Monday, March 13, 2017

March Madness Fantasy 2017 - The Draft

We had a draft! Whoa!

Brian had the first pick. Despite his lifelong hatred of former KU point guard Russell Robinson, he selected KU's current PG and Player of the Year, I guess, Frank Mason. He also went heavy on brick shithouse forwards.

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
11BrianMW1KansasFrank Mason III
220BrianW3Florida StJonathan Isaac
321BrianMW4PurdueCaleb Swanigan
440BrianE2DukeAmile Jefferson
541BrianS9Seton HallAngel Delgado
660BrianS6CincinnatiKyle Washington
761BrianE13E Tenn StT.J. Cromer
880BrianW1GonzagaJordan Mathews


Last year's champ, Bob, has no one lower than a 6 seed. He has some balance across the regions. He's a real smarty pants.

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
12BobE1VillanovaJosh Hart
219BobS2KentuckyEdrice Adebayo
322BobE2DukeJayson Tatum
439BobMW2LouisvilleDeng Adel
542BobS3UCLAThomas Welsh
659BobS4ButlerKelan Martin
762BobW3Florida StDwayne Bacon
879BobE6SMUBen Moore


Shawn has PED-convicted Arizona guard Allonzo Trier, who I desperately wanted, and two players that get a 1.5x bonus: from Middle Tennessee and Iona. Iona has fucked me over both times I picked them, so Shawn is sure to fail. I mean, check out this Iona coach's face - does this inspire confidence, Shawn?

"You're gonna want to buy that TruCoat!" -- Coach Tim Cluess Jerry Lundegaard

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
13ShawnMW1KansasJosh Jackson
218ShawnE1VillanovaKris Jenkins
323ShawnW2ArizonaAllonzo Trier
438ShawnS2KentuckyIsaiah Briscoe
543ShawnS12Middle TennJacorey Williams
658ShawnW4West VirginiaNathan Adrian
763ShawnE6SMUSterling Brown
878ShawnMW14IonaJordan Washington


We like to kid Luke that he always drafts a team of white nationalists, and then he likes to play along and draft an Aryan Dream Team. But lots of non-whites this year, so it's more like an Aryan Daydream Team.

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
14LukeE2DukeLuke Kennard
217LukeE3BaylorJohnathan Motley
324LukeS3UCLATJ Leaf
437LukeW4West VirginiaJevon Carter
544LukeS10Wichita St.Markis McDuffie
657LukeMW1KansasSviatoslav Mykhailiuk
764LukeW2ArizonaDusan Ristic
877LukeE4FloridaCanyon Barry


Chris was blessed with the middle draft spot, so he could size up how things were unfolding and respond accordingly. Instead, he drafted Landen Lucas in the 3rd round because he likes how he doesn't dunk very much. 

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
15ChrisW1GonzagaNigel Williams-Goss
216ChrisS1North CarolinaJoel Berry II
325ChrisMW1KansasLanden Lucas
436ChrisMW11Rhode IslandHassan Martin
545ChrisMW3OregonJordan Bell
656ChrisE7S. CarolinaSindarius Thornwell
765ChrisE4FloridaDevin Robinson
876ChrisMW7MichiganDerrick Walton Jr.


Stu was doing just fine and then he let his heart decide on his last pick, a guy who will be lucky to score 4 baskets in this tournament. But if Northwestern catches fire, LOOK OUT!

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
16StuS1North CarolinaJustin Jackson
215StuMW5Iowa St.Monte Morris
326StuE2DukeGrayson Allen
435StuS3UCLABryce Alford
546StuW8NorthwesternBryant McIntosh
655StuW5Notre DameV.J. Beachem
766StuMW4PurdueVincent Edwards
875StuMW1KansasCarlton Bragg


James hopes to build off a come-from-behind 3rd-place finish last year with a team should jack a ton of threes, which is fun. 

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
17JamesS2KentuckyMalik Monk
214JamesMW2LouisvilleDonovan Mitchell
327JamesE1VillanovaMikal Bridges
434JamesE6SMUSemi Ojeleye
547JamesMW5Iowa St.Deonte Burton
654JamesW11XavierTrevon Bluiett
767JamesW1GonzagaJohnathan Williams
874JamesS12Middle TennGiddy Potts


Jake has the best named players on his team. Except for Conner Frankamp. He also has the most 1.5x bonus players on a team, with 3. 

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
18JakeS2KentuckyDe'Aaron Fox
213JakeMW1KansasDevonte' Graham
328JakeW5Notre DameBonzie Colson
433JakeMW10Oklahoma St.Jawun Evans
548JakeW6MarylandMelo Trimble
653JakeW2ArizonaRawle Alkins
768JakeS11Kansas St.Wesley Iwundu
873JakeS10Wichita St.Conner Frankamp


Gav has a very tall team. No doubt about it.

