This (Non) Sporting Life: NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Welcome to another edition of This (Non) Sporting Life, a blog post about sports written by a guy who does not know a lot about sports. This post is on the NCAA Men's Basketball  Tournament. 

I know North Carolina is out of it, defeated in the 2nd round by Texas A&M. I know this from the overwhelming vortex of heavy dejected sighs that surrounds my wife, Andrea. She's a life long fan of the Tarheels and she does not cope well when they are defeated. She really takes it personally and when Carolina gets bumped out of the NCAA Men's Basketball  Tournament, we're talking "death of a close relative" levels of sadness. 

Never mind that Carolina did not get knocked out of the tournament last year but wound up winning the whole damn thing. But that was last year. 

The Duke Blue Devil's advanced in both rounds this weekend which makes me happy. Yes, this is a household that has a Carolina fan married to a Duke fan. How does that work? Well, I do try to be respectful of Andrea's feelings. Yes, Duke is going on to the Sweet 16 next weekend and in my heart I'm all like....

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKE!!!!

But because Carolina got beat and is now out of the tournament, I have to outwardly be all like...

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke!


Is that fair? Who cares? If I push too hard on this subject, i might be forced to defend why I'm a Duke fan. Since it all began many non-married years ago when I was working on getting inside this girl's pants who happened to be a Duke fan, I really don't think that would be a subject I should get into with my wife.  

And heaven help me if the subject did come up and then I have to answer if I succeeded in getting inside this girl's pants and if Andrea knows this person. Yes, this is a subject I should avoid. 

So Duke is going to the sweet sixteen? Yes and my response to that will remain...


duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke!



Speaking of the number "sixteen",  the big story from this weekend's NCAA Men's Basketball  Tournament was a 16 seed beating a number 1 seed for the first time ever in the history of NCAA Men's Basketball  Tournament.   

Andrea and I saw history actually unfold as we watched 16th seeded UMBC defeat #1 seed Virginia. And it wasn't even close with UMBC defeating Virginia by 20 points. Wow!  

OK, what the hell is UMBC? 

UMBC is the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a public research university, located in Baltimore County, mostly in the community of Catonsville. UMBC has been named the #1 Up-and-Coming University for six years in a row, since 2009, by US News & World Report which has also placed UMBC in the top ten for best undergraduate teaching six years in a row.  

I can imagine whatever bookie took a bet on UMBC winning against Virginia is one pissed off bookie.  

I actually watched the 2nd half of UMBC's 2nd game on Sunday against Kansas State where the magic came sadly to an end. But was cool while it lasted.  

That's it for this edition of This (Non) Sporting Life. Remember to be good to one another and don't forget: 

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke!