NCAA Tournament: Hate St Pats

Things start to get interesting now in the NCAA Tournament as the pretenders are beginning to get washed out. There is a full day of wagering ahead of us despite the allure of St Patrick's Day. I ask of you, who wouldn't want to be smashed into the humanity at Darby O' Shanahans Olde Towne Irish Pub drinking Miller Lite produced from a tap system that hasn't been cleaned since the place opened 26 years ago? Who would want to miss the green dye staining the sides of your 12 oz plastic cup as you stand next to a sloppy overweight girl in a flashing beer company shamrock blinky button to accent her green and white striped tube socks, Notre Dame sweatshirt, and green plastic derby? Do you want to risk missing "Paddington's Irish Rovers", which is actually three guys that usually play Jimmy Buffet covers in places with names like Cabana Jack's/Rookies/Scalpers? Right now you could watch as they stumble their way through the Pogue's "Dirty Old Town" and other traditonal "Irish" songs like U2's "With or Without You" resplendent with drum machine backing?

Or you could play it smart...Me? I'm going somewhere the Rubes won't be today. (I wonder if there's any Chinese Restaurants showing the games?) While I'm there I'm going to strictly play a hunch that Xavier will keep it close vs the Buckeyes today. The Public (which is always wrong) are heavily on OSU. Result? I'll be heavily on Xavier. I also like what I see out of Louisville. With three points, they're a good play today as well. I just don't believe in Texas A&M, and with Louisville essentially playing at home it's a nice edge with the points. The big question is if I'll have the stones to give up eight and take Georgetown later tonight. I suppose it will just depend on how many spring rolls and Tsing Taos I have at Hunan House.

Random Notes: We split them yesterday with UNLV winning outright, and Arizona dropping by 10. Arizona always chokes in the tourny, but to Purdue? That smarts...A couple things you should go buy today. 1) The new Thermals CD. I put this in my car three days ago, and can't take it out. Catchy tunes with good basic hooks with an urgent guitar sound that has a wise ass vocal sitting on top. Once again Portland shows up with a good band. Who knew they had more than microbrew, salmon, and Pinot Noir? 2) A sweater. It's fucking cold out there.