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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

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Bracketscapes: Cleveland, Ohio

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Cleveland, Ohio – Quicken Loans Arena (March 18 & 20 – Rounds 2,3)

Why your dad likes Cleveland: Cause your dad sure does love him some Rock ‘n’ Roll music.  On the banks of Lake Erie, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has been memorializing things like leather pants, sequined jumpers, and Keith Richards since doors opened in 1995.  This years inductees included Alice Cooper and Neil Diamond, which would make for a heck of a duet.

Signature Food/Drink: Cleveland is home to a few fairly well-known chefs, most notably The Food Network’s “Iron Chef” Michael Symon.  His specialty?  Offal.  That’s right: there’s another guy in Cleveland dishing up “nasty bits” besides Dan Gilbert.  If you do find yourself in Cleveland, in need of some elbow-bending to get the taste of sheep diaphragm out of your mouth, make sure to try the local microbrews, like those offered from Buckeye Brewing and The Great Lakes Brewing Company.  The Forest City is known for it craft beer, and you can find them all at any of The Winking Lizard Tavern outposts, all over metro Cleveland.  (NB: There’s a chance that the name of that bar is gross.)

College Basketball History: College hoops in Cleveland starts and ends with Cleveland State, and an unknown history of March upsets.   In 1986, the Vikings upended Bob Knight’s 3rd-seeded Indiana Hoosiers, on their way to their first and only Sweet Sixteen appearance in school history. In 2009, the Vikes knocked off 4th-seeded Wake Forest, before bowing out in the second round.  Also, the 6th-leading scorer in CSU history is James Madison – the guard, not the president.

Bracket Predictions: March 18th: (1)Ohio State over (16) Texas-San Antonio, (9)Villanova over (8)George Mason, (6)Xavier over (11)Marquette, (3)Syracuse over (14)Indiana State; March 20th: (1)Ohio State over (9)Villanova, (6)Xavier over (3)Syracuse

view from Quicken Loans Arena courtesy of @kevinkugler

View from Spring Training: 2011 Toronto Blue Jays

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2011 Toronto Blue Jays

NFL Equivalent – Cincinnati Bengals: Are OF Vernon Wells and OF Alex Rios Carson Palmer?  On the heels of very productive offensive seasons, the Toronto front office not only gave Wells and Rios the keys to the franchise, to the tune of more than $200 million, they also served them with a roadmap to nowhere.  Now Wells (Anaheim) and Rios (Chicago AL) are roaming the outfields elsewhere in the AL, and the only thing the Jays have to show for it are a string of 4th place finishes in the ruthless AL East.  In a similar case of misread production, the Bengals and their franchise QB Palmer definitely need counseling, with Carson recently threatening retirement.

Google Search: New Manager, former Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell, had a fairly busy offseason.  Early on, he shipped rising SP Shawn Marcum to the Brewers for highly-touted INF Brett Lawrie.  Toronto also added three veteran RPs in Octavio Dotel, John Rauch, and Frank Francisco, who is unfortunately best known for throwing a folding chair at a group of fans in Arlington.  Under the radar during this tumultuous AL East winter, the Jays also brought in speedy OF Rajai Davis to lead off and veteran slugging LF Juan Rivera to protect last year’s AL home run champ, OF Jose Bautista.

Famous Movie Quote: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.“ – Chief Martin Doyle, Jaws.

DH Adam Lind and 2B Aaron Hill had career years in 2009.  Ridiculous numbers.  Bautista hit 54 home runs last year.  Out of nowhere.  If the three of them each have career years in 2011, the Blue Jays will still be the Orca to the Yankees’ and Red Sox’s Jaws.  The AL East is simply contested on two planes: the penthouse, cohabited by the Yanks and Sox, and the super’s apartment, shared by the Jays, Rays, and Orioles.  To equate this disparity to one of my favorite NBA stories, we have to look back to All-Star Weekend, 1988.   Larry Bird, perhaps the most confident shooter of all time and two-time defending 3-point contest champ, walked into the locker room at the old Chicago Stadium and, without even really looking at any of his shootout competitors, asked to the ether: “Hiya, fellas!  Which one of you is finishing second?!”  At the risk of underlining the obvious, Basketball Jesus made it 3-in-a-row that night.  2011 prediction: 77 – 85; 5th Place AL East

view from Bright House Stadium courtesy of @michelleerin

Bracketscapes: Tucson, Arizona

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Tucson, Arizona – McKale Center (March 17 & 19: Rounds 2,3)

Why your dad likes Tucson: This one was too easy for me because my dad loves Tucson and has visited the area several times. He likes to tell us all the story of when he was walking through the Sonoran Desert and almost stepped on a rattlesnake. The story is only funny if you know that my dad has an Indiana Jones sized fear of snakes. The other remarkable thing about Tucson is the climate diversity. There aren’t many places on this earth where you can find snow covered cacti in the middle of March. There’s a reason why Saguaro National Park is one of the most visited parks in the United States.

Signature Food/Drink: Mojitos are really not worth the effort. I once had a friend spend an entire party making mojitos for his guests.  Guy must have spent 4 hours grinding fresh mint leaves. Not to mention, the drink is way to sugary for me. After only one mojito I feel like I may slip into a diabetic coma. Tucson has plenty of food options including fresh Mexican, Indian, and Thai. The food options are reflective of a very diverse population.

College Basketball History: The McKale Center has hosted its fair share of 1st and 2nd round tournament games. In 2005, Adam Morrison – yeah remember him – led the Gonzaga Bulldogs into the second round before they were upset by Bobby Knight’s Texas Tech Red Raiders. Here’s hoping Jon Leuer finds greater NBA success than Morrison.

Bracket Predictions: Round 2 – (7) Temple over (10) Penn St., (2) San Diego St. over (15) No. Colorado, (4) Wisconsin over (13) Belmont, (12) Utah St., over (5) Kansas St. Round 3 – SDSU over Temple, Wisconsin over Utah St.

view from Tucson courtesy of @corygiger

Bracketscapes: Washington, D.C.

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Washington, D.C. – Verizon Center (March 17 & 19: Rounds 2,3)

Why your dad likes D.C.: Because all dads love history. Fact: every dad claims to know more about history than their kids. Dads also really like to tell you what they know about history over and over and over again. Growing up, my dad must have told me a hundred times about Abraham Lincoln writing the Gettysburg Address on the train ride up to deliver his most famous speech. To this day, whenever I have to give a presentation my dad will remind me of this story.

Signature Food/Beverage: Got to be the martini, or a scotch on the rocks. Those government types are so refined. Anytime I visit friends in DC I end up drinking cans of PBR. Why travel all the way down to DC for a PBR when I only need to go to Brooklyn. So ironic. For food, I would go with Five Guys. Best “fast food” burger I’ve had. The chain started in DC but has migrated north to New England which is fantastic for my appetite but not so much for my cholesterol, blood pressure, and physique.

College Basketball History: With all the fallout following the recent Fab Five documentary, maybe now people will give the Georgetown basketball program its due. Patrick Ewing and John Thompson were as transcendent as Jalen Rose or Chris Weber and their Hoya teams actually won something.

Bracket Predictions: Round 2 – (8) Butler over (9) Old Dominion, (1) Pitt over NC-Asheville, (3) Connecticut over (14) Bucknell, (11) Missouri over (6) Cincinnati Round 3 – Pitt over Butler, UConn over Missouri

view from the Verizon Center courtesy of @howtoJimmyK

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