DAY 1: MARCH SADNESS!

Today was a great 13-hour day of hoops. I gotta tell yah, it’s not like back in university where we could truck for 13 hours of hoops and be ready for more. Trust us, we’re ready for more, but a full day of Madness is tiring! Can I get an ay-men!?!? Can I get a nap time!?!?!

There were some great Madness Moments, especially with the shocking #14 Harvard handing Mountain West Conference Champ, New Mexico a shocking loss (although the Mountain West were 1-3 today showing how over-rated they were). There was #1 Gonzaga being brought to the wire by a #16 seed scare. Plus there were the almost-buzzer beaters with St. Mary’s, Matthew Dellavadova missing a last second 3-pointer to win and Marquette’s steal of a win from Davidson.

But as old as I’ve gotten, so has the announcing for the games. You wouldn’t have known that Harvard toppling New Mexico was a huge upset as the announcing crew mine as well have been Hans freaking Moleman!!!! They forced the nap outta Jalen Rose in Bill Simmon’s man cave and outta the Insanity Staff at J-Dawg’s Asylum today.

And Delly would’ve made his buzzer beater if it wasn’t for the Curse of Gus! CBS/TNT/TruTV and whatever the other network that covers the Madness, will you sign Gus Johnson back to the Madness!!!! PLEEEEEEEAAASSEE!!!!!! Ever since Gus has not called any games in the Madness, there have been zero classic buzzer-beaters in the 3 years he’s been gone. The announcing is so timid that Jim Nantz seems exciting!

WE NEED GUS BACK!!!!!

There were tight games in the first 8 morning games with Michigan State almost giving up a backdoor cover to Valpo, which almost gave the Insanity Crew at J-Dawg’s Asylum a heart-attack. Bucknell made a brief comeback to help our early parlay only to fade as did our profits tonight.

Gonzaga’s near loss almost gave Paulsen the world’s first heart-aneurism-ulcer! He wasn’t the only one this almost happened to either. But this game justified some pundits’ take that Gonzaga didn’t deserve a #1 seeding. They do deserve it, and they needed this game, as they haven’t had any pressure in 5-6 weeks due to their dominance of an admittingly weaker West Coast Conference. Gonzaga still has all the tools, and tonight’s pressure cooker was just the wake-up they needed to lay a whooping on Wichita State on Saturday to get back on track.

The Mountain West Conference came into the Madness with 5 teams that were considered darkhorse teams only to go 1-3! And the Pac-12 who did indeed have a weak season overall, gave us all a big eff-you with their 3-0 performance today.

In the pool, Cav Whitely has little to deflect with his first place tie with 14 of 16 games correct. He’s tied with Kirsten “Keertee” Taylor for first place overall.

It takes a while to click on everyone’s bracket, so if you had Harvard, you better speak out now! Get on the Message Board and claim your Smack of Day award just by declaring your Harvard pick!!! Do it!

Terry McKaig foolishly loses a Final 4 pick in losing New Mexico tonight in his bracket! Come on T! Syracuse and New Mexico? Alas, he is a mere contestant in the pool, which bodes well for all involved as his Commish conspiracy tactics in his Fantasy Baseball League is quite second-gunmen-on-the-grassy-knoll-like!

T, don’t forget about the Tertius Trunkaytus when making those picks next time will you!!!!

Tomorrow’s games look to be the day of upsets, as today was mainly favorites winning. The Insanity Staff likes a lot of the morning games to have favorites cover easily, and judging by J-Dawg’s and The Commish’s 1^st day performance, that bodes well for the upset picks based on the Costanza Principle!

Costanza Principle [ko’stan^za prin-suh-puh l]: def’n: NOUN (?)

1.     By every betting instinct Dave Adolph makes is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right

Here’s looking at you Iona! Cuz I really Ohio State!

Enjoy the Madness tomorrow!

Yours in Madness,

Costanza Commissioner Adolph