Just a quick four thoughts on the NCAA Tournament over the weekend. Originally I was going to do five thoughts but I just finished reading the new Bill Simmons article on ESPN.com in which he gave his five thoughts on the same subject. Since I've been trying very hard these days to rip off Bill Simmons in only 50% ( Down from 80%) of my sports related conversations and postings I decided to cut my thoughts down to four in the hope that no one would notice that I'm doing the same subject at the same time...unless I went out of my way to point it out..and even if I thought of this idea for a blog post waaaay before I read the article....oh well, here's what's on my mind.
1. Texas A&M nearly single handedly ruined my whole weekend. As we previously blogged I came into their first round game against BYU knowing that the Aggies were probably going to win. I understood and accepted that as I was filling out BYU on all ten of my brackets. I stuck with my team, I took the beating I knew was coming, I moved on. Then as if ending my Alma Matter's season wasn't enough A&M took it upon themselves to nearly destroy my brackets by coming within an eyelash and a few bad calls of beating UCLA. I have UCLA winning the whole shooting match in every bracket. Thank Christmas they didn't pull off the upset this weekend and send me to my third straight year of losing to Carrie in the bracket contest.
The funny thing about all this is that I actually like Texas A&M. I had a great time on campus in September watching a football game at Kyle Field. The campus has a great feel and they have some unique traditions. ( Like 10,000 unique traditions. You can't attend a home sporting event in College Station without a guide or a manual.) I usually want to see their teams win, but this weekend they just made me angry and gave me a heart attack.
2. If I have to tell the truth I think Kansas is the best team in the country right now. However KU presents a special problem when it comes to picking a bracket winner. There is no way in the world you are going to win a bracket pool in the state of Kansas by picking the Jayhawks to win it all. Let's say by some happy twist of fate you're right and KU is the national champion after two decades of waiting. Now you are one of 100 people in your pool who have the national champion right. So it's completely up to the points you scored in the early rounds, and that's more of a lucky guess then anything.
So I figure that if KU wins I have no chance of winning any local contests anyway, I might as well pick the team I like second best and roll the dice ( This year it's UCLA). It's a sound strategy that I hope will pay off, or will land me in dead last.
3. Speaking of UCLA, I actually like them better after watching them play a pretty bad weekend of basketball. Against A&M they couldn't shoot for beans and they still managed to beat a decent squad on the strength of their defense alone. Kevin Love had 7 blocks despite the fact he reminds me of the guy with six kids who occasionally shows up for ward basketball games and complains about how out of shape he is, right down to the bad back and slight waddle he has when he's running up and down the court. I guess that's why I really enjoy cheering for Love, even though he is an exceptional athlete and a top 5 player in the country he always looks like an average joe that's having one heck of a lucky game.
Still, any team can win when the shots are falling and everything is going right. UCLA is showing the ability to win when things aren't clicking by playing good defense and making plays when they have to. I think that wins championships and they leaves me feeling really good about my pick.
4. As of this moment I have a 2 point lead on Carrie in the bracket contest and it looks like the long night of darkness might finally be over. Carrie hates this. We watched a few games together and every time it seemed that a team I picked would beat a team she picked in the last seconds ( Thank you San Diego and Stanford!!). I think she lost 4 games to me by a total of 8 points. She got a little angry at me for jumping around and celebrating each time her team would lose. Still, I feel an angry wife is a small price to pay for the return of the confidence and manliness I will feel when I retake my rightful place as the family bracket expert.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Chris-I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the tournament. Tony is a big fan of the Sport Guy too, we actually have his book Now I Can Die in Peace. I can just picture Carrie all mad when her teams lose by a few measly points. Good luck to you both, may the best man or woman win.
Chris - My husband and his brother are so into sports and stuff they've created their own blog. odlesports.com You should check it out. They'd love your opinions and comments. Liz
That's what I'm talking about bro! Rub it in her face when your teams beat her teams. Do a victory dance with your post game cheetoh and root beer breath to the tune of Another One Bites the Dust!--- So here's to you, mister "rub it in your wife's face that your brackets are better than hers," and have another ice cold [root beer] on us!
Carrie- What ward are you guys in?
Post a Comment