The only part of the video that I disagree with is that UConn will win NCAA Women's. This year they are a strong 2 seed, but they have a tough road ahead to the National Championship. They will likely need to defeat (1) Louisville in the elite eight as well as (1) Notre Dame in the final four in order to advance to the championship. That means they probably will need to beat three one seeds before they cut down the nets in Tampa Bay. As the saying goes, you need to beat the best to be the best.
My prediction, as a Notre Dame fan, is that they will fall to the Fighting Irish in the final four if Arike Ogunbowale and Muffet McGraw have anything to say about it. Still, I may be alone in my prediction because Barack Obama agrees with Dude Perfect that this is UConn's year:
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Today is first round Friday of the NCAA tournament, and my bracket is looking a little too neat. The only red that can be seen at this point is in the second round since none of my big picks have been knocked out. However, I'm sitting at the front desk of Regina Hall, looking at the halftime score of the Virginia (1) Gardner-Webb (16) , and seriously rethinking my decision to put Virginia in the finals. Now, I'm a reasonable guy. I don't expect Gardner-Webb to pull off this upset. But, I can say with confidence that someone is about to screw everything up for me. Therefore, by extension, an upset will likely happen soon that screws up your bracket. So I want to share with you three strategies that I have used each year in order to cope with your busted bracket. Strategy 1: Fill out a women's bracket- Games are just starting today for the women, and if you want to boost your confidence, the women's bracket is always easier to pick. Hint: There are normally about four total upsets in that tournament each year. Strategy 2: Pick sweet 16 brackets with your group. Your picks will me much more informed after having watched the first two rounds. You should have more success because you will have seen which teams/players are hot right now. Strategy 3: Know that March Madness is statistically set up for you to fail at it. A Duke math professor said that the odds of picking a perfect bracket are one in 2.4 trillion. Early Thursday of the first round can be the most exciting time of year for basketball fans, and by late Friday you can feel as though the weight of the world is on your shoulders. So please take these coping strategies to heart before you fall into madness. Going into Saturday, the 8th ranked Nittany Lions were expecting to roll right over Lewerke and Wilker’s 3-2 unranked Michigan State team. But thanks to a hard fought defensive game, MSU was able to silence the Penn State crowd and come up with the 21-17 upset. The MSU defensive linemen were looking especially tough thanks to the beating that they take from Wilker in practice every day. Anyway, the future is looking more hopeful for Michigan State as they go into next week against the Wolverines. The Spartans have taken eight of the last ten games against their neighbors from Ann Arbor, but the game is shaping up to be a great contest. This year’s game will be played in East Lansing so it will be a relief for the Spartans to not have to travel to the big house. Now, number 6 Michigan is the favorite to take the victory. They are also coming off a big 38-13 win against Wisconsin. They are the over dogs, but nothing is a given in this rivalry. Personally, I think that 24 Michigan State has the greater motivation in the prospect of dousing Michigan’s playoff hopes. Though Michigan is likely the better team, I’m calling for an upset in Lansing this Saturday. Spartans by 6. Pictured Above: Bryce Wilker gets ready to lay the lumber on whichever poor soul decides to line up across from him.
Guess who’s back… After reexamining my contract with 616 Sports and Matt Feuerstein, I, Producer Mike am committing to writing at least one blog per week for the foreseeable future. It’s great to be back on the team, and I am looking forward to coming back to the place that sparked my career as a writer. The 616 area code is where I learned to write and where I grew my knowledge of sports. So it is fitting that I share my talent with this community.
During the reexamination of my contract, President Matt has given me the freedom to write about what I wish. This will include the unwrapping of wins and losses, analysis of teams and competitions, and content regarding health (such as running, lifting, diet etc.). I’m looking forward to starting to blog again out of nowhere. Speaking of out of nowhere! The Cleveland Browns recently won their first game since the end of the 2016 season when they took down the San Diego Chargers 20-17 (their only win of the 2016 and 2017 seasons). As a person who loves to see the little guy win, I was hyped to see the Browns take the New York Jets down 21-17. So what does this win mean for the franchise? Rather, what information do we have about the Browns that could help us predict how their season will go this year? The Browns are now 1-2-1 and tied with the Steelers for third in the AFC North. While this record isn’t all that impressive, I would say that things are looking up for the Brown and Orange. I think they are stepping up to a new brand of football team. They have lost some games, but each game has been very close (does this statement sound familiar Lions fans?). Now that Cleveland has some strengths that haven’t been present in past years, they are becoming the Detroit Lions. They should see a few more wins this year, and I don’t think that they are in danger of another 1-15 or 0-16 season. They have been in every game they have played thus far, and that will eventually turn into W’s. The official Producer Mike prediction is 4 wins this season. Mike… you said they have some strengths that weren’t there before. What does that mean? First, obviously Baker Mayfield is the most important factor in the improvement of the team. He has lived up to the value of a #1 draft pick. Beside the talent that Baker brings to the team, he says that he is working to change the culture that the squad has had. This combination will be instrumental to their success. Also noteworthy from week four against the Oakland Raiders was rookie running back Nick Chubb, a graduate from the University of Georgia. Chubb carried the ball three times and turned those carries into two touchdowns: one of 63 yards and the other of 41 yards. Though this performance would be hard to replicate with so few carries, I expect him to touch the ball more often based on this performance. Nick must be toward the front of the mind of coach Jackson. If you don’t believe me, watch this man run! Once he breaks free, he’s gone. Don’t write the Browns off! Sure, they need to work out some problems (defensively), but they will be on the rise during the next few years. Who knows! Maybe we’ll see Cleveland and Detroit in the Superbowl in 2030 because a team can only lose for so long before things turn around. It was Friday night, and the second day of the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament. All of the interesting games had already been played in the first round. I mean, who’s going to stay up to watch Virginia, a number one seed, play University of Maryland Baltimore County? Little did we know, UMBC was ready to pull off one of, or possibly the biggest upset in college basketball history.
