There have been some spectacular highs this year. Beating K-State three times and Mizzou twice. Winning another Big 12 title. Getting the #1 overall seed in this year’s NCAA tournament. All great things.

But today sucked.

Photo by Nick Krug, source: KUSports.com

There were so many reasons that KU lost today:

• UNI’s ridiculous (and extremely timely) outside shooting
• UNI’s tenacious interior defense combined with the fact that KU couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from behind the 3-point arc
• UNI’s dominance on the boards (particularly offensive)
• KU’s complete indifference in the first 32 minutes of the game
• Self’s decision NOT to press until it was too late
• Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich being complete non-factors in the game

As a KU fan, you have to expect a fair amount of ribbing from your K-State and Mizzou friends when you lose. The general tone of others when KU loses is usually harmless enough, but today, it seemed like the vitriol was downright nasty. I don’t understand it.

As a Jayhawk fan, I expect excellence because that is what I’m used to. I’m obviously disappointed in the loss. But I don’t know why I shouldn’t be. Or why I shouldn’t expect the best from my team. My team has been the best in the NCAA for the majority of the year. Why should I expect anything less?

The majority of KU haters that I talk to (mostly on Twitter) say that the main reason that they hate KU is that we act entitled. I don’t get that. I don’t feel entitled to wins. I just expect them. There’s a big difference between expectation and entitlement.

Now, I wouldn’t expect a K-State or Mizzou fan to know the difference…I don’t think they teach that.

OK, that was a cheap shot. But let’s be honest: all the KU hate from K-State and Mizzou fans seems more like envy than anything else. I want to ask the same K-State and MU fans what they expect of their teams once they’ve managed to string together several winning seasons in a row. And I think that both teams may be well on their way to that. Frank Martin is a significantly better coach than I thought and Mike Anderson’s Tigers just continue to outperform expectations.

But see, therein lies the major difference between KU and its Big 12 competition. KU has won or tied for the regular season Big 12 Championship 10 out of the 14 years that the conference has been in existence. We’ve been to the tournament 15 more times than K-State and MU and have more Final Four appearances and championships than both teams combined.

Both K-State and Mizzou are on their way back to being strong contenders in Big 12 Basketball. But until they start to compete year after year after year, they can’t really tell KU fans that they should just be “happy to be there.” Because to us, we expect excellence. Just getting to the tournament is not enough.

One thing to note before you blast away in the comments: I know that there are exceptions to this. There are in every situation. I am leaving this open to comments.

However, as soon as the playoffs start, the NBA is worth watching. The Nuggets’ win over the Lakers last night was a prime reason why the NBA is worth watching during the post-season. Because players try. There is intrigue (Kobe vs. Melo vs. Lebron). There are villains (Kobe). There are freaks (Pau Gasol, who looks like Scott Macintyre’s uglier, hairier older brother). And there are the good guys (Chauncey Billups).

It all makes for some entertaining sport.

I’m rooting for the Cavs to win it all. Lebron James is just so crazy talented and the Cavs have had such a great season that I would love to see them win. As far as Kobe vs. Lebron? I could care less. Would I prefer to watch Lebron stomp on Kobe’s stupid face? Sure. Would I smile a little bit if the Nuggets beat the Lakers and sent Pau Gasol back to his summer residence in Uglytown? Absolutely.

So now what? The weather has turned warmer (must be that global warming stuff) and work is crazy. I’m finding that I’m more productive out of the office than in…what does that mean? It means that fluorescent lights are rough on me…that cubicle walls are stifling my creativity.

Fortunately, I work at a company that is understanding of my need for environmental hugs. It helps to be comfortable. It also is awesome to be able to work in these Mossimo cutoff sweat shorts during the day. I’ve been busting my tail to get this presentation done for my upcoming conference this week and I’m looking forward to working on some new projects.

So what now? The Masters is this weekend – one of my favorite golf events of the season. I won’t be able to catch most of it because I’ll be at the conference, but I’ll catch the final round and watch Tiger win another green jacket. 

My last few weeks has been absolutely crazy. I’m looking forward to a little slower pace for a while.

How have you been?

Photo courtesy of KUSports.com by Thad Allender.

“Hey, if I told you before the game we were going to be up nine with 10 minutes left, would we have taken that? If I told you we’d be up four at the under-eight timeout, would you have taken that?”

Perspective. That’s all it took for the Jayhawks to snap out of their funk and finish the job they’d started at the beginning of the game. The Roy demons are exorcised. Maybe we can lay that bad blood to rest and begin to honor a man who spent 15 years making Kansas a perennial contender in college basketball instead of booing him when he’s announced before games.

