I've been pissed at sports in general (because my team has lost five of its last seven), but it's high time I included a sports update.
The BigTen tournament began today in Indianapolis. For the first time ever, Michigan State is seeded low enough to be playing on the first game of the tourney. MSU looks confused and weak. I don't like that.
Michigan should beat Minnesota today, and MSU should beat Purdue. Tomorrow's (likely) Iowa/Michigan matchup should be a fun one to watch, as will the Spartans/Illinois rematch.
The following big ten teams should be in the NCAA tournament: Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa.

In an obvious ploy to reach their biggest and most loyal core of football fans and bring them over to the basketball arena, the University of Michigan appeals to the "downriver hick trash" demographic by planning "NASCAR night" at Crisler arena.

With two college basketball teams battling it out in front of a national television audience, Michigan International Speedway will be on hand by hosting “NASCAR Night” at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Tuesday, February 21, during a featured game between the University of Michigan Wolverines and the Fighting Illini of Illinois. Game time is set for 7 p.m.UM and MIS will partner for an evening which will feature ticket giveaways for race fans in attendance at the game. Tickets to various 2006 MIS events will be given away at the game, including NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series tickets, and a fan hospitality package.

This shit just cracks me up. Press release can be found here.

A few games of note took place over the last couple of days. Penn State, which had up until then only managed to beat league wimps Purdue and Northwestern, went and knocked off Illinois at Illinois, upsetting the Illini's long home winning streak and causing eyebrows to dart upwards around the nation. Then Minnesota, which until yesterday had only won ONE conference game, went to Penn State and reminded the euphoric Nits that they're still the Nits, winning by 11 on the road in Happy Valley. To add to the goofy "bottom of the league incestuous merry-go-round-of-unexpected-wins-and-losses", poor decrepit Northwestern played host to league-leading Iowa and sent them packing with a big stinking W. Of all these games, I'd honestly have to say that last was least surprising -- not because Northwestern is so good (they're not), but because every team in the league is capable of winning at home on any night, and Iowa looks scarily inconsistent at times. If I was a hawkeye fan I would be feeling nervous right about now. Selection sunday is only a month away, give or take.

Other action included Michigan State fending off Purdue for a half (going into the half the score was 32-30 or something like that) before pounding their shit to pieces in the second half and winning by 25. What's more, they did it in MSU style, winning the rebounding battle 38-18. That's mah Spartans! Also, defying my "they're going to completely crash and burn down the stretch" prediction, Wisconsin not only held serve at home but absolutely killed Indiana, winning 54-72. Awesome. Now they're both F'd. As the included graphic from Andy_H indicates, the BigTen race is still really close, with five or six teams in contention for the title. In case you're not familiar with the +/-, teams earn a plus-1 for a road win, and and a minus-1 for a home loss. Losing on the road and winning at home do not influence the plus/minus standings. It's an interesting alternative way to look at the big ten standings, and ultimately the team with the highest +/- is the league champ. Now, I know that winning the league isn't that important, but damn it I really want it this year. GO STATE!

Today's only game is Ohio State at Michigan, a matchup of two teams hungry and looking for either a share of the league crown, improved NCAA seeding, or both. Go Buckeyes! (I felt dirty saying that).

There are no good BigTen games on today but I was fairly excited about Duke playing at UNC tonight...until I turned it on and sat down, when I realized my excitement was merely the unfortunate product of the ESPN hype machine. I mean, they had it all over the front page of ESPN today. They've been advertising it. Dave Peabody has been having daily sports-gasms talking about it. But here I am, tuned in, and I realize I hate this, and I hate these teams, and I hate this whole production. Couple of key reasons:

• North Carolina: Not good this year. Sorry, but they look like garbage. Sloppy. Turning over the ball a ton. It's all based on the NC name and the talent doesn't live up to what's advertised.
  
  
• Duke. I mean...Duke. come on. (Not to mention, they're turning it over a bunch too, and it's not due to great D).
  
  
• Dickie V. After all this time, even when he's saying something vaguely basketball-related (not often) I feel the hate bubbling up inside me. Wow.
  
  
• J.J. Redick. See entry on "Duke".
  

And to think I was thinking about this earlier in the day and actually planning to watch it. It's like, this entire obvious and ill-fated result didn't occur to me at all. I can't figure it out! Anyway, I'm warned by an on-screen message that Sex and the City is about to hijack my TiVo for some reason, so I guess I shouldn't complain about basketball of any sort...



...but can you blame me?

Notre Dame managed to lose another close one today, as Taquan Dean hit a 3 with a man in his face to beat the buzzer, tie the game, and send it into OT where Louisville managed to win by three points. Luck of the Irish? I don't think so. Notre Dame has lost eight conference games by a total of 26 points, meaning (for those of you who are, like me, math-tarded) that they've been losing these games by an average of 3.25 points per.

Duke holds off Florida State, winning by one point in overtime at Cameron Indoor. Duke leader and white boy supreme J.J. Redick had 36 points in the game, including eight in the overtime period, to give the Blue Devils the win. Florida State falls to 13-6 on the year, while the insufferable Dukies sit pretty at 21-1 and #2 in the polls.
I think the fun J.J. Redick picture shown here (taken at last year's Duke/Maryland game) is justified, don't you? I know Mary would disagree, but really, what does she know?

In maybe the best news of the day, Michigan visited Carver-Hawkeye Arena today and was smacked around brutally, losing to Iowa by a final score of 66-94. Did you know that my motto is "Fuck Michigan"? Well, now you do. Fuck Michigan!

...and the BigTen is in nice shape.

In the past, we've always been stuck using various websites' estimates of the RPI, as the NCAA has never actually released their own RPI standings, and nor have they let anyone know the secret formula for how they calculate the thing. This year, just as the bastards fine folks at ESPN.com make their beloved bracketology feature an ESPN Insider (i.e., "pay us for this content") option, the NCAA has decided that from February onwards we get to enjoy the real deal, the official RPI, straight from the horse's mouth.

So, here's the first release:



So, the BigTen manages to get a whopping seven teams into the top 21. Not bad at all. You can get the full, official release here.