Dick Vitale has to be super excited (“Are you serioussss?!”) right now about how March Madness 2011 is going right now. That is unless he picked Kansas State or Pittsburgh in his final four. My friend Messner had the Georgetown Hoyas going all the way. In case you had something to do on Friday night, unlike me, they lost by 18. I specifically remember him saying that he was taking a chance on them because, “why not, their best player just came back from a hand injury and I have a feeling they’re just gonna get it together.” He gets respect for thinking outside of the box. It was very ambitious, dumb (not that I can say anything, guess who picked Pitt in his final four…yup.), but ambitious all the same.
I had a few observations about the beginning of the tournament and to the point where it is now. This is one of those years where there are no dominant teams in the NCAA tournament. This is one of those years where picking chalk obviously won’t help too much. This is one of those years where anyone can win. This is one of those years where you pick 10 times as many upsets as you ever wanted to. This is one of those years where basketball knowledge won’t help because it just causes over thinking, crossing out, and frustrated outbursts like “FORGET IT, I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE GONZAGA IS!” (It’s in Washington.) This is one of those years where, two days in, no one wants to check their bracket because of all the crossed out teams that lost. The thought was, “I’ll pick Utah St. over Kansas State because I haven’t picked enough upsets.” Yeah, that was me.
But I can’t say I’m against all of that. The 2011 tourney has made for some exciting basketball. Look at the Pitt-Butler game. I don’t know what more to say about that game. It won’t do it justice. It was one of those “you had to be there games” (I have to address this. If your story has to end with “you had to be there,” don’t start the story off by telling those listening about the hilarious moment Ted from work had. Trust me because no one will laugh and your credibility as a storyteller will be going down.) to understand how that game finished. Or look at the Morehead St-Louisville game, a 13 seed and 4 seed respectively. Although I had Louisville winning, I’m not angry because of how good the game was. Which is another reason I haven’t watched a Duke game this year (all this Dukie hate and I picked them to win it all, hypocrite.)
I just got done watching the VCU-Purdue game and I can’t believe how hot Virginia Commonwealth is right now. It is ridiculous the basketball they’ve played the past few games. They’re not just scoring, they are scooooooring and blowing teams out. They beat a favored Georgetown team (poor Messner) and dropped 94 against the Boilermakers. It’s hard to believe that a team who some said shuoldn’t have made the tournament will go on to beat the winner of Notre Dame-Florida State (and for my sake Notre Dame will win both games, get to the finals, lose to Duke and clinch my bracket win for me), but it’s been a fun run anyway. They made their first Sweet Sixteen in school history and are having the most fun during this torunament. Side Note: My friend Bobby just texted me saying that on Planet Earth, a Discovery channel show about…you guessed it, there are six feet long salamanders who live for 80 years. Weird
So, for the final week of the tourney, sit back relax and enjoy it. It’s going to be entertaining basketball. By the way, during the championship game, I’m setting the over-under on Dicky V screaming “BAAABY!” at 7. If you want in on the action, let me know.
BLUNT SPORTS TRAUMA 