When Gordon Hayward missed that 3 pointer from half court against Duke a few weeks back, Sam and I ducked out of the building faster than the guy sitting in front of us could rape a prostitute at a lacrosse party. I wanted nothing to do with what was going to happen for the next hour, or the next six months. All of the talk about expansion had me depressed. This past season was awesome, and the tournament was amazing. I had a blast in Buffalo, even though the games we saw were kind of lame. It was even better to be in Indianapolis for the Final Four, yet again, watching the thing come to an end.
An end. I walked to our car from Lucas Oil Sportz Stadium in a near solitude. Sam and I discussed briefly what could happen, what it would mean, what made sense, didn’t make sense, etc. Finally I ended up leaning against the medical parking garage at IUPUI for about 3 minutes while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive and get us in the damn car. I thought of how far Butler came. I thought of Izzo gaining another Final Four. I thought of Xavier going head to head with Kansas State in a game I did not think could end. What if this was it? What if I had just watched and participated in the last tournament of its own kind? Was I duped into thinking that 96 teams was a reality, and my favorite thing was going to morph into some weird Tetsuo-ized blob of grotesque unfair sportz doucheness?
I think I was.
I don’t think the intention was ever truly there to create this 96 team horseshit. At least not yet. Here we are with three more play in games. You’re full of barney if you think they’re really gonna pit some bubble teams against eachother for the chance to earn a 11 seed or something. It’s going to be four true play in games, all in Dayton. This makes the Play In Game party that much funner, but THAT much shittier for the small time schools who fight and claw all year just to make the damn thing.
It’s the best of a bad situation. I’m going to get a whole new avenue to watch Tyler Perry House of Payne advertisements. I guess I can live with that.
