No, not Those Gaels, These Gaels!

Well it's over.  It's not really over I'm told, but no, it's really over.  I will be treated to a wonderful dinner at a pizza place or subshop in a couple of weeks.  Team Lost Electronics picked Kansas to win it all, and interestingly predicted deep runs by Temple, Vanderbilt and some team named "Sienna" (Apparantly the play- in game was played by two Italian Winter League teams.)  In the meantime, Team JMR was finalizing the details of its third win in a row.  Pizza or a meatball sub?

The kids were really disappointed, not that they lost, but that they had to spend their allowances on someone as uncool as Dad.  They also justified their loss by stating that we were going to take them to Dave and Buster's sometime soon anyway, so who cares that it's not in a couple of weeks.  Attitude adjustment time will be coming, but not right now.   After the tears were wiped from their eyes, I suggested that we all pick a team that we can root for together.  Ohio State (my pick to win it all) seemed a little petty to pick as the group's favorite team.  How about Mom's pick du jour, Georgia Tech?  Even my 5 year laughed at that suggestion.

Then, intuitively, my seven year old starts asking me some questions.  "What's that team that lost that Mom spat on when we were picking teams?  What was the team that named after Mom?"  Mom spat at Villanova, because of my hatred for all things non-UConn.  Mom's middle name is Mary.  Our new team was starting to take shape.  The St. Mary's College Gaels!  In a very weak regional bracket, we also picked a mid-major that might be able to win at least one more game if not get to the Final Four.  I did a little research to get the boys excited about our new team.  Here are the four most relevant things about St. Mary's that the boys would appreciate.

1.  Australians.  Seriously, what is it with this school?  They have FIVE Australians on the team.  Not just bench warmers, mind you, but three starters on a 28-5 team that dominated Gonzaga to win the West Coast Conference Tournament.  Matthew Dellavedova was even recruited by other Division I schools.  Did these guys think they were heading to Melbourne's St Mary's?  All I know is that any team dominated by Australians is okay with me.

2.  Gaels.  The definition of "Gael" is an ethnic-linguistic group that originated in present day Ireland and includes the Highland Scots.  To some folks in the Midwest it might mean The Gaels an Irish traditional folk band based outside of St. Paul, Minnesota; sorry girls, they only play private parties at this time.  Anyway, the kids, being more than 50% Irish and Scottish, were very excited for this angle.  Australians and Ireland all represented by one team?  Unfortunately I had to dodge questions about when they could go to Ireland with this lame response - "sorry guys you need to have a special card to travel outside of the United States..."  Not bad for being put on the spot.

3.  Ugliest Player Ever.  I noticed this when I was watching St. Mary's play Gonzaga in the the WCC Final; not only is Matthew Dellavedova the ugliest play I have ever seen, he plays ugly.  A Point Guard who drives to the basket with his head down? Check.  An ugly black and white mouth piece that makes him look like an illegitimate Klitschko Brother? Check.  The lack of a haircut since 2002?  Check.  This dude is ugly.

It's impossible to root against this guy, though.  Impossible.

4.  Going Back to Cali.  Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, Duke.  I'm East Coast, but always wished that I was West Coast.  Ohio State, Villanova, Kansas State, West Virginia.  It seems that everyone was leaning toward the Atlantic Ocean this year, and there were no good teams west of the Mississippi River (I know some of the Big 12 teams were West of the Mississippi, but that also defeats my point).  In fact, the Pac-10 was given no chance in this year's Tournament.  Here comes a small college, from just east of Oakland, and all of a sudden, we all want to go to Berkeley for vacation.  Forget about Ireland, my kids are now asking when they can go to San Francisco with us (the answer: never).

*  *  *  *  *

We finally picked our favorite team for the rest of the college basketball season, The St Mary's Gaels.  Funny man Omar Samhan's Mother was right.  St Mary's has helped to ruin the pool for the Broken Electronics.  But that's okay.  Because now we hope to see you guys in Indianapolis. 

Oh and by the way, I'll have a Meatball sub with onions and peppers.

I Need Your Help Evan Turner and Club Trillion

$300.  It's costly going for a threepeat.  2008 and 2009 were great years for the man.  I needed a North Carolina victory last year to wrap everything up, but I didn't even need Kansas or Memphis in 2008 to win that year.  Some might say that I'm getting cocky, but I'm confident that I will win my NCAA bracket for the third year in a row.  So confident that I'm willing to bet $300 for the chance to win $20.  It's a little bit different this year though, and frankly I won't mind if I win or lose.

