5 Minutes to SportsCenter

For anyone who loves SportsCenter, this video is hilarious.

Ready for the Game

I'm ready to watch the NorthWood - Bellmont game. Go panthers!

College Football Overtimes (& Bill Curry)

I used to hate it when there were ties in college football games. And I love the overtime rules the NCAA initiated in the 1996 season.

Today's Notre Dame - Pittsburgh game started out as a two-field-goals-in-the-first-quarter yawner and turned into a seven-field-goals-in-quadruple-overtime thriller.

Last year I was watching Boise State and Nevada play on ESPN. The game went into quadruple overtime. One of the announcers, Bill Curry, bemoaned the overtime rules reasoning that, "Some one's gonna get hurt out there." He said it over and over. How lame. He would be a lot of fun to watch a marathon with, "That Kenyan better take a break or he's gonna pull a hammy!" I'm glad Bill didn't get the opportunity to spoil today's exciting overtime game with his lame-o commentary.

A Guy I Really Empathize With

I'm counting down the minutes until the Cubs first post-season game begins at 6:30. As the playoffs begin, I can't help but remember the Steve Bartman incident from five years ago.

Steve Bartman is a guy I really empathize with. I wasn't at the game. I was watching it on TV. But what if I would have been at the game - occupying seat 113 in row 8 of section 4? I'm sure I would have put my hands up to catch the ball. Moises would have thrown his glove in disgust at my "interference." It would have been the "Gall Incident." I would have been escorted from the stands by security, added to the list of Cub's curses and hated by fellow fans.

It could have been me. That was my thought as I watched that game five years ago. It could have been anyone.

A guy vilified for doing something that most anyone would have done. I feel really bad for Steve Bartman.

While staying out of the public spotlight as much as possible since the incident, Steve Bartman has shown nothing but class in dealing with the situation. I'm not so sure I would have been so classy dealing with it, had it been me - starting with being asked to leave by security for trying to catch a ball that was headed for my skull. I think I would have informed security that since I didn't do anything wrong I think it is their responsibility to keep me safe in my seat while I watch the rest of the game. I probably then would have been physically carried out of Wrigley - hopeful refraining from kicking and screaming. My graciousness probably would have spiraled downhill from there; instead of issuing an apology, demanding one from Alex Gonzalez for mishandling an easy double play ball that would have gotten the Cubs safely out of the inning.

So whatever happened to Steve Bartman? There is a great article on ESPN.com written by Wayne Drehs who spent days trying to track Steve down in hopes of getting an interview out of him. It's really a fantastic story and well worth reading.

The Treatment of Vince Makes Me Wince

I empathize with Vince Young. There's something about a good guy getting booed in his own stadium that just sort of tugs at my heart. I'm not going to cry over it or anything, but when I see a clip of Titans fans booing Young, I think that it's just mean. I can't believe they do that.

I think Donald Miller empathizes with Vince Young too. He posted an open letter to Vince on his blog. It's worth a read.

Coming within the next couple weeks, a post about a guy with whom I REALLY empathize.

Carlos Zambrano

Last night Carlos Zambrano took a no hitter into the bottom of the 9th. With two outs, Darin Erstad stepped to the plate and launched a towering home run to break up the no hitter. Kerry Wood then came in for Zambrano, recorded the final out and got the save.

That's what would have happened if I would have been watching the end of the game.

Instead, I didn't realize history was being made as I monitored a rather dull Sunday night football game and blogged about chapter book read alouds.

So, thanks to me, Erstad struck out swinging and history was made. Carlos, you owe me one.

Indiana High School Football Schedules

Here's a link to one of my favorite football season web sites. The site lists every high school in the state of Indiana that has a football team. When a school is clicked, that school's schedule and scores are listed. Each team on the school's schedule is also clickable, so you can easily see how your team's opponents have faired, who they have played and how those teams have faired.

Cubs Chances

The Cubs have a 96.1% chance of making the playoffs this year according to coolstandings.com.

Buzzer Beaters

It was great to see an exciting NCAA championship game. (Although I dozed off a little around halftime because I was so tired from the sump pump project.) Mario Chalmers hit a great shot to send the game into overtime.

Here's a video from a Minnesota high school championship game. This shot sends the game into a second overtime, in which the team eventually wins the game. The shooter is Blake Hoffarber, who also made an amazing buzzer beater for Minnesota to beat Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament this year.

SportsNation

I enjoy voting in ESPN's SportsNation polls. The best part is checking out the map of how the vote is going in each state. Today's poll is "Which team will the NCAA basketball championship?"

• 59% of all respondents picked Memphis
• 82% of respondents in Tennessee picked Memphis
• 17% of respondents in Kansas picked Memphis

People are such homers. The polls are on the right side of ESPN's homepage.

Final Four

I'm ready. Four number one seeds in the final four that have run roughshod through the tournament so far. Something has to give. I'm hoping what gives is a final four filled with three great games. Can't wait.