Friday, March 20, 2026

NCAA Tournament Open Thread

Back in the day, I used to routinely take off work on the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament and head to a bar (Grevey's in Falls Church more than a few times) to watch hoops from noon to midnight. I miss those days. In memoriam, here's some Madness.





33 comments:

  1. I used to take both days off would usually get together with some friends on this particular Friday. Those days are long gone, that said I don’t see me doing too much work today.

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  2. OBX Dave- did you happen to catch the clip from Martelli Jr’s presser where he gave a shout out to the VCU student reporters for making the trip for the game(s)? Pretty cool stuff.

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  3. Mark, I did not. Though I often watch games with sound down and rarely catch pressers unless somebody goes off script.

    Martelli the Elder was a terrific coach and atypical hoops lifer: erudite, well-read, conversant in lotsa areas. If Junior inherited even part of that, he'll do well.

    Meanwhile, very much enjoy watching Avila. He's gonna make a bunch of money and become a cult hero in Germany or Hungary.

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  4. i am, as most know, not a very organized person. got my car inspected today. it was due in december. felt pretty good about myself until i looked my registration. which expired in october. i don't really know why i should be allowed to adult.

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  5. I think Martelli the elder is sometimes a guest on a local sports talk show here called "Greg Roberts Live". I don't listen often, but have heard the old coach on there and he's quite interesting.

    Dan Patrick had some clips of High Point student broadcast from yesterday's upset win over Wisconsin. Good, wholesome stuff.

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  6. Rootsy, counterpoint to High Point's most excellent performance is that school is evidently Liberty U. Lite. Lot of slick, packaged proseletyzing. "Prepare students for life" with bunch of off-script stuff. There was informative piece on Defector website today, and Wall Street Journal recent piece on school practices and vibe. I'll hold my nose if they continue to make 3s and blast thru tournament.

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  7. High Point U advertises as "The Premier Life Skills University" -- billboards all over central NC. And people LOVE it! Kids, parents, etc. Interesting. Especially in the midst of the Triangle there. And now all these other towns/cities just exploding. My parents live in Elon/Burlington, and the whole area is nuts. Cookie-cutter housing-developments by D.R. Horton and Dan Ryan with homes selling for 1/2 million $$$. In Elon, Burlington, and Mebane, NC! Tourney games yesterday sure were fun! And local CNU makes the Final 4 in D-III in Indiana. Mark Weiser's son is on that team (some of you may know that or don't but know Mark). Coach K there is a really terrific guy. We're cheering them on!

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  8. the fact that my freshman roomie mark weiser has an athletic kid makes me happy. been following the captains’ run. let’s hope they keep it rolling.

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  9. Speaking of captains. My very short daughter was named captain of her middle school volleyball team today. Just gonna walk around the house calling her “Cap” all the time now.

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  10. Rob, you bought yourself 3 extra months for your next inspection. Well done.

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  11. Why is is that American sports put the home team underneath but euro sports have them listed up top?
    Weird.

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  12. dude was too honorable for his own and our good.

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  13. in other news, our local had an outdoor cookout today. for the norfolk-aware, imagine if shucks cleared their parking lot and had folks cooking whole hog and other delicious shit all night while local breweries set up tents to serve the thirsty public. there will be napping.

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  14. Sounds pretty killer. Hope your nap was good.

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  15. Banter is sluggish around here

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  16. FWIW (admittedly not much), the four 1 seeds in the tournament are the best teams -- though Duke's health without Foster and Nbongba on the mend is a concern. But Houston and Iowa State are gonna be a damn chore for anyone in their path.

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  17. submitted for your consideration: hotel bathrooms designed such that one can see his junk when he urinates are suboptimal. discuss.

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  18. Brett Favre and Anthony Weiner are OK with it. The rest of us, not so much.

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  19. If you can't see your junk when you urinate you need to lose 20 lbs.

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  20. "in the mirror" was a key phrase left out of my initial inquiry.

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  21. Sounds like someone is not proud of his flow.

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  22. PSA: Today is apparently the day T-Mobile subscribers can redeem their codes for a year of MLB.TV. I rolled the dice and paid $35 bucks for a code on Ebay and it worked. Get some, if you're so inclined.

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  23. Squeaky, the Old 97's are playing in Cambridge on Friday. Get some.

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  24. not sure what would possess a fella to step to alan ritchson with ill intent.

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  25. trump voted by mail in today's special state congressional election in florida, despite the fact that he was in palm beach today and, oh, called mail voting "mail cheating". the cherry on this sundae? the democratic candidate flipped the seat, and now mar a lago is in a democratic congressional district in the state house in tallahassee.

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  26. Relevance is the soul of wit

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