NCAA Basketball Tournament Simulation (Part I)

With the first day of March Madness in the books, and my hopes of winning an office pool up in smoke, I decided to simulate the 2011 NCAA college basketball tournament using a video game.  The two choices that came to mind for completing this simulation were NCAA College Hoops 2k8 (2k Sports) and NCAA March Madness 10 (EA Sports).  After some pondering over which game to use, I decided why not simulate the tournament using both games to see which one is more accurate.

The first game I decided to use for simulating the Big Dance was NCAA College Hoops 2k8. This game in my opinion is the best college basketball video game created to date and it still hurts to think 2k Sports had to drop production of this game.  Each year that has passes, rumors of the game coming back into production surface, but they are often squashed by the time college basketball season rolls around.  Nonetheless, I still play this game today with hopes that it will someday appear on store shelves again.

Here are the results of the sim using NCAA College Hoops 2k8…

East Region:

Second Round: Ohio State, Villanova, Clemson, Princeton, Marquette, Syracuse, Georgia and North Carolina
Third Round: Villanova, Clemson, Syracuse and North Carolina
Regional Semifinals: Clemson and North Carolina
Regional Champion: North Carolina

West Region:

Second Round: Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, UConn, Penn State and Northern Colorado
Third Round: Duke, Texas, UConn and Penn State
Regional Semifinals: Texas and UConn
Regional Champion: Texas

Southwest Region:

Second Round: Kansas, Illinois, Richmond, Louisville, Georgetown, Purdue, Texas A&M and Notre Dame
Third Round: Illinois, Louisville, Georgetown and Notre Dame
Regional Semifinals: Illinois and Georgetown
Regional Champion: Illinois

Southeast Region:

Second Round: Pittsburgh, Old Dominion, Kansas State, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Wofford, Michigan State and Florida
Third Round: Old Dominion, Kansas State, Gonzaga and Michigan State
Regional Semifinals: Kansas State and Michigan State
Regional Champion: Michigan State

Final Four:

National Semifinals: Texas and Illinois
National Champion: Illinois Fighting Illini

As you can see, simulating the tourney with College Hoops 2k8 produced some wild results as they were not accurate.  I will admit, the first round went pretty good as #16 seeds did not beat any #1 seeds, and there were some upsets, but after that, it was a free for all as many favored teams went down and true unknowns advanced to the Sweet 16 and beyond.  I would have to say that if the final four that occurred in this sim happened in real life, Bruce Weber, Tom Izzo, Rick Barnes and Roy Williams would get pats on the back for exceeding expectations and if Illinois won the Final Four, Weber would receive a nice contract extension.

Stay tuned as in the next day or so, as I will be simming the Big Dance using March Madness 10 by EA Sports.

March Madness Picks

Today marks the beginning of my favorite time of the year to be a sports fan…March Madness!  

When the NCAA tournament rolls around, each year I try to watch as many games as possible as a field of 68 teams gets withered down to one single champion.  This year’s field looks to be pretty competitive, which should provide for a great tournament and lots of drama.  Also, for the first time ever, the NCAA’s are being broadcast on four television channels (CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV) and it can be watched online on your computer or smart phone.

Below are my picks for this year’s NCAA tournament…hopefully I will be right and bring home some championships in the various pools I have entered.

East Region:

Second Round – Ohio State, Villanova, Clemson, Kentucky, Xavier, Syracuse, Washington and North Carolina
Third Round – Ohio State, Kentucky, Syracuse and North Carolina
Regional Semifinals – Ohio State and Syracuse
Regional Final Champion – Ohio State

West Region:

Second Round – Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Texas, Cincinnati, UConn, Penn State and San Diego State
Third Round – Duke, Arizona, UConn and San Diego State
Regional Semifinals – Duke and UConn
Regional Final Champion –  Duke

Southwest Region:

Second Round – Kansas, Illinois, Richmond, Louisville, G’Town, Purdue, Florida State and Notre Dame
Third Round –  Kansas, Louisville, Purdue and Notre Dame
Regional Semifinals – Kansas and Purdue
Regional Final Champion –  Kansas

