Ho Hum...

So, just how many ways can a Gator chew up and spit out a Buckeye? Out of respect, I did keep an eye on the second half on my "screen within a screen" while I watched "The Black Donnelly's" on a competing network. But Greg Oden's ability FINALLY to stay out of foul trouble only helped to make the game marginally more interesting. And I guess we should all be impressed that Florida has won back to back titles, and are the only school in NCAA history to hold both the football and the Men's basketball championships at the same time. But from where I sit, it's just the state that put Dubya in the White House for the first time teaching a lesson to the state that elected him to a second term. I would have much rather seen a Ducks/Tar Heels matchup, as would have my running mate from our regular Monday/Wednesday over-35 pick-up game, who also had Oregon and North Carolina playing for the Championship in his bracket, and (like me) until the Sunday before last was leading everyone else in his pool of more than 500 participants. Of course, he had Carolina Blue over the Green & Gold in HIS bracket...but now we'll never know who had it right. I still say Oregon gave Florida its toughest challenge of the tournament, and that without an exceptionally fine performance by #12 Humphrey (and an uncharacteristically poor one by #12 Porter), that game would have gone the other way. As for Carolina's meltdown in OT against Georgetown...well, I'll NEVER understand that one....

One nice thing about the 9:30 EDT tip-off is that we were still able to squeeze in a full run ourselves last night. Shot poorly again (as it seems I have for months), but I did FINALLY knock down an open three when it counted, and also made the game winning assist in the final game of the night. Exactly 15 players came out too, which meant that we all got plenty of PT, and that the teams stayed pretty much the same so we all developed a little better chemistry over the course of the evening. Mostly I just tried to rebound and play good defense, share the ball, and shoot when I was open. And it felt good. Even if it didn't always look that good....

Last night as we were shooting around waiting for ten guys to show up so we could start, somebody asked me how long I've been playinhg this game. And the truth is, I don't really know. I honestly can't remember the first time I picked up a basketball, but I do know that I was playing almost every recess by the fourth grade, and have been playing pretty regularly ever since. How old is a fourth grader anyway? Eight? Nine? So, four decades and change... no wonder my knees hurt all the time. And I guess that also explains why I own two dozen basketballs, and more pairs of basketball shorts than I can count. Most of which, I'm ashamed to say, don't really fit any more either....