Divided Loyalties, Divided Heart

I'm heartsick today...I probably should be in Martinsville freezing my ass off watching the NASCAR® race there, as tickets were still available and I only can make it to a few races each year anyway, but I couldn't force myself to go...because two of my fave teams still in the hunt for the NCAA Mens' Basketball Championship face off against each other today at about 5pm EST (you can watch on a CBS TV affiliate, or on CBS online if you click on "NCAA® March Madness® on Demand" from their main page). My beloved the University of Kansas Jayhawks, a former home of my college days and the proud hallowed ground of so many basketball-loving generations, go against the sentimental 'Cinderella' and 'David versus Goliath' warriors, the Davidson College Wildcats.



Kansas Jayhawks logo, ® University of Kansas, image from Sportslogos










versus...



Davidson Wildcats logo, ® Davidson College, image from Sportslogos


The winner goes on to compete in the Final Four semi-final in San Antonio, and the loser goes home and thinks forevermore at 'what might have been'. Both Davidson and Kansas won pretty handily on Friday, so both should be relatively rested and ready to go. At the end of the day, though, somebody is going home...and somebody else will be facing the local heroes of my other college home, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.

Bloody hell, this is horrible for the diehard sports fan in me today...I can't not watch, but I can't imagine I'll be happy after watching, either. There's gonna be tears either way, but all I can hope for is a good, exciting, and hard-fought game. (A preview write-up can be found by going here.)

I just had to be a college basketball fanatic...

UPDATE: Kansas defeated Davidson 59-57 on the last shot of the game. A really thrilling game throughout, and a tremendous showing by the Wildcats. While their season is over now, the Tourney will definitely miss this great team. They proved they belonged 'in the big leagues' and how...and damn near pulled out a win that would have kept 'Cinderella' alive. Next Saturday, Kansas plays against UNC in San Antonio for the semi-final...and I'm already having loyalty issues once again.