You kids have it easy…In MY DAY, if you wanted a personal website, you sat there for 6 hours and typed lines and lines of html code, and you were damn happy to do it…


Seriously, the stuff that takes about 10 seconds to do on Facebook, like updating pictures and writing in BOLDFAC E? HOURS to fix on Geocities…

And despite that, I felt a twinge of sadness when I learned today that Yahoo was shutting down Geocities and basically eliminating the free hosting site, long after Yahoo had burned it to the ground for no real reason with slow startups, terrible ads the sites look like shit, pop-up ads, and running .gifs that never worked.



For most people, there were the appropriate responses. (“Geocities was still around?”) Entirely fair, seeing as I basically forgot about the first website I created until I heard about Geocities joining AOL in the internet graveyard. But part of me DOES feel a twinge of sadness because the platform I spend many hours on has now bitten the dust. Were those hours worth it? Or course not; as facebook proves, advances in technology would allow me to update features in 5 minutes that took 5 hours on geocities. Still, I wanted to look back, like an old photo album, to the first website I created…

---------------------------------

You really had to be there at the beginning…NO ONE had a personal website. The guys who did were…well, they weren’t cool, but at least they were interesting. I was introduced to the personal ‘interwebs, on the line’ in the fall of 1997, when two guys from high school had their own little joke websites to show off their offbeat clever humor. Pictures of flying pigs, jokes about teachers, tributes to Pi Day (March 14…see, I told you it wasn’t cool)…I wanted my own piece of this irrelevant action. So, in the summer of 1998, before heading off to ND, knowing nothing about anything, I signed up for a geocities account at the local library. At a friend’s suggestion, I copied his html code into the ‘box’, saved the file on the library’s desktop (apparently , a MAJOR no-no back then, as the bitter old women running the library informed me of the next week when I came back to update the site), hit upload, and BOOM…I had my first website. It read:


BRYAN MAYER'S HOMEPAGE



I don't know what I'm doing yet, so bear with me



Things about me...

I am cool
I haven't quite figured out how to shake hands properly
When I grow up,I want to be a ski instructor in Guatemala




What a mess…And a waste of time...



Back in those days, geocites didn’t have shortened URL either, so I had some ridiculously long site name like http://www.geocities.com/Colessium/Backyard/Frontyard102/Bytheporch/main.html and you typed in EVERY feature to it. I mean everything!! Hey, why is half the page bold? Did I really miss 1 stupid little backslash? That’s what’s doing this!?! Jeez, why am I doing this again?



(It was so much fun)



Over the months that followed, I would spend hours uploading pictures. I can’t begin to describe the tedious process of scanning in a picture, saving the file, resizing it repeal til it fit, then uploading it again. It was almost like it you got ONE picture to work, it was the greatest moment of all time. At college, I worked the graveyard shift at the computer. And, in lieu of sleep and studying (oh and helping people with their computer problems), I worked on the site. I wanted it to be something that made me feel important. When I showed my family and friends my creation filled with stolen .gifs, tributes to the Yankees, Simpsons quotes, and stories of college life, they seemed to be impressed. Not in a “Wow, this is a captivating, creative website” way. More like a “Wow…this computer is hooked up to the outside world. Let me try this…wait, what is that dialing up sound? Why is this shit taking so long??”



Today, everyone has a site they can update in 5 seconds. (Hey, like this one!) So I look back at geocities the same way I look back at cassette tapes…or phone with cords…or any other piece of technology that has long been replaced with a better model. Geocities spent time influencing my childhood, and now that it’s gone, even though I hadn’t thought of it for years, I still kinda miss it…



Farewell, my old friend….http://www.geocities.com/phantombm...you may be missed...

# posted by Bryan  0 comments

Down goes powerful Nevada.

The blue screen of death. Just terrible

Testing new iPhone posting.

