No lions but Tigers and Bears (Bruins) "Oh My!"

A bittersweet evening at stately LarkSmith Manor as the Memphis Tigers won and the Gonzaga Bulldogs lost. My lovely and talented bride loves both teams and has bemoaned the fact they are in the same bracket in the NCAA tournament knowing there was the possibility they could face each other. That is now a moot point. Bethany became a Gonzaga fan when they first made their big run toward a title about ten years ago and they actually played in the regional tournament in Memphis at the Pyramid. Each year since she has proudly worn her Gonzaga t-short at tournament time. It turns out I used to work with someone down on the river who graduated from Gonzaga. That would be Lurene Cachola who now goes by the name of Dr. Lurene Kelly and teaches at the University of Memphis. Don't you know that would have been a case of torn loyalties if Memphis had faced Gonzaga.
So now Memphis will face the UCLA Bruins and while the Tigers beat the Bruins earlier this year, many people think back to the "Big Game" when Memphis and UCLA faced off in the finals back in 1973 and UCLA with Bill Walton beat the Tigers led by Larry Finch.
I will admit that I haven't really followed the Tigers much over the years and I'm getting on the bandwagon now. You can witness Tiger fever taking hold of the city after Memphis proved they were for real by not choking in the first round. I picked up a pie over at Memphis Pizza Cafe for last night's game and I was greeted by the phrase " Go Tigers!" I hope they win it all.