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| The Honey Bradger, Witchy Wheat, my wife, and yours truly... |
I love March Madness and am constantly amazed one team will match up against a completely different foe from another part of the country. The full court pressure of Louisville, the size and speed of Wichita State, the defensive zone of Syracuse, the return of Michigan, the athleticism of Florida Gulf Coast, and the continued curse of Gone-zaga. It is all relevant and inspiring for me as I take part in several college brackets every spring, but this year I found myself participating in a different type of madness; a drawing.
For twenty bucks, I got four pulls out of the 64 contenders. My hits were Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and finally Louisville who is the overall number one seed of the tournament. I figured I had a good chance as anybody and felt confident with those picks. After all, Wisconsin had a great run in the Big Ten tournament finally losing the championship to Ohio State and Minnesota had continually competed in the same league. Louisville, however, was my lynchpin to success.
The Cardinals have mowed their way through the tournament turning the tide quickly against the Duke Blue Devils following the hardest to ever see sports injury I've ever seen, so bad that my wife had to leave the room as we replayed the action to fathom the seriousness of the injury to guard Kevin Ware.
Last night, Louisville met up with an amazing Wichita State team that had played ever so impressively as well. The 9th ranked Shockers had mowed over #1 Gone-zaga and La Salle while surviving a second half surge by #2 Ohio State. Wichita State also happened to be the team that my buddy, the Honey Bradger held with pride. The stars were aligning on this one.
Our match up took on a whole new life as a variety of pictures were sent to each other along with harassing text messages all building up to our show down at a get together. This match up promised insane smack talk and potential violence coupled with an overnight invitation which mandated all children being relocated to all available grandparents. Yes, the Final Four party would provide food, fighting, and fantastic basketball madness for all those who dared to participate.
Wichita State proved capable, illustrating great size, speed, and shooting whilst the Cardinals found themselves in a war of attrition and hung in there. After several hours of brutal words, a slew of sign language, and one hard fought battle, the Louisville Cardinals survived and will face the Michigan Wolverines tomorrow. Due to same crap as Monday night football, the game will start around 9:30 EST so I must stay up until 2 a.m. in order to accommodate the west coast but that's okay especially if I (Louisville) win. For a couple hundred bills, I'll be a slug Tuesday morning.Have a great one!!!
The Downeast Duck Hunter
