Bryan Rahn – Life in the Blue

Anyone watching the tournament outside of Missouri or Tennessee last night missed one of the best games of the tournament. No one got to see the game until CBS finally decided that their favorite sons, the Blue Devils, were hopelessly out of the game. Shameful to have missed such a good college basketball game while they pander to the Dukies.

Speaking of, here is an idea for CBS. In the first and second rounds, start the games 30 minutes apart. There is no need to have the games all start at the exact same time, thus ensuring that you won’t get to see other games and resulting in a mad flipping between games at the end while Greg Gumblecakes pronounces the names of the cities where they are taking place wrong. (Shi-CAUG-ow) How has it taken so long to come up with this? It will allow for more people to see more games, and should not cut down on the valuable commercial time. In fact, if done right, it should increase it. Not to mention they could increase viewership because it will fit the different time zones better. Consider that free advice CBS.

Tonite we are in store for more pandering. If Coach K is CBS’s favorite son, Blake Griffin their cousin. He annoys me and here’s why. When you watch him, he allegedly keeps getting “undercut” because he goes up for rebounds without his legs under him, and he leans over people. The other players are either going to undercut him, or he’s going to fall down. But either way, he’ll get the call. He also constantly grabs people and falls down, drawing fouls, and making them look bad.

The announcers of course miss that fact. The common announcer call is “Oh wow, Blake Griffin sure is taking a beating!” When they should say, “Oh wow, Blake Griffin just ran up and jumped into a heap of well positioned players and fell down.”

Finally, if he hung on the rim in my face and dangled his mouth guard out of his mouth like he does against everyone, I would undercut him so bad that he broke both his arms.

He is also the player that they constantly have to show his parents on tv each time Oklahoma does something good, bad, or insignificant in any way. And look at his parents. His mom is a big time ginger and his dad looks like Montel Willaims.

Don’t believe me? Here is a drinking game you can play tonite. Each time Griffin ends up on the floor, take a drink. Each time they show his parents, take a shot. You better have plenty of booze on hand, you will be wasted by halftime.

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Time for the 2009 bracket projections from someone who is not just a talking head. I know I am better at this than you Joe Lunardi. My predictions are below. We are on the record.

Last four out are Auburn, St Mary’s, Creighton and Arizona. Much love to all.

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Dear readers, I apologize for my silence lately. I have been on a brief 2009 tour. Fresh off a trip to the homestead in Minnesota, I loaded up on trips to Des Moines, Kansas City, St. Louis, some city in the Northwest that we don’t talk about at parties, Key West, and of course, Las Vegas. The future still holds another trip (or two) to sin city, one to Wisconsin, Oklahoma City, and frankly, wherever my blessed little heart will take me.

One might think that I love to go visit different places. Which, I do. However, this last trip was a solo flight to Vegas, part for conference and part to just do whatever it is that I do. But while trolling the streets, I learned something…

Dr Seuss engaged the mind of young readers with his book Oh the Places You’ll Go!. Today is your day! The places of mountains and birds and high fliers…

The book talks about visiting all these exotic places and the sights you will see. And I got to thinking, why would I want to visit Des Moines? Why, for the next 45 years, will grown men travel in 7 seater planes to a far reaching island in the keys? I mean, how many times do we need to get slightly less drunk at the same 3 bars on a 2 mile long island. Are we really going to travel to Stillwater? Would I really travel to the great state of Minnesota if Marga and Curtie weren’t there to host?

The answer lies not in looking at the places, but rather the people you share the trips with. When doing this, trips become not a place you went to, but a period of time enshrined as your history of what makes up who you are.

I found myself turning around and saying “Where is his bag?” or “We need to get Vertical” and “That’s what she said!” But sadly, the words fell silent, lost in a crowd of suits straight off the rack from TJ Max. There was no “And on Thursday,” or watching the sun come up from your cab ride home or people being asked to leave the casino. At 8 pm.

Sure, I hit all the regular spots. Sushi at Ah Sin, Miami Vice’s at the pool and my beloved Studio 54. I caught a streak of good cards, caught a hot roller backscratcher, and Studio didn’t disappoint. Editors Note: The winner was – Off strip or not in a hotel.

But without anyone to make them shared experiences, they were just not the same. There was no one to listen to my jokes, exhausting stories and three pronged examples.

In short, when the trip ended, I couldn’t help but feel, well, incomplete. So, Mr. Seuss, I suggest it is not the places you go, but rather the people you’ll see.

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