March Madness & the Big (L)East

This has been one of the most exciting NCAA Tournaments I can remember in the past few years. Even though my Terps aren't in it, I've enjoyed watching the tournament tremendously. There have been so many close games and last-second shots to win games. The best part, however, is all of the higher seeds making it to the Sweet Sixteen. There are five teams that are 8 seeds or higher that have advanced. Pretty cool to see.

One of the bigger story lines in this tournament is the underwhelming performance of the Big East... or should I say Least? Having a record setting eleven teams in the tournament and being known as by far the best conference in all of college basketball, it's a bit ironic to see only two of the original eleven teams in the Sweet Sixteen. Think about this for a minute, the city of Richmond has just as many teams (VCU & Richmond) in the Sweet Sixteen as does the Big East. Four conferences have just as many teams or more in the Sweet Sixteen as does the Big East: the Big Ten, SEC, Mountain West, and the ACC, which leads all conferences with three teams in the Sweet Sixteen.

For as much credit as the Big East got this season, they sure haven't proven much in the big dance. Let's look at the records of the conferences in the tournament.

• ACC 7-1
• Big Ten 7-5
• SEC 4-3
• Pac-10 4-3
• Big East 9-9
• Big 12 4-4
• Mountain West 4-1
• The Colonial 4-2
• Atlantic-10 3-2

Clearly, the ACC has been the best conference thus far in the tournament. It is especially amusing to see after all of the criticism they got for being very weak this season.

I'm looking forward to a stellar second weekend of the tournament and I hope you all are too!

New HTC Thunderbolt

Looks as though the new HTC Thunderbolt is living up to the hype. I just watched a few hands-on videos on the phone and it looks impressive. I'm fairly familiar with the phone as I have an HTC Evo, which the Thunderbolt is somewhat based off of.

Overall, I like the phone. It's definitely more refined than my Evo is. The specs are pretty damn good too. Many people complained about the Evo's 4.3" screen, but I have yet to hear anyone complaining about the Thunderbolt's screen size. In my opinion, the screen size is perfect. Many people were probably not used to seeing a phone so large and were a bit intimidated by it. It's really not uncomfortable at that size and viewing videos on it is awesome. The camera is pretty sweet too. Having an 8mp camera and being able to record in 720p is impressive.

Of course, the coolest thing about this phone is the kickstand. These kickstands are really underrated. I can't count how many times I've used the kickstand on my Evo to watch videos on my phone or to show my friends a video. It is much more convenient than having to hold the phone up, especially on substantially long videos. I haven't really had a chance to see how the screen stacks up against other phones, but I'm sure it's no slouch.

With all things great, there are always things that could have been better. I have two main complaints about this phone. The first is that there is no apparent way to turn off LTE on Verizon, besides pulling out the LTE card behind the battery. I'm not sure how this affects battery life or the performance of the phone, but I can't think it helps it any. Secondly, the location of the charge port is just puzzling to me. The charge port is located on the side of the phone right where the phone rests with the kickstand being used. If you're watching a video with the kickstand, there is absolutely no way to charge the phone.

Other than those two gripes I have, the HTC Thunderbolt is a superb phone. With the screen size, hardware, kickstand and of course the HTC Sense UI, there aren't many smartphones that can compete head-to-head with this phone. If I didn't already have my HTC Evo on Sprint, I'd pick this phone up in a heartbeat.

Last Tosh.O show this week?

I have no idea if it's a joke or not, but Daniel Tosh's latest Tweet suggests what my title says.
A little disappointed if true, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Tosh.O.

danieltosh daniel tosh

yes the rumors are true. this weeks show will be the last one for awhile. need to figure out what i really want out of life.

2 hours ago via web

Being a Sports Fan is Rough

As evidenced in my blog description, it's quite obvious I'm a fan of the Maryland Terrapins, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Redskins. This past year has probably been one of the worst years I can remember as far as being a sports fan. After yesterdays debacle by the Terps, I've discovered that my teams are slowly ripping my heart out; or maybe I just care too much.

I knew coming into this season the Terps would probably not have that great of year as compared to last year after losing three big starters in Vasquez, Hayes and Milbourne. However, I didn't see them being this bad. With Jordan Williams returning and some veteran experience in Tucker, Bowie, Mosley and Gregory I figured they'd do alright. Perhaps I'm too optimistic and have unrealistic expectations sometimes, but it seems a bit unacceptable for a team with such a rich basketball history to be going to their fourth NIT in seven years (assuming they don't win the ACCT).

