Best and Worst of the Weekend - Big Dance

BEST - This weekend was overall really pretty good, and well it was too short and too fast.  Friday night I had my niece and nephew here along with my 3.  Shawnna went out with my mom and sister-n-law to dinner and a play.

This is how the night started....then 5 minutes later.  :)  Just kidding....all 5 kids were great.

We played Just Dance 4 Kids and MarioKart.  It was funny as heck watching the kids dance, but then I'm amazed when I see Addy dance.  She is so good and i can't wait to get her into dance.  Here are a couple videos from the weekend of the kids dancing.

       

My niece and nephew were great help Friday night and we had a fun time. 

Saturday my boy and I spent time at home while my wife, daughter and mom-in-law were out doing girl stuff.  We watched a movie over streaming Netflix, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.  I love the comic book movies, and it was decent.   I don’t care as much for DC as I do Marvel, but love Batman.  The movie was decent.  I’d give it a 2.5/3 stars.  Enjoyable movie.  The new look for SuperGirl looked like a new millennium outfit.  Kids, go ahead and watch it.  My son liked it a lot too. 

My one complaint for the DC world and the Batman comics/cartoons.  Batman shouldn’t be as big and muscular as Superman.  Batman is more of a realistic hero (see Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins & Dark Knight).  Superman is an alien.  I wish they could separate those 2 worlds, but they are DC’s 2 biggest properties so I know why they do it, but that is my biggest disagreement with DC.  Make Batman a normal guy by day, not some dude on HGH.

Also Saturday went and got a tee and some wiffle balls for me and the boy (and Addy) to play.  We were going to go out Sunday morning but the wetness/mud in the fields cancelled that.  Sunday though the boy and I went to the Iowa Energy game at Wells Fargo Arena.  His first one, and he said he was going to “tickle the twine”  It was fun, he danced during the music and instead of watching the actual game, he watched it on the big scoreboard. 

Another best was his bracket.  Brayden, going into the sweet 16, is in first place of a group of 48.  He nailed the picks of Marquette, Richmond, Florida State & Butler.  I’m 80 points behind him. 

Worst – I didn’t get out and clean  out the garage and leaves and stuff.  With 3 kids and plans and Shawnna’s mom coming down, just didn’t have the time I wanted too.  But why not put of something till tomorrow when I can do something with the kids today.  Back to the grind Monday for 5 days.  

NCAA Tournament Thoughts

I didn’t know how the whole four network thing was going to work when they first announced it but after 1 night, it’s a success in my opinion.  I really like that I have all 4 channels in HD on Mediacom.  Love how CBS has the logos of the stations each game are on at the top of the screen.  Made it easier to navigate to all the games. 

I wonder how ESPN/Disney would have accommodated this?  ESPN & ESPN2 are really the only accessible HD channels they have that are freely available.  Would they have made ESPNU and Classic more readily available or put a marquee game on ABC?  ESPN needs to step up their college studio experience I think to get the big dance, or really open their wallet.  CBS does it right, right now. 

I still think that somehow, someway, some day that ESPN is big enough and has enough clout that you will see more major sports and sporting events being broadcast on ESPN.  How much does CBS and Turner really lose in showcasing the games for what they pay?  Sure they get to promote their other shows, but other than that, you got to think they lose more than they gain, money wise.

One negative, to me, is the infusion of NBA talent from Turner to the NCAA.  I don’t need Charles Barkley, Marv Albert or Craig Sager (and his suits) for a quick dip into pool and then back after a week or so run.  Give me Jay Bilas and Seth Davis.  Jay Bilas by the way had a great read posted yesterday you can read here.

The biggest negative is the First Four…really do we need them?  In a word, NO.  It’s confusing to us as fans and to the non-fans who just want to do the brackets.  Go back to 64 or expand it all to 96 and dump the NIT.

My other big negative on the NCAA is the locations.  Look at the empty seats in the arenas.  Hello NCAA!  Go to some new sites!  Des Moines would SELL OUT!  Quit going to these same towns over and over.  Does St. Petersburg or Greensboro need a regional every other year.  Rotate these things more and incorporate new cities and venues.  And for the Final Four do we always have to be in a football stadium?  Go to these great arenas in the nation.  Madison Square Garden is getting a million dollar make over, get the Final Four there.  Put a Final Four in Chicago’s United Center instead of a regional.  Not to mention these great cities with actual basketball arenas, but for a player, shooting with a football stadium backdrop is a hell of a lot different than shooting in a basketball arena. 

The games the first day were amazing.  For all the flack that the selection committee has got (and seems to always get every year) day 1 was really entertaining.  Hopefully Day 2 and the rest of the days keep it up.

I mostly have chalk today, minus the 8/9 or 7/10 games which I don’t consider upsets, to evenly matched, other than Oakland over Texas.  (Texas up 10+ as I write this).  My son and wife are on top of the Wide Right pool after day 1 too, so good for them.  My bracket I went 10-6 yesterday, I hope I can at least match that today.  So enjoy the games, enjoy the weekend!

