March Madness: Day One

How are your brackets doing? So far, I’m running at 14, 12, and 9, but my one with just nine wins pits North Carolina to beat Louisville in the final. My 14 is a whacko ACC dream bracket in which Duke beats Wake Forest! I was delighted to see Maryland and Michigan win, but surely thought Tubby Smith would have coached Minnesota to a first round win. Western Kentucky defeating Illinois with a fellow named Jordan playing for Illinois had to be the upset of the day. Maybe “Blago” sold them out. The most outrageous TV moment had to be in the Oklahoma/Morgan State game. 6’4” Ameer Ali was not pleased with how Oklahoma Sooner, Blake Griffin, a nationally known superstar standing at 6’10’ was showing his game. During a moment of intimate contact on the hardwood, Ali locked his arm over Griffin’s and tossed him over top of his body to land squarely on the floor. While that move might have won an award in professional wrestling, Ameere Ali was promptly dispatched to the locker room to contemplate what could have been.

Something tells me that by the time we get around to “One Shining Moment” which I would be just as happy to hear replaced with “Louie Louie”, college hoop fans worldwide will be very sick of Clark Kellogg. This dude is not first team material. Jim Nantz, as always, is the cool professional. Any regional analyst on Raycom, the network that provides ACC coverage is much more articulate and enthusiastic than the excessively humorless style of Mr. Corn Flakes. Though Billy Packer was much like that old uncle you’d wish would pipe down a little when the family’s together watching the big game on television, he sure kept things lively even when he’d let loose one of his brilliant observations that turned out to be a classic moaner to all the guys watching the game. For the role of color analyst, he was colorful where Kellogg is – well, a corn flake.