I'm not much up to speed on sports of late. But watching the agony from brackets getting busted in full gory on my Facebook front page has been pure comedy gold!
Even though I don't have a dog in this hunt (I would have rooted for my alma mater Elon if it had gotten into the Big Dance for the first time) I have to say: from the getgo this has been a weird weird tourney. Probably the most topsy-turvy one in recent memory.
Maybe that has a bit to do with the fact that I'm feeling tonight's game is going to be eerily reminiscent of the 1983 NCAA Championship between "invincible" slam-dunk powerhouse Houston and a scrappy little team from North Carolina State coached by an Italian kid from Queens named Jim Valvano.
(rimshot)
I can tell already that I'm going to get heaps of grief from Chad and Eric about that :-P
The NCAA is now pondering the idea of expanding the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament from 65 teams to a whopping 96 schools going to the annual tournament. Under the proposed plan the National Invitational Tournament would be discontinued, the top 32 teams would receive byes and whole new brackets would be created for the embiggened tournament.
This sounds more like a hella big mess than the big dance, if you ask me. The current system ain't perfect, but it's about as nicely balanced as there's likely to be. Enlarging the field to 96 teams would do nothing to enhance the spectacle of the NCAA tournament and indeed, it would more likely as not diminish the passion and enthusiasm of March Madness as a whole.
And in case anyone's wondering: I still hope to see Elon go to the tournament some year. But I don't want to see my alma mater get to it like this.
I am a life-long viewer of WFMY. Yours is the station that I have most associated with well-produced television. Growing up our own television was always tuned to one of two channels: the local PBS affiliate for Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and Channel 2. Until the time I was 8 years old I didn't even know that there were other stations that did news, weather and sports. I will always fondly remember Lee Kindard's hosting of The Good Morning Show, Sandra Hughes is one of the all-time most classiest ladies in the history of anything (Lord willing I will finally get a chance to meet her someday) and whenever the weather has taken a turn for the worst or (even better) threatened snow that would cancel the schools, WFMY was there. I still remember people like Arlo Lassen (whatever happened to him anyway?) and whenever I see one of your many talented photojournalists out and about the urge comes over me even to this day to do that "number one" salute with the finger that y'all used to run at the end of each program.
I hope all of this makes it clear just how devoted I am to your station.
So perhaps you'll understand the sentiment when I say that tonight, somewhere in this great wide universe that God created, Charlie Harville is doing a huge facepalm in disbelief.
Why? Because you guys have desecrated the closest thing that the great state of North Carolina has to a High Holy Days.
I'm talking about what happened yesterday afternoon and evening with the severe weather that rolled through the Triad and surrounding area. Yes, there was a lot of damage and destruction. It couldn't be helped. And maybe y'all did what you thought was best to stem the devastation.
But that doesn't change the fact that you broke in before the second half of the Duke and Baylor game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament and showed nothing but weather for the next several hours!
And in North Carolina, that is just about an unforgivable offense. If this had been the finals of the BASS Masters, or the World Series, or even the Super Bowl, this would have been different. But instead you chose to commit a basketball broadcasting blasphemy. HERE of all places! In a state whose motto should be "Play Basketball or Die!"
All the other stations in this area were doing severe weather alerts. The broadcasting footprints of any two of them covers the same area as your market. They had the latest weather updates... but only WFMY had college basketball and even better, Duke college basketball (they are going to the Final Four incidentally, having beaten Baylor 78 to 71... and I had to go to ESPN to find that out).
I'm not going to ask if this would have happened had it been UNC Chapel Hill playing to get into the Final Four. That would just open up another can of worms. Instead I shall leave that particular question as an exercise for the reader.
Look: I think that Eric Chilton, Leigh Brock, Ed Matthews and Grant Gilmore are doing a super excellent job so far as local weather goes. WFMY has always had, and to this day still has, one of the finest meteorological departments of any television station not just in this country, but the world. I have nothing but the utmost respect for your meteorological staff's skill, enthusiasm and terrific on-scream demeanor. And I will still gladly tune in to WFMY for much of my weather forecasting needs.
But this weekend, y'all messed up bigtime.
I'm not asking for y'all to apologize. Just please, bear it in mind next time something like this happens. Even amid something like this, there are lots of people who don't want to be confronted with all of the local stations broadcasting about it, but would rather have an avenue like college basketball in which to escape from their momentary fear. And I am very much sincere about this. There comes a point in any crisis situation when there is too much information and a person needs to be able to take a step back from it. That is what WFMY News 2 could have provided yesterday evening, that literally no other station in this market could have provided at that time.
