Tag Archives: ncaa

Go, Tarheels!

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My normal rules of sports engagement include the phrase “root for those who took you out.” If I were to follow that tonight, I’d be bleeding Michigan State Spartan green; the Spartans did get the best of the Jayhawks in the Midwest Regional.

But I’m not. NC Coach Roy Williams has forever endeared himself to me from his coaching years with the Jayhawks. After his children graduated from high school, I was hoping against hope that whoever was coaching North Carolina would be meeting with unparalleled success, so there would be no incentive on NC’s part to seek a new coach. That hope quickly vanished.

Fast forwarding a few years, Coach Williams has won a National Championship, and the ‘Hawks, with Coach Bill Self at the helm, cut down the nets one year ago.

So, for the deep historical connection between the ‘Heels and ‘Hawks, dating back to the Dean Smith days, I gotta say:

Go Tarheels!

I plan to tune into the game, at the conclusion of tonight’s 24. Roots can only run so deep, after all.

-k-

Sweet 16, Again

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Rock Chalk Jayhawk! The Kansas Jayhawks have advanced to the Sweet 16 in the Men’s NCAA Basketball championship, with a 60-43 win over Dayton. My brackets have them advancing to the Elite 8 next weekend, and falling a bit short against Louisville in Midwest Regional Championship game next weekend.

No money is at stake this year; CBS Sportsline was on the fritz the other night, and wouldn’t let MLB and me play in the pool run by her former co-workers. Whether or not there’s money on the line, I’m a Jayhawk fan, and I hope my prognostications for the Hawks were too pessimistic.

However it sugars off, March Madness is a great time of year. And I’m bleeding Crimson and Blue again.

Now, to Bristol, and the roar of powerful engines.

Next weekend, to Indy, and I hope, more Flying Jayhawks!

-k-

Approaching an 0-fer

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Let’s recap: four NFL playoff games this weekend; 3 played.

Number of my teams of choice that have won: 0.

NCAA Basketball:
The Kansas Jayhawks lost1.

Last NFL Game: San Diego vs Pittsburgh. My heart’s choice: San Diego2. Probable winner: Pittsburgh. Nonetheless, hope springs eternal, and I’ll be rooting for the winner of this one to claim all the NFL marbles.

-k-

1 A young team, though. They never gave up. They just lost. This too shall pass.

2 It’s that AFC West thing, and San Diego ain’t Denver.

The Faulkneresque Bowl Lives!

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And in another secular holiday tradition, the 4th annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl is on ESPN tonight. Boise State vs TCU. Post-season bowls evidently ring cash registers for advertisers, colleges, and a host of others.

I blogged about this game before; last year, I was in reduced blogging Twitter purgatory, and made a few half-assed tweets about the game.

I don’t knock either team; Boise State, at least, deserved a better bowl. But, man, saying the full name of this game is a mouthful.

-k-

Outstanding State-Line Performance

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Two of the best NCAA football games I’ve seen in a while were played today and yesterday, in what ESPN calls Rivalry Weekend. Last night, in a nail-biter if there ever was one, Nebraska prevailed:

One rarely sees a 57-yard field goal in the NFL, let alone the NCAA. But that’s actually what the Huskers’ Alex Henery accomplished. My little bride was supremely confident he’d make it; my view was that of all the low-probability options the Big Red had, this was the longest shot of all. Henery made it look easy.

And, in gridiron news from my native Kansas, this final:

The game was played in Arrowhead Stadium, the Jayhawks’ home away from home.

Man, against Mizzou! In the days of old, if Kansas beat K-State and Missouri in a single season, that season was a success. This isn’t even my father’s Jayhawk football; it’s not even my KU football like I remember it for years. This was an edge of the seat game, where the final outcome pretty much went to which team had the ball last.

My only regret about KU/Mizzou was that I thought the game was to be played tonight; when I found out it was in progress, with about 4:00 to go, there was remote control pushing like I haven’t done in a long time. Finally, I found the game on Comcast Sports Net, the only free one we get with DirecTV. But those last 4 minutes rendered some of the most intense action I’ve seen in a long time. KU pulled out the win with an incredible, amazing pass play, recapped here via the Lawrence Journal-World:

Reesing somehow wiggles his way out of a heavy pass rush, then lofts the ball high in the air toward the end zone. Meier runs under it perfectly, scoring a TD with 27 seconds left. What a play and throw by Reesing. Unbelievable.

