"live" blogging the NDSU/Stupid Kansas Game

so i just decided - 1 minute into the game - to "live blog" the NDSU first ever NCAA March Madness game. i guess it's not REALLY "live" since i'm not posting this until after, but my keystrokes are live. for full disclosure, i come from a basketball family, but have never played the sport myself (aside from 3 practices in 6th grade which i quit because i didn't know the difference between defense and offense) or any other sport (except for volleyball which i quit because i didn't want to take a physical in 7th grade). so i will just write my comments on the game, from a "fan" point of view. my father is an NDSU Bison alum as is my brother and we live in Fargo, which is where NDSU is located. i'm an NDSU fan all the way, except when i live in Boston and UND (big rival to NDSU) comes to the area to play hockey. then i root for the UND Sioux because it's hard for me to cheer for boston and i cheer for north dakota anyway.

so anyway, back to the game.

the Bison are the major underdogs in this game. local papers are saying that ndsu has a 22% chance of winning (read: probably not going to win). i'm looking up what espn says the odds are.

so the announcer says "lots of NDSU fans in the stadium because they're practically a home game - fargo is only 6 hours away." we all laugh. fargo is three hours from minneapolis. MAYBE 3.5 if you drive slowly. but yeah, there are a LOT of green and gold in the stands. woo hoo!

NDSU is first on the board - nice! i wonder what the percentage of teams to score first and teams that win the game is.

announcer just said that there are 12,000 NDSU alums in the minneapolis area. i think this is a low estimate. NDSU has nearly 14,000 students a year. i bet 10% move to the cities after graduating.

ok, score is 17-14, bison are up. dad just made a joke, "we're ahead? let's quit watching." we're afraid we won't win. i just filled out my march madness bracket this morning. i know there were games last night and i didnt print a bracket, so i didnt fill one out then my brother says to me this morning, "well, you can still fill one out." and i was like, "yeah! it's not like i know who has won anyway!" even if i had read some of the articles, i would not remember. i guess i kind of cheated because i didn't pick U of M (minnesota) to win because i figure people would've been excited if they had won, and i didn't hear any excitement last night. so that was a slight unfair advantage. point: me.

the game is being played at the metrodome in minneapolis, which is kind of stupid. it's a baseball and football stadium. but maybe there was a minnesota timberwolves game at the target center. that's right, the minneapolis basketball stadium is the target center - target is from minnesota, which is why i always shop there instead of wal-mart (slave labor) or kmart (dirty and marth stewart).

ndsu has fallen behind and they just put tweet back in (tveidt really, but its pronounced like tweety bird) who has 2 fouls. my dad just said, "danielle, i think you should be wondering why tweet is back in when he has 2 fouls." "becuase they need him," i reply. brother: "yeah, that's a good answer." heck yeah, bitznatches! i know what's going on with basketball!

so now there is a commercial. its funny to look at what commercials are playing during basketball - the lipitor commercial is big. lots of older men watching the game.

two of my brother homie's friends are at the game in minneapolis: charpie and adam. i bet they are a few beers in and painted with gold and green. i wouldn't be surprised if we see them on the tron thing.

score: ndsu 19 kansas 23 not good

so the other day i read an article about - holy crap! HUGE three from woodside. kansas just missed the return. the crowd is definitely full of bison fans - a guy who made his basketball picks based on who would win the fight between the mascots in real life (based on an episode of cheers in which diane chambers made her picks like this) and the guy picked the jay hawks over the bison. hhheeelllloooooo. what is a jay hawk? a bird? are they real? do you have ANY idea how big a bison is? they can trample you! if you got pooped on, you would surely die or be mamed. his logic was that birds could peck you to death. i think a bison could swat a stupid bird away with his tail. he was clearly looking for a reason to pick kansas. oh. it's a woman who wrote the article. now it makes more sense. stupid girls.

back to the game. NDSU 25 kansas 27.

they do a lot of talking about the players. so and so playes better when this happens. how do they keep all the players straight?

ndsu just shot a brick. i know what that is. a really crap shot. i never shoot bricks. and kansas returned with a long-range shot.

some guy on the team is named morningstar. that's a cool last name. wait. isn't that a company name? they do ratings. i wonder if they want to give me a job.

i really feel like a beer right now. oh crap. i can't drink. i have to work (read: give up plasma) tomorrow morning. double crap.

oh right, to clarify i'm watching the game with player, my youngest brother, and my dad. player is a basketball player (hence the nickname) at u mary in bismarck and my dad is an ndsu alum - who also played for them back in the day. player is friends with at least two of the starters who play for the bison.

