NCAA Championships

Anyone watching? I love this stuff!! My Michigan State Spartans are playing USC right now. Woo hoo!!!

Yes, I have a bracket. Amy, your team is playing about 20 minutes away from my house, in downtown Minneapolis. I picked UNC to win it all. My husband picked Louisville.

Wow! You're only 20 minutes away from all the action Teresa?! How exciting!!

The Spartans won!! Horray!! They go on to play Kansas next...

Pretty cool---all the teams playing last night were really close in score. Makes for exciting basketball!

MSU Spartans are in the Elite Eight! That was a TIGHT game---67-62! Awesome game! I am pumped!!! :woohooo: (Rob, did you watch? If so, did you see the ridiculous foul toward the end on us?!?! )

I'm a college basketball junkie, so this is one of my favorite times of the year. For several years now, I've taken the afternoon off the first two days of the tournament, so I can watch basketball nearly all afternoon and late into the evening. Sometimes, I could watch up to three games at once, as the Cincinnati CBS affiliate would sometimes carry a second game on their second digital subchannel and sometimes the Dayton station would carry a different game, and you can watch any game you want online via March Madness on Demand. The only problem, with games ending well after midnight on the east coast, I was wiped out the next day.

I'm an Ohio State Buckeyes fan, bleeding scarlet and gray. I always root for Big Ten teams in the tournament, so I'm glad to see Michigan State in the Elite Eight. I also root for any local team -- Cincinnati, Xavier, Miami, or any other Ohio team. I was conflicted when XU played Wisconsin, divided between my loyalty to the local team and my loyalty to the Big Ten.

This is a great time of year for the sports junkie, and just as the basketball tournament ends, baseball season begins. Opening Day is a big event in Cincinnati, as the Reds always play at home. There's a big parade, and many people (including myself) take the afternoon or the entire day off. It's pretty much like a holiday.

Cool John! Glad to see there's another one watching out there---I was beginning to get lonely! I actually have a sore throat this morning from screaming at my TV last night---my son had his friends over and my hubby & I got pretty rowdy with them! From the looks of the first half, I did not think Michigan State was going to win that game, and then towards the end, one of the Kansas players tripped over his own feet, and they called a foul on us! Our player wasn't even near enough to touch him! The announcers replayed and were upset about it too!! And then their guy scored two free throw points, so we were freaking out, thinking if Kansas won this because of that it would not go down well. So the final score should have been 67-60. But I'm not bitter or anything.

John, I root for the Buckeyes whenever Michigan plays them. I actually wear an Ohio State shirt on those days---that's how devoted a Michigan State fan I am. My kids actually attend a school system whose colors are blue and maize, identical to Michigan Wolverine colors. It about killed me when I had to start wearing those colors to cheer on their football team, LOL! What I won't do for my kids. :haha:

Have fun watching!! I'm a bit worried, ahem, about Louisville.

Amy wrote:

(Rob, did you watch? If so, did you see the ridiculous foul toward the end on us?!?! )

Yup, I saw the last few minutes of the game, including that foul. Could've been tragic!

Congrats on today's game, Amy!

Yeah, my husband is THRILLED! He picked Louisville to win it all. I picked UNC. It's the ONLY team I have left. My Final 4 picks didn't fair too well. Memphis........Duke........Kansas (sleeper pick)............I'm pretty much done.

It's great to see a Big Ten team in the Final Four. Seeing them take out a Big East team is icing on the cake. I have a coworker who has been bragging about how great the Big East is and how much better they are than the Big Ten. It will be fun to hear his explanation of Michigan State's dismantling of Louisville. Go Bucks! Go Big Ten!

I visited my son at college today and went into Best Buy with him to watch the end of the game, LOL!!! I just about keeled over when I saw how far ahead MSU was!! SWEET!!! It was an awesome win and I couldn't be more thrilled----Final Four!!!! :woohooo: I recorded it too, so I'll watch it soon. Detroit here we come!!

