Do you think it's weird to master the harmonica without telling anyone?
This seems to be the best way to start an entry about March Madness on a blog devoted to God, football, and music: "One Shining Moment" is crap. It's just a horrible, akward song to be playing over basketball highlights.
Now, on to the weekend.
This is probably the one weekend since I've been living in Cincinnati that there wasn't anywhere else I'd rather be for sports. I was driving home on Friday after Xavier had won its conference quarterfinal game. A caller was joking with the host imagining if Xavier won the tournament and entered the NCAAs as a 10-seed and Cincinnati was relegated to the NIT. Cut to Saturday night, where I'm waiting on a table at Don Pablo's. I look up at a TV just in time to see Justin Cage make a huge block to give Xavier an automatic bid. (By the way, a game winning block beats a game winning shot hands down, and if you disagree, it's only because Jordan never did it) Cut to Sunday night, where I'm sitting on my bed with a stomach ache watching the selection show. As soon as I realize that UC didn't make it, I immediately run to my radio to hear the local outrage. My favorite quote of the night: "RPI.com has just gone out of business! RPI.com is officially out of business!" I'm not totally sure what therapeutics research has to do with UC not making the tournament, but I'm not an expert on the local sports scene. I always look forward to the day-after-the-tragedy radio here. After the Bengals season ended in literally the worst way possible, the speculation was classic. Today was no different. But nothing could top this exchange between a local sports host and a national sports writer:
Host: "So how is the outrage about UC being snubbed playing out across the rest of the nation?"
Sports Writer: "There's not much outrage. They've spent fifteen years hating UC and that's not something that can be turned around in four months. You are a...I don't want to say sympathetic because that sounds belittling, but UC has become a sympathetic team. But four months isn't enough time for that to overshadow fifteen years."
It takes all of the joy out of kicking someone when they're down when it's already been perfected.
Ho-Fish: Jim Nantz for not letting up on Craig Littlepage when he gave non-conference strength of schedule as a reason for so many mid-majors making the tournament over the majors. Tell us that you didn't want nine teams from the Big East in the tournament, and tell us that you weren't willing to say no to George Mason because their AD was on the Selection Committee. But don't tell me that Air Force made it over UC because Air Force got beat by Washington and UC simply played Memphis, Vandy, LSU, and Xavier.
OK Chicken: The afformentioned Littlepage as well as Billy Packer. I couldn't have been the only one who knew of the Arizona/Wisconsin matchup before the Minneapolis region. That's because when Nantz asked him what matchup he was looking forward to in the D.C. region, Packer immediately brought up the matchup which hadn't even been announced. I felt a little like I did watching Keith Jackson call the Rose Bowl.
Now, on to the weekend.
This is probably the one weekend since I've been living in Cincinnati that there wasn't anywhere else I'd rather be for sports. I was driving home on Friday after Xavier had won its conference quarterfinal game. A caller was joking with the host imagining if Xavier won the tournament and entered the NCAAs as a 10-seed and Cincinnati was relegated to the NIT. Cut to Saturday night, where I'm waiting on a table at Don Pablo's. I look up at a TV just in time to see Justin Cage make a huge block to give Xavier an automatic bid. (By the way, a game winning block beats a game winning shot hands down, and if you disagree, it's only because Jordan never did it) Cut to Sunday night, where I'm sitting on my bed with a stomach ache watching the selection show. As soon as I realize that UC didn't make it, I immediately run to my radio to hear the local outrage. My favorite quote of the night: "RPI.com has just gone out of business! RPI.com is officially out of business!" I'm not totally sure what therapeutics research has to do with UC not making the tournament, but I'm not an expert on the local sports scene. I always look forward to the day-after-the-tragedy radio here. After the Bengals season ended in literally the worst way possible, the speculation was classic. Today was no different. But nothing could top this exchange between a local sports host and a national sports writer:
Host: "So how is the outrage about UC being snubbed playing out across the rest of the nation?"
Sports Writer: "There's not much outrage. They've spent fifteen years hating UC and that's not something that can be turned around in four months. You are a...I don't want to say sympathetic because that sounds belittling, but UC has become a sympathetic team. But four months isn't enough time for that to overshadow fifteen years."
It takes all of the joy out of kicking someone when they're down when it's already been perfected.
Ho-Fish: Jim Nantz for not letting up on Craig Littlepage when he gave non-conference strength of schedule as a reason for so many mid-majors making the tournament over the majors. Tell us that you didn't want nine teams from the Big East in the tournament, and tell us that you weren't willing to say no to George Mason because their AD was on the Selection Committee. But don't tell me that Air Force made it over UC because Air Force got beat by Washington and UC simply played Memphis, Vandy, LSU, and Xavier.
OK Chicken: The afformentioned Littlepage as well as Billy Packer. I couldn't have been the only one who knew of the Arizona/Wisconsin matchup before the Minneapolis region. That's because when Nantz asked him what matchup he was looking forward to in the D.C. region, Packer immediately brought up the matchup which hadn't even been announced. I felt a little like I did watching Keith Jackson call the Rose Bowl.
posted by S-Dot at 8:35 PM
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