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[Swoosh]

Cubs are getting hurt left and right, don't think you need to worry too much about them getting even into the playoffs.

I would personally love to see a Cardinals vs Yankees worldseries.  The ratings for that series would be through the roof as those are the two most followed franchises in MLB.

[themeparkguy]

Nightmare series: Baltimore v. Washington.

[shavethewhales]

So apparently my dorm tower is legitimately on fire right now. I was in the study room on my floor when the alarms went off. When I stepped into the hallway it smelled like the wood fireplace back home. Lots of smoke billowing out of the basement, so I'm guessing somebody threw a lit cigarette down the trash chute. Probably have half the Norman fire dept. out here right now. Just hope they don't turn on the sprinklers!

Yup, college life. Definitely putting me off living in a big apartment building ever.

[sdcforever]

^Whoa!  Sorry to hear about that!  I remember when there was a grease fire in my dorm.  Unfortunately, it was in the middle of January, and we waited outside while half of the fire department cleared the smoke out of the building.  It took forever, but at least the sprinkler system did not come on.

[History Buff]

And you took the time to keep us informed - Now that's devotion to the cause!

I hope everything was OK.  All of our fire alarms were false - it gave the exchange students a reason to stand outside in their underwear at midnight.

[sdcforever]

^You brought back bad memories!  So many times, even in winter, we had false fire alarms.  The frat guys would come through the building and pull them for fun in the middle of the night.  Luckily, I moved out of the dorm before it was completely renovated (including the alarm system).  Why is that lucky?  Because after the renovation there was a glitch in the alarm system and it would go off randomly; this would happen three, sometimes four, times a day!  Every time they'd have to evacuate the building, in case there really was a fire.  It took them a year to get it fixed!

[sdcforever]

This is old news (in internet time), but in case anyone missed it here's a link to the video of The Muppets covering "Bohemian Rhapsody"!  It will definitely brighten your day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY

[sdcforever]

I didn't want to put this in the Big 12 Football thread, even though we touched on it a while back.  It looks like the expansion of the men's NCAA basketball tournament to 96 teams is a done deal.  The only questions that remain are the tv broadcast rights and exactly when the expansion will go into effect (it could be as early as next year).  IMO, this is absolutely terrible news.  The NCAA is basically run by big $$$ BCS conference schools.  It would be great if this means that more mid-majors will get into the tournament, but that certainly won't be the case since the biggest reason for this expansion is $$$.  All it means is that bad teams from big conferences will get in, while better mid-majors will get left out.  So when the expansion goes into effect we can expect every team in the Big 12, Big 10, ACC, and Atlantic 10 will get in, while a disproportionately smaller number of mid-majors make the field.  They really need to have stipulations, such as any team must have at least a .500 record (overall and in the conference), and a team that wins the conference in the regular season gets an automatic bid (even if they lose in the conference tournament).

The should also shorten the regular season, which is already pretty meaningless.  What happens to the NIT?  They're going to be left with really bad teams.  In case it's escaped you, this expansion adds 31 games to a tournament in which no one watches the first two rounds anyway.

Read more here:
http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/source-march-madness-with-96-teams-done-deal-27742

[Coaster]

^Wow, I hadn't even heard that this was being talked about. Does this go into effect next season?

[Swoosh]

I'd say that the Not In Tournament will no longer be needed and thus *poof* be gone

[sdcforever]

^Wow, I hadn't even heard that this was being talked about. Does this go into effect next season?

It will if they can get everything sorted out by then.

[sdcforever]

Here's another article on expanding the field to 96 teams.  It goes deeper into the economics (how the NCAA will be able to opt out of its current deal with CBS after this year to sign a more lucrative deal with ESPN) and ramifications of the expansion.

http://blog.mlive.com/terpstake/2010/02/ncaa_tournament_going_to_96_te.html

[sdcforever]

"Avatar" surpassed "Titanic" on Tuesday as the all-time domestic box office champ.  It already held the all-time foreign and world-wide box office titles.  It has done this in only 47 days of release.  No matter how this is spun (looking at attendance figures and the markup for 3D, for instance) this is an absolutely astounding achievement.

Here's a good article that puts everything into perspective:
http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2667&p=.htm

[Joy]

Yeah, I'm happy to finally see Titanic knocked off its throne, even though ticket-count-wise, Avatar is still quite behind it. But then, there aren't gaggles of girls going to see Avatar 60x in theaters like they did with Titanic (and I am *not* exaggerating that number; I'd actually once come across a website where a girl had taken pics/scans of ALL her Titanic ticket stubs... O. M. G.).

While I understand where Avatar's detractors are coming from when it comes to originality of plot ("Dances With Wolves/Ferngully/Pocahontas/etc. in Space") and stuff (Unobtanium... REALLY? *laughs*), I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie both times I went to see it.

And it really is a movie that is best seen in 3D, though as a tip, try to find a theater that uses RealD instead of Dolby Digital 3D... The RealD glasses are SOOOO much better (especially for those of us unfortunates who wear prescription glasses and can't wear contacts; they are also better in general comfort and having less reflection of lights that are behind you, like, oh, the projector), and I had far less trouble adjusting my eyes to the 3D as well as no headache when I saw it with the RealD.

[KBCraig]

Box office take should always be measured in tickets sold, not revenue. To measure revenue ignores inflation. A movie today could surpass a movie from 1980 while only selling one third as many tickets.