Tonight is the Final game of the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.  The University of Kansas, where I live (and where I am newly employed!) is playing in this game, against the University of Memphis.  Tip off is at 8:21 pm, our time.  That means the boys will be in bed, and we can watch it live, with the radio guys announcing alongside.

I am terribly nervous.  Our game on Saturday was awesome, and frightening, and shows exactly what our team can do, both good and bad.  We need the good to show up tonight, not the bad.

I am doing what I can to help them.  I am wearing a new t-shirt today, but I'll put the other one on before the game.  That's the one I've worn for each game this Tournament.  The boys both have new t-shirts they are wearing (I think I have yet to see a single person today who is not wearing some sort of KU merchandise).  We have our flag out front (the house came with a flag socket).  I have a new hat (one that fits, yay).

It's all I can do, except wish them luck.

So, Kansas made it into the Final Four.  Barely. It has been an entertaining tournament so far, though there have been few bright spots.  In fact, Kansas is responsible for snuffing one of those bright spots out, the Davidson team was a Cinderella for the ages in the making.

But now that all the #1 seeds have made it to the Final Four (for the first time, ever) we should have a lot of competitive basketball to watch next weekend.

Here are a few of my thoughts so far.

• I'm wearing my Kansas shirt for every game.  It's not that I'm superstitious, but just in case.  Plus, Russell Robinson, one of our seniors, asked the fans, “we need you to wear your lucky socks, wear your lucky shirt … whatever you do to help us win the games, you’ve got to continue to do that the rest of the season."  So I am.
• I'm doing a lot of laundry, as a result.
• I'm thinking about buying a flagpole and a flag, too.  Bandwagon!
• My sports year continues to be charmed.  The Red Sox win the World Series.  KU's football program goes 10-1, then wins the Orange Bowl.  The Patriots make it to the Superbowl.  And now KU makes it to the Final Four.  I should clearly enjoy it now, as this will never happen again.
• I see Steve Alford got a contract extension (to the 2015-2016 season) at New Mexico.  And they are welcome to him.  "Until the walls and rafters ring! Go Hawks!"
• We (KU, that is) played pretty badly in the last game vs. Davidson.  The pundits said the team was "tight."  I say they were bad.  Except for the big Russian.  Go Shaka Kaun!
• I'm afraid North Carolina is going to crush us.  We can beat them, but we have to have a perfect game.  At least it should make good Tv.  News articles have been calling it Roy Williams' nightmare.
• This article at ESPN.com on possible scenarios for the Tournament is a fun read now that it is almost over.  It helps if you've been watching, of course.

Your thoughts?  Are you even watching basketball, or are you all "Iron Chef is the best, man!"  ;)

From my own backyard: Larry Powell, a Republican state legislator from Western Kansas, has asserted that increased CO2 levels will make crops flourish. He cites a study that says that, "atmospheric CO2 enrichment will boost world agricultural output by about 50 percent." They don't deny global warming anymore, instead they insist that it is good for us. Here is the link to the Lawrence Journal-World article. The comments are actually much more interesting than the idiotic assertions in the article itself.

So that sucked. A lot. If KU had only played like they did in the fourth quarter throughout the whole game. Or, the second half. Or something.

Third quarter. This is awful. KU is playing like the team they were last year. Missouri is playing as advertised. I have offered a couple of times to stop watching and put on this week's Survivor instead. A Mizzou fan holds up the best sign of the game, "Kansas Football, a Tradition since September." I can laugh at it because it's funny. The KU radio guys are saying that KU has to be perfect from here on out to win. The score is 28-7 Missouri, and my wife adds, "And what, Missouri is going to have to go home?"

I haven't been so excited and nervous about a football game since... a long time... maybe since John Elway won his first Superbowl in 1997 (you can't blame me, my wife's family is Bronco fan-atic, and really, he deserved it). If KU wins, it'll be because of their defense. None of the pre-game discussion of Missouri has talked about their defense, so I'm assuming they have one, but it isn't much to go on about (at least not to a bewildered national audience still trying to figure out if Kansas City is in Missouri or Kansas). Oy, it's Brent Musburger.