March Madness, Sadness, Triumph and Stupidity
An earlier post here indicated this blog’s hopes for Wisconsin success at the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship after the first round. Well now, here it is late Friday night or early Saturday morning about a week later and another March Madness result curbs the expectation of a fan. With Marquette and Wisconsin out in the second this fan’s support moved to any other Big Ten Teams that remain. The last review when unable to watch the tourney indicated Purdue was out and Michigan State was what remained of the Big Ten heading to the elite eight.
Spartans and Jayhawks clash in Sweet 16
The scoring during this game is what one might expect with a two and three seed team doing battle.
Michigan State beats defending champion Kansas 67-62 Chicago Tribune
That’s my kind of game. Only a five point spread at the final. Basically this was a close match throughout. Now State gets to face number one Louisville.
Ouch!! Along with everything else in March Madness there is the occasional ‘thumping’ that one team must endure while the other basks in the satisfaction.
Louisville dominates Arizona in 103-64 victory
And there is the maybe not so cute plays on words or team names that seem popular in the press.
Orange peeled: Oklahoma rolls past Syracuse with 84-71 romp
Here is one common denominator within professional and amateur sports emerging again during March Madness. In an industry in which many participants ‘earn’ massive incomes, receive an inordinate quantity of press coverage and end up in the tabloids no less than any other ‘celebrity’ group the method by which public statements follow regime changes is as hollow as victories tainted by bad officiating.
It would be impressive if those who are supposed to be in possession of quality educations from institutions of higher learning throughout this country could manage an eloquent or at least original statement when attempting to produce an illusion to explain the firing of a coach. Funny how it is a ‘team’ thing when the highest performance results in a championship season but when that is not the case you fire the coach and lay all the blame at his feet deserving or not.
If you’re interested you can follow the link for the complete press conference opening statement. There is much sputtering about ideals and lofty sentiment accented with ‘the coach did it’ and even a few not so subtle ’slams’ toward the outgoing leader. Must be taking their cues from politics.
So how did that 93 year old do against Shaq in their bracket challenge??
Stanford Matthews
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