Posts Tagged ‘basketball’

03
Apr

Lessons Learned from Attending an Easter Sunday-Elite 8 Adventure:

easter dress

Warning: Get a beverage first. 

  1. CBS Sports does a fine job of scheduling coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament until they interrupt my Easter dinner with my family. Harumph.
  2. One can create a nifty Easter breakfast, instead, for celebrating purposes. But, it may mean that everyone at the breakfast table is not quite awake. Except for the 3 family dogs. They’re a little too awake, if you know what I mean.
  3. Add tooth picks to the Easter Breakfast table….for eye propping purposes.
  4. Amend sugary offerings at Breakfast for those on a low carb diet, unless we’re talking homemade beignets. Fried dough should never be “low-carbed.”
  5. Do not mess with the Alpha Dog’s bone. One dog learned that lesson the hard way and then proceeded to cower between my legs afterward. Her mistake? Thinking she was the alpha dog. Rumor has it that she later tried to retaliate, but was severely scolded by her owner. I now understand why Congress can’t get anything done. Too many alpha dogs.
  6. An Easter service is even more celebratory when your son is jamming out on the drums.
  7. Peter had ADD.
  8. Peter describing Jesus’ behavior in a rainstorm is, well, funny.
  9. CBS Sports is responsible for me not donning the new Easter attire the PH so thoughtfully bought me for my birthday. He may be contacting our lawyer as we speak.
  10. CBS Sports is responsible for us “eating” two tickets to the game. Apparently, people have more important things to do on Easter Sunday. Like hunt Easter eggs that aren’t orange with black striping.
  11. Jack Nicholson doesn’t go to college games, but I kept looking for him anyway.
  12. I don’t know how to act like a VIP…like everyone around me. At least they thought they were VIPs.
  13. It’s hard to know how to cheer when the people behind you are wearing bright blue and the people in front of you are wearing navy blue. I resorted to, “Go Big Blue!”
  14. The best t-shirt slogan of the day is on the shirt of a Notre Dame fan. What?!  It read, “Play like your girlfriend died last night.” Crass yes, but funny.
  15. The best dig at CBS Sports’ rescheduling—a sign reading: “We skipped Easter to be here.” (Please note that we did not skip Easter. There are priorities in life and one of those is celebrating that Resurrection. Now, if we could only resurrect all those highly-seeded teams I picked in my bracket.)
  16. The guy with the basketball on his head was sitting very close to me. How do I know this? Because EVERYONE wanted pics with him, usually when something critical was happening in the game right behind him. Ahem.
  17. One of the sportscasters had a purple velvet blazer on for, I guess, Easter Sunday. Where do you get a bright purple velvet sports jacket? “Pimps R Us”??? Cuz I’m thinking 4 men in my family all need one, right? (They are all vigorously shaking their heads right now.) Okay, so maybe I’ll get them for my brothers instead. I don’t really care if they’re vigorously shaking their heads. 😀
  18. Ding! Dong! The bracket is dead. (A Wizard of Oz reference seemed pertinent, since that is what I used to watch on Easter Sunday afternoons.)
  19. I’m glad I was listening to the game on the radio during that huge injury in the Louisville/Duke game. I’ve seen enough sports injuries to last me a lifetime, thanks to the offspring. Let’s just say that our orthopedic surgeon has us on the “Volume Surgery” plan.
  20. When you put two huge jumbo-trons in front of my face, I watch them instead of watching live players in front of me. What can I say? I’m used to watching March Madness with stat updates every 5 seconds.
  21. Nik Stauskas is a freshman??? If so, I don’t even want to know how much his mother’s grocery bill is each week. And Momma? I think you can retire now.
  22. You can always tell which team is winning by the number of time-outs left for each side, unless it’s the tip-off.
  23. You can watch basketball in a football stadium. But, you still can’t get to your seats without going up one flight of stairs and down one flight of stairs. Oh, and forget being able to find the souvenir stand.
  24. Best comment in the ladies room? “A MAN must have designed this stadium.” Yep, and I bet his initials are J. J.
  25. Would I gladly do this nonsense all over again to watch the Final Four next year? Yes, indeedy. I just won’t buy a new Easter dress. I’ll wear a Notre Dame t-shirt instead.

