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Thanks to personal preference, life experiences, friends past and present, co-workers, and the far ends of the internet, I've come up with one reason I would cheer for each of the 65 teams in the men's NCAA tournament.
So when I start singing the Murray State fight song after the Racers reach the Regional Final, you can't say I'm a fair-weathered fan.
But after some of the reasons I list below, you very well may have other names to call me.
***
South Regional
1 Duke Blue Devils - One of my favorite stories I've done since coming to Waco, featured Baylor catcher Gregg Glime and his parents, DUKE and Susan. 2 Villanova Wildcats - I'm not a big fan of Philadelphia sports teams, but the city itself is really cool to visit. In the summer. But the Liberty Bell is a major let-down.
3 Baylor Bears - Not only have the Bears given me a reason to go spend a weekend in New Orleans, but BU is also the alma mater of Matt Iazzetti, Megan Snipes, & Stephanie Franks.
4 Purdue Boilermakers - Located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Lafayette, Louisiana is home to Prejean's - one of the finest seafood restaurants NOT located in New Orleans.
5 Texas A&M Aggies - Brady Taylor and Rudy Pearce told me they would make it rain on my birthday if I didn't say nice things about A&M. Plus, I looove Freebirds.
6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish - The Fighting Irish play their first NCAA tournament game the day after St. Patrick's Day. I like their chances.
7 Richmond Spiders - The only university with Spiders as its mascot.
8 California Bears - We all should feel sorry for the Pac-10 and its futility this year. So I'll root for the regular season champs from Berkeley.
9 Louisville Cardinals - Louisville Slugger has sold more than 100,000,000 bats, making it without question the most popular bat brand in baseball history.
10 Saint Mary's Gaels - Five Australian players on the roster.
11 Old Dominion Monarchs - My cousin Rachel (who is getting married this summer) went to college at ODU.
12 Utah State Aggies - Heath Nielsen, Baylor's media contact for Football is a very, very proud Utah State alum.
13 Siena Saints - Any team with Saints as its mascot, (not to mention playing during Lent) has to feel pretty "holy".
14 Sam Houston State Bearkats - They spell BearKATS the way its meant to be spelled, like Klein High School does it. (Take note, Cincinnati).
15 Robert Morris Colonials - Located in Moon Township, PA, the birthplace of John Calipari.
16 Winthrop Eagles - Located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The state that is home to one of the most obnoxious tourist attractions in our great country, Pedro's South of the Border.
16 Arkansas Pine Bluff Lions - My first year at KNOE-TV in Monroe, Louisiana, I had Grambling as my beat. SWAC teams will always have a special place in my heart.
East Regional 3 New Mexico Lobos - Lawrence Gilligan, of Inside Baylor Sports fame, is a proud New Mexico alum.
5 Temple Owls - Bill Cosby is a huuuge Temple fan. Pudding pops.
6 Marquette - They don't have a mascot, so I respect their desire to be different. (Marquette used to be the Golden Eagles.)
7 Clemson Tigers - The roar of a tiger can be heard more than a mile away. Seriously. Look it up.
8 Texas Longhorns - The Horns are going to New Orleans this weekend, where I will be covering Baylor. I would hate to see burnt orange tears in the beers of UT fans on Bourbon Street. Hook 'em.
9 Wake Forest Demon Deacons - Eli Ross, while in school at Northwestern, used to root for Steve Lepour and his three-pointers, until Steve transferred to Wake.
11 Washington Huskies - U-Dub is located in Seattle and I know some folks that are REALLY big fans of Grey's Anatomy (set at Seattle Grace Hospital). I'm not going to name names, though.
12 Cornell Big Red - Big Red, the drink is bottled by Waco's own Dr. Pepper.
13 Wofford Terriers - My first dog was a Yorkshire TERRIER. And you're gosh darn right his name was Toto.
14 Montana Grizzlies - Todd Zeidler, Baylor's media contact for volleyball, track, cross country, & women's tennis is the only Grizz fan I know.
