Ahh… the winter chill is beginning to thaw and the warmer spring air is blowing its way through the newly green trees and bringing with it one of the best months of the year for any sports fan. It’s March and it’s time for March Madness! The NCAA basketball tournament has finally arrived and for many of us it’s time to head to the computer and search for a printable NCAA tournament bracket for our office pool.

When it comes to bracketology most of us fall into a few categories: You have your seasoned vets, your rookies, your hunchers (those who fill out the bracket according to their best hunches) and the know nothings, those who fill out their brackets according to which team has the nicest jerseys. But, no matter whom you are, and how many brackets you’ve filled out I’ve got some advice some advice that could make your bracket tops in the office pool.

Keep it simple stupid!

My first piece of advice for filling out your NCAA basketball tournament bracket is to always ride with the favorites. A lot of people get too caught up in picking early round upsets, or riding some Cinderella team all the way to the Final Four… DON’T! Over the last 19 NCAA basketball tournaments the eventual winner has always been a No. 4 seed or higher.

Now, you may think you’re being brave by picking that No. 16 seed to beat the No. 1 seed but let’s just say you’re banking on a team making history. Since the inception of the 64 team NCAA tournament not one 16 seed team has beaten a No. 1 seed… ever! I know the saying goes there is a first time for everything, but do you really want your bracket to ride on that?

No. 1 seeds have a good track record of being the eventual winner, 16 out of 25 times in the past 25 years, a No. 1 seed has gone on to win the tourney. But we’re not just trying to get to the eventual winner , we’re trying to fill out a winning bracket and only three times in history have more than 2 No. 1 seeds made it to the big dance, so pick favorites but not all No. 1 teams or you are almost guaranteeing yourself a loss.

The Art of the Upset.

I know I just told you to keep it simple and ride the favorites, but the fact of the matter is upsets do happen. Given the history of the NCAA tournament if you are going to pick an upset make sure you do so in the first two rounds. Except for that little school from the suburbs of Washington two years ago, you can bet that when the tournament whittles its way down to the Sweet Sixteen the cream will rise to the top.

The best spots to look for upsets occur in the No. 9 through No. 12 seeds. No point in going any lower than that because those upsets are extremely rare. No. 9 seeds actually carry a winning record against 8 seeds over the last 25 years giving you a good chance to pull off that one upset that others in your pool did not pick. In the 2008 NCAA tournament I’m looking at No. 10 St Mary’s to pull a possible upset against No.7 Miami of Florida. St. Mary’s has a strong defensive squad and Miami has struggled mightily at times to overcome pressure defenses. Also, if you look at their RPI Miami is ranked 33 while St. Mary’s is ranked 34 signifying a tighter matchup than the seeding might suggest.

History tends to repeat itself!

Take a long look at the history of the NCAA basketball tournament. Noticing any trends? There are teams known as basketball powerhouses for a reason, and that reason is that they produce NCAA basketball championships, or at the very least make it to the Final Four.

For example, teams like UCLA, UNC, Duke, Kansas (though Kansas may *cough* choke), Kentucky and Georgetown, all have strong track records of making the Final Four. UCLA and UNC have made the Final Four 16 times, UCLA has won 11 times and UNC has won 4. These teams and others are the elite teams with long track records of success in the NCAA tournament, stick with them and you’ve just upped your chances to win your office pool.

A little extra advice

Look for teams that play strong on the road. The NCAA tournament games are all played on “neutral courts”, for some teams that may actually be an advantage depending on how close to home they are playing. For others though this is more like a road game than anything else, so look for teams that have a strong road record, teams with strong road records tend to beat teams just as strong that have struggled on the road, about 60% of the time in fact.

Remember not to go on information overload, get all the information you feel you need but don’t go overboard. The experts aren’t always right in their predictions, fill out your bracket the way you want not the way some talking head tells you to.

Who would have thought that the only team from New York and New Jersey in the NCAA tournament would be Mount St. Mary College of Newburgh? No one, that’s who. With former elite programs such as Syracuse, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Rutgers, and Hofstra, the only team dancing from this region this March is Mount St. Mary’s. Where did they come from? Well, they won the North Eastern Conference and had a play-in came on Tuesday for the final spot out of 64 to earn the right to play for a national championship. The “Mount” won the play-in game against Coppin State from Pennsylvania and grabbed the final spot.

