Jesse Spector

Wednesday, March 30th

Pictures 46: Auto Show

I went to the New York International Auto Show yesterday, so here's some of what I saw...

Corvette

03.30.05 @ 10:16 AM EST [Click For More...]

Tuesday, March 29th

Convenience

Urinal?

This station actually doesn't stink, unlike Herald Square, which really does smell like a urinal, or Penn Station, which smells much worse.

03.29.05 @ 11:06 PM EST [Link]

Sunday, March 27th

Three Games Left

Kentucky didn't deserve to win that game. They managed the clock at the end like the Jets.

The standings...
Morton Witherspoon: 76 points (best possible score 116)
Mom: 69 (97)
Me: 63 (75)
Caroline: 61 (61)
Casey: 59 (59)

If Illinois beats Louisville, Morton Witherspoon wins. If it's Louisville-Michigan State in the final, Mom wins. If it's Louisville-UNC, Mom wins with Louisville, Morton Witherspoon wins with UNC.

03.27.05 @ 11:08 PM EST [Link]

I Am A Proud Baseball Nerd

I ordered the "Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia," and it came yesterday, so here's a taste of the kind of fun things I can crank out with it.

Members of the 20-20 Club Since World War II To Score at Least 110 Runs with fewer than 100 strikeouts and five or fewer times Caught Stealing
Willie Mays, 1959
Robin Young, 1980
Rafael Palmeiro, 1993
Chipper Jones, 1999
Derek Jeter, 2004

Taking away the caught stealings, Alfonso Soriano in 2002 is the only player in history to score 100 runs, hit 25 homers, steal 25 bases and hit 50 doubles in one season.

03.27.05 @ 3:53 AM EST [Link]

Saturday, March 26th

Comeback City

Well, Mom comes back from nearly losing her national champion and Morton Witherspoon comes back from nearly losing his national runner-up. What a pair of comebacks, accompanied by what a pair of chokes.

The standings...
Mom: 69 points (best possible score 97)
Morton Witherspoon: 68 (124)
Caroline: 61 (61)
Casey: 59 (59)
Me: 55 (75)

03.26.05 @ 11:37 PM EST [Link]

To The Elite Eight

Well, I was wrong about UNC wiping the floor with Villanova, no surprise.

The standings...

Morton Witherspoon: 60 points (best possible score 124)
Me: 55* (75)
Mom: 53 (97)
Caroline: 53* (61)
Casey: 51* (59)

03.26.05 @ 1:53 AM EST [Link]

Friday, March 25th

Great Night For Mom

She wins with all three teams she still had alive, and in the other game gets to see Bobby Knight knocked out of the tournament. The new standings...

Morton Witherspoon: 52 points
Mom: 49
Caroline: 49*
Me: 47*
Casey: 47*

*championship team knocked out

Quick pick for tomorrow night, if only to put the ol' JSKB (Jesse Spector Kai-Bosh) on them -- UNC huge over Villanova.

03.25.05 @ 12:21 AM EST [Link]

Thursday, March 24th

So Sweet

Back to the tournament... sorry I haven't written about anything else lately. I failed to fill the gap between weekends, but I've been quite busy with work, blah, blah, blah, you know. Anyway...

03.24.05 @ 1:52 PM EST [Click For More...]

Monday, March 21st

Lousy Meddling

As it stands right now, had I not made Casey more dog-oriented, and stuck with his coin flips, he'd have 45 points, lead the pool, have six of his Elite Eight teams left and three of his Final Four, in addition to his National Champion and runner-up. Instead, he has 39 points and no chance whatsoever to win this thing.

I feel like a tremendous jerk.

03.21.05 @ 1:58 AM EST [Click For More...]

Sunday, March 20th

Two Rounds Down...

The Standings...

Morton Witherspoon: 44 points, all Final Four teams alive
Caroline: 41 points, National champ out
Me: 39 points, two Final Four teams out
Casey: 39 points, National champ and runner-up out
Mom: 37 points: National runner-up out

03.20.05 @ 7:30 PM EST [Link]

Gettin' Ugly

Standings through Round 2, Day 1...

Dad: 34 points
Me: 31
Caroline: 31
Casey: 29
Mom: 27

03.20.05 @ 12:54 AM EST [Click For More...]

Saturday, March 19th

Zags, Nuts

Well, I was right about everything but the memorable finish. Ronny Turiaf should have gotten a little more on that fullcourt heave and made it. Then we'd have had it. Also, I wouldn't have two Final Four teams out. Yeesh.

