The Wicked Witch is Dead

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood, folks.

I mean, my bracket is shot. After hanging in there through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Thursday saw me lose two of my Final Four teams in the span of about 10 minutes, obliterating my picks and removing me from contention in any pool worth its salt. But despite my brackets crumbling and going straight into the wastebasket, I have to say I am in a great mood here nonetheless. So why am I so happy after my bracket got shredded on Thursday?

Duke is gone. Again. And they did it this year in spectacular fashion, by hanging close to Villanova in the first half but then getting completely crushed all throughout the second, eventually losing by 23 to yet another Big East heavy.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead
The Wicked Witch
The Wicked Witch
Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead!

I could easily go 850 years without seeing another shot of that a-hole Coach K screaming on the sidelines, yelling at the ref for calling a foul after one of his players slammed another guy in the back of the head during game play with an obvious intent to injure. That butthole Steve Wojihowski slamming the floor from the bench and yelling "De-FENSE!" The idiot Dukies bopping up and down in the stands, every last one of them honestly believing they are the smartest, most clever sports fans in the history of the world. As hateable as the coaching staff surely is, and the fact that the school consistently brings in the very best players in the country year in and year out in a form of legalized unfairness, I think it's the asshole fans who really give Duke the reputation that they have earned over the years. I mean, these guys make Cowboy fans look like only fucking losers, but nothing worse. So seeing them get their comeuppance, whenever it finally happens every year, is always a great thing. The fact that the team has now not made the Elite 8 since 2004 with the best talent in the country refreshing itself on a yearly basis is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

The Big East went 3 for 3 so far on Thursday in the biggest story so far of the NCAA tournament. If overall #1 seed Louisville manages to win on Friday, then we'll be looking at four of the Elite 8 teams all coming out of the Big East, which hasn't even come close to happening ever before. And that's assuming that the hated Orange of Syracuse don't also come up with a victory to make it five of the Elite 8 teams. There aren't many people stupid enough to have decried what the Big East has already accomplished in the Tournament, but presumably the few morons out there who have done so will now finally stop embarrassing themselves by keeping their haterism quiet(fat chance). I've heard about an east coast bias, a Big East bias, and even the unthinkably idiotic claim that all these Big East teams making the Sweet 16 means nothing because they were all seeded highly enough that they were "supposed to win", so who cares if the entire last four rounds of the Tournament are more like the Big East regular season schedule than the Big Dance. I will never understand people I guess.

Enjoy the rest of the Big East Tournament II everyone. I will be back on Monday with my regularly scheduled posting.