Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

On my last post it read like I was on Beer 30. I meant the time was beer 30. For anybody that thought I had expired from alcohol abuse your worries were premature. Unto matters of more importance... Congratulations to Goondingy! Went to his wedding on Saturday and enjoyed seeing the big man getting hitched. Jessica enjoyed meeting him and other poker names that have so far lacked faces. Fun day and we were happy to share it with him. If not for the terror on four legs that is my new puppy, Bella, we would have stayed longer. Speaking of the puppy, I feel like I'm the one on the tether now. Can't leave the house for more than a couple of hours at a time. Trying to figure out how to get to the coast to play and it's just eating me up to not be able to take advantage of this opportunity. The Live NCAA blog took a break as we left to go to the Fox and the Hound to see all the games at once. 20 minutes after tipoffs that hadn't set the channels yet. One waiter was ...

1 for 2 Again. Uconn at the line to tie down two. Makes the first. UCONN ties it. So much pain at the Ginty household. I can just hear Grandpa Ginty answering "Haberdasher" to the question "Name a Reigndeer."

Last time I saw a ginty under this much pressure was a repeat of a Richard Dawson family feud episode. San Diego's Ginty makes the first but bricks the second. I can just hear Grandma Ginty answering "Bits of Painted Glass" to the question "Things kept on a window sill." Uconn down 1 20 seconds to play. Brando calling it a tie, stellar job Tim. The Line unkind.

Tim Brando is in the lead for worst line of the day (if you don't count mine). Atrocius. Earlier he did his obligatory "The iron IS kind," because the shot fell even though he wanted badly to say the more well known "The iron unkind," catchphrase. UCONN two fouls from the penalty and down two. The coach of San Diego is protege of Mark Few, who earlier turned down offers to stay in scenic Spokane. I wonder if Mark Few in about, 1 year, starts to regret not leaving Gonzaga. Got to think the Gonzaga era is over, having crescendoe'd with Morrison and still having nothing to show for it.

Meeting up with the mo bros tonight. Actually Beer 30 is around the corner as Jmo is on his way over. Sorry for the typos in this, my cordless keyboard's battery must be waning because I keep losing letters. This is a hell of game. Puss said his team was a year away. I guess he was right. I don't know if Thabeet sticks around another year but if he does they'll be good. Right now he's altered two big shots, but a Toredore just made a sweet reverse outside of his wingspan. Great game. Dogs up 2. 1 minute left.

I have heard from different sources--so it must be true,--Dikembe Mutombo used to walk into parties at Georgetown and say in his deeper than Darth Vader african voice, "Who wants to mount Mutombo tonight?" and "Who is going to suck Dikembe's dick tonight?" I wonder if Thabeet does the same at UCONN?

St. Marys and Gonzaga lay an egg and San Diego is doing this? I'm confused.

Actually, I'm not but that's what the guide is telling me. Don't know if the local CBS station realized they couldn't leave a game like SD-UConn with SD leading (AJ Price out). I got creamed today. Except for Texas just missing the daily double I'd be shut out. Right now it is 7-1. I have San Diego, but as said I'm kinda pulling for UConn to win. Love these Coke Zero commercials. How these lawyers don't realize it's a bit is kind of surprising. I'm positive Kansas or UCLA will win this tournament. Anybody want to take the field against me. All I want is 8 to 1. By the way, this is the best episode of Oprah I've ever watched.

Playing with the new puppy and letting my girlfriend have the remote. She was watching "I should have died" on the discovery channel. This ahole from Australia or South Africa or somewhere else that has an accent that isn't quite British but still has the haughtiness in it. Anyway, this dude is 6 feet away from a croc so decides the best course of action is to rush it. Yes, he bumrushes the animal which not suprisingly bit the f out of him. He was in death roll. As I got back, I realized I'm in a bit of a death roll. Gtown looks like they'll cover, Texas is well on their way to covering the daily double for Puss and Butler is treating South Alabama like the directional school they are. I hope TN comes out vs. Butler with as little passion as they had today. Butler will eat them alive. If there has been one game these last two days with a less deserving victor it's TN. Even Puke or Dook, who I hate wanted it more when they played Belmont, at least they...

Yesterday, I phoned him and asked if wife was complimenting his sheen because I waxing his ass. Today, I'm taking it like a newbie in the big house. Right now, the onslaught is continuing. Butler was a juicy line and undervalued and is waxing Deon Merritt, Richmond transfer, and USA. Texas is covering the line in the first half, Georgetown has enough of a lead and another buzzer beater (at the half) to salt away a victory against a game UMBC. The other game is UCONN, which is his team, so he gets them anyway. To be fair, I'm pulling for the Huskies a little bit, because if they lose the Puss will probably get disinterested in the tournament and not allow me to make up my losses by dodging my calls. He doesn't play phone tag he plays hide and seek, or duck hunter, I'm hunting and he's ducking. Potentially an 8-0 start for Perry Puss today. I'm stunned. Meanwhile, as the law of averages corrected itself, in the morning session all three dogs covered. Miam...