Tonight’s final is going to be a terrific game. Memphis has some terrific players, but Kansas is a better team. If Kansas can play as good as they did for 2/3 of the game on Saturday, I think we’ll see crimson and blue streamers tonight. If their defensive intensity remains high, I believe they’ll succeed. If not, Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts will play their game. Those two players are the only ones who present significant match-up problems for the Jayhawks.

And don’t give me that Joey Dorsey stuff. KU is just too deep at the post for him to be nearly as effective as he was against the Kevin Love Show. Love isn’t tough and he refused to contest Dorsey underneath. We’ll call him “Darrell Arthur”. But KU has Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun and Cole Aldrich who will be more than enough to combat Dorsey underneath.

I imagine that the Jayhawk fan in me is starting to cloud my vision a little, but I think KU is the toughest match-up Memphis will have faced up to this point. Two great teams will clash tonight and I am hoping for that celebration in Lawrence.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!

• The players don’t play hard enough
• The players are paid too much
• Free agency gives you no ability to root for teams because players move around
• The dunk contest is boring

Don’t deny that the last one is a reason the NBA has gone downhill. The dunk contest lost its luster after Cedric Ceballos dunked blindfolded. There haven’t been any really innovative dunks in probably 5 years. That is, until last weekend’s All-Star Weekend.

The dunk contest was between Orlando’s Dwight Howard and defending champion Gerald Green from the jump. Both of them had brilliant dunks in the first round and really it was a contest between the two of the them. When Howard pulled out the Superman cape, you knew it was over. Still, Gerald Green’s “Birthday Cake” was one of the most creative dunks I’ve ever seen.

Just before the trade deadline, the Cavaliers, Supersonics and Bulls managed to work out a blockbuster trade that sent Big Ben Wallace and Wally “Don’t try to spell it” Szczerbiak to the Cavs to help out LeBron James. A sidenote of the trade is that it sent former Jayhawk (and Cavs contributer) Drew Gooden to Chicago, where he’ll be reunited with former teammate Kirk Hinrich. Two Jayhawks on the same NBA team? I may have just found someone to root for. Now if they would have only managed to get Nick Collison from the Sonics to the Bulls, we would have really been in business.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a Kansas Jayhawks basketball fan. I remember when I was 12 in 1988 and they won the National Title. I remember going to the Final Four in New Orleans to watch them in 1993 when Chris Webber called the timeout in the title game that sealed the game for North Carolina.

I’ve experienced the pains of losing to Bucknell and others, but I’ll forever be a Jayhawk, even if I went to Graceland.

Last night, I got to do something that I’ve always wanted to as a fan, but never had experienced – I got to see a game at Allen Field House, the hallowed, historic hall where the Jayhawks call home. My buddy Josh procured some General Admission tickets so we took the trek out to Lawrence with Brett and Mike D for an evening in the best college basketball venue in America.

We got there a little late (driving to Lawrence from JoCo when all of you work makes it hard to get there on time), but the game had barely started. We came in through the KU Hall of Fame, which is really cool. They have the old Midcourt up there, which is pretty neat.

The game was against Washburn, so it was bound to be a blowout, but the real exciting thing was that we got to see the return of Brandon Rush to action. Rush, who hurt his knee in the off-season, returned from surgery much more quickly than expected. I imagine that they wanted to give him a test against a lesser opponent just to see how he did. I think he ended up with 7 points, 0 turnovers, and a block.

It was a fun evening and KU ended up winning by more than 30. The halftime show was all of these frisbee dogs and it was pretty funny. One of them had a red-white-and-blue cape, which was hilarious. They also kept showing scores from the Oregon-Arizona football game, which had BCS implications for the undefeated Jayhawks. When they flashed up that Oregon was losing, the place went nuts.

Sports Illustrated just ran a photo essay called “10 Cities in a Sports Slump“. Here was their list:

1. Philadelphia
2. Atlanta
3. Buffalo
4. Cleveland
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul
6. New York City
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Los Angeles
9. Seattle
10. Cincinnati

Look, I can appreciate how frustrating it must be for New Yorkers to have unlimited means at their disposal and to have their baseball team win the World Series only once every 3 years, but…no wait…I CAN’T. Kansas City is perennially disappointed when it comes to sports, both professional and collegiate. The Chiefs haven’t won a playoff game in almost 15 years, the Royals are…well, THE FREAKING ROYALS, and our college teams take quality basketball teams (I’m talking only THIS side of the state line here) almost there, but never all the way.