....

ok, had a bit of a distraction. homie called - he's in crookston for work and therefor missing the game. he wanted an update, directions out of town (crookston is about 70 miles north of fargo) and wants me to pick up his cell phone, which he forgot at work.

ndsu 34 kansas 40

we just had a discussion of what's going to win the game. we guess fouls and free throws, dad says defense. i maintain that points are going to win the game. "whoever has the most points at the end will win." this is so true. gotta give it up for special teams.

oh, another fun name. appleton. i think i like that better than morningstar. unless you're gwenth paltrow. apple appleton. that's like john johnson. silly.

kansas isn't fouling us much. i wish they would. those are like free points. and we all know points are gonna win this game.

so we're at half time. ndsu 34 kansas 43. they just made a fake shot right before the buzzer to get 2 extra points. annoying.

just tried to get the mail. it's not here yet. maybe the mailman is watching the game. i wish he would've delivered mail before watching the game.

they just had a commercial with tom selleck's voice. he's so dreamy. and i always thought that, not only after he became monica's boyfriend.

since we're still in halftime, cbs put on the syracuse aus game. i dont know who aus is. i guess i could look at my bracket, but its in the other room. syracuse is ahead 44 to 24. i know i picked them in my game bracket because my relatives live in syracuse. we get lots of syracuse orangemen stuff for christmas. that's kind of a weird nickname. i wonder where they got that from. oh, and they're playing the lumberjacks. two people mascots.

there was just a mcdonald's commercial on. i wonder if mcdonalds really needs to advertise. aren't they like the most well known company in the world? i wonder if they went a week without paying for advertising if people would notice and if their sales would go down. they should experiment and see.

ok, back to the game. score is still ndsu 34 kansas 43. kansas's strength is 'size' and ours is '3 point shots.'

so i just thought that kansas scored first, which bummed me out, but then i saw the scoreboard change to 36-43 and i realized that they flipped sides. i forgot they do that at halftime. so now i want them to score on the right side of the tv. right side. check. confirmed in memory.

i like the sound the basketball makes bouncing off the rim. this probably isn't a good sign for players, but i like it. .... upon reflection, i also like the sound the ball makes going through the net. swish. i wonder what the sound would be like if a person went through the net. probably not as nice.

we're only down by 6 - the crowd is WILD. must be awesome to be there.

score update: ndsu 46 kansas 49. they’ve started to pick up their fouls. i like that. oh some guy was just totally open and he took a shot from really far so they gave him 3 points. but he’s on the other team, so that sucks.

you know, someone in my situation might be thinking, “oh, look at those cute, fit, TALL men playing basketball. maybe i should go hang out with them.” and then i realize that they’re younger than me. and i think, ew gross. when did college basketball players get to be younger than me? it’s like when i watch tv these days. 90210ers aren’t supposed to be YOUNGER than me. wtf??

woodside just scored an awesome shot and they compared him to steve nash. who i know is a bball player because of that nelly furtado song.

so guess what!! i sent that article to my family about the woman who picked the teams based on which mascot would win in real life. my dad JUST told me that in the paper today there was a story about a man in australia who
GOT
TRAMPLED
by a
BISON!!

i mean, too bad for the guy, that sucks, but SEEEEE. bisons should be feared.

ndsu 57 kansas 62. woodside, who is kind of cute and would be cuter if i was 10 years older, just made two free throws so now its 59-62. crap. kansas just made a three. stooopid.

apparently they’re switching something up. i’m guessing defense. is it defense or de fence?

i think basketball would be REALLY cool if they added the catcher signs from baseball. like, you could hold the ball and then do your funny hand signs and then start playing again. wait. that won’t work. everyone would see your signs. hmph.

we just got a shot clock violation. those suck.

one of the good guys just fouled out. not fun. his name is moorman. i wonder if he is a morman.
kansas is on a 7-0 run. also not fun.

zaz! we just scored. woodside. fun names in this game. erdmann is a fun name except most people dont know what it means. it means “man of earth.” which is fitting for me, i think.

kansas just hit the rim and ndsu got the rebound and i thought he was gonna go up and shoot to make it - i guess these guys are good enough to know not to shoot in the opposite team’s bucket.

ndsu 62 kansas 69. four minutes 20 something seconds left.

so i learned something new today. for the shot clock to be reset, they have to hit the rim, not just the basket. that’s an interesting rule. i will probably forget it in about 2 minutes.

now kansas is up 9 points. 3:17 left.

woodside just hit a long three. mom just said “he won’t go away.” and RIGHT after the announcer said, “he’s not going away!” crap. kansas just had a “tip jam” bleh to them.

less than 2 minutes left. to me, the game is over. ndsu 67-kansas 76. my heart is a-beatin’. but we just scored a three. behind by 6. time out us. i just couldn’t be an athlete. the scoring back and forth - its all too much!

i dont know what to say. 44.4 second left. 10 point lead by kansas.

we have to keep fouling. i even understand why. but its still nerve-wracking.

every time we have a time out they switch to another game. now we’re on tennessee and oklahoma state. holy crap! 6.7 seconds left - one point difference. THATS an exciting game.

wtf!! they never switched back to the ndsu game - we had to find out the game by the score at the top. i can’t believe it.

well, bison, you played well. good game. i was actually interested the whole time, which is certainly a feat not to be underestimated.

final score. ndsu 74 kansas 84. stupid kansas. and stupid cbs! not showing us the crowd and the metrodome.

sad day. it started with such high hopes! and more importantly, now my bracket is all screwed up. i want a redo!

and with that, my lovelies, this ends my first-ever live blogging session. enjoy.