Elite 8 Day 1 Update

Hello Friends: (in Jim Nance voice)

Two games, but only one good one, on Saturday night, and we have half of our Final Four in place. In the pool, Aunt Holly grabbed the top spot all alone in “Jabin’s March Madness Charity Pool” with 69 points. She is followed closely by Recedinghairliners at 68, Beavis at 67, and JonStein1 and DeaconForever tied at 66. Tenacious D and Buddy Ryan are 4 back at 65, and The Reverend and ENEMIGO are tied at 64. Head to the site for complete standings after Day 1 of the Elite 8.

Much to Charles Barkley’s chagrin, Alabama got past Clemson in a battle of football schools seeking their first basketball Final Four. Great game, but Clemson missed some free throws down the stretch, and Alabama hit some key shots.  Great game, much better than Saturday’s first game…

Huskies turn on the jets…

Remember Rocky IV, when our hero fought Ivan Drago? (stay with me here, I’m going somewhere).  During his fights, Drago’s coach waited for a bit until and then yelled something, probably Russian for “ok, now!” Point is, all of a sudden Drago just obliterated the opponent. RIP Apollo Creed (that still gets me).  Anyway, was that coach in attendance in Boston during the East Region Elite 8, and did he talk to the Huskies at halftime? UConn was up 5 points at the halftime, and Illinois was hanging with them. But before you could settle in for the second half, UConn ran off a 30-0 run (you read that right, a 30-point run!!!) to cruise home for a 25-point victory, and this thing was over faster than you can “I must break you.” So UConn heads to the Final Four looking for all the world like the odds-on favorite. Das Vedanya. Fun fact, the guy who played Drago’s coach was noted character actor Michael Pataki, born in – wait for it – Youngstown, Ohio. It’s like all these movies are fake!!!

Sunday will feature the tournament’s only 1-2 matchup as Purdue and Tennessee battle for the Midwest spot, and an “All-ACC” matchup as Duke takes on NC State in the South. When the smoke clears, we will have ourselves a Final Four.

Commercials

Did you all see the EGO commercial for the battery-powered blower? I was half paying attention, as one does, and noticed that it said it had a blowing radius of 800 CFM.  I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s a pretty impressive CFM.”  And then I thought: “Wait, what the heck is a CFM.” Again, I think I’m watching too much basketball.

The GEICO commercial featuring the kid who is so superstitious that he must have everything the same as last time really bugs me. He loses me when he knocks the popcorn out of the guy’s hand, because he “wasn’t eating popcorn last time.”  I certainly don’t condone violence, but that kind of behavior is a good way to get a beat-down.

Invesco QQQ stands for Questions, Questions, Questions. So the kid who is using goggles and is playing a game before Alexa/Siri/whoever interrupts and tells him it’s time to study for his chem exam. My question is: “If he’s using VR goggles and studying for his chem exam through virtual reality, why exactly does he have to be sitting in the library? (which is closing anyway). I think I might be old..

OK, I’ll talk to you Sunday after the last 2 Elite 8 games.

Yours in hoops,

Jabin