Not only is March ending, this weekend the college basketball tournament called March Madness will finish with two semi-final games and the winners will play the final game to see who will be the national champion in Indianapolis, Indiana in the Conseco Field House.   There are four teams still in the tournament, Butler University, Michigan State University, West Virginia University and Duke University.  

 Michigan State and Butler will play at 6 p.m. on Saturday April 3td in the Conseco Field House in Indianapolis to be followed by West Virginia and Duke at 8:45.   The final game will be played on Monday evening April 5, 2010 then we will know who the National Champion is.  If you check the team’s school colors it is a good change there will be a blue and white winner.

In the Semi Finals two teams Butler won by 5 pts, Michigan State won by 1 pt, Duke by 13 and West Virginia won by 11 pts.  The games were very exciting hopefully this weekend will be the same.

Butler University is located in Indianapolis a private owned liberal arts school.  Butler has around 4000 students with 60 degree programs.   They are in the NCAA.   Their mascot is a bulldog with their school colors of blue and white.    The Head Coach Tom Lickliter is a well known coach who has won several awards as head coach.  As a smaller school they might be the underdog but they have a good winning record.  This is their first time in the final four.  Just 7 miles to drive to Conseco Field House.

Michigan State University is located in East Lansing, Mich.  It is a state public research university with 47,000 students.  Michigan State has over 200 academic programs.   It is a part of the Big Ten.  Their mascot is a Spartan with school colors green and white.   The coach is Tom Izzo has led them to six Final Fours but I don’t believe they were suspected to be there this year.

West Virginia University is located in Morgantown, W.VA. it is a state owned school with 28,000 students, 185 majors.  The mascot is a Mountaineer and school colors are old gold and blue.  The coach is Bob Huggins who has been very controversial in his time.  But who would have thought they would be in the final four.  They have not been there for 51 years.

Duke University is located in Durham, N.C.   It is a private research university with 6400 students, two schools for undergraduates and nine graduate schools.   Their mascot is Blue devils and the school colors are duke blue and white.  They are a member of the NCAA Division 1.  Coach Mike Krzyzewski led them to a Olympic gold as well as the school its self has been in 10 Final Fours in recent years so it is not surprising that they are there again.

Good luck to all the teams but I would like to see Butler win as they are small and I am from Indiana.  Facts from Wikipedia.

Larry Birds career began with the Boston Celtics in 1979. He signed after his junior year in college but he had one year to finish college before starting to play.  When he signed he was the highest paid rookie in the NBA.

During his rookie year his rival Magic Johnson signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.  So the rivalry continued which I believe make them both better players.  The Celtics improved immediately posting the league’s best regular season.  Bird was named the Rookie of the Year and to the All Star Team which he played in for the 12 years he played.

The rivalry between Larry and Magic changed NBA basketball in that there attendance grew tremendously and the TV stations started to be interested in running the basketball games again. The Celtics and the Lakers would continue to go the finals.  Whether they one or lost Larry Bird would be named The Most Valuable Player in the Finals.

Larry had to privilege of playing with other greats on his team or against, like Bill Walton, Bill Russell and Walt Chamberlain.  Of course he played against Magic Johnson, they became the greatest rivalries in professional sports.  They became friends off the court.  Larry played with Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and others for the United States basketball team in the Olympics in Barcelona.  The “Dream Team” won the men’s basketball gold metal.

At his retirement party Magic Johnson said and I quote “Larry, you only told me one lie.  You said there will be another Larry Bird.  Larry there will never, ever be another Larry Bird”.

After 12 seasons Bird’s back became too much of a problem to continue playing basketball.  Bird retired in 1992.  The Celtics hired him to be a special assistant in the front office for 5 years.

Bird became the coach of the Indiana Pacers where he received the Coach of the Year award.  He coached for 3 years then he retired again.  After 3 years he went back to the Pacers to become the president of basketball operations.

He wrote a book, an autobiography name Drive, The Story of My Life with Bob Ryan.

He has been called, “ The Hick From French Lick” due to his humble beginnings.  He was also called the “The Great White Hope”.  Now he  is called the “Larry Legend”.

Bird was ranked #30 in ESPN’s Sports Century’s 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20^th Century.

My facts game from Wikipedia.

Larry Bird was born in West Baden in southern part of Indiana.  He graduated from Spring Valley High School where he began in career in basketball.  The high school was a consolidation of the school from West Baden and French Lick. He was recognized as a great played in that high school and set all records for the school but did not get a lot of notice from around the state due to the size of his school.  In his later years he was called “The Hick from French Lick” which he did not appreciate.

Larry was not a favorite with his classmates and was not a great student, this I know because my cousins went to school with him.  He was a snob, due to abilities in basketball.  When he comes to French Lick now, he sometimes will nod and says hello to some of classmates.  It surprises me that he even goes back.

Larry’s family had serious financial troubles as he was growing up.   His father had a problem with alcohol believed to be posttraumatic stress due his time in the war.  After his mother divorced his father, he committed suicide.  With all his family problems it was amazing Larry did as well as he did, thank goodness for basketball.

Larry built his mother a beautiful home in West Baden with stables and facilities to make his commercials there.  I can tell you that it was beautiful as I have seen it.  His mother has passed away now.

He went to Indiana University for a very short time but the size of the school compared to where he was from was just too much.  He went back home and got a job with the street department.  The next year he enrolled at Indiana State in Terre Haute, which was a much smaller college.  While Larry was at Indiana State he received almost all the awards possible for a college basketball player.  When Larry left college he was the fifth- highest scorer in NCAA history averaging 30.3 points a game.  He was picked by the Missouri Valley Conference picked him on the All-Century Team.

His professional career began with the Boston Celtics after 4 years in college.  But that is for another blog.

My facts came from Wikipedia as well as per well as personal knowledge.

Even though they met during the filming of Miley's latest movie, "The Last Song," Miley and Liam feel a real connection, almost like they've known each other longer than they actually have.
Young love has definitely struck Miley and Liam, and since she's 17 and he's 19, it's hard to say where this will go. He plays the love interest for Miley in the movie, but she was more interested in something else.

Like any young girl, she was unsure, so she paid the actor who plays her brother in the movie 10 dollars to see if he liked her. Miley has said of Liam that he makes her want to go to work and do and be her best. Many fans see Miley as "Hannah Montana," but she's ready to be a grown-up actress. This relationship has really grown. In fact, she has met his parents, and they of course love her. They have even said that they love each other. These two are ready to be seen as a couple, to show their happiness and contentment with the other.

Hopefully, for them, it will work out. Liam knows that Miley is interested in charity work, so he wants to ask her to be an ambassador with him for the Australian Childhood Foundation. He's pretty sure that she will, and this is important to him and his father, who has been working with this charity for 20 years. So, they wouldn't just have the movie in commmon, they'd be working toward the same goal for Australian kids. It will be interesting to watch these two, hopefully they can make their new relationship work.

Miley Ray Cyrus was born on November 23, 1992. She is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, already an established artist in the country music field. Miley Cyrus has became renounced in several categories for her young age. She is considered a pop singer, song writer, television and film personality. She has probably gained the biggest part of her popularity by starring in the television series, "Hannah Montanna." The show became a teen hit when it debuted on the Disney channel in 2006. In 2007, the show was nominated for a prime time Emmy award.

"Hannah Montanna The Movie" was released in April of 2009. However, the cast and crew have gotten its claim to fame from the hit television series itself. The show has won several television awards. It has won the Teen Choice award for the past three years and also the Kid's Choice award. Miley Cyrus won the ASCAP award. The cast and crew won the 2007 Golden Icon Award. It has also won the creative arts Emmy, outstanding children's program and best family television series. Cyrus won the best performance in a television series.

"Hannah Montanna" has been contracted for one more year. Miley Cyrus is releasing one more album and says that she is calling it quits with her singing. She is wanting to continue in films. Miley Cyrus has gained notoriety primarily as a teen and children's show icon. Though some have compared her to Britney Spears, she has gained fame in other ways. Cyrus will be a star in her own right.