Day 10: Bracket Update and a Live Blog

I won my pool even though the Buckeyes didn't win it all. I am $45 richer and got my $5 back. This will never happen again. Here is my bracket, although the final is missing a check mark because I scanned it earlier.



Still, that's not too bad.
Here is a "live" blog I did of the NCAA finals. It isn't funny. It wasn't live. But I guess it was a blog. Salud!

6:10
A car accident that knocked down a utility pole has left me without Internet and cable on a rather important evening to have it. Thus, this live blog isn’t live. And I will have to use only what’s in my mind, not from the Web.
What we do know: I won my office pool bracket challenge and thus am $50 richer, I’m not very good at setting up TVs to pick up over-the-air signals and no one will read this. But despite that, we’ve got no Kat, two dogs and OSU-Florida. Let’s go.

6:19
Apparently, it’s THE Ohio State University. I haven’t been reminded about that enough, I guess.

6:25
I like me some Mike Conley. Of course, Brewer is pretty good, too. But I wasn’t picking Florida the whole tournament.

6:27
It’s a little too snowy on my TV to see much. Except that Conley is good. Why won’t Billy Packer ever say DON-ovan. Why is it DUN-ivin? Why won’t someone at CBS tell him?

6:30
I think SpongeBob No Pants is nightmare fuel. I hate you and your Chicken Fries Burger King. You’ll notice the times on my not live blog are all Pacific Standard Time, which is nice since on the East Coast this game got started after 9 p.m.

6:34
Can Noah really do anything besides emote and make putback dunks? His free throw form gives me vertigo. Although he did make those. The Godfather of the Live Blog was saying the Celtics would take him in June, but I don’t want to see that.

6:36
Brewer going down is like Bobby Wilkerson, who none of us have ever heard of, going down in 1960-something, according to BP. Brewer seems OK, though.

6:37
BP says feel free to foul as much as you want. There shouldn’t be any limits. I guess he’s ready to enter the Thunderdome.

6:38
Two fouls on Conley. Hand me some alcohol, pills, a handgun and a noose.

6:41
It’s 17-13 UF with 10:51 to go. If you are a Buckeye fan things aren’t horrible. Oden still doesn’t have any fouls. I think they need to go to him offensively at least until he gets a foul. They’re just going to let him make his moves, if he makes them, he’s tough to stop. Without Conley in there, there aren’t many better options. Florida seems able to do what they want.

6:45
That was a man’s block by Oden on Brewer. Of course, Brewer came back and hit a 3.

6:47
A slam by Oden, but then a foul on him. I like what he’s doing tonight. His beard seems ready to make a difference.

6:48
The pot pie is an underrated food. I’ve been eating them regularly. BP said Oden is showing real heart. He’s definitely not showing real emotion.

6:54
We’ll see how long Oden can last without a foul now. I’m far from convinced he’ll play the last six minutes of the half without being called for something.

6:58
The 3’s are raining in and Ohio State doesn’t seem to have an answer. Not good if you are one of those O-H types.

7:03
I thought Al Horford was BP’s boyfriend, but I think Brewer is taking his place.

7:04
A Transformers movie? Really? Sorry I don’t have any humorous comments from House, Bish, Sully, or JackO, but I’m by myself here. And the dogs don’t seem very interested in the shenanigans.

7:08
Is Thad Matta going to do something about all the open threes at the half? If they don’t change something, I don’t know if the Buckeyes can come back.

7:09
40-29 at half. Ohio State can look at this thing two ways: Florida isn’t missing so we can’t come back OR Oden only has one foul and Conley hasn’t played well yet so maybe we can come back. I’m far from convinced. Not Gregg Doyel convinced that Florida will hang on, but pretty certain.
In my pool-wining bracket, I had Ohio State to defeat Kansas in the finals. So you can see the caliber I was going against since I won without needing OSU to actually win the title. But it would make it much more impressive if the Buckeyes actually win it all.

7:27
Dick Enberg. Something about hands. I’m confused. And scared. Oh my!

7:31
Ron Lewis with a dynamite throwdown on Brewer’s dome. I heard BP get a little sad.