Southeast Region:

Second Round – Pittsburgh, Old Dominion, Kansas State, Belmont, St. John’s, BYU, Michigan State and Florida
Third Round – Pittsburgh, Kansas State, St. John’s and Florida
Regional Semifinals – Pittsburgh and Florida
Regional Champion –  Florida

Final Four:

National Semifinals – Duke and Kansas
Final Four Champion – Duke Blue Devils

Go ahead and call me a sucker for thinking Duke will repeat as NCAA champion this year, but I feel with Kyrie Irving coming back from his injury, Duke will be at full strength and running people out of the gym all tournament long.

I’m going to have some good March Madness blog updates coming up throughout the day, so keep it tuned here for more March Madness.
 

iPhone App Review: NBA Jam

When it comes to purchasing apps for my iPhone, I will admit I am a bit of a cheap skate and rarely pay for apps.  When NBA Jam was released for the iPhone, I wanted to add it to my app collection, but was reluctant to pay the $4.99 price-tag to download the app.  Well, one impulse buy later, I decided to buy the app, and here is my review of the game.

Presentation/Gameplay: (8/10)

* When you start-up your iPhone to play NBA Jam, the nostalgia of playing this game in the arcade back in 1994 will immediately run through your mind.  EA Sports did a great job of recreating an arcade classic and this game had me feeling like I jumped into a time machine back to the early 90′s.  All of the classic bells and whistles that you remember from older versions of NBA Jam on SEGA/SNES have returned and it really helps create a nice overall presentation.

You can even play as the president!

NBA Jam for iPhone only has two game modes of “Play Now” and “Classic Campaign”.  The play now mode allows you to quickly jump into a game playing as any team, while the classic campaign gives you the challenge of selecting an NBA team and going on to beat every team in the game with them (37 different teams in all).  In addition to these two game modes, there are also 46 different challenges in the game and when achieved, each challenge unlocks a game reward.  Overall, although the iPhone version of NBA Jam does not have all of the features that next-gen console versions have, it still brings a good amount of items to the table considering its a game for your mobile phone.

Upon playing the game, the game play is that of a classic NBA Jam game.  Every game you see crazy dunks, flaming basketballs and players flying all over the court in every which direction.  This adds up to high-octane hoops that will keep any gamer coming back for more.  Having played this game countless times, I’ve had all sorts of crazy outcomes and its safe to say every game in NBA Jam will yield a different result.  While playing the game, you have four levels of difficulty to choose from (Rookie, Veteran, All-Star and Legend) which is a nice feature that allows gamers to tailor the difficulty to their liking.

While the game play feels just like its predecessor, controlling player movement can be difficult with the iPhone control scheme.  Since you are playing this game on your cellphone, instead of holding a controller, you push your fingers on the screen to control players’ movements/actions during the game.  If you have played other EA Sports titles, this will be a non-issue for you, but if its your first EA Sports game, prepare for some frustration as there will be moments where the wrong button will be pressed resulting in a wild shot or your player will stop moving altogether as your finger has slid off the screen.  After a couple of games though, you get used to the controls and it seems like an afterthought.

Graphics/Sound: (7.5/10)

* When your playing NBA Jam on your iPhone, you’ll immediately hear classic sounds lines such as, “Boomshakalaka!!!”, “He’s heating up!” and “He’s on fire!” from famed NBA Jam announcer Tim Kitzrow.   When I first heard these signature lines, the thought of having spent $4.99 on an app had gone away and I was all smiles.  Also included with this game are the classic in-game and menu sounds that one would come to expect in an NBA Jam game.  Although these are all nice touches, after a couple of games, you’ll notice a lot of repetition as there is not much depth to the overall sound in this game.

On the other hand, the graphics in NBA Jam are done very well.  Player models, team courts and in-game animations look very good and anybody playing NBA Jam on an iPhone will be impressed by the graphics this game offers.  Never in a million years did I think NBA Jam would appear on an iPhone looking just like the console version did 16 years ago.  Needless to say, the graphics are a big plus and really add to the value of this game.