What do they get for their magnificent win against Coppin State and for being the region’s only college basketball team in the playoffs? North Carolina. The number one ranked Tar Heels, who averaged 88.7 points a game, the best defensive team in the country, equipped with the most electrifying and talented player in college basketball in Tyler Hansbrough, will get the opportunity to start their run to the final four by beating up on Mount St. Mary’s. And, oh yeah, the game will be in North Carolina which turns beating the Tar Heels from improbable to impossible.

Even if they don’t by some miracle that will go down in sports history as one of the greatest, if not the greatest upset of all-time beat North Carolina, Mount St. Mary has made a name for itself in New York/New Jersey Basketball. High school recruits around the region will now take a look and the over-looked Mount St. Mary Program. They will continue to develop and hopefully turn into a more successful and better seeded team in the coming years. With elite programs such as St. John’s and Syracuse falling and having awful years, Mount Saint Mary has the opportunity to represent college basketball in this region. That being said, it shows you just how pathetic basketball is in this region. The state of basketball here is a terrible one that has spread into the professional level as well as the collegiate. The Knicks are unwatchable, as they have players cashing in more checks than they do baskets, and the New Jersey Nets have fallen from their winning ways to struggling for the final playoff seed in the equally pathetic Eastern Conference. The most exciting player in New York, New Jersey basketball has left for a championship to the Dallas Mavericks as Jason Kidd could not stand being with the mediocre Nets. As for the Knicks, they are the highest paid team in the NBA, yet all that money has only bought them 19 wins for the season as they battle with the equally terrible Miami Heat for worst record in the East.

It seems like yesterday when Syracuse, St. John’s, and Seton Hall were always a shoe-in to put their name in Brackets, but now the only

team around here that’s heading to the tournament is an un-known Mount St. Mary’s. Syracuse won the championship only 5 years ago and

now they can only manage to get into the NIT. When talked about, Mount St. Mary’s is usually followed with, “Where is that school any

way?” We all miss the days of the Knicks not winning a championship with such a talented team in the 90′s, but being in the playoffs come

spring. If it weren’t for Michael Jordan the Knicks may have collected a championship or two then, but nevertheless they were always a

winning team. Now they give a new meaning to the word overpaid and the Nets are struggling for the 8^th spot in the east which is like playing to be the best of the worst

as the bottom of the East is dismal to say the least. With no one to route for in the tournament, as a New York, New Jersey native, one has to cheer for the underdog,

Mount St. Mary. Enjoy it while it lasts because more than likely by the final buzzer of that game, New York and New Jersey will have no playoff basketball teams around.

Most often when athletes think about being recruited they imagine receiving letters from colleges, phone calls from coaches, trips to campuses, and ultimately scholarship offers. The fact is however, that a majority of high school athletes will never be courted in such a dramatic fashion. Only about .8% of athletes playing sports at the high school level will be offered a Division I scholarship. Considering that that leaves a vast majority of athletes out of the picture how do the majority of athletes get recruited?

Talent. The first and most obvious factor is talent. Talent of course, thrusts the athlete into the spotlight and forces coaches to notice them. Our own Gus Ornstein was a highly touted prospect coming out of Fieldston Prep School, in the Bronx, NY and his experience is vastly different from that of your average athletes. If you are as talented as Gus playing at the next level is not your biggest concern, picking the right school is. For people in this situation Gus offers a word of advice, “you need to be happy with wherever you are in case football (or whatever sport you play) does not work out for you”. It is important for athletes with this level of talent to keep in mind that sports is not the only reason you are attending college.

Grades do matter! It’s a phrase that some athletes fear…academic eligibility and it is an important and sometimes overlooked factor in being recruited. Proving throughout your high school career that you can handle your academic workload and shine on the field can set you apart from other recruits who may be a star on the field but a disappointment in the classroom. Remember, coaches are not going to waste a scholarship on an athlete who may be sidelined for academic reasons! Another important factor is testing early. Take the SAT or ACT in your Junior year of high school, as many colleges can offer scholarships earlier than you might think. Put your head down, do your work and get a leg up on the competition!

