This week has been a little strange as I was pretty convinced all day yesterday that it was in fact Thursday, rather than Wednesday. My first Thursday night this week was great – I attended the Nuggets home opener in which they dominated the Jazz while the Giants used an offensive explosion to take a game one lead in the World Series.

Which shouldn’t surprise me, I love Thursday nights.

There are a lot of things to like about Thursday nights. When I was back in college, it was the biggest party night of the week. It is the night before Friday – the gateway to the weekend. If I am traveling, it is typically the night I come home. There have been good sitcoms on Thursdays since I was young. There is usually a good NBA doubleheader on TNT. The football weekend starts with your first (real) college game of the week.

Actually let me correct that last one. Sometimes having a Thursday night football game is great.

However, when it involves your team, it sucks.

I hate my team playing on Thursday nights. Hate. It.

Maybe because of bad history – I think it goes back to losing at Louisville in the remnants of a hurricane back in the dark ages known as the Chris Rix era – I just never feel good going into a Thursday night Nole game. Every team thinks they can win on Thursday night. The crowd is excited for the national audience, it is always loud and there is extra energy in the crowd.

Maybe that is associated with it being the biggest party night on campus. Huh.

Anyway, tonight is one of those Thursday nights. Compound the Giants in the World Series with my Noles and it is not a good way to start the weekend.

And, as I have long said. God is an accountant. Just as the Giants pull away for the easy win, the Noles collapse and lose in heartbreaking fashion. As we see a Giants team we don’t recognize win with a clutch offense coming through with big innings to pull away from the Rangers, the Noles revert to the team we watched the last few years: mental errors, defense that can’t get off the field and an offense making too many mistakes at critical moments.

I should’ve just watched Community instead.

Shadow: Overflowing with hatred right now.  The last week in college football has been devastating to the THH trio.  Iowa can’t kick an extra point or FG.  OU is lackluster on the road in losing to Mizzou.  And now, FSU loses a painful one in North Carolina when Ponder has the ball knocked out of his hand by his own teammate.  A sad, sad week in THH land.  The only potential silver lining….perhaps two of our teams will end up playing each other in some lower tier January 1^st bowl.  Of course, OU and FSU still have legitimate shots in their conference.  Iowa would need to win out and get a lot of help.  On the bright side, and completely THH unrelated, the Nuggets looked good last night as SD hooked me up with an extra ticket and we caught the home and season opener.  My only hope….once Melo is gone, is that the Nuggets somehow sign a pact with Satan and win the whole damn thing.  There’s some f’in change for you Carmelo Obama.

 College (College Basketbal History Edition):

Syracuse @ Cincinnati: There is Nugget from each of these teams – which one did you cheer for more in college

SD: A showdown of Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin is more lop-sided than a game of one-on-one would be between them. Even if he is mere days from breaking my heart as a Nuggets fan, I have to go with Melo here. Let’s face it, I don’t pay attention to Big East basketball until March rolls around, so it is all about the March Madness performance. I picked Melo’s team to make the Final Four and he rewarded me. Kenyon snapped his leg in half (foreshadowing of his NBA career? Maybe)  and didn’t even play for the Bearcats. So let’s keep our eyes on the rearview mirror and cheer on the Cuse, rather than focusing on the future when La La ‘Yoko Ono’ Vasquez takes Melo away from us and convinces him to walk away from a $65 million contract. Probably on a Thursday.

Shadow: As detailed above.  I am not happy with Mr. Anthony right now.  Be that as it may, I have never rooted on purpose for the Bearcats, or any Bearcats players.  For some reason, I really dislike their mascot.  Not sure why.  Just do.  And I almost always consider them overrated.  Sorry Kenyon….if it is any consolation, I also cheer more for Carmelo as a Nugget.

Duke @ Navy: Played a March Madness game many years ago that involved several high profile players. Which player went on to the biggest impact in the basketball world?

SD: If anyone does any research on this game, the immediate answer is The Admiral, David Robinson. But you need to look a little deeper. Specifically at the Duke bench. Just past that dead cat sitting on Coach K’s head. That is right – there sits Danny Ferry. Future college All American and NBA bust. But, more importantly, also future GM of the Cleveland Cavaliers where his inability to find a decent supporting cast for LeBron led directly to The Decision, Miami Thrice, the Celtics somehow no longer being the least likable team in the Eastern conference and Don Johnson appearing in a commercial with LeBron. Well, at least one good thing came out of it. Outside of the commercial (Hi Chuck), that is quite a path of destruction. And we thought Coach K had left a legacy of people hating him.

