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Brackets become
best friends or
brutal enemies
during madness
Dean Siemon
Only four games have
taken place and while I
doubt basketball fans read-
ing this have torn up their
brackets, it will happen
soon enough.
This is a sports fan's fa-
vorite time of the year - the
NCAA Division I men's col-
lege basketball tournament,
or March Madness.
It is probably the most
talked about championship
in offices nationwide - more
so than the Super Bowl,
Stanley Cup and World Se-
ries combined.
Admit it. You are carry-
ing a bracket at home, your
desk and in your car, aren't
you?
At the Journal office,
we have a number of staff
members participating in
a bracket challenge. While
there is no money in a pool,
bragging rights are on the
line.
There are even bracket
applications on Facebook
and on mobile phones, so
everyone can try to predict
which teams advance to the
Final Four and which ones
will come out of the gate
stumbling.
I know for a fact that
televisions will be tuned in
on the four networks carry-
ing all the games today and
tomorrow (16 played each).
The reason we watch is
to see who this year's Cin-
derella story is going to be
- a team that comes from
nowhere, a school 99 per-
cent of the nation has never
heard of and defeats some of
the nation's top tier teams.
Can you tell me what
the nickname for Bucknell
University is (without using
Google)? Of course not.
Analysts are paid to
break down each of the 67
games that will take place
in this tournament, while
none of them will have a
perfect bracket when it's all
said and done. Neither will
anyone reading this.
Did anybody expect in
1998 that 13th-seed Val-
paraiso University, a small
Northwest Indiana Luther-
an university and my alma
mater, would toss the ball
full court and have it tipped
to Bryce Drew, the coach's
son, for the the game-win-
ning three from the wing to
beat fourth-seed Ole Miss?
That same tournament,
Valparaiso was defeated
in the Sweet 16 round by
another surprise team in
Rhode Island University.
Name one person that
expected George Mason
University, a small Virginia
school in the Colonial Ath-
letic Association, to advance
to the NCAA Final Four in
2006.
In last season's tourna-
ment, 14th-seed Ohio Uni-
versity upset third-seed
Georgetown in the opening
round.
Add that upset to 13th-
seed Murray State Univer-
sity defeating Vanderbilt
and 12th-seed Cornell Uni-
versity upsetting fifth-seed
Temple, it was just another
year where the first round
showed anyone can win at
anytime.
Even when you feel you
know who the best team is,
you don't.
While I don't have any
mid-majors in my Final
Four, or any major Cinder-
ella upsets, my bracket sits
at my desk, along with oth-
ers in the office who feel as
confident about their picks
as I do.
Whoever ends up with
the most correct picks, it's
up to sheer luck. Basketball
fans can only watch and ex-
pect the unexpected.
Journal office Final Four
picks - National Champion
pick in bold.
Dean Siemon - North
Carolina, Duke, Notre
Dame and Pittsburgh.
Dave Pierek - North
Carolina, Duke, George-
town and UCLA.
Mat Taylor - Washing-
ton, Arizona, USC and Gon-
zaga.
Jesse Mullen - Ohio
State, UConn, Kansas and
Florida.
Natalie Johnson - Wash-
ington, Duke, Purdue and
Pittsburgh.
Kevan Moore - Ohio
State, San Diego State,
Notre Dame and Pitts-
burgh.
Rick Kennedy - Ken-
tucky, Duke, Kansas and
BYU.
Journal photo by Dean Sienron
A view of the entire baseball field at North Mason High School in Belfair, which now has new
dugouts, bullpens and infield thanks to help from various local businesses.
baseball field "eceives facelift
Dy community businesses
Since early June 2010, many local
Belfair and Bremerton businesses,
as well as parents, have been work-
ing together to improve the status
of the boys baseball field at North
Mason High School in Belfair.
Old plywood dugouts have been
replaced by split-faced block ones.
The bullpends have been complete-
ly overhauled with new soil, grass
and astro turf and concrete slabs.
n the infield, more than 90 tons
of new drt was brought in to lev-
el the base paths with the infield
grass.
New gravel surrounds the dug-
outs and backstop, which was once
weeds and dirt.
The outfield fence has a new
green wind screen covering it with
more than 25 four-by-eight foot vi-
nyl signs showing local sponsors on
the fence.
Surrounding areas have been
weeded and cleaned up, as well as
all old surrounding buildings de-
molished.
There was a day where the three
biggest Belfair trucking companies
(Allen Shearer, Ace Paving and
Peninsula Topsoil) were all on the
field working together and in some
cases, bringing in material from
each others' plants.
In a time when the school has
been facing budget cuts, it was won-
derful to see the community step up
and work together and help North
Mason High School improve their
sports field during hard times.
The following businesses contrib-
uted to this project:
Masonry Associates, Inc., Hard
Rock, Inc., Mitchell Lumber, Ron
Phipps Construction, Jessfield Con-
struction, Koenig Construction,
Hood Canal Concrete, Frank Dav-
enport Demolishing Crew, Ace Pav-
ing, Allen Shearer Trucking, Penin-
sula Topsoil, Hoyt's Hyrdroseeding,
Green's Landscaping, Scott McLen-
do's' Hardware, Kurt's Septic and
Plumbing, Green Mountain Elec-
tric, Washington Cedar and Supply,
Valley Feed, Viking Fence Compa-
ny and C&C Custom Concrete.
1 Shelton-Mason County 11|
m e,r
......
Look in. my bi-weekly se00c00ion called
514ason County C'utafoors!
Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 17,2011 - Page C-5
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