Demystifying Oprah and The Final Four

So, my mom attended an Oprah taping today. She had wanted to watch the show in person for ten years and today her wish was granted. My brother, who has recently bagged a big job with the King of Beers, made it happen. My mom brought her paralegal Julie and my sister-in-law Elaine. I was happy for my mother who was so excited about the chance to see one of her idols. They arrived at the studio by 7am, only to be herded, prodded and screamed at by Oprah's handlers. When they did finally glimpse the talk show queen, she was doing her "mi-mi-mi," vocal warm-ups and shouting at an employee trying to give her advice, "Remember Bennie, you work for me." It was a pajama party of sorts, as the crowd was asked to bring pj's for a woman who was making a difference at homeless shelters after noticing that the kids often slept in their clothes. The Power of One, of one person to make a difference, was the show's theme and Oprah produced 35,000 sets of jammies. My mom left a little deflated after Oprah signed off to the audience with, "I've got to go on the roof and take pictures with Miss USA." I remember watching Oprah as a youth in Baltimore and today she is an inspiring entertainer. Oprah provides a kind of trusted cultural barometer for her large and growing following. She introduces societal issues in a non-threatening and positive way. She has the ability to apply a large bandaid to problems and this is a good thing. However, it sounds as though more than 20 years in the limelight has left its diva scar. They even confiscated my mother's business cards. I ran some postgame this afternoon with mom about the whole thing and equated it to my experience at the NCAA tournament last year at the Georgia Dome. This stage of the tournament is about making money, not about basketball. I watched Duke, WVU, LSU, and Texas slug it out in the freezer-like Georgia Dome--more suited to monster trucks than roundballers. It wasn't about basketball as the teams with great outside shooters floundered without any perspective but an endless domed sky. J.J. Redick's three that would have vaulted Duke to a seven point lead went half-way down and caromed out with the basket shaking. It is an awful place to see a game. Attending the NCAA tournament was a once in a lifetime thing, like going to see Oprah. However, The Final Four and Oprah, like a lot of things, look better on television.