THE DAILY DIVERSION

Well, I'm sure most people in this world don't know this, but there is basketball played outside of the NCAA, at the college level. My alma mater, Brescia University (or College, when I attended back in the good ol' days), competes at the NAIA level.

Every year the NAIA has a national tournament, both men's and women's, consisting of the best 32 teams in the country. The men's tournament is held in Kansas City, Missouri, while the women's is held in Jackson, Tennessee.

Brescia's men's team made the tournament in back to back years, just a few years ago, while the women actually made the final four back in 2004. The basketball gods haven't been so polite to my beloved Bearcats since those times though, as both teams have fallen on some hard times.

For example, the Lady Bearcats went a combined 3-30 last season. Yes, that is three wins and thirty losses. The guys hovered somewhere around .500.

However, this year, under a new coach (and one of my best friends as his assistant coach), the Lady Bearcats made the biggest turnaround of any collegiate program in the country, at any level. In the regular season, the Lady Bearcats finished 19-11, while winning the independent tournament (since we are not a member of any conference). Winning this tournament automatically qualified the team for the National Tournament, but the record actually bumped our ranking from playing the overall #1 seed to playing worst of the four #1 seeds, in Lee University.

I know, many have probably stopped reading already, if they were reading at all, but this is actually where the story gets interesting. Lee University is led by the same coach who took the Lady Bearcats to the NAIA Final Four in 2004. When he left Brescia for Lee, he took nearly all of the freshmen on that team with him, sans one or two.

Well, this game was as good a chance for some "pay back" for the ladies and program he left behind to rot. Well, they did exactly that.

Brescia led most of the way and lost the lead, momentarily, around the seven minute mark of the second half, due mainly to an "iffy" call at best. However, the Ladies continued to fight and wiggled their way into overtime. Down to a very short bench, due to an injury and two players fouling out, Brescia dominated the extra session, never relinquishing the lead they got within 20 seconds of the tip.

Now, you've got a team that won a whole three games the season before, with 20 wins on the season. There's turning around a program, and then there is this!

I'm really proud of the coaches and the ladies. It is an accomplishment, in and of itself, to even have a basketball program at a school like Brescia, which puts so little in the athletic coffers that the coaches end up paying for most of the traveling expenses out of their own pockets.

I have a strange feeling this isn't the last we'll hear out of these coaches, kids, and this program.

Now, this takes me to a whole other subject (well, back anyway)...

I think I've adequately explained how incredibly horrendous the attendance was at the Sun Belt Conference tournament, earlier this month, and how horribly marketed it was. Now, on the other hand, Jackson (and the people of this city) made Lafayette look like a bunch of dingle-berries.

I'll start with the first thing I saw when I got off the I-40 exit which took me to the arena in Jackson. As I'm turning right off of the off ramp, there is a huge, illuminated billboard stating "Welcome all NAIA Women's National Championship Fans! Thank you for coming to Jackson!"

Gee, do you think they were happy to have the extra tourism? That was just the first sign I saw. In other words, I actually knew there was a basketball tournament being held in the city and I knew the city was happy it was there. Needless to say, I didn't get either of these feelings in Lafayette.

Now, on to attendance... There was not a single game at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament that had more attendance than any game at the NAIA Women's National Tournament (that I saw anyway, and I watched four or five). This is sad on so many levels, but I'll give you this...

The average enrollment at Sun Belt schools is somewhere around 13,000, with several schools having enrollments in excess of 30,000. Now, the average enrollment at most NAIA schools is about 1,800 (all of the NAIA schools combined, probably total the enrollment of the Sun Belt Schools). So, how in the world can there be more fans at this tournament than at the Sun Belt Tournament? Enquiring minds want to know!

Okay, I'm done ranting for today. I want to close by saying, again, how proud I am of the Lady Bearcats and their coaches. You all did a wonderful job and made at least one alumnus very, very proud!

