Who's Gonna Be the LaDainian Tomlinson of 2007?

You've heard it being asked all year. Who will be the George Mason of 2007? After yesterday's loss to Virginia Commonwealth in the CAA Championship game all but killing their NCAA tournament hopes, the notion that it could be the Patriots yet again has been laid to rest.

But what exactly does it mean to be the George Mason of 2007?

It's not a question that's asked too often in the media, but I think a good "What the hell are you talking about?" is in order here. The next time someone asks you, "Who will be this year's George Mason?" do me a favor, and respond with, "What the hell are you talking about?" Do they mean, "Which mid-major nobody is going to surprise the nation and make it to the final four?" Maybe. Or do they mean, "Which under-dog is going to go the furthest?" Could be. Or do they mean, "Which team is going to have a bizarre monster as their mascot when your usual big headed man in a hat would suffice?"


Let's just run through these options briefly.
1) "Which mid-major nobody is going to surprise the nation and make it to the final four?"
Now that's a silly question. My brother made a good analogy: In stud poker, the odds of getting a royal flush is 1 in 649,740. Let's say we're watching the World Series of Poker, (not an unlikely possibility seeing that ESPN2 has become All-Poker-All-the-Time) and for some reason Jim Larranaga has entered and is doing pretty well so far. Now imagine that to advance to the final round, he wins a huge pot with a royal flush. It would be absurd to say, "Who's gonna be next year's Jim Larranaga? Who's gonna get the royal flush this year?" You gotta be out of your mind to expect that to happen every year. It may not happen again in a 100 years.

So if after asking "What the hell are you talking about?" you get an answer that sounds anything like 1), tell the dude he's out of his gourd. And walk away.

2) "Which under-dog is going to go the furthest?"
That's a more acceptable question. And I don't know the answer. You'd probably have to wait until Selection Sunday, then fill out a fake bracket, then decide what you'd classify as an "under-dog", and then come up with an answer. Too long of a process for me.

So if after asking "What the hell are you talking about?" you get an answer that sounds anything like 2), tell the dude he's out of his gourd too. He's really not. But it's a lot easier than doing all of that stuff I just mentioned.

3) "Which team is going to have a bizarre monster as their mascot when your usual big headed man in a hat would suffice?"
That's an excellent question. Tell them it's unlikely that there'll be another one this year, but look out for DePaul. They probably don't have a shot of making it to the big dance unless they win the Big East Tournament, but if they do, he'll definitely give the Patriot a run for his money.


(P.S. I'm Johnny, and I'm helping Sami out with the blog this week since he's out of the country.)