Favorite Baseball Movies!

Today is a great day. Baseball officially started for many teams this afternoon, and the possibilities are endless. Some of my friends are posting their annual “predictions” for the season, but I don’t do things like that. I let the season’s chips fall where they may.

However, this doesn’t mean I don’t have other pre-season rituals. I like to follow the live blogs on Detroit websites and see what is happening in downtown Detroit. I don’t really have any desire to attend Opening Day (as my father says, “It’s more about the beer than the baseball”), but it’s still fun to see so many people excited about the blank slate ahead.

Another annual tradition I like to do is view a baseball movie. There are about three gajillion baseball movies out there, but I usually limit them to a certain few:

Angels in the Outfield

Released TWENTY years ago (!), this was one of my favorites as a kid. At the time, it was just a fun movie with That Dude From Back to the Future. (Christopher Lloyd) But I just watched it last night, and there are a huge number of big-name stars in that movie: Adrien Brody, Danny Glover, Matthew McConaughey, Neal McDonough, and my man Joseph Gordon-Levitt!

There isn’t any real lesson learned in this one - unless you count that it’s okay to believe in angels. And that radio commentators can be real jerks. But who doesn’t get emotional when the entire stadium starts flapping their wings like angels?

Fever Pitch

There are many haters of this movie, but I am not one of them. I find it to be charming, and as a woman who understands that it’s hard to balance sports and a personal life, I can relate to Ben’s troubles. Even though the movie was supposed to end with the Red Sox losing, I think the fact that they decided to play it during the 2004 championship season was a thing of beauty. (I could have done without Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore going on the field.)

Yes, I have seen the original Fever Pitch, and it was pretty good. But I’m not much of a soccer fan, or else I probably would have liked it more.

The Rookie

Dennis Quaid takes his high school team to the championship, and then they encourage him to try out for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays - and he makes it! This one came out while I was still on a Remember the Titans “Disney sports movie” high, and I think I really enjoy it because there’s no real antagonist. It’s just a dude trying to follow his dream.

Rookie of the Year

This began my crush of Thomas Ian Nichols, the kid who breaks his arm, but miraculously causes him to be able to throw fastballs like nobody’s business. And then he pitches for the Cubs! Hijinks ensue, and the Cubs win the World Series. This is clearly not based on a true story. Oh - Gary Busey is the love interest to Nichols’ mom!

61*

I probably should have put this one at the top, because this one is hands down my favorite baseball movie. This came out in 2001, when the story behind the 1998 Home Run Race still hadn’t come out, and people were still in awe of the home run hitters. This was an HBO movie produced by Billy Crystal, and I absolutely loved it. It actually made me root for the Yankees, kind of.

There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy this movie - the setting, the premise, the fact that they used old Tiger Stadium (RIP) when they filmed Yankee Stadium - but the biggest thing was the actors. Thomas Jane as Mickey Mantle and Barry Pepper as Roger Maris were amazing in their roles. They really got into the characters, and when I saw pictures of the real Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, I couldn’t believe how much they looked like Jane and Pepper!

There are plenty of other movies I could put on this list - most of which were made in the 90’s (The Sandlot, A League of Their Own, Field of Dreams, Eight Men Out, Major League, and Little Big League) - but the ones listed above are my personal favorites. What are yours?

I Ski, Therefore I Am...Part 2

Previously, on Blurb Musings...I had purchased the gear, I had set the date, and now it was time to ski down a hill!

Fun Fact #7: The hardest part of skiing isn’t actually skiing.

It’s the chairlift.

…

I’m not even joking.

The chairlift is a constantly moving conveyor belt that expects you to be ready when it comes around. In a pleasant summer day, that is not a problem at all. You walk up, you sit down, and you go!