Lasting Appeal: (8.5/10)

* The one thing I found about surprising about NBA Jam is how often I find myself playing this game.

I have had the app now for nearly two months and find myself playing it quite often.  A game of NBA Jam is easy to pickup, and only takes 10-15 minutes to complete which is perfect for a quick break during a busy day.  In addition, NBA Jam also has a Classic Campaign mode and 46 challenges that can be achieved over the course of playing the game.  These challenges range from easy to difficult, and will keep you playing the game for a while.  Overall, the replay value of this game is surprisingly high and this is one app you will find yourself playing frequently.

Looking back at the purchase of this app, I will say its definitely worth the money, and NBA Jam is one of the best apps to have been released for the iPhone in 2011.

Overall Score: 8.5/10

OPEC (Oil Prices are Extremely Crummy)

Getting tired of getting gashed at the pump by rising gas prices???

I sure am. 

Over the last couple years, I have been going to a website that allows me to find the cheapest gas prices in my state.  Sure, this website won’t stop the fighting in Libya, another BP oil spill from occurring or any hurricanes from hitting the gulf coast oil reserves, but it will help you save some cash at the pump.

The website is www.gasbuddy.com and it allows users to post the cheapest gas prices in their area. The website gets updated hourly from motorists out on the road and it is a great helper for finding the cheapest gas prices in your state.

Visiting the website will allow you to find a direct link to the cheapest gas prices in your area, and being from Minnesota, I have been going directly to www.twincitiesgasprices.com to view gas prices in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Check it out!

The Art of Bankruptcy

Seems that more and more big companies are beginning to go under.

This weekend showed me great evidence of that as Borders and Ultimate Electronics were hosting store closing events near my home.  Borders, the second largest bookstore chain in the United States is closing 1/3rd of their stores
nationwide after filing for bankruptcy protection and Ultimate Electronics has decided to close all of their stores altogether ending their run in the electronics business.

When I first read of Borders closing some of their stores, it was something that caught me by surprise.  Borders is my favorite bookstore and I have always gone to them over Barnes and Noble for any book/magazine purchase.  Now that Borders is beginning to go down the tubes, it makes you wonder how many bookstores will be left in the US 10 years from now???  Over the course of this economic recession, several independent booksellers, along with B Dalton and Borders have all been hit and forced to ultimately end business.  I know Borders is not out of business yet, but just seeing where that company is headed (closing 1/3 of their stores, delayed payments to their vendors, etc.), it wouldn’t surprise me if they go under in the next five years.  When that does happen, that will leave Barnes and Noble as the only major bookseller left and the ever so popular word “monopoly” comes to mind.

A similar fate has hit the electronics market with Ultimate Electronics going out of business.  Their store closing does not surprise me one bit as I never really liked Ultimate Electronics and I thought they would be throwing in the towel sooner or later.  I would have to rank them in the same group as Circuit City in terms of in-store experience and overall customer service as both were very lacking.  Stepping into an Ultimate Electronics is like stepping into a morgue as the store is very quiet, employees do not approach you for help and the layout of their store is very bland and boring.  The last time I stepped inside an Ultimate Electronics, I was in there for a whopping 10 minutes to look at a TV wall mounting kit and left dissatisfied.  With Ultimate Electronics closing their doors, Best Buy will have an unheard of market dominance in the United States as I cannot think of another store that is doing nearly as well as them (Sorry RadioShack).

When thinking of Borders and Ultimate Electronics closing up shop this weekend, to most people, it’s just another corporate entity to be driven into the ground by the economic recession.  To me, it is a rude reminder that the United States still is struggling with economic recession — I don’t care what President Obama and other political leaders say about the situation improving, the bottom line is that the United States is still screwed economically — and its going to be a long time until we fully recover from this.

Back in the Blogosphere

So it has nearly been a year since I abandoned this blog.