Shadow: Even though his entry to the NBA would be delayed by him honorably serving out his commitment to the Navy….David Robinson easily had the biggest impact in the basketball world, reinvigorating the Spurs and leading them eventually to championships once Tim Duncan was added to the picture (kind of like Elway finally getting T.D.).  He is a hall of famer and one of the greatest centers in NBA history.  The Blue Devils may have clocked the Midshipmen in 1986…but none of them can boast one tenth of the legacy as the Admiral.

NFL (Super Bowl history edition: there is a link between the two cities in each match-up involving Super Bowl history. If you cheered on the involved team that day, you cheer them on today)

Miami @ Cincinnati

SD: The Secret link of course is that one team played in a Super Bowl located in the other city. In 1989, the Bengals traveled to Miami and lost to Joe Montana and the Forty-Niners on a last minute drive famous because Montana pointed out to the huddle that he saw John Candy in the crowd just as the drive began. The game was also notable as Bill Walsh’s final game with the Niners, and the 2^nd more gruesome injury in NFL in the 80’s. Sorry Tim Krumrie. As if to pour salt on the wound of Krumrie’s flopping leg, I was cheering on the Niners that day and therefore cheer on the Dolphins today.

Shadow: Who could forget Super Bowl XXIII.  One of the first Super Bowls I watched with friends, versus just with my parents, and at halftime they were debuting a 3D commercial (probably for Pepsi) but my ‘friends’ stole my 3D glasses and so I missed it.  Stupid…but it made me pissed off.  That Super Bowl also marked the first time I ever had Little Caesar’s pizza, as we ordered about 20 of them….so I also ate pizza for the next 3 weeks too.  Oh yeah, I guess there was a pretty good final drive by Montana.  I hated the 49ers, and hated Joe Montana and all he stood for.  This team was everything the Broncos weren’t…they converted on the big stage.  This hatred would be cemented when the 49ers demolished the Broncos the next year.  So, I was cheering for Boomer and the Bengals that Sunday in Miami, and will cheer the current Bengals in this one.

Tampa @ Arizona

SD: Two years ago, the Cardinals played the Steelers in Tampa in one of the more memorable Super Bowls. We had James Harrison illegally spear a few guys and then return an interception for a 100 yard touchdown run. Larry Fitzgerald split the Steeler defense and score with a couple minutes to play. A last second drive by the Steelers that if it had ended in a tying field goal would have sent us to the first ever Super Bowl overtime (and won me a lot of money) but instead ended with a great touchdown catch by Santonio Holmes and an uncalled celebration penalty. And after the game, Big Ben harassing every good looking ASU co-ed in a 15 mile radius (presumably). All in all, a great Super Bowl in every way but one. I was cheering on the Cardinals that day. So I will cheer for them again.

Shadow: I still have a hard time thinking of the Steelers/Cardinals Super Bowl.  It was the first time in several years where I actually actively was rooting for one of the teams.  I can’t really explain my disdain for the Steelers, but I think part of it has to do with their ugly win against the Seahawks and the fact that they couldn’t upend the Cowboys back in the 90’s, since my hatred for America’s Team ranks probably right below the Raiders.  Still wish the feel good Cardinals would have won, so I will be on their side this weekend as well.

Last year I debuted my completely un-original list of things to look for in March Madness. While some predictions worked out well (telling you Illinois was an obvious 5/12 upset candidate) others were…not so much (my Seminoles making a sneaky deep run).

So this year, with another year of research under my belt, I am feeling even more confident. I have started reading anything and everything to prep for dominating Turner and Shadow once again in our bracket challenge but I don’t want to have other’s analysis impact this list so without further adieu here are 32 things to keep in mind as you fill out your brackets and prepare for the glories of Basketball Festivus.

1.  Last year I bragged on FSU and they lost in the first round. Let’s go with the opposite approach this year: if a team scores more than 70 points on FSU, FSU is done. Gonzaga averages 77 points/game. Do your own math.

2.  Of course if enough upsets happen we could see a Florida State vs. Florida game for a trip to the Final Four – how awesome would that be? Then the Gators could suit up Tim Tebow, who would trade in his eye-black for a shoulder tattoo of biblical passages. At this point it could only help his NFL draft stock.

