5 Things I've Done Leading into March Madness

by: The Cold Hard Truth

Well, here we are. Last night I watched North Carolina crush San Diego St. by 27 points in a game that wasn't that close. Leading up to the game, sports talk radio bashed the Tar Heels for not belonging in the field. After all, they are 1-12 versus Quad 1 teams in a conference that had a really poor start to the season. However, experience has shown that on occasion, a team like this comes in with a chip on their shoulder. They come ready to play, ready to prove to everyone that they can compete. Vegas got it right last night, projecting NC as a slight favorite. However, a lot of people got it wrong. This team should have beaten Duke in the ACC final, and I wouldn't want to play them right now. Ole Miss is a better team than North Carolina, but sometimes that doesn't matter.

For some reason, I felt compelled to talk about the "5 Things" that seem to happen to me each year leading into March Madness. Let's jump right in.

1) The selections come out on Sunday, and I always tell myself that this year I'm going to get all my picks done early. Then, laziness starts to set in and next thing you know, it is Wednesday night or Thursday morning and I am frantically putting my picks together. I have my Kenpom Rankings, my Net Rankings, the conference standings, and a record of how various teams fared head-to-head. I quickly assess this vital information and make my picks. Since I am rushed for time, this is really an exercise in futility because it has been proven that extra research doesn't really work. I am still just guessing, and then pretending to be an expert. Each year, I will talk to someone who filled out their bracket in 5 minutes and beat me. The lesson, Start earlier and research less.

2) Each year, I am ready to pick my upset special. Who do you like this year? Drake is 30-3 and an 11-seed. They play against a really good Missouri offense. Does their defense rise to the occasion? Colorado State is a 12-seed playing a talented Memphis team. As a side note, Memphis star guard PJ Haggerty scored 42 points the other night against Wichita State without a single three pointer. Now that's a real "Shocker"! I hear on sports talk radio that 12-seed McNeese St. is really athletic and might give Clemson trouble. Have you been watching the Tigers? They ended up one game behind Duke in the ACC. They look like they could make a run themselves, as does Louisville, who was also 18-2 in conference this year. My problem each year - I pick all the possible upsets and usually go 1-3 or 2-4 and actually lose ground to the person who fills in a scratch bracket. Picking an upset is really difficult. Just try to pick one.

3) Each year I picked some Pac-12 team like UCLA to make a deep run. Each year they broke my heart and bracket. I solved that problem this year. The Bruins moved to the Big 10, as did Oregon - no more Pac-12 worries! All I know this year is that when I look at the Big-10, they look loaded. We talk about the SEC having 14 teams in the dance, but there are 8 teams out of the Big-10 that won't lose easily.

4) Each year, I end up picking favorites for the Final 4, and each year, there is a surprise team that blows up my bracket. This year, many people will pick Florida, Duke, Houston, and Auburn to make the Final 4. I have no problem with those teams. They have had awesome seasons. However, there are another 10 teams that could make it that are not quite in that top tier that are really, really good. Texas Tech is a very dangerous team when healthy. Wisconsin, Louisville, Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland, Texas A&M - yes I said it Aggies - these are all teams that are good enough to make it. I think this could be a year where our winner separates themselves from the field with their Elite 8 selections. This tournament is wide open.

5) Finally, each year leading into March Madness, I smoke some pork ribs and go hangout with friends. There is nothing more enjoyable to me. Life can be stressful, and work can sometimes distract us from what is really important. To me, there is no greater sport than basketball; there is no more exciting event than March Madness, and no better way to forget the stress of work-life than by hanging our with friends and family this first weekend of the tournament.

March Madness has arrived once again. Best of luck on your brackets. While I wish you the very best, I have continued hope that my personal bracket will be at least one point better than all of yours!

Carpenter Leads CFCC Field into Inaugural CFP Blowout

by: Sugar (December 2, 2024)

It is hard to believe that the majority of another incredible college football season has come and gone. We have knocked out 14 weeks of CFCC picks and now we await the (useless?) conference championships and the selection of the final 12 teams that will compete for the 2024 College Football Championship. You can sit back and relax for the conference championship tilts as the CFCC is on pause until the first round of the CFP Blowout the weekend before Christmas. More on that in a moment. But first a rant from your favorite sport contest:

This somewhat new practice of planting your winning team's flag on your home opponent's logo has got to stop. I guess gone are the days when you let your play do the talking and just go back to the locker room and enjoy the long ride/flight back home knowing your opponents are hating life for losing on their home field and letting their home crowd down. That's not enough anymore, now you have to humiliate them by desecrating their field. And this isn't sour grapes over one of my team's loss. I was happy to see some teams win this past week, but sure don't agree with their behavior afterward. The pepper spray was a good idea. Let's return to good sportsmanship and let our play do the talking. Probably too much to hope for I know.

Okay, back to the good stuff and that starts with Mr. Robert Boyd from Madison, Alabama who won Week 14 with 94 points on a 12-3 record. Becca Darish from Huntsville, Alabama (what's going on in Alabama?) was the Week 14 runner-up with 92 points on a red hot 14-1 record, only tripping up on the Tulane Thanksgiving evening beatdown by Memphis. And yes, both Robert and Becca selected Alabama, in case You were wondering. Great job Robert. And Becca. And Alabama!

