Arch Madness Anyone?

Well, between the piles of tax returns, my eyes spy something resembling March fucking Madness. Friday (Thursday for the really shitty teams) begins Creighton's quest to shock the world and rise up from mediocrity and steal a NCAA bid from some deserving team.

I gotta admit, I've been a poor CU fan this year. They just have not been very fun to watch. About midway through the Valley season, when they got their shit kicked in by Bradley (who at that point was something like 0-11 in the conference) I just stopped making it a point to watch and/or listen. Horrible, I know. At least I'm aware that they still play basketball there, unlike the Milwaukee Bucks who were contracted after their first round exit from the NBA playoff last year.

To be fair, in mid-major hoops, once the conference regular season title is out of reach, and/or you eliminated from at-large contention (which for CU was early November), the regular season doesn't mean a whole helluva lot other than seeding at Arch Madness. And Arch Madness means a lot.

I had the pleasure of attending Arch Madness in 2006. It was pretty fucking ridiculous. For those not acquainted, Arch Madness is the pet name (also known as "The Creighton Invitational") for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. It gets "Arch" from the fact that it is in St. Louis every year.

Each year, thousands of Midwesterners and students from small basketball playing universities descend on St. Louis to get super-ass drunk, possibly fight amongst each other, and watch a bunch of good basketball. (Also to stare at toothless rednecks from Carbondale, Illinois). I haven't been to another conference tourney, so perhaps others are the same. I imagine the Big Ten tournament is fun. But the tournament means A LOT to teams in the Valley, because often, only the winner gets into the big dance, and frequently, the team that comes out of the Valley does some serious damage (see Northern Iowa last year).

Unfortunately for me, I haven't been able to get back to St. Louis since. And unless I get a new job that doesn't involve getting screamed at by dickhead old people about their taxes, I probably won't get back soon. Some day, Twinkie and I will relive the glory days when he could drink heavily without one of his internal organs exploding, and had a penis. Good times will be had by all. In the mean time, I will try my damnedest to follow CU as close as possible (they play at 2:30 on Friday, and I have a job), and root on the Jays.