Rules of gravity do not apply to me

Hold onto your butts, Day Two of our Columbian Exposition is around the corner, and this time we're taking it back to where much of the magic first started. So come nurse your St. Patty's hangover with yet another Guinness, go easy on the car bombs, and we'll see you soon.

Where: Irish Channel, 500 H St. NW

When: Tip-off is 12:15pm

Why: Don't pretend like you don't know why.

Rules of gravity do not apply to me

The tension around this lunch blog this week has been unbearable. In less than 24 hours, we will either be a national laughing stock AGAIN, or a very relieved bunch of Casualties looking forward to the next banana skin on Sunday. Either way, for those of you in DC and surrounding parts, you need to be among the Casual nation imbibing appropriate quantities of adult beverages.

The Iron Horse has kindly agreed to open an hour early for us tomorrow, and so the upstairs floor will be open for business and Hoya viewing from 3pm onward. So bug out of the office as quickly as you can, and let's make this agony a shared experience.

Where: Iron Horse Taproom, 507 7th St NW (Upstairs)

When: Doors open at 3pm; tip-off is scheduled for 3:10pm (unless the earlier game goes long)

Why: We've been building up to tomorrow for a year. Something has to give - either the Hoya first round hoo-doo, or our collective sanity. Come and find out!

Rules of gravity do not apply to me

March is upon us, and very little is certain. All we know for sure is that our season has somewhere between 3 and 11 games left in it. Then it will be the long expanse of summer suckitude with nothing to look forward to except hardcore lunch documentation and explicit depiction of touring headbands. So gather for one last time this regular season to cheer from afar our magnificent young warriors as they battle through cheese country to try to bring home the Holy Double Bye.

Where: Buffalo Billiards, 1330 19th St NW - we'll hopefully have some space carved out for assembled Casualties

When: Tip-off is at 2pm

Why: Because who knows how many more chances we'll have, darling?

Rules of gravity do not apply to me

The boys are stuck in Newark. You are not. Get thee to the Horse, if thou art in the fair District.

That is all.

Drink specials after The Jump!

Continue reading this post »

Rules of gravity do not apply to me

The holiday weekend may send some off to sunnier climes, but for we hardy types still in and around DC, there will of course be the regular gamewatch festivities at Iron Horse as your Fighting Georgetown Hoyas take on the Dastardly Friars of Providence.

Also, don’t forget that Saturday is chock-full of sizzling Hoya-on-Friar action, with Senior Day taking place at 2pm for our Lady Hoyas. What better way to spend your Saturday than an enjoyable couple of hours at McDonough, a crafty pint or two at the Tombs, then shuffling downtown for assorted shenanigans at the Horse? Sounds awesome, right? Then act, my friends.

Drink specials after The Jump!

Continue reading this post »

Rules of gravity do not apply to me

This is the night to stand with, then lean on, your fellow Casualties, to pool the cynicism and the delusion, and to imbibe large quantities of delicious beer at the Iron Horse (hopefully leading to karaoke versions of HoyaJoker's magnificent opus).

So fight through the snow, do not go near Clyde’s, and join your brothers and sisters in blue and gray as we seek to vanquish the orange menace one last time on the frozen tundra up north.

Drink specials after The Jump!

Continue reading this post »

Rules of gravity do not apply to me

Iron Horse will be opening early for us on Saturday to view events from Western PA (assuming the team ever makes it there.)

Where: Iron Horse Taproom, 507 7th St NW

When: 4pm onward

Why: Make sure you take advantage of ALL FOUR FREAKIN' HOURS of this fine establishment's Saturday Happy Hour*. Yes, from 4pm-8pm, it will be $2 OFF ALL REGULAR DRAFT BEER PRICES. Plus $5 rail drinks, should the game drive you to the harder stuff.

And that is oh-so-possible. So don't risk watching alone with only double stuf and Cheetos for company. Get your fine selves to the Horse, and start your Saturday evening in thrilling, debauched style.

* Alas no specials on glasses of Shiraz, should there be any visiting Panthers.

Going with my gut in previous tournaments has yielded nothing but ABJECT FAILURE, and so this time, I entrusted my picks to SKYNET and let science, technology and complex algorithms be my guides.  I share with you this Selection Science in order for you to mock, learn, and ultimately give me 1,736 Miller Lites to pour on lordnick’s head.  Some of you may be inspired to also apply this SCIENCE as you complete your own bracket machinations.  Probably not, though.

Many of you will have read the SI article earlier this year about whether home-field advantage exists (short answer – yes, and it’s because the refs are wired to gravitate toward crowd acceptance), based on the book Scorecasting (basically the Freakonomics of sport).  Interesting stuff, so I decided to test it on this year’s NCAA field.  First, measuring the distance between each game venue and the schools competing there, and then giving the win to the closest team.  (Distance is as the crow flies, based on the university’s zip code provided on their Web site).

So, does the outcome pass the smell test?  It actually might.  You end up with plenty of chalk, but not a completely Obamaesque Final Four – UNC, Kansas, San Diego State and Florida, with Kansas taking home the title.  Nothing ridiculous, like a 16 beating a 1.  And some pretty dramatic upsets – Bucknell over UConn and Cincy, only falling to SDSU in the Sweet Sixteen.  Clemson hangs around long enough to fall to Ohio State at that stage, and Memphis beats Duke to advance to the Elite Eight.  Old Dominion does likewise, knocking off Putt along the way.

As for the Hoyas – the SCIENCE dictates victory over VCU, but defeat to Purdue (who get all the way to the Eight).  At this point, I will favor FAITH over SCIENCE.

One other thing to keep an eye on – does little disparity in distance indicate a closer game?  Watch out for Wisconsin-Belmont in Tucson – 1,392 miles vs. 1,400 miles.  Those eight miles could hint at a squeaker.  Or not.  Indiana State should push Cuse (only 17 miles difference for their game in Cleveland) but ultimately fall short.  Expect Florida to annihilate UC-Santa Barbara in Tampa, and if the brackets hold, San Diego State to do unspeakable things to Bucknell in Anaheim.

(Oh, and for those still reading, the record so far is 3-1 in the First Four.  Only UTSA-Alabama St. bucked the distance logic.)

Bring S-11 home!!!

Anybody wasting their Saturday night on this crap like I am?

(Dammit, this needs to be longer...Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus Sharktopus)