Free Throw Missus

I apologize for being a bit late with this post. I was out late last night hustling bjs in hopes of earning enough cash to buy some tickets for the sweet 16. So far, I'm still not very close to the $800 I need for a pair of decent tickets. I do at least have enough to buy a much needed five gallon jug of Listerine from Costco, so I've got that going for me. It's been a very frustrating experience. Next year, the NCAA should just cut out the middle man and put all tourney tickets directly on Ebay.

Bradley and Pitt have just tipped it off (which as my wife noted, appears on the scoreboard as "Brad Pitt"- that also qualifies as the closest thing to interest that she has expressed during the tournament) and as Bill Rafferty has told me, Bradley is playing mntomn defense to start the game. So I'll make my untimely comments from yesterday's games quick...

I can't remember if I've ranted about this before, but in the last five minutes of a close game, I do not need CBS to dedicate all of their cameras to focusing on the coaches' wives and players' parents during any little break in the action. Before seemingly every free throw, rather than focus on any tension that the player shooting might be experiencing, I instead am treated to a middle-aged woman clasping her hands and struggling to look at the court. Then after the free throw is shot, there's another immediate cut to the wife/mom's reaction to the outcome. I wouldn't mind it so much if this was an occasional ploy, but instead, it becomes the focus of the remainder of the game. Can't we actually spend a little bit of time watching what's actually happening on the court? And if the networks do want to show peripheral reaction shots, then how about showing the cheerleaders doing their little flippity flips after the made shot? Is that really so much to ask?? Nevertheless, congrats to Ben Howland's wife and Lorenzo Romar's wife on cheering for the winning team in a couple of close (and atrociously officiated) games that will now send you travelling to Oakland and Washington D.C. for Sweet 16 games.

I'll update the rest of the action later tonight. I'm sure you can't wait...