A Dream Comes True

Today, March 15, 2007, I took the day off so I could sit on my couch to watch hours of the NCAA Tournament. I write this every year, but the first four days of the NCAA Tournament are some of the best days of the year. While I enjoy the beginning of the NFL season, the NCAA Tournament combined with baseball’s spring training, for me, represent the start of spring. Plus, there are 48 intense games in 4 days that include teams that I support, teams I want to lose and upsets that you do not have in every other sport. Think about that for a minute. If the Arizona Cardinals defeated the Indianapolis Colts during week 14 of the NFL’s regular season, that is an upset, but not entirely unexpected because they are all professional athletes. Now if a small school such as Valparaiso University with a student enrollment under 3,000 hits a shot at the buzzer to defeat a large SEC school like the University of Mississippi (enrollment of 17,000+), THAT is an upset.

On today’s schedule:

Maryland vs. Davidson
Georgetown vs. Belmont
George Washington vs. Vanderbilt
Duke vs. Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Kentucky vs. North Carolina

At some point, I’ll meet my wife for lunch to make up for sitting on the couch all day. Plus, I’ll watch more games on the computer including Pitt and Wright State for the late game.

In case you were wondering, my Final Four picks are Florida, Kansas, Georgetown and Texas A&M. Unfortunately, this has no chance of happening since the Sports Guy also picked these teams for the Final Four.

Sunday Morning Thoughts

- Tonight is the premiere of “The Winner” starring Rob Corddy on FOX. I will probably not be watching since I saw this show 15 years ago when it was called “Get a Life” with Chris Elliot.

- With all of the news over the past few weeks, I have not seen anyone mention the "Naked Gun 33 1/3" curse. See: Anna Nicole Smith and O.J. Simpson. Is Fred Ward next? Maybe it is the curse of the 1995 Razzie Award winners. Anna Nicole Smith won Worst New Star while O.J. Simpson won Worst Supporting Actor. Look out Worst Support Actress (for "Car 54, Where Are You," "Exit to Eden" and "The Flintstones"): Rosie O’Donnell!

- Since we are now in the March Madness, here is something to think about. The teams listed below are either considered in the tournament or on the bubble, even though they have terrible road records:

Michigan State: 1-8 on the road (the one win was at Penn State which really should not count as a win)
Purdue: 2-8 (wins at Penn State & Northwestern)
Georgia Tech: 1-8
Oklahoma State: 0-7 (probably not on the bubble anymore)
Alabama: 2-7

If a team cannot get close to .500 on the road, I do not think the team deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament.