When Duke Loses, America Wins

Below is the post I originally devoted my time to today. It is about my dislike of sinus discomfort. That's before coming home, getting into 3 types of sweatpants material based clothing items, sidling up to my t.v. remote with a piping hot bowl of soup and stumbling my way into the second half of the Arizona vs. Duke game. What follows below is me whining and complaining about my face. What I have now instead? Total elation. Oppressive regime ---> OVERTHROWN. And what is that regime? Duke basketball and Coach K. Tossed from the tourney by an unlikely, ON-FIRE, deep-benched Arizona team. Amen and hallelujah! Enjoy the flight home, blue devils. The Cats got WILD tonight.

I came home eagerly anticipating checking the scores of today's games, not being all that surprised or interested in watching them play out as expected, then diving into NBC's Thursday night lineup.

Butler was beating Wisconsin, as I thought they might. SDSU had fallen to UConn, as I hoped they wouldn't. Florida beat BYU, and I wasn't really interested.
What I was not expecting and could not take my eyes off of was a 10 point Arizona lead in the 2nd half of a sweet 16 game. A lead on Duke, tormentor of so many close college losses I've watched. The never say die blue devils who I SWEAR can overcome a 10 point deficit with 30 seconds left on the clock. Coach K, while evil (moral judgments found in fishcrockpot not confirmed by higher power or moral governing body), surely knows how to win games. He especially knows how to not choke in the tournament. When everyone else gets the big dance jitters, Coach K tells his team to waltz. And they do. 1-2-3, all the way to the final four. Lest I compliment him too much, might I say some of his coaching does involve swearing, berating officials about calls to get the fouls he wants called and those he doesn't avoided, and well, I'm pretty sure black magic somewhere in there.

So to find Arizona, a Pac-10 team that lost many regular season games to far lesser opponents, ahead on Duke. Well, I assumed Arizona was in the middle of a run that Coach K would correct through angry timeouts, tearing into his players, bitching to officials, and then having his automatons turn on their 3-point shooting ability like wildfire while one of the assistant coaches added goat's blood to the gatorade. That's just how it works. Duke might get on the ropes, but then they bounce right back off of them. Boomerang in your face. And suddenly everyone on your team has 4 fouls. And everyone on his has 2. And it's 1 and 1! And they don't miss. And if they do, your players foul his trying to get a rebound. Arggggggghhhhhhhh I've seen this scenario so many times. So. Many. Times. Been excited so many times at what looked like an impending Duke defeat only to find it was whoops- a surprise win. So. Many. Times.

I was nervous. I didn't know if Arizona knew that's how it worked.
Maybe their players didn't need to know? Maybe not knowing helped? Or maybe, just maybe, they did know, but they didn't care!

They were on fire. In the zone.
Unstoppable.
Limitless.
Insidious.
Oh, I'm sorry, those are just movie titles. No idea why you'd name a movie Insidious unless you took the SAT less than 2 years ago (maybe that's the target audience), but yeah. Those are all movies.

I kept waiting for Arizona to falter. Kept waiting for Duke to be Duke. And they did a little bit.
Coach K bawled out the refs after his players were called for fouls (that they had committed).
For the next several minutes, Arizona players had to make incredible shots while being impeded by fouls from Duke that were not called.
They also were called for fouls that were not fouls when committed by Duke players.

I nervously ate pretzels. I'd seen this so many times! I knew what happened next! I would watch the double-digit lead be whittled away by some pure shooting white kid who drained 3 3-pointers in a row. Then a foul that would both put U of A in foul trouble and give Duke a chance for 3. Then whoops, suddenly it's a 2 point game. I've seen it SO MANY TIMES. So. Many. Times. I can't even tell you.

But.

THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!!
I couldn't believe it! They stayed hot. Duke stayed cold. Foul schemes didn't work. The announcers pronouncing victory in a way that surely would be the kiss of death when Duke was involved did not work! The jinx was OFF! Arizona was ON! It was incredible.

And, of course in my excitement, I had to be proud of the Arizona coach, Pittsburgh's own Sean Miller. Really, as stated before in the crockpot, any time any one related to Pittsburgh does something great, expect EVERY Pittsburgher you know to tell you how that person is from Pittsburgh and to claim them as his/her own. So yeah, that. Congrats, Sean Miller. A coach who really worked his way up through the ranks assisting, head coaching, and now bigger conference head coaching.

While texting my glee (that's right, it was a word before it was a show) about the Duke loss to my brother and excitement about the win, what did he mention? The high school which the Arizona coach attended. We then discussed seeing his picture in the trophy case of his grade school. At the time he played for Pitt, so it was like seeing a celebrity photo without having the equivalent of Access Hollywood in Pittsburgh.
It was exciting. He was good. And now, YAY! Go Sean Miller. Go Arizona. And thanks again for a tournament that makes such unexpected awesomeness possible on a rainy Thursday.
As for Duke, the apropos movie title? Sucker Punch.
And sorry as I should be to delight in their loss, I've been handed one by them one too many times to not enjoy this shock to their systems.
Besides. They'll be back. They always are.

If you'd like to read my original whining about my face, carry on!




(original bitch n' moan post for today)
What Really Killed the Dinosaurs

I think it could have been the cold virus. A total change from theories they were killed by a fireball, I know, it was something cold, not hot. Actually, I put forth this theory only as I myself am a Whineosaurus Rex as I am enjoying the third straight day of having active feeling in my sinuses and eyeballs, and using kleenexes like college kids (and Rachel Zoe) misuse the word "literally," literally liberally. Yet I stubbornly and moronically am not just taking a tylenol and sucking it up like the rest of the world does when they have a cold or allergies. I think it might be because I don't know if it's a cold or allergies? I'm somehow still trying to test the symptoms for self-diagnosis by monitoring my symptoms over many days. Not that I would then take allergy meds, but maybe. This morning in fact, awakening for the second day in a row with the crusty snot that adorns the faces of toddlers who have colds but lack the capacity to use kleenexes on my own face, I decided I would use my allergy meds (having yesterday decided it has to be allergy, right?) Well, that Zyrtec I was banking on expired 2 years ago. Whoops.
Apparently I don't rotate the stock in my personal pharmacy that often, but at least I know to be horrified. It is a practice I come by naturally.

My parents' medicine cabinet might actually contain DNA from the dinosaurs, based on some of the liquid concoctions in there that have now separated and solidified in ways I cannot understand, their labels long worn away by time. Who knows what's preserved in there? And who knows why the good people of Vick's VapoRub changed the font from the 1970s model of the product. That looked so inviting and medicinal! It's the label I know from childhood. And yes, adulthood. I'm quite sure it's still in there, the vapo-long since rubbed.

I think my issues are as follows:
-Sinus pressure and congestion makes me CRAZY
-I wish I could suck it up and not care about it, as everyone on planet Earth has colds and allergies from time to time
-The fact that I become crazy when experiencing sinus pressure means I have to SHARE this craziness and my frustration with nearly everyone I meet, should they not already notice something is wrong from the kleenex wads falling from my face like snow flurries.
-The fact that I have to share makes me hate myself! Come on man, it's a runny nose!
But nope. Every time – if there's a chance I can push somewhere on my face and liquids emerge, I'm going to tell you about it. Then hate myself for it. Then drink a carton of juice a day until it's gone!
Ha.