Another Case Of Horrible, Horrible Timing

In importance it doesn't rise to the level of working on the day my uncle died.  But considering I have another scheduling conflict almost a month after that, I feel as though the universe is conspiring against me.

My alma mater's women's basketball team is in the NCAA Tournament.  They're doing good.  Real good.  Like, they're in the Sweet Sixteen and they have a chance to get to the Final Four.  If they make it that far, the National Semifinal will be on Friday and, Buddha help me, if they win that one, the title Game will be Sunday afternoon.  My alma mater hasn't won anything I could see on TV (I am glad they have won in water polo and beach volleyball, but I have never watched that), and so if the dream comes true, I'll be able to see it at my favorite downtown bar alongside my alumni friends.

However, and I am still mad at myself that this is yet another case where I don't put two and two together until it's too late ... well, I was watching another tournament Game on Sunday and ESPN brought up their schedule graphic, where they detail the dates of future rounds of The Big Dance.  The Final Four Games are next Friday, April 5.  The championship is set for the afternoon of Sunday, April 7.  And I realize, then and there, that I am taking a flight on Saturday, April 6 to get ready for the total eclipse.

Well, this is a shitty pickle, isn't it?  One once-in-a-lifetime event (I have talked about the total eclipse I was able to see in 2017, but this is supposed to last way longer, so I consider it to be its own once-in-a-lifetime event) had to be fucking happening at the same time as a possible once-in-a-lifetime event.  And I don't know what to do.  I am thinking, desperately, if I could do both -- namely host a championship Game-watching event in downtown Minneapolis in the afternoon, go directly to the airport for a late flight that night, get in, go to my hotel for a cat nap, then drive off to parts unknown to catch the eclipse.  But that is cutting it way too close.  Plus, I think I have reserved my reservations for my hotel and rental car so that I can't back out (need to check on those).

So the only other option, and I think I'm going to get my diploma rescinded for saying this, is to hope that my alma mater loses before the title Game.  Of course with every succeeding round in a tournament you are going to face tougher competition.  I don't think my squad's Regional Semifinal is going to pose much of a problem Saturday afternoon (by the way, our bar is the same bar Iowa St. goes to, and if they win their Regional Semifinal Thursday, it's very likely their Elite Eight Match will tip off shortly after ours), but they might lose in the Regional Final Monday, and there's going to be a hell of a matchup for the National Semifinal next Friday.  But, if they win those three tilts, and they have a better-than-fighting chance to do so ... well, either I stay true to my school, watch the title Game with my buddies and miss my flight, or make my flight and risk not seeing history being made with my fellow alums.

Goddamn ... any other year, any other year would be so much better than the clusterfuck I might have in my hands now.  If life is a series of conflicts like this, I just ...