The latest sign society is going to the Dark Side: This afternoon, as we were watching little George Mason make the enormous upset and the Final Four as a No. 11 seed, one of the guys was actually cheering for UConn.
This guy isn't from Connecticut. He didn't go to UConn. He's not even a UConn fan. He was cheering for his office pool bracket.
If it hadn't been his house, we might have kicked him out. That's like cheering against Hickory at the end of "Hoosiers." He probably yells out, "Kill him, Darth!" during Star Wars.
Yes, it's for money, but he's not in Rick Neuheisel's office pool. He can't retire if he wins.
It's like those guys who cheer for their fantasy players, even against their favorite team. This blog is not exaggerating when it says that should be at least a misdemeaner.
Did you notice how UConn is becoming the new Duke? They're the new evil empire. In the tournament, no matter how many times it looked like they were going to lose, they pulled it out. Until today.
In the last 10 minutes, George Mason made everything. Three-pointers. Hook shots. Jumpers. Layups. It seemed like they were dominating the Huskies. And still UConn had a shot to tie at the buzzer, a reverse layup that shouldn't have gone in, a layup that was bouncing off the rim until some force of evil pulled it back.
In overtime, it was the same. George Mason excelled. The shots fell. The radio announcers screamed. And still, somehow, UConn had a shot to win at the end. Not just tie, win. And you had to believe that last shot was going in, like there was some force that wouldn't let them lose.
But they did get beat, and not because the Huskies screwed up or played bad. They just got beat. They got beat by the George Mason Patriots, the shorter team with less talent and no bench from a conference no one ever talks about.
You couldn't help but cheer. Most of us, anyway.