Everyone knows about the catastrophe that was the Redskins last year. With still so many question marks at so many positions, I'm going to be shying away from my optimistic views for the Skins. Hell, we might not even have a season this year which might actually add some years to my life as I won't be getting so frustrated watching the Redskins play.

I don't know if I should even get started with the Orioles haha. I guess I won't dwell too much on their past though. This season has my hopes up. With a much improved lineup I don't have any worries about them putting runs on the board. However, the most important aspect to their team, pitching, has me a bit tamed as far as my excitement for this coming season goes. As long as the young arms can hold their own, then this may be the first season in fourteen years where the O's will finish above .500. I know one thing, I sure could use a good season from the O's.

Cage The Elephant - Shake Me Down

Being at a university up in the mountains and away from most towns, I don't get to listen to the radio very often and don't have the opportunity to listen to new music. Today I got a chance to travel back home for a school project and turned on the radio. I found this song by Cage The Elephant and loved it. Apparently it's been out for a little while, but of course I never got to hear it. I first heard of Cage The Elephant when they released their single Ain't No Rest for the Wicked.

Found this yesterday...

This guy claims the Orioles will be lucky to win 65 games this year. Seriously? As much as the O's have improved they're going to win less games than last year? Haha. However this guy got a blog on ESPN I will never know.

"And how about the Orioles in Baltimore? Is there any reason to "Fear the Bird"?

Short answer: no. But that offense has been stacked up with some nice offensive pieces and Camden Yards is pretty favorable for home run hitters. The additions of Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee and J.J. Hardy will certainly help them score runs and Mark Reynolds may even churn out 30 homers this year (with 250 strikeouts). How many times will Clay Buchholz strike Reynolds out this year? Seven, eight times maybe? Reynolds is already 0-for-3 against him with three strikeouts.

The real problem for Baltimore is that pitching staff. Good luck keeping opponents to fewer than five runs per game when you are trotting Jeremy Guthrie to the mound as your ace. Sure he might give you 200 innings, but that’s about all you're getting unless he can continue to post sub-30 percent hit rates.

O's fans better hope that Brian Matusz can wear the crown as he's been anointed (much like Matt Wieters) but the team is built as a dichotomy -- offense for today and the pitching for tomorrow. It's doubtful that Baltimore will win 65 games in 2011."

Link to article: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/7403/who-can-knock-off-sox-yanks-in-al-east

Busy Weekend in Sports

What a weekend! Had the Daytona 500, some top NCAA basketball teams went down, NBA Dunk Contest and All Star Game, and finally the Terps pull out a victory against NCST while honoring the 2001 Final Four team and Greivis Vasquez.

How about the 20 year old Trevor Bayne winning the Daytona 500, in only his second career start at that?! There were a ton of cautions, but the ending was pretty exciting. With Bayne in the lead the final lap, I didn't think he stood a chance against some of the veterans behind him; especially when Carl Edwards made a charge towards the front. Surprisingly he held on for the win. I was very excited for him.

What went on last week with the top ranked teams in NCAA basketball? First Kansas lost to Kansas State on Monday night. Then Texas loses to Nebraska. Next we saw Pitt fall to St. Johns and finally Ohio State lost to Purdue on Sunday. The last time the top-four ranked teams lost all in the same week was Nov. 25, 2003 when UConn, Duke, Michigan State and Arizona all went down. With the losses this past week, Duke regains the number one spot.

Please tell me I wasn't the only one not impressed by Blake Griffin's dunk over the hood of a car to win the dunk contest. I mean come on, the hood of that car was what, three feet? It was nothing more than a regular dunk with a three foot obstacle in the way; not impressive at all.

I was happy to see my Terps play a good game against the Wolfpack on Sunday. What impressed me the most was the great play by Stoglin and the great free throw shooting (23-25). I was also glad to see Gary start the two freshman guards. We should have a bright future at that position. Talk about nostalgia though! The Terps honored their first final four team from 2001 and hung Vasquez's jersey from the rafters. It would be great to get back to those glory days of the late '90s and early '00s!