Thanks for the support guys---it's been a fun weekend of great basketball!!

I have to ask---am I the only Michigander that's a Spartan fan?

:shy: I'm not really into sports except for baseball. I've never watched any college sports, and barely watch any professional.....But, if I had to say which team I'd cheer for, I'd have to pick MSU. Growing up, my best friend had very strong attachments to MSU through 4-H and such - so all of my cheering went to them, even though it was mostly on behalf of my friend. I've taught a few summer extension classes there through 4-H, too, so I guess it wouldn't be very loyal to cheer for the opposing team, you know?

Amy wrote:

I have to ask---am I the only Michigander that's a Spartan fan?

My connection to MSU is that my sister went there. But she graduated in '77, so my ties aren't really strong. :shy: I always hope they do well, though.

Savannah wrote:

:shy: I'm not really into sports except for baseball. I've never watched any college sports, and barely watch any professional.....But, if I had to say which team I'd cheer for, I'd have to pick MSU. Growing up, my best friend had very strong attachments to MSU through 4-H and such - so all of my cheering went to them, even though it was mostly on behalf of my friend. I've taught a few summer extension classes there through 4-H, too, so I guess it wouldn't be very loyal to cheer for the opposing team, you know?

I had to ask because the Michigan/Michigan State rivalry is so huge. Just curious. I am more into college sports myself---I watch the Lions and Tigers on occasion, but I'm not as interested in pro sports overall as I am with college.

Savannah, this is OT, but have you ever been to the Small Animal Day at MSU, put on the by the agriculture/4-H department? It's the last weekend of April each year and quite fun!

Rob wrote:

Amy wrote:

I have to ask---am I the only Michigander that's a Spartan fan?

My connection to MSU is that my sister went there. But she graduated in '77, so my ties aren't really strong. :shy: I always hope they do well, though.

Oh, I missed this post...

I remember your sister went there---my sister went to both U of M and MSU---our loyalties have always lied with the latter, bleeding green since I was born. Brendan had the opportunity to go to either school, but chose Western because it's not so huge in comparison to the other two.

Amy wrote:

Savannah, this is OT, but have you ever been to the Small Animal Day at MSU, put on the by the agriculture/4-H department? It's the last weekend of April each year and quite fun!

No, I haven't - but I'd love to! I had wanted to take the children there, because it would be such a great experience for them. I'm still hoping to be able to some day.

It is great fun---we used to take the boys every year, but haven't in several now. I'm thinking about taking one of the daycare boys this year---I'm not crazy enough to take all of them, LOL, but one should be ok! You take buses around to the different farms and agricultural center, and it's a great experience, and not only for the 'young 'uns'!

It's heee-eeere!!!! Spartans play the Huskies in and hour and 30 minutes!!!! I've got my vintage MSU sweater on and we're all heading to my parents' house to watch! I hope I can control myself from screaming at my TV---I lost my voice last week because of that! LOL!

GO MSU!!

I'll be watching, Amy!

Oh my gosh Rob, was that amazing or what?!?! Those Huskies were BEASTS!!! I thought for sure we were goners when I got a load of the size of those guys! WHOA. I mean, we all know how huge Suton is and these guys dwarfed him, LOL!! The play of the night, IMO, was when Summers came and SANK that ball over the Husky that towered over him...hilarious! I must say, the Spartans showed some sheer determination and strong will tonight. NOT their best game by a long shot---they had some dumb plays---but I am very impressed that they were able to beat this team!

They said on ESPN this morning that if there was going to be an upset by one of the 'underdog' teams, (Villanova or Michigan State) it would be State. I'm hoping for Villanova to win tonight though....I'm scared of N.C.!!! LOL!

We came really close to going down to the Breslin Center (on campus) to watch the TVs in the arena, but we were worried about rioting and of course, just getting out of there to go back home! It would have been a crazy awesome place to be tonight though!! As it was, I did my share of screaming again at my parents' TV though---we had fun!

Are you still watching John? Just curious if you're still out there!