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NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Expansion?

March 5th, 2010

I’m stepping out of my usual role once again, and this time it’s to something COMPLETELY off topic. But it is one of my other passions, so it’s good enough for me.

On yesterday’s On The Block, a local radio program on WSKO 1260 (simulcast on Time Warner Cable Sports), the host Brent Axe spent a good portion of time talking about the possibility of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament expanding to 96 teams. I sent an email to the show, and it actually was read on the air. So here is that e-mail:

I am not completely against expansion. Division I has one of, if not the lowest percentage of teams that get to the tournament out of the major sports. Even with expansion, the percentage of teams will still be lower than most, so the sense of accomplishment will still be there. However, there would be a right way and a wrong way to expand. If they simply add 31 more “at large” teams, that would be a mistake and I wouldn’t be interested in that. Right now, in all conferences not named Ivy League, the regular season championship does not mean much. That would change if the 31 added spots went to conference regular season champions. If the regular season champion and tournament champion are the same (or if your conference doesn’t have a tournament), then the 2nd automatic bid goes to the #2 regular season team.

So, what are your thoughts on the possible tournament expansion?

The Top 10 Snowiest Cities Updated

February 10th, 2010

11:35 PM 2/10 – Look for a full update on all of the cities sometime tomorrow 2/11 :)

I just updated the top 10 cities to see how it’s looking with all the snow falling in the DC, PA and other states right now. KEEP IN MIND that some of the stats are from like around 1:00 am in the morning and some of the stats are from around 7 am this morning. That meaning there is still a lot of snow to report for most of the cities and it’s still snowing. Click her to check the current top 10. I’m going to try and at least get another top 10 update done later tonight when more stats come in ;)

Oops I Did It Again – My Bad

February 10th, 2010

I’m not talking about Britney Spears either. Believe me she’s a hell of a lot cuter than I am. I mentioned in other posts that this being the first national snow contest that mistakes are going to be made. That’s a promise :) This year is sort of a test run so feedback and suggestions are more than welcome. A big slip up was pointed out to me tonight on a site I came across, dcist.com with the Washington, DC snow stats. I have no problem with just myself making a mistake on the site. Trust me, I’m use to it by now but it bugs me when other sites post or quote stuff that I screw up on.

Anyways the mistake I made was using the snow stats from Dulles instead of National in DC which turns out to be a huge difference in snowfall. I think my major in high school was detention and not geography which should explain a little bit about me :(

What bothers me the most is that a couple of articles were posted online going by the site so if you came across any of them the blame lies here and not with them. OK, enough groveling and begging for forgiveness ;)

National is the airport now for DC and the chances are there are probably a couple others that may need to be changed. If you come across any jump right in to let us know about them. As for populations don’t bother about that now. My main goal to get the site started was to find cities with pops over 100,000. In other words if your city’s population is listed here at 230,789 instead of what may be 240,777 I’m not worried about that right now. Sooner or later we will have more recent city populations listed. OK, enough for now and again keep the input coming.

A shout out to the posters at http://dcist.com/2010/02/dc_area_now_claims_second_highest_s.php for cluing me in about the Washington,DC area and who know, they may be right back up there after this storm is done. Snow hats off to dcist.com and and syracuse.com for having fun with the snow contest and again it was my bad and not theirs.

Cheers All!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 11

February 4th, 2010

As a reminder for how this works, there are 2 predictions made in each forecast post. One is for anywhere within New York State and one is for somewhere else in the world. There will be no waffle words such as “chance of” or “possibility of” in the forecasts. So the forecasts have a lot of certainty to them. I’ll be keeping track of my progress throughout the season. The goal for the end of the season is 90%.

You can also take part in the forecasts with something we like to call Stump the Weather Chump. Reply to this, or any Golden SnowCast or Stump the Weather Chump post. Include the area and element you would like covered. Try to keep it something for 2-3 days in advance, but I’ll try to be flexible with each request.

For the New York State forecast, it’s a comparison with New York City and the Golden Snowball cities.

New York City will have more snowfall this weekend than at least one of the Golden Snowball cities.

I will be using the totals from Saturday and Sunday for verification. There are three NYC area reporting stations: Central Park, JFK and La Guardia. If one of those has more total snow for the weekend than either Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo Rochester or Syracuse, the forecast will be correct.

For the World forecast, it’s a look to the Mid-Atlantic region.

At least one of the five bigger Mid-Atlantic cities will have 10 inches or more of snow this weekend.

