North Carolina and Illinois

North Carolina and Illinois are the two left standing. What a wild ride it has been.

I wonder about such things. One of my pet theories is that lacking "daring dos" and hunting for food, men turn to these events as a way to relive the glory days of long ago while living out their lives of quiet desparation.

I came across this:
http://www.shaftagents.com/newswire12.htm

I thought it was great! I always liked the Black Panther and thought that his situation was interesting. He was the land version almost of Prince Namor, who unfortunately got more mileage in the past than he did. Admittedly, I have not collected Black Panther in a while. I should check out the graphic novels. I have the Green Lantern/Green Arrow team up graphic novels, dated though they were.

I suppose I will be behind Roy Williams and North Carolina since I was behind Roy when he was at Kansas. While I hated that Kansas didn't win, I reconciled myself to Syracuse winning. Boeheim deserved it. "Spiderman," "Captain America," "The Black Panther" and the gang outplayed "Batman", "Robin," Nightwing" and their gang. Now, I know that Brian Weber and the Illini will be the fan favorites especially since Weber's mother's death during the postseason will be the emotional hook story as Lute Olson's wife's death was the hook for Arizona. But, as Arizona's loss to Duke in 2001 showed, the emotional favorite doesn't always win.

I am banking on the fact that somehow, those boys (and girls at times) in North Carolina-be it North Carolina, NC State or Duke-manage to get it done.

Have you ever seen the rain?

Normally, not a huge CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival) fan but this is one of my favorite songs, especially since it was featured in my favorite show, CBS's "Cold Case." The sequence at the end where they lead the criminal away and the rain falls down with the music as a backdrop was striking. When I noticed that Shaun Cassidy was one of the executive producers I went, "Oh, okay." Though nowadays I see Tim Matheson's name here and again.

Arizona and getting it done

I was home to watch two of the "elite eight" NCAA finals games and both of the teams that I wanted to win, lost. West Virginia wasn't a loss I took as hard. Louisville was a good team. Arizona's loss broke my heart. They were victimized by the same circumstance that pulled them by Oklahoma State. The Illini were good and defended the boards well.

I wish that I could be there to say to certain teams that if they do not nothing else, they should not let the game go into overtime. Overtime is a risky proposition. While both Arizona and West Virginia manage some spectacular wins in OT, more often than not they get crushed in OT, especially Arizona. Admittedly though, sometimes it is a feeling. I will watch a game and sometimes I think, "Get it to OT." Other times I think, "No, you cannot let this go into OT. Finish them off now." I got that feeling yesterday with the Arizona/Illinois game. I did feel that if Illinois got the 5 minute reprieve, they would catch their second wind, which they did. They took nothing for granted and put points up like there was no tomorrow. Arizona did a great job coming back but time just ran out and at least they could say that it wasn't a rout. They lost only by 1 point, which sometimes is the hardest loss of all. One bucket, one 3 pointer, one foul, one other screen and your destiny could have been different.

The lesson here that I take from the Arizona loss is that you have to get it done now.