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Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Since it's Friday, and I'm crazy on Fridays, I bring you my Major League Baseball report strictly in haikus!

The Astros need hits
To win more ballgames because
Zero runs won't win

Yanks are almost last
Me and Red Sox fans are glad
Down with evil George!

The Cards are rolling
Possibly to the Series
Don't get swept again

Surprising White Sox
Sport the best record of all
Who are these pitchers?

Orioles are good
In first place thanks mostly to
Brian Roberts. Who?

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

You can say all you want about spoiled millionaires in the NBA and how the college game is so much better, but if you want to see amazing basketball, tune in to the NBA Playoffs. NBA players really put it on the line during the Playoffs and they can just do things that most college players can't.

After tonight every series will have played two games in the first round. There really are no big surprises so far, excluding San Antonio's loss to Denver in their first game (and maybe Houston's 2-0 lead over Dallas). The Spurs (the Western Conference 2 seed) rebounded to get a win tonight, though, and I expect them to end up in the Finals.

They'll have to get by the No. 1 seeded Phoenix Suns to get to the Finals, though. The Suns first series against the Grizzlies may end up being the most entertaining series of all. Both of these teams like to run and score. The way Steve Nash distributes the ball is just flat-out amazing. I wonder if Grizzlies point guard Jason Williams looks at him and sees what could've-been (or what could be). Williams has all kinds of talent; if only he could learn to look for his teammates the way Nash does.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the Heat and Pistons look like they're on a crash course to meet to see who advances to the Finals. But Boston or Indiana could give Detroit some trouble in the second round. I don't see anyone from this conference beating the Heat, though. Shaq, coupled with Dwyane Wade, is just too much.

How about the Bulls versus the Wizards in the first round? No player on either team has ever appeared in a playoff game for his current team. Neither city has had too much to cheer about since a guy named Jordan left them.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Well, boys and girls, I am back. Did ya miss me? OK - don't answer that. Looks like my boy, dBunch, kept everyone entertained while I was gone. I'll see about bringing him back from time to time to share his thoughts with us, but for now you can catch him in our iBid section on 90&9.

I had an awesome trip. It was relaxed, yet hectic. I camped out in the mountains, explored Nashville, Lexington and the hills in between and attended my first horse race.

The horse race was really fun; It was especially entertaining to see people get ecstatic when the horse they bet on crossed the finish line first. It was a tad bit cold for this Louisiana boy, though - the high in Lexington that day was in the low 40s. The next morning we woke up and it was snowing! In April! Snow! I had no idea that such a thing could occur (you'll have to realize that I've seen snow about a total of four times in my life), even though it wasn't sticking on the ground.

The countryside surrounding Lexington is totally beautiful with it's rolling hills, horse farms, and picket fences. I wanted to take a slice of that land back to Lousiana with me, but I didn't think one of those hills could fit in my backyard.

And for those of you who've heard me sing and are wondering if I got a record deal in Nashville - no, I didn't. Even though I stood in the middle of Broadway yodeling for two hours straight. I guess kids just don't want to hear good old-fashioned yodeling these days. :)

I tried to stay away from TVs and computers while I was on vacation, so I'm just now catching up on all the sports action that took place, but tomorrow I'll bring to you my thoughts on the NBA playoffs, the NFL draft, and why the Astros have fallen to the bottom of their division.

I know you can't wait.

Posted by: David Bunch

My how the week has flown by! I have so enjoyed our time together and filling in for the vacationing B-max. I definitely could get into the whole blogging thing. It's really quite enjoyable to have the opportunity to share my thoughts and experiences with everyone.

I'd like to leave you with a poem I came across some weeks ago. And it IS related to sports. One of the great memories I have of growing up is playing ball until it was too dark to see. This usually occurred in the summer months, but truly, there were many nights year round when I would stay outside and shoot baskets until I couldn't see anymore, then turn on the porch light for whatever aid it could offer, and shoot some more. Trust me. If you can nail a bucket in the dark just by feel, you have quite an advantage the next time you are in tough competition against the guy down the street in broad daylight. Larry Bird is reported to have replied, when as a kid he was asked why he was outside late at night practicing his jumper, "Because there is some guy somewhere outside practicing right now, and I've got to practice longer than him". That's not a direct quote, but it's somewhere close. So it's with that background that I bring you an excerpt from a poem that, I think, captures the essence of those childhood memories of practicing sports as long as possible into the night. These stanzas are taken from the website The Writers Almanac, and the entire poem can be read there, too.

