March Madness Infects The Blot

Last weekend was the opening weekend of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and it is far and away my favorite sports weekend of the year. I tried so hard to be productive this past weekend but I kept being beckoned to the television to watch college basketball. There is nothing better than watching the little guy take it to the big state school and show them that on a neutral court it truly is anyone’s game. While there weren’t as many Cinderella stories this year, it was amazing watching 14, 15 and even 16 seed teams push their “more talented,” higher recruited rivals to the brink.

It reminded me of my first ever March Madness experience and one that submitted my eternal love for what is IMHO the greatest sporting event in the world. Picture it: Birmingham, Alabama - March 12, 1987, it was the first round of the NCAA tournament. My dad took a then 7 and a half year old lil' Blot to his very first session of NCAA Tournament games. The first game was between the University of Illinois Illini, a three seed, and a little known school named Austin Peay, the 14th seed.

Back then I knew nothing of rankings, seedings or who was “supposed” to win. What I did know was the Austin Peay Governors, who were in the NCAA Tournament for only the third time in school history, had the best cheer ever, “Let’s Go Peay!” Let me just tell you, to a 7 year old “Let’s Go Peay” is probably the coolest thing you could be cheering over and over again at a basketball game. The stadium was going crazy for the underdogs from Clarksville, Tennessee and the Governors pulled off a huge upset.

After that my dad and I watched 6 seed Providence Friars, coached by the now legendary coach Rick Pitino and led by a then unknown (and current head coach of the Florida Gators) Billy Donovan, begin their march to the 1987 Final Four by defeating our hometown heroes the 11th seeded UAB Blazers. It was a fun time to be a 7 year old and it was an afternoon I won’t soon forget. Once I got older I made it a point to attend as many NCAA Tournament games as I could, which thankfully wasn’t too hard as there always seems to be games taking place in a city near where I live, either in Birmingham, Atlanta, or one of four cities in Texas.


I’m currently running a pretty hot streak, having gone to games 10 of the last 13 years, including the 2002 Final Four. But no games are in store for The Blot this year as the tourney has for some reason skipped Texas completely. That’s ok though, because when you are in the thick of March Madness as we are right now, one game just isn’t good enough. You need to be watching bits and pieces of the two, three or four games going on in hopes of catching that last second upset and ultimately the tournament’s one shining moment.

The Blot Catches Up On Blogging After A Busy Weekend

Sorry I’ve been missing all day, but The Blot’s Monday has been really busy following a crazy weekend. The first thing I can report is that I am officially caught up on Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica just in time to start watching Season 4 this Friday. The only think left for me to do is watch the made for TV movie Battlestar Galactica: Razor which debuted last November on the Sci-Fi Network. The movie is set in the past and explores what took place on the Battlestar Pegasus btween the initial Cylon attack in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica mini-series and when the Pegasus rejoined Galactica and the colonial fleet in Season 2. Evidently some events from this movie help to set up the storylines to come in Season 4, so I’d like to watch it before Friday’s season premiere.

I was waiting to watch Razor until I caught up on Season 3, since it came out after Season 3 ended and I was worried it might spoil something in the season for me. Now that Texas was knocked out of the NCAA Basketball Tournament by the Memphis Tigers in the Elite Eight, I should have plenty of time to catch up on Razor and watch Season 4, Episode 1 this week/weekend.

What a disappointing game I attended on Sunday. Texas was thoroughly outmatched and outplayed by Memphis. I figured we at least had a chance to beat Memphis considering Texas beat Kansas at home late in the year (and Kansas is arguably as big and talented as Memphis), and Texas beat Tennessee by 18 on a neutral court early in the year (Tennessee is the only team to have beaten Memphis this year and the game was at Memphis). As it turns out, all of my rationalizing was moot once the game started as Memphis dominated Texas from tip-off and completely took the primarily pro-Texas crowd out of the game.


While I was pretty dejected during the game, in retrospect I am very pleased with our season and in the fact that Head Coach Rick Barnes and the team made it to the Elite Eight. The season went better than anyone could have imagined after losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year and then losing the NCAA Player of the Year, Kevin Durant, to the NBA. The team really came together this year and ended up being even better than last year by being ranked in the Top 10 most of the year, breaking the school's record for wins in a season, and beating 3 top 5 teams, including two Final Four teams, in UCLA, Kansas and Tennessee.


With that being said, Texas couldn’t have asked for a better route to a return trip to the Final Four with their Tournament games being scheduled in Little Rock, Arkansas, Houston, Texas and then in San Antonio if they had reached the Final Four for the second time in the Rick Barnes era. I guess there’s always next year. Hopefully our All American point guard D.J. Augustin will see the benefit of staying in college for another year so the team will have an even better chance to return to the NCAA Tournament next year.

One Shining Moment

The Blot will be gone for the rest of the day. I’m going to pick up my dad at the airport and then heading down to Reliant Stadium in search of my one shining moment (a.k.a. two big victories by the University of Texas men’s basketball team). Yes, I’ll be at the NCAA Men’s Basketball South Regional tonight cheering on my Texas Longhorns against the Stanford Cardinal and then hopefully returning on Sunday to watch them battle the winner of the game between the Memphis Tigers and the Michigan State Spartans.


Everyone keeps saying what an advantage it is for Texas to be playing their Sweet 16 game (and possibly an Elite 8 game) basically at home in Houston, TX. I say it’s only an advantage if they win. Hopefully 30,000 fans in burnt orange will prove to be as much of an advantage as a lot of the critics think it will be. What I do know is that while it’s nice Texas has “reached the NCAA Sweet 16 five times in the last seven years” (the only other schools to have accomplished this feat over the past 7 years are Duke and Kansas), I think it’s high time for the Longhorns to break through again and make it to the school’s second Final Four under Head Coach Rick Barnes. (link)


Honestly though, I’m being cautiously optimistic about the game against Stanford. While I think Texas has the talent to make it to the NCAA Final Four, I’d be lying if I didn’t say the Lopez brothers’ size and skills don’t scare the hell out of me. Hopefully starters A.J. Abrams, first team All-American D.J. Augustin, Damion James, Justin Mason, Connor Atchley and the rest of the team are ready for a war.

March Madness

The NCAA Basketball Tournament beings….now! And honestly, I couldn’t wait much longer. These next four days have to be my favorite sports weekend of the year. The buzzer beaters, the upsets, the bracket wagers, this weekend’s got it all. Of course I’ll be rooting on my Texas Longhorns to make it to Houston for the South Regional Finals and eventually San Antonio for the Final Four, but even if they don’t make it to the third weekend of the tournament I’m sure there will be some compelling story lines to get us through the month. I’m interested in seeing which team Cinderella’s slipper attaches itself to this year.