Oh Hi, March

Take a look at the blog archives on the lower right side of the page and you'll notice a pretty dramatic decline in the frequency of posting between this point last year and now. A year ago we were producing more than an item a day, many of them of considerable length and even more considerable depth. As Kevin pointed out last month, much has changed in the past 6-8 months for the blog's three operators. We've all moved and now live at least an hour apart from each other (as opposed to the 20-minute diameter that had enclosed us a year ago), we've all taken on new jobs or new, unprecedented levels of responsibility at our current jobs, and we're also in the midst of seeing some of the most important people in our lives start to get engaged and married (not actually any one of us yet, though, rest assured). As an unfortunate result, the blog has taken a bit of a backseat. But I guess you can just call that another element of getting older.

On the other hand, I am enjoying some of the things that seem to never change from year to year. As someone whose Winter Dldrums got an early start when Tony Romo broke his collarbone two months before Christmas, there are few nicer phrases right now than "February is over." The Big East Tournament is underway, and for the first time since October, I am feeling interest in a sporting event for reasons other than gambling or spite. Selection Sunday is 4 days away. The Tournament is 8 days away (depending if you count the round of 68 or not), and soon enough will be providing us the 2011 versions of overnight household names Bryce Drew and Ali Farokhmanesh, or maybe another unfathomable run like George Mason in '06, Davidson in '08, or Butler just last year. And once we've seemingly had our fill of the NCAA on CBS theme music, camps will break in Arizona and Florida, and our baseball teams will head north to play games that count once again. Shortly thereafter, the Feel Good Event of the Year will be upon us to erase any doubt that the shitty winter of 2010-2011 is gone.

The only thing that will keep you sane in life is having things to look forward to on a regular basis. It doesn't have to be huge, it just has to be on the horizon. Kevin's piece below about life after college ties right in to this thinking. Simply put, it sucks sometimes. It really does. And we all know that. But we also have to be able to find those openings, those breaks in the monotony that remind us, "hey, it's not all so terrible." For me and probably for John and Kevin as well, one of those ripples of light comes every mid-March. Followers of the blog who have an embarrassing amount of time on their hands may remember that I put that very same Andy Dufresne picture you see above on a post from last year that said some very similar things. But hey, any day that the Shawshank picture goes up on the blog can't be too bad of a day.

Defining an Upset

The word" upset" is thrown out quite frequently in sports.  The media loves to sell you on the story of something incredible happening.  Except that many of the upsets are far from upsets.  In fact I can recall several occasions where a team that Vegas had favored* won and it was called an upset.  I can also recall situations where a ranked team lost to and unranked team and it was called an upset.  Minimum standards for mentioning the word upset:

• 7 1/2 point dog in college football.

Conference games must have double digit spreads.  Texas Tech beating Texas at home 08 is not an upset.  Stanford beating USC 07 in the Coliseum is the biggest upset of that year.

• 14 1/2 point spreads or National Championship implications for bitter rivals.

Michigan beating Ohio State or vice versa can almost never be considered an upset. The hatred runs so deep in games such as this that anything is liable to happen, especially when you ignore other game preparations for the sole purpose of beating your rival.

• Must be an NFL playoff game with a double digit spread. 

Giants over Pats in the Super Bowl qualifies. When there are 32 teams playing under a salary cap its hard to say that the bottom team has no chance at the top team on any given Sunday.

• NBA Basketball #7 seed over a #2 seed. 
• "Little guy" over storied program.

Even Butler over Duke would have qualified despite around a 7 point spread. Had it been UCLA over Duke with an 8 point spread then surely it wouldn't have had the upset flair.

Upsets do not exist in hockey in my opinion.  Pucks bounce funny, things are random and clunky at times.  You can outshot and outplay your opponents and still end up on the losing end.  Sure this happens in other sports as well but none so frequently as hockey and I am including soccer here.  Hockey good sport but I think this past NHL and NCAA seasons proved that "upsets" are far to common to be treated as such.

Soccer I generally believe the results are fair but shit happens here too and smash and grab victories can occur.  Football is the purest of the major sports to determines a victor.  If you compare yardage parity and 3rd down conversions you will generally find your winner.  Fluky turnovers can occur to swing a result but its far more unlikely than in other sports. Basketball can be more easily corrupted by officiating but it also typically has a deserved winner.

As you can see I did a poor job of explaining my point and deviated from the premise.  The overall point is that the word upset is thrown around all too much.  Please do not fall into the hype created by ESPN, and take some measures yourself to determine an upset.

How Important is the Approval of Your Friends?

When you meet a new girl its common to ask for the approval of your friends. Can they get along with your friends? Do they handle themselves well in a group? The friends are a litmus test to see if the guy or girl you have been seeing is as cool as you think they are. Girls want to know if their friends think their new man is hot. For guys its the same. Your friends can provide a stamp of approval.

If your blinded by the fact that your getting laid and can't see the big picture your friends can help you out.  They are not getting the action so they can provide an unclouded judgement of the situation.  If your in a relationship and you want your friends advice, you need to open the door for it.  Most people will not come out and say so and so is a bitch at risk of damaging the friendship.  Ask what do you think of her and you will likely receive a canned answer to some degree.  The friend still is unlikely tell you his true feelings.  Tell him considering breaking up with her and the friend will likely step in an give his honest assessment while covering his ass if she comes back.

For some reason I seek the approval of my friends for not just how a girl may act but how she looks.  As if it mattered because they aren't making out with her.  I puzzle myself with this, but I want to know that I'm not the only one who finds the girl attractive.  The judging of her character is something I can figure out, but even still you want your friends to say she's cool. And I mean the exact phrase "she's cool", because that's what I always hear or say when someone is approved.

Your girlfriend or boyfriend are battling for the same hang out time as your long time friends. Except they can offer you an orgasm that your friends cannot.  So the friends may naturally feel slighted at times.  You and your new special friend have to try to smooth things over.  Hang out together and all but don't always be attached the hip.  You can't have the same conversations with a girlfriend in toe.  That would be like expecting me to act the same way in front of my parents as I do in front of my friends.

If you listen to your friends all the time you will inevitably be single. You should trust your own thoughts and feelings above all else. Its understandable to give in to the girlfriend more than your friends.  Usually they won't go anywhere.  However, your happiness in the long run is key, and if this means ditching the boyfriend or girlfriend everywhere once in awhile then do it.  They can survive a few nights by themselves.  Not everynight is a need to hang out night.  When your girlfriend or boyfriend needs you, trump your friends. When its not a pertinent event though, have your friends back if its and important event.

Finally this blog post is all over the place.  This is part of the reason it has been sitting in the que since March.  Perhaps that shows how complicated this stuff can be, and how much more complicated it gets when your free time shrinks.