Far from a Sausagefest, it's the Women's Final Four that was in town last night. S. and I went to these games and let me tell ya, Cleveland has never seen that many lesbians congregated in one place since I don't know when. And it was an all ages show, as well. The weather was great and we were able to soak in the atmosphere outside at Alesci's plenty of time before the game, where we spoke to some New England lesbians, and proved a great spot for some people watching. And Downtown was packed. Most places were hopping as it was a big party.

As for the games, well, that was a different story. Our tickets were at Center Court...in Row Last. Very Bob Ueckerish. Being the seat snob that I am, I had not been upstairs in a long time, so I was surprised at how good the view was. And the Q was configured a bit differently than for a Cavs game. The ESPN crew, including favorite Stacey Dales, was in the lower southwest corner. Both benches were pushed back a bit, with press row behind and opposite said benches. The bands, of course, occupied the first few rows behind the baskets. And they had better fire in the intros than the Cavs! Four huge guitars on each corner of the scoreboard dropped to an angle and shot out fire as both teams were introduced for a total of 10 blasts, instead of the usual 5.















The actual game play was, in a word, awful. LSU played Rutgers in Game 1. Unfortunately, LSU forgot to show up. Rutgers drained some threes early and the rout was on, as they built a big halftime lead. The first ten minutes of the second half was a clinic in sloppy play. Rutgers then played out the string for a 59-35 win.

Game 2 was the marquee matchup between two No. 1 seeds, North Carolina and Tennessee. Tennessee is like the Yankees of the lesbian community. Casual fans have gravitated toward Tennessee, so the crowd is definitely in their favor. We always adopt the ABT (Anyone But Tennessee) approach, and wanted the Tar Heels to win. Bah! Just like the UNC men's team, they had a big lead late and could not seal the deal, and suffered the defeat. The matchup provided more than 50 combined turnovers and I believe, Tennessee shot 27%...and won. Horrible.

Clearly though, North Carolina was the best band of the night. Even though the Tennessee band plays the "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, they get penalized by "Rocky Top" ad nauseum. That led to our over and under bet on "Rocky Top". S. and I figured 13 was a fair number. I had 13 and above and she had 12 and below. Somehow, I eked out a 13-song win. UNC, however, combines an underrated fight song with a flair for contemporary music, and are very entertaining. Some of their selections are "New Age Girl" by Deadeye Dick (you know, "she don't eat meat, but she sure likes the bone"), "Come As You Are" by Nirvana, "Dirty Little Secret" by the All-American Rejects, Michael Jackson's "Thriller", "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash, "Get Ready" by the Temptations, and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Sprit".

Meal of Links

Robert Smith of The Cure is helping Ashlee Simpson with a record. I can't believe I just typed that.

Alanis Morrisette sings about her humps:



Here are 10 reasons your boss hates you. Not me, you.

National Anthems

Nostalgia time. Stand up and please remove your hat before the movie. And put that popcorn down! It's Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians.

Fred Waring via Movietone News during The Big One



Exercise Yard




















The Men's Final Four ended with Florida as champ. I picked Florida in my bracket, but most everyone else did, as well. Chalk ruled this tournament and I should have referred to my own prophetic words, the gap between the top teams and the next tier was fairly significant this year.

BTW, Greg Oden of Ohio State is good.

And, once again, I am a sucker for "One Shining Moment".

Now, the National Pastime begins.

Visitor

58 Across: Hall of Famer Brock (3 letters) Answer: Lou