To Walt Whitman In Heaven
by Betsy Sholl

The neighbor girl goes through her catalog
of moves under the hoop—sky hooks, lay-ups,
fall-away jumpers. Long after dark, she's out there
dribbling her heart on the asphalt, tossing it up,

nothing but net. Painful, yes, but how else
will she get to that sweet agony within,
your great loitering contradictions? She dodges
and spins, as if shedding a skin, steps around

the driveway to keep the motion light flaring
as she passes from shadow into Technicolor,
banks a shot, jabs the air to cheer herself on,
point guard, center and crowd all in one,

and I almost see you in the dark,
on the fringe, though I can hardly say what
you mean, in the sweet mysterious night vapor
hovering over blacktop and lamp-green lawn.

Godspeed my friends,
dB

Posted by: David Bunch

Today Farrah and I started our Saturday as we always do. Breakfast at Coffee Call. Now, for those of you who aren't from South Louisiana, I don't know if you'll know what beignets and cafe au lait are. But down here, they are something of a tradition. Beignets (ben yays) are similar to donuts in that they are deep fried squares of dough (they also come in "fingers"). But instead of glazing them, covering them with chocolate, adding candy drops, or dipping them in barbecue sauce, they are simply sprinkled with powdered sugar. This makes for the tastiest pastry (and probably the most unhealthy) that you've ever had. As for the cafe au lait, this is a coffee and steamed milk drink. I believe it is called Cafe Americano at Starbucks (could someone out there verify?). But I'm telling you, much as I like Starbucks, they can't touch a cup o' cafe au lait from Coffee Call.

From there we went for a Saturday morning work out at the LSU Rec Center. This is new in our Saturday routine because as you'll recall we just joined last Monday. We had quite an interesting experience at the Rec today. Remember how I was lamenting my lack of sporting wear? Well, no more. Today the first people we see when we walk in is a young family, about our age, with 2 small children (toddlers). These guys were dressed in flip flops, cargos and for the wife, a long flowing hippy skirt. Did I mention the flip flops? They proceeded to check out the Rec center before deciding that the best place to spend their time would be running around the track, as a family, in their you guessed it flip flops. We were struck with an odd mix of admiration for the total disregard for the "rules" that this young family had and a slight twinge of laughter at the hilarity of the moment. Alas, no more will I feel any self doubt in busting on in with my Hilfiger tennies and wind pants.

Looking forward to one more post on tomorrow,
Godspeed,
dB

Posted by: David Bunch

There's a news story on Yahoo News that Gap is introducing a new concept store. Already, Old Navy and Banana Republic are under the Gap name. The new concept, Forth and Towne, will cater to over 35 female shoppers who grew up with Gap but no longer shop there. Now, I'm not a female and Farrah is no where near 35, so why would I bring this to your attention? Well, I am a major Gap enthusiast, almost to the point of being like, if it doesn't come from Gap I don't want it. Not quite, but almost. So, any press release they send out interests me and I thought it might interest you other Gap shoppers out there as well.

Godspeed,
db

Posted by: David Bunch

It seems that the sports world is buzzing about this weekend's upcoming NFL draft. All of the papers and websites that I have seen are busy trying to predict which player will be chosen by which team. For analysis, I'm going to defer to Brad and he can comment on the results when he gets back.

Also in the news today is the imminent NBA playoffs. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. For now, all I know for sure is that the New Orleans Hornets ended the season with a loss last night. No surprise there; they won only 18 times all year long.