Apply to NCAA Clearinghouse. This is, in actuality, the first step an athlete looking to participate in sports at the collegiate level should take. If you want a scholarship you must first prove your eligibility through the NCAA Clearinghouse process. Obtain the Clearinghouse form from your school’s counseling office, and if necessary ask for help in filling out the form. The form will determine your eligibility based on your academic performance. You have five years of college to complete four years of athletic eligibility, those who do not fill out the form properly or all together, will certainly lose at least one year of eligibility. Eligibility is determined by these guidelines: First, a student must have graduated from high school with a GPA of at least 2.0 in a core curriculum of fourteen(under the new eligibility rule) academic subjects. Second you must meet a minimum score requirement on your ACT or SAT, this is between 37 and 86 on your ACT and 820 and 1010 on your SAT depending on your GPA. The higher your GPA the lower the required score on your SAT or ACT and vice versa. Once again this proves, GRADES DO MATTER!

Understand your true ability. It’s hard to admit to ourselves that maybe we are not as talented as we think we are. If March rolls around during your Senior year and you have yet to receive a call from that Division I school you’ve been waiting for, it’s time to start pursuing other options. If you are not sure about where you stand as an athlete, talk to your coach and ask him to be honest about where he thinks your talent can take you. Remember, that there are numerous Division II and Division III schools that have outstanding athletic programs and offer partial or even full academic scholarships. If you’re not ready for the elite level just yet, hone your skills at one of these schools and explore the possibility of transferring to a Division I school after you’ve already proven yourself at the collegiate level.

Market yourself! Unless you are one of those few elite athletes who are nationally recognized as a top recruit you are going to have to go out there and put yourself on the coaches’ map. This can be accomplished in a few simple ways. First, put together a highlight reel of some of your most outstanding plays. The reel should be brief, about 3-5 minutes long, coaches are busy people and they can get a great sense of your ability from this brief reel. Packaged with your highlight reel should be an athletic resume, with all the pertinent information including, height , weight, stats, awards, SAT/ACT scores, high school transcripts, and any letters of recommendation. Send this package out to any program you are interested in and coaches who did not even know your name before may be calling you in the near future.

Recruiting services. Keep in mind that there are recruiting services out there that will help to get you noticed. If you and your family decide to go this route make sure that the service is reputable. Try and speak with other athletes that have used the service and see how it worked out for them. Do not throw money at a recruiting service that may not even get you recruited. Don’t forget free sites like Sportsgist.com can be valuable recruiting resources as well, giving you the opportunity to post your highlight reels for free for all visitors, including college coaches, to take a gander at!

Attend Camps. Many colleges offer camps for rising high school prospects during the summer and winter months. These camps are a great opportunity to showcase your skills in front of the very coaches you hope to play for. Not only do you get to display your abilities during these camps, but you also get the opportunity to be instructed by coaches at an elite level. Who knows, maybe one of their tips will be exactly what you need to take your game to the next level.

Use your contacts! Many athletes have played for numerous coaches and teams throughout their lifetime. It is important to use all the resources in hand to aid in the recruiting process. Your high school coach, athletic director, the coach of your old AAU team or travel team, may all have collegiate connections that you are unaware of and can be valuable recruiting resources. Use every contact you have gained throughout your athletic career to your advantage! Sometimes all it takes is one glowing report from a friend to put an athlete on the map!

Use all these tips and you should be well on your way to taking your game to the collegiate level! Good luck with the recruiting process, and remember to keep checking out Sportsgist.com for articles like this and much, much more.

In twenty five years at Ramapo College of New Jersey, Michael Ricciardi has seen a lot of change. Before he became head athletic director, Ricciardi has seen five different presidents, several changes in policy, and 5 different athletic directors. In the five years he has been athletic director, Ricciardi has given solidity to Ramapo College Athletic Program.

Ramapo College athletics has become one of the most successful Division 3 colleges in New Jersey in the 3 years Ricciardi has been in charge. Ricciardi is in charge of 22 programs and over 450 student-athletes. A graduate of Ramapo College himself, Ricciardi knows though that it is the students that make this school successful. As a Division 3 school, Ramapo is unable to give scholarships which prove to be very difficult for a D3 school to build talented teams. Despite this Ramapo has become extremely talented with some of the most successful sports programs in the nation. Ricciardi considers Division 3 to be “the purest level” as a player plays simply for the love of the sport. Without scholarships, kids aren’t playing for money nor have the stress of holding up to the agreements in scholarship. “You have nothing to hold over your head as a D3 player”, Ricciardi said. “We’ve got plenty of kids with the talent level of Division 1 or 2 schools.” That talent has certainly shown.

