Follow the Bulldogs home.

It figures that Butler finally plays some NCAA tournament games in Indianapolis and now i live 9 hours away. Fair Enough, i'll get there. While i am sad we're missing the chili cook-off this Saturday, i'm obsessionally obligated to make another trip to Indy (wouldn't be so bad if i wasn't planning on going back for a wedding in 3 weeks). That will put my 'annual' trip to Indiana count at 3 in just two months time. Oh well. Some people say this is a once in a lifetime chance, but i'm not buying that. 

If you haven't listened to Gordon Hayward's musical debut from the link i attempted to post last night, you should (link for your convenience). The best part is how he maintains the Butler Way even in rap form.
"But it's not about me, it's about the team. Going to the tourney with a full head of steam. Shits so close, it's at our backdoor. Get a few loves, we'll be in the Final Four. Not stopping there, that's not in store, push it to the limit, we want more...Too Big Yo." (not positive if i translated it all correctly)

i really do want someone to make a t-shirt that says, "the Butler Way...Too Big Yo."

If Butler were to win their next two games, i would like to hear Lucas Oil Stadium chanting "Too Big Yo" and have G-Time rap it one time live for the fans.

Too big yo!

If you haven't listened to this yet, you need to. Go here:

www.midmajority.com/2010/03/too-big-yo.php

Sorry in a rush, got to work...

Three more wins to go.

It’s no secret, I immediately hate teams that beat Butler (particularly in the post-season) and pretty much hate them until Butler ends up beating them. i sometimes even end up hating entire states just because Butler lost a few games there (NY after '02 and '03, there is a HATE on that heart).
Ever since an overtime loss to Syracuse in 2002, I have been eyeing scenarios for the rematch. I don’t think anybody else cares or even faintly remembers that game. I heard no mention of it on the broadcast last night. I suppose it was just an NIT second round game, but it was an overtime loss where Syracuse won by just one point with Butler unable to make a final layup as time expired. Last year in the South region, I was looking forward to meeting Syracuse in the Elite Eight, but neither of us made it. Back in 2003 if Butler could have won just one more game and advanced to the Elite Eight in Albany, we would have had a chance for our revenge. Finally, we met again. Syracuse loss avenged.

The whole game I was hoping it wouldn’t be another memory of how Butler played the eventual tournament champion tough, but just couldn’t pull it out. We pulled it out. Some Syracuse fans are saying how they gave us the game and while they admittedly did have some awful, careless turnovers, Butler’s defense was tough. It’s not like Butler was on fire as they were in the second half vs. UTEP, we struggled shooting. Yet we still managed to beat the best team in the Big East. Their asterisk next to this game will read that Syracuse beat themselves and didn’t have center Arinze Onuaku. Ironically, before the game nobody seemed to think that would matter much as they were predicted to win anyway. As a side note, I prefer playing a press. They don’t challenge dribbling or passes around the perimeter which usually makes me nervous. It seems to give good looks from 3 and around the free throw line. Butler played another subpar game, yet somehow managed to beat a top Big East team and #1 seed? I don’t know if I’ll ever figure out how they pull out these wins. Even against Horizon League teams all year, I wondered how they came out on top many times.

After every win against one of the big schools, they attribute the loss to how they beat themselves or if they had played their best game it wouldn’t have been close. There always seems to be an excuse when Butler beats a good team. Will Butler ever get credit for winning? Maybe after its 26th straight victory?

We beat Ohio State this year, but the asterisk reads “Almighty Evan Turner was hurt” (reasonable asterisk because he totally changes that team but we get to play them again anyway). We beat Xavier this year, asterisk reads “The clock malfunction caused them to lose” (despite a real time countdown showing our last second shot would’ve counted either way). After three more wins, Butler would be crowned National Champions of college basketball with an asterisk that reads “They have their excuses, we have a national championship.”

Even Hitler picked Kansas

i feel like i've seen something like this before, but i still enjoyed it this time.

funny

i guess it may have been around a while, but i first saw this Axe Dry commercial last week and it is pretty funny.

One down.

After playing the way i feared we’d play in the first half (sloppy, uninspired, careless), Butler returned to winning form. Not to a winning form they’ve seen this year, but the second half was more reminiscent of Bulldogs past. Limiting turnovers, hitting 3’s, and forcing UTEP to turn the ball over. A first round record setting 3-point shooting made up for Nored’s poor performance taking care of the ball and abhorrent free throw shooting (1-7). Another surprising statistic was Hayward going 0-6 from 3-point land! At the end of the game, they were practically giving him the 3 like he was Nored.

After the game i went to the IndyStar Web site and saw this headline…i thought it was going to be about Butler’s hot shooting, but was saddened to learn some dogs had actually been set on fire.

Missing the NCAA first round...

For the first time since a long time ago, i will not be able to make the first round of the NCAA tournament. Yes, that does induce a mild bout of depression. Butler will have to win the first two rounds without me. Butler plays Thursday at around 4:45 pm which fortunately should allow me to watch the game before going to work. If it wasn't already a shortened week for me, i would still try and get Thursday night covered and spend the $600 to get to San Jose plus hotel and such.

Let's review why missing the post season stings so much for me. The following list shows the year and locations i've traveled to watch Butler basketball over the years in the post-season.

