ADB Bracket Status Sweet Sixteen Checkpoint

The men have started, and the women about are about to start, their Sweet Sixteen play so it feels like a good time to check in on my brackets in the A Dime Back (the pre-eminent UConn sports fan site and podcast) groups on ESPN.com.

It's early, and a lot of games will have to break my way before all is said and done, but looking at these results as they stand, it calls to mind how in 2004 and 2014 both the men's and women's UConn basketball teams won their respective national championships. Could such a historic Tournament Challenge group championship sweep be in the offing?

Time will tell.

2017 Garner Rex Healthcare Sprint Triathlon

That was fun. No super-heroics to report. I hoped I would finish middle of the pack, and I did. 159th position from a start position of 190 out of a field of 302 racers. I think I might try another of these. Maybe sign up for the whole series in 2018.

Next time, I'll make sure to give an accurate swim time, more like 4:40 instead of the 5:20 I supplied. It might not have made much difference, but I stayed in line, didn't try to pass, and it felt very slow. I caught up to the swimmer in front of me in the first length of the pool. Watching the earlier swimmers go out, the guys who passed people looked like jerks, kept hitting other swimmers coming down the lane the other way head on, so I had decided I would just trail the swimmer in front of me, regardless. The key here, it seems to me, is give an accurate time and get seeded behind someone same speed as you or just slightly faster and then don't don't let them get too far ahead of you. Lesson learned.

Also, riding a single-speed bike was a bit of macho I wouldn't repeat. I'll get a geared bike before doing this again. The bike portion is probably where I could improve the most. Hard to build up any momentum going downhill without a high gear to work with, can never go very fast, and that's momentum you don't have to spend on the flats or coming to the start of a hill. Bet I could get under 30 minutes for next time.

As far as the running goes, I'm not sure how much more speed I can cultivate. My time there might represent about the best I can expect when it's 90 degrees out. Cooler conditions though, I bet that'd come down a bit as well.

Dee the GOAT!

Big congrats to the incomparable @DianaTaurasi, who became the @WNBA's all-time leading scorer today! #GOAT http://pic.twitter.com/crdxsEW3uz

— UConn Women's Hoops (@UConnWBB) June 18, 2017

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100 #AndCounting -- UConn WBB Keep On Making History

100 WINS IN A ROW!! #AndCounting http://pic.twitter.com/9dHNr4hXgI

— UConn Huskies (@UConnHuskies) February 14, 2017

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94 #AndCounting - UConn v. ECU

The UConn Women set a new record every time they play, so we took the drive out to ECU to see them win their 94th consecutive game. Gabby notched a triple double, a nice bonus for us to see only the 5th in UConn WBB history. A historic night on a couple fronts.

This will likely be the only game I see live this season, though I have some hope of catching a game towards the end of the year -- depending on their 2017-2018 pre-conference schedule -- whether this streak is still alive, or they've started another.

My daughter cheered on Katie Lou

We were all geared up

Always great to see 1st round WNBA draft pick and Husky great Morgan Tuck

There I am in the crowd during SNY's pre-game

Geno really doesn't care what chauvinists think.

The same answer goes for @USABasketball & @UConnWBB from coach Geno Auriemma // #UConnNation https://t.co/D1b3t4n4PL

— UConn (@UConn) August 12, 2016

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This Is the Sort of Analysis by 538 I Can Get Behind

Pedro Martinez's peak was *way* higher than any other pitcher. https://t.co/BHCtjDPl7D http://pic.twitter.com/ERlg335Wvb

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 12, 2016

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Maybe Nate Silver's 538 Should Stick to Sports and Lay Off Political Predictions For a While

The Complete History Of MLB | FiveThirtyEight

Geno & CD Know How To Develop The Talent They Recruit

Congrats to Stewie, Moriah and Morgan, who made @WNBA Draft history! #123

RELEASE: https://t.co/G6g8OPGeqQ http://pic.twitter.com/8eHSAR8yfT

— UConn Women's Hoops (@UConnWBB) April 15, 2016

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New Blog Side Project: DigiCards

Front image of the Moriah Jefferson motion digicard

Me and card collecting go way back. Back to my elementary school days collecting baseball cards. Mostly Topps, but also Fleer cards, and Donruss, even collected a few "3D" mini-cards from a maker I don't remember -- but I want to say was a collectible issued through some Hostess cupcake promotion, or something like that. 