Tales after the First Weekend


{*Cough, Cough*} Sorry, I’m choking on some chalk…


Hold on, I think UCLA just missed another shot…


I’ve FINALLY learned my lesson: Never, NEVER pick Wake Forest for the Sweet Sixteen!! They could have Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, and 3 Mythical Gods playing for them and somehow they’d still end up losing to West Bumblefuck State in the second round…


Speaking of which, fuck you, ACC. That’s what I get for backing BC and Florida State. I officially apologize to the Big East for ever thinking the ACC was better this year. Please take me back, baby…


Quick Quote: “You thrive when you can, then when rotate up into that (difficult schedule), can you survive?" – Mike Brey

Seriously Mike, STOP BLAMING THE SCHEDULE!!!!!!!!!!! You weren’t that good and that’s the end of it. Just lose already so I don’t vomit at the sight of a “2009 NIT Champion” banner…



Maydog’s Top 3 2009 Teams that can Go to Hell, Under the radar Edition:

3. Chattanooga - A 56 pt loss? What idiot thought that game had a chance to be close? Oh yeah, me...

2. Ohio State- Thanks for making the MAAC think they’re a power conference.

1. Cal St North – Thanks for scaring the crap out of me.




Good for American…In fact, I’ll go this far: I’d be more proud of what American did (lead Villanova with 9 minutes left) than EVER winning an NIT game. You hear that, Brey?



Overrated Conference of the Year: With Apologies to the ACC and the Mountain West, The Pac-10 takes home the “What hell was I thinking when I thought this conference was awesome?” award. Arizona St, UCLA, Cal, Washington all putt up a lot of stinkers…



Arizona’s run settles it: Always pick the ‘team that didn’t belong in the tournament’ to win a few games...


It took the awesome power of Bob Huggins to counteract the awesome power of West Virginia. Bravo, drunkie…


I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I think I’d give it all up to go back and be the Syracuse Orange. Coolest mascot ever and it’s really not even close.

Labels: 2009, College Basketball, Verse of Maydogma

The 2009 Mike Lupica Memorial "I couldn't possibly care about who your Final Four picks are, but here are mine" FF Post:


MAYDOG PICKS:
East: Villanova
Midwest: Louisville
South: Oklahoma
West: Memphis

Champion: Louisville


I could see it happening:
East: Pitt
Midwest: Michigan St.
South: UNC
West: UConn

Champion: UNC


Dream/Who I'm rooting for Final Four
East: Villanova
Midwest: Somehow, everyone loses
South: Somehow, everyone loses
West: Somehow, everyone loses

Champion: Villanova


Nightmare/'There is No God' Final Four
East: Duke
Midwest: West Virginia/BC/Southern Cal
South: Michigan/Syracuse
West: Maryland

Champion: West Virginia / BC


(Congratulations to West Virginia asscending to the BC level of "If this team wins a championship before Notre Dame does in my lifetime, I'm giving up and living in the mountains." A proud day for all.)

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

- The “Maydog Inflated Ego” Rule: Try to be a hero/ Duplicate past successes- For two years, between 2005-2006, MAYDOGMA gave you THE correct ridiculous upset pick of the first round, hitting with #14 Bucknell over #3 Kansas in 2005 (which was awesome), & then #13 Northwestern St. over #4 Iowa in 2006 (which was awful because I ignored my own stupid advice and bet money on Iowa). Of course, the last 2 years weren’t as good because, well, these are ridiculous picks; they aren’t supposed to work in the long run. You’d think, armed with this ironclad logic, that I’d stop now, right? RIGHT!?? Of course not! So let’s try to figure out this year’s ridiculous upset pick:


Here are this year’s candidates, in order of elimination:

-Morehead St. over Louisville (too insane)

- E. Tennessee St. over Pitt (Would be the biggest tournament choke of all-time, so no)

-Cornell over Missouri (Cornell lost by 300 last year)

-Stephen F Austin over Syracuse (Hmmmm......)

-Akron over Gonzaga (Because it’s Gonzaga, not big enough upset)

-West Kentucky over Illinois (A lot of people are already picking this one)

-Binghamton over Duke (Shockingly, I think the Duke hatred is clouded the judgment of those ACTUALLY picking this.)

-Second runner up- Chattanooga over UConn (Can anyone else see a tie game in the 2nd half?)

