Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n So, being the good sport that I try to be, I do<\/em> have to congratulate the University of North Carolina (UNC) even though I was rooting for Gonzaga to win it all.<\/p>\n But I sure wish that the referees had not completely ruined the game! This was the worst championship contest that I\u2019ve ever seen. Even though the score was close, it wasn\u2019t well-played, like most of the other sixty-six games during the tournament were<\/em>. This one was a sloppy, clumsy mess, on the part of both<\/em> teams, and especially the refs, who just would not let them play.\u00a0 And there were several bad calls against Gonzaga, especially near the end. That was horrible of those men to interfere in such a close game like that.<\/p>\n Some members of the UNC team.<\/p><\/div>\n But, in case you don\u2019t know this already, here\u2019s some background: UNC was in the championship game last year, as well, and lost at the very last second\u2014and I do mean very last second\u2014to Villanova. It was such a crushing way to lose. So, basically the second that<\/em> game was over, the returning Tar Heels vowed to make it back to the championship game this, and win<\/em> this time! So, it\u2019s impressive that they did just that!<\/p>\n Being the Empath that I’m told I am, I know I would have felt awful for those UNC players to lose two years in a row, especially the seniors, like Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks, who wanted so desperately to win this year. But I had to root for the Zags because I’ve been on their side for many years now–since no one even knew how to pronounce<\/em> \u201cGonzaga!!!\u201d (It\u2019s gon-zag-a. And the \u201czag\u201d is as in \u201cbag,\u201d in case you\u2019re interested.) That\u2019s how long I\u2019ve been into them. I don\u2019t even know how it all started; it just seems like my fandom of them has always been there.<\/p>\n Some members of the Gonzaga team…in their winning WHITE jerseys!<\/p><\/div>\n And I really wanted Charles Barkley to be right for once. He kept guaranteeing<\/em> that Gonzaga was going to win! That\u2019s actually when I knew they were in trouble. The other two signs to me that Gonzaga would lose were 1) that the Zags were in black for the first time, and 2) the Zags were at the wrong basket for my crazy superstitions. But it really was mostly because Chuck was so positive that they would win!<\/p>\n So, as much as I wanted Gonzaga to win, I am<\/em> happy for UNC after last year\u2019s last second, (literally,) devastating defeat.<\/p>\n And now I never have to even semi<\/em>-want UNC to win ever again. Yay!<\/p>\n Okay, here are some more thoughts as March Madness went along, in chronological order:<\/p>\n Chima Moneke of UC Davis.<\/p><\/div>\n The first time I actually cried was Day 2, when they were discussing that UC Davis\u2019 Chima Moneke had not seen his family in Nigeria since 2009!\u00a0 I could not even imagine not seeing my parents for that long, ever<\/em>.\u00a0 He said they\u2019re definitely coming out to see him graduate next year because Nigerian parents wouldn\u2019t miss their son\u2019s college graduation! I\u2019m glad they told me so I don\u2019t have to feel so bad for that family now.<\/p>\n Jim Les, (although I have a feeling that he was a tad younger here.)<\/p><\/div>\n Even though I\u2019m not into gray hair on men, (or on\u00a0anybody<\/em>, actually,) the coach who always looks the best is Jim Les of UC Davis.\u00a0 His suits always fit the best, and his hair looks good.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still sick for Vanderbilt\u2019s Matthew Fisher, who gave a foul to the opponent at the end, when, according to everybody, he should not have. We all know that he\u2019s blaming their loss on himself, but it was one mistake in a long game. And it\u2019s a team sport. And what no one else is saying is that\u00a0maybe they would have lost anyway! The game could have gone either way at that point! I tweeted right away that I hoped that commentator Chris Webber, who made an even worse mistake at the end of his<\/em> college championship<\/em> game, should reach-out to Matthew, and let him know that life really does<\/em> go on.<\/p>\n That was a horrible end of the Seton Hall-Arkansas game!\u00a0 The refs needed to let them play.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think that was a flagrant foul, and the same thing was not called in several of the other games.\u00a0 Did the refs have money on the game perhaps???<\/p>\n I\u2019m so proud\u00a0of, and happy for, my favorite college that I attended, URI! They won their first game, and it was really fun.<\/p>\n Caleb Swanigan then…<\/p><\/div>\n I absolutely love all the human interest stories, such as these two: Caleb Swanigan of Purdue was a poor, very overweight kid, whose family moved around a lot. His older brother asked a coach he knew to take Caleb in when they were moving again, and the man not only did that, but adopted him! At thirteen! Caleb worked hard, lost tons of weight, and is now a college hoops star! \u00a0 And Frank Mason III, of Kansas, failed a class in high school, so he could not accept his basketball scholarship to a small college. He had to go to a sort-of military high school to finish up his degree, and it\u2019s there that he was discovered by Kansas, and got a scholarship to that much better college! Wow. And he has a young son, and appears to be a hands-on, doting dad. So, good for him, all the way around.<\/p>\n …and now!<\/p><\/div>\n I feel awful for Giddy Potts of Middle Tennessee State. He\u2019s been a star on the court for two years now, but in their second-round game this tourney, he just could not score, and they lost.<\/p>\n The most visibly upset coach in the early going was Gregg Marshall of Wichita State.\u00a0 I feel for the poor guy.<\/p>\n![\"ncaa-tournament\"](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ncaa-tournament.jpg\")
<\/a>It all finally ended on Monday night, and I needed a day to reflect on the tourney as a whole before I wrote about it. I\u2019m the only person I know who watches every second of the four-channel coverage, so, believe me, there have been a multitude of thoughts running through my mind all three weeks of it. (I\u2019m usually a bit stressed during it, because I still go out occasionally, so I record the proceedings, and then stay up practically around the clock to watch it all! But this year, I was at the end of my month-long pneumonia siege, so I was staying in anyway. These were the only days and nights that I was actually almost grateful for the illness! But only after the real pain of it was over.) (The pain of the pneumonia, not the tournament. That latter pain lasts forever!)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>