'01-02 - Syracuse - Sitting in a sea of orange, the Bulldogs are defeated by Syracuse in the most exciting overtime game i've seen Butler lose. God-willing, revenging that NIT loss to Syracuse this year will send Butler to the Elite Eight for the first time. 

'02-03 - Birmingham/Albany - Quite possibly the trip that cemented my devotion for Butler basketball. As a 12 seed, Butler beat the 5 seed Mississippi State on a runner in the lane by Brandon Miller then went on to beat the 4 seed Louisville to make the sweet 16. Then we took a trip to Albany to watch the Bulldogs fall short against Oklahoma.


'03-05 - off years for Butler

'05-06 - Florida State - Starting to get back on track, Butler makes the NIT making it down to play Florida State in a game they could've won.

'06-07 - Buffalo - Butler again wins two games (over Old Dominion and Maryland) to get to the Sweet 16. Followed them to St. Louis in a great game against an NBA-bound Florida that eventually won their 2nd straight NCAA tourney. Butler lead with under 4 minutes to go.

'07-08 - Birmingham - Back to Birmingham where Butler easily advanced over South Alabama only to fall to Tennessee in overtime. Butler had their chance to win this game, but just could not convert. 

'08-09 - Greensboro - The selection committee was generous in having Butler play just up the road from Charlotte. Unfortunately, they looked too young and just did not have the usual Butler way about them and loss to LSU in the opening round.

'09-10 - SAN JOSE - Quite possibly the farthest possible desination from Charlotte other than maybe Spokane. The second strike is that the game is on Thursday when i have to work Thursday night. Strike 3 comes when i am already returning from a trip so it's tough to request more time off. Damn the man.

The good news is the final four will be in Indianapolis and fortunately i am already off the April 3rd weekend.

Unfrozen Cave Man...

One hundred thousand years ago, a caveman was out hunting on the frozen wastes when he slipped and fell into a crevasse. In 2006, he was discovered by some scientists and thawed out. He then went to Notre Dame and became... Unfrozen Caveman Luke Harangody.

Seriously, he always reminds me of a cave man every time i see him. 

Indiana.

After watching last night's Butler/Wright State game in Indy, there was a huge sigh of relief from college teams on the bubble of the NCAA tournament. An even louder sigh of relief came from me. i was truly scared to attend a Butler game against a Horizon League opponent after they had gone all year without a loss. It would have been added fuel to the fire of my belief that something i do during the course of a game or season is going to impact the outcome of Butler games. Fortunately, i did just what i needed to do and we won without a problem.

Made it to Chesterton. Never did figure out what brought me home this week aside from poorly planned Indiana trip with Megan and a few events that seemed like good timing had their been a major reason for the visit. We'll see what we can do.

Sampstar's App Essentials

This is the current basics of what make up the current Sampstar's App Essentials. 

Yelp - has always been my favorite place for writing/reading reviews and in the past month or so they totally revamped their app to make it much, much better. i'm still not sure about the buzz around the "Check in" feature on these apps. It may just be that i don't know many people out and about to care who is where. One thing that just looks cool is the monocle feature where you hold up the iPhone in whatever direction and it shows you what is that direction and how far.

ScoreCenter - It was months before i realized it was actually Score and not Sportscenter. Anywho, when i first got this app, i don't believe it did all alerts (maybe) but now you can set alerts for game start, each quarter and final or just final. You can also arrange the sports or scores you want to see first and select your favorite teams that will be displayed on top.

TripIt - This little guy just makes it easier to find your travel information. Rather than looking through the email to find what airline you are flying this time, you simply email your flight itinerary to the tripit address and it recognizes your email and puts it in an easy to read format by trip.

RunKeeper - Started with TrailGuru, ended up with this one. Uses the GPS to track your runs outside, keeping time/pace and such. Sometimes has miscalculations in running routes, but usually seems pretty good.  Now allows you to manually enter workouts you missed or did on the treadmill. If only i could remember to log all runs, it would be even better.

Dropbox - A nice little program that gives you up to 2GB free to store music, pics or whatever online. It automatically syncs with other computers you have and your iPhone. You can also share with others. Join Dropbox via this link and they might give me some extra storage.

Animoto - This app makes a 30-second video montage with the photos of your choosing.
An example: our cats


Evernote - previously mentioned.

Other useful apps to have:

• PhoneFlicks - Manage your Netflix que via your phone
• myWireless (AT&T app) - easily allows you to view and pay your bill as well as check your minutes
• U-verse TV - allows me to program my DVR from afar
• Flixster - simple way to find movie times and watch previews
• TweetDeck - when i do use Twitter, this is nice. it also allows me to view and update facebook status as well. 
• RedLaser - One of two apps i think i have actually paid something for, this is just fun when i'm at Target scoping out the clearance end caps. It checks the price on Google and locally supposedly.
• Mint.com - if you're in to budget tracking, this works nicely. 
• Cardstar - allows you to put all your annoying loyalty cards from the wallet or key chain into your iPhone. It only works at places with a hand held scanner device from what i can tell. It works at CVS, but doesn't work at our gym unfortunately. 
• iheartradio - picks up 106.5 in Charlotte and 94.7 from Indy. Allows me to listen to Bob and Tom without the static of the radio at work.