The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament kicked off today.  March Madness is in full swing.  I glanced at my bracket a few times today and at last count I was pleased to note that I have 7 out of the first 8 games right.  I heard on the radio that nearly 6 billion dollars in productivity will be lost today.  I hope that I was able to keep my share of that lost productivity to a minimum.  A 45 minute phone call made sure i was not getting too distracted.

i saw an interesting story about the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves the other day.  Before I get too far into that let me just say, I have never been a fan of any Minnesota teams except for Golden Gophers hockey.  I have a lot of respect for the way the Twins run their team, I was disappointed when hockey left for Texas, and I was disappointed with they chose a horrible name for the new hockey team.  And those are the things I would say are positive in relation to Minnesota sports teams.  Usually my feelings waver somewhere between complete apathy and borderline hatred. 

That being said, it takes something fairly significant to make me take notice when I see Minnesota related news on my favorite sports websites.  This week it was there.  I blame you:  Wolves owner says KG 'tanked it'.  If there had been one individual over the last 10 or more years that made me keep an eye on the Minnesota Timberwolve, it was Kevin Garnett.  The guy made the jump from high school to the NBA probably as smoothly as anyone.  He helped a team that stunk most years to at least get to the point of being a contender.  When surrounded with decent talent, he even helped lead them to the Western Conference Finals.  He was competitive and played hard.  Most importantly, you never heard him complain publicly.  Unlike other big time basketball players, if he ever critcized his owners, it was behind closed doors.  If he ever demanded a trade, it was never publicly declared.  He endured years where the Wolves had no draft pics due to the underhanded dealings of team management. 

But now that Garnett has moved on to a better place and a winning team, his former owner, Glen Taylor, thought that it would be a good idea to criticize Garnett for sitting out the last few games of last season.  One year later, the Timberwolves are once again terrible and Garnett is fighting for a shot at an NBA title.  Sound like sour grapes to you?

I think if Taylor were smart, he would be thanking Garnett for his years of hard work.  Who knows if professional basketball would have survived in Minnesota without Garnett.  Other teams have had to relocate during that time, trying to find an identity and a locale that would love them in spite of having terrible teams.  Minnesota always had a reason to sell tickets:  KG in the lineup. 

So best of luck to you, Glen Taylor.  Maybe your collection of young players and cast-off veterans will make something happen some day.  But in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, you just sold off your Big Ticket.  I'll return to my apathy now, don't be surprised if some of your regular fans join me.

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in the fall of 1999, i left the confines of small town north dakota to start my college journey.  the big city of minneapolis was my target and i took aim.  i learned a lot that year.  a lot about failing test (that turned out to be passing thanks to the curve), about letting go of home, about dorm life, about campus security. 

unexpectedly, i also learned about punk rock.

growing up in northwest north dakota, you don't find out about cultural movements very often.  especially movements that are rebellious and subversive.  i knew of some punk rock bands like green day and mxpx.  mtv was starting to latch on to blink 182 and other poppy, watered down versions of punk rock.  nothing like what i would find in minneapolis.

my exposure to punk rock started slow.  i started listening to bands that had a more political message, stuff with some meat.  rage against the machine was the first to catch my attention.  the first few friends i made were really into the christian ska thing.  it was upbeat and fun, certainly not mainstream.  somewhere in the middle of the rage and the ska, i found punk rock.

i remember as that year went on, two names kept coming up often:  mike ness and henry rollins.  i first saw henry rollins on a flyer that was plastered all over campus.  at first i didn't think much of him.  but mike ness did catch my attention.  i downloaded a couple of social distortion songs (mike ness's band) and really enjoyed them.  girls and transferring kept my attention most of that year and music took a back seat.  moving to fargo would change that.

i needed an outlet and rage against the machine was too political.  they had covered a song by a punk band from washington, dc called bad brains.  through them i found minor threat and a guy named ian mackaye and his new band fugazi.  much to my surprise, ian went to high school with that one guy... what was his name again?  that's right... henry rollins.    they grew up in washington, dc together and were part of the emerging punk movement in the early 80s.  i fell in love with their music, their movement, and in the case of rollins, his writing.

the summer of 2001 brought me two things.  first, i saw fugazi.  they were amazing and my love for dc punk grew like crazy.  the second thing was a new girl in my life.  emily was also into punk rock.  it was through her that i started to listen to bad religion.  and my journey into punk rock continued.  i would pick up a book called dance of days that was written about the punk scene in dc.  i heard the author speak at a local coffee shop and discovered that he grew up a mere 2 hours from me.  how could it be that a small town kid who bought records in williston, nd could end up as a part of one of the most prominant punk scenes in the world?

dance of days would serve me as a guide book the next summer.  along with my copies of some of henry rollins' books, i spent my summer in washington, dc seeking out wilson high school, the 930 club and the georgetown baskin robbins where rollins and mackaye worked.  i walked the bridge that rollins walked and drove through parts of alexandria hoping i would stumble upon the dischord house. 

i don't consider myself much of a punk.  i really never was.  i do find myself pushing back against authority and i find myself questioning "the system" from time to time.  i still love the music and i still read rollins.  this saturday, i get to see him speak.  and so my punk rock journey continues.  this aging punk rock wannabe will see his aging punk rock hero.  can't wait. 

Before I move on to other things, I want to issue a handful of reminders:

 - Students should log in to the Student Portal and confirm their schedules as soon as possible.  If you have any questions about how to do this, contact me. 

 - Students should be filling out the 2008-2009 FAFSA if they want to continue to receive Financial Aid.  If you have any questions about how to complete the FAFSA, contact the Financial Aid Office.

 - We are nearing the end of the quarter and we want to make sure that you are finishing strong in your classes.  If you are falling behind, need a tutor, or need some encouragement for the stretch run, contact me, Gayle Johnson, or Rob Neuteboom.

And now for our featured presentation.... I have never been a big movie guy.  While I certainly enjoy watching movies, they have just never been a big priority for me.  I don't go out to many of them, I rarely rent, and I believe I own 7 or less movies total.  Last weekend, however, I saw two movies that I had not seen before.  I went and saw I Am Legend in the theatre and I rented Knocked Up to watch at home.  I'm no movie critic, so I won't even attempt to make an intelligent assesment of the two movies.  But I will say this: I enjoyed them both.  Neither would qualify as family entertainment that's for sure.  But for a single adult like myself, they raised the status of my weekend from fairly low key (which generally means boring), to mildly entertaining (which means I had some fun inspite of the general boredom). 

I bring this up in part because this week is also the Fargo Film Festival.  I have not been able to attend this event every year, but when I have gone, I enjoyed it.  Were it not for an extended visit from my son this week, I would have tried to attended at least a portion of it.  Like I said, I'm no movie critic, nor did I study film at all in college, so I can't give you a very educated explaination of why I would want to go.  I do consider myself to be an appreciator of art in a variety of forms and this would be just another opportunity to sample some fine arts here in Fargo.  If you happen to be in the Fargo/Moorhead area at all this weekend, I would highly recommend checking it out.