pointer all year. The worst thing a team can lose is probably a key point guard and West Virginia is going to have to move on without him. Washington in the mean team has been quite a surprise and is finally playing to its potential which they hadn't done all year long until the Pac-10 Tournament came around. The Huskies are very talented and are hot as hell right now. West Virginia still has Da'Sean Butler who has stepped up for them every time they needed him to in a critical spots, and Devin Ebanks who is ridiculously talented and athletic. Missouri already gave them problems in the second round, and they are dealing with a lot more this time around.

Who Wins? I think Washington continues their hot run and pulls the upset here. I had West Virginia in my title game before the tournament, but they looked shaky against Missouri and I think ultimately the loss or Bryant where at a position where they were very thin already will be too much. The Huskies in a close one.

SOUTH REGION

#1 Duke vs. #4 Purdue
-Can a #4 seed be a Cinderella? I think the Boilermakers definitely should be considered as such since I'm sure not many people had them pegged for a Sweet 16 run after the loss of Robbie Hummel and that abysmal performance in the Big 10 Tournament against Minnesota. I know I didn't. However, that being said, I think they are living on borrowed time. They escaped against Texas A&M and had tons of trouble with Siena for awhile. Chris Kramer has stepped it up for them, but will he be enough here to overcome a Duke team that is hot right now? Speaking of Duke, who was arguably the weakest of the #1 seeds, could they have achieved an easier path to the Final Four now that #2 Villanova has been bounced? You could almost argue that the South housed the weakest #1, #2, #3, and #4 seeds. Here's a fun little fact for you, Duke hasn't beaten a team seeded higher than #5 since they won the National Championship in 2001.

Who Wins? Duke ends that streak and beats a Purdue team that goes down fighting. Props to the Boilermakers for overcoming the loss of Hummel, but that run ends here.

#3 Baylor vs. #10 St. Mary's
-Omar Samhan is a monster. A beast. And he's got quite a way with words too as he's become a media favorite and is always ready to deliver a quotable. But is he ready to deliver again, on the biggest stage? He is averaging 30.5 ppg and 9.5 rebs so far in the tournament which is just absolutely ridiculous. Baylor in the meantime struggled with Sam Houston State for awhile and didn't look great against Old Dominion either. In addition to Xavier/Kansas State, I think this is the most exciting game in the Sweet 16. St. Mary's is hot and ready to finally escape the shadow of Gonzaga in the WCC. Can they recreate some of that magic and make an Elite 8 run like the Zags did in 1999? Either way, this would be the first Elite 8 appearance for either team, so this is a stage that neither team is used to, and that makes this exciting.

Who wins? I had Baylor in my Final Four, but this is a breakout tournament for Samhan. He's going to put up some big numbers again, and St. Mary's will make their first Elite 8 appearance in school history.

Sweet 16 Preview! (Midwest + West Regions)

Wow. What a hell of a first weekend to the tournament eh? That was one of the most exciting first rounds that I think I have ever seen, and that Thursday might have been the greatest tournament day I can remember. Now though, we have been given 3 days to try and catch our breaths before the Sweet 16 kicks into gear. So without further ado, here's my game by game preview for the round of 16.

MIDWEST REGION

#9 Northern Iowa vs. #5 Michigan State
-Well I'm not sure who saw this matchup coming, especially after Kalin Lucas went down for the tournament early in the Maryland game. That is until Korie Lucious stepped in and hit the biggest shot of his life. And that's probably the second best shot we've seen from these two teams so far, right after Ali Faroukhmanesh's ice cold dagger of a 3 against Kansas. And I mean ICE COLD. This game is absolutely chock full of great storylines, from Lucious and Ali, to the Cinderella story of Northern Iowa, to perhaps the greatest tournament coach of our time in Tom Izzo. The questions here are can the Panthers continue their hot shooting and can Tom Izzo once again coach his Spartans to victory without Lucas? A lot of people seem to have Sparty here, and I'm never one who would bet against a Tom Izzo coached team, but I think Northern Iowa has all the momentum right now and is just going to be too good for a Michigan State squad that is without Kalin Lucas.

Who wins? Northern Iowa in a game that I don't think will be as close as people are expecting.

#6 Tennessee vs. #2 Ohio State
-Who thought Tennessee would be here after kicking Tyler Smith off the team in January and suspending 3 others on gun and drug charges? Not me. Granted they got a big assist from Ohio as well who shocked Georgetown in Round 1, but the Vols dispatched of them rather handily and now face an Ohio State team that has charged their way into the Sweet 16 behind Evan Turner. Tennessee is definitely someone you want to root for, given their problems earlier in the season but the Buckeyes are going to prove to be too much for them to handle. Evan Turner is a game changer and he is determined to prove that he is best player in this tournament (which he is). The Vols will need a huge game from Wayne Chism to have any chance in this one.

Who wins? Ohio State, but this could end up being a very close game. Evan Turner will not allow OSU to lose this game.

WEST REGION

#1 Syracuse vs. #5 Butler
-Butler is trying to make their first ever Final Four this year, and if they did that, it would be right in their backyard in Indianapolis? Wouldn't that be something? Yeah that would be something alright but it's not gonna happen. Syracuse has absolutely destroyed their first two opponents and made Gonzaga look like a complete joke in the process (good call on that one Joe). That look like an absolute force right now and Butler is just not equipped to handle them. Wesley Johnson was a beast against Gonzaga, putting up 31 points in a scene that oddly reminiscent of some guy named Carmelo not that long ago. Jim Boeheim is probably going to be the Coach of the Year, and his Orange should cruise into the Elite 8 behind Johnson.

Who wins? Syracuse, and I don't even think it's going to be close. Sorry Butler.

#6 Xavier vs. #2 Kansas State
-Two teams have made trips to the Sweet 16 each of the last 3 years. The Michigan State Spartans with some guy named Tom Izzo at the helm and guess who? Yup, the Xavier Musketeers out of the Atlantic-10. This is now a bonafide big time program. Xavier has made it known that they hate being referred to as a "mid-major", and I'm going to do just as they ask because they are not one anymore. Despite all of their success, they are still looking for that Final Four trip, and this might be their best chance at it. It's too bad they're in a stacked region and will have to go through Kansas State and more than likely Syracuse to get there. Kansas State is playing their best basketball right now, and you know that there had to be more than a few smiles around that locker room when their nemesis Kansas went down. There will not be a 4th meeting between the two teams in the Final Four, but who would have thought Kansas State might be the team that actually ends up in Indianapolis instead? Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente anchor an incredible backcourt for the Wildcats, but they will surely be tested by an equally incredible tandem in Jordan Crawford and Terrell Holloway. This will be the best game in the Sweet 16.

Who Wins? Kansas State in a very close game. If you're only going to watch one game out of these 8, make it this one.