One Shining Moment

They actually did it.

Let's Go Duke.

One of Those Days

Today is just one of those days, one of those hands-shaking, heart-pounding, check-the-clock-til-game-time days.

I haven't had one of these days in a long time. I've missed them so much.

Tonight, Duke takes on Butler for the NCAA Championship. I know I'm in the minority in rooting for Coach K and his team, but I really couldn't care less. I'm not a bandwagon fan or someone who likes them because they win all the time (I only started caring once they started losing, unfortunately). No, I'm a Duke fan by birth - my mom loves them, so my sister and I love them. They're not just some team I pick in my bracket or cheer for occasionally. They're my team.

My sister and I on the Duke campus this summer.

It's been so long since my team has played in a game of this magnitude. The last time I was this nervous for a game was probably the start of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007. It's such an amazing feeling to know that the team you love could actually win it all, but it's also such a scary feeling to think that such an amazing ride could be over tonight, too.

I know that I'm in the minority tonight. I know that pretty much everyone on Earth outside of the Duke campus wants to see them lose to Butler. I know that most people hate my team with a passion that I still cannot totally understand. But I won't get into that now, because if I do it will just dissolve into a diatribe about rooting against an upstanding program with a high graduation rate and a class act for a coach, and I want this to be a happy post.

I know I'm rooting for the Evil Empire, the Wicked Stepmother or whatever you want to call the Blue Devils tonight. But I don't care - because they're my team. They've always been my team, since I saw Coach K in Myrtle Beach while I was still in a stroller and didn't have a clue who he was (but my parents knew and remind me all the time about my infant brush with greatness).

I've been to the campus three times, walked on the court at Cameron once, spent way too much money in the bookstore and can make my way around their arena almost better than I can make my way around the KAC at Canisius. Our family's summer pilgrimages to Duke are some of my favorite memories because, for one day, I'm surrounded by people who love my team with a passion that I usually only see in people who hate them.

Today is Dyngus Day, the best Polish holiday of the year. I hope that Mike Krzyzewski gets to celebrate it with a National Championship.

And yes, we can spell it without looking.

I'm excited about another one of my teams today, too - my first and greatest love. I got my Sabres playoff tickets today for the first home game (Section 309, row 11, seats 5 and 6), and I was literally jumping up and down when my order went through this morning. The assurance of getting to see the Sabres in a playoff game, complete with a Party in the Plaza, a new intro video, and so much electricity in the arena, is something I have missed so much.

But there will be more on the Sabres around these parts later this week. For today, I'm focused on the Blue Devils.

In Cameron Indoor Arena, there are three banners for Duke's three championship victories.

I'm hoping that a fourth one joins those ranks tonight.

Bracket Busted

Associated Press

It's done.

Another season over; another "favorite team" walking off in defeat.

Although, this loss is different. Duke isn't a Buffalo team. They're not a team that everyone I know roots for. In fact, outside of my family and about four friends, no one I know bleeds "Duke Blue" (as opposed to Tar Heel Blue) during college basketball season.

It's tough to be in the minority when cheering for a sports team. When they win, you have only a few people to share the joy with. When they lose, you have only a few people to wipe your tears with.

I know most of you could care less about this loss. Maybe some of you picked them in your bracket and you're mad that they got beat 77-54 by lower-seeded Villanova. Maybe some of you called the upset (which was really a bad draw for Duke from the start) and are celebrating their offensive failure. Maybe some of you just genuinely hate the Blue Devils and love to see Coach K. and his team eliminated.

For me, though, this is the third hardest elimination from the postseason to watch (with the Sabres and Bills before it).

Associated Press

It's hard to write about this because I know that a lot of you who read this are happy to see this team go down once again. For some reason, Duke is a perennial "Evil Empire" in college basketball (even if the last time they won the whole thing was in 2001).

That's the thing, though; the more people tell me that they hate this team, the stronger my passion for Duke becomes. I love my small contingent of Duke fans because we share something that very few people understand. We're Cameron Crazies. We can spell Krzyzewski without Google and may have even been to "Krzyzewskiville" itself. We dream of going to Cameron Indoor Arena. We cried when Redick and Williams left without a championship. We rejoice when we see another Facebook status exclaiming "Let's Go Duke!" on game night.

So this is for the people who love Gerald Henderson more than Tyler Hansbrough, who know and appreciate the tragic backstory of Nolan Smith. If I can make one Duke fan who feels alienated from their sports community for liking Greg Paulus feel like they belong, then this post was a success.

