OHIO NCAA IN L. A. NEWS

[March 22nd up date: ....and then there were three !]

[March 23rd up date: ...suddenly there was only one left in the "Elite Eight"!]

[March 24th up date: ...still one left -- OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
going to New Orleans in the "Final Four"!]

[March 31st up date: ...and then there were none -- leaves Kansas vs Kentucky in finals Mon.]

[April 2nd up date: ...University of Kentucky is the champion!]

My husband used to complain he couldn't get much news in the Los Angeles Times about Ohio State University (OSU) sports teams. Never mind, as I reminded him, that most people in Southern California where we now lived are more interested in West Coast teams -- UCLA, USC, OSU (here it means Oregon State University,) Washington, just to name a few western powerhouse college athletic teams.

He had been accustomed to reading Central Ohio's major newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch (Columbus is home to Ohio State University,) but we hadn't continued the subscription here. Keep in mind computer use with Internet access was uncommon and not available yet in our household. A few special Ohio friends he especially welcomed hearing from would celebrate wins, commiserate losses as they kibitzed with him by phone, including John who had been a head cheerleader at Ohio State.

I remember years ago at least one occasion of our attending an exciting Ohio State basketball game when they played then at St. John's Arena, now a multi-purpose arena. The OSU basketball team games are currently played in a newer arena with the Schottenstein family name, associated with what has become a prominent Columbus national/international holding company. I recall the name as being a huge discount store where I sometimes shopped for marked down or seconds in name designer clothing, long before such marketing became so prevalent.

Anyway, yesterday's L. A. Times sports section had a small front page column by Chris Dufresne that does mention Ohio. For all of you Ohioans wherever you are and for my husband, though he is no longer of this world, I thought you might be interested in the quote at the beginning of the article that's titled:

"Ohio players simply tireless

Cincinnati, Xavier, Ohio State, Ohio give the state four Sweet 16 entries, an NCAA first.

One of every four teams remaining is from Ohio, with Ohio State, Xavier, Cincinnati and Ohio all advancing.

No state has ever pushed four schools into the round of 16, which only invites the question: What happened to Akron?

This is the tournament, you could say, where most of the rubber met the road."

You can click on the L A. Times Dufresne link above for the rest of the article which primarily discusses other college teams still in NCAA basketball's Sweet 16 playoffs.

Another time, I'll share the saga, expectations and complications I had for introducing my husband to using the computer to connect to the budding sports information cyber world that could be available to him.