3.  Wofford made its first ever March Madness this year which will lead to a horrendously painful ‘Woe-fford’ pun by Dick Enberg when they fall behind Wisconsin by 20.

4.  Experience matters in the NCAAs. Therefore look for good things from Villanova’s Scotty Reynolds, finishing his 9^th season in the Wildcats lineup.

5.  Your 2009-2010 Tyler Hansbrough award winner for most mentions of his ‘gutsiness’ and ‘toughness’ as code words for ‘big, awkward white guy who tries hard’: Luke Harangody.

6.  The last two years has seen an SEC team sweep through a weak conference tournament to a surprising tournament berth (08- Georgia, 09- Mississippi State). With the Bulldogs loss yesterday, the mantle of ‘team most obviously primed for a let-down’ goes to Washington who won a weak Pac-10 conference tournament Saturday.

7.  Washington narrowly edged out San Diego State for this honor.

8.  The worst first round game will be between Texas and Wake Forest – two teams that only got into the tournament due to their performance in December and January and combined for 11 losses since February 1.

9.  Actually, that could be a really entertaining game: two equally craptastic teams. Assuming they both stay on the court for the entire 40 minutes, that is. They have both faded so badly, just walking out before the games ends is really the only way left for them to further quit on this season.

10.  Clemson and Missouri should thank Texas and Wake for drawing attention from their equally uninspiring play.

11.  On a more inspiring note, I love when a small school gets to play a bigger in-state neighbor. Nothing like being passed over by your competition to get you fired up. Expect an inspired Sam Houston State effort in the first half but Baylor will pull it out by 5-7 points when SHSU wears down in the end.

12.  I am glad that John Scheyer’s parents got so much face time celebrating Duke’s ACC tournament victory this past weekend. At least they will have one last happy memory to finish their son’s career on.

13.  Time to insert my annual warning against picking Duke to win it all. Do you really trust a team with no real inside presence that relies heavily on outside shooters to win it all? Can they put together six straight games of high percentage outside shooting? If you wonder what a big team with a good inside game can do to them – check out the box score of their game at Georgetown earlier this season.

14.  That said, apparently Dick Vitale chaired the selection committee this year because this seeding was an absolute gift to Duke who has by far the weakest region. I don’t trust Duke but when their top competition is Baylor and Villanova it is scary to pick against them as well.

15.  Speaking of annual warnings: You can dismiss Big Ten basketball as being slightly more exciting than high school women’s curling but never underestimate Tom Izzo and Michigan State in the tournament. The guy has taken more ‘sub-optimally talented’ teams further than any coach in the land. He is the anti-Rick Barnes

16.  That was written last year – before Izzo took another team to the championship game. Beating Kansas along the way.

17.  Michigan State could play Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen this year.

18.  If Kansas makes it out of their region they should be national champs. They could potentially have to beat Michigan State and Ohio State or Georgetown just to make it to Indy. If they can make it that far, the rest should be smooth sailing.

19.  It is too bad Ohio State and Kansas could play before the Final Four. After the last week, I am convinced that Evan Turner refuses to lose and has the potential to single-handedly take over games when necessary. He is the Kobe of this tournament. I don’t care who he is playing with I don’t want to bet against him.

20.  The Big East will either be the dominant conference of the tournament and get multiple teams to Indy, or will be exposed as a fraud on scale with Bernie Madoff. The pressure is on Villanova, West Virginia and Georgetown to play above their seeds or we have to start questioning the conventional wisdom of the Big East’s strength.

21.  Murray State will barely edge out Robert Morris as the school that causes the most Google searches to find out where it is located

22.  But that is only because people will still be Googling Murray State on Saturday. If you know what I mean.

23.  The two most obvious 5/12 upset candidates are Cornell over Temple and Utah State over Texas A&M. One of these upsets will happen and the other will be a blow out by the favorite. I say Cornell wins and Utah State gets blown out.

24.  If you’re gonna be a bear, be a grizzly: Cornell, sweet sixteen.

25.  Much like John Calipari’s Memphis teams, Kentucky’s youth will be its Achilles heel. They found a way to pull out a number of close contests in the mediocre SEC but at some point they won’t get the final tip-in they need.

26.  There is no chance all four #1 seeds make it to Indy, despite what the experts say. Have there ever been #1 seeds with more questions? Kansas’ history, Syracuse’s health, Duke’s talent and Kentucky’s youth could all be their downfalls.