But remember that you aren’t walking. You are on skis, and for a newbie like me, going forward three feet is a lot harder than going forward one hundred feet. At a chairlift, it’s all an inching process with dozens of other skiers and snowboarders. They try to create Disneyland ropes for lines, but it ends up being a big mess anyway, because you also have to try to line up your row before you even make it to the lift itself.

Pretty much, it’s a big mess.

My cousins guided me to the skinny gates, which opened when it was time to go. Then I slid along until I reached a yellow line, where my cousins grabbed me and pulled me to a stop. The yellow line is important, because that’s when the lift has slowed down enough and made the turn enough so you can sit your butt down and let the chair do its work.

On the main chairlift, called the Quicksilver, six people could fit on. Once we’ve all sat down, we bring down the armrest and skirest. Why a skirest? Skis and ski boots are super heavy, and when legs dangle, the skis and boots pull down. It makes for a very uncomfortable lift ride. Some of the smaller chairlifts don’t have skirests, but I’m thankful for the ones that do.

Oh, yea - getting off a chairlift is hard, too. As we came to the top, we lifted the armrest. Then we tilted our skis up, so that the bottom of the skis hit the hill first. Then the hill leveled off, and there was that yellow line again. This time, the yellow line means “GET UP OR ELSE!!!!!”

For me, getting off the chairlift was the thing I struggled with the most. My cousin urged me to scoot up close to the edge of the chair, but that was when we were still thirty feet off the ground! I eventually learned that it just had to be done. I ended up sliding on my butt off the chairlift several times, which made me feel really stupid. I was just getting off the chairlift, for Pete’s sake!

Fun Fact #8: Skiing is fun!

Once the chairlift ordeal was over, it was time to get down the hill. My cousin had a GoPro camera strapped to his head, and watching myself inch down the hill was amusing. My first trip down was actually pretty nice. I was moving at a snail’s pace, but with my cousins hovering around me, I knew I’d be okay.

The second time down, I went a little faster. I wasn’t constantly stopping all the time. I picked up a little speed. My J-curves started to improve.

The third time down, I had a ball! I was really finding my groove, and my cousins even were impressed by how quickly I was picking up this sport.

Personally, I was shocked. I had watched my fair share of ski events (just look at my Winter Olympic Blurbs!), but I didn’t realize how much of that viewing would help me. But it really did. The way the skiers go from side to side, keep their skis together, use their poles, were all things I could mimic (or, at least, try).

Fun Fact #9: Skiing is tiring!

The crowds at the chairlift were much larger by late morning, and it took longer to get through the chairlift line than it  did to get down the mountain! So we decided to take a break.

There was a lodge/cafeteria at the top of Peak 9, so we took the lift up there and all rested and ate our lunches we had made. (Extra Fun Fact: lodge food is super expensive, too.)

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how tiring skiing (and then resting) would make me. I went down Peak 9 two more times, and then my cousins suggested trying Peak 8 - part of which was blue. I agreed, so I took the connecting chairlift to the top.

If I had done the blue run in the morning, I probably would have really enjoyed it. But after lunch, my food was still settling and my legs hadn’t recovered. I really struggled down that hill. My J-curves ended up being gigantic, and I didn’t retain any momentum. It was stop, slide, stop, slide, stop, etc. There had been talks of trying other runs, but I finally had to say it was time for me to stop.

The cool thing was that my cousins had thought that I would need to get picked up from one of the parking areas at the base, but I was able to make it all the way down to their condo, which was positioned right next to one of the runs.

Fun Fact #10: The next day is always different

I was apprehensive to get out there again, considering how I had ended the previous day, but I did it anyway. My boots felt super tight, especially on my right shin. It was sore when I walked, but when I skied it was actually okay.

We took one of the mid-level lifts and found an area on Peak 8 where the ski school kids trained. It was only about 100 yards long, enclosed by a blue plastic fence, and instead of a chairlift, they had a platter lift. You ski up, grab the stick, put it between your legs, and let the lift slide you up the hill. Your skis stay on the ground, and it motors you up the short distance.

