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Tate | Rambling on about football

Like sailors eager to make the most of weekend shore leave, we as a nation are consumed today by a single thought ... who among these young vagabonds in short pants will display the most daring dunks and three-point shots?

We are swept away by inconceivable upsets, by virtuous winners, by the elimination of those we distrust.

Oh, to be a part of it. Once known as a "basketball state," that connection to March Madness has been short-circuited by recent ineptness before Loyola pulled off twin shockers ... this Chicago squad, about whom most Illinoisans couldn't name a single player (fewer than 2,000 attended their games) until Donte Ingram felled Miami with a buzzer-beating trey on Thursday.