South County blogger in March Madness contest
Friday, March 19, 2010
Lisa Horn is competing in the "Last Fan Standing" sportswriting contest during March Madness. (Courtesy BleacherReport.com)
SANTA ANA — A South Orange County blogger tabbed to follow a team through the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in a national sportswriting contest got quite a scare Thursday, just like so many college powerhouses who were upset in the first round of play.
Lisa Horne, who writes for the Bleacher Report blog and blogs for Fox Sports, was picked to follow Baylor, and if it makes it to the Final Four she’ll get a trip to Las Vegas to watch the game on television with a friend.
If the Bears advance to the championship, Horne will be flown to Indianapolis to watch the game in person. If Baylor wins the championship, Horne will receive a Lenovo laptop computer and have three to five stories appear on the Web site CBSSports.com over the next year.
Horne beat out hundreds of other writers to be among the 64 bloggers chosen to participate in “Last Fan Standing 2010.” Her fate depends on the team’s performance.
“My team is Baylor, the No. 3 seed (in the South Regional), who barely beat Sam Houston State, which is kind of scary,” Horne said. “Baylor ended up pulling away in the last minute and a half, but up till the last two minutes it was a nail biter. I really thought Sam Houston State would win.”
Sam Houston State, which was seeded 14th, fell to Baylor, 68-59. Baylor goes on to play Saturday against Old Dominion, which is seeded 11th, and upset Notre Dame, which was seeded sixth, 51-50.
Horne admits she’s not as much of an expert on college basketball as she is on college football or NASCAR, which she blogs about for Fox Sports.
“I’m a football writer. I freelance for Fox Sports and do a weekly column on NASCAR so I’m a little unfamiliar with NCAA basketball,” she said, adding she entered the contest mostly to see how she’d do.
“The great thing about it is I believe I’m the only woman in it,” Horne said.
But that’s how it generally is in the world of sports blogging, Horne said.
“I am a goldfish in a giant ocean of sports,” she said with a chuckle. “But I get treated very well by my brethren.”
Horne grew up in Palos Verdes and from a young age admired her father’s youth football coaching.
“I was a cheerleader and I used to watch him doing X’s and O’s on the chalkboard and I’d say, `Why don’t you have your fullback go up the No. 3 block?’ ” Horne said. “And then I ended up marrying a football player so I have always loved sports.”
For the record, Horne picked West Virginia and Syracuse in the championship game.
“I’m regretting my picks right now,” Horne said. “The Big East is 1-3.”
Tags: March Madness, NCAA Tournament, Sports
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