Almost always in sports, the bigger the hype that surrounds a game or event, the more the game doesn't quite live up to it. The NCAA Tournament this year though? Beyond expectations.
Last night featured a great, close upset game between Butler and Syracuse followed up by possibly one of the greatest games in recent tournament history, Xavier vs. Kansas State. (Here is a video of the last few minutes of the game).
I look forward each spring for the NCAA Tournament because A) it usually coincides with the first of the year's nice weather and B) there are always a few good games. This year I feel like there have been more good, close games that come down to the last minute than bad or decent games combined. It's been a great spring for basketball.
So on the happy note that, yes this time the event lived up to (and greatly exceeding) the hype, I give you the Links of the Week:
Of all the fake movie trailers I've see in my days, the Weird Al Yankovic fake biopic has to rank in the top three. Great job by Funny or Die...again.
If you have ESPN Insider, I highly recommend reading this piece called "How Joe Mauer May have Destroyed the Florida State Seminols" by Bruce Feldman. Mauer, a catcher for the Minnesota Twins and who signed an 8-year, $184 million contract earlier this week, was the #1 high school quarterback in the country and committed to FSU to play football before choosing the play pro baseball instead. Judging by the $184M, I'd say he made a good decision.
Fans of Jay-Z will like this short documentary about a show he put up on September 11 for the Widows of Police & Fire Department. In the video, there is a short live version of the Empire State of Mind song that I think everyone in the world likes.
Which would be better to see live: A buzzer beating three or a buzzer beating dunk? I think the three would be awesome to see in person, sort of like the one in the Michigan State-Maryland game last weekend, but I don't know. This buzzer-beating jam is so rare- look at this one from Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks. Have you seen anything like that before? I vote for the dunk.
Hey look! A creepy Russian guy singing.
It's a couple of weeks old now, but Esquire put together a great piece on Roger Ebert. Ebert, who is fun to follow on Twitter for his 3am-binge tweets. My favorite part of the piece, quoting Ebert, "What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can't say (my life) wasn't interesting. My lifetime's memories are what I have brought home from the trip. I will require them for eternity no more than that little souvenir of the Eiffel Tower I brought home from Paris."
They Sure Didn't Have That When I Was Your Age Volume XXVII: A 3-D Nintendo Gameboy. Are you kidding me?
Reason #9,210 why Major League Baseball is screwed up: Stephen Strasburg, the rookie for the Washington Nationals who has been lighting up other teams in Spring Training will spend his first 20 days of his career, not in the majors, but in AA because of a loophole in the standard MLB rookie contract that allows teams to keep a player an extra year if they spend 20 days or more in the minors. The guy could give the Nationals, baseball's worst team, an extra 3-4 wins during that time. If the limit is so small at 20 days, then why even have a limit?
And for your video of the week: A Beyonce-Mayberry Mashup: