Gosh, I Hope Joe Lunardi’s Right

So, let’s say you can count on one hand (finger?) the number of live hoops games I attended in four years in I-Town. However, in a conference long dominated by Penn and Princeton, the more recent editions of the Big Red hoopsters have been (gasp) not only decent, but almost, well, good, in the context of the juggernaut that is the Ivy League.

Last year, my occasional co-writer and conspirator Erie’s Scribe (also a Cornell grad), got so riled up after the Big Red made it to the tourney that he went ahead and boldly called a Cornell upset over Stanford. He was quite possibly under the influence of halluicinogenic drugs. The actual result? Ummm, maybe not ES.

Well, now the madness is once again around the corner. And, once again, the Big Red is poised to make it to the dance with one more win. We’re excited. Another year. Some more seasoning. Less pressure. Do we honestly think our alma mater has a fighting chance? Probably not. But, it’s fun to cheer on your school in a major sport on its biggest stage. And, oh yes, there is one reason we’re even a little more fired up about the possibility.

Right now, Joe Lunardi, the ESPN-marketed “bracketologist” has Cornell slotted in as a #14 seed in the East region. Who does Joey have lined up for the Big Red? Everyone’s favorite team to hate. Could you ask for anything more? Seriously. If your team is going to be a long shot, what could give more motivation to root them on even more emphatically than the potential (no matter how small) to knock out one of the most dislikable of all college hoops programs?

Very little is your answer. Very little indeed. May the forces of good rise and conquer all that is evil. Or at least let us keep dreaming for awhile…