basketball, fire, oncoming snow

i spent 12 hours yesterday watching basketball at UD Arena. 4 basketball games, with only 1 being competitive. and sadly, that was the first game.

Temple Vs. NC State - NC State started out brain dead and got down big early. so, as i've seen a few million times, they didn't have quite enough to dig themselves out of the hole. i give them credit for making it interesting, but, still a loss by 4 points.

Indiana vs. James Madison - this game was over about 3 minutes in. when one player is outscoring the entire team for nearly the first 10 minutes of the game, saying a game is lopsided is an understatement.

then, thanks to the NCAA having their heads shoved up their asses, the next game started less than 60 minutes after the previous one finished. so, everyone has to leave the building and go wait in line with session 2 tickets. thankfully, mom and i parked in handicap parking, so we just waited in the car, had a few snacks, and stayed out of the cold. more on the cold later.

Ohio State vs. Iona - why the dumb fucks from Iona would provide OSU with bulletin board material before the game is beyond me. foolish youth. Ohio State flirted with 100 points in this game and by the end had 3 players on the court that people from Columbus were saying never play. that pretty much sums up that game.

Iowa State vs. Notre Dame - was a little surprised with the lack of Notre Dame fans there, as was the fuck behind me who couldn't shut up 2 minutes to save his life. Iowa State destroyed Notre Dame fairly easily. easily enough that there was probably less than 3 thousand people left at the end. both sessions drew over 12,000.

so, on Sunday i will see Indiana vs. Temple and Ohio State vs. Iowa State.

thankfully, these games will start at noon. i say thankfully as they are calling for 6-10 inches of snow on Sunday. and here i thought it was spring. it appears (as of right now) that most of that snow should come after the games are over and my mother and i are back home. sadly, mother nature has a tendency to not go as planned. my fingers are crossed. and my back is already being iced. good thing i didn't put up the snow shovel just yet.

don't ask about my brackets. when you lose a final four team (Georgetown) before the first weekend is over, you can absolutely forget about winning anything. now, i have to hope i have some magic in the round by round games.

and now for the fire.

the guy who farms out here is finally burning off the brush he cleared to help with our drainage problems. if i wasn't so damn tired i might have actually walked down there to get closer shots. be thankful i walked up the stairs to get the camera at all.

and here's one of my cat Kit Kat just for shits and giggles

i will try to get pictures if we really do get all that snow. and i will try to get some pictures of the cats so names can be put with images. i imagine that will be mostly for my mother as she can't keep any of their names straight.

music today:

Grizzly Bear - Shields
Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
Beach House - Bloom
Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

oh well, bracket busted and some poetry news

well, since New Mexico lost to Harvard and blew up my main bracket, i figured i might as well post tonight since i will have no chance to do so in the morning.

if all goes as planned, i will be mailing poems out in the morning to ZYX and Presa Magazine. when i hear back from these places, i will post the responses here on the blog.

i was totally disappointed with the New York Rangers 3-1 loss tonight. not sure if it was just running into a goalie standing on his head or if it was a bunch of guys who thought they were going to win and didn't need to pay the price to win. either way, if they happen to miss the playoffs, this will be the game they can look back on and say what could have been.

that is all. if i have any energy left by tomorrow night, i will try to post my experiences at the 4 games tomorrow. knowing how Ohio State fans act, i'm sure i will have something to talk about.

"Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil." - Niccolo Machiavelli

let the madness begin

another damp, dreary day here on the farm. had some freezing rain overnight. no down power lines or anything, but it certainly didn't do any favors for my back. i always love waking up stiff as a corpse.

found out last night the teams coming to Dayton for the NCAA tournament. i was half right in my guess. Indiana and Ohio State are the big teams. i suppose i could throw Notre Dame and NC St. in that mix as well. here are the 10 games i will be seeing in person this week:

Tuesday:
North Carolina A&T vs. Liberty
Middle Tennessee St. vs. St. Mary's

Wednesday:
LIU-Brooklyn vs. James Madison University
Boise St. vs. La Salle

Friday:
Indiana vs. LIU-Brooklyn/JMU winner
NC State vs. Temple
Ohio State vs. Iona
Notre Dame vs. Iowa State

Sunday:
Indiana (most likely) vs. NC St./Temple winner
Ohio St/Iona winner vs. ND/Iowa St. winner

the thought of Ohio State playing Notre Dame on Palm Sunday has me thinking of how much money the tickets could be scalped for. also, thought it was a little cruel for the outgoing Xavier AD to put 2 A10 schools here while the Dayton Flyers season is done. of course, Xavier isn't playing in the postseason either.

filled out a few brackets. a few less than last year. my main bracket has Louisville winning it all. i think i filled out about 15 or so brackets, plus a few round by round ones as well. my fingers are crossed. i'd really like to win something this year. anything would be nice.

spent a little time today thinking of names for the new cats. got a few good ones in mind. the key will be what ones i can remember. plus, so many of these little fuckers look alike, it probably doesn't matter what i name them. i'll probably call them the wrong name anyway.

i am going to try to weave some poetry submissions around the basketball games this week. not sure how i'm going to do that, seeing that a few have to be sent via the post office. but, i enjoy the chaos of running around at times. it would help if the sun or some heat would make a surprise appearance this week. neither are expected for some time.

the New York Rangers play tonight. hopefully, i won't have many reasons to stop watching them tonight. at least until Monday Night Raw starts. if their past few games are any indication, i'll be grumpy sometime way before 8 pm.

music today:

Jamey Johnson - Living for a Song (A Tribute to Hank Cochran)
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
Trampled by Turtles - Stars and Satellites

"A man is given the choice between loving women and understanding them." - Ninon de L'Enclos