I guess I could blame the warmer weather, a busier schedule, my computer crashing and a couple of other things, but I will not do that.  Instead, I’ll blame myself for not wanting to work hard at keeping up a blog.  Starting up a blog and maintaining it has been something I have wanted to do my whole life…I’ve created several blogs, but after about 6 months or so, they seem to die and blow up into a million pieces.  This blog started to do just that, but I am now stepping in with this post to save it from exploding into the blogosphere and landing amongst my other blogs.

In essence, this post is to let everybody know that I am back to blogging and things are going to be very good from here on out.  With March Madness, spring season and much more right around the corner, my blog has returned and in the words of Eminem, “It feels so good to be back!”

Just an FYI, that picture to the right IS NOT me…my hair is brown.

 

Go Habs Go!

The NHL playoffs are in full swing, and even though some of the teams who were favorites to win the cup are out, there is one team that has gotten the attention of the whole NHL.  That is the Montreal Canadiens. 

In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Canadiens have knocked off the two favorites to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals from the Eastern Conference (Washington/Pittsburgh) and have done it in convincing fashion.  Each of the series went seven games, and Montreal emerged victorious with series wins, coming back from 3-1 and 3-2 series deficits. 

The Canadiens will now play the 7th seeded Philadelphia Flyers for the right to go to the Stanley Cup Finals.  If they advance, they will make it to the cup finals for the first time since 1993 when they beat the LA Kings to win the cup (and yes, Barry Melrose was the Kings head coach).

I will admit, I am primarily a Minnesota Wild fan, and since they are not in the playoffs, I had to find team to root for.  Going in, I was not rooting for the Habs, but after seeing how impressive of a club they have, I have jumped on the Montreal bandwagon and hope they bring home the cup.  From the stellar goaltending of Jaroslav Halak, to the offensive firepower in Mike Cammalleri and Scotty Gomez, I think this team brings something special to the ice every game.  They are also the underdog in the playoffs, and that is something I also enjoy rooting for.

GO HABS GO!

Nielsen: 2010 Super Bowl = Most Watched TV Show Ever!

Well my Super Bowl prediction was surprisingly accurate to say the least.

In what was the most watched Super Bowl of all-time, the Saints beat the Colts 31-17 in a much closer football game than the final score indicated.  In my last blog post, I predicted the Saints would win 34-28, and if it wasn’t for Peyton Manning’s interception late in the 4th quarter, my prediction would have been even closer than it actually was.  In making this conjecture, I ended up going against the majority of  “experts” who picked the Colts to win the game, which just goes to show that you don’t need to be a pro to predict a winner in any major professional sporting event.  All you need is a little bit of luck on your side.

While watching the Super Bowl, one thing I could not have predicted was how many people tuned into Super Bowl XLIV.  After basking in the glory of the Super Bowl, roughly two hours after the game finished, I had finally realized how great a football game I had witnessed.  Looking back, it seems like the game passed by very quickly, as all the commercials, outstanding plays, celebrations, etc. were one big continuous motion in my mind.  I guess this shows how truly amazing the Super Bowl is, as when something is enjoyed with great enthusiasm by any human being, it passes by very quickly.

Apparently I was not the only one who felt this way as The Nielsen Company released their Super Bowl ratings and stated the 44th Super Bowl was the most-watched television program ever.  In looking closer at the  numbers, Super Bowl XLIV had 106.5 million viewers, which surpassed the 1983 M*A*S*H finale (105.5 million viewers) that previously held the mark as most-watched program in TV history.  In addition, the 106.5 million viewers was an 8% increase in viewers from last year’s Super Bowl which saw the Steelers defeat the Cardinals 27-23.

The Super Bowl may have been the most anticipated sporting event for television watchers across America, but in my mind it was only the prelude to some great events being televised in the next month.  For starters, you have the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver which will begin this Friday.  After the Olympic torch is extinguished, March Madness takes center stage  and after a National Champion has been crowned, Major League Baseball will be starting their new season.  Its good to be a sports fan!

Super Bowl Prediction

The Super Bowl is finally here as the Saints/Colts take center stage tonight and will play for the right to be crowned the best team in the NFL.  

