Now that college basketball is over, I can mark the end of the most amazing sporting season I am likely to ever enjoy.

First the Red Sox win the World Series (again).  Then KU's woeful college football program pulls the most amazing performance ever out of its collective bum, ends the season 12-1 with a victory in a BCS Bowl... probably the best KU football season ever.  Then the Patriots make it all the way to the Superbowl (where they lost, sure, but it was a fun season to watch).  And finally, the KU men's basketball team goes all the way, winning the National Championship, and possibly completing the best season ever for KU's storied basketball program.

It has been a lot of fun.  It'll never happen again.  (Possibly because I'm trading my baseball fandom for a return to soccer.... baseball has lost me with all the scandals.)

Watching the game last night, there were a lot of non-game related things I wanted to touch on.  This might be of more interest to those of you who haven't been following KU basketball all season.

• God.  In all the player interviews before the game, during all the plays of the game, during all the celebration afterwards, in all the articles about the game, and even in what I saw of the post-game pressers, God was mentioned three times.  Just three times.  I find that surprisingly low.

Mario Chalmers pointed to the sky a little while after his game-tying three point shot.  This is the classic, "Thank you, God" gesture used in sports all over.  Or maybe he was pointing to the Jumbotron.

Ronnie Chalmers, Mario's Dad, carried a little bit of scripture in his pocket, and read it to himself quietly towards the end of regulation.

Calipari, the head coach of Memphis, told a reporter right afterwards that he told God, during Derrick Rose's one-of-two final free throw appearance, that if they both went in, it was meant to be, and if they didn't, it was not meant to be.

We watched the game at home, live (not delayed via TiVo), as it tipped late enough that we were done with all parenting duties.  Our boys were tucked safely in their beds, dreams of Jayhawks dancing through their heads.  They both wore their new KU shirts to school, and the littlest one (he's 22 months old) insisted on showing everyone his "J Awk," even if that meant taking his hoodie off repeatedly.

We were hoping to watch in HD and listen to the local guys on the radio, but when we started the game, the video was behind the audio by almost five seconds.  That means the "shot was good!" before the play had even been set up on screen.  Something happened at half time though, and it was all synced up, so we got local color for the second half and the overtime.  The local announcers are so delightfully biased (and I still believe Packer and Nance were entranced by the idea of Memphis) that it makes up for their being further from the floor/booth stats.

Watching this game was awesome.  It was just the two of us, Sweetie and I, but we were up and down, nervous, groaning, I know I cursed at the screen repeatedly, Sweetie was tense, literally on the edge of her seat.  We could hardly believe it when Chalmers' shot went in, and when it was all over we rushed outside to hear the screaming and honking and fireworks from downtown.

Then we watched it over again (thanks to TiVo) with the TV audio, just to see it once more.

Here are my thoughts on the game.  Please note, you may have to know something about basketball, college basketball, and/or KU basketball to grok much of this.  Sorry.

• Here in Lawrence they are calling it "Mario and the Miracle," a reference to KU's last championship team, dubbed "Danny and the Miracles" after Danny Manning (now a KU assistant coach).  But I much prefer the simpler, more apt, "Super Mario."  In my two paltry years in Lawrence, I've seen Mario Chalmers take a clutch shot like that a number of times.  And not one article before the game, not a single one from the National Media, singled him out as anything other than part of a guard foursome.
• All season, Hell, all of his two years, Darrell Arthur has been hailed as this great, athletic, wonder boy.  All of his two years I have failed to see it.  Some games he has been good, even great.  Most games he lets balls slip through his fingers, he fouls a lot, he contributes a few points.  But this game he was excellent.  20 points and 10 rebounds, and a cool hand from start to finish.  His potential is so high that he'll probably jump to the NBA, but this was an excellent parting performance.
• Sherron Collins, instrumental in the game, is a player I love and hate.  I cussed him up and down the floor both in this game and the Carolina game on Saturday.  He is maddeningly bullheaded, but mad-skilled, and for every time he drives the lane against four guys and loses the ball, or passes to nobody, or dribbles it off a teammate's foot, there are those times he strips the ball, weaves the trees for a score, or drains a  three at the crucial time.  One more year in school and he will be something to see.
• How important was the review of that three-pointer?  If the officials didn't have the ability to go back and examine that play, KU loses and the game gets a huge asterisk (at least, here in Lawrence).
• Only one analyst gave KU the nod before the game.  Jay Bilas, of ESPN, has been picking KU since October.  Every time he was asked about it during the tournament, he reaffirmed his pick.  Right before the game, he said it again, though he hedged his bet a little.  Hats off to him.
• They are calling this team the best team KU has ever produced, and they are calling KU "Basketball's most storied program."  That makes this the best team ever from basketball's most storied program, in case you were wondering.