Was watching the games and got two pics from Tex in my inbox. This one titled: Krushin Lunchboxes. Well done. Hopefully Tick Rogers in AC will be sending me another pic soon just like this one. Also, Congrats to Poker Lusky who has quit his day job, because of enough online scores just like this one. Any day now, he and Virge will be moving to Vegas?

4-0 in the early games against me. Accused me of dodging his phone call. "Dodge Bill, dodge it Billy..." In this set of games, I have USA (+4.5) vs. Butler, second chance to be proud to be an American today, Austin Peay (+16 and +21.5) in Puss's Daily Double (I think he'll cover both, Let's Go Peay looks terrible), I also have a 15 seed that I think can give GTown a game with UMBC a 17 point dog.

Western Kentucky goes Deee-eep for the win. But it's against Drake. So instead of Bryce Drew as a double digit seed smacking Ole Miss (?) upside the head it's vs. Drake a team nobody has heard of except for on Seinfeld and in filling out their bracket the first time. Had the commitee bracketed appropriately, that shot could have been against Clemson, or Notre Dame, or Michigan State--and just felt bigger. Also, it's the first true buzzer beater in a while. I like the 10ths of seconds on a clock but ever since they added it, the whole nail a big shot and run off the court effect has subsided. Now, as in the Western Kentucky game, the only time you get that effect is if the clock expires while the ball is in the air. Otherwise, there will be 7 tenths of a second left for the other team to fumble an inbound pass and take the air out of the play a little bit.

After Tennessee plays as flat and passionless as can be, yet, playing a terrible opponent and still almost getting a backdoor cover, Western Kentucky laying the smack down on Drake, Stephan Curry drilling Gonzaga for 40 (after a shot of Adam Morrison in the stands I wondered if he thought oh that's what it means to be a stud and show up for an NCAA game), and Miami pounding St. Marys, the Puss is killing me

Remember when the NBA used to have a ton of guys that could just drain the three pointer. They were specialist and almost every team had them. Now there is Michael Redd and Michael Redd. Those guys, white or black, used to be interchangeable. Dell Curry, Dale Ellis, Tim Legler, Craig Hodges, Rex Chapman, etc. etc. Dell Curry's son is lighting it up for Davidson right now. He's getting his Harold "The Show" Arceneaux on. After Davidson loses, it might be Michael Red and Stephan Curry in the NBA.

Might be time to crack the first beer. As I'm watching the games with two dogs and a fiancee it's not exactly the right environment to pound bud lights so I'll probably wait until the night session. The lady is a litle confused about why I've flip-flopped on Tennessee so many times ("Pick one, you are either rooting for them or against them, I don't know who to cheer for when they score a goal") and one of my dogs keeps trying to high five me anytime I get out of my seat whether I'm happy or angry. Bad training on my part. Any exclamation apparently means high five. It was supposed to be just "Yes!" Now, it also includes "F Bruce Pearl!", "F Tennessee!", "What are you doing American?" "F Jeff Jones!" and "Have you ordered the pizza yet?"

New sweethearts of the media back in it with Davidson tieing Gonzaga. Miami must have gone on a 17-2 run because they are now up big vs. St. Marys. St. Marys was Tick Rogers pick to do damage. Hope the poker is doing better than his upset special..

When he used to call the Cubs game, his drunkeness was a part of the enjoyment of watching the Cubs lose. Pat Sumerall, a fellow drunk, at the end of his career lost it in the booth probably from alcohol induced dementia more so than the flask in his pocket. The latest announcer to lose it has been Verne Lundquist. His has been a slow downward slide. Misreading players and teams and plays, laughing way too hard--like that one guy at every party who's just a social cripple and bellows laughter--at lines that weren't jokes but he thought they were by his partner in the booth, and then just odd cryptique observations. I just realized he's calling the TENN-American game. I'm waiting for him to confuse the F out of Raft as much as I am eager to hear Raft's "onions" call. My favorite Lunquist losing it remark was during an Auburn-Georgia football game where they showed a bunch of Auburn fans tailgating and one of them owned a bulldog and put it in an Auburn jers...

F Tennesse. Can you tell I'm bitter? If Western Kentucky beats Drake--do we really call them a Cinderella. I mean it's Drake. They beat nobody. Davidson looks like they will finish the year without beating a decent team. So far the Puss is beating me 2 to 1 for the day. If he called win half the games a comeback I'm sure this will be dubbed a blowout. The other half of Tick Rogers is playing poker in AC right now watching the games. I thought about doing so at Harrahs. He hasn't called with an update. That's probably a bad thing. Yes! My new team American just tied it up with TN.

They are hotdogging it in a 6 point game. Way too overconfident. Maybe if their coach didn't get his Putty on (chest-painting last year) they wouldn't take early round foes so lightly. You'd think they'd learn.

When I was in college, me and a friend of mine told some local girls we met in a bar, we were in a band named Tick Rogers. Perhaps, inspired by the fact that Pearl Jam's original name was Mookie Blaylock, who Jeff Ament saw in his Tourney loss to Danny Manning and his Miracles in the 88 (?) finals, we devised this strategy over some shots. My friend also looked like Alexe Lalas, six foot seven ginger with a goat-tee to his chest. He was the personfication of a funk-ska-gararage-gheto-funk band that we became. So we met some girls, told them we Tick Rogers, who played for Georgia (?), that year in the NCAAs and we were good to go. After the ask us for a copy of our CD, we went back to campus (where we were shacking up for the "night") and I said I go to the car to get it. 30 minutes later I comeback and annouce I couldn't find the car. Good times. Anyway, this years candidate for Tick Rogers faux band name is Wink Adams a guard for UNLV.

His upsets are a lot of 10s and 11s wining. In games that are esentially pick 'ems according to Vegas. Way to go out on a limb. The NCAA selection commitee seems to be intent on killing their own product. Anyway, Davis likes St. Joes (a one point dog), Davidson (a 1.5 favorite), and to give him a little credit he likes Siena too (which is actually a 6.5 dog to Vandy). Siena is a team I took in a few of my brackets. I don't know much about them other than they beat Stanford early and played well against a couple of other big teams. Word out my man in Albany new york is they are good. This Davidson-Gonzaga game is up and down. Davidson played UNC, UCLA, and a couple of other big boys close in noncon but lost them all. I tend to think this means they can't get over the hump. Course that was the rap against Princeton until they beat defending National Champions UCLA 10 years ago. A couple of guards by the names of Mitch Henderson and Chris Mooney played in that game...

TN trailing 9-5. We switched to Davidson-Gonzaga but TN was taking a lot of early bad shots. Oops. Gonzaga up 10-6 over Davidson. Remember I'm Gonzaga's bitch. This game seems to be waiting for me to pick Gonzaga or not. Remember they'll do the opposite. They are 1.5 dog despite being the higher seed.

The 4 team #1 seed parlay is 2-0. The Puss took Memphis today as his first game off the board. We also think UNC should be a 30 point victor over Mt. St. Marys. UNC has thrashed better teams this year by more, though the fear is they'll call off the dogs. We think Memphis makes a statement and coach Cal let's them pummel UTA a bit. I also fear UTA might try and run with them. Ugh. 17 is alot for Georgetown vs. UMBC. I'm thinking dog. The puss likes the favorite. Miami limped into the NCAAs going 3-3 and somehow still getting a higher seed then Indiana. I like St. Mary's in a pick 'em. It sucks when the upsets today may come at the hands of Gonzaga, Butler, and Drake. Those teams should be doing the upsetting not losing in the first round. Still, I think there is value in the Butler and Drake lines (4.5 and 4) because they aren't name brands. I'd take the favorites. Should be a compelling couple of games as W. Kentucky and USA are both athletic teams and offe...

Me and my friend took all the games yesterday, he is the Puss. After the daily double of Stanford I was up 9-2 in the morning. In the late session, he mounted what he called a comeback, and we split 4-4. I call that treading water. Today, we love TENNESSEE to obliterate American. The line is 20. Don't worry it'll be 30+. I say that as American is up 4-2. This is the DC's school's first ever NCAA appearence, can you say just happy to be there. The only thing that has changed for head coach Jeff Jones, since his annual early round exit while at the helm at UVA, is his pant size. He's pushing a size 40.

I'm going live today for the NCAA coverage. Feel free to comment. Some thoughts before the early tips: Yesterday the favorites were a whopping 13-3. Had you gone opposite of the rule to take dogs in round 1 you'd be up a LOAD. I loved Stanford vs. Cornell, a team seeded 14th because of Penn and Princeton's former reputation, but nothing to do with the current state of the IVY which was pretty awful. Plus, none of those guys had ever been there. Perfect mixture for a blowout. Plus for the first time in a long time Stanfraud isn't fraudlent. They have some big time talent there. Not only did I take Stanford, I gave a friend 5.5 more points and took them again.

