Among the many reasons why this time of year is so fantastic there sits the ubiquitous "Madness" that is the NCAA basketball tournament. Sure, the hometown BC Eagles (playing tonight at 7:10 on CBS) look to have a very strong chance of busting into the Final Four, that's cause enough for many a Bostonian to celebrate. However, the legions of people who've moved to the Boston area have a great cause to be happy this morning because last night the Bayou Bengals of LSU knocked off Duke, and J.J. Redick. Bostonist grew up in CT. (like many others here) and fled to Boston at the first chance he could get, so there's a sweet spot in his heart for the UConn Huskies, and a dark, cold, rotten place in the recesses of his loathing for Duke and the Dukies of old - Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurly, Steve Wojscjeofgjdofowski, Danny Ferry (Only Duke would make a star out of someone named Danny Ferry), and * the current targets of our loathing - J.J. Redick and Sheldon Williams. Sheldon, as a target, doesn't elicit quite the venom as the others but ... he just looks really weird. J.J. Redick though, it's been more than well documented around the web how much people dislike him. Yeah, sure he's a phenominal player, but that doesn't mean you have to like him. How can you like a team, much less their players, when they got this guy pictured to the right, all decked out in Duke gear rooting them on?! It's fundamentally impossible.

So that's why this morning many people in Boston, unless their tourney brackets are completely hosed now, are on their way to work sporting a little smile, basking in the schadenfreude gained from a Duke loss in the NCAA tournament last night. Thank you, LSU. Thank you.

* Honorable mention goes to Greg Paulus, a freshman on Duke who has all the makings of being the target of Duke-haters' loathing for the next three years. Here's to you, smarmy Duke point guard Greg Paulus!