The most interesting item of note in today's sporting news is the story regarding baseball's decision not penalize Yankee's player Gary Sheffield for his part in an altercation with a fan. At first glance I thought that this was another instance of a player humiliating himself and his sport by getting into the stands in an effort to go mano y mano with a fan. But this time it does seem that the fan was truly at fault. I have not seen the video, but from what the article on Yahoo Sports had to say, the fan hit Sheffield on the head while he was trying to make a play. He untangled himself and finished the play, and then from what I understand he went back towards the fan but security intervened before things got too revved up. Sounds like the league correctly decided that Sheffield had committed no foul

I'm glad that this did not turn into another Indiana Pacer/Detroit Piston melee in which professional basketball suffered irreparable damage that the league will be hard pressed to ever reverse.

That's it for tonight. See ya tomorrow.

Godspeed,
dB

Posted by: David Bunch

Most of you know of the story out of Florida this week involving the tragic death of a precious young lady. As it turns out, this girl was a member of an Apostolic Church in Florida. Ninety and Nine's own Cara Baker has posted a breaking news story, Apostolic Girl Slain After Youth Event.

Please keep this family and this church in your prayers.

Godspeed,
dB

Posted by: David Bunch

I will earnestly peruse the sports news today and try to bring you the analysis that you've all come to expect from The Bench Warmer. In the meantime, I have a question for you. Have you ever had something get stuck in your head? Like a song or a phrase or the sound of someone's voice? Well, sometime ago I came across a word somewhere (I don't even remember where). That word has been bouncing around my brain for weeks now.

The word is "erstwhile". Know what it means? I didn't either, so I looked it up.

It means "formerly or from the past". So if you recently changed careers and wanted to refer to your previous one, you might say "my erstwhile career".

It's sort of a strange word because it doesn't give any indication as to what it might mean. It strikes me as being similar to "meanwhile," but of course it isn't.

Try working it into conversation today and impress your friends.

Godspeed,
dB

Posted by: David Bunch

When it comes to sports, I must say that college sports are my favorite. With high school sports you don't quite have the skill level there to make the game interesting for anyone other than the parents of the players and the students of the school in question, and with professional sports you primarily get whiny, overpaid brats who think they should look and act like ex-convicts (this is probably because many of them are). But college sports? Ah, there's where true sportsmanship can be seen. You have athletes who are developed physically and can usually perform at high levels, plus the school pride that comes into the mix, and to top it all off, no one is paid to play. Sure, that last part is a little naive and simplistic I know, but theoretically the athlete is simply competing for the love the game and for the thrill of the competition. Oh, and there's the hope of getting discovered by pro scouts. It all adds up to the most thrilling of all the sports levels.

This could easily lead me into a diatribe on LSU Tiger athletics since I am, after all, an LSU Tiger. And in a way, I guess it will.

If I've narrowed my interest in sports to college athletics, then it is fair to say that my interests have been, heretofore, narrowed even further to the sport of basketball. I've played since I could walk and for the vast part of my 28 year life was fairly convinced that it was the only sport worth devoting any amount of time to.

Until Farrah. Guess what sport she likes? Mmmmm? That's right, all of them, but especially baseball! So, this year, after several years of wearing me down, she enticed me into attending an LSU Baseball game. As soon as I stepped into Alex Box and saw the purple and gold warming up in right field, I was hooked. Now here's a sport. It's considered the National pastime, it has all kinds of neat statistics, and there's just something vaguely reassuring about sitting in the stands and hearing the crowd, smelling the popcorn, and watching the genius and strategy of getting guys to swing a bat at a 70 plus mph baseball, having them round three bases, and hopefully scoring on the fourth. I now consider myself a Tiger Baseball fan.

And would you believe it? They are having a sub par year. Never mind all of those championships and near championships when we had the Skipper and I could have been an avid fan of a winning team that had national respect and could have potentially caught baseballs that were pieces of history and told stories about how I was there when it happened (run on sentence used for emphasis). Ohhhh no. I have to become a fan when the team is achieving all sorts of unwanted "firsts". Like losing more back to back SEC games at home than in how ever many years, etc. In the words of Napoleon Dynamite, "gaaaaaaahhhh....what an idiot".

