The Train Daddy is back and it’s on like Donkey Kong. The madness of March is upon us and the sexiness of May is ahead of us, April showers bring May flowers and sexy women in short shorts—just reminding you. What is more beautiful than a sunny day in May, enjoying the outdoors? While some like to bird-watch, well, I like to lady-hunt. Hey, I’m single, and just like deer hunting, when you lady-hunt, you only shoot for that prize buck—if you have standards . . . and I do.
March is an ugly month. It’s still cold, it rains a lot and I just don’t care for it. There is one solid thing though about the month of March, it’s full of Madness! There is not a better playoff system in all of sports than what the NCAA has put together in their one-and-done elimination-style bracket. College football took some notes and finally made some improvements, and in doing so they killed the BCS and approved a four-team playoff system for the 2014 season. My dream has come true, and I send my gratitude to all the people that made a college football playoff system a reality, even though I would have gone with eight teams. It will be a process that will be looked at and evaluated in the coming years, but is in effect until 2025. I know one thing: whoever ends up ranked No. 5, shut up and take it, don’t talk about being left out.
Both basketball programs for MTSU have been very impressive this season and have brought great honor and pride to the city of the ’Boro, unlike the five players arrested from the MTSU football program for starting a chaotic night club fight recently. So let’s get into it, it’s time to talk a little college basketball, Dennis Rodman, North Korea and President Obama vs. Kim Jong-un playing a 2-on-2 basketball game.
Ambassador Rodman
Before I talk about MTSU basketball, I want to talk about Dennis Rodman’s visit to North Korea. Rodman recently visited North Korea with a group of Harlem Globetrotters and a crew from HBO filming a new series. The United States has a new ambassador—Mr. Rodman—and he hit it off with the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. Rodman stated “He’s proud, and his country likes him—not like him, they love him—and I love him.” Following the basketball game that Rodman and the Supreme Leader attended, Jong-un invited Rodman and all the players for a feast of a feast; he wined and dined them as they talked the night away. Rodman stated that Kim Jong-un is an awesome guy, and that his father and grandfather were great leaders. So this is how I see it: you have a country that has a horrific human rights record, quite possibly the worst in the world, a regime that deprives the people of food, shelter and water—the basics of life—and new Ambassador Rodman is head-over-heels with these leaders. The U.S and North Korea fought opposite sides of a three-year-war that ended in a truce in 1953; neither side ever signed a peace treaty. Just weeks ago North Korea conducted underground nuclear tests, making sure the proactive maneuver was a warning to the United States. According to Rodman, Kim Jong-un doesn’t want war with the American superpower, just a call from Barrack Obama to chat about their love of basketball. Yet in January, after the U.N. council voted to condemn Korea for its successful rocket launch in December, Jung-un’s National Defense Commission stated, “Settling accounts with the U.S. needs to be done with force, not words.” So in my opinion, a conversation of words between Obama and Kim Jong-un discussing basketball is no good. Here is my idea: Kim Jong-un and President Obama both are young and in shape and fans of basketball; each leader chooses one of their current cabinet members over the age of 60 and they go heads up, a 2-on-2 basketball game which decides who gets to keep the nuclear weapons. Rodman, you were just on Celebrity Rehab, you’re broke, you are an alcoholic and drug addict who just wishes for the attention of your Chicago Bulls glory days. So just to be relevant again, you go to the most defiant craphole of a country and defend its leaders—leaders who defy the world with nuclear testing and ignorance. You and I both should stick to sports and not international debate.
Marco Knight at the Blue Raiders are set for the Sun Belt tournament, and quite possibly, the Big Dance
Moving on to basketball here in America, let’s talk about the great year the MTSU program has had this season. The men and women have had great seasons, with the men ending the season 27 – 4 and the women 22 – 7. Congrats to both teams. The men’s program tied the school record for total victories in a season and extended their regular season streak to 16 straight, the third longest in the nation. So, has MTSU earned an NCAA tournament bid? Coach Kermit Davis stated, “Yes, no question, I definitely think we have.” They also set a Sun Belt record at 19 – 1 for most wins in conference history, a mark made even sweeter as MTSU heads to Conference USA next season. If MTSU makes the NCAA tournament, it will earn $1.5 million in revenue for the Sun Belt conference. MTSU will have to forfeit its entire share of at least $200,000 to the Sun Belt in order to leave for Conference USA in July . . . greedy contracts. The 2013 Sun Belt Tournament will begin March 8, and the top-seeded Blue Raiders look great as they start the tournament off with a first-round bye. I wish the Blue Raiders all the luck. They can dominate this tournament and give the selection committee no doubts that they deserve to go to the big dance.
So, what is the process for NCAA Division I teams to get a ticket to the dance? Sixty-eight teams will enter the tournament known as March Madness, and 31 of those teams get automatic entry through winning their conference championship. The remaining teams rely on a committee to award them an at-large bid. The 10-member committee is made up of athletic directors and conference commissioners that each serve a five-year term. MTSU has done everything they needed to do to get a ticket to the dance. Soon we will find out if that is so. Selection Sunday is March 17, the first round begins the 21st, and the Final Four takes place April 4, followed by the National Championship game April 8. I stand with MTSU and hope they get there. They could be a true Cinderella story, and it’s the kind of story the whole country pays attention to.
It’s time to wrap it up—as I always say, a good idea for all you young men out there. Safety first! March 17 will be the day we all print up those brackets, we fill them out and get ready for basketball glory. Every year businesses throw money into the pile, fill out their brackets and pull out the highlighter to mark the wins and losses. I am a simple man: I have a group of 10 – 15, and we all throw $40 down on it, and the winner takes all. It’s a nice little chunk and this is my year, people! It’s all in good fun. It’s the one time a year the whole country can gamble and blame it on a little piece of paper with lines all over it—the famous bracket. So once again, congrats to MTSU no matter the result. It was a great season.
I sure hope the Titans are doing something right now, like figuring out how to win next season! And maybe Dennis Rodman is the answer to our problems with North Korea. Who knows?
Remember what is important to you in your life and cherish it. For the Train Daddy it is simple, and in this order: faith, family, women, sports, friends and food. The first two, faith and family, well that’s simple; I wouldn’t be anywhere without God or my family. It gets tricky after that. Women and sports were a close third, but let’s be real—I LOVE WOMEN and I love sports. Mad respect to my friends, and there is something special about a good home-cooked meal! Look, you may have a different list than mine, but cherish what you love and live every day to the fullest. I do! The Train Daddy is out the station, CHOO-CHOO!
Fun Facts:
Brett Favre’s first completion as a Packer was to himself.
It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with footballs for a season.
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
The average actual playtime in a MLB game is 9 minutes, 55 seconds, despite a game taking over 3 hours.
During WWII, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles combined to become the Steegles, due to so many NFL players being called to military duty.
Tug of War was an Olympic sport between 1900 and 1920.
From a complete stop, a human is capable of outrunning a Formula 1 car for about 30 feet.
JFK’s golf clubs sold for $772,500 at a 1996 auction. The buyer was Arnold Schwarzenegger.
