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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

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Bracketscapes: Denver, Colorado

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Denver, CO – Pepsi Center (March 17th & 19th: Rounds 2,3)

Why your dad likes Denver: My 58 year old father use to fashion himself somewhat of a downhill skier, although I can’t remember the last time he took to the slopes. He loves traveling out west but usually sticks to the National Parks of Montana and California. At one point in his life my dad had a boss who was a co-owner of the Broncos and he was able to travel to San Diego to watch Timmy Smith, Doug Williams and the Washington Redskins run all over the Broncos in Super Bowl XXII.

Signature food/drink: Coors has got to stop running those NFL coach press conference mashups with Herm Edwards, Jim Mora, and Mike Ditka. What ever happened to Pete Coors? I use to love those ads where he was knee deep in powder talking about how his grandfather learned how to brew from his great grandfather who just happened to “buy” his Rocky Mt land from the Apache.

College basketball history: My favorite player from UNLV’s 1990 National Championship, played in Denver, team was Stacey Augmon.  I loved Augmon for several reasons including his great intangibles -defense and rebounding – , prolific dunking ability, and great nickname “Plastic Man”. All the talk recently has been about ESPN’s Fab Five doc but I thought the Running Rebels show on HBO was much better.

Bracket Predictions: 2nd round – (5) Vanderbilt over (12) Richmond, (4) Louisville over (13) Morehead St., (6) St. John’s over (11) Gonzaga, (3) BYU over (14) Wofford 3/19 – Louisville over Vanderbilt, BYU over SJU

view from the Pepsi Center courtesy of @KentTaylorWAVE

Bracketscapes: Tampa, Florida

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Tampa, Florida – St. Pete Times Forum (March 17 & 19: Round 2,3)

Why your dad likes Tampa: I use to think Florida was a place reserved for Spring Training, strip malls, and retirees. But, as it turns out, there’s a whole lot more to the Sunshine State than just palm trees and pavement. As it turns out, Florida also has its fair share of golf courses. With this in mind, what’s a father not to like about Tampa/St. Pete? One of my favorite parts of the area is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which spans Tampa Bay. I have never seen so many people fishing from the side of a highway in my entire life.

Signature food/drink: Why is it that all old people like gin? Don’t they realize that there are much better alcoholic beverages available? I once went to a wedding in late August where the only alcoholic offerings were red/white wine, a local craft beer, and gin. Gin! Did they not expect people under the age of 75 to actually attend the wedding? Not to mention the fact that gin, tonic, and 100% humidity do not mix well. I almost passed out before my first sip.

College basketball history: What do you think Jake Voskuhl and Khalid El-Amin are up to right about now? Both players were instrumental in UConn’s 1999 National Championship. Of course the star of the team was Rip Hamilton but Voskuhl and El-Amin had what basketball announcers like to call “charisma”. I wasn’t surprised El-Amin didn’t have much of a NBA career. I always figured he had the type of game and body type better suited for the European leagues where teams require their players to take siestas during halftime.

Bracket Predictions: Round 2 – (12) Clemson over (5) WVU, (4) Kentucky over (13) Princeton, (2) Florida over (15) UCSB, (7) UCLA over (10) MSU Round 3– Kentucky over Clemson, and Florida over UCLA

view from St. Pete Times Forum courtesy of @GatorzoneMBK

Bracketscapes: Dayton, Ohio

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Dayton, Ohio – University of Dayton Arena (1st round: March 15 & 16)

Why your dad would like Dayton, Ohio: I have a few friends who went to Dayton U and swear the middle of nowhere Ohio was a great place to be for 4 years. They say that the school has a tremendous Greek life and an active music scene.  I have never had a reason to visit Dayton and my dad hasn’t been there either, which is sort of surprising because normally he loves all things Wright Brothers.

Signature Food/Drink: Besides a few pizza joints and a steakhouse that prides itself on not taking any reservations, Dayton has very little that would rank on a Zagat guide. The most notable thing about the Dayton food/drink scene are the beer and wine drive-thru’s.  To those of us living in Connecticut, the “Blue Law” state, the beer and wine drive thru is such a foreign concept. We can’t buy beer after 8pm let alone do so without getting out of our cars.

College Basketball History: Dayton has been the host of the NCAA tournament “play in” game ever since its genesis in 2001. This year, with the field expanded to 68 teams, the site will now host a total of 4 games spread out over 2 nights.  I would never argue against more basketball however, what exactly is TruTV and how do I find out if I get the channel?

Bracket Predictions: March 15th: Texas-San Antonio over Alabama State, Clemson over UAB March 16th: VCU over USC, UNCA over UALR.

view from Dayton Arena courtesy of @tracywolfson

NYC’s College Basketball Team?

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Here are a few quick views from tonight’s St. John’s/UConn Big East basketball tilt in Madison Square Garden.

Seems like the Garden filled up nice and early for the game, although it looked like the upper level “blue” seats remained unoccupied for the duration. Crowd sounded sluggish at the start perhaps due to the fact that they were not quite sure who they were supposed to root for.  St. John’s hasn’t been relevant for a few years now so many New Yorkers have perhaps switched their allegiance to other NY teams like Syracuse and maybe even Fordham. (I kid! I kid!)

This year could be different as the Red Storm are poised to make a run at the NCAA tournament. This game vs UConn could prove to be crucial in determining St. John’s March Madness chances.

views from MSG courtesy of @VeganCapitalist and @its_twon

High Five w/ Larry Brown (the Blogger not the Coach)

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As Jerry Seinfeld once said: “Slapping hands is the lowest form of male primate ritual.” We here at VMS fully support the high five and believe it has a clear and important place in this world.  In our latest set of 5 questions, we asked Larry Brown, editor in chief of larrybrownsports.com, what he thinks about the UCLA Bruins and the business of blogging in general.

VMS: You have the same name as the legendary basketball coach who once led one of your favorite teams the UCLA Bruins to the Final Four. So tell us, are you two really just the same person?

LBS: I’m his father. You haven’t seen the Jr. suffix in his name? Actually, despite being a carpetbagger, the other LB doesn’t get the credit he deserves for being as good of a coach as he is. Did anyone take a less talented team to an NBA title than Brown did with the Pistons?

VMS: Who wins a three point shooting contest: Don MacLean, Tracy Murray, or Kevin Love?

LBS: How about Jason Kapono? He and Reggie Miller have to be the best shooters to come out of UCLA. But Kevin Love would win between those three, who knew he had that in his game?

VMS: The term “blogger” continues to carry such negative connotations. At what point do you think sports bloggers will separate themselves from the other miscreants of American society?

LBS: I don’t think bloggers are thought of as being as dirty as they were 2-3 years ago. I really just think people categorize sites. Do they enjoy them or not? Do they find the site respectable? If the answer to those two questions is “yes,” then I don’t think people care whether or not the writer is categorized as a “blogger” or not.

VMS: How often do you find yourself following or writing about a story that you may have very little interest in but that you know your readers are going to want to hear more about?

LBS: Pretty infrequently. We cover stuff that we enjoy writing about or following, for the most part.

VMS: Hypothetically speaking, what’s the one sports story that you would love to break?

LBS: The story of the first sports blog to be bought out for an eight-figure price.

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Thanks to Larry Brown for taking the time out of his busy blogging schedule to answer a few of our menial questions and please wish him well as he pursues that eight-figure payday.

view of Pauley Pavilion courtesy of @wahooslim