I'm so depressed...

My brackets are busted.

Villanova loses in the first round. Texas A&M got bounced. Pitt & Kansas faultered. Vandy got screwed by the refs. North Carolina forgot how to play against Georgetown's predictable defense in the latter half of yesterday's game.

And the Final Four is now:

Florida (the team that knocked out Villanova in last year's tourney)
Georgetown (any Big East team, and especially Villanova, despises the Hoyas)
UCLA ('nough said)
and
Ohio State

By default, I'm rooting for Ohio State... but it's leaving a sour aftertaste.

*sigh*

A few slight changes to the blog...

As you can tell, there have been a few upgrades and changes to the blog. I've fully upgraded to the beta version of blogger (which is now no longer beta). I've made links easier to notice by coloring them red. My favorite blog links have been updated over on the left, and I've finally been able to re-attach my webring links to St. Blog's Parish and the Guild of Common Sense, as well as the Site Meter (all of which I had lost when I upgraded).

In addition, there are labels connected with the posts so that you (and I) can do keyword searches for posts on related subjects. I still need to go through some of the older posts to attach necessary labels. Most of the 2004 post were specifically related to the 2004 presidential campaign, so I don't see much point in labeling all of those posts. I'll need to scour through all of them just in case there may be a post here or there that may be worthwhile to label.

I'm hoping to do some more postings soon. In the meantime, enjoy the new layout. Feel free to visit some of my favorites over on the left column.

My Visual DNA...

(Hat-tip to Julie @ Happy Catholic):

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Fr. Frank Pavone visits my local parish...

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests For Life, is visiting my local parish this weekend. Today, he's giving the homilies at all the masses, and he presided over the 10:30 liturgy. The Gospel reading for today was on the prodigal son, and Fr. Pavone's homily was wonderfully powerful yet even tempered. It is a blessing that he is one of the leaders in the pro-life cause.

To paraphrase a couple parts of Fr. Pavone's homily:

"Christ has taken our sins upon his shoulders, died on the cross, was laid in the tomb, and rose again. So, today, we should bury our sins in the tomb so that we may leave them behind, and we may rise to new life in Christ."

and:

"A sea turtle egg is protected by local, state and federal laws... and yet the unborn human life is not protected inside the mother's womb."

and again, paraphrasing:

"There are those who say that they themselves are against abortion, but it is up to the mother to choose... and we should not impose our opinions... it's none of our business. Is it none of our business if you are against stealing something, but it's another person's choice if they want to steal? Is it okay for someone to abuse a child, even though I am personally opposed to it? When the life of another human being is at stake, it is everyone's business."

You want brackets??? I'll give you brackets!!!

I'm already having second thoughts about my brackets... but I don't care. It's March Madness time! To quote a famous Andy Williams Christmas song,

"It's the most.... wonderful tiiiiiime.... of the yearrrrrrrr."

I'm thinkin' that the final will be North Carolina vs either Pitt or Kansas (although my heart always belongs to Villanova... even though their tuition nowadays is outrageously, insanely, overly expensive).

The "upsets" to look out for this year:

#3 Texas A&M and #4 Virginia in the South Region...

The winner of the #6 Vanderbilt/#11 George Washington match-up in the East Region...

#5 Butler, #6 Notre Dame and #10 Georgia Tech in the Midwest Region...

#5 Virginia Tech, #3 Pitt and (of course) #9 Villanova in the West Region.


P.S. I'm already down one loss (I'm not a fan of Bobby Knight, but I thought he'd get his team to at least win the opening game against BC, given that BC was without a key starter... c'est la vie).

It's MARCH MADNESS Time!!!

First off... I thought my alma mater (Villanova) was more deserving of a #7 seed. But, they can handle it, where they're at (first round against Kentucky - a different group of "Wildcats" - who were weak this season). There's a potential second round match-up against Kansas (but, remember, that Villanova beat Texas earlier this season).

I can't believe that the NCAA committee screwed up so much this year. How the frell can they exclude Syracuse, West Virginia, and Kansas State, while at the same time seeding the likes of Arkansas, Purdue, Indiana, Georgia Tech, Arizona, Stanford???

Add some more at-large seeds from the mid-majors, instead, if you're gonna keep out the 'Cuse (but the big conferences won't go for that, even though it was the mid-majors that made last year's first four rounds so friggin' exciting). Where's Drexel, Hofstra, Air Force, Missouri State, Marist, Vermont, Appalachian State, Akron???

I haven't filled out my brackets yet, but on first glance they made easy roads for Florida and G'Town for the first two rounds, while NC is stuck with the winner of the Marquette/Mich State matchup in the 2nd round, then they will most likely face Texas next, then the Hoyas to get to the Final Four. That's INSANE!

I think Texas A&M is my South Region Cinderella story. But that remains to be seen. Must bury my head in the voluminous stack of stats so that I can fill out my brackets.

Participating in a Walk For Life event this weekend...

This coming Saturday morning I will be helping to raise money for TenderLife Ministries by participating in their annual Walk-a-Thon. The organization (based in Ventura County, CA) has been doing wonderful work for over 22 years.

Per their website:

TenderLife is devoted to serving abandoned pregnant women and their children. We provide food, shelter, and personal growth opportunities in a caring environment where "mercy triumphs over judgement." ~ James 2:13

Running both a Maternity Home as well as two Transition Houses, they give young women hope, help, and healing.

If you feel so inclined, please donate to this worthy organization.

"The Jesus Tomb!... The Jesus Tomb!"

Michael Barber over at Singing In The Reign has been absolutely awesome in his detailed knockdown of the Cameron "documentary" that aired on the Discovery Channel earlier this week. Multiple posts abound:

Post 1 gets things started.

Post 2 begins the breakdown of the flawed theories.

Post 3 is a summary of the ossuaries.

Post 4 touches on Jesus & Mary Magdalene topics which surfaced yet again (didn't we just deal with this nonsense last year with The DaVinci Code?).

Post 5 tells us what's old is new is old news again.

Post 6 looks to the bodily resurrection of Christ.

And Post 7 looks at the so-called "odds."

"The sky is falling!... The sky is falling!"

The Anchoress linked to one of her older posts regarding global warming. She then followed up with a new post late last month.

PowerLine kicks in on the issue here.

Then there is the whole Al Gore "carbon offsets" fiasco pointed out in detail by ABC News (here), then Captain's Quarters (here), and RedState (here).

Then RedState follows up with a post (and a link to a recent National Geographic article) on the real cause of any global warming. And the Anchoress chimes in again regarding the 17,000+ scientists who don't tow the Gore party line on this non-issue of an issue.

Next, there's this one-time prominent proponent of global warming who now says otherwise. There's another scientist who has a 52-minute video of his scientific reasoning here.

And, finally, a UK "Channel 4" documentary gets into the mix, as well.

All of this is long and exhaustive, and chock full of links to more news and analysis. It's well worth the time to read through it all.