Godspeed,
dB

Posted by: David Bunch

Let me begin by sending a shout out to Bradley (I refer to him as B-max...long story) for the opportunity to host his blog this week. I'm definitely pumped about it. I've been a blog reader for a while now, but this marks the first time I've blogged for public consumption. B-max tells me that the subject is sports, but that I do have poetic license. Emphasis on poetic. That's right, I'm the iBid guy that you've all come to know and love. When I have spare time I work as an underwriter for a workers' compensation insurance company, serve on the youth committee at church, and teach high school boys Sunday School.

I'm not quite the sports analyst that Bradley is, but I do consider myself a casual sports fan. I actually enjoy participating in sports more so than watching/reading/talking about them. I'm happy to say that I was not quite dead last in 90&9's recent NCAA Men's Basketball Bracket.

By the way, today is an important day. According to The Writers' Almanac (a site that I'll be referring to again this week), on this date in 1923 Yankee Stadium opened in New York City. Now, regardless of who your favorite Major League Baseball team is, you have to love Yankee Stadium in NYC (I know this because Brad viewed a Yankees game there last spring-despite his vow of allegiance to the Astros). The Bambino hit a 3 run homer on that day in 1923 to give the Yankees the win over, you guessed it, the Boston Red Sox. I'm not going there.

The other important thing about today is that today is the day that my wife Farrah and I finally fulfilled our 2005 New Year's Resolution and joined a health club. You'll remember that I said I like to participate in sports. Well, this desire is only a slight inkling compared to Farrah's intense appetite for competition-especially in sports. Well, the health club offers all of the racketball, basketball, tennis, track, ping pong, etc. that a couple could want to compete against each other in, plus the added bonus of the getting in shape thing. Our niece, Kristen (aka Pokey), seemed to enjoy the competition tonight as well. We had to drag her away with a basketball under one arm and a racketball racket under the other (is there a better name than "racketball racket"?).

Here's what I found out tonight. I've got a lot to work on if I'm going to do the health club thing. My first clue was when we passed by the free weight room where there were about 50 guys who all looked like they were training for that Iron Man competition. Upon expressing my desire to go in an check out the weights my wife said "let me go with you to make sure you don't get hurt". She then offered to spot for me. Then I noticed that I was not properly attired. Yes, I had the traditional wind pants and surf shirt, but what I really needed was baggy shorts and a tank top. These would have to be specially purchased to accent one's shaved calves and forearms, while bringing proper attention to the biceps. And oh yes, my tennies were definitely not right. I had on my Hilfigers, made for wearing with jeans. Definitely out of place. You've got to have court shoes, man.

So you see, this is a racket (and I don't mean of the racketball variety). You pay all this money to get in shape only to learn that you have to go spend more money for the right attire. Maybe I can get a return on my investment if I win the Iron Man.

Godspeed,
dB

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

As I told you in my previous post, I'll be leaving to go on vacation Wednesday. I'm heading to Kentucky to visit some friends and we're going to try to camp out in the mountains and even catch a horse race or two. I'll give a full report upon my return.

Since I'll be busy tomorrow getting ready for the trip, I'm going to turn the blog over to my guest-blogger today. I know the suspense over his identity is killing everyone, anyway.

So, without further ado, please welcome David Bunch to this humble blogdom! Dave has written reviews and poems for 90&9 before and currently runs our "ibid" section, so he's no stranger to the site. Our friendship began years ago when we'd meet up at youth services in the Baton Rouge area. Later, he got me a job working in a Fisheries lab at LSU (nothing like staring into a microscope for hours at a time for $5.15/hour, but that's another story). He's also an LSU alumni, so you may have to put up with more LSU fan-fare.

There will be plenty of things to talk about upon my return (including the NBA playoffs), but Dave will keep you entertained until then.

See ya next week!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

I will be on vacation from Wednesday (the 20th) until Monday (the 24th), but instead of letting The Bench Warmer lie dormant, I have successfully enticed a friend to fill in for me. So, you'll be getting fresh perspectives on sports from a man with unparalleled wit and intelligence. (In fact, I'm worried everyone will like him so much I may be ousted upon my return.)

