Go Badgers!

Go Badgers is a new feature I will post every Saturday throughout the remainder of the NCAA Basketball season. It will focus mainly on The University of Wisconsin, but also any other major college basketball stories.

This year is an exciting year to be a Badger fan. The Badgers are currently Ranked No. 3 in the AP Poll and No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Those are the highest rankings in school history. With a record of 16-1 and just beginning the Big Ten schedule, this is the first team that has a legitimate shot at the Final Four.

This week was big with a 72-69 win over Ohio St. on Tuesday, the Badgers have gained the upper hand in the race for the Big Ten Title. Today's game against Northwestern will be a true sign of what the team is made of though. With Wisconsin and Ohio St. seemingly head over heals above the rest of the Big Ten teams, getting past teams that are supposed to be wins shows character. If they can take care of business, Badger fans should be cheering all the way through March. Go Badgers!

Movie of the Week 002

This week, my movie pick is Office Space. This is a great movie to end the work week with. With all of the humor, and classic scenes this movie provides, it is a great movie to just sit back and enjoy. So go rent it, or add it to your Netflix Que.

LOST the "Maxi-Series"

I don't watch many TV shows, but when it comes to ABC's Lost, I'm hooked. Now I don't get as worked up like other people seem to when it comes to the plot twists, open agendas, and mystery of the series, but I would ultimately like to learn the secrets of the island. There was an article on Variety.com recently that discussed this very topic. The author, Brian Lowry, discussed an interesting alternative for TV shows such as Lost, Prison Break and others that are obviously not meant to run forever. Rather than treating these as your average TV show, he suggests what he calls a "maxi-series" in which a the date when the show will end is known by the audience. In theory, this would help to eliminate that anxiety and disgust that many people feel when watching these shows and not knowing if they will ever get any real answers. In this era of TV shows on DVD, iTunes and On Demand, this may be a step in the right direction toward retaining more viewers for an entire series.

A disturbing, violent trend (from ESPN.com)

I read an interesting and somewhat disturbing article on ESPN.com this morning. This article is in response to the young Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams who was killed on New Years Eve. It discusses the issues with African-American men using violence as a way of gaining respect, and status, far more than any other racial group in America. Though this article isn't revolutionary, it does help to put things into perspective. The quote that I was amazed by is that "the life expectancy of a black man in Cleveland is closer to that of West Africans".