NCAA Finals: Technically, That Was a Basketball Game

Photo by Beau B

I've got a bit of a tradition. Every NCAA Men's Basketball title game, I get together with one of my best friends, Jodie. College basketball to her is like baseball is to me. So every year, more or less, since 1990, we've gotten together to watch basketball.

Including last night. Though what we watched last night I don't think qualifies as basketball. I don't like Jim Nantz. I think he's a pompous, no-talent hack. But I've got to admit that I felt kind of sorry for him last night as he tried to keep people tuned in for what CBS was trying to pass off as a college basketball game.

Sure, the final score was 89-72. And if you were to just see the score, you might think that possibly, at some point, there was a legitimate game being played. But never, at any point, was Michigan State playing in the same game as North Carolina.

North Carolina set two tournament records by halftime. Most points scored at the half, 55, and the largest lead at the half, 21 points. Michigan State tried the press. It didn't work. Michigan State tried three pointers. Those didn't work. But the biggest problem was that they tried to play up-tempo basketball. And they just weren't skilled enough to do that.

But I stayed around to watch the entire thing. And I started getting angry at myself for not staying home and watching the Astros lose. I just knew I was losing hours from my life that I wasn't going to get back. And even though I'm involuntarily unemployed, I still wanted my time back.

And after that game ended, I made the same vow I always do. That I'm not going to make such a big deal out of this game next year. But come this time next year, I'll be over at Jodie's. I'll just be hoping for a better game.

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FYI, on an unrelated note...

The past two seasons, after an Astros game, I would do a write up about the game. I won't be doing that this season. We did some number crunching after last season, and the hits just weren't there to justify that kind of posting. My current plan is two posts a week on the Astros. A Monday post to wrap up the weekend past, and a Friday post to wrap up the week just past. And if news happens during the week - a trade, a suspension, a no-hitter, etc., -- then I'll post on that when it happens, just like I've always done.