Crumpled Notebook

A store in my hometown. Been there for as long as I can remember. Calvin was my US History teacher.

Part 1

Part 2

I am loving the East region this year. I think this is going to be a great match-up. Two great coaches. Two great centers. David Padgett who originally was recruited and signed to play for Roy Williams at Kansas (Williams left for UNC before Padgett’s first season). Padgett played there one season before transferring to Louisville.

Apparently Williams and Pitino have some not so good history from Pitino’s first season at Kentucky. Looks like they made up though. Read about it here.

As far as coaches go, Roy Williams is a good coach, but I don’t care much for him. I like UNC well enough, but not crazy about him. It’s the opposite with Duke. I like Coach K, but not their team.

A strange thing just happened. I was sitting here watching the Duke game and talking to my mom on the phone. She says, “Who are you for?” Naturally I say, “Not Duke,” and then proceed to tell her how I’m never for Duke and how much I hate Duke.

Then, here’s where the strange part happened. I realized I actually wanted Duke to win! I’ve never, ever wanted Duke to win. At least not post 1992, and I don’t remember much about them before then. Incidentally, the first time I ever felt such disdain for Duke was the infamous Kentucky vs. Duke game on March 28, 1992 in the finals of the East Region for a trip to the Final Four. Oh yes, I remembered all of that except the exact date. I have hated Christian Laettner since and if I ever saw him, I’d probably throw something at him (Okay, maybe I shouldn’t “hate” him, but I wish I never knew his name). It’s noteworthy to point out that just a week later is when I became an Indiana and Bobby Knight fan. April 4th I think. That was the date of the Duke/Indiana Final Four game for a trip to the Championship game. Duke won of course. But my dislike for them grew and was solidified and I fell in love with Indiana and Bobby Knight. That date, I actually remembered because I was at some relatives’ house the night before my great grandfather’s funeral and we were all watching the game.

Anyway, so writing this helped me remember exactly why I hate Duke. However, I’ve gained more respect for them. I’ve always liked Coach K, just not the team. I guess why I’ve had to lighten up on them (other than working for a Duke fanatic) is that I recognize that they are a powerhouse team. They are always a contender. As is Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, etc….What I don’t like is when random teams just pop up and think they are all that. When the media starts loving them when they haven’t really earned their keep. It takes more than just a few years to become a legendary basketball team or coach. That’s probably my folly when filling out NCAA brackets. I don’t pick the teams like Gonzaga (of recent). I don’t pick Xavier. I won’t pick Wisconsin. Not to undermine their talent this year. But that’s just it. It’s this year, or maybe this year and last year. I guess that kind of makes me a basketball snob, huh? What would you expect being from Kentucky though?

However, I will point out that I love Cinderella teams. The teams you don’t expect to win. The teams that aren’t ranked. The WKU, San Diego, Sienna teams. The Gonzaga the year they became the Cinderella.

I like teams with history. And I like Cinderellas. I don’t like teams like Xavier and Marquette and Wisconsin.  The teams that could very well become a Duke or UNC or UK or even UCLA, but they just aren’t quiet there yet, and they need to remember that. Yep, I’m a snob. And if that makes me actually want Duke to win a game or two, especially to W. Virginia, then I guess I’ll take it.

I still hate Christian Laettner though. If you don’t know who that is, look on YouTube. I refuse to put that rubish video here. Having to highlights of it during March Madness is enough.

The Cinderellas are dancin’!

So, in the Mid-West and the West brackets, the 12 and 13 seeds will play for a spot in the Sweet 16. That means that there will be two 12 or 13 seeds (or one of each) in the Sweet 16. How awesome is that?! Nevermind my brackets.

(As a side note, if you don’t know what I’m talking about right now, you may want to stop reading. It’s basketball. college ncaa. march madness. anything ring a bell?)

So, truth is, I really don’t care about most of those 12-13 seeds. My brackets would be a lot happier if “most” of them didn’t win. However, the one I picked, and the one I care about is the WKU (Western Kentucky University). I was reading Rob Carpenter, of The Muckrakers, blog and he summed it up pretty good (who is also a WKU alum).

Are you kidding me?

With 5.7 seconds left in overtime, WKU - my alma mater and the birthplace of our band - was down by 1 to Drake. Momentum had left the Hilltoppers’ side a long long time ago. They had blown a 16 point second half lead and barely made it to overtime against the favored Drake Bulldogs. They looked flat. More turnovers than points. Stupid fouls. They were having troubles with the Drake full court press. Their luck had run out. Then again, they weren’t supposed to win. They were a 12 seed. Drake was a 5. Ce la vie.

What does all that have to do with crying? Well, I cried twice this week. Not full on crying, but just eyes watering up crying. I cried with Kentucky lost to Marquette. Now, by the final few seconds, I knew they were going to lose, but come on CBS, did you really have to pan to Joe Crawford sitting on the bench crying, while his teammates were trying to shield him from you? I mean, the guy carried the team, score 35 points or something like that, and he’s a Senior. That was it. The year we weren’t supposed to be in the tournament they fought their way in there and to have it all end like that, was just heart-breaking. So yes. I cried. Thanks a lot CBS!

Now, I’ve cried with my team lost plenty of times. High school softball games I played, H.S. basketball games I watched. College basketball games at WKU, Kentucky basketball games in front of the TV. I do it. Not a lot, but I do occassionally.

The second time I cried came yesterday. Wait? Didn’t I just say my team won? Yep, they sure did and I STILL cried! I was so worked up. So emotionally invested in this game. So prepared for it to fall the other direction , that when that last shot went in, all that emotion and everything built up in me just came out…tears included, because, rest assured, if they had lost, I would have cried too.

I don’t think I’ve ever cried when my team won. Check out the below and see if it doesn’t make you just want to cry.