Saturday-
I put on my Duke jersey, but not as confidently as usual. They were playing West Virginia in the Final Four tonight, the same West Virginia team that yours truly picked to beat Duke in the National Semi-Final before the tournament began. I just didn't like the match-up for the Blue Devils. The Mountaineers were more athletic, they were tough, they could hurt you in a lot of ways.
In the 15 or so years that I've been filling out a bracket, I've only picked Duke to lose twice: in 2007 when they were a 6 seed and ended up losing in the first round to VCU, and this year. It just didn't seem like their year. They were never ranked 1 all season, and they just weren't the dominant team like the Duke teams of the early 2000's, which won the national title in 2001.
So yes, hoping I was wrong, I picked against my team. How did they respond? They were dominant. I haven't seen a Duke team play that well since the early 2000's. Everything went right. West Virginia had no chance once the second half started. I was dead wrong, and I couldn't have been happier about it. Clearly, if they could steamroll West Virginia, they wouldn't have a problem Monday night with little Butler in the National Championship game.
Sunday-
I thought the sports highlight of my Easter Sunday would be watching the end of the Shell Houston Open golf tournament in which Anthony Kim beat Vaughn Taylor in a playoff. I was wrong, again. When my roommate Matt yelled to me that Donovan McNabb had been traded to the Redskins, I thought it was a joke. I dashed to espn.com, but didn't see the headline. So I guess it was just a rumor after all. I reloaded the page, just to make sure. There it was: Eagles trade McNabb to Redskins. Unbelievable.
It seemed inevitable that McNabb would be traded this offseason. I've always been a McNabb supporter. I know everyone is saying that now that he is gone, but I actually have stuck by #5 throughout his career, while a good 70% of Eagles fans wanted him gone. However, it just felt like it was time for him to move on. He had one year left on his contract, he's 34 years old whereas the rest of the team is getting younger, and it just seemed like the Eagles had been playing the same season over and over again for the last decade. Close, but nothing to show for it. So yes, I was fully expecting a trade this offseason.
But the Redskins? A team the Eagles will play twice a season? A team the Eagles will directly be competing against for a playoff spot? I just don't understand it. Yes, I know Donovan said he didn't want to be traded to the Raiders or Bills or whatever other bad teams he was rumored to go to. It's nice for the team to send Donovan to a team he wanted to go to. But guess what? The NFL is not a nice business. Teams don't win Super Bowls by being nice. They win Super Bowls by making smart football decisions. Trading your starting QB to a direct rival is not a smart football decision. Donovan, I truly appreciate everything you have done for this team. But players get traded all the time, and for the most part, they don't have any control over it. If you had to go to Buffalo or Oakland, I'm sorry, but that's just the way this business works.
Again, I'm sad to see Donovan go. He's the best QB this franchise has ever had, and he deserved to win a Super Bowl in Philadelphia. But it's time to move on and start the Kevin Kolb era.
Monday afternoon-
Opening Day. Two of the best words in sports. The Phillies opened up their season against the Nationals, sending their new ace, Roy Halladay, to the mound. This opening day felt a bit different than any other opening day, however. I can not remember a Philadelphia team with higher expectations going into the season. Yes, this includes the Eagles teams that went to several consecutive NFC title games. This includes the Phillies of last season. As far as I have seen, the Phillies have been the team predicted most to win the World Series this year. That never happened with the Eagles and the Super Bowl. Most people didn't predict the Phillies to repeat as Champions last year, much less make the World Series again. But expectations this year are sky high. The Phillies didn't win the World Series last year, but it still felt like a successful season. If the Phillies don't win the World Series this year, it will be a failure. One game down, and they look great. There are a few more games to go.
Monday night-
Everyone hates Duke, except me. Or at least it feels that way sometimes. It certainly felt that way as Duke was going up against Butler, the nation's new sweethearts. Butler, the aw-shucks team from Indiana with a cute little coach up against Duke, the giants with a coach who, let's face it, isn't exactly endearing.
As well as Butler had played in the tournament, I felt very confident that Duke would win their 4th national title. They played their best game of the year against West Virginia, and Butler's the kind of team that typically doesn't give Duke a lot of trouble. No problem.
The game started out 6-1 Duke. This was going to get ugly, and fast. Nolan Smith barely missed a 3 which would have made it 9-1. From there on, it was a slugfest. Duke would make a 3, go up by 4, looking to pull away a bit, but Butler just wouldn't let them. It went back and forth. Butler's defense was just suffocating. Duke could not get off any easy shots. The biggest lead for Duke in the game was 6, and that lasted about a minute. Even though the game was incredibly close throughout, the crowd made it seem that Butler was winning and had the momentum. I was just a little nervous.
Duke went up 5 with 3 minutes to go. I was staring to feel a little better at this point. But then Butler got a 2, and Duke missed. Butler got another 2, and it was a 1 point game with 50 seconds left. Duke calls a timeout and draws up a play. This had to work. They needed a bucket here, or they wouldn't get another shot. They end up running a great play, and Kyle Singler has an open shot. If falls way short, and Brian Zoubek ends up kicking it out of bounds. 20 seconds left, and Duke won't get the ball back. If Butler makes a shot, the game's over. I almost didn't want to watch.
Butler has trouble getting the ball in, but they finally get it in to Gordon Hayward, their best player. He drives right, but Singler is right in his face. He gets off a fade away from the baseline. It looks good. It looks really good. But it clangs off the iron, and Zoubek get the rebound. Two foul shots for Zoubek, not exactly the best of free throw shooters. No problem with the first though. He misses the second on purpose (still don't get this), and Butler gets the rebound. Still, they won't get a good shot, no chance right? Hayward throws up a prayer from half court. It looks good. It looks really good. It just clangs off the rim. Game over, but it took me a few seconds to realize that Duke had won and were the National Champions.
Most "great" tournament games are great because of what happens in the final minutes. This game certainly had great final minutes. But it was just a great game from start to finish. Always close, always played with 100% effort. It's the way every college game should be. It's easily the best Duke game I've ever seen, and up there with the best title game in any sport I've ever seen. It was the perfect ending to the craziest stretch of days I've personally ever experienced in sports.
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