I’m Sorry

On behalf of The Big Ten, all it’s fans, college basketball, and humanity as a whole. I’d like to take a moment to apologize for what went down friday evening, in the NCAA tourney. At the same moment, in two different parts of the country, the two worst sporting events, in the history of mankind were taking place, both of which featured Big Ten teams.
Personally, I blame the selection committee, I tried to warn them, I tried to warn all of you, I even tried to blame myself. Yet, I still watched. Four teams, destined for a sure-fire ass kicking on sunday, struggled with the simplest of games. I tried to tell everyone, no big ten teams in this years tourney please! I give a hall pass to the two Michigan Schools. One, the clear cut best team in the confrence, with a chance to win at least two games, the other, a tough match-up when they are on their game. Well done Michigan schools, too bad you’ll both be worthless in football this season.

That OSU game….oh where to begin. Was it the worst game ever played? Could it top that stinker between Wisconsin and FSU? I think maybe. Just after the start of overtime in the OSU Siena game, I came up with a great idea. Before we release all the prisoners in Guantanemo, lets put up dueling flatscreens, and make them all watch the OSU/Siena and Wisconsin/FSU games, at the same time. They’ll admit to everything. Bin Laden will be captured before the sweet 16 starts. One has to wonder. How far into the Ohio State Siena game, before Rick Pitino just got up and left to go eat? How long before he realized scouting was pointless? I say 7 minutes. Here’s how Pitino’s pep talk should go against Siena. “Does everyone have their uniforms on?” And that’s pretty much it. Siena, ended up putting together a pretty good fight, but I gotta assume Louisville was mailing it in, and saving their energy for next weekend.
CBS, also should be ashamed for themselves. I guess to completely neutral fans, those were two exciting games, barring the first 39 minutes of regulation. CBS needs to learn that there is a such thing as a tape delay. They don’t have to switch broadcasts back and forth, just to keep busy. Just wait like 9 extra seconds before switching games. The only way we know whats going on in the other games is from the CBS box scores, they can hold off on updating that can’t they? They switched from the Wisconsin game, just as a Badger player was taking a would be game winner in regulation, as the clock was running out, so they could switch back to see the teams in Dayton leaving the huddle. What the hell was that? My personal favorite moment of not just these games, but the tourney as a whole, was when they panned to the Siena players dad, who was in one of those Christopher Reeves wheelchairs. After his son hit a free throw to tie it, they showed his dad, just sitting there and said, “not much reaction from the proud papa”. He’s a quadriplegic. I’m sure he would love to do toe-touches out of sheer joy, but again, he’s in a wheelchair. Sunday, they managed to show him every 12 seconds, which makes for great television.

So the Tourney goes on, and for some reason, my Bracket is already screwed. Normally, a few losses in the first round don’t matter that much, as long as you have the winnner. In our one pool, Everyone has #1 seeds, as they are the only ones with a decent chance of winning it. So what it comes down to is this, who guessed right the most times on the meaningless game’s. Plain and simple. Instead of being anyones game going into the final four, it’s going to be the guy who did best on days 1 & 2 with a #1 seed winning it all. There is one small chance for me to have some glory. Memphis. In my wifes pool, she has Memphis winning it all, and she’s not only the only person who picked memphis, but she’s the only one who didn’t pick a #1 seed. So that’s what it comes down to. I missed too many pointless games, putting my best chance at a fourth place finished if Carolina wins it all, but as usual, it’s my wifes bracket that saves the day. So in honor of this occasion, and memphis being the true Cinderella of this dance, lets all eat some ribs, and cheer on the Tigers.
On another note, if anyone saw any of the Tennesse lady Vols, or their highlights, they not only lost to Ball State, but ball state had a few hotties on their roster, and a pretty decent looking coach. Finally, womens basketball is coming through for me. So here’s to you Ball State, and your three hot chicks, and your semi-hot coach. Well done.