NCAAbbs

Right now I am looking good. Hopefully I won't have to eat my words on this friendly wager I made with Kevster:

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KennesawBasketball Wrote:
Any ETSU fan want to put a friendly wager on 2 of the 4 top teams being from the south? I am not predicting finishing order, but I will say that 2 out of the top 4 teams (record wise) will be from the South division. Who wants a piece of that action?

I will use an avatar for a month after the season of any ETSU fan's liking if I lose the wager. I will get to pick the avatars of whoever wants a piece of my bet.

Any takers?

Kevster Wrote:
I'll bet you get a LOT of takers on this one. Count me IN.

LOL. That's a good one.

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Right now the standings are as follows:

1. Jacksonville (South)
2. Belmont (North)
2. ETSU (North)
2. Stetson (South)
5. Mercer (South)
5. Florida Gulf Coast (South)
7. Gardner Webb (North)
7. Campbell (North)
7. Kennesaw State (South)
10. Lipscomb (North)
10. USC-Upstate (North)
12. North Florida (South)

That gives the South 4 out of the top 6 with Kennesaw tied for 7th with Gardner Webb and Campbell. Kennesaw has Campbell on the road and Gardner Webb at home. A sweep of those two games would all but cinch the bet for the South. I will start to get your avatar ready Kevster....I can't wait

Did I take that bet?

Unfortunately you talked to talk of the dominance of the North, but wouldn't bit on the bet. I was laying the trap out for you, and you never bit. I do have to give you that credit. Of course if the North dominates in the last 2/3rds of conference play then I will be eating my words and wish I had never brought this back up.

Jacksonville and Stetson will drop like a weighted anvil.

Seems premature to talk about final standings. I don't even know who I think is going to win it all.

I still don't see three out of the four top teams going to the north. The south has already had too many wins against northern competition. ETSU and Belmont are the class of the north. Everyone else will drop to around .500 play by the end of the year. There will be atleast 2 teams from the south significantly over .500 which will account for my win, and Kevster rocking an "I love Tony Ingle" avatar for a full month....woohhooo

BTW, who is Tony Ingle?

You might want to find that out, as people will be asking you that with regards to your avatar in a few months.

OK. I looked him up. He's the student assistant at KSU basketball. His website is:

http://students.kennesaw.edu/~tingle1/

I find it a little perplexing that you'd want an avitar displayed with this person, but it's not up to me to judge.

So be it. If i lose (lol, that's a good one), I shall display young Tony proudly...as you requested.

You have given me a great idea. I might make an entire Ingle family portrait for you to proudly display...that would be the undoing of any proud ETSU fan.

Lemme see. Here are Sagarin's ASun ratings for today. Now why would you think the south could rise in this list?

145 East Tennessee State
159 Belmont
192 Jacksonville
244 Gardner-Webb
262 Lipscomb
263 Stetson
265 Mercer
279 Campbell
284 Florida Gulf Coast
312 USC Upstate
327 Kennesaw State
339 North Florida(UNF)

With Jacksonville's upcoming demise (I predict they are going to start falling toward the bottom of this list), you won't see a southern team in the top 5.

I'm willing to predict that Tusculum would be a force in the southern half of the ASun.

Say what you want but the matchups this year don't prove your theory.

North vs. South matchups so far (games are in reverse date order):

Southern Wins:
Jacksonville vs. Upstate
FGCU vs. Gardner Webb
Kennesaw vs. Lipscomb
Stetson vs. Campbell
Kennesaw vs. Belmont
Mercer vs. Lipscomb
FGCU vs. Campbell

Northern Wins:
ETSU vs. UNF
Belmont vs. Mercer
ETSU vs. Jacksonville
Upstate vs. UNF
Gardner Webb vs. Stetson

That means that the "Weak" Southern Division is 7-5 vs. the Northern Division. Looks pretty even to me :) I guess Tusculum would be doing alright in the Northern Division as well.

Oh, how quickly things can change.

I'm thinking an "I Miss Division II" avitar will look nice by your name...

Haha....not gonna happen kevster. All I need is for Kennesaw to win out, and I will have this thing locked up...should be easy enough. Our only tough road game left is North Florida later in the year.

Yeah that didn't sound like a bet I'd take.