Well, that's enough pressure upon my guest blogger for now. I will reveal his identity tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

A while back, I went to watch a friend's son play in a Little League baseball game. As soon as I got to the ballpark, I recognized a distinctive smell that seems to accompany Little League baseball fields. That smell brought back many childhood memories of baseball.

I have always been somewhat athletic and baseball seemed to come naturally for me. (Of course, playing everyday in the backyard with the neighborhood kids probably aided in honing my skills.) In my shy and awkward pre-teen years, the baseball field was one place I felt confident. I felt confident because people respected how I played the game. That respect led me to feel “cool” and the ballpark became a safe refuge.

We, as Christians, have an obligation to show respect to everyone no matter how they look or what they can do. The church should be a refuge for outsiders who don’t feel confident anywhere else. In today’s me-first society, there is a general lack of respect for other people and their property. One of the best ways to reach out to people is just by showing them that we value them as a person.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Pig Olympics? Now THIS I gotta see...

These pigs run, jump, and swim - almost anything but fly.

Thousands of Shanghai residents have turned out to a city park to watch a herd of pigs compete in what organizers are calling the "Pig Olympics," the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported Tuesday. They run over hurdles, jump through hoops, dive, and swim in shows twice a day, it said. The pigs, a midget species from Thailand, begin training soon after birth and can begin performing professionally from about one year of age.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Three years ago a fan reached over the fence and snagged some already-chewed gum that came from the mouth of Louis Gonzalez and sold it on ebay for about $10,000! Now Gonzalez's teammates won't let him forget it.

"They were following me around with a plastic bag," he said. "If I would eat potato chips, they would have a bag for it. If I would throw it in the garbage, they would pull it out and mock me.

ESPN's Page 2 takes a look at some of the more absurd memorabilia that has been sold over the years.

After all, what better conversation piece is there than, say, owning the jockstrap Nolan Ryan wore when he pitched his seventh and final no-hitter?

Unless it's owning Ty Cobb's false teeth. Or the bone spurs removed from journeyman Jeff Nelson's pitching elbow. Or the white Ford Bronco that O.J. Simpson rode in during his infamous slow-speed chase.

Ryan's jock reportedly went for $25,000. Cobb's choppers sold for "a tad over $8,000." Nelson's bone fragments brought $2,000. And the new owner of the Bronco claims he paid $75,000 in a private sale for the vehicle that forever will be associated with Simpson on that memorable day in 1994.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

After week one of baseball, the Astros stand atop the National League Central Division with a record of 4-2. We're going all the way, baby! :)

Obviously, it is very early in the year but Houston has looked exactly like I thought they would look. Excellent starting pitching, shaky middle relief, an unbelievable closer, and spotty hitting. With the loss of Jeff Kent and Carlos Beltran, the Astros will struggle for offense at times this year (especially with star Lance Berkman out until May with an injury), so the pitchers will have to step it up. But that's exactly what's happened so far.

There are usually one or two teams that run off a winning streak to open the season, but not so this year. Every MLB team has at least two losses so far. Oh, well. So much for that 162-0 dream season.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Here's an interesting article by Mark Galli, called The Prodigal Sports Fan, for us sports fans who sometimes find it hard to keep our priorities straight.

It is mighty difficult to tell if sports—or knitting or cooking or gardening or fishing—has begun to replace one's love for Jesus Christ. This requires patient spiritual discernment, which in turn requires the Christian community—either a small group, an accountability friendship, or a spiritual director. It also requires fierce honesty with oneself.

It is impossible, given the saturation of sports in this culture and the weakness of human nature, for the Christian sports fan to keep his loyalties straight day in and day out. The sports god is an enticing deity: he offers splendid moments of transcendence while never demanding that we take up our cross, forgive our enemies, or serve the poor. No wonder that we sometimes spend too much time with this benign god.

