Happy Fourteenth Final Four Day!

posted by Mark on 3/31/2012 - -

I have been on this planet 22,653 days. In all those days, this is the tenth time I have gotten up in the morning with the knowledge and anticipation that that the Jayhawks were one of 4 teams standing who would be competing this very day for the right to play in the National Championship game–with the whole world watching.

It is as much as the 14th such day for those born circa 1930-35.

You celebrate your birthday once a year. Christmas, New Year’s? Once a year. And, at least for me, they all fade into the recesses of your memory so that any one, as years pass, seems like any other.

Final Four Day? You know where you were each of the few times you have been fortunate enough to experience it. Each one remains special, unique, and clear in your memory no matters how many years intervene.

As you will remember today, win or lose. Always special, unique, and clear.

So enjoy it as special. All day. Be thankful KU has the late game, so the specialness of the day is guaranteed to last until late in the evening. You don’t know when, if ever, this Day will come again. It’s not like Halley’s comet, guaranteed to return every 75 years or so.

Indeed, some fans have never experienced a meaningful Final Four Day. Some, possibly, never will.

You know who I’m talking about. But not in jest. Rather, as a reminder of how fortunate KU fans are to be able to enjoy how special today is, while fans of 340+ schools go about their regular routines as if it were just another Saturday.

It is just another day for them.

As for you: Cherish it.

Relish it.

As if it were the only day that matters.

The REAL world will make its return soon enough.

–Mark

Stats on Final Four Referees

posted by Jeremy Chrysler on 3/27/2012 - -

Referees can obviously play a huge part in the outcome of games (see Syracuse, 2012), so I thought it would be helpful to put together a little crib sheet to show how these fellas had called previous games. Doug Shows and Joe DeRosa have called in favor of the home team more than anyone else, although they all favor the home team. Incidentally, this home team foul disparity likely accounts for a good chunk of the approximately 4 points of average home advantage in college basketball.

Without further ado, here’s the chart:

My Weekend With Mizzou Fans

posted by Mark on 3/26/2012 - -

I was very upset by my interactions with Mizzou fans this weekend, beginning in the Houston Airport. One Mizzou fan, who was traveling incognito, wearing no identifying clothing, noticed the Jayhawk on my shirt and accused me of being a Jayhawk fan. Acted like he was alright with it as he mentioned off-handedly that he was an MU fan. But I saw right through him. I knew what hatred and bitterness was seething below his calm, even genial, surface. He mentioned he was from St Louis. Just to make small talk and change the focus of the encounter from his raging, concealed animosity, I hesitantly asked him for recommendations on where to eat in STL.

He told me that anything Italian on the Hill was excellent. I recognized that he was trying to trick me, that the Hill was likely the name for the area where Chevy Chase’s car got stripped in “Vacation” on the way to Wally World, so I made a mental note to not risk life and limb by going anywhere near this so-called “Hill.”

As it turned out, this Mizzou fan miscalculated and outsmarted himself. As I landed in STL, I sent a message to one of my son’s KU friends who grew up in St Louis and asked where to eat. He said the Hill. So I figure that the Mizzou guy said the Hill thinking that I would be suspicious of him and not go there. You lose, Mizzou guy. I ate at Lo Russo’s on the Hill, in spite of your efforts to steer me away from there–and it was terrific.

Getting off the plane in STL, another Mizzou fan identified himself as such and also pretended to be pleasant. Again, I was too smart to be taken in by his demeanor.

It first occurred to me that there was a plot to fool me into believing that Mizzou fans are not animals, but actually part of the human species, at the game. A Mizzou fan and his three adult sons sat to my right. They continued the day long charade by discussing basketball, including Mizzou’s loss in the tourney without displaying any animosity toward KU. The dad figure asked if I agreed with Self that the KU/MU series should come to an end. I explained, as I did in the REAL Standings report a few weeks back, that it did not make business sense for KU to do so. He expressed disappointment that there would be no more games, at least for a while, but did not argue with me, nor whine as Mizzou fans, it is common knowledge, are wont to do.

On the off day, a Mizzou fan at the zoo noticed my KU hat and said, “Good luck tomorrow.” He should be in the movies, because he said it so convincingly, I almost believed that he meant it.

All this, understandably, left me quite distressed. How would you like being the target of a conspiracy challenging one of your long-standing and cherished beliefs–in this case, that all Mizzou fans spend their entire existence wallowing in self-pity, spite, bitterness, hatred, spite, jealousy, and paranoia?

Could there be anything more dastardly?

The bastards.

–Mark

Highlights from the last minute of the KU - Purdue Game

posted by Jeremy Chrysler on 3/19/2012 - -

Enjoy.