March Maddening

So my NCAA predictions were a bust this year, just like my brackets. I'm in contention in both of my ESPN groups only because everyone's bracket is trashed. I completely missed on my Cinderella, 12-Over-5 Special, and picking Kansas as an underrated team.

I time shifted the BC-Villanova game last night. I must say that I was pretty pissed off by the lousy officiating. It reminded me of the end of the Duke-BC game in Chapel Hill this year. Sheldon Williams twice hacked a BC player going for a layup without getting called for a foul at the end of that game. Last night the little guard for Villanova (Foye?) kept hacking the BC forwards after they made a defensive rebound. He didn't get called for a single reach-in or hand-check foul in the second half. Craig Smith was mugged twice within five feet of the basket with less than five minutes in regulation and didn't get to go to the free throw line. The poor officiating meant that BC couldn't overcome the multitude of turnovers they committed.

The Pats let Adam Vinatieri walk this week. His exit is eerily similar to Johnny Damon's departure. Both players said screw loyalty and fled to their most hated rival when offered too much money to say no. I really feel the same about losing Vinatieri as I did about losing Damon. I would have liked to keep him if the price was right but I didn't want to overpay. I believe Adam is also on the downturn in his career. His distance has decreased in recent years and he has a flaky back. I remember a handful of games this year when the Pats went for a fourth-and-three/fourth-and-two or punted rather than attempting a field goal in the 47-50 yard range.

I like Vinatieri; I wish him well. He was definitely the most clutch kicker in NFL history and a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. He will probably pad his stats playing in a dome for a few years. However, I hope the Colts go 0-16 every year and that he doesn't even have the opportunity to attempt any more game winning kicks.

I think the reason that we New Englanders are so extreme with our feelings about sports and athletes is because we are so tied to the region. Many families, mine included, have been in the area for many, many generations. I'm 11th generation directly descended from the "Mayflower". We feel the same direct ties to our sports teams that we do about where we live. That makes us scorned lovers if and when things don't go well. We want our teams and our players to do so well that we invest an incredible amount of emotion into their performances. It's much easier for us to hate those players when they leave because if we can't have them, no one should.

I try to be level-headed about "my" players; I usually wish them well, but only to a point. I'll hope for individual successes (Pedro with the Mets), moderate success without injury (Vinatieri with the Colts), or simply for total lack of team success regardless of individual performance (Damon with the damn Yankees).

With the start of the Red Sox season only 9 days away I will be blogging with much more regularity in the very near future. I'll even stick it to the man by blogging at work if I have to.