 

Point to Ponder Challenge: How did you spend Easter or Passover? What traditions do you and your family enjoy? What makes them so special? Are these traditions celebrated by others outside of your family? Why were these traditions started? Investigate, if you don’t know. The answers may surprise you!

Tomorrow’s Post: not a fan…which is not all that surprising after this post, hunh?

 

23
Mar

My Madness…

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It’s madness;
It’s mayhem;
It’s superior fandom.
It’s Hoopland torture
For the bracket worshipper.

Watching four channels
And burning out remotes,
To see the hottest play
Or the coaches’ best quotes.

We don’t want to miss a second at all,
For if we did, we might miss the latest bucketed ball.
And that would be horrible
For all of us fans;
We sure don’t want that to happen
When the score finally stands.

And what is the point of all of this drivel?
To see who walked by missing a dribble!
And to find out who’s queen or king,
Not of the b-ball court,
But of this bracket thing.

Will I be there at the very end?
Based on so far,
I’d say that’s a stretch.
Because when I pick a winner,
My bracket makes me look like a wretch.

Monday’s Post: Do you traduce?

15
Mar

Bracketology Philosophy…Big Ten/ACC style

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This coming Sunday CBS will be broadcasting the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship Selection Show. Since I spent a number of my “formative years” in Indiana, I have to confess that I get a little obsessed with collegiate basketball at this time of year. My alma mater, Purdue, will not be there this year, thanks to a lousy season, but that doesn’t mean that the following doesn’t still apply for a girl who claims a Hoosier heart. And since I also spent a portion of my younger years in the ACC area, I am a devoted Duke Blue Devils fan, as well. I mean, those med students at Duke actually study how best to distract opposing teams. How can you not love that about them???

1. Always pick the team playing against IU. Even if half the family graduated from the “land of Bobby Knight.”

2. Never pick Kentucky, unless they’re playing IU. Even if your brother-in-law is a die hard fan.

3. Never pick the 16th seed….unless you really do believe that Cinderella story was true.

4. Always carry your picks with you everywhere you go.

5. TiVo all the # 8 seed/#9 seed and #7 seed/#10 seed games. Pick at least one upset. Maybe Cinderella occasionally gets the handsome prince.

6. Take the phone off the hook…purposely let the cell phone battery wear down.

7. Curse at your children if they ask you a question while your team is playing.

8. Apologize to your children for cursing at them during a commercial. Pray to God for forgiveness during halftime.

9. Plan your entire weekend’s schedule around when the games are on.

10. Visibly hiss when someone suggests that the SEC has bball teams.

11. At least feign positive feelings towards the other Big Ten teams while they are playing.

12. Still pick the ones you think really will win…even if they are the 15th seed and they’re playing Arizona.

13. Be significantly ticked off when the ref blows a whistle on a play where no one even bled.

14. Be significantly ticked off when teams play run and gun bball…it’s not a track meet, gentlemen.

15. Pray for OTs…that’s when the real show begins.

16. Frown when someone fails to know what March Madness, Sweet Sixteen, Elite EightFinal Four, and the Big Dance mean. I’m sneering as I type at the mere thought.

And here are a few rules I picked up while living on the East Coast:

1. Never, ever pick UNC…at Chapel Hill.

2. Never, ever pick Arizona.

3. Never, ever pick Kansas.

4. Never, ever pick UVA.

5. Just call him Coach K…it’s easier.

6. Investigate what a Demon Deacon and a Wahoo is. Be stunned when you hear the definition, even if you are a Boilermaker.

7. Hiss at the Big East teams.

8. Watch until the very end. These teams are serious about beating buzzers.

9. Marvel at the crowd innovations for messing up free-throw shooters. I swear this is how flash mobs were invented.

10. Ponder why a team known as Devils decided that Blue should be their mascot’s color. (I generally think of pitchfork-toting nasty guys as being decked out in red, but then I was born in Big East country.)

Tomorrow’s Post: Pontifical Poetry