Why I’m for Butler

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The Butler bandwagon is alive and well.

Of course, many fans – especially Duke fans, I’d think – are complaining that the average person cheering for Butler to win tonight couldn’t find Butler on a map, doesn’t know where Hinkle Fieldhouse is, and thinks Hoosiers is about the Bulldogs. And most of the new-found fans probably joined the national basketball analysts in picking UTEP over Butler as the trendy 12-seed over 5-seed upset. And they may have a point. But there have been plenty of people jumping on the Duke and Carolina bandwagons over the years, so I don’t know if they really have room to complain.

I grew up a fan of the Purple Aces of the University of Evansville. And as I’ve stated before, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Xavier and Butler because of the intense rivalries they had with UE during the old MCC days. I remember being beyond giddy when Xavier upset Georgetown in the 1990 tournament. It was a tremendous victory for the entire conference (much like SEC fans chanted “SEC! SEC!” when Arkansas won the championship many years ago).

I guess if I had to rank the teams I’m for, it’d be in this order:

1.) Evansville & Indiana – I’d probably say it’s a tie, although it’s much easier to follow IU because of media attention.

3.) Butler

4.) Tennessee

5.) Ball State

6.) Xavier

Even if I didn’t have this kind of allegiance, I’d probably be cheering for Butler anyway. It’s the classic David vs. Goliath story (although it’s not Hoosiers!) and it doesn’t hurt that the campus is about an hour away from us. Of course, it’s pretty easy to cheer for almost anyone who is playing against Duke.

So, I guess you could say I’m jumping on the Butler bandwagon. And I’ve got no problem with that. But don’t throw me in with those who know nothing about the program. I’ve even been to Hinkle (although I was cheering for the other team – see the above list if you don’t understand why).

So who are you cheering for tonight? Why?

And…who did you pick at the beginning of the tournament for this game? Now, be honest!

(Here’s who I picked)

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Matt Todd

Howdy. I'm Matt. My wife, Christy, and I have four kids and two dogs, I'm passionate about orphan care. I'm a die-hard fan of the Evansville Aces, the Indiana Hoosiers, and Star Wars. I'm trying to live life by the Todd family motto: "It behooves us to live!"
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