Oh, it's on.
USC 59, ASU 55. UCLA 88, Cal 66.
You know what this means: my season-series bet with Mike Tran will be decided in a dramatic Pac-10 semifinal rubber match, an intra-city battle royale at the Staples Center tomorrow night at 9:00 PM EDT.
As specified by the terms of the bet, if UCLA wins, I have to change the name of my men's basketball pool to "The 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool, presented by the UCLA Bruins." I have to include the "presented by the UCLA Bruins" in every full-fledged pool update that I post on the blog, and UCLA also has to appear somewhere in the pool's official logo.
If USC wins, Mike has to go to Tommy Trojan and get his picture taken in front of Tommy, doing the victory sign and wearing a USC shirt of some kind (with "USC" in big letters, clearly visible). He has to get me this picture by next Wednesday, and I get to post it on my blog as often as I want during March (and early April, i.e. Final Four weekend).
FIGHT ON, TROJANS!!! BEAT THE BRUINS!!!
It seems like you got the easier deal on this one, brendan. Poor Mike Tran has been humiliated enough this scholastic year. But I'm still not pulling for the bruins.
Posted by: Sandy Underpants | Mar 13, 2008 8:14:46 PM
I actually think I got a raw deal, when you consider: 1) that it's my own damn blog that I'll be constantly forced to praise UCLA on, in my own, sacred, 13th annual pool, over and over and over, if they win; and 2) that UCLA was/will be heavily favored in all three games (which was fully expected at the time we made the bet). But I figured I owed it to Mike, after all the times he made straight-up football bets with me that he was objectively unlikely to win, to make a decent basketball bet with him.
Make no mistake, though, if I lose, it will be my most painful bet loss ever. Wearing a UCLA shirt in class for an hour, or on the blog for a day, is nothing compared to naming my pool after UCLA and repeating it for a month.
Posted by: Brendan | Mar 13, 2008 8:20:36 PM
I'm still bitter about last week, so:
Fight on Trojans, beat Mike Tran.
I'll be the one wearing the game-worn Cheryl Miller jersey.
Posted by: S. Duvernay | Mar 13, 2008 10:08:33 PM
Hey, it's all good, I was rooting for Cal today. :)
Anyway, welcome to the USC fan club. Reggie Bush will be over shortly to bring you the deed to your new $100,000 house. ;)
Posted by: Brendan | Mar 13, 2008 10:27:48 PM
And push you anywhere you'd like to go.
I kid, I kid.
Posted by: | Mar 13, 2008 10:59:10 PM
Heh.
Posted by: Brendan | Mar 13, 2008 11:13:42 PM