I made the mistake of thinking I had to sit on the platter, and wiped out the first two times. Once I finally figured the thing out, I did it nine or ten times. As I came down the hill, I practiced my parallel curves. It really did help!

We couldn’t stay on the hill very long, but my trip back to the condo was far less tiring this time! I arrived back with a fresh energy and a desire to ski more!

So there you have it. I went skiing, I really liked it, and I can’t wait until next season, when I can go out there again!

I Ski, Therefore I Am...Part I

When I first accepted the job in Colorado, two questions always came up by people talking to me. The first was, “How close is it to Denver?” The second question was, “Are you going to learn to ski?”

It wasn’t hard to answer the first question, but the second answer was more of an assumption. I really did want to learn to ski, but considering that I didn’t live near the mountains - and had never skied - I just replied with, “I hope to!”

One of my missions of the past year-and-a-half was to gather as much ski equipment that I could, so that if the opportunity came along, I could be ready to go. I knew that much of the ski gear could be rented, but I didn’t even own snowpants - a definite requirement.

Fun Fact #1: Skiing requires a lot of equipment!

Little did I realize how much I would need to buy. Even without skis, boots, poles, and helmet, I would have to purchase under clothing (like UnderArmour), middle clothing (sweatshirt-level), snowpants, coat, hat (or ski mask), quality mittens, thick socks (not just the kind you find at Target), and non-ski boots. These items are important when scaling a fourteener (and I wore exactly none of it when I actually did scale a fourteener last year - an idiotic move on my part) or going snowshoeing - not just skiing. But it still took me a while (and a little bit of change) to acquire all these things.

Luckily, in Colorado there are many chances to get these items at sale prices, thanks to the fact that clothiers and equipment companies always want people to buy the newest seasonal gear. That means that in the spring and summer, stores are putting all the “old” gear on sale to have more room for the new stuff. I purchased my snowpants, coat, and ski goggles back in April.

In August, there is a magical time called Sniagrab (read it backwards and it’ll make sense), where Sports Authority has a giant tent outside many of their stores with everything that is “so last year.” This includes all the ski and snowboarding equipment you could ever want at pretty ridiculous prices. I took advantage of this great sale to get a whole bunch of stuff, including ski boots, a helmet, ski poles, snowshoes, and two pair of mittens - all for the original price of the boots! Once I came out of there, I knew there was no going back.

There were other various items purchased at other times - ski socks in September, under clothing as Christmas presents, ski mask purchased with bonus dollars from Sports Authority - and all of a sudden I had everything! Now I just had to find a time to get into the mountains.

Fun Fact #2: I’m a busy person!

Weekends are usually the best time for the urban city folk around Denver to retreat into the mountains and hit the slopes. This also means that traffic on I-70 is insanely busy almost every weekend from Thanksgiving through Easter.

I did manage to get to the Idaho Springs area for some snowshoeing with some friends (and broke in some of the equipment I’d gotten, with great success) and saw this traffic for myself. A normal trip to Idaho Springs takes about 45 minutes for me - however, this time it took two hours, thanks to the fact that everyone was on that stretch of highway!

While many people can leave the urban areas on weekends because they don’t work, I have a job where I have many things going on during the weekends - especially on Sundays. While my cousins are often in the mountains and tell me I’m welcome to come any time, I often cannot make it up there due to something or other going on.

I was actually supposed to get up to the mountains in the first full weekend of February, but the nasty weather and my non-four-wheel-drive car prevented me from getting up there. The first time my schedule actually lined up for a mountain trip to ski was my Spring Break - which coincided with my cousins’ kids’ Spring Break.

My awesome cousins (J and M, we’ll call them) had my skis already up with them, and there was really no turning back after that. I was going to ski!

Fun Fact #3: Ski boots are awkward!