The five cities that will be used for this are Baltimore, MD, Newark, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC. If one ore more of those cities total at least 10 inches of snow for Saturday and Sunday, this forecast will be correct.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Newspaper Article About Our Snow Contest

January 13th, 2010

I’ve always thought it was pretty cool when an article comes out about our New York State snow contest the Golden Snowball. It’s just as cool if not cooler that the first article with a mention of our national contest came out this morning in the Syracuse Post Standard newspaper.

Sean Kirst is the journalist of the piece and I have talked to him several times over the years about how much fun doing the contest is. He liked the idea that we started up a national snow race and to be honest it’s writers like Sean and several others who really get what it’s about and have made the GSB contest take off. Having fun with the snow contest but also trying to figure ways that snowy cities can use it to their advantage. Skiing, more places for kids (adults) to sled down hills, trails for snowmobilers, winter festivals and so on. In other words enjoying the snow because whether you want it or not we got it. You can check out the article HERE at Syracuse.com

Cheers,
Patrick

The United States Snowiest City Contest Updated 1/13/10

January 12th, 2010

1:00 AM – Wednesday - OK, I just updated the top 10 snowiest cities and so far no changes since earlier. I’m looking at the snow stats and remember this post is coming from the Oracle of the Syracuse Golden Snowball snow stats so I am definitely puling for the Northeast cities verses the rest of the country. I will and do try to keep it unbiased though. Syracuse (Woo Oho – see unbiased) so far is in the lead but there are several cities that have some of us in the NY area a little worried ;)

I think the city that scares me personally the most of becoming the King of The Snow Mountain for the first ever Golden Snow Globe Award is probably Erie,Pa. They have shown over and over again that they are definitely a worthy competitor when it comes to piling up the snow.

Other cities to pay a ton of attention to are the other snow belt cities in New York. Buffalo and Rochester! They are due to overtake Syracuse and it’s just a matter of time. It’s been several years but this could be the snow season that one of them skates to the top.

Michigan has been on a roll. Several of the cities around the Great Lakes seem to be catching up pretty quick to the top cities. The big factor in my opinion right now is which way the wind blows and how much of the lakes start to freeze over. With the cold temps the last couple of weeks the chances are that Lake Erie may be pretty much almost frozen over which may stop the Buffalo and surrounding cities from compensating on the lake effect snow but never count them out.

This being the first National Snow contest ever and me being the clueless person that I am when it comes to Geography I think I’ll have to read up on how the other great lakes freeze up, if they even do in the cold months. Either that or ya all can clue me in on it. Feel free to leave comments about the weather in your neck of the woods.

Hey, Have a Super Day All!

Early – 1/12 - I’ll post a summary of this latest update later but as it stands Fort Collins, Co has finally been knocked down the snow mountain I think for the first time this season. I’m sure they will be back though along with several of the other cities. My bet is there are going to be several lead changes in the next several weeks. Stay Tuned and Congrats to Syracuse for taking the king of the mountain. For now anyways :) !

Syracuse Ties Fort Collins for Most Snow in US

January 9th, 2010

We now have a tie between Fort Collins, Colorado and Syracuse, New York for the snowiest big city contest. How long will it last? Beats me but it’s pretty cool how the top cities are all closing in on each other and no doubt it’s a close snow race. All of the city stats were updated earlier today and the top 10 was just updated a little while ago.


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The Snowiest US Cities Updated 1/9/2010

January 7th, 2010

The new snow stats have been updated as of 1/9/10. Click Here to check out the snowiest US cities! There was a more shifting around in the top 10 snowiest cities. A lot of the cities around the Great Lakes seemed to fair well this last update. Mostly because of the cold air creating some good lake effect snow. The chances are there just may be a new leader come the next update. Will it be Syracuse or will another of the top 10 cities take the snowy spot as King of the snow mountain.

City Snowfall Totals Updated 1/3/10

January 3rd, 2010

Just a heads up again that the new snow stats have been updated as of 1/3/10. Click Here to check out the snowiest US cities and see which one is leading..

The Snowiest US Cities Are Updated

December 29th, 2009

First off PSUSyr5 is giving us all another forecast so check it out below ;)

I just wanted to give a quick heads up that all of the snowiest cities in the US have been updated. More to come on how it’s looking tomorrow but it is getting interesting.

I think the 3 cities to keep an eye on right now are Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Erie Pennsylvania. For what it’s worth Sioux Falls, South Dakota jumped 26 spots from number 31 to number 5. No doubt they are making a move and a big one at that.

Cheers :)

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