New Eminem Song - Fly Away

Not a big fan of this one. Seems to me like a lot of his music is either hit or miss nowadays. The chorus, in my opinion, is just awful especially with the autotune.

Tough Day for the Terps

First, Randy Shannon declines the defensive coordinator job. Shannon told Maryland that he stood to lose about $1.5 million in buyout money from Miami if he signed with Maryland. The hiring of Shannon would have completed the staff of Maryland coach Randy Edsall, who was hired last month. I can't wait to see who the next defensive coordinator will be now at Maryland (sarcasm).
*UPDATE*
Maryland promoted ILBs coach Todd Bradford to defensive coordinator. UMass defensive coordinator Keith Dudzinski will now join Maryland and take over the ILB coaching position

Next, the Terps lost a tough one to VT. Unless a miracle happens and we win the ACC Tournament, it looks like the Terps will be headed to the NITs for the fourth time in seven years; pretty unacceptable at a school like Maryland with such a rich basketball history. At least on the bright side of things, Stoglin looked great last night. Our freshman guards look like the real deal. Next year should be better.

Just found out this morning that DB Travis Hawkins will be transferring from MD. Hawkins was regarded as a top-20 CB coming out of high school. Pretty big blow to the Terps' secondary... I'll have more once more news comes out about this.

O's Pitchers and Catchers Report

Today marks the day in which pitchers and catchers report for the O's. I'm pretty optimistic about our young arms coming into this season. They did nothing but impress under Buck towards the end of the season and I have confidence that they can continue that upward trend.

Under Showalter the starting pitching stats:

• Arrieta - 8 starts, 5.96 IP/start, 3.78 ERA, 5.10 K/9IP, 2.60 BB/9IP, 63% QS

• Bergesen - 11 starts, 6.82 IP/start, 2.88 ERA, 4.92 K/9IP, 2.52 BB/9IP, 64% QS

• Guthrie - 11 starts, 7.03 IP/start, 3.14 ERA, 5.47 K/9IP, 1.63 BB/9IP, 64% QS

• Matusz - 11 starts, 5.64 IP/start, 2.18 ERA, 7.55 K/9IP, 2.32 BB/9IP, 73% QS

• Tillman - 5 starts, 5.73 IP/start, 4.08 ERA, 5.97 K/9IP, 5.65 BB/9IP, 40% QS

  With Buck at the helm the O's went 34-23, second best record only behind the Twins from the point in which Buck took over.

It is obvious that the Orioles lineup is going to be good this year, the major question facing the O's is the pitching. Will the young guns be able to step up and can the bullpen hold leads? This season will be fun to watch.

Go O's!

Hennessey Venom GT

Over 1200 HP and a top speed of 267 mph. Amazing.
 Based off of the Lotus Elise/Exige.

0 -- 60 mph 2.5 sec.
1/4 Mile 9.9 sec. @ 162 mph
0 -- 200 mph 15.9 sec.
Top Speed 267 mph

Maryland close to getting Randy Shannon for DC

Looks as though the Terps may be adding a big name to the defensive coordinator vacancy. IMO, this would be a great move for Maryland after the whole Mike Leach fiasco that took place. Not only is Shannon a pretty big name, his defenses at Miami were consistently one of the best in the country and his recruiting ties to Florida would be huge!

"Maryland and former Miami coach Randy Shannon drew close to an agreement Thursday that would make Shannon the football program's defensive coordinator, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told the Post's Eric Prisbell.
Shannon, who interviewed for the position with Maryland coach Randy Edsall earlier this week, would replace Don Brown, who abruptly ended his two-year stint as the team's defensive coordinator last week to take the same job at Connecticut. Should a deal with Shannon be finalized, Edsall's staff would be complete.
In four seasons as Miami's coach, Shannon compiled a 28-22 record. He was fired at the conclusion of last season.
Prior to his stint as the team's head coach, Shannon served as the Hurricanes' defensive coordinator for six seasons. During that time, Miami ranked lower than No. 7 in the nation once in total yards allowed per game.
The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday that Maryland had offered Shannon the job."

From the Washington Post

Shannon's defensive rankings at Miami (From Wiki):

• 2001 - 6th
• 2002 - 7th
• 2003 - 2nd
• 2004 - 28th
• 2005 - 4th
• 2006 - 7th