March Madness

It’s March once again and that means a few things, spring break, the beginning of spring but also March Madness. Every year the tournament is full of surprises, which it what keeps people coming back for more. However, years like this make me want to almost want to never fill out a bracket again. How could I have expected Kansas to be upset by UNI? How could anyone have expected that?

ESPN.com reports that 39.96% of people who filled out brackets on their website picked Kansas to win it all. That compares to only 28% of people who picked North Carolina to win it last year. I am currently in the 9^th percentile of ESPN contestants with at least two of my final four teams, as well as my champion already eliminated. No one on ESPN had a perfect bracket after two rounds. However, one CBS bracket contestant, an autistic kid from Chicago was perfect after two rounds. Unfortunately, amidst the craziness his bracket is no longer perfect.

College basketball is becoming more competitive because of advances in recruitment and increased standards to get in to college. Many students continue to play sports in order to receive scholarships or academic opportunities than they once did. Now mid-majors, conferences comprised of smaller student populations, have started competing with the BCS conferences. This added level of competition, absent even ten years ago, has made picking brackets substantially more difficult.

Due to the increased competition and more comparable levels of play the NCAA has mentioned a possibility of expanding the tournament to 96 teams. ESPN speculates on what a 96 team bracket would even look like. I do not think it will happen before next tournament but if Cinderella teams continue advancing and upsetting majority favorites than I don't think this move would be too far out of the question. The NCAA, like any business, is trying to hype their event as much as possible and a 32 team expansion would do just that.

My First All Nighter

As I sit here typing this blog I am in the process of completing my first all nighter of my Southern Methodist career. I always heard of peers talking about how they stayed up all night studying but I never thought I'd be one of them. Do you know how much work you can do in those 7-10 hours of sleep? However, it was the most productive night of my semester so far and it was more than necessary. I almost don't feel like I have really started classes yet this semester because my most consuming priority is pledgeship and school has not only taken a back seat but it had to go to the back of the bus.

I never prepared myself be for school started at the beginning of the year, I came down and had plenty of time during rush week to get by binders all made up, print off my schedule, pick up my books and locate my classes. However, by the time the first day of school rolled around I had yet to accomplish any of those. I printed off my schedule that morning and grabbed some random binders I had laying around from last semester and headed off to my former first priority.

Tonight, I was able to accomplish all that stuff I had meant to earlier. I had homework to do for the first part of the night but then I just decided I'd take the opportunity to get my life organized. I whipped out the three hole punch and put all those loose papers in my binders, I cleaned my room and did laundry. Then I made a semester at a glance calender and filled out all of my tests and quizzes so that I don't show up to class and remember that quiz I didn't study for.

This might just sound like a sob story but that's not the intention. I knew exactly what I signed up for when deciding to pledge a fraternity. It's remarkable how once you're in the zone you can just keep powering through and end up a week or at least a few days ahead in all of your classes. I'm not sure that it would be my first recommendation to stay up all night to get a few days ahead but if your life is really cluttered and disorganized I would advise tackling that problem before it swells to the size where an all nighter is necessary. Hopefully, the progress I made tonight is not negated by the sluggish day to come until I can return my sleep pattern to normal. Have you ever stayed up all night and then by about 12 the next day regretted that decision?

Snow Day

Students at Southern Methodist loving playing in the snow. This statement is often said in reference to the amount of cocaine that is present on our campus but after thursday it's apparent that SMU students truly do love playing in the snow. While walking to my 12:30 class I watched the boulevard be turned into a massive field of snowmen, football and snowball fights. It's not everyday that Dallas gets enough snow to close down school and students took full advantage of it. I'm not sure what it is about snow that makes it so enjoyable but it seems to put everyone in a better mood.

Spirits were high even as random people threw snowballs at others. A group of students pelted everyone walking though the quad and carrying an umbrella. In one clip someone shouts "umbrellas are for rain." I think its incredible how the school came together to enjoy a rare event. Hopefully it will happen more frequently. There was a massive snowball fight in sorority park as well, and as cold as it was without gloves on it didn't even phase me because of how much fun I was having.

