Four years, four teams

In the past 365 days I've worked about seven different jobs, graduated from college and (in my opinion) improved as a writer more than ever before. Why is this noteworthy? Because today is the fourth anniversary of the Hot Dog Guy and I couldn't be prouder of the blog, though I wish I had more time to actually write. It is here where I am able to vent about sports, complain about my favorite teams, practice my writing and not have to limit myself to a word count, structure the writing to a specific style or be at the mercy of a copy editor.

The point of the blog at first was to not only to be a place to give sports opinions, but also to document my time as a Wrigley Field vendor. That stopped quickly when I realized it was too difficult to fairly describe all the craziness that goes on at the corner of Clark & Addison. But in its place, I hope that the blog has been a place to read entertaining and enlighting thoughts on the Bears, Cubs, Bulls and the rest of sports. I've tried to make it personal, giving my thoughts and opinions on matters, even though I realize most people don't care.

My first ever post (outside of a brief into) broke down the Final 4 in Indy. That 2006 group featured a pair of players - Joakim Noah of Florida and Tyrus Thomas of LSU - who would go on to be discussed at length here on the blog.

Now, four years later, it's time to do it again. Four college basketball teams head to Naptown (Called that by locals because of the third of the city's five syllables, Indi-a-NAP-o-lis. Called that by out-of-towners because the most interesting thing to do there is take a nap) with dreams of cutting down the net. At the bottom of the post I'll offer my preview, but before that, I'd like to review the first two weekend of the tournament while honoring a Chicago institution leaving the airways soon, At the Movies.

Thumbs Up: The dramatics - Determining the best game of this tournament is like determining the most attractive Bond girl; there are tons of choices to make an argument for. Xavier-Kansas State, No. Iowa-Kansas, Michigan St.-Maryland, Tennessee-Ohio St., Murray St.-Vanderbilt, Villanova-Robert Morris, plus all four of the Elite 8 games and some others I can't think of off the top of my head. It's not a surprise, based on the regular season we had, that the tourney was so exciting. Without a dominant team everybody was closer in the pack of 65, making for competition all over the bracket.

Thumbs Down: The favorites - This isn't a bad thing by any means, but it's always a bit disappointing to realize the team's atop the rankings all year where frauds in a way. No doubt teams like Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and Ohio State where all very good and deserving of their seed, but they all had major weaknesses that were exposed in the tournament. The Jayhawks couldn't score when Sherron Collins had a poor game. The Wildcats were too young and couldn't hit shots (both from 3 and free). The Orange didn't have a scorer to give the ball to at crunch time. And the Buckeyes had no depth. All of these things were reasons these teams went home early.

Thumbs Up: Gus Johnson & Bill Raftery - This is both an up and a down. Up because Gus and Raft are the two best in the business when it comes to college hoops, the two guys who understand the energy and excitement that is March. Down because CBS has neither of them calling the Final Four. Gus increases his intensity along with the games, reaching a crescendo as the minutes start falling towards zero. Just watch this highlight package from KSU-Xavier. The entire clip is classic Gus, but pay close attention at 1:25 when Jordan Crawford hits his game-tying three from the cancer ribbon, about 35 feet from the basket. "Crawford at 8, Crawford's got to hurry, up, OHHHHHHH, HE TIED IT!!" Raftery amps up the excitement as the game goes along as well, but he describes the game as a fan would, only using much more classic and elegant language, such as "Onions" and "A little kiss off the window." More announcers should follow the lead of these two and add some kick to their commentary.

Thumbs Down: The commercials - OK, so this is a natural complaint when you watch nearly 80 hours (approximation) of basketball over a two-week span. But if I see Luke Wilson talking about maps, some airport guys yelling about bag fees or have to watch another couple talk about how Lowe's saved their garden, I might throw a brick through my television.

Thumbs Up: My picks - I'm in first place in both my pools. I have two of my Final 4 remaining. And nobody has their National Champ left. So it looks good. From the start I loved Duke's road to Indy, especially because I was confident that the two seed in that region (Vilanova) would get bounced early. A lot of people took Baylor, thinking their athleticism would cause the Blue Devils some problems, but I liked the edge in the backcourt for Duke. And out East I got lucky with West Virginia, who I picked at the start because I liked their D, then got worried because of how well Kentucky was playing, then was bailed out because the Wildcats played their worst game of the season.

Thumbs Down: My picks - Having two Final 4 picks correct means I also had two wrong. That's not the failure part. It's the fact that I should have known better than picking Kansas and Syracuse to win their regions. A few years ago, I said I'd never take a Bill Self-coached team. Then they win the title in '08, come back this year with (on paper) the strongest team and I get suckered in again. But that's not it. I also say every year I won't pick the favorite, because they are unlikely to win and it puts me in competition with too many people who don't follow college hoops at all. Yet I ignore all of that and go with the Jayhawks and Orange, the Bill Self coached team and the two favorites to cut down the nets. There's no way I would have chosen Michigan State and Butler, but I should have known better than what I did.

Now it's prediction time, and these two games are (obviously) hard to figure out. There's no fluke in this group, no happy to be there squad. The first game matches the two 5-seeds, Butler and Michigan State. A lot of people are hopping on the Tom Izzo bandwagon, and for good reason. The Spartans play great team basketball, and six Final 4's in 12 years is nothing to slouch about. But I like the Bulldogs, who play equally good defense and have more scorers. It will be a close one, but I'll say Butler 74, Sparty 70. The nightcap is even more intriguing, with the physical Mountaineers taking on the tough but athletic Dukies. Duke's big guys - Thomas, Zubek and the Plumlees - were the difference in the Elite 8 win against Baylor, while it was the outside shooting of WVU that carried them over Kentucky. Each will need repeat performances, but I like Coach K's group, barely. Kyle Syngler won't be held without a field goal again, and the Duke guards are too good when their bigs are playing well. Duke 79, West Virginia 77.