The Madness of My March

Because most of you, my avid readers, are highly educated individuals, I am sure it was not difficult for you to surmise from my previous post that I love the NCAA Tournament (more commonly known as "March Madness"). The three weeks of the NCAA Tournament are usually my favorite three consecutive weeks of the year. I get a trip with my family and friends, I get to watch 65 basketball games without a single complaint from My Better Half (even she gets caught up in the Madness, which says a lot about it), and it is a three week period where gambling is not only accepted, it is encouraged. What more could you ask for?

As you may recall, I spent the first weekend of the Tournament in Sacramento watching the first and second rounds at Arco Arena (which, I might add, is a rather dull and depressing arena...I expected more from the Maloof brothers, who I learned are apparently holding out on renovating Arco because they want the residents of Sacto to foot the bill for a new arena in downtown...fat chance). I kept a running diary on Thursday to give everyone some insight on what it is like to sit through four games in one day. I was hoping it would be my first post this week, but three unforeseen events have brought about the need for this quick update (I promise to get to the running diary tomorrow night after work and I promise that you won't be disappointed). These three unforeseen events will, when combined with my already completed trip to Sacramento, result in the greatest March Madness of my life (up 'til now).

Unforeseen Event #1: While we were in Sacramento, my brother-in-law mentioned that if UCLA advanced to the second weekend, it was likely that he could get me tickets for their Sweet 16 game against Pitt, and, if they win (knock on wood), tickets to the Elite 8. Well, UCLA beat both Weber State and Indiana, advancing the Sweet 16 with their games to be played in San Jose (in what was the startling upset of the weekend, Weber State's cheerleaders were shockingly hotter than UCLA's...had I done my research properly, I definitely would have had to pick Weber State over UCLA in the pool in which I applied the "how cute are the school's cheerleaders" approach...seriously though, Weber State could have made a "Cinderella" run to the Final Four...more on this in the running diary). Not surprisingly, my brother-in-law got me the tickets and now I have two round trip flights booked for later this week on Southwest to San Jose: Thursday afternoon to Friday morning (don't want to take any vacation days I don't have to), and Saturday morning to Sunday morning. This is going to be great!

Unforeseen Event #2: My brother-in-law also invited me to the premiere of "The UCLA Dynasty," HBO Sports newest documentary that covers UCLA's decade of dominance under the guidance of John "The Wizard of Westwood" Wooden. A movie about the great UCLA teams of the past? Premiering in the middle of March Madness? How can you pass that up? Well, the premiere is tonight, so that takes away the night I had originally planned on using to post the running diary. [Update: The documentary was awesome. It premieres on HBO on Monday, March 26. You should definitely watch it (and/or record it if you have a DVR/Tivo). The producers did a great job of mixing the team's dominance on the court with the various social struggles the players had to deal with off it (i.e., Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, etc.). Plus, John Wooden is funny; it's a side of him I don't think many outsiders get to see. So do yourself a favor, watch it.]

Unforeseen Event #3: After two trips to Southwest.com to book my San Jose flights, I received a cryptic message from my good friend Agman. It read as follows: "Final 4 Weekend, Las Vegas, Free Rooms, Be There." Using my masterful skills of logical reasoning and deduction to decode this secret message, it was back to Southwest.com for me and the booking of my third trip in as many hours. Now I will be spending Final 4 weekend with a group of my good friends who I have not seen in several months (not to mention, my first trip to Vegas in several months). The Vegas itch is already back, and this time I get to mix it with the NCAA Tournament. How can you go wrong?

Mix it all together, let it simmer for about ten minutes, serve with a side of currently being in contention in all of my Tournament pools, and I have the recipe for a March full of Madness the likes of which have never been seen. This is great!