a great game

I define a great game as any game that keeps me awake after 10:30--and this was a great game.  I cheered for Butler all the way, but I had to admire both teams.  The commentators said before the game that butler needed to keep Duke's scoring below 60 and they sure did come close! I think I heard Will cheering all the way from Durham.  Congratulations Laura Mish!

Next year....

When all else fails, there is always tradition

I have actually only seen about 15 total minutes of the tournament (really, of the entire 2009-2010 basketball season). And I'm not watching the game tonight because I'm (trying) to help Thomas with an Initial Brief of Appellant for an appeals case. While I do prefer what I'm doing to what you guys are doing, I am grateful for all of the on-line chatter to keep me company while I work.

One of the original polls this year was about why people participate in McDow Hoops, with one of the options involving hating Duke and one option being a slave to tradition (paraphrased, a bit). The current poll is about how much you hate Duke. With no actual knowledge about the teams - as evidenced by BOTH of my brackets - I am going to rely on tradition and cheer for Not Duke, which I believe would be Butler.

MC

The Final Game

This has been a great tournament with enough upsets to last a lifetime. The writting has improved as the brackets tank. One gains a little humility as his vast knowledge of the game loses to someone who picks Vermont to the final four because her friend lives there.
There are good reasons to be for either of these schools. My preference for underdogs makes me love Butler. While I could pull against Will's team, I have to be on Laura Mish's side. Therefore, I am pulling for Duke. Don't worry about the Chicken Curse because the Gamecocks hate Duke so much from their ACC days Duke is immune to the curse. Butler is pretty good and could win this thing, but don't count on it. So for Laura Mish, "Go Duke."
Clarkson
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Chatter

At the half and Butler's hanging in there. Predictions?

Get me a barf bag

See post below.

Memories of 1999-2000

Will and Nell's posts have inspired me to weigh in on my allegiances this evening. From mid-1999 to mid-2000, Meredith worked for a Duke-associated nonprofit in Durham, N.C. I visited her about twice a month. We were surrounded by Duke fans (including Will), the team had a lot of memorable players (Battier, Boozer, Dunleavy), and we were invited to numerous parties to watch the games, both regular season and tournament. Will even scored tickets for us one evening, and we sat with him in the grad student section and cheered wildly. As most of you know, I don't really care about basketball at all. And I think that, as a general rule, high-level NCAA sports have exerted a corrupting influence on these supposedly nonprofit colleges. For one thing, it's hard to believe that all of this revenue isn't taxable! It's also hard to believe that these major sporting events have anything to do with the overall collegiate mission. Finally, I wonder what lessons these students learn from their exposure to constant recruiting violations, perks that operate as a kind of under-the-table payment, and "tutors" at certain programs who complete all or most of the players' classwork. Since I don't have any ties to NCAA sports -- other than being the former roommate of an NCAA cheerleader -- I participate in the pool for the fun of the pool itself. Mainly it's fun to hang out with McDows and associates, even if only on line. But part of the fun is rooting for underdogs and rooting against teams like Duke. When all is said and done, after giving it some thought today, I've decided that my fond memories of Duke-rooting in 1999-2000 outweigh the general principles that favor rooting against Duke. Go Duke!

The underdog

I'm pulling for the underdog tonight. That's right, the little engine, the David, the Cinderella. I'm pulling for that one. Who better fits that profile than Laura Mishler. For the non-McDow's, Laura Mish is 6 years old but was born 11 weeks early at 2lbs 3ozs. When it comes to bball, she picked Vermont in the final game because her best friend lives there. and she picked any school from Texas because her aupair was talking about moving to Texas. Those picks didn't work out so well and she hovered in the celler. But now she is on the verge of winning the McDow Hoops Challenge, assuming we all disqualify method brackets. Sorry Dode - you are a Goliath. So I'm pulling for the underdog. All it takes for her to win is a Duke victory. If I must for my daughter, I'll pull for Duke. And when she's asleep and the TV turned up loud, I'll sing a quiet little "Go to Hell Carolina, Go to Hell" just for the fun of it and because this is not March 2009 anymore. Go DUKE. Will PS - If one more person says what a small school Butler is, please remind them that Duke only has 300 more undergrads than Butler does. It's not about the size of your school. [It does help to have a large athletic budget...]

Mandatory Smack

With a bracket that has Butler to take it all, I feel obligated to provide some clever smack talk to all you losers, many who have had no possible points remaining since before the final four.  The difficulty is that the bracket in which I chose teams that I actually thought might win, puts me in that loser category with the rest of you.  It is hard to talk smack when you make choices on a set criterion and not from the heart or the head. Yet I do have one of the last remaining brackets and I reluctantly must brag and point out my obvious superiority.  And I think that I might be wise to do that while I still can!  My only hope is that  this is not the year of the K's---Kansas, Kentucky, Kansas State and Coach K.

 And then, there is always next year.

Nell