My 2011 NCAA Picks

Gusto Pizza

Tonight when I got home, I knew we were having pizza, but didn't know if it would be homemade or somewhere else.  After viewing the Greater Des Moines Pizza Tournament bracket  I noticed there were a lot of places I haven't been, and if you know me, you know I prefer local restaurants compared to that of chain restaurants, so looking at this bracket I began to want to try some of these places.


At work today my boss tossed out a menu for Gusto Pizza, a restaurant in downtown Des Moines (and the #1 seed in one of the regions).  


My wife and I each ordered a 10" pizza.  I went with the West of Philly and Shawnna choose Soprano, and dang, I can see why they are a #1 seed.  Both were AMAZING.  The flavors on both of them were great.  I liked how there wasn't the over abundance of sauce, and the toppings were something different you don't see from the Pizza Huts or Papa John's of the world.  


I definitely recommend to anyone who is downtown Des Moines to try Gusto, you won't be disappointed.


Below is a description and picture of the pizzas:


West of Philly
Alfredo, mozzarella, marinated skirt steak, mild giardiniera relish, roasted red peppers and yellow onions


Soprano
Basil pesto, balsamic roasted chicken, roasted red peppers, marinated tomatoes, red onion, Asiago and mozzarella

Soprano on the left / West of Philly on the right

Gusto Pizza

1905 Ingersoll Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50311
(515) 244-8786

Kids say the darndest things…again.

So last night we were having meatloaf for supper, and well we put ketchup on top of it when we bake it.  Surprisingly we were out of ketchup…I look at my wife and say “I’ll go get some its cool, I’ll be back” 

With the nice weather my kids were outside playing on the deck coloring with chalk.  They ask were I’m going, and tell them we need ketchup.  By this time my wife was standing in the open door on the deck watching the kids as I go to the car, and then my 3 year old son Brayden comes to the deck gate and shouts “and we are outta beer too!”

Classic.

The Fighter

The Fighter came out today on DVD, got it reserved on RedBox right away to watch tonight.  With a few pauses and then restarts I got through it and it was a great movie!  It's based on the story of boxer Mickey Ward and his rise to the Welterweight World Championship.  I'm going to have to do some research to see how much of it was "Hollywood" but the story and acting was great.  

Christian Bale was excellent as Dicky Ecklund and was worth of his Supporting Actor Oscar win.  He dropped weight to showcase Ecklund and had his role down.  I didn't care for Mickey's mom, portrayed by Melissa Leo (another Oscar win - Supporting Actress), it seemed as if she was using Mickey as a stepping stone for Dickey and his failures.  

Amy Adams was amazing in the role, I thought she should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, I thought she was Superior to Leo in this movie.  

Wahlberg didn't get the accolades acting that the other 3 did from the Oscars but he did great as Mickey Ward. He has also expressed interest in a sequel that shows Wards 3 battles in the ring with Aturo Gatti.

Going to give it 4 stars, defiantly worth a watch and rental. 

Best and Worst of the Weekend

Best – Actually getting out and having fun with the kids and there wasn’t any illness!  No Sinus infections, no ear infections, actually had all 5 of us healthy.  Friday night we stayed in and watched MegaMind.  I got a movie for Shawnna and I, Life As We Know It, but I was so zonked out that I was snoring during it.  Saturday Addy, Bray and I went and got breakfast…the kids wanted a donut and I got a mcgriddle and starbucks frappuccino.  Breakfast of Champions!  Saturday early on then was all cleaning up the kids rooms and laundry.  Addy then got to go sell more girl scout cookies with her troop at Dahl’s and Brayden got to nap.   Saturday night it was on like donkey kong with the kids playing Mario Kart.  Brayden has driving in circles down! 

Sunday Bray and I went to Bass Pro Shops and damn…when did fishing rods cost 60-70 bucks?  I did find a tent though that I think will work well for us.  The older kids wanna go camping.  Sunday also was our first trip to the Botanical Center with the groupon I purchased for the family for the year.  I remember it being bigger, but I haven’t been there since I was likes 8.  The kids had fun, then we went to Indianola for a  snack at the A&W restaurant…root beer floats.

Sunday night concluded with this year’s first grilling!  Steaks baby!  Parmesan tators and asparagus and warm chocolate chip cookies.  Winning!

Then of course it was SELECTION SUNDAY!  Got my 1 bracket filled out.  The kids and Shawnna filled theirs out.  Kids actually have some decent final fours compared to last year.  Kinda disappointed theirs went as crazy as last year.  Addy last year picked mostly teams with purple in their logos.  Brayden was dead set on his teddy bear (Oakland) vs his choo-choo train(Purdue) last year…this year both picked Ohio State.   Good Luck to all those who filled their brackets out in the Wide Right group on ESPN.

Looking forward to renting “The Fighter” this week and watching the Fab 5 30 for 30 that I dvr'd.

Worst – Well it was a good weekend overall….what sucked the most was me being tired.  I felt tired after work Friday and crashed during a movie….same Saturday night.  Sunday night I crashed hard after the Celebrity Apprentice and didn’t help much with the lil one….Shawnna let me sleep though knowing I had to come to work…or she didn’t want me to be crabby so she just didn’t nudge me.  Worst #2 is I was snacky all weekend.  Chinese on Friday I got snacky on.  Little strawberry treats that Erin brought us got me snacky too.  Need to get the 15 off and get ready for softball!