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February 27, 2001

   I've always been a big fan of the Final Four under-the-cap game that Pepsi does.  Being a pretty heavy drinker of Sierra Mist, I've been getting a lot of the caps this time of year.  The prize isn't that great - a $10 gift certificate - but whatever.
    Here's what I'm not okay with.  For a lousy prize like that, you'd think the odds would be pretty good that you'd find a team likely to win it all.  But that's where you'd be wrong.  Here's a list of the caps I've gotten so far:

    Gonzaga - probably the best of the bunch.  They're just about a lock to make the tournament, at least.
    Providence - again, will probably make the tournament.  Ya-hoo.
    Penn State - the only other team I have that's even from a major conference.
    College of Charleston - by far the best of the remaining, and they're not even a tournament lock.
    TCU - not terrible, but probably not tourney material.
    Southern Illinois - middle of the pack in a Missouri Valley Conference that could be won by anyone.
    Arkansas-Pine Bluff - 2-24 on the season, dead last in one of the worst conferences there is.
    Quinnipiac - 6-21 on the season, dead last in the Northeast Conference.
    St. Mary's - 2-26 on the season, dead last and winless in the West Coast conference.

February 26, 2001

   Important news about the BigFlax.com NCAA Tournament Challenge!  The deadline for brackets is still 12:00 on Wednesday, March 14 (Central Time, so those of you in the East will have until one), but the date for money has moved because it just makes more sense that way.
    Since everyone entering who goes to Northwestern will see me on or before March 5, the deadline is now March 5.  You will need to have your five bucks in by then, or else I will you give you a very stern lecture.  If you live in New Jersey, the deadline is the 15th.
    Realistically, if you live in Evanston the deadline is the 13th, the last day I'll really be here.  But it's much more convenient for everyone if you do it when you see me.  So basically, the deadline for WNUR people is March 4, for Quiz Bowl people March 5, and for my suitemates the 13th.  But to make it fair, I'm saying March 5 for everyone.
    Also, remember the dark horse: you designate one team to be your dark horse in the tournament.  When this team wins, you receive the number of points for a win in that round multiplied by their seed.  So if a #3 seed is your dark horse, you get 30 points in the first round, 60 in the second, 120 in the Sweet 16, 240 in the Elite Eight, 360 in the Final Four, and a whopping 480 points should that team win it all - as opposed to 10, 20, 40, 80, 120, and 160 points for wins by a non-dark horse.   To those who have asked (names protected), no, it does not make sense to pick a #1 seed as your dark horse, for reasons which should be obvious.

February 26, 2001

   Okay, it's that time again: based on trailers at movie-list.com, it's Upcoming Movies To See.

    A.I. (June 29): Okay, so it's kind of hard to tell from the teaser if this movie is going to be any good.  But how could it not be, with Spielberg behind it?
    Bridget Jones's Diary (April 13): Not to say that the trailer makes this look great, but that's been known to happen.  More so, I'd say it'll be interesting to see if Renée Zellweger can actually pull off a British woman.
    Captain Corelli's Mandolin (April 27): Could be really sappy... but who knows, it might be well done, and it's certainly receiving its fair share of advanced press.
    Cats and Dogs (May 25): Has massive potential to be one of those movies... but then again, it could also work.  Depends a lot on the writing, naturally.
    Enemy at the Gates (March 16): Here's one I'm seeing right when it comes out.  The trailer is excellent... if the movie lives up to that, bingo.
    Final Fantasy (July 13): If only for the animation.
    A Knight's Tale (June 1): Of course, this was no doubt designed to make money, so it might just be a sappy period romance.  But it could also kick ass.
    Memento (March 9): Has been getting great reception on the indie circuit.  Hopefully, it will show up in a theater near me.
    Pearl Harbor (May 23): Or will it just be Titanic all over again?
    Town and Country (April 20): Will it or won't it?  Be funny, that is.

    And now, Upcoming Movies to Avoid the Shit Out Of:

    The Adventures of Joe Dirt (April 11): And I like David Spade.  But damn, this just looks like it could easily be the worst movie of the year.
    Exit Wounds (March 14): Ooh, Steven Seagal and DMX?  Well, this will clearly be the paradigm for acting for years to come.
    Freddy Got Fingered (April 20): Boy, do I hate Tom Green.  Stick to your TV show, pal, because you don't have the chops for acting.  Just watch the trailer; he's essentially playing himself.
    Get Over It (March 9): Just another banal teen-oriented crapfest.
    One Night at McCool's (April 13): Uh... what?

February 24, 2001

   Want to see something funny?

February 19, 2001

   Well, a fair amount of overhaul on the movie lists.  The Top 50 gets updated, as the three original Star Wars films make a big jump, American Pie departs the list (at least for the time being), and Dave and Die Hard with a Vengeance re-enter near the bottom.  The Bottom 15 also changes a bit, as Charlie's Angels receives an honorable (dishonorable?) mention.

