Tim's Favorite Blogs
Media Matters
Blog Directories
Saturday, March 24. 2012
Year of the Gator
As the night ends its journey into dawn, it occurs to me I’ve just been awake for the past 21 hours. And now I’m starting this creed.First of all: both Wisconsin and Marquette are out of the tournament. WTF? Okay, the Badgers had an uphill climb against Syracuse, an almost unanimous favorite with all the sporting pundits in the college hoops world. But still, execute the right play at the end of the game—give yourself a chance to win!
For two days I replayed that last desperate attempt at a basket in my head, picturing the shooter, whose name I’ve now forgotten, making the right spin and launching the ball on target, getting all net and winning the game.
But it was not to be. The shooter, Josh Gasser, tossed up an airball after corralling an offensive rebound from Jordan Taylor’s missed 3-pointer. Taylor is a monster from the arc, so to see it fall short … But Gasser grabbed the rebound! He had a chance, a slim chance, but there he was on the wing! All he had to do was turn and throw in a 12-footer from corner. But it was not to be. “Est quaedam flere voluptas.”
“There is a certain pleasure in weeping.”
Now Syracuse meets Ohio State and the Florida Gators meet the Louisville Cardinals.
Ah, the Gators … they’ve been underdogs the entire tournament and with every game they prove the experts wrong, restate their legitimacy in the NCAA tournament. The Gators not only beat the Marquette Golden Eagles, they did it by 10 points. Marquette was supposed to be in the Final Four.
So I’m picking Florida to beat Louisville. On paper the Gators are outmatched by everyone left in the tournament, but so far, being the underdog hasn’t stopped the Gators from winning.
Okay, their second round game was different. The faced Norfolk State, a 15-seed that just happened to be #2 seed Missouri two nights earlier. But the Gators weren’t picked to be in the second round.
There’s a certain charm to underdogs, especially if they keep winning when everyone is telling everyone else the underdog is through. The Green Bay Packers did it on their way to win the 2011 Super Bowl. Hell, the New York Giants did it to win the Super Bowl this year.
Right now the Vegas line has Florida as 1-1/2 point favorites, but the chattering class is favoring Louisville because of legendary coach Rick Pitino and Florida is coached by Billy Donovan — the classic teacher-student match-up. Billy Donovan was Pitino’s star point guard in 1987 when the Pitino-coached Providence Friars went to the Final Four in New Orleans.
The narrative of this game that has yet to be played: the student learned well from his mentor, so much so he and his team will send the Cardinals back to Kentucky. But, I don’t want to jinx the Gators. I’m just starting to forgive them for beating Marquette.
Okay, no more picking winners. It looked like Florida had it well in hand — until the last 10 minutes of the game. Then Louisville put on a defense and shooting clinic. Congratulations to the Louisville Cardinals, you’re going to the Final Four.
Just call me “Jinx.”
Calendar
Quicksearch
Archives
Categories
AD Links
Referrals
Syndicate This Blog
Blog Administration
Powered by
TheForkesReport