I have 3/4 final four teams in my best bracket. That bracket is currently number 1 in its pool and with a win from Ohio State and two by Kentucky, I will be squared away with my third win in one of the pools in which I have been in as many years.
Should I chalk this up to my Indiana roots? Probably not. I should probably throw it down as sheer dumb luck. I mean, I posted a bracket on the NCAA D-III men’s and women’s tournaments and didn’t do too poorly. D3hoops.com always has a great amount of rotation time during the winter on my desktop, but I doubt the occasional glance helped me pick Cabrini over Illinois Wesleyan in one men’s semifinal.
I read a great post by a fellow Hoosier over at Great Lakes Prep. It was almost like he understood how I felt watching these games. I am so far removed from the in depth conversations and the high school games that I miss so much. I don’t get to just head over to blankedy blank high school for a game down here in the south. Why? I don’t know, but after watching the state championship games on TV, the basketball isn’t amazing here. Maybe I would be disappointed. Maybe I fear that there is no New Castle fieldhouse; no Anderson Wigwam; no Seymour gym; (whatever it is called) no behemoth like the Southport High School Gym; no small “family room” gym like my alma mater.
Maybe it is just that I should expand my horizons once more.
Or, maybe I should take the note that 3/4 of the final four is from the midwest.
No, Kansas is not the midwest no matter what your national news may say. Neither is South Dakota or Montana. If I hear one more regional or national media outlet say these types of things, I might go postal. “The U.S. Census Bureau divides the Midwest into two distinct regions, the East North Central “Great Lakes States,” which include Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin (Midwestern states that come in contact with a Great Lake), and the West North Central “Great Plains States,” which include Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas (states that are located within the Great Plains region of the country).” (thanks Wikipedia for proving the difference between the plains states and the “midwest.”)
I Have never heard anyone claim that the Dakotas were part of the midwest. And I should never have to. But, I digress.
Either way I dice it, I need to become more in tune with the sports around me in this locale. I guess this means watching football, (which I already do) and trying to watch more baseball as the spring begins.
Here goes nothing.
~YJ_SL
