Saturday, April 05, 2008

Golden Ticket 5: Grandpa Joe or Grandma Josephine

30 minutes until tip-off. The Final Four.

I will write this post because I promised it before the Elite 8, though I'm rather certain that anyone who cares has known for days which of my teams will going to the Final Four (thus, using the "Golden Ticket" that I "found" when Memphis and Texas both made it to the Elite 8, assuring me a beloved squad in the Final Four). Texas will have to stay in bed with Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina for at least another year. There endeth the metaphor.

Memphis plays UCLA today - in a rematch of the 1973 NCAA Championship game - for the right to advance to this year's final game. It should be a great game and a great Final Four. I'm wearing blue, I'm cranking up the band*, and I'm already sweaty. This is going to be hard work!

Outside of the Men's Final Four, there is much to report from the past week. The Lady Rabs lost a heartbreaking defensive battle by a score of 9-8 this week. We're inching ever closer to victory. Stay tuned. Also from the world of women's basketball, I'm pretty sure I have a big crush** on Candace Parker, star of the Tennessee Lady Vols. Not only is she beautiful, talented, and seemingly intelligent and team-oriented, she is tough! During the Lady Vols' regional final game, she dislocated her left shoulder - TWICE - and returned to the game, helping her team reach the Final Four. Again. I don't follow women's basketball that closely, and I wouldn't necessarily normally feel any need to root for "goliath," which Tennessee clearly represents in the women's game, but you have to be a fan of extraordinary performers that make goliath goliath. Go Vols!

Non-basketball-wise, yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. here in Memphis***. I have some comments on that that I will focus on sometime after the upcoming game. Check back as the Ride and the dream continue soon! GO TIGERS!!!

* The Mighty Sound of the South, the University of Memphis Band
** The "crush" and the "beautiful" aren't really basketball-related, I realize. I guess that's one of the differences between watching men's and women's basketball!
*** It was the anniversary everywhere. The death happened in Memphis. Just wanted to be clear.

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