NCAA Tourney Day One Observations

The Surgeon General has declared this post AND similar upcoming posts dangerous to a college basketball hater's health. You have been warned...

- Coach K has ANOTHER COMMERCIAL?! He just doesn't know when to quit...then again, perhaps this bodes well for my Heels. Afterall, we all (should) know what happened in the last NCAA Big Dance during which commercials featuring Dook's head coach were shown.

- I'll eat a Canes hat if the Applebee's ads do not make Sean Hill cry...

- Why the HELL did I pick Seton Hall when my gut told me Witchita State was going to win? Oh well...at least I wasn't the only one who thought the Pirates would eek it out into the Second Round.

- Boy, a lot more people picked Montana over Nevada than I thought...

- Boston College, THANK YOU for winning today, despite taking two OTs to do it. Please, just somehow make it to the Sweet Sixteen.

- San Diego State, a big EFF YOU for losing like you did to Indiana...letting them score that ridiculous three AND doing a FULL COURT throwaway. I can't ever recall seeing something like the latter before... o_O

- Thanks to San Diego State, I'm now down to fifteen Sweet Sixteen picks. That's the bad news...the good news is that I had the Aztecs losing in the Sweet Sixteen AND have my Elite Eight and Final Four still intact. Best I've done on the first day in sometime, including last year.

- To everyone who had Syracuse going far, be it to the Sweet Sixteen OR the Elite Eight OR the Final Four: *does a raspberry* Honestly, the Orange(men) lucked their way BIG TIME through the Big East Conference Tourney. And certainly did not deserve a 5 seed, OR really, an NCAA appearance. Certainly could not help LMAO at the poor souls who thought Syracuse, or better yet, Gerry McNamara would turn in a great NCAA performance. Obviously, I'm quite proud of my Texas A&M "upset" bid...

- Teams I would not have minded seeing losing, despite my bracket: Gonzaga and Dook. Overrated AND veeeeery annoying, both in media bias and the teams themselves. Xavier and Southern had their respective opponents where they wanted them, they just couldn't capitalize.

And if Gonzaga and/or Dook had lost...while it may have hurt my bracket to varying extents (had Gonzaga losing to S.D. State in the Second Round, and have Dook losing in the Final Four to UCLA), I would not have cared, because it would have AND still can hurt others' brackets pretty bad. I can understand people having Dook go far, despite how much I can't stand the Devils. BUT, Gonzaga?! VERY OVERRATED...quite comforting how many people in my contest groups have the Zags in the Final Four, especially after seeing Xavier give them fits.

- Not a bisketball observation (my brother can't stand me saying "bisketball"...therefore, I sometimes say it when I have the chance :D), but one I must get out in hopes that maybe, JUST MAYBE someone can provide info about it:

Before dinnertime and during the lull between the daytime and nighttime portions of the tourney, I saw on VH1 Classic a music video I absolutely LOVE, but confounds me at the same time.

Do any of you dear readers remember "Silent Running" by Mike and the Mechanics? In all of its cheesiness, I simply adore the video and song...nothing else by the band remotely comes close. But anyway, that video...I swear that it is an ad for an obscure movie AND/OR it was longer when they showed it on MTV during the 80's. Hell, I know it was longer because when they show the credits in the lower left corner, it says "(Edited Version)" next to the song title. AND, I vaguely recall seeing the video a time or two when I was little, and remember there being parts showing the band inside the cosmic cube/transporter/whatever the hell it is the boy discovers and talks to his dad through. Anyhoo, is there anyway I can get my hands on the unedited version of the video AND/OR was there actually a movie that the video was advertising?

So far, in all of my research, I have found that...

1. There was a 1971 sci-fi flick called Silent Running. Seems to be a cult favorite, but the storyline doesn't even come close to the music video's storyline, or what little of it is revealed.

2. People claim that the "On Dangerous Ground" secondary title for the song is referencing the movie this thing acts like it is advertising/based on. After a tiny bit of IMDB searching, there was a 1987 movie called Choke Canyon that had "On Dangerous Ground" as its secondary title. AND, according to the trivia section for the film, footage from it was used in the "Silent Running" music video. But unfortunately, my suspicions are after reading Choke Canyon's plot, which again has absolutely nothing to do with the music video plot, is that the footage used what was basically of all the explosions. Big deal. *sighs*

and...

3. Going to Amazon.com, I see that Mike and the Mechanics have released a DVD of a concert last year...and lo and behold, one of the bonus features is the music (a.k.a. "promotional") video for "Silent Running". Nowhere is it mentioned that the video is the unedited version I seek, nor were the reviews I read for the DVD that great. The review concerning me the most mentioned that the music videos' sound and picture had not been restored...grrrrrreat.

I probably have wasted my time writing all of this out...but, I know I am not the only one baffled by what the "Silent Running" video looks to be presenting, as the following places show...

http://www.80sxchange.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-13132.html

http://lordandrei.livejournal.com/67232.html

In the latter link, someone mentions that the movie being "advertised" was possibly European or Australian AND was never released in North America...and that somehow would not surprise me, as elusive as that sucker is proving to be.

Oh, and Happy St. Patty's Day! :) Be sure to wear your green...that reminds me, I need to find a decent Hartford Whalers shirt to wear.