BBT4 Update

Through the end of ten events and at the halfway point in March, I am sitting in fourth place in Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 4. I've scored points in six and have cashed in four tournaments.

Play in the tournaments has been quite uneven. I guess that a lot depends on your starting table. I have played at some tables where people have risked their tournament lives on what I would consider some rather weak hands or draws. Other tournaments -- like yesterday's Brit Bloger tournament -- featured play at my table that was so tight you could hear squeaking noises.

I started off really well the first week, but have cooled off substantially since then. I was felted in yesterday's tournament on one of those nasty hands -- my K-K vs J-J and A-A. The aces held, believe it or not! Hard to get too upset on a play like that where all the money went in pre-flop and we all knew we could be handsomely rewarded or hit the road. But a King on the river would have been nice.

NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament -- Go Illini!

It is amazing that seven Big Ten teams made it in the NCAA tournament. The Illini did pretty well in securing a five seed, but several "experts" are already predicting that Western Kentucky will pull off one of the 12-5 upsets that we expect to see almost every year. Even if the Illini were to beat WKU, they would most likely play Gonzaga in Portland for the right to go to Memphis in the Sweet Sixteen and presumably play North Carolina (or maybe Butler or LSU). Looks like the Illini need to take one game at a time (the old cliche') and see what happens. Their uneven play the entire season makes it hard to see them advancing to Memphis.

In 1996, I began making trips to the NCAA first and second round games with a few work friends. We usually looked to go south and had great times in Memphis, Nashville, and Lexington, and even went east or west to Indianapolis and St. Louis, depending on the locations for the opening rounds. We skipped last year and will be doing something different this year -- going to the home of one of the guys in Chicago and crashing at his place for a guy basketball weekend. Our plan for next year is to take a long road trip and see the first and second round games in New Orleans.