In addition to me being all but out of it, Casey had the Zags in the title game and Caroline had them all the way. Mom had UCLA winning that game, Dad had the Zags in the Elite Eight. An awful start to the second round for everyone involved.

Meanwhile, Washington is already up 5-0. My kingdom for the DP/Smoke's Sweet 16 pool.

03.19.05 @ 3:23 PM EST [Link]

First Round(up)

Just some random bits that bear mentioning after two days of the Madness. Can you tell that I'm totally wrapped up in this?

03.19.05 @ 2:24 PM EST [Click For More...]

Tourney Extracurricular

My latest Edge writing is about Boston College "not getting any respect." This has absolutely nothing to do with the whooping they put on my school. Well, almost nothing.

03.19.05 @ 1:02 PM EST [Link]

End of Round 1

Standings...
Dad: 26-6, best possible score 154
Caroline: 25-7, 143
Me: 23-9, 141
Casey: 21-11, 151
Mom: 19-13, 145

03.19.05 @ 12:41 AM EST [Click For More...]

Friday, March 18th

First To Go

The standings...
Dad: 23-5, 1 Sweet 16 team lost
Caroline: 23-5, 2 Sweet 16 teams lost
Me: 20-8, 2 Sweet 16 teams, 1 Elite 8 team, 1 Final Four team lost
Casey: 18-10, 3 Sweet 16 teams lost
Mom: 18-10, 4 Sweet 16 teams lost

03.18.05 @ 9:35 PM EST [Click For More...]

24 Down, 39 To Go

Updated Standings...

Dad: 20-4, 0 Sweet 16 teams lost
Caroline: 20-4, 1
Me: 17-7, 1
Casey, 15-9, 3
Mom: 15-9, 3

Mom is 8-0 today after yesterday's rough start...

03.18.05 @ 5:35 PM EST [Click For More...]

Into Day 2

Oklahoma State could have given me some more confidence. I knew I shouldn't have trusted Minnesota from the garbage Big Ten over Iowa State from the decent Big 12. Even though I had Florida, too bad that they survived -- I'm no fan of Billy Donovan. And a nice job by N.C. State. My fault for forgetting that they were the Wolfpack when I changed Casey's picks to be more dog-oriented. Sorry, Pups.

The standings through today's first set of games...
Dad: 16-4, 0 Sweet 16 teams lost
Caroline: 16-4, 1
Me: 15-5, 1
Casey: 12-8, 2
Mom: 11-9, 3

Nobody's lost anything beyond the Sweet 16 yet. Casey could easily be the first with Southern Illinois in a tough matchup with St. Mary's. We'll see. I'm rooting for him, even though I picked it the other way.

03.18.05 @ 2:48 PM EST [Link]

End of Day 1

And, at the end of the first day of the tournament...

Caroline: 13-3, 1 Sweet 16 team lost
Dad: 12-4, 0
Me: 12-4, 1
Casey: 10-6, 2
Mom: 7-9, 3

I regret backing off my UAB pick, but not backing off my Iowa in the Sweet 16 jag. Thank goodness for Gonzaga, and it's too bad that Illinois or Wake Forest couldn't lose.

Games I'll be sweating on Day 2: Louisville, Syracuse, Oklahoma State. Even though I have Georgia Tech picked, I'll be rooting for them to lose.

03.18.05 @ 12:33 AM EST [Link]

Thursday, March 17th

Zag Attack

Well, Gonzaga pretty much gave me a heart attack. I had Kentucky all the way last year and still came close to winning the pool even though they went out in the second round, but you never want to lose a Final Four team on Day 1.

Caroline, who has the Zags all the way, takes the lead after three sets of games...

Caroline: 10-2, 0 Sweet 16 teams lost
Me: 9-3, 0
Dad: 9-3, 0
Casey: 7-5, 2
Mom: 6-6, 2

I really hope FDU beats Illinois... that would be awesome.

03.17.05 @ 10:05 PM EST [Link]

That Never Happened

Let the record show that Penn won the 2005 Ivy League title but respectfully declined its invitation to the NCAA Tournament. We're all OK with that, right?

Results through the first afternoon...
Me: 6-2, 0 Sweet 16 teams lost
Caroline: 6-2, 0 Sweet 16 teams lost
Dad: 6-2, 0 Sweet 16 teams lost
Casey: 4-4, 2 Sweet 16 teams lost
Mom: 3-5, 2 Sweet 16 teams lost

More at the end of the night...

03.17.05 @ 6:38 PM EST [Link]

Blecch!

