Pi Day

March 14th = Pi Day (3.14159267........)

"To err is human, to forgive divine." -Alexander Pope.
Such a smooth, easy-to-remember phrase and yet people fail to adhere to it, including me. It's also the theme of this post.

So it's been a crazy whirlwind of college basketball for me this weekend, and the real NCAA Tournament hasn't even started. But there's one team close to my heart that's not going to the tourney this year: The aforementioned Fighting Illini. After a HEARTBREAKING loss to Ohio State in Double Overtime on Saturday, the Illini were one of 3 "last teams out," a true bubble team that had its bubble burst during Selection Sunday. It could have gone either way, I think, with a few at-large teams (Florida comes first to mind) that might have flip-flopped.

So obviously, my first reaction upon hearing the news was anguish, and sort of going (quickly) through 4 of the first 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression. My friend and fellow Illini faithful texted me right after the Selection show, "Bullsh*t." I was feeling the same thing. And a lot of anger was directed towards the Selection Committee. How could they be so obtuse, so insensitive, so cold and hateful?

But then I took a step back. Listen, I love Illinois basketball like any other shmoe from the Land of Lincoln. I stuck with them from 1999, the days of Sergio McClain and Corey Bradford, through the Frank Williams years, through the Deron Williams years, Dee Brown, Brian Cook, James Augustine and finally the current regime of Demetri McCamey et. al. I could probably name you every NCAA appearance they've made this decade and who knocked them out. But this year's team had some MAJOR blemishes that, like really bad acne, could not be ignored.
1. Let's start with the record. 19-14. That's 5 games above .500, and the pattern resembles much more a W-L-W-L combo than a consistently winning team. The magic number for the Selection Committee is 20 wins, and the Illini fell just short.

2. Some BAD losses at the beginning of the season: The story of American failures, the Illini had one bad weekend in Vegas in November, losing to both Utah and BRADLEY. Epic fail.

3. Finished season losing 6 out of 8: The Selection Committee historically rewards finishing the season strong, and Illinois did anything but.

4. Didn't beat a great team: The Illini had a few quality wins (@ Clemson, vs. Michigan State, v. Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin twice), but none was a MARQUEE win. The Spartans win was supposed to be big until Mich. St. showed its flaws, and Illini went 0-5 against Ohio State and Purdue, the class of the Big Ten.

5. Head-to-head: The clincher was the home loss against Minnesota. Switch that one from loss to win and the Illini have 20 wins and are in, taking Minnesota's spot. If you can't beat fellow bubble teams, your bubble should be popped.

So thinking about these COMPELLING reasons that the Illini shouldn't be in, you gotta agree that the Selection Committee had some good reasons. Ultimately, all bubble teams have to look in the mirror: the fact that you're on the bubble means that you've messed up somewhere, and it's on you to play yourself off the bubble, not have someone else save you from it. Those 2 last plays against Ohio St. at end of regulation and first OT will forever haunt this year's squad.

You know, also, not everyone can make it to the NCAA tournament. There's a lot of quality basketball teams, and sometimes these teams falter. It's human nature. You make mistakes. But to move on, not blame other people for it, that's divine. And look on the bright side, the Illini have a NUMBER ONE seed.......in the NIT.

This situation really reflects on many facets of life too: A lot of people tend to blame other people for their problems. You see it on the road every day: angry drivers honking at others when it's their own aggression that's the problem, or simply that someone else made a mistake. It's OK, people. Breathe. Get along. Live happy.


Application #2 of the "to err is human" post: The latest Amazing Race episode. From what I saw, Joe and Heidi have every reason to be pissed off at people after their challenge. The Amazing Race producers throw a random "Blind U-Turn" into the leg, and the Undercover Cops for some reason went after Joe, citing previous "cockiness" as the reason for the U-Turn. Well, basically, they sealed Joe and Heidi's fate, cuz they got stuck with the Detour from Hell and couldn't complete. You know, sometimes Amazing Race challenges don't seem too hard, and it looks like contestants are just wimpy or not smart enough to get it (see last season Big Easy's epic fail not scrambling "Franz" after somebody told him the F was first), but the Morse Code challenge looked HARD. There's a reason civilizations have used Morse Code as an emergency language, cuz you need to be TRAINED to use it. Such a divergence of difficulty between the detours of 1.) crouching down and just waddling through an obstacle course v. 2.) learning an ancient form of communication from scratch and deciphering a message seems grotesquely unfair, and there was a reason EVERY team decided to go for #1. Amazing why the TAR producers decided to throw the Blind U-Turn at this detour of all detours, forcing one team to go through an impossible task. It's almost as if they got lazy and didn't test the challenge with real people first before unleashing it. Sheesh.

But anyway, my point is, Joe and Heidi seemed upset about being Blind U-Turned, but then went ahead and acknowledged it was a game. That's classy. That really is, and I'm not saying it cuz they speak Mandarin like me and I can relate to them and whatnot, which I do. But sometimes you make mistakes, and despite a lot of factors weighing heavily against them, the team did make some errors, and tipped their hat in their exit. To err is human, to forgive divine. They were basically saying also that the Undercover Cops (as well as TAR producers, in my opinion) probably made a mistake, but we'll forgive them. Take the higher road. I love it. Thanks guys, you will be missed on TAR.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan