March Madness Winners?

The day after.

The hangover begins.

The NCAA tournament has concluded for another year.

Everyone’s brackets have been tossed into the recyclable bin and only a token few have an extra sawbuck to show for it.

Fun though.

However, does anyone else have a sour taste in their mouths? I mean, The University of Connecticut is now the national champion and , if I’m not mistaken, aren’t they on probation for illegal recruiting? Isn’t head coach Jim Calhoun suspended for three games at the beginning of next year? How the hell did that happen?

Of course if they had lost in an earlier round the discussion wouldn’t be as loud but they didn’t. They won. Again and again.

Granted, they are a nice and talented team. They should be. They recruited illegally! What gives? Apparently they paid a former recruit $6000 for … I don’t know … who cares? He was paid. Did he play for the Huskies? Doesn’t matter. They violated NCAA rules. Can the coach know everything that is going on? Of course not but those are the rules and they got caught. Oh, they would’ve appealed so there was no way they should have been disallowed to be a part of the tournament. So they say. Ah … it’s great that now they’ve hoisted the trophy over their heads. Awesome.

I read another column about approximately the same topic and that dude was irate. He should have been. We all should be.

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Another topic in basketball today: The Worm has been selected to the Basketball Hall Of Fame. Dennis Rodman is now in and will be inducted later this year.

Wow, who would’ve thought? Is he worthy of being side by side with all of the other greats? I believe he is. All-Star. Two time defensive player of the year. How many championship rings? Six? Lead the league in rebounds how many times? Forty in a single game? You bet, he belongs. Is he an eccentric and odd personality? Certainly. None of that matters because he was what he was … a defensive, team player who would do anything to help gain an advantage and to be on the side with the winning score and it happened a lot. Good for Dennis. Fun to watch as you couldn’t take your eyes off of him while on or off the court.

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I must tell you, this past weekend I was invited to a gala. Black tie. Oooo, pretty nice. There was to be some kind of award for “Best Dressed” during this thing which was to be a fun thing. I could only imagine that the finest duds were to be unfurled. As I was preparing for the event I looked around my closet and noticed that I had no chance in winning the afore-mentioned award. Unbeknownst to me, some “friends” took it upon themselves to ‘locate’ an ‘Armani’ suit and an extremely expensive Rolex watch for me to don. I didn’t take the stuff so I threw it on and the items fit like a glove. Hmmm … custom fit? Unbelievable but again, it wasn’t me. I think I’ll wear it and see what happens.

I received the looks. The gawks. The ooooo’s and ahhhh’s as I walked around the room. I had it going on.

During the event some investigators approached me and were to arrest me for stealing the watch and clothes. It wasn’t me but the facts remained that these were the items stolen. The surveillance  cameras proved that my friends had taken them so they allowed me to wear them for the remainder of the extravaganza. Thanks. Idiots.

Time came to announce the winner of the trophy for ‘best dressed-male.’ I won. Cool. I won. Sure I’ll have to return the stolen goods later and spend a day or two in jail at a later date but for now, I was on top of the world. The champion!

Crazy.

Sure the above is fictitious (you were in doubt?) but you get my point. If you screw up, you shouldn’t be allowed to participate in the coming events/tourney. Tough break. Better luck next time. Play by the rules. I understand the coach can’t know everything and why punish the players on the team now? It’s the right thing to do. The NCAA has some explaining to do. Players pay the price more so than the Hall Of Fame coaches.

Jim Calhoun and the Huskies … tainted championship. Run and hide.

Reiny