And finally, a couple history lessons to keep in mind:

27.  Remember all those years when Memphis would feast on a pathetic Conference-USA line-up and end up with a seed much higher than they deserved? Ladies and gentlemen your 2009-10 UTEP Miners.

28.  Although UTEP didn’t get a high seed, expect a lot of people to pick the upset over Butler. Butler has been here before. UTEP hasn’t.

29.  In 2000, Cincinnati was led by player of the year Kenyon Martin. Entering their conference tournament the Bearcats were the #1 team in the country. In the first game of the Conference USA tournament Martin broke his leg and was done for the season. The Bearcats were dropped to a #2 seed in the NCAAs and lost to Tulsa in the second round.

30.  Try Googling ‘Robbie Hummel’ and ‘Purdue’ this year and draw your own conclusion

31.  Last year Ty Lawson’s bum ankle cost the Tar Heels the ACC tournament and was the big question hanging over UNC coming into the NCAA tournament leading some leading pundits (cough, cough) to not pick UNC to win it all. Ty ended up being healthier than anyone expected and UNC cruised to a title

32.  In a completely unrelated note, Syracuse big man Arinze Onuaku hurt his knee in the Orange’s Big East tournament loss to Georgetown. All indications are that the injury isn’t serious but questions remain leading many to pick against the Orange. You have been warned.

With the official start of the NFL this week we are now back at full speed football season – this week I have a college team, a college fantasy team, an NFL team and a pro fantasy team to cheer on. Four different teams to worry about? That is a lot of stress. Why again have I been pining seven months for the start of football season? Football may be fun, but I am pretty sure I would live a lot longer without it – due to the inordinate amount of stress and the eating of inordinate amount of food that is so unhealthy it is borderline toxic.

However, I need to make the most of these next few football days. I am going to Oktoberfest in Munich next week and staying in Europe for a couple weeks beyond that, so I will be taking a little break from football.

While my Griswoldian vacation may help with my football related stress, I don’t imagine it will help much in the healthy food department.

Anyway, we are back with the full slate of NFL and college games this week. Given, that I have written more this week than Bill Simmons has written since the end of the NBA season, I have one word for my picks this week – brevity.

Before we dive in, Turner and the Shadow have something to say.

 Turner: Hello Readers for Week 2 of the THH.  Despite the Debacle in Dallas and the Torture in Tallahassee, Super Dave and I survived the first week of college football even though it couldn’t have started worse for either of us.  Only Hawkeye Shadow escaped with a ‘win’ (I use that term lightly since it was a D-II, FCS or whatever they call that other league now where you have a compass direction before your mid-western state’s name).  How can being 1.9 quarters into a college football season suddenly make your shoulders slump, oh it is b/c it popped out of joint with the rest of Cherokee Nation.  While OU / BYU made us suffer through 4 quarters of mistake-prone football, FSU and Miami treated us to what hopes to be the return of great SE college football.  Even though the result wasn’t what Super Dave or I wanted, it was a well played game with excitement. OH – and as Super Dave told me, when Miami wins in a given year, that mean OU beats UT.   So despite both our pain, hopefully a mediocre OU team can destroy the **************  (insert any word you like) Longhorn’s dreams.

Shadow: Well, let’s see.  My college team is the only one that managed a win in Week 1, but the Hawkeyes still fell out of the Top 25.  I would say the first game is an okay game to lost if you are going to run the table, but with OU players dropping like flies, and the tough schedule Florida State has…I just don’t see it happening.  Not that Iowa is going to finish with fewer losses than OU or FSU, though.  Could be a long and disappointing year.  On top of that, my hatred is not powerful, as only one of my week 1 prediction’s came to pass.

Have you heard of this new fangled thing called Facebook?  My wife uses it on average 2 hours a day.  I bored of it after about the same amount of usage time.  It was fun to reconnect with old friends, but do I really need to know what people are up at any time, or be subjected to finding out the color of my Aura, which Friends character I am, or have my cell phone charger $2.95 so I can prove I can beat the IQ test score of Britney Spears?  I think not.  For the THH, whichever school or team has more Facebook fans will incur the wrath of my Hatred…not that it means much,***

***Eye Candy Loophole:  when going to the respective Facebook pages to find out their number of fans, if one of the 6 fans they show is super hot, I am allowed to not hate them, even if the pure numbers say I should.

