2011 NBA Playoffs: American Idol

Did Haley pull off Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep?'

Just as I blogged two weeks ago, this is the time of the year that entertainment begins to shift into a higher gear. The NBA Playoffs enter the first round while “American Idol” is at its peak as the contestants usually deliver the best performances of the year. Ever since the NBA changed to a seven-game format in the first round, it has produced great drama. Yes, the seed disparity is a lot but because this era has a lot of great talent, even a #8 or #7 team upsetting a top team is possible. Just look at the amazing first round series in the past few years: Dallas Mavericks versus Golden State Warriors in 2007, San Antonio Spurs vs. Phoenix Suns in 2007, Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks in 2008, Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat in 2009, Boston Celtics vs. Chicago Bulls in 2009 and LA Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder last year. A five-game series would have shortened the drama. Yes, there are lopsided and predictable matchups but given the fact that fans are so psyched at the start of the playoffs, these “boring” games are just fine.

This year features a plethora of talented teams that make the struggle for power more interesting and less predictable. We have intriguing teams like the villainous Miami Heat and the old bully Boston Celtics. It is interesting to know how the young and vastly talented Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma Thunder would fare. And of course, we have the teams of 2000’s (Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs) mightily perched in the top of the West. This year is one of the most interesting playoff seasons of all-time. My only concern: my favorite team (Utah Jazz) did not even reached it.

Failed Predictions

Bye Pia! | Credit: American Idol

A month ago, I attempted to predict two things: the “American Idol” elimination order and the NCAA March Madness results. Both started well with me getting three out of four correct picks in “American Idol” and eight out of twelve in NCAA March Madness. Then, everything went south. I will discuss “American Idol” in bigger detail later since it is the main topic of this write-up. In my NCAA picks, I had all #1 seeds reaching the Final Four. It was a safe choice because it seemed a sure thing that at least one of them would advance since they are quite consistent. Whenever Duke defeats UNC in the ACC Championship, they reach at least the Final Four. Pittsburgh seemed to have an easy road to the Final Four as they have a sucky bracket. The only teams that I liked in there were Michigan State and Butler because they had experience. However, they are so lowly seeded. Kansas and Ohio State appeared to be powerhouses. It was a sure thing, right? No. All first seeds got eliminated before the Final Four. In the usual words of Internet people, it was “EPIC FAIL” for me. I was not even close to beating Obama’s bracket. Even my friends who filled their brackets for the first time edged my bracket. OK, let’s stop discussing about NCAA…

Now is the time to put “American Idol” into the spotlight.

March Madness 2011 Final Week: TV Series Bracket

Bye Thia! | Credit: American Idol

It is already April but the March Madness fever is still on as we head to the National Championship game this Monday/Tuesday. All my Final Four teams have long been eliminated but I am interested in watching the Butler Bulldogs finally completing their unfinished business last year. I was not rooting for them during last year’s Cinderella run (simply because I am a Duke fan) but I am 100% rooting for them to upset UConn.

However, I was not able to follow NCAA basketball on TV this year (the most that I could was via ESPN.com). Thus, I will be discussing what I was able to follow (thanks to torrents… I can watch them any time even if I have them playing in the background while working from home during a weekend) – TV series.

This journal entry is my last meaningless and trivial attempt to post an imaginary bracket this year. I have a better bracket blog idea for next year but that will have to wait for now. Nevertheless, this year’s final blog covers an interesting topic: TV characters. If you pit two TV characters, who would you choose? Thus, I am writing about a TV Character bracket. This time, I am just going to discuss TV characters from the shows I watched unlike my first TV bracket this year where I put TV shows that I never watched at all. In this way, I can be fair. I am judging the characters based on how great they were; how well-acted these are; and if they are female characters, how hot they are. Aside from these factors, I am judging the characters on how nicely I perceive them. In short, it is still subjective. In this way, I am still not fair.