I Haven't Slept Well all Week: Hoosier Edition

I haven't slept exceptionally well this week. I'm not sure why. I fall asleep fine, but wake up at 4 a.m., a full hour before I normally get up.

I am fairly certain my sleep-time drama has nothing to do with the Hoosiers, but maybe it does. Maybe I'm freaking out on the inside. Either way, it'll be settled tonight. Until then, I'm gonna console myself with this video on loop. (Knowing I might have to console myself again after the game).

I just wish for a good game from both sides tonight. One where the Hoosiers still have a chance to make a shot at the end to win (Or tie--I'm not that picky).

Go Hoosiers!

March Madness Leads to One Shining Moment

Yesterday I was huddled up on my bed watching the bracket breakdown. It's an annual tradition. Typically, I sit there with pen in hand and fill out a bracket that I've printed out or that was printed in the newspaper, but this time I just watched. I no longer fill out paper brackets. No longer use my trusty pink highlighter to show my brilliance or my sad red sharpie to strike through my shame. It's all online now, and I'm finally okay with that.

Chef watched the first few minutes to see where IU fell (or rather to see how excited I was when I saw where IU fell), but then he was done. "It's kind of like watching the weigh-ins to a UFC fight," he said. And he was sort of right. But unlike a UFC fight, there's not the drama of who's not going to get in.

This year was fairly drama free. I was hoping against all hope that Northwestern would finally get in, but I knew the odds were stacked against them. Everyone likes to root for an underdog, though. Or Under-wildcat as the case may be.

Now it's just a countdown until my favorite time of year. And it starts so early here on the West Coast. but there's a blessing to that too, I guess.

Gotta go fill out my five brackets. With Purdue, IU and Murray State all in the tourney, it's gonna be an interesting year.Wish me luck!

A Bulldog and a Huskie Walked Onto a Court

Or at least they will. Tomorrow night. And if it weren't for Facebook you wouldn't know it in California.

There are many delights to living on the west coast, but one of the things I have a hard time adapting to is the utter lack of interest in most sports. There are some rabid Lakers fans, but even those people really know little outside of professional basketball. So honestly, that makes them less of a sports fan that a specialist. And you only really need a specialist when it's something like a medical problem.

So we're one day out from a national championship game and mums the word around here. And what's worse is that I have a work thing tomorrow night until about 9 p.m. So if you can't get a hold of me, know that I'm again under social media sequester.

And until then, GO BUTLER! Any team from Indiana is a team I'll support!

In Case you Need a Hit of March Madness Before The Tourney Resumes. . .

I'll admit that I spent my fair share of time this weekend on the couch watching some March Madness. The closeness of the first weekend of games and the sheer number of games make them both ubiqitous and addictive. The only problem is just as you get used to having basketball to watch, it's Monday. And you're cut off again for several days. So if you're like me and need a hit of tourney, try this out. Did I mention that the Golf Whisperer is one of my favorite announcers of all time?

By the way, if you want to get a glimpse of Charlie Sheen's crazy bracket, check it out on the Dan Patrick Show web site here.

Who to cheer for or against?

For the first time in many years, I have no one to really cheer for or against in this year's NCAA basketball tournament. For those of you that know me, this is a problem.

First, I love my Hoosiers. I love them this year despite winning only one Big Ten season game and 6 games total. It was a brutal year, but the brutality came because Kelvin Sampson messed things up. Not because the recruiting was bad or the kids weren't trying as hard as they could. It stinks to suffer through a year like that, but it's not so bad when you realize that it's temporary.

Second, I hate UK. I always have. Didn't matter if it was Pitino, Tubby or Gillespie. In recent years they've had our number and that's pissed me off, but it's the overall rivalry and fact that they have two more national championships than the Hoosiers do that really gets to me.

With both IU and UK out of the tournament in the same year for the first time since I don't even know when, it has me sad. My dad always jokes that I have at least one bracket with the Hoosiers winning it all. And he's right. I usually let my fantasies get the best of me at least once tourney time. But this year, that's not event possible.

It's also not possible to pick UK as the first #1 seed to lose against a #16. Without either of those hopes, the tourney just isn't that interesting to me.

Sure, I can root for Michigan State or Purdue because they're Big Ten teams. I even like Purdue, which is contrary to many Hoosier fans' mentality, but I like rooting for Indiana teams, even if "Indiana" isn't splashed across their chests.

And I can argue that Memphis is the perennial loser who complains about not being a #1 seed, plays no one and then loses when it counts. They made it all the way to the big game last year and that's cool, but the season of blowing through Conference USA teams didn't really prepare them for close games. No where was that more evident than letting Chalmers launch the three to tie when the Tigers could've fouled and sent him to the line for two. That kind of mentality doesn't just turn on in March.

So this year, I'm going to have to be selfish. I'm going to have to root for whichever team (and I've yet to pick) that I have going to the finals. Because I have no emotion directing my picks. No sentamentality or hatred to guide my pencil. I can just pick a team I think has a good shot at winning and then cheer like hell that they win so I can collect the money. It's what Clark Kellogg does every year Ohio State doesn't make it into the tourney.