Carey

From "the greatest" to most folks that have stated that their bracket is shattered, broken, or just done: IMHO, your bracket isn't in the worst shape in the word. Maybe there's still value in it. OTOH, maybe I'm wrong and it's in bad shape. I'd bet that it isn't for at least one reason... You didn't have Kansas beating Auburn in the Tournament Final.

Happy Opening Day, with apologies to about 4 teams. Most of the 26, well, hopefully the weather cooperated. Such a longshot to even predict who'll win what. It's a grind in the other sports, but baseball so tops it IMO & TBH. I'd go with Texas if I had to choose, but there is a fair enough reason why nobody has repeated in over 2 decades. Unlike other sports, officiating can't be ultra effective unless it's known & obvious. So despite a team like Los Angeles being great enough to win for the first time in 4 years, no way officiating will be the leading cause

But if you've been on Survivor more than once, that Taco Bell / tiny van situation is just simply Tuesday

Double digits in terms of no fire. For whatever reason, I think I'm okay with it

I hope so since I don't subscribe to Peacock. And in Wisconsin, only the Green Bay and Milwaukee TV markets are deemed the "home" markets for the Packer games, so the game wouldn't be available on commercial TV for about half the state. I think Cleveland vs Philadelphia is the safe bet. Even though the league has trended toward more games with teams within the same conference for their European slate, I figure that NFC vs AFC is fair enough for now. IIRC, that was the move between Los Angeles & Kansas City six years ago before the game relocated to California. Of course, Eagles vs Packers would've been fine since the NFC has 9 home games, but Cleveland would work as a loss would not result in an immediate hinderance should they finish with the same record as the Eagles. Probably would've been unfair for Philly to have 8 true home games to the Pack's 9

Is there any chance that a full calendar day goes by without pathetic news from the NFL in terms of its future?

Wouldn't it be something if Los Angeles won the whole thing. In spite of Ohtani, though I think I'd still be okay if he was a reason or the reason for another title. Here is the schedule and slated start times for Opening Day 2024. All 30 teams will be in action on that day, including reigning champion Texas, who hosts the 2016 Champions in the evening EST on ESPN. On a personal note, to be honest I was looking forward to Ohtani and LA, especially after the news regarding Gerrit Cole. Maybe Houston winning no more than 42 games would be a nice consolation prize. For me at least! As for the Fall Classic favorites, Dodgers are around 3 to 1. I think over 3 to 1 to win the title. Followed by Atlanta, Houston, and the New York Yankees at 4.5 to 1, 7 to 1, and 9 to 1, respectively. The defending champions & Baltimore both have a 14/1 chance

One day removed from unpopular news can only mean the league doing right for their spectators. In more ways than one. I was probably irate for 5 minutes about the Hard Knocks stuff. Sure a casual would love it, but I guess I'd prefer being excluded from Hard Knocks on a level that matches one's chances at hosting a draft one year. For one, it's a label of being a total dumpster fire of a franchise. However, I can see the complaints here, even though it's the league's fault. Not many people would qualify, and now with the recent changes, there could be a case where no one would be subject to it. While I don't like playoff teams being forced into Hard Knocks, I think it's a fair compromise if your division does an in-season one to get out of it for 8 years. Of course, the NFL would have to give a team that chance this season before forcing a playoff team to do the summer 2024 one. "GL with that one, Carey." As much as I wonder about how defense is going to play successful football, i wonder what offensive players (especially the QB) would think if they were ruled down whenever an opposing players was within a foot of them without contact. Furthermore, I guess I'd love to see the reaction from the league office if a team actually "threw a game" at the level where 5-6 players took the field at most on defense & gave up. Especially if the game had playoff implications. Might as well onside kick all the time. Oh wait a minute!

Houston survives. That's great. While the jump ball call near the end of regulation was total BS, so what not fouling up three

I hate to deliver bad news, but here is the news. Maybe it isn't bad, but I hardly think I'd call it "competitive"

Dusty May is a Wolverine. Or just the new Michigan HC

Well, Tennessee survived. Which was great since the SEC would've said they still had a second team still alive in the DANCE LOL!

