The best thing about being laid off is the newfound freedom that comes with all the newfound freetime.  Yes, there are certain responsibilities that must be taken care of such as hunting for new jobs and bathing.  But one can do those things only so often, right?  Even though there’s the unfortunate side effect of not having a steady paycheck, being jobless also means that if I want to take an afternoon to do something entertaining, I can.  And guess what, I’m doing it again today…NCAA Tournament-style!

However, I’ve got reinforcements this time!  Allow me to go third-person for a bit…fortunately for Sparty, but unfortunately for them, Mizerle06 is not the only jobless blogger that writes for this site; you all know HuskerDawg, right?  He’s gonna be helping Miz out today.  They’re going to be attempting something today that no man, woman, or blogger has ever attempted before* – a simultaneous two-post live-blog.  HuskerDawg will be covering a game or two while at the same time, Miz will be covering a different game.  Comments will be open in both posts.  By the way, the unemployment rate here among the writers at S&F is hovering aroung 22.2%…Sparty sure picks some motivated , cream-of-the-crop guys as his cohorts!

So, while you losers** are at your precious little jobs and winning some bread, we’re gonna be kicking back and watching some college roundball madness.  We’ll make sure to tell you about it though so buckle in, saddle up, spread some more deodorant on…do whatever it is you feel is necessary to get ready for this groundbreaking event because it’s gonna be a wild ride.  That’s what we hope at least.  

*We don’t know if that’s true or not; it just makes for a better dramatic effect though if we go ahead and claim that it is.
**Jobs are for losers.

HuskerDawg, take it away:

Alright ladies and gents…it’s tourney time–or at least it’s close…like 30 minutes. I’ll be watching Memphis’ gang rape..er..well-earned victory over CS Northridge on the tube while keeping up with the LSU-Butler pivotal 8-9 matchup. There will be updates to the post every so often and I will be commenting from now until around 3 until duty calls.

12:23: Butler looks like a bunch of slow white dudes and LSU is giving it to them 9-0 with 18:18 left in the first. Could be a long day if Butler can’t slow the pace down.

12:25: Good seats-a-plenty still available for both early games. I wonder how the lack of a robust economy will affect the ticket sales for these early games.

12:29: The fightin’ CS Northridge Matadors open up to a surprising 9-2 run. Over-under for how long someone mentions the word upset?

12:34: Memphis seems to have settled down a bit. We’re at the under 16 timeout with Memphis down 3, but playing a tempo that CS cannot keep up with. LSU continues to hold Butler to 3 points and Texas A&M and BYU are just under way.

12:44: Memphis finds themselves in an interesting position. Down 1 early but foul trouble has them already in the penalty with 12 minutes left in the half. Memphis has some seriously active hands on D, but this could bite them in the ass if the refs are into ticky-tack fouls.

12:53: Memphis looks like every player went on a 3 day bender. Sloppy play and stupid decisions all over the place…and they’re up 4 with 9:30 to go.

1:04: Don’t look now but BYU is within 8 after having been down by 16 earlier in the half. LSU is slowly pulling away from Butler (up 13) and Memphis can’t seem to put distance between them and CS Northridge even though Sallie has a career high 17 points in the half (he averages 4.5 a GAME).

1:!2: Butler ends the half on a nice run to close within 6 while TAMU keeps pouring it on BYU leading 40-27.

1:19: Memphis simply cannot put CS Northridge away. Evans and Dozier have been in foul trouble since the early part of the half and, if not for the heroics of Sallie, would be down by double digits. TAMU continues to handle BYU with a nice 42-30 lead at halftime. So far the story of the day has to be Memphis looking pretty weak against the 15th seeded Matadors. Memphis leads 34-31 at the half.

BREAKING NEWS: Jim Calhoun will not coach tonight against Chattanooga as he has gone to the hospital for an undisclosed illness.

1:50: Butler has clawed back to within 2 and TAMU is still giving it to BYU funky style. Memphis continues to struggle holding a slight 40-37 lead. The 2nd seeded Tigers are looking very sluggish and are lucky to be ahead.

1:55: Memphis finds themselves down 44-43 after a transition 3.

2:04: Memphis finds themselves down 1 with under 11 to go. This would be the upset of the decade easily and could quite possibly be the biggest ever. LSU is clinging to a 2 point lead over Butler and TAMU is drilling BYU. Mitt Romney is not happy about this…not one bit.

2:16: After falling down by 6, Memphis stroms back to take a 3 point lead with under 6 to go. LSU holds a 3 point lead with under 3 to go and TAMU is still up 15 with under 5 to go.

2:22: Memphis looks like they have settled in a little bit (it only took 37 of the 40 minutes) as they lead by 7 with 2 to go, but CSN simply won’t go away. LSU leads Butler by 4 with just over a minute. It looks like the fightin’ Butlers are going down, though stranger things have happened. Unless God intervenes on the behalf of BYU they, too, will be homeward bound as they are down 15 (still) with under 4 to go.

2:30: LSU holds off Butler by 3 while Memphis stepped it up late to make a close game look ugly as they now lead 81-70 with 32 seconds to go. BYU has clawed to within 11, but time is not on their side as they have just over 1 minute remaining.

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