Needless to say, I was relieved when I checked my phone and saw the email announcing school being closed for the day. And yet I was equally surprised, I would never have guessed that I would have a snow day in college, much less here in Dallas. According to the DFW airport they got 12.5 inches in a 24 hour period, a new record for Dallas. I have a hard time believing we got that much snow here on campus but it's possible that people were building snowmen and throwing snowballs faster than it could accumulate. Regardless, there was plenty of snow to go around and it was a pretty wet snow making it primo-packing snow. It couldn't have come at a better time. I have been so busy with pledgeship that I haven't really had time for a nice relaxing day and that's just what Friday was. Feel free to share any of your own snow day stories.

The Dark Side

Summary:
Grown up Digital, by Don Tapscott, attempts to rebut some criticisms of what he calls the “net generation,” which includes people from ages 11 to 30. Other authors have written books filled with these criticisms, Tapscott picks the ten most common ones, one of which is that we are “screenagers” who spend too much time online, time that could be spent socializing, playing sports or other healthy activities. A generation of socially awkward and overweight people has resulted from so much time spent online and less frequent face to face conversations. He cites Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence (MAVAV) who credit video games as the fastest growing endangerment to kids and even say video game addiction is comparable to drug and alcohol abuse.

Response:
While it is true that my generation does spent time online or texting, a lot of it is actually spent being social. When I am on facebook I am often chatting with friends and staying involved in the lives of people that I would otherwise have no access to. I understand the value of face to face interaction but sometimes it is much quicker to just give some a text than to drive to their house to ask a question. Also, you can socialize with more people than one at a time. It could be argued that this is actually being more social than a face to face conversation with only one person. Many games are played online with 12 or so other players and there is a chat feature, enabling one to socialize with people they wouldn’t have known otherwise.

MAVAV is actually a parody website that seemingly plays off the other Mothers against .... websites.
It was probably not the best source for Tapscott to cite because there is not actually a group actively
trying to educate parents on the dangers of video game addiction. Regardless of the validity of the source
I think it says something about our society and how there are groups campaigning for some very
ridiculous causes. Also, many games are played online with 12 or so other players and there is a chat feature, enabling one to socialize with people they wouldn’t have known otherwise.

Fascination with the Shore

Over Christmas break Americans were introduced to some of the dumbest, yet most entertaining, people ever to appear on TV. Im talking about the crew living on the Shores of New Jersey. They are a previously undiscovered species, Guidos. Everyone is captivated by their sexually charged dancing, fighting on the boardwalk, their daily routines of GTL. Gym, tanning and laundry followed by an night full of grinding, being classless and fist pumping.

I watched one episode not expecting to every watch again but I could not stop watching. Every thursday when the new episodes would come out I was there front and center. Why are people so entertained by stuff like this? It's such cheap entertainment but nevertheless entertaining. Has anyone else tuned in to the shore?

I think this show might appeal to a multitude of people because it makes people happier with their own life. While it is not the most moral undertaking to compare your attitude, manners and lifestyle to those on the Shore, it is very hard to avoid. Some shows appeal to the general public by displaying lifestyles that people envy. I can't begin to express the number of girls I have heard wish they lived the lives of characters on Gossip Girl or the OC. However, I think that Jersey Shore appeals to the majority because they do not envy the lives of the people on the show.

Honestly it is probably a healthier show to watch for self-esteem and moral reasons. My mother always used to tell me, "You can't be envious and happy at the same time." The older I get and the more people I meet the more I realize the truth in this quote. If you are constantly envious of what others have you will never be able to take a look at your own blessing and talents and be satisfied with what you do have. I think envy is one of the worst emotions, it is very strong and can easily lead to poor decisions. A show like Jersey Shore does little to foster envy at least from my perspective but it provides an outlet for entertainment, which is just what people are looking for after a long day.