This tournament could be the ultimate breath of fresh air if something happens today, and that something is if Baylor beats the Dookies. Sorry for all you front runners and CBS execs on Madison Avenue that give us a dose of what we should like everyday in your subliminal messages, but a Final 4 without Duke, Carolina, and Kentucky would be a real breath of fresh air. Oh yeah, and no Ben Howland and UCLA. Hallelujah.
During the course of watching the Baylor-Saint Marys and Purdue-Duke games the ugly phenomena entered its head again. Here in Reliant with fourty five thousand of my closest friends, the disease, Front Runner Itis, reared its head again. Baylor-Saint Marys was a blowout. Afterwards, Purdue did everything to make every possession count and turn the night cap into an ugly affair. They succeeded until the final 6 minutes when size and talent took over. Now, I have every ounce of respect in the world for Coach K and his team. And also, Dickie V has given an awareness to college hoops like no other. HOWEVER, I thought during one timeout the Duke mascot would take his headpiece off and we would see Dickie V's chromedome smiling. This guy is unabashedly the frontrunning shill for Duke, Carolina and Kentucky. Why doesn't he just stand on the sideline in a blue and white cheerleader outfit?
There was a time boys and girls, when America got behind the underdog. Purdue was that underdog the other night. But ESPN has once again succeeded and made Duke the glamour team to root for. The fans, many of whom have maybe never been on the Duke campus and maybe never in North Carolina, were all gaga over the Blue Devils. I don't have a horse in this race so it's especially interesting to see. The fans who root for Duke do not seem as obnoxious as the Dallas Cowgirls fans.
And yes, the Duke team did get the easy regional because CBS wanted to pave the way to the final 4 this year as their media contract is up for bid and Duke sells. They were the number 4 rated number one seed and yet they got to open with the play-in game winner. What they did not count on is Baylor being good and playing them in Houston. Should be an exciting game.
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Colin Cowherd had a great show this week regarding New York vs. Los Angeles. It started where some myopic New Yorker called and said the Saint John basketball opening was the greatest. Cowherd countered saying that it was not, poor facilities, no income generated from a football program hurting it. Then he said something that most people from that area have never been able to comprehend...except the ones who have moved to LA. People in LA do not move to New York in droves, but people from New York move to LA in droves and stay if they can make it. You do the math...Brentwood or Brooklyn. An 8 foot mound of snow in a parking lot or a Pacific Sunset in February with the temp around 65? East Coasters, its' a big world out there...get hip and take that California trip. And visit the mecca of basketball while you are out there, the Staples Center. Alot more championships than the Gah-den, and it doens't smell like racoon urine.
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I see all these teams make March Madness and I have to ask myself one question. Why doesn't Arizona State make it more often? The only answer I can get is they don't pay enough money to the bigtime players. I have seen so many campuses and if I am 18, most don't compare to ASU. Sunshine, great facilities, entertainment right off campus no car needed, and beautiful, really beautiful women. 8 feet of snow in the parking lot in March, or coeds laying on the grass by the palm trees. This is a puzzle greater than Rubics Cube. Go underdogs and lets make this the un-brand name final 4!
1 comment:
Hey Rick, reading your blogs brings back "magic memories" from years gone by...
I went to high school with Magic Johnson (which, I’m sure, is one of his chief claims to fame!). One of the highlights from that time in my life was a few years later when Magic and Michigan State played Larry Bird’s Indiana State for the national championship. Those two athletes represent two types of people: one who has phenomenal natural gifts, and one who has to work very hard to develop the skills needed to do the job.
I loved to watch Magic play when he was in college and later with the Lakers. He was one of the most gifted natural athletes I ever saw. He could play any position, but point guard was his ideal spot because he handled the ball extraordinarily well. Bird also went on to an All-Star pro career, but he had to work harder than Magic to be at the pinnacle of the game. Magic often smiled and laughed on the court; Bird was all business and never smiled. Magic had more types of shots than anyone in the game; Bird had to perfect a fake to give him another half a second to get off his patented shot. Magic was the custodian of sheer, unadulterated talent; Bird mastered the fundamentals of the game through countless hours of practice.
I saw Johnson at the MSU game this year (on TV) and he looks even older than you and me, blogbro!
Thanks for the invite to blog... I'm not all that into sports these days but I love you man!
--Jim
PS: I'm trying to get into working out again... Getting old sucks.
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