(I actually wrote this down last night while I was laying in bed, unable to sleep)

Yeah, I like the movie, but when it comes to fruition in real life, well, that's another story.

We weren't even back in Memphis for two hours before the first calamity took place. Being that is was nearly 80 degrees when we made it home, we decided to it would be a perfect evening to take a walk, followed by a nice dinner out.

We walked south down Main Street to the Orpheum and had pretty much decided that we were going to eat outside at the Majestic, but we wanted to stroll a little longer, since we'd been cramped up in a car for about five hours (speaking of which, I'll get to another story about some adventures in driving a little later).

So, we walked over by the FedEx Forum to see how the construction was going on the new hotel, then back north up 3rd Street toward Peabody. I remembered there was a Crepe place that opened up not too long ago that we hadn't tried yet, so we stopped by, just to check out the menu.

Unfortunately, they didn't have their menu posted on door, like most places here in Memphis, but no sooner than we turned to walk away did one of the chefs come out and greet us with a smile, a friendly face, and an offer of one of their "to go" menus. He also said "We'll delivery too, if necessary."

Knowing what we know now (several hours later), we should've just walked in and placed an order. We didn't though. We just took the menu and headed back up toward the corner of Peabody and Main, where the Majestic resides. All the while, Adrianne is focused on the menu we received at the Crepe place.

So, we get to Majestic and step inside, planning on eating outside on Main Street. No problem there. We're quickly seated and a couple of waiters pass us by, paying us no mind. This actually doesn't bother me much, as I assume they are handling other tables and one of them would probably be with us shortly.

A few minutes pass when our server approaches our table. He promptly asks if we would like something to drink. We oblige and place our drink orders. This, in and of itself, shouldn't be difficult, right?

Well, somewhere in between us speaking English and him bringing us our beverages there was a serious lapse in communication.

Now, rewind for a moment... About five minutes after we were seated, a family of six or seven people were seated at a table just behind us.

Back to the present... About five minutes after placing our drink order, the family seated behind us received their drinks, while we sat with two sets of silverware, neatly rolled in a cloth napkin, and two menus, closed, at the edge of the table (as we had long since decided on what we were having for dinner).

I really can understand taking a few minutes to retrieve drinks from the bar, especially when someone orders a rare port or single-malt scotch (where you actually have to go to the cellar to see if you have it in stock), but when the order is a Sprite and a water, with lemon, I kind of lose my understanding. I guess the lemon part was too difficult? Or could it be that the lemon's weren't ripe enough to serve?

Either way, after waiting 15 minutes for our drink order, which never came, we got up and left. Our server (if you actually want to call him that, since he didn't actually serve anything) was standing nearby when we exited the restaurant.

Now, I understand that this happens occasionally to tourists, and it's not that big a deal, since they probably won't be coming back anyway, but it really sucks when it happens to residents of downtown, who really want to spend their money down here, supporting downtown businesses. After all, I live, work, and enjoy playing downtown, and want to keep it that way.

The worst part of it isn't that this is first time this has happened at this restaurant. This is the fourth time I've eaten there, and not once have I been pleased with the service. If it wasn't for the food, I would've never given this place a second chance. I can assure you they will not get a fifth.

I know they probably don't care either, and that's fine with me. All of the waiters whom we saw outside were more worried about chatting with and catering to the two ladies sitting at the tables next to us anyway. I hope they were big tippers!

However, if I were an "undercover" restaurant reviewer, this would not look so good.

I love supporting downtown businesses, and it breaks my heart when one of them goes out of business. That being said, I sincerely hope that I am the exception to the rule at the Majestic, and not the norm when it come to service, other wise they won't be in business much longer.

Now, we did end up having a nice meal though, so don't think this story ends on a down note. We walked back down the street to the Crepe place and there was that smiling face, waiting to see us again. That was really a nice change of pace from what we had encountered only minutes prior to this.

