mike jr's word

Indianapolis

2006-04-10T15:27:00.000-04:00

Going to the final four was worth the money. It would have been better if Mason had won or their had been some close games. However as a sports fan it was a great experience that might not happen for me again. Downtown Indianapolis has some things to do but where the hotels we stayed at were, there was nothing. We had to walk over 10 streets to find a store or food. There was also a Tornado warning which caused some excitement. Nothing serious happened near us though. Besides the bus braking down on the way there it was a good trip.

Reds

2006-04-10T15:14:00.000-04:00

With the baseball season underway, it is time for me to follow the Cincinnati Reds again. They are off to a good start thankfully. Ken Griffey Jr. passed Mickey Mantle for 12th place on the all-time homers list. Hopefully things keep up. Major League Baseball has had a couple surprising teams to start the season. Hopefully these teams continue their runs and provide some new faces come playoff time.

Final Four

2006-03-30T22:51:00.000-05:00

Going to the Final Four is a once in a lifetime experience. Luckily I will get that experience this weekend in Indianapolis. I will be there to support George Mason. However I will enjoy all of the games and look to have a great time. Hopefully Mason will survive and win the National Championsip. Even if they don't they have provided Mason with great moments and exposure.

Mason Coverage

2006-03-27T22:01:00.000-05:00

With George Mason University advancing to the Final Four, media coverage has increased dramatically. Coach Larranaga has been on ESPN and Pardon the Interruption recently. Mason has been on the front page of websites like CNN. A couple of weeks ago Mason wasn't even a top story in the local market. Hopefully, Mason will take advantage of the situation.

Elite 8

2006-03-25T16:52:00.000-05:00

Going to the Mason game on Friday was a great experience. It was fun to watch them win their sweet sixteen game. Hopefully the run will continue Sunday against UConn. It would be better if we had better seats though. It has been a good run no matter when it ends for Mason. Hopefully the school will be able to capitalize on the exposure.

Mason Basketball

2006-03-23T16:05:00.000-05:00

Mason's basketball team enters the sweet sixteen on Friday. I will be excited to be in attendance at the Verizon Center. I am glad that I did not have to wait in the long line because I am a member of the patriot platoon. Hopefully Mason will be able to continue their success and advance to the Elite 8.

Break

2006-03-17T20:33:00.000-05:00

It has been good to not have any school over the past week. The break came at a good time. Even though there is still work to be done it is nice to not worry about going to class for one week. The week has been fun and relaxing. I should be ready to get back to work starting Monday.

NCAA tournament

2006-03-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

I am glad to see that it is tournament time again. With brackets being filled out, there is sure to be games that no one will expect. Hopeflly the team I am rooting for will mange to make it far. The tournament should provide a couple weekends of fun and excitement.

NFL Labor

2006-03-08T00:39:00.000-05:00

The NFL labor dispute impact on the upcoming season is undeniable. While free agency has been pushed back twice, that is where the immediate impact will be. Without an agreement some teams in the NFL would be force to cut a number of players to get under the salary cap. Some teams would benefit from already being considerably under the cap. If an agreement is reached it would give more teams an opportunity to spend money this off-season. The NFL definitely needs an agreement before next season that includes a salary cap. It is helped give anyone a chance at the Super Bowl and evened the playing field.

College Basketball

2006-03-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

I will be waiting to watch the college basketball conference tournaments this weekend. My favorite will be the ACC tournament. I'll be rooting for the Tar Heels. After their big win over Duke I am hoping for a conference championship. Unfortunately Mason was unable to win their tournament and compounded the loss with Skin's suspension possibly hurting Mason's chances at an at-large bid. It was good to see Mason on PTI. Too bad it was for a negative instead of a positive.

Oscars

2006-03-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

Another award show in the "award season. The Oscars are Sunday. It is another formal award show that will try to bring in some of the younger audience. Most of these award shows are the same. The winners will be similar to the Golden Globes. Hopefully there will be some excitement at the show. However, I will not be watching.

Midterms

2006-03-03T22:20:00.000-05:00

Midterms are approaching at George Mason University. With that comes the first major round of assignments being due. Sleep will decrease. Hopefully having fun will stay the same but with an increase in work. Good luck to anybody with midterms.

J-Mac

2006-03-03T19:26:00.000-05:00

One stor,y recently done, on ESPN that is the J-Mac story. It is a kid in High School who got into his first game in the last regular season game for his team. In four minutes, with his team having a big lead, J-Mac scored 20 points. Jason McElwain is a student with autism. I like that the coach allowed him to play in the game. The story showed one of the better moments in sports and how good sports can be.

CNN

2006-03-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

I like that CNN has a video section on its front page. The videos in the section cover many different areas. It has clips about the movie Brokeback Mountain, to Pakistan security. There is also a function that allows you to get live video. You have to pay for that service however. The video section allows the reader to not have to look through the whole site for the article that matches the video. It also allows there to be video that does not have an article.

World Baseball Classic

2006-03-02T01:36:00.000-05:00

Baseball's World Baseball Classic starts on Friday. I will be interested to see how it works. Some important players have dropped out but there are still big names involved. This will be the first tournament like this for the American team along with some others. Teams like the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico play in a tournament similar to this every four years. I want to see if the experience plays a factor. This happens once every four years so I will be interested to see the result and if it is popular the first time around.

Trade Deadline

2006-02-21T20:33:00.000-05:00

The NBA trade deadline arrives Thursday. ESPN uses a new idea on their website to allow fans to be more interactive. The Trade Machine allows fans to make any trade happen. The site tells you if the trade works from a money standpoint. I like this because as a fan of basketball it helps to know if a trade you think should happen works. It gives the fan a different view of the deadline. It gives you some of what a GM has to deal with before making a trade.

2006-01-22T17:39:00.000-05:00

Start of spring semester '06.