Foul This

A few thoughts after a weekend of watching more basketball than I've probably seen all year:

1) Despite the relative lack of upsets, it's still been a great first weekend with some great games. Siena/Ohio State was incredible, and Wisconsin/Florida St. going on simultaneous to it was great also. Oklahoma St./Tennessee was excellent, and even though they all escaped, the top seeds had some real tests in the 2nd round. So don't let anybody look at all the high seeds left and say that it's sucked. Maybe it's a little more exciting when the upsets happen, but there were still plenty of great games.

2) On a different note, I hate that all the chalky's brackets are being rewarded. Don't get me wrong, I didn't take ETSU to the Final Four, and my bracket's even doing all right (except for my runner-up Wake Forest -- they DO put the "demon" in "deacons" don't they? Wasn't the ACC supposed to be all powerful and crap? Ridiculous!), but they guy currently leading my bracket pool chose nobody higher than a 5 seed in the round of 16, and the basketball gods have been smiling upon him. *sigh*

3) Does anybody else think that basketball would be a better game if they just made it a foul everytime somebody swatted or grabbed a ball that was clearly in another player's control? Swats and grabs are difficult to officiate and result in a lot of bad calls, plus it's basketball, not wrestling. If one dude has the ball the other team should try to take it away through stolen passes or playing sound positional defense, not swatting or grabbing. I'm not asking for more fouls, of course, as much as less reaching, poking, grabbing, swatting. I just think it would make for a cleaner more entertaining, more skill-oriented game.

4) What is it about some players that they show their parents about 6 times during every game, but never any "other" parents? Are the other 9 dudes on the court at any given time orphans or what? Seriously, how many times have we seen the parents of Blake and Taylor Griffen (I've been watching OU all year, of course, and it happens about 6 times during EVERY home game), the kid from Siena whose father has ALS, and the 7"1' 290 lb mountain of a man from UNI? Answer: a LOT. How about the parents from every other player in the tournament? None. Can anybody explain this to me? I ask a lot of rhetorical questions on here, but I'm really kind of curious if anybody could explain this one to me.

5) Great. The next OU game is simultaneous to the next UofL game. And the on-line feeds haven't worked for me. So what? Do I try to go out and arm wrestle for a table somewhere? I'm 145 and arm wrestling really isn't my thing. This really isn't supposed to be an issue this late in the tournament, is it? Oh, to be in a place where the local team is out and nobody cares anymore.