-The runner up- Robert Morris over Michigan State (The Big Ten thing. They should take away the automatic bid if this one actually happens)


And the winner of this year’s ridiculous Maydog upset pick is #14 North Dakota St. over #3 Kansas

Shades of Princeton over UCLA. (Defending Champion going down) Shades of Bucknell over Kansas. (Kansas choking) Shades of George Mason. (ND State has been told all week this should have been in the play in game.) I don’t know ANYTHING about ND State. And Kansas was smoking hot until a bump in the Big 12 tournament. So this pick is BEYOND ridiculous. Let’s see how it turns out.



Of Course…

-Finally, the Dick Vitale Final Four Picks Rule- Never pick a lower seed to win. Upsets? There are never any upsets!!


Happy picking everyone.

-The Pittsburg(h) Rule- Pick with (insert team). Or against them. Or with them. Or against them. Throughout the years, I have learned that there are some teams just can’t be trusted, no matter how good or bad they are playing. Here are a few teams that will always give you headaches:


• Pittsburg: The MVP of the list. The best Big East regular season and tournament team of the last few years, probably the best team in the country this year, a strong #1 seed…and they never, NEVER made it passed the Sweet 16.. Does it really fill you with confidence to build your whole bracket around the Panthers? PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION!!!


• Arizona: Lose when they should win; win when they should lose. As a 12 seed and last team in this year, they have no business winning a game. You know what that means...


• Maryland: Never trust the Turtle. You’ll regret it!


• UConn: Can't get into the Sweet 16 recently.


• Any team coached by Roy Williams: UNC but Roy’s teams do tend to choke when they don’t have 5 NBA-caliber players on them. Or to quote Roy: I don’t give a shit about North Carolina.


• Any team associated with Gerry McNamara: Any year I pick a long Syracuse run, they crash and burn.


• Any team from the SEC: Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina. All victums of early round upsets in the last decade.


• Wake Forest NEVER gets to the Final Four. Hey, I'm just the messanger.


• Purdue: Anyone else remember backing Big Dog, then crashing and burning?


• Any team coached by Bobby Knight: Doesn’t apply this year.


• Indiana: Doesn't apply this year. Fucking corn boys...


• Gonzaga: I STILL have never picked a Zags games correctly. Have they ever won as a high seed?


And of course:



- The Posers Rule- Underestimate Duke. Or Don’t Underestimate Duke. Or Underestimate Duke. Which Coach K team will show up this year: the one that wins championships or the only that chokes against UConn, Kansas, Indiana, Michigan State, LSU, VCU, etc, etc. (List gets longer and longer every year)? I never have any idea.

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

- The Big Ten Rule- Develop a biased opinion against one specific conference. Talk yourself into calling all its members ‘overrated.’ Let's go through the candidates this year:


The Pac-10 - Called underated all year by many experts, even though many haven't seen them play. ASU and UCLA are solid teams though, and Washington is quality upper-echlor team.


The MAAC - The MAAC GETTIING A 9 SEED?!?! WTH? Should I start planning now for the apocolapse?


The Big East - Look, they've been called the best conference all year, and proved it with it's high seedings. That said, if 3-4 BE teams don't get to the Elite Eight, they wouldnn't have been rated properly. Just something to consider.


Runner-upThe ACC - 1 top team, 2 semi-decent high seeds, and glut of mediocre teams that all beat each other. Color me unimpressed.



But of course, there’s only one winner of this coveted award. This year’s run away winner for overrated, crappy conference goes to:



- The Jenna Jameson “I’ve been screwed too many times” Big Ten Rule- Never, NEVER, NEVER (!!!!!!) pick a Big Ten team (expect Michigan State every other year (maybe)) 7 teams?!! Come on! Would any of these teams gone 8-10 in the Big East? What a joke.


(So why is it I'm considering Final Four runs for Purdue and MSU? Ah crap...)

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

- The Valpo rule- Mid majors suck and never win.


-The 16 years of Catholic School rule - Pick against the Mormons. Later BYU…


-The St. Joe's in 2004 rule/Memphis in 2006-9 rule- ‘Bad’ Conference Champion=Elite Eight. I’ve been following this line of thinking for a few years now, ever since my St. Joe's Final Four pick in 2004. ‘Upper’ mid-major (Non-BCS: CUSA, A-10, Horizon league) champions that receive high seeds have most people picking against them making the Sweet Sixteen because it’s perceived that they came from a crappy conference. Teams like that ALWAYS surprise you. Consider picking Xavier or Memphis this year and what happens.



