For You, Dad

My father was a huge Kansas University men's basketball fan. Back when I had a Cband dish, and the networks put up March Madness "in the clear," he'd be glued to the screen all of March. He loved watching college basketball, but he particularly loved KU basketball. When the networks started messing with the broadcasts - he had them figured out. They'd start a game on one transponder on a satellite, but then they would switch to another transponder on a different satellite. They didn't fool Dad - he'd winkled out where they went and had them figured out.

He was hooked well before Danny Manning and Larry Brown winning the big enchilada back in '88. He had high hopes that Roy Williams would hit the jackpot as well. Dad passed well before Roy pulled his stunt. In 2000, Roy claimed he wasn't going to go anywhere - that he was going to stay at KU. He turned down the Tarheels job. Not so much in 2003. He announced his departure during the tournament!

It looked like the soil above Dad's grave had been disturbed, possibly by some sort of massive rotation underneath the surface. I know without a doubt he would have been pissed. I know I was.

Ahhh, but revenge is a dish best served cold, as Khan said in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. The quarterfinals saw the boys in blue take on the Tarheels, and whup them rather convincingly. That would have probably been enough, but in the finals, wow! What a game!

I thought the 'Hawks were done for when they were nine down. They managed to fight back and tie the game with a three pointer with 2.9 seconds left. Memphis tried a hail mary that failed. Overtime it was, and KU seemed to control the tempo, and ended up winning. I'm sure there will be controversy, already John Calipari, the head coach for Memphis, is complaining about the referees repealing a three point call because they used video to see that the shooter had his left foot inside the arc. That was a major turning point in the game - I'll give him that. But, his kids didn't capitalize on their free throws, and they were unable to handle the Jayhawks in the closing moments of the game. They were beaten.

To be fair, I thought the refereeing could have been tighter. I felt there should have been more fouls called, but I'm always one that bitches about "letting them play." So, they let the guys play. It was really a great game to watch, and if the "boys in blue" lost, I'd still be proud of them. They did, after all, show up Roy Williams!