For the first time in years I didn't fill out a bracket immediately after they were published. I will probably do 40. Invariably, I'll be able to say I predicted every game correctly, of course by the same token I'll also have gotten it wrong more times than right. I focus on the positive though, not the negative. I knew a guy that used to only buy 1 powerball ticket, because as he would say if I bought two, even if I won, I'd also lose. That's actually a pretty good point... but back to the brackets. Some rules to live by in filling out your bracket. 1. There are no rules. That was quick. Like spotting patterns in the stock market once you see a trend it bucks itself. 5s always lose to a 12 seed. Last year every 5 won. 1s and 2s never lose a first round game. The little Spiders of the University of Richmond were the first to upend a 2 seed when they beat Syracuse and that has since happenend three more times. So now the rule is 1 seeds are invulnerable....

When you are in a slump, you body position usually literally becomes a slump at the table. Not the kind of image you want to give off when making a bold bluff, or a raise with a marginal hands. It screams weakness. I'd say recently I've been in a mini-slump and have had to catch myself from sinking into the felt. Recently the Harrahs wednesday tournament has been my personal Iceberg, my reads have been outstanding yet, I've had nothing to show for it. This wednesday I had a strange, strange hand play out. I raise from EP playing on my tight image with 64 suited. I like to do this because it gives me three options. I can c-bet like I have an overpair or a big ace that paired up. I can muck the hand easily if my "bluff" c-bet isn't going to work or the texture of the board mandates calls by draws. And three, I hit it, inevitably I'll get paid off because the table is putting me on high cards or a pocket pair. So, the flop comes 765. Big blind ch...

We bled as slowly and as painfully as a chinese water torture. I enjoyed getting run down, and having to call value bets when my opponents hit their straights. I also loved having three, and they were the same three opponents, call my preflop and post flop raises with air, then hit something on the turn and then the river. Third or fourth time I've played at Harrahs and had the multiple opponents playing at me every time. One memorable one included me having my sole overpair to the board. 10s I believe. Board comes out low but an odd straight out there. I bet, raised, and re-raised. Fine, one of them has me beat, whipsawed or not, I fold. Other guy calls. Turn is an 8. Player A raises. Player B calls. River is an 8. There is some more action. A8 vs. K8. Okay, I think they were both open ended and my postflop fold saved me some money even if I was ahead. Still, frustrating. Fantasy poker was no more fun. Fantasy poker is the imaginary game I play when I have to fo...

http://tarheelfan.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/acc-regular-season-champs/ Peyton Manning in the corner makes the pic that much better.

It's called "Watching Grass Grow." Here's the link: http://willgrassgrow.blogspot.com/ If I do everything right in two weeks it will be over. Is there nothing more boring then watching grass grow? Arguably this blog is. We'll find out if that holds true in two weeks.

I ask myself that after these hands... one online in my now stuttering zero bankroll to a million attempt and one live today. Online: People are folding to min-raises like they are real bets. I min-raise, and a guy pounds it to 20x. We all fold. He says, "I hate minraises." Oh really. I min-raise the very next hand with a smiley face. Everybody folds of course. I keep doing it, and dragging small spots with c-bets and just waiting for the chance to reshove on him. Under the gun I get AQ suited. Ahh... min raise. Next guy calls. Lots of callers, it's losing its usefulness. Guy on the button makes a big raise. Fold to me. I call (mistake number 1?), thinking we'll play heads up. Guy next to me goes all in for 1/3rd of my stack. Button calls. Huh? Huh? Button barely has me covered. I reckon I have the best hand or a coinflip with one of them or maybe overcards to them both. I shove to isolate the guy to my left. Button must be weakish to not push....

I've had a bit of revelation recently, shifting gears is not my strong suit, or at least when I've noticed that the table or the regular players are adjusting against me, I'm too slow to hit the gas (in cash games). I sat down on Sunday night to catch some hands at Harrahs because I met up with a friend downtown in on business. A healthy convention crowd was out with him, so I was happy with the turnout at Harrahs. Of course, I once again sit down at a table of mostly regulars, the ones that weren't regulars were tight and not the loose tourists we dream of, so again I felt like somebody else was making money. I get into an early hand with the big stack who had been hitting everything. I bet out the limpers and he sticks, I'm holding 88. Flop is 10107. I bet, he calls. Turn is a 6. I check, he checks. River is a 6. I bet, he folds. Now, maybe I should have bet the turn, but I was ready to play back at him because I thought he might take the lead given what was said ...