March Madness finale makes Monday's television viewing far from mundane
By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
For a change, television on Monday night was far from mundane.
That's due of course to Duke's riveting 61-59 win over Butler in the championship game of the 2010 men's basketball championship at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis.
Of course it was a victory for the Blue Devils that was never fully sealed until Butler's Gordon Hayward had his half-court heave of a potential game-winning basket bank off the glass and skip off the rim.
There's drama that even the super agent Jack Bauer can't even come close to matching as he chases bombs and bad guys in an intense hour every Monday on Fox's “24.”
Nielsen ratings showed this year's game drew an estimated 31 percent more viewers than did last year's North Carolina-Michigan State game – a solid 14.2 share that translates to 14.2 percent of households in 56 urban markets. There were no figures published for those viewers across the hinterlands – the “fly-overs” – but guesses are they had to be really good too.
We on the West Coast had it easy too as the game began at 9:21 p.m. in the East. But those hardy fans hung with it all the way as ratings show viewer-ship peaking at over 20 percent near game's end from 11:30 to 11:45.
If there was any more true or better proof of the game's overall popularity, however, it had to be at my house. See, I was hunkered down in my basement office in an attempt to find some solitude on the one night a year my wife hosts her Bunco group.
For the uninitiated, Bunco is a game where players try to roll dice and work to get specific combinations. The games get pretty loud as the dice are rolled at a fast pace. Each table competes against the other to be the first ones to roll the right numbers and scream Bunco!
The difference between this Bunco game, and others I've tried to stay away from, was that the periodic cheers were more prolific than other times. The only thing I could think of was that the cheers were for the contestants on “Dancing with the Stars,” a Monday TV event I often try to avoid.
Well I had to sneak upstairs, first to find out what good treats the guests had brought, and that I could scarf up while everyone was preoccupied flinging the dice across their tables. But I was really more curious about the extra cheering.
To my surprise it was not Buzz Aldrin shuffling across the dance floor they were yelling about. They were actually tuned to the basketball game.
Turns out one of my wife's good friends and Bunco player, Beth, is a native Indianan so she had more than a casual interest in the game. She and her brother were not only watching the game on opposite parts of the country, but these 60-somethings were exchanging text messages.
From the small world, six-degrees of separation that so often percolates our lives, seems that Beth's brother used to coach Butler coach Brad Stevens at Zionsville, Indiana High School. It was there Stevens, the former Eli Lilly salesman, set school records for 3-points baskets and assists.
So it was kind of fun to have a small connection that made this game just that much more interesting, as if the see-saw nature of the contest itself wasn't enough.
Just when it appeared that Duke, the soon-to-be four-time champs, would make the new Cinderella's from Butler lose their glass slipper sooner than later, the Bulldogs would claw their way back into it.
And it did seem to have that “Hoosiers” Hollywood script feel written all over it. So much so you were sure that Howard's fade-away jumper from the right side with under four-seconds to play would be nutin' but net. And if not, for sure that 50-foot hope for a hoop as time was expiring.
One of the many ironies was that each team finished the season with identical 35-5 records. The loss by Butler was their first after winning 25 straight to reach a place few schools their size ever do.
This was an exceptionally fun game to watch, even without the distant personal connections. It was much better than last year's 89-72 blowout by North Carolina over Michigan State.
It was nice to hear Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski applaud his opponents at the outset of his post-game interview on CBS, and then acknowledge his seven grandchildren.
Perhaps another draw was to see two teams play that don't have a lengthy police blotter. Or, as was the case when 2008 title-game runner-up Memphis later had all of their wins “vacated” by the NCAA for using an ineligible player.
Here's to hoping next year's match-up in Houston is as memorable for more of the right reasons.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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