If you've been reading lately, you know that everyone - Mom (MM), my boys (C and G) and Daddy's Little Girl (DLG) - has grown immensely interested in basketball.  Whether it be the Celtics, college basketball, pick up games in the driveway or seven year old playoff games, basketball has become the "cool" thing to do.  Better than sitting around playing video games, that's for sure.  Well, what better way to get the kids even more interested in college basketball than to teach them about "brackets," "pools" and "gambling."  So here is the challenge.  JMR against MM, C, G and DLG.  MM and the kids win, it's a day at Dave and Busters, where Mom and Dad will easily drop three dimes on food and games.  JMR wins and the kids take their allowance money and treat us out to dinner.  Nowhere fancy of course, we pay them peanuts.  One point for for each win in the First Round and double points for every round after that.  If someone picks an upset in any round, that person gets double the points in that round.

8pm.  I think the kids consider it a win just being able to stay up late on a school night so they're bouncing off the walls ready to pick the teams, no research is needed.  While I have spent three weeks poring through statistical research and watching all of the conference championships, MM spends 10 minutes doing her "research" on the teams and the brackets.  (Go figure, guys at ESPN make a living on what it took her 10 minutes to do.)  And 5 of those minutes were probably spent making fun of my car.  Despite the differences in preparation, we sit down to make our choices.  I quietly and methodically make my choices - mostly based on strength of schedule, strength of conference and performance in their last 15 games.  The other side's strategy is as follows:  pick a few well knowns and the kids get a few wanna-bes.  Apparantly their strategy is to confuse me into making mistakes of my own.  Well it's not going to work.  I'm well-rested and limber.  I feel it tonight.

It takes a while for my opponents to settle down to make their picks.  I'm practically finished when they start.  They move through the Midwest bracket first.  Listening to the rationale for each of their early picks, you know I'm in trouble:  Kansas ("They are the best team") UNLV ("How can they not win, they're in Las Vegas?"), New Mexico State ("Because your Uncle went there for college"  N.B. He went to the same college we went to in Maine, and he went to graduate school in New Mexico, but it was the University of New Mexico - good job Sis), Maryland ("Remember we went there for vacation?") and Tennessee ("The women's team is always awesome!"  I don't even bother reminding her that we are picking the men's college basketball games).  Again, realizing that they are just trying to confuse me, I stop listening and focus on finishing my own picks.

JMR's Picks

ROUND 1:  Kansas, Northern Iowa, Michigan State, Maryland, Tennessee, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Syracuse, Gonzaga, UTEP, Murray State, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, BYU, Kansas State,  Kentucky, Wake Forest, Cornell, Wisconsin, Marquette, New Mexico, Missouri, WVU, Duke, Louisville, Utah State, Purdue, Notre Dame, Baylor, SMC, Villanova

ROUND 2:  Kansas, Michigan State, Georgetown, Ohio State, Syracuse, Murray State, Pittsburgh, Kansas State, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Marquette, West Virginia, Duke, Utah State, Baylor, Villanova

SWEET SIXTEEN:  Kansas, Ohio State, Syracuse, Kansas State, Kentucky West Virginia, Duke, Baylor

ELITE 8:  Ohio State, Kansas State, West Virginia, Duke

FINAL FOUR:  Ohio State, West Virginia

CHAMPION:  Ohio State

MM and the Kids Picks

ROUND 1  Kansas, UNLV, New Mexico State, Maryland, Tennessee, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Syracuse, Florida, UTEP, Vanderbilt, Xavier, Pittsburgh, BYU, Kansas State, Kentucky, Wake Forest, Temple, Wisconsin, Wahington, New Mexico, Missouri, WVU, Duke, Louisville (or "Loserville" as my son endearingly calls it), Utah State, Siena, Notre Dame, Baylor, SMC, Villanova

ROUND 2: Kansas, New Mexico State, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Kansas State, Kentucky, Temple, UNM, West Virginia, Duke, Siena, Baylor, Villanova

SWEET SIXTEEN:  Kansas, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Kansas State, Temple, West Virginia, Duke, Villanova

ELITE 8:  Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia, Duke

FINAL FOUR:  Kansas, Duke

NATIONAL CHAMPION: Kansas 
     
Reviewing our picks, I will be in good shape if Ohio State makes it into the Elite 8, MM and the kids will be the victors if Kansas wins it all and Ohio State falls early.  I'll need everyone from Evan Turner to Club Trillion to help me out.  I will be updating our status periodically on Twitter.  Find my updates at @jmannreview.

Duke is the Real Evil Empire

While the State of Connecticut was usually split between New York and Boston when it came to sports allegiances, where I grew up (outside of Hartford), we usually could agree to root for two teams - the Whalers and the UConn Huskies Men's basketball team.  Ever since I witnessed Corny Thompson play back in 1979, college basketball to me meant UConn.  With the NIT Championship in 1988, Tate George's "Shot" after Scotty Burrill's "Pass" in 1990 and the two National Championships in 1999 and 2004, the school has had a nice run for the last 20 years.  By the way, we'll talk about the Whalers some other time.

