The Walking Dead, Chalk Lines, & Collegiate Softball In Football Weather

I’ve been back in Ohio for less than 72 hours and I’m already questioning that decision and set to head back to the ball park tomorrow afternoon for a scrimmage between the Ohio University-Chillicothe softball team and if my memory serves me correctly Huntington High. My sister, who as I’ve mentioned in previous postings is a player for OU-C, informed me of the meeting and how she doesn’t particularly care for the match-ups between the team and those of the high school circuit. However, I think it’s a good thing. Hell, even the Major and Minor League clubs play college teams in spring training. For example, the Columbus Clippers have a game coming up versus the Ohio State Buckeyes baseball team I wouldn’t mind attending at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio. However, my disdain for Ohio State and the Cleveland Indians, the parent club of the Clippers since 2009, will more than likely make the decision not attend the game for me.

I think Ichiro Suzuki said it best when he said, “If I ever saw myself saying I was excited about going to Cleveland I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.” Huntington Park is “Jacobs Field South” to me neither it nor the actual home of the Indians has been the root of fond memories in respect to baseball and the main reason for that is the fans I’ve encountering during trips north to watch the Yankees play at Progressive/Jacobs Field. No matter the final score of a regular season game between the Yankees and Indians at a game in Cleveland, it’s always fun to remind them the difference between the hot dogs at Cleveland Indians games and those at Yankee Stadium is that hot dogs are served on a regular basis after the first week of October in Yankee Stadium.  But that’s another rant/writing session for another time. 

Enough about baseball and hatred right now. Well maybe not the hatred. The madness of March is the subject at hand for now and the worm has turned on this first night of Sweet Sixteen match-ups. Two hours ago I looked like a genius getting in on UConn as an underdog and with a point spread of one along with taking Florida over BYU. However, the second wave of channel surfing between Duke and Arizona and Butler v. Wisconsin has brought me much weeping and gnashing of teeth. The Blue Devils need about three touchdowns to get back in their game with the Wildcats and that little team from Indiana is taking the Badgers out to the woodshed as well. Where’s Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley when I need them? Hell, Ron Dayne for that matter. Then again, I suppose that’s what I get for betting against a team from Indiana in the game of basketball. It’s times like these where I literally think to myself never mind all my crackpot reading, research, and reasoning before placing my wagers – that’s just common sense. This is the NCAA Basketball tourney, not the Rose Bowl.

Which  brings me to the topic of tomorrow night’s game between “The” Ohio State Buckeyes and the Kentucky Wildcats. The hatred versus the heart. Both factors which should have me avoiding placing any type of wager on the game at all. As I’ve mentioned, despite being born and raised in Ohio, I openly and honestly despise all things Ohio State. Well, minus Nick Swisher “The Pride of Parkersburg”. From the “Sweater Vest”, to the dotting of the “I”, to Archie Griffin and his Kroger commercials from days of old, I am often brought to great pain and discomfort by that which is associated with the Buckeyes. Most, if not all of this displeasure is brought about by the “loyal” fan base, or as I like to call them – “The We’s”.

If you’re from Ohio, you surely know one of the or many of “The We’s”. You may even be one, sadly. The “We” are going to beat Michigan.  Or the “We” had a great season even with only one loss. Or perhaps, “We” have the best recruiting class. Yes, indeed there will surely be many of “The We’s” talking tomorrow about how “We” will beat Kentucky. “The We’s” who at last check none of which were listed on any roster I’ve read recently.

Please, if you are reading this and you ever hear me refer to the New York Yankees and say we you have my full permission to walk up behind me with a handgun and blow my brains out. There is nothing more annoying or ridiculous in my humble opinion than hearing a fan of a team refer to themself in this context. While I’m all for fanaticism, I feel there are rules which must be applied and followed. If sports fanaticism is a religion indeed, than let me play Moses and bring forth the Commandments. Quite honestly, I feel there are only one true group of “loyal” fans in the state of Ohio in respect to collegiate or professional sports. And if you’re a Cleveland Browns fan you can best believe  I’m talking about you.

Ohio State’s road to a national title in basketball has indeed become somewhat easier it would seem with the ousting of a perennial powerhouse in Duke and a team that was able to defeat them in the regular season in Wisconsin. Kentucky should give them somewhat of a challenge that their two previous tournament games have lacked. However, my concern is for my own position when it comes to this game. While my residency has been primarily as a Ohioan during my humble existence on earth, the blood coursing through my veins is from a heritage based in the land of fast women and beautiful horses – the Bluegrass state of Kentucky. This is perhaps one of the reasons why year in and year out I stick a bit too long with the Wildcats and the Cardinals of Louisville when it comes to the depths of the NCAA Tournament. What can I say, I grew up in a household where the day of the Derby is on equal footing to other religious holidays as Christmas and Easter which is perhaps why blind faith plays a major role in my decisions to pencil in the teams for long tournament runs year in and out.

Loyalty can however be a fault, as many of you probably already know. This approach to Louisville in this year’s version of the tournament however may have served as the much-needed wake up call toward my classical conditioning with respect to wagering and bracketeering with the two most popular Kentucky based basketball teams. Pitino’s Cardinals have become the equivalent of a beautiful girl in an on again off again dysfunctional relationship around tournament time for me. The pretty face that keeps coming back into my life that I know good and well is setting me up for a major disappointment sooner than later, yet I fall for the flashy wardrobe, the memories of the one shining moment, and the history and visions of the ultimate glory every time knowing full well I’m bound to wake up to an early or unplanned exit.

Betting with your heart is irresponsible, irrational, and more often than not leaves an irritation similar to a rash of herpes left by the pretty girl allowed to waltz in and out of your bedroom every six months only to skip town one night, but I digress. The point here is heart and hatred are emotions and emotional responses that are better left out of any monetary decision. And while it’s easier said than done, the best approach for a game like Friday’s match-up between OSU and Kentucky is to do so wanting to come out being right and not solely for the cheddar cheese putting your money where your mouth is may very well land you.

That’s in a nutshell what a venture in sports wagering come March has to be about being right, the money is the gravy on the mashed potatoes. In life as well, the dollar dollar bills ya’ll with regards to decision-making  have to be viewed as a bonus only, it can’t be the sole motivating factor. So while as of this moment Kentucky at 11/5 odds where a 100 dollars down will return you $220 the question is the draw more about making a quick buck or thinking the chalk talk is perhaps the best route to being correct come the witching hour on Saturday?

Perhaps the “We’s” will own the night and a trip to the Elite Eight. But many of the faithless thought George Mason was going to give them more than they bargained for. The heart, the hatred, and the increased bulge of the wallet has me leaning toward the Wildcats. However, this is not your father’s UK team, nor are the Buckeyes. It’s confusing and complicated as the Madness should be. I’m obviously unfit to make a pure pick in this one. Too many attachments and issues either way. Perhaps I’m best served to barricade myself out of sight of a television and away from all communication and internet service providing devices to avoid any folly associated with picking this game.

However, they’re coming to get me, Barbara. The virus of the madness has spread on an epic scale. The streets of the tri-state area will be clear come the approximate tip-off time of 9:45 p.m.. I’m staying glued to the television until the news comes that the threat has passed. The madness of March is a zombie outbreak indeed come to feast upon the brains and disposable income of this emotionally attached, fanatical, and depraved degenerate hoping to profit on the playoff format. The end is drawing ever more closer. Tonight, I just want to be right. I want to be somewhere familiar, where I know where the exits are and I want to be allowed to smoke.