We split a delicious chicken Caesar crepe and followed it with a "Triple Threat" dessert. The entree was wonderful, but the dessert was outstanding! This is the way the night should've gone to begin with. Now we know! Here is the restaurant: Crepe Makers

See, fate always finds a way to step in and make things right!

Now, let me tell you a little story about having some fun while driving. Better yet, read this short story from the Commercial Appeal...

I-40 pileup kills at least 1, shuts down eastbound lanes

By Associated
Press
March 9, 2007

DICKSON, Tenn. — At least one person was killed Friday night in a pileup on
Interstate 40 in Dickson County involving at least seven tractor-trailers and
six cars.
The chain-reaction crash started about 7:20 p.m. and shut down
eastbound lanes near mile marker 165 and backed up westbound traffic for miles,
according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The area is about 42 miles west of
Nashville.

At least one tractor-trailer overturned. The cause of the wreck was being
investigated.
Lanes were not expected to be clear until 2 a.m. Saturday.
Eastbound traffic was diverted to State Highway 48.

Yeah, well we left Memphis at 5:15 pm on Friday night, and at about 7:30 came upon a parking lot on I40. I'm guessing we were only about 10 to 12 miles from being involved in this accident, which is a relief. However, we were stuck in the aftermath for more than two hours because of this. After we had already finished watching "Anchorman" and started watching "BASEketbal" a TDOT truck came by telling us to cross the median and go to the closest exit, so we could be rerouted back to the interstate.

Well, we went a little different route. I decided, since I kind of knew where we were, to take an alternate route to Owensboro, thus avoiding the slow moving traffic that would be involved with getting back on I40. Needless to say, this was not a shorter route by any means.

Around 1:40 am we pulled into the driveway. In case you didn't know, it's a five hour drive from Memphis to Owensboro, pretty much any way you go. To say that we were exhausted when we finally go there would be a slight understatement.

I actually slept while a vehicle was in motion for the first time since I was a child, on Saturday, while we were heading to Lexington. That, alone, should speak volumes.

I call it this because I'm wrapping this puppy up, for my own safety.

It's 11:37 pm (when I'm starting this post), and I don't have a ton to say right now. I'm disappointed, dismayed, and at least four other words that start with "dis". However, I've still had a great time. I've made a new friend (Jay, I hope you enjoyed your first SBC tournament). I've had some absolutely incredible food. I've been drunk at least twice (that I remember). I haven't cried like a little girl, even as shitty as I've felt after the games on Saturday and yesterday. I've got to spend some "quality" time with my best friend (which you just can't put a price tag on). I'm bloated beyond belief. I'm going to be starting a full-fledged diet tomorrow night.

So, a lot of good things happen, several bad (just games), and I'm sure a lot of good things will happen because of this trip.

We did something kind of silly today. We actually went to the women's final this afternoon, no sweat. After the game we went and ate at Blue Dog Cafe and had a wonderful meal, including a couple of cocktails. Then, we came back to our hotel to hang out until the men's final came around. Well, 8 pm rolled around and none of the three of us even wanted to go back to the CajunDome. With a minimum of 25 hours spent sitting that godforsaken place, watching the same three commercials over and over, we figured enough was enough. So, we stayed here at the hotel and flipped between the Sun Belt final and the Horizon final. Both were good games, and I'm glad that we did what we did.

My stomach has been in pretty bad shape all day (starting last night during our game). It's gotten so bad that I've got, not one, but two mouth ulcers because of it. Sure, some of it is because of dietary changes, but most of it is stress related. I almost thing that I care too much about Western Kentucky basketball, because when it starts to change the way your body functions, then something's just not right.

I hate the fact that basketball season is over (technically it's not over, because there is still "March Madness" and such, but for any real Topper fan, it's OVER), but I'm also relieved. I'm relieved that we, as fans, can finally get off of the roller coasters. I think some of the players probably feel the same way. I'm hoping they can take some serious time off and rekindle that spark that seemed to be missing for a large part of the season (that's my opinion only, others may not have seen it that way). I hope the coaches take some time off too. I'd like them to get to spend some quality time with their families and friends and just be "human". I think it's what they need to get back to square one.