Even today, I've put the digital card apps on my phone and have some Star Wars and MLB cards I'm hoarding, ostensibly for when my son or daughter are interested enough to take over the accounts. 

But, I always wanted to make my own cards. (A solipsist by nature, I wanted to make cards of me playing Little League, as Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back; and, I wanted to make cards for my favorite authors. ["I'll trade you two Piers Anthonys for that Heinlein Grandmasters card," I imagined was how the schoolyard swapping might go ...])

So, to scratch that childhood itch, I've launched a new sideproject for the ol' blog. There's a link to the index page for the cards I've created on the right-hand side, or you can jump in and view the first motion card of Moriah Jefferson in action against Syracuse. Cards for Stewie and Tuck are up already as well.

If you're not a fan of UConn Women's hoops, the first series of cards are probably not going to be of much interest to you. Stick around though, I've got the beginnings of a film noir series in mind. Yo La Tengo cards won't be far behind those.

Stewie, Tuck, and BonnBonn Leave The Court

Stewart, Tuck and Jefferson leave the court one final time. http://pic.twitter.com/ie2y8OrdXz

— ESPN Women's Hoops (@ESPN_WomenHoop) April 6, 2016

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Marching On ...

FINAL: #UConn 98, Miss. State 38. Huskies win with the largest margin of victory ever in #Sweet16 history. http://pic.twitter.com/whHRfeci2w

— UConn Women's Hoops (@UConnWBB) March 26, 2016

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Ollie's Got His Work Cut Out For Him

It's March. Here's a live look at Ollie and Geno: http://pic.twitter.com/EFXVKefNr6

— We take the stairs (@NoEscalators) March 13, 2016

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The Other Kid From Roxbury

👀 #huskies #uconn http://pic.twitter.com/X8TVLmYQqB

— Kemba walker (@KembaWalker) March 11, 2016

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Openly Secular in the NFL

Houston Texans' Arian Foster goes public about not believing in God:

Arian Foster, photo: Josh Goleman / ESPN.com

"Everybody always says the same thing: You have to have faith," he says. "That's my whole thing: Faith isn't enough for me. For people who are struggling with that, they're nervous about telling their families or afraid of the backlash ... man, don't be afraid to be you. I was, for years." 

 He has tossed out sly hints in the past, just enough to give himself wink-and-a-nod deniability, but he recently decided to become a public face of the nonreligious. Moved by the testimonials of celebrity atheists like comedian Bill Maher and magicians Penn and Teller, Foster has joined a national campaign by the nonprofit group Openly Secular, which plans to use his story to increase awareness and acceptance of nonbelievers, especially in sports.

Good on you, Boston: #Boston2024 nixed.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh Nixes the #Boston2024 U.S. Bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games - CityLab: 

Boston didn’t fall out of love with the idea of hosting the games; the city just doesn’t want to pay for it. While majorities of Boston voters and Massachusetts voters supported a bid that did not require any public funding, according to recent polls, the overwhelming majority of voters don’t think such an Olympic Games is possible.

John Oliver's piece on public financing of stadiums for private interests isn't one of my favorites of his, generally brilliant, take downs of our collective idiocy -- not because the case isn't good on the merits, the humor in it just missed the mark for me.