February 16, 2001

   Well, I had hoped we would be able to finish in the top three at the Iowa tournament, but as mentioned elsewhere, we were only able to finish sixth, due almost entirely to our missing the first three matches of the day.
    However, good news.  I just found out today that NAQT, recognizing our extenuating circumstances and no doubt noticing our playoff run, has taken us into the national tournament as an at-large team.  Now I know how mid-majors who didn't win their conference tournaments feel on Selection Sunday.
    It would have been nice to preserve my D-II eligibility for another year, but oh well.  Nationals should be a good time.
    Oh, by the way, here are a couple of pictures from the debacle that was the trip to Iowa.

February 10, 2001

   Well, it's certainly been an interesting weekend (and it's not even over!) on the Evanston front.  For one thing, the men's basketball team beat Iowa for their first Big Ten win in what may as well have been forever (put it this way - I was a junior at Columbia the last time they won).  But that took place on Saturday.
    What took place on Friday was, in essence, something that is going to keep coming up throughout the years at Quiz Bowl.  Eight of us - about half the total team - were driving out to Iowa City last night in a van.  I was behind the wheel.
    At some point, on Interstate 80 just outside of Davenport, Iowa, we hit a patch of ice.  I'm still not sure whether I was changing lanes or not - it all runs together later - but the gist is that the car suddenly swerved once, swerved again, and then did a 360º and ran off the road into a field.
    The drive had already been treacherous, with driving snow and high winds, but the road itself had seemed pretty stable.  Naturally, within minutes of our spinning out the snow stopped.
    To make a potentially longer story marginally shorter, we spent the night in Davenport - after having called for a tow truck, we waited for more than 90 minutes in the car before finding out that the police weren't allowing tow trucks on the roads (makes sense...) - and, having missed Trash, headed for Iowa City this morning.   We got to the NAQT tournament three matches late, but despite those forfeits we managed to finish sixth out of eleven teams.  The tournament breakdown, so as not to kill space as I've done in the past, is here.

February 6, 2001

   Not many updates to speak of.   Visit the website of The Establishment (there is also a link on the links page - keep that in mind when this one eventually departs the main page), a band which features two of the cooler guys I knew in high school.

February 4, 2001

   Spent all of Saturday playing quiz bowl down at a tourney in St. Louis, at Washington University.  It was an NAQT format, so play was in two divisions.  The team we brought played Div II, and most of the teams there were Div I (five of the eight), but we at the very least held our own against all of them.  Thus did we end up winning the tournament title in Division II, which in reality wasn't that tough because we were only up against two other teams.   Below are results from the tournament.  As you can see, it was a double round robin, and as you can also see, we did much better the first time through (6-1) than the second (3-4).  You will also note that I scrapped the purple for our team name - this is due to complaints that it is hard to read.  Bold ought to suffice.  It should finally be noted that I was the #7 scorer at the tournament with 39.1 ppg - Jan came in second place with 54.17.  After the first few rounds of the tournament I was in the top three - I had 60 points in Round Two and 75 in Round Four, which helped.   But I only averaged 23 ppg over my last five matches, including a woeful ten points in Round Ten.  Oh well.  My final totals were: 41 tossups, of which ten were power, and just four neg-5s.

Round One: Oklahoma A 510, Northwestern 235
Round Two: Northwestern 390, Missouri-Rolla 310
Round Three: Northwestern 445, Washington U A 165
Round Four: Northwestern 355, Washington U B 180
Round Five: Northwestern 375, Oklahoma B 220
Round Six: Northwestern 335, DePauw 130
Round Seven: Northwestern 315, Illinois 235
Round Eight: Oklahoma A 465, Northwestern 290
Round Nine: Illinois 295, Northwestern 275
Round Ten: Washington U A 335, Northwestern 210
Round Eleven: Northwestern 450, Missouri-Rolla 240
Round Twelve: Northwestern 425, DePauw 175
Round Thirteen: Oklahoma B 330, Northwestern 210
Round Fourteen: Northwestern 315, Washington U B 310
Final Record: 9-5; second place (overall), first place (Div II)
Team PPG: 330.4
PPG Allowed: 278.6
Differential: 51.8

    In other but related news, NAQT sectionals are next weekend at Iowa.  Wish me luck - we're aiming for nationals, allowing me to lose my Div II eligibility as a freshman, which thereby consigns me to the fate of playing against grad students for the rest of my tenure.

February 1, 2001

   I guess since I have this PubWeb account here at NU, I might as well provide a link to it.  There's no reason to CLICK HERE unless you really care about the stuff I do in 180.

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This page last updated: Monday, April 15, 2002 08:00:50 PM