Ricciardi learned the ropes early as he has been involved with the athletic program before he graduated with a business degree in 1979. He got involved in the basketball program and never looked back. “I’ve always been a basketball guy,” Ricciardi said of his basketball background. His history in basketball may have a reason in why the basketball team has recorded the most wins out of any team in the past 6 years out of all Division 1, 2, and 3 teams in New Jersey. The basketball team isn’t the only team with success as Ramapo College has built an extremely accomplished program as a whole.

Ricciardi attributes off the field success to his teams on the field success. Juggling school and sports can be overwhelming at times and it’s how you overcome those times that make one truly successful. Ramapo College is academically sound and the reason why athletes come to the college so schoolwork always comes first. How do you handle school and sports? Ricciardi says, “Time management is always the issue. Treat your studies like your practice. Build a relationship with professors and don’t wait until the last minute to go to class.” The Roadrunner’s academic success has not been unnoticed as over 60 athletes are on Dean’s list every semester according to Ricciardi. Many teams as a whole and individuals have been honored for their academic success as well as many individuals, including ten on the Women’s field hockey team alone. “I am proud to show off our academic success”, Ricciardi says of his Roadrunners.

The facilities the Roadrunners play on and in may play a part in their success. In the $27 million Bill Bradley Center athletes can enjoy a full fitness center, auxiliary gym for basketball, volleyball, tennis and also includes a two-lane running track. If that wasn’t enough the Bill Bradley Center is also equipped with a rock-climbing wall, 60 inch wide screen television and “smart rooms” for the teams to watch videos and plan games. The Bill Bradley Center which is located on campus attracts one’s attention as soon as you see it and grabs more as soon as you enter it. Outside the center and across the street is the home of several of the Roadrunner teams. It includes 12 lit tennis courts, softball, baseball, soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse fields. With renovation going on to further improve the fields, Ramapo’s athletic facilities can only improve.

Meet the Roadrunners

Women’s Field Hockey

The Field Hockey team is led by head coach Leslie LaFronz who has created a competitive team from scratch in the five years she has been at Ramapo College. LaFronz joined Ramapo College to start the Field Hockey program which in their first year only had 13 players and played only 8 games. If LaFronz is able to do what she has done in her past coaching jobs, the Roadrunners should be at the top of the NJAC in no time. She began Field Hockey programs in both Ridgewood High School and Wayne Valley High School, both in New Jersey. At Ridgewood and Wayne Valley she “met all her goals”, LaFronz said, and saw the Ramapo Field Hockey program as a “great opportunity to build some thing from the ground up.” So far she has done just that with her team at full capacity and playing 18 games a season now. “We play in the NJAC, which is the toughest D3 conference for field hockey”, LaFronz said. “Every year we get more competitive against nationally ranked teams,” LaFronz said. With all but four returning next season, the Roadrunners are still a very young team and will continue to strive. In five years the program has made enormous advancements and next season look to be their best yet with an extremely talented team. LaFronz is confident that her team will succeed in the NJAC as she says, “Every year we get stronger.”

Men’s Basketball

Ramapo College Men’s Basketball team has been the most successful team in school history as it has been nationally ranked in the Top 25 in the past 7 years. As said earlier about the team’s success among New Jersey teams, Roadrunner’s Basketball is creating a name for them nationally. Coach McBreen has led them to a 154-54 record in the past 8 seasons.

Women’s Soccer

Last season was one of the women’s most captivating as they finished the year 11-9-1. The team is led by world-renowned coach Arnie Ramirez who reached his 300^th career win as a coach. The women will be going to Costa Rica in August for pre-season. Ricciardi says about the women’s soccer team, “they’re about to take off.”

Men’s Baseball

The Ramapo College Baseball team is led by Rich Martin who has just captured his 400^th overall coaching win, as the Roadrunners beat Coe College at the start of this current season. Although not all those wins have been with the Roadrunners, his success has been enough to finish them 4^th last season in the NJAC and finished with a 29-13 record overall. As their season has just begun, their winning habits have continued as they are currently 4-2.

