We're Going to the Final Four in Indy......

Great, exciting news: Since a friend of mine in Charlotte, NC, has a very sick puppy (a Yorkie named B.B. King), I have been given tickets to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

To be honest, I'm not sure which section to sit in. The Michigan State Spartans defeated the UVA Cavaliers early in the tourney, so I will not be sitting beside Magic Johnson (his alma mater). The Wisconsin Badgers have a great mascot in Bucky the Badger (top image), but I've only been to that state once and it would feel awkward sitting with their fans.

It would be nice to sit with the Kentucky Wildcats fans, especially if I were somehow close to sitting by actress Ashley Judd, one of the team's superfans, but I'm sure even if that happened, she would have a body guard who looks like Kevin Costner as well as a boyfriend who looks like Kevin Costner. Also, I'm not sure what to make of the team's coach John Calipari. While he is amusing enough to follow on Twitter, he comes across as a narcissist.

This leaves the Duke Blue Devils, coached by Mike Kryzewski who has been with the team since I was ten years old, which was when "Mork and Mindy" was still on the air. They are from the ACC. They are from North Carolina, a neighboring state. Durham, NC, is a pretty cool town, they even made a movie about their baseball team "Bull Durham," which starred Kevin Costner. But, Coach K is a Republican and he's already won four NCAA titles. The Badgers haven't won since Benny Goodman and Woody Herman were on the radio during the Big Band era. But, Coach K did write a letter to little boy in Oklahoma. Somehow, I doubt the other three coaches would have done that.

But, in reality, Kentucky will probably beat them in the NCAA finals, and go 40-0; that's just the way the world works. At any rate, I'm looking forward to driving through West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio to be at the Final Four. It truly is a dream come true!

Note: The bottom image is the jersey of Kentucky basketball great Jamal Mashburn

There Were Other Pranks Besides Mine

There was no white rafting trip to West Virginia this weekend as it was an April Fool's Day prank, but much to my surprise, no one seemed to really care! As it was, I got quite sick over the weekend, so even if I was heading to the 'Wild, Wonderful State' (that's how West Virginia advertises itself), I would not have gotten very far.

But, there were a number of pranks pulled on Thursday.

Here are some of the highlights:

"Coach K (pictured here) just announced Duke has plans to replace Cameron w/ multi-purpose retractable dome stadium," (from twitter.com/dukeblueplanet).

"Starbucks offers giant and micro-sized coffee cups."

"The Guardian (UK) announced it would be first newspaper published exclusively via Twitter."

"Bill Murray agrees to be in 'Caddyshack 3.'"

"WNYC reports that the Supreme Court is giving corporations rights to vote in municipal, statewide and nantional elections."

And, thinkgeek.com actually advertised many fake products, including canned unicorn meat?!

The Rock Obama Takes in Georgetown-Duke Basketball Game

It was not the actor The Rock, but rather the subject of his now famous "Saturday Night Live" skits President Barack Obama who joined Vice President Joe Biden along with other members of his inner circle to watch the Georgetown Hoyas upset the visiting Duke University Blue Devils at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC, by a 89-77 score this afternoon.

When the game tipped off at 1:00 p.m. eastern time, the DC area did not yet see the incoming snowstorm which had hit much of Virginia and North Carolina (see our entry in The Daily Vampire) including the Duke U campus in Durham, NC.

During the second half, Obama made a surprise visit to the CBS booth where he joked with announcer Clark Kelogg, who was once a Big Ten basketball star, that he might have to replace Kelogg in 'three years or seven years.' Some conservative-leaning media outlets are already making the highly ridicilous suggestion that Obama was hinting that he might not seek reelection.

When the announcers asked if the left-handed Obama ever went to his right, the president again jovially said that he went to his 'right' when he met with Congressional Republicans in Baltimore on Friday.

The Baltimore gathering provided a limelight moment for Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a congressional freshman who represents the Provo, Utah, region-considered by many to be one of the most conservative areas in America.

Lee Davidson of "The Deseret News" in Salt Lake City reported that Chaffetz confronted the president for a number of verbal inconsistencies including a pledge to hold health care hearings in the public arena through C-Span.

Obama responded by telling Chaffetz that:

"That (the hearings) was a messy process. And I take responsibility for not having structured it in a way where it was taking place in one place where it could not be filmed."

Chaffetz told the SLC newspaper that he had a friendly talk with Obama afterwards:

"I think it's positive that we are able to have this kind of dialogue and hopefully move forward."

On his Twitter page, Chaffetz has voiced many political objections to the Obama administration. In one tweet, he said that he was opposed to the discontinuation of the 'don't ask, don't tell policy' regarding gays and lesbians in the military on the grounds that such measures should not be taken when the United States is involved with two wars.

As for Obama, he also met with former president George HW Bush and former Florida govenror Jeb Bush at the White House prior to the Hoyas-Blue Devils basketball game.

NPR said Obama was blackberrying throughout the game, and that he made no indication of which team he was rooting for.

It would have been interesting to hear comments from Duke's Coach K after the game. The long-time Blue Devils coach is a Republican though he is not known to use his position for campaign trail purposes (his long-time rival former UNC coach Dean Smith is a Democrat who vocally endorsed Obama in the North Carolina Primary), but one of the Duke coach's former players is a staff member for President Obama.