Marchy Madness

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Watch for it...the official according to Prairie Country declaration of the Cinderella team in the 2009 NCAA Tournament is the North Dakota State University Bison.

Last night, the Bison beat Oakland -- yes, Oakland! -- with a last second 3-pt shot to win 66-64.

You heard it here first...the Bison will be the team to watch. The incredible story of the little university that could rise from Division 2 to Division 1AA and enter the NCAA in our first year of eligibility.

the Bison became the first NCAA-recognized team since the 1970 Long Beach State squad to advance to the Big Dance in its first year of eligibility.

Oh, and ESPN? Get it right. It's not N Dak State. It's NDSU. And it's the Bizon, the Mighty, Mighty Bizon...

Something to cheer about in these times.
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Now back to our previously scheduled digging out of the blizzard.....
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crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette

Props to the Phillies

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Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies, winners of the 2008 World Series. Here in Prairie Country, where Fargo is the home of 61-in-61--"some say" still baseball's homerun king, Roger Maris--we take our baseball seriously.

To the roster of homegrown baseball stars Darin Erstad and Rick Helling, now is added Phillies catcher Chris Coste.

You do Fargo-Moorhead and your hometown team, the RedHawks, proud.

Winners never quit.
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Fatherhood: Teachable Moments and Uncomfortable Truths, Part 1–Sportsmanship

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We saw a trifecta of teachable moments provided by larger-than-life figures in their own fields this weekend. And the plan is to talk about each of them in coming days. I suspect you can readily name which public figures I'll be writing about, but just in case, they are: Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, and Tim Russert.

Or rather, since a gazillion words and videominutes have been devoted to Mr. Russert already in all quarters, the lesson of the Friends of Tim.

Sunday, Tiger Woods played familiar ground in the U.S. Open, but it was ground that had been altered. The course "toughened up" to challenge all the players, not just Woods. Tiger had been "toughened up" too—walking the course on a surgery-ed knee that some said was not yet ready for the rigors of a championship game.

Mr. Sunshine reminded me of a time when Tiger's father reminisced about the hours they played together when Tiger was a boy, how he'd drop things just as Tiger was about to swing or putt, or make noise. And when Tiger complained, he'd tell him that nobody else would be better prepared to play, when the time came, than Tiger.

That showed in Sunday afternoon's play, in the moments when sports announcers muttered darkly about why did he aim that way, what happened to that swing...and even the moment when Tiger's own temper was on full display as he smashed down a club.

And yet, he played on, red-shirt dogged with the drive of competition.

He was behind Rocco Mediate at the 18th Hole. Rocco already in the clubhouse watching on teevee.

And yet, the character of a true champion resonated with each swing as Tiger showed a living lesson in playing through pain, in striving for excellence, in never giving up, in being an athlete showing all who seek to emulate him what true sportsmanship is, in being a new father giving his own child a worthy role model on Father's Day.

And then he made that last putt, a birdie, to tie up the game, set up today's playoff. He knew it was going in and the exuberance, the celebration, was itself an act of beauty. Already a winner, always a champion.

UPDATE—and it's almost anticlimactic, isn't it: Tiger Woods wins the U.S. Open sudden death playoff on a birdie.

*****

Until the next time, some thoughts worth your time:
On Barack Obama, by scarecrow at firedoglake.
On Tim Russert, by egregious.

And I'll have more to say, as well.

East Side-West Side Court Side Story

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After earlier today talking of a Shark, seems only a propos (that word isn't condescending, is it?) to speak of a man who's taken off like a Jet...

and judge a man by the company he keeps...on the basketball court. Pickup game with Ft. Bragg troops, courtesy HBO's Real Sports

Million Mega-Watt Smile

There's a difference between winners and also-rans. You can accept it with good grace, like George Clooney, acknowledging that Daniel Day Lewis is something in a whole ’nother stratosphere.

As is Tiger Woods to Phil Mickelson. And Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton.

Sportsmanship’s been on display a lot lately, more off the field than on. We’re getting a good education in what makes an iconic figure in a chosen field, be it baseball or golf, politics or film.

It’s not lost on Prairie that the stench of corruption has followed one man from Texas baseball to the “hardball” practiced by the White House team.

If you haven’t yet seen it, check out this 60 Minutes report on the political show trial and prosecution persecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman...now labelled felon sitting in prison.

This is stuff straight out of the old Soviet. Sorry times we’ve come to, indeed.

The man from Texas tells us he’s the decider, the commander in chief, the one lookin’ for those WMD under the desk in the Oval, that he doesn’t have a problem with dictators as long as he gets to be one.

On his watch, under his command: Hugh has a list that’ll knock your eyes out. The Siegelman story is only the latest.

In the meantime, though, give a thought to the power of a smile, and words of hope, and the seasoning to win and win and win again.

And never trust the smile of a man without lips. Nor truth in his heart.

Preacherman

Listening to Charles Barkley talk to Wolf Blitzer on CNN this Sunday morning was a powerful lesson in positioning and framing. Barkley said forthrightly that he is pro-choice, he supports gay —“it's none of my business”—marriage, and he moved to Alabama in 2007 and will be running for governor in 2014.

Barkley's a strong Obama supporter and sees him as both friend and role model for the black community. But whoever the nominee is this year, Barkley, who says he's an independent, will be votin' Democratic.

And he took on the Christian conservative meme that the rightwing and the co-opted lazy media have been pushing for years. "Fake Christians," says Barkley, who've annointed themselves the judges, hypocrites who totally ignore the imprecation to judge not and be forgiving.

Does it take a sports icon to gain traction in the media against the judgmentalists who've held sway over the conventional wisdom far too long?

UPDATE: HuffPo's got the video.