MidValleySports.Com

Joe T., always working hard…

By Joe Torosian

Kick it!

Like a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s…my hair and brackets remain perfect.

Watching the tournament, I realize I’ve spent a lot of years rooting for Gonzaga. Now, I’m not anti-Gonzaga, I’m still pro-Gonzaga…but after all these years, who’s got the energy?

Win the big one, and then we’ll talk.

North Carolina gets bounced by VCU…and with a buyout only costing Chapel Hill about 5-Rocks, Hubert Davis could be getting the Big Sayonara…

Feeling feelings I haven’t felt in nearly 30 years, I’m not sure if I’m going through a Laker revival or a Luca Doncic 101 class.

I’ll know when the Lakers lose, but it’s been a while since they lost.

Doncic dropped a 60-burger on Miami last night, the Lakers won, 134-126. It’s the team’s eighth in a row, and 11th win in the last 12 games.

…And likely the most impressive victory in this run. After playing in Houston the night before and getting to Miami at 5:AM on Thursday, they looked sluggish early, but gutted out the win.

A Laker team with guts? Who would have thunk?

What helped me root for the Lakers was that I found the pink in the Heat’s uniform scheme horribly offensive.

When Illinois led Penn 70-47 with 10 minutes to play, I wondered if Illini fans were getting nervous.

Spent Thursday at Buffalo Wild Wings. Lots of TVs, server was nice, but the crowd was smaller than a Women’s NCAA tourney game—there was plenty of parking.

…And the food was less than meh. Even after bringing back the sliders, the party seems to be over at Buffalo Wild Wings. Likely reading my thoughts is probably the reason they gave me a free case of non-alcoholic beer.

I need a new NCAA tourney haunt.

Wisconsin and Ohio State got flushed early on a bad Thursday morning for the Big Ten.

Last Add Women’s Tourney: Can we jump to the Final Four? It’s not only that I don’t care…I cannot stand the effort to make me care…or the KBM trying to convince me that they care…when the truth is the preponderance of America does not care.

And if you don’t like this take…Well, I don’t care.

Duke losing to a Crayola wasn’t going to happen. It was only a matter of time until the clock struck midnight—second half—for Cinderella.

I asked Grok who was the last NCAA athlete in a major sport to be declared academically ineligible? You don’t hear about it anymore.

Answer: LSU running back John Emery Jr. in 2021. Emery was at LSU for six years, played five, and appeared in one game of a seventh collegiate season for the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Back in the day, I played a lot of church ball; for me, it was all about remaining spiritually eligible.

#11—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth.

The Dude abides…
1,253
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
Follow Joe on X: @joet13b