Big Dancing

Ling from HR can't stand the hostile work environment

I know everyone remembers how much ass I kicked last year in the NCAA Pickery. My excellence was confirmed as I was summarily ousted as the anchorman for this year’s 65 team orgy. I guess it’s only fitting that in this day and age of every kid getting a gold star to protect fragile egos. You wouldn’t believe the tension at the Global d&d Headquarters over this decision. Hairy Carrey and Poon pulled the plug on the office interwebportal-htmls until they got to pick their favorite regions, Savant sat Indian style (his politically incorrect term – we prefer “Feather-not-Dot-style”) in the break room and held his breath until he was assured that he’d get his way and if Pork Chop didn’t get to fire the final shots this year he threatened to run nothing but his colonoscopy post over and over until 2010. Fine. Pussies.

So this is how this year’s NAACP NCAA Pickery will go. Each contributor will pick his region as stated below and PChop will follow with the pickage from the 8 forward as he sees fit. The rules are there are no rules or crying.

UNC Region – Savant
UCLA Region – Poon
Kansas Region – PK
Memphis Region – Hairy Carrey

And again, PorkChopU gets the clean up. Just like when he worked in the “Theater” at “that” truck stop on Route 23.

First up. Savant. The floor is yours.

PK Out.

Smooth Sailing for the Tar Heels?

Once again, North Carolina is wearing a target as a #1 seed (no team has been a top seed more often), but don't feel too bad for the Tar Heels. Of all the #1 seeded teams, they appear to have the clearest path to the Final Four in San Antonio.

Although there appears to be a lot of mismatches in the East, a closer look reveals several tempting upset picks as the #4, #5, and #6 teams all face difficult testers in the First Round. Let's start with Washington State vs. Winthrop, which seems like a lay-up for the Cougars - until you consider Winthrop has been an almost yearly fixture in the tournament in recent years (this is Winthrop's 4th consecutive bid…not too shabby). In addition, the game will played in Denver - which is pretty close to a neutral court - which means Winthrop will have the crowd behind it. As such, I'm taking the Eagles.

Notre Dame is the 5th seed in the East Region and will play the Patriots of George Mason (you know - the green and gold team that beat UConn to advance to the Final Four in 2006). The savvy NCAA fan will, of course, know a #12 ALWAYS beats a #5 (last year was the only exception to this rule). This match-up, however, will not end in an upset victory, but the #6 vs. #11 game will provide another bracket buster as Saint Joseph's will prevail over the Oklahoma Sooners. I believe the Hawks will borrow some magic from another East region team, Boise State, and run the Statue of Liberty play on the Sooners!

Other First Round winners in the East Region include: North Carolina, Indiana, Louisville, Butler, and Tennessee and I think the four Sweet Sixteen teams will be: North Carolina, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Tennessee (although I am nervous about picking the Vols over Butler). From there, I think the Tar Heels will easily handle-up on the Irish playing in front of a partisan crowd in Charlotte…and I think Louisville vs. Tennessee will be an absolutely fantastic game in the other Regional Semifinal - with Tennessee squeaking by...

That gives us a Regional Final of Tennessee vs. North Carolina and, although I picked the Vols to win the whole thing several weeks ago, I'm going with the Tar Heels. If Tennessee had been in any other region, I would have picked the Vols to advance to the Final Four, but the Selection Committee didn't do them any favors by seeding them behind UNC in the Charlotte bracket.

So…I say UNC is the Beast from the East.

Savant Out