Community Blog

Are you ready for March Madness? Join the Fogelman Properties 2010 NCAA Bracket Challenge on Facebook and compete against other residents from your community, and other Fogelman properties, to see who the most basketball savvy resident is! Prizes have yet to be determined. You must enter and complete a bracket before the games begin this Thursday, March 18, 2010.

Also, each submission is automatically entered into the $5k March Mania Bracket Pool created by Citizen Sports.

Follow this link to join the Fogelman Properties 2010 NCAA Bracket Challenge!

How does the bracket scoring system work? The following scoring system is used for the bracket: Round points received for correctly choosing the winning team…

• Rd. 1 (round of 64): 1 pt.
• Rd. 2 (round of 32): 2 pts.
• Rd. 3 (round of 16): 4 pts.
• Rd. 4 (round of 8): 8 pts.
• Rd. 5 (round of 4): 16 pts.
• Rd. 6 (championship): 32 pts.

When and where can I see how I’m doing compared to other people in my pool? Once the tournament begins, click on the pool name from the homepage. You’ll see how many points each person in your pool has scored as well as the team they picked as the national champ.

What can I win in the Fogelman Properties NCAA Bracket Challenge? The top three finishers (in points) that are residents of a community that Fogelman Properties manages will receive prizes yet to be determined. Stay tuned!

What is the $5k March Mania Bracket Pool created by Citizen Sports? Every entry is automatically submitted to the $5k March Mania Bracket Pool. The winner of the bracket pool will win the $5000 cash grand prize (pending eligibility, see full rules here).

Congratulations goes out to the University of Kansas for capturing the #1 seed in the Midwest region of the 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  U. of Kansas finished the regular season with a 32-2 record, a #1 overall AP ranking and Champions of the 2010 Big 12 Tournament.  They will certainly be a force to reckon with during March Madness.

Check out how CBS Sports.com columnist Dennis Dodd broke down their chances of winning “The Big Dance”…

Why they’ll win it: Few teams have the combination Self has at his disposal — height in Cole Aldrich, gritty leadership in Sherron Collins, brawn in the Morris twins and a talented bench. Kansas shouldn’t be challenged until the Sweet 16.

Why they won’t: While a great leader, Collins is prone to streaky shooting. Going into Saturday’s Big 12 championship game, he was shooting only 39.6 percent in the previous four games. His overall shooting percentage this season has been the worst of his career.

If Collins coughs up a 3-for-11 shooting night with a bunch of turnovers, that could be it for Kansas. Everything has to click for Kansas’ most inspirational leader for six straight games because if he has one bad one, Collins potentially could drag down the Jayhawks.

Player to watch: Aldrich might be the best low-post defender in the country; however Self wants his big man to be more assertive around the basket. If Aldrich starts taking the ball to the hole, heaven help the bracket. No team will come within 10 points.

All of you hoops fans probably already know that the Big 12 Men’s & Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournaments are wrapping up downtown this weekend.  As a March Madness fan, I can’t imagine a better place to be.  For the record, I think Kansas is tough this year and they’re a clear #1 NCAA Tournament seed, but I’m rolling with the Syracuse Orange ( I just hope the injury they suffered yesterday isn’t severe).

But if you’d like to catch some good LIVE college basketball and can’t make it to the Big 12 tournaments, you should check out the NAIA Tournament that is also going on downtown from March 17-23 at the Municipal Auditorium (301 W. 13th St., Kansas City, Mo.).  Don’t sleep on these smaller schools.  They really have some scrappy teams that can play some good ball.  And you can’t beat the ticket prices either!

OK, Hampton Woods…it’s pop quiz time on the community blog.  Let’s see who the history buffs are in the community.  Take a shot at answering the following five trivia questions.  I’ll post the answers later this week on the community Facebook page!  Good luck!

What congressional award was Dr. Mary Edwards Walker the first woman to receive?

What 20th-century conflict was dubbed the “forgotten war” despite 54,246 U.S. deaths?

What modern vehicle was invented to circumvent trench warfare?

What California city did the last Pony Express ride end in?

Who was the first U.S. president to adopt the informal version of his first name?

A new USA Today poll shows that 87% of dog owners believe that dogs are more or less intelligent than we think they are.  In comparison, 73% of non owners believe the same.

Intelligence, however, doesn’t always mean easy to train.  In an article titled Are You Smarter Than Your Dog?, expert Barbara Carvalho states:

“The most intelligent breeds often present the greatest challenges to mere mortals, like myself. It’s not that they don’t understand what’s expected, it’s just that they can figure out a better way to do it. If it matters to your canine relationship which one of you is more intelligent, don’t be fooled by a pretty face.”

What do you think, Hampton Woods?  Are your dogs more or less smarther than we think they are?  Do you have any stories to back up your opinion?  Please share!

Were you able to go on any trips with your classmates when you were a high school student?  If you did, you probably remember how much fun you had and what a great experience it was to get out and do something different.  Well, now you can help some local high school kids with the same experience.

Members of the Mill Valley High School band are looking to raise funds for a trip to Dallas next month.  On March 6 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.n., the students – with the help of their families – will hold a garage sale in the schools cafeteria.  All proceeds will go towards the bands trip to the Five Star Music Festival in Dallas where the group will play for judges and participate in a music clinic.

The Mill Valley High School band program usually plans a trip once every four years.  In 2006, the group traveled to a music festival in St. Louis.

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