Men’s Soccer

Led by DJ Pinton the Ramapo College Men’s Soccer team has been more than stellar as they finished the past season ranked 25 in the NCSAA Top 25 poll. They finished 12-5-2 overall and earned a #5 seed in the NJAC tournament. The team will continue to grow as only five seniors will be leaving and their success under Pinton will only grow.

This week the season finally opened. It didn’t start out quite like I would have liked (19-7 and 5-1 losses), but nothing beat the feeling of finally getting out onto the field. This week of practice was pretty much just like all the other ones leading up to this. Except that knowing that the season was coming brought a little intensity to practice. Every swing and throw was all for this Saturday. Then all of a sudden it was actually March 15^th.

No matter how many years I play this game, going to sleep the night before opening day will be a little difficult. I managed to fall asleep at probably 12:30, which is good because we were meeting at 7:30 the next morning. I got up, got ready, and went off on another season of baseball.

Our bus left at 8 in the morning and we ended up arriving at Burlington Community College at about 10 o’clock for a double header at 1. Hitters swung in the cages, and after infield/outfield, it was time for the game.

The first game was rough for our pitching staff, as we lost 19-7. They had some hitters, we had some walks, and it seemed as every dinker found the ground. After seeing 19 runs get put up on us, I had the pleasure of starting the second game. I won’t lie, I was a little nervous. But that all left the second I starting warming up. I had great command on my fastball, and with that it is hard to get shelled. I went out there and threw okay, letting up three runs in four innings. A couple balls bouncing different ways and I could have easily not let up and of those runs. Of course we couldn’t have scored the seven runs in this game, and we ended up losing 5-1, sending me to 0-1 on the season.

We don’t have another game until next Friday, and this week is spring break for us. We have practice all week, and head into New Jersey again on Friday. Hopefully we can put things together and win a couple games this weekend.

This week we needed to get ready as we could for live game action. But practicing inside has its limits. Pitchers in their bullpens threw 50 pitches on Monday and Thursday. For a little more realistic approach, hitters stood in and tracked pitches again. Hitters took worked on hit and run and hitting to the right side using soft baseballs in the fieldhouse.

In school I have three tests this week, but I think I am prepared. What I am worried about is my level of concentration. When baseball starts and the weather get nice, it is very hard to think about history or concentrate on a math problem.

Only a little more than a week away from our first game, and the feeling is starting to kick in. The only thing that can ruin the spirit is some bad weather. Of course this week we got a good dose of that, with on and off rain all week, and capped off with a wind storm Friday night. And while Saturday is a long way away, the forecast shows some rain in Burlington, New Jersey, the site of our first game. Yet, you can worry about what you can’t control, and this last week of practice needs to be solid.

This week, as I started to feel comfortable, everything rose a little in difficultly. Most of my classes are cut up into three tests, and coming up next week, all those tests are thrown into my lap. Now this week I was forced to catch up on all the material I thought I had forever to learn. Yet, other than that, school is going fine.

Opening day for baseball is inching closer and closer. Practices are getting as close to true baseball as we can get for being inside. In the field house the other day, we took a full infield outfield. While pitchers threw their bullpens, hitters stood in and tracked pitches. This week for the pitchers, we threw some change-ups. I have thrown some while doing some flat ground work, but it is different on the mound. Mine was okay the first couple, but I need to reacquaint myself with the grip and feeling of it.

Playing in the northeast, a set back came Friday. We received about 4 inches of snow, and a little freezing rain. Snow is the biggest deterrent other than temperature for us to get outside. But hopefully, the rain they predict for this week comes, and melts the snow. Despite all this snow on the ground, we are still getting closer to March 15^th, opening day.

This week, and the next couple, are going to be very similar unless something unexpected happens. One such thing would be if we were able to get outside. This tends not to happen around here this time of year, but Mother Nature keeps throwing in these 60 degree days. Hopefully we won’t get screwed with a March snow storm.

School is cruising along nicely. I have begun some mid-term papers, and am trying to get ahead of the game while the season hasn’t started yet. Things can get tricky if you leave them until you’re playing 6 games a week.