Okay, so it's right at midnight now, and I need to get a little sleep. We're planning on getting up and being on the road around 8 am. It's a long, boring haul home, and we're not necessarily going home happy, like we thought we would, but... We had a great time and made a few memories, and that's really the most important thing anyway.

I bid you adieu from Lafayette.

Well, day two of the Sun Belt tournament is over with. The Toppers survived to fight another round and, hopefully, revenge a loss from earlier this season this season.

The only problem I have with any of this is that they won't hear me screaming for them. I was having a little problem with the pipes after yesterday's debacle, but I never thought this would happen. At the 11:12 mark in the first half I stood up to yell something at the refs, but all that came out was a gasp. My voice is absolutely shot. I've got nothing to give the team vocally now, but I'll definitely be clapping hard, stomping my feet, and waving my towel.

Now, on to the game, since anyone that's reading this problems only cares about that (unless you're my wife whose worrying about me now)...

Wow! That's all I can really say. I have to give Coach Walters a ton of credit. He's put together a nice squad down in Boca Raton, and I have a feeling this won't be the last we hear out of them (unless he's not there very long). They are graduating Mr. Money, Deandre (I hope I spelled that right, because I haven't looked it up) Rice. This guy was unconscious tonight, and, basically, unguardable. Western, for the most part, shut down FAU's best interior player (if you call giving up 19 that) by throwing man after man at him. This is what I thought we'd need to do in order to have an impact against him, and, for the most part, we did. That, in and of itself, is a success.

I haven't had the chance to look at the stats yet, but I will say this... Our boys brought their hard hats and lunch pails and went to work this game. We looked relaxed the entire way through, and this game just had that feeling that it was never really in doubt, no matter how close it was. The Toppers hustled, non-stop, for forty minutes and left it all out on the floor. That's really all you can ask, and just hope you get a win out of their effort. We got that tonight.

Now, onto other things...

Paul and I made a new friend today. A guy came down and sat by us during the first game of the early session and was just watching some hoops. I noticed he was carrying a laptop with him, but didn't think much of. Well, we ended up chatting a little bit, and, come to find out, he's the writer for FAU's school's newspaper and a fellow blogger. Well, he kicked it with us for the better parts of the first session, then accompanied us to a nice dinner at Don's Seafood.

Dinner was wonderful, as we are getting accustomed to. I had a half and half platter of Crawfish Ettouffe and fried Crawfish tails. Really, I love some crawfish, or, as I call them, crawdad's. I've tried to have them as often as possible since we've been down here. We were informed that the crawfish aren't big yet (or, in Kentucky terms, "in season"), so they aren't as good as they could be, but... They are FREAKIN' AMAZING!

Paul had some grilled catfish, which he said were excellent (those aren't his words, but mine, because I like using more syllables than what "great" and "good" have). He actually said "Their the shit".

We had to have subway for lunch, because we were running late (mostly my fault for sleeping in and messing around on the internet), and that was okay. We stopped by Charlie G's, but they weren't open yet. We probably won't make it there, since their cheapest entre was $25. Now, we enjoy some good food, but we're just not that interested in having a $50 check to pay.

So, there you have it for tonight. I'm sure I've missed several things and I'll think about them whilst I sleep (like I did last night). Whoops! I just thought of one!

We had a fan in the stands stop by and ask us about betting on the Toppers tonight. The spread was at 7.5 when he talked to us, and we told him not to take it. We haven't done that well against the spread this year, so I told him not to bet it. Fortunately for this guy, we were right. So, hopefully we saved this gambling addict a few bucks, so he can bet on something else tomorrow or lose some money and the mobile home casinos down here. We only saw five or so once we got past Hammond, on our way to Lafayette.

Alright, it's bed time!

In my hastiness last night (and possible intoxication) I left out a few things.

First of all: FOOD.

