March Madness extends well beyond the basketball court and the office pool, especially when your city is hosting.
....and even more especially when one of the teams you cover is in it.
....and even more especially when one of the teams you cover has to play an extra game to get out of the vestibule and into the Big Dance.
Those are the situations The News sports staff has been dealing with this week, a week when Madness is a mere chest pass away from Mayhem. Our forces both inside (editors) and outside (reporters) the office are stretched thinner than Duke's bench.
And that's another thing. Since Duke is in town, we all have to learn to spell coach Mike Kruzus ... Kurshew .. Coach K's name. Just another to-do on a growing list.
Take Jerry Sullivan. (Pleeeease!). Jerry is our Senior Sports Columnist and a hoopsmeiester from way back. Here's what he's doing this week: On Sunday he planned to write a column sizing up the NCAA field but then Niagara got bushwhacked into the play-in game (aka the first round game), so he switched signals. This gave him an opportunity for heated dialogue with the NCAA Selection Committee Chairman Gary Walters on a conference call, an exchange that attracted national attention. This resulted in a column about the Purple Eagles turning red over the slight.
Then he spent two days researching and writing a comprehensive preview of the entire 64-team field. This involved serious research into Winthrop, Belmont, Davidson & Creighton (No that's not a law firm), as well as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (That would be the TAMCC Islanders, of course). Plus there are significant differences, it turns out, between Weber State and Wright State.
Who knew.
Then Sully had to track down the Butler Bulldogs for a column in the NCAA Preview Section. Then he flew to Chicago to chat with Kansas players and coaches, and plead for mercy on Niagara's behalf. After Friday night's Niagara-Kansas game, he will fly home Saturday in time to cover Saturday's doubleheader at HSBC Arena ... unless Niagara should somehow win on Friday night, in which case he stays in Chicago for a couple of more days.
Got all that? I hope Sully does.
That's just one example of how busy it can be for News sports reporters when the perfect storm --- hosting a regional, following a team in the tournament and being involved in the &%*@&!**&! play-in game (aka first round) --- hits.
It's not pretty but some of our writers actually can't get enough. Remember the old Godzilla movies, where the Big Guy roams around Japan and attacks power plants. The more power he absorbs, the stronger he becomes and the more frantic.
Meet Mike Harrington, our lead college basketball writer. In the past two weeks, Mike has been to Bridgeport for the MAAC Tournament, Atlantic City for the Atlantic 10, New York for the Big East, Dayton for the &%*@&!**&! play-in game (aka first round), Chicago for the NCAA regional and back to HSBC (Kansas permitting) for Saturday's games. Plus, he's been blogging (See College Hoopla) like there's no tomorrow.
We are checking him into rehab Monday.
Meanwhile, the worst part of all this is that I, myself, have not yet had time to study up for my own NCAA pool. I mean, does anyone know if TAMCC can shoot the three?
---Howard J. Smith, Executive Sports Editor
