Congrats Travis

The final game is over, and our bracket winner has been crowned the 2011 Phats Bracket Contest Champion is none other than

TRAVIS!!

Congrats to Travis, and this one was complicated to decide a winner so lets review how we got here. After the National semi finals all four region champs were tied with 10 pts a piece, Bekah had the best shot to win since she took Butler as her overall winner while the other 3 all lost their champion. When Butler lost in the final game, all four ended with 10 pts, and so I went to score prediction to determine the winner and Travis' point spread of 8 pts was closer to 12 than the rest. Thanks again everyone for playing, and CONGRATS again to Travis. Your prize will arrive soon I promise!! :) Just give me a little time.

Those of you not so much into sports will be glad to know that predominantly sports posts will dwindle now that College Basketball season is over. Not saying my posts will be totally void of sports, but they won't be the main themes of them at least until college football season kicks off in September.

As for me my spring break is half over and it's almost time to go back to reality, and it will kick up in high gear next week. Our HS tennis season really starts as matches begin. We have matches next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday weather permitting. I am excited to get the season started and see how we do. The rest of my break has been spent visiting with my relatives who were in town and staying with us from Atlanta, Georgia. They however left today to head back so tomorrow is a lazy slacker day!!

How is everyone doing, anything fun going on in your worlds? I will be visiting your blogs here shortly.
Phats

Final Four

We are down to the final four, in the bracket contest, this is how this stage works. Each region champ now are picking head to head in the final four. They will pick both semi finals, and a winner, as well as a score incase of a tie. The overall winner will receive an amazing prize from yours truly!! Again, I want to say thank you to all of you who participated this year it was a major success thanks to you all!! For those that don't know here are the final four match ups
Butler vs VCU
Kentucky vs UConn
Now onto the picks
SEMI FINAL = 10 Pts
TITLE GAME = 12 Pts
If nobody gets the champ right whoever is closest to the score wins

BEKAH- Southeast Region Champion
Butler Bulldogs over VCU Rams *CORRECT BU 70 vcu
UK Wildcats over Conn Huskies *INCORRECT UCONN 56 uk 55
SEMI RD SCORE = 10 pts
BEKAH'S NATIONAL CHAMPION
BUTLER BULLDOGS 76 Kentucky Wildcats 72

ROCKET- West Region Champion
Butler Bulldogs over VCU Rams *CORRECT BU 70 vcu 62
UK Wildcats over Conn Huskies *INCORRECT UCONN 56 uk 55
SEMI RD SCORE = 10 pts
ROCKET'S NATIONAL CHAMPION
KENTUCKY WILDCATS 76 Butler Bulldogs 72 *INCORRECT

TRAVIS- Southwest Region Champion
Butler Bulldogs over VCU Rams *CORRECT BU 70 vcu 62
UK Wildcats over Conn Huskies *INCORRECT UCONN 56 uk 55
SEMI RD SCORE = 10 pts
TRAVIS' NATIONAL CHAMPION
KENTUCKY WILDCATS 82 Butler Bulldogs 74 *INCORRECT

MR SHIFE- East Region Champion
VCU Rams over Butler Bulldogs *INCORRECT BU 70 vcu 62
Conn Huskies over UK Wildcats *CORRECT UCONN 56 uk 55
SEMI RD SCORE = 10 pts
MR SHIFE'S NATIONAL CHAMPION
VCU RAMS 79 Connecticut Huskies 76 *INCORRECT

PHATS PICKS
VCU over Butler *INCORRECT BU 70 vcu 62
UConn over Kentucky *CORRECT UCONN 56 uk 55
UCONN over VCU

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!

So, when Purdue's basketball season ended in a disappointing loss to VCU in the second round of the NCAA tournament, it looked like Purdue basketball talk was over for another season. Boy that was wrong. About a week ago rumors started surfacing that Missouri who had just lost their coach was going to make an effort to go after Matt Painter our head basketball coach. At first I dismissed the rumor for many reasons, one Purdue is a better program than Missouri and that would be a big step down, two Painter is a Purdue alum and was hand picked by Gene Keady to be our coach when Keady was ready to retire. I just never saw him looking to and or wanting to leave. Boy the last couple days has been a like a roller coasters, rumors went to fact and Painter who wasn't even in town met with Missouri officials to talk. While we still don't really know what all went on, things really blew up thanks to social media. Look social media is great, but in this case it showcased everything that is wrong about using social media. The first thing that happened was a reporter in New York posted on his twitter that it was confirmed Painter had taken the Missouri job, and was getting a HUGE raise. A couple hours later when that rumor was infact proven to be falsed that tweet was taken down, and that writer didn't even apologize. Then things got REALLY crazy, two reporters from the St Louis Dispatch not only started tweeted, but actually wrote columns CONFIRMING that Painter was to be announced Missouri's next coach on Wednesday. They also tweeted and wrote that he was flying to West Lafayette to meet with players, coaches, and Purdue administration. About 40 mins after these tweets and columns went up, other people were saying they were infact unconfirmed and that none of this was accurate. As Painter's deadline to decide came and went, I had to go to practice not knowing if he was coming back or not. Thankfully I checked my phone at a break and had about 20 text messages letting me know that Painter had infact chosen to stay loyal to Purdue and was still our coach. He got a significant raise, but what he really wanted and got was a significant raise for his assistants. I am really glad this ordeal is over, but I was also a little pissed at this unprofessional people from the St Louis Dispatch that ran stories with RUMORS! While both have written columns since apologizing and saying their cred is now hurt, I guess that's a start. I am just glad Purdue has now locked up one of the best young coaches in the college game. By the way this is not the first time social media has sent Boiler Nation into a frenzy, when guard Kelsey Barlow was suspended for the NCAA tournament people started tweeting that he had knocked out another player, thrown a ball rack at another player, was high at practice, was drunk at practice. While we know that the first three aren't true there is high spectulation he was hungover at practice. So just becareful what you tweet, please tweet responsible.

I am officially on SPRING BREAK!!! WOOHOO!! While not going anywhere fun, we do have relatives staying with us from Georgia. My Aunt, and Cousins are on their way right now. Looking forward to that, we always have fun, and play lots of games. Bekah, you should come over for some Dutch Blitz action!! :)

Everyone have a great weekend
Phats