7:34
After Chris Richard nearly decapitates Ron Lewis, BP says Dunivin doesn’t mind the foul trouble for Noah and Richard because he just wants them “to wear Oden down.” Why does smashing into Lewis wear Oden down? BP could not be reached for comment.

7:36
If one team hits 3’s like this in a 40-minute game, it’s tough to beat them. Period. But I like the way Oden’s playing. Even if his team doesn’t win, he’s showing people that he isn’t just overhyped. I enjoy how BP always knows who is and is not tired. If a guy runs up and down three times without a break, he’s going to be breathing hard. That doesn’t mean he’s “tired” because he can just catch his breath at the next dead ball. But to BP, breathing hard means you have to come out and can’t possibly be as effective as you usually are. This is how you think when your opinions about basketball were fashioned during the peach basket era.

7:40
Oden may only have one foul, but how many threes has he given up by not hedging on picks? Nantz says the hopes and dreams of all of Ohio rest on his massive shoulders. Oden seems unmoved. His beard could not be reached for comment.

7:44
Packer telling us about 1962. Or as he considers it, last month.

7:49
Ohio State isn’t getting much closer. They’re playing Florida tough, but they have to get stops to make up ground. Oden has done his job, so I think Conley needs to step up. Maybe Florida’s guards are just better than those other teams. The difference in 3-point percentage is going to be the deciding factor. If I was the Godfather of the Live Blog I would complain about the 3-point line being too close in college, but it’s the same at both ends. And also, lots of NBA games are decided by who shoots better from 3. Why one team shoots better from long range is not necessarily about who has better shooters – spacing and ball movement has something to do with it – but it’s important nonetheless.

7:50
“Human blood, the whole damn river!”

7:53
Lee Humphrey will be shot on sight in the state of Ohio.

7:57
There is nothing that BP will not blame on fatigue. If Oden took a bite out of another man’s ear, he would attribute it to being tired. Sometimes, Lee Humphrey takes a terrible shot and because of bad luck, it lands right in Richard’s hands and then Oden fouls him. That’s just the way basketball is.
Now Nantz is saying “Lighty, fresh” and feeding the BP fatigue nonsense. I’m sure it helps to not be tired, but I feel like it takes on ridiculous proportions during the Final Four.

8:01
Thad Matta’s scalp. Discuss.

8:02
Oden can block shots. But he can’t grab them, too. That’s unfortunate because Oden has been great.

8:04
A little over six minutes left in the game. Ohio State down by eight. Oden just picked up foul number three. I don’t know if O-H is in the cards tonight.

8:11
BP, yes, there are breaks in play, so even though Oden hasn’t technically come out of the game, it’s not like he has been playing constantly. Somehow, OH has to stop the 3’s. I’d take my chance with Noah and Horford rather than the guards right now.

8:14
I think they’re going to be burning some couches in Gainesville tonight. In some ways this is good because it ensures that those Florida juniors will go to the NBA and we won’t have to deal with BP carrying their water for them anymore. And when Corey Brewer is playing the second game of a January back-to-back in Memphis and about eight people seem to care, he can think back fondly about his Two Shining Moments.

8:17
That’s some prime arm candy there with Belichick. I wonder if she knows that he wears torn hoodies like a slob when he knows he’s going to be on TV for three straight hours. Philistine. And possibly the Devil.

8:20
Jim Nantz telling stories that Dunivin asked him to. Yes, wives of college coaches are put upon. But at least they don’t have to work in coal mines. I think this Florida team makes me cynical. Please have them go away. And let Dunivin go to Kentucky. Please.

8:22
Yannick Noah is Euro-trash.

8:24
Is Billy Donovan’s father named Father Donovan? That just seems right.

8:26
BP says Oden should be Most Outstanding Player even though he hasn’t done anything but play well on a team that has played badly. The Gators shouldn’t be penalized for having balance. Oden is not the MOP. If he is, I will be forced to fight BP.

8:29
Florida, why do I loathe thee? I liked what Oden did tonight. I didn’t like much about this game. It was rather pedestrian. But so was the entire Final Four. Start printing those “Florda Champions” T-shirts now!