The Olympics bring a different dynamic to the argument, but I think the general argument remains the same: the taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for the expense. The myth that stadiums are somehow a long-term economic boon for cities has been debunked. Olympic stadiums have fared better than World Cup stadiums in terms of re-usability, and one would have hoped Boston would've been closer to London than to Brazil's experience, but it's still a huge gamble. Gambling not being one of the better uses of public financing.

Boston did the right thing. Here's hoping other cities follow this example and tell any extortioners coming 'round to try to drain money out of the public coffers to run their game on some other sucker.

New ☆ Tweet from @therealelp

#sports http://pic.twitter.com/qd1LSavGeV

— el-p (@therealelp) June 4, 2015

As a fat guy who loves baseball and would throw on a uniform, drop whatever it is I'm doing at any given moment, and play a double-header, this may be the one time I stand in solidarity with Mr. Christie. He may be a lousy Governor who would make a lousy President, but we don't need to body shame the guy. We should take every opportunity to policy shame him, to corruption shame him, but let the guy play some baseball without being mocked.

Fill the uniform, my brother. Viva El Guapo!

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Fierce #PingPong

Periodic reminder that table tennis should be one of the prime time, most-covered events when the Olympics roll around again.

UMass starter Derrick Gordon openly smiling after decision to come out

espnW -- University of Massachusetts Minutemen starter Derrick Gordon openly smiling after decision to come out as gay: 

AP Photo/Steve Helber via espnW

The first teammate to respond was sophomore guard Trey Davis. "We got you, DG," he said. "You're one of us."

Next up was junior center Cady Lalanne. "You're our family," he said. "We love you."

In quick succession, each of Gordon's teammates offered some version of the same sentiment. Nothing changes. You're our brother. We got this. We got you.

via reddit's santablazer

Jason Collins sets the stage for Lindsey Graham (similar qualifiers apply).

Jason Collins reveals he is gay: Inside SI's interview - The Magazine - Jon Wertheim - SI.com: 

Jason Collins image via SI.com

Last Wednesday Collins invited two Sports Illustrated writers to his home. With both solemnity and humor (as well as a nervous pause to make sure his backyard pool wasn't overflowing), he began crafting today's account, a public declaration that he is gay. 

At some point the idea of having no openly gay athletes in a league might sound as unimaginable as a ball field segregated by race. But today Collins becomes the first active male athlete in a major U.S. team sport to come out of the closet. Yes, that's a lot of qualifiers. Yes, it may be an artificial construct. But it is a milestone. Tens of thousands of men have played in the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. Until today none had expressed his homosexuality before retirement.

It took so long it's almost hard to believe it hasn't been done already, not by a guy in one of the Big Four -- MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL.

I had hoped an MLB player would be first, and I suspect it will now be very soon as Jason Collins shows it's really not that big a deal.

I mean, it's a big deal. It's a big f'ing deal. It's a big deal today and it's a big deal that it happened. As a society though, we've largely moved beyond this being an issue for any but the most retrograde among us. Sure, some of those folks are in positions of power, disproportionately so, and while the percentages are down, in raw numbers, there are a lot of bigots out there still. But, like other manifestations of cowardice and self-loathing -- misogyny, racism, fundamentalist religion, "Shall not be infringed" shouting, etc. -- homophobia is something for which the majority of people feel sorry and ashamed for those who cling to it. So when I say it's not that big a deal, I think I could more accurately say, "It won't be long before we all wonder what the big deal was and why it took so long."

Mr. Collins has taken a brave, undiminishable step and, I'm sure, has won millions of new fans in so doing. Here's hoping his teammates, his team's management and ownership, and the fans have his back, because he's bound to get some ugly mail.

The moment I can't wait to see: when some unabashed bigot brings a nasty sign to a game, or heckles him for being gay, and the fans around that guy give him the old Klingon discommendation. And maybe "accidentally" spill their beers on him.

Update: Cleaning up some typos, I realized I was assuming Mr. Collins will actually have a team next year. I looked at his stats and that might be a generous assumption. He may only be an active player in that he hasn't officially resigned yet.