But if we've met the true God, we'll eventually be disappointed by this idol. In the end, a god who makes no demands is a god who doesn't love. He only wants to use us, not mature us into the image of Christ. So, we prodigal sports fans will find ourselves returning to the Father time and again, seeking forgiveness for falling for the promise of transcendence without holiness. And our gracious Father, true to his word, will embrace us and throw us a party, where there will be chips and dip, and joyful conversation, and even some friendly banter about who is going to win the World Series this fall.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

I just realized it's been quite a while since I've done a "bizarre sport" entry, so when I came across this article, I figured it would fit the bill.

I think everyone would agree that sumo wrestling in itself is a bizarre sport. Anytime nearly naked fat men bounce around off of each other, it is bizarre.

Well, it seems like young people in Japan don't want to strip down to a loin-cloth and bounce around off of each other. Youth participation in sumo wrestling in Japan has been declining, so the association wants to let the youths add clothing (a biking short type garment).

The amateurs insist that young Japanese men are put off the sport by the loincloths, which leave them feeling uncomfortably exposed.

“Young people, especially adolescents, don’t want to take up anything they don’t see as fashionable,” Joji Kagawa, the chairman of the Amateur Sumo Federation, said. “So keeping teenagers in sumo is difficult.”

Oh, but the professional association won't budge!

The professional Japan Sumo Association is refusing to countenance the pants at the sport’s holy of holies — the Hall of the National Pursuit in the Ryogoku district of Tokyo. The dohyo there is considered to be a sacred spot where women are not allowed to set foot — and certainly not male wrestlers in modish “pants”.

...

“The Hall of the National Pursuit has set rules and customs,” the spokesman for the Japan Sumo Association, a former wrestler known as Takasago, said. “We have no intention of allowing children in shorts into the ring.”

I never would've thought it, but I guess some people enjoy seeing fat, flabby men in thongs!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

"Golf is a lot of walking, broken up by disappointment and bad arithmetic." - Author Unknown

Any golfers out there? I took up the game a few years back and used to play at least once a week. I love a challenge and, boy, is golf a challenge. I gradually improved for a while until , apparently, I reached my potential. Unfortunately, my potential wasn't very high. I felt like ex-baseball player Chris Codiroli must've felt when someone asked him about his handicap. He replied, "My handicap? Woods and irons."

It's a beautiful thing to see a ball well hit, though. I guess if you've ever attempted to play the game, then you realize how tough this is to accomplish. That's why I enjoy watching professionals play.

Today was a good day to watch the Pros play. Tiger Woods won his fourth Masters tournament by beating Chris DiMarco in a sudden death playoff. It wasn't entirely pretty for Tiger, though, and you could see that golf can have it's way with even someone with that much talent.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Where do lonely sporting hearts turn after the conclusion of the greatest sports event on earth (otherwise known as March Madness)? There's the NBA, but I just can't get into it until the playoffs start and the superstars start actually putting forth effort. There's no NHL (and may not be for a long time).

Alas, yon stands baseball! Lost amidst the exhilaration of the NCAA tournament was opening day in Major League Baseball. If you were with me last October when this blog got started, you know that I'm a huge Houston Astros fan.

I grew up playing baseball and became an Astros fan when I attended a game in the old Astrodome at a young age. It was back in the days of Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott, when a fastball was a fastball and steroids weren't overshadowing every accomplishment.

I would always try to catch the Astros on the radio; if it was past my bedtime, I would sneak my Sony Walkman in bed and hope the night was clear enough that the AM station would come in without too much static.

I would get nervous if the game was close and elated if the 'Stros pulled out a win, and I still do. Hence my pain last season when the Cardinals kept the Astros out of the World Series with a game seven win in the NLCS. I was so dejected after the game that my roommate (a non-sports fan) asked me if I needed therapy. It didn't take me long to cheer up, though, because, hey, there's always next year!

And next year is already here...

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

As I mentioned before, the winner of our 1st Annual NinetyAndNine Bracket Pool is Tim Vik. Tim, a youth pastor at Elim Tabernacle in Milwaukee, has decided to take the CDs instead of the chance to blog, so y'all are stuck with me. Yeah, yeah...stop groaning.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Well, I finished in 8th place, which is fairly decent out of 30 contestants but the big victory was accomplishing my readjusted goal (beating two of the following three - my mom, my girlfriend, my sister). It was a last minute victory as I had to have UNC win to beat the girlfriend (she finished a very respectable 12th).

