Your Greater Chuckie Hacks Open Winner is ...

Well, the 3rd annual Greater Chuckie hacks Open is in the books and our winner is Dennis McCormick, who scored a 2 point win over PJ Buske. Congratulations Dennis. You win nothing but do have the right to gloat and rub this in in our comment section over the next year. Would also like to acknowledge Craig Becker who came in third place but had the most number of games picked correctly with 49 out of 63.

For the Hackers, Goldy led the way with a 5th place finish and 162 points. Woz finished in 15th with 148 points; Matt tied for 17th with 146 and Brad finished in 41st with 110 points. We also had a tie for last between Dave Didier and Mike Gruennert. Congratulations guys.

Again, thanks to all who participated this year. Good Times. Hope to see you back next year.

Other pre-Brewers opener thoughts:

• I am a huge Big Ten supporter. Heck, I have degrees from two Big Ten universities. However, as thrilled as I was to see Michigan State make the title game and shut the Big East out of title game appearances since 2004, I was equally as thrilled to watch State get it handed to them last night. I concede that Izzo is a very good coach and really steps it up in March, however, it is fun to watch the little twerp loose. I wonder if he cried after this loss like he admitted he did after the loss to the Badgers in the Big Tens last season.
• I was so sick about hearing how great the Spartans' run was for the entire state of Michigan. Really? Ask Michigan grads and fans how they felt about the Spartans run. I am pretty sure it made them want to vomit. Those two schools hate each other and I am taking a guess, but I believe there are more Michigan fans in Michigan than State fans.
• As Brad pointed out in another post, the free preview of the MLB Extra Innings package is sweet. It's fun to have so man choices and not have to watch the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Mets and Braves all the time. Plus you can listen to how brutal some teams announcers are (see: Mariners).
• I have the music all lined up for opening day, but are there any ringer songs out there I should consider slipping on the playlist?
• I am thrilled that Hughes' spinning drive to beat FSU was the Pontiac game Changing Performance of the tournament, but seriously, Scottie Reynolds play should have been the winner. Now, I do not believe that game was the classic that the east coast media made it out to be at the time. If this game unfolded the same way and it was Illinois against Oklahoma State, nobody would give it a second thought. However, Reynolds hard driving bucket did send Nova to the Final Four, so I would give that precedence over Hughes winner. However, never underestimate the power of an immensely huge alumni base. This is the second Game Changing Winner for the Badgers, the first being Starks' return of Orton's fumble. Yah, that was awesome.
• Running 8 miles on a treadmill isn't fun, but when the weather is brutal, it has to be done. Fortunately, I have a DVD of Game 5 of the 1982 ALCS and this helped pass the time. Now, I complain about announcers a lot and think it had to be better back in the day. Let me tell you, that is not the case. We had Keith Jackson, earl Weaver and Jim Palmer bringing us the game. Palmer was fine, but Weaver and Jackson were just brutal. If I ever come down with the flu and am stuck inside all day, I'll have to write a running diary of watching this game. The best line by far was Weaver stating, "Angels manager Gene Mauch is playing for just one run this inning, but that isn't so bad because if you score one run an inning, that's nine a game." Deep insight.
• Happy Opening Day. I am assuming we will see tons of Chuckie Hacks gear in the parking lot on Friday!