It all started off innocently enough. We were at the Syracuse-Seton Hall game in February and I mentioned to Pizza Parlor Derek that I thought (at the time) that Miami deserved to be ranked #1. PPD said no one who loses to Florida Gulf Coast should be number one. I can't remember my exact words but it was something to the effect of "they're better than you think" or "don't sleep on Florida Gulf Coast."
I said this because I knew they had an RPI in the 90s (good for a school of FGCU's caliber) but they lost 5 times to teams with RPIs above 200, twice to Lipscomb.
I am not saying I was convinced FGCU would go on this type of postseason run but that conversation certainly did put them on my radar.
And then came the story that put them on everybody's radar:
Mrs. Enfield.
The smoking hot coach's wife who use to be a bikini model.
Then I watched them play. They have a great style, they press, they run, they throw alley oops and they have a great time doing it. They are fun to watch.
And they are having incredible success. They are only the 7th 15-seed to beat a 2 in the first round. And the first one to win its next game and go to the Sweet 16. Reminding a lot of people of the 1986 Cleveland State Vikings who in the 2nd year of a 64 team field beat Bobby Knight's Indiana team and went to the Sweet 16. A 14 seed made it that far only one other time since. So that's another reason to root for Florida Gulf Coast.
But now I also have skin in the game. For years I have been collecting coke caps and redeem the codes for rewards points (I've netted $200 in Nike gift cards plus other assorted prizes). This year the rewards program added an ancillary game. For each Coke Zero cap you redeemed you got a team, since it happened prior to the tournament I was given "15 seed C."
The rules are, when your team wins you win. If your teams wins the national title you get $100,000 if it's a 1 seed, a trip to next year's Final Four if it's not. Coke is smart, they made 1.25 million caps for this contest. 1 for each of the 1 seeds, 5 for each of the 2s, and 90,000 for each of the 16s.
But my "15 seed C" turned into Florida Gulf Coast. So far I've won a free 20 oz Coke Zero, and 5 mp3 downloads. Next up is $20 in concert cash from Live nation. And if Florida Gulf Coast makes the Final Four I get a $100 Best Buy gift card. If they make the title game the prize is $400 in hotel or airline travel. And in the very very very extremely unlikely event they win it all, I'd be in a drawing for the Final Four tickets.
Not a bad couple of weeks for a school no one had ever heard of until the coach's hot wife's bikini pictures broke the internet.
Then I watched them play. They have a great style, they press, they run, they throw alley oops and they have a great time doing it. They are fun to watch.
And they are having incredible success. They are only the 7th 15-seed to beat a 2 in the first round. And the first one to win its next game and go to the Sweet 16. Reminding a lot of people of the 1986 Cleveland State Vikings who in the 2nd year of a 64 team field beat Bobby Knight's Indiana team and went to the Sweet 16. A 14 seed made it that far only one other time since. So that's another reason to root for Florida Gulf Coast.
But now I also have skin in the game. For years I have been collecting coke caps and redeem the codes for rewards points (I've netted $200 in Nike gift cards plus other assorted prizes). This year the rewards program added an ancillary game. For each Coke Zero cap you redeemed you got a team, since it happened prior to the tournament I was given "15 seed C."
The rules are, when your team wins you win. If your teams wins the national title you get $100,000 if it's a 1 seed, a trip to next year's Final Four if it's not. Coke is smart, they made 1.25 million caps for this contest. 1 for each of the 1 seeds, 5 for each of the 2s, and 90,000 for each of the 16s.
But my "15 seed C" turned into Florida Gulf Coast. So far I've won a free 20 oz Coke Zero, and 5 mp3 downloads. Next up is $20 in concert cash from Live nation. And if Florida Gulf Coast makes the Final Four I get a $100 Best Buy gift card. If they make the title game the prize is $400 in hotel or airline travel. And in the very very very extremely unlikely event they win it all, I'd be in a drawing for the Final Four tickets.
Not a bad couple of weeks for a school no one had ever heard of until the coach's hot wife's bikini pictures broke the internet.
it's amazing what makeup can do.....
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