The NCAA Division I tournament is rapidly approaching, and as of today Buffalo and the Western New York region have many interests in it.

First, the Hong Kong Shanghei Bank Corporation Arena, located right here in Buffalo, NY, is hosting a sub-regional this year. And true to form, yours truly will be in attendance at all three sessions and I plan on blogging it Bill Simmons running diary style! Hey, if you have to copy someone, copy the best, right? In addition to my attending the Tourney Thursday and Saturday, your humble blogger has excused himself from work on Friday so I can park myself on a barstool and take in the Friday games as well. Entries should be crisp and interesting for the afternoon games, not so concise as the evening wears on. I wonder why that is...

So expect updates Friday morning for Thursday's games, Sturday morning for Friday's games, etc. That Sunday is the Pritchard family traditional corned beef supper, which is expertly prepared by myself, so those games might get a little less attention. Hey, boiling corned beef for four hours is tough! And the volume will be down so we can listen to the Irish tunes.

In addition to the tournament games here, tonight we have two local teams with a shot at making the tournament. State University at Buffalo (UB) takes on Northern Illinois here at home in the first round of the MAC tournament. This is the first time UB has hosted a MAC tournament game since they made the jump to I-A about five years ago. They have been playing very well of late, and stand a good chance of advancing to the MAC tounament in Cleveland.

Also, Niagara University takes on the Manhattan Jaspers in the MAAC tourament final tonight on ESPN, with the winner advancing to the NCAA's. It seems like Niagara plays in the final almost every year, and loses every time they play, but there's always hope.

With all the hype the UB program has surrounding it right now, this is shaping up to be one of those classic Buffalo Sports Memories nights. UB gets upset at home, then Niagara follows that up by getting crushed on national television. That's the way sports in Western New York works,

Who knows when I'll have time again to type out more of this drivel, but at the very least I'll see you all on Friday!