March Madness

Meg and I attended the Blazers/Jazz game tonight. The Ducks basketball team was playing the best team in the tournament, Louisville, earlier in the day, and I hadn't heard the outcome yet (I had recorded the game, in case the Ducks figured out how to pull off the upset). Early in the first quarter of the Blazers game, the stadium announcer played a clip on the big screen from the end of an unnamed college game, saying simply, "And here's the last play of the game." One of the teams was wearing yellow jerseys, and the other white. I immediately assumed it was the Ducks game, and my excitement grew as I had no hopes the Ducks could survive to the last play of the game. I anxiously watched the final play and, when the yellow team emerged victorious after a wild defensive stop, I shot out of my seat screaming and dancing in unbelief. I had actually picked the Ducks to win their first two games, but no way would I have picked this big of an upset. Meg asked if this busted my bracket--of course it did--but I didn't care.

The Blazers ended up losing their game, and as Meg and I were walking home from the bus stop, she asked what my favorite part of the game was. It was watching the Ducks win their game, of course. But later that night after I got online, I saw a headline that said Louisville had won. What? But I witnessed first-hand that Oregon had won--how could this be? Turns out the stadium had shown the end of the Michigan/Kansas game. They just figured we'd all figure out what we were seeing. Oops.

That's a lot of red ink
College basketball doesn't draw me in the way the NBA does, but every March I fill out a bracket and enjoy watching many of the tournament games (especially the opening two rounds). And a few years ago when the tournament held some of the first-round games in Portland, I purposefully ran by the Rose Garden and felt the excitement of the fans, even if most of them were Fuskie followers.

Last year my bracket was in the 99th percentile and I showed up President Obama big time. This year's bracket has me in the 77th percentile (only one of my teams made it to the final four, and I picked them to lose there, so I'm done). I guess being a C+--average, at best--is fitting for me.

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