The NCAA men’s basketball tourney drew 44,262 for three sessions, and a good time was had by eight teams and their fans. But whether March Madness returns is an open question.
Author: Art Thiel
Art Thiel
Never having met a metaphor he could not twist beyond recognition, Art has been illuminating, agitating, amusing and annoying Puget Sound sports readers for a long time. Along with Steve Rudman, he co-founded Sports Press Northwest because it didnt seem right that the Google monster should aggregate daily journalism into oblivion without at least a flesh wound from somebody. Thiel and Rudman labored under the Seattle Post-Intelligencer globe until the print edition died an undeserved death in March, 2009. Art continued on at its online successor seattlepi.com while working on SPNWs creation. His radio commentaries can be heard Friday and Saturday mornings and Friday afternoon on KPLU-FM 88.9. In 2003 he wrote the definitive book about the Seattle Mariners, Out of Left Field, which became a regional bestseller. In 2009, along with Rudman and KJR 950 afternoon host Mike Gastineau, Thiel authored The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists, a cross between historylink.org and Mad Magazine that has become mandatory reading for any sports fan who has an indoor bathroom. A graduate of Pacific Lutheran University as well as two dead papers and a live one, the News Tribune of Tacoma, he has become a fan of entrepreneurial online journalism because it allows him to continue a lifelong passion to take the English language to places it rarely visits willingly, and does not involve the cleaning of kennels or stables.
QB Russell Wilson’s anticipated contract extension is not imminent, but mostly because the Seahawks are occupied with free agency, DE Michael Bennett has expressed no desire to be traded and DT Brandon Mebane is wanted back. Those were the key news items Monday from Seahawks general manager John Schneider, who answered questions for 10 minutes
“They have weapons any way you look at it,” said exasperated Iowa coach Fran McCaffrey as Gonzaga whipped the Hawkeyes and moved to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tourney.
17 NCAA tourney appearances in a row is impressive, but a weak conference and no Final Fours leave Gonzaga with an odd place in the college basketball firmament.
In the final of four second-round games Friday at Key Arena, Gonzaga’s runaway over North Dakota State turned tense, but the Bulldogs calmed down and prevailed 86-76.
Just when Cal-Irvine needed to Mamadou, instead the Anteaters decided to Mamadon’t. All game long, the Seattle region’s most unusual man, 7-foot-6 Mamadou Ndiaye, hovered over the KeyArena proceedings like a pterodactyl, his 8-foot-3 wingspan casting a shadow over an athletically far superior Louisville team.
4th-seeded Louisville is faster, more experienced than Cal-Irvine, in its first Big Dance. But they can’t shoot outside, and inside Mamadou Ndiaye is 7-foot-6. Upset special?
The NCAA tourney annually revives a sluggish industry. But without the gambling pools and the occasional 15-over-2 win, would such a regional sport be a big deal?
Shocking retirement after one year by Chris Borland has some forecasting NFL doom. Here’s a better idea: Make owners pay current/former players fairly for risking their lives.
A delightful happy hour of hoops talk, good food, drink and views awaits you when you join Art Thiel and Mike Gastineau at the World Trade Center March 24.