Leading up to the game, there have been lots of predictions and breakdowns of this game, as analysts everywhere have spent the past two weeks taking a look at who has the best chance of winning this game.  Seems like every time I have put ESPN on in the past five days, they are breaking down the Super Bowl at some point during SportsCenter, and on NFL Network, your not allowed airtime unless its something informative about the Super Bowl. Although I take a little bit into consideration what the experts say, I have a different spin on who will bring home the title. 

The Super Bowl seems to be an interesting matchup, as the Colts are favored by 5 points, and many experts are predicting them to win by a wide margin.  I really don’t see that happening today.  After seeing what the Saints can do against the Vikings, I have to say they are the best team in the NFL.  When you toss in their offense who made fantasy football owners happy this year, along with their defense (which is highly underrated), I think they are on paper, the better team.  It should also be noted that they were a team who nearly had an undefeated regular season, and when the time counts, have played great football too.

In giving my prediction of the Super Bowl, I know the Saints will at least cover the point spread (Colts -5).  When the Super Bowl line first came out, the Colts were touchdown favorites, and leading up to today, that amount has gone down a bit due to bettors like me picking the Saints to cover.  Sure Peyton Manning has lots of experience and has been on the big stage before, but for some reason I see tonight belonging to the Saints.  Its going to be a very close game, but in the end, Drew Brees and company are going to touch off a celebration in the Big Easy that will make Mardi Gras seem like your local Neighborhood Night Out celebration. 

With the big game less than three hours away, here is my prediction to who will win the Super Bowl…

Who Dey’s (Saints) 34
Horseshoes (Colts) 28

Where has the Pro Bowl gone?

Tonight in Miami, the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl will take place between the AFC/NFC football conferences.  Over the past couple years, the Pro Bowl has diminished in popularity, as less people are tuning in to watch the game on television and the media has downplayed the game due to the hangover from the Super Bowl taking place the week prior.  This year, the NFL decided to move the Pro Bowl to Miami, Florida and have the game played the week before the Super Bowl in an effort to help boost ratings and awareness of what is supposed to be a showcase game.  This idea, which seemed great on paper, has developed into an unfortuneate situation for the NFL, as many media outlets have ignored the game this week, and football fans seem to be following suit as well. 

When you think of the Pro Bowl not being a popular sporting event, one would think the exact opposite, as the NHL, NBA and MLB all have highly popular all-star games.  The 2010 version of the Pro Bowl, which was supposed to create a newfound interest in the game, has instead brought down the game’s popularity even more.  The main problem overshadowing this is the amount of star power absent from the game.  Currently over a dozen players selected for the Pro Bowl have pulled out of the game, and this is by far the biggest reason why I personally will not be tuning into the game.  When your selected to the Pro Bowl, you should play in the event regardless (unless of course your either injured, or a member of a team competing in the Super Bowl next week).  Just seeing the amount of players electing not to participate in this game is ridiculous, and I feel NFL commissioner Roger Goddell should make Pro Bowl participation mandatory for all players starting in 2011. 

In addition to players sitting out of the Pro Bowl, the other major news story is the fan reaction towards the game.  This year’s game is being played at Land Shark Stadium in Miami and this marks the first time since 1980 that the Pro Bowl is being played outside of Hawaii.  Moving the game to Miami is the NFL’s (failed) marketing attempt to attract more fan interest in the game.  Sure, the 2010 Pro Bowl may have its largest stadium attendance since 1969 (due to the game being played in a larger stadium…duh!), but that will not translate into the highest Nielsen ratings since 1969.  With the game being aired Sunday evening on ESPN, and the amount of star-power sitting this game out, it will be surprising if they can even manage as viewers as the 2009 Pro Bowl.  Another interesting fact is that although the game is sold out, the NFL had a bit of worry going into the final two weeks of ticket sales, as they began offering free $40 gift cards to NFL.com to people who purchased the remaining Pro Bowl tickets.

Well, I guess there is always 2011 for the NFL to improve overall interest in the Pro Bowl.  Kudos to the NFL though for another Pro Bowl event going unnoticed.