Unfortunately, one of the worst days as a fan occurred just a couple of short days after the "Shot."  Christian Laettner's little runner to push Duke past the Huskies to reach the Final Four, 79-78.  I still remember Mike Krzyzewski looking around with that smug look on his face as the Dukies ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.  I still remember where I was when I watched that game, and I still remember that smug little smirk that Coach K had that day.  Never mind that Duke has only sent underachieving players to the NBA (Bobby Hurley, Jayson Williams, Cherokee Parks, Alaa Abdelnaby, the list is simply too long).  Even its most celebrated player, Grant Hill, has underachieved due to his fragile personality and feet.

All the information above was disseminated to my children when UConn and Duke met for the ninth time in the Preseason NIT Tournament finals last night.  My daughter quickly retreated to the toy room as I was speaking, somehow knowing that Daddy was going to be "talking" to the TV a lot.  The boys, however, ate it all up.  My seven year old started calling Coach K "stupidhead" (the one day I would let him say the word "stupid" over and over again) and my five year old, when I told him that Duke was the "Evil Empire" asked whether Coach K was really Darth Vader and if he was why he wasn't wearing a mask.

5pm.  My kids keep asking when they are going to show Coach K/Vader so they can see the smug little smirk he always has on his face.  Thatta way boys.

FIRST HALF

18:30.  After a sequence where a couple of Dukies flop trying to get fouls (what, are they all European?) and Jerome Dyson goes in for an easy layup, Dickie V., a notorious Blue Devil lover, shrieks "UConn's playing in the rafters baby!"  This is going to be a good game.

16:25.  The camera has a picture of Kyle Singler standing next to Coach K.  "Wow the Dukers are really tall." No Coach K is just 5 foot 2 inches tall.  He makes everyone look tall.  Okay the kid's 7 feet tall, but tonight's not about Kyle Singler.

9:30.  After a jump ball, I tried to explain the college system about the possession arrow after a jump ball.  This is proving difficult as my seven year old doesn't see the arrow and can't understand why no one is jumping for a jump ball.

6:45.  I excitedly point out to my kids that one of the new Huskies, Alex Oriahki, is from Lowell, Massachusetts, but I see that the boys are playing with their DSs and my 3 year old is asleep.  Oh well, maybe I'll have to entice them in some way to keep them watching.  I'll probably have to buy a book from the book store that they set up in the living room.  And in trying to figure out how to spell Oriahki's name, I discover that one of the players is from my home town.  He can't possibly be that good; he must be one of the towel wavers.

0:02.  A dubious non-call when a UConn player grabs the rim as a Duke player tries to cover a lay up.  The pro-Duke ESPN crew was completely up in arms - Joe Buck style.  I thought they were going to call the referee over to show him the replay.  Hey guys - I know you don't like to admit it, but ESPN is based in CONNECTICUT!  Duke is leading 37-28.

SECOND HALF

16:05.  After another curious non-call of goaltending favoring the Huskies, I am lead to believe that maybe the Huskies will get a fair shot in this game.  Not 30 seconds later though, a Duke flop leads to a Huskies' foul.  Even my boys scream that it wasn't a foul, that he wasn't even touched.

11:30.  My kids go nuts when the Duke player flops into one of the ESPN cameras after a Gavin Edwards put back.  Actually, its pretty funny to see that camera during the play.  I always like seeing the cameraman's viewpoint when something like that happens.

9:00.  John Schuyler has the ball bounce off his head into the 10th row.  I'm trying to decide if the UConn player meant to hit that punk in the head.  If the game were out of hand I may have fired it off his noggin myself.  Why does Duke always have at least one player that you love to hate?

7:25.  An intentional foul is called on Gavin Edwards when it looks like he's just trying to go for the ball.  At this point Duke is leading by 16.  I'm debating turning the game off anyway, since it's getting increasingly difficult to explain how a famous athlete, like Tiger Woods, can get into a one car accident at 2:30 in the morning after Thanksgiving and alcohol was NOT involved.

2:00.  UCONN starts making a little bit of a comeback, but the dearth of three point shooters is now a glaring weakness when you're down by that much.  Despite some excellent play down the stretch, UConn ends up succumbing to the Empire 68-59.  The Huskies' first loss of the season.

Despite the game not turning out the way we wanted, I was able to convert a couple more kids to the UConn way.  And the Duke anti-way.  My seven year old, turning his attention back to the game when UConn made it close at the end, turns to me and glumly states, "Coach K likes to brag, doesn't he, Dad."  I didn't notice it, but it certainly sounds right.  My five year old then asks if Coah K will put his mask back on now that the games over.  "Not until the camera goes off."  I explain turning the station to SpongeBob, as I had promised.

Can a College Basketball Team Win on a Neutral Court?

Earlier this fall, I had a golden opportunity.  I could pick a couple of Boston College basketball games to go to during the 2009-10 season.  "I'm not giving you Duke or North Carolina, but pick any other games."  I was told.  I didn't want my children to hear me hurl expletives at the opposing teams anyway, so I was thankful that the temptation to take those two games were taken away from me. 

I couldn't take UMass because I was going to be in Florida that week.  Florida State?  Virginia?  I couldn't decide.  Finally, wth four tickets at my disposal, I chose the Eagles' opening night game against Dartmouth.  Being a UConn guy, I was luke warm on BC to begin with, but against the school that rejected my college application 20 years ago despite the seven essays that I wrote?  Hell yeah.  I would relish the opportunity to shove it back in their face, even though the "Big Green" and their fans would have no idea who the hell I was.  Plus, my wife was going to be at work, so I had the kids cornered.   

6pm.  Chestnut Hill, MA.  Even though I have been to Conte Forum at least half a dozen times in my life, I couldn't for the life of me find the place.  Was the "Dartmouth curse" coming back to haunt me?  Not a real curse, just what I coined a harrowing evening at the school's baseball frat back in 1992.  Driving back and forth on Beacon Street, I was looking for a right to take.  I asked three guys for directions and used my GPS on my phone (yeah, you're right, I should be keeping my eyes on the road).  Finally, I relented and took a left instead and parked at the Alumni Stadium garage exactly where I should have parked; in fact, when I showed the parking attendants that I had a parking pass, they were as surprised as I was that I had no idea where I was going.  "Right this way" they said, as if I was Matty Ice or Doug Flutie.  I'm still not sure how I got there.  Luckily, I had fed the kids into a comatose state (tw fthem were assleep by the time I parked) so the only problem involved an unfortunate barbeque sauce issue that could only be remedied with winter hats and "blankies."

Well our problems finding the place didn't stem from traffic jams or a tremendous demand for tickets  We walk in a couple of minutes before tip off and the Forum, usually able to accommodate about 8,500 fans couldn't have more than 1,000 people in the building (and that includes the volleyball tournament going on in some other nook and cranny of the building).

Despite the lack of a crowd, I was still apprehensive, since my daughter had expressed a fear about both loud noises and people dressed up as characters (in this case, the BC Eagle).

But the question I posed to myself was this - can BC, in front of a sparsely populated home court, still use that home court to their advantage?  The study isn't as compelling as if they were to play, oh say, Kansas, but after watching numerous UConn butt kickings against the Sacred Hearts and the Central Connecticuts of the world in front of packed Gampel Pavillion or Hartford Civic Center (nee XL Center) crowds, I am convinced that it can make a difference versus playing the same team in Hawaii or some other neutral site.

Well, after about 10 minutes of play, and numerous questions from my boys about what I was taking pictures of (I was trying to get either a clear shot of how empty the Forum was, so my camera was constantly pointing away from the action, or I was trying to get a picture of this 45 year old guy in his BC student T-shirt hugging all of the other regulars like it was Thanksgiving.), the "crowd" had encouraged the Eagles to a fifteen point lead.  These guys Tyler Roche and Reggie Jackson (seriously) led the Eagles throughout the First Half and most of the Second Half.  Despite the lack of support through most of the game, I could tell that the Big Green weren't going to have it tonight.  During the pregame warmup, I was impressed by the complicated four way passing drill they were executing - and frankly from an Ivy League school I would expect nothing less - they were missing jumpers and layups of every sort.  The crowd was also buttressed by a loud PA system that was constantly blaring music, amidst requests to clap and chant "Defense." 

To a certain extent, I don't think the crowd mattered as much as the timing of the loud noise.  Sort of like a football crowd being particularly loud when the opposing offense is backed up against its own goal line, the music played the loudest during Dartmouth's offensive possessions.  How do I know?  My daughter always asked me to turn the music down when Dartmouth had the ball, never when BC had the ball.  Given that the place was otherwise silent when BC had the ball, it had to be jarring.  I concluded that maybe, just maybe, home court advantage had more to do with technology, than human causes.  Wait, is it a conclusion to say "maybe?"

Ultimately, after all of the popcorn, Doritos and M&Ms were eaten, it was time to go home.  BC was winning handily halfway through the Second Half, and we were all getting tired.  I think even Dartmouth was ready to leave, as they were just dragging their bodies up and down the court, biding time until the final whistle.  My beliefs were confirmed as we walked out of the stadium with BC up by 25 with 10 minutes to go in the game.

"Look guys, there's the bus that Dartmouth took to come down here from New Hampshire."  I relay to my boys (my daughter I asleep in my arms at this point).

"If that's their bus," my oldest one asks "then why is it on like it's leaving?  Do they wanna get dinner at home?"

"Good question." I say as I slap him on the shoulder.  "Good question."