Baseball this week we pretty much stayed the same. Pitchers threw off the mound three times, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. They were all 25 pitch sessions, all fastballs. In the next weeks, change-ups will come, as will breaking balls. For now it is more for mechanics and arm strength.

Hitters can still only do so much in the hitting room. They take a lot of swings, off tees, soft toss, and live in the cages. Fielding is also difficult, but we did have the field house one day this week, and they took dozens of ground balls.

As the practice continues, the conditioning continues, but baseball related activities get more intense. It also gets easier as my body starts to get into a rhythm, and everything begins to become a routine. This is the part of the year that helps me personally get accustomed. Sounds like a perfect time to tweak my hamstring. So this past week, while the rest of the team was getting used to practice, I watched most of it, limited to how much I could do. And for those of you who haven’t felt what it is like to hurt a hamstring, it might be the worst thing ever. It limited most everything that you can do, and its so difficult to tell if it’s getting better or worse, or if it’s just tight or sore.

Coach moved practice from Monday through Friday to Tuesday to Saturday. I don’t mind the change, but for kids who live further away and commute I can see it getting annoying. Tuesday we had the field house. At RCC the field house our giant gym-like structure, where pretty much all of our sports take place. It good when we have it because it lets us take a full infield-out, and us pitchers can long toss and work on our pitchers fielding practice. And that is exactly what we did Tuesday. Yet, as having a structure like that, the school needs to make money off it, and for the rest of the week an Auto show moved in, and brought us upstairs to the hitting and pitching rooms. The rest of the week went something like this;

Wednesday: Pitchers threw off the mound for the first time, just fastballs, just 15 pitches. Getting on the mound for the first time is one of the best feelings. Too bad I had to watch everyone else do it.

Hitters took a lot of dry hacks, and did a lot of work off of tees.

Thursday: Pitchers went to the weight room and worked out their legs, and did their conditioning on treadmills and stationary bikes.

Hitters took more dry hacks and more tee work, but also took some live swings in the cages.

Friday: Pitchers played catch, and then took a jog outside. By this time I was able to jog lightly.

Hitters continued to take swings, and also added in some fielding drills. There isn’t enough room to take legitimate ground balls, but the infielders find other drills to work on their hands, transfers, and tosses.

Saturday: Pitchers again threw off the mound, again 15 pitches all fastballs. But the difference this time is that I could actually do it. It was a great feeling, and my arm felt good. Let’s knock on wood.

Hitters: More swings, more drills.

Conditioning Saturday consisted of one of my favorite runs, the Campus tour. Coach gives a player the stopwatch, and tells us to jog wherever we want around campus, just not to come back for fifteen minutes. It tends to go quick, as your just not running in a circle, and I just enjoy the freedom in general.

As the week came to a close, that is one week closer to March 15th, opening day.

Imagine a football league that has no pads, no late hit or excessive celebration penalties, and you don’t get paid for it. You play to have fun, you play to win, but most of all you play for the love of the game that it football. After high school some football players go to college but most hang up the cleats only to live of past memories. This football league gives people the chance to still play the sport that they love.

When you think of backyard football, you normally think of a game you play when you’re a young teenager outside of your friend’s backyard. This game is an extreme version of the game you played as a kid. The name of the league is Townbeef and it is a 7-7 backyard football league that consists of two offensive lineman, a quarter back and whatever formation you want to run (running backs, tight ends, wide receivers, fullbacks). In order to play in this league you most be at least 18 years of age or older and have to sign waivers.

The season for this league starts March 2^nd, and is played to the beginning of summer depending if you make the playoffs. The games are hosted on Sundays and played at different teams fields. The rules are similar to regular football with four downs, ten yards per first down, offensive line can’t past line of scrimmage on a pass play, and the penalties for holding, off sides, pass interference, delay of game, etc., are still the same. Teams won’t be penalized for excessive celebration, late hits, and taunting, but individual players will be thrown out of the game. The game is two halves almost like college basketball with half an hour halves each. Each team is awarded two time outs per half and the two minute warning will be played the same as it would in the NFL with out of boundaries stopping the clock. The referees are players that are currently on other teams in the league. For more information or to register a team in the future please visit townbeef.com.