Friday, March 28, 2008

Sports Briefs

No, not athlete's underwear, short comments regarding the wide world of sports from your favorite blogger! (Actually, I'm writing them... but close enough)

Baseball: Bye Bye Barry! The San Francisco Giants are removing any and all references to their "beloved" "home run king" for the start of this season. His image is being removed from the left field wall (they can now bring the wall back to its original size, they had to make it larger to fit Barry's noggin on it), there are no references to "#756" (the home run that "broke" Hank Aaron's intact record), and the #25 (Bond's jersey) is not being displayed anywhere in the park. The team plans to put a plaque where home run 756 landed in the stands. I guess the team has figured they've milked the Bondimonium as much as they dare, what, with his perjury charges pending, and all.

Football: Speaking of Giants Each year, the winner of the Super Bowl opens the following season with a game to test their strength to see if they are the same team they were just six months earlier. Indianapolis faced off against New Orleans, the team that lost in the NFC Championship game to the Bears. When New England won, their first game was against arch rival Indianapolis. New England also had to face Pittsburgh to start a season following a Super Bowl victory. Tampa Bay played Philadelphia, the team that represented the NFC in the big game that year. Who have the football executives decided the New York Giants should face? Which of the NFL's Powerhouse teams must they square off against? Division rival and best-record-in-the-NFC Cowboys? Nope. AFC runner up Chargers? Wrong. Ok, how about NFC runner up: the Favre-less Packers? No. Ready? The dreaded 9-7 Washington Redskins! Third place in their division! At least they managed to steal a playoff spot from the Vikings who couldn't buy a win at the end of the season. The best part about it... the Giants will still lose.

NCAA Basketball: The Final Four (C) Yet another cultural colloquialism that is becoming more of an epitaph. It looks like the terms "March Madness" and "Final Four" have been copyrighted! Just like Super Bowl, Fenway Park, and "You're Fired" (though The Don failed at his bid to copyright the last one) if these terms are to be used in advertising or marketing of any kind, money must change hands. The Bracket that I filled out this year said "Hoops Hysteria" and another website said "Tourney Time." In fact, I have a jar next to my computer for every time I type Super Bowl, Final Four, or March Madness. Whoops, there goes another $75! Right now I'm in first place with the bracket competition at my former place of employment. However, as I foolishly chose Georgetown to win it all and Pitt to be in the Final Four, I think the best I can do is 3rd. (I did get all four of last nights games right, though.) My best shot at winning is for Wisconsin to beat UNC to go to the finals, play a UCLA team that beat Michigan State to get there, and for Wisconsin to win it all. Go Badgers!

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