One word. Busted. As in, most of the brackets in the entire country are...busted. But I will trade my 3 dollars in the office pool for the games we saw yesterday every year. That was a magnificent day of college basketball. Not only were Cincinnati and Xavier able to pull of pretty good wins, we saw 2 #15-seeds upset 2 #2-seeds in the same day. It had only happened 6 times since 2001 before that. We also still have 2 number 12s (South Florida and VCU) and a 13 (Ohio U) still alive in the tourney.
As people, I think we all root for the underdog because it makes us feel like we could have a chance to make it ourselves, in whatever it is we're trying to do. Sadly though, the tourney, much like life, often reminds us as well, that the big guys still hold the keys to the castle. So if they underdogs want a chance at the throne, they have to sneak in and steal them. And at the point, my bracket is so screwed, I don't care. Go underdogs!
Also, can we address something else? Is it just me or is the Cincinnati area the Mecca of basketball this year? Check out the 2 maps I made last night of the teams knocked out of the tournament (This one with red markers) and the teams still left playing for the championship (Markers in blue). Remember, when you have the map zoomed out, there are 2 teams in Cincinnati still left. There are 8 teams in about 150 mile radius or so from Cincinnati. Someone said yesterday that the states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana were 10-2 in the tournament. The only reason there were 2 losses was because Xavier (OH) played Notre Dame (IN) and Kentucky played Western Kentucky.
Now I know they didn't have a lot of games out west this year, and that could have contributed to this oddity, but then again, there weren't that many teams in the tournament from out west. It's like when they set up the sites months ago, they knew it would be mostly east coast and Ohio River Valley teams playing in the later rounds. Obviously this is strange oddity that really has nothing to do with how things will from now, but its a neat tidbit that we can take local pride in here in Cincinnati. The more teams you have left, the better chance that someone in your area can bring home the trophy.
Yesterday I went a stellar 7-9. Which brings my overall total, counting the play-in games, to 21 of 36 correct picks. Not bad considering what happened yesterday, but Missouri was in my Final Four. Youch.
Today, we'll have Ohio State and Kentucky on CBS. However, UC and XU tomorrow got bumped to TruTV and TNT. For now, back to the games. Back to the Madness!
Today's Twitter bio profile is: @Bob_Herzog
If you already know who Bob is, chances are you wake up earlier than me. Bob and I work at the station together. You may know him from his morning traffic reports, Saturday morning hosting spot on the morning news, or perhaps a little-known segment he does on Fridays...something about flailing around like a maniac. Insane Dude...no. Wild and Crazy...that's not it. Oh yeah, Dance Party Friday! Not to mention a host of other things he does that you don't know about.
Bob's multi-talented. At one time, I know he was a lawyer and a teacher and probably some other stuff I don't know about. But he gave it all up for the glitz. You may remember his from his work as the guy who did all the commercials between movies on Saturdays with Jen Dalton on Star-64, then later the CW. I personally got to work with Bob on a shoot for a Cincinnati Library promo in the middle of May. And the air-conditioning at that particular branch was broken. We all thought we were gonna pass out. But Bob remained a pro the whole time. Oh, and did I mention he's a riot? Give him a follow for all your traffic needs, and a good laugh. Just try not to hold the fact that he's a UK fan against him.
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