We ate at two good places yesterday. We had a pregame meal at Olde Tyme Grocery, which is right by campus. It's got a real, old school feel, a half a Po' boy will take care of you, and for less than five bucks. Unfortunately, Murph's Olde Tyme Snowballs was closed (it was adjacent to the Grocery).

After the game we headed over to Pete's on Johnston's sportsbar. This is a pretty nice little joint. Did I mention it's smoke free? That comes in really handy when you're trying to enjoy a good burger. The beer there is pretty cheap too, so no complaints. If you ever happen to stroll in there, ask for Josh. He took good care of us!

Okay, now about the tournament. Who ever made the decision to have this tournament at the cavernous CajunDome needs to be slapped. It wouldn't matter if you 7,000 in this place, because it would still look empty. This place is huge and the court is forever away from the stands and benches. The stat boards are about 6 miles off the court and, without a telescope, are indiscernable. The lighting is okay, on the court, but it makes you feel like you're in a movie theater, since that's the only place where there is light. I feel sorry for the teams, because there's no backdrop behind the goals, which can be a real detriment for shooters.

Back to the Lady Topper's game last night. I've had some time to think about it, and I'm not changing my mind. We got a royal hosing last night. I looked over the stats after posting (which I shouldn't have, because it just made me a little more upset) and noticed a few things.

First of all, we outrebounded them 46 to 25, and had nearly as many offensive rebounds as they had total rebounds, with 22. We shot better than they did, shooting 48% to their 43%, all while shooting 7 more shots in the game. However, the only thing that made this game what it was was free throws. We shot 11 for the game, hitting 3 of them. Arkansas State shot 29, making 22 of them. Anyone see any a problem there?

Yes, turnovers were killers for us, being that we had 24 and they only had 11. However, if the officials called fouls on half of those supposed turnovers (which they should have), then it's a completely different ball game.

With all of that said, I still have to give Arkansas State credit for doing what they needed to do. They won and that's not going to change. I'll close with this, though... Good luck getting those calls tomorrow against the homestanding Lady Cajuns!

Well, we made it down to Lafayette around 2:30 this afternoon (technically yesterday, now that it is just after 1 am on Sunday). The trip was uneventful, which is always good. It's really a long, boring drive from Memphis to Lafayette, but Paul and I kept each other company, and Paul didn't even fall asleep on me!

Anyway, we missed the first session of games, but made it to see UL-Lafayette and Florida International in the first game of the night session. It would be remiss of me to say that the "Golden Dazzlers" were the highlight of this game. The Lady Cajuns pretty much owned FIU in this game, and the final score wasn't as bad as it actually was.

Then, we got to see one of the finest "hosings" I've seen in quite a long time.

The Lady Toppers took on Arkansas State in the nightcap, starting at 9 pm. The first half wasn't too bad. The LT's jumped out to an big, early lead, but couldn't hang on. They got three fouls on ASU's best player within about 1o minutes in the first half, but only held a two point advantage at halftime. During the first half the fouls were about even, with Western being in the bonus (with 9 fouls on ASU), while ASU didn't reach the bonus (WKU with 5 fouls), however the second half changed all of that.

ASU reached the bonus about halfway through the second stanza, while there were a total of 4 fouls called on ASU in the second half. Yes, four. That's it. They, somehow, started playing the most discipline, least aggressive defense I have ever seen in person (yes, there's a lot of sarcasm in there). We picked up 17 fouls in the second half to their 4. The only picked up the fourth in the last minute of action too, if that tells you anything.

Now, I've already lost my voice from screaming at the refs, and we still have three days to go. Well, that is, if the men can survive tomorrow night. If they get the same kind of officiating crew that the Lady's got tonight, then we're in big, big trouble. I'll be stuck with not a single team to root for. Yes, that would suck, but PT and I would still find a way to have some fun.

There's always "Illusions"! (Yes, that's an inside joke, but it's a funny one! I know I wouldn't mind 2-for-1 Tuesdays!)