More hoops

First things first. Please, please, please head over to the Open Source page to listen to the John Edgar Wideman interview taped on Friday. It's a terrific accompaniment to the Barack Obama speech on race, as Chris Lydon points out. Wideman is an incredibly talented and challenging writer, who loves to tackle gritty, difficult material. His latest novel, Fanon, continues his trademark style, but hearing him speak may encourage you to check out his work. As one of America's most erudite and articulate writers, if you stick with him, you'll be paid back tenfold. So download the segment, and see if you're tempted to read him. (All you die hard Stanford women's basketball fans may remember him as Jamila's dad!)

Actually, while you're there, take a look at their broadcasts. I stumbled upon the program during its brief stint on KQED-FM at midnight? 1 am? Every night I listened to the most interesting guests on all manner of topics -- and in spite of the ungodly hour I could not turn the show off. Whether it's Helen Vendler "Reading and Riffing on W.B. Yeats," or Randall Kennedy on Race, or What Went Wrong on Our Way to Iraq, or a four-part series on the future of Cuba that catches your interest, you'll want to keep coming back to find out what's new and thought-provoking to Christopher Lydon and his staff.

Now.
If you had told me that Stanford coach Trent Johnson would be ejected on a technical during a game on the way to the Big Dance, I would have told you to get off the crack pipe.

And. Now.
I would have been wrong.

In the first half, in a game away from the Sweet Sixteen, against a gutsy and talented Marquette team, Trent Johnson blew his stack and got. kicked. out. of. the. game. Ejected. Sent to the locker room. Forced to watch the game on the monitor. Trent Johnson. Mr. Subdued. Mr. Cool, Collected and Class Act.

Now it wasn't one of those Bobby Knight eruptions. It was volatile on the Coach J. meter, and for the life of me I couldn't see why he didn't let it go. But he didn't. Unforeseeable. And unbelievable. So the coaching staff had to take over for the rest of the game, and you couldn't watch without that sense of impending doom. If they lost, it would definitely be Coach Johnson's fault and there would be a really ugly conversation with the Athletic Director once he came back to campus. But thanks to the clutch play of Brook and Robin Lopez, the Cardinal squeaked out a one point win in overtime. Let me say it again -- unbelievable. I was a knitting demon during parts of that game, because I. just. couldn't. bear. to. watch. Oh, and I'm still worried about that post-tourney conversation with the A.D.

And though I wouldn't believe that my UCLA love could ever waver, in the second game played at Anaheim's Honda Arena, the Texas A&M Aggies stole my heart. Isn't it always the way? After the favored #3 seed eked out a win, I was ripe for backing the underdog. And the Aggies were all heart out there. All heart. And UCLA looked... underwhelming. Overrated. Entitled. Things I hate my team to be. So even when they came roaring back, I was behind the Aggies. To maybe teach them a lesson. Blow out the bracket. Make someone a fortune. But in the end -- UCLA is UCLA. And that is still bank. With that emphatic dunk to end the game, they roll on to Phoenix on Thursday. But they better bring some of that Aggie grit with them, because I think there's a big a** target on their back.

I did get my underdog fix with the West Virginia win over Duke. Which surprised me because I had never seen them play prior to the tournament, and I was a little iffy about that Pioneer Man mascot. But the way they played within themselves the whole game, and their unbridled excitement coming down the stretch completely won me over. I must say I've been impervious to Duke and the Coach K mystique, and they were under the gun having played tight against Belmont.

There used to be a Stanford basketball t-shirt that read: Food. Shelter. Hoops. Loved that. But to give myself a little balance, I'm off now to fill Easter baskets.