You get the matchup you want against a team that stumbled down the stretch.

You get an afternoon game you can give your full attention to.

You get it on your local TV station.

You get crushed so bad in the first 15 minutes that they take it off TV.

Penn will be Cinderella again someday. Just not today.

03.17.05 @ 4:24 PM EST [Click For More...]

Picks are In!

Well, the picks are in. All that's left now is to wait for the results. Go Quakers!

(I held tough and stuck with my pick of BC. I hope it gets the job done.)

My picks overall are pretty much the same as they were Tuesday night. Oklahoma State wins it all, beating UNC in the final. Gonzaga and Syracuse are my other Final Four teams.

I think the only change was to put Kentucky in the Elite Eight, eliminating a second-round win for Iowa and a regional semfinal win for Utah.

Stay tuned to follow the travails of my bracket, and other stories of prognsticatory befuddlement.

03.17.05 @ 3:14 AM EST [Link]

Tuesday, March 15th

Pick 'Em, Day 2

When Casey, the dog, was in the football pool, it wasn't quite so simple as perhaps I made it out to be.

Indeed, I'd toss him a ball and if he got it, he'd pick the home team.

But I helped a little bit. If the Bengals were home against the Steelers or something like that, I'd say to him, "Now, Casey, if you want the Bengals, catch the ball." Then I'd throw it three feet over his head.

Same thing for Cardinals at Packers. "If you want the Packers, catch the ball, Casey." I'd stand right over him and drop the ball into his mouth.

Call it playing favorites.

03.15.05 @ 3:57 AM EST [Click For More...]

Monday, March 14th

Tourney Time

As always, I watched the NCAA selection show and wrote down all the teams.

Then I filled out a bracket, and threw it right in the trash. That's how I do it.

For now, I've got my second set of picks, based on how I feel. There's about five sets of picks that I go through until I have my final set. There are various ways that I come to it, and it's a decent system -- I was a Georgia Tech win away last year from being in the Top 10 in the 150-person Daily News pool.

Anyhow, I'll share my initial thoughts... as well as the coin-flip picks I'll be entering in the name of Casey, my old dog. The rules I set for him were that Penn would make the Sweet 16 and that this would be the year for a 16 seed to beat a 1 -- Montana over Washington in Boise, the capital of weird upsets. Aside from that, I had Casey go with all the favorites in the first round and flip a coin the rest of the way. When I was a kid, Casey actually won the family football pool -- if he caught a ball I tossed him, he'd pick the home team. This time, heads was the higher seed.

Onward...

03.14.05 @ 3:00 AM EST [Click For More...]

Friday, March 11th

Eight Days a Week

Eight

Me after my eighth straight night of work.

I've worked way more than this before. Way more.

So why do I feel like I've been run over by a convoy of Mack trucks?

03.11.05 @ 2:30 AM EST [Link]

Thursday, March 10th

In The Pink

The other day, the Empire State Building had, as George Costanza asked for in a blind date, "a rosy glow, a pinkish hue." It was close to sunset, but not quite there, and I happened to have my camera for the first time in a while because there was finally no snow in the forecast.

I thought it looked pretty cool. It's nice to catch a moment like that.

03.10.05 @ 3:42 AM EST [Link]

Wednesday, March 9th

On Baseball 5

Ice on the ground, chill in the air, nearly 4 AM, time to write about baseball...

03.09.05 @ 3:56 AM EST [Click For More...]

Monday, March 7th

Breakfast of Champions

Yummy!

Personally, I've always felt that Hennesy goes best with Rice Krispies, but to each his own...

03.07.05 @ 1:16 PM EST [Link]

Pictures 45: No. 8

I could have called this "No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!" but, well, you see...

No. 8
East 63rd Street, Manhattan

03.07.05 @ 2:21 AM EST [Click For More...]

Saturday, March 5th

The Evil Jersey Collection

Mitchell & Ness is great for the throwback jerseys it sells, but they don't have all the jerseys you'd want.

The evil jerseys.

So, when I open my retro sports shop, here's Series 1 of the Evil Jersey Collection, featuring all 30 MLB teams! Perfect for the fan who wants to fashionably rub in a rival's embarrassng moments.

03.05.05 @ 3:55 AM EST [Click For More...]

Wednesday, March 2nd

Random Thoughts 11

A month later, the groundhog crawls out of my brain, sees his shadow and runs back in, using these assorted bits of lunacy to cover his tracks...

03.02.05 @ 10:15 AM EST [Click For More...]

March 2005
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

j e s s e s p e c t o r . c o m