College:

Syracuse @ Penn State

SD: Syracuse quarterback Greg Paulus spent the last four years playing point guard at Duke. Penn State coach Joe Paterno spent the last four years guarding against going dookie in his pants and having people point at him. Advantage: Cuse.

Turner: Ok – a lot of indifference here for Turner.  He pretty much took geography out of it since they are so close, and my hatred of Big East vs. Big 11 is pretty much equal, so I’m going to have to go with the random fact of hate.

Fact of the game:  did you know that they are no longer called the “Orangemen”?  Now they are just the “Orange”.   Really – you name your team after a fruit because “It was done in part as a way to save money, and build brand awareness. Before the change, women’s teams were called the Orangewomen and the various athletic teams had their own logos”.  Seriously, this might be the sign that our economy had taken such a bad turn that it is not recoverable.  Why you name your team after a fruit (and that doesn’t count the Banana slugs), you deserve to be disliked (not hated b/c I like a good Orange – love the vitamin C) more than someone that plays in a place called Happy Valley.  That is just very peaceful.  So for this one, I’ll rally behind Jo Pa and against the wanna-be QB and squeeze the juice.

 Shadow: Syracuse FB Fans:  374 fans,  Penn State FB fans:  92,013 fans (ECLH:  close, there was a picture of two hot girls…if they had been kissing maybe I would have enacted the loophole).  I gladly hate Penn State.  Go Orange.

 East Carolina @ West Virginia

 SD: I have said it before and I will say it again: in a choice between a state that doesn’t actually exist and West Virginia. I choose the state that doesn’t exist.

 Turner: First off, you never go against a Pirate, they will kick your booty.  Second, you don’t go against teams wearing purple, that is why Furman went away from being the Furman University Christian Knights and moved towards the Purple Paladins – or maybe it was the acronym of the former).  And lastly, after a few years ago, I still remember the Fiesta Bowl. Bitter, still very bitter.  Might be the only time in my THH history that I want East to beat West.

 Shadow: East Carolina FB Fans:  1,700 fans.  West Virginia FB Fans:  5,684 fans  (ECLH:  not sure what this says of WVU, but there weren’t any women at all of the 6 fans shown).  Look for the Pirates to beat the Mountaineers.

 NFL:

Miami @ Atlanta

 SD: When Atlanta hosted the 2000 Super Bowl, an ice storm hit the city, Ray Lewis may have killed a guy with a trident and Kurt Warner was the MVP. I spent that weekend in Miami drinking heavily on South Beach, making bad Ace Ventura jokes and eating tacos at 3 in the morning. I won then and I hope the Dolphins win now.

 Turner: Again – major indifference here.   I don’t like Hurricanes, don’t really like beaches, can’t stand humidity and dislike riding MARTA.  This one comes down to who I’d rather sit down and watch on TV and that would be the Falcons.  I like the black and red uniforms, I think Matt Ryan is a stud, their running back has the GREATEST last name, and the dumped Vick.  Without any great reason, I’m going to go against the 85 degrees and thousands of beautiful women for a good three hours of watching a rising team play football.  I really think I need a life….

 Shadow: Miami FB Fans:  304 fans.  Atlanta FB Fans:  2,073 fans.  (ECLH:  apparently on FB, “Hotlanta” it is not).  Ronnie Brown will Wildcat the Dolphins to the win.

 NY Jets @ Houston

SD: Texans offensive coordinator is Kyle Shanahan, son of former Bronco head coach Mike. Jets offensive coordinator is Brian Schottenheimer, son of former Browns and Chargers head coach Marty. Too bad Jack Elway isn’t playing quarterback for Houston. Regardless – go Texans.

 Turner: NY J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS vs. Houston Texans:   I despise Joe Namath, I don’t like Green and White, and I HATE anything that starts with New York (except cheesecake and pizza).  The only thing that makes this close is the word “Texans” which makes me cringe as well but at least it doesn’t remind me of rats, trash and dead bodies washing up on shore.

 Shadow: Jets FB Fans:  3,832 fans. (ECLH:  We have our first and only enactment of the loophole.  Kerri Barcia was one of the 6 fans shown.  Granted it was kind of a staged “glamour” shot, but she won me over).   Houston FB Fans:  1,074 fans.  Sorry Texans, you need more talent in your FB fanbase.  J-E-T-S, JETS! JETS! JETS!