It is no secret the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament is the penultimate event of our corporate calendar. Work comes to almost a complete halt during the three weeks of March madness. The bar is not set that high, but the diversion is intense. UCLA’s third straight trip to the Sweet 16 is well sweet. It has been a long time since the Bruins have enjoyed regular tournament triumphs. Wiki must go all the way to the pedestrian Ben Howland era to find that success. Nick Cronin seems to be building a more sustainable program where McDonald’s come to play. They are flying alone as the rest of the Pac-12 did not make it to the dance or left early.
The Yard hosts a pool which has provided thrills and spills for everyone involved over the years. The Yard’s best finish in 20+ years is 2nd. It is difficult to win the pool even with the Yard’s advanced analytics team. In 2018, we were off to our greatest opening round in our nascent history. The mighty Cavaliers of Virginia were the number one overall seed. They were playing the #64 overall seed in the opening round. The Tony Bennett coached Cavs were prohibitive favorites. The Yard and every other participant in the US knew that no 16 seed had ever won an opening round game. Virginia went down 74-54 and torpedoed our bracket. Purdue joined this two-university club last Friday night with less impact.
Until this weekend, there has never been an NCAA Men’s basketball tournament game played in Las Vegas. The NCAA can be a bit judgy and it was judged Las Vegas is not up to the high ethical standards with which the NCAA holds itself. Those are some murky waters shrouded in the billions generated from television and merch. They do have a really nice campus in Indy that costs a fortune. It is the NCAA sanctuary of hypocrisy. Finally, the clouds broke, and our sports and gambling Mecca was awarded this very Sweet 16 matchup. This first time Sin City Sweetness has our Bruins facing off against Gonzaga again. These two universities have staged some classic battles. In 2006 at San Jose, UCLA trailed the Adam Morrison led Zags for the entire game. The deficit was as many as 17. The Yard was cursing the television and small children within earshot. Then with three minutes left, and Morrison halfway through his collegiate victory lap to the final four, UCLA went all carpe diem. Gonzaga suddenly sagged and the Bruins pounced on their insecurities like a prom night diva. When Luc Richard Mah a Boute scored underneath with ten seconds left, the Bruins had their only lead of the game at just the right time. UCLA celebrated with Adam of the scraggle crumpled and crying at halfcourt. In 2020, heavily favored Gonzaga clashed with the upstart Bruins all the way to the final seconds of overtime, nailing a half court winner. The Bruins are limping into tonight’s contest. We are still working the phones for a press pass.
Baseball season is coming on the heels of the tournament. The Dodgers home opener for 2023 is a night game on Thursday March 30. Huh? March Madness will be in its final throes of psychosis and Dodger baseball will be on the air. It is like when Jupiter and Mercury go into retrograde. The synapses will be firing in all four cerebral quadrants. It will be a different year for the Blue crew. Justin Turner, Cory, Cody, and Trea are all gone. Gavin Lux was the heir to the infield before his season ended. The WBC was exciting this year with so many MLB stars playing. Mookie and Mike Trout helped the US get to the championship game against Japan. Ohtani like Mookie and Trout. Ohtani striking out his teammate Trout to win the whole thing was historic and he did not get hurt doing it. The Mets Edwin Diaz was not so lucky during Puerto Rico’s semifinal victory. He celebrated getting that last out and tore something and he is out until 2024. Lucky for Diaz he just signed a five-year $107 million guaranteed deal with a $12 million signing bonus. We could not be happier with Diaz’s good fortune with his new deal. We are more elated that Mets owner Steve Cohen took another major blow to his 2023 hopes for a NY title. He has already mocked the MLB salary cap and now $20 million got flushed. We do not like Cohen and his ill-gotten billions very much.
The Lake Show is still playing basketball in the NBA. They have been playing surprisingly well of late even with Lebron out and Davis playing part-time. The prodigal son D’Angelo Russell returned to Babylon. He seems to have matured during his sojourn. Swaggy P and Izzy Azalea are no longer a thing, and the locker room is not as toxic as his rookie season. The Lakers have done many machinations since Kobe retired. They tanked and got lottery picks for the first time in a long time. First round draft picks Julius Randle, Russell, Brandon Ingram, and Kyle Kuzma were all traded away and would be a great young nucleus, but it was not to be. They are all thriving elsewhere while Laker fans are left writhing.
Lebron brought another title in that truncated season but little else. He passed Laker Legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar to become the all-time scoring leader. It was a monumental achievement during a mediocre season. Jabbar and James have a frosty relationship that was on full display in the awkward mid-game recognition. Kareem had to finish college while Lebron went straight from HS to 27.6 points per game at age 18. No one will ever catch James for a scoring record. It will last forever because no one will ever play that long at that high level as James has. He is the GOAT.
Fun fact: When Kareem broke Wilt’s record, it was against the Utah Jazz. The fun part is the game was played in Las Vegas at the Thomas and Mack. The NBA was struggling a bit with the Mormons, so they spiced up the season with a few home games in Las Vegas. Everyone except the NCAA got that remedy.
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