I hope I didn’t disturb the neighbors; I can cheer enthusiastically on occasion. This was such a time.

-k-

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My State-line Roots Grow Deep

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On the teevee now: Nebraska/Colorado Football.

My Kansas/Nebraska growin’ up roots say:

Go Big Red!

And tomorrow, the KU/Mizzou border war. Two words define my sentiments there:

Rock Chalk!

I sincerely hope that everyone’s Thanksgiving is as joyful for them as mine as been for me.

-k-

Update: Even as the Huskers appear to be doing everything to hand the game to Colorado, my old loyalty to them persists. Suck it up, Huskers. Play like you’re capable of playing.

Another The Game

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I meant to blog this yesterday; the laptop upgrade intervened. In what is The Game for Kansans, expatriate Kansans, and fans of intrastate rivalries in general:

Kansans realize that this is The Game; back in the day, it might be the only game either team would win all season. Both programs have experienced an upturn in their football fortunes in recent times. Whatever the level of the teams, KU vs KSU is still The Game.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
-k-

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I Remember when it was The Game

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I’m watching the NASCAR race on ESPN, and the NCAA football scroll says that tonight is the Nebraska/Oklahoma football game.

I grew up on the Kansas/Nebraska border, on the Kansas side. We got more teevee from Nebraska-based stations than from Kansas ones, back in the day. So, it’s natural that I bleed a bit of Cornhusker Red from time to time. Except during basketball season, of course. I’ve often said that living close to a state line was the best of all possible worlds; I could be a Cornhusker during football season, and a Jayhawk come roundball time1.

Then, the Big 82 championship and the accompanying Bowl Bid, went to the winner of this game. And both Nebraska and Oklahoma won their share. I still remember the Game of the Century, in 1971. Thanksgiving Day, it was. My parents and Carl and Clara Herman traded hosting Thanksgiving dinners. In ’71, it was Carl and Clara’s turn. They lived in the country. By country, I mean not the suburbs. I mean on a real farm, where dirt and gravel roads went to the two-lane US-36 highway. We went to church that morning, and then to Carl and Clara’s place to eat. Even on Thanksgiving Day, in the Midwest Universe, you eat at noon sharp. And we did. After we ate, Dad, Carl, and I repaired to the living room, to watch the huge #1 vs #2 gridiron spectacle. This being 1971, rural dwellers had no cable and no satellite for TV reception. A rooftop antenna and sheer hope met your need for TV. This year, neither cooperated, and Carl looked at Dad, Dad looked back at Carl and said “You wanna’ go to our place and watch the game on cable?”. The three of us thanked Clara and Mom for a delicious feast, piled into Carl’s Ford pickup, and barrelled down those dirt roads into Norton, and fired up the folks’ TV just in time for the kickoff. And what a game it was, made all the better, at least to me, by a 35-31 Nebraska victory that day.

I loved this little memory lane stroll. Both teams’ fortunes have waxed and waned over the years. This year, it looks like a mortal lock for the Sooners. For all the great memories of games past, and for my love of Nebraska, I’ll watch tonight, remember the past victories, and maybe break into a chorus of:

There is no place like Nebraska
Dear old Nebraska U.
Where the girls are the fairest,
The boys are the squarest,
Of any old place that you knew.
There is no place like Nebraska,
Where they’re all true blue,
We’ll all stick together in all kinds of weather,
For dear old Nebraska U.
GO HUSKERS!

Until basketball season, that is.

-k-

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1 The intervening years have seen a massive resurgence of KU’s football fortunes; I bleed a lot more Crimson and Blue now.

2 Yep, the Big 8 it was then.

Out of Uniform

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To commemorate last night’s Kansas basketball triumph, I’m forsaking my all-black garb for one day only. Today, appearing in a shabby cubicle near you, will be an old man attired in a tasteful white polo shirt, with an understated Jayhawk embroidered on the left breast.

It’s the least I can do. My little bride will do her part by heading to her office pool’s betting window, to claim my winnings in that contest1.

All that, and a boatload of Red Hat systems to upgrade today, and a couple of Solaris boxen to jumpstart.

I’m tired already.
-k-
[stags]Life, Kansas, kujayhawks[/stags]

1 I know the amount of the winnings, and how much should be deducted for the entry fee she paid. Just for accurate accounting, you understand.