HOW MANY TIMES?

March 21, 2009

An early morning entry. There truly is nothing greater than the tournament.

Siena-Ohio State 2 OTs and a kid about 5 ft 2 hits a three to win it for Siena, the owners of arguably the ugliest uniforms ever. Wisconsin-Florida State -- Wisconsin in OT. Cleveland State blows out big bad overrated Wake.

KERNEL 1 -- DO NOT LET THE GUY TAKE THE 3-POINTER TO TIE THE GAME

How many times (hence the tie-in to the subject matter) do coaches have to lose games before they realize a basic basketball truism? A team down 3 with ball can't tie the score if you send them to the line!! Memphis cost themselves a national title by letting the kid shoot the three. Tonight Siena down 3, with 9 seconds left. Ohio State let's kid dribble up court, cross half court, take 2 more dribbles and with about 3 seconds left, let him take a game tying 3, allowing them to eventually win in ot (same kid drains the game winner). HELLO -- JUST SLAP THE KID ON THE WRIST AS HE IS DRIBBLING WITH 4 SECONDS TO GO!! MAKE HIM HIS TWO FOUL SHOTS, FOUL YOU AND THEN THROW IN A GAME WINNER FROM 75 FEET. OR TRY AND MISS PURPOSELY ETC. HOW MANY TIMES DO COACHES HAVE TO LOSE GAMES THIS WAY -- THEY GET PAID MILLIONS TO NOT LOSE GAMES FOR THEIR KIDS!!!

I AM AGGRAVATED. And I couldnt tell you the name of one kid on Siena before the game tonight!

Be on the lookout for the bar mitzvah preview, movie reviews, random sports blogs, and other musings. An appetizer for today:

KENREL 2 -- BETTING "TRENDS"

Now every one who has ever wagered knows full well there is no such thing. But here is one that just "seems true." Whoever the experts declare on Selection Sunday is "the last at-large team to receive a bid" is GUARANTEED TO NOT ONLY COVER BUT TO WIN OUTRIGHT! That team ALWAYS feels like they have something to prove and they just come out and get it done. Evidence tonight -- Arizona. I thought they got in on rep too. Yet there they went tonight -- outright win over the 5 seed. Easily. I am thinking the Mormon schools had really rough tourney as an aside (Utah, Utah State, BYU). Don't exactly know what that means. Makes me long for Danny Ainge going coast to coast and the 7 foot 11 guy (exaggerated) Shawn Bradley! I digress. Honorable mention on "the last team in" theme -- Wisconsin, also a 12 seed. Beats the daunted ACC.

Secondary rule -- always always take the Vikings of Cleveland State in Round One. They have been there twice in 20 years and won both times. As an aside, watching them dismantle Wake (the daunted, maybe that should be overrated ACC -- Clemson out, Wake out, FSU out) reminded me of how much fun that team was in 1985 -- and how they got hosed against the Admiral and Navy in the Sweet 16. I watched that game (I want to say at my then girlfriend Anita's house) and was screaming at the tiniest of televisons!

Underdogs galore. As usual.

KERNEL 3 -- SPORTING THINGS THAT MAKE NO SENSE

Match Play golf. The World Baseball Classic. That Dennis Johnson is not in the NBA Hall of Fame where Larry Bird called him the greatest teammate of all time. That ESPN Classics only televises old AWA Wrestling as opposed to what was then called midget wrestling and today would be more respectfully known as little people wrestling (when ESPN first came on they aired anything and everything including little people wrestling). That CBS conitnues to be awful at switching games. They go to Wisconsin-Florida correctly with 8 seconds to go with Siena-Ohio State in a timeout with 24 seconds to go. I kid you not -- as the kid from Wisconsin shoots the would-be game winning 3 at the buzzer, with the bull literally in the air heading towards the hoops, they cut-away back to Siena-Ohio State! Did the shot go in? In and out? I MEAN ARE YOU KIDDING???? I had to read the mini top-of-screen scroll to find out if the kid was a hero or the game was heading into ot! What makes no sense - -that ESPN has paid zillions for football, but can't get back the tournament! That Stephon Marbury has a chance to win a title with the Celtics.

KERNEL 4 -- OTHER ITEMS THAT MAKE NO SENSE

Snow in NYC on first day of spring. That kids of this generation do not know from Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaxica, and pinball. That I am up blogging aimlessly at 12:55 am. That Delaware wants to have professional sports betting but doesn't have a professional team. That I haven't yet started my column called "The Fry Guy" (Yes, I wanted to be french fry reviewer --anybody can review the restaurant and the meal, but only the truly inventive would review just the fries!) . And that my kids are already smarter and more talented than I ever was. How can that be?

KERNEL 5 -- AM I THE ONLY ONE?

Just teasing -- later today!

Happy Saturday one and all. Look forward to everyone's postings.

In the weeks and months to come, graphics, pictures, links, maybe even ads will be added to Korny's Kernel's of Truth. Also, plan to finally at long last develop my own interactive "Movie Madness" Internet Book. Going to be lots of fun.