Thursday, March 18, 2004
LONG GONE DAY
What a first day of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. I'm just winded. Wow.
It's the first year that I've watched the NCAA Tournament outside the Pacific Time Zone. The show should be starting at 11 a.m. Central, but oh no, we have "Arkansas Today" on KTHV. Yes, "Arkansas Today". It's some midday news show that nobody my age really cares about. But I'm sure that some cafe up in Ozark probably watches it on a daily basis. They had their usual segment of "birthdays". I guess a few folks up in northeast Arkansas had birthdays today. Vanessa Williams turned 41 today, however.
10 minutes after 11, the NCAA Tournament finally comes on KTHV. But what is this? A NEW JAZZED UP NCAA BASKETBALL THEME FOR CBS? WHAT THE HELL? AM I DREAMING? They can change the region names of the brackets, but they cannot change the damn theme. I'm just horrified by this.
Preshow with Greg Gumbel, Clark Kellogg, and Seth Davis. Kellogg thinks that BYU is going to upset Syracuse, and he also thought that Florida would hold on to beat Manhattan. Davis brought up Florida's infamous early round history in the tournament. I also come to find out that Auburn had fired head coach Cliff Ellis. Trouble is a' brewing down there in Auburn, Alabama.
First game of the day here was Florida-Manhattan in the classic 5-12 matchup. Was there any doubt about this? Florida is soft as hell, and the SEC is overrated, other than Mississippi State and Kentucky. Manhattan is a fun team to watch, because they can just shoot it. SHOOT THE J! SHOOT IT! Senior Luis Flores had 26 points for the Jaspers, the Metro Atlantic Champs. Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez should be considered for the vacant St. John's head coaching job. He knows New York well, and let's face it, he can't stay at Manhattan forever.
"I told the guys that we're in a 5-12 matchup, we're playing an epic team like Florida, this is going to be considered a major upset,'' Gonzalez said. "But I told them if you come in worried about the name on the other jersey, you really don't have a chance.''
And really, the name "Florida'" doesn't seem so daunting anymore.
Big time win for the Manhattan Jaspers. Goodbye Florida. BTW, Matt Walsh is a pansy.
Commercial report #1
The Masters promos have begun. "A Tradition Like No Other" You'll hear that phrase 764 times in the next 3 weeks. I know I will.
Pontiac is using P.O.D.'s "Boom" in their college basketball commercials. Former guitarist Marcos Curiel is making big time $$$$$ from this. And he should. P.O.D. without Marcos = crap
DANTE HALL HAS HIS OWN GATORADE DRINK NOW? WHAT? WHHHHHHHHHAAAAT? WHAAAAAAAAT? It's called Gatorade "X-Factor". I call it crappppppppppppp!!!
Texas Tech beat Charlotte, 76-73. I didn't see much of this game, since KTHV had the Manhattan game and the fact that AOL Broadband wouldn't let me see this game. I'm an idiot for picking Charlotte over Texas Tech, but it could be worse.
Maryland survives and advances past UTEP, 86-83. Great effort by Mike Price's UTEP Miners. Oh, wrong sport. But I'm serious, it was a great effort. The Terrapins clearly didn't play as well as they did in the ACC Tournament. But as Dick Vitale always says, "survive and advance".
So far, I'm 2-1. Why did I pick Charlotte over Texas Tech...why, why, why?????????
On to the middle window of the day...
St. Joseph's doesn't mess around, routing Liberty 83-62. Jameer Nelson had 35 points in the Hawks' win. They will face Texas Tech on Saturday. It should be a great game.
Alabama barely gets by Southern Illinois, 65-64. DAMMIT! I was pulling for the Salukis, but it wasn't to be. Hell, one SEC team had to win today, but did it have to be Alabama? Rollllllllllll tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide my ass.