Yeah, the screamers are so annoying. I normally wouldn't wish laryngitis for someone, but...

Here are the tip times for Saturday & Sunday Second Round Games. Basically CBS has all of the action early on, and then around EST dinner time, TBS & TNT join with CBS airing a 3rd & 4th game. Same thing tomorrow, except TruTV gets what would've been a 4th CBS game but 60 Minutes doesn't forgo its airing for anything other than a Super Bowl or a late window postseason game

One hope I have is that some of the teams whose weather isn't as spectacular year-round gets a decent opening day. If the weather is going to be well-above average throughout the summer, it would be nice if what should've been the case last month isn't the forecast on Opening Day

I don't know what the final outcome will be. There is definitely one individual that does, but I think there are about a dozen teams that could cut the nets a couple weeks from Monday. Looks like Connecticut remains the side, but we'll see what's next if they and Alabama both win 3 more games. Win or lose, I think I cannot wait until people start hating the champs. Especially if the former happens. It's just sports, but when the hate occurs, that, I think, would put a big grin on my face

I might go throw up if Purdue wins the whole thing. Which would be great, by the way. I just chose not to audible & stuck with my first picks. In one of my groups, there are some very decent players (who are epic in college football & the NFL) where they're crushing it; none of them picked Purdue to win. Mostly Connecticut picks. It would be a missed opportunity if Purdue does cut down the nets in Glendale; I did think of the follow-up to the other team to lose as a one seed. On the other hand, Purdue probably doesn't make it had I picked them to do just that

In all honesty, I really hope that Ohtani does not fall here. This year sans Gerrit is bad enough; I even thought so myself saying that at least there's a big star on the West since the star on the East is down and out. It would be a total gut punch if there's any validity to Shohei sorta opting to emulate Rose or even Barry Bonds, instead of someone like the Babe or even Jeter

Ten perfect brackets remain after 24 games. I guess that's amazing, since some people fill out 100 brackets per tournament So there will be as many as 2 if Duke does not win & as many as 3 if Alabama losses. Unless Nebraska survives, there will be as many as 4; this excludes the Purdue game. Plus the other stuff to wrap up the opening round

Big 12 > SEC They both aren't great, but the former was pimped heavily that it make the Big 10 inferior

The fact is, Samford was down 20 points against a team that was without its best player. That was not a great call, but we'll never know what would've happened next. Probably not favorable, but to be fair, maybe don't be down 20 late in the game, period. Crashcourse, I might have not said what I said if it wasn't for my own bracket. However, it's still a valid point. Not just for College Basketball; for all sports. I was okay 25 minutes ago, but that changed. And then it changed again since it's not going to matter in 36 hours from present time

I'm trying to come up with a reason as to why Samford's loss was a big deal. Unless they were expected to topple Gonzaga, there really isn't any

Legacy call in favor of the Jayhawks. What's more of a question mark was how I could've turned in with the game over due to a seven-possession lead, and then Kansas sorta didn't finish the deal. I don't know how or if Kansas can survive against Gonzaga; while this team is inferior to the one 16 years ago, I didn't know over a decade & half ago how the Jayhawks could survive against North Carolina after doing so against Davidson & Curry

A lot of people had them going far, as in far enough to land into the Toaster. Some had them losing immediately, and some had them getting to Monday with a win or a loss during the Tournament Final. It's possible that my pick will fall before the weekend. Even if it doesn't, the difference is like 3 points if it fell during the Sweet Sixteen. However, you sorta want your team to at least get to Saturday. Picking Kentucky can happen. Most people did (I did not), but several didn't have them going far. So that's not a big deal. I'll still take them over Virginia. At least they've had some success. Not much, but not at the level where you could take out a season, and they'd look like a team in the NFL Eastern Region within the National Football Conference

Kentucky > Virginia