A tale of two brackets

This year I allowed my 5-year old son to fill out his first bracket for March Madness. He went with SMU, he has a thing for Larry Brown.

While I went with the Big Blue Nation capping a perfect season. 

My Bracket

The Front Page: Selection Sunday

The teams have been selected, the brackets have been now all we are waiting for is the games. Here is how newspapers all over this great country covered Selection Sunday.

   

National Signing Day: An Ode to the Fax Machine

Over the last couple of years as the use of email has become more and acceptable, the fax machine has been rendered useless. Sure most offices still have them, but the constant hum of them has been replaced for the most part by the bing of email in a person inbox. 

But on the National Signing Day, the fax machine takes its spot at the top of the technological chart. Recruits from all over the country will be sending their National Letters of Intent by fax to their schools. Without the fax machine recruits would have to FedEx their letters of intent and that would not be good for television. 

While the concept of fax machine has been around for nearly 70 years, it really gained in popularity during the 60's. A landmark year for fax machines was 1964, in which the Xerox Corporation introduced (and patented) what many consider to be the first commercialized version of the modern fax machine, under the name (LDX) or Long Distance Xerography. This model was superseded two years later with a unit that would truly set the standard for fax machines for years to come. Up until this point facsimile machines were very expensive and hard to operate. In 1966, Xerox released the Magnafax Telecopier, a smaller, 46-pound facsimile machine. This unit was far easier to operate and could be connected to any standard telephone line.

The use of fax machines is not without its negatives, early on National Signing Day FSU officials told ESPN that they were having issues with the fax machines. Lets hope that they got that fixed, so they can get their letter of in intent.

So as we get excited for the classes that our schools get, just remember that the real star of the day is the fax machines. This is one of the few days in the sun that this machines has, so lets respect it.

This Map Explains Everything

This map breaks down all that is good with America.

High School Football All Star Game Recap

The high school football All-Star season has ended. Over the course of the last two weeks, the OTWT Scouting Department has been watching the three majors national games that where played and making a list. Here are some of the players that we where impressed with during the games.


Semper Fidelis Bowl:

• DJ Foster, RB/DB, Arizona: He is a lock down corner who is very comfortable playing against the other team's fastest receiver, and he's very confident with a smooth backpedal and he can turn and run with the best of them. One of the nation's premier cover corners, he also showed great hands, burst, and displayed outstanding moves in the open field at WR.
• Jayodon Mickens, DB/RB, California: One of the more explosive ball players in Los Angeles. He shows the speed, quickness, hands and burst needed to become an impact WR at the next level.

Under Armour All American Game 

• Chad Kelly, QB, Buffalo (pictured above): The nephew of former Bills great Jim Kelly is headed to Clemson. In the skills challenge Kelly arm strong was really shown, he can make any throw out there. Will be a perfect fit in Chad Morris's Clemson offense. 
• Ifenndi Odenigbo, DE, Ohio: The one that got away, instead of picking Ohio State, Odenigbo will be headed to Northwestern. I can not remember the last time the Wildcats had an athlete like this on defense.

US Army All American Game 

• Cyler Miles, QB, Colorado (pictured right):  Miles is a dual-threat quarterback, but he uses his feet more as a weapon than a priority. He has a strong arm and can make all of the throws. Miles, who is heading to Washington next, will be the perfect replacement for Kevin Price in a couple of years. Miles will probably red shirt next years, which will help his development in the future
• TJ Yeldon:, RB, Alabama:Yeldon is an instinctive runner with excellent speed and acceleration. He has a great initial burst, which allows him to hit small windows and attack the defense. His balance and vision allow him to set up tacklers and break tackles. During the game the 'Bama recruit showed his athletic ability hurdling defenders not once but twice. For a larger back he is incredible athletic.

Sometimes getting a 5-star is not all its cracked up to be

In college football, getting 5-star recruits is the name of the game but sometimes it does not work out. Rivals.com took a look at the five years of 5-stars and the results are a mixed bag, for every superstar there is a bust. 

College Basketball: The Cover Story

The college basketball season is here and here are the Sporting News covers for their college basketball preview issues.