You claimed that you didn't want to take the bet because you felt like the North was going to beat up on each other so badly that two South teams would sneak in the top 4. Turns out the South has just been better so far. Will it end up that way? Who knows, but Kennesaw sweeping the Nashville twins, and Florida Gulf Coast running through Campbell and Gardner Webb didn't help the Northern cause. I have to think that Jacksonville will be able to take care of their home games against the North, and Mercer and Kennesaw should atleast split against Campbell and Gardner Webb. It will probably come down to which cellar dwellar (Upstate and UNF) can upset one of the other division middle of the road teams at home. Kennesaw plays Upstate this Thursday I believe, so hopefully we do not trip up after getting some momentum this past week.

KB,

I've been out of the loop. How did the south do against the north over the weekend?

Should I be getting my new avitar ready?

Getting a little nervous :) Bad weekend for the south. Looks like it is going to be a fight to the finish!

UH OH.....South falling apart!!! GW beating up on Mercer - Campbell whooping up on Kennesaw. Going to need a second half of the season comeback, or a Stetson run of victories :)

I've been giving thought to that new avitar. I'm thinking something in a pink, possibly.

Gold, Pitt, Lover...any thoughts?

Let's see. If my calculations are correct ... and they're good calculations ... that anvil is already starting to feel pretty heavy.

Looks like the south went 0-4 tonight. Combined with their (what was it, 1-5?) record over the weekend, things are looking downright scary for our southern clan.

Not that the north has anything to brag about. After all, they're playing ABSOLUTELY NOBODY. North Florida, for goodness sakes. Kennesaw. Don't even get me started on some of those other so-called schools.

Now, a moment of silence for our southern brethren.

I dont think you should be allowed to create anything with Mr. Finger in it....that just isn't right.

I'll give your point some consideration.

I was thinking the avatar should be either a box of Tampax or Summer's Eve.

I think kevster has this one locked up. Mercer has fallen like a rock directly to next-to-last place. Thanks to UNF we are safe from dead last.

You gotta love UNF. They keep us all safe from last place.

Heck, they pretty much keep all of Divsion I safe from last place, except New Jersey Tech, whoever that is. Might be a high school.

Merc, you're always good for an objective opinion. What do you think the avitar should be like?

Kev, it's amazing how fast the South folded isn't it? All it took was playing against the North. zing!

As for the little avatar ......hmm... if you could get "Kennesaw is not Atlanta" in there somewhere that would be funny. Possibly with a pink background.

That's not much but it's all I can think of real quick. Let me think over the weekend....

I am getting the succinct feeling I should not have brought this up :)

Had Upstate finished off their comeback last night I would agree totally with you on that one. Stetson blew a 25 point lead in the second half before Upstate ran out of gas.

AS I was saying, let's not be so quick to judge. Pink might be going a little too far.

Whew - Stetson with a big win over ETSU to keep 2 teams in the top 4. Looks like those are my only two chances at this point.

You guys better hope we beat Lipscomb today!!!

I had the chance to visit Kennesaw over the weekend. I actually stayed there overnight on Friday. While there, I drove around the city a couple of times so I could report what I learned to my ASun friends.

These are some of the interesting deductions I made:

Leading Industries:

1) MacDonalds
2) Check Cashing Services
3) Dry Goods & Feed Stores

Average Income:

From first glance, it seemed like most folks are very poor in Kennesaw. I did see some kind of plant there. Wasn't sure what it was. There was a McDonalds located across the street from it.

Will report more later

Sounds like an interesting place. Too bad you didn't show up when Bill Clinton flew into our OWN airport and spoke at our university. I know, it's kind of crazy to have your own airport.

I didn't quite get what the Clinton campaign was hoping for in Cobb County though...

Kevster, why the trip to Kennesaw?

I just returned home from Nashville and my wife informed me she had found a car she wanted to buy in Atlanta. I said, "let me reserve a room north of Atlanta so we have a place to spend the night." Little did I know that exit 369 (or was it 269?) was Kennesaw. Once I got past the new Interstate strip malls and hotels, I was able to see the real Kennesaw. It really was less impressive than I'd imagined it would be.

I did, however, learn I could be in Atlanta in less than 30 minutes from Kennesaw, so - possibly - it can be considered part of the Atlanta whateverPLEX. Not that I can imagine any community wanting that distinction, but it is what it is.

Kev. That made me laugh. Thank you,

Three things Kev, I'm wounded you didn't tell me you were coming to Nashville, we could have drank liquor and made fun of Kennesaw while listening to Monte Good and looking at women. Second, if you got to Atlanta in 30 minutes from that KSU exit, then either they've blown the interstate wide open and there's no construction now, you were driving at 3 A.M. on a Tuesday night, or you should consider entering yourself in the Indy 500.
Lastly, finally someone sees what I'm talking about in that port a john called Kennesaw. Wilkesboro, NC and Elizabethton, Tennessee both have their own airports. Bill Greene (chairman of Carter County Bank and a bazillionaire) flies out of there, and what's the execs who stayed in Wilkesboro for Lowe's still fly out of that airport instead of driving to Mooresville, what's your point?
Lebanon, Tennessee has an airport, too, which is about the equivalent to Kennesaw.

