Me and the NCAA tournament

This post may be of no interest to the vast majority of you, so feel free to move ahead to the next blog you check regularly.

I love the NCAA tournament. I realize that many people may say this, but I absolutely love the NCAA tournament. I can't think of any other sporting event that brings me as much joy as the NCAA tournament. It may come from my weird obsession with anything that can be placed in bracket form, I'm not really sure.

I used to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the brackets in the late 90s. I could tell you who the 14 seed was in the East, and what team it lost to in the first round. I could name what player led his team to the title as a 6 seed in 1988. One year, I filmed my own selection show and presented it to my parents moments before the real selection show aired.

But there are many, many more memories.

So sit back, relax and reminisce along with me as I take you through a timetable of my love affair with the greatest sporting event ever.

1986: I'm not even five years old, but my dad fills out a bracket for me in his office pool. He asks what teams I want to win. For some reason, I like the name Purdue and pick it to win the whole thing. Purdue, a 6 seed, loses to 11-seed LSU in the first round. My dad's boss calls me "Purdue" from that day forward.

1988: I fill out my first bracket myself and go with Duke, my champion for 14 of the next 17 years. As the Blue Devils go down to the wire against Kansas in a national semifinal, I learn two important tournament rituals: 1) key moments are best viewed while lying stomach-down on the floor in front of the TV (which will later be known as "assuming the position") and 2) a towel over the head hides a man's tears from the camera.

1990: I correctly pick all four Final Four teams and take third place in my dad's office pool. To date, it is my best showing in any pool. I'm crushed on championship Monday, however, as UNLV blows out Duke by 30.

1991: Duke upsets UNLV, 79-77, in a national semifinal in one of the greatest upsets in tournament history. The pundits will credit Mike Krzyzewski's game plan, but I know the real reason: it's because with three minutes to go, I "assumed the position" on the floor and tapped the "Let's Go Duke!" banner I made on the computer earlier in the day. Duke goes on to beat Kansas in the national championship game, and I go to the barber the following week asking to get my hair cut like Christian Laettner.

1992: I experience the tournament in person for the first time, as I play hooky with my dad to see Todd Day and Arkansas beat Popeye Jones and Murray State and Anfernee Hardaway and Memphis State beat Doug Christie and Pepperdine. The night games included Harold Miner and USC beating up on a poor 15 seed and a Houston-Georgia Tech game that I can't remember at all. The following Saturday, I "assume the position" as Christian Laettner (at this point, we still share the same 'do) makes the greatest shot in the history of the NCAA tournament. To celebrate, I run out the front door of the house and down Main Street in Dousman to the soda machine at the auto body shop, where I purchase a root beer and shake it up in my own locker room celebration. Duke goes on to win another title.

1993: Marquette is in the tournament for the first time I can appreciate it, and even though I convince my grade school teacher to let me listen to the game on the radio, the Warriors fall to Oklahoma State in the first round.

1994: I successfully fake sick to stay home and watch the first day of the tournament (Hi Mom!), even though Marquette plays on Friday. The Warriors have little trouble with Southwestern Louisiana and advance to play Kentucky. I start to watch the game with a friend at a pizza place, but return home (to assume the position) midway through the second half to find both my parents standing they are so excited. My buddy Tony Miller is named player of the game as MU knocks off the mighty Wildcats, 75-63, to advance to the Sweet 16. In the last game Marquette ever played as the Warriors, Tony Miller, Robb Logtermann and Damon Key knocked down 3-pointers in the opening minutes to spot MU a 9-0 lead over my other beloved team, Duke, in a regional semifinal. The Blue Devils are too good on this day, however, and win 59-49.

1999: I see the NCAA tournament for the third time in person, but the first time by myself. No matter. I sit near some Oklahoma fans that teach me the words to "Boomer Sooner" (and since the rowser is only two words, I just taught them to you.) The day after the championship game I'm scheduled for oral surgery. After UConn upsets Duke in the final, I don't need any anesthesia.

2002: I get to cover my first NCAA tournament when Marquette plays in St. Louis. The whole experience is short-lived, however, as No. 12 Tulsa shocks No. 5 Marquette in the first round. My sorrows are short-lived, as I take a front-row seat and witnessed a near-upset of top-seeded Kansas by a spunky Holy Cross crew.

2003: Marquette is back in the tournament, as am I. I sit less than 15 feet from Bruce Pearl, who sweats through his suit coat during UWM's near-upset of Notre Dame. I somehow maintain my professionalism as MU survives a first-round game against Holy Cross (thanks to Travis Diener), outlasts Missouri in overtime (thanks to Steve Novak), edges Pittsburgh (thanks to Dwyane Wade) and demolishes Kentucky (thanks to everyone) and advances to the Final Four. I stand at the 3-point line as the players cut down the nets and think of how many times I saw this on TV from the floor of my boyhood home. I hand out mock issues of our student newspaper to other media members with the headline "Holy Mackerel," which is mentioned in several national columns and held upside down by Lesley Visser as she interviews Tom Crean after the game. At the Final Four, I cross off one of the "things to do before I die" before Roy Williams humiliates MU on national TV. Two nights later, Syracuse beats Kansas in the title game and we all watch "One Shining Moment" on the jumbotron inside the Louisiana Superdome.

2007: I get to experience my first NCAA tournament in HDTV. This may trump them all.

All the memories are still fresh. I still get excited and can't sleep the night before the tournament starts and if I wouldn't be fired, I'd call in sick to work. Still, I'll manage to sneak in a few games at home on my brand new 37-inch LCD TV, where I'll crumble up my bracket by the time the first few games are through and wonder why I picked Texas A&M to win it all. And, if the moment is right, I'll clear a spot on the floor to "assume the position" just like I did all those times as a kid.

It's a wonderful time of year.