Super, Scintillating, Sucky

i realized something during last night's unc-duke matchup. as much as i hate duke, i can't really bring myself to cheer for north carolina, either. i can't tell if it's roy williams or tyler the defiler, but something about that team just irritates me. the main reason i tuned into this game was the return of dick vitale. he annoys me to no end, but his catch phrases and trademark voice modulations make every game exciting. with a sport as emotionally as college basketball, we need someone like vitale to give us the right level of enthusiasm. constantly hearing about greg paulus having the heart of a warrior is an unavoidable cost.

but i live in an acc market and the game was blacked out on espn. normally i don't mind having to watch local channels because the play-by-play guys are more interesting. but for some God forsaken reason, my20 decided that billy packer would be the right choice for this game. it's weird that for fans of the acc, the biggest conference matchup (and possibly the biggest rivalry in all of sports) wasn't announced by the conference’s biggest proponent. vitale is such a huge fan of the acc that when i learned of his throat ailment, i naturally assumed he caught mono from making out with mike krzyzewski. the only respite i got from killjoy packer was a stretch early in the first half in which the station had technical difficulties (the silence was preferable). i know the man is a legend in the ncaa, but i wish he'd stick to making fun of bad acts by the muppets.
without ty lawson, the game was never really in doubt, and duke cruised to victory. but it was probably more entertaining for those who heard someone yelling about PTPers, trifectas, and dipsy-do-dunk-a-roos. without vitale, “march madness” is just “march”.