In the annals of history, people are going to be talking about five things: the discovery of fire, the invention of the submarine, the Flint Michigan Mega Bowl, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson’s goal to win the 2018 Olympics, and the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s victory over number one seed Virginia in the 2018 NCAA tournament. The Retrievers handed Virginia its third loss of the year. I imagine those of you who watched the game would agree with me that UMBC didn’t just get lucky: they dominated. They were able to control the game and play their style of basketball. The University of Virginia liked to play a slower type of basketball this year, but UMBC pushed the pace and got the astounding win. During the second half, we saw the Retriever’s lead grow to 20 points by the end of the game. Virginia seniors were taken out of the game, and you could start to see more and more excitement in the eyes of UMBC players. A team that barely made it into the NCAA tournament, who was told that it couldn’t win in a long history of 16 seeds losing to number 1 seeds, and was predicted to lose by everyone, saw the impossible become reality. Seriously, the only people who predicted them to win were young kids filling out their brackets for the first time and people that thought it’d be fun to pick an entire bracket of upsets. It’s fitting that the Retrievers will now be a symbol for all underdogs in sports to look up to. They exemplify that in sports, it isn’t the size of the man or team, but the heart and mind of the athlete that can bring about the greatest accomplishments. So hats off to UMBC, and too bad for Virginia. Another point of interest in this story came from the Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett. In the aftermath of one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports, he was able to demonstrate grace and to congratulate his opponents. In his words, it was a “butt whoopin’.” He acknowledged that his team got beat badly and displayed complete honesty. This was perhaps an exhibition of class that all coaches should aspire to. Anyway, it was one hell of a game. Look up more news and videos about it if you wish. If not, you can just wait for the documentary and the movie to come out in a few years. Cordially, Producer Mike The goal of this post is to get you updated on what has happened in the 2018 Olympics thus far whilst bringing up a few notable things that you could use as anecdotes or whatever. Also, be sure to read the last paragraph about the Canadian Women’s Hockey player, and comment your thoughts! Days 1-5 Day 1 - The Fully-Clothed Streaker An Asian man slid down a ramp to where the opening ceremony performance was occurring. He looked like he was just looking to photobomb the performers. All he really did was stand behind the old man and wave. He wore a hat that said “Racing” and was thankfully fully clothed. Day 2 - Red Gerard (The patron of teenagers) American slopestyle snowboarder Red Gerard won the first United States gold medal. He was in 11th place after his first two runs, but he was able to pull off a good enough run on his 3rd attempt to take gold. Ole Red had had a difficult morning as he slept past his alarm in traditional teenager fashion, but that didn’t deter him from winning. Also, he can be heard saying “holy f***” on the broadcast of the event because the television network was slow on the bleep button. Day 3 – The Perfect 270 American slopestyle snowboarder Jamie Anderson earned a gold number for the U.S. On a windy day, decent runs were difficult to come by. So she led the front of the pack of snowboarders who were able to do a run without falling down. From what I saw, I think she modified the trick that she attempted. All she did was a 270 without any flips, but it was enough to win gold. Day 4 – Hangry Chloe Kim won gold for the U.S. in the half pipe. Kim tweeted earlier in the day that she was getting hangry, but she was able to rise above the hunger pains proving once again the resilience of the human spirit. Day 5 – Clutch Shaun White was shut out in the previous Olympics in Sochi, and was down to his last run at getting on the podium. But, with the world watching, he was able to put down a solid final run. The score of 97.75 on the absolute last run in the competition earned White his third Olympic gold and the 100th U.S. gold medal in Winter Olympic history. United States Medal Update as of 2/24/2018 9 Gold, 8 Silver, 6 Bronze Curling Men (Gold) Snowboarding Shawn White- Half-Pipe (Gold) Chloe Kim- Half-Pipe (Gold) Jamie Anderson- Slopestyle (Gold) Redmond Gerard- Slopestyle (Gold) Kyle Mack- Big Air (Silver) Jamie Anderson- Big Air (Silver) Arielle Gold- Big Air (Bronze) Alpine Skiing Mikaela Shiffrin – Giant Slalom (Gold) Mikaela Shiffrin- Alpine Combined (Silver) Lindsey Vonn- Downhill (Bronze) Ice hockey Women (Gold) Freestyle Skiing David Wise- Halfpipe (Gold) Alex Ferriera- Halfpipe (Silver) Nick Goepper- Slopestyle (Silver) Brita Sigourney- Halfpipe (Bronze) Bobsleigh Two-man Women (Silver) Speed Skating Team Pursuit Women (Bronze) Cross-country Skiing Team Sprint Women (Gold) Figure Skating Ice Dancing Mixed (Bronze) Team Mixed (Bronze) Short Track Speed Skating John-Henry Krueger (Silver) Luge Chris Mazdzer (Silver) There you have it! As usual the United States is killin’ it at the Olympics. To quote the DJ Khaled song, “All I do is win, win, win no matter what.” The last thing I want to bring up is what happened with the Canadian Women’s Hockey player. Immediately after receiving the silver medal, she took it off. If you haven’t seen it, here is a link. She did apologize for her actions afterward. So what do you think about this statement? It’s a very controversial topic. Some say she is a sore loser. Others say that she had good reason to take it off because you don’t win a silver medal. Please comment below with your thoughts! Are her actions a good model for aspiring athletes? Does she have a good reason to take the medal off? I know what you’re thinking, and I didn’t accidentally type an extra letter in the first word of the title. Though there is a red line underneath “Pyeong” in my Word document, I will not change it because the 2018 Olympic Winter games are in South Korea. If this was a surprise to you, you are not alone. I didn’t even know that South Korea was far enough from the equator to host Winter sports. So hopefully I will learn more about this country, about which I am so ignorant, during the games which run from February 9th- February 25th. So I have spent the last hour researching articles about this year’s Olympics, and I have narrowed it down to the top five things that Producer Mike thinks you should know in order to have some good discussions about the games.
That’s all I have to say about that. Check out the 2018 Winter Olympics!
Cordially, Michael Albert aka Producer Mike aka Miguelito Esteemed Readers,
I have been a Detroit Tigers fan my whole life and have attended multiple games. In addition, I have purchased Tigers gear including shirts, hats and whatever. However, I am not sure if that qualifies me to be a fan. At least, not in the way that many people define a baseball fan today. It seems that in order to be a baseball fan, one must: keep up with trades, watch at least three games per week, know the strengths and weaknesses of the manager, know the name of every player, know the name of the owner and be able to talk about all of these intelligently every time that someone asks "how about those Tigers?" I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with knowing all this stuff. I am just saying that there is no way I could spend so much time keeping up with a team. Above all, I am saying hats off to you baseball fans! You work your full-time jobs or go to school, and you still have time to keep up with your team. You all are heroes, and I have no idea how you do it! You are as American as a freakin' bald eagle eating fried chicken on top of a tank at West Point. Keep it up! Sincerely, Producer Mike Esteemed readers, During the end of October and into early November, millions of Americans fired up the Panasonic, cracked open their favorite cheap light beer and watched the Astros take on the Dodgers in the World Series. In the series that took all seven games, including multiple lead changes, the Astros came away with their first World Series win. The series was everything that a baseball fan could hope for as a finale to the season. Like any baseball series, the players had certain routines that they did when they took the field. Many of these rituals were very subtle and very easy to miss. An example would be a player hitting his bat on the corners of the plate as he stepped up for his at bat. There are also a few routines that are very noticeable, and perhaps the most obvious one comes from the Dodgers’ own Yasiel Puig. For a variety of reasons, Puig brought an amusing element to the World Series. He always was sticking his tongue out in celebration, he spiked his glove into the ground after trying to catch a ball which then hopped over the fence, and finally he would bite and lick his bat for most of his trips to the plate. On October 19th, Puig explained to a reporter his reasoning for always licking his bat: “I make love to the bat, and he repays me with hits.” Now, your first reaction may be to accuse him of being a lunatic. But, let’s look at the facts: Puig has a very respectable career batting average of .281, and he hit 28 homeruns in 2017. I’m not saying that his bat has the ability to grant him hits or that it even is aware of what that man is doing to it. However, I do believe that it is wise to pay attention to success and develop theories as to why that success is occurring. Let’s try to find out why Puig has found such success. Theories:
Now the reason for writing this post wasn’t to just make theories for Puig’s success. I also want to make a call to action. Kids, Be like Yasiel. Be superstitious. Bite your bat in order to improve your luck. If you accidently drop a ball, throw your glove in disgust. We need more players like this because it makes baseball even more fun to watch. Sincerely, Producer Mike Works Cited I don’t care. Quit worrying about whether I give you credit for your work. It isn’t like anyone other than a professor would ever pay attention to these. |
Professor MikeAn Aquinas College graduate, teacher, and coach at Belding High School. Professor Mike enjoys drinking coffee, blogging, listening to music, and driving. He especially enjoys trying to do all of that at the same time! Archives
March 2019
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