I’m feeling old.  Steven Strasburg is officially retired from MLB.  Wasn’t he just a rookie phenom a couple years ago.  Bah Humbug.

Back to basketball.  This is what happens when you have chalk.   Admit it.  It feels good.  We have a championship game worthy of being called a championship game.  No clutter of Cinderella tripping on her heals.  No Underdogs getting their cape caught in the net.  Two dominant teams going mono-e-mono, hubba hubba hubba. 

I’m gonna start with the squares game.  In my old age, I cannot distinguish what I have written about in articles and what I’ve talked about in conversation.  But I think I’ve written about the two camps in the squares game… the haves and the have nots.  The have are rolling in cash.  We’ll, the anticipation of cash.  No one really knows when I’ll get around to paying.  The others have squares that to date have gone unoccupied, and some are beginning to fear they have invested poorly.

The Purdue, NC State game funneled more cash to one of those in the first group.  Tim Currey has won so much money in the squares game, he’s going to have to report it to the IRS.  Those from Cincinnati thirty plus years ago might recall it was a winning horse bet that landed Peter Edward Rose in trouble with the IRS, and eventually in a halfway house… I think in Terra Haute IN, or just across the border in Illinois.  Someone please help me… nobody should have this much minutia in their head (and no, not looking any of this up.  That would take more effort than I’m willing to invest). 

In the other game, UConn delivered a gift not just to one of the members of the squares string quartet, the delivered it to the first chair tiny violin player.  The inventor of the squares game.  The man who may become the namesake for the squares game… I’m sure I can come up with something creative with the name Ruter.  It is so similar to rooter, as in rooting for a team, there’s got to be something to work with there.  Taking suggestions.

I think I went off the rails there.   Eric Ruter won the UConn Alabama game, and the $40 prize that comes with it.  In one magical moment, Eric went from loser to winner.  Enjoy Disneyworld Eric!

Wow, I’m on quite the ramble this morning.  If you look at the standings, you will see a plethora of UConn and Purdue picks to win it all.  The first non Purdue/UConn champion bracket is Rob Collins in thirteenth.  You remember Rob.  I wrote about him a lot in the opening rounds.  Well, this is what happens when you don’t pick the champion correctly.  Very unfair of me to single out Rob, but that’s what I do.

What we really care about are winners.  And that competition is down to two.  If UConn wins, which sounds like the more likely outcome, John Neltner will earn his first banner.  UConn enters as about a six point favorite. 

If Purdue wins, we have a repeat champion, something I never entertained as a possibility in any year of the pool  I doubted anyone would ever win twice.  Frankly, to quote Jar-Jar Binks (finally a reference you young-ins might get) “How Wude”.  Zain Aziz won last year when the brackets absolutely fell apart.  This year, he’s having to fight it out to the end, and proving he’s got what it takes.  If Zain wins, I may get creative with his banner.  But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Other interested parties Monday night.  If UConn wins, Jennifer Cleaveland finishes second, Zain is third, Mike King is fourth and Chris Jackson is fifth.  If Purdue wins, Kent Dixon is second, yours truly is third (and lets face it, that’s what y’all really want to see) and Andy Bricker and John Neltner tie for fourth.  Andy will win the tie breaker because he will have the correct champion.

Enjoy your Sunday and I’ll wrap things up Monday Night.  PS, don’t look at the sun Monday.