ESPN is the true puppet master

With all of the talk of conference realignment going on right now, Poynter takes a looks at ESPN's roll in the whole situation. A very well done story. This comment by LSU Chancellor Michael Martin sums it up the whole situation best: "I think we could end up with two enormous conferences, one called ESPN and the one called Fox." So I guess ESPN is the true puppet master in conference realignment.

No One is in Charge

New York Times College Sports Reporter Pete Thamel gets to the heart of the ongoing conference reshuffling. It's basically football run Anarchy.

College Football: The Cover Story 2011

The start of the College Football season is right around the corner. So here is a look at all of the preseason magazines from the Sporting News. Note that TP is still on the cover of the Ohio State one, very interesting.

Just win more games and you will get in

Stop Crying Seth and win more

So the bracket of 68 has been made and now everyone is complaining about one thing or the other. For one they have nothing to complain about. I hear so "experts" complaining about VCU and UAB getting in over Colorado, 'Bama, and Va Tech.

In a year where college basketball has be down and the level of play has been terrible, no one has a right to complain about not getting in. Colorado could have won more games, 'Bama don't get beat by St. Peters, and Va Tech just stop.

My real problem here is with Seth Greenberg and Va Tech. Every year, hours after the selections committee has made its pick, Seth Greenberg is on TV talking about his team got shafted and this year is no different. The show is getting kind of old. Hey Seth how about going out and winning a couple of more games and stop leaving it up to the committee. You play in the ACC and have chances for big wins and maybe you should take advantage of it.

So in the end no one has anything to complain about, the teams that where left out should have done one thing and they would not have to worry about anything, Just win more games and take it out of the hands of the committee.

Giving Everything a Try

In college you are supposed to give everything a try and Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden is sure trying that. After being a standout on the grid iron this year, Weeden is trying something else. The Oklahoma St. quarterback is walking on to golf team, yes that would be the national ranked Cowboy's golf team. After announcing that hey was returning to QB the cowboys next season Weeden tweeted the following:

“I forgot to mention I'm also the newest member of the OSU golf team!!!! Proud to be part of something special! Football and Golf!!!!”, according to a fox sports story

Weeden is no stranger to trying different things, baseball was his first love. Weeden was drafted in the second round of the baseball draft in 2002 by the Yankees as their first selection in the draft. After the 2003 season, he was traded to the Dodgers as part of the Kevin Brown deal he was selected in the Rule 5 draft following the 2005 season by the Royals His baseball career ended due to an arm injury and then he turned to football.

In high school, Weeden led Edmond Santa Fe High School to an appearance in the state semifinals in the school's first-ever playoff appearance, where he was eventually named team MVP and offensive player of the year. He finished second in Oklahoma in passing yards with 2,863. He also contributed 29 touchdowns. After leaving baseball, enrolled at OSU to baseball.

At this rate, Weeden will be trying out as a point guard for the Cowboys basketball team in the next couple of weeks.

Really ABC

So there is a game between two Top 15 teams and a match up between two unranked teams, guess which game I got on ABC. So instead of Oklahoma State Oklahoma game I have USC Notre Dame, but no problem. Thank god for XBox live, I'm able to watch the Cowboys and Sooners on ESPN3. It has saved the night.
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The Cover Story: College Basketball

It seems like only yesterday that North Carolina cut down the nets at Ford Field in Detroit, but a lot has changed since they did that, Coach Cal went from Memphis to Kentucky and North Carolina reloaded.

In honor of midnight madness tomorrow night here are the covers of the Sporting News College Basketball preview issues:

Washington

California

Arizona

Texas

Kansas

Michigan

Illinois

SEC

Tennessee

Miami

Kentucky

North Carolina

Pittsburgh

Washington DC

UCONN

The Cover Story: NCAA Tournament

For the last couple of year, Sports Illustrated has created a collage of teams that are involved in the NCAA Tournament. This year they decided to release four different covers for different regions.

Midwest

West

Southwest/Big 12 Country

Big East

Big 12 Coaches South Park Style

Everyone is getting into this coaches South Park characters, today the Big 12.