OK, I didn't go all the way to downtown. It was about 10 minutes to 285 (if you were sitting at the Interstate exit), then the rest of the way was clear.

True story: I decided to grab some breakfast before I started car shopping (that was the real reason I was driving around Kennesaw that morning). Now, in fairness to Kennesaw, I didn't ask for directions. I just started looking.

Figured I'd run into a local place or a cracker barrel or shoneys - or even a Waffle House. Atlanta is full of those. But I couldn't find any of them. Finally, after passing a few McDonalds, I stopped at one (it was across from the plant in the previous message).

As I started to get out of my car, I noticed two men - not together - either of which looked like he was waiting for the next cash bearing patron to accost while entering the McDonalds. I decided to get back in the car and go to the next place I could find, which also happened to be a McDonalds.

Gotta admit, I did giggle to myself a little.

Oh, and sorry about not stopping to see you in Nashville. It was a hectic few days. I did, however, take time to head over to Loveless Cafe for dinner one night.

Kev... I stopped at six McDonalds on the way to work today. When I got to work, I thought damn. I could go for another #1 but they stop serving breakfast at 10:30 so I was SOL. I am going to go again for lunch though, can't get enough of the big macs. Biggie sweet tea baby! Maybe I'll hit up the one that's in the cafe or I could drive and get to the one that's pretty close. I'll probably go to both then get me a to-go order so when I'm driving back to Kennesaw I don't have to stop at the first two I pass and just hit the other four for dinner. Catch a movie at the Kennesaw movie-plex then probably hit up the two McDonalds on the way home. All in a days time.

Update: I passed a McDonalds and didn't go in. It hurt a little inside.

Sorry to hear about your experience Kevster. Next time just let me know when you are in town and I will direct you around town. Between Barrett PKWY and the area around KSU you can pretty much find anything you want. It sounds like you were up near highway 41... sorta junky area. Also, Kennesaw looks to be wealthier than Johnson City...

Estimated median household income in 2005: $64,700 (it was $60,404 in 2000)
Kennesaw $64,700

Estimated median household income in 2005: $36,600 (it was $30,835 in 2000)
Johnson City $36,600

http://www.city-data.com/city/Johnson-Ci...essee.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Kennesaw-Georgia.html

I think Bartlett Parkway was where my hotel was (Hilton Gardens).

I've learned that every place has its own charm. In Kennisaw, it might have been the local hot dog place as you approach downtown or the Feed & Seed store. I can't remember the last time I saw one of those.

Looked, but never ran into the university.

Now, I don't live in JC. But it seems like they showed up on several lists last year as best (or 1 of the top 3 or 4) places to live in the U.S. I'm sure a few JCitians will pop up here and share details.

I don't remember such distinctions for Kennesaw, but perhaps I've just missed them.

Median income doesn't mean a lot. I do a lot of work on Long Island, where the median income of some towns is in the $100 - $150,000 range. But they wouldn't compare to Johnson City or Knoxville in livability.

Well I am just looking at the facts! I even compared "Livability" or cost of living and the median income in Johnson City would have to be 50,000 per house to compare to that of Kennesaw's 60,000. However, last I checked the median income in Johnson city is only like 36,000 k per house... I noticed the unemployment is lower in K-town as well! So, I am done with this convo lol...

Kr... how many McDonalds in each town?

Hmmm. Seems like I once flew into the Tullahoma, Tennessee airport. Yes, that's right. Look for it on a map. It's in the mountains between Chattanooga and Cookeville, TN.

No security, no lines, no nothing. Just flew right in, got out, then went to my meeting.

I wonder if Bill has ever been to Tullahoma....

Actually, Kennesaw has been listed as one of the top 10 cities in the nation for families. Surely if someone thinks that highly of it, it can't be too horrible.
http://www.kennesaw.ga.us/index.asp?NID=351

Tullahoma, wow... Home of George Dickel! Now that's a great place to visit. Beautiful mountains, and lots of horse farms out that way. No smog, nice people, doesn't look like an overdeveloped toilet, nor do they claim to be part of Nashville.

If Kennesaw is a toilet bowl, Johnson City could be the sh1t. You know, as an endearing term... Like 'you're the ****'.

ETSU, 30 miles away from jack ****.