Fan Stop Central

If you’re a fan of college basketball … and if you’re here I assume you are … you’ve no doubtedly heard the rumors of the NCAA Basketball Tournament expanding its field from 64 65 to 96.

Now, this isn’t the first time the field has been expanded. The tournament first started with 25 teams, then expanded over time to include the 64 65 (seriously, the tournament is really 64. Can we stop saying 65? Does the Tuesday play-in game really matter in the tournament?)

I’m all for including more teams. I would be the first to say that the selection process is flawed. It has a good starting point, 31 conference tournament champions receive an automatic entry, but the rest of the field is completely biased … and there is no question to that.

I’ll be the first to say that my favorite college team (Missouri State) got hosed multiple times over the past 10 years. Twice they set the record for the highest RPI rating team to be left out of the big dance (32 and 21 respectively). Why is this a big deal? Because the selection committee tried to explain their selection process and how much stock they put into the RPI. How is the RPI calculated? Play a strong schedule and perform well. For years, Missouri State tried to play the numbers game (as laid out by the selection committee) and performed well enough for their numbers to be worthy of a bid … yet have been denied selection.

Expanding the field to 96 would have been a no-brainer to include Missouri State (in their case), but of course then you’ll have teams 97-150 wondering “why weren’t we selected?” And on and on.

SO, I would propose a better selection process. Whether you expand the field or not, change the automatic bid process to the following:

• 1 automatic bid per REGULAR SEASON CONFERENCE CHAMPION
• 1 automatic bid per CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT CHAMPION (if different)
• follow the at-large selection process to fill out the remaining spots (if needed)

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this is not a fool-proof selection process, BUT I think the emphasis/importance needs to be placed on the regular conference season b/c any team can get hot in a 3 game tournament and take a spot away from a team who played well enough over the course of the season to deserve selection.

Just like the college football playoff debate, this won’t be put to rest easily.

Popularity: unranked [?]

In a lawsuit filed in Jackson County, Missouri in which John Coomer claims he was just chillin’ at a game on September 8, 2009 — when Slugger “climbed atop the third base dugout and started shooting hotdogs into the stands from an air gun.”

Coomer claims Slugger eventually put the air gun down — and started firing off the wieners by hand … when, according to the suit, things went horribly wrong.

In the docs, Coomer claims “Slugger lost control of his throw or was reckless with his throw, and threw the hotdog directly into the Plaintiff.”

Coomer claims the dog hit him right in his left eye — leaving him with a detached retina and the development of cataracts.

Seriously?! Anyone else have a hard time believing that a hot dog tossed behind-the-back (while wearing a mascot suit) could inflict enough damage to DETACH A RETINA!!??!!??!!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Congratulations to New Orleans and its Saints … Super Bowl Champions!!! Doesn’t quite sound right to us to say those words together, but the Saints well-deserved it this year. Congratulations.

Now, for Fan Stop Central, the NFL season wasn’t as pretty. It’s recap time. Let’s quickly take a look at our predictions and just how wrong we were:

AFC
West – San Diego
North – Pittsburgh (Cincinnati)
South – Tennessee (Indianapolis)
East – New England
WC – Baltimore
WC – Indianapolis (New York)

NFC
West – Seattle (Arizona)
North – Chicago (Minnesota)
South – New Orleans
East – Philadelphia (Dallas)
WC – Dallas (Philadelphia)
WC – Atlanta (Green Bay)

So, we were decent in our playoff participants predictions … we only had 5 completely wrong and we had a few division winners and wild cards swapped, but overall, pretty good. Now, here’s where we go wildly astray:

AFC – New England
NFC – Philadelphia

Champion – Philadelphia

Popularity: 1% [?]

With a $30 million gift from Missouri State alumnus and Springfield, Mo.-based hotel developer John Q Hammons, construction has begun on JQH Arena, the new home to the MIssouri State Bears and Lady Bears basketball teams and an iconic tribute to Missouri State intercollegiate athletics.

The arena, located adjacent to Hammons Student on John Q. Hammons Parkway, will contain more than 11,000 seats – including 50 courtside seats – The Grand Entrance, 22 suites, a club and other amenities. The design also includes shell space for home locker rooms, offices and a training room, which can be completed later. For now, the current Hammons Student Center facilities will be used for these functions, with a connecting corridor to JQH Arena.

Building a new basketball arena has been a long-time dream for Missouri State. Establishing one as grand as JQH Arena will allow Missouri State to live up to its name, be a magnet for Springfield and make the community proud. The JQH Arena will impact recruiting efforts, putting the basketball programs on par with other Division I schools in the country as we move into the 21st century. The new arena will be a premier basketball facility that will give Missouri State an overwhelming home-court advantage and make the Bears’ and Lady Bears’ games the place to be in Springfield.

In addition, JQH Arena will qualify to host women’s NCAA postseason games and will be an ideal place to host local, regional and statewide high school events, plus concerts and other public events.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Let’s look back at some predictions sure to go wrong. On March 25, 2009 I put together my MLB predictions. Let’s take a look at how I’ve done so far:

AL West – Seattle Mariners
AL Central – Cleveland Indians
AL East – New York Yankees
AL Wild Card – Oakland A’s

NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Central – St. Louis Cardinals
NL East – Atlanta Braves
NL Wild Card – Chicago Cubs

American League Champion – New York Yankees
National League Champion – Los Angeles Dodgers

World Series Champion – New York Yankees

As you can see, my first round was fairly dismal, but I did get 3 right, and two of those, I have moving on to the big show.

Yeah … just tooting my horn a little bit!

Popularity: 11% [?]