sunshine and bracketology

Today was a beautiful and sunny day. We had a nice visit to my sister and brother-in-law's to celebrate nephew Jeremy's 9th birthday (he actually turned 9 on Tuesday), and it was a great day for a ride. I enjoyed getting together with nearly all the family, though we missed my brother who is up in Lake Placid for some skeleton racing.

So the big basketball news is that Syracuse put in an amazing and valiant effort in the Big East tournament this weekend. I managed to stay awake and watch all of Friday and Saturday nights' games. For them to come back from a 6 OT win over UConn to beat WVU in overtime Friday was amazing. It was sad, but understandable, to see them run out of steam last night versus the number one seed in the tournament, Louisville, a team that would be a challenge to play under normal conditions, let alone after two prior nights of tough overtime games. After being ahead at half-time, they just let it slip away, and you could see that had no energy at all left. Still, it was nice that the tournament MVP award when to Johnny Flynn. It isn't often that the MVP of a tournament goes to a team member from other than the winning team. Meanwhile, SU gets a #3 seed in the tournament, and I like the looks of their bracket. On we go into March Madness.

In other exciting basketball news, my alma mater, Binghamton University, enjoyed its first ever nationally televised game yesterday as they hosted UMBC at home. When I went to Binghamton, it was known as SUNY Binghamton, and all sports were Division III. In recent years, the university has changed its name, changed the mascot (we used to be the Colonials...), and has put a lot of money into a new sports complex that was filled and hopping yesterday. By beating UMBC, they clinched their division title and earned an automatic bid into the NCAATournament -- for the first time in history. It is hard to believe, really, and our good friend Matt Mendelsohn wrote a wonderful piece for his blog that really sums up the conflicted feelings I have. (You can read it here.) After all the excitement of yesterday (the e-mails and phone calls were flying from my alum friends), Binghamton was given a 15-seed in their bracket, and guess who they play? NCAA powerhouse (and #2 seed) Duke University. I will be rooting for the Binghamton Bearcats, but I'm not overly optimistic.

On to a new week we go. Have a great one.