I had worn much of the “non-ski specific” equipment back in January when I’d gone snowshoeing. But this was the first time for the ski mask, helmet, goggles, and shoes. Most of it wasn’t too difficult - I felt like I was robbing a bank putting the ski mask on - but the shoes were quite awkward.

When I’d bought the boots at Sniagrab, one of the Sports Authority workers - who clearly knew his stuff - had helped me find the pair of boots I needed. He told me that I’d be shins-forward, heels-back most of the time, so he helped me find boots that allowed for this, but were still tight on my feet. Still, that was back in August. So when I put the boots on again...they were tight! Plus, ski boots aren’t easy to walk in when you don’t have the skis on. It’s heel-toe, heel-toe to the extreme! Apparently snowboard boots are much easier in which to walk, but not ski boots. Luckily everyone looks stupid in ski boots - not just me as the newbie.

The process of getting all the ski equipment on is a great adventure as well. There were six of us trying to get our ski gear on at the same time, and nothing was in the same spot. We were toppling over each other, but eventually we were all ready.

Fun Fact #4: Day passes are expensive!

Since it’s near the end of the ski season, there was no reason for me to purchase a year pass. My cousin let me use one of her Buddy Passes, which brought the price of a day pass to $84. It helped, but still...yeowch!

We purchased the pass near a mid-level chairlift, which wasn’t as busy as it was at the base of the peak. We were skiing in Breckenridge, where there are five main Peaks (titled 6,7,8,9, and 10), and the easiest is Peak 9. We got dropped off at the base of the peak with all our equipment, and just like that, M was putting down my skis and telling me to snap in!

There are no straps on skis - instead, your ski boots snap into place. As soon as I snapped in my skis, I started to slide away! That was an unfamiliar feeling, and I started to panic. But I used my poles and planted myself down.

Fun Fact #5: The first step is learn how to stop.

It isn’t that hard to go when you’re on skis - just point yourself down the hill and allow yourself to slide. The hard part is knowing how to stop. That is why my cousins taught me how to “snowplow” (or “pizza”) with my skis. Without crossing the skis, you point the tips inward and bend your knees in. That prevents you from gaining momentum.

I also was immediately taught how to stand on the skis. This was exactly the same stance that the Sports Authority guy taught me, but my cousin gave a better analogy: Imagine you have $100 bills in between your shins and ski boot. You want to keep the hundred dollars there all the way down the hill by pressing your shins up against the boot. By doing this, your heels are pressed back against the boot, allowing your toes to be free and not crunched up against the boots. While your knees are bent, it’s best to keep your upper torso straight-ish. It didn’t take me terribly long to learn this.

The thing that took me longer was how to get down a hill! From where I had strapped on the skis, it was an incline down about ¼ of a mile to the chair lift. Since we were there early, I wasn’t skiing into anyone. However, the more I went down the hill, the faster I got. (I think there’s a physics lesson I could quote here…)

Fun Fact #6: The J-curve

My cousin J took some time to help me learn the other way to stop, which is called a J-curve. You pretty much put all your weight on the inside of one of your skis, causing you to curve around. If you do it well enough, you’re facing the upslope of the hill when you’re done. While it didn’t take me incredibly long to learn the snowplow, the J-curve took me a lot longer. I didn’t accomplish that on the way to the chair lift.

I am thankful that my cousins are very athletic, because when I did fall (and didn’t know the proper way to get up) they just grabbed me by both arms and hoisted me up. I felt like a complete dolt, but I was still thankful they were there. This didn’t happen all the time - eventually I learned the proper way to get up when on skis - but it happened enough.

This post is taking a lot longer than I thought, so I am going to break this up into two parts.

Next on “I Ski, Therefor I Am:” Will she fall off the chair lift? Will she create an avalanche? Will an angry moose charge her as she tries to make it back home??? Stay tuned!

The Running Diary - Day 1 of the NCAA Tournament

It was a long day, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. Here is my running diary - starting at 10am and ending around 11:30pm today.

