Time for April, May...and June Madness

Hey there kids,

Bears Necessity here for the weekend. You might remember KC Cal (a freaking Golden Bear) wailing like a little schoolgirl over his atrocious picks and his UCLA Lovefest falling flat gracefully accepting defeat like a man. He learned what happened if one decided to go with the Baby Bears and betray the real Gold and Blue. He'd get eaten alive.
This is my first year winning a pool of any sort, so I don't think I'm the mentor you should seek about cashing out on college basketball (especially considering how I went from $150 to -$20 after Memphis choked the bone). If you want any constructive advice, here's a fun little suggestion--if everyone's picking one team, you might want to go the other way. If you lose, you lose spectacularly. If you win, you stick it in people's faces. Always keeps you entertained until the final weekend, that's for sure.

And it's time to cash in. A week of posts was my bounty, and I've decided to squeeze a majority of them into this weekend (perhaps next weekend too, if I enjoy the experience). Breathe a sigh of relief guys; I'm not going to talk about Cal football, the Riley-Longshore debates, The Hawk, or Mike Montgomery even once. They are off-limits, and will remain so through all the posts I make.

Nah, I've picked a worse punishment for you guys. That's right, it's time for THE NBA PLAYOFFS!

As much as I love college football, the NBA is my sport of passion. Always has been, always will be. I love ball flow, pick and rolls, zone defenses, wussy fights, free throw shooting, dagger 3s, bad officiating...oh, wait, that last thing has ruined nearly every playoff for me the past five seasons. Ick. Crossing my fingers now.

Unfortunately for you guys, I'm excited about all these games. So I've decided to report on every game as it unfolds. Not that I think I can do eight live blogs without going completely insane. But that's the fun in it. There will be one or two duds along the way, but I'll follow them until I'm absolutely certain they're total duds.

Sunday dispenses with the least sexy of the matchups (I expect none of those series to go past five games, maybe six if Detroit gets bored again), but Saturday's quadruple header is awwwwesome. Holy shit. These are the type of first round games the NBA dreams for. I'll definitely be liveblogging the first two games Saturday, and most likely the third as well. If there's enough interest (like six people or more talking to me during the game), I'll try and finish off all four games.

Here's the preliminary schedule.

Saturday (All times PDT)
9:30 AM--Washington Wizards at Cleveland Cavaliers, ESPN (liveblog starting at 9:15)
Noon--Phoenix Suns at San Antonio Spurs, ABC (liveblog starting after WASH-CLE game)
4 PM--Dallas Mavericks at New Orleans Hornets, ESPN (liveblog starting at 3:55)
6:30 PM--Utah Jazz at Houston Rockets, ESPN (liveblog starting after DAL-NO game)

Sunday
9:30 AM--Toronto Raptors at Orlando Magic, TNT (liveblog starting after halftime)
12 PM--Denver Nuggets at LA Lakers, ABC (liveblog starting after TOR-ORL)
3 PM--Philadelphia 76ers at Detroit Pistons, TNT (liveblog starting at 2:55)
5:30 PM--Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics, TNT (no, this game will almost certainly suck--I'll kick back and watch here)

I'm going to try and use Cover it Live's platform for these liveblogs. The format will hopefully be pretty user friendly and not technologically overwhelming. It's the first time I'm using it, hence the early start time on Saturday. Just filter in whenever you wake up from your Friday night debauchery. Like a true winner, I'll be sitting with my laptop perched on my knees while I type in random, meaningless commentary interspersed with occasionally witty dialogue. While in my boxers.

See you tomorrow. Because there will only be one. Of me posting, that is. And probably me talking to myself too. Wooo.