Bracket Busted
It's official. I know it was official in the last update, with Wake Forest, but I had a bit of hope, because I still had some semblance of a put-together bracket. If your final two are still there (Oklahoma State and UConn), then you're okay. I came back to my room this afternoon ready to check the NC State-UConn final score to see that at least something was right in the basketball world. UConn would obviously advance to the Sweet 16, right? Right, like everything else that has gone as it is supposed to in my bracket this year. (Read: nothing).
NC STATE! NC FREAKING STATE! ACC! THE WOLFPACK?!?!?! THE WOLFPACK?!?!?!
I love how this crap happens. The year after UConn won the championship last time, that's 2000, the team didn't make it to the Sweet 16 either. It's funny, well, actually, no, it's not very funny to me right now, but it's ironic or weird that while I was filling out my bracket that I stopped on that fact. I remember not having a great feeling about UConn, but out of loyalty or hope or some messed up combination of the two, I went with them anyway. I actually remembered reading the article in the New York Times about how the Huskies "off-balance, lose crown". I actually pictured that image of Kevin Freeman and Jake Voskuhl, the two returning seniors, standing on the sidelines with towels over their heads in failure. I had that image. And yet, I went with them anyway. Way to go. Way to freakin go.
The thing is, everyone tells me that I'm nuts to bet on UConn. Last year, people made fun of my pick, and I won huuuuge because of it. I was the only one who had them beating Duke. Two years ago, people told me not to go with UConn very far, but I gave them at least some credit (I wasn't moronic enough to put them all the way) and again, I won big. I figured third year in a row, I would start to get some credibility. And amazingly, I did. Other people started to put UConn in their brackets - so many, in fact, that I also questioned whether it made sense financially to be betting on something that so many others were backing - but I went with them anyway. Even my partner in one of my brackets gave me the go-ahead without any fight. A huge huge win for me.
Now this. It's like some little kid at the big kid's table, and the kid wins a few hands in a game, so the adults look around and think it's luck. And then the kid still wins, so they start to give her some credit. Maybe she's got something. Then she makes a horrible play, loses it all, and they go back to saying, "See? It was all luck." That's painting a pretty sorry picture, and I don't believe it's that bad, but it's sort of in the vicinity. Nobody's going to let me put UConn as winning it all anymore without having to hear about this debacle.
And you know the worst part? I'm going to have to seriously stop putting my faith in UConn. I find it funny - and this I truly do find funny, albeit bitterly funny - that prior to 2004, I would say, "Well, at least I'm a UConn fan. If the Sox can't win, at least UConn can." That's how a Connecticut fan thinks. It's sick, but it's how it goes. Then the Red Sox won, and they turned the whole sports world upside down for me. Don't get me wrong - I'll take the new situation ANY DAY. ANY DAY. Over the break, when I watched UConn and they lost, I played the Red Sox video to cheer myself up. Guess what I'm watching tonight?
This is how it goes. It used to be that when the Red Sox season ended, I would only have to wait a few weeks for UConn to begin. Now it's the end for Jim Calhoun and the guys (I'm sorry, I know I should be politically correct, but I really really don't care much if the UConn women win. I can't even name a player on their team really). And the good news?
Two weeks from tonight, the Red Sox play their first game of the season at Yankee Stadium.
And god help me, I'm burning my bracket.
NC STATE! NC FREAKING STATE! ACC! THE WOLFPACK?!?!?! THE WOLFPACK?!?!?!
I love how this crap happens. The year after UConn won the championship last time, that's 2000, the team didn't make it to the Sweet 16 either. It's funny, well, actually, no, it's not very funny to me right now, but it's ironic or weird that while I was filling out my bracket that I stopped on that fact. I remember not having a great feeling about UConn, but out of loyalty or hope or some messed up combination of the two, I went with them anyway. I actually remembered reading the article in the New York Times about how the Huskies "off-balance, lose crown". I actually pictured that image of Kevin Freeman and Jake Voskuhl, the two returning seniors, standing on the sidelines with towels over their heads in failure. I had that image. And yet, I went with them anyway. Way to go. Way to freakin go.
The thing is, everyone tells me that I'm nuts to bet on UConn. Last year, people made fun of my pick, and I won huuuuge because of it. I was the only one who had them beating Duke. Two years ago, people told me not to go with UConn very far, but I gave them at least some credit (I wasn't moronic enough to put them all the way) and again, I won big. I figured third year in a row, I would start to get some credibility. And amazingly, I did. Other people started to put UConn in their brackets - so many, in fact, that I also questioned whether it made sense financially to be betting on something that so many others were backing - but I went with them anyway. Even my partner in one of my brackets gave me the go-ahead without any fight. A huge huge win for me.
Now this. It's like some little kid at the big kid's table, and the kid wins a few hands in a game, so the adults look around and think it's luck. And then the kid still wins, so they start to give her some credit. Maybe she's got something. Then she makes a horrible play, loses it all, and they go back to saying, "See? It was all luck." That's painting a pretty sorry picture, and I don't believe it's that bad, but it's sort of in the vicinity. Nobody's going to let me put UConn as winning it all anymore without having to hear about this debacle.
And you know the worst part? I'm going to have to seriously stop putting my faith in UConn. I find it funny - and this I truly do find funny, albeit bitterly funny - that prior to 2004, I would say, "Well, at least I'm a UConn fan. If the Sox can't win, at least UConn can." That's how a Connecticut fan thinks. It's sick, but it's how it goes. Then the Red Sox won, and they turned the whole sports world upside down for me. Don't get me wrong - I'll take the new situation ANY DAY. ANY DAY. Over the break, when I watched UConn and they lost, I played the Red Sox video to cheer myself up. Guess what I'm watching tonight?
This is how it goes. It used to be that when the Red Sox season ended, I would only have to wait a few weeks for UConn to begin. Now it's the end for Jim Calhoun and the guys (I'm sorry, I know I should be politically correct, but I really really don't care much if the UConn women win. I can't even name a player on their team really). And the good news?
Two weeks from tonight, the Red Sox play their first game of the season at Yankee Stadium.
And god help me, I'm burning my bracket.
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