- The 'Hey, It could happen' rule- Pick a 16 seed to win.-


The “Gold star” rule- Long tournament drought=Short tournament run Michigan and Florida State just broke long tournament appearance droughts and may see that as enough of an accomplishment. Beware the letdown…

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

-The Kentucky Rule- Pick the #1 team in the country to win it all. Hey, they’re the best team in the country. The best team ALWAYS wins. Go Lousiville…

Or Pitt...

Or UNC...

(Seriously, who IS the best team this year?)



-The UCLA in 96 / Michigan State in 2001 Rule- Overrate the defending champion. Normally, the defending champion has lots of experience winnning big games. However, Kansas ended up turning over half its team. So, tread carefully when picking the Jayhawks.



- The Providence in 95/Seton Hall in 97/ Saint John's in 2000/Syracuse in 2006/Pitt in 2008 Rule- Pick a team that ONLY looked good in the Big East tournament, unless they are the dirty hillbillies of West Virginia.- Another pristine example this year with Syracuse, who looked like decent, solid team all year, then all of a sudden turned into World beaters at MSG and are given a ridiculous 3 seed. If they were playing anyone decent in the first round, I would put money on a 14-3 upset (complete with a 1 for 19 McNamara-esque performance by Mr. Roofie. But Stephen F Austin would be hard pressed for an upset. That said, picking long runs by the 'hot Big East team' almost never ends well.



- The Rose-Colored Glasses Rule- Pick your alma mater to win several games. Trust me, your favorite team will ALWAYS make a deep run, especially if you pick them. Doesn't apply this year because of Mike Brey. Long live the NIT King!


(As always, there is ONE exception to this rule. If your alma mater is in the tournament, and there’s a good chance they probably won’t be there again for another 20 years, by all means, pick away. I call this the Loyola-Maryland corollary. This year’s team: Binghampton. Honorable mention goes to Michigan (Ha!))



- The Pinky and All-Brainy Rule- Pick the Ivory League team to win. I do this every year just because Pete Carrill won those games in the mid 90’s, which I correctly picked in my brackets. Of course, Cornell goes destroyed about 1 million points last year. So what do I know?

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

I had forgotten how much I hated watching the NIT. Good thing Mike Brey is around to remind me...

What a miserable effort by ND last night, mulipled by a miserable atmosphere (no one was there b/c of spring break/St Patrick's day). Sure they won, BFD. They were playing the 4th best CUSA team at home; they damn well should have won!

That said, this bares repeating: There is no 'joy' to be had out of winnning this tournament. When you start the year as a Top Ten team, and all you do is win the NIT, that is NOT memorble, it's embarassing and shows the program has peaked. So let's end this thing Thursday and move out to forgetting this awful year ever happened.

Labels: 2009, NIT

- The Jane Krivickas- Illinois rule- Find out which STATE has the most schools
from it in the tournament. Pick all those schools.

http://billsportsmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/march-madness-65teams-in-2009-ncaa-division-i-basketball-tournament_c.gif

I love this map. It really lets you see where the hotbeds of college basketball are annually.

This year's winner: Ohio, with Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton, Akron, Cleveland State, Ohio University of the Flatland, Route 180 Neverending Journey School, Jose Mesa Public School, and the rest...

Honorable mention: In a shocker, New York , with Syracuse, Sienna, Binghamton, and Cornell. Maybe Mike Jarvis didn't completely kill us after all.


Other thoughts/observations on this map:

-Only one team from Florida. How the mighty have fallen.

-Georgetown was incorrectly included for some reason or another.

-Decent rebound by the Northeast after last year's pathetic 3 teams.


One other state rule:

- The Bugsy Siegel rule- Pick teams from the states of Nevada and Utah to win their first games. - No UNLV this year, but Utah and Utah should be locks in round 1.

Labels: 2009, College Basketball

Due to a my current sickness (great timing) sapping away my ability to write a coherent column, I am going to forgo a 'big' tournament column and expand on many of my 'rules' in seperate posts leading up to Thursday. Sorry to anyone out there that was actually planning on following my crappy advice all at once...

Labels: 2009, College Basketball