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The games have begun! I hope to watch every single game today - it’s been a few years since I’ve been able to do that. Back in 2009 my Dad and I got Subway footlongs, sat on the couch, and watched tons of Thursday basketball. This year I have stuff to do, but I can keep the TV on all day!

10:15am Ohio State and Dayton kick off. I already wish they would shut up about Aaron Craft.

10:36am Dayton is leading by 4. I think Dayton is more excited about this matchup than OSU, considering a few of those Dayton players might have wanted to be recruited by Ohio State.

10:39am Trying to get my Kindle Fire back up and running after the magazine apps decided to crash on me. Amazon was pretty much no help and just told me to do a factory reset.

10:40am OSU has taken the lead. American and Wisconsin are tipping off...in Milwaukee! I would totally be there if I was still in Wisconsin. Especially because the game after this one is Michigan vs. Wofford.

10:47am American is holding its own in the first five minutes of the game, even in a sea of red-shirted fans.

10:53am American and Dayton doing great. Amazon still not.

11:00am Dayton-OSU at halftime, with Dayton leading! Wisconsin hasn’t scored in a while.

11:02am Never mind - just hit a three.

11:10am Bo Ryan always looks angry.

11:13am I am now chatting with my seventh Amazon representative.

11:16am You know what stinks? Wisconsin travels an hour and plays in a very pro-WIsconsin crowd in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, UW-Milwaukee makes the tournament by winning their conference, and they have to play in Buffalo.

11:19am Wisconsin now has a four-point lead. OSU is returning from halftime. My big dilemma… root for the underdog or root for the Big Ten? My Dad would say there is no question: Big Ten. It’s a little harder for me.

11:26am The Badgers are now up by ten at halftime.

11:27am I wonder what the kids do in their time off of basketball while they are in a host city? Do they go out and celebrate? Do they have to stay shut up in their hotels? Are they more excited to hear they’re going to Orlando than the fact that they are actually IN the tournament?

11:35am Grant Hill is doing analysis! He needs to wear more teal.

11:36am CBS is interviewing Dayton player’s sister, who has Down Syndrome. She seems pretty great! Now she’ll be on all the morning shows.

11:46am OSU has taken the lead. Dayton’s run might be at an end.

11:48am Fun fact: I picked Pittsburgh.

11:54am Five minutes gone and Colorado STILL hasn’t scored.

11:57am Time for breakfast! I decided on Cheerios: my Breakfast of Champions.

12:05pm Ouch - Craft gets an intentional foul for OSU and Dayton gets two free shots and the ball. Now Dayton is up by 3.

12:08pm I’ve been working with the same Amazon rep for an hour now. We seemed to have found the problem. Thank goodness! My Kindle hasn’t been updated. Working on it now.

12:09pm Dayton’s Devin Oliver gets “fouled” and gets 2 shots in the double bonus. Misses them both.

12:12pm Pittsburgh is up 33-9 with 4 minutes left. I can’t remember a more lopsided 8/9 game!

12:13pm OSU’s Shannon Scott just fouled Dayton’s DyShawn Pierre as he shot a 3-pointer.  By the way - I spelled “DyShawn” really badly the first time around. Glad I checked it.

12:15pm Pierre is perfect from the line. OSU gets the last shot.

12:17pm Craft hits a layup, but gives Dayton 15 seconds to work with.

12:19pm Oh! Oh! Oh! Dayton wins! Apparently there are no other OSU players besides Aaron Craft, because Craft had to go up against Vee Sanford, who hit the layup, and then Craft tried to get the layup but was triple-teamed to prevent him from getting close to the basket. His layup rolled off the rim. I’m okay with this loss. Goodbye Aaron Craft.

12:41pm Not much going on right now - two blowouts and Harvard/Cincinnati.

12:49pm Harvard was the underdog picked most by bracket people. And by “bracket people” I mean anyone who filled out a bracket. Which was pretty much everyone.

