If I had a dollar for every time I heard leading up to last night’s title game that the pressure was on Kentucky and Kansas was glad to be the underdog, I could have bought myself a damned nice dinner. And now the ladies are doing it, too.
“They have had a great season. They have one thing they want to do, same goal we have. And we’re back to being the underdog. Finally. Now, we can even be more loose, and the pressure is all on them.”
Can we stop with this already? There’s a reason your team is the underdog, Muffet: the other one is 39-0. Underdogs lose more often than not, especially when the opponent is freakin’ good. Try that pressure on for size.
If flying under the radar with lowered expectations was really the formula for success, Houston Nutt would still be coaching in the SEC. His reputation made a career out of that nonsense. The reality check was a bitch.
Get The Picture 
Wow. You can tell it’s a dead spot in the sporting calendar (pre-Masters and baseball opening day, post-NCAA basketball championship) when we’re flyspecking coach-speak prior to the women’s championship basketball game. Kudos to you for trying to escape the surly bonds of Calipari-legacy handicapping.
What you really need is a good breakdown of Justified as we roll towards the denoument of Season 3. You know someone’s going to end up ventilated, but who will live to perpetrate villainy on the simple folks of Harlan County in Season 4?
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I guess I’m indulging my inner crank today.
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hey, it’s your blog. I remember seeing Sir Lew Hoade, a very successful British TV guy, interviewed on 60 Minutes, years ago. He said the secret to his success was that he selected programs and projects based on what he liked, and it was just his good fortune that his tastes turned out to be popular with the viewers. You’re going pretty good so far on your own, though I think we may have to get a ruling on whether you qualify for a title. How would you feel about being the Earl of Blutarsky?
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Stick with “Senator.” It becomes you.
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Notre Dame v. Baylor this year? Texas A&M and Notre Dame last year? Fire Gino Toretta!
During tonight’s final arena tilt, the Baylor coach
and Muffett, the Notre Dame coach,
http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/142296518.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215AB089EE596C6588CAB20046DEF80A635A407BAAA3E8CF2F4B5510684871D8FD
will have a duck walk contest.
Kenneth Starr, Touchdown Jesus and Lou Holtz are expected to be among the celebrity dignitaries in attendance.
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This is just the team that’s about to be beaten trying to convince themselves, not just everyone around them, that they can compete. Everyone knows that there is pressure on both teams. But the favored teams in these cases can at least sit back with the knowledge that they’re the better team, and that’s nice.
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If you thought the officiating was bad in the NCAA men’s tournament, you should watch some of the women’s games. It’s sad to think that athletes who have spent that long and worked that hard to reach that stage have to endure such… um… interesting rules interpretations.
I never miss an opportunity to rip college b-ball officiating. It’s ruining the college game.
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No, aau basketball is doing a much better job of tearing the game down. As well, the non high school summer baseball circuit is killing college baseball. 7 on 7 football is starting to ruin football. The amateur sports will be ruined in less than 10 years. Watch it happen. We are losing all that is sacred about high school and amateur athletics and I hate it. Hopefully, some of the people in charge will get their heads out of their million dollar asses and change it before it gets completely FUBAR .
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One sequence last night:
K-G gets ball down low. Robinson literally reaches around him to tomahawk the ball at KG’s waist and gets arm instead. Withey, coming over from the weak side, catches K-G’s head with his forearm as K-G twists away from the tomahawk chop. K-G still manages to elevate and get the ball over the rim, and it falls for two. A Kansas hand from behind (Taylor?) catches K-G’s shoulder while he’s in the air and pulls his torso back over his hips, causing him to land hard on his back/head.
No foul. YHTBFKM. I watched it four times on slo-mo just to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. And I was rooting for Kansas.
No comment from the booth. No replay. That’s because it’s just now part of the game.
I agree with you on commercialization of youth sports. It’s become absurd as well.
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Dude, that’s basketball. Too much rides on interpretation. I don’t understand why people invest so much emotionally in a sport that is the equivalent of the holding penalty. Too much of the game depends on the officiating. I am not willing to invest my time on a game that leans too heavily on the whims of an officiating crew.
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Exactly – which is why it’s ruining the game. I’m watching less and less for the same reasons. Basketball crews have become mobile versions of figure skating panels.
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I seem to remember a few posters on this blog in the run-up to the 2011 SECCG proclaiming: “All the pressure is on LSU and none is on the Dawgs” or words to that effect. Just sayin.’
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Who on here would say such a thing, Mayor? Point’em out and we’ll take care of their little “Flying Under the Radar” asses!
Looks like they were right half the time.
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well it was… right up to the kick-off for the second half. 😉
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