Winter returns! Duke Loses... Yes! West Hartford Plow Drivers, and St. Patrick's Day!

Winter Returns / West Hartford Plow drivers irresponsible

Just days ago, I was out walking around outside in a t-shirt and shorts (okay, so I was stretching the season a little which is probably why I have a slight and well-deserved cold) and WHAM - we received what seems to be the largest snow storm of the entire winter! Happy Global Warming, everyone!

So, I spent an hour last night shoveling like a madman. And I'll pick it up this morning after I get finished spilling my guts on this thing. The best way to look at it is that I don't have to drive anywhere today to get in my Cardio Workout. This means I can focus my attention where it belongs... switching back and forth between NCAA tournament action and The English Premier League.

The biggest complaint I have about Winter is not about the weather -- it with moronic West Hartford Public Works plow drivers. As residents shovel or plow their arses off to keep the sidewalks clear as force-mandated by West Hartford Town Ordinance, the town plows speed down the street returning snow, ice, and ice chunks back onto the sidewalk. It seems there should be some accountability for the ludicrous and rude behavior shown by some public works employees. The fact is that there is no reason to plow at such speeds to clear snow from the roads - driving at reasonable speeds clears the snow from the street without making it nearly impossible for older residents to shovel out the 4 foot ice mound created by the plows. If you see town employees acting irresponsibly - call Public Works at 860-561-8100, or if you don't get an answer, just call West Hartford Police at 860-523-5203. Remember, West Hartford residents already get hosed by high taxes, it's not acceptable for town employees to run around trying to make more money for the town by making sidewalk clearing unmanageable which result in you receiving a separate fine. Not all drivers behave this way, but look out for those who lack common-sense.

SPORTS: Soccer and NCAA Basketball

Fox Soccer Channel is delivering us two live games today - Reading v Portsmouth at 11 am, and Blackburn v West Ham at 1 pm. It will be interesting to see if West Ham has thrown in the towel or not - particularly when they seem bound for relagation, and the sinking moral was worsened since they've been accused of violating EPL recruitment rules; currently they have filed an appeal.

The NCAA Tournament has been pretty uneventful so far with the notable exception of Duke losing to Virgina Commonwealth on Thursday night. I mean wow! Can it get any better than that? As a UConn Husky fan (and alumni) it's a rule that you have to root against Duke. Why? It has to do with Duke knocking us out of the NCAA tournament in 1990 (79-78 in OT - Christian Laettner's buzzer shot) and in 1991 (81-67) We got revenge in 1999 by defeating Duke to win the National Championship. Actually, I think its a world-wide phenomena to want to see Coach K and his preppy team get creamed. There are webpages dedicated to hating Duke, and even news stories about it. And why not - when CBS sends Billy Packer to cheer for Duke during games, it gets rather pathetic. Here's a petition to get Billy Packer removed from the airwaves.

But other than that the Tourney hasn't proved to be a huge surprise. Although Number 11 Winthrop's victory over 6-seeded Notre Dame was a surprise, particularly with it being St. Patrick's Day and all. What's disappointing is to see another Big East team bite the dust. My view on rooting for teams in the Tourney is that, you should root for your conference. The reason for doing so is that not only is bragging rights for your conference, but when a team in your conference advances, the entire conference benefits financially from the win.

And 9-seeded Purdue's win over 8-seed Arizona isn't really an upset since the seeding is so close.

Hartford St. Patrick's Day parade has been rescheduled and NOT cancelled

Even if you have to stay inside or shovel snow - have a fun St. Patrick's Day! And note that today's parade is not cancelled all-together as some media outlets have incorrectly reported, it's being RESCHEDULED for Saturday, March 24th. Let's hope for a warm Spring day!