Flowers bloom as a season ends

I originally planned to write this blog on Sunday, but I procrastinated. Then I found out on Monday afternoon that a friend from college had died. So this blog topic  is oddly appropriate, and in a way, a tribute to her.
RIP Stefanie.

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Well, I’ve had a lot going on since OSU’s hard-fought loss to top-seeded Pittsburgh in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. That’s why I didn’t write this sooner.

Normally, I get over season-ending losses pretty quickly, but I got really worked up and excited and dreams of the Sweet 16 danced in my head until late in the game and it’s kind of hard to come down from that without a thud.

You kind of have to put the end of the season into the context of the seven stages of grief. For example:

1. Shock and denial: (OSU is  down eight points with 17 seconds to go…) ::final buzzer:: “Are you serious? That’s it?… But they played so hard… What about the seniors? What about Byron Eaton and Terrel Harris? And Anthony Brown??”
2. Pain and guilt: “Ugh…. this sucks!! If only I had gone to more games, maybe I could have cheered them to more wins. Gallagher-Iba was so empty this year.”
3. Anger and bargaining: “Maybe they can send the tapes of all the non-calls to someone at the NCAA. The refs were awful!!!”
4. Depression, reflection and loneliness: “Sigh… Only seven months until the new season. What will I do until then? All my other teams suck.”
5. The upward turn: “Well, it was a hard-fought season… Look at how improved they are from two months ago. Keiton Page is just a freshman, and he will only get better with time. And what a great ending for Travis Ford’s first season, to turn around a team that had lost in the first round of the NIT three straight years. Oklahoma State will be a force in 2009-10.”
6. Reconstruction and working through: “What’s this? An email about fantasy baseball starting up again? Wow, didn’t realize it was that time of year already. That’ll be a nice distraction.”
7. Acceptance and hope: “Oh well. At least the Cowboys went down with a fight. A moral victory, I guess. And I hear they have some decent recruits waiting in the wings. I’m especially proud to wear orange after this postseason.”

So, in this postseason, winter is over and spring is here (although there’s a chance of snow later in the week).  It became apparent a couple days ago that those ugly plants by our front door are daffodils. I like them (and their yellow flowers) now that I know what they are. And I’m thankful for all the rain we have gotten, too.

A very good Friday: OSU beats Tennessee

Just watched my alma mater, Oklahoma State, beat Tennessee 77-75 in the most evenly matched basketball game I have seen in a long time.

The teams were like mirror images of each other. Tennessee can hit 3s, but the Vols also went ice cold on shooting late in the first half, continuing into the second half. Bad Tennessee looks a lot like bad OSU.

But enough about bad OSU. When Byron Eaton drove to make it 76-75 OSU, I about lost it. Nice way to end the first NCAA tournament game of the senior’s career.

I really thought the Cowboys would dig themselves too far into a hole with foul trouble, but somehow they pulled it off. I began mentally preparing myself for a loss when James Anderson picked up his fourth.

Really, the only thing that kept me thinking OSU could win were two very interesting stats that our OSU beat writer, Jimmie Tramel, dug up.

1. Tennessee usually wins when it turns the ball over MORE than its opponent.
2. Tennessee nearly always wins when it outshoots its opponent, and it nearly always loses when it doesn’t.

The final stats? Vols 11 turnovers, Cowboys 12. FG percentages: Vols 42.9, Cowboys 56.6.

So Pitt is next (assuming). I picked Pitt to win it all in at least a couple of brackets. Don’t know much about them, but I am looking forward to the game anyway.

Speaking of brackets, mine are all blown up. I filled out about six because I kept getting invitations, and I thought, why not?

My brackets are like snowflakes this year: Each is unique.

I got way too cute with upsets, even I though I myself said there wouldn’t be too many this year.

One good one I did get away with was Western Kentucky over Illinois. I almost got away with Utah State over Marquette, and I picked North Dakota State over Kansas in five of my brackets. I saw virtually nothing of that game, but the score atop the screen indicated it was pretty close most of the game.

But enough about brackets. They are kind of like fantasy teams; no one cares about yours, just their own.

And while it’s fresh on our minds, let’s talk about the flippin’ sweet OU game last night. If you haven’t heard or seen the flip yet, watch any game today. I guarantee it is mentioned at some point.

For the record, a Morgan State player flipped Blake Griffin over his back, WWE style. Griffin just popped up and smirked after coming dangerously close to having his neck broken.

Obviously, that kind of thuggy behavior and lack of self-discipline has no place in the game. But I have to admit as cheap and dirty as the foul was, it looked kind of cool. (Obviously I can only say that because Griffin appeared OK, for the most part.)

I know a lot of people are tired of Blake coverage and were secretly glad to see a cheap foul like that, but 1) it only gives him more air time (literally) and 2) makes him look like a saint for not retaliating. So there.

Well, I have to run some errands before I go to work today. I am slotting, but the only real late thing we’ll be waiting on is the Tulsa-Auburn NIT game. I really wish it was on TV.

The most wonderful time of the year

Don’t get me wrong. I have forgotten more about pro hockey and baseball than I know about college basketball.

But I do have a growing affection for the most hectic sports month of the year: March. You can’t beat the Cinderella dreams, Selection Sunday, mammoth upsets, overtime classics and of course, the brackets.

Besides, what other time can you turn on the TV at practically any given hour and see a decent hoops game?

Anyway, what a day for Big 12 basketball. Baylor beating Kansas, OSU coming out on top in a crazy Bedlam finish… long day.

Add in the high school basketball state tournaments, a.k.a. gold trophy weekend, and you have a looong week. Really, it’s a long month until all the local teams have been bounced.

I really think that, barring major injuries, OSU could be a Sweet 16 team this year. I wouldn’t have dared think that two months ago, but the surprising Cowboys seem to have really jelled. Marshall Moses gets the title of “luckiest man alive” (he supplants the man who survived jumping into Niagara Falls on Wednesday).

I know he was frustrated over his fifth foul, but there’s no excuse for the naughty language that got him T’d up. OU made 1 of 2 of its free throws on the technical and 1 of 2 on the foul, tying the game at 64-64. Considering the final margin was 71-70, he is very lucky his lack of discipline didn’t cost his team the win. John Wooden would not approve.

OU has further proven that it really is a one-man team. Shut down Blake Griffin, shut down the Sooners. Poor guard play plus 19 turnovers equaled the Bedlam that got away.

Analyzing the game is hard because it was a combination of OU throwing it away with a pesky OSU team using heart to overcome a superior foe. I think OU has been exposed, but I also think the Cowboys got lucky in that they caught the Sooners at just the right time.

All in all, it was definitely a classic Bedlam, no matter which side you are on.

Speaking of classics, how about Syracuse-UConn? Six overtimes?! 102 points scored AFTER regulation?! Those poor guys looked exhausted.

UConn took the loss, but the Huskies might have also gotten the better end of the deal. The Orange has to play West Virginia today with dead legs. UConn gets to rest until the tournament starts.

I hope Tulsa plays well against Alabama-Birmingham today. TU will be shorthanded, as Bishop Wheatley was suspended one game for a flagrant foul committed Thursday against Rice. But the Blazers went to overtime yesterday, which might have worn them down a bit.

The Golden Hurricane is rolling right now, but unless TU beats Memphis (or Houston) for the Conference USA title, it’s NIT City. As of 1 a.m. Friday, TU’s RPI had fallen to 63 on collegeRPI.com. Not good enough. A weak schedule really hurts them.

Well, I’m not sure what to make of OSU-Missouri (RPIs of 18 and 15, respectively). When they met earlier in the season, OSU nearly rallied back from a 19-point deficit, and would have too if not for a suspect foul call during a frenzy under the net in the waning seconds.

I know Missouri prides itself on being the “Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball,” but I think OSU is athletic enough to keep up. And the Cowboys have confidence after the big win Thursday. I just hope they aren’t already emotionally spent.

OSU is a tournament lock. I think it would be OK to lose tomorrow just to catch up on rest and heal up any nagging late-season injuries.

No matter what, it’ll be an action-packed weekend.

Or should I say month?

Mike Singletary: Man on a mission

Wow!! Texas Tech just overcame a 22-point deficit to beat Texas A&M in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. Mike Singletary led the Red Raiders with 43 points, breaking the tournament scoring record of 38.

The game ended about 40 minutes before deadline. Go figure the best game of the night is the late game. My heart goes out to my colleagues at work tonight.

I have to admit this game was only on because we were too lazy to change the channel after OSU’s win over Iowa State. That was a good game too, although it was too close for comfort most of the game.

I’m really impressed by Marshall Moses. Finally, OSU has some kind of inside presence. I’m pumped for Bedlam III tomorrow.

You know what they say, it’s hard to beat a good team three times.

P.S. It’s Byron “EE-tawn”. Not “Ea-TAWN”. Stupid announcers.

That crazy Dewey and his decimal system

I went to the public library today to pick up an assortment of books. (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Photoshop for Dummies, and a couple of books on starting a career in real estate. Never hurts to have a backup plan, right?)

Jonathan had expressed an interest in making our own bookshelves and cabinets, so I looked up the general location of such books.

As I was looking for section 684, I happened upon some InDesign books (yes, there is a journalistic component to this blog). I flipped through a couple but decided I’m not nerdy enough to bring work home with me.

I continued looking for cabinet-making books. Turns out they were only 12 books down from the InDesign ones. On the same shelf and everything.

I guess both involve design… I don’t know, it just struck me as really odd.

So I did a little research. Cabinet-making and publishing technology aren’t anywhere near each other in the Dewey Decimal System. Building is around 680, and graphic design/printing is 760. I guess this library is just thinly stocked.

Well, OSU-Texas Tech is about to come on. I really don’t know what to expect.

Hard to watch

On a rare Saturday off, I spent the better part of a beautiful, 75-degree February afternoon indoors watching college basketball. And I’m a little frustrated.

First off, the world is not right when Oklahoma State sucks at basketball. (The men, not the women. The Cowgirls can hold their own.)

OSU got whooped by Kansas, 78-67, in Lawrence. Yes, the Jayhawks are ranked, defending national champions and were at the Phog.

But I don’t care. I hate OSU’s style of offense right now.

I admit I know much less about basketball strategy than baseball, football or hockey. But even I can tell when something is broken.

You live by the 3, you die by the 3. OSU died by it today. Missed shots all over the place. And when a shot would clank off the rim, a Kansas player nearly always snatched it up. That made for many short possessions, which is frustrating to watch. OSU gets the ball, brings it down the court, takes a quick shot from beyond the arc, misses, and it’s KU ball again. Over and over. It’s a very impatient offense.

My favorite thing to yell at the TV is “REBOUND!!!”, and I did that quite a bit today. (“FOUL!” is a close second.) It drives me crazy when no one is there to get the ball back after a missed shot.

I have to admit that when the system works, it is too much fun to watch. The 3-pointer is one of the most exciting plays in all of sports. I think it’s the delicious anticipation that occurs between the release and the swish. And I have seen it work for OSU this season against lesser competition. That style of offense is great when it works, but unbearable when it fails.

One more thing: While I love the exposure of nationally televised games, I hate the announcing. While I am certainly not the first person to complain about this, the mistakes were ridiculous today.

During the OU-Colorado game, the announcers were talking about the work ethic of Sooner bench player Ryan Wright, and how “Kelvin Sampson” works with him in practice. Really?! This is only Jeff Capel’s third season at OU! Give the man some credit.

And during the OSU-KU game, someone said Rotnei Clarke (a former Oklahoma high school standout) was at Mississippi State. He’s actually at Arkansas. Ugh.