To all you Duke haters, go ahead and trash them in the comments like I know you want to. It's only going to fuel my passion for Jon Scheyer and his teammates. Debating makes being a sports fan great, and I am more than ready to defend my Devils.

Bracketology Lessons with M&G

I don't know about you, but I need a break from hockey right now. Between watching teams around us win and watching the Sabres find every new way to let us down, it doesn't feel as fun watching hockey right now as it should.

This is why I am so glad that it's finally March.

I've been a college basketball follower my whole life - my father is a huge Syracuse fan and my mother has always liked Duke. We've been filling out brackets as long as I can remember.

It was only during the NHL lockout that I became an avid lover of March Madness. Without hockey's home-stretch to keep me occupied, I needed another outlet for my sports passion. I found that and so much more in the NCAA Tournament.

I love the whole aura of college basketball, the sense that this is how the game should be played. Yes, there are those players looking for their big NBA payoff, but most of the kids in the tournament are just that - kids who are holding onto their passion for as long as they can. There's an innocence about the fact that there are no big contracts, no endorsement deals, nothing to cloud the fact that these players have true skill and the effort to make that skill even better. That's why, though my favorite team is in a "power conference," I love watching teams from small, mid-major schools succeed. I can't wait for the next George Mason or Davidson to emerge in the coming weeks.

For those of you who come here for Sabres news only, I encourage you to follow the Madness for the next few weeks. I know that the brackets look daunting, but, even if you know nothing about college basketball, fill one out; it'll help you feel invested in every game.

To help you out on that front, I present:

The Muckers and Grinders Guide to Bracketology*

Rule 1: If you're stuck on a match-up, always pick the school with the cooler name.

I try to follow this rule at least once every year. There's always at least one school that sticks out as having a name so cool that it's hard to ignore. Sometimes, it's a school like Austin Peay. Other times, I go with standards like Gonzaga, Xavier, or Marquette. This year, I'm going with Butler because it shares a name with a certain Sabres defenseman and I'm terrible at picking 8-9 games. This rule also applies to cool mascots (ie. Syracuse Orange, Xavier Muskateers).

Rule 2: You can't pick all higher seeds to win.

This rule has four of corollaries: 1.) You cannot choose all of the higher-ranking teams to beat lower ones in the first round. There's going to be an upset (or a few) somewhere, and you'll want the pride of having picked it. 2.) You cannot pick all four of the one seeds to make the Final Four (even though that did happen last year). That's just too easy, and you want people to think that you really thought this through. 3.) Though the first two points may be true, don't overload on the upsets. There's a reason teams like Pitt, UNC, Duke, and Memphis have high seeds; they're good. Selectively go through the match-ups to find the one or two games that you have a gut instinct will go other than predicted. 4.) Picking a nine over an eight doesn't count as an upset in my book.

Two of my first-round upsets: VCU (11) over UCLA (6) and Minnesota (10) over Texas (7)

Rule 3: Alma Maters Matter.

If the school you attended is in the tournament, you have to pick them - no matter the match-up. If (like me), your school never makes it to the Big Dance, pick the team representing its conference if possible. UB didn't make it, but Akron did, so give the Zips a win. If you're a Canisius student or alum (like yours truly), the MAAC's representative is Siena, and I like their match-up against Ohio State (sorry to my cousin Jon who is currently a Buckeye).

Rule 4: Follow Your Heart.

If you follow college basketball with the passion that I do, you surely have "your team." For some, it's the Orange; others like UNC or UConn. Don't be afraid to pick them to go all the way. Sure, somebody in the office is going to call you a homer and you may forfeit your chance to win the pool, but sports are about rooting for the team you love. What's the point in picking Louisville to win the whole thing if you really love Kansas?

Every year my sister and I pick the same team to go all the way. We fill out our brackets knowing that the chances of them winning are slim to none, but that doesn't matter to us. What matters is that we get to root for the Duke Blue Devils in every round until they're eliminated. I know that they'll most likely have to get through Pitt to get to the Final Four, so maybe picking them is not the smartest idea for anyone looking to get it right. Still, someday my sister and I will be the ones celebrating when Coach K cuts down the nets, and the fact that we won on our brackets will be the last thing on our minds.

*Said guide does not guarantee a successful bracket. In fact, if past performance by the creator is any idicator, it will guarantee nothing but funny looks and comments of "seriously?" when others look at your bracket.