KU. KUBE? Koincidence? I Think Not!

So I apologize for the lack of updates in this space but... well... aliens took over my body and made me drink too much the last two days. It was not my fault. It was dark, they were big.... I don't remember. I do not thing that the blood on my clothes is mine and my wife is asking some awkward questions but... I digress.

There have been a lot of Komplaints regarding shutting off the ability to get your brackets posted after 11:00 A.M. Thursday. Although it probably cost us 10 entries on behalf of KUBE management I would like say, get over it people.

What is a Megan Tietjens? Where does one of those come from? Are they bred specifically for basketball prognosticating prowess? She was our leader after the first day of games but was knocked in to second place but she looks like a future kompetitor. She also has the hated Ohio State Buck Eyes winning it all. That is a gusty, Big Tennish, unlikable pick. Still, she might be the one. Currently we have Jim Blair leading but he too has picked a much hated and reviled team, the Duke Blue Devils to go all the way.

While many komments might be made about the dramatic moves up and down the chart John De Penalozza's move from 132 to 13 is certainly impressive. On the other hand he is still John De Penalozza. Anne Yannakakis has a VERY interesting bracket (is that a dirty thing to say) with over 630 possible points which is spooky weird. Scott Humes was tied with himself for 3rd. Seriously, what are the odds? I intended to submit three brackets but evidently forget to hit send on my only decent bracket and I am languishing in the deep 100-270 range. Simply put.... I kinda suck. No surprises. Andy Hoffman was 4th after Thursday and 44 after Friday. Dude.

As i sit here Saturday night in the KUBE Kave it is hard to even care about our silly little pool. The reason is simple and that is because the much heralded Northern Iowa Panthers beat the much vaunted number seed in the universe Kansas Jayhawks. No Dorothy, they are in Kansas forevermore (or at least till next season). Rock Choke Jay Hawk. Who would have thunk it but seriously, once again, what a great tournament, what a great country. The NCAA Tournament allows this country to come together in a way we desperately need. I do mourn for my KU fan friends and of course my sister in law but what a great game and how exciting that it can happen. It is possibly one of the signs of the apocalypse so lets all go to church tomorrow morning and hope for the best.

St. Maty's knocking off Villanova was kind of awesome too but in the context of KU/Northern Iowa it was just an appetizer. Tasty but not quite a full meal. But those corn fed kids from Iowa (Ali Farokhmanesh is a time honored Iowa name and family) and that shot that he hit was without a doubt the defining sports memory of 2010. He is noit going to shoot that shot, is he? He is going to pull up and kill some time, right? OH MY GOD he is shooting it...no.....no....NO......YES! Klassik! This could be the year when the big conferences get played out of it but we will see.

Lets look at the bottom of the KUBE standings, shall we? Simon, Red and Amy? Who are they? Do they walk upright? Did the whole family get together to do the brackets? Were they stoned? I want to know. John Winstroer II (El Duce) is right there with the family along with Dawn Hessel. On the other hand there are 141 people above these folks who picked Kansa and we happily be watching them....drop like rocks over the next round or two. Laurie Hyphenated-Name was in fifth but she also has Kansas and will be...leaving the top 5.

270 players. Nice effort.

Go Baylor!

Mizzou Over KU: Rock Chalk... they suck

We take a break in our coverage of the Becker family vacation to say a words regarding the Mizzou Tigers. First of all.... what kind of topsy turvy mixed up world has Missouri and Kansas playing for the nations number one ranking this late in November? I mean... what the hell? Is this one of the signs of the apocalypse. I am 45. I actually saw Missouri play in an Orange Bowl. They were not playing for the national championship or anything like that but it was still exciting. There were plenty years of Liberty Bowl appearances and Independence Bowl and the like. The were many dark and long suffering years between Al Onofrio and Gary Pinkel. Nebraska and Oklahoma dominated the Big 8 and there were of course some very dark years where K-State had a team (sick and unnatural). The Big Twelve did not change things much accept now we had Texas and Texas A.M. to kick us around.

Pinkel came as a savior but we have seen so many saviors... Warren Powers, Woody Woodenhoffer to name just two and they all led us no where. Pinkel came in quietly and began to install a system but we had heard these excuses before. There was Brad Smith who he attempted to turn into a West Coast Offense drop back quarterback and almost lost his job. I actually thought he should have lost his job. I am of course, as we have said before... an idiot.

Last year they finished strong but once again we had seen that before too and although expectations were that we should be good, no one was talking about this. Sitting in my family room in front of a fire with my wife (we have no friends) watching Mizzou score twice and then watching KU miss a field goal starts me salivating about Sunday’s rankings but I still want to sit back and savor it as it is being played. On the second touchdown Chase Daniel ran about 40 yards before throwing the touchdown pass. What a great showcase to finally put him in the Heisman spotlight where he belongs.

KU’s Coach Mangino is a grotesque caricature of a man. He looks like he is 5 foot nothing and about 400 pounds. Seriously, the guy just looks ludicrous. How could this guy inspire a team to 11-0? He looks like an oompa loompa at best. Frightening and the pictures of him during the game made me laugh. A joke my brother in law told me.

Kansas City has a highway 435 serving as an outer-belt. Coach mangino has to pull off and get out of the car at a gas station to get direction and he asks, “Can you tell me how I get to 435?” The gas station attendent looks him up and down and says “How about just eating a fucking salad for lunch.” Made me laugh.

We went to a bar for the second half to watch with some friends who were Mizzou grads. The bar was packed and it looked like it would be a Mizzou blow out but KU stayed in the game even as Missouri racked up penalty after penalty. The game appeared questionably officiated but the point was slammed home when I added it up at the end and saw that Mizzou was penalized for 141 yards to KU’s 26. That is... quite a gap. The other thing to worry about going forward other then penalties was that KU never punted in the second half. They scored or turned it over every series. Mizzou will have to do a little better then that against the Sooners.
KU had problems getting into the end-zone but their poor kicker Scott Webb missed tow field goals in the first half, both make-able that frankly ended up being the difference. Still, KU played a good second half and made some touchdowns of their own but they just could not stop Mizzou’s offense. Still the game was touch and go into the last 2 minutes but Mizzou got a final sack to ice the whole thing. It was a sad image at the end to see their much beleaguered quarterback with turf sticking out of his helmet at the end. Priceless, Final score 36-28.

BCS Standings
 1. Missouri 11-1
 2. West Virginia 10-1
 3. Ohio State 11-1
 4. Georgia 10-2
 5. Kansas 11-1
 6. Virginia Tech 10-2
 7. LSU 10-2
 8. USC 9-2
 9. Oklahoma 10-2
10. Florida 9-3
Life is good! On to the Big 12 Championship and the Oklahoma game and whatever happens happens but what a great year. A gift to the whole state.