This may have been the most fun I have ever had watching sports, right up there with Argentina's win in the World Cup Final in 1986.

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.

Today was to be my first day at work. But I resigned from that job this past Friday. Because I have another new job now.

The big news first, I guess. I have secured an honest-to-goodness, full-time job at the University of Kansas. First, I'd like to thank my mother, who provides the opening icebreaker for all my interviews. When they read my application and call me Robert, I tell them to call me Danny. Then I say with a smile, "I blame my mother, for naming me one thing and calling me another."

I'd also like to thank my references, who always tell me they sing my praises from the top of the nearest mountain. Except for Tobias, who always tells me he tells them I'm a right bastard. But I think he's lying to me. Thank you, Colette, Molly, and Denny. And Tobias, sure.

Here's how it played out.

Back in January I applied for two KU jobs at roughly the same time.  One was a half-time position.  But that's what you do when you've been looking for work for ten months.  You apply for everything.

Two months later, after hearing very little from those jobs (so go the wheels of HR in Higher Education), the half-time job called me.  They wanted to hire me.  Yay!  But I had to tell them that, since applying, we had decided to put our littlest boy in the most expensive daycare (that's how we roll), and the half-time salary (which was generous for half-time) was not enough.  I could take the job, but they had to know I would continue looking for full-time work.  They were incredibly generous and kind, said that would be fine, and started working hard to find another half-time position to make up the difference.  In the meantime, I signed a letter to start working for them half-time.  Today was to be my first day.

Then last week it all bubbled up.  The half-time job found full-time funding (by adding half-time in another unit) and the full-time job interviewed me and almost immediately offered me a job.  It took some deliberation, but in the end the new job won out.

It was a very surreal Friday last week.  I heard from the new job that they wanted me, and I accepted.  I called HR to ask how to resign a job I had not yet started.  "I don't want KU to have to cut me a check for $8," I said.  The HR woman thought for a second, and said, "Well, if you don't show up for work..."  Problem solved.

Then I emailed the original job's two directors (the two half-times) that I was quitting, which seemed an odd thing to do since I hadn't started, really.  Through it all, their staff has been so kind, and understanding, and generous with their time and effort.  I am genuinely sorry that I won't be working with them.

I'd spent ten months getting rejected and rejected, after working at places where people loved me (well, except for Tobias!), and it has been so nice to have people want me again.

I am excited to start working.  This weekend we went and bought a ton of clothes for me (to replace two years of jeans and t-shirts).  I am excited to have colleagues again, and to be part of a University community again.  And I know things will have to change (I'll have to get up earlier, for one) but it will be nice to have the money numbers going up, instead of down.

Yay me!

Best headline so far this morning is from the local guys, "KU cools heels."  Followed closely by the subhead, "Kansas beats tar out of UNC."  I'm sure sportswriters who cover Carolina all the time have used these before, but this was my first exposure to it.

In case you missed it, read this recap of the game by Stewart Mandel of SI.  And this article by Pat Forde of ESPN is an excellent summary of the good and the bad of the game.

We could hardly believe it.  Those first fifteen minutes were pure agony.  Kansas ended that run up 40-12, and Tiffany and I were horrified.  All season we have had a way of blowing huge leads like that, of getting incredibly sloppy and nearly losing games.  Of showing how terribly immature we can be.  So a lead like that terrified us.  And rightly so.

But unlike all those years at Iowa, when Steve Alford would take a bad situation, coach his guys, and make it worse, Bill Self is actually a good coach.  He reset the game after UNC's stunning comeback, and had the guys playing well again.

I admit that I have not seen Memphis play all year, but from what I read and hear, they can beat us.  And maybe they even should beat us.  Just like Carolina.

On the "We Hate Roy Williams" front, even after being beaten by his former team, he reportedly spent a while on the River Walk in San Antonio last night, posing for pictures with Kansas fans and even spending a little time at a Kansas-fested restaurant, chatting with any and all.  If nothing else, that shows the idiocy of this supposed bitterness.

See you Monday night (or Tuesday morning, more like).