Syracuse holds on and defeats BYU, 80-75. Gerry McNamara had 43 points for the Orangemen, including 9 3-pointers. That's what I call clutch. Nice run for the BYU Cougars, but McNamara was just too hot. It's a matchup of the last two national champions on Saturday in Denver, Syracuse and Maryland. I think the tournament committee knew what they were doing here.
Wake Forest survives and advances as well, defeating VCU 79-78. It was looking like for a while that the Demon Deacons would pull their choke job in round one, but they sucked it up and beat Jeff Capel's crew. Wake 1, Duke 0 (Capel played for Duke during the mid 1990s).
Stanford beat Texas-San Antonio 71-45. The only way you could see this game was if you were on the West Coast or if you have AOL Broadband. My local affiliate had Access Hollywood on. Not sure about the rest of the South or East Coast.
Damn Salukis!!! But hell, I was 6-2 at this point. I couldn't complain too much.
Yet.
Commercial report #2
More P.O.D. More Masters. More Verizon Wireless commercials. And the new LeBron James Powerade commercial. As crappy as that was, it's much better than Dante Hall's Gatorade promo.
Alright, it's PRIME TIME now. No more of these pretenders (Florida!!!)
Connecticut romps over Vermont, 70-53. When I think of Vermont, I think of Larry, Darryl, and Darryl from "Newhart", Howard Dean, and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. UConn advances. Big shocker here.
Duke wins big over Alabama State, 96-61. Yawn.
Texas struggled in the first half, but came on in the second half to defeat Princeton 66-49. No Princeton upset this year, although those thoughts did go through my head more than 3 times this week before I finished my brackets.
Nevada over Michigan State 72-66. The Big Ten can just go to hell. They can't even beat a WAC team. I should have picked Nevada, considering their history in Seattle. They did beat the Huskies in Husky Stadium back in October. Good job Wolf Pack. Too bad that y'all have to deal with Gonzaga in the next round.
Air Force played well in the first 25 minutes. But in the end, the much more talented North Carolina squad took over, defeating the Falcons 63-52. A UNC-Texas matchup for Saturday. I smell upset here. Roy Williams owns Rick Barnes.
In 2 overtimes, DePaul defeated Dayton 76-69. Ugly. Ugly. And ugly. Moving on...
Gonzaga beat Valpo 76-49. Too bad I could only see about 2 minutes of this game. But oh well, I'll definitely see them on Saturday when they should take care of Nevada.
And in the worst game of the night for me...
Seton Hall 80, Arizona 76.
I drank too much of Lute Olson's new wife's kool-aid. All season long, I didn't believe in Arizona. But when the brackets came out this past Sunday, I say, "hey, this isn't a bad draw at all". Yeah, I'm a sucker. Big time sucker.
Screw you Lute Olson. Screw you Miles Simon (I know, he's not a current Wildcat). Screw you, Arizona.
So there you go. 16 first round games down, 16 more to go.
I went 11-5 today. The only loss that hurts me big time today is Arizona. I had them in the Elite Eight. I'll be kicking myself over this for a while.
A few things on the tournament, other than the actual games...
---These city names for the regions are just putrid. Here's what they really are, kids:
East Rutherford = East
Atlanta = South
St. Louis = Midwest
Phoenix = West
---Billy Packer is an assclown.
---Greg Gumbel is much better in the studio. Let's keep him in there, permanently.
---This is the best time of the year. No doubt about it.
---WHY IN THE HELL DID CBS HAVE TO JAZZ UP THE THEME?
In the 12-plus hours of tournament coverage today, I heard P.O.D.'s "Boom" 23 times. I could listen to that song every damn day for the rest of my life if I had to. It's a great song.
The best thing AOL has ever done for its customers is provide FREE coverage of the NCAA Tournament. Of course, most of the games are a minute behind, but it's a great service. I could watch the Florida-Manhattan game on TV and watch the Maryland-UTEP game on AOL, simultaneously. Great stuff.
Tomorrow, we got a few quality games. Washington-UAB, Wisconsin-Richmond, Xavier-Louisville, to name a few. It should be another fun day.
Damn I love this time of the year!!!
It's the first year that I've watched the NCAA Tournament outside the Pacific Time Zone. The show should be starting at 11 a.m. Central, but oh no, we have "Arkansas Today" on KTHV. Yes, "Arkansas Today". It's some midday news show that nobody my age really cares about. But I'm sure that some cafe up in Ozark probably watches it on a daily basis. They had their usual segment of "birthdays". I guess a few folks up in northeast Arkansas had birthdays today. Vanessa Williams turned 41 today, however.
10 minutes after 11, the NCAA Tournament finally comes on KTHV. But what is this? A NEW JAZZED UP NCAA BASKETBALL THEME FOR CBS? WHAT THE HELL? AM I DREAMING? They can change the region names of the brackets, but they cannot change the damn theme. I'm just horrified by this.
Preshow with Greg Gumbel, Clark Kellogg, and Seth Davis. Kellogg thinks that BYU is going to upset Syracuse, and he also thought that Florida would hold on to beat Manhattan. Davis brought up Florida's infamous early round history in the tournament. I also come to find out that Auburn had fired head coach Cliff Ellis. Trouble is a' brewing down there in Auburn, Alabama.
First game of the day here was Florida-Manhattan in the classic 5-12 matchup. Was there any doubt about this? Florida is soft as hell, and the SEC is overrated, other than Mississippi State and Kentucky. Manhattan is a fun team to watch, because they can just shoot it. SHOOT THE J! SHOOT IT! Senior Luis Flores had 26 points for the Jaspers, the Metro Atlantic Champs. Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez should be considered for the vacant St. John's head coaching job. He knows New York well, and let's face it, he can't stay at Manhattan forever.
"I told the guys that we're in a 5-12 matchup, we're playing an epic team like Florida, this is going to be considered a major upset,'' Gonzalez said. "But I told them if you come in worried about the name on the other jersey, you really don't have a chance.''
And really, the name "Florida'" doesn't seem so daunting anymore.
Big time win for the Manhattan Jaspers. Goodbye Florida. BTW, Matt Walsh is a pansy.
Commercial report #1
The Masters promos have begun. "A Tradition Like No Other" You'll hear that phrase 764 times in the next 3 weeks. I know I will.
Pontiac is using P.O.D.'s "Boom" in their college basketball commercials. Former guitarist Marcos Curiel is making big time $$$$$ from this. And he should. P.O.D. without Marcos = crap
DANTE HALL HAS HIS OWN GATORADE DRINK NOW? WHAT? WHHHHHHHHHAAAAT? WHAAAAAAAAT? It's called Gatorade "X-Factor". I call it crappppppppppppp!!!
Texas Tech beat Charlotte, 76-73. I didn't see much of this game, since KTHV had the Manhattan game and the fact that AOL Broadband wouldn't let me see this game. I'm an idiot for picking Charlotte over Texas Tech, but it could be worse.
Maryland survives and advances past UTEP, 86-83. Great effort by Mike Price's UTEP Miners. Oh, wrong sport. But I'm serious, it was a great effort. The Terrapins clearly didn't play as well as they did in the ACC Tournament. But as Dick Vitale always says, "survive and advance".
So far, I'm 2-1. Why did I pick Charlotte over Texas Tech...why, why, why?????????
On to the middle window of the day...
St. Joseph's doesn't mess around, routing Liberty 83-62. Jameer Nelson had 35 points in the Hawks' win. They will face Texas Tech on Saturday. It should be a great game.
Alabama barely gets by Southern Illinois, 65-64. DAMMIT! I was pulling for the Salukis, but it wasn't to be. Hell, one SEC team had to win today, but did it have to be Alabama? Rollllllllllll tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide my ass.
Syracuse holds on and defeats BYU, 80-75. Gerry McNamara had 43 points for the Orangemen, including 9 3-pointers. That's what I call clutch. Nice run for the BYU Cougars, but McNamara was just too hot. It's a matchup of the last two national champions on Saturday in Denver, Syracuse and Maryland. I think the tournament committee knew what they were doing here.