Just think about what I've said, and consider these thoughts the next time an event like this happens.
Still a faithful viewer,
Chris Knight
Reidville
EDIT 3:30 a.m. EST: WFMY News 2 has addressed its broadcasting decisions yesterday afternoon on its digtriad.com website, citing "hundreds of phone calls and emails from viewers asking why we stayed on the air for so long during the basketball game and prime time programming".
Here's the statement...
The reason is that it is our obligation to keep our viewers, safe during a dangerous situation. When there is a tornado warning, it means there is rotation in a thunderstorm which could reach the ground as a tornado. In this case, the warnings lead to three possible tornadoes and significant damage through our viewing area.I don't mind saying this: WFMY's statement about this doesn't hold any water.The Federal Communications Commission requires broadcast stations to deliver immediate emergency information during the duration of a warning. Once a warning is lifted, we will return you to regular program or full screen games as the case might be.
Replays of the primetime programs will be available online on Monday. They are usually updated within 24 hours of the initial broadcast of the show. You can find those shows including The Amazing Race and Undercover Boss on the CBS Video Player.
Maybe once upon a time that dog could hunt. But fercryin' out loud: WFMY has three digital channels now, not just one analog signal! If they sincerely believe they've a legal obligation to broadcast breaking weather information, fine... but WHY COULDN'T THEY SIMPLY SHUNT THE NCAA BASKETBALL BROADCAST TO DIGITAL CHANNEL 2-3?!? I mean, they have 2-3 set up, but they aren't using it for anything. Digital channel 2-2 is dedicated to 24 hour continuous weather, and I have to praise WFMY for that 'cuz it really is a convenience to more people than the station realizes.
But to not be prepared for a contingency like this? By not having a choice of options available to its viewers when WFMY not only can do so but already should have done so?
I don't know what's worse now: that WFMY didn't broadcast the Duke/Baylor game, or that it seems to have lacked the creativity that digital broadcasting technology not only allows but in fact demands.
It's effectively a ban on all so-called "social media". Per the new regs, a fan could get ejected from the premises simply for using his iPhone to take a picture of himself at a Gators football game and sending it to his friends on Facebook.
So what's behind this boneheaded move? The $3 billion contact with CBS for the next 15 years, giving that network exclusive media rights to cover SEC games. In other words: if you go to an SEC event, you and your cellphone are potential competition to a multi-billion dollar broadcast television corporation equipped with the latest cutting-edge high definition technology.
This isn't entirely unheard of, but for a collegiate athletic conference to crack down on the fans themselves is certainly new (and treacherous) ground to tread. Not to mention darn near unenforceable.
I'm beginning to see some merit to Dad's suggestion: take the top 64 teams, and apart from the teams that deserve to be #1 seeds, pick numbers out of a hat and pair 'em up randomly.
I still haven't given up hope that someday, I'll live long enough to see Elon University go to the Big Dance. Along with witnessing firsthand a real tornado, it's one of my aspirations in life :-)
"I would have sooner expected to see Uma Thurman (naked) in my bed! I was that surprised."I'd better stop while I'm ahead :-P
Kansas 75, Memphis 68 in overtime. That was the most thrilling and pure crazy NCAA Men's Basketball Championship I've seen in a way long time! Kudos to Bill Self and his team on a spectacular win.
Congrats also to the Tigers of Memphis for coming this far and driving to deliver what will go down in history as one of the all-time greatest NCAA finals ever played.
And after that game I think we all need a good drink...
Another friend is reportedly going to burn his "lucky underwear", which he had worn during every UNC game for the past few seasons.
I've already warned Lisa to expect some long, sad faces tomorrow at school. Whether there will be more depression among the students or her colleagues, remains an open question.
And after reviewing both semifinals last night, I've my own guess as to who'll win between Kansas and Memphis tomorrow night. But at this point, it doesn't really matter. I'll just be tuning in, knowing that I can expect a great basketball game.
(But what the hey... GO JAYHAWKS!! :-)
Someone who shall remain anonymous has told me that Davidson did better against Kansas than the Tarheels are doing tonight.
9:44 p.m. EST: 40-19, Jayhawks still in the lead with just over 3 and a half minutes in the first half. Carolina is starting to show some pepper here.
9:51 p.m. EST: Kansas 44, UNC 27 at the half. Kansas might have burned much of their juice too early in this game and Carolina is still gaining some traction. All the same, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the Tarheels locker room right now.