Congrats to Tim Vik who finished half a point ahead of Nathan Henson (Moses) for 1st place. Kimberly Rigney (MsKimberlyAnn) took the award of 'Top Female Contestant' by finishing third. Kimberly correctly predicted the winner of 43 of the games, which was the highest number in our pool.

My Mom (ShirleyMc) ended up being the highest NinetyAndNine staffer by finishing one point ahead of me in 7th place. That must be where I get my abundant sports knowledge. Ha!

The actual game was a pretty good one. UNC led by 15 at one point but Illinois fought back to make it a game. The game was looking very much like the Illini's game against Arizona, where Illinois came back from 15 down to win in overtime. But UNC is a different team and they had enough talent to pull out the 75-70 win.

The difference in the game was Sean May, who scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds on 10-11 shooting from the floor. Illinois double-teamed him early, but it looked like they gave that up and that's when May came alive. He made the Illini defenders look foolish inside when he was one-on-one and that's why I can't figure out why they didn't double team him every time he touched the ball.

Illinois settled for three pointers all game and ended up with 40 shots from behind the line! To their credit, their outside screens got them plenty of open shots, but the three pointer eventually did them in.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

The winner of the game tonight not only determines the degree of my indignity, but also determines the winner of our pool. Tim Vik has overtaken Nathan Stewart at the top and will remain there if UNC wins. If the Illini win, then Mr. Stewart will be crowned champion.

There is no such suspense at the bottom of the standings. Congrats to my sister, who has last placed sewed up. :)

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Well, it looks like I made my own mathematical error with the bracket. I can finish ahead of Jaime in our NinetyAndNine pool if UNC wins tonight!

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr

That's my motto. :)

The games Saturday were a major disappointment after all the drama last week, but the championship game should be a good one. UNC and Illinois have been the top two teams for the majority of the year, and rightfully so.

It seems like UNC has a tendency to lose focus for stretches during a game, though. This is the reason they were down at halftime to Michigan State. If this happens against Illinois, the Tar Heels will find themselves down by 15, because Illinios never slows down.

I don't look for this to happen tonight; it shouldn't be hard to stay focused for a championship game. I say it's going to be a high-scoring affair that will be decided by less than 5 points.

UNC 82 - Illinois 78

Go Tar Heels!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Josh Lewis has outed himself as the real "A Month In My Life" blogger. Turns out that Victor was just some kind of April Fool's joke. I think I confessed too much. You people have got to let me in on jokes around here!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Well, our ultra-competitive and cutthroat NCAA pool all comes down to this weekend. The outcome of tonight's games may determine who gets to pick from our delicious prize pool: a chance to blog here for a week or, two CDs. The winner doesn't get to pick the CDs, unfortunately, but hey, where else can you get Philip Hampton's double CD release of his "Kazoo Calisthenics" for free?

Our leader is still Nathan Stewart, but it looks like there's still a chance he can be overtaken. I'm still behind Jaime (my girlfriend), but she can be caught if Illinois loses tonight and UNC wins it all. Doesn't look promising for me...

I'm going to have to go with the rest of the "experts" and say it will be Illinois vs. North Carolina in the championship game on Monday night. It would be a good one; both of these teams have a lot of firepower.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Looks like our new "A Month In My Life" blogger, Victor, has raised concerns about the "90&9 Booster Club." All I'll say is that the staff "retreat" in Hawaii was necessary to refresh our minds and invigorate our spirits (and Cozumel was out due to a Hurricane). It was a very productive trip and the toga parties, well, I'll just assure everyone that the togas were no higher than the lower knee (you gotta see K. Curry do the "moonwalk!"). The laptop, plasma TV, karaoke machine, house, English Bulldog, and "Hello Kitty" DVD player I received courtesy of the "Booster Club" are all necessary for webmastering duties. All further questions can be addressed to my lawyer; it's time for my hourly massage and jacuzzi dip.