1:16pm Rooting for Western Michigan against Syracuse, though it’s unlikely they’ll win.

1:17pm Time for a workout!

1:32pm So the BYU/Oregon game is taking place in Milwaukee, where 80% of the fans are Badgers, and 19% are Wolverines, leaving 1% for everyone else. So how does it feel for those BYU and Oregon players when they are essentially playing in an arena where no one is rooting for either team? That’s gotta be weird.

1:43pm Ugh...Pitt/Colorado is FINALLY over. It took long enough for that mercy killing.

2:22pm Workout complete. Watched BYU/Oregon (where that guy was NOT out of bounds when he threw the ball in), Harvard/Cincinnati, and Western Michigan/Syracuse.

2:23pm I don’t know whether to root for or against Tommy Amaker, former coach of Michigan and current coach of Harvard. He wasn’t that great with Michigan, but he wasn’t half as horrible as Brian Ellerbe (remember him?). I guess I’m glad he found a place where his system thrives, and I’m elated to have John Beilein.

2:25pm Lunchtime! Snacking on carrots, an apple, and a banana. I’ll probably throw in some cottage cheese as a treat.

2:30pm Nice job, Harvard. Way to make people go, “I picked Harvard!” and everyone else go, “So what? I did too!”

2:32pm Hey - I picked Harvard!

2:33pm I also picked Ohio State to go to the Elite Eight.

2:43pm Florida and Albany are tied at 26 with 6 minutes to play. Hmm…

2:44pm Albany’s yellow-butt jerseys are UGLY. Who thought that was a good choice of uniform? Really!

2:54pm Speaking of butts, (just go with me here) when I taught kindergartners, I would have them come up to my desk and I would give them the two choices of teams, and they’d tell me which one I should write down. Some were repeated back to me in humorous ways (“Motor Dame”), but there was one team they always said right: Butler. And many of them picked Butler...because it has the word “but” in it. And it made them laugh.

What made me laugh was that was the year Butler made the championship game. So I had a lot of 5- and 6-year-old brackets that were way better than mine.

2:57pm BYU hits a three to come within three of Oregon. This game has been all over the place - sometimes it’s close, sometimes it’s a 12-point gap.

2:58pm Does Billy Donovan own any suit jackets or blazers? (That’s like asking if Jim Tressel owns any sweaters with sleeves.)

3:00pm Florida up by only 6 at the half. Will this turn into BYU/Oregon? Or American/Wisconsin?

3:02pm Need to run an errand. Back in a bit!

4:46pm And I’m back! Let’s see what’s been happening...MSU is taking care of Delaware, Syracuse took care of Western Michigan...Florida did pull it out over Albany...and my BYU upset of Oregon didn’t happen. Oh well.

5:12pm Aaaaaaand the Michigan game is on!

5:24pm Michigan does so much passing outside the three-point line because they’re so predictable. Jordan Morgan does his best (and he’s way better than he was two years ago) but Michigan needs some more Big Man presence!

5:31pm I usually designate Michigan game time as “cleaning, cooking, or baking time.” This allows me to stay busy and not freak out over minor hiccups or complete stupidity by my favorite team. Today I’m cleaning.

5:36pm I’d just like to mention that after watching their championship game on Sunday, I did pick St. Joseph’s over UConn.

6:04pm Michigan is up by 14 at the half, but still not throttling Wofford. That’s probably why I don’t have Michigan getting past the Sweet Sixteen this year.

6:10pm NC State is leading Saint Louis (St. Louis?) at the half, which isn’t good for me. North Dakota State is leading Oklahoma early on, which is good for me!

6:11pm Just saw the new E*Trade commercial where they give the baby a sidekick - a singing cat named Beanie! Two reactions: “What the heck?!” and “A singing cat?! Awesome!!!”

