George, a nation, and I

We have reached another March, one full of hopes, one looked forward to since the Super Bowl ended. This March I am not going to stare at my bracket and utter to myself, “this is the hardest bracket ever.” I do that every year, and every year I prove myself right by picking like I have never watched sports in my life. The ironic thing about this silly sheet of paper with branches on it is that those who don’t watch sports do a better job at filling it out. Why? Because they don’t care, they don’t know…whoever said ignorance is bliss definitely filled out an NCAA bracket. This year I am going to test myself against a dead guy, a dead president to be exact, and the masses. I am going to fill out my own bracket, then fill one out like the masses have chosen, and finally I am going to ask George Washington to help pick the third bracket. His bracket will be decided by a flip of his coin…the quarter. I am going to pick 8 games for him; those games are the 1 vs. 16 and 2 vs. 15 matches. Everything else will be chosen by a flip of ‘ole George’s face.

I am terrible at filling these brackets out, I have tried to do my homework and I have tried to go on gut reactions. I have decided this year to do a little research before throwing my picks into the ring. I will post George’s picks first, he has no research to do, then I will post mine with some sort of explanation (most likely incoherent). Then on Wednesday night I will post what “sportsnation” picked.

So last Friday I got to attend my third Patriot League Championship game in five years. I was 1-1 in my first two, seeing Holy Cross beat American in 2003 and losing to Bucknell in 2005. Those two experiences were different than this one for a couple reasons, I wasn’t a student anymore, I was actually sitting in the “seat-back” seating on the balcony. It felt weird, I was with my brother and we were both sober. I was wearing a tie from work. The one thing that was the same was the environment. Bucknell filled two fan sections and also had their band with them. Seeing the game from the balcony was very different, it made it feel even more like a pit as I was looking down at the court. I think my vantage point was probably more like what the viewers at home had. As soon as we sat down Torey Thomas turned the ball over, I turned to my brother Ryan and said, “Torey is gonna cost us the game.” Man was I wrong, Thomas had a phenomenal game. Scoring 28 points and hitting a few huge buckets down the stretch. It was a game very similar to the championship game two years ago except that Holy Cross was trailing by about 20 points and battled back. In this case Bucknell battled back from a 46-27 deficit to tie it at 51-51 with the ball. When it was 46-27 Bucknell brought the ball down and HC was smothering them, but the Bison managed to get John Griffin a look from the corner. The ball somehow hit the front of the rim, bounced straight up into the air, and then fell straight through. You could feel the HC deflate a little. I told my brother to remember than bucket. 8 minutes later the game was tied, and that three got it all started. It was like a football team struggling offensively and then getting a first down and gaining some confidence. Bucknell never got the lead, mainly because Holy Cross made all but one free throw in the last 6:00 (I wanna say they hit 11 of 12). Torey Thomas, the man I thought would cost them the game, won it for them. He led the team in points, rebounds, and had four assists. Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas will give the Salukis a lot to worry about. The game will be a low scoring affair considering both teams play fantastic defense. Never underestimate the power of seniors having control of when they play their last game, I saw that power last Friday and I really hope I get to see it again this Friday…
Later on, George’s picks and some more thoughts from me as a dive into this bracket…