My last post was a rant about how coastal bias keeps the Midwest out of a lot of consideration and I think this is just another example of that. Why else would LA and NY be included in the list? Poor LA. Only 2 NCAA football titles, 3 Final Fours,  1 National Basketball Championship, 3 straight NBA titles (2000-2002) and that’s only since 1995. New York’s arrogance is proven by what SI had to say:

Even though there are some winning teams, the headlines are filled with the Knicks’ front-office issues and the Yankees’ bloated payroll and their recent split with Joe Torre. The Mets had a historic collapse this season, the Rangers are struggling despite spending lots of money in the offseason, and the Jets’ collapse balances out any success the Giants are having.

Apparently their successes are outweighed by their failures because they have SO MANY TEAMS. Must be rough.

And SI’s reason for including Atlanta: “The Braves made the playoffs for the last 14 years and missed them the last 2.” Really? That’s your argument? OK, I’ll let it slide because of Michael Vick and the Hawks, who have sucked since they lost Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb.

Is it comforting that we aren’t on this list or is it just another slap in the face, telling us that if you aren’t a major market, you don’t matter? You decide.

There are some people who think that’s a bad thing (*cough cough*). I’m not one of them.

Look, I realize that it sucks that people won’t have a specific team to root for over the next couple of years, but I will guarantee that there will be a basketball or hockey team (god forbid) in there before the end of 2008. The truth is that it doesn’t matter. The place is going to be wildly successful.

One of the most exciting things about it is that it all but assures the return of the Big 12 Tournament to its rightful place here in Kansas City. And while that might only be for a week in March, I’ve got an inside source that says that AEG has over 200 events lined up over the next year. Anchor tenants do not make money for facilities. They get free rent, they typically struggle through growing pains, and considering that our best bet is hockey…well…I’d rather get an Arena Football team.

I wish that folks would see the bright side of this arena. Hannah Montana, Garth Brooks, Elton John – these are acts wouldn’t come near Kansas City in the past because our facility was hopelessly outdated. They would have opted for other booming cities like Oklahoma City or Omaha who have had the foresight to actually build modern arenas. The only thing Kemper had to offer was the ghost of Owen Hart haunting the catwalks.

I recognize that you wish that you didn’t have to pay scalper prices for tickets, but you should be appreciative that we are getting those events to begin with. Would you rather have to travel to St. Louis and figure out a way to buy tickets there, travel, get a hotel room, etc.?

I am thrilled to have an arena of this caliber opening in Kansas City. Like I said, some of these events wouldn’t touch KC with a ten-foot pole until the new arena was built. And unlike the area surrounding Kemper Arena, the area surrounding the Sprint Center is already under development and will likely have some decent pull. Out of all the problems the Sprint Center has, I would imagine that there is not one that is larger than parking. And that will always be a problem until people make it a priority. I imagine that as soon as Paul Saleh or James Hance, Jr., can’t find parking, it will become quite a priority.

I can’t figure out how a dude as ugly as Noah is being considered a first-round NBA pick…that guy is NO GOOD. He will stink in the NBA. Mark my words.

Not only that, I can’t figure out why scouts have Brandon Rush and Julian Wright both bouncing from KU to the NBA this off-season. In my opinion, Rush is the only one that could even consider it, but he stands to make a lot more money if he sticks around for a year. His stock could rise significantly (see: Corey Brewer, Florida) if he were to stay and lead the Jayhawks to their first championship in almost 20 years next year.

If both Rush and Wright return, we should be the pre-season #1. If we aren’t, I’ll be convinced that there are people voting that just don’t watch college basketball. For the first 2 rounds of the tournament, no one acted more like a #1 seed than my beloved Jayhawks. After a gritty performance against a tough Southern Illinois team, it was really a let down to see them self-destruct in a way to UCLA. And then, seeing UCLA get dominated by Florida was all the more frustrating, considering that we matched up much better against the Gators.

I think that Sherron Collins knee injury likely had a lot more to do with the loss than we thought, and I am anxious to see how he performs as a seasoned sophomore. Here’s hoping he keeps his weight down because when he lost that 20 pounds, he was KU’s X-factor.

Even if Rush and Wright both go to the NBA, Bill Self will just reload with a bunch more studs. I would just really like to see us play more together as a team than we seemed to in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. The coming weeks will be interesting and here’s hoping that everyone sticks around to make a run at greatness.

And here’s hoping that I never have to watch Joakim Noah dance ever again. Seriously. That dude got hit by the #1 Ugly Bus when he was crossing Main Street in Uglytown.