Optimist thread Ideas to survive no march madness

[jimsumner]

You’ve started something- I walk past two swans nearly everyday - they will be named Bilas and Dickie.

If you find one that's a little unhinged you can call it Walton.

[budwom]

what in the world will ESPN do other than re-live the last 20 NFL combines?

[camion]

And Here's Jay.

jay-swan.jpg

[MarkD83]

When I started this thread I never imagined it would progress to a discussion of screaming at swans...but this is DBR.

What I had in mind was a 3 week discussion of the 1991 NCAA tournament.

From my end I will start with a new thread tomorrow (what was supposed to be selection Sunday) that is entitled "1991 NCAA Tournament". I will post the 1991 bracket as it would have been posted before the tournament. I will also add links to the stats for the top teams. For Duke I will add links to a few box scores of games before the tournament so we can see who was playing well.

In the same thread I will assume that Duke plays on Thurs / Sat for the first two weekends and of course Sat / Mon for the Final four. The day before each game I will add a post to the thread entitled "Pre-game" for Duke's opponent and will add the opponent's 1991 stats. On game day in the evening I will add a post to the thread entitled "In-Game and post game" and will add videos that I can find and the box score / play by play of the game.

Finally on the Sundays of the first two weekends I will post an updated NCAA bracket (Sweet 16 bracket and Final four bracket).

As usually folks can comment in any way they see fit. If this does not pan out too well we can at least have some fun reminiscing.

[mgtr]

DUKELIFER - Thanks for the link Working my way through the Duke games. Have watched Purdue and Baylor so far. I don't recall much about the WVa game, I will learn that tomorrow. Of course I remember the Butler game with Singler ending up flat on the floor and how close that 3 point shot came. Good times reliving success. For balance, I will watch some games with less happy outcomes.

[dukelifer]

DUKELIFER - Thanks for the link Working my way through the Duke games. Have watched Purdue and Baylor so far. I don't recall much about the WVa game, I will learn that tomorrow. Of course I remember the Butler game with Singler ending up flat on the floor and how close that 3 point shot came. Good times reliving success. For balance, I will watch some games with less happy outcomes.

I watched the WVa game today - I was there live and never re-watched it. Duke played a great game - maybe their best game of the year.

[DukieInKansas]

I watched the end of the 1991 Final followed by various parts of the 2001 MD semi-final. I couldn't remember the swing in the MD game - it was 33 points from our largest deficit to the final winning margin.

[CameronBlue]

And Here's Jay.

jay-swan.jpg

I see the resemblance, they both think they can walk on water.

[Kdogg]

If they still published the NCAA video game we could have had our own tournament. Random assigned teams of course. Heck I might dust off my old copy with Jason Williams on the cover.

[fuse]

As much as I appreciate and enjoy Jon Pence (@scacchoops on twitter), I wonder how much DBR angst would have arisen with Duke as the 3 seed in the West.

Will be quite fun to see how the simulated bracket works out.
Other than geography, the bracket looked reasonable for Duke.

If anyone has any search tips for ESPN app, streaming, or ESPN+, you’d think there would be good archived Duke basketball content to watch.
No such luck.

Did enjoy watching the miracle minute earlier today.

[MChambers]

is showing 2020 Duke at UNCheat tonight at 7 pm.

[brevity]

This thread seems like a good place to suggest programming/streaming options to counter sports withdrawal.

Ken Burns' documentary series Baseball is available at PBS. (You may need local station access; I'm not sure.)

Food Network TV is doing Tournament of Champions, a 16-chef single-elimination tournament bracket. Even if you are burned out on televised cooking competitions, the format is pretty good. The first two episodes are available online (you will need cable/provider access), and new episodes air Wednesday nights.

The ACC Network is showing a pair of documentaries tonight and early tomorrow morning (Sunday and Monday): Unbelievable: Virginia's Improbable Path to a Title and The Class That Saved Coach K.

Can you think of any other sports or sports-adjacent shows? I saw something on Fox Sports this morning that focused on Tommy Amaker and Harvard, but I don't know the program title and couldn't find information on it online. It wasn't Men of March, which is on YouTube if you'd like to see that...

[hallcity]

I’ve got to quit torturing myself by looking at my scoreboard app to see all the sporting events I’m missing.

[mccollums]

Good news is I haven't seen a Buick or a Progressive commercial in about a week

[burnspbesq]

Liga MX is still operating. America vs. Cruz Azul at 10 eastern on UniMas.

[MartyClark]

Well, Colorado spring skiing is out.

I'm working at home and just watched a replay of Duke beating Carolina in last year's ACC tournament. I usually don't watch replays but enjoyed this.

[Reddevil]

Well, Colorado spring skiing is out.

I'm working at home and just watched a replay of Duke beating Carolina in last year's ACC tournament. I usually don't watch replays but enjoyed this.

That one makes me nervous even though I know that last shot does not fall. Man, they squeaked by a few times!

[peteandpete]

Are you bleeping kidding me? Due to time constraints we move ahead....

[Mal]

I can't believe that CBS, who (a) owns the rights to every NCAA Tournament game going back pretty much forever, (b) has nothing else to broadcast, and (c) has a hungry audience that's sitting at home with a massive need for distraction, hasn't yet made the following happen:

Starting Thursday, broadcast a countdown of the 63 greatest NCAA Tournament games of all time. They could play 16 classic games Thursday, 16 more Friday, 8 each Saturday and Sunday, just like a normal tournament. No advance notice as to which games are going to be broadcast or in which order/time slot. Just play 'em and let people react with glee - "Awwww, yes, the Bryce Drew Valpo buzzer beater game! Love that one!"

Imagine one tournament that includes Villanova-Georgetown, Duke-Kentucky, NC State-Houston, UMBC-Virginia, Loyola Marymount-Michigan, George Mason-UConn and 50+ other great games without a single blowout. Bonus in that we'd probably get UNLV '91 and Butler '10, too. And possibly Weber State. How can we make this happen?

[MChambers]

On ESPNU, a 2002 high school game, with LeBron’s high school team taking on Oak Hill. Announcers include Bilas, Vitale, Walton, and Schulman (I think). Bilas hasn’t mentioned the officiating once. Vitale is pretty much the same as today, and Walton is surprisingly coherent. LeBron is being doubled 30 feet from the basket.