Even though I didn’t “win” this year, I still can walk away victorious. Each year, my only goal is to beat my brother-in-law, Adam. And each year I do. Adam and I are pretty competitive with each other and I think it really gets to him that I always beat him. Sometime I’ll have to tell the story about how I beat him at Ken Griffey, Jr. Baseball with a bottom of the 9th inning home run.

All that’s left to do is cheer Oregon on to victory.

• 16 entries in this year’s Eightfivethree Classic
• 2 entries missing a champion selection. As commissioner, I have decided to select Oregon for both entries (even though one of the entries obviously doesn’t have Oregon in the finals)
• Scores ranging from 33 to 49
• There is a heavy Oregon and Kansas bias in this year’s Classic. Coincidentally, I have lived in both of states.
• I am five points ahead of my brother-in-law.

And a fact not directly related to the Classic:

• I am in first place in three of the four pick’ems that I am in.

It’s going to be tough when Oregon and Kansas meet in the Final Four. My bracket has KU winning, but I honestly would rather see Oregon win. It was a lot of fun watching Oregon beat Winthrop today and I am a little disappointed in myself for not picking Oregon to win it all. While on the theme of Oregon, I would like to commend the following brackets in the Classic for going all the way with the Ducks:

• The Dude Abides – Cam
• Circle Takes the Square – Dave (1)
• ilovesports – Rachel (2)
• Leunen Lovers – Pat (2)

(1) This choice for Oregon here by Dave deserves an extra-special commendation, as Dave lives in the middle of KU country. (2) These two entries forgot to pick a champion and, as commissioner, I have chosen Oregon for them.

I went to the Ducks game tonight with Cam. It was the first time I had ever been to a game McArthur Court and it was great. We had tickets that were under the overhang of the 2nd deck which made listening and watching the game a little interesting, but we were pretty close and the Ducks won, so I can’t complain.

For those that case, Brad was hitting 3′s beyond NBA range all night and Showtime Shane hit the game winner. I continued to shoot poorly from the line (4/8), but probably ended up with about 15 or 20 points.

I think this is the first time we have been above .500 in the three seasons we have played together.

It’s great to finish the regular season with two strong victories in a row. We’re heading into the playoffs a different team from the first part of the season. The playoff schedule was filled out when it looked like we had solidified last place, so even though beating the Bad Boys tonight put us in third, we still play our first game against the Cross Town Movers, the regular season champs. I have high hopes for our first playoff game since the Movers are going into the playoffs with a two game losing streak. Check back in two weeks to see how we did.

We were missing a few key players to injury and a business trip, but we were six strong and ready to play. Nothing too eventful that I remember from the game. The Buffalo Soldiers were quite upset with the referees because they felt they were getting unfair calls. While I don’t really think the refs did a great job, I think it was pretty even from that standpoint. I got called for traveling at least twice and had four fouls (I am pretty certain three of them weren’t fouls).

Besides the fouling and traveling, I had a decent game. I got four or five blocked shots and quite a few rebounds (lots off my own misses). I wasn’t keeping track, but figure I was in the mid 20′s with points. I got fouled a lot and hit most of my shots from the line. I think I had about 10 points in free throws, alone.

It was fun to get back on the court and play some ball. I have gotten myself out of shape, but I think it will come back to me quickly.

On a related note, The Wrecking Crew, the softball team Rachel and I play on, won their third consecutive game. I am so proud of Rachel for getting her first hit of the season (it was about her fourth at bat of the year). She hit the ball well in between first and second. I followed her in the lineup and singled, but the next batter hit into a fielder’s choice to third, which was unfortunately where Rachel was headed, she didn’t score. Now that she cleared the “get a hit” hurdle, she is ready to score a run.

I scored two runs in the game and got two hits. Before the season began I was excited that we would be playing on a field without fences (basically because on a field with fences there is a home run limit for the guys), but it has proven to be a real disadvantage. Since there aren’t fences, the defense just backs beyond what I can hit the ball. So, I am afraid that it is just going to be lots of singles and doubles for me this year. I am hoping that after a couple singles I can catch the outfield playing in and hit one over their head. We’ll see.

I don’t post direct quotes of other blogs often, but I liked this one!