College hoops fans had an exciting weekend as ‘Selection Sunday’ filled in the remaining slots of the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Bracket. I don’t know about you, but I am excited to enter my fav picks and participate in the fun banter and bragging rights amongst my fellow friends and colleagues. March Madness and fan culture expert Alan Jay Zaremba knows this all too well as he spent the first weekend of March Madness 2007 in Las Vegas, hopping from sports book to sports book to watch as many of the basketball games as possible, place some bets, and … Continue reading Play Begins on March 19 – Who are your picks?

Today is Friday the 13th, which means it’s either a day of good luck or bad luck, depending on how you look at it. Yes, it’s associated with bad luck, but according to various web sites I found during a short Google-fueled research session, some research shows there are fewer car accidents (and other accidents) on Friday the 13th than other days because some people are so superstitious about the date that they avoid driving (or taking part in other potentially dangerous activities). So there you have it. A number of semi-significant historical events have occurred on Friday the 13th, including … Continue reading Friday the 13th

Good Tuesday morning! I have four University of Nebraska Press-centric links for you today: Robert Camuto, author of Corkscrewed: Adventures in the New French Wine Country, met with Huffington Post blogger Louise McCready during his book tour last month. To read about Robert’s history with wine, the concept of wine as food and the way the terrain and climate in France affects its wines, read Louise’s blog post about Robert. Speaking of blogs, Alan Zaremba, author of The Madness of March: Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas, spent this weekend at the CAA men’s basketball tournament, and he blogged up a … Continue reading Wine, March Madness and a smidge of soccer

March is the first month our spring season, and the University of Nebraska Press has more than a dozen new books out this month. You can visit the new titles page at the UNP web site for a full list of our March titles. Among our new releases is In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman A. Waberi. This is a story in which Africa is a rich and powerful nation, and the Unites States, Canada and the Europe are third-world slums. It’s also the story of a young white girl, who was adopted as a baby by an … Continue reading New March books available now, plus a nice Waberi review and some e-reader news

It’s finally beginning to feel that spring is just around the corner. And it is, as two major spring events occur this weekend: The beginning of Daylight Savings Time and the NCAA men’s basketball conference tournaments. What does a basketball tournament have to do the the University of Nebraska Press? More than you might think. Alan Zaremba, author of The Madness of March: Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas, will be at the CAA tourney, and will post about the games, the fan and more on his blog. He’ll be in Richmond, Va., from March 7-9, so … Continue reading Spring means basketball tournament time