The weekend’s basketball has come and gone. On one hand, I am devastated. Having just examined the IdiotsBracket 2011 standings, I see that I stand in 37th place out of 40 participants. Furthermore, comparing my picking prowess against the world at large, my rank is 5.1 percent. Meaning 94.9 percent of everyone everywhere made better picks than I did. But the true source of my misery comes from gazing to the top of the IdiotsBracket leaderboard. Sitting squarely in first place is none other than my friend Dahna. Who is Canadian. Don’t get me wrong. I love my friend Dahna and I love Canadians.

But…I’m just saying.

In better news, the Duke Blue Devils survived a thrilling upset bid in yesterday’s game and have advanced to their 12th Sweet Sixteen in the past 14 years. Also advancing were the Kansas University Jayhawks. My good friend Victor and I were on hand in Tulsa to witness what turned into a good old fashioned shellacking.

Our seats were in the upper deck, but we sneaked down to the first few rows before the game to get a whiff of how the other half lives.

Perhaps you are curious about that garish lump of molded plastic around my neck. It is none other than my KU bling, given to me by an enthusiastic KU supporter who took one look at my MZUNGU t-shirt and decided that I needed to display more KU pride.

Duke may be my passion, but KU is my “other” team on account of my early days running wild on the plains of Kansas. I was in middle school when Danny and the Miracles stunned the world and brought the title back to Lawrence. Their improbable run remains one of the most storied moments of college basketball lore.

And yet, something tells me that Dahna the Canadian has no idea what I’m talking about.