6:29pm St. Joe’s commits a faux pas as a St. Joe’s player tries to pass across to the guard...except the guard didn’t get past half court in time. They were only down one at the time - not good.

6:30pm Pizza time! Cleaning is done - the place looks far better than it did before.

6:45pm I said Jordan Morgan was better than last year...I didn’t say that I liked him. He still bugs me. One defensive play, his way of helping out a driving Wofford player was squatting down and reaching out his arm. Just MOVE already! (And that goes for all Wolverine players on offense too!)

6:50pm A Wofford shot gets stuck in the top of the backboard. Which is pretty much impossible. Which is why it’s so hilarious. They had to get a ladder to get it down! (Cut down the nets!)

7:04pm Got to watch the last few seconds of St. Joe’s/UConn regulation, where UConn lucked out with an And-1 with five seconds left. St. Joe’s and UConn both had chances to hit final shots, but neither were good. OT, folks!

7:06pm Michigan didn’t make this easy, but it’s a 17-point win. For a finesse team who excels at shooting long range, they better get those shots from the start of the next game.

7:09pm Meanwhile, North Dakota State is still beating Oklahoma. Of course, there’s still seventeen minutes left. A lot can happen!

7:30pm Aw, St. Joe’s blew it. There was no going back after regulation ended.

7:34pm Saint Louis has tied it up!!!! Way to just race to the basket and not set anything up.

7:35pm But make your free throws! Geez!

7:37pm More overtime!

7:44pm Saint Louis player named Jordair Jett raced down the court, but lost the ball. The announcer goes, “He has turned on the jets, no pun intended.” Um, of course it was intended! Don’t fool yourself.

7:57pm Ack! I keep forgetting about North Dakota State/Oklahoma. Looks like Oklahoma has pulled ahead. I’m still focused on this NC State/Saint Louis game.

8:00pm They were losing by 16, but Saint Louis pulled it off in OT. It almost is like they were the underdog - they’re the 5 seed!

8:18pm More overtime!!

8:24pm Oh man this North Dakota State team is fun to watch!

8:35pm Milwaukee leading Villanova. This won’t last very long.

9:20pm Manhattan/Louisville has to be the most boring game of the day. Neither team has broke 30 points and it’s almost halftime.

9:23pm Texas is doing exactly what it should be doing: winning!

9:54pm Uh-oh.

10:00pm Oh man!! A game that didn’t seem like it could even become competitive turns into the game with the last second bunny shot! Way to go Texas!

10:03pm I am now entering my twelfth hour of basketball viewing. I have been watching basketball from four different locations featuring sixteen different teams. I understand why the arenas now seem strangely quiet while these last games are being played. People are tired.

10:16pm Heh...if Louisville wins, they will play Saint Louis. It will be the Battle of the Louises!

10:22pm New Mexico State has Goliath on their team. He’s three times the size of a normal man.

10:29pm I’m glad I stuck with these last two games - I could have gone to bed, but these games have gotten really exciting!

10:53pm Just realized I have Louisville going pretty far. I should probably start rooting for them.

11:02pm Louisville is pulling away. Glad to see it! At least it’ll make up for New Mexico State unable to get a head of San Diego State.

11:20pm And that’s it! The games are over for the day! I hope you enjoyed whatever games you were able to watch today. Hopefully they were as good as Dayton/Ohio State or Arizona State/Texas!

11:14pm Okay, that last entry was fake. I was trying to wrap it up so I could quickly post it and go to bed sooner. Then SDSU botched the entry pass and turned it right back over to New Mexico State, and their best 3-point shooter got two chances to tie, which he did the second time around!

11:16pm I can't remember another Tournament Day where there were more overtime games. There've been five in one day!

11:34pm Okay, NOW that's the end! And some of you might inquire, "You watched hours and hours of Olympic coverage - why are you so tired from one day of the Tournament?" Well, today was the equivalent of watching fourteen straight hours of cross-country skiing. That's why it's different! Good night, everyone!