10:20 p.m. EST: 15:54 in the second half, Kansas with 54 and 40 for Carolina. If both teams stay consistent, this could turn out to be one of the better second halves of a basketball game that I've seen in awhile.
10:30 p.m. EST: Tarheels on a roll, although Kansas still leads 54 to 46 with 12:16 left. I think the Jayhawks might have become more than a little over-confident after having led by 28 points earlier. With that much time left and the lead trimmed to single digits, Carolina can still pull this one off.
If they do, although I'm not much of a Tarheel fan, they will have earned my respect bigtime for this one.
10:42 p.m. EST: Under 8 minutes to play and UNC has whittled the Jayhawks's lead down to just five points.
I haven't seen an NCAA Tournament semifinal game this hard-fought since the Duke/UNLV "rematch" in '91.
10:53 p.m. EST: Kansas coming back, now with a 12 point lead.
FINAL UPDATE 11:06 p.m. EST: Kansas wins!! Jayhawks 84, Tarheels 66!
Gotta give UNC credit: they did a remarkable job in coming back from such a wide deficit. In the end, Kansas really did recover from their bought of cockiness and regained solid ground in a matter of minutes.
So it'll be Memphis versus Kansas on Monday night. Hmmm... that's gonna be a tough one to call. Guess I'm just gonna have to watch and see what happens. But my heart is leaning more toward Kansas right now.
Congrats to the Wildcats of Davidson College for their awesome run in this year's NCAA Basketball Tournament!
Okay "High Holy Days" is my own personal nickname for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It kicks into high gear today and here are the brackets for it courtesy of CBS Sports.
It ain't looking good for the Knight household though: this year the NCAA honchos have put the three teams we have the most affection for in the same region! Duke (my longtime favorite Atlantic Coast Conference team along with N.C. State), Georgia (Lisa's alma mater) and Baylor (where Lisa's brother is attending) are all playing in the West. In fact, if they both come out of their first games intact it's going to be Baylor and Georgia playing each other! And then of course whoever wins that will be sent home by the Blue Devils, but anyway...
Unfortunately, Elon is not in this year's tournament. Again. Someday before I die, Lord willing I will see the Phoenix make it to the Big Dance. And then like Gonzaga was a few years ago (yeah they're in it this year again too) all the sports commentators will be going "Elon?! Where the heck is Elon?!" and I'll be able to smile and laugh about our little school getting a few seconds of footage in the "One Shining Moment" video that CBS Sports always runs after the championship game :-)
In the wake of the uproar, last month the NCAA established some... strange... regulations for live blogging by professional sports reporters at college athletic events:
FootballNot only that, but each blog must display the NCAA logo (what the... %@#&?!?!?) and all blog posts by credentialed journalists must be submitted to "the NCAA Blog Central" (?!?!?).
- Three posts per quarter and one post at halftimeBaseball
- One post per inning, including extra inningsBasketball
- Five posts per half, two posts in halftime, two posts per each overtime
Naturally, sports writers are having a field day with this lunacy.
Check out Kara Ratliff's story at WebProNews (a website that I heartily recommend) for the skinny on the NCAA's bizarre blogging policy...
Congrats to Virginia Commonwealth though on a good game.
The first half just ended between UNC and Eastern Kentucky and it doesn't look like the Colonels are gonna topple #1 seeded Tarheels. I still remember when Western Carolina almost pulled that off against Perdue in the '96 tournament: my sister was a student at WCU at the time and she said she'd never seen a college campus go so crazy, when it really looked like it was gonna happen. So far as I know though, no #1 seed has ever gone down in the first round.
I'm just now finding out about this! I can't believe that I missed this game! AAAARRGGGHHHH...
Speaking of N.C. State, tomorrow is March 10th. That's my Dad's birthday. March 10th is also the birthday of Jim Valvano. He would have been 61 tomorrow. Can't believe it's been almost fourteen years already since he was taken from us. I can't tell you how many people I saw crying the day he died.
Goodness gracious: has it really been almost a quarter-century since that night in Albuquerque?
Valvano was one of my heroes. And he still is. This excerpt from his speech at the ESPY Awards - just two short months before he died - shows some of why that is...
"When people say to me how do you get through life or each day, it's the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."And because this seems to be as good a time as any, here's something I found just the other day...
But lest we forget:
"Trees will tap dance, elephants will ride in the Indianapolis 500, and Orson Welles will skip breakfast, lunch and dinner before State finds a way to beat Houston."And then that night:-- Dave Kindred in The Washington Post on Monday, April 3rd, 1983
