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29 MAR 04: YOU DON'T KNOW JACK
Boo-hoo. Look at what the Sunday e-mail brought:
Here's a little something for your blog spot!
"K-Od"
AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR!
Georgia Tech polishes off Kansas with an 8-OH run in OT! Did you hear that ? Yeah BaBeeeeeeee! Have a nice offseason!
Sincerely,
TECH Fan!
For some sports fans, March truly goes out like a lion and not a lamb....
Georgia Tech is heading for the college basketball men's Final Four, after pulling out an overtime win over my dear old Kansas. But for a while there Sunday, it appeared the biggest "Ramblin' Wreck" of the weekend was B.J. Elder's aching
ankle.
Jarrett Jack jumped in to fill the gap caused by B.J. Elder's injury, leading Georgia Tech in scoring with 29 points. And for most of the season, I thought Jarrett Jack should have been the name of pro wrestler Jeff Jarrett's tag-team partner.
It's been 14 years since Georgia Tech played in the men's Final Four. That was with the team fans in Atlanta called "Lethal Weapon 3." Considering Tech's record in recent seasons, maybe this team will become known as "Dawn of the Dead."
Kansas battled from behind much of the day against Georgia Tech, but I was a bit surprised that the game wound up in overtime. Jayhawk guard Aaron Miles forced up some shots in the last two minutes that made me wish he'd transfer to Arkansas -- because he was "hogging" the ball so much.
When the final horn sounded in St. Louis, I called my brother and sister-in-law back home in Kansas City. My sister-in-law accused me of sounding too much like a Chicago Cubs fan, by already talking about next year.
My brother comforted me, however, with the news that Kansas only loses center Jeff Graves to graduation this spring - and has three good recruits coming in next fall. Of course, the skeptic in me wonders how good these freshmen really will be. After all, none of them are going directly into the N.B.A. draft.
To be honest, when the college basketball season started I had Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt on my "coaches most likely to be fired" list. Now he's heading to the Final Four - and Bobby Cremins still is somewhere in South Carolina, waiting for the
phone to ring to invite him back.
BIG PREDICTION: When Georgia Tech takes on Oklahoma State Saturday night at the Final Four, there STILL will be no Columbus radio station broadcasting the game. I was on Interstate 185 Sunday, and was stunned to find even the big sports-talk station in LaGrange didn't carry the G.T.-K.U. game. C'mon, guys - the baseball games in Florida don't count.
And lest I forget, congratulations are in order to Auburn University. The men's and women's swimming teams BOTH have won national titles! What made these athletes swim so fast this month? Were they afraid Ed Richardson might fire the coaches?
COMING THIS WEEK: A contest I hope a church friend of mine does NOT win...
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