Hi.  just...hi.

For those not affiliated with the NY Sport Blog March Madness contest, you may need an explanation of why Dawson is so sad.  He put all of his money on my bracket to win the pool, and his dreams were shattered in the very first day of the tournament.  I promised him...I promised him that Georgetown was a money team.  I saw them disintegrate Syracuse during the Big East tournament.  I saw it with my baby brown eyes. 

But it was all a farce.  Now Conor's bracket is a perennial cellar dweller for the rest of the tournament.  Even worse, Dawson lost Katie Holmes...and his creek.

Was there a more perfectly symbolic game to open the tournament than Robert Morris-Villanova?  Sure, 'Nova had a few hiccups in the end...but Robert Morris?  The team that went down to the wire with the legendary Quinnipiac Bobcats in the Northeast conference final?  Once the Colonials took the lead and hung around, hung around, hung around, and ultimately got a John Deere-powered hosing from the referees, the tourney atmosphere was set.  Nobody's safe (pretty much.) 

So by the time the night games rolled around, I was a little concerned about having Georgetown in the national championship.  They would need to beat Kansas and Ohio State to do so, and maybe little old Ohio could be frisky...

Well, I'm not going to totally describe what happened.  First off, you probably already know.  Second, I don't want to get emotional like Dawson.  The best I can do is provide a video comparison of Thursday's events:


Johnny Cage vs. Goro


It's really a moment-by-moment replica of what happened from noon through 10pm on Thursday. 

0:00-0:35 seconds of the video was essentially me right before the Villanova game started.  Feverishly excited, supremely confident, even some mindless/inaudible grunting for no reason.  Villanova was my final four team, what could go wrong?

:35-1:03- In comes Johnny Cage (or, in real life, the Colonials of Robert Morris.)  Clearly seems like the underdog.  But there's an eerie, silent confidence about him (them.)  Nothing to lose, and unafraid.  It's not a great formula for Villa-Goro.

1:03-1:20- Shang Tsung, architect of the Mortal Kombat tournament, makes his demands clear.  As if speaking on behalf of all those in high-stakes March Madness pools, he tells Villa-Goro to make things quick.  No funny stuff.  Villa-Goro understands.

1:20-1:47- BANG!  Ouch.  Ouuuuuuuuch.  This was the entire game until the final 5 minutes.  Villa-Goro got surprised from the start and took a whole lot of time to get their...bearings? back.  Tons of mindless grunting from Conor and the others that had 'Nova going deep.

1:47-2:00- In a flash, Villa-Goro goes from blinding pain into confident super-creature again.  This was the time in the 'Nova game where Scottie Reynolds was able to draw a foul by tripping over his shoe laces.  Robert Morris is powerless to stop it, and the Wildcats escape with a victory.

2:00-2:20- The Nova game is over, and in real life we flash forward to the Georgetown-Ohio game.  Goro, in his pursuit of Johnny Cage, has now taken on the form of the Hoyas.  We'll call him Gor-getown.  The favorites had a little scare with the crotch punch/'Nova game, it was time to restore order and beat down the over-matched opponent.

2:20-2:38- Johnny Cage/Ohio shows absolutely no fear from the start of the second encounter.  He makes a plan of attack, and even talks down to Gor-getown.

2:38-2:47- A beating ensues.  A savage beating.  A shocking beating.  Gor-getown has absolutely no answers for what is happening.  Not only is Gor-getown not able to mount an offense, the viewer cannot even tell if they are attempting to.  A complete and utter humiliation.

2:47-3:06- "This is where you fall down."  Johnny Cage said it to Goro.  The entire Ohio team might has well just said it to me through my television screen.  The Georgetown Hoyas, who I picked to win five games in the tournament and one of the final two standing, go out with a whimper to Ohio.

I hope that made sense.  With all the Mortal Kombat names, this post nearly made the spell-check explode.  But it was the most accurate portrayal of events that represented my Thursday in March Madness.  Two games, spread across 10 hours, represented in a three minute video.

And Conor's entire bracket represented in one word: FATALITY.