1. It would be easy to ramble on about today's NCAA men's basketball tournament action, but I'll just make a blanket statement and then tip my hat to the Texas Christian Horned Frogs.
Blanket statement: I have no argument with how the committee seeded the teams in this tournament. Others with more analytical minds than mine might have quibbles, but I don't.
What I think is true, though, is that, overall, the margins of difference in how higher seeded teams perform vis a vis lower seeds are very small. That's the nature of college basketball right now. Traditionally, you'd think there would be a significant gap between say, a #1 seed (Gonzaga or Arizona) and a #9 seed (Memphis or Texas Christian), not to mention between a #2 seed (Auburn) and a #10 (Miami).
Not this year and the fact that lower seeded teams can play so competitively with higher seed teams -- and even beat them -- made this first weekend of the tournament a blast to watch.
In particular, I'd like to single out the gutsy, impassioned, raw-boned, energetic play of the Texas Christian Horned Frogs in their overtime loss to Arizona. Like other lower seeded teams, the Horned Frogs have a talented team, but not as many highly skilled players as more elite teams. But, boy howdy!, do they ever defend hard, crash the boards with enthusiasm, work and work and work to make opponents uncomfortable, and play with tenacity.
Arizona defeated TCU, 85-80, in overtime. But, much like Gonzaga the night before, Arizona got pushed hard by ninth seeded team.
I loved watching them play so hard. As their post-game anguish revealed, they gave all the energy they had to this game. They suffered a really painful loss.
2. In the midst of all this engrossing college basketball action, Bill, Diane, Bridgit, and I jumped on the ZOOM machine and became involved in engrossing conversation.
Much of our yakkin' centered around a crucial realization Diane arrived at and a decision she made regarding her retirement. I won't go into details. Diane took us into her confidence. Blabbing would violate that. I will say, though, that Diane came to an understanding of herself and her workplace that was liberating and that, in my view, has a lot of potential to contribute mightily to her happiness and well-being as she leaves her job and settles into retirement itself.
3. I like mixing beers and I like mixing cider and beer. This afternoon, I blended Deschutes Black Butte Porter with Red Stripe Lager. It worked for me. It was a bit unusual to combine the apple-y mild sweetness of the Red Stripe with the toasty, dark chocolate flavors of the porter, but I've drunk plenty of apple ciders blended with stouts and porters. The apple flavors are much more forward when I blend cider with dark beer. The slight sweetness of the Red Stripe was more subtle and I enjoyed that as far as flavor goes, the porter was more forward.
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