2011TournamentCards (via ptichenor)

I love this time of year, I love this time of year, and mostly I met all my deadlines before I created this, mostly. The night before the tournament (really) starts, all outcomes are possible, all teams are equal, and my team can still be a champion.

My apologies to Mr. Shakespeare, If  e're a basketball game he saw, truly his wrath at prose so mangled would be assuaged...

http://flic.kr/p/9qZveA

Did I mention I Love this time of year?

The Sleaziest Coach in a Sleazy Game

John Calpari and College Basketball are a match made a few levels below heaven.

By Charles P. Pierce 3/16/2010

I do not believe that Kentucky is going to win this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament. This is one reason why: I watched them beat the tar out of Tennessee in the SEC tournament, a ridiculous 74-45 blowout during which freshman center DeMarcus Cousins took the opportunity to give head coach John Calipari one of the greatest "Honky, please" looks since the demise of Richard Pryor, and a backup named Daniel Orton was told to absent himself briefly from the proceedings and walked up the tunnel, leaving Kentucky undermanned and the broadcast crew completely baffled. Meanwhile, Calipari was all over starry freshman guard John Wall, who was visibly counting down the seconds until the end of the season, whenever it is. And all this in a game that Kentucky won by 29.

I have hazy childhood memories of cheering for the Colonels. Then there is a game where the cards overcame yet another seemingly impossible deficit in an epically short time. The details are gone, but "that Bradley Game..." remains in the family lexicon as a reminder to never give up.

My favorite memory of Freedom Hall is when a friend and I left St. X and headed straight over to the Hall to "WAVE the Cards Home" after the 1980 championship. We had a half day or something because I remember getting there very early to get in line We were so pumped because there was no one there yet and we were sure to get some prime seats. Of course we got bored waiting and started walking around the building and discovered the back loading dock was wide open. Being teenagers, we walked right in.

We knew we weren't really supposed to be inside, so we looked for a place to lay low until they opened the doors to the public. We found this ramp that we thought led up to the upper level, but ended up in what turned out to be Freedom Hall's attic. We found all kinds of dusty equipment, lights, and other stuff that looked like no one had touched for years. I distinctly remember finding a cache of yellowed papers with stage layouts and lighting diagrams for a Beach Boys concert from 1965. We got so engrossed in all this stuff that we completely lost track of time, and the ramp we used to get up there in the first place! We finally found a door that turned out to be one of the spotlight bays and came out at the top row of seats into a jammed packed Freedom Hall. We didn't get the seats we wanted, but we did have a pretty fun adventure. I have tried to find that ramp again several times over the years but like Brigadoon, it must show up only on certain days when the moon is just right.

I'll miss the smell, the sticky concrete, and the fact that the games were great to watch whether you were down on the floor, or up in 330.

And the last thing I'll leave you guys with is my best approximation of the sounds that still bounce around Freedom Hall if you listen carefully enough. Sean Moth is well on his way to creating his own legacy, but no voice rang like a bell over the cheering crowd of Cardinal faithful like that of John Tong.

"At Guard... a 6'4" SOPH-o-MORE from LOOUEY-ville Male High School... "

GOWAAAL byyyye ....!"

"STEPS called."

"Tiiiime is OUT... on the floor."