Moni's 2012 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

Since 2008 in honor of Women's History Month I do a women's NCAA Tournament bracket in addition to the one I do for 'the menz' and had so much fun doing so I repeated it in 2009 and 2010  


I've actually done a better job picking the women's NCAA tournament champion than I have for the men.   Then again, UConn was on The Streak' 

Last year I expected my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner and the Lady Bears to make it to the Final Four but had another set of Houston homegirls in the Ogwumike sisters and Stanford winning the title. 

The NCAA title did come back to Texas and along the Brazos River, but it's residing in College Station instead of Waco. 

After being beaten by the Lady Bears three times in the 2011 season, the Aggies upset Baylor in the Dallas Regional final to punch their ticket to their first ever Final Four.  Once they arrived in Indianapolis, the Aggies knocked off Stanford and 'home team' and Indiana home girl Skylar Diggins Notre Dame squad, who beat Tennessee and their nemesis UConn to get to the title game for the championship.. 

Baylor hasn't forgotten that loss and it's fueled them to an unbeaten record so far, the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and the number one overall seed.   And yep, Brittney and company are determined to bring that trophy back to Waco for the first time since 2005.  But can the Lady Bears take that last step and be the team cutting down the nets at the Pepsi Center in Denver?  

I think so, but that's why you play the games..

Des Moines Regional

1st Round
Baylor, Ohio State, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Delaware, DePaul, Tennessee 

2nd Round
Baylor, Georgetown, Nebraska, Tennessee

Elite Eight
Baylor, Tennessee


Des Moines Regional Champion
Baylor

Fresno Regional
1st Round
Stanford, West Virginia, South Carolina, Purdue, Oklahoma, St John's, Vanderbilt, Duke

2nd Round
Stanford, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Duke

Elite Eight
Stanford, Oklahoma

Fresno Region Champs
Stanford

Raleigh Regional
1st Round
Notre Dame, California, St Bonaventure, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Louisville, Maryland

2nd Round
Notre Dame, Georgia, Arkansas, Maryland

Elite Eight
Notre Dame, Maryland

Raleigh Regional Champs
Notre Dame

Kingston Regional
1st Round
Connecticut, Kansas State, LSU, Penn State, Rutgers, Miami (FL), Iowa State, Kentucky

2nd Round
Connecticut, LSU, Miami (FL), Kentucky

Elite Eight
Connecticut, Kentucky

Kingston Regional Champs
Connecticut

Final Four Teams
Baylor, Stanford, Notre Dame, Connecticut 

Championship Game
Baylor, Notre Dame

2012 NCAA Champion
Baylor

    

Shut Up Fool Awards- Spring Break Is Almost Over Edition

It has been spring break week for all the schoolkids here in Houston and elsewhere. All the kids are enjoying their week of freedom from the classroom.  If they aren't taking a road trip, sleeping in late in the morning, going to the movies, the park, the beach. the zoo or just chilling out at home, they are exploring the museums and other assorted outings ..or driving their parents nuts.

Speaking of driving us nuts, it's time to segue into our weekly Shut Up Fool awards business and determine what fool or group of fools will take home this week's coveted award.

Our nominees this week are our usual group awards for the Republican Party and last week's winner Fox Noise.   Ron Paul gets a nod, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Sen. James Imhofe (R-OK),  Gov Rick Perry (R-TX) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX),

Our SUF winner this week is the Sweater Vest South, Rick Santorum

While pandering for votes in Puerto Rico he offered up this loud and wrong comment in a Wednesday newspaper interview about statehood for the island

“As in any other state, you have to comply with this and any federal law. And that is that English has to be the main language. There are other states with more than one language as is the case in Hawaii, but to be a state in the United States, English has to be the main language.”

No Ricky boy, English is NOT mandated as a condition for statehood.  It is also not mandated by federal law as our official language either.  

There the Republifools go again, outreaching their way to defeat.  

Rick Santorum, shut up fool!

 

Good Thing I Had My Orange Juice...

For those of you who think that being an activist is a fabulous life, it is at times.   You get to rub elbows with movers and shakers in the worlds of politics, the media and your fellow travelers in the human rights community locally, in the state, the nation and the world.   You get the opportunity to participate in some wonderful panel discussions, interface with academics, and attend events at various conventions around the country and sometimes the world.  

You also get the appreciation and sometimes adoration of the people in the community you are exerting your best efforts to help in addition to having a multicultural network of friends around the world.

But there are downsides to it.  Every now and then you get an e-mail like this one that greets you as you start your day from some random hater.   Bear in mind I'm coming off just waking up after doing a wonderful and all too brief interview last night with Ellen Gee on her Evolution of Perspective radio show. 

Thanks Ellen for the invite and the opportunity to do your show.   I really enjoyed it.

But back to what greeted me in my Facebook inbox this morning   This one came from someone calling themselves Mental Hijinks:

Mental Hijinks

• i can't believe what you had to say about Rupaul.
  
  he's done more for the gay community than negative nit picking ppl like you probably would ever do. ridiculous...hateful ppl like you give the gay community a bad name!

Okay..pissed off RuPaul fan stepping to me for breakfast.  5...4...3...2...1.  launch.

I've lobbied for trans human rights at the federal state and local level multiple times since 1998 just for starters on some of the things I've done on behalf of this community.

I haven't seen RuPaul on Capitol Hill and as a matter of fact he called activists 'stupid' for calling his ass out for supporting Shirley Q Liquor's racist ass.

So before you step to me with some bull feces trying to defend RuPaul better hit Google.

I then followed it up with this sarcastic one:

So, tell me in your infinite wisdom (snicker snicker) what has RuPaul done for the gay community?

***

RuPaul Andre Charles has earned every comment, criticism and negative post that I and 'errbody' else with a social conscience has aimed at his sellout behind over the last decade.  That won't stop until he ceases and desists with the jacked up behavior driving the criticism. 

If you don't like that Mental Hijinks, too damned bad.  I'm not going to stop calling his ass out until he does.

Now back to me finishing my breakfast.