Wake Forest survives and advances as well, defeating VCU 79-78. It was looking like for a while that the Demon Deacons would pull their choke job in round one, but they sucked it up and beat Jeff Capel's crew. Wake 1, Duke 0 (Capel played for Duke during the mid 1990s).
Stanford beat Texas-San Antonio 71-45. The only way you could see this game was if you were on the West Coast or if you have AOL Broadband. My local affiliate had Access Hollywood on. Not sure about the rest of the South or East Coast.
Damn Salukis!!! But hell, I was 6-2 at this point. I couldn't complain too much.
Yet.
Commercial report #2
More P.O.D. More Masters. More Verizon Wireless commercials. And the new LeBron James Powerade commercial. As crappy as that was, it's much better than Dante Hall's Gatorade promo.
Alright, it's PRIME TIME now. No more of these pretenders (Florida!!!)
Connecticut romps over Vermont, 70-53. When I think of Vermont, I think of Larry, Darryl, and Darryl from "Newhart", Howard Dean, and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. UConn advances. Big shocker here.
Duke wins big over Alabama State, 96-61. Yawn.
Texas struggled in the first half, but came on in the second half to defeat Princeton 66-49. No Princeton upset this year, although those thoughts did go through my head more than 3 times this week before I finished my brackets.
Nevada over Michigan State 72-66. The Big Ten can just go to hell. They can't even beat a WAC team. I should have picked Nevada, considering their history in Seattle. They did beat the Huskies in Husky Stadium back in October. Good job Wolf Pack. Too bad that y'all have to deal with Gonzaga in the next round.
Air Force played well in the first 25 minutes. But in the end, the much more talented North Carolina squad took over, defeating the Falcons 63-52. A UNC-Texas matchup for Saturday. I smell upset here. Roy Williams owns Rick Barnes.
In 2 overtimes, DePaul defeated Dayton 76-69. Ugly. Ugly. And ugly. Moving on...
Gonzaga beat Valpo 76-49. Too bad I could only see about 2 minutes of this game. But oh well, I'll definitely see them on Saturday when they should take care of Nevada.
And in the worst game of the night for me...
Seton Hall 80, Arizona 76.
I drank too much of Lute Olson's new wife's kool-aid. All season long, I didn't believe in Arizona. But when the brackets came out this past Sunday, I say, "hey, this isn't a bad draw at all". Yeah, I'm a sucker. Big time sucker.
Screw you Lute Olson. Screw you Miles Simon (I know, he's not a current Wildcat). Screw you, Arizona.
So there you go. 16 first round games down, 16 more to go.
I went 11-5 today. The only loss that hurts me big time today is Arizona. I had them in the Elite Eight. I'll be kicking myself over this for a while.
A few things on the tournament, other than the actual games...
---These city names for the regions are just putrid. Here's what they really are, kids:
East Rutherford = East
Atlanta = South
St. Louis = Midwest
Phoenix = West
---Billy Packer is an assclown.
---Greg Gumbel is much better in the studio. Let's keep him in there, permanently.
---This is the best time of the year. No doubt about it.
---WHY IN THE HELL DID CBS HAVE TO JAZZ UP THE THEME?
In the 12-plus hours of tournament coverage today, I heard P.O.D.'s "Boom" 23 times. I could listen to that song every damn day for the rest of my life if I had to. It's a great song.
The best thing AOL has ever done for its customers is provide FREE coverage of the NCAA Tournament. Of course, most of the games are a minute behind, but it's a great service. I could watch the Florida-Manhattan game on TV and watch the Maryland-UTEP game on AOL, simultaneously. Great stuff.
Tomorrow, we got a few quality games. Washington-UAB, Wisconsin-Richmond, Xavier-Louisville, to name a few. It should be another fun day.
Damn I love this time of the year!!!
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