College Basketball is my favorite sport. March Madness is my favorite holiday. I am serious, I look forward to it more than I do Christmas or New Years and probably my birthday. I know you are thinking, that isn't a holiday, but trust me it is...
This year I prepared for the Big Dance, by listening to the ESPNU podcast. I became buddies with Andy Katz and Doug Gottlieb, and listened to them go on and on about the Big East, ACC and DUKE....I watched bracket busters and talked about basketball a lot (sorry Kim).
I made three brackets (one was mascot themed). One had Kansas wining it all and the other had UNI taking Kansas down (I knew they could do it).
I don't know if you remember last year or not, but the tournament was not super exciting. Three number ones and one two made it to the final four...I knew this year would b different.
We went to Hooters for the first round game, with our friends Mark and Sarah, who also are UNI alums. We had some deep fried food, drank some beers and watched Ohio Beat Georgetown and most importantly UNI beat UNLV. Next year I am contemplating taking the Friday of March Madness off work...
It was an awesome first day.
Saturday the four of us went to Bdubs in Grandview. We had some deep fried food, drank some beers, and most importantly watched UNI beat KANSAS....It was amazing. I was getting nervous towards the end and even yelled at some randoms saying Kansas was going to come back and win. Our waiter brought us purple and gold shots and let us fill in the brackets in the restaurant. It was the BEST. GAME. EVER.
I was so excited! I read every article, watched every clips show and special, listened to every interview. Finally people knew how great the Panther are and where UNI was =].
I even wrote Doug Gottlieb a letter when I got home:
Hello!
My name is Amanda McCurley, and I have been wanting to write you for awhile. I have been listening to Andy Katzs' and your podcast for awhile. I like it a lot, however I find that you mostly talk about DUKE, the Big East and ACC. I feel the the MVC and PAC 10 were greatly ignored and talked down about, and have been performing enormously during the tournament, Maybe next year, instead of oogling over Duke (who always chokes, trust me they destroy my bracket every year), The Big East (who only 4 of the 8 teams made it to the second round)...you can talk about other conferences who are severely neglected and under-rated. Yes, I may be an alumni of UNI (and a little tipsy) , but I would listen to your show every week in hope of talking about them more than 5 seconds and it never happened. Maybe next year the MVC and the Pac 10 will get more respect...Just a thought.
Thanks!
(yes I know Duke won...but I HATE them)
The game on the next Friday was not so exciting..however I am still proud of the Panthers. We went back to Bdubs, and they remembered us =].
The rest of the tourney was great...despite the fact Duke made it to the final....
I will say this, I am glad I did not pick them...I just could not do it...
My bracket was destroyed (yes, all three of them), I didn't when any money at work, but it was still the best Tournament in awhile.
I am glad that Butler made it to the final and ALMOST won. I am glad a number one got knocked out in the first round. I am glad there were upsets throughout the tourney.
I bet you are thinking, wow, you are obsessed and crazy about basketball, poor Dan. But trust me he is almost just as bad (maybe even worse). He bough multiple copies of Ali's SI cover, watched the three point shoot out on ESPN about 4 times, created this years UNI team on his NCAA game and plays a game everyday, bought some memorabilia, looks at the player's facebook pages, and even made O'Rear into Wolverine...What can I say? I love him!!
And now my favorite time of year is over...and to top it off baseball season is here....womp womp