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
19GavS1North CarolinaKennedy Meeks
212GavE1VillanovaJalen Brunson
329GavS11Wake ForestJohn Collins
432GavW1GonzagaPrzemek Karnowski
549GavE8WisconsinEthan Happ
652GavS5MinnesotaNate Mason
769GavE3BaylorJo Lual-Acuil Jr.
872GavMW9Michigan St.Miles Bridges


My team is not going to win. For my lsecond-to-last pick, I weighed having fun and drafting a 13-seed player from Winthrop versus not having fun and making a safe pick in the AZ PG. And I went "safe" even though I probably have no chance to win, because my team looks very similar to everybody else's, plus I have slightly worse players than those above me. But hey, I did draft a guy from a 16-seed in the play-in game, so that's fun!

ROUNDSELECTIONOWNERREGIONSEEDTEAMPLAYER
110DanW2ArizonaLauri Markkanen
211DanS3UCLALonzo Ball
330DanS1North CarolinaIsaiah Hicks
431DanMW2LouisvilleQuentin Snider
550DanMW3OregonDillon Brooks
651DanW5Notre DameMatt Farrell
770DanW2ArizonaKadeem Allen
871DanMW16NC CentralPatrick Cole


BY TEAM

KU had the most players drafted, with 6, one more than I put on the spreadsheet, because who the hell would pick a bench player? STU, THAT'S WHO! Arizona was second, with 5 players.


DOUBLES

I was the only guy who picked two players from the same team, which used to be a common thing to do. Now it's only me? Pretty weird, you guys! How smart that the team I doubled up on, Arizona, was also heavily drafted by other owners, meaning my bet on them is less worthwhile!


BY SEED

18 1-seed, 16 2-seed, 10 3-seed, 7 4-seed, 6 5-seed, 5 6-seed, and 2 7-seed players.

16 "bonus" players from seeds 8-16, including 2 each from Wichita State and Middle Tenn St.


BY REGION

22 S
21 MW
19 W
18 E

Everyone except Jake and I have a player from each region - we both lack a player from the East. 

Chris has 4 from the Midwest region, which is the most from a single region.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

2016 Recap - Visual Content

Only a broadcast as dull as the Oscars and a host as uninspiring as Jimmy Kimmel could bring me to blog my blogs about the films of 2016. Since I only saw three 2016 movies in the theater, I am expanding my list to movies I later saw on television or DVD or streaming or whatever, plus TV shows. TV shows! Much like a film, these shows also use cameras and scripts, and are basically the same thing nowadays, you know?

From best to worst, here is notable 2016 visual content that I consumed!

OJ: Made in AmericaI purposely avoided FX PRESENTS: CUBA GOODING AND JOHN TRAVOLTA SHOW YOU THE REAL OJ SIMPSON because word on the street was this doc was gonna be so great. It was worth the wait. And sure, maybe the 9 hours of my life I dumped into examining some things I already knew about influenced its ranking at #1.

Stranger ThingsI worried this would be, like, a human centipede of E.T. and The Goonies and such other '80s movies. It wasn't!

Better Call SaulI mean, forget about it! Bob Odenkirk, please be my uncle!

The Good PlaceEveryone is talkin' 'bout that finale, but I gotta say, it was great even before that!

The Americans
Oooh, I sure didn't like the confession at the end of the previous season. Didn't like that! But I should have known that the writers would handle it great, because one of those guys faved my tweet once!

The Nice Guys
Whoa, this was so funny and so good!

Search Party
This was TBS very funny!


Popstar: Never Stop Stopping
This movie bombed and everybody can slam a dick, it's great!

DeadpoolI rented this so I could listen to the Hollywood Handbook podcast that was primarily about the movie. Good move by me!

Doctor StrangeIt had some problems, as my man Patrick Walsh and his man Joe DeRosa illustrated in this podcast, but you can't complain too much when you are watching a 3D movie about superheroes.
Star Trek Beyond
Not too shabby!

Midnight SpecialYou see more and more famous actors keep popping in as the movie goes along and you worry, "Uh oh, if it's got this many famous actors in it and never was in theaters, it must really suck!" but it's pretty cool!

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring YearsFootage of screaming teenage girls, footage of concerts. B+!

La La LandMeh

Captain America: Civil WarZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz please shut up and fight somebody! People gave the Star Wars prequels grief for being all about galactic senatorial filibustering, but the constant Avengers chatter about who should watch the watchmen is such the opposite of why I watch.



The Magnificent SevenThis really rides the line between good and serviceable.

Hail, Caesar!
I was disappointed by this Coen Bros flick, but I can't put my finger on why other than to say it was a little boring?

Straight Outta Compton
What a long, long movie.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeI am counting the 15 minutes I saw on Starz or whatever as viewing the entire movie. Boy oh boy, not good!