On the overall leaderboard, Courtney Carpenter continues to put on a CFCC clinic. The meteorologist from Roseville, California has widened her lead to 66 points and will be very tough to catch in the CFP Blowout. As we mentioned last week, Courtney has been in the Top 10 all season and has been in first place since Week 6, fighting off challenger after challenger. No matter how the contest ends, Courtney has had one of the more impressive regular seasons in memory. Well done! Also having a stellar campaign is Julie Mich from Little River, South Carolina. Julie is in 2nd place for the 2nd week in a row with 884 points and a record of 147-62. Lurking behind these most excellent women is Woodbury, Minnesota's David Schomaker. David is also known as the 2009 CFCC Champion and obviously has his eye on obtaining another bone. David is just 4 points behind Julie with 880 points. And, Matt Brady, Hank Bauer, Melissa Harral, Krissy Hurley, Penny Zabel, Dana Griffin and Jeff Hovis can Also all take a bow for finishing the regular season in the Top 10. Where might Johnny Vegas be right now? How about #20. Not bad as usual, but also not the best as usual. And most wins after 14 weeks go to a couple of dirty-dawg veterans, Greg Waller and Monte Oaks, with 151 correct picks. Unfortunately, it's the confidence factors that count and Greg and Monte are in 25th and 58th place respectively. Not bad at all and those two certainly know their college football.

Over in the group contest, we have a couple of perennial powerhouses at the top with All in the Family holding a big 21.75 point lead over Boomerbacks. Snoop's Clean Canines, Scurvy Dawgs and Florida Dummies are all within 31 points of All in the Family and it will be fun to watch how those average scores play out as we go through the blowout.

Following the conference championships this upcoming weekend, the college football gods will settle on a (controversial, for sure) tournament field of 12 teams, some of which will gain automatic spots by winning their conference. This will begin the inaugural College Football Playoff Blowout. For the Blowout, you will place a confidence factor from 1 to 12 on the CFP teams, with 12 going on the team you think will win it all and 1 going on the team that has the least chance of winning, in your expert opinion. As teams win in each round of the playoff, you will earn the points you place on the winning teams. Multiples of points will come into play for rounds 3 (x5) and 4 (x10). There will be no negative points for the CFP Blowout! And, we will not be playing any of the non-CFP bowl games. We are sorry to see the old Bowl Blowout format go, but with player opt-outs and the new CFP structure, the dirty-dawg directors made the decision to ditch the rest of the bowl games. Of course, we will evalulate our contest after the season is over, just like we do every year.

So, that's a wrap on the regular season. We will have the Week 15 (CFP Blowout) game form open and ready to go just as soon as possible once the field is set. Until then, get your holiday shopping complete and get ready for some exciting playoff action, college football style, commencing Friday, December 20.
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CFCC Week 13: Storms, Homers and a Scoring Snafu

by: exRegionalWeenie (11/25/24)

I watched a good amount of Saturday's games and determined that I was the only person who did not storm a field. Arizona State fans actually stormed the field TWICE. Their first storm occurred before fans realized there was still :01 remaining on the clock. Fans were corralled, play resumed and then Sun Devil fans stormed the field again when their team won by avoiding a near disastrous Hail Mary pass from BYU.

Let me digress before I continue with the storm theme. Hey, ASU faithful, WTH? This wasn't a big upset. It wasn't an upset at all - your team was favored by 3 in this game! And you were winning 21-3 at the half. You stormed for that?? You deserve the NCAA fine. In fact, I hope you get fined DOUBLE for storming twice.

Another storm happened in Norman, Oklahoma, when the Sooners upset Alabama. Let that sink in for a moment: Oklahoma, a premier program for decades that ranks sixth on the all-time list of wins by NCAA Division 1/FBS teams, stormed the field. Times are a changin'. And like Arizona State fans, OU fans stormed their field twice. They needed a practice round so they stormed with 0:28 left in the game and then stormed for real (re-stormed?) when the game officially ended.

The final storm of the night happened at Auburn. The Tigers won a thrilling FOUR-overtime game against No. 15 Texas A&M, 43-41. Now that's worth storming the field.

Homers Tie for Winning CFCC Week 13
What? Here, let me explain that odd heading. Homer Picker of Parts Unknown, AK, and Homer Bartson of Homer, NY, tied for first place in Week 13 as both scored 10 points on 12-2 records. These "guys" were successful because they always pick home teams and home teams won 12 of 14 games. Michael Pulis finished a distant third with 74 points and was followed by the most well-known Homer of all - Homer Simpson with 70 points. John Banghoff rounded out the week's Top 5 with 66 points and a 10-4 record. NOTE: Don't get any fancy ideas. Picking exclusively home teams is a sure-fire way to the bottom of the rankings. All three Homers rank outside the Top 300 and that's despite this week's stellar performance.

Scoring Snafu
See your email for details, but we initially had a major malfunction with our scoring program. Long story short: the Penn State/Minnesota game did NOT count in your scores. You did not win or lose any points on that game. Sorry 'bout that.

CFCC Standings after 13 Weeks: Courtney Carpenter Continues Cruising
Courtney Carpenter has been in the Top 10 ALL YEAR (amazing!) and in first place ever since Week 6 (also amazing!). You know what else is amazing? Courtney correctly picked OU's upset over Alabama - with a TWELVE for goodness sakes!! What?!?!? Courtney, please please PLEASE tell us that you accidentally clicked on OU in the game form but actually meant to click on Bama. Otherwise, you showed iron clad guts putting your 12 on a 13.5-point underdog. Courtney extended her lead to 58 points - impressive indeed.

Julie Mitch moved up one slot this week and is now in second place. Hank Bauer had an excellent week and jumped from 11th into third place, just three points ahead of Matthew Brady. Meanwhile, Penny Zabel made a strong move into the Top 5 by improving on her previous 13th place rank.

CFCC's Latest Group Play Standings
All in the Family leads the group standings after Week 13. They are followed by BoomerBacks and then Snoop's Clean Canines, presented by WFO EWX who sit in third place. The Scurvy Dawgs are in fourth while perennial group play powerhouse The Florida Dummies complete the Top 5.