NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP 2013

I must say that this year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament was marked by tons of great games, none moreso than last night’s championship game between the Michigan Wolverines and the victorious Louisville Cardinals. To my mind, the game, and entire tourney, worked out exactly the way it was supposed to!

Kevin Ware, cutting down his piece of the net after it was lowered because he couldn't climb the ladder with his broken leg.

Louisville, led by coach Rick Pitino, was the absolute top seed of all sixty-eight teams, so, since I’m such a fan of fairness, it was really only fair for them to become the official champions. They were also probably the only team of whom most of the country knows, due to the gruesome injury last week-end of one of their starters, Kevin Ware, who has handled himself amazingly well in this past week since breaking his leg. (In case you haven’t heard about it, which would shock me, the bone was sticking straight out of his leg!) I have a feeling it was emotional for everyone concerned, including the viewers, to see him at the game and reveling in his teamates’ comeback from twelve points down!

Even though I don’t remember every detail of the entire ten days of competition right now, (I watched every second of it, by the way,) it was a very satisfying tournament, all the way around. I think only one team suffered an early round loss possibly due to a bad call at the very end of their game; usually there are a few more controversial officiating casualties.

My favorite team, UCLA, was a disappointment, but I didn’t even get in pain over it. There were so many other fun teams to watch and root for that I didn’t even miss them! We had Harvard(!), La Salle, Wichita State, Michigan, Marquette, and, of course, the entertaining Florida Gulf Coast University, (whose program is only eleven-years-old, I believe,) who made it to the Sweet Sixteen as a #15 seed!!! That was a first.

And for the Final to come down to Michigan, a young, fun-to-watch team with the classiest coach, John Beilein, against the overall #1 seed Louisville was wonderful. We all won with that combo.

The Champion Louisville Cardinals.

And it was one of the best games I’ve ever seen. Mr. X and I were even propelled off the couch at one point. The game was so excited that we kept screaming, along with everyone else who was witnessing these continuous athletic feats. It was a shame someone had to lose, but Michigan handled it well, especially their always-upbeat and kind coach.

For deets of the game, check around the web. I’m still too excited to write anymore now. But I do want to say that everything about the 2013 tournament was great; from the athletic prowess of those young men, to the human interest stories (like the Syracuse player whose family’s house burned-down while he was playing the first game,) to getting to see Naismith Award winner Trey Burke play all the games, to the fans, families, and famous dads, it all added up to the perfect March Madness. Heck, even the announcers did well! (Well, it picked up after the only white guy analyst, Doug Gottlieb, on a panel with four black guys, pointed out that fact, and made us all uncomfortable. Like we couldn’t figure that out for ourselves.)

So, major congratulations to Louisville. On the night of the day that he was voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Rick Pitino became the only coach to win the college championship with two separate schools! (He won with Kentucky in 1996. And no, for you nescients—even though Louisville is in Kentucky, they’re two different schools entirely!

Now, should UCLA continue to disappoint next year, I have a feeling Michigan will be my team. It’s only fair.