15 Morgan State Bears - The Bears played at Baylor this year. BU won 79-63.
16 Tennessee State Tigers - The Tennessee Aquarium is the largest facility of its kind to focus on fresh water habitat.
West Regional
1 Syracuse Orange - Head Coach Jim Boeheim (34 years) is longest tenured coach in tournament.
2 Kansas State Wildcats - The only team to beat Baylor at home this season.
3 Pittsburgh Panthers - I'm in Matt Lincoln's wedding in April. It's in Pittsburgh.
4 Vanderbilt Commodores - If you like Austin, you'll love Nashville. And I really like Austin.
5 Butler Bulldogs - Butler has the longest active win streak (20 games) of any NCAA tournament team.
6 Xavier Musketeers - There is a Xavier University in New Orleans , and I frequently confused the two in my younger years.
7 BYU Cougars - BYU is the highest scoring team in the tournament 83.5 points per game.
8 Gonzaga Bulldogs - Gonzaga has more players under 6-feet (three of them) than any other team in the tournament.
9 Florida State Seminoles - 1660 AM ESPN radio's Paul Catalina would stab me with a fork if I said anything rude about FSU.
10 Florida Gators - Josh Wucher gets to work at 4:30am every day, so I'd hate for him to call me when he's walking out the door and complain about my Gators comment. It's the alma mater of Erin Andrews.
11 Minnesota Gophers - The gophers remind me of Minnesota State, the program featured in the 90's sit-com COACH, starring Craig T. Nelson.
12 UTEP Miners - Eli Ross' (who, if you can't tell by now, is helping me when I get stuck on this blog) best friend, Raul Martinez, is the sports director at the ABC station in El Paso.
13 Murray State Racers - I saw a lot of "racers" when I watched my best buddy, Charlie Stern run the Boston Marathon in 2009.
14 Oakland Golden Grizzlies - I bet more than 50% of you reading this blog didn't know Oakland was in Michigan.
15 North Texas Eagles - Former KWTX anchor Christopher Heath is the biggest North Texas fan I've ever met. I think "Scrap 'em" was his ring tone.
16 Vermont Catamounts - When I lived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, my parents used to take me skiing in Bolton Valley, Vermont.
Midwest Regional
1 Kansas Jayhawks - Big 12 champs. Number one overall seed. It's okay to be a front-runner.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes - OSU's fans were entertaining when I was in New Orleans for the BCS National Championship game in 2008.
4 Maryland Terrapins - In case you didn't know, a terrapin is a turtle. My brother and I had a pet turtle named Moises (inspired by lazy Astros outfielder Moises Alou.) It ran away. True story.
5 Michigan State Spartans - Megan and Shannon Radermacher (yes, they're twins) are two of the fastest females I've ever met, and they ran at Michigan State after successful careers at Klein High.
7 Oklahoma State Cowboys - KWTX sports director Dan Ingham an Oklahoma State product, and he's my boss. Gooooo Pokes!
8 UNLV Running Rebels - Why would you pull against anything related to The Vegas. Plus, one of my best friend's Kris Radusch lives, works, (and plays) in Vegas.
9 Northern Iowa Panthers - NIU Produced former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner.
10 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets - I've eaten at The Varsity, the world's largest drive-in, across the highway from Tech.
11 San Diego State Aztecs - There is absolutely nothing to dislike about the city of San Diego.
12 New Mexico State Aggies - Doc Holliday operated a dental office and a saloon and gambling hall in Las Vegas before moving on to Tombstone. I'm your Huckleberry.
13 Houston Cougars - Not only my hometown school, but U of H produced the voice of CBS sports, Jim Nantz.
15 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos - 85.6% of their players are from in-state, the highest of any team in tournament
16 Lehigh Mountain Hawks - Lehigh is the 65th, and final team I had to come up with a reason to root for.
***
You can follow me on Twitter and follow KWTX Sports on Twitter.
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