Somewhere deep inside the Googleplex, light and sport starved Google engineers are wondering why all of a sudden their servers started getting hammered by Kansas IP addresses.

Somewhere deep inside the Kansas Department of Revenue, oily haired tax collectors are licking their chapped lips and watching sales tax receipts pour in like so much confetti from the AlamoDome’s vaulted ceiling.

Here at the Phog Blog, we’re risking a tax extension to bring you a compendium of the best YouTube videos of the Hawks’ March through Madness, and the absolute pandemonium that summarily ensued. Sure you could go to YouTube and watch, and watch, and watch, but think of this as your quick fix. Special thanks to PekkaMarkkanen at phog.net for the inspiration to compile.

For your viewing pleasure, these vids are all higher resolution than what your standard YouTube video will provide. If I’ve missed any great ones, I am certainly up for adding, so email us with the link and we’ll get it up if it’s good enough to make the cut. If you have a great video and you need help getting it online, let us know as well.

10. Final Seconds of Davidson Game

It’s not a great video, but it’s the best fan-shot video of the last seconds of KU’s win against Davidson, and it’s an angle that few have seen before. What defense! What drama! Richards’ shot seems to last about one one thousandth as long here as it did when I watched it the first time! If Mario’s heave is “The Shot,” then Richards’ is “The Miss.” Without that Miss, we are not here.

9. Last 10 Seconds of North Carolina Victory

Fans inside AFH count down KU’s victory over Roy Williams’ UNC Tarheels. Love the countdown, love the guy in glasses in the background. Allen Fieldhouse fans would double for the Championship game.

8. Mass Street Post UNC

Let the random high fiving begin. Want to know what commuting looked like in the 1600’s? Watch this video, then subtract shoelaces, breathable fabrics, full sets of teeth and about 35 years of life expectancy, oh, and also subtract the happiness. People in the olden days weren’t happy.

7. CBS Broadcast of The Shot

I’ve only seen this shot on YouTube. I still haven’t gotten to watch the game broadcast. Nantz nails the call. What a moment! Jayhawk fans will get to relive this for years to come as Coke Zero or whatever the next iteration of Diet Coke is, appropriates Mario’s heroics to shill carbonated cola beverages.

6. The Shot from Section 121

This is getting a special dispensation since it’s basically where I watched the game from. It’s a great lateral angle on The Shot and you can see the bench on the opposite side of Mario. Bonus points for ending the video with a profane utterance of disbelief.

5. The Shot from the Granada

Oh My! The Gra-nasty has seen an endless stream of bumping and grinding, and also Vanilla Ice, but not even he was as cold as the water in Mario’s veins as he cold-cocks Memphis. Love this video.

4. Mass Street from the Rooftops

Unbelievable. Mass Street becomes a raging river of Joy. Half of Lawrence is sick from all the high fiving, hugging, kissing, baby-making, yelling and screaming that went on in a 48 hour period. Oh to be born a Championship baby next January. Reserve your hospital room at LMH now, because it’s going to be tight in there.

3. Allen Fieldhouse for The Shot

Awesome video, maybe my personal favorite. You get to watch the drama of the shot unfold on the big board. And then. Unmitigated, unadulterated, unprecedented expressions of joy. Wow!

2. Allen Fieldhouse for The Victory

It’s easy to dismiss this video as just another crowd video. But I tell you friends, it’s like a good scotch or a good wine, you have to give it some time to breath. For the fast forwarding crowd, go to the 3:40 mark and watch from there. The peals of laughter, the screams, the crowd pouring out onto the court, Where the Streets have no Name busting out to update our NC count to 5! From 3:40 on this is the best, but I had to hold out number one…

1. One Shining Moment

I know it’s CBS, and I know Jayhawk fans often dislike CBS for their constant commercials and their yammering East Coast commentators, but this is KU’s Shining Moment, and we’ve been waiting for it longer than we thought we’d have to. Enjoy!

As I stood, surrounded by UCLA and Memphis fans, and watched Mario’s shot arc for a second and a half across 24 feet of wood, paint, skin, bone and sweat, I expected, as I have been conditioned to expect, that the shot would not fall.

Indeed from my vantage point, 12 rows back on the end line (thanks to a generous Bruin), I was sure that Mario’s heave was short.

But the shot went in. And here we are, 2008 National Champions.

By and large, life is filled with grey. For every success, innovation or improvement, there’s a an accompanying compromise that we must accept. It’s why so many of us drive cars that look like every other car, and why the siding on our houses has stamped wood grain for the “authentic look.” It’s why most people only kind of like their jobs. And it’s the overwhelming supply of grey in our lives that makes sports so exciting.

Because nowhere in that second and a half of The Shot was there any blending of black and white. There was agony or there was ecstasy, and there was nothing in between.

Away from the action on the court, another story was developing. The NCAA production crew, sensing Memphis’ impending victory, had unboxed the Tigers’ Championship shirts, and had delivered them to the Memphis bench, so the players could wear them as soon as possible. The game was over and everyone knew it, except the five guys wearing Crimson and Blue. Mario’s shot went in and the CBS/NCAA production assistants summarily took them away.

It’s a cruel twist and an insult to injury that Memphis didn’t deserve, but it’s also emblematic of why we watch and why they play. If you can’t lose, it’s no fun to win. And after 19 years of season ending losses, winning is a lot of fun.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Congrats to Self and his team. We have entered a new Golden Age of KU